#she was removed from their website yesterday

[missholloween]

Although most of you know me for my starcanpulp posting, I also do some other creative stuff- And one of those proyects has been nominated for a short film festival!

Sor Presa is an 8 minute short film about Sister Virginia, a nun who has just awaken her sexual desires in a monastery. She will explore the relationship between passion and faith, finding unlikely allies (and harships!) along the way. It includes themes of self-expression, queerness and religion.

You can find the shortfilm at the festival Y cortén website. At the botton of the page, you can find a form where you can vote for your favorite short film! It would mean a lot for me if you voted for us- It's been such a fun and daring proyect to be in, and everyone involved has poured their whole body (and soul!) into it.

The short in Spanish and the website doesn't support subtitles, so I add a transcription under the cut! Thanks again for the time and I hope you enjoy this story as much as I do :]

Unknown person (whispering fast): Hail Mary, full of grace, the lord with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus…

…

Mother Claudia: Jesus, Mary and Joseph! What do you think you are doing, sister?!?

Virginia: Mother, no… It's not what it seems…

Mother Claudia: It's very clear what it is!(to herself, crossing herself) Oh, my lord, some day I will die from all the chagrin… You are coming with me. Let's see what explanation you give Father Daniel.

Virginia: (overwhelmed) But, Mother Claudia...!

… 

FATHER DANIEL: … you'll understand, sister, that you must be disciplined.

VIRGINIA:(ashamed)Yes, Father.

FATHER DANIEL: Good. Today you will read the Gospel at mass...(beat)And don't remove the paint. Let it be a lesson. (pause) Mother, you can go now. I have to talk privately with Sister Virginia.

FATHER DANIEL: Sister Virginia, there's certain things your sisters won't understand, not yet at least...Come here. (beat)That's why you should be more careful, know well where you can do what... But don't let that stop you. If I'm being honest, I think this red suits you.

FATHER DANIEL: This is yours. Don't lose it, but be careful with it.

…

Song - Opio Dei by Rodol XV

I have asked myself many questions

Trying to understand

I have looked for you

Without knowing how to see you

I have gazed at the abyss

I have dared to jump

And fa-a-a-a-a-all

…

And a hurricane will break

The skies through my throat

Yelling at you

“Where are you when I need you?”

Unknown person (whispering fast): Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of death...

Virginia: I don't know what is happening to me, Lord, but I am no longer worthy of your love.I will leave behind the habit and take my filthiness away from here... I can't keep dishonoring this place. I don't deserve your Forgiveness.

Virginia: I come here to confess. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Lord, I have ruined it all. I don't know how, nor why, but yesterday at night, I... I...(pause.) I'm at a loss for words.

I have turned my back on God. I have abandoned him. And now... Now I cannot go back into his home. Could this immense guilt fix something? Or is the filthiness of my soul unescapable?

You warned us so, so much about sin, and yet I... I have let it penetrate me. The devil is inside me... and I couldn't help but enjoy his poison. But it was so exquisite... Is there something truly wrong to what I felt? Because Lord, this heat I feel is so, so divine, and it makes me feel so close to you...It's as if I could feel your touch…

Father Daniel: But, sister…

Song - Putón Verbenero by Pupi Poison

[transformationsproject]

Today’s Legislative Updates February 5, 2025

Trans rights are still under attack in the United States. Please visit our website linked below to learn about your state and contact your reps. Here's a thread of today's updates:

Bathroom bills deny access to public restrooms by gender or trans identity. 

They increase danger without making anyone any safer and have even prompted attacks on cis and trans people alike. Many national health and anti-sexual assault organizations oppose these bills.

New Bills:

Georgia introduced the bathroom bill HB267 yesterday.

Old Bills:

Wyoming passed bill HB0072 through its second House floor reading yesterday.

Kentucky sent bill HB163 to the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee yesterday.

Arizona passed bill SB1003 through two of the three Senate floor readings yesterday required to send it to the House.

Healthcare bills go against professional and scientific consensus that gender-affirming care saves lives. Denying access will cause harm.

Providers are faced with criminal charges, parents are threatened with child abuse charges, and intersex children are typically exempted.

Old Bills:

Kansas passed bill SB63 today and sent it to the governor. She will veto it, at which point an override vote may occur.

Kentucky sent bill HB154 to the House Health Services Committee yesterday.

Virginia left bills HB2405 and HB2146 in their respective committees yesterday. These bills may or may not still return.

Montana passed bill SB164 through the House yesterday and sent it to the Senate.

Educational Censorship and Student Suppression bills force schools to misgender or deadname students, ban instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, and make schools alert parents if they suspect a child is trans.

They remove life-saving affirmation and support for trans youth. 

Old Bills:

Wyoming passed bill HB0200 through its second House floor reading yesterday.

Kentucky sent bill HB207 to the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee yesterday.

Virginia left HB2182 in its committee yesterday. It may or may not still return. [Student Suppression]

Alabama sent bill HB4 to the House Judiciary Committee yesterday.

North Dakota passed bill SB2244 through its committee yesterday and sent it to the Senate floor.

Mississippi passed bill HB1193 through its committee yesterday and sent it to the House floor.

Trans Erasure bills create legal definitions of terms like “sex” designed to exclude or erase trans identity and insert them into various laws. This can have many different effects, depending on what laws are affected.

They can force a male or female designation based on sex assigned at birth.

Some target anti-discrimination statutes, legally empowering trans discrimination. 

New Bills:

Pennsylvania introduced trans erasure bill SB213 yesterday and sent it to the Senate State Government Committee.

Most sports bills force schools to designate teams by sex assigned at birth. 

They are often one-sided and ban trans girls from playing on teams consistent with their gender identity.

Some egregious bills even force invasive genital examinations on student athletes.

Old Bills:

Virginia left bill HB1809 in its committee yesterday. It may or may not still return.

Georgia gave bill SB1 its second Senate floor reading yesterday.

In other bills that either fit multiple categories or stand on their own, we have:

New Bills:

Utah introduced a child custody bill HB0413 yesterday.

Old Bills:

13 out of the 16 Mississippi bills have died in committee - some good news for us all!!!

It's not too late to stop these and other hateful anti-trans bills from passing into law. YOU can go to http://transformationsproject.org/ to learn more and contact your representatives!

[callsign-magnolia]

Undiagnosed // Ch. 14

MATURE CONTENT 18+

Jake Seresin x Neurodivergent OC

Summary: Katie Blair grew up trying to be the perfect daughter. She always struggled to be the prim and proper little girl her parents wanted. Big personality as a kid, but now at 25, she's the shy admiral's daughter who just keeps her head down and tries to get through law school. So what happens when she's had enough and with help from a certain Lieutenant, she gets out.

Warnings: Emotional abuse, trauma response, abusive parents.

Word Count: 6.1k

Chapter 13 | Masterlist

I was up early the next morning to have a good breakfast before I started my exams. In his off time, Jake has started to sleep in a little, but never after eight a.m. So I made some eggs for protein and reheated some biscuits and bacon Jake made yesterday morning. I thought back to last night, the way Jake smiled at me as we ate. I wanted to believe there was more there but I wouldn’t allow myself. If I can help it, I will not have my heartbroken. Just because he’s nice to me doesn’t mean he has feelings for me. Once the food was ready I sat at the island to eat. I was itching to grab my papers to study but I think if I look at another anatomy question before this test my brain just might turn to mush. So I sat quietly and ate. Once I was done I washed everything and put it away before setting up at the kitchen table with Jake’s laptop. I had five minutes before the test started so I poured another cup of coffee just as Jake came downstairs. “Mornin’.” He said and I was startled as his hands fell to my waist and he kissed the back of my head. “Good morning.” I replied. The kisses don’t catch me off guard much anymore, but he’s never held me like that. “You about to start your first exam?” He asked and I nodded. “They said it could take about four hours each.” I said and he hissed. “Really?” He asked and I nodded. “I’ll be done around four.” I said sitting back down at the table. “I’ll make you some lunch for you in between.” He said and I smiled at him. “Thank you.” 

“I will be quiet as a mouse while you take your test, don’t worry about me.” He said and I nodded, smiling at him. I looked down at the computer and saw the timer drop to one minute. “One minute.” I said and he smiled at me. “Good luck.” I started the exam and by question four Jake was making noise. “Shit!” He yelled and I looked up. He was holding his finger, blood seeping on the floor as he mouthed ‘sorry’ at me. I wanted to get up and help him, but if I got up the website would kick me out and I’d be given a zero. So I sat and took my exam, breezing through it and finished within an hour. I stood and Jake looked at me confused. “Are you done?” I nodded. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad.” I said and when I got close enough I grabbed his hand, looking at his finger. “It finally stopped bleeding.” He said as I removed the gauze he wrapped around it. “You really did a number with that knife.” I said and he scoffed. “About took off my first two knuckles.” He said and I smiled at him. I got under the sink and grabbed the first aid kit, and pulled out the iodine and the knuckle bandages. I cleaned it while he finished his food and bandaged it tightly. “There. All better.” I said, tossing everything back into the box. 

“Mama always kissed my injuries.” He said with a devilish grin on his face and held up his finger. A blush crept up my cheeks but grabbed it anyway and kissed it before I kissed his cheek. “There. A little extra to encourage healing.” I said and he chuckled. “I’m feeling better already!” I laughed as I put the box away and washed my hands. “So what are you gonna do until your next exam?” He asked and I grabbed my book from the table and waved it at him. “I’m gonna finally finish this book! Then I have to buy the third one.” He smiled at me. “Is this the longest it’s taken you to finish a book?” He asked and I nodded. “Yes and it's been driving me crazy! I’ve been dying to finish!” I said and plopped down on the couch to fall into the depths of my own imagination. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there but I was broken from my concentration when Jake nudged my knee. “Hey. You got one minute before your next exam.” He said and my head whipped to the clock on the wall. “FUCK!” I screamed, jumping up and rushing back to the table. I still had to log in and get set up. If I didn’t get in on time then I would be locked out. I rushed, logging in and I made it with just a few seconds to spare. I took a deep breath and gave Jake a thumbs up before starting on it. This one almost felt easier than the last, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I always heard that if you finish first you must not be trying hard enough, but I couldn’t sit here and stare at all these questions for an extended period of time. Then I would start second guessing myself and that was never good. 

Around one p.m. Jake came over and sat next to me. “Want me to start lunch?” He asked and I nodded. “Almost done.” He nodded and got up, rifling through the fridge for whatever he could find. After about twenty minutes I had answered the last question and I stared at the screen, hovering over the submit button. I was so lost in my own head I didn’t notice Jake come up behind me until he wrapped his arms around my shoulder and lean his head down next to mine. “You okay?” He asked and I hoped he wouldn’t feel the heat from the blush rushing up my neck. “Yeah. Just thinking about how when I send this in, that’s it. All I can do is wait.” I said and he hummed. “How long until you hear something?” He asked. “They said a week.” I said and he nodded. We sat like that for a few minutes until I could feel his breath on my cheek. “Click it.” He whispered and without hesitation I did. “I’m proud of you.” He said before kissing my temple. I stared at his muscled back as he went back to the kitchen and finished up lunch. I felt like my heart skipped a beat when he wrapped his arms around me and I fought hard to fight back the feelings in my chest. Fuck, I liked him. A lot. I quickly stood and walked upstairs to my room, needing space. “Get it together, Katie.” I whispered to myself as I took a few deep breaths. A knock on my door startled me. “Katie?” “Yeah?” I answered way too quickly. “You okay?” He asked. “Uh, yeah. I got cold so I came up here for some pants.” I said and quickly got into my dresser and pulled out some black yoga pants. I swung the door open and he was gone. I furrowed my brows and he caught my eye when he came out of his room. “Here.” He held up a sweatshirt for me. “Oh, thank you.” I said, taking it from him. I slipped it on and his cologne enveloped me. “Lunch is ready.” He said as he started downstairs and I sighed. He was not making this easy.

By Thursday I was pacing while I was reading. I couldn’t sit still anymore, the anticipation of if I got in was killing me. I was pacing at the back of the couch, reading the third installment of the ACOTAR series when the front door opened. “Hey.” Jake said and I waved my hand, engrossed in my book. “Hi.” I said. I had chewed most of the skin off my bottom lip and they were raw. Jake walked by and set his bag down before getting in the fridge and grabbing a water. “How long have you been pacing?” He asked and I shrugged, just humming. He furrowed his brows at me but left me alone. An hour later I was sat on the couch, one leg out straight and the other bent under me as I leaned forward, reading. I would read for a few minutes, then stop and scroll on my phone. Soon my foot started bouncing when I turned back to my book. “Okay!” Jake said loudly and snatched my book. “Hey!” I yelled, shooting up from my spot and reaching for my book. But I wasn’t paying attention and almost went over the back of the couch, face down towards the floor but Jake caught me. “Slow down.” He said, helping my back upright. “Okay. You are gonna go upstairs, and put on something cute like you always do, then we’re going out.” He said and I pouted. “What’s wrong with me reading?” I asked. “Nothing. But you’re doing it to distract yourself because you’re anxious. So I’m taking you out.” He said. “Now, go get dressed, darlin’.” I wanted to protest, but I knew it was no use. So I huffed, standing and glaring at him as I stomped my way up the stairs. I threw on a light blue skater dress and slipped on some tan sandals before putting on a little makeup. I walked downstairs to meet Jake who was dressed in simple jeans and I white t-shirt that hugged his biceps.

God did he look good. “Okay, I’m ready.” I said, all annoyance gone as he smiled at me. “Good. Grab your purse.” We walked towards the door and he handed me my purse before he helped me into the truck. “Where are we going?” I asked as he got into the driver's seat. He just grinned at me mischievously. “You’ll see.” He said, backing out of the driveway. I crossed my arms over my chest, one knee over the other and stared at him. “As long as you feed me, I don’t care.” I said and he laughed, reaching over and patting my knee. “Don’t worry, darlin’. I will.” My breath hitched as he touched my knee. He’d touched my arms, my hands, my waist, but his hand on my knee made my nerves light up. We sat quietly, listening to the radio as he drove us down the road. He pulled into a parking lot and I noticed many trees and statues of animals. “Where are we?” I asked as he pulled into a parking spot in the half full parking lot. “Don’t tell me you’ve never been to the zoo!” He joked and slid out. I pulled my lip between my teeth, staring at the entrance. My door opened and I looked down at him, he reached for my hand and grinned at me. Once I got out he smiled down at me. “You ever been to the San Diego zoo?” He asked and I shook my head. “Never been to any zoo actually.” I said and he looked at me in surprise. “Are you serious?” I gave a single nod. “No school field trips?” He asked and I shook my head. “My parents never allowed me to go on them.” I said and his hand gently squeezed mine. 

“Come on then.” He said, dragging me to the entrance. We were hand in hand and it felt so good to have his large hand wrapped around my smaller one. He bought the tickets and we went in. “Well, where do you wanna start?” He asked. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.” He smiled and pointed to a tall pole with multiple signs pointing every which way. “What about the safari?” I asked and he nodded. “If that’s what you want.” I just smiled. “Come on, last ride is at five.” I tugged his hand and pulled him in the direction of the safari. As we walked up there was an older man sitting on a crate at the entrance. “Just in time. The truck is about to come in.” He said with a large smile. We didn’t wait long and many people climbed off the truck. Jake and I got were the only two that got into the truck and we sat down. “What do you think we’ll see?” I asked, excitement thrumming through my body. “I don’t know. I assume animals you’d find in the savannah.” He said and I smiled. The truck started off in a slow roll before slowly gaining speed. It took a few minutes before we saw anything but then I heard some kind of yipping noise. I looked behind us to see a group of zebras. “Jake! Look!” I said, rapidly patting his shoulder and he turned. “I never thought I would see animals like these.” 

The ride was fun. We saw Wildebeest, Antelope, Hyenas and Giraffe’s who leaned their heads down towards us. By the time we were going back to get out I was leaned against Jake and his arm was tossed around my shoulders. We got off and he pulled me away to the reptiles. Iguanas, chameleons, turtles and lizards. They were so cool, but I backed away from the glass slightly as we got to the snakes. “What? Don’t like snakes?” He asked and I shook my head. “No. We were stationed in South Carolina at one point, I was about ten and I was playing in the yard when one struck at me. Never bit me but I took off running and I’ve been scared of them ever since.” I said and he chuckled. “I used to catch them in the barn back home.” He said and my eyebrows shot up. “You mean to tell me you willingly went near snakes?” I asked and he chuckled. “And picked them up.” I shivered at the sheer thought of having a snake in my hands. We went and got ice cream after that and my jaw dropped as he wiped chocolate ice cream on my nose. “You ass!” I yelled at him and he slammed a hand over my mouth. “Not around the children!” He said, motioning to a mom and two kids gaping at us. “Sorry.” I said and we ran off laughing like children ourselves. We wound up in front of the lion enclosure and I looked down at the lion sunbathing in the last light of the day on his back. “That looks so nice.” I said and he furrowed his brows at me. “What?” He asked. 

“Laying out in the sun. It looks warm.” I said and he smiled at me. “You know, if you wanted to lay out in the backyard you could.” He said, smirking at me with a certain glint in his eye. I felt a sense of bravery within me and decided to play the game. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I asked, winking at him before turning and walking away, a little more sway in my hips. The rest of the night was full of subtle flirtations. We stayed at the zoo till it closed and when we left he pit stopped at a liquor store. “What are we doing here?” I asked, the dark surrounding us and allowed the neon lights to be the only light source for us. “Just wait here. You’ll love this.” He slipped out of the truck, leaving it running and jogged inside. I waited in silence until he came out in each hand he had a large handle of coconut rum and tito’s, he stopped and held them up with a goofy grin on his face. I laughed as he climbed into the car and handed me the containers. “What the hell, Jake?” I asked and he smiled at me. “Now, off to dinner. Hope you don’t mind fast food.” He said and I shook my head. “Not at all.” 

He took us to the Sonic that sat down the road from the house and pulled into a stall. We stared at the menu for about ten minutes before ordering enough food to feed the team. “And two Route Forty-Four ocean waters.” I raised a brow and he grinned at me. “Why the drinks?” I asked. “You have to have one.” He said. Soon the food and drinks came out and he set it up perfectly along the large center console. I criss crossed my legs and turned to face him. “Drink some of that.” He said, handing me the incredibly large cup and I drank a considerable amount of it. “Okay, set it down.” I did and held the cup as he popped the lid off and started pouring the rum into it. “What?” I asked with a laugh. “We did this as teenagers. I grew up in a small town and a Sonic was all we had, so we would steal our parents coconut rum or vodka and put it in our slushies.” He said and I grinned at him. “I never did things like this as a teen.” I said, taking the drink back from him and taking a sip before I reeled back. “Strong?” He asked and I nodded. “What did you do as a teenager?” He asked and I shrugged. “Studied. Read. We lived in Connecticut at one point and I used to love sitting outside from spring till fall and I would just read. It was so pretty and I would lay under a few trees in the backyard for hours.” My eyes were closed and I could see the trees above me, their deep, rich autumn colors and the smell of fall in the air. When I opened my eyes I could see Jake staring at me, something in his eyes that I couldn’t quite describe. 

“So, you didn’t go on field trips, did you do anything else for school?” He asked and I shook his head. “Other than graduation, no.” His smile fell as he looked at me. “No homecoming? Football games? Lock ins?” He asked and I shook my head. “Prom?” I looked down at my legs, adjusting my dress. “I wanted to go. I asked. But my parents said no.” I grabbed a cheese stick from the box and tore it in half as he watched me. “I’m sorry.” He muttered and I looked at him. “You have nothing to be sorry for.” He sighed before lifting his burger and taking a bite. Prom was one of those things that you see in movies, and you read it in books and you hear your classmates talking about it. I was dying to go. I wanted to wear the pretty gown and have my hair and makeup done. I wanted to feel like I was part of my class. I had never felt that way, we moved around too much. I had only been at that school for two months, and a few girls asked if I was going. I went home and worked up the courage to ask and my parents said they would consider it. After a few weeks I begged and begged to go, but while everyone else got to go, I was dragged to a naval function. “If you had the chance to go now, would you?” I thought about it and after a moment, I nodded. “I feel like it’s something everyone should experience if they want to. So yeah, I would.” I took a bite of my own burger and a smile grew on his face. “Did you go?” He nodded. “Did you have a date?” I pried and he chuckled. “I took Mandy Masterson. She wore this hideous bubblegum pink dress.” I laughed at him. “What do you have against pink?” I asked and he shook his head. “Nothing. But it was so big that it wouldn’t even fit in my truck, and it had glitter all over. By the time I came home I looked like a disco ball and I was finding glitter in places glitter shouldn’t be for weeks.” He said and we laughed. “Sometimes I still think I find some when I clean out my ears.” 

I had been sipping on my drink and almost blew it out my nose when he said that. I was laughing so hard with a mouth full of ocean water I thought the only way I would breathe again was if I just opened my mouth and let it all flow out. But I eventually caught my breath again and swallowed. “It’s not that funny.” He said while laughing. “Yes it is.” I felt warm, a blush on my neck and I knew it was from the alcohol. I slowed down with my drink and ate my food as we talked. He told me some about his childhood, growing up on a ranch in Texas and all the trouble him and his siblings got into. “Maybe you can meet them someday.” He said, grinning at me. “As long as your brother doesn’t put a snake in my face like he did your sisters.” I said and he chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’d protect you darlin’.” I bit my lip at his words and I could see it, him sweeping me off my feet to protect me from the dangers of his brother. Soon we drove home, cracking jokes and laughing like kids the whole way. Once we were home I got out of the truck and stumbled slightly. “You good?” He asked, looking at me from the front of the truck. “Just dandy!” I said with a grin. I reached in and grabbed my purse, drink and food bags before walking inside. I threw away the bags and set my drink in the fridge before going back outside and grabbing the alcohol to bring in. 

“You know, I don’t think I've checked my phone all night.” Not that anyone would’ve texted me or anything like that. I reached into my purse and rooted around for my phone. “I know it’s in here.” I muttered. I all but climbed into the bag searching for my phone when someone cleared their throat behind me. “Looking for this?” Jake asked as he waved my phone in the air. “Oh, thank you.” I laughed and reached for it, but he held it up over his head. “Please.” I said and he smirked. “That’s not the magic word.” He said and I looked up at him through my lashes, biting my bottom lip. “Thank you for tonight, and you looked very, very handsome.” I said, my finger tracing his sternum. I swore I heard him gulp and he lowered his arm. “And you look beautiful.” He said and I grinned, snatching my phone from him and walking out of the kitchen. I clicked my phone on and saw a few notifications but I had about ten emails. I sifted through them and saw one from USD and SDSU respectively. “Oh my god.” Anxiety struck and I tossed my phone on the couch, hardly able to look at it. I chewed my nail for a moment before grabbing it and opening the one from the University of San Diego first. I took a deep breath and read it. ‘Miss Motley, thank you for your interest in our program but we are sad to say you have been denied entry into our nursing program.’ Tears stung my eyes and I sniffled as I set my phone down. I didn’t want to cry, not loudly at least. I realized I still had one more email to look at, so I wiped my cheeks and grabbed my phone and opened the email from San Diego State University. 

‘Miss Motley, thank you for your interest in our program.’ I sighed, setting my phone down and wiping my eyes. I knew I should continue reading it, but it started the same way as the last. I tried not to be negative and took a deep breath before lifting my phone up again. ‘Congratulations on your acceptance into our nursing program.’ I got in. I got in! A scream escaped me as I jumped in the air, practically touching the ceiling as I did. “WHAT’S WRONG?!” Jake yelled and I let out another scream before saying. “I GOT IN!” I rushed him, jumping into his arms. I didn’t care if he wanted to hold me or not, I needed to be held.“You got in?!” “I got in!” He squeezed me to him and swung me around. “Which one?” He asked as I looked down at his face. “SDSU!” I felt like I should sprint, I wanted to jump so hard I could put a hole in the floor, I felt like I could win an MMA fight. I had to do something or else I thought I would explode, appendages flying across the room. My body was practically vibrating and Jake walked over to the couch, still holding me and he set me down. He sat next to me and took my phone, reading over the email. I repeatedly slammed my hands down on the couch as I squealed and he chuckled. “Congratulations, darlin’.” He said, his finger hooking under my chin and turning my head to face him. 

“You really truly deserve this.” He said, his finger still under my chin as I smiled at him. “You really think?” I asked and he nodded. “I know.” His eyes flicked to my lips then back to my eyes. I grinned at him, leaning forward ever so slightly. Kiss me, please. I don’t want to hold back anymore. Those thoughts were mine and mine alone, but with the way he was looking at me, it was like he had all access to my mind and everything inside. His hand came up, resting on the side of my neck, holding me close. He moved ever so slightly closer and I could feel his breath fanning across my face. His green eyes met mine and I couldn’t help myself anymore. I surged forward, my lips colliding with his in desperation. But that desperation was returned as his other hand went into my hair, fingers tangling in it. My hands reached up, running across his chest before gripping his shoulders. I moaned into the kiss, and I felt him grin. He tugged on my hair and I gasped, allowing his tongue to tangle with mine. I slid closer, desperate to close the space between us but Jake let go of my neck and wrapped his arm around my waist, hauling me into his lap. 

I sat perched on his lap, he held me close as I wrapped my arms around his neck, moaning into his open mouth and I felt him grow hard beneath me. I couldn’t help but grind down on him, making him groan. “Do you know how hard it is to have a pretty little thing like you living in my house and I can’t do shit about it.” He said against my lips. I wanted him to touch me. Touch me in all the places he hadn’t yet. My breasts, my legs, my ass, my wet core. Suddenly he pulled away, both of us gasping as he rested his forehead on mine. “Why’d you pull away?” I asked, gasping. How badly I wanted to kiss him again. “We still need to celebrate.” He said with a grin and I bit my lip, arching my back slightly and tangled my fingers in the hair at the base of his neck. “Mm, but I liked the way we were celebrating, and I could think of other ways.” I said, leaning in and kissing him once. “Fuck,” He groaned, his head falling back. “I want to. God, I want to. But we’re both intoxicated.” He said as his hands rested on my waist, one of his thumbs brushing just below my breast. “I feel fine.” I said and he gave me a small smile. “Sure you do.” He was right and as much as I hated it, we shouldn’t. “But we will celebrate however you want.” He said and I grinned. “I want the rest of my drink. Some fresh chocolate chip cookies from the dough I have in the freezer and a good movie.” He grinned, standing with me in his arms and walking upstairs. My heart sped up, a small part of me hoping he changed his mind but my hopes died when he set me in front of my bedroom door. “You put on something comfy and I’ll get everything set up.” 

I nodded and he walked downstairs. I knew exactly what to put on. The satin emerald green tank top and shorts, I saw the way Jake looked at me the last time I had them on, I was hoping to draw out the same reaction, maybe more. Once I was satisfied with how I looked I went into the bathroom and cleaned my face of the makeup and slid my glasses back on. I went downstairs and Jake handed me the giant styrofoam cup and I took a sip. I looked up at him and he smiled down at me. “Why don’t I roll the dough out and place them while you go change.” I said, taking the roll of parchment paper from him. He grinned down at me. “Alright.” He disappeared and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was hiding beneath those jeans. I shook my head, attempting to get the thoughts out. I was getting a little extreme, I needed to calm down. I got the cookies placed on the baking sheet and in the oven by the time Jake came back downstairs. Then everything in my head flew right out. The gray sweatpants accentuated the bulge between his legs and his tan skin contrasted, making his muscles and lines all very noticeable. He grinned helping me place the cookies on the baking sheet and we soon popped them in the oven. “Okay, what movie do you wanna watch?” He asked, raising his eyebrows and taking a sip of his drink. “I really don’t know. Something I've never seen before.” I said and he nodded. 

We were silent for a minute before he turned to me. “Have you ever seen The Longest Ride?” He asked and I shook my head. “It’s a romance but it’s pretty good in my opinion.” He said and I nodded. “Then let’s watch it.” He grabbed both of our drinks and we made our way to the couch. The cookies would take a few minutes so we gathered blankets to cover ourselves up with. We waited till the oven beeped and we pulled them out before starting the movie. We got all the cookies on the plate and we flopped down onto the couch next to each other. He turned on the movie and I spread out the blankets before pulling the plate close. He set the remote down once the movie started and turned to me. He reached down, hands gripping my ankles before he hauled my legs into his lap. I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped me and he grinned at me. “Alright, give me a cookie.” I lifted one off the plate and held it out, I expected him to take it but instead he bit down on it, taking half of it in his mouth. He leaned his head back, moaning loudly, and I realized I wanted to be the one drawing those noises from him. “God, these cookies are better than sex.” He said and I bit my lip. Probably not better than sex with me. I thought it and I could feel heat creeping up my neck from the thoughts. 

We ate the cookies and watched the movie, my head on his shoulder and one hand on his chest. His right arm was wrapped around my waist and the other was rubbing soft circles on the outside of my thighs, his thumb occasionally creeping close to the inside. I finished my drink and I looked up at him. He was watching the movie intensely. Heat was coursing through my body and all I wanted were his lips on mine again, or really anywhere else. I leaned up slightly, my lips pressing against his neck, and as soon as I touched him, his hands gripped me tightly. I smirked, placing another kiss to his neck and after a minute his breathing picked up, chest heaving before he turned to me, my lips losing contact with his skin. I thought he would tell me to stop but instead his lips pressed against mine roughly and my hands threaded into his hair. I felt him grow hard under me, his length pressing against my thigh as his hands made their way up under my tank top. They were so warm against my skin and I tugged him closer. He pushed me till my back was flush with the couch cushions and he moved my legs to settle himself between them. “Fuck.” He moaned against my lips and I gasped, his hand sliding down between my legs, discovering exactly how wet I was for him. His lips attacked my neck and my nails grazed his back. 

He pulled away, forehead resting on mine as he tried to catch his breath and I attempted to pull him closer. “Katie.” He breathed my name and it sounded so good rolling off his lips. I stopped and opened my eyes, seeing him staring down at me. “Fuck.” I groaned, taking a deep breath. “Sorry. I’m so sorry, Jake. You said not to and I-” “It’s okay. Trust me, I’m struggling to resist just as much as you are.” He was still staring down at me as the credits rolled and I bit my lip. “You have work tomorrow.” It was already late and I knew he had to be up early. “Yeah, I do.” He replied, but neither of us made a move for a moment until I cleared my throat. Jake stood, and I followed. “You go to bed. I’ll clean up.” I said and he shook his head. “No, I’ll help.” I didn’t have it in me to argue, so he helped me straighten up before we both headed upstairs. I stopped in front of my door as he walked by, my hand was on the knob as I turned to Jake. “Hey Jake?” I asked as he stopped in front of his own bedroom door. “Yeah?” He asked, turning his back to the door and leaning on it. I walked over, hands behind my back. He looked down at me, a grin on his face as I stood before him. I stood on my toes, reaching up and kissing his cheek softly. “Thanks for believing in me.” I whispered before turning back to my door and stepping inside. I leaned my back against my door, taking a deep breath as a smile took over. I opened my mouth with a silent scream before shaking my hands around. 

That night, my heart was beating so wildly I could barely sleep. I was excited and scared about what the next day would hold. All day I read, trying to keep my mind off Jake but I had decided I would cook dinner for him tonight, as a thank you for everything he’s done for me. When he came home I had just seasoned the steaks and covered them. I slid them into the fridge to marinate as he walked into the kitchen, showered and changed. “Hey.” He said, leaning on the doorframe. I stood, turning to him and smiling. “Hi.” My voice was soft and I was trying not to giggle like a schoolgirl at the sight of him smiling at me. “Um, I wanted to talk to you about last night.” He said, not meeting my gaze. “What about it?” Unease settled in my stomach at his words. “We should probably just forget about it. Pretend it never happened.” The sadness was overwhelming. I felt like my throat closed up and I tried to keep the tears back. “I just think it’d be best for both of us.” I licked my lips, my eyes falling to my bare feet, my toes wiggling. “Um, yeah. Sure, if you think that’s what’s best.” I said and he nodded. “Now come on.” He said, motioning me to follow him. “Where are we going?” Surely not out to dinner. “I’m gonna cook dinner, I have the steaks in the fridge marinating.” He turned and smiled at me. “I promise, we’ll be back and I’ll help you cook. We’re just gonna drop by Bob’s place.” I furrowed my brows. “Bob? Why Bob’s?” I asked, following him out of the kitchen. “You gotta have a way to get to school. We can’t share my truck if we’re going opposite directions.”

Taglist: @wkndwlff @alltimereverie @cherrycola27 @daisydaisygoose @rosiahills22 @deanoheartspie @cornishkat @high-speed-r @fogle97 @mygyn @ohgodnotagainn @emma8895eb @senjoritanana @kmc1989 @sandaltoesocks @mayhemmanaged @dempy @itsdesiree86 @sunderland-6 @jstarr86 @brooke-stinson @rachkon @topguncultleader @bethbunnyy @topgun-imagines @clancycucumber230 @seitmai @kkrenae @djs8891 @shanimallina87 @wildxwidow @eugene-emt-roe @hisredheadedgoddess28 @littlewhiterose @formulapierre @wade-wilsons-chew-toy @bethabear12 @halstead-severide-fan @gg-trini @memeorydotcom @schreksdoubledeckerhomechecker @inthestars-underthesun @praline357 @fanboyluvr @greaser9902 @felinegrate

[lemoncrushh]

Seven Six Five - Part One

Summary: They met once seven years ago. Now music has made them cross paths again.

Warnings: smut, body image issues, angst. 18+ ONLY!

A/N: Enemies to Lovers. This was originally written and posted in 2020, right before the pandemic, so the story takes place then with flashbacks of 2013. Harry Styles x Plus Size OC, written in third person.

Part One Word Count: 3.9k+

STORY PAGE

20 February, 2020 - New York, NY, USA

Dancing freely in her bathroom while a classic Dusty Springfield vinyl played on the turntable in the other room, Bronwyn grabbed her toothbrush, momentarily pretending it was a microphone. Just as she spread a healthy strip of paste on the brush and she popped it into her mouth, she heard the all too familiar ringtone chime from her phone, drowned out by Dusty’s confession of only wanting to be with you.

Bronwyn danced over to her bed to see who was calling, grateful she was able to work from home and make her own schedule. Seeing a familiar number, she knew the caller would leave a message, or perhaps a text, so she resumed her morning routine and spit out her toothpaste.

It wasn’t until she’d slipped into a pair of leggings and one of her favorite oversized tees, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, the needle safely removed from the vinyl, that she decided to check her phone for messages. As suspected, the caller had left a voicemail.

“Bronwyn, darling, it’s Antonella. Forgive me for being a little last minute on this, but I have a prospective job for you,” sang the familiar voice, her Italian accent flourishing both of their names. “Actually, I think you’ll be perfect for it, so don’t say no. It’s in D.C., and it’s for NPR Music. I’ll email you the details. Ciao.”

Her jaw dropped, Bronwyn nearly jumped for joy. NPR Music. That had to be the Tiny Desk concert series. One of her favourite things to do on free nights, or when her mind just wasn’t on her work, was to check out the newest video on NPR’s website. She’d discovered so many new artists just from that series, and a couple of them she’d managed to photograph and review at later concerts. She was thrilled with the prospect of being able to see one of the Tiny Desk shows in person and wondered who the artist might be.

Tapping on the email icon on her phone, she eagerly waited for the newest emails to load, the top one being from Antonella. Hastily opening it, she beamed as she read the mundane details of the job, the address, the date and time...until she saw the name.

ARTIST: HARRY STYLES

Instantly frowning, she dropped her shoulders and released a sigh.

“Bloody hell,” she muttered to herself. “Anyone but him.”

Staring at the screen, her vision blurred until she blinked and shook her head.

“No,” she said aloud. “No, I can’t do it.”

Quickly finding Antonella’s number, Bronwyn tapped the phone to ring her, biting her lip as the call went straight to voicemail.

“‘Ello, Antonella, it’s Bronwyn. Listen, I got your message and your email. Unfortunately...I don’t think I’ll be able to take this job. It’s just...not for me. Conflict of interest or what have you. Hopefully you’ll be able to find someone else in a pinch. Sorry, love.”

Disconnecting the call, Bronwyn fell back on her bed, her head hitting the pile of pillows. Shutting her eyes tight, she willed her mind to push away the memory of him. Though it had been nearly seven years since that night, it sometimes felt like yesterday. She had tried her best to forget it had ever happened, that they had ever crossed paths. She supposed if it had been anyone else, she could have gotten over it like she had any other time she’d been disappointed or heart-broken, humiliated or angry. But because he was...him...he managed to pop up now and then, when she’d least expected it, and most unfortunately when she hadn’t wanted him to.

She had a great life now. London was not only across the ocean, but years behind her. She’d struggled a bit when she’d first moved to New York, but after getting her foot in the door and finally making a name for herself, she’d settled into a routine and lifestyle that she’d always dreamt of. Harry bloody Styles was most certainly not a part of it.

Rising from the bed, Bronwyn made her way to her tiny kitchen to pour herself a cup of tea. She’d just sat down at the small table in the corner, her cup in one hand, a steaming danish in the other when her phone chimed its agitating tune once again. Frowning when she saw Antonella’s name displayed on the screen, she let the danish fall onto her plate and wiped her hands on the napkin.

“This is Bronwyn,” she sang into the speaker, hoping she didn’t sound too fake.

“Darling, what do you mean you can’t take this job?” the Italian woman’s voice boomed. “I arranged this for you ‘specially! Everybody else is booked or out of town that day. I have no one else.”

“I’m sorry, Antonella, I just-”

“Conflict of interest, ppfff!” she interrupted. “I won’t hear of it. It’s a job, my love, not a blind date. You just take photographs and submit your review the way you’ve always done.”

Bronwyn sighed, feeling defeated. She knew Antonella was right...to a degree. And she wasn’t about to spill her guts about her history - or lack thereof - with a certain ex-boybander to her agent.

“I’m not going to beg, Bronwyn,” remarked Antonella. “It’s your career. But I try to get you jobs I think suit you and your personality. Jobs that you’d be proud to stamp your name on. I think you’d be perfect for this, but… I guess I can call Dennis.”

“Dennis listens to 90s college rock and complains about millennials and Starbucks.”

“He’s all I’ve got left.”

“Fine,” Bronwyn surrendered. “I’ll do it.”

“You’re an angel, doll, you know that?” cheered Antonella.

“Yeah, yeah. Just let me know when I’ve earned my wings.”

25 February, 2020 - Washington, D.C., USA

“Thank you,” Bronwyn smiled at the young woman with the bright pink lipstick - Katia, she thought her name was - when she handed her a small bottle of water.

“No problem! Let me know if I can get you anything else.” Katia bounced on her heels and returned her attention elsewhere before Bronwyn had the chance to make another request.

As the room began to fill with more people, she felt herself get a bit stuffy, so she removed her grey cardigan, shoving it into one of her bags before checking her camera one last time.

“Oh cool, I get to stand by the photographer!” she heard someone exclaim, and she looked up to see a thin, toothy girl with ombre hair.

Bronwyn copied her grin, flipping her curls off her shoulders just as Katia returned with an announcement, explaining what was about to happen. The girl next to her squeezed her friend’s hand and squealed when Katia mentioned Harry’s name. Trying her best not to gag or roll her eyes, Bronwyn stood straight, clearing her throat and lifting her camera to prepare for the singer’s arrival.

It’s just a job, she told herself, remembering Antonella’s words. I can do this.

Three seconds later, Katia was gone and a huge raucous sounded down the hall. Almost immediately, a tall, thin man with his hair pulled back came into view, followed by an equally slender woman in a red t-shirt. Bronwyn watched as they headed for the L shaped desk, the man picking up a guitar that sat behind it, the woman taking a seat behind the drums that were set up in the corner. Soon, two more women followed - one grabbing an acoustic guitar, the other taking her place in front of the keyboard - and another tall man who slung a bass guitar over his shoulder. Taking several quick shots of the band members, Bronwyn almost missed his entrance until he was literally stood in front of her. Through the lense of her camera, she saw him wave at the small crowd before walking around the desk to a stool that awaited him. It was only then that she noticed his ridiculous blue jumper, a hatched chicken adorning the front of it with the french words Mon Petit.

Bronwyn felt herself snort before she could stop it. “Oh my God, you’ve got to be joking!”

But when she turned her head in search of someone in agreement, she was only met with ombre girl whose grin was toothier than ever.

“He looks amazing!” she cried, her hand clenched to her chest.

“Right, then,” Bronwyn nodded, resuming her task at hand.

Taking a few more photos, she watched as Harry and the band got situated, and he began an introduction to the first song, a tune called “Cherry” which Bronwyn found to be a surprising choice.

She’d spent most of the weekend listening to Harry’s new album, Fine Line. While she’d struggled to even get started, putting it off until well after midnight on Saturday morning during the middle of a bottle of wine, she’d decided she needed to familiarise herself with at least some of his music if she was going to write any sort of review. Having given the album one listen through, she admitted to herself that it was pretty good. By four in the morning and a few more listens, she’d admitted it was pretty fucking brilliant.

But she still hated him.

Personal feelings aside, Bronwyn had packed up her camera and drove to D.C. that morning. Even she knew that when it came to the entertainment industry, you couldn’t take things personally. She had to try her best to separate her disdain for Harry Styles from the music he made.

Throughout Harry’s short set, Bronwyn continued to snap photos, glad to focus on the other band members whenever she felt a little flutter in her chest or pang in her heart. She especially felt one when Harry would speak between the songs, because hearing him talk only reminded her of that night seven years ago. She detected a slightly deeper timbre to his voice, but it was his voice just the same. And it made her cringe. Not because she didn’t like it...but because she did.

Please stop fucking talking, she thought. Why d’you gotta be so bloody charming? Just shut up already.

By the last song, Harry made a joke which sent the room into a roar of laughter. Bronwyn groaned, hoping this whole entire soiree would be over soon and she could go home. Just when she was about to lift her camera once again, however, the horrible inevitable happened. Before she could even blink, their eyes locked. Frozen in her spot, she willed herself to look down at her camera and bring it back up to do her job. She rolled her eyes at herself this time after she cleared her throat, as if that was going to do anything for the color that she felt rising up her neck and to her cheeks. And as though that wasn’t horrifying enough, when she went to snap the photo, she caught the dimpled grin on his face. He was fucking smiling at her.

What an arsehole!

As her stomach twisted into the tightest of knots, and she felt the sudden instinct to take a seat before she collapsed in front of a room full of strangers, she heard another squeal next to her.

“Omigod, did you see that? Was he smiling at us?” exclaimed ombre girl to her friend.

Yes, thought Bronwyn. Yes, please be smiling at them!

“Ughhhh he’s soooo hotttt!” screeched ombre’s friend as she leant into her mate’s shoulder, as though she was the one about to faint.

Yes, it was for fans, Bronwyn told herself. He didn’t recognise me. It was for them.

Much to her relief, the song finished and Harry’s set was over. He rose from his little stool and waved to everyone with a big thank you. Bronwyn watched as the band filed out of the room, and within minutes, Katia made her reappearance.

“Thank you so much for being here,” she cheered, clapping her hands together. “I hope you had a good time. Now if you’ll kindly start exiting slowly to the left. Be sure you’ve taken all of your belongings.”

Bronwyn listened to the chatter from the audience as they began to leave. Preparing her camera bag, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Are your photos gonna be online?” asked ombre girl.

Bronwyn couldn’t help but smile. “Yes. Should be sometime tomorrow morning.”

“Awesome! I follow all social media having to do with Harry, so I’m sure I’ll see them!”

“Alright then,” said Bronwyn, slipping her arms back into her grey cardigan. “Take care.”

It felt like an eternity when Bronwyn finally had her things together and packed up properly. Turning for the exit, she nearly bumped into Katia whose pink lips were stretched into a wide smile.

“Thank you so much for everything!” she said. “My boss told me it was a last minute thing to get you here, and we appreciate it!”

“Oh, no worries,” Bronwyn gave a tight smile. “Please let me know if you ever need me for another show. This was...fun.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” Katia agreed gleefully, missing Bronwyn’s hesitation. “Harry’s such a doll. We’ve wanted him here for ages!”

Bronwyn nodded, side-swiping the comment about Harry. “I just really love this concept. I’ve watched every video on your website.”

Katia tilted her head to the side. “Aw, well that’s good to hear. We’re so glad there’s an audience for us.”

Bronwyn continued to give her best fake smile as she slung her bag onto her shoulder.

“Well, I should be going. Thanks again.”

“Oh yes, thank you! Be sure to give your badge to Laura on your way out.”

With another nod, Bronwyn finally made her way to the lift, already taking mental notes of what she planned to say in the article. If not for being focused on that, she might have seen him when the lift doors opened. Instead, she walked straight toward the desk where she’d remembered picking up her badge. The brunette that she recognised from that morning gave her a smile and a thank you as she accepted the lanyard before quickly shifting her eyes to the left. Following the young woman’s gaze, Bronwyn nearly gasped when she saw Harry and another man walking in her direction. Hesitating for only a moment, she swiftly turned for the doors, hoping he didn’t see her.

“Oh, Miss!” cried Laura. “You forgot to sign out!”

“Shit!” Bronwyn cursed under her breath.

Quickly, she took a few steps back and grabbed a pen from the little plastic holder on the desk. She’d just finished signing her name on the line and dropped the pen in the cubby when she heard her name again.

“Bronwyn.”

Lifting her head, she was met with the hideous blue jumper and a lopsided grin.

“Harry.”

“I thought it was you,” he said, grinning wider. “It’s been a long time.”

“Yeah…” Bronwyn sighed, combing her fingers through her hair. Not long enough, she thought to herself. “Yeah, it has.”

“How’ve you been?”

“Oh you know...I’ve been alright.”

“Still a music photographer, I see,” Harry commented, gesturing at her bag. “Do you work for NPR?”

“No, I’m freelance.” Bronwyn noticed her answers were short and sweet. She only hoped Harry noticed as well.

“Wonderful!” Harry praised. “So you live in the states now?”

Bronwyn nodded. “New York, actually.”

“Wow, good for you, Bronwyn.”

Looking away towards the front doors, she half rolled her eyes, tugging the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

“I’m surprised you remembered my name,” Bronwyn remarked.

She couldn’t help but catch the tiny smirk and the bashful look on his face.

“Yeah, well...I don’t usually make it a point to remember the names of women who turn me down, but...”

Bronwyn scoffed incredulously. “Turn you down?”

Was he making a joke? If so, Bronwyn found it to be in poor taste. So much so, that she tasted the bitterness on her tongue. Oblivious however, Harry shrugged, his smirk spreading, which only fueled the resentment that Bronwyn was holding in. She thought it was very smug.

“I reckon you made an impression on me,” remarked Harry. Then he leant forward, his hand on his chest. “Even though you broke my heart.”

Bronwyn narrowed her eyes, shocked at his nerve. “You’re unbelievable.”

Staring at him, Bronwyn could tell he hadn’t realised she was serious at first, and that she was not describing him in a positive light. Ever so slightly, Harry’s grin began to falter, as though Bronwyn herself had stuck a pin in his dimple, and all the air oozed out, causing him to frown. Just as his mouth opened to speak, however, the man she’d seen him walking with earlier interrupted their conversation with a hand on his arm.

“H, we need you over here a minute,” he said, barely acknowledging Bronwyn.

“Sorry,” Harry apologised, looking her in the eye. “I’ll be right back.”

Bronwyn watched as Harry and the other bloke turned their backs, their voices hushed. Dropping her shoulders in a sigh, she took it as a free out and headed for the doors once again. A stealthy exit, however, was not to be. As soon as her hand reached the push bar, she heard him calling for her.

“Where are you going?” he asked, catching up with her.

“Have to get home,” she replied curtly with a raised brow. “Write this review.”

“You’re not staying in D.C.?”

“‘Fraid not.”

“Oh.”

For a moment, Bronwyn could detect the disappointment in his tone and on his face. She almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

“I was hoping we could go for… drinks or coffee… y’know, catch up.”

Gripping the strap of her bag so tightly, she was certain it was cutting off the circulation in her fingers, she shook her head, determined not to let her guard down.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Harry.”

A sound came from behind him, and they both looked to see a small group of people gesturing for him, his band included.

“We’re ready for you, H,” one of them called.

Harry slowly turned his head back to Bronwyn, a defeated expression on his face. Bronwyn pursed her lips, nodding toward the group.

“Looks like you have plenty to do anyway,” she said.

Without another word, she pushed the door open with her elbow, backing out of the building. Before turning down the sidewalk, she let the door close, leaving Harry Styles staring at her in bewilderment.

20 August, 2013 - London, England, UK

Bronwyn was grateful to finally be rid of her camera for the evening. Having found a place to lock it away, she headed for the large room where the after party was being held. She’d barely crossed the threshold before a waiter greeted her with a tray of champagne glasses. Graciously accepting one, she took a large sip. As soon as the liquor coated her throat, she threw her head back with a sigh.

This wasn’t the first job she’d taken for a red carpet event. But it was definitely the loudest. A veteran of not only the boy band phenomena, but that of rock and pop bands in general, she was certainly not new to the extremities of fandom. But Jesus Christ… as much as she loathed the comparison, she couldn’t help but imagine this was similar to what Beatlemania had been.

Admittedly, she didn’t know that much about One Direction. She’d heard a few songs, and she considered them decent, catchy at best. She’d learnt a bit more about them tonight from watching their film, and she could safely say they were quite alright. They were young, silly boys with loads of fans...half of whom must have been at the premiere if the ringing in her ears was any indication.

Bronwyn perused the room for a bit, recognising several faces from the red carpet earlier. Feeling her stomach rumble, she made her way around the perimeter toward the large buffet. She hadn’t quite reached it, however, when another waiter came by with more champagne. With a smile, Bronwyn handed him her now empty glass and accepted a new one. She’d just brought it to her lips when her gaze was met with another set of eyes and a smirk.

“Ah, so she does have a face. Thought maybe it was just a camera for a head.”

“Sorry?” she asked, slowly lowering her glass.

“You’re a photographer, right?”

Bronwyn smiled slyly. “Yes. Among other things.”

The smirk on his face slowly turned into a wide grin.

“I saw you out front,” he said, stepping closer. “At the red carpet.”

Bronwyn raised her brows in question. “How could you? There were loads of us.”

“Your outfit,” he said, pointing at her dress and boots. “I reckon you were the only one wearing anything close to that.”

Bronwyn looked down at the clothes she’d picked out for the night. She wore a vintage inspired floral dress that stopped mid-thigh and brown, knee-length, platform boots.

“Hmm, I suppose I am original,” she commented.

“I like original,” he said, lifting his own glass to his lips, one that certainly contained something other than champagne.

Bronwyn gave her own smirk then, feeling a blush on her cheeks just as a familiar song began to play, one of her favourites from the 70s.

“Finally, some good tunes!” she exclaimed at the ceiling before glancing back at the tall boy. “No offense.”

“None taken,” he said with a low chuckle.

Bronwyn could feel his eyes on her as she began to sing along and sway to the music.

“You like old stuff?” she heard him ask.

Twirling around to face him, she beamed. “I like anything that’s good.”

“Me too. What’s your name?”

“Bronwyn.”

“That’s pretty. ‘s that Welsh?”

Bronwyn stopped dancing, a tiny bit surprised he knew that. “Yeah. It is.”

“Do you speak Welsh?”

Bronwyn shook her head with a pout. “‘Fraid Not. Lived in London all my life. My dad’s mum is Welsh though, and she chose my name.”

“I see.”

“I came so close to being called Rhiannon,” Bronwyn continued, her hips threatening to sway as she held onto her champagne glass with both hands. “Can you imagine? I could’ve been a Stevie Nicks song!”

Throwing his head back, the tall boy let out a loud chuckle. The sound did something to Bronwyn, though she couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. She just knew she liked it.

“That would have been great, I’ll admit,” he expressed. “I love Stevie.”

“You do?”

At his nod, Bronwyn stared at him for a moment, a smile slowly spreading across her face as she took him in. She remembered taking his photo several times, as well as the other band members, and she definitely had to admit he looked very dashing.

“Which one are you again?” she inquired, her long curls falling over her shoulder as she tilted her head. “I mean, I did watch the movie, I just get mixed up sometimes.”

“I’m Harry.”

“Oh yes, Harry Styles,” Bronwyn confirmed, pointing her finger before placing the tip on her lips. “The youngest lad of the group. The one who worked in a bakery.”

Harry giggled again, making Bronwyn aware of the flutter in her chest.

“That would be me,” he said.

Bronwyn stepped even closer, erasing the majority of space between them. “The cute one.”

Harry raised his brows as Bronwyn smiled up at him.

“And the one with good music taste,” she added.

Harry’s dimples dipped deeper in his cheeks as he grinned wider. Pleased with the encounter so far, Bronwyn extended her hand for a shake.

“Nice to meet you, Harry.”

Hope you enjoyed so far! Please like, comment, reblog or send me a msg!

MASTERLIST | KO-FI | FEEDBACK

[lorwolf-salt]

Okay, Coop7011 here, SaltyLoria staff, ignore my first post. Weird vore person here (she for those who don't know), not sure if I should be doing this but I figured it's better that people hear from me instead of talking about me and making things up, plus whatever the frick happened in that thread. Keep in mind all of this (besides the thread issue yesterday) happened months ago. And it started in that thread yesterday because I merely said something along the lines of 'I am not in the official Lorwolf Discord for private reasons, and never will be' and random curseword guy got butthurt about that for some reason, even though it's against the rules to discuss moderator actions. I don't know who he is, but I can only assume it was just a guy who really hates vore. And I suspect a lot of people here also hate vore, and that's fine. I just hope some of you can see past that hate and see the truth of what really happened.

Yes, I was banned from the discord, but not because I 'wanted to show little kids NSFW'. Keep in mind that while I was ON the server, my username was not Wholesome Vore Writer, it was Coop7011, the same as it was on the website. You would only see Wholesome Vore Writer if you DMed me. At the time, I did not have Nitro, so when the staff asked me to remove the link to my Ao3 (that nobody has to click, nobody is forced to read, and has warnings and tags everywhere about the content of the stories) then I'd be changing it for every single discord server I was in. They were also forcing me to change my base username, and not just my nickname on the discord server (which was Coop7011 anyway). I felt this was unreasonable, but changed it for a time so I could conclude some trade deals on the discord server. Then, after some time, I admit that I got salty about the staff of one discord server (LW) forcing me to change so much on an account that I use for so many other things. So I changed it back. Things were fine for awhile (because that's how unnoticeable it is, unless someone snoops through my profile or DMs me) but then eventually I was banned without word. I don't agree with this choice, but I've long since accepted it as a fact that I didn't heed to their requests/went back on it and thus they had their right to get rid of me. I didn't care that much as long as I was able to play on Lorwolf itself. Keep in mind that no word of my writing is on the server or the website, all of this is about my base Discord username (hidden since I set my nickname on server to be my Lorwolf username) and a link to my stories on my discord profile. Personally, I also don't agree with calling my work NSFW, as they are not sexual and I don't write them with sexual intent. They are emotional comfort stories to cope with trauma, where no one is harmed (yes vore is people being swallowed, but they're safe in my work). I won't get into too much detail about this, because frankly, I don't think it should matter what I write about off-website. It's not using Lorwolf characters and it's not being posted directly on Lorwolf anything. This is the most I've ever talked about it in a semi public space about this pet sim game. So there you go, that's what happened. And I am deeply sorry to VNX for what happened to the thread, I purposely didn't take part in discussing back and forth because I knew it would go nowhere and would just result in countless removed posts, but I guess someone else did argue about it.

[butchsophiewalten]

Findjackwalten 07/15/23 Update #1 and #2 Walkthrough

Findjackwalten updated TWICE yesterday! There's no new pages but a LOT of already existing pages have changed, several of them more than once.

UPDATE #1:

Findjackwalten.com

Lots of these images of Bon have appeared on top of the whole page. The page in this screenshot is SUPPOSED to be grey except for the new bons, but The Wayback Machine doesn't archive that color overlay in the page capture.

If you use something like Ublock Origin to remove the Bon assets you can see the bit of white-on-black text reads "Say something..."

This image also seems to be the same as the backdrop to this teaser

Seeing it now it's more obvious what the drawing is actually of. Bon is wearing a hard hat, with little screws and bolts of electricity around him. It seems engineering-related, like somewhere Susan would work.

Findjackwalten.com/martinguaridasecretanoentrar

This page has been outfitted with three new Funny Walten Facts

"Goodfaith Caring"

This one's enigmatic. Exact google search results are nonexistent (IE, searching the name in quotation marks), so it probably refers to something in universe? It's capitalized, so it's a proper noun. Maybe the name of a company? Maybe even the name of an episode of something? An episode of The Walten Files? and episode of Little Bon's Neighborhood? An episode of The Showstoppers Comedy Extravaganza?????? It's so vague I really don't even know what to say here.

"Sha was originally named "Belle" or "Belly" so that all the names would start with a B and be named the "THE 4 B's" or "THE B PACK" instead of "THE SHOWSTOPPERS", but Sha sounded more adequate. She was actually the last showstopper to be made and a final addition because back when TWF was a fangame i needed a character to balance the group more and a more adequate stage companion to Bon than Banny (too similar to Candy and Cindy from good ol FNaC) so Sha was made, so yeah, my fav showstopper right there."

Something I mostly knew already but was pretty obscure! I always really love getting a look into the creation of The Walten Files, and this bit about Sha only existing as to make Welcome to Bon's Burgers less similar to Five Nights at Candy's is a really fun fact.

"No she wasn't homeless, it was just cheaper than paying for an actual apartment"

An elaboration on the Sophie fact from before. This just makes this previously devastating Sophie information really funny. He lived in a meat shop for three years because the rent was cheap. His whole life is so bizarre.

Findjackwalten.com/poker

Nearly the same as always, except the top text has changed to read "It was not quick."

Findjackwalten.com/890247895yuiowarsehiofhkjy890wte

There is LOADS of text on this page now. It reads like more Anthony website posting, which definitely confirms this being a sort of bizarro 'missing link' from the nonfunctional "Object Possession" link on /brightonghosts.

This "Jazmin Doll" story is completely fictional and exclusive to the universe of The Walten Files. There is some (completely unsubstantiated) speculation that Child's Play could be based on the real-world haunted artifact of Robert the doll, but that's obviously not what's being referred to here.

The important information here is this:

"dOnce [sic] the soul chooses it's vessel, it becomes it's body. However, the longer it spends inside of it. The more it becomes it's ACTUAL body. (Jazmin's body was the doll, the wood was her skin, the wooden arm was her real arm.) it can cause it pain and it can feel everything it touches. this has been named amongst us ghostfans as "Post-Extensive Object Possesion"'

This is like. a CRAZY bomb of information to be given about the ghosts in this universe. I don't want to theorize about it too much since I try to keep crazy theories away from these walkthrough posts, but holy shit.

Another little thing here is that there's some odd letters on this page that i'm not totally willing to write off as just typos. There's a missing "e" and "g" in this bit here:

And an extra letter "d" here:

No clue what this means, or if it spells something, or anything.

Last thing I wanna point out with this one page is the little stipulation at the beginning where Anthony mentions that if the story he talks about is proven fake, he might delete the page. This might be what happened, and why the main /brightonghosts page doesn't link off to it?

Findjackwalten.com/ghosttalk

This page is the same except for this little addition just at the bottom:

This update seems to corroborate the new information on the Object Possession page, that ghosts within haunted objects eventually 'become' the object and experience a sort of 'life' within it.

Findjackwalten.com/brightonghosts

A new update from Anthony!

He's found some new stuff to show us! And apparently the K-9 facility is now demolished? That sounds familiar enough that it might've been something we knew before but I can't exactly remember. The Jane Walten mystery continues.

Findjackwalten.com/btscene

Just a small update, one new image at the very bottom:

UPDATE #2

Findjackwalten.com

The same as the last main page update, but with new white-on-black text:

This is a quote from How The Grinch Stole Christmas, which is... interesting? It's making me think back on notable presents in The Walten Files. We see a lot of present boxes in Bunnyfarm that usually involve a ghost/animatronic giving one to Sophie which kickstarts a Scary segment.

There's also the fact that Rocket was a Christmas present

Findjackwalten.com/poker

A really weird update here. We have that exact same quote from How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and the normal /poker image has been replaced with one with this ominous white face peering out from behind the grandfather clock.

Findjackwalten.com/brightonghosts

Just a little funny edit of Anthony trying to fix his slipup

Findjackwalten.com/poker ....again?

This update to /poker happened maybe an hour or less after the previous one.

the Grinch quote has been changed to read "oops!", and the painting has been replaced with this darkened, almost pitch-black version. If you use some photo editing software to brighten the image, you get:

Oops indeed.

[v1smokewife]

who is this person - chapter ten

On a quest to find love on a dating website, Sanji falls head over heels for a woman with an interest in...alternative relationships that sends him down a rabbit hole of completing tasks for a seemingly sadistic mistress. But what happens when she turns out to be more than what she seems?

or

Zoro pretends to be a female on the internet to talk to Sanji and bad things happen.

Darkfic with themes of internalised homophobia, bad bdsm practices and lying about your identity to strangers on the internet. Please read with caution. This is NOT how BSDM should be practiced. Always practice Sane, Safe and Consensual practicesboarders on being considered dead dove do not eat material

read on ao3

authors note; We are nearly at a home run. The next chapter will be the final chapter! I’m sorry that it’s been such a plot heavy past two chapters. Sorry if you just came for the smut XD next chapter will be a return to form. There WILL be smut before it finishes. I’m currently plotting out the sequel. You may be wondering, sequel? So, remember how this is based off on a one piece fanfic of the same name that I wrote in 2013, well that had a sequel. However, because this one went so incredibly different, it’s likely the sequel will too (and it will be much darker as the original sequel was darker) Anyway, enjoy!

S POV

Sanji had planned to meet up with Vivi the next day at the café that he normally met up with Robin and Nami. It would be nice to see someone who wasn't involved in the messy situation that he currently found himself in. Spending the time with her would maybe make him see clearer than he had been this past week. He wasn't feeling great. Honestly, he wasn't feeling great at all, but he was better than yesterday. He was getting used to the whole idea right now. However, with Zeff's blessing, he got next two weeks off to sort his shit out, so he was feeling grateful for that.

So, Sanji was looking forward to it. It was an excuse for him not to fall into a bad routine of depression, so he got up and got dressed before going out.

He didn't think he would tell Vivi about what was going on, but it would be nice to have a conversation with someone who wasn't involved. Meeting Vivi offered a much-needed respite from the chaos that had been engulfing his life recently. The prospect of spending time with someone removed from the turmoil was like a breath of fresh air. He had appreciated Zeff's understanding and the time off to gather his thoughts and emotions. Getting ready to see Vivi, he felt a sense of normality, even if it was just for a brief moment or a quick chance at a break from all the madness that had been going on recently. When he got dressed, he continued to dress well for himself, a habit that was part of his identity, a reminder of himself before this mess.

Walking out of the apartment, he was thinking about the past couple of days. The revelation about Zoro was confusing and his emotions ran high when he thought about it and an unsettling sense of betrayal still was there. However, he wanted to forget about it just for two minutes.

He got to the usual cafe. When we went in, he saw Vivi sitting at a booth near the window. She turned to look at Sanji and smiled.

"Hi!" She said, letting the menu sit down, "How are you doing?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Sanji said trying to joke but it wasn't far from the truth. Sanji sat across from her. Vivi looked at the menu again and then settled it down.

Meeting Vivi was a relief. Her presence was comforting, and her smile was genuine. They exchanged pleasantries and ordered their drinks. Sanji found himself enjoying their conversation. She spoke about her humanitarian projects, and he spoke about cooking. It was nice. He needed a break.

He was so into the conversation that he didn't notice someone else approach their table. It was Nami. He turned his head when he noticed she was there. Nami looked at him awkwardly before looking at Vivi who looked at her sheepishly.

"Oh. I must have double booked,"

Ah. This wasn't just a casual conversation. It was a ploy to get Nami and Sanji back on good terms.

"It's okay…I'll leave," Nami seemed a little annoyed. Hurt even. Sanji didn't want to see Nami upset even if he wasn't happy with her.

"No no, it's okay," Sanji tried to protest, "I don't mind if you want to sit with us,"

Nami hesitated for a moment. She was trying to gauge Sanji's sincerity. It was clear that the situation was really uncomfortable for everyone involved so Vivi gave her girlfriend an encouraging smile. "I think it would be good for us to talk,"

Nami took a seat next to Vivi. Her expression was showing a mix of reluctancy and hope. Sanji took a deep breath. He would have liked to have given it a bit of time but…maybe this was necessary. Maybe this was what they needed.

As they settled into an awkward silence. Vivi took the lead in the conversation. She tried to keep the conversation neutral. The weather, the cafe, the food (when it arrived) and local news. The tension began to settle and there was a natural rhythm of conversation. Sanji found himself looking at Nami every now and then. He could tell that she was not happy with what had happened, and it needed to change. When their drinks and food arrived, Vivi excused herself to go to the bathroom which left Nami and Sanji alone.

It was awkward. It was silent and Sanji didn’t really know what to say to her. Nami also looked like she felt the same way too. She looked like she didn’t know what to say either to him.

“Nami.. i”

“Sanji, I’m…sorry about what happened,” And she looked like she truly meant it. Sanji watched her expression shift. “No, I’m really sorry about how things turned out. I never wanted you to get hurt like this,”

Sanji nodded, appreciating Nami’s moment of vulnerability and honesty, “I know…I…It’s just a lot to take in at the minute,”

Nami looked down at her coffee. She had been stirring it absentmindedly, “I understand. I should have been more upfront about my suspicions…I just… never thought Zoro would do something like this. I didn’t want to believe it,”

The conversation that began to unfold was delicate but much needed. There was so much going on right now and while he didn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle, he saw the regret and frustration in her eyes. It resonated with his own feelings. His own feelings of hurt.

"Yeah. Imagine how I feel right now," Sanji leaned back in his chair. The fact that him…of ALL people would do this.

Nami nodded, now her eyes beginning to meet his, "I wish I told you…I just… I wanted him to stop. I wanted to give him a chance to stop on his own accord,"

Sanji sighed with a mixture of understanding and lingering disbelief in his expression. "I get it. Nami. Really, I do. You were in a really tough spot. I just…this whole thing with Zoro, it's messed up. I wouldn't thought he’d do something like this,"

Nami's gaze was filled with empathy, "I know, Sanji. I'm so sorry I didn't step in when I could have…I guess, he's my friend too and I just wanted him to do the right thing,"

But he didn't. They were both aware of that, but it ended up going way too far now.

"It's just so hard to wrap my head around," Sanji admitted running his hand through his hair, "Zoro… of ALL people…HIM…I just don't get it,"

Nami reached his hand across the table, placing her hand across the table as a gesture in comfort, "It's okay…That happened wasn't fair to you. I'm here for you if you ever want to talk,"

Sanji looked up at her and met her gaze, "Thank you Nami. It means a lot to me," But things just never ever seemed to add up. Sanji sighed, "I Just…I know it sounds awful… but I wish I knew what he was thinking…I wish I could talk to him,"

Nami's expression softened as she listened to Sanji, "I understand…Closure is important. To be honest, I wish I knew too,"

Sanji nodded, at the moment his thoughts were a whirlwind of emotions and questions, "Yeah, closure. I'm not sure I'm ready to face him though. Everything is just really complicated right now,"

The conversation paused as Vivi returned and she immediately sense a change in the atmosphere. She looked between Sanji and Nami and picking up the vibe, "Everything okay here?"

"Yeah. We're talking things through," Sanji replied.

Vivi nodded, sliding in next to Sanji. "That's good to hear. I think you needed to hear each-other out," As they wrapped up their time together, Sanji felt a new sense of support from both of his friends. It was comforting to know what he wasn't alone in this. He also began to realise that facing Zoro was going to happen. It didn't have to…of course but understanding Zoro's motivations and confronting the hurt and betrayal and finding a way past it.

Leaving the cafe afterwards, Sanji felt a mixture of emotions. The weight of the situation was still there but now the road felt clearer and he felt as if he knew what direction he was going in this time. He knew what the road was the ahead of then abd it would be challenging but he knew he wasn't walking alone.

One day…maybe One day he’d face Zoro but right now, he had to wait until he was ready and he wouldn’t be ready for a long time.

A FEW WEEKS LATER.

Z POV

For the past couple of weeks, Zoro was trying to move on from what had happened. He didn't try and contact Sanji or Nami within that time. He kept mostly to Luffy at the minute for support. Luffy was still oblivious to what was going on but even then, he sensed that something happened but Luffy didn’t pry. He wasn’t that kind of guy. Robin’s conversation haunted him every day. He thought about her words all the time. As nerve hitting as they were, Robin was right. This experience had been so real for him.

However, kept going on with his life. However, one day it would all change. Zoro had just been out for a run when he came back. To be honest, after a little while, Zoro needed a little bit of space to figure things out but he thought about what he done every day.

His phone buzzed while he was in the shower but he payed no mean. It was probably just Luffy. However, when he got out the shower. He picked up his phone and looked at it and…was shocked.

Zoro never deleted Zoey's profiles or apps. He didn't look at them but he didn't delete them. So, when Sanji messaged Zoey, Zoro was absolutely shocked.

S: Meet me at the Baratie tonight. I think we should talk. I’ve told Luffy I won’t be there so it will just be us.

Zoro stood there. He was dripping wet and staring at the message on his phone. His heart began to pound in his chest as a mix of surprise and apprehension as well as a faint glimmer of hope stirred within him in hopes that Sanji was reaching out like this. His mind reeled. Why would Sanji want to meet now, after all these weeks? Was this a confrontation, a chance for closure or something.

Once the shock wore off, Zoro quickly dressed before getting on with the rest of his day. However, when the time was reaching the normal time that he normally would go to the Baratie if he was being forced to by Luffy, he made his way to the Baratie. It had recently occurred to him that he’s never been there on his own. This restaurant was where so many fights between him and Sanji would break. It was funny… those moments seemed like such a far away world right now. It seemed like a completely different memory and yet… here he was, ready to face the music.

He wasn’t nervous. Didn’t see the point in getting nervous now. He had come to terms that wit was very much possible that Sanji might not want to have anything to do with each other never again. It would be the right thing to do in this situation. There would probably be some disappointment if that were the case…

Standing at the door, he looked inside. It was dark inside and he couldn’t see Sanji. So, he shot him a text.

Z: I’m here. Waiting outside.

He waited outside, looking around the building and then…ah, he saw Sanji emerge from the back office. Sanji looked…fine. He didn’t look completely broken apart or upset or anything like that. He just looked…fine. Zoro didn’t know what he was to expect from all of this. Sanji came over and opened the door to let him in. Zoro watched him. A familiar figure in front of him and yet the circumstances were completely foreign.

“Zoro,” Sanji greeted at the door. His voice was steady but with an undercurrent of tension between them. Clearly, neither of them had forgot. “Thanks for coming,”

It felt…odd. It was only then when he was there it hadn’t occurred that him and Sanji had never even hanged out on their own. They really only ever had these interactions when Luffy made them go. He didn’t even know Sanji…until Zoey.

Sanji brought them over. There was a table set up with two beers. Zoro was silently grateful for the beer as that would probably make it better There was silence as they set down and it was a heavy mutual silence. There was a mutual understanding of the gravity of the situation. Simply, Zoro needed to give him an explanation and an apology but…

“I’ve had a little bit of time to think…” Sanji decided to break the silence, “About…what happened and about…us,” He took the glass in his hand a swirled it a little… “And I released that I can’t move on unless I get some answers,”

Zoro nodded. That was reasonable and he was prepared for this…or at least as prepared as he could be for something like this, “I understand. I owe you an explanation and an apology. I…understand that you might have questions…I’ll answer to the best of my ability then,”

“Why did you do it?”

Understandable how that would be a first question, fine. Zoro nodded and then answered, “It was a joke…at first. Luffy and Usopp made the account to mess with me. However, the more and more it went on, I got invested in our conversations,”

Sanji listened to Zoro talk. His emotions changed as he spoke. Shifting from hurt to confused. It hadn’t been serious to begin with. It had been a joke, but it turned serious. That was what stuck to Sanji.

“…it wasn’t a joke to you…after a while?” Sanji asked more for clarity as his voice was deep with intensity.

Zoro hesitated with his answer. He didn’t know what that would imply. That after all this time…his feelings right now were complex. “No. It wasn’t. I started to enjoy our conversations. The things you did…I cared more than I thought I would. I just…ended up getting carried away with the persona. I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t know how to without…ruining things,”

Sanji processed his answer before talking again, “But you did ruin it, Zoro. You lied and you played with my feelings. I just…want to understand why you didn’t stop when you seen how far things were getting,”

Zoro then took a deep breath and then looked at his beer trying to think of the answer to his question, “Believe it or not…I actually enjoyed our connection. The version that existed through Zoey…It felt different from our fights and bickering. It was…real,”

“But it wasn’t real,” Sanji replied, his grip tightening on his glass, “It was built on a lie…a lie that went too far,”

Typical but not unexpected that Sanji wouldn’t except a simple explanation. Hell, Zoro would be surprised if he had. There was no justification, but Sanji deserved the truth after all.

“I ruined it. I know that” There was no sense in hiding it. There was no other way he can move beyond this, “I didn’t want to tell you. I enjoyed what we had too much, and I can’t lie about that. Even if it was based on a lie, it was meaningful,”

Sanji looked at him for a second. His face was unreadable as he took in hothouse words, “Meaningful?” He repeated back. For some reason that felt…upsetting to him, “What you did to me was humiliating. I dedicated my time for you, and you didn’t even have the decency to tell me yourself?!”

There was an increasing tension growing the more and more that they look into this. There seems to be a difference of opinions here. This is…after all, an incredibly delicate matter that they are both now talking about, and they aren’t even touching on the pictures.

Sanji seemed angry at him, and he understood the need to be angry. That pain and betrayal. The humiliation of it all.

“I don’t know what more I can say other than Zoro. It..happened and I can’t go back and fix this… I got lost in the lie like you did,”

Sanji’s anger seemed to simmer. He didn’t want to blow up and he wanted to deal with this with some matter of delicacy but the fact that Zoro feels like he is in any way the victim in all of this is…insulting, “You just don’t get it…do you? It wasn’t just about the lie. It was how far you it go. The conversations…the..pictures. I sent you things I would never send anyone because i thought you were Zoey. It was very real to me, and it felt like a stab in the back when I found out it was all a game,”

It was Zoro’s turn to simmer in anger because how many times does he have to tell him this, “It wasn’t a game to me either,” He clearly felt annoyance build up in his voice. Sanji wasn’t listening to him. Why invite him over if he wasn’t going to listen to him at all? It just doesn’t make sense in the slightest, “I’ve been trying to tell you this for a while. I can’t explain why or how. I don’t think you really care for that but my feeling towards it have changed, and it was a lie that turned into something more…something i cannot control anymore,”

“And how could I possibility understand all of that?” Sanji just felt more frustrated than anything because he just simply didn’t understand his reasoning. It was selfish and quite possibly life ruining what he’s done, and Zoro cannot seem to see that, “I…I don’t want to go around in circles about this…we might never agree… I need to know something else. What happened that night? The night in the club…”

That night had been brought up and he knew it was avoidable. Zoro knew how awful it had been for Sanji. For Zoey to not show up, for Sanji to be spiked and then nearly taken advantage of in an alleyway and then to end up completely vulnerable in another man’s flat like that.

“I didn’t mean for that to happen…” Zoro said almost immediately, “I…didn’t plan for that…”

“Then what did you plan for? I was spiked by a stranger and ended up in your bed,” Sanji didn’t want to ask about it but he felt like he had to…” Did…something happen between us that night?”

Zoro paused for a moment. It was funny how he had wanted something to happen between them, but it never had…that was, in a way, one blessing about the whole thing, “Nothing happened between us…I had…wanted something to happen between us but I saw you there with that guy and I saw what was going to happen if I didn’t intervene. I don’t regret taking you back to mine, even though nothing happened,”

Sanji didn’t know what stuck to him first. The fact that nothing happened between them or the fact that all this time, he had wanted something to happen. At least it answered one question. Nothing happened between them. Zoro and Sanji hadn’t slept together and Sanji had been attacked that night and Zoro…saved him. His next question came out, it was almost by complete mistake.

“Do you…. have feelings for me?” Sanji asked, feeling tense at the question because from the conversation, he already knew the answer. Zoro met his gaze. The question hung heavily in the air between them. It was a question that went to the heart of this situation and a question that both of them were maybe dreading coming up.

“Yes,” Zoro finally admitted to him out loud and it felt…weird. Good actually, but weird.

Sanji sat back in his chair. He…had begun to think that was a possibility. Zoro had gotten such…incredibly intimate photos of Sanji during that time and it can’t have been for nothing.

“It’s a lot to take in…” Sanji admitted.

“I know that” There was a hint of relief that it was finally getting its way through to him, “I was half accepting you get get angry at me for having feelings for you,”

Sanji’s face was a mix of emotions at that, “Angry? I don’t know if that’s the word for it…confused, maybe but not angry,”

Zoro leaned back. He didn’t show it, but he actually began to relax a little bit. “I half expected you to throw something at me…”

Sanji sighed, running his hand throw his hair. He was lost in thought about this whole situation. It was…crazy to say the least, “This whole thing Zoro…it’s a mess. And you telling me that you, of all people, have feelings for me…it’s just…that’s insane,”

“Insane is one way of putting it,” He gave a wry half smile, finally acknowledging the absurdity of the situation, “I never expected this to happen. You and I…ever since Luffy introduced us, we’ve been at odds and then Zoey happens and…i never expected this to happen ever,”

Sanji shook his head as the absurdity settled for him too, “We’ve been annoying each other for years. Now, you suddenly tell me that you have feelings for me. It’s a lot to wrap my head around, honestly,”

Sanji was reflectively silence. The conversation and the weight of it settled around them. It wasn’t closure. This actually opened a lot more questions than answered them.

“I need time,” Sanji admitted because all of this was one big slap in the face right now, “I don’t really know where to go from here,”

Zoro nodded. The two of them sat there. Both of them wrapped in their own thoughts. The revelation had indeed made things difficult. Added layers to their already complex relationship. Once things were done, there was sense of a tentative understanding between them. Zoro left the restaurant shortly later. He was willing to go on with life once again. It was fine. Sanji needed time. That was fine. He could give him time. That was okay.

Time was all he had right now, after all.

[lean-mean-demon-genevieve]

I honestly wish I had less to say about this broad, but here we are.

It would seem that very few people are as of yet willing to pay for the rambling mess that is Gen’s Bookclub this time around, because suddenly they are offering 10 lucky winners a meet-and-greet. This wasn’t mentioned in her first post about the event on 9/6 but in her plea post yesterday it was a dangled carrot.

If you head to the link in bio, you will confirm that, yes the tickets are $30 for a moderated conversation in which you may be removed at any time and the meet and greets are a last-ditch effort add-on.

Gen’s video tries to tug on your heartstrings by reminding you that a portion of the ticket proceeds go to the non-profit organization, Reading is Fundamental. Nowhere on the website or IG posts have I been able to find an actual percentage listed. Reading may be fundamental, but apparently transparency is not. So that’s neat.

As a final Hail Mary, Gen rattles off some statistics that, because they were coming out of her mouth, warranted some fact-checking. She says that 43% of Americans are functionally illiterate, but I don’t find that same stat anywhere either. It kinda seems like she flubbed this one:

But I also found that the definition of “functionally illiterate” is reading below a 5th grade reading level and when you raise the bar to 6th grade, 54% of Americans fall short. That number IS staggering, but it’s still incredibly irritating that Gen is this incompetent and careless when she’s asking people to spend money on her. I got this from a bare minimum google search.

Again, what’s my issue here? It’s this: if you care about literacy rates in the US then donate directly to a charity or volunteer at your local library but do not spend money to watch this twit embarrass herself or help Charlie Capen, who is at the helm of Momentus, build his resume. (Jared should also be embarrassed for contributing to this, to be honest.) She is not selfless either. She could throw money at any charity of her choosing, but instead they are charging fans to watch an interview and a PORTION of the proceeds go to charity. Genevieve is someone who centers herself in every issue she “cares” about and continues to get lifted up as a hero. Fuck. That.

You don’t need a middle man to put good into the world. And that’s all Genevieve will ever be.

[xtekker]

Day 2 of publicising my website recode

So yesterday, I began the redesign/recode of my personal site due to various reasons.

Yesterday, I tackled the navigation of my site as a whole and massively chnaged the navigation bar,

Today I finished up the nav bar(I did successfully make it hidden with the menu button using Javascript), messed with the general feel and layout of the site and added a site header I dont think I have settled on the overall look just yet but at the end of day 2, this is the progress thus far.

I used a CSS background generator from @xiacodes (She has some really cool webdev resources on her blog) to make the background and I changed some of the properties of the elements, tidied up the backend code and removed some redundant code which was messing with the navbar.

Overall, today was about finishing the nav bar with javascript, finding a decent background and tidying up the code.

Tomorrow, I shall tackle the projects page, I plan to display some of my java and python games/projects with a brief explanation of the process, some issues I encounted and how I solved them with a button to play that game yourself in a new window. I have a feeling this won't go as planned though.

[sassyfrassboss]

Yea I don't think Meghan is going. If she's setting up the divorce narrative like she has for the last 5+ months, it would be pointless to attend what will likely be their most high-profile event this year. It would mean throwing away what she's done thus far, it has already happened once with the car chase and it didn't really matter all that much because speculation wasn't that high at that point. Sure behind the scenes, they already knew they were losing spotify. It may have been a last-ditch attempt to gain viewership and revlancey again.

As a sidebar, Archewell removed the Heart of Invictus from their website. The giant blurb that was released when they first announced the project is gone, and it's a fairly recent move. Which lends credibility to the theory that are moving away from the couple. A decision to "mutually part ways", has been rumored for months. And if it's true no wonder she won't show up to the actual games, she doesn't want the negative PR articles about it anywhere near recent photos of her.

There was another announcement made yesterday or today that they are partnering with some new men's initiative. I didn't even read the article.

I truly do think that they will announce the divorce in November during all of the Remembrance celebrations or when Parliament and Earthshot begin.

Invictus is the one event where they are actually doing something instead of just talking about it and now that is done. They usually just throw cash at the situation.

The past few times Meghan has gone its been all about her and not the games. Which hopefully they have gotten tired of.

[stela20]

I'm sorry if my English is not good, I use Google Translate

This is my story from the Quotev website, so I wanted to write it and publish it here, but enjoy ❤

Y/n's pov

I remember that day….. Yes, I remember that day in great detail, as if it had happened to me yesterday.

Flashback 5 years ago

I was in high school, 3rd year of secondary school, sitting in class and attending a chemistry lesson, and frankly, I did not understand anything about chemistry, but the only one who was helping me with that was Biko. Biko was very smart and very kind to me, and he was my first friend in high school and after that. He introduced me to his friends, Nene and Darnell, and the 4 of us became friends and help each other, but school is almost over, so I'm afraid I won't see my friends again, so we all took our phone numbers. I really love them all with all my heart, but the one I really love is Peko and I hope he will be my future lover one day, and now I am in class

The teacher: Well, children, who knows how to solve this problem?

Beko Hamas: It's me

The teacher: Well, go ahead, Biko

He solved this problem easily and quickly

Mrs. Saeed: Well done, Biko, and now for the second

Suddenly, Cassandra appeared, carrying a gun and pointing in front of the teacher. I and the rest of the students had never liked Cassandra, and we felt that she was a danger to all of us, but not to the point that she wanted to carry a gun and point at us. The teacher and all of us were surprised by the situation.

Cassandra got angry and shouted: Stop this, you idiot. You are all the same. I do not want to learn and do these stupid things. Curse everyone and everything.

y/n: Cassandra please stop joking like that this is not mothly

Nene: Yes, and can you remove this toy gun?

Cassandra got angry and screamed: And you also tell me it's a game. Are you so stupid? It's not a game.

Darnell: What evidence do you have on this?

Cassandra killed the teacher in front of all of us and killed the rest of the class, but me, Pico, Nene, and Darnell survived. Cassandra went to rule the world and destroy the school. The four of us left the classroom, not knowing what to do.

Nene Totter: What will we do now?

Darnell Fear: I don't know

Biko got angry: We will kill

y/n surprised: m…what?

Biko got angry: You heard what I just said, now everyone prepare yourselves, Darnell, go outside the school and get a car for us to ride in, and also go to the cafeteria and bring all kinds of food.

Nene is sad and crying: I don't want this to happen, Biko. I want to stay with Darnell

Biko got angry: Well, stay with Darnell and make each other happy, and if anything happens… kill anyone who tries to harm you all.

y/n surprised: m…what?

Biko got angry: As you heard, I don't want to repeat my words twice. Go and move

Nini and I had knives, but Pico and Darnell had a gun. I decided to stay with Pico, and Nini and Darnell went, and I went with Pico, and we were running and trying to find Cassandra and trying to prevent her from stopping what she was doing.

y/n: what are we going to do now?

Pico got angry: As I said, we must kill anyone who tries to harm us, and I also know Cassandra’s plan. She will turn the world into hell soon, and now we must stop her.

y/n: Okay, I'm with you

In fact, Pico and I kill anyone with Cassandra, and we were working well together, but one of the people working with Cassandra shot me in the foot and I was screaming in pain.

Peko got angry and shouted: y/n no

Biko killed the person who injured me and went towards me

Biko worried: y/n are you okay?

y/n: Yes, no problem

Biko treated the genie and Biko picked me up and took me to one of the classes and made sure that there was no danger in the class. After that, he gently put me on a chair and gave me my phone. He found a stick on the floor and gave it to me so I could use it and help me stand.

Pico: y/n, I will go and act and kill Cassandra, and if I do not return to you after 6 pm, you, Nene, and Darnell, run away for your lives.

y/n is sad and worried: I will not leave you

Pico: y/n, you will not be able to move because you are injured….. y/n I am happy that you appeared in my life, and I wished that you would be with me at all times and in every place…. If I do not come back to you, know that I love you and I was hoping that you would be my lover and my future wife… I love you

After that, Pico closed the classroom door, and I was waiting for Pico. After the time had passed, it was now 6:30, and I was afraid for Pico. After a minute, Pico opened the classroom door, his face stained with blood, and he was smiling at me and approaching me.

Pico Saeed: Don’t be afraid, my love, everything is fine… Cassandra is dead and…

I took Pico in a big hug. I couldn't take it anymore and was crying

y/n: Peko….I too…love you

Biko took me in for a deep kiss that lasted for a minute, and after that he confessed his feelings for me and how much he loved me. After that, Biko carried me and we went to Nene and Darnell's to leave this school forever.

End of flashback

After that, me, Biko, Mimi, and Darnell became murderers, but we do not kill innocent people. Rather, we kill people who deserve to be killed. After all these adventures, Biko and I sit in a high port and watch the stars.

Biko Saeed: y/n, can I suggest something to you?

y/n: Yes, what is it?

Biko Saeed: y/n I am happy that you appeared in my life and every day I love that you are with me and now I want you to be with me forever…. Will you marry me, my love?

y/n Saeed: Yes

After that day, we got married, and Biko and I are happy in our lives, and Nene and Darnell are also very happy for us. After 5 months, I became pregnant, and Biko and I are now waiting for our little son with bated breath and happiness ❤

❤ The end ❤

[zot3-flopped]

Did you notice that lottie suddenly stopped posting about tanologist like she used to , the tanologist instagram months ago suddenly removed “created by @lottietomlinson “from their bio , and lottie yesterday removed creator of tanologist from her bio , is she actually the owner ???, because it’s not registered under her name.. , like molly mae has her brand under her name , lottie on the other hand has only her new fitness thing registered under her name🧐

She still has a link to the website up and the website still has references to her.

[shit-talk-turner]

One singular gossip instagram reposted a paparazzi photo. And one gossip magazine said there were engagement rumors because Louise wears rings on her ring finger and someone took notice. No one else is talking about engagement or marriage except the same crazies that always have been. Relax. // I was actually listening to an old episode of the Deuxmoi podcast yesterday where she was talking to one of the owners of Backgrid. So they don’t actually employ photographers but are basically only hosting the content because they have freelancers „working“ for them. The pictures are uploaded on the Backgrid website so everyone (like news outlets; Dailymail for instance) with a log in can see the pictures they upload. She also asked him about several paparazzi pictures and he explained why they weren’t staged. In another episode she talked to the photographer who took the Harry & Olivia pictures from the wedding. The way I understood it is that they have this huge pool of really professional photographers who know how to do their job (without being seen) and follow celebrities literally for ages and just know the hot spots and where they frequent because it’s all they do for a living. And then often it’s just luck and coincidence or they wait for ages.

He said 95% of the pictures aren’t staged. That’s not to say that those in Italy weren’t, I mean there were about 30 of them. But it’s definitely a hotspot and they might have been watching them for a while too. The Dailymail broke that story because Alex is well known in the UK and they already pushed out that Glastonbury piece earlier so it makes sense since they’re on tour as well. Maybe the years before there were pictures too but they didn’t think anyone would care. And let’s face it, how would Louise have the connections or reach, influence etc to pull this stunt? The article being removed after 24 is just an indication that Alex didn’t like it. I’m not sure they would remove the article if they had agreed to it?

I definitely think those in LA weren’t staged. That’s just a hotspot and Louise knows that too. So paparazzi just wait there. Also, there were only like 3 or 4 of them. The photographer said sometimes they just take what they can get and it definitely seemed to be that situation where it isn’t staged and they get only a few pics.

Very interesting! Thanks for this!

[bl6ckr0s3]

Looking 4ward to the Vacation

Now, I look 4ward to getting through this week to be able to have a full week's rest and enjoying my time off while I bring the rest of my stuff to my apartment. I'm hoping everything will fit fine once I have everything arranged to the way I want including being able to get the rest of the furniture that I would need which would be the TV stand, my coffee table storage, a table for Vera's terranium, my office/computer table, and of course my new tall dresser that will need to be finally assembled to store more of my clothes. I want to save some of my boxes, but I will plan on recycling the rest until the day I buy my own house/condo and they will be needed again when I move again in the future. My 2 days off just passed by too quickly and I totally feel like I still haven't fully rested enough. It's ok, I'll do my best to rest as much as I can everyday this week until my next days off.

David went to the ER yesterday, but they couldn't help him take my hair out of his throat without the proper tools. He had to be referred to a specialist twice, so hopefully he will be able to schedule an appointment to have it removed b4 our vacation starts this coming week. It has gotten to the point where his throat has gotten pretty irritated, it's affecting his breathing, & he was prescribed medication that would help him sleep for the next 3 nights. Since he doesn't want to tell his dad about the 'hair' problem and the doctor's note excusing him from work for the next few days, I'm letting him spend the night at my place until he returns to work on Tuesday evening. This is just so he doesn't get any annoying lectures from his dad because like my family, they tend to make a big deal out of nothing of certain things. I guess it's an Asian culture bullshit. Anyways, I'll have to make sure I stock up on some more gallon waters for him. He won't have to deal with Shiela for a few days and for the next whole week. I prayed to God begging him to handle her and to bless David with a more peaceful mind not having to deal with her anymore.

I also took an attempt to check on Cait's old website Shaymana.com and notice the website doesn't work anymore. It looks as if she has went out of business. I sent her an email last night checking in on her to see if she's doing ok. Not sure if she will respond, but I really do miss talking to her. I really felt like me and her really connected during the times I went to her for readings. I hope she is ok.

[cleverhottubmiracle]

Dear BoF Community,Late last week, we started to receive DMs and WhatsApp messages with screenshots of a letter written by Saks Global CEO Marc Metrick to the more than 2,000 brands that populate the floors and e-commerce websites of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. One DM we received from one New York fashion brand summed up the general sentiment: “We have not been paid by Saks for over a year. We also have unpaid invoices from Neiman’s and Bergdorf’s. This is a very, very big problem for the fashion world, especially for small brands who can’t act as banks and loan these large companies our products [which] we have paid to manufacture over a year and a half ago.” In his letter, Metrick acknowledged the significant payment delays over the last 18 months. Going forward, he said that brands would be paid on net-90 days terms, meaning that brands would be paid 90 days after goods have been delivered. What’s more, Metrick said all outstanding payments — estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars — would be paid “in 12 instalments beginning in July 2025.” Metrick was aiming to clear the air after months of uncertainty, but as retail correspondent Cathaleen Chen wrote in her analysis of the situation, the plan seems to have backfired. “If customers are feeling bored when walking through the stores it’s because no one will ship to them anymore because they don’t pay their vendors and no one is allowed to talk about it,” the New York fashion brand continued. “Meanwhile, Saks is constantly throwing lavish parties for influencers and fashion insiders, which seem to be financed off of our backs.”Delayed payments have been an issue in fashion since I can remember. Back in 2013, I wrote a pointed story about fashion’s poor payors, describing how retailers were stretching their payment terms from net-30 to net-60 days. Now Saks is talking about a standard of net-90 days, which makes operating a sustainable fashion business nearly impossible.Indeed, Saks’ idea that independent businesses, whose very survival depends on getting in enough cash to pay for the development of next season’s collections (as well as to pay their employees and all other operating costs), should continue to finance the cash flow of a company that does $10 billion in combined revenue, is the latest sign of the growing power imbalance in the wholesale market that is increasingly in favour of big retailers, threatening the overall health of the fashion ecosystem. Still, a number of the brands Cathaleen spoke to have concluded that rather than continue to operate under onerous payment terms, they would rather just take their business elsewhere.So what else can you do when retailers don’t pay? Back in 2021, Cathaleen wrote a helpful guide, outlining some of the key steps you can take to mitigate — if not entirely remove — the potential consequences of late payments. And earlier this week, she outlined how emerging brands can solve the wholesale puzzle. Meanwhile, as we pointed out in our This Week in Fashion newsletter yesterday, Saks needs to earn back the trust that it has lost by paying on schedule, and on-time, even if it is slower than brands would like. This is key to growing a healthy fashion ecosystem, for everyone’s benefit. You can be sure that BoF will continue to monitor the developments around the Saks story in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, please enjoy my other top picks from all our coverage from across BoF from the week gone by.Here are my other top picks from our analysis on fashion, luxury and beauty:1. Saks Wanted to Clear the Air With Brands. The Plan Backfired. Relations between Saks Global and many of the 2,000-odd brands stocked in its department stores appear to be worse than ever after the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman sent a letter last week setting new payment terms.2. How Emerging Brands Can Solve the Wholesale Puzzle. Partnering with department stores and boutiques used to be the first and sometimes only option for new labels to break though. Today, that path often winds through Shopify and Instagram first, but multi-brand retailers still have an important role to play.3. Chief Product Officers Are Fashion’s New Power Players. From Burberry to Michael Kors and Under Armour, brands are leaning on product chiefs to navigate economic uncertainty and reignite innovation.4. How Crown Affair Became the Queen of It-Girl Hair Care. Dianna Cohen and Elaine Choi have built an insider favourite haircare label with signature products like the hair towel and brush-applied dry shampoo. Armed with a new funding round, they want to bring the brand to the masses.5. Paolo Carzana: London’s Slow Fashion Poet. The Welsh designer’s fledgling label is set to draw a bigger spotlight at London Fashion Week this season.This Weekend on The BoF PodcastOpens in new windowThe author has shared a Podcast.You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third-party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view embedded content in this article and others you may visit in future.AcceptGiles Duley began his photography career at an enviable pinnacle, shooting for GQ and Vogue and even touring with Oasis. Despite this early success, he found himself unfulfilled by the culture and sought a greater sense of purpose. Over time, his lens shifted from backstage glamour to the frontlines of conflict, where he began documenting the impact of war on ordinary lives. A life-altering moment came in Afghanistan when an IED explosion claimed three of his limbs, yet Duley returned to conflict zones with a renewed commitment to capturing stories of love and resilience.“There is a connection from where I started to where I am now which is stories and empathy,” he says. “There’s the story, there’s the storyteller, and then there’s the amplifier. And what brands and individuals can do is be those amplifiers to make sure those stories are heard around the world. … I’ve realised the way I live my best life is to make sure others are living their best life – and that is my purpose.” Through his Legacy of War Foundation, Giles demonstrates how creativity and empathy can break down barriers, urging each of us to use our own platforms and talents to enact meaningful change.Wishing you all a great weekend!Imran Amed, Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, The Business of Fashion Source link

[norajworld]

Dear BoF Community,Late last week, we started to receive DMs and WhatsApp messages with screenshots of a letter written by Saks Global CEO Marc Metrick to the more than 2,000 brands that populate the floors and e-commerce websites of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. One DM we received from one New York fashion brand summed up the general sentiment: “We have not been paid by Saks for over a year. We also have unpaid invoices from Neiman’s and Bergdorf’s. This is a very, very big problem for the fashion world, especially for small brands who can’t act as banks and loan these large companies our products [which] we have paid to manufacture over a year and a half ago.” In his letter, Metrick acknowledged the significant payment delays over the last 18 months. Going forward, he said that brands would be paid on net-90 days terms, meaning that brands would be paid 90 days after goods have been delivered. What’s more, Metrick said all outstanding payments — estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars — would be paid “in 12 instalments beginning in July 2025.” Metrick was aiming to clear the air after months of uncertainty, but as retail correspondent Cathaleen Chen wrote in her analysis of the situation, the plan seems to have backfired. “If customers are feeling bored when walking through the stores it’s because no one will ship to them anymore because they don’t pay their vendors and no one is allowed to talk about it,” the New York fashion brand continued. “Meanwhile, Saks is constantly throwing lavish parties for influencers and fashion insiders, which seem to be financed off of our backs.”Delayed payments have been an issue in fashion since I can remember. Back in 2013, I wrote a pointed story about fashion’s poor payors, describing how retailers were stretching their payment terms from net-30 to net-60 days. Now Saks is talking about a standard of net-90 days, which makes operating a sustainable fashion business nearly impossible.Indeed, Saks’ idea that independent businesses, whose very survival depends on getting in enough cash to pay for the development of next season’s collections (as well as to pay their employees and all other operating costs), should continue to finance the cash flow of a company that does $10 billion in combined revenue, is the latest sign of the growing power imbalance in the wholesale market that is increasingly in favour of big retailers, threatening the overall health of the fashion ecosystem. Still, a number of the brands Cathaleen spoke to have concluded that rather than continue to operate under onerous payment terms, they would rather just take their business elsewhere.So what else can you do when retailers don’t pay? Back in 2021, Cathaleen wrote a helpful guide, outlining some of the key steps you can take to mitigate — if not entirely remove — the potential consequences of late payments. And earlier this week, she outlined how emerging brands can solve the wholesale puzzle. Meanwhile, as we pointed out in our This Week in Fashion newsletter yesterday, Saks needs to earn back the trust that it has lost by paying on schedule, and on-time, even if it is slower than brands would like. This is key to growing a healthy fashion ecosystem, for everyone’s benefit. You can be sure that BoF will continue to monitor the developments around the Saks story in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, please enjoy my other top picks from all our coverage from across BoF from the week gone by.Here are my other top picks from our analysis on fashion, luxury and beauty:1. Saks Wanted to Clear the Air With Brands. The Plan Backfired. Relations between Saks Global and many of the 2,000-odd brands stocked in its department stores appear to be worse than ever after the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman sent a letter last week setting new payment terms.2. How Emerging Brands Can Solve the Wholesale Puzzle. Partnering with department stores and boutiques used to be the first and sometimes only option for new labels to break though. Today, that path often winds through Shopify and Instagram first, but multi-brand retailers still have an important role to play.3. Chief Product Officers Are Fashion’s New Power Players. From Burberry to Michael Kors and Under Armour, brands are leaning on product chiefs to navigate economic uncertainty and reignite innovation.4. How Crown Affair Became the Queen of It-Girl Hair Care. Dianna Cohen and Elaine Choi have built an insider favourite haircare label with signature products like the hair towel and brush-applied dry shampoo. Armed with a new funding round, they want to bring the brand to the masses.5. Paolo Carzana: London’s Slow Fashion Poet. The Welsh designer’s fledgling label is set to draw a bigger spotlight at London Fashion Week this season.This Weekend on The BoF PodcastOpens in new windowThe author has shared a Podcast.You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third-party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view embedded content in this article and others you may visit in future.AcceptGiles Duley began his photography career at an enviable pinnacle, shooting for GQ and Vogue and even touring with Oasis. Despite this early success, he found himself unfulfilled by the culture and sought a greater sense of purpose. Over time, his lens shifted from backstage glamour to the frontlines of conflict, where he began documenting the impact of war on ordinary lives. A life-altering moment came in Afghanistan when an IED explosion claimed three of his limbs, yet Duley returned to conflict zones with a renewed commitment to capturing stories of love and resilience.“There is a connection from where I started to where I am now which is stories and empathy,” he says. “There’s the story, there’s the storyteller, and then there’s the amplifier. And what brands and individuals can do is be those amplifiers to make sure those stories are heard around the world. … I’ve realised the way I live my best life is to make sure others are living their best life – and that is my purpose.” Through his Legacy of War Foundation, Giles demonstrates how creativity and empathy can break down barriers, urging each of us to use our own platforms and talents to enact meaningful change.Wishing you all a great weekend!Imran Amed, Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, The Business of Fashion Source link