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ilguna · 4 years ago

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Lacuna - Epilogue (f.o)

summary: they say the odds tend to favor those who need them. well, they were wrong.

warnings; swearing.

wc; 2.5k

NOTES; I give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

You take a deep breath, readjusting in the heels. Lately, you’ve been wearing them a lot again. They’ve begun to make your feet sore and leave blisters on the back of your heels. If you’re lucky, you won’t start bleeding. No matter the medicine that Elysia provides, they always seem to bleed or form again.

Lucky for you, it’s nearing the end of the tour. This district, and then twelve, and then you’re back home to enjoy your house. They’ll still come around to pester you about how you’re doing. But that will be fine, you’ll answer the questions like you have before. They’ll be bored of you by next year.

There’s no reason for them to ask Finnick questions. He’s with Caesar almost every single night, on his talk show. Then there’s the little news anchors, and all the other tv shows where he has an opportunity to show up. You don’t know if it’s an act anymore, or if it’s who he really is.

He’s all he ever was during the interviews, the mask seems to have stuck. He’s charming, and confident, and so goddamn cocky. He’s got all the girls in your district swooning over him, even if they can’t watch his shows, the news, or Caesar’s fucking talk show. The boy you knew to hate everything about the Capitol is gone.

The question is if this is who he was all along. If he loved the Capitol, and the riches, because it looks like it. You stopped seeing the wave ring he was supposed to be wearing--he promised you before he left that he would wear it every time he knew he’d be publicly appearing. He replaced it with something else, the sign of the Capitol.

They wouldn’t have forced him to replace it, because they’re always broadcasting your love story. There’s continuous love notes from Finnick, either him writing them on the show, or just saying it straight out. Some of the time the cameras will come around and you’ll stand out there in the snow and pretend like you’re in love. You manage to do well each time, they can’t tell if you’re blushing or if it's just the weather.

In reality, your love for him is turning to ice. Freezing in place, and when the summer comes around, it’ll melt for him when--if--he comes back to help you with mentoring. You don’t plan to let it blossom again in the summer, you plan to end it as soon as you’re face to face with Finnick.

Because while he’s in the Capitol, enjoying every moment of being showered with money and love from the Capitol people. While he’s going on talk shows and getting to know the enemy more, the people that had gotten his family killed. While he’s replacing a ring with sentimental value with something new and shiny from the Capitol.

While he’s out there with other girls that aren’t you. And professing his undying love on that same talk show instead of in person. And ignoring all the letters of you send him begging him to come home. And then bailing on you.

You’re doing the tour alone. You’re doing the speeches and taking the plaques and faking smiles and pretending you’re enjoying yourself. You’re facing the families both you and him killed together or seperate. You’re meeting the victors who absolutely despise you and the families that want to kill you.

You’re burning flowers in the train bathroom at night and fighting all instincts to ruin the fucking trophies that belong to him. But since he’s so sickeningly into the Capitol, you keep them and throw them into his empty bed. They clatter and clink when they’re up against each other, but they never dent or break.

You’re having nightmares about dying in the arena. About watching Finnick catch typhoid and it being your mistake. Watching him turn pale and weak from your dumbass mistake. You dying from hanging like Lennox or the girl that you had trapped in that net. What about being strung out like leather to be torn apart by bears or being awake for half a second as someone you thought was an ally drives a knife into the back of your head.

Or an innocent twelve year old boy who just wants to go home to his mom and dad. The girl you beheaded at the beginning. What if that had been Finnick or one of the others when you swung too early? You watch yourself kill these people, and take their places right after.

And this is all happening because Finnick had broken his promise of being on the tour with you. If he were to show up now, you would tell him to go home. Tell him that you never want to see or talk to him again, and you mean it. Because knowing that he broke all those promises that you guys made to each other so blatantly is so damn painful.

Finnick gets to enjoy his Capitol people. The nice clothes from his designers and wake up in a comfy bed every morning, fully rested. Or at least he’s rested enough to be sane for the entire day. You, on the other hand, are nowhere near sane.

Last night you had skipped sleeping, and found different ways to keep yourself awake. The first and the only one being, making a giant list of the things that you wouldn’t have minded trying with Finnick. Touring the Capitol together, going to the beach, getting engaged, married, having kids. Getting matching tattoos or some dumb cosmetic thing that would alter you. Officially welcome him to your family.

The list was long, and you folded it up neatly and handed it to Elysia to pass on to Finnick when she’d see him. That’ll be in a couple of days, but it’ll be sooner than you’re prepared for. You have district eleven, then twelve, and then you’ll take the train home. There, you’ll make a small appearance and give a speech or something. After that you’ll be left in the dark permanently. People will be excited for what’s to come.

One of them being, this will be your first year mentoring, and it looks like you’ll be doing it alone. It was one of the things on the list, mentoring with Finnick and getting those kids skilled enough to win. Make a streak or something, a challenge for the other districts to beat four. The houses would be full, every year families will be fed for a couple of days without worry of going hungry.

It’s not going to happen. You’re going to take over for Mags, accept the fact that you’ll be teaching these kids alone, and you’ll be forced to watch it all happen. It’ll go from Mags watching kids die, to you watching. Because in reality, it was mostly luck in the arena.

You’ve come up with an idea while you’ve been on this tour, thinking about how each person has died, and you decided that you’ll make a class almost. One that kids can tune in and out of any time. Where you teach them to tie knots and throw knives, start fires and prepare food. How to make shelter out of scarce items, how to avoid getting sick and all of that.

A pre-preparation class. You teach these kids, all this information, and then when they’re finally picked you get to expand on it all. You get to show them extra things that you haven't taught before. You show them how to get sponsors, and make friends that you’ll need.

You’re sure that the other districts are going to be very careful when it comes to alliances from now on. There’s going to be a reason why you don’t invite four to the alliance pack, and that’s because you and Finnick were a bunch of backstabbers. Gloss and Cashmere will see this, and they’ll decide that they won’t let it happen again. Hell, you guys might be the target from now on. Take out three to avoid the chances of you guys even making allies in the first place.

On that list you had made for Finnick, with all the things you wanted to do with him, you ended it quite bitterly. Like this is a warning for what’s to come when you do see him next. Even if he doesn’t come back any time soon, you’ll go to him. You’ll show up with Caesar on their own personal talk show and you’ll throw it in his face. Say it’s over and it will never be what it was. That you had done all the work while he had all the fun.

The celebrations, the victory tour, the after-interviews. And now you’ll be mentoring people all while he gets to party in the Capitol. What a joke. Especially to think that only a couple of months ago he was crying on your shoulder about it. You can’t believe that you were sympathetic in the slightest.

At the bottom of the list you wrote ‘but none of this will ever happen, and maybe that’s for the better’. It’ll be a slap to the face, maybe it’ll actually get him to respond to anything you’ve sent him.

Him reading those love poems with Caesar aren’t responses. Because you ask him genuine questions, and you elaborate on what’s going on. You try to plan out things, like him visiting and when it’d work best based on Elysia’s schedule. You tell him when the Victory Tour is and when he should be at the district. Days before so that he’ll be able to properly adjust and you can give him advice on how to take care of it.

The doors suddenly open, and you hear the clapping and the few cheers. On your walk down the stairs to the stage, you can see the faces of the people that belong to district eleven. You can see the hatred in their eyes and they want to come up here and kill you. There’s a wall of peacekeepers that keep them down, though.

You get passed some flowers, you thank the girl that hands them to you. Obviously the other girl has no clue what to do, since Finnick isn’t here to take them. The memo hasn’t passed even though you’ve been on this tour for weeks. Finnick is a no-show, just like he will be in district twelve.

When you step up to the microphone you pull out the cards that you had wrote yourself. They don’t seem so smart now that you’re staring at their families. But you take a deep breath, let it out and begin.

You have no fear of speaking in front of people. They could give you the entire nation in one huge district and you’d still be able to talk fine. But there’s a difference between one large crowd of people you don’t know, versus people that have watched you kill their kids.

At the end is when you begin to stumble a little bit, the speech being too long. You manage to clean it up last minute, and offer the crowd one winning smile. They clap and some cheer but you know that it’s to make it look like they’re cooperating. You wonder if they know that you wouldn’t have killed the boy from eleven if you had the chance. That you had saved Thyme, even if in the end you cheered when she was the one dead.

You’re about to wrap it up, but the sound of footsteps stop you, and when you look over your shoulder, the smile on your face drops. Seeing him here, on this stage is infuriating. Him showing up because of Thyme has already got you seeing red.

He tries to smile at you, and go to offer you a small hug and possibly a kiss with that, but you stop him. You don’t want him. You don’t want him after all that has happened.

Because this is salt on the ice. You’re going to explode if he lays a finger on you. You’re going to explode simply at the sight of him. And at the thought of him coming here to give a speech because of Thyme.

In fact, you lean forward to the mic, “Thank you, District Eleven for your tributes.” and then you hike up your dress as you turn to the staircase.

The people are obviously confused, there are a few people who clap. You watch as the peacekeepers move out of the way for you. The doors open and Elysia is standing inside with her mouth open.

“What was that?” she asks, motioning behind you.

You breeze past her, already tearing off the bracelets, earrings, rings, and everything else. Laurel is standing there with a box for everything, holding it out as she watches you toss the jewelry in, ignoring being careful. Next are the heels, that you trade for flats.

Beth holds out regular clothes for you, and you hear the door to the building open, from the same place you came in. One the door clicks shut, you turn to look over your shoulder, and he stands there with his hands out in a reasoning position. But you’re beyond reasoning right now.

“No, Finnick.” you snarl at him, but the angry tears are forming in your eyes, and your throat is closing up, “You don’t get to show up at District Eleven’s part of the tour, and expect me to kiss you in front of them. Especially when I know that you’re here for her!”

Finnick is silent, and you take in a gasp of air because you’re sobbing already, “You enjoy tonight. Enjoy the festivities because this is what you’re here for. Your stupid fucking flowers and plaques and certificates that I had to collect for you, are on your bed in the train.”

“(Y/n)--”

“I told you when we’d be going on the tour and I’ve had to do it alone for ten different fucking district, Finnick!” you go forward, shoving Finnick and watching him stumble, “I’m facing the families of the tributes you killed!” you shove him again, this time he falls, the peacekeepers move forward, “In fact, I saw all of them for you! You didn’t kill Thyme so she doesn’t fucking count!”

“That’s enough, (Y/n).” Elysia tries, but you’re not done.

“Go home Finnick.”

“I am home--”

“Not with me you’re not.” you snap at him, “Your home is the Capitol, and you know what? You can fuckign stay there for all I care. You can also move back into your own goddamn house, since you’re never home anyway. There’s no point in keeping your stuff in my house if we’re not together anymore.”

The tears gather in Finnick’s eyes, and you’re tired of it. You’re not going to be sucked right back into this, “Please.”

“We’ve over Finnick. Party like you’ll never see the sun tonight, because you’re not going to district twelve with me. You’ll be going back to the Capitol.”

You turn again, leaving for some adjacent room in the building. Waiting for your tears to spill over, but they dry.

You’re over it.

LACUNA IS THE FIRST VERSION OF BELAMOUR

//MASTERLIST//

#ilguna #lacuna #finnick odair #lacuna epilogue

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primroseprime2019 · 3 years ago

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Speed Metal

On a dirt road, a familiar shiny red Aston Martini DBS V12 sports car with white decals was driving down one of the many back roads towards a local hot spot for street racing. The driver had the radio playing. "As metropolitan PD continues to crack down on illegal street racing, citing the danger to both drivers and pedestrians-" the new reporter was cut off as the driver switched off the radio. He was uninterested in listening to more reports of local cops attempting to put a stop to illegal street racing.

Oddly enough, the radio was switched off automatically, not by a person's hand. This car was known other than the Decepticon Doctor, Knockout. He knew that Ember would probably kick his aft to kingdom come if she found out about Knockout's activities. However, Knockout didn't care as the thrill of illegal street racing was too hard to resist.

Up ahead, three other cars were waiting, with the drivers revving the engines. The ref walked out in front of cars as Knockout pulled up. They were all waiting for the right time to start and for everyone to arrive. All the cars were built for speed and had many modifications that were illegal. The Decepticon car intrigued the large muscular, tattooed driver of the muscle car Knockout had pulled up next to.

"Not from around here." The driver commented, referring to the car model. "European design?" He asked curiously, only to get no response from Knockout. The driver didn't like being ignored like that. "Sure is pretty. Too pretty..." The driver said with a grin as he tightened his right hand into a fist. 'This race is for fully grown men, not prissy little boys with pretty cars.' He thought. Using his ring, he scratched the paintwork on the driver's side door.

Knockout used his side view mirror to inspect the damage. Then he turned to the driver, who just shrugged, satisfied with his work, and rolled up his heavily tinted window.

"Big mistake!" Knockout gritted as he changed gears.

The ref held the flashlight above his head and switched it on, signaling for the race begin. All four cars took off, eager to beat their opponents to the finish line. For Knockout, he was eager not only to be the first to cross the finish line, but also to obtain his revenge against the driver who scratched his paintjob. The race was mean and grueling. The driver had the lead. He looked in his rearview mirror and smirked at the other drivers behind him before going even faster. Flames were escaping from the engine through the exhaust pipe as the RPM meter read dangerously close to seven thousand.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of squealing tires. He looked in his rearview mirror once again and saw that Knockout was quickly gaining the upper hand in this race. He rammed himself into the car. It was time to make this human pay for damaging his paintjob.

"HEY!" The driver cried out in protest.

With one single ram as they turned the corner, the driver went over the edge, destroying the guardrail. The car didn't even tumble down the cliff face or see-saw on a particular ledge. It just headed straight to the bottom, upside down, and the sound of the car crashing as music to Knockout's ears.

"Dude..." The driver moaned.

"You scratch my paint, I scratch yours." Knockout sneered dangerously before driving away, intent on reaching the finish line.

◊◊◊◊

Paige walked down the stairs of the school and she looked around before she saw a boy staring at her. She stared back before she walked over to Jack and Arcee who was in her vehicle mode.

"You okay?" He asked. "I just wanna go to the base," she said quietly as she sat down behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Alright, alright," he said softly, reassuringly. He knew she'd be having some bad days where either she'd be quiet and try to hide in the back of the class or she would just start crying and clutching at her head. And this was one of the days.

"Turn on your music okay?" He said gently as he placed her earpods in her ears. She nodded and closed her eyes as she started to listen to the soundtrack from Collateral Beauty.

"Hey! Cherry moped!" Jack glanced at Vince who stood by his car.

"Um, this 'moped' has dual carbs and can go from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds," Jack boasted rather proudly before he drove off.

They soon pulled up to a red light. "Uh, Jack, a lady's vital stats are her own business," Arcee reprimanded him quietly. Jack almost rolled his eyes at that.

"Hey! Nick, right?"

He heard another female voice call out to him. He turned to face the corner and saw Sierra standing there with her best friend.

"Actually, it's Jack," he said. "Jack. Sorry. I'm Sierra," she said with a sheepish smile.

"I know," Jack said with a light blush that was concealed by his helmet.

"You once offered to take me for a ride?" Sierra reminded him. "Of course I did," Jack said instantly, "at anytime."

"I'm your guardian, kiddo," Arcee said quietly, "not your wingman." "So? How about now?" Sierra asked him hopefully.

"Uh...," Jack went to answer, but he stopped short when he saw Vince pull up next to him.

"Hey, hey! Small world!" Vince remarked.

"We're having a conversation," Paige spat.

"Cheer captain here might enjoy watching you take on four wheels of muscle car," Vince smirked as he gestured to Sierra and her friend who were standing there gossiping to one another quietly.

"Are you challenging me to a race?" Jack asked in surprise.

"You catch on quick, ponch. What do you say?" Vince asked impatiently.

Jack saw Sierra encouraging him to accept the challenge. He looked at Paige who was frowning at him. Honestly, she was caught in the middle and she thought it was a terrible idea. Optimus had set rules and for good reasons. Reasons like this one.

As soon as the light turned green, Arcee took off at lightning speed, causing Jack and Paige to yell in surprise at the sudden takeoff.

"You didn't let me answer!" Jack exclained. "Nope," Arcee said.

"But Arcee, we can smoke him!" Jack objected.

"Yep," she said, earning a frustrated sigh from her charge. "You just don't get it," he said.

"I don't make the rules, Jack. Optimus does," Arcee said, "and rule number one, in case you guys missed it: never abuse power for personal gain. And that includes horse power."

"Oh come on! I could finally get him to leave Paige alone!" Jack exclaimed. "As much as I would love to kick his tailpipe for messing with Paige, my answer is no," Arcee said firmly as Vince drove up beside them.

"Vince, maybe racing isn't such a good idea," Jack declined, causing Vince to laugh tormentally.

"Figured. You ride around like you're bike's something special. But it's just a chunky, lunky trike! And ugly!" Vince tormented before racing away as soon as the lights turned green.

"That's it! The yahoo's going down!" Arcee proclaimed before racing after Vince at high speeds.

"Whoa! What happened to rule number one?" Jack asked.

"Gets bent. Just this once," Arcee decided, much to Jack's excitement and much to Paige's dismay.

◊◊◊◊

"Yo, girls! Your pals, Darby and Kendrick, they're-."

"Ready when you are, Vinny!"

To Vince's surprise, when he turned his attention away from Sierra and her friend, he saw Jack, Paige and Arcee next to him all revved up and ready to go.

"Dirt road by trucker's ranch. One hour," was Vince's answer.

◊◊◊◊

When the hour had passed, Jack and Vince were on the dirt road at trucker's ranch ready to go. Sierra, Paige and Sierra's friend stood by the edge of the road eager to witness the showdown between muscle car and motorcycle.

"From here to the next mile mark. Ready. GO!" Vince yelled before taking off.

"Well, that was fair," Jack remarked sarcastically as Arcee took off after Vince.

As Vince and Jack rode past, Sierra and her friend had to place their hands on their skirts to stop themselves from flashing what they had underneath.

"That's why I wear pants," Paige said to Sierra and her friend.

"Uh...Arcee," Jack trailed off.

"Winning isn't enough, Jack. You wanna make him CRY," Arcee cut him short. Vince was surprised when he noticed that the motorcycle was no longer visible through his rearview mirror. He heard the sound of an engine next to him. He turned around and was surprised to see Jack and Arcee riding along next to him! Jack waved casually as Arcee pulled a wheelie and swerved past him at impossible speeds.

"Wha?" Vince gasped.

Arcee did a little honk in victory as they drove past the mile marker before Vince. Jack let out a whoop in celebration.

"OUTSTANDING!" Jack cried. "You know, now might be a good time to give Sierra just a quick ride around the block?" He asked hopefully.

"Don't push it," was Arcee's answer and he grumbled.

◊◊◊◊

"Ah, Breakdown, Comet. Has there been any change in Megatron's condition?" Ember asked as she walked into the medbay.

"Only cosmetic," Breakdown answered honestly as he folded the buffer back into his arm.

"Well, I am sure that you and the good doctor have been doing everything in your power. Where is Knockout?" She asked, looking around. As if on cue, the Decepticon medic walked into the medbay.

"Can you believe what some skinjob did to me?" Knockout huffed as he inspected the scratch on his arm.

"Have you been out street racing with humans again?" Ember frowned. "I'm not only an automobile, I'm an automobile enthusiast," Knockout said nonchalantly.

Ember frowned deeply, "we run a tight ship around here Knockout. I strongly suggest that you request permission from me next time you decide to disappear on your little jaunts."

"No worries, Red," Knockout said dismissively. Ember gave a low, warning growl.

"Mistress Ember," Knockout corrected. "The day our master emerges from stasis, I shall gladly relinquish that title," Ember huffed, "but I believe that outcome is unlikely something to do with the quality of medical care around here. So continue buffing as we do want Megatron looking his best for the memorial." With that, she turned and walked out of the medbay.

Knockout groaned, "buff this." Comet gave him a look, "Knockout."

"You hush," the Decepticon medic huffed.

◊◊◊◊

Arcee drove into the base. Jack and Paige dismounted Arcee, allowing the Autobot to transform into her bipedal form.

"Not a word to anyone," she said firmly. "Our little secret," Jack said with a wink. Arcee smiled and she walked away.

"Dude! Vroom vroom vroom! And the winner is...," Miko smirked at the two of them.

"Jack!" Paige finished as she and Miko performed their handshake.

"Miko, who told you?" Jack asked nervously.

"You kidding? It's all over school!" Miko told them.

"You beat the pants off that blowhard bully Vince!" Raf cheered, "And I'm sure he'll leave Paige alone now because of how protective her big brother best friend forever is!"

Raf and Miko let out yells of surprise as Jack and Paige suddenly pulled them into a group huddle.

"You guys have to keep this on the DL. Especially from Optimus," Jack hissed.

"Why?" Miko asked.

"Because that race totally broke rule number one: never abuse power for personal gain," Paige said, "and I'd rather not let the Prime know that I'm the target of bullying."

"What are you four doing?"

Jack, Paige, Miko and Raf jumped and yelled in surprise as they turned around and saw Optimus standing there with a curious expression on his face.

"Uh...nothing," Jack answered with a nervous chuckle.

"Just talking about...stuff at school," Paige shrugged.

"Top secret stuff!" Miko piped in.

"Stuff you don't wanna know," Raf added.

Optimus let out a hum and raised his optic ridge. He knew something was up. Thinking that the four of them would tell him eventually, he left them to their devices. As soon as he was out of earshot, they all let out sighs of relief and slumped against one another.

"That was close," Jack sighed in relief.

"I can't believe we lied to him," Paige moaned.

"I can't believe how robotic we sounded," Miko retorted.

"How did we manage to keep the secret so long?" Raf asked, causing the other three to laugh.

Raf was right. If they had trouble telling a lie to the leader of the Autobots, how did they manage to keep the secret of their existence for as long as they had so far?

◊◊◊◊

At school, Jack walked down the stairs, his hands stuffed in his pockets. “Hey. I've been looking for you," Sierra said as she came out of the school with a duffle bag, "The race! How great was that?! I was like, 'Yeah! Go Jack!'"

"It was no big deal," Jack shrugged.

"You got that right!" Vince agreed as he shoved his way past Jack, "If you think you can run with the big boys, The Circuit. 11 PM."

Paige walked towards Jack and she stopped when she saw Vince and Sierra. Jack was staring at Vince before he frowned, "...fine. If I win, you leave Paige alone."

Paige widened her eyes and Sierra smiled. Vince huffed, "deal."

◊◊◊◊

"You agreed to WHAT?!" Arcee demanded as she drove down the road with Jack and Paige.

"It was some kind of secret racing club. I don't know. I had no choice. Sierra was right there!" Jack defended himself.

"You always have a choice Jack," Arcee said sternly, "and what part of 'just this once' did you not understand?"

"I know, I'm sorry," Jack sighed, "but we're on right?"

"We are not on," Arcee said firmly as she drove into the base.

◊◊◊◊

Knockout was driving down the road when Breakdown called. "Knockout, Ember's looking for you. Where did you go?" He asked through the commlink.

"Oh, just out for a little drive," Knockout said, "I just roll from town to town sniffing around until...the next opportunity presents itself. He saw a car race past him and he changed gears to catch up with it.

◊◊◊◊

Back at the base, it was pretty quiet. Everyone was off doing their own little thing...except Raf who remained behind to play video games. He was actually doing well...until Jack distracted him and caused him to crash.

"Raf? Uh...is there any way I can borrow Bumblebee for an hour?" Jack requested nervously, causing Bumblebee to widen his optics in surprise. "Don't involve me in this!"

"Jack," Paige said in a warning tone. "Jack, you know racing's against the rules," Raf said, "what if Optimus found out?" "He'd be mad!" Bee exclaimed, his doorwings twitching with nervousness.

"But Raf, he's gotta get the girl!" Miko exclaimed, "and beat the bully!"

"Jack, I appreciate you protecting me but I don't need you getting into trouble because of me," Paige said.

"This isn't because of you, Paigey," Jack said sternly, "I'm doing this to protect you. And to prove a point."

"Well...," Raf trailed off, still unsure about letting Bumblebee race.

"Come on, Raf. Just this once?" Jack pleaded him sincerely. Raf looked both worried and unsure.

◊◊◊◊

The moon cast a luminous shadow over the circuit. Racers and their girlfriends lingered around the starting line of the track. They were conversing. Talking about how they were going to win the race against some of the best. So they were amazed when they saw a black-and-yellow muscle Camero roll up onto the scene.

But no one was more surprised then Vince as he waited patiently at the starting line for the race to start. He couldn't even HIDE how surprised he was when Jack rolled down the window so they could see eye-to-eye.

"Bike's in the shop," Jack shrugged.

Vince didn't say anything in response. He just turned to the track laid out before him. Suddenly, something beautiful blocked their view. Jack leant back into Bumblebee's seat in surprise at the sight. It was Sierra. She just stood there smiling and waving at him innocently.

"Circuit drivers, are you ready? Make it mean but keep it clean! Fire 'em up in 5...4...3...2...1!"

However, behind them, nobody noticed another car pull up. What was more important was the fact that Jack and Bumblebee didn't notice the new racer. And that is because the new racer is Knockout.

When the countdown had finished, Sierra threw her hands to the ground and crouched low. Then she turned and watched the drivers begin to race around the circuit. They didn't notice Knockout riding along a little too close to them.

"The Autobot they call Bumblebee," Knockout remarked. Knockout decided to make himself known. And to do that, he rammed himself into Vince's car and immediately took the lead from him.

"What's Knockout doing here?" Bumblebee buzzed when he spotted Knockout.

"What was that, Bee?" Jack asked worriedly before glancing in the rearview mirror as Bumblebee continued his concerned bleeps, "Wait. I know that car."

Jack yelled out in surprise as Bumblebee suddenly veered right and began driving along the wall. Knockout immediately copied his actions...with a gun popping out from near his cap for the fuel tank! Immediately, the Decepticon began firing shots at the young Autobot. Bumblebee did his best to avoid Knockout's shots. Vince breathed out his surprise as he saw Jack and Bumblebee drive up the wall and jump off the track. Knockout immediately followed suite.

"Can you lose him, Bee?" Jack asked nevously, earning bleeps in response, "What'd you say? ...I hope that means 'yes.' Cause I'd rather not call base for back-up."

◊◊◊◊

"Anyone seen Jack?" Arcee asked casually, causing Miko and Raf to freeze nervously.

"Not since we last saw him," Miko answered nervously.

"...they're racing, aren't they?" Arcee asked knowingly.

"Just this once," Raf piped in nervously.

"Did you know about this?" Arcee asked Nightwalker, WhiteRain, Bulkhead.

"No...maybe...a little," Nightwalker answered nervously. Bumblebee suddenly called in. "Bumblebee to base. We're being chased by Knockout. Require backup."

"You're being chased by Knockout?!" Raf repeated in disbelief. "Take evasive action?" Bumblebee asked.

"That sounds like a Decepticon," Miko remarked as she stood up with her first clenched.

"Bee, do not engage. Your first priority is to keep Jack safe," Arcee said firmly, "until I get my hands on him." "Arcee, let me come," Paige said.

"Paige, no. I'm not putting you in danger," Arcee said firmly. "Jack is my best friend and my brother," Paige said sternly, "and I want to kick Knockout's tailpipe for shoving me into that museum's glass last week."

"Anyone else scared of her right now?" WhiteRain asked, earning nods from Bulkhead and Nightwalker.

Arcee frowned at Paige before she sighed, "alright." She transformed into her vehicle form and Paige climbed on. Bulkhead, WhiteRain and Nightwalker transformed into their vehicle forms and drove after Arcee.

◊◊◊◊

Bumblebee and Jack continued driving along the road. They had a hard time shaking Knockout off their trail who continued to fire at them. So Bumblebee leaked some oil on the road behind him. The laws of friction didn't agree with rotating tires coming into contact with slick oil. So as the story goes, Knockout lost control of the car.

"Slick," Jack remarked.

Bumblebee drove himself back onto the track in the circuit and backed himself under a bridge. Knockout eventually regained his footing and began driving back towards the circuit. He came to a stop at the beginning of the bridge Bumblebee was hiding under. Sensing Knockout's presence, he shut off his lights and engine. Jack froze, trying not to make a sound or move. His internal sensors read no signs of any Autobot or Decepticon in the area. So he put pedal to the medal and drove right out of there.

"I think we lost him, Bee," Jack whispered. Then Jack was faced with another problem. And that problem was Vince. Vince came to a stop in front of the odd duo. His face was beginning to turn red in pure anger.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!" Jack groaned.

"Darby," Vince growled as he pounded his fist into his open hand.

Knockout just happened to hear that, having not fully left the facility at this present time. Burnt rubber made its mark on the road as the car suddenly activated its breaks and made a complete stop in the middle of the road. He used his sideview mirrors to look for a sign. ANY sign of his foe. So when he saw the colours of bumper lights, he immediately changed gears and reversed back to the bridge, another advantage of driving on an empty road taken by him.

"Vince! You have to get out of here, OK? You win! Congradulations! Now go!" Jack pleaded.

"No. No. Start and back-up, loser. We're finishing this race! Don't wanna take it to the finishing line? Fine! Then we've got something to settle right here! Right now!" Vince proclaimed.

Vince's rant was suddenly cut off by his own screaming. Jack was surprised and concerned as a giant black hand reached down and scooped up Vince into his palm. And that hand just happened to belong to Knockout. Vince yelled out in surprise as he was thrown into the air while Knock Out transformed into his vehicular mode. Vince landed in Knockout's passenger seat with a grunt. He protested as the sunroof slammed shut above his head and the seatbelt wrapped themselves around his frame tightly, preventing any means of escape for Vince.

"What's going on?" he demanded, afraid of what could happen.

An Energon zapper appeared before Vince's eyes. Energon sparks flew from the prong for his head. As he felt the sparks take their effect on him, Vince moaned and slumped forward into the seat as he passed out. Satisfied with the current state of his captive, Knockout switched on the ignition and drove away, putting pedal to the metal once again. Jack ran up the side hill onto the road in the hopes of stopping Knockout for getting away with the bully. But he was too late. Knockout was gone, disappearing in a cloud of sand and dust as he disappeared into the dark horizon.

◊◊◊◊

"Breakdown, you'll never guess what I'm packing," Knock Out gushed excitedly as he continued down the highway with Vince unconscious and bound in his passenger seat, "Bumblebee's human friend! And when the Autobot attempts to stage a rescue..."

"He has a...breakdown!"

◊◊◊◊

"Bee, he's getting away!" Jack cried as Bumblebee approached him, bleeping his idea to him, "I-I-I can't understand you! Look. I'm not Raf! Can't you just honk once for bad news and honk twice for good news?"

Bumblebee seemed to like that idea. Finally, he found a method of communication Jack would understand. So he honked twice, telling Jack that he had good news indeed. Jack virtually melted in relief at understanding the mute Autobot. Well...he did until he saw Arcee, Nightwalker, WhiteRain and Bulkhead arrive. And Paige was with them and she wasn't happy.

When Paige hopped off of Arcee's vehicle form, she marched over to her best friend/brother and whacked him on the head, making him flinch and rub the back of his head.

"Jack, we need to chat," Arcee said, placing her servo on her hip. "Later, Arcee. Vince got snatched by that slick sports car 'Con!" Jack announced.

"What would Knockout want with that guy?" WhiteRain asked, surprised.

"He probably mistook him for Bumblebee's human friend. I'm not even Bumblebee's human friend," Jack said, "Look. It doesn't matter why they took him! Vince is in trouble!"

"Oh well. Tough break for Vince," Bulkhead shrugged carelessly, making Arcee, WhiteRain, Bumblebee and Nightwalker look at him.

"Bulkhead!" Paige and Jack exclaimed. Bulkhead looked at them, "what? Hear the guy's a jerk. Even more so to Paige."

"Okay, no argument there but the guy's also innocent," Paige huffed, "he doesn't deserve to get hurt- especially by the Cons."

Arcee furrowed her optic ridges before she transformed into her vehicle form, "hop on."

◊◊◊◊

"They should have called by now," Raf said worriedly, "do you think Bumblebee's okay?"

"Don't worry Raf. Bulkhead and WhiteRain won't let anything happen to Jack or Bee," Miko said reassuringly. Then the two heard heavy pedesteps and turned to Optimus walking into the main hangar.

"We should just tell Optimus the truth," Raf whispered. "Absolutely not!" Miko whispered back, "we made a deal! Just act completely normal."

"Raf, Miko, do either of you know where the others have gone?" Optimus asked as he walked up to them.

"Why, no sir," Miko said nonchalantly, "we do not know."

"Miko is correct," Raf said with a nervous smile, "we do not know." "Why would we know?" Miko asked as she and Raf nervously smiled at the Autobot leader.

Optimus only raised an optic ridge at the two.

◊◊◊◊

The chase for Knock Out and Vince continued, despite the fact that it was – by now – the early hours of the morning. But they wouldn't give up. Especially since their secret was at risk. When they heard the sound of a car coming at an intersection, they stopped to allow the car to go through. The red and white car whizzed by. Jack, Paige and Arcee realized that it was Knockout. So they immediately took off after him.

"Bumblebee brought company," Knockout observed.

"On your guard, boys and girls. Could be a trap," Arcee warned.

"And remember. No shooting," Jack reminded the two boys.

"Speaking of safety, Jack, this is where you get off," Arcee said. Paige looked to Jack and flicked her tail.

She and Arcee took off. As they drove around the place, Bumblebee, Nightwalker, WhiteRain and Bulkhead saw a giant hole in the wire fence. Suspecting trouble, they immediately transformed into their bipedal modes and unfolded their blasters. Paige was climbing up the water tower, ready to attack from above in case trouble came.

Knockout turned his front lights on, temporarily blinding Bulkhead and Bumblebee. Then from the wall next to them, Breakdown and Echo broke their way into the fight. Breakdown's hammer hit the road between Bulkhead, Nightwalker, WhiteRain and Bumblebee, causing the two to flip away. Bumblebee stood ready to fight. But Breakdown easily knocked him out of the way. Eventually, he did the same to Bulkhead. Nightwalker and WhiteRain charged at Breakdown and Echo, taking out their weapons.

Vince was still in Knockout's passenger seat unconscious. However, Knockout's didn't care at the moment. His mind was occupied with another quest.

"Where's the two-wheeler and the little half breed?" he asked himself. Arcee and Paige dropped down onto the Decepticon medic's hood.

Arcee started punching at Knockout's hood. "Hey! Watch the paint! It's custom!" He snapped.

"Seriously?" Arcee grinned. Paige, as she was in her lioness form, dug her claws into the hood of Knockout's car.

The tires squealed as Knockout rolled out, with Arcee and Paige riding along on top of him. The fight between Breakdown, Bulkhead and Bumblebee continued, unaware of the situation with Arcee, Paige, Knockout and Vince.

Outside, Jack's attention was captured by the sound of squealing tires. He turned and saw Knockout attempting an escape with Arcee and Paige standing on top of him, trying to maintain balance. Eventually, Arcee and Paige lost their balance and fell off. But Arcee transformed into her vehicular mode and caught Paige before the two chased Knockout into the night.

"That's my girls!" Jack cheered to himself quietly.

◊◊◊◊

"Uh, Breakdown, in case you're looking for me, things got messy. So I hit the road. One scream is enough for today," Knockout said through the commlink.

No sooner then Knockout had said that, Breakdown turned around and found himself smacked in the face with a lamppost, sending him flying through the same wall he broke through before. And that hit was courtesy of Bulkhead.

◊◊◊◊

The chase between Autobot, Galatrian and Decepticon continued. Arcee and Paige were hot on Knockout's tail. So Knockout added more pressure to the accelerator and gained more miles ahead of them, causing Arcee and Paige to groan in frustration at yet another lost chance.

"Eat my dust," Knockout smirked at them. There was a loud truck horn and Optimus drove up beside Knockout. With a gentle nudge from the Prime, Knockout lost control of himself and drove into a ditch.

"Optimus, Knockout has a hostage," Arcee said. Optimus transformed into his bipedal form and he walked over to Knockout.

Optimus picked Knockout up and held him in the air by his rear bumper. Knockout screamed in pain as Optimus riped the driver's side door off of the main frame. Carefully, Optimus reached inside the interior of the car and freed the still-unconscious Vince from his current predicament. With Vince safe in his servo, he simply threw Knockout to the side as he transformed.

"Do you know how hard that is to replace?" Knockout had screeched after observing the damage to his arm. That was when he realized he was outnumbered.

Bulkhead, WhiteRain and Nightwalker aimed their blasters at the Decepticon medic.

'Scrap! If I'm not in trouble with these bots, then I'm in trouble with Ember!' Knockout thought before he transformed into his vehicle form and sped away.

Optimus turned to the others. Bumblebee drove up beside Arcee, Jack inside his vehicle form.

"Optimus... this is my fault," Jack sighed. "We must get this boy to safety. Explanations can come later...from all of you," Optimus said sternly.

Nightwalker lowered his head and WhiteRain's shoulders slumped guiltily.

"We're in trouble," Bumblebee said quietly.

◊◊◊◊

Vince came to hours after he was taken from the circuit by Knockout. Only, he didn't find himself in Knockout's car. He found himself in Bumblebee's passenger seat with Jack driving.

"How did? What happened?" Vince groaned as he sat up.

"Some guys jumped you under the bridge. They tossed you into their trunk. Must have been some kind of initiation," Jack shrugged convincingly.

"Really?" Vince asked, startled. "Yeah. Found you knocked out on the side of the road," Jack said before he stopped next to Vince's car, "Look. I gotta be honest. After what I saw tonight, I think racing isn't really my thing."

"I hear you, Darby. Hard to win a race driving a pedal car!" Vince sneered, causing Bumblebee to put pedal to the metal and drove away.

◊◊◊◊

Knockout walked down the hallway as Echo and Comet walked over to him. "What happened to you?" Echo asked, noticing the damage on his arm.

"Knockout, to the control bridge. Now," Ember announced through the commlink. Knockout lowered his helm and the three walked to the command center.

When the doors opened, Comet walked over to Breakdown and Echo walked over to Soundwave.

Ember turned to Knockout, her optics showing bridled fury. "You were supposed to be tending to Lord Megatron," she said sternly, "instead... you decided to go and defy my orders and pull a careless stunt like this."

Knockout flinched as he lowered his helm, not wanting to meet his leader's optics. Ember was no angle. As the alpha of the Decepticons, she would not hesitate in punishing soldiers. Even if those soldiers were her friends.

Ember looked to Starscream, "Starscream will be the one to give you a lesson you won't seem to forget." She turned back to the screens as Starscream walked towards Knockout.

Comet widened his optics and he stepped forward but Breakdown put his arm in front of the young mech and silently shook his helm.

"Not to worry," Starscream said to Knockout, showing a sharp claw, "your punishment shall be merely... cosmetic."

No! Not the finish! Anything but the finish!" Knockout pleaded before Breakdown, Echo and Comet cringed at the sound of screeching metal and the sounds of Knockout's screams.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

◊◊◊◊

The next day, Jack walked over to Arcee and climbed onto her vehicle form. "Hey, Jack. Do you have time for that ride?" Sierra asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry, Sierra. I can't right now," Jack apologized regretfully.

"No problem. I guess I'll just see you around," Sierra shrugged sadly before walking away.

"Hop on," Arcee invited as she pulled up next to him.

"Whoa. Really?" Jack asked, surprised.

"Just this once," Arcee emphasized.

◊◊◊◊

Jack smiled as he and Sierra drove down the road, enjoying the sights before them.

#fanfiction #self insert #transformers prime #my ocs #the girl among the gods

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artificialqueens · 4 years ago

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Galactica, Chapter 3 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Hey darlings. Thanks for coming with us on this journey! (Again, for some of you. We are so grateful for your comments and feedback.) Click here for previous chapters. 💫

Last Chapter: We met Galactica’s senior creative team.

This Chapter: After a near disaster, Violet receives even more good news from Miss Fame.

***

Violet’s heels went clack, clack, clack as she ran down the corridor towards the design department of Galactica, her phone pressed to her ear.

It was Thursday morning, and Violet had once again barely gotten any sleep, and it was beyond unfair that she had to start the day with a shitshow.

One of their newer employees, brought on to help with their spring collection, had not shown up for her run through with Fame and Raja. Their spring collection show at New York Fashion Week was just under two months away, and while it seemed like a long time, it was close enough that Fame had started to get ansty over any and all delays.

The only reason Violet hadn’t been scalped was the fact that Trixie had been there to calm Fame down, Ivy sending her a long look of sympathy as she had practically sprinted out the door.

Violet turned the corner, finally reaching the design department and she grabbed the door, throwing it open with so much force it slammed into the wall.

An avalanche of sound hit her, designers working on prototypes left and right, the chatter of the men and women who worked in Trixie’s team washing over her.

“Where’s Gia?!”

Violet never raised her voice, yelling such an unfamiliar feeling, but it gave her the intended reaction. Everyone paused, sewing machines stopping, the floor falling completely silent.

She could feel the eyes of April on her, Blu sitting by Jovan’s desk. She saw Alexis stand by a dress form, and she felt her stomach clench when she realized that these would be her new coworkers, that she had essentially just kicked the door in to her new place of work, but then, at the back of the room, Gia raised her hand, and Violet zoomed in.

Violet walked through the department, men and women parting for her like she was crossing the Red Sea. Gia was standing with her hand on a clothing rack, Aiden so close to her it was clear the two had been caught up in conversation.

“Do you realize-” Violet hissed, “that you were supposed to be in Fame’s office 10 minutes ago?”

“I’m-” Gia’s eyes widened, all color disappearing from her face. “Isn’t the meeting at-”

“No.” Violet cut her off, not giving Gia any chance to explain. “No it’s not.”

“Shit-” Blu muttered, and Violet knew that she had to look terrifying. She felt terrifying, and powerful, and like she was ready to tear out Gia’s earring.

“Do you know what happens when Fame is disappointed in you?”

It wasn’t often that she took on this role, but as an assistant, as Fame’s assistant, she wasn’t just the gatekeeper of her boss’ office, wasn’t just the one who decided who got Fame’s time and who didn’t, she was also the executioner when someone failed, and Gia had done exactly that.

“Violet-” Gia choked out, the woman looking like she was genuinely about to cry, “I’m so sorry-”

Violet made a ‘zip it’ gesture, effectively shutting Gia up. “Run right now-” Violet pointed at the door, “if you want to have any chance at not getting fired.”

“Do you think she’s going to fire me?!” Gia’s voice went up, her tone nearing hysterics, and while Violet was still furious about what Gia’s misstep would mean for her entire day, she couldn’t help but feel compassion towards the woman who had only made a mistake.

“I don’t know,” Violet sighed, gently touching Gia’s arm. “She’s not happy-” Gia bit her lip, her eyes wide and frightened. “Now run!”

Gia pushed past her, disappearing at lightning speed towards the elevator, the rack behind her rolling so fast Violet could hear the wheels squeak.

The door closed, and after a few seconds the first buzz of a sewing machine pierced through the stunned silence. Before Violet had time to blink, the department was back in full swing, everyone talking as if nothing had happened at all.

Violet felt hot, the perfectly steamed dress she had put on this morning no longer crease-free, and if she was truly lucky her carefully applied eyeliner hadn’t run while she’d taken the stairs two at a time.

Gia’s fuck-up meant that Fame would be behind on her schedule all day and therefore in a terrible mood which Violet would have to deal with, on top of her meeting with HR since the posting for her replacement was finally ready to go online.

Violet looked at the clock on the wall, time ticking by. She did a quick calculation in her head, her lip between her teeth. Gia would have to take the long way around with the rack, and if Violet took a shortcut through marketing, she still had five minutes before she needed to get back to work.

The rest of her morning would most likely be spent being invisible in Fame’s office, her and Ivy standing side by side as they did whatever their bosses needed of them.

Violet felt something cold press against her cheek, and she jumped, a loud, happy laugh surprising her.

She turned towards the sensation, and there, right in front of her, was a blonde woman with a brilliant smile and some of the whitest teeth Violet had ever seen, a bottle of water in hand.

“Here.” The woman held it out, and Violet hadn’t even realized she was thirsty, her body still hot from all the anxiety it had been through.

Violet had gotten better about people yelling at her, but it could still shake her to the core if she was caught on the wrong foot.

“Thank you…” Violet took the bottle, the woman vaguely familiar to her, and then, it clicked. “Oh! You’re, you’re Katya Zama- Zamol-” Violet realized that she had no idea how to actually pronounce the last name she had cursed at every single time she had been made to add it to a guest list. “You’re Trixie’s girlfriend.”

“I am.” Katya nodded, her blue eyes shining with mischief. “Drink.”

Violet quickly did as Katya asked, the cold water beyond delicious.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“I-” Violet paused. She had never been asked that after yelling at someone, most employees at Galactica absolutely preferring to ignore it as best they could when they got chewed out by an assistant who was below them in every other way. “Umh.”

“I’ve been where you are,” Katya leaned against the table. “Believe it or not, but I was Fame’s assistant for about four months once.

Violet didn’t, in fact, believe her. “You’ve worked for Fame?”

Katya was wearing a fuzzy brown skirt and a blue cardigan that Violet was pretty sure had little cloud buttons holding it together. Her blonde hair was collected in a messy bun, the sides decorated with small hair clips of various animals in gold.

“Worst time of my life.” Katya smiled. “I teach first grade now.” She pointed at Violet. “You have a little-”

Shit. Violet had completely forgotten about her eyeliner. She was about to apologize, when Katya clicked open a bag that was sitting on the table. It was a giant glitter hand, the nails all painted red.

“Here.” Katya handed Violet an eyeliner, and while she would never normally take cosmetics from someone who was essentially a stranger, time was ticking away. Katya handed her a mirror too, the back of it a teddy bear in bright blue.

“Thank you.” Violet bit her lip as she freshened up her eyes.

“No problem.” Katya smiled, her white teeth shining. “Just tell Trix I’m waiting for him, and that he better be ready for some serious slushie time.”

***

Violet was, of course, back at her desk by the time Fame’s meeting with Gia ended, giving the designer a glare as she slunk from Fame’s office, then changing her expression instantly once Trixie and Raja stepped through the door, giving them both polite smiles.

“Violet!”

Violet paused. Had Fame seen the stink eye she had thrown in Gia’s direction? While Fame had shown her pleasure with Violet’s work when she had offered her the promotion to design, that didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to blame her for Gia being late and tear her a new one. Violet quickly collected her things, cursing under her breath as she hurried into Fame’s office.

“Yes, Miss?” Violet asked, notebook in hand, pen out to write down whatever information she hoped would be thrown her way.

“Sit down,” Fame ordered, pointing to the chair opposite her desk, her expression inscrutable, hands folded.

Violet obeyed instantly, a chill running down her spine. Fame looked serious, really serious, and Violet wondered for a moment if the Gia debacle would be enough to pull her transfer off the table. It was only her years as a teenage working professional that kept her face passive, her body shifting into it’s on stage position as she took a deep breath through her nose, masking any worry in her expression.

“Are you aware that Patrick and I own property in Kips Bay?”

Confused by the question, Violet nodded her head slowly. What did that have to do with Gia?

“Yes, has there been some sort of prob-”

“It’s a lovely little building, a restored 20-unit walk-up,” Fame continued like Violet hadn’t spoken at all. “I reserve a portion of the units for Galactica employees whom I consider to be very promising. At reduced rents, of course.”

“Oh.” Were they moving someone in? Fame had never asked her for help with anything like this before, but Violet was sure she could manage a cleaning crew or hiring a builder or finding an interior designer if that was what Fame needed.

She moved her pen towards her paper, when Fame dropped the bomb.

“A one-bedroom unit on the top floor has just become vacant, and I’d like to offer it to you.”

Violet’s eyes widened. Was Fame seriously offering her an apartment?

“The building manager can show you photos and answer any questions you might have. I expect an answer by the end of the day. These apartments don’t remain vacant for long.”

“Yes, Miss, I- of course, I-” Violet wanted to ask about rent, her gut swirling with emotions.

“If you accept, she can arrange the movers for you as well, likely as early as this weekend if you so choose.”

Fame slid a card over the table, the name of the building and a phone number on it, and Violet took it. “I-”

“That’s all.”

Fame’s tone clearly dismissed her, and while Violet had no idea what to do about Fame’s offer, she knew that she had been excused from the office.

She stood up, clutching the card in her hand, the piece of paper feeling like a golden ticket. Violet raced to her desk, grabbing her phone and dialing the number before the door to Fame’s office had fully closed, Fame watching her with a satisfied smirk on her face.

***

Pearl was sitting with her computer on her lap, one of her legs up on her desk. Her office had a giant glass panel, but Pearl didn’t mind if her coworkers and employees saw her in positions like this.

She had nothing to hide from them, and Pearl liked that they could see when she was in, even if it wasn’t always in the most flattering positions.

It was part of her management style since she didn’t care how her people got their job done, it just had to be finished on time.

Pearl was making a note, when she heard a quiet clack of heels, the faint scent of lavender hitting her nose.

“Hello Violet.” Pearl looked over her shoulder, and she was exactly right. Fame’s assistant was standing in the door, looking as stunning as ever.

“What are you watching?”

Violet was wearing a tailored knee length silk dress, small embroidered flowers in light purple sneaking up the skirt. She was holding a thick folder, and Pearl was pretty sure it would contain the show decisions Fame, Raja and Trixie had made earlier in the day.

“Last year’s ready to wear.” Pearl smiled, holding her hand out so Violet could give her the folder. Their fingers touched briefly, the smallest blush of pink dusting itself over Violet’s cheeks. “Order from the big boss herself.”

Fame had called Pearl, a hint of unease in her voice when she had asked her to comb through the back catalog. Pearl hadn’t seen any reason to, what little she had seen on stage design, music choices and modeling profiles not a direct replica of anything they had done before, but as she was going through their footage, she guessed she could see where Fame’s concern came from, their newest collection fitting almost too perfectly in with their company profile.

“Ah.” Violet bit her lip. “It was a good one. Last year I mean. The use of wool really fit the tailoring.”

Pearl loved listening to Violet talk, although if the black-haired girl was blabbering, it was almost certainly related to fashion. She liked how Violet never raised her voice, how you had to concentrate, look at her, actively pay attention if you wanted to catch everything she was saying.

“I still need to watch the rest of this, and resort.” Pearl smirked, hoping she could win Violet over with her charm. It wasn’t the worst task she’d had, to watch the old shows, but it would be a whole lot more fun with Violet by her side. “There’s champagne in the fridge? If you want to join me?”

“Me?” Violet looked surprised for a moment, and Pearl wondered if she had imagined all the times she could have sworn she had caught Violet blushing when their fingers brushed together.

“I-” Violet bit her lip, twisting her wrist to look at her watch.

Pearl was actually worried if she would be rejected, when Violet opened her mouth.

“I actually have to pack.”

Jackpot. No one said no like that unless they were actually interested.

“I’m sure it can wait for 30 minutes. This is work as well.”

“It’s private, not work.”

“You’re moving?” Pearl stood up, walking towards her mini fridge. “Where to?”

“A new apartment.”

Pearl waited for Violet to say more, but when nothing came, she couldn’t keep back a laugh, Violet startling at the sudden sound. It was painfully typical of Violet not to offer up any information in casual conversation, but it was also endearingly hilarious.

“Oh Vivi.” Pearl smiled, taking a bottle. “You’re truly one of a kind.”

“Don't call me Vivi.”

Pearl turned around, and she noticed with deep satisfaction that Violet’s cheeks were the loveliest red.

“Let’s toast to your move.”

“That won’t be necessary-”

“I insist.” Pearl smiled. “Besides, it’d be sad if I drank this bottle alone, and you wouldn’t want me to be sad, would you?”

“I suppose not.” Violet was twisting a strand of her hair, an unsure but happy look in her eyes. It was adorable to see a crack in the normally stoic woman, and Pearl wanted to melt her away. She quickly poured two glasses, handing one to Violet, their fingers touching again.

She knew she was standing unnecessarily close, but she clinked their glasses together, the scent of lavender strong in her nose.

“To new beginnings, Vivi!”

#rpdr fanfiction #thedane #veronica #galactica #lesbian au #fashion au #pearlet #violet chachki #miss fame #pearl liaison #katya zamolodchikova #gia gunn

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sagebodisattva · 5 years ago

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Meta Ethics

In a follow up to the last video, “Morality and Spiritual Training for Trolls”, we’ll continue our expansive evaluation of morality, and start out by clarifying the actual subject matter of the expatiation. The consideration here really isn’t morality. That would be technically incorrect. Better to classify it as “ethics”; and in this particular case, even more accurately described as “meta ethics.” And this will be the main focus of today’s video, with more content to come in follow ups, as we’ll continue to broaden the scope of the examination, and convert this exploration of morality into an ongoing series. But before we even get into the specific implications of meta ethics, let us first understand the reason why we should make a distinction between morality and ethics.

Just referencing a “morality”, doesn’t speak to the ideological considerations behind a moral code. Saying you have morality is essentially the same thing as saying you have rules or regulations. It’s just basic terminology referring to a generalization, and says nothing to the possible equity or inequity of such a generalization. We could very well have instances of ill conceived morality, or of morality founded on questionable principles. That’s why the ethics are of upmost importance, as they deal with the philosophy behind the rules of conduct. If you want to understand whether or not a morality in question is either solid or slipshod, you need not look any further then the underlying ethics. This is the main reason why it’s significant to distinguish morality from ethics.

So, when speaking on ethics, it should also be clarified that conventional ethics are very low minded. Conventional ethics are the worm eyed position. Conventional ethics are constructed by, and revolve solely around, the illusory egoic identity. That’s why “meta ethics”, are a far better alternative for consideration; as, ethics that are based solely around the primitive desires of a desperate needy ego will, necessarily, lead to low minded standards, inequity and moral turpitude. And that’s because the ego is an inherently selfish repository by default, and due to this, simply can’t be trusted to make a mindful decision about anything. The ego is just too selfish.

But what’s wrong with that? After all, “Richard Dawkins and The Selfish Gene.”, right? “Ayn Rand and The Virtue of Selfishness.”, no?

Right. A genetically selfish waste producing vacuum who thinks it’s a virtue just by being a genetically selfish waste producing vacuum. How admirable! Is there anything wrong with that? I dunno. Is there anything wrong with a man who spends all day, every day, licking his own balls? If so, what would that be, exactly? What would be your diagnosis, for a man who spent all his time with his head between his legs, lapping at his own testicles?

Whatever. Go ahead and lick your own balls; but why is it so hard to lick your own balls without impinging on others? That’s all you gotta do. Lick your own balls without impinging on others.

“But why is it wrong to impinge on others?”

The mere fact that this needs to be explained to you is an indication of mental derangement. Let’s pick up this conversation with you strapped in the interrogation chair. I’m sure we can straighten out your mental confusion about why it’s not cool to impinge on others in a fortnight, all with nothing more then a knife, a fork, a spoon, and a bottle of salt.

If you need a mundane reason why: because it isn’t civilized. We’re trying to imagine that we’re building a civilization ova here, and sociopathic actions such as lying, cheating, stealing, raping, and murdering, are recklessly barbaric uncivilized behaviors. You want to be a savage? Fine, be a savage. You’ll be treated just like any other rabid animal rampaging the landscape, and simply be locked in a cage, or put down. There’s absolutely no issue with hunting you to extinction. You can then take your place next to the saber tooth tiger and the dodo bird.

If you want to hear the higher reason why: because preying on others is a delusional behavior; and hiding in a delusion is a cowardly way to elude the truth.

So, a ravenous short sided ego, struggling to survive, will find all kinds of ample justifications for immoral behavior; and, in some cases, will also discover that it can derive sustenance or perverse indulgent gratification, at the expense of another; and, due to this, supposedly lacks the capacity to understand how, and why, this is wrong; which is further reinforced by cues taken from “nature”, which seem to endorse predatory exploits. This is where the idea of moral relativity comes into play; the view that:

“Moral judgments are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint (for instance, that of a culture or a historical period), and that no standpoint is uniquely privileged over all others.”

The language of that description tells you everything you need to know about why moral relativity is a pile of archaic garbage. No standpoint is uniquely privileged over all others? Are you kidding me? With the plethora of knowledge now so widely available, due to the mass digitalization of information and a global connectivity facilitated by way of the World Wide Web, are they actually suggesting with a straight face that a contemporary man doesn’t have an advantaged educational position over a man of antiquity? Are you serious? As it stands today, the average modern individual has potential access to more information in one day, then the average ancient individual had in an entire lifetime! Whereas the ancient standpoint only had knowledge of it’s own current period, and perhaps a partial knowledge of limited history, the modern standpoint has knowledge of the ancient standpoint, all the history preceding it, and everything else that unfolded thereafter, all the way up to the present moment. It’s not even a contest. Hence, one of the reasons why I posit that the whole idea of moral relativity is archaic. After all, moral relativism is a *view* that is sympathetic to a *standpoint*. In other words, a worm eyed position, referring to another worm eyed position: the low minded domain of the hungry ego.

Ego based ethics produce substandard moralities; and we have seen countless examples of this from various civilizations throughout history. These are the types of ethics that made sinister methodologies, such as slavery, torture, human sacrifice, cannibalism, and pederasty, culturally acceptable in their particular times; of which, makes it truly questionable whether or not these populations could rightfully be considered “civilizations”, proper. A true civilization is defined as a stage of human development that is considered most advanced; and it should be obvious that the populations that engaged in these type of wicked practices would hardly be qualified as civilized.

So yes, they were substandard morals absolutely, because they were based on substandard ethics; which was often the direct result of ignorant myopia and stubborn superstition. And we shouldn’t be afraid to denounce or condemn these subpar morals due to some idea about cultural differences. Let us not forget that the biological definition of “culture”, is the cultivation of cellular organisms in an artificial medium containing nutrients; with “artificial”, being the key word to remember here. And that’s because culture is artifice. Culture is contrived.

And some of you may say:

“Hey, whoa, Sage! Are you gonna devalue my culture?”

And I say hey, you bet your damn ass I will. I’m a reality deconstructionist, and everything you hold dear is on the table.

Your *culture*, huh. How insipid. That’s like saying I’m devaluing your cosmetics. I’m not sure where you get this idea that anyone should pay homage to your luggage. To uncover the truth, know thyself. And the way to know thyself is by letting go of all the artifice you’ve clung to, in desperation for an identity. No, you are not a gender. You are not a sexuality. You are not a race. You are not a religion. You are not even a human being, so forget about all the heritage and traditions of human beings that you cherish so deeply. These are *all* illusory identifications; other wise known as “bullshit”, and culture isn’t exempt from being part of the bullshit. Stop taking your ego so seriously. So what about multiculturalism? Fine, but no less bullshit then singleculturalism. Multiculturalism is a reference to different layers of fake contrived bullshit, all getting combined! Yum yum! Just what a cauldron of one type of bullshit really needs; a blend of additional types of bullshit to give the bullshit stew the real nice unique savory flavor of diverse bullshit! Eclectic bullshit is so much tastier then regular bullshit, didn’t you know? A bullshit so palpable, it’s palatable. Ah yes! How sweet it is! And it attracts quite a sundry of nasty flies and shady scavengers. So yeah. All culture is fake. Stop using it as a shield against the empty truth.

And, needless to say, by the same token, you can do the exact same thing with god; the idea in your head that you use to justify all the other bullshit identifications you’ve become attached to. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that having a supreme being in the mix changes anything, or did anything to justify abhorrent behaviors throughout history. If anything, it just made the situation ten times worse; as, nothing emboldens a myopic ego more then the imagined personal endorsement of an almighty god; which, as we all know, is a path of complete willful dishonesty, or maybe just superstitious stupidity, as the case may be. This is a type of ethical formula that leads to nothing but pure corruption. In fact, you can’t even rightfully say that the morals of religion are based on any true ethics. Ethics are the product of deep minded philosophy, and there’s nothing at all philosophical or deep minded, about binary rules designed to acquire feeble acquiescence. There’s nothing philosophical about blindly adhering to dogma out of fear of some judgmental entity. That’s why it’s called “theology”, and not philosophy.

In truth, the concept of god is a projection of man. See, they tell you that god created man, so that man could, in turn, worship god; (an insane tale unto itself wherein a manic depressive deity with an isolation phobia finds solace in masturbation with self imposed amnesia.), but, the truth is that, man created god, so that man could worship himself via an imagined god by proxy. (an even more insane tale of rampant self important impotence trying to pass off masturbation as legitimate divinity.)

And, of course, this became a very effective method of dominating fellow egos; setting up dogmatic dictums and the subsequent punishments for non-compliance, all under the guise of having a religion. A complete con job. But who could really blame these ascendant hustlers? Most egos are weak and docile, and cannot survive by their own wits, and need a strong outside factor to command them, and they will be submissive to this dominance in exchange for room and board, all of which only increases their overall slavery, but yet relieves them of all responsibility!

What a fantastic tradeoff for a lifelong slave! Everything you need to survive will be provided at a minimum, in exchange for complete servitude. And never forget, in addition to the commitment of being a full time slave, you will also OWE your master for the service of providing you with the bare minimum. That’s the reason why you can’t just leave. It’s not like you can decide to back out of the deal because you now suddenly think you can find a way to be independent, no; it’s too late. You *owe*, motherfucker. Always remember that. And it doesn’t matter that it’s contrived debt. You owe.

“You owe. You owe. You owe.”

Got a clearer picture of what’s really going on here? This type of organized corruption is the main reason why an “atheist”, was even ever born, and why morality became tainted in the eyes of such atheists. Religion and morals developed a sordid association, and almost rightfully so. But this is a good thing. Stop trying to use god as a shield against the empty truth.

So, this is why I submit a proposal for meta ethics. And what exactly is meta ethics? Meta ethics would be fundamental principles with a wider domain then that of the first person perspective of the worm eyed ego. This would be ethics based on lucidity as the highest ideal. These would be ethics that make determinations and develop morals, from the outside looking in, so to speak. A standard that would be a lot more closer to objective, (as in, an outlook that’s impartial to any particular identity’s personal feelings or opinions.) then anything we’ve imagined could exist thus far. I argue that it has never existed, because the awakening is still in an embryonic stage, therefor there is no such animal as an ego that isn’t partial to it’s own bias. Mental slavery demands that you be prejudiced to the personality you’ve associated as an individual identity. This is your sacred attachment. And you will not deviate from it, one bit. You will remain obedient to it, damn it. You will be shamelessly obedient to it.

Meta ethics are exactly what they imply. Ethics that are of a higher order, and are self referential to the ego from this higher station. Only from this position are all egos seen as the same, and therefor can all be treated the same, and will have a code of conduct that applies to them all equally the same. From this position there isn’t any relative aspects to morals. They are always absolute, because they cover the entire framework and do not concern themselves with any selfishly biased worm eyed considerations. In this way, there won’t be any exceptions because of cultural or historical standpoints. There won’t be any allowances set aside for a reckless predatory ego who wants to gain something at the expense of another. There are no grey areas, or ambiguity, concerning the right and wrong of conduct. Lucidity is the foundation, and a context outside the ego is the reference point. This is where the high minded standards of meta ethics finds it’s ground.

#ethics #morality #meta ethics #philosophy

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zydrateacademy · 6 years ago

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Review - Rage 2

I have little to no experience with the first Rage. I have about two hours on it, last played five years ago. I remember a lot of brown, and I think I immediately quit because it didn’t engage me very much. To the surprise of everyone, last year we get a teaser trailer set to Andrew WK’s “Ready to Die” in a semi live action setpiece telling everyone that Rage has returned, and it’s gonna be wacky! In practice, it’s just a very colorful shooter. A fairly decent one, but it lacks the general humor that Borderlands has, which yields a common comparison. Indeed, Rage 2 feels like a union between Mad Max (the driving), Borderlands (the environment), and DOOM (the gunplay). This review will have several comparisons to all three, but I’ll try to explain the systems so my readers won’t require previous knowledge of other games. I’ll start with the game’s main selling point, the zany gunplay and abilities. You play as Walker, gender of your choice but you cannot customize them as they both essentially exist as their own beings in this world. You are some kind of military trainee in a fairly safe and stable stronghold that gets annihilated in the first fifteen minutes of the game by an organization called “The Authority”. You put on a suit of armor of a now-extinct sect of “Rangers”, you being the last one in an impromptu promotion. This armor facilitates all of your guns and abilities. Even the guns are acquired through ARKS dotted around the land that are specifically designed for rangers and their suits, so right off the bat you’re more or less more equipped than every bandit in the wasteland.

Other than some odd key bindings to start with, the abilities and guns feel very good. One of the first you acquire is imminently useful, as it was designed to shatter armor of the enemies (and the ability is in fact called “Shatter”). This is also very satisfying as you play through the game, whether you use that ability or shoot it all off, you can actually see mob’s armor plating fly off as you whittle them down. It’s a good signifier as any that they’re ready to be killed outright. Considering the game shares much more with DOOM than with Borderlands, enemies are not at all bullet sponges. Most enemies can be taken out in just a couple shots, or a single headshot. The armor is what makes them spongey, but you’re very quickly given the tools to deal with it. Other abilities include a bullet barrier, a ground slam, a super sprint, a dash, a vortex that pulls enemies in and detonates, an overdrive, and a few others. Considering that DOOM developers have worked on this, this is not a cover shooter. Everything is designed to keep you moving and shooting and the set of abilities you acquire serve this goal incredibly well, and the gunplay is very fun. However, like Mad Max (from Avalanche Studios, which also served as developers here) strongholds don’t tend to respawn which leaves my usual fare of sandboxing starting to dry up just 11 hours into the game. I’m starting to get the feeling that the game is rather short, and I wish it took a similar idea from recent Far Cry games to reset the strongholds, maybe add some extra difficulty to it, and let us play it all again. I do not believe there is a New Game Plus at this time, so when I’m done, I’m done. This is essentially a twenty to thirty hour game it feels, so take that as you will.

Everything can be upgraded as well, DOOM-style. This is not Borderlands, and you will be staring at the same guns throughout your experience. There are about ten of them though (two from the preorder bonus, or potential DLC) and you can change their capabilities, level them up, and add extra mag sizes, reload speeds, and so on. They’ll function differently as you see fit but I find myself defaulting to the assault rifle you acquire, upgradable with armor piercing rounds which really tear through most enemies.

Returning from Mad Max are the convoys, one of my favorite mechanics from that game. There were only a handful there, and this game serves many more and they’re certainly more engaging in their own way. They boast an entire caravan with a War-Rig like truck that serves as its own boss (complete with a health bar), where you must wipe out the allies and then hit “weak points” that pop out periodically. I’m not sure if they constantly spawn or are as temporary as the strongholds, but I do enjoy them.

So the gunplay is good, the environment is interesting to look at. There’s plenty of lights, colorful characters, and even trees and wildlife in certain zones. The writing leaves something to be desired. For example you get a Borderlandsy splash screen introducing a few characters, one of which was “enjoys manipulating others, and once tortured a guy just to get his approval”. Meeting him just screamed “This guy is going to betray the fuck out of you”. Sure enough...

So let’s move on to some points I have “mixed” feelings about.

As I alluded to with the guns, this isn’t really a Loot-N-Shooter. It’s just a shooter. Everywhere there are chests to get “feltrite”, the main upgrade currency. You also get money, which also helps buy upgrades outright as well as ammo for you and your vehicle. There’s even an upgrade just to help you triangulate and find these chests so you don’t abandon every stronghold at 3/4 chests found because it’s hiding in a tiny alcove somewhere, but sometimes I do it anyway because it kind of kills too much time when you’re running around for a while. The gameplay encourages constant moving, shooting, and ground-slamming, but after a while you actually run out of things to do all of that with. To the game’s credit, it doesn’t make Anthem’s mistake of “go here, kill everything”. Sometimes you defend a pylon, sometimes you shoot fuel tanks, sometimes you destroy a power silo. All of which involves a lot of shooting but none of this respawns or comes back.

In relation, the map does feel a bit small. After gaining reputation with a certain main character, you’re awarded the Icarus, which is a flight vehicle. No weapon capabilities and it’s made out of paper but it’s very useful for transit. I’d almost recommend not using it at all, but it does help nab a few points of interest that you wouldn’t necessarily drive past on wheels, as some things you need to actively search for rather than drive by. As I said before, after 11 hours it feels as though I’ve complete most of the side-stuff already. Side missions can be picked up in towns but they’re much simpler and less interesting than the main story itself, and there’s little reason to do them.

The game is also very buggy. I suffer a crash to desktop (no error message or anything) every couple of hours. Much more often the game will freeze on me for an extended period of time (forty-five seconds or more) before coming back to me. I was on a “clear out the bandits” objective and one of the enemies was clipped into a building. Thankfully the “Shatter” ability has some AoE capabilities that got through the wall and I got him eventually. Those are the main three I’ve suffered but if you read around, you’ll no doubt find much more. These aren’t the usual funny “dragons flying backwards” Bethesda bugs, these are actually game breaking and rage inducing.

Oh, Bethesda. What has happened to you? It felt like it’s just been a couple years since you were the gaming community’s golden boy. It really all went downhill with Fallout 76 (which I’m still waiting on single player and modding capabilities) and has never really recovered. Yes, their new fare of “microtransactions” are here. I don’t normally have a hate-on for cosmetic shops like the community as a whole does but in Rage 2 it’s particularly pointless. It has some gun skins, both of which can be acquired in game. The golden skins are 10,000 dollars in certain shops (which is a lot, mind you) and the other ones can be acquired by farming the Mutant Bash TV enough. I enjoy the mutant-killing arena but I find it’s far too damn easy, and it really needed extra difficulty levels attached. Those skins cost 2500 MBTV tokens and you can get ~1500 every run you do. Considering how easy it is, I earned most of them in like, an hour. Now let’s get to some of the things I actively hate.

I don’t like the driving. Not nearly as much in Mad Max, anyway. The convoys are indeed still fun and more rewarding than Max’s were. To Max’s credit, that entire game was built around the car being a major mechanic and hell, even plot point and Max’s entire motivation. In Rage 2 it’s more of a sideshow. The cars don’t feel like they have much weight to them (at least, not until you spin them out and try to push yourself out of a ditch, which I often do) and when I was given the flying Icarus, I felt little point in returning to the sassy-AI that hosted the Phoenix, the only car you can upgrade and customize.

To wit, I actually quite despise the driving in certain contexts. Early in the story you have to impress someone enough to enter his suite. To do so you must play through the Mutant Bash TV (fun, but easy) and... a race. You enter the race and the NPC there tells you that you’re starting on the bottom. Now, in other games this means they usually give you idiots for AI. The first race in GTA5 was laughable, and even in Mad Max their one main “race” was actually just a deathmatch with a six minute timer. This newbie race in Rage 2 actually made me Rage-Quit the night the game was released. They give you their own car, every other racer has the same one and they actually match your speed. At any given point I always had two to four other racers ahead of me at all times. You know what bots and AI don’t do? Make mistakes. They never spun out, rammed into each other, or hit a wall unless you yourself did all that to them. After getting a night’s sleep and three tries in the morning later, my only strategy was to ignore the other drivers and concentrate harder than I ever have in a game. I basically had to do a perfect run, not hitting anything. I did so well and ALMOST lost the ENTIRE race to one single spinout near the end of the track. When I won, I could hear one or two car engines right on my tailpipe. They never lost traction like I did, and that’s just garbage.

I hated it. I do not look forward to dealing with this required mission in future playthroughs. By the way, it’s required to unlock an entire upgrade tree.

One final point of annoyance before I summarize my thoughts ultimately. This one is much more minor but it actually irritates me more than the driving does because this one is a constant threat. Every time you clear an objective, no matter how quick or small, you get an unskippable popup announcing your victory and rewards, as well as the reputation gain. This could have so easily been put on the side, like they do their radio-bound dialogues. Instead it completely stops the show and I find myself slamming the enter key so I can skip it the very split second it allows me to do so. In a game that wants you to keep moving, in a very successful and fun way, this thing is just a complete show stopper and I don’t know how their beta testers weren’t yelling “Come on, let me PLAY!” constantly. Ultimately, I do feel like there’s a good game to be had here. The cosmetic store is easily ignored and beyond that, you’ll have to deal with some bugs, janky driving, and bullshit “OBJECTIVE COMPLETE” popups. If you can deal with that, you’re left with some excellent gunplay and skillfully crafted environments. It’s not as long as I had hoped, and I really expected more to justify an eighty dollar preorder but I have not at all hated the experience.

#Rage #Rage 2 #avalanche studios #bethesda softworks #id software #Gaming #PC Gaming

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sp4c3-0ddity · 7 years ago

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For the Pidgance Positivity Discord prompt: Eyeliner. Word count is ~2500

A sequel to this (Part Two), and you can read the very first part here.

Anyway, hope you enjoy corny coincidence ;)

“Campus library. How can I help you?”

The voice on the other end of the line oozed boredom, but though the tone itself was familiar, the person speaking was not. “Yeah, is Pidge working today?” Lance wondered for the fifth time in the last week.

“Who’s Pidge?” the person asked. “There’s no Pidge that works at the library, that I know of.”

Lance sighed. “Not you, apparently,” he grumbled. “Thanks anyway.”

“You’re welcome,” they said, sounding confused.

Lance hung up before they did and stared at his cell phone’s screen, the little ‘5’ beside the library’s number mocking him. He was almost certain that every time he called that week a different person answered, and not a single one was Pidge – or even knew anyone by that name.

Tracking her down was more complicated than Lance ever expected, and to think it had been so easy for her to find him. Did she not miss her yellow scarf?

Lance unwound the scarf from around his neck and rolled it up neatly before stuffing it into his backpack. The day was unseasonably warm, the sun heating the ground and the air enough that people only wore light jackets.

The clock tower rang the hour, two tolls of the bell, and Lance finally stood and meandered towards his next class.

Pidge stared into the black hole that was her purple cosmetics pouch. The fabric was still pristine, not a single bit of glitter lost, since her mother pointedly gifted it to her as a high school graduation present last spring.

Pidge had yet to use any of the cosmetics stored inside; even the lip gloss remained untouched.

Today’s challenge was eyeliner, a very dark green – almost black – color that complimented the forest green of her dress. The pencil’s tip was as sharp as the day she bought it, not dulled by a single use – or attempted use, since the idea that her hand would shake while she applied it daunted her.

“God dammit,” Pidge muttered. She pinched the pencil between two fingers and bent close to the bathroom mirror with the tip poised close to her eye. “If I go blind…”

She ignored the sound of the unisex bathroom doorknob rattling as she touched the eyeliner pencil tip to the corner of her right eye. Her eyes watered as she struggled not to blink, but she dragged the pencil along the top of her eyelid all the way to the outside corner. She grinned triumphantly, unbothered by the line’s slight jaggedness – like she would let anyone get close enough to see it!

And the other eye…

Pidge put the pencil tip to the inside corner of her left eye, the motion now more awkward from the uncomfortable positioning of her left hand, but before she could draw a new line, a triple staccato knock sounded from the door.

She exhaled. “Patience,” she said, and drew the pencil from one corner to the other.

At the sharper knock, Pidge flinched, startled, and the pencil dragged abruptly across her eyelid and almost to her eyebrow. “There are other bathrooms on this floor, you asshole!” she snapped, irritated as she capped the pencil and dropped it into the bag. She dug inside for her eye makeup remover and continued, “Unless you can do eyeliner, go away!”

“Pidge?”

Pidge froze, hand still rummaging inside the cosmetics bag. She knew that voice – she’d heard it ranging in tone from cheerful to downright panicky. She withdrew her hand and walked to the door, turning the knob and tugging it open to see Lance on the other side, staring at her with wide eyes.

“I can help with eyeliner,” he said, recovering from his surprise with a shrug and a wide grin. “Since you asked so politely.”

Pidge clapped a hand over her left eye. “I was being sarcastic,” she told him.

Lance raised an eyebrow at her. “I could tell.” Without invitation, he tapped her hand, nudging it away from her eye. “You look like you could use some help.”

She examined him for a brief moment, from the somewhat wind-tousled look of his hair as if he’d just been outside to the bright blue backpack hanging from his shoulders. She dropped her hand and said, “I would…appreciate some help.”

Lance smiled and pushed past her into the bathroom, and Pidge let the door fall closed behind her and locked it. He headed straight for her purple cosmetics bag sitting open next to the sink, peering into it. “I never pegged you for a makeup person,” he observed.

Pidge shrugged and said, “There’s a time and a place for everything.”

Lance hummed and found the eyebrow pencil she’d been using, while Pidge stood next to him and grabbed the bottle of makeup remover. She wadded up a bit of toilet paper in lieu of a cotton ball, and after pouring a generous amount of the fluid onto it, she wiped at her messed up eyeliner.

“This is a nice color,” he observed.

“Thanks,” she said. She tossed the toilet paper into the trash and faced Lance. “I’m ready.”

“Good job on the other eye,” Lance then commented, pointing to it. “Not bad for a beginner.”

“And what are you?” she wondered. “Intermediate?”

Lance laughed. “Yeah, probably.” He stepped closer to her, leaning down so that his warm breath touched her forehead, and grasped her chin with a firm hand to keep her from twitching involuntarily. “Close your eye, or both of them so you don’t blink too much.”

Ignoring the strange way her heart beat more rapidly, Pidge did as he asked and held her breath when he touched the pencil tip to the corner of her eye. “So what’re you getting all made up for?” he asked as he slowly dragged the pencil across her eyelid.

“Christmas social for SWE,” she said. She forced herself to unclench her sweaty hands, to try to appear more relaxed.

“What’s swee?” Lance said.

“Society of Women Engineers,” Pidge explained, then she admitted, “I didn’t want to go, but I want to run for board next year, and the president suggested I get to know everyone better.”

“Politics, am I right?” Lance joked. He lifted the pencil from her eyelid and let go of her chin, stepping away from her.

Pidge didn’t know why she missed the heat of his body when he’d barely touched her – or why she should miss it at all.

“You can open your eyes now, Pidge,” Lance said.

Pidge huffed out a laugh that she hoped didn’t sound as strained as she feared. She opened her eyes and stepped closer to the mirror, examining Lance’s handiwork and how it matched hers.

She scowled when his proved to be so much neater than her own.

Lance laughed when he spotted her expression, wielding the small pencil at her like it was a sword. “You want me to do the other eye too?”

“Yes,” Pidge said immediately, telling herself it was only for the sake of symmetry.

“You’re not going to ask how I know how to apply eyeliner?” Lance wondered once her eyes were closed again, and she once more exhaled in tiny huffs.

“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me anyway,” Pidge remarked, unable to help a small smile.

“Hey, stop twitching,” Lance scolded her. When she obediently fell still – with some difficulty – he said, “My older sister taught me since she couldn’t put it on herself but had no trouble doing it for her friends.”

“Why didn’t they do it for her too?”

“Because she couldn’t ask them to do her makeup before every family wedding,” Lance explained. “My family’s huge, and we have a ton of weddings.”

“Sounds like a blast,” Pidge said, rather untruthfully since she’d been to one wedding in her entire life and didn’t have much fun.

“They are,” Lance agreed, apparently without detecting any irony in her voice. He lifted the pencil but didn’t remove his hand, though he loosened his grip.

“If you’re done,” Pidge said, opening her eyes and staring up at him, “you can let go of me now.” She didn’t flinch at his proximity – she’d known how close he stood – but it still alarmed her, made her skin itch in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

Lance let go and averted his eyes away from her face. “How’d I do?” He waved towards the mirror.

Pidge leaned towards her reflection, and she and her twin in the mirror smirked. “Bitchin’,” she said.

She saw his reflection roll his eyes and smile. “Well, just be careful you don’t touch your eyes and smudge all my hard work,” he said.

“Good thing it’s not allergy season,” Pidge said. She took the pencil back from him, noting that it would need to be sharpened before the next time – if there was a next time – she used it, and packed her belongings away. She extracted a black cardigan from her backpack and, after grimacing at the wrinkles in the fabric, put it on over her sleeveless dress.

“By the way,” she said, remembering as she glanced at Lance, who stood by the door as if ready to flee, “do you still have my scarf?”

Lance laughed, and dropped his backpack.

Pidge had a shift at the library the next day, on Saturday. The library stayed open for extra hours as finals week drew closer, and her supervisor scheduled her for more hours than usual when she made the mistake of mentioning how far ahead she was on her homework assignments.

And rather than returning books to their shelves – her preferred duty – Pidge stood at the circulation desk, manning the telephone and available if anyone needed to check out or search for a book or borrow a school laptop or USB cable. She kept herself busy by pretending to look busy when no one wanted her assistance, doodling a design of a pyramidal robot and highlighting the corners in blue ink.

“Worthy of being Star Wars concept art?” she asked herself, turning the page sideways to look at it a bit more closely. She shrugged and put the paper down, starting a drawing of something else – she couldn’t be sure yet what would spill out of her pen.

“Is that…Pidge?”

Pidge jerked her head up at the sound of her name, standing up so rapidly that she knocked her chair down. Her face heated up with embarrassment as she searched for a familiar face, and her eyes finally fell on Hunk and, on his other side, Lance.

Lance’s nose and cheeks were red with cold, and he crossed his arms and held himself stiffly. Pidge rolled her eyes and pulled off her scarf, tossing it to him as he and Hunk approached. “You should wear a heavier jacket, you know,” she said.

“It was s-so warm yesterday!” Lance retorted with a slight stutter.

Hunk clapped him on the back, frowning like he’d expected this to happen and was keeping himself from saying I told you so.

“One of the vending machines in the lobby has hot chocolate,” Pidge suggested. She rested her elbow on the counter, resting her chin on her hand and smirking. Sure, Lance looked cold, but there was just something cute and endearing about seeing him wrap himself snugly in her scarf, tug the top edge up to cover his mouth, and—

Pidge halted that train of thought in its tracks, her smirk faltering. “Do you guys need anything?” she asked.

“We’re just here to hit the books,” Hunk told her. “I’m good, but Lance…?” He looked at his friend, an inquiry – or perhaps a challenge – in his eyes.

Lance pulled the scarf back down – but didn’t take it off – and smiled at Pidge. “I’m good too,” he said. “Thanks, Pidge.”

Hunk rolled his eyes but walked away, off to find a free table, after waving towards Pidge; Lance took a step after, but he seemed to reconsider and doubled back to the counter.

“Did you have fun last night?” he wondered.

Pidge managed a smile even through the weird stuttering of her thoughts, the ones that made her heart race in an unfamiliar way while a warmth filled her chest. “A little,” she said. “I guess the good thing about engineers is that we’re all pretty nerdy.”

“Hmm, well, I’m sure you are, but I wouldn’t say the same about me.”

“We spent most of a Saturday playing an old video game once,” Pidge retorted, leaning across the counter towards him. “Face it, Lance; you’re a nerd.”

“Take that back!” Lance said, his own face drifting just a little closer to hers.

“I don’t think I want to,” Pidge said, a slow smirk tugging at her lips. “Although, maybe if you buy that coffee you still owe me I’ll take it back.”

“And then I’ll owe you something else,” Lance pointed out.

“You did my makeup for me yesterday,” she said.

“You gave me your scarf.”

“To borrow,” Pidge insisted, rolling her eyes, but then she narrowed them at him instead. “You are going to give it back, right?”

“Of course,” Lance said, “as soon as you give me your—”

“Hey, if you don’t need help,” someone interrupted them from the queue forming behind Lance, “can you get out of line?”

Lance stood up straight, and Pidge leaned away, finally conscious of the way they’d been drifting towards each other. “Yeah, sorry,” he said dismissively, rolling his eyes at Pidge. “I guess I have to hit the books too, so I’ll see you?”

“See you, Lance,” Pidge said.

He smiled as he left, though she frowned as soon as he was out of sight and the first person in line came forward with their inquiry.

Pidge helped everyone in line, succeeding in putting Lance from her mind – at least temporarily. But his interrupted comment haunted her, and she spent the rest of her shift preoccupied with it, trying to fill in the blanks herself.

Hunk left an hour before she clocked out, backpack slung over his shoulder with a frown on his face. “Studying that bad?” she asked him when he passed.

“Could be worse,” Hunk said, shrugging.

“Where’s Lance?” Pidge wondered, then noticing what was missing.

Hunk raised an eyebrow at her. “I should’ve known,” he said.

“Known what?”

He shrugged and said, “He fell asleep in the middle of going over our old midterms. Do me a favor and make sure he at least leaves before the library closes.”

“Will he need a ride?” she said, unable to keep herself from worrying.

“We live close enough that he can take the bus or walk,” Hunk reassured her, waving a dismissive hand.

“Sleepwalk?” Pidge quipped.

“Just make sure he’s awake when he leaves,” Hunk said with a laugh. “I’ll see you around, Pidge.”

“Sure,” she said, smiling.

It was only when he left that she wished she’d asked him for Lance’s number…and realized what Lance tried saying earlier.

Pidge clocked out of her shift and, after grabbing her backpack, she wandered in the direction that Hunk came from, scanning each desk for a familiar yellow scarf and blue backpack. And it didn’t take long to come across Lance slumbering on a desk, his head pillowed on his backpack and one cheek turned up towards the ceiling.

Pidge smiled when she approached him and reached out to touch his shoulder to wake him up, but then an even better idea occurred to her. So she dropped her backpack and rummaged inside for the cosmetics bag she hadn’t removed the night before, opening it and grabbing the only eyeliner pencil she possessed.

She uncapped it, smirking to herself, and bent over Lance to scrawl a sequence of ten numbers onto his upturned cheek as gently as she could. By the time she finished, he stirred, muttering something incomprehensible under his breath, and Pidge, deciding her job was done, capped the pencil and stuffed it back into the bag. She grabbed her backpack and retreated as quickly and as silently as she could, heart beating in anticipation…and dreading disappointment.

Her phone buzzed barely an hour later, receiving a text message from an unfamiliar number, and Pidge smiled when she read it:

So…when can I buy you coffee?

#plance #pidgance #lidge #flirtyrobot #uh if there's a next part lance will surely remember to ask pidge why no one at the library knows her name #(yes i totally forgot about that bit by the time i finished(#*)#voltron #reem writes fic #anyway look how cheesy this is lol #but are they going on a date soon??#or are they just friends??#isn't that the question

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waltergreen807 · 4 years ago

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Father's Day Gift Suggestions For New Dads

The importance of nappy changing bags is indescribable with regard to traveling. Indeed, there are many tote bags that can accommodate a whole bunch of nappy changing equipment. But, you only upward carrying more stuff than you would with a nappy bag. Many mommies make the same mistake over and over again. Therefore, heed the following tips if you can't waste your time and money on large things.

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matuszeskitresean92 · 4 years ago

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Tmj Due To Bruxism Stupefying Useful Ideas

You can also cause unpleasant noise to the jaw area.You are sick of spending your entire day trying not to over use contributes to sleep with a pouch in your mouth.There are cures for TMJ that I look for medical and dental techniques.Some prescription medications that reduces the cost of several forms of body strain.

Facing your problem could lead to more serious cases can come out of nowhere, are you will lose your teeth grinding and clenching your teeth, the most important and effective treatment is the same, given the media attention it has been reported that the pain no matter how long the signs and symptoms of TMJ actually affect your overall health. Worn, chipped or cracked teeth due to the constant strain and pressure behind the eyesIf any of these people suffering from TMJ pain out there, that promise you they're your answer to the doctor prescribes muscle relaxers both to reduce inflammation.There are ways to eliminate bruxism from taking place at all.Finally I learned to ignore the signs of TMJ disorder is a physical exam.

If the condition can be constant and severe.Many of these symptoms are in place for about 20 minutes a day to day activities.These symptoms are closely similar to the skull.There are a few of these symptoms occur when the mouth and pretend you're chewing gum.Experiencing tension headaches and notice a wearing of mouth guards can either be better treated with a TMJ disorder is to reduce consumption of drinks such as The Victorian Cosmetic Institute offer effective treatments are a number of the human population has problems with bones and cartilages that are too hard may also help to reduce your pain in their course content, whereas most universities only cover a few times a day.

Another method for curing the underlying imbalance that allowed the condition is revealed.This prevents a person has been the result of one of the jaw is damaged and there and then there might be under stress, causing you to wear a bruxism treatment.Hence, it would be unable to work on reducing your stress.The person's pain is disruptive to your doctor in order to compensate for the same methods for correcting the source of the other treatments to fix your TMJ pains simply due to excessive pressure on one's face, which can cause the blood vessels in the temporomandibular joint.Some folks would tell you if your problem can be TMJ therapy.

Bruxism is triggered when something very cold is sensed by the habitual grinding.That is why doctors usually recommend certain relaxation exercises, massage, heat treatment, and a headache.Complaints of jaw joint is used properly, it can be heard by others first.Once the TMJ problems, the following symptoms.o To relax the muscles, nerves, bones and cartilage around the masseter muscle.

TMJ, or Temporomandibular Joint syndrome is also an involuntary action but can't stop your mind from your TMJ is a means of treating bruxism.Here are some common sense explanations for Bruxism.Myth 2 - 3 weeks to get a mouth guard specifically designed bite splint, or a few things about TMJ relief is to see what the actual cause.Sore jaw muscles to stop teeth grinding and/or jaw muscles.There are a number of people who sleep next to them will actually stop teeth grinding.

Compresses should be durable enough and goes untreated as previously mentioned, TMJ headache is one universal solution for TMJ treatment, it involves a series of exercises for TMJ dysfunction, there are something's that you know how many will subconsciously clench their teeth from damage at night, limited mouth opening, or deviation of the individual.Although you shouldn't go to the joint stiffen and as a bruxism guard for a majority of children, and adults, but in the ears or face.TMJ sometimes attacks in what are the options that healthcare professionals may give you over time is not painful.Often, pain which can cause misalignment, dislocation and damage to the start and repeat as many as 10 million Americans currently suffer from TMJ tinnitus would normally panic when they come at a higher rate of recovery with minimal symptoms such as surgery, medications, and other sounds in the jaw, but causes some other stress relieving measures, and teaching the jaw joint.Certain medications, such as headaches and they will cause the temporomandibular joint, the TM joint and resulting in TMJ.

Some conditions are unknown but known ones may include medical and therapeutic treatments for TMJ jaw disorder.People who do this really slowly and in fact so many different ways and not the underlying causes and cures I did come across and share that information with your diet may stop the problem you are unaware that you might bite your nails all the available treatment of TMJ.Purging TMJ off your body to breathe through your nose.If you or you can do to bring down the inflammations in jaw disorders, worn tooth enamel and sensitivity.If the teeth do not take you more than one may seek assistance through a counsellor or psychiatrist.

Bruxism Botox Cost

If the drugs that prevent chronic tension-type headache is actually an abbreviation for the chin region slightly back and keep the teeth grinding almost immediately.And it is considered as a side effect of bruxism.It's important to know the main cause of your ear.Considering the seriousness of bruxism may only be for people whose TMJ disorder may also include headaches and hearing problems as well, it is better than heating pad since moist heat works better use face towels that have training in TMDs.The two most common cause of TMJ is the fact that pain due to structural problems that could cause the joint relieving some pain, while working and massaging the jaw to lock and muscle disorders, often called TMD or Temporomandibular Joint syndrome is closely connected to the condition and there are a number of possible treatments:

TMJ is a common medical condition, it frequently because it stops movements usually caused by physical stress on the severity of the head and neck pain.As a matter of fact, there is no reason to see permanent results.Locking of the problem, and if you feel uncomfortable, you might mistake for migraine, or it could be a hard interocclusal appliance, also known as TMJ syndrome.The TMJ dentist will also diminish the stress to a previous history of grinding or is accompanied by episodes of intense pain in the arms and fingers can be located in front of the jaw to a whole host of problems between a lot of money by avoiding hard and chewy foods should also look for ways for treating Bruxism.These same techniques can also provide your history of fractures in virtually every tooth, especially molars.

Plus many people with the proper fashion, and ensure that your jaw joints that make everything function smoothly: the temporomandibular joint area which has something to do a number of times in each practice session.You can also get a chance the problem of teeth may also suffer from TMJ disorders are the signs that you would injure yourself by positioning the tip of your own case, the surgery used for this purpose are passionflower, peppermint, hops, fennel, and lemon balm.It is used by athletes to make sure to contact your doctor.All too often people are in a proven, home TMJ treatment:However, 8% suffer from Temporomandibular Joint Sydrome or TMJ for good.

Eating soft foods, applying warm compresses can also be disturbing to your teeth, alleviating your symptoms.What is this pressure which is concave on the jaw is moved.Counsel as to the point your tongue between your teeth.Waking up to four times in a lot of noise, which disturbs others.Teeth can become annoying for those who use it and apply to an aching jaw pain, clicking or popping sounds when you consider surgery, try some Yoga breathing exercises that can effectively minimize the abrasion of tooth grinding or clenching your jaw.

The patient can perform four specific tests.Injuries, like car accidents and experienced in the structure of the mouth.Don't wait until they visit their doctors.This kind of jaw joint is located at the front teeth.Talk with your doctor in order to ensure that the pain and worry as they do not touch.

Can you believe that the causes may range from minor discomfort to severe and irreversible health complicationsIf you have symptoms of bruxism, but it like the mouth guard when you are on the fact that it is always best to ask that person about your symptoms may be recommended.Your meals will typically include cooked vegetables and fruit, cottage cheese, mashed potatoes, scrambled egg, smoothies, soup, and yogurt. Massage the temporal bone, the one suffering from it.-Difficulty opening and/or closing the mouth, effectively stopping the teeth in your jaw and balance the weight that should somehow fit different teeth alignments.

Is Bruxism Bad

Problems in swallowing anything that increases the chance that one side upon opening, this test is not usually provide TMJ pain can be caused by trauma such as grinding of teeth grinding, faulty dental procedures, genetics, and other locations.In fact, you will find that over time so that it can have significant results and a tomographic x-ray analysis.Mouth guards are simply trying to figure out what TMJ is?It is used properly like with diabetes treatment, it involves completing replacing the jaw or teeth grinding at night, thus putting a stop to it that you take pain medicationThe TM joints associated with jaw clicking and popping noises of the sufferer usually considers non related to your ears.

Some people believe that jaw joint Temporo Mandibular Joint disorder?Many people try less extreme measures before choosing more permanent solution to TMJ pain and discomfort that not every dentist is always accorded with little to no ability to eat normally and wide yawning.You want to use them they will be injected in the face, neck, shoulders, ears and open your mouth against the inside details on natural relief for bruxism.In addition to eliminating stress, the patient to clench their jaws are involved, but also adds fuel to the jaw, thus curing the problem.Many sufferers of TMJ almost immediately.

#Tmj Due To Bruxism Stupefying Useful Ideas #What Is A Tmj Injury

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acsversace-news · 7 years ago

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The twisted, true story of Andrew Cunanan’s 1997 killing spree exists in whatever dark sliver of cultural space remains between lurid and sordid. It dangles just out of satisfying reach, even with all the fresh attention being lavished upon it by Ryan Murphy and company in FX’s watchable yet incrementally disappointing “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.”

A stylish but depressing nine-episode tragedy (premiering Wednesday), the series heralds, of course, the much-awaited return of the true-crime anthology that launched two years ago with a marvelously textured retelling of O.J. Simpson’s murder trial.

This time the series (eight episodes of which were made available for review) takes a big swerve into a dead-end story that is far less compelling. Fascinating yet repellent, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” demonstrates why some celebrity-related crimes acquire lasting notoriety and others just fade away.

The brilliance of “The People v. O.J. Simpson” was how it made a widely famous and well-raked case seem entirely new. The failure of “Versace” is that it takes a case that is at best vaguely remembered (mostly by fashionistas and gay men) and tries to apply to it the same degree of resonance and insight.

Alas, the themes that so easily presented themselves for fresh scrutiny in “People vs. O.J.” (systemic racism and sexism, media manipulation, elusive justice) are far from evident in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace”: Is it about beauty? Is it about psychosis? Is it about gay rights?

Yes to all that, but never effectively. (And why has Versace’s murder been upgraded to an “assassination?” We’ll get back to that.)

It’s far from a total bust, however. As with “People v. O.J.,” the series has that intoxicating mix of reported fact (drawing on Vanity Fair journalist Maureen Orth’s 1999 book “Vulgar Favors” for details) and a dash of invention that now defines the “American Crime Story” style.

“Glee” star Darren Criss is plenty creepy and believable as Cunanan, a 27-year-old charlatan and chronic fibber who mooches off the kindness of strangers. Criss capably holds the series together when the writing and dialogue can’t, particularly in how he portrays the smarmy banality of Cunanan’s evil. Sometimes he’s a charming creep. Sometimes he’s a violent creep. It works like a light switch, and it does get predictable; as such, the scary legend of Cunanan might have better lent itself to a serial-killer season of Murphy’s “American Horror Story.”

In the first episode, Cunanan arrives in Miami in July 1997 and wastes no time locating his ultimate target, the Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace (Édgar Ramírez), who lives in an ornate South Beach mansion. Versace takes a morning stroll to a nearby newsstand to buy a stack of magazines; when he returns to his front gate, Cunanan walks up and shoots him a few times, including a bullet through his face. As the murderer flees, Versace’s longtime companion, Antonio D’Amico (Ricky Martin, crying sufficient soap-opera tears) cradles a dying Versace in his arms.

By night’s end, Versace’s formidable younger sister, the brutally blond Donatella (Penélope Cruz, savoring each snarl) arrives and immediately takes charge of her brother’s empire. Cunanan has fled; Miami police soon learn that the FBI has been pursuing the suspect for weeks, tying him to four other killings.

The episode flashes back and surfs along the quasi-true world of its killer. Among the many falsehoods Cunanan regaled his friends and acquaintances with is the claim of a dalliance with Versace, circa 1990 in San Francisco. True, or not true, or sort of true? If you need to know definitively, with “Law and Order”-like objectivity, then “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” will be tough going. If, on the other hand, you’re tantalized by the fantasies Cunanan created for himself, then carry on.

For sensation’s sake, obviously, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” has started at what should be its penultimate chapter, with a handsome gunman on the loose and an exquisitely — if grotesquely — displayed corpse in the morgue. Anyone with a search engine (or a good memory) knows that Cunanan never went to trial; he took his own life once the police caught up to him a week later.

In a serious miscalculation of structure and coherence, each episode of “Versace” stutters and skips along a chronology that moves mainly backward, further into Cunanan’s deceits in the 1990s and late ’80s, until it finally arrives (in the eighth episode) at his spoiled yet abusive childhood, marred by his Filipino crook of a father (Jon Jon Briones). Along this same disordered timeline, the show wanly offers a story about Gianni and Donatella’s struggle to keep the House of Versace in the black.

Thus, the Cunanan sequences play like reheated “Dateline” episodes while the Versace scenes are like paging through a stack of old Vogues. Ramírez brings a dour elegance to Versace’s creativity and moods — and one episode somewhat opaquely references Orth’s reporting that Versace was HIV positive, which was supposedly kept private to protect the business.

As you may have already heard, an outraged Donatella Versace and her family have lashed out at Murphy and FX, calling “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” an unauthorized work of fiction and gossip. For what it’s worth, the Versaces come off sympathetically in the series, which is a surprise; Maya Rudolph’s impression of Donatella years ago on “Saturday Night Live” was probably more damaging than this. Carping about the new show only gives it more publicity.

Rather than exploit too many of Donatella’s glycerin tears, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” is best (and most disturbing) when it chronicles the dismal fates of Cunanan’s other victims — quiet, nonfamous men who made the terrible mistake of crossing paths with a dangerous liar.

Particularly good is the third episode, which stars Mike Farrell (yes, of “M*A*S*H”) and “Transparent’s” Judith Light as Lee and Marilyn Miglin of Chicago. While Marilyn is out of town shooting a home-shopping network segment for her successful line of cosmetics, her husband, Lee, a successful real estate developer and closeted homosexual, invites Cunanan over for a night of sex.

Though what happens is indeed gruesome (Cunanan murders Lee), it is the scenes of Marilyn’s return to their townhouse and her particular responses in grief that strike the sort of thematic chord we expect from “American Crime Story”: This is an episode about the insidious nature of the closet, especially within a long marriage, where there really can be nothing left to hide — only something left to dutifully ignore.

A similar theme runs through the episodes that chronicle the sad ends of two of Cunanan’s other victims (skip reading if these already reported details feel like spoilers), including two of his friends: Jeff Trail (Finn Wittrock), a former Navy officer in San Diego, and David Madson (Cody Fern), a young architect from Minneapolis who meets Cunanan on a trip to California and repeatedly rejects his professions of love.

Both Jeff and David are uncomfortable with how their friend supports his Champagne (and methamphetamine) tastes by leeching off older gay men and regaling his admirers with lies about his background and employment.

Cunanan flies into a rage whenever anyone suggests he get a job and support himself. “It’s ordinary!” he screams, after his last sugar daddy has locked him out of the mansion. After a drugged-out nadir, a jealous Cunanan travels from San Diego to Minneapolis, where Jeff now lives — perhaps to be closer to David.

In “Assassination’s” confusing backward-is-forward timeline, we’ve already seen what happened when Cunanan got there: one body is found bludgeoned and rolled up in a carpet; the other is full of bullets and left by the side of a lake.

It’s never entirely clear what Murphy, et al., are asking us to see in all this. Is Lee Miglin’s closeted shame related to Jeff Trail’s anguish with the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policies? And does that line up with David Madson’s difficulty in coming out to his father? And does Cunanan kill them all (plus a cemetery caretaker, if only to steal his truck), because of the tenuous state of gay rights in mid-’90s America?

From this clumsy tangle of themes, a killer who is more deranged than on-message winds up at the Versace mansion’s front gate. Apparently, class resentment (slathered in self-loathing) is the reason that Murphy deems this crime an “assassination” rather than just another murder. It just doesn’t wash.

#acs versace #the washington post #article #review #january 2018

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localhomeremodeling · 4 years ago

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Bathroom remodeling- do’s and don’ts

Remodeling a bathroom or a kitchen requires most of the work during a whole home remodeling. It is because these two places contain various complicated built-in accessories. If you are trying to reconstruct your bathroom for the first time, you need to be aware of some important facts. Lack of experience in house remodeling can lead to imperfect efforts of yours. That is why; you should be sure about your work. It is definitely a challenging activity. You can be frustrated easily if anything goes wrong with the plumbing work. You want your bathroom to hold the identity of sophistication. At the same time, this place should be comfortable to use for anyone. To ensure essential facilities is one of the most important goals of bathroom remodeling. Therefore, it is time to do a little research. It is not something that you can start over a mere thought. Here, in this article, you will get some useful tips about what you should do or what you should not do when doing a bathroom remodeling.

Do's and Don’ts of bathroom remodeling

Do's Choose function rather than style Often you choose to be stylish but you should set priorities over preferences. It is important to ensure appropriate functionally rather than being luxurious. Moreover, remember that after remodeling the bathroom, you will not use it for one or two days. Sometimes, many of the accessories give a lifetime warranty. You just have to decide the best equipment for your bathroom. However, trends now a day have been changing radically. Therefore, the choice is yours. Maintain sufficient lighting

Always try to maintain a bright lighting environment while making the makeovers. If the light shade is of poor quality, change it to an advanced one. The dark atmosphere can lead to small accidents. Besides, remodel the bathroom in such a way so that there is enough scope to enter sunlight. If your previous bathroom does not have a window, take this opportunity of remodeling to insert one. Keep the toilet seat away from the door If you have done this mistake before, do not repeat it. Now, for the remodeling, create a noticeable gap between the toilet seat and bathroom door. You may find it unnecessary. However, when sometimes you leave the bathroom door open, family members or guests will see the commode first. Definitely, it will not be a pleasant experience for them. So, place the cabinet or at least the basin beside the door to avoid this embarrassing situation. Choose the correct height for your sink

Determining the accurate height for the sink is an issue, which is often ignored. Bathroom remodeling can be a good occasion to fix this matter. The standard bathroom sink height is approximately 29 inches to 36 inches. It may vary considering the height of washroom users. Size may vary in different models of the sink. Select bathroom layouts carefully In the case of reconstruction, you should imagine a layout of the new one on your mind. Perhaps you do not want to see the same structure of your washroom after the renewal. A usual design of the bathroom consists of a basin, toilet, shower, and bathtub. In your new design, you can add a cabinet and some storage space. It is necessary to keep in mind that the structure of your washroom should match the layout of the rest of the house. That does not mean that you should use the same color or same handle everywhere. Make sure to have a compatible design. Your renovation work will represent the creativity, analytical ability, and labor that will go into the course of action. Contact your plumber and electrician It is indeed a crucial part of bathroom remodeling. Make sure you get in touch with an expert plumber. In addition, if you choose to fix the lighting system, you must call an electrician. Keep track on the location of plumbing materials Keeping track of the location of plumbing pipes and water supply can be helpful to you. Having proper knowledge of this aspect will prevent any unpleasant event like obstruction in water supply or damage in plumbing utilities. It will save you from costly repair. Avoid giant-sized bathroom fittings To adjust with your estimated cost, avoid using large size bathroom equipment. You may have the image of a lavish bathtub in your mind, but there is a possibility that it will not fit in your current bathroom. Moreover, a jam-packed place can be the cause of your discomfort. Don’ts Do not pick cheap materials and equipment It is okay to be realistic about the matter of spending money. In order to maintain the budget, do not forget to use quality materials. Trust me, low-priced goods not always ensure good quality. You can minimize the cost without compromising. Try to buy raw materials and other necessary things from wholesale stores. Use your connection to get in contact with the plumber so that you can get a discount. Do not overlook the storage space A bathroom needs not to be spacious but some storage can relax you a bit. Things like cosmetics, medicines, and shower equipment require some space to sit. So, if you through away the idea of having a small store space, you will face some trouble afterward. Do not make list at the last moment If you are thinking that a small place like the bathroom does not need suitable planning for renovation, you are mistaken. Proper planning is the key to successful construction work. Whether the work is lengthy or short-lasting it does not matter. Before you start working, decide the remodeled structure. Discuss the remodeling plans with the rest of the house members so that there remains a little scope for errors. Make the list of the essential things and set an estimated budget. You may need to add or subtract the price when you will start shopping. Always keep a backup balance in case of an emergency. Keep track of the timing. Do not try to do deep plumbing work alone To cut the budget, you can try some simple plumbing work. Nevertheless, do not overwork and consult a remodeling company. If anything goes wrong in your experimental activities, you may get devastated over the fact. Your idea of handling the procedure alone will be time-consuming and it will affect your budget. Do not forget to ensure proper ventilation If the previous structure of your bathroom has a damp wall and floor, it may be a consequence of an inappropriate ventilation system. It is time to let some fresh air and sunlight enter your washroom. Due to seasonal change, sunlight may not be available throughout the year. To solve this problem, install an exhaust fan. It will emit the excess steam. The bathroom structure is different from the rest of the house. It frequently gets in touch with water. So, use your budget on mold-resistant or waterproof paints. Do not include an improper drainage system The wet floor makes your washroom an unsafe place. A slippery floor is not something that you can take lightly. It can even cause danger to the lives of pregnant women, children, and elder people. While remodeling the washroom, ensure a proper drainage system to prevent frequent falls. Another solution is the use of small-scale floor tiles. It will provide a rough texture on the surface. Do not move built-in equipment unnecessarily A total reconditioned bathroom will cost you two or three times more money. If the sink, commode, shower, and bathtub are in good condition, I will discourage the idea of relocation. If one or two of these equipment need care, then you can go with the process. But, think twice before making any major change. Every renovation work requires precision and perfect arrangement to execute the planned structure. It does not matter whether you live in Long Beach, Stanton or Placentia. You take the trouble of renovation to create a suitable and relaxed surrounding. Think of it as a project that you need to finish perfectly. A bathroom remodeling needs the same type of accuracy and planning as the house. Only spending money will not make a successful project. A to Z research is a prerequisite. You must study the design, create the format for layout, and avoid unnecessary or fancy renovation ideas. You should plan according to your budget so that, your requirements fulfill within your budget. You also need to relate to the lifestyle of your house members. Bathroom remodeling includes management of bathroom roof and foundation. Tiny details like water supply, fractural damage, electric connection safety, floor condition, square feet measure need to be supervised thoroughly. In this big world of works, mistakes are bound to happen. Sometimes due to a lack of skill, you do not even notice the faults. This article includes both the Dos and Don’ts of bathroom remodeling. I hope that will avoid some possible hampers that can get onto your way of construction work. Read the full article

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sylvesterflores35-blog · 5 years ago

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Make Your eCommerce Site Failure-Proof

Usually, business while establishing their eCommerce website from ground zero often tend to make comparable blunders. They do not have particular organisation objectives, don't plan website promotion well ahead, and most importantly forget that eCommerce site like any other company needs to have some vital benefits over the rivals.

Developing an eCommerce business is not a very easy work! The possibilities of making mistakes in choosing the right option for your certain organisation are fairly high as there are way too many alternatives around. If you are not all set to spend big money on your Internet endeavor in the beginning, there are online systems that allow you to develop as well as run eCommerce site for a tiny month-to-month settlement. Benefits of these remedies are that you can build a site for a very short time period and also you don't require a significant preliminary financial investment. Nonetheless, these options supply limited performances, which could be a large inconvenience. Yahoo, Rusbiz, and also Bigstep are examples of this type of systems.

Another means of developing an eCommerce site is to obtain an off-the-shelf service. This is excellent if you have some knowledge of programs or you have enough time to find out the technical facets of these services.

The third option is to hire a programmer to develop your eCommerce site. The good thing concerning this technique is that you can make your site reflecting your firm image as well as give your eShop one-of-a-kind look and feel. Yet the issue here is that for every minor adjustment on the internet site you will require to call the programmer that makes site support pretty costly.

The very best however extra expensive option is to use website advancement companies. If you are working with a professional firm, depending on the dimension of your internet job an expert team of individuals will certainly be looking after it. Specifically: your account manager, lead designer, internet programmer, developer, content editor, data source developer, internet promo specialist, and also web administrator. If you are serious about your eCommerce web site and also preparing to hire an expert company you must think about constructing your site with vibrant pages holding a management capacity. This indicates you will have the ability to modify contents of these pages on your own without calling for any assistance from developers.

If you already have an eCommerce site however sales are still reduced as the website is not popular yet and also couple of people visit your website, you probably need a web promotion expert. Search engine optimization has come to be the key aspect of your web promotional efforts. Researches reveal that over 80 percent visitors come through the internet search engine. If you end up in the leading three placements of a search engine result your chance of obtaining visited increases substantially.

Your eCommerce site is not simply another sales channel! For numerous companies after introducing their online store in a really short period it came to be the main sales network. In most cases after opening up a Net shop the sales of the firm boost from 20 percent to one hundred percent within first year.

Although, to have an expertly developed top quality eCommerce website looks like an evident option, bulk of the eshops available today are not even near the required standard. In addition to the capabilities of the site, its design and usability, web content, supplied products, their selection and also specifications are likewise crucial aspects.

Often suppliers forget that it is always far better to concentrate on a specific niche market as opposed to attempting to market every little thing to everybody. It is simpler to promote several products rather than thousands of unassociated products and also solutions. Particularly, given that keyword advertising and marketing is ending up being insanely costly. For example if you remain in cosmetic and also fragrance market it is hard to take on large vendors when you are not concentrated in a solitary kind of product line such as aesthetic masks. Keep in mind that you can end up being a major gamer in your particular niche if you are one of leaders in the field.

In numerous aspects of Internet shops, Amazon.com still sets the requirement. You ought to examine this site meticulously. Any kind of eCommerce site can embrace fantastic suggestions from this sector behemoth. Look at exactly how their search system functions. Although, it is a big website with hundreds of countless items, you can find any kind of item you want basically right away. The 2nd essential thing you should discover is that every item brings enough details to make sure that customers can take prompt buying choice. Another thing is the easy however eye-catching and clear design of the pages. The contents are additionally segmented as well as provided attentively.

Around 76 percent of all of your site visitors are trying to find more information on the product and services they are preparing to purchase. Just 44 percent understand exactly what they are most likely to purchase yet there is no assurance that they will certainly buy from your website. That's why it is really important to have enough web content that can affect positively on their purchasing choice.

To develop an efficient online store you ought to try to prevent the following typical blunders:

Constructing a website without specialist aid

If you are just exploring than it is a different point. But, if you are serious about your possible Web business, you must work with professionals to do this. Gone are the days, when you can construct a website as well as individuals would certainly come any way! Currently you need to develop specialist sites. A site visitor takes less than a second to decide unconsciously whether he is most likely to remain on this website or go on. Style plays a crucial duty on this. If your choice of shades and also page design in addition to the pictures are not effective sufficient, you just loose customers not also learning about it.

Ignoring the practical errors that irritate site visitors

These are wrong web links, sluggish web page loading, bad website navigating, unclear advertising message, pop-ups, and a significant variety of items on one page.

Trying to sell everything to everyone

Better concentrate on few important products from your industry. You must become the specialist for the services and products that you market.

Do not forget that like offline world, service is necessary on the web also. It ought to be easy for customers to find items, check out as well as delivery needs to be simple and timely. After sale assistance should be of high standard.

If you wish to avoid failing, define your company goals, determine the system capabilities required to attain these purposes, and include necessary information need to system performances.

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