#i have to take french for 2 years now to get my lang course in

[atomic-rattz]

bruh im stilk so mad that the asl class was full and they just kicked me out and put me in french bcs i actually WANTED tk learn asl for like yknow myself and im gonna lose it

[xfeliciahardyx]

Summary: What happened in the bakery changed you. The next few years would force you to harden and build so many walls that you vowed to never let anyone in. You can probably guess what happens when a certain soldier starts to scale those walls so that he can get to you.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Warnings: mention of blood, intense details about ww2, side character deaths, traumatic backgrounds, mention of Nazis, mentions of broken bones and bullet wounds, children suffering due to the war, imprisonment in a concentration camp, someone does get stabbed, and angst (Warnings will be added as the story continues if need be. This is just for the first chapter!)

Taglist: ~Here~ (Feel free to add yourself to any other categories!)

Word Count: 9k

Author's Note: Okay everyone reading I first want to say thank you for reading my imagine. There are some things that I need to clarify before you start reading this. The entire series will be me going through the Captain America movies. It first starts at The First Avenger and continues through the places in time where Bucky is and where he is not OoOoOoO plot twists. But yes this can be overwhelming to read because some details are VERY graphic. i did use techniques from my medical skills class so all the medical procedures are researched and correct. Please enjoy The Winter Soldier and The White Feather or as I like to call it WSWF

The war was changing you and everyone around you. It was making kind people turn green and bad people even worse. You learned that the hard way of course. When you’d had been taken to the facility you didn’t know what to expect. Now you had been in it for God knows how long and you didn’t know what would happen. You had no way of contacting your family. Of contacting anyone you knew really. You were lost, scared, hoping for a savior that didn’t seem to be appearing. Lost traveling in a fog ridden meadow without any sense of direction. It killed you to see how many people died and suffered at the hands of the Germans, but your screams were of no use. The way they treated everyone was as horrible as a cat chasing a mouse. Like you were the filth on their boots, the scum of the earth. Any time someone said something to them they’d react as if a fire touched their skin and recoil away. They acted as if they didn’t have enough money to feed anyone properly. The food was sure to break several health codes back in the city but that didn’t seem to stop you all from eating it. If it wasn’t stale bread that you could knock someone out with, it was week old soup that had hints of green to it. The water was as piss pore and was a dull gray. Not your best moments or the biggest feast for the holidays but it was for survival. It was meant for you to get on through the day and do as you’re told. The inmates had started to call it the end of the world. You didn’t blame them because it was. That didn’t stop them from constantly complaining about every little thing. You on the other hand couldn’t give a fuck. It was like every single one up and flew away with the happiness that had been your life in France. You couldn’t even speak after the horrors the world and slammed into your life. You avoided everyone and everything that lived, scared and desperate to stay hidden. It was the way to go and others followed your lead. You weren’t one to speak or do anything with another person and the others around you knew it. So, they cleared their distance and you appreciated it. You had never been one to stay quiet for long around people. Eventually you’d try to get to know them. But you had changed just as times had. Even now you knew to keep your cool and to keep up with your manners. At any minute they could kill you. Or they could do something to shatter your already scarred mind. You knew you weren’t like the people who decided to suck up to them. Kissing the floor, they walked on for a little bit of clean water, or a bowl of soup that was freshly made. They were horrible to the suck ups and laughed at them as they did their best to seem appealing. You would never stoop as low to be a person who supported the people who had made this sad reality your life. Despite everything your parents had done to you, you always managed kindness. The girl who was secretly the crush of every guy because of her brains. The kind of girl that went to the library in her free time. The girl who never dated because she claimed she wanted to focus on school but could never know how to talk to guys. Went to the movies with her one friend who she cared about more than anything. The girl who made life positive because her family had always made it negative. Yes, you were over all kind but when you needed to be you could be as sharp as a spear. So, why did they kidnap you? It was simply a case of being at the wrong place in the wrong time. But that didn’t excuse their actions following the moments they walked in that bakery with their rifles held high and their voices screaming in curses. Why did they have to kill one of the most important people in your life right in front of you? Shot her straight through the heart at the bakery around the block from the school. All because she was Jewish. Their logic didn’t explain why they had the right to take her life. Her younger siblings had been complaining about food and you had an extra food stamp to use. You’d despised the stars they had to wear on their chest that prohibited them from having the normal things every person

needs. You all had practically skipped to the bakery in hopes that they’d have chocolate. It was a nice moment thinking that everything was back to normal. She had only been 21 and you 20. That was 3 years ago. Even so long after you could still imagine the events that had occurred. Her blood had splattered all over your polka dotted yellow dress. All she had asked for was food for her siblings. Sure, sweets would have been kind but you were all hungry in general. When the soldiers had come in, they’d been attracted to her star. You should have been on guard more, but you’d been naive to think they wouldn’t harm them. One had grabbed Ciera and pushed himself against her. In her reaction she’d kicked the German away and his comrade shot her. Her siblings that had been clinging to your side as they shot her cried out for their sister as she dropped to the ground. Siblings that had their throats slit as they clung to your arms. You had begged for their lives. They were just two children. You thought they would have a little mercy. You knew you would take care of them for their sister. You tried to explain that Tommy and Cassandra had been hungry, and their sister had been killed right in front of them. The trauma they had suffered was enough for their minds to endure. All of what was happening was enough to make anyone mad. It was necessary that they cry and mourn. But as heartless as they were, they showed no remorse. That two children crying for their dead sister would never and hadn’t stopped the Germans. They’d ripped the children from your hands and pressed their silver knives to their throats killed them. You wanted to fight for them. You loved them like your own siblings. They didn’t deserve the fate that had been handed to them. The third soldier had held your arms behind your back to stop you from tearing them away. You had tried to fight him, but you knew he wouldn’t let go. You watched the blood slip from their throats, and you sagged against the soldier. He had been the kinder of the three. A recruit perhaps. You didn’t realize until later that he’d held you in his embrace throughout the car ride to the place where you’d be transported. The screams that left their mouths still haunted you and you saw their terrified faces in your dreams. Sometimes they would come together as a group. Other times Tommy would visit you with blood seeping from his throat asking you for his sisters. You blamed yourself for not fighting hard enough. You watched as the life left your eyes when you knew it should have been you. You should have been dead on the ground with them as they lay dead next to their sister on the ground. Yes, life was unfair. But if life was unfair than war was no comparison.

“Gurl!” A German soldier yells pointing his finger to a spot in front of him. Most of them could barely speak English and when they did it was so slurred. Half the times you had to watch their hand motions to understand what they wanted. His eyes are locked on you from your spot by the back of the courtyard. It was a quiet place that everyone avoided because of the sun that would beam on you. They preferred the shade, but you just needed the quiet heat to cleanse your mind. You cursed and grabbed onto the chain fence behind you to lift yourself up. It bent with your weight but you knew it wouldn’t break. It was a trashy fence that if you tried to climb, you’d either be shot down or just get so scratched that you’d just end up doing more harm than good. The fence traveled around the vast courtyard that was rundown and brown. The fence had rust in certain spots from when it rained but it never did anything for the concrete. Blood stains covered the floor from where prisoners had been shot and dragged away. There were splatters and puddles all over the already dirty floor. Even on the ground leading into your cells you’d find the lengthened blood beneath your feet. The courtyard was the only time you got to see the outside world. They also had a calendar on the wall that told you what day it was. You weren’t sure why but maybe it was to bring down the spirits of everyone. You on the other hand had been there for 3 years 2 months and 25 days. Since the beginning of the German’s invasion of France. It was made up of mock punching bags filled with paper plates and hard pillows that no dared to sleep on. People sat in cliques all around speaking in different languages. Most of them spoke French and in your time there you’d picked up bits of other languages. Nothing too major but just enough to understand.

“Ve dount ave foreevare vittle gurl.” He yelled again and you picked up your pace. You didn’t want to do anything to cause any more attention to yourself. His accent sent prickles of fear up your spine and the hairs on your arms stood on end. As you walked by a few whispers drafted into your ears and people glanced away. Being called over by a soldier wasn’t a good thing and people avoided it as much as they could. There was always the possibility of someone getting shot or having to do something you weren’t mentally or physically prepared to do. So, the terror that was filling up your mind with endless possibilities wasn’t a fun thing. Anxiety tightened the space in your chest and your throat was constricted with worry. You stopped a few steps in front of the soldier who towered over you and said nothing as his eyes trailed over your body. Once upon a time you would have blushed and shifted awkwardly where you stood but now you stand still and stare straight at the wall behind the soldier to avoid eye contact. The mic on his shoulder beeps and he holds out a finger to you. You don’t respond and continue to stare straight ahead. He responds to the German voice in his native language rapidly and you fiddle with your hands behind your back. You could feel the tension rising around the two of you and it wasn’t good. His eyes had begun to harden more, and his posture grew rigid. His eyes darted around the dirt filled courtyard until he turned around and stared at a man. He had been beat up. On his eye was a purplish hue with hints of green. You saw a small limp in his walk as you turned your head in his direction. He stopped and leaned against the fence with his arms crossed a pair of tags dangling around his neck. The green Henley he wore was matted and had spatters of dried blood. His pants hung off his body, still fitting but with tears. Looking from the outside in he looked just as bad as every other prisoner of war. He had an unreadable expression as he surveyed his surroundings. You caught a small calculating look in his eyes as he scanned people that walked by. His eyes caught yours and your breath caught in your throat. He didn’t just stare at you from afar. He seemed to bare your soul out in front of everyone to see. His gaze was intense, and a hint of curiosity was in his dark eyes. The soldier beside you muttered something into his radio and your gaze snapped away from the handsome stranger and you turned back at attention. You couldn’t get the image of him out of your mind even as the soldier gave you your new group to follow to your cells. Everyone was given a number when they were placed in the camp. Each cell was alphabetized and most of the time people didn’t even pay attention to them. They did it to give themselves a feel of control. The only one you didn’t follow. You didn’t say anything back to him and when he dismissed you, you promptly walked back to your spot. You didn’t want to turn your head in the direction of the stranger you knew was walking over to you. You wanted to disappear, and you knew the moment he talked to you your tough exterior would break. There was something different about the way his head was held high and his shoulders never slumped. You could practically feel his confidence from across the courtyard and out of your peripheral vision. You slid down the fence with a sigh as you put your head in your knees. You took a few breaths to keep yourself calm as a pair of shoes came into view. They were brown and matted and looked like they’d seen better days.

“You okay?” a voice followed. It was low and soft, but it sent shivers down your spine. You slowly raised your eyes up the body that was wearing them, and your eyes widened in surprise where the man from before stood in front of you. He’s much taller than you initially realized and his eyes a deeper brown. He stares down at you with worry and you just stared at him not knowing what to do. He was around your age and it was rare you found anyone your age and that spoke a language you could speak. Sure, there were people who spoke your language and had tried to talk to you. Soon enough they stopped coming around because staying in a group too long would strike fearing the people because they wouldn’t want the Germans thinking new company meant rebellion. He moved to your side and carefully slid down the steel fence. You stared ahead at the people who stood in the middle of the courtyard.

“So, you people watch.” The stranger says motioning to the people in front of you both. You nod without looking at him keeping a close eye on the people in front of you. Something felt wrong about the gathering. It wasn’t anything good. Someone was shoved across into another person and you heard the stranger suck in a breath. He felt the sudden shift too and he pointed a finger towards a short man in broken glasses. His eyes flipped from each side of the courtyard where the two soldiers stood. His hands were clasped together, and his feet were headed in the direction of the crowd. You nudged your elbow into your newfound companions’ arm tilting your chin up in the direction of the people. The air felt stiff in the courtyard more than normal as the crowd began to step into a circle the short man now joining them. The soldiers seemed to notice it too because their gazes were hardened, and their guns were pointed. Your heart began to pound as you knew what was coming next. It haunted you every night ever since you had seen it the day you’d been kidnapped and taken to this camp. The images of Ciera’s body falling to the ground flashes through your vision and you shake your head, feeling your heart squeeze. The screams of her siblings were in the wind you closed your eyes tight and took in a deep breath. They were screaming out orders in German, but the group paid them no mind. You couldn’t breathe. Your hands rubbed against your rugged jeans completely lost to your nightmares that were coming to life. You opened your eyes slowly and looked around to see if anyone else was witnessing what was going down. A few other small groups of people watched from afar with dead eyes, but none made a move to assist. Your eyes were locked on the German soldier directly across from you that was walking towards the group. With each footstep your breathing became faster and your mind screamed for them to heed the warnings the Germans were giving. The group was large and growing by the minute which in the eyes of your captors was a bigger threat. The German nudged one of the people in the group with his gun and what happened next you had never expected. The stringy thin man with blood hair who had been poked spun around and stabbed the soldier in the neck with a foreign object and someone screamed. His hands went to his throat and he dropped his gun. The man dove for it as the soldier fell slowly bleeding out on the concrete. Everything was chaos as the gun dropped and a single bullet escaped from its chamber. The bullet flew across the courtyard and your eyes flew with it watching it impale a single child.

“No!” you screamed bolting up from your place by the fence. The soldiers burst into action firing down anyone who had been in the huge crowd. Everyone went running towards the inside of the prison, trying to avoid the bullets. It was pure chaos as people from everywhere were getting shot as they tried to escape the rage of the soldiers. There were screams of all different languages and you heard the cry of the mother above all. Her cries for her baby filled your ears as you raced across the courtyard toward the downed child. The man followed you close behind, and you paid him no mind as you shoved through the on rush of people. People were getting into meaningless fights as they tried to get away. A man stops in front of you making a grab for your waist. A hand presses against your chest shoving you back as the stranger jumps in front of you. He throws a hard punch at the man who’d made an attempt touch and he gets knocked to the ground. You grabbed his hand and started running again. The mother’s screams in French guided you through the crowd. You felt your foot hit something before you went flying. Your hands moved out in front of you to stop the fall by instinct and on impact you hissed in pain. You had landed hard on your free hand but was yanked back up just as quickly.

“We have to go.” The man from before whispered in your ear.

“The child needs help.” You whispered back and he didn’t say a word back as he supported you on the remaining distance. The child lay on the ground holding his mother’s hand as she screamed for help. The brown-haired man set you on the floor beside the child and you immediately began ripping your jacket off your arms. You ripped the sleeves off the jacket and used the back to apply pressure to the wound. The single bullet hole was small but on the size of the boy was enough to cause a lot of damage. You quickly felt it become wet with blood and pressed down a little harder as the boy cried out in pain.

“Mon garçon, s'il vous plaît, sauvez mon garçon.”(My boy, Please save my boy) She sobbed as her eyes covered her face. Her hands were covered in his blood and your mind flashed with the memory of your own hands covered in Tommy and Cassandra’s blood. You ignored her cries but that didn’t stop you from helping her. You kept a steady push on his leg to slow the bleeding. After a few checks you eyed the wound and you couldn’t help the feel of triumph that flowed through your heart. The slow of bleeding meant you could check the wound for any other injuries it could have caused. You ripped open his pant leg and wiped the blood away to get a good look at the wound. This wasn’t the first time you’d be a medic and it wouldn’t be the last. Your father had gotten plenty of hunting wounds and you had been the one to take care of them. His leg only held one bullet hole, but his leg was so skinny it could fit in the palm of your hand. Your heart ached that this would be the childhood he remembered and not one filled with days of running in a field with his mother or being in school with his friends. He was one of the lucky ones you had to remind yourself. He was alive and you were determined to keep him that way. Your hands moved with remarkable speed as you lifted the child’s leg and looked for the exit wound of the bullet. A small hole was in the back of his leg and you wiped it clear of blood. You lifted the sleeve from earlier to your teeth and made a big enough tear that you could rip it with your bare hands. The long piece of clothing dangled between your fingertips as you examined the length. From the way the threading looked it wouldn’t hold for long, so you’d have to find a more permanent solution. But that was later and the thin cloth would do good for now.

“How can I help?” The man whispered in your ear again as your mind whirled with adrenaline. Your instincts in healing were helping you move through the steps you’d done so many times before with ease, but you couldn’t help the storm brewing in your feelings. You were enraged, scared, and so many other feelings all at once. You had gotten lost in the moment as you rushed to save the boy that lay before you. People were still running inside, and the screams had begun to slow. The courtyard was filled with sobs of families returning to their loved one’s bodies that lay dead on the floor. The blood on the ground would haunt them for the rest of their lives as the bodies were carried away by the ‘healthy’ prisoners.

“Lift his leg carefully. I need to make a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.” You said softly showing him the places to place his hands. He placed his above and below the wound just as you’d asked and lifted slowly. The boy screamed in pain and the mother began to reach her hands out to stop you. You glared at her, but she ignored your attempts to stop her from distracting you. She was screaming at you in French, begging you to stop hurting her boy. You ignored her cries and curses and continued to work. Her hands were gripping yours now as she tightened them around your wrists, and you struggled to tie the knot.

“Si vous ne retirez pas vos mains, votre fils mourra!” (if you don’t pull your hands away your son will die) you snap back at her in French and her nails stop digging into your skin. She pulls away quickly but doesn’t move her eyes away from your face. You sigh in frustration as you tighten the knot around the boy’s leg. You can hear the boy crying for his maman and she’s trying to calm him but it’s no use. You grab the jacket and place it over the boys wound again and apply pressure. The mother is sobbing as she holds her sons face and you watch knowing that you can only help minimally. You motion for the man to lower his leg softly and he does. He watches you carefully as you wrap the torn jacket around his leg and tie it again in the back. The bleeding has slowed to minimal trickle, but you’ll have to find something to clean the wound to keep away infection. You sigh in relief collapsing on the back of your heels as the woman steps away from her boy and walks over to you. She offers a hand over to you and you stare at it not sure what to do. She smiles weakly and shakes her hand again. You realize she’s trying to get you to stand up and you take it willingly. She helps you stand up and as soon as you’ve got on your feet, she pulls you into a hug.

“You…help…. me Henry.” She whispers in your ear as she pulls away. There’s a new look in her eyes as she apologizes for hurting you in French. She pulls your wrists to her mouth and places small kisses over the crescent moon shaped marks. Her fingers run over them in a silent guilt and you pull away and give her a small smile. Her hand brushes your cheek leaving a trail of blood, but her eyes are locked on yours. She leans in placing a kiss on your cheek before releasing you from her embrace. She quiets quickly once you tell her that it’s alright and that you have something to tell her. You start to give her basic instructions that will keep her son alive. How to clean the wound and tell her the signs of infection. Her hands grip onto her fingers, and her eyes are eager to make sure she doesn’t miss a word. You tell her your cell keep so that if she may ever need your assistance, she can send someone. The man who helped you stands beside you as you give her these instructions nodding as you list off everything. Once you trust that she knows everything you bid her goodbye and tell her to stay safe. She doesn’t respond as she looks away from you down to her son whose hand is out reached for her. She rushes to her knees and grabs his hand and doesn’t give you another glance. You know she won’t leave him alone for a minute. The fear of losing her family wasn’t a good one and it had scarred her heart forever just as it did to you months ago. She would hold on tight to his hands and watch for any signs of sickness. She would not sleep through the night but would tell her boy that she did. She’d do anything to protect her last light in the dark world. Your eyes travel from their joined hands to the boys’ face. It’s pale, most likely from the blood loss but he smiles at you. He opens his mouth to say something, and just as quick as it opens it closes as a grimace of pain flashes over his face. You shake your head giving him a weak smile. You kneel beside his head and place a soft kiss on his sweaty forehead and murmur a good-bye. You give the mother and son a small wave before standing once more and turning on your heel to walk away. Your tail follows you as you make your rounds around the courtyard. People cry out to the two of you as you try your best to help anyone and everyone. Most people have died by the time you reach them, and you close their eyes for the dead to mourn. Some don’t accept that their loved one is dead and continue to scream their fury at your insistence. One man almost attacks you because he refuses to believe his wife was killed and the stranger has to stop him. Tears stream down your cheeks at the sight of each body that lies on the floor. There was so much blood on the court now that it was rare you saw an old patch that was dried. It runs underneath your shoes and covers each piece of cement with ease. It soaks the clothes of the people lying beside their families and friends crying their hearts out to someone who is no longer there. Their pain has become apart of you and you can feel the shock of it numb you by the time you reach the last patient. Your tears have dried up and your hands are covered in so much blood that pieces flake off when the wind blows through the courtyard. You stand beside the teenage girl that holds her arm limp as her companion stands nearby attempting to talk to you in German. You attempt to converse with him in French the only language you’d been able to learn in your months of imprisonment but it’s no use as he doesn’t understand you. The girl cries softly as you touch her arm trying to figure out what was wrong.

“Was ist mit ihr passiert?” (What happened to her?) your partner says in German earning a glance from the boy. He speaks faster now the urgency in his hand motions clear. You can’t help but watch in awe as the man who has been helping this whole time stays remarkably calm. He nods and continues to ask him questions and gives him responses without hesitation. He doesn’t interrupt when it becomes clear that the boy is in full out panic mode. You place your hand on the girls’ shoulder and she flinches away before you give her a small smile. She stared at you with a suspicious glare in her eyes, but you tapped your eyes and then pointed to her shoulder in hopes that she would understand. Her eyes are wide with understanding and she leans in closer to you. You press your fingertip towards the top of her shoulder, and you feel her flinch. Doing this a few more times as you examine her shoulder you realize it doesn’t look like the other. It’s bent at an odd angle and you curse yourself for not realizing sooner.

“Her shoulder is dislocated presumably from being trampled in the panic. I know how to put it back in place, but it’ll be a two person job so I’ll need your help...” you trail off not knowing your assistants name. He glances over his shoulder giving you a smile makes you look down at your hands tat have begun to fidget.

“Call me Bucky.” He winks but you can tell he immediately regrets it because he turns away and starts muttering something under his breath. You catch a small huff of frustration that he cuts off quickly with ‘idiot’ following in English. You chuckle a little and his eyes brighten at your show of emotion towards him. Besides the subtle nudges of worry from before the attack, it was the only one you’d shown. His whole demeanor changed then, and you couldn’t help but feel drawn to the sudden beam of light. He was trying to hide his ear to ear smile as he shifted in place. You shake your head slightly and notice the two people that had been forgotten for a short moment. The man from before is quiet now as the girl talks to him in a soft voice. You motion Bucky over, and he leans down to your level.

“She needs to lie on her back. I’m going to pull it back into place.” Bucky gives you a single nod and begins talking to her in German. She stares at him in confusion but then as he explains it even more, she begins to nod her head in understanding reaching out to her boyfriend for assistance. He grabs her lifted hand and Bucky grabs her waist. Her boyfriend kneels beside her and the two exchange soft words that you don’t attempt to hear. Yes, there were things worse than what she was going through but what you were about to do wasn’t about to be as painless as she’d think. Besides the love that you could see when they looked at each other felt like you were intruding every time they looked at each other. When both men have settled, they both slowly lay her down onto her back, but your eyes don’t miss the flinch she gives once Bucky goes near her and her partner has stepped away. You slightly nudge Bucky out of the way and lightly grab her arm. You can see the gratitude in her eyes, and she tries to grab your hand most likely to thank you in the only way she knew how. You gave her a small nod and remained silent because somethings were better left unsaid. As you go through the steps you tell Bucky what you’re doing and in turn he translates. She doesn’t take her eyes off her partner the entire way as you begin to move her. Her arm is causing her a lot of pain, so your touches are featherlight. She is squeezing his hand and you take a lot of breaks to offer her some relief. Once her arm is outstretched towards you, you place your foot underneath where her shoulder is. You take a deep breath and without warning pull her arm at the same time as you push into her side. A loud pop sounds from her arm and you immediately stop pulling on her arm and let it sit on your lap. A blood curdling scream leaves her mouth and she begins to sob in pain. You can see her body shake as her free hand covers the tears that stream down her face. The three of you aren’t the only ones that heard her of course and a German soldier runs over to you all and starts yelling commands that you don’t understand. The girls companion starts responding to him much quieter than before most likely being careful with what he says. Even with the man explaining the soldier still has his eyes locked on you with a hatred you’d never seen before. It’s as if the soldier doesn’t care that you helped her and that she’d be better off in pain. You glare right back at him without a second thought before he turns his gaze away. He doesn’t respond to the boy before walking back to his post near the corner a few feet away from you. You let a breath you didn’t know you were holding in as he leaves the four of you alone on the courtyard again. You look down at the blonde girl who lies with her hair matted in blood from the concrete. She looks at you with a blank expression on her face that soon turns into gratitude. It’s not the first you’ve gotten but something about the way she put her trust in you makes your heart jump for joy. She lifts her arm into the air slowly but gives you a thumbs up, which in turn makes you laugh a little. She grins at you as you return her thumbs up right back and she looks away reaching out to her lover. He grabs her hands quickly and helps her to her feet. It’s a slow process as she slowly tries to get a handle on her pain tolerance, but eventually she stands up. She holds onto his hands to balance herself and gave her shoulder a roll. She let out a soft laugh in triumph and glanced over to where you and Bucky stood. Her eyes warm with happiness that would only last in the moment but were well deserved. She directed her eyes to Bucky and gave him a small smile as she spoke to him in German. You took the chance to finally look at the man who’d introduced himself to you. Here he was in the middle of a war willing to trust you and take care of all these people and be your assistant and he didn’t even know your name. You could tell by the hard built of his shoulders and the way his jaw tensed was because he was strong. Not in a physical way but in

a mental was as well. He could be one to give support and be just as willing to take it away. He was strong but not with many walls. He was determined but not without conscious. He was a good man. A handsome one at that you think before turning away and blushing. Here this man was helping you as a translator and you were thinking about how strong and physically built he was. You shake your head biting on your bottom lip to avoid the smile that wants to appear on your face.

“What have I got something on my face?” he jokes placing his bloody hands to his mouth. You shake your head but can’t help the small laugh that leaves your mouth. Even as a good guy who’d helped you save 20 people who were either bleeding or needed something fixing, he was a dork. The couple gives you a wave before walking off the courtyard towards the yelling Germans. It was time to go to your designated area. The cell of which you’d have to stay in until mealtime which would be in about an hour. As if on cue your stomach growls extremely loud and you place a hand over it. Usually you could hold your hunger over with some water, but it didn’t seem like there would be anything clean for a little while. The usual stream that came out of a hose was used to clean the victims’ blood away. You turned towards the hose where it had only on clean spot on the concrete. Today had been horrible and you knew there would be more days just like this to come. You still felt the ache for the people you couldn’t save and how their blood was still on your hands. You looked down at the floor and your eyes connected with the blood that covered your shoes. You felt the sudden urge to rinse it off and clean them with bleach, but you knew they would never truly leave. The stains would wash off physically, but it would stay with you forever and trap you in its horrors.

“Don’t let it scar you more than it already will.” He whispered into your ear. You didn’t have the strength for words as the day’s exhaustion hit you. You felt your knees buckle and Bucky’s arm wrapped around your waist quickly, keeping you up. All the adrenaline was dying out and you could barely keep your eyes open as he attempted to have you walk. You couldn’t though and it made your feet hurt 10 times more. You groaned and forced him to stop for a minute. You were blinking rapidly as your vision faded in and out.

“I got you.” He murmured placing an arm under your knees and swooping you into the air. His arms pulled you closer to his chest and you placed a hand on your stomach. You wanted to say thank you, but the words wouldn’t come. You were burnt out of all your energy and your eyes lazily rolled over the man who was walking you across the courtyard. He looked straight ahead, and his gaze sharpened at the people who passed by. It was clear he didn’t trust the people around you. It wasn’t something anyone should ever give out willingly but the thought that he had given you such a fragile thing made your mind whirl with possibilities. You kept staring at him in wonder and you weren’t sure if it was from the lack of food and water, but you felt a sort of friendship growing with Bucky. He made you feel safe and he hadn’t abandoned you as you fell but instead, he’d picked you up. He’d let you work and hadn’t tried to take over either. Your hand gravitated towards his cheek and you held it there. Something about the action felt right and it comforted you. From what you saw it had the same effect on him. He looked down at you with a sincerity in his eyes and a small smile formed on his lips. It warmed your heart that you were able to get that reaction from him after such a long day and you couldn’t stop the smile you returned. He looked up and his gaze sharpened once more but there was something else displayed across his face. It was more lie… astonishment. You turned your head in confusion to see what had made him look such a way and you let out a small gasp. The area around the only source of water wasn’t crowded like it had been when you’d glanced at it. The people had made two lines directly to the water hose. You recognized these people as the ones you’d helped. Men and women who’d lost their loved ones and had found some broken but ready to be helped had stepped aside so that you could get some water.

“No.” you croaked nudging Bucky. You needed them to know you weren’t any special. You weren’t some savior. You’d been able to save them, but you couldn’t save your best friend and her siblings. That their ghosts still haunted you in the depths of the night. You began to squirm in his arms your energy suddenly making its way back into your body. He glanced down at you as you struggled to get down. He lowered your legs and planted them on the floor without a word, but his arm didn’t leave your waist. You were glad because if it weren’t for the support you were sure to fall. You pointed to the hose and Bucky nodded and began walking the two of you towards it. The area was clear as the people watched you from the sides. You could feel your terror rising as you looked to the guards that watched from afar. Your heart was beginning to pound with anxiety. You didn’t want another shoot out. Too many people had died already, and you wouldn’t let any more die. You urged Bucky forward and soon you reached the front to where the boy, Henry stands as his mother washes his wound. He looks up at you and gives you a small wave and begins tapping his mother. She looks up from her action with a look of annoyance, but it vanishes the minute she notices you. Her gaze softens and she smiles urging you forward. You kneeled beside them and murmured a silent hello as Henry proudly held back the torn-up pant leg. He was telling his maman in French about how he would be a strong boy and protect them both from harm. She said nothing but only let a smile and a few laughs through her tough exterior as she let you inspect the wound. There never was a lot of talking in the prison except for the quiet whispers between the terrified families. People weren’t the chatty types when they’d be kidnapped out of their homes and forced away from their families. You shook your head as images of Jews being thrown out into the street and onto a bus in your hometown flashes across your mind. Just like you couldn’t save Ciera and her siblings you couldn’t even save them. But you could save these people. Some part of you hoped that you could help push the everlasting guilt away, but you knew you would always feel that pain. So, you internalized it and turned to the wound on the boys’ leg again. The flesh surrounding the wound looked clean which was already a very good sign. You checked along his leg for any red lines that would travel up. It was a common sign of blood poisoning but seeing as he had none you knew he would be alright for the time being. If there were any of the blood red veins trailing along his pale skin, it would be a sign of infection and with no antibiotics would be the death of him. She pulls the pant leg away from the boy at your request because he dances away from your touch. He giggles because your touch is warm against his cold skin and you smile at her and her boy. Giving her the good news is probably a moment you’ll never forget as she wraps her arm around her son tightly. You can tell from the way she’s beaming at being able to stay with her son for more time means that in some way they’ll get through this together. It makes your heart jump for joy and you can’t help but let the happiness consume you. The mother hands her son to Bucky and he kneels on a rock nearby holding the child. At one point while the mother washes a wound you catch Bucky letting the boy squeeze his cheeks and pull at them every which way. He doesn’t let this stop him from tickling the boy and the sight is so pure that you’re smiling for the rest of the time. More and more patients leave to go towards their cells after you give them direct instructions. They all come to the water and you and the mother wash out their wounds and they walk away. It’s a process that soon you start to do without realizing how many people you’ve helped. Some were far worse than her son with multiple wounds that fill with blood at the touch. It takes a lot to break a person and seeing multiple scrapes and bullet wounds would make anyone sick. After about the 15th person she ran away to throw

up because of the smell of cooking flesh from the sun above. Bucky immediately took her place in helping you clean the wounds. You looked over at the woman in concern but found her son rubbing her back as they sat on the concrete holding each other. You felt for her because this scenario was nothing good or that pleasing to see. Knowing all these people were hurting and that the men who guarded you all watched from afar and refused to help was making you feel 20 shades of green. You wanted to just react at them. To hurt the people who were hurting all these innocents. You despised them and with each wound that began receiving care by your hands the hatred began growing bigger and bigger.

“Neutralize your expression. Showing you’re angry will upset the Nazis even more.” Bucky’s hushed voice interrupted your thoughts. You lift your eyes to meet his as you turn the faucet off and dab at the patient’s jacket to dry his wound. The confusion you felt must have been visible on your face because his eyebrows raise as his head jerks to his right. Your eyes slowly follow the trail to where a German soldier stands with his gun in his hands. His eyes stare directly at your actions as if you were a criminal about to attack.

“They’ve been watching the entire time. Through the cameras in the corners. They have orders to let us be but to shoot if they see anything wrong.” You immediately drop your expression and place a blank look on your face. Bucky’s nod confirms that your expression is fine and you both help the man who’d been stabbed on the right side of his chest. The panic of knowing you were being watched never quite faded so you dived deeper into doing whatever you could for the people’s wounds. He’d been lucky for the knife to not puncture his lung because if that had happened his lungs would have filled with blood and he would end up choking on his own blood. If that had been the case, there would have been nothing for you to do at least long term. You were slowly coming to realize that all those trips spent in the library studying the multiple medical books were coming to work out in your favor. Bucky calls out the information in which you’ve told him to tell the girl who accompanies the man. She nods vigorously before grabbing his hand and helping him walk over to the opening that leads to the cells where you all would be holed up. The prison inside of the prison. How ironic. You call out for the next person to step forward but are met with silence. You look to the previous line to be met with open space.

“Come here.” He urges. He’s kneeling in front of you from where you sit on the high-rise rock. You ignore the outreach of his bloody hand and you walk around him. He sighs as you reach down to the faucet. The cold water greets your fingertips and you don’t move away from it. Bucky taps your shoulder and you turn around to see what he needs. He’s staring at you like you’re the smallest child in the playground and that if you don’t listen, he’ll throw you in time out. He points to his raised knee and you scoff shaking your head.

“Either you do it willingly or I force you.” You shake your head again and he groans throwing his head back in mock pain. You giggle and lean forward to reach the faucet again but you’re swiped off your feet as hands grip your waist tightly. He sits you on his lap and you have to wrap your arms around his neck to keep from falling. You whip your head around to glare at him because you’re certain he’s a mad man and he grins leaning towards the faucet. You let out a squeal and you grip his knees as he shifts back on the rock sitting you square between his legs. You know you look beyond pissed because he avoids your eyes. He’s still grinning though at your reaction as his hands release your waist and reach towards the faucet. You move your hands away quickly and lean forward with him, eager to get the remaining blood off your skin. Bucky turns the faucet to the left and water starts spilling from it. He tuts when your hands almost touch the water and he grabs your wrists. The interaction makes your skin tingle and interlocks your fingers with his. In that moment you feel the firs spread throughout your body. Everywhere he touches you sends a different burn straight to your heart. His chest presses against your back as he washes the blood off both of your hands. When he breathes you can feel it hit your ear and it makes the hair on your skin rise. His hands caress yours as they wash 30 or more people’s blood off. His fingers slide into between yours with ease that you watch in awe as your hands become yours again. Except with his hands on yours you aren’t exactly sure where he begins and where you stop. Funny thing is, you don’t ever want to figure it out. His fingers brush over yours and they move away too soon. Before you can grasp what you’re doing you grab his hands and start the same movements. You slide your fingers against his long ones and watch as they become his just as yours were yours. You hear Bucky’s breathing grow uneven and you look over your shoulder to see what’s wrong. His eyes immediately lock on yours and you can see something that you’d never seen on his face before. You can’t read it, but you know it’s something he tries to hide because his face becomes black once more and his hands move away from yours. You gasp softly at the loss of contact and swallow the complaint that tries to force its way out. The moment has disappeared, and you can feel the slight tinge of embarrassment floating its way through your senses. You wipe your hands on your pants and the sight of you and Bucky’s hands together burns itself into your mind. You know it shouldn’t be there, but your heart holds it close and locks it away for safe keeping.

“You ready?” he whispers. His hand lays on your stomach which does a flop at the sight of it and you nod not sure if you could even get through a full sentence without stuttering. You stand up and take a step away from him. You were trying to get a grasp on your emotions but the only thing you could focus on was how his scent no longer surrounded you. Your legs wobble as you try to walk but your knees give out. Bucky grabs your hand and pulls it around his neck.

“I don’t think I can walk.” You whisper. He doesn’t respond at first but you can tell he’s debating what to do.

“Hop on my back. I’ll carry you.” You nod slowly as you walk behind him and grab onto his shoulders. His hands wrap around your thighs and he pushes you up in the air. You jump and let your legs fall around his waist and let your arms hang loose over his shoulders. His figure shakes a little as he tries to steady you and start his long walk towards the open steel doors. You place your chin on his shoulder and let out a small sigh.

“My knight in shining armor.” You tease half heartedly and he laughs. The sound warms your bones more than anything else could and you don’t catch the small smile that spreads across his face as he starts walking towards the yelling Germans. It’s time for everyone to go back to their cells and if told once more there would be consequences. Your arms become heavy and feel like blobs of jello as they swing. You can feel yourself absentmindly snuggling into the warmth of the man carrying you, but it doesn’t register as your senses begin shutting down. You blink a few times as you stared down at the dog tags that swung on top of the green Henley that adorned Bucky’s chest. The faint sunlight disappears as he enters the prisoner compound and the room becomes dark. You lift your head up as shouts erupt around you. You catch people clapping and you have the urge to tell them to stop. Drawing attention of the soldiers wasn’t a good idea because they had just witnessed what happens when you cause a ruckus. You bury your head back into Bucky’s neck as you silently wish for the cries of joy to stop. Despite all the good you’d done you still couldn’t get over all the good you could have done so many years ago. Bucky senses your discomfort and starts to walk a little faster than before.

“Get some rest. You look like you could use it.” He says softly as a metal door creaks and it gets held open for the two of you. You nod slowly feeling your eyes shut again. You listen to him this time and let the exhaustion finally take over your body.

Tagging some peeps~@randomfangirl82 @stucky-my-ship @jules-1999 @starkssnarks @dallaswinstonswife1109@notsosecretspy @kyn-lyn-blog @alltoowell-taylorsversion@creecree-4-life

[zi-i-think]

Request Prompt List

*Disclaimer* Some of these prompts are from Pinterest, some inspired by social media and tv/movies, and most of them are created by me. I have no problem with other creators using my list.

You can find my prompt list with the hashtag #zi prompt list

How to request:

In my asks

Tell me the universe and character (characters not included in this list are fine, but I do reserve the right to refuse to write for a character for any reason).

AU (optional)

Prompt (max of 3)

Any information about the reader (Gender, Hogwarts House, appearance, etc.) I will write the reader as y/n unless otherwise specified.

If you want any specific plot or event, just let me know. Whatever isn’t specified will be left to me and my creative freedom.

Characters

Harry Potter Series

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Harry Potter

Ron Weasley

Hermione Granger

Luna Lovegood

Ginny Weasley

Bill Weasley

Fleur Delacour

Remus Lupin

Serius Black

James Potter

Lily Evens

Regulus Black

Merlin BBC

Sir Leon

Morgana

Arthur

Genevieve

Merlin

Sir Gwaine

Sir Elyan

Marvel

Bucky Barnes/ Winter Soldier

Carol Danvers/ Captain Marvel

Thor

Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow

Sam Wilson/ Falcon/ Captain America

Scott Lang/ Ant-Man

Steve Rogers/ Captain America

Valkyrie

Vision

Wanda Maximoff/Scarlett Witch

Xu Shang-Chi

Xu Xialing

Ajak

Druig

Makkari

Sersi

Thena

Eros/ Starfox

Lord of the Rings

Legolas

Aragorn

Tauriel

Avatar: TLA + LoK

Zuko

Mai

Ty Lee

Azula

Aang

Sokka

Katara

Toph

Suki

Korra

Asami

Mako

Bolin

Lin Beifong

Kya

Dynasty

Fallon Carrington

Length/type

Headcannon: word length varies

Drabble: 100-500ish words

Short fic: 500-2000

(If you want me to write something longer, please know that they take me more time)

AU’s (optional)

High School

College

Roommates

Vampire

Fantasy

Modern

Futuristic

Certain time periods (ex. 1940’s)

Gen Z Prompts ✵

1. “This is going to sound controversial, but I think that went well.”

2. “You have no idea how to make toast?”

3. “I haven’t showered in four days.”

4. “Tell them how you screwed up.”

5. “Try not to gasp.”

6. “Well, this just scrambles my eggs.”

7. “Look I’m not the brightest tool in the… toolbox.”

8. “Please be quiet, I can’t even hear myself losing the will to live.”

9. “Chile, anyways.”

10. “Why does he have to be so fucking hot!!! And respectful!!!”

11. “That sounds neat, my guy.”

12. “So sad. Alexa play Despacito.”

13. “Well, there goes the fucking plan.” “Wait there was a plan?!”

14. “I want you to park that big mack truck right in this little garage!!!”

15. Teaching them how to do the WAP dance.

16. “Why can’t I throw it back?!”

17. “That wasn’t very g-money of you.”

18. “Yeet!”

19. Playing Among Us.

20. “It the ___ for me.”

21. “You are such a [zodiac sign].”

22. “Sorry, I only simp for Corpse.” “You’ve never even seen his face.” “I’ve seen his hands!”

23. “Will you be my emotional support himbo?”

24. “Might I request thy hand in-” “Marriage?” “No, I was wondering if you want to go to McDonald’s with me.” “Even better.”

25. “I’m here for you bro.” “Really bro?” “Really bro.”

26. *giggles* “Rawr.” *more giggles*

27. “Please pardon my french, but what the diggidy dang was that.”

28. “When will you learn! That your actions have consequences!”

29. “Calling all the Monsters by China Anne Maclaine is a bop and you can’t convince me otherwise.”

30. “Eat the rich!” “[name], I am rich.” “I make no exceptions!”

31. “You’re being very calm right now.” “Oh, that’s just because I haven’t processed what happened. Give me a minute.”

32. “I love you bitch. I ain’t never gonna stop loving you. Bitch.”

33 “I am in love with you and I’m telling you straight up. I want you to be my boyfriend/girlfriend. Do you accept or deny!?... BItch get out the way.”

Fluff ❁

1. “Boyfriend and girlfriend right now?” “No.” “Boyfriend and girlfriend eventually?... You didn’t say no.” “I’ll play the long game.”

2. “I crave physical touch. Please cuddle me.”

3. Kisses on the nose.

4. *sneeze* “That is the cutest sneeze I’ve ever heard.”

5. “How long have you been flirting with me?” “Only since we’ve met.”

6. Playing with their hair.

7. Dancing in the kitchen.

8. “Did you just boop my nose?” “Yes… boop”

9. Y/n going off into a rant and character just stares in admiration.

10. Waking up in the morning.

11. Cuddles after a stressful day.

12. Teaching character or Y/n how to ____.

13. Character or Y/n having a long day and is given a massage.

14. “Sorry I’m late, have you been waiting long?” “Darling for you, I’d wait for centuries.”

15. “Care to give me a back scratch.”

16. “I’ll always be here to annoy the hell out of you.”

17. “I think I love you.”

18. Passing notes in class/in a meeting.

19. “It’s always been you.”

20. “Shush and go back to sleep.”

21. “Your bedhead is really cute.”

22. “I will murder you.” “Of fun?”

23. “You are my new pillow.”

Angst ☁

1. “I said I’d die for you”

2. “I never loved you.”

3. “I trusted you!”

4. Y/n or character sacrificing themself for the cause.

5. “If one of us doesn’t make it-” “Don’t say that.”

6. “I am not weak.” “Yes, you are. And you know what else? You’re stupid too.”

7. “I’ll see you again. One day.”

8. “Is that all we’ll ever be? Friends?”

9. “It’s midnight, where the hell were you?!”

10. “Where did all those bruises come from?”

11. “You could’ve died, you know?”

12. “You want to know the truth? I’m not okay.”

13. “I’m your friend of course I care!”

14. “Let me clean your wounds.”

15. “Can you please come and get me?”

16. “I can’t love you anymore.”

17. “Stop telling me you’re okay!”

18. “Because no matter how much I tried, I can’t stop loving you!”

19. Character or Y/n being reminded of the other, despite them being dead for years now.

Spicy (18+ characters) ♛

1. Hands

2. “You know you’re awfully red for someone who supposedly isn’t attracted to me”

3. Character or y/n training and taking off their shirt.

4. Soft sex

5. Bondage

6. Drunk sex

TBU

[shhhlikeme]

Nin’s Matchup!

(SFW + NSFW)

Matchup Profile: Sfw+nsfw matchup pretty pls! (1/5) Name: Nin>Female>5’4>Film & sfx/theatrical makeup freelancer>V athletic in MS-HS: ballet, was in volley ball, soccer &Basketball teams>Miss my prime days>Scared to start workout again b/c I’ll get lightheaded>If sum1 helps push me through initial fear, I’ll keep growing from there> Likes chilling in ballet stretch poses>paints, photographs&draws as hobby>draws a pic a day (mostly portraits)>writing a comic atm >Always plan contingencies.🦄

(2/5) >embarrassed of my loud laugh(it’s like Kuroo’s)>introvert>not afraid to lead a team tho> V shy & quiet most times>8/10 times, feels awk in public,like idk what i’m saying, but others told me I seem social>Once I’m comfy w/ u, i joke a lot(occasional mum jokes 2 annoy+Sassy dirty ones w/ S/O)>hides behind ppl who likes 2 talk, but not when they’re 2 loud>laughs @ mistakes/when embarrassed>Will stop mistreatment, even if I get in trouble>values communication&genuine discussions🦄

(3/5) Sings when home alone>competes @ Street Fighter tournaments, trains everyday 4 it>Sings “Hit Me W/ Your Best Shot” when fighting bosses in game&swears melodically when i lose>eats chips w/ chopsticks >make hats out of my cat fur when bored>Workahokic night🦉>likes 2 teach >full convos w/ my 🐱>LIVES in oversized hoodies & flip flops, regardless of weather>no pants@home!>Feels incompetent sometimes, but keep practicing 2 improve>Analytical fast learner>idk why ppl think i look innocent🦄

(4/5)>Forgets 2 speak eng when tired (Thai 1st lang.)>Headrubs 4 s/o every night b4 bed>will miss u but is bad@texting>yelps like puppy when I’m surprised>Unconventionally resourceful: Wire hangers’s fixes everything! >stress bakes & will gets pouty if it didn’t turn out well.>overwhelmed to water my 50+ 🌱 >Doodles on smt (always have a pen on me)when i feel socially anxious> 2 dance sober @ clubs> Wants a stable relationship where we work tgt like a team to bring out the best in one another🦄

(5/5) I like a s/o who is lovable, kind, genuine, mature, independent and caring, but can also joke & be silly with like best friends. NSFW: open 2 try new things>❤️restraints, blindfolds & sensual tickle sex (as lee+ler) but had always been too shy to share it with any1>occasionally self conscious of food baby+stretchmarks>🥰edging/teasing >has a thing 4 height differences (likes to feel smol lol!) & primal play.>Is a switch. I’m so sorry if it’s too much info! Thank you for doing this!🦄

————————————

A/N: HI LOVE @crushzone !!!! I SMILE WHEN I SEE YOU IN MY NOTIFS GIRL I WORKED HARD ON YOURS OF COURSE💖 But no matter whaaaat I’m going to be very authentic in my matchups bc they’re based on compatibility and therefore, without further ado, lemme introduce you to your NEW BAE:

————————————

KŌTARŌ BOKUTO 🦉

SFW:

so you’re a theatrical makeup artist.

Aight.

Mind if I offer you a word of advice? :

RUN

“DUDE THAT’S AMAZING IT LOOKS SO SICK!”

Startled by someone’s loud booming voice, you smudged the eyeliner you were applying to your actor’s face all over their forehead. Whipping around to see who had disrupted your work you were faced with a beautiful black and grey haired owl. A rather tall... and very attractive ‘beautiful black and grey haired owl.’

He started walking around the dressing room like he owned the place, touching everything.

“Excuse me, you don’t have a badge. You can’t be backstage—!”

“Pretty obvious don’t you think, Miss ________?”

You didn’t take his bait, refusing to give this stranger your name. Bokuto shrugged.

“Well since I don’t know your name I shall label thee—Miss HOT GIRL of the 9 Kingdoms!” He nudged the knight actor who was sitting in your makeup chair with his elbow. “Did I sound 15th century ish or what??” The owl turned to you expecting to be praised. “I had to meet the person who made the medieval vampire look so scary in the last act. But that guy with the lights didn’t tell me anything about you being so hot.”

You were speechless because he was hot too

But he shouldn’t be back here so you tried to shoo him out anyway

He allowed you to try to shove him out but he was way bigger than you so nice try sis

When he yawned while you panted because you weren’t able to budge him an inch....

Bokuto wagered that he would leave if you agreed to make him look like the Hulk with your makeup skills for a Halloween party he had to go to

You didn’t really want to because you were a professional and you had no idea who this owl was but because you had 15 minutes until the second act and you needed peace and quiet if you were going to finish your job!!! ....

( This boy was not peace NOR quiet )

You agreed.... but because you answered so fast Bokuto kicked it up one notch

Prince of pushing his luck (king is reserved for Shōyo‘s extra ass)

He pretended to allow you to push him out of the makeup room a few steps but before you closed the door he stuck his foot between the door so it couldn’t close.

Smiling, he peered back in, looking down at you:

“AND...... you have to agree to go on a date with me. Tomorrow night?”

“Ugh FINE!”

Bo removed his foot and let himself out with a bounce in his step.

SERIOUSLY WHO LET THIS MAN BACKSTAGE......

Needless to say, after a few dates, mans won you over like he wins EVERYONE over

It surprised you how comfortable you became with him but he just has that affect on people

***

In terms of your athletic relationship Bokuto does many things:

He pushes you to go to the gym with him for one

He signs the two of you up for impromptu Beginner 30-day challenges that you both must stick to

So every morning for 30-days straight he jumps on you in bed to wake you up:

“NIN BABY TIME TO HIT THE GYM. BABY NIN TIME TO GET IN SOME SEXY GYM SHORTS. MON BÉBÉ NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNN—“

“Kōtarō, please shut up.”

he doesn’t

He drags you there and eventually you get back into the swing of things.. killing it in the weight room with your supportive man cheering on your every rep!

You don’t even need him to wake you up during the second challenge!

Your volleyball player boyfriend also signs you up (without permission) for the neighborhood soccer team that Akaashi’s girlfriend is already on

You hated it at first because it was uncomfortable going back after not playing for so long but you soon realized that all the girls there were ex-athletes too and not stars

You formed amazing new girl friendships (especially with Akaashi’s gf) and double dates with them were one of your favourite nights of the week!

You owed that happiness in your life all to your Owl 🦉🥰

He and Akaashi came to every soccer game y’all had and you and the three of you went to all of Bokuto’s games, obviously

Btw you all were FITTTTTT OML

***

In addition...

You already know that your man finds your artistic talents insanely fascinating

On your first anniversary together Bokuto gifted you with a new paint set and new French stand:

Because he admires you Bokuto also tries to draw and paint seriously just like you

You stand over his shoulder and give him corrections and baby owl learns so fast it’s amazing

You two make ‘paint night’ a thing when you move in together and it’s always the most fun event!!!!

Bokuto CONSTANTLY and I mean CONSTANTLY asks for you to add him to the comic you’re writing but you say no because he wouldn’t fit in

He sulks but one day you surprise him by showing him that you drew a cute soaring black and gray owl in the background of almost every outdoor scene in your comic,

you pointed out that it was him

BOKUTOOOO WAS SOOOOO HAPPY

HE WAS SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS

He called Akaashi right away and almost cried tears of joy hahahahaha

***

Your contingent based lifestyle has saved your reckless boyfriend’s life and career many-a-times

It’s one of the things he loves most about you.

Also, it is important to mention that he is in LOVE with your laugh

Bby owl does anything to hear it and showers your face with kisses when you laugh to draw it out

He loves you so freaking much

When you don’t make sense and speak gibberish in public because your awkward side randomly comes out......your boyfriend loves to make fun of you:

“Huh? Nin, that wasn’t Japanese, that wasn’t Thai and that definitely wasn’t English. What planet is my adorable baby girl from, again? And how do I return her in exchange for a floating space car instead?!”

suh cute

All of Bokuto’s teammates really like you because you work in conjunction with Akaashi which means you actually have the magic ability to get Bokuto out of emo mode even faster than his best friend 🤯🤯🤯

When he’s at an away game in emo mode his teammates will literally FaceTime you and point their phone in his general direction

“Hey, Kōtarō!!!! Look, Nin’s on the phoneeee!”

Bby owl turns around slowly when he was sulking in the corner and when he sees you on the screen he’s running and jumping on whoever is holding your phone.”

“Kōtarō baby. You’re going to stop this emo mode right now. If not I won’t let you paint me nude like we discussed.”

mans was like: 😨😨😨😨🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗

YEP the next second you see him hitting his best practice spikes and his teammate thanks you profusely

You do this several times until Kōtarō just knows to not go into emo mode anymore because you won’t be happy

A year into his professional volleyball career The Black Jackal’s coach sent a surprise fruit bouquet to your work one time:

With a note that read:

To Nin,

Thanks.

Thanks a lot.

Love,

The Team

***

I know you don’t really like people who are considered “too loud” and Bokuto is like...... “MEGA LOUD 🎙 “ but you and Akaashi work together to quiet your boy down as he gets older

He’s perfect

And you love him

***

OKAY THIS IS THE FUNNIEST day THING:

You know how you like standing up for people (even strangers) and stuff?

Well one day, you and Bokuto get caught on a show called WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Where the two of you cussed out this cat-abusing actor on the show in a convincing scenario!

It was PRICELESS

Bokuto literally tells everyone that y’all are movie stars because of it 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

***

More in the relationship:

Bo is always singing with you 💞 when y’all make breakfast it becomes a national sport to sing at the top of your lungs!!

And when he sees you eat chips with chopsticks he’s pulling a Hinata “🤩🤩🤩” face .

He begs you to teach him how

So you try

......and try

..................and try

He can’t do it bruv 😞

You see bby Owl’s emo mode return for the first time in like a year when the chip shatters between his sticks again

This time, you have to enlist Akaashi as the FaceTime saviour and Keiji just tells him:

“Bokuto. You should prefer eating chips with your hands anyway. It gets to your mouth faster.”

cue Bo’s 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 face

........And all is well again

There’s more:

So you’re a workaholic?

Bokuto is fine with that. He just makes you promise that he gets to take you out on your lunch breaks a few times a week or whenever he can

He’s so sweet and your coworkers are BIG jealous of your relationship

Your man BEGSSSSS you to teach him Thai but you find it too hard so when he’s travelling on a long flight he spends the time learning the language on YouTube (and actually get decent at it) so that he can understand you when you’re sleepy😴🥺💕

When Bokuto surprises you by wishing you goodnight in Thai before he falls asleep (while you’re giving him head rubs), your heart explodes BECAUSE why is he the cutest thing in the world ?!?!?!

RELATIONSHIP COMMUNICATION:

You don’t text/you’re bad at texting? That’s fine, mainly because bby owl is so busy with volleyball anyway, but if you don’t text him back when he is feeling needy the boy will call you 20 times in a row

When you finally pick up, your heart is beating like thinking it’s an emergency

But he will answer saying:

“Oh, no emergency. I just want booty pics. Please, Nin babyyyyy?”

you’re like: 😑

ANOTHER CUTE THING YOUR MAN DOES?????

AIGHT:

It’s cringey but.......

When you’re at work all day doing makeup and he’s home he will send you pics throughout the day of him taking care of your plants like they are y’alls newborn children:

His text:

Baby look!!! Ollie the Orchid grew to 7 inches today!!! Yesterday he was 6.8 inches!!!!! They grow up so fast 😭😭😭”

Your reply:

Not quite as long as your dick, Bo

His reply:

I hate when you get me horny when I’m trying to take care of the kiiiids 😭😭😭😭

Dkm

Of all the factors you look for in a man, Bokuto has all of them

Like I said he becomes much more mature when you and Akaashi are his closest compadres

What people don’t know is that Kōtarō is actually very mature he is just a hardcore optomist (besides emo mode lmao) so people often mistake him as immature or dumb

But He’s far from it and you see that everyday

It’s why you fell for him

When dealing with serious issues that life has to handle, you see a different side of Bokuto, a real side, the side he shows in every tough volleyball game when he makes you metaphorically step behind him so he can deal with any problem that comes your way

He would literally withstand all your battles if that meant you’d remain happy forever

We stan a relationship like yours💞

NSFW:

okay so you know how you chill in ballet 🩰 stretches sometimes?

THAT DRIVES KŌTARŌ WILD.

It turns him on so much and he is constantly testing how flexible you are in the bedroom

When you keep meeting his expectations he is POUNDING you cause he is so turned on

He fucking loves it

It also turns him on when you’ll be acting shy and stuff but then randomly you’ll lead your neighbourhood soccer team like a BAD BITCH

When he sees that he’s already asking Akaashi how long until the game ends because he’s horny:

Akaashi deadpans. “Too much information. And the game just started 3 minutes ago. Get a water and calm yourself.”

Bo is sad but it makes for one hell of a I’m-proud-of-you sexscape when you get home from your game!!

Your dirty jokes also turn Bokuto on.

A lot.

A lot a lot:

“Bo.....I was joking.”

“I know but if I hear the word ‘dick’ coming out of your mouth I automatically think of you blowing me so now I want us to go home.” He whines.

You sigh. He’s lucky he’s so fucking hot.

When you’re playing street fighter every night this boy will not leave you alone until you cockwarm him

“Nin can you pleaseeeeee warm my cock while you train? I miss you.”

Your concentration turns him on so he has to ask nicely 😊

You love his dick so of course you oblige

Bby owl is so happy just sitting there being in your company and in your warmth but sometimes or every time he ends up thrusting into you

Sometimes while he’s giving you deep slow thrusts he orders you to keep playing or he won’t get you off

Damn 🤤

Let’s not forget also that you drive your man wild by walking around the house in hoodies all the time and nothing else

Every day, another hoodie will be found in various RANDOM places in the house because Bo flings it off you before he makes love to you wherever, and they go missing

Finally, when you get all sad and pouty because one of your baker trials goes to shit (ruined chocolate brownies this time, boo 💔), your boyfriend is taking your hand gently in an instant, leading you to the bedroom:

“Don’t be sad my beautiful girl, you know how much I hate seeing you sad. It makes me sad.! Here, come in the room and sit on my face—I promise I’ll make you feel better.”

WELL DAMN—😳💦

Maybe you should screw up brownie recipes more often.

————————————

A/N: do you know the show what would you do??? Watch it on YouTube if you haven’t haha I couldn’t stop thinking about you and Bokuto being on it after reading your matchup profile!!!! I hope you liked it bb! Give me all your reactions, I want all the smoke 💞💞💞

[kichimiangracomics]

HAPPY NEW YEAR (And rambling)

Howdy all!  It's been a while, I haven't been bouncing up on social media as much lately.  It feels like that bought of depression happened and the minute it was gone work picked up and people at my job quite etc.

So other than that what have I been up to?  Mostly art still.  Tried to up and quit several times under duress and stress but I keep coming back anyway.  At least things will be a lot chiller for a bit (Maybe) with my job going into 'dead hours'.

BUT A COOL THING!  I modded a fountain pen to use a Hunter dip pen nib!

No more dipping!   ------------------------

I wish I had more art to show, but this year I've been working on a lot of comic projects ^^

One of which is, of course, the Candle.  It's still getting worked on, but slower because of shared limited time with my other projects...

I mean... that and I got really burned out on it... and when I get burned out the quality drops really really bad...

And when the quality drops I don't get that juice back.  It's like... I don't have fun doing ANYTHING, I have fun FINISHING things and then it converts that into energy to work on the next thing to completion.  But when I don't feel like I completed something because it doesn't look decent then no energy return -_-.  I'm not going to lie, I much prefer getting things done in hyper bulk so I wish I had stopped weekly updates after chapter 1 and then completely finished chapter two and three before returning again.  It gives time for that break from creative burnout to recoup and by the time the pages need you again you've got the groove back or did something else and are ready to go again. In the meantime I have gotten pretty good practice at inking without pencils!

Yeah yeah this ain't a spoiler!  You've all seen the chapter art, you knew they'd be here!  God I love drawing them!  The Candle will eventually return.  Just... not until Chapter 3 is done on my end, which is a bit slow going because it's art priority #3. -------------------------

Art Priority #2 is my paid work commission comic I've been working on since around the summer!  It's also slow going because it's done completely by hand with pen and paper!  I can't say much about it because I promised not to spoil anything, but I did get Permission from my commissioner :iconLepouvoirduflan: to show off my favorite out of context panels XD! I love drawing Bowsers back~!

I'm really having fun working on this project with her!  Familiar characters with a breath of fresh air, being a different plot from the Candle and all!  Having more comics to do makes each one slower, but it keeps me from burning out without the weekly time limit and the constant change of scenery! ^_^  And Lepouvoirduflan has been helping me with Art Priority #1 as well! Speaking of that... ---------------------------

Art Priority #1 is a comic I've wanted to make for a long time, it even predates The Candle and I've been working on it more seriously for the last 5 years (It probably isn't 5 years worth of good but HEY my New Years resolution for 2020 is to be less critical of my work so I can get stuff done!) but it finally feels like it's gotten to a point that it's going to happen!  A few bits of it have popped up here and there on DA and Tumblr but I think it's far enough along that I'm ready to talk about this passion project as I think it'll be coming out sometime this year! (Not that any of you are here for that, you're all here for Mario stuff! ^^')

This passion project is called Faeredoux, a combination of the word "Fae" and the french word "Redoux".  Faeredoux is... basically the same stuff Disney does.  I like the fairy tale, I take the fairy tale, I tell my own version of the fairy tale.

 I had always been told "Write what you know" but I never felt like I knew really anything. That is until a friend said "....... Why don't you like... draw a comic about fairy tales?  That time you told me about the frog Prince was hilarious!  And the Nightingale and Cinderella!  Those were cool ideas!"  And that's when it hit me... I do really love fairy tales.  I own the Grimm and Andrew Lang collection, among others, I loved those old bargain bin Disney rip offs that stayed closer to the original tale (I loved Encyclopedia Britanicas Beauty and the Beast especially!!!) and, I had a love hate relationship with a fandom I was in in 2010 for all it's fairy tale AUs that just copy paste the transcript to the Disney film.

I at least want to do the first 3 stories I had planned because they fell into place so well (And one is a revamp of itself from 2006 so an oldie!)  The first one is what I've been working on a lot recently: "Faeredoux: Glass and Gold" (Name pending because I might have a better one in mind but haven't committed yet.)

Glass and Gold is the Story of Eloise Cendres, cursed by a fairy as a child to suffer 13 years of bad luck and, should she live that long, be destined to die on the anniversary of the thirteenth year... that is unless she marries the local prince (Fairies are weird).   Now in these kinda of stories usually a maiden in need would get a knight in shining armor or a fairy god mother, but with none to be seen she chooses to summon her own!  But wait!  You don't "Summon" a fairy like that! Eloise unknowingly summons the demon Francine, who luckily has a bone to pick with a certain fairy.  Together can they get Eloise to a happily ever after?  Or when the clock strikes midnight will her world come crumbling down?

------------------------------

I guess that's really all I have except some art (Not much) that I've done... but I don't have a scanner at the moment so I guess photos it'll be?  Sometime tomorrow or now-ish?  I dunno.  Typing all this sounded like a better idea when I started. Maybe I should just go play some more Digimon World... or use my badass custom pen...

[supersoldierfreak]

Take It or Leave It

Hi!!!

This is something new I’m trying where the reader is a Lawyer for Tony Stark but after the Avengers get back together after the Accords Ross is still coming after them. Tony Stark wants the reader to get Ross off their backs but what happens when Ross decides to play a little dirty? 

Chapter 1 – Chapter 2 – Chapter 3 – Chapter 4 – Chapter 5 – Chapter 6 – Chapter 7 – Chapter 8

“What is this, Tony?” Steve looked from the sheets in his hand.

“It’s a resume.” Steve stared at the man. “Y/N L/N, she’s my go to lawyer. When I met her she had only just started at her firm. She had just finished a case and was handing it in to Hayden Hughes, the Managing Partner at the firm, when I was in his office. Instead of taking me to a senior partner to sign with, he told me to sign with the girl. I’ve never regretted it.” 

Steve looked back at the paper. “So you trust her.” It wasn’t a question. 

“Listen, Rogers, if there’s anyone you can get you out of your predicament, shall we say, it’s her. Her record runs on a strictly win-only basis.” 

“She’s worth a shot, Steve. I may have only met her for twenty minutes once before when she was getting Tony to sign something but she’s a good kid. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone keep him in line as well as she did apart from Pepper.” Bruce looked up from his StarkPad to affirm Tony’s praise of the lawyer. 

“Hey! I’m not that bad!” 

Natasha spoke up from her quiet conversation with Clint. “You’re only proving his point, Stark. Besides, this L/N lady can’t be that bad; she’s from the best law firm in New York, Hughes and Wood, which means she came from Harvard, the best law university in the country. She’s used to working cases which have high stakes so she knows discretion is key.”

“What’s the worst that she can do? We’re already wanted fugitives.” Wanda quipped in her thick accent. 

“Call her, Stark. Let’s see what she can do.” 

“No need, Mr Rogers, Mr Stark already called.” You waltzed out the elevator bags scattering your body. “But more importantly, I brought the Chinese.”

“We’ve already eaten.” Steve turned to look at you front on.

You laughed. “Oh that would be a good joke if takeout menus weren’t scattered across the coffee table, members of your team weren’t holding the aforementioned menus, half the people didn’t perk up at the thought of food and I didn’t get all of your favourites.” 

“How would you know our favourites? You have never met us.” Wanda queried. Her distrust for you was clear on her face and through her body language.

“Then how can I do this, Miss Maximoff?” You plopped most of the bags on the floor apart from the food. “Crispy Shredded Beef for Mr Stark, Chicken Chow Mein for Dr Banner, Sweet and Sour Chicken Balls for Captain Rogers, Szechuan Spare Ribs for Miss Romanoff, King Prawn Chop Suey for Mr Barton, Honey Pork for Mr Odinson, House Special Foo Yung for Miss Maximoff, Special Crispy Noodles for Mr Vision, Singapore Mixed Meat Chow Mein for King T’Challa, Stir Fried Mushrooms in Black Bean Sauce for Mr Lang, Shrimp Chow Mein for Colonel Rhodes, Beef Shanghai Style for Mr Wilson, Chicken Singapore Noodles for Mr Parker, and finally Crispy Chicken Fillet and Roast Duck Fried Rice for Sergeant Barnes.” You finished as you placed the final tub on the table. 

“Oh that’s it. She’s my favourite lawyer.” Clint fist pumped the air dramatically. 

You raised an expectant eyebrow. “Oh, I’m sorry, did you miss the memo? I wasn’t done. I also got Prawn Crackers, Prawn Toast, Crispy Seaweed, Spring Rolls, Crispy Wontons, Salt and Pepper King Prawns, Honey Roast Spare Ribs, Yung Chow Fried Rice, Fried Dumplings, Deep Fried Crab Claws, Aromatic Crispy Duck and finally Fortune Cookies for a bit of fun.” 

“I think I’m in love.” Scott whispered, staring at you.

Ignoring the blubbering man, you pulled out a gift bag from the collection around your feet. “Sorry I couldn’t make your birthday Mr Stark, you know I had court the next day and you can’t arrive in court under influence.” 

“Sure thing, Bunny, no worries.” The man smirked as the nickname came out again. Apparently when you were working or thinking your nose scrunched up and Tony had made it his job to entitle you with a nickname because of it; he thought of Bunny to be a sufficient name. Either way, everybody was watching with rapt attention as Tony removed the black tissue paper from the top of the bag and pulled out the box inside. Tony’s face lit up at the sight, prompting the question. 

“What did Lawyer Lady get ya, Tin Man?” Sam asked expectantly, like a petulant child. 

Thankfully Vision saved him from his despair. “It appears to be a Glen Garioch 46 Year Old 1958 Whiskey, average pricing around $2,777.” 

Low whistles ran throughout the men of the room. 

“Vis! You don’t tell people the price of gifts!” Wanda gave an exclamatory hiss in said man’s direction causing him to frown in thought.

“Damn, L/N. That’s good whiskey.” Sam addressed you but his eyes were still on the bottle. 

“If you play your cards right, Mr Wilson, you might get gifts like that too.” 

He shot you a flirty smirk. “I’ll play you any cards you want if it gets you around here more often.” 

“I’m surrounded by people like Mr Stark, and more, all day, Mr Wilson, you’re going to have to do better than that.” You pouted slightly at the man, fully enjoying the little exchange. 

“I like her. I’ve been telling you for a long time, Birdbrain, you’ve got to up your game.” James permitted himself to join the conversation. 

“Damn, and here I was thinking the only person you like was you boyfriend: The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan.” 

“Didn’t you get anything for yourself, Miss L/N?” Peter asked you as he leant forward to get his noodles. 

“I got the Szechuan Spare Ribs. They’re the best thing on the menu.” You replied with a nod towards Natasha. 

“Amen to that, sestra!” She raised her beer to you and it reminded you of the other bag. 

You pulled out the beer that you had brought with you, alongside the Chinese. “Vy khotite drugogo?” You held out a bottle for her. 

“Ty govorish’ po-russki?” She looked surprised as she took the bottle. 

You nodded. “My parents were quite pushy and strict when I was younger. They made sure I knew as many languages as I could so I would be well prepared for life.” You took a can opener from your bag; you were starting to feel like Mary Poppins. Carefully popping the cap off your bottle, you offered the opener to Natasha and she gratefully accepted. 

“It’ll be fun to have another Russian speaker in the mix.” James stirred his food quietly before taking a bite. 

“The Three Musketeers.” Clint raised his bottle to us jokingly. 

“Any other talents we should know about, Sweetcheeks?” Sam wiggled his eyebrows and you simply gave him an unimpressed look. 

“Alongside Russian and English, I also speak French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Latin, Italian, and Mandarin. Fluently. Mum made me do Ballet and Gymnastics whilst my Dad made me do martial arts whilst growing up. And I had to learn the piano at school.” You listed them off with an impressive air of nonchalance. 

“You have the skill set to join the Avengers.” Scott announced dramatically whilst chewing on his mushrooms. 

“And you clearly didn’t read the resume.” You quickly rebutted, taking a swig of your beer.

“What’s making you say that?” 

“Honestly, Mr Lang, it’s obvious.” You shook your head to yourself. “The only people who have read my resume in this room is Mr Stark about 9 years ago; Miss Romanoff, Mr Barton and Sergeant Barnes all have read it because they wanted to assess my threat level to themselves individually and the team, hence why they have been carrying most of the conversation as they are trying to evaluate me; Mr Vision will have read my resume due to the fact that he has never seen or interacted with a lawyer before; and finally Captain Rogers will have read my resume as he doesn’t trust me in the slightest right now, his feet are angled ever so slightly towards me showing interest, he hasn’t spoken at all to me apart from a defensive lie at the beginning and now he’s contemplating on how to talk to Tony about me after I’m gone without causing conflict. Tell me I’m wrong.” No one said anything. You stood up from your seat and gathered your bags. “Mr Stark, I presume I’m in the usual room?” 

Tony let out a tired sigh. “Yeah, Bunny. Please just call me Tony for the millionth time.”

“Of course, Tony.” The pair of you shared knowing smiles as you picked the bags up and disappeared down the hallway.

[teaxstars]

2021 Languages

1/14 Your target languages and why you want to learn them. I think it would be very sexy of me if I learned all of the languages of the permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and Spanish. They are all very morally corrupt countries, one hand funny on another fucking enraging, but it just seems like an easy overarching frame to keep in mind. English- native Chinese (mandarin)- my family is from Taiwan so my listening etc is alright, just really need to get to those characters, and get the vocab of an adult. This year I want to do lvl 1 and 2 of Lingodeer, take some coursera courses in Mandarin, then read TGCF in Mandarin when it comes out in May? then shipping-July? I have a whole half year to get my weakest skill in this language up to snuff. French- have been trying for years, but after running into multiple bad situations trying to learn in a school setting, doing duolingo every day for a couple of months last year was fun. I think I’ll go back to that, but also delve into culture much more so it’s less of an insular app-only experience. I’ve wanted to read les mis in french for so many years now, I think I can read it in Eng first then in French when I get through the Duolingo. Russian- my husband’s family is speaks Russian, and have been able to stay much more in their lil immigrant enclave than my parents (who were professors) so their English has been slow in improving in the couple of decades they’ve been here. (Also, having a crush on my husband for years earlier turned me into a russophile and I just need to deal w that.) Took an intense summer course that crammed all of one year of uni Russian into two months!!!!! It was hell! but I still remember quite a bit of it? I just need to review. This time, I also want to go into the culture more. Spanish- have done various apps over the years, but haven’t had an occasion to use the lang so it’s all been forgotten. I don’t believe I have space for it this year w/ Mandarin taking up so much space.

[fayewonglibrary]

A light that never goes out (2012)

by Divia Harilela

As the saying goes, behind every great man is a great woman. In fashion, however, it's the high-powered stylist that makes or breaks the woman. Lady Gaga claims she would be a fashion mess without best pal and style guru Nicola Formichetti, and Rachel Zoe transformed Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie from spoilt brats into style stars.

While the West has seen its fair share of celebrity stylists, no one in Asia comes close to Hong Kong's Titi Kwan. While his name may not ring many bells, people will definitely recognise his most famous client, pop diva Faye Wong. For more than 15 years, the pair have collaborated on show-stopping and edgy looks that have earned Wong the moniker of 'Madonna of the East'.

Kwan, Wong's official 'image director', has stayed in the background, preferring to let his work - and muse - do the talking. He keeps to himself, shuttling between Hong Kong and his second home in Paris, rarely granting interviews and avoiding public appearances.

Last October, during Paris Fashion Week, Kwan broke his silence at the unveiling of a fashion line which he was launching after a three-year hiatus. In true Kwan style, the presentation was at a quiet gallery near Rue Saint Honore and attended by a few select invitees.

It's early afternoon, but Kwan has just woken up from a nap and is dressed in an old T-shirt, pink jeans and a banged up leather jacket. He is nervous and speaks slowly. He starts to loosen up when we broach the subject of his new line and latest project, a fashion boutique that will open this month in Chai Wan.

'It will be based on the concept of my apartment,' he says. 'When friends come to visit me in Paris, they love going through my wardrobe. I've collected so many things over the years and don't know what to do with them, so why not open a store? I'll sell pencils, rubbers, silk blankets - whatever I want that's part of my lifestyle. I will also bring in some designer friends and special pieces.

'I'm opening it in Chai Wan because I like the area; most of the studios and industry people are there. For me Chai Wan is Hong Kong. I don't know Central that well. When I hear Central, all I think about is the bank.'

Perhaps industrial Chai Wan reminds Kwan of his upbringing: he grew up in a public housing estate in Kwun Tong with nine family members in a 200 sq ft flat. As a young boy, he would watch and copy his father, a tailor who worked at home.

'I don't know if he was an influence exactly, but the fabric inspired me,' Kwan says. 'I am a curious person, so I observed him and tried many things myself. I made clothes from fabric that was left over and discovered the bias cut this way.'

Kwan also has a rebellious streak. During his teens, he frequently got into trouble for dying his hair red or stapling together his school uniform. While these may seem like typical adolescent pranks, his mother got fed up and shipped him off to Paris at 15 to stay with his older sister.

'I was uncomfortable with my surroundings in Hong Kong. I was lost and felt uncomfortable. Really, I just wanted to be different,' says Kwan, 43.

'It was a shock when I moved to Paris. But then I went to the Centre Pompidou and admired the punks in the streets. It was during the boom of the new wave, and I loved the fashion, the safety pins, everything. Everyone was accepted. Finally, I didn't feel that different.'

Kwan's exposure to fashion continued in high school, where he observed the chic style of young French girls in high heels and miniskirts. At 18, he enrolled in Paris' famed fashion school Studio Bercot. To pay his tuition, he took a part-time job as a waiter in the evenings and studied during the day.

'Studio Bercot opened my mind. That being said, I didn't have time to do the work and was always rushed, although my teacher always complimented my work. I believe compliments kill your creative spirit, which is why I hate them,' he says.

'Eventually, I quit because I was so busy with other styling work. I knew I had to learn in the field, and I needed the money. Styling was new at the time, and people were hungry for stylists. I was really lucky since I was one of the first Chinese faces.'

Fate intervened when he met Wong during a trip home after an eight-year absence. It was the mid-1990s, and Kwan was looking for an artist to feature in a new fashion magazine, so he made an appointment with Wong's management team. While locals were wearing late '80s bling, Wong and Kwan bonded over young and edgy names such as Dries Van Noten, Helmut Lang and Martin Margiela, who were just starting out.

'The first outfit was a Versace dress mixed with flip flops - plastic ones that were very Chinese looking,' Kwan says. 'It was a shock to most people, but she was happy with it. The vibe between us was right. She was such a nice person and the opposite of what I expected. She wasn't an ice queen; she was a warm person.'

Since then, Kwan has worked almost exclusively for Wong. It wasn't until the singer decided to take a four-year break from show business in 2004 that Kwan was free to revisit his first passion - design.

'I always wanted to be a designer, but I took a different path,' he says. 'A few years ago, Faye decided to take a rest, which was perfect for me. I took this time to clean my mind. I saw so many collections that when I designed clothes, I lost my own personality. It was easy to be influenced by others, and I knew what was sellable and what was strong. I wanted to try something new and different, so I stopped looking at fashion for three years,' he says.

He launched his first collection in 2008, which caught the attention of French fashion icon and retailer Maria Luisa. Although it was shortlisted at the prestigious Hyeres Fashion Festival, he didn't feel confident and put designing on the back burner until late last year. This time, he has a much bigger support network for sales and distribution.

Under the name Alibellus, the 70- to 80-piece collection is divided into three lines: luxury casual, which is a collection of separates; dresses featuring handmade pieces; and limited edition, one-of-a-kind styles made from vintage fabrics from Kwan's personal collection. The line will be stocked at retailers around Asia including Liger and Shine in Hong Kong.

'I like classic pieces, but I twist them. I keep telling myself I must get bored of myself before people get bored of me. I need to keep reinventing things. Faye is perfect for me in this way,' says Kwan.

'My customers are women I know. They want something functional and have a different point of view on how to dress. They want something simple, but they want to stand out. I put a lot of effort into the proportions, so the look is slimming. I don't like things that are tight.'

The starting point for the collection was a photograph Kwan took of the sky while on a flight. The silhouettes are clean yet soft as seen on the jumpsuit with frayed edges and long draped white dress that pays homage to Madeleine Vionnet, one of his favourite designers. A white dress made from lace resembles clouds, and a zip-up dress is covered in fabric petals.

Highlights from the collection include dresses made from layers of plastic, muslin with exposed seams, gold brocade and lame.

Of course, Wong has already been photographed in several of the pieces, almost guaranteeing the line's success before it lands in stores on February 1.

'I now have three branches to grow which gives me lots of choice. Meanwhile, I have professionals to make decisions on where the brand is going. I don't need to think about that side of things. I don't want to make big money, I just want to make things right in fashion, things that I like. People may love it for the fact that I am well known, or they may hate it for the same reason,' he says, smiling. 'We'll see.'

Three Titi Kwan created for Faye Wong's 2011 world tour.

1. This structured white mini dress was made for the winter section of the show's four seasons theme. The headpiece is by Paris-based designer Erik Halley. Kwan also crafted the chandelier microphone stand, which contains more than 10,000 crystals

2. Cut from a single piece of fabric, this shoulderless gown was inspired by the Chinese idiom that 'a goddess' robe is seamless'

3. Kwan used almost 100 metres of chiffon for this multilayered masterpiece, which moved and 'flew' on stage with dramatic effect

------------------------------------------------------------------  

SOURCE: SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

[yoshi4sushi]

(purupurupuru) (purupurupuru) (click!) (COO!) (COO!)

 Happy Monday, minna-san! I hope everyone had a good weekend. It’s time to say sayonara to September and enter the autumn and spice season. I hope everyone is ready for spooky and haunts in October. Still pondering what costume to wear? You got plenty of time before HALLOWEEN! Be scary! Be funny! Today, we got plenty of news and goods to share with you so know the drill. First off, last week’s chapter was going from bad to frightening! The gang mourn for the loss of Pedro, but Jinbei perks them up reminding that instead of mourning, they must honor him his sacrifice by escaping Totland w/o hesitation. Meanwhile, Sanji, Chiffon, and Pudding are almost at Cacao Island so they can rush into making another wedding cake. At the end, poor Luffy is struggling his fight with Dogtooth who keeps throwing back everything w/ more brute force and size. How in the world is Luffy gonna defeat a billion bounty pirate who has similar powers as him? Let’s cheer him on this week with heart and soul. GO LUFFY! Next, this past weekend’s episode finally put an end to biscuit munchies. Luffy kept eating and eating until he finally uses his new gear 4th technique, Tank Man. With that, he finally send Cracker flying all across Whole Cake Island. His defeat has angered his siblings so they’re ready for revenge. Next week, Luffy and Nami finally reunites with Sanji, but it will not be friendly nor heartwarming. Luffy must now put with Sanji’s brute attacks. I hope everyone have the strength to hold off their tears to see these two friends fight. It’s a one hour special. DON’T MISS IT! Now on with the goods. FIGURINES! FIGURINES! Who wants to collect more? We some new figurines! First off, this week, tomorrow, arcades will be stocking the last Grandline DX Vinsmoke figurines. This time, it’s Niji and of course, Judge. Got your coins ready? ZIP IT! BEAT THAT CRANE! Next, Figure Arts Zero will release this new figurines of Reigu and Pudding. Websites will now take pre-orders for Reigu for those who live overseas. Try Amiami, Amazon, or any other official English hobby website. She will be released in March. Pre-orders for the figurine of Pudding will be updated soon. She will be released in February. Next, OP game app, Thousand Storm is having the Whole Cake Island campaign where you can now get Luffy and Sanji in their outfits from this season. If you get a lot points, you will get Shanks in his Strong World outfit. Next game is Treasure Cruise. They’re having the Dressrosa campaign. Win levels and see what characters you win. You can download the games on Apple Store. It’s available in English as well. Next, look who came over to visit. It’s none other than the coolest tower mascot of Japan, the one, the only, Tongari-san! He’s got some awesome and spooky news to tell us. Take it away my friend. Tongari-san says that more spooky stuff popped up at the tower. First, the Tongari Shop in the park are selling these cute Halloween badges of your fave characters. Next, the café will also have some ghoulish menu for everyone to enjoy. The café will be serving sparkling cola with orange sauce that will include a Straw Hat pumpkin picture. It will be random. Next, Sanji’s restaurant will be serving a special Halloween dinner. You must make a reservation ahead of time. This meal will only be served 10 days throughout the month. The meal will have a Halloween Macedonia fruit cocktail or sparkling wine. Appetizers will have pumpkin soup or salad. The main dish will be Mellorine Love lobster or tenderloin steak. You can only choose one, and you can’t make last minute changes. For dessert, you’ll be given some pumpkin sweets with some sweet cream, cookies, and fruit along with some chocolate powder pumpkin and ghost stencil. What a spooky yet fancy meal. If you order this meal, you’ll receive a free gift along with it. Also, the café has another new meal added to the menu. Franky and Luffy’s energy charged Gear second cola with super meat flavor French fries. For beverage, it will be coke with sweet red framboise syrup flavor on top of a metal mug with smoke coming out like Luffy’s gear mode. For the dish, it will have star shaped French fries with some fried chicken bacon & pepper. YOWZA! A SUPER meal you really can’t pass on. GUYS! You’re soaking the carpet. Sorry about that. They seriously can’t control their hunger. Anyway, if you order this dish, you’ll receive a free bromide card of Luffy with Franky. October birthday dishes has been leaked out, but we’ll announce it next week with better image quality. Last, but not least, take a pic with your fave characters from the show. Buggy and Puggy will be making their appearance again on Oct.6th and 20th. Luffy and Anne will be there on Oct.13th and 27th. The third floor will hand out photo tickets. It’s first come, first serve. Website has details on time and rules. Also, guess who’s birthday is approaching fast? I’ll give you a hint. He’s sexy, popular among the girls, and bad ass. You got it. It’s none other than the hottest pirate with a big heart, and my all-time fave, Trafalgar Law! His birthday is on Oct.6th. He will show up at the tower as well for photo shoots as well. Same, the tower will hand out tickets to get a photo with him and his loving friend, Bepo. He will show up on his birthday, and weekends until the end of Oct. Birthday button of him will be released soon. Don’t miss it! Moving on, to celebrate the OP Wano event in Kyoto, the Mugiwara Store will be open from Oct.11 to 16th. The store will sell these Kyoto themed goods at this store such as this eco-friendly tote bag, a long tengui handkerchief, and a mug that has Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji. Also, with Law’s birthday approaching, they will release new goods of him this week and also his birthday button. Also if you purchase goods over 1000 yen, you’ll get a free birthday bromide card of him. Next, last week, Samantha Thavasa has released new purses and goods of another OP collab. They also included new purses, wallets, etc. of Law, Sabo, Ace, Franky, and Brook. They also have more new stuff of Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Nami, and Chopper. They will take online order from overseas I think. The store will have a small statues of mini Merry boat and Ace at Harajuku. Next, websites will now take orders for a set of cool tattoos of Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Law, Ace, and Hancock. It will be released in Dec. Next, with the one hour special approaching, the Japanese Yahoo website will have Luffy and Sanji on the main screen and you’ll get to hear their voices saying 10 phrases when you use the search link. GUA! What will they say? Tune in this Sunday. Next, we mentioned last week that Nippon Ham is having an OP campaign, and to commemorate it, they’ll give away some prizes including a set of delish meat groceries worth 5000 yen. Other prizes we mentioned will include a set of plates and an alarm clock. Sunday will commence the campaign. This involves in playing a game where you can play and win many points as much as you can on your smart phone. You can participate if you reside w/in Japan. Overseas is not possible. Next, DMM VR Theater is yet having another OP hologram show early next year. The gang and I went last year in Dec. It was really fun. They’re having a campaign. Retweet their post, and 20 winners will be chosen to win a prize. The event will have decorations and photo spots. Menu and ticket price will be updated later on. They will also have a mini store where they’ll sell original OP goods from Mugiwara Store. Title is The Metal: Memory of Marineford which hints we will see pirates and marines from the Marineford war season, and Bartolomeo will be joining the fun. The theater is located in Yokohama. We’ll leave a link. Moving on, for those who want to look cute and stylish, Peach John are restocking more pajamas and swim wear of your fave OP characters. Same like before, if you buys goods over 10,000 yen, you’ll get a free limited ed. folder of Nami and the others in their Peach John brand. They’ll accept overseas orders. We’ll leave a link. Next, reminder that the special OP episode of East Blue will be released in DVD on Nov.24th. Also, Here’s the new cover of the 2nd vol. of Whole Cake Island that has Sanji doing Diable Jamble attack. You can order it on Amazon. It will be released on the first week of Oct. Last, but not least, last week, the great pirate mangaka, Oda-sensei, held a takoyaki party at his house inviting his fave pals, the Mugiwara seiyuu, including Tomoko Naka (Ms. Father’s Day), Kotono Mitsuishi (Hancock) Katsuhisa Hoki (Jinbei), and Toru Furuya (Sabo). He also invited Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, and Maki Otsuki, who sings the first and second ending theme songs of OP. Ha ha ha ha! She and Tanaka-san (Luffy) are riding the mini train. GUA! Who knew his house could be a playground. Kappei-san (Ussop) really had too much to drink that he’s all over Tanaka-san. He really must be a heavy drinker. Ha ha ha ha! Them and Nakai-san (Zoro) with Naka-san (Ms. Father’s Day are hugging a giraffe statue. Hmm… Could it mean that it’s Oda-sensei’s fave animal. Kirin? Where’s Kaku when you need him as a hugging pole? HA! Phew! I think we covered everything. Before we end, Jump Festa will be held on Dec.16-17. Only 2 day event. News will be updated later on. That’s all we got for now. Tune in next week for more upcoming events and goods. Have a good week, and don’t stress yourself. Special thanks to Tongari-san for joining with us. We’ll see you next week, my friend. Kikko! Momon! Excellent job, boys! Let’s get some shut eye.

 Halloween Tower events: https://onepiecetower.tokyo/op_20th/halloween2017?lang=en#area_04?lang=en

Figurines: http://p-bandai.jp/item/item-1000117753/

Peach John: https://www.peachjohn.co.jp/pjitem/list/?_al=170412onepiece&count=60&outlet=include&sort=6&_dm=2&bid=170925opcom

Holographic show: https://vr-theater.dmm.com/schedule/onepiece-vr?utm_source=theater&utm_medium=twi&utm_campaign=0925

Samantha goods: https://online.samantha.co.jp/layout/feature/one_piece_2nd.html

[pendragonfics]

Little Big

Paring: Steve Rogers/Reader

Tags: female reader, hurt reader, fluff, canon compliant, protective Steve Rogers, fear of the dark, spoilers for Captain America: Civil War

Summary: Reader has noticed Steve acts like he isn't a 6"2 muscle man at times, and curiosity mixed in with a fear of the dark leads to a path in which the pair of them discover things about one another.

Word Count: 2,3,29

Posting Date:  2016-05-31

Current Date: 2017-05-13

The first time you notice that Steve Rogers feels like a little man is after a serious debriefing after a botched mission in an island just off India. That day, you'd been walking past the glass office in the Avengers base to see Steve being reprimanded for his actions (saving a child and grandfather from a tank truck at the risk of another Avenger). He had been shaking. Like Fury's words were going straight through him.

That moment had struck you, and maybe it was because of the aftershock of the events, but it caused you to rethink exactly what you thought of the brave Captain America. Asking around was hard; everyone in the base knew him to be the legend of the 1940's, but Thor, who really liked his admirable courage, but that was granted. Thor liked everyone who wasn't trying to kill him.

The second time you saw Steve acting small was the day the power went out. Stark had rigged the new suit to the local power grid, and half a kilometer radius around the base lost their electricity. Thus, leaving F.R.I.D.A.Y nonoperational, the team in the dark that night, and you in the thing you hated more than wet socks in winter. Yeah, so what, you were an Avenger who wasn't too fond of the dark; everyone knew this, and that was why you had a moon-shaped night light to "scare off the monsters", as Clint's youngest put it.

"Steve?" you wandered to his room, feeling his decorations on the door. "Steve, are you awake?"

There was a grunt, and then the sound of feet and the door opening. "Yeah, I'm awake. I take it's the -,"

You grunt. "Yeah. Could I - I mean, it sounds weird, and you're a war hero and I'm less trained to be an Avenger than -,"

You feel his hand find yours, and lead you inside. "Everyone's afraid of something. Come on, you can have the bed."

At this, you recoil, almost slipping your hand from his warm grip. "Oh no, I can't do that to you, not in your own room, Steve," you whisper. "Your bed should be big enough, and I'm sure you can fight the dark if it comes to eat me."

You hear his chuckle. "Sure. But don't get the wrong idea, okay?"

As the pair of you find the bed in the dark, you come to the realisation once Steve is under the covers of two things: that it is a single bed, the sort you haven't slept on since you were a child, and second - that Steve believes himself to be much smaller than he is.

"Steve," you whisper, "I'll have to either sleep on you, or we'll have to...cuddle."

You can almost hear his blush. "I'm sorry, I forgot..."

Shaking your head, you go to lay beside Steve on what bed is left beside his muscles. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that I snuggled with Captain America."

Steve shook his head. "I forgot I was big."

You frown, drawing the covers around you. "Big? You mean, the serum?" your eyes widen, and you add, "Oh my gosh, I never thought! You were small for twenty five years, and then..."

Outside, the sound of rain paraded on the windows.

"I'll tell you in the morning if you sleep," Steve's voice rumbled in your ear.

Closing your mouth, you nudged his chest with your chin, and sighed. "Good night, Stevie."

It must have been hours later, but when your eyes opened, there were many things you were aware of. The glow of no rain and freshly watered lawn out the window. Crunchy sheets, in a room that wasn't yours. Slowly, you remembered the words you shared before falling into sleep, and turning, you heart plummeted.

He was gone.

“He’s a A-list Avenger, ______,” you reprimand yourself quietly, rising from Steve’s small bed. “He’s probably getting ready for training the newbie’s…where you should be too.” At this, you make your way to your closet, throw on training clothes, and run into elevator to the correct floor. “Stupid. You’re just a foot soldier -,”

As the elevator doors open, you’re greeted with the face of Tony Stark, chugging what smells like the strongest coffee to be brewed in this side of the galaxy. “You looking for the Cap?” he raises a brow, lowering his cup. Unknown to the mechanic, you see he has two moustaches; one of manicured dark hair, the other foam.

“I thought it was training day?” you wonder, stepping around the billionaire. “I’m late, and -,”

The Iron man shrugs a shoulder, and takes a sip of coffee. “That it is; _______, but since the trainer is away on business to England, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to sleep in with biceps.”

You feel a blush coming on. “How do you know about that?”

Tony shrugs, and presses the close button on the elevator. “I sleep in the next room over, and Dad didn’t exactly soundproof these rooms…” his speech is cut off with the doors shutting him off, and you with a chill down your back. What business would have Steve run away to England? You take a step toward the opposite direction of the training room, and freeze.

Oh no.

Oh no.

Oh –

“You look a little pale, ______, are you okay?” Wanda appears around the corner, eyes wide.

For a moment, you are okay; you steady yourself on the banister on the edge of the floor. But your head is spinning; worse than anything you’ve ever felt, maybe ever. You teeter to and fro with every second, every thought; of course Steve go straight to England in the event of – and he’d shared the bed with you the night previous – and now he’s gone off to the service –

Everything goes dark, and you’re going down.

“_______!”

“Everyone step back! It’s one thing to flock around an unconscious Avenger on the field, but – she’s waking!” the voice of Clint Barton scorns everyone. “Hey there, sweetheart, you took quite the fall. You’re lucky you only broke your entire right leg.”

Thor makes a noise. “Clint,” he cautions.

Nat crosses her arms. “What was it, ______? You’ve never done that before in your life! Why didn’t you do anything to break the fall?”

You take a deep breath, and blink the stickiness in your aside. From what you can tell, what, with the entire team surrounding you that you’re in the infirmary Tony keeps running for Dr Cho to operate when she’s around the area, and Bruce to keep his med practice up when someone gets a boo-boo.

“I think I had an anxiety attack or something,” you murmur. “I couldn’t control myself, and I just – is Steve okay? Where is he? Peggy Carter -,”

Tony winced from beside Rhodey. “Sorry. I broke the news.”

Vision crossed his arms. “Tony, you know as much as all of us that Miss _______ has idolised Miss Carter all of her life. If that didn’t cause the attack -,”

You shook your head. “I’m okay, guys, seriously.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Someone update my definition of ‘okay’, because last time I checked, there was no synonym to ‘fractured femur and tibia’.” He laid a hand on the white sheets of the bed, and sighed. “Don’t have to be brave to fool us. We’ve all been here.”

Bruce nodded. “Sam’s right,” he took a deep breath, and added, “You’re not okay. You’re going to need crutches, and a fair amount of bed rest and no missions until a full recovery.”

Clint disappeared from the bedside as Nat spoke up. “Don’t freak out. It just means you can have arm day…for almost two months.”

“Nobody’s heard from Steve for a bit,” Scott Lang spoke up, answering your query. “As far as we know, he’s on a flight back soon.”

“Thank you,” you whisper.

Clint appeared back at the bed, holding a colourful triangle-shaped glass and an burgundy umbrella balanced on the side. “This should make you feel better, ______.”

Bruce made a noise. “She can’t have alcohol with the amount of pain medicine she’s on!”

Clint huffed. “What do you think I am, an animal? Of course this isn’t alcoholic; it’s _______’s favourite cordials. Geez, I’m not irresponsible all the time, I’m a father.”

Days pass without Steve. You practice learning how to walk again with crutches, but mostly eat what Scott makes (the man sure knows how to make French toast) and when the twins aren’t off on missions with Thor and Nat, you hear their stories and have movie nights. But it’s a rainy Tuesday evening when the Avengers base is greeted by two arrivals; a familiar face, and one new. You were in the middle of watching ‘Ponyo’ when the power shut off.

“Scott?” you call out tentatively. Silence. “Anyone? It’s dark.”

But all you could hear was the howling of wind and smattering of rain on the glass. Slowly, you gather you crutches, and the comforter you dragged from Steve’s bed – nobody had dared argue with you, since he was all you asked for since the accident – and take a few steps toward where you thought your room was. Luckily you were on the lounge in your level. But before you know it, you’ve walked smack into a wall, and hitting your head hard on something cold, you feel you’re going down. This time, though, you’re conscious as you land on your butt.

“______?” the wall asks.

“Conscious?” you whisper, wondering why Steve’s voice would be in your head. For a moment, there’s  a flash of violent lightning, and before you, the face of Steven Grant Rogers and a man with short hair and a sad face is illuminated. “Steve!”

The voice to the other man rumbles. “This is your friend?”

You go to stand, rearranging your crutches to get up again. “Uh, yeah. We’re friends. Team mates. Who -,” there’s another flash of lighting, and at the angle you’re at now, with both feet flat on the ground, you have a better look at the man’s face. “You’re James Barnes!”

Steve chuckles, and explains, “She studied The Howling Commandos when she was in school, Buck.”

You’d be more excited that Steve had found his estranged friend and ex-Hydra puppet…if it weren’t so dark. “Before I ran into you guys I was off to bed. Super tired, doing nothing. I’ll see you in the morning, so…” you made a small smile, and scrunched your face up. “See you.”

“I’ll escort you if you like,” Steve suggested. “Bucky knows where his room is already. Is that okay?” he asks his friend. You’re so glad it’s a black out for a moment despite your fear, as these super powered men don’t have privy to your blushing cheeks. “Buck?”

Bucky snorts. “Sure. See you in the morning, Steve.”

You feel Steve’s hands on yours, and still. “What happened? Did you get hurt?”

You nod, and start the crutches-hobble in the direction of Steve’s footsteps, “Yeah, but not in a cool way.”

Steve makes a noise. “What’s a cool way to be hurt? I thought being hurt wasn’t fun.”

You nod. “It isn’t fun…but a cool way to be hurt is like stacking a skateboard down a hill, or doing a jump on a motorbike wrong, not falling off the balcony indoors.”

If it were light, you’d see Steve’s perfect eyebrows skyrocket their way up into his perfect hair. “You fell off the balcony? Don’t tell me Pietro dared you to walk on the banister.” Another flash of lightning showed that there were only a few more steps until your door.

“That was one time, Steve, I swear.” You grumble.

Pushing your door open, Steve leads the way into the room. “What was it then?”

“I heard Peggy was…” you can’t bring yourself to finish the sentence. “And I thought you’d feel really guilty after bed sharing with me the night before -,”

You watch Steve set his jaw. “You fell off the balcony because you heard your idol died?”

You shake your head. “She’s yours, too, Steve! She’s Peggy freaking Carter! And I got a little upset! I have a right to, you know – I’m human!”

A crash of thunder rocked the room.

“I know you’re human,” Steve says quietly. “And I’d apologise for not saying goodbye, but I had to go.”

You nod, and quietly, you sigh. “I’m sorry I got upset. I think I have feelings for you? And then Peggy made it harder, and I broke my entire right leg, and you didn’t radio in to tell anyone what was happening with you, and I think I like you a lot, Steve.” You blurt.

He’s silent.

“And you haven’t told me about how you feel being…this size?” you wonder if that’s the right way to put it.

In a flash of lightning, you see Steve nod, and reach around you to close the door. “Come on, I’ll tell you if you go to sleep.” He cracks a rare Steve smile and adds, “Like a bedtime story of my life.”

Carefully, you make your way into the right side of your queen-sized bed, and for the second time that day (the first being napping through your ‘The Hobbit’ marathon), you’re glad you’re in comfy clothes that double easily as pyjamas.

“It feels like I’m still skinny,” Steve starts, peeling off his hoodie and jeans, leaving boxers and his white tee on, “Like it’s a suit, something temporary that will over time just fade away and I’ll be back to being 5”4 Steve Rogers from Brooklyn again. I had asthma and arrhythmia, and a bunch of other things wrong with me – even now, if a kid had those things, they wouldn’t live long.” He settles into the bed opposite you, carefully with his big frame, trying not to jostle your plastered leg. “Then I met a doctor, Dr Erkstine…”

[hellacluttered]

Strays - Chapter 2 [Mag7 boarding school AU]

   Chapter 1  

    Manuel looked up from his book at the sound of a knock on the door and called, “Come in!”

    The door cracked open and Goodnight stuck his head in. “Hey, we’re going downtown; you guys wanna come?”

    “Hell yeah!” Joshua exclaimed but Manuel hesitated, unsure if he wanted to commit to spending the whole evening with a bunch of people he didn’t really know yet; it had a lot of potential to turn exceedingly awkward, and he was tired from his trip to school that morning.

    “Uh, I was thinking about going to bed early…” he said, realizing as he said it how lame it sounded.

    “Oh come on, it’ll be fun!” Goodnight said, pushing the door open all the way and stepping fully into the room. “Don’t you want to get to know people?”

    “Well yeah, but-”

    “Come on,” Goodnight said firmly, grabbing the book from Manuel’s lap, closing it and setting it on the desk. “Let’s go!”

    Manuel chuckled at Goodnight’s enthusiasm, pushing himself up and off the bed. “All right then.”

    He slid on his sneakers, grabbing his wallet and phone from the desk, and followed Goodnight and Joshua into the hall. A ways away, Sam was waiting with several others, all talking cheerfully. “Ready to go?” Sam asked the three joining them and then the group headed out.

    “We haven’t met; I’m Manuel Vasquez,” Manuel said, extending his hand to the student walking next to him. The boy was slightly shorter than him but his walk was confident, his shoulders broad, and his bearing proud.

    “Red Harvest,” the boy said. “Call me Red.”

    “Nice to meet you,” Manuel said. “What year are you?”

    “Junior,” Red said. “You?”

    “Senior.”

    Red looked slightly surprised, but his features quickly turned composed again.

    “What?” Manuel asked, though he was pretty much certain already what Red was going to say.

    Red shrugged. “Well, not many students transfer this late.”

    Manuel nodded. “This is just how it ended up working out financially and all.”

    “Sure,” Red said.

    “How did you end up here?” Manuel asked.

    “Things weren’t working out so well at home and it seemed like a good place to be,” Red said. “That was two years ago. Guess it’s worked out.”

    “Good for you,” Manuel said and for the first time, Red smiled infinitesimally.  

    “Thanks.”

    “Hey, we’re going to Taco Bell, that okay with you?” Joshua asked Red, who nodded.

    “Why didn’t you ask me?” Manuel grumbled.

    “Well, you’re Mex-” Manuel’s eyes narrowed and Joshua broke off, quickly (and obviously changing the direction of his sentence), “You don’t have the reputation Red does. I don’t care if you’re not happy with it.”

    “That was such a bad save I don't know if it even deserves to be called one,” Goodnight said, his lighthearted attitude managing to diffuse a little of the tension as he and Sam laughed. Joshua just shrugged, unfazed, and returned his eyes to the sidewalk in front of them as they passed through the school’s gates and turned onto the main road.

    “What reputation was he talking about?” Manuel asked Red. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

    “I don’t mind,” Red said coolly. “I got in a couple fights.”

    “And pummelled the opposition,” Goodnight added.

    “I didn’t really want to,” Red said. “It was necessary though, or else they would have come after me again.”

    “Seems reasonable to me,” Manuel said.

    “Hey, look!” Joshua said, pointing across the street at a group of girls walking the opposite direction. “I’m going to go talk to them.” He started to walk away, but Sam grabbed his arm, tugging him back. “What?” Joshua asked, clearly irritated.

    “First night back, remember?” Sam said.

    “Oh… Right,” Joshua said, seeming slightly chastened. “Still though…” his eyes moved past Sam again, focusing on the girls.

    “Later, my friend,” Goodnight said, clapping Joshua firmly on the shoulder and then pushing him on the right course again.

    “What’s the significance of the first night back?” Manuel asked.

    “Bros’ night,” Sam said. “We go out and eat, watch movies- stuff like that.”

    “I see,” Manuel said.

    “Sam makes it sound cool but it pretty much just consists of everyone getting a sugar high and falling asleep in Sam’s room until he kicks us out, except for Joshua, who usually won’t leave,” Goodnight explained.

     “That sounds pretty fun, I guess,” Manuel said.

     “Good!” Goodnight said. “Well, that’s what’s on for when we get back, but for now, it’s eating as much as we can, and Joshua, I believe it’s your turn to pay. I covered it last year and Sam the year before, so…”     “But there’s three more than usual!” Joshua protested with a groan. “C’mon, Goody, that’s not fair.”

    “Yeah, well, you’re richer than the rest of us, so suck it up,” Goodnight said, smiling at Joshua, who glowered at him before saying grudgingly,

    “All right.”     “That’s the spirit,” Goodnight said, clapping him on the back.

    “Hey Red, where’s your roommate?” Sam asked into the silence that fell.

    “Oh, Jack?” Red asked. “He’s not getting here until tomorrow. Family stuff going on, or something like that.”

    “Ah,” Sam said, pulling open the door at the front of the familiar Taco Bell facade as they reached it, holding it open until everyone got inside. Manuel ended up in line next to the one member of the group he hadn’t met yet, and stood there somewhat awkwardly until Goodnight said,

    “Oh, Manuel, this is my new roommate, Billy. Billy, Manuel; Manuel, Billy.” The two shook hands and Goodnight continued, saying, “He’s new here too; maybe you two can commiserate about it once you find out what things are like.”

    Manuel chuckled, though somewhat uneasily. “It’s that bad, eh?” He’d found out mostly good things about the school from his research, and he wasn’t happy to hear Goodnight’s assessment.

     “Well, you can make up your own mind starting tomorrow,” Goodnight said. “Hey, you know what you want? We’re just about up and Joshua looks like he’s already getting his wallet ready.”

    “Yeah, I think I’m set,” Manuel said, his eyes fixing on the largest combination he could find (he hadn’t eaten since very early that morning and he was quite famished), ignoring the resentful glance Joshua shot at Goodnight.

   Circled around the large table in the corner, they dug into their food ten minutes later, eating in quiet appreciation apart from the crunches and tearing noises for the first few minutes before conversation gradually began to break out again. “What classes you all got?” Sam asked.

    “Calc, AP Bio, British Lit, World History, and French,” Goodnight said before taking another bite out of a taco.

    “French?” Joshua repeated. “But aren’t you like, fluent?”

    “Well, not quite,” Goodnight said. “It could use a little work.”     Joshua looked at him skeptically.

    “Hey, it’s an easy A, all right? I could use that this year, considering my other classes,” Goodnight said.

    “Yeah, man, AP Bio?” Joshua said, cringing. “That doesn’t sound fun.”

    “Yeah. What about you, Billy?”

    Billy started slightly, clearly not having been expected to be included in the conversation. He finished chewing the bite of food in his mouth and then said, “AP Stats, AP English Lang, French, US History, and Physics.”

    “Hey, maybe we’ll have French together!” Goodnight said. “I can help you out with your homework if you want.”

    “Thanks,” Billy said, a hint of a smile breaking through his guarded expression.

    When they reached campus again, they headed straight up to Sam’s room. A lot of doors were open and the dorm was noisy with old friends happily reuniting and new ones trying to bond despite the chaos.

    “So, what are we watching?” Joshua asked as they entered Sam’s room, immediately flinging himself onto the bed.

    “The Equalizer,” Sam said. “And I already got the projector.”

    “All right!” Goodnight said enthusiastically. “I’ll get the snacks.”

    Joshua, Goodnight, and Red ended up side by side on the bed while Manuel, Sam, and Billy opted for the floor, and soon the movie started. The group ended up talking over most of the movie, and by the time they were starting the next one- another action film- they had already gotten through most of their snacks and were debating whether to go out and get more. Eventually, Sam, Billy, and Goodnight decided to go, leaving the other three to several attempts to get a conversation going before they all gave up and turned to their phones.

    By 3:30 AM, they’d made it through another two movies and everyone was falling asleep; school would start the next morning, so they decided to call it a night, though true to Goodnight’s word, Joshua was the most reluctant to leave and Sam and Goodnight had to haul him off the bed and push him out the door.

   They’d be starting their school year on less than three hours of sleep, which definitely was not ideal, but it was perhaps setting the theme for it more than they realized.

[rigelmejo]

random june notes:

japanese:

i probably WOULD improve in japanese at this point if i just like. made a schedule to play video games regularly lol. i know enough kanji “roughly” through hanzi. yes, it would be brutal. it would also be brutal figuring out the hiragana words that like help (are not common particles but mean stuff like ‘and’ or ‘a lot’) since those words are necessary to comprehend but not kanji. i do think if i used the dictionary app on my phone while playing, it would be fine, i’d get through enough to eventually improve in japanese. would it be brutally draining at first? yeah... would studying more of the nukemarine memrise decks help... yes ;-;.

so all i’m saying is - i COULD just study with games at this point. it would be harder than using other stuff too, but i Could. so technically i have no excuse to not study more except - no time right now.

that said i want to read my ‘reading japanese’ books and feel the urge to, so i’m just going to do what i want.

also likewise, i think the Wasabi Japanese lesson plans would help me a LOT with listening and speaking skills - which are 2 areas i’d benefit from studying, so i kind of want to do those lessons more when i have time! 

So yeah my “official” plan right now is: Finish reading Japanese in 30 Hours, finish Nukemarine Memrise courses, read other books as desired, do some Wasabi Japanese lessons, read manga/play games as desired.

french:

i want to keep doing and finish le francais par le method nature. do i have time? later but not really rn.

also i just recently remembered i liked Charles Duff’s french textbooks.

korean:

do you ever want to study a language just because the teacher is cute? do you ever want to just because you’re watching more kdramas and maybe you’d focus more if you were listening to the words, and just found your old Korean at A Glance book and kind of want an excuse to read it? Yeah ToT. yeah i’m really feeling the urge to just study korean short term and see how much i can learn. (An excuse to test comprehensible input method at least you know? Because the Learn Korean in Korean youtube is REALLY good and i WANT to watch it even though i have no big reason to, and i like the teacher’s vibe ToT). who knows if i’m just gonna. fuck around and do that for fun.

Chinese:

WELL i had a humbling experience yesterday lol! I found out I can follow Guardian audiobook MUCH LESS WELL if its made by a different speaker. I can follow Avenue x’s audiobook super well (and she does different voices for each character, different audio for each scene). I just tried listening to someone else’s Guardian audiobook yesterday, and except for some key familiar lines? I couldn’t pick up a lot the first listening. Which!! I guess means YES who you practice listening to matters a lot lol. So I am currently RE-DOING step 2 of L-R method (chinese audio, chinese text) with the new audiobook. Because with the text I can easily understand this new audiobook and follow along (I do KNOW most of the words in reading lol now thanks to the prior L-R sessions). But without text? Oh man I was drowning. On the upside - this means I’m doing more listening/reading practice again in chinese! Downside is YES I am still procrastinating future L-R chapters lol. At least I’m doing something I find fun.

I am watching a LOT of cdramas lately. Mainly with eng subs because its just for fun. Although I got the urge to watch The Shaw Eleven Lang again which is only chinese subbed so. But yeah - I am trying to use these shows as some listening practice/shadowing lines every few minutes/looking up new words every few minutes. It’s not intensive, its probably barely study, but its what I’m actually doing so might as well mention it.

basically i’m just kind of playing around this month. i needed a break from intensive study i guess, and more time just reminding me what i like doing? ToT

i also want to finish reading the DeFrancis Readers I just. have no time rn.

(there were many good things about learning chinese). i think one thing i’m really glad i got through in chinese was the initial hump of starting to learn hanzi? I truly think its because the book Tuttle Learn Chinese Characters (800 characters) just used an approach that really clicked with me. After that, I could use the same mnemonic method more or less to learn more on my own through words, and chinese words use hanzi pretty logically. Now, when i do go into japanese again, one of the biggest hurdles of just ‘basically recognizing’ kanji is over. I still need to learn all the kanji pronunciations, and specific words, but just having them be symbols i recognize and can interpret on some level makes them so much less daunting. and if i hadn’t gotten over that initial ‘1000 hanzi’ hump lol, then i would still be finding chinese and japanese unbearably daunting. in 2.5 years in japanese i never got past 500 characters. in 6 months i got through 1000 in chinese, and that really just helped so much. now when i learn new characters in reading it is rarely as hard to recognize their radicals and potential meanings and sound and quickly get a vague recognition of them. 

also shout out to chinese for having grammar that just ‘clicks.’ yes i make mistakes (and forgot SO much that i now know intuitively so i no longer remember the actual rules and need to review). but simply comprehension wise it did NOT take long to figure out (like a year?). and just. whenever i go back to french or japanese i’m always like oh god oh no i FORGOT conjugation exists. ;-; i really love and appreciate how when you learn a chinese word you LEARN THE WHOLE WORD - not just one conjugation. that IS the whole word you need to recognize - if its used in past tense, in different ways, it will ALWAYS sound the same and be spelled with those hanzi and that is NICE. its just like... with french or english or japanese you’re really learning like 8+ words when you learn one word, with all the conjugations you have to make. with chinese i think the way the grammar works makes it less effort for each individual word which wow do i appreciate...

[englishchinesetranslations]

HOW TO LEARN CHINESE

Like any languages there are bits that parts that are hard and parts that are easy.

The main reason Chinese is perceived as a "hard" language is that the most difficult parts of Chinese hit you on day one.

Think about the first word you learn: 你好. To be able to get decent "hello" out you'll have to:

Learn about a new English-looking but not-really-English alphabet called Pinyin.

Get a grip on Chinese pronunciation.

Understand what tones are and that 你好 has two third tones.

Further understand that these two third tones have a tone change, rendering them as 2-3 in speech but not in the pinyin

Come to terms with these squiggly seemingly-random looking lines that are the characters.

Boom. That's Day 1. Surprise!

Compare this with, say, French. By the end of day 1 of French you've probably picked up a couple of words, can faltering pronounce them and be understood and maybe even understand a little of what is being said to you in return.

European languages has (relatively) similar pronunciations, similar alphabets and similar vocabularies (ie. "hotel") that we can grab as frames of reference.

In the case of a European language the difficulty really starts to kick in a little later. Depending on the language it may be case endings, verb conjugation, word construction, tenses, plurals, gender or, if you are learning Finnish, all of the above (I say only half in jest...).

With a European language the hard parts hit you a little later. By this point you are maybe reaching pre-intermediate or intermediate level and you are invested. You've put in a year of work or so and resign yourself to just grinding through verb endings until they become automatic.

With Chinese, because the difficulty is so front loaded, you aren't invested. Thus, when hit by a wall of difficulty in the first couple of weeks, you have a decision to make.

Stick it out. Hope that Chinese gets a little more comprehensible after a month or so.

Give up. Throw your hands in the air and declare (All together now!) that Chinese is "too damn hard" and that no non-native could ever be expected to learn Chinese.

Sadly, without a proper reason for learning Chinese, without a goal that to stubbornly head towards, most people simply give up.

They take the Blue Pill.

To save face after giving up these people join the ranks of other failed Chinese students and start telling people that Chinese is "too hard". Nonsense.

Once you get past the difficulty hump at the beginning of learning Chinese the language becomes much simpler. There is a logic to Chinese that does not exist in European languages. Once you start to see this logic everything snaps into place very quickly.

The problem is that in the first few weeks it's impossible to see the woods from the trees. There's too much information to assimilate and no way to start to grasp the logic and patterns that Chinese is full of. Instead you tread water just trying to survive.

Get past this though and you realize that most parts of Chinese are easy. Gendered nouns? Pft. Plurals. Easy. Changes verb tenses. No problem. Case endings. What? Creating new words. Beautifully logical.

As a language Chinese is beautifully constructed. It's parsimonious and simple, in a fantastic way. But you need to get through the difficulty hump at the beginning to start to see the beauty.

How to actively do this? I've recorded a whole set of lessons about the best way to start off in Chinese (Blog article[1] and Videos[2]) but here's the gist:

Get a grip on pronunciation and pinyin.

Then overlay with tones

Start speaking ASAP via a free language exchange app like HelloTalk

Integrate some listening via Pimsleur/Michel Thomas or one of the many free audio courses at Open Culture

Once you have basic communication down THEN AND ONLY THEN worry about the characters.

Dealing with the Chinese characters at the same time as a foreign pronunciation system and a tonal system is too much. Instead learn each sub-skill one at a time and start to overlay them gradually. Otherwise you'll burn out.

The characters are the next "hard" part of Chinese. However, once you understand their logic and stop using old fashioned techniques to learn them they cease to be difficult. Instead they are merely time consuming!

The logic of characters is vitally important and is rarely if ever taught. Did you know that 90% of characters actually have some form of clue not only to their meaning but also about how to pronounce them?

When I realized this my mind was blown. Knowing this allows you to look at a bunch of new characters and guess how to say them out loud. If there's maybe one or two characters in a sentence that you don't know then you can guess using this knowledge and generally you'll be understood. Magic!

These characters are the sound-meaning characters and they make up 90%+ of the language. Unfortunately they aren't visually interesting like the pictograph/ideographs which make for graphically pleasing books like Chineasy. The problem with these "looks-like-a" characters is that they only make up 50-10% of the language. The rest is the un-sexy but super useful sound-meaning characters.

Here's about 30 minutes of me ranting on about how amazing the sound-meaning characters are.[3]

The sound-meaning characters are one example of how knowing about the language helps you speed up character acquisition.

The other way to speed up character (and word) acquisition is to use more modern learning techniques. Traditionally (ie. at Chinese schools) the way to learn characters is to damn well write them out so many times that they will eventually stick.

That method is fine if you are a Chinese kid growing up in China. You have decades of schooling ahead and lots more homework time. A time-intensive method is fine for kids.

For adults though these methods are mind-killers. Sitting down to write out 你好 50 times after lesson 1 is nobody's idea of fun. Again, having students do this in their first week of learning Chinese is going to cause more people to quit. And for good reason!

Nowadays we have much better methods for learning the characters. Once again I go into this in WAY more detail on the blog (and in this ~7 hour Chinese character video course[4], my magnum opus!) but here's an outline:

Break down the character into its constituent components. (Pleco dictionary has a built-in decomposition function).

Use the components to create a memory-aid; tell a story using the pieces. Hook the meaning and pronunciation of the character into this story. I personally use colours to signify the tones but there are lots of ways to use memory-aids to learn meaning, pronunciation and tones.

Add your new character + mnemonic to a flashcard or (preferably) into a Spaced Repetition System like Anki or, my preference, Pleco.

Review the new content using Spaced Repetition. If you get something wrong don't just tap Wrong but re-learn the character (break it down and create a new mnemonic if necessary).

Each week remove a certain amount of material from the SRS and write Sentences of the Week. Make short sentences from the characters/words you now recognize on sight. Use Lang-8 to get the sentences corrected. Add the sentences into you flashcards/SRS as "grammar cards" to help you understand the structure of the language.

Use your Sentences of the Week in conversation using iTalki or HelloTalk or face-to-face. I prefer HelloTalk because it is so low-friction. You need to remove any barriers that would stop you from communicating regularly.

During Usage make note of new content you want to learn. This could be corrections to your existing sentences or completely random language nuggets you want to capture.

Loop the new material from Usage back to Step 1 above. Run through a similar process of breaking down, creating memory-aids, using SRS, writing sentences and then communicating.

Repeat.

Using a method like this (or indeed any method except rote-learning grinding out of vocabulary lists by writing out characters hundreds of times) can help you learn the characters and words you need fast.

When I was learning Chinese I hit 75-100 characters a day using this system, with 90% recall a week later. That was 2 hours of study a day which is likely more than most people will have to dedicate. That said, if you don't have much time to study it is even more important to have a decent character learning system in place. Otherwise it will take years and years to become literate - and chances are you'll give up during the process!

So, in answer to your question:

For a native English speaker the first few weeks/months of Chinese are more difficult than other foreign languages BUT once you cross that difficulty hump Chinese in many ways becomes easier.

Learning the characters is time consuming rather than difficulty per se BUT even then there are ways to make the process much more efficient and, dare I say it, fun.

At the end of the day though the difficulty of a language is never a good reason to start or not start learning a language.

If you have a really good reason for wanting to learn a language then you'll blow through the difficult parts no problem - they'll be small bumps that you'll drive straight over in your rush to get to your goal.

If you don't have a good reason for learning Chinese though then these small bumps will take on Grand Canyon sized proportions. "I want to learn Chinese for economic reasons" or some similarly weak reason just won't hack it when you hit rough patches.

This is the same for anything that is worthwhile doing. Worthwhile stuff takes time, effort, passion and willpower.

PS. Don't worry about the dictionary lookup competitions. Chinese people, like everyone else sensible, use electronic dictionaries nowadays.

Footnotes

[1] How to Learn Chinese - Sensible Chinese

[2] First Week in Chinese - Sensible Chinese

[3] Sound Meaning Free Lesson - Sensible Chinese

[4] Sensible Chinese Character Course - Sensible Chinese

[cyclingpacificthoughts]

The Kindness of Strangers

Distance Cycled: 412km (256miles) Distance Climbed: 4,282m (14,049ft)

Joe and I have been blown away by the friendliness and hospitality of those we’ve met in British Columbia. Perhaps we’re used to the coldness of Londoners and the eyes down, avoid all conversation mentality of public transport there. 

We found almost everyone to be extremely welcoming, willing to strike up a conversation or just say hello without becoming overly intrusive. If however you do engage you can find yourself discussing diverse topics from politics to a British favourite; the weather.

Perhaps we look slightly lost or disheveled and people take pity, perhaps it has something to do with our Alzheimer’s Society cycling tops, or more likely, perhaps people are just really nice when you stop and take the time to talk to them. It also helps that Joe is much more inclined than I to just ask the nearest person while I’m trying to make sense of my Garmin or map. This usually results in a range of good advice to extreme generosity.

A big thank you to Bill and Shelly, Rosemary, Barry and Phyllis, Sam and Kathy, Tim and Diana, for their help and all the other people who stoped to talk or offer encouragement/advice.

Tuesday October 3rd 2017 Tour Day 4 Cycle Day 1: Vancouver to Porpoise Bay

Our introduction to Canada couldn’t have got off to a better start. Through pure chance (and the fact that their house was walking distance to our bike shop) we spent the first 3 nights in Vancouver at Bill and Shelly’s AirBnB. One of the nicest couples you could meet, upon discovering that we required an extra evening than originally planed to take in some bike mechanic lessons, they extended their own spare bedroom to us as the basement apartment was booked. They also extended an invited to dinner that evening (incredible lamb burgers), the perfect last super before disembarking. Our luck continued as this meant we met Sam, a neighbour who now spends most of his time on Denman Island, but happened to be in town. He almost immediately offered a place to stay should we make the small detour off Vancouver Island.

The Last Supper: Bill, Sam, and Shelly.

Not done, the following morning Shelly cooked us breakfast to see us on our way, including some homemade Kombucha, a South Korean fermented drink, both delicious and healthy! Perhaps a pop up in London to follow…

Setting off there was some adjustment to getting used to the weight of all the gear hanging off the bikes, which at first felt like our nimble bikes had turned into oil tankers.

First day smiles.

We’d not even made it out of Vancouver when at Prospect Point, just prior to crossing Lions Gate bridge we stoped for a quick photo opp. Here we got chatting to a British woman named Rosemary Angil. It turned out that her mother in law had recently died having suffered from Alzheimer’s. She asked for our details and when we next had Wi-Fi discovered she’d made a significant donation. Thank you Rosemary!

A post shared by Kit MacInnes-Manby (@kitty_magic) on Oct 4, 2017 at 8:06pm PDT

Prospect Point - Leaving Vancouver.

As a brief aside, a big thank you to all of you who have also donated, I’ll be thanking you all in person when I get the chance.

Spirits high we set off and enjoyed a scenic ride though West Vancouver, stumbling across Gleneagles Golf Course along the way up to Horseshoe Bay.

Much easier to get a tee time here.

Having arrived 7 minutes too late for the midday ferry, with bright sunshine and glorious bay views we begrudgingly settled into a burger and pint to toast our first 1% of the trip.

The 2.15 ferry was waiting, at the dock another cyclist told us where to wait. We waited, and waited some more, when 2.13 struck, we decide to double check… Turns out we were in the wrong loading bay and had just missed it again! 4.30 was the next one, which while annoying didn’t appear too bad as the sun was still shining and the park looked appealing.

This extended delay also gave me the opportunity to talk to two backpackers who spend their time crossing the country for work. They were selling dried sage, lavender, and other herbs which I exchanged for the cost of a ferry ticket so they could get home. He told me something about the spirituality of what I was doing and it would help take my energy with me… …I’m not sure about all that but it has kept my clothes smelling nice and fresh so I take that as a win!

BC - Many ferries, which are ideal at breaking up rides and meeting new people.

Finally on the ferry and off the other side we faced a not too daunting 25km ride to Porpoise Bay. As is typical of a ferry exit we were met with an immediate and steep climb, however I’ve thus found that this serves the purpose of warming up the legs again. The final stretch seemed fine until we got to Sechelt just as the sun was setting.

Which while beautiful meant cycling the last few km in the dark. Secondly we both began to “bonk” as we clearly hadn’t been fuelling ourselves enough. This resulted in a somewhat unpleasant short in distance but long in mind final 30mins.

Things got worse as having successfully got the tent up in the dark, with dinner on the go, a park ranger turned up and informed us that we were not in the designated camping area. This designated area was a whopping 25m from where we were. Despite not a single other person being there (nor did we see one before we set off) we were forced to decamp and move. All in all not the best end to our first day on the road.

Wednesday October 4th 2017 Tour Day 5 Cycle Day 2: Porpoise Bay to Lang Bay

Another beautiful morning and Joe’s porridge later we set off continuing on the aptly named “Sunshine Coast”.

The views from Porpoise Bay.

We set off with the initial goal of Powel River but it turns out the Sunshine Coast while sunny, is rather lumpy. Joe quickly established himself as KOM taking all the mountain points, dancing up hills like a mountain goat. We made it to Madeira Park at which point we were both thinking that we may have been slightly naive in how easy it would be to cycle fully loaded bikes 2000 miles.

Alarm bells should have been ringing when my check in luggage was 20kg (without my rather considerable camera gear as carry on). Add to this the 14kg bikes (the price of robustness) and my own weight and you’re looking at somewhere between 110-120kg, or one Ed “Chunk” Monkley that I’ve got to lug up every hill!

Ed in his natural habitat.

(I’ve since weighed myself at a truck stop which came out at 300lbs equating to 136kg - however this was probably rounded to the nearest 50lbs)

The slogan quickly became what goes down must go up. As much as it was fun to carry large momentum down hills (and at times break the speed limit) it was almost always not worth it for the inevitable hill shortly afterwards.

It is also where we named out bikes. My steed has been dubbed Shirly the Surly, as I ask her at the bottom of each hill “Shirly, you can’t be serious”. Joe has named his Susan, as he’s “cuzin on suzin”.

Madeira Park offered a delicious pizza from a guy who had sacked off his consulting job that took him all over North America, to make pizza in this small and scenic corner of the world. With slightly tempered ambitions of Saltery Bay instead of Powel River we set off.

Pizza 🍕

It was on the Ferry from Earls Cove to Saltery Bay that we got chatting to Phyllis. When we told her what we were up to she told us about her own travels in Europe, including one evening spent in a park with her friend and a Scott (complete with Kilt) after their bags were stollen holding passports and traveler’s cheques. Having experienced her own share of stranger’s kindness along the way she insisted on putting us up.

Joe and I duly obliged and arrived to meet Phyllis and her husband Barry, where we were treated to our own lodge! After a quick swim in the bay to ease our aching legs we whiled away the evening hours over a few beers with our hosts before retiring to the lodge. Joe initially only making it as far as the sofa for bed.

Ice therapy.

Barry and Phyllis.

Thursday October 5th 2017 Tour Day 6 Cycle Day 3: Lang Bay to Denman Island (Part 1 | Part 2)

Joe whipped up some more pancakes for breakfast and after saying our goodbyes, feeling greatly refreshed we set our sites on Denman Island and our invitation to Sam’s. We were treated to some of the most scenic riding so far as the trees thinned out on the way to Powell River.

With about an hour to kill Joe popped into a secondhand bookstore (he picked up something roman as he’s predisposed to do) and walked out with another $5 donation to the cause. I made a brief trip to the bike shop as I’d adjusted my gears terribly and hadn’t been able to access many of them since Earl’s Cove. A quick pit stop at a local recommendation; Base Camp Coffee and it was onto the ferry.

Somewhere around here we reached our most northern point and the true start of our journey south. One would be tempted to think that it is all down hill from here. One would be wrong.

Knowing that Sam was out until late we took a bit of time to explore the coast line of Comox and stumbled upon another coffee stop (fuel of the cyclist) at Grind where we found an epic whey protein, peanut butter, banana milkshake which served as an excellent lunch and another fine view.

A casual and yet more scenic ride down to Denman Island ensued and ended by encountering a salmon roll while waiting for the ferry (think sausage roll). Sadly I would miss the following day’s offering of salmon wellington!

Felling somewhat tired we were pleased to discover a local vineyard en route and having never even heard of BC wine thought it rude not to.

Corlan Vineyard has been running for about 10 years now and has some delicious wines. Not that you can go out and buy any as it’s exclusively sold at the farm shop. We tried the red Marechal Foch (French / American hybrid) and the white Ortega. Sadly the blackberry and Sigerrebe wines were sold out but Pat the owner allowed us to go and pick some of the remaining blackberries from this year’s harvest to taste. I had to taste quite a few to make sure each one was as tasty as the last.

A bottle of red purchased it was on to Sam’s and we arrived to a fairy light lit wood cabin. Sam’s wife Kathy was just putting the finishing touches on some freshly made pizzas, topped with local produce, some of which came from their own garden. It’s tough to beat a welcome like that.

Sam and Kathy

Friday October 6th 2017 Tour Day 7 Cycle Day 4: Denman Island to Chemainus River Campsite

Following another great evening we made an early start for our longest ride yet - 140km.

Perhaps over confident from the previous day’s riding and the last 4 days good weather we set ourselves the ambition of Ladysmith or as far south as we could get. The first signs were encouraging as we fairly deleted kilometres, after 2h30 seeing off 60km along pleasurable flat costal roads. Stoping in a (don’t judge) McDonalds for a quick coffee and some wifi at Parksville we looked back with pride and thought we’d smash the next 60km in similar fashion. Oh hubris.

The following 60km were nothing like the first. The costal route gave way to highway 19 with no obvious alternative. The first rain of the trip descended and we spend what seemed like an age going up gradual gradients on small highway shoulders with 18 wheelers for company.

Highways - Fun.

Nanaimo has become a name etched in infamy for us as it seemed to stretch on forever and Ladysmith seemed to be forever just the other side. Some bike paths did appear but they were either so hilly or perturbed by tree routes as to be impractical. So much so that my tent decided it had had enough and got off the ride with my shoe subsequently attempting suicide to stop the torment.

Goodbye cruel world.

Ladysmith eventually arrived, food and warmth on the agenda. Wigwam Chinese seemed perfect, as it was the first restaurant we found.

Large quantities of Chinese later, with it still fairly early in the day, feeling much better for ourselves we pressed on south to Chemainus Campsite, offering much needed warm showers, a camp fire and what is becoming Joe’s trip speciality; cheesy pasta mixed with whatever we’ve managed to find that day.

Saturday October 7th 2017 Tour Day 8 Cycle Day 5: Chemainus Campsite to Victoria

Looking forward to our first rest day in Victoria it was a short ride to the Salt Spring Island ferry. The local coffee stop provided the next chance meeting. Tim, an absolute legend, who in his 71st year is still peddling around when he can. We talked the perils of leaving your bike unattended, the virtues of a helmet mirror (which we’ve finally purchased in Portland), and the joys of touring in general. Tim has cycled all over the North America and Europe, including two trips down the North Pacific Coast! What’s more he is a resident of one of the US’ best cycle spots; the San Juan Islands. Once Tim found out we were headed that way he insisted on having us to stay, another awesome act of generosity.

Fellow tourer and awesome human Tim.

Salt Spring Island itself is a lovely ride. Quiet roads, rolling hills and plenty of interesting stops. However It was described to me as the Hamptons of Vancouver so not without its downsides. This was confirmed at the local Saturday market where someone attempted to sell us kale crisps at $9/100g…

Checking out the local market.

Another ferry the other side into Swartz Bay to pick up the Lochside trail (the Scotts get everywhere) all the way into Victoria.

This essentially ended our British Columbia riding. BC had been a blast but also eye opening as to the scale of what we were taking on. I had expected this part of the trip to feel more like being out in the wilderness, however the roads and other infrastructure were excellent, which while convenient, was slightly disappointing (only very slightly). I guess I have to hand it to the Canadian government for managing to tame such rugged terrain, coming from BT I know we can’t even get decent broadband to some parts of London let alone the Outer Hebrides.

And Finally

A rest day in the BC capital Victoria, then on to San Juan and Washington State, tune in next time to find out more.

[fluentlanguage]

Learning Languages at Intermediate Level: My Language Goals, Routine, and Progress in Detail

Unlike some learners who love to schedule a set routine, my study approach is a little more flexible. I have a variety of resources on the go and work with them all on a regular basis, but my routine currently doesn't contain large daily sessions or check-ins at a specific time.

In today’s article, I am going to show you how I make progress in my target language even without committing to daily routines. You’ll learn about my goals for April 2017, and how I fit in learning 2 languages at the same time.

I use the Language Habit Toolkit, a study system I created for learners like me who are self-guided and want to track flexibly.

Planning My Goals (But Not My Schedule)

I'm not the best with schedules and don't stick to them unless I must. This flexibility is a part of my habits personality, so it really shows up in almost anything I do. For example, I struggle take medicines at a set time each day and often forget the time once I am immersed in a task. Don’t get me wrong…I do schedule things a lot. I just don’t always keep my own appointments.

But even so, I don't want that to stop me from finding focus and progress in language learning. In the Toolkit, my focus is on the content of what I'm learning rather than how regular I am or how many sessions I complete each week.

If I know what I want to get done, I find that I automatically start finding the time to work on it. So rather than thinking "I will complete 4 hours of study this week", I focus on my goals and set myself many very small goals that I want to get done throughout the month.

The daily check-ins in the Language Habit Toolkit are very small. I have seen some learners create their own tracking systems like colour codes and legends, but personally I keep to noting "big session" or "small session. Since I started using the Language Habit Toolkit myself, I definitely have been better about checking in with languages every day and I've finally managed to organise myself enough to learn two languages: Welsh and French.

Example: My Welsh Learning Goals for April 2017

In my routine, I use the Language Habit Toolkit worksheet for setting path goals and getting a quick overview of what I want to achieve in the next month. Here’s what I wrote at the start of April:

“Right Now, I’m Working On…”

Finishing Level 1 of Say Something in Welsh

Regular language exchanges on Skype with Gareth from How to Get Fluent, which are increasing the length of time I feel comfortable holding a Welsh conversation

Getting better at using pronouns and speaking/writing in the past tense

In 30 Days, I want to…

Be done with Say Something in Welsh Level 1 (I actually wrote challenge 26 - turns out there are only 25! Bonus!)

Be able to watch 5-10 minutes of TV in Welsh without subtitles

Grow my vocabulary

Understand how the one word past tense works

My theme for the month was to become more comfortable listening to Welsh even when I don’t understand everything. These were my larger goals, which I broke down into the four core skills.

My Language Learning Goals and Progress in Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing

Since we’re already through the month of April, I’ll tell you what the goals were and how it went:

Listening

Listen to the Pigion podcast when it comes out (I’d been avoiding this one because it is still a little difficult for me, and as of April 30th I’ve listened to 3 out of 5)

Watch 4 shows on S4C (I was procrastinating on this until my moment of joy…the show Ffasiwn Mecanic is back and I love it and today I’ll watch 3 and 4)

I even switched the subtitles off on Ffasiwn Mecanic and set a timer for 5 minutes, and I was able to understand 40% of what was said.

Reading

Do a reading prep session from BBC Bitesize (this was a red herring - there aren’t any!)

Review the hand-written vocabulary in my notebook and add more words (done! I did this in 2 sessions and added 20-30 new words for my vocabulary routine)

I actually read more outside of these goals, mostly Lingo Newydd magazine and news articles on the BBC Wales website, so for next month’s goals I can be more ambitious here.

Speaking

Have 3 meetings with language exchange partners (not. a. single. one…we were both very busy, but next month we’re back to it)

Record myself reading a poem (done)

Even though I didn’t meet any exchange partners, I started sending more voice messages in Tandem so I wasn’t entirely quiet.

Writing

Put up a larger piece of writing on Reddit or Lang-8 (Reddit has writing prompts every week, and still I didn’t reply to them. Time to kick into gear.)

Email my tutor and ask her to give me writing feedback (again, I neglected this over the month)

I did actually write in Welsh in April through text messages in Tandem, but I’ve been shy about sharing longer pieces. Another way to write more was to transcribe Say Something in Welsh’s levels, which really helps!

In terms of grammar, I did look up those confusing past tenses and found explanations that really helped in Wikibooks.

My Secondary Language: French

In French, my level is a passive B2/C1 and my main aim is to reactivate all those tired brain cells and speak French with less hesitation. I didn’t set myself any specific goals but scheduled in every Thursday as jour français. I read the French edition of Flow magazine, chatted to a new colleague in French, and followed Glossika Fluency 123 French. While I love the Glossika, I find its level a little low so I’m looking forward to more challenging Glossika content in the future.

It helps me to know that French is currently my “secondary” language, so I don’t scold myself for allocating less time to it. Perhaps in half a year, the languages I focus on are going to change as my Welsh skills become more solid, and I still have a lot of time for focusing on other languages in the future.

Overall, How am I Feeling After 18 Months of Welsh?

I’ve not really checked in in detail with my Welsh language skills for 6 months, but overall it’s feeling pretty great. I’m nearly starting Level 2 of Say Something in Welsh, and my conversation skills are improving a lot! Being at this more advanced level seems to mean that the structured resources are becoming more scarce.

Funnily, I worked so hard on creating the Language Habit Toolkit’s Review worksheet that I had not actually been able to use it myself yet! I’m really looking forward to working through all review questions and getting the next set of goals onto the road.

I’m looking forward to the next awesome events that are coming up, all of which are great chances to speak more in Welsh and French at the Polyglot Gathering in Bratislava, at Langfest in Montréal, and of course at the National Eisteddfod in Wales this year!

How Was Your Language Month?

What about you? What were your language goals in April? Are you tracking with the Language Habit Toolkit, or with your own systems? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

[lewiskdavid90]

8 Questions to Answer for Impressive PowerPoint Presentations

Before I developed a huge passion for presentations and visual communications, I worked as an instructional designer for telecommunications courseware. We had to work with SMEs, usually engineers, to pick their brains to help them structure and put on paper all the knowledge required by technicians in the field. That was not always an easy task, but luckily, we could rely on various processes to help us.

When I started my business as a presentation professional, I realized that designing and developing effective, impactful, and impressive PowerPoint presentations was easier when I applied basics I had used in instructional design. Doing so may take some more time at the beginning, but in the end, it made me save a LOT of development time!

So here is my list of 8 essential questions, or as I also call it, my wheel to better presentations.

1. What’s the presentation purpose?

In other words, what goal are you pursuing with your presentation?

Training? If you are training a group of people on how to give better online support to your customers, you can start thinking about actuals problems or complaints you have and what type of information could bridge that gap.

Information? Your boss might be asking to have a status report on a specific project. That means you will need to gather important details, such as budget used, project delayed or on time, or any specific roadblocks you had or are expecting.

Selling? If you are expected to sell the company products or services to new customers, you will need relevant information about them, such as what problem they solve, how do they compare to competition, or what added value they have.

2. What message do you want to convey?

Whatever the type of presentation you are doing, start with the end in mind! If you decide what is your core message right from the start, or what are the key elements of your talk, it will make it easier to chose every piece of content required to help people understand and remember your message. This question is usually the one I come back to the most to decide between “need to have” and “nice to know.”

This question will help you start outlining what elements you should discuss in your presentation. Put everything on paper, cue cards, or Post-Its first, so you are not tempted to think about “how it will look” just now. Going back to pen & paper has saved me a lot of time for all projects I worked on, because it was an easy way to sequence and/or reorder my content ideas and test if it made sense.

3. Who is the target audience?

That question will help you decide on the level of details and type of language you will use during your presentation. For example, if you are presenting to executives and managers, they are usually a busy group of people that know the high-level details of everything but could not care about the various individual tasks required to get there. And if you are speaking at a conference, you will often have a very varied group of people in front of you, in terms of level of proficiency for your subject, but with high expectations in regards to details or how-to.

The more you know about the people you will be presenting to, the better. Always keep in mind what are the expectations of people attending your presentation. Example? If you were told they are freaking out about budgets, don’t start talking about what resources are missing first! Address the money matters first and then get to the fact that you are over predictions because you lack resources and you had to pay overtime.

4. How much time do you have?

Preparing a presentation for 30 minutes or 2 hours will not require the same level of detail. The rule of thumb we used when designing courses was to have content for 75% of the allotted time. Doing so gives extra time for questions or delays often experienced when Murphy’s Law kicks in!

If you took the time to answer previous questions, you should already have an idea of what topics will be covered. The time you have to present will only impact the level of details of each topic, not the number of topics you will cover.

5. What type of environment will you be presenting in?

If you know ahead of time about the size of the room, the lighting conditions, the number of people that will attend, how they will be seated, and how far away from the screen they will be, then you will be able to make better design choices. Examples? The larger the room, the more you will need to think about font size. If you have a lot of windows/natural lighting, you will be better with a presentation with light background so colors don’t look they are washed out.

When people can’t read because fonts are too small, or that contrast between text and background is bad, they are not focusing on what you have to say and it hurts your performance.

6. What type of presenter?

This question is not always required, especially if you are designing your own presentations. When designing for others, we need to consider if they are familiar with using a remote, or Presenter View, before building content with that use in mind. But for your own presentations, it might be useful to think if you need anything else during your presentation, such as a flipchart, Sharpies, or any props used for exercises or interaction with the audience.

7. Questions the audience might ask?

Planning for potential questions ahead of time will help you impress the crowd. Why? Because you will have planned additional supporting material, such as more precise data for a project or a detailed break-down of expenses. You might think this is a waste of time. But how much can this extra time bring you back in terms or recognition, credibility, or even extra sales? You will never know until you try. ☺

8. What existing content do you have?

And finally, taking time to evaluate what existing content you already have (such as other presentation files, digital content, photos or videos) will save you a ton of time. When you can reuse content, it means you don’t have to recreate it all. But when reusing content, do take time to adapt the look to your actual presentation template! Copy/pasting content from various places without adaptation makes you look sloppy and unprofessional.

Many people might argue that this list of questions takes too much of their time. But I can guarantee that doing this type of preparation will actually save you some time when you get to the content creation step. You will have a better idea of what you will talk about and how you can best sequence it to tell “your story.” You might even have more ideas of how you can make your content more visual and move away from bullet points and walls of text. THAT will impress your audience, for sure!

Chantal Bossé is an author, blogger, trainer, and presentation & visual communications specialist. She has been in the trade for over 20 years now. Since 2013, she is one of 15 people in North America awarded the Microsoft® PowerPoint MVP (Most Valuable Professional) title. She’s the first, and presently the only, French-speaking woman with this title. Webpage: https://www.chabos.ca/?lang=en

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