#so maybe send your resume in tumblr format

[mermaiddragon]

It's why you send a pdf.

That and so no one can temper with it although there are more chances of software shenanigans than your Sworn Archnemesis Tiffany modifying your resume to make it say you graduated in tomfoolery.

[miekasa]

random boyfriend eren hcs (modern/college au)

↯ pairing: eren jaeger x (fem) reader

↯ genres and warnings: modern/college au, himbo eren supremacy as per usual, but can you imagine eren, armin, and jean living together in one house bye

↯ notes: this is me once again trying out this headcanon format, also because i have lots of thoughts about eren (being normal) and going to college lmao

↯ more notes: sorry i have to repost this again tumblr is being dumb ://

Not a frat boy, but definitely lives by the mantra “work hard, party harder.”

Likes going out to frat parties and keggers first year, but calms down as time goes on. Sophomore year is more house parties and occasionally going downtown to clubs. By the time junior year rolls around tho, he and Jean are thee party hosts. Homecoming, Halloween, Pre-Thanksgiving break, you name it, those two have a reason to throw a party for it

But party doesn’t always mean absolute rager. Sometimes it’s just drinking with your friends, playing pong, and absolutely crushing Jean at uno. 

At parties with lots of other people, Eren really doesn’t let people fuck around with you, or any of his friends really. Once almost got into a fight because he watched a guy out his hands on yours and Mikasa’s waists to “move around you.” As if. 

Wears his key necklace around all the time, obviously. So he gives you a necklace with a lock on it, with both of your initials engraved on the back. 

Nobody really notices it at first, since the chains are long and the necklaces are you usually tucked inside your shirts. But one day, ever the observant one, Armin catches a glimpse of yours resting on top of your shirt. Cue squinted eyes looking back and forth between you and Eren before—eureka! “You and Eren have matching necklaces!!!”

Plays sports, not for a scholarship but just for fun. Gets very pouty when you can’t make it to his games; and gets extra pouty if you show up, but you’re not wearing his jersey.

On the flip side, gets very giddy when he sees you in the stands with his jersey on and very ostentatiously scoops you up into a hug after the game is over.

Literally does not know where the library is until you show it to him. Any of them. Help him.

The worst person to study with if he doesn’t have any actual work to do. Will bother you and prefer to gossip than to let you do your work in peace. If you need an actual study buddy, you should try Mikasa.

Drunkenly hits on you a lot. Scratch that, he hits on you regardless, drunk or sober, despite the fact that you’re literally dating him already.

Literally reserves at least two nights of the week to have dinner with Armin bye and you couldn’t even interrupt them if you tried.

Waits for you outside of your classroom if you’ve had an important presentation or something. Not always with anything cheesy or loud, but just to be able to cheer you on and congratulate you after.

Hates the act of going grocery shopping, but loves going with you. Also because you force him to buy things other than Anytizers and Kraft Mac and Cheese.

Steals your hair ties and scrunchies to put his hair up. Does not fucking give them back, and denies having them, even if they’re piling up on his wrist.

Will drive you anywhere and everywhere. He is your personal Uber. Even if you don’t want him to be, he would rather die than let you get into an actual Uber—and if it’s late at night? Forget it, Eren doesn’t care if you’re 45 mins away, he’ll come get you.

After you stabbed him with your pen for drawing in your notebook (with your very pristine notes), he started leaving sticky notes inside of them instead.

They’re all super random, usually incoherent, and sometimes just drawings, and you’d never tell him, but you keep every single one.

Cuts class a lot, but not to the point where he’s failing. Just when he feels like it’s deserved, you know? Like, if he attended lecture for a class all week, he deserved to skip Friday’s lecture. As a treat.

He’s embarrassing. Endearing, but so embarrassing. Like, singing in the middle of the street embarrassing. Asking you to do a TikTok in public embarrassing. Why do you even love him.

Moves off-campus during junior year and rooms with Jean and Armin in three-bedroom house. So, he’s never actually lonely, but he’s a little crybaby and will whine to get to you to come over.

LOVES sleeping over at your place, though. Because you live with Annie and Mikasa, so your place is always clean and always smells good. Plus Mikasa and Annie are usually busy, which means you get more privacy at your place.

Mikasa honestly just starts making breakfast for Eren in the mornings when he does sleep over, and Annie is so unfazed by his presence.

Jumps at the opportunity to join in on your girls wine-night or skincare-routine night. So what if it’s him and three other girls drinking red wine with face masks on and talking about Anne Hathaway movies while playing Monopoly Deal? It leaves him pleasantly buzzed and his skin is absolutely glowing, suck his dick, Connie.

Likely doesn’t understand a thing about your major/program but listens enthusiastically when you talk about it anyways.

His lock screen is the only selfie he’s ever convinced you to take with him. (That’s okay because he has many screenshots of your snaps for safekeeping and blackmailing).

Tries to get you to exercise with him. If you’re into that, then great. If you’re not, it’s okay, he always has time to stop and take a mid-workout thirst trap to send your way. Because he’s annoying like that.

Once accidentally replied to the whole class instead of just the professor on an email asking him to be a g and bump his 89.9 to a 90. Embarrassing. (The prof did raise in the end tho, so maybe he really does have some charm to him).

Has to wear reading glasses when studying for a long time/or at his computer for a long time, and even though he doesn’t like them, you think he looks super cute in them; so he wears them more often than usual. 

Calls you asking for the most obscure school supplies/stationary. “Babe, hey, you wouldn’t happen to have a spare 4x8 poster board laying around now would you?” 

Mind you this is at, like, 3am, 12 hours before the poster board in question is due. 

Speaking of stationary, is an absolute little shit and steals your good pens. He’s partial to the sparkly ones, if he’s being honest. They make his notes look better, fuck you, Jean. 

“Eren, give me back my purple 0.4mm pen.” “I don’t know what that is, sorry.” “Eren, I can see it in your hand!” 

Brings you snacks while you’re studying. If you’re really trying to crack down and be serious, he won’t even bother you. Just bring the snacks, bring you water and boba, kiss your little forehead and be on his way.

Has a polaroid camera he got as a birthday gift, and uses it to sneak pictures of you whenever you’re not looking. He keeps the good ones hung up on a sponge board in his room.

He has a few.... riskier ones too, but those are for his eyes only.

Loves to pick out your nail color when you get your nails done. Honestly gets a little pouty when you don’t ask him lmaoo

Purposely leaves his clothes around so you can wear them. Isn’t subtle about it in the slightest. Sometimes leaves them with a note: “Please wear this, you’d look cute as fuck. Thank you. —Management.”

(slightly nsfw below)

Is not too proud to ask you for risqué snaps. Not necessarily full nudes, thought he doesn’t object to those.

Will literally give you hickeys out of boredom. Will pull you onto his lap and start kissing your neck because he has nothing better to do. Also because it leads to sex 7/10 times. The other 3 times, it’s because he falls asleep with his head in your neck lmaoo

Might have once fucked you with one of his lectures playing in the background, but you’ll never tell.

He really likes phone sex. He’s shit at being quiet, so he can only really do it when Jean and Armin are out of the house, but there’s something about only being able to hear your moans to get off that really does it for him.

He’s kind of goofy and absentminded sometimes, so sometimes you’ll be mid-sex and he’ll look at you like “Hey, did you finish your assignment, it’s due tomorrow right?”

And honestly, you kinda wanna be upset, but then you start thinking—“Did I finish my assignment?” And then you realize you did and nod and he’s like “Ok, cool,” kisses your forehead and resumes where you left off.

[fatal-error-blog]

A Peaceful_Fundraiser has Occurred - An Effort to Fight Against Racial Injustice!

Hey everyone, this is going to be a long (but important) post. Given the title of this post, I’m sure you know what I’m about to mention. So before I get started I just want to say that it’s totally okay to not want to see this on your dash, coming from this blog specifically. While this is a really important issue that shouldn’t be shied away from, I do 1000% recognize that this blog has always been (very purposefully) kept as a fun and safe place for us all to enjoy a good story together. Heck, this blog is a safe place for me, too. I like knowing that I can come here and focus on content that makes me happy, and that makes you all happy, and just escape from how gross the world can be for a little while. But I also realize that I have the power to do some good, and I want to try to do some good, with your help, hopefully. I want you to know that it’s okay if you don’t want to see mention of what’s going on out there, here.

Any post I make on this blog that specifically references the racial injustice movement going on right now will be tagged with ‘FE BLM Fundraiser’. You are more than welcome to block that tag so you don’t have to see it here. It’s truly okay, I promise.

With that being said, let’s get into this!

I’ve never done anything like this before, so please bear with me! But like I said, I want to do some good with your help, hopefully. So I’ve made a charity fundraiser page where the proceeds will be going to the Black Lives Matter Global Network. If you’re not aware, there has been a lot of turbulence regarding racial injustice and police brutality going on all over the world, centered mostly in the United States. There are so many resources out there with information on what’s going on and different ways you can help (even without donating any money!) and I encourage you to do your research if it’s something you feel you need to be more enlightened on. I took a couple of days to think about how I wanted to help, and I thought that a fundraiser with awesome goals could be a really great thing! To be honest I’m not sure if we’ll reach many goals, but I think it’s worth a try, and no matter what, every little bit helps :) So here’s the deal:

A link to the donation page is here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fatal-error-blog

This fundraiser will run through the month of June, all the way up until midnight, June 30th EST!

Anyone who donates at least $15 will be able to receive a free commission from me!

Commissions will be a colored character bust (so like, from the top of their head to just below their shoulders) of a character of your choosing (not necessarily just Undertale themed, and can also include original characters or characters in different fandoms). This is a bit cheaper than my normal commission rate, so it’s a great opportunity to get some cool art if you’ve always wanted some!

If you want to claim your free commission, you need to: 1) Contact me via tumblr (@xedramon or @fatal-error-blog) or via email (xedramon@gmail.com) saying you’d like your commission

2) Send me a screenshot of your (at least) $15 donation

3) Tell me the name of the character you want, and a reference picture I can use

*** You MUST contact me to get your commission. Pretty sure I’m not able to see how much people donate so I will have no way to reach out to you, so you have to reach out to me first! Commissions will get done as quickly as possible, and will be sent via however you contacted me (so either tumblr or email)

FUNDRAISER GOALS!

So along with the commissions, there are community goals we can all reach together! I feel like some of the higher goals are a bit daunting to reach, but if we reach them, good for us! Each goal has a fun reward attached to it that I think is worth the goal we’re trying to reach. $50 - Everyone here gets to vote on an Undertale AU to be featured in an upcoming chapter of A Fatal_Error has Occurred! It can be anything, from an AU that hasn’t appeared yet, to one that already has, to one that you think would be hilarious or cool to see, whatever! Only stipulation is that the creator of that AU has to give me permission to include it. If this goal is reached, I’ll make a list of the AUs people want to see in order of what was voted for, just in case the 1st place winner doesn’t give me permission, I’ll check with 2nd place, and so on.

$100 - I’ll host a Game Night Livestream! We’ll pick a date, and play some stream-friendly games (like Jackbox Party Pack!) for several hours! Perhaps we’ll even do two nights so that people can choose which night works better for them :)

$175 - I’ll host a 12 Hour Art Livestream! What’ll happen is that the stream session will be broken down into different segments (so maybe for a couple hours we do a request stream, and then we switch to working on something else, etc). People will have the opportunity to vote on the date we do the stream.

$250 - Everyone here gets to vote on which side comic I work on next! This means I’ll give everyone a couple of choices to pick from with a brief idea of what each side comic would be about. Everyone votes, and I’ll start on the winning side comic immediately. This is a great opportunity to basically demand that you get to see what you’re most excited about sooner rather than later!

$500 - This goal guarantees that Chapter Five of A Fatal_Error has Occurred will be completed by the end of THIS YEAR. Which is some seriously insane pacing, but hey if we reach this goal, a promise is a promise!

$750 - I will create a (hopefully awesome) Fatal_Error animation! I have a couple of ideas in mind, and perhaps I’ll let you all vote on what idea you’d like to see come to life the most. I am the most nervous about this goal, haha!

$1000 - I’ll host a 24 Hour Art Livestream!!! That means exactly what it sounds like! We’ll pick a date, I’ll take the most intense nap the world has ever known before we start, and then we’re gonna stream for 24 hours straight. I’ll set up a schedule so we do different things every few hours to keep it interesting. It’ll be so rad!

$2000 - Everyone here gets to vote on an Undertale themed tattoo (an honest to goodness permanent one) that I will, 100%, absolutely get! How this will work is that everyone will be able to suggest what I should get, I’ll pick a handful of the most popular ideas (that I’m cool with having on my body for the rest of forever) and you all will get to vote on what I get! This would, of course, occur once tattoo shops are allowed to open back up and it’s safe for me to go get one. But I promise you, I’ll do it and it’s gonna be AWESOME.

$3000 - Last but certainly not least, if this goal is reached then I will resume working on Sondertale again, alongside working on A Fatal_Error has Occurred. What’s Sondertale? Well, it’s another UT AU comic I started on before I ever began Fatal_Error’s comic. I ended up setting it aside so that I could focus on Fatal’s comic instead, and over time there has been some...surprisingly popular demand/request that I return to working on it. Originally I was going to consider what to do with it after Fatal’s comic is done, but if this rather large goal is reached then I will pick right back up where we left off and commit to finishing the comic, in it’s originally intended comic format. It’ll be a LOT of work (which is why getting a legitimate permanent tattoo is an easier goal to reach than this) but if we work together to donate this much, then it’ll be absolutely worth it.

And that’s it for the goals! I think that the higher goals will be plenty hard to reach, but if somehow we surpass the highest goal then uhh...I guess we’ll talk about what kind of goals you all might like to see after that, haha.

This fundraiser will run through the rest of June - so if you would like to donate and help contribute to seeing some of these goals realized, please do!

I will reblog this post on the following days: June 7th, June 14th, June 21st, and June 28th as a reminder, and also to update everyone on how the fundraiser is going. As goals are hit, I’ll also mention them on the blog so we can all share in the excitement of what’s to come!

Thank you so, so, so much for your consideration, your help, and your support. Please stay safe, stay hopeful, and stay determined.

Link to fundraiser page: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fatal-error-blog

[freshneverfrozen]

Tincture - Chapter 2

AC Vahalla Reader Fic

Pairing: Reader x Ivarr or Hytham or Basim (look, I’m a greedy woman. I still don’t know)

Also, an apology, as my Italics and other formatting aren’t transferring here on tumblr. Find the fic on AO3 here: Tincture

Part One

...............

Chapter Two - The Short Road

Fremedeleigh is gone.

At least, most of it. You stop at the edge of the forest and look out across the moors and fields. Hytham stops beside you. Three days you’ve been together, and in those days, you’ve eased his pain as best you can. He had revealed his gratitude with shy, rare smiles and sparse conversation. 

Now, when you look at him, you think you know enough about him to recognize regret when it casts over his features. Fremedeleigh is just the corpse of what had been, and Hytham seems to feel it. 

“The Ragnarssons did this. My friend is not so...wanton.” It is his way of saying he is sorry; he did not do this, and you wonder why it matters to him that you could think he’d condone this. 

You swallow hard, unable to meet his eyes when he looks at you. Another home gone. Another life. But you have a chance for a new one. 

You crook a finger toward a charred rooftop beyond. “There,” you say, “That is mine.”

“How did you escape?” He has wanted to ask you the question before -- you’ve read it in his eyes -- but he has been too kind to do so until now.

“I ran.”

“Running and out-running are different things,” muses Hytham, “You must have been lucky.”

Now, you do look at him. But his eyes are too soft, too sorry to be patronizing. You swallow your pride and the bite that wants to spring from it. 

“Luck is not what I would call it,” you tell him. Cursed, more like, with just enough sense of foresight to survive all these years. It has never been a great enough gift to be useful, only one to plague you late at night. 

When you fall silent, your eyes turning again to what had been your home, Hytham edges his horse nearer. The heavy press of its chest against your leg warms you, reminding you that you are not alone. He says, “I will escort you.”

A kind offer. He is kind, though you don’t think he would appreciate being called such now. He watches you with worried eyes, his hands flexing over the reins. 

Appreciation warms your chest, but you force it away, steeling yourself, and you shake your head. “You should look for your friend and Basim. I see no roving Danes.”

He gives you a wry smile. “I was imagining more a loose timber falling on your head. But you are right. I should find Basim.” He thinks for a moment. “Return to this spot when you are done. We -- or, I -- will await you here.”

“I will.” The prospect quickens your heart. A new life so soon. “Good luck, Hytham.”

“And to you. Do not get eaten by Danes, healer.”

With that, he turns his horse and rides south to where he hopes the Danes have camped. You tie off the mare at the base of a nearby tree -- it wouldn’t do to be spotted with a Dane’s horse. 

It wouldn’t do to be spotted at all.

.

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

.

Fremedeleigh might as well be gone. Few of the buildings stand. The air buzzes with the sound of flies and you must cover your nose to shield against the reek of rotting corpses whose names you once called.

When the guilt starts creeping, you tell yourself that it was always to be this way. Their day to join the earth had come, but yours… 

As you flit between the skeletons of buildings, you hope that today is not your day. Timbers creak in the wind, like whispers and following footsteps, and each time, your muscles tighten as you press a little closer to the shadows. The Danes will have moved on. But scavengers, both human and animal, can still be a danger. Your mind conjures an image of the rabid, blue-eyed raider emerging from any of these blackened doorways as you pass them by. Each time the specter returns, you force the thought away before nausea and fear can do more than turn your stomach.

Fate proves kind. Your home is burned, unfit to keep out wind and rain, but some -- only a few, in truth -- of your stores remain. The balms have melted, ruined, and your dried herbs have gone up like tinder. But the box in which you had kept your seeds for new plants and a few vials of oils, condensed a season past, have survived the flames. A few of your other belongings have managed, too.

The under-dress you stole away in is ruined to holes, and you change into the one dress you can find that has not been burned too badly to wear. Gratefully, you find your winter shoes intact. There is little else to carry. A cut-throat idea springs to mind as you are leaving, but though it slows your steps, you do not have the heart to follow it. You should scavenge the other homes, but the thought of robbing the neighbors you had left to death sours your mood. 

You leave as quickly as you came. 

.

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

.

Hytham comes with the nightfall. The man is quiet, but his horse has no right to be so, and both come as something of a shock as they appear from the thicket nearby. You stand from your place at the mare’s feet, patting her silver neck to soothe your nerves, and you try hard not to be bothered by Hytham’s grim look. The man, you are learning, makes a habit of stoicism that does not seem to come naturally to him.

A waning thought has you thinking of his smiles, but you brush it away.

Now, however, as those odd-colored eyes find yours, a cold prickling lances your belly. He climbs down from his horse and stretches, but the action does not seem to loosen his worries.

“We will rest here for the night and meet the others at dawn,” he says. 

“The others?” Your chest tightens. “Basim and your friend?”

Hytham looks away. He has already started pulling at his belts and straps. Such has been the way of your recent evenings.

“And the Ragnarssons.”  

Ivarr Ragnarsson. The name flits through your mind on a chill. He will kill you, if only to save his pride. You have seen men like him before, but none have been as lasting in their impression. 

“Then our roads divide after all,” you say quietly over a knot in your throat. Hytham does not look at you. A new home has been a close thing, but close things are not for you. You prefer sure ones, and risking your life does not bring those. You clear your throat and gesture to a spot of ground before you. “Sit. I won’t send you off with an aching body.”

In the dimming light, the shadows of Hytham’s face catch in a frown. All the same, he sits, shedding his upper garments while you start a small fire. As the wood burns to coals, you search your stores for anything that might ease his chronic aching. He has been good to you these last few days, as you have been good to him, and were these few oils not all you had, you would send him away with one or two of them.

You withdraw a few, these bled from peppermint and sage, and spill a little of both into your hands. You warm them between your palms. These are actions you know, and performing them, simple as they are, takes some of the weight from your chest. 

As you turn back to Hytham, you pause. The glow of flickering flame lights his skin, his eyes, and for the first time that you can remember, you think a man beautiful, rather than handsome. He sits with his arms around his knees, his gaze on the small, licking fire. He is a dream that does not belong in these cold hills. A dream that tomorrow you will force yourself to wake from. 

You ease over to him, forcing a smile. “You will smell like one of England’s elves when I am done with you.” 

The soft teasing of your voice only drives Hytham’s gaze away. He stretches wordlessly to the side, angling himself so that his back and the sore ribs that plague him are exposed to you. 

“This will help more than coals in a scarf,” you assure him.

Still, he says nothing, but with the first pass of your oil fingers over the taunt muscles of his back, you feel him tremble. The sigh he makes is silent, given away only as it mists in the chill air. 

“You are tense,” you whisper, running a knuckle between where his ribs meet his spine. 

“I am fine.”

“You are ridiculous. What was discussed with those friends of yours that has you so...so…” You frown as something in your chest keeps you from teasing him again. The lean, corded muscles of his back feel like wood under your hands, he is so tight, and though you work, nothing you do eases him. “Hytham?”

The sound of his name has him sighing, this one less pleasant than the last. He cranes around to look at you. He really is a fine man, you think, your eyes roving the slope of his nose and the pout of his -- no, you stop that thought.

Tomorrow he will be gone, and the short road to a new beginning with him. It does not bear thinking about. 

Hytham appears to be studying you as well. A knot carves between his brow and he glances away. You resume your work and this time, you notice that the muscles are not as tense as they had been before. He lets his head fall between his knees. 

It is a long while before he speaks. 

“You should not run so easily.” He lifts his head. “Your plan to go to Ravensthorpe should remain the same. Basim would not let the cur harm you.”

Your lips twitch. “Is Basim my stalwart protector now? I do not see him.” You lean near, around to his ear. “Is he hiding in the trees?”

Hytham’s eyes fall shut, long lashes splaying over his cheeks. Quickly, you lean away. You had not meant -- 

But then, maybe you had.

Hytham answers you after too many seconds. 

“He asked after you. He feels...ingratiated to you.” The word is ground out through clenched teeth. It occurs to you that Hytham does not care for the fact that anything having to do with himself should involve ingratiation on the part of another. Another pain, one of many.

“I soothed your aches,” you say through a smile, “And you kept the wolves from dragging me off.”

“It was a fox.”

“A wolf makes for a better story.” You pinch the meat of his side. 

And...he shudders. The feel of his prickling skin beneath your hands is not at all unpleasant. But it is something for dreams. Now, you must talk of reality. 

“Besides Basim,” continues Hytham when his breath has settled, “Eivor will not let any harm come to you. I spoke with her. She agrees Ravensthorpe could do with a healer, and her word is near-law.”

Eivor. This must be the unnamed friend he has mentioned. And a woman...oddly, this eases some of your hesitation.

“You sound keen on this?” You do not like the hope that wriggles into your voice at the question. Or maybe it is a statement. Because Hytham does sound keen on it. 

He turns to look over his shoulder again, more quickly this time. “I like Ravensthorpe. I am keen on its success.”

“You are keen,” you say with a grin, “Keen and fine. What else are you, Hytham?” You pull your hands away and let them rest in your lap. 

He is rosy-cheeked, that’s what he is.

“Tired,” he snaps, “and wishing you would get on with it.”

“Forgive a humble healer for her sins, priest.”

He makes a face. “Perhaps you should not come to Ravensthorpe, after all. There are too many jesters there as it is.”

“Make up your mind, Hytham. Shall I stay --”

Hytham glares at you, but there, again, is a telling twitch of his lips. A new home, perhaps, is not gone after all. Merely eclipsed by a brief fog that had rolled in from these moors. 

“Then you will not run?” asks Hytham when you at last turn away to gather up a few cooling coals into his sash.

“I suppose not. Though if Ivarr Ragnarsson swings for my head, I make no promises. Now, stop your fluttering, priest. This will be warm.”

But he does flutter.

You try harder not to notice.

[reign-its-raining]

Like Mother Mary

trying to format tumblr and transfer my shtuff has caused much pain :)

Summary: Weakness, we've all felt it. From our knuckles to the bottom of our hearts. (That too vague for you? Read some more.)

wc: 969 !!cw: burning / mention of death

“Knowing full well, darling, your war's not ended.”*

~

The wind whipped around his face, obscuring his vision. 

Cole winced as the thrusters singed bits of hair and skin, he cried out, now falling falling falling until his arm caught the end of the ladder, surely dislocating it. Cole felt his airways seize and struggle as apartment buildings tore through his suit and back, Jay’s panicked voice rang through his head making little to no sense.

“I - I got it!” he cried, clutching the rope with sweaty (bloody) fingers then watching in horror as the rung snapped, sending him downdowndown. 

His name bounced off of rooftops and broken windows. Either the bounty was getting further or he was falling faster. Maybe both, maybe the dizziness and decreasing pressure wasn’t real, maybe he died on that mountain all those years ago, maybe this whole ‘ninja’ thing was all a dream, this wasn’t real- 

Cole was numb as the arms of darkness wrapped around his, luling him to sleep. 

~

Cole gasped as his head hit the bamboo floor, his arms flailing. The raven sighed as he kicked the wadded blanket off, hoping (praying, anticipating) Jay wouldn’t wake. The frame rattled as the blue ninja rolled over, nothing more. 

Cole stumbled as he slipped out of his shared room. His heart raced as he graced down the hall past Kai and Zane’s room, past Nya and Pixal’s room. The black ninja tripped clumsily over a game controller outside of a hall closet, his breath hitched when the sound of snoring paused briefly before resuming. Then he was safe. Safe safe safe. 

The outside air was refreshing. Cole let out a sigh as he breathed in the dewy air allowing serenity to wash over him.

Now if only he were alone.

~

*“The world is coming down around me 

And I can’t find a reason

To be loved.”*

~

Kai shot up, a small sob escaping his lips.

“Kai? Is everything alright?” Zane whispered, his eyes lighting a path to him. 

The red ninja silently cursed the nindroids light sleep. “Everything’s fine, Zane. Go back to sleep.” the grogginess was overwhelming but Kai was nevertheless relieved when the ice ninja (Kai remembered when he had an element to his name-) held his gaze only a moment longer before settled back down into sleep mode.

Now the brunet just had to figure out how to get out of there without waking Zane. Overheating his sensors was always an option that Kai had already successfully (though guiltily) done. Overheating his sensors. God, Kai was such an idiot! And a weak one at that. 

The red ninja chuckled a silent laugh before sliding open the window beside his bed. It led to the hillside beneath the monastery so Kai would have to scale the walls. (He wasn’t too weak to do that at least).

~

Some of the floor was original, loose boards everywhere. Kai pulled up the thirty second tile from the doorframe to reveal flint and wood. After digging around in his pocket Kai et out a small exclamation of success as he pulled out a bit of steel, borrowed from Nya - well, stolen but that meant nothing. 

The sparks flying from the steel were like fireworks in his eyes, one finally caught onto the kindling, igniting into a small flame. The warmth was accepting (and more often than not, he felt so cold). 

Taking a deep breath, Kai tugged off his socks before gingerly placing his feet on either side of the blazing stick. The heat was intense for eight, nine, ten more seconds (than usual) before Kai hissed and pulled them from the small hole in the ground. Without any hesitation, Kai put his hands into the now bigger fire. It burned, of course it burned. Kai wouldn’t have been surprised if his core temperature dropped a few degrees after The Incident.

It was all so familiar(liarliarliar) minus the searing pain. But Kai didn’t move, not until his bubbling hands were pulled roughly from the hole, the fire stomped out, his power once again gone.

~

Cole wasn’t surprised when the smell of smoke hit him. Half the nation was on fire, but Cole could only hope that the monastery wasn’t burning downdowndown (again).  He rubbed his bleary eyes to see a huddled form not ten yards in front of him. 

Hands. Hands glowing red. Kai’s hands burning brighter than the purple circles beneath his eyes. Cole took a deep breath, trying to cool the unfamiliar rage bubbling beneath his skin. “‘The hell do you think you’re doing?” the earth ninja exclaimed, his eyes never leaving the blistering white burns on Kai’s hands. “You’ve got a real nerve doing this shit. Third degree burns, Kai?” Cole wasn’t done berating, he was ready to fire (ha) off more anger, but the look in his friend’s (teammate’s, brother’s) eyes stopped him. 

“I just wanted to… wanted to feel it again,” he murmured, amber eyes trained on the ground. His hands curled around rogue weeds growing between the porch floor. 

“I know you have a high pain tolerance but this is ridiculous,” Cole joked half heartedly. Most of the pain tolerance went with his power; Kai must have been in complete agony. “C’mon,” the black ninja sighed, finally noticing the burns on Kai’s feet. “Sensei probably has some iced tea for this or something.” 

The fire ninja clung to Cole, staining his shirt with tears. “Why are you out here?” he rasped. It took his brother flinching to realize; the nightmares. Cole still had fucking nightmares. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Kai said, changing the question. 

“Because.” Cole pulled the brunet onto his back. “It happened months ago. I felt weak.” 

“I know how it feels,” Kai mumbled, studying his burns. “I promise, Brookstone, it won’t get this bad.”

* : Welcome Home (Finale) - Bandstand (musical) ** : Arms - Christina Perri

[noreasonreally]

I hadn't spoken to my father in a year. When I was 19, I sent that final text - although I can't remember what it said, it was the last words I said to him before blocking his number. My paternal grandfather, the one who molested me as a child (though I repressed that for years), would take me out to lunch, ask how college was, and spend some time trying to convince me to speak to my father again.

Looking back, it makes perfect sense to me that he didn't take me seriously. At the time, I was just getting hurt over and over again. Every time I reiterated that my father's behavior was unacceptable and not going to change - the damage is done, and so am I - the response would essentially be, "But he's the only dad you'll ever have. It wasn't that bad, was it?"

My mom understood me, but had fled to Colorado after the divorce. My brother was busy being a paramedic, and he didn't understand what my problem was, either. I had a boyfriend, that I basically lived with by the time I was 20; his brother and his brother's girlfriend would join us for lazy afternoons and wild nights. I was too fucked up on my own personal turmoil to really be as present with them as they deserved, but I also found better men to be with along the line. A pretty decent first boyfriend, all said.

Graduation was a little tricky - I wasn't technically getting my degree yet, but all I needed were the two classes over the summer, since I had finished the Music Business program. A math class and a resume-building class - so stupid, but I would take care of it. It was the only graduation ceremony I'd had; K-12 was pretty uneventful as a home-schooled kid. I was so salty about having to go straight to college in the first place, that I didn't care about my high school graduation party; it was combined with my 17th birthday party, as well.

So I graduate. My brother and grandfather are the only ones who have said they'll be there; my grandparents on my Mom's side forgot, or I forgot to tell them, or something embarrassing like that, that we've never talked about.

I get the degree holder, I walk across the stage and smile at my boyfriend, his brother, and his brother's girlfriend. My professor and advisor stands at the end, mimicking the way I reacted to my friends' graduation the previous year, and we laugh. We take a picture together.

The ceremony ends, and in a rush of pride, I find my boyfriend and ask if he's seen my brother (the only one he'd recognize). Then I get a call from my brother: he had to leave on an ambulance run, but he was supposed to tell me to meet my grandfather and my father at the Dairy Queen the next town over.

My heart crumbles. I start crying. Not one of my family members will be here to celebrate with me. Not one.

I hide in the bathroom for as long as I can without making my boyfriend and his brother and his brother's girlfriend wait too long. I try to tidy up my makeup. I forget to get the DVD of the ceremony to send to my Mom, because I just want to forget any of this happened, I just need to get away from the other 20-year-olds with their happy families.

I get into my car with my boyfriend. He says he brought a bottle of whiskey, and we drink from the bottle before driving back to his apartment. The three of them have decorated with streamers, banners, balloons, and confetti.

And that's the story of when I felt the most abandoned. The most hurt.

I'm certain I've posted this story before, but maybe not as coherently, or completely; certainly not with the repressed memories and hindsight I now have. And I don't wake up every day thinking about this, or anything; I've moved on fairly well from a lot of things.

The main reason I felt the need to type this all out, and (maybe?) post it on fucking tumblr, is that it really happened. And sometimes I forget that I'm not making it all up. Especially now that I'm living in my Mom's basement until I find a place closer to work, especially now that my brother is constantly in and out of the same house and talking like my father (because of course they still talk), especially now that I'm forced to confront my insecurities and familial issues every damn day... I need to remember that this really happened.

I'm not making things up, no matter how badly anyone (including myself) wants to believe that. I'm not crazy for feeling like I can't trust my family, or rely on them to be there for my biggest moments. It's not an unnatural defense mechanism, for me to push them away when I'm going through something deeply personal and important.

It's incredibly important for me to examine, and maintain, my boundaries, especially with my family, who are the source of many anxieties. And at no point do I need to be "done" working on this - at no point do I need to make myself smaller, or seem "normal," or let them bulldoze a conversation - and at no point do I need to force myself through the process, either.

This is a big wound for me, obviously. And the ceremony itself can be considered so unimportant to many people, and I respect that. But this was symbolic of my entire adulthood up to that point, and changed how I approached my adulthood beyond it. I didn't finish the two classes, I didn't go to a 4-year college, and I certainly didn't ask for help with my PTSD. I didn't even know I had PTSD until years later.

The moral of the story is, sometimes you need to type out an old wound in story format to feel like it's not rattling around in your head anymore. And sometimes you need to post it on a website that you've used for over a decade, because tucking it away between funny jokes just feels natural. And sometimes this happens like 5 days before your appointment with a new psychologist and you're kind of scared of what's going to happen, so you cope in ways that are actually pretty healthy, all things considered.

[transgenderteensurvivalguide]

what do you, as a group, need the most? Do you need more mods, a better FAQ, etc. What do you need? What would help you?

Lee says:

A ton of the questions we get are things that can be found by searching for a few key words on the blog, or even are actually directly linked to and answered in our existing resource pages.

A ton of the questions we get are things that can be found by searching for a few key words on the blog, or even are actually directly linked to and answered in our existing resource pages which are pretty full of information on a bunch of different topics.

We’ve been answering questions for over 8 years, and there are obviously some original questions particular to someone’s personal situation, but as an example, most questions about binding have probably been asked and answered dozens of times before.

So folks taking a few minutes to look around on the blog before asking something is something that can help us and also you- if you find the answer after a few mins of looking on the blog, you don’t need to wait for us to get to your question!

-

We always could do with some more mods, but the issue with adding new mods means it can take a lot of time on our part to search for mods, choose applicants, train them, and then watch over their answers while they’re still new so we aren’t always able to add new mods, even if we wanted to.

But that’s not saying we’ve never added mods:

Phoenix

Kai/Sofriel

Autumn

Jared

Fox

Lukas

Jay

Ren/Josh

Chrissi

Emery

Kay

Mason

Kitty/Ellie

Max/Liana

Haruka

Lee (That’s me!)

Carl

Roxie

Tayler

Emery (a different one than the first one)

Daniel

Charlie

Devon

Chris

Eden

Kii

Ryn

Ora

Ari

Asis

Kevin/Kai (a different one than the first one)

Callie

Josh (a different one than the first one)

Archer

Autumn (a different one than the first one)

Harper

Jay (a different one than the first one)

Toddy/Delaine

Pat

Saffron

Charlotte

And that list doesn’t show every mod we’ve ever had because not all mods made a tagged intro post, but you can see there’s been a good number of mods on this blog over the years.

We’ve often had a big issue with mod burnout- we’ll get like 100 applicants if we open mod apps, then we have to sift through to choose ones who have good advice, who agree with us on the important issues, and who also fill in gaps in the diversity or experience of the current mods. Then we end up with maybe 6 new mods (we can’t add 20 people or it’s unmanagable!) who we train but they often end up being inactive pretty quickly. 

It’s kind of like being a therapist when you don’t have any training- you’re being constantly sent a bunch of problems from people talking about being in abusive homes to having unsupportive friends and to having debilitating dysphoria and just being exposed to it all can take a toll on your own mental health. And of course we’re unpaid and receive no compensation for being mods, and posting on Tumblr isn’t exactly the kind of thing you can put on a job resume either.

Being a multiply marginalized person means you’re more likely to have other stuff going on in your life that prevents you from being able to dedicate hours to the blog, and people also don’t realize how much work it is. There are a lot of triggers and content things you have to remember to tag for, certain ways you should format posts, things you can’t give advice on, and so on. So I think people feel maybe stressed out when they keep getting corrected about their posts by the other mods.

And then of course also personality conflicts come up- it can be tough working in a large team, especially when a lot of us (including myself) are both Autistic, which means interpersonal communication isn’t our strong point so things end up coming out bluntly which upsets folks- and of course, a lot of us are also mentally ill, so that can also make it hard for people to take a step back and bounce back. 

People also just move on in their lives, and don’t use Tumblr anymore or don’t have time to dedicate to the blog, which happens over the years.

-

So yeah, we will add more mods again at some point, but until then please help us out by reading through our resources and searching on the blog before sending an ask!

[psychedaboutstudying]

CV masterpost

1. Introduction

 A CV (curriculum vitae) is  the story of your life. In your CV, you want to draw attention to your best achievements, your most relevant experiences. This is always true, whether you are a senior in the field, or you haven't even graduated high school.

A CV and resume are not one and the same thing (unlike what I have believed for many years). A CV is a long-ass document that contains all your work experience, education, accomplishments. A resume is a short document that hightlights your most relevant experiences and skills. Internationally, there are great differences in the use of a CV vs a resume. Where I'm from (the Netherlands) we don't usually use this distinction, and a "CV" is most like a combination of the two. In this post I mostly use the term "CV", but most of these tips apply to both CVs and resumes!

Because CVs are often multi-page, I recommend adding your name and page numbers in the upper or lower margins of the document, so that someone who prints the CV will still know they belong together.

All links in this post will lead you to a picture of an example CV, unless stated otherwise.

Use

Examples of when you may need a CV:

Apply to a vacancy

Open application to a company

Applying to college or other educational institution

Whether you need a CV or resume and what exactly you need to include in your CV in each situation, depends so much on country that I cannot tell you in this post, but I recommend looking up before applying, especially if you are applying to a foreign country where you're unfamiliar with the "CV habits".

Customization

Much like you don't tell the same things about yourself to every person you meet, you have to adapt your CV each time you're applying for a job. Maybe you did a lot of extracurricular activities in high school, but it just takes up space and attention if you write them all down. You can, however, write "several extracurricular activities" to show that you were an engaged student.

It's useful to have a general CV, which you may use, for example, to publish on your website. This is often a multi-page document that contains all your education, experience, achievements, published work, grants, etcetera. It's good to have this document ready even when you're not applying to jobs and to keep it up to date.

In other cases it's useful to have a single-page resume. This is, as the name implies, a version of your CV that is condensed into one page. Here, it's especially important to think about what you want to boast about. What accomplishments are valued highly in the field that you want to work in (not necessarily the field you are currently working in)?

 Example #1: General format

Research master Developmental Psychology, cum laude, [university], [graduation date]

Average grade: [grade]

Thesis: [title], grade: [grade]

 Example #2: When applying to something where the research master is irrelevant

Research master Developmental Psychology, cum laude, [university]

 Example #3: Applying to a job related to specific courses that I took during my masters

Research master Developmental Psychology, cum laude, [university], [graduation date]

Average grade: [grade]

Thesis: [title], grade: [grade]

Relevant courses: Introduction to programming [grade], multilevel analysis [grade]

Language

If you speak multiple languages, it might be useful to have your CV ready in two languages. For example, I always keep my CV up-to-date in both English and Dutch, so I can easily apply to both English and Dutch vacancies. It is also worth noting that you can create your LinkedIn page in multiple languages as well, so that someone who visits your LinkedIn page can decide in what language they prefer to read it. And because you create it yourself, you don't have to be afraid of silly auto-translation mistakes.

Order

You can choose to order your experiences chronologically or anti-chronologically. Personally, I recommend anti-chronologically. This means that you start out with your most recent job (or education, grant, workshop, etc.) and you work your way backwards through time. The great advantage of this is that (usually) your most relevant and impressive experiences are the ones that you did most recently. By placing these on top, you automatically draw the reader's attention to these experiences first. Some people prefer to read it chronologically, i.e. you first name your first job, then the second, etc. Both are fine! But whatever you do, do it consistently. Speaking about that…

Consistency

You always need to make a lot of choices when it comes to your CV. Do you use colours? How are you going to order the information? What do you include and what not? However you make these decisions, the most important thing is to keep it consistent across your CV. That means:

If you mention your graduation date for one education, do so for all

If you make a function title bold, do so for all functions

If you list your education chronologically, list everything else chronologically too

If you place dots behind one line, place dots everywhere

Don't use different fonts (exception: one for main text and one for headings, but that is not necessary)

Etc.

Layout

You have a lot of options when it comes to layout. I noticed that academic CVs are usually very simple and plain, but when you work in anything art-related you might want to add a splash of colour, an intesting design element, or an unusual (yet professional) font. Some people have a "sidebar" where they include things such as skills, whereas others put everything in one column. Whatever your choice, don't be afraid to leave some white on the page, as this is easier on the reader's eye. And remember to keep it consistent and professional.

Career progression

Your CV is going to change a lot over the course of your life/career. After I had just graduated high school, I included things like school choir and school paper in my CV, because I had no experience and no education other than high school. As you gain more and more life experience, things such as college courses will be replaced by more relevant accomplishments. Don't be afraid to drastically change things on your CV as you go.

What to include?

This is a list of things that are typicall included in a CV (though not always in a resume!). I will go over each of these in more detail in the next sections of this post.

Personalia

Education

Jobs/experience

Extracurriculars

Training

Skills

Publications, grants, awards, etc.

References

2. Personalia:

Obviously, you have to include information about who you are. This typically may include:

Name: This is clear, right? ;)

Address: your address is not something you would publish online, so you don't always include this (typically you don't on your resume)

Date and place of birth:

E-mail address: it's important to use an e-mail address that you check regularly and it not tied to your current employer or educational institution (it may expire once you graduate and you don't always want your employer to know you're looking for a new job). Don't  be afraid to use your personal e-mail account (like Gmail), but make sure it looks professional (not coolchick69@...).

Phone number: if you want someone to be able to contact you over the phone, include your phone number. This is useful if you are applying for a job (they will usually call to give you the good/bad news), or if you have your own business.

Website or LinkedIn: if you have either, include them! Just make sure that they are up to date and the links work before you send in your application.

Photo: A photo is optional, and whether you include a photo of yourself or not may depend on the type of job or organisation you're applying for.

3. Education

When you just enter the job market, education is very important because you don't have the work experience to show yet. Typically, you include the level and topic of education, the institution where you followed this education, the city, country (if necessary), and GPA. You may also want to include relevant courses, internships, or your thesis topic, if it is related to the job you're applying to. If you add the date of graduation it is clear that you have already finished this degree. However, this is not necessary if you work on this popular format of putting years in a left column and education in a right column

Example #1

Research Master Developmental Psychology, University of XX, graduated on 28th February 2019. GPA: XX.

Thesis topic: XXX

Relevant courses: this course and that course

Example #2: This is supposed to be a two-column table, but Tumblr doesn’t allow tables.

2016-2019 | Research Master Developmental Psychology, University of XX

  4. Jobs/experience

Here you list any previous experience you have. This may only include relevant experience (typical for resume) or all jobs you've had (CV). Personally, I worked for a year between high school and college, and listing that (irrelevant) job does explain the gap (i.e., I was not just drinking and sleeping my days away). For every (relevant) job you list, also add your tasks, responsibilities, and/or achievements.

A professional once advised me to include a separate list here of my internships because I had quite a few that were relevant and, when presented together, quite impressive. (I am not sure how impressive they felt to me, but that is not the point of a CV.) It's usually fine to separate experience into "paid jobs" and "internships".

Example #1: Job that is not very relevant or important

2012-2014 | Barista, Central Park, New York City

Example #2: Very relevant job. Tumblr is very limited in terms of layout, but imagine this in table format with the tasks going straight under the job name, see templates.

2017-current | Research intern, Cambrigde University * Contacting participants * Administering EEG to adolescents * More tasks and responsibilities…

5. Extra toppings

The things I mentioned above are standard parts of any CV or resume. Depending on the job and your background you may want to spice up your CV by adding the following. I would recommend placing these after your education and experience, but the order in which you put them depends on what you want to emphasise.

Extracurricular activities

These typically include things like volunteering. As mentioned, these become less important as you progress your career, but fresh out of high school or college, these can show your future employer the things you care about and that you're willing to go the extra mile.

Training

Perhaps you've followed some workshops or training that you can put to good use in a job.

Skills

These may include software, languages, but also soft skills! There are many ways in which to do this, but sort and order them in a way that makes sense in your situation and is consistent.

Example #1: Sorted by skill type. Again, put this in a table

Software | Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, XX, …

Language | Dutch (native), English (fluent), …

Soft skills | Leadership, cooperation,…

Example #2: Languages (e.g., in hospitality jobs). Again, table.

[empty cell] | Passive | Active

English | Excellent | Excellent

Portuguese | Good | Moderate

Publications, grants, awards

I am  not yet at the stage where I can fill this portion, but hey, if you received any of these things, put them on your CV! These are the pearls of your CV, because they are proof that other people appreciate your work.

6. Other files/related things

We've already discussed CVs and resumes, but there are three  other things (by lack of a better word) that go hand it hand with this: LinkedIn profile, letter of motivation, and references.

LinkedIn profile

Your LinkedIn profile should exactly match your CV (consistency!). A great advantage of LinkedIn is that you are able to link the companies you worked at directly, or otherwise link to pages where you can show off your accomplishments.

Letter of motivation

Your CV should also be in line with your letter of motivation (consistency!). This is a completely different topic, but I have a few remarks on this. Your CV and letter should complement each other. In your letter of motivation, you point out to specific experiences in your CV and explain why they are valuable in the position you're applying for. The letter should not merely repeat what you've said in your CV, but there should be a link. If you only mention experiences that are not in your CV, this raises some questions. These experiences should either be on your CV, or not in your letter. Lastly, I like to match the font and feeling of my CV and letter. Same font type and size, about the same amount of white space. This makes the two feel like the power duo they are.

References

A reference is someone you've worked with in the past who can tell a future employer about their experiene working with you. You can either add references with their name and contact info (but make sure to ask them if this is okay with them before you do so!), or you can simply state "References available on request" or something like that, and then provide your potential employer with the needed information when they ask for it. In any case, notify your reference(s) that you are applying so they know they can expect a call or e-mail. Sometimes, you need a reference letter for an application and you can ask your references to write this letter. Your references may also ask you to write a reference letter about yourself, and they will edit it as they see necessary. We're drifting a bit from the CVs here, but

 7. Conclusion + TL;DR

Pfew, that has been a long ride! Kudos if you're still here. I've tried to keep this post as general as possible, so that a lot of people benefit from it, but it's quite hard to give general advice, because every situation is different and you always want to emphasize different parts of your CV. Maybe you did not finish your college degree, but you have some great practical experience (list your jobs first). Maybe you took longer to finish your degree, but you did a lot of volunteering work in the meantime. Although I hope these tips were helpful, always ask yourself if they make your CV look better, and don't just take them for granted. (Except the consistency one. Consistency is always relevant.)

Here is my Google Drive folder with 3 different Microsoft Word templates + Google Docs templates, in case you don't own Word.

Take away:

Consistency is key

Customize your CV according to application needs

Make the most important things stand out (without sacrifising consistency)

[sayijo]

A/N: Oh my god I finally finished. Also, @ninjamelissajulien asked me to tag, so, here you go!

Words: Around 3.6k

Summary: Cryptor falls into a frozen lake and nearly drowns.

Warnings: Uhhh like one swear word?

Additional Notes: Uhhhh Tumblr formatting on mobile might be weird

“We’re lost.” Kai grumbled, his voice barely audible. All of them trekked through the snow. The white material was halfway up to their knees, slowing them down by a considerable amount. The sky was a dark grey (and getting darker by the minute), and the wind was howling, sending pellets of snow and hail to rain upon them. He hugged his red thick jacket close to his chest, small flames of fire crackling from in his hair as he attempted to keep himself warm. His loose pants whipped around in the sharp air, and his hair kept falling in front of his eyes, obstructing his vision. His cheeks and the tips of his ears were red from the cold.

They had been visiting Zane’s home in Birchwood forest, before making their way back to the Bounty upon seeing the approaching storm. It was no use. The blizzard had overtaken them after merely five minutes of walking. The wind was deafening and the snow was blinding. “No, we’re not.” Zane answered him, firmly. He stood in the front of the group, alongside Cole, attempting to lead the way back home. He was dressed in his traditional ninja gi, the white fabric basically blending in with the environment, completely unaffected by the cold. His dark grey synthetic hair swayed in the wind, and his bright blue mismatched cyan eyes cut through the darkening sky.

“It’s just been a while since I’ve been back.” Zane continued, his voice calm and reassuring. “I’ll be able to figure this out soon. The falling snow just makes everything look different.”

“Gotta keep moving.” Cole spoke afterwards. The rest of the ninja let out a multitude of annoyed and frustrated groans but followed after the ice and earth ninja regardless. The snow crunched from underneath their feet, their tracks almost immediately being covered by the snowfall. The snow had now fallen all the way up to their knees, forcing them all to struggle against the force of all the packed ice. Every five seconds the wind would die down, before starting back up just as strong as it had been before, blowing snow and ice pellets into their faces. “I’m gonna get frostbite!” Jay shrieked from somewhere behind Zane. He hopped around from side to side, trying to keep warm, groaning internally at the fact that snow was beginning to fall into his boots. He held a phone in front of him, trying to look for a signal so they could contact the Bounty. Frost was beginning to form on his eyelashes, making his eyelids stick together every time he blinked. Zane turned around and looked at him. There was a pause before he shook his head. “No.” He stated. “Your temperatures are at safe levels. For now. No risk of frostbite.” He then proceeded to turn around and started walking once more. Jay inhaled sharply and looked like he wanted to argue, but he ended up biting his lower lip and keeping quiet. He started walking again along with the rest of the crew.

It got silent. It was about 30 minutes of complete agony before someone spoke up once again. “We’re going in circles.” The rest of the crew turned to face the speaker. Cryptor. He looked miserable. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his jacket, his chin slightly tilted downwards into his chest. The hood of the pullover sweater underneath the black leather hung loosely over his head. The red scarf was pulled over his mouth and nose. His glowing red eyes were dull. “How do you know that?” Kai raised a brow, slowing down his steps so that he could keep in pace with the nindroid. Cryptor had decided to lag behind. “We’ve passed that birch tree three times already.” Cryptor took his hand out of the pocket before gesturing to a skinny white tree about five meters to their right. The trunk basically bent from the pressure of the wind, looking like it was ready to snap. “It’s a forest. Every tree pretty much looks the same. How can you be so sure?” Kai countered, rolling his eyes. He raised a hand to wipe the hair from his face and winced when he brushed his hand roughly against the two studs pierced above his left eyebrow. “Yeah well, you’re not a nindroid, Kai.” Cryptor retorted, narrowing his eye. The fire ninja blinked for a while before he turned his attention back to Cryptor. The wind howled, seemingly cackling as if it knew what was about to come. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kai demanded. Everyone else in the group seemed to pick up on their conversation and looked at the two uneasily. “It means exactly what it’s supposed to mean.” “Oh, what, am I—“ “Anyways, Zane, we need to start heading in another direction.” Cryptor glanced up at the ice ninja leading the group, cutting off the fire ninja before he could get any more words in. Kai looked like he wanted to slap someone. Smoke was probably coming out of his ears. It was beginning to waft out of his nostrils. “Why don’t you lead the way, tin can?” Kai snapped and growled after letting in a sharp breath, and now everyone had completely stopped walking. They stood awkwardly off to the side, unsure of whether to interrupt what was going on. “You know Kai, I’d love to. But since it’s so cold, my navigation has gone hazy.”

“Really?” Kai spat in the most mocking tone he could muster. He threw his head back slightly and laughed, his lips parting to reveal his teeth. “You think it’s okay to tell us we’ve been going the wrong way even though you don’t even know yourself?” “Well, at least I’m helping with the situation. What have you done, huh? All you’ve done is complain. Do you really have nothing else to say?” Cryptor immediately countered back, his entire figure going rigid and his eyes burning a brighter red. Everyone else stiffened up, already knowing that this was going to end badly for all of them “You guys...” Cole asked tentatively, a hint of urgency bleeding in his tone. The wind raged like a pack of hungry wolves, drowning out his voice to a point where it merely sounded like a passing whisper in the breeze. It seemed like the two barely even heard him.

“Excuse me?! I’m not helping? Take a good look at yourself! If you could actually function we’d be able to get out of here faster!” Kai snapped, raising his voice above the winds. Everyone winced, before Jay had to wave his hands madly in an effort to signal Kai to keep quiet.

“Kai, shut up for once in your goddamn life, would you? Every time you talk I get a splitting headache.” Cryptor snarled, baring his teeth from underneath his scarf. He growled a bit, glaring daggers into the fire ninja’s soul.

“Oh look at who’s talking now! I should shut up? Ever looked in a mirror lately? Keep quiet. If you can’t help, then maybe don’t talk at all.” Kai hissed, shoving the nindroid rather roughly. Cryptor stumbled a bit, before glared at Kai, looking angry enough to kill.

“Kai, you—”

“And what’s with the ‘I’m not a nindroid’ stuff, huh? Get off your goddamn high horse.” Kai growled, crossing his arms. Cryptor blinked for a while, before his eyebrow creased in complete fury.

“Okay!” Cole cried out, shaking his hands in an effort to defuse the situation. He had heard enough, and he stormed towards them, planting himself between the two. He reached out and gripped Kai’s left shoulder, and his other hand went to Cryptor’s right.

“We’re all just tired, okay? Let’s put our heads together and think, alright?”

“Not with him.” Cryptor looked off into the distance.

“Yeah, gonna have to agree with you there.” Kai smirked, fixing a glare at the nindroid, who returned the look. Both of them made a move for each other, hands curled into fists, before Cole had locked his elbows to grip them into place. He shook his head, as the crew resumed walking. He dropped his arms but stood between the two, acting as a wall.

Cryptor lagged behind them again, slowing down his pace so that everyone else passed him. He raised an arm to shield his face once the wind picked up. Kai glanced back at him, before he grumbled and began to slow down his trot as well. Cole, however, planted two hands on his back and began to push Kai forward, urging the fire ninja to speed up.

“How’s that signal searching going?” Cole leaned over Jay’s shoulder, looking down at the phone in the blue ninja’s hands. Jay grumbled something unintelligible, his fingers shaking from the frigid temperatures. He had made the mistake of wearing fingerless gloves, and he was absolutely sure his fingers were going to end up being frostbitten.

“Ugh, no luck. I’m telling you, Cole, unless we find a way out of the storm, there’s absolutely no way we’re getting a signal out here.” He stood up on his toes, stuck the phone into the air and waved it around frantically for a bit, as the slight height difference would help their situation.

Nothing.

“We have to keep moving.” Zane muttered from ahead of them. It was difficult to focus on his form, as the raging winds and the snow obstructed their sight to a point where it looked like there was white static flashing across their vision.

“Easy for you to say.” Cole rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

Another five minutes passed in silence.

“Shouldn’t we have Cryptor help Zane out? I mean, he does have a navigation system in place, right? Like, I know it’s scrambled, but, better something than nothing, right?” Jay suggested, as if he had just built the courage to speak up. He nervously glanced over to where Kai trudged through the snow.

“Whatever.” Kai shrugged.

“Hey!” Jay called over his shoulder, before he turned to look behind the entire group. “We need you up fr…”

There was no one there.

oOoOoOo

Cryptor walked through the storm. The wind whipped and pulled at his dark clothing, but it didn’t matter. He had his left hand pulling at his hood, preventing the wind from pulling it off his head. He squinted as he attempted to see through the blizzard. His night vision clicked on, bathing his surroundings in a tint of green.

“If you could actually function we’d be able to get out of here faster.” He muttered to himself from underneath his breath, the corners of his mouth curling downwards to form an ugly scowl. His left hand gripped his hood so harshly he was sure he’d end up puncturing the fabric.

His navigation software had basically frozen, leaving a still image of a map in the bottom right corner of his vision. Every else seemed to be working, however.

He hoped.

“And what’s with the ‘I’m not a nindroid’ stuff, huh? Get off your goddamn high horse.” Kai’s voice rang in the back of his mind. Cryptor laughed bitterly, lips parting to show his teeth. The wind picked up even more, sounding like a choir of people screaming. He shivered from the cold, tucking his chin close to his chest and pulling the hood tighter over his head.

“If you can’t help, then maybe don’t talk at all.” He mumbled to himself, attempting to mimic Kai’s voice, the sound muffled from within the scarf. He was angrier than anything else. He forced his way through the wind and snow, keeping his gaze trained to the ground. It was colder than it had been an hour prior, and he let out another involuntary shudder as the temperature seemed to drop.

His eyes settled as he reached the edge of a hill. He looked up, closing his eyes a bit as the wind picked up once again. Once he reopened them, he realized that he had found a clearing in the woods. He could see the dark grey clouds looming overhead, flakes of snow blurring his sight.

A frozen lake lay in front of him, the shore just down the hill.

...They had passed the lake on the way here, didn’t they? So he was going in the right direction. He looked off to the distance, eyeing the shoreline, which was about 500 meters away from him on both sides.

“Too long.” He decided. He stepped forward, and skidded down the hill, his heels digging against the ice and snow that had built up on the slope. He reached the bottom without much of a problem, and approached the shore.

‘Guess it’s time to take the fast route.” He stepped forward, placing a foot on the ice, before he pulled himself ahead and stood on the lake. He looked down at the ice for a few seconds and stomped his foot against the thick glaze that covered the water with the same force a human would be able to generate.

Nothing.

“...Whatever.” He decided, before he started walking.

He made his way forward without much incident. The ice was strong and sturdy underneath his feet, and the soles of his boots were metal, and gripped the ice so he wouldn’t end up slipping and crashing to the ground.

“So that’s just it, huh? You’re just going to leave them?” He thought to himself, listening to the rhythmic sounds of his feet striking against the ice underneath him.

“...No.” He muttered quietly, shaking his head. “I’ll just...find the Bounty. Yeah. And I’ll...go back.”

The words left a weird taste in his mouth, as if he himself wasn’t even sure if what he was saying was true. He shook his head again, trying to drive all the intrusive thoughts away from his mind.

What was he saying? Of course, he’d go back for them.

Right?

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a sound.

A barely audible click. At first, he thought the ninja had managed to find him. His head whipped to a spot behind him, his eyes darting around to look for anything.

His hand already instinctively reached for a small knife he kept strapped to the inside of his jacket. His eyes only saw the tree line, nothing else.

“Just the wind.” He muttered, but the feeling he felt in his chest told him that it wasn’t the case.

But then it sounded out again.

The ice was breaking.

He let out an angry curse, before his gaze snapped to the ice he stood upon. Hairline fractures engraved themselves on the surface, weaving their intricate designs onto the cold ground. He cursed to himself again, before he scanned his surroundings, looking for a way to fix the problem.

Nothing.

So he turned his attention back to the direction that he was supposed to go.

And he took off sprinting.

He could just imagine the image of himself falling through the ice, crashing into the frigid water and shutting off, drowning—

“No no no no.” He shook his head violently. He couldn’t afford to think about that right now. He couldn’t. His feet slammed against the ice, and the sounds of cracking ice following him as he went. His breathing was ragged, panic gripping him violently.

He could see the shoreline approaching. He just hoped that the ice would hold out for long enough for him make it to dry land. He picked up the pace, his breathing beginning to quicken in panic.

100 meters.

75 meters.

50 meters—

The ground caved in from underneath him with the next step he took. His leg shot through the ice, causing him to trip. His torso slammed into the ice with a strangled gasp, and then the rest of the ice broke, and he was dunked into the water.

The first thing he registered onto was the cold, colder than anything he had ever experienced. Colder than the snow he had felt up until that point. Colder than—

A brief flash, and Cryptor was himself back when the Digital Overlord was trying to take over. The ice crawled its way up his legs, encasing him in a coffin of cold. The burning, horrible, splitting pain that came afterwards— it was too much. Someone make it stop. Someone make it stop—!

He opened up his mouth to scream, and the frigid water came rushing in. He was choking, gasping for air when there was none, dying. He was dying again. Again. He struggled for a sense of direction, unable to tell which way was up.

The second thing he noticed that it was dark. His night vision was basically useless. He looked up and managed to see the broken gash in the ice. He clawed his way to the surface. His right hand broke the water and managed to grasp onto the ice outside, his claws puncturing themselves so deep into the surface that they went straight through.

He pulled his upper chest out of the water, gasping and heaving for air, pulling in as much oxygen as his body would allow. Each breath he took was burning cold, but it didn’t matter. He just wanted to live.

“Shi-shit!” He managed to sputter out. He attempted to heave himself back onto the ice, and planted his left arm onto the surface, before using both arms to drag himself out.

The ice shattered once more, and he fell beneath the waves once again. The cold gripped its hands around his skin, the water dragging him further down, wanting to pull him to his watery grave.

He was losing.

Warning signals flashed before his vision, not doing anything to relieve his stress.

>Body temperature below -20 degrees. Internal heating system failure detected.

>Water detected. Threat of short-circuiting: 37%

>43%. Shutting down all non-essential functions to prevent short-circuiting. Entering low power mode.

He struggled for the surface once more. His movements became sluggish, and a dark, murky blackness tugged at the edges of his vision. He reached for the surface once again, but his fingers couldn’t reach the edge.

“No no no no!!” He screamed, his hands flailing for anything to find purchase on. Nothing. The water was rushing in, and he was dying.

Again.

He strained, but his fingertips hung inches away, and he was unable to produce a short burst of strength to close the distance.

He wanted to open his mouth to scream for help, but he was too busy gagging on the lake water to produce a single sound.

He was dying.

Another flash, and he could see himself perched on top of a tree limb, a chained weapon in his hands. Zane stood in front of him, a sword held in his right hand. A brief fight later, and Cryptor could see the wood of the tree rushing up to meet him. But his own weapon was there, and he let out a silent gasp once the sharp part came piercing through his chest—

He inhaled violently at the memory. More water came rushing in, silencing any sound he made. He struggled again, trying desperately to break the surface. But between his exhausted state and his soaked, heavy clothes, it was impossible.

He twisted his body into a standing upright position, and attempted to kick with his legs to creating propulsion, enough to get him to the surface.

>Threat of short-circuiting: 56%. Leave water immediately. Low power mode initiated.

His legs wouldn’t move. They had frozen into place. The panic was there, filling every crevice of his being. He wanted to cry, but every time he attempted to breathe his chest would ache like someone had stabbed him and twisted the knife deep.

His arm was gone. The walls around him had caved in, trapping him underneath a pile of rubble. He had felt the wires snap and disconnect once he attempted to free himself while his left arm was pinned underneath concrete, the agony working its way up his arm and shooting up into his skull. His teeth were gritted and pained tears streamed down his face. His left side was completely soaked with his blood—

“No.” He growled angrily. This couldn’t happen. He didn’t want this to happen. “You’ve been through all that hell, and you’re going to die here?”

His mind settled on an option. But there was an extremely high risk that he could die from it.

“I’m going to die either way.” He mumbled to himself.

“Override!” He basically screeched from within his mind. This was probably a bad idea, but he didn’t have any other choice.

>Low power mode command terminated. Threat of short-circuiting: 82%.

By some miracle, his body had decided not to fry yet. He reached for the surface, praying that he’d make it. He had to. He needed to.

His hands managed to claw themselves back into the surface.

He broke the surface, gagging and coughing. He dragged his upper chest into the ice and began to retch water, his body attempting to purge as much of it from his system as fast as possible. He let in a sharp inhale, gasping for breath. His breathing was heavy and uneven, but he was alive.

Two strong hands grabbed his arms and pulled him completely out of the water. He could barely even register onto what was happening before a thick blanket was wrapped around his shoulders and someone pulled him in close. It was then that Cryptor noticed that he himself was shaking. Violently.

“Dammit, he’s ice cold! We need to get him inside, immediately!” The voice sounded oddly familiar, but Cryptor was completely overtaken by exhaustion that he couldn’t place a name on it. It was then that he registered into the hum of the Bounty’s engines filling the silent air, the distant chatter and yelling of the ninja.

They had found him.

“You’re okay.” The voice spoke firmly, before the nindroid was completely lifted off his feet, almost as if he weighed nothing.

Cole.

Another pause, as Cole basically sprinted for the Bounty with Cryptor’s body in his arms  

“You’re okay.”

[keepcalmimthecupcake]

Life Is A Highway part 3

This is a co-op writing piece with @fandomoniumflurry from an rp story we did and are going to resume.

Summary: What if the Impala was made human? Enjoy the antics, angst and humor we have in store for you!

Word count: 1548

Warnings: None really.

A/n: Had to post this part from my phone because my computer and Tumblr are fighting today, so if the formatting is off, I do apologize and will fix it as soon as I can.

If you like our work, consider buying us a coffee. :) Emelia's link: https://ko-fi.com/kappukeki Dean's link: https://ko-fi.com/fandomoniumflurry

Edit by @fandomoniumflurry

She smiled when she felt his arms returning her hug. She remain clutched to him for a moment then pulled back. “So we have a case here? I didn’t get to hear too much about it before you left then I got legs.” At the mention of them, she stood shakily then balanced herself. “I’m still not too good with the walking thing. I should practice.”

When she finally pulled away, there was still hesitation written on Dean's face. He wasn't quite sure how to feel right now. This was his car. Sure she was more beautiful than ever but she wasn't all chrome and black metal. She was flesh and bone and very...attractive. And she just hugged him, as if it was the most normal thing to do. This woman, as a car, had seen their entire life, experienced everything they had, been through all sides of life with them. She was their home, their family. But that was the car. It was still hard to put into focus that this woman held all those memories. It actually brought more color to Dean's cheeks when he looked at her.

He blinked a few times when she mentioned a case. There was a case alright, but he didn’t  think she was realizing that it was her. He could appreciate her enthusiasm though. His arms once again reached out to catch her if she fell, rising to his feet as she took a few practice paces across the room. She took a few wobbly steps around the room, then finally got the hang of it. “I did it! I walked and didn’t stumble at all!” she said, beaming proudly. Though amusing, Dean's light laugh was a mixture of feelings about the whole walking thing.

She moved to sit at the table where Sam was settled with his computer.  Dean cleared his throat and his attention turned when she joined Sam at the table. He came to stand between them, his arms crossing over his chest. She turned the device around to look at the screen where there were several articles and a map. “I know where this is!” she said, looking at the spot marked on the map. “We passed it when we drove into town. Is the thing we’re hunting in there?”

"Yeah, we weren't sure what we were looking for until you showed up honestly. But guess we're dealing with a trickster, so shouldn't be that hard of a case." Dean stated.

Her eyes widened at the prospect. What would it be to witness her boys hunting through human eyes? Most of the time, she didn’t get to see much action. Usually, she was parked in a driveway or at the end of a road, somewhere hidden from view of the action. She frowned when a thought crossed her mind. “How are you going to hunt when your tools are missing? Maybe they are out by the dumpster! Or do you think the nerdy dick took them?”

When Dean turned his head to her, he noticed her frown and his brow wrinkled slightly. He hadn't thought of that. All of their life was packed away in that car. Sure she had a few of their things, the essentials like his cassettes, but all their weapons were in the trunk. And as his eyes fell to look at her lithe form, his lips pulled down in a sturgeon. Hopefully, she didn't catch his gaze as his eyes lifted again, a grin spreading on his lips to hear her words against the trickster. "We'll have to go ask him. We've got some stuff in our bags and I'm sure it won't be hard to find what we need. We just need a car..."

“I heard him talking to someone before he spoke to me. They were talking about all the sick children in town.” Her brow furrowed as she flipped through her memory. “It sounded a lot like a couple cases from the past to me. I could be wrong. Maybe he said it knowing I would tell you and is trying to throw you off.” Dean's brow wrinkled as he nodded his head. "Kids, huh." The reason that had brought them here before was a case of mutilated nurses and doctors. Maybe they were connected. They wouldn't put it past the trickster to try and throw them off, start up a case so they wouldn't pay attention to him. But he had already thrown them off by sending them Baby, why would he go through so much effort to mess with them. What did he have planned that required that much distraction?

Emelia couldn’t remember the name of the being, but it had almost claimed Sam when he was a child. Several years before, the brothers had killed that same one. Now, it seemed, there might be a new…..OH! WHAT WAS IT CALLED?! “Shtriga! That thing! Could there be another one?” Of course, both Sam and Dean were deep in thought, having a silent conversation when they were both jostled by her sudden cry. Wide eyes looked at her as she brought up the old monster and Sam pulled a sturgeon face and looked up at Dean with a shrug. "Worth looking into." Dean agreed, patting a hand on Em's shoulder. "Good job."

She beamed at Dean’s compliment. She was glad she had done something well, was still able to help them out. She could not take them from point A to point B at the moment, but she’d grown up with them. She’d paid careful attention to their conversations and knew things about monsters and how to take them down.

She paused for a moment and looked over at Dean, hoping he wouldn’t be angry with her. “I….don’t know where he went. After he told me he wanted to mess with you guys and pointed out your room and I saw you not looking well, I turned back to yell at him but he was gone. So I just came over here. I’m sorry. I guess I should have looked for him. I….just…..I wanted to make sure you were ok.”

His hand lingered as she began to seem apologetic. He gave her a soft smile. "It's alright. We'll find him. You had a lot to take in. Not like he was at the top of your priority list."

She remembered Dean’s statement now and her brows knitted as she stared at him. “You’re gonna get a Ford, right?” Neither of the brothers could hold back a light laugh at her inquiry. "Sure thing, Baby." Dean’s hand still on her shoulder made her feel…..nice. It wasn’t fuzzy like when her arm was asleep. It was a different kind of fuzzy and it made the thumping thing under her headlights, the thing Sam said was called her heart, feel weird, too. The thumping wasn’t like it had been. The rhythm was slightly disrupted now. It became more disrupted when Dean spoke her name. His name for her.

The woman's quiet moment went unnoticed between the brothers. Whether it was that they weren't used to having a third party around or the fact that they were still getting used to the fact that this was the Impala, they couldn't say. But so far, the old girl had been a roller coaster of emotion. She had just barely been human for five minutes and there was so much that she didn't know and yet here she was helping them with a hunt. It was just like Baby to be there when they needed her. Even though this time she was a human. She might no longer be a car but there was still something in Dean that made him rather attached. It was just something that was hard to explain and very hard to wrap his head around. So for now maybe he should just keep his distance til they figured out how to turn her back.

His hand moved then, the older man resting it on the back of Sam's chair so he could hunch over to look at the screen of the laptop. Sam had opened up a few pages and was sharing the information when Em made another statement. She grinned and leaned down to read the screen with the brothers. “Oh and make it an ugly color. Not black.” she said nonchalantly.

When she spoke up again, his eyes lifted to look at her. A smirk graced his lips and a light laugh sounded in his chest. "Gettin' worried I'm gonna replace you so quick, Em?" A part of him was still missing his car but a part of him also knew that she was sitting right there. Someone he could actually touch and someone that could touch and talk back. Everything that Dean had been through with that car was all now stored in this woman's brain and heart. He found himself staring at her for a moment, lost in thought. His car was the only constant thing in his life, and he couldn't remember how many times he had sat in her and talked to her, wishing and hoping that she could talk back. "You're hungry, yeah? Wanna walk with me to get breakfast while Sam does the research?"

[cancerbiophd]

Hiya! I've been following you for some years and I have to say I love your science-dedicated Tumblr! I'm a biochemistry bachelor student in my last semester, and I don't know what to do next with my life. I hope you don't mind I came here for advice. I'm now on the nice period of life that I have to apply for Master's degrees, and I do not know how to format my CV for that 😑 any ideas or personal advice? Thanks a lot, keep on rocking science!

hello!!

oh aahhhh thank you! 

firstly, congrats on your final stretch of undergrad! 

secondly, come come, sit down next to me and have your beverage of choice (i’m feeling very.. ice-tea today). let’s just chat for a bit. it’s ok to feel nervous about what to do next, because it really is a big step! 

so for CVs, what you put in it is literally in the name: curriculum vitae = “the course of my life”. In the US, Canada, and some other countries, that means you put literally everyyyyything that has to do with your education and work (from college-onwards degrees, publications, posters, students mentored, memberships of societies, grants, awards, etc). I’ve seen CVs of super old and super accomplished professors that are like 50 pages long (and they have their own table of contents). However! In the UK, I think it’s limited to 2 pages. I live in the US, and am familiar with US CV’s. If you’d like to get a UK or international perspective, let me know, and I can signal boost. 

I have 2 posts talking about CVs here. 

(Just for clarification purposes, a resume is not the same thing as a CV. A resume is a 1-page tl;dr of your CV and summarizes the important aspects that are specially tailored towards whatever/whoever you’re sending it to. Here’s a nice article talking about the difference between a CV and a resume, and also has some awesome tips too.)

As for your first part about what to do with your life… you are still in the “early life” of your wikipedia page. You have time to poke around and figure things out. Get to know yourself! Do you like lab research? Or working with patients? Or science writing? Or perhaps you’re passionate about science policy and changing things in the government regarding science? Degrees in science are quite versatile; you don’t have to be stuck in a lab if you don’t want to. Here’s a (not complete at all of course) list I made of different types of jobs you can hold with a bachelors, masters, or PhD in life sciences. 

In general, I like to tell people that the best way to see if a career path is for you is to experience “a day in the life”, be it from an entry-level job, internship, volunteering, shadowing, or even in-detail conversations with an employee willing to share their experience. Sometimes careers that sound good on paper won’t necessarily mesh well with your personality/career goals in person, and vice versa. (Exhibit A: I thought I wanted to be a medical doctor my entire life, and then I volunteered at a hospital and realized I wasn’t too fond of interacting with patients. There goes that track!)

Most (if not all) universities will have some sort of Career Service/Development Program for current students and alumni. You can use it to network, get advice (eg. meeting with an alumnus in a career path you’re interested in and talking to them, or getting feedback on your CVs), and maybe even find jobs (alumni love to help other alumni). I highly recommend seeing if your university has something like that. 

Related, talking to your academic advisor/counselor is a good idea too. They can point you in the right directions, and give feedback more tailored towards your goals. They’ll also have more information on what kinds of career help your university offers. 

I was at a loss on what to do after I graduated college with my degree in microbiology too. After 5 months of searching for jobs, figuring life out, and being bummed out in general, I ended up working as a lab tech in a cancer research lab at my alma mater, and it was absolutely life-changing. It allowed me to a) figure out that I loved research and wanted to pursue a PhD, b) have the time to then study for my GREs and work on applications, c) form networks with other PIs and grad students, d) catch up on sleep/life, and e) meet my future husband lol. In short, taking a gap year (or 2.5 years in my case) between college and then grad school was just the best decision ever. I have a post where I talk about things to do during a gap year here if you’re interested. 

Hope that helped a bit! If there’s something specific you’re interested in, let me know! I’m also available on chat, so feel free to hit me up there if you’d like.  

Congrats and best of luck

[samwebstudio]

Top 15 Social Media Sites to Considered for your Brand and Business

Are you a business owner or social media marketer or looking to enter the social media marketing or maybe your company need a presence on social media platform.

Now the big question “Which social Media site are best for your brand awareness” Or which social media site will give higher ROI (Return on Investment) at low cost.

Before we dive into, it’s important for you to know the most popular social media website. Which help you to boost your brand reach on social media, and engage with the targeted audience/ valuable customers and achieve your social media goal.

Whatever you are into, it is always helpful to have information about the popular social media site around you. With these social media website, you get several benefits like:

Brand reach is maximized over social media

You get directly engaged with targeted audiences.

whether the site is the right fit for the business enterprise

the site suits the brand image

It becomes easy to achieve social press goals.

It is not always that the dimensions of the social media site are something that matters.As per the research, it shows that approximately 3. 5 billion people used social networking platform in 2018. And, with the increased use of mobile devices, this amount is likely to cross the 4. 6 billion marks by 2021.

To solve out the complexities, we have compiled the information on Top 15social media site that you can consider for your business and brand awareness. Nowadays every digital marketing company will recommend you to go for social media marketing, social media optimization for your brand awareness.

 The 15 Top Social Media Sites to Considered for your Brand and Business

Here’s a list of the top 15 social media website in 2019, which helps you to boost your website traffic and brand awareness. Our team uses all these social media platforms and can testify to its success. It’s ranked by the number of active users monthly.

Facebook – 2.32 Billion

YouTube – 1.9 Billion

WhatsApp – 1.6 Billion

Messenger – 1.3 Billion

WeChat – 1.01 Billion

Instagram – 1 Billion

Ozone – 532 Million

Tik Tok – 500 Million

Tumblr – 437 Million

Reddit – 330 Million

Twitter – 330 Million

LinkedIn – 303 Million

Snapchat – 287 Million

Pinterest – 250 Million

Medium – 60 Million1) Facebook

Facebook is one of the most popular and biggest social media sites globally. Exceeding 2 billion users using it around the globe every month, this is actually the best platform for B to C, B to B businesses to promote their products and brands.

In today’s time, there are almost more than 65 million businesses that are taking the help of Facebook Pages to boost their brand awareness and Promote business globally and target valuable customers.

Getting started on Facebook is quite easy and simple because all content works great on facebook whether its text, videos, images, stories, messaging, live videos and everything work in a great manner on Facebook. Yet one thing to remember is the fact that Facebook works on an algorithm which provides concern to content where significant conversations are present among people. Don’t forget to have the content optimized for mobile application because 90% of users use Facebook on mobile rather than desktop.

How to Promote Your Brand, Website on Facebook?

This question comes in everyone mind, but below you get the simple and easy ways that will help you to promote your brand awareness and boost website traffic.

Firstly, create your brand/ Business page.

Share your business page to customers and followers.

Share relevant content on Facebook that looks quite interesting and informative.

Facebook buttons on your website

A simple and easy way, use paid marketing (pay per click).

2) YouTube

YouTube is an efficient and superb platform for video streaming and sharing where 2+ billion users are watching billions of hour of videos every day.

YouTube is one of the best and most significant social media site for branding your business. Similar to Instagram and Pinterest, YouTube has the benefits of visual content.

YouTube is not only the biggest social media website but additionally the second most significant search engine after google. To improve your reach, it’s a great way to advertise on YouTube or start reading YouTube SEO.

How to Promote Your Brand, Website on YouTube?

 Firstly, create a YouTube Channel for your Brand/ Business.

Share interesting videos that people want to like, share and subscribe to your channel.

Analysis your YouTube Channel to growing more

3) WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a messaging application used by people in over 180 countries more than 1.6 billion monthly active user and increasing day by day.

Firstly, it was only used by people to communicate with their family and friends. But with time, company communication started happening via this application. But now WhatsApp also provides business opportunities. It allows businesses to setup a business profile that helps you to promote your business profile. For the business owner, WhatsApp launches dedicate WhatsApp Business Application for the business user with special features.

4) Instagram

Another popular social media site to consider for your brand is Instagram. It is basically used for sharing videos and photos. It allows you to share your stories, photos, videos and live videos, etc. But it allows short videos clips, It recently launches IGTV long-form of videos.

Being a brand, you can setup your business or company profile on Instagram and optimize your Instagram business account, Instagram gives special features to business account like Instagram insight and Instagram shopping.

There are several third-party tools, you will be able to schedule Instagram posts to boost your business and brand page.

Just how to Promote Your Site on Instagram?

Firstly, Setup your Brand/ Business Instagram Account

Create interesting posts that people want to follow

 Increase Instagram following

More engagement on your Instagram post to strengthen customer relationships

Analysis your Instagram post to growing more.

With this platform, it is possible to eliminate all clutter and emphasize the services and products in a visual manner. You can also make use of it as a push tool to other big systems like Facebook and Tweets.

5) Twitter

Twitter is a very popular social media site with 330 Million Monthly Active Users. Twitter is not the same as other social media website because of itsfocus on real-time updates regarding news, politics, entertainment, sports, and more.

Another unique thing about Twitter is that you can just write 280 characters in a tweet, unlike other sites which have much higher limits.

It is also used as a customer service channel wherein almost 80 percent of the requests are happening daily on tweets only. There are many tools readily available for customer service like buffer reply and so on which help in handling the conversations of customer care.

6) LinkedIn

LinkedIn is another popular social media site for business to business marketing with 303 monthly active users globally.

LinkedIn profiles are more likely to resumes and instead of sharing personal information and updates, professional’s shares content which relates to their career and industry.

Here, the experts from all over the world share the contents and network with the other and able to create a powerful personal brand. Companies are able to set up their leadership and attract people to their company.

LinkedIn comes with an advertising opportunity wherein you can boost the content, send personalized adverts to inboxes and capable to display ads.

7) Tumblr

Tumblr is another a social media site or we can say microblogging website with more than 437 million active users. Its use for sharing content like photos, text, videos, links, and audios, etc. At here, people can share a broad range of things through photos to art plus from fashion to economic climate.

If you want to consider Tumblr for your brand awareness and business marketing, so make sure interesting and more relevant content into your Twitter content strategy.

Here, you can convey yourself, discover many brand new things and do much more. Hence, it can show in order to be a great social media site regarding branding.

8) Pinterest

Pinterest is another a social media website that acts as a digital pinboard with 250 monthly active users globally, around 81% are women.

At here you can create or use virtual pinboards to share content in different formats like image, videos, gif, and links. You also create your own pins and share it.

At Pinterest, people come to explore brand new things and obtain inspired, as opposed to other social media marketing sites where the major focus is always on engagement. Here, your brand gets a distinctive opportunity to shape the particular decision of purchasing because, in accordance with the stats by Pinterest, more than 78% of people agree that Pinterest content is useful.

Now, it is completely your choice, which social media site to consider for your business and brand awareness. Along with the help of professional Digital Marketing experts and Digital Marketing, Website Designing Company in Delhi. A perfect decision can result in great earnings and presence in a particular online world.

[redeyedryu]

Apathy & Happenstance

Chapter 3 - Productivity and Perplexity | 1 | 2 | x | 4

I never got around to posting chapters 3 and 4 here on Tumblr since I wrote these when my laptop was being worked on and I only had mobile—which is absolutely terrible for formatting—so here they are before I get to posting chapter 5.

Summary: You go for a walk, grab some food, and get some questions answered. A hundred more spring up.

In the end, you decide it might be best to try and get in contact with the “friendly” looking version of Sans and Papyrus. However, doing so winds up a bit more troublesome than you would have thought.

Turns out Sans doesn't have any kind of social media account you can tie him to, though there seem to be quite a lot of fan pages dedicated to him? For some reason?? Across all kinds of different media platforms??? Apparently he's some kind of stand up comedian?

...

Wait a second…

...

Sans… Stand up comedian... A comic... A Comic Sans. Your expression goes deadpan at that realization and you barely manage to contain the urge to groan.

“Oh my god…” you mutter aloud, not even a second later, another realization clicking into place.

Then wouldn't that mean Papyrus as in the other graphic designer’s nightmare of a font? Was that intentional? A happy coincidence?

You shake your head, begrudgingly bemused. What's next, someone named after Wingdings? Jokerman? You're silently snickering at the idea of someone possessing the name ‘Impact’ as you work on searching up Papyrus. Maybe you’ll have better luck with him?

You're not disappointed.

Papyrus, or as you have managed to stumble upon his most used online handle: CoolSkeleton95, appears to have an overabundance of accounts across various social media websites. It doesn't take you long at all to find him on numerous social platforms, and judging by his friend count, it doesn't look like he ever denies a friend request. You didn't even know you could have that many friends on ExpressionBook.

Now… The big question is, how are you supposed to even broach this odd situation?

“Hey, so these two skeleton monsters that look an awful lot like you and your brother kinda just poofed into my apartment outta thin air. I'd really appreciate it if you guys would come and take them off my hands.”

...

You run a hand through your hair and puff up a cheek in frustration, pausing to lean against a nearby building. Yeah, no way is that going to work as an opener. Monsters and magic might be an accepted fact of life these days but that doesn't mean people are suddenly going to believe crazy talk.

You push off the building with a huff, resuming your aimless wandering.

“So what am I supposed to do, then?” you query the air around you, head snapping back with a sigh. “So you don't know me, and I don't know you, but d’you think you could come over to my place and rid me of a couple skeletons?” You shake your head with a chuckle. That sounded even worse. Like you were asking someone over to dispose of dead bodies or… something.

You sigh. Why does communication have to be so hard?

“I'm gonna be stuck with them forever, aren't I?” you mutter out, head hanging forward.

With any luck they won't have stuck around your apartment. Maybe they left? Maybe when you get back no one will be there and you can just write off the incident as some kind of lucid day dream? And then it I occurs to you that you just left two strangers unattended in your apartment. With all your stuff… Oops. Remedy that thought: You'll be lucky if they're gone and all your stuff is still in your apartment when you get home. You entertain the idea of running home, or of calling the cops, but inevitably you elect to merely shrug it off. You've got insurance if the worst case scenario happens, and it's not like you're especially attached to anything back at your place anyway. They're just material possessions, after all; easily replaced if lost or broken.

As you're crossing another intersection, one block deeper into the downtown district, you decide you've been overthinking this whole thing. Forgoing sending out a friend request first, you type out a message to the less edgy Papyrus.

You : Are there any other skeleton monsters beside you and your brother?

You nod to yourself, satisfied. Straight to the point and it doesn't give away anything unnecessary, nor does it come off as creepy and easy to misinterpret. You pocket your phone to await a response, feeling as if a weight has been lifted from your shoulders.

Boy does it feel good to be productive! You should reward yourself, you think, just as you round a corner and find yourself standing before your favorite local diner. Huh. Guess your subconscious was on the same page. There's a sudden grumble in your stomach and you're salivating, enticed by the idea of a good burger, fries, and an old fashioned milkshake.

Heck. Yes.

As you're pushing open the door there’s a ping from your pocket. A couple of wait staff greet you by name with a smile and wave as you walk through the door, retrieving your cell. You reciprocate their greeting as you take a seat (always a corner booth, close to the back), noting Papyrus has already responded.

For some reason you thought it would take a bit longer to get a response. Especially from someone who seemed to be such a social butterfly—surely he must get tons of messages throughout the day—but you're not going to complain. Papyrus’s speedy response time means you'll be able to get this figured out all the quicker.

THE GREAT PAPYRUS : GREETINGS, HUMAN! I SEE THAT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SKELETON MONSTERS—A FITTING CHOICE, AS SKELETONS ARE QUITE GREAT! YOU HAVE POSED A MOST INTERESTING QUESTION, THOUGH I MUST CONFESS THAT IF THERE ARE ANY SKELETONS BESIDE MY BROTHER AND I, I HAVE NEVER MET THEM.

Dang it. That does not bode well.

You tap an index finger on the table (a nervous habit you’ve never quite been able to get under control) and frown. Not a good omen but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re boned.

“Heh. Boned.” You can’t help but snicker at the unintentional pun. It's silly and dumb but what can you say, you're easily amused.

There’s a bit more to the message, interestingly enough, so you read on.

THE GREAT PAPYRUS : I SEE THAT YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN TO SEND ME A REQUEST OF FRIENDSHIP, SO I HAVE DONE YOU THE FAVOR OF SENDING ONE MYSELF! NO THANKS ARE NECESSARY, YOU ARE WELCOME!

You quirk a brow at that last bit, a small smile tugging at the corner of your lips. What an interesting character this skeleton is. The contrast between him and his spiky counterpart couldn't be more notable—and you haven’t even met this one.

Looking at your notifications, you do indeed see a friend request from “THE GREAT PAPYRUS”. Clicking it brings you to the ExpressionBook app proper and you accept it—not like it would hurt anything to do so. Besides, you can always delete him from your friend’s list later.

It’s just as you’re switching back over to the messenger to type out a reply that a waitress comes over to take your order.

“Hey there, Y/n!” she greets you with a smile. “Didya need a menu or’re you gonna get the usual?”

You flip your phone over and place it down on the table, sliding it a bit to the side. You smile up at her and respond, “Hey Julie! The usual would be great, thank you.” You can respond to Papyrus later, you decide, food first.

It’s a little over an hour later and you’re standing outside your apartment door, staring heatedly at it. You’ve got a paper bag in one hand and your keys in the other. You’re straining your ears, half tempted to press yourself against the door, trying to hear anything from inside. It’s silent, and that can be a good thing, but it could also be a very bad thing.

You take a deep breath, hold it in for one second. Two. Three. Exhale at four. Time to face the music. Either they’re gone and everything’s still there, they’re gone and so is everything in your apartment, or—heaven forbid—they’re still there and you didn’t just dream that whole situation up.

You unlock the door, fingers wrapping around the silver metal handle. Subconsciously, your grip tightens on the paper bag in your opposite hand, the paper crinkling ever so slightly with the action, and then you twist the knob. The door swings open and you step through the threshold. A quick glance around of what you can see shows everything still appears to be in order…

And then you hear it—a muted thump, thump, thump of something tapping out a steady rhythm. It stops abruptly, however, to be replaced by the sound of fabric shifting and of weight being displaced from the cushions of your couch. Then there is the sound of footsteps, two pairs, closing in on you. One pair sounds heavy and rushed, as if its owner is walking with a very distinct purpose in mind; the other a slower, more casual beat. You sigh.

Dang it. So much for that.

You slip your shoes off, hang your keys on the rack nearby, and slip out of your jacket, hanging it on the coatrack to the side. By the time you're done there are two skeletons standing in front of you and they don't exactly look like happy campers.

Your eyes flick over them, a brow quirking at the impatient look to the spiky Edgelord. He’s got his arms crossed, his sockets angled sharply. You get the feeling that if he had a nose, he'd be looking down it at you. You're pretty sure he’s scowling, too.

The sweaty one doesn't look all that different from earlier, though there appears to be more red sweat beaded along the crown of his skull than earlier. He's also shifting nervously, hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched, shark grin tight and bordering on something of a grimace.

It's weird, you can't help but think, how similar they look to the other two and can yet be so blaringly different.

“Ah!” you exclaim with a snap, the action smoothly transitioning into a point, that reminds you. “That's right! I nearly forgot.”

Before either of them can say anything, you twirl around to dig through the pocket of the jacket you had tossed your phone in. Pulling your cell out (and awkwardly fumbling with the paper bag in your hand for a brief moment) you quickly pull up your camera app and snap a pic. After the picture’s taken you tilt your focus down, intent on pulling up the specific messaging app you need. You miss the way Papyrus’s sockets squint at the sound of a shutter going off, miss the way Sans’s sockets crease and his frown dips into a scowl, far too focused on finally responding to the more bubbly skeleton’s message from earlier.

You : [image attachment]

I don't suppose these guys are related then? They kind of just showed up at my place today. Apparently they also go by Sans and Papyrus?

Locking the phone you slip it into the back pocket of your jeans. With that now done you're another step closer to reclaiming your apartment—your normality! Gosh, isn't this exciting? You’ll be slipping right back into your regularly scheduled monotony in no time!

But why’re you so eager to push this opportunity away?

Because you can't guarantee you'll be safe, that you won't get hurt, you argue against that inner voice. It's always wanting you to take risks, to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Trying to tell you that you really aren't happy with the current setup to your life. But no. No, it has no idea what it's talking about. Of course you're happy. Of course you are.

“TSK.” Edgelord ...clicks his tongue? Somehow? effectively snapping you back to reality. He's still giving you that ‘holier than thou’ look as his maw parts, clearly eager to get back to his interrogation from earlier. “JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, HUMAN, THAT YOU CAN JUST WALK OUT ON THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS?”

Yeesh. Control freak much?

You roll your eyes and mirror his pose, arms crossing over your chest, paper bag crinkling with each movement, and pop a hip to the side. There is no way you are going to put up with this kind of bullshit in your own home.

“For your information, Edgelord, my name is Y/n, and in case you didn't know, I live here. You and sweaty McSharktooth over there’re the ones who should be answering my questions, considering the way you two just intruded into my space.”

There's a split second where Papyrus’s eye sockets seem to widen but it's over before you're even sure that you saw it. You take a deep breath through your nose in an effort to calm yourself, and then press on.

“Look, Papyrus, Sans. I know it's been a good few years since the barrier was broken and monsters were integrated into society and all that, but excuse me if I need to take a moment to clear my head when two strangers (who look like edgy embodiments of the Grim Reaper, mind you) literally poof into my house. I know magic’s a thing now but that doesn't mean this is an everyday kinda deal for me, alright?”

“wait, hang on a sec,” Sans abruptly cuts in. “ya mean we're on the surface?”

Your brows furrow in confusion at that comment. You look to the shorter skeleton, some of the tension easing from your body. From all the hostility and anger exuded by Papyrus you had been preparing yourself to get into a fist fight or something; at the very least you were prepping yourself for a screaming match of epic proportions.

“Uh… duh?” Is your oh so elegant response. “Where the hell else would you be?”

“you mean we ain't underground?” You squint at him, head slowly shaking. Did they not even move from the living room in that hour and a half or so you were gone? You breathe out a quiet and low, drawn out “no…”

“holy shit.” he mutters, sparing a quick glance to the taller skeleton (who looks equally as shell shocked, you note) before focusing back on you. “yer jokin.”

He's looking at you, the emotion—the sheer confusion—clear on his face. He almost looks like he’s just daring you to confirm that this is all some kind of elaborate setup. A bead of sweat trickles down from the crown of his skull.

You shake your head harder, your hand slipping from where it's tucked between your opposite arm and torso to be angled at him, palm forward. A telltale sign for ‘stop, holdup’.

“No?” you respond, eyebrows raised, “I'm really not. That'd be a really shitty thing to joke about.”

The skeletons give each other a strange look and you can't help but to quirk a brow at their odd behavior. Why are they so surprised? Surely all monsters have migrated to the surface by now, let alone be aware that the barrier had fallen.

“You guys do know that Mount Ebott is something like… fifteen hundred miles northeast of here, right?”

It's silent for a moment, as if they need time to let this information really sink in. You absently register a muffled ping from your pocket as Sans mutters another “holy shit.”

[rippedjeansandloudmusic]

capitolo cinque

ayeeeeee Chapter Four you want to read this is a better format you should go to my Ao3, where i actually proofread because copy/pasting on tumblr sucks.

Will wasn’t sure if shaking was a good sign.

As Lou and he ran down the packed sidewalks and crossed packed streets the paper seemed to grow heavy in his pocket, just begging for Will to stop whatever he was doing and read it.

But, he didn’t.

He couldn’t give Lou Ellen the satisfaction.

So, they made their way home. Evading the homeless, street-corner-bands, and as many humans, as possible they turned down the roads. Eventually, they made it to the subway, squeezed onto a trapped car and made their way. Will had to stand beside Lou, holding onto the metal handles above their heads for both him and her. Lou was too short to reach the bar and had to resort to holding the sleeves of his flannel. They got looks from tons of different people, most of which were probably thinking they were soulmates, and Lou just rolled her eyes. Will had to apologize when, at one point, Lou flipped off one of the people who was staring. Will didn’t care for the attention, honestly, but Lou seemed dead set on not allowing people to think they were in a relationship.

When they got off the car Lou grabbed his wrist, dragging him across the cemented floor and out, once again, onto the crowded street.

When they got back to the small apartment it was a little past midnight. The place wasn’t very big, barely having two bedrooms, and almost everything was pushed into the wall. Will wasn’t sure how Hecate could live in this small apartment, even on her own. It was too crowded for Will’s liking, and he was glad to be out and about most of the time. The floors were polished wood, though underneath a small couch it was a gray carpet. The chairs for the dining room and the table itself were all folded up, pressed against the wall to let some more room into the small place. There were only five windows throughout the apartment; two in the living/dining room, one in the bathroom and one in each bedroom.

Lou didn’t even stop to grab something from the fridge, unlike most days back in Kansas where she would raid the fridge every single time they walked into a house and pulled Will back into their shared room.

Hecate didn’t find it mandatory to find a second bed, since they were childhood friends and weren’t soulmates, so they just crashed in the same twin sized bed. It had a large white comforter on top and a carpet in front of it. The room in itself was pretty small as well, only having one dresser that they had to share (aka: Lou took the dresser and Will just didn’t unpack) and a small hamper for their dirty clothing.

Lou sat on the side of the bed, pulling Will down, and hit him upside the head.

Will winced, rubbing the back of his head while glaring at Lou.

“What the hell, Lou?”

“I suggest you, Will Solace,” she poked him in the side, “read that damned letter and read it fast.”

Will raised a brow at her, though caved in, reaching into his back pocket and grabbing the letter. Though he hesitated before unfolding it.

“Why are you so adamant on me opening this, anyway?”

Lou just rolled her eyes, getting up and hitting him on the shoulder for a moment before going to exit the room. Will watched as she opened the door, almost out of the room, but she stopped before shutting it.

“Why don’t you read it and find out?”

Then she shut the door, leaving Will in almost complete darkness except for a small light fixture on the other side of the room.

Will read the logo on the front side of the napkin - Hecate’s Brewery and Coffee  - before unfolding it, careful to not rip it, and the first thing he noticed was the way it was written.

The words were carefully spaced, as though the writer was scared that Will wouldn’t be able to read their handwriting. Though every letter curved into one another, making it look more like cursive than simple printed writing. The way the words were written made it seem like his hand was too slow for his brain, having to write quickly in order to get his thoughts onto paper. Though maybe this time they wrote slower because it seemed purposely thought out more, slowing it down. He could still see the places where their pen was to close to the paper while moving to another letter, leaving faint marks of ink in between the words.

Will grabbed the lamp from the dresser and dragged it into the middle of the floor where he could sit and read the note, not wanting to harm the cord since it was too short.

Uhm, hey, I guess.

Now I don’t know how you got this letter, or if you even got it at all. Either way, it’s giving me a freaking heart attack, knowing that you’ll probably be reading this.

My name is Nico di Angelo. I’m 18, not from America, and just happen to be your soulmate.

God, this sounds like a shitty movie cliche.

But I am. As weird as it sounds.

And I know what you’re probably thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy is the biggest chicken I’ve ever met.’ And, yeah, you would be right. I’m scared shitless. Most people could approach their soulmate no problem. Maybe throw out a witty one-liner and get the guy/girl. But, I’m not your average Joe. In fact, I’m about far from it.

And I don’t know if you’re against soulmates. Some people are, I hear, and I would literally fucking die if I approached you and you called me out or something.

And you are probably also thinking about how I could be lying. That’s understandable since I would be thinking the same thing. Well, I do have some proof, though I could tell you without showing you as well.

I guess I could give a small description of one of my marks, perhaps?

One of them is of a baseball mitt with a name seemingly embroidered on the palm. Naomi.

Also, you happen to have my sister’s face on your arm. The girl, the absolutely magnificent stained glass tattoo? Yeah, she’s my sister. Hard to believe, I know better than you, but true. She recently turned sixteen, actually, and is going to a Catholic school ways downtown.

And I know that you’re putting blind trust in a man you don’t even know. Hell, I don’t even know your name! But, I am hoping that you’re willing to give me a chance. And, if you don’t, at least let me know that you did.

Those other tattoos… I’d love to share the story.

Though only if you let me.

515-808-2362

-di Angelo

Now you understand why the famous Will Solace was shaking.

While reading the letter, though, he noticed how there were small rips every so often. At the very end, where Nico signed his last name, the ‘l’ almost ripped the entire bottom half of the page off. Will could see where he had to tape the page back together.

This is a shitty cliche, Will thought to himself. But you added your own flare.

It was amazing to think that he had actually met his soulmate that day. Sure, he had an odd vibe about the knockoff-hipster the entire night, though he thought that was normal.

Obviously, it wasn’t.

Remember earlier, where Will said he didn’t feel the need to want to know everything about Nico di Angelo? Yeah, he now had that gut feeling.

He didn’t want to call him, though. Who knows where he could be? Possibly even asleep.

Would you sleep, Will thought, If you just made such a big step towards your soulmate? Probably not.

So Will picked up his phone and dialed the number on the paper.

+

Nico was shaking.

He knew exactly why he was shaking, though. He was crawling with nerves. His arm had goosebumps and his teeth were chattering, though that could’ve easily been from the cold of the night. It was almost never this cold. While walking down the streets of New York City you would almost always get heat from the many bodies you would pass by. One time he was knocked back and forth by the same two people all down Broadway with Hazel after seeing a show. Most of the time he would sweat from the constant brushing up against people.

Now he probably could’ve been in an oven and still been colder than a popsicle.

Hazel was blowing up his phone with How could you! -s and What happened to sticking to the plan?! -s almost all the way home. He didn’t reply, though, until he was back in his bed, staring up at the ceiling of Bianca and Maria.

“What the fuck, di Angelo?” Hazel’s voice shot at him. “What happened to keeping them apart until they were about to die?”

Nico thought for a moment before replying.

“Plans changed,” he replied, as bland as ever, his voice shockingly monotone considering the circumstances.

“Of course, Nico, that’s blatantly obvious.”

Nico didn’t respond. He could hear Hazel’s heavy breathing through the speaker of his phone. Speaking of his phone it was thrown across his bed, at the foot to be exact, while on speaker.

Hazel seemed to realize his ill response and said something more.

“Neeks, what’s wrong?”

Nico winced, thinking about the nickname.

“You know,” he responded, sure his voice sounded muffled because of his phone being face down. “Bianca called me that for a while.”

Nico could hear Hazel stop walking.

“Huh? Nico, I know that. You’ve already told me.”

“I did?” he wondered aloud, not remembering the occasion.

“Yeah,” she responded, resuming her walking. “Nico, what’s wrong?”

Nico huffed, sending a piece of hair that was in front of his face flying.

“I met my soulmate.”

Hazel stopped walking (again).

“What!” She said so loud it was more of a scream. Nico could hear her yelling in glee from the other side of the line. He felt a smile break through his features, and found himself biting back a laugh to avoid waking Sally.

“That’s great, Neeks! So why are you upset?”

Nico’s smile dissipated. He didn’t respond, which of course sent Hazel’s mind spinning out of control. “Wait,” she said after a moment of deliberation. “Did you not talk to him?”

He didn’t respond.

“NICO DI ANGELO! What the hell!”

“I’m sorry!” he said, scrambling to grab his phone. He eventually took it off the speaker to keep Hazel’s voice from getting too loud.

“I just - I - I panicked!”

“Well, Nico, I’m panicking too!”

“Now can you imagine my pain?”

Hazel hesitated.

“Slightly.”

“Okay then.”

They were silent for a few seconds.

“I’m coming over.”

Nico blinked a few times, taking his phone from his ear to glance at the time for a second. “Hazel, it’s past midnight. I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Though he knew he didn’t have a say in the matter.

“Too late. Buzz me in.”

“What the fuck? How did you get here so quickly?” He jumped down from his upper bunk, grabbing his black hoodie from the floor and throwing it on.

“I was going to come over anyway,” Nico could hear her feet hitting against the steps outside through the phone. “You just gave me a valid reason to.”

“Won’t the school want you back?”

“The school can suck it. My brother was an idiot and now needs my emotional support during this hard time. Buzz me in.”

Nico got up, whispering obscenities at Hazel as he walked over to their front door and buzzed Hazel in. She was up in a new record time and flung the door open, almost killing Nico when she ran in.

“Nico di Angelo!” She yelled, and Nico yelped. Flying forward and slamming a hand over her mouth.

“Shhh!” He muttered, sparing a glance to Sally’s room. A few seconds later when the door didn’t open he sighed, removing his hand from her mouth.

“Ew,” he muttered, wiping the palm of his hands on his boxers. “Why the hell did you lick me?”

“Don’t put your hand over my mouth, Neeks, and I won’t lick you.”

Hazel shoved past him, marching towards his bedroom. He followed quickly, shutting the door behind him. Hazel threw her bag onto the bottom bunk, taking off her shoes and her jean jacket.

“Where’s Percy?” She asked, throwing her jacket at Nico. Nico rolled his eyes, tossing the jacket onto the back of his office chair and collapsing next to her on the bed.

“Probably out with Annabeth. He said he’d probably be back at around two, so don’t be scared when four people stumble in here drunk off their ass.”

“Four?”

“Piper.”

“Oh… you’re right. Though, aren’t they all underage?”

Nico shook his head, waving a hand towards the light at the front of the room, motioning for Hazel to turn it off. She rolled her eyes but obliged, flickering the light off before collapsing next to him again.

“Percy and Jason turned twenty one a few months ago. Annabeth, she’s underage, so she won’t drink. But we both know Piper could talk anyone into getting her a drink.”

“It’s sad how true that is.”

Nico nodded, leaving the room in silence for a moment. Eventually Hazel got up, discarding her jeans and pulling on a pair of Nico’s old sweatpants he had grown out of a few years prior. Why he had those he wasn’t sure. She also stole a hair tie from his floor (he needed to clean the room) and pulled her hair back.

“Okay, let’s get to business.”

She sat beside him, heaving him to his ass and pushing him back to the wall of the room.

“Soulmate. Details. Spill.”

Nico groaned, though didn’t object, and began talking.

He wasn’t sure how long he was talking for, probably about ten minutes, though when she wanted details she wanted details. Some of her, might he say bizarre, questions were, quote:

Hair color: “A bright blonde. It was really shaggy like he hadn’t cut it in months which I didn’t really understand but it didn’t matter because holy shit he was hot.”

Eye color: “The brightest blue you’ve ever seen. Hazel, it was ridiculous. Like, fucking, uh, like the fucking Pacific Ocean blue. Oh my god, he was hot.”

Clothing: “A flannel with a freaking amazing graphic t-shirt under it that had the word Sarcasm on it.”

Height: “How the fuck am I supposed to know that?”

Where he was from: “Somewhere south. He had a slight southern accent.”

Best friend: “I don’t fucking know. Uh, maybe the girl he was working with? Lou, I think.”

And a bunch of different ones he didn’t remember.

When they were finished Hazel whistled, remarking how impressive it was that he got all that information via stalking someone and a two minute conversation. Normally, Nico would’ve retorted, saying how he knew she was staring at one at some guy for a solid ten minutes while they were at McDonald’s, though instead he just nodded solemnly.

“Holy shit,” Hazel whispered, poking his face as though he’d turned into an alien. Nico batted her hand away, though Hazel still smiled. “You look dead inside.”

“I am dead inside, Hazel.”

“And angsty, too.”

“Please, just shut up.”

Hazel snorted, grabbing her phone from his nightstand and getting the time.

“It’s almost three. They should be here sometime soon.”

“Wait, I blabbered on about a stranger for three hours and you didn't stop me?”

Hazel shrugged, not even bothering to hide the smile growing on her face. “You looked star struck. It was cute.”

Nico scowled, burying his face in the pillow he was resting against and groaning. Hazel just laughed.

“So, how are we going to find our Mystery Man, huh?”

Nico flopped over, now biting his lip at the boards above him.

“Hopefully he calls…”

Hazel froze.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘HOPEFULLY HE CALLS’?”

Nico shot upward, covering her mouth again, though she just pushed him off and dove for his phone.

“You gave him your number?” She asked, though it was more of a scream, and jumped up from her spot on the bed. Nico followed her, jumping to get his phone, which he eventually got back, though Hazel still almost killed him in the process. Before much more damage could be done, though, the front door to the apartment opened and one drunk teen and three adults came streaming in.

Hazel looked at Nico with a fire beneath her eyes. “This conversation isn’t over.” Were her last words before she opened the bedroom door and disappeared into the next room.

“Let’s hope this night ends better than I anticipated…” Nico murmured, following his sister into the next room.

+

Will was shaking.

It’s been an eternity since Will had last laid eyes on the letter, (three hours to be exact but who's keeping track?) and he was still panicking. His mind was racing with what he should say versus what he was probably going to say. How he could approach the situation and how he would inevitably. How he wanted it to end and how it probably would.

God, I’m fucked.

Lou was still out the room, probably passed out on the couch at this point, though Will couldn’t find himself to care. He was kind of glad she never came back in - thank her girly intuition about guys - so he could have time to plan. Honest to god he almost got out a cork board and started fucking planning out his response.

God, I’m a nerd.

Eventually he got to the roof

He wasn’t sure how he got there exactly. Probably via the fire escape, though he floated up with wings that magically appeared on his shoes.

The sky was beautiful. He couldn’t see the blue or the white clouds, but he could see the stars. He couldn’t point out many constellations since he was never the type for astronomy, but now he wishes he had. It was almost completely clear, giving him the view of different shapes in the atmosphere.

He knew the basic ones. Orion’s Belt, the Big Dipper, and maybe another, but nothing major. He didn’t know Aries or Cassiopeia or the Northern Star. Only of the ones his mother would point out to him. The only ones she knew.

His bare feet hit against the cold of the apartment roof, his head cast upward and mouth open in awe.

“This is beautiful…” Will thought to himself. How had he not done this before? Just escaped outside his room back in Kansas and watched the sky?

Well, he probably has. It’s just, up here in New York, the sky is almost perpetually polluted. You almost never got a clear sky.

Which made this all that much better.

He knew the sun was going to come up any time now, so he wasn’t going to have long here. Who knew how long it would be until he got to see this sight again? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? He didn’t know. So he knew he had to make the most of it.

He unlocked his phone, typing the number he memorized into the keypad and held it to his ear.

God, I’m so going to regret this in the morning…

The phone was ringing in his ear, almost sounding deafening despite the sound of busing cars below.

He stayed like that for a moment, only just then the reality of what he was doing settling in.

I’m calling my soulmate. At three in the morning. On the roof of a random apartment building.

He suddenly wanted to hang up.

But…

The inevitability of what the night could bring…

How this was his second day, only his second day in New York and he’d already met his soulmate?

Well, it’s technically the third day since he got there, but same thing.

As Will was having his internal monolog the person on the other end picked up, yelling at other people surrounding them and eventually leaving the apartment to get some clearing.

“Hello?” Nico’s voice came through, a bit annoyed, though Will decided to ignore that.

“Uh, hey,” He replied, and he could barely hear the person on the other end’s breathing stop.

“Uh, uhm, holy shit, uh, hi?”

Will laughed, almost doubling over for a second, but instead deciding to lay down.

On the ground.

Of the roof of his apartment.

At three in the morning.

Was he going crazy?

Will took a minute before responding, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“I honestly have no idea what I’m doing,” He said honestly, laughing breathlessly. “Calling you at three in the morning.”

Nico laughed as well, something thumping on his end.

“I would say the same, though I’m babysitting some drunks. What’s your excuse?”

Will sighed, though couldn’t help the bubble of laughter that formed in his chest. They were having a normal conversation. This wasn’t going as bad as he thought it would be.

“Don’t have one.”

“That’s nice,”

“Not really, when you think about it.”

It took a minute for anyone to continue the conversation.

“So, uh, why did you call me?”

Will shrugged, though soon realized Nico couldn’t see him through the phone.

“I don’t have a reason. I know it’s stupid, calling at three in the morning, but… guess I decided there’s no better time than now. Oh,” Will sat up. “My name’s Will, by the way. Will Solace.”

He could hear the wisp of breath coming from the other end.

“Nico. Nico di Angelo.”

[itsclydebitches]

Summary:

Just days after Balem returned to his adult self, Jupiter is thrown head-first into another adventure - one she, frankly, really doesn't have the energy for. But when has the universe ever taken her desires into account? Mysteries, promises, and desperate moves forward; bees, splices, and awkward family dinners. It's enough to make even her seasoned head spin.

...which doesn't even include the chance to play at 'Mother' once more. Only question is: will Jupiter take it?

(DIRECT SEQUEL TO "ROCK THE CRADLE")

Fandom: Jupiter Ascending 

Words: 9,779 so far 

Warnings: Will eventually mention previous neglect/abuse of children

Pairings: Jupiter/Caine 

Where to Read it: Below the cut or on AO3 (AO3 recommended for formatting) 

Chapter Six

“This went from ‘kind of cool’ to ‘seriously annoying’... oh, twenty minutes ago?”

Jupiter irritatingly swatted at another cloud of bees (careful not to actually hurt them) as they made a desperate dive to try and burrow into her hair. Another batch was settling in all the crooks of her body (collarbone, beneath her chin, in the hollow of the backs of her knees), while still others seemed to seek actual skin contact, bypassing her already covered arms and legs to flit up beneath her shirt. Jupiter grit her teeth at the feeling of foreign bodies crawling everything, stupidly glad that her skinny jeans didn’t allow them to burrow anywhere else.

“Enough of you,” Caine growled, mimicking her swat with a lot less patience. Jupiter caught his hand and brought it into her lap instead.

“It’s fine,” and no sooner had she sighed it than the bees were back, landing wherever they could and taking whatever she was willing to give. Jupiter wondered if she looked somehow regal like this—or if she was just a cheap monster out of some low-budget horror flick.

Kiza’s expression suggested the latter. Her phone click-click-clicked as it took a million, horrible photos. No way was she buying her a better phone. This girl did not need more storage space.

Jupiter thought about pointing out the obvious though, that there was no photo album to fill anymore. Or there was, but it was gone, and she doubted Balem wanted her to send updates. The mere thought of him painstakingly adding pages to the back of the book and gluing in new photos was so ridiculous it had Jupiter releasing a slightly hysterical laugh.

Kiza slowly lowered her phone. “You okay?”

“Not really.”

“Yeah. Yeah I feel that.”

The whole party was largely off kilter and a massive swarm of bees invading the living room was only part of the problem. Jupiter was high-strung of course, and Caine had a tendency to follow her in all things, even emotions. Same with Kiza and Stinger now that she thought about it, some hereditary loyalty rising to the surface as they honed in on their queen, and okay, shit, was everyone in a bad mood just because she was?

Three pairs of eyes stared at her intently. Huh. Maybe “I feel that” was less a common phrase and more a literal expression of truth. Jupiter mustered up a smile.

“Whoooo’s gonna explain what’s going oooon?” she sang.

Stinger sighed, throwing up his hands. He obviously needed to do something with them though, and without a weapon to point at a concrete enemy he just ended up fiddling with everything in reach: the throw draped across the couch Jupiter sat on, the edge of his shirt, a pencil he’d stuck haphazardly behind his ear. In the end Stinger settled on pouring her another cup of coffee even though Jupiter had barely touched the first.

That done he spread his arms. Whole strings of bees followed the movement.

“You’re more equipped to answer that than I am, Your Majesty. You say you were visited by a fox splice?”

Caine nodded. “One sent by Kalique. You think there’s a connection?”

Kiza snorted. “Between her suddenly changing the game and an attack on our house? Absolutely. Though what the hell would she want with our honey?”

“Nothing,” but Stinger’s hands made fists just thinking about it. “She has the resources to pull off a theft like that of course, she could hire any group she’d like, but why the hell would she want to? There’s no commercial value to it—at least not compared to her own vast wealth—and as for personal reasons...” he trailed off, shaking his head. “It makes no sense.”

Jupiter scoffed. “When has anything involving Kalique ever made sense?”

“The fact that she’s actually the most logical and methodical of the three is kinda sad. And by ‘sad’ I mean hilarious.” Kiza dodged Jupiter’s whack to the head.

“You didn’t hear anything?” she pressed. “Earlier?”

“Nope. Slept in, did my chores, went to do more chores outside—” Kiza sent a nasty glare her dad’s way. Stinger challenged it stiffly—”finally got to the hives out back, called you, and discovered... that.” ‘That’ was clearly the missing honey, though Kiza made the absence sound like a foul addition instead. Like an enemy. Or no, something that grew. A cancer.

Jupiter felt Caine shifting on the couch beside her. She gave his hand another squeeze and was relieved to feel him doing the same.

“We’ll figure it out,” she said. “I promise. And not to make light of that situation, but...can we focus on one emergency at a time?”

“Dinner,” Caine said solemnly.

“Politics,” Stinger countered.

“Food,” Kiza finished. “Wasted. Which I am very happy to eat for you anyway.”

“You’re welcome to the steaks,” Jupiter sighed, like she didn’t already know that Kiza had squirreled them away for a late night snack sometime. The girl’s appetite was easily the most alien thing about her. “You’ll all come then?”

Stinger’s hand settled on her shoulder. “Don’t be foolish, Your Majesty. Where you go, we follow.”

She actually wanted to say something appropriately thankful in response, but the movement was—once again—ruined by a flash from Kiza and an exaggerated “Awww.” She raised her phone in the air as Jupiter rubbed at her eyes.

“I like this one,” Kiza announced.

“Good for you,” Stinger said. “Caine. With me. I won’t be going into another Entitled’s lair blind. Not again. Kiza? Entertain your Queen.”

“Sir, yes sir,” she said and as the two boys went off to discuss super cool space weaponry she threw herself onto the couch beside Jupiter. A massive cloud of bees rose up like a wave.

Jupiter carefully extracted a bee that had gotten caught in the belt loop of her jeans. “Can you make them go away?”

“I’ve tried.” Kiza actually sounded apologetic about it. “They’re really... just...” she blew out a slow breath. “They need this right now.”

“...and so do you,” Jupiter said, realizing the words were true as soon as she’d said them. Kiza was pressed shoulder-to-shoulder with Jupiter, much like how the bees themselves were seeking her touch. If Jupiter focused, she could feel the lightest tremble running through Kiza’s body. She lifted an arm and settled it around Kiza’s back. The younger girl nestled there, vulnerable.

“It probably seems stupid to you,” she muttered, face now pressed into the fabric of Jupiter’s shirt. “Just honey, yeah? Got plenty of that. And sure, sure the bees themselves are fine, which is the important thing, but... it’s an invasion, you know? Someone was here. In our home. They took something that didn’t belong to them!” Kiza was trembling harder now and it had little to do with disquiet. “Ugh. I sound like dad. I know he’s super mad too, even if he’s better at controlling it. I’m a second generation splice. I love our bees, alright? But even I’m not connected to the spirit like he is.”

Jupiter’s fingers had found their way into Kiza’s hair. She paused there before resuming her slow, soothing movements. “Spirit?”

Kiza hummed. “It’s not really a religion, like you have here on Earth. You gotta remember its all tied up in our biology too. It’s more that we understand all the layers.”

“Like onions,” Jupiter intoned and was relieved when Kiza shoved her lightly.

“Don’t quote Shrek at me. But yes, layers. Or—or connections. Like how one bee isn’t just a bee. They’re part of a hive, an ecosystem; they’re connected to you and to me. It’s the same with honey. It’s not just a food source, it’s something they made. It’s exploration and life and they always create more than they need so we can have some too and—” Kiza drew in a massive breath. “It’s just important, okay?”

“Okay,” Jupiter agreed. She sometimes forgot just how young Kiza was, not only compared to her but their group at large, everyone either in a genetically enhanced middle age or outright ancient. Kiza was the little sister Jupiter had never, but who she was thrilled to have now that she was here.

She also felt a little like a daughter.

Jupiter twisted her earring.

“Good talk,” she said, because Jupiter was nothing if not awkward when it came to heart-to-hearts. There was a little part of her mind that whispered, ‘I love dogs’ and she firmly stuffed it into the deepest, darkest pit she could conjure up. “So… whatcha got there?”

Still curled against Jupiter, Kiza had her phone out again, though for once it wasn’t pointing and clicking. It looked like she was online, though what website needed such a violently blue background, Jupiter didn’t know. She shooed a bunch of bees out of the way to get a better view. Kiza helped by tilting the screen.

“Tumblr,” she said, like that explained anything at all.

“Tumbling?”

“Tumblr. Don’t you ever waste your life online?”

Jupiter considered. “Yes, but you’re talking to the girl who grew up in a poor, super large family that always monopolized the one desktop. Also, excuse you, but I’ve been busy. Saving the world? Or did you forget?”

To Jupiter’s horror, an unexpectedly evil grin stretched across Kiza’s face. “Oh, I didn’t forget, Your Majesty. I documented it.”

“You—wait what?”

Over the next mind-boggling ten minutes Jupiter got a crash course in current social media, complete with the distinction between those parts of the website that humans had access too, and the sprawling, galaxy-wide network that catered to everyone else. Scrolling through pictures, news articles, and GIFs of funny cats was one thing, finding out that Kiza had been blogging about Queen Jupiter on the equivalent of Space Facebook was something else.

“You’ve made me kind of famous,” Kiza said, sounding infuriatingly smug about it. “My follower count skyrocketed when I started posting these pics. I mean sure, we get the stupid anon or two, but pretty much everyone else is supportive. They want to know you, Your Majesty. It’s the classic rags to riches story, plus you’re the first Entitled in, what? Ever, who isn’t a dick? You should totally start your own blog. Provided I help, of course.”

“Oh my god,” Jupiter whispered. Her finger felt numb as she scrolled through an endless stream of stories, questions, and, yes, pictures of her. Most of them were candid, shot when Jupiter had been otherwise engaged. There was one of her upside down on her bed upstairs, a half-piece of toast dangling from her mouth. She couldn’t even remember when she’d done that, let alone how Kiza could have gotten a pic without her noticing. The ones of her and Caine were particularly popular, at least according to the number of ‘notes’ each one had. Jupiter was torn between flattered and mortally embarrassed.

She scrolled down further and found a picture of her holding Balem. Jupiter snapped her hand back.

“You’d be good at it too,” Kiza was saying, oblivious. “You’re pretty, famous, and rich, the trifecta for getting a good following. Plus half of what you say is basically shit-posting, so.”

“Kiza—”

“I can—”

Whoom.

Too late for talk: at that moment a massive crash sounded from somewhere outside; too short to be an earthquake, not quite large enough for an explosion. Still, it knocked Kiza back into Jupiter’s shoulder, the both of them slipping halfway off the couch and their cloud of bees scattering with worry. The two filled coffee cups splattered onto the carpet. The throw fell down across their backs. Jupiter ended up jarring her hip and watched as Caine and Stinger store sideways into the room.

What now? was her first and completely justified thought.

Jupiter pushed up quickly, righting the boys in her vision. They looked ready to take on a whole army together. Which tended to happen when you carried whole armloads of weapons into the room.

“What the fuck?” Stinger growled. He’d already hefted something large and glowing blue over his shoulder, marching towards the door. Caine stopped only long enough to pull Jupiter to her feet.

“My thoughts exactly,” she grimaced.

“You’re okay?”

“Fine, fine. Do we know what—?”

Whoom! Again, but closer and with a bit more... solidity. This time Jupiter felt the foundations of the house shake.

“Oh, but it’s never boring with you, Your Majesty,” Kiza breathed. Jupiter watched with a mixture of disbelief and respect as she began composing a new post.

“We’re talking about this later,” she said and grabbed them both by the arm.

Careful of what they might find, Jupiter, Caine, and Kiza followed Stinger out of the house.