#i think i may want to write a few more of these in Ethan's crappy situations

[toosicktoocare]

I finally got to play Resident Evil Village, and I’m having feelings. Below is set after the big Lycan attack, and Chris is not just who the heck knows where keeping his secrets but instead nearby to help Ethan. 

Ethan’s faced death more times than any average man should ever even have to consider, and each time does not get any easier—again, a sentence he wishes he could physically rip straight from his lexicon.

He stares into the beast’s eyes, irises so dark he can see his own pale reflection looking back in ghostly, frozen horror. He is sure, in this moment, he’ll be ripped into two, with his own inverted terror as the last image he’ll ever see. But then, completely on par with this twisted village, something grabs the beast’s attention, and the beast is leaping away, his large jump flinging drops of muddy water at him.

As the remaining Lycans race away, the ringing in Ethan’s ears begins to die down, giving way to the faint sound of the stream below him. His mind is a dark hole of delirium and disbelief, and his heart is a jackhammer in his chest, beating so hard he can hardly catch a breath.

He should focus on what the hell just happened, but instead, he turns to the arrow sticking out from his leg. The cold stream he’s half submerged in has done its part to numb the pain at the edges, but it still hurts enough to have him yank the arrow from his leg. Nausea overtakes him briefly, from his leg and from the pressure on his mangled hand that is beginning to look worse, concerning even.

���Ethan!”

The voice behind him is a sharp, familiar whisper, and Ethan jerks around, ignoring the unnatural sway to his vision to squint narrowly at the unwelcome addition to his day.

“Chris? What the hell—” Ethan tries, words cutting off when Chris slams a hand across his mouth.

“Quiet,” Chris mutters, and Ethan watches how Chris looks over his shoulder with muted alarm, and he follows his gaze, craning his neck to see an old woman with her back to them.

Ethan grabs at Chris’s wrist, and Chris’s gaze finally snaps back to him, eyes going wide at Ethan’s hand. Chris keeps one hand to Ethan’s mouth but snags his wrist with the other, bringing Ethan’s injured hand close to his eyes for trained inspection.

“This doesn’t look good,” Chris mutters, and Ethan groans against Chris’s palm, and he pulls his face into a look he hopes screams ‘no shit’ as loud as he can manage.

“I’ve cleared a house,” Chris starts again, motioning with his head toward a run-down house not far from the two. “I have a few of my men in there.” He pauses, eyes narrowing. “I’m going to move my hand now, so keep quiet.”

Chris moves his hand, and Ethan glares. “Fuck you,” he starts, “you killed Mia.” He moves to his feet, staggers, and Chris reaches forward with a hand to his shoulder that he quickly shrugs off. “No. Back off, Chris. I’m only in this mess because of you,” he growls, but when he moves to turn on his heel, his vision swims again, and the cold he’s been pushing down creeps up to ice over his body. He teeters to the left, and his limbs begin jerking through shivers.

“Easy, Ethan.”

Ethan can feel Chris snake an arm around his waist, and he weakly tries to fight him off, failing against waning energy as he’s pulled toward the safe house and dumped onto a ratty bed. He is sure he can feel a spring digging into his back, but the bed is just warm enough to have him clawing at the blankets, too tired to be aggravated when Chris helps by tugging the blankets over his shaking form.

“Let me see your hand.”

“Screw you.”

“Your comebacks get worse when you’re half out of it, Winters.”

“Fine,” Ethan spits out around a weak cough. “Fuck you, Redfield.”

Chris pinches the bridge of his nose with his free hand, and he gives Ethan’s wrist a light squeeze. “You think you can save your daughter like this, Ethan?”

The second the words leave Chris’s mouth, Ethan yanks his hand away and pushes himself up on his elbows, but before he can chase the hot words threatening to rip up his throat, Chris grabs his wrist once more, and he loses his balance, falling back against the bed with a rough fit of coughs.

Chris makes silent work of his hand, careful, surprisingly gentle, and Ethan watches through half-lidded eyes, exhaustion pushing a large hand down atop him.

“Why did you do it?”

“Look, Ethan, I can’t really explain much right now.”

“Why not?” Ethan shouts, his anger keeping him awake just enough, a small flame from a match burning against his heart.

“There are things we still don’t understand,” Chris mutters, hands moving through muscle movement as he wraps gauze around Ethan’s hand.

“Well, you could start by explaining to me why you and your men broke into my house and killed my wife.” Ethan’s voice is, though rasp-ridden, is dark, and he’s sure he can see one of the men watching a window flinch at his words.

“It’s complicated,” Chris sighs, and Ethan wants to say more, he wants to rip his knife from his pocket and cut into every detail Chris is dodging, but a sharp shiver jerks up his spine, interrupting his heated, malicious thoughts, and Chris, finishing the bandaging, sheds his own jacket and drapes it over Ethan, frowning.

“Rest.”

“I don’t have time to rest,” Ethan mutters, his voice shaking, and Chris rests a palm to his forehead.

“We are keeping an eye on Mother Miranda. We will make sure nothing happens to Rose, okay? For now, you need to sleep and stay warm. You’re practically a block of ice right now.”

He’s not wrong, Ethan thinks, teeth chattering. But Rose needs him, and every second he rests, she’s thrust into more danger, growing farther from his safe grasp. Losing her is the last thought he has before he drifts into an unsettled rest, waking hours later to a key in his hand, windows and back door boarded up, front door padlocked tightly, and a note nailed to the wall beside his bed.

“Get rid of the key when you let yourself out. Left some supplies by the back door. Good luck, and we’ll meet up soon.” -CR

Though he still feels relatively terrible, with a hint of a migraine gnawing at the edge of his vision and his limbs still tight and shaky from the cold, he adjusts to his ailments quickly, a perk of his military training after Louisiana.

Near the back door, he finds boxes of ammo, and he makes quick, practiced work of reloading his guns. When he’s sure he has looked over the house completely, he quietly lets himself out of the house, unsurprised to see the old woman still standing outside, still drawing shapes in the dirt and muttering under her breath.

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

Won’t You Stay (Part 6)

Summary: After a fun first date, the reader and Jensen make plans to go out again. By the end of the day Jensen isn’t feeling well though so the reader takes him home and learns a little more about how much Jensen is a fan of Lyle Sullivan...

Masterlist

Pairing: Jensen x Director!reader

Word Count: 1,900ish

Warnings: language

A/N: Please enjoy!

______

Monday Morning

“Y/N,” said Jensen as you wandered away from craft services. “Hey, got a sec?”

“For my number one fan always,” you teased, taking a sip of your coffee. “What’s up?”

“I had fun Saturday. I know you’re super busy and all right now but would you maybe want to go out Friday night? We only have a half day,” he said.

“Yeah. Sounds fun,” you said. 

“Oh and The Dark Night? You kicked it in the ass. I loved it,” he said, a huge grin on his face. “I can’t wait to be a part of that too.”

“Really?” you asked with a smile.

“Really. This is one of the best sets I’ve ever been on too,” he said. “It’s great.”

“Awesome. Um, when I get a free minute I’d love to pick your brain on some stuff,” you said.

“Sure,” he said. “Yeah, I’d love that.”

“Y/N! We got a problem with the crane camera,” shouted someone from down the lot.

“Duty calls,” you said. “I’ll see you in an hour.”

“Hey,” you said at the end of the day, everyone looking run down after a day of stunts, one person in particular. “Jensen, hold up.”

“Yeah?” he mumbled. 

“Are you feeling okay?” you asked.

“Actually not really,” he said. 

“Why don’t you pop over to medical?” you asked.

“Y/N-“

“Do we have to do this again? My set, my rules,” you said.

“Fine,” he said. “I don’t want to keep anyone late.”

“Ten minutes and I’ll head over with you.”

“Do I really-“

“Whoa,” said your dad as he came around the corner. “Jay, you do not look good.”

“I’ve heard,” he said. “I’ll take some cough syrup when I get home.”

“Come on, kid. Let’s go,” said your dad as he grabbed his arm.

“Ethan-“

“Want me to call your mother?” he shot back.

“Alright. Dad, I will take Jensen to medical and you go home,” you said. “I promise.”

Ten minutes later Jensen was wincing and frowning as a thermometer was pulled from his ear.

“102. You have the flu, Jensen,” said the on-site nurse.

“I’m fine,” he said. “I feel fine.”

“Bed rest and liquids. If you get warmer or the fever hasn’t broken by morning, go to the hospital,” she said.

“I’m fine,” he said. The nurse stared him down but Jensen gave it right back.

“You got a roommate to keep an eye on that fever of yours just in case?” asked the nurse.

“Is everyone around here my mother?” mumbled Jensen.

“Thank you, Kelsey,” you said, grabbing Jensen by the arm.

You led him outside and he didn’t complain when you got him sat in your car.

“I’m going to drive you home, okay? I’ll come check on you before work tomorrow, see that you’re alright to come in or if we need to delay,” you said.

“I’ll be fine, Y/L/N. You worry too much.”

“Jensen, I really don’t think you should be alone tonight,” you said, carrying his backpack along with some goodies from the pharmacy into his apartment half an hour later.

“I am fine,” he said, sniffling and closing his eyes. “Okay, maybe not fine.”

You frowned and he dug out the thermometer, sticking it under his arm. You grabbed it as soon as it beeped off, flipping it around to him.

“102.2. Oh yes, you are clearly the epitome of health, Jay,” you said.

“Well it’s not like I can get my mom to come over,” he said, wearily closing his eyes.

“Ackles. I’m starting to see you’re very grumpy when you’re sick,” you said.

“Am not,” he said, going to his couch and laying down. You stood by the edge of it, Jensen letting out a small shake. “Can you make me soup?”

“Soup I can do,” you said. You went to his kitchen and started to poke around, heating up a can on the stove after a few minutes. “How you feeling, buddy?”

“Crappy,” he said. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Well I’m still gonna make you soup and you can have the leftovers tomorrow,” you said. He mumbled and you finished cooking, storing the rest in a few thermos’ he could toss in the microwave. You hummed and carried over a mug of it, setting it down on the coffee table. He looked worse than before, a shiver leaving him. “Come on. Get in some pajamas, Ackles.”

He sighed and got to his feet, trudging into his bedroom. Fifteen minutes later you knocked on the door, Jensen laying down on the bed in a pair of boxers.

“Trying to see me naked?” he teased. “I’m kidding. What’s up?”

“Here’s your soup and this is for later,” you said, setting the medicine down.

“Thanks,” he said.

“If you’re too sick to come in-“

“I’ll be there. Just give me a few extra breaks,” he said.

“No problem. Feel better Jensen,” you said.

“Hey, Y/N. Uh, not that I’m not already embarrassed enough but would you mind hanging out for a minute?” he asked.

“Not at all,” you said. You stepped into his room and took a seat at his desk, smirking at the figure on top. “A Lyle funko pop? You really are a fan.”

“Shut up,” he laughed before he started to cough.

“I have like fifty in my closet if you ever want more,” you said. “Your apartment is...cozy.”

“It’s small and older than both of us combined but it’s clean and quiet,” he said. 

“How long have you been living on your own?” you asked.

“About three years. I’ve had a girlfriend move in for about six months before but that’s it. You said you moved out of your parents place not too long ago?” he asked.

“Two years. I went to my boyfriend’s place. I’ve only been on my own for one. It’s lonelier than I thought it’d be to be honest,” you said.

“Yeah, I get that. I’m thinking about getting a dog. I’d like company to come home to,” he said, snuggling down into his sheets. “So what’d this ex boyfriend do? So I don’t make the same mistake potentially.”

“I would be amazed if you did,” you said, leaning your elbow against his desk, putting your head in your hand. He rolled over in bed and looked at you, sniffling for a moment. “When your ex-girlfriend talked about the sex stuff, did you feel violated?”

“Yeah. He talk to your friends about that stuff?” he asked.

“No. I don’t really want to talk about it, Jensen,” you said. “You won’t make that mistake. I promise.”

“Are we dating?” he said.

“I think so.”

“I think so too,” he said, closing his eyes.

“I think it’s time for bed,” you said with a smile.

“Mhm,” he mumbled. 

“Do you want me to call someone to stay over with you just in case you get worse?” you asked.

“You?” he said quietly. 

“Alright, I’ll be on the couch if you need me,” you said. You shut off his light for him, Jensen fast asleep before you even left the room. You cleaned up a little in the kitchen before you sprayed his couch with some lysol, letting it sink in for a moment before you laid down. You sat up and looked for a blanket, spotting one in the corner. You hummed as you went to the basket and grabbed it, smiling when you saw a copy of The Dark Woods on his bookshelf. You looked at the other books, some thrillers, some mysteries, some reference and cookbooks. There were a few YA books along with some general fiction. 

You tilted your head when you saw one called “Sullivan” with no author. You pulled it out and realized it wasn’t a published book, just a print copy of a story. You flipped through it some, getting to the end and recognizing the name.

“You read Lyle Sullivan fanfic,” you said, glancing back at his bedroom door. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”

You took the copy and smiled as you sat down, skimming through it for a few minutes.

“If you have a copy of this then that means...you follow me on Tumblr. For fuck’s sake,” you groaned. “I made it for fun, to write the prequel stuff I couldn’t put in the books. Apparently you were a winner in the follower giveaway too.”

You set the book down and grabbed your phone, checking your blog for the first time in months. You’d gone on a temporary hiatus and you wouldn’t call it overly popular. It was mostly short stories here and there aside from “Sullivan,” the backstory of Lyle Sullivan and his life before he met Hale. 

Shit, you hadn’t even told him that Sullivan was being turned into a proper book. You grabbed the book and put it back on his bookcase, putting your phone away before you sat back down. He was a fan so it made sense and he loved talking about the story with you. 

You lay down and sighed, hoping when you brought it up things didn’t get weird.

“Good morning,” you said, Jensen looking rough as he wandered out of his room in a pair of jeans and an oversized hoodie. “How are you feeling?”

“Sucky but better,” he said. “Down to 100 now.”

“Good,” you said, grabbing a glass of water for him. “Take some morning medicine and then I’ll drive us to work if you’re up for it.”

“For sure,” he said. He wandered around the apartment and chuckled. “Did you clean for me?”

“A little. Mostly sprayed lysol,” you said. He nodded and opened his curtains, turning for a moment before he stared at the bookcase, probably seeing something off about it.

“Did you read last night?” he asked. “Not that I have a problem with that.”

You sighed and he walked over, taking his medicine as you poured his soup in a thermos to bring with him.

“I may have spotted that Sullivan book when I got a blanket. It peaked my interest,” you said.

“So how much more of a loser do you think I am than before,” he laughed nervously.

“I don’t think...I have no problem with fanfiction of my stuff. It’s super cool actually. But...I sort of wrote that story,” you said. He raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

“No you didn’t. It’s not a real book. I got it from a blog which again, super embarrassing but-”

“Jensen. It’s my blog,” I said.

“Oh. You’re...oh,” he said.

“Yeah. I wanted to get that out in the open,” you said, pursing your lips.

“Cool. Um, we should get going. You have to get in early I’m sure,” he said as he grabbed the thermos. 

“Yeah,” you said, Jensen already walking away and putting on his shoes. “Uh, let’s head out then.”

_____

A/N: Read Part 7 here!

[authorracheljoy]

A writer's Ask Game 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49

1.     Do you listen to music when you write?

Only when I’m typing up what I’ve written, honestly!

I can’t otherwise focus on the actual writing/editing if there’s music or other distracting noises so-

2.     Are you a pantser or plotter?

Plotter all the way!

I gotta have an outline, otherwise my story loses focus and that’s NOT GOOD!

3.     Computer or pen and paper?

Both, technically XD I use pen and paper for the drafting, and to get all my ideas down (and outline too of course), but then I typically use the computer for typing up what I’ve written :))

5.     How much writing do you get done on an average day?

Less than I’d like to recently :/ I honestly NEED to get a better writing/editing schedule, but my days are just so consumed by other things to take away my attention, and it sucks. Both as an excuse and just a way of getting by when I have a manuscript that needs rewrites! D:

6.     Single or multiple POV?

Single POV (at least for now? I’m really hoping to branch out with future WIPs)

7.     Standalone or series?

Depends on the story idea, really!

If there’s enough content to expand upon after book 1, I typically will plan for sequels. I mean.. The Hunters Saga started out as just a standalone with a thought-about sequel, which turned into a trilogy, which is NOW a freaking QUADRILOGY!

So yeah, it kinda depends XD

8.     Oldest WIP

As far as actual prose goes (no transcripts), my oldest WIP was called The Creatures of the Night Quartet, and… it’s TERRIBLE. Granted, I wrote it a few years before Antoinette Drake came to mind but STILL! It’s just horrible writing and the plot- what plot??

But if we’re talking WIPs that include transcript/script formats, I guess my oldest WIP would be SuperNova, which was a silly little sci-fi “story”! You can read about both of these prehistoric WIPs over on my Original Stories page!

9.     Current WIP

The Hunters Saga of course! ^^

10.  Do you set yourself deadlines?

Oh how I WISH I did that! >.>

11.  Books and/or authors who influenced you the most

There… weren’t any really? I kinda just went with it? I mean, my first books were really heavily influenced by Twilight and vampire books in general. The Hunters Saga was slightly influenced by Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series but that’s about all that comes to mind :3

12.  Describe your perfect writing space

All I need is a notebook, a pen, and a laptop!

The rest doesn’t really matter at all to me~

13.  Describe your writing process from idea to polished

Well, usually my ideas come from dreams, or just scenes that come out of my head :) Then I first try to see if that certain idea/scene fits into any of my current WIPs and could be potentially included! If yes, then I do so! But if not… I typically try and write more around it :) After having an expanded idea and character list, I either develop the characters or make an outline for the story idea. Either works fine ^^ After the characters are developed enough and the outline is made, I get to writing! And after that? I edit it of course XD

14.  How do you deal with self-doubts?

I try to remind my self how I became so incredibly lucky to land a publishing deal. I mean, sure, it’s not what I had planned and I have occasional doubt about my writing in general, and how people generally see and criticize my style and characters… I just gotta remind myself that I can’t please everyone. And if I have to have a goal in writing, it’s to tell a story the way I see it. Criticism is such a touchy subject, and some writers just flat out ignore that. And sometimes, that’s smart. But - and I’m getting seriously off-topic here but WELP - more often than not, that criticism turns out to be justified! I know my writing can be weak and uninteresting. But do I let that force me away from my passion? Not at all!

If you love writing and want to become a published author, you can’t do it half-assed! You have to want it wholeheartedly. You have to TRY to improve. You have to take criticism for what it is and what it might be-

OK I’m so off-topic, this is raising too much anxiety oops.. I’ll just leave it there though.. because it’s how I feel!

15.  How do you deal with writer’s block?

I do something else - listen to music, draw, watch a movie, play a game- something other than writing (which is blocked, DUH) But yeah! I tend to step away from the manuscript for a bit and clear my head until ideas come rushing back :) And if I’m working through an outline, there’s a possibility of just. working on a different scene in a different chapter other than the one I’m stuck on at the moment ;3

16.  How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied with a project?

Usually 3 or 4, depending on how long and how detailed the drafts are :D

And if I’m REALLY lucky, I can do it in 2 but that’s actually VERY RARE for me so >.>

17.  What writing habits or rituals do you have?

I have none!

I used to try (and fail) to write a page a day I guess XD

Now I just pray that I’ll be done with my current manuscript by the end of the year :X Urrggghhh

18.  If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about?

My writing friend @mercurialsmile! We’ve attempted to write a crossover before but it never really went anywhere- mainly ‘cause of my focus on editing and both of our crazy work/school schedules :X Maybe that’ll change soon, though? I dunno but I hope they’d be willing to try again

19.  How do you keep yourself motivated?

20.  How many WIPs and story ideas do you have?

A LOT! 

I may talk about my current WIP (The Hunters Saga) 24/7 on here, but I DO have other projects that have at least some ideas and characters :) 

You can find them all HERE!

21.  Who is/are your favorite character(s) to write?

Writing Toni is pretty much writing myself, so that’s always a fun time XD

I also like writing Gavin, Kira, Hannah and Ethan, among others ^^

22.  Who is/are your favorite pairing(s) to write?

Toni and Henri aaaand Micah and Darius (which is coming soon to the series! Darius gotta be introduced first, guys!!)

23.  Favorite author

I really enjoy Stephen King now that I’ve started reading his works~ Also, honorable mention to Kim Harrison for being amazing at writing about paranormal species cohabiting the earth together

24.  Favorite genre to write and read

I love love LOVE writing romance and mysteries~

Aaand I pretty much like reading the things that I write so XD

25.  Favorite part of writing

Getting the ideas down on paper for the first time and feeling that RELIEF!

26.  Favorite writing program

Uhhhh… Microsoft Word??

27.  Favorite line/scene

The Frying Pan Incident

28.  Favorite side character

Dominic and Adam Hastings

29.  Favorite villain

Oooh I can’t say their name but mmmmm they are BAD and I love it!!

30.  Favorite idea you haven’t started on yet

A science-obsessed nerd and the head cheerleader fall for each other

Lesbians for the win!!

(basically the plot for Queen Bae, one of my WIPs!)

31.  Least favorite part of writing

The EDITING!

The REWRITES!!

32.  Most difficult character to write

Mmmmm probably Liz? 

33.  Have you ever killed a main character?

Yes (not gonna elaborate ‘cause it might count as a spoiler XD)

34.  What was the hardest scene you ever had to write?

I won’t be too specific but.. it was a NSFW scene ;;;

35.  What scene/story are you least looking forward to writing?

Uhhhmmm I don’t have one that I’m least looking forward to ^^

If I have a story, I write it. End of story.

Even if it might be crappy, I still love the idea.

I would never force myself to write something that I didn’t think deserved being written (if that makes sense??)

36.  Last sentence you wrote

Other than a bit of knowledge beforehand, we know about the same for once. 

Odd. 

Unsettling.

37.  First sentence or your current WIP

“I’m so sorry for your loss, my dear,” the man in black murmured to me, but I barely acknowledged his presence.

38.  Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had

B-but.. ALL of my story ideas are WEIRD! 

How could I possibly choose?!

39.  Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had

Aliens that puff up/inflate their bodies when angered XD

40.  Share some backstory for one of your characters

Dru was born as an only child, which is a true rarity in the lives of lycanthropes. Perhaps it was a sign that they were meant for something truly remarkable?

41.  Any advice for new/beginning/young writers?

It’s sort of what I said when I was asked about doubts?

You can’t please everyone, so don’t try to. 

Don’t pander. Don’t always give the readers what they want.

Satisfy yourself.

Take criticism; don’t try to ignore all of it. Who knows, some things might actually end up helping you become a better writer ;3

42.  How do you feel about love triangles?

I was WAY too attached to them back in the day so! 

If I have hints at a possible love triangle, I try to make it so the center of the triangle can have a clear choice as to who they’ll eventually get with (if anyone at all)! The only case I have where the love triangle kinda become a polyamorous relationship was with Nerissa, Melissa and Sergio :) Both girls had crushes on Sergio, and when he had to face those facts, he decided to help Nerissa and Melissa become friends and later- LOVERS! But anyway yeah, love triangles are hard for me to steer clear of, but I try my best ^^’

43.  What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline?

I get really angry at them and throw rocks.

But no. I either try to get them back on track OR I just.. let them do their thing. Maybe the characters know the plot better than I do! XD

44.  How much research do you do?

I don’t normally dive too deep into research unless the plot demands it, of course! As for the time and depth of research, it solely depends on what exactly I’m researching actually :) If I’m simply looking up Latin phrases or the names of the most famous authors of all time, it might take me a few days to absorb the info, and a week at most! But if I’m worldbuilding and creating new places and all that, well, THAT would take me a lot longer than a few days to a week! More like a month D:

45.  How much world building do you do?

Not many of my stories have worlds not set in America/Europe/EARTH! Basically, I think I only have 1 or 2 worlds that even require building, and I have so little as far as plot goes that I haven’t had the substance to work with yet :) But maybe someday!

46.  Do you reread your own stories?

Mmmm I used to? 

Nowadays I just don’t have the time for that :/

47.  Best way to procrastinate

Drawing art of my ocs instead of writing for my ocs XD

That, or making music playlists for my WIPs :3c

48.  What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written?

Toni Drake.

‘Nuff said!

As for a self-insert scene? I don’t think that’s occurred yet? 

49.  Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real?

Either Ethan, Clary or Hannah! ^^ They’re all such nice, friendly people~

Oh, and Kira of course! Can’t forget her XD I’d love to go shopping with her and enjoy our silly, light-hearted conversations

Thanks for the ask, Friendo ^^

A Writer’s Ask Game

[wolfjustdraws]

What Old Friends Can Do - Lucy x Lockwood 2

“Family is a Matter Better Left Unmentioned” - Lucy x Lockwood

Lockwood and Co. Series

Summary: Old friends may come as a solution.

Warning: This fic is made with the sole purposes of dealing and possibly kill Writer's Block and using an OC I've had in my mind for a while now, so it may be a little crappy and trashy. READ UNDER YOUR OWN CONSCIENCE.

—————————

I don’t think it was necessary to tell how the rooms looked, since they were void of life signs. Most of them just had even more books.

I woke up the next morning, very confused as to why I was in a room I didn’t know, but last night’s event came all back to me. The skull had remained silent most of the night, aside from when it protested for me telling Ethan about him. Right now it was inactive inside its jar.

The smell of tea and bacon came from downstairs, along the sounds of voices. I dressed quickly and walked towards the sound and smells, following them across the living room in which we sat last night and to a kitchen beside it.

It was a spacious room, with a stove and a big oven. Many pantries here and there on the walls and shelves with bowls and dishes and other kitchen utensils. There was a table in the middle of the room with many chairs around it, with Lockwood sitting on one of them while reading the newspaper. Wait, how did he get the London Times?!

George and Ethan were also there, standing beside the stove while George talked with him about this or that.

“Morning Luce” Lockwood said.

“How did you get the Times?” I asked him.

“I have membership” Ethan said from where he stood beside George, his hand’s busy as he chopped something on a board “How do you expect me to keep up with the real gossip? I didn’t know you could cook it like that”

“But its a three hour trip from London to here” I said “How did it get here so fast?” He looked back at me and made a sign with his hand.

“Good money gets things done, Lu” A few moments later Holly and Quill walked down and joined us, looking refreshed and rested.

“It is a very nice house you have, Ethan” Holly said as she helped him and George put the breakfast on the table, which, let me tell you, they got a little carried away while making; eggs and bacon, tea and coffee, home-made muffins, donuts, toast, biscuits, even chopped fruit for Holly.

“I’m glad you like it” Ethan said placing the last things and sitting on one of the chairs “Its a terrible mess, but habitable. Lu said you were here on a job”

“Yes” Lockwood said while he took some toast “Mr Weatherall called us, said he needed a ‘psychic disturbance’ disposed of and that the agency that used to work here is no longer in service”

“Well, he got that right” Ethan said after a forkful of egg “He is the owner of the railroad, at least Cheviot Hill’s extension, so I imagine the ghost must be there”

“Who’s ghost do you reckon that is?” I asked him. He scratched his chin like he had done the last night, then looked back at me.

“I don’t know, Lulu” He said “That railway was built at least two centuries ago, thousands could have died there during all this time, so the ghost or ghosts could be someone we knew or someone who died even before it was done”

“I should go to the town’s library then” George said while munching on a donut “Look for anything I can find about it”

“No” Ethan exclaimed “The library doesn’t exist anymore”

“What?” I asked.

“They brought it down a few months after Jacobs agency closed” He explained “Made a new party room there, I think. But don’t worry, I kept all the books they had. That’s why there’s so much books around here” Even after explaining, George looked like his donut had been snatched from his hand and stomped on.

“Why would they ever take a library down?!” He cried out.

“Most people here are idiots. No one really used the library besides the agents, but now the agency is closed and all the agents retired, so there’s no ‘need’ for a library” He took another bite of food “But all the books are here, and still divided by sections. The history one should be together still”

“Eep!” Holly squealed loudly as something jumped before her. That something was a cat. A big brown and black cat, that now stood on the table and eyed the food.

“Makayla!” Ethan stood from his chair and snatched the cat by the neck “We don’t jump on our guests” He dropped the cat on the floor, but as soon as he sat down again, the cat jumped on his lap and tried to get to his face “I ask you to excuse Makayla, Holly, she still doesn't understand what ‘good manners’ stands for”

“Its alright, she just surprised me” Taking a bit of bacon from his plate, he held it to the cat and looked back at us.

“So, we were saying about the history books. I think those are on Freya’s room”

��I haven’t seen Freya in a while” I said “How is she?”

“Gone. She married a few months back, now she lives with her husband somewhere in London, I believe. Haven’t seen her since”

“Is she your sister?” Holly asked.

“Yeah. She’s in charge of the family’s company and said she wanted to live closer to where the company was and where her darling husband works, so she moved out. Reckon she’ll be divorced in a few more months, maybe a year”

We talked some more and finished breakfast, then Lockwood said we had to meet Mr Weatherall at his house, and that when we were back Ethan could show George were all the books were. This was all dandy and nice, it was work after all, but Holly suggested she and I stayed here with Ethan rather than going to the Weatherall’s residence. It took some coaxing, but she somehow managed to convince Lockwood this was a good idea, made me write the directions on a paper and sent the boys on their way.

“You girls should have gone with them” Ethan said as we helped him clean the kitchen.

“But it wouldn’t be correct of us to leave you on your own” Holly said while placing the dishes on the cupboards “Besides, you need someone to help you”

“Oh! I’ve lived on my own enough time to know how to manage myself, Holly, dear” He said as he flicked the towel he was holding.

“What about your family? Is your sister the only other one left?” We finished cleaning the kitchen and walked to the living room where we sat down with some more tea.

“Now, yes, its only her and me. Remember my brother, Dante, Lu?” He asked and I smiled, taking sips of my cup.

“Yeah. He was the better looking brother” I scoffed and Ethan gasped.

“Excuse me, did you even see him?”

“You had a brother?” Holly asked, her cup carefully at her lips.

“Yes, both Freya and Dante were older, I was the family’s runt, just like Lu here”

“And your parents?” I looked at Ethan, concerned for what might come out of his mouth. Just like the stories of his physical scars, the story of his parents was a difficult one to tell. He, however, looked as calm as ever and kept smiling amiably and naturally, unlike Lockwood who, every time his parents or sister were mentioned, became silent, his smile strained and his manners tense. Guess I just spend too much time with Mr Secret-Keeper.

“Well, my parents are an interesting story” He said, got comfortable in his armchair, with Makayla in his lap and the cup on one hand “You see, they were kidnapped just two weeks after I was born”

“Oh God!” Holly exclaimed and placed the cup on the table “I’m so sorry, Ethan! I didn’t mean to pry-”

“No, no, Holly. You’re not prying. I’m as okay with sharing this as with the other stories I told you all last night” He said. Holly looked at me worriedly, to which I smiled, reassuringly. I knew this story very well. I knew Ethan didn’t minded sharing it. Everyone in town knew it, anyway.

Holly refilled her cup and adjusted her position so she was sitting more comfortably. I also refilled my cup with more warm tea and took a biscuit from the plate. Ethan was once again scratching his stubble-covered chin, deep in thought.

“My mother barely got time to get better from her pregnancy. The people who took them wanted my parent’s to give them a part of their fortune, but they were set on not doing that. Took six months for the police to find them, but when they did…well, for one, my father was dead” He took a sip of tea and a bite from a biscuit “Seemingly, he had been killed shorty after getting kidnapped. My mother, she was alive, however, she was not the same woman she used to be” Ethan looked at us, a certain heaviness now distinguishable in his tired eyes “She was tortured to madness. Those people thought they could convince her to give them the money if they made her suffer enough, but she refused, which drove her out of her mind. When the hospital called my grandmother to tell her about her about her recently-found daughter, she immediately took us to see her. But it wasn’t her daughter anymore”

He made a pause in which I looked at Holly, to see how she was holding up. The story was just beginning, but her hand had already flew to her mouth, her eyes helplessly looking at him.

“She wasn’t aggressive or anything like that. She just, seemed to lost consciousness, in a way. It was like toddler inside the body of an adult. Doctors wanted to keep her in some institution, but my grandmother refused to leave her in such a place” He smiled tenderly at the memory “She was convicted that if anything could bring my mother back was the love of her family, so she stayed here with us, in this very house. Nothing brought her back though; her memories were lost, her habits, even her speech. I never heard her say a proper word, ever” A single tear dropped from Ethan’s only eye, so I stood and sat next to him, wordlessly putting an arm around him. I was suddenly very thankful Lockwood wasn’t here; I knew he wouldn’t be able to listen to this, when it came to family he wore his feelings right under his skin.

“Oh Ethan…”

“In a way, I think she still remembered or knew she was our mother” His voice had grown thin with emotion, still, he smiled sadly, his head now against my chest in a silent seek for comfort “Dante was very sickish; never went a winter without getting flu or a summer in which he wouldn’t get sick because of the heat. Spent so much time bedridden, sometimes I thought he’d forget what the rest of the world looked like. But each time he got sick, every time he couldn’t go outside, my mom would silently sit with him and not leave his side until he was better. Or when I lost my eye” A silent sob “My grandma took her to the hospital to see me the day after I went in. She refused to leave my side, sat beside my bed all day and night, watching over me, like I’d die the moment she looked away”

Holly refilled his cup in trembly motions, then gave it to him. He gave it a sip and nodded her thanks.

“Eventually she died, peacefully during her sleep. It was hard for my grandma to think that her daughter was gone without ever getting to really know her own children, but I think she’s happier now, with dad. Grandma followed her a few months after. Then it was just us, until Dante got sick again. Spent days in his room without being able to move, but in the end, he left too. Now its just Freya and me”

“I’m so sorry to hear that, Ethan” Holly said after a few moments of silence “I shouldn’t have asked”

“Like I said, its nothing personal” He smiled “You could have asked anyone in Cheviot Hills, and they’d be able to tell you what happened almost as good as I did”

After that, Holly told us some stories about her family and from when she was a Rotwell field agent, and I told them some of mine, but soon we changed topic. Family was not something most agents were fond of talking, at least not the way Ethan was casual about it.

Lockwood, George and Quill were back an hour later and we were still chatting in the living room, the tea long gone cold and Makayla now asleep on my lap.

“What did we miss?” Lockwood asked when they entered the living room.

“Just some overdramatic family stories” Ethan said with his lazy smile shining “But nothing too interesting. Now, I assume you’ll want me to show you where the history books are?”

Holly offered to help him walk upstairs, which he accepted kindly.

“Ok, let’s see” We walked after him to one of the rooms in which we slept last night “It should be somewhere around here” We spread about the room and started to look through the many copies spread and stacked inside it.

“Why would you keep this many books?” Quill asked as we helped look through the many covers.

“Couldn’t let this much knowledge go to waste, could I?” Was Ethan’s response, his body half covered with the books he was surrounded by “Besides, I’ve been using them for my research”

“You’re researcher?” George asked “Do you research the Problem too?”

“Oh, god, no!” Ethan scoffed “There are already way too much people researching that, I look for other things. Oh, it’s been years since I read this book”

“What could be more important than looking for a way to stop the Problem from spreading?” Quill said holding many books in his arms.

“Never said I wasn’t looking for that-Ah ha!” Ethan’s limping form retreated from the mount of books he had been looking through, with many volumes in his hands “Here they are” He placed them on the floor and kicked away all the books we wouldn’t need “‘Cheviot Hills’ Records’, ‘England’s Railway History’ and ‘Official Cheviot Hills’ Cemetery Documents from 1867 to 1989’. Any other book you may need should be here”

“Thanks, I’m sure I’ll find them”

We left the room so George could work peacefully, and Lockwood explained us the plan: tonight we’d go the the train station to make a surveillance, so we could find what we’d be dealing with and try to end it there and then, but in case we couldn’t take it down there, we’d go back tomorrow, better prepared and hopefully with more information than the one we’d go with today.

“You finally come back” A voice called me inside my head as I entered the room I slept in “I’ve been bored out of my mind all morning!”

The skull’s jar was sitting on top of a pile of books I hadn’t bothered to read the cover’s of.

“What do you want?”

“What have you been telling that cripple about me?”

“Don’t call him a cripple” My voice lowered into a venomous whisper as I took the jar in my hands “He has a name and you better call him that if you don’t want me to ignore you for the rest of the trip”

“Whatever, he is an interesting one” The skull’s ugly face was now propped against the source, its cheek plastered against it “I’m actually jealous. How he got those scars, very gruesome stories. What I wouldn’t give to have been there or live something like that myself!”

“Why would you want that?”

“Its better than being dead, Lucy. So what’s the plan? Are we going to use him as a bait to draw the ghost out then finish it? Or are you planning on actually feeding him to the ghost and then sealing it?”

“We are not using Ethan as any of that! He won’t be coming to the case”

“What a shame! I thought that that was the reason you chose to bring the others here, he would make a very easy prey for a ghost; unable to run, probably a year away from losing his Talent. I must say, he has an impressive amount of Talent for someone so close to the age of losing it”

“Yes, he always had an impressing Touch. Could pin point the exact location of a source only by Touching and getting echoes of the past”

“Hey Lucy?” I heard a knock on the door as well as someone calling me. The door opened and Lockwood walked in.

“Oh no! We are having a conversation here, no Lockwoods allowed!”

“Shut up” I closed the jar’s lever and basked in the feeling of seeing it get angry and not be able to rant with me about it.

“I’m an interrupting something?” Lockwood asked hesitantly.

“No, no. We were just finishing” We ignored the skull as it kept furiously swimming around its ectoplasm.

“You think it’d be wrong if I sat on the books?” Lockwood asked, his finger pointing to the giant stack that was in front the bed.

“I don’t think so, but I think its better not to find out” I patted the space beside me in the bed and so he sat there. We stayed silent for a moment, waiting for the other to say something.

“It is a very nice house Ethan has” He said in an attempt to break the silence “I’m happy you trust us with this part of your past”

“Couldn’t keep it hidden for long” I said.

“You never told us about that ‘wolf incident’” He said silently.

“The case of the Boy in the Wolf Barn? I wasn’t the star of that incident”

“But you were still there” Lockwood’s eyes were kept away from me, yet a certain vulnerability could be seen in them “You could have died that night. If he hadn’t protected you, you would not be here”

“But I didn’t die” I whispered, my hand coming to his.

“And for that I’m grateful” He said, his eyes finally meeting mine “I couldn’t thank Ethan enough for that”

The rest of the day was spent preparing for our case in the station. George spent most of the afternoon reading as much as he could of the books Ethan gave him. Lockwood and Quill practiced rapier with Holly and I readied our supplies, making sure we’d have enough salt bombs, flares, iron fillings and that our chains were fit for tonight. Ethan spent the day helping me, so we talked all day long, still retelling some experiences and I told him about some of our best cases back in London, like Combe Carey Hall, or the Bickerstaff ghost, the Chelsea Outbreak and from the time I freelanced.

Time went faster than I expected and soon it was time for us to leave for the station. With our sacks ready, our thermos full with tea and George’s compelled information, we were more than ready to leave.

“Lucy…” A hand stopped me from walking out the door. I looked back at Ethan, who for the first time in our visit wasn’t smiling lazily like he always did “The station…its close to the woods”

“We know” He didn’t need to tell me what was concerning him, it was concerning us both, but we had chose not to mention it. Now, though, I had been feeling like it should be brought up “We’ll be careful”

“Just…beware of the wolves”

[escapeinpapers]

MAY WRAP-UP

This month, I think I spent way too much time in booktube that my attention for a certain book quickly goes to another one. I’m quite mad at myself because I had not been consistent of my May TBR. Even so, I’m still pretty proud of myself because I’ve read more than what I expected to read. Also, I would say there were books that disappointed me this month but there were some that I quickly rated as 5 stars and made me so emotional.

So here are the books that I’ve read for the month of May.

NEW ADULT/ADULT ROMANCE

To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise (2/5)

The story is told by POV’s main characters, Olive and Jason. Olive is an indie author whose book will be adapted into a movie. She then finds out that the actor who will be playing the male protagonist is her brother’s childhood bestfriend/ her childhood crush and first love, Jason.

I honestly love the childhood crush and second chance romance trope on this book but it was getting bad and bad as I continue to read. I even prepared myself to be ready for a major twist or revelation but I was just disappointed. It felt like there was no real and impressive conflict on their relationship. I enjoyed the first few chapters and maybe towards the first half but it just got really crappy. There were cringey love scenes and sometimes the characters were being dumb that it is so frustrating.

(P.s. Every time Jason calls Olive “little one”, I cringe and I remember Thanos from Avengers lol.)

The Guy on the Right by Kate Stewart (3.5/5)

This is a friends to lovers novel. Main characters are Theo and Laney. Theo is quite shy and a reserved person. He lives in a house with Troy, the popular playboy roommate. He calls himself as “the guy on the right” because Troy always takes the spotlight and many girls go after him. He met Laney on a party. She, on the other hand is the quirky, outspoken and hardworking country girl. They became close, started a social media page and they eventually fell in love with each other.

This is my first new adult book ever. I’m usually into young adult and adult books so it was a huge step for me to explore this genre and gladly I enjoyed this book and now I’m more interested to read other new adult books. The storyline was good. I gave it only 3.5 stars because it was just an okay read for me. I love the elements of music and social media. The characters were also charming in their own ways. And you’ll get quotations called Grannism every end of a chapter. Some were really relatable.

Read my full review:

The Naked Truth by Vi Keeland (4/5)

The book is all about a second chance romance. Layla, a lawyer, was asked to do the pitch for a prospect client to their law firm. She didn’t know that the client she’s gonna impress was Gray, her ex who just got out of prison. Gray want Layla back and he wants to clear all the misunderstanding and explain to her why he had to lie to her.

I didn’t expect to love this book. I love the shift of timelines from present to the past. I thought that it will be just full of steamy scenes but the plot was amazing. The twists and turns were impressive. There’s one that really struck me and I literally screamed with that revelation. It was a major drama I didn’t see coming. I think people who love K-Drama (like me) would like this book. I also love how the author portrayed the aspects of family, marriage as well as death. The lawyer-prisoner romance was also interesting. It is my first time reading that kind of trope. My only issue with this book is Layla being sometimes annoying with her petty arguments.

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (5/5)

Due to food poisoning, Olive’s twin sister and Ethan’s brother can’t make it to their honeymoon in Maui. Thus, Olive and Ethan were asked to take their places. The problem is, Olive and Ethan do not get along very well. They pretty much hate each other’s guts but the two need to work together and act as newly married couple. Only, they didn’t realize that this free vacation is changing their lives.

This was an easy 5 stars for me. I enjoyed this book so much because it was atmospheric. It felt like I was on the beach myself because of how engaging the story was. The enemy to lovers and fake marriage/relationship tropes were done beautifully. I was easily hooked into the story and the twists were just freaking good. Olive and Ethan’s chemistry is so strong. Their banters were very fun. I just love love love this book.

Read my full review:

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover (5/5)

The story revolves around Tate and Miles. Tate is a nurse who has no time for love and Miles is a pilot who doesn’t want to love again. Their first meeting was not great but their paths always cross because he’s her new neighbor and he’s her brother’s friend and co-pilot. Physical attraction grew between them and they can’t put aside their desires so they had some sort of friends with benefits relationship. But things get really bad because they are slowly breaking their own rules.

This is officially one of my favorite books of all time. Everything in this book is just perfect. I kind of judged this book very wrongly 2 years ago when I first tried to read this because I thought it will be just about sex and at that time my smut level on books was really low. But, I decided to read it again out of a whim at freaking midnight. I looked past through the love scenes (though idk I find it dreamy and romantic now) and focused on the story, and swear, I was blown away. I never thought that I would cry so badly again over a book.

Read my full review:

FANTASY

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (2/5)

This is somewhat a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Feyre, a normal mortal girl, killed a Faerie (a magical creature) while she was hunting for food. She was punished to live in a High Fae’s manor to pay for the life she had taken and she ends up falling in love with Tamlin, her captor who can shapeshift and who wears a crappy mask.

I really want to love this book. Some people told me to don’t stop reading because it will get good. But sadly, I just did not like it (Sorry! ). The writing is atmospheric though, I admired it at first. However, as I go on, the description of the settings or for the other things were too much and I think did not necessarily affect the situation at hand. Sometimes, it was just too flowery and over with metaphors. Feyre and Tamlin as characters were not effective, their chemistry is “meh”. There were cringey lines especially on the love scenes. The plot twists were not hard for me to predict. I think this book was not just for me to read. Though, I’ve been told that the sequel is the best among the series so I might give it a shot soon.

The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow & Bone (3/5)

Siege & Storm (3/5)

Ruin & Rising (2/5)

Alina had discovered her unique powers to summon light when they were assigned to cross the Shadow Fold. It’s a forsaken place of impenetrable darkness with flesh eating monsters. Leaving Mal, her childhood bestfriend and the guy that she also likes, she was sent to the Little Palace to work with the magical elites called Grisha in hopes that she could destroy the fold and unite Ravka. While working to hone her powers, she finds herself developing feelings for The Darkling, the mysterious and attractive as hell leader of Grisha. On her journey to destroy the Shadow Fold, she encountered many challenges, revelations and truth about the people around her.

I really had high expectations for this series because I love the author and her Six of Crows duology. But I was again, disappointed. It’s not that it was that bad, it was not just as great as I expected it to be. I have a love and hate relationship with this series. The first book was good. The build up of the story was beautifully done. I love the magical system and the characters were intriguing, but only at first. I understand why the Darkling is hyped up till now because he is absolutely mysterious and hot (plus Ben Barnes will be playing the role for the Netflix adaptation). Revealing Alina’s power as well as the Darkling’s was very cool. The second book is where the Darkling gets literally dark. Even though this was more tensed because of the twists, I enjoyed and laughed many times than the first book because of Nikolai. He’s not the main character of this series but its funny because I like him the most. Scratch that. I love him. The third book was just so disappointing. I enjoyed the side characters’ romance more and the twists were not that impressive. And the ending? Worst. I think there’s one common denominator of all the things that I didn’t like in this series, and that is Alina being a typical weak female protagonist. She is just annoying sometimes, too dependent of the other characters and does weak and petty arguments.

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo (5/5)

This is the sequel of the Six of Crows duology. Kaz and his crew did the heist they were asked to do but they had to face their consequences and take down the real enemy. As much as I’m excited to tell you more about the plot, I won’t go any further because I don’t want to spoil anything.

I absolutely love the first book and I was not disappointed with this one. This is my best fantasy reads so far. I fell in love more with Kaz, Inej, Matthias, Niña, Wylan and Jesper. They are just freaking amazing. The character development was done so good. The plot twists are super amazing and I got fooled many times. Also, the ending is so satisfying. I have to admit, I enjoyed this duology more than The Grisha Trilogy.

Read my full review:

YOUNG ADULT CONTEMPORARY

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston (4/5)

We follow Sophie’s journey towards healing her broken heart. Her Grandma decided to set up her in blind dates and the guys he’ll be dating are chosen by some of her family members. So, she went onto these days, in hopes to forget her ex-boyfriend. But things get complicated. Her ex wants her back but the feelings she had for an old friend is growing back.

If you’re looking for something that is light, cute and a quick read, this is the book for you. The blind dating thing was just very cute. I never expected to like it, but it was just interesting and each date was fun in their own ways. I also love the essence of family and friendship on this book. As a person who grew up in a family-oriented household, I can relate so much of the main character.

Read my full review:

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera (5/5)

In this world, there’s this system called Death Cast. They call people to give them an alert that they’re gonna die on that day. No when and how but only the information that on that day that you are called, it’s your time to say goodbye to the world. Mateo had been always paranoid about the time that he will receive the call. So, when Death Cast called him, he had been more paranoid than ever. Then, he met Rufus, who’s also gonna die that day, through The Last Friend app. Despite the two having very different attitude towards accepting their death, they decided to spend their last day together.

This is the kind of book that is very hard to put down. The title itself is already very intriguing. All the time I was reading this, I can’t help but to be anxious because knowing anytime soon, Rufus and Mateo are gonna die. I had a lot of theories on how they would die but it was no where near. The narration is very deceiving which I love. The message of this book is also very touching plus the characters are very relatable and I can’t help to put myself in their shoes. I know it is unpleasant to think about death especially these times but this book just made me realize things about life and it made me reflect and ask myself on how I’ve been living my life so far. I love this book so much that it is one of my best reads for this year and I might make a full review for this one.

So those were all the books that I've read for the month of May. For June, I've been thinking to read genres that I don't usually read such as msytery and thrillers. I hope I would be consistent on my next month's TBR.

Thank you for reading. I hope some of the books caught your interest. Till my next post ❤

[punk-rock-pixie]

1-96 you fucker

(1) Do You Sleep With Your Closet Doors Open Or Closed?

Usually closed

(2) Do You Have Freckles?

Yes! Many actually!

(3) Can You Whistle?

Not well, but yes

(4) Last Song You Listened To.

It was something by streetlight manifesto 

(5) What Is Your Favourite Colour?

FUCK DUDE I NEVER KNOW

(6) Relationship Status.

Single as fuuuuuuuck

(7) What Is The Temperature Right Now?

According to snapchat it is 76 F

(8) Did You Wake Up Cranky?

Yes because I had an alarm that gave me a fucking heart attack

(9) How Many Followers?

Like.... 800-something

(10) Zodiac Sign.

Scorpio

(11) What Is Your Eye Colour?

Hazel

(12) Take A Vitamin Daily?

Nope. No meds either

(13) Do You Sing In The Shower?

Fuckin always

(14) What Books Are You Reading?

Hyperbole and a half for like the millionth time!

(15) Grab The Book Nearest To You, Turn To Page 64, Give Me Line 14.

There is no line 14. It’s Hyperbole and a half

(16) Favourite Anime?

D. Gray-Man

(17) Last Person You Cried In Front Of?

My mum I think???? 

(18) Do You Collect Anything?

Guitar picks lmao

(19) What Did You Have For Lunch?

I didn’t really have lunch, more than like a collection of snacks

(20) Do You Dance In The Car?

Only if I have someone with me

(21) Favourite Animal?

Cats

(22) Do You Watch The Olympics?

Not really

(23) What Time Do You Usually Go To Bed?

Because it is holiday now, usually about 1:00 am

(24) Are You Wearing Makeup Right Now?

Nope. Not today. Usually I do my eyebrows and basic contour though.

(25) Do You Prefer To Swim In A Pool Or The Ocean?

I prefer a pool cuz it’s closer.

(26) Favourite Tumblr Blog?

I think it goes without saying @thebootydiaries

(27) Bottled Water Or Tap Water?

Tap is cheaper

(28) What Makes You Happy?

Playing guitar, singing loudly

(29) Post A Gif Of What You’re Currently Feeling Right Now.

Just killed the third god damn spider from my shower drain.... 

(30) Do You Study Better With Or Without Music?

With AF

(31) Dogs Or Cats?

Both???

(32) If You Were A Crayon What Colour Would You Be?

(33) PlayStation Or Xbox.

PlayStation

(34) Would You Swim In The Lake Or Ocean?

Ocean because the last lake I swam in was eh

(35) Do You Believe In Magic?

Boi I practice magic

(36) What Colour Shirt Are You Wearing?

Grey. It’s a Ninja Sex Party shirt

(37) Can You Curl Your Tongue?

Yeet

(38) Do You Save Money Or Spend It?

Currently saving actually!

(39) Is There Anything Pink Within 10 Feet Of You?

A picture of Padparadscha I drew as well as my rose quartz healing crystal

(40) Do You Have Any Obsessions Right Now?

Crankgameplays, Hamilton, Animal Crossing New Leaf, Crazy Ex Girlfriend

(41) Have You Ever Caught A Butterfly?

No, but I have caught a fuck ton of moths

(42) Are You Easily Influenced By Other People?

I think it depends on the situation

(43) Do You Have Strange Dreams?

Very often, yes

(44) Do You Like Going On Airplanes?

Not entirely. I don’t like traveling somewhere, but I love being in the destination

(45) Name One Movie That Made You Cry.

BOOK OF LIFE

(46) Peanuts Or Sunflower Seeds?

Neither tbh? I don’t like either that much.

(47) If I Handed You A Concert Ticket Right Now, Who Would You Want The Performer To Be?

Fleetwood Mac, Streetlight Manifesto, or Green Day

(48) Are You A Picky Eater?

A lotta the time, yes, but I will at least TRY new things

(49) Are You A Heavy Sleeper?

On some days, the small meowing of my cats wake me up, sometimes I sleep through our fire alarm

(50) Do You Fear Thunder / Lightning?

No. I really love storms tbh

(51) Do You Like To Read / Write?

I like to write. Reading gives me anxiety a lot of the time. 

(52) Do You Like Your Music Loud?

Sometimes yes

(53) Would You Rather Carve Pumpkins Or Wrap Presents?

Carve pumpkins SO MUCH

(54) Put Your Music On Shuffle, What Is The First Song That Came Up?

Well, currently I am listening to pandora on shuffle... Currently, “Ah, Christine!” from Love Never Dies is playing. The story sucks, but the production and music of it is very good. 

(55) What Season Are You In Right Now? (Weather)

Summer. Which means so MANY FUCKING BUGS

(56)What Are You Craving Right Now?

Thai food from the place next to where I work, and a lotta affection

(57) Post A Screenshot Of Your Tumblr Feed.

I’m lazy

(58) What Is Your Gender?

Honestly, I’m a trans boi

(59) Coffee Or Tea?

Tea

(60) Do You Have Any Homework Right Now? If So, What Is It About?

I’m not taking any online courses this summer so yeet

(61) What Is Your Sexuality?

I don’t know. I mean... I’m mostly into boys, but idk there were like three times where I liked someone who identified as a girl.

(62) Do You Make Your Bed In The Morning?

Not usually

(63) Favourite Pokemon?

I’m just gonna do my party Mimikyu, any of the Shinx evolutions, Lucario, any Rowlet evolution, Altaria and Arcanine! (and people should like totally draw me with my faves at some point if they wanted to lmao)

(64) Favourite Social Media?

Honestly, I think youtube.... ANYTHING OTHER THAN THIS SITE 

(65) What’s Your Opinion On Instagram Stories?

I don’t use them often

(66) Do You Get Homesick?

Nope

(67) Are You A Virgin?

In terms of Rocky Horror Picture Show, no. In terms of sex, yes.

(68) What Shampoo And Conditioner Are You Using Right Now?

Head and shoulders for shampoo, some coconut oil blend for conditioner. 

(69) If You Were Far From Home And Needed To Sleep For The Night, Would You Choose To Rent A Crappy Motel Room For $60 Or Sleep In Your Car For Free?

Probably a motel

(70) Are Both Of Your Blood Parents Still In Your Life?

Yes.

(71)  Whats The Next Movie You Want To See In Theaters?

FUCK DUDE IDK WHAT’S OUT RN

(72) Do You Miss Your Ex?

NOPE. FUCK ALL OF THEM. Save for 2. Two of them were decent. 

(73) What Is Your Favourite Quote Right Now?

“FUCK ME RAY BRADBURY” - Rachel Bloom

(74) What Eye Colour Do You Find Sexiest?

Hazel and Brown tbh????

(75) Did You Like Swinging As A Child? Do You Still Get Excited When You See A Swing Set?

FUCK YEAH. AND I STILL DO!

(76) What Was The Last Thing You Ate?

Uhhhhh shit idk. graham crackers I think?

(77) What Games Do You Have On Your Phone?

Magic Carp Jump, Tap Tap fish, aaand that’s it????

(78) Would You Give A Homeless Person CPR If They Were Dying? Why Or Why Not?

No, because I am not certified to do so. I’d get help though!

(79) Been On The Computer For 5 Hours Straight?

You fuckin know it!

(80) Stalked Someone On A Social Network?

You.... fuckin know it. Not like terribly, but I occasionally go through my followers’ accounts

(81) Do You Like Meeting New People?

Sometimes It’s fine. Other times I am terrified

(82) Do You Wear Rings? If You Do, Take A Picture Of Them.

Nope cuz I’d play with them too much

(83) Do You Sleep With Your Bedroom Door Open Or Closed?

Closed

(84) What Are Three Things You Did Today?

Went to do some volunteering at city hall, went to work, went to the gym

(85) What Do You Wear To Bed?

Usually just boxers or something because it is hot as fuck lately

(86) List All Of Your Different Beauty Products You Have Right Now.

Concealer, foundation, primer, eyeshadow.... I have too many so like????

(87) Are You A Day Or Night Person?

IM BACK TO BEING  A NIGHT PERSON

(88) List All Of Your Video Games On Your Phone, Console Etc.

OH BOI THAT WILL TAKE TOO LONG

(89) Tell Me About A Dream That You Had And When It Happened.

I had a dream I was with Crankgameplays, my friend Nate, and @dreamxng-forever This was recently too. Like, a few days ago. We were hanging out and Nate and Sarah were shipping me with Ethan. Then we were in a ceremony for something and I was staring blankly. Ethan turned to me and asked if I was okay, and while still very monotone and blank I said, “You know this is just a fucking dream....” 

Ethan: “what?”

Me: “This is just a dream and I could wake up at any point.”

(my alarm clock goes off while I’m dreaming)

Me: Womp... There it is. Gotta blast. FUUUUCKIN KILL MEEE.....

(90) Favourite Soda Drink?

I don’t like soda

(91) What Sounds Are Your Favourite?

I really like the sound of a C7 chord, some people’s voices, the dinging of a timer meaning my food is ready. Some people’s laughs. 

(92) Do You Wear Jeans Or Sweats More?

I mean I wear both about the same

(93) How Do You Look Right Now?

Like absolute garbage

(94) Name Something That Relaxes You.

Hot baths

(95) What Tattoo Do You Want?

I want little black stars and planets on my forearm

(96) Favourite YouTuber?

YOU MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW CUZ I LIKE TO KEEP IT SUBTLE BUT @crankgameplays I KNOW IT IS SOOO SUBTLE YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW LMAO

[princesstreaclefanfic]

Chapter Seven

As you may have noticed, we now have a banner for this story, made by the lovely Xanath - thank-you so much for making me a banner and being patient with my demands! Check it out on my tumblr or on my blog. 

Disclaimer - All recognisable characters belong to their original owners. I do not make a profit from writing this; I simply do it for my own amusement. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter Seven

Bella

I didn’t know how to respond to that; of course, I would always want Edward. I hadn’t stopped loving him, but admitting it aloud was another thing entirely.

So instead of acknowledging it, I made a strange noise in the back of my throat, blushed hard and then looked away from him.

We spent the next few minutes in awkward silence as I looked everywhere but Edward.

“How are Esme and Ethan?” I asked when Carlisle walked back in, blushing as I caught Edward’s eyes by accident.

“They’re fine, thank you, Bella. Esme is pleased Nessie is going to be alright.” I nodded.

Nessie couldn’t have chosen a better time to come rushing out of the office, a blush covering her cheeks as she went up to Edward.

“Can we go now?” she asked, avoiding looking at anyone.

“May I see your hand?” Edward asked and she nodded, holding it out to him as he and Carlisle both inspected it.

I had a quick look, and you wouldn’t have even known she had been attacked had it not been for the faint red line running across her palm.

Edward looked at Carlisle for his approval and when Carlisle gave a small nod of his head, Edward turned back to Nessie.

“Let’s get you home,” he gently told her, giving her a soft smile before she turned and walked out. Edward gave me a lingering smile and as he walked passed me, his hand gently brushed mine and our fingers briefly intertwined before separating as Edward left.

Jake came out of his office then, pulling a black shirt over his head.

“Did everything go alright?” Carlisle asked and Jake nodded.

But something about him was different. His eyes were busy. I could read his mind if I wanted, but I didn’t want to invade his privacy like that.

“Bella, do you need help getting home?” Carlisle inquired and I shook my head.

“Get back to Esme and Ethan,” I told him before we said our goodbyes and he left, a smile on his face.

When Carlisle had left, I turned to Jake and watched as he distractedly moved some things behind the bar. “Jake, is there anything you want to talk about?”

My oldest friend opened his mouth and stood like that for a few seconds before closing it and shaking his head.

“No thanks, Bells, I’m alright.” I didn’t believe him.

“I’m going to head off - if you don’t need me?”

He shook his head once more. “No - I’m just going to lock up and go for a run.”

I went into his office, took off my apron and grabbed my bag before I walked back into the main part of the bar.

“Bye Jake,” I quietly said as I walked towards the door, but a few feet from it I stopped and turned around. “I’m always here if you want to talk,” I told him before turning back and leaving. If he wanted to tell me whatever was going on he could, I wouldn’t force him; and I wouldn’t pick it out of his head anyway.

***

The drive home was quiet and when I got there, Emmett and Rose were looked in their argument of the ‘bedroom mirror’. Rose was insisting that Emmett take it down - she didn’t need to see herself when she was sleeping. Emmett told her that it wasn’t for that; it was for her (and I’m quoting here) “to watch his ass when he was fucking her”. Rose told him that would never happen. Emmett responded that the Titanic was unsinkable.

That brings us to now.

“Take it down!” Rose shouted as she stomped through the house.

“No!” Emmett shouted back from where he was sitting in the living room.

“Why are you impossible to deal with?” Rose growled as she came out of the living room and saw me stood there with a rather amused expression on my face.

“How are things?” I asked, trying to contain my laughter. Emmett was growing on me.

“Peachy!” Rose remarked sarcastically before she walked into her bedroom and slammed the door.

I grabbed myself a drink and went into the living room and sat down.

“Why are you so fixated on Rose?” I didn’t see the point in beating around the bush.

Emmett didn’t look surprised at my question, but he did mute the TV he had been watching and sit forward.

“Because I have never met anyone like her - and I don’t just mean the fae part of her. She’s bold and brass and doesn’t care what anyone thinks about her, but she also has the vulnerable side to her that she only shows to those she cares about.” He looked me right in the eye. “Humans usually bore me, Bella, but Rose, there’s something about her; I’m drawn to her - I don’t think I could stay away if I tried.” The way he said it. The look on his face; I believed him.

“Why don’t you tell her how you feel?” If Emmett felt this strongly, surely he’d want Rose to know? To find out if she felt the same way?

Emmett gave a small smile. “She’s not ready to hear it; vampires feel emotions a lot more intensely than humans. Rose isn’t ready for my love,” that was the first time I had heard him use that word. “But she will be, soon - and when she is; I’ll scream from the rooftops how I feel.”

“Don’t break her heart,” I quietly told him.

“I won’t,” he responded.

We both sat in silence for some minutes, both of us thinking about what had just happened.

“Bella?” Emmett asked, breaking the quietness.

I turned to him.

“You should tell Edward how you feel,” he stood from the couch and walked towards the door. “Rose wasn’t the only one suffering that year you were gone.”

***

Edward

Edward heard Austin pull up to his house in his crappy little VW. He heard him greet the guards, show ID and be led up the steps. He heard him enter his house, knock on the office door and enter. Only when he had entered did Edward turn away from the window and look at him. He was angry… no… angry was a strong enough word. He was livid.

Austin saw Edward’s face and physically took a step towards the now closed door. “I swear I didn’t know. None of us did, except Maria and the three guys who did it - they only told us about it this morning.”

Edward stepped away from the window and towards Austin.

“They said she hadn’t been seriously hurt so that’s a good thing right?”

Edward didn’t respond.

“I really didn’t know they were going to do anything! If I did I would have told you.” The smell of Austin’s fear permeated through the room but it didn’t discourage Edward. His progeny had been injured; it didn’t matter how badly, she had been hurt because of some vendetta around vampires, and he was going to find out why.

“Tell me about the meeting this morning - don’t leave anything out.”

Austin swallowed hard. “Maria called a meeting, said she had something she wanted to tell us. That’s when she told us about what the three guys did to Nessie - she said she wanted to show you that no vampire was safe. The original plan was to hurt her more, but the big guy - Jake - intervened and Tyler got involved,” Austin looked sat at the mention of his boyfriend. “Most of us were horrified. We really don’t agree with what she’s doing.”

Edward considered his words, smelling the air and monitoring his pupils and heart rate for signs of deceit. He wasn’t lying - or if he was, he was very good at it.

“Is she planning on doing anything else?”

“No,” Austin shook his head. “Not that she’s told us - she wants to stop for a while and make it look like she’s not going to attack, but she’s not told us what she is going to do after that.” Once again, he was telling the truth.

“When is your next meeting?”

“Uh - tonight,” Austin started before he pulled up his sleeve and checked his watch. “About ten.”

“In the usual place?”

“Yeah,” Austin nodded and then looked worried. “Are you going to do something? Edward - I’ve told you, not all of us agree with what Maria is doing, you can’t hurt people who are innocent-”

“I don’t want to hurt people, Austin, but Maria is not leaving me with much of a choice.” Edward was losing his patience with the coven - in fact, it had all but disappeared. The attack on Nessie had been the last straw.

Edward was about to dismiss Austin but then he remembered Bella’s advice.

“Austin, why does Maria hate vampires?”

The young man shifted uncomfortably from side to side. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got time.”

“It’s to do with her husband. He was quite ill when vampires came out of the coffin. I don’t know exactly what was wrong with him but it was terminal. He wasn’t going to get better… then he discovered V. It didn’t cure him, but it did make him feel better, all of his symptoms disappeared.” Edward had a feeling he knew where this story was going. “You know what happens when you take V over an extended period of time, especially when you take it regularly and you don’t particularly need it. He became addicted. He needed more and more to satisfy his cravings. The police did a raid on his dealer's house and he got caught in the fire - he tried to get the last vial of V.” Austin sighed. “Ever since then Maria has blamed vampires - she’s convinced herself that if they hadn’t revealed themselves than her husband wouldn’t have found V. She blames your kind for his death.”

Edward contemplated this story. It made sense, but he would need to make sure it was the truth. He didn’t think that Austin was lying to him, but these days he could never be too careful.

“You can go now, Austin,” Edward started. “If I need to speak to you again, I’ll get in contact.” Edward turned away from him and sat at his desk, pulling his phone out from his jacket pocket and going into his contacts; he had a phone call to make.

Austin stood and watched Edward before he realised that he wasn’t going to say anything else to him and so he left the room, a sense of fear crawling up his spine. Maria had taken things too far and Austin had a feeling that Edward was going to do something in retaliation. Austin couldn’t blame him, but he felt like Edward didn’t realise just how dangerous she was.

***

Emmett

Emmett leapt up the steps to Edward’s house, nodding at the guards as he went. He didn’t bother knocking as he opened the front door and went straight into his office.

Edward was sat behind his desk, one hand rested on the top as the other was rubbing his chin. When Emmett entered he straightened himself up and gestured to the chair in front of the desk.

“I’m assuming this is about yesterday?” Emmett guessed. Bella had filled him in on what had happened at Black’s and Emmett couldn’t believe that the coven had been that bold. He sat down in the chair in front of the desk, cross his ankle over his knee and leant back waiting for his brother to let him know what was going on.

“The coven have taken things too far now. They were getting out of control, but this has just pushed things over the edge… They need to be dealt with.” Edward met Emmett’s eyes. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it didn’t need to be done.”

“I get it,” Emmett told him.

“I don’t want you to kill any of them - just warn them what will happen if they continue this quarrel against vampires.”

Emmett nodded.

“They’re meeting tonight about ten - at the Holistic Spa.”

“I’ll deal with them,” Emmett rose out of his seat. “I’m assuming Nessie is alright?”

“She’s fine, thank you, Emmett.”

Emmett gave Edward a nod goodbye and then left the office. He headed out the front door and once he was outside, he shot up into the air.

It didn’t take long for him to get to the Holistic Spa. It was a small building on the outskirts of Forks that boasted ‘holistic’ health therapies, hence the name.

Emmett stood across the street from the building, concealed in the darkness as he watched people arrive. There were about eight of them in total. He could have laughed at how easy this was going to be. Once the leader had arrived (he was able to recognise her from the pictures Edward had shown him when they first began their protests), Emmett gave them ten minutes before he decided to interrupt.

Emmett walked across the street to the front door and without even checking, he lifted his foot up and kicked it in, a smirk on his face as the door gave way and splintered, the lock flying across the room.

Emmett stepped through and headed to the back room where he knew they held their little ‘meetings’.

Again, he raised his foot and kicked the door, gasps and scream emerging when he entered, fangs extended.

“This coven is to be formally disbanded by order of the King of Washington.” The entire coven was seated on the floor, a wooden pentacle in the middle of the room sat on a pile of salt with candles littered about giving the room a soft glow.

Nobody spoke as they all took him in.

“We are human, and therefore the King has no jurisdiction here,” Maria spoke up, standing to address their visitor.

“He does have jurisdiction when it involves vampires.”

“We’ve done nothing wrong,” Maria strongly said. “We are simply informing people of the dangers of vampires.”

“So killing a vampire and maiming another - neither which are a threat to anyone - is ‘informing people of the dangers’?” Emmett was beginning to lose his patience.

Maria laughed. “Can you prove that any of those things were us?”

“You left your ‘symbol’ at one, and three of your coven members were recognised at the other.”

“I don’t think that that is strong enough evidence.”

“I disagree - now disband this coven now. You will not be allowed to have any meetings and you will certainly not be allowed to engage in any anti-vampire activities.”

“And how do you plan to stop us?”

Emmett grinned, showing off his pointy fangs. “I can show you if you like.” It was an empty threat… kind of; he wouldn’t bite them now, but in the future, there was every possibility.

“Stay away spawn of Satan!” one of the people sitting down shouted, standing up and charging at Emmett with a wooden stake.

Emmett grabbed the stake from his hand and threw it across the room before wrapping his large hand around the neck of the young man. “That was a mistake.” He began to squeeze.

Emmett was so focused on slowly choking the life out of the man who had tried to stake him that he didn’t notice the circle chanting; he didn’t notice the candles flickering and he didn’t notice the strange look that Maria got in her eyes. All he knew is that one minute he was strangling someone, and the next he was flat on his back.

***

Bella

“Isn’t Ethan so cute?” I said to Rose as we drove along the road of Forks. We’d just finished working the night shift at Black’s and we were heading home. Esme had brought Ethan in to say hello to everyone and we had all been amused by his antics. Even Victoria had cracked a smile when Ethan squealed in delight at having ice cream for dessert. Carlisle had stopped by not long after and it had been clear to see how much he cared for both Esme and Ethan, and how much they cared for him too.

“Are you getting broody, Bella?” Rosalie teased, taking her eyes off the road to taunt me.

“No - I just think he’s cute!”

Rose giggled.

“Oh - I forgot to tell you. A landscaper is coming in a few weeks time to see what he can do with the garden.”

“What’s wrong with the garden?” I asked. It was just a large patch of grass really with a few flowers dotted around but I didn’t think it needed redoing.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with it, but Emmett wants to ‘update’ it - his words not mine.” she rolled her eyes. “He also wants to do something with the drive, block pave it, I think?”

“He’s not done a bad job of the house,” I admitted.

“Bella Swan - that has to be the first compliment I have ever heard you give to Emmett!” I giggled and blushed.

“It’s not a compliment - just an observation.” It felt good being able to joke like this with Rose again. I was beginning to feel normal.

“What kind of person walks along these roads this late at night?” Rose asked as we rounded the corner to see someone walking in the road.

As we got closer Rose squinted her eyes and slowed the car down.

“I recognise that leather jacket.” I realised that I did too.

Rose pulled the car over and jumped out as I followed suit.

“Emmett?” she asked quietly as he turned around and looked at her.

Something was wrong. He looked like Emmett, same blue eyes, broad shoulders and dark hair, but it wasn’t him.

“Are you alright?” she asked him, slowly walking towards him.

His fangs dropped down. “You smell amazing,” was all he said before he lunged at Rose.

“Get off!” she screamed as he pushed her up against the car.

“Hey!” I shouted, rushing around to try and prize him off her.

Strangely enough (and luckily for us), Emmett listened and stepped back. “I’m sorry - you just smell amazing, you both do.” he looked at me then, eyes taking me as they scrunched up.

“Emmett, what’s wrong?” Rose asked as she reached out a hand and placed it on his leather jacket.

He looked down at her hand, then at me and then at Rose.

“Who are you?”

Thank-you for reading.

[realitycrazy2017-blog]

11 Ways to Market Your iPhone and iPod Touch App

New Post has been published on https://realitycrazy.com/11-ways-to-market-your-iphone-and-ipod-touch-app/

11 Ways to Market Your iPhone and iPod Touch App

While there is no magic formula or single marketing action that may do the trick for you, these strategies can provide you with a framework to help you increase company exposure, sales, and profit. Marketing your iPhone/Touch app is definitely a process that can take time.

I will let you know that we have not found price reductions to be the best strategy. We initially thought this might be very effective as the App store structure is set up to rank applications by the number of total downloads. Higher total sales and total downloads by price category are not currently recognized by Apple’s system.

Keep in mind for instance that if your app was $5 and you decided to lower it to $0.99, you’d have to tell sell five times as many just to break even. Now you might temporarily increase exposure this way but at the expense of maximizing your profit margins when you are most apt to do well at the beginning of your product life cycle. Customer support issues may increase by a factor of five as well.

That being said, there’s nothing wrong with adjusting your app’s price in the beginning to find its best market price (which might change over time).

There are 24,455 apps and counting, so let’s jump in and get started!

1. The World (iTunes App Store) Is Flat

Consider your potential international market right from the moment of conceptualization. There are people all over the planet eager to use and benefit from quality applications. Initially, we intended to include the metric system and local currency in our app but decided to push it back until version 1.1. We were so eager to start the submission process with Apple and this ended up negatively affected our sales without question. I recommend taking that extra time to make your app useful to the international community, or even a few key markets (China, Russia, Central and South America, Japan, and Germany come to mind).

What does this mean? If currencies are used, auto-detect the user’s local currency under their device’s general settings; and if applicable handle currency conversions. Make your website, instructions, and sales pages easy to understand and use images to support your text. Consider that for many people, English may be their second or third language. Make your software more intuitive by choosing symbols over text wherever possible. Reach out to bloggers for your niche market in Europe and Asia. Include a complimentary promo code in your correspondence. It can’t hurt.

Consider this: we received nearly $1,000 in sales from Italy because of a single online post was written in Italian! Now you could go further with this and have your sales page and help instructions translated into major languages like Spanish or Chinese. Prices for quality work vary and you’ll need to get someone fluent in the language to double check their work.

Remember there are 65 different versions of iTunes around the world and counting. Single apps can be developed for use on the iPhone and the iPod Touch. How big is the market for both? Apple does not break down sales of individual product lines. A conservative estimate of 4.4 million iPhone sales and 22.7 million iPod sales for last quarter would be about 7 million in three months. That’s an average of 78,000 new devices coming online daily. Incredible and almost scary. It can’t last forever, but wow!

2. Create a Lite or Demo Version

Apple lets developers offer both a free and paid version of the same app, and a free sample is probably the most successful marketing strategy ever. People want to try things. There are plenty of Crapps (crappy apps) out there, so why should people risk money on an app they know nothing about from a company they know even less about? If you can give people a taste that is just enough, they’ll buy the whole meal from you! This way you take away much of the risk.

There are numerous strategies for this, but make sure the lite version sales page is clear in its limitations vs. the paid or full version. If you truncate the app too much, people may think it’s a complete dud and see no value in paying you anything for the premium release. Give people a clear idea of what they’re getting into and this strategy could make you rich. Developer Ethan Nicholas offers motivation to go this route in a recent Wired piece:

When iShoot launched in October, business was slow for a while. And then Nicholas found some spare time to code a free version of the app – iShoot Lite, which he released January. Here’s how that helped: Inside iShoot Lite he advertised the $3, the full version of iShoot. Users downloaded the free version 2.4 million times. And that led 320,000 satisfied iShoot Lite players to pay for iShoot.

3. Go Free

Now, this is something that can be considered for different reasons. Right now “in-app” advertising lacks sophistication. When I say that, I mean we don’t have Google AdSense yet. I’m sure it’s coming, but embedded advertising that does not relate to the content in any manner is really intrusive in my personal opinion. I still read about certain developers making tons of money with embedded app advertising, but it’s hard enough to get people to click on ads if they’re relevant. When they’re not, the click-through rate is pretty low. If your app is something that people use, again and again, advertising can still work. We personally did not find it successful as it’s much easier to make about 70 cents off of a 99 cent app than to earn the same amount with ads. You could also add a PayPal donation button as AppCubby did, but this probably won’t work for you unless you have a large pre-existing customer or fan base.

You could also introduce your app for free. Get people using it, talking about it, and receive positive feedback. Then start charging people. Perfectly acceptable with Apple.

Looking at it from a long-term perspective, you might completely give away the first app to get people talking, create a base and build your brand. After all, nothing spreads like free (especially good free). You can use this to gather contact info and feedback from your initial users and turn them into customers for your next app or product. Be sure to include a “share” feature inside your free app (inside all of your apps!). Make sharing as easy as possible.

4. Send Out a Press Release

PRMac, a free (or almost free) press release distribution service, and the MacNN (Macintosh News Network) syndicate (free to submit) are definitely worth the price of submission. Competing services can charge over $600 for distribution within the United States alone, so these are valuable and less costly alternatives. They say the press release is dead, but these offerings directly targeted your potential customers. You never know who you might reach, and it’s vital to provide a press release when soliciting all forms of media.

5. Contact the Top 100 Blogs

Technorati can provide you with the current list. Use a conversational style, get right to the point and include a promo code. Figure out what could sell them on your company. If there’s an interesting angle or story around your app, this could increase your chances. Ask them if you could do a guest post. Who knows? When you have sites like Gizmodo that get 3 million page views per day, this can absolutely turbocharge sales!

6. Constantly Improve Your Sales Page

This one is pretty basic but often overlooked. Look at the sales pages of other top apps. What are they doing? Emulate what works and keep researching to spark ideas. You can display up to five images as of this writing, so use them! Use the images that sell your product best. Ask other people what grabs their attention. Use quotes from reviewers; share benefits first and foremost. Customers are not always logical, so don’t bore them with statistics. How will your application make their lives better?

7. Use Customer Feedback to Build a Better Product

This is two parts. First, timely respond to customer emails and realize that every interaction with customers, whether good or bad, is a marketing opportunity. When you get feedback via email or through your customer reviews, consider and incorporate these improvements. You can’t please everyone all of the time, and you may have limited resources, so you won’t be able to add everything. Some great ideas are bound to come your way. First-time users can also let you see how your software is being used from a beginner’s perspective.

The second way to receive customer feedback is to embed analytics code in your application. Flurry Analytics and Pinch Media both offer to track software that will provide insight into how customers are interacting with your application, including real-time download information, all for free. This can be especially useful if 90% of your customers are not using a particular feature. Maybe they don’t know it’s even there!

8. Continually Update Your Application

Here’s a great feature of the App Store. New versions move back to the top of what’s new in your category. Incorporating features your customers want, thereby making your product better, coupled with maintaining visibility, can help increase or at least maintain steady sales. Don’t abuse this by changing a few words in your help section and then resubmitting or you could ruin this for everybody. If you are working hard to make your product better, the distribution channel can reward you with increased exposure, because you are renewing.

9. Advertise

Google AdWords and AdMob are possible options. I believe we’re not there yet, but we’re pretty close. AdWords does offer the ability to advertise on mobile devices with a full internet browser, but that doesn’t just include the iPhone and Touch. You’ll get Androids and more depending on which territory you advertise. Right now they haven’t developed conversion tracking for apps either, and without this, you can just burn through cash with little results to show for your efforts. You won’t know which keywords are working or aren’t working. There is one way to track sales using this method: become an iTunes affiliate by joining LinkShare. You can create a link to your sales page in the App store and receive a 5% commission on qualifying purchases.

AdMob has app advertising down better than Google so far. You are able to track your conversions and target relevant Apple devices. You can even target those that are either on or off the WiFi network, which is pretty cool. The downside to this is that you are paying at least 10 cents a click to send someone to your App store sales page. No guarantee of sales here and depending on the price of your application, this leaves a very little margin to spend on advertising. It can take a hundred clicks just to get an actual sale, so keep that in mind. Also, since AdMob doesn’t target your ads very well, the people clicking are not actually seeking what you’re offering as they would on a Google search.

Here are a few examples of Google AdWords ads below from companies with money to burn; this luxury is not something everyone can afford and it may not be worthwhile anyway.

GOOGLE ADWORDS ADS:

EXAMPLE #1

Kraft iPhone Application

No-Hassle Cooking w/Recipes And

Shopping Lists At Your Fingertips.

EXAMPLE #2

Free iPhone Download

Get Local Search Power On Your

iPhone Today! Find. Map. Save. Go.

One last consideration: even if you break even from your advertising, you could increase your ranking in the store, and thereby receive more sales from the increased exposure. If you are popular, sales can feed off themselves. iTunes is a distribution channel, but so is Walmart. If you are featured next to the register, you’re gonna get more sales. If you’re at the bottom of the shelf on aisle 34, good luck!

10. Use Social Networks

Facebook Fan pages, online forums, and quality comments on top blogs and news sites can help you get conversations started about your company. Comments are even crawled and tracked by the major search engines. Be part of the discussion and actually share something relevant or this could work against you. You could quickly end up being considered spam (and despised or banished by your fellow netizens). The subtlety here will carry you far. Also, create profiles to further your cause.

11. Get Featured in the App Store

This one is tricky obviously because how do you make it a part of your marketing plan? You do not choose but are chosen. I will say this for what it’s worth. I contacted iTunes about a month ago and asked to be featured Today we are. It never hurts to ask and it can be worth quite a bundle! You never know who you’re going to reach. Someone may say something to someone else. That’s how it happens.

Thus far, we’ve increased our average daily sales almost tenfold. We are currently (2/23/09-3/9/09) featured on the front page of the App Store in iTunes under “New And Noteworthy” and #7 in “What’s New” on the iPhone/Touch.

Every time I contact media, even if nothing comes of it, I’m sharing my company and my product with powerful people (or people in contact with powerful people) and I never know directly or indirectly where this can lead.

Keep plugging away and please share your ideas and experiences with me. I’d love to hear about them. I wish you the greatest success!

John R. Haigh recently collaborated on the interior design book, “What Would You Do With This Room? My 10 Foolproof Commandments to Great Interior Design” by Mark Lewison and written by Sherri Houtz. He also co-developed the iPhone and iPod Touch virtual interior designer app, “Mark On Call”. He shares the latest beneficial and intriguing information from a variety of sectors (i.e. arts & entertainment, business, science, and technology to name a few) on his personal “Friends With Strangers” blog.

[netmaddy-blog]

11 Ways to Market Your iPhone and iPod Touch App

New Post has been published on https://netmaddy.com/11-ways-to-market-your-iphone-and-ipod-touch-app/

11 Ways to Market Your iPhone and iPod Touch App

While there is no magic formula or single marketing action that may do the trick for you, these strategies can provide you with a framework to help you increase company exposure, sales and profit. Marketing your iPhone/Touch app is definitely a process that can take time.

I will let you know that we have not found price reductions to be the best strategy. We initially thought this might be very effective as the App store structure is set up to rank applications by the number of total downloads. Higher total sales and total downloads by price category are not currently recognized with Apple’s system.

Keep in mind for instance that if your app was $5 and you decided to lower it to $0.99, you’d have tell sell five times as many just to break even. Now you might temporarily increase exposure this way, but at the expense of maximizing your profit margins when you are most apt to do well at the beginning of your product life cycle. Customer support issues may increase by a factor of five as well.

That being said, there’s nothing wrong with adjusting your app’s price in the beginning to find its best market price (which might change over time).

There are 24,455 apps and counting, so let’s jump in and get started!

1. The World (iTunes App Store) Is Flat

Consider your potential international market right from the moment of conceptualization. There are people all over the planet eager to use and benefit from quality applications. Initially we intended to include the metric system and local currency in our app, but decided to push it back until version 1.1. We were so eager to start the submission process with Apple and this ended up negatively affected our sales without question. I recommend taking that extra time to make your app useful to the international community, or even a few key markets (China, Russia, Central and South America, Japan, and Germany come to mind).

What does this mean? If currencies are used, auto-detect the user’s local currency under their device’s general settings; and if applicable handle currency conversions. Make your website, instructions, and sales pages easy to understand and use images to support your text. Consider that for many people, English may be their second or third language. Make your software more intuitive by choosing symbols over text wherever possible. Reach out to bloggers for your niche market in Europe and Asia. Include a complimentary promo code in your correspondence. It can’t hurt.

Consider this: we received nearly $1,000 in sales from Italy because of a single online post written in Italian! Now you could go further with this and have your sales page and help instructions translated into major languages like Spanish or Chinese. Prices for quality work vary and you’ll need to get someone fluent in the language to double check their work.

Remember there are 65 different versions of iTunes around the world and counting. Single apps can be developed for use on the iPhone and the iPod Touch. How big is the market for both? Apple does not breakdown sales of individual product lines. A conservative estimate with 4.4 million iPhone sales and 22.7 million iPod sales for last quarter would be about 7 million in three months. That’s an average of 78,000 new devices coming online daily. Incredible and almost scary. It can’t last forever, but wow!

2. Create a Lite or Demo Version

Apple lets developers offer both a free and paid version of the same app, and a free sample is probably the most successful marketing strategy ever. People want to try things. There are plenty of CrApps (crappy apps) out there, so why should people risk money on an app they know nothing about from a company they know even less about? If you can give people a taste that is just enough, they’ll buy the whole meal from you! This way you take away much of the risk.

There are numerous strategies for this, but make sure the lite version sales page is clear in its limitations vs. the paid or full version. If you truncate the app too much, people may think it’s a complete dud and see no value in paying you anything for the premium release. Give people a clear idea of what they’re getting into and this strategy could make you rich. Developer Ethan Nicholas offers motivation to go this route in a recent Wired piece:

When iShoot launched in October, business was slow for a while. And then Nicholas found some spare time to code a free version of the app – iShoot Lite, which he released January. Here’s how that helped: Inside iShoot Lite he advertised the $3, full version of iShoot. Users downloaded the free version 2.4 million times. And that led 320,000 satisfied iShoot Lite players to pay for iShoot.

3. Go Free

Now this is something that can be considered for different reasons. Right now “in app” advertising lacks sophistication. When I say that, I mean we don’t have Google AdSense yet. I’m sure it’s coming, but embedded advertising that does not relate to the content in any manner is really intrusive in my personal opinion. I still read about certain developers making tons of money with embedded app advertising, but it’s hard enough to get people to click on ads if they’re relevant. When they’re not, the click-through rate is pretty low. If your app is something that people use again and again, advertising can still work. We personally did not find it successful as it’s much easier to make about 70 cents off of a 99 cent app than to earn the same amount with ads. You could also add a PayPal donation button as AppCubby did, but this probably won’t work for you unless you have a large pre-existing customer or fan base.

You could also introduce your app for free. Get people using it, talking about it, and receive positive feedback. Then start charging people. Perfectly acceptable with Apple.

Looking at it from a long-term perspective, you might completely give away the first app to get people talking, create a base and build your brand. After all, nothing spreads like free (especially good free). You can use this to gather contact info and feedback from your initial users and turn them into customers for your next app or product. Be sure to include a “share” feature inside your free app (inside all of your apps!). Make sharing as easy as possible.

4. Send Out a Press Release

PRMac, a free (or almost free) press release distribution service, and the MacNN (Macintosh News Network) syndicate (free to submit) are definitely worth the price of submission. Competing services can charge over $600 for distribution within the United States alone, so these are valuable and less costly alternatives. They say the press release is dead, but these offerings directly targeted your potential customers. You never know who you might reach; and it’s vital to provide a press release when soliciting all forms of media.

5. Contact the Top 100 Blogs

Technorati can provide you with the current list. Use a conversational style, get right to the point and include a promo code. Figure out what could sell them on your company. If there’s an interesting angle or story around your app, this could increase your chances. Ask them if you could do a guest post. Who knows? When you have sites like Gizmodo that get 3 million pageviews per day, this can absolutely turbocharge sales!

6. Constantly Improve Your Sales Page

This one is pretty basic, but often overlooked. Look at the sales pages of other top apps. What are they doing? Emulate what works and keep researching to spark ideas. You can display up to five images as of this writing, so use them! Use the images that sell your product best. Ask other people what grabs their attention. Use quotes from reviewers; share benefits first and foremost. Customers are not always logical, so don’t bore them with statistics. How will your application make their lives better?

7. Use Customer Feedback to Build a Better Product

This is two parts. First, timely respond to customer emails and realize that every interaction with customers, whether good or bad, is a marketing opportunity. When you get feedback via email or through your customer reviews, consider and incorporate these improvements. You can’t please everyone all of the time, and you may have limited resources, so you won’t be able to add everything. Some great ideas are bound to come your way. First-time users can also let you see how your software is being used from a beginner’s perspective.

The second way to receive customer feedback is to embed analytics code in your application. Flurry Analytics and Pinch Media both offer tracking software that will provide insight into how customers are interacting with your application, including real-time download information, all for free. This can be especially useful if 90% of your customers are not using a particular feature. Maybe they don’t know it’s even there!

8. Continually Update Your Application

Here’s a great feature of the App Store. New versions move back to the top of what’s new in your category. Incorporating features your customers want, thereby making your product better, coupled with maintaining visibility, can help increase or at least maintain steady sales. Don’t abuse this by changing a few words in your help section and then resubmitting or you could ruin this for everybody. If you are working hard to make your product better, the distribution channel can reward you with increased exposure, because you are renewing.

9. Advertise

Google AdWords and AdMob are possible options. I believe we’re not there yet, but we’re pretty close. AdWords does offer the ability to advertise on mobile devices with a full internet browser, but that doesn’t just include the iPhone and Touch. You’ll get Androids and more depending on which territory you advertise. Right now they haven’t developed conversion tracking for apps either, and without this you can just burn through cash with little results to show for your efforts. You won’t know which keywords are working or aren’t working. There is one way to track sales using this method: become an iTunes affiliate by joining LinkShare. You can create a link to your sales page in the App store and receive a 5% commission on qualifying purchases.

AdMob has app advertising down better than Google so far. You are able to track your conversions and target relevant Apple devices. You can even target those that are either on or off the WiFi network, which is pretty cool. The downside to this is that you are paying at least 10 cents a click to send someone to your App store sales page. No guarantee of sales here and depending on the price of your application, this leaves very little margin to spend on advertising. It can take a hundred clicks just to get an actual sale, so keep that in mind. Also, since AdMob doesn’t target your ads very well, the people clicking are not actually seeking what you’re offering as they would on a Google search.

Here are a few examples of Google AdWords ads below from companies with money to burn; this luxury is not something everyone can afford and it may not be worthwhile anyway.One last consideration: even if you break even from your advertising, you could increase your ranking in the store, and thereby receive more sales from the increased exposure. If you are popular, sales can feed off themselves. iTunes is a distribution channel, but so is Walmart. If you are featured next to the register, you’re gonna get more sales. If you’re at the bottom of the shelf on aisle 34, good luck!

10. Use Social Networks

Facebook Fan pages, online forums, and quality comments on top blogs and news sites can help you get conversations started about your company. Comments are even crawled and tracked by the major search engines. Be part of the discussion and actually share something relevant or this could work against you. You could quickly end up being considered spam (and despised or banished by your fellow netizens). Subtlety here will carry you far. Also create profiles to further your cause.

11. Get Featured in the App Store

This one is tricky obviously because how do you make it a part of your marketing plan? You do not choose, but are chosen. I will say this for what it’s worth. I contacted iTunes about a month ago and asked to be featured Today we are. It never hurts to ask and it can be worth quite a bundle! You never know who you’re going to reach. Someone may say something to someone else. That’s how it happens.

Thus far, we’ve increased our average daily sales almost tenfold. We are currently (2/23/09-3/9/09) featured on the front page of the App Store in iTunes under “New And Noteworthy” and #7 in “What’s New” on the iPhone/Touch.

Every time I contact media, even if nothing comes of it, I’m sharing my company and my product with powerful people (or people in contact with powerful people) and I never know directly or indirectly where this can lead.

Keep plugging away and please share your ideas and experiences with me. I’d love to hear about them. I wish you the greatest success!

John R. Haigh recently collaborated on the interior design book, “What Would You Do With This Room? My 10 Foolproof Commandments to Great Interior Design” by Mark Lewison and written by Sherri Houtz. He also co-developed the iPhone and iPod Touch virtual interior designer app, “Mark On Call”. He shares the latest beneficial and intriguing information from a variety of sectors (i.e. arts & entertainment, business, science and technology to name a few) on his personal “Friends With Strangers” blog.