#finishing my current designs is top priority before i get to everyone else and start going linear with it

[aquaredhomestuckau]

everybody is in sprite re/design/tweak hell right now

[lordshroom]

Happy One Year Anniversary to 2012 Good Genes! WOOOOO

I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported the comic! Whether it's writing a comment, leaving a like when a new chapter drops (or spamming likes as you binge it), or just reading it. Thank you <3

Hard to believe I've managed to semi-consistently update a comic for a whole ass year. When I started this comic, it was a means to force myself to learn how to draw the turtles and just force myself outside my comfort zone: dynamic posing, perspective, shivers backgrounds.

I thought I would run with this idea for a few months, get bored, then move on to something else. A fate that has unfortunately fell many of my previous projects.

But then I started recognizing the same few blogs liking the new updates. I got a few followers. I got a few comments. Every note felt like something special, a sign that people actually wanted to read this story.

So I kept making the comic. One of the biggest shifts in mindset came from when I met Gavin Smith, an artist for the IDW series, I asked him how long it took him to draw a page. He said, "It changes depending on the page. Sometimes it takes three hours sometimes it takes three days." My priorities shifted from "Get the comic done as soon as possible before I get bored" to "make the comic you want to make". The comic went from this to this. I missed coloring, so I started coloring. But I always liked inking more than coloring, so I started inking the comic pretty soon after.

This does mean the comic takes longer to get out, and that bums me out. But I don't mind taking some extra time to give the pages some zest because, well, you guys. If you're going to take the time out of your day to read the pages, I'm going to take some extra time to work on them.

My dream job has always been to be a writer. I've fluctuated between writing books, movie scripts, comic scripts, and a bunch of other stuff.

When I was little, I would imagine elaborate 2012 fan fiction. I never wrote any of this down since I was deeply embarrassed by my fascination with TMNT. It was a boy's show, and I was a girl. On top of that, 2012 became my lifelong hyperfixation. I didn't even seek out an online community for 2012, the closest I ever got was the forums for the show on the Nick site I watched the episodes on.

In high school, I realized who the hell cares and started entering the online community. I watched Rise and 2003, bought the IDW hardcovers, and started getting the figures.

Then in college, I said, "screw it," and started writing a fan fiction on AO3. It did not perform well. I tried to tell myself that I should write for myself, but it was hard to find the motivation to continue so I moved on.

Last summer, I started working on my original story and considered making it a webcomic. I watched a bunch of videos about making comics and wanted to try it out. Now, all the advice for making your first comic is to "make it small so you actually finish it!"

I did not take that advice.

The idea for 2012 Good Genes was old, like, fan-fiction-I-made-in-my-head-in-high-school old. It was different from the current comic. That old version took place post-season 5 with a bunch of OCs and Donnie being mutated into something more bug-like. I went with a retelling of "Vengence is Mine" so I wouldn't have to worry about designing any new characters/ environments, and I those handful of episodes as a blueprint.

2012 Good Genes was supposed to be a learning exercise and became something so much more with your support. That support got me to work on another fanfiction on AO3, which got so much more love than I was expecting. It was so touching that people liked my writing enough to read it without any silly pictures.

So I'm going to say it again, thank you. Thank you so much for a fantastic year. I would not be where I am today without your support.

And if you managed to get through all my rambling, here's an update!

"The Invasion!" will have four more pages which I'm still drawing. After that is an original episode that I want to take time to write a script and design a character before I start posting updates, so in the meantime I will be working on drawing some stuff for my asks and working on the next chapter for "Perfect Son".

[metalandmagi]

Winter 2021 Anime Worth Watching!

Since 2020 basically sacrificed itself to give us the most stacked anime season of all time, I’m currently buried under the weight of almost 20 shows airing per week. So for anyone who’s looking for some anime to watch this winter, here’s some first impressions! I’m speed running my list this time by only talking about the new shows...because otherwise this would be my great American novel. 

If anyone’s interested, I have master lists for both 2020 anime and 2019 anime, because there’s no shortage of fun things to find. 

New Shows!

And before anyone asks, So I’m A Spider, So What? isn’t on here, because CG spiders freak me out.

Cells At Work Code Black: This...less comedic spin off of Cells At Work (made by a different studio) takes the wholesome concept of Osmosis Jones meets cute anime girls and turns it on its head. In this much more depressing version, we follow a rookie red blood cell who works in the body of an overly stressed, alcoholic smoker who puts every strain on the body imaginable. I love Red Blood Cell AA2153 and his co-workers, but man am I glad we get the regular Cells At Work airing this season too, because I need something fun and uplifting after seeing my sweet son go through hell every episode. 

*Heaven’s Design Team: Have you ever wondered how God came up with some of the weird ass animals that live on this planet? Like, what’s the deal with giraffes? And why can’t we have dragons and flying horses? Well this is a comedy about the engineers and designers in heaven creating the new animals that are going to inhabit the Earth. That’s it, that’s the show. It’s kind of in the same vein as Cells At Work, having comedy blend with a surprising amount of educational information. If you want something light and funny, this is the show for you (though I don’t think it needs to have full length episodes). I’m just hoping there’s an episode about how the hell the platypus was created. Also it’s the only new one available on Crunchyroll.

Horimiya: A romantic comedy about a girl named Hori who fits the image of a perfect queen bee and a quiet bespectacled boy named Miyamura who never makes an impression at school. When the two meet by chance outside of the classroom, we see that Hori is practically raising a younger brother by herself, and Miyamura is actually a sweet guy who happens to be covered in tattoos and piercings. This show is an exercise in breaking down the images people have of others in their minds, and it’s a concept that really hits home in a fun and meaningful way. Honestly, this has become one of my immediate favorites. The characters have great chemistry, and I can’t wait to see more of them!

Monster Incidents (Kemono Jihen): When big shot Tokyo detective Inugami is called to a rural town to investigate a series of strange animal deaths, he finds a mysterious boy with the nickname Dorotabo who has been shunned by the other children in town. As the detective gets closer to Dorotabo, he discovers that there may be more...inhuman secrets to the boy than he realizes...and Dorotabo discovers that Inugami has some secrets of his own. This is a hard show to sell without spoiling the first episode, but it had twists and turns that kept me engaged from start to finish. I’m really interested to see where the plot goes, because I thought this was going to be something totally different just from the PV and series summary. If it plays its cards right, this could be a great paranormal detective show!

Wonder Egg Priority: A psychological drama about a girl named Ai who starts having dreams about a mysterious egg that promises to give her what she wants most in the world...a true friend. Before long, she begins to see how the dream world and reality are tied together, and trippy antics ensue. It’s hard to say more without spoiling anything, but I had to go back and add this one in because I made the mistake of thinking it was an OVA when it’s actually a full series. And what a series it’s starting out to be. This anime has all the psychological discomfort of a Satoshi Kon product with the beauty and style of something from Kyoani (even though it’s made by Clover Works). It’s really one of those anime you just have to see to understand.

Sk8-∞ (Skate the infinity): An original skateboarding anime from Bones, featuring a typical sports anime protagonist who takes a new transfer student who has never skateboarded in his life under his wing. Together they compete in dangerous races and take the skating community by storm. The character designs rival Appare Ranman’s in outlandish creativity, and I can smell the main characters’ ship dynamic a mile away (considering they’re exactly the same as the protagonists from Robihachi). If you’re looking for some wild and crazy fun with top notch skateboarding animation, don’t skip this!

2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu (Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Club): Yes, it’s another volleyball anime. And no, it’s not just a clone of Haikyu. This story follows Yuni Kuroba, a physically built but emotionally weak teenager who finds out his childhood friend Hajime is moving back to their hometown for high school. Yuni discovers Hajime has become an exceptional volleyball player and they join their school’s volleyball club hoping to turn the unknown team into a rising star. If anything, this anime is much more like Stars Align or Free, where the sport is a backdrop for letting the characters explore their personal problems. Or at least it seems that way after the first episode. I went into this show ready to throw it in the trash because how could anything compete against my beloved Haikyu, but I found myself really enjoying the dynamics of the main duo and I’m curious to see what the rest of the team is like.

And speaking of sports anime rip-offs…..I can’t believe I’m including this but…

Skate Leading Stars: The show where the animators clearly wanted to design another throw away idol anime but saw how popular Yuri On Ice was so they decided to make whatever the hell this show is instead. It revolves around a fictional team sport called skate leading, and we follow the world’s most insufferable main character, a former figure skater named Kensei who wants to return to the ice and join his school’s skate leading team after he finds out his childhood rival is going to compete in the sport. Look, this show is just trashy enough to get a certain type of audience hooked, and it mainly has to do with the best boy of the winter season, Hayato Sasugai, the aspiring team “coach” who pulled most of us into watching this show with his punk appearance, snide comments and smug personality. He’s basically the lovechild of Izaya Orihara and Shizuo Heiwajima in a high school sports anime setting. The show treats itself with the perfect amount of sincerity to get away with being absolutely ridiculous most of the time without making you feel like you’re watching it from a dumpster...like Try Knights. You will know after one episode whether this show is for you. All I can say is, Hayato is worth the watch, and I haven’t seen any 3D animation used for the skating scenes (yet) so that’s a win for me. 

Honorable mention:

Jobless Reincarnation ( Mushoku Tensei): Yet another isekai where the main character is hit by a car (big surprise) and gets reincarnated into a fantasy world...but he happens to remember his previous life and narrates himself growing up as a jaded adult. I’m only including this because it looked amazing animation wise, and I love the opening where getting hit by a car and dying is actually traumatic. And I love the protagonist’s parents (who are retired adventurers who just want to bang all the time). But honestly...the main character is the fucking worst, and I don’t know if I want to keep watching it because of how creepy and weird he is. Like...he’s the hit on your fantasy mom as a baby kind of creepy and weird. But for anyone who wants a cool looking isekai that had an amazing PV, it’s worth checking out. 

Continuing Series!

Because the real gold of the season is in all the established anime getting their next seasons, I’m just going to list some of the things that are also amazing and definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already (because I’ve already talked about most of them at some point and don’t know what else to say).

Attack On Titan season 4

The Promised Neverland season 2

Beastars season 2

Log Horizon season 3

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime season 2

Re: Zero season 2 (second cour)

Dr. Stone season 2

Cells at Work season 2

Osomatsu-san season 3 (second cour)

Higurashi New (second cour)

Jujutsu Kaisen (second cour) 

Not to mention all the shows I don’t watch that everyone else loves...like World Trigger (which I have seen quite a bit of, but long shounen shows are too much for me now) Quintessential Quintuplets, and Non Non Biyori. 

So there’s just some of all the anime airing this season. Hopefully, someone can find something they like. Here’s to a great year...well, of anime at least...

[yunhostinyuyu]

broken and fixed - part 04

pairing: roommate!doyoung vs friend!taeil x original female character (ft. haechan & taeyong)

genre: roommate!au, work!au, social media!au-ish, fluff, angst, eventual smut

wc: 2.4k

synopsis: kang haneul is desperately looking for a way out of her home. as one of her best friends suggests a friend who is currently looking for a new roommate, a new and better chapter in her life begins. or so she thought...

warning: suggestive, mentions of abuse, panic attack, weed (for medical reasons)

Early Monday morning back at work, Haneul and Donghyuck are standing in thier office, next to each other and starring at the brewing coffee machine in front of them. The two friends are wearing dark circles under their eyes, but not for the same reasons. While the tanned boy was busy spending his time with someone he met while partying on friday, Haneul was unable to fall asleep. She thought nothing of it, because she was still excited, still the first few days in her new space, and she was used to feeling her nerves in situations like that. It would take some time adjusting and getting used to things. And she thought she was doing better, working on herself and trying to be the best version of herself. Most importantly, working through her trauma, which by now she agreed on calling it that, even if she denied it to herself for so long. But this was all part of the process; finding out where her weaknesses lie, even if it meant that she might loose a bit of sleep during that phase. But every now and then, she had to hold back her bad memories from dragging her down and drowning her in negativity and halting her development from growing further.

“at least someone looks like they had a good weekend”, she sighed as she brought her cup filled with hot, black coffee to her lips. The younger man did the same, mimicking her gesture and grinning to himself. “I wouldn't mind telling you the details but i figure you are not interested”. Haneul just rolled her eyes, scanning thier shared office. “Please spare me, you can tell Mark or someone about it. But on another note: you know where the others are? They are never this late for the meeting. Not to meantion Jinyoung always starts working at 6 am...” Haneul questioned as she grabbed her notebook, paper work and a pen from her desk, clearly concerned. Donghyuck just shrugged “maybe he took a day off last minute? And Yeri is just hungover like every Monday.” He explained, clearly just guessing instead of stating facts, because he honestly didn’t know either. While they walked down the corridor, towards the meeting room where they are expected to show up at as soon as possible. “Just wanna get this day done so i can go back to sleep.”

“You’re always tired, quit whining big baby. You already got your coffee!” he bickered, but Haneul just slapped his arm half heartedly. “Watch your mouth or I’ll pour it over your head.” she daunted him and he let it go as they got to thier designated spot.

“Donghyuck, Haneul, late as always.” their boss joked, but with a stern look on his face as the two entered the meeting room. Scanning the surroundings, there were new faces around, which could only mean that either someone got fired, or that a new project was about the get started.

As they sat down in their usual seats, Haneul already started going through her papers she prepared in advance, waiting for her boss to start speaking. Then, Hyuck nudged her shoulder to get her attention away from the documents and onto something - or someone - else:

“Look, isn’t that..?” he whispered and she tried to look around as casually as possible. Scanning every face of her colleagues she has already worked with before, and the handful of unknown ones. It took her awhile to get to the person Hyuck was hinting at, but as soon as she did, the stranger was already eyeing Haneul expectingly. The two locked eyes for a brief second, until-

“So, now that we are all present, I wanna get started with the important things. We are starting preparations for a new sales promotion that is planned to launch in spring of 2021. Since our Sales Team here at the HQ was cut short due to personal changes, and also because it is for our biggest customer, we had to ask one of our subsidiaries for backup. Mr. Moon and his Team will support Mr. Lee and Ms. Kang for the project. All the hard facts and details the customer wants have been emailed to you all just as we speak. Roughly, we have to do a new assortment, which the design and product management team have started working on today. To end up, we plan on a small fair at the end of April to round things up and hopefully gain a great margin in turnover.”

Haneul looks at Donghyuck, then at her boss, then back at Donghyuck. Taeil, that Taeil, friend of her brand new roommate, who just happened to have the deepest, most beautiful eyes she has ever looked at, was going to work with her. Actually, not just her, but she was still stunned. Before she could continue her train of thought into a wrong directly, she mentally slapped herself to get back to business. Not now Haneul, don’t fucking fall for this guy you just met a few days ago, she said to herself. But in addition to that, it felt like something was off though. Her Team usually consisted of four people, not only her and Donghyuck, and they have handled projects of this size before.

She clears her throat before speaking at first “What happened with Jinyoung and Yeri? Aren’t they counted into this project?” looking at her boss for clarification. He looked down at his notebook for a second before giving a well formulated answer: “Mr. Park and Ms. Kim have left the company. Just as of today”. Haneul’s and Donghyuck’s mouths turned into an ‘o’ shape at the news. At least now I know why they didn't come to work today, she thought to herself. Her bosses hand motioned towards Taeil and his colleagues, “That being said, i am deeply thankful for Mr. Moon to come in last minute and agreeing on putting his other projects on hold in order to help out here. He has worked in Sales and Marketing for the past six years, and knows what he’s talking about.”

“So, when are we starting with this, Mr. Song? And what about the current project, Haneul and I were about to finish...” Donghyuck asked, clearly curious and concerned at the work load that might be expecting them all.

“This project has top priority from now on. As far as I’m concerned Mr. Lee, only the final calculation is missing for the current project, so you should be able to get that done nonetheless. Since now at the start it’s going to move relatively slow for the first few weeks. The most work will be for and about the fair anyways. I need you both to give your all, this could make or break the following summer fairs and orders they are gonna place.”

Taeil pulls his phone out of his pocket, takes a quick glance at it before he sets it on the meeting desk right infront of him. “We should schedule a meeting for today afternoon. I already discussed with Mr. Song that me and my assistants will have our desks set out in your office. I’m already looking forward to working with everyone here at the HQ.” He smiles around the room, but his eyes stay on Haneul’s for a second longer than intended. 

She just smiled and returned the look. “Likewise, welcome to HQ” she spoke confidently, before returning the word back to her boss, who was giving a brief overview of the things we need for this project so far, and later discussing other topics that are not as important for the sales department. The older one taking her phone out quietly under the table to text the man who was seated just beside her.

She got lost quickly in the conversation over text, getting startled as a unknown number send her a text out of the blue. As soon as she saw the message, she knew who was on the other end of the line

“Are there any questions?” Mr. Song asks, targeting his question at everyone present in the room, and Haneul quickly shuts off her phone and turns her head to look forward. Nobody says anything, a short silence of people nodding their heads in unison. “Also be sure to ask me when things are unclear later on, my door is always open. Everyone back to work now.” he dismissed and the two young co-workers are the first to get out of their seats to head back to their work space. Before leaving the room, the shorter one risked a quick glance back over her shoulder, to find Taeil and his two assistants talking with your boss. She looked away before he could notice her starring and headed out, steps in sync with the taller one.

“Those two assistants look dumb as fuck, not gonna lie” Hyuck says silently as they entered the office again. Haneul let herself fall into her chair just after she slammed her things on the desk which was placed visa vie of Hyuck‘s, right next to the windows.

“Honestly, my biggest concern isn't the assistants or Taeil or the new project but the fact they kicked Jinyoung out. I’m fucking furious about it.” she complained, her blood boiling and her mood being lower than when she got up this morning. “I know it sucks, he was my co-worker as well. He taught me a lot too. But now you are the one who has been here the longest!” he tried to cheer her up while typing away at his keyboard.

Haneul dropped her face down, her forehead making contact with the wooden desk top as she tried to calm down. “Great. More responsibility, love it”

Only managing a quick eye roll and a death glare from Donghyuck before the door swung open and the three faces looking around curiously, Taeil being the first one to take a step into their direction.

“Stop being hungover on your former colleagues being caught fucking. There are worse things and it’s their fault for being so careless and horny. Let’s focus on the important things, shall we?” The short man said, his words being directed at Haneul, since her head was still pressed onto the desk. Oh, he was on thin ice. But she was able to contain her anger, which was surprising, since she is pretty much a loose canon when some talks badly about people she cares for. Hyuck even looking over his screen to check on her.

She said nothing, just lifting her head up and not taking her eyes of the screen while the newcomers where getting their PCs set up. But it didn't take Taeil more than five minutes to speak again:

“I suppose we can hold our meeting now, or are you two busy?”

As the two finished their typing and clicking, they faced the man with the curly brown hair once again.

“I want to say something for myself first. I’m not here to boss you around, we are one team and in this project together. This is new territory for me as well. Both of you have a advantage since you know the customer already, so all I'm asking you is to help me out in order to support you to my best abilities. Mr. Song puts a lot of faith in me and I hope you don't see me as an intruder, replacing the others... even if it’s the case, kind of. Just bare with me, or with us until we get into the flow.” he explained, softly and understanding, looking for a good cooperation no matter the circumstances. The tone of his voice almost made Haneul forget about his stupid words from just a few minutes ago. Again, she caught herself daydreaming and not paying attention to the words he said.

She stoop up from her chair, almost at the same moment when the younger man did the same, walking towards him and holds out her hand to shake his, like they did before in the corridor of her home.

“Welcome to the Sales department then. And lets the this project done, Taeil.”

—

“Hey, are you hungry?” a soft voice asked from outside of Haneul’s room. Doyoungs face peaked through the door, which he pushed open only a few inches to check if she was there. A sigh falls from her lips as she puts her notebook to the side and faces her roommate.

“Yeah I am pretty much starving.” she yawned and the dark haired man took a step into the room, silently watching over the decor of her room. “You’re in luck i just made Tteokbokki.” That was all it took to get the exhausted girl to her feet in an instant. “No need to tell me twice, I’m coming” and he huffed a laugh out of his nose.

Even if the two knew each other for a week max, they felt really comfortable being around each other. They kept out of each others business most times, but when it came to food or grocery shopping, they looked out for each other already, Haneul felt like Doyoung was the model roommate and couldn't imagine living with someone else. Everything flowed so naturally.

“Whats that look on your face for? Long day?” he asked, curiously as the two started to eat the freshly cooked meal.

“I just couldn't sleep properly last night, and half of my department was fired this morning with a new project has been started. I’m just tired.” she explained while shoving the rice cakes into her mouth. “Also, your friend from the other day, Taeil, is working with me and Hyuckie for the project.”

Doyoung choked on his food, Haneul patting his back until he stopped and got enough air into his system again. “Sorry what?”

She just chuckled quietly, but having suspicions about the sudden reaction. “Yeah, he was sent from one of your subsidiaries since he has quite the experience, so I just hope everything goes well until then.”

“No, uhm, please don't take this the wrong way, but Taeil can be a bit... much?”

Haneul furred her eyebrows in confusion, tilting her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

He took a deep breath before he continued talking. “Just, he’s a natural flirt. But if he get too flirty, don't be afraid to shut him down, he’s just... yeah, that’s just Taeil...”

“Don’t worry”, she spoke, almost with too much confidence “I’m not one to shut my mouth. If he gives me a reason to call him out, I will certainly do so.”

[wichols]

Ah! Just saw you’re about to close bingo prompts so lemme see if I could squeeze one in ^~^ Something I’d love to see is the whole “fire exposes our priorities” thing — like maybe one of the themed days in the host club goes wrong and suddenly there’s a fire?? What are each of the members’ first reactions? Love your writing!!

Anon, this prompt. This one got me. I spent many days just sitting and staring at a blank document contemplating my life choices. I seriously almost made this into a Headcanon instead of a one-shot. Like had inspiration not struck with a decent plot it was gonna be headcanon time. But fortunately enough it struck and now you have this monster of a one-shot. I hope you don’t mind that I took them outside of the club room but I just couldn’t get myself to write this as a club room activity. It still has their reactions and I hope you enjoy the fun banter I included in the beginning. I think it is the most fun I have had writing interactions between the hosts. Enjoy!

Burning Intentions (All Host Members)

The last rays of light dipped behind the pine trees plunging the Morinozuka mountain vacation home into darkness. Heavy snowflakes danced between branches and settled silently onto the peaked clusters forming around the surrounding landscape.

“Wow, Takashi, the snow looks so pretty!” Honey beamed with excitement. “I thought Kyo-chan said it was only supposed to snow a little and that looks like more snow than even he predicted. Takashi! What happens if it snows so much that we get stuck here!?!” Honey chirped happily while watching the snow falling outside.

“Mitsukuni.” His eyes shifted from the unfolding scene outside to his cousin.

“I know Takashi! I know. We get more slumber party time!”

Before he could interject the blond-haired boy bounded down the hallway disappearing into his designated room. Voices could be heard floating into the hallway as Mori made his rounds checking in on the other hosts. He had to laugh at the types of conversations he was overhearing. His attention was directed first to the current third-year club members.

“No way in hell.” Haruhi chided the twins.

“We know the way to hell and you are more than welcome to join us on the journey.” They snickered back at her.

“Pass, I will be double checking my door to make sure it is locked tonight. There will be no trio cuddle party. And the last time you pulled that stunt I got no sleep while you bastards slept like the dead.” She scolded.

“Please, we promise to be good this time?” They whine through pouted lips.

“You guys would classify yourselves as good? Need I also remind you of the last time you forced your way into my bed that you suffered from a little ‘morning issue’.” Forming air quotes with her hands.

“I wouldn’t consider our morning issues ‘little’ if that’s what you’re insinuating.”  Hikaru air quoted mocking her back. “Who’s to say that some part of you actually enjoyed our morning surprise? What girl wouldn’t want two sinfully looking men curled up in her bed happy to see her in the morning?”

“A girl with more than two brain cells. Now get out and let me finish unpacking, if I let you stay you will know where I put everything and hide it so I have to wear what you two brought for me.” Pushing them away from the doorframe she slammed and locked the door securing herself inside the room without wandering eyes.

“Hey, Mori-senpai thanks for letting us stay at your cabin! This will be another fun weekend!” Kaoru waved as he watched Mori continue his inspection of the sleeping arrangements.

Mori’s attention was then directed to Kyoya’s foot tapped in an irritating cadence while Tamaki lamented about the twins trying to sleep with Haruhi in her bed. 

“Tamaki, so help me, if you do not give me some space this weekend to breathe air I will suffocate you with my laptop charger before we leave. Not only that but I will drop your body off a sheer cliff, never to be found again. Do I make myself clear?” His fingers continued to push keys down in rapid succession while his eyes watched Tamaki step outside his room. 

“Crystal.” Tamaki squeaked while tiptoeing out of the room.

Just as Mori was about to turn and head towards the kitchen Honey swung open his door, revealing his pink bunny onesie, declaring, “ jammies and coco time in the solarium!” The short host giggled as he rushed past the others, with Usa-chan in tow, heading towards the east wing of the cabin.

“You heard Honey-senpai! Jammies and coco are waiting!” Tamaki began to fling an assortment of clothes from several drawers looking for a suitable pair of pajamas before rushing into and out of the bathroom following close behind Honey.

“Hika, if we are quick we can make Haruhi wear the special set we brought her!” Sharing equally devious looks the twins went rushing towards their room only to be thwarted by Haruhi emerging from her room in a pair of bland colored sweat pants and an oversized hoodie.

“Too late.” She smiled victoriously at her comfortable state of dress.

“Oh god it’s worse than we thought!” Each twin gripping the other in support of their disgust.

“Better get dressed sooner rather than later or else Honey-senpai will finish off the coco before you even get to the solarium.”

“He wouldn’t.” Pausing to wonder further.  “Would he?” Karou questioned.

Arching a brow, she flashed them an evil grin. “I wouldn’t put it past him.”

“HURRY Hika! We have to get there before he drinks all the coco!” A slam of the door and clamoring bodies could be heard shuffling around in search of pajamas.

“Mori-senpai, I hate to bother but could you show me the way to the solarium? I have a feeling it will take the twins longer than expected to get ready.”

“Sure, follow me.” Walking in tandem they quietly made their way through the main living area and down another hallway.

“Mori-senpai?”

“Hn?”

“Why do you have a glass solarium attached to the cabin?”

Lifting a brow, he glanced down at the female host. Finding no ulterior motives written on her face he began, “vacation for the Morinozuka’s means spending a substantial amount of time reflecting and meditating. By building the solarium we are not limiting ourselves by the weather but retain the ability to connect with nature through all types of seasons. In this case, Mitsukuni suggested using the sunken seating and fire pit to watch the snow falling.”  

“Cool idea in theory but isn’t it dangerous to have a fire going inside an enclosed space?”

Ruffling the top of her head he gestured towards Honey and Tamaki already wrapped up in blankets, snuggled deep into the cozy couches surrounding the small fire pit built in the center of the room.

“Woah.”  Her eyes sparkled as she soaked in the unique view of the room. Walking wordlessly to the edge of the room she tentatively placed her palms against the cooled glass. “It’s like I am outside without being outside. Like I am still a part of nature.” Had it not been snowing there would have been no way she couldn’t distinguish where the glass ended. “I would love to be in this room when it’s bright and sunny!” Face beaming with delight at the house’s owner.  

Leaving the three hosts to enjoy their time together, he made his way back to the west wing to change into his own pajamas but not before he was passed by a pair of squabbling brothers in matching sleepwear following an unusually empty-handed Kyoya. Making quick work he changed and joined back up with the other hosts huddled around the fire pit. Mug in hand he took the open seat between Mitsukuni and Kyoya.

“Takashi, this was such a good idea! The coco is so yummy!! Even yummier when sipped in front of the fire!” Honey cheered.

The other hosts nodded and hummed in agreement, mesmerized by juxtaposition of the snowstorm raging on the other side of the glass and the light whipping of flames of the fire, comfortable silence fell between them as they listened to the crack and pop of the burning wood.

“I have an idea.” The feminine voice broke through the silence. “Mori-senpai said that his family built this to use for meditation. Why don’t we all start our weekend off right by allowing for some quiet reflection?” Posing the request to the rest of the group.

“Boring!” The twins chimed as they nuzzled into either side of Haruhi’s neck. “How about we pre-game for tonight’s cuddle party and start it now?”

“No thanks. The only cuddling that is happening this weekend is right now and it’s between myself and Usa-chan that was offered to me.”  

“Splendid idea Haruhi. Though instead of getting in the usual meditative position how about we give ourselves some space on the couches and focus on the sky above us? It’s not every day that we have the opportunity to watch the snow fall in such a whimsical manner.” Kyoya in pleasant agreement, for he himself was in desperate need of some quiet time after Tamaki’s outbursts from earlier.

Pushing the two bodies closest to her away, each member settled back into their comfortable quiet while craning their necks to stare into the flurry of the darkened sky. All that filled the room was the ambient noise of the crackling fire, the host’s steadied breathing, and the low howl of the wind outside. The serene atmosphere soothed the aching souls that sought the refuge of the remote cabin away from the bustling demands of the outside world. Minutes passed as a singular loud pop of the fire caused their bodies to flinch and settle back into a quiet calm.

Eyes still swept up in the dancing snow, Hikaru’s voice broke the silence. “What smells like burning?"

“Shh.” Haruhi shushed.

“But really something smells like it is burning.”

"Well, we are sitting by a fire..." Kyoya said in his usual sarcastic tone.

"No this smells different less like burning wood and more like, more like,  burning fabric..." Hikaru audibly making sniffing sounds.

Everyone’s heads snapped to the source of the unpleasant smell. A look of horror flashed across their faces to the growing flame of Haruhi’s blanket. Momentarily stunned at the realization of their on fire maiden the friends quickly jumped into action.

“HARUHI YOU’RE ON FIRE!” Hikaru screamed while grabbing one of her arms trying to drag her body out from under the blanket.

“Here let me help! Let me help!” Joining in on his brother’s efforts, Kaoru pushed the remaining part of the blanket off her torso and let it pool in a heap of flaming fabric next to the fire pit.

Struggling against the ‘helping hands’ Haruhi flailed her legs desperately trying to regain her sense of direction. “Knock it off guys! You’re pulling too hard!”

“No! Usa-chan! Someone save Usa-chan!” Honey pleaded.

Hearing his cousin’s desperate plea Mori jumped across the open fire pit and snatched up the falling pink bunny before it tumbled onto the pile of growing flames.

“DON’T WORRY HARUHI DADDY WILL SAVE YOU!!” Springing into action Tamaki grabbed the offending blanket and sprinted through the solarium towards the front door.

“TAMA-CHAN! TAMA-CHAN! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?? YOU’RE GONNA CATCH TAKASHI’S WHOLE HOUSE ON FIRE!” Honey yelled as he followed closely behind the frantic host king. While Mori trailed behind clutching Usa-chan, stomping out a small trail of flames.

“Well this night just got more idiotic than I ever anticipated.” Kyoya grumbled. “Haruhi are you hurt in any way?” He asked looking at the shaken woman caught between the tangled arms of the twins.

“Seriously guys let me go. No, Hikaru, for the last time, my legs did not burn off. Kaoru, do something, besides velcroing yourself around my waist.” She droned. “I’m fine Kyoya-senpai, really. I didn’t even realize it was my blanket that caught fire until Hikaru screamed it into my face.”

“Sorry about that. It was the first thing that popped into my head. But really you should be falling into my arms because I was the one that actually saved you.”

“Don’t forget that I helped too!” Kaoru squeezing even tighter around Haruhi’s waist.

Before she could respond, a proud Tamaki walked gallantly back into the solarium declaring, how he ‘vanquished the beast that tried to harm his Haruhi.’

“What exactly did you do with it?” She asked.

“I figured that since it was snowing outside and snow is frozen water, and really fire belongs outside. So, I tossed the on fire blanket out into the snow.” Puffing his chest proudly at his logical explanation.  

Honey stormed past Tamaki, flopping himself back on the couch. “Yeah, but not before Takashi had to stomp out all the little spots of burning blanket that you left behind in your wake of heroism. Had he not been following you, Tama-chan, you would have caught something else on fire.” He rebuked. Glancing around his eyes went wide. “Usa-chan? Did someone save Usa-chan??”

“Mitsukuni.” Mori approached him with Usa-chan hanging limply in his outstretched hand.

“Thanks, Takashi!” Beaming brightly at Usa-chan’s savior.

Finally peeling herself out of the twins hold, Haruhi huffed. “Too much excitement for one night, I’m going to bed.”

“We’ll come with you to make sure you make it back to your room ok.” The twins offered.  

“Kyoya-senpai.” She glared over her shoulder.

“Hikaru. Kaoru. I believe it is in your best interest to let Haruhi go back to her room, alone.” Giving his darkest Shadow King look as they sat back down onto the couch.

An audible gulp could be heard by all as Haruhi left the room. 

Letting his look soften, Kyoya noted the various expressions on the other’s faces making a mental note to himself. Some people in this room just revealed a lot more about themselves than they possibly ever intended. But two things I know for sure now is that one, Tamaki is still an overreacting idiot and two, there are those still sitting around the fire that are still madly in love with Haruhi.

[hannahmcne]

Lost on the Case - Chapter 1

Alya blew into the building five minutes before she was late and disappeared into her office. The cherry-stained door had absorbed all the warmth from the morning sun hitting it, so it was toasty inside her office. She sat down her thermos of hot coffee on her desk and shuffled through the stack of finished assignments on her desk. A smile spread across her face.

At the beginning of the month, her boss Celine, or Carly, as everyone called her, had given her a stack of thirty-two assignments because: "I'm getting tired of you always begging me for more stories or clocking out early because there's nothing to do." Now, three days before the end of the month, she was done.

Smiling, she hefted the stack up and wandered to Carly's office. Alex was just leaving when she walked up. He laughed and held the door open for her. "Wow, Alya. We're not going to have any more news to cover if you keep this up." He chuckled.

"Heck no, we're not." Alya agreed with pride. "Did you two just get done making out?" She winked.

Alex turned bright red. "Ah! Um, no, no I just needed to tell her to order more supplies for the printer downstairs."

"Uh huh, sure." Alya rolled her eyes cheerfully. "Whatever you say, Boss."

Alex turned a deeper shade of red that reminded Alya of her old classmate Nathaniel, and then shut the door behind her. Alya chucked. Alex and Carly weren't actually dating, but everyone had been teasing that they were since before Alya had arrived.

Alex was the production manager. He oversaw the printing and distribution of the paper. He was also the person everyone went to if they needed public-domain files for any past stories or information because he had connections in city hall and in the police department. Carly was the brains and genius behind the design and formatting of the paper and its accompanying magazines. She was the one who assigned the reporters to certain cases and oversaw their work. AKA Alya's superior.

Alya cleared her throat politely and waited for the slim, dark-haired girl at the desk to glance up at her. Carly was fifty-seven with pretty grey streaks in her brown hair. She had grey eyes and a small mouth and nose. She was shorter than the average(you couldn't tell when she was sitting down), and so skinny that she could squeeze underneath Alya's desk and hide. Alya knew this because Carly had pranked everyone's office last April Fool's day, but since Alya had come in early, so she hadn't been able to finish booby-trapping her office. She'd hidden under the desk until Alya had pulled her chair out and spotted her.

Carly finally looked away from a set of color swabs she was examining for a magazine and saw Alya holding her stack. She groaned. "Don't you dare tell me, Alya Lahiffe, that you finished thirty-two different individual assignments?"

"Guilty." Alya chuckled, putting the stack down on Carly's desk. "Do you have anything else for me to do?"

Carly sighed and picked up the first two portfolios on top of Alya's stack. "Great work, as usual." She muttered. Carly sighed and set the folders down on top of her desk. "Okay Alya, I do have one more file. I usually give it to a more advanced reporter, but I think you've got this. It's the hardest file we have on record though."

Alya's breath caught as Carly opened a drawer and scraped the bottom. She pulled out a yellow folder with a red and black sticker on the front. Alya drew in a sharp breath as Carly handed it over.

"The Ladybug file?" Alya asked hesitantly. She didn't dare reach out to touch it.

Carly nodded. Alya took it reverently as a bright, blinding smile spread across her cheeks. "Thank you so much! This is such an honor… I don't know what to say!" Alya took a few steps away from the drawer.

"Now, hold on," Carly said, holding up a hand. She pointed to a chair in front of the desk. "Pop a squat. There are a few things I've got to explain."

Alya took a seat in the chair. Her heart was racing. Carly took a deep breath. "As you know, the Ladybug file was started back when Ladybug and Chat Noir announced they were taking a quick retreat for health reasons and Queen Bee, Rena Rouge, and Carapace took over protecting the city. Since then, we've been trying to root out where they went. It's one of the few mystery quests the department has. Most of them are just 'interview and report'. No one has ever gotten very far on the case. Every year, before we acknowledge the disappearance and honor the cities' current heroes on Heroes Day, I give it someone to see if they can find anything. Some years it comes back a little fuller, other years information is disapproved, and it comes back lighter. You're innovative and resourceful. Let's see how much you can find out." Carly spread her hands.

Alya swallowed. "And, if I don't?" She asked.

Carly shrugged. "Well, just me giving you the file means you have to write something about the disappearance of the dream team for the holiday. What usually happens is the reporters poke around, and if they don't find anything, then they highlight some of the things she and Chat did for the city and do some speculations on when she'll return. Hero's Day is in two months."

Alya swallowed. "Okay." She agreed. She stood up and walked backwards to the door, keeping her eyes on Carly as her supervisor returned to her desk work.

"One more thing, Alya." Carly said as Alya set her hand on the knob. "There are no extensions for this project. While it's possible to be reassigned, I only open the file this time of year because we can't afford to spend resources on this year-round. You have two months, and then after Heroes Day, you will need to return the folder. Understood?"

"Understood." Alya nodded with a dry throat.

"Good. There's not much else for you to do, and I know you're more comfortable working at home, so feel free to clock out early if you want. I'll call if we get anything else in, but your coworkers have priority now that you have that." Carly opened a pdf on her computer and turned her attention away from Alya. Alya swallowed hard and decided to leave before Carly changed her mind.

"Thank you, thank you, Carly." She gasped as she turned the knob. "I swear I won't let you down."

Carly nodded distractedly and waved her off. Alya quickly escaped and shut the door behind her. Then, she tucked the file under her arm, balled up her fists, and squealed. Everyone in the vicinity turned to her, but she ignored their questioning looks as she dashed out of the building.

The Ladybug file… the Ladybug file! This was an office legend, and part of the entire reason why she was here today. If she hadn't first started reporting on Ladybug back in Ecole….

It felt good to be back in the same territory she'd started in; Paris's heroes. She took the subway back home and dashed up the stairs to her apartment.

"Nino! Nino!" She called, hoping her husband hadn't left to his record label already. Unfortunately, the apartment was empty. No biggie. She pulled out her phone and dialed his number as she ran into her room to hunt down her laptop. He didn't answer the first time, so she dialed again, and he answered on the third ring.

"Sup Alya?" He asked. "I had to leave my meeting. What's up?"

"You'll never believe what just happened to me!" Alya squealed.

"What?" He asked.

Alya waved her hands even though he couldn't see them. "I got the ladybug file!" She shrieked. "Carly said she thinks I'm resourceful enough for it! Me!"

"Wow, that's super Alya." Alya could hear Nino smiling through the phone.

"I know! I can't let her down. I figure if anyone can figure out where our favorite cat and bug team went, it's probably the Ladyblog owner, right?" Alya asked as she fired up her laptop and traced a finger over the ladybug sticker on the front of the portfolio.

"Not to mention the first civilian Ladybug trusted enough to give a miraculous to, right?" Nino teased.

"Right," Alya said, moving her hand to finger the fox-tail necklace against her neck. After Ladybug had left the city, Alya had been given her miraculous full-time, along with Chloe and Nino. Trixx, her Kwami, was asleep in a pocket that she'd sewn on the inside of her jacket. Marinette had taught her how to back in Ecole.

Marinette… and suddenly she was sad. Thinking about her old best friend really put a damper on her mood. She swallowed.

"Hey Nino, I think I'm going to drop by Tom and Sabine's to get something to eat." She told him.

"Let's make it a date. Can I meet you there for lunch?" Nino asked. Alya could tell he needed to get back to his meeting.

Alya giggled. "I would love that." She said honestly.

"I love you, Ren." He whispered.

"And I love you, Carapace."

They chuckled together and then said goodbye. Alya set her phone on the dresser in her and Nino's bedroom and studied her reflection. It was just Marinette's parents… no big deal. She exhaled and decided to quickly change her clothes.

Thirty minutes later, she was wearing a dark pair of blue jeans and a breezy white shirt. She redid her makeup and put in a pair of white earrings. Then, she scolded herself for being silly. It was Marinette's parents. They adored all of her old friends. She found her purse with her wallet and identification inside and took her phone with her as she left to go to Marinette's old place, leaving the ladybug file on the couch beside her laptop.

Almost ten years ago, a horrible tragedy had befallen Alya's classmates. Marinette Dupain-Cheng had been kidnapped while on a walk, only a block and a half from her house. It had been just after evening hours, and no witnesses had been around. All the police had was a foggy video from a street cam, where you could see a man in all black jump out from where he'd been hiding behind a car, slap a cloth over her mouth, and then drag her unconscious body into the backseat. They'd tried tracking the vehicle to no avail. It had disappeared through some of the slums of Paris and had only reappeared once briefly while going through an intersection. Even now, they had no idea where the car had gone with her. Marinette was listed as a missing person. She'd be almost twenty-nine if she were still around. Maybe she'd have married Adrien Agreste.

Alya hailed a taxi to take her to the bakery and climbed in. She put on a playlist to distract herself from her thoughts of her old best friend and decided to glance through last year's Hero's Day publication for ideas. After about ten minutes of stop-and-go traffic, she looked up and spotted a limo in the lane beside them as they turned into the heart of Paris. 'Adrien used to drive around in limos like that', she thought.

Three weeks before Marinette had been kidnapped, Adrien Agreste had committed suicide. Mr. Agreste's assistant, Natalie Sancour, had gone upstairs to wake him and found him missing. They tried to find him using his phone, but it was plugged in beside his bed. Nothing was gone from the room and the security cameras didn't show anyone leaving. Then, one of the gardeners made a horrible discovery. Adrien's body was on the grounds underneath his third-story bedroom. Adrien had opened the window in his bathroom, closed it behind him once he made his way outside, and jumped to his death on the grounds below. Police found his fingerprints around the glass and a suicide note in his pocket. Alya had never been given the opportunity to read it, but she suspected it said something along the lines of: 'I hate the way I'm imprisoned, my father hates me, no one knows anything about me and I feel alone.'

Just a hunch.

At any rate, in three weeks the class lost two of the happiest, most positive, go-lucky kids in the class. They despaired for months, but eventually moved on. Alya had survived by burying herself underneath her work and using her achievements as shields from the pain. Awful strategy? Sure. Effective? Absolutely.

Today, Alya was a reporter for Parisian Culture, a top magazine, and paper headquartered in Paris. The Ladyblog had died off mostly, though she still uploaded theories and hunches from time to time. Nino released albums and mixtapes for both other artists and himself. All in all, it was a good life.

The taxi let her out on the corner of the street, besides the park where Adrien used to have photoshoots. Tom and Sabine's boulangerie hadn't changed. Not even the gold lettering of the shop's windows had faded. It still used the same design Marinette had created when she was thirteen and had the same flooring, smell, and reputation as the best in Paris.

She pushed the door open, relishing the sound of the bell announcing her presence, and smiled as she wove her way through patrons waiting for their owners. Only Tom was behind the counter. He hastily rang up orders and brought fresh pastries up from behind the counter. Alya wondered where Sabine was.

Tom was a little older, a little rounder, with more than a few grey hairs in his beard and hair. He still smelt like bread and gave the best bear hugs in the world though. The years had not been kind though, and his back was sorer than it used to be, with every laugh and smile etching a new wrinkle. It pained Alya's heart to watch him and Sabine grow old.

The bakery finally began to clear out. Tom noticed her standing among the crowd and shot a smile her way. He quickly finished up and gestured her forward.

"Hello, Alya! It's been a while," He said.

"It has," Alya agreed. "Where's Sabine?"

A pained smile crossed Tom's face. Alya felt her smile drop as Tom reached up and scratched the back of his head.

"Listen, Alya, I know this will disappoint you, but…" Tom sighed as he removed his apron. He folded it quickly and laid it on a weighted scale. It weighed about two-oh-seven grams. "Sabine and I have been talking." Tom continued. "It's been almost ten years since Marinette disappeared, and that means in less than two weeks she's going to be labeled dead by Paris law. Sabine and I are old, and it hurts us to keep holding out hope she'll come back at this point." Tom raked a hand through his salt and pepper hair. "Sabine is upstairs now, cleaning out her room. We've decided it's time. She's getting a head start on the small things, and I'll help out with dismantling furniture later."

"Oh," Was all Alya could say. She twisted her hands nervously. "Do you guys want some help? I'm off work for tonight – I'm supposed to meet Nino here, but after that I'm free."

"That would be helpful," Tom said, his eyes full of gentle tears. "You could probably take a few things of hers too if you wanted."

"Thanks, Tom," Alya said, patting his hand. "Can I head up then?"

"Yes, feel free," Tom agreed. The bell over the door jingled and a group of students from Alya's old school wandered in, chattering excitedly. Tom straightened up and blinked his tears back. Alya hovered for a moment to relive memories, then cleared out and walked to the stairs to head up into the apartment.

Up on the third floor, Sabine was surrounded by hangers and clothes. A trash basket and a box of tissues sat on the floor beside her, along with a large cardboard box partially full of Marinette's clothes. Sabine looked up, surprised when she saw Alya.

"Hello, Alya," She greeted. "What are you doing up here?"

"Tom let me up. I asked if you guys needed help." Alya said. She sat down and began to remove clothes from hooks. Sabine sniffled.

"That's nice of you dear. This job is a bit much on an old woman like me."

Alya didn't say anything.

They worked through Marinette's closet. A few things, like scarves and gloves and boot toppers, Sabine pawned off to Alya. They used one of Marinette's bags to hold all the items.

"Don't you want some of these things?" Alya asked.

Sabine shook her head. "The memories are a bit, ah, much." She admitted.

Marinette's room was dusty. No one had been up here for at least seven years. Alya looked up at Marinette's old bed. Even from a distance, the trapdoor that led to her balcony had grime blocking it closed. Odd shapes strung the steps down through the dust. Alya smiled at the sight. She could still imagine Marinette half climbing, half falling down.

Alya cleaned out Marinette's backpack, which included all her schoolwork from years ago. The textbooks had long ago been taken back to the school, but Marinette's notes from literature, science, math, and her advanced design classes, it was all here. Alya had forgotten how her friend used to dot the 'I' in her name with a heart… the memory made Alya reach for a tissue too.

Alya cleaned out the desk while Sabine took the computer, lamp, chargers and other things and put them in a box to be donated or sold. Alya tried to burn the Adrien Agreste heart collage into her brain before Sabine tore it down. Even at nineteen, Marinette had been over the moon for that boy.

Into a box went patterns, buttons, lace, needles, pins, and zippers. Odd bits of cloth, thread, and beads followed. Tucked in between the chaise and the dresser was a half-moon shaped box Alya remembered very well. She smiled and tipped the box on its side just like Marinette had kept it in her workspace. It popped open and Alya glanced inside, expecting to see Marinette's worn, old diary.

The magic box was empty.

Alya frowned. "Sabine?" She asked. "Do you have Marinette's diary?"

Sabine looked up from where she was packing up the Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls Marinette used to entertain Manon with. She frowned at the magic box in thought.

"No." She shook her head. "I haven't seen it."

Alya looked back down in confusion. Marinette couldn't have had it on her the night of the kidnapping, right? She never took that diary anywhere. She wouldn't have just randomly decided to take it on a walk with her, right?

Tom called upstairs that it was lunchtime. Sabine thanked Alya for her help, and Alya said that, if she didn't mind, she was going to stay up for a few more minutes. Sabine gave her a sad smile and a nod and disappeared down the trapdoor staircase.

Alya began to search. She looked under the bed and in the chaise and all over Marinette's work area and couldn't find any trace of the diary. It had vanished. Her heart began to pound as she examined everything in the room. It seemed to be exactly the way Marinette had left it. But on second glance, a few minute things fell out of place with the picture Alya had in her head.

The diary was missing… and so was the small picture of her and Marinette that used to hang on the wall over Marinette's workstation. An heirloom ring that Marinette had gotten from her grandma wasn't on the jewelry stand where it usually was, and while Marinette's pink flower handbag that matched her shirt was there, the white beaded purse that Marinette had gotten from a flea market and hand-beaded was missing.

"Alya?" Nino called from downstairs. "Are you still up there?"

"Coming!" Alya called back in a strangled tone. She ripped her eyes away from the room and pulled open the trap door. Nino stood at the bottom with one hand on the railing like he had been about to climb up. He frowned when he saw her.

"Babe, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." He asked.

Alya stumbled down the step and sat down a few feet from the bottom. "Her diary is missing." She told Nino. "And a couple of other things. They're missing."

"Missing?" Tom asked. "We haven't touched that room since we helped her put it together.

"I know," Alya muttered. "They're gone though. They just… vanished."

Nino helped her down and watched her sit on the stairs. "They have to be up there somewhere." He realized. "What else is missing?"

"A photo of us," Alya replied immediately. "Her grandma's ring and that white bag she used for Easter and Christmas."

"Maybe she sold the bag," Nino suggested. "And the photo could have fallen. And the ring..." He paused. "I don't know. Maybe it just fell off the stand and rolled somewhere."

Alya furrowed her brow. "I guess." She muttered. "But... what about her diary? That didn't ever go anywhere. She guarded that thing almost as much as she guarded her purse at school."

Sabine patted her arm. "We'll probably find it as we clean more things out." She decided. "Let's not worry on it. Now, Come and have lunch with us."

Nino leaned down and helped her to her feet. Alya followed the other adults to the table, feeling a little tingle of excitement and worry in her spine. Maybe it was just her reporter vibe on steroids, but she swore she could smell a mystery coming.

**This story is available up to Chapter Seven on AO3 and FanFiction.Net.**

[sope-and-shine]

Christmas Special: Day 12

-> Pairing: Jin and Reader (ft. Taehyung) -> BNHA!AU // Hero!AU // Fluffy  -> Word Count: 2.7k -> Summary: When your costume design for your winter suit isn’t what you asked for and no one is answering your requests to have it made correctly, at least you have a friend to protect you from the cold. -> Warning: Minor Character death // catcalling // suggestive and mild language

A/N: Taehyung’s girlfriend in this story is definitely not Admin Belle. Not at all. You’re crazy.

Ever since you were little, you dreamed of becoming a hero just like your brother: Tidal wave. He’s one of the current Top 10 heroes in the country - Top 50 in the world - and has saved over thousands of people! You remember when he was starting out as a hero in training, the days where he would come home and practice in the backyard and break another vase your grandmother kept lying around on the porch. Even with the training he received he still had a long way to go, but overtime, you saw the skills he acquired to become a better version of himself for others, and you watched him grow into the hero you know today.

And that one summer evening when you were 10, and he was out on patrol for the night, he had become your sole guardian without even knowing until he received the call from the hospital. You were finishing up your homework in you room when you heard the banging on the stairs, and when you got up to see what it was you’d found your grandmother lying at the bottom of the stairs. You called for an ambulance with tears in your eyes as you willed her to wake up and just hold on until help could arrive, but she passed before they could get her into a hospital room. You had been heartbroken and almost completely cleaned out of tears when your brother had turned up, but seeing Taehyung rush in with his hero costume on in the same panic you had been in, you couldn’t help but burst into tears once more. You remember throwing yourself into his embrace in an attempt to comfort yourself, but you can also remember how he held you just as tightly in an attempt to comfort himself as well.

It’s been 5 years since then, and the both of you have grown a lot. Taehyung secured his spot on the Top 10 list, he’s enrolled in college, he learned how to bake 4 batches of cookies in 2 hours without burning your house down, and he met a girl. You were surprised when he decided 3 years ago he still wanted to continue his education in case the situation should occur that he needs to retire from hero work, and you completely supported his decision since he’s always been supportive of you. 

What you never counted on was him meeting Ara. 

Admittedly, you were skeptical at first, being nothing that you would have expected from Tae’s previous relationships - then again, that’s probably why they’ve lasted more than 6 months at this point. She wasn’t mean or anything, but she was much different than any of the other girls. See, most of the girls Taehyung has ever dated have been a bit ditsy, to say the least; Ara was blunt and to the point about what she wanted. Most of these girls had super flashy powers that locked your brother into their grasps; Ara had nothing special about her except for her wit, charm, and her strange obsession with comics and video games that also captured your brother’s heart. The other girls treated you very kindly when they would meet you, but they were just too caught up in his looks to actually pull you into the equation. They wanted his attention to always be on them, and they usually left after they realized they wouldn’t be Taehyung’s main priority while he had you. 

But Ara was a total 180 from them.

When he mentioned he took care of his younger sister to her, she immediately demanded to meet you. And when she showed up before you had decided to leave your Toothless onsie from How To Train You Dragon with the ears and tail attached, she vowed that she’d only continue dating him if she got to cuddle you - his “precious and adorable little sister” - when she came over to visit. Dates to the amusement park became a group trip where he was the third wheel instead of you, because his girlfriend loved both of you - but you always teased that she loved you more. She took on the role of a female figure in your life that Taehyung couldn’t fill after your Grandmother’s passing, and that’s probably what made Taehyung fall in love with her even more. They’d seen you off to your first date together, they’d watched your first heartbreak together, and they were there to celebrate your graduation from middle school together. 

And when it came time, they helped you prepare yourself for your first year at the Big Hit Academy For Bulletproof Youths.

This academy was for the big leagues, and it was the same school your brother had attended at your age to become the amazing superhero he is today. Everyone you knew wanted to go to school here, and almost every Top Hero in the country studied at this prestigious school to get to where they are. You had every intention to be just like them, and you spent everyday training with your fellow classmates to ensure that you’d make your brother as proud as he made you.

You excelled in the classroom, always studying when you got the chance and even texting Ara for help with anything you were unsure of. In training, you always made sure to take note of your surroundings and study your opponent before you made a move, and that wit and quick thinking you have are what keep you at the top of your game. But most importantly, you always made sure to keep in the good graces of your fellow classmates. You could get as far as you wanted, but if you didn’t keep connections, then you wouldn’t get anywhere in this world. Taehyung was very specific when he gave you tips to stay above water in a school like the one you were attending, and he was very specific that this was the one piece of advice you couldn’t ignore. As always, he was right to do so.

Now, as the summer turns into fall, it’s time that everyone gets their upgraded costumes for the winter. You remember designing these costumes with Ara. She insisted that she be the one to help you, and that Taehyung would be no fun about your creative desires since he insists on a “dress check” before you leave the house every morning. Taehyung himself was not thrilled to be locked out of the room while the two of you worked on the designs, but something Ara said to him while you were working was enough to get him to sit on the living room couch with a pout as he angrily watched Finding Nemo instead. His pink hair and childish ways would make anyone think that he were the child of the house instead of you, but with Ara’s baby blue hair and her own childish attitude to go with his, there was no doubt they were a match made in heaven. 

The costume you wear now was one that made everyone turn their heads. Not for its beauty or intricacy, but because you looked like a volleyball player with a tool belt and a stick taller than you. Unlike your brother, you had a genetic mutation with your quirk. Instead of the water manipulation that your brother had, you could manipulate anything; You had telekinesis. Nothing new, but powers weren’t always something special. It was how you used said powers that made you a good hero. The simple shirt and shorts concept made sure you were comfortable and wouldn’t be constricted by your costume. Your tool belt gave you extra tools in case you found yourself in a situation where you couldn’t manipulate anything else. Your ‘stick’ as everyone referred to it was actually retractable, and you kept it on you much longer than just at school. Whenever the situation came that you would manipulate yourself to float for a few seconds, you could extend your stick to push yourself or the danger away with a distance in between. But should it fail, you had your knee and elbow pads to take some of the damage.

Even so, you had faith that your costume design for the winter would be a hit compared to the one you wear now. So when you pull it out to find that it was less clothing than what you wore now, you were shocked. Your new costume was supposed to be a pair of black harem baggy joggers with pockets on your thighs, white knee pads to go on top, and a chain long enough that you could also use for long distance attacks. Your shirt was supposed to be a white short sleeve with a black cropped jacket with a fur lining, and a pair of white elbow pads to go with it. 

What you pulled out was nothing that you would have ever put on your design sheet, and you know for a fact you didn’t. They had made you another pair of black shorts with a chain connected to it and mint green knee pads, your shirt was nowhere to be seen - only the cropped jacket with fur - and red elbow pads. Your more conventional snow boots weren’t even in the case you received, just a pair of dainty heeled boots instead. To say you were mortified was an understatement, and you were not about to put the monstrosity on. 

You raise your hand and gain the attention of your half asleep teacher, “Mr. Min! They’ve made my costume wrong! I can’t wear this for winter, I’ll freeze faster than water!”

“You can file for them to replace it with the correct one, but you’ll have to wear it for training in the meantime.” He sighs, pulling the forms out of the top drawer of his desk without even blinking an eye,

Now, almost two weeks into December and snow lying on the ground, you were still stuck with the same costume you’ve filed to be replaced 7 times already. Your friends had been entertained the first few times you were forced to wear the monstrosity during your classes, but as the weeks drug on and you’d be starting your internship at an agency in a few days, they started to feel bad that nobody was answering your requests for the costume change. They were starting to get as upset as you were, and Taehyung was probably the most upset by this. He saw your costume during a festival, and he was ready to beat your ass and Ara’s for keeping it from him. 

“How could you let that go?!” Taehyung demands, gesturing to you and your provocative costume while glaring at his just as equally confused girlfriend.

Ara was not about to go down for a crime she did not commit, “I didn’t do this! I helped her design a wholesome costume that God, Jesus, and Mr. Rodgers would approve of! This is blasphemy!” 

The two continue their conversation, Ara swearing on God and doughnuts that she would never let you wear anything like that until you were at least 18. You’re classmates are left in confusion, “These are your care-takers?”

“Yeah...they are…” You sigh, your arms wrapped around yourself.

But now you were at the point where you just had to suck it up, no matter how much you hated it. Thankfully, you had at least one friend joining you in the field, even if Jin did make dad jokes at the worst times.

“How do you get a squirrel to like you? Act like a nut!” Jin says, bursting into his laugh that sounds way too close to a windshield wiper. He was a gravity manipulator, so you both thought interning together would be a good chance to help each other expand on your quirks. Only now, you regret having his bright demeanor when you just want to curl into a ball. “Wait wait wait, I’ve got another one...Why don’t eggs tell jokes?”

“Why don’t egg-“ “They’d crack each other up!” He yells, interrupting you before you could ask why. He laughs at himself until he catches your bored expression, “What’s wrong? You usually like my jokes.”

You sigh, “Don’t get me wrong, Jin. I love your jokes, but I’m not exactly in the best of moods right now.”

“That’s why I started to tell you my jokes!” He defends. When you just shrug, he takes a look at your dainty costume compared to his own long sleeved, long pants, and large coat that still allowed him to move freely as he needed to. You looked ten times more miserable than he did. “Your costume must really be uncomfortable.”

“It’s below freezing and I’m wearing shorts with a crop top. What do you think?”  You spit with no regard for his feelings.

“Sorry.” He apologizes, looking away to the path ahead of you. You sigh, “No, I’m sorry. You were only trying to help and I was rude for no reason.”

As you both get back to your patrol, you turn the corner and approach a shop that’s crowded by a group of men outside. One of them catches sight of you, “Hey, cutie! You looking to warm up with someone special this year?”

“Such a pretty thing~ Why don’t you come inside and I’ll buy you a nice warm drink?” Another jests, looking at every piece of you except for your face.

“A drink for me? You boys are really something else nowadays~ I hate to break it to you fellas, but I’m spoken for already!” Jin calls back with an award winning smile. He shrugs off his coat and throws it over your shoulders, followed by his arm that pulls you as close to him as he can manage without breaking the happy facade he’s putting up, “Good luck finding someone more beautiful than me!”

The men look disgusted and confused, but they decide to ignore the both of you as Jin leads you far away. You’re almost back to your agency when you finally speak up again, “Thanks Jin.”

“It’s the holiday season, and all they can think about is shouting obscenely at women. If I saw anyone shout at my mother or my future daughter like that, then I would have decked him square in the mouth.” He admits, sounding like a completely different person than you had just witnessed, “I just figured you would like it better if there wasn’t any confrontation at all.”

“Well, you were right. I can’t wait to get out of this costume and into my sweater.” You sigh, already seeing the agency doors at the end of the block. You look up to Jin out of the corner of your eye, “But I did enjoy the looks on their faces when you thanked them for their offer.”

“And I gave up that offer to continue our patrol together. Honestly, I think someone owes me a meal.” He suggests. He turns to you with a shy smile and squeezes your shoulder a little, “Maybe I could take you out after this?”

“I’d love to, but I have dinner planned tonight with my brother and his girlfriend.” You say. Jin looks a little disappointed, and you can’t help but smile, “But I know Ara wouldn’t mind feeding an extra mouth.”

Jin looks happy, but a sudden thought has him looking concerned, “And your brother?”

“He’ll get over it when I tell him about the date you gave up for me.” You shrug.

And you were right about that indeed. When you showed up at your door with Jin next to you - both of you wrapped in your coats and his arm over your shoulder - Taehyung was ready to brawl if you wouldn’t have sent a warning text to Ara. She had her arms wrapped around your brothers torso to keep him from moving without her, effectively slowing him down enough for you to get Jin inside and showing him the house. (You would have shown him your room where you kept your gaming PC, but Taehyung would actually murder both you and Ara if it meant no more boi.) By the time you got to the dinner table, Taehyung had calmed down enough to listen to your day and warm up to Jin just enough to have an actual conversation instead of an interrogation. 

He liked him. You could tell.

And you weren’t surprised when they became the best of friends at the next dinner you invited him to.

[quarantingz]

oop mind dump(!), half-baked thoughts (!), usual confusion(!), being busy(!), efficiency(!), procrastination(!) & none of the above(!)

enjoy :))

[written on] 7 april, tuesday

[intended to post on] 7 april, tuesday

[intended to post 2.0 on] 8 april, wednesday

[finally posted, after much procrastination and probably just laziness, on] 9 april, thursday

Hi there!

With a lack of a profound statement to start off this entry, I’ll just say this…my mind is as scattered and non-sensical as ever! What’s new?

Second coffee in, I’m thinking about, as the title suggests, a lot of things (with as much caffeinated enthusiasm as it suggests)! I definitely didn’t think I was going to be writing a post today because I thought yesterday’s entry [monday’s] was heavy enough that I could simmer and ponder over it for a while longer. But I guess, as things go, and because I naturally must write things down, I need to write everything that’s going on in my head right now - before I forget, but also so I can pRoCeSs it :)

I will definitely not get through everything I think I want to write about in this one post, and for the sake of keeping it short and still somewhat legible and engaging, I will try my best. Maybe I will do a part two (??). Hmmm maybe I won’t haha. We’ll see how this goes.

Here we go…enjoy…

So as I was swinging my arms and getting a good stretch of the legs on our family “night” walk yesterday, Tali asked me, “did you have a good day today?”. It was a simple question and one I always answer with a “yeah kinda, did a few things, wish I did more, but tomorrow will be better!”. I like looking on the bright side, but it really got me thinking about what it means to be busy and how society has placed a lot of emphasis on it currently.

I recently read an article on It’s Nice That called, “You are More than Your Output”, which was an interesting read on this idea of “busyness”, the pressures on what we do for a living, self-definition from this and our relationship with work. Oosh, it was confronting and I definitely needed to discuss this with someone further. So of course I decided to send it to Gwen, Cullz and Paulz (there’s something so comforting and encouraging to know that I have people in my life who creatively challenge and most importantly, understand my journey as a creative, post-graduation).

Twas good discussions and what they said was so so good (got my brain juices flowing for sure), but I want to briefly touch on this topic and my thoughts about this…I love being busy, in fact, as I’ve mentioned before, I thrive off being busy. As bizarre as it sounds, I’m almost like an adrenaline junkie who gets off of busy schedules and long lists of TO-DOs. I like to ambitiously jam-pack my day with the most things I can do and “tick off” in ONE day. Sounds overwhelming and you’re probably thinking I’ll burn out eventually and I won’t always like this once I have a full-time job. But for now, I like that feeling. It makes me be and feel productive. And although I regularly remind my friends to take a break and relax in order to rejuvenate, I can’t seem to take this advice myself. I constantly feel like I’ve drunk five cups of coffee within 20 minutes, so my heart usually feels like it’s going to beat its way out of my chest, and my mind is so full, it’s almost incomprehensible and confusing.

Anyway, back to productivity…this feeling is probably the reason why I struggle with self-love a lot - if I’m not achieving everything on my list, I’m not being productive enough, it is not a “good day” and I’m not…“succeeding” in life. Which again, is all about MINDSET, people!

Yes, everything does comes with balance, prioritising and re-evaluating what’s the most important things in life at any given time. Sorry, but I feel like this entry will just raise more questions and half-baked thoughts (ha, managed to tick that off the list!), than actually solving anything.

I guess what I want to touch on here, is not so much on the debate about whether you should be busy or not, it’s more about dismantling these personal-constructs that we have in our minds…

Ahhh, another topic to elaborate on (solely) for another time I guess (…??).

*** SIDE-NOTE (COZ WE LOVE A SIDE-NOTE) ***

Right now [tuesday, 2.40pm], my eldest sister sits on the La-Z-Boy, rocking back and forth trying to write a new idea for a new script. My dad too, sits facing the same way as her towards the ranch slider and garden, bowl of sweet mung bean soup in hand, relaxing in a foldable picnic chair for his “break”. I can’t help but smile at this scene and feel very happy and content in where I am right now. It also makes me chuckle at the contrast of their peaceful reflections with my scattered mind and furious typing. My frantic fingers almost echo in the quiet space that is my living room. I like this. I had only wanted to write one word down for this entry before I forgot it (then finish this piece tomorrow, when I felt like it), but here I am having written over one page long. I’m also not listening to music, which is rare for me as I like dwelling in the emotions and vibe of the music while I write - it helps me as you know by now. But in this moment, it’s just Tema, my dad, me, my typing and my silent scattered thoughts.

*** END OF SIDE-NOTE (ACTUALLY A SMALL APPRECIATIVE-NOTE) ***

Back to the point…the mere act of typing furiously on my keyboard (ooh links!) actually makes me feel busy and definitely makes me look busy. When someone says, “oh Alyssa, you’re always so busy” or “bro, when are YOU free?”, it kind of makes me feel good - that I’m somehow “succeeding” in life because I actually have things to do. But isn’t it all superficial and just an appearance? Because in my mind, I’m not achieving as much as I want to do within a day or week. Anyway, maybe that’s why a lot of people, even myself, give into this idea of busyness - because we’re fed this belief that to be “successful”, means that we not only occupy ourselves to the max, but we look the part too. That’s apparent in any bustling city, like Auckland, or London and Paris. People are constantly moving and doing things. These cities never sleep and apparently that idea means those cities and people are thriving and being “successful”.

I guess another aspect I want to discuss is the idea of efficiency. For some reason, that word is so mockable, but maybe that’s just because my boyfriend uses that word excessively and I like to laugh at him (because he’s silly, not because I’m a bully, woah, CHILL). So to be busy, and therefore “successful” is also associated with being efficient. Which also relates to B, who applies lip balm VERY STRANGELY, but efficiently…he applies it by swiping the stick across his top and bottom lip at the same time, followed by a giddy “EFFICIENCY G!” EVERY. TIME. This is quite like the idea of “killing two birds with one stone”. The idea of doing the most you can and preferably at the same time in order to optimise time. It also links with the saying, “time is of the essence”. Because we have such a limited time on Earth, people feel like they have to fill everyday and every waking hour doing something - or else we feel unproductive and ultimately a “failure”. I’m not saying everyone feels like this (I do), or that efficiency is stupid and entirely negative. I think it’s entirely individual and lies within our perceptions of the things we actually do and hope to do. Everything is relative (??).

Which brings me to the subject of procrastination. For example, in the span it has taken me to write this blog post, I’ve made myself a bowl of plain porridge for my late 2pm lunch (oop photo reference - twas really nice actually), a toastie with salami, sweet thai chilli sauce, harissa sauce and a lot of pepper (odd mix I know), which I had at 4pm, but now consider as my dinner coz now I’m stuffeddddd. I’ve also made hummus (which I think I want to write about next - there’s a metaphor in there that I want to exploit lol) for the fam, folded all of the whites and made the cinnamon apple filling for Tema and I’s mini pies. Talk about procrastination…see here, maybe this isn’t “procrastination”!

The issue lies in how we prioritise and give importance to certain things in our life. And in this case, I’m still being “busy”, but my perception of what I’ve done is that these are menial tasks - they are of lesser importance and priority compared to other things on my to-do list. Again, it is all relative. This comparison between certain things we do is what makes us fall into this trap of self-punishment and “failure” (again, maybe it’s just me). So when we do the thing that seems less important, we consequently feel unproductive . But I had been meaning to make hummus since last week, and I intended to eat lunch at 12.30pm, but got too busy looking through some design concepts for my friend, AND I was meant to fold the whites so my dad could have a clean set of singlets for this week. And lol, I wanted to make pie filling because we all craved something sweet (can’t we just do things just coz?). Looking over these, all of them are important! But why do we prioritise our jobs as so and essentially, degrade our life choices??!

Okay, I think I’m going to wrap this up because there’s no point to this entry anymore. But it was interesting to type out all these random thoughts and somehow try to weave them together. But as always, this is just a ramble. You're confused, I’m confused, we’re ALL confused.

(Or maybe I wanted to see whether you could keep up with my 100 mph train of thoughts hehe)

So to tie everything up in a big, definitely-not-an-indecisive-red-or-maybe-blue-nah-feelin-green-now-BOW…be busy, don’t be busy. Procrastinate, don’t procrastinate. BUT, be kinder to yourself. You don’t have to be busy nor productive - give yourself some slack, you’re doing the best you can! So practice SeLf-LoVe.

You owe yourself thatttt much :)

p.s. I think this post was more me procrastinating about writing and posting, because clearly, I took my time procrastinating and eventually posting three days later than when I first wrote this.

Anyway, have a great day y��all (productive or busy or none of the above)!

- a

[toast-the-unknowing]

26 WIP?!?! How?!?! No, seriously, what's your writing process like? Genuinely SO curious? Do you use any apps? Special playlists? Mood lighting? Snack game? Sacrificial rituals? Please share all your secrets!

I wish I had a good answer for you for how I got to a place where 26 WIPs is the low end of the spectrum but I have always been better at coming up with ideas than at finishing them and the sad truth is that my start-to-finish ratio in TRC is the best it has ever been in any fandom.

If you want to hear me ramble about my writing process that’s going behind the cut.

I do nearly all of my writing on Writer. I switch on a regular basis between two different laptops and my desktop and my work computer, plus occasionally needing to access someone else’s computer, so I need something internet based, and I need that something to not be Google Docs. I don't like Google Docs for many reasons, mainly that it’s sooooo sloooooow to load (I’ve been using it lately for a collaborative project and man is it reminding me how annoying it is), but the main thing is just that I'm paranoid I'll somehow accidentally share my gay porn with everyone in my google contacts, such as former teachers from Catholic high school, or my mother. So even if that's not likely I really want a website where that's not POSSIBLE.

Writer is incredibly stripped down, but that’s a plus for me. I can't waste time picking fonts or editing the formatting or inserting page breaks or doing anything. There's maybe a few things about it that I wish were a tiny bit more robust (better document organization would be nice) but for my purposes it works great. I have a pro account because I use it enough I figure they deserve the five bucks a month, and also because if I accidentally overwrite a document (happens sometimes if I have the same document open on two computers and there's sync issues), I can pull up a history of the previous versions and sort that shit out.

I mostly have one document per fic (if I’m working on a bunch of prompts those will all be compiled in one document until they start getting long enough to deserve their own file; I also have a file of things that may or may not become new stories in the LA verse). Files are titled with the fandom name and fic name, or just ALL CAPS BASIC DESCRIPTOR if I don’t have a title yet. These days most of my shit is TRC so the fandom name may be superfluous, but who knows when I will want to write in other fandoms again. I also keep a list in Writer of current WIPs, which I update every couple of months or so. Sometimes in updating that list I have a hard honest conversation with myself about whether I am actually WORKING on all of these works-in-progress and, if not, whether I think I ever will. If necessary I take it off the list and copy that fic into my junk drawer file, where I keep fics I've abandoned and fic ideas I haven't fleshed out and also just one sentence notes like IDK WHAT ABOUT A RUSSIAN COSMONAUT DOG AU.

Lately I do a lot of my writing during my commute; I load up a document on my laptop and switch the wifi off before I leave home/work, and then I can write as much or as little on the bus as I feel able to. I am also That Bitch who takes her laptop and writes at coffee shops and bars (or the library, but that feels less pretentious).

While I’m writing on the bus (or while alt-tabbing at work) I'm generally listening to music, because I generally have music playing anyway. If I'm just at home I don't generally put music on; I do get distracted a lot by my roommate watching tv, even if it's something I'm not interested in, so maybe I should play my own music, but it’s not a habit I’m into. I can sometimes focus better if I have a word war with someone (basically message each other we’re going to write, write for 15/20 minutes, and then talk about how it went/share any really good lines that were written). I am not in the habit of making special playlists either for writing in general or for specific projects, although I might have a song or two that I associate strongly with a long term project and might listen to to get in the mood. 

I have always had lots of projects going on at the same time, which has in the past hampered my ability to finish anything, because I jump from project to project without finishing anything. On the other hand, grimly clinging to one project and not starting anything new sucks the fun out of writing and makes me feel less creative. I’ve gotten better at balancing those impulses; my current system is that I have one or two fics that are the Designated Top Priority, but I let myself get distracted when I feel like working on a different WIP or starting a new project or just banging out a short fic quickly. (Although there have been numerous times that I have thought “I’ll put everything on hold to write this one really fast dumb fic, it’ll just take a day, maybe two” and then it takes a week or more.) If I find that I haven't worked on the "top priority" in a couple of weeks then I ask if that's still really the top priority, and if I’m not feeling inspired and there’s not some reason that it HAS to be first (e.g. it's for an exchange or there's a deadline coming up), then I’ll usually pick a different one to focus on. After finishing something I’ve worked on for a LONG time it can be really hard to pick the new top priority, so I usually give myself a window of time to just fuck around, but that usually leads eventually to a point where I just open my WIPs, read them, and close them without working on them at all, which is a sign I need to focus back in. Things like noticing those signs and being able to act on them is really the biggest improvement to my writing process in the last decade.

[fakesurprise]

Arrangements & Threats

It was two days before I was able to return to the Tower. Being part of the government means you are not free, even when it seems otherwise. I could have pressed the issue, but the deal had been struck and Lady Tower was no longer a priority; it wasn’t a battle I felt I needed to have. I did manage to arrange for a portable scanner attached to my right wrist: my senses are more than decent, but they were made for war as much as the rest of me and the scanner could be far more thorough in finding more practical matters, assuming the Lady did not alter the signals.

I took two lifts up, had my ID pinged twice on reaching the upper levels. Everything was run down and scarred when it wasn’t broken. Any war hit the upper levels of a city first, so no one sane lived here if they could avoid it. Which didn’t stop it from being too full of people. I made my way through narrow side roads and what were once transit hubs that now sat empty. No one is rebuilding after the last war; everyone is just hunkering down and waiting for a new one.

I try not to think too hard about that, find the side street where I met the boy and take the route back to the tower the Lady was in. Several streets, rooftops, boards and finally the rope ladder leading up. I subvocalized a commands to the scanner. One inhabitant, according to it, but the Lady could easily fool it from down here. I made my way up, pinged my location to Control, and knocked once on the door.

It could be a trap; I would revolutionize what Lady Tower could do. But even she knows what I do, and the door opened.

To the left was the shower, one of the two fridges, clothing, the mattress. No Lady, no technology, not even a single table left behind. The walls boasted new scorch marks in them that couldn’t have been more than a day old. The boy stood near the mattress, not moving at all. I walked in, the door closing behind me.

“I have a deep scanner on me; I am afraid I must use it.”

The boy hesitated visibly, then nodded once.

No trace of the Lady at all. The boy, though, was a surprise. His left leg had been damaged and regrown at some point, but body definitely bioengineered to be better than human. The electromesh woven into his flesh had been put in far earlier than I’d suspected, and his body was the only reason he had survived the gas attack. Damage to the lungs, a shunt for food and waste where his stomach should be, the false voice box made by the Lady. All the technology was well made, and that not a surprise. The surprise was that one of his kidneys wasn’t.

I double-checked the scan. “Your left kidney: you have a pocket. What is in it?”

The boy’s eyes widened a little. He reached up and touched his throat. “The Lady has done the best she could, but the mesh eventually destroys any voice box,” he said, and this box was an improvement over the one a mere two days ago; I only was certain it was a false voice because of the scan and that I knew it to be so. “I keep spare voice boxes in there.”

He opened it with a wince, closed flesh a moment later over a space that was too big to be normal. I’d know a couple of people with pockets that contained weapons a time or two, but the construction costs were too high to justify it normally.

“Your ID has been tampered with by the Lady.”

The boy nodded.

I continued the scan. He was male, though his reproductive organs were inside his body and dormant. A very rich family, to even do that at all. I turned the scan up to his head, and winced.

“When you told me you sold your eyes, I had assumed it was temporary.”

The boy said nothing; his eyes were eyes, but the cameras installed inside all fed into his brain and to various arrays sending the data elsewhere. Currently the Lady was not receiving them, but the boy wasn’t capable of doing so himself.

“You have a name, I trust?”

“Mello.”

“Stevens.” I walked closer. The boy moved toward me, frowned. “I’m not wearing the battle suit your mesh destroyed.”

“Oh. Right.” He walked closer, ran one hand onto my left arm, then slowly to my face and dropped it. “You have a lot of implants?” “I do. She left you here?”

“She said she can’t do anything more for for my voice, but the government might be able to grow me a real one? And a new stomach?”

“Given your mesh, it would be – expensive, and difficult.”

Mello nodded. “I understand. Would my eyes cover some of that?” So hesitant, those words. “I will need to ask. Wait here?”   He didn’t move as I left and dropped down to another rooftop. I pinged Alder.

He prefers debriefs, but does understand expediency: I dumped the data to him.

“Interesting. The Lady wanting to make certain we never renege on our deal. By proving she does not?” “I think so. The boy is clearly from a family wiped out during one of the wars, but it will take time to learn which one. That the Lady can alter official ID to scramble it means she can falsify. And that others can as well, and she gave that to us.”

“You want to use the boy.”

“If we don’t, others will. Patched into our Array he can be a walking deep scan, though limited. We can’t lose that kind of resource.”

“Anything else?” “Nothing that can’t wait until a debriefing.”

“Heh. I’ll start the approval process. Take him to one of your safe houses; if he is compromised, we can’t afford to lose any other assets beyond you.”

“Understood.” I disconnected and returned. “My boss is working out an approval process. Until then, I’m taking you to a safe house.”

Mello shook his head before I’d even finished speaking. “I’m safe here.”

“No, you aren’t. Not for what we’d have you do. I can’t give you access to the Array without approval; can you tap into Network feeds?”

He nodded. “I can see myself through them, use that, but right now I’m –.” He waved his hands over his head.

“Open. Vulnerable?”

“Outside here, yes.”

“Noted. Stevens. Access?”

Mello was silent over two seconds. “Granted.”

“Disable cameras,” I snapped, and Mello swayed a little. I had access to the entire command structure in him, to an extent. Definitely over the cameras. I wanted to know what had pushed him to a deal like that with anyone, but now wasn’t the time. I grabbed his hands gently, took them to my face.

He ran them over me slowly, and then moved and went over my entire body. Without the cameras, he wasn’t getting much data. Even the ones in his fingers were turned off, and I wasn’t certain what those ones were meant to do. “Thank you,” he whispered after.

“Not a problem. Preference?”

“Left hand?”

I headed out and he followed, taking the routes he knew by heart to the street and then a couple of more blocks before his left hand wrapped into my right. I shivered a little, unable to help myself. I understood sacrifice. I understood duty. But whatever Mello had done to himself went far beyond anything I was comfortable with. I wondered if the person he had sacrificed himself for would ever know, and what they might do in turn. The worst thing you can do for anyone is something they can never pay back, but I wasn’t sure if the boy understood that.

Or perhaps knew it too well, and that thought was so uncomfortable I wished I’d never had it.

One lift and a levtrain and a short walk was enough to reach the safehouse. Mello was silent the whole times, eyes closed, just listening to the world with a baffled frown. I wasn’t sure how long he’d spent above, but it was long enough that the solidity of the city unnerved him. Everything quiet, regulated and sane.

Everything in the upper levels of the city was neat and orderly by design. The buildings functional and solid, designed to withstand war and provide shelter and attack locations for us if someone invaded with soldiers. Everything was environment-proofed if a storm broke through the surface, and that was also enough to protect against a basic impact rifle. Nothing like what the Core of the cities have, but it was far better than the surface where survival would be a matter of luck more than anything else. The roads and sidewalks were all neat and tidy, government patrols regular enough in their irregularity to keep things orderly on the surface.

The safe house wasn’t anything special from the outside, or even the inside. It wasn’t particularly safe, since that could draw attention if the area was scanned. It was larger than the official maps suggested though and the asi that ran it more advanced than most of the surrounding ones. There were two caches of weapons and a shielded link to the governments private Array. I’d had to reinforce the three rooms myself and pinged the asi ahead of time to order supplies during our ride.

“It’s – quiet,” was all Mello offered softly as the sidewalk moved us to the end of one unit of buildings. I normally walked faster than the sidewalks travelled, but given Mello I just kept still, turned down the next sidewalk, and the next until we reached the safehouse. The building looked like every other building on the street: businesses below, housing on top though the businesses were all fronts for various government operations. The building pinged my ID and we went on, the lift taking us only to the fifth floor. I led the boy down the hallway and to unit 5L13, the door opening quietly.

The interior wasn’t much. One common room with a kitchen unit, info centre and table, and two bedrooms with a connecting bathroom at the far end. It was far more open than most housing units in the area, but that was for reasons of line of sight rather than anything else.

“Asi: add designate: Mello,” I said to the assistant.

There was a pause as the computer scanned him. “Provisional access granted per approval. Provisional exception authorized?”

Alder might not like using a lot of the modern systems, but he used them well when he had to. “Yes.”

Mello blinked a couple of times and turned slowly. The Lady – or whoever she had worked with – had designed to ocular implants to not feed back into him. But I could at least have him connected to the room cameras and see his own body that way. The asi noted the supplied and designated sleeping quarters to the both of us, and a map of the surrounding area and access points to lifts and glide tubes.

The boy walked slowly into the one bedroom, coming back out a couple of minutes later in a different shirt and pants.”These fit. You scanned my size?”

I shook my head. “No. I am good at guessing sizes.”

“That is an odd skill?”

“Not really. I was in the last war with Eden 4. You get good at judging people so you can order body bags and ship the dead home.”

Mello was quite a moment at that. “For their families?”

“More to keep the tech inside them out of enemy hands. Unofficially, of course.”

He nodded and made his way to the kitchen slowly, running his hands over the world surface and the fridge before opening it. “You ordered food I can eat.”

“I would be a poor host otherwise.”

Mello didn’t respond, pulled out a small food pack, lifted his shift and inserted it into his shunt before putting a Full patch on one arm for a few seconds before throwing it out. His shunt was civilian grade: insert food back, get nutrients equal to a solid meal. Remove back later when it collected waste. Repeat. Military shunts could use almost anything as a food source in them, but that wasn’t something we talked about with civilians. Replacing stomachs was practical, but seldom done without just cause because you needed to use drugs to convince the body you’d eaten even though you had. Put the wrong food in a shunt, use a Full and you’d starve to death thinking you weren’t.

He walked over after, circling me slowly. Using the asi scans only, since it was all he could access. “You’re taller than I thought you were, ma’am. Do you – use another name, besides Stevens?”

“No, I don’t. Ma’am is fine, if you want to be formal.”

That won a shy smile. “I’d rather not, If I may?” He was quiet a moment. “May I ask you a question?”

“Yes.”

“Your eyes contain cybernetics as well?”

“They do.”

“Can you cry?” he asked, even softer, a slight tremble in the words. I marvelled at what the Lady had done to make such a voice box.

“No. I have always taken that to be a blessing.”

“Me too.” He licked his lips. “Thank you, for the helping.”

“You’re welcome. I’m hoping I don’t have to kill you.”

“Me too,” he said again, with feeling, the Lady definitely an enigma to him as well.

I left him to learn the safe house as best he could and returned to make my report. It was true I didn’t want to kill him, but not as true as the reality that I would without hesitation. Sometimes I am far too good at being the person I was made into. But a small part of me wonders if I can always be good enough: surely there would come a point where I would not sacrifice everything for duty.

I suspected it would only come with my death.

[midsummersky]

(translated by midsummersky)

OOR magazine interview: Arctic Monkeys To the moon and back

Major Turner to ground control! From his Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino on the moon Alex Turner observes the digital human. He does that like no one else, the space cowboy from Sheffield. The sublime sixth album of Arctic Monkeys creeps up on the listener just as gracious as a feline predator. The sound is miles away from unruly, bouncy indie jewell Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not, the band’s debut record. A better reference would be Everything You’ve Come To Expect (2016), the second album of The Last Shadow Puppets. Turner’s side project happily flows into the waters of Arctic Monkeys. And vice versa. The one thing we’re absolutely sure of: as always, whenever that nifty Turner turns up, something peculiar is bound to happen. In the 11-song tracklist of Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, one by one wonderfully melodic pieces, this magisterial word artist presents himself as the best writer of lyrics of his generation.

By Tom Engelshoeven // Photography: Zackery Michael

We’re not allowed to know anything beforehand. Not even the album title. Listening to the songs is allowed though. In a room of the Town Hall Hotel in London, a lady from Domino record company informs me that the new album has been recorded, mostly, in Paris and that Alex Turner is extremely involved in the production process. Then the 32-year-old singer enters the room in expensive designer clothing, including a military jacket carrying his name TURNER on the chest pocket. His shoulder-length hair is tied back in a short ponytail. And the goatee which has gotten an earful from the internet. You may think he’s lost his cool, but there’s little to notice about that in our conversation. In the hour that follows Sheffield’s most famous son, currently residing in Los Angeles, tries to carefully and accurately explain his thinking methods. In that attempt, he shows a pleasant kind of openness. He often loses his words, resulting in long quiet pauses in which he searches for the right way of explaining, yet there isn’t one second where I get the idea that he actually tells me everything he knows.

– So, France. In La Frette? Yeah, La Frette is the name of the studio, but also of the town, La Frette-sur-Seine.

Surprisingly enough the internet is buzzing with rumours. It was often said that you would be working at some mysterious location. You’d been spotted in Sheffield, but Paris had never been mentioned. It was a secret! I almost recorded a Shadow Puppets record in that studio, but we didn’t get to it. The producer had already come over to Los Angeles for a recording session, prior to this one. Now it was our turn to fly over to Europe.

You mean James Ford? Yes. I started writing and recording this album in my own little homestudio in LA. We took those recordings to a real studio where we continued working on them wth James and the rest of the band. In September we made our way to the studio in La Frette to really tie it all together and finish it.

How long did that take you altogether? About five weeks. In the first two weeks it was just us, the band, to rehearse everything. After that James Ford and some other friends came in to play as well. We all stayed in La Frette and only sometimes got out to spend a weekend in London. The previous Monkeys record we made in a very different way. Back then, we all lived in LA, spent the day in the studio and then went home in the evening. Obviously this time it was not like that. Back then, we were all in a town in the midst of farmlands in Lincolnshire. Doing everything together: getting up, having breakfast, dining out.

Did spending all that time together in La Frette result in a different kind of record from the one you had in mind at the start of recording? No, to be honest it didn’t change that much. I already did a lot before we started, so it didn’t deviate that much.

– If I had to find an adjective for this new record, it would be ‘elegant’. It’s not music that bangs on your door, but songs which creep up on you like predatory animals. That was exactly how I wanted it to sound. I can’t disagree with you, I can see how you’ve managed to draw that conclusion. I guess your next question is going to be ‘why’?

Maybe in contrast to your previous album? AM was heavily based on hiphop beats. The guitar really took up the spotlight back then, but this new record sounds much more like a piano record. A piano in an old nightclub with those red, velvet curtains. It’s good to hear you describe it like this. Maybe you’re even better at that than I am. But perhaps I can give an explanation for how we’ve gotten to this red, velvet carpet? Did you say a tapestry on a wall? I like the idea that this album sounds like a wall of velvet tapestry. Yeah, that’s rad. For the first time, I wrote everything on the piano. When I was young, I played a bit of piano before I got to the guitar. But to be honest with you, I was never that good at it. I remember getting that guitar for my 15th birthday, I slept with it in my bed that night. I was constantly busy noodling around on it. Such a relationship I’ve never had with the piano, but I was able to play a couple of chords. For the past couple of years, I’ve visited a lot of studios and spaces where there was a piano available. More and more often I sat down at them and when I turned 30 I got one from my manager, a good friend of mine: a Steinway Vertegrand.

You’re singing about it twice on this album, if I’m correct: ‘Back there by the baby grand’ in One Point Perspective, and ‘It stays between us, Steinway and his sons’ in album closer The Ultracheese. That’s right, suddenly that piano became the epicentre of my small room. And there I was. The more I was sitting there, the more my fingers slipped to various places. A kind of character was born in my head. That way I convinced myself to start writing songs again.

You became a piano man? Exactly.

– From the first two songs, Star Treatment and One Point Perspective, a character starts to grow. I’m wondering, are those songs perhaps about your future as a singer: a scenario that’s looming in the future? Once upon a time you used to be that extremely promising young lad, but on here you sound like an artist singing about his bygone days. It starts with looking back.

Yes, that excellent first line: ‘I just wanted to be one of the strokes’. That was really how I looked at it back then. Star Treatment was the very first song I wrote for this album. In that song, as I hear it these days, there is a lot of uncertainty. It’s almost a song about an attempt to write a song. I’m lost somewhere, no idea whereabout. I’m reflecting and suddenly thinking: ‘here I am right now, and long ago, I used to be there’. That theme and that tone, it reaches past this one song and continues on the whole record.

You just wanted to be one of The Strokes? You could explain that as not so respectful towards The Strokes, though that was absolutely the last thing I meant to say with it. I just told myself. Just two minutes ago, or so it feels like it, I was standing in the crowd for one of their gigs and I thought I wanted to be in a band. And now I’m here and searching for something to write about. That feels very confusing: what do I want to express? And when I’ll know, how the fuck am I going to say it? Without it sounding washy. That’s the puzzle which sparked writing Star Treatment. The title is, of course, a play on words with a two-sided meaning. In that time and place, I had already thought about what the album was gonna be called: The Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino. It’s a place on the moon. I fantasised about writing a commercial text for a hotel and casino on the moon. In that case ‘The Star Treatment’ would have been the ultimate slogan! I can already visualise the commercial in my head. I love those commercial visuals for hi-fi devices from the 70s. Highlighted just like that, accompanied by neon lettering. Yeah, if I had to create and advertisement for a hotel, I would definitely put ‘Star Treatment’ in there. But it also comes from a different place. 

My dad used to tell me, on evenings where the sky was really clear and we were outside together, how far away those stars were from us. I’ve hear him say that a hundred times. I thought it was so fascinating, again and again I asked him ‘tell me again!’. Then he would point out the brightest star and say: you’re not seeing the light of that star as it shines right now, but like it was many years ago. That light took all those years to reach your eyeball. And then he would explain how fast that light had travelled to blind me. It blew me mind.

Just like how one second you wanted to be one of The Strokes and then another you’re sitting here. To be honest, I still want to be one of the strokes.

That ‘golden boy’ who’s in bad shape you’re singing about on Star Treatment, that’s you then? That confused character who doesn’t know whether he’ll ever write again. Yeah, more or less. I believe I stole that ‘golden boy’ description from Leonard Cohen.

In One Point Perspective you’re also singing: ‘A singer must die’. Also from Cohen. That’s why I thought were singing about the future of a star or a singer. The unavoidable moment where he’s stuck in The Tower Of Song. I put that line by Cohen in the lyrics because he died in the week of the American elections. I don’t think we need to talk about the historic impact of those days. There was a real feeling of despair in the air, like: this is the beginning of the end. Everyone was so upset, scared of the future. And then to top it off, Leonard Cohen passed away! That’s the feeling I’m reporting on in the song, that the Apocalypse had become a priority. ‘A singer must die’ was the most beautiful way to work Cohen into the song without having to drop his name.

– If I had to view the album from a helicopter’s perspective… Drone! Haha, I really think drone recordings ruin everything. Every time I see an aerial shoot I just know it was a drone that did that. It’s just not cool. I’m sorry for interrupting, keep going.

… then I had to say this record is about the USA, about how computers and machines direct our lives, the language of the digital era and sir Trump. I have tried so hard to keep him out of this.

Well, there’s a song called Golden Trunks. Yes, he finds his ways to sneak in. He’s very skilled in that area. He’s getting enough air time as it is, and I didn’t want to grant him anymore. Now it’s just one verse that’s about him. But look, he’s even entered our conversation!

You’re singing: ‘Leader of the free world reminds you of a wrester wearing tight golden trunks’. And still, something kept me from confronting him. It’s become a sort of competition: who’s got the most witty way to say something extremely denigrating about him? That competition is absolutely going nowhere, except again it’s about him.

In that song Four Stars Out Of Five you’re observing how we’re constantly letting our lives be led by digital devices. Like, there’s a nice restaurant on the internet, oh Gosh four stars, we need to go there. You’re also singing about the digital age in The World’s First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip: ‘The exotic sound of data storage, nothing like it first thing in the morning / You push the button and we do the rest’. How the young and hip are being herded like sheep. And the words that help them: ‘start your free trial today’. Everything you just mentioned is so present in our daily lives, it’s impossible to ignore. I found it quite hard to dig up some poetry from that. It took me a while before I succeeded. The simple fact that I was writing about stars and science fiction has helped me. Science fiction is a recurring theme on this record.

One number is even called Science Fiction. You’re almost ridiculing that genre a little bit. Yeah. Namely because science fiction is really funny most of the time. I just can’t help it. It’s so fascinating to me how writers of sci-fi books keep making up new worlds to comment on their own worlds. Essentially, that’s wat happens most of the time. I realised I am partaking in this as well. You’re inventing this Moon Casino thing to be able to talk about Facebook. Not that I’m actually talking on Facebook.

Science fiction is easily outdated though. That’s something really amusing as well. On the news, everyone was raving on about 1948. Like, now it seems like it really is fucking 1948! It was so funny, I had to put it in Star Treatment. Everyone saying it’s fucking 1948. But a lot of the lyrics on this record are inspired by a book I read, Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman. I can’t remember when I first heard about it but when I read that title, I immediately thought: this is what you have to read in the modern age. Even though, it’s practically written when television was the most dominant factor in our lives. Postman argues how that time – but I think also ours – bears much more resemblance to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley than to 1948. Because in Brave New World people are letting themselves be molded by something they have called onto themselves and not by a power from outside, like in 1948. That was the point I wanted to make.

Something else I took form that book was the idea concept of the information-action ratio. Like, what actions are to be expected when people are being fed information. I read Amusing Ourselves To Death around the time of the presidential elections. Retroactively, I thill think of it as an interesting read. It really hit the bull’s-eye for me. In that time, I was fanatically keeping up with the news, I’m laying off that a bit for now.

According to our conversation, it appears as if you made a really politically-themed record but rather than that, you’re describing your life as of right now without really judging at all. Yes, I think it is really important to preserve a sense of discretion. Good writing stills are based on the ability to suggest. You don’t need to provide a roadmap, but you do need a sense of humour. That is important, yes.

I laughed out loud at the line ‘swamp monster with a hard-on for connectivity’ in Science Fiction. It reminded me of all those people working in IT who really do pay their bills with their ‘hard-ons for connectivity’. What’s also funny is that character from Batphone who introduces a perfume called Integrity. ‘I sell the fact that I can’t be bought’. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if one day I would drive past a billboard advertising a perfume called Integrity. It feels like it already exists in this world. The rest of the song just wrote itself.

One of the reasons it took you so long before this album was born, was because the other members of the band suddenly became fathers. You didn’t, obviously, but has that changed your view on the world? Has it changed you guys as a band? Yeah, because they need to take care of their kids now! The real scope of the impact is yet to be defined. Touring around when everyone has got families at home, it’s something we haven’t done yet. Well, no. Nick [O’Malley, bass] had a boy when we were still touring around with AM. All the other babies have been born after that. How it has influenced our life on the road, I wouldn’t know yet. I think they’re more capable of answering than I am. But parenthood has had absolutely no negative impacts on our spending time in the studio. We had a fantastic time. Because of all those family happenings we hadn’t seen each other as often as we would’ve liked. But there was a great lot of enthusiasm, energy and excitement when we were in France. It’s just that sometimes they were facetiming with their kids.

 – Your previous album was very much about lust from the perspective of someone at the end of his twenties. ‘I want that woman in my hotel room tonight!’ It’s the complete opposite of the baby monitor life of a young dad. A friend once told me: I’d love it if you wrote something else than ‘I love you, you love me, why’d you only call me when you’re high, blahblahblah’ for once. That was when I thought: I’d like try because I had never done that before. On our last Puppets record I detached myself from that image, it was already lessening. Not that shit anymore about a girl in a hotel room and I want to meet you. That’s how I got to the songs The Dream Synopsis and Sweet Dreams, TN. I’d never walked the road of love that far along. Maybe I even exaggerated on purpose. It caused a definite fracture with the past, which pleases me.

Lovesongs become cheese really quickly, that’s just the way it is. The closing number which is also about love, is called The Ultracheese and appears to not contain a single hint of irony. Is it hard for you to ignore the irony factor? Well, one of the many things Cohen teaches you is that he’s prepared to take time to deliver his message. The more songs you hear from him, the more you discover who he really is. It’s a large scala of oeuvre which makes that clear. Listening to his songs, but also his commentaries, has encouraged me to take my time. Not just in terms of working pace. You can also take the time to spread out your message over one whole record, or maybe even several records. A few nice punchlines here and there, that’s all right. But I don’t really feel that urge anymore to wrap all the things I have to say up in one short moment. This insight is relatively new to me.

How much of The Last Shadow Puppets has actually flowed on in this Arctic Monkeys record? The fundamental difference between both projects us that The Puppets are based on a partnership between me and Miles Kane. That’s the distinction, but lyrical-wise I’m less and less thinking about what project I’m writing for. Back in the days, it was very much like: now I’m doing The Puppets, then The Monkeys, then The Puppets and when that’s done, the Monkeys again. In the meantime, we’ve come to a point where AM somewhat started resembling the last Puppets record. I had already been working on the piano loop for Star Treatment when I was writing Everything You’ve Come To Expect. That was when it all started to become more intertwined.

There has been a lot of speculation about this new album, maybe causing a lot of pressure on you. Was that difficult for you to handle? That’s mainly part of a world I try not to stick my hands in. If I had heard anything about it, I might’ve been more worried. But I don’t really have any social media, so I’m not entirely conscious of it. I do feel that people have been looking forward to this record a lot because, since I’ve left the UK, people keep asking me: when is that record gonna come out? That level. But it’s not as if I’m looking at my phone every other minute.

Your girlfriend Taylor Bagley was trying to pick a fight with some fans, saying ‘he doesn’t do it for any of you cunts, he does it for himself’. Does that even reach you or not at all? No it doesn’t, I try to stay out of it on purpose. In any case, it doesn’t bother me with making music.

Is that maybe why you’ve thought up a hotel and casino? To escape everything? The idea to name a record after a place comes from how I feel about albums I really love. An album like that really is like a destination to reconnect with yourself. I so urgently wish I could rent an apartment on Dion’s Born To Be With You, an all-time favourite of mine. I’d pack my bags this instant and just leave for a while. I told you about that room with the piano in LA, right? At my place we call that room The Lunar Surface. It’s from that rumour how Stanley Kubrick just staged the whole moon landing in his basement. Every time I sat down to work on songs in my basement, I thought: he’s gonna come down to fake the moon landing any time now. That’s how the moon entered the story. And the calm, thanks to an Apollo mission.

Is Taylor a muse for you? For years now, you’ve surrounded yourself with models and great women. What kind of influence did those women have on your music? Is she my muse, you’re asking? Living together with Taylor brought stability to my life, giving me courage to talk about certain things on this record. It’s a conclusion a friend of mine came to when I played a couple of new songs for a few friends on the piano. He told me: your life is so much more stable than some years ago when you had AM. An understandable conclusion, but whether it’s the absolute truth and whether everything really is that black and white, I’m not sure of. Because songs are not always an exact depiction of how your world is at that moment. •

[valdomarx]

We're Not So Different, You & I

Finally, belatedly, here’s a sequel to the spy AU in which Steve is an evil mastermind and Tony is the secret agent sent on a mission to take him down. Now with 100% more blowjobs.

It was all the fault of that little twit Justin Hammer, Tony decided. It was common knowledge that Hammer Industries was developing experimental weapons for the government. But Hammer was infamous for his greed as well as his stupidity, and word had got out that he was double-dealing under the table, supplying deadly weapons to terrorists, criminals, and god only knew who else.

That would not do at all. The SHIELD security agency had agreed, and they had wasted no time in dispatching their top agent, Tony Stark, to investigate.

Tony had been undercover at HI for a couple of weeks, but waited until a quiet afternoon when there were minimal staff around to make his move. There was no need to involve the hapless HI lab monkeys in his scheme any more than was necessary.

He spotted one of the R&D guys heading out for a late lunch, a dozy-looking guy with dark curly hair whose name tag said Banner. Tony positioned himself in the corridor leading to the lab, dithering with a cup of coffee, and as the man approached Tony bumbled into him, splashing the coffee over his lab coat.

“Oh, I'm terribly sorry,” Tony said, handing his coffee cup to the man and producing a handkerchief from a pocket. “Here, let me.”

He dabbed at the front of the man's coffee-stained coat while he carefully lifted the access card from his pocket and switched it with a blank. “I'm such a klutz today,” Tony said with a self-deprecating smile.

“No worries, my man,” the man said with a cordial shrug, and handed Tony his mug back. “We've all been there.”

God damn it, did he have to be a decent person? Now Tony was going to feel really bad if he had to knock this guy out.

Infiltrating the robotics division of Hammer Industries hadn't been a challenge. A fake CV, fake references, and an aced job interview was all it had taken, and he was ready to start work as a junior engineer at HI. Everyone had been very friendly.

(“I see,” Maria Hill, the SHIELD head of operations, had commented primly when he'd told her his plan. “And when did you become an expert in robotics development?” “Last night,” he'd told her with a grin. She hadn’t looked impressed.)

Tony held the coffee mug carefully between his fingertips as he went back to his workstation. A light dusting of powder over the mug where the man had held it, a bit of sellotape to lift the print, and he had a fingerprint scan to go with his recently acquired access card. Bingo.

Waiting until the room was quiet, Tony approached the security doors leading to the R&D lab, swiped the access card, and pressed his fake fingerprint onto the scanner. The door opened with a soft hiss, and Tony slipped inside into the dark space beyond.

Tony found himself in a cavernous room dimly lit by glowing blue lights that seemed to be hovering mid-air. He felt momentary panic when he noticed person-shaped objects looming out of the darkness, but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness he saw that the objects were not people, but suits. Each light was in the center of a bulky suit of mechanical armor suspended from hooks hanging from the ceiling. There were at least 20 complete metallic suits in the room, with a few more in a state of partial completion in one corner.

This was not good.

He quickly located the nearest computer console, from which hacking into the network was insultingly easy. When would villains learn to protect their systems from internal access? They could at least put up a firewall or two and try to make it some kind of challenge to get at their data.

Tony flicked through the active project folders until he found a folder ominously titled “Iron Legion”. Inside he found schematics for the suits. It was a good concept, the mechanized suit, he mused, but poorly executed. Anyone could see that power would leak from the central power core under load – the suits would only last about 20 minutes before needing to be recharged. It had never occurred to Tony to try to design a mechanical suit of armor, but if he did, he was sure he'd do a better job of it than this.

But even with their short life span, these weapons – and they were weapons, Tony was sure of that – would be deadly in the wrong hands. There could be any number of terrorist groups whom Hammer Industries were planning to sell the suits to, and any number of innocent civilians who could be killed by this tech. He had to destroy the suits before they were shipped out.

Tony span around as he heard distant footsteps heading in his direction. The overheads lights flickered on and he realized that he had mere seconds to hide before whoever was approaching spotted him. Tony squeezed himself inelegantly between two computer banks, head peeking out to keep an eye on the situation. Being squashed between the hot server racks was uncomfortable, but he was effectively hidden.

The approaching footsteps slowed, and Tony recognized the man whose keycard he'd stolen earlier as he entered the lab. Was he back from lunch already? Who ate that fast, honestly? A junior researcher scurried behind the man, notepad out as he frantically scribbled down notes.

“... boss said no more excuses, we've gotta get this shipment out by this afternoon,” Tony overheard their conversation. “We don't want to keep The Captain waiting.”

Tony's ears pricked up at that. He'd infiltrated Hammer Industries because he'd heard rumors about them supplying weaponry to criminal groups, and they needed to be checked out. For the good of global security. That was Tony's job, right? And if he'd heard another rumor that one of HI's buyers was the infamous Captain, well then, that just meant that he was extra motivated to find out more, after his, uhh, horrific previous encounter with the man.

Tony had definitely not been thinking about the Captain, with his stupid broad shoulders and annoying sultry voice and his disarmingly dubious sense of morality. And he was absolutely not itching for a rematch of wits, albeit perhaps one with a better ending this time. Definitely not. Tony was a professional, the Captain was a target, and that was it.

He didn't like leaving a job unfinished, that was the thing. It rankled him that the Captain had eluded him last time, and now Tony had to find him again to take him down. For world peace and so on. Yeah, that sounded convincing.

The two researchers continued discussing their looming deadline. Tony knew he had to act fast to make sure the tech didn't make it to the buyers.

He mentally ran through the design schematics which he'd briefly seen, looking for a weakness. He was pretty sure that the power leak issue could be accelerated to overload the central power core in each armor. Whatever idiot had designed the power system had failed to include a blowoff system in case of surges, and that, he could use.

When the researchers left the room, Tony hurried back to the console and got to work. First priority, destroy the weapons. Setting up an override of the pitiful power safety routing was easy. Dropping in a few lines of code to cause an exponential buildup of power in the suits' central cores was no problem – it was an ugly hack, but it'd do the job.

Second priority, minimize civilian casualties – that meant getting the scientists out. His colleagues for the last two weeks might not have been the shiniest pennies in the box, but they were decent people who were only doing their jobs. It wouldn't be right to hurt them, even in the service of protecting others. Flipping through the security options on the console, he located the fire alarm. Perfect.

He tripped the fire alarm with a grin and heard sirens blasting across the building. A few minutes’ wait and everyone should be out of the building and he could blow these weapons. After he activated the override, he'd have two minutes to get out of the lab, out of the building, and to leave this tedious place behind. Easy job. Plenty of time.

At that moment – of course at that moment – Tony heard a noise behind him which he recognized as the crackle of a walkie talkie. He just had time to squeeze back into his hiding place when he heard someone entering the room. For a top secret impenetrable lab, Tony thought to himself, this place was positively bustling.

“Falcon, are you in position?” a female voice carried over the radio.

“I've located the lab, Widow,” a male voice replied from a few feet away from where Tony was hiding. “Send in the Captain.”

“I'm on my way,” a familiar clipped military voice carried over the radio, and Tony shivered a little. Because of the danger. Yes, that was it. “Falcon and Widow, head back to secure the door and make sure that I'm not disturbed.”

Tony heard the man codenamed Falcon leaving the room and he wiggled out from between the computer banks. He had to finish the mission and get out of there now, before this team of interlopers upset his plans. He jabbed the activation code for the override into the nearest panel and made a break for it out of the lab.

He hurried around the corner and ran smack bang into a wall of chest muscle. As he stumbled, strong arms wrapped round him and he looked up into distressingly blue eyes. Oh shi-

“So, Mr Stark,” the Captain purred in an amused tone. “We meet again.”

Tony stared at him open-mouthed as his brain took itself off the hook for a moment. Then the reality of his current situation forced itself firmly to the front of his consciousness, and he pulled himself out of the Captain’s arms. “We have to get out of here right now,” he said, trying to keep his rising panic at bay. “This lab is about to blow and your goons have just locked down the only exit.”

“My goons?” the Captain look offended. “They are highly trained operatives, I'll have you know, my elite unit, chosen for their unique skills and-”

“Yeah, that's nice, now how about we get back to the looming explosion which will kill us both!”

The Captain smiled at him like he thought it was cute that Tony was concerned about their impending demise.

Tony racked his brain and a memory popped into his mind: In the far corner of the lab there was an isolation chamber. The door was thick steel. That should do.

“Come on,” he called, and hustled the Captain back into the lab and towards the isolation chamber. At least, he tried to hustle him and the Captain let himself be led and shoved into the chamber. Tony followed behind him, glancing at his watch to see that they had only a few seconds left as he secured the door.

“If you wanted to get me alone, Mr Stark,” the Captain said from where he stood next to Tony, “you could have just asked.”

Tony opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the sound of a tremendous explosion. The isolation chamber was air tight and heat proof, but it still shook in its foundations as each of the suits in the lab outside went critical and overloaded. Tony staggered forward and was annoyed to find himself being caught and held upright by the Captain for the second time in five minutes.

“And if you wanted to cop a feel, you could at least buy me dinner first,” Tony snapped. He deeply disliked the experience of being helpless, and sulkily extricated himself from the Captain's grip.

“Soon, darling, soon. But if I might point out a flaw in your brilliant plan, we do now seem to be trapped in this -” the Captain indicated the small chamber they were in “- rather inconveniently cramped room.” He stood close to Tony, and as he gestured his fingers brushed across Tony's chest.

“Everything in my plan was going fine until you showed up,” Tony snapped, pulling back and making as much space as possible between them, feeling definitely angry and definitely not turned on. “We’ll have to wait it out in here until the fire in the lab dies down. I don't suppose you have anything as useful as a phone hidden in that charming outfit of yours?”

Tony waved at the Captain's black kevlar stealth gear and raised an eyebrow at the silver star in the center. Who put a big silver star-shaped target in the middle of their chest on their stealth gear? Honestly, the Captain was lucky he was pretty. And allegedly bulletproof, so there was that.

The Captain shook his head. “Mobile phones are a surveillance tool of the oppressive corporatocracy-”

“Oh god, please don't start with that-”

“How could I not, when the government continues to interfere in my affairs? I have stayed out of their way and still they attempt to thwart me.”

“The leaders of your country couldn't leave you unchecked, wherever it is that you build your evil empire.”

“My country? I don't have a country. Not any more.” Tony thought that for the first time he saw a flicker of genuine emotion across the Captain's hard features.

“So you take your revenge by blowing shit up? Haven't you ever heard of political process? Try voting, for god's sake.”

“It's not about revenge. And it's not about process.” The Captain took a step towards him, then another. “America is lost, she's come unmoored from her ideals. The political system has been warped and now the real threat to the people comes not from without, but from within.” He rested a hand against the wall by Tony’s head, close enough that Tony could feel his breath on his cheek.

“America’s own government is complicit in the country's destruction.” The Captain's eyes shone with righteous indignation. “It's the duty of every citizen to resist that.”

“And what exactly are you trying to achieve with that resistance? What is it that you want?”

The Captain looked down at him, eyes burning with longing. “Power,” he breathed. “Enough power to fix the world. War, crime, poverty, disease... I could fix it all. With the right resources, with the right people in place, I can make everything better. Everyone can finally be happy.”

“And all that you need to achieve that is...”

The Captain stepped back and regarded him levelly. “Absolute and complete control.”

“Well. You've got vision, I'll grant you that.”

Tony gave up on trying to talk sense into the man. He was clearly a lost cause.

“It's too late anyway, Captain,” he said with a victorious smirk. “The explosion that trapped us in here was your suits going up in flames. You can kill me, but you'll never get your hands on those weapons now!”

“Mr Stark, I'm delighted to hear that you destroyed the weapons and saved me the bother,” the Captain said coolly. “And I assure you that if I wanted you dead, we would not be having this conversation.”

“Wait. You wanted to destroy the weapons too? Why?”

“Because those suits are dangerous,” the Captain looked at Tony like he suspected that he might be a bit dim. “I arranged to present myself as a buyer so I could find out more about the weapons made here, and when I discovered these suits I knew they couldn't be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.”

“I’m supposed to buy that you just happened to be here on the same mission as me?”

“We’re more alike than you imagine, Mr. Stark. I don’t want anyone to be armed with technology that dangerous, whether they’re government or private.”

“So now what? I let you go?” Tony rolled his eyes. “You're still a wanted fugitive, and it's my job to bring you in. Why wouldn't I do that?”

The Captain leaned forward into Tony and tilted his head to whisper in his ear. “Let me persuade you,” he purred.

He slid his hands down Tony's chest and dropped to his knees.

Tony stared down at the Captain, who was giving him a wicked smile as he undid his fly. This was a terrible idea, Tony thought as the Captain reached into his pants. There were protocols for this sort of thing, guidelines for target interactions.

The Captain pulled out his cock and began pumping him to full hardness.

Fraternizing with the enemy was not condoned at SHIELD. It made you sloppy and emotionally malleable. It was a bad, bad idea.

The Captain openly his mouth and slid his lips over Tony's cock.

Looking down at the broad mass of military muscle and masterful tactical mind currently dedicated to sucking him off, Tony decided that this was, in fact, a wonderful idea. This was the best idea ever.

Tony knotted his fingers into the short blonde hair and held on, the Captain humming with satisfaction as he did so.

The Captain was clearly a man of, uhh, prodigious talent, and he attended to Tony with a focus that might have been described as expert. It didn’t take long until Tony was breathing heavily and moaning, bursts of pleasure running through him.

When the Captain pulled off, looked up at him from under his lashes with a twinkle in his eye, and sucked him all the way down in one smooth motion, it was all over for Tony. He bit down on his lip as he came, hips stuttering against the Captain’s mouth as he swallowed with a pleased smirk.

When Tony slumped against the wall in exhausted satisfaction, he was dimly aware of a clicking sound and a cool pressure around his wrists. He opened his bleary eyes to see that his hands had been bound together with handcuffs which were looped around the chamber’s door handle.

The Captain gave him a wild grin. “To ensure that you hold to our agreement. You trying to arrest me now would be most unfortunate.”

Tony spluttered. “You blew me just so you could get me into restraints? God damn it, Captain, this is why I have trust issues.”

“Not just for that reason. For my amusement also.” The Captain peered out of the window in the door, and despite the fact that the lab was still smoking, he seemed satisfied that the fire had died down enough for him to make his escape. “And besides, tied up and furious is a good look on you.”

Tony did his best to level a cool, dismissive gaze at him. Judging by the fact that the Captain laughed, he suspected he didn’t do a great job.

“No need to pout. You got what you wanted - those weapons won’t be hurting anyone. And don’t worry, I’ll alert SHIELD that you need a pickup on my way out. It wouldn’t do for you to get caught by HI security and disappeared, not when I’m having so much fun with you.”

The Captain beamed at him and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before waltzing out the door and calling over his shoulder, “Until we meet again, Mr Stark.”

Well isn’t that terrific, Tony thought as he assessed his situation with a grimace. This was definitely all Justin Hammer’s fault.

Thanks to everyone for being patient with me and my sloooooow writing! A long time ago, some people asked to be tagged if I continued this story, so here you go: @aslightstep @tonystarks-girl @hersked @starkytower @rockandroll45 @narupark @sambuckying @flawedbeauty247 @mellowwinds @mekau @mattsmithrockstheworld. Hope you enjoy the fic!

[sujaykworld]

16 Top Tips from Blogging Experts for Beginners https://ift.tt/2oCF3RZ

16 Top Tips from Blogging Experts for Beginners

I’ve heard blogging referred to a couple of times recently as a mixture between an art and a science. If this is true (and I think it is), there’s no ‘right way’ to approach blogging if you want to be successful. There are plenty of people who’ve done a great job of it though, and I thought it would be useful to learn from them.

These 16 bloggers shared one important tip each for blogging beginners. No doubt, even if you’re not a beginner these tips will probably prove to be useful.

1.       Get ideas from your audience

Create blog posts that answer the most interesting questions from people you engage with on social media.

This can be a great way to gather ideas of what topics people would most like to read about, which will help your blog grow! One of the best ways I’ve seen this in action is through blog comments or Tweets. In one example, here on FastCompany a lot of people requested a post that features more women entrepreneurs:

Now, a few weeks later adding such an article where just women contributed and built great businesses was a big hit:

2.       Understand your audience

Understand your audience better than they understand themselves. It takes a lot of upfront research, and often means being a member of the very tribe you’re trying to lead – but it pays off.

Understanding your audience better means you’ll have a better idea of what blog content will resonate with them, which is a good start when you get to writing blog posts.

A great technique for doing this is to simply ask your readers first on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn with an engaging quote. If people respond well to it, than this is probably a great topic to write about. An example for this comes from Andrew Chen who famously “tests” his blogpost ideas on Twitter first.

And so does Joel here at Buffer. Take this example from a recent Twitter post of his, where he simply tweeted one quote to see how well people liked a topic before he blogged about it:

3.       Write for yourself first

Write for yourself first & foremost. Ignore the fact that anyone else will read what you write; just focus on your thoughts, ideas, opinions and figure out how to put those into words. Write it and they will come.

Adii’s experience in writing for himself firstly has made a difference to his blog in ways he didn’t expect:

Yes, since I’ve been writing for myself, I’ve found that I write more and I publish more often. I think though that the main reason for that is that I don’t decide whether to publishing something based on the traction / reception that the post will receive within my audience; instead if I want to publish something, I do so. For myself.

4.       Build your email list

Start building your email list from day one. Even if you don’t plan on selling anything, having an email list allows you to promote your new content to your audience directly without worrying about search rankings, Facebook EdgeRank, or other online roadblocks in communications.

When you’re asking readers to sign up for your email list, you might want to try experimenting with different language. Willy Franzen found that his subscription rate jumped 254% higher when he changed his call-to-action from “subscribe by email” to “get jobs by email”:

Using this phrase more clearly tells Willy’s readers what they’re signing up for, which clearly worked well!

5.       Love your existing readers

Love the readers you already have. A lot of bloggers get quite obsessed with finding new readers – to the point that they ignore the ones they already have. Yes – do try to find new readers but spend time each day showing your current readers that you value them too and you’ll find that they will help you grow your blog.

Focusing on your readers is a great way to get to know them better (see tip #2). I love the way Daniel Burstein describes blog readers’ expectations of you as a blogger:

A blog is really two things. One, simply a piece of technology, a platform. But, two, it is a promise in the minds of most readers, who expect that the blog should have actual content with some elements of value that is hyper-targeted to their needs. Much like with a newspaper. Readers don’t just look at a newspaper as newsprint that is delivered on their driveway every morning. They look at it as valuable information about their city, where they live, and the things that they do.

6.       Focus on building an amazing call-to-action

I screwed up for years. I’d blog and blog. Some of my posts were doing very well on places like Hacker News, but I had such hard time getting return visitors. And very few people bothered to follow me on Twitter.

Don’t rely on people to do the work to find your Twitter account. Don’t rely on them to do the work to find your details in a sidebar. People are blind to sidebars. Thanks banner ads!

Finish your blog post with some kind of call to action to signup for an email list or follow you on Twitter. When I started doing this, I immediately increased my Twitter followers by 335% in the first 7 days.

Nate Kontny, founder of Draft

Nate uses a simple call-to-action on his blog now, that looks like this:This particular technique we’ve also tested here on the Buffer blog and found it to work amazingly well to bring attention to other blog posts we’ve written, like this:or to Buffer product features, like this:

7.       Give stuff away

Give away free content that adds value to people’s lives “until it hurts” and they will love you and become loyal fans.

Jeff Bullas, blogger and author of Blogging the Smart Way

A great example of this is the research done by Incentivibe, who found that adding a giveaway contest pop-up to the bottom-right of their website led to 125% more email subscribers.

8.       Be consistent

Consistency is one of the most important things that bloggers tend to forget. It’s much easier to lose your traffic than it is to build it up, so make sure you consistently blog.

A study by Hubspot showed that consistent blogging actually leads to higher subscriber growth rates:

Over a two-month span, businesses that published blog entries on a regular basis (more than once a week) added subscribers over twice as fast as those companies that added content once a month.

9.       Give away your knowledge

Don’t be afraid to showcase what you know. Too many bloggers hold back the good stuff out of fear of giving away the “secret sauce.” There is no secret sauce in a world where everyone has high speed Internet access at all times. Today, you want to give away information snacks to sell knowledge meals.

Jay’s advice is to share the knowledge you have, rather than keeping it tucked away for a rainy day. Chris Guillebeau follows this advice by offering two free, downloadable PDFs to his readers. Chris also does what Jay calls giving away “information snacks to sell knowledge meals.” On both of the free PDF download pages, Chris markets his book on the right-hand side.

10.   Be true to your voice

Stay true to yourself and your voice. People don’t care to follow sites so much as they care to follow people.

Another blogger who advocates the importance of the writer’s voice is Jeff Goins. He says that your voice is the most important, yet over-looked part of blogging:

Writing isn’t about picking the right topic; it’s about finding the right voice. What matters, what readers really resonate with, isn’t so much what you say, but how.

11.   Give it time – This is why

Plan to invest in blogging for a long time before you see a return. The web is a big, noisy place and unless you’re willing to invest more over a greater period of time than others, you’ll find success nearly impossible. If you’re seeking short-term ROI, or a quick path to recognition, blogging is the wrong path. But if you can stick it out for years without results and constantly learn, iterate, and improve, you can achieve something remarkable.

Rand shared these great images with us from his wife’s travel blog, Everywhereist, which shows just how long it can take to see a return on your efforts:

12.   Give your email list priority

If you’re blogging to create a business, a movement, or to support a cause, then you need to build an email list. It’s not an option. I don’t even consider my blog to be my community, my email list is my community. Caring about these people, writing for them, and delivering value to them should be your number one goal.

When the New York Public Library focused on growing email subscription rates, this simple home page design with information about what readers could expect to receive boosted numbers by 52.8% over a more complicated version with less information about the actual newsletter:

13.   Write catchy headlines

No matter how great your content is, it won’t matter unless you have an amazing headline. People have a split second to decide if they should click on your post, and your headline will make them decide. The headline is also essential in making it easy and desirable for people to share your post. Keep your headlines SPUB: simple, powerful, useful and bold.

Something we do at Buffer is to test several different headlines for each of our blog posts to determine which ones works best. Here’s an example of what that might look like:You can read more about this particular approach in more depth here: A scientific guide to writing great headlines on Twitter, Facebook and your Blog

14.   Be Yourself

There isn’t one specific set of rules to be successful in blogging. When I started blogging, I had the opportunity to learn from experienced and successful bloggers in the industry. One of the best lessons I’ve learned from them is to simply be me. I didn’t have to be too “professional” or use “big words” to impress others. I had to simply be me.

By being me, I enjoyed writing and the process more. It had me writing more than I usually would too. If you look at the the most successful writers like Seth Godin and Chris Brogan you’ll notice that they are different and unique in their own ways.

Aaron Lee, social media manager, entrepreneur and blogger

Moz CEO Rand Fishkin agrees that telling your company’s story is important, as opposed to following a formula for successful blogging:

Emotion and storytelling have been part of how we communicate with each other and inspire action for thousands of years.

15.   Keep it short

Biggest lesson I learned in my past year of blogging. Keep it in the 1–2 minutes read-time length.

Working out the best length for your blog posts can be tricky. You generally need about 300 words minimum to get indexed by search engines, but otherwise the length of your post is up to what you think feels best.

Derek Sivers noticed recently that his shorter posts were much better received by readers and seemed to be shared more, unlike his longer posts:

16.   Make it worth referencing – here is how:

One thing I always try to keep in mind before publishing a post is would anyone want to “cite” this for any reason? Just like interesting research is great because it leaves you with a fascinating finding or an idea, I like for my posts to be the same. That doesn’t mean relying on research, but simply making sure each post has an original lesson or actionable item, making it “citable” on the web.

When writing a post, I get into a mindset to answer just this 1 question with a Yes: “Would anyone email this article to a friend?”

It’s an extremely simple proposition. Yet, it has changed my writing completely. If I put myself into a reader’s head going through a post and seeing whether someone will say “Oh, this is interesting, John will really like this”, then I go ahead and publish it. It’s almost like an invisible threshold to pass. I need to improve the post until this level is reached. I will iterate, find more research, get more examples, until I can truly imagine this happening.

https://ift.tt/2nKqITm

[workplacepreparation]

Mock Interview

Please introduce yourself, and tell us about your education and professional background. 

I’m currently in the first semester of the BIM management program at GBC.  I have a background in Civil Architecture with four-years of experience. I love technology and have strong software skills, especially in Revit, which is why I am interested in the position at your company.

________________________________________________________

Why are you interested in working with IBI Group (company name)?

I have followed your projects for a year, and I am particularly interested in your high-rise division. I was referred to you by my professor. I also researched on the company’s website, LinkedIn feed, and I know that IBI Group aspires to create a friendly, professional and influential team-building environment where I think I am able to gain more experience from them.

________________________________________________________

What is the biggest project that you have worked on?

The biggest project that I have worked on is Air Cargo at JFK airport in New York City. I organized the airplane, trucks and cars traffic. (…)

________________________________________________________

What project did you like the best? Why?

The project that I’m the proudest of is Liberty Central Quy Nhon hotel in Vietnam. This is also the last project before I studied abroad. In this project, I managed door & window details and handled design deliverables to the client throughout project stages. As a result, my efforts often highly contribute to the project, leading to better resolutions for the client in terms of technology, build-ability, and economy.

________________________________________________________

Please give us an example of a time where you feel you went above and beyond the call of duty.

I define “going above and beyond” as doing what needs to be done and not just what is expected of me, such as at my last job. I was given a project and the expectations for it, but I knew that the minimum requirements were not going to get the job done properly. I had to work weekends, but I did it how I knew it had to be done.

________________________________________________________

How do you determine your priorities for the day?

I often collect a list of all my tasks. I pull together every thing I could possibly consider getting done, after that I identify urgent vs. important. next I look at important work and identify what carries the highest value to my work.

________________________________________________________

When was the last time you missed a significant deadline? How did you handle the situation?

To be honest, I have never missed a significant deadline because I always create my personal deadline around 2-3 days before the project deadline. If I find problems in my project, I have enough time to fix it.

________________________________________________________

Everyone procrastinates from time to time – what sort of things have you procrastinated on?

Home work is something I have procrastinated on because I can not do everything at the same time. I need to do something else first, such as go to work, and study.

-Some things

-Something

________________________________________________________

Tell us about a situation where you had to work with someone with a difficult personality. 

During the time, I studied at University, I had worked with a person with a difficult personality. He worked with me in group assignment, he didn’t do his task and when I reminded him to do it. He became angry toward me because he was busy at work. I helped him by talking to him about balancing work and school. In the end, he calmed down and started the work.

________________________________________________________

Give us an example of one of the biggest challenges you have experienced on a project at work (or school). How did you overcome that challenge? 

The biggest challenges I have experienced on a project at work that is the time I designed Vietjet emergency evacuation training. In this project, I wasn’t given the dimensions of all equipment inside the building, such as the model airplane, door trainer. The client just gave me some pictures of the same type of building in Malaysia. It wasn’t enough information for me to design it, then I tried to research all of the equipment from the Airbus company and reference another flight attendants training room. After the research, I was able to design the building properly.

________________________________________________________ We all have experiences with conflicts or disagreements. Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with a manager or co-worker. What did you do to resolve the conflict? 

 STAR   

________________________________________________________

Have you ever been involved in preparing estimates/tenders?

No, I have not. I just made schedules to support project manager to predict estimation.

________________________________________________________

What involvement do you have in updating schedules/budgets/cost projections?

STAR  

________________________________________________________

Have you ever processed change orders? Yes, of course. In project Vietjet, the begining design we just had 2 floors .It was just enough functions for training pilots. However, the client wanted to add a floor for training flight attendance. Then our team changed the circulation and arrange classes. (…)

________________________________________________________

Tell me about the last project you used BIM on, why was BIM used, and what advantage did it bring to the project?

The last project I used BIM on is Liberty Central Hotel. BIM enables participants to easily predict the performance of projects during preconstruction, construction and Post Occupancy evaluation as well as building maintenance.

________________________________________________________

What are the advantages of using BIM in scheduling and in estimating?

BIM increases the accuracy in the quantity takeoff especially at the early stage of the design and allow precise future prediction of the construction costs because it includes information about length, width, and volume, as well as information about content such as doors, windows, and finishes, all of which can be used for estimation.

________________________________________________________

Can you go into detail about the previous work experience (in construction / BIM)? What tasks were you responsible for?

Each project it brings me specific experience, but the project I gained more knowledge is Liberty Central Hotel. In the project, I coordinated with other disciplines and project manager, owner, to make sure that the project could run smoothly. I took initiative to monitor and proactively solved any discrepancies in the entire process of construction. I also wrote reports and specification covering architectural matters.

________________________________________________________

Why Construction / Engineering / BIM? (Why are you choosing a career in Construction)

The sense that BIM creates an overall better product is also very beneficial. Productivity issues, such as reducing rework and errors, ranked higher than benefits related directly to time savings and cost reduction.

________________________________________________________

What are your expectations of IBI Group (company name)? What do you expect if you get a position with IBI Group (company name)?

I know that the organization has an impressive reputation for providing professional development and training to new entrants to the workforce, and I'd like to take advantage of that training to increase my value to the company.

________________________________________________________

Are you legally entitled to work in Canada?

Yes, of course.

________________________________________________________

Do you have a valid Ontario Drivers License? Are you able to travel to different sites/go on work trips, as necessary? 

I understand that if this position requires a valid driver’s licence, proof will be required after hire.

________________________________________________________

What do you like to do for fun / when you’re not working?

I often go around city to take picture, especially architectural detailing. That is the way to update my knowledge.

________________________________________________________

Do you volunteer?

Yes of course.  

________________________________________________________

Do you have any questions for us?

What kind of training is available for new employees?

What is the size of the team I will be working with?

What are the skills your top performers have?

What are the next steps in your hiring process?

________________________________________________________

After the Interview

Ask for Interviewer’s business card

Send a Thank you email/ note (within 24 hours)

Make notes (to assess your performance)

Keep your references informed

Follow-up where possible

________________________________________________________

References

https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/ibigroup/743999684072020-architectural-co-op-student-summer-2019

https://www.livecareer.com/interview/questions/give-me-example-time-you-felt-you-went-above

https://www.zippia.com/advice/do-for-fun-how-to-answer/

[neingel]

Amonkhet Commander Review: Part 1

Hello everyone and welcome back to today’s article. With Amonkhet’s spoiler season over with the set fully spoiled, it is now time to look at what new toys are in store for Commander players and the format as a whole. This 2-part article will go through the top 5 cards in each color for Commander. The first part of these series will go through the colors White, Blue, Black and Red, while the second part of the article will go through the colors Green, Multi-color, Colorless and Lands. Without further ado, prepare to start playing like an Egyptian with your Commander playgroup soon!

Before jumping into the colors, I’ll first like to mention at the release of every new set, the new Legendary creatures that are introduced for General play in Commander. Amonkhet has brought back Gods as the Legendary creature type, though not similar to the Gods of Theros, the Gods of Amonkhet share a small trait with the Theros gods. Having Indestructibility as a Legendary creature is always nice, but the new Gods do come with a slight downside, and that is not being able to attack/block unless a certain condition/criteria is fulfilled.

Also, Cycling has seen a comeback, with new cards for Commander players to experiment with as well as some small form of synergy with counters(*Atraxa players rubbing their hands in glee perhaps*).

Enough rumbling from me then, let’s get started with the first color!

White

Anointed Procession

Finally White has a Parallel Lives effect, Anointed Procession will definitely see play in Commander in existing Green/White token strategies, especially for a small handful of players not being to afford Parallel Lives effect, grabbing this would probably save a couple of bucks. Mono-White generals that rely on token strategies such as Brimaz, King of Oskeros or Darien, King of Kjeldor. Overall, not a bad card designed by Wizards to push play for BW Zombies in Standard as well as tokens in Commander.

Gideon’s Intervention

Gideon’s Intervention is a pretty niche card, it might see some fringe sideboard play in Standard, but I believe it’s truth potential lies in Commander. At 4cmc, Gideon’s Intervention seems costly as it’s effect stops 1 card from potentially being cast/dealing damage to you. However, it does seem to fair particularly well after your opponent has tutored for a card or has an infinite damage combo the following turn. It also fairs extremely well against Voltron, being able to halt your opponent’s Voltron plan before they even cast their general.

Approach of the Second Sun

Weird? High costed? Exactly what Commander asks/screams for. On paper, Approach of the Second Sun is a card you would probably find in your best friend’s shoe-box or your store’s 50 cent box of jank rares. However, it’s groundbreaking ability to win off casting a 2nd copy is something many Commander players would try to break in the format. Many have been talking about it’s “value” interaction with Remand, as well as a bunch of decks that abuse copying spells. Weird card, but could see play as a simple/efficient wincon.

Dawn//Dusk

Dawn//Dusk is an interesting card, it does remind me a lot of Austere Command. The first mode is quite powerful at 4 mana, though not on par with Wrath of God or Day of Judgement. The card pays off at the 2nd mode, where decks like Alesha or some form of Aristocrats would love to cast it’s Aftermath effect. Niche cards like these are definitely going to see some good amount of play in Commander.

Regal Caracal 

Ah look! Some Cat tribal support in Amoncat! 

See what I did there? No..? :/

With that lame pun aside, Regal Caracal is actually quite a flavourful inclusion in the set. A 5-drop that’s a 3-for-1, makes 2 other Cat Tokens and acts as a Lord with additional Lifelink. Cats do not have that much of support in Commander, other than Anthem effects in form of Enchantments/Artifacts, but having a Lord now is quite the upgrade for any Cat Tribal deck.

BLUE

As Foretold

We’ll start with the bad stuff. As we all know, As Foretold has been on everyone’s radar recently and many have been trying to experiment with it in many formats. Reason being spells that have a cmc cost of “0” can be casted for free. Such spells include from simple things such as a free Evermind or even worse a free Ancestral Visions, which basically makes As Foretold an extremely powerful card being able to cheat a lot of spells into play. It also can play pretty well with decks such as Jhoria, something that already runs a host of powerful spells with the slight downside of Suspend. Or in an Atraxa deck, with the right curve and counter synergy, can work wonders. Only time will tell how soon someone is to breaking this in Commander.

Vizier of Many Faces

Vizier is just like any other clone effect, 4 costed and having the ability to copy a creature, but it does have Embalm for a slightly higher cost of 5. Meaning even after it has been destroyed, players still have a backup clone effect for only 5 mana. Also, it makes a token after being Embalmed, which could open up some cool and unique token strategies.

New Perspectives

Ah...another one of those really niche cards nobody would ever play anywhere else other than Commander. New Perspectives could actually push Cycling as a serious mechanic, due to the fact that it could potentially make Cycling cost 0. Although Fluctuator already makes Cycling free, some cards still require colored mana in order to Cycle. New Perspectives however, makes all cards regardless of their Cycling cost free to cycle, coming with a slight upside of drawing 3 cards as well. Cards like these in the set might actually push people to experiment more with Cycling in Commander.

Commit//Memory

Commit//Memory might seem costly for what it does at first glance, but many have seen that Commit is already better than Venser, Shaper Savant. While Memory does seem like an overcosted Time Reversal, the card is already has value when you have used Commit or discarded it to use Memory more efficiently. Either way, the card is very versatile for Blue and I can’t wait to have it in my deck.

Glyph Keeper

Now that is my definition of annoying! Glyph Keeper is actually a pretty simple card at first, but very troublesome to deal with. A 5/3 flyer is quite a beater, but combined with the fact it has a small built in protection and Embalm afterwards is good value. Your opponents are guaranteed to waste at least 2 cards getting rid of him, and another 2 after you Embalm it back.

Black

Liliana, Death’s Majesty

Starting off strong in Black is the new Liliana, and many Zombie-Tribal players are already in love with this set. There are so many new toys for Zombies to play with in Commander! Liliana is no exception of course, having the ability to create more Zombies while churning your graveyard, reanimating a big creature to make it a Zombie and of course, a 1-sided boardwipe for anyone not running Zombies. At 5 cmc, she is meant to carry Zombies a long way upwards.

Liliana’s Mastery

If we haven’t got enough of Liliana and Zombies, you better get used to it soon. Black seems to me like full of cards specifically meant to pushing Zombies in Standard. And these cards are definitely going to see play in Commander. Liliana’s Mastery is a 5 costed Enchantment that is essentially a 3-for-1, giving 2 Zombies but acting as a effective anthem effect at the same time? Liliana and her Zombies are really partying good in Amonkhet after all!

Archfiend of Ifnir

Probably one of the few big evil baddies in the set that isn’t a Zombie. Archfiend seems simple at first, but build it around a shell that likes discarding cards? Yep, decks such as Nekusar or Leovold could abuse their “Wheeling” cards and Archfiend to create an artificial but powerful 1-sided boardwipe. Other than that, Archfiend seems like it might stay in Commander for long due to it’s strong potential to easily clear an opponent’s board if he’s left unanswered.

Shadow of the Grave

Now these type of cards are my favorite. Spicy, powerful in the right shell and low costed as always. Shadow of the Grave reminds me a lot of Yawgmoth’s Will, which is seen by many as a potential 10th piece of “Power” in the game, the raw power of playing the same set of cards a 2nd time is always overwhelming. Shadow, unlike Will, requires the player to discard/Cycle cards in order to recast them again, this is pretty easy to accomplish with again..Wheel Effects...being able to cast this, hold priority to discard your current hand, draw your new hand and get all your cards back? Sounds pretty fun to me!

Lord of the Accursed

And surprise surprise! Another Zombie card to round off Black! As if anyone hadn’t knew it yet, Amonkhet is literally filled with strong Zombie cards. Lord of the Accursed is no stranger to round off Black as his childhood colors, at 3 cmc, he’s able to hit the table quickly as a cheap lord. His 2nd ability however can be used to finish someone with a low creature count off. Having another lord in Zombies really isn’t enough when they already have like....I don’t know? 7?!

Red

Glorious End

This card might very well read, “Stop whatever your opponent’s doing, and I’ll need to win the game NOW”. We’ve seen plenty of effects in Red where they do broken things such as Extra Turns, but requiring the player to win the next turn to avoid losing. Such cards include Warrior’s Oath and Final Fortune. It is pretty interesting to see an “End the Turn” effect in Red though, where the only 2 cards possible of doing so are Time Stop and Sundial of the Infinite. Overall, a pretty interesting card I would love to see being abused in Commander together with cards like Hive Mind.

Combat Celebrant

Extra combat phase effects on creatures are always amusing. Combat Celebrant excels here due to the fact he just needs to attack, and activate Exert on him. Meaning even if he’s killed afterwards, you’ll still get the additional combat phase he gave you, even better when after he’s exerted, he need not attack again with the risk of being killed through combat damage. Fun card overall, with many players soon to break it.

Insult//Injury

Insult does a lot for a measly cost of 3 mana, being able to not prevent damage and double your damage from any source this turn? Sign me up! Injury is not really good but can be activated late game to kill off anything small and poke a little at your opponent’s life total. I would love someone to try and play this around Storm, making each Grapeshot hit for a ton of damage :>

Hazoret’s Favor

Hazoret’s Favor is an ideally good card for decks that love placing in big creatures and swinging immediately. I could see this card working better when paired with a 2nd/3rd color, decks such as Xenagos, Omnath, Animar and many others would love to have this. Low costed at 3 mana, generally Commander playable overall.

Harsh Mentor

Many have begun the hype where Harsh Mentor would see play in formats such as Legacy, where it can pick off opponents for numerous strategies/decks. Harsh Mentor isn’t too bad in Commander too, many activated abilites in Commander require tapping,sacrificing creatures or simply paying mana. Harsh Mentor only targets opponents, which is definitely a huge upside considering it’s a 2/2 for 2 mana. Powerful card overall, and I could see many people seeing this as a formidable threat in a few formats soon.

Conclusion

Amonkhet does bring a lot of new toys for Commander players thus far, and I can’t wait for the set release to be able to experiment with some new strategies. That’s all for this week’s article, stay tuned next week for Part 2 of this Commander review-where I go through the remaining colors/cards for: Green,Mulitcolored,Artifacts and the Lands of the set. Until next time, happy brewing with Amonkhet!

[myselfinserts]

‘i wouldn’t be caught dead using a tacky piece of garbage like that.’

He didn’t wake him. Regi knew Étienne valued his sleep when he could get it, and he knew he’d taken far too much of his best friend’s time last night. So he let him sleep, quietly going about his morning and getting ready for his presentation, searching for all that he needed before planning on getting washed. 

Best suit, comfy shoes, gotta make sure my makeup is done. Hopefully no one tries to get it washed off. But its the good stuff. I should be okay. Am I forgetting something? Oh, my tie! I need to get my-

“What’s so fucking important that you felt the need to wake up so early, Reginald?”

Regi froze, smiling as a pair of arms wrapped tightly around his waist. “I have my presentation at 10:30. I can’t miss it.”

“It’s six in the fucking the morning,” Étienne complained. “The conference building is a ten minute drive from here. You better have been planning on ordering some fucking breakfast right now because you’re on two hours of sleep.”

“Five hours, and I’ll order room service when it opens at 6:30. I’ll order us both something. My treat.” He turned around, wrapping his arms around the tired blond as he pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Why not get a shower and warm up a little?”

“Not moving. Too cold.”

“I’ll carry you.”

“Don’t you dare.”

Regi chuckled softly, burying his face in the gold curls as he held his friend close. Though the more he thought it over, friend didn’t seem right. They weren’t a couple, but they certainly were beyond the friend stage. The word ‘friend’ didn’t work anymore. 

But he wouldn’t say it. Now wasn’t the time. 

“How about this?” Regi said softly. “I give you a present and a sneak peek of today’s presentation, then you and I get cleaned up and dressed, and after that, breakfast.”

“Do. Not. Want to.”

God, he’s so adorable when he’s grumpy. “Are you sure? I was planning on giving you a present after the presentation, but I thought ‘no, the great Étienne Allard deserves this before anything else’. So-”

Étienne let him go, pushing Regi back forcefully. “You had me at present. Hand it over.”

Regi chuckled and knelt down beside one of his suitcases, typing in a code on the lock. “I’ll give you the instructions for it, but the full demonstration shows you what it can really do.” He reached in and pulled out a small box, no bigger than a half foot long. “Here.”

Étienne took the box and sat down, opening it eagerly like a child on Christmas morning. He raised a brow, a curious look to his face as he lifted the golden pen. “This is a support item?”

“Yeah. One of my best.” Regi smiled, sitting beside him. “It’s a special self defense tool I made with you in mind. It’s a pen, a laser pointer, a high caliber taser that can retract for repeated use and can be recharged...”

“...and finally, as you can see in the demonstration video behind me, this item can also fire the R.O. Capture Foam from the opposite end of the pen, stopping up to three or four average sized villains or one really, really big boi.”

The audience let out a snicker, several whispering songs of praise at the versatile item. Very few seemed to notice some of the features were smaller retreads of Renegade’s iconic Salt Apple creation for Amaryllis, the focus being on the fact that this seemed to be an item perfect for civilians as well as law enforcement. 

The other items were useful too. A support item drone that could bring items to a hero in seconds, but still needed the kinks worked out as to how many items it could carry, where, and when. The sneak preview was showing great promise. As did the preview of the holographic device Renegade had used to evade the press just the day before.

Those who were fans of Renegade’s security programs, holograms, and coding skills were treated to a special show of skill in the use of a new hardlight computer program that could be programmed into nearly five hundred different support items. Near impossible to hack, and made for excellent alternatives to the current touch screens. 

But of course, the pen was Renegade’s star of the show. You could tell by the way he carried himself about the presentation. The way everyone seemed more hooked onto this item than the rest. 

Like it was planned this way.

If it was, Étienne wouldn’t say he was impressed if you asked him, but he wouldn’t deny that it was an improvement from his last roundabout. If he were honest, he’d think it was the best show Reginald had done since their first ever debate. 

Again, that’s only if he were honest. 

“Alright,” Regi sighed happily. “That concludes the announcements and demonstration portion of the presentation. We have ten minutes left, so if anyone has any questions, now is the time.”

Étienne watched as a few reporters and heroes raised their hands. None really seemed to stand out, save for the girl near the front. She was a reporter, if he remembered right. Sam had warned him about her following Regi around just the day before. 

Regi seemed to notice her too. 

“Yes, ma’am, you in the front?”

The girl stood, her camera man at the ready as she went to record the question. “Runa Malach of the Daily Marker; You said at the beginning that the final item, the one you just finished presenting, was something you had in mind for someone close to you. Due to the rumors circulating this week, is it safe to assume that the person you had in mind was your soul mate?”

Ignore it and move on, Reginald. Ignore it and-

“You know, I was tempted not to allow any questions regarding this topic-”

Dammit man what are you doing?!

“-but I want to make it clear that my soul mate had nothing to do with this item.”

Everyone started whispering. Étienne’s fists clenched slightly in his pockets as he tried not to call out the hypocrisy of the statement. He couldn’t object. It was painful, but he remained silent. 

“Before we go any further,” Regi said slowly, “I want to make one thing clear. Just because I have my marks now, does not mean that is where all my worth lies. First and foremost, I am the Technonaut Hero. I worked hard to get where I am. I want to put my all into helping and to serve the public. And just because one’s career is high on the list of priorities doesn’t mean that a soul mate is unimportant. For me in particular, it isn’t the factor that’s responsible for where I am and what I’m doing. These marks only appeared less than a week ago, and these items I’ve had on hold since before that. There is no correlation between this item and my soul mate.” He adjusted his glasses, his demeanor slightly more cold than before. “Now, from here on out, let’s refrain from talking marks and talk the tech. This is a support designer’s conference after all.”

And just like that, the entire room was fighting to get a word in edgewise. Étienne simply watched from the sides quietly, waiting for the panel to be dismissed so he could give the man a proper critique. Though he wasn’t sure what to say after that. That response was very un-Regi-like.

So much so that Étienne thought those exact words. 

Damn, something happened up there.

“So what do you think, Miss Darnell?”

“You really want to know what I think? I think I wouldn’t be caught dead using a tacky piece of garbage like that.”

Étienne glanced over to the side, his eyes narrowing threateningly at the woman with long black hair and vivid green eyes. Zala Darnell; fashion consultant and chemist. He’d met her once. 

Just once. 

He was positively not impressed with what he saw. And was even less impressed with what he just heard. 

The woman beside her (most likely an assistant, he thought), seemed confused. “I don’t understand. I thought you said Renegade showed promise?”

“Yes, promise. As a new branch of the family.” Zala smirked. “He’s got a powerful quirk, is a good, mature boy, has a good rapport with his government. If I could score a few dates with him, we could get our foot in the door of support design.”

The assistant looked heartbroken. “So that’s what this was about? You want Renegade as a way to boost your status in the company?”

“Absolutely,” Zala said confidently. “He’ll make a good trophy. And I’m certain I can get him. After all-” she reached into her purse, pulling out a small wad of cash “-I hear he could use the financial support.”

A deep, burning rage settled in his veins. Étienne stepped forward, acting as casually as possible as he walked up to Reginald, pulling out his pocket book and a pen as the rest of the crowd dispersed. A few other bright minds seemed to linger, wanting to inquire more. Aether and Nerio if he had to venture a guess.

This is perfect. 

“Gladstone,” he said, his voice even and crisp as the sunkissed frost outside. “I have a few questions pertaining to that last item. Care to give me a minute?”

Regi smiled. “Sure. I was just about to head to lunch with the others. Care to join us?”

“My treat,” Nerio said. 

Étienne smiled. “It would be my pleasure.”

He turned on his heal and left with the others, just barely managing to shoot a warning glare in Zala’s direction. The shocked expression on her face was almost too delicious. 

Perhaps this conference would be more fun than expected.