#id be able to post the set for threshold on threshold day

[gesssekai]

STAR TREK: VOYAGER // S1E3: Parallax

"In command school, they taught us to always remember that maneuvering a starship is a very delicate process, but over the years, I've learned that, sometimes, you just have to punch your way through. Mr. Paris, full impulse power."

[zacharyleigh316]

A Friend to Bee

Suptober Prompt: Day 7 - Black Cat | A Friend to Bee | 2.8K | Teen and Up | Read on Ao3 (or below cut)

Dean befriends a neighborhood cat, and, against all odds, it might just bring luck his way...

“Achoo!”

As if on cue, the second Dean stepped over the threshold to his home, he sneezed, groaning at the way his eyes watered as a result. He quickly hung up his coat on the rack, and tossed his keys in the dish on the stand by the door, before fleeing into the kitchen, only to sneeze again. It was only a matter of time, Dean surmised, before his eyes burned, and he’d need to stubbornly fight the urge to rub them, as was his daily routine as of late—that, and popping allergy pills like candy. Pills of which he was currently out of, and thus doomed to suffer, slowly succumbing to his allergies.

Dean took his phone out and shot his brother a text, before setting out to put some leftover chicken and rice in a bowl. And, summoned by the prospect of food, the source of all of Dean’s current health problems—and well-being—jumped up onto the counter, signaled by another sneeze.

“You’re lucky you’re so friggin cute.” He muttered, putting the bowl down in front of the fur ball that could, quite possibly, be the death of him—if he couldn’t somehow find a way to manage his cat allergy.

It hadn’t been that long since they first encountered each other, Dean and his hairy, four-legged visitor—be it a miraculous act of fate or what have you—but it sure felt like forever, seeing as Dean hadn’t had a moment’s peace since.

Two weeks ago, on Dean’s way back home, he encountered the most unusual pair of blue eyes, that, upon further inspection, belonged to an even more unusually mannered black cat, perched perfectly poised atop the front steps to his home. He recalled how the eyes seemed to glow then, a trick of the lights Dean’s sure, but they drew him in nevertheless. Since then the cat has, beyond any feasible reason Dean could see, stuck around. Enough so that yes, he’s even begun to feed and water the damn thing—despite said allergy.

The little rascal didn’t seem too pressed to leave any time soon, and you could say that he even, perhaps, got used to having it around—not that he’d tell anyone that. He wasn’t sure who exactly owned his new friend, just that it had to be someone in the neighborhood, but sincerely hoped they wouldn’t mind how often he spoiled the guy’s pet.

Dean’s phone buzzed from where he left it on the countertop, and pulled himself from his reverie, reading the reply from his brother. 

<< hey sammy, were you able to pick me up some more of those allergy meds?

>> Yeah, they should be in the bathroom.

And then, a few seconds later, came another.

>> You know, you never told me why you needed them?

<< nunya

>> What?

<< sorry, let me rephrase that

<< nunya business

<< Wow, really mature Dean. I didn’t have to get them for you, but it sounded urgent, so I did.

<< The least you could do is tell me why. Or even how you ran out of the other bottle so quickly.

Dean sighed and looked over to the cat, who was now pinning him with its starling azure gaze, apparently finding him more interesting than finishing off the bowl of food.

“I dunno, what do you think? Should I tell Sam?” He asked, not really understanding why he thought the cat would answer, but directing the question toward it anyway.

Predictably, it just sat there and blinked at him.

Dean sighed again, deciding to just bite the bullet and tell his brother.

<< I maybe sorta got a cat?

>> You WHAT?!

>> Dean, you’re allergic to cats

<< uh yeah, Sammy, that’s why I needed the allergy meds duh

Dean let out a groan and pressed his forehead to the cool countertop, as his phone began to ring, Sam’s caller ID posted across the screen. He let it ring a few times before picking up.

“Heya brother-o-mine, shouldn’t you be working?”

“I’m on lunch break right now actually, Dean,” Sam whispered harshly into the receiver, straight to business as always, “what’s this about you getting a cat?”

“Well, it’s not technically mine. It just showed up one day, and won’t leave.”

“And you didn’t think to call authorities?”

“Authorities?” Dean snorted. “What am I going to do, Sam, get it arrested?” 

Dean could hear the eye roll through the phone. “I mean animal control, Dean. Or maybe even a vet?”

“Course I thought about doing that…”

“You can’t just steal a cat, it could belong to somebody. It could have a microchip or something. Maybe its owner is looking for it.” Sam sighed, and now it was Dean’s turn to roll his eyes.

“Dude, I’m not stupid, okay? ‘Sides, I didn’t steal it. It just showed up, and never left. I mean, the little guy comes and goes, but it always comes back and ends up staying for a few hours, before disappearing again.” He shrugged, despite his brother being unable to see it.

As if knowing it was being talked about, it padded over to Dean, and head butted the palm of his hand. Dean smiled, and ran his hand down the creature’s back, before letting out another sneeze.

“Ugh.”

“Yeah, sounds like a real healthy arrangement you’ve got there, Dean. Why do you even let it inside?” 

“That’s the strange thing, Sammy. I didn’t. It showed up on my doorstep, but I just let it be, and went inside. Don’t ask me how, but the damn thing is smart or something, and lets itself in. And out.”

“Uh-huh…” Sam trailed off, sounding skeptical.

Dean wouldn’t believe it either if he hadn’t witnessed it time and time again.

“I’m serious. I know it sounds crazy, but the cat is a friggin weirdo. I’ve tried to keep it out, but it always finds a way. Hence why now I just…let it do its thing.”

“Okay, well, even if what you’re saying is true, Dean, this isn’t sustainable. You need to find its owner, and tell them about their cat.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Now I’m serious, Dean. You can’t just keep going through allergy meds just because the cat likes to loiter.”

“Sure thing, whatever you say, mom. Don’t get your panties all in a twist, Samantha. I’ll take care of it.”

“I mean it, Dean.”

“And I promise, I’ll take care of it. Now get back to work, slacker. Don’t spend all of your lunch break talking to your big brother.” 

“Alright. Talk to you later. Love you, jerk.”

“You too. Love you, bitch.”

They hung up, and Dean put his phone back down onto the counter, turning his attention back toward the adorable, furry interloper, who was still staring unblinkingly at him.

“That was my baby brother, Sammy. He’s this big shot lawyer, and, don’t tell him this, but I’m a pretty proud big brother.” 

The cat meowed and tilted its head to the side, earning an amused chuckle from Dean.

“Can’t have his head grow bigger than it already is, y’know? Don’t know what’s in the water these days, but the kid’s huge, and I mean humongous.” He joked, shaking his head fondly.

“Anyway, Sam’s right. Not that I don’t enjoy the company, but you should probably get back to your owner, yeah? Got one of those, don’t you?”

Again the cat meowed, but Dean was, unfortunately, sorely lacking in the knowledge department for ‘how to translate cat language’. He watched as it went back to finish the food he’d set out, and chuckled, albeit a bit bitterly. 

“Yeah, I’d be bored of me too.” 

Letting the cat go about its business Dean pulled away from the kitchen island and sauntered into the bathroom. He figured that, in the meantime—or at least until he located the cat’s owner—it’d be wise to take some meds while it was here. Dean was rather fond of breathing, thank you very much. And the, however temporary, relief of itchiness was an additional perk. 

It was some time later that afternoon, Dean sat on the couch with the fur ball curled in his lap, when his phone buzzed with a text message. He leaned over to put his half finished beer down on the coffee table, and exchanged it for the phone, reading the text from Sam.

>> Have you tried following the cat when it leaves? Maybe you can do that.

Dean hummed thoughtfully, and looked down at the cat. He hadn’t tried that, no, but it wasn’t a bad idea actually. He’d have to try that next, though, if anybody in the neighborhood caught him following some dude’s cat to said dude’s house, he didn’t want to know what they would think of him. He’d rather sooner admit to being an avid fan of chick flicks than deal with the repercussions of being labeled a friggin creepy weirdo.

“What do you say to me taking you home this time?” He asked, raising a brow at the little shit still snoozing in his lap, who had the audacity to peel open one of its eyes, before opening the other and leveling Dean with a look that was oddly reminiscent of one of Sam’s bitch faces. 

Dean opened his mouth, a smart ass remark on the tip of his tongue, when the cat leaped off his lap and quietly padded over to the door, in lieu of responding, or well, as it’s response since it was an animal, and it couldn’t actually talk back—unless you counted the, albeit perfectly timed, meows it gave Dean sometimes.

With a groan, as his thirty-something almost forty-something body protested, he hefted himself off the couch and, against his better judgment, he followed the damn thing out his front door.

Thankfully his four legged guide was waiting for him, and even stopped every so often on the way to wherever the fuck, looking back to check if Dean was still behind, following. He couldn’t believe he was actually doing this, and that it was actually working. It certainly didn’t ease his anxiety, especially since he was completely in the dark as to where he was even being lead—to his death maybe—but of all panned out, maybe he’d bake his brother a pie or some shit. He’d see how he felt about it later.

Though Dean didn’t have to wait long to find out what his imminent death looked like, because after a ten minute or so walk down the street, the cat made its way up some steps to a rather unassuming house, much like his own—and everyone else’s in the neighborhood. This one was painted a pretty blue, nothing like the eyes of his new friend, but a softer, grayer shade.

On the door, as Dean approached, hung a gorgeous, decorative autumn wreath, with the words “Blessed Bee”—no that was not a typo, and to which Dean assumed was a pun referring to the little plastic bees dispersed within. Though, with an additional quick, cursory glance towards the house, the owner’s aesthetic was growing increasingly apparent, if not for the garden beds of flowers attached to each window sill, and the immaculately groomed bushes (hah) lining the front. 

Even the grass was a lively color, a rich, vibrant green, and neatly trimmed to boot. Dean couldn’t help the whispered, “Damn,” that slipped out in awe. This guy had some serious gardening chops, that Dean couldn’t help but be a little envious of. The only plant he could remember growing was a little succulent he nicked from the local supermarket for him and Sam when they were little, and he couldn’t tell you what became of it. 

The cat meowed, once again with the intention of pulling Dean from his reverie, and he, with a final resolve, reached up and knocked on the door. Though, nothing could have ever prepared him for what happened next.

The front door swung open, revealing possibly the hottest guy Dean has ever seen, looking all soft and—albeit artfully—rumpled, in a sweater and jeans, and holy fuck this dude’s eyes. If he thought the cat’s eye were an unusual shade of blue, they were nothing compared to this man’s, and if Dean didn’t say anything and just stood there frozen, gaping like a fish, being spotted and labeled as a creepy weirdo were the least of his worries.

“Uh…” he said, rather intelligently.

The man didn’t seem to mind, however, and just smiled, reaching down to pick up his cat, who was winding between his legs.

“You must be Bee’s new friend.”

Dean blinked, taking a moment to realize that, son of a bitch, the hot dude just spoke to him, and then another to realize that that is what he sounded like. Deep and gravelly, and god friggin’ dammit Dean was fucked. Truly and utterly fucked.

“Um…what?” 

Wow, nice going Dean, he mentally scolded himself.

As far as first impressions went, this was probably as worst as it could get. He’d spoken a total of three words to this strange (sexy) man, and they only seemed to feed the narrative of what a fool he was. He could flirt with women with the ease of driving his baby, no problem. But put a pretty guy, let alone a pretty guy with gorgeous blue eyes, in front of him and he was rendered speechless, dumber than a sack of potatoes, and probably as useful as one too. He was not good at this.

The man chuckled, and gestured to the cat in his arms, before giving who Dean knew now as Bee chin scritches. 

“My cat. She’s been telling me all about you.” 

“Oh, uh, all good things I hope?”

The man smiled again, and Dean felt his knees grow weak, like they could buckle at any moment, and he’d just melt into a puddle on this guy’s front steps.

“Hm, yes, I must thank you for taking good care of her. She likes it there very much.”

“Haha well, I’m glad? But, uh, about that…” Dean swallowed against the lump in his throat, and reached up to rub the back of his neck. 

“I’m actually allergic to cats.” 

“Oh.” 

Dean inwardly cursed as the man frowned, and furrowed his brows in concern. He looked down at Bee then, and gave her a disapproving stare.

“You didn’t tell me that.” He shook his head, and put her down, ushering her into the house. “Go on, shoo. We’ll discuss this later.”

They both watched her disappear around the corner, before the man turned back to Dean, now looking apologetic.

“My apologies, I didn’t realize you were allergic. Had I known, I wouldn’t have encouraged Bee to visit so often.”

“Don’t worry about it man, I just, uh, thought you should know, I guess? But really, ‘s’no big deal. I actually enjoyed the company.”

The guy smiled softly, and hummed. “That’s good then. I’m glad. She enjoyed the company too.”

“I’m Dean, by the way.”

“Castiel.” 

Dean nodded, feeling his cheeks heat the longer they stood there, just staring at one other. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and cursed himself again for his eternal awkwardness. 

“R-right, well…” he trailed off, not wanting to say goodbye just yet.

“Maybe next time you could come over too? If you, um, if you want. Bee knows where it is.”

Castiel beamed, and damn, if that wasn’t easily on Dean’s ever increasing list of favorite things about him.

“I’d like that very much, Dean.”

“Yeah? Awesome.” Dean grinned back, and then even wider when Castiel ducked his head bashfully.

Dean liked him so much already, it was wild. Even more wild that a black cat was beginning to be the luckiest thing that ever happened to him.

“See ya later, Cas?”

“Yes. And I’ll try to whip up something to help those allergies, if you’d like?”

“I have no idea what that means, but sure why not?” He shrugged with an easy smile, and started to back away, his eyes never leaving Cas’.

“Don’t worry, it’s not of import.” Cas dismissed with a wave of his hand. 

“Until we meet again, Dean.”

“Bye Cas.”

They waved their goodbyes, and Dean finally turned around to make his way back, but only after he may—or may not—have stumbled, earning another, rather amused, chuckle from Cas from behind him.

Dean laughed awkwardly, brushing off his totally-not-a-stumble, you know, as a man does, and raised his hand in one more final parting gesture, before hurrying off back home to bake that pie.

[aliendes]

BTS reacts to saying something hurtful and then regretting it PT.2

Anon: Hi Angel🥺 i adore your writing and i was wondering if you were going to make a part 2 to the BTS reacts to saying something hurtful I looooove part 1🥺

Anon: Absolutely loved the most recent reaction !! DEFINITELY NEED A PART TWO

Anon: Could YOU PLEASEEEEE DO a part two for the bts reaction where they something hurtful😭😭😭 but fluffy ending if possible, I LITERALLY LOVE YOUR WRITING

Anon: Hi dude, I was wondering if you would do a pt.2 to BTS reacts to saying something hurtful and then regretting it, pls do it if you're still thinking bout it!

A/N: ok damn I didn't think you’d want a second part this badly lol but here it is! * I’m sorry this is so shit, this was supposed to be posted earlier today, but I worked from home today because someone at my work was diagnosed with COVID yesterday, which is scary. But then I’ve had a migraine all day, and fell asleep for SIX hours!? That never happens. So sorry it’s so late, not that you guys know that, but still and sorry it’s shit. 

Warnings: angsssssst, fluff, mentions of sex, but no sex, cursing, mentions of cheating in the past, mentions of blood and stiches, a lot of these deal with another member being YN’s best friend, sorry it made things easier D: *unedited as per usual

Word count: 6.7k ~

In your rush to leave the apartment, you hadn’t realized you left your phone plugged in on your nightstand. Now it’s been over an hour you’ve been walking around the streets of Seoul, no way to call your sister, who would likely come pick you up. It’s not like it mattered, you didn’t really want to talk to anyone anyways. You just wanted to walk. It was your coping mechanism for a lot of things; anger, fear, sadness, anxiety. You were feeling a mixture of all of those things, and walking was a relief to you right now.

You continued walking for a little while longer, not realizing that your feet had taken you to your best friend’s apartment building. Letting out a heavy sigh, you figure you might as well crash here, you know Yoongi won't mind. 

Entering the fancy looking building, you pass the guard sitting near the front entrance, showing him your ID, which you thankfully had with you. You knew you were always on the list of approved visitors, and he was shortly letting you up the elevator. 

When you reached your best friend’s door, you held your hand up to knock, but before your fist could make contact with the wood, it was being swung open.

“YN! Oh my God!” 

Your eyes widened in shock as you took a step backwards, not expecting to see him here. “Jin?”

Your tall boyfriend steps over the threshold of Yoongi’s apartment, lifting his arms to hug you, but thinks better of it and drops them to his side. You can see dried tear tracks on his face, red rimmed eyes, and a purple bitten lower lip, all signs that he’s been crying, hard. 

“YN, I’m so sorry,” he sobs, letting fresh tears roll down his cheeks, “I-I was so worried, y-you-”

His mumbling is cut off by a firm hand on his shoulder, making his eyes fall shut as he lets the sobs rack his chest. “Come on, man,” Yoongi says stiffly behind him, “go wash yourself up.” Nodding his head, Jin turns around with one last sad glance in your direction, and disappears down the dimly lit hallway.

Yoongi watches him for a moment before turning to you, gesturing into his apartment with a nod of his head. You hesitate for a moment, briefly wondering if you should just leave, but decide your feet hurt and it’s too chilly to start walking again. Reluctantly, you follow your best friend into his living room and plop down on the couch. Following you shortly after, Yoongi falls next to you, an arm wrapping around your shoulders. 

“He told me what happened,” he says flatly, looking at you in the eyes, “he feels like shit.”

“Good,” was all you could say in response, crossing your arms over your chest. You were done being sad, now you were angry. 

Yoongi sighs next to you, “YN, I know you’re upset. You have every right to be, trust me. But you love him, and he loves you. Right?”

You want to refute him, but he’s right. You both love each other more than anything, you know that. Nodding your head, your bottom lip juts out slightly and starts to wobble. Yoongi squeezes your shoulders at the sight, “I think the two of you should talk it out, hmm?” You nod again, not trusting your voice. “You guys can crash in the spare room, I’ll head out to the studio.”

“You don’t-”

“YN, it wasn’t an offer, it was a statement.”

Knowing how stubborn your best friend was, you shut up and nodded your head again, letting him stand up and grab his jacket. 

“You know I love you both,” Yoongi said, hand on the doorknob, “but I will be upset if you fuck on my furniture.”

You scoff, head twisting back to glare at him, but he was already gone. Shaking your head, you let it fall back onto the plush sofa as you wait for your boyfriend to emerge from wherever he was. 

It felt like hours later when you opened your sleepy eyes, realizing you’d fallen asleep on Yoongi’s living room couch. Blinking a few times, you turn, only to realize you’re laying sideways, and you’re in a warm embrace. 

“Jin?” you mumble, sleepily, as you look behind you at your boyfriend’s sullen expression. 

Closing his eyes and sighing through his nose, he lays his forehead against your shoulder. “I’m sorry, YN,” he whispers, voice cracking slightly, “I’m so sorry. You know I love you, right?”

Turning around in his loose grasp, you hear the squeak of the couch underneath you. Pressing one hand against Jin’s firm chest, you bring the other up to cup his wet cheek. 

“Yes, Jin,” you mumble, making him open his eyes to stare into your own, “I do.”

“I don’t deserve you,” he cries softly, “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” you mumble, leaning forward to press a kiss on his nose, “I know you didn’t mean it. I’m sorry for running away.”

He shakes his head, pressing his plush lips to your forehead, “No, don’t apologize. I was just so fucking worried when I got to Yoongi’s and you weren’t here. I thought - I thought something happened to you, you always come here when you’re upset.”

You bit at the inside of your cheek, contemplating his words for a moment. “Yeah, I guess I just got lost in my thoughts,” you chuckle darkly, “but I’m okay, and I love you.”

Another tear rolls down Seokjin’s nose, “I’m so glad I have you in my life, YN. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I lost you.” He sniffles, making you reach up and wipe at his tears. 

“Then we’re lucky you’ll never have to find out.”

Jungkook and Yoongi are both jogging down the streets near the company building, trying to find where you went. Yoongi was about to have a full blown panic attack when he realized you had completely fled the building with no phone or bag. He was beside himself with grief, his mind turning to the worst case scenarios immediately. 

After not finding you in the immediate vicinity of the building, he and Jungkook split up, Jungkook going to look at your best friend’s house, and Yoongi going to check your apartment. He brought your bag with him, which included your keys. He knew you wouldn’t be able to get into your home without them, and felt terrible that you might be wandering around the city, alone with no way to contact anyone. 

Your bag and jacket in hand, Yoongi took the elevator up to your floor, hoping beyond all hope that he would find you somewhere around here. As he stepped off the elevator, his ears immediately perked up at the sound of light sniffles. Rushing out of the elevator doors, Yoongi stops dead in his tracks at the sight of you, sitting on the floor, back leaned against your apartment door, hugging your knees to your chest. Your forehead is resting on the tops of your bent knees, so you haven’t noticed him yet. He can tell you’re crying by the uneven breaths you take. His heart breaks, completely crumbles in his chest at the site of you attempting to curl in on yourself. 

He instantly rushed forward, dropping your bag and jacket onto the ground next to you, and fell to his knees in front of you. His hands reach out and as he places both of his hands on your shoulders, your head jerks up, startling at the sight of your crying boyfriend.

“Y-Yoongi?” your eyes are so swollen and your vision is so blurry, you think for a moment you might be seeing things.

“Yes, baby,” he whispers, “I’m here, I’m right here.” He watches as realization slowly takes hold of you, your face falling and twisting into a pained expression, almost like you’re disgusted he’s in front of you. 

You sniffle loudly, turning your head away from him, not wanting him to see what a mess he’s made of you. “Please go away,” you murmur into the empty hallway. You don’t see it, but Yoongi’s face falls even more as he realizes you really don’t want him near you. You never shy away from his physical affection, even when you’re upset with him. 

“YN, please,” he begs, hands sliding down your shoulders and your arms, eventually reaching your hands as he gently takes them in his, “let me take you inside, at least.”

Without looking at him, you nod, letting him help you stand with the grip he has on your hands. He lets go of one of your hands and bends over to grab your bag and jacket before getting your keys out and opening your door. You let him lead you inside and into your kitchen, you let him sit you down at your kitchen table, and you let him make you a cup of tea. You don’t take your eyes off a water ring stained to your wooden dining table the entire time, and it isn’t missed by Yoongi. 

“I didn’t mean it,” Yoongi whispers as he sits down across from you, setting your favorite RJ mug on the table, “If you want me to leave, I’ll leave, but I need you to know that I didn’t mean what I said.” You slowly looked up at him, eyes still devoid of emotion. He winced at the fact that he did this to you. “YN, you have every right to hate me, to kick me out, to slap me if you want,” he takes a deep breath, “but you are not crazy. You are not like your mother. You are beautiful, funny, smart, and the most caring woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Being with you has made me a better person, and there is no one in the entire world more deserving than you of love. I’m an asshole, and I used your insecurities against you for a stupid fucking reason. I regret it more than anything, YN.” He was crying by the end of his speech, looking down at his hands folded in his lap. The left side of his lips were doing that twitchy thing they did when he was upset, and you instantly felt the need to embrace him.

Standing up slowly, you move towards your sulking boyfriend, and put your hand on his shoulder. He looks up at you, bewildered that you are even touching him. “I don’t forgive you,” you start, making Yoongi’s hope dissipate, “yet. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love you. What you did was fucked up, Yoongs.” You whisper the last part, eyes starting to well up again.

Yoongi pulls you down onto his lap, swinging your legs over his lap and hugging onto your middle tightly. “I know. Trust me, I know. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I promise you I will work every day to gain your trust back.” You lean your head on his shoulder, nodding your head. You weren’t about to forgive him after what he did, but you weren’t about to lose what the two of you had either.

“I love you,” he sniffles, kissing your forehead, “and I’m sorry.”

You didn’t get far before your feet started killing you in your work heels. You made it a couple blocks away before you couldn’t walk any further, and sat down on a park bench. To make matters worse, it had started sprinkling as you sat there. You didn’t have your phone, or a will to get up, so you sat there and sulked in the rain. You figured you would eventually get up and head back to your apartment and fall asleep, but for now you just needed to think. 

Tears slowly rolled down your cheeks as you contemplated your relationship with Hoseok. He is usually so bright and bubbly, seeing him so angry scares you. On top of that, he called you dumb. You knew he would never harm you physically, but then again, you thought you knew he would never harm you emotionally either, yet he did exactly that today.

You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t hear the light footsteps nearing your bench over the light drizzle of rain. Nor did you feel the presence of someone sitting next to you, just as drenched as you were. 

Suddenly, you feel a warmth on your knee, making you startle violently, wiping at your face with your already wet long sleeve. It was no use, you were just making yourself more wet. You jumped so hard you caused the owner of the hand to pull away instantly.

“Hoseok?” you ask, blinking through tears, lips trembling due to the cold and your emotions. Looking up at him, you see he’s in no better condition. Eyes swollen and leaking, lip red and bitten, a habit of his when he’s anxious. He has the hand suspended in midair that was previously on your knee, and he looked almost like he was afraid to touch you.

“Baby,” he mutters, though you can barely hear him as the rain starts to pick up, “please come home, you’re going to get sick. I can stay at Jin’s place tonight if that makes you more comfortable.” He sounded completely broken to say those words, like if he spoke them it made it true that he made you uncomfortable. 

At the thought, you furrow your brows. Did you feel uncomfortable with Hoseok? You didn’t think so. Disappointed? Sure. But not uncomfortable.

You shake your head lightly, reaching out to grab his hand in yours. He almost flinches away from your touch, so startled that you would initiate contact right now, but he composes himself and allows you to rest your hands in your lap.

“I’m not uncomfortable,” you mutter, gnawing on your bottom lip, “I know you wouldn’t hurt me like that.”

Hoseok looks even more distraught at your words. “But that’s the thing, I’m a fucking idiot. I shouldn’t have hurt you in any way, not just physically. It’s clear that I hurt you with my words, and I’m such a dipshit for doing so. I made a promise never to hurt you, and I broke that promise.”

He was right, he had promised that. Years ago when you first started dating, you had major trust issues because of your cheating ex. Hoseok had taken things slow with you and made sure that you trusted him fully before taking your relationship any further. You were thankful for him, thankful for how caring he was. 

Tears were leaking from your eyes again, mixing with the rain water falling onto your face. “Let me take you home, please, YN?” He sounded so desperate, so small, like if you told him no it would break him.

Staring him in the eye, you nod your head. He lets out a relieved sigh as he stand ups, pulling you with him. 

Once the two of you make it home, Hoseok leads you into the bathroom, both of you cold and shivering. Sitting you down on the side of the tub, he reaches over and turns the knob to turn on the hot water and then pours your honey bubble bath into the stream of water. The smell instantly relaxes you and you let your eyes slip closed as you sigh lightly. Before you could open your eyes, you hear the door to the bathroom opening again.

“Wait,” you rush out, snapping your eyes to Hoseok’s retreating frame. He stops, turning around to face you, lips blue from the cold. “Please,” you beg quietly, “stay.”

Hoseok looks conflicted. He looks like he wants to stay, so badly, but he also looks like he might make a run for it at any moment. “A-are you sure, YN? I can go to Jin’s for tonight, give you some space.”

“Do you love me?” The question surprises you as much as it surprises Hoseok. It slipped from your lips without your permission, giving away how you truly felt because of his words earlier. 

“More than anything,” he answers instantly, dropping his hold on the door knob, “do you think I don’t?”

Hoseok takes a few steps towards your still shivering frame and reaches out to wipe tears from your cheekbones that you hadn’t even noticed were falling. “YN, I am so sorry if I ever made you feel like I don’t love you. I was angry earlier. I had a shit day and that is no excuse for the things I said to you, okay? Don’t let me make excuses for myself. But do not ever think that I don’t love you because of what I said.” His words were soft, yet firm. You could tell he meant everything he said. Sniffling, you nod your head in affirmation. When he stands straight again and goes to walk away, you grab his wrist quickly.

“P-please Hobi,” you whimper, “don’t leave me.”

“Oh Angel,” he says, sitting on the bathroom floor in front of you, “I would never leave you. I just thought you’d want some time to think.” He spoke so softly you could barely hear him over the running of the bathtub behind you.

You shake your head quickly, “I don’t want time to think. I want to talk about it, work it out. Together.”

He smiles sadly down at you, wrapping his arms around your shoulders. “I don’t deserve you, you know?”

You return the gesture, wrapping your arms around his tiny waist. “I know,” you whisper into his chest, “take a bath with me?”

“Of course, love.”

It’s been two weeks since you’ve been back to your apartment. Since the incident at work, you’ve been consistently working from home, so you’ve been staying with your sister since you and Namjoon got into the fight.

He’s tried to contact you multiple times, sent you countless texts, and even tried to show up to your sister’s apartment about a week ago. You’ve completely ignored him, other than the one text you sent telling him you were safe and not to worry. You had packed all your essentials so you haven’t needed to go home yet, though you figure you will soon.

You were working on your laptop when you heard your phone buzz on the table next to you.

From: Jimin [2:37 pm]: hey YN

From: Jimin [2:37 pm]: can you come over?

You [2:39 pm]: to the dorms?

From: Jimin [2:41 pm]: yeah, we need to talk to you

You set your phone face down on the table. You felt like they were tricking you into seeing Namjoon. You just weren’t ready to face him yet. You knew you would eventually, you still love him with all your heart, but you really just needed time.

*Bzz*

From: Jimin [2:48 pm]: he won’t be here, I promise

From: Jimin [2:49 pm]: please

You sigh after reading his last message. You loved the boys, you truly did. You knew that they wanted to talk about Joon, but still, it was hard for you to say no to them. Especially Jimin, which is probably why they had him text you. 

You [2:55 pm]: ok I’ll be there at 5

From: Jimin [2:56 pm]: thank you!!

When you arrived at the dorms, the door was unlocked. Knowing they were expecting you, you let yourself in, slipping your sneakers off at the door and making your way towards the sound of voices in the kitchen.

When you walked into the dining area, the three men sitting at the table all turned to look at you. You were met with Jin, Jungkook, Yoongi, and Jimin.

“Uh,” you started dumbly, “what’s up guys?” You held onto the strap of your bag a little tighter, unsure of what was to come.

“Hey YN,” Jin said, getting up and walking towards you, pulling you into a tight hug, “we’ve missed you.”

You had to bite your lip to start tears from springing to your eyes. Jin was the most sincere person you’ve ever met, and you knew he meant it when he said it. It hurt you worse than you thought it would, seeing them. You missed them, too. Though you missed Joon more.

“Come sit down,” Jimin said softly from the table, “we’ll be quick. Promise.”

“Is Joon here?” Your voice cracked slightly, making Yoongi raise an eyebrow as you sat down across from him.

“He’s with Hobi-hyung and Tae-hyung in the studio,” Jungkook says from next to Yoongi. 

You nod your head and set your back at your feet, folding your hands in your lap. Jin takes a seat next to you, with Jimin at the head of the table. “What did you want to talk about?” 

All four men shared a look before Yoongi spoke up, “Namjoon isn’t doing okay, YN.”

Your head snapped up at this, worry filling your eyes. Jungkook was quick to speak up, “He’s not hurt, YN. Don’t worry. We’re just really worried about him.” He was gnawing on his lip and it made you nervous.

“He hasn’t been eating properly,” Jin whispers from next to you, “or sleeping.”

“He’s been staying at the studio sometimes all night,” Jimin says, “and he’s been staying here.”

This shocked you more than anything else they’ve told you. The reason you and Joon got an apartment is because he wanted his own space. He loved his members, but he liked time to be alone. He hasn’t lived with them in years. 

“He says the apartment smells like you,” Yoongi says, dark eyes staring into yours, “YN, he’s hurting. Bad. What he did was fucked up, but don’t you think he deserves a chance to make it right?”

“Yoongi,” Jin cautions from next to you.

“No, Jin-hyung,” Yoongi cuts in, “I know he hurt you, YN, but he regrets it so much. I’ve never, in all my years knowing him, seen him this affected by something. I’m begging you, please talk to him.”

You worry your bottom lip between your teeth, tears threatening to fall. Jimin gets up and walks around the table to you and wraps an arm around your shoulders as you look at the other three men in front of you. Nodding, you let a single tear fall into your lap. “Okay.”

You decided to wait in Namjoon’s dorm room for him to get home, while Yoongi made up an excuse for why they needed them. When you heard the front door open and the baritone of Taehyung’s voice carry throughout the house, you braced yourself to see Namjoon for the first time in weeks. 

The minute he walked through the door and saw you, tears were rolling down your face. Neither of you said a word as you ran to each other and crashed into the other’s arms. You didn’t realize how much you missed the sobbing man in your arms until you were both on the floor in a heap of bodies, crying into the other’s shoulder. 

“YN,” he sobbed, “ar-are you actually here?” The sound of disbelief in his voice broke your heart. You could feel he’s lost a bit of weight, and he looked absolutely exhausted when he walked through the door, but the brokenness in his voice is what hurt the most. 

“Oh Joon,” you pulled back from him to look into his tired eyes, “of course I’m here. I never left, not like that.”

He was biting at his lips, tears falling down his face and onto your laps as he nodded. “YN, I’m so sorry,” he says, bringing his hands from around your back and holding both of yours in his own, “I can’t believe I said such mean things to you, and over something so stupid.”

You gently shush him as you rub your thumb against the top of his hand. “It’s okay Joon,” you soothe, “we were both being stupid. You were right, I shouldn’t nag you just because I’m home more often now.”

“Please don’t apologize, baby,” he whispers, “I promise to do better and to make you happy.”

“Me too, Joon, me too.” You stare into each other’s eyes, a silent promise, before your lips are crashing onto his in a passionate kiss. 

It didn’t take long for Hoseok to find you sitting in your car in the parking lot. You locked yourself in there when you decided you were in no shape to drive, crying into your steering wheel at the events that just took place.

Hoseok had coaxed you out of the car after a few minutes and now the two of you were sitting in his recording studio, while he told you about how Jimin had been lectured by their dance teacher, one of the things that gets his self esteem at its lowest points. After the lecture, the members were practicing one of their old choreos that they would be performing at an awards show, only to have Jimin fall multiple times while doing some of the more difficult moves. He was feeling like he wasn’t as good as he used to be, and it had him feeling insecure. Right before you walked into the practice room, him and Hoseok were trying to smooth some kinks out in the routine and he was too frustrated to get them right.

You knew Jimin well, and you knew he was probably feeling terrible about himself, and now probably even worse because of what just happened with you. 

“I’m sorry Hobi,” you said, sniffling softly, “I should have listened to you.”

“No, bub,” he says reaching over and grabbing your hands, “you just wanted to make sure he was okay. None of this is your fault, okay?” You nod your head and let Hoseok’s words sooth you. You’ve been best friends since high school, he always knew how to calm you down. “I’ll go make sure Jimin is calm and I’ll have him come in here. You can have some privacy. You’re both pretty sensitive right now.”

You nod again, not trusting yourself to not cry if you spoke. Hoseok takes one last look at you before standing up and going to find Jimin.

You sit on the comfortable leather couch, collecting your thoughts, for what feels like forever, until you hear the code being input on Hoseok’s door. A moment later, you see the soft pink hair of your boyfriend poke around the corner. When he turns to look at you, he’s wearing an almost unreadable expression. You can tell he’s been crying, his eyes are a little red and his cheeks are a bit puffy, but otherwise he looks calm.

“Can I sit with you?” he asks in a small voice.

You nod your head, mirroring his unsure expression. “Of course, Jimin,” you whisper, scooting over slightly to make more room on the couch.

You both sit there staring at the other for a moment, before Jimin speaks, “Can I -”, he starts, before cutting himself off, snapping his lips shut as you raise your eyebrows. He takes a moment to configure his thoughts before he tries again. “I’m sorry, YN,” he mutters, hurt clear in his voice, “can I please touch you?”

Your heart broke at the fact that he felt the need to ask you. His hands were folded politely in his lap, making no effort to reach for you, like you didn’t want him close. Without saying anything, you stand up from your spot on the couch, and plop back down on his lap, shocking him, his hands flying to grasp your waist to steady you. You wrap your arms around his neck in response, placing a soft kiss on his head. He instantly relaxes into you, his hands kneading your sides, head resting on your shoulder as he lets out a deep sigh. You stay like that for a moment until you hear light sniffles and you realize your boyfriend is crying.

Scooting down a bit, you bring your hand around and cup his cheek, “Jimin-ie,” you whisper. 

When he looks up at you he looks so defeated and you decide then and there that you hate that look. If it were up to you, he’d never feel this way ever again. “You’re perfect to me, Jimin,” you whisper, making him scoff, trying to turn his head away from you. You don’t let him, though. “I’m serious. You may not think so, but you are so talented, sweet, and funny. You’re the kindest person I’ve ever known and I’m so lucky that you love me.”

He scoffs again, “How can you say that after what I just said to you?”

“Because I love you,” you say simply without hesitation. “I know that you were feeling insecure and anxious. I understand that you need love and acceptance when you feel like that.”

Jimin’s eyes soften at your words, another tear rolling down his cheek. “What did I do to deserve you?”

You chuckle lightly, rubbing your thumb against his cheek, “You were so perfectly you, I couldn’t help but fall in love.”

“I love you, YN,” he sobs into your shoulder, “and I’m so sorry.”

“I know, Jimin-ie,” you stroke his hair, “let’s go home, yeah?” He nods into your shoulder as you place a kiss to his forehead. 

Taehyung has posted himself up outside the bathroom door, waiting for you to come out. He wasn’t going to let this fight last. He wasn’t going to let you think he thought you were anything less than perfect. He couldn’t lose you because of his stupid and reckless mouth.

It’s been an hour since you locked yourself in there. He could hear you run yourself a bath, sit in there for a while, and then heard the tub draining. He hoped you’d be coming out soon, so he leaned his back against the door, resigning himself to sitting there all night if he had to. 

Another 10 minutes go by before you slowly open the door, making Taehyung fall backwards as he reaches out to right himself. You gasp in shock, not realizing he was right there. When he falls through the doorway, you get down on your knees, towel wrapped tightly around your body as you make sure he’s okay. “Tae! Are you okay?” 

Taehyung sighs as he lays flat on his back in the doorway of the bathroom. “Why are you asking me that? I should be the one asking you.” 

Your face falls again at the reminder that he thought you were too caring, too happy, too positive. You spent the entirety of your bath talking yourself into not being so upbeat and chipper around him. To not be so caring and to back off him a little bit. That’s what he wanted, right? He could see the gears turning in your head, so he sits up, leaning back on the palms of his hands. 

“YN, I love you,” he says softly, making you look at him with furrowed eyebrows.

“I know, Tae,” you say flatly. You didn’t think just because of a silly argument that he didn’t love you. You weren’t that insecure. You just truly didn’t want him to feel suffocated, and obviously that’s how he’s been feeling if he felt the need to blow up like that.

“No, YN. You’re too understanding,” he mentally slaps himself, “no, no. That’s not what I meant. Fuck.”

“I get it Tae, I’m suffocating you. I’m sorry, I will try to back off a little bit. I can do better.” You sit back on the heels of your feet and lean against the door frame, staring into his dark orbs. 

“Oh, princess,” he whispers, sitting up straighter and reaching a hand out to rest on your thigh, “no you aren’t suffocating me. Not at all. I’m so sorry that I’ve made you feel that way.” The look on his face is so sullen, so remorseful that you can feel just how sorry he is from looking into his eyes. “You are the sunshine that lights up my day, the only person who really gets me. You are the sweetest, kindest, most caring human being on the face of this planet, and I’ve never met someone as empathetic as you are. You are literally perfect, and I am so fucking sorry,” his voice cracks a bit as a tear rolls down your cheek at his words, “that I made you think you weren’t. I’m the shittiest partner ever for doing so, and I will spend the rest of my life making you feel wanted and as special as you deserve to feel.”

You’re full blown crying now when you lunge yourself at him, locking your arms around his neck. Sobbing into his shoulder, you nod your head against him. “I love you Tae,” you whimper, “it’s just a silly fight, right?”

He chuckles softly, wrapping his arms around you bare back, still slightly sticky from your bath, “No it’s more than that.” He feels you stiffen in his hold, so he starts to soothingly rub his large hand up and down your spine, “This is me realizing how fucking perfect I have it and making sure I never do anything to fuck this up. Never do anything to dim your light, because you are the brightest star in my eyes.”

You pull back to slap a hand lightly against his chest, smiling down at him still sitting on the floor. “Stop being so cheesy,” you mumble. He smiles at you before abruptly standing and picking you up bridal style, making you squeal. “Tae!”

“Mmm,” he moans into your ear as he tosses you on the bed and climbs on top of you, “let me show you what I mean, hmm?”

Jungkook didn’t waste any time running out your apartment door and chasing after you. He had only been gone for a minute or two, there’s no way you could have gotten far. As he walks down the street near your apartment, he calls your phone at least a dozen times, all of them going straight to voicemail. Your phone must be dead.

“Fuck,” shoving his phone back in his pocket. When he looks back up at the sidewalk ahead of him, he realizes he’s near your favorite cafe, the one with the cute Japanese trinkets for decor. Deciding to check to see if you’re there, he makes his way down the street. When he arrives at the cafe, he looks in the large glass window at the customers sitting around the restaurant, but doesn’t see you anywhere. Heaving a sigh, he turns around trying to rack his brain for other places you might’ve gone, when he sees a familiar figure sitting across the street at a bus stop. Squinting his eyes, he sees your sulking form, curled in on yourself.

Without thinking, he rushes to cross the street, only remembering at the last second to look both ways and halting his movements when he hears a car horn honking at him. Clutching at his chest, he backs up and allows the cars to pass before he’s running across the street towards you. 

When he looks back to you, you’re already standing, a bewildered look on your face. 

“Jungkook, are you crazy!?” you yell as he steps up on the curb in front of you. 

“YN-” he pants, trying to catch his breath. His adrenaline was pumping now, but he was also relieved to find you okay. “YN, I -”

“Jungkook!” you cut him off, “You could’ve gotten yourself killed!”

It takes him a moment to realize what you’re talking about, but once he catches on a blush overtakes his face and he has the decency to look sheepish. You were actually a little angry at him for being so careless, but then you think back to the argument the two of you just had, and your anger dissipates into sadness again. Jungkook sees the moment your face falls and reaches out to take your hand in his. When you wince and jerk your hand back, he feels another pang of regret in his chest, realizing you actually were hurt and he let you run out of the apartment without helping you at all. He was such a shit boyfriend. 

Jungkook huffs a breath through his nose as he reaches out carefully, palm up, silently asking for your hand. You oblige reluctantly, knowing he’s trying to help, and place your hand, palm up in his hand. 

“YN, I am so sorry,” he starts, moving closer to you to get a better look at your still bleeding finger,”I’m mad at something Namjoon-hyung and I fought about earlier, and my dumbass took it all out on you. I’m a fucking asshole.” He pulls your hand closer to his face as he talks, inspecting the cut. He saw it earlier, but it only looked like a papercut then. Now that it had bled a little more, he could see it was fairly deep, maybe even deep enough to need a stitch or two. Sighing, he closes his eyes to collect himself before he speaks his next words. “Why are you at the bus stop?” He knows the answer, and braces himself for the impact.

“I- I figured I should probably go to the hospital,” you nibble on your bottom lip, unsure why you felt bad for saying what you had to say, “I didn’t think you’d want to drive me.”

His heart breaks. He moves closer to you, pulling you into his arms and resting his chin on top of your head. “Oh, YN,” he whispers, remorse dripping in his tone, “I can’t believe I did that. I will always, always be here to help you. I don’t want you to ever feel like I wouldn’t.” He can feel tears stinging the backs of his eyes as he runs a soothing hand up and down your back. 

“I just thought since, you know…” you trail off, letting more tears fall down your face.

“I know, I was an asshole,” he starts, pulling away to look down at you, “let me take you to get that looked at, and we can talk about it on the way, okay? I’m so sorry, YN. I don’t want you to forgive me yet, I don’t deserve it. Just let me make sure you’re okay, first.”

You look up at him, unshed tears welling in his eyes when you nod your head. “Okay,” you whisper, letting him take your uninjured hand in his and walk the couple blocks back towards your apartment. You knew what he did was wrong, but you also knew that he loved you. You loved him, too. Regardless of the fights you may have, and the tough times you experience, you know you will always fight for one another. You look up at him through misty eyes while you walk, he looks back at you, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. A silent exchange letting each other know it would be okay.

[santoteez]

Inferno - An Ateez Seven Deadly Sins Series (Pride)

Idol(S): Ateez

Genre: Demon!Ateez, Smut(eventually)

Part to this series: 2

Warnings: Mentions of murder, details of murder, smut, femdom, facesitting, mentions of death, assault, foul language (Sorry if I forget any! It’s a long chapter I wrote over the course of a week)

Note: This series does NOT reflect any member of Ateez or their personality realistically. This is pure fiction.

Word Count: 6,867

I’M POSTING THIS DURING RAMADAN SO I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD SAY THIS IS NOT SAFE FOR RAMADAN. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING AT THIS TIME (OR AT ALL) AND RAMADAN MUBARAK!

Hongjoong and the boys all gathered at the side of the office where a large armoire stood tall in the center.

“Pride, once I open the portal, just jump through and you will land in New York City. Once your feet hit the ground, time will start ticking, so make sure to keep tabs on the days.” Hongjoong said, preparing the opening process.

“Do I need to take anything with me? Just the file?” Pride asked.

“Just the file. When you arrive, you’ll have everything you need on your person. Things like groceries and toiletries can be bought once you’re there. Don’t fret if she’s apprehensive at first, I gave you a challenge for a reason. Sarina doesn’t just warm up to anyone.”

“Joong, I can get her. You don’t have to worry. After all, it’s me.” He remarked, adjusting his jacket.

“Show off.” Envy rolled his eyes.

“Who wouldn’t show off all this?” Pride asked.

“I need silence.” Hongjoong said sternly. He approached the armoire, raising his hand in front of him. He spoke, eyes shut tightly.

“Due to the nature of this task, I hereby release the Deadly Sin Pride from the depths of hell for the next seven days. On the eve of the seventh day, he is to return with his assignment. It is for this reason I will open the threshold separating the two worlds.”

The armoire doors swung open, an electrifying blue ring of light erupting from the center.

“Pride, good luck once again, and do not disappoint me.”

Pride nodded, giving the rest of his brothers a nod goodbye and walked through the portal. The light flashed, enveloping him and the armoire doors slammed shut promptly after he walked through.

“Welp, he’s gone. What now?” Sloth asked.

Hongjoong shrugged. “We wait. I’ll check on him on the 3rd day, so you’re all free to join me when that happens. Until then, he’s on his own.”

-

-

-

Pride felt the sensation of freefalling until his boots hit hardwood. He looked around to see he was standing in a fully furnished condominium. File still in tote, he flipped through the pages.

Name: Sarina Thomas

Age: 21

Occupation: Bartender at the Bluemist Lounge

Relationship Status: Single

Family: Mother, 2 younger siblings; Relationship nonexistent, Father deceased

Likes: Art, body modifications, trying new foods, drinking, fucking, occasional smoking

Dislikes: Men, love, fragile masculinity

Kinks: Femdom, Rigger, Ballbusting, Humiliation, Praise, Degradation, etc.

Pride squinted as the list of kinks went on and on. Hates men, huh? No wonder she was his assignment. It takes someone who’s sure of himself to get past that. He realized his pockets felt heavier, remembering Hongjoong’s talk about everything he needed would be on his person.

He dug through them, finding a set of keys, presumably from the apartment he’s in. A wallet, with various credit cards in them and an ID, all of which said the same name.

Jeong Yunho

He grimaced at the name, memories of his past life flooding back. The nerdiness and glasses, the low self-esteem, the bullying, the constant badgering, the night he snapped.

The wallet had some cash in it, along with the pins to the cards inside. The keys had a keychain with the address to the condo: 1 Park Place.

He moved to the kitchen. It was empty but fully furnished with a fridge and appliances. Pride, or Yunho as he now had to refer to himself as, figured he’d wasted enough time looking around. It was time to find his target and see what he was working with.

It was dark outside as he exited the building, the phone he found in his back pocket stated 11:30. If he left now, he’d make it to the lounge just in time for the ambiance to pick up, when people tend to move to the dancefloor, and leave the bartender alone.

He plugged in the name of the lounge into Google and decided to catch a cab. He paid the cabbie and got off 15 minutes later, paying the fee at the door and slipping past the sweaty, dancing bodies heading straight for the bar.

There she was, wiping down glasses. Her large crown of curls adorned her face like a mane. She had a nose piercing and tattoos peppered along her chestnut arms. She had on a sleeveless shirt with slashes down the front and high waisted jeans. Yunho made it to the bar, settling onto an empty stool.

“Got room for one more customer?” He asked.

Sarina looked him up and down, observing his crisp white button-down and black slacks. He shirt was slightly unbuttoned, and his tie was hanging loosely around his neck.

“What fortune 500 company office did you stumble out of?” She asked, putting the glasses away. “We’re pretty far away from Wall St.”

Yunho furrowed his eyebrows. He wasn’t sure what Wall St was, but it sounded like she thought he was a businessman. Was it the clothes?

“None, actually. I don’t have an office.” He said truthfully. “My line of work is...unorthodox.”

“Oh? Enlighten me, then.” She said, taking out a clean glass. “Also, what can I get you?”

“Jack Daniels, please. Honey.” He watched her reach for a bottle in the rack behind her. “I guess you can say I’m in charge of…very valuable shipments.”

“Valuable? Like diamonds and shit?” She asked, sliding the glass towards him. “Card, please. All cards are held as agreement to pay your tab.”

Yunho nodded, reaching for his wallet. Pulling out a black card, he slid it across the table. “Yeah, diamonds are possible. Usually whatever the boss says.”

“Someone like you, that walks like he shits roses, isn’t his own boss?”

Yunho shrugged. “What’s wrong with being the right-hand man? Besides, the boss never gets to have fun.”

“Really? What kind of fun do you have?” She asked, pouring herself a glass of Jack Daniels as well.

“Going back and forth with beautiful women is always fun.”

Sarina rolled her eyes. “Figured you’d say that. Listen, if you think I’m going to get flustered and dance into your bed, you can take that idea and shove it up your-”

Yunho put his hand up, stopping her before she went any further. “I don’t think any of that. You said it yourself, I think highly of myself. If I were trying to just fuck you, I would’ve said that a while ago. Don’t get so defensive. I’m an angel.” He smirked, taking a sip of his drink.

Sarina shook her head. “Something tells me that’s a lie.”

She had no idea how right she was.

Yunho and Sarina talked back and forth up until closing, but not before exchanging numbers. Yunho even waited with her until her Uber arrived. He made a mental note to download the app. He made his way back to the condo, showering and getting into bed in just a pair of boxers. After texting Sloth through an app he found on the phone, he decided to call it a night.

He woke up around noon. Realizing he didn’t have any groceries, he decided to get dressed and go shopping. Remembering what Sarina said, he checked to see if the closet had any clothes besides his suit he always wore back home. Opening the closet, he saw all kinds of clothing. Jeans, shorts, tees and hoodies in his size. Considering it was kind of hot when he went out last night, he opted for a black and white striped tee with jeans. He found some white converse on the floor and put those on too. His hair had fully air dried from his shower, so he left it as it was. Grabbing his keys and wallet, he headed out, googling the closest supermarket.

He took a cart from the entrance and made his way through the aisles, picking up random things. It was mainly things he could microwave or boil quickly; he wasn’t much of a cooker. While trying to decide on a soda, he noticed a familiar set of arms reaching for a bottle of juice on the top shelf. Yunho watched as she cutely jumped, but the bottle was just too high up.

Yunho came up behind her. “I got it.” He said, lowering the bottle to her reach.

Sarina sighed. “Thanks, but I never asked for he-” She paused, seeing who it is. “Hey, I know you. You stalking me?”

Yunho smiled. “I guess I should’ve led with my name last night. I’m Yunho.”

“Yunho, I’m Sarina. Everyone calls me Rina.” She said, and Yunho had to nod like he didn’t already know. “What brings you around here?”

“Well, I have zero groceries so I had to stock up.”

Sarina glanced at his cart. “Looks like you don’t own a stove either. What’s with all the microwaveables?”

Yunho smiled. “I’m not the best cook so, this is what I’m working with.”

Sarina shook her head. “Men.”

“You could come over and teach me a thing or two? Make sure I don’t burn down my kitchen?”

“Come into a man’s bachelor pad by myself? You’re asking me for a lot, Yunho.”

“Understood. A random guy walks up to your bar, strikes up conversation then pops up on you in the juice aisle of Whole Foods, and invites you to his house. For all you know I could be some serial killer that wants to skin you alive. I expect a self-assured woman like yourself to be cautious at all times. But I can assure you, I just want to know you.”

“Why me?” Sarina asked, observing his outfit. A sharp contrast from last night. Maybe not Fortune 500 after all.

“Why not? I just got to town and I can tell you’re the most intriguing one here.”

“Just got to town? From where?” She asked.

“From…down south.” Yunho quipped.

“Like Texas?” She cocked her head to the side.

“Something like that.” Yunho reached for a bottle of Sprite, placing it in the cart.

“Your answers are so clipped. You’re like a mystery.”

“Maybe if you came over, you’d be able to peel back some layers.” He answered, looking at the snacks.

“You don’t quit, do you? What do I get if I go?” Sarina taunted.

“You get to spend time with an amazing guy.”

“You’re very prideful, you know?”

“You have no idea.” Yunho pursed his lips. “So, is that a yes?”

Sarina contemplated. “That is an ‘I’ll take a chance on you.’” She said, turning her cart around to walk in the same direction as Yunho.

While online, Sarina noticed Yunho had a lot of stuff. “Did you bring a shopping cart?”

“Nope, I can carry it. It’s not too far.”

She stared incredulously. “You can put the frozen things and the soda in my cart. Don’t break your back trying to be a macho man.”

They walked back to Yunho’s building and made it to his apartment.

“For someone who does shipping, you live pretty lavish. I can tell your company ain’t no FedEx.” She walked into the kitchen. “Wow, when you said your kitchen was empty you weren’t kidding. How recently did you move?”

“Pretty recent, I’ve just been ordering food. I finally went shopping since I feel like I’m gaining weight.”

“That’s what you look like when you’re gaining weight? I’m jealous. Well, we don’t have all day so let’s get cooking!”

They spent the whole afternoon together, cooking, eating, and having fun. Yunho found out Sarina’s family doesn’t talk to her because she’s blamed for her father’s death. Common drunk trait: Oversharing.

“I had just gotten off the phone with him; it was a really nasty argument. So, he decided to drive over to my apartment. This was around the time I was in bartending school, and I lived nearby campus. He wasn’t obeying the laws of the road. Rammed straight into an 18-wheeler. Died on impact.”

“And your mom thinks that’s your fault?”

“Basically. Says that had I not argued with him or gotten him agitated he wouldn’t have been on the road that night and he’d still be here. After the funeral, she said she never wanted to see me again. That to her, I died when he did.”

Yunho sighed. This wasn’t something he missed about being a human. Whether it was Lust upsetting a girl in town by stringing her along, or Greed stealing from the neighbors for the fifth time that week, in Inferno you either fessed up to what you did or Hongjoong made you. And in the end, no one felt guilty. Not just because they were demons, but because Inferno was a shameless environment. You didn’t fear guilt because you were already expected to behave like shit.

“I hope you know that’s bullshit,” Yunho said, continuing when she just shrugged. “Everything happens for a reason. What I say next might be insensitive but had he not passed away that day, or even if you had not argued that day, death is inevitable. It would have found him eventually. And that’s not on you.” He said, taking a swig of cognac.

“What about you?”

Yunho rested his head in his palm. “What about me?”

“I feel like you’ve gotten to know so much about me, but I know nothing about you.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Something. Anything. Your story.”

Yunho sighed. “Well, I can say that growing up, I wasn’t always this confident or sure of myself.”

“How come?”

“I was a dorky little kid, brown hair, and glasses. Kept to myself and stuttered a lot, so I was the butt of the jokes. My books in the toilet, spitballs, punching, kicking, shoving. The whole package. I lived in a small town in North Carolina, and there weren’t many options to go to school, so the bullying continued all through junior year of high school.”

“What happened senior year?”

Yunho hesitated, not wanting to admit what really happened. He had already said too much. “I moved to the city. Continued my education there.  Met my boss there, began entry-level in the company, errands, and shit. Made my way to right-hand man.” He shrugged, pouring himself another glass.

“Well, I’m glad you were able to overcome that. It takes strong people to come out on the other side of harassment. I’m proud of you.” Sarina smiled. “It’s so weird, I just met you less than 24 hours ago, but I feel so drawn to you. It’s like a magnet is pulling me your way.”

“Be careful talking to me that way,” Yunho muttered, his voice dropping slightly. “I’m still a man, after all.”

Sarina rolled her eyes. “That wasn’t meant for you to take that way. Be a gentleman, Yunho.”

After cleaning up, it was time for Sarina to go. She still had all her groceries with her, after all. Yunho walked her back to her building, agreeing for her to come over to his place before her shift. On his walk back, he heard a ding from his phone.

It was a message from Hongjoong. “Be up early tomorrow. Your brothers and I will video chat you in the morning. Need to know your 3-day progress.”

Yunho chuckled. “Okay, mom.” He texted back, before resuming his walk back. He went straight to bed, knowing Hongjoong would call at the crack of dawn.

Yunho’s phone woke him up at 6:00am. Suddenly, his brothers all popped up on his screen.

“Hi, Pride!” Sloth beamed.

Yunho smiled. “Hey, Sloth. How’s it going?”

“Boring. No one else hangs with me down here.”

“What’s so great about hanging out with Pride? I hung out with you last night!” Envy said.

“You sat in my room for 15 minutes and complained about all the things you want but can’t have.” Sloth said.

Envy rolled his eyes. “High standards.” He muttered.

“Yunho, how are things going with Sarina?” Hongjoong asked.

“I think it’s going great. We hung out yesterday, and she’s coming over again today. Then, from here we’ll head to her job. At this rate, I should be able to talk to her about the mission in a couple of days.”

Hongjoong nodded. “That’s what I like to hear. I believe you will complete your tasks with no errors. Take notes, gentlemen. Trust is essential in the process.”

“Rooting for you, Pride!” Gluttony asked bowl of cereal in tote.

Gluttony, I thought we agreed you wouldn’t eat breakfast during the call.” Hongjoong stated, exasperated.

“What breakfast? This is a snack!” Gluttony emphasized.

Hongjoong sighed. “Pride, before you go, I should warn you. When the time is right for you to tell Sarina the truth, your representative color will glow from your chest. This is basically a warning that if you don’t take the opportunity, your success rate drops by at least 50%. So, if you glow, start talking. The same will happen for each of you, so keep it in mind when your time comes. Pride, don’t screw this up. And most importantly, when she asks, tell her everything. I’ll see you when you get back.”

After a collective “Bye, Pride!” from the council, the call ended. Yunho fell into a deep sleep shortly after. He got up from bed a couple hours later, stretching his arms to the sky. He poured himself a bowl of cereal, checking the time. It was half-past 11, Sarina should be on her way soon. He showered after eating, changing into some fresh clothes. An hour later, there was no sign of her so he decided to cook some rice and chicken, the same way she taught him so they’d have something to eat when she did pop up. Time stretched along and still no sign of Sarina. He texted her, letting her know he was waiting. Perhaps she forgot?

More time past and Yunho got worried. It was almost time for her shift to start, and she still had not shown up. Glancing at his phone, he saw she never opened his text either. Checking the file, there were no other places she frequented besides her house, work, and the supermarket, especially at this hour. So, either something happened, or she was avoiding him.

Slipping on his shoes and grabbing his keys, he headed out of the house. He reached the curbside and stuck his arm out.

“TAXI!”

He tossed the guy a twenty and stormed into the club, completely ignoring the bouncer. He scanned the room, full of people enjoying happy hour. No sign of Sarina. Instead, the bartender was an older guy, probably early 30s. Yunho slammed his hands down onto the counter.

“Where is she?” He asked.

“Where’s who?” The guy asked although he seemed to know exactly what Yunho meant.

“Sarina.”

The guy shrugged. “Not here. She doesn’t live here, you know.” He chuckled. “Why? You got a crush?” He laughed again, halting abruptly when he saw a glint of purple in his brown eyes.

“Well, if you see her, tell her I’m worried and I came looking for her,” Yunho said sweetly, sarcasm clear in his voice. He turned around and walked out of the establishment.

He didn’t see the bartender text, “He just left.”

Defeated, he headed back to his apartment, figuring it was best to just let her rock for the night and check on her again in the morning. It’s not like they were dating, right? Maybe he was just being paranoid.

Sighing as he entered the house, he removed his jacket before locking the door.

“AH!” He groaned as he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder blade. Looking over, he saw a butcher knife lodged into his back. He furrowed his eyebrows. Was he being robbed?

“Who the fuck are you?” A hostile voice said.

“Sarina?” Yunho asked, walking into the living room.

“Don’t come any closer, I have more knives.” She said, backing up.

Yunho reached back, pulling the knife out of his back with a grunt. He threw it on the floor. “What are you talking about? I told you. I’m Yunho.”

“I figured you would say that.” Sarina balled up a paper and tossed it at him. “16-year old Jeong Yunho found guilty on several counts of premeditated murder in the first degree in a courtroom in Northampton, NC. Jeong’s victims were found lifeless in their homes with multiple lacerations and acid burns to their skulls, torsos, and legs. The arms of his victims were never found, but it is speculated he broke them before severing-”

“OKAY. Okay, I get it. Enough.” Yunho raised his arm.

“Don’t upset me more. Before I give you another gash.” She warned.

Yunho scoffed, taking his shirt off and showing her his clean, unscathed back. “What gash?”

She blinked in disbelief. “That’s impossible. That was in your back! You pulled it out!”

“Sarina, just let me explain…”

“No! This doesn’t make any sense. This article says you were sixteen in 1990. It’s 2020.”

Yunho’s chest, as if on cue, began to glow a vivid purple. The light shone brightly from his chest, illuminating the entire room. Then, just as quick as it had shone, it diminished into nothing.

“This just keeps getting even weirder. Did you just fucking glow?”

“Alright, Sarina. Listen closely because I’m going to answer your questions. In my childhood, I was bullied for the smallest of reasons. My family wasn’t as well-off as the rest of the town, with my father being the local garbage man, struggling to make ends meet. For the most part, I put up with the taunting, name-calling, having food thrown at me, drinks dumped on me. But the last straw was Daisy Krasdale. Daisy moved to town junior year. I was excited. Finally, someone who didn’t know me since I was in diapers; someone who didn’t see me as just the garbage man’s son. She actually spoke to me nicely, walked the halls with me, wasn’t embarrassed to call me her friend, sat with me in class, and lunch. I finally had someone on my side.” He smiled, reminiscing. “Until Johnny, my main bully ruined it. I was getting ready to head to the movies with Daisy, it was the first time I’d ever go. No one ever wanted to go with me, and I didn’t have the balls to go alone. I was heading out the door when I found a cassette on my doorstep. It was labeled ‘She’s not coming, loser.’ Something told me to take it upstairs and watch it, so I did. It was a sextape. Johnny and Daisy, in bed together. She was screaming for him, while he kept telling her to ‘forget that loser.’ We can both guess who the loser was. At that point, I had had enough. The only person who made me feel seen. Just ripped away from me by some bully. That was the day I changed my focus.” Yunho moved to the couch, taking a seat. “You can sit, you know.” He said to Sarina.

“Thanks, I’ll stand. Just keep going.” She shifted her weight.

Yunho shrugged. “Okay. Well, that day, I actually went to see the movie. Alone. House Party, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It was-what was the word back then? Bitchin’. So, the next week, I went to school like normal. I didn’t talk to Daisy, no matter how many times she tried apologizing. She claimed it was a moment of weakness. I thought she was full of shit. So, I went to school, went home, then went into the basement and conjured up my own homemade hydrofluoric acid. It’s a very easy recipe, Though I’m sure you wouldn’t want to know the details. I produced gallons of it. Stored it under the stairs until Friday. I stayed in my room until 8pm, feigning a stomachache so my mother would leave me alone. She was a sweet woman, married incredibly too young. Anyways, I waited until she had gone to bed to sneak back out. My dad worked early mornings, so he always slept early. I loaded my concoction into my dad’s truck and made it to my first victim’s house. Ritchie Clark, Johnny’s best friend. Well, more like minion. Did everything he asked. He was in his room, studying. I made my way into his bedroom, shoving a bag over his head. It’s funny how quick the tough guys go soft when defenseless. I dragged him out of his house and into the back of the truck. The next guy was Max Turner, and the way I captured him was vaguely similar, but the best part? Johnny. He had just fucked another girl he wouldn’t call back and taken a shower. I was waiting for him behind his bedroom door when he came back in. I bashed him in the head with a wooden bat, before bagging and loading him up too. To this day, I don’t remember how I got all three of them out of the houses that easily. Perhaps I was too delirious to even realize someone did see me. I drove them out to the docks. No one was ever out there at that time of night, so it was the perfect place. I dragged them all out to the pier, removing their bags. They immediately became furious when they saw who it was. Calling me all sorts of insults and shouting threats, until they saw the ginormous canister I had next to me. I made sure to put my gloves on before splashing Johnny on the foot, his skin sizzling upon contact. He screamed into the night, the pier immediately smelling of human flesh. I’ll spare you the details that weren’t in that article, but yes, I burned them to a crisp, created dozens of lacerations and severings. Then, I disposed of their arms, went home, showered, and got into bed.”

“Yunho, where did you put their arms? No one’s ever found them.” Sarina asked, wanting to run but couldn’t move.

“Really? All that info and that’s your question? Well, does it really matter now? It’s been 30 years. And I haven’t even told you the best part. The next morning, Northampton was in for the shock of their lives when three young bodies were found by the water, burned beyond recognition. They began asking around to see who were the last people the boys hung out with were, trying to create a timeline. Of course, I was never thought of. We weren’t even friends. Until it clicked. Who would want these boys dead more than the kid whose life they made impossible? They did a comparison of the tires of my dad’s truck to the tracks found at the pier and sure enough, they were a match. The police stormed into my room, expecting me to be standing there with an assault rifle or something. I was just having a burger with fries my mom made. They read me my rights, blah blah blah. I didn’t deny it. Didn’t flinch, didn’t cry. I just asked to be able to finish my burger. They didn’t have anything like it where I was going. I was taken to the local precinct awaiting trial, where I was tried as an adult and sentenced to death. I spent the next five years on death row in a maximum-security facility. My case was highly televised, so inmates knew of me and left me alone for the most part. It was the most peace I had felt in my life. They questioned me for years over those damn limbs. Bribing me with the chance to get off of death row if I helped them. Bunch of pigs, all of them. They thought I’d help them after all my reports of assault and harassment fell on silent ears? I told them to go fuck themselves. So, they pushed up my execution date.”

“So, how did you escape?” Sarina asked, her hand still tightly gripping the knife in her bag.

“That’s the thing, Sarina. I didn’t. Two days before my 22nd birthday, I was strapped to a chair, in front of a room full of people. The families of the deceased, my parents, random kids I went to school with, and Daisy. Sweet, friendly, foolish Daisy. She mouthed ‘Why?’ to me as I was executed by lethal injection.”

“Yunho, listen to yourself. You’re crazy. How can you sit there and tell me you were executed when you’re sitting right in front of me?”

“You really don’t get it, do you? What pissed the town off so much wasn’t that I killed those guys. It was the fact I didn’t regret it. Not once did I feel shame or remorse for what I had done. In fact, I was proud of myself. I laughed as I felt the poison infiltrate my veins. I woke up in this really hot place. For a second I thought I dreamt the whole execution and was shipped off to Texas. Until a guy picked me up off the floor, took me to his house, bathed and fed me, and gave me a new name.” Yunho stood up, walking towards Sarina. His eyes glowed purple like his chest, and his veins lit up like a motherboard.

“I’m Deadly Sin Pride, the Fiend of excessive self-confidence.”

“Yunho, I said stay AWAY,” Sarina said, piercing him with the knife in her hand. She lodged it into his left pec.

“Ouch. That would hurt if there was still a heart there.” Yunho pulled the knife out and, just like before, the wound closed up, leaving no mark.

“What the fuck?”

“NOW do you believe me? If I had wanted to kill you, don’t you think I would’ve already done that? Why go to your job, get to know you, invite you to my house, by yourself, for hours? Harming you was never my intention.”

“Then why? Why go through all this trouble?”

Yunho sighed, his eyes softening back into the dark brown Sarina was used to. “I’ve been assigned a mission.”

“To do what?”

To take you back home with me.”

-

-

-

-

“So, your brother, who’s literally the ruler of hell, sent you back to Earth to get me, bring me back to hell, in order to help the imbalance of the sexes?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” Yunho shrugged. After hearing him out, Sarina decided to stay. Despite hearing all he had done, she realized he wasn’t the same guy as before, and that he acted out based on circumstances. She may not agree with it, but she can look past it considering how long it had been, and technically, he paid for his crime.

“But I’d never be able to see my family again.”

“Not to literally play devil’s advocate, but you’re on Earth right now, and you don’t see your family.”

Sarina rolled her eyes. “You know what I meant.” She pondered it. “If you complete two conditions, I’ll go.”

“Which are?” Yunho asked.

“The first one,” Sarina said, leaning into him, “You let me dom you.”

“Dom? Like in sex?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, in sex, stupid. You’re so full of yourself, so calm and collected, I wanna see you lose control just once.”

Yunho sighed. Well, if it meant getting his mission completed, he could let her take the reins.

“Okay.”

So this is how Yunho found himself in Sarina’s bed, tied to the headboard, wearing nothing but a blindfold and a cock cage, panting heavily.

Sarina climbed on top of him, kissing him, her kisses leading down to his neck and chest. Yunho groaned as he began to harden, his cock feeling the restraints of the cage.

Sarina climbed up further, her thighs on each side of his face as she lowered herself gently. Yunho’s lips found her clit expertly, devouring her pussy with fervor.

“Mmm, you have no idea how many times I’ve imagined this. You underneath me, tied to the bed, with a face full of pussy.” She said, grinding onto his face as her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

Yunho wanted so badly to reach out and grab her, but she tied him up so well he was unable to budge. He alternated from circling her clit to sliding his tongue deep inside, keeping her on edge. Sarina’s fingers weaved into his hair, tugging slightly, causing Yunho to moan. The closer Sarina got to orgasm, the harder Yunho got and the more restraint was put on his penis.

Sarina’s legs started to twitch, her hips stuttering. “Shit, baby. Stick out your tongue.”

Yunho obeyed, and Sarina bucked her hips against the wet muscle, lost in her arousal. Sarina panted heavily, “Yunho, I’m gonna cum.”

“Cum on my face,” Yunho said, his voice muffled by the current predicament.

Sarina’s eyes bolted shut, her knuckles going pale from gripping the headboard. All her actions halted suddenly, her body spazzing as she gasped loudly. “Oh shit, shit, shit.”

She groaned when Yunho continued sucking, causing her sensitivity.

She slid back down, kissing Yunho again. “You did so well, baby. I think you deserve a reward.” She smiled so mischievously, Yunho pondered if she was the deadly sin in this pairing.

He gasped as she removed the cock cage, his cock springing loose and growing harder sans restraints.

“Shit…” He muttered as he felt Sarina take him into her mouth, the lack of sight only heightening his other senses. Sarina bobbed her head at a steady pace, finding her rhythm. She gripped in her hand what couldn’t fit into her mouth.

She sped up as she heard his groans increase. The room filled with Yunho’s pants and the obscene slurping noises from Sarina. She edged him on until she felt his cock twitch. She released his member with a pop!

“Mmm, Baby, don’t cum yet. We haven’t finished.” She said sweetly. Positioning herself on his cock, she slid down, sighing as he stretched her open. They both moaned as they bottomed out. Once she was adjusted, she bounced up and down, the temperature in her body rising as she neared her next orgasm.

“Fuck, you feel so good, Yunho. I’m gonna cum.”

“Rina. I wanna see you.”

Pausing momentarily, Sarina took off the blindfold. Meeting his gaze, she saw how fucked out he looked, and she could only imagine she looked the same. She decided to untie him too, only to be flipped the minute he was cut loose.

Sarina was now pinned to the bed, her thighs in a tight death grip by Yunho, who was hammering into her mercilessly, his head in the crook of her neck.

“You’re so fucking tight, baby. I can tell you’re about to cum. Cum for me, I know you want to.” He said, reaching between their bodies to rub the sensitive bud.

Sarina’s back arched as her mouth fell open, her whole body shaking like a washing machine. Her orgasm triggered Yunho’s, who pulled out just in time to cum onto her stomach. Ropes of white essence painted her stomach like a mosaic. There was silence for a while, both parties catching their breaths.

“You just couldn’t sub the whole time, huh?” Sarina said after a while.

“Shut up, it was long enough.” He said, getting up from the bed. “One condition down. What’s next?”

“You said your mother married young, right? Well if she was as young as you said, she would still be alive. So, the last condition is that you go see your mother, granted we find her.” Sarina said, walking to the bathroom, leaving a very shocked and confused Yunho standing by the bed.

-

-

-

The pair stood outside of Elmhurst Senior Living, with Yunho very much not happy to be there.

“C’mon, let’s go in!” Sarina pressed.

They walked up to the reception desk, greeted by a short, young girl.

“Good Morning! How may I help you?”

“Hi! We’re looking for a resident here, Heeyoung Jeong?”

“Oh yes! Wow, she hasn’t gotten a visitor in years. She’ll be so excited!” The girl beamed. Sarina noticed Yunho wouldn’t look up, feeling guilty for the first time since he ceased being a human.

The girl led them to the elevator, handing them a map of the facility. “Keep in mind, her memory isn’t what it used to be, so it might take her some time to remember you, and don’t be discouraged if she doesn’t! She just hasn’t been the same since Mr. Jeong passed. Make sure to return the map after your stay. Enjoy!”

Sarina thanked the woman as they got on. “What are you thinking?” Sarina asked.

“My father is dead and my mother is all alone. I haven’t seen my dad, so I know he’s most likely in the upper world. Not surprised, he didn’t have a bad bone in his body.”

They arrived at their floor and headed for room 308. A small lady with white hair was sitting in a rocking chair staring out the window.

“Mrs. Jeong?” Sarina said.

The lady turned. “Yes?”

“My name is Sarina, and there’s someone here that wanted to speak to you.” She nudged Yunho.

“Hi mo- Ma’am.” He stuttered. “I was a friend of your son’s, one of the few, and I wanted to say that despite his crimes, he truly did love you. He always thought about you, and what would happen to you when he passed. He would be happy to see you so well treated. I had a few words for his father, but seeing as he’s no longer with us, I’ll just say he wanted him to know he was sorry. For everything. He felt like he failed him, but at the same time couldn’t help what he had done. His only regret was leaving you behind.”

Heeyoung nodded. “And he told you all this, while in cells?”

Yunho nodded. “In the cells, and at lunchtime. We spoke often.”

“Okay, well, thank you for your kind words. I assure you I feel much better after hearing them. Please, come give me a hug, dear.”

Yunho hesitated but eventually embraced the small woman, who whispered into his ear, “I’m old, not stupid. I love you too, son.” She pecked his cheek before pulling away. “Go back to where you came. I’ll be alright here.”

Yunho nodded, whispering “Bye, mom.”

They exited the facility and found themselves in the middle of NC.

“So, what now?” Sarina asked.

“There’s something I have to do first.”

They caught a bus to Northampton and headed for Yunho’s childhood home. It had been foreclosed and boarded up, but it was still standing.

“Come, there’s a back door.”

He and Sarina made it inside the house, which looked just as abandoned as the outside.

“Yunho, why are we here?”

“Downstairs.” He said, heading for the basement.

They make it down the stairs, and Yunho lifts a dusty tarp. Out fell decaying bones.

“They’re still here. I never told the police where they were, and neither did she.”

“A mother’s love knows no bounds?” Sarina shrugged.

-

-

-

-

Yunho and Sarina stood at the closet back in the NYC condo. Sarina had a small bag with her, while Yunho simply had the file. Yunho looked at her one last time.

“Are you sure you’re ready to go?”

She nodded. “My conditions were met, and like you said, I have nothing really going for me here. Maybe a little hell is just what I need.” She smiled.

“Okay, here we go.” Opening the closet, he pulls the lever he found in there the first day he landed. There was a spark and a portal whirred to life, so strong it caused a great wind.

“Grab my hand, and don’t let go until you feel your feet on the ground!” Yunho shouted.

Sarina nodded, holding his hand tightly. They walked through the portal, immediately descending. When their feet hit the ground, they arrived in Hongjoong’s office. Hongjoong was sitting at his desk, filing paperwork as usual. He looked up, raising an eyebrow.

“Pride, back so soon?” He asked.

Yunho nodded. “The mission is complete, brother.”

“I see. Hopefully, you weren’t forced or coerced into coming here?”

Sarina shook her head. “I wanted to come. Hoping it’s a fresh start?”

Hongjoong smiled. “Fresh starts are always welcomed here. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Hongjoong, or who the humans know me as, Dante. Welcome to Inferno. You’ll meet the rest of the Sins later, but right now I’m sure you want to rest. Pride, take her to your room then come back to the office. I will summon the council to advance to the next level of the mission.

“Brothers, see how Pride successfully completed his mission, and Sarina is now one of us. This is how it’s done. Keep in mind, you don’t have to come back in the same time Yunho did. Don’t make this a competition. Every one of these women are different and they all require different approaches. The next stage of the mission is effective immediately.” Hongjoong opened a new file. “Samiyah Harris.” He said, approaching one of the boys. “Greed, you’re up.”

“Good Luck.”

[gendercensus]

Gender Census 2019 - The Full Report (Worldwide)

This is a long post! You can see a summary of the big three questions here.

~

Hi and welcome to this year’s worldwide report based on the 11,242 responses to the Gender Census, which ran from 25th February until 30th March. It was mostly shared on Tumblr and Twitter, with some Reddit and Facebook and no doubt some one-to-one link-sharing too.

You can see the spreadsheet of results in full here, which might be helpful if you need to see graphs or figures in more detail. For the charts and graphs of statistics over time, the summary spreadsheet can be found here.

~

Q1. IDENTITY WORDS

As in previous years, I asked: Which of the following best describe(s) in English how you think of yourself?

Here’s the top 5:

nonbinary - 66.6% (up 6%)

queer - 43.0% (up 40.1%)

trans - 36.6% (up 1.8%)

enby - 31.7% (up 7.2%)

transgender - 30.4% (up 2.5%)

I put queer in bold because it’s new to the list, and the way it’s rocketed to second place is very unusual... and a little suspicious.

The wording of the identity question carefully avoids mentioning gender so that people without genders feel comfortable answering (or not answering), but it’s not really meant to include sexualities. The exception is sexualities that are part of someone’s gender identity, like this comment that someone wrote into the identity checkbox: “femme lesbian (sometimes i feel like lesbian *is* my gender)”

So anyway, last year queer got 2.9% (over the 1% threshold), and I personally know people who feel that their gender is queer, so I added it to the list. Usually when terms are added as checkbox options it might multiply their popularity by about four, but 43% is way too high to be explained by that. Queer is usually used to describe sexuality, so I think perhaps people who identify as queer in terms of their sexuality might have been selecting it too. I’m considering changing it slightly, to something like “queer (as gender identity)” to clarify it for next year. It’s possible that we won’t know if this percentage is due to bad survey design for a year or two.

(Edit: Some feedback on queer and my response to the feedback can be found here.)

Along those lines, several terms were added to the checkbox options this year because they were typed in by over 1% of participants last year:

queer

genderless

demiboy

demigirl

gender non-conforming

There are now 28 terms in the identity checkbox list, and as usual there were people expressing gratitude for the abundance of checkbox options in the identity question. However, there has also been an increase in people entering words into the textboxes that are already in the checkbox list. That means that people are missing or are not able to find the identity words they connect with more than last year, and it doesn’t help that the list is randomised to reduce primacy and recency bias.

Right now I add words to the checkbox list if they reach 1%, and this year for the first time I am considering adding another system for removing words that are not used as much. You can read a blog post I wrote about that here. I concluded based on the results of the 2017 survey (which asked for participants’ ages) that some words that seem to be used less overall are used more often by participants over 30, and since participants over 30 are underrepresented in online surveys generally I will be keeping any word that they enter over 3% of the time even if the word isn’t used as much overall.

Relatedly, I didn’t ask for ages in the survey this year, but I will be collecting information about age in future surveys to make sure that I don’t remove words and accidentally alienate underrepresented age groups. (The age question will be optional and will give age ranges rather than asking for an exact age, so hopefully that won’t make people feel too uncomfortable.)

This year someone complained for the first time that I was excluding words from other languages because I specify “in English” in the question, and if you know me from previous surveys you know that’s the opposite of my intention! Every word entered is counted, and I’m very aware that people use words from other languages while speaking English. So I’m considering rewording the question, but I welcome feedback on this since I’ve never had anyone complain about this issue before and plenty of people already enter non-English words.

And here’s this year’s top 10 words and their popularity over time:

Those two lines shooting up from 2018 to 2019 are two of the words newly added this year: queer and gender non-conforming. That green line starting near the bottom in 2016 and steadily increasing over time is more like what I’d usually expect - that’s enby, which is now up to #4 on the list.

There are no new identity words to add next year; the closest to 1% was butch with 0.7%. However, since I intend to collect information about age and since people often type, for example, “girl but not woman, even though I am not a minor”, I will be splitting girl, woman, man and boy into separate checkboxes next year.

2,021 unique identity words/terms were typed into the “other” textbox, including 413 that were entered more than once. The average number of type-ins for people who actually typed words in was 1.8, and the average words per person overall was 5. Most entered 4 words:

~

Q2: THE TITLE QUESTION

I asked, Supposing all title fields on forms were optional and write-your-own, what would you want yours to be in English? I also clarified that participants should be currently entitled to use it, so they should have a doctorate if they choose Dr, etc.

There were 5 specific titles to choose from, plus a few options like “I choose on the day” and “a non-gendered professional or academic title”. Participants could choose only one, with the goal of finding out what, when pressed, people enter on official records forms and ID.

Here’s our top 5:

No title at all - 33.0% (up 0.6%)

Mx - 31.3% (down 1.3%)

Mr - 8.7% (up 0.2%)

Non-gendered prof/acad. - 5.5% (up 0.1%)

Ms - 4.7% (down 1.0%)

Here’s how that looks compared with previous years:

Mx and no title switched places again for the fifth year in a row! And this year I made a similar graph but without Mx and no title. They always get way more than everything else, and it makes it really hard to see what’s going on in the lower half of the graph!

That rollercoaster of a red line is because in 2018 I specified that “non-gendered professional/academic title” should be one that the participant should be entitled to use, which caused that significant drop.

The most popular five “other” textbox titles were:

M - 28 (0.2%)

Comrade - 17

Sir - 10

Mrs - 9

Ser - 7

As with last year, I invited people who chose “a standard title that is used only by people other than men and women” (2.5% of participants) to optionally suggest titles that they’d heard of. The goal is to find a popular title that is considered exclusive to nonbinary genders the way Mr is generally considered exclusive to men and Ms is to women.

243 people checked the “standard exclusive nonbinary” title option, and here’s everything entered more than once:

Mx - 16

M - 4

Xr - 2

Mrs - 2

Mx is generally considered gender-inclusive by people who are familiar with it, especially if their title is Mx, but it’s high on this list because Mx is very well-known generally. M in French is masculine, but in English it’s not gendered and I assume it’s pronounced “em”? (That seems to be what people have said in the notes, but please do tell me if I’m wrong!) It was also the most entered title in the “other” textbox. Xr is new to me, I’m not sure how it’s pronounced.

~

Q3: PRONOUNS

The fourth question was actually a complex set of questions retained from last year, which started with Supposing all pronouns were accepted by everyone without question and were easy to learn, which pronouns are you happy for people to use for you in English? This was accompanied by a list of pre-written checkbox options. It included “a pronoun set not listed here”. and if you chose that it took you to a separate set of questions that let you enter up to five pronoun sets in detail.

As usual, everything that was a pre-written checkbox option got over 1%.

Here’s the top 5:

Singular they - they/them/their/theirs/themself - 79.5% (up 2.1%)

He - he/him/his/his/himself - 30.8% (down 0.4%)

She - she/her/her/hers/herself - 29.0% (down 1.9%)

None/avoid pronouns - 10.3% (up 0.2%)

Xe - xe/xem/xyr/xyrs/xemself - 7.2% (down 0.2%)

Here’s how that looks over time:

Because singular they, he and she always do better than everything else, let’s look at that chart without them. Every other specific pronoun set got under 8%.

Here’s the top 5 textbox neopronouns, none of which got over 1%:

ne/nem/nemself (singular verbs) - 27 (0.2%)

ve/ver/verself (singular verbs) - 24

ey/em/emself (singular verbs) - 23

ae/aer/aerself (singular verbs) - 22

thon/thon/thonself (singular verbs) - 18

(I’m going by the subject, object and reflexive, because that seems like the best way to collect similar sets together - eyeballing it, the most variations occur in the possessives.)

Half of participants don’t like he or she, and 9% like neither he, she nor they. 695 unique sets of neopronouns were entered by 574 people, of which 84 were entered more than once. The average number of pronouns entered was 2.2, and most people (39%) were happy with one set.

Overall it looks like there are no neopronouns really gaining in popularity, and even the checkbox neopronouns are being used less since 2015.

~

THE QUESTIONS I ASK

What should the third gender option on forms be called? - Still no consensus, but nonbinary is at 2 in 3 people and it does seem to be gradually climbing.

Is there a standard neutral title yet? - Not yet. Mx is still consistently far more popular than all other titles, but just as many nonbinary people want no title at all. It’s really important that activists campaigning for greater acceptance of gender diversity remember to fight for titles to be optional, too.

Is there a pronoun that every nonbinary person is happy with? - No. The closest we have to a standard is singular they, and it’s important for journalists and anyone else with a style guide to allow it. It’s levelled out at about 1 in 5 not being into singular they, and 9% of us don’t like he, she or they pronouns.

Are any of the neopronouns gaining ground in a way that competes with singular they? - No. This year the closest is “Xe - xe/xem/xyr/xyrs/xemself” (7.2%, compared to singular they’s 79.5%). Users of these neopronouns will probably not reach consensus for many years - language and especially pronouns can be very slow to settle and gain ground. Even if one neopronoun does become very commonly used, many will continue to use other neopronouns for a long time to come.

~

THIS YEAR IN REVIEW

Crowdfunding was successful enough that I have a little money leftover for costs next year. We had around the same number of participants as last year, but follower numbers and mailing list subscribers increased, which bodes well for next year.

I made some minor changes to the promotional illustrations to make them more gender-/sex-inclusive, and this year I got no complaints, so that was a good move! However, this year I did see a lot more confusion about who is invited to take part. I think the changes were probably worth it to make sure I’m being as welcoming and inclusive as I can be in the promotional stuff, so hopefully people will err on the side of caution and just jump in.

The way that the new survey software collects information, and my increased knowledge of Google Sheets, mean that I didn’t have to resort to MS Excel at all this year. This is really good, because working with unfamiliar software slows me down a lot! My formulae have been more efficient (thanks to my increasing Google Sheets skillz), so the entire sheet could be processed at once instead of being split into several questions. I’m really happy about that, because it means the entire worldwide results report came out less than 24 hours after the survey closed, instead of... *cough* eight months *cough* ...

I made an executive decision not to do a UK report this year, because the added complication makes it really hard for me to motivate myself. It definitely worked, look at that, it’s only March and the worldwide report is already out! I might still do a UK report, and I will keep collecting UK/not UK info about participants so that I always have that option, but for now I’ll just concentrate on the worldwide report and just do the UK report if I feel like it before 2020. And of course the spreadsheet is available to anyone who wants to download it and play with it, so if someone else wants to make some UK-specific statistics happen that is totally possible.

What I’ll do differently next year

In the identity question, I will keep queer as a checkbox option, but I will specify that it’s a gender. Maybe “queer (as gender identity)”? Feedback welcome on this!

In the pronouns question, I’ll change the wording of “none/avoid pronouns” so that it’s clear that it includes just using someone’s name. That’s because a lot of people tried to enter their names as neopronoun sets to express that, and I want to avoid people entering identifying information.

I will ask about age, to make sure that people over 30 are represented by checkbox options. Typically only about 10% of participants are over 30 so I want to make sure as many as possible are comfortable taking part. I’ll group ages into sets of 5 years (21-25, 26-30, etc.) to reduce risk of people being identified, and because entering an exact age probably feels a little more uncomfortable.

After 2020, any identity word, title or pronoun that is entered by less than 3% of participants and less than 3% of participants over 30 can be removed in future surveys. (I am a little concerned about this part, because it’ll make the work more complicated for me, and more work means more risk of epic procrastination. I’ll do my best!)

I’ve finally admitted to myself that I need to separate man and boy, and woman and girl. Currently it’s “woman (or girl if younger)” and “man (or boy if younger)”, and every year plenty of people skip those options in the checkboxes and type in “girl (but not woman even though I’m not a minor)” or something like that, and next year I’ll be asking about age so that’ll be an easy way to determine if there are any adults who are comfortable with one and not the other. This will increase the number of checkboxes to 30, which is pretty unwieldy and will make it harder yet again for people to find their words and increase the rate at which people drop out of the survey, so I’m glad for the under-3% checkbox removal threshold that I’m introducing from 2021 onwards.

Closing thoughts

I slipped up on a couple of things this year (ambiguity over the word “queer”, for example) - but overall I’m pretty impressed with how well I handled it all compared to last year. (I had recently moved house and was trying to rebuild my life, so I didn’t have a lot of spare energy in 2018!)

As always, I’m excited to pore through all your written answers and feedback, and I’m really grateful to everyone who shared the survey link! There were hundreds of RTs and thousands of reblogs, which never ceases to amaze me. Thank you everyone for sharing a small linguistic part of yourselves with me, I hope putting it all together helps you and makes a positive difference to the world!

See also

A list of links to all results, including UK and worldwide, and including previous years

The mailing list for being notified of next year’s survey

~

SUPPORT ME!

I do this basically for free (the crowdfunded money goes entirely on survey software and domain fees), so if you happened to stumble onto my Amazon wishlist and accidentally fall on an Add To Cart button… well, I would be immensely grateful. ;) If you wanted to go and check out Starfriends.org too I reckon Andréa would be pretty chuffed!

[travelingtheusa]

VIRGINIA

2021 Jul 7 (Wed) – We have been working furiously on finalizing plans for the NY Caravan.  We have had to change some things.  One restaurant said they are changing their prices every week because of the high price of chicken.  Really??? How do you run a business like that?

     We set off for NY tomorrow, traveling through PA.  Joe & Diane and Rick & Brenda will travel with us.  Ed & Sue were supposed to go with us but they are stuck here getting their rig fixed.  Maybe they’ll be able to join us in a day or two.  Hank & Brenda will be meeting us at the next campground in Intercourse, PA.  We will be there for 3 nights.  The pre-caravan is on!

 2021 Jul 4 (Sun) – We took Ed & Sue and Joe & Diane over to the PX and Commissary this morning.  Neither of them is retired so they are not entitled to shop in either store. We show our ID and they get to buy what they want.  

       After lunch, we did laundry.  Sheba hawked up a hairball last night and left it on the sheet.  So we pulled the sheet off and took it along with the rest of the dirty clothes, over to the laundry room.

      We all enjoyed a barbecue for dinner.  Afterward, we watched the fireworks that people were setting off across the bay.  There was quite a bit.

 2021 Jul 3 (Sat) – The four of us went to Washington’s Distillery & Gristmill.  It was quite interesting.  Washington had to be convinced to put the stills on his farm but once he did, he had five installed.  His first year of operation, he made more money from whiskey sales than he did from all of his other endeavors combined.  With his gristmill, he was producing flour, grits, cornmeal, and livestock feed.  He was quite the entrepreneur.  

      We stopped at the post office to pick up a package the Rick & Brenda have been waiting for, but it hadn’t arrived.  Then we shopped at the Commissary.  Brenda made hamburgers and baked beans for dinner.  We put out hors oeuvres and drinks for happy hour.  Joe & Diane and Ed & Sue came over to join us for dinner.  (Ed and Sue were supposed to be here but their RV and car both broke down on the way to Fort Belvoir.  They are currently staying at a hotel on base while they wait for repairs.)

    After dinner, we all gathered around for a campfire.

 2021 Jul 2 (Fri) – Joe & Diane lent their car to the couple that broke down.  Not only did their motorhome breakdown, but their car did as well.  Both are getting worked on today.  Since Joe & Diane lent their car to their friends, they needed a ride to the commissary.  We took them at 9 this morning.  They picked up some items at the PX, then food at the commissary.

     At 1:00 PM, we met Rick & Brenda and drove to the Pope-Leheighy House.  It is a home that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was a beautiful architecture and we enjoyed the tour.  Located next to the house was Woodlawn.  This was a beautiful colonial home built by George Washington for his nephew and granddaughter-in-law.  He gave them the house and 2,000 acres from his Mount Vernon property. Unfortunately, we were not able to tour the house.  They were just finishing up a needlepoint display and they had taken all the house decorations down for the display.  They will be putting everything back together and opening to tours again after July 25.

     At dinnertime, I cooked zucchini chips and Paul barbecued an Alaskan salmon. Rick & Brenda made the salad and cooked up some scallops.  It was a good meal.  Afterward, we had a campfire.

 2021 Jul 1 (Thu) – We went food shopping at Amazon Green today. It was a near digital experience.  They have a shopping cart with a scanner.  You dial up the app on your smart phone.  Then as you pick up each item you want to buy, you scan it on your phone.  Shopping bags are already located in your shopping cart; you put the items you scan in your bags.  When you are done, your credit card is charged (Amazon has that info on file) and you leave.  You have no need to go to the cashier.  We changed our minds at the last minute and did not use the app.  I do not like anything that holds on to the information about my credit cards or bank accounts.  We shopped the old fashioned way.

     I went to Great Clips for a haircut.  I tried to talk with the hairdresser but she spoke very poor English and she was hard to understand.  After I got home, I did more chopping on my bangs as I felt they were still too long.

     We stopped at Baja Fresh for lunch.  It was a kind of Mexican fast food place.  The food was ok.  I cooked an elbow macaroni dish for dinner which we shared with Rick & Brenda.  

     I drove to the campground office to pick up the check-in documents for 3 folks coming into the campground.  The office closed at 3 and they still weren’t in.  George & Sue arrived and I gave them their paperwork.  Joe & Diane arrived later around 6; the couple traveling with them had a breakdown and they left them on the road waiting for a tow. Joe & Diane will be traveling with us through Pennsylvania to the New York caravan.

2021 Jun 30 (Wed) – We drove over to WalMart to get an oil change in the truck. While it was being serviced, we walked across the road to Panera Bread and had bagels for breakfast.  We then walked next door and wandered through the World Market then Home Goods looking for new rugs for the RV.  We didn’t find what we wanted.  

     When the truck was done, we drove back to the base PX and bought a new grill.  Paul and Rick had priced the grill on the internet last night and the PX was the cheapest price.  Add to that the fact that they don’t charge tax in the PX and we had a real good savings.

     Merlin came by us wearing his face mask.  He said he started feeling bad last night and worse today.  So he went to the base hospital and got tested for COVID-19 . . . just in case.

     Bonnie has had diarrhea for on and off for the past five days.  We cooked chicken and rice for her one day.  It seemed to help then things got worse again.

     Two rigs have dropped out of the New York caravan. That brings us down to 16 paying rigs. One more drop out, and we will be at the threshold for canceling the caravan.  Hope we don’t lose anyone else.

 2021 Jun 29 (Tue) – The four of us went to the National U.S. Army Museum.  It is new and we haven’t been here before.  We spent over 3 hours wandering around the displays.  There was so much to read and look at.  We had lunch in the cafeteria.  During our visit, we found out that the museum only opened in October last year, 2020, then closed a month later.  They just reopened 2 weeks ago.  

     After we got back, we had dinner together.  Brenda made pasta and I made salad.  Everything was very good.  Merlin was too tired to join us.

 2021 Jun 28 (Mon) – We went into town to look for a grill. We couldn’t find what we wanted. We went to the PX and looked for an RV dealer nearby but there were none.  We picked up pet food at Pet Smart and found a toy for Sheba.  We were delighted!  Lunch was at Famous Dave’s.  I had ribs and Paul had burnt tips.  The food was on the spicy side.

     Rick & Brenda came over for drinks.  We made margaritas.  Another SMART member, Merlin, pulled in today.

 2021 Jun 27 (Sun) – We went into Washington, D.C. for a 12:15 p.m. admission to the International Spy Museum.  Brenda & Rick drove.  We had been there in 2013.  The building and entire area was totally different from when we were last there. The place was huge!  You could easily take 3-4 hours to see everything. The museum was very crowded and it was difficult to get near much of the displays.  But we all managed to enjoy the place any way.

     When we got back to the campground, Rick & Brenda brought their grill over and we enjoyed steak, potatoes and salad.  We visited afterward as it was too breezy to work on the travel guides. We have time to get to them. There’s no hurry.

 2021 Jun 26 (Sat) – We did our laundry early this morning. The laundry room was full of gnats and other flying insects.  We brought wipes to clean off the tables and machines so we could fold our clothes. It was gross!

     We also drove to Food Lion to pick up some groceries and to Office Depot to get the printed copies of the Travel Guide.  We stopped at McDonald’s for lunch; something we don’t do very often.

     We drove to George Mason Gunston Hall with Rick & Brenda this afternoon for a 2:00 p.m. tour  It was an 1800th century home of one of America’s founding fathers.  Mason wrote Virginia’s Bill of Rights, which Jefferson later modeled to write the Bill of Rights for the new nation.  It was a lovely home and had several outbuildings on the property to explore as well.

     Afterward, we stopped at Fair Winds Brewing for beer and BBQ.  We all sat out on the patio and enjoyed beers (except me since I don’t care for beer) and food.  When we got back, we started work on putting the travel guides together. It was slightly breezy and made it difficult to work but we were able to get 11 books done.    

 2021 Jun 25 (Fri) – We finished up the Travel Guide this morning. Brenda and Rick picked us up and we drove first, to Office Depot, then to Occoquan, the quaint little town we discovered a few years ago.  We had lunch at a restaurant on a patio overlooking the Occoquan River.  There were several people in kayaks and on paddle boards.  

     After lunch, we walked down the picturesque street with its historic buildings. We popped into a chocolate shop and had a wonderful visit with the owner of the establishment.  He gave us quite an education on cacao beans and the chocolate process.  We all bought chocolate bars.

     More walking and exploring, then we stopped in to the VFW Lodge.  We sat at the bar and ordered cocktails only to be told they only serve wine and beer.  It didn’t fit the bill so we left.

     We went to a Tiki Bar on the river and had cocktails on the patio then returned to the campground around 5:30 p.m.

 2021 Jun 24 (Thu) – We pulled up stakes and left Fort A.P. Hill at 10:15 a.m.  It was an easy two hour drive to Fort Belvoir.  We had our site number already so we drove directly to the campground rather than stop first at Outdoor Recreation.  Oops!  There was a gated entry into the campground and no room to turn around.  I called the office and got the gate code and we parked on our assigned campsite.  After set up, we hurried over to Outdoor Rec, got checked in, got our permit and other paperwork, then rushed to the main gate to help Brenda & Rick get passes onto base.  They were already there and walking out of the visitor center with their passes.  We got in front of them and led the way to the campground.  Since we had the gate code and they knew their site assignment, we led them directly to the campground.  We advised them to sign in at Outdoor Rec after they were set up.  They didn’t hear (or understand) what we said and took their time setting up.  By the time they went over to check in, the office was closed (open from 9 to 3).

     At 4 p.m., Brenda and Rick came over and we had happy hour until 5:30 p.m.  When they were gone, I popped a pizza in the oven for dinner.  Gene (President of the Nomads) and Sharon stopped by.  They are only here for the one night.  After pizza, we played card games.  SYN (Screw Your Neighbor) and Kings in the Corner were a lot of fun. They left when the sun was going down and it was getting cold.

     Tonight was the last Supermoon of the year.  It is called a Strawberry Moon, because it is when the strawberries are in season.  It was a beautiful sight.

 2021 Jun 23 (Wed) – We stayed in the campground all day working on the Travel Guide for the caravan.  We are pushing to get this done so we can get it copied at the next town. There won’t be any big towns after we leave Fort Belvoir.

2021 Jun 22 (Tue) – We packed up and left Verona at 9:25 a.m. It rained on and off during the drive to Bowling Green where we are caped at Fort A.P. Hill.  It is a fairly new campground with full hookups.  The campground is about half full.  We have a pull through site with no shade.  We are only here for two nights.  We will try to finish up the travel guide so we can get it copied while we are at Fort Belvoir.  We don’t think there will be any big cities between there and when we start the caravan in New York.    

2021 Jun 21 (Mon – First Day of Summer) – We stayed in the campground all day today, working on the travel guide and maps of the NY Caravan.  We only have a few days left before we start to join up with other members of the caravan in D.C.  We are almost done. 

2021 Jun 20 (Sun) – We drove to the Grand Caverns this morning. I bought a two-for-one ticket on Groupon and $40 tickets wound up costing us $19.99.  That’s a pretty good deal!  The caverns were fantastic; every bit as phenomenal as Mammoth or Carlsbad Caverns.  The rooms were huge and there were lots of speleoforms to admire.  In addition, they had formations called shields.  No one knows how they form but they seem to be unique to these caverns.      

      We went to Rack ‘Em Smack ‘Em for lunch.  It was a ribs place.  They were OK. Paul had mac & cheese.  Still pink like them put ketchup in it.      After the caves, we went to the Barren Ridge Winery.  We were supposed to make a reservation ahead of time but didn’t. They were able to seat us out on the patio any way.  I didn’t like any of the white wines.  Paul liked one of the reds and we both enjoyed the port.  So we bought 2 bottles of port and one bottle of the red wine.      

      I cooked some meatballs for dinner that we had bought at the supermarket the other day. They were so spicy hot!  I took one bite and pushed them aside.  We wound up heating up a pizza for dinner.      

      The campground pretty much emptied out today.  I am glad we left for the day so we didn’t get caught up in all the activity of so many trailers moving out. 

      One of the campgrounds we will be going to upstate during the caravan tried to call but I told them to get back to us on Tuesday when we move.  Hopefully, the cell phone signal will be better. 

2021 Jun 19 (Sat) – We worked on the travel guide.  At noon, we packed it in and drove into town for lunch at the Edelweiss Restaurant.  It was a German restaurant with an authentic German waitress.  The food was good, as was the wine and beer.   Next stop was at PetCo to pick up dog food then to Kroeger for groceries and cat food.  Since the cell phone signal is so bad in camp, we made a couple of calls to friends and our grandson while we were out and the signal was good.      

      The campground is chock full of campers.  There is a lazy river that runs next to the campground where they have tubing. Groups of tubers walk by with their big tubes on the way to the launch point.  The day is very warm and muggy.  I bet the water feels good.      

      Bonnie woke Paul up at 2:30 a.m.  She has diarrhea.  She’s been good for a long time.  We stopped giving her the supplements and goat’s milk when we started making sure the food we give her is AAFCO approved.  That seems to have been good enough.  We’ll see if this is one day or another bout. 

2021 Jun 18 (Fri) – Work on the travel guide is going slow. The problem is the very poor internet signal here in the campground.  We just can’t connect which makes it impossible for Paul to get the maps done.        

      We finally took a break at noon and drove into town for lunch.  Staunton (pronounced STAN-TEN) is a very lovely, historic town with lots of brick buildings and round towers.  We had lunch at the Clock Tower Eats & Sweets. The food was bland and unappealing. And the waitress was slow.      

      After lunch, we walked down the block to the Camera Heritage Museum.  What a fascinating place!  The museum, if you could call it that, was a small store front jam packed with cameras from all eras.  The owner followed us around the store as we admired all the cameras, regaling us with stories of cameras and pictures.  His collection was amazing, yet he said it only represented about 25% of his total collection.  He is trying to raise money to buy a building that can house his collection.  Trip Advisor voted him among the top world attractions.  Quite an honor.  Unfortunately, he needs to raise millions of dollars before he can reach his goal.  He only has four years left to do it.      

      When we returned to the campground, there was a long line of RVs coming in.  We sat in our chairs and watched droves of campers arrive all afternoon long.  The campground of more than 200 sites filled up almost completely.  There are lots of children and golf carts.  The smell of outdoor cooking and campfires fills the air. We tried to have a campfire but it was too hot sitting in the sun in front of the fire.  We got up halfway through and went back in to the air conditioning to watch the fire through the window.  Lol. 

2021 Jun 17 (Thu) – We went to the Augusta Military Museum. When a soldier returned home after the Civil War, he found all the schools burned down.  Wanting the boys/men to have a decent education, he built a school.  It later became a military academy when it was obvious that better discipline was needed. But it was not intended to be a preparatory school for military service, although many of the boys went on to service in the military.  The school remained in service until 1984 when it closed due to financial difficulties. The museum was in the home of the former schoolmaster and exhibits were displayed in four small rooms on the first floor.  We also watched a half hour video about the school and the men who attended.      

      Next, we went to a local restaurant for lunch.  The interior had tables and booths arrayed around a large, open room. The waitress was very fast and efficient – a delight down here in the south.  The food, however, was terrible.  I had a chicken salad wrap that had too much vinegar in it.  Paul had a mixed wrap that was very dry (it was ham, turkey, cheese, tomato and lettuce).  It needed mayonnaise.  His mac & cheese was pink, making us think they put ketchup in it.      

      After lunch, we went to the Stonewall Brigade Museum.  It was all about the history of a local unit from the French & Indian Wars to today’s Gulf War.  It was small compared to many other museums we have been to but it accomplished its purpose.      The campground is filling up.  It will be full this weekend.  The camper next to us has two large dogs that they don’t leash.  In addition, the owner doesn’t pay attention to what his dogs are going so that means he’s not picking up after them.  We will have to make a complaint.      

      The Verizon cell service around here sucks!  I can’t open the mail and other postings just sit there.  The Internet is inaccessible at this point.  Even in town, the service is severely limited. This town must be down in a big hole. **sigh**  Not even the cell phone booster we bought is helping. 

2021 Jun 16 (Wed) – We rode to Staunton today. First stop was at the Yelping Dog for lunch.  It was a pizza and taproom.  We each had a glass of wine and a sandwich.  After lunch, we walked up and down the street.  The town was very quaint and had lots of historic buildings and shops.        

      Next, we went to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum.  There were three buildings.  The first one we entered was the home that Woodrow Wilson was born in.  He only lived in the house for 18 months then his family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. There was lots of family in Staunton though, so they came back to visit often.  Woodrow Wilson always thought of Staunton, VA as his home even though his family moved several times.  He was the only president to earn a doctorate despite the fact that he had a learning disability that made it very difficult for him to read.  What an interesting character he was!      

      The middle building was a private home where they placed the ever popular gift shop. The third building was the museum. There was a display of a WWI trench. That kind of thing always makes me shudder.  It was thought to be so cutting edge in its day yet it was so barbaric.  Ugh.  We walked through rooms with lots of plaques to read and artifacts to view. 

2021 Jun 15 (Tue) – We packed up and left Fancy Gap at 9:30 a.m. The weather (finally) was clear with blue skies.  It was a long drive.  We stopped at a humongous truck stop.  They had 500 parking spaces for trucks with a truck wash, medical testing for drugs, a clinic, a steak place, a fast food eatery, and fuel station.  We just parked to use the bathroom and walk the dog and then were on our way.  We arrived at the campground at 1 p.m.        

      This is a KOA.  It is a large campground spread out over low hills with lots of grass and trees.  It is very pretty to look at.  There is a river and waterfalls at the back of the park. They rent tubes for campers to float on the river.  There are lots of things to do – a large pool, four hot tubs (currently closed), pool tables, a video arcade, horseshoe pits, etc.  We have a 30-amp and water hookup but no sewer.  The bathrooms are pretty far away.  There are rabbits everywhere!  They even have signs us warning not to pick up or chase the rabbits and they sell food to feed them.      The cell phone signal in this campground is the pits!  I can’t post on Facebook and it is difficult to research anything on the internet.  This will be a tough week since we have to start coordinating with the various campgrounds and venues for the caravan.      

      We spent the afternoon and evening working on the travel guide.  Things are starting to come together nicely. 

2021 Jun 14 (Mon) – We took a ride into town for lunch at the Gap Deli.  The food was pretty good.  Afterward, we drove around the area for a bit.  This a beautiful area.  Lots of greenery and well built homes. 

2021 Jun 13 (Sun) – We stayed in the campground today, working on the paperwork for the caravan.  We did the laundry and bought dinner from the office.  The smoker was going all day and the smell was very appealing.  

2021 Jun 12 (Sat) – We took a break and went for a drive, stopping at 13 Bones for lunch.  The ribs were not that good yet the place was packed.  We figured it must be something pertinent to this region.  We also stopped at WalMart to do some shopping. Returned home in the worst rainstorm. Ugh.  Thunderstorms rolled through and poor Sheba spent the day hiding in the closet. 

2021 Jun 11 (Fri) – We stayed in the campground all day working on the documents for the caravan.  Our tail gunner had put together maps but we couldn’t get the program he used to mesh with the program we are using to create the Travel Guide.  Paul wound up having to recreate all the maps.  Ugh.  What a waste of effort!

      We had lunch and dinner at the KOA BBQ office.  We met a couple parked to us from NC.  We had a very interesting conversation until our dinner was delivered.  Ray asked for information about SMART.  Paul gave him a magazine.  We would have given him a brochure but it got rained on the other day and we lost all the brochures we had sitting out for people to take.  We will have to send for more.

 2021 Jun 10 (Thu) – We went food shopping at the Food Lion today.  Before then, we stopped at Aunt Bea’s Dining Room for lunch.  It was a kind of cafeteria.  You picked your food from a variety of items on a hot table, then sat at a table in the dining room.  It was ok.

 2021 Jun 9 (Wed) – We took a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway today.  There are so many lush, green trees in this state.  We stopped at the Mabry Mill, an historic Appalachian homestead on the parkway.  It had a mill, a sawmill, a blacksmith shop, and other artifacts.  A ranger was working in a shed on a weaving loom.  She explained the process to us and showed examples of her work.  It was an interesting stop.  Also along the Blue Ridge Parkway was a rail fence exhibit that showed several different types of fence made by wooden posts and poles.

      We stopped at a winery in Floyd.  You could only have a tasting if you were fully vaccinated.  Since I am not vaccinated, we sat out on the patio and had a glass of wine with bread, cheese, meats, and fruits.  Neither of us enjoyed the wine but the experience was nice.  It rained pretty hard most of the day.

      The program for the Max Air Fan in the kitchen arrived.  Unexpectedly, it worked!  The fan is now in action again.  How wonderful!

 2021 Jun 8 (Tue) – Well, I am back from New York. It was a long 3 weeks.  I had originally planned to help out my sister, Susan, after knee surgery but she changed her mind and cancelled the surgery.  My plans were already made so I left them alone.  I stayed at her house and borrowed her Tesla during my stay.  That is quite a car!  Great for a speed demon like my sister.

      I had a PET scan at Memorial Sloan Kettering.  The results were spectacular!  There were no metabolically active lymph nodes.  Unfortunately, my oncologist moved to Texas and a new doctor was assigned to me but could not fit me into her schedule.  I will see her at my next appointment.  I asked the nurse if I could stop the chemotherapy but she said to continue as usual until I talk with the doctor.

      I also saw the cardiologist.  He ordered a stress test which I passed with flying colors.

      I got to visit with my brother, Chris, and brother and girlfriend, Dennis & Denise, over the holiday weekend.  I took my grandson, Caiden, out a few times and visited with my daughter and husband, Lilah & Kenny.  I also stopped over my Cousin Claude’s house and visited with him and his daughter, Kathy.  I also caught up with our friend, Jan, who happened to be outside in her garden when I drove by.  She had knee surgery and is recovering nicely.  And I got to have dinner with my daughter, Gina.

      Susan volunteers at a wildlife rescue center and I was able to go with her twice.  That place was overrun with raccoons, squirrels, and ducklings.  Wow!  There were many other types of animals and birds there as well.  Susan’s daughter, Sharon, flew home for a few days and we went into the city for a day.  Sharon has ongoing dental treatments at a specialist in New York City.  Except for less people and cars, everything looked the same. 

      My flight home was disrupted by thunderstorms and I wound up spending a night at a hotel in Baltimore.  But I ultimately made it home to my honey.  While I was gone, Paul got the Spyder Control program fixed and we are back on the road!  We were afraid that we would have to cancel the caravan if we didn’t get the problem resolved.  Thankfully, that didn’t happen.

[freenewstoday]

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/22/ornge-now-using-ambulance-buses-to-transport-covid-patients-to-kingston-and-other-cities/

ORNGE now using ambulance buses to transport COVID patients to Kingston and other cities

KINGSTON — ORNGE transportation units are now using ambulance buses to help with the transport of COVID-19 patients.

The multi-patient buses are on loan from York Region Paramedic Services and Toronto Paramedic Service. They would usually be used for a mass casualty situation, and can accommodate large numbers of people in an emergency.

Dr. Michael Lewell, ORNGE associate medical officer, tells CTV News Ottawa that ORNGE is using the bus to transfer two patients at a time.

He says the benefit of the ambulance buses is it helps move patients who are being transferred from the same hospital to the same location.

“Instead of using four paramedics in two ambulances, we can put two critical care paramedics in the bus, one with each patient, and someone to drive and help with logistics,” he explains. “And that allows us to staff another ambulance elsewhere in the system with the other paramedics, so we’re maintaining even more movement of patients within the GTA.”

Lewell says they can only have two patients on board, due to the nature of the virus.

“In the setting of critical care where the need for mechanical ventilators and multiple infusion pumps and the oxygen to move all of those and power all of those, we can’t use multiple, multiple patients on the same bus.”

Reg Hart with Kingston General Hospital calls the buses “important.”

“They’re quite important actually in helping improve the efficiency that’s been happening,” Hart tells CTV News Ottawa. “Usually they transport one patient at a time, so yesterday we were able to receive two ICU patients along with all their equipment.”

On Wednesday, ORNGE transported 59 patients by land and air to create ICU capacity in the GTA. That’s the highest single day for transfers in April, according to officials.

The buses were first used on Wednesday to transport patients from Scarborough to Kingston, says Lewell, because the distance between Kingston and the GTA allows for land transfer.

Kingston General Hospital says as of Wednesday, there were 46 COVID-19 patients being treated in the hospital, with the majority in the ICU.

Hart says Kingston will continue to play a pivotal role in easing ICU over capacity.

“We have expanded our critical care space from 65 to 95 beds and we’ve been asked to look at potentially if we’re able to expand to 20 beds if needed,” he explains.

With 800 patients in ICU in the Ontario as of Thursday, Lewell says ORNGE has tripled its capacity to transport patients already.

With the demand on hospitals expecting to dramatically increase in the coming weeks, Lewell says they continue to look at ways to move patients as needed, including whether more ambulance buses are needed.

“It’s very sobering to know that looking ahead to next month, it is the potential, the volume of transports, we’re just not going to be able to meet the requirements because we’re at our maximum threshold,” Lewell says. “In that regard, we have other contingency plans to build capacity in the health care system to be able to meet the anticipated volumes.”

var addthis_config = services_exclude: "facebook,facebook_like,twitter,google_plusone"; jQuery(document).ready( function() window.fbAsyncInit = function() FB.init( appId : '', // App ID channelUrl : 'https://static.ctvnews.ca/bellmedia/common/channel.html', // Channel File status : true, // check login status cookie : true, // enable cookies to allow the server to access the session xfbml : true // parse XFBML ); FB.Event.subscribe("edge.create", function (response) Tracking.trackSocial('facebook_like_btn_click'); );

// BEGIN: Facebook clicks on unlike button FB.Event.subscribe("edge.remove", function (response) Tracking.trackSocial('facebook_unlike_btn_click'); ); ; requiresDependency('https://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#async=1', function() addthis.init(); ); var plusoneOmnitureTrack = function () $(function () Tracking.trackSocial('google_plus_one_btn'); ) var facebookCallback = null; requiresDependency('https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=', facebookCallback, 'facebook-jssdk'); );

var addthis_config = services_exclude: "facebook,facebook_like,twitter,google_plusone"; jQuery(document).ready( function() window.fbAsyncInit = function() FB.init( appId : '', // App ID channelUrl : 'https://static.ctvnews.ca/bellmedia/common/channel.html', // Channel File status : true, // check login status cookie : true, // enable cookies to allow the server to access the session xfbml : true // parse XFBML ); FB.Event.subscribe("edge.create", function (response) Tracking.trackSocial('facebook_like_btn_click'); );

// BEGIN: Facebook clicks on unlike button FB.Event.subscribe("edge.remove", function (response) Tracking.trackSocial('facebook_unlike_btn_click'); ); ; requiresDependency('https://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#async=1', function() addthis.init(); ); var plusoneOmnitureTrack = function () $(function () Tracking.trackSocial('google_plus_one_btn'); ) var facebookCallback = null; requiresDependency('https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=', facebookCallback, 'facebook-jssdk'); ); Source

[shirlleycoyle]

Leaked Messages Show How Amazon Handled Initial Coronavirus Outbreak

"Hey team—I know it's been a long 36 hours and you all have probably heard things or seen the news, but I wanted us to all be on the same page here," wrote the station manager of DBK1, an Amazon delivery station in Queens, to the warehouse's management in an internal chat at 3:42 PM on March 19. 

"We did in fact have a confirmed case of COVID-19 at DBK1 yesterday," he continued, according to screenshots of an internal Amazon messaging app obtained by Motherboard. "We escalated the information as soon as we were informed and actioned on it quickly with our partners up to and including Tim Collins [vice president of Global Amazon Logistics]."

These communications refer to the first reported coronavirus case at an Amazon warehouse in the country. Amazon has since reported that at least 20,000 workers have tested positive for COVID-19 nationwide. 

Although the media first reported the case on March 18, warehouse management at DBK1 in Woodside, a working-class neighborhood in Queens that would quickly become the epicenter of New York City's COVID-19 outbreak, did not begin sending out official communications to warehouse workers until a day later. Workers initially learned of the case via a text message from a worker-led group called Amazonians United New York City—and staged protest outside the building. 

A collection of internal documents, handouts, and communications from DBK-1 obtained by Motherboard from the early days of the pandemic paints a picture of how Amazon scrambled to handle its first COVID-19 cases and implement COVID-19 safety protocols. According to the documents, Amazon failed to comply with New York City paid sick leave laws resulting in what a group of workers claim were wrongful terminations, sent managers to Costco, 7-Eleven, and elsewhere to buy out entire stocks hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes, and disinfectant, which Amazon had run out of, as well as drinking water for workers experiencing "heat stress," and used video surveillance to conduct contact tracing on workers who may have been exposed to COVID-19.

"Please before coming in for your next shifts stop at whatever store you can and grab as much hand sanitizer/Clorox wipes as you can find, we're running low," a manager wrote in a group chat in March.

"No wipes in Costco. Next best thing, they come in packs of 3," another manager later wrote to the chat alongside a photo of three bottles of Meyer's Multi-Surface Cleaner. "How many should I get?"

"All of it," another manager responded. "Like seriously. We won't get another chance." Managers then spoke about hiding the bottles of cleaner in a manager's office where warehouse employees couldn't have access to them: "I suggest it stays in the office and only brought out by managers," one person wrote. A few hours later, a seemingly large shipment of disinfectant had come in. "Looks like we're gonna be okay," a user of the group chat wrote.

The documents also show that managers conducted contact tracing using grainy warehouse surveillance footage. On a group chat, managers struggled to identify which workers had come into contact with workers who had tested positive for COVID-19: "It's very grainy, but it looks like there's one additional male at this table that is not one of the previous folks identified," a manager wrote in the group chat. "Are you able to identify the last male just knowing the group?" Managers would then share screenshots of the employee IDs and internal profiles of workers who were suspected to have been exposed. 

Maria Boschetti, a spokesperson for Amazon, told Motherboard, "Amazon prioritizes the safety and health of its employees and has invested billions of dollars to provide a safe workplace, which is why at the onset of the pandemic we moved quickly to make more than 150 COVID-19 related process changes. This is in addition to supplying masks, gloves, thermal cameras, thermometers, disinfectant spraying in buildings, increased janitorial teams, additional handwashing stations, hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, and COVID testing at hundreds of our sites."

According to internal communications between managers, DBK1 also frequently missed safety audits—routine check-ups on internal and external operations—and failed to adhere to social distancing guidelines, which Amazon monitors using surveillance cameras that use proximity detection to track concentrations of workers that exceed a certain threshold. 

"Team—I understand that we all have a lot going on at the station right now, but we cannot use that as an excuse to miss on safety audits," a station manager wrote in March. "We are the only site in the region that has any misses this week."

After the first case was reported on March 18, the DBK1 station manager warned managers that after shutting down for a deep cleaning overnight, the warehouse was operating at a very low volume and that warehouse workers weren't showing up for their shifts, as New York City began to be locked down. At the time, the warehouse closure marked one of the few times in the company's history that Amazon has shut down operations at a warehouse in the United States. 

Image: Jason Koebler

The early days of the coronavirus pandemic were chaotic not just at Amazon but across the board, with widespread panic, conflicting messages from public health officials and politicians, and shortages of many basic supplies such as toilet paper and disinfectant. 

But Amazon—a company that has a comprehensive intelligence program to identify threats to its business and an extensive manufacturing business in China, where COVID-19 raged for months before it spread widely in the United States—did not seem to have a coherent strategy or the supplies necessary to deal with an outbreak. New York City announced its first confirmed coronavirus case on March 1, more than two weeks before Amazon had a confirmed case.

The documents mirror reports from around the United States that Amazon, the largest and most sophisticated online retailer in the world, was ill-prepared and on the tipping point of breaking down in the early days of the pandemic. In California, Amazon is facing scrutiny for failing to comply with outstanding subpoenas requesting more information about the company's COVID-19 health and safety practices. On December 14, the state's attorney general announced that it is taking Amazon to court. 

This happened despite the company having a highly sophisticated global intelligence team tasked with tracking threats to its employees, facilities, and assets. Presumably the company would have been aware of the World Health Organization's guidance on preparing for COVID-19, which was first released on January 10, 2020. By March 17, as states and cities descended into lockdown, Amazon was running out of basic household goods, including food, soap, sanitizer, and toilet paper, forcing the company to temporarily suspend shipment of items that weren't in high demand. Amazon's own facilities—at least DBK1—had run out of some of these supplies for its employees' use as well.

Less than a week after the first case was reported at DBK1 in Queens, the warehouse's leadership sent out internal messages that two more workers had tested positive for COVID-19, and posted a series of scripts with talking points for managers to communicate to warehouse workers, in particular those who had been in contact with infected employees, about COVID-19. 

The documents informed managers to tell workers that they could not distribute face masks because of a global shortage and discouraged workers from wearing N95 masks, though workers were allowed to supply their own masks. "Do not print or distribute hard copies of the messaging," handouts for managers read. 

On March 25, Amazon's global human resource division, known as the Employee Resource Center [ERC], failed to inform all warehouse workers about the warehouse's temporary closure after a third worker tested positive for COVID-19, and people showed up to work.  

The DBK1 station manager told the warehouse's leadership on March 25, "It's unacceptable that the ERC missed here, but at the end of the day the mistrust will be towards us, not the ERC, if [workers] are not confident in the communication."

In early March through May, Amazon managers were also given instructions on messaging surrounding walkouts and petition drives led by a group called Amazonians United NYC. The group had formed at DBK1 in early March to raise concerns that the warehouse had violated New York City paid sick leave laws, which mandate that companies with more than five employees provide 40 hours of paid sick time to workers. 

The workers claimed Amazon had illegally fired workers who did not show up for their shifts, and was not offering them an opportunity to be reinstated. Internal messages between managers show Amazon struggling to come up with a response about the error. When a manager chimed in to ask if workers fired for absences would be reinstated, the station operations manager wrote, "this is unknown."

"We recently identified a clerical error that misclassified the location of DBK1, which led to an error in the sick time you accrue," a set of talking points for managers to read to warehouse workers at the time said. 

Internal messages between managers also show that some warehouse workers were working shifts that lasted more than 12 hours, in violation of Amazon policies. 

In the spring, Amazon also began facing widespread spontaneous protests and walkouts organized by workers who wanted more transparency about COVID-19 cases in their warehouses and stronger health and safety protections.

Another set of confidential handouts informed Amazon managers about how to talk to workers how the company would "protect" workers "from intimidation from [Amazonians United NYC]," and May Day walkouts planned at Amazon warehouses around the country. 

As the pandemic progressed, internal communications show that the warehouse's handling of social distancing policies improved, and protests and actions around the country have since died down. 

Do you work for Amazon and have a tip to share with us about your working conditions? You can contact the reporter Lauren at Lauren.gurley@vice.com or securely on Signal 201-897-2109.

At the same time, corporate leadership continues to be concerned about protests and internal organizing at its warehouses. In the lead-up to the holiday season, known as peak season, Amazon's North American Employee Relations Team required managers to attend a new, virtual training program on protest management. 

"This training will specifically cover Protest Management heading into the Peak season, and is designed to be a refresher on protocols, how to address developing concerns/protests in a timely manner, and where to find vetted resources in real-time," a message sent to Amazon warehouse managers in the New York City metro area read. 

Leaked Messages Show How Amazon Handled Initial Coronavirus Outbreak syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[abwanderlust]

Consuming Culture

Every person thinks that they know what consumption means and despite consuming everyday, most people do not have an idea of what consumption is and how it affects the world. By definition, consumption is the usage of goods and services. Consumption in itself is such a vast topic that debates and arguments are still taking place in order to set a threshold. Consumption consists of the goods and services such as shopping, eating, travelling. It can be said that consumption defines the economy of a country and thus, consumption and its consequences play an important role in the world of today. Before studying the unit of consuming culture, my notion of consuming was only related to food and drinks. It has been an eye opener to understand that consuming is not only related to the health of individuals but also related to the health of a country. It is important to critically analyse consuming from various perspectives.

As Hamilton (2005) argues in his article of Affluenza, Australia is considered as one of the richest country and the average income is higher than most countries. However, 90% of its people feels that they have trouble in making ends meet. Are people feeling dissatisfied because of the emphasis on higher income and economic growth ? Are people deprived of their needs or do they feel deprived because they have trouble in recognising the difference between wants and needs. Does more money means more happiness ? These are the questions that needs to be addressed in order to understand consumption. The study of consumption has made a major difference in my own life as it forced me to ponder on the goods and services I am consuming.  

As a young adult in this digital world, everything is accessible with only one click, from informations to shopping to entertainment. The one click has made consumption much more accessible. For instance; Consumption is now extremely easy due to the platform of online shopping. It definitely saves time but also encourages over consumption. With the advancement of web 2.0, I have been able to understand consumerism in depth as an individual. Consumption plays an essential role in our daily life and therefore, related to basic routine and activities. The five  main forms of consumption that takes place in my daily routine are food consumption, music consumption, shopping consumption, the consumption of travelling and utilisation of social media.

The consumption of Food

First and foremost, food consumption is the most popular form of consumerism. According to Wu (2011), food consumption accounts for only 20% - 30% of the total revenue in wealthier households. Slater (1997) claims that consumption is related to culture and therefore, this can be exemplified by the different food culture around the globe. For instance; Breakfast in India consists of tea, “Paratha” ( is a flatbread consumed in the Indian subcontinent which consist of India and its neighbouring countries. The main ingredient is wheat and the word itself is a combination of the words parat and atta, which literally signifies layers of cooked dough), butter and some fried snacks whereas in France, breakfast usually consists of a coffee or orange juice, a croissant, some fruits and a buttered baguette with jam.

To begin with, my knowledge before the study of consumerism, the idea of food consumption related to culture was not yet explored. Food consumption was a basic necessity rather than a want. As such, I now pay a lot more attention to the way food is prepared and served in different restaurant in Mauritius. For example; The famous fast food franchise McDonalds customise their menus according to the food cultures around the globe. As such, the menu of McDonalds in Mauritius has less variety in comparison to the menu of Malaysia. Therefore, it can be said the company has taken into consideration the food culture of the country before establishing its branch.

The consumption of music

Firstly, it might not seem that music is a form of consumption but it has a prominent role in our daily routine. The consumption of music takes place through various platforms such as radio, phones, iPods and concerts. Initially, music started off for the sole purpose of entertainment but has gradually evolved to a career opportunity. Nowadays, music are consumed for various reasons such as expressing oneself, as a stress reliever, as a profession. Music can also be linked to culture as different countries are now producing their own songs which represent their culture. Furthermore, the consumption of music has contributed to participatory culture which can be defined as a culture whereby the public act not only as a consumer but also as a producer or contributor. As such, the amalgamation of these two words has provided the term “prosumers”. For instance; The well known band “Pentatonix” started posting music covers on youTube as a hobby but gradually gained fame and appreciation which has led the band to a successful career in music today.

The consumption of shopping

As claimed by Timothy (2005), Shopping is now one of the most popular leisure activities that people practice around the globe. Nowadays, people are following the western way of life which includes shopping as a hobby. Therefore, it can be deduced that shopping is now rather a want than a need. For instance; In the early days, people used to go shopping only when required whereas nowadays shopping is all about luxuries. Shopping can classified in different categories such as car shopping, fashion shopping, house shopping. Shopping in itself can vary as per the standard of living of the consumers. For instance; Lower income earners will usually shop at a regular market fair whereas the high income earner will shop for the luxury br ands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci or Chanel. Therefore, it can be said that the consumption of shopping itself create a barrier in the society. It can be also added that the consumption of shopping in the first place, has provided brands and businesses the opportunity to expand.

However, as Miles (2010) claims, shopping is consuming our lives but bringing us less satisfaction. It can be added that trends are constantly changing and thus, people are always attempting to keep up with the trends leading to a dissatisfaction. As such, the ongoing pursue go keeping up with the trends never end.

The consumption of travelling

Recently, travelling has become more affordable to people as compared to earlier times when it was considered as a luxury service. Hence, travelling is now a way of life whereby people can be classified into different categories of travellers. For instance; Solo traveller, honeymoon couples, businessmen, explorers and tourists. Travelling has also played a major role in the economy as it has created job opportunities in the airlines industry. Miles (2010) argues that consumers are extensively playing a role in how travelling and culture is now related.

Travelling involves not only flights or cruise but also as simple as a road trip. For instance; In 2015, 3 Indian women drove a car from Delhi to London, crossing 17 countries (Mishra, 2015). Prior to this unit, travelling only meant foreign trips to me. However, this unit has made me realised that travelling is anything that allows you to displace from one place to another even if it is a bus. Therefore, it can be said that travelling is consumed everyday.

The consumption of social media

Many young people or even elder people till the age of 60 years old are consuming social media, but why, what is there so intriguing about it ? Well, the answer lies in the question itself, social media is extremely intriguing due to the quantity and quality of information on there. Influencers are one reason that we are consuming social Media so much, be it Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. So many high quality brands, be it Gucci, ColourPop, Nyx Makeup brands are using their influencers to promote these products there and how? Their turnover has increased a lot as compared to when social Media was not in. These influencers have so many followers and do their marketing by creating interesting contents so that they earn money via it. Social Media is one platform via which these influencers make their lives and make money. Brands are relying on the consumption of social networking sites in order to do market their products as well as improvise on their visibility. This might also lead to over consumption of shopping as mentioned above.

As it as it has positive outcomes, social media has some adverse implications as well. People, mostly celebs, are trolled as regards to pictures and contents they use in there which can psychologically affect their health. At times these celebrities know how to handle these trollers but in certain cases these celebs do give it back to them which may create conflict.

Conclusion

Well, to conclude it can be said that social media usage is extremely popular and in late 2019 till 2020 due to the covid 19, 79 percent of the population in the United States had a social networking profile, representing a two percent increase from the 77 percent usage reach in the previous year. It is also very correct to mention that It can be said that consumption designates the economic factor of a country or a single region and hence, consumption is one of the prominent way the world id developing and people are becoming more intelligent but at the same time it do have its negative aspects. And needless to say that consumption for the millennials specifically is not limited to food and drinks only but to so many factors as mentioned above.

Reference list

Frick, V., & Matthies, E. (2020). Everything is just a click away. Online shopping efficiency and consumption levels in three consumption domains. Sustainable Production And Consumption, 23, 212-223. Retrieved from doi: 10.1016/j.spc.2020.05.002

Gabriel, Y., & Lang. T. (2006). The Emergence of Contemporary Consumerism. In SAGE Publications (2nd ed), The unmanageable consumer (pp.14 - 29). Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/curtin/detail.action?docID=334595

Hamilton, C. (2005).  “What is Affluenza”. Curtin Library. Retrieved from

https://ap01.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61CUR_INST/12181857790001951

Miles, S. (2010). “Spaces for consumption”. ProQuest Ebook Central. Retrieved from

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Mishra, A. (2015). “3 Indian Women Drove A Car From Delhi To London Crossing 17 Countries. What A Road Trip !”. Storypick. Retrieved from https://www.storypick.com/indian-women-journey/

Timothy, D. (2005). Recreational shopping, leisure, and labour. Curtin Library. Retrieved from https://ap01.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61CUR_INST/12181858150001951

Slater, D. (1997) ‘The Meaning of Things’, in Consumer Culture & Modernity, Cambridge: Polity, (pp.131-7). Retrieved from https://link.library.curtin.edu.au/ereserve/DC60262343/0?display=1

Stephen C. (1982). Life Styles and Consumption Patterns, Journal of Consumer Research. Volume 8,(4), (pp. 453–455). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1086/208886

Wu, B. (2011). “Family consumption and wealth management”, in Consumption and Management. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/food-consumption

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/jcc-continuing-instruction-successfully-despite-statewide-outbreaks-news-sports-jobs/

JCC continuing instruction successfully despite statewide outbreaks | News, Sports, Jobs

Photo by Cameron Hurst Olivia Surma, a second-year nursing student from Dunkirk, works at one of the many check-in tables on the Jamestown Community College campus. Students are required to fill out a health screening virtually and are given a colored wristband each day in order to proceed to in-person classes.

JAMESTOWN — Each day Daniel DeMarte walks the campus of Jamestown Community College.

It’s important, he says, to be seen by the college’s community especially during the present circumstances — circumstances in which doing so also gives him the chance to reinforce the rules.

“I’m watching, I’m looking and I’m paying attention,” the college’s president since 2018 said. “I like to think that, that helps — that I’m seen, that I’m visible.”

Students not adhering to the safety guidelines borne of COVID-19 are few and far between on this college campus, said DeMarte, which has only reported one confirmed positive case of COVID-19 since the beginning of the semester in late August.

“Occasionally, I’ll see someone with a mask that’s not on properly or they don’t have it on and I’ll gently remind them that we’re all responsible for safety on campus,” he said. “I’ll say to a student, ‘The last thing I need is your mom calling me because you’re sick only to find out that you didn’t have a mask on. Help me avoid that situation.’”

That compliance hasn’t been the case at sister institutions across the State University of New York system: member colleges and universities at Oneonta, Buffalo and across the state saw outbreaks a week into the semester with the former suspending in-person instruction for the duration of the fall semester.

SUNY Fredonia, located north of JCC, reported upwards of 80 cases within a 14-day period, coming close to the 100-case threshold that may have forced instruction to be transitioned to online.

Still, he calls the situation on his campus “fluid” — “There’s a level of unpredictability that requires us to adapt to the situation, there’s a certain level of uncertainty.” And as a result, the campus — usually the heartbeat of the city’s east side — is quiet.

“There’s barely anyone walking around campus this year, so it has a very eerie feeling about it,” said David Talkington, a second-year student pursuing an associate’s degree in environmental science. “There’s also no events, no gym, no sports and no club activities for students. It’s almost as if the college experience doesn’t exist.”

Olivia Surma, a second-year nursing student from Dunkirk who also serves as a resident assistant, agrees.

“So far (the semester) has been going OK, although it does feel a little weird,” Surma said. “It’s definitely a lot more difficult as far as planning events and reaching out to the residents. We have to get super creative with events so a lot of mine are over Zoom this semester.”

Still, being on campus in some form is better than the alternative to some students. Grace Heim, an occupational therapy student who commutes from Westfield, said the transition to online learning last semester was difficult.

“I am the type of person that has to learn hands on and see things being done so that was extremely challenging for me,” she said. “However, it did push me out of my comfort zone and made me learn things in a way that I had not done before and was not comfortable with doing.”

Now Heim is on campus four days a week for her courses. The protocols the college has taken make her feel safe, she says.

“I definitely feel safe on campus. “ she said. “We are always warned about changes or alerted with new information so I feel as if everything is very open to us and we are in the loop about what is happening all of the time.”

“It feels like they have definitely done well with accommodating as best as they could with the current situation so we can get the most out of the “college experience,” Surma said. “They did restart clinicals in the hospital and my labs are able to be in person with a set occupancy, which is very beneficial to me.”

“Everyone wears their mask like they are supposed to and I frequently see janitor staff cleaning throughout the buildings,” said Jessica Mattice, who commutes to the Cattaraugus County campus in Olean from Little Genesee. “There are also many hand sanitizing stations throughout campus. As long as the rules are followed and people are mindful, I feel that there will not be many issues.”

Those protocols have been something DeMarte has worked on with his cabinet each day since the pandemic forced the college to shut down in-person instruction on March 17 for ultimately the rest of the semester.

“Having that much time in it, we have a list of protocols that have been shared widely internally and externally so that by now, the fourth week into the semester, I think it’s becoming sort of second nature,” he said. “Students have been appreciative that they can be on campus.”

He knows the circumstances are not ideal.

“But, at the same time, they’re not losing momentum pursuing their education,” he said. “Eventually it will look like it did — in time. They don’t need to stop if they don’t want to. They’re going to continue to offer courses and programs as we have.”

Mattice is the mother of two children and works two jobs. She’s grateful to be able to continue her education. While the “learning from home” part of the hybrid model is a challenge, she’s grateful for the small perks it is able to provide.

“Having more space to take notes and being able to get up and get a snack (is a nice perk),” she said. “If one of (the children) needed to stay home because they were sick that would also be a perk to having classes online.”

Still, the fear of another shutdown still is in the back of students’ minds — especially those who are far away from home. Anzhelika Mutygulina is a nursing student from Russia. Upon returning for her second year in August, she had to quarantine for 14 days. “The last four felt like years, not days.”

“The outbreak possibility does worry me a lot, because I am an international student and JCC is my home at this point,” she said. “I won’t be able to go back home, and even if I do, it will be hard to come back to the United States to finish me degree. If they have to shut down campus, other students like me and I will have to find a new place to live, which is not very easy at this time.”

Other issues remain: the college had to close a $4 million deficit after last fiscal year that affected staffing and tuition. Talkington notices the strain on his professors.

“(Staff) are still seeing continuous hourly cuts, which limits a lot of the help students need,” he said, noting that his tuition and housing costs went up. “Also, certain professors are seeing more workload than ever before, making it just that much harder on them. The school is short-staffed. … For students, we are paying more but receiving less than a return for our investment.”

“We had a huge gap to close in our budget,” DeMarte said, noting that SUNY leaders all over the state had to cut costs in different ways. “There was no way for us to close the size of that deficit without looking at every conceivable thing that we could in helping to draw down and get through this fiscal year. A small piece of it was tuition. There were lots of other pieces and most of them larger than tuition.”

He added, “While we didn’t like this, we have done other things. Where we can control cost, we will. I’ll also tell you that this college provides a lot of scholarship money, more than any other place than I’ve been and that’s great and that has not subsided in the pandemic. We still have scholarship money that we’re giving out and the aid that students still have access to.”

DeMarte is convinced that the college can outlast this crisis.

“Yes, we’re in a pandemic, but it’s such a part of our nature and part of our culture to find ways to solve problems, to be resourceful, to work through whatever situation is in front of us,” he said. “That’s the mentality. That’s the attitude and that’s true here. People come to work and they want to help. They want this place to survive and they want to do their part in helping.”

Students, meanwhile, are just grateful to be back in class.

“I really do feel that JCC is doing its best to provide students safe environment on campus and give them opportunity to complete their degree in such a hard time the world is going through right now,” Mutygulina said.

“I enjoy being in person so much more than being online,” Heim said. “I love what I am studying, I love being with my classmates, and I love being able to learn hands-on.”

Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox

(function(d, s, id) var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=153405568025727&version=v2.0"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); (document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));

[saastrac]

Binom Review — Affiliate Tracking Software | 31 Days Free Trial + 40% Off Next Month

As an Affiliate Marketer, you need to fit into many roles — Affiliate Partner, Digital Marketer, Social Media Manager, Content Strategist, and many more. So, partner up with the right affiliate programs or use appropriate affiliate tracking software, plan a workable content strategy, budget, and optimize digital marketing campaigns, and the list goes on. Most importantly, you need to keep track of all of that, which becomes quite challenging as it involves multiple dashboards.

Let’s say you are an affiliate for a dozen or more affiliate programs, run campaigns across multiple social media platforms, use third-party landing page creators, and several other digital marketing tools. While this is a completely normal set-up to run the affiliate marketing business, managing it requires a team.

If you are Solopreneur or wish to cut back on your costs, then an affiliate tracking tool like Binom can be of great use. This tool eliminates the need to access multiple accounts through several dashboards by acting as a central dashboard that connects to all others — your affiliate accounts, landing pages, offers, and promotions. Unlike other affiliate marketing software, Binom is one of the most affordable tools that are easy to use. In this Binom review, we would be discussing some of the most striking features of this affiliate tracking software and how it can help simplify affiliate marketing.

01 Month Free Trial + 40% Off At Binom

What is Binom?

Binom is a useful and popular self-hosted tracker designed to help and control affiliate marketing paths such as clicks, promotions, costs, purchases, report creation, delivery of traffic, and more, all in one location. This platform is the undisputed leader that helps in reporting and quick processing of clicks. As the primary goal of using this software is not only to save valuable time but also to provide you with a wide range of features and functions as an inappropriate interface, contributes to loss of time.

The software is specially designed by affiliate marketers for affiliate marketers to gain more with smart filters, advanced traffic delivery, along with a large number of useful features like no-redirect monitoring and many others. In short, Binom operates on a state-of-the-art algorithm that delivers clicks directly to the landing pages which a user has not yet seen, and to which the user has not yet converted its bid.

Moreover, the approach of this software is so advanced that it offers most of the tracking tools at a very interesting and affordable price. A comprehensive survey took place to determine which destination pages are not recognized or converted. It gives them more considerable attention to rising frequency thresholds.

Now that you have a clue about what this affiliate tracking software can do let us check out some of the benefits of using Binom for your affiliate marketing business. Getting a snapshot of what this affiliate marketing software can do would allow you to decide whether or not to choose Binom.  

Benefits of Binom Affiliate Marketing Software

High-Speed Tracking

With 5G on the cards, the internet speed and traffic have spiked up, which makes high-speed click tracking – need of the hour. Binom tracks every click in less than 5 milliseconds, and groups the data instantly.  It helps to make it easier for you to keep track of real-time analytics and to make confident decisions regarding your campaigns.

Analytics like never before

Binom’s dashboard is a goldmine for any affiliate marketer, which offers deep analytics across 26 metrics, 30 additional parameters, with multiple filters and real-time data. That allows you to group the data based on traffic sources — desktop, mobile, tablet, based on the IP-bands and other specifics. Also, you can classify the data based on operating systems, country, IP, browser, etc… to know where your traffic is coming from.

Reliable Infrastructure for Storage

Binom runs on your server and makes use of transactional engines to store the clicks, and therefore you can be sure to get the most accurate data for deep analytics. All the clicks then get classified into various reports, and you can access them without any delay or loss of data. As there is no loss of clicks, and you get the right data, you can calculate your CPC more accurately.

Real-time Tracking

As an affiliate marketer, your business is mainly dependent on the data pulled out by your affiliate tracking software. So, you need real-time data that is both reliable and most recent because that tells how your target audiences are reacting to the campaigns. How to keep track of data can make or break your online advertising and social media campaigns.

Plus, there are so many parameters that needs to be taken into account, both individually as well as collectively, in order to keep track of your CPC. Unless you regularly assess the performance of the campaigns, you would not be able to do that. Binom facilitates this by allowing you to classify clicks by combining them based on over thirty parameters. So, one can mix, and match them, to pull out the exact data that they need. So, if you want to know the exact number of visitors from Berlin who are making use of Android mobile devices, then you can do that quite easily with Binom affiliate tracking software.

One-click Affiliate sign-up

Binom makes it painless for people to add an affiliate network through the easy sign-up process. Besides, this affiliate marketing software also has several premier affiliates listed in its catalog. So, you need to first check for your affiliate program in the catalog, sign in using your login credentials, and copy-paste the post-back URL. So, whether you add one from the catalog or create one, the rest of the process remains the same.

To create an affiliate network:

Select the ‘Aff. Networks’ tab

Click on ‘Create’

Add in the name of the Affiliate Network and hit ‘Save’

You can add in as many affiliate networks as you want to.  The next step is to add the postback URL. Doing this enables the affiliate network to transmit information regarding clicks and conversions to the affiliate tracking software. In other words, the postback URL establishes a link between the affiliate network and the affiliate tracking software. So, once the setup is done, do make it a point to test it.

How to set up a postback URL?

Click on Affiliate Network

Click on Create

Click on ‘Load from Catalog’

Copy the postback URL and click on ‘Save’

Next, log into your affiliate network, paste the postback URL, and save it. With that, the process is done. If you are not sure of where to paste it within the affiliate network dashboard. In fact, that varies from one affiliate network to another but listed under tools and settings. So, if you aren’t sure, then you may contact the customer support of that particular affiliate network, and seek guidance.

Use This Coupon To Get Additional Discount Now!

Maximize your Profits

To succeed as an affiliate marketer, you need to regularly test and analyze what’s working for you and what isn’t.  So, you need insights into the click data to assess the performance of each of your campaigns, and that is exactly what this affiliate tracking software does for you. Once you have narrowed down the most profitable campaigns, you can then further optimize them. Also, you can suspend the campaigns that aren’t doing as well, which helps you minimize your overall costs and generate more profits.

However, none of this is possible without accurate real-time data, and that’s where Binom comes in and solves the problem. This affiliate tracking software helps you analyze your campaigns and figure out which ads are making you money and which aren’t. Also, you can check the best-selling products in a particular region and reinvest in promoting those.

All of this data segregation makes it a whole lot easier to invest in campaigns that generate more profits. Plus, Binom allows you to track cost per click and revenues by entering data regarding the affiliate commission that you are likely to receive. Unless you do this, you could end up spending more than you are earning from a campaign. Also, by using Binom, you can grab useful data that can help you further optimize your campaigns.

Track Offers and Landing Pages

Binom lets you track how a landing page is performing for a particular offer, which makes it less time consuming to make the right business decisions. Binom ensures that you do not forget to add the click ID, by first requiring you to name the offer, then use the offer link and finally choose an affiliate network from the list. This due process eliminates the possibility of forgetting to add the click ID parameter to the link. You then need to choose the affiliate network and other details, click on the ‘Save’ button, and the offer gets created.

Create a competitive atmosphere

As an affiliate marketer, you probably have ad agencies and media buyers, helping you promote your affiliate products. By using Binom, you can track, compare, and share their individual performances. It provides useful insights to your ad agencies and media buyers about which version of an ad or a landing page is performing better on any given platform. You could also give the ad agencies the access to check each other’s campaign analytics so that they know how the audiences are reacting to a particular message. By sharing such insights, you would be providing them with useful data that would, in turn, help you increase your affiliate products’ visibility.

How to install this affiliate marketing software?

Since Binom is an affiliate tracking software, hosted on your server, most people are worried about setting this up. However, there isn’t much that you need to do, and the Binom support team sets it up in less than 15 minutes. Before approaching them, you need to have a server with the necessary prerequisites.  

Therefore, if you don’t already have a server, then it’s time that is invested in a Dedicated Server, VDS, or at least a VPS with 2 cores and 2 GB RAM. So, the type of server that you choose is important, and if you make use of shared hosting, then that won’t work. Once you have that in place, then go ahead and contact Binom’s support team and they will set it up for you and also provide you with the necessary training.

Pricing and Customer Support

Binom offers an easy and convenient pricing option and costs $69 per month and an additional $49 per month for every additional user. This pricing plan charges you per server set-up and not for domains, sub-domains, or clicks. However, most other affiliate tracking software like Voluum, usually designs their pricing plans based on usage.

Binom offers a 31-day free trial period, installs the tracker, and also assists with third-party glitches. So, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to setting up the environment. Plus, while you are trying your hand at this affiliate tracking software, you also receive 24×7 support and training. As the customer care executives are available on Skype and web panel, you need not worry about waiting for assistance.

Conclusion

In this Binom review, we have listed out a handful of features that this affiliate tracking software offers. These features help you make the right business decisions regarding your campaigns. Besides that, you can also optimize your campaigns by running split tests, comparing landing pages, grouping data, sharing useful insights, and more. All this data helps you make the right choices to maximize your profits.

However, we would like to stress the fact that Binom is an advanced affiliate marketing tool. So, if you are a beginner and just getting started with affiliate marketing, then this could turn out to be quite challenging for you. On the other hand, if you have already used free affiliate tracking tools and are used to it, then you should have no problems using Binom.

01 Month Free Trial + 40% Off At Binom

Originally Published On: SaasTrac

About The Author ​ SaasTrac is one of the trusted places where users can find reviews on different Saas Products, Software, and Platforms. Our major goal is to let users know the detailed and the most helpful information possible about every product — the good, the bad, and the ugly in the SaaS space.

[un-enfant-immature]

Privacy assistant Jumbo raises $8 million and releases major update

A year after its initial release, Jumbo has two important pieces of news to announce. First, the company has released a major update of its app that protects your privacy on online services. Second, the company has raised an $8 million Series A funding round.

If you’re not familiar with Jumbo, the app wants to fix what’s broken with online privacy today. Complicated terms of services combined customer-hostile default settings have made it really hard to understand what personal information is out there. Due to recent regulatory changes, it’s now possible to change privacy settings on many services.

While it’s possible, it doesn’t mean it’s easy. If you’ve tried to adjust your privacy settings on Facebook or LinkedIn, you know that it’s a convoluted process with a lot of sub-menus and non-descriptive text.

Similarly, social networks have been around for more than a decade. While you were comfortable sharing photos and public messages with a small group of friends ten years ago, you don’t necessarily want to leave this content accessible to hundreds or even thousands of “friends” today.

The result is an iPhone and Android app that puts you in charge of your privacy. It’s essentially a dashboard that lets you control your privacy on the web. You first connect the app to various online services and you can then control those services from Jumbo. Jumbo doesn’t limit itself to what you can do with APIs as it can mimic Javascript calls on web pages that are unaccessible to the APIs.

For instance, if you connect your Facebook account, you can remove your profile from advertising lists, delete past searches, change the visibility of posts you’re tagged in and more. On Google, you can delete your history across multiple services — web searches, Chrome history, YouTube searches, Google Map activities, location history, etc.

More fundamentally, Jumbo challenges the fact that everything should remain online forever. Conversations you had six months ago might not be relevant today, so why can’t you delete those conversations?

Jumbo lets you delete and archive old tweets, Messenger conversations and old Facebook posts. The app can regularly scan your accounts and delete everything that is older than a certain threshold — it can be a month, a year or whatever you want.

While your friends will no longer be able to see that content, Jumbo archives everything in a tab called Vault.

With today’s update, everything has been refined. The main tab has been redesigned to inform you of what Jumbo has been doing over the past week. The company now uses background notifications to perform some tasks even if you’re not launching the app every day.

The data breach monitoring has been improved. Jumbo now uses SpyCloud to tell you exactly what has been leaked in a data breach — your phone number, your email address, your password, your address, etc.

It’s also much easier to understand the settings you can change for each service thanks to simple toggles and recommendations that you can accept or ignore.

A clear business model

Jumbo’s basic features are free, but you’ll need to buy a subscription to access the most advanced features. Jumbo Plus lets you scan and archive your Instagram account, delete your Alexa voice recordings, manage your Reddit and Dropbox accounts, and track more than one email address for data breaches.

Jumbo Pro lets you manage your LinkedIn account (and you know that LinkedIn’s privacy settings are a mess). You can also track more information as part of the data breach feature — your ID, your credit card number and your social security number. It also lets you activate a tracker blocker.

This new feature in the second version of Jumbo replaces default DNS settings on your phone. All DNS requests are routed through a Jumbo-managed networking profile on your phone. If you’re trying to access a tracker, the request is blocked, if you’re trying to access some legit content, the request goes through. It works in the browser and in native apps.

You can pay what you want for Jumbo Plus, from $3 per month to $8 per month. Similarly, you can pick what you want to pay for Jumbo Pro between $9 per month and $15 per month.

You might think that you’re giving a ton of personal information to a small startup. Jumbo is well aware of that and tries to reassure its user base with radical design choices, transparency and a clear business model.

Jumbo doesn’t want to mine your data. Your archived data isn’t stored on Jumbo’s servers. It remains on your phone and optionally on your iCloud or Dropbox account as a backup.

Jumbo doesn’t even have user accounts. When you first open the app, the app assigns you with a unique ID in order to send you push notifications but that’s about it. The company has also hired companies for security audits.

“We don’t store email addresses so we don’t know why people subscribe,” Jumbo CEO Pierre Valade told me.

Profitable by 2022

Jumbo has raised an $8 million funding round. It had previously raised a $3.5 million seed round. This time, Balderton Capital is leading the round. The firm had already invested in Valade’s previous startup, Sunrise.

A lot of business angels participated in the round as well, and Jumbo is listing them all on its website. This is all about being transparent again.

Interestingly, Jumbo isn’t betting on explosive growth and eyeballs. The company says it has enough funding until February 2022. By then, the startup hopes it can attract 100,000 subscribers to reach profitability.

[williamlwolf89]

ClickBank: The Brutally Honest, Must-Read Guide for 2020

So you want to make money through affiliate marketing, huh?

You can smell the moolah.

And among hundreds of affiliate marketing networks out there, all promising you a piece of the scrumptious $12 billion pie, one has caught your fancy.

ClickBank.

But there’s a problem.

You’ve heard a lot of good things about ClickBank.

You’ve also heard many bad things.

What’s true? What’s fiction? Can you really make money on ClickBank? How can you successfully navigate the rich but perilous ClickBank waters?

That’s what this post’s about.

An unvarnished look at ClickBank, warts and all.

Let’s get to it.

Free Bonus: How to Go From $0 to $1,000 in Passive Income With Affiliate Marketing

ClickBank: Q&A

What is ClickBank?

Founded in 1998 in a garage in San Diego California, ClickBank is one of the granddaddies of affiliate marketing networks.

You can make money with ClickBank as a product vendor or affiliate marketer without working like a frazzled cubicle slave.

Here are some staggering numbers about the ClickBank marketplace:

200 million customers spread across 190 countries

87th largest Internet retailer in North America

276 categories and 21562 product listings

6 million entrepreneurs on the platform

Over 200 million dollars in annual sales

In short: you can make a killing on the network.

The best part?

Joining a lucrative affiliate program on ClickBank is not labor-intensive like writing for money or making money blogging.

ClickBank is a good option for bloggers and entrepreneurs who wish to promote digital and lifestyle products.

How is ClickBank Different From Other Affiliate Networks?

ClickBank is not your typical traditional affiliate network.

Five good things stand out:

Simplicity. The sign-up process is straightforward. You can sign-up within a few minutes and start trading without complicated paperwork to fill or administrative hoops to jump through.

Inclusivity. Anyone can join the network for free. It’s perfect for beginners who want to learn the ropes of affiliate marketing.

Duality. On most affiliate marketing networks you go in either as a vendor or an affiliate. ClickBank allows you to enter the fray both as a vendor and a marketer so you maximize your earnings.

Large Selection. With thousands of dazzling affiliate products in every conceivable niche to choose from, your affiliate program choices are numerous.

Good Commission Rates. ClickBank pays high commissions of up to 75% or even 100%. Plus, they pay fast so you won’t have to wait long to splurge on that you-know-what you’ve had your eye on.

However, there are cons as well:

Slow Customer Service. Some reports from the Better Business Bureau claim ClickBank may take up to 7 days to respond to customer emails.

Charges on Dormant ClickBank Accounts. You are charged $1 per day after 90 days of no earnings, $5 per day after 180 days of inactivity, and a hefty $50 per day after 360 days of no sales.

Some Junk Products. More about how to overcome this in a bit.

Fierce Competition for Quality Programs. A good problem to have, if you ask me.

What are the Sign Up Requirements for ClickBank?

ClickBank is free for anyone, both new affiliates and old, to join.

All you need to join is:

Live in an eligible country

Enable cookies in your browser

Have a Tax ID or Social Security number (if you live in the U.S.)

If you plan to register as a vendor, you must pay a one-time activation fee of $49.95. You pay only $29.95 for any additional accounts.

What Affiliate Programs are Available with ClickBank?

Whether you are a tentative newbie who wants to dip a toe into this make-money-online thing or a veteran who wants to grow her earnings, ClickBank has got you covered.

There are many affiliate programs and product categories to choose from:

Arts & Entertainment

As Seen on TV

Betting Systems

Business/Investing

Computers/Internet

Cooking, Food, & Wine

E-Business & E-Marketing

Education

Employment & Jobs

Fiction

Games

Green Products

Health & Fitness

Home & Garden

Languages

Mobile

Parenting & Families

Politics/Current Events

Reference

Self-Help

Software & Services

New Age & Alternative Beliefs

Sports

Travel

Not sure where to start? No worries.

Dan Brock, of Deadbeat Super Affiliate, reveals seven hot niches you can try in this video.

What are ClickBank’s Payment Methods?

With ClickBank, you can receive payments in four different ways:

Payment Method #1: Check

The good old paper check is the default payment option. It’s mailed to the address listed in your account.

Payment Method #2: Direct Deposit

ClickBank offers direct deposit in the U.S. and other select countries at no extra charge. Direct deposits take 1-2 business days to reach your account.

Payment Method #3: Wire Transfer

You can receive payments by wire transfer. This option is for countries not covered by international direct deposit. Payments take up to 5 days (depending on where you live).

Payment Method #4: Payoneer

You can also get paid using the Payoneer Mastercard, an international money transfer service you can get for free. Payoneer allows you to open a U.S bank account where your money is deposited.

As you see, ClickBank gives you a lot of options. Plus:

ClickBank doesn’t tie you to the payment method you’ve chosen.

You can change your payment method at any time. It’s your money, so you receive it your way. But, it may take up to seven days for the new payment method to work.

Whenever you change your email address or password, you can’t switch payment methods for a week. This protects you from fraudsters.

You can set the payment threshold as low as $10.

Is ClickBank a Scam? Or, as the Kids Would Say, is ClickBank Legit?

Is ClickBank an elaborate racket or a genuine business?

Yes, it’s true. Some ClickBank affiliate programs are of low quality. Overhyped junk products are a dime a dozen. But that’s half the story.

There are solid programs on there too.

ClickBank’s like a mega supermarket packed with assorted goods.

Don’t like what’s on the shelf? No problem. Move to another aisle. You’ll soon find what you want.

With a seemingly infinite number of digital products from entrepreneurs all over the world to choose from, your perfect product awaits.

That’s why millions of entrepreneurs are on the platform. Some ClickBank affiliates and vendors have been with them for decades.

But, ultimately, it’s your reputation on the line. You owe it to yourself and your audience to double-check every program before you join it.

Here are some tips to help:

5 Smart Ways Not To Get Burned on ClickBank

To weed out the garbage and uncover the gemstones, follow these tips when choosing a product:

1. Try the product first

You genuinely want to help people, right? Then why not ask for a review sample product from the vendor to see if it’s the real deal. If they say no, buy the product yourself. This way, you’ll be sure of the product’s authenticity.

2. Check the product reviews

Scour through customers’ feedback about the product you intend to sell. Not just reviews by other affiliates because those may be biased. Look for reviews on trusted review sites like Trust Pilot. If the product is popular, it’s likely to have been reviewed somewhere on the web.

3. Check the product’s gravity score

Gravity is the number of affiliates who have sold a vendor’s product in the last 12 weeks. The higher the gravity, the higher the product’s trustworthiness. Each gravity point is an endorsement of the product.

4. Watch out for overblown claims

While it’s possible to make money on ClickBank, it’s not magic. If a program promises you a million dollars overnight while you binge-watch Friends on Netflix, stay away.

They’re fake. They’re tricksters. And they’re out to get you.

Run, and never look back.

5. Be on the lookout for shadowy vendors

Cheats lurk in the shadows. They don’t want to show their faces.

Google vendors that interest you.

Can’t find them? Think twice.

Good vendors have a traceable online history.

Editor’s Note:

These tips aren’t only for ClickBank — smart bloggers and entrepreneurs use them for CJ Affiliate, ShareASale, eBay Partner Network, Amazon Associates, and every other affiliate network.

It doesn’t matter how much affiliate marketing experience you have or how well known the affiliate network is, you need to do your homework.

How Do I Sign Up for ClickBank?

Let’s go through the step-by-step process.

To sign up for an account, go to clickbank.com and click on ‘create account’ on the top right side of the menu.

Next:

Step 1: Fill in your personal info

Make sure you complete all fields otherwise you won’t be able to move to the next step.

Click on ‘next step.’

Step 2: Provide your bank details

Remember to check the small box to acknowledge that you’ve read the terms and conditions.

If you want to be paid through your company enter your business name in the Payee field instead of your personal name.

Your bank info is not used to send payments. That’s why they don’t ask for your account number, just the name of your primary bank.

You pick a payment method after your account is created.

Click on ‘next step’ to move on to the last step.

Step 3: Create your account

You’ll then be asked to create a nickname.

Your nickname is your user ID. It’s visible to all customers, so don’t make it too personal.

Affiliate marketing strategy expert Warren Wheeler shares a little-known but powerful secret you can use when creating your ClickBank user ID.

The last step is creating your password. Once you’ve chosen a strong password, click ‘create account’ to finalize your account.

You’ll see a customer survey page. Once you see it, know that your account is now active.

Congratulations!

You’re now ready to do business on one of the biggest affiliate marketplaces in the world.

How Does ClickBank Work? Crucial Code Terms To Master

Before you begin choosing ClickBank affiliate programs, be sure to familiarize yourself with the language used on the platform.

Here are some key ClickBank terms to master:

Gravity – This figure tells you how many affiliates have successfully sold the product in the past 12 weeks. The higher the gravity the greater your chances of succeeding with that program. It’s updated daily and can go up to 600+. A product with a gravity score of at least 50 is a safe bet.

Initial $/Sale – This number portrays the average dollar value of an initial sale, excluding rebills, credited to the affiliate.

Avg %/Sale – Represents the average affiliate commission percentage for a sale, including both initial and rebill commissions.

Avg %/Rebill – Represents the average total affiliate commission percentage for a sale, including only rebill commission, for a recurring billing product.

Your true north? The one metric that should guide you?

Gravity.

Why?

Because it shows you what’s selling now.

All other metrics are secondary.

Most affiliate marketers rush headlong, look for the product with the biggest commission and highest gravity.

That’s the wrong way to go about it.

Here’s how to do it right…

How To Make Money With ClickBank: Unearthing Gem Programs And Sidestepping Rubble

Let’s say you want to sell a health and fitness product.

First, click on the affiliate marketplace on the menu and then choose your category on the left:

You’ll then see a list of products displayed. You can choose how the results are sorted: popularity, Ave $/Sale, Initial $/Sale, Ave %/Sale, Gravity, and so on.

Results are sorted according to a program’s popularity by default. Zoom into the product that meets your predetermined metrics. Two crucial metrics to consider are gravity and Average $/Sale aka your cut.

Here’s a product with potential:

With a high gravity of 137 and a fine commission of $66, this program can be a moneymaker. Now that you’ve found a good product, it’s time to click promote and enjoy the delightful ka-ching cash register sound, right?

Not so fast, my friend.

Dig deeper.

Go to the program’s affiliate page to find out more about the product.

Always be on the lookout for vendors with affiliate promotion tools pages. These are serious vendors who have done the heavy lifting for you to make your work easier.

Typical tools you’ll find include:

Banners

Product images

Videos

Pre-sell content

Swipes for email marketing campaigns

Keywords

Press releases

Landing pages / sales pages

Opt-in rates

Customer demographics

Here’s an example:

Surely with all these materials on hand, even a slacker like you can make this work. 🙂 Remember, these tools are tried and tested. Use them as they are. Only tweak them if you are double sure the change will make them a better fit for your audience.

Another cool tip is to search for discounts on the affiliate program page so you get a bigger cut.

When you’re done, click promote, fill in your account details, and grab the affiliate links you’ll use to promote the product:

That’s how you join a solid program.

Now, want to explode your profits?

How To Make Money On ClickBank: 4 Top Tips to Rake In Big Bucks

I won’t lie to you.

Making money on ClickBank, like anything worthwhile, won’t be smooth sailing, especially at the beginning.

It’ll take creativity, trial and error, a jumbo size coffee urn for that much-needed caffeine fix — and loads of patience.

Here are 4 tips to help get you started:

1. Don’t be obsessed with high gravity and $/Sale

It’s not necessarily the product with the highest gravity or Ave$/Sale you should focus on.

Programs with a very high Av$/Sale have stiffer competition.

And, they usually have lower conversions.

Those in the middle have higher conversions.

Find the right balance.

2. Wrap up your offer in relevant content

Successful affiliate offers hinge on context. You can put the offer on your newsletter, a high-performing blog post, or on a ‘products we recommend’ page.

Here’s a little case study of this tactic right here on Smart Blogger. Click on ‘Tools We Recommend’ on the menu and you’ll see this:

What I love about this is that they don’t just provide a bare shopping list of resources like many sites do. They package their recommendations in the form of a post. This way the endorsements look natural, not forced.

The result? More sales.

You can craft a special piece of content for specific offers.

Think of it like a jigsaw puzzle. Your free content provides a piece that can only be completed by the offer.

3. Get the product/audience fit right

With thousands of flashy products on show, the temptation to promote any top-selling program to your audience is strong.

Resist it.

Two reasons:

If your offers aren’t a good fit for your audience, you won’t make money, period. Eventually, you’ll get discouraged and curse the ClickBank gurus for ‘misleading’ you.

Offers that don’t resonate with your audience will wear them down. They’ll develop ‘offer blindness’. They won’t respond to future offers. Ultimately, they’ll stop trusting you.

Only join programs that add value to your audience.

It’s best for everyone.

Your audience will adore you for proposing great products to them.

You’ll make more money.

4. Create an evergreen YouTube funnel

Most ClickBank affiliate marketing strategies focus on email marketing (sending emails to your list), social media promotion (tweeting or sharing your affiliate links), or SEO (creating top-notch content around your affiliate product and getting it to rank on Google).

But there’s another area most e-commerce gurus ignore: video. Specifically, YouTube.

Smart marketers take advantage of the powers of YouTube, the second largest search engine, to set up a high-converting ClickBank funnel.

Here’s how:

Find the right product to promote

Search for popular content related to the product on YouTube

Dissect the content to see why it’s popular

Produce similar content in your own YouTube channel

Link to the product in your video. Watch the money come in like clockwork.

Need a real-life example? Check out this review of a popular ClickBank product, The Flat Belly Fix.

ClickBank Review Verdict: Boo or Bravo?

Let me ask again.

Can you make money on ClickBank?

Absolutely.

Just be sure to do your homework.

If you thoroughly vet the programs, you’ll cash in.

Many folks like you make $50-$100 a day on ClickBank. That’s a yummy $1500+ passive monthly income made while you catch some Z’s.

You can do it too. Hop over to ClickBank and get started now.

About the Author: According to his cheeky wife, Qhubekani Nyathi aka The Click Guy is an irresistibly handsome guy. He’s an offbeat long-form content writer who helps SMBs grow their income through zingy content that ranks, drives leads, and builds authority. He contributes to prestigious blogs like Search Engine Watch, Crazy Egg, Business 2 Community, Get Response, Clickz, and The Drum.

The post ClickBank: The Brutally Honest, Must-Read Guide for 2020 appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/clickbank/

[freenewstoday]

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/02/12/edmontons-latest-vehicle-noise-reduction-pilot-came-with-challenges-city-report/

Edmonton's latest vehicle noise reduction pilot came with challenges: city report

EDMONTON — The latest phase of a pilot program designed to catch loud motorists may need some retooling before it can be called a success and launched full time, according to a new report set to go before Edmonton city council next week.

The report, authored by city administration, details findings since the second phase of the vehicle noise monitoring pilot program began. 

It’s a cause that’s seen its fair share of problems. The city’s first vehicle noise reduction pilot project backfired back in 2018, when drivers used noise measuring display boards to compete to be the loudest while revving up their engines.

Flash forward to 2020 – a similar project, with different problems.

Among them: loud sirens. They can trigger the cameras equipped with microphones. When that happens the videos captured must be manually identified and thrown out.

Another problem, according to the report and Ward 6 councillor Scott McKeen, is the recordings often aren’t strong enough evidence in court.

“‘Oh no no no no, what the camera didn’t capture is the vehicle right behind me, or just ahead of me. That’s the one that was making all the noise,'” McKeen re-enacted during an interview with CTV News Edmonton.

McKeen says vehicle noise has been an ongoing issue in Edmonton’s downtown for quite some time.

“I’ve had constituents say, ‘thank god winter has come, because it’s suddenly quiet again.’”

But, McKeen says, the latest pilot has at least shown some progress.

During the second phase of the pilot project – which took place over the summer months of 2020, police were able to use noise monitoring equipment to aid with detection and enforcement.

The five month pilot, dubbed Project TENSOR, (Traffic Enforcement Noise/Speed Offence Reduction), enabled officers to issue 1,684 tickets under the traffic safety act. Just over one-fifth of those were vehicle noise-related.

“So it seems that we’re finally getting somewhere,” said McKeen.

From July to September a third-party vendor setup one mobile and three static noise monitoring systems for Project TENSOR and rotated them through nine locations.

A threshold of 95 decibels was set as a triggering noise level and the equipment recorded sound 24 hours a day.

Once enough data was collected, officers were deployed to locations deemed problematic to verify the information, disrupt driver behaviour and issue fines when necessary.

Officers spent roughly 150 hours at or near the locations targeted for enforcement, using a combination of their own observations and the audio and video of the noise violations.

One challenge, administration says, is the model of deploying officers in conjunction with noise monitoring equipment is resource-intensive and resulted in limited success in identifying a significant number of offenders.

The pilot cost taxpayers $192,000 for equipment rentals, installations, monitoring, maintenance and software use, while fines generated just $98,000.

So while there may be some benefits to the fight against vehicular noise pollution, the list of complications could mean fully automated noise enforcement is not quite ready to be launched in Edmonton just yet. 

Administration’s report says among the next steps will be to review tactics from other municipalities to reduce the impact of excessive vehicle noise. 

var addthis_config = services_exclude: "facebook,facebook_like,twitter,google_plusone"; jQuery(document).ready( function() window.fbAsyncInit = function() FB.init( appId : '', // App ID channelUrl : 'https://static.ctvnews.ca/bellmedia/common/channel.html', // Channel File status : true, // check login status cookie : true, // enable cookies to allow the server to access the session xfbml : true // parse XFBML ); FB.Event.subscribe("edge.create", function (response) Tracking.trackSocial('facebook_like_btn_click'); );

// BEGIN: Facebook clicks on unlike button FB.Event.subscribe("edge.remove", function (response) Tracking.trackSocial('facebook_unlike_btn_click'); ); ; requiresDependency('https://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#async=1', function() addthis.init(); ); var plusoneOmnitureTrack = function () $(function () Tracking.trackSocial('google_plus_one_btn'); ) var facebookCallback = null; requiresDependency('https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=', facebookCallback, 'facebook-jssdk'); );

var addthis_config = services_exclude: "facebook,facebook_like,twitter,google_plusone"; jQuery(document).ready( function() window.fbAsyncInit = function() FB.init( appId : '', // App ID channelUrl : 'https://static.ctvnews.ca/bellmedia/common/channel.html', // Channel File status : true, // check login status cookie : true, // enable cookies to allow the server to access the session xfbml : true // parse XFBML ); FB.Event.subscribe("edge.create", function (response) Tracking.trackSocial('facebook_like_btn_click'); );

// BEGIN: Facebook clicks on unlike button FB.Event.subscribe("edge.remove", function (response) Tracking.trackSocial('facebook_unlike_btn_click'); ); ; requiresDependency('https://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#async=1', function() addthis.init(); ); var plusoneOmnitureTrack = function () $(function () Tracking.trackSocial('google_plus_one_btn'); ) var facebookCallback = null; requiresDependency('https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=', facebookCallback, 'facebook-jssdk'); ); Source

[kamrynoncam-blog]

Cam Girl FAQs

How do I start as a webcam model?

There are so many different sites and there are pros and cons to each one. The first thing I recommend doing is visiting some popular sites and watching some of the live streams. This will allow you to get a feel for what other people do and give you ideas to use in your room. Once you decide on a site, or multiple sites, you will need to fill out their model information form and provide government issued ID. Once you have been approved/age verified you are able to get on camera!

There are tons of videos on YouTube with great information on how to get started. Have a look and get some tips!

Before signing up for anything you will need to figure out a stage name. DO NOT USE YOUR REAL NAME or anything close. Think of it as creating an alter ego. Find something that works for you, sounds nice and is easy to pronounce. I find using a first and last name is best and more relatable for people. Using something like ‘sexkitty69’ is kind of juvenile and overdone. But hey, if that’s what you want to do, you go girl!

What do I need to start on cam?

#1 thing you need is a webcam. Many laptops come with one built in but the video quality is not very good.  Many models start out with something like the Logitech C920 (you can get a decent webcam for under $100) OR you can even use your cellphone, like me! There are a few apps that you can connect to your phone and computer that allows you to use your phone as a camera. I personally use the Iriun Webcam app on my Samsung phone.

#2  Lighting. Many established models have a very impressive setup using light boxes and lots of fancy stuff but don’t let that scare you. Using a simple ring light or even some lamps (without shades) will work perfectly fine! I have a ring light that I DIY’d for $20, but you can find lots of inexpensive options on Amazon.

#3 Lingerie. Start with what you have, don’t worry about having to buy a ton of new stuff (unless you really want to. It’s a good excuse to go shopping hehe). A cute bra and panties set does wonders. Once you start bringing in $$$ use some of that to buy yourself some nice stuff to use on cam. Just like any self-employed person, you need to put some of that income back into your business.

#4 Toys. Just like with lingerie you don’t need to go out and shop for a ton of new stuff. Use what you have or go pick up a couple basic things from your local sex shop. Build up your collection over time. You may even get more adventurous with the types of toys you’re in to!

#5 High speed internet. Having high speed internet is important to ensure your live stream runs smooth an uninterrupted with no buffering.

#6 An open mind! People are into some pretty interesting things when it comes to sex. Your room should be a no judgement zone.  Just go with it! Unless it makes you uncomfortable or they are requesting something that goes against the law or terms and conditions of that particular site. Don’t be afraid to say ‘no’.

Will people I know find me?

While the internet is never 100% secure, cam sites do offer privacy protection by allowing you to block out certain cities/states/provinces/countries. This will ensure that nobody from the specific region will be able to view your live stream or find your accounts. They are more likely to be able to find you if you use social media such as Twitter or IG. For this reason, I either crop or cover my face in any content I post on Twitter.

How do you get paid?

There are a few different payment options available but they vary by country. For Canadian models like myself, the most convenient and often times the only form of payment is cheque by mail. Other countries offer options including direct deposit (US only), international wire transfer, epayments, bank transfer, and prepaid Mastercard.

How much money will I make?

The amount you make will vary from person to person and has lots of different variables. Some models make $10,000 or more a month, and some barely work out to making minimum wage per hour. Income is not a guarantee because you will have some really fantastic days and some not so good and very slow days. New models often start out with smaller amounts and make more as time goes on and you build a community of regulars.  Some things to consider are

the amount of time you spend online

the time of day you are online

consistency

entertainment value of your room

Do I need to claim my cam income on my taxes?

YES! You are considered an independent contractor and are required to claim your income. In Canada, in 2018, for example, the minimum for single filing status is $12,000. If your income is below that threshold, you generally do not need to file a federal tax return.

Save all your business related receipts because you can claim those at tax time. You can claim physical items such as lingerie, toys, webcams, lighting, computer, etc. You can even claim part of your internet, utilities and rent. Speak to a tax professional to find out details on those.

I’m a bigger girl, can I still do this?

Abso-freakin-lutely!! Men (and women) love girls in all different shapes and sizes! Some of the most successful webcam models are considered BBW. I myself am a chubby girl and I have never once experienced a negative comment on my body. Work what your mama gave ya! Embrace your body, you sexy thang!

I don’t know if my partner will be supportive. What do I do?

If you have a partner you need to make sure they are 100% ok with your decision to work as a webcam model. It is a very intimate form of work and it’s not for everyone. When discussing your possible decision with them, you need to ensure them that this will be strictly professional. You can even ask them to join you for a couples cam and perform together! Provide them with information you found while doing your own research. If they are on the fence recommend trying it out for a night or two and see how they feel, then take it from there.

What site should I use?

There are way too many sites to name. Everyone has their own preferences for different reasons. But the 3 that I use and enjoy are Chaterbate, My Free Cams, and Streamates.

[thiswomanshouldbewriting]

Caged Love - Chapter 1 (Out of Sight)

Because, apparently, I can’t say no to a new plotbunny. Do you remember this post? Well, as I said, I simply couldn’t keep from writing the thing. I only have very vague ides on how to continue this, so if you like it prompts would be welcome. I must warn you, it’s very anti-Snow and anti-David. 

This officially brings me over the 100k words threshold on Ao3, and that makes me ridiculously happy. Thanks to @still-searching47​, my beta and shameless enabler, for making it possible!

Ao3 link.

The wretched heroes came in the night. His family was sleeping peacefully in the Dark Castle, when Rumplestiltskin got a call from King David. He didn’t want to answer, but it was never wise to ignore a summoning from a king; kings were rich and powerful, and there was always something interesting to be gained from dealing with royals. Plus the man was outside. It must be important for King David to come to him, rather than just request his presence.

Oh, if only Rumplestiltskin had listened to his instinct.

Once he allowed the king entrance into his castle, David told him about a prophecy, according to which his daughter, Princess Emma, would be killed by a hooded figure in a few years. Fate and prophecies were tricky business, and Rumplestiltskin told the king as much. He explained how even seers could be wrong, how magic could muddle the visions, and how the future could unwind in unexpected ways. Rumplestiltskin knew that better than most, since the prophecy on how he was supposed to find Baelfire hadn’t played out; the circumstances that had led to their reunion had been completely different from what had been predicted. Of course, he didn’t tell the king about his personal experience, but he tired to make his point clear.

Suddenly, David grabbed his arm and slapped an anti-magic cuff on his wrist. The pain of having all of his magic suddenly constricted was almost unbearable, and Rumplestiltskin doubled over in pain. The king took advantage of that, and tied his arms behind his back. 

“What is this all about?” Rumplestiltskin asked, trying to keep the panic from his voice. 

He knew that, with his magic restricted, most of the protections he’d put on his home were gone, and all of his worst fears came to life as he saw David’s soldiers enter the castle, and hordes of fairies approach the windows. 

“The prophecy. We know who the hooded figure is: your son. Your son is destined to kill my daughter, and I won’t let that happen,” David said.

“No, my son… you CAN’T!” Rumplestiltskin screamed, hopelessly fighting against his bonds.

He didn’t even care of which of his sons David was speaking; he simply couldn’t let him hurt them. The once meek shepherd looked down at Rumplestiltskin without an ounce of mercy.

“I can, and I will. My daughter won’t die because of your cursed offspring.” Rumplestiltskin felt his blood turn cold as he heard screams coming from upstairs. He started shouting as well, calling for his wife and sons, not daring to ask what was being done to them. He tried to run upstairs, but the king’s soldiers stopped him, tying him up even tighter. He fought harder than he’d ever done, but without magic he had no chance against them. He broke down in tears, and he would have crashed to the ground if the soldiers keeping him still hadn’t had such a firm hold on him.

Eventually, the fairies and the guards that had gone upstairs came back, carrying the rest of his family. Rumplestiltskin thanked every deity he’d ever heard of for the fact that they were still alive, but rage roared in his chest at the sight of his wife’s bloodied face. She must have fought even harder than he did, and had had been beaten because of it. He’d make them pay for this, he’d make them all pay for this.

“King David. When I saw the crests on your soldiers’ armor I couldn’t believe it, but it’s really you. You used to be known as the merciful king, but I suppose you can’t truly know what’s in a person’s heart until they come to kidnap you,” Belle said, her voice dripping with disgust.

“Lady Belle, believe me, this doesn’t make me happy, but I have to protect my daughter, and your family is too much of a danger to her,” he replied.

“At least let our children go. They’ve never hurt anyone, you can’t really consider them a threat,” Belle pleaded, setting her pride and rage aside to try and protect her sons. 

“No, Belle, I won’t abandon you!” Bae shouted, and the guard holding him pulled hard on his hair to keep him in place. The boy whimpered in pain, and both Belle and Rumplestiltskin screamed his name.

“I’m afraid I can’t. You see, your son Gideon is fated to kill my daughter, and I’m not willing to take any risks,” David explained.

“Gideon? But he’s only seven, he’s nothing but a child, you can’t hurt him, please,” Belle begged again, terror overcoming her rage.

Gideon was probably crying too hard to hear what they were saying, the anti-magic cuff hurting him like it had hurt Rumple at first, and his parents’ hearts ached with the need to console him, to protect him, to hold him in their arms and never let go.

“If you all follow our orders, no one will get hurt. You will be brought to your prisons, and you’ll stay there for as long as we deem necessary,” the king told them.

Then he turned around, to face the Blue Fairy. 

“Blue, go ahead,” he instructed. 

The damned gnat waved her wand, and Rumplestiltskin felt his eyelids begin to close against his will. He tried to fight her spell, but to no avail. After a few seconds, everything went dark, and he fell into unconsciousness.

******************

He didn’t know how much time had passed since they’d been captured. Once he’d woken up in his cell, he’d spent every waking moment trying to find a way out. It wasn’t an easy task: he still had the anti-magic cuff on his wrist, the bars of his prison were imbued with fairy magic, and the corridors leading to the damp cave where his cell was located were always patrolled by guards. 

The worst part, however, was the effect the Dark One’s magic was having on his psyche. Unable to be let out, all of the Darkness he bore had been trapped in his brain, gradually muddling it with the memories of the dozens of Dark Ones before him. Slowly but inevitably, he was losing his sanity. 

Gideon, Bae, Belle. I must save them. I need to find a way out and save them. Queen Snow and King David will pay. I’ll gut them in front of their court and put their heads on my castle walls. NO. Belle wouldn’t like it. Putting their heads on spikes would be giving into darkness, and my family doesn’t like darkness. My family is light. But there’s only darkness here, no light, no light… Gideon, Bae, Belle. I must save them. They’re trapped because of me. They’re suffering because of me. They could be already dead, and it would be because of me. Stupid, weak Rumple. Belle wanted to break the curse, but you didn’t let her. No, I just wanted to wait until the boys were older and the castle safer. Stupid, cowardly Rumple. You have lost everything once again, and there will be no coming back from this. I know, I know. It’s all your fault. All you have left now is darkness, sweet darkness, turning your heart to coal so that it won’t be able to feel, so that the pain will fade. Darkness never leaves you alone.

I know, I know. 

I like the darkness.

Rumplestiltskin giggled in his dungeon, a sound as unsettling as nails on a blackboard, sending shivers down his captors’ spines.

******************

Belle knew exactly how much time had passed. She’d make a tally mark on her cell’s wall for every day, and the count had just reached seventy. Seventy days without her family. Seventy days since her sons had been ripped from her arms and sent who knows where, assuming that they were still alive. She had to believe they were still alive. She would have let herself die if she didn’t have at least the hope of being able to save them one day.

Seventy days. Seventy days all identical to one other, all spent trying to find a way out and finding none. 

She knew immediately when something wasn’t as it should have been, when the door to her cell opened at an unusual time. 

“Who the hell are you?” she shouted immediately, before the visitor stepped into the light and was revealed to be… “Gaston?”

“Yes, Belle, it’s really me,” he said, flashing her a bright smile.

The years had changed him, but his ability to make her feel ill at ease with his mere presence had remained unaltered. She could see in his eyes that he was still the same self-centered man she’d once known; he wasn’t here for her, he was here to accomplish another task he could pride himself for, to make himself look better in front of his fellow lords.

“And I brought you a little present,” he added, as if they were at a ball and he was offering her some expensive trinket.

He gestured to a servant that was waiting outside the cell, and the man came forward with a tray loaded with food. Not the tasteless gruel and stale bread they’d been feeding her; actual food, that filled her prison with a wonderful scent and made her mouth water. She got to her feet to take the tray from the servant’s hands, but she couldn't take more than a few steps before the chains locked around her wrists and ankles stopped her. All things considered, it was better that way: the tray was so heavy that she wouldn’t have managed to carry it across the whole cell. 

“What are you here for, Gaston?” she asked, once the tray was resting securely on her cot.

The sight of food had only managed to distract her for a moment, and she wanted to understand what was going on before she even touched it. 

“To help you, of course,” he replied.

“How did you know I was here? Why did the guards let you in?” she asked. 

“Well, because I’m a lord at the service of Their Royal Highnesses King David and Queen Snow White,” he said proudly.

“What? Your lands aren’t part of their kingdom,” she blurted out in confusion.

“They weren’t but, Belle, many things have changed since you left the civilized world to live with your…” he waved his hand, obviously trying to find the right term to express his disgust for Rumplestiltskin without upsetting her too much.

“With my husband, Gaston. He’s my husband,” she completed for him, regretting his arrival even more with every second that passed.

“Yes, I guess he is. As I was saying, my lands have been part of their kingdom for years now, I have married a girl from one of their most trusted noble families, and I’m one of their most loyal knights. That’s why I thought I could use my influence to help you,” he explained.

Despite his show about wanting to help her, he wasn’t convincing in the slightest, and Belle eyed him like a venomous snake.

“Then get me out of here, bring me to my family, and tell your precious royals to end this madness once and for all,” she dared him. 

He snorted at her naivety. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Your son is fated to kill the princess, and it’s my sworn duty to protect her. You, however, are a different matter. You were a noblewoman once, Belle. You have no magic, you are not directly related to the prophecy, you are not a real danger. If you show the intention to change your ways, if you’re willing to cooperate, I could probably convince their highnesses to send you into confinement in your father’s castle.”

A caustic response was already on the tip of Belle’s tongue, but when Maurice was nominated her worry for him became more important. “My father? How is he? Does he know what’s happened to his daughter and grandson?” she inquired anxiously.

“He’s fine, tired by the years and the events, but fine. I informed him of your current predicament, and under my suggestion he has already sent a plea to have you transferred to his castle.”

“They’ll never listen to it. They know that once in my father’s castle, I’d have many more chances to escape,” she replied, trying to hide the hurt she felt at the idea that her own father wasn’t ready to do anything more than send requests of mercy to try and save his family.

“No, you wouldn’t. Soldiers from this kingdom would be sent to guard you, and if you ran away you father’s duchy would be wiped out by our army,” Gaston replied, apparently indifferent to the horrors he was suggesting.

Belle’s mouth gaped open in shock. “Your precious royals are blackmailing him, that’s what they’re doing. They’re threatening to kill thousands of innocent people if my father so much as tries to help his family. And you, you of all people are helping them do that.”

That’s why her father wasn’t trying anything bolder than a plea for mercy. She felt sick.

“Well, don’t act so surprised, you knew what you were getting yourself into when you left a life of luxury and balls to marry the Dark One. You brought this on yourself. None of this would have happened if you’d stayed amongst the normal people, rather than bed that monster and bear his demonic spawn!”

If Gaston had any more hateful words to spat at her, he wasn’t able to utter them, because Belle threw the boiling stew he’d brought her at his face.

“GET OUT!” she screamed as Gaston spluttered and swore. “Get out of here, you with your hypocrisies and your lies. I’d rather rot here than submit to your blackmail; my honor is worth more than the gilded cage you’re offering me.”

She kept throwing at him every single piece of food she had received from him. Then, after tossing the empty tray to the ground, she got up, standing as tall as her minute stature allowed her, walking as close to him as she could with the chains still locked. “You think yourself better than me, better than my family, but one hair on my son’s head is worth more than you. You disgust me, and if you ever talk like that about my family ever again, I’ll show you how dangerous I can become,” she said, with fire in her eyes. 

He didn’t answer, but there was something cruel and wild in his gaze, and without any warning he raised his hand, slapping her so hard that she fell to the floor. By the time her pain had faded enough to think clearly again, Gaston had already spat on her and left the room.

Belle crawled back to her cot, fighting to hold back her tears until she could be sure that Gaston was really gone. The room was still filled with the scent of the food she hadn’t wanted to taste, and her stomach grumbled, making Belle feel even more clearly her disappointment and despair.

Seventy days. Seventy days since the last time she’d felt happiness.

******************

“Haven’t you heard what Blue said? He’s so powerful that from time to time the cuff is not enough to hold back his magic. The same enchantments are enough to contain the Dark One, yet can’t quite stop a seven year old child. No-one understands how that can possibly be. The fairies have to reinforce the spells on his cage every week. David, we need to do something,” Snow White whispered hastily.

She glanced at the Dark One’s son, the one destined to kill her daughter, who screamed and cried in his cage at the other end of the corridor.

“What do you want me to do, Snow? He’s just a child,” the king replied, not liking the implication behind his wife’s words.

“He won’t be a child forever, and this situation isn’t going to improve with time. Growing up he’ll only get stronger and angrier,” she insisted.

“Well, maybe he will be because he’ll grow up in a prison, separated from his family, knowing that we are responsible for it,” David hissed, growing more exasperated with every passing second.

True, he’d been the one to physically capture the Dark One’s family. Back then he’d done it with the firm belief that he was doing the right thing, that he was freeing the world from some of its worst monsters. Now, however, he wasn’t so sure of that anymore. He hadn’t seen Lady Belle, Rumplestiltskin or his other son since the day of their capture, but he had checked on the child of the prophecy with Snow once before. 

He didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but what he’d found that day had broken his heart. The boy had been huddled in a corner of his damp, cold prison, sleeping restlessly and calling out for his family in his sleep. With his clothes torn and his hair dirty and ruffled, he hadn’t looked at all like a threat, just like a small child who had the right to be with his parents. Since then, David hadn’t been able to feel proud of what he’d done anymore.

“That’s why I say we should consider taking care of the matter now, before it’s too late. I don’t feel safe knowing that he’s here in our kingdom. I hoped that Blue would take him to the Fairy realm, but unlike us she was clever enough to realize that it’s not wise to have your worst and most powerful enemies trapped close to your home. That’s why she only took the other boy, and only after much insistence on our side,” his wife insisted.

“Snow, please, let’s just go,” he begged, giving up any hope of making her see his reasons. “This story has already caused too much tension within our family. I don’t want to have any more burdens on my conscience,” he sighed.

At the other end of the corridor, Gideon was screaming at the top of his tiny lungs. 

“Where is my mama? Where is my papa?” he shouted, grabbing furiously at the bars of his prison. “What did you do to them? What did you do to Bae?” he screamed again, but the two hooded figures at the end of the corridor didn’t answer.

He knew who they were. They’d already come to see him once, wearing the same cloaks, and back then he’d seen a glimpse of their faces. The taller one was the man that had taken him, King David, and if he was King David the other one had to be Snow White. He’d heard his parents talk about them, but he’d never seen them before. He knew that his papa once made deals with them, but they must have stopped dealing with him many years ago.

He screamed again, trying to gain their attention, trying to get an answer, any answer. Why were they keeping him prisoner? Why did they hate his family? He missed his papa’s funny faces, he missed the way his brother ruffled his hair when they played, and most of all he missed his mom’s warm arms. He was never warm here. Here it was dark and cold and damp, and the soggy things they gave him to eat tasted horrible. He wanted his mom’s teacakes, he wanted to sit with his papa at the spinning wheel in the warmth of the great hall, watching fascinated as his father turned straw into gold and promised that, one day, he’d teach him how to do just that.

He started crying, both in anger and sadness. He had always tried to be brave, to show his family that he wasn’t afraid of anything, not even of papa’s spider-infested dungeons, where he’d once gone to show his brother that he wasn’t a scared little kid. Now, however, he was more scared than he’d ever been. He just wanted his parents to come and take him away, to wrap him up in his favorite blanket and let him sleep in their bed, just like they did when he had bad dreams. He wanted his family.

Snow White looked at the crying boy across the corridor, and sighed heavily. “Fine, let’s go. I only hope you won’t have your daughter’s life on your conscience because of this,” she said, turning around.

David followed her without another word, haunted by the sound of the boy’s sobs echoing through the cave.

They were leaving, Gideon realized. They hadn’t even looked at him, and now they were leaving. He wouldn’t get any answers, not even today. No one had talked to him since he’d been brought here. He screamed and cried, but it was like no one could hear him. He was alone.

Suddenly his fear, his sadness, his loneliness, all turned into rage, rage directed at the two hooded figures that had just left. They were evil, eviler than any of the villains his papa had warned him about, and they’d hurt his family. He remembered the pain on his mom’s face when the soldiers had hit her, he remembered his brother’s screams, he remembered the tears in his papa’s eyes. The were evil, and for every villain like them there had to be a hero, he knew that much from his mama’s stories. He wanted to be that hero; he had magic, and if only he’d been able to use it he would have escaped this place, defeated the villains and saved his family.

He tried to focus, as he’d already tried doing so many times, attempting to use his magic to turn the bars into jelly. Changing an object’s consistence was always simpler than making it disappear, his papa had taught him that much. His papa had said that he was very powerful, and that he needed to start learning soon if he wanted to control his powers. He wanted to find his papa and go on with their lessons.

He could feel the well-known tingling in his hands, his palms growing hotter against the bars, and for a moment he almost believed he would make it. Then his left wrist started hurting like it had been set on fire, blocking his spell, and he fell to the floor, screaming in pain.

He started crying again. He would never get out of here, he wasn’t good enough. His papa would have known how to break free; his papa was strong and clever, and he knew more things than anyone.

But his papa wasn’t there with him.

******************

Baelfire was beside himself with worry; not for himself, but for his family. Since he’d been captured, the fairies that guarded him hadn’t been particularly nasty to him. Sure, the Blue Fairy eyed him with a disgust he didn’t comprehend, but the others pretty much ignored him, and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing: it left him time to think. His cage wasn’t too bad either; it was mostly made of enchanted reeds, giving him plenty of holes from which he could observe the world around him.

He knew he was in the fairy realm; he’d already seen it while he was on the run from Neverland with Tinkerbell, and there was no mistaking it. Speaking of Tinkerbell, he kept hoping to see her one day. Having her help would give him his best chance to escape, but so far none of the fairies saddled with guarding or feeding duty had glowed with her trade-mark emerald green.

With or without Tinkerbell, he wouldn’t give up. It might take him more time, but he would find a way to escape anyway. His brother had done nothing to deserve all of this, and it was almost shocking when, one night, Baelfire realized that now he probably knew how his father had felt all those years ago, when he was afraid his son would be drafted at any given moment. Now Baelfire knew what it felt like when someone who was more powerful than you decided to put someone you cared about in danger, someone who was young and helpless and in need of protection. He’d escape and go and find his brother, if it was the last thing he did.

He was a restless sleeper. He’d lost the ability to sleep peacefully on Neverland, where sleeping too heavily could mean waking up in Pan’s camp. The past three years spent at the Dark Castle had helped him regain a regular sleep schedule, but since the soldiers had come to take them in the night he’d been unable to get more than a few hours of troubled sleep at a time.

That night, however, it wasn’t a nightmare that woke him up: there was something floating in front of his closed eyes, something that was small, glowing, and maybe… green? He bolted awake in a instant, blinking his eyes furiously to focus on the tiny fairy that was flying a few inches away from his face.

Tinkerbell gestured at him to stay silent, then waved her tiny wand, and Baelfire felt his cage click open. He wordlessly followed his old friend out of the clearing where his cage had been located, his mind buzzing with questions he hoped she could answer.

Tinkerbell stopped as soon as they were well-hidden amongst the trees. She waved her wand again, and a portal started forming on the ground in front of them. The bright rainbow vortex wasn’t exactly sneaky, and Baelfire could hear the fairies scream in alarm, but it was already too late. He barely had the time to feel Tink’s now full-size hand wrap around his arm, before she pulled him into the portal along with her. In a moment, they were gone.

He landed gracelessly on the forest’s floor, and briefly thought that portals were definitely his least favorite thing ever. Before he could even get back on his feet, Tink was already pulling him into a bone-crushing hug.

“I’m so sorry it took me so long. Blue still doesn’t trust me, so I wasn’t given any guarding duty. I had to study the situation from afar and plan everything in detail, or I would have only made things worse,” she explained in a rush.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s already a miracle that you managed to break me out, you really don’t have to worry about the timing,” he reassured her.

He was almost surprised by the relief he felt hugging her. For over two months he’d been completely isolated, and now Tink, one of his oldest friends, was finally making him feel protected and cherished. 

“Well, you’ve surely grown a lot since the last time I saw you, haven’t you?” she said when she pulled back from the hug.

She was right. Mentally, Baelfire had been forced to grow up a lot to survive on Neverland, but even though he had technically been born over two hundred years before, this was the first time Tink could see him more as an adult than as a boy. Physically he was almost eighteen now, and while his father insisted that he still pouted like a child whenever Gideon stole food from his plate, Baelfire knew that he already looked like a man.

“I’m no longer a lost boy, am I? Even though I have to admit I have no idea where we are,” he quipped, smiling despite everything.

“We’re at the edge of the Enchanted Forest, and we should start moving. I could only open a portal to this realm, but we can’t stay here. They’ll be searching for us like crazy, and I really don’t want to know what would happen if they caught us,” Tink explained, reminding them of the dangerous predicament they were in.

She bolted past him, determined to put as much distance between them and their chasers as possible, but Baelfire stopped her immediately, grabbing her by the arm.

“What do you mean? I’m not leaving! My family is still trapped somewhere, and I will go and rescue them!” he vowed, more determined than Tink had ever seen him.

She sighed, trying to find the right words to make him see reason.

“Baelfire, it was already a miracle that I managed to save you, and you were probably the least guarded of your family. Blue told Snow and David that you were born before your father became the Dark One, hence you have no powers. Not to mention the fact that you’ve only been in the Dark Castle for a few years; nobody really associates you with the Dark One, in their eyes you’re not a real threat. The same can’t be said for the rest of your family. You know Belle caused quite a scandal a few years ago, when she was freed from Regina’s tower and chose to go back to Rumplestiltskin. You might not know this, but since then most people have been calling her the Dark Lady. She’s frowned upon, looked at with mistrust and contempt, and I’m sure that Snow and David saw her as a bigger threat than you could possibly be. Your father is the Dark One himself, they’re probably guarding him with the most powerful magic available. As for your brother, he is both the son of the Dark One and the product of True Love, not to mention the boy from the prophecy: every fairy and soldier of the realm is probably guarding him, assuming that he’s even still alive-”

“Don’t you even suggest that. Please, don’t,” Baelfire interrupted her.

Tinkerbell had the decency to look ashamed. “Right, I’m sorry. I mean that getting to him would basically be a suicide mission. That’s not even considering the fact that, now that you’ve escaped, they’re probably expecting you to try to save them, so they’ll be more careful. If you go, you’ll be playing right into their hands; you’ll just get caught again, and all of this will have been for naught. Please, Baelfire, don’t be foolish,” Tinkerbell begged him, but she could see that he’d already made up his mind.

“I’m sorry, Tink. If you if you want to go, then go. I won’t be dragging you along on a suicide mission, but I have to try,” he vowed. His eyes were resolute but his tone was calm; he wasn’t going to be dissuaded.

Tinkerbell sighed in acquiescence. “Fine. I’m sure we’re both going to regret this, but I won’t leave you to face it alone. I’m with you, no matter what.”

Bae hugged her, overjoyed. “Wonderful! So, what do you think we should do first?” he asked.

Tink already knew what they’d have to do, but that didn’t mean she liked it. 

“Now we go find the only person who has reason to hate Snow and David as much as you do, and less inclination than most to want your father trapped,” she suggested reluctantly

“And who is that?” Baelfire inquired.

“An old friend of mine. Her name is Regina.”