#need to finish the log for Orientalism and now this one :D

[omanu]

finished the song of achilles and i loved it and i cried hard but i cant believe apollo was a little bitch like that wtf i used to like him!!

[thiswasinevitableid]

for the meet uglies, 55 indruck sfw? sorry apollo

Here you go! For those wondering, Apollo originates in my Amnesty Super Hero AU

“Okay sir, I’m gonna say this as nice as I can.”

Indrid looks up from his drawing of some mushrooms. The ranger, a man about his age whose little bronze name tag reads “D. Newton”, has the look of someone choosing his words very, very carefully.

“You are this close to me writin you up. And I mean this. Close.” He puts his thumb against his finger.

“I, is this not allowed?” The log he’s sitting on is technically on the trail, just next to it.

“This ain’t the problem. It’s everythin you done since this morning that’s the problem.”

“I-”

“First there was leavin your breakfast trash on the picnic table by the visitor center so chipmunks got into it--it’s real bad for them y’know, makes ‘em too bold--then there was the selfies on off-limits spots, then you had the fu, uh, freakin nerve to be rude to Juno when she asked you to stay in safe areas, you littered left and right, then you left a beer can in the reeds by the plover nestin’ grounds. I don’t even know where to start with that one; you know we don’t allow alcohol in the park. Campgrounds sure, but we don’t want fellas like you gettin drunk and then fallin off a rock. How can you be so careless, or not give a shit for a place people put time into protectin?

The smile that’s been spreading across Indrid’s face since the word “selfie” is wide enough that the ranger spots it.

“Man, if you think this is funny, you won’t when you’re too drunk to swim or run from a bear. Then I’m gonna have to bail your ass out, which I will, and you’re gonna eat a slice of humble pie big as that overinflated ego of yours.”

Indrid snickers. The ranger glares. Slowly, Indrid pulls back the hood of his sweatshirt and retrieves his glasses from the front of his shirt (he doesn’t wear them when drawing in color due to their red lenses). The other mans expression slides off confusion and tumbles into horror.

“Aw hell, I’m sorry sir. Thought you were your, uh, well, guessin you got a twin runnin around this park.” He pulls the brim of his hat down in a charming attempt to hide his face.

“I do, and this is far from the first time I’ve been scolded in his place. Less so since I dyed my hair” he indicates the artificial silver framing his face, “I’m mostly amused by how accurately you captured his orientation towards the world. It’s also bitterly funny to discover he made someone else's day as unpleasant as he made mine.”

The ranger studies him, seems to notice the creases by his eyes and mouth, “Seem a little old to be gettin forced into family time. Not that you look old. Just, uh, I mean, you might be younger than me, hard to tell with the hair, uh, yeah.”

Indrid points in the direction of the beachside campsites, “The Cold Family Reunion can only be begged off so long.” His phone dings, the reminder that it’s his turn to help his aunt with dinner, “speaking of which, I should pack up.” He quickly gathers his supplies, sends the other man a final smile, “thank you for the laugh, Ranger Newton.”

“You’re uh, you’re welcome. And tell your twin to throw his damn trash away.” He smiles as he says this, suggesting a joke, but Indrid resolves to remind Apollo of his manners anyway.

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

The fog caresses the coastline, hiding the dawn entirely. Indrid pulls his hood up against the chill, the wooden bench and viewing deck damp from the weather. He’s not going back to camp until he’s captured the sight before him; dozens of fishing boats on the dark water, their lights beautiful and soft against the grey world.

Sandy gravel crunches to his right, and then Ranger Newton appears. He keeps glancing at Indrid as he writes something indecipherable on a clipboard.

“I’m the nice one.” Indrid says in response to the quick, searching, looks.

“Thank fuck.” He turns so they’re actually looking at each other, “guess we’re both on the early shift.”

“Normally I wouldn’t be, but the cold and quiet is preferable to my twin snoring. I brought my own one person tent, but then my aunt and uncle had their monthly argument and she needed a new place to sleep.”

“That was mighty kind of you.”

Indrid shrugs, “Not really. I just want to get through this reunion with as little conflict as possible.”

“How’d you end up on this thing? Said you couldn’t get out of it but-”

“I just moved to town a month ago. Turns out this is a place my parents have always wanted to visit. Not enough to see me, mind you, or refrain from criticizing my choice of towns, but enough to host the reunion here so I had no escape. And if I want to eat with the family, I have to spend the night in the camp and not at home. And since money is tight after moving, well..."

The ranger whistles, “Damn, that’s rough. But uh, since you live in town you’ll actually get to see this place in nice weather.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” He shivers, “though I enjoy the cold when I can be in my nice little apartment. In a tent, not so much.”

“If you get a good sleepin bag or good company, gets a lot better.” The ranger smiles, then looks at his notes, “sorry, that ain’t appropriate talk around a visitor.”

Indrid meets his green eyes, “If you have recommendations for either, I’m all ears.”

A gust of wind carries salt spray all the way to the platform, Indrid shivering as it mists his glasses.

“Here” the ranger holds out his hnd, “I gotta go open the visitor center; nice and warm in there.”

“...Could you possibly come back in ten minutes? I’d like to finish my sketch.”

“Sure, won’t kill me to check on the tide measures while I’m out here.” He tips his hat and soon Indrid sees him winding down a path to the beach. Eleven minutes later he’s back, telling Indrid about a huge starfish he saw.

On the walk to the visitor center, he learns the “D” on his nametag is for “Duck,” that he’s a transplant from West Virginia, and that they’re actually the same age. When Indrid explains that he’s a tattoo artist who sells his drawings on the side.

“You’ll appreciate this, then” Duck bends down to roll up his pant leg. Indrid appreciates the view and the well executed geometric tree tattoo on his ankle.

“Juno and I got ‘em together. Had to go with the ankle because I already got some on my arms. Can’t show those off right now though.”

“My, my, Ranger Newton, you’ll flash a scandalous ankle at a guest but not take him to the gun show?”

Duck laughs, the sound like the mating call of a strange tropical bird; absurd and enchanting.

“Glad you’re in town to stay, Indrid. Think you’re the kind of fella I’d like to get to know.”

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

Maybe he’s being childish. It’s not wrong for Apollo to say he’s making their father proud, that he’s successful, that he’s a golden boy of his field.

It’s just obnoxious for him to do this the one time their extended family expressed Indrid’s professional accomplishments. With that smile, the one Indrid knows for a damn fact he had fixed, that tone, that, that….

That voice sounds familiar.

He reverses course, takes the path he passed by that points towards the amphitheater. What he gets is more a firepit with a small stage, but standing at the center and addressing fascinated families is Duck.

Indrid sits on the rickety bench furthest from the stage, lets Ducks explanations of night blooming plants and the creatures that pollinate them drown out the echoes of family dinner. When the program ends and the parents shepherd their children off with instructions for bedtime and brushing teeth Indrid stays, not ready to leave but not intending to attract Duck’s attention.

He gets it anyway.

“Enjoy the talk?” Duck stays two steps down from him, rests a foot up on the bench, “this one is always real popular; when it gets warm, the little animal rehab place south of town brings education animals in. Y’know, bats and owls, stuff like that.”

“I’ll have to come back to see them.” The thought of seeing bats up close excites him, but he’s too tired to sell the emotion.

Duck frowns, “You okay?”

Indrid shakes his head, tells him about the constant comments, the threat of living forever as the family disappointment, a threat he can deal with until he’s around them all. Then he’s right back to being seventeen and afraid of failing them.

“....Apollo’s always been the golden boy, ruthless and goal focused like our father. He always knows just what to say to get under my skin and dig out the scar tissue,” Indrid sighs, “All I wanted tonight was to roast marshmallows and go to bed early.”

The ranger moved from the steps to the bench beside him as he told his story. Now, Duck looks at him, smile more soothing than the thrum of the distant waves, “I got an idea. Guessin’ you don’t gotta tell your family where you’re goin, right?”

“No, most of them will assume I’m off sulking and Apollo will hope I’ve fallen off a cliff.”

“Then leave ‘em to be their shitty selves and come home with me. Uh, not, not-not like that, fuck, like what you’re thinkin, uh. Fuck. What I mean is; I got a fireplace and some marshmallows. You want in?”

Indrid watches the dying fire flicker of the curves of his face, thinks back on the last week. The ranger has been a frequent companion, brings him hot cocoa from the little cafe and tells him where he’ll be for chunks of the day in case Indrid needs a break from his family. Last night, all Indrid could think about was wanting Duck to be in the tent beside him.

“Absolutely.”

On the drive over, Indrid points out his apartment complex and Duck points out the best places to eat and the cheapest laundromats. His house is tiny, looks like it was built when the town was a logging hub and not a tourist destination.

“Make yourself at home, it’ll take me a sec to get the fire goin’--uhuh, Taco, stop tryin’ to open that cabinet.” He hoists a yowling, blonde ball of fur on the couch. The cat directs a suspicious look Indrid’s way and then settles on top of the pile of blankets.

“You a s’more man?” Duck calls from the kitchen.

“No, thank you. I prefer my sugar in a single bite.”

“You eat marshmallows in one bite? I’m always worried I’ll choke.”

“I have an accommodating mouth.” Indrid smirks when Duck audibly drops the bag. He’s not always the best with social cues, but if the way Duck kept brushing their hands together on the center armrest in his car is any indication, the ranger is trying to pick him up.

Once the fire is going Duck sits on the rug, patting the spot to his left. Indrid joins him. Caramelizing sugar and increasingly sleepy laughter soon fills the air. Neither of them keep their knees from touching, and Duck keeps dropping his head to Indrid’s shoulder when he giggles. The whole scene is so heavenly Indrid isn’t paying attention to their marshmellow consumption. He reaches into the empty bag and makes a disappointed noise.

“Damn, we really went through ‘em.” He catches Indrid’s eye with a playful grin, “you still cravin’ sugar?”

Indrid licks his lips, “Yes.”

Duck cups his cheek, guiding him into a sleepy, close-mouthed kiss, brushing their noses together when he pulls back to murmur, “That do the trick?”

“Hmmmmm?” Indrid cocks his head, “no.”

The other man guffaws as Indrid pulls him down on top of him, kissing him happily and wiggling his hips when Duck digs his fingers into his hair. His own hands migrate under Duck’s shirts, finding his body just as warm and wonderful as he hoped.

He nips Duck’s lower lip. The ranger growls and Indrid is no longer tired.

“Care to see just how accommodating my mouth can be?”

Duck rolls them twice so they’re a safe distance from the fire, “Hell yeah.”

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

Indrid saunters into camp late in the morning, some of the Colds already packing up to depart. His twin is stuck on dish duty, grins like a barracuda when he spots Indrid.

“I don’t know why you’re here. You missed breakfast, and you weren’t in camp last night, so you don’t get lunch or dinner either. May as well skulk back into the shadows.”

“Mmm, yes, I was rather undutiful.” Indrid spots a figure checking campsite permits, who stealthily blows him a kiss, “but at this moment in time, I don’t particularly care.”

[youngerdrgrey]

the only way to get over someone... // a Batwoman fic

About: SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON TWO FINALE / post-2x18 / season two finale — After the s2 finale, Ryan tries to be a good 'friend' to Sophie, but it does not go the way she planned (feat. an extended cut of the similar tastes in conversation).

Notes: Don’t read if you haven’t seen the finale. This picks up at the end of the Kate and Ryan scene, then continues on from there because my WildMoore heart wanted to. Under the cut because spoilers + read on ao3

Kate Kane is leaving, and Ryan might need some time to fully process that. Kate’s opposite her, comfortably seated on the corner of their desk. The beer bottle clinks against the edge of it as Kate covers her bases. The suit’s staying with Ryan.

Kate starts, “As for Mary and Luke….”

Ryan jumps in with a smile. “They are my family, and I am going to take care of them.” No questions asked. Though, with Luke and his new super suit, she will definitely have help in keeping their family safe.

“Thank you.” Kate smiles back at Ryan. “And Sophie?”

Not family. Not in the traditional sense, at least. She’s family-adjacent at best. She’s… she’s Sophie, the same person who ruined Ryan’s life and relationship multiple times, and the same person who helped Ryan build them both back up.

Ryan quirks her head from side to side. “Can I get back to you on that?” The repetition gets another grin out of Kate. Worry still shines in Kate’s eyes though. Ryan admits, “She’s saved me a lot more than she’s hurt me, so, I guess I can look out for her too.”

Kate sighs in relief. “Good. She’ll need it. She’s not invincible, Ryan. Mary told me all about the two of you going back and forth over Cluemaster. She’s tough, but Sophie’s a lot more fragile than she seems.”

Ryan has seen a bit of that. Sophie does her best to hide the cracks in her armor, but Coryana in particular stripped down a layer. Her fear for Jordan took another, even her concern for Ryan in these last few days wore at it. “And you’re about to break her heart.”

Kate nods. She seems so sure that looking for Bruce is the right move. Maybe that’s what a good trip of Snake Bite can offer: clarity. Not that Ryan’s interested in joining Kate on that other side.

“Help her through it?”

Ryan jokes, “I’ll make sure she finds a suitable rebound. There’s a pretty great lesbian bar here.”

Kate’s eyes twinkle. “Keeping it close to home?”

Ryan does not like the implication in that question. She redirects the conversation. “Call us every once in a while. And make sure to tell Mary how much you miss her. She won’t admit it, but she loves to hear it. And maybe text Parker too. That girl is so hungry for gay mentorship. And —”

“I get it. I will keep in contact.”

Ryan aims her beer bottle at Kate like a threat. “You better. Don’t make me come find you. I almost died the last time.”

But Sophie saved her then. Ryan can always do the same.

.

.

Sophie does not know what to do with herself now. There’s no guidebook on what to do when the love of your life comes back from the dead, then promptly leaves to search for her cousin. No FAQ with tips on how to handle making out with said love of your life either.

There’s a knock on her door. A hopeful part of her immediately thinks it’s Kate. Sophie will open the door, and Kate will drop down her duffel bag and helmet and say, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Sophie rushes to the door. Throws it open and — oh, of course. Ryan gives her an apologetic smile from the other side of it.

“I know I’m probably not who you want to see right now….” Ryan starts. Her arms shift around two resusable grocery bags with overflowing snacks and wine bottles. A backpack bumps them from her shoulder. She offers another smile. “I brought supplies. And I’m here to keep you company through the heartache and to take you up on your offer.”

That explains the backpack. Sophie checks, “Kate’s leaving tomorrow?”

Ryan nods. “Tonight’s her last night in the loft, and my only night crashing on your couch. If the offer still stands?”

She seems hopeful too, and nervous, like she’s bracing herself for Sophie to close the door in her face.

Sophie hasn’t exactly had any company at her place. Not since Julia. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone here tonight. Make her laugh, make her smile.

Sophie steps back to let Ryan in. Ryan glides forward. Sophie closes the door and leans back against it so she can watch Ryan take in the space.

Ryan does a full turn in the entrance. “Damn, you got it like this?” She whistles low in appreciation. Her platform converse pad along the hardwood flooring between the front door and the living room. It’s spacious with the most comfortable couch Sophie’s ever owned, her favorite coffee table, and a large TV, courtesy of a Black Friday sale two years ago. This place isn’t as nice as her old apartment with Tyler, but it’s still one of the nicer places that Gotham has to offer.

Ryan glances back at Sophie, and she realizes she should probably answer the playful question.

“I barely got it like this. Say what you want about my comphet marriage,” Sophie pushes off the door to approach Ryan in the living room, “the dual incomes made life a lot easier.” She winces. Any income. “I may have to downsize again now that I’m unemployed.”

Ryan sets her bags down on the coffee table. “Just work with Luke.”

Sophie’s eyebrows raise in confusion. “In real estate?”

Ryan gives Sophie an equally confused look. “He still daylights as Head of Wayne Security. If you work there too, it’ll make Bat stuff that much easier.”

Oh. “I… hadn’t thought about that.”

“Bat stuff or what comes next?” Ryan asks.

“Honestly? Any of it.” Sure, Ryan has called Sophie now that Sophie knows the truth. They’ve teamed up, and they really did a great job last night during the blackout. All signs point to Sophie officially being a part of the team. She simply doesn’t want to assume and get hurt in the process.

Ryan reads her silence and rolls her eyes. “Consider this your Bat Team orientation. We mostly work nights, though there are the occasional work trips. We went to a beautiful island this year for a company retreat.”

Sophie can play along. “I think I’ve been there. Shame about the fire.”

Ryan nods with a faux somber expression. “Beautiful sight, even if it did almost kill me. Oh, and we have full medical benefits, so long as you go to Mary and Mary alone. No overtime. No days off. But you get to make Gotham a better place.”

Sophie pretends to think it over. “Is there a uniform?”

“Only for me. The rest of the staff comes as they are.”

“Lucky them.”

Ryan pops the collar on her flannel shirt. “You should see me in my suit.” It fits Ryan in all the right places for being protective wear. Sophie will never say that though. Ryan’s cocky enough without being complimented.

Sophie eyes the bags. “So what’s the plan?”

Ryan perks up, their earlier bit forgotten. “Anything we want. I’ve got face masks —” She tugs them out to show Sophie. “Candy and snacks. Most of it’s vegan, so I can enjoy it too. I brought wine that I took from the bar. We can blast angry, pop music, or do sad girl karaoke. Ooh, you can call Kate a bitch again.”

“I called Circe a bitch,” Sophie clarifies.

Ryan waves that off. “She deserved it.”

“Well, she’s gone so….” Sophie shrugs because that is the point, isn’t it? She glances around her one bedroom apartment — the effects of her last break-up — and logs the empty spots on the walls where old art would’ve gone. There’s space on the bookshelves from the books Tyler took with him. After the divorce, Sophie had to physically sort through her life. What does she do now when there’s nothing to pack up, or send away?

Sophie admits, “I’ve never had another person for this. Though, Kate and I did have a better goodbye than we usually do.” Even saying that puts a little smile in the corner of Sophie’s lips.

Of course Ryan clocks it. “Oh, y’all had a good-bye then.”

Sophie’s smile gets bigger as she licks her lips. A very good bye. As the rest of the conversation filters back in, Sophie’s smile shrinks. “She wants me to go for something easier.”

Ryan hums in understanding. “Long distance isn’t great, especially when you have no idea where she’ll be.”

“Are we still talking about Kate?” Sophie asks. Angelique’s out there somewhere. Ryan spent the majority of their working relationship hating Sophie because of Angelique. If Ryan’s still hung up on her….

Ryan shrugs. “We’re all getting over someone. I am just much further along than you.”

Honestly, direct communication is not something Sophie is interested in right now. She doesn’t want to think about whether Ryan misses Angelique, or how much Sophie will miss Kate when the reality sets in. She doesn’t want to think about Imani, or the fact that Ryan has had a whole mini-relationship in these last few months while Sophie’s been frozen in grief and time.

“You know what they say, the best way to get over someone…” Sophie lets the sentence hang a moment as Ryan’s eyebrows inch higher and higher up her hairline. Sophie laughs before finishing, “is to watch a movie with a friend. You pick.”

The way Ryan’s face lights up with the power is absolutely worth whatever disaster will take up the next two hours of Sophie’s life. “Let me see what you got.”

.

.

As Sophie brings two glasses of wine over to the living room, Ryan puts a throw pillow on the ground and tells Sophie to sit on it.

“But the couch—”

“Is for me!” Ryan plops down with her feet on either side of the pillow. She looks like they’ve got church in the morning and the hot comb’s smoking on the tray beside her. “You know the set up,” Ryan says.

“True. Care to tell me why?” Sophie’s hair is fine.

Ryan’s nose quirks up the way it does when she needs to keep her emotions in check. She shrinks into her chest. “When I was sad, my mama used to play with my hair. She’d claim that she was oiling my scalp, but mostly, she ran her fingers through it. Gave me a little massage until I felt better, or went to sleep. I am willing to do that for you, if you want to actually relax.”

Relaxing does sound better than drinking a lot of wine and crying. Besides, Ryan studies Sophie’s face like she wants to find every crack and smooth it over. How could Sophie say no?

She sets the wine down and sits onto the pillow. Instinct takes over as she scoots back until her back’s to the couch and rests her neck against the side of the cushion. Ryan does a little happy dance that shakes the couch. She presses play on the movie, and Sophie watches the credits. She does. She sees that much for sure. But once Ryan slips her fingers into Sophie’s hair, Sophie tunes all the way out.

A light lavender scent hits her nose each time Ryan’s hands shift towards the crown of her head. Did Ryan put on a perfume, or is that an essential oil? Lavender’s meant to be calming. Soothing. Sophie wants to drown in it.

As Ryan massages her way along Sophie’s scalp, the world melts away. No pain, no drama, just a weightlessness that eases down her body and makes her want to cry. Her body sinks into the softness. The peace and stability of knowing hands and the right amount of pressure to send tingles through her skin. Then Ryan’s short nails get involved, lightly scratching, and Sophie barely bites down on a moan.

Ryan must still hear it. A little chuckle shakes the couch. She doesn’t comment thankfully. Sophie doesn’t have the energy to be embarrassed right now. Too lost in the feel of Ryan’s hands on her. If this is what Ryan can do with just Sophie’s head —

Sophie’s eyes fly open. She needs to get a grip.

Ryan’s fingers snake down to Sophie’s shoulders. Again, the only grip Sophie can focus on is Ryan’s. Sophie lasts another few minutes of this high before sighing out, “Marry me.”

She figures Ryan will laugh at that too. They’ve joked enough about dates, both in and out of the cowl. Ryan doesn’t even stop touching her. Ryan leans down rather than keeping the distance. The shift in position tightens her thighs on either side of where Sophie sits. She waits until her breath is a warm whisper against Sophie’s ear to let out the sexiest little laugh. Sophie genuinely stops breathing.

“If you think this is good, you’re not ready.”

In an instant, Sophie would really like to be. Ready, willing, anything and everything if it feels this good and Ryan stays this close to her. Her face is on fire as she turns her head to see Ryan. Fuck, Ryan’s lips are right there. Teasing and parted, and Ryan’s tongue dips out to wet them. Sophie drags her gaze up from Ryan’s lips to meet Ryan’s hooded, sparkling eyes. Oh she knows exactly what she’s doing to Sophie. She’s enjoying this.

Ryan’s voice still sounds teasing. “Watch the movie, Sophie.”

“I’ll watch what I want to watch,” Sophie shoots back.

Ryan takes that as the challenge it is. She holds the stare and kneads her thumbs into the backs of Sophie’s shoulders. Sophie’s eyelids flutter, and she struggles again to keep from audibly moaning. At least this time, she catches the little gulp Ryan does.

Ryan scoots back onto the couch, up to her full — albeit little — seated height. Sophie turns further, and she tries not to think too hard about looking up at Ryan from between Ryan’s legs. It must be on her face though since Ryan actually averts her eyes.

“Soph....” Ryan’s voice strains. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?” Ryan started it with that ‘if you think this is good’ comment. She is not putting this back on Sophie.

Ryan groans, flustered in a way that should not look as cute as it does. “You know what! You — we — just look over there.” She takes a hand off Sophie to point back at the TV. “I am trying to be a good friend right now. To both of you.”

And there goes the fun. Sophie turns back to the TV. She really has no idea what’s happening in this movie. She doesn’t want to ask either. They’re damn near fifteen minutes in. She’s not going back in the movie, or with life. She’s not going to break down over losing Kate again. She has no reason to. She’s spent more time with Ryan this week than she did with Kate. She’s fine.

Ryan clears her throat. “Talking with her today was, like, everything I’d imagined it would be. She’s funny and witty, and she has great taste in everything. Present company included. I can see why you’d love her. And why it would be easier to not try to deal with those feelings of loss all over again.”

Sophie drops her head back against the couch. Her ceiling’s not nearly as interesting to look at as Ryan. Or Kate. “Do we have to do this?”

“We’re not doing anything else so….” Her narrowed eyes say exactly what she means by ‘anything else.’

“There are other things, Ryan.” Besides giving in to the tension that flares between them, besides shifting an already unstable dynamic past its breaking point. Probably many, many times.

Ryan holds her hands together in her lap. “Well, you’re clearly not interested in the movie, so: your call. What does the great Sophie Moore want to do with her break up night?”

Sophie’s eyes dance as she gets up to kneel in front of Ryan. (Yes, Ryan glances at her through what looks like a haze of lust and concern. Yes, she blinks, and all that emotion slips back under the base gleam in Ryan’s eyes. No, Sophie does not want to think about how many times Ryan might’ve looked at her like this without ever noticing.)

“Well, Ryan Wilder, there is one thing that I have been dying to do.”

.

.

“You have to— Sophie, please listen before we end up falling.” Ryan glares up at Sophie. They’re standing on a building that Ryan says is the best jumping point to the Bat-roof. It’s lower down, which is probably why Sophie has never seen either of the Batwomen coming.

Ryan’s face is torn between excitement and dread at sharing her red and black baton with Sophie. She repeats for the third time which button to press to shoot the grappling hook, how to angle the body, and how to land so they don’t fall off the roof.

“I’m listening,” Sophie swears. She adjusts her stance so her feet are wide like Ryan instructed. She angles her body towards the other roof — their roof. She takes a steadying breath and gently plucks Ryan’s hand off the other end of the baton.

Ryan steps in to wrap her arms around Sophie’s waist. “You have to brace yourself for landing. And please do not let go of me. I’m holding on, but—”

“I won’t let go,” Sophie assures her. She wraps her left arm around Ryan and holds tight to the baton with her right. Okay, another steadying breath, and she jams her thumb into the button. The wire flies out, and in a breath, they soar up through the air. Wind whips around them, and Ryan squeezes so tight that her face is nearly in Sophie’s chest.

For her assurances, Sophie does not stick the landing. She stumbles the moment the wire ends, and Ryan stumbles with her. Both of them clatter onto the Bat-roof with a groan and a laugh and a tangle of limbs that ends with them side by side on the roof’s floor.

The air around them is quiet and warm and still has a hint of the smoke from all the fires in Gotham yesterday. Sophie has the fleeting thought that it might be easier with Ryan than she ever expected. What ‘it’ is, well, Sophie blinks that away.

She props herself up on her elbows. “Can we go again?”

Ryan laughs. “No recovery period with you.”

Sophie gets up and offers her hand to Ryan, who takes it without hesitation. She tugs harder than she needs to. Ryan pops up with little more than a breath between them. She uses her free hand to tuck Ryan’s hair behind her ear. Lets her finger trail down Ryan’s neck.

Sophie whispers, “Oh, Wilder, you have no idea.” Ryan’s dramatic groan of reply makes Sophie laugh harder than she has all day. "Come on, round two."

Ryan pouts as Sophie heads for the stairs. Ryan points out, "I normally just jump off."

"What's the rush?" Sophie holds the door open for Ryan to come with her. "We've got all the time in the world."

/

/

a/n: We made it through season two, and I love these two so much. What about you?

[carelessannie]

maybe it goes like this: tony courts peter (part 2)

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter Ten

Read on A03

Read the Stuckony backstory WIP

Starker focus (Tony x Peter), Winteriron (Tony x Bucky), with reference to Stucky, Stony and Stuckony

This is the “meet... awkward” for my AU, and takes place roughly 8 months before the first chapter. Enjoy!

Major warnings: D/S Au, A/B/O Au, OmegaSub!Peter, BetaDom!Tony, OmegaSwitch!Bucky, AlphaDom!Steve, Heavy Awkward Flirting, Cute Nicknames, Kinda Sexy Winteriron

Maybe it goes like this:  

8 Months Earlier

Peter is looking forward to seeing his Pack after class, definitely needing to cuddle up with Annie in their nest tonight. And maybe Clint will bring home pizza. It’s been a long-ass day.

Okay, definitely pizza.

From the front of the class, Peter can hear his professor introducing the guest lecturer, and he drags his backpack around to his seat to unlock his laptop and notebook. Just as he logs in and dates his notebook page, Peter looks up to see the most attractive man in New York walk through the door, smile to the class, and introduce himself.

Tony.

Tony Stark?

No Way. The Tony stark?

Peter's ears ring, and he swears he sinks three feet into the floor.

Mr. “just call me Tony” Stark is saying something about BioMolecular Engineering, about class credit, about new processes in the industry, about independent research opportunities, about the— wait.

Peter jerks in his seat, mouth ajar, as The Tony Stark lists benefits of working in his research lab for Stark Industries, a dream Peter has nursed since high school. He barely hears the rest of the presentation, focusing on closing his mouth and blinking, keeping hot Arousal out of his scent, adjusting himself in his pants—

“—and I’ll take questions up front if you have them, thanks."

There’s a round of lazy applause, as students start to pack up and file out, and Peter shakes himself, You have to talk to him. He scribbles a few questions on his notebook and throws everything into his backpack, floating across the classroom and to the back of the line.

When he finally steps up, both of them freeze. Peter restrains himself from scenting the older man right there in the classroom because hot damn .

Peter lets out a short gasp of “hellomynameisPeterParker,” thrusting his hand forward, and is pulled in for a firm handshake, Tony Stark looking into his eyes with a vaguely amused expression.

Peter lets go, reluctantly, and stutters out, “M-mr. Stark? I think I’d be interested in the semester research opportunity.”

“Of course, Peter Parker,” Tony turns and grabs a StarkPad, scrolling briefly before handing it over to Peter, “if you want to fill it out today, feel free. It’s an equal opportunity research grant, and provides a weekly stipend for the duration of the program.”

Mr. Stark continued with details, as Peter quickly puts his information in the application and presses “submit.” He peers up at the older man, Beta? Probably? Most of what he can scent is spice and fire– maybe cinnamon, or chai like Clint? It’s hard to tell without throwing his face into the man’s neck, and inhaling deep–

“Mr. Parker? Pete?”

Peter’s head shoots up, and he realizes he’s been still for too long without responding, and immediately goes to apologize, “Oh, I-i’m so sorry, Mr. Stark, I just… I finished the application? Shouldn’t I submit– or, sorry– send in a resume? Sorry.”

Mr. Stark keeps his expression schooled, but Peter can tell that he’s holding back a smile. Dammit Parker, way to nail the first impression. He shifts on his feet, biting his lip as Mr. Stark shakes his head slowly.

“No, it’s okay Peter. Our admin team will review the first round of applications by department, and send out an email link for further information, alright?” he gives into his smile, reaching out as if to... what, comfort Peter? But aborts the motion and crosses his arms, flexing slightly under his navy suit.

“Do you have any other questions, Peter?”

“No, n-no not right now, sorry, thank you Mr. Stark, sir. Um. Okay? I’ll see you later?” and Peter beats a hasty retreat out of the classroom, feeling his scent shift Embarrassed and hot tears prick his eyes.

Why does he always give a terrible first impression?

—

Tony stands, shocked in the empty classroom, schooling his scent and his breathing.

Thank you Mr. Stark, sir.

He collects his things in a haze, heading back to his pack and thinking about the gorgeous omega who just called his name.

Damn. His Alpha and Omega are gonna want to hear about this.

2 Weeks Later

Tony is straightening up the last few items in the R&D lab, hearing Pepper’s complaints of You need to care about your work space, Tony and You need to prepare a safe space for interns to work, Tony. And Pepper is right, of course, so Tony keeps cleaning.

He hears the doors swish open, and sighs, schooling his expression to neutral. He whirls around, raising his hands to defend himself against what he assumes is a new portion of nagging from Pepper, and instead–

The pretty omega from NYU.

What? “What are you–” Tony starts, watching as– Parker? Pete, Peter?– clutches a bag close to his chest, large doe eyes widening in shock and fear and… yup, there it is, FearShockEmbarassed Omega scent floods the lab as Peter takes a step backwards, lips opening and closing in shock.

“Hey, are you–”

“I’m so sorry, I–”

Tony shakes his head, stepping a little closer, “No, it’s okay, Peter? Right? From NYU?” with a nod in confirmation, Tony barrels ahead, “I thought you were– no, it doesn’t matter. Are you, are you here for the internship?”

“Y-yes, I’m sorry, they said to come at noon, but I thought I’d get here early and, god I can’t believe it, I’m so sorry, I’ll just wait– uh, wait outside?” Peter stutters through the explanation, lowering his eyes and backing towards the door to retreat into the hallway.

“No, like I said Peter, it’s okay, honestly,” Tony looks around quickly, trying to find a seat for the started young man, and yanks out the stool to his workbench, “here, sit down, please?”

There’s a moment of stillness as Peter looks between the stool and Tony, muttering something under his breath and setting his jaw in determination. Damn this boy is adorable, and Tony forces himself to keep a neutral expression as the om– the intern – walks across the room and sets down his backpack. Tony turns to the other side of the desk to give Peter some space, and clears the last of the notebooks into a nearby drawer.

He wants to start a conversation with Peter, fingers twitching in the unbearable silence, but is saved by the lab doors opening again, revealing Pepper leading five lost looking interns into the room. She leads so gracefully, he thinks, and feels his scent turn Fond and Proud for the Beta. Pepper sits each intern down, greeting Peter as well, and before he knows it, orientation and introduction are underway. The interns have their own work benches, and Pepper lets another supervisor take over the first day paperwork.

While the interns work in silence, Tony refuses to fixate on Peter, even though he takes to the research environment so beautifully. He's smart, he makes the funniest sarcastic quips when he thinks no one is listening, and he's kind of quiet, but always speaks up when he has a strong opinion.

Tony keeps his interactions unbiased among the other interns, mostly betas and one alpha, and is so relieved when the day ends and the students finally shuffle out of the lab. Peter ends up last to leave, staring at Tony and nervously licking his lips as he shoulders his bag. He seems to hesitate.

“Yeah, what’s up Pete?”

“Oh… no, right, see you tomorrow?” Peter shifts back and forth on his feet.

Tony smiles, “Of course, early bird,” and honestly can’t help his eye twitching, helplessly, in a wink.

Peter stutters out some type of goodbye, and flutters back through the door.

Tony blows out a breath, “JARVIS, call Bucky.”

—

“So what you’re tellin’ me is, you’ve somehow managed to find a smokin’ hot–”

“Beautiful,” Tony interrupts, “and compatible–”

“Right, smokin’ hot, compatible omega, and you… hire him?”

“I mean, technically I didn’t hire him personally–”

“Tony–”

“No, you know what, I get it. It’s my fault I can’t have him. But Bucky, I swear he’s so damn smart, and I can’t even let myself hope about his orientation,”

Bucky groans audibly over the line, but Tony protests again, “–because I swear he would submit so beautifully, Bucky, I can just see it. And remember how I said he called me sir?”

“How could I forg–”

“It’s all I can think about. I don’t wanna be overbearing, but I’m completely helpless around him and have no idea what to do. Bucky, I winked at him. Winked. And he ran away so fast.”

He can hear Bucky laughing at him over the line, that idiot, and Tony drops his head in his hands.

“Want my advice, sweetheart?” Bucky doesn’t wait for an answer before continuing, “I think you should take it slow and court ‘im. Sounds like it could be awhile before you can make anything official, and what is he, like eighteen?”

“... Twenty.”

“Okay, twenty. He probably isn’t looking for a permanent pack anyways, alright? Get to know ‘im at work, and as soon as you can, you should also put a stop to him seeing you as his boss,”

“Wait, but–”

“No, Tony. As much as it feels great for this little omega to call you ‘Mr. Stark’ and ‘Sir,’ if you want anything more with this guy, you have to work to even out the relationship a bit.”

Tony slumps down into a seat, sighing dramatically. Bucky goes silent as Tony processes what he’s saying. A thought occurs to him,

“Wait, is that how Steve got you?”

Bucky snorts, “Yeah, you know our Alpha’s ‘bout as subtle as a dump truck. His advice is gonna be, ‘sit the omega down, state your intentions to court him, communicate clearly,’ all that shit,” another laugh, this time fonder, “I’m just sayin’ to save that for later, okay? Take it slow.”

Heading towards the door, Tony signals for JARVIS to move the conversation to his phone as he heads home. He pops in an earpiece for the call, and makes sure Bucky is still on the line.

“Yeah, I’ll take your advice Bucky-bear. Hey, are you home?” Tony taps his foot as the elevator descends to the parking garage, feeling a familiar itch starting under his skin.

“Yeah I am, Steve’s out until later... why, what’s up?”

He gets out of the elevator, heading for his car, “I think all this talk of the perfect omega has me missing you. Wanna do something soft and dirty when I get home?”

Bucky hums, the sound sweet and tempting, even over the phone line, “Whaddya have in mind, my Beta?”

“Oh you know I love when you call me that,” Tony peels out onto the main road, heading towards their coastal property, their home, “I want you to contact Steve and ask him to pick up dinner, your choice. I’ll tell him what my plan is for you tonight, so he won’t be surprised. I’ll be there in thirty-five minutes and want you in the red room, ready to play, understood?”

Tony can hear Bucky breathing quicker over the phone as he responds, “Yes, Beta.”

“My good omega. And for now, let’s not tell our Alpha about Peter. Not unless it gets serious, okay?”

“Mmm okay, Tony. Hurry home,” and Bucky ends the call.

Tony steps on it.

[millennium-thejiaqiverse]

Chapter 3: One Unusual Paper

Summary: What does the birth of revolutionary technology bring along with it? It certainly has a big impact on the world and the the ones whom brought this technology to everyone. Let’s introduce the center stage technology in this chapter—the chips. Find out how they changed Miles’s home world. Hey, I don’t only cover the magic topic, behold as civilizations develop technology-wise.

“This is the first time I take my exam at another school, ever! So exciting!” Phillip is ultra-excited. “Calm down dude, haven’t you been at our school already on Orientation Day? I mean, we checked out the exam hall together.” Adele pets Phillip’s back, “besides, you’re from Dawn City Academy, probably the coolest school ever.” “Meh, pretty sure that’s just our schools reputation,” Philip snickers, “I don’t see what the fuss is about.”

Miles is sitting next to the windows of the shuttle, looking out to the cityscape. Sitting right next to him is Nick, who’s focused on his tablet.

“Remember that one past paper in which life literally gives you lemons?” Rose starts the topic. “Yes, that’s a good one. What do you do with a crate of 30 lemons in one and a half hours?” Elly asks with a laugh. “Start small businesses like everybody did in that one particular group we studied—every one of them was an inner entrepreneur, they used the weather, what’s trending, blah blah blah; plus each of them could really think out of the box. Hey do you think our exam group would also coincidentally take the same approach like they did? We all have the same paper and we prepared as a group, it’s possible.” “That’d still be too much of a coincidence, as we’ll be separated into individual cubicles.” Ryan shakes her head.

“Hatch Station 50,” an announcement sounds as the shuttle makes its stop, “welcome to our SCI (Suspended & Concealed Islands, the “sky” above the ground-level city parts), you may switch to the Gate’s shuttles at this station.”

Looking at the Gate’s giant ever changing spherical hologram logo, Miles sighs a light sigh.

Ever since the great idea of the tech company Quartz took off (tiny chips connected with the brain, which serve a main function of allowing users to quickly and effectively research and access information with their minds), society changed drastically; and now, there is the Gate—Dr. Mary Millward, Miles’s mom, one of the most prominent Inventors ever, founded this company with her team. She brought forth a tech revolution, largely increasing the reliability and security of the chips and the internet system. Through this competition, Quartz is now obsolete, the Gate takes over and keeps on growing, building the SCI and who knows what next.

“Yo Philip, the animator guy’s from your school right?” Tinaye asks. “The animator guy?” Philip repeats while thinking. “You know, the guy who made a short animation to express how mankind’s coexistence and co-development with Mother Nature is important, in 1 hour 30 minutes?” “Oh you meant Ian!” Philip snaps his fingers, “that guy’s legendary. He’s not from our branch though, our branch is the one with the infamous ‘party kids’.” He winks. “Sounds like fun!” Rose says. “Hey I think we’re here.” Elly tells everyone. “Station Sky Secondary School. Dear passengers, may I have your attention please,” an announcement comes up, “we are now on school ground; midterm exams are in progress, please do not disturb. Station Sky Secondary School.”

Philip, Adele, Miles, Nick, Rose, Elly, Ryan and Tinaye all get off the shuttle after it makes its stop, Tyler is already there, waiting at the front entrance of the school.

School is open for students to do their assignments from 0:00 to 23:50 every day of the week, except Orientation Days. With the chips being long implanted in everyone by now, teaching students time management, how to utilize knowledge and work as a team becomes the main focus of all schools. Before their midterms, each student must complete all 9 personal assignments and 3 group assignments they have relating to the subjects they pick, with help from their class tutors. Students are allowed to do their assignments at anytime they wish to. Some finish their assignments lightning fast, days or even weeks before midterms, like Lisa, the girl who arrives last with a shuttle going a different route.

Rose happily greets her, “Lisa, you made it!” “Of course,” Lisa smiles charmingly, “we are one of the 11:00 groups, shall we head inside?” “Great idea,” Rose agrees.

“Welcome to the 11:00 midterm exams. Please go to your corresponding cubicles. Note that you may no longer enter the exam hall after the start of an exam, or leave the exam less than half-an-hour before the end; you must not have any unauthorized material or equipment with you; any attempt of tempering with the examination programs will result in immediate disqualification...”

There are two 11:00 papers (paper A and B) assigned to the students. The 10-student-study-groups will be mixed together when assigning their cubicles so the students next to every student would be working on a different paper. Everyone is suited up in their gear and logged in to the VR system to do the 5 minutes pre-exam warmup. After making sure everything’s fine, the invigilators start the exam. “Good luck!” Nick says last minute before their individual cubicles are sealed off. “Good luck guys!” Rose follows suit.

For this exam, Miles enters a small brightly lit room, which appears to have only a desk in the middle. The door vanishes after he shuts it. A piece of blank A3 paper lies on this desk, with a pen on top of it. Miles waits for a few minutes, only to realize the usual bell followed by an announcement of what he needs to do to complete this exam never came. This is new. Miles turns over the paper only to confirm both sides of it are indeed completely blank, holding the paper to the light reveals no hidden messages. He looks around the room to find nothing, then inspects the lone desk and finds no details that deserve attention; he then looks at the pen, and notices a small dial with numbers 1 to 9 at the end of it, the little red pin currently pointing at the word “off”. Miles doesn’t want to rush to work on the blank paper or do anything else in the room, a girl failed her exam and had to repeat a year in the past, just because she didn’t pay much attention to what was required by the exam that had been announced to her, resulting in her misusing her provided materials big times.

After waiting for another few minutes and still no bell or announcement, Miles starts to be worried. He decides to just turn the dial on the pen, as soon as the pin points to “1”, a screen in front of him that he previously thought was a wall turns on. Miles is very surprised to find himself looking at Nick, flying a swarm of drones, looks like he’s fixing some pretty broken light panels under one piece of the SCI. It looks like some aircraft has bumped into the panels. Nick seems to be getting on pretty well with his exam. Miles smiles a little, thinking about how Nick always says he wanted to be a SCI engineer or beyond after he graduates from school, this exam must be easy for him; but what about the others in their group when faced with the same problem? Miles knows for sure not all of them enjoys this line of work. Wait... This study group is supposed to be working on the same exam, judging by what Miles’s doing now, at least he doesn’t have the same exam as Nick. Does everyone have different exams now? This hypothesis is (kind of) proven as Miles turns the dial to “2”, he sees Rose on screen, trying to cheer up this old man who looks worried and angry with something.

After turning the dial and seeing all others in his study group doing completely different things, and still no bell or announcement to tell him about his exam, Miles is needless to say stressing out. What does he have to do? Is he supposed to observe his group and note things down? Is he even supposed to be working with that piece of paper? Reviewing the past papers Miles finds not one is quite like this one! So many aspects are different and new. Miles considers hard. Another thought comes up, perhaps his hypothesis is wrong, perhaps everyone in the group does have the same exam taking place in identical small rooms, they would just think the others don’t when they see what’s on screen. If that’s so, this exam is an unexpected mindf*ck situation. More importantly, should he write these guesses down when he still doesn’t know what the exam’s about? Miles is astonished to find out he’d actually be more certain of what to do when faced with magic stuff, i.e. time travel, etc. than now, when faced with this unusual midterm exam.

“Well I’m definitely not expecting this from school!” Miles can’t help but murmurs. “What was that?” Adele, currently on screen, stops her work with the blue palo verde beans and says, “could you please repeat? I didn’t catch that.” “Adele?” Miles asks, “is that really you? Can you hear me?” “Yes I can, is this Miles?” Adele says back, “how are you making the announcements?” “I am?” Miles gasps. “Yeah, the announcement bell rings every time you talk... kinda annoying.” Adele explains. “Hold on a sec,” Miles requests and dials to “1”, “Nick, can you hear me?” Nick jumps a little, turns his head and has this weirded out look on his face. Miles bursts out laughing at this, “wow, I don’t know if I’m supposed to be doing this...” “D... did you hack the program?” Nick stammers then calms down, “but you don’t seem to be disqualified, that means you probably didn’t. What’s up?”

Poking around, Miles learns that he can not only observe but also talk to everyone in his group through announcement (but he can only talk them one at a time when they’re brought on screen); the others cannot hear or talk to each other though. As he asks on, he learns that same as him, no one has heard an actual announcement about this exam, they’re just doing what their “friends, coworkers or bosses” from the VR asked them to do and assuming that’s how they’ll be given the exam tasks now. Then he also learns about some specifics on what everyone’s doing.

It is quite clear now that no announcement would indicate to Miles what tasks he’ll have. It is around this time Miles notices the dates and time in the lower right corner of the screen, he checks with everyone and now knows in this simulation everyone is working on different tasks on 9 different days, spanning 2 weeks. Miles goes through all nine work environments one by one and inspects everything closely.

Tyler has the earliest date of all, he is in a great mood, happily setting up a drip irrigation system for this huge garden and getting ready to have some planting drones plant flowers when he’s done. “I see you’re doing very well with the garden,” Miles watches the drones place the plants down one by one orderly, “who’s garden is this?” “It’s the Wales family’s,” finishing with the irrigation system, Tyler starts to check the little garden maintenance drones’ condition, “they have an awesome house. I still find it strange they have no surveillance drones flying.” Temporarily, Miles forgets about his blank A3 paper as he starts thinking about this clue. He remembers hearing Rose say she’s helping with a Mr. Wales with his charity, and she noticed the guy’s father was unhappy.

“Well, keep up the good work.” Miles says to Tyler then connects with Rose, “Rose, how’s the charity going?” “So-so,” Rose shrugs, “I’ve came up with some fresh ideas though. How’s your assignment.” “I can’t say because I’m not sure what it is.” Miles says, “say, did Mr. Wales or his dad tell you why they were upset?” “Not really, guess it’s too personal,” Rose shakes her head, “but the dad was super ticked off about their home surveillance system, he says someone shut it off? Wouldn’t say who.” “That could be why there are no surveillance drones!” Miles exclaims, “I just have a feeling Tyler worked for the same Wales family as yours, if so he worked on their garden on March 3rd.” “Could be,” Rose nods. Miles keeps on connecting the dots, Ryan and Tinaye work at the same hospital, and they had this guy who swallowed a large diamond pendant with a ‘W’ engraved on it, and his last name is Kirkland, definitely not W-something. Did this guy steal the pendant? Rose continues with her job in the background. “I’ll leave you alone,” Miles hops onto someone else, “I wonder... does this ‘W’ stand for yet again the same Wales...”

“Did you say ‘Wales’?” Philip is now on screen, currently letting the tour group he takes care of roam around and shop, “this lady from our tour is telling everyone that she knew all about how some burglar stole a diamond family heirloom from a Wales family—her friends; she gossips that because old Mr. Wales weren’t happy to go public or see his son go to the authorities with this, only very few people’s heard of the incident.” “Ohhh shouldn’t have trusted information with that lady,” Miles teases. “Yea some people thrive on gossip. By the way, have you noticed this nice process bar that tells you the percentage you’ve completed on your exam? It’s a new feature.” Philip comments. “Well, I don’t see one,” Miles denies, “my interface is pretty bare.”

Miles next has a question for Adele, “Adele, where are these beans you’ve been testing found?” “The back of this dude’s pickup truck,” Adele quickly spits out her words as she hands in the DNA analysis and comparison reports she’s completed, “I heard this Pete Watt allowed a search of his home and truck without thinking when the police got him. Probably being arrogant because he’s one of the criminals we’ve learnt of who thinks as long as they don’t have a chip in their head the police will have nothing on them. Guess what, I’ve just proved he was near the Wales family’s house with some old-fashioned plant DNA testing. Totally inspiring.”

Nick has the latest date of all. Miles chats him up and learns from him that the broken panels he fixed was caused by police chasing the burglar Kirkland when he knocked into them with a helicopter; not causing a major damage to the SCI. At this point, Miles has a pretty good image of the sub-storyline of the 9 days simulated for this exam. Amongst it all, it seems irrelevant at first sight but Lisa’s been working on Kirkland’s older son’s braces, he does appear to be a little disrespectful; Elly’s watched Kirkland’s angel of a younger son at a daycare. Returning to what he has to do for his exam, although still not sure if what he’s seeing on screen is what everyone’s really doing, he feels that maybe that’s not the point here—maybe the purpose of his exam is to find out the connection that links everyone’s work, and appreciate how by simply doing their parts, they are pushing this simulated society forward. Some past papers had indicated ambiguous themes like this for students to find, Miles thinks this might be it. If that’s the case then this exam is quite easy but still fascinating in some ways.

Just as he decides on taking that approach, the screen Miles has been looking at divides into nine portions that shows everyone along with their progress bars. Miles finally hears the announcement bell ring, followed by a “students, you have 10 minutes left” announcement. A previously not so obvious pandemonium has now really broken out. “What the heck, how come the progress meter says I’ve only got 43% for all the work I’ve done?” Adele breaks down, “what have I been missing?” “Miles, are you there?” Nick only has a 48% up till now, “how’s it going with your part? I hope your doing alright.” Miles quickly checks everyone’s progress bars: everyone is stuck with 40-something-percents, no one has a score above 50%. It’s like everyone’s missing half their scores.

Watching everyone trying to boost their scores (a minimum of 60% is needed to pass the midterms), Miles falls silent, but not for long. “Can you all still hear me?” Miles clears his throat and reaches out. Everyone confirms. “I can see thus tell from your scores that it seems you’re missing parts of your exams, but don’t worry, I have an idea,” he proposes, “the reason I have a blank paper and a pen—as you all know—could be suggesting that I can come up with something to help you all. Maybe that is it!” Is this actually what he needs to do? Observe and help, instead of playing detective? Confusing! “What do we do?” Adele asks desperately. Miles proceeds to command the group, “Please work on the tasks given by the simulation, then clap your hands 3 times.” “What? Clap our hands 3 times?” Adele repeats. “I made my announcement, that could count as an exam task.” Miles hints. “Hey this might work!” Elly says then claps 3 times.

Everyone does what Miles asked and waits for their scores to go up, and of course, nothing happens. Miles face palms, ok, maybe that is a bit too far fetched... and too easy. “What now?!!” Everyone resumes panicking. This sucks, Miles thinks to himself, my plan failed, that means I’m still not getting what my exam is, in that case what if the approach of finding what connects everyone’s work is also false? There isn’t even a process/percentage bar for me to check on.

“5 minutes remaining.” Time flies when you’re trying to work things out. Not wanting his friends to keep losing their minds, Miles starts talking, trying out the theories he has is better than just waiting, “here goes nothing... All your parts have something to do with a stolen diamond pendant, a crime orchestrated by at least 3 people, that comes from what I’ve learnt from you. It started with someone in the Wales house disabling their surveillance system, and from the looks of it, Rose’s boss’s father, old mr. Wales had an idea of who it was or there’s family drama involved, hence he doesn’t want to get others involved; the family member probably handed the pendant to someone who’s driven Pete Watt’s vehicle to the Wales house then with the pendant in hand away from the Wales house. Watt himself, or Willy Kirkland could both be the driver. Kirkland was captured attempting to go somewhere with the pendant. He swallows it in an attempt to get away, only to be rushed into the ICU and have the pendant removed from his body. Taking on your tasks as you see them and completing them kept the story moving.”

Seeing no difference in the grades, and now everyone’s silent, Miles decides to calm his group more and go on trying different approaches, “to be honest with you all, I have no idea what to do with my part yet, I doubt my ever approach—this whole time I kept getting different ideas only to doubt and end up scratching them. Everything is so new on this exam, we are all doing different things, it’s just that I didn’t really take part in the big story you’re in, I have no process bar. All I can do is observe...” Miles pauses to think, then starts again, “Guys, I’ve seen how hard you’ve worked on your parts, there’s no way you can squeeze in any more tasks in this amount of time. We prepared well; if this is all real, seeing your excellent work today, these percentages seem fishy to me, they are likely fake or tempered with—not your real scores, maybe it’s just there to see if we’ll panic over them, we are in a simulation after all all this could be a trick; the point is, this whole exam could be messing with us. With all the new and different stuff, it’s trying to blast us with what we’ve never seen before, we have to take control by ourselves along with working on the more specific exam tasks. I think the key here is certainty, something I didn’t have up until now, something we have to decide to let into our minds. We’re encouraged to work on problems in our own ways on all the past papers we’ve done before this one, maybe this paper demands us to explore a new concept on top of that, a state of mind—believing that what we’ve done for this exam is sufficient, not doubting how you play your part. We have to beat the exam in a sense.” The group appears pretty convinced by him.

Guess this is the true stressful part of an unstandardized exam—anything can be accepted or not accepted as answers, you don’t know for sure if your efforts are enough. Miles clears his doubts and places the pen back onto the desk, on top of the blank A3 paper. The exam ends.

Leaving the exam hall, the group quickly meets up. “You guys ok?” Nick asks the group. “I never thought the percentages could be a hoax.” Lisa says. Miles doesn’t need to ask if the group was working on different papers anymore, what Nick and Lisa said and the rest’s silence were enough of an answer. “What percentages?” Bob approaches their group. “Your group had the easier paper Bob. So how did you guys do? I think I did fantastic this time.” Pete jumps into the conversation. “Our paper’s unique...” Miles looks at the two newcomers, realizing it. “Hey Pete... wouldn’t you know, this villain guy we had has the same first name as you, right guys?” Nick tries to lighten the mood for their group, “guys?”

Well, at least he tried.

“Dr. Mary,” a grader calls, “I have to inform you that Miles did not write a thing on that A3 paper...” he pauses, “well, this is unexpected, you tailored this exam just for him and it appears...” “He failed? No.” Mary rewatches the recorded exam for the third time, “no, his performance exceeded my expectations.”

Miles’s phone is blowing up with texts of excitement and congratulations from the group chat. “Turns out our scores were halved, Miles, you know you are a genius for noticing the percentages were fake right?” Nick calls him. “Well I did not feel like one during the exam...” Miles laughs. “Can’t wait to go to your late bday party and bowl!” Nick says. “Of course,” Miles says back, “and I appreciate how you tried to cheer everyone up enough to remind them of my bowling party back at school.” “More proof that you’re a genius,” Nick puts his thumbs up. “Not really, that’s just because we’ve know each other for more than 10 years.” Miles puts his thumbs up too.

@cadewrites

[beardyallen]

Well, that went quickly...

What day is it? I’m starting to lose track of how long I’ve been here...

Well, it’s been a week since my last post, and it seems that a lot must have happened, but honestly I feel like I’ve just been cranking through a bunch of comic books.

But I do know that Friday and Saturday involved a good deal excitement, so I guess we had might as well pick up pretty much where we left off!

Last Friday was Orientation for ICB, which meant getting all of the 35-40 instructors, 10 staff members, and the 6-8 people in charge of this program together in a room to introduce us to...basically what we’d been doing all that week. Also, aside from a couple study-abroad-undergrads and my officemate and me, everyone there had probably already heard the spiel.

It was scheduled from 5p-6p with a buffett afterwards, but a bunch of the Communications people from my floor were going out to eat (again?) afterwards, so I made plans with NR. She wanted to try this Mexican restaurant in what I’ll describe as the “international district” of Beijing. Most everything around us when we got there looked like it belonged in literally every metropolitan area in the world. Every major brand you can imagine had a store. Multiple. Too many...

But the Mexican restaurant we visited is owned and managed by a Mexican expat, apparently. He even stopped by our table to ask how the food was, and let me tell you: that quesadilla was the BOMB!!! And the margarita was pretty good (not as good as MHO’C’s, though!). By the time we finished up dinner, it was kind of late, so we wondered around the shopping center, found a bookstore. You know: the usual.

Fun fact: when a store or restaurant wants to indicate to their patrons that they are getting ready to close, they play smooth jazz and turn the lights down. Like for real. Had their not been windows open to the pavilion outside with it’s hundreds of light displays, I would have been seriously concerned when the lights in the place just went out and Kenny G popped up on the speakers.

We entertained the idea of finding the cinema nearby to see Alita Battle Angel, but during the 15 minutes that we spent wondering around in search of the complex, it seemed to elude us. Plus it was getting close to that time when the subway shuts down, and I wasn’t exactly hankering for a taxi ride this early in my stay....if at all.

The next morning, I got up early to meet back up with NR at the National Museum near the Forbidden City. Now, for the most part, the stairs I get don’t bother me. But I will say, if you’re going to stair at the pasty white guy with a hard-to-describe-its-color-accurately-beard, maybe don’t do it when you’re going 15 mph on a bike, facing in the wrong direction! *sigh.....Some people’s kids...

But what really bothered me, especially at the time, was the father-of-three who straight-up filmed me on his phone from 5 feet away for a solid 6 minutes, three hallways, and two escalators! I get it, I’m funny looking. But I really think I a picture would have done just fine...

One of the things that bothered me the most about that experience was that (a) he had a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, (b) his daughters seemed rather embarrassed, (c) he filmed me with the screen aimed at me so I could watch myself on his phone, (d) there was text on the screen, and (e) it went on for a solid 6 minutes.

In hindsight, I was wearing sunglasses and a hat, in a subway system, in the morning, heading to the center of Beijing. Maybe he thought I was a celebrity? I had spoken to a Communications graduate student the other day who happens to be black, and he told me the story of how a citizen here pull out their phone with a picture of Samuel L. Jackson on it, and gestured to him as it to ask if it were him...even though SLJ is for sure at 70 years old and this kid is no more than 35. And he looks 25. #smh

Anyway, after dealing with whatever the hell that was, I got to visit the museum! They, for whatever reason, were not allowing people to bring their charging blocks into the museum (external battery that you can use to charge your cell phone and other devices on-the-go), but more surprising to me was just how many people carried one with them! At least, it was surprising until I took a moment to think about it. As I’ve mentioned before, basically every payment made in Beijing is through WeChat, which needs internet access, so I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising. You also really can’t navigate through the city with some sort of Maps app; there are just too many bus routes, train routes, terminals and stops to keep logged in your head.

As far as the museum itself goes, the gifts to China from foreign governments exhibit and the Ancient China exhibit themselves took most of the day. Also, no surprise: the gift that took up the most floor space was given by a U.S. President. I also got a refresher in 8th Grade Social Studies. Too many small countries to remember all of them, and that space made me feel somewhat moronic.

The Ancient China exhibit was exceptional, though. They broke up the last, oh...750,000 years of human-ish life in China into 8-10 separate eras, the first few cataloguing the life and evolution of Homo erectus pekinensis into Homo sapien, while the latter eras were segregated dynastically. I’ve never seen the progression of human evolution laid out in such detail! The rock tools became better rock tools, then pottery and paper, stamps, buildings and so much more! There were even ceremonial helmets that would put the Juggernaut to shame!

It was strange, though, to have all of this knowledge just beyond my fingertips both literally and figuratively. The literal sense isn’t too shocking, as I’ve been to a museum before and know not to touch the pieces, but to have placards written in a language that would take years to learn was frustrating. Fortunately, NR has a never-ending supply of patience, and she translated much of the text. She even quizzed me on several of the characters. I’ve worked out how to write “rock” for sure.

After the museum, we wondered over to a nearby mall that, honestly, puts the Mall of America to shame. No joke. This place was huge! It just kept going and going and going! There was a particular alley that has all of the “exotic foods” that you might see on The Amazing Race, which I haven’t tried yet but intend to, but the rest is mostly-outdoor shopping center. Our reason for being there was to find food (we had been in the museum for a bit over 7 hours), and then sit our fine asses down in a movie theater to watch Alita.

We found a restaurant that served food traditionally found where NR grew up. It was exceptional. And the beer just made it better. :P

The movie experience was something else entirely. I’ve gotten used to watching television and movies with subtitles so that, when people decide to talk to me, I can follow along with both bits. Or if people are just talking near me while I’m watching television, I don’t have to rewind the show. That helped a lot; the movie was still spoken in English, but there were Chinese subtitles. I recognized the Chinese character for “1″ frequently enough, but that was about it.

The movie itself was way more than I expected. I shouldn’t be surprised, given that one of the primary characters is played by Christoph Waltz. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should definitely consider it.

Also, additional fun fact: I’m thinking that most (if not all) showings of major motion pictures here are in 3D. *shrug* Side note: we’re going to see Captain Marvel tomorrow and I’M SO FREAKIN’ EXCITED!!!!

After the movie, we wandered back to the subway station and parted ways mid-subway-ride to head home. The next day I spent playing Kingdom Hearts 3 and sipping some beer in the 3rd Floor Lounge. All day. It was blissful.

This workweek has consisted of four main things: teaching responsibilities, a bit of dissertation work, trying out another one of the cafeterias on campus, and reading comic books. Oh, and beer. But that kind of goes without saying, doesn’t it? There’s a convenience store on the other side of the building in front of the Guest House that has cans of beer. You can buy them individual for 3 yuan, or roughly 45 cents. I won’t lie to you: I bought 12 of them and it didn’t cost me more than 6 bucks. And it’s really not bad, and even more convenient than the liquor store I lived by in Denver.

Anyway, as I said, I’m going to see Captain Marvel tomorrow, then to “W-Town” (originally Watertown...so glad they shortened it...) in northern Beijing, which sits at the base of part of the Great Wall. More than 20 people from ICB will be heading up to their on Saturday, so I imagine one of them will take pictures. Probably ML or S. So you’ll have those to look forward to since you know I won’t be taking any!

Oh!!! I almost forgot the biggest thing that happened this week! Actually, it might be the biggest news of my entire stay!!!

I did laundry.

And I washed my slippers. I’m not convinced that they’ve stopped smelling, but I’m holding out hope that I’ve finally figured out how to resolve an issue that I know humanity has been seriously struggling with for decades. I’m on the verge of a breakthrough, people, I swear!

Anyway, time to finish this beer, read a bit more of Scott Lynch’s Republic of Thieves (WE FINALLY FIND OUT ABOUT SABETHA!!!!), and head to bed. Big couple of days ahead...

Sláinte,

BeardyAllen

P.S. I bet you thought I was gonna forget! After class on Wednesday, I worked out how to make a phone call from here to the States to wish my Mom a Happy BIrthday. Caught her at work, and we got to chat for a good long while. It really put a nice cap on my evening, and it seemed it gave her a good start to her day. Anyway, I hope you had a great evening, found something nice at C&B and enjoyed that glass of wine you mentioned! Love you!!

[thomasricha]

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300+ MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES TO REACH YOUR POTENTIAL EACH DAY

ARTICLE by Nicole Martins Ferreira2 Apr, 2021

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POST CONTENTS

1What Is Motivation?

2How to Motivate Yourself: 3 Simple Tricks

1. Create a Positive Environment

2. Celebrate Your Small Wins

3. Surround Yourself With Motivated People

3300+ Motivational Quotes To Reach Your Potential in 2021

Motivational Quotes for Entrepreneurs

Motivational Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

Monday Motivation Quotes

Hustle Quotes

Motivational Quotes for Employees

Super Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes for Work

Quote of the Day for Work

Encouraging Quotes to Motivate You

Short Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes for Success

Motivational Quotes for Life

Business Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

You Can Do It Quotes

Inspirational Motivational Quotes

Famous Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes from Books

Motivational Quotes from Movies

Motivational Song Lyrics

Motivational Quotes for Women

Motivational Quotes for Men

Motivational Quotes for Kids

Best Motivational Quotes

Funny Motivational Quotes

Deep Motivational Quotes

Positive Quotes for Work

Motivational Quotes for Students

Short Success Quotes

Motivational Quotes About Change

Motivational Quotes About Money

Motivational Quotes About Success

Motivational Quotes About Time

Motivational Quotes About Failure

Motivational Quotes About Life

Motivational Quotes of the Day

Motivational Quotes About Learning

Motivational Quotes About Strength

Positive Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes About Winning

Motivator Quotes

4Conclusion

5Want to Learn More?

Motivational quotes can help you reach your potential each day. Sure, they’re just words. But they’re positive words. And if you’re on the verge of giving up or struggling to push yourself to the next level, sometimes that’s just what you need. 

So whether you’re trying to finish a project, start a new side hustle, or hit that big life goal, knowing how to motivate yourself and train your brain for success can help. 

Let’sSo, let’s dive into what is motivation, how to motivate yourself, and the motivational quotes of the day that’ll get you back on track. These motivational quotes will give you the jumpstart your day needs, so don’t forget to bookmark this page. 



Unlock the guidance, tools, and resources you need to design your best life – then live it. Every. Single. Day.

DESIGN YOUR DREAM LIFE TODAY

What Is Motivation?

Motivation is your desire to do something with your personal life, at work, in school, in sports, or in any hobbies. Having the motivation to do something can help you achieve your big goals and dreams, whatever they may be.

Knowing how to motivate yourself can help you accomplish anything you set your mind to, so let’s get to that next.

How to Motivate Yourself: 3 Simple Tricks

1. Create a Positive Environment

Music can be as powerful a motivator as motivational quotes. 

Each morning when you wake up, play a few pump up songs before you start your day to get you going. You can listen to productivity music on Spotify to help you get going. By getting your mind in the right mindset, you can inch closer to motivating yourself. 

When I want to get in the zone, I listen to “Time” by Hans Zimmer, which has no lyrics but has an intensity which helps me focus. If I’m feeling like I’m in a rut, motivational songs like “You’re a Superstar” by Love Inc. picks me up.

2. Celebrate Your Small Wins

When you think of your BIG goal, sometimes you start feeling overwhelmed. Why? Because big goals don’t get achieved right away. Instead, you need to create mini goals to help excite you along the way. This way you can be more goal-orientated and build a habit of being more effective. 

Celebrating your small wins will help you stay motivated through your journey. Plus, celebrating is always super fun. Maybe you break your goal down to 10 small-sized goals with tasks that get you on track to achieve them.

For each of the 10 goals you can add a small celebration. Maybe a glass of champagne for one or a dessert with a sparkler on top for another. Don’t forget to check out some of our motivational quotes about success in a later section. 

3. Surround Yourself With Motivated People

This goes back to the positive environment point: You need to be around others who are just as ambitious as you. American entrepreneur John Rohn once said, “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with it.” And whether or not that’s true is debatable, the reality is being around the right kind of people can only help you grow. 

If you’re surrounded by those who love your ambition, you’ll be more ambitious and achieve more. If you’re surrounded by loved ones who tell you your goals are stupid and tell you to change them, you need to avoid them.

 Be around those who help you feel comfortable being the ambitious, go-getter you are, so you can become the successful person you’re meant to be.

300+ Motivational Quotes To Reach Your Potential in 2021

TODAY'S THE DAY TO BECOME YOUR OWN BOSS.

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BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR

Motivational Quotes for Entrepreneurs

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” – Mary Kay Ash

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb

“Only the paranoid survive.” – Andy Grove

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth

“I wake up every morning and think to myself, ‘how far can I push this company in the next 24 hours.’” – Leah Busque

“If people are doubting how far you can go, go so far that you can’t hear them anymore.” – Michele Ruiz

“We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” – Arianna Huffington

“Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.” – Joss Whedon



Motivational Quote of the Day

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, love like you’ll never be hurt, sing like there’s nobody listening, and live like it’s heaven on earth.” ― William W. Purkey

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”― Neil Gaiman

“Everything you can imagine is real.”― Pablo Picasso

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” ― Helen Keller

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”― Eleanor Roosevelt

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”― Lewis Carroll

“Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have all the answers.” – Socrates

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.”― Eleanor Roosevelt

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” ― Dalai Lama XIV

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” ― Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the Day

“The same boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It’s what you’re made of. Not the circumstances.” – Unknown

“If we have the attitude that it’s going to be a great day it usually is.” – Catherine Pulsifier

“You can either experience the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The choice is yours.”  – Unknown

“Impossible is just an opinion.” – Paulo Coelho

“Your passion is waiting for your courage to catch up.” – Isabelle Lafleche

“Magic is believing in yourself. If you can make that happen, you can make anything happen.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“If something is important enough, even if the odds are stacked against you, you should still do it.” – Elon Musk

“Hold the vision, trust the process.” – Unknown

“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller

“People who wonder if the glass is half empty or full miss the point. The glass is refillable.” – Unknown



Monday Motivation Quotes

[fabermemorialrink]

ask if there is some mistake

This is the first part of a fic I tried to write for the omgcp big bang before I realized I’d never finish on time. It’s still not finished hahaha but I thought I’d just slowly upload it here. Please let me know if you have questions/concerns!

Content tags and warnings: magic, secretly a high school AU, offscreen minor character death, violence, minor mention of blood, implied/referenced racism, attempted murder, mentions of terminal illness, fake geography, some creepiness.

Derek isn't lost, because in order to be lost you need to have wanted to be somewhere in the first place, and all he wants is to be anywhere but at school.

It's been three weeks since he started at the academy, and he’s not sure he’ll ever like being in Andover. It’s different from home in all the wrong ways, and the same as home in all the other wrong ways, and he hates it. Everyone’s stuck up, or aloof, or doesn’t think Derek’s worth the time of day, and already he spends most of his days anxious and homesick. At least he kind of likes most of his classes, and there’s a reprieve in the form of hockey, which is the only bright spot in the whole mess of bad feelings that Andover represents. At least the team makes an effort to embrace and welcome their freshmen.

But today’s been nothing but hit after hit against Derek’s psyche, from a miserable time spent in math trying to catch up on a confusing problem, to being partnered with the most obnoxious douche in the whole class for physics, and almost ruining his whole English essay when he spilled milk all over his desk during breakfast. And he can’t even vent to anyone because he has no fucking friends at this terrible school, and none of his parents are available to skype. Mama is still overseas, dad’s in meetings all day, and mom is in the ER until who knows when.

Which is why he’s wandering through the woods on a Friday afternoon like the loser he is, trying and failing to commune with nature because he’s inescapably turned around after tumbling over a log and rolling down a small dip in the ground. There’s nothing worse than a few bruises on his legs and stray scratches on his palms, but even after climbing back over the ridge, he feels more confused than before. Were those flowers there originally? Did he turn left after that oak, or down a few yards farther, where those conifers are rotting away?

Was the sky always this hard to see through the leaves?

Derek decides that when he makes it back out he’ll check out a book on orienteering before attempting this again. He's always liked being outdoors, but the tiny oases of greenery in New York are nothing like the thick overgrowth of trees and ferns and brambles that blanket everything west of the campus. He can see the edge of the forest from his dorm room, but he's never ventured in before today. There are stories about the woods that everyone at Andover knows: they’re haunted, someone got murdered there once, a cult lives up in the trees, etc, but Derek would literally rather hang with ghosts than spend another minute with anyone else in his dorm. He can only act chill around those people for so long.

And he’s deep in it now, surrounded by trees and shrubs on all sides, no discernible difference in any direction as to where to exit. And his phone can't reach cell service or his data network here, so he can't even call for help. Maybe he shouldn't have kept looping around every time he thought he saw a familiar path, because at a certain point, the whole forest seems to have closed in on him, dense and heavy, all the plants here more tangled and looming than ever before. There are barely any patches of sky visible anymore, and his eyes can't see anything more than earthy shadows and leaves in the far distance.

It's quiet this far into the woods. Derek is pretty sure that isn't normal.

There's nothing to do except to keep moving, though evening is starting to settle in quickly along with the autumn chill. He really hopes he doesn't have to sleep out here for the night; if he gets sick, coach will bench him and he's already got enough difficulty fitting in everywhere else. The only company he has is the sound of cracking twigs underfoot and the thin whisper of wind against drying leaves, but he’s no more lonely than he ever is during class or in the dining hall. At least out here, he has the excuse of being alone.

Until he doesn’t. From somewhere behind him comes the telltale crunch of someone else’s weight against a fallen branch, and Derek spins on his toes, trying to locate the sound. His excitement dims when he doesn’t see anything - maybe it was just an animal making itself scarce after noticing Derek. So he shuffles along a few more feet, and there! Another noise in the dark of the trees, following Derek as he goes.

“Is someone there?” he finally asks after spinning around several times like a doofus, unable to spot his stalker. He fights to keep his voice level because he’s one to roll with new situations as they come, but he’s also not an idiot, and at least a little genre savvy. Derek knows what happens to black kids in horror stories, and he is so not here for that shit.

But he’s holding out hope that his life is more low-lit, indie playlist Bildungsroman than a no-budget slasher in the woods flick, and that tonight he'll meet his future the-one-that-got-away instead of a roaming axe murderer on the loose. “Hello?” he calls again, advancing a few steps forward and seriously debating the merits of arming himself with the pointiest stick he can find.

After another few agonizing seconds during which Derek thinks he might just bolt and pray that he’s running toward the edge of the woods, someone finally responds.

“What are you doing here?”

Derek spins again, but still can’t see a single thing besides an endless parade of trees. Awkwardly, he raises his voice and shouts back, “I think I’m lost?”

There’s something that sounds like a muffled curse or two but Derek can’t really make out the words.

A person finally emerges from the shadows, and Derek notices that it's a boy around his age, with hair the gold-spun orange of the foliage above them and peculiar amber eyes to match. He's holding an unlit lantern and a hatchet loosely by his side and looks extraordinarily aggrieved by Derek’s presence in the woods. Maybe it's his secret hiding place and he thinks Derek’s intruding? If there’s anyone who understands the need to have a secret, safe spot just for himself, it’s Derek, so he holds his hands up non-threateningly, and gives his best ‘errant but harmless’ smile. It’s a few shades more sheepish and less affected than his ‘regretfully participating in high society but still charming’ one.

“Oh, hey, dude!” He wouldn't normally be so enthused to speak to someone who looks like they kind of want to punch him in the face, but from the way this kid is dressed (flannel and a thick vest and jeans) he seems like he totally gets the outdoors, and can rescue Derek from himself before he gets stranded in the forest for the night. “Any way you can help me get outta here? I was just chilling with the trees and stuff but, uh, got kinda turned around on my way back out.”

The boy glares at Derek for a few more seconds, before his eyes dart sideways at something Derek can't see even when he squints. Whatever it is, it makes up Derek’s new ginger friend’s mind, because he holsters his hatchet and stalks forward to gesture irritably at Derek until he starts walking in the right direction. They trek forward several yards while Derek studies his companion from the corner of his eye. He doesn't look like the kind of boy who attends Andover, which Derek considers a compliment more than anything, but it's a probably a little judgmental so he keeps it to himself. He's a couple of inches taller than Derek is, still in the gangly phase of his life, with large ears, broad shoulders, and a whole universe of freckles sunbursting across his skin.

It seems like they’re just going to walk in silence until Derek trips over a gnarled root snaking up out of the grass and belly-flops into the ferns. The other boy snorts out a noise, expressing some mix of amusement and alarm, and reaches down to drag Derek back to his feet. He waits as Derek dusts the soil off his shirt, telling him dryly, “Starting to see how you wound up here.”

“Hey, I’ve got the flowing grace of a gazelle in the desert,” Derek sniffs, but there’s a slight thrill of pride when the boy almost smiles as he responds, just as dryly as before, “We’re in a forest.”

“Oh. That might explain it.”

“It might. Or you might just be a walking trainwreck.”

“Whoa, chill on the snap judgments, bro.”

“Can you call it a snap judgment if I just saw you almost trip over your own foot again?” The boy points with his lantern at Derek’s traitorous right foot, which Derek shakes ruefully. “There’s a branch up ahead under the brush; watch out.”

They continue walking as the day dwindles toward twilight, Derek’s companion never faltering as he leads him on. Derek figures he must spend a lot of time out here if he’s so confidently marching along, and starts wondering what his story is. “So, do you go to Phillips Academy?” he asks after the boy stops to flick his lantern on. “I’ve never seen you around, but then again, I don’t really know a lot of people yet. My name’s D-”

Before he can get even the whole syllable out his face is stinging. The boy has slapped his hand over Derek’s mouth, holding tight on Derek’s face and arm as he looks around wildly at the canopy of the trees and the shadows that lay before their path, drawn long and eerie around the lantern left sitting in the grass. It all looks the same to Derek: blotches of brown and green tinged with autumn warmth, but there's a hideous unease that grows heavy in the pit of his stomach as each second drags on. He stays stock still, because if there’s some kind of wild boar or killer land shark out there he has no fricking idea how to defend himself, so he should just leave it to hatchet boy here, but before he can even begin to formulate a plan the kid whirls on him, still amped up like that guy on the team (Brian? B something? S...shitty??) after three cans of Red Bull.

“No names,” he hisses after releasing Derek’s face, his nails digging into Derek’s wrist where he’s squeezing hard enough to ache. “Never tell me your real name. Don’t say it, don’t even think it, do you understand?”

Derek is caught between a nice variety of responses; top two contenders are “what the actual fuck is your damage” and “what’d you do to get such solid grip strength” but the boy looks genuinely terrified. Of what, Derek can’t tell, but it’s enough to hold back the retort sitting on the tip of his tongue. He looks at those wide golden eyes, takes in how his breath is coming out in harsh, shallow gasps and his hand feels clammy and sick against Derek’s skin, and decides that now is not the time to be undiplomatic.

“Okay, no names, cool. I got it,” he says, playing as calm as he can, the way dad taught him in order to keep the situation from escalating. His day’s been enough of a bummer already; he really doesn’t need to cap it off with a fist fight against a lumberjack’s son.

The boy drops Derek’s hand like a hot coal when he realizes he’s still holding on too tight. “Sorry,” he mutters, skittering away so there’s ample room between them. “Just- you gotta be careful, y’know?”

Derek doesn’t know, actually, but he can go with the flow, so he shrugs casually, and they keep walking. “So, do you live around here?” he tries asking again.

The boy’s mouth twists up into a humorless smile. “Something like that. You- you said that you go to PA?”

“Yeah, I’m a freshman.”

“Then shouldn’t you know not to come out to the woods? Don’t you know the stories?”

He’s watching Derek with strange intensity, those bright eyes staring through him. They’re a really striking color, Derek thinks absently to himself, like wildflower honey, or polished amber.

“I mean, I know all the rumors and stuff? Murder and cultists, right?”

“Right. And you've heard the news bulletins before.” At Derek's blank look, he elaborates. “The missing persons reports that always seem to end in a dead body? You know, those people who somehow wander in and never find their way back out alive?”

Now that he mentions it, it does seem familiar. The local paper had an article about yet another body turning up on the north side of the forest shortly before the school year began. He supposes the implication there is that this has happened before. Perhaps the stories have some basis in reality.

“Oh.”

“Yep. And you still thought this was a good idea?”

“It’s not like I came out here to fuck with the ghosts. I just wanted to find somewhere” -to get away from everything- “to chill for a little bit. Like, connect with nature and shit. I’m from the city, so I guess I didn’t realize I was getting in over my head? Or that all the rampant woodland homicide was real?”

“Look...guy, I’ve gotta tell you,” the boy starts, and Derek instinctively offers his name in response, yet again only getting the “d” out before being assailed by five feet and ten inches of panicking redhead.

“No names!” the boy practically shrieks at Derek, who throws his hands up in frantic apology.

“Sorry, sorry! I forgot!”

“Christ, of all the- just, look. Do you have a nickname or something?”

“Nursey?” Derek says tentatively. It’s based on his name, as hockey nicknames are wont to be, but maybe it’s okay?

The boy eyes him suspiciously for a moment, before his gaze flickers off into the depths of the forest again, but finally he nods. “Okay. Nursey. I’m not saying the murder rumors are true, but it's an objective fact that people have died in these woods. Someone like you shouldn’t be out here,” which Derek bristles at before he continues, “You’re clearly a city boy, and I don’t wanna see you getting hurt. The woods are dangerous. Just stay safe in your fancy, preppy dorm at your fancy, preppy school, alright?”

“But I hate it there,” Derek blurts before he can censor himself. Before the even-keeled, tactful responses that mama’s taught him to reach for in times of crisis can float to the surface of his thoughts.

The boy tilts his head slightly, eyeing Derek before asking, “Too many miserable, entitled, rich white kids for you to handle?”

“Yeah,” Derek says, swallowing around the dryness in his throat. He regrets saying it out loud, because an admission of vulnerability can be like blood in the water if he's not with the right people, but the kid nods, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

“Well, fuck those guys.”

“That’s kinda how I’m feeling.”

“Still, you're gonna have to find a way to survive for the next couple of years that doesn’t involve hiding in the woods. I mean it. There’s nothing good for you here. Go to a park or something if you want to enjoy nature.”

Derek wants to argue some more, because yeah, he’s out of his element now, but he could learn. Buy a hatchet and lantern like this guy, pick up some outdoors living skills and learn to forage for mushrooms.

But half a minute later they’re at the edge of the woods, and he can see the lamps outside his dorm across the soccer field. It seems so obviously visible now, even under the setting sun, and Derek ponders how on earth he got so lost earlier. They’ve been walking together for only about fifteen minutes, and Derek had been wandering the woods on his own for over two hours before that.

“Wow, you’re great at directions,” he says stupidly, and the boy gives him that almost-smile again.

“And you’re not. Another reason for you to stay on campus. G’night, then.” He waves Derek off once the hit the outer limits of the forest, hanging back by a thin tree.

It’s getting late, and Derek’s definitely due for a run to the dining hall before it closes, but he lingers another moment. “What’s your n- uh, I mean, what can I call you?” he asks. At the very least, he should learn who his savior is.

With another sideways look at Derek, this one less suspicious and more surprised, the boy purses his lips and tells him, “Dex. You can call me Dex, if we ever see each other again, I guess. But keep away from the woods, Nursey. I don’t trust your dumb ass not to lose a limb if you come trampling through here again.”

“Kay,” Derek agrees, glad he’s not making a promise because it’s likely one he would break.

He thanks Dex for rescuing him and starts jogging home. Halfway across the field, he turns to look back, but there’s no longer anyone standing among the trees.

[kayleepetey]

Hic Sunt Dracones: Chapter 2: Into the Breach

Hello, readers! I’m so sorry I’ve been so absent, real life has been a mad house. Work had me running around like crazy, then my mother and I had to move me, and I immediately thereafter started law school. I’m heading into finals, but with the bit of time off from Thanksgiving I was able to finally finish this chapter and I wanted to post it since it was supposed to be a birthday gift for @agentsassydirewolf way back in August, plus for a Thanksgiving gifty, and for Olicity Week. So, it’s long, but not a lot of action, sorry for that. But I hope it’s still good! Happy Thanksgiving! :-D

 To my dear dartie, Sassy, you are just the BEST and I’m sorry this took so long to finish!!!! ;-*

Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Constantine, or Flash, they are the property of CW, WB, DC, Berlanti, etc. No profit is being made off of the production of this work.

Fandom: Arrow, Constantine

Pairing: Oliver/Felicity, Olicity

Chapter Summary: You’d think that finding someone in their  own mind would be a piece of cake… Yeah, right.

 >>>------------>

 Into the Breach

 You’d think that finding someone in their  own mind would be a piece of cake…

 Yeah, right.

 Felicity and Constantine had been tromping through the jungles of faux-Lian Yu for what felt like hours—though according to the Dark Arts Master the passage of time is deceptive in the “mindscape”.  Also,  nothing  was where she remembered it to be from her two, admittedly brief, forays onto the island; she was so turned around and utterly confused.  Constantine had explained that in part it was Oliver’s mind protecting itself from invaders, by making the familiar landscapes more like a labyrinth so that the parts he wanted to keep safe were harder to find. Also in part it was simply that a person’s mind will place locations in positions that, while not geographically correct, made sense to them and connected in their mind, and that sizes and distances will be thrown off by the person’s perceptions of them.  The explanation rang bells, reminding Felicity of the episode of Fringe where they went into Olivia’s mind—the mirroring of the situation was not lost on her: Oliver. Olivia. She'd almost find it funny if she wasn't so damn terrified of losing Oliver to this...thing forever.

 The eerie silence around them, not a  single bird chirping, along with the shadowed and ominous forest was  truly disconcerting.  And while they did not see a  single  person, there was this eerie, undeniable feeling of being watched, as if eyes stared at them from every shadowed, veiled corner of the forest.  While this might be Oliver’s mind, it didn’t feel…right to Felicity, it didn’t truly  feel  like the man she loved, it was so blindingly obvious that something was  wrong.  Like Oliver was  here but something else had   infected  his mind, something  else had taken over, but the emerald archer was still trying to hold on. If only they could find  where  he was.

 "Everything looks the same.  I mean it all looked the same in real life, but now it looks even more...same...ish." Felicity spun as she walked—admittedly probably not the best idea, a point reinforced when she stumbled and nearly fell but managed to keep her feet—taking in their surroundings. "How are we supposed to find him? Especially  when everything looks the same?"

 "That's up to you, love."

 She rolled her eyes, glaring at Constantine's back. "You keep  saying  that. You're real specific on the how, but not so much on the how  to  do." Because Felicity had been looking down at that moment to watch her footing over a log she didn't realize Constantine had stopped, and she ran into his back, letting out a soft "oof."

 "Well, love, I think you've gotten it started at least." He was looking out ahead of them, somewhere she couldn't see from behind his back. "Unless you think  he's  really here for me?"

 Felicity leaned around him to see who he was referring to.

 Al Sah-him.

 Her breath caught in her chest. She could  feel the menace, evil, and utter cruelty rolling off of the tall, dark figure. Even though his hood was drawn up, the mask was on, and his eyes were completely obscured, Felicity  knew  he was looking  right at her.

 Fuck.

 >>>------------>

 Felicity wondered how she could begin to tire from running when she didn't have a body. How was that a thing?! She and Constantine were running as fast as they could through the foliage—praying she didn't step on an Oliver-mind-version of a landmine—persistently hunted by the shadowy figure just behind them, shooting black arrows and swiping his sword when he got close enough. She had  never  dreamed that Oliver's fighting skills would be turned on herself, certainly not in a mindscape.

 Finally they ran out of space to run, a sheer cliff rising up around them, caging them in.

 "Fuck!" Constantine slapped the rock of the cliff-face, as if looking for a way through—not unreasonable, Felicity would realize when she had time to think about it, when considering they were in a non-corporeal mindscape—to no avail.

 They both spun to face their advancing attacker.

 "Love, any sort of help you could get him to give us would be much appreciated." Constantine kept a weather eye on the dark figure while also trying to find something that could help them against him.

 "What the  hell  am  I  supposed to do?!" Felicity hissed, her back pressed against the rock alongside his; eyes never leaving the twisted, dark version of the love of her life.

 The dark arts "master" was digging around in his pockets. "You're  his fucking girl! Let him bloody well  know  you need his help!" He pulled out a lighter and a flask; he began pouring some of the alcohol over his hands.

 The tech-genius let her head momentarily fall back against the wall, eyes staring at the sky...which was the  exact blue of Oliver's eyes. She closed her eyes for a moment, holding onto that vibrant blue, drawing on the memory of Oliver gazing at her with such utter  breathless  adoration while he made love to her. Felicity clung to that image before opening her eyes and returning her gaze to the  creature  before them. Just as Al Sah-him raised his sword, angled to strike off her head, she took a deep breath, swearing  she could smell  Oliver, and slowly releasing it, breathing his name. "Oliver."

 The sword whooshed through the air towards her naked neck.

 The whistle was the only warning before a green arrow buried itself in Al Sah-him's sword-arm shoulder.

 Felicity whipped around, searching in the direction from which the arrow had come, she thought she might've seen a green hood ducking behind a rock, but she couldn't be sure.

 A hiss of pain escaped the figure and he drew back.

 "Nicely done, love," Constantine muttered to her as he flipped his lighter open.

 Felicity turned back, just in time to see Al Sah-him rip the arrow out of his shoulder and casually toss it aside. She backed up further against the rock face, eyes wide. “Yeah, it helped…for all of  ten  seconds.”

 “Ten seconds that we didn’t have before,” he countered easily. “Time enough for me to do  this.” Flicking the lighter on Constantine ignited the alcohol on his hands, drawing one hand back and then throwing  a  fucking  fire ball  at the dark figure.

 Al Sah-him ducked the ball, and rolled out of the way of the second one Constantine immediately threw, the minute pause between that and Brit’s next throw was just long enough for the assassin to draw back, aim and fire an arrow.

 It all happened so fast Felicity only had a heartbeat long enough to realize that the black projectile was aimed right at  her. She instinctively tried to step back, even though she was already pressed against the rock behind her—

 And fell  through the rock.

 “Oof!” The breath whooshed out of Felicity as she landed flat on her back…staring up at a pristine white ceiling, perfectly coifed with rich mahogany crown molding. Once she’d caught her breath she slowly sat up, looking around her at the antique wood paneled walls; her fingers sunk into the decadently thick, Oriental rug that ran as far as she could see down the eerily familiar hall.

 It was Queen Manor. Specifically the upstairs hallway in the “family wing”—how had her life come to where she was friends with people who lived in houses with  wings?!

 Felicity pushed herself to her feet, eyes scanning around her for any sign of Al Sah-him, but the dark-clad assassin was nowhere to be seen. In fact, for the first time since entering Oliver’s mind, it actually felt  wholly and entirely  like Oliver, as if the  taint  hadn’t reached this place.

 “Oliver?” she couldn’t help calling out; it felt like he was truly, literally surrounding her, like the rare occasions where he’d hugged her, when he’d held her on the zipline, clung to her as they swung across the elevator shaft, and the one time he’d carried her during Slade’s attack on Starling. There was no audible answer, but then Felicity felt something brush past her and she whipped around, calling his name again. “Oliver!” But no one was there, instead she was faced with one of the many dark wood doors that lined the hallway. Her brow furrowed slightly at the feeling that she was being urged toward that door; she clasped the handle.

 Before Felicity could open it the memory of Constantine popped into her mind—how had she forgotten about the man trying to help her save Oliver?!—she looked back around her, trying to find the snarky Brit, but there truly was no one else there. She bit her lip, torn; she was worried about Constantine, but the need to go in that room and look for Oliver was overwhelming.

 “Felicity…”

 Her head snapped back to the door, that was Oliver’s voice, she had  no  doubt, even though it was just a breath, like wind, she  knew that it was Oliver who had called to her. Felicity right then decided that since she had no idea how to find Constantine, but it felt like Oliver was  so  close, who better to find Constantine in Oliver’s mind than Oliver himself?

 Finally decided on her course of action—and perhaps ignoring a little voice in the back of her mind saying that her reasoning for wanting to find Oliver first was much less altruistic than she was making out—Felicity turned the doorknob and pushed it inward, cautiously peeking around the edge of the wood—this  was  Oliver’s mind and it had already proven to be a dangerous place.

 The room was  definitely  not one in Queen Manor, the building itself bordering on run-down, the room  far too shabby for a place Moira Queen would’ve ever stepped a toe into, much less ever had in her home.

 An Asian couple were off to one side of the room, the woman cooking—Tatsu, the name was whispered into her mind—while the man—Maseo—cleaned a gun. They were a striking couple and an abiding love and peace flowed between them—though Felicity swore she could feel a current of grief and guilt, not theirs but Oliver’s, flowing through the air—an aura Felicity longed to grow and share with Oliver. But what drew her attention was Oliver himself, sitting at a low table with a little boy—Akio, Maseo and Tatsu’s son, a fond affection threaded the thought of the boy, but was quickly chased by stabbing grief and guilt. She couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, just Oliver’s familiar rumbly tones, and the lighter, higher pitch of the pre-pubescent boy, but whatever the child said had his parents bursting into hearty laughter, and Oliver gaping at him before he did his familiar duck, grin, and huff-laugh, which caused Felicity to smile—God, she loved Oliver’s smile and laugh.

 Why couldn’t I save him?! Why did  he have to die?! Oliver’s tortured tone weaved through the air.

 There was a flicker to a different memory: a destroyed store, the bloody, mutilated body of a man in fatigues, Oliver sitting nearby, the hammer in his hand still dripping with blood. A woman, Tatsu’s, ghostly voice saying, “What he did was  monsterous.”

 How could I do  that  in your name, Akio?! Please, forgive me?!

 Felicity’s heart  shattered. “Oliver…”  Somehow she managed to choke out his name around the lump in her throat.

 The memory—because that’s what it was she realize—around her dimmed and faded until the only thing she could see was another door, drawn inexorably towards it. This time she was less wary moving through the door, somehow knowing, deep in her bones, that she would be safe, that this was the way to Oliver—though perhaps “the long way ‘round.”

 She pushed the door open.

 A fire crackled inside a cave, a hooded man crouched over a fire, roasting what looked like a bird of some sort on a spit. Oliver was bent over beside him, listening to the man—Yao Fei, deep respect and gratitude—speak in a mixture of English and Mandarin, harsh truths, words of survival. It wasn’t pretty, none of it, but it was real, it was his reality then, and they were lessons he needed to survive. A flash of Yao Fei in a uniform…abruptly shot through the middle of his forehead.

 Felicity’s surroundings morphed into another fire, this time under the cover of the wrecked plane in the jungle, the one she remembered dragging Oliver from over a year and a half ago. Comradery, hard-won through blood, fighting, sweat, hardship, and tears bound Oliver with the lovely Chinese woman—Shado, so  this  was the woman Oliver cared for and Slade was so obsessed with—and Slade—Google  the man looked  so  different smiling, laughing, sanity in his eyes, she could feel and truly understand the love Oliver held for the man, why he called him brother and it was so hard for him to even think  of killing him. Laughter, joy, a moment of relaxation, amidst the daily grind that was the battle for survival, a moment of  home  in hell. Shado’s grinning face flashed to a point of red blooming through her forehead before she fell over face-first. Slade’s laughing expression twisted into madness, a cruel sneer below his eyepatch.

 Tears pricked Felicity’s eyes as it all faded to black around her, Oliver’s pain aching in her chest alongside her own for the loss of these friends who were more like family to him.

 She moved, almost woodenly, to the new door, heart heavy in her chest.

 It was Verdant. Middle of the day, sun streaming in through the skylights to the dancefloor and bar, where Oliver stood…with Sara on the other side.

 The breath caught in her chest at the sight of her friend, bright, laughing, in her familiar position behind the bar, shaking up a cocktail, oh-so-very  alive.

 Oliver’s affection, and fond love for the blond former assassin joined Felicity’s own love for her, along with their shared ache over her loss.

 Tears welled in her eyes. “Please, Oliver. Please. I don’t want to see…” Her lower lip trembled, squeezing her eyes shut not wanting to watch what happened to her friend again.

 A breeze whirled past Felicity, what felt like fingers brushing her shoulder; lips across her forehead. Blue eyes snapped open. “Oliver.” She searched for him around her—the scene had faded to blackness again, without replaying any of Sara’s deaths before Felicity. There was no sign of Oliver, though Felicity could swear that she felt him even stronger than before.

 The breeze, smelling of the so familiar forest, leather, and rain, blew past her again, seeming to nudge Felicity into turning. She whirled around, blue orbs seeking out her love’s familiar form…instead finding herself back in the Queen Manor. Memory!Oliver was on the phone with someone—Samantha, the emotions attached to that name were complex and  heavily tinged with regret.

 “So… How are—” Oliver began, his memory-discomfort and nervousness twisting around them.

 “I  lost the  baby, Oliver.” A feminine voice—the woman on the phone—cut him off.

 Felicity gasped, hand clapping over her mouth. Oliver had a child, or nearly had a child apparently.

 Now came the greatest confusion of emotion yet, his emotions from the memory: relief, guilt, a pang of grief he tried to push away. And his emotions now: aching grief over the loss of his unborn child, guilt and self-loathing over the relief that his younger-self had felt. They mingled and melded in Felicity’s heart, blending with the pain she felt for his loss; she pressed her palm against her chest, trying to hold in the ache.

 The blond genius turned away from the scene, biting down on her lip so hard that were she in her real body she was certain she’d be tasting blood. These memories, these people she was seeing, they were the deepest parts of Oliver’s heart and soul, the people he cared for, the parts that made him the man he was, the man she loved. She felt like a voyeur into these intimate parts of him, seeing these  deeply personal things that the archer likely never shared with  anyone, but were now playing out before her like a movie.

 Part of Felicity felt like she shouldn’t open her eyes again, that she should find some other way to find Oliver, but she was unable to prevent her lids from lifting.

 She found herself surrounded by a half-finished Verdant, boxes of alcohol stacked behind the bar, scaffolding along three of the walls, half of the chairs and tables spread out. Oliver was seated in one of the lounge chairs haphazardly drawn up to a short table, in the other sat…Tommy Merlyn. Felicity swallowed thickly, already feeling Oliver’s deep love for his life-long brother-of-choice and the agony of losing him.

 Tommy raised a glass of what looked like Scotch, Oliver mirroring him, “To new adventures, with the best friend and brother a man could ask for.”

 Someone who did not know Oliver as well as Felicity did would have missed it, but there was the slightest pause before Oliver clicked his glass against the dark-haired man’s, and she could see the emotions that flashed through his eyes as well as feeling them. Anticipating the moment to come, the blonde took a deep breath, bracing herself, but was surprised when it wasn’t just one memory that passed.

 Tommy’s eyes burned into Oliver’s. “You’re a  murderer.”

 The light fading from the young man’s blue eyes as he died in Oliver’s arms amidst the utter destruction.

 Oliver weak, with barely any fight left in him, sprawled on the floor—his fight against Gold Felicity realized—Tommy knelt beside him. “You are a  hero.” The emotions that swelled at that, both his and hers, had tears slipping down her cheeks. Felicity couldn’t say if it was a hallucination or perhaps some kind of divine intervention, but either way it meant the world to Oliver and thus it meant as much to her.

 The tears blurred her vision and she swiped at them, blinking hard to clear it again.

 It was a sunny day, it looked like summer, she stood on a dock on a small lake next to a blond boy of maybe 12 years—Oliver, she realized—sitting beside his father, a younger Robert Queen she’s only seen in family photos. The pair smiling as father showed son how to properly bait a hook and cast a line, a rare, precious moment of father-son bonding with his work-obsessed father. It blurred into Robert picking Oliver up from the police station for the first time, the disappointment radiating from every line in the older man’s face. Memory!Oliver tried to pretend he did not to see it, shame and embarrassment colored his emotions now.

 The SCPD station faded into a sight that Felicity dreaded  much  more: a life raft out in the middle of the water.

 A much more haggard Robert lifted a revolver and shot another man on the far side of the boat, startling Oliver; he then turned to his son. “Survive.”

 “No!” Oliver screamed, as Robert put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.

 Felicity screamed with him, clenching her eyes shut.

 Silence.

 After long moments of nothing, slowly Felicity cracked her eyes open.

 Oliver, ragged from his years away, was hunched on a couch in Queen Manor, watching a tablet.

 Robert Queen smiled gently, encouragingly from the screen. “You can be better than I was. You can save this city.” Oliver’s heart was utterly shattered, and the self-doubt was nearly suffocating. “I love you.”

 A sob escaped Felicity, feeling Oliver’s pain as deeply as her own.

 She moved to comfort the past image of her love but it faded, replaced with a much younger Oliver, lying on the same couch, head in his mother’s lap, sobbing. Moira, always so stoic and unflinchingly confident before when Felicity had seen her, had red eyes, her makeup was streaked from tears, and sadness and pain furrowed her brow.

 “Why’d Mrs. Merlyn have to die, Mom?” Oliver—God his voice was  so young—managed between hiccupping whimpers.

 “I don’t know, my darling. Bad things happen sometimes, even to good people.” Moira’s voice quavered, grief apparent in every wobbling syllable. She tenderly ran her fingers through her son’s pale hair.

 “It’s not  fair!” Little Oliver wailed. “Tommy  needs  his mom!”

 She bent over and kissed his forehead. “But he will have us. It won’t be the same, but he’ll have us in whatever way he needs.”

 He sniffled, hugging his mother’s knees tighter. “Yeah… I’m glad you’re not dead, Mom.”

 They were suddenly in a hospital room, Oliver stood at a window looking out over the nighttime skyline of Starling City. His name, spoken so softly, each syllable wavering with barely restrained hope; Oliver’s heart jumped, breath catching in his chest, so happy…and so  very  afraid. Swallowing hard, slowly, oh-so-slowly he turned to face his mother to see the tears filling her eyes.

 “Hi, Mom.” How had he managed that around the boulder in his throat?

 “Oh, my beautiful boy!”

 He was surrounded in her softness, her familiar scent. Comfort.

 It changed again; Felicity sucked in a jagged breath as a dark night, a car wreck overtook it all. Slade towering behind a kneeling Thea and Moira, demanding Oliver make an  impossible  choice. Felicity clapped a hand over her mouth, hearing the torment in her love’s screams, feeling it like her own, as Moira stood up and told Slade to kill her, giving her own life for her children, so that her son would not have to make this choice he would have  never  been able to make. As Slade drove his sword through Moira, Felicity went to her knees beside Oliver’s bound form, reaching for him, her arms wrapped around his shoulders. She could not move him, he was bound to the events in the memory, so she moved instead, hugging him as tight as she could; whispering in his ear, “Your mother loved you, Oliver! She was proud of you! You  didn’t  fail her!”

 The scene flickered, the Oliver under her hands going between solid and not.

 “I  know, Oliver.”

 “The night of the Undertaking, everything became so clear.”

 Finally the Oliver in Felicity’s arms entirely disappeared, and the scene resolved itself into the backroom of Verdant. Moira was cupping her son’s face, tears shimmering in her eyes, but pride glowing from every line of her face. “…I could not be more proud.”

 Calm, peace…hope. A smile, the first in  so  long, creased Felicity’s face, happy tears welling in her eyes, that Oliver, who knew so little of those had this moment to hold onto.

 Once she’d managed to blink away the tears the memory had changed; she stood in the driveway of Queen Manor as Oliver strode out.

 “Oliver!” Moira darted over, reaching out to take his hand and lead him in the opposite direction, towards John. “I want to introduce you to someone: John Diggle…”

 Annoyance ran through the memory; Felicity couldn’t help grinning feeling it along with Now!Oliver’s amusement at his own reaction at the time, and the knowledge of what he and John would eventually be.

 Oliver and John stood across from each other in the driveway, sizing each other up. The world around them blurred so they were now standing in the Queen living room.

 “Diggle, I’m not looking for anybody to save me.”

 What is there left to save? The grim, resigned thought drifted through.

 Nothing anymore. Felicity gasped at the echo from Now!Oliver.

 “That’s  not true,” she protested to the disembodied voice; the only response was another flash of doubt, much to her frustration.

 Diggle shrugged. “Maybe not. But you need someone, just the same. You’re fighting a war, Queen. Except you have  no  idea what war does to you. How it scrapes off little pieces of your soul.”

 God, how right he was. John was always right. The blonde genius’ lips quirked at that; how very true it was.

 The former soldier stepped closer to Oliver. “And you need someone to remind you who you are, not this thing you’re becoming.” John held out his hand.

 The relief, and even a sliver of hope, flooded through Memory!Oliver as he took Diggle’s hand. The beginning of something so  very  important.

 A flash to them sitting down in the Arrow Cave, the pair toasting with Oliver’s vodka. Talking over chili cheese fries in Big Belly Burger. The pair hugging tightly in Lyla’s hospital room, celebrating Little Sara’s birth.

 It settled again on what looked like a dungeon, most likely in Nanda Parbat; both of them were chained to the floor.

 “How do you feel about being my best man?”

 Felicity choked on laughter.

 Oliver’s familiar half-smile crept across his face, trying to hide the swell of emotion inside him. “I feel pretty good.”

 The tech genius snorted with laughter, of  course  John asked Oliver to be his best man while they sat in a freaking  dungeon straight out of medieval times, when they believed they would be killed at any moment. She shook her head ruefully, only her boys.

 The amusement was gone in an instant  as the memory resolved itself into a frighteningly and excruciatingly painful scene: the trade-off of Lyla and Nyssa. Oliver, locked in Al Sah-him’s control, was focused on the fury, hurt, and,  most  painful, the betrayal in John’s eyes. Oliver’s regret and self-loathing was  breathtaking, literally, Felicity was struggling to catch her breath as it slammed her in the chest.

 “He’ll forgive you!” she called again in Oliver’s hypothetical direction. “John will understand! And so will Lyla!”

 Doubt permeated the air around her, thicker than pea soup—not that she actually knew how thick pea soup was, she’d never had any, sounded pretty gross to her, so she didn’t know how thick it really was, but that’s what people always said so…

 Felicity bit her lip, finally deciding to try something she really probably should have tried before. “Oliver, where are you?”

 A sound behind her had Felicity whipping around.

 Children laughing.

 The first floor of Queen Manor in the sunroom. The blonde again heard childish laughter pouring through the open French doors, following it out into the garden.

 Teenage Oliver, grinning broadly, was running over the lawn after a pair of curly brown pigtails in a pink sparkly dress. Thea. Tiny, maybe six-years-old Thea in a fairy dress.

 “Ollie! Ollie! Catch me!” She ran up the short wall, less than a foot off the ground, spun and flung herself at her brother.

 Oliver had to quickly hop forward, but he managed to catch her, sweeping her up, and swinging her around, to the little girl’s delight.

 Oliver’s joy and love swirled around them—oh, how Felicity would  love  to see him happy like this again!

 Thea wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a sweet, sloppy kiss on his cheek. “Love you, Ollie!”

 Another blur and they were in the main entrance of Queen Manor; Post-Island!Oliver was staring up one of the two main staircases, a soft gentle smile on his face.

 Thea appeared at the top and her expression lit up. “I knew it!” She was dashing down the stairs, nearly heedlessly. “I knew you weren’t dead!” The lanky teenager flung herself into Oliver’s arms, trusting that he’d catch her just as much as she had at six, and clung to him just as tightly. “I missed you  so  much!”

 Oliver’s heart squeezed, love and fondness, filling him; his baby sister, his Thea, she was so  very precious, and he would do  anything to keep her safe, to let her keep her bright, inner light.

 The siblings stood in the all-too-familiar hallway of Starling General, Thea’s arms cross and disappointment clear in her gaze upon her stoic brother. “Maybe you should spend a little less time trying to be a hero, you’re obviously not any good at it.”

 I really am not.

 “Oliver…” Felicity murmured, how she hated how he doubted and hated himself.

 “I love you.” Thea was slowly turning away from him and towards the hospital room door. “Mom loves you. But it’s getting hard when you won’t be truthful with us.” She shut the door firmly in Oliver’s face.

 “Thea  loves you, Oliver!” Felicity shouted in his ephemeral direction. “And she’s  proud  of you! Remember?” She spun in place, as if she could somehow finally find him somewhere around her. “Remember when you told her?”

 Everything rippled around her, reconsolidating into the Arrow Cave.

 Thea stared at the Arrow’s suit in its display case, shock and awe on her face. “You’re…you’re him. That was you. All those times I got so mad at you for being…a flake, or telling me something I  knew  that  had to be a lie.” A pang of regret and guilt shot through memory!Oliver. Thea whipped around to face him. “You were saving someone’s life.”

 Hands clasped white-knuckle behind his back, bracing himself, unsure exactly where this would go, but he gave a short nod.

 His baby sister stared up at him, tears gathering in her eyes. “Thank you,” she breathed out before she dove into his arms, hugging him as tight as her petite, but strong, body could.

 Shock ran through memory!Oliver, flaring over his features, he’d truly believed she wouldn’t accept him, that she would hate him.

 “You know how many times I’ve wished that I could thank the Arrow for things he’s done for this city?”

 Love, hope ran through now!Oliver, remembering his little sister’s unconditional acceptance and support. But then wrenching pain and grief ripped through him, as the hugging Queen siblings blurred into Oliver crouched on the floor of the loft, cradling Thea to him in a pool of her blood.

 Felicity clapped a hand over her mouth to smother her sob, eyes burning. She’d known what had happened, of course, but…seeing it…

 “She’s all right, Oliver! I swear  Thea is okay! After we got back she remembered everything and she loves you and misses you!”

 Al Sa-him stared up at a hooded Thea, bow and arrow aimed right at him. Now!Oliver—God, Felicity wasn’t sure if she should laugh or smack him—was shocked and unspeakably  proud  of his baby sister.

 The bespectacled blonde gave a choked laugh. “Yeah, apparently like brother like sister.”

 Concern wound around her as everything faded except for Thea, standing tall, strong, and proud.

 “She’s safe,” Felicity called out again. “I told her where Roy is and she left right after to go find him. She’s safe, Oliver.”

 Felicity could’ve  sworn she felt his hand cupping her cheek, it was such a  strong  feeling. “Oliver?” she breathed, eyes searching for him, as Thea finally faded as well. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a light brighten a spot, and turned. Another mahogany door; she could hardly breathe around the strength of the pull drawing her towards it and she didn’t even  try  to deny it.

 She grasped the brass handle and paused, heart racing, because even though she didn’t know what memory was beyond this door, somehow she just  knew  that this was it, that just past this last barrier was her Oliver.

 Taking a deep breath Felicity pushed the wooden slab open.

 >>>------------>

 So, sorry that we didn’t get any actual direct Olicity, but I felt the need to have this, where we see Felicity receive this insight with Oliver since she’s in his mind, and it helps build up to where we go from here. The next chapter, I promise we’ll see REAL Olicity and LOTS of fun with that! ;-) Thank you for reading! Happy Thanksgiving!

[next-lvl]

Majority of my followers know what Wakfu is, but not all know about the game: how many wounds it left in my heart, and everyone else’s. This post isn’t gonna be precisely explaining the wrongs that Wakfu did, I just wanted to mention that, in aftermath, it was a disaster of a game that left its most loyal players hurt, disappointed and immensely sad. I still keep meeting people who love this franchise, but can’t stand the game anymore since it’s.. Changed too much and didn’t stay enjoyable, to say mildly. I’m surrounded by, literally, traumatized veterans who look back at the good old days and shed tears. And I’ve been talking a lot about GW2 recently, not for no reason.

I want you to heal, just like I did. I mean.. I’m still hurt over Wakfu and I’ll stay this way forever, but I found a game where you can feel safe, loved, cared about. Devs in GW2 are humans who talk to us, who put smileys and memes in their posts, who hang out on reddit and ingame. This’s one of the major and striking differences between Wakfu and GW2. I’m still genuinely stunned by my own experience with customer support, I had a few troubles during my 1.5 years in GW2 and the response was not only fast and effective, it was HUMAN AND CUTE. I’m still not over it. Now that I’ve been invited to be a creative partner.. I’m still not over it too. They shower their regular players and content creators in gentle attention and kindness. I cry. During the 5+ years of being the most active and visible artist in Wakfu fandom, literally promoting it with thousands of drawings, I’ve never got a tiniest bit of official recognition. Not even a single placement on official media. When I took part in contests, I never won. Overall it’s been a one-way street. During my first 1.5 years in GW2, I’ve been noticed, picked up by the team, pampered and spoiled to the point of barely believing it’s true. That’s my personal experience, but it should indicate Anet’s general attitude towards the players. They. Do. Care.

I just wanna try and convince more ex-Wakfu players to give GW2 a shot. The two games are different in the visual and core gameplay aspects, yes, transitioning from an isometric 2D turn-based to a 3D, real-time game was somewhat harsh, but boy, how glad I am that I did it.

There’s EVEN MORE TEXT, brace yourselves. :D In GW2, I found everything that I wish was in Wakfu.

GW2 is a true sandbox. You log in, you do whatever the fuck you want. Level your first (second, 12th, 33rd, 68th) char? Grind mobs and dungeons? NO. Run around, look for events, explore, literally everything you do and everywhere you go, gives xp. You can level via crafting! Which, btw, is relevant throughout the entire game, unlike in Wakfu.

You do have dungeons of two kinds, and you CAN farm them if you want, but it’s your deliberate decision. There ARE farms in GW2, but they’re fun, if you’re not trying to get a legendary weapon in a month. I personally like running around with a bunch of random people who are there to FARM events in a specific map, but that happens once every two months.

Said legendary weapons ARE hard to get and yes, they can get you burnt out in no time if you don’t have a concept of a “long term goal”. Leggies are a prestige item, and, just like other prestige items (auras, specific minis, skins, etc), they’re meant to be your ultimate show-off item. People see you and know that you’ve been through.. A lot. BUT. Your hard-earned prestige item is to stay prestige. I assume you know relics in Wakfu? Then you must know what happened to them after a few years.

There’s no devaluing in GW2. Your trophies stay relevant and rare. Your prizes, your exclusive titles, skins, etc stay exclusive. You aren’t losing half of your wealth just because the devs decided to revamp ALL GEAR FOR THE THIRD TIME.

Speaking of the gear, the orange set you get at 80, is endgame gear. GW2 is 5 years old, so that orange gear is. People crafted it on the release and.. It stayed endgame. Yes, there’s also pink gear, which ~5% better than orange and is only needed if you do high lvl fractals or are min-maxing in raids. If you’re casual or just starting, you don’t even have to think about it. But once you craft your set, it stays relevant forever. People’s effort is never shoved up their asses.

There’s no constant carrot-on-a-stick gear upgrades. Level cap is 80 since release and will stay so. The game promotes safety and stability, that’s what attracted me. You take a 2 years break? No problem, you log in and go play. Nothing has lost its value, you don’t feel inferior, you don’t need to catch up to play with your friends.

Which reminded me: there’s a wonderfully done level downscale system. You’re a lvl 80 in a lvl 16 zone? Your stats are auto-adapted so the enemies you fought as a noob are still dangerous, and your reward (xp/gold/materials) is adapted to your true lvl. You go and play anywhere you want, and get fair rewards.

Crafting materials of all levels are also demanded and relevant. Oh yeah, you can run around for hours just gathering wood/ore, familiar to Wakfu players? It’s nice and relaxing until you meet another player. Well, in GW2 all gathering nodes are NOT shared. You see a tree? It’s your tree. That dude who runs up to it won’t steal it from you.

Oh also there’s no kill steal! Which is big, imo. You’re encouraged to play together, to help people kill stuff, to contribute to any event you see around, since everyone gets rewarded equally.

Legendary stability of GW2 servers. Lemme just say: there’s no weekly maintenance. There is. No. Downtime. Even on the big update days, you can download and play pretty safely. If there’s a hotfix, the game KINDLY WARNS YOU that you need to update and you have TWO FLIPPING HOURS to do so. Before you did that, you still can play, finish whatever you were up to.

Everything revolves around player’s happiness and convenience. There are constant quality-of-life updates. Your bags are full of crap? Here, salvage it into materials with two clicks, then deposit into your bank with two clicks (from anywhere in the world), then compact the rest of your shit. Yeah, with two clicks. x’D

There’s wonderful Fashion Wars. The game offers so much customization, and it’s taken so seriously, that it’s one of the endgame aspects. There’s 30000+ achievement points to earn, which are mostly fun and make you go out of your usual way. Dailies? You get 10 points and 2 gold for doing 3 easy tasks that take ~15 minutes.

There’s LORE. There’s fun little interactions all over the world. You just did an event? Stay here and listen, probably npcs will say/do something and start another event, logically following the previous one. The world lives and breathes. You can just walk around and observe. You’ll learn so much. And of course, there’s always a good cause to laugh. Dialogues/reactions are just hilarious sometimes.

Regarding the lore: there’s a so-called personal story which accompanies you up to lvl 80, then there’s “living world”, smaller events and single maps being rolled out every once in a while - so far there’s 2 seasons available, and 1 being “historical”, not playable anymore. In that season, they fucking crushed the main capital city. It changed forever. It was an epic event, which I missed, but watched people’s videos later. Then season 2, then HoT, then season 3, and now we’re waiting for PoF, second expansion. The updates have picked a nice pace and are frequent now.

There’s just so much to do. Just go, dive into the world and drown forever. :3c And meet me on the bottom. x’DD

GW2 feels different from Wakfu, but I found similarities for myself. It’s a sandbox after all, and later endgame has a lot of strategy. GW2 is never tank-and-spank. You just, literally, can’t facetank shit here. You gotta use your skills wisely, time your dodges, play with traits/passives until it all flows together. You’ve got a HUGE BUILD FREEDOM. There’s 9 classes, each having at least 3 defined roles, with more variations. You don’t just go ranger (oh archer it’s like a cra rite??) and do pew pew from max distance. Well, yes, you have a bow and can pew pew.. Or you can be a melee fighter, you can be a full blown healer/support.. As a ranger, yes.

I’ll be wrapping up now, I swear. GW2 is true f2p. Which of course does have a few restrictions (can’t trade or use map-chat), but you can get to 80, gear up and explore to your heart’s content before you decide to pay. I personally played for 5 months, every day, before I bought HoT.

Why’d you buy an expansion? More story, more maps, new class traits, gliding in HoT and mounts in PoF. The expansion and living world content has been constantly improving, visually, mechanically and lore/writing-wise.

Other than that, there’s a gemstore offering cosmetic and convenience items (gems can be bought for cash OR ingame gold). There are infamous rng boxes, but none of those are p2w. GW2 is oriented at the western consumer, which means, yeah, they know that we hate p2w and they’ll never do that to us.

*breathes out* I had to get that off my chest. I wanna talk about GW2 forever, but it’s exhausting to do one-on-one. :P Hopefully someone’s still reading this!

Now lemme remind you that now I have those partner links, if you use this to create a new account and play for free (for an hour or two months? w/e), or this to buy an expansion, I’ll get paid a bit. Not much, but it definitely helps!

And I was gonna write this wall of text regardlessly of the partnership one day, now I just have more incentive. x’DD Plus, we’re gonna have a beta weekend on 11-13 august, where you can preview the second expansion for free! It’s a perfect timing to write this post and try convincing you. You’ll just need a f2p account, and you’ll be given a lvl 80 boost and whatnot for that beta weekend. I’m not sure yet, but I assume you WILL. Just please register using my link above, so that I get paid for the two hours I spent on this post. :D

[nicosbitch-blog]

Best games as of September 2017

When it pertains to racing games without an up-front price tag, Gameloft has actual winenrs with Asphalt Xtreme as well as Asphalt 8: Airborne. The former is an offroad design racer with a selection of tracks, on the internet multiplayer, and also different vehicles that you can unlock. Asphalt 8: Airborne is an older video game, but has a metric lots of material for you to play through. It additionally has on the internet multiplayer and also various other activities to play. These are both really solid auto racing video games considering their cost-free cost, yet their in-app acquisition strategy is a little hostile. They're great experiences. They're both exceptional complimentary Android games.

Essential Ops is amongst the more recent generation of first individual shooters and also it is just one of the best. In this title, you'll battle terrorists in a range of urban-oriented levels or you can play as the terrorists if you want to. It has a solid online multiplayer community where you can play with your buddies too. It's still an operate in progress, yet it appears to hit all the right marks and also it's updated often. If you 'd like a very first individual shooter that's entirely complimentary, NOVA 3: Flexibility Version is rather great also. They're both cost-free Android games worth looking into.

Clash Royale is the latest video game out of Supercell. They also made Clash of Clans, a former entrant on this listing. In Clash Royale, you'll collect cards, build decks, then contest in individually battles with on-line challengers. You'll gain prizes when you win. In a similar way, you'll lose trophies when you shed. You'll additionally reach form clans to share cards, difficulty clanmates to fight, and also you'll have a variety of chances to open new cards. It's a solid card video game and a great different if you simply cannot get involved in Hearthstone. If Clash Royale simply isn't your point, Supercell likewise makes the very preferred Boom Beach as well as Clash of Clans games. Either of those are good enough to earn this listing also.

It's risk-free to state that Cut the Rope has actually overshadowed Angry Birds as the essential time throwing away problem video game on mobile in the meantime. The collection has actually progressed in a positive fashion as well as Cut the Rope: Magic is the current model. The core auto mechanics include you addressing challenges in unique methods to help Om Nom the monster eat the sweet. There are a ton of degrees, power ups, transformations, and also tactics that will certainly be called for and you can finish each degree without the use of in-app acquisitions. It will certainly just take some time due to the fact that this game does rely upon a power system.

Results Shelter made huge waves in 2015 as well as was just one of the best totally free Android video games released that year. In After effects Shelter, you need to build a sanctuary, take in survivors (called Dwellers), and create a flourishing environment. You'll have obstacles such as fires, raids by AI bad guys, and so on however otherwise it's a very typical builder simulation video game. The in-app acquisitions take virtually an outright rear seat in this title and also the developers have actually been good (up until now) on launching new and also updated web content.

Final Dream Brave Exvius is possibly the very best Last Fantasy-themed freemium video game around. It includes lots of elements from the original games, including real town as well as dungeon expeditions, concealed treasures, secret dungeons, and lots of lore. The game play is easy to discover yet you'll need to assume seriously in order to beat employers and also tough opponents. You're often compensated for visiting everyday as well as extra objectives, pursuits, and also activities assists keep the video game fresh. This is about like it gets for freemium titles. If this set isn't really doing it for you, however you love Final Dream, you can also experiment with Mobius Final Dream and Last Dream Record Caretaker which are both pretty good free Android video games.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a card dueling video game where you open cards, develop decks, and after that duel other players making use of the deck you developed. You can build several decks and Blizzard has been respectable with putting out regular updates to add more cards and content. You can likewise log right into your account on mobile or on PC which is an actually great touch. If you don't intend to deal with real players in real-time PvP combat, you can constantly oppress on some crawlers for method. It's free to play makings it very easy and also obtainable for every person to experiment with. It's certainly one of the most effective cost-free Android games out there.

NOVA was just one of the initial effective initial individual shooters on Android. NOVA Tradition is the current installment as well as it's already one of the best free Android video games. It comes pack with far better compared to typical graphics as well as controls. There is additionally a story line, online multiplayer setting, and a basic crafting system. The game has a sc-fi plot. Therefore it brings something a little different compared to the majority of mobile shooters. It'll no question be among the very best games released in 2017.

Pokemon Go was the most significant mobile game of 2016. In fact, it was the largest ever before. Despite the fact that its popularity has actually tapered off a bit, the video game is still a really strong free alternative. Players can check out the real life around them all while capturing Pokemon, taking down gyms, and also discovering Pokestops. New enhancements consist of legendary Pokemon, raid battles, and a lot more. The video game continuouslies progress beyond just what numerous remember it to be. It is among the great free Android video games.

Smash Hit and also PinOut are 2 of the most strong limitless runners out there and they're from the very same programmer. Smash Hit gives you a very first individual perspective as you throw steel spheres at glass panels to stay clear of certain death. It's tranquil, enjoyable, as well as it looks great. PinOut is an infinite pinball game where you should introduce the sphere with various levels and also barriers for life. Both free Android video games look wonderful, play well, and have special mechanics for this category. Both titles have an optional pro variation that unlocks checkpoints so you could continue from a conserved game. Or else, there are no ads, no in-app acquisitions, as well as absolutely nothing getting in between you as well as the game.

Sky Force Reloaded is the most up to date in the Sky Force franchise business (which are all respectable free Android video games). Like its precursors, Sky Pressure Reloaded is a top-down, scrolling shooter where you fly an airplane and your goal is to beat crooks, stay clear of bullets, as well as perform all type of numerous pursuits. It's an ode to the traditional top-down shooters. Regardless of its extremely improved graphics, the video game stays real to those old shooters. The difference being that this one has better graphics. It's a good overall experience similar to the previous models were.

[shanhaisy-blog]

A Brief Introduction of China's Most Popular Online Shopping Platforms.

Recent years, more and more people come to China for travel, work, study or even settlement. Most of them seem to be attracted by the "mysterious oriental power" at the very beginning. Everyone knows that China, as the first or second largest economic power in the world, has not only made great plans for its development, but also established perfect infrastructure, especially the e-Commerce system and mobile payments, which have won countless great admiration from foreign friends.

Now let's take a look at China's e-commerce platforms.

Taobao(taobao.com)

Taobao is a large online retail and business district in the Asia-Pacific region. It was founded by Alibaba Group in May 2003. It has become one of the largest e-commerce trading platforms all over the world.

You can find almost anything you want here.

JD(JD.com)

JD.com is a self-operated B2C shopping website in China. Founder Liu Qiangdong is the CEO of Jingdong Group. Jingdong's logistics is quite developed and rapid. It basically arrives on the same day or arrives every other day, without waiting for a long time, which greatly satisfies the psychological needs of consumers.

Tmall(Tmall.com)

Tmall belongs to the B2C model, integrating thousands of brands and manufacturers, providing one-stop solutions between merchants and consumers, 7 days of unrequited after-sales service, and shopping rewards.

1688(1688.com)

1688 is now the flagship business of Ali Group and is China's leading small-scale domestic trade e-commerce platform.

1688 takes the wholesale and procurement business as the core, through professional operation, perfects the customer experience, and comprehensively optimizes the business model of enterprise e-commerce.

Dangdang(dangdang.com)

Dangdang is a well-known comprehensive online shopping mall. Dangdang has expanded from early online selling to online sales of various categories of department stores, including books, audio, beauty, home, mother and child, clothing and 3C digital and other dozens of categories, millions of goods. The cash on delivery (COD) covers 2,700 districts and counties across the country.

These are China's famous E-commerce platforms, you can make purchases based on what you need exactly.

Maybe in the process of shopping, you will encounter various problems. For example, language problem, you cannot understand the website as it is in Chinese version, how to register, how to pay, whether it will reveal personal privacy and so on. And also, it only accept Chinese payment methods. If you do not have a Chinese bank account, it would be hard to pay.

Don't worry, vpayfast can help with all these problems. You simply need to place an order on vpayfast, then we will help you complete your purchase.

1. Open our website: vpayfast.com

2. Choose Purchasing & Paying Service – E-commerce Platforms

3. Select the platform that you need us to pay, enter the paying amount and product link.

4. Choose Visa or Mastercard or other local payment methods to finish your payment.

5. Vpayfast finish the payment for you.

If you can read Chinese, you can follow the steps here:

A. Log in your account on these E-commerce platforms

B. Add your item to shopping cart

C. Choose "others pay for me"(which is "找人代付" in Chinese)

D. Enter our Alipay account and click "请他付款" (please contact us for our Alipay account).

E. Send the request and we will pay for you.

On some platforms you can get a QR code, you can send it to us via wechat or live-chat room. We can help to scan and pay for you.

If you can not read Chinese, we will login to your account to finish the payment for you.

Simply start your online shopping journey now!

For any other problem, please feel free to contact our online customer service.

[kingexplosionfucker]

Stressed and Confused

Yay! These ones have fun titles now because I used to actually title my journal entries. This one is really important. I go back and think about it a lot.

                               Tuesday, November 14, 2017

                                               3:25 am

                                   Stressed and Confused

So, I haven’t kept one of these things in a while. I guess I’ll just dive right in. As you can probably tell by the time stamp, I can’t sleep. I woke up at midnight to get a glass of water, and then I got distracted by fanfiction. I tried to go back to sleep. I really did. It just didn’t turn out all that well, apparently. I found this old thing at the bottom of my closet and I decided to start up a journal again so I can remember my old high school memories and stuff. Because only I get inspired to write a journal at 3 in the fucking morning.

Well, at least the first entry will be relatively interesting, considering one of my best friends, MM just came out to us as bi today. (I guess it’s yesterday now.) Anyway, she told me in, like, September so it wasn’t a surprise to me or anything. It was cool to see how positive everyone was about it. I mean, MP did make a joke about “tasting the rainbow”, but it was kinda hilarious. It was pretty funny, honestly. MM sent a text to the Sassy Six group chat Sunday night (which I didn’t see until Monday morning considering I was grounded all of last weekend because I didn’t log into the fucking Family Wizard app.) Anyway, basically the text said that she had something she had to tell us for a while now, but she kept on losing her nerve. I knew immediately what she was going to tell us, considering I already knew. (O already knew, too, considering we were all in GSA together. O’s pan, by the way. I just learned that yesterday, actually. I mean, I knew she wasn’t straight, but I didn’t know if she was gay or bi or anything.) 

Damn, I need to work on going off on these tangents. Anyway, MM said she wanted to tell us during Timber Time so that we’d all be there, Well, she had to tell E after everyone else because E was kinda late to Timber Time because she had to finish up typing a paper for English that she procrastinated on. Like I said before, everyone had a super good reaction and everything. (Super good? Seriously?) Which is good for me when I eventually come out. Which will be a while, considering I’m still confused as hell about my feelings. I mean, I know everyone will accept me and everything. That’s not what I’m worried about.

I just…I don’t know. I guess I just don’t want to say anything until I know for certain who I am. Is that bad? I mean, MM came out to me while she was still sorta figuring herself out, so I guess I could talk to her about it. I mean, she DID wait to tell the whole group until after she figured out she was bi, so I guess I could do that. But I don’t know. I mean, I don’t want to tell her I’ve been struggling with my sexual orientation so soon after she came out, you know? I mean, I don’t know if it would be rude or not. Would it? I mean, I guess not. I mean, it sounds kinda dumb now that I put it on paper. I mean, I guess I should give her time to, like, I don’t know, adjust and stuff before I spring my confusion onto her. Yeah. It feels so much better to write this stuff down and get it out of my head. I mean, there’s only one person I can actually talk to about this stuff, and that’s H. She’s gay and she goes to my church. I go to her for advice on this sorta thing, although I haven’t talked to her recently. I should probably talk to her.

On a completely unrelated note, I highly regret procrastinating on all my yearbook interviews because all pages FINALIZED are due tomorrow! Seriously, you have no fucking idea how fucking stressed I am about it. I haven’t even finished my interviews for the page, let alone the STORY! I just can’t handle all this stress, you know? 

Not to mention my grades. Oh boy, don’t even get me started on those. I have a D in Geometry. Honors fucking Geometry. I got a D on two math tests in a row, not to mention flunking the majority of my quizzes. I got a B on my first test, which is honestly probably the only thing keeping my grade from plummeting to an F. I retook my second math test, though, which I feel I did pretty well on, so hopefully that’ll raise my grade. Fingers crossed. My parents are looking into getting me a math tutor. Normally, I’d be mad at them, but I probably need it. MZ has been helping me a ton, but I probably need more help than she can give me. 

AP Euro is my second lowest grade at an 84. AP Euro is so fucking hard. All the tests I’ve been getting C’s on. My friends, too. And Anatomy and Spanish are both around the 87-88 range. Spanish, it’s because I’m not getting enough speaking points anymore, which I really need to work on. In Anatomy, it’s because I missed one assignment when I went on my yearbook trip to Topeka, and it dropped my grade 3% and I can’t seem to get it back up. That’s the main reason my dad wouldn’t let me go on the yearbook trip to Dallas on Wednesday. I was super fucking pissed at first, but I understand now.

By the way, finals are coming up!!! The whole weight of it hasn’t fully sunken in yet, but when it does, I’m going to freak the fuck out. I mean, I don’t even know if the final could bring my grade up to an A, and if it could, I’d have to get a perfect fucking score and we all know that is actually impossible. Math is just a lost cause at this point. I’d be pretty damn lucky if I could get a B. I’m starting to get pretty tired, so I guess I’m done for tonight. It’s 4:15 am, so I can get about an hour of sleep in before I have to wake up for school, so wish my tired ass luck for school today! I’m going to need it, believe me. That and a shit ton of coffee. Anyway, I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

                                                1:36 pm

                                                  Mean

Why am I so mean? I act so selfish, like I don’t care about anyone but myself. But I do care. I care so fucking much. I just can’t express it for some reason. I’m surprise my friends don’t all hate me for being so goddamn miserable, selfish, arrogant and mean all the fucking time. I think they’re starting to get annoyed with me at least. I. Need. To. Stop. How can I be nicer to the people I love? All I do is complain to them. I’m never positive at all. I tell them I hate them and to fight me all the time. I’m really fucking rude to them. I don’t want to be. Please help. Also, I’m home from school because my fucking period cramps suck ass. Yeah, I went home during 5th hour.

2020 Edit: Wow, okay. Past me is lying to herself again. I knew full good and well that I was bi as hell back then. Again, knew I liked girls since I was 16. I didn’t really call myself bi until I was in 8th grade (or maybe 9th grade? Honestly I don't really remember). The real reason I didn't want to come out then is because I had a crush on one of my friends and I didn’t want them to think I had a crush on her. (No, not MM. That’s later.) 

[thomasricha]

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300+ MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES TO REACH YOUR POTENTIAL EACH DAY

ARTICLE by Nicole Martins Ferreira2 Apr, 2021

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POST CONTENTS

1What Is Motivation?

2How to Motivate Yourself: 3 Simple Tricks

1. Create a Positive Environment

2. Celebrate Your Small Wins

3. Surround Yourself With Motivated People

3300+ Motivational Quotes To Reach Your Potential in 2021

Motivational Quotes for Entrepreneurs

Motivational Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

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4Conclusion

5Want to Learn More?

Motivational quotes can help you reach your potential each day. Sure, they’re just words. But they’re positive words. And if you’re on the verge of giving up or struggling to push yourself to the next level, sometimes that’s just what you need. 

So whether you’re trying to finish a project, start a new side hustle, or hit that big life goal, knowing how to motivate yourself and train your brain for success can help. 

Let’sSo, let’s dive into what is motivation, how to motivate yourself, and the motivational quotes of the day that’ll get you back on track. These motivational quotes will give you the jumpstart your day needs, so don’t forget to bookmark this page. 



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What Is Motivation?

Motivation is your desire to do something with your personal life, at work, in school, in sports, or in any hobbies. Having the motivation to do something can help you achieve your big goals and dreams, whatever they may be.

Knowing how to motivate yourself can help you accomplish anything you set your mind to, so let’s get to that next.

How to Motivate Yourself: 3 Simple Tricks

1. Create a Positive Environment

Music can be as powerful a motivator as motivational quotes. 

Each morning when you wake up, play a few pump up songs before you start your day to get you going. You can listen to productivity music on Spotify to help you get going. By getting your mind in the right mindset, you can inch closer to motivating yourself. 

When I want to get in the zone, I listen to “Time” by Hans Zimmer, which has no lyrics but has an intensity which helps me focus. If I’m feeling like I’m in a rut, motivational songs like “You’re a Superstar” by Love Inc. picks me up.

2. Celebrate Your Small Wins

When you think of your BIG goal, sometimes you start feeling overwhelmed. Why? Because big goals don’t get achieved right away. Instead, you need to create mini goals to help excite you along the way. This way you can be more goal-orientated and build a habit of being more effective. 

Celebrating your small wins will help you stay motivated through your journey. Plus, celebrating is always super fun. Maybe you break your goal down to 10 small-sized goals with tasks that get you on track to achieve them.

For each of the 10 goals you can add a small celebration. Maybe a glass of champagne for one or a dessert with a sparkler on top for another. Don’t forget to check out some of our motivational quotes about success in a later section. 

3. Surround Yourself With Motivated People

This goes back to the positive environment point: You need to be around others who are just as ambitious as you. American entrepreneur John Rohn once said, “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with it.” And whether or not that’s true is debatable, the reality is being around the right kind of people can only help you grow. 

If you’re surrounded by those who love your ambition, you’ll be more ambitious and achieve more. If you’re surrounded by loved ones who tell you your goals are stupid and tell you to change them, you need to avoid them.

 Be around those who help you feel comfortable being the ambitious, go-getter you are, so you can become the successful person you’re meant to be.

300+ Motivational Quotes To Reach Your Potential in 2021

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Motivational Quotes for Entrepreneurs

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” – Mary Kay Ash

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb

“Only the paranoid survive.” – Andy Grove

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth

“I wake up every morning and think to myself, ‘how far can I push this company in the next 24 hours.’” – Leah Busque

“If people are doubting how far you can go, go so far that you can’t hear them anymore.” – Michele Ruiz

“We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” – Arianna Huffington

“Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.” – Joss Whedon



Motivational Quote of the Day

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, love like you’ll never be hurt, sing like there’s nobody listening, and live like it’s heaven on earth.” ― William W. Purkey

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”― Neil Gaiman

“Everything you can imagine is real.”― Pablo Picasso

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” ― Helen Keller

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”― Eleanor Roosevelt

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”― Lewis Carroll

“Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have all the answers.” – Socrates

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.”― Eleanor Roosevelt

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” ― Dalai Lama XIV

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” ― Abraham Lincoln

“The same boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It’s what you’re made of. Not the circumstances.” – Unknown

“If we have the attitude that it’s going to be a great day it usually is.” – Catherine Pulsifier

“You can either experience the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The choice is yours.”  – Unknown

“Impossible is just an opinion.” – Paulo Coelho

“Your passion is waiting for your courage to catch up.” – Isabelle Lafleche

“Magic is believing in yourself. If you can make that happen, you can make anything happen.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“If something is important enough, even if the odds are stacked against you, you should still do it.” – Elon Musk

“Hold the vision, trust the process.” – Unknown

“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller

“People who wonder if the glass is half empty or full miss the point. The glass is refillable.” – Unknown

[cuisinedupark]

Trying out a Paleo Diet

I am going to post something unique this time with my diet which I’ve never heard of or tried before.

A Paleo Diet!! Some of you may or may not be familiar with it.

Anyway, a paleo diet(or paleolithic diet) is designed to resemble what human hunter-gatherer ancestors ate thousands of years ago.(Healthline.com)

You can only eat food that our ancestors used to eat before the farming era had begun.

There are several studies that says this diet can help you lose a significant amount of weight and a good way to stay healthy.

However, my biggest reason to start this one was that it looked relatively easy for me to tolerate this diet scheme. (I am not a big fan of dieting although I may need one right now…)

I actually did try my best to follow the rule and let’s see how it went!!

[Had to shop for Paleo menus]

What are the examples of typical daily menus? 

Surprisingly enough, even under the same name of “paleo diet”, there were some varieties amongst the websites and organizations. I think that difference comes from the point of view of write, for instance could pre-historic mankind had a chance to eat legumes or not? Maybe some of them had and the others might not have had a chance to.

After looking over a number of websites, I had picked Healthline(https://www.healthline.com/) to follow the guidelines because the website seemed to be more focused on heath perspective and it is run by medical teams.

Based on Healthline’s recommendations, here is the list of what I should and should not eat.(https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/paleo-diet-meal-plan-and-menu)

The most difficult challenge or I could say a disaster for me was not being able to have any rice, bread or any soft drinks. Again, I really tried hard to go through and let’s see how I had survived through such a tragedy! 😊

Provide one recipe that you have created (using standard recipe format) that utilizes the concepts discussed

Around the end of the week trying out the paleo diet, since I did not get much chance to have any flour or rice based carbohydrates, I felt like I needed to fulfill my body with something. Carbo in potatoes was not much of help although my wife who grew up in Germany seemed to have no problem at all with potatoes!!

 I really needed a hot pot that would refresh me and it still had to be in the line with paleo diet. Then I came up with “Jun-Bok-Sam-Gye-Tang” or “Ginseng Chicken Soup with Abalones” in English. Ginseng and abalone(Jun-bok in Korean) are two major ingredients used in traditional Korean recipes when there’s a need to heal or refresh someone.

Then again, it struck me hard that I had to have some type of allergies to complete my assignments. Abalone would be one of the main ingredients in the soup and also one of my favourites but I decided to have(?) a crustacean allergy for the day and had to avoid it.

Here is a hot pot which is very paleo recipe with the chickens!!

Korean Style Chicken Soup Ingredients(1-2 servings)

- 1 whole chicken(I had to buy separated parts due to corona virus over buying. No whole chickens could be found anywhere. I used 2 breasts and 2 legs with back attached) - Milk vetch root(황기) 25 g - Senticosus(오가피) 10 g - Kalopanax tree(엄나무) 20 g - Oriental Raisin Tree(헛개나무) 20 g - Dried Dates(말린대추) 5 g - Mulberry Tree(상지) 10 g - 1 Head of Garlic(approximately 10~12 cloves) - 3 litres of Cold Water - 1 sprig of Ginseng.(Not added here because wild ginseng is very rare and most of them are farm grown) - 1 abalone(Not added here because of crustacean allergy)

Instruments

- Chef knife / butchering knife - Cutting board - Heavy bottomed pot - Metal bowl

Mis en Place

Recipe

1. Wash and clean your chicken. Leave the skin on for a thicker aroma of the soup. 2. Prepare a heavy bottomed pot with 3 litres of cold water. 3. Put all the tree branches and herbs in and bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes covered with a lid.

4. After 30 min, the stock will look yellowish and it’s time to put the chicken and garlic in.

5. Keep simmering for another 45 minutes with the lid on. 6. Skim the oil from time to time and take out the chicken and strain the soup out with a strainer or simply take out the ingredients from the pot.

7. Season the stock with salt and black pepper. 8. Serve chicken with the soup.

I had to cook for the kids that day so I just took out the chicken and cut them into small pieces so they could pick up and eat them with only a bit of soup under the meat. I had saved the soup to make a porridge for the kids and did not use it that day(and also forgot to take a photo later on...sigh...). 

Furthermore, because of my crustacean allergy, I could not add abalone to it!! Then again, I might be able to use beef “knee knuckle” instead of abalone to add more flavour to the soup. I may try to make it when this corona crisis is over.

Anyway, the original soup using a whole chicken should look like this(without abalone).

[Photo from the website of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea]

It may be hard to say I had created everything because Korean people are very familiar with this type of dishes. 

A website run by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea introduces an original recipe of chicken soup which contains ginseng, sweet rice, milk vetch root, dried dates, green onions and garlic.(http://www.kocis.go.kr/koreanet/view.do?seq=6117&page=2&pageSize=10&photoPageSize=6&totalCount=0&searchType=&searchText=%EC%82%BC%EA%B3%84%ED%83%95&RN=12&cateCode=) 

I had tried to stick to the concept of paleo diet so I used all kinds of trees and herbs which are often used in traditional Korean dishes. Due to those branches and herbs, it gives more woody and herbal aroma than original chicken soup.

Keep a 7 day log of your eating habits based on your diet choice.

It was not easy but I tried very hard to stick to this paleo diet. I did fail to meet the guidelines once or twice but I would like to say that I did complete the task!!

Let’s take a look at what I had eaten during the week.

Day 1.  B. Sweet Potato, Pear, Apple, Banana, 1 cup of Almond Milk L. Steamed Chicken Legs, Kimchi D. Chicken Salad

Day 2. B. Sweet Potato, Boiled Egg, Apple, 1 cup of Almond Milk L. Santa Fe Power Bowl from school.(FAILED - so many wheat) D. Salmon, Trout steak cooked at school.(without beans) 

Day 3. B. Sweet Potato, Apple, Banana, 1 cup of Almond Milk L. Mashed potato, Small Salad, Leftover beef and chicken. D. Grilled pork belly, Leftover salmon and trout steaks, Seaweed soup

Day 4. B. Tomato, Banana, Boiled egg, Mango, Pear, Kimchi soup L. Steamed Kimchi with pork D. Grilled pork shoulder, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cabbage

Day 5. B. Apple, Tomato, Banana, Boiled egg, Honey L. Spicy pork grill, Cucumber, Cabbage D. Egg fries, Kimchi soup

Day 6. B. Sweet potato, Apple, Banana, Boiled egg, 1 cup of almond milk L. Leftover pork, Pan fried potato, Tomato stew D. Chicken supreme with mashed potato/spinach

Day 7. B. Sweet potato, Apple, Banan, 1 cup of almond milk L. Korean Style Chicken Soup(Sam-gye-tang without much of broth) D. Roasted Potatoes.

IT’S FINISHED!!!!! YAY!!!

My experience review at the end of the week.

After 1 week of paleo diet, my first thought was “It’s finally over!!”.

It did not seem to be too hard when I thought about it, but changing eating behaviour suddenly seemed to be much harder task than I thought.

You could still eat meat, vegetables and fruits.

However, not being able to have any type of wheat, rice, noodles or breads made me very uncomfortable during the meal. The thought of “Just one bite of a bread” or “Just one spoon of steamed rice” made me more difficult to overcome the desire.

I was not surprised to find out that I had not lost 1 kg of my weight because I had to eat more to than the usual meal because I wanted starch so bad.

However, surprisingly enough, not drinking any soft drinks or processed sweets made me feel very light and comfortable in a way.

What I am thinking is that I may try to stick to paleo diet but would allow myself just a bit of carbohydrates or sweets - maybe once a week or so.

Some advice or ideas that would allow myself to maintain my dietary choice and be a chef.

Like I said earlier, I believe keeping up the pace seems to be the most important rule in a diet. By the end of the week, my thirst for a coke and rice/bread had exceeded the limit I could bear and it felt like I could never do it again.

Then again, after a couple of days later, I could feel a bit of difference in my physical condition. It was not dramatically huge because I’d only done it for a week but I could sense that my condition had been better while doing the diet.

So, I came to conclusion that I should think of keeping this diet under a couple of conditions, minimizing

1. consumption of rice or flour - approximately 1/2~1/4 of what I used to consume. 2. soft beverages - only available on weekends.

As a chef, I would change some of the recipes I already have to use less of flour or wheat.

Example 1. Dried Pasta - Decrease the amount of dried pasta to 40 g per portion from 80 g and serve more fruits for desserts. - Or could use zucchini/squash noodles instead of flour based pasta noodles.

Example 2. Steamed Rice - On average, 1 bowl of steamed rice in Korea weighs about 200 g  - I would serve only 100 g of steamed rice - Steamed or fried seeds may be a good substitute for the other 100 g

Would I continue with my choice?

Absolutely!

I am thinking of my revised version of paleo diet when market supply comes back to normal. Just as much as I care about my health, I am a type of person who wants a good, delicious meal and not just healthy meal.

Now, would you like to join me?

[greatindoordesignsblog-blog]

Structural Insulated Panels Help Contractors Meet Challenges of Difficult Building Environments

.Most construction professionals are familiar with the "Project Management Triangle," a concept that ties cost, schedule, scope and quality together. Impact any of these project elements, and you impact the others. Academics frequently present the triangle as an inflexible set of constraints. Nonsense.

Under any given construction practices, the Project Management Triangle may apply, but it is not absolute. visit here throughout history have regularly developed or implemented better, faster and more cost effective building methods.

Today, the commercial construction industry faces numerous competing, and often conflicting, priorities - from tighter budgets to building greener, while still needing to retain high quality. This environment requires a careful look at more advanced building techniques.

One such method is structural insulated panels (SIPs). The panels provide many benefits compared to other light commercial construction such as stick-built framing, concrete masonry units (CMUs), and tilt-up concrete. These include faster close-in times, high strength, and several important green building attributes.

Building with SIPs

SIPs are pre-manufactured wall, roof or floor components delivered to the jobsite ready to install in sections up to 8 feet by 24 feet long. They are typically made with oriented strand board (OSB) laminated and pressure cured to a rigid insulating foam core.

Manufacturers have produced SIPs for several decades, and building professionals now use them in many building types. Common applications include single- and multi-family homes, schools, churches, offices, retail, and most other light commercial buildings.

The design and construction process with SIPs is straightforward. The architect provides the construction documents to a SIP manufacturer or dealer, who converts them into shop drawings that show each panel's specific dimensions. After review by all applicable parties, the manufacturer or dealer finalizes the shop drawings, makes the panels, and delivers them to the jobsite pre-numbered to coordinate with installation plans.

Fast Close-in Times

A key advantage SIPs provide in today's tight economy is their ability to dramatically reduce dry-in time. The large, single-piece panels enable contractors to install entire wall, roof and floor sections at one time. They eliminate the need for separate framing, insulating and sheathing work on site, and enable subs to start and finish work faster since walls, roofs and floors are plumb and square.

In addition, manufacturers pre-cut window and door openings, including curves, arches and complex shapes. Depending on an opening's dimensions, sub-contractors do not need to spend time installing separate headers. The panels also come with pre-cut electrical chases, eliminating the need to drill through studs for wiring.

In a new elementary school built with SIPs, the Clark County School District (Las Vegas, Nevada) reduced close-in time by nearly 80 percent - from a typical 118 - 220 days to only 45 days. "The general contractor was shocked at how fast the panels installed," said Gary Radzat, President of Shell Building Systems, Sebastopol, California), the SIPs design and installation consultant for the Jacob E. Manch Elementary School. "He said he'd never seen that size of schedule reduction." Using SIPs saved the district approximately one million dollars in direct construction costs.

As construction leaders know, faster building cycle times significantly reduce interest payments on construction loans - an important factor in a healthy bottom line.

High Strength and Consistency

SIPs are very strong and in most applications are structurally self-sufficient. Designers can use them in wall, roof and floor systems in place of other structural elements.

While frequently used in one- or two-story buildings, they have been successfully utilized for taller structures. Last year, Western Wyoming Community College (Rock Springs, Wyoming), opened a 28,000-square-foot housing complex with 48 bedrooms spread throughout four stories - the tallest self-supporting SIPs structure built to date.

In walls, SIPs can bear high loads and offer great strength in racking diaphragm shear capacities. These capabilities enable the panels to be used in typical exterior walls, as well as shear walls to resist earthquakes and high winds. Extensive testing on SIPs has proven them for use in high-risk earthquake areas, including seismic zones D, E and F.

In roofs, SIPs can be used without an engineered truss system and can span long distances - up to 20 feet based on design parameters. As a result, they can help create open interior spaces by reducing the need for intermediate structural supports.

Designers can also incorporate SIPs into floors, typically in applications such as over crawl spaces where an insulated floor system is required.

SIPs play an important role in ensuring quality finishes. Because they are made in a controlled setting and come in large sections, they allow for straighter walls than is possible with wood stick-built framing. Their smooth and even surface can also reduce finishing labor by helping eliminate the need to shim cabinets, windows and doors.

Green Building Benefits

To help meet green building goals, designers and contractors are increasingly specifying SIPs because of their numerous environmental attributes. Notably, SIPs reduce energy costs, as well as construction waste, by up to 60 percent, and play a role in improving indoor air quality and supporting recycling.

Energy savings

SIPs provide exceptional energy efficiency compared to other construction methods because they combine insulation and structural elements in one unit.

By contrast, with stick framing or concrete construction, insulation is added after the structure is built. It is difficult to apply fiberglass batts or blown-in insulation without leaving gaps, especially in corners and other hard to reach places. Also, because SIPs come in large sections, there are fewer gaps to be filled, resulting in a tighter building envelope.

When evaluating the R-values of whole wall assemblies, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory found that a 3.5-inch-wide core SIP provide a whole-wall R value of 14.1 compared to a 9.6 whole-wall R value of a 2x4 framed wall with studs at 16 inches on center and fiberglass batts. A 4.5-inch SIP wall also outperformed a 2x6 wall with R-19 fiberglass insulation.

The improved insulation reduces ongoing energy use and costs, plus helps reduce HVAC system requirements. On the Las Vegas Manch School, project consultants estimate that SIPs reduced the HVAC equipment capacity needed by approximately half.

In addition, energy efficient building materials such as SIPs may qualify commercial building owners for up to a $1.80 per square foot tax deduction.

The lower operating costs of a SIPs building can be a key market differentiator, helping developers sell or lease commercial space easier.

Construction waste reduction and recycling

Stick-built construction generates large scrap volumes from cutting stock size studs and joists to length. Since SIPs are manufactured in a controlled setting, more careful material management is possible than on a jobsite. In addition to reducing the environmental impacts created by a large waste stream, SIPs can reduce disposal fees.

Many SIPs are 100 percent recyclable, as well as have foam cores made from a specified level of recycled content. The OSB skins come from fast-growing, renewable trees, and are manufactured using a high percentage of each log for efficient resource use.

Indoor air quality

Because SIPs provide a tight building envelope, they help reduce infiltration of common pollutants such as radon, molds, pollen, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), lead dust and asbestos. Manufacturers typically produce SIPs without the use of CFCs, HCFCs or formaldehyde, and zero-VOC mastics are available. In conjunction with other low-emitting building materials, SIPs can help support healthy indoor air, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports is linked to employee and student performance and attendance.

LEED points

Given their multiple environmental advantages, building professionals can use SIPs to earn up to 23 points under the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) for New Construction Rating System. Depending on the project and overall design, key point categories to consider are "Energy and Atmosphere," "Materials and Resources," and "Indoor Environmental Quality."

Conclusion

Planning, designing and constructing commercial buildings is more challenging than ever. To survive, and even thrive, in the down market requires new ways of thinking. SIPs are a tried and trusted construction technique that offers a way to greatly improve light commercial construction.