#the teacher is chill but hes also like 60 and british

[tired-demonspawn]

was this 🤏close from starting a forum post which is 1/5 of my grade with "Hi everypony!"

[secondlifep]

Metallica and Cliff Burton

Hello there boys and girls, SecondLifeP here with a story to share with all of you, inspired by @5triderofthenorth and his commentary on the wonderful world of Metallica...

I was 15 years old, just starting my first year of high school. An all-boys school intended to make something out of me and prepare me for the hallowed halls of university, just another path in what was expected to be an amazing and storied life of another lower middle-class dork propped up into the echelons of higher learning.

My exposure to music at that time came through a number of forms:

First was the record, 8-track and cassette collection that I was exposed to by my parents, a wild and crazy assortment of the Oak Ridge Boys, Jesus Christ Superstar, John Denver, Saturday Night Fever, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, and many others in between... I especially loved disco, and could often be found jamming and "dancing" to the Saturday Night Fever 8-track that my parents had.

The second form was the radio, where what became the classic 80's was often heard ... Blondie, Queen, Styx, Thomas Dolby, Devo, and many others were to be heard ... I also heard a great deal of Led Zeppelin (Say "Stairway to Heaven" one more time) and Pink Floyd (I think I OD on Another Brick in the Wall in those days).

The third was through a really close friend that I had known for years that got me introduced to the harder music and especially what became the new wave of British Heavy Metal including Iron Maiden and my favorite band, Judas Priest.

Along the way, I had heard of bands like Black Sabbath and Iron Butterfly, but they were not on my radar all that much at the time ...

Coming back to high school, one of my least favorite classes at the time was English class ... didn't much like reading stuff, would rather be playing video games or watching horror movies or daydreaming of teenage girls naked and full of lusty desires for me (far from the reality of my life, btw). I sat in the back of the class, the last seat in the last row ... where I could hide in quiet solitude and not worry about too much.

The only cool thing about that class was that the teacher seemed to be a "friend of the 60's", wink wink, smart fella but very laid back and chill. Almost too chill. I was never sure if he was totally with it most days. In an ironic twist of fate, he also taught me how to drive and took me for my drivers' license about a year later ... let's just say we took driving slow ... it was all cool, man.

I was a super shy and quiet kid, so I didn't make too many friends, but there was this kid who sat in front of me who seemed pretty cool. Liked the same kids of music and even brought in a playboy or two for me to ogle in the back of the class, which his older brother got for him, I think.

Anyhow, one day during class he turns around and asks me if I want to go see a concert with him. It was kinda outta the blue, as we didn't hang out after school or anything ... but I was apparently intrigued by the extra attention and said sure. He asked me to give him the money and he would take care of the tickets...

So I asked my parents, and surprisingly they said yes.. I think they were just happy to see my being social, so even if this kid wanted to take me in a white van, and get high and hang with strippers (there goes my imagination again), I think they might have just been fine and dandy with that.

That being settled, I brought the money to school and gave it to him to get the tickets.

We were going to see this guy named Ozzy Osbourne, who had a new album out that I had heard some of and was interested in. The album was called Bark at the Moon.

I was excited and after getting the tickets, didn't even know that there was such a thing as an "opening act" when we went to see the concert.

The night of the concert my father dropped me off at the arena, and I met my friend and we went in. I am not sure where or how he got the tickets, but we had these amazing seats ... 25th row on the floor near the center of the stage.

As the lights went out and the show began, I was excited to embark on my first concert experience and to hear live, the songs of the album I had just started to get acquainted with. As the beginning of the show began, it was this extremely loud and hard and fast sound that I did not recognize as being any of the songs I was familiar with, and looking at the stage, I saw this large cloth backdrop with an image and band name that I couldn't quite read and these three guys (minus the drummer) came out on stage and started playing this loud, heavy, fast and mind pounding music.

I was in awe ... I was blown away ... and my ears were numb from the throbbing sounds, in particular the lower frequency registers that were pulsating in, around, and threw me given where I was situated in the arena.

I could not understand a word of the lyrics, but the music was amazing and energy lifted me in a way that I had never experienced before.

The entire time this band played, there was this guy in front of me, on stage, playing an instrument (I didn't know a guitar or bass from a hole in the wall at the time), with long straight and messy hair, he wore a denim jacket with the sleeves torn off, denim jeans and a t-shirt and had this scary, facial hair thing that I didn't quite know what it was.

He thrashed his head up and down, letting his hair fly everywhere, looking out at us from time to time in this very strong and gauntlet-like stare. He was there but not there, present but also surreal at the same time.

I watched him almost the entire time the band performed ... he was hypnotic and this energy came from him that I could feel, figuratively and in reality, as I could connect the thumping that made my ears and body pound with the movement of his playing.

In between songs I could see him grabbing plastic cups with what I surmised was beer, occasionally drinking and sloshing and sometimes throwing little swishes of the liquid into the audience who screamed and yelled at his presence.

When it was over, I found myself no longer in the arena, my mind was in another place.

Ozzy came out after the stage change break and played a magnificent show. Jake E. Lee, who I came to later love as a guitarist (really loved Badlands first album and Jake's straight-ahead sound and playing) was on guitar. He had broken his leg, so he was in a full leg cast, yet still managed to electrify the audience.

After the concert, I had to go to a payphone to call my father to pick me up. I remember that call exactly as it happened. He picked up the phone and I told him the concert was over and he asked me "How was it?" to which I responded "It was fucking amazing!", not realizing that I had used a word of strictly forbidden language at the time, and my father either not hearing it over the loudness of all the people around me or giving me a pass given the circumstances - I never did learn that.

The next day, I had to go find out about this band that had opened for Ozzy and get the album that they had played from and learn all about them. Good thing the ticket stub had their name on it, otherwise I would never have known: Metallica

Their album Master of Puppets was what they were touring in support of .. and this guy that stood on stage, larger than life, and whose presence and charisma had enjoined me into the masses of fandom for the band ... his name was Cliff. Cliff Burton.

I listened to Master of Puppets on vinyl for hours and hours and hours ... and then became engaged in both their earlier and later catalog.

I started picking up music magazines and guitar magazines to learn about the band and learn their music. Not too many months later I got to read about a tragic accident that had occurred with this band I had only learned about and was getting into... and one of the members of the band was killed in the accident. It took me a bit to connect the dots, but when I did it left me with the strangest feeling of sadness.

Only decades later did I come to appreciate the reality of this situation and the good fortune I had had from the kid sitting in front of me in a stupid English class who invited me to a concert and I got to experience the amazing energy of a musician that passed away shortly after and most definitely too soon.

As a budding guitar player, my early "bands" played from a selection of bands' music, including Judas Priest, AC/DC, and most importantly Metallica.

Before I purged some of my social media participation last year, I was FB friends with this boy who bought me this ticket and took me to this concert, we still talked about it a few times over the decades and what an amazing time it was.

[katie-dub]

CSJJ Day 20: Blue Monday

Summary: Emma Swan is fed up of January, fed up of the cold, fed up of Leroy. She needs a little joy in her life.

Luckily for her, Killian Jones is always happy to brighten her day.

Also on AO3

Hi there! I’m still slowly regaining my writing mojo, and what better way than with a little happy fic for @csjanuaryjoy​?

Thank you so much to @profdanglaisstuff�� for doing a quick beta read (although not of the final draft so any mistakes remaining were not ignored by my favourite Language & Grammar Guru!). Also thanks to @thisonesatellite​ @ohmightydevviepuu​ & @mahstatins​ for cheering me on. :)

It was not Emma’s day. Woken up an hour early by her alarm, her shower refused to warm up leaving her to shower in freezing cold water and she ripped her top as she pulled it on.

She knew the fun was just beginning. What other delights do I have to look forward to? she mused as she pulled on her heavy winter coat, sighing as she missed the armour of her red leather jacket. Leroy is sure to put in a grand appearance. She grabbed her phone and keys and slipped them in her pocket. Who’s he going to piss off today? Maybe he’ll just start shouting "the end is coming!" like that time he got drunk and thought -

Woah.

Emma’s train of thought was completely derailed. There was a white box in front of the door to her flat. The kind that doughnuts came in. She might have thought that it wasn’t meant for her - people didn’t leave unexpected thoughtful gifts for her - but there was a swan on the gift tag.

She looked around for the culprit, teeth clenching as she searched for a lurking prankster. The furrow in her brow didn’t relax upon seeing no one, Will Scarlet lived directly opposite her, and he definitely seemed the practical joke type, “I’ll do anything for a laugh, me,” isn’t that what he’d said? She crouched down towards the box, eyes on Will’s door until the last second, when she flipped over the card quickly, scarcely willing to touch it.

Hope your day is as lovely as you.

Her heart pounded. A normal person might smile at this, but this made her skin itch from the inside. She wasn’t lovely, she was, she was - prickly, her memories provided for her. Yes, prickly, that’s what Elsa had called her.

Emma reached into her pocket for a tissue, wrapped her hand in it, eyes darting back and forward between the box and the ominous closed door facing her. She reached out with her covered hand and quickly opened the box.

A bear claw was inside.

She didn’t know what to think. Except that she was hungry and that the bear claw smelled good. And I hope Will didn’t see that, he’d probably tell Killian.

Which would be fine. Killian was just a friend, of sorts. A handsome friend, not that she’d noticed. One who sometimes smiled at her in a certain way that made her think that maybe getting involved with a friend wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. It’s not like they were close or anything. And besides -

Stop it, she told herself firmly, closing the lid and scooping up the box. She wasn’t one to look a gift pastry in the box. Or something.

***

A glass was placed before Emma, the amber liquid exactly what she needed after her long week. Someone brushed up against her as they leaned against the bar.

"Sorry, love," they murmured, her chest tightened pleasantly at the sound of their lilting British accent.

She looked around, at the same time as the stranger. Hot. It was the only thought in her head at the sight of him. Brilliant blue eyes sparkling with seduction met hers, his tongue traced his lips sinfully. God she hoped she wasn't imagining the interest she was sure she could feel radiating off this dark-haired treat.

"Drinking alone?" he asked, cocking his brow in invitation.

She thought of her friends loitering near the booths. "Not anymore," she said, leaning into him with a smile, one that he returned, mirroring her.

"Jones!" Emma sighed as her latest would be conquest, Jones apparently, jolted forward from the impact of her friend Robin colliding with him, throwing his arms around his shoulders.

"Emma!" Robin exclaimed, shoving his way between her and 'Jones', "I see you've met Killian!"

Emma's face fell as Robin's words ensured that she would not be getting intimately acquainted with Killian. She was a one night only kind of girl, and that just wouldn't fly with Robin's "old mate Killian from across the pond". She shuddered internally at the thought of hanging out with anyone who had seen her O face. (The guy just oozed sex appeal, turning her on with just a polite apology, there was no way he wouldn't get to see that face if they were to bang out the tension that thrummed between them.)

She shook herself from her thoughts. "We just said hi," she lied easily, thinking she saw the briefest spark of sadness in Killian's eyes, before it was smoothed away by forced frivolity. "Hadn't introduced ourselves yet."

"Well in that case, Emma Swan, meet Killian Jones. Killian, meet Emma." Killian held out his hand for her to shake, and if he felt that same spark that she did when she took it, his eyes gave nothing away.

***

Emma stopped dead at the sight of the foot of fresh snow that coated the ground when she yanked open the door. "Seriously?" she groaned in disgust. The weather forecast hadn't said anything about snow and it was unlikely that her poor bug would handle the cold.

She gingerly stepped outside, and was hit by the icy chill of the air even through her thick coat. She slipped and slid her way to the bug and was forced to set her bakery box on the top of her car - though not before she brushed the snow from it - to use both hands to wrench the frozen shut door open.

Why am I even bothering? This is never going to start. But still, she spent several minutes tugging with all her might before it gave way with an ominous crack. Her legs shot out from under her and she landed hard on her ass.

Fucking ow. "Like landing on a pillow" my ass, Kristoff. Him and Anna were toast and the rest of Frozen was Elsa's fever dream.

Still, the door was open, there was still hope that her luck was turning.

***

Emma was never really one for hope. That bear claw had clearly given her an unexpected optimism that slowly shrivelled up in the icy chill, pathetically shuddering before finally slinking off to a hole to die as the bug stubbornly refused to start.

There was nothing for it but to walk to work.

After that bear claw. She would need the extra fuel to help her keep warm on the long, arduous fifteen minute trek. Besides, the way her luck was going, she was sure to wind up face first in the thing within a few steps of the bug, best not to try her chances.

She ate quickly, lest she find herself frozen into the bug this time, and set off on her epic journey to work. Fifteen minutes became forty five as she carefully stepped - and, more often than not, skidded - along icy sidewalks, determined to somehow, some way, maintain her upright position.

She pushed her way through the doors of the station, shaking the snow from her coat as she went and bitterly regretting her choice not to detour to Granny’s for more sweet treats to keep her going through the day.

“Morning, Sheriff,” David singsonged to her as she burst into the room, dishevelled and cold. She whirled around to glare at him.

“What’s got you in such a chipper mood? Is your heart too pure to be touched by the cold?”

“You’ll see!”

She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to will him to speak. (And not to consider what was wrong with her that she was so deeply suspicious of her good friend and trusted colleague being happy, of all things.)

She crept up on her office, her hand twitching as she struggled against her instincts to draw her gun. She reached for the door, then stopped to took one last calculating look over at David. Upon seeing the look of sheer amusement on his face at her antics, she straightened up and threw the door open.

Her jaw dropped at the sight before her.

There, on her desk, was what could only be described as a bouquet of poptarts, apollo bars and hot chocolate sachets. She stepped closer, looking to see if there was a card, and spotted another gift card bearing a simple swan.

Sweets for my sweet

She almost gasped at the message. Did that mean - could these be from - Killian?

She didn’t know what had possessed her to agree to help chaperone the high school winter dance, Mary Margaret was the teacher, that was her job. Emma was just her gullible friend.

Her gullible friend who was currently stuck in some kind of time warp, attending a 60’s themed dance. It was disconcerting at best, to watch 17 year olds do the mashed potato and the twist instead of, well, whatever normal teenagers did. Having never been to a prom before, she wasn’t entirely sure, but she was reasonably certain that it wasn’t this.

“Sweets for my sweet,” a voice sang into her ear.

The owner was lucky that he even sang with a British lilt, or she’d have had his arm twisted up behind his back in a heartbeat. Instead she rolled her eyes as she turned to look at him.

“Those lines may work in England, Killian, but here you need to put in a little more effort."

" My heart," he gasped clutching at his chest. "You Yanks are so cruel!" He raised a fist to the sky, shaking it dramatically. "A curse upon Love Actually for teaching me that all I needed to pull was a cute British accent."

Emma wasn't quite sure what to make of this. It made her want to laugh, in spite of herself, feeling certain that he was mocking himself instead of her, although it was hard to be sure. "It really took you five months to find that one out? Never struck out before?"

"Come on, love, you've seen me, with this devilishly handsome face I normally don't have to resort to pick up lines at all."

Emma did laugh that time. "Not sure if you're painting yourself in a very good light there. You're only able to charm a lady if you keep your mouth shut?"

Killian smirked at her, and leaned in closer, a move that tugged at her insides, leaving her chest feeling tight, tensed in eager anticipation as it so often did when he was around. "Oh, I assure you that I am quite the cunning linguist, when the lady's willing," he said with a wink.

She cursed herself and her hormones, because even his ridiculous words and pathetic half wink sent a flutter deep inside of her. The feeling spiked a familiar wave of panic coursing through her. She didn't do relationships and she certainly didn't do friends with benefits, which placed Killian firmly in look but don't touch territory.

"What a shame, I guess you'll have to find another 'willing lady'." She forced a bored lightness into her words, as she stepped back, trying to reestablish the boundaries of their relationship.

"As you wish," he said with an elaborate bow. He straightened and smiled at her, this time a smile of friendship, easily accepting her refusal with good grace. "It's not too much to ask you for a dance, though, is it Swan?"

His question was a genuine one, a true desire to understand what she needed of him.

"Oh, I don't know." His eyes dimmed a little in what seemed like disappointment, even as he gave her a smile and a nod that sent a surge of adrenaline spiking through her. "It's not that I don't want to, I just, um - I don't know - how to whatever that is."

The sparkle was back in his eyes, and with it, the flutter inside her. "Dance?" he chuckled.

She eyed the dancers spinning about dubiously. These kids had definitely been taking lessons, which was a level of effort she couldn't even imagine for a single high school dance. But then, she was always the outsider, perhaps this was just what all normal kids did, maybe she was the weird one.

She was pulled from her thoughts by his hand gently tugging on hers. She looked up to see him smiling at her patiently.

"There really is only one rule."

"And what's that?"

"Pick a partner who knows what he's doing."

Her scepticism must have been written all over her face, and yet she let him lead her towards the dance floor. "This isn't setting me up for a Carrie situation, is it?" she said, giving voice to the secret fears of the lost girl inside, even as she knew that Killian wouldn't do that to her.

"And why would I want to humiliate a dear friend? That would be the height of bad form." His words were light, but she was sure that she could feel the hurt behind them, and felt bad for letting her worst fears affect him.

She couldn't think of anything to say to that, so instead she aimed for distraction. "Why are you here anyway?" He arched a brow at her rudeness and she cringed at herself. "I thought you were a fancy college professor or something?"

"I'm a professor of linguistics -"

"For real? I thought you were just -" Emma's cheeks flamed at what she had thought Killian was referring to when he called himself a 'cunning linguist'.

He smirked. "Mind out of the gutter, Swan. As I said, linguistics is my specialism, I'm doing a study into the changing speech patterns of the youth of today, and the impact of technology on their communication styles. Storybrooke High School has allowed me to gather primary data for my research, in exchange for my assistance with advanced assignments and specialist lectures for those on track for Ivy League."

Emma liked listening to him talk, it was easy to get caught up in his excitement, even if she wouldn't normally care about academia or the study of linguistics. She loved his passion and that he didn't talk down to her, even though he knew she was a high school dropout.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bore you." He chuckled, and abruptly spun her out, before pulling her back in. "I realise I get carried away sometimes, thank you for indulging me."

"That's OK, you're cute when you're talking about you research."

"Oh really?" His left eyebrow danced up like it had a mind of its own. "So you are a fan of my cunning linguistics? Good to know." He laughed and ducked out of the way of her lazy smack to his arm. She didn't mind, she hadn't really intended to injure him, just warn him off that particular line of teasing. She felt like something had shifted between them in the course of one short dance, and it wasn't something that she had much care to examine right then - or, more likely, ever.

That dance had been a month and a half ago, surely there was no way that this was Killian finally pushing that boundary? Testing it out to see if there was any hope that maybe the time had finally come for her to reexamine it, to reconsider what they could be to each other? But if not him, who else could have sent this?

She chewed on her lip and wondered what this could all mean.

The phone rang, startling her from her thoughts. She could hear David answering a moment later, giving her leave to pick a pop tart from the bouquet, unwrap it, and take a bite.

“Emma?”

She grunted in reply, unable to speak around her mouthful of pop tart.

“Duty calls.”

***

It had been a hell of a day and it was only 2pm, far too late for her to only just be heading into the diner.

She leaned against the counter with a sigh, which thankfully caught Granny’s attention.

“Hey Emma,” said the eponymous diner owner, looking up at her, “just packing up your order, it’ll be ready in a minute.”

“Thanks,” Emma said, and closed her eyes.

“Rough day, love?”

Killian’s voice was like music to her ears, although the tune halted abruptly with a screeching record scratch as she remembered the gifts. She wasn’t absolutely certain that he was the sender, and that left her entirely unclear about what she should do. Just thinking about it was enough to set her heart racing, and not in the pleasantly fluttery way it usually did when he was around.

“Er - yeah - it’s been - well, you’ve seen the weather.” She gestured outside to the snow, feeling like a massive prick as she did it. She hated stating the obvious.

“Yeah, I can imagine that you’ve had a lot on.”

“Eh, I wasn’t expecting a great day anyway. Something about this time of year always gets to people.”

“Well, it is Blue Monday.”

“A catchy disco electro-rock song? Sure. Why not?”

Killian laughed. “How does it feel to treat me like you do?” he sang at her, and her breath caught in her throat as their eyes met. Those words hit a little too close to home.

She quickly looked away. He always could see her, really see her, in a way no one else could, and his piercing eyes were just a little too much for her right now. “So, Blue Monday?”

“Aye. Most depressing day of the year.”

She couldn’t help it, she had to look at him now. “Says who?”

“Marketers, I think.” She tilted her head, waiting for him to answer her silent question. “It’s a big deal in Britain, someone allegedly calculated the most depressing day of the year, and every year the press brings it up again and of course, businesses take the chance to persuade every to spend their money to find some joy.”

“Yay capitalism,” Emma deadpanned. “I buy it though. Something about that last Monday in January before payday seems to send people crazy.”

Killian looked over to the menu, nodding thoughtfully. “Has anything happened to brighten your day though?” he asked. His words sounded casual, but Emma knew better, she could see how he scratched at that spot behind his ear, the way he always did when he was nervous.

She made him nervous. She felt the same, panicking over what was the right thing to say. Should she mention the gifts? What if it wasn’t him? He hadn’t actually said anything conclusive, just vaguely hinted. But, oh, what if it was? She wasn’t fit to actually be with someone, and surely there was no way to misconstrue his feelings towards her after that, how could she say thanks but no thanks to this man?

He looked over at her, a question in his eyes. Apparently, her internal freak out was taking every bit as long as she worried it was.

“Oh - oh, um, no.”

And she watched as hope died in Killian Jones’ beautiful blue eyes and felt every inch the asshole that she was.

***

“I thought you had a date tonight?” Killian said, too smooth for his jaw to drop, but nevertheless oozing surprise at finding Emma at his front door.

“Wow, is that how you greet all your friends?” she asked.”So, er, you going to let me in now?”

He gestured wordless for her to step inside and reached out to help her with her coat. His fingers brushed her shoulder, the barest of touches, and still she felt that twist of anticipation in her belly. Shaking herself she strode straight for the living room, flopped down on his sofa and kicked off her heels.

She didn’t move until she felt him settle down next to her, when she swung her legs across his. It perhaps wasn’t the most ladylike of gestures, what with her wearing a form-fitting mini dress, but he immediately took one of her feet in his hands and began to knead at the arches and she couldn’t bring herself to care. Her body was simultaneously melting in relaxation and buzzing with arousal at the feeling. He continued to massage her in silence for several minutes, during which time Emma gave into the pure feeling of bliss his touch gave her and closed her eyes.

“So, no date then?”

She opened her eyes to see that he was still studying her foot intently, but he was poised in anticipation of her reply.

“You think I put this dress on just to lie on your sofa?”

“A man can dream.” That look on sincerity was back on Killian’s face, she’d been seeing it more and more since that stupid dance. He meant his flirting, he was hers for the taking if she wanted him, or at least, she thought so, but she’d been wrong about these things before and it was just easier to not push and be rejected and -

She moaned as he found a particularly tight knot and began to rub out the tension, sending ripples of relaxation through her.

Oh God if he’s this good with your feet, you have to let him handle o-

Stop it.

And she was back to arguing with herself internally.

“Everything alright?” Killian had stopped her movements and was looking up at her with worry written across his face.

“What? Yeah, it’s fine. Great actually, that bit just really hurts and yeah, it felt nice.”

He resumed massaging the knot, far more gently than he had before. “Only you’ve gone a bit tense. If it’s not the massage, dare I presume it was the date?”

“Urgh, the date. Next time Mary Margaret tries to persuade me to go on a blind date, please remind me not to be fooled by her cute pixie face, she is one feisty bitch and can absolutely handle the disappointment when I tell her to fuck off.”

“It didn’t go well?”

“The guy bought me a rose -”

“What a monster!”

“ - let me finish, a red rose covered bear. It looked like the calling card a serial killer would leave at the scene of the crime.”

“But a real rose would have been ok?”

Emma shrugged. “I guess? They’re just a bit cliched though, aren’t they?”

“A red rose maybe, although they do have a long-standing tradition that dates back as far as the Greek goddess of love.”

“Exactly. Cliche.”

Killian laughed. “That it is indeed. Perhaps you would prefer another colour? Red is chosen because indicates passion and desire, but there are other colours.”

“What about yellow? That’s my favourite colour.”

“Ah, the symbol of friendship.”

“Sounds nice.”

“Indeed, what true partnership can you have with a lover who is not also a friend?”

There was a bit too much meaning in those words, that possibility of more between them, ready for Emma to just reach out and take it. If only she could be brave enough.

***

"No Leroy, I can't arrest your brother for falling asleep during a row," Emma said into the phone rubbing at her temples with her free hand in exasperation. "It hardly seems fair to call him rude, he has narcolepsy. Yes, I do imagine it is annoying, but being irritating without due care and attention isn't a criminal offence." Luckily for you, she thought to herself. "I'm sorry, I cannot help you, and if you call again, I will have to arrest you for wasting police time, goodbye"

Emma put the phone down on Leroy even as he started on a new tirade about her.

"Miss Swan?" Emma looked up, to see Moe French lingering in her doorway.

"How can I help you, Mr French?" she asked with a tired smile

"I've got a delivery for you." As he spoke the florist produced a simple bouquet from behind his back of yellow roses mixed with buttercups and daisies. "Sorry it's late in the day, the weather's delayed my deliveries."

He handed it out to her and Emma immediately looked for a tag with a swan on as she reached for it, wondering at the choice of flowers. They had to be from Killian, but what did this mean?

"Can you sign for them?"

"Oh, sure," she said and fumbled awkwardly with the flowers to scribble her name. Once alone, she looked again for a card - and again found a simple swan tag.

To brighten your day

Killian

There was no denying it now: the gifts were from Killian, and he expected nothing in return. Yellow roses for friendship, buttercups for The Princess Bride. “As you wish,” he said just like Wesley, his way of saying “I love you”. He would follow her wishes, it was up to her whether that love was to remain purely platonic. What did she wish for?

She thought of Killian. Of how he smiled just for her, of how he made her feel, of the sadness he felt at not being able to bring a little joy into her day. She felt that familiar tingle inside of her at the thought of him. The anxiety that always reared up in response to her happiness twisted that feeling into something dark and unpleasant.

But he’ll -

No, she told herself, not today.

Men aren’t to be trusted. The anxiety tried again, her inner horcrux whispering to her. What makes you think he’ll be different? Just stay friends, that’s -

“No!” she shouted out loud, “That’s not enough for me!”

And so with her mind made up, she ran.

***

She was panting, her lungs screaming with the effort, when she finally skidded to a halt in front of Killian’s door. Her cheeks were red, she was sweaty and barely able to speak, but she didn’t care, just hammered on the door.

“Swan!” Killian said with a smile as he threw open the door. She watched him, waiting for her breath to return to something like normal before speaking, seeing how his eyes darted from the flowers clasped tight to her chest, to her smile, to her eyes. “Is everything OK?”

“Do you mean it?” she said, searching his face for the answer she was so desperate to hear.

His mouth turned up in a cheeky half smile and she just knew he was going to say something ridiculous. “Yes, I do want to know if everything is OK.”

“No,” she frowned, shaking her head and holding out the bouquet. “Do you mean it? Can we - can we be - more?” She tripped over her words, feeling foolish before him.

She didn’t feel foolish for long.

A dazzling smile spread over his face as he understood, looking simply awestruck at her stumbling question. His eyes never left hers as he nodded slowly. “As you wish,” was his reply.

She grabbed him, pushing him back into his apartment, dropping the bouquet and letting the door slam shut behind them as she seized his mouth with hers. That delightful feeling of something immense exploded in her chest, her anxiety was finally quelled, there was nothing but her and him and the start of so much more.

[rebelmeg]

Let's Get Personal

1: 6 of the songs you listen to most?  Recently, it's been "Secret Love Song" by Little Mix, "Poison" by Rita Ora, "What Ifs" by Kane Brown and Lauren Alaina, "U and Ur Hand" by P!nk, "Perfect Matchup" by Kenny and London Holland, and The Greatest Showman soundtrack 2: If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?  Robert Downey Jr. 3: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17.  “When was the last night or day you took time off?” 4: What do you think about most?  Writing.  A new idea, a current idea, something I need to jot down, something I need to fix, the one I want to read. 5: What does your latest text message from someone else say?  I'm fine, unless you want the time. 6: Do you sleep with or without clothes on?  Underwear. 7: What’s your strangest talent?  Personalizing or adding to things that probably do not need to be personalized.  (The beige Calvin Klein purse was BORING so I defiled something expensive to make it more “me”.) 8: Finish the sentence.  Girls… are strong; Boys… are allowed to be soft. 9: Ever had a poem or song written about you?  Not that I know of. 10: When is the last time you played the air guitar?  I'm not an air guitar person, I have a THING about looking stupid and I’m certain that I can’t pull off looking cool doing air guitar. 11: Do you have any strange phobias?  Nah, just the regular ones. 12: Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose?  Don't think so? 13: What’s your religion?  LDS 14: If you are outside, what are you most likely doing?  Walking to my car. 15: Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?  Behind, definitely. 16: Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band?  I do hate this question.  I'll go with Queen, it's the first one that popped into my head. 17: What was the last lie you told?  I don't recall. 18: Do you believe in karma?  Eh, sorta 19: What does your URL mean?  I am and have always been a little bit of a rebel. 20: What is your greatest weakness; your greatest strength?  Weakness, personal motivation and time management.  Strength, creativity. 21: Who is your celebrity crush?  RDJ and Sebastian Stan 22: Have you ever gone skinny dipping?  Yep. 23: How do you vent your anger?  Stewing about it, venting to other people. 24: Do you have a collection of anything?  Soooo many collections... I collect shot glasses as my travel souvenir. 25: Do you prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online?  Phone. 26: Are you happy with the person you’ve become?  For the most part. 27: What’s a sound you hate; sound you love?  Permanent markers on cardboard boxes give me the heebie-jeebie shivers, the sound of a soda pop tab opening a can makes me swoon with happiness. 28: What’s your biggest “what if”?  I'm not sure.  Maybe what if I'd married someone else (not a desire at all, but something I've wondered about from time to time), my life would be entirely different from what it is now. 29: Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens?  No and yes, but not in the traditional sense. 30: Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm.  The chair next to me on the right, the child that is being clingy on the left. 31: Smell the air. What do you smell?  My house and my perfume. 32: What’s the worst place you have ever been to?  A casino. 33: Choose: East Coast or West Coast?  I've never been to the East Coast, so I can't really say. 34: Most attractive singer of your opposite gender?  Oh geez, I don't know. 35: To you, what is the meaning of life?  To do your best, be kind, and be happy. 36: Define Art.  Life made viewable. 37: Do you believe in luck?  Not really. 38: What’s the weather like right now?  Rainstorm is heading this way. 39: What time is it?  9:31 am 40: Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed?  Yep and yep.  Not a big crash, though, minor one.  Fixed the alignment! 41: What was the last book you read?  Currently reading "Blood Fury" by JR Ward 42: Do you like the smell of gasoline?  Don't mind it as long as it's not too strong. 43: Do you have any nicknames?  A fair slew.  Meg, Megs, Rebel, Mom, Mama, and then standard endearments. 44: What was the last film you saw?  Geostorm, I think. 45: What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?  Not sure if this counts as an injury, but I ended up in the hospital with a miscarriage that required surgery.  If that doesn't count, I broke my foot falling out of a tree. 46: Have you ever caught a butterfly?  Yep!  I found one on the grass once during recess as a kid when it was raining, it was close to getting crushed by the other kids playing ball. I held it cupped in my hands so I could show my teacher, its wings dried while I held it, and it flew away while we all watched. 47: Do you have any obsessions right now?  Fandom ones, heck yeah. 48: What’s your sexual orientation?  Straight. 49: Ever had a rumor spread about you?  Probably. 50: Do you believe in magic?  Everyday magic, yes. 51: Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong?  Yeah. 52: What is your astrological sign?  Libra 53: Do you save money or spend it?  I spend like it's burning a hole in my pocket. 54: What’s the last thing you purchased?  Lunch last week. 55: Love or lust?  Love 56: In a relationship?  Yes 57: How many relationships have you had?  Just one serious one. 58: Can you touch your nose with your tongue?  Not quite. 59: Where were you yesterday?  Home. 60: Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?  My elbow is resting on a pair of my daughter's pink underwear. 61: Are you wearing socks right now?  Yep, I love socks. 62: What’s your favorite animal?  Bears, penguins, peacocks, owls, dogs. 63: What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you?  Being kind and friendly. 64: Where is your best friend?  Teaching school. 65: Give me your top 5 favorite blogs on Tumblr.  Oh geez, I can't narrow it down to just five! 66: What is your heritage? Mostly British, good mix of other UK and European ancestors, I’m a 2nd generation American. 67: What were you doing last night at 12AM?  Watching Gilmore Girls and folding laundry. 68: What do you think is Satan’s last name?  Don't think he has one. 69: Be honest. Ever gotten yourself off?  Of course. 70: Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend?  I hope so. 71: You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do?  Save the dog quickly. 72: You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die?  Yes, everyone. b) What do you do with your remaining days? Be as happy as possible and spend as much time with the people I love as possible.  c) Would you be afraid?  Heck yes. 73: You can only have one of these things; trust or love.  A huge part of love IS trust, so love. 74: What’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?  Goody Goody by Julie Lavery, it's an upbeat, bouncy song.  (Which is funny, because the lyrics tell a sad story) 75: What are the last four digits in your cell phone number?  Nope, I use it as a passcode for stuff sometimes. 76: In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?  Humor, taking care of each other. 77: How can I win your heart?  Interact with me. 78: Can insanity bring on more creativity?  Yep. 79: What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far?  To start writing again. 80: What size shoes do you wear?  7 81: What would you want to be written on your tombstone?  *shrugs* Something nice. 82: What is your favorite word?  Popcorn.  I love the sound and the visual appearance of the way the letters are arranged. 83: Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word; heart.  Love, courage, strength. 84: What is a saying you say a lot?  "Best thing ever!" 85: What’s the last song you listened to?  "Hey Soul Sister" by Train 86: Basic question; what’s your favorite color/colors?  Purple! 87: What is your current desktop picture?  Shamrocks 88: If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be?  I don't know enough to be able to make that decision.  Also, too many corrupt world leaders to narrow it down, I think. 89: What would be a question you’d be afraid to tell the truth on?  I can think of many. 90: One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do?  "I am too tired for this nonsense, either sit down and chill or go downstairs and wait until morning." 91: You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power?  Time manipulation without accelerated aging.  I just want to be able to nap whenever I want and have time to catch up on my Netflix list... 92: You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?  The first time my hubby and I held hands when we were dating.  It was perfect and absolutely adorable. 93: You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?  Ugh, I'm not sure, there are two that immediately spring to mind that were pretty awful. 94: You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be?  I have no idea. 95: You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?  Europe.  Anywhere in Europe, but particularly the UK. 96: Do you have any relatives in jail?  I don't think so? 97: Have you ever thrown up in the car?  I'm sure I did when I was a kid, but not that I can remember. 98: Ever been on a plane?  Finally went on one for the first time a couple years ago! 99: If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say?  Be kind.

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/covid-19-news-live-updates-the-new-york-times-22/

Covid-19 News: Live Updates - The New York Times

Here’s what you need to know:

A vaccination center at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on Thursday.Credit…Steven Senne/Associated Press

Racing to ramp up Covid-19 vaccinations, states have opened mass inoculation sites and expanded eligibility. But a big problem remains: The supply isn’t increasing fast enough.

The United States, facing a growing threat from more contagious and possibly deadlier virus variants, is gradually administering more doses every day, now up to an average of about 1.7 million, according to a New York Times database.

But states are also steadily widening access beyond the most vulnerable groups, frontline health care workers and nursing home staff and residents. Now, some state officials say they are ready to administer thousands more shots every day — if they can get them.

Last week, California announced that it would soon become one of just a handful of states to expand vaccine access to people of any age with underlying health issues or severe disabilities. But it has already used 72 percent of its doses and has shortages in some areas.

The mass vaccination site at Dodger Stadium shut over the weekend because Los Angeles had exhausted its supply, Mayor Eric Garcetti said. He said the city received just 16,000 doses last week — roughly a day’s worth.

“When vaccines do get to Los Angeles, we know how to administer them,” Mr. Garcetti told reporters. “We have a great infrastructure set up, of amazing people, and we will give them to folks efficiently and safely. But the problem is, we still aren’t receiving enough doses soon enough.”

Officials in Georgia say constrained supply is getting in the way of opening up eligibility. When the Atlanta Board of Education called on Gov. Brian Kemp earlier this month to start allowing teachers to be vaccinated, the governor said the state was not getting enough doses for residents who were already eligible.

Many districts around Atlanta, he said, had stopped scheduling new vaccine appointments because federal deliveries were falling so far short of the demand.

Experts say expanding eligibility requires a delicate balance of prioritizing those most at risk and ensuring no dose goes to waste.

“I don’t think anyone would want to be the person to receive the vaccine at the expense of someone else who is higher risk,” said Dr. Sarita Shah, an epidemiologist at Emory University in Atlanta.

Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said expanding lists too quickly could backfire. “People are going to be angry when they are promised a second dose and don’t get it on time,” he said.

Some experts, like Dr. Robert Murphy, the director of Northwestern’s Institute for Global Health, have called for more flexibility for places that have already vaccinated their most vulnerable residents.

“I think the dangerous thing is some places are too regimented with the current rules,” Dr. Murphy said. “If you’ve got an extra 50 vials, that’s 500 doses, and nobody is coming, and this thing is going to expire in a matter of days or weeks — give it out.”

New York State has used 90 percent of its initial doses, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday, but is forging ahead to expand eligibility to anyone with underlying health issues. He, too, said his state could be vaccinating faster if it had more doses.

On Sunday, the first day that appointment sign-ups opened for New Yorkers with chronic health conditions, tens of thousands flooded websites and many were left waiting for openings.

United States › United StatesOn Feb. 14 14-day change New cases 63,758 –39% New deaths 1,080 –18%

World › WorldOn Feb. 14 14-day change New cases 272,658 –29% New deaths 5,954 –16%

U.S. vaccinations ›

Security personnel at London’s Heathrow airport escorted travelers on Monday to buses taking them to compulsory hotel quarantine.Credit…Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

People flying into England from South Africa, Brazil and 31 other countries deemed by Britain to be hot spots for coronavirus variants will be required starting Monday to complete a 10-day quarantine in a government-sanctioned hotel, costing nearly $2,500 for a single adult. Travelers from elsewhere are required to quarantine at home for 10 days.

Scotland is requiring all international air passengers, no matter where from, to isolate on arrival in a government-sanctioned hotel.

The compulsory quarantined hotel stays, which include meals, security guards and virus testing, bring Britain in line with similar requirements in some of the countries that have been praised for their virus response, such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Britain, by contrast, has suffered one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks in terms of deaths per capita. The country is under a monthslong lockdown to tame a huge surge in cases caused by a virus variant, first detected in southeastern England, which is more transmissible and potentially deadlier than others. But it has not shown the diminished response to some vaccines associated with the variants first found in South Africa and Brazil.

Britain is vaccinating rapidly, with first doses already given to more than a fifth of the population.

The new quarantine requirement applies to British citizens and residents and Irish citizens who fly into England from any of the 33 nations on the British government’s “red list” of high-risk locations, which does not include the United States. Foreign nationals from those destinations who are not residents of Britain were already barred from entering the country.

Those who fail to comply face fines of up to 10,000 pounds (about $14,000), but concerns have been raised about Britain’s ability to safely handle the influx of passengers.

Heathrow, Britain’s busiest airport, warned over the weekend that the extra checks needed at border control could create long delays. The Times of London also reported fears that a lack of protocols for limiting interaction between travelers from high-risk countries and others on planes and in some parts of airports could lead to safety compromises.

“We’ve got the right balance — robust measures, but targeted measures,” Britain’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said in an interview with the broadcaster Sky News on Sunday.

Celestria Gilyard, who is homeless, preparing her cot at a temporary shelter in the Bartle Hall convention center on Thursday in Kansas City, Mo.Credit…Christopher Smith for The New York Times

When temperatures in Kansas City, Mo., plunged into the single digits a little more than a week ago and stayed there, the coldest arctic blast of the season, Jae Bennett looked into the eyes of people waiting outside his daytime shelter for the homeless because the squat, brown building was full.

“I said, ‘Screw it, just come in,’” said Mr. Bennett, who founded a nonprofit organization, Street Medicine Kansas City, six years ago. “What’s the option? Follow the health code for Covid, or put them in the cold and let them die?”

Cold weather and the nation’s homeless crisis have long been a fatal mix that community advocates and public officials have struggled to address. But this winter, the coronavirus has added a dangerous new complication as cities and community groups wrestle with how to shelter members of a vulnerable population from the elements while not exposing them to an airborne virus that spreads most easily indoors.

The calculation has taken on greater urgency in recent days as arctic weather freezes large areas in the middle of the country, from Minnesota to Texas, with wind chills expected to dip as low as minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit in some places.

Officials in Ramsey County, Minn., which includes St. Paul, have set up shelters in a vacant hospital and a vacant seminary dormitory so that they can better distance homeless residents from one another. Chicago officials have used former school buildings as well as Salvation Army and Y.M.C.A. locations. New Life Center, a nonprofit rescue mission in Fargo, N.D., outfitted an abandoned warehouse. And in Kansas City, where the weather on Monday is forecast to be a low of minus 14 degrees, officials have converted the downtown convention center.

Kansas City typically spends $1.5 million a year on homeless services, according to a city spokesman. But this year, with the help of federal relief funds, it plans to spend $8.5 million on programs that include paying for hotel rooms to house families and providing financial assistance to prevent evictions.

At the urging of local activists, city officials opened a temporary shelter, with a capacity of 65 people, at a community center in mid-January. The number who showed up quickly exceeded that, and city leaders had a difficult call to make.

So they allowed the shelter to operate over capacity.

Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at Harvard, envisions an early-warning system for new pathogens that checks blood from all over the world.Credit…Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times

Back in the summer, Dr. Michael Mina made a deal with a cold storage company. With many restaurants closed, the firm had freezers to spare. And Dr. Mina, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, had a half-million vials of human blood plasma coming to his lab from across the country, samples dating to the carefree days of January 2020.

The vials, now in three hulking freezers outside Dr. Mina’s lab, are at the center of a pilot project for what he and his collaborators call the Global Immunological Observatory. They envision an immense surveillance system that can check blood from all over the world for the presence of antibodies to hundreds of viruses at once.

That way, when the next pandemic washes over us, scientists will have detailed, real-time information on how many people have been infected and how their bodies responded.

It might even offer some early notice, like a tornado warning. Although this monitoring system will not be able to detect new viruses or variants directly, it could show when large numbers of people start acquiring immunity to a particular kind of virus.

The human immune system keeps a record of pathogens it has met before, in the form of antibodies that fight against them and then stick around for life. By testing for these antibodies, scientists can get a snapshot of which flu viruses you have had, what that rhinovirus was that breezed through you last fall, even whether you had a respiratory syncytial virus as a child.

Although the observatory would not have been able to identify the new coronavirus, it would have revealed an unusually high number of infections from the coronavirus family, which includes those that cause colds. It might also have shown that the virus was interacting with immune systems in unexpected ways, resulting in telltale markers in patients’ blood.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago in a classroom at William H. Brown Elementary School on Thursday.Credit…Pool photo by Shafkat Anowar

After a bitter fight, the Chicago Public Schools reached a deal with its teachers’ union last week to reopen elementary and middle schools amid the pandemic. By early March, students who have been learning remotely for 10 months will be back in classrooms.

The agreement speeds up vaccinations for teachers, provides expanded accommodations for educators with medically vulnerable relatives and sets virus thresholds that would trigger a return to remote learning.

With other big cities across the United States, particularly on the West Coast, locked in conflict with teachers’ unions, the deal is a potential road map for how local officials can have children return to the classrooms and help President Biden achieve his goal of reopening most schools within the first 100 days of his administration.

In an interview with The New York Times, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, spoke frankly about her acrimonious relationship with the Chicago Teachers Union and how she plans to rebuild trust with students’ parents. Despite campaigning to restore an elected school board, she now says that she believes reopening would not have been possible without mayoral control of schools — something that mayors in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, where schools remain closed, lack.

Mayor Lightfoot said that it is “important for us to talk about what’s happened to our children during this.” Their social life, she noted, had been torn away. “Our 3-, 4-, 5-year-olds?” she said. “Their social-emotional learning is absolutely central to their growth, and yet we see them learning on screens. We know that’s not the best way for them to learn.”

Credit…Getty Images

Yes, I miss going out to restaurants and concerts, and traveling, but above all I miss going to a friend’s house and hanging out. I miss browsing through someone else’s cluttered bookshelf, or admiring their décor. Of all the layers of life that have been stripped away by this pandemic, the loss of casual intimacy — time with a friend that’s not masked and outdoors and crowded with worry — takes a toll.

Now that vaccines are rolling out, the prospect of a post-pandemic life has started to become worth imagining. When will we readily have house guests again without worrying about contributing to the spread of this disease? What might those visits look like?

Perhaps we will quickly return to our old habits. Or maybe a new normal will take shape, one influenced by the troubling new variants of the virus that threaten to undermine vaccination efforts.

I spoke with historians and health experts to learn when we might be able to safely spend a weekend with friends again, and what that get-together will look like.

“By the time we get into late spring, summer, I fully expect, with a large proportion of adults vaccinated, things will be dramatically better,” said Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

“We’re not done by a long shot, and if everything goes well, and I mean everything,” then we may see normalcy resume by the end of 2021, said Dr. Ingrid Katz, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and an infectious-disease specialist. She sees the summer as more of a test case for the fall. She anticipates that gatherings will still happen mostly outside, but masks might come down more readily.

After the 1918 influenza pandemic, Americans went shopping, traveled, and attended sporting events, movies and concerts. Christopher Nichols, an associate professor of history at Oregon State University who studies that period, anticipates that Americans could go big after this pandemic, too.

Initially, our gatherings may be about “going small,” he said — a dinner party for four, a weekend trip with your best friend. “I suspect we’ll be taking baby steps” back to a normal social life.

Eva Dayton arranging clothes in her vintage clothing shop, Consignment Brooklyn.Credit…James Estrin/The New York Times

When the pandemic struck late last winter, it devastated a retail sector that had been battered for at least a decade. Vacancy mounted upon vacancy, bankruptcy upon bankruptcy. By May, with hundreds of thousands of people living in pajamas, staffing at clothing stores was down 40 percent from the previous year.

Yet a chicly homey stretch of stores along well-traveled Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn has maintained the vitality of an alternate world. These shops are an unlikely bright spot in a devastating year, when as many as one-third of businesses in New York City have failed or been severely constrained.

The monuments to corporate branding — the Guccis and Pradas — that line so many of the desolate retail corridors in Manhattan are essentially absent here. In the 1980s and ’90s, this part of Atlantic Avenue was given over to modest antiques stores serving a new population of first-time homeowners restoring brownstones in Boerum Hill.

The newcomers brought with them not only money, but also the locavore values of liberal affluence.

They were happy to shop in places that distinguished their tastes as artful. “Through all of this, the neighbors have been so aware of how important it is to support us,” said Michele Varian, who moved her interior design store from SoHo to Atlantic Avenue in January 2020.

The intimacy extends, crucially, to landlords, who in several cases have held these properties for decades.

“In March I called my landlord, freaking out,” Eva Dayton told me. Ms. Dayton, who owns Consignment Brooklyn, a vintage clothing store, has had the same landlord for 17 years. “He is like my dad,” she said. “His response when I called him was ‘I am here to help you be successful.’” He forgave three months of rent.

Just before the pandemic, she had started a text group for 12 like-minded women who own stores on the block.

“We went through all of Covid together, texting each other every day about 500 things — P.P.P. loans, snow shoveling,” Ms. Dayton said. “We talk about everything. ‘You guys are having a sale? Maybe we’ll have a sale.’”

In December, the Center for an Urban Future, a policy organization, issued its 13th annual study of national retailers in New York City. It found by far the biggest overall decline in the number of chain stores; more than 1,000 of them, or approximately one out of seven, had disappeared during the preceding 12 months.

The lessons would seem obvious — that neighborhoods do best when they evolve organically in sync with the people who live in them. They cannot be manufactured as if real life were Minecraft. And in the micro sense there are hopeful signs: landlords tying rents to percent of sales, banks slowly becoming more flexible in their financing.

[amoktime]

i was tagged by @sttng thanks alex!

rules: answer these 85 statements about yourself, then tag 20 people.

1. last drink: i had white wine in spain because it came with the meal i ordered at a restaurant and the waiter probably thought i was 18. i’ve had wine before but i honestly hate it

2. last phone call: my dad

3. last text message: my friend ryan

4. last song you listened to: im listening to the soundtrack to shape of water rn! the last actual song i listened to i think was breakfast by brockhampton

5. time you cried: in the car today a little

6. dated someone twice? :-(

7. kissed someone and regretted it? i haven’t kissed anyone yet so thats a no i guess

8. been cheated on? again i’d have to date someone

9. lost someone special? no

10. been depressed? yes

11. gotten drunk and thrown up? no i’ve never been drunk

fave colours

12. blue

13. purple

14. green

in the last year have you…

15. made new friends? oh yes

16. fallen out of love? i mean. i guess

17. laughed until you cried? for sure

18. found out someone was talking about you? i think so

19. met someone who changed you? yes

20. found out who your friends are? sort of?

21. kissed someone on your facebook friends list? :-(

general

22. how many of your facebook friends do you know irl? all of them i dont really use facebook and i only accept friend requests from people i at least know

23. do you have any pets? no i wish i did tho!

24. do you want to change your name? i hate my first name but i don’t really feel the need to legally change it or if other people call me it i just prefer going by my last name

25. what did you do for your last birthday? i had some friends over and we watched a movie and we just chilled! it was very nice and enjoyable

26. what time did you wake up today? about 9

27. what were you doing at midnight last night? trying to sleep

28. what is something you cant wait for? my friend’s getting me brockhampton merch when he sees them live on wednesday im so jealous but at least im getting some bh merch!

30. what are you listening to right now? the shape of water soundtrack!!

31. have you ever talked to a person named tom? oh yes my neighbor and this british kid at my school who i have mixed feelings about

32. something thats getting on your nerves? fake people

33. most visited website: my school’s website

34. hair color: dark brown

35. long or short hair: quite long

36. do you have a crush on someone: i never really know

37. what do you like about yourself: uhm im not always terrible at music

38. want any piercings? never 

39. blood type: i actually don’t know its either a or o something. either way i can’t donate my blood :-(

40. nicknames: worm, hatlas, egg, and a few others

41. relationship status: depressingly gay and single

42. zodiac: pisces

43. pronouns: idc at this point really but they/she ig

44. fave tv shows: star trek

45. tattoos: no

46. right or left handed: right but im working on becoming ambidextrous for fun!

47. ever had surgery: yes for dumb reasons (swallowing a coin and getting it stuck in my throat when i was 5, wisdom teeth, and loosing my mole)

48. piercings: no

49. sport: im in marching band and thats the closest i’ll ever get to sports

50. vacation: im going on a cruise with my grandparents in june!

51. trainers: uh i wear whatever’s comfy so like sneakers/converse or flipflops

more general

52. eating: i just had popcorn

53. drinking: water

54. im about to watch: rewatch some star trek enterprise

55. waiting for: highschool to be over

56. want: a gf and mental stability

57. get married: hopefully

58. career: music teacher!

which is better

59. hugs or kisses: i’ve never been kissed so idk

60. lips or eyes: eyes

61. shorter or taller: both are so good. also same height

62. older or younger: .. same age

63. nice arms or stomach: arms .,

64. hookup or relationship: relationship

65. troublemaker or hesitant: hesistant

have you ever

66. kissed a stranger: no

67. drank hard liquor: no

68. lost glasses: yes tragically

69. turned someone down: no

70. sex on first date: no

71. broken someones heart: not to be emo but only my own

72. had your heart broken: yes. by myself cause i’m a damn fool!

73. been arrested: no

74. cried when someone died: yes

75. fallen for a friend: all the time :-(

do you believe in

76. yourself: maybe in an alternate universe

77. miracles: maybe

78. love at first sight: maybe!

79. santa claus: no never have im quite jewish

80. kiss on a first date: idk

81. angels: angels are among us in the forms of best friends and stars

other

82. best friend’s name: astra

83. eye colour: brown

84. fave movie: moonlight

85. fave actor: don’t really have one ig i’ll say jake gyllenhaal

i have to go do my psych hw so i tag anyone who wants to do this!

[dangpankoozie]

My thoughts on 7x19 and the promo

1. Aria…what is with the bad lying fml 2. Lucy literally just KILLED that scene with Dunhill omg (I love Lucy so much) 3. "glad you agree" gave me chills fml 4. Listen Spencer I literally give 0 shits about your Mary drama people are dying 5. Why would the daughter of a politician and the daughter of a real estate company owner need money? It's not money that's in the Lost Woods for Spencer to find is it (calling IT!) 6. How much can a ratty haunted motel cost anyway 7. Gas leak? Why? What's the point of trying to kill them? What do they have against bilaurentis? 8. …….it's just a dream sequence….the most hyped up scene is a goddamn dream sequence (good job, Mar!) 9. Emma Thorwald? Who dat? 10. Both fell asleep while watching the game,,,,disappointed but not surprised 11. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. THAT'S ALL OF THE NAT WE'RE GETTING? 12. "How did we both fall asleep" idk you tell me Alison lmao   13. DON'T IMMORTALIZE SPALEB LIKE THAT SPENCER WTF 14. Kind of digging this spaleb bromance,,,, kind of not 15. Caleb and Ezra? What 16. Kind of creepy if you realise Ezra used to teach at the school Caleb went to (and now they're bromancing!?) 17. But who cares that Ezra used to be a creepy stalker-teacher who exploited little girls right (love is love, innit?) 18. Side note: IAN PORTRAYS EZRA SO WELL AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH 19. The way Ezra literally pounced? On Aria? Wtf? #shady stalker-teacher right there 20. Ezra and the "body in my trunk "moment was much needed comic relief 21. That frozen …oh tf expression IS LITERALLY ME 22. Sudden appearance of the Two Crows Diner is…sudden 23. "did he go back to the car?" yes Spencer in his invisibility cloak,,,clearly he is in the car 24. Why do Caleb and Mona have a chemistry that just…is good? It's natural but WHY 25. FIRST IT'S THE COFFEE, THEN IT'S THE PIE, THEY'RE HANNA'S #PARENTS CONFIRMED! 26. "we swim around in this fishbowl like we're in control,,, we are NOT" killed me. This is the line that made me like this episode. Janel Parrish deserves so much more than this show has given her 27. Hanna and Caleb: bickering 28. Me: oh my GOD! Who. THE HELL. CARES? 29. Mona is Houdini #confirmed 30. AD sending messages like that. THIS IS THE AD IM INTERESTED IN not the one that used emojis for the lols 31. Alison apologizing to Aria signals character development and I AM HERE FOR IT   32. The petals falling on Hanna….i literally died 33. Can we just. All take a moment. To thank our lord and saviour for giving us that amazing scene between Charlotte and Mona. Just. OH MY GOD. This is the quality acting that used to prevail on PLL. THIS IS WHAT I SIGNED UP FOR. THANK YOU VANESSA RAY AND JANEL PARRISH. I didn't even have any words. HOLY HELL. I LOVE THIS. 34. THIS IS HOW YOU DO A REVEAL, PEOPLE! 35. But what I don't get is this: if Charlotte just wanted to fool everybody so she could play the game again, what was the point of revealing herself in 6X10 in the first place? 36. Mona killed Charlotte so that her friends won't get hurt again 37. Said friends continue to exclude and hurt Mona 38. #give mona better friends 39. Spencer and Hanna taking such good care of Mona is my aesthetic 40. Wait…..so there is literally no significance in the result of that puzzle? It's not a mask, or a grave, or a map or an ultrasound or anything? It's just a stock image? Good job, PLL! 41. Aria being wise but also being too late is literally me 42. THAT MOMENT WHEN THEY JUST WALKED OUT OF THERE AND BUSTED THEM WAS AMAZING. LINDA TANNER IS THE SAVIOUR THAT THE ROSEWOOD PD NEEDS BUT CANNOT HAVE 43. Okay so Mary Drake taking the fall for them is literal PROOF that she gave Alison and Spencer the Lost Woods not for the money but because there is something important inside 44. So Archer Dunhill was just a con man? That's it? I don't like this irrelevance 45. Why was he British then? What's the point of riling Wren theorists up like that? 46. Mary doing the shush…I still don't trust her. 47. Alison finding out who killed her mom through a live interrogation. Why do they hate her so much? And how did Spencer conveniently forget to tell her friend who killed her mom? 48. You guys I really love how empathizing Spencer, #1 Anti-Mona Stan is being right now. She knows how it's like to be pushed over the edge and to need help. I really like this. This is so heartwarming and beautiful. 49. Why the hell is Toby not here? Why are they making him so shady suddenly? What is the Purpose? 50. I thought Wren was going to be in more episodes? Where is he? I think he filmed scenes but they didn't make the final cut; probably because he was too shady and they revealed too much (hopefully) 51. Okay I honestly think that hyping up the blunt weapon was such a clever move. They made us get so worked up over it and threw hints everywhere but then they SIKED us in the BEST possible way. I LOVED that little tidbit of detail, how the evidence was right there. It's just such clever writing, something this show hasn't exhibited in such a long time. 52. MOST IMPORTANT: WHERE. IS. JASON. The writers haven't said shit about Drew coming back YET they SAT DREW DOWN and told him the whole story before the others knew. Is it because they wanted him to empathize with AD and portray him better (yes please!) I did hear he would be coming back for 7B? But he's not here? And Drew himself didn't really say much about it? Shady shit. 53. I mean, Jason literally did get the worst life out of every character in the series, and he got the least help for his problems. So honestly, it makes sense if all of that pent-up anger results in AD. And he's out of the country all the time, but he still is always in New York when Alison wants to meet him? 54. Ezra being plenty shady too. Writing another book? DYING? Hopefully lmao 55. So Lucas' relevance to this story is over? Arcturus was his big reveal? Why? And what's the explanation for sharing that look with Aria? 56. Mona saved this show you guys. THEY BETTER TREAT HER RIGHT AND NOT KILL HER OFF NEXT WEEK ISTG. 57. Yup! Just leave the game game there why don't you? Best decision ever! 58. A riding into the sunset like that was very LOL and very why?? At the same time   59. THAT PROMO? KILLED ME. 60. Snowglobes? snOWGlobES? TOBY AND JENNA! RELEVANCE! YES! 61. Lmao see I TOLD YOU Mary was shady. Attacking (? I think) her daughter like that lmao 62. Melissa's scene is probably a flashback. The mood of that snippet is different and she's smiling and was that a horse (?) and the filter is less stark than the rest of the snippets in the promo 63. Addison? And Jenna? ?????? 64. Listen listen listen if they make a spin-off starring Addison as Alison II and her minions LITERALLY NO ONE WILL WATCH IT so just don't waste your money Freeform 65. "I cant marry ezra" hate to say I told you so but I told you so 66. "I can't marry ezra" LITERALLY WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU SINCE SEASON 1 EPISODE 1   67. OMG what if halfway through the Ezria wedding Aria realizes she didn't forgive Ezra for the book and she pulls out halfway which is when AD swoops in and steals the show ??? #yes 68. WREN. WITH A GUN. GUN. IN WREN'S HANDS. WREN HOLDING GUN. GUN HELD BY WREN. I really think Ezra is going to die yallz 69. Don't think they're going to make Wren AD anymore though, if he's in the promo like that. Still rooting for him, but probably not. 70. Okay what if Ezra wrote another book and kept it shush from Aria and AD got hold of it, and saw that Ezra actually got something right in his life for once, and hence sent Wren (assuming AD is Adynamic Duo/team) to shoot him!! BUT NOT BEFORE they sent the liars a draft because the #truth is important and hence making Aria stop short of the worst life decision she ever made lmao

Best episode in a long time but that's because of Janel Parrish, Ian Harding and Vanessa Ray. Lucy Hale did good too. But Janel Parrish stole this episode. LOVE HER SO MUCH. If she does anything after PLL I will 100% watch it      

[sanssa-archive]

92 truths

rules: once you have been tagged you are supposed to write 92 truths about yourself. at the end, choose however many people you want to tag!

tagged by the ever lovely @boddirook <3 i tag @bellamyblakesgun @head-and-heart @thehound @griffinsbi @stardustjvn @bellamyaugustus @craterhead @chancellor-reyes @starkdelinquents @zoemonroe @unacceptablearchiekins @shesavedus @nowwesurvive @ravenbellclarke 

LAST

[1] drink: mexican hot chocolate [2] phone call: my best friend [3] text message: my cousin [4] song you listened to: liability by lorde [5] time you cried: a few hours ago

HAVE YOU EVER

[6] dated someone twice: i’ve never dated at all [7] been cheated on: i hope not since i’ve never dated [8] kissed someone and regretted it: never kissed anyone rip me [9] lost someone special: yes [10] been depressed: lmao yeah for the last few years [11] gotten drunk and thrown up: nah

LIST 3 FAVOURITE COLOURS

[12] orange [13] honey yellow [14] dusty pink

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU

[15] made new friends: yes!! i feel so fortunate to have met so many lovely people online and in real life! [16] fallen out of love: yidk is it real love if you weren’t with them? or is it romanticized love? [17] laughed until you cried: yeah a lot but okay this is a problem normally if this happens i start sad crying and it’s a whole thing [18] found out someone was talking about you: some of my best friends lol i just felt it in my bones and i was right [19] met someone who changed you: several people, from teachers to friends [20] found out who your true friends are: yes [21] kissed someone on your facebook list: no

GENERAL

[22] how many of your tumblr friends do you know in real life: like ten i think [23] do you have any pets: two [24] do you want to change your name: i really like longer names and people i know irl make fun of my name a lot so i’m still getting used to liking it but i don’t think so [25] what did you do for your last birthday: one of my best friends threw me a surprise party and so many people i love were there! [26] what time did you wake up: like 11:30 am :/ [27] what were you doing at midnight last night: trying to make edits but they turned out shitty [29] when was the last time you saw your mother: when i said goodnight to her [30] what is one thing you wish you could change about your life: i wish i was out there acting in films and/or tv shows and just living my dream of being a successful actress dammit [31] what are you listening to right now: an otp playlist i made to torture myself [32] have you ever talked to a person named tom: yeah my friend he’s british [33] something that is getting on your nerves: my dad’s yelling he’s not aggressive he’s just obnoxiously loud and i wish i was goofy like him so it wouldn’t bother me but i’m not chill with it [35] elementary: done [36] high school: done [37] college: in my 2nd year [38] hair colour: dark brown [39] long or short hair: when it’s curly it’s just below my shoulders, when it’s straight it ends below my chest [40] do you have a crush on someone: i think for the first time in a long time no [41] what do you like about yourself: my style [42] piercings: one on both ears [44] nickname: k-eye-ra [45] relationship status: nonexistent  [46] zodiac sign: virgo [47] pronouns: she/her [48] fav tv show: the 100 has me in a chokehold but also the oa, got, asoue [49] tattoos: not yet [50] right or left handed: right

FIRST

[51] surgery: i had laser surgery in my mouth a few years ago [52] piercing: my ears when i was a baby [53] best friend: my cousin we’re like sisters and i’m only 25 days older so we grew up together [54] sport: softball [55] vacation: idk i think washington state [56] pair of trainers: idk

RIGHT NOW

[57] eating: nothing [58] drinking: nothing [59] I’m about to: attempt to make more edits probably [60] listening to: safe & sound by taylor swift and the civil wars [61] waiting for: this semester to be over [62] want: my essay, screenplay, and nonfiction piece all due this week to write themselves [63] get married: nah i’ve got shit to do first [64] career: i’m studying english but an actress and i’m pretty determined

WHICH IS BETTER

[65] hugs or kisses: i wouldn’t know but hugs are nice [66] lips or eyes: eyes [67] shorter or taller: idk man both have perks [68] older or younger: wisdom comes with age [69] romantic or spontaneous: spontaneous romance [70] nice arms or nice stomach: nice arms [71] sensitive or loud: sensitive [72] hook up or relationship: relationship [73] troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER

[74] kissed a stranger? no [75] drank hard liquor? ……..my fave drink is mango vodka with mango odwalla [76] lost glasses/contact lenses? YES i lose my glasses too often for someone who rly needs them [77] turned someone down: yes [78] sex on first date? no [79] broken someone’s heart? it’s possible [80] had your own heart broken? yes [81] been arrested? no [82] cried when someone died? i cry buckets [83] fallen for a friend: HA yeah i have and all i gotta say is i wish i hadn’t fallen down that rabbit hole my friends

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

[84] yourself? yeah but i let myself down a lot [85] miracles? yes [86] love at first sight? connection, a tug maybe but not love [87] santa claus? lol i believed into middle school, i held onto that magic as long as i could [88] kiss on the first date? maybe [89] angels? hmmm yes

OTHER

[90] current best friend’s name: kelly, megan, theresa [91] eye colour: brown [92] favourite movie: i really love stardust