#i need a handy tag so i can track my progress | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theonetheycallhannah · 4 years

Text

The Shape of Her

My first ever one shot for all my lovely Cavillry babes! (I’ve recently edited it to make the actual title the title of the post. It’s the same fic formerly under “New One Shot for the Cavillry.”)

Pairing: Henry Cavill x OFC that is totally not me, the author (except that it is, and I just took out my name so nobody felt weird about it!)

Word count: 2053

Warnings: Rimming and oral (f receiving), slightly rough sex, but not like, violent, language, almost orgasm denial but like, not really, very thirsty OFC and a very hungry Henry, mentions of unemployment, panties are heavily featured…I clearly have no idea what might trigger some people, but if you have concerns, ask me. It’s really just smutty smut for the sake of smut.

A/N: This was unsolicited, but I felt that curvy girls were lacking some representation in the fic community in general, so here is Henry worshipping a thicc queen. (Also, the undies in the fic are from Torrid and amazingly comfy, and the fact that I felt super sexy in them also helped inspire this one shot. I hope y’all enjoy.) Also, it’s not Beta’d. I just did my own triple check for glaring errors. Here’s hoping it’s not untenable gibberish. Lol!

Tags (no one requested tags, but I’m tagging the Cavillry babes I can think of, and if you want me to tag you in future work, just let me know. I don’t want to spam anyone): @littlefreya because she convinced me this was necessary, lol! Also @fishcustardandclintbarton @geralt-of-baevia @princess-of-riviaa @geekycanuck @lareinedususpense @radaofrivia @nothingdear @lunedelorient @sunflowersstan @captainbigdy @laketaj24

She liked to air dry on the bed in just her panties. Scroll her phone, see what was new. When she had time, of course. And lately, she’s had no shortage of time. Henry felt for her. Being between jobs could be scary. But he knew great things were out there for his woman. But the air drying. She did this after every leisurely shower. She made a little nest of pillows and draped herself gracefully over it.

With one hand, she diffused her hair, still damp from the shower. He didn’t know what she was looking at on her phone, nor did he care. His eyes had fallen heavy and hard on her backside. He thought this part of her such a wonder. It was strong, round, and large, and it tapered down to her thick thighs. This morning, she had chosen to wear a fairly unassuming pair of briefs. Unassuming, he thought, only if one had never touched them, or seen them up close. Like he had. He’d even helped her pick them out in the shop. He knew that the silky fabric would look stunning on her.

He was right. The slate grey sheen of the fabric covering her ass caught the pure morning light filtering in through the window. With his eyes he followed the narrow lace bands around her thighs right under her ass. He started then at the wider lace band around her waist --yes, waist, not hips-- and was stopped in his tracks in the center of her back. He’d missed entirely, or perhaps he’d forgotten, that little v-shaped corset cutout just below the waist band.

This could no longer be a mission of observation it must become a more exploratory, manual endeavor. He tiptoed toward her, not wanting to startle her before it was time, or for her to turn over before he’d had his fun.

“Mornin’ Hank.” She said sweetly over her shoulder with a smile. She didn’t flip to her front. Good.

“Good morning, love! Sleep well? Nice shower?” He queried as he maneuvered himself between her legs. Just sitting, but with one leg thrown over the back of one of her thighs. He started working her calves which were always tight. He loved her shapely legs, though. He loved every curve of her.

“What are you doing?” She demanded with a slight start.

“I have to get the tension out while the muscle is still warm. You should know that, teach!” He loved teasing her like this for being clever. He loved calling her the teacher in the bedroom, even if he was the more experienced lover.

He increased the pressure as he went, but wanted to go further.

“Have any lotion handy?” He asked. She did, and she handed it right to him. He put a bit of the amber and vanilla-scented cream on his hands, worked it up until it was warm, and then started again. She was moaning now. That was always his goal. Then he switched legs, applying more warmed lotion and going as deep as he dared.

“Henry, I’m not gonna be able to walk when you’re done.”

“Well, I was gonna make that threat, but you’ve saved me the trouble.” He said as he turned around and playfully snapped her waistband making her jump and arch her gorgeous ass up into it.

“Mmmm, you bad man! How did I know from the moment I met you that you only wanted me for my body?” She teased.

“Because of the way I unwrapped and devoured you whole with my lecherous gaze, no doubt. You’re actually the first girl I’ve ever taken into a side room and fooled around with at an event.” He reminisced as he kissed her back, across her shoulders and down her spine until he got to that cutout.

“Fine then,” she said, mock surrender in her voice. “Take what you will. Have your spoils.”she hitched her hips up and put a pillow under them so he could explore every inch of her ass.

He relished the sensory experience of simply running his hands over the silky fabric covering her firm rump. He ran his nails over it, causing her to shiver. He ran his lips over it too, unable to resist that curiosity.

“Henry, I’m dying here!” She moaned.

“And you’re killing me with these knickers, we all have our problems.”

He ran a hand down between her legs to tease her sex. She ground her hips into it, needing the friction. He’d give her friction.

He slid the panties aside, and started circling her clit at first, then he penetrated her one finger at a time. She was so wet already. Drenched for him. This got him so hard. He didn’t want to wait to fuck her. A part of him really and truly wanted to skip her gratification and just plow directly into her getting his own rocks off. Spill himself messily all over her pussy, ass, and those gorgeous panties.

But he restrained himself. He wanted to make her come. Wanted to delay his gratification to hear and see her come apart under his touch. He kept working her, listening and feeling for her reactions. She was moaning into her pillow. And he could feel the tension building inside her. He thought one more element would send her over. He hadn’t used his tongue yet. And he had the perfect place for it. He kissed along her more exposed ass cheek until he got to her opening. He’d wanted to do this for so long. And now he finally was. He ran his tongue all around her tight hole. Experimenting with strokes, textures, and pressures. He got the tip in just a bit once, considering it progress. And she was breathing infinitely heavier, about to reach her pinnacle.

When she did, she lost all control of her limbs and her body. She said nonsense. He adored it. But he’d have time to adore her later. Right now he was about to burst and the sight of her cunt trembling and dripping was too much for his cock to resist. He thrust into her slowly at first so he could feel every spasm of her waning orgasm around him. She always squeezed him in all the right places, but he couldn’t recall entering her so quickly after making her come. Why hadn’t he done this before?

His thrusts were hard and they got faster as he chased his pleasure. He appreciated anew the fabric covering her ass. It made her feel almost as delicious on the outside as she did on the inside. He growled as he got closer.

“Where you want me to finish, baby girl?” He asked, as he tended to do.

“Don’t you fucking think about pulling out, Cavill. I want your hot come inside me.” Her filth sent him to new levels of lust and he went harder and faster. This was one of the many things he loved about her body. He knew it was sturdy enough for the unbridled pounding he could give without bruising or pain. She could take him at his most violent without harm or even complaint.

“I’m gonna come again. Henry. Oh fuck!” And when her body began to contract and contort again, it was all Henry needed to tip him into his own oblivion. His release was hot, fast, and glorious inside his goddess. He fell over the top of her still moving his hips, relishing the feel of her panties against his sensitive hips and pelvis. It was heavenly.

Their breathing was rapid, but slowing in tandem with one another.

“Fuck me!” She exclaimed.

“Isn’t that what I just did?” He teased bitting her ear and inciting a giggle.

“Oh you certainly did, sir. Most thoroughly.” She turned as much as she could with him pinning most of her body to the bed, reaching enough of him to pull on his hair. “Kiss me, you villain.”

He obliged, roughly, as she liked. A full mouthed kiss with plenty of tongue. He loved these hungry, wild kisses, too. He broke apart from her just long enough to flip her onto her back and prop her up with some pillows. He wanted her to be comfortable for what came next. Now that both of their thirsts were sated for a while, he could take his time in pleasuring her and not be bothered by his own need…at least not immediately.

“God, if I had my way, you’d never be fully clothed, do you know that?” She blushed furiously whenever he mentioned how sexy she was to him. He knew she’d never felt so and had rarely been told so. And certainly few had ever shown their appreciation for her voluptuous beauty. He’d show her at every turn. Her body begged to be touched. It was so soft and succulent.

He descended her body slowly and thoroughly, not missing the best bits of real estate, like her neck, clavicle, and her nipples, and further down where he found her hips. She loved to be teased here. And he did so. Over her panties that were rapidly becoming his new favorite article of her clothing. He worked his mouth over the layer of fabric for a few moments. Teased her mound with nips and hot breath.

“Henryyyyy!” She squirmed under him and grabbed a handful of his hair. He looked up to find her breathless and staring at the ceiling instead of him. That wouldn’t do.

He slid her panties all the way off, a bittersweet moment. He loved that they were soaked with her arousal and his seed. It got him half hard again, but he had other things to do.

He spread her legs wide and parted her lips. She was still drenched with arousal and his come. Good. He placed one feather light kiss right over her clit and she bucked. Her body was so responsive to his touch.

“Oh, I like that honey. What does this do for you?” And he latched his mouth to her flesh to lay mercilessly soft flicks over her bead. She couldn’t seem to form words, just sounds. But they were pleased sounds, so Henry continued. He descended, sliding the back of his tongue down to her entrance where he thrust into her gently and began undulating and moaning. Their combined flavors made him yearn. He couldn’t figure out why. But he loved tasting himself on her body. Especially here where her own flavor was most potent.

He added his saliva to the mixture there, and then brought his hand in. He slid two fingers into her, stirring her up and pressing firmly against her g-spot. As he worked his hand in her, he worked his mouth over her again, and he felt her losing control and heard her pleading for him not to stop. But she was still looking away from him.

He paused. And she cried out!

“No!” She looked at him, on the verge of tears.

“I won’t do it. Unless you look at me. Watch me, kitten. Look into my eyes while I make you come.”

“Argh, do it! Do it! I’ll never take my eyes off you again as long as you just don’t stop!”

He continued. Fingering her. Devouring her. Watching her. Watching her watch him. He moaned into her body. Growled. Like the hungry beast that he was.

She bucked and writhed and seized as he finished her. He loved being able to give her this. This unfiltered raw pleasure. He crawled up next to her, wanting only to lie next to her as she came down in the afterglow. But she took his face in her hand and brought him to her for a slow, languid, breathtaking kiss. He loved that she didn’t care about the state of his face. Apparently, the wetness there comprised of his semen, sweat, and saliva, paired with her sex was collectively her favorite flavor.

“How is it that after all this time together, you still shock me, Mr. Cavill?” She said in breathless wonder. She flattered him.

“Darling, we’ve barely scratched the surface of the pleasure I can give you.”

And with that promise, he buried her in the pillows behind her as she squealed and giggled with delight.

#cavillry #henry cavill #henry cavill x ofc #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill smut

241 notes · View notes

giurochedadomani · 4 years

Text

Fic-in-progress type of update that has gotten a tiny, little bit out of hand but I regret nothing and I really want to share it

I’m doing the third and final part of this.

When I do get to finish this I feel like it’ll work just fine as a one shot, but. Just to give you some context: this scene of the story takes place after a botched plan ends up with the son of a rival capo dead at the hands of? Leonardo? I never bothered to write out what exactly happened on That Fateful Night and now I’m taking 100% advantage of that.

The thing is, the other mafioso certainly blames him. When Primo manages to keep Leo out of jail by putting the blame of the murder on the son of the town’s mayor, their rival decides to take justice into his own hands, failing to consider how little Primo is likely to stop until he owns the city and ends with every kind of threat vaguely pointed in his direction, Leo’s or this family he has adopted himself into. Enter:

[Gioia Tauro, Saturday night]

Uhhhhh there are things I can tag for: mentions of abuse re: Primo’s childhood, discussions of murder and other Mob related stuff, but there are other things that I can’t really tag without spoiling away what happens, so I’m gonna highlight that this story is basically about a mob war and that violent stuff happens and use the handy ao3 sign of ‘Author decided not to display any warnings’

“Do you want me to tell you, or not?”

“I don’t know, you seem to be doing quite well on your own”.

It comes off way drier than Leonardo means to, and the without me goes over them, unspoken. He bites the tip of his tongue and stands his ground and tries not to picture the hint of hurt that passes over Primo’s face as Leonardo goes through his business, picking up his suit’s jacket and the briefcase from the sofa as the other looks at him like some kind of gargoyle while he fusses through the office.

“A bomb. In his office”, Primo explains, slow, after a moment, blatantly ignoring him. “Next week, we’re aiming for Friday, although Fiore needs to tie up some loose ends”. A beat of silence. “I insisted on it being Friday. Less people in the building that day, like you said”. Leonardo won’t give in to Primo’s unsubtle attempts to win him over. “I was going to tell you”.

He gives the other a sharp look. What he means to be a sharp look, really. It’s kind of endearing that Primo cannot withstand a grand total of half a minute of silence treatment. No, Leonardo’s still pissed that he didn’t call him into the meeting.

“What loose ends?”, he asks, tone clipped.

“ID passes. He wants to get a couple of original ones”, rob some innocent cleaning lady of her own pass, more likely, Leonardo thinks, as if he were in some shape or form morally superior to that, “and just modify the photos, keeping it simple. He can’t do that a week earlier, it’d be...”, Primo trails off, looking at him with a tinge of—

It’d be less likely to call on any unwanted attention, that’s for sure. And truth be told, they’ve never been lucky with forgeries. It’s not as if they’re trying to enter the fucking Quirinale, and one would think that a sleepy guard on a Friday morning wouldn’t pay much attention to some cleaning staff’s passes, but it doesn’t hurt to be a little bit extra cautious: Romano has proven himself to be able to become quite the headache. And he can’t help feeling a little satisfied at how Primo is not diving head first into danger for once in his fucking life— no. He’s annoyed.

Leonardo hums, pensive. He locks the door of his office after they step outside, and speaks again once he finds another direction in which to funnel his irritation.

“What’s their story, if they’ve got to flee the scene”.

Primo frowns. His patent confusion vindicates Leonardo, for some fucking reason. He focuses on that instead on how much it pisses him off that he already knows that Primo will avoid simply saying that he’s sorry, as if the words were fucking poisonous.

“They don’t manage to do it, what do they do”, he insists.

The eerie stillness of the building, empty at that hour, just makes Primo’s silence louder as they walk to the elevator.

“Why, if someone had thought to ask just that”, Leonardo concludes, sarcastic, stabbing the push button.

Primo huffs. He can behave like a child all he wants, Leonardo is not going to give in. He’s fully capable of becoming as difficult as Primo can be, when he puts his mind to it. Let’s see if the other can take his own medicine—

“Her name’s Lucrezia”.

…

Leonardo is so thrown off by the non sequitur that he almost manages to momentary forget about his exasperation. He stares at Primo for a long moment, the doors of the elevator opening and staying open for them. “...She’s one of his classmates”, Primo adds, as if that clarified anything.

Leonardo’s bewilderment must be patent on his face because Primo makes a whole show of rolling his eyes, looking up as if asking God for patience. He grabs him and pushes him inside the elevator, pushing the button to the ground floor.

“Francesco”, he starts again, slowly, once the doors close off again. He’s probably aiming to be more comprehensible, but doesn’t manage to make it look as if he’s not in some way explaining things to a baby. “He’s not out there doing…”, he has to think for a moment to land in something Leonardo could possibly be pissed off about, and he’s not entirely convinced when he says: “...Drugs, or whatever the hell you’re worried about. He’s just got himself a...”, he trails off again, does a florid gesture with his hand as if he could grab the right word, ends up saying a very dubitative: “... friend”. He shrugs, as if deeming it a suitable enough explanation. “So yeah. You can stop being insufferable now”.

Each button keeps getting illuminated as they descend, a little peep sounding each time they pass a floor. So that’s what was up with them both. Leonardo feels tranquility washing over his surprise, before his gut settles on uneasiness as he continues looking at Primo and the stiffness of his shoulders.

He passes a hand over his face.

“Francesco’s got a girlfriend”.

“You’re not this dense on the usual”.

“And he told you about it”.

He’s well aware that Franceso regards Primo with an undercurrent of hero worship. He’s also intimately familiar with how despite the fact that Primo is a man of many hidden talents, romance is, to put it mildly, not the subject he feels most comfortable with. The other is fucking with him in some way, he can’t help feeling sure of that, and it makes him kind of tense not being able to point out exactly where.

Uncharacteristically of him, Primo feels the need to fill the silence.

“Don’t be jealous”, he starts once the doors open, and he sounds a tad arrogant, as he always does when— “I told him to do a formal presentation at some point, bring her home to have dinner and all that stuff, let Regina gush and… yeah”. He turns to face Leonardo once he realizes that he has stopped on his tracks, adds, defensively: “You have been weird all fucking day. That’s why I didn’t tell you to come into the meeting”.

“Lucrezia”, Leonardo repeats. The name sounds familiar. It’s Primo’s closed off expression what makes realization fall onto his mind like a circuit breaker blowing up the fuse: a scratching sound and then fade to black. He stares at Primo in disbelief, mouth hanging open until he can work around the knot at his throat.

“Brambilla. Lucrezia Brambilla. Brambilla, as in. The daughter of the—”.

“Yes”.

A well-mannered girl, soft spoken and sweet. He has seen her in passing, disappearing behind the tinted windows of his father’s fancy car at the entrance of Francesco’s high school. He knows her father better. Sergio Brambilla.

Prosecutor.

“And you told him it was a good idea?”, Leonardo asks, in which he’d defend as a very reasonable tone of voice, given the circumstances, but doesn’t perhaps quite manage to hit the whole discreet thing, because Primo makes a sharp movement in the general direction of the night guard booth.

“What’s exactly bad about knowing what the fuck happens in that house?”

Of course. Of fucking course Primo would think it’s a good idea. He doesn’t even know why he’s surprised except that for the very little, trivial fact that he cannot believe what he’s hearing!

“You had a hand on it!?”

Primo has the sheer audacity to look offended.

“Me? In what? How the fuck could I possibly— As if it were my fucking fault now that your kid likes blondes!”

“I swear on everything that’s holy, Primo!”

Primo throws a look to the booth over his shoulder, then at him, then promptly grabs his arm and pushes him forward, making him advance towards the garage entrance, past the night guard, who takes a look at them and searches to fade with the wallpaper behind. He loves Primo, God damn them both, he does, but sometimes he’d hit him with a fucking chair, but also no, because someone’s got to keep a levelled head and he refuses to go down the level of a machiavelian, manipulative jerk who deems feasible to intervene in his son’s life like—

“Shut up for a fucking minute, will you”, Primo says, which is fucking rich. Leonardo shoves him off the moment they’re passing the first row of cars, the itch of a fight bubbling right under his skin. Primo doesn’t continue after seemingly making sure that he’s going to listen. He takes a deep breath before doing so, evidently to rile himself in, which would be the most annoyingly petulant thing in the world if he were any other person. “He took a liking to the girl on his own. They’re classmates, as I said. They’ve been friends since the start of the year, and now, well”, he shrugs, ostensibly. “She’s also going to study in Rome, it seems”.

It hurts. The fact that not only did Primo know before him about it, but that he has done so for such a very long time.

“And you planned to tell me when, exactly?”, Leonardo can’t help but to interrupt.

Primo copies his sarcastic tone when he answers: “When you’ve decided to make a problem out of it, perhaps?”

He knows in his heart that Primo trusts him, and that he does so seemingly to a further extent than anyone else. That he loves him, in his own peculiar way, and that he’d move heaven and Earth to protect him, and his family. That’s why it’s so hard to wrap his mind around the fact that he wouldn’t even bother to mention something like this. Besides, the careless way he’s speaking about it doesn’t really sit well with Leonardo. As if he had landed himself had single handedly on court when he came to know the girl’s father: “You remember that Brambilla accused me of murder, don’t you?”

“You were acquitted”, the other replies, instantly, tone tense. “You’re a model citizen, for all the guy knows”.

“He defended that I’m a mafioso”, he insists. He remembers the charges line by fateful line. Refusing to talk about it won’t make him forget what happened, notwithstanding Primo’s look on the subject. “He said that I planned to set up a cocaine distribution ring with the money I supposedly stole from—”.

“Nothing about them getting together forces you to have a good relationship with Brambilla”, Primo points out, exasperated, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “It’s Francesco the one who’s dating his daughter”.

Leonardo limits himself to stare at the other from the other side of his Berlinetta when they reach it.

He should have confronted Francesco directly about it, but no, because the kid’s got an angelic face of never having done harm to a fly and he’s soft. Regina has a sixth sense for these things, she would have been a better option, except that he feared that Francesco would have gotten himself in bigger problems than a girl. It’s not a girl, though, not just like that, and really, there’s probably an option that he has somehow missed that would have prevented him from ending up in a parking lot, being looked at as if he’s hawk’s prey.

He sighs, opens the car and gets in, going through the usual motions as Primo follows him suit, putting the briefcase on the backseat, his jacket covering it after he fishes out his keys from one of the pockets.

Francesco could easily say the wrong thing, in the wrong moment, to the wrong person, and neither of them would be none the wiser. He could rat them out in a bid to brag, or because he thinks that he can relax his guard. What if he breaks the poor girl’s heart and she wants to take revenge? He remembers how stupid young love can make you, how blind.

“Telling Francesco that he can’t do it won’t work”, Primo says, serious, but not quite as biting. “You’ll just be handing him over the perfect excuse for him not to tell you shit in the future”.

Leonardo wonders if it’s the girl sticking it to her father what appeals to Primo so much about the whole thing, he supposes the other could appreciate a kindred spirit. It’s obvious that he’s talking from experience, and Leonardo doesn’t know if he feels more insulted by the possibility that Primo might be comparing him to Salvatore, of all people, or to Primo’s own dad, of all fucking people, as if he had ever given the slightest indication that he’d beat— That he’d— Just considering the idea that he might have to explain to the other that not every son has quite the same relationship with their father as Primo did with Angelo Nizzuto makes him kind of nauseous.

Primo must sense where his mind’s heading because he ends up adding: “Doesn’t matter if you’re nice about it, but you can be my damn fucking guest if you want to try”. He shrugs, then looks out of the window, as if he were washing his hands out of the situation instead of biding his time, as Leonardo is completely convinced he’s doing.

This is a lost battle, if Primo has already taken such a defensive stance on the subject. He’s got months on him, despite all (“They’ve been friends since the start of the year, and now, well”), more than enough time for him to look at Francesco and Lucrezia from every possible angle and to collect every single argument in favor of their relationship before quick starting a confrontation with him. And really, he’s just so blind sided by the whole thing. He must be a really bad father not to suspect a thing for months.

Leonardo puts the ignition key on, but Primo speaks again before he turns it.

“I’ve just told him to be smart, to pay attention, and not to run himself into problems” he insists, softer. “Your kid can do that. You know he can. Besides, I’m keeping an eye on him”, he turns to face him, “You can at least trust that, don’t you?”

That’s very unfair of Primo. It’s not a question of trust. Francesco’s a very inexperienced hot head. He’d be up to his knees in problems before he recognizes the first signs of danger, let alone ask for help.

“He’ll tell me himself if he does fuck up, you can be sure of that. Holy hell, he just won’t stop talking about the girl, you know? Lulu this, Lulu that”, Primo continues, as if he knew full well that he’s picking at his reticences little by little. Leonardo’s running out of excuses not to associate the pang in his chest with the notion that he’s been kept outside this little secret. “He calls her Lulu”, Primo explains, seemingly flabbergasted at the notion, which is very boldly rich coming from him, and kind of makes Leonardo want to ask him what exactly makes Lulu any more ridiculous of a nickname than Leo.

He snorts, despite himself.

Primo smiles a little when he sees him doing so, as if he’s just proved his point. It’d be so annoying, if it wasn’t so genuine.

“Better to wait the whole thing out. Let him go to Rome. There are more options in Rome. He’ll just grow bored, with time”. Leonardo raises an eyebrow. Primo’s smile takes the barest turn to playful. He deadpans: “Worse case scenario, they do end up getting married and we need to find you a proper suit to wear. You look hot with a suit. I don’t see a downside of the situation for anyone involved”.

Just like that. As if it were so easy.

He’d like to have a smidge of Primo’s unwavering faith in their future, of his unstoppable conviction that they’ll always come up on top, though he’s reduced to trust that the other knows what he’s doing and join for the ride.

Leonardo’s done so many bad things in his life, this is surely his God given punishment.

“When I told you to solve this I didn’t mean, like, personally”, Primo interrupts his train of thought making a vague gesture towards the backseat. “We’ve got people for that. You keep insisting on that: a good boss knows when to delegate”, he adds, in which Leonardo’s forced to interpret as his attempt to mock him. It’s very unfair, given how different is delivering the suitcase from when he told Primo that, that is, when he had to keep him in bed after getting shot, but he knows where Primo’s going with this. He knows this kind of dance.

He looks at him and keeps silent, so Primo’s forced to elaborate. If he wants to have dinner with him, he can just ask. Primo purses his lips, frowns a little, but finally says, slowly:

“I have an idea. That I want your opinion on”, then he stops for a moment, seemingly to revise what he’s going to say, and adds: “That we could discuss, with wine”.

“You want to have dinner at the Olimpo, then?”, he insists, just to hear Primo say it, and not be the slightest bit surprised when he ignores him.

“It’s got to do with your cousin. Does he still want to work for us?”

“Antonio? Yes”.

“How fluent would you say that he’s in Spanish?”

Leonardo takes the ignition key out.

___

An hour later, Dante would finish his cigarette under the street light by the back entrance of the office. He would take a quick look at his watch, and he would get into the car after checking the backseat, adjusting the jacket slightly over the suitcase. If he came back soon enough, he could have dinner with his girlfriend, he’d think, fishing for Leonardo’s car keys in his pocket. Maybe he could take her out next weekend, treat her to somewhere posh by the port. He’d turn the ignition key on.

…

KA-BOOM!!!!!

#trust fx #primo x leonardo #Lau writes #this is awfully domestic truth be told #if you made it to the end: I’m sorry but also I’m not sorry at all #Working title: My daddy’s got a gun (you better run)

9 notes · View notes

zara2148 · 4 years

Text

Fethsteel Fic: Not Good Enough (For You)

So here we go, my take on how Fethry Duck joined F.O.W.L. and met Steelbeak. Less warning stuff for this one, mostly just implied abuse, though it’s clear Steelbeak has not had a pleasant history. Also, both he and Fethry have some self esteem issues... and there’s not exactly spoilers for “Lost Harp of Mervana,” but the new intro takes place right after it.

Also on AO3. Make sure leave kudos and comments there. I enjoy the feel of being applauded.

Huey was placing Isabella Finch's journal back in Uncle Scrooge's study when he spotted the tin can phone there, now connected to nothing. Scrooge held on to everything in the mansion, even seemingly useless things, on the grounds that it may one day come in handy again.

It was one reason why Trash Day could be such a nightmare, though Scrooge was starting to learn how to let things go...

Huey found Della and Donald unpacking their gear off the sub, hanging up suits and boxing equipment until it was ready to be used again. "Uncle Donald? Mom? Do you know how to get in touch with Cousin Fethry? I think he'd love to hear all about Mervana."

"No, sorry, sweetie. I haven't heard anything from him since he rode off on the back of that... giant... fish..." Della shuddered in remembered revulsion.

"Mom, it was a krill."

"A fish is still a fish by any other name."

"You also seemed fine with Mitzy at the time."

"I was too busy thinking about all the Moonlanders we had to beat up."

Donald sighed and turned away from a crate to answer Huey’s question. “I haven’t heard from him either since then.” He shrugged. "But that's normal for Fethry. He either calls every five minutes or he gets so wrapped up in something we don't hear from him for six months."

"Doesn't he have a cell phone we could call?”

"Knowing Fethry, it would just get dropped in the ocean." There was a reason Scrooge only trusted Fethry with a tin can after one too many busted phones.

Huey’s beak twisted in discomfort. “But what if he got in trouble? What if he needed our help?”

Donald let out a breath, more frustrated with himself than anyone else, even Fethry. He knelt in front of Huey and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Fethry is…” Cuckoo bananas really hadn’t been the right thing to say to Huey, not when Donald could see the similarities between the two of them. Unsure how else to finish that sentence, he tried again.

“Fethry is who he is. But he’s also a grown adult capable of making decisions and taking care of himself. If he ever needs us, he knows where we are.”

Della grinned proudly. “He’s a part of the Duck family. Surviving is what we do.”

Uncle Donald and Mom weren’t wrong about that. Cousin Fethry had survived alone in a collapsing sea base for years. He knew the Junior Woodchuck guidebook from cover to cover, just as Huey did. He was better prepared than most to face trouble when it found him.

"Okay, I'll just make sure to write down all my observations about Mervana to share with him when he gets in touch."

Donald gave Huey a smile. "I'm sure he'll love that."

***

“Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

It was an old refrain at this point.

The last job interview he had, Fethry had spent a full half-hour talking about the eating habits of krill and the merits of singing when asked about his team management skills.

The interview before that, he spoke briefly about the endless silence of the ocean when asked how he dealt with workplace difficulties. He’d been too quiet after that question.

And the interview before that… well, he didn’t think that room was ever going to be the same.

Fethry’s laptop was old. Wires were sticking out and duct tape was barely holding the screen together. He browsed through the listings for scientists on Quacked In, tweaking his cover letter and resume slightly for each.

Maybe he was going about this the wrong way. Maybe he should try for a slightly smaller position at a lab, like a custodian! He had experience keeping things in custody! And then he could work his way up from there.

But the little Donalds had such faith in him. They believed he could be a great scientist. Fethry wasn’t going to let them down. He never really realized until it was too late, but Fethry knew he had a habit of letting his family down.

Gladstone had offered to help, after that big event with purple people from the sky… ahh, yes, the invasion! But Fethry knew how often people tried to get close to his cousin to use his luck. Family shouldn’t do that.

The next listing didn’t quite catch his eye. But Fethry was at the point of applying for everything that came up for “scientist” and read through what little there was.

“WANTED: Skilled scientists for private company in Duckburg. Duties will vary. Flexible work schedule, late nights occasionally required. Must be able to roll with the punches.”

He had no expectations that it would progress to a job offer. How he chose to look at was that he was doing really well on reaching his goal of 100 job rejections. He’d read all about re-framing your objectives for positivity!

Once he reached 100, well, he might as well try for 200 rejections then.

He reviewed his resume and cover letter on the final submission screen. He clicked “Send.”

Then he moved onto the next listing and thought no more of it.

***

F.O.W.L.’s computer settings were extremely sensitized when it came to tracking the movements and activities of the Duck-McDuck clan. They knew when Hubert Duck received a new merit badge, or when Dewford Duck uploaded another video to his overlooked Insta, or when Llewellyn bought a soda that wasn’t Pep branded.

Any diversion from or progress in the Duck’s family’s normal routine could be significant. That’s why they monitored it all.

So when a member of the Duck family applied for one of their vacant positions, it got noticed. Alarms went off, alerting the highest-ranking members in F.O.W.L. command.

Just ten minutes after the application was received, Bradford clicked through it on his laptop.

F.O.W.L. could just ignore this. Stay away from the Duck family until they were more ready to move out in the open. It would be a sensible move.

But there was potential here he couldn’t overlook.

Fethry Duck was one of the harder members to track ever since the McDuck SubLab crumbled into an undersea abyss. Satellite images last had him riding some sort of kaiju across the ocean, which was just typical when it came to the Duck-McDuck family.

When the moon invaders came they had made many mistakes, such as caring more about the acknowledgment of their perceived superiority than how they could exploit the Earth. But they had been right that it was better to have all members of that family accounted for when it came to global-scale plans.

Having Fethry under constant watch at F.O.W.L. would leave Gladstone as the most transient variable. And the lottery winnings and sweepstakes prizes he left in his wake would make him infinitely easier to track.

Fethry was also one of the more controllable members of the Duck family. Neither misfortune nor ostentatious fortune dogged his steps. He didn’t question intention and he didn’t try to stir up trouble for his amusement. He was so lacking in ambition that he stayed in a lonely janitorial position for almost five years. If he was taken to a lab and given every reason to stay, he likely would do so without seeing anything amiss.

His goal was to steal the world right out from under Scrooge. Why not start by stealing a member of the man’s family? One Scrooge was unlikely to miss for quite some time, given his avoidance of Fethry’s company.

Yet for a duck who didn’t believe in handouts, it said something that Scrooge still cared enough about Fethry to give him a string of jobs that he more or less performed adequately. He’d prefer it not come to threats, especially since harm to his family made Scrooge predictably savage. But if worse came to worse… better to have a hostage than do without.

And if he was useless? Disposing of him would be no hardship.

He clicked “Accept” and composed a brief response, suggesting a range of times that Fethry could visit a front location in downtown Duckberg.

After opening up the email and reading through it, Fethry squealed and picked out the earliest possible time.

***

Fethry hummed as he walked inside the address the email gave him. It was a plain building, notable only for its pristine white exterior that seemed all too blank.

He’d dressed up nice for the occasion. His red jacket was replaced with a slightly frayed and browned business suit jacket. His tie was a piece of dried kelp that Mitzy had picked out for him. She always had the best eye when it came to kelp. And his cap was still present, keeping his thoughts toasty warm!

Yet his throat felt clogged and simultaneously too dry. The papers in his hand would be wrinkled if he clutched them any tighter. There was a heavy feeling in his chest that told him he’d be out of here soon enough, and he would need to try his luck elsewhere.

A duck with a dirty face and ruffled hair sat behind the visitor’s desk. Her name tag read “Ample.”

He approached her without his usual bounce. “Hello, I’m here for an interview.”

She nodded and glanced through the schedule. “Fethry Duck?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“The director is ready to see you now. Go through the double doors over there.”

He dipped forward in an awkward half-bow, unsure if a handshake would be too presumptuous. “Thank you!”

He pushed his way through the double doors. The room was in grey shadow, a large desk slightly off toward one of the corners. Two chairs were in front of the desk, facing the figure behind it.

The shadows slightly obscured the person behind the desk. He could make out a shape but no features.

The shadow turned to him. “Ah, thank you for coming. Please take a seat.”

Fethry grabbed one of the chairs, shifting his paper copy of his resume as he looked at his interviewer up close.

Oh, he knew this vulture! He worked with Uncle Scrooge before! His name was buzzing around in the back of Fethry’s skull, waiting to be grabbed hold of…. what was it, what was it…?

“Bradley!”

“It’s Bradford,” he corrected in a cold tone.

Fethry slumped back in his seat, feeling small. “O-oh, I’m sorry.”

Bradford did not take the time to acknowledge what he said. He sat “So, Fethry Duck. Scrooge’s nephew.”

“Yes.”

“You hold no degrees, no certifications that would qualify you for a scientific position.”

“... no.” Fethry knew how much those pieces of paper meant to people. He sunk into his chair, almost wishing it could swallow him up, the way the ocean did…

...and that was not a train of thought he needed to be boarding right now. Fethry stepped off a mental platform, letting it whiz by.

Bradford continued, neither noticing nor caring about Fethry’s inner world and its struggles. “And yet, you thought you could apply here, for a scientific position with us.” He stood up and started to circle around Fethry. “Do you know what we do here, Fethry?”

“Science?”

“Among other things.” Bradford paused behind Fethry. Fethry couldn’t quite bring himself to turn and look at him. “What we do here... let’s just say we're out to change the world.”

Bradford resumed his circle and came to a stop in front of Fethry. He let silence reign for a few seconds before speaking. “And Fethry Duck? We’re willing to give you the chance to join our ranks.”

Fethry had to swallow down dry disbelief. “Really?”

“Yes.”

Fethry’s hands were clammy as he held out his stacks of papers. His grip wasn’t shaking, but his limbs felt hollow. “You don’t even want to look at my resume first?”

“I’ve already seen it.”

He let his arms fall to his sides. His voice came out small, as if he was once again speaking from the bottom of the ocean. “Why me?”

Silence returned. Bradford considered him over his beak.

“You’re the unnoticed member of the Duck-McDuck family. Isn’t it time you had a chance to prove yourself?”

Bradford wasn’t wrong. He wanted that chance. But the implication that he was only getting this job because of his family...

Well. Wasn’t that how he got every job he ever had?

Bradford turned away from him and loomed his way back behind his desk. “Mind you, the job still isn’t much. You’ll be working in a lab on your own projects, yes. But you will remain under direct supervision for the time being. Before undertaking any venture, you are to submit a full report that outlines expected costs and outcomes, in accordance with our guidelines.”

He sat down, his back hunched to allow him to continue looming from a lower height. “The pay is minimum wage, but you can work your way up through experience. Food and board will be provided on-site, so that’s two fewer things you have to worry about.”

Fethry absent-mindedly fiddled with his kelp tie, his attention otherwise on Bradford as he continued.

“As you may have surmised, your work is to be considered top secret. For the time being, we will ask that you remain in the facilities to better learn your responsibilities. There is to be no contact with the outside world without prior approval. Otherwise, you put ourselves and the work we do at risk.”

“If you accept the job under these terms, a car will be dispatched to pick up you and any belongings you choose to bring tomorrow morning.” Bradford steepled his fingers and looked through Fethry. “Do you accept these conditions?”

Fethry had forgotten he hadn’t said yes to anything yet. He wasn’t sure how he got so caught up that he missed that.

He could bring his team with him, their jar was extremely portable. But taking this job would mean saying goodbye to Mitzy for a while… hopefully, she would understand.

He nodded, then said for emphasis, “Yes.”

“Well, then. Welcome, Fethry Duck, to…” Bradford paused again, his words trailing off into familiar silence. “... well, we’ll just call it your new place of work.”

***

There wasn’t a whole lot to do at their headquarters between missions. The funnest thing to do around here was to play all the arcade games after the kids had gone home for the day.

However, the last time Steelbeak did that he blew an entire paycheck and ended up with only 20 tickets to show for it—not even enough to trade-in for a piece of candy. That didn’t make him stupid, that made the games rigged.

Now he stuck to the actual secret parts of their secret lair, wandering the halls. His wallet stayed full and fat, but the time between missions dragged on and on.

The gun course was fun, but there was only so much offtime an agent was allowed there. Spend too much time shooting things and command would send you over to their quack shrink.

The rec room was okay, but he’d be fighting every off-duty Eggman there if he wanted to pick which channel to watch on the sole TV. Not that he wouldn’t win, but his time in the prison rec room, and the underground fighting ring’s rec room before that, taught him that victory wasn’t worth it if you couldn’t find any good shows playing.

Which is how he often ended up doing what he did right now, trailing after Heron down to the labs. He’d watch her and watch the other scientists, trying to see how what they did tied into F.O.W.L.’s big ol’ villain schemes.

Did he always understand what she was working on? No. Did she ever really try to explain it in an easily understood way? Also no. Did these trips to the labs often end with her metal hand clamped around his beak, hissing at him and calling him names? No, well, yes. Yes, it did.

… he was supposed to be going somewhere with this, but he wasn’t quite sure where. Wait, no, now he remembered.

If he wanted to someday be the one hatching the schemes, he should watch how others hatched theirs first. It was like watching the prizefighter in the ring to learn how to beat him. Some people would only hit you if you asked them for anything, so you had to watch how they did something instead.

Most of the other scientists ignored him, and he didn’t pay them much attention either. But today, a duck in a red hat waved at them as he and Heron stepped inside the lab.

“Oh, hello! I’m Fethry!” The lab coat he was wearing hung loosely on him, clearly meant for a slightly larger bird.

“O-kaaay...?” Why was he expected to care?

A grin was spreading across Heron’s face as she looked the duck up and down. Then she turned her gaze to Steelbeak as she gestured offhandedly at the duck. “Fethry is our new marine specialist. He’ll be working on some of our most important projects.”

Heron… sounded like she was trying to hold back a laugh. What, was this smart guy really good at the jokes? Or did he know a party trick or two?

And what kind of name was Fethry? Might as well have called him “Webby” since he had webbed feet.

“Say, Fethry?” He knew that tone of voice from Heron. He didn’t always know the details of what she was saying, but he knew the sweetly sharpened tone was meant to cut someone down to size.

He felt… lighter, watching that tone be aimed at someone who wasn’t him. Like he was actually in on the joke for once. He also felt the urge to move to safer ground.

Heron’s smile was wide as she continued. “Why don’t you explain to my partner, Steelbeak, what you’re working on? He loves to hear about scientific experiments in great detail. Especially if you use a lot of long words.”

Okay, maybe he was still part of the joke.

Fethry’s eyes widened—he didn’t even know it was possible for someone to widen their eyes like that until Fethry did. “I’d love to!”

“Great!” Heron said in a passable imitation of Fethry’s enthusiasm. Under her breath she added, “Maybe now I can get some real work done.”

Steelbeak’s jaw tightened as she walked away. He refocused his gaze on the red-capped duck, who was all but jumping in place.

A snort escaped him as he sat down at a table. At least if this pipsqueak tried to clamp his beak, he could just knock him into next week.

“So what are you working on?” This was still more exciting than watching the walls, after all.

Fethry laughed nervously. It had been a while since anyone paid him a significant amount of attention. “Well, at the moment I’m just filling out the request paperwork. But I’m hoping to start an experiment on delaying the eating habits of the crown of thorns starfish.”

“The what?”

“Crown of thorns starfish. It eats coral.”

“And that is?”

“Coral is like…” Fethry scratched his head. He could never remember all the big words like polyps, sessile, and Anthozoa when he needed to. “It’s like skeletons scattered across the seafloor that fish live in.”

“Really? So fish just decide to live in dead bodies.” Sounded fake, but at least it wasn’t boring.

“Well, coral is a skeleton, but it’s also alive. It’s really bad when they do die.”

“So the fish live in alive dead bodies.” This Fethry guy was talking an interesting sort of crazy.

“Skeletons, yes. Called coral. Only these sea stars eat the coral, so the fish have no place to live then.”

“Now, these sea stars start off eating algae. It’s been called the grass of the sea,” he explained before Steelbeak even had to ask. Fethry’s beak scrunched up. “Though I have to say, grass usually tastes much better.”

“How long it takes for the sea stars to go from algae to coral varies. And there’s a lot of these starfish in the ocean. If they made the switch all at once, they could do a lot of damage.”

Huh. For the guy’s first project, it had the makings of a decent scheme. “So… if you could figure out how to make them do it, you could have them eat the fish out of house and home?”

Fethry actually nodded at that. “Or if I could figure out a way to slow it down, I could buy time for the reefs to grow.”

“...huh.” He actually followed most of that. Sure in his mind, coral reefs had a lot more skulls than they normally did. But he got the gist of what Fethry was talking about.

Black Heron hummed as she worked without interruption. Fethry calculated the costs of feeding and housing a small colony of starfish, making sure to show his work. And Steelbeak imagined blackmailing a fishing village with an army of sea stars. Small potatoes when it came to true villainy, but everyone had to start somewhere.

***

It wasn’t one of Heron’s longer science sessions. She tapped at some keys, read some screens, fiddled with some gadgets, and was ready to leave in a couple of hours.

Fethry had remained in the lab, drawing up plans for a sea star’s dream home. They’d need plenty of walking room, he’d said, so he was drawing up little pathway designs. Including one for a yellow brick road.

He started to reach out a hand to Steelbeak… for what, Steelbeak wasn’t sure. His body tensed in defense.

And Fethry must have noticed because he let his hand drop to his side and just smiled instead. “Thanks for listening. I know I kind of ramble.”

Steelbeak waited a few seconds to be sure that Fethry wasn’t going to make any sudden moves. Then he gave a shrug and followed Heron out.

It hadn’t been a hardship. Listening to weird undersea stuff passed the time. It was like catching a documentary on TV, without the meatheads that would grab the remote from you and change the channel to something else.

Black Heron laughed at Fethry as soon as they left the lab. "That guy," was all she managed to say before chuckles overtook her.

Steelbeak scowled. “What? What did he say that was so funny?” Was he the butt of someone else’s joke again? He'd make him go splat, if so.

Heron regained control of herself, but she was still grinning. “He didn’t have to say anything. It’s comical that he’s even here.”

The scowl receded and his brows knit in confusion. “I don’t —”

“You don’t get it, I know. Lucky for you, I’m in a good enough mood to explain. He’s Scrooge McDuck’s nephew. You remember, the guy you were supposed to get out of the arcade?”

“The big guy who wrecked one of my suits?”

“Ugh, no! He was the one wearing a top hat.” A frown flitted across her face, but her good mood was quick to reassert itself. Past failure meant little in the face of such a hilarious triumph.

“He came to us, wanting a job. He has no idea that we’re F.O.W.L. and no idea that we’re working against everything his family stands for. We’re holding him hostage, and he has no clue.” Another peal of laughter escaped Heron.

Steelbeak let out a chuckle as well, now that he was finally in on the joke. "Ahh, I get it. Classic dum-dum. What kind of idiot doesn't know who they're working for?"

The grin on Heron’s face slipped slightly.

"This should go without saying, but I know you so I'll say it anyway. Do not tell Fethry any details of your work, your missions, what we do here. Nada. Nothing."

"Well, duh. I know that. That's why they're called secret missions."

"Steelbeak, I once saw you brag about being a secret agent at a bar to try and get a date."

"And why not! They were cute!"

“And you wonder why your recreational leave is so limited.”

“What?”

“I’m saying dumb boys don’t get a lot of outdoors time.”

“Hey!”

A smirk moved across her face before she continued. “The director wants him to remain utterly oblivious, so secrecy is of the utmost importance. He’s not going to be happy if we have to lock him up or kill him for knowing too much.”

Steelbeak did not reach for his beak. He did not feel the slight dents that remained from trying to punch his own mouth open. “And we’re not just locking him up now, why?”

“Because the Ducks are easiest to manage when they think a situation is within their control!” Her voice was raised as decades of thwarted ambitions seeped into her tone.

Steelbeak was unimpressed. He could get just as angry, and he hadn’t needed years to get to that point.

“And what if he does ask what I do here?”

“Why would he ask? You’re hardly about to engage him in some deep conversation, are you?”

He couldn’t quite meet her eyes for some reason. “Well, no, but…”

“Oh, for larceny’s sake. If it does come up and you can’t avoid answering the question, just make something up. You’re an agent, do some lying.”

“... yeah, of course. I can do that.”

***

It doesn’t really sink in until later that night, back in his room, how Fethry answered all his questions without calling him, “Stupid.”

#ducktales #fethsteel #fethry duck #cousin fethry #steelbeak

188 notes · View notes

caiminnent · 4 years

Text

no road home [kylux, rated T]

PROMPTS: stranded - bug - break down by @kyluxxoxo

SUMMARY: When Hux gets bitten by a venomous insect on an unfamiliar planet, it falls on Kylo to bring them both back home—alive.

FANDOM: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

TAGS: Near Death Experiences, Stranded, Angst, Mutual Pining, Pre-Slash, Hopeful Ending, Protective Kylo Ren, Timeline What Timeline, Mentioned Brendol Hux, The Author Regrets Everything

NOTES:

Disclaimer: Research told me I could have either a very well-researched WIP or an unrealistic fic. I chose the fic. If you know anything at all about insect bites or survival, please accept this as my formal apology.

Heads-up for Hux trying to talk Kylo into leaving him for dead. No MCD or suicidal tendencies, because that's not how I roll; but Hux does temporarily give up somewhere in there.

2.5K || ALSO ON AO3

Hux collapses just outside the clearing.

Panic seizing his chest, Kylo breaks his fall with the Force on instinct—manages to catch Hux’s head, the rest of his body hitting the ground with a thud that echoes in Kylo’s skull. Kriffing hells. Be conscious, be conscious, please you infuriating—

Hux is conscious—thank stars he is, lying there with his eyes wide open and face pinched tight in his agony. He might not be breathing.

Placing Hux’s head down gently, he drops on a knee next to him. “Hux?”

Hux closes his eyes and empties his lungs on one, long exhale. “My knees gave way,” he mutters, irritation and anger underlying his tone at his body’s apparent betrayal. “It’s all right. Just give me a moment.”

Stark relief courses through Kylo, the grip around his heart loosening.

Hux takes minutes on the ground, working his body—rolling his ankles, clenching and unclenching his hands, turning his head. Once satisfied with his findings, he pushes himself up to a half-roll, then a sitting position. Kylo helps him with a hand between his shoulder blades—Hux hisses at the pressure, flinching away from his touch. No. It must be the fall; it can’t have already—

Stomach at his feet, “Let me see,” Kylo says, tugging at Hux’s sleeve. Exposing more of Hux’s skin might not be smart, considering; but he needs to see for himself—needs to know how much longer they have left.

At Hux’s questioning look, “We should keep track of how far it’s developed,” he adds. A half-lie, at worst. “The research team will need the data.” Useless as it will be, with no way to capture it without their datapads.

Hux frowns deeper, sizing him up through the corner of his eye—weighing Kylo’s sincerity. Kylo steels himself against the sting of Hux’s distrust—justified as it may be—and tugs again.

Releasing another long sigh, Hux shifts into a steadier position, raising his knees. His hands are trembling as he makes short work of his belt and the hidden clasps of his tunic—lightly enough to dismiss, if it were anyone else. The tight undershirt comes off last, pulled carefully away from Hux’s skin.

Blood freezes in Kylo’s veins.

The rash has spread from the bug bite high at his nape, the purple boils extending to Hux’s upper arms and halfway down his torso in thick cords, the skin around some red and broken where Hux must have scratched them behind Kylo’s back. No signs of development up or around Hux’s throat; but gut feeling says it’s a matter of yet.

They need to get Hux into the medbay before that happens.

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

After the first sun’s set, fever and nausea enter into the equation.

They were expecting it. The insect, whatever it might be, injected some sort of toxin into Hux’s system. Logic follows that the body will want to fight it through whatever means necessary.

If only he could make it easier on Hux.

Left up to him, he would have just thrown Hux over his shoulder instead of letting him exert himself further, the general’s useless pride be damned—better yet, they wouldn’t have had to rescue themselves from this backwater planet in the first place. As it is, his options are limited to pushing water into Hux’s hands and biting his tongue as Hux’s steps slow down the longer they go.

He doesn’t let himself ask to see the rash again, either. He just watches Hux’s hand drift lower and lower.

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

Without a map and unfamiliar with the terrain—Hux’s unnecessarily extensive dossiers would have come in handy here, were he given the time to prepare one before they were dropped planetside for a fool’s errand—he relies mostly on the Force’s guidance to find their way out. Much to Hux’s displeasure. Hitting flowing water like Kylo said they would put an end to the snide comments; but Hux still won’t try the berries the Force deemed safe.

Not that there would be a point to it, now.

Hux is on his knees next to a tree again, dry-heaving. Kylo’s own stomach aches with how hard Hux’s body is trying to cough up nothing; even river water barely stayed down long enough to count as success.

Once done, Hux practically drops against the tree trunk. His skin is dotted with sweat; he wipes it on a clean corner of the tunic he didn’t put back on. “That’s it,” he chokes—clears his throat. “I need a break.”

They both could use one. Kylo could keep going if he had to; but they’re playing the long game here—he needs to save his energy just in case. He won’t be any good to Hux if he exhausts himself unnecessarily.

They can’t afford to linger long, though. Hux’s breathing has been growing shallower since the third sun’s rise, his skin losing what little color it had; every minute is against them.

“We can take ten minutes,” he allows. “Then we have to get back on the road.”

Hux rests his head against the trunk with a sigh, closing his eyes. Without the strength to keep his mental shields up, his thoughts are laid out in front of Kylo—and what a glorious minefield it is. Hux thinks in stark visuals: of his father, rank stripes they shared, Phasma, his vibroblades, an orange tabby Kylo had thought to be just a rumor; of Hux himself on an unfamiliar throne and Kylo standing next to him, of Kylo’s broken body on the snow, Kylo floating in a bacta tank with an oxygen mask covering most of his face—circling back to Brendol Hux in that same tank, dissolving too slowly and painlessly for Hux’s liking.

Kylo wanders a little deeper into Hux’s mind and finds those tendrils of tenderness and affection again, gently redirecting Hux’s thoughts to the cat. Her name is Millicent, apparently—Millie, who likes to sleep behind Hux, in the crook of his knees. Millie, who costs a small fortune to feed, without taking Phasma’s treats into account that Hux pretends not to know about. Millie, who won’t show herself to any of Hux’s visitors but Mitaka.

Millicent, whom Hux might never see again.

Breathing deep to chase away the tightness in his chest, “Time’s up,” Kylo says, pushing himself off the ground. Hux watches him slap dust off his robes and heft what remains of their supplies with misty eyes. “Come on, Hux. You can sit around as much as you want when we get back to the base.” Just watch anyone besides the medical personnel try to come twenty feet near him.

“If we get back to the base,” Hux corrects him through a hoarse throat, not unkindly. “Are you sure we’re headed in the right direction?”

“Yes.” Mostly. Individual Force signatures are nearly impossible to identify from this distance; but they are headed towards a large group of people. Even if it’s just locals, they might know something about the venom flowing through Hux. With any luck, they might have an antidote or at least some relief to provide for Hux while Kylo figures out how to send a message to the base. It’s better than what they currently have, at any rate.

Hux raises a brow in disbelief, the heat of his glare diminished by the slackness of his face as his expression fails to tighten into its usual lines. He tilts his head up, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his folded arms on them. “How much farther?”

Kylo anchors his senses on the strongest signature, a wildfire among torches and candles. By their progress so far, he would estimate… longer than what they have left of daylight. Kriff. If only he had his helmet.

“A couple hours,” he lies. Hux will have his head when he realizes it; but he’s suffered a lot more for a lot less. “Less if we pick up the pace.”

Hux nods slowly at the sky, making no move to get up. “Certainly you realize,” he starts, a new weight to his measured tone. “I don’t have another couple hours’ trek in me. Let alone picking up the pace.”

Dread fills his guts, dark and heavy. “Come on, General,” he tries with a low chuckle, aiming for mocking. “All your scheming, all your grand plans of ruling the galaxy—was it all just so you can waste away in the middle of nowhere?”

An image of snow flashes in Hux’s mind—blindingly white and oppressive, vivid enough to send a shiver down Kylo’s spine. The remains of the Starkiller Base shakes under their feet as Hux half-carries, half-drags Kylo’s barely conscious bulk across the snow, taking stumbling steps towards safety.

The slash across his face burning anew, Kylo flees from Hux’s mind, not brave enough to face Hux’s account of Kylo’s biggest failure.

Hux grimaces, sending him a look that says careful, Ren. “I appreciate your efforts,” Hux continues in that same, carefully neutral tone. “Truly, I do. Not many would have lasted this long. With a dead weight on their side—” Bile rises in Kylo’s throat. “—not many would have even tried.” Hux meets his gaze, steel in his eyes. “Thank you for having tried, Kylo Ren.”

No. No, that can’t be Hux. General Armitage Hux is a survivor before anything—he would have stared death down than sit and wait for it. “I don’t know what the hells has gotten into you,” Kylo spits, the words leaving a bitter taste at the back of his mouth. “But I’m not returning alone.”

“You weren’t given a choice in this matter.” Hux sighs—in his usual, bone-weary exasperation. Kylo latches onto the Hux-ness of the gesture in the middle of this foreign everything. “It is not failure to accept what you couldn’t have prevented, Ren. You are just cutting your losses. I’m sure Leader Snoke will understand.”

“Shut up, Hux,” he hisses, his hands curled into trembling fists. His insides are liquid fire, churning and boiling like lava.

“Not even you can win against nature, Ren. Leader Snoke—”

“Damn Snoke to the void!”

The silence rings between them—or it might be Kylo’s ears. His breath tears out of his chest, coming in short puffs. Hux thinks—Hux expects that Kylo will leave him for dead and go back to the base by himself—the base with its mindless soldiers and stupider minions and no one to walk beside him through the endless hallways, no one to find him when he needs to not be alone the most and to put him back together—

Hux blinks at him, trying to school his features into a scowl. “Why are you fighting me on this?” he snaps. “I won’t find my way out of these woods, not alive—and you risk stranding yourself by trying to make me. There’s no reason for both of us to die here.”

“We will not.” Kylo won’t let it—by stars, he won’t, no matter what comes.

“I thought you would be relieved,” Hux says, his tone pitching higher in accusation—as if trying to save his kriffing life is one of Kylo’s bigger shortcomings. “You’ve been trying to get me out of your way since day one—and now that—” He draws in a shallow, effortful breath—Kylo’s lungs tense with it. “Now that you can without drawing Snoke’s ire, you try your damnedest to save me. Why?”

Because the future of the galaxy depends on you, Kylo should say—should stroke Hux’s ego enough to bring him back from whatever messed up, morbid headspace he’s fallen into. Because the First Order needs you. Because I— “Save your energy for the trip, Hux.”

“No,” Hux barks, every bit the stern general commanding his bridge, even half-undressed and sitting three steps from his own mess. “Tell me why you insist on keeping me alive.”

All too aware of his heartbeat, “What do you care?” Kylo snarls. “I’m making sure you’ll live to see your petty dreams through. Does it kriffing matter why?”

Hux looks at him intently, as if trying to see through him—to take him apart. His thoughts are so loud when he wants them to be, reaching; if he were Force-sensitive, he would have been screaming his thoughts into Kylo’s mind.

Taking it as an invitation, Kylo slips back into Hux’s mind—like a guest most welcome, instead of an intruder who found the door unlocked. Hux is thinking about the Starkiller Base again, but the memory is of Kylo lying on the snow this time, his breath ghosting over him the only sign he’s even alive. Fear fills Kylo’s—no, Hux’s heart at the sight, dizzying and amplified, coming from the center of his being. The bloodstain on the snow as he lifts Kylo’s torso off the ground with considerable strain, careful of his injuries. The medbay, watching Kylo float in the bacta tank with a heavy heart and raw palms. Seeing Kylo for the first time after his release from the medbay, in the Supreme Leader’s throne room, sans the helmet that still irritates Kylo’s facial wound—cold hit of relief that he quickly smothers, composing himself before approaching the two of them with sharp clicks of heels.

Oh.

“Yes,” Hux says, his unblinking gaze daring Kylo to look away—the many scenarios of potential humiliation at Kylo’s hands flickering just beyond his awareness. “As a matter of fact, it does.”

Kylo breathes—breathes again, mind reeling. He reaches into Hux’s mind again, just to make sure he’s not reading this wrong—but no, the feelings are all there. Buried deep, deep enough to escape Kylo’s notice unless he went looking for them—deep enough for Hux to ignore unless he chose to. That, more than anything, convinces Kylo of their authenticity.

Stepping closer, he sinks onto one knee in front of Hux, separated by Hux’s bony knees between them. He reaches to cup a careful hand over Hux’s face—sure of his welcome, yet no less hesitant for it.

“I’ll tell you at the base,” Kylo says softly, running a thumb over Hux’s hot, damp cheekbone. Disbelief rises in Hux—disbelief and suspicion and dangerous, dangerous hope. “How about that, General? Live for me and I’ll tell you why.”

The long look Hux gives him is the same as before, careful and calculating. Appraising. Kylo kneels and lets himself be judged, wishing deeply, desperately, to be found honest and true for once in his wretched life.

Something clicks in Hux’s eyes, his expression shuttering. Kylo doesn’t know what it means—but Hux is leaning forward in the next moment, putting his arm over Kylo’s shoulders and Kylo just doesn’t kriffing care.

Kylo wraps his own arm around Hux’s slim waist, keeping the pressure light on the boils he can feel under the thin fabric as Hux finally, finally helps himself up on shaky arms and legs. It takes two false starts to get him to stand by himself—and this time, when Hux’s knees buckle under him, Kylo is there to hold him up.ba

#Kylux Summer Fest 2020 #kylux #Kylo Ren #Armitage Hux #Star Wars #Cai does words #finished fics #kyluxxoxo just hit me on the head and demanded I write something for it #so here we are #I finished this in record time for me #now it's time to get back to my KBB work

14 notes · View notes

thetv-junkie · 5 years

Text

Keeping Track of Fanfics (99 % Offline) and How to Organise Them Neatly

Without a doubt, fanfiction has become an undeniably popular phenomenon in modern pop-culture. Every day thousands of avid writers provide us with their entertaining adventures, allowing us to interact with like-minded fans and friends and secretly indulge in collective swooning. ヽ( ⌒o⌒)人(⌒-⌒ )ﾉ

But then again, the sheer abundance of stories makes it hard to not be confused at times. Have I read that fic before? Did I like it??? Had there been an update that I might have missed? Where the heck did I stop reading? Damn, that story has been deleted; I wished I had saved it! ( ಥ ʖ̯ ಥ)

Especially in devastating times as this, with the corona virus running rampant on the whole globe, forcing millions of people into quarantine at home, the fear of the internet collapsing is palpable everywhere. In China, readers didn't/still do have no access to archiveofourown.com anymore. (o_O) !

But fear not, here's a great solution for the problem. – The FREE offline programme "Calibre". Some of you might have heard of it already and shy away from its usage as it seems confusing and cumbersome at first glance. (•ิ_•ิ) ?

In this tutorial, however, I will show you that, once you've gotten through the necessary set-up (which I will guide you through step-by-step) it will be well worth the effort and you're going to love “Calibre” forever for saving your fanfiction treasures and allows you your daily fix of smutty goodness, even if being online is no longer an option. (๑˃ᴗ˂)

So, here we go:

First, you need to download "Calibre" (either the regular or portable version):

https://calibre-ebook.com/download

and install it.

ヘ(￣ω￣ヘ)

Follow the instruction and select your device (output format is usually .epub but than can be changed to pretty much every other common format.) and click on “Finish”. If you’re not sure which device you use (or use more than one), simply stick to “Generic”.

An interface will appear:

You need to click on the three dots on the right (see arrow). An additional row of plugins will open which holds the button “Preferences”. Click that.

Scroll down to “Advanced” and select “Plugins”, “Get New Plugins”.

In the list of new plugins chose “FanFicFare” and install it (Ignore the warning.). As for the toolbars - best go with the pre-sets.

You can pick as many plugins as you like; “EpubMerge”, “Find Duplicates” and “EpubSplit” are useful additions, but see for yourself. Whenever “Calibre” asks you to close and re-open the program, do so (might happen a couple of times).

Next, go back to “Preferences” (remember the three dots on the right of the toolbar), find “Toolbars and Menus” and choose the main toolbar.

You can now pick the buttons you want to show up in your main toolbar, then click “Apply”. My toolbar looks something like this:

If you can't see all of your plugins, click on the three dots on the right, just as before. An additional row of plugins appears underneath.

Now we’re going to add the columns that are individually important to you and which will give you the information you need in order to pick the right book for your reading session.

Go to “Preferences”, “Add your columns”.

First tick and un-tick the pre-set columns that you want to keep or get rid of.

__φ(。。)

Then, click the green “+”-button on the right. An new window pops up that allows you to create new categories. Here's an example:

In my case I've picked a column that can be answered with a yes/no, but of course you also could opt for a text version instead (which is helpful when you want to sort stuff by pairing). Just make sure the lookup name is written in small letters (otherwise you'll get an error message) while for the column name you can write whatever you wish. When you're done, click "Apply".

Repeat the process as often as desired, here's my columns to give you some ideas:

(like 008, so I can give individual IDs to my books which makes finding them easier.)

Title

(No big brainer here – once you download a fanfic, this will be filled in automatically.)

Read?

(Again, pretty self-explanatory, easy to answer with the yes/no option)

Rating

(Now that is probably the most important column since it gives me an idea whether that fic is worth a re-read, or not. You can chose the ★★★★★-rating system in your personalised columns)

Time

(This column is only necessary if you know if you're a fast reader or not. We only need this column if you intend to add “Pages” as well:)

Pages

(That feature comes in handy when you're reading on another device like your mobile phone or tablet. Some devices show either the number of pages or the estimated reading time. In case it shows only the number of pages (just for example's sake, let's pretend you need one minute for reading one page which leaves you with e. g. 900 pages. Go to this site to break it down to hours and minutes:

https://www.unitjuggler.com/convert-time-from-min-to-h.html

900 minutes/pages leaves you with a total of roughly 15hr of reading time. You might want to note that down in your Calibre columns in order to have a vague idea if you're in for a lazy half-an-hour-read or better get settled for a marathon.)

Pairing?

(Does what it says on the tin – If you have more than one fav pairing in the same fandom it is useful to be able to sort by pairing for easy selection when you're in the mood for certain protagonists without wanting to scroll through your library forever. Btw, I recommend to use different libraries for each fandom. (Click the arrow on the right of the button "Calibre Library", "Switch/Create Library" and follow the instructions)

NSFW?

(Personally, a really important column for me. 'nough said. (^_<)〜☆ )

Okay, so now that we got the most important stuff done, let's finally download a fanfic!!! Leave Calibre as it is, open the internet and go to your site and fic of choice. Select the according url in your browser, copy it, switch back to Calibre.

Click on the arrow button on the right side of your plug in fanficfare, "Download from URL", the download url is automatically added, then press OK.

Now one of these two things can happen:

If you're lucky, on your bottom right corner, there's a pop up, letting you know that your FanficFare download is complete. All you have to do is press "Yes" and ét voila – you've imported your first fanfic!

All you need to do now is to double click on the title and start reading (I recommend to use E-book viewer). Enjoy !

However, if you're not lucky, you might get messages like how the sites want you to enter your username and password or that it's adult content blah blah blah, yadda, yadda, yadda. Having to fill in the information for every single fanfic is annoying, time-consuming and, most of all, incredibly annoying!

凸(￣ヘ￣)

Hence, here's the work-around:

Click on the arrow right to your plugin "FanFicFare" in the tool bar, find “Configure FanfFicFare”.

Go to the tab that says "personal.ini", then "edit personal.ini" Scroll down in the small pop-up until you can see this pre-set:

Edit in all the sites you're usually browsing for fanfiction. Always make sure that the letters of the sitename are blue, not red. If you want to make sure you aren't bothered with any verification pop-ups and such, double-check to work all of these in:

[Your fanfiction page like hp.adultfanfiction.org]

#username:YourPenname

#password:YourPassword

## default is false

#collect_series: true

#is_adult:true

#fail_on_password: false

That should do the trick and you can now easily keep track and enjoy your fics!

☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆

Bonus:

When you're done reading you might want to fill in some information for later use.

For that, fill your columns on the main screen by simply double-clicking on each category. So far, so good. But we need more metadata.

Choose a fic so it’s highlighted in blue. Then go to "Edit Metadata" in the main tool bar.

A window opens:

Some information will be pre-filled but you can always edit them. Also, I highly recommend you to change the tags to your liking, same as you can add a book cover of your choice via the browse function.

On a final note: When you're following a fic that is still in-progress, you can simply click the button "FanFicFare" (NOT the arrow next to it!) to update it.

♡( ◡‿◡ ) ENJOY YOUR READ!

#Fanfiction #Calibre #Corona

10 notes · View notes

muziiek · 4 years

Text

Step by step instructions to Hire a Good SEO Marketer

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the workmanship and study of making search engines rank your site high in the characteristic search results when somebody types in a question. That is the purpose of SEO, in any case. Since SEO is as yet a rising field, there is no "overseeing body", and the principles at times change. A good SEO professional comprehends these evolving rules, and realizes how to appropriately apply them. An awful SEO specialist by and large commits errors, or deliberately attempts to beguile the framework to win "counterfeit" high rankings.

youtube

It isn't correct that you have no power over what shows up in the search engines. The content that you put on your site figures out where you show up in the search engine results page (SERP). On the off chance that your site is about "gadgets", you're likely not going to show up in search results about "transport passages". The most significant thing you can do on the web is to speak to yourself genuinely. In the event that your site is about "gadgets", and the content on your site discusses "gadgets" at that point you'll likely show up some place in the SERP for "gadgets". A good SEO professional can assist you with ranking higher for "gadgets", among other all around researched, and important catchphrases.

What is the Difference Between a "Good" SEO Service, and a "Terrible" One?

An awful ("blackhat") SEO advertiser resembles a merchant strolling down the road selling fake relief. You may believe you're getting it, yet you can't make certain of the outcomes. A good SEO advertiser resembles a drug specialist. They have concentrated all the dependable techniques to take care of your concern and likely have a good thought of how to securely and viably address your issue.

The Benefits of Hiring awful SEO:

Your site could shoot directly to the top, ranking #1 for your watchwords

You could procure a couple of new clients rapidly and make a brisk buck

The expense is far not as much as what your companions and rivals are paying for SEO

The Costs of Hiring awful SEO:

At the point when the search engines get on, your site could be punished (definitely downsized) in the rankings, winding up more terrible than previously

Your site could be incidentally restricted from the search engine (totally unfindable - anticipate 6 a year)

Your site could be for all time prohibited from the search engine (totally unfindable - for good)

At the point when any of the above happens, there will be lost efficiency from expelling all the search engine spam from your site

It could be difficult to track down all the stunts the SEO advertiser used to misleadingly support the rankings, and along these lines it could require some investment to get back into the outcomes pages

Once punished or prohibited, you will lose all the potential clients you would have picked up had it been done accurately

A professional SEO advisor will likely must be employed at extra expense to fix it and carry out the responsibility right

Try not to trust it? In February 2006, BMW was given the Google Death Penalty for utilizing blackhat SEO rehearses. They introduced a smooth plan to anybody with JavaScript, and indicated every other person (that implies the search engines) a catchphrase rich page. Demonstrating one content to guests and another to Google is a no-no. BMW Germany was prohibited from Google.

The Costs of Hiring Good SEO:

The underlying cost will be higher

There will likely be a progressing membership charge

The execution time will be longer (for the site to rank high)

There will be changes to the content of the real site, and most likely the structure, also

The Benefits of Hiring Good SEO:

Higher rankings by and large

The high rankings will in general remain there

The catchphrases you are ranking high for are applicable to your association and the individuals who are attempting to discover you

It is more financially savvy in the long haul

Future pages that you include the site will be simpler and quicker to rank higher

No power outage periods or client misfortune due to punishment

What Is "Terrible" SEO, and Why is it So Undesirable?

To begin with, how about we inspect a portion of the techniques accessible to the blackhat SEO advertiser. Here are only a couple:

Entryway Pages: Many pages loaded down with watchwords are set on the web, and all link back to your site

Shrouding: Showing one variant of the site to guests, and another to search engines.

Dynamic Content: Not all unique content is terrible; truth be told, most is entirely genuine. In any case, having the server produce huge arrangements of watchwords that change regularly is commonly a poorly conceived notion.

Scraping: Some sites visit high ranking sites, duplicate bits of the content that has the catchphrase they need, and post it on their site. This is an excellent method to really disturb different websites.

Shrouded Text: Keywords on a page that are a similar shading as the background, or that are covered up by CSS are a poorly conceived notion

Setting up links pages that utilization the catchphrase rich link content of different sites to increase ranking. This makes the link page give off an impression of being increasingly important for the ideal watchwords. This bothers the search engines, yet additionally the guests.

Watchword Stuffing: Writing practically pointless content in the site that is essentially an extensive rundown of catchphrases. Mindful SEO will utilize watchwords cautiously in the content, yet like all things, you can try too hard. Search engines acknowledge good language.

Exaggerating RSS: Go ahead and coop huge segments of your website. Be that as it may, coordinating the entirety of your website may raise a banner. There are bits of gossip proposing that there may perhaps be changes in the manner Google records RSS later on.

Sleight of hand: Submitting the search-engine benevolent page to the search engine, at that point after it's ordered, transferring the "real" page. This is an exceptionally brief lift in your rankings.

Unimportant Keywords: WHY might you advance the catchphrase "sex" on your site about "gadgets"? Do you sincerely think somebody searching for "sex" will see your site and state, "goodness hold up a moment, I think I needed a gadget"? In the event that you sell "gadgets", at that point advance "gadgets", so individuals who need to purchase "gadgets" can discover your "gadgets".

For what reason do Search Engines Dislike All This?

Search engines are in the data business. In particular, search engines give supportive responses to questions. Sites which utilize these techniques weaken the pertinence and helpfulness of the search engines. The search engine that permits their outcomes to get unessential is futile and out of business. Nobody will search that engine, nobody will tap on their advertisements, nobody will need to purchase or show their promotions, and inevitably nobody will need to put resources into them. Search engines are securing their ventures and their future by guaranteeing the proceeding with significance and handiness of their outcomes.

The most effective method to Hire a Good SEO Professional

Allows first gander at a portion of the signs that demonstrate the chance of a blackhat SEO advertiser

In the event that you hear anything like "we ensure top arrangement", don't recruit them. A good SEO advertiser can't promise you a good ranking anything else than your representative can promise you an incredible return. Everything they can do is a good job, or not.

In the event that the organization agent converses with you about the benefits of Meta Tags, don't employ them. Meta Tags are out of date regarding search engine advertising (SEM).

Get a rundown of past customers and check their present site and rankings. In the event that their rankings are currently low, or if the customer sites appear to have malicious content, or minimal content, don't recruit them.

In the event that first contact with the SEO organization is made through a spontaneous call or email, be vigilant. Why? SEO isn't a forceful advertising technique. SEO is the craftsmanship and study of furnishing individuals with what they were searching for at any rate. It is satisfying a need in light of a solicitation about that need. It could be said, it is a totally uninvolved showcasing technique, since it is possibly activated when an individual is really looking for it. Be careful about search engine advertisers that appear to be excessively forceful.

My own annoyance is the ones that call and declare that we are not at the top of the search engines however they can "help" us. Have confidence, we are recorded at the top for each keyphrase we've at any point really focused on. At the point when they are educated that we are at the top, they begin requesting to know which catchphrases we rank high for. Such significant keyphrases ought not be parted with so economically. I amenably hang up on these individuals.

1 note · View note

knowfromme-blog · 5 years

Text

5 Paid Life & Money Apps That Are Actually Worth The Money

Not too long ago, I wrote an article for TFD all about the fabulous free apps that attend me manage my health. And while I try to be as frugal as possible when using mobile apps, there are a select few that I’ve found really enact warrant the price tag.

Here’s my breakdown of which ones made the slice:

1. Buddhify ($4.99; one-time purchase) Buddhify is a really glowing meditation app. It was recommended to me by a facilitator of a DBT skills group I took last year, and I’m so gay that I found it. It’s pretty unique in its layout — the way you pick a meditation is via its Wheel. There are 12 different options on the multi-colored wheel, with topics like Meditation 101, Stress & Difficult Emotion, Traveling, Going to Sleep, etc. To be honest, I had a bit of a learning curve with this layout — I wasn’t used to categorizing the type of meditation I wanted before playing it. But once I got the hang of it, the process totally changed the way I meditate. Now, before meditating via Buddhify, I pause to consider what exactly I’m trying to accept out of my practice: enact I need something short to pass the time while on the train? Am I feeling stressed and need to find a way to unexcited down? Taking the time to ask such questions allows me to maximize the benefits of my practice — I can choose the perfect recording for any moment. After a while, you’ll find your preferred tracks, which you can “Favorite” and save for easy reference. I particularly be pleased the Traveling and Walking tracks, which offer meditations specifically designed to be used on the disappear. I’ve yet to find another meditation app with such multi-purpose tracks. I also really appreciate the fact that Buddhify is a quality app, but only asks for a one-time payment. Other, more expensive apps (i.e. Headspace) charge on a subscription-based model, which adds up over time. I like that I only had to invest $6.99 (CAD) up-front and can continue using the app for years to advance. 2. DailyPocket, formerly DailyPay ($5.99 premium version; one-time purchase) DailyPocket is a budgeting app that I’ve mentioned in TFD articles before. Although I employ many tools — such as my bank’s mobile app, or even Mint — to accept overviews of my spending habits, this itsy-bitsy app has served me well. Its premium version is 100% worth its weight in gold. The concept is fabulous: you set a weekly budget, personalize a list of spending categories, and manually enter your purchases as you disappear. Then, the app calculates handy numbers — like how many days are left in the week, how much money you should spend each day to stay within your weekly budget, and what percentage of your weekly budget you’ve spent so far. You can also see visual breakdowns of your spending in the form of pie charts. I’m not very wonderful at math (or spreadsheets), so this app does a lot of the work for me. I treasure being able to see exactly how much money I can spend for the rest of the week — it takes the guesswork out of budgeting. It kind of blends the process of manually entering expenses into a spreadsheet or journal, but combines that with the convenience of digital tools. I like to employ this app mainly for my weekly disposable income, and I employ other means to calculate larger figures (like my monthly savings, debt repayment, etc.). Again, this app only requires a one-time purchase, which makes its cost-per-employ very, very low. 3. The modern York Times Digital Access ($4 per month currently; promotional rate) When I first tried quitting social media for wonderful, I realized that there was a gap in my daily routine — I had been using Facebook to sustain up with a lot of daily news, from pages I’d followed and friends’ written posts. Without that constant stream of information, I needed a solid way to sustain up with current events. Personally, I be pleased reading The modern York Times for the bulk of my news. I like the fact that it includes plenty of progressive ideas, but also has a healthy dose of conservative viewpoints. Even though I’m very left-wing in my beliefs, I find it useful to hear opposing perspectives in order to challenge my own ideas and understand their counter-points. I got a promotional offer that allows me to pay $4 per month for digital access, which has been totally worth it. Reading the NYT truly enriches my life, allowing me to sustain up with the news while also enjoying some leisure reading. If you’re trying to limit your social media usage, I’d definitely recommend trying this strategy out — find a reputable news source that you genuinely be pleased reading, and purchase a subscription (bonus points if you can find a promotional rate, which most publications will offer to modern readers!). In the age of information overload, it can be refreshing to sit down and read wonderful journalism, instead of just scrolling through social media and taking in a haphazard selection of posts (most of which are probably not fact-checked). 4. QuickBooks Self-Employed ($7 per month currently; promotional rate) If you’re a freelancer or otherwise self-employed, I’m sure that you can sympathize with the hassle that is organizing your books and tax documents. There are many upsides to working for yourself, but having to prepare all of your famous financial documents is not one of them. When I first started freelancing, I found that I was getting indolent with record-keeping, which often meant that I was missing out on claiming real business expenses at the halt of the year. So, I ended up purchasing a subscription to QuickBooks Self-Employed (the Canadian edition), and it has been a valid lifesaver. It’s allowed me to sustain track of my accounting, book-keeping, and tax preparation pretty much on autopilot. I simply link my bank accounts/credit cards, etc., and the program automatically imports all of my transactions, which I can then brand as Business or Personal (I am a sole proprietorship, so this helps sustain things separate). I can also import images of receipts for cash transactions — the app then automatically reads the info and imports the data. This software lets me enjoy a clear overview of my total net income per month, year, etc., and easily organizes all of my tax documents for the halt of the year. There are other options out there — like hiring an accountant or tax professional, or doing everything manually — but for me, this is what works best, and it is cost-effective. The app allows me to stay organized, and to avoid the hassle of doing lots of math (this seems to be a theme in my life), so the monthly price-tag is worth it. 5. Spotify Premium — Family ($4.99 per month; $14.99 price split three ways with family members) Lastly, I enact pay for Spotify Premium. My family members and I split this between the three of us, so we each contribute $4.99 per month. While Spotify isn’t the most novel service, it does enrich my life. I’ve tried free music apps, and I’ve also used the media apps offered through my public library, but they simply aren’t comprehensive or user-friendly enough for my needs. Shelling out the $4.99 is worth it to me, as a former musician who does really appreciate the act of listening to wonderful music. It adds a lot of joy to my days, allowing me to rock out in the shower, in my room, or even with headphones on the bus. And I like the offline mode, which saves me data charges on my phone bill. You could certainly trim this app from your budget if you were really trying to save, but at this point in my life, the subscription fee is manageable and seems reasonable for the enjoyment I accept out of it on a daily basis. Sometimes the itsy-bitsy pleasures in life really are worthwhile. What are your favorite paid apps? enjoy you slice certain ones from your budget, or added others? Let us know in the comments. Mercedes Killeen is a Toronto-based professional author and editor. You can purchase her book of poetry, tulips, at greyborders.com and order her freelance services at fiverr.com/killeenm. Image via Unsplash Like this narrative? Follow The Financial Diet on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for daily tips and inspiration, and sign up for our email newsletter here.

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=;t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e); s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1864103540333553'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); Read the full article

#beauty #fashion #hair #makeup

1 note · View note

sanoracorrigan-blog · 5 years

Text

Convert Audio To FLAC Online

Wish to take heed to FLAC audio recordsdata on a Mac? Oh, by the way in which CBR encoding @320kbps is a waste of space for the MP3 format. VBR is finest and sound converter does a rattling fantastic job. If it's important to convert audio formats, stop searching. This is the most effective. Full cease. Edit FLAC or any existed audio file like increase audio volume, trim, audio-transcoder.Com change audio file measurement, modify audio channel, change audio bitrates, merge a number of audio recordsdata into one. When you hit the "Convert Now" button, the importing will start immediately and present you a progress bar, and the conversion will get started instantly the importing complete. You will note a obtain hyperlink enables you to obtain the transformed MP3 when the conversion completed.

Changing to MP3 can assist you store more music on a tool. Certainly, this utility provides a wealth of pre-configured system profiles in your convenience. As soon as you choose one in all them, all relative settings in regards to the device shall be optimized mechanically. If you want to play a WMV movie on Apple TV , for instance, you just want to select your Apple TELEVISION mode from "Apple TELEVISION" class and proceed to the subsequent step. Added help to alter sample rate and bit depth for output audio files. If you, an skilled consumer, need to ensure that you get the output audio files in top quality, you can click on the Settings icon next to Profile menu to call up the Profile Settings dialog, and then you'll be able to finish the configurations in it by selecting a proper codec, adjusting channel, sample rate and bit price (i.e. 320 kbps) in corresponding field. Choose the desired output format, i.e. Auido > MP3. Remember to choose a folder where the program ought to save your new songs. By default, they'll go to My music folder on your C drive. Your ALAC files doubtless stayed relatively small because there wasn't much knowledge there for them to encode. For those who had started with a lossless source (like a CD or vinyl) and encoded them to ALAC, then transformed them to MP3, you'd see the files shrink so much. Once I rip a CD to ALAC, flac to mp3 online sound converter it's going to normally use between 250mb to 750mb for a full album. My relatively small library is getting close to 40gb already. Slower changing velocity than desktop FLAC converters particularly when converting a large or multiple files. Nonetheless, there is something to be said for ripping your music in a lossless format like FLAC. Whilst you most likely won't notice larger high quality , lossless is great for storing your music in the event you plan on converting it to different formats later onвЂ"since converting a lossy format to a different lossy format (e.g., AAC to MP3) will produce information of noticeably decrease high quality. So, for archival purposes, we advocate FLAC. Nevertheless, you need to use any lossless format you need, since you may convert between lossless formats with out altering the quality of the file. It's the best MP3 converter on the web. Ripping CDs is, consider it or not, a fine art, and it is modified massively since the golden age of compressing 128kbps MP3 files onto limited storage. The aim isn't ‘small and good enough' any more - it is about getting the best possible quality copy potential. If you don't like downloading any apps to your Mac, you could also convert FLAC to MP3 online along with your browser. Press the FLAC button on the Convert Tab to set the format to which you wish to convert your audio. Alternate options to Free Audio Converter for Windows, Mac, Linux, Internet, Wine and more. Filter by license to find only free or Open Supply alternatives. This list accommodates a total of 25+ apps much like Free Audio Converter. For those who use Home windows, you can get a free model of dBpoweramp , which may convert information, and a paid model, which you need to use to rip CDs, edit tags and more. Besides batch convert mode, Boxoft FLAC to MP3 Converter also offers different two handy modes for you: Scorching Directory Mode and Command Line Mode. These modes will aid you to easier your conversion work and save you a lot time. With Audio Transcoder you possibly can convert FLAC files for all iOS gadgets and play FLAC music files on your iPod, iPhone and iPad. It is necessary that you just properly convert your information and don't just change the file extension towav orflac because for those who do this your information won't be correctly transformed and can due to this fact be rejected by the shops. VLC's progress indicator will transfer and that implies that the audio format is being converted. Earlier than we present you the efficient methods to convert FLAC to MP3, it's best to first know about the difference between FLAC and MP3. Now, simply choose your preferred method to receive the transformed file and click on Convert" to upload and convert. In the event you did not chosen any particular technique to obtain the files, you will be supplied a Obtain" button once the files are transformed. Limitless video downloading and converting to MP3. MP3 FLAC Converter is an greatest FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) Audio Converter. It might convert MP3 to FLAC audio formats. Key options: Batch-convert unlimited FLAC recordsdata within the fast and easy setup interface; Multithreading are supported and the extra files you change the sooner. Audio CD comprises music, however usually they do not comprise important info like tracks titles and artist. That's why FreeRIP can search Web CD databases for these data. FreeRIP can download data from the well known or from the unique FreeRIP CD Database. For these uncommon CDs which have tracks information stored on the CD itself in CD-Text format, FreeRIP helps it as well. Using the identical app it's also possible to convert wma to mp3 amongst many different supported audio codecs, including MPC, APE, WV, FLAC, OGG, WMA, AIFF, WAV, and others. It's an awesome utility to have around on the Mac for converting audio information, and provided that it's free and quick, it is exhausting to beat.

1 note · View note

augustinajacob-blog · 5 years

Text

Convert FLAC To MP3 And Split It To Individual Tracks Using CUE File.

free audio converter flac to mp3 mac FLAC to MP3 Converter is a light-weight and unobtrusive app that converts FLAC information to the MP3 format. It is a MacOS software program that basically executes exemplary. It has nice features and turns out to be useful to convert FLAC to MP3 free. It's a FLAC to MP3 converter freeware accessible on iTunes. It has got batch processing skills and helps conversion to quite a few file formats. It options modifying, extracting, merging and trimming options to get an audio or clip from a video. It helps the latest MacOS version in addition to other later variations and can be used to share the transformed information to different iOS devices with ease, and you might be certain the media recordsdata will play on them. Audials Tunebite Platinum is appropriate with 40 import codecs and may convert to 11 output formats. It isn't as fast as Change, however its streaming content material recorder is essentially the most impressive. Audacity , the free open source digital audio editor and recording laptop software application, accessible for Home windows, OS X, Linux and different working systems. This file is known for its highly effective enhancing functions for audio file. Additionally, it helps audio converting between WAV, AIFF, MP3, OGG, M4A, AC3, WMA and so on. It may also let you play the audio file earlier than changing them. You may click on the big musical be aware icon in the midst of the window to browse for recordsdata to transform, or drag and drop as many FLAC information as you wish onto the window. From there, you could have just a few choices under for the conversion. You can convert to MP3 or quite a lot of other codecs, and change the bitrate options to your desired MP3 high quality. I understand this comes fairly late, but for reminiscence, see my script "batchaudiocvt" on sourceforge. It's a (quite massive) shell script designed for environment friendly mass conversion of audio information, between many formats. Specifically, it makes its best to transform the same old tags. FLAC, or Free Lossless Audio Codec, is an audio format that compresses music information without dropping any knowledge. Nonetheless, as is the case with most lossless codecs, the information are sometimes quite massive and might fill your storage space with only a few albums. Additionally, the FLAC format is just not extensively supported on mobile devices, so you might want to flip your FLAC information into the more extensively supported MP3 format to be on the protected facet. The easiest solution to get this carried out is by using Movavi Video Converter.

You may have two options to add the FLAC recordsdata to Video Converter Ultimate. One is by dragging and dropping the video into this system window straight, and the other is by clicking Add Files at the upper left corner of the principle interface. three. Click on on Start Changing Now button. The FLAC to MP3 conversion course of will seem on progress bar. 2. Choose the output format as MP3 & set high quality. FreeRIP is a high quality CD to MP3 converter: it means that you can effective grain set compression parameters. Anyway if you are not a digital audio professional, just depart FreeRIP MP3 encoder settings on their default and you'll get top quality MP3 files with nice compression charge. Helps big selection of audio file codecs such as AC3, AAC, MP3, FLAC, M4A, MKA, OGG, WAV, APE and many others. As you possibly can see within the checklist, there're a great selection of different audio formats you can select from. To maintain the output with no loss in sound high quality, you may select to transform FLAC to WAV , APE , ALAC underneath Lossless Audio listing , depending in your needs. Choose "to FLAC" and then click "Convert" to convert MP3 recordsdata to FLAC. FreeRIP FLAC to MP3 Converter can do the FLAC to MP3 conversion: to begin with change FreeRIP to Converter mode with View->Converter menu possibility. Go to choices, then choose Configure chosen encoder (by default, fre:ac must be using the LAME MP3 Encoder). Apart from batch convert mode, Boxoft FLAC to MP3 Converter additionally provides different two handy modes for you: Sizzling Listing Mode and Command Line Mode. These modes will enable you to to simpler your conversion work and prevent a lot time. Drag recordsdata or folders onto the Choose button. An audio file converter is one form of file converter that (shock!) is used to convert one kind of audio file (like an MP3 , WAV , WMA , and so forth.) into another sort of audio file. Many music addict will encounter such problem. If you want to create excellent music assortment which is impressive in size and convenient to make use of, Any Audio Converter - FLAC to MP3 Converter is the answer it's essential convert file codecs from FLAC to more useful and fashionable MP3 file format to your MP3 gamers, iPod and mobile phones. You'll be able to get pleasure from MP3 downloads on all of your cellular devices. Any Audio Converter can simply convert all of the audio files for you and within the highest potential quality and let you conveniently convert FLAC to MP3 and then use these freshly converted files on your portable devices. MP3 FLAC Converter is an greatest FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) Audio Converter. It can convert MP3 to FLAC audio codecs. Key options: Batch-convert limitless FLAC files in the fast and simple setup interface; Multithreading are supported and the more information you convert the quicker. You'll be able to add extra recordsdata or take away some files from the checklist. When prepared, click "Next" to continue. he converter also allows for Free Audio Converter Flac To Mp3 Mac conversion of Flac information to MP3 and WAV instantly which also offers you the advantage of higher compression and not using a loss in output quality.Click on "Browse" button to decide on vacation spot folder for saving your converted MP3 information. Cloud Convert is technically a web-primarily based converter — albeit, a helpful one — nevertheless it additionally lives as a Chrome add-on, which makes this the primary stop for Chromebook customers. Decide up the add-on, open it, and you're able to go. Hear CD tracks or audio recordsdata from inside FreeRIP: the built-in audio participant can play both Audio CD tracks and audio information from our audio converter and converter MP3.

1 note · View note

daisyp5408017-blog · 5 years

Text

How To Use Mp3 Cutter On Android Smartphone? ~ My Telephone Issue Weblog

On-line MP3 cutter - make your personal exclusive ringtone. The MP3 Merger software shows a progress window to point out you what it's doing. You can use it to split any audio into as many items as you want, or you can even merge as many MP3 information as you need with Audacity. MP3 Cutter Joiner Free gives an essential capability for somebody with a big assortment of information or tapes, who records these in absence, then wants to cut the resultant recordings into tracks to protect on CDs or join them into a giant file. Mp3 Audio Editor is ready to create music CD from audio files or copy audio CD tracks for handy backup & playback. Freemore MP3 Joiner checks your CPU sort automatically and makes full use of your CPU to convey you the super high becoming a member of pace to avoid wasting a lot treasured time. With this program it is possible for you to to edit MP3 tag information in batch mode. Nothing could be of as excessive level as MP3 Cutter and Joiner that helps break and merge MP3 and WAV recordsdata in no time. Easily minimize the best part of your favorite MP3 by this mp3 cutter cellular app. Yes, combine mp3 files into one itunes this tool is a recorder however has a bunch of highly effective functions below it. With the option of Audio Editor, you possibly can merge a number of audio tracks in no time.

MP3 Cutter for Windows 10 is freeware that permits you to quickly and easily splice MP3 files. In windows XO I might first have all the story mp3s in movie maker, and then from the index of recent or imported information copy and paste different particulars. After I check monitor tracks in MP3, AAC, AC3 and M4A format, this on-line observe merger can acknowledge these information certainly. I take advantage of (another program whose name will not be allowed right here - thought-about spam) to merge my MP3 recordsdata into one, it also helps me to combine WAV, M4A, WMA, AIFF, FLAC, OGG, and etc. With this free online mp3 cutter you possibly can cut a portion from any audio file, or convert a video to MP3 format, and save the consequence as a MP3 music file or ringtone for you cellular phone equivalent to Samsung Galaxy S8, www.mergemp3.com Apple iPhone 8S Plus. Merge MP3 might seems quite dated however does the job of merging audio very nicely. Click Add Information to open the Select recordsdata to merge window shown instantly under. If you need to be part of or break up MP3 files this instrument is probably the simplest and fastest one, although files may need additional modifying to rename them.Create a playlist of recordsdata you wish to merge into one, choose Disk Author output plugin, select filename and also you're achieved. Chances are you'll entry On-line Title Registration by the "Members" hyperlink on the ASCAP dwelling web page or the "Register a Work" hyperlink in your Member Access account. You need to use our simple editor to merge your audio together with your video's soundtrack on-line. Free MP3 Cutter Joiner is pretty accurate and has the power to edit recordsdata inside one millisecond. Whenever you merge, InDesign creates a brand new doc or PDF based on the goal doc, and replaces the fields throughout the goal doc with the acceptable information from the data provide file.After MP3 information are loaded, the very first thing you need to do is choose all MP3 clips that you just need to mix and then click Merge Chosen into One" from context menu. MP3 Cutter Joiner helps and tests the perform, enable you accurate settings new starting of file, finish the place. It's possible you'll wish to merge audio information for quite a lot of causes. With MP3 Toolkit, you'll be able to convert, reduce, merge, rip and document MP3 free. Cute Video Audio Merger is a simple utility, and it doesn't provide any video enhancing options so you may't trim your video or edit it in any approach.This software has a penchant for almost all audio formats, including MP3, AAC, WAV, MP2, FLAC, OGG, MPA, M4A, APE, RA, AC3, RAM and AU amongst others. MP3 Joiner Expert may also be built-in into Home windows Explorer and after deciding on them you probably can merge MP3 recordsdata with a right mouse click on. Merge multiple audio information into an enormous file for non-cease playback regardless of their codecs like MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG and many others. The Merger means that you can take various wav joiner audio information, rearrange them in irrespective of order you need, then export it as a single blended audio file.Visible MP3 Splitter and Joiner helps MP3 and WAV and merge varied tracks of these extensions. Yu can merely mix your favourite mp3 recordsdata with ease and inside a really transient time. Merge MP3 can be part of mp3 recordsdata in a wide range of audio codecs, encoded with totally different codecs utilizing completely different settings. Right here you possibly can shortly and simply cut or take away soundless parts out of your MP3 files. Please take a look at MP3 Cutter Joiner. Let's see learn how to combine songs with this powerful and special audio and video merger.Our merger additionally supports processing recordsdata in batches which allows you to simply convert a number of audio information at one click. To merge music with the Prompt, right-click on the Begin button to open the Win + X menu. You need to use this app to make stunning fusion song notably for dance program or set merged file as ringtone. Particularly, the web MP3 Joiner Software ranked on this record is carefully chosen by us. Determine anyone you fulfill at present. Merge multiple music tracks or audiobook chapters into a a lot larger one with CD high quality and save as WMA, MP3, WAV, OGG and totally different audio formats.After having a common idea about this stylish and easy-to-use MP3 Merger, simply follow the three steps as proven underneath to combine quite a few MP3 information with it. Merge - Merge various video recordsdata into one master file. Free MP3 Cutter and Editor is a straightforward audio editor which, regardless of its name, works with both MP3 and WAV recordsdata. If you ever puzzled learn how to edit mp3 or to control mp3 files in a easy method, mp3 cuttter is the perfect match for you.

1 note · View note

lhbchang28744286-blog · 5 years

Text

AUTH—Merge Data For Search

You would need one other program to combine MP3s. Before clicking the Merge button, you'll be able to rearrange the MP3 recordsdata to define the MP3 audio phase placement in the merged MP3 file. A fast command line utility for merging MP3 recordsdata. With this free MP3 cutter + joiner one-stop reply software, it is handy to hitch collectively a variety of audio recordsdata into one single file and scale back large audio files into smaller items. Supports solely MP3 file format. Merely click on the free Free Merge MP3 receive button at the prime left of the online web page. Click Add Files to choose some text paperwork to merge together. Note this only works on the txt files, so you'll be able to't merge different text doc formats. Choose a number of documents to merge, and then enter a file title and path within the textual content field. Press Join Information to merge the documents. Head to the Output Format" section and choose one desired music format under the Audio tag. Then press the RUN" button to merge the music tracks. These two options and a wide range of other choices make Helium Audio Joiner a dependable and helpful application for anyone seeking to merge audio files. Video Processing: 2019 Finest 5 Free Windows 10 Video Editors - Crop, Trim, Merge, Compress, etc. I used the Merge mp3 software and it labored so nice and it was quite easy. With PowerMerge, Dynamics 365 customers can simply select an entity (account, contact, or lead), an related view and which area(s) the answer should discover duplicates from. Relying on entity, it may be a mixture of account identify, electronic mail handle, first title and last title. moreover the Revise document box, choose the revised doc you'll merge within the Open dialog field, and click the Open button. At the threat of being obvious, one thing to bear in mind: If you merge records, they have to be of the identical form. For instance, you possibly can merge Accounts with Accounts, but not Accounts with Leads. With the intention to create a shocking audio recordsdata, you'll want to extract MP3 from YouTube video files first. Merge MP3 is an utility that allows clients to affix MP3 recordsdata collectively. Several programs can share the an identical merge file, however when these purposes are uninstalled or modified, usually "orphaned" (invalid) EXE registry entries are left behind. Sure, the merged result appears to be like bad. But the issue with either observe alone is that while it looks good, it's severely unsuitable! The subsequent step after merging is to do some smoothing. There is not any level in uploading a track that is completely wrong, whether it appears to be like good or not. MP3 Splitter & Joiner is a helpful application which is meant in modifying audio files. It's a multi-function device as it consists of MP3 Splitter and MP3 Joiner in a single bundle. Customers might break up, trim MP3 file into parts, be a part of, and even merge multiple recordsdata into giant files.

CD to MP3 Ripper will assist you to tear the audio from CD to MP3, WMA, APE or WAV for frequent players. MP3 Merger can merge & mix your several FLAC, MP3, OGG and WAV audio information to a complete single audio file. After having merged several hundred items merge mp3s of MP3 files into huge one alongside along with your MP3 merger, I preferred your product immediately. This MP3 Merger may be good for professionals as a result of it has superior settings which may fulfill the requirement of optimizing MP3 info. is a multi-functional online MP3 editor that permits users to chop MP3 on-line in addition to convert or merge MP3 online. It's free and operates at a fairly quick speed. Customers like this server as they will directly choose the needed function on the menu bar, like audio cutter, audio joiner, audio converter, and so on. Free Merge MP3 allows you to create audio compilations at top quality, merge mp3s which you can play on your laptop, on distant units or burn on a CD. It's possible you'll set the quality and compression levels, leaning towards better sound and larger file size or smaller dimension and lesser audio quality. The software program can process the recordsdata in a short while and merge mp3s means that you can view the evolution with the help of the progress bar. Within the Merge Records dialog box, select the grasp document (the one you need to keep), and then choose any fields within the new report that you simply wish to merge into the master file. Knowledge in these fields might override the prevailing data within the grasp file. Click OKAY. If you'd like to merge a bunch of audio tracks into one file, AVS Audio Editor is always prepared to assist, even when your enter files are of various codecs. Comply with these simple steps to get one output monitor of the required format. It's worthwhile to use MP3 Toolkit to convert audio for cellular gadgets, make ringtones, restore tag info, rip Audio CD, record sound or merge audio items to an entire MP3 file. For the same purpose, navigating in and out of folders containing MP3s could be harmful to do while driving. Personally I keep away from this and simply have all the information within the root of my MP3 CDs, but naming the music recordsdata in a logical manner usually entails prefixing the file names with 001, 002, and so forth, and that wastes display screen area when the tune title scrolls in the window. There really is not another approach around this, and after the third or 4th week of travelling to work I know what song is coming next anyway. If you rip total albums and the tracks are prefixed in a sequentially numbered way that preserves the order they have been on the audio CD, then you'll know the following tune if you're acquainted with the album. Merge and Be a part of MP3 information straight into one huge file with out high quality loss. MP3 Toolkit is a powerful Home windows app consists of MP3 converter, CD ripper, tag editor, MP3 cutter, MP3 merger and MP3 recorder for customers who need to deal with MP3 files easier. Official video for "Ready to Begin" by Arcade Fire, taken from the album The Suburbs, out now on Merge Information. Unconfirmed: Merge unconfirmed information. If you are seeking to merge the duplicate entries of particular records, Discover & Merge Duplicates is the ideal software for you. Merely go to the Detail page of the precise file and deploy this software to fetch its duplicates.

1 note · View note

rolypolywl · 5 years

Video

youtube

Welcome to day 15!

So, earlier this week I’ve been talking about motivation. And now I’m going to help you with all those steps that we established.

So one of the things the experts recommend is to make a plan and another is to track your progress. It might seem like working out or eating better is all you need to lose weight, but it turns out that there is a lot of prep and continuing… paperwork, for lack of a better word. If you really want to commit to losing weight and getting healthier, and you want your best shot at succeeding, then the “paperwork” is kind of important.

You’ll want to spend a little time journaling in advance, and then some kind of tracking throughout. You might also need/want to return to the journaling as you progress.

So, basically, there are two ways to do these things; analog and digital.

I’ll start with analog. So if you’re more inclined to this, get yourself a journal and/or calendar and/or planner.

I like journaling for the “why” kind of things. You can find all kinds of journals with blank, lined, or dotted pages on Amazon or in any book store. I also keep finding gorgeous journals in places like Michaels. There are even ones with motivational or fitness-related covers, if you want a little extra inspiration.

Another great thing is that you can get them in different sizes and thicknesses. Do you want an index card sized one that fits in your pocket, or a large paperback sized one that fits in your purse? Or a full on notebook sized one that’s in the 8.5 x 11 range? What will you actually keep track of, keep handy, and return to?

So that’s for the journalling side. For the tracking kind of things, I really like a school planner. Even when I was in school I had trouble finding the kind I liked. The kind where you’ve got the month at a glance and then the week breakdown, so you can track in multiple ways. I could always find one or the other, but it was tricky to find both. For this, I like Mead, especially their tropical beaches version. And you can find it both in the printer paper size, small size, and the pocket sized.

As it happens, Roly Mama and I are doing a variation on this right now. We got a big desk calendar

which we’ve hung on the wall, and some great ridiculous stickers from the dollar store. So we’re tracking our workouts on this by adding stickers when we do something.

Now, this is just for our workouts and activity, not for food or anything else that we should be or are tracking. But if you’re an analog person, seeing a calendar full of stickers can be really motivating.

You can also combine these things into something like a bullet journal. And I’m going to sorry - not sorry - link you to buzzfeed and these two great articles on bullet journals.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelwmiller/how-to-start-a-bullet-journal

https://www.buzzfeed.com/annaborges/all-the-bullet-journal-ideas?bfsource=relatedmanual

Bullet journals, if you don’t know, are a way of kind of combining calendar, list, and journal into one gorgeous hybrid by people with way more time and way better penmanship than me. They are inspiring to look at, even if I can’t imagine crafting one half as well.

I will, however, recommend my favorite pen: the PaperMate InkJoy. I’m normally not a fan of ink pens instead of ballpoint because they can bleed through, but these don’t bleed as badly as many I’ve tried. And they come in lovely colors. And they have decently soft tubes, so they don’t hurt your fingers. I love them!

Now, personally, I have switched to digital for my scheduling needs, because I do way too much rearranging and copy/pasting, and it made my physical schedules look all messy. I tend to vacillate between two options.

The first is Evernote. I love the way I can do tick boxes, and I can color code the text.

I also love the way I can sort notes into folders and give them tags. Plus I can clip things from online, draw on it, and/or add pictures! Downsides are that columns are non-existent, and that it can get a bit hard to find notes if you have a ton in a single folder or tag.

The other one is Google Drive, which I love because I can access it anywhere. And for that I tend to use Google Sheets, because I can rearrange it really easily. I can also color code both the text and the boxes. I also can see a bit more at a glance than I can with evernote. (Because of the aforementioned lack of columns)

There is also apparently a digital version of bullet journalling, called Good Notes, which I just discovered and have yet to try out. If you have, let me know what you think!

Another thing that can help with our weight loss and health goals is tracking our habits. Again, this is the kind of thing that you can track on a calendar or journal, but you can also go digital.

Now, there are also some great apps for this kind of thing. I currently use Habit List.

I love that you can reorder the habits, and you can set them to be daily, on a certain day of the week, or so many times a week. You can also backtrack to fill them in, and look at a month-at-a-glance. If you are on top of your habit, the little bubble is green. If you missed yesterday, it is yellow, and if you are more out of date it is red. Oh, and ones that are optional, like “once a week” are grey. You can even have it send you a reminder at a specific time for a habit. The only downside I have for it is that you can’t archive a habit. You can either change it, or delete it and all of your past check ins.

Another one is Habitica.

Habitica takes your daily chores and turns them into points in an RPG. It isn’t as customizable as I’d like, but if you’re into sprite era gaming, RPGs, and rewards you might love this one.

Atracker lets you color code your habits, and it will show you your habits on a daily calendar or a pie chart. It has an interesting twist wherein you actually can “start” a habit. And then stop it when you’re done. So you can see how much time you spend on something. But, for habits that aren’t really time specific, or things like meditating as you fall asleep, which you can’t “stop”, this might be less useful. And if you forget to turn it off, it can screw up your numbers. But I do like the daily calendar breakdown aspect of it.

Productive seems to have the best of Atracker and Habit List, with color coding and month-at-a-glance calendars, but you have to pay $30 a year to use it.

There are lots of other habit tracking apps, like Coach Me, Noom, and Any List, so check them out and see what works best for you!

So, these are general habit trackers. But there are also more specific tasks. Now, I’ve already talked about tracking your water specifically, and tracking your exercise and activity as it ties to a fitness tracker.

There are also exercise and diet specific apps, which I am doing a whole episode on as I get to food. But there are a bunch of them. So you can keep track of all of those things to keep yourself motivated.

Again, this is if you want to do it with apps. You can always put all of these things in a physical journal or calendar too.

Finally, one of the recommendations was to celebrate successes, and to have a positive attitude. I have two apps I recommend here, for different reasons. One is Happier.

This is great for posting basically short tweets to the Happier app about things that make you happy that day. You get a little toss of confetti when you post it, and others can smile and comment. The whole app is geared towards positivity and supporting each other.

Now, that’s not to say you can’t post something emotional, or if you’re having a bad day or something. In fact, you can, and you get great support from the community. You can post multiple times a day if you want, and some people seem to post a dozen times every day! You can follow people whose posts you like or find inspiring, and they can follow you.

The second app I like for this is HappyFeed.

The goal of this app is to basically make a 3 item gratitude list (or happy list) every day. It is private, so no one else sees your posts, and there’s no social aspect. But it helps you build a habit of looking for the positivity and gratitude in life.

I had actually made a goal, because I had been told to in self help books, to note three things I was grateful for every day. And I was doing that in my daily “to do” list or my note app. Then I found HappyFeed, and it fit that goal perfectly!

So these are both great apps for celebrating your successes and for keeping a positive attitude. Check them out!

This is also the kind of thing that can be fun to put on a calendar or journal that you can look back at, if you prefer more analog. Again, I really like making it pretty with colorful pens and stickers and things. It should be something that you can look back at when you’re in need of some extra motivation, so pick something that will motivate you!

So, that is it for today.

This has been Roly Poly Weight loss. As always, I am your host, Roly Poly. Please share your motivations, and your roadblock plans, with the hashtag, #Motivation. And join my social group for support and maybe a little friendly competition by @-ing me!

And please join me next time!

#RolyPoly #Fitness #health & fitness #Exercise #Workout #Working Out #WeightLoss #losing weight #weight loss #Motivation #happier #goals #goal tracking #journal #journaling #bujo #bullet+journal #habits #habit tracker

1 note · View note

squirrelsimmer · 6 years

Text

Build a Community Challenge

So, I’m going to be starting a challenge with Agnes and Echo! This modified challenge takes certain aspects that I like from a few other challenges (The Settler challenge, @simalienn‘s After the Storm challenge and the Sim Crossing Legacy challenge mainly). I take no credit for the ideas in this challenge, I have just merged some existing ideas into one place and re-written the rules to make it more challenging for my own game-play.

Goals...

· Repopulate and build a community

· Lift all restrictions

· Unlock community lots

· Complete all collections - and display in your museum

I found it quite difficult using the long list of instructions for quick reference so have created an easy to follow mind map to keep track of goals/progress which you can access here, you can also edit and create your own copy on this link!

I’ll leave the rest under the cut :)

To start...

· Choose a world, bulldoze all lots. (I will be using Oasis Springs)

How many of each lot type required will depend on what world you choose. This choice will also determine how long/how many generations your challenge will be (world with more lots will take longer)

Newcrest - 6 Community Lots & 9 Residential Lots

Willow Creek - 7 Community Lots & 14 Residential Lots

Oasis Springs - 9 Community Lots & 12 Residential Lots

Windenburg - 13 community Lots & 14 Residential Lots

Brindelton Bay - 6 community Lots & 10 Residential Lots

· Build your museum (or download mine from here)

· Choose your founder's starting lot and build or download a home (I will be using a decorated lot without most amenities eg bed, appliances and no simoleons) however this is not a necessity just personal preference. Get mine here.

· Once you have your home, set the household funds to $0.

· Create your founder (and their partner if you like) any traits or aspirations can be chosen for them.

· Your founder must be a Young Adult - Life span set to normal or long. (If you prefer ageing off you can set goals to determine ageing)

· Turn off Fill Empty Homes in game options

Rules

· You may only control one sim. That sim is called the heir. You will control several heirs during this challenge, but only one at a time.

If you want, you can use one helper (the spouse / sibling / parent etc. of your heir). The helper may do simple tasks (such as repair an object, water plants, cook a meal, feed a baby), but you shouldn't control the helper too much - only a couple of tasks a day. If you don't use a helper, you may notice that the inactive sims in your family won't do much (or any!) work autonomously, which does not feel very realistic in a community.

· There may only ever be one heir at a time. You can freely choose who the next heir is and you can decide when to start playing the next heir, but once you’ve decided, you can’t go back to playing the old heir. If you start playing the new heir while the old one is still alive, the old one is not considered an heir anymore.

· The new heir must be the previous heir’s child.

· If the heir has many children, all those children except the future heir must move out when they become young adults.

· The heir may marry and move their spouse in but they should bring no funds with them.

· You may not age sims up days before their actual birthday.

· Cheats or mods that give you an advantage are not recommended.

· Traits and aspirations are always randomized when a baby is born or a sim ages up. You can use any random trait generator (I use this one)

· Exception: You may choose the traits and aspirations for the child if either of the child's parents has any of the following traits: Family-Oriented or Mentor, or has completed the Super parent Aspiration.

· Each heir can only unlock up to 2 community lots in their lifetime.

Repopulate

Yours is the only family living in the community in the beginning.

Rules for adding families:

· When you are allowed to add a family, roll a six-sided die or use random.org to determine the number of people in the family (between 1 and 6). Then create or download.

Different ways to populate the colony:

-Have babies!

-You can use your Charisma skill to persuade people to join your colony: You can add one family for every sim in your family who has reached level 6 in Charisma.

-You can also attract people by hosting great parties. You may add one family for every type of party for which you’ve got a gold medal. You can only invite people who live in your colony to your parties, you can’t invite homeless people!

-Improving the services and the infrastructure in your colony will also make people move into your community. You may add one family for every community lot you add.

Restrictions and lifting them

Building

You cannot build any walls, windows, floors as no one has the skills or the personnel required.