#short sale specialist

[ross1245]

Understanding Short Sale - A Comprehensive Guide 2024

When it comes to real estate or investments, the term short sale often surfaces, especially in times of economic downturn or fluctuating markets.

This blog will break down everything you need to know about short sales, including how they work, their risks, benefits, and impact on various parties. We’ll also cover the role of short sales in the real estate market.

[foreclosuresolutions]

Foreclosure Fallout: How to Bounce Back and Rebuild

Foreclosure is undoubtedly a challenging experience, and its aftermath can leave individuals feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about their financial future. However, amidst the turmoil, there is hope. In this blog post, we will explore strategies to help you bounce back and rebuild your life after facing foreclosure. From understanding the options like Short Sale and Loan Modification to navigating the intricacies of the foreclosure process, we'll provide actionable steps to guide you through this challenging time.

 Understanding Foreclosure: The Fallout

Foreclosure is a legal process through which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments. The fallout from foreclosure can be devastating, impacting not only your financial stability but also your emotional well-being. Many individuals facing foreclosure often feel a sense of shame, failure, and uncertainty about what the future holds. However, it's essential to remember that you are not alone, and there are steps you can take to overcome this setback.

 Exploring Your Options: Short Sale and Loan Modification

 Short Sale: A Viable Alternative

A Short Sale is a real estate transaction in which the proceeds from selling the property fall short of the balance owed on the mortgage. In simple terms, the lender agrees to accept less than the amount owed on the mortgage, allowing the homeowner to sell the property and avoid foreclosure. While a Short Sale can have a negative impact on your credit score, it is often less damaging than going through foreclosure. Moreover, it provides an opportunity to walk away from the property without facing the full consequences of foreclosure.

 Loan Modification: Restructuring Your Mortgage

A Loan Modification is a process where the terms of your existing mortgage are modified to make the monthly payments more manageable. This could involve lowering the interest rate, extending the loan term, or reducing the principal balance. A successful Loan Modification can help you avoid foreclosure by making your mortgage payments more affordable and sustainable. However, it's essential to communicate with your lender and provide all necessary documentation to support your request for modification.

 Bouncing Back: Steps to Rebuild Your Life

 Assessing Your Financial Situation

The first step in bouncing back from foreclosure is to assess your current financial situation. Take stock of your income, expenses, assets, and debts. Create a realistic budget that prioritizes essential expenses and identifies areas where you can cut back. Understanding your financial position will help you make informed decisions and develop a plan to move forward.

 Exploring Housing Options

After foreclosure, you may need to explore alternative housing options. Whether it's renting a new home or downsizing to a more affordable property, it's essential to consider your housing needs and financial constraints. Take the time to research available options, weigh the pros and cons, and make a decision that aligns with your long-term goals.

 Rebuilding Your Credit

Foreclosure can have a significant impact on your credit score, making it challenging to obtain new credit or loans in the future. However, it's not the end of the road. With time and effort, you can rebuild your credit and improve your financial standing. Start by reviewing your credit report, identifying any errors or discrepancies, and taking steps to address them. Then, focus on making timely payments, reducing debt, and using credit responsibly to demonstrate financial stability to potential lenders.

 Seeking Support

Dealing with foreclosure fallout can be emotionally and mentally draining. Don't hesitate to seek support from friends, family, or professional counselors who can offer guidance, encouragement, and practical advice. Remember that you are not alone, and there are resources available to help you navigate this challenging period and emerge stronger on the other side.

 Conclusion

While facing foreclosure fallout can be a daunting experience, it's essential to approach it with resilience, determination, and a proactive mindset. By exploring options like Short Sale and Loan Modification, assessing your financial situation, and taking steps to rebuild your life, you can overcome this setback and create a brighter future for yourself and your family. Remember, foreclosure is not the end of the road; it's a new beginning—a chance to learn, grow, and ultimately thrive.

If you're facing foreclosure and need assistance, don't hesitate to reach out to trusted professionals who can provide guidance and support. With the right strategies and a positive outlook, you can bounce back from foreclosure and rebuild your life on your terms.

[theemeraldteam]

Navigating Short Sale Foreclosures: A Specialist's Guide

A short sale is a process in which a homeowner sells their property for less than the outstanding mortgage balance, and the lender agrees to accept the proceeds as payment in full. This can be an alternative to foreclosure when the property's market value is less than the remaining mortgage amount. Short sales offer a compromise for both parties: lenders can minimize their losses, and borrowers can protect themselves from ruined credit. However, not all borrowers who are simply upside down on their mortgage can qualify for a short sale. If you are looking for a short sale foreclousre specialist the Emerald Team at Inked Real Estate is available here for you. Visit now for valuable tips and resources.

[astrocafecoffee]

Groom Persona chart Observation ✨

✨ For entertainment purposes only, enjoy ✨

~~~~~~~~~~~~~✨✨~~~~~~~~~~~~~

💖 1st house stellium in GPC means your fs maybe someone who is noticeable and stands out in social situations.

💖 5th house stellium in GPC means your fs could be an artist, musician, writer.

💖 7th house stellium in GPC means your fs could be attractive and socially adept, drawing others to them with their magnetic personality and charisma.

💖 Union (1585) in 1st house meaning meeting your fs while attending social events, gatherings, or parties where you can connect with new people/ professional connection/ shared interest.

💖 Union in 3rd house means you can meet your fs during short journeys or travels close to home.

💖 Union in 8th house means you may meet your fs in context where there is a shared investment and mutual dependency, such as through work, joint projects or shared social circles.

💖 Juno in Capricorn means your fs is known for their ambitious and goal oriented nature. They may be highly driven and motivated to achieve success in thier career, personal goals and relationships./ Could be famous too .

💖 Juno in Sagittarius means they can be a foreigner, philosophical and open minded.

💖 Juno in Taurus means your fs may prioritise creating a stable and secure home environment and may value financial stability within the relationship.

💖 Juno in leo means your fs may be confident, outgoing and enjoy being the center of the attention in social settings., Creative, generous, romantic.

💖 sun in 11th house means your fs is likely to possess a charismatic and Magnetic personality within their social circles ,may value friendship highly and their social network may play a significant role in shaping their identity and opportunities.

💖 Sun in 12th house means your fs may be introspective and contemplative with a rich inner world that is not always readily apparent to others.

💖 sun in 6th house means your fs may prefer predictable schedules and organized workflows that allows them to efficiently manage their time and responsibilities., Possess strong problem solving skills and an analytical mindset.

💖 Juno / groom/ Venus in Sagittarius or 21°/9° or in Aquarius or in 9th /12th house means a Foreign spouse.

💖 Venus in 5th - creativity, music/ art , your fs may have a strong desire for children or a nurturing instinct towards family life.

💖 Venus in 10th house - ambitious, successful, well liked , respected spouse.

💖 Fama in 1st / 7th house - could be famous spouse.

💖 POF in 4th house - fs may have a deep connection to their cultural background or family traditions., May have interest in real estate or property related work.

💖 leo rising means your fs may have a strong desire for recognition and appreciation.may carry themselves with Grace and poise projecting on air of authority and nobility.

💖 Virgo rising -Fs may be modest and humble , health conscious, possess a discerning eye and critical mind.

💖 Scorpio rising - fs may have mysterious allure and a penetrating gaze that leaves a lasting impression on those the encounter, have a rich inner world with complex emotions that run Deep.

💖 industria(389) in 3rd house - your fs career-

musicians, blogger, public relations, possess creative ideas, small business owner.

💖 industria in Libra - your fs career may be something with public relations or marketing, art or design, legal advocacy, or event planning.

💖 industria in Aquarius - you fs may be in technology or IT specialist, social activism , scientist or researcher, humanitarian work or international development.

💖 industria in Pisces - creative arts , healing arts , oceanography or marine conservation, healing arts , charity work.

💖 Industria in Aries - entrepreneur, may thrive in leadership roles , sales , marketing, or sports management.

💖 industria in Taurus - financial sector, buisness ownership, agriculture, horticulture, real estate, painting, sculpting or in music composition.

💖 industria in cancer -

Hospitality, home based business, psychotherapist, food blogger, art therapy.

💖 industria in gemini - social media influencer, journalist, writer, teaching profession, tour guide , hotel manager.

💖 industria in Scorpio -

- psychology and counseling, detectives, private investigator, forensic scientist ,holistic/ energy healer.

💖 Industria in Virgo - doctor, nurse , scientist, data analyst, , office manager, project coordinator, teachers, or instructors.

💖 industria in leo - actors , musicians, artist, brand ambassador, publicist, marketing manager.

💖 industria in Sagittarius - professors , researchers, journalist, media, philanthropy or in social justice advocacy.

💖 industria in Capricorn -

Buisness and management, politician, policy advisors , civil servants, lawyers, engineering, architect, judges.

💖 Northnode in 7th house suggests that your relationship with your fs may have karmic significance., Soulmate placement.

💖 Northnode in 3rd house means your fs may play a significant role in facilitating your growth and development in the areas of communication, intellect and learning.

💖 Karma conjunct ascendent/ descendant - karmic relationship.

💖 your fs may share similar placement like your groom pc. Example - if your sun in Aries in GPC, they could have sun in their 1st house or at 1°,13° or 25°.

💖 Groom conjunct vertex - fated/ predestined encounter with fs. They may have a profound impact on your life and personal growth. they may serve as a catalyst for important experiences, growth opportunities and transfermetive changes is in your life .your relationship with them maybe characterised by depth, intensity and sense of spiritual or emotional connection.

💖 Groom conjunct Venus -

The conjunction of groom and Venus indicates are strong attraction between you and your fs. there may be a magnetic pull or chemistry that draws you together, fueling feelings of romance ,passion and desire. your FS may possess qualities that you find irresistibly attractive both physically and emotionally.

💖 your fs may be drawn to individuals who embody the qualities associated with the seventh House lord for example-

* if the 7th house lord is sun then your fs may be attracted to individuals who support their ambitions, encourage their creativity and contribute positively to their self expression. they may be drawn to partners who are confident, self assured and have a strong sense of individuality.

* if 7th house lord is moon - your fs desires a partner who can meet there emotional needs and provide a sense of comfort and belonging. they are drawn to individuals who are empathetic, nurturing and emotionally supportive. emotional intimacy is a priority for them in the relationship.

* if the 7th house lord is Venus -

Your FS values relationships highly and seeks harmonious and loving partnership. they may prioritise finding a romantic partner who complements their own sense of beauty and aesthetics. partnership is Central to their sense of fulfillment and happiness.

* if the 7th house lord is mercury - your fs places a high value on mental simulation and intellectual compatibility in the relationships. they seek a partner who can engage them in stimulating conversations and share their interest and ideas.

*if the 7th house lord is mars - your fs may seek a partner who can match their level of energy and enthusiasm and they may be drawn to firey and spirited individuals. they thrive on excitement and adventure in their relationships.

* if the 7th house lord is saturn - your fs value tradition and stability in relationships. they may have traditional views on marriage and may seek partners who share their values and commitment to building a secured and enduring Union.

* if the 7th house lord is Jupiter - your fs seeks meaningful and enriching connections in their relationships. they may be drawn to partners who share their values and aspirations who can inspired them to expand their horizons and pursue their goals with confidence.

~~~~~~~~~~~✨✨~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading ~💫

-piko💖

[mariacallous]

On Boxing Day pro-Palestine demonstrators met customers at the Zara sale in the Westfield shopping centre, in Stratford, east London. They were not there to wish them the compliments of the season.

‘Bombs are dropping while you’re shopping,’ they chanted, as police stood by to make sure the protests did not turn violent. ‘Zara is enabling genocide,’ their placards read.

Quite what they wanted bargain hunters to do about the Israeli forces bombing the Gaza Strip, they never said. Lobby their MPs? Politicians are on their Christmas holidays. Join the Palestinian armed struggle?  It was unclear whether the shopping centre had a Hamas recruitment office.

But on one point the demonstrators were certain: no one should be buying from Zara. Even though the fashion chain has not encouraged Israel’s war against Hamas, earned income from it, or supported Israel in any material way, it was nevertheless “exploiting a genocide and commodifying Palestine's pain for profit”.

Zara, in short, has become the object of a paranoid fantasy: a QAnon conspiracy theory for the postcolonial left.

The Zara conspiracy is an entirely modern phenomenon. It has no original author. Antisemitic Russians sat down and wrote the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the early 20th century. There was an actual “Q” behind the QAnon conspiracy: a far-right activist who first appeared on 4chan message boards in 2017 to claim that a cabal of child abusers was conspiring against Donald Trump.

The Zara conspiracy was mass produced by social media users: an example of the madness of crowds rather than their supposed wisdom. The cause of the descent into hysteria was bizarre.

In early December Zara launched an advertising campaign featuring the model Kristen McMenamy wearing its latest collection in a sculptor’s studio. It clearly was a studio, by the way, and not a war zone in southern Israel or Gaza. McMenamy carried a mannequin wrapped in white fabric. The cry went up that the Spanish company was exploiting the suffering of Palestinians and that the mannequin was meant to represent a victim of Israeli aggression wrapped in a shroud.

The accusation was insane. No one in the photo shoot resembled a soldier or a casualty of war. Anyone who thought for 30 seconds before resorting to social media would have known that global brands plan their advertising campaigns months in advance.

Zara said the campaign presented “a series of images of unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craft-made garments in an artistic context”. The idea for the studio setting was conceived in July. The photo shoot was in September, weeks before the Hamas assault on Israel on 7 October.

No one cared. Melanie Elturk, the CEO of fashion brand Haute Hijab, said of the campaign, ‘this is sick. What kind of sick, twisted, and sadistic images am I looking at?’ #BoycottZara trended on Twitter, as users said that Zara was ‘utterly shameful and disgraceful”’.

To justify their condemnations, activists developed ever-weirder theories. A piece of cardboard in the photoshoot was meant to be a map of Israel/Palestine turned upside down. Because a Zara executive had once invited an extreme right-wing Israeli politician to a meeting, the whole company was damned.

Astonishingly, or maybe not so astonishingly to anyone who follows online manias, the fake accusations worked. Zara stores in Glasgow, Toronto. Hanover, Melbourne and Amsterdam were targeted.

What on earth could Zara do? PR specialists normally say that the worst type of apology is the non-apology apology, when a public figure or institution shows no remorse, but instead says that they are sorry that people are offended. Yet Zara had not sought to trivialize or profit from the war so what else could it do but offer a non-apology apology? The company duly said it was sorry that people were upset.

“Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created,” it said on 13 December, and pulled the advertising campaign

That was two-weeks ago and yet still the protests in Zara stores continue. On 23 December activists targeted Zara on Oxford Street chanting , 'Zara, Zara, you can't hide, stop supporting genocide', even though Zara was not, in fact,  supporting genocide. On Boxing Day, they were at the Stratford shopping centre.

Zara has apologised for an offence it did not commit. There is no way that any serious person can believe the charges against it. And yet believe them the protestors do. Or at the very least they pretend to believe for the sake of keeping in with their allies.

Maybe nothing will come of the protests. One could have argued in 2017, after all, that QAnon was essentially simple-minded people living out their fantasies online. Certainly, every sane American knew that there was no clique of paedophiles running the Democrat party, but where was the harm in the conspiracy theory?

Then QAnon supporters stormed the US capitol in January 2021. Will the same story play out from the Gaza protests? As far as I can tell, no one on the left is challenging the paranoia. I have yet to see the fact-checkers of the BBC and Channel 4 warning about the fake news on the left with anything like the gusto with which they treat its counterparts on the right.

To be fair, the scale of disinformation around the Gaza war is off the charts, and it is impossible to chase down every lie. But when fake news goes from online fantasies to real world protests, from 4chan to the Capitol, from Twitter to the Westfield shopping centre, it’s worth taking notice.

Sensible supporters of a Palestinian state ought to be the most concerned. No one apart from fascists, Islamists and far leftists believes that Israel should not defend itself. And yet the scale of its military action in Gaza is outraging world opinion. Mainstream politicians, who might one day put pressure on Israel, remain very wary about reflecting the anger on the streets.

They look at the insane conspiracy theories on the western left and see them as no different from the insane conspiracy theories that motivate Hamas, and they back away.

The Palestinians need many things: an end to the Netanyahu government, and an end to Hamas. But they could also use allies in the West who do not discredit their cause with dark, gibbering fantasies.

[artandshid]

“What’s this, some goody goods for the debate club?” you look up to see your best friend, Eddie, stopping by the bake sale table to take a look at all the treats you and Nancy spent all yesterday afternoon making.

“Yes they are goody goods and they’re not meant to be touched unless you’re planning on buying them.” you tell him sternly while he picks up a neatly wrapped brownie.

He holds his hand up in surrender, “I’m sorry sweetheart, how much for the pack of the two cookies?”

“One dollar.”

His eyes go wide and his eyebrows shoot up, “A whole dollar?”

You roll your eyes, “Yes Eddie a dollar, 50 cents per cookie. It’s a great deal they were made with love. And if you can’t finish two you can share them with a special lady.” You wiggle your eyebrows jokingly at him.

He sighs and starts digging in his pocket for change. He pulls out a few dimes and some nickels and starts counting the change on the table.

“Eddie there’s a line behind you hurry up.” You say with a laugh.

He takes a look behind him, “I’m so sorry everyone, this will only take a few more minutes.”

The people behind him in line rolls their eyes and groan, while Eddie just laughs. “30 cents, 35 cents, 36 cents, oh there’s a dime…”

You stifle your laugh and tell Eddie to move over so you can take the other customers.

The line shortens up very quickly and just as the last customer walks away you hear, “….and one whole dollar, I will take the lovers cookies now.”

You laugh at him, “Thank you it’s about time.”

He grabs the chair that was previously being used by Nancy and takes a seat next to you.

“Yeah I was about to start a riot there huh?” He laughs out loud and opens his pack of cookies.

“Y/n, these smell spectacular.” He takes a dramatic sniff and groans.

He takes one out of the pack and puts it in his mouth and then hands the other to you.

“Oh so I’m your special little lady?” you say jokingly.

He puts his arm around your shoulders and says, with a mouth full of cookie, “you’re the specialist little lady.”

just a short little bestfriend!eddie blurb because I have not written in forever omg.

[bluebyrd-screaming]

I find it fascinating that Venra gave almost everyone a choice in their death, even if they were all doomed from the beginning

She told Perry that it's all better in the moment just before you get everything you want and that he doesn't have to pull the sprinklers. He still makes the choice to turn them on

She told Camille that she doesn't have to go back there, she literally says that she could have killed her in her sleep. She still goes to collect evidence that no one will ever see

She tries to get Leo to buy a different cat, she shows him all of the other options that are suffering and need a home while the black cat already had offers and wasnt for sale to him. He still chose to buy the black cat

She keeps telling Vic that she's worried about the human trials, can she please get confirmation from Ruiz that this experiment is safe, are you sure you want to go through with this. She still chooses to use the mechanical heartbeat

She just keeps telling Tamerlane to get some rest, even after Tammy keeps falling asleep in the middle of conversations and cannot function. She still chooses to go through with Goldbug and attack the voices telling her to rest

She asked Roderick and Madeline if they were sure, from the very beginning asked what they were willing to give up for all of the fame that they could ever want, she gave them the ultimate choice as to their fate. They chose fame and fortune for a short life over a long one with less certainty of money

But she didn't give a choice to everyone

While all of the other children got a choice in how they died, Fredrick didn't. But that's because he had already made his choice. He chose over and over again to be vindictive and hateful, to be drunk on power. He was willing to let his wife suffer just to see what was in her phone and when that didn't work he decided to slowly poison her and finally when he ripped out her teeth, then Venra said "enough". He made his own bed without any input from Venra because she wasn't the one asking him if he was sure, it was Lenore. Lenore asked at every turn if her mom was safe, if she was seeing specialists, if they could go to a fancy facility that could keep her safe. Lenore just wants her mom to be okay, and Frederick decides to rip out Morrie's teeth in anger. So yeah, he made his fucking choice

Lenore didn't. She was the only Usher that was never given a warning about not tempting fate, and that's because she was the only Usher who cared about someone other than their own bottom line. Lenore was sweet, and kind, and wanted to make a difference, so Venra didn't need to ask her if she really wanted to tempt fate. No, she needed to make her comfortable with the inevitability of her end. That her kindness wasn't for nothing. That she didn't go out in a blaze of self destruction like the others. Because Lenore didn't tempt fate, she didn't throw around daddy's money to get everything she could have ever wanted, damn the consequences. No, she died because of a choice that someone else made for her before she was a thought un anyone's mind. She died because someone else didn't care about the consequences of their actions as long as they could be rich and famous in the here and now

Lenore didn't get a choice because neither did any of the victims of the Usher family's rule

They just died as after thoughts, collateral on the way to ultimate power

[rebekahweatherspoon]

The FIT 10th Anniversary Bundle Sale is live!

🩵4 Novellas

💚4 Short Stories

💜 40% OFF!

Now thru Sept 24!

(this is a minimum+pay what you want offer so feel free to kick me more than the base price 🥰)

payhip.com/b/zPAGv

💙 In the award-winning FIT, a plus-size reality show producer decides to shed the extra pounds she's gained on set and finds herself metaphorically, consensually, and very enthusiastically chained to a handsome gym owner who wants nothing more than to be the Dominant man in her life. 

💙 TAMED tells the story of an icy interior designer who has her heart thawed by a warm Dominant who teaches her she can love out loud while staying true to herself and her cultural roots.

💙 SATED introduces a nerdy novice who needs to decide if she’s ready to dive into a very complicated underground community to be with the hunky switch who loves her, fangirl obsessions and all. 

💙 Finally in WRAPPED, an anxious baker burned by her cruel ex matches with the gorgeous IT specialist from her previous life. With his help, she learns to love and trust again, at Christmas. 

These novellas will go live across retailers on Sept 17 and the print bundle is coming soon! If you're new to these stories, welcome! If you like me, are already obsessed with Daniel, I hope you enjoy the new bonus content.

[xiii-e]

XIII▸So. This is the brief I promised. Lets talk about the Projects

◂▸ We'll go through the basics first, yeah? Go over what we have clearance to share in loose terms, this probably isn't a totally unfamiliar concept to most people. A lot of the Corps have a division for any research they don't want a name put to.

XIII▸ It's understandable enough as a practise. Protection of company interests is a priority for any major opperation, especially regarding any work that could be done concerningly poorly by a less well-staffed or well-funded team.

◂▸ ... yeah, that's sure the company line. So, the Projects- not the most specific name in the world, covers a lot of things. It's the catchall for anything secrative, and I won't be going into stuff that's not relevent to us, but what's useful to know for our correspondence is that if you hear us talk about Projects when refering to people? Those people are clones, like us. The Project series in particular is what we fall under.

XIII▸ Project Soldiers are designed with specifications of service in mind; the first series, Project One: Talos, was your generic super soldier gene profile, but they've honed in on various tasks and traits over the decades. Take myself, for instance, as the prototype for Series Thirteen- when I describe myself as specialised medical and engineering personnel for field opperations, I mean it down to the dna. I'm wholly intended for the purpose I serve :}

◂▸ mhm... so, that's where our names come from too. Prototypes serve as the root genetic profile for Series, and they'll be named after the project as a whole. After that, it's usually some kind of proper noun and your series number. Hence, Helios-8; proper noun, series number. My line was meant for techie stuff, so we're not exactly hench but have trigger reflexes. Bastard annoying sometimes...

XIII▸ You're flinchy

◂▸ :[ yeah. But- as I have to stress (contractually) a lot of strides have been made in the cloning field since the seccom days. Any major hinks are worked out of the system, as far as either of us are aware we opperate at normal human capacity, if not better in our specialised ways. Any... flaws of production are strictly aesthetic these days.

XIII▸ And we do good work, when deployed well. My line for instance, is intended to save lives on the battlefield- I'm sturdy, stable and evoke a sense of trust :} not to mention capable of expedited healing, so I can get back out there into the thick of things on short notice. I'm even a universal blood donor, in cases of emergency-

◂▸ We're not giving the sales pitch here, cmon leave that to corporate. But to round off my little speech, and to assuage any concerns our general existance may have raised, the FC Project series is a limited scope, highly speculative investment intended to reduce friction caused by Purview expansion, by ensuring the best possible people are in the roles that matter. Superior by Design, and all that.

XIII▸ Harrison Armory takes its commitments seriously. Every Project soldier that comes out of production is created for purpose, with every consideration made to the weight of that decision; each one of us fulfils our role to the fullest extent, and we make Purview space a more stable place doing it.

◂▸ ... so, that's the basic rundown. Projects, as people, are specialist genetic profiles put together through painstaking research and all that stuff about commitments or whatever. We're pretty much all soldiers of some description at some point in our lives but, so are most HA citizens.

XIII▸ If you have any further questions I'm sure we would both be happy to field them, to the extent we have clearence too. I hope this was informative!

// loading echo.exe ... //... //... // now running echo.exe

XIII▸ ... you look sick.

◂▸ That might be because I feel sick. Fuck I hate having to say all that litigation warding, covering their asses type of shit-

XIII▸ It's a bit much in places, maybe.

◂▸ It's straight out lies in some places and you know it.

XIII▸ ... my migraines are- they're manageable. So long as I take my medication on the field, it's like they're not even there.

◂▸ >:[

XIII▸ Well... thank you, for sticking to the script anyway. You know I don't want to see you get in any more trouble for my sake.

◂▸ [sigh] yeah, yeah I know. Sorry for springing all this legal, half-assed whistleblower crap on you in the first place, I just-

XIII▸ You don't have to explain yourself to me, Lio. You're doing what you think is right, even if I don't really get it.

◂▸... I hope one day, you will.

XIII▸ I am as the company wants me to be, Lio. You know that. It's how I'm programmed.

◂▸ I-

XIII▸ Don't try to start that argument again.

◂▸ People aren't programmed, Turtie-

XIII▸ And I'm not a person, Lio.

[silence]

XIII▸ ...and please, call me by my name? I know you don't like it but again, I don't-

◂▸ -want me to get in trouble, for your sake. Yeah, I know.

XIII▸ I am trying, you know. To learn, how to bend the rules. But I can't break them.

◂▸ No, I- I know... Thirteen-E.

XIII▸ :}

◂▸ ... ack, we logged all of that didn't we. Welp. I'm not rerecording it so, posted it is. Did mention this thing would be kind of like a diary.

◂▸ Signing off.

//

[belethlegwen]

The Rescue - Chp 54 - That Dark Old Friend [+ Life Update]

Hey there everyone!

So sorry about the delay in updates since the Christmas season, there's a lot of shit to blame for it and I'll get into it in more detail, but in short this was a wildly busy Christmas season where I had 0 time to write between work and family stuff from like, November-end of December, and then a whole lot of house shit started happening and I've been unbelievably stressed since just before New Years.

Longer details and stuff below the cut for people who are interested, but in short the important details are:

Updates to works on AO3 may be at random times with long delays between for the coming year. Can't be sure, but for now that's how things are looking while I have way too much shit going on IRL.

Please enjoy this little chapter for now, and if you're up for a long winding journey about why it felt like all of my hair has been falling out for two weeks, meet me below <3

So the Christmas season at my job was wildly busy, on top of that there's some issues going on there between the business owner I rent space from and the person who owns the building. It's a mess, for a while it looked like/still kinda looks like we're going to have some major issues with the lot clearing what with winter being a major issue where I live in the Frozen Nor'Atlantic. That was all bad enough.

I had been told back in the fall by my landlord, who I've been renting from for 10 years now, that her mortgage was up for renewal in January and that it looked like it was going to go up a hot amount. Rates are super fucking high in Canada right now, shit's bad, the mortgage specialist at the bank I was talking to yesterday said that it's bad enough they legitimately expect the government to be stepping in soon to do something about it before it's a crisis (or more of a crisis because personally, it's already a fucking crisis and has been, but I digress). She warned me the rent was going to have to go up, I told her I expected it, I knew it was going to happen, she's been amazing to me for 10 years, if it's gotta go up it's gotta go up, I get it.

This past fall is when my partner Zip came to visit for 6 weeks and we got engaged, and when we started to plan to move them up here so we could start immigration and the like, which we were aiming to do for the beginning of this summer.

So as we're gearing up to New Year's and everything, I am expecting to deal with the start of immigration application readying, and expecting rent to increase. December 27th, I got a message from the landlord that uh, someone wants to buy the house (as an investment property and keep the renters) and despite her best efforts to try and bounce around and get a lower mortgage rate, it didn't work out and she's going to have to sell either way. So we suddenly had to get the house ready to be listed and viewed.

Viewings were fucking hell, by the way. While priority for accepting the offer was going to someone who wanted to take the property over and keep the renters in place, Real Estate agents just want the fucking sale, so being in my home while people are wandering around it scaring my cats and talking about how my bedroom was going to be the kid's room and my office was going to be turned into something else? Shit time, don't recommend. Not to mention the agents that were showing up half-hour not just away of their own scheduled appointment but a half hour outside of when viewings were actually permitted to happen.

I'm glad we have such high paying careers available for people who are, apparently, fucking illiterate, but I was getting extremely rude to agents and their desperation for a sale by the end of it. Someone tried to show up yesterday after a offer was accepted literally the night before and we sent them packing fine enough, but now anytime the rain hits the gutters too hard I think someone is walking into my home so that's fun.

We have signs all over the house about keeping doors closed to keep the cats inside, including one on the back door (where it isn't an enclosed porch) that says in extremely large lettering Access To Patio From Outside ONLY, and there were still at least two agents that opened the back door, so. Nightmares all around.

An offering has been accepted, the person who is hopefully going to buy wants to keep us as tenants, and I'm locked in a lease until later this year anyway. Things are at least, as of yesterday when I got the confirmation that an offer was in that stage, stable now that I didn't throw up this morning. Hooray! It's been hell. I can not stress enough that this has been hell.

It still leaves the later part of the year up in the air a lot, because new landlord may still want us out at the end of the lease of whathaveyou, and between now and then I am flying down to America to drive across that wild country with a car full of stuff to move my fiancee here, then we gonna get immigration rolling and the employment switchover and everything else. My Dad has been a massive rock for me during this time in terms of trying to keep me level, and as he says: "this is all just one-step-at-a-time things. You're just keeping ducks in a row".

And as I keep saying: "Yeah but I've got a lot of fuckin' ducks, man."

So that's the kind of thing that's in the air right now for me. Lots and lots of stuff going on. I'm still picking away at writing but to make things easier on myself, I'm going to not stress about any kind of schedule or the like right now and just play with whatever flows come when I have them and have the time/ability to focus on them in the few quiet moments I have between all of the other stuff.

Much love to all of you, thank you all again as always for the wonderful comments you've all left, the kudos, the people who reached out, all of it. You're wonderful <3

Take care of yourselves out there,

~ Belle

[theemeraldteam]

How to Find a Certified Short Sale Specialist

By following mentioned steps, you can find a certified short sale specialist who can help you navigate the complex process of selling your home for less than the outstanding mortgage balance. To find a certified short sale specialist, follow these steps:

Identify the right professional: Look for a Realtor or real estate agent with specific experience in short sales. They should have a proven track record of handling short sales, including recent deals and experience with your specific lender.

Check for certifications: Search for professionals with certifications like the Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource (SFR®) certification, which indicates they have undergone specialized training in assisting homeowners and guiding buyers through distressed property transactions.

Ask the right questions: When interviewing potential short sale specialists, ask about their experience, short sale listings, and the number of short sales they've closed within the past 12 months. Also, inquire about their knowledge of current short sale regulations, both federally and locally.

Verify credentials: Ensure the professional you choose is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and has a valid real estate license in their state.

[dangermousie]

Ming Ye, stop interrupting your ex-wife in murdering your wannabe-girlfriend! (Ming Ye and his women should be one of those delightfully trashy daytime talk shows.) 

That is what many men claim about their divorced wives, Ming Ye, are you a God of War or a 50-something IT specialist grumpy about custody arrangement and alimony payments.

This is like talking down someone in the middle of a psychotic break...

And she does. Literally.

It HAS been 5 whole minutes since a Luo Yunxi character got whumped.

A day late and a dollar short, as always, my poor, beautiful, noble, dumb as a brick Ming Ye!

Bwahahaha how nice you feel guilt. Is it gonna bring clam people back to life? You need to go to the xianxia version of The Hague, dudes!

Speaking truth to power, yes! It’s a pity Snake Girl is such a...well...snake, because all the major gods seem to have been, for once, awesome people. Guess that’s what happens when you are a xianxia nepo baby.

Good Luck!

God, he really IS rocking “clueless dude” tropes, what is this “she is too emotional” nonsense. Damn right she’s emotional, her whole people just got offed!

She wants him to dispence the punishments to be like Medieval Spain but alas for her, he’s more like Modern Sweden.

“I wanted the guillotine, not kitten prison for these people!” She should have gotten the main god from Immortal Samsara in charge of punishing these people, that was one man who was devoted to immortal torture. 

When your boyfriend is Gandhi but you are Attila the Hun.

Why does this drama keep misinterpreting my requests for on-screen penetration?

The amount of collapsing they are doing into each other’s arms is beginning to rival Listening Snow Tower.

Snake Lady is soooo dumb. What does she think is gonna happen when Ming Ye, destroyer of Devil God, comes back. Is he gonna be “OK, squatters’ rights” and peace out? But then I also don’t know what she thought when she did all that insanity when he was in seclusion. Did she think he was gonna go “oh, you committed some light genocide? NBD, let’s go have dinner.” Oh, and if her brains are scrambled, why is the rest of her tribe similarly afflicted by dumbness?

It is not in the least surprising that the ep ends like:

I am snarking a lot because while I am enjoying the visuals and the acting and the story I (a) really want to get back to murder meow-meow and his bamf wifey and (b) by now I find MY and SJ incredibly frustrating and rather stupid for different reasons and while they did not orchestrate their misery, they ably assisted in it and so I am just frustrated by them. 

Communicate, think things through, take your time - you are freaking immortals, you don’t need to rush like it’s the last baguette on sale in the supermarket.

[mariacallous]

Two months ago, Lin Rui-siang, a young Taiwanese man wearing black-rimmed glasses and a white polo shirt, stood behind a lectern emblazoned with the crest of the St. Lucia police, giving a presentation titled “Cyber Crime and Cryptocurrency” in nearly fluent English to a roomful of cops from the tiny Caribbean country.

The St. Lucia government would later issue a press release lauding the success of Lin's training course, which had been organized by the Taiwanese embassy, where Lin worked as a diplomatic specialist in IT. The statement boasted that 30 officers had learned “nuances of the dark web" and cryptocurrency tracing skills from Lin, who had “used his professional background and qualifications in the field" to teach them how to better combat cybercrime.

Only earlier this week did it become clear exactly what Lin's “professional background and qualifications in the field” allegedly entailed, seemingly unbeknownst to either his Taiwanese employers or his St. Lucian law enforcement trainees. For nearly four years, according to the US Justice Department, 23-year-old Lin ran a dark-web drug market called Incognito that authorities say enabled the sale of at least $100 million worth of narcotics, ranging from MDMA to heroin for cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and monero. That was before Lin's alleged theft of his own users' funds earlier this year and then his arrest last week by the FBI in New York's JFK airport.

Over his years working as a cryptocurrency-focused intern at Cathay Financial Holdings in Taipei and then as a young IT staffer at St. Lucia's Taiwanese embassy, Lin allegedly lived a double life as a dark-web figure who called himself “Pharoah" or “faro”—a persona whose track record qualifies as remarkably strange and contradictory even for the dark web, where secret lives are standard issue. In his short career, Pharoah launched Incognito, built it into a popular crypto black market with some of the dark web's better safety and security features, then abruptly stole the funds of the market's customers and drug dealers in a so-called “exit scam” and, in a particularly malicious new twist, extorted those users with threats of releasing their transaction details.

During those same busy years, Pharoah also launched a web service called Antinalysis, designed to defeat crypto money laundering countermeasures—only for Lin, who prosecutors say controlled that Pharoah persona, to later refashion himself as a crypto-focused law enforcement trainer. Finally, despite his supposed expertise in cryptocurrency tracing and digital privacy, it was Lin's own relatively sloppy money trails that, the DOJ claims, helped the FBI to trace his real identity.

Among all those incongruities, though, it's the image of Lin giving his cryptocurrency crime training in St. Lucia—which Lin proudly posted to his LinkedIn account—that shocked Tom Robinson, a cofounder of the blockchain analysis firm Elliptic, who has long tracked Lin's alleged Pharoah alter ego. “This is an alleged dark-net market admin standing in front of police officers, showing them how to use blockchain analytics tools to track down criminals online,” says Robinson. “Assuming he is who the FBI says he is, it's incredibly ironic and brazen.”

Pharoah the Kingpin—and Extortionist

Lin has been charged with not only narcotics conspiracy and money laundering but also running a “continuing criminal enterprise,” the so-called “kingpin statute” reserved for organized crime leaders who allegedly oversaw at least five employees. For that charge alone, he faces a potential life sentence.

In the DOJ's criminal complaint against Lin, it points to a handwritten document the FBI pulled from his email, which appears to sketch out a flow chart for a dark-web market's mechanics. The complaint's FBI affidavit says Lin emailed himself the sketch in March 2020 when he was at most 19 years old. It describes functionality such as how “vendors” and “buyers” would register, make purchases, and encrypt shipping addresses. Seven months later, Lin would allegedly launch Incognito Market.

According to the FBI, the market took nearly a year to catch on, with virtually no sales during that time. But by late 2021, Incognito had started to attract users, and by the middle of 2022, the market had drawn enough vendors and sellers to generate more than $1.5 million a month in sales.

A 2022 Twitter thread about Incognito posted by Eileen Ormsby, an author of several dark-web-focused books including The Darkest Web, shows how the market by that time had added features that may have helped it to catch the attention of security- and safety-conscious users. It required that new users demonstrate they could use the encryption tool PGP before entering the market, prompted them to take a security quiz, allowed buyers to spend the more privacy-focused cryptocurrency monero as well as bitcoin, encouraged dealers to post results from a fentanyl test to certify their product was “fent free,” and even experimented with democratic voting for market-wide decisions.

By the summer of 2023, Incognito had spiked in popularity and was approaching $5 million a month in sales. Then in March of this year, the site suddenly dropped offline, taking all the funds stored in buyers' and sellers' wallets with it. A few days later, the site reappeared with a new message on its homepage. “Expecting to hear the last of us yet?” it read. “We got one final little nasty surprise for y'all.”

The message explained that Incognito was now essentially blackmailing its former users: It had stored their messages and transaction records, it said, and added that it would be creating a “whitelist portal” where users could pay a fee—which for some dealers would later be set as high as $20,000—to remove their data before all the incriminating information was leaked online at the end of this month. “YES THIS IS AN EXTORTION!!!” the message added.

In retrospect, Ormsby says that the site's apparent user-friendliness and its security features were perhaps a multiyear con laying the groundwork for its endgame, a kind of user extortion never seen before in dark-web drug markets. “Maybe the whole thing was set up to create a false sense of security,” Ormsby says. “The extorting thing is completely new to me. But if you've lulled people into a sense of security, I guess it's easier to extort them.”

In total, Incognito Market promised to leak more than half a million drug transaction records if buyers and sellers didn't pay to remove them from the data dump. It's still not clear whether the market's administrator—Lin, according to prosecutors, whom they accuse of personally carrying out the extortion campaign—planned to follow through on the threat: He appears to have been arrested before the deadline set for the victims of the Incognito blackmail.

An Expert in ‘Anti Anti-Money Laundering’

At the same time the FBI says Lin was laying the groundwork for this double-cross, he also appears to have briefly tried engineering an entirely different scheme. In the summer of 2021, during Incognito Market's relatively quiet first year, Lin's alleged alter ego, Pharoah, launched a service called Antinalysis, a website designed to analyze blockchains and let users check—for a fee—whether their cryptocurrency could be connected to criminal transactions.

In a post to the dark-web market forum Dread, Pharoah made clear that Antinalysis was designed not to help anti-money-laundering investigators, but rather those who sought to evade them—presumably including his own dark-web market's users. “Our goals do not lie in aiding the surveillance autocracy of state-sponsored agencies,” Pharoah's post read. “This service is dedicated to individuals that have the need to possess complete privacy on the blockchain, offering a perspective from the opponent's point of view in order for the user to comprehend the possibility of his/her funds getting flagged down under autocratic illegal charges.”

After independent cybersecurity reporter Brian Krebs wrote about the Antinalysis service in August 2021, describing it as an “anti anti-money laundering service for crooks,” Pharoah posted another message complaining that Antinalysis had lost access to its blockchain data source, which Krebs had identified as the anti-money-laundering tool AMLBot, and that it would be going offline. “Stay posted and fuck LE," Pharoah wrote, using the abbreviation LE to mean “law enforcement.” Antinalysis eventually returned, however, and pivoted last year to acting instead as a service for swapping bitcoin for monero and vice versa.

Meanwhile, Lin appears to have maintained his obsession with cryptocurrency tracing and blockchain analysis: His final LinkedIn post last week before his arrest in New York announced that he had become a certified user of Reactor, the crypto tracing tool sold by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. “I'm excited to share that I've completed Chainalysis's new qualification: Chainalysis Reactor Certification (CRC)!” Lin wrote in Mandarin. His last X post shows a Chainalysis diagram of money flows between dark-web markets and cryptocurrency exchanges.

It's not clear whether Lin obtained his Chainalysis certification to bolster a new career training law enforcement in blockchain analysis or, if US prosecutors are to be believed, to advance his previous alleged career as a dark-web criminal. But it raises the troubling possibility that a former dark-web kingpin—one who was still extorting his own users—was perhaps playing both sides of the crypto tracing game, says Elliptic's Tom Robinson.

“There’s a larger issue here about bad actors accessing blockchain analytics tools,” says Robinson. “That is a potentially risky situation, where someone who’s in the process of laundering proceeds of crime can check in commercially available tools whether they have laundered them such that they can get away with it.” Running certain checks in those tools might even allow someone to determine if they're being actively investigated by law enforcement, Robinson says.

WIRED reached out to Chainalysis to ask about Lin's Reactor certification and what sort of safeguards prevent criminals from using the company's software, but the company declined to comment.

If Lin did hope to evade law enforcement by becoming an expert in crypto tracing himself, he was far too late to avoid creating his own blockchain trail of evidence: In January of this year, the FBI says it somehow identified a central Incognito server and obtained a search warrant for its contents. That allowed investigators to identify a bitcoin wallet stored there, which the FBI says Lin had also carelessly used to pay web registrar Namecheap for four web domains—including one that tracked which dark-web markets were online or down—and register them under his own name.

Although the FBI says Lin tried to swap his bitcoins for harder-to-trace monero before cashing out the cryptocurrency at an exchange, the criminal complaint points to timing and amount correlations that nonetheless allowed the FBI to follow his funds to a crypto exchange where he allegedly liquidated the dirty funds. That exchange account, too, was registered in Lin's real name, according to the DOJ.

The operational security mistakes the FBI describes suggest that, regardless of which side of the cryptocurrency cat-and-mouse game Lin intended to end up on, he was far from a criminal mastermind. His brief, strange journey from alleged kingpin to crypto crime expert ultimately provides plenty of lessons to criminals and law enforcement alike—though probably not the ones he intended.

[scotianostra]

19th July 1896 saw the birth of AJ Cronin, the Scottish novelist and doctor.

For one short period Archibald Joseph Cronin was the highest-earning novelist in the world, outselling even Agatha Christie, and he is credited with encouraging the foundation of the National Health Service.

Born as Archibald Joseph Cronin in Cardross, Dumbartonshire, A J lost his father when he was young to tuberculosis and the family moved to Dumbarton, where he was educated at the Academy , before they moved again to Yorkhill, Glasgow and he attended St Aloysius' College. He was a fine athlete as well as an outstanding student; going on to study at Glasgow University qualifying in medicine at with top honours.

He worked at the Rotunda, Dublin, and on the Clyde before moving to Tredegar in Wales. He was a Medical Inspector of Mines, and was involved in the mining disaster at Ystfad colliery in which 38 miners drowned, and drew on these experiences in his writing. He moved on to Harley Street in London and finally established a very successful practice at 152 Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill, west London, where he practised until 1930.

Cronin’s writing career began when he was given six month’s bed rest for a digestive complaint. While convalescing from an attack of gastric ulcers on a lonely farm in the Highlands, he wrote Hatter’s Castle in 1931, about a Scottish hatmaker obsessed with the idea of his noble birth. It became a best seller. In the United States, a reviewer for The New York Times found it a work of a novelist “destined for the seats of the mighty.”

After the success he enjoyed with his first novel Cronin devoted himself full-time to writing. In 1935, he wrote The Stars Look Down, the story of a North England mining community that quickly captured attention. While The Times of London said the author had “a bent for melodrama,”

The Citadel drew on Mr. Cronin’s own experiences. It was the story of a young Scottish doctor in a Welsh mining village who sets up a fashionable practice in London and realizes the values of the life he had abandoned. It was made into a film starring Robert Donut.

The New York Times found him “uncannily like Dickens.” In 1940, the book was made into a highly praised film directed by Carol Reed for M-G-M.

The Citadel again drew on Mr. Cronin’s own experiences. It was the story of a young Scottish doctor in a Welsh mining village who sets up a fashionable practice in London and realizes the values of the life he had abandoned. Agaon it was made into a film starring Robert Donut. The Citadel did not go down well with the medical profession and Cronin made enemies in the medical profession, there was a concerted effort by one group of specialists to get The Citadel banned.

When The Keys of the Kingdom was published in 1941, it passed the half-million mark in sales and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. The hero of the novel was a self-sacrificing Catholic priest sent by his superiors into long service as a missionary in China.

Arguably Cronins most well known work, at least here at home, is ‘Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, about a pair of Scottish doctors sharing a practice. It became one of the longest-running British television series. Dr Finlay practised in the fictional town of “Tannochbrae”. The first few episodes of the original TV series were filmed in Milgavie, filming moved to Callander. The 90’s reboot was filmed in Auchtermuchty, Fife. But I hope I have demonstrated in this post that A J Cronin was not just all about Dr Finlay, which he didn’t start writing until 1952 by which time he had over 20 works published and was a very well established author.

By 1958, the total sales of his books in the United States alone had passed the seven million!

There have been numerous adaptations of his works made into Film and television series. The Citadel alone has been made into a Film once and a TV mini-series 4 times, the latest being in 2003 in Italy. Doctor Finlay has seen two TV adaptations through the years A J Cronin died at the age of 84 in a clinic in the village of Glion, near Montreux, Switzerland, where he had lived for the last 25 years of his life. He is buried in Cimetière de La Tour-de-Peilz, La Tour-de-Peilz.

Cronin may have spent many years away from Scotland, but oor country was always in his heart and thoughts, I love this quote from him;

“Although I have travelled the world over I must say in all sincerity that my heart belongs to Dumbarton… In my study there is a beautiful 17th century coloured print of the Rock… I even follow with great fervour the fortunes of the Dumbarton football team.”

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday, June 8th - Sunday, June 9th

KENNEDY: OK. One drink. I can work with that. Let's start with the easy stuff. How long have you known? That you're gay. WILLOW: Wait. That's easy? And you just assume that I'm—I'm gay. I mean, presume much? KENNEDY: (grins) OK. How long have you enjoyed having sex with women? WILLOW: Hey! What, you think you have some special lesbidar or something?

~~The Killer in Me~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Relationship Status by veronyxk84 (Buffy, Dawn, PG-13)

I Don't Play Well With Others by Val_Creative (Buffy/Angel, not rated)

The Two of You by frogfarm (crossover with Supernatural, Willow/Lenore, T)

A Different World by TannaraMoonvale (crossover with Supernatural, Scoobies, T)

take note by CallMeVampy (Giles/Anya, T)

Seas the Day by honeygirl51885 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Relationship Status by VeroNyxK84 (Buffy, Dawn, anthology rated PG-13)

Ready For More by MaggieLaFey (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Recommencer - Chapter 16 (COMPLETE!) by FridayQueen (Buffy/Faith, M, in French)

Hero - Chapter 3 (COMPLETE!) by Xyex (Buffy/Willow, Buffy & Kendra, Buffy & Joyce, M)

origin of species - Chapter 1-2 by eagle_eyes (Cordelia, AtS ensemble, T)

stay awake with me (worm your way back in) - Chapter 1 by pumpkin_berry (Buffy/Faith, M)

In Any Life, Ch. 14 by Spikelover4ever (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

I Shall Dress In Aeternum, part 1 by BlueZeroZeroOne (Highlander crossover, Buffy, FR15)

The Watcher-Who-Lived, Ch. 1 by TheDullahan (Harry Potter crossover, Amy, FR18)

A New Game, Ch. 1 by Balder (Buffy, Joyce, Xander x Dawn, FR18)

Out For A Walk... Bitch, Ch. 19-20 (COMPLETE!) by MaggieLaFey (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only)

Truth Hurts, Ch. 1-5 (COMPLETE!) by Geliot99 (Buffy/Spike, R)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Drawing: angel they could never make me hate you by egonkula (Angel, Acathla, worksafe)

Vid: Buzzer by ladyofthelakes (Faith)

Buffy by lialivingart (worksafe)

Buffy by lystacre (worksafe)

Xander and Anya in OMWF by mistyintherivers (some nudity)

A Faith/Dawn manip by bratsallwomansized (everyone is clothed)

Spike screenshots captioned by text posts by jamie-the-scene-kid (worksafe, some NSFW text if you zoom in)

Comic: Not A Date, part 5 by Grief Counseling, Dusty (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Date Night by all choseny (Buffy/Spike, collection rated PG-13)

Buffy's Christmas List by Dynamite (Buffy/Spike, collection rated NC-17)

Angel game just designed by girlpire (Angel, worksafe)

🔪 BTVS 519. Tough Love 🔪 by tmcarlee (Willow/Tara, worksafe)

Vid: Let Her Go by Wackamack-98 (Angel/Cordelia)

[Reviews & Recaps]

dead man’s party is so good by initiumseries

first time watch [season 1 up to episode 6] by Specialist-Orchid-80

What's an underrated badass moment (preferably from someone besides Buffy)? by Ok_Area9367

Season 5: The Gift by Tall_Secretary4133

[Recs & In Search Of]

Buffy omnibus 1,2,3 for sale by nonnatwo

[Fandom Discussions]

[the song] ‘i look in peoples windows’ is SOOO angel by bangelism

Re: thoughts on Kennedy by laufire

The most special Tillow moment for me... by maybebitterxox

The scoobies are always questioning Buffy's logic and instincts... by kookygobbledygook, unmarkedcards

This episode has Angel get drugged, inducing euphoria which in turn makes him evil, but... by nicnacsnonsense, ymfingsteadilyon

Spike being able to attack the scientists by zorilleerrant

[Thematic parallels between Angel and Willow] by 5bi5, lightdancer1

Did Riley make the right choice? by November and others

How would you change/recreate the show? by NoShip

Something I noticed about Angel and Faith's friendship by Other_Thing_2551

Why did they write Connor out of Angel? hosted by OptionNo1672

[AtS] Season 3 episodes 2 and 3 switched? by HazelCheese

This is what Xander sees when he looks at Angel by drawandpaintbyfire

What series would each character binge? hosted by ErrForceOnes

Spike's behaviour in Seeing Red is perfectly in character by figinmyteeth

Did anyone else think Kennedy was kinda hot? by UnicornScientist803

The vast majority of [Spike's] close relationships were with women. by beeemkcl

I’ve always wondered exactly what the relationship was like between Dawn and Faith prior to Bad Girls by AndrewHeard

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

[percervall]

ever our lives entwined (I'll be yours and you'll be mine)

Player: Mats Hummels Words: 3213 Warnings: smut, oral sex (f receiving), face sitting, p in v, unprotected sex, cockwarming (if you squint), mentions of sexism, porn w/feelings?? I guess?? A/N: This fic has been brewing since idk November?? December?? Funnily enough it took getting covid and yelling about this fic idea to @kostasstsimikass and @emilielfc for the pieces to fall into place

---

Pulling the car door closed a little more forcefully than necessary, you buckle your seat belt and cross your arms across your chest. Anger was prickling under your skin, like an itch you can’t scratch. Mats looks at you, both puzzled and taken aback. Every question he asks you is met with short, mono-syllabic answers and you refuse to look at him. You can hear the gears turning in his head as he mulls over what happened in the showroom of the kitchen specialist. Logically speaking, you know Mats was only trying to do the right thing, but the way he went about dealing with that sleaze of a salesman made your blood boil. You had been willing to grin and bear it, suffer through thinly veiled sexism to get those new appliances, but of course your husband had left his brain at home that morning. 

You head straight into the kitchen after Mats parked the car in the garage. You hear the kitchen door click shut and the jangle of keys as he drops them in the bowl on the island. Pouring yourself a glass of water, you try your hardest to ignore him as the anger courses through your body. You know he normally loves seeing you this worked up –he’s told you so on many occasions as you made out in stadium corridors after you had ranted about how unfair the referee had been or how that player should’ve at least gotten yellow for that challenge. 

“Schatzi-...” he starts, but you don’t allow him to finish that sentence as you turn around to look at him. You can feel the hardness of your stare and you see him gulp as your eyes meet his.

“You stupid, stupid man,” you say calmly, but your words are laced with enough venom to kill an army. Mats stands rooted to the spot, incredulity across his face. 

“Me? What the hell did I do?” You put your glass down a little harder than necessary and he flinches at the sound.

“What did you-.. You put your foot in that big mouth of yours, is what you did. Why did you have to go and play knight in shining armour?” You can see him visibly bristle at your accusation, annoyance flashing in his eyes.

“He was insulting your intelligence! ‘Oh look at this, extra special functions for the modern housewife har-har’,” he mocks as he rounds the island. 

“I was well aware that he was using sexist stereotypes as a sales pitch, thank you very much. Who insulted whose intelligence now? I was this close to getting us that oven upgrade with a steamer function for a fraction of the original price,” you retort, holding your fingers a hair’s breadth apart. Whatever Mats is planning on saying in return dies on his lips at your admission. Instead he stares at you dumbfounded. 

“Yes Mats, I was playing him like a fiddle and it was working until you opened your mouth,” you say, a sardonic smile tugging at your lips, “Guess you just enjoy spending over a grand on an oven because we are getting that one.” The tone of your voice leaves no room for argument. You can see the irritation drain out of him, shoulders slumping as it dawns on him just what he has done; he had undermined your intelligence just as much as the salesman had done, but it was worse because he knows just how clever you are, how quick witted. 

He moves closer, taking your hand in his.

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I should’ve known better,” he says quietly, eyes trained on you. You sigh, feeling the last of the anger dissolve. 

“How can I make it up to you?” he murmurs, pulling you closer. You look up at him, a wicked glint in your eyes replacing the fury.

“Your big mouth got you into this mess, I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure out a way to get out of it,” you say with a teasing tone as your hands come to rest on his pectoral muscles. Mats tilts your face up, pressing his lips against yours. Your hands move higher, tugging on the hair at the nape of his neck as he angles your face to deepen the kiss. Mats lets his hands wander down your sides to the backs of your thighs before lifting you up. You’re quick to wrap your legs around him as he walks the two of you into the living room. 

Mats sits down on the couch with you now in his lap as his hands curve around your hips to rest on your ass. 

“Although I hate being the object of your anger, it never fails to turn me on,” he murmurs in the space between your lips when he breaks the kiss.

“I can tell baby,” you all but purr, rocking your hips against him, making his breath catch in his throat. 

“I think I know how to make it up to you,” he says, voice rough as lust clouds his thoughts when you keep grinding against him. His fingers grab hold of your hips, lifting you off his crotch. He asks you to stand up, his hands moving to unbutton your jeans, sliding them down your legs and helping you step out of them. Mats slides down the couch and sits on the floor, hand outstretched. 

“Sit on my face, sweetheart,” he all but whispers as he pulls you closer. You hesitate a moment, feeling your cheeks heat up in both anticipation and something like shame.

“Wh-what?” you stammer, not sure whether you heard him correctly.

“Sit on my face. Let me make it up to you. As you said, my big, stupid mouth got me in trouble, only fair I put it to good use now,” he explains, rubbing slow circles over your wrist. 

While his request takes you by surprise, you would be lying if you said you never fantasised about it. Especially every time his lips would quirk up in a smile, laughter lines in place. You try to push those thoughts back down as you look down at him, back resting against the couch, legs spread to undoubtedly accommodate his erection. 

“Mats, I-I don’t.. What if you suffocate?” 

Mats chuckles at that.

“Schatzi, let me worry about that,” he says, pressing a kiss to the inside of your wrist before he pulls your panties down and helps you kneel on the couch. You rest your hands on the back, looking down at your husband whose face is now inches away from you. Even though the sight of his brown eyes glittering with sheer want for you is empowering, you’re still not entirely convinced that this is a good idea.

“Sweetheart, out of all the times I’ve gone down on you, how often did that end with me suffocating?” 

You have to admit that he has you there. “Well, none but-..” 

“Exactly,” he interrupts, “Besides, if I’m not at least panting by the end of it we didn’t do it right. If I need to come up for air, I’ll tap your thigh twice okay?” 

You nod but you’re still hesitant, worried about all the ways this could go to shit. 

“Just wanna make you feel good baby,” Mats murmurs, stroking a hand down your thigh as he presses a kiss to the inside of your leg, just above your knee. 

“My smart, sexy wife… Using the patriarchy in her favour. God, I love you,” he says, sounding almost reverent despite the fact he is about to do the most sinful things to you. As you tighten your grip on the couch cushions, you look down once more, biting back a whimper at the sight of him buried between your legs while he kisses your thighs. His fingers dig into your skin as he pulls you closer, pressing a kiss to the most intimate part of you, making you suck in a breath at the contact. His tongue darts out, slowly, so agonisingly slow, licking a stripe from your entrance to your clit. Your eyes flutter closed as your fingers dig into the cushions and you try to widen your stance. Mats hums appreciatively, moving back to your entrance. He keeps this up until you feel your body relax into his touch. Mats’ fingers are still firmly wrapped around your thighs as his tongue slowly dips into you. You can’t stop the strangled noise that comes out of your throat as he licks into you, trying to find that spot he knows will have you whimpering in seconds. Mats pulls out, moving his lips to your clit, sucking it into his mouth as he flicks his tongue over it. A slow heat climbs itself up your spine and you can feel your arousal start to wet the apex of your thighs. Mats moans, the vibrations against your clit stealing the breath from your lungs. 

It doesn’t take long for your body to get a mind of its own as he keeps fucking you with his tongue. Your hips undulate against his face as a hand fists his curls. You are pretty much riding his tongue by this point and all coherent thoughts have left you as pleasure zaps through you. Leaning back slightly, you manage to pull your hoodie off, feeling too hot all of a sudden. Mats holds your cunt against him in this angle, groaning as his tongue dips into you, and his nose brushes against your clit. The added stimulation against that sensitive bud in combination with the scrape of his beard against your inner thighs has you reduced to a whimpering mess. Your eyes are closed as you chase your high, using him to get what you need. You can feel it building in the pit of your stomach, like a cord that’s being pulled tighter and tighter until you don’t think you can take much more.

“Mats-.. Oh fuck.. Need-.. I’m gonna-…” It’s impossible to form sentences let alone finish them. Mats doesn’t need you to as he redoubles his efforts. He shifts his focus to your clit, sucking it into his mouth as he swirls his tongue around it, the vibrations of his moans only adding to your pleasure. Tightening the hand in his hair, your back arches as that cord finally snaps and you’re coming all over his mouth and chin. Your thighs quiver and the only sound that leaves you is a strangled cry of pleasure. Mats keeps licking and sucking, making appreciative noises as he tastes you. You try to squeeze your thighs shut, the sensations suddenly too much, having forgotten in the haze of lust that your husband is still very much buried between them. As you try to lift yourself off him, you almost fall forward, limbs heavy and uncoordinated. Mats reaches his hands up, encircling your waist as he steadies you. The sentiment fills your heart with so much love that it feels as if you could burst as his whispered affirmations and praise register. This is one of the many reasons you fell head over heels in love with him all those years ago; It’s knowing that despite your stubbornness and fierce sense of self, he will always be there to catch you when you fall.

He guides you up and slides out from underneath you, quick to pull you down. You’re not entirely sure how he manages to manipulate your body in such a way that you end up in his lap, but you’re grateful that he does. You kiss him, the need too strong to ignore as tears burn at the corners of your eyes. He kisses you back, one arm sliding underneath your t-shirt to rest on your back holding you to him as the other hand curves around your jaw to angle your face. Mats bucks into you involuntarily as you rake your nails over his scalp and you can’t help but moan at the feeling of his denim-clad erection pressing into your core. Panting, he breaks the kiss.

“Need you, sweetheart. Need to feel you…” He sounds as desperate as you feel. Raising up on your knees, you pull his sweater up and over. Mats quickly unbuttons his jeans and pushes it past his hips. The angle makes it a little difficult but he manages to get it off, leaving him in just his boxers, which quickly join the pile of clothing scattered through the living room. You reach one hand down, taking hold of his cock and sliding it through your folds to coat it in your wetness before angling him at your entrance. Mats’ hands encircle your ribs, pushing your t-shirt up and your body down onto him. 

“Oh.. Oh fuck,” you whisper at the stretch. The feeling leaves you panting as you slowly move up and down to accommodate him. There’s no way you’re able to take all of him like this and you know that it’ll only end in pain if you keep trying. Leaving just the tip of his cock inside, you lean forward, capturing his lips in a searing kiss.

“Be right back,” you whisper and climb up. Mats leans back, arm resting on the couch as he watches you walk away. You dig through a drawer of the built in bookshelves and make a triumphant noise as you find the bottle you were looking for. This is not the first time the two of you hadn’t made it to the bedroom. Mats had quickly learnt that it was easier to keep lube in pretty much every room than to run upstairs to get it. You quickly check the expiration date before turning around. Mats looks up at you, legs spread as he lazily strokes himself, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. There’s a heat, a want that’s simmering in those brown eyes as his thumb sweeps over the weeping head of his cock. The sight of your husband spread out on the living room floor like that –all angles and soft lines on show for you to lust over, has you clenching around nothing and your clit throbbing. Dropping the bottle next to him, you quickly pull off your t-shirt before kneeling down. Mats holds out a hand, letting you squeeze a generous amount onto his palm. He rubs his fingers and thumb together, coating them, and gently slides two through your folds while he holds onto your hip with the other hand. You throw your head back as he curls one long finger into you, digging your nails into his shoulders. It leaves you breathless, eyes fluttering closed.

“I know, I know,” he murmurs against your skin as you whimper when he pulls back. Mats quickly slicks his cock and lines it up with where you’re aching for him. You watch him watch you take all of him as you slowly lower yourself onto his cock. The stretch always catches you off guard, but it soon gives way to waves of pleasure. Mats presses his lips to your sternum, kissing down the valley between your breasts where the lace of your bralette gives way to skin. 

“So good, always so good…” he mutters as you set a rhythm that’s agonisingly slow. You feel each drag of his cock against your walls, the tip curling deliciously against that spot inside you with each roll of your hips. Mats closes his lips around your nipple through the fabric of your bralette, making you clench around him. 

“‘M not gonna last,” he groans, fingers digging into your hips as he desperately tries to hold on while bucking into you. 

“Don’t want you to,” you all but whisper, before he captures your lips in a kiss that leaves your head spinning. You brace yourself on his shoulders, angling your hips just right for him to keep hitting that spot that has you melting into him. His lips attach themselves to your neck as he licks and sucks, surely leaving marks.

“Right there.. Mats, right there, don’t-.. God, don’t stop..” It’s all the encouragement he needs to fuck into you, picking up the pace. It’s anything but graceful at this point, but you don’t care. A fire is building in the pit of your stomach and it’s threatening to consume you whole. You feel his thumb rubbing tight little circles over your already overstimulated clit and you cry out as your orgasm wrecks through you, leaving you clenching around him in waves. Mats groans, muttering his praise into the skin of your clavicle as he follows you over the edge and spills deep inside of you. 

You all but collapse into his arms, your muscles turned to jelly. Mats remains inside of you and you can feel him soften as he holds your body to his. He kisses you tenderly, languidly.

“I’m sorry for doubting you, sweetheart,” he says quietly after breaking the kiss. You brush the curls that are now sticking to his forehead back, a loving smile tugging at your lips.

“All’s forgiven, my love,” you whisper back, kissing him briefly before snuggling into him, head tucked under his chin. Mats runs lazy patterns over your shoulder as the two of you remain cuddled on the floor. You’re not entirely sure how long you stay like that, or when exactly you drifted off, but you jolt awake when you feel him shift underneath you.

“Sorry baby,” Mats pretty much coos, “I didn’t mean to wake you. My ass was going numb.” You chuckle and then shiver as the air hits your cooling skin. 

“Let’s get cleaned up,” he says quietly, kissing your temple. You nod and slowly climb off him, groaning as the muscles in your legs protest at the change. He helps you get back to your feet, handing you your panties. You smile gratefully, knowing you’d rather not spend the next couple of hours removing cum stains from your hardwood floors. Mats keeps hold of your hand as the two of you make it up the stairs and into the bathroom. While he turns the shower on, you quickly use the toilet, trying to clean up as much as you can, throwing your underwear in the laundry basket. Mats holds out his hand once more and you allow him to pull you under the stream of the shower, moaning as the hot water hits your skin. He hugs you with his front pressed against your back, lips pressed against your hair as he murmurs sweet nothings. You allow your eyes to close, soaking up the warmth of the shower and his body, his words. Swallowing around the sudden lump in your throat, you turn around and kiss him, pouring all that you’re feeling and thinking into that kiss. He brushes your hair back from your face and smiles against your lips.

“I love you, sweetheart,” Mats whispers, resting his forehead against yours. You smile, feeling a tear roll down your cheek, almost as if your love for him has no other place to go. He brushes it away with his thumb, and you know he will always be ready to support you in any way you need him too, know he is yours, mind, body, and soul, and you are his.

Tags @football-and-fanfics @kostasstsimikass @lfc21 @nyctophilic0vitnir

welp, can't believe I actually wrote this 🙈 also no one will ever know the search terms used researching this fic. Let's just say I learnt more while writing this than during sex ed. It might not seem out there compared to other fics, but this was uhm an experience for sure

Please let me know what you thought! Your comments/messages are like bread crumbs for the fanfic duckies in my brain