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svtntntn · 4 years

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part of your world (2/2)

little mermaid!au

inspo: the little mermaid, both the disney version and the classic fairytale but make it somewhat similar and different at the same time

a/n: a long overdue piece

you long for life above the surface and get your wish when you make a deal with the infamous witch of the sea

[ part one ]

——

"The First Kingdom's economy is built upon the sea it lives by. For years, the source of income and wealth here has relied on fishing and creating inventions using hydraulic power." Soonyoung drones about the history and economics of the First Kingdom but you're barely listening to him and he knows it.

You wobble on your two feet as the ground changes from bumpy, embedded stones to the familiar warmth of the grainy beach sand, your grip on Soonyoung's hand being the only anchor keeping you upright as your eyes focus strictly on placing one foot in front of the other. His other hand holds your shoes for you as your face contorts in fascination of the different textures, his eyes darting between you and the street in front of you both in order to properly guide you around town. He stays on the main street's stone and mortar road while you drift off into the sandy edges of the beach.

The baby steps you started with have definitely improved since the day you washed to shore, your coordination becoming much more easier to manage and balance at the same time. The amazed smile on your face doesn't slip by unnoticed by Soonyoung, who watches you with a matching wide smile.

You'd be walking alongside Chan but given his role as king-to-be in less than a month's time, he was commanded to attend a strict schedule with his mother and father.

So much for fulfilling the sea witch's bargain.

You shake your head at the thought of becoming trapped by the evil witch and glance up at your surroundings, taking in the fresh air and the open stretch of land around you, reveling in the sights the water could never give you. There's a putrid scent in the air and you squint as you sniff around, noticing a man standing at the end of the nearby pier, his body bent over a large barrel off the end of the dock.

You smack Soonyoung's shoulder repeatedly and point in the mystery man's direction, your hits becoming more and more aggressive once Soonyoung snaps out of his reverie. "Huh?"

You make an 'X' with your arms defiantly and motion the man dumping but the more time you try to explain the situation, the more time is wasted. As he tries to comprehend your actions, you're already rushing over to the pier, your bare feet scratching against the worn wood of the docks.

You yank the sleeve of the man dumping waste into the water, pulling his arm back from pouring the barrel of waste into the ocean. "What the—excuse me, Miss! Let go of me!" He sets the basin down on the ground in disgruntlement.

He starts yelling at you as you try to argue back, narrowing your eyes at him as you mime through the motions of an argument with him, his voice overpowering the lack of your own. Soonyoung reels you back and quickly placates the man for a moment, a meek smile on his face.

"Excuse me, sir! Sorry, I apologize for her—she can’t.... you know?" Soonyoung makes a talking motion with his hand, before whispering to the townsperson. "She lost her voice not too long ago—it's a very fragile situation, really. Her voice before though?" He scrunches his nose fondly before shaking his head, "I actually couldn't tell you." He deadpans.

You smack his shoulder and point at the nasty waste barrel, "but sir, if you could please stop dumping your shop's waste into the oceans, that would be much appreciated. The ocean is not the place to throw such foul items away, it'd be much better if you're able to throw it away by the proper waste and recycling site. Please sir, for the good of the country! For our economy, for the creatures living below us! You wouldn't want to be feeding your family poisoned fish, would you?"

The man grumbles and carries his barrel off the docks, giving you a dirty look once he passes you. You keep your head held high and avoid him, relaxing only when the townsperson leaves you and Soonyoung alone on the pier.

"(y/n)," Soonyoung tips his head back in resolve and lets out a deep sigh, "you can’t keep going up to people and stopping them from trashing the waters." He mutters to you, kneeling down and carefully putting your shoes on for you. You two begin walking off the pier and starting for the main street into the marketplace, waving to the kind men and women manning their stalls and bow in respect to them. "Some people aren't as kind or obedient to the kingdom's rules."

You give him a mean glare as you hasten your step, making Soonyoung trip over the cobbled streets as you basically drag him by the arm, "(y/n)! (y/n), slow down! Why are you so mad? It's just not as strictly enforced as other laws, there's other issues going on in the kingdom."

You desperately want to shout at him—how the environment is crucial to our basic living, how would you like it if people just dumped waste on your bed or in your food—but you can't.

Your feet come to a complete stop as Soonyoung catches himself from falling over, unlinking your arms to cross your own across your chest. He slowly catches his breath before turning to you, "Hey, turn that frown upside down."

He tries to pull the corners of your lips into a smile but you refuse to budge, "(y/n), c’mon." You shake your head and close your eyes, the pout on your lips making Soonyoung bite his lip in disbelief. "Ok, there’s not much I can do personally considering this is not my kingdom, but I'll talk to Chan about the waste and the dumping. Maybe he can enforce stricter laws and their consequences."

Immediately, one of your eyes opens and peeks at him, scanning him up and down to call his bluff. Soonyoung gives you a smile and starts walking along the street, turning around and finding you frozen to your spot with your pinkie finger reaching out towards him. "Pinkie promises? What are we, in grade school?"

You narrow your eyes towards him and he sighs deeply, capturing your pinkie in his and falling down on one knee in front of you in grand fashion, "I, Kwon Soonyoung, promise to talk to Chan about the unforgiving, despicable acts of waste mismanagement going on in the kingdom by the sea. If I fail to do so, I am at the mercy of (y/n)'s silent, yet deadly wrath. So help me," he winks up at you and you shake your head with a smile, nodding to the agreement of his promise to you.

You ignore the way your heart races at the slightly embarrassing but genuine and grand fashion of Soonyoung's theatrics, not even caring who is staring at you two in the street.

Soonyoung pulls your interlocked fingers to his lips but you pull your finger out of his before he can kiss your hand. "Happy now?"

He stands up and brushes the gravel off his pant legs before reaching for your hand again, "Ready to circle back? Chan's probably waiting for us."

"5, 6, 7, 8—stop! Keep your form straight and proper, remember to engage your center, Chan. Don't puff your chest out so much, relax your shoulders. No, press them down!"

Another crack of a cane against the ground reverberates through the courtyard, distracting you from your solo adventure around the castle. You begin to peek into the courtyard of the castle's garden from a window, using the ruffled curtains to hide yourself from view.

Chan's arms are wrapped around a young woman you've noticed with him before, one of his many tutors everso ardently by his side. Another woman—this time, a much older woman sternly looks on at the two with a sour expression, her wooden cane deftly smacking the ground before she shouts at the pair—or Chan, moreso.

You watch Chan and his tutor move in sync, watch them move with such grace and control, skating all over the courtyard in one fluid, continuous motion. It was as if they were swimming, flowing through the water with such poise and elegance you've only witnessed when you were down below.

"Ah, etiquette and dance lessons.” Soonyoung's voice shocks you, causing you to jump behind the curtain and nearly knock over a porcelain vase off its pedestal. You clutch the vase close to your chest and stare at Soonyoung. "Not fun when your teacher is nearing death and smacking you with her cane every two minutes. Chan's gotten it easier considering she strikes the ground instead of him."

You raise your eyebrow and Soonyoung points to the woman past the glass pane, the same woman that's been reprimanding Chan. "That’s Miss Kwon, Chan’s dance tutor. She's more like a crazy dragon lady though."

You hear the same surname and try to draw a line between the elderly woman and him.

"No relation, I would know," Soonyoung promises, a curious smile on his face as you let go of the curtain. He mimics an old lady voice along with her mannerisms, making you shake your head. "What were you peeking here for? You've danced before right? Don't tell me you don't know how to dance…" You don't make any sort of movement or denial. "Wait, you have never danced before—how?"

You slowly shake your head, shrugging as you peep through the curtain again and stare at how the woman and Chan float around the open garden, how their moves effortlessly flow together.

Suddenly a hand is wrapped tightly around yours and you're pulled into the empty foyer of the castle, the newest pair of shoes Chan purchased for you squeaking against the floor.

"I'll teach you, don't worry. I won't yell as loud as she does." He winks, unbuttoning his jacket and rolling up his shirt sleeves. You awkwardly tug at the hemline of your borrowed dress, the length concerning you as you yank it lower.

"(y/n), let me." Soonyoung brings you close to him and ties his jacket around your waist, covering you modestly before straightening his own posture and grinning at you, "ready?"

Soonyoung takes your hand in his and places your hand on his shoulder, gently wrapping his other hand around your waist. You immediately tense up being so close to him, preparing to move when he does but he freezes, waiting for you to relax. "Don't be so stiff—dancing is all about letting the music carry you, letting the song move you. Don't think about it too much."

You nod and shake out your nerves, staring down at your hand in his, already knowing your palm must be drenched in a nervous sweat before you feel a hand tip your chin up, "Don't look at your hands or your feet, just keep your eyes on me. I'll guide you."

Soonyoung slowly instructs you to move one leg back and you do as he says, taking another step back with your other foot once he shifts towards you. The multitude of simple directions guides you around the foyer, your hair swaying to and fro to the melody of the silent song Soonyoung sings.

His eyes are a deep set brown shade, full of warmth and comfort, you think to yourself, mindlessly staring into the dark orbs. Everytime you sway to the right, his face is lit by the pure rays of sunlight entering from the high windows of the foyer, his eyes sparkling with specks of orange around his pupils.

You're so focused on his eyes that you don't even register the change in Soonyoung's next set of instructions, nearly face planting on the stainless, pristine tiles. Reflexively, your hands scramble to reach out in front of you, waiting for the impact but you open your eyes and realize Soonyoung's arms are safely clasped around your waist.

"You're safe, (y/n). I got you." Soonyoung chuckles, bringing you up to your feet. "Let's try that again. This time, don't get distracted, okay?" The soft look in his eyes nearly hypnotizes you again but you nod feverishly and readjust your frame.

You avoid his eyes this time as you concentrate staring at his ear instead, your mind solely listening to his voice and the different directions carrying you all around the room. Soonyoung snickers at your intense staring contest with his ear, giving you one last instruction before pausing in the center of the room. "This last move is simple, I'm gonna lift you up into the air. All you just need to spread your arms wide, got it?"

He slowly moves his hands down and you tense up, immediately smacking his hands off of your waist, "I'm not going to try anything, (y/n)! What, are you ticklish?"

You give a warning glare as Soonyoung keeps eye contact with you, "I got you, I got you. These hands aren't going anywhere else. I’m not gonna let you fall, I promise."

You purse your lips and hold out your pinkie to him, smirking when he rolls his eyes and winds his own pinkie tightly around yours, "Have you no faith in me, (y/n)?"

Before you know it, you're floating in mid-air as Soonyoung's strength suspends you up above his head. He tells you to spread your arms wide in the air like a bird and you can't help but laugh at the mere thought of acting like so.

You are—yet, were as opposite as a bird as you could be.

As you're suspended in mid-air, you can't help but think that it feels like one of those moments you dreamed when you were younger, the ones that your friends gushed in between lessons when they talked about the stolen moments with their crushes—the moments where their breath was taken aback and their heart stopped and felt like it was going to explode all at the same time.

Soonyoung sets you down on your feet and his hands linger around your waist, his eyes stuck on the amazed smile on your lips, "That wasn't so bad was it?"

——

The bell tolls loudly in the background as a gavel hits the base of its platform, the beat echoing into all corners of the grand chamber as the chatter and cacophony dies down. "Everyone, everyone—thank you for your input and I truly do appreciate your feedback in appearing here today. But I'm afraid because there is no unanimous decision, we will have to reconvene in a day's time. Please stay safe and recharge and refuel before you leave the premises."

Chan keeps a poised and regal demeanor even as the older political heads grimace and sneer silently at him, painting a faux smile on his face as they filter out the room. He can already imagine the curses and insults they're chanting in their heads as they leave, wanting nothing more than to retaliate back at them.

Several figureheads on his side shake his hand and promise their allegiance to him and his future agenda before they leave the room, giving Chan assurance as well as room to breathe and relax—just slightly.

The minute the last of the politicians leave the room, Chan collapses and sits back in his chair, slouching and stretching his limbs. At the sound of the chamber doors opening and closing, Chan peeks one eye open before shutting his eye closed again, "Jeonghan, I'm not in the mood to talk right now."

"I'm not talking politics with you, I'm already drained from that three-hour session." Jeonghan groans as the young king-to-be lazily yawns, mumbling incoherent words under his breath. "So who is that girl hanging around you and Soonyoung?"

Chan turns his head in an awful attempt to avoid the royal but Jeonghan nudges him in the leg, "I asked around and people are saying you found her on the beach? In the ocean?"

"You come all the way from your kingdom to ask me about (y/n)?"

Jeonghan isn't even surprised with the slip-up of the mystery girl's name, smirking instead. "(y/n), (y/n)... that's a nice name. Very uncommon around these parts."

Chan opens one eye when the door to the conference chamber is pulled open but relaxes when he notices Soonyoung's figure race to Jeonghan. "Jeonghan! I'm surprised to see you here, all the way from the Fifth Kingdom. When did you arrive here?"

"When the soon-to-be-crowned king calls for a very important meeting with all the royal figureheads in the surrounding area, you simply have to answer at his every beck and call." Jeonghan teases.

"Was Seokmin here?" Soonyoung murmurs quietly whilst distractedly glancing out the window towards the ocean. He spots on you walking along the shoreline, splashing the water with your feet and dipping your fingers into the crystal clear water.

There's a small smile on his lips that only Jeonghan notices, to which he slyly takes a peek out the window as well.

"Seokmin wasn't, actually—he mentioned something coordinating his kingdom's festivals or something of the like." Chan sits up and runs a hand over his face, "you worried about him? Worried he’s doing a terrible job?"

"The Third Kingdom's three-day sun festival started yesterday." Soonyoung notes fondly, ignoring Chan's questions. He pauses and glances off into the distance. "You should send some flowers over, that’s what your father did last year."

"I will." Chan affirms before checking his agenda and glancing at the time. "I have five more minutes before I have to head down for another meeting, so please let me be." He closes his eyes in an attempt to rest before another storm of politicians and advisors hound his ear till lunchtime, but his royal guest and best friend continue their ramblings.

"People have been gossiping around town and in the castle about her, that she must be one of those ocean lovers or something. Like those people, 'one with the sea.'" Jeonghan raises his hands to quote the rumors and shrugs, "but I heard that she's the reason that there is a new bill on anti-dumping laws in the ocean? About how there's going to be a new task division focused on cleaning the toxic waste from the sea? Is that true as well?"

Chan stirs in his chair, but Soonyoung cuts in with a look towards Jeonghan. "The toxic waste is something that's been on the kingdom's list of reforms for ages. And people shouldn't be gossiping about her, end of story. She's just another person like you and me, a person shipwrecked from her home and trying to find her way back."

"Back to the sea, exactly what everyone's saying! Don't you think it's suspicious that she always focused on the ocean? Walking on the beach, cleaning the waters, protecting it? What if… what if she's a siren? A mermaid of some sort!" Jeonghan devises, tapping his chin with his finger. "Remember those myths your mother used to tell us, Soonyoung? When she used to read to you and Seokmin and I? What if—"

"What if what? She’s going to lure us to our deaths? Kill us as we sleep?" Soonyoung scoffs, "Han, those were fantasies, those were children's stories. They’re not real. (y/n) doesn’t have a tail, she doesn’t have a voice to kill us with, she doesn’t even need her voice to seduce you or me or anybody—she could probably do it on looks alone! She's definitely not a siren, she can't be a siren."

Soonyoung freezes when he realizes what exactly he just said, his eyes stuck on Chan as he waits for some sort of teasing or reprimand from him and Jeonghan.

But to his surprise, Chan's eyes open and merely check the time before excusing himself to another meeting and Jeonghan raises his hands in surrender. He looks out the window one more time and notices you sitting in the water, serenely still as your legs point straight in the direction towards the sun, your dress damply clinging to your skin.

The long fabric flounders out past your feet while the rest cling to your legs and upwards, giving Soonyoung an illusion of you as those childhood creatures, those fantasies he forgot about long ago.

You couldn't be, there was just no way.

It's only when you stand up and start to walk back to the palace on your human legs does he shake himself out of the thought.

——

You wave to the drifting boat as you stand on the wooden pier with Soonyoung by your side, watching Chan sail off onboard a ship to a neighboring island just around the corner. Another one of his kingly duties in maintaining international connections and treaties meant he was going to be away from you.

Meaning another week with Soonyoung by your side.

Not that you could complain about him anymore, nor did you want to—he was by your side more often than Chan and that was something you had to be careful about.

The stipulations of the sea witch's agreement said you were to marry a prince of a royal degree, which was something Soonyoung definitely did not retain.

Unless there was something he wasn't telling you.

But how could he be a prince if he spent literally every waking moment with you—where were his royal duties, his army of diligent assistants and servants by his sides? His booked schedule with chamber meetings with far-off royals and politicians and figureheads of different kingdoms?

Where?

You shake your head as you direct your questioning gaze towards the ship and back to Soonyoung, silently asking him why he wasn't accompanying his best friend on the ship.

Soonyoung seems to read your mind and shrugs, "I don't like ships. What? I can't not like something?"

You mimic his same actions and shrug your shoulders with your lips pursed, remembering back to the time you saved him and Chan when the ship underwent the dangerous storm. He didn't look like the type to refuse adventure or to have motion sickness onboard a large boat—he was there, ruffling Chan's hair and watching the sailors in merriment with his broad, toothy smile.

The same smile you saw when he danced with you in the main castle's lobby.

The same kind of smile you wanted to see at the end of the day, the kind that made you feel at home.

You're too caught up in your thoughts that you nearly miss Soonyoung's retreating figure already nearing the main street of the kingdom, bowing to passing elderly men and women and helping them carry their baskets to their open stalls.

You rush to catch up to him and take one of the handles of the large basket from him, splitting the weight between you too as the elderly woman talks about the newest products within the marketplace and all the gossip between the stall owners.

Soonyoung continues to help the townspeople setting up their stalls and opening their shops to which they pinch his cheeks affectionately and offer him their special of the day, "I-it's alright! I'm happy to help, really it's alright."

You manage to help pull him away from the kind vendor with a thumb pointing back towards the market and a smile on your lips, tugging on his arm and looping it through yours as you both wander around.

With your arm through his, him leaning close to you to explain the different products and shops within the small neighborhood, and the blushing smiles on both your lips just as people push you two closer together when passing by, anyone could think you and Soonyoung could be a young, newlywed couple.

As you two wander through town, you and Soonyoung end up back by the main road near the ocean's shores and stop to notice children skipping rocks down the water. The grey pebbles hop along the water before sinking further down in the ocean, the young kids cheering before another competes against the previous.

You and Soonyoung walk further down the street before Soonyoung goes closer to the bank and picks up a stone in his hand. "Skipping rocks is a skill."

Your attention is captured as Soonyoung fondly shakes his head with a grin.

"My mother taught me and my brother how to skip rocks, and how to get the most skips out of a single pebble." He tosses the smooth stone in his hand before sending it down the water with four, nearly five skips in its wake. "Anything you throw must be thrown with intention, focus, and power. This advice can be applied to any object, but for the sake of everyone’s health and well-being, let’s keep it to rocks on the water."

"If you intend for it to skip decently far, you have to focus on the rock skipping that far and then you wind your arm back, turn your body forty-five degrees and..." Soonyoung reenacts his own words and again, the stone skips five ripples down the path. "Your turn."

You try once and the rock breaks the surface and sinks in its one spot, the small ripple echoing out from the landmark till it fades out. You pout before grabbing a bigger rock this time, rotating it with a single hand as you focus on your well-intended target.

"Hey hey hey, it's alright. Take it slow, you’re winding your arm wrong, think of the pathways that your rock will take from location A, your hand, to location B, the water." He comes behind you and wraps his arms around your own, his body molding to your tense frame.

You can't help but think back to your dance lesson with him, his hands wrapped around yours, guiding you around the room, and just his entire being being far too close to yours. You steady your breath and relax slightly as your heart beat skips faster and faster.

Soonyoung helps you skip the second pebble in your hands and he grins, "See! Three skips, not that bad. It takes more practice... Seokmin and I—after so many days, we could get rocks to skip across this entire pond and reach the other side! We'd just stand at opposite ends and skip rocks back and forth." As you turn your head to listen better, your cheek presses against his and he then realizes how close he is to you and quickly separates himself, "ah, sorry."

His hand is still on your wrist when he pulls away and once he realizes, he sheepishly lets go, mumbling another apology. You don't respond as you stare out into the distance, your body carrying you closer to where the cerulean waves meet the sand, your toes feeling every grain of sand beneath your feet. The refreshing waves feed into your soul, the chill of the water heightening your senses and you just wish you could open your mouth and sing.

But given the current situation, you simply lower yourself and sit right where the water washes on the sand, bending your knees and resting your head on them. Soonyoung apprehensively sits down next to you, removing his shoes and pushing them aside, "so… any reason you love the water?"

You look at him blankly. "I-I mean… you're always here: by the shoreline, by the water's edge, and you always turn up here on the shore. Don't you hate the one thing that separated you from your family?"

That was my own choice, you think. You press your lips together and shake your head, wrapping your arms around your legs tightly and staring up at Soonyoung in question.

He picks at a water-logged branch on the sand, picking at the thin, fraying stalks, "I don't hate the sea exactly, I just… My mother—she was on a ship visiting her own mother, my grandmother but... the ship never made it there." He gulps and blinks away his watery eyes. "It was too dangerous to try and send out another search party after a couple days, so they just gave up."

"I only go across the waters if I absolutely have to… and Chan tries to distract me when I'm on there but even the last time I was on a ship, it didn't end so well." Soonyoung mumbles, his eyes avoiding yours. "After that, I just… keep my distance."

You nod your head and place a hand over Soonyoung's, a sad smile on your lips as he blinks away the glassy stare in his eyes. He flushes and gives you a grateful nod, "my family's been doing well for themselves since it happened… I mean, my brother—technically stepbrother, but we're very close—he's doing well. We mourned together but I wanted to leave town and he let me go. I chose to come here to hide from the memories, the pain, the everything and yet, I'm just one step closer to the thing that took my mother away."

Tears leak from the corner of his eyes and he lets out a slight groan when you rub his shoulder reassuringly. "Sorry, I didn't mean… to overwhelm you with too much." You ardently shake your head and instead wrap your arms around him comfortingly, motioning your hands in small circles on his back.

You lay your head on his shoulder as he takes deep breaths, calming himself and laying his head on top of yours. The waves lap back and forth against the sand in a delicate lullaby, the hum of the waves crashing into each other serenading you to sleep.

Moments pass and you're just so comfortable where you are with him by the water, you're thisclose to falling asleep on Soonyoung's shoulder right before he taps you gently, waking you up with a soft smile.

You stand up slowly and blink away the tired haze from your eyes, not even realizing Soonyoung's wrapped his jacket around your shoulders till you curl into the warmth of the sweater to hide from the chilling winds.

"(y/n), let's go back home." He carefully tangles his hand in yours, tugging you back towards land, back towards the roads leading back to the castle.

You trail behind Soonyoung's dancing figure sleepily, watching him joyfully bend and glide to a song that only he knows. His rambunctious amount of energy keeps you focused on the walk ahead as the night grows longer. The street lamps drown his body in a hollow, yellow light, illuminating his moving silhouette with every turn and hit he commits to.

"(y/n), join me!" Initially, you shake your head while clinging to Soonyoung's jacket but he stops in place, refusing to budge with a persuasive smile as he holds your hands in his.

You slip your arms into the sleeves of the jacket with a bite of your lip and try to replicate the same amount of grace and fluidity he has in your moves, basking in the glow of the streetlights and reaching above you towards the moon. You jump carelessly along the street's path and without a single care in the world—until you land your foot in an awkward position against the road.

You crumple to the ground and there's an aching pain in your ankle, a shot of lightning echoing in the ball of your joint. You cry out, but there's nothing but a strangled groan from your lips that catches Soonyoung's attention.

He quickly rushes over to you and frantically dotes over your foot. "Are you okay? Is it your ankle? Did you just land weird? Can you move it?"

You whimper slightly as you lift your foot and roll it around in a slow circle, the pain still resonating beneath your skin but not feeling it hurt too, too much.

"You might have just landed on it weird, so it might just ache for a bit." He rests your ankle down and plops himself on the road with you, folding his legs underneath himself. "We can just stay here till you're ready."

You try to fight him and prove to him you're alright to walk but putting weight on it hurts even more, causing you to collide back down and into Soonyoung's lap. The sudden weight into his lap surprises him, but his arms reflexively wrap around you.

"(y/n)..." He clears his throat and your warmth in his arms puts him at ease for some reason, confusing him all the while his heart races as you're frozen in his embrace. Soonyoung gulps and he can't help but flicker his eyes down to your lips and back up.

Soonyoung can feel himself gravitating towards you, his head tilting ever so slightly and his eyes slowly drooping closed. You pause before closing the distance, your lips brushing against his tenderly as your hand presses against his chest softly.

The sensation grows a field of butterflies in your stomach, your heartbeat racing as Soonyoung cradles your cheek in one hand, his lips gently fighting against yours in tandem.

"W-we… I can’t do this." Soonyoung stammers while he abruptly stands on his feet. "I’m sorry." You nod remorsefully as he helps you up to your feet, adjusting his jacket on your shoulders before sending you a tight smile. Soonyoung offers his arm to you and you loop your arm through his, staring at the road ahead with your head cast down.

"(y/n)! Soonyoung!" Chan lights up when he sees you both enter the castle doors, "I was about to send out a search party for you both!" The tension between you two is present as Soonyoung wordlessly moves past Chan and up the stairs. "Everything okay?"

You nod and motion to going upstairs to your chambers for the night, rubbing at your head and eyes wearily to escape the questioning—not that you can answer much.

Once you crash into the warm embrace of the cushy blankets and pillows adorning your bed, you want nothing more than to fall asleep just as you are, hugging the jacket around your shoulder closer to you and falling asleep with a smile.

——

The internal battle in your head rages on as you're dressed to the nines in a glowing blue gown, your hair pinned up and decorated with shining diamonds and dainty pearls. Your reflection reminds you of who you were a month ago, as the body of the navy dress clings to your figure and flares out at the ends of the fabric, mimicking the tail of who you once were.

Chan's grand coronation ball granting him the throne meant it was the last day of the month, the last night to relish the two legs you were bewitched with, the last time you'd be able to stand on land.

There was no way you'd be able to fulfill the conditions of your contract, to marry Chan and become his queen? Not when you were in love with someone else. It'd be wrong. It'd be downright unfair and cruel.

If tonight was to be your last night on land, you'd spend it cheerfully, you'd spend it as if you were coming back the next day.

You wipe a single tear trailing down your cheek and turn to the room you called your own over the past month, everything neatly in place and just as the moment you entered it. Your satchel rests on the covers of the bed, the flap pushed back and exposing your treasured items brought from home. You rummage through and find the necklace you unearthed forever ago, the star pendant still as brilliant as you found it under the water, if anything it was shining brighter than ever.

You clasp the necklace around your neck and rub the star thoughtfully with your thumb, a sigh escaping your lips as you notice the picture peeking out of your satchel.

The family in the photo beams up at you and you're instantly reminded of the day you found it under the waters, smothering the photo into your satchel just as Seungkwan went on reprimanding you. You stare at the two boys in the picture, both proudly smiling with shaggy dark hair and their mother grinning proudly with her arms around their shoulders.

You hope you'd do the woman justice in wearing her necklace, in keeping it safe around your own neck rather than having it lost in the sea forever.

A thud knocks on your door and you see Soonyoung on the other side when you crack the door ever so slightly. He clears his throat, "(y/n), would you do me the pleasure of accompanying me down the staircase?"

Through the ajar door, you notice Soonyoung dressed up with tons of medals and pins adorning his chest, one of which is a gold plated crest of a shield right over his heart. The crest reminded you of the one you had seen all over the flags inside the castle, except that was Chan's family's royal crest that had been passed down from generation to generation, signifying their noble heritage.

This one on Soonyoung’s chest looked completely different from Chan’s but yet very similar.

"(y/n)? Are you ready?" Soonyoung waves his hand in front of your face with a small smile, laughing at your blatant staring. "What? You've never seen me all dressed up? Are you implying I look like a slob when not like this?"

You yank the door open and lightly hit his shoulder, taking offense to the words he's putting in your mouth. "I'm kidding!"

Soonyoung stares at you in amazement as you shut your door, a smile on his lips, once he quickly bows and offers his arm to you, "May please I escort you down?"

You curtsy in your gown as best you can and loop your arm through his own, matching his pace before you two stop at the top of the staircase, an announcer waiting by with a microphone in hand.

Just the sight of the hundreds of people standing about in the ballroom with their eyes on you makes you feel right at home—or right back in your home. The amount of times you’ve been required to attend your kingdom's royal balls or sit in the royal booth with your father during simple processions and proceedings has conditioned you to straighten your spine, square your shoulders and smile abashly at the string of politicians and powerful figures in attendance.

But the unfamiliar eyes of all the land people, of royalty above the surface has you quivering.

"And now presenting Pri—"

You block out the announcer's voice just as Soonyoung nudges his elbow and turns his head towards you slightly, his voice whispering in your ear, "These steps are steeper than normal when you have hundreds of people watching—take your time. You got me."

Just a single look at him loosens all the tension in your body and you can't help but feel unafraid with him by your side.

"—escorting Lady (y/n)!" You present your best smile at the sound of your name and Soonyoung nods to you to start walking down slowly, going at your pace and maintaining a strong anchor for you to rest on.

He switches hands with you to rest his arm slightly above your waist, his fingers hovering right at your hip but not touching you at all as you both make it to the floor and bow to the royal public and wait along the side.

All the bodies surrounding you seem to be of royalty from all over the country, men and women dressed up in their best clothes and glistening crowns and medals adorning their sashes. They all hold themselves rather highly, some smiling out of courtesy and relaxing their faces once you make eye contact and some holding stern looks of regality and nodding in acknowledgement.

There's a thunderous round of applause when the crown prince to the throne is announced and Chan makes his way down the golden staircase with the woman you remember from his dance lessons on his arm, an adoring smile on his face and his shoulders proudly square.

The woman is elegantly dressed in a matching gold and white dress that captures her as a beautiful queen-to-be, a radiant, mature aura that plays off Chan's charms.

You turn to Soonyoung while connecting your eyes to Chan and the future queen, to which he whispers, "Chan's tutor's the second daughter from another kingdom, a lesser known kingdom, but a kingdom nonetheless. Since she's always been by his side, they've been fond of one another and Chan needed a queen, so there you have it. Proposed last night in the drawing room."

For some reason, the news isn't that all heartbreaking to you. If anything, you feel… elated for Chan, happy for him and his new queen.

Chan’s suit looks tailored perfectly to his figure, golden pins and medals strapped to his chest next to his family crest plated right over his heart. He welcomes you with open arms before bowing to you, "(y/n)! You look... magnificent."

You blush under his gaze and Chan quickly greets Soonyoung before being swept away by the masses of royal men and women wanting his attention for a talk or a dance. Just as the royal coronation starts and the music begins to fill the hall, a man steps in front of you with a bold smirk.

"Excuse me, Lady (y/n)." The strange man bows before you and takes your hand in his, kissing the back of your knuckles daintily. "I am Prince Mingyu of the Second Kingdom, would you be so kind as to honor me in a dance?"

You look at Soonyoung and he nods, staring into your eyes reassuringly. "It’s your choice." He leans in closer to your ear, "Mingyu’s a good man, I trust him. Just be careful because he’s rather clumsy sometimes."

You snicker before calming your laugh, taking Mingyu's hand and swiftly moving to the center of the room, joining other couples in the song and dance of the night.

You manage to get through the dance with nods and smiles answering Mingyu’s abundance of questions for you, most of which he answers himself talking in circles. You know your eyes are not focused on the man dancing with you at all, moreso trying to find the one man you wished to be dancing with, the man who taught you how to dance and skip rocks, the man who managed to take your breath away in a matter of weeks.

The song ends thankfully and you bow to Mingyu for the dance, him regally floating off to find another partner and you making a straight line to collect yourself a glass of water by the tables.

As you linger on the outskirts of the ball, you overhear the politicians and figureheads speak and laugh freely, sipping on their flutes of champagne as they gossip about the newest, ongoings of the world and who's courting who behind closed doors.

Their etiquette and speech reminds you of royals back in your kingdom under the surface, all the merpeople with their high-ranking titles and grand personalities. You've had to sit in on countless dinners and balls and ceremonies recounting every small detail about the northern kingdom and their lack of sustenance growing in their fields, the southeastern kingdom's gossip about their prince flirting with all the royal princesses in the east, and most of all, your own kingdom's issues about all the toxic waste and malicious dumping from the surface in your territory.

At least with Chan passing the newest set of anti-dumping laws on his land, your kingdom can rest peacefully without inhaling toxins polluting the waters or finding waste settled outside their homes.

And in at least two hours, you'll have to leave the surface and become a prisoner to the sea witch for all eternity to come.

"(y/n)? Are you okay?" Soonyoung clears his throat and you nearly choke on your water as he appears before you. You nod and he warmly offers you his hand with a grand flourish of his arm, "(y/n), may I have this dance?"

With your hand in his, Soonyoung leads you straight into the middle of the dancefloor and formally bows before you, stepping up to you proudly and wrapping one hand around your waist and the other in your hand.

Once you take Soonyoung's hand and place your other on his shoulder, you're well aware of all the eyes on you, all the whispering and confused glances thrown in your direction. "Hey hey hey, eyes up here. If you're gonna step on my feet, at least look at me."

You immediately look to Soonyoung with a shake of your head and he smirks, "Then prove it to me. Time to show off those dancing skills of yours."

Soonyoung carries you around the room and leads the way, a proud smile on his face as you keep up with the rhythm of the music, the enchanting melody playing in both your ears. He squeezes your hand in his and you can see a slight blush on his cheeks when he makes eye contact with you, the tips of his ears a flying red color.

He leans in closer as you spiral into him, your back pressed against his chest and his hand holding yours tightly, "(y/n), you're beautiful."

Your heart flutters as he spins you around once more and gently releases your hand from his, bowing to you once again as the music dies down and there's a round of applause for the musicians coming from all around.

Soonyoung claps in unison but his eyes never leave you, a fond look of amazement and wonder before you as your heart skips a beat again. You can't help but want to melt into him and forget about what's to become of you, but you can't.

His smile contorts into a look of confusion as you stand there silently before you shake your head and wrap your arms around him tightly, pouring all you can into this single hug, this final encounter with Soonyoung.

A tear trails down your face as you pull away from him, a smile blooming on your face. Soonyoung immediately wipes them away and holds your face in his hands, "(y/n), what’s wrong? Is everything alright? Why are you crying?"

You notice the clock ticking away behind him as an announcer commands the attention of the entire ballroom, averting your eyes to him and his announcement of the crowning ceremony commencing in several minutes.

Your feet carry you out of the center of the ballroom and towards the outskirts of the room, ignoring Soonyoung's calls for your name, looking extremely concerned for you as a man walks up to you two. "Sir, Prince Chan is requesting your presence across the room. The crowning ceremony is going to begin soon."

"I'll be there in a moment." His eyes never leave yours even as he dismisses the man, his hands holding yours. "(y/n), what's wrong?"

You shake your head and his expression doesn’t change, still asking you softly what’s wrong. The staff from before returns and reminds Soonyoung sternly of the time before he pulls you further aside.

"Stay here?" Soonyoung squeezes your hand, but you shake your head apologetically. "Please? I'll find you right after the ceremony, promise. I have something to ask of you."

You try to shake your head no but Soonyoung’s eyes plead with you to stay. "Promise me, (y/n)?" He holds out his pinkie to you and you let out a smile despite the tears leaking out. You decide to carefully wrap your finger around his and just as the staff pulls his shoulder once more, Soonyoung nodding as he backs away compliantly, "I'll find you."

Soonyoung disappears into the crowd and the world feels so much colder, so much smaller once your hand falls to your side. The bells toll once again and you can't escape the ticking clock reminding you of how much less and less time you have left.

You begin to make your way towards the main exit of the ballroom, the ends of your gown gathered in your hands tightly before you hear your name called out behind you. You search around for the voice but it’s not at all familiar to you as someone races up to you and formally bows.

"Yes! Lady (y/n), correct? I apologize for the commotion but I wanted to have a moment of your time before you left, it’s a pleasure to meet you," a man chastely presses a kiss to the back of your hand before standing up straight once more. "I heard you’re a woman of few words and yet you’ve managed to steal away my brother’s heart. And that’s saying a lot considering he says a mouthful."

You tilt your head in confusion at the brown haired man, his face unfamiliar to you. His formalwear is almost identical to the ones you've seen all night, save for the crest over his heart that looks almost exactly like Soonyoung's. "Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Lee Seokmin, I'm Soonyoung's brother—technically stepbrother, but we're very close."

Seokmin endearingly rambles as you tensely chuckle, your eyes distracted staring across the room at the clock nearing the last fifteen minutes of the night. He clears his throat to gather your attention and your eyes snap to his.

There's something about his eyes that seem very familiar, but yet you can't recall him at all.

"Pardon me, but where did you get that necklace?" Seokmin's eyes are glued to the pendant around your neck. "That star, it looks… beautiful."

Your hand goes to the necklace and you press your lips into a small smile, vaguely noticing the glazed look in his eyes as you take a defensive step back when he reaches for the pendant.

"Seokmin, what are you doing?" Soonyoung cuts in front of you defensively, pulling you behind him in concern. The clock's hands shift once more as you look in confusion between the two men.

"Sorry, I-I thought…" Seokmin pulls Soonyoung away from you and whispers to him, "her necklace, it looks exactly like Mom's necklace! Did you even see it? I'm sure that's her necklace, but I haven't seen it since the day she left. It should be sitting at the bottom of the ocean."

"It should be, shouldn't it…" Soonyoung mumbles decisively, he turns to you but you've already disappeared. "Where did (y/n) go?" Soonyoung scans the room and hurriedly rushes out to the steps of the palace, looking left and right for you. Seokmin follows him and stands on the steps, staring at Soonyoung's panicked state. "What did you say to her?"

"Nothing!" Seokmin raises his hands innocently. "All I said was that her necklace looked familiar, that it's beautiful! I didn't say anything else to her… she looked out of it for some reason, is something wrong? Where do you think she's gone?"

Soonyoung has a stroke of realization as he rushes down the stairs of the palace, ignoring his brother calling his name as well as Chan's staff shouting for him. He nearly rounds the corner before running into a security detail posted outside the castle's doors, about to run off into the street but pausing when he notices a weapon on his belt.

"Can I borrow this?"

——

You slowly make your way down the sandy banks of the ocean, the creme-colored moonlight lighting the way as the sand filters through and around your feet. The water that flows around your feet is shockingly cold, but the chills send a sense of familiarity through your spine.

Off in the distance, you notice a cluster of water take form and there she is, the sea witch to whom you bound your soul to. She gives you a resounding welcome, "Why there she is! The future queen uniting both the land and sea at once—cheers to a bright future! Oh, wait," she despicably pauses. "Something isn’t right here, is it? Tell me what happened, princess." She asks in faux innocence.

You grit your teeth and keep your head low, staring at your toes curling around the wet, sticky sand and watching the water wash over them. Above you, there's a blanket of rain descending from the sky, a light mist turning into heavy raindrops. "Silly me! How can you tell me if you don’t even have a voice, here—open up." A whip of water wraps around you and your head is tilted back, your vision filled with the sea witch pouring the essence of a golden tube into your mouth.

Your throat immediately feels dry and raspy as you gasp for air, the whip of water releasing you and your knees buckling under you in shock. You begin to cough and you hear the audible sound of your voice coming through once you pop your ears.

"(y/n)! (y/n)!"

You hear a disruption in the cacophony of the waves around you, turning your head to see Soonyoung rush into the water, his decorated jacket abandoned on the sand as the waves angrily slosh around his hurried footsteps. His white shirt is already soaked from the downpour of rain and the water crashing back and forth from the shore.

"Please, just one moment! One moment and you can take her." Soonyoung pleads, tears in his eyes as he desperately reaches for you, his hands practically clawing his way through the water. "Please! If she’s already doomed to be yours, let her have a chance to say goodbye to me! Please, I beg of you! Just one minute with (y/n)."

The sea witch scans Soonyoung and you swear there's nothing good in the brief twinkle in her eye but you're dropped from her grasp and into water. "Fine, peasant boy. One minute and that’s it." She sneers, "Say your goodbyes."

As you resurface from the water, there's a heavy feeling beneath you and there's a flick of your tail breaking the surface and keeping you afloat. You swim your way back up the shoreline, your tail a shimmering cobalt shade in the dim moonlight. You're immediately wrapped into Soonyoung's arms as he stands solidly in the shallow water, attempting to pour your warmth into his shivering body. "Soonyoung—what are you doing? You shouldn’t be here. You should be back at the castle."

His eyes light up the very second your voice trickles out of your throat, the saccharine melody familiar to him. "It's you. It's always been you."

Although your voice sets him at ease, he can still feel his heart race urgently, his time with you ticking. "I knew something was wrong earlier, everything tonight felt like you were saying goodbye but I can’t let you go. Not when I just found you."

"It’s been you all along, you saved me then and you’ve saved me now, (y/n). I-I love you, I know it’s too much too fast, but I can’t deny how I feel about you. Every touch, every look, everything spoke a thousand words and you didn’t need to say a single one," he confesses. "You can’t leave—not now. I don’t know what kind of deal you have with her but I don’t care."

He carefully shifts away a damp lock of your hair matted against your skin, staring into your eyes tenderly, as if a single blink and you’d disappear right in front of him.

"Marry me." Your eyes widen in shock as he breathes out his proposal to you, "I-I don’t care if you’re a human or a mermaid or a squid or a fish," you tearily laugh at him as he stares at you in amazement, "I want you, voice or no voice, legs or tail, I don't care—I want all of you if you’d have all of me. Marry me, (y/n). In sickness or in health, hell—even if you disappear right now, I'll forever cherish the moment you've said 'yes' to me."

"But—" You shake your head in disbelief and Soonyoung wraps his hand in yours, his eyes locked solely on you. The tears welling up in his sharp eyes meld with the raindrops falling all around you both and just staring into his eyes, your breath is taken away. "Yes Soonyoung—for rich or for poor."

"For underwater or on shore, I’ll forever be yours." He finishes his vow by holding up his pinkie finger to you, making you gasp in delight once you connect your finger with his.

Your lips touch his and suddenly all your worries melt away, all your tears feel the same as the raindrops striking your face and you’re suddenly stuck in a world where it’s just you and him—the man you completely and whole-heartedly fell in love with.

There’s an agonizing pain that pulls your attention away from Soonyoung and you feel it down in your tail, the same excruciating feeling of your tail splitting into two. You dare to look down and there’s the water rising and falling on the skin of your bare legs, the sea foam prickling your newfound limbs with their sudsy bubbles, the icy droplets of rain pounding against your skin.

You don’t even have a moment to rejoice when a voice tears you apart, "W-what? How did you—" The sea witch plunges toward you and disdainfully picks you up by the shoulders with the creation of two large waves. "H-he is not the crown prince of this kingdom! You betrayed me, Princess!"

Soonyoung stands above the water and madly screams, "I am a prince! I am Prince Kwon Soonyoung of the Third Kingdom, successor to my late mother’s throne! I am and always have been!"

"How dare you!" The suction of the witch's tentacle rapidly wraps around your ankle and drags you back into the water, your hands fervently reaching out to Soonyoung.

Soonyoung rises from the water and lunges himself towards the sea witch, a dagger aimed toward her before a tentacle takes a hold of him by the waist.

"You really believe that small dagger is supposed to hurt me? You fool!" The sea witch snarls as the knife drops into the water, washed away into the waves.

"Maybe in exchange for your legs, dear Princess—I’ll take your dearly beloved. I’ll take him on a tour of your home! Yes! The King would surely want to see what kind of man you’ve chosen to marry! A land dweller! The ugliest of men—no, a monster among men!"

"They’re not monsters—they never were! The only monster here is you!"

Soonyoung points at the hilt of the small blade being carried closer to the shoreline, "(y/n)! The dagger!"

You quickly push yourself up to your feet and run towards the blade, your legs feeling rigid and sore from your recent transformation. There’s a cold, slimy limb wrapped around your ankle and you fall to the ground, seeing one of the sea witch’s tentacles tethering itself to your leg and pulling you away from the sand, away from the base of the dagger. "Princess! You made a deal! Don’t you know if you break the rules, there are consequences?"

You turn and see Soonyoung wrapped in her clutches, his body bound by the sea witch’s limbs and yet, he still is trying to kick and claw his way out to get to you. Your heart crumples as he struggles against the powerful waves and you can't bear to even think of him captive under the sea witch's rule, yanked down to the waters you resided.

"Y-you’re right. There are consequences to broken rules." You breathe out, steadying yourself against the heavy descent of rain falling all about you. "I’ll go with you if you let Soonyoung go. I'll honor my contract to you."

Soonyoung calls out your name and violently thrashes about, the frigid rain blending his tears into watery raindrops. "It’s okay, Soonyoung." You approach him as he's lowered in front of you and you reach out to touch his cheek, "it's okay. I'll be okay."

You press your lips against his, pouring everything you can into him before you feel a slimy tentacle wrap around your legs and drag you into the water, now a spiraling whirlpool into the deeper trenches of the ocean. The farther the sea witch pulls you, the deeper the whirlpool becomes, and the more the debris gathers into the sea.

The sand and gravel around you rushes into the whirlpool and there's a glow of something in the waters—the handle of the dagger glittering against the sea witch's bewitchment of the waves.

You stretch yourself as far as you can, wriggling your fingers in reach for the dagger as the water floods itself around you. You kick your legs angrily and push off the tentacles, launching yourself for the knife and wrapping your fingers around the handle firmly.

Another arm wraps around your shoulders and you instinctively fight against it, puncturing the slimy arm with the dagger precisely. The sea witch screams vehemently and you take the moment to swim closer and puncture her in the chest.

The dagger settles into the sea witch’s body and suddenly the whirlpool settles as well, black liquid trickling out of her wound as she crumples into the waves, her entire being seeping into dark seafoam and melding with the ocean waters.

Your body desperately urges you for a mere second of air as you work and fight your way up from the trenches, shutting your eyes and letting your mind take over once you break the surface.

The ocean now reflects the color of the navy blue skies, a cloudless night since the sea witch's evils have died off with her. You bob your head above the water and start for the shoreline when you hear a familiar voice yell for you, a voice desperate to find you.

"(y/n)!" Soonyoung's voice is hoarse as he stands waist-deep in the waters, waddling deeper as he rushes towards you.

"Finally." You gasp as you wrap your arms around him, a sense of relief filling you up as you drink him in again. He holds you close to him and clings to you like the very water you come from, that you need to survive.

"Finally, my queen." Soonyoung grins as lifts you out of the water, your laughter clear as night whilst his arms stay wrapped securely around your waist as you slide lower and closer to him, a smile on your lips once you kiss under the glow of the moonlight.

The water surrounding you and him is all but calm—the moonlight flickering against the splashing of water towards one another and the peals of giggles and whispers between you both.

Your feet are dancing against the wet pavement as Soonyoung's jacket rests on your shoulders, his sash tied to keep the article from revealing your ripped dress and his fingers interlocked with yours. The medals on his jacket are hanging on by their single pins, some misshapen and fallen off, but you know he could care less about it. You cling to his arm and stop in your tracks, "you know what I just thought about?"

He tilts his head just enough and his face is illuminated even in the dark, his brown eyes focused solely on you, along with a questioning hum on his lips.

"Before I left the coronation, you promised you would find me… and you did."

If you could keep that exact smile on Soonyoung's face forever, you would. If you could hold his hand forever, you would. If you could be with him forever, you would.

Maybe this is what it meant to be part of this world—to feel this, to feel this way towards someone, towards anyone.

Soonyoung tugs you closer and smiles into you, "I always will."

#Seventeen #seventeen scenarios #soonyoung scenarios #Hoshi scenarios #seventeen au #seventeen imagines #kwon soonyoung scenarios #kwon soonyoung imagines #hoshi au #hoshi imagines #my work

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thelastyetfabolousmidwestmadman · 3 years

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That One Fanfic Idea I Had That Was Too Fucked Up For Me

So picture this.

Your watching Highschool DXD with your mother. It’s weird I know but my mom has done much more disgusting stuff so it seems rather normal in comparison...

No? You Don’t want to picture it?

Kay, now stop picturing it, cause you’re either squicked out or have issues so imagine just watching alone, with a friend, or if good fortune strikes you the best girlfriend/Boyfriend ever.

But lets talk about YOU.

You are a lonely depressed coed, who straight out of high school suffered one of the most painful experiences of your life. The one you love the most just broke up with you for reasons you don’t understand or can comprehend at the time.

For brevity’s sake I won’t tell the cause of what happened between me and my ex. I think some things should remain private and everyday I’m regretful for how I acted and wish that things could have gone differently. That is the past now and it should only be revisited to show how much you changed for the better.

You present yourself a mask of happiness when in reality you are in so much pain you are genuinely considering suicide but in a attempt to keep your mind off the pain, you listen to music that you never liked before because what you loved reminds you of them, and most importantly you watch shows that you previously had no interest in due to a desperate attempt to feel something, anything.

Its been nearly four years since that happened and some things are better but the scars still bleed deeply in the sides of my cerebrum. Today while I still have many issues and I wont pretend to have them together, but with the passing of time wounds become less salted and eventually will heal. Parts of myself I lost I’ve regained and that has made me proud but in other ways my trauma made myself break in two more then shatter. I may never be the same again but that doesn’t mean I could be something new or better.

Some of you might me wondering, “Why Madman, why are you talking about this now.” Well if there is one positive thing I can say about what happened is that it made ma a better writer. I now take my time, and don’t stress out about due dates. Since I experience one of the worst experiences of my life, I could greater write and understand the pain, sadness, and fears the characters I adapted experienced. I guess talent increases through suffering and struggle. I guess the best I can say was before I wrote like a child who hears a song and only focuses on the feelings in their simplistic form while now the adult who has life experience and sense the greater meaning.

But even now I still have so much to learn, and improve from! Sometimes I look at both my ongoing and old work with a equal measure of fondness and disappointment knowing what I know now. Even after the tragedy, I wrote in stasis for a while and works like Goodbye Innocence could have started less like a soup opera and be better for it. But suddenly I had a ephinany. I couldn’t allow myself to keep my writing at this level with the lackadaisical attitude I had before. I had to try harder! And that meant updating less and taking my time to get back in touch in why I loved writing so.

Then it hit me. The childish magic and wonder I got from writing hasn’t left me at all, even at my lowest most pathetic moments. There are people better then me and instead of repeatedly getting down on myself, I accepted my limitations and regained my enthusiasm that I thought lost.

But briefly over a period of twenty months my mind sorta went to a dark, bitter place and I sorta gave in into nihilism and despair. I kept thinking about Deconstructionism in general and what it could be applied. As you could guess, my mind landed on one show in particular.

So I kept stretching out my mind, in a rather feverish pace, thinking about how could I turn Highschool DXD dark? I mean the show is literally nothing but fanservice and tame ultraviolence how can anyone possibly make that edgy? Even without Funimation’s help the show is so ludicrous how could anyone take a dark fic seriously?

Well... Unfortunately for my sins, I came up with one.

I thought about Issei when I got to the Diadora Asteroth part. I thought about how hypocritical he could be at times considering how he tried to influence Gasper into stopping time in order to fondle unknowing women, which is pretty much beyond comedic anime perversion and more Diadora levels of sexual predation.

Granted, I’ve long since learned that if you spend all the time thinking about the unfortunate implications of jokes, plotlines, and character arcs, particularly in politically astute context like myself, you’re quickly drive yourself crazy and be unable to enjoy any work of fiction ever. There are some that are admittedly more egregious than others but author’s intent, values dissonance/resonance, and alternative implications are important to examine as well. Life is too short to turn into a zealot and their are other social-economic problems that require requisitely radical solutions like Medicare For All, Reparations, BDS, etc that are more important to focus on then minor shit like this but anyway why the fuck am I rambling, you didn’t read this far to hear me pontificate on politics, back to the point.

TRIGGER WARNING from this point onwards

So the idea goes like this. The girls of Rias’s harem fall in love with Issei just like in canon. But what if said love is only due to Ddraig’s influence? What it Issei now had a excuse and means to justify his perversions and channel them into outright sexual and emotional abuse?

Yeah I don’t particularly feel like going further into what I entailed other than saying that it got really graphic and disturbing. So why you may ask, why would someone who was infamous for his rape fics be unable to write this of all things?

I couldn’t stomach it.

The amount of talent required at the time was beyond me and I think it’s beyond me even now but lets pause for a second and really think about this. This is something that I have no experience but sadly too many people do. IF I got even the most single fact wrong, I simply wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.

Even worse, the part that I would be at most knowledgeable about, the emotional aspect of abuse, would bring up memories that I would rather not think about.

You don’t like fics like this out of passion or joy, you write them out of sheer artistic conveyance to a particular issue. You write them cause you are in pain. You write them to punish yourself. You write them to reveal a dark part of yourself you suppress with thousands of years of civilization and morality. It would be an all around miserable experience for everything.

And why would I do that to myself and others? That is not the sign of a healthy mindset and it is counterproductive to the reason I write dark fics in general.

So I am happy to toss this idea in the bin. I can’t stop anyone from doing this idea, all power to you, but I don’t want to read it. Perhaps my curiosity would get to the better of me.

Either way, I say goodbye to this fic, and hopefully this painful period of my life.

Peace.

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brand-strategy-consulting-blog · 3 years

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Deliver The Model Identity

“We help CEOs succeed” is an example of role-focused positioning — focusing on a particular operate in the group. Instead of specializing in a specific business or service, you goal a cohort of individuals. These buyers will understand you as more tuned in to their wants and anticipate that you simply supply particular information or expertise that may make their job easier.

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We assist develop a powerful model promise so that customers choose the corporate beyond the product.

Platform Thinking drives creativity that thrives in today’s customer-driven and always-on advertising panorama.A brand’s function, its positioning and its id must be created together with your Interaction Field in mind.

He left academia to begin up and run three high-growth firms, including an $80 million runaway success story.

A good brand strategist is someone who can imagine the company’s future state and knows the means to make the most of enterprise branding to reach it efficiently.

In people-based service businesses, the acquisition is more risky as a result of individuals and their skills are the most important purchase merchandise.

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The predominant mental image about “the way issues work” in business is a product-based picture. This picture results in a product-oriented language, and the language in flip constrains communication in such a means that one can not develop actually revolutionary approaches to managing the service enterprise. Consulting to help with the optimization and implementation of name growth methods.

• Like Go Compare, they will break things that must be broken. Saying so, they may continually re-think strategies and worth propositions to maintain your brand relevant. (Especially now since conventional approaches to "development and innovation" are turning incumbents into laggards). Ultimately, all seven of those branding ideas work collectively and reinforce one another for amassed effects – visibility and growth. Through strategic and deliberate branding, you'll be able to assist your agency stand apart and get ahead. Every single one of these advertising channels needs to befundamentallyaligned with your branding concepts.

Our Branding Case Studies

As the healthcare industry expands, they're shifting to implement contingent workforce programs that increase their reach and provide sustainable growth. We help these efforts through workforce management packages that provide the seamless integration of skilled independents into their ecosystem. We fuse an analytical strategy with creativity to grow stronger manufacturers and businesses. Lush's branding strategy is simple and genuine, precisely why the corporate has an enormous brand following.

Virtually all product-oriented corporations have some form of research and growth effort that's responsible for designing and testing new merchandise and/or modifications to present products. The R&D task in service-oriented firms is totally different as a outcome of it is complicated by the shortage of a physical product. A service, especially in people-based businesses, could be a little bit different every time it is rendered.

They are made attainable by the reality that the production, distribution, and sale of the product may be uncoupled, usually being achieved by different firms. The conventional picture of the service enterprise is that the service is “invariably and undeviatingly private, as something performed by people for other people.”2 This perspective is erroneous. Automatic automobile washes, automated banking services, and pc time-sharing are simply three of the many examples of service companies in which the service is supplied by automated gear.

To provide you with concepts that make you go whoopee, the strategist will research your brand, study what your idea is and what you would possibly be offering in terms of worth to your customers. As part of the job, strategists will also keep an eagle's eye on the competitors. They will observe competitors, examine brands just like yours, have a glance at their communication and maybe the strategic approaches to position your brand to become THE BRAND.

This often entails conducting surveys, together with competitor analysis to understand the voids in the market that your brand can fill. Get methods, ideas, and instruments for growing your firm’s model with Hinge’sBrand Building Guide for Professional Services Firms. Finally, you'll use your positioning statement as inspiration for headlines and persuasive language on your website and in advertising collateral. To learn more about uncovering your differentiators, try our free Differentiation Guide for Professional Services Firms. Also, I recommend you learn this weblog post on aggressive differentiation.

The complete process of creating such providers deals with ideas rather than bodily objects. The testing course of varies depending on whether or not the service is equipment-based or people-based, but in both case it's tough to do check marketing or different kinds of market analysis on the model new service. Customers should be enticed into experiencing the service, and this usually requires major marketing efforts. Thus the worth of introducing a successful new service may be fairly high as a result of it is difficult to predict what service concepts might be understandable and engaging to the shopper. Probably less is understood about the usage of price as a strategic weapon in service companies than about any of the opposite strategic variables.

The finest logos actually look compelling, they’re aesthetically pleasing, and they’re memorable. They shouldn’t be overly advanced and must be simple to decipher visually. But more than all of this, one of the best logos speak to the brand itself. One essential component to that is the artwork and science that both go into logo design. Your emblem is more than your name, it says one thing about who you're, and it represents you when folks come into contact with it.

Establishing your self as athought leaderis one of the effective marketing instruments for impartial contractors. Blogging via your individual web site or via a channel corresponding to LinkedIn is a creative outlet that permits you to share your experience and attain an viewers you may not join with through traditional advertising strategies. Speaking opportunities are one other method to promote your name and voice. Reach out to skilled organizations, conferences, and local media and provide to share your expertise. Looking to grow your business by way of new merchandise and services?

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enkelimagnus · 3 years

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Bucky Barnes Gen, 2375 words, rated T

Jewish Bucky Barnes, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Episode 4 The Whole World is Watching

Bucky and Zemo find themselves talking about Sokovia, about family, and about where they come from.

TW: antisemitism mention

Read on AO3

Part 29 of Making a Home - the Jewish Bucky series

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"Were there Jews in Sokovia?"

Zemo came back to himself an hour or two ago. He’s resting now, a damp towel on what must be a pounding headache. If Walker had been a supersoldier, Zemo would be dead. The shield, sent flying like that by someone on the serum would have broken his neck with the force of its slamming into his temple.

He wouldn’t be laying there, drinking glass after glass of something probably not recommended for someone with a concussion. He’s dosed himself on painkillers as well. Hopefully, he won’t die before the Dora Milaje arrive. If he died under Bucky’s watch, he doesn’t think he would ever be forgiven.

Bucky’s been staring at the windows for a while now, just… waiting for Zemo to start talking again. He grew bored of it. Even if the windows are beautiful and make him lose time in memories of his childhood shul and on the necklaces they all wore.

"It was an Eastern European country. Of course there were,” Zemo answers in that almost amused matter-of-fact tone of his. The same kind he used when he talked about Marvin Gaye. Now Bucky gets Sam’s “He’s out of line, but he’s right.” His voice is hoarse though, a clear sign of what he’s just gone through. Bucky finds himself slightly satisfied by that crack.

"Where was your family from?" Zemo asks. Perhaps it’s the same sort of question that led to that conversation in the plane. Bucky didn’t need to tell him he was Jewish after that.

"Romania."

Zemo nods quietly. "Ah. Not far, actually. Is that why you found a hiding place there before I flushed you out?"

That’s an interesting question, and Bucky shouldn’t be surprised he’s asking it.

"Not really." He didn’t know his family was Romanian until a couple of months in, until a mother’s lullaby triggered an avalanche of memories. “Followed some memories there.”

“What did they do? Your parents?”

Bucky huffs and turns towards him. “Why do you want to know?” He asks, jutting out his chin. He doesn’t know if he wants to talk to Zemo about that. But Zemo’s the only one who has ever asked. Steve didn’t need to. And no one else has spent long enough with Bucky to wonder.

“I am curious,” Zemo shrugged. “This is not a trick. I have nothing to gain by having this information. Your parents are dead. They cannot be used as leverage.”

“You sure know a lot about leverage, huh Zemo?” His answer is sarcastic, poking. The ghost of the tension from earlier in the day, the one that made Bucky let go of his tight leash of control to break one of Zemo’s expensive cups, hovers between them for a moment.

“I am a criminal,” Zemo hums. “A killer. And a Baron. Of course, I know a lot about leverage, James.”

At least he doesn’t hide from the truth. Bucky guesses that those eight years in solitary gave him time to self-reflect.

They both fall silent for a moment again. Zemo sips his whiskey. Bucky wishes he could get drunk. The minutes tick by. The Dora Milaje could come any time now. It’s hanging in the air with the tension, with the silence.

“You didn’t answer my question, James,” the man’s voice comes from the couch where he’s lounging. “What did they do?”

“My da worked in a journal in Romania. A Yiddishe one,” Bucky explains. “Worked in a printing factory in America. My ma helped sell the papers on the market. When she moved here and had us, she didn’t start working again until everything crashed and da died. I was working, but it wasn’t enough. We were four kids, and there was Steve, and his ma too, until she passed.”

He stops talking. He’s saying too much. Way too much. Zemo doesn’t need to know those things, he shouldn’t be talking about those things. It’s too personal, too intimate. Even Hydra didn’t know. Why is he telling Zemo?

Because Zemo’s going to the Raft. He’s going to be buried there and never come out, and he won’t be able to tell anyone. You could tell him what Steve tasted like, he wouldn’t be able to talk.

“What did your parents do?” Bucky asks, turning the question back on Zemo. It’s not the same, of course not. Bucky’s pretty sure he could find all the information about Heinrich Zemo readily available online.

“My father was a Baron and a businessman,” Zemo replies anyway, evenly. “He was also a sitting member of Hydra’s European branch.”

Bucky’s eyes snap to Zemo. He can’t see him, only the back of his head. Is he smug? Is he happy he got to push one of Bucky’s buttons this way?

“You didn’t meet him, I believe,” Zemo continues. “At least as far as I am aware.”

Bucky doesn’t reply. What is there to say, thanks?

“My mother was a housewife. She was a Baroness. She did charity events, talked to people, was beautiful at my father’s side. That was what they did. As for myself, I was, as you know, in the army. Before my service, however, I studied in Oxford, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, before interning in Berlin for two years. Only then, after much partying and drinking, did I settle and join the ranks.”

Bucky leans against the counter, huffing. “You wanna talk about yourself a bunch today, don’t you?”

“I was going to follow that with a question on your own Curriculum Vitae, James.”

“Why? Wanna hire me?”

Zemo chuckles, a puffy sound immediately followed by a sharp intake of breath. Pain, perhaps. That’ll teach him.

“Humor me?” he asks and for some reason, Bucky shrugs and decides to do so.

“Top student in Washington High School until ‘33, graduated early, started working. Making girls’ dresses. Working on the docs in the evening too,” Bucky recounts, sighing softly. “Got drafted. Deployed in ‘43. The rest you know.”

“No college despite being a so-called top student?” Zemo asks. Bucky can feel the airquotes in his voice.

Bucky huffs loudly. “We didn’t have that kind of money. We could have, without the crash. Could have gotten a scholarship, but it wasn’t… Da passed, and I had to make sure there was food on the table.” He shoves his hands in his pockets.

“I’m sure you’d be able to afford some sort of degree now.”

“Not an option.”

He’s not going to start explaining all the way Hydra fucked him up, how his attention span is shorter than it’s ever been except when a mission is involved, how his brain flips through languages constantly. How he would have issues handling the workload, the students around him. Crowded lecture halls would be terrible for his brain.

He doesn’t know what he wants to do after this.

Maybe just read books and go on runs and eat kugel and drink vodka. Those sound like good things to do.

"I saw Sokovia fall," Bucky says after a moment. "I was in Austria."

Zemo’s curious loose attitude shifts as Bucky says that.

“It made a big cloud,” Bucky keeps going. He doesn’t know why. “I barely had my mind, but I knew what I was seeing was world-ending. Catastrophic. Horrifying.”

“I was in Novi Grad for a chunk of the battle, before the city rose. And then I ordered my unit to run. To save their families if they could.” Zemo’s voice is quiet, tight with horrible grief. It’s been nine years and it’s still intense. Bucky guesses he hasn’t had anyone to talk about it with. It’s strange that it’s with him. “I was on the road to my father’s property when the city fell. Chunks of it fell around me, like terrible lethal snow.”

Bucky understands that. He remembers days on the front line in France, where the bombs falling from the sky almost looked like rain until they hit the ground and exploded and killed. Sometimes, at night, the lights in the sky were painfully beautiful.

“I have German citizenship, because of my mother’s own German citizenship. My father insisted I claim it, so I interned at the Bundestag for a couple of years in my twenties. Perhaps he was a visionary, perhaps he knew that one day Sokovia would come to fall and I wouldn’t be able to be Sokovian anymore. It’s strange.” He hums. “To know I do not have a home anymore.” There’s a pause. “Do you know what that feels like?” Zemo adds after a moment.

Bucky hums. “Borders change, political regimes fall. By all accounts, I’m American, but I spent more time in my life speaking Russian than I did speaking English. And yet, the Soviet Union has been gone for over thirty years. And I only learned that ten years ago. The America I grew up in is gone, too. So… I’m nothing. I’m nowhere.”

“Do you know what the strangest part of all of this is, James?” Zemo asks. “Sokovia is gone. In dust. There are no places I can go that still look the same as they once did. There are no buildings still standing. Their stones will one day be in museums, without context. It’s like it never existed, really. Memories are good, but they only last one lifetime, if that long.”

“In a hundred years, those memories will be gone,” Bucky finishes for him.

Zemo finishes his glass. “I’m the King of Sokovia,” he says then, and Bucky immediately wonders if they shouldn’t try to seek some sort of medical assistance.

“I’m royalty. The last living royal of Sokovia. I’m the King,” he explains. “King of ash, King of a memorial. King of the dead.”

“Yeah, I doubt Wanda Maximoff would accept you as King,” Bucky quips, and Zemo chuckles.

“Ah, the Maximoff girl,” he mutters. “Do you know just how many times her head was in the visor of my rifle?” He asks, and Bucky can hear the smirk, the predator’s grin in his voice. “When I was with EKO Scorpion, watching her and her anarchist friends… Do you know how many times I could have killed her?”

“Why didn’t you? Bucky asks with genuine curiosity.

“She wasn’t dangerous then. She was just a girl, an idealistic teenager. She hadn’t met Hydra yet. I had no reason to end her life.”

He shifts on the couch, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from God knows where on his person. He tosses it over to him. Bucky catches them, and the following lighter. He doesn’t ask why Zemo doesn’t take one. They’re cheap, from a Slavic brand. The tobacco blend is familiar to Bucky. His handlers used to smoke it.

The lighter is familiar too, a Zippo. It clicks and sounds like the hundreds of thousands Bucky has heard in his life.

“The Maximoffs were Sokovian Jews,” Zemo says after Bucky pulls the preliminary drag of his cigarette. White plumes wave over his face for a moment. “Wanda and Pietro wore the marks of their heritage for years on the front lines of their revolution.”

Bucky frowns a little. “I don’t remember it from the images, afterwards.”

“I can only guess they took it off when they joined Hydra,” Zemo points out. Bucky takes a hard long drag and the taste is like a ghost of Soviet pride. “Von Strucker was an antisemite.”

Bucky chuckles at that. Of course he was. “What a surprise,” he mutters sarcastically.

“He was not one of the hidden ones either,” Zemo points out. “He was quite loud about his opinions when he believed himself in the right circles.”

“You sure seem to know a lot about von Strucker’s views, Zemo,” Bucky says quietly.

“He was a Baron of Sokovia too. I saw him several times a year, for official occasions of the royalty, and informal meetings at my family’s estate for most of my life. He and I were not that far apart in age, I must admit we shared toys once upon a time, in palaces like the one Karli and her friends now occupy.”

The world is small, especially the kind of world Hydra, the Soldier and the Avengers lived in. Bucky doesn’t exactly believe that he never met Zemo’s father. He doesn’t know if he would remember it if he had. Unless he was given the man’s name in some way, he probably was nothing but another higher up, another possible handler, another persona had to obey.

“So your government knew Hydra was in Sokovia?” Bucky asks, pulling more on his cigarette, trying to parse out a timeline of events.

“The government was Hydra,” Zemo replies, his voice heavy. “It had been for decades. Truth is, I never knew Sokovia without Hydra encroaching on it like a tumor.”

Bucky shifts, humming quietly. Zemo’s hatred of Hydra is surprising now that he knows his father was. “Why aren’t you Hydra, then? If your family was?”

Zemo shrugs. He has that sharp intake of breath again, probably accompanied by a wince.

“When the main Hydra branch fell, in 2014, I was only 35,” he mutters. “I was getting invited to the parties, of course, as the heir of the Baron, but… I guess I was too green for these people. Contrary to Wolfgang, I didn’t share a lot of their ideals. Perhaps I did, as a youth, believe some of their lies… It is impossible not to take in some of your parents’ philosophy.”

Bucky huffs, shaking his head. “So what? You met a poor Jew once and it changed you?” He asks sarcastically.

Zemo shakes his head. “I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you. I don’t believe it was a singular event.”

He wouldn’t be the first rich kid to find some cause to care about as a rebellion from the parental authority. Bucky doesn’t say anything more about that. It’s not good to dwell on these things. What is going to come from confronting it anyway?

“Either way, let’s both be thankful I am not Hydra, yes?” Zemo shifts, standing back up slightly, to rest in a better direction.

Yeah. Let’s be thankful.

Sam comes in then with his computer and Bucky takes the opportunity to see himself in the bathroom, thinking everything over.

#jewish bucky barnes #bucky barnes #helmut zemo #marvel #fic #mine #jbu

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construction784 · 3 years

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More About Construction

An Unbiased View of Construction

Table of Contents5 Easy Facts About Construction ExplainedNot known Incorrect Statements About Construction Unknown Facts About Construction

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Acquiring a residence with anything less will certainly rob you of your various other economic goals by having you pay as well much added in passion and also fees. Thankfully, few home mortgage lending institutions enable you to do thisplus, it can even hinder your ability construction to get approved for the quantity of home loan you require.

A real estate market crash looks unlikely. With all the uncertainty behind everything that took place in 2020 as well as with house cost growth possibly reducing down in 2021, you could be asking yourself if the real estate market could fall down.

There's still an extremely low supply of house listings. This is keeping home purchasing affordable and also permitting residence price development to rise. 3. No matter your neighborhood, purchasers are interested. Considering that house prices have experienced quick growth over the past couple of years, some customers may be less particular. As a matter of fact, determined ones could be happy to consider communities that don't have easy accessibility to highways or aren't near to a huge city.

Now might be your excellent time to think about marketing. Take Control of the Trends With a Top-Notch Realty Agent Whether you're offering or getting, you can benefit from the existing trends by partnering with an expert realty representative. With our Endorsed Regional Carriers (ELP) program, our group will match you with agents we suggest in your area.

All About Construction

Greater costs are developing affordability issues for many prospective purchasers Regardless of a crackling housing market, sales of new residences dropped sharply in June, as well as economic experts claim cost might have been the main reason. The Commerce Department reports that the sale of recently created homes fell by 6. 6% when contrasted to May's results.

The decline might be connected to the cost a purchaser has to pay for a brand-new single-family home these days. The mean prices of new homes marketed in June 2021, was $361,800 ... Modest homes that would certainly've rested on the market for weeks or months in various other years have been going under agreement within hours of listing. Out-of-staters have actually been authorizing contracts prior to also seeing their brand-new residences in person. As well as with buyers fighting each various other, those with property to listing have won huge.

At the beginning of 2020, nobody anticipated the year to be so extraordinary. History informs us that political elections, particularly controversial ones, generally sluggish points down as buyers as well as vendors wait out political and also economic unpredictability. 5280 May 2021 After that the pandemic hit. As the state enforced stay-at-home orders in the springtime, new genuine estate purchases that were not yet under agreement abruptly stopped while the economic climate nose-dived.

"We actually believed that this market would certainly be dreadful," states Kelly Moye, media representative for the Colorado Organization of Realtors and also a Boulder-area Real Estate Agent with Re/Max. Instead, Colorado's realty market removed. Statewide, offered listings climbed 9 percent, days-on-market stopped by about 8 percent, and also the mean home rate increased by even more than nine percent, to $415,000.

Not known Details About Construction

The fear and also unpredictability of enduring a modern-day afflict passionate us to re-evaluate what we actually desired, not just in our residences, but likewise in our way of livings. For some, that was having a larger space. For others, it was transferring to the nation or the mountains. For lots of people from outdoors Colorado's borders, it was a brand-new house in the Centennial State.

Bottom-scraping mortgage rates of interest really did not injured either. We're still arranging through right the pandemic has actually altered what it implies to reside in Colorado, as well as whether these trends will stick stays an open question. It's clear, nevertheless, that COVID-19 offered gas for an already-blazing need for genuine estate hereand, for lots of, transformed the uncomplicated act of buying a new area right into a chaotic, frustrating, elbows-out struggle.

"Where do we want to live, and also what type of job do we intend to do?" Plus, their 1,175-square-foot pad had been feeling confined considering that before the pandemic. "We understood our house was a really terrific area for two individuals when you do not wind up remaining in it for 24 hrs," Lao says.

Hagan was able to move to his company's Lakewood office and is still functioning from another location for currently. Lao's office was only officially enabling working from house through summertime 2021, but she wishes to prolong that benefit indefinitely. If she can't, she's most likely to choose Denver over the work. "This is the very first time a quality-of-life variable is guiding my life, not a career one," she says.

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spiritualpower · 3 years

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spiritual power for a beautiful life

What do i imply with the assistance of religious power? Take into consideration those human factors-power, strength, skill, skills and overall performance. All 5 of these need to be within the appropriate region to recognise achievement in life. There could be no such discussion in an animal's life. The procedure of self-assessment and self-development is that the most truly effective present given by god for human existence. No animal can ever consider or accept as true with the technique called self-evaluation and self-improvement. Exactly what do we imply by utilizing that spiritual power?

Improvement is an outside issue and improvement is an indoor consider that you apprehend that which you are doing is some distance more than that which you wont to do. I'm not the usage of any big philosophical words or religious explanation. Improvement can be quite a opportunity handiest you've the vitality to guage yourself from status to what you should love to understand.The five energy vampires: aside from what percentage ever talent or skills you possess, you'll not be prepared to perform once you've got any of these mentioned 5 defects (which i might desire to period of time as power vampires): fitness, melancholy, fear, doubt and fear, anger & guilt. Out of the , simply one is physical and consequently the residual each one is intellectual. Furthermore, health is that the very best point as a means to be linked to animals due to the undeniable fact that additionally they suffer as a result of diverse external elements.

The past 4 can be quite a possibility best in people. Fitness: no-one can ever blame anybody for no longer having well-being.In preference to taking self-duty, they blame the society, neighbours, the leaders or all and sundry for example, for devoid of the capacity to specialise of these fitness. We fail to recognise that it's our incapacity to specialize in health-notwithstanding realizing that oahu is the important and fundamental useful resource to appreciate what you may would like in life regardless of one's past overall performance, skill or talent. I wants you all to follow one simple aspect in your community of health. I am no longer insisting you to start doing what's precise for you, however i'm insisting you to save you doing what is no longer suited to you. Just in case there isn't a clear cause to utilise your power, it clearly way you're wasting it. Don't contain in just about any action with out a clear rationalization of “what i'm doing and why i'm doing it&rdquo ;.This enables you to chop down the wastage of strength which can not simplest allow you to deal by having an sincere fitness, but also assist you to regain the fitness that you simply honestly have lost. Despair: despair is nothing however a experience that you merely are not geared up to do what you should really like to attempt to to (that you're able to doing). This problem mightn't best suck the electricity that you genuinely have gained however also immediately influences the immunity of the body.Melancholy additionally happens after you lose your loved ones. Among both of these regions, one has no manipulate over the opposite.It is a acknowledged incontrovertible undeniable fact that everybody has were given to transport far from their human frame to the adventure of the soul, however nevertheless our thoughts won't take delivery of the very most truth straight away.

That is regularly in that the religious exercise lets you clearly receive and remember that brooding about that which you have misplaced or brooding approximately that which you are not able to try and to is not attending to aid you in just about any manner, as an alternative it will simplest smash the prevailing goodness of existence. Fear, doubt and worry: those 3 elements are the opportunity only there's an unfulfilled choice. There's no such aspect called preference in an animal's global. We citizenry can by no means depart without a desire. We may additionally call it with the assistance of different names like cognizance, intention or vision. I am now not speaking approximately economic abundance or bodily ownership. Permit's point out simple dreams type of a determine wanting their youngsters to attain proper marks. Most of us eager to experience comfort kind of a vehicle, personal house, and so on. Might be a preference. No human can count number their goals or exactly tell what number are fulfilled or what percentage are unfulfilled. Nevertheless they understand that they desire a fear for many times , uncertainty about the long run , or fear approximately the beyond. Of these arise because of unfulfilled goals. With proper meditation and clean imaginative and prescient, you may gain the facility that occurs all of the dreams. This could additionally offer you the energy to cast off all of the unwanted dreams. There after, your complete recognition are going to be in your desires and to shape positive that they are fully fulfilled. That is frequently feasible best thru conviction which is often experienced only via meditation. In every other case, in spite of getting the energy to experience the requirement , you'll stay without worry but you will have worry and doubt approximately the long term.Many unexplainable fears and doubts will stay in the thoughts which can be removed simplest through the best kind of meditation. Anger:

whilst all the above factors are understood, this is frequently wherein one lives without anger and guilt. Anger is just the energetic kind of fear and doubt, and every doubt and fear is that the passive kind of anger and guilt. The primary thing you wish to recognize about anger is that the reason behind it. There is no use of controlling anger without understanding the main reason.While some thing is not going on as based on your expectancies, or after you aren't sure about your future, you routinely explicit anger. The explanation behind each anger is, again, health, depression, fear, doubt and fear. Guilt: you being disappointed with something or someone which influences you is recognized as anger, however, you being dissatisfied in your very own self is guilt. Guilt is related with the past. It's either what proceeded to you or what you've got carried out to someone before which affects you within today's or visits make a splash on you in the future.

That is frequently where the knowledge about the soul and karma offers you all of the facility to stand the guilt due to the fact with this particular statistics , you can remember that aside from how many errors you've dedicated before, you'll still remove the outcomes of the beyond karma and produce a life you'd like to measure in the destiny via doing some thing inside today's with complete conviction and recognition. That is frequently feasible best with the spiritual energy. You have were given to remember that non secular existence doesn't mean renouncing the sensible international; as an alternative, it is a life style alteration sooner or later of that you gain spiritual strength to get rid of of the five defects. In today's world, the term ‘spirituality'possesses a polluted meaning. Virtually , the everlasting fact of spirituality is not deed from existence; it's as an alternative having the vitality to win atlanta divorce attorneys section of life. Therefore, i would like most of you to understand that the above five defects can impact you at any point of it slow in case there isn't the immunity to resist them. Meditation with clean vision is not best a religious exercise, however is that the immunity for an honest life. So, inform yourself that regardless how terrible your past changed into or how large your trouble is, with the know-how about self and consequently the realistic technology of karma, anybody is blessed the capacity to degree a existence freed from these defects and reap extremely hard success in each factor of life.

#spiritual power

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comrade-meow · 4 years

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“If you’ve recently discovered radical feminism and would like to read more about the core issues - prostitution, surrogacy, pornography, misogyny in all its forms - here are some books we’d like to recommend. And to get you started, simply enter code FREEPOST at the website checkout and we’ll throw in free delivery to all Australian addresses. Use the links below to the books, read more about them, and add them to your cart. We’ve also put together a special bundle of all five books. Buy all five and save.

Let’s start your radfem library with the classic Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed edited by Diane Bell and Renate Klein. Since the 1960s radical feminists have worked to articulate a vision of the world in which all women are safe and are acknowledged as human beings in their own right. Their projects include Take Back the Night campaigns, establishing women’s refuges, rape crisis centres, health centres, organising against pornography and developing courses in Women’s Studies. The richness of the practice and the theory of radical feminism is often misrepresented or unknown. Radically Speaking tells this important story. It’s a good starting point and has been described as an ‘incredibly powerful collection of articles by radical feminists about radical feminism.’

Prostitution Narratives: Stories of Survival in the Sex Trade, edited by Caroline Norma and Melinda Tankard Reist, documents the reality of prostitution revealing the cost to the lives of women and girls. For too long the global sex industry and its vested interests have dominated the prostitution debate repeating the same old line that “sex work” is just like any job. In large sections of the media, academia, public policy, Government and the law, the sex industry has had its way. Little is said of the damage, violation, suffering, and torment of prostitution on the body and the mind, nor of the deaths, suicides and murders that are routine in the sex industry. This important book refutes the lies and debunks the myths spread by the industry through the lived experiences of women who have survived prostitution. These disturbing stories give voice to formerly prostituted women who explain why they entered the sex trade. They bravely and courageously recount their intimate experiences of harm and humiliation at the hands of sex buyers, pimps and traffickers and reveal their escape and emergence as survivors. Prostitution Narratives: Stories of Survival in the Sex Trade will strengthen and support the global campaign to abolish prostitution, provide solidarity and solace to those who bear its scars and hopefully help women and girls exit this dehumanising industry. As one reviewer said “these narratives should serve as a rallying cry for action to end this modern-day slave trade.

”Informed and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking, Prostitution Narratives: Stories of Survival in the Sex Trade is a compelling and exceptional read from beginning to end…— Midwest Book Review

Misogyny Re-loaded is an explosive manifesto against the resurgent sexual fascism of the new world order. By exposing the casual acceptance of snuff pornography in gore culture through to the framing of rape as slapstick, Abigail Bray links the celebration of sexual sadism to the rise of an authoritarian culture of militarised violence. Arguing that a meaningful collective resistance has been scattered by the mass destruction of genuine social and economic security for ordinary women, Misogyny Re-loaded presents a scathing critique of the political drool of mainstream billionaire-friendly feminism.

According to a New Statesman article by Victoria Smith @glosswitch feminists first started to express concerns about the development of reproductive technologies and the associated commoditisation of pregnancy during the 1980s. Spinifex Press speaks out about the multitude of harms caused by the practice of surrogacy around the world. As Robert Jensen asks in an article on Feminist Current how did we get here - an allegedly civilized world which treats a woman’s body as a commodity. And even polite liberal circles find it not only acceptable but a sign of being progressive, and celebrated — not only among many men but also many women, even among some feminists!

Start reading more about surrogacy with Broken Bonds: Surrogate Mothers Speak Out. Who are the faceless, nameless women who nurture and give birth to these babies? These women who are left with empty arms and leaking breasts after delivery? Surrogacy-dealing companies call them ‘special angels’ who ‘make miracles possible’, giving ‘an extraordinary gift’. IVF clinics call them ‘gestational surrogates’. The intended parents have promised them healthcare, full reimbursement, and ongoing contact with the baby. What could possibly go wrong? Everything. Because surrogacy violates the human rights of the women whose bodies are used, and the children who are born. Because it is a fundamentally flawed and misogynist concept to imagine that women are interchangeable. And it is wishful thinking that watertight legal contracts and counselling can fix this.

In Broken Bonds, strong and courageous women from the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, India, Austria and Russia share their true stories of becoming 'surrogate' mothers out of kindness and compassion (or need for money), only to be deceived, neglected, abused, harassed, or abandoned by ‘baby buyers’, clinics, and lawyers. Their stories are tragic, shocking, and revelatory of a profit-driven industry that preys on desperation and women’s compassion. You won’t look at surrogacy the same way after reading it.

Lastly, your radfem collection requires a book on pornography and we’d recommend Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry edited by Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray. With contributions from leading world experts and activists, Big Porn Inc offers a cutting edge exposé of the hidden realities of a multi-billion dollar global industry that promotes itself as a fashionable life-style choice. Unmasking the lies behind the selling of porn as ‘just a bit of fun’ Big Porn Inc reveals the shocking truths of an industry that trades in violence, crime and degradation. This fearless book will change the way you think about pornography forever. Contributors include: (Australia) Maggie Hamilton, Nina Funnell, Christopher Kendall, Susan Hawthorne, Sheila Jeffreys, Caroline Taylor, Meagan Tyler, Robi Sonderegger, Caroline Norma, Renate Klein, Helen Pringle, Betty McLellan, Melinda Tankard Reist, Abigail Bray, Melinda Liszewski. (International) Gail Dines, Catharine A MacKinnon, Melissa Farley, Diana Russell, Robert Jensen, Jeffrey Masson, Chyng Sun, Julia Long, Diane L Rosenfeld, Linda Thompson, Hiroshi Nakasatomi, Anne Mayne, Ruchira Gupta, Asja Armanda, Natalie Nenadic, Anna van Heeswijk, Matt McCormack Evans.

Look out for a future post to highlight the next lot of books for your radfem collection and important books from Renate Klein, Julie Bindel, Rachel Moran, and many more. And if you’re interested in learning more about the books we publish please sign up to our newsletter and follow us on social media. Links in header above.

Spinifex Press books can be ordered directly from this website, from all good bookshops, online booksellers and ebook etailers.

And please ask for them at your library.“

#Anglo.txt

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365days365movies · 4 years

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February 26, 2021: Love Story (1970) (Part 1)

Why Love Story? I mean...to be fair...

Yeah, anyway, it is a love story, and this is Romance February, so...yeah, kinda need to watch this one for that reason alone. And, unsurprisingly, this film is considered one of the best romance films of all time, landing number 9 on the AFI list of best romances, and being nominated for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, and Score...and winning ONLY Score. GODDAMN, that’s a hell of a loss! What did it lose to for Best Picture?

OOOOOOH, Patton? Yeah, that’ll do ya. Haven’t seen that movie yet, but it’s on my list for this year. OK, what about Director? Oh, that’s Patton, too. Actor? Also Patton. Actress? Women in Love. Huh. Never heard of that one. OK, Original Screenplay? ALSO PATTON? Jeez.

One more thing before I start. How the hell is Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” that popular on this site?

Because finding GIFs for this movie has been HAAAAAARD. Geez. But OK, let’s get started, shall we? Let’s see if this film is indeed a Love Story that’ll last until the end of time! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

We open with a beautiful piano score, and a question: what can you say about a 25-year-old girl who died? Well, I can guess where this is headed.

We start with an interaction between Harvard “preppie” student Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O’Neal) and quippy, working-class, Radcliffe student Jennifer “Jenny” Cavalleri (Ali MacGraw), as they argue about a book, which immediately segues into a coffee date.

It is at this point that the GF decided that she loved this relationship, as it’s basically the tsundere-loves-tsundere story that fuels her. Which I get, because the two very quickly fall in love with each other, and I also like it. He invites Jenny to a college game against Dartmouth, and she ends up accepting the invitation. I have comments on Harvard and hockey, but I tend to go off on tangents, so I’ll keep it calm. I mean, it’s not like they’re going up against Cornell, my alma-mater.

...Oh wait. Yes, they are. WELL LET’S DO THIS

Cornell and Harvard have a legendary relationship in general, but especially in terms of hockey. Look, take this from a Cornell alumnus: we SUCK at sports, but hockey? Oh, we’re fuckin’ GREAT at hockey. But that comes with a price: rivalries. Back in the day, the biggest one was with Boston University, and another major one with Colgate, but no, no, the rivalry that takes the cake is our rivalry with Harvard, those preppies.

See, the oldest and youngest Ivy League schools have an old-ass rivalry, most owing to elitist principles from Harvard students of days olde. They thought that Cornell had lower academic standards, and were a lower-quality school, WHICH WE ARE FUCKING NOT, ya grade inflationary...anyway. In 1973, a game took place at Harvard between the two, and a chicken was thrown onto the ring. This chicken was a symbol of Cornell’s agricultural and life sciences school, now called CALS (WHICH I WENT TO), as it was a publicly funded institution, rather than the private schools. Dude threw it at a goalie, and Cornellians were RIGHTFULLY PISSED OFF.

So, what did the Big Red boys do?

FISH.

Oh, yeah, they threw a BIG OL’ DEAD FISH at the next home game. A BUNCH of them, actually Some thought that it was a commentary on the fact that Harvard was close to Boston, a harbor town, or a connection to the New England fishing industry at large. But, uh...no...they did it because fish are smelly. Not exactly a red-letter moment for the intellectual subtlety of Cornelians, BUT NEVERTHELESS.

This began a tradition. Amidst the chants and glorious taunts thrown back and forth between the two teams and their fans, chicken and fish would be thrown on the rink during and after games, and it got SO BAD that they legit check you for fish when you enter a game at Cornell. Joke’s on them, though; I threw Swedish fish. HA! Also, somebody still managed to get away with a fish at every game, and they were always BIG-ASS fish, too. Never been to a Harvard game at Harvard, though. One of these days...I’ll make it to represent the Big Red. There’s far more to this rivalry, but you can read about it right here if you want.

Anyway, back to the movie. Cornell wins (HA! GOO STAAHT THE CAAAAAAAAAR!!! Sorry, that’s...that’s an anti-Harvard chant made by the Lynah Faithful. That’s the name for Cornell Hockey fans. See, Lynah - I’ll shut up now). At the game is his father, Oliver Barrett III (Ray Milland), and they don’t have the best of relationships. He’s trying to push Oliver to go to law school, be it at Harvard or Cornell (and we have a fantastic NOPE. SHUTTING UP).

Back at Harvard, we also get a glimpse of Jenny’s relationship with her father, whom she calls by his first name, and their relationship is FAR better. He reveals to her his contempt for his father and his expectations. They study together, which turns into a discussion about Jenny’s reticence to admit her feelings and attractedness towards him, although Oliver’s already done so.

That turns into a tender moment where Jenny admits her feelings, and the two kiss. Said kiss becomes a night together, and she compares him to Bach and Mozart, and the Beatles. We also learn that she’s not very religious, believing that a world that gives her music and Oliver couldn’t be surpassed. Which is...a beautiful sentiment, goddamn.

They continue their relationship, to the mild annoyance of Oliver’s housemates (including a young Tommy Lee Jones), and she tells Oliver that she loves him. They frolic in the snow together, in yet another wonderfully sweet montage.

After one of her piano recitals (she’s a music study major), she reveals that she’s got a scholarship to go and study to Paris, which upsets Oliver greatly, Their short argument reveals that Oliver wishes to marry her one day soon, which delights her, me, and the GF. But she’s worries that their clashing economic backgrounds will divide them too much, as well as their potentially different paths. Still, she accepts his proposal, and they become engaged.

Soon enough, he drives her through Boston to meet his parents, who live on a BIG-ASS ESTATE, GODDAMN. It’s a lot, seriously, holy shit. The mansion is HUGE. And dinner goes...well, Jenny thinks that it goes all right, but Oliver can see that his parents are looking down on her and her socioeconomic status.

Jenny sees how much Oliver genuinely dislikes his father, and questions whether or not Oliver wishes to marry her because he’s rebelling against his father. He denies this, but his father would seem to agree. At a private dinner with his father, it’s confirmed that he’s been accepted to law school. However, his father threatens to cut him off of his inheritance if Oliver marries Jenny. Oliver, enraged, leaves the dinner.

This causes a massive issue, given the fact that Barrett’s going to Harvard Law School, which is NOT CHEAP. He speaks to the Dean (Russell Nype) about getting a scholarship, post-disownment. After much struggling and confusion, they make a deal about the whole situation.

Next up is a visit to Cranston, Rhode Island, to visit Jenny’s father Phil Thompson (John Marley). His father loves him pretty much immediately, and is enraged by Oliver III’s actions in disowning his father. On a related note, I love Phil. He seems like a great guy. There’s a bit of a clash when they reveal that they’re both atheistic at this point, and don’t plan to have the ceremony in a church. But he accepts it pretty quickly.

The two get married at the college, with very few attendants. They recite poetry to each other, with Oliver reciting Walt Whitman, and with Jenny reciting Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who was mentioned in an earlier conversation between the two. They’re married, and the GF is in love with the whole movie at this point. I’m inclined to agree.

Halfway point! See you in Part 2!

#love story #love story 1970 #erich segal #arthur hiller #ryan o'neal #john marley #ray milland #tommy lee jones #romance february #romance movie #love story film #love story movie #user365 #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #ali macgraw

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anhed-nia · 4 years

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BLOGTOBER 10/27/2020: THE CURSE OF CATTOBER pt 3 - THE CORPSE GRINDERS

Ted V. Mikel's notorious sickie THE CORPSE GRINDERS is one of a few movies that has become symbolic of my whole journey with psychotronic cinema. Today, I would understand exactly what kind of movie this is, even if I had not seen this exact item: An exploitation movie in the truest sense, just as infamous for its grossout premise as it is for its extraordinary cheapness, delivering all of the moral turpitude and almost none of the over the top effects promised by its attention-grabbing key art--or its dumbfounding title. But when I was a kid, I seriously wondered about these films; worried about them, even.

I wasn't allowed to watch anything that smacked of bad taste, but I still managed to build up a vivid awareness that there were movies out there about forms of perversion and evil that I could never imagine, made by freaks of the highest order. I would hunch nervously over the horror rack at our local mom & pop video mart, earning me the nickname Igor from the amused heshers behind the register, while my parents went through the motions of renting me LABYRINTH for a eight zillionth time. I was allowed to buy exactly one copy of Fangoria (the December 1990 issue featuring LEATHERFACE) before my mother reneged on this gesture of tolerance, but I was allowed to read most anything I wanted--my intellectual hippie folks wouldn't dream of censuring the written word--and I spent many hours, nay years, poring over the Re/Search book of Incredibly Strange Films. This helped create a kind of cinema of the mind for me, in which I tried my best to realize what the movies discussed in the book could possibly be like in real life. The book's detailed descriptions of pictures like SPIDER BABY, THE WIZARD OF GORE, SHE-FREAK, THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS PALS, etc were stimulating in some ways, and only added to my confusion in others. Without seeing them up close, it was hard to make sense of their combination of laughable cheapness, unfunny comedy, and genuinely sickening crimes against human dignity. What these movies are like, is something you can only find out for yourself.

Having said all that, I'm still going to try to tell you what THE CORPSE GRINDERS is like. We open on the rainswept grounds of the Farewell Acres cemetery, where a jerky-addicted ogre called Caleb (Warren Ball) is extracting freshly interred bodies from the earth, as a gaggle of geese honk savagely from being a wire fence. Caleb's dotty wife Cleo (Ann Noble) argues with Caleb for not-the-last time about how his jerky habit is going to ruin his appetite for the dinner she slops out for her filthy baby doll instead, while Caleb bitches about not being paid by a Mr. Landau for his latest job. What's the job, you ask? Selling corpses to the Lotus Cat Food company, where Landau (Sanford Mitchell) has discovered that human flesh is the secret to his success, having kinda-accidentally fed a difficult shareholder into his cat food grinder. It's hard to say exactly how this has led to such a windfall for Landau, especially since he has to produce the illicit pet food one corpse at a time with his neurotic assistant Maltby (J. Byron Foster, my favorite guy in the movie). I guess I've just never dealt with a cat whose specific addiction is so obvious, so oppressive, even, that it forces me to buy the most expensive cat food on the market. This is what is happening to customers whose cats have fallen under the spell of Lotus, and they pay for it with their very lives because Lotus has given their pets a taste for long pig. Landau struggles to find more sources for his secret ingredient, including a mob hitman, giggly morticians who load the bodies up with "pork-flavored fluid (instead of) formaldehyde", and his own employees--"The world is full of ingredients!" he declares, hopefully. Meanwhile, Doctors Howard Glass (Sean Kenney) and Angie Robinson (Monika Kelly) decide to investigate the recent rash of cat attacks; it's hard to imagine how they're going to get to the bottom of anything, amid many makeout breaks and random changes of clothes, but somebody has to stop all these house cats from devouring the rest of Los Angeles, and it might as well be them.

So that's the plot, but THE CORPSE GRINDERS is still a lot weirder than what I've described. You could be forgiven for wondering whether the movie is supposed to take place in Andy Milligan's version of 19th century London, with Cleo's bizarre insistence on a cockney accent, and Caleb's grumbling about finances involving "pounds" (actually pounds of flesh) in their ramshackle dwelling on the edge of a cardboard-and-styrofoam cemetery. A further Dickensian touch is provided by Landau's one-legged deaf-mute assistant Tessie (Drucilla Hoy), who limps around glumly in a sailor dress and Little Orphan Annie fright wig. If she could talk, she would probably sound like the widow Babcock (Zena Foster), whose husband was the first to go into the grinder, and who speaks in a twittering falsetto that would sound more natural coming out of a sock puppet. All of these community theater touches contrast jarringly with the movie's exploitation nature, which revels in scenes of hardboiled scumbags shaking each other down, of women taking their clothes off for literally no reason at all, and in the suggestion that the gloopy pink paste extruding out of the cat food grinder was once a beautiful girl or a rotting cadaver. The grinder itself is a sight to behold, reminding me at once of something from SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS, and the Wish Squisher invention from the MST3K episode of SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS. The metallic gizmos whirring along its façade glint in the fabulous gelled lights over the production line, optimistically evoking the rich purples and greens of a Mario Bava picture; in a movie that's explicitly about money woes, in a subgenre that's specifically known for its cheapness, it's nice that director Mikels shelled out to add a little extra style to the grinding scenes.

And on that note, I would like to propose, without having much to say about it yet, that some exploitation films are allegories for exploitation filmmaking itself. I don't include all genre movies about money in this category: it's easy to identify many thrillers as being about more general economic conditions that affect us all, including a lot of noir entries. But then there are movies like THE CORPSE GRINDERS, or LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, or COLOR ME BLOOD RED (or its predecessor A BUCKET OF BLOOD), in which the main character tries to solve his financial woes by committing an utterly dehumanizing crime. In these three examples, there is the revelation that honest work doesn't pay, and that money is only gained through the individual's willingness to exploit sensational imagery and/or decadent sensations to tease, titillate, and even addict the customer. It's hard not to see Landau, Seymour, and Adam Sorg as avatars for Ted Mikels, Roger Corman, and Herschell Gordon Lewis, in their similar quests to prey on the craven appetites of the public, at a minimum cost for a maximum payout. If you have other movies you'd like to add to my list, please feel free to reach out.

All told, it's hard not to like THE CORPSE GRINDERS for its sheer audacity--first, in selling something so meager as a "real movie", and second, for making the movie be about THIS. Also, all of this is significantly enriched when you know a little something about Mikels, a polyamorous eccentric who lived in a castle, whose grounds--and guard geese!--were used for the scenes in Farewell Acres. I'm not even going to try to discuss his prolific exploitation career and personal exploits, because that would be better handled by a longform piece on him specifically. It seems like a few documentaries have attempted the subject, but I don't know whether they're any good. It would be nice if Frank Hennenlotter would give it a try, or someone similarly capable, if there even is such a person. In the meantime, I will contribute the sole piece of information that my own scant research has turned up in preparing for this Blogtober entry: That THE CORPSE GRINDERS was co-written by Arch Hall Sr, and Joe Cranston--father of the now-iconic Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston. I don't know if I'd call that a reason to see the movie, but luckily there are plenty of other reasons to check out THE CORPSE GRINDERS this Halloween. If you don't, then you can never really know what the hell I'm talking about.

#blogtober #2020 #the corpse grinders #ted v mikels #horror #exploitation #cattober #arch hall sr #joe cranston #sean kenney #monika kelly #sanford mitchell #j byron foster #warren ball #ann noble

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fullcirclehealthcareers12 · 4 years

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Health Care Reform - Why Are People So Worked Up?

For what reason are Americans so animated about medical services change? Proclamations, for example, "don't contact my Medicare" or "everybody ought to approach cutting edge medical care regardless of cost" are as I would see it clueless and instinctive reactions that show a helpless comprehension of our medical services framework's set of experiences, its current and future assets and the financing difficulties that America faces going ahead. While we as a whole can't help thinking about how the medical care framework has arrived at what some allude to as an emergency stage. We should attempt to remove a portion of the feeling from the discussion by momentarily analyzing how medical services in this nation arose and how that has shaped our reasoning and culture about medical services. With that as an establishment we should take a gander at the upsides and downsides of the Obama organization medical services change recommendations and how about we take a gander at the ideas set forth by the Republicans?

Admittance to best in class medical care administrations is something we would all be able to concur would be something beneficial for this country. Encountering a genuine sickness is one of life's significant difficulties and to confront it without the way to pay for it is decidedly startling. Yet, as we will see, when we know current realities, we will find that accomplishing this objective won't be simple without our individual commitment.

These are the subjects I will address to attempt to bode well out of what is befalling American medical care and the means we can by and by take to improve things.

A new history of American medical care - what has driven the expenses so high?

Key components of the Obama medical services plan

The Republican perspective on medical services - unregulated economy rivalry

General admittance to cutting edge medical care - a commendable objective however difficult to accomplish. Click here Full Circle Health careers

how would we be able to respond?

To begin with, we should get a little chronicled viewpoint on American medical care. This isn't proposed to be a depleted investigate that set of experiences yet it will give us an enthusiasm for how the medical care framework and our assumptions for it created. What drove costs increasingly elevated?

To start, how about we go to the American common war. In that war, dated strategies and the gore exacted by present day weapons of the period consolidated to cause shocking outcomes. Not by and large known is that the vast majority of the passings on the two sides of that war were not the consequence of genuine battle but rather to what exactly occurred after a combat zone wound was dispensed. In any case, departure of the injured moved at an agonizingly slow clip and this caused extreme deferrals in treating the injured. Besides, numerous injuries were exposed to wound consideration, related medical procedures and additionally removals of the influenced appendages and this regularly brought about the beginning of gigantic disease. So you may endure a fight twisted uniquely to kick the bucket because of clinical consideration suppliers who albeit good natured, their intercessions were regularly very deadly. High losses of life can likewise be attributed to ordinary disorders and sicknesses in when no anti-microbials existed. In all out something like 600,000 passings happened from all causes, more than 2% of the U.S. populace at that point!

How about we jump to the main portion of the twentieth century for some extra viewpoint and to bring us up to more present day times. After the common battle there were consistent enhancements in American medication in both the arrangement and treatment of specific infections, new careful strategies and in doctor schooling and preparing. However, generally all that that specialists could offer their patients was a "keep a watch out" approach. Medication could deal with bone breaks and progressively endeavor unsafe medical procedures (presently generally acted in clean careful conditions) yet drugs were not yet accessible to deal with genuine diseases. Most of passings stayed the consequence of untreatable conditions, for example, tuberculosis, pneumonia, red fever and measles or potentially related confusions. Specialists were progressively mindful of heart and vascular conditions, and malignant growth however they had practically nothing with which to treat these conditions.

This fundamental survey of American clinical history encourages us to comprehend that until as of late (around the 1950's) we had for all intents and purposes no advances with which to treat genuine or even minor illnesses. Here is a basic point we need to see; "nothing to treat you with implies that visits to the specialist if at all were consigned to crises so in such a situation costs are diminished. The basic certainty is that there was little for specialists to offer and subsequently practically nothing to drive medical services spending. A subsequent factor holding down expenses was that clinical medicines that were given were paid to using cash on hand, which means via a people individual assets. There was nothing of the sort as medical coverage and absolutely not health care coverage paid by a business. Aside from the extremely penniless who were fortunate to discover their way into a foundation emergency clinic, medical services costs were the obligation of the person.

What does medical care protection have to do with medical care costs? Its effect on medical care costs has been, and stays right up 'til the present time, totally tremendous. At the point when medical coverage for people and families arose as a methods for enterprises to get away from wage freezes and to draw in and hold workers after World War II, practically overnight an incredible pool of cash opened up to pay for medical services. Cash, because of the accessibility of billions of dollars from health care coverage pools, urged a creative America to build clinical exploration endeavors. More Americans got protected through private, boss supported health care coverage yet through expanded government subsidizing that made Medicare and Medicaid (1965). Likewise financing opened up for extended veterans medical care benefits. Finding a remedy for nearly anything has thusly gotten extremely rewarding. This is additionally the essential purpose behind the huge swath of medicines we have accessible today.

I don't wish to pass on that clinical advancements are something awful. Think about the huge number of lives that have been saved, expanded, improved and made more profitable subsequently. Be that as it may, with a subsidizing source developed to its present extent (many billions of dollars every year) upward tension on medical services costs are unavoidable. Specialist's offer and the vast majority of us interest and gain admittance to the most recent accessible medical services innovation as drugs, clinical gadgets, analytic devices and surgeries. So the outcome is that there is more medical services to spend our cash on and until as of late the majority of us were safeguarded and the expenses were to a great extent covered by an outsider (government, managers). Add an unquenchable and unreasonable public interest for access and treatment and we have the "wonderful tempest" for increasingly elevated medical care costs. Furthermore, all things considered the tempest is just heightening.

Now, we should go to the key inquiries that will lead us into a survey and ideally a superior comprehension of the medical care change proposition in the news today. Is the current direction of U.S. medical services spending economical? Would america be able to keep up its reality seriousness when 16%, heading for 20% of our gross public item is being spent on medical care? What are the other industrialized nations spending on medical care and is it really near these numbers? At the point when we add legislative issues and a political race year to the discussion, data to help us answer these inquiries become basic. We need to burn through some energy in understanding medical services and figuring out how we consider everything. Appropriately outfitted we can all the more wisely decide if certain medical services proposition may settle or deteriorate a portion of these issues. What should be possible about the difficulties? How could we as people add to the arrangements?

The Obama medical care plan is perplexing without a doubt - I have never seen a medical services plan that isn't. In any case, through an assortment of projects his arrangement endeavors to manage a) expanding the quantity of American that are covered by sufficient protection (just about 50 million are not), and b) overseeing costs in such a way that quality and our admittance to medical services isn't antagonistically influenced. Conservatives look to accomplish these equivalent essential and wide objectives, yet their methodology is proposed as being more market driven than government driven. We should take a gander at how the Obama plan deals with achieve the two targets above. Keep in mind, incidentally, that his arrangement was passed by congress, and starts to genuinely kick-in beginning in 2014. So this is the heading we are at present taking as we endeavor to change medical care.

Through protection trades and an extension of Medicaid,the Obama plan significantly extends the quantity of Americans that will be covered by health care coverage.

To take care of the expense of this development the arrangement expects everybody to have medical coverage with a punishment to be paid in the event that we don't agree. It will purportedly send cash to the states to cover those people added to state-based Medicaid programs.

To take care of the additional expenses there were various new charges presented, one being a 2.5% duty on new clinical innovations and another increments charges on revenue and profit pay for more affluent Americans.

The Obama plan likewise utilizes ideas, for example, proof based medication, responsible consideration associations, similar viability research and diminished repayment to medical services suppliers (specialists and clinics) to control costs.

The protection order covered by focuses 1 and 2 above is a commendable objective and most industrialized nations outside of the U.S. give "free" (paid for by rather high individual and corporate expenses) medical services to most if not the entirety of their residents. It is essential to note, in any case, that there are various limitations for which numerous Americans would be socially ill-equipped. Here is the essential disputable part of the Obama plan, the protection command. The U.S. High Court as of late chose to hear contentions with respect to the defendability of the medical coverage order because of an appeal by 26 states lawyer'

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blogampere · 4 years

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Digital Gold Token; an investment option for everyone

The essential reason why humans are attracted to gold is the independence of this precious steel and its unique dating with currencies, particularly with America dollar. As a senior respectable from the World Gold Council stated, “This isn't one function. It is a aggregate of these factors, all of which, together, offer distinctiveness.

Gold need to be viewed as a separate and awesome asset elegance this is the supply of a properly-assorted investment portfolio. To get the possibility to get even the broadest range of products that could get the possibility to get genuine diversification, gold.

Gold charges have usually served as a placeholder for felony soft to be furnished to the issuer. Basically, this is exactly the purpose why currencies have any value. Other gold used is used in distributable property used in numerous industries such as clinical or earrings. The homes of this element make it ideal for use in engineering and electronics.

By putting your belongings in gold, you're making a completely unique investment. Essentially a commodity, it behaves completely in a different way than another commodity in phrases of volatility, correlation and profitability, in addition to the supply and demand model. For this cause, gold is increasingly famous with distinctive sellers.

People invest inside the valuable yellow metallic once they start to feel insecure approximately the steadiness of the economy, or when they want to keep the cloth source in their prosperous financial destiny, for a savings account, or simply to store some gold for a rainy day.

At the equal time, most of the sellers do not even realise that with the aid of shopping for gold, they clearly display the fee of their debts, which for the maximum part use a foreign money base, on a one-of-a-kind storage aircraft, less sensitive to marketplace fluctuations, more proof against economic shocks and inflation

Need money

There is rarely someone amongst us who, at the least as soon as in his life, has no longer observed himself in a tough life situation, when a certain amount of cash is urgently wished. It can be a joyful event — a marriage or the beginning of a child, a dream excursion. But most often such situations occur with the advent of hassle — cash is urgently needed to pay for the operation or in reference to tragic events inside the circle of relatives. And then human beings think least of all approximately the benefits and risks — they run anyplace they assume up, to begin with. It is on this state of prey for swindlers and scammers. It is important to understand and do not forget — there are always numerous approaches out of any scenario and that they may be used relying at the precise occasions.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a promising candidate for “companion” of gold inside the position of an opportunity global foreign money on the time of turning on the printing presses. In 2018–2019, an crucial shift befell inside the version of traders from classical economic markets to this virtual forex. If in advance the “cue ball” became considered a simply speculative tool, a laugh for “geeks” and “enticement” for simpletons, now they may be already speaking approximately it as a promising opportunity to fiat.

What has changed in recent years?

First, the provision of bitcoin derivatives has accelerated. Futures had been launched on some of conventional exchanges (including CME and Cboe), and main funding companies like Black Rock endured to expand infrastructure for storing virtual property.

Secondly, bitcoin without a doubt started to be perceived as a sort of opportunity to standard currencies. Confidence in fiat money is falling because of foreign money wars and depreciation policies. In this context, the restricted issue of the primary crypto currency is an essential advantage.

Thirdly, Bitcoin is certainly very similar to gold in its traits. Its assets are restrained. It does not have a unmarried center of “production”, it does not have a important financial institution that will print but.

During the liquidity hard times within the first a long time of March 2020, the crypto currency charge, just like bonds and gold, collapsed. However, on the end of March, a fairly in depth recovery began. At the very least, this asset is well worth looking closely.

But we need to also keep in mind that it has vital drawbacks, which to this point do now not allow us to benefit major “bullish” positions. So, till now, the volume of the bitcoin marketplace is expected at $ 100–2 hundred billion, that is extremely small for the status of a international asset. Without similarly improvement of derivatives and financial infrastructure, sustainable growth will be hard.

When making an investment in bitcoin, it's far tough to comply with the risk parameters because of the very excessive volatility. It is itself a very high-hazard asset. Investment devices will not fall in rate through 2 times in a couple of days, but this has befell more than once with Bitcoin. The March disintegrate is any other confirmation of this.

It continues to be a large problem that the majority of the crypto currency is traded on unregulated crypto currency exchanges, which, furthermore, have extreme security problems.

Thus, it's far too early to mention that bitcoin may be sold for extra than the quantity that the investor is willing to risk. Moreover, it's far unacceptable to use Bitcoin as a hedging instrument.

As we are able to see, the specifics of the contemporary difficult times indicate that now not all protecting property are equally appropriate for hedging risks. Perhaps, gold appears the most attractive in terms of growth capability / chance level and liquidity ratio.

Although bitcoin additionally has increase capacity due to the increasing monetary expansion of crucial banks, a number of unresolved infrastructure troubles so far go away it most effective some of the candidates for “companions” for the yellow metal.

Digital gold can!

Each ERC20 gold token is equal to 1 gram of 99.99 % 24-karat gold. The quantity of gold saved as a gold token may be without problems checked at any time. By enforcing the crypto currency machine, you may quickly purchase a Gold token through the reputable Digital Gold website.

You will no longer be charged any additional transaction prices. You could make as many cryptocurrency transactions as possible in line with the quantity of Gold token you have. You can even use it to conduct enterprise.

Storing gold within the form of gold chips is definitely greater profitable than storing it in warehouses or banks. This isn't always most effective a count number of convenience whilst creating a deal, however additionally a trouble with documents. Using gold tokens will make you extra worthwhile and sensible.

Volatility safety

Regarding the paragraph above, the GOLD token is a dependable virtual asset with low volatility. GOLD is subsidized by means of bodily gold and its charge is pegged to the market charge of gold. In addition, it's far a terrific asset for portfolio diversification because of its transparency, wherein anyone can fit the amount of GOLD tokens issued to the quantity of bodily gold in vault held through the Digital Gold commercial enterprise venture. The GOLD token is a real secure haven for cryptocurrency investors in instances of market volatility.

Owning Gold

Owning the GOLD token is very critical! The GOLD token can be effortlessly purchased the use of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the DIGITAL GOLD platform is absolutely unique with its personal marketplace this is ready with the essential devices to make buying bodily devices easy.

Again, the DIGITAL Gold crew offers liquidity for the GOLD token by way of permitting the GOLD token to be traded on numerous cryptocurrency exchanges, permitting each purchaser to shop or change on maximum exchanges.

Since GOLD absolutely includes a fraction of the purchased gold, the licensed gold assisting the GOLD token is bodily transferred to the affiliation’s vault, to any extent further, no matter where the GOLD tokens are acquired, an equal fraction of the gold will be stored in the vault.

The popular audit of the GOLD and gold stake within the association’s vault is carried out via the depended on BullionStar, an assistant in this endeavor. DIGITAL GOLD is a liquidity company, so institutional budget experts and big capital theorists could make giant purchases of GOLD with out the concern of walking out of gold reserves.

Conclusion

There is a lot happening with gold nowadays, one in all which i ns that with blockchain integration, gold is presently on the verge of being used as a charge approach due to its balance. With the GOLD token, this detail is now poised to emerge as more than a fashionable wealth storage structure and tool for duties. This is very intriguing.

For more details; Use the links below

Website: https://gold.storage/ Telegram: https://t.me/digitalgoldcoin Twitter: https://twitter.com/gold_erc20

Author: Ampere

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=111907

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christophcalledbingo · 4 years

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The Guessing Game Part 2 (Dr. King Schultz fic)

Hope you are all doing well! It’s sequel time! This is the second part of the fic, read the first one or you’ll be lost.

(Link to the first part)

https://christophcalledbingo.tumblr.com/post/616560017298112512/the-guessing-game-dr-king-schultz-fic

(This is a bigger chapter btw, a bit more of 4k)

Hope you got the memes too hehe. There is teacher kink? There is teacher kink! Kids having class on Saturday? Yeah, it fits the narrative, don’t question the narrative!!! There is some anachronisms, this is a fic, don’t worry about it! A bit of relationship building and a bit of spice :) (I‘ll wait to use the big guns on the next part). WE GOT POVS EVERYONE (points of view).

Mentions of loss too.

It’s not that nsfw but it gets close so... idk, just enjoy.

Translations:

Himmel: Heaven

Bitte: please

Natürlich, ja!: Of course, yes!

Liebling: dear

Bastard: it’s the same in English but with a capital letter :)

Danke: Thank you.

CLARA’S POV:

I wake up to the sound of a rooster crowing, but I’m still too tired from yesterday’s little adventure, so I just go back to sleep-

“I’M A TEACHER!” I suddenly remember that I am an adult with adult responsibilities. I try to dress as fast as I can. However, my wrist still hurts and it takes longer than expected. I end up wearing a light-blue blouse and a long black skirt up to my knees. I put my caramel brown hair in a bun, grab my glasses, my shoes and my bag and I run to the school.

Our town is the most centrical of a lot of tiny communities, so the school is located here, and all the kids from the surrounding towns come here to learn from me!

I’m was running so late that I forgot to eat breakfast... Today is going to be a bad day. Just before I arrive to the building I see a carriage with a bouncy tooth on top of it. That must be King’s… He must have parked it here and then went off to sleep at the Inn, I don’t see him anywhere. However, I see a very friendly-looking horse that’s drinking some water. Just as I get close he salutes me.

“Good morning to you too!” I say, cheerfully. This must be King’s horse then. He looks like he has had nothing to eat since yesterday though…

I sprint towards the school building and I see everyone inside. As I expected, someone has left me an apple on the table. I grab it.

“Thank you, to whoever gave me this, I appreciate it, so much. However, there is someone who needs it more than I do. I’ll be right back!” I then sprint outside to, what I presume, King’s horse.

As he sees me arrive, he moves his head in a happy motion.

“Here you go boy, hope you like it. It looks very tasty indeed!” I smile and pat his head. I wonder what’s his name… “I’ll see you later, untitled horse.” And I go back to the school to give my lecture of the day.

KING’S POV:

I woke up quite early at the calling of a rooster. I’ve slept quite nicely… but I can’t get Clara out of my head, so unique and yet so intriguing. I hope I can find her today.

I leave the inn in a rush, no jacket, just my vest and my hat. I forgot Fritz’s dinner yesterday. He is going to be mad at me, I’m certain. Just as I arrive to the spot where I left him, I see that there is someone interacting with him. As they turn to pat Fritz, I see Clara. I try to call her, but she ends up not hearing me and running to the closest building.

“Sometimes I envy you, my dear friend… I wish that was me, a moment back there. To be the one she gets to pet so dearly.... I mean, not pet- just- just have a good lunch together and then maybe hold hands, and then...” I shouldn’t think that way, she is far too young and no interested at all… Nonetheless, curiosity gets the best of me and I look through the window of the closest building. Clara is writing something on a board in a beautiful cursive, and there is a room full of children that seem to be cherishing every instant.

“Ok, so today is ‘shifting book day’.” And every kid in the room just complains. “I know and I’m sorry. I know that you wanted new books, but I couldn’t aff… get my hands on any that were worth of your amazing taste! I’m so sorry, I’ll try to find some worthy books next week.” She seems to have economical issues, and I just caused her night job to close…

The kids shift the books with their friends as Clara looks at them with sadness. Just at that moment she takes notice of my presence. She gives me a very big smile and I smile back, then raises her hand, showing me one finger, and mouthing something on the ways of “Give me just a moment.” And I nod to let her know that I understand.

“Next class is going to be biology everyone, but before that we should all get a rest. Grab your snacks and we will resume the lesson in fifteen minutes.” All the kids cheer as they go outside. Then Clara makes a motion that lets me know that is ok for me to enter the building. As I enter however, I take notice of how beautiful she looks today, and I unwittingly smile .

“Hello you! Good morning! I knew that we were going to look for each other today, but I wasn’t expecting that you were to find me so soon!” Clara laughs and I think I just went to Himmel.

“It took longer than planned, where you hiding from me?”

“Me? I would never do that! Not from you that is.” She says ironically, as she puts her bandaged hand on her chest.

“Are you feeling better? Does the bandage hurt?”

“Oh, no, not at all. I guess… I guess it’s a little bit tight, but it’s supposed to be like that, isn’t it?”

“Indeed but, can I take a look? Just in case.”

“Yeah, sure, of course, do whatever you need to do…” I put on my glasses, grab her hand very gently and I start to examine the bandage.

CLARA’S POV:

Oh my- Why am I so flushed?! He touched my hand yesterday and I wasn’t so flushed! Is it the glasses? He does look very handsome with them- I SHOULDN’T THINK ABOUT THAT! He touches my hand very gently, putting one of his under mine for support, and he uses the other one to look for any weird marks of signs of excessive pressure.

“I don’t see any worrying marks, but if you want I can change the bandage now and loosen it up a bit.”

“Please… If it isn’t too much trouble, it’s difficult to write in a blackboard with the bandage so tight.”

“I’ll go to get what I need then, just a moment.”

As I see him get out of the building, I allow myself to drop on my chair and breathe. This man should know what is he able to do with such charms. However, I shouldn’t get my hopes up. He is going to leave in a couple of days and my heart will be broken for nothing… I don’t even know if there is a Mrs. Schultz in the first place?! I’m so dumb… Even if he didn’t have a wife, I’m sure he wouldn’t like to have anything with me… Just as my mind gets to that last thought he comes back, smiling like the cute dork he is.

“Give me your hand, bitte.” He says while sitting on the edge of my table, one leg hanging, one on the floor. (SIR! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME? I’M WEAK!) “This is not going to hurt, you don’t have to be so tense.” King comments, as if it was so easy! To calm my nerves I just try to distract myself with a little small talk, maybe I can kill two birds with one shot.

“So, King… I know you are leaving in a couple of days, but you seem to be a very interesting person” the most interesting person I’ve ever met, in fact “and I want to know you a little bit better. Is that ok?” He smiles so widely that I can see both of his rows of teeth.

“Natürlich, ja! But you have to tell me something about yourself as well, liebling.”

“It’s a deal then!”

“I wanted to ask you about this double life you seem to have…” King says and stops, maybe not knowing what to say next, perhaps thinking about how to phrase it. “Do you have money problems?” I am a bit scared of that question, but I can see where is coming from.

“I have…” I say with hesitation. “ However, my main job is this one, I take pride on being a teacher but the salary here is not the best, so I decided to look for another job.”

“That’s a very sacrificed thing to do… I admire you Clara.” I blush to that compliment and I joke a bit.

“You just met me so… Causing a first good impression: check.” I say while I make a ‘tick’ with my other hand.

“You caused the very best first impression, if you allow me to compliment you some more.”

“Just if I can compliment you as well...” I say and he chuckles.

“I am a bit shy, I like better to compliment than to be complimented actually…”

“That is because you have never been complimented by me!” I laugh and he flushes, a lot. “Did I say something…?”

“No, it’s fine… What is it that you wanted to ask?” He changes the subject, but I don’t forget that I will have to compliment him later, even if he combusts.

“I just wanted to know something about you… I just know that you are a bounty hunter and a dentist, that’s it.”

“Oh well, let me delight you with a German tale then…” he begins “I was born in Düsseldorf, you don’t need to know the year.” I chuckle “I practiced dentistry for some years, I got married-” I hold my breath… I knew it… “but” he pauses, looking extremely sad “she died a long time ago, of a fever.”

“King, I’m so so sorry…” I say, genuinely, tears forming in my eyes, I hate to see him this heartbroken.

“No worries dear, we Germans think positively about death. I still think about her a lot, but I know she is in a better place and that she wanted me to be happy.” He smiles a bit, but I can still see sadness in his eyes. So I smile back and put my other hand on his. “Well, after that, I moved to America with my brother, and we both became bounty hunters. We hated slavery and we wanted to do something about it.” I just gasp to give a bit of a dramatic effect and he laughs, but the sadness isn’t gone. “Sadly, my brother was killed while we tried to help a couple of slaves that were trying to get to the north…” I just stayed in silence, he knew what I wanted to say, my hand just stayed on his and squeezed it a bit, tears now rolling down my cheeks. “And now I travel from state to state collecting bounties. I think that’s it, for now…” He says, in an exhale.

“I wanted to complement you later, but allow me to do it now…”

“Clara, I-”

“Please…” He stays silent, and nods.

“I just wanted to say that…” I hold my breath a bit, trying not to cry, unsuccessfully. “You are the most incredible person I’ve ever met. I’ve just known you for a day and I realised instantly that no matter the issue, no matter the problem, you are there to help.” He lowers his head. “I appreciate you so much… and I’m so happy I got to meet you. I will thank the universe everyday for that.” He squeezes my hand, and then looks up. His eyes are shiny because of the tears forming.

“You were right… I just had to be complimented by you.” I smile. “Thank you, Liebling. I-”

As he is about to say something all the kids enter the room and stare at us with curious eyes, holding hands, looking each other in the eyes.

“Miss, is he your husband?” Says little Sheryl, and I just start to panic.

“NO, OF COURSE NOT!” King looks at me with a grin on his face and with a slight blush. “I mean- He is just a friend…” And then I got a mischievous idea “In fact! Dr. Schultz is a dentist that has come here today to explain you all about your teeth and how to take care of them.” As words come out from my mouth, King turns his head to look at me very slowly and in the end murmurs something like “I hate you” and I murmur back “No, you don’t” and I go sit down with the kids with a very big smile as King stays alone at the front of the class.

King starts to explain, he seems to be a little bit nervous, maybe he has never talked to children like this, the look in his face is priceless. As time passes he actually starts getting confident and explaining some interesting stuff I don’t know about. I get happy every time he looks at me and smiles. I try to cherish every bit of information that leaves his lips. I think I’m actually getting turned on by this…

“And I think that is all I have to teach you, Professor Valle, is there anything else I should say?” He gets me by surprise, as I was looking at his lips, but I stand up as quick as a spring.

“No, I think that’s it. Did you enjoy the lesson?” I say, looking at my students and they all nod or say “yes”. “Then that’s it for the day, remember to do your homework, on Monday I will be checking it.”

As the students leave I get close to King and he looks at me. We start talking at the same time.

“I-”

“You first.” He says.

“I want to thank you for this, and I’m sorry for putting you in this situation. I really enjoyed your lesson, I feel like I’ve learned a lot.” I say, still my eyes looking shyly at his lips.

“I was going to say that I really liked the experience. At first I was quite worried and cursing you a bit, but I ended up liking it.” My eyes turn to his.

“I’m very glad! You truly have a way with words…”

“Danke!” I quickly go back to where the students’ tables are, sit on one of them and raise my hand. “Yes? The pretty lady of the first row. What’s your question?” He said I’m pretty? Oh Lord… I’m actually quite hot and this isn’t helping so I unbutton the first three buttons of my blouse, he doesn’t seem to notice.

“Yes, I actually wanted to ask about the sensibility of the teeth. When I clean them, sometimes they bleed. Is that normal? Because I think is not…”

“It is actually quite normal. It is your gums that bleed, maybe you brush them too hard, but if you have not complained about it before, I guess that they aren’t inflamed. I could also take a look at them, if you want.”

“I couldn’t- I- I mean you have done so much for me and-” I stutter.

“It’s fine, really, it’s my job… well one of them.”

“Fine, but I will pay you.” And I stare so hard that I think he gets scared because he agrees to me paying him, even though I don’t have any money.

KING’S POV:

We arrive to my carriage and Clara goes directly towards Fritz.

“What’s his name? I’ve been wondering about it all day!” She says while petting Fritz, that lucky Bastard.

“His name is Fritz, and he is the most loyal companion one could ever ask for.”

“Awww! That’s so adorable! I love him, he’s so friendly!” Clara kisses Fritz’s head and I think I’m about to lose it.

I take out all the equipment to the alley, including the chair for the patients. I offer Clara the seat as if we were in a fancy restaurant.

“Oh, thank you so much. What a gentleman!” I smile a bit and then I get sad, thinking that this might be the only time I get to do this for her.

“Ok, let’s see if there is anything wrong in here.” I put some gloves, grab my tools and ask her to open her mouth, I suddenly freeze. Is that how she looks when-? King! Control yourself! You are a gentleman, she said so herself. I get a grip on myself and I start examining her mouth. She has pretty good teeth, not exactly white, but with signs that she sometimes smokes. it doesn’t seem frequent though. Also her inner cheeks have bite marks, she must be a pretty nervous person.

Just as I finish checking her mouth I take notice that three of her blouse buttons are open and... I can see her undergarment, it’s shiny and white, and a bit of her breasts… I try to breathe normally, but it is actually quite difficult…

CLARA’S POV:

Why is he breathing faster? The faster he breaths the quicker my heart gets… Suddenly I realise that I’m getting a bit cold on my chest and I see that I still have my blouse open… He- he is looking at my… I then take notice of his hair and beard moving a bit because of a slight breeze. He looks so sexy in that vest… I couldn’t bring myself to call him ‘sexy’ until now, but that is exactly what he is, he is even more than that.

I just get lost in his features, first his eyes, his nose, then his cheeks and finally his mouth. I stay there, looking at this pure ball of positivity. He seems to notice my eyes, wandering. King stays still, dentist tools still in my mouth, and returns the look. I feel his eyes looking not only at my face, but also my whole body. I feel exposed, but also safe. I want to be feel vulnerable, only if it’s him who makes me feel that way. He takes the tools out of my mouth, but we are still silent, looking at each other. The colours of his eyes are mixing into something darker, filled with what I can only infer is desire, and I can’t stop myself from biting my lower lip, trying to restrain the sounds that want to come out of me. He gets closer to my mouth, as if he is looking for something in it. Maybe something that makes sense, probably something that tells him to stop. However, before he retreats or changes his mind I push myself up from the chair a bit and kiss him. I can feel in his lips that there is a confrontation inside of him, but I just close my eyes, caress gently his face with my hands, and I try to tell him through my kiss that everything is ok. It takes a bit, but he gives up to it.

He grabs one of my cheeks with one hand, and the back of my head with the other and kisses me passionately. My hands go down to his neck and I can’t stop myself from grabbing his shirt collar with both hands, which makes him get closer. His beard and moustache tickle my face. I giggle into the kiss a bit and he lets go.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! Did I hurt you? I shouldn’t have-”

“King! It’s ok. It was just your beard, it tickles a bit. I really want this…”

“Are you sure? I’m old and, and you are beautiful and-” My heart skips a bit. He is still on top of me but he is looking away. My hands go back to his cheeks and make him look at me.

“I really want this… I fact, I thought that you didn’t want it, that I wasn’t attractive enough...”

“Liebling… Listen. You are beautiful, no matter what. I am in fact attracted to you in a way I had never felt before, but I don’t want you to waste your time with someone like me…”

“I am more attracted to you than to anyone, ever. You have this magnetism that pulls me to you. Again, I’ve just known you for a day, but I can tell that you feel it too.”

“I do… guess what I want to do to you now…”

“I-”

Before the words leave my mouth, he takes them on his. He becomes and extension of my breath, wet and needy.

I can tell that he is getting tired of this position, so I push his chest backwards with one hand and stand from the chair and I lead him into the wall of the school building. My arms are on both sides of his head and he looks at me, not scared, just eager. So when I kiss him again he grabs my hips and shifts our positions. Now I am the one pushed against the wall. With both of his hands he grabs mine (not my wrists because of the injure) and pins me to the wall, with my arms of top of my head. King’s carriage is hiding us from the street, but I can still hear people walking and talking, not that far away from us. As the kiss gets even more passionate I open my mouth a bit. I try to hold a moan when he slides his tongue in, as if he knew what I was about to do, quieting me up. One of his hands leaves mine and goes directly to my ass, grabbing it tightly. An impulse makes me rise my leg up and put it on his back, which makes him be a lot closer to me. He is so close to me in fact, that I can feel a bulge starting to form in his pants. If I was getting wet earlier during the lesson, now I feel a river. With my free hand I grab King’s hair, his hat falling to the ground. As I mess with his hair our lips part. He takes advantage that my blouse is a bit open. His mouth goes to the spot where my neck joins my shoulder and starts kissing there. To repress a moan, my mouth goes to to his left ear and I start to bite his lobe. I can tell he is liking it because he starts to bite instead of kissing… this is going to leave a mark.

Just as King’s hand leaves my ass and starts to lift up my skirt we hear someone’s steps approaching, so we quickly separate, both sweaty and breathless.

“Miss Valle, I’m so sorry. I forgot my book on the table, could you please open the school?” A worried Sheryl pleads, she does not seem to notice how messy we look.

“Yeah, of course.” As I go to reunite with Sheryl to help her recover her book my eyes go back to look at him. King is getting his hat from the floor and smiling, once again, like the precious dork he is.

When I get back to King, he is trimming his moustache and I’m once again alone with him. He looks a bit disappointed and the air feels tense around him. However, I try my best to act calm and collected.

“I’m back, I’m so sorry for the interruption-” I cannot even finish, once again he is kissing me only this time he is much more gentle.

“Sheesh! I cannot restrain myself around you, can I?” King says, smirking. I cannot stop myself from laughing.

“You silver tongued devil you! You still haven’t invited me to a cup of joe!” I joke, and he laughs too.

“I don’t know what we are waiting for then.” He offers me his arm and suddenly I remember.

“King, the tavern is closed…” He stops, and looks at me very slowly.

“I… I forgot about that, sorry…”

“It’s ok, I also forgot but” I pause dramatically “I got some coffee at home, would you like to come in for a cup?”

“Just if I can kiss you all night long…”

“That is one of the requirements for you to enter my home again, don’t you worry, it was part of my plan.”

“Is there more to your plan, Liebich?” King asks, his eyes locked in mine.

“Why don’t you try to guess?”

#dr king schultz #christoph waltz #django unchained #fanfic

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