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yuta-nakamots · 3 years

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perfect - z.cl

Pairing - Chenle x Fem!Reader

Genre - fluff, angst, university!au, friends to lovers!au

Warnings - alcohol consumption, mention of drunkeness, lots of arguments, heavy making out, breakups, contains an aged up chenle (26-ish) towards the end

Summary - He’s definitely not your knight in shining armor, he may not be the one you bring home to mother, but he’ll be the one to give you flowers. Chenle is not the right one for you, but he is for right now.

Word Count - 5.2k

A/N - Bolded phrases are song lyrics taken from One Direction’s song ‘Perfect’ and inspired from the lyrics along with all the vlives where Chenle and the members have started yelling out the lyrics.This was supposed to come out back in January but school held it up and now Ana is gone hhhhh. I know she’s still on Tumblr but under a new url so if anyone wants to send this to her, to let her know that I did finish it, that would be nice.

Taglist - @astroboy-lele @in-my-neofeelings || fill out this form if you’d like to join my general taglist ^^

Written for the Sometimes Letting Go… Collab originally hosted by @sunryu who unfortunately deactivated.

When I first saw you from across the room, I could tell you were curious

The mutual attraction between you and Chenle was undeniable. Ever since the two of you first met as freshmen in an econ class, you knew he was your twin flame and he was yours. That initial meeting was almost comical, the way the professor said to pair up and talk to someone next to them for a bit and it seemed like everyone had turned away from you except for the boy sitting next to you.

It seems you both had the same realization as your heads turned and eyes met. “Well I guess you’re my friend for today,” he began, “hi, my name is Chenle. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Y/n,” you told him, “the pleasure is all mine.”

“So, why are you in this class?” He asked, tapping his pen on his leather-bound planner.

You hesitated for a second as you thought about how much to tell him. “I’m majoring in business and this was just one of the mandatory classes in my plan.”

“Hm, same here,” Chenle shared, seeming the slightest bit amused at your similarity, “would you also happen to be in calculus this semester?”

“Section 3 at 10:30?” You counter.

Chenle broke into a smile, “that’s the one.”

“How about freshman seminar?” You asked.

“1:15 in the world language building?” Chenle offered, copying your answer from before.

“Wow,” your eyebrows were raised in actual disbelief, “did you steal my schedule or something?”

“No, but I do believe in fate,” the boy next to you confessed, “would you like to get lunch sometime before freshmen seminar?”

You nodded, “I’d like that,” you stopped mid-sentence when you remembered that you told your friends you’d eat with them, “I am gonna be eating with my friends though so I could introduce you to them if you’d like.”

“Want to bet that we have the same friends too?”

“No way, that would be too coincidental.”

And coincidental it was. Somehow your friends knew some of Chenle’s friends whether it be from high school activities, childhood friends, or even having just met in their own classes. Your small group of five had immediately doubled in size.

Of course, with such a large group of friends, there was much fun to be had and many memories to be made. During midterms is when you were thankful you were majoring in business and not something like biology or chemistry. You could still go out and have fun on weekends with Chenle and the majority of your friends, meanwhile a few poor souls had to stay back to study their ‘reaction mechanisms’ or whatever the heck those things were called.

You quickly found that you weren’t one for parties though you loved to hang out with your friends and have small little parties of your own in the dorms. Every single time, as you all got progressively drunker and started to clock out for the night, it was always you and Chenle left being the two most sober with no other choice but to take care of your friends over hushed conversations.

“How much vodka did Hannah even drink?” Chenle asked while you both worked on cleaning up the mess of solo cups and napkins surrounding your friend who had, unfortunately, drank over half of the bottle. You picked it up, waving it at Chenle to show him. “She’s gonna have a nasty hangover…or at least wake up super dehydrated.”

As you worked on laying a blanket across her, passed out on the floor, Chenle had managed to stuff all the napkins inside the cups he had collected and was busy aiming at the trash can across the room. Right as he was about to shoot, “miss!” you called out. The little stack of cups hit the rim of the plastic trash bin and fell to the floor. Chenle turned to you, sticking out his tongue and imitating the way you caused him to mess up before going to properly dispose of the rubbish.

Instead of simply placing it in the waste, he once again returned to where he stood before, with one eye shut, aiming for the bin. You let out a scoff, ready to disturb him once more. He shot you a glance, knowing what you were planning from the way you just stood watching him. But regardless, he tried again. “Airball” you sang as he released the short stack of cups, sending them flying to the foot of the bin.

Chenle let out a growl, childishly stomping his way over to you while you tried to quietly escape from his grasps through the mess of food and other miscellaneous items on the floor. From the hushed giggles and name-calling from the two of you as you both stumbled around the room, to the whispered late-night thoughts and affirmations spoken from your positions on the floor with your heads resting on the edge of a bed, you barely even noticed how fast time was passing.

“Are you going home for the holidays?” You asked him.

He shook his head, “it’s my first time getting to live away from my parents and whenever I do go back, they’ll probably be expecting me to bring some girl with me.”

You turned to look at him, “why would they expect that?”

“They’re both getting old and want to retire soon,” Chenle started, “so the faster I get married and take over the company, the faster they’ll get to live out the rest of their lives,” he explained.

“Well that’s not very nice of them,” you commented, “what kind of parents would place such high responsibility on their child like that?”

“Mine I guess,” Chenle sighed.

After a moment of silence, you sat up, unsure what to make of the next words to come out of your mouth. “If you want, I could go with you.” Chenle looked at you with his eyebrows furrowed. “Like, I could be your fake girlfriend or something so that they don’t bother you so much about finding one.”

“That’s…an idea,” he started, biting on the corner of his lip as he played out possible scenarios in his head. “I think that would only make it worse though since we’d both have to make up stories and tell the same information.”

“True. But we could at least make it look believable, don’t you think?” You reached over to pet Chenle’s head the same way you’ve seen him do to his friends. “Oh, Chenle, you’re so cute,” you cooed, “I can’t wait to marry you and be with you for the rest of our lives.”

He grabbed your wrist and put it in your lap, not very keen on the show of affection. “Yeah, I think we’d look like a pretty convincing couple.”

“Do we look good together though?” You pondered. “If we were to show up to an event or something, would we make people stop and stare at us?”

“Anyone can do that if they wear something weird or do something out of the ordinary-“

“Okay but that’s not what I’m asking,” you interrupted, “I’m asking, would we look good together as a couple?”

Chenle shrugged apprehensively, “sure.” Your eyes bore into him as if forcing a more legit answer out of him. “Yes, I think we would look good as a couple.”

It was as if you and Chenle were made for each other. Whatever one did, the other was never too far behind. It was absolutely no surprise to your friends when you told them Chenle had asked you out and you became official. While your college careers continued and friends came and went, Chenle was always with you. He was your solid island in the middle of a tumultuous sea, your oasis in a dried desert. You didn’t need anyone else around to have fun, just him, just the two of you.

But if you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms and if you like having secret little rendezvous

Being with Chenle was as wild as things could get. It meant impulsive plans and bad decisions. Weekend nights normally consisted of one of you driving with no destination in mind until someone got hungry. Even at that point, the night didn’t end.

Sometimes the two of you would stay out past midnight, not wanting to leave each other’s company just yet. The feeling of the wind whipping past you as Chenle drove or the thrill of gassing it down the freeway was almost dreamlike. One would think that at this point, you’d return home, but for you, your home was wherever Chenle was. If it meant staying in a small hotel room for the night drinking cheap wine out of paper cups then so be it, that was home.

“Baby, you already drank almost half of the bottle, leave some for me,” Chenle teased, his eyes glimmering under the low lighting. The brightness of the small lamp on the desk failed to reach where he was sitting, the cozy armchair too far in the corner for it to be illuminated.

“Come here and get some then,” you suggested, lazily winking at him before downing another shot-sized gulp and enjoying the burn from the liquid running down your throat. The bed you were sitting on wasn’t all that soft but you had already warmed up a little spot of it and gotten too comfortable to move.

Chenle raised an eyebrow at you, a smirk tugging at his lips. “I don’t think you want me to do that.”

“Why not?” Your expression mirroring his.

“You wanna find out?

“Maybe I do.”

He let out a scoff and within a second he was on the bed, climbing up and settling over you. His warm breath fanned your neck, the scent of alcohol filling your senses. “Are you sure about that?”

“Fuck around and find out, handsome,” you taunted.

You had barely even finished your sentence before Chenle’s lips were on yours, his usual soft and pillowy lips became hot and heavy against yours under the guide of the fifteen-dollar wine. You were sure that you were definitely getting tipsy but Chenle’s love and passion were even more overwhelming. It was moments like this when you felt that you were drunk off of his love and it was absolutely intoxicating in the best way.

If you like to do the things you know that we shouldn’t do, then baby I’m perfect

It was drunk weekends like this that led to a rocky start of the following week. It’s not that you and Chenle were bad students, it’s just that when you become totally infatuated with the person you love, you start to devote yourself to them instead of what actually needs to get done.

As sophomores in college, one would think that you’d have a little more self-control but with Chenle, you just couldn’t help it. He was worse than any drug you could ever take, to the point where your friends would have to intervene and keep you in your rooms until a substantial amount of work was done.

You called them annoying but really you should’ve been thankful to them for caring so much about you back then, and you are thankful, looking back on it. They always told you ‘distance makes the heart grow fonder’ and you wish you had listened to them. Maybe if you did, you wouldn’t have lost a relationship that you thought was practically flawless.

Perfect for you

In junior year, that is when your beautiful illusion finally began crumbling down. Your workloads grew heavier and your hours of sleep decreased. Chenle would often leave you on read, having opened your message in the middle of studying then forgotten to reply to it. Even when you childishly got upset at him for that, he’d always give you the same apology or buy you something cute as if money could shut you up.

With little to no distance between the two of you, it was easy for boundaries to be crossed and for problems to go unaddressed. You can feel like you know someone so well, that they’ll always understand what you mean and they can read your words like a book, but it didn’t seem that way anymore with Chenle.

He’d make fun of the way you always made him say ‘I love you’ at least once a day or some of your other pet peeves, including the way you had a Hello Kitty mouse pad that was ‘too childish for a college student to be using.’ It may have been out of love but it sure didn’t seem that way.

I might never be the hands you put your heart in or the arms that hold you any time you want them

Soon, the little pricks in your relationship spread past closed doors and into your schoolwork. Sharing a major and classes with your significant other was not exactly ideal, especially when they had different values and beliefs from you and had to argue for their reasoning.

“That just isn’t sustainable in the long run though,” you commented as you read through Chenle’s senior research report while seated opposite of him inside a library study room.

He ran a hand through his hair, leaning back into his seat, about to repeat himself for the fourth time. “It’s not about sustainability, it’s about the profit margin that’s being made. What don’t you get?”

“It’s not good for the environment, it’s not good for the people working in the factories,” you point out, “I don’t get how you can subject these things onto people.”

“Y/n, we’re business majors,” he stated plainly, “we study money, the economy, sales, company relationships, we’re not here to be environmentalists. Things don’t have to last very long, so much as they make a profit.”

“But we should think about the impact of our future businesses and their longevity in the world-”

“You should think about passing this class and stop being so prissy and uptight about saving trees or whatever the fuck you’re going on about.”

You were absolutely shocked at the words that had just come out of his mouth. This wasn’t the first time he had seemingly degraded you in this manner, but when it came to school and your own work, you were deeply offended at what he had said, especially since both of you had spent many hours on your respective projects.

“Chenle,” you began softly, “tell me you didn’t mean that.”

He refused to meet your gaze, “If I told you that then I would be a liar.”

“Look, you can’t just spew whatever bullshit you want and just expect that people won’t get hurt,” you criticized, only to be cut off once more.

“Then maybe you should learn to not take everything so seriously,” he snapped back.

“I...I think we need a break.”

“Agreed.”

“No, from each other.” Chenle’s head whipped up to look at you, his eyes went wide when he realized what you were insinuating.

“Baby no, you know it’s not like that,” he started, but it was already too late. You blocked his voice out of your head as you packed your belongings, just wanting to get out of this room, wanting to get away from him.

This wasn’t the first time you had fought with him in this way but it felt like you had finally lost all your patience. You were tired of always being told you were wrong and having your thoughts and ideas invalidated. As you stormed away from the library, you realized that maybe you needed to let go of things that no longer brought you joy.

Sometimes letting go...is a new start

After that incident, you did indeed have a fresh start. You slowly removed Chenle from your life and just in time for graduation. Whenever he tried to approach you on campus, you always turned the other way even if it meant being late to class. Luckily, you didn’t have many shared classes with him anymore and you were all the more grateful for it right now.

You’d come back to your campus apartment with the occasional flower or sticky note left on your doorstep asking you to give him another chance but you simply didn’t have enough time or energy to care anymore. Commencement was approaching and you still had yet to hear back from any of the companies you had applied to for internships.

But that don’t mean that we can’t live here in the moment

One of your friends had mentioned that Chenle had already received news that he was accepted into his family’s business, a large company in China, and you wished you could’ve been there when he had read the email. You could practically hear his yell of delight, his laugh when he’d turn to hug you, even if it was practically guaranteed that he’d get in, you missed it all so much but there was no turning back now.

It wasn’t until after commencement did you receive your own letter of acceptance from one of the largest foreign trade companies in the area after you saw Chenle for the last time. “Zhong Chenle, Bachelor of Arts in business management.” You remembered the immense pride and pain you felt in your chest, watching him walk across the stage to claim his diploma as you sat clothed in the same cap and gown only a few rows away. You wished you could share your emotions with him, but you had to remind yourself that he was no longer yours, he was no longer the man you first fell in love with.

��Cause I can be the one you love from time to time

Four years have passed since that moment at commencement. In those four years, you’ve climbed your way up in the company, taking a hold of a directing position in project development and management. With all your success though, there was always one failure that kept floating through your mind. The number of sleepless nights and wandering moments you’ve spent thinking about all the ‘what ifs’ and the changes you should’ve made in your relationship have all decreased with time, but sometimes it all comes crashing back. You miss the memories you made with him and you miss being so young and naive.

Sometimes you managed to hear a thing or two about the company he worked for but you never paid much attention to it, always falling back into a spiral of guilt and calling yourself the sole reason why your relationship fell apart. Chenle would even pop into your mind at the weirdest times when you’d be thinking of anything but him.

Like the other day as you were staring out the window of your office, watching people and cars pass by, your memory of Chenle speeding down the empty highway suddenly resurfaced. The adrenaline you felt from the buildings and signs whizzing by, the slight buzz of alcohol you felt in your system, the cool air coming in from Chenle’s window, the warmth of his hand in yours. You couldn’t help but smile at it fondly yet it turned sour when you thought of the last time he ever drove you somewhere. You had argued with him about something dumb, you couldn’t even remember it at this point, and you even slammed the door before storming off to who knows where.

Or some months ago, you were interviewing possible new hires for the company and met someone from Puerto Rico. Once you finished the interview with them, you sat at the wooden desk while remembering the way you teased Chenle because he didn’t know how to pronounce Puerto Rico. You thought it was cute and even told him that, but it ended up in another fight because you may have spent a little too long dwelling on the topic.

But oftentimes when you find yourself thinking about him, you’d wonder how he’s doing. Is he happy where he is right now? What kinds of things is he doing for his job? Has he found a new girlfriend? What if he dated many other people after me? What if he’s married? Would he have children by now? Or most importantly, ‘does he still love me?’

And if you like midnight driving with the windows down, and if you like going places we can’t even pronounce

Regardless, you’d shake off all these thoughts and continue about your day, completing the tasks assigned to you. The majority of your time was spent conducting interviews and deliberating with the directors about who to hire for what position. It was quite fun, really. You got to meet all of the new hires before they came into the company and you felt empowered by the fact that you would be indirectly responsible for the future of the company in this sort of way.

On one particular day, everything felt like it was going just a little too well. Your hair was done just the right way, traffic was light, your coworkers seemed to all be in a good mood, but most importantly, there were no fat folders sitting on your desk, waiting for you to go through. Just a single sheet of paper with the list of the new hires coming in for their briefings along with the notes you were required to go over.

You didn’t bother checking it, seeing as how you had exactly two minutes left before the scheduled meet time, which was exactly the amount of time you needed to head downstairs to the conference room. You really should have checked the list though. It would have prepared you for the shock of seeing a certain someone sitting at the table in a suit that looked all too good on him.

“Zhong Chenle?” You audibly gasped, pausing in your tracks the moment you entered the conference room.

His eyes were already on you as if he knew you’d be the person to walk through that doorway at that exact moment. “That would be me.”

The other new hires looked around at each other sharing all types of glances. Worried, suspicious, surprised, questioning, nothing really all that positive. “Sorry, he’s just an old friend that I was surprised to see,” you quickly explained, trying to pull yourself back together.

Throughout your whole presentation, it was like all the attention in the world was directed at you. Never had you felt this nervous before doing something that was supposed to be so familiar. Every time your eyes glanced over in Chenle’s direction, his gaze managed to catch yours as if he was trying to speak to you without any words.

By the time you adjourned the meeting and sent the new hires off to their respective departments, it felt like you had run a marathon. Your palms were clammy, your legs shaky, your mind racing, and your heart was pounding.

Chenle was the only one left in the conference hall while you pushed in all the chairs and turned off the lights. “Looks like these years have done you well.” He commented, finally able to take in the sight of you now that there was no one else around.

“I could say the same for you.” His shoulder had gotten broader and any childlike features had left his face. He truly looked like he had grown into a man. The dark gray suit he was wearing fit the lines of his body so well, it made you think he could’ve been a model instead of simply becoming an office worker. “So how have you been?”

He did a classic Chenle shrug, “nothing much really. I started off being just a marketing employee, did some work, and got myself to be chief marketing officer. It seems you’ve gotten much further than I have, though. Project development and management?”

“Oh, it’s not anything huge. I just help with planning things out and doing all the paperwork for its execution. I only do interviews and help with hiring when we’re in season, which would be why I’m here right now,” you explained, motioning for him to follow you out of the room. “Your new supervisor is probably wondering where you are. I sent the rest of the newbies a few minutes ago already. I’ll just tell him that you had a few questions about our operations.”

“Wow, cheating the system? That’s not the way I remember you,” Chenle said with mock disapproval. You led him to the elevators, pleasantly surprised to find one still on your floor after you hit the ‘up’ button. Your eyes met with his while you gestured for him to go in. “Ladies first,” he had a cat-like grin on his face as you rolled your eyes and stepped into the elevator.

“So why did you decide to leave your company? Weren’t you going to take it over someday?” You ask over the squeaking of the doors closing.

Chenle leaned against the cold metal wall of the elevator, “I still plan to but I felt like they were just kind of babying me or treating me differently because they knew of my background,” he explained. You could only nod to acknowledge the fact that you were listening. “I told my parents that I wanted to get experience outside of the company and they didn’t really understand at first until I showed them my point of view and how it’s a little worrisome to perhaps, learn how to cook when you always have chefs around you giving you instructions down to the tiniest things.”

The elevator came to a stop and the heavy doors opened onto the floor Chenle would be working on. “But why this company? We’re not even closely related to yours?” You led him down the hallway in the direction of his supervisor's office.

“My parents were the ones who recommended it, actually. It would be a little risky to go to a neighboring one in the case of it being viewed as a betrayal or like some kind of inside mission so they said I should just come back here since I’d probably have a high chance of acceptance-“ you put a hand up to stop him from talking, seeing how many of the other employees had started to look at him due to his volume.

“Chenle, must I remind you that this is an office?” You gritted out, embarrassed in front of your colleagues.

He shook his head before turning to the mass of them, bowing politely then continuing in the same direction as before. Once both of you reached the head office at the end of the hallway, Chenle spoke up once more. “By any chance, are you free tonight?”

“That depends,” you began, “what are you hinting at?”

“Just seeing if you’d like to go out to dinner so we can properly catch up, I guess,” he proposed bashfully.

You hummed in thought, “mmm, put in a good word for me with your supervisor and you’ve got a deal.”

“Deal,” he agreed.

“Meet me in the lobby at 5:30, don’t be late,” you told him before knocking on the wooden door in front of you and allowing Chenle in.

If you like to do whatever you’ve been dreaming about, then baby you’re perfect

You thought Chenle’s wine phase in college would be just that, a phase, but it really wasn’t. He had ordered an expensive bottle of merlot even with all your insistence that you wouldn’t be drinking and even made him promise that he’d be sober enough to drive himself back to wherever his accommodations were.

He made a face of fake dismissal before picking up your last conversation. “So anyway, as I was saying earlier, my parents suggested that I come back here, especially since I got my degree from the university so I’m bound to get in.”

You were about to open your mouth to say something like “getting in is not a guarantee” especially coming from your experience in doing interviews and having to decide which applicants to turn down, but you decided against it.

“Initially, I was a little against it since I didn’t want to come back to somewhere I’ve already stayed at for some time,” he confessed, “but after I did some research on the company and found out that you’re one of the associates, I was a little more open to the idea.”

There was a break of silence while you started to link your thoughts together. “So you came here because you found out that I work here?”

“Yes, but also no,” Chenle stated, blurting the second part out rather quickly when he saw the shift in your expression. “It is true that I wanted to see you and how you were doing but it’s not just that. I figured that if you worked here and had such a high position, it must be a good place to work.”

“But what I’m hearing is…you came here because of me,” you state bluntly though your heart couldn’t help but let out a cheer of delight.

Chenle redirected his gaze at the neighboring tables. “You could say that, sure.”

“Chenle, what do you want out of this? What do you want out of me specifically?” You contended. His eyes continued to flit around the lowly lit space, not daring to meet yours unlike earlier in the conference hall. “What? Did you come back just expecting me to run into your arms? Did you think we would just pick up where we left off?”

Now he looked down at the white tablecloth, as if in shame. “Would it be wrong of me to ask for a second chance?”

You too joined him in staring at the table, wishing that he had answered ‘no’ to your previous questions. “It wouldn’t exactly be wrong, but it’s not right either. I’d be willing to give you a second chance if we agree to not call it that, but rather a promise.”

He finally looked up at you again, his dark pupils catching the dim golden lights above him. “A promise?”

You nodded. “We’re older now, we’re fully grown adults with jobs to do and taxes to pay. We’re no longer the same carefree college students we used to be.”

“Well yeah, obviously-“

“No, listen,” you interject, cutting him off, “we can’t just recklessly play with each other’s minds and feelings like we used to. No more games and no more ‘next times.’ If we try again, I want this to be a promise that we’ll both do better because we can and we want to.”

“If it’s a promise that you want then,” Chenle held out his hand with his pinky finger extended, “it’s a promise I’m willing to make.”

You linked your pinky with his before bringing your thumbs together and sealing the promise. Matching smiles appeared across both of your faces as you stepped into a new chapter of life with Chenle by your side once more.

Sometimes letting go is…perfect. So let’s start right now

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kwistowee · 3 years

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Blog Tag

I was tagged by the lovely @rainbow-motors

1. Why did you choose your url? - When I was teeny weeny and couldn’t say my name yet (Crystal Marie), Kwistowee was the best I could do and my older brother stated calling me that again when I was 16. It’s the only nickname I’ve ever had and it cracks me up, so I use it because it’s unique, and is, therefore, never already taken.

2. Any side blogs? - Nope! Just retired blogs and networks (the retired blogs are listed in my description; feel free to explore if you like). I stepped way back from Tumblr at the beginning of 2016 and I’m keeping it simple with just the one blog from here on out.

3. How long have you been on Tumblr? - Since June 2012 (as @mostly-jensen ), but I created this blog in March of 2015.

4. Do you have a queue tag? - Nope. I’m always in ninja mode.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place? - I wanted somewhere I felt free to post about any of my assorted interests ( @mostly-jensen and @mostlybenedict were pretty specifically curated).

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp? - I don’t often like photos of myself but that one’s pretty good, and I wanted a real representation of myself associated with my blog.

7. Why did you choose your header? - Back in 2008 I was a missionary for my church in New Zealand for 18 months, and I was specifically assigned to learn and teach in the Sāmoan language and spend all of my time with Polynesians. I’d already learned French and German when I was younger and they were relatively easy but this language was a beast.

Once I finally got it down, I got more double takes than at any other point in my life. These big Polynesian dudes and ladies just did not expect this little 5’3”, blonde haired, blue eyed girl to know what the heck they were talking about or to understand their culture. But I worked really hard to and they called me their little blonde Sāmoan. They said I was a reverse coconut: white on the outside but brown on the inside. And even though it’s been years, I still love that culture and that language fiercely. I like to carry a little bit of that part of my life with me wherever I go, hence: Little Blonde Sāmoan. And I miss living on a tropical island, so waterfalls...

8. What’s your post with the most notes? - Ok, I’m doing one for this blog and one for my retired blogs (because I still love them): #beast, Dean Walking through the Seasons, and Hey guys, look ^ : SherKhan.

9. How many mutuals do you have? - 23... unrequited love and all that.

10. How many followers do you have? - Not many when compared to the 80k + I had on @mostly-jensen but I’m happy to have every single one of you!

11. How many people do you follow? - 107

12. How often do you use Tumblr each day? - Enough to find fun stuff, make fun stuff and populate my queue.

13. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? - No, I’m not a fighter (except in the mama bear sense). I did have major issues with other blogs reposting my stuff back in the day but it was never nasty on my part.

14. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts? - I love my freedom to choose.

15. Do you like tag games? - Yes, when I’m in the mood. Major introvert!

16. Do you like ask games? - Yup! As long as we keep it clean, tag me, ask away and I’m up for it!

17. Which of your mutuals do you think is Tumblr famous? - Um, I don’t know... is Tumblr famous still a thing? They certainly all deserve to be!

18. Do you have a crush on a mutual? Yes. Every single one of them, definitely.

I tag: @spnjensenlove02, @demberly, @novembersguest, @piracytheorist, @pirateherokillian, @mryddinwilt, @hollyethecurious, @spartanguard, @laschatzi, @jlsadphoenix

#thank you for tagging me‚ lovely ♥️#personal #about me #enjoy this short novel #feel free to ignore if you like

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freespiritdani · 5 years

Note

Okay, @freespiritdani, I wanna see how brave you are... The ASK ME STUFF list. All of them except the first one and the last one. Love ya lots, Mom.

Braver than you think, dear daughter!

You should know be better than that, you’ve known me all your life....

Here goes:

2: Age -39

3: 3 Fears - flying, heights, snakes

4: 3 things I love - motorcycles, horses, being and living in the country

5: 4 turns on - intelligence, smile, heart, laughter

6: 4 turns off - body hair not on the scalp, bad hygiene, the male of the species, arrogance

7: My best friend - @cherokeesapphicangel

8: Sexual orientation - lesbian and proud of it

9: My best first date - November 7, 2005, with the woman who would eventually become my world and my wife

10: How tall am I - 5′4″

11: What do I miss - things I’m no longer allowed to do post-heart attack

12: What time were I born - 6:12 AM

13: Favourite color - bright red

14: Do I have a crush - does my wife count?

15: Favourite quote - “Love is too beautiful to be hidden in a closet.”

16: Favourite place - at home, on the sofa, curled up next to my precious Angel

17: Favourite food - sushi

18: Do I use sarcasm - Now whatever gave you that idea? (in other words, yes)

19: What am I listening to right now - my precious Angel’s heartbeat

20: First thing I notice in new person - body language

21: Shoe size - 7

22: Eye color - chocolate brown

23: Hair color - black, no dyes.

24: Favourite style of clothing - “provocative”

25: Ever done a prank call? - yes

(where, perchance, is #26? LOL)S

27: Meaning behind my URL - I’m a free spirit.

28: Favourite movie - Hoodwinked!

29: Favourite song - “Niki Nana (We Are One)”, Yanni

30: Favourite band - don’t really have one

31: How I feel right now - very happy and content

32: Someone I love - my precious Angel (my wife)

33: My current relationship status - happily married

34: My relationship with my parents - they’re deceased (Mom in 2001, Dad in 2019)

35: Favourite holiday - Halloween

36: Tattoos and piercing i have - yes, classified (intimate)

37: Tattoos and piercing i want - Also classified (same reason)

38: The reason I joined Tumblr - Choices fandom

39: Do I and my last ex hate each other? - you could say that....

40: Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts? - from my daughters

41: Have I ever kissed the last person you texted? - How the hell do I know? I have no clue who you last texted!

42: When did I last hold hands? - right now

43: How long does it take me to get ready in the morning? - anywhere from 2 minutes to an hour

44: Have You shaved your legs in the past three days? - uh, yeah!

45: Where am I right now? - lying in bed with my wife, all cuddled up

46: If I were drunk & can’t stand, who’s taking care of me? - the mortician

47: Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level? - yes

48: Do I live with my Mom and Dad? - I’m alive and they’re not, so I’m going with “no”

49: Am I excited for anything? - Yes

50: Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to? - Yes. My brother.

51: How often do I wear a fake smile? Whenever I meet an asshole that’s going out of his/her way to be annoying

52: When was the last time I hugged someone? - a few minutes ago.

53: What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me? - Not gonna happen

54: Is there anyone I trust even though I should not? - yes

55: What is something I disliked about today? - went by too quickly

56: If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be? Oh dear god, that list is too long to whittle it down to just one LOL

57: What do I think about most? - a toss up between cooking for my wife and sex with my wife

58: What’s my strangest talent? - strange to whom?

59: Do I have any strange phobias? - I repeat, strange to whom?

60: Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? - Behind, if a camera must be involved at all.

61: What was the last lie I told? - that I had totally given up drinking about 8 months before I really did

62: Do I perfer talking on the phone or video chatting online? - neither

63: Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens? Yes and Yes

64: Do I believe in magic? - Yes

65: Do I believe in luck? - Yes

66: What’s the weather like right now? - cold

67: What was the last book I’ve read? - Cover to cover? The Rite by Jennifer Bene

68: Do I like the smell of gasoline? No

69: Do I have any nicknames? - Yes, many, most of them not polite.

70: What was the worst injury I’ve ever had? - Numerous in a car accident in 2018, most serious of which was a punctured lung

71: Do I spend money or save it? Spend. That’s why Angel is in charge of the money LOL

72: Can I touch my nose with a tounge? Whose tongue? With my own tongue, no.

73: Is there anything pink in 10 feets from me? *devilish grin* Yes there is....

74: Favourite animal? - Eagle

75: What was I doing last night at 12 AM? - cumming

76: What do I think is Satan’s last name is? - Artrip

77: What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it? - “Show Me How You Burlesque”, Christina Aguilera

78: How can you win my heart? - (my wife already did LOL), show me you care about me.

79: What would I want to be written on my tombstone? - “Here lies a girl whose only crutch/Was loving one woman just a little too much”

80: What is my favorite word? - kitten

81: My top 5 blogs on tumblr - not without their permission

82: If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say? - “If your religion causes you to be a bigot, something is wrong with your religion”

83: Do I have any relatives in jail? - No

84: I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power? - healing

85: What would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on? - If something happened to your wife and she died, how well would you take it?”

86: What is my current desktop picture? - See picture above question 2

87: Had sex? - Yes, as often as possible

88: Bought condoms? - no

89: Gotten pregnant? -Yes

90: Failed a class?- No

91: Kissed a boy? - Yes, unfortunately.

92: Kissed a girl? - Yes, and I liked it

93: Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain? - Yes

94: Had job? - Still have job

95: Left the house without my wallet? - Yes

96: Bullied someone on the internet? - Not that I’m aware of

97: Had sex in public? - Yes, more than once

98: Played on a sports team? - Yes

99: Smoked weed? - Yes

100: Did drugs? - Yes

101: Smoked cigarettes? - Yes

102: Drank alcohol? - Yes

103: Am I a vegetarian/vegan? - HELL no

104: Been overweight? No

105: Been underweight? No

106: Been to a wedding? Yes

107: Been on the computer for 5 hours straight? Yes

108: Watched TV for 5 hours straight? Yes

109: Been outside my home country? Yes

110: Gotten my heart broken? Yes

111: Been to a professional sports game? Yes

112: Broken a bone? Yes

113: Cut myself? Intentionally, no. Accidentally, yes

114: Been to prom? Yes

115: Been in airplane? Yes, once, when I was 8 years old. Had to be sedated because I panicked big time

116: Fly by helicopter? If being life flighted from an accident scene to the nearest hospital counts, then yes.

117: What concerts have I been to? Yanni, Christina Aguilera, Melissa Etheridge

118: Had a crush on someone of the same sex? DUH, I’m lesbian! My crushes by definition are Lesbian

119: Learned another language? Yes

120: Wore make up? Yes

121: Lost my virginity before I was 18? Yes

122: Had oral sex? Yes

123: Dyed my hair? No

124: Voted in a presidential election? Yes

125: Rode in an ambulance? Yes

126: Had a surgery? Yes

127: Met someone famous? Yes

128: Stalked someone on a social network? No

129: Peed outside? Yes

130: Been fishing? Yes

131: Helped with charity? Yes

132: Been rejected by a crush? Yes

133: Broken a mirror? Yes

134: What do I want for birthday? To be with family, especially my wife

135: How many kids do I want and what will be their names? Already have them, Marti and Staci

136: Was I named after anyone? First name, no. Middle name, my maternal grandmother

137: Do I like my handwriting? no

138: What was my favourite toy as a child? my teddy bear

139: Favourite Tv Show? Mythbusters (off the air now)

140: Where do I want to live when older? Where I live now

141: Play any musical instrument? Piano, violin, harp, didgeridoo

142: One of my scars, how did I get it? Heart surgery

143: Favourite pizza toping? Pineapple (sue me)

144: Am I afraid of the dark? No

145: Am I afraid of heights? Deathly afraid

146: Have I ever got caught sneaking out or doing anything bad? Yes to both

147: Have I ever tried my hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end? Yes

148: What I’m really bad at - Taking credit for anything

149: What my greatest achievments are - raising 2 amazing daughters

150: The meanest thing somebody has ever said to me - “The only thing you’ll ever amount to is being a pretty cum dumpster”

151: What I’d do if I won in a lottery - retire

152: What do I like about myself - my body

153: My closest Tumblr friend - my sister

154: Something I fantasise about - not being so short

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blaperile · 5 years

Text

Homestuck Epilogue(s) - Prologue (page 1)

I've just read right until the end of the first Prologue page. Under the Read More are my initial reactions!

Oh boy... it's time. Time for the Epilogues... assuming it's available yet and/or the link on homestuck.com doesn't lead to a VIZ Media buy link for a book form of the Epilogue, I could also see that happening. xD plainWonder also had a good point that perhaps the first part of the epilogue will simply be the snaps we already saw on the MSPA Snapchat. ...Snaps almost feels like a weird thing to say now. I think they've just gotten a way darker meaning for me ever since watching Avengers: Infinity War. xD ANYWAY, without further ado, here we go!!! *clicks link* Hehn, kind of looks like the start page of an all new adventure! And yay, looks like the epilogue IS indeed simply on the website itself and not externally, for I see a command leading to the next page! *hovers over link of > Start and sees URL* www.homestuck.com/epilogues/prologue ....SERIOUSLY??? PFFFFFFFF, typical Hussie right there. Only HE can give an epilogue a prologue. xD Oh boy this is gonna be a long epilogue isn't it. The question is, how much of it is available here already? And what is the prologue even going to be? Will they just be the snaps we've already seen? I'm very curious where this is going now. > Start ....HOLY FUCK. Archive of our own parody??? Or an actual Archive of Our Own "fanfic"???? Oh jegus god. We've truly come full circle now that Hussie is doing a parody of a website famous for housing Homestuck fanfics. Looks like Andrew collaborated with a few people? "Rating: Mature" Sounds about right! "Category: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other" Sounds about right! "Fandom: Homestuck" Sounds about right! "Characters: John Egbert, Rose Lalonde, Dave Strider, Jade Harley, Jane Crocker, Roxy Lalonde, Jake English, Dirk Strider, Barack Obama" Sounds about ri...WAIT A SECOND. PFFFFFFFFFFFFF Hell fucking yes xD "Aradia Megido, Tavros Nitram, Sollux Captor, Karkat Vantas, Kanaya Maryam, Terezi Pyrope, Vriska Serket, Gamzee Makara, Eridan Ampora, Feferi Peixes, Aranea Serket, Meenah Peixes, Davepetasprite^2, Calliope, Caliborn, Lord English, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s)" Well if this isn't a joke, I'd be VERY happy to see Eridan and Feferi again along with the rest of the gang! Aranea though!!!! That's got me very curious. Is she alive (as in, dead but not double dead)??? I know that was really ambiguous on whether or not she was double dead or not after being killed by GO!Condesce. Kind of sad the other A1 Trolls aren't on the list. Hmm, mention of Davepetasprite^2 but nothing of the other Sprites! Makes sense if this is mainly taking place in the Furthest Ring. Wait a second.... I only just noticed how Equius is the only A2 Troll missing from this list!!! And no true separate mention of Nepeta either. Oh man. Looks like Arquiusprite (who should be on Earth) is also sitting this one out! ...Equius got voided out. :P I also find it very interesting how Caliborn receives a separate mention from Lord English! Are we going to see something from the fight that took place between Caliborn and the Kids? ...Wait, that DID feature Arquiusprite though, who is missing from this list. HMMMMMMM And oh boy, what should we expect from the "original male character(s), original female character(s)"????? Are some of the people from Universe C going to factor into this? Assuming we can take this list of characters seriously... which I kind of doubt considering Barack Obama is on the list. xD ...THOSE CONTENT WARNINGS. OH MY GOD. Oh god I love this already. Kankri would be so proud. :P "The Economy" ==> I got that reference! xD I love all the Gamzee related content warnings. "Trickster Mode" I DARE YOU HUSSIE "Ten years after their adventure began, the heroes are enjoying a well-earned retirement on Earth C. But John still has one last choice to make." HOLY SHIT. 10 years later?! That's... 2 years later from the last thing we saw from John, when he celebrated his 21st birthday and was challenged by Caliborn! Wait... 10 years after the start. THAT'S NOW. It's frickin 2019!!!!! Oh hell yes, Andrew has made it catch up to reality once more. HELL YES. What is the "one last choice" John has to make? To go after Caliborn, which will presumably get them trapped inside the Plot Hole (which is still a term I love to use)? Jeez... that probably means it's also already been so many years since Terezi left. I can't recall on which of John's birthdays it was. Was it his 17th? 18th? I'll check that later. In the contents there is only a "Prologue" link... Oh boy, is this going to lead straight to Archive of Our Own? *hovers over link* www.homestuck.com/epilogues/prologue/1 Nope! Unless this redirects, we're staying on the Homestuck website. *clicks on link* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Oh god WALL OF TEXT. Looks like... this really is going to be like a "fanfic", without any images?? I suddenly feel like we're reading one of Hussie's recaps and/or Rose's walkthrough. xD "It starts with a crack. Everything else rises up from that like steam: a trembling thread that cuts through space in jagged lines, splintering the void into razor-sharp shards of putrefying leptons and quarks popping apart like raw eggs in a microwave." Only Hussie could write a sentence like that, ahahaha. Seems like he's talking about the cracks in the Furthest Ring? Are these... going to turn out to be, like, notes taken by his self-insert who was also right there in the Furthest Ring? :P "raw eggs in a microwave" Well, that explains the "eggs" content warning. xD "At the center of that hole the edges can be heard fraying. Pandemonium, as continuity buckles in the middle and the two ends come smashing together. Around the hole, ghosts scream. They claw at the dying borders of their dreams with fingernail-chipping desperation." Dang, these descriptions are giving me shivers. It reminds me of the sight that Terezi saw in the Furthest Ring and sent to the others on Earth. "At the center, that distortion turns into an eerie music. That’s where the cacophony ends—the shattering, the screaming, the squelching, the sounds of elemental particles being torn apart like string cheese shoved through a meat grinder, then dumped down a strangely melodious garbage disposal." Okay I'm sorry, but I can't help but think of the garbage disposal in Dave's appartment. ...I was saying that as a joke, but now that I think about it actually, this reminds me of how I once made a theory of how that disposal scene was some foreshadowing for the creation of Lord English, mostly because of the Saw and purple Smuppet stuff, but now suddenly the garbage disposal element comes into mention here too. HMMMMMMM "This is the end of everything. This is the end of Paradox Space. You..." Oh man, where is this going? Is it going to turn out there's some kind of other realm beyond the Black Hole that all of the ghosts got sucked into? Like, a true kind of afterlife? "Your name is John Egbert, and you have just had a terrible, deeply pretentious nightmare. You snap out of bed, soaked in sweat, your heart hammering like a fire alarm. It is just as you feared." And suddenly we're John! Has the images Terezi sent them been leaving him with these kind of nightmares? Eeesh.... "You’ve been dreaming in anime again. And you have no idea what it could mean." ...OH GOD DAMN IT HUSSIE YOU BRILLIANT BASTARD. XD "> Look outside just to make absolutely sure the world is not ending." And suddenly we're in Act 1 all over again. :P "The only sound you can hear for miles is the wind skimming the hollows of your neighbors’ pipe homes." Oh hell yes, reference to the wind skimming the void. And heh, at least that last part confirms we're really in the present now where John lives in his salamander neighborhood, not that we're actually somehow back at the events of Act 1 or something. "It’s a normal day in the salamander village, which you refer to as Salamander Village because the damned salamanders never bothered to give this village a name, you guess." ...I could see that. xD That must mean there are like hundreds or thousands of those kinds of villages, hahahaha. Really mustn't be convenient for any non-Consort people trying to navigate over there. :P "Beside your pillow, your phone is vibrating. Rose is calling. The screen of your phone reads 9:30 a.m. April 13, and also the number forty-six, which is how many text messages your friend left you while you were sleeping. A bit excessive, even for her." Rooooooooose! Okay, that's a huge relief to me. I kind of feared they'd all completely drifted apart in the past few years and hardly heard from each other anymore, so I'm really glad to see Rose talking to John is apparently still a thing. And that she's still apparently as wordy as ever. :P I wonder if we're gonna get a dialog (or Rose monologue) now? "Answer the phone" Oh hell fucking yes, here comes some sweet, sweeeeeet dialogue/monologue! "ROSE: Since when are you known to operate your telephone? JOHN: since... i don’t know. has it really been that long since i called? ROSE: I can’t remember the last time. JOHN: neither can i. anyway, what’s up?" Awwww, okay that's sad to hear. I take back what I said earlier, looks like they really don't hear from each other that often anymore. :( "ROSE: Am I correct in presuming this April Thirteenth will be as uneventful as the last? JOHN: yeah, i don’t want to do anything this year. i hope that’s ok." Looks like he still feels the same way like the past few years. D: I feel so sad for John. This really doesn't feel like a happy ending for him. If only he still had his Dad... "All over the neighborhood, the little dad-salamanders are putting on their little rumpled hats and picking up their little suitcases and kissing their little families goodbye for the day" Okay, on one hand the comparisons with John's own family situation are really sad, but I can't help but ROFL that Rumpled Hats are still a thing in this society. "You’ve always been confused about what, exactly, they contribute to the global economy. But it’s pretty cute how much they love playing at being suburban businessmen." Hey, there's where the Economy content warning came from! And it didn't even have to do with Barack Obama! xD "The silence over the phone is growing awkward. You’ve stalled long enough. You decide to just come out and say it." Oh boy... what is he going to say? Something about how sad he is with the current situation? "JOHN: i’ve been dreaming in anime again lately." PFFFFFFFFFFF, JOHN. JOHN NEVER CHANGE. We're getting some hella sweet new quotes here. :P Also, I'd find it really funny if it turns out he's been dreaming of the events of Act 7 which, from our perspective, were rendered in anime form. "JOHN: i have no idea what it could mean. ROSE: I see." Rose, looks like you've found someone to psycho-analyze again! xD "JOHN: whenever i have these dreams, everything’s breaking apart. JOHN: millions of people are screaming and dying. JOHN: i mean, dying permanently. not the kind of bullshit dying that we’ve been doing a lot over the years." Okay so he WAS actually dreaming the stuff we read at the beginning of this prologue then. I love how he calls "their" dying bullshit. " JOHN: what do you think it all means? ROSE: What do I think ‘what’ means? JOHN: what do you think it means that i’ve been dreaming in anime? ROSE: I don’t have the slightest idea what it means that you’ve been dreaming in anime, John. ROSE: To be honest, I... You wait for Rose to finish her thought. She doesn’t, which is troubling because you have never known Rose to leave a thought unfinished in over ten years of acquaintance." That's... indeed quite troubling! Normally this kind of thing is truly Rose's specialty. What's going on over on her side? I mean, it did seem like there was more she wanted to say than just "happy birthday". ....Thinking back to the content warnings... is Rose or Kanaya pregnant??? I don't want to put too much trust into those content warnings though. :P "ROSE: I held out for as long as I could. I figured your birthday was as good a time as any to let you know. JOHN: let me know what?" HERE IT COMES!!!!! "ROSE: It’s crept up on me, these last couple of years. ROSE: Gradually enough to ignore as it was happening, but I can’t anymore." ...Wait what??? Oh god, that does sound different from having a baby. Oh man, please don't tell me she wants to divorce from Kanaya. D: "ROSE: Lately the visions have been overwhelming. JOHN: visions??" Ohhhh, visions! Huh. What kind of visions? About Caliborn? About what's happening in the Furthest Ring? Something else? "ROSE: Would you mind flying to my apartment, so we can continue this in person?" Wait a second. She lives in an apartment now? Looks like unlike John she didn't stay in her old house! Interesting how she moved into an apartment, like Dave originally lived in. "You move the phone away from your ear and assume an expression you haven’t practiced in years. It is the look of a man who actually has something to do." Dang, he must have been getting REALLY bored all this time. That time alone on LOMAX must have been peanuts compared to this. "As you hang up the phone, a familiar feeling settles over you. A feeling of...standing?" ...Has he been floating the entire time? "Standing, and being alone. In your bedroom. As a young man. On your birthday." OH SNAP. I got the reference now. xD "A young man stands alone in his bedroom. It just so happens that today, the 13th of April, is this young man’s birthday. Though it was twenty-three years ago when he was given life, and ten years ago when he was given a name, it feels like it is only today that he will begin to understand what all that means. That young man is YOU, John Egbert. What will you do?" HOLY FUCKING SHIT. OH DAMN. OH SHIT. THAT IS WAY FUCKING EPIC MAN. This is giving me HELLA goosebumps! I'm VERY curious about that final part means, about "understanding what all that means".... Okay, this seems like a good place to end for the day, but I'm VERY excited to start reading the rest!!! Homestuck is BACK IN ACTION baby! Last Edit: 1 minute ago by Blaperile

#Homestuck #The Homestuck Epilogues #update #upd8 #reaction #GOD IT FEELS GOOD TO USE THOSE TAGS AGAIN #John #Rose

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koganphrancis · 6 years

Photo

Camless Episode 2 Recap

(I can’t give a credit to the gif maker because they deleted their post right after I saved this gif and before I could click back and get their Tumblr url, so, sorry! If anyone else would be interested in giffing this moment, please do-looks like there might almost be some butt crack in it for us, and that would officially make this the most interesting moment in the episode.)

Once again the best thing I can say about this episode is there was not even a whisper of a mention of Terror ;)

But the rest of the show-I really don’t recognize anything from what the show used to be. This is truly like a brand new Showtime show using some of the same actors from Shameless. No one reminds you of how their character used to be. They’re all like those Lego people Emmy’s always bragging about using when she directs episodes-plastic and stiff and lifeless.

Also, this episode had zero sex scenes, which must have been confusing to its core audience that keeps insisting the show is still worth watching. I’m sure they missed the tits.

Like last week, I’ll just run down the characters, if I can stay awake.

Frank. Ugh. They gave him this incredibly moronic scene in The Alibi where he rallies his fellow white men against “reverse racism” and you could see how hard Macy was working to try to grind out the lines, but it just stunk. I’m sure the showrunners think they’re coming up with cutting edge social commentary here, but they’re not. The audience has long been clued into the fact that Frank’s motivations behind his machinations are to serve one thing and one thing only, and that’s Frank himself. He will go whichever way the wind blows. If not being a Make Southside Great Again cretin would’ve got him some money in his pocket, he would’ve been making speeches against everything he was saying last night. Archie Bunker was an iconic character in the advancement of social progress because he did believe the shit he said, and the audience was in on the fact that he was dead wrong. When Frank says racist bullshit, it’s not “shameless” it’s not commentary, it’s a lazy fuck wanting something for nothing. It has nothing to do with improvement or education of the viewer. Shameless has this unrealistic view of itself being a show “about” something, and when it inevitably fails to hit the mark, they just guffaw and say we weren’t supposed to take it seriously, it’s just a comedy, it’s just Shameless. Well, you’ve cried wolf too many times and I can’t take anything you say as meaningful.

Also, this and almost every other storyline last night took the most laborious routes possible to get the characters to their next plot point. Frank only got involved in local politics because he needed beer money (what happened to his one beer a day with the new liver? Oh yeah, that was a different character on a different show). And why the fuck would the patrons of The Alibi put money into anything Frank’s going to be in charge of? Are they that stupid?

Fiona and Bored Their lack of chemistry continues to astound. Their conversations make no sense. Bored clearly doesn’t give a shit what Fiona does, so why does he insist on giving his opinion that, once it pisses her off, he just drops it? Why say anything to begin with? And I only watch their scenes once, so I might be wrong on this, but he leaves me with the impression that he squints every time he speaks. It’s as if he saw Dirty Harry at an early age and vowed to himself if he ever became an actor, his delivery of all his lines would be just like Clint growling out, “Do you feel lucky, punk? Do you?”

Anyway, Fiona’s circuitous route has her going to the Gallagher house to find shoes she left there when she moved into her own apartment. The fuck? You gotta try so hard as a writer these days to get any of the family together-it’s another piece of the “old” show that is missing more and more lately, and really ripping the show apart at its already weakened seams.

She has a big power meeting with a commercial real estate developer now that Ian’s bail money is burning a hole in her pocket. (And, the fuck? Ian turns down her offer to post bail so she figures he had his shot and if he changes his mind and wants-or worse yet NEEDS-to get out of jail he’s shit out of luck? They could’ve had her make sure he understood it was a one-time offer, but no.) Anyway, for said meeting, she’s wearing what looks like a kimono from a day spa and to complete the look she needs the pair of red fuck me pumps that she finds in a small box that looks like it’s only holding said pumps and one work boot. She left that behind? Couldn’t squeeze it into the new place?

When she arrives back home at the Gallagher house, she finds Liam sitting on the couch and asks him why he’s not at school. (Forget that, why isn’t SHE taking care of him, she’s his legal guardian!!!!) He tells her he got kicked out because of Frank, Fi asks what did he do, Liam says, “The moms”, clue laugh track that this show totally needs now. Fiona brings Liam along with her-he clues her in to how rich folk talk, and she tells the real estate guy Liam’s her intern, a prodigy, cue laugh track. She has a bullshit meeting with the guy, tries to throw her boyfriend’s name around to prove she has clout (and hey, he has a last name now! It’s Kellogg, but who will bother to remember that?), uses her patented Fiona looking at real estate phrase when she says a building he showed her has “good bones”. She’s so obviously bullshitting the guy and we can see her losing her money happening a mile away. She, however, thinks she’s playing the dick just right. There’s a scene towards the end where she’s begging to throw her $50K at him, but he says you need $100K to get in, and she says she has it??? I couldn’t be bothered to go back and watch it again to see if at any point she indicates where she’ll come up with twice the money she has, I’m just assuming she’s going to gamble the entire apartment building and lose it all. And that WILL be believable because she has no business experience that’s not straight out of fantasyland and the only thing that will bother me is they seem to be setting it up that Bored is right and she should listen to him like a good little woman.

Lip Lip’s storyline is no longer about Lip, it’s about all the people he keeps taking on as projects. Last night Xan abandoned the Ball twins she was babysitting to run off with a stolen wallet (what is it with this show thinking child endangerment is funny?). To nitpick-if Liam was supposed to be in school, shouldn’t Xan have been at hers too? Last week they made a point of saying she forged a note to her teacher to go to Brad’s wedding...

Anyway, since this new show thinks it’s normal for 24 year old guys to do nothing but parent kids that aren’t theirs and be a one man support system for their mentor and their sponsor (but not their brother), Lip’s taking on a new project, being the reluctant sponsor of a drug and alcohol addict who has an adorable baby. Lip tries telling Brad that “Gallaghers aren’t sponsors, they have sponsors” (I’m so sick of “Gallagher” pronouncements like that), but in the end, he can see the guy has no one, so he steps in. And if I could trust this show for one minute I’d be intrigued by this (it’s much more realistic than the whole Xan bullshit)-it’s interesting to think Lip can relate to the baby being with the dad while he was passed out for two solid days more than he relates to the dad-but I just feel like they’ll handle it badly and I’m not going to get attached to the baby or the dad.

Debbie She’s shrilly screaming for equal pay and equal rights, but I get the feeling all of that was her circuitous route to meeting this season’s love interest. It’ll be interesting to see if she keeps up her crusade or if all that’s forgotten once she’s getting sex.

We first see her rattling off statistics from computer print outs, which is a refreshing change from Ian memorizing the Bible overnight, but still. The stats she’s reading are unfair and horrific, but the people she’s telling them to are in no position to change things. Debbie takes her “cause” to job sites where again, she’s shouting into the void, since no women are working there and even if they were, what does she expect them to do? This whole “Norma Rae” thing makes no sense because licensed workers ARE unionized and if the jobs she’s visiting are using under the table workers, no one wants this loud mouth teenager and her baby carriage calling attention to it. What is she trying to accomplish?

So, like I said, all the screaming is probably just the set up to her meet cute with the chick she thought was a dude. Said chick comes to the Gallagher house (claiming she found it because Debbie was screaming her full name and saying she was a welder with a vagina-so good to know everyone in Chicago would know where that person lives...) and does the “big reveal” that she’s a woman. Debs/Emma is all, “Dafuuuuuck?” and Alex winds up asking her out for a drink. At home I’m thinking, “Aw, damn, Alex, you’re gonna get roofied!”

Carl Carl is moronic as fuck this week-more so than usual. He tries to see his local congressperson (who is secure in his seat and not running in the same election as Frank’s tampering with, I guess?) and is told by an assistant the list of things Carl will need to get a recommendation for West Point and to come back in 9 weeks. Carl totally ignores most of the list, the scholastic and athletic achievements-does he really think he’ll get in without it all? Can’t he just ask Ian what he’ll need to do? Oh wait, no one knows Ian-I’m thinking of that other show again.

He starts on a quest to find volunteer work (since court ordered post juvie hours don’t count-cue laugh track), and asks at the first place “if it pays”. Right there, he’s too stupid to get into any reputable school, why are people wasting their time with him?

He winds up working for a retired veterinarian who uses an unconventional but cheaper and effective way to euthanize dogs. The show goes totally off the rails, having Carl “rescue” them and taking them home to die a “natural” death in his basement instead. Is the writer so stupid she doesn’t know that that’s just forcing the dogs to live out their days in pain, or are we only supposed to think it’s Carl that is that stupid? Either way, why go there Shameless? Why drag innocent dogs into your “it’s Shameless!” world of the unfunny?

Kev and Vee Their painful role as the show’s family sitcom portion continues. (side note: I was cackling with glee when I heard Bob Saget will be making a guest appearance-I called that Full House vibe from the start!) They’re checking out preschools and the first place they go, the woman who runs it is dressed as a full on fairy princess. As if that wouldn’t be enough of a red flag to GTFO. When they hear the cost of tuition, K&V flip out. Because, ya know, they had no idea daycare/preschool was expensive? Have they been hit with the same stupid stick as Carl? They get a lead on a Catholic school that’s in their price range, but there’s only one spot! What to do? Easy, just tell their obviously not identical twin daughters that one of them always has to keep out of sight at school and that from now on, they’re both “Amy”. Cue laugh track.

Ian Oh man, why isn’t Cam gone already? This week starts with him performing the prison yard triple wedding. He’s speaking in the cadence and manner of a preacher, yet he’s only been to 2 weddings that he can recall? Does he watch You Tube videos of sermons now? It makes no sense! Anyway, a guard tells him he’s made bail, and all lame, choreographed hell breaks loose as the prisoners want “Father” Gallagher to finish the ceremony.

Next time we see him, he has at least half an inch more hair and he’s being released back into society, wearing the clothes he was arrested in 9 months ago. The handmade God Loves Fags T shirt is better than some of the things I’ve seen Cam wearing in real life lately, but I digress. Geneva is waiting for him and is jumping and yipping all over him like an overexcited puppy. He tries telling her, “I really wasn’t done in there-those guys need me.” She’s not listening as she tells him “so much exciting stuff has been happening” (off screen-there’s nothing exciting happening on the show itself)-”We have sponsorships now, we’re in 45 states, 1 mil strong on Insta, we’re getting some of the conversion centers closed down.” And, just, you lost me with the hyperbole. Say they’ve spread to 3 states or something believable, not almost the entire continental US. Anyway, she tells him they crowd sourced his bail and asks if he’s ready to face his public. He just looks dazed and confused. A little group is waiting for him behind a (as in one, solo) police barrier.

Next time we see him, he’s being delivered to the Church of Gay Jesus in a luxury SUV. People are waiting there to greet him too-some wearing unintentionally hilarious masks of Ian’s face-well, really GJ, but come on, that’s Cam!!!

Geneva asks him if he’s okay and he says “Yeah, just used to being in lock up.” Again, Cam’s not giving us much to work with, but I guess we’re supposed to see that he’s already overwhelmed and doesn’t want to be part of this anymore? Geneva introduces him to a bunch of workers for the GJ movement that have actual titles-they’re practically a corporation now, then drags him inside where he’s going to make a press statement and take selfies with donors that gave one thousand dollars or more for his bail. Ian looks down at the index cards with his statement and reads aloud, “My harrowing and abusive time in jail? Prison was inspiring...” Geneva is officially his new Terror and dismisses anything he has to say. She tells him to just emphasize his oppression as a gay man and the daily violence he endured.” Which, yes, hello, that actually WOULD be his experience in jail, but the show chose to make it cute and sweet. Grrrr.

Ian doesn’t have a reply to that, I guess, so he looks at a map on the wall with a bunch of pins in it and asks what it is. Geneva tells him it’s where they’ve blown up vans, and they’re going to do more in his name. He seems genuinely upset. Guess he’s missing out on the fact that he could meet more fireman if he keeps blowing up vans-opportunity missed, John Wells!!!

Another disciple comes up to Geneva with an old timey prison striped shirt for Ian to put on for his statement. Just like Jerome wore for so many scenes in Gotham. I don’t know if the show thinks it’s a clever nod to Cam’s other job every time they do something like this, but to me it just pulls me out of the story and I go off on a thought tangent yet again, thinking about how much more realistic Gotham had handled all Cam’s prison stuff. But I digress. Ian says, “Am I allowed to take a piss?” which, really? That’s how the kids talk these days? He wouldn’t say “go to the bathroom”? Whatever. He goes into the bathroom, stares at his reflection because that must be in his contract, stuffs the prison shirt into the trash, flips down the baby changing table, and uses it to escape out the window, flashing the camera a shot of those ugly ass blue shoes with the gold heel coverings.

In his final scene of the night, Ian is sitting in the dark in the Gallagher kitchen, undoubtedly thinking about the huge-probably life altering-mistake he made. I’m referring of course, to when TPTB at Gotham sold him on the “Jerome has an unknown twin!” storyline. Carl comes up from the basement and the two of them share the most awkward scene since the British version of “The Matches”, as told by Eddie Izzard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfw60qXtOH0 Oh look! He’s wearing a spa kimono-like garment too!

Anyway, Cameron and Ethan stiltedly say some lines as if neither of them has ever acted before, and Carl goes to make his escape quite rapidly, but not before we get proof (not that we needed any) that no one’s been visiting Ian in prison, and that when Fiona visited, she didn’t bother keeping him up on family news in the 9 MONTHS he’s been gone.

Ian: Who’s the girl in my bed? Carl: Peyton List? (I know I was confused-Lip’s been sleeping in Ian’s bed, Xan’s over in the corner where Carl and Kassidi-remember her? She’s dead now-slept.) Let me try again:

Carl: That’s Xan-Lip’s kid. Ian:... Doesn’t really react to that either. I HOPE what all this is driving at is that Ian doesn’t feel like he belongs anywhere anymore-he doesn’t want to be part of the huge nationwide movement that Gay Jesus has turned into, he shouldn’t want to be in jail/prison even if there will always be gay men there, he doesn’t belong at “home” where they don’t even have a bed for him and all the kids except Liam are out of the nest now. For Ian, home is not a place, it’s a caring, loving man with blue eyes and an ass that won’t quit...

#Recap #Season Nein Episode 2

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soraenun-archive · 2 years

Note

A package has arrived for miss shannon. *you open it and i come out of the box* boo! it's me, your one and only 🐘 anon. (only a little boo because i don't want you to be too scared) since you have encouragedd me in my tomfoolery, never act ashamed or it'll hurt my little heart 🤧

i do agree with your concern about kep1er. it's odd that their company wants them to compete in yet again another competition show. i'm sure some of the girls (if not all of them) still have a hard time processing girls planet. i can only imagine how hard it'll be for them once queendom is done :( literally makes no sense!

don't worry about football, i've been into it for longer than you but i don't know a lot about it either. it's more of a hobby than a passion so don't expect me to infodump on you because chances are idk anything about the teams or stuff like that lol thank you so much for the link. i didn't know about it so i'll check it out when there's a game i want to watch :) oh i see 📝 (that's me taking notes on your football preferences). i assume you must know hugo lloris then since you're a spurs fan. i totally understand the rivalries and it's always entertaining to me when supporters of two 'ennemies' teams argue with each other while i'm not a fan of either team. so, like i said, i understand that you're not the biggest chelsea fan hehe i'm not either, it's just that when i see n'golo kanté play, it's a pleasure to see him. even in videos outside of football life, he's such a sweetheart. you can't not like him. i said it!

ooo, now you got me curious... if you don't want to embarrass yourself, how about you tell me how many letters there are in my url (or the one you think i have)? don't worry, i won't tell you if you're right or wrong. i'll keep the secret for as long as i can hehe

thank you for the thai drama recs, i'll definitely check them out just for you. they seem to be right up my alley so i'm sure i'll like them <3

oh yeah, i know that for japanese releases, kpop groups don't do a lot of promotions. but the thing is i'm a little iffy about nct dream having a cb only one week after rv. it's weird to me. and when you know how sm seems to prioritise their bgs over their ggs... i'm a bit worried for rv's promotions. i just hope they can have fun and give us as many performances as they want and not cut their promotions after only one week :(

you never have to worry about being cringey. loving something and talking about it for hours is something sweet imo 💕 wait what? harry kane still plays football? i thought he already retired... it seems like he's been a football player for a while now. please don't be mad at me, i'm just surprised o:

well, in that case, i'm threatening you to have a nice day or else i'm going to be sad (jk i can't threaten anyone for the life of me) 💖

from 🐘 anon

ohhh that might be the cutest opening yet 🥺💕 hehe thank you !!!!

yeah sometimes football seems like a space where you have to know every single rule of the game or every fact about your team and all the players but i just watch it because i enjoy watching it! hmmm interesting that you have mentioned two french players 📝 (more note taking) but yeah!! i think lloris is a great goalkeeper and captain for spurs! i’m happy he signed a contract to stay with us! no literally!! half of the time i watch football for the silly fights i find them very entertaining! i will have to start paying a bit more attention to him then since you like him i’m sure he’s great!

oh no suddenly i don't know how to count! if i had to guess… i would say 5 maybe….. if i was guessing i’m not sure though i’m shy now in case i’m wrong 🤦‍♀️ (me being shy)

oh you’re right! i didn’t think about the nct comeback interfering with their promotions.. hopefully they can both promote at the same time i’m sure red velvet would only promote for a week or two anyway 😔 and they usually only go on the bigger music shows like mcountdown, music bank and inkigayo but as long as we get at least one stage with them in the blue and pink outfits (hopefully you know the ones i mean) then i’ll be happy!!

thank you 🥺 you’re really sweet 💞💓 ohhh of course i’m not mad!! he’s definitely been playing football for a long time and is probably considered an older player in football but he’s still breaking records and playing really well so i don’t think he’s ready to retire yet! i think the average retirement age is around 35 so he still has at least 7 more years i hope!

sadjksahdjkasd yeah i think your threatening might need some work you’re too sweet to threaten anybody but i will do my best to have a good day! i hope you do as well 💕

#anonymous #💌#🐘💌

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imaginetonyandbucky · 7 years

Note

Bucky finds blog posts and twitter posts that are like "theory: iron man and winter soldier are a Thing" and "proof that tony loves Bucky: every picture of Tony looking at Bucky" and Bucky's been pinning after Tony but didn't think he likes him back but after seeing those posts, starts paying attention to how Tony acts around him and to him. It helps that after an outing, there's most posts to show Bucky what he missed with his back turned away from Tony. He uses this as courage to ask him out.

The prompt was anonymous, but I’m dedicating this fill to @ssyn3, who knows why.

[A/N: I’m taking this opportunity to let everyone know that I’ve changed my main URL from @everyworldneedslove to @27dragons, to match my AO3 account. My tag here at IT&B will change accordingly, but I will NOT be going back to change all my old posts. Just know that we’re the same person, and if you’re not sure whether you’ve missed something, feel free to check my AO3 collections to be sure. And now, on with the prompt!]

“How’syour boyfriend this morning?” Clint asked when Bucky came back fromdelivering breakfast and coffee to the workshop.

“Mywhat?” Bucky said, startled. He thought he’d been keeping thatlittle crush under wraps, damn it. “Stark’s not– What are you,twelve?”

Clintcackled as if he were specifically setting out to prove Bucky’spoint. “Oh, if only the internet knew how you bring him breakfastevery morning.” He waggled his eyebrows, making it sound lasciviousrather than merely a bid to keep Tony healthy. It wasn’t as if noneof the other Avengers had done it; they’d had an actual rotation inplace for the job before Bucky had taken it over.

“Whywould the internet even care?” Bucky wondered.

“Areyou serious? You haven’t seen all the pages and pages of winterironspeculation?”

“Winterwhat.” Clint looked like Christmas had just come early and startedtapping at a tablet, and Bucky knew he was in trouble. He should justleave the room, but instead he gamely looked at the tablet when Clintpassed it to him.

Itwas a slightly out of focus cell-phone picture of Tony air-liftingBucky to a vantage point during a battle a couple of weeks prior.Under the picture, it said, “Guys, idk about you, but Iron Mandoesn’t carry anyone elselikethis! Look at the way they’re holding hands I just can’t!!!*swoons*”

Buckyblinked and looked at the picture again. In it, he and Tony wereholding each others’ wrists; it was a good, stable hold thatreleased quickly and cleanly. Bucky hadn’t even been thinking abouthis dumb crush at the time; he’d been much more focused on takingout the AIM control tower. “I’m the only one he carries like thatbecause I’m the only one on the team with a metal arm,” he said,slightly dumbfounded.

“Youhave to keep scrolling,” Clint told him.

Against his better judgment, Buckyscrolled.

Therewas a detailed analysis of the way Tony had stepped in on that nastyreporter at their last press conference. Another picture of themtogether, this time at a charity function. This time he couldn’tquite refute the poster’s gushing over the way Bucky was watchingTony. He reallyneededto get that crush locked down tighter.

Hewiped out the screen and tossed the tablet back at Clint with anaffected huff. “People will believe anythingonthe internet, won’t they?”

Backin the privacy of his own room, though, he paced for a while beforefinally caving. “JARVIS, is there any more stuff like that online?”

“Quitea lot of it, Mr. Barnes.”

“…Showme?”

[mobile readers, ‘ware the readmore!]

Everytime they wound up in a camera frame together, it seemed, someonewanted to find a way to suggest it meant they were dating, and ifthey were actually interacting, it was taken as proof positive. Therewere sets of pictures with flowery poems and lyrics on them, andpeople had even written storiesaboutthem getting together. Some of those were horrifyingly embarrassing,and Bucky clicked out of them as quickly as he could manage. Somewere shockingly torrid, and he might have lingered for a moment onthose before waving them away.

Butfinally, he closed the whole mess. He did notneedto add any fuel to that particular fire.

“HeyRobocop!” Tony clapped Bucky on the shoulder as he came into theroom. “Thanks for the coffee. Blueberry?” He offered a foilpacket.

Buckytook a few on habit. “Thanks.”

“Sure,no problem. Listen, T’challa finally sent me Shuri’s notes onyour arm, so if you need a tune-up on something you can’t reachyourself, I’m good to go.” Natasha came into the room and Tonyturned to greet her with a cheerful, “Red Menace. The new ‘bitesholding up for you?”

Hedidn’t offer Natasha any blueberries, though.

Itdidn’t mean anything, probably.

“Budgeup, budge up,” Tony announced, squirming his way onto the couchbetween Bucky and Sam with a huge bowl of popcorn. “You’re gonnalove this one, Buckaroo, it’s a classic.”

“Bywhich he means it’s almost as old as him,” Sam put in.

“Noone asked you, birdbrain,” Tony said haughtily. “No popcorn foryou! Here, Buckster, you’renice,I’ll share with you.”

Thatdefinitely didn’t have anything to do with Bucky; that was justTony making a point to Sam.

Wasn’tit?

Everythinghurt. Diving into the mouth of a giant squid to plant a concussiongrenade in its stomach had not been one of Bucky’s more inspiredplans. The blast had knocked Bucky out, and he’d woken in thehospital with a concussion, two cracked ribs, and a broken leg. Atleast the squid had upchucked him before deciding it was time toretire from the field.

Hewas pretty grateful to have been unconscious for that part.

Stevehad been there, waiting, when Bucky woke, but after reassuringhimself that Bucky was awake and on the mend, he’d gone back to theTower to catch some shuteye, instructing Bucky to do the same, andpromising someone would come over from the Tower first thing in themorning.

Noway was Bucky going to be able to sleep in a hospital. He dragged therolling table over and didn’t bother stifling a whimper at the wayhis ribs shifted when he leaned over to grab his tablet. Alone, withno one to see or tease him about it, he loaded up his favoriteWinteriron blog. He could use a fluffy AU story right about now.

Hehadn’t counted on there being footage from the fight already.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, but that damn squid looked even bigger fromthe vantage of the news helicopter. Bucky’s own body lookedlaughably tiny, caught mid-leap.

Thenext picture took his breath away - a shot of Iron Man diving intothe water after the squid. Tony hatedbeingsubmerged; it was why he’d been in charge of clearing civilians forthis fight. What the hell. Bucky didn’t usually pay attention tothe Avengers’ own PR, but he flipped to a new tab and pulled up thenews.

Sonof a bitch. The squid hadn’t upchucked him. It had just… left.And Tony had gone after it, sliced it to ribbons in order to bringBucky back. The news site had a picture of Tony carrying him toshore, and it looked like those cracked ribs had nothing to do withthe concussive blast, and more to do with how tightly Iron Man washolding him.

…Huh.

Aknock at the door frame startled Bucky out of his thoughts. It wasTony, because of course it was. “What are you doing here?”

“Couldn’tsleep,” Tony said, in that forced-casual tone that Bucky hated.“Figured you wouldn’t be sleeping either. Steve forgets that notall of us can sleep anytime, anywhere.” He nodded toward thetablet. “Reviewing the fight?”

“Yeah.”Bucky tried to close the Winteriron tab, but only succeeded inbringing it to the front. Naturally, on one of those saccharinepictures with all the flowers and Deep Quotes ™. Bucky flailed andtried again, finally closing it.

Tony,still standing in the doorway, had frozen, eyebrows raised.

Buckyhad no idea what to say to fix things, so he just sat there, heartpounding.

“Funny,what people will come up with, isn’t it?” Tony said after a longmoment. He sounded strained, wary.

Almostas if he were worried about Bucky’s response.

Buckylooked at the picture on the news site again, and changed his mind:it was a damn shame he’d been unconscious, if it meant he missedfeeling Tony’s arms around him, even encased in armor.

“Maybenot… sofunny,”he said. It was a risk, but Bucky had to know. Tony’s breath caughtaudibly, and Bucky looked up.

Tony’seyes were wide and dark, and he clung to the door frame withwhite-knuckled strength. “Well,” he said softly. “Maybe not.”

~ @27dragons

#prompts #winteriron #tony stark #bucky barnes #tony x bucky #27dragons #Anonymous

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mavengers · 7 years

Text

Covers (Part 3)

Bucky Barnes x reader, Steve Rogers x reader

Warnings: angst, this is a flashback chapter, takes place when the reader went missing from the Avengers, happy Bucky at the end. Yes, I’m aware the timeline is messed up, and I’ll clear some foggy details in part four.

Words: 2.6k

All credit goes to Marvel.

Part One Part Two

Tags: @just-an-ambiverts-fandoms @chrisevansisdaddy04 @dellabellas @fab-notfat @marvel-af (url change? idk, tagged just in case), @loudandobnoxiousxxxx @sammieamiami-blog @shamvictoria11 @till-theendofthelinebuck

You stood at the back of the dimly lit room, watching intently as he threw the doctor across the room, guns instantly raised at him. He didn’t react though as he sat up, his chest heaving with heavy breaths. He was broken. And you didn’t blame him. You wanted to approach him, but he was too unstable. He’d throw you across the room just like he did with the doctor, but his eyes met yours and your breath caught in your throat.

You knew this would happen eventually. You knew he would recognize you. He gave you a look that shattered your heart more than anything had ever done. When Pierce walked into the room, his eyes were still locked on yours. You felt tears running down your cheeks; this was all your fault. You could’ve gotten him out of this. You could’ve. His metal arm flinched, his hand turning to subtly point to the left; he was pointing to an emergency exit. But you were frozen in place, fear swallowing you whole as Pierce yelled order after order at him, before slapping him straight across the face. Only that was when Bucky tore his eyes off you. “Prep him.” He said. You shut your eyes tight, nausea taking over you as guilt settled in. Bucky knew who you were. He knew you were undercover. He knew you worked for SHIELD. He knew you could get him out of this, and you didn’t. Now he was going to have his brain put through a blender again, and he was telling you to get out and go back to SHIELD. He was telling you he’d be okay. But what about you?

“He’s been out of cryo too long…” Another doctor started to say, but Pierce cut him off. You watched Bucky’s eyes train on the ground in front of him.

“Then wipe him. Start over.” Pierce turned around, walking away as Bucky was pushed back into the seat, a mouth guard placed in between his teeth and restraints going across his arms and chest. With one last pained look at you, you mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ as you opened the exit, leaving HYDRA behind forever, but with one promise.

You would bring Bucky Barnes back to Steve Rogers. You owed Steve this. You owed Bucky this.

You shot up out of bed, your heart racing and tears streaming down your cheeks. Looking at your phone, you saw it was 4:34 am. You were due on the quinjet in a little over an hour. Normally, you wouldn’t have even spent more than fifteen minutes waking up before going out on a mission, but you figured you needed the extra time to calm down, so you got out of bed.

Phone in hand, you dialed a phone number as you paced around the kitchen. The phone rang three times before Nick picked up. “I need more attention placed on finding Barnes. Please, Nick. I need to find him.”

“Nightmares bothering you again?” He asked, his voice groggy on the other end as you undoubtedly pulled him out of his own sleep.

“It feels like just being around Steve sets it off. I just can’t take the guilt anymore. I owe this to both of them. Let me set up a team.” You begged, feeling your anxiety rise again.

“I’ve already had some of my best agents on it for months, we don’t have any leads.” He said, trying to rationalize.

“Put dad on it. Put Daisy and Fitz on it. Put Mack and Melinda on it. That faction of SHIELD is still secret. They’re the only ones I trust to find him. And when they have a solid lead, I’ll pick up Barnes.”

“You’re not going to sleep until I give you this, are you?”

“No,” You answered, your voice lowering when you head Steve’s door being opened. “I have to go,” You hung up the phone, pocketing it and moving back towards the stairs, where Steve was coming down them. “Morning, babe.” You chirped, pecking him quickly on the lips.

“Morning, Diana. Hey, are you still going to after Tony today?” He asked. You gave him a tight smile.

“Yeah, I’m going to head out now. I just heard that there’s a blizzard in Tennessee, and if Tony gets frostbite, I’ll never hear the end of me leaving him there to freeze.” Which wasn’t entirely untrue. Tony would give you hell if you let him freeze, but that wasn’t the reason you were leaving. You were leaving because you needed to do something to keep your mind off the guilt that was driving away sleep. Steve nodded, smiling.

You were on the quinjet within minutes and it was in the air in even less time. After you put the plane on autopilot after the coordinates were set in place, you pulled up all the information you had on Barnes and began studying it. You marked down other known Hydra bases and sent it all to your phone, deleting everything from the quinjet’s computers. No one could know you were planning on tracking down Barnes. Especially not Steve.

You landed the quinjet about a mile and a half from where Tony had last sent his coordinates, and you trekked there through the snow. You were only about 50 yards away when a blast of heat nearly knocked you backwards, and you gasped as the bar, Tony’s location, burst into flames. Taking off into a sprint, you ran towards it as Tony ran out, people in chase behind him. You called after him, but all he could do was point to the bar that was beginning to collapse, and yell a name at you that you didn’t recognize. You normally would have never gone in with little to no information on what was inside, but the way Tony was shouting at you, it was important. You huffed, gathering all of your energy before ducking your way inside the bar.

Everything was on fire, of course, and the smoke was making hard to see and making it hard to be. You called out the name that Tony had yelled at you, and you called it out multiple times until you heard a faint whimper. Getting on the ground, you saw a little boy huddled underneath one of the tables. “Harley... “ He didn’t answer, just curled up more into himself. You went to reach for him, but he continued to cower away. “Hey, buddy, Tony wants you to get out of here, okay? I’m his friend, I’m not going to hurt you. My name’s Diana, I work with Tony, I’m here to help. Come on, you gotta come with me.”

You smiled when he grabbed onto your hand, and you pulled him from underneath the table. You got up from your crouched position, but let out a scream when a large weight suddenly knocked you onto your stomach, pushing Harley about three feet in front of you. You looked to your left, cursing when you saw the large wooden beam that had fallen on top of you. Harley hurried over to you, quickly using all of his strength to lift the beam the one centimeter you needed to get out. You used your back to lift it a little more, before ducking back and rolling from out underneath it. Taking deep breaths as you continued to lay on the ground, you almost didn’t hear the low whimper that left Harley’s mouth. Looking up, you tried to keep your cool as Aldrich Killian, someone who had been on SHIELD’s radar for years, pressed a gun to the back of Harley’s skull.

Standing up, you held your hands up as a show of peace. “I should’ve known this was all you.” You muttered.

“Actually this was all experiment 283’s doing,” you glared at him. “All their names get lost in the process of extremis- it’s easier to just call them what they really are.”

“Experiments?” You asked angrily. “That’s what these people are to you? Experiments? You’re a monster, Killian.”

“No. A monster,” one of his hands slid down to grab Harley’s throat, and you tried to ignore the panic bubbling inside of you. “Would be kidnapping Tony’s little friend here, and turning him into an experiment.”

“Over my dead body. What do you want?” You asked. He dropped Harley, and you quickly grabbed him, putting him to stand behind you.

“I want you to retire,” he said simply. “God, it would kill the Captain for his precious subordinate to just disappear. Good thing he doesn’t know that she’s been spying on Hydra for the past six months and knows where his best pal is.”

“So that’s your play? Blackmail?”

“Blackmail, and,” he tapped his watch, a holographic screen popping up and showing Pepper, strapped to a post, screaming and crying of pain as her skin glowed a dangerous red. “I’ll kill her. So what will it be?”

You sighed, biting your lip. You knew what you had to do, you just wished you had gotten a chance to say goodbye to Steve. You couldn’t risk him getting involved in this if you gave him any clue that you were alive. You reached up to the shoulder of your suit, ripping off the “A” patch, and placing it in Killian’s hand. “Harley, go find Tony,” you said, nudging him in the direction of the door as more pieces of debris began falling around you. He went, running towards the exit and giving you one last look before leaving, and you exhaled, knowing that you could at least do right by him. “I’ll go. I’ll retire. But if I find out you’re going after Tony or Pepper or any of my friends, I’ll see to it that your death will be nothing short of painful.” You turned around, leaving Killian in the bar that was turning to nothing but ashes before your very eyes, and you left.

The bitter cold air seeped through your suit as you pulled out your phone, dialing Nick’s number. He picked up on the second ring. “New plan. I’ll find Barnes myself, but I need a place to lay low in the meantime. I’ve been compromised.”

Two months later you were traveling the globe, and as promised, a safehouse would be set up for you upon arrival. Every hit on Barnes meant a new location, forcing you to go as far as Bucharest. That was where you were currently, living a few miles out of the city. Each morning you would take a cab to the outskirts, where Bucky was last seen on satellite, and you’d scope out the location, keeping your eyes and ears open for the familiar face of James Buchanan Barnes. This was week two, and today you were sat outside a coffee shop, wearing a hat and sunglasses. Your jacket’s collar was zipped up to cover your mouth and a newspaper sat delicately in your hands, although your eyes were everywhere but.

You stiffened up as a man, about 6 feet tall with long brown hair and a month’s worth of facial hair coated his cheeks, approached a street vendor. He picked up pieces of fruit, inspecting them as he made friendly talk with the vendor. Had you not known this man and all he had done- all he had been made to do-, you wouldn’t have suspected anything out of the ordinary about him. He fit in well here, he seemed comfortable, and here you were, about to muck it up for him.

You watched as he left the stand, and you watched him leave, turning a corner before you got up and followed him. As comfortable as he looked, you knew his days of looking over his shoulder were far from over, and you had to play this right. You slid your sunglasses off and pulled your collar down as you tried to make yourself seem as less inconspicuous as possible.

He stopped in front of a building, opening the door behind him and you silently slipped in behind him. But he heard you, of course, super-soldier hearing and all, but he gave you a friendly smile. “New here?” He asked.

“No, actually. Visiting my grandmother, she’s come down with the flu, so I figured I’d come over and take care of her. Sort of pay her back for all the times she took care of me when I was younger and sick.” You smiled back when the smile never left his lips.

“Well before you do that, do you maybe want to come in with me? I can make us some coffee. It’s not every day I see someone friendly looking in this part of town.” You smiled still, but you were surprised that he would invite you in so readily. How did he manage to be this trusting of others after everything?

“I’d love that.”

Bucky’s apartment was small. There was a mattress on the floor in the corner, only a sleeping bag and a pillow covering it. He had a juice jug holding his utensils and a metal kitchen table. You sat across from him, both of you sipping quietly at your coffee, and surprisingly, it wasn’t awkward. It was a comfortable silence, and you realized that he was probably relishing in the fact that for once, the person sitting across from him wasn’t trying to kill him. “Hey,” you said softly. He hummed in response as he looked at you, his piercing blue eyes staring back into yours with an unexpected warmth. “Do I look familiar to you at all?” You asked hesitantly. His eyes scanned your face, and you watched him, looking for any sense of recognition. He shook his head, looking at you curiously, and you could sense some walls beginning to go up. “Well before I get started, I need you to trust me,” you held your hands out over the table, showing him you meant no harm, and he put his mug down, looking at your hands. “I’m a SHIELD agent, I worked undercover at HYDRA for a while. My job was to keep an eye on you. Give you someone to trust until it was safe to bring you back home. I failed at making sure you were safe,” your voice cracked a little as a single tear slipped from your eyes as the memory of his pained cries filled your ears. “And you did trust me. You knew my loyalties weren’t with HYDRA and you knew who I really worked for. And on a really rough day, you told me to leave; you told me to get out of this mess and I did. But the guilt of leaving you behind haunted me for months on end. It only got worse when I’d go home at the end of the day and see Steve, my boyfriend- or maybe not anymore, I’m not sure if he’d still consider me that thinking that I’m dead right now- and I couldn’t tell him about you because it wasn’t safe for him to know. He doesn’t exactly think rationally when it comes to you, so I was ordered to keep everything a secret. I’ve spent the past two months searching for you.” You finished, looking up into his eyes to see an unreadable look in his eyes. It looked like a mixture of confusion and trying to remember you.

“You had red hair.” He said suddenly. You nodded.

“I had to look the least like myself as possible, or my cover would be blown and they’d kill me without a second thought.”

“Are you here to bring me back home?” He asked.

“Will you let me bring you back home?”

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thisweekingundamwing · 7 years

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Weekly Recap May 21-May 27

It’s Sunday, and that means it’s time to see all the amazing content created by the Gundam Wing community!

We’ve taken submissions for all content, but we’ve also gone through AO3 to see what fics were written/created this week. Once again, we want to encourage EVERYONE in the community to submit their work! Fanfic, fanart, moodboards, chats, meta discussions, playlists, cosplay, events - you name it, we want to share it!

Below the cut you will find all the great things this fandom has been busy doing. If any of them take your fancy, please take the time to like, reblog and comment. Any creator can tell you - support and encouragement go a LONG way to inspiring more content.

Thanks and see you next week!

Fanfiction (in alphabetical order by the author’s url)

@amberlyinviolet Knife in Hand

Summary: When Duo learns there’s a hit out on him, he turns to the only person in Chicago he believes capable of helping him. But will the cost of the Broker’s help be too high? Pairings: 2x3

Ammiehawk, Wizards, Gundams and Host Clubs, Oh My!

Summary: Harry Potter finds out he has some relatives on his father’s side and goes to live with them the summer after fifth year, after Voldemort was destroyed in the Department of Mysteries. Along the way he also discovers a wayward brother and many friends and adventures in his new school, Ouran Academy. Originally a challenge by TZAG

@anaranesindanarie One More Light

Summary: Duo goes missing and no one can figure out how or why.

@anaranesindanarie, Random Works

Summary: A collection of complete and uncompleted works. Pairings: 2x5, some 2x4

@the-notorious-bhg @morbidbirdy, Where I Belong

Summary: In the year AC 205 the status of the Earth-Sphere remains relatively peaceful thanks to the efforts of the ESUN and it’s peacekeeping organization Preventer. The five young men who had once fought together for this peace now work quietly behind the scenes to maintain it. Despite their new roles in this world, Heero and Trowa struggle to establish a comfortable place in it. In the process of finding themselves they eventually realize that their place is with each other. Pairings: 3x1

@the-notorious-bhg, @morbidbirdy, Take Me On

Summary: Heero and Trowa run off to Bali and elope. Pairings: 3x1

@chronicwhimsy, Schoolyard Blues

Summary: A new teacher starts at the local town school, hoping for an easy year after moving from the big city. Unfortunately, she wasn’t prepared for the child of two men who don’t understand kids at all…Pairings: 2x5

@claraxbarton, The First Five Times

Summary:After five months in a 'friends with benefits' relationship with Duo, Trowa is asked to pretend to be his boyfriend for Duo's ex's wedding. Ships: 2x3, 1x5, 4x6 Warnings: smut, language, angst

@claraxbarton, My Lover, My Liar

Summary: Set after the war, one of the pilots faces the future. Inspired by Halsey’s “Closed Eyes” Ships: 2x3 Warnings: DEATH FIC

@claraxbarton, Good Things

Summary: Duo and Trowa’s family has a new addition, courtesy of Quatre Winner. Pairings: 2x3, past 3x4

Duointherain, Dark Poetry

Summary: It's ten years after the wars and Heero has now been forced into medical retirement. He had lost track of Duo, but looks him up ... and it's way different than he thought it would be - beyond anything he could have dreamed of. Pairings: 1x2

@helmistress (Talliya), The Assignment

Summary: WuFei's observations on his two friend's rather odd relationship and how he thinks they should just get on with it already. Pairings: 2x3

@i-am-captain-snark, Life After Gundam

Summary: A series of one-shots taking place post-Endless Waltz in the lives of the former pilots, soldiers, politicians, and civilians. Pairing: 2x unspecified female

@kangofu-cb, Just Like Paradise

Summary: Part 3 in the ‘Just One Date’ series. Duo and Wufei travel to attend a wedding! And buy a house! Sort of buy a house. Pairings: 2x5x2. No warnings, except NSFW. Smutty Sunday contribution

@kangofu-cb, Mission: Redacted - Chapter 4

Summary: Post-war, Une has been selected to direct the new Preventers Organization. Unfortunately, following government directives of disarmament and pacifism, criminal enterprises have sprung up, escalating crime and violence. Searching for a solution, she brainstorms a team of off-the-books operatives tasked with protecting the peace at all costs.Meanwhile, the pilots are all dealing with peace and the scars of war in their own ways, not all of them healthy…

LadyJFox, Hard Line

Summary: It's been nine years after the Eurussian Incident and the Earth Sphere Unified Nation continues to experience peace through communication and cooperation. Quatre Raberba Winner, while finishing his doctoral thesis in engineering at MIT in Boston, reconnects with his friend and ex-boyfriend, Trowa Barton. A romantic flame is rekindled while an old enemy plots his revenge. Pairings: 3x4, 2xH, Rx1

@lifeaftermeteor, Snippet Saturday

Summary: Having survived the Eve War, the Gundam pilots are left to their own devices to chart the paths their lives will take in a world that none of them expected to live long enough to see. Peace is disorienting and growing up is hard to do. Pairings: past 3x4x3, 1x2x1 and Sx11xS have started, 5xRx5 is inbound

Luvsanime02, Standby and AO3

Summary: Heero goes in front of the Board of Professional Review, and now she has an important decision to make. This is the fifth story in Navigation, a fem!Heero series.

Nerdybloomers, Golden Hour

Summary: Treize's attempts at traditional courship fall flat on the all-business Une, so he switches strategies. Provides a little more background to the infamous bath scene in episode 4. Pairings: 13x Une

@remsyk-blog, Wine Pairings

Summary: a drabble inspired by a delightful set of Stanley Tucci gifs and @kangofu-cb and @artemisblogs. Pairings: 1x2, 3x4

Rennitz, Procrastibation

Summary: Wufei is cooped up in the office and is at wit's end. Duo strolls by and, in the course of helping him, starts a flame that neither one of them expect. Pairings: 5x2

Shine, Back to One

Summary: Quatre, an actor, goes on a journey of self-discovery just as his show’s twenty year reunion gets underway. What he discovers about himself and about his four not-really friends leads to a complicated romance everyone but him saw coming twenty years in the making. Pairing: 3x4

@shinigami-of-excellence, Special Needs - They Don’t Care About Us

Summary: Zechs deals with the news of Treize's return, and picks something up on the way home from a briefing with Noin. Wufei delivers some news. Pairings: 2x6, 5x2, 5x13, 13x6, 3x4, 5x2x13x6

@simulacraryn, Ink to Paper

Summary: Dorothy cleans out Treize's estate, but her discoveries only give her further heartache.

@simulacraryn, Speak and Wish

Summary: Late night scrambled thoughts from Catherine Bloom...

TheHiddenBaroness, Resurrecting the Viper

Summary: Following a routine visit to Vingolf, Orga, Mikazuki and Merribit are surprised by the sudden appearance of a practically naked, injured woman. Although Artima seems to have full recollection of who she is, she does not seem to understand the outside world. Against Orga's better judgment, the Isaribi is soon entangled in Artima's quest to find and destroy her old mobile suit - and discover both she and it are relics from over three hundred years ago that could hold the key to Tekkadan's future.

@la-femme-noelle, The Pact

After seducing Quatre, the other four ex-pilots brave the uncharted waters of their new abilities and learn to cope with the unintentional gifts they were given. But as always, power requires responsibility and the humbling acknowledgement of humanity's weaknesses. The struggle to stay true to themselves becomes a dangerous and terrifying endeavor as they skirt the boundary where conscience bleeds into chaos and the dark abyss of temptation. Pairings: 3x5x2x4x1, 3x4, 4x1, 2x4, 5x4

@themanwell, Bungalow

Summary: Duo has a thing for fixing up old houses. Trowa has a thing for Duo. 2x3. One-shot. Rated M for smut. 4600 words.

@themanwell, “I think you might be pregnant”

Summary: Two out of Three universe, Prompt #52. Pairings: 2x3, HxR (+5)

@themanwell, This is probably a bad time, but marry me?

Summary: Prompt 50. Pairings: 2x3

@themanwell, May Demons Rest: Shinigami Sleeps 2017

Summary: A re-write of my 2004 fanfic “Shinigami Sleeps.” To find and free Duo from his demons, Trowa leaves his uneventful life at the circus for the mean streets of an obscure colony in L2. Pairings: 2x3

Fanart (in Alphabetical order by the author’s url)

@chronicwhimsy made two lovely things this week!

Two chillin’ mermen (Duo and Wufei)

Two snuggling mermen (Duo and Wufei)

@maevemauvaise made a lovely aerialist Dorothy

@shinigami-of-excellence was VERY busy making LOTS of lovely things this week!

Duo Twins commission for @anaranesindanarie

Duo in a suit commission for @kangofu-cb

NSFW Solo and Treize in the shower

Trowa and pets for @funambulate

Duo and Solo commission for @cylinanightshade

Calendar Events (in alphabetical order by event name):

Summer of Zechs runs June 4-June 17. It’s a two week festival celebrating Zechs Merquise. All content is welcome and there are suggested prompts/themes for each day!

And that’s it for this week! Again, we welcome all Gundam Wing content. Please submit so we can share your awesome things with this great fandom!

#weekly recap #this week in gundam wing #May 21-May 27

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seotipsandtricks-me · 5 years

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Since I started my journey in the world of SEO, the old Google Search Console (GSC) has been a mainstay of every campaign I’ve worked on. Together, we’ve dealt with some horrific JavaScript issues, tackled woeful hreflang implementation, and watched site performance reach its highest highs and lowest lows. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and in Jan ’19 Google announced most of the old Search Console features would be shut down for good at the end of March. But it’s not all doom and gloom. As a successor, we now have an updated Google Search Console v2.0 to guide us into the modern web. This new console has a fresh coat of paint, is packed with new reports, gives us 16 months of data, and provides a live link straight into Google’s index — it’s all rather lovely stuff! Despite all this… I still can’t help looking longingly for a few of the old reports sitting neatly tiered on the left-hand side of the browser. While we can’t quite turn back time, using the trusty SEO Spider we can replicate a few of these reports to fill the void for tabs now deleted or yet to be transferred over. Before jumping in, I should note this post mostly covers reports deleted or not fully transferred or across. If you can’t find something here, chances are it’s already available on GSC 2.0. Structured Data The new GSC does indeed have some structured data auditing in the new ‘Enhancements’ tab. However, it only monitors a few select forms of structured data (like Products and Events markup etc…). While I’m sure Google intends to expand this to cover all supported features, it doesn’t quite meet the comprehensiveness of the old report. Well, hot on the heels of the v11.0 release for the SEO Spider, we now have bulk structured data auditing and validation built in. To activate, just head over to Configuration > Spider > Advanced > Enable the various structured data settings shown here: Once your crawl is complete, there are two areas to view structured data. The first of which is in the main Structured Data tab and various sub filters, here: Or, if you just want to examine one lone URL, click on it and open the Structured Data Details tab at the bottom of the tool: There are also two exportable reports found in the main report’s menu: the Validation Errors & Warnings Summary, and the Validation Errors and Warnings. For the full details, have a look at: https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/tabs/ HTML Improvements The HTML Improvements was a neat little tab Google used to show off errors with page titles, meta descriptions, and non-indexable content. Mainly it highlighted when they were missing, duplicated, short, long, or non-informative. Unlike many other reports, rather than transferring over to the new GSC it’s been completely removed. Despite this, it’s still an incredibly important aspect of page alignment, and in Google’s own words: “there are some really good tools that help you to crawl your website to extract titles & descriptions too.” Well — taking their hint, we can use the Spider and various tabs or filters for exactly that. Want page title improvements? Look no further than the filters on the Page Title tab: Or if you’re curious about your Meta Descriptions: Want to see if any pages reference non-indexable content? Just sort by the Indexability column on any tab/filter combo: International Targeting Ahh, hreflang… the stuff of nightmares for even the most skilled of SEO veterans. Despite this, correctly configuring a multi-region/language domain is crucial. It not only ensures each user is served the relevant version, but also helps avoid any larger site or content issues. Thankfully, we’ve had this handy Search Console tab to help report any issues or errors with implementation: Google hasn’t announced the removal of this report, and no doubt it will soon be viewable within the new GSC. However, if for any reason they don’t include it, or if it takes a while longer to migrate across, then look no further than the hreflang tab of the SEO Spider (once enabled in Configuration > Spider > hreflang). With detailed filters to explore every nook and cranny of hreflang implementation — no matter what issues your site faces, you’ll be able to make actionable recommendations to bridge the language gap. There’s also a handful of exportable hreflang reports from the top ‘Reports’ dropdown. While I won’t go through each tab here, I’d recommend you check out the following link which explains everything involving hreflang and the spider in much more detail: https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/how-to-audit-hreflang/ Blocked Resources Another report that’s been axed — it was introduced as a way to keep track of any CSS or JavaScript files being blocked to search bots. Helping flag anything which might break the rendering, make the domain uncrawlable, or just straight up slow it down. While these issues have drastically decreased over the years, they’re still important to keep track of. Fortunately, after running a crawl as Googlebot (Configuration > User-Agent > Googlebot) we can find all blocked resources within the Response Codes tab of the Spider — or if you’re just looking for issues relating to rendering, have a look at the bottom Rendered Page details tab: Fetch as Google “But wait — you can just use the new URL inspect tool…”. Well, yes — you can indeed use the new URL inspect to get a live render straight from Googlebot. But I still have a few quarrels with this. For a start, you can only view your render from Googlebot mobile, while poor desktop is completely neglected. Secondly, the render is just a static above-the-fold screenshot, rather than the full-page scrollable view we used to get in Fetch As. While it’s not quite the same as a direct request from Google, we can still emulate this within the Spider’s JavaScript rendering feature. To enable JavaScript rendering head over to Configuration > Spider > Rendering and switch the drop down to JavaScript. Once your crawl is complete, highlight a URL and head over to the Rendered Page tab towards the bottom. Here you can view (or export) a screenshot of your rendered page, alongside a list showing all the resources needed: If you want to mimic Google as much as possible, try switching the User-Agent to Googlebot or Googlebot mobile (Configuration > User-Agent). This will make the Spider spoof a request as if it were Google making it. It’s also worth mentioning that Googlebot renders JavaScript based on v41 of Chrome, whereas the Spider uses the updated v64 of Chromium. While there aren’t many massive differences between the two, there may be some discrepancies. As a bonus, if you still want a desktop render direct from Google (or don’t have access to Search Console of a domain), the PageSpeed Insights tool still produces a static desktop image as a representation of how Googlebot is rendering a page. It’s not the most high-res or detailed image but will get the job done! Robots.txt tester Another tab I’m hopeful Google will eventually migrate over — testing your robots before submitting is crucial to avoid disallowing or blocking half your site to search engines. If for any reason they don’t happen to transfer this across to the new GSC, you can easily test any robot’s configuration directly within the SEO Spider (Configuration > Robots.txt > Custom). This window will allow you to either import a live robots.txt file or make your own custom one. You can test if an individual URL is blocked by entering it into the search at the bottom. Alternatively, run a crawl of your site and the spider will obey the custom crawl behaviour. For a much more in-depth guide on all the robots.txt capabilities of the SEO Spider, look here: https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/robots-txt-tester/ URL Parameters An extremely useful tab — the URL Parameters helps to highlight all of the various parameter queries Google found on its journey through your site. This is particularly useful when examining the crawl efficiency or dealing with faceted navigations. Currently, there’s no way of replicating this report within the Spider, but we are able to get a similar sample from a crawl and some Excel tinkering. Just follow these steps or download the macro (linked below) – 1. Run a crawl of the domain, export the internal HTML tab 2. Cut & Paste the URL list into Column A of a fresh Excel sheet 3. Highlight Column A > Data > Text-to-Columns > Delimited > Other: ? > Finish 4. Highlight Column B > Data > Text-to-Columns > Delimited > Other: & > Finish 5. Highlight Column A > Right-click > Delete 6. Home > Editing > Find & Select > Go to Special > Blanks > OK 7. With these highlighted > Home > Cells > Delete 8. CTRL+A to highlight everything > Find & Replace > Replace: =* with nothing 9. Stack all columns into one & add a heading of ‘Parameter’ 10. Highlight this master column > Insert > Pivot Table > Recommended > Count of Parameter To save some time, I’ve made an Excel macro to do this all for you, which you can download here. Just download the spreadsheet > click Enable Content & Enable Editing then follow the instructions. If everything’s done correctly, you should end up with a new table similar to this: It’s worth noting there will be some discrepancies between this and Google’s own URL report. This boils down to the fundamental differences between the Spider & Googlebot, most of which is explained in much greater detail here: https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/faq/ The King Is Dead, Long Live the King! Well, that’s all for now — hopefully you find some of these reports useful. If you want a full list of our other how-to guides, take a look through our user guide & FAQ pages. Alternatively, if you have any other suggestions and alternatives to the retired Google system, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below. As a side note: for many of these reports, you can also combine them with the Scheduling feature to keep them running on a regular basis. Or, if you’d like some automatic reporting, take a quick look at setting this up in the Crawl Reporting in Google Data Studio of my previous post. The post Reviving Retired Search Console Reports appeared first on Screaming Frog.

#structured-data #why-does-the-number-of-urls-crawled-not-match-the-number-of-results-indexed-in-google-or-errors-reported-within-google-webmaster-tools

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novelyarmy-blog · 7 years

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100 Reasons to Study:

study-well:

I never expected this “reasons to study” thing to get so many submissions, and as it takes me so long to post them all, I decided to do a bulk post of some so here they are:

(If I haven’t included a url, it was submitted by an anon).

To prove people that “bad” students can become excellent students too.

To expand your knowledge of the world.

To look back on your success in ten years time. (Submitted byadxlastudies)

To not let my mental illness define my grades. (Submitted bymusicandmaths)

I study because I am privileged enough to have the opportunity. I study because I have no one getting in my way telling me I can’t. I study because I want to do some real good in this world. I study because I live in a country where being female has no significant disadvantage; and so, I take this opportunity so that I may make future opportunities for those who don’t have them. (Submitted by crimson-voltaire)

My reason for studying is how I’ll get to where I want to be in my life which is successful, comfortable, and happy.

I study to make my mum happy and proud.

I study to prove my anxiety wrong!

I study because I want to save lives.

I study because my grandpa, orphaned during WWII when he was 8, worked 4 days a week in a mine to learn for 2 days. He’s retired after 40 years of working in diplomacy, for the last 5 years as an ambassador. He’s my role model. And I love him so much.

I study because my primary school teacher from when I was 6 replied “Well who would think that?” when my mother informed her I was going to university. I study so I can tell her “Why would you not think that?”

I study because I want to give myself the best future I possibly can as a black woman. (Submitted by n-marlzz)

I study because my dreams are improbable. But not impossible. I will achieve them. (Submitted by redheadbecool)

I study because even though I can’t imagine having a future, I want one. (Submitted by stxdys)

I study so that I can be surrounded by the right people at school, at home, at work, and on Tumblr. You can only walk the path that you choose for yourself, so choose wisely. Pave your path with bricks, not straw.

I study because last year I was in a mental hospital for young people and I discovered that I want my death to mean something.

I study because diseases have haunted my family for long enough, and cancer deserves to be taken down once for all.

I study because my father left school at age 13 to work to provide for his family and he has been working ridiculously hard ever since so I can have an education.

I study to be self reliant and to get more answers. The concept of being independent is attractive to me, and if i study hard enough, i will be able to live freely without relying on my parents. The thought of getting answers is a huge satisfaction.

I study because I told my ex, “Watch me go to Harvard”. So oops.

Because I want to have a well paying job which means I can eventually travel the world one day.

I study because I love to be productive really just in love with the feeling of it being noon and already have gotten everything done that I needed for that day. (Submitted by revision-babe)

I want and I like to study because I believe that we as humans have the responsibility of maintain and grow the knowledge people developed in the past. How could we waist all those efforts to try know this wonderful world a little better? (Submitted by mochilunar-universe)

I study because my Dad went through a lot of work to get to this country so that I could have a good life and a good education, and I’m not going to waste all his good efforts and take him and my education for granted.

Because I believe I can do it and I won’t let their words stop me. (Submitted by truly-written-by-me)

I study for my own sense of achievement! I’m also really motivated by my boyfriend who is very clever and works really hard. I want to get a first in my masters this year and I will! (Submitted by @orchidbeam)

I study for Nicki Minaj, she would be proud of me, and all the other women in the world. I hope that my degree will put me in the position to make a better world for all my sisters out there and the little ones.

I study because my family isn’t as rich as our family friends, and other families always make fun about what my dad does for a living. I want to change that and make sure the only thing others talk about is how amazing we turned out and what a good career I’m going into.

I study to make my parent’s hardships (moving to America, to provide a better life for my siblings and I) worth it.

My reason to study is to show myself and everyone I am stronger than my mental illness and to prove everyone who said it would stop me from getting anywhere wrong.

I study so I can change the world for the better.

I study because I want to help my family, to fulfil my dreams and save lives.

To be a champion.

I want to study in order to prove myself and people that being dyslexic and dysorthographic doesn’t mean being stupid. (Submitted bybritannicusmyfav)

I love to learn,and I want to know about all the things I missed because of school system. (Submitted by @seshet)

I study because I want to be the first sibling to go straight into uni without transferring from a community college.

I want to study so that I can transfer out from a community college to a really good university so that people won’t think the decision I made to go to community college was bad. Also to make my DAD super proud!

I study because I want to be the best version of myself.

I study to make those who have taken care of me proud, to show them they did a good job. I also study for myself, to prove that I can fulfil my goals and that everyone who has ever made fun of me just pushed me forward instead of putting the boot in. Getting a good job to live with my boyfriend would be a great plus! We all need motivation, and what’s better to motivate oneself than dreams to fulfil! Here are mine. (~Submitted bystudy-littleidlegirl)

I study because I never want to stop learning about myself and the world we live in.

I study so I’m educated enough to take down the haters in an articulate way so I feel accomplished when leaving the situation.

I study to ensure that when I’m actively in politics, only weak minded people will be able to scorn me due to my ethnic background or religion (or something stupid along those lines) instead of the immaculate policies and work I am carrying out.

I study to become successful in my future and because I have a passion for learning. (Submitted by baklavugh)

I study because I don’t have anything else to do. I guess it keeps me so busy that I don’t have time to think how lonely I am.

Because it makes me happy to see my hard work paid off and also ensures a better future than I would have if I didn’t study well. (Submitted by h4rshitaa)

I study to be able to pursue the career I want. For the thrill of knowledge, the security of understanding. For the way it shapes how I interpret the world. I study not because it is something I must do, but because it is something that is a part of who I am. (Submitted by @audesapare)

I study to improve my mind so I can understand deeply the things people thought I was not capable of understanding. I study so I can live the most fulfilled life possible. I take every second of this life as a chance to learn and improve myself.

Because I’m going to prove girls are useful for more then just looks and a sex object.

I study to open doors of opportunity. I study to improve my and others lives. I study to feel good when I go to sleep. I study to feel confident with my ability. I study to prove to myself what I can do.

Because I want to show to my child that everything needed effort and passion. Also I want to show how important knowledge is, as a mom and as a housewife. (Submitted by studymamapartiallyhousewife)

I study because it makes me happy to know I am in control of my future.

I study because I am curious.

So that I won’t have to struggle like my parents are financially. (Submitted by study-sugar)

I study because I want my single mother who has worked so hard for my education to live a better life when she’s older. I want her to look at me in the future, sitting in my office in a law firm and telling herself “it was all worth it”.

FOR NICKI MINAJ. I WILL GO TO A HIGHER EDUCATION FOR YOU.

I study so that I can be proud of the person that I am.

I study because I want independence. After my bachelor’s degree I plan to be able to continue into further study such as an MA and support myself. I am an only child which has always led my family to be over protective and education will always be my way in holding my own in the world.

I study so I can have the freedom to leave where I am now and actually be happy for a change. Without studying I wouldn’t be able to get the job nor satisfaction in life I know I deserve.

I study because it’s the one thing I can decide for myself.

I study because knowledge is power and I never want to feel inferior to anyone or have any regrets. I don’t want anything to hold me back from achieving my dreams. (Submitted by shreestudies)

I study so I’m not so nervous for tests. Also to improve myself and my learning.

I study because I have a huge thirst for knowledge. I love to learn and allow that to change me as a person for the better. I love being able to understand the world around me and contribute my opinions that have been developed from what I’ve learned. (Submitted bymymindssecretpalace)

I want to be a successful person in life. I can use my intelligence to help those in need. Besides, people won’t belittle or pick on my appearance! ✌

I study because I want to help others and make people aware that how important it is to be literate. (Submitted by anashiv)

I study to show that I have potential. I study to show my learning disabilities and adhd is not me. I study because I want to grow. I study to be the person I know I can be, the person I know I am.

I’m so tired of not passing my tests, of feeling like I don’t know the material. I have testing anxiety which prevents me from doing well. I want to study enough that I feel so comfortable with the material and the anxiety goes away. I want to study so I can begin feeling proud of myself and all my accomplishments.

To help those struggling with different mental illnesses and help them see a better light.

Because I want to build that building.

I study because I want to prove all my male teachers and friends, that not only boys are learning the best, and if I want to, I can beat them all!

I want to study to make my parents proud after all the sacrifices they made for me and to succeed so my family and I can live a better life.

I study because I love to learn new things. (Submitted by ki-soonal)

I study to find a solution to stop the passing on of the genes for hereditary diseases. As in to reduce risk of young children being diagnosed with hereditary diseases.

To get that dream job and slay everyone who said it was too difficult for me.

Because education is awesome.

So I can change the world.

To give my mom and dad the life they deserve! (Submitted by samiya-malik)

Because everything is a competition and I must be best. (Submitted by letustudy)

To prove to myself and others that I can do anything I set my mind to. (Submitted by studiousstudying)

So when you are taking a test/exam your anxiety and stress levels are lower. (Submitted by introvertedturtlequeen)

I study because I want to know I’ve earned everything I achieve.

The biggest reason I study is that all of my friends are incredibly smart and when I was younger I wanted to prove to them that I could keep up, but now that I’ve decided that I don’t need to compete, I study just because it makes me feel good. (Submitted by queen-elbow)

I study because the world is an interesting place, and I want to know it as deeply as possible. (Submitted by matchamonstr)

I study because I am so sick and tired of seeing my mom struggle, all because she didn’t have a good education. I don’t want to wake up to a job I absolutely dread, and be paid minimum wage. I want to say “thanks mom, I can take care of you now.”

I study to grow big enough to reach my high hopes. (Submitted by seriousstudygirl)

To see the look on my mum and dad’s face when they see my results. (Submitted by seizethesaturday)

I study because I love to crush my enemies. I like to see the looks on their faces when they see me succeed. (Submitted by dirtylaundry-emptystyrofoam)

I study because I feel the need to prove to the world that I am more than a child prodigy that burnt out one day. I need to prove to myself that I’m just as good, if not better than I used to be. That I’ve got places to go and people to prove wrong.

I study because I love to teach and I want to know everything that I can so that I can more clearly convey things to others, and to be able to make connections across topics to make things personal and interesting to them. (Submitted by the-homework-fandom)

My dream as a little girl was “to be the most smartest person ever” and I still don’t know what else to do. (Submitted by polaroceanographer)

To create room for the real me in the future.

My reason for studying is so I can get into the university I want, and not have to travel away to one. (Submitted by iggythedragonslayer)

To get a well paid job so my children can have the best possible life.

My reason to study is to prove to my parents and myself that I can achieve my goals without the help of others. My reason to study is to gain valuable knowledge, NOT just for a grade. (Submitted by barbstudies)

To prove to myself that I am strong and can reach my goals. (Submitted by scared-robot

I study so I have a chance of getting into the United States Air Force academy…

I study so I am offered to meet interesting people that are also studying the same field as I am. (Submitted by ghostsname)

I’ll study so I can live relaxed as a cat in Hokkaido.

*Shia LaBoeuf voice* JUST DO IT

So I can prove myself that I am, indeed, intelligent and not just some bimbo with a hollow head. (Submitted by study-guerassimovna)

Because learning new things and having a more informed view of the world is beautiful. (Submitted by studism)

101. I study because Literature is what saves me from my mind.

#self motivation #tips

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northofsomewhererp · 6 years

Text

Your Name, Age (17+), & Timezone: Tash, old enough to retire, UTC +10

Your Birthday: August 1st (fun fact, I share it with all the horses down under)

Indiana Miles Waters turned 28 years old on September 1st. He’s a mechanic in Greensville. His face claim is Ryan Guzman.

Admin Note: Now to send in the URL, and remember to wait until his follow link is up to start posting!

Bio:

Miles had never been sure how his life would turn out. He’d never had that dream - not the grand, luxurious dream where everything was alright, the world at his fingertips. Not the suburban one, with white picket fences, 2.5 kids, and the golden retriever. He’d had enough trouble picturing a steady home … four walls, a roof. That was Miles’ endgame.

For as long as he could remember, Miles had lived with his father, his new partner, and his half-brother. It hadn’t been what Miles had wanted, but Miles, the four-year-old in the middle of the chaos, hadn’t had a say. And he hadn’t gotten one in all of the years to follow - no tantrum, no screaming match, no threat would sway Jaxon Water’s decision. And so, Miles was permitted one day a month - one lousy day - to visit his mother. Jaxon had carried on like it was a gift, a blessing through his spite. Miles’ hatred had deepened. The gum on his shoe meant more to him (the gum, he’d argue, was something to eat, more than Jaxon bothered to put on their table).

Still … it hadn’t been all bad. Miles wouldn’t go so far as to call it a home, but he’d had a family. He’d had his brother. It hadn’t been perfect - Miles, after all, hadn’t signed up to become a live-in babysitter, hadn’t requested a shadow, hadn’t wanted to worry about someone other than himself. But … he’d taken it on, and he’d tucked Fin under his wing without raising a fuss. No-one could say he’d done well, but Miles had tried. Dammit, Miles had tried for Fin.

Lifting the odd loaf of bread, gallon of milk, or bottle of cough medicine from their local corner store was a quick fix, and Miles had mastered it by the age of twelve. His methods weren’t ideal, but he’d learned to stand on his own to feet - and he’d learn, in his own … particular way, how to scrape by for himself and his brother. Life hadn’t been perfect, but Miles knew his place in it. And then, Carmen had passed away. Miles’ one day, his escape, was gone. Carmen had been spiralling for a long time, never having truly recovered from the break-up, the affair, from Jaxon’s continuing torment … Miles had watched it happen, Jaxon had watched it happen, and the grieving 12-year-old would not forget that. It was Jaxon’s fault. Jaxon and the other woman.

He’d needed an out. But to get there, he’d needed cash. An income he was never going to get from Jaxon … but Jaxon wasn’t important. MIles only had to find the right people, the right in (to get out), whisper the right words in the right ears, and before long, he was running “errands” across Daytona Beach, putting those early pickpocketing, shoplifting skills to the test. The first and only tests he’d passed with flying colours. One thing had led to another, and before long, Miles was in too deep. He wasn’t too far gone not to recognise that, but he was too involved to back away. And he wouldn’t want t. For the first time in his life, Miles had something. Besides, what was one missing sports car? They could get another. The fuckers could afford it. And deserved it if they were stupid enough to leave the vehicle within reach … nevermind the locked garages. Security? Miles didn’t know her.

He’d never wanted to drag Fin down with him. The auto theft circuit wasn’t meant to be his brother’s future, Miles had wanted better for him … but he’d fucked up. Like everything else in his life, that had blown up in his face. It wasn’t until the girlfriend that Miles saw the opportunity to shock Fin back into sense, back to school … hell, back to sanity. Safety. The girl - Legs? Blondie? Miles never could remember her name - had a reputation. Miles knew it, everyone knew it … everyone, it seemed, but Fin. She’d been taking his brother for a ride - Miles, and God-knows-who-else. Miles had lost track of the stories. Her stories. He’d tried to warn him, has gone so far as to try and trick him into walking in on her and her latest fling. It hadn’t worked … nothing had worked.

Until one night, pissed beyond measure at the trouble his brother’s antics had caused, furious at the repercussions he could already feel raining down on his head (it wouldn’t be the first time Miles had taken the brunt of his brother’s consequences, and it wouldn’t be the last), he’d lost whatever sense he’d had left. Fin wouldn’t listen. Miles would make him listen. Legs - he really sure had at least remembered her name - had been all too eager. A tumble between the sheets with the older brother had been on her radar, whether either of the Waters had been aware of it or not.

Miles should have known it would go south. In fact … he’d never admit it, but the dark, twisted part of him that had been festering for years, had known exactly what it would do. Fin had crossed a line, Miles had burned every last bridge. The fights had escalated, five minutes couldn’t pass between them without a black eye, or a busted lip. And that was on a good day. Miles had been practicing his suturing for years … and that was a damn good thing. Doctors asked too many questions.

Miles hadn’t known of Fin’s mistake with the kid until the day of the speedway bust. The day their lives went to shit (and that, Miles thought, was saying something). He’d been ready, a master of excuses, to fight, to snag himself a shorter sentence … even better, no sentence! But … but Fin. Despite everything, Miles had stuck his hand up, he’d claimed full responsibility. Miles had taken the fall, the plea, he’d barked “guilty” to anyone who would listen. He’d kept his brother out of it.

… only to find out that while Miles had sacrificed his own freedom for Fin, Fin had done nothing but toss himself deeper into Hell’s clutches. Seven (in what initially had been nine) years of his life for nothing. Freedom, Miles realised when he was granted it, and took his first steps as a free man since 21, didn’t taste sweet. It tasted bitter. Fin wasn’t the little brother he’d sacrificed the last bowl of cereal for, or given whatever loose change he could scrounge together for one last shot at Space Invaders … Fin was someone else. Something else. He wasn’t family. Carmen was, and she’d been gone 15 years.

Now, Miles’ plans are up in the air. He isn’t naive enough to believe it’s as easy as “turning his life around”, and … he isn’t sure that he wants to. With no qualifications, no real education beyond his GED, and a criminal record behind him, he knows his chances are slim. Just as he knows that with the right connections … well, every door would be opened to him once more. And this time, he knew what not to do. He wouldn’t get caught, for one. And he wouldn’t have Fin dragging him down. He may have secured himself a probationary position at one of Greensville’s garages, but … only time would tell if Miles could keep himself on the straight and narrow, for once in his damn life.

Activity (1-10): 6-7 (lurking though? About a 20)

Have you read the rules?: removed

In the event that you leave, can we keep your biography for future use? No, sorry!

Sample:

Legitimate jobs, Miles was learning, were the new and improved bane of his entire existence.

There were start times. And right now, that meant rolling out of the warmth of– what was her name again? It meant rolling out of the warmth of Last Night's bed, and fucking off while she showered. There’d be no return invite - not that he’d been looking for one. He was a free man, and free men were … well, free to take advantage of that.

Kicking his feet from the bed, Miles hauled his jeans up, and set out in search of his shirt while his hands worked to buckle his belt. It wasn’t in the bedroom - had she taken it to the bathroom? Fucker. He didn’t have time for that crap. Just as he was prepping himself to don his jacket and his head off, he spotted the missing top, tossed over the coffee table, a makeshift grey place mat. Crinkled to shit, but Miles didn’t care. What mechanic ironed his fucking t-shirts?

It should have been a case of waltzing from the door (in fact, it should have been a case of waiting to say goodbye before seeing himself out), but that wasn’t on Miles’ agenda. Instead, he took himself to the kitchen, snagging a banana from Last Night’s fruit bowl, and proceeded to the door from there … along with the coffee shop loyalty card propped against her key bowl. Get the sixth free.

Today was his lucky day.

#rp #roleplay #original character #submission #accepted #acceptance

0 notes

leaper182 · 7 years

Text

Four Beauty & the Beast Snippets (old snippets!)

Again, salvaged from LiveJournal, these were posted in one post on February 18, 2005.

Because I'm really just a naughty hamster like that. Rated G all around, though "Simplicity" is probably something like PG because it's slashy. (beat) *Overtly* slashy, at any rate. Both are extremely unbeta'ed. I tried to fix the glaring errors, but just to let people know, I'm sure there'll be something there that I missed...

devinharris has already read two of these, but I figured I might as well inflict them upon you all post them in case there were other B&TB fans out there that I wasn't aware of. As far as I know, these should be in chronological order, even if there are enormous gaps of time between each scene.

All post-movie, so just a warning.

ETA (4/5/17): The scene that is mentioned in these four snippers as being posted on 1/17/05 is the “FIC: Reunion” post on Tumblr. Copy and paste the following URL to find it.

http://leaper182.tumblr.com/tagged/candelabra-and-clock-romance

***

Heart to Heart (339 words)

NOTES: Not really much here. This is a heart-to-heart between Lumiere and Mrs. Potts set after the scene posted on 1/17/05. If you want the link to that scene, drop me a line. No, she doesn't know about the relationship, but methinks she has a woman's intuition.

@}~~~~~~}~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lumiere."

Lumiere looked up from his thoughts, saw Mrs. Potts standing next to him, drying off a delicate teapot. "Mrs. Potts."

"If you don't mind my saying so, you look dreadful."

Lumiere smiled wryly. "I feel dreadful."

"Would you like a spot of tea?"

Lumiere shook his head. "Non, merci." He sighed, looking down at the missives in front of him. Half were in French, the other half English. They had been reports from all across France -- the nobles were being eliminated, their holdings seized by the common people. It didn't bode well for their castle.

The fact that Cogsworth had handed down such an... absurd ultimatum didn't help matters.

"It's about Cogsworth, isn't it."

Lumiere looked up, surprised at the observation. "How...?"

Mrs. Potts shook her head. "You two have been at each other's throats since Cogsworth first came to the castle." She moved the drying cloth in slow, even circles over the ceramic surface of the teapot. "And yet, both of you are absolutely inseparable."

Lumiere raised an eyebrow. "He seems to want nothing to do with me now."

Mrs. Potts sighed. "It could be because of Roxanne. You remember the girl that he'd been courting before that business with the rose?"

Lumiere blinked, nodding dumbly. "But what would she have to do with anything?"

"Since the modiste opened, she's been a somewhat regular customer," Mrs. Potts replied, her eyes focused on Lumiere's face.

Lumiere frowned. "Is he courting her again?"

Mrs. Potts shook her head. "It wouldn't be proper -- she married the lord of Rochester a year or so after we were first enchanted."

"... Then, he really has no one who loves him."

Mrs. Potts raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure." she asked mysteriously.

Lumiere was about to ask her what she meant, but there was a shrill sound from the kitchen. "Oops! Dear me, I have to see to that. Excuse me..."

Lumiere was left sitting at the table, frowning.

What does she mean, she wouldn't be so sure?

END

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Simplicity Itself (203 words)

****

NOTES: This is set a bit of time after the 1/17/05 post and the above snippet, though this might get changed at some point. Then again, I could set this before the AIM conversation, and Lumiere could just be a bit of an ass before he has his own confrontation with Cogsworth. Hmmm. Maybe I should type that one up too and post it...

@}~~~~~~}~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who would have thought a time would come when I'd miss the curse?"

Lumiere frowned at the statement, pulled back a bit to favor Cogsworth with an unconsciously raised eyebrow. "Why do you say that, mon ami?"

Cogsworth shook his head. "Everything was so much simpler. All I had to worry about was making sure I was keeping accurate time, organizing the servants, that sort of thing. And now...."

Lumiere reached under Cogsworth's chin and tipped his head up a little. Cogsworth's eyes looked into his immediately. "And now?"

"Everything is so bloody complicated." Cogsworth sighed heavily.

There was more in that statement than just the fact that they'd been effectively exiled to London, and both of them knew it.

"You're right," Lumiere acknowledged with a nod. "But that doesn't mean we have to be, oui?"

Cogsworth stared at him for a long minute. I'm getting my wish. Lumiere isn't treating this seriously. Giving this... relationship undue weight.

When Lumiere reached out, cupped his hand around Cogsworth's neck and gently guided him forward, Cogsworth didn't resist. When soft lips met his, he opened immediately, as eager to taste as he always was, no matter how he felt.

Then why do I feel so bloody unhappy?

END

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Familiar Faces (844 words)

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NOTES: Just finished this one. This is the first time that Cogsworth bumps into Roxanne. Anybody's who read through the Notes saved on my computer knows that Roxanne is the love-interest that Cogsworth had pre-movie that he had been trying to court and eventually marry. Seeing as how Lumiere kinda insinuated himself in there, and Cogsworth ended up falling for him, them's the way the cookie crumbles.

Oh, and yes, I shamelessly stole Fauchelevent from Les Mis. Because I needed a French last name that sounded like a noble name. Hush.

@}~~~~~~}~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a busy day in the modiste, and by midday, Cogsworth was mopping his forehead with his handkerchief. "Who would have thought a time would come when I'd miss the curse?"

"Excuse me," a soft voice asked, sounding as if she were trying to be braver than she felt, "is this the Rose Enchantée modiste?"

Cogsworth turned to the new voice, catching sight of the young woman asking. "Yes, it--"

And promptly froze.

She was a slight woman, beautiful in a pale, delicate way. The dress she wore was blue, bringing out the color in her large, blue eyes. Her lips were soft, her golden brown hair in a sedate style, and she was very much a young woman who looked uncomfortable in her setting. Someone not used to the finery of the nobility, who'd worked her hands in kitchens when she was younger.

"Roxanne?" Cogsworth breathed, unable to speak any louder.

Roxanne blinked, and her expression sharpened. "I am Lady Roxanne of Rochester, sir." There was enough steel in her voice to suggest that she'd had to correct others before. "You will address me properly, or I shall take my business elsewhere."

Cogsworth blinked, nonplussed as she glared at him. She must not recognize me...

"I..." He mentally shook himself. Noble, Cogsworth, a noble! "My apologies, my Lady. You are correct --- this is the Rose Enchantée. I am Cogsworth. Please allow me to--"

Roxanne stopped, her eyes blinking quickly. She peered closer at his face, and then recognition dawned. "Cogsworth?" she gasped. "Is it truly...?"

Cogsworth nodded. "Yes, my--"

"Cogsworth!" Her face lit up at the sight of him. "It's been so long, I hardly recognized you!" She stepped back and looked him over before searching his face again. "You've aged very well, sir." She smiled impishly. "Or should I say 'monsieur'?"

Cogsworth chuckled and shook his head. "As before, I still have a bit of trouble with French."

"I wonder how you managed to live in France for so long, then."

Cogsworth shrugged. "Oh, there are a few servants who spoke English rather well. It wasn't difficult to get the point across otherwise."

Roxanne's expression fell. "You're still attached to the family you were serving under?"

"Very much so, yes," Cogsworth replied honestly. "When the villagers near the castle took up arms against us, we were able to escape with the help of one of the servants who had posed as a revolutionary."

Roxanne gasped, her eyes going wide. "You were attacked!"

Cogsworth shook his head, cursing himself when his cheeks went pink. "It's nothing to worry about, my dear Lady, really."

Roxanne reached out and gently laid a hand on Cogsworth's arm, her eyes still wide. "Were you injured?"

Cogsworth chuckled. "Oh, no. The Master had taken the brunt of the fighting, but the rest of us hadn't been involved in much fighting."

"Oh, my," Roxanne breathed. "It must have been so horrible."

Cogsworth shook his head again, waving a hand as if to dismiss the preposterous notion. "Oh, it wasn't that horrible. The lord of Worthington was generous enough to provide a place for us to stay for a brief…"

The door to the back of the modiste opened, and Belle stepped through, wearing a simple blue dress that she usually wore at the shop. She turned to Cogsworth with a curious look. "Cogsworth? Is this a new customer?"

Cogsworth blushed at getting caught falling down on the job. "Ah, yes, Mademoiselle, this is Lady Roxanne of Rochester." He turned to Roxanne. "Lady Rochester, this is our lovely modiste, Lady Belle Fauchelevent."

The two ladies clucked at each other, and Belle quickly escorted her to another part of the establishment.

The door to the back opened again, and Mrs. Potts came through, carrying a tea tray in her hands. Seeing as the flush on Cogsworth's face, she bustled up to him. "Spot of tea, dear?"

Cogsworth shook his head. "No, thank you." He sighed heavily.

"Is something troubling you?" Mrs. Potts asked with a concerned look.

Cogsworth paused, and then shook his head. "It's funny, really. Just before all of this revolution business had begun in France, I was so glad to be human again."

Mrs. Potts chuckled. "We all were."

Cogsworth nodded in acknowledgement. "And just now, I was thinking to myself, 'who would have thought a time would come when I'd miss the curse?' It's amusing, truly."

Mrs. Potts nodded with sympathy. "I always thought I might like to see England again, perhaps even live in London when I retired, and now…"

Cogsworth nodded, reaching out to touch her shoulder gently. "And now."

They stood like that for a moment before Mrs. Potts seemed to realize that she was still carrying a tea tray. "Oh, dear, I almost forgot about our new customer."

Cogsworth nodded crisply. "I'll leave you to it, then."

Mrs. Potts shifted the tray in her hands, but then paused, turning to Cogsworth and patting his shoulder. "Chin up, dear. It can't be all that bad."

If only you knew.

END

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Lady Roxanne (837 words)

****

NOTES: Not much to say here. This is set before Lumiere comes to England, and Roxanne is a fairly regular customer. Doesn't stop the angst machine from churning, though.

@}~~~~~~}~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Cogsworth?"

Cogsworth looked up from his thoughts, and found himself looking into large, blue eyes set in a delicate face framed by sunny, golden brown hair. Lady Roxanne of Rochester was a slight woman, wearing a dress that noblewomen would have considered understated, and her hair was done up in a coronet style, with strands framing her face.

"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry," Cogsworth apologized quickly. "Let me see to announcing you straight away--"

Roxanne shook her head, reaching out and touching a gloved hand to his bicep. "That's all right, Cogsworth. I... I wanted to see you."

Cogsworth blinked, looking astonished at the thought. "Me?"

A hint of color touched Roxanne's cheeks, and she nodded quickly. "Yes. I..." She sighed. "I'm... really very sorry about all this."

There was no need for her to go on -- Cogsworth was sure he knew what she was talking about. "No, no, my lady, it's really quite all right--"

"But you had been courting me--"

Cogsworth shook his head firmly, daring greatly by reaching out with his pudgy hands and taking hers in them. "Roxanne, you have nothing to apologize for. I was -- I am a servant. By all accounts, your husband is a very good man." He winced a little. "I wish that I could have been able to provide the kind of security that he can."

Roxanne's gaze dropped to his shoulder, and then to their joined hands. "But... I don't love him."

Cogsworth's eyes closed, and he sighed gently. "I'm sure that with time..."

Roxanne shook her head. "He... I never see him. He never holds me, never says the sweet things you used to say to me in your letters..."

His letters. Cogsworth wanted a hole to rip open in the floor and for the ground to swallow him whole. "I... I had help with those."

Roxanne looked up, blinking her large blue eyes. "Help?"

"A fellow servant in the castle," Cogsworth explained. "I was so nervous trying to come up with something to say that would win your affections that I ended up having to ask one of the footmen to write a poem or two for me."

That wasn't the exact truth -- he'd written all of the letters himself, with suggestions from Lumiere, but the passion in them had twisted, changed, turned into something else. Lumiere had been there, warm and willing (if a bit too carefree), and Roxanne had been a beautiful ideal to aspire for.

"Oh."

Cogsworth could see disappointment spread across her face. Just as long as she didn't ask...

"But... why did you say that you could not court me anymore?" Roxanne asked.

Cogsworth wanted to reach out, make that haunted expression disappear. Roxanne had been the most beautiful girl he'd ever met. The fact that she was little better than a servant didn't matter, even if her parents had wished she would show interest in someone more suitable than the chef's son from Bath. It hadn't mattered that he frequently got tongue-tied around her, or that he would blush whenever she smiled at him.

The only available position for a castle's butler at the time had been in France. Cogsworth couldn't help but wonder that if not for that, he and Roxanne would be happily married, and Lumiere wouldn't keep haunting his thoughts even now.

"There..." Cogsworth began, and found himself unable to keep going. Should he tell the truth? That the castle had come under a magic spell that he wasn't sure would ever end? It seemed too fantastical, she'd accuse him of being a horrible liar...

"You fell in love with someone else."

Cogsworth blinked, shocked out of his thoughts. Roxanne was looking at him sadly, as if she already knew the truth.

"No!" he breathed, holding her hands gently but firmly. "Roxanne, no..."

"But you love another now, don't you?" Roxanne asked softly. "You had to leave her behind, in France."

"I..." Now, he knew he couldn't tell the truth this time. Not the entire truth, at any rate. Gears were spinning in his head, and for a moment, he felt like he was trapped in the mahogany wood of the clock, his hands turned into brass. What passed his lips wasn't the question he was trying to ask, though. "How in the world...?"

Roxanne shook her head. "I know you, Cogsworth. You look as lost and lonely as I do, but it is because something is missing. You wish to hold her in your arms again, kiss her."

Cogsworth felt a dark flush spreading quickly across his face. "I..."

Roxanne shook her head again, and sighed gently. "I'm sorry. Please, if you would announce me?"

The gears in Cogsworth's head stopped spinning out of control, suddenly slammed into a familiar routine that had a purpose, that did something. "Yes, of course."

He hurried off, raising his voice so that he could be heard through the small modiste. "Mistress? Lady Roxanne of Rochester is here to see about her dress..."

END

#candelabra and clock romance #old fic repost #rinch11

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paint-pilot · 7 years

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[UPDATE - ADVICE WANTED]

hey, all. have some pretty major updates. this is gonna be a really rambly post, there’s a tl;dr at the end.

long story short, i’m selling ranger. it’s something i’ve been considering for quite some time given that i have been consistently getting worse in the show ring and at home. the way i see it, the horse loves me and i love him, but we feed off of each other’s anxiety so badly that it’s in essence ruined both of us for one another. i’ve been entertaining the idea for several months, and the recent hunter show i went to kinda sealed the deal. we had a good run, and i have no resentment towards the horse at all; i want him to be happy, but that’s just not with me anymore.

i do have someone already interested in his purchase at the barn, so for now i’m not going to be seriously advertising him, but if that falls through i may well be. just want him to have a good home and a confident rider that can soothe his nerves. in the meantime, i’ll be searching for a more suitable horse. thoughts on potential horses below the cut. if you’re in the area and have another horse that i might like, feel free to let me know, or if you have thoughts on the horses i’m considering don’t hesitate to chip in.

i have two horses in mind that couldn’t be more different, whom i’ll describe for the sake of working it out in my mind. an unofficial list of things i’d like in a new horse, though obviously it’s unlikely that with my price range i’ll be able to check all the boxes: - inexpensive ($5k) - if it’s more expensive, a payment plan is definitely preferable - push ride (literally do not care if i have to carry a crop and/or spurs constantly, in fact that’s probably preferred given the circumstances) - small-ish (15-16hh) - not terribly spooky (don’t care if it jumps or shies every now and again, but i’m really not in a place to deal with bolting, bucking, rearing, etc.) - sound (i understand minor things, but if it’s lame every month it’s really not going to work) able to event up to beginner novice level (if it can go further, great, but i doubt i’m going to advance all that far given the circumstances) - breed really doesn’t matter, though a solid build is much preferred (and, admittedly, i have a giant soft spot for mustangs, drafty things, and cowhorses) - okay with other horses - i don’t mind if it’s a bit of a bully, but it needs to deal with being turned out w 5+ horses 24/7 (i’d definitely appreciate a horse that isn’t terribly herd-bound, but i’ve dealt with herd anxiety before and am more than willing to do it again) - sex doesn’t much bother me, though stallions are out of the question on a farm full of mares - i’m not interested in a huge project, but if it’s not fully trained (i.e. doesn’t fully understand dressage, is only jumping crossrails, etc.) i’m willing to work with it - versatility is definitely nice - while eventing is my main thing, a horse that can have a western saddle slapped onto it and do just fine is certainly an attractive prospect

i know that i’m asking for a lot - thankfully, i have options that seem viable that i’ll be having a look at in the upcoming weeks. the first is a thoroughbred mare and a retired polo pony. the owner claims that she’s a definite kick ride and an extremely quiet and kid-safe animal. she’s around 12 years old and stands 15.2 hands high. she’s been jumped and is proven to be very quiet; i have yet to hear anything about her dressage experience. she is not for sale; the owner has offered her as a free lease to someone at my farm who thoroughly loves her and will take care of her. i will still be responsible for board, but vet bills and such are covered. the owner says that if something goes wrong, i’m free to return her without any questions asked. several years ago the mare tore up a deep digital flexor tendon; nowadays she has little flexibility in that leg, though the owner swears since then she’s never taken a lame step and it never bothers her. again, if the leg blows up i’m free to return her without any issues. my trainer knows the lessor well and trusts her greatly, but i’ve never met the mare before and know nothing about her, not even her name. as well, it’s unlikely that i’d be able to lease her to someone else (something we need as my financial situation is precarious), and leases can always be tricky as you never know when the owner might decide to take the horse back up (while that’s doubtful considering the circumstances, it’s something to keep in mind).

the second is a mustang mare from the old barn i used to ride at. she’s four, two years off the range, and broke to saddle for about one and a half years. obviously she’s still green, though she’s surprisingly experienced given her circumstances; she halts, pivots, sidepasses, and jumps (all shown in videos and actually very impressive). as well, she’s incredibly drafty in build and of my knowledge has never been lame. she’s a hair under 15 hands, maybe slightly small for me but definitely a tough little thing. she’s been to multiple shows and has trail ridden on her own and with other horses and lives on a farm with a ton of livestock; according to the owner, she has a little spook in her - don’t know what that entails but knowing her it’s probably nothing much. her temperament is listed as extremely calm, and from my experience working with her (only on the ground, of course), she’s very easy to calm down when she gets worked up and seems to be quite a push ride. she has some liberty training and has been started both western and english. i don’t know how high she can jump nor how she’d deal with cross-country fences. unlike the other horse i know her farm well; she gets almost no turnout, which makes her quietness all the more attractive, and i trust the owner and know that she wants the best for the horse and i. they’re asking $2.2k, though i don’t doubt they’d be willing to negotiate and let her go on trial. i’m unsure if i have the time to work with and train such a green horse, but it’s an attractive prospect and something i’ve always wanted to try. my trainer, obviously, isn’t a fan of the idea of putting her nervous student on a four-year-old, but seeing as i know the mare and the farm she comes from she’s agreed to take a look at her.

of course, i’ll be changing my url relatively soon - i’ll definitely let everyone know. in a way, this is a bit of an exciting opportunity; until now i’ve yet to really get to try out a lot of different horses. i’m well aware which one is the sensible choice and which one is the risky one, but seeing as i’ve always had my heart set on a mustang, especially one i could work with myself (with the help of a trainer, of course), i definitely debate on what will make me happy in the long run. if you have any advice or words of comfort, i’d much appreciate it; even though i know well this is for the best, i’m still devastated at having to lose ranger and worried about the prospect of starting over on a new horse. ultimately, i just want ranger to have a good home and i want to gain back my confidence. like i said, we had a good run, and i’m gonna miss his dumb face, but it’s time to move on to bigger and better things.

TL;DR: ranger and i are not a match, have an interested buyer but if that falls through he will be posted for sale. seeking a quiet, smaller, versatile event horse. debating between purchasing a younger mustang mare or free-leasing an older thoroughbred mare, though more than willing to look at other prospects. blog will be receiving updates as i transition between horses.

#ranger danger #riding journal

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