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alexzalben · 4 years

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What do you think of all the backlash the last Riverdale episode received? I’ve never seen the writers speak out like this before on all the hate.

This is a pretty complicated topic that I probably can’t do justice with one Tumblr ask, but I’ll try to address some of the broad strokes ideas here. And hang tight, because this is gonna go long.

First of all, a caveat: I have by no means read through every comment the writers were responding to, nor do I know what they discussed or how they’re feeling about things, nor do I speak for them in any way.

However, I do think one of the joys and downfalls of making TV in the social media era is the accessibility of the creative team to fans. Joys because it opens up new ways of understanding how a show is made, demystifying the process, which is always a good thing. Downfalls because to some fans - not all fans, by any means - it makes them feel like they have a say in what happens in the show.

On the latter, it’s not to say that the writers aren’t listening, on many series they’re well aware of what fans think about their show, the plots, the ships, etc. Sometimes they’ll even shift where they’re going based on fan feedback. Nikki and Paolo on Lost are the example I always go to, where they were introduced to show the outside perspective of what other survivors were doing while Jack and his gang were going on adventures... And everybody HATED THEM. So much so that plans changed and they were literally buried alive on the show by the end of the season, in a very unsubtle metaphor.

That said, there’s a difference between what I perceive to be the tone around Nikki and Paolo, which mind you was pre-Twitter days, and what some shows have to deal with now: one is constructive criticism presented as “hey we don’t like this”; the latter sometimes veers into “you suck and you should kill yourself.”

I want to emphasize again: this is not everyone. Usually there is a small section of any group of people that delves into hyper-negativity, and they always get an outsized focus to the number of people who actually do that. Again, example here, but for a while I was part of a pretty popular online sketch comedy group. We got tons of views, tons of comments, I’d estimate 95-99% of those comments were great. Did I internalize those? Of course not. I internalized the one comment out of 100 that told me what a shitty writer I was. That’s the one that rolled around in my head all night, because it seeped into the fear that most writers have that they do suck and will never be successful, at any level. It’s Imposter Syndrome, plain and simple, and it affects everyone no matter how famous (or not) they are.

Reason I mention that is it’s entirely possible that 99% of the comments to the writers of Riverdale this episode were mostly fine, but if 1% of them were of the “fucking kill yourself” variety, that hurts, a lot. It’s not on everyone, by any means, but that pulls the focus, and it’s horrifying every time no matter how often it happens (and believe me, it happens far too often).

Specifically with Riverdale, there are another few factors that are exacerbating this. One is, and I don’t want to diminish this: the pandemic. We’re a year in and people are crumbling mentally. Nothing has been “normal” for a year, that impacts every single aspect of your life, and some things are easier to lash out at than others, like a TV show. If a deadly virus is causing inconsistency? Not much you can do about that. If your fave TV show is shaking up the broadcast schedule and changing your favorite couples? Complain to the writers, the directors, the actors, etc.

The other is the arc of this season so far, which I do think is driving people fucking nuts. This again gets back to the pandemic, but ending with episode 19, waiting months, and then coming back for a premiere that is actually the third to the last episode of the season? That’s unsettling. It throws you off kilter, because it’s not the right rhythm. I know this sounds a little silly, but it’s actually very important: stories have a rhythm to them, and a lot of TV shows in particular have had that rhythm broken. Riverdale had three episodes that were all essentially climax, then upended the show with a time jump, and has continued to mix things around almost every episode. And then it’ll be going into another three month break.

This is definitely the point where someone says “mix things around? they’re doing the same couples they always did.” Sure, theoretical person. But having sifted through fan comments and tweets over the past couple of weeks, every single week one section of the fanbase has been 100% sure it is their ship’s time to shine, and the next they’re being told it’s done forever, and then the next they’re back on, then the next they’re done... It’s an emotional rollercoaster ride, and that’s how the writers designed it, and it’s frankly not over yet. But add in that pandemic uncertainty above, and you have a recipe for people panicking.

Also, and again, this is a small section of any fanbase, but it’s very clear that because of this hyped up panic, some people are being absolutely terrible assholes to other fans. I know I don’t usually curse this much, but the amount of gloating I’ve seen from people on all sides, back and forth, is super gross. Personally, if someone is sobbing for whatever reason, my reaction has never been to quote tweet them with “you lost, get over it” and a peace sign emoji. It sucks when people are sad, and we have a moral obligation to make sure other people feel okay. Don’t know if you’ve ever heard this one, but “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Sort of an important life rule.

Overall, I think a fanbase is stronger is they support each other rather than engaging in ship wars, and I do think there’s a lot of people who do do that. Or just express their displeasure, without attacking people. But there are some people who do, and that’s overall making the whole tone of the discussion that much worse.

So what’s the solution here? I always emphasize to my writers that it’s okay to have a negative take as long as you provide something constructive about a way out of the situation, and I’ll apply that both to the Riverdale fanbase, as well as this extremely long Tumblr ask.

There are three things I’d suggest, and both of them are on you. By “you” I mean the general you, and the reason I suggest them, versus what the writers and creators of Riverdale can do is that “you” are the thing you can control and change.

The first is changing the tone of the discussion. Realize that there are people deeply, emotionally impacted in different ways by this TV show. Allow that they may be having different emotional reactions than you, and give them the space and the support to work through it. If you’re a Varchie fan, it actually makes you a better fan to check on a Barchie fan and see if they’re okay. If you’re a Barchie fan, it’s okay to be happy for a Varchie fan and sad at the same time. Mainly because none of you had anything to do with it. This isn’t even a case where you wore your lucky socks and your fave team won the game. The writers are writing what they wrote, and you are a passive observer, not involved other than the involvement you bring to it. So if everyone supports each other regardless of the circumstances, that will improve things overall.

The second? Disengage. Take a break. Stop watching the show. You have no obligation to tweet, or go on any other social media outlet for this series, nor do you have to keep watching the show if it hurts you. In fact, taking a show break if you feel too involved is a very good thing. Check out, clear your head and come back much later and look at it with fresh eyes.

Third? Think before you comment. It took me a long time to get here with this one, and I’m still working on it, but before you comment: pause, read it over again, and think “is this something I really want to send?” You do get that rush of taking whatever anger you’re feeling and getting it out of your body and mind, but ultimately it’s usually more damaging than either waiting, posting something a little more thoughtful, or not posting at all. It’s really thinking about what you’re adding to the conversation, and what you’re hoping to get back.

So there you go. Lots of thoughts there, and I’m sure there’s lots more to say. This is only my outside perspective on this, and I hope it’s helpful at least in some small way. And if not, that is cool, too!

#Riverdale

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r-ahh-mi · 5 years

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Homecoming

Warnings: Smut. 18+. Other than that, this is just a massive dose of fluff.

Word count: 4.5k

Summary: Rami is left sifting his mind through an interview during a long press tour of the world that is drawing out far too long for his liking. After months of being away from any sort of familiarity, he begins to miss the very human being who makes him feel at home.

There was a small buzzing..or humming-like sound ringing through my ears. The humming was occasionally reaching new octaves and levels of intensity and calm, as if it was riding a very bumpy wave, but suddenly the hum was loud and staccato; repeating itself another two times before a small pinch of pain seared through my shoulder until the sound was no longer catching my attention. I winced, moving my hand in an instant to the warmth on my arm-only then did I recall just where I was and what I was doing and why I had been so rudely nudged by the person sat next to me.

Press tours were never my cup of tea. The first couple stops were fine because the questions were new and fresh and my responses were genuine and filled with real emotion, but after having to repeat a story three times, four times..ten times. It’s dull and my words begin to lose their value of genuine excitement and amusement that it once held. This interview was just like that.

The main cast, myself included, were nearing the end of our dreadfully long press tour that had wrapped itself around the globe, thus making the travel extensive and for long periods of time. And to be completely frank, I missed my bed, I missed my dog, but what, or should I say who I missed the most was my wife.

We’d never gone this long without seeing one another and I knew it was taking a tremendous toll on me and her both, though she was quick to hide it. I knew she wasn’t one to need me around every waking moment, but by the solemn tone of her voice everytime we said goodbye from our nightly phone or facetime call and whenever I told her about something amusing that happened in my day, her smile just wasn't the ‘grin and bear it’ one I was craving to be in the same room as and to smooth away with a kiss that lingered. It was small and slightly even sad, as if she wanted to badly be experiencing the same casual amusements I was seeing everyday.

I could feel myself falling back into my own head--the voices were blurring together again and the high pitched buzzing was seeping through my ears as I was beginning to be consumed with my thoughts again.

“Rami?”

Again, the pinching electrocuted a response out of me as I mumbled an ‘ow!’, and looked in the direction of the co star sat next to me who was looking at me with a less than friendly expression on their face.

I looked around the room and noted that everyone, and I mean everyone, was staring at me. Some looking annoyed, but most just looking expectant.

“Would you like me to repeat the question Mr. Malek?”

My eyes focused on the nicely dressed female as she looked at me nervously while I attempted to re-compose myself.

“Yes-s”, I stuttered, but was quick to get myself back on track. “Yes please.”

Though I didn’t really want her to. Lord knows she would only mutter out a question I’d already heard dozens of times and answered with less than the acceptable amount of enthusiasm.

“I asked if you were missing home at all; I’ve heard it’s much warmer in the states right now than it is here. I’d assume you’d be a bit home sick right now.”

To my surprise, this question was much much different from the others, in fact it’s the first time any member of the press seemed to show a glimmer of sympathy or interest in my personal well being as opposed to wanting further knowledge of this movie I was promoting. It took me a second to respond, though not too many ticking moments or else I feared I’d receive another twing from a rather bony elbow in my side.

“I do miss home, very much actually. Very excited to be in my home with my wife in the next couple days.”

The interviewers eyes seemed to light up, both with excitement of the prospects of a topic to talk about and something else that seemed to make a small smile turn up the corners of her mouth.

“I’m sure it can be tough being apart from your partner for that long. How do you cope with that?”

I shrugged, what we did was anything but coping or ‘getting by’. We made it work tremendously well and, for the most part, I have her to thank for that. She was quick to keep me grounded and even more quick to assure me that mentally I was still the down to earth boy she’d met twelve years ago who was just in the beginning stages of his career as an actor. She supported me then, she supports me now; there was never a push from her for me to do something different and I never pressured her to accept this lifestyle that I had thrown her in to, yet she did so with an overgrowing ease.

“It can be tough, but nothing we can’t handle. We’ve known each other for too long to let much get to us.”

“Surely there has to be some discourse in-”

I shook my head as my patience seemed to fly out the window much quicker than it usually did. Lack of sleep could’ve been the easy option, but what really seemed to get my ticking was this interviewer quickly shuffling from a sweet question to a comment that was seeking out drama and gossip--you know, things to actually assist them in selling their shitty writing.

“She’s great, truly she is,'' I interjected the woman’s long spiel. “Not everything is easy, but we are doing more than okay in our relationship and she’s the best person I can think of for me to share my life with.”

A couple of my co stars ‘awed’ dramatically as they patted my shoulder. I smiled in recognition, but couldn’t help but feel odd for doing the simple task that was loving and actually enjoying the person I chose to spend the rest of my life with.

“Do you have any children?”

“No”, I shook my head, “no children yet.”

“Yet?” The female interviewer quirked her eyebrow as I nibbled on my lip, holding in a smile that was threatening to spill all the way up to my cheeks.

“Yes, not quite yet.”

“So children are definitely on the table for you in the future?”

I nodded matter of factly as I thought back to the conversation me and her had prior to getting married--baby names, preferred genders, and possible nursery themes. We both saw eye to eye on nearly everything, although, the thing that was of utmost importance to me was having a healthy baby with this woman who, at that point in my life, I hadn’t even gotten the courage to ask to marry me just quite yet.

“Yeah, we absolutely want them in the future. Just waiting for everything to settle down a bit first.”

After that, the conversation seemed to shift to my co stars as the interviewer asked each of them some personal questions that weren’t much different to the ones she asked me. Of course, my busy, busy mind didn’t pay much attention once I knew that I had been asked the questions needed for this interview and I was happy that my mind was free to wander a bit more.

However, I wasn’t awarded the same freedom to think happy thoughts as I was just before the interviewer brought her attention to my personal life. Instead, now all I could think about was her and it was setting in just how god damn much I missed her. She was my partner, but most of all she was my best friend and no one enjoys being apart from their best friend for long. It’s as if a chunk of you is just missing or far away and I wanted nothing more than to cuddle it firmly against my chest and forget about the weighing lonesomeness I was feeling for her.

Eventually, the interview was over and I was free to go back to my hotel room and do as I pleased with the rest of my day. The rest of my castmates had settled on having a bit of an outing with it being our last day in an exotic location that the tour had taken us to and of course I was invited, but I just didn’t feel up to it. I would rather go back to my hotel room and bask in the sullen feelings and order some severely overpriced room service.

As soon as I slid my card into the slot and unlocked my hotel room door, I kicked the uncomfortable leather loafers to the side and reached for the phone set in my pocket as I began distracting myself with the email and text notifications displayed on my lock screen.

As I traveled to the bathroom, I found myself puzzled that I hadn’t heard from her, my wife, in quite some time. Usually she would send me a text whenever she woke up, but as I did the math in my head to compare our time differences, she would have woken up hours ago. I sent her a brief ‘love and miss you baby’ text and set my phone down on the counter as I stripped down to my briefs and shuffled my legs into some much comfier sweatpants.

I began to think about how I would spend the rest of my day; watching a movie or tv show, reading a book, because I never had time to read anymore, or maybe sleeping. Sleeping sounded like the most plausible option, seeing as I rarely got it these days, so I mentally prepared myself for the comfortable awaiting hotel sheets I would be swaddled on top of in just a moment.

But as soon as my eyes looked up and onto my bed, I nearly choked on the sharp and unexpected amount of air I had taken in. Such a reaction was bound to happen when one saw a human form lounging comfortably on their bed. Of course, the second I saw the figure the first thing I thought was to protect myself, but the moment I took in the familiar colored hair, skin, body type, and the faintest of smell, I felt anything but the opposite of crisis mode.

Instantly my shoulders slumped back down to their relaxed positions as I stared at her in disbelief. She smiled cockily—typical—as she watched me just stand there, owl eyed and ridden with shock, but the moment my mind and body seemed to process that my wife, of whom I hadn’t seen in months—god, so many fucking months—was laying on my hotel bed in a country that she was not meant to be in, I lunged for her instantly.

One could compare it to a linebackers tackle as I flung my arms around her, latched my legs to fit on top of hers, and snuggled into her side. She giggled briefly as she returned my fierce hug with just as much, if not more, power and for a couple minutes we just stayed latched on to one another.

I buried my face deep into her neck, smelling the floral accent from her favorite shampoo and id never craved a stereotypical feminine scent so much in my entire life until this very moment as I pressed a simple, sweet kiss to her neck. She giggled some more as her fingertips began to lightly trace up and down my arm and I couldn’t help myself any longer as I pulled my face up so I could have a better look at the face that I recently saw via my phone screen, but hadn’t seen or touched in person in months.

I took her in, making little notes of all the similarities and differences from the last time I saw that gorgeous face of hers, but even more than that, I loved being able to trace my thumb along her cheek again as I cupped the side of her face in my palm. She leaned Into my touch, the way she always had done, and brought her hand up to rest atop mine while her thumb rang along the mountains my knuckle bones created on my hands.

“How are you even here right now?”

Instantly, her lips twitched up into a large grin and I could only hope that she was pleased to hear the sound of my voice as I had been to hear her laugh again.

“I was able to get some time off of work and I didn’t feel like waiting a couple more days to see you.”

“So you just hopped on a plane without telling me?”

She cocked her head to the side, her eyes following the same kind of movement as her grin turned back into that sly, beautiful smirk. “Yep.”

Without hesitation I propped myself up on one elbow and moved my mouth to hers in a long, soothing kiss and it was almost like I was being teleported back to the very moment we first pressed our lips together. I relished in the taste of her mouth as our lips started working against one another until my body began to fall into rhythm as I rolled on top of her, letting my weight fall completely onto my arms which held me up above her form. The moment I felt her one hand fall on top of my back, that warmth shot through my body as if her fingertips had an electric current pulsing through them just waiting to zap me.

Though I wanted to take my time cherishing every moment and inch of her, I was also terribly filled with a lust that I hadn’t been able to fully quench in the last one hundred or so days. She was the only one who would be able to fulfill me in such a manor like that, I was positive, so I didn’t waste anytime removing her clothing from her until she was left in nothing but a pair of panties that seemed much too fancy to just be everyday underwear.

I’d be sure to give her shit about that later, but for now I wanted to appreciate them, appreciate her as much as possible.

As I moved a stray hair to safely rest back into its proper place with the other strands of hair, I couldn’t help but notice the beauty that was her. Sure, she was physically stunning, but she was much more than outwardly beautiful to me. She was filled with joy, sarcasm, whit, and intelligence that was remarkable and beyond anything I had ever seen in anyone before.

“I’m flattered by your staring, but it’s getting creepy.”

I rolled my eyes at her comment and playfully nudged my nose against her cheek, feeling the swell of her bare breasts press against me as I continued nudging her face with the tip of my nose until she was in a fit of giggles, but her noises seemed to decrease in volume as I began moving my lips delicately in a downward fashion along her skin.

I let my lips linger for long as I found the nape of her neck, letting my teeth gently graze against her skin before I’d bring the slickness of my mouth and tongue against her sweet smelling body. Her hands gripped my back much firmer than before as she wrapped her legs around my waist, her body beginning to subtly move against mine every now and again.

I noticed her breath becoming louder and faster as my hands began to palm at her chest- the silky smooth skin felt as if I was grasping the finest of materials in my hand as my thumb glided smoothly to flick over her taut nipple, making her body instantly grind itself against mine and causing me to suck in a sharp and nearly painful breath.

If this is how she was making me feel now, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like once I was intimately cradling her form as close to mine as possible while we both moved within one another. To be that close to her again was something I had been craving an ungodly amount and now that I was feeling her, tasting her skin, and hearing her make the most lust filled and pleasured noises, I was nearly thanking god for this time apart that made me that much more grateful to be as close and intimate with someone that I truly and utterly loved with everything I had.

I maneuvered my body down from her collarbones until my trail took me to her chest. I didn’t dare leave the upper half of her body until I left a teasing kiss with the slightest bit of sucking to her hardened nipple as it was kissed by the cool air. She responded exactly as I thought she would, muttering a ‘fuck’ that couldn’t have been louder than a whisper, as she let her relaxed hands slip from my back to my neck. And when my mouth hovered just a bit above the warmth between her legs, I could feel her fingers curl within my hair as she waited in anticipation and I didn’t leave her hanging for long.

My mouth grazed along the fabric of her panties, mouthing and teasing at the material while grazing my teeth along the nicely trimmed lace that was fit perfectly to her body. She voluntarily spread her legs further apart as I wrapped one of my arms around her thigh, keeping it still until I moved the thin material away from her core. Her wetness was immediately visible to me which made the stiffening in my groin begin to pulsate as it became more and more consumed with sensitivity.

I seemed like a magnet to her as my mouth instantly fell to her lower lips, dipping the tip of my tongue gently between her folds as I gave a long lick to her core that made her body twitch ever so slightly beneath my touch.

I let myself enjoy her more as I began leaving flat tongued licks to her small bundle of nerves and playing them up with either quick flicks of the tongue or slow, nearly achining movements.

She moaned out my name as I continued tasting her and I felt her hand slowly slither down to rest on top of my hand that was laying on her thigh. I let my hand switch places to rest next to hers as I intertwined our fingers, all the while, my mouth proceeded to please her body. Her hips were stirring lightly with every flick of my tongue, but her hips became almost uncontrollable as I puckered my lips and began sucking mercilessly on her clit.

She was writhing and squirming with every gasp she could fathom up. Her hand was squeezing mine harshly as our fingers still remained intertwined until it was evident that she was hitting her climax. Her hips moved against my mouth and loud moans breached from her mouth as she grinded her body and I sucked and licked her up for as long as I knew it was pleasurable to her—until I felt her body relax back down into the mattress and her thumb start lightly tracing the divets of my hand again.

I pulled my face up and the first thing I saw was her bashful glow as she looked up at me with red cheeks and a thin layer of sweat glazed across her forehead.

“Well, that was quick,” I joked as I sat back up, but she didn’t seem too thrilled with my better attempt at humor as she brought her had up to lightly smack me along the arm.

“Hey!,” I winced.

“You deserved it! One-hundred percent deserved that Rami!”

I couldn’t help but let out a long string of silent chuckles as I held my hand to my heart in an attempt to calm myself, but she had a much better way of bringing me back to the situation.

Her legs, once again, became tangled up around my waist as she pulled my body downwards and luckily I caught myself with my arms to hold up my spare weight and not crush her.

We both smiled at one another as I combed my fingers through her hair, making the locks fan out across her head like a halo encapsulating her face.

“You’re so beautiful.”

Though my words seemed cliche and maybe they were, they held my inner most true feelings for this stunning creature below me that still managed to keep me memorized.

“Shut up,'' she said between a laugh and a smile as she used her hand to push my head down towards her and press our lips together.

This time the kiss was much more heated and less simple and sweet. It was passionate and loving and sexy all rolled into a glorious triad as we began to get lost and found all at the same time as we fell into our old rhythm of being intimate with one another. Naturally, our bodies began to move against one another, causing me to elicit a sort of primal noise as I pressed my mouth even further against her lips.

We stayed like that for awhile; me pressing my hips down into hers, her responding immediately by pressing her hips upwards until we met in the middle and gave each other the friction we were teasing one another with. However, once she started whimpering against my lips, I couldn’t help myself anymore. I just wanted to feel her as close as humanly possible and I wasn’t letting me or her deprive ourselves of it any longer.

I sat my body up with my weight balanced on my knees while my hands began to busy themselves as they smoothed down the middle of her chest, down her stomach, and to the top of her panties. She assisted me by pressing her thighs together and lifting her bent knees and hips in the air to allow me to roll the fabric off of her hips and down her legs until I was tossing the flimsiness to the ground.

I began to reach down towards the waist of my sweatpants and slip the fabric off of my lower half until I too was left just as bare as she was. Then, I felt her delicate fingers dance along my stomach--I hadn’t noticed until now that she had sat up and must’ve watched me shimmy out of my remaining clothing items, but she seemed to be enjoying herself quite nicely as she traced the indents of my stomach muscles until she was skating her fingertips across the line of hair resting against my lower stomach.

I’m sure she felt as my body tensed with pleasure beneath her, but it didn’t keep her from losing track of her trail ahead. Her hands moved to my hips, letting both of them feel the deeply carved indents that created an upside triangle shape into my skin, but her touch didn’t stay there for long. One of her hands remained on my hip, keeping me grounded, as her other one moved to exactly where I wanted her to touch me the most and I couldn’t help but sigh loudly at the feeling of her palm wrapped tightly around me.

I began to close my eyes, relishing in this much missed feeling and loving that she was the one making me feel this pleasure, but I was also more than ready, both physically and mentally, to feel her to the fullest extent. Quickly, I opened my eyes back up and gently placed my hands on top of hers as I slowly pinned her hands to the mattress.

“You really, really missed me, huh?,” she taunted as she playfully stuck her tongue out from between her teeth.

I shook my head as I resumed back into my position of hovering over her and without saying a word, I grabbed ahold of my member and pressed it against her wetness. Instantly, her playful smirk was replaced with squinted eyes and lips pressed together as she held in a noise that surely was threatening to vibrate off of the paper thin walls.

I started off slow, making sure that we were both comfortable with one another, as I slide inside of her with one paced motion. Her nails instantly dug into my arms as she threw her head back in pleasure, finally letting out a noise that was more than pleasing to both my ears and my hardening member. I let myself fall backwards, nearly slipping completely out of her before I repeated the motion and once I could tell she was enjoying this just as much as I was, I created a steady rhythm for the both of us.

Our foreheads were nearly touching as I thrust my hard cock into her, this time with a little more force, but nothing rough in nature. She seemed more than pleased as she moved her hips upward to meet my movements and I couldn’t help but laugh quietly to myself. Maybe she really, really missed me too, huh?

I could tell she was nearly close to reaching her climax already, but holding off and I was doing the exact same. She was clenching all around me and, my god, the noises she was making alone surely could’ve gotten me there; I wanted nothing more than to finish off and feel that pleasure that she always made me reach, but savoring this closeness and intimacy with her was much more important to me right now. I began to slow my movements down just slightly and she took note of this as she looked at me with the slightest bit of concern that screamed “what's wrong”.

My eyes softened at the comforting look on her face as she brought one of her hands up to my sweaty cheek.

“You okay?”

“Perfect actually.” She looked less than satisfied with my answer as her eyes blinked quickly--she couldn’t have looked more adorable if she had tried.

“Just want to enjoy this as long as I can,” I somehow was able to mutter, though it was surely smothered in heavy breaths and spaced out words.

She partially nodded as her teeth sunk into her bottom lip, “Told ya you missed me”.

Of course I missed her and of course I missed this, but I knew she was merely tugging at her ego and letting me know that she was still the sarcastic, beautiful woman that I fell in love with years ago. And truly, she was just that-- I couldn’t have been happier to be so deeply immersed and in love with a human being than her if I tried.

Tag: @lovelymalekk @mezzomercury @amcquivey @sherlollydramoine @rami-malek-trash @rogers-wristbands @deacytits @ramimedley

#ramimalek #rami malek #rami malek fic #rami malek smut #rami malek fluff

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kulbhushankarn · 4 years

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The Role of Curiosity in Teaching...

That’s all it takes – you find something. Then your curiosity and imagination take over. And you’re off. When I think of nonfiction, this is the process I have in mind: curiosity about some thing, place, or idea that incites a passion to learn more; that gives you an itch you need to scratch. Questions arise, the imagination is sparked. More questions may follow. You heap up facts, sort and sift through what you’ve discovered. You’re dying to share all of this with someone, to hear what your spouse or friend or colleague might think, what angle they will take, what insight they might offer. This process of discovery and questioning, talking and reflecting could lead you to write something -perhaps something in your writer’s notebook, maybe a poem or a text for a picture book because you want to share it with a larger audience. That’s the kind of nonfiction I want to read. That’s the kind I want to write, the kind I want children to experience as readers and writers. One that found its beginning with someone finding something intriguing.

What do I find interesting? What am I curious about? I feel especially at home in nature. I enjoy poking around my yard, dodging the poison ivy, while discovering moths, butterflies, spiders, frogs, dragonflies – especially ones I’ve never before seen. The same with weeds and wildflowers. Why did I never notice these before? Yes, I even stare at clouds and marvel at how, in all their variety, they move majestically across the sky, different from one hour to the next. On cloudless nights, I venture outside to look up at stars, constellations, planets, and try to remember their names. Weather phenomena, different kinds of trees, birds, mammals. I’m the same way with people – neighbors and friends I’ve known for years, or total strangers I encounter at an airport or along a hiking trail. I always enjoy those conversations that reveal something new through hearing about another person’s experiences. This way of being in the world, of giving attention to the life going on around me, brings deep pleasure and joy, but it does require that I take things slowly and allow time for reflection. Of course, in a hectic world, this is an ideal to strive for, but one that repays the effort. Whatever is around me, I notice and appreciate.

I often wonder if such curiosity can be taught – the kind that brings you up short for just a moment, stops you in your tracks, so that you need to look for some answers. Some people seem to lack this inquisitive sense. Perhaps it was there in their younger years, but has been dulled by adult responsibilities and routines. Yet I believe that being inquisitive and curious, being a person who feels compelled to ask questions, is a stance you can take in the world. It is the kind of person you can learn to become. It seems that taking this stance is essential for being a writer, as well as for being a teacher. As an educator, I try to bring inquisitiveness and curiosity to every part of my job, even before the teaching day begins. I wonder about those small mounds of heaped-up earth poking through the snow-covered playground that I pass on my walk to school (the work of moles? voles?). I’m intrigued by the plastic duck figures that first-grader Amira has attached to her backpack. “Do they have names?” I ask her. I notice a photo on the desk of my colleague, a scene of snow-capped mountains. Was that from a recent vacation? Call me nosy. I can’t help it. I’m just curious. Being engaged with all aspects of life is a privilege of being alive, as well as an obligation, whether one is a spouse, parent, friend, teacher, citizen.

The family members, community members and teachers in the lives of young children have a critical role to play in ensuring this way of being in the world for the young. I model inquisitiveness. I provide books that offer answers to many of their questions. These books serve as examples to show children that people, who are curious and passionate about something, sometimes want to share with others what they’ve learned and experienced through writing.

My curiosity and need to keep learning about the world found a new outlet when I became interested in nonfiction picturebooks in the 1980s. My children were young, and on our weekly trips to the public library we would return with stacks of books on topics of interest to two young children – big machinery and trucks, dinosaurs, volcanoes, baseball and basketball, outer space, snakes, wildcats. We enjoyed poring over these books together, reading and talking and learning things we never knew before. I especially enjoyed alphabet books constructed around a particular topic – butterflies, early American history, Japan, mammals. These nonfiction titles were so different from the ones I remembered from my childhood. There didn’t seem to be a topic that didn’t have its own picturebook. In reading to my children I was getting my first real introduction to the riches of children’s literature. In particular I came to realize that reading nonfiction picturebooks was a fun way to learn new things. My children responded to this reading by doing their own drawings of dinosaurs and spaceships. They also made lists of their favorite mammals, baseball players, rocks. Reading nonfiction picturebooks together was a natural way to foster not only the sense of wonder and curiosity of my children, but also my own. I was excited not only by the great variety of topics that was being covered, by also by the amazing variations in design and the differing formats of presentation. I had not yet become a classroom teacher, but I had already developed a passion for nonfiction picturebooks.

Kulbhushan.

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natasha-cole · 6 years

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What Happens in Vegas Part 14

Rob Benedict x Reader

Chapter Summary: After that kiss, Reader and Rob are equally confused. Each is feeling something for the other; but neither of them will admit it. When they get caught up in a heat of the moment situation, they begin to push each other away even more.

Word Count: 4569

Warnings: swearing probably, almost smut.

Notes: I’m trying really hard to keep chapters under 5,000 words, so it all gets crammed together and seems rushed. I hope this works. Also, is the back and forth POV thing still working? Am I overdoing it?

Catch Up: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13

Reader’s POV

You were startled when you woke up the next morning wrapped in Rob’s arms. He slept peacefully next to you and you went into a panic while you assessed the situation. The only relief you felt was knowing that nothing had happened.

There had been some drinking last night, but the fight that Rob started had sobered both of you up rather quickly. You remembered coming back to the room to nurse his wounds, and you recalled the fact that you had kissed him, but that was all that had happened. A repeat of Vegas would have been the last thing you wanted, and even now, you regretted that kiss.

You carefully moved from his embrace on you, trying not to wake him. When you were free, you got up and decided to at least get ready for the day. Waking up like this was slightly embarrassing and you couldn’t even consider going back to sleep.

You moved about the room quietly, glancing over to him just to make sure that he was still asleep. You felt your face heat up as that kiss replayed in your head. It had been just a reaction. You wanted to know what it was like to kiss him, and you just went for it. He had let you, and now you wondered why.

When he finally woke up later, you were sitting across the room on the couch, fixing your makeup. You watched him as he glanced around until his eyes found you. He smiled sweetly at you.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” you replied.

“You’re up early.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t go back to sleep so I figured I’d get a head start and get ready.”

He pushed himself out of bed and yawned before heading toward you. He stopped in front of you and leaned down, causing your heart to stop as he inched his face closer to yours. Of course. You had kissed him and now he expected for that to be a regular thing for some reason.

You tilted your head down, staring at your lap and you noticed him pause. You assumed he didn’t expect this reaction, but he placed a soft kiss to the top of your head anyway.

You only glanced up as he moved away from you. You watched him head to the bathroom and close the door behind him, and you finally let out the breath that you had been holding in.

The two of you got ready and headed out the door to head to the convention, all without a single word being spoken to each other. The feeling between you was tense again and you knew it was because you had crossed boundaries last night.

“Hey, should we talk about last night?” He asked as the two of you walked down the hallway.

“You wanna talk about how you nearly got your ass kicked at the bar?”

“I’d rather avoid that topic,” he smiled. “I was wondering if we should talk about you kissing me.”

You felt your face heat up as he brought it up. A part of you had hoped he’d just pretend it never happened, or at least not feel the need to talk about it.

“What about it?” You asked flatly.

“Um, I don’t know,” he mumbled. “I guess I was wondering what that was all about. It was nice.”

“Don’t read too much into it,” you warned. “I was just- practicing.”

“Practicing?”

“You know, I figured there might come a time when we might have to act affectionate in public. I was just testing it out.”

“Oh,” he replied. “I get it. It didn’t mean anything, you were just acting.”

“Exactly,” you said as you glanced over at him. “Weren’t you?”

He paused for a moment as he thought. You both stopped at the elevators and he pressed the button and you waited.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Totally. It was just- a rehearsal. In case we have to kiss in front of other people.”

“Smart right? That way we don’t appear awkward just because we’re fake married.”

“Are you planning on kissing me in public?”

“Well, I mean… we haven’t actually been very affectionate in public. I’ve been reading all about us. People are concerned for a lot of reasons, that’s one of them.”

“We’re not affectionate enough?”

“Not for a couple who’s only been married for a few weeks.”

“Okay,” he said as you stepped onto the elevator with him. He reached out and grabbed your hand, holding it in his as he smiled at you. “Let’s start being affectionate then.”

Rob’s POV

In truth, he was sort of hurt by the fact that Y/N had simply used him. Yes, he had enjoyed that kiss far more than he wanted to, but he had hoped that maybe she had as well. Obviously he had been wrong. It was nothing more than a moment for her to test the waters so that, if the time ever came for the two of them to have to act in public, she could make it look real.

He knew it was a stupid idea to go into that kiss thinking that maybe she would also get that feeling that there was something more there between them. He was left feeling even more stupid by the fact that he was the only one having these feelings.

“We’re up,” Rich announced, breaking Rob from his thoughts.

He had been sitting in the green room, running things through his mind all morning. In between introductions and songs, it was almost as if he weren’t really present. Y/N had him a mess and this was a new thing for him.

“Yeah, coming,” he replied as he followed Rich and the band out of the room. He noticed Matt close behind and he had nearly forgotten that they had their panel today.

“How are ya?” Matt asked as he caught up and placed a hand on Rob’s shoulder.

“What? Good. I’m good. Why?”

“Well, you seem pretty out of it today,” Matt laughed. “You’re not the same Rob.”

“Sorry. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

“What’s going on?” Matt asked as they continued to walk together toward the main room.

“Can I tell you something and you promise not to say anything to anyone?”

“You can trust me.”

“Y/N kissed me last night.”

“Okay, I’ve seen you kiss before.”

“No, not like this. All those other times were never even on the lips.”

“I heard you two made out in Vegas,” he replied. “Which then led to you getting married for some reason.”

“No. Not a drunk kiss either.” Rob stopped in his tracks, grabbing Matt by the arm to stop him too. They watched as the other guys kept walking and when they were at a safe distance, Rob turned back to Matt. “She kissed me. Like, for real kissed me.”

“Did she use tongue?” He smirked.

Rob scowled at his friend, shaking his head before answering. “Yes, but that’s not the point. It felt like.. a real kiss between people who actually like each other.”

“What, you don't like each other?”

“Matt, I accidentally married her. I’m not exactly her most favorite person in the world.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask how that’s been going.”

“Not great,” he admitted. They started to walk again now that the rest of the guys were out of view. “We argue a lot. She likes to be right all the time and she mostly yells at me. Living together has helped, but it’s far from great. We sort of can’t stand each other.”

“Yet, you hit that guy because he was groping her.”

“Well, that was out of line.”

“Would you have done that for anyone else?”

“I would hope that someone like you would get involved first,” Rob said, quirking an eyebrow at Matt. “I’m so not a fighter.”

“But, for her you were.”

“Look, I think I like her,” he began. “I mean, obviously I like her. We wouldn’t be in this position if I didn’t. But, I think I’m really falling for her. Which sucks because she really hates me.”

“She kissed you though?”

“Yeah. We got back to the room and she iced my face,” he recalled. “Then she just kissed me.”

“Maybe she just felt bad for you.”

“It was a long kiss,” Rob pointed out. “And there was tongue.”

“Maybe she’s into you too then.”

“This morning she said she was practicing when I asked her about it.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “She said we’d have to kiss in public at some point. She just wanted to see what it would be like.”

“This is really weird,” Matt responded.

“Tell me about it.”

“Look, maybe she likes you, maybe she doesn’t. Don’t read too much into it though. The two of you are in a weird place and you made it even more weird by deciding to stay married. Maybe she really was just practicing.”

“I was hoping you’d give me a pep talk,” Rob admitted. “You know… ‘Hey Robbie, she wants you. Go for it.’”

“Yeah, I can’t do that man. But I can tell you to just wait it out and see if it turns into more. Who knows,” Matt chuckled suddenly. “Maybe the two of you will realize you’ve been in love this entire time and just stay married.”

Rob frowned as Matt patted him on the back roughly before jogging off to catch up with the others.

“That’s ridiculous!” Rob shouted after him.

The panel with Matt and Rich was the usual. They sifted through hypothetical questions about their characters, went through the usual questions about Kings of Con, and they each made really bad jokes that still earned them laughs from the audience.

This time though, there were a few questions snuck in with fans asking a lot about their wives and families. Rob listened to the other two talk before he even bothered to add in his two cents. He didn’t know how to answer most of these questions because he was just not good at lying. He was honestly surprised that he and Y/N were even pulling this entire thing off as well as they were.

Still, he knew what people were saying about them and their marriage. He only hoped that he was taking the right cues from Rich and Matt when it was his turn to answer.

By the end of their panel, he was relieved. He didn’t want to answer more questions about this lie, and that’s when he realized that it was already starting to weigh on him. He could tell himself that it was an act all he wanted, but he knew how he felt about her. He also knew that those feelings were not ever going to be reciprocated.

He moved to his place with the band and began to sing through the song. When they finished, Rich went straight in to introducing Y/N next. Rob sighed, hoping it wasn’t noticeable to anyone else, but he was seriously so done with today and with Y/N. He just wanted it to be over so that he could retreat to his room and have time to think some more.

Y/N made her way on stage and immediately approached Rob with a smile on her face. While he should have been upset with her and the way she had basically said that she had been using him, he couldn’t help but smile in return. He expected a quick hug and kiss on the cheek,, especially since they were in the company of fans and the guys on stage. However, she threw her arms around his shoulders and pulled him down so that she could kiss him on the lips.

He froze out of surprise, but melted into the softness of her lips and the way her tongue traced against his. He could be wrong, but that was probably unnecessary. Although he was feeling all sorts of emotions over the lie and what she had said that morning and the way she was kissing him, he chose to kiss her back. He pressed himself harder against her mouth, testing her slightly by nipping at her bottom lip.

She let out a low moan against his mouth and pulled back suddenly. He took note of the red forming on her cheeks and the way she touched her lips with her fingertips as she stared up at him in shock.

He couldn’t help but grin at her. He had taken her by surprise, and he felt that she sort of enjoyed it.

The crowd cheered for her, or rather for them and that over the top display of affection. Rob blushed as he nodded to the audience and walked away, leaving Y/N to her panel. She hadn’t been kidding about the whole ‘being affectionate in public’ thing.

At the end of the day, Rob decided to call it a night. He said goodnight to everyone as they made plans to go out and headed for the exit. To his surprise, Y/N followed close behind.

“Do you mind if I join you?” She asked.

“Uh, sure,” he replied. “We are in the same room after all.”

“Yeah. I just didn’t feel like going out.”

“Me neither.”

They walked together in more awkward silence. Rob had so many things that he wanted to say, so many questions that he wanted answered; but he also felt that he wouldn’t get the answers he wanted from her.

He leaned against the side of the elevator, watching her as she leaned against the opposite side. He felt like he should bring up that kiss as well, as he was confused by it even more than the first one.

Instead, he made the ballsy choice to go with his other thought. He pushed himself off the wall and stepped toward her as the doors closed and the elevator began to move. She looked up at him, eyes almost hopeful as he approached her. Rob didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Now, he just wanted to kiss her again to see if this was something else. Knowing that he was short on time for the elevator ride, he didn’t even hesitate. He leaned in and kissed her; which seemed to catch her by surprise at first. But, she went with it, much to his amusement.

Before he could think anymore, this kiss had turned into a make out session. He had her pinned against the wall, both of their hands roaming as they kissed heatedly. He decided it was best to just go with it and not try to ask questions this time.

He ran a hand down her thigh, causing her to buck against him. Out of instinct, he gripped her leg and lifted it to his hip so that he could grind against her.

She moaned into his mouth, breaking away so that she could catch her breath. He didn’t let her though. He moved his hips again and she threw her head back and moaned even louder.

He half expected her to shove him away, but she only gripped her hands into his shirt to pull him closer.

“We can’t fuck in an elevator,” she breathed out.

Just the idea that she was thinking about fucking made him want her more. He crashed his lips against hers again just as he heard the ‘ding’ of the elevator arriving to their floor. The doors opened slowly and that was when she pushed him away. She straightened her clothing and attempted to look presentable as she stepped off and hurried toward the room. Rob just followed, wondering if he had screwed up and was about to hear her tear into him once they had real privacy.

Reader’s POV

“What was that?” You asked as you closed the door behind you. You were still breathless by the impromptu make out session in the elevator. None of this was supposed to be happening this way, and the kissing was meant for the public only.

“I think we just made out,” he grinned.

“Yeah, but why?”

He shrugged in return, obviously not able to answer the question.

“Why are we making out when there’s not even anyone around to see it?” You asked again.

“Practice?”

Without thinking, you stepped closer to him. You brought your hands up to his face to lead him down to you. You crashed your lips against his, this time as if you needed him like the air you breathed.

It was frantic and almost passionate, not what you expected from yourself at all. He darted his tongue into your mouth and just the taste of him had you moaning again. This time, neither of you pulled back in surprise of your reaction. You pressed your body against his harder and he gripped onto you before letting his hands wander up your shirt as his hands caresses the bare skin of your back.

You shuddered against him and could already feel the heat pooling within you. Why you wanted him so badly right now, you weren’t sure.

He moved his focus from your mouth and began to kiss down to your neck. You dropped your head back, mouth agape, as you gasped each time he sucked and nipped at the skin there.

You knew you should stop this, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do so. Instead, you tried to reason with yourself as to why this might not be a bad idea. Your head was swimming with thoughts; was it okay to be with him like this? Was this going to complicate things further? On and on your thoughts went, but all you could focus on was how good this felt.

You ran your hands up against his chest, gripping at his shirt as he found a sensitive spot on your collarbone with his teeth. You breathed in sharply and pushed him away from you.

He pulled back, staring at you with curious eyes as he waited to see what you would do. This would be a good time to end this. But, you instinctively pulled your shirt off instead, watching him as he stared at you with wide eyes. Maybe it was all just heat of the moment, but the way that he looked at you right now made you want him even more.

Once you had discarded your shirt, you reached out and unbuttoned his quickly before tossing it aside as well. This time, he pulled you back to him and began to kiss you again. The sensation of his warm, naked skin against yours turned you on even more. You gasped and sighed against his lips as you began to work at his belt and jeans.

“You sure you want to do this?” He asked as he broke away from you briefly.

“What?” You breathed out. “You don’t want this?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then what are we discussing?”

“Should we discuss the fact that we’re here right now, about to do this when we’re fake married and just trying to make people believe that we’re this happily married couple?”

“We’re actually really married,” you explained as you reached around to unhook your bra. You threw it aside and smiled at the audible gasp Rob gave as he watched you.

“I know,” he replied. “But, I just- don’t want to take advantage of… whatever this is.”

“Remember when I told you that you were a good husband?”

“Yeah.”

“I meant it,” you said as you pressed against him again. “We never did consummate things.”

“Well, I think we did, we just don't fully remember it.”

“Are you trying to talk me out of this?” You asked as you pulled away from him. “Or are you trying to talk yourself out of it?”

Suddenly, your arousal was fading. You thought you were both on the same page here, but his questions and concerns over what was happening led you to believe otherwise.

“I just- I don’t understand what this is.”

“What don’t you understand about it?”

“I don’t understand why we’re doing this.”

He took his focus away from your naked chest, looking you directly in the eyes now. You were overcome with a sense of humiliation. Of course you were pushing too far with this. The two of you had agreed to stay in this marriage and at least try to get along for the sake of making it look as if it weren’t an accident. Now, you didn’t know what the hell you were thinking or doing. You also didn’t understand what he was trying to do here. He had been the one to make the move in the elevator. He had kissed you, practically fucked you right there; now he didn’t want you?

You broke away from his stare and reached down to grab your discarded clothing from the floor. You redressed quickly, still trying to hold back with letting it be known how embarrassed you were. It really had been a heat of the moment thing. He didn’t want this. He wanted to just get through this marriage, the same way that you did.

“I’m sorry,” he began, but you cut him off, talking fast as you tried to just pretend it never happened.

“It’s fine. You’re right. We shouldn’t be doing this at all. This was stupid.”

“I didn’t say that it was stupid, I was just confused.”

“Me too,” you admitted. “I mean, we barely like each other after everything that happened in Vegas. We’re in a fucked up situation and we shouldn’t be considering making it worse.”

He watched you quietly, neither of you even knowing what to say anymore. You had very quickly complicated things beyond belief, and you didn’t know if you could even look at him anymore.

“Obviously we just got caught up,” you explained. “We’re both frustrated and I think we’re just taking that frustration out on each other.”

“Well, I guess at least we’re not yelling at each other,” he chuckled.

“Still, this shouldn’t have gone this far.”

“Okay, we’ll just slow down. No more kissing like that, unless it’s in public.”

“I’m not sure if that’s even a good idea anymore,” you admitted.

“What about what you said about looking like we’re in love?”

“That was stupid too. We’ll just get through this marriage until our time is up. If people don’t believe it, then fine. We need to stop.”

He stared down at the floor, looking hurt as you spoke. Truthfully, you didn’t get him at all. You had thought for sure that he wanted you. The way he kissed you and the way he looked at you as you undressed each other, you could swear that maybe he still felt an attraction to you. You thought that maybe he actually liked you, and not like he did on the day when you first met him. In the aftermath of Vegas and the fact that your friends had set the two of you up to simply hook up for one night, you understood that it was supposed to be a one time thing. He may have been attracted to you then, but it was never supposed to go as far as it did. Now, he was just trapped in this marriage just as much as you were.

The only difference was that you could feel yourself growing attached to him. You had never felt the way you did when you kissed him. You went into this situation at this moment actually wanting him. Now, you were just the idiot who was reading too much into this whole thing.

“I’m going to bed,” you announced. “I’m sorry again.”

“Sh-should I just take the couch?”

“What? No, I won’t let you do that.”

“This won’t be awkward now?”

“It’s not for me,” you lied. “Look, we can just pretend it didn’t happen. I think that we’ve done enough stupid things that this pales in comparison.”

He let out a light chuckle, nodding in agreement.

“You’re not wrong.”

Rob’s POV

Like most nights, Rob didn’t sleep well that night. This time was worse. He tossed and turned, trying not to wake her as she slept next to him far on her side of the bed. He had been an idiot. Why he had even said anything at all when he was so close to being with her like that, he didn’t understand.

The entire thing had to be confusing for both of them, but he was the one who had quickly killed the mood.

He glanced over at her in the dark, watching her body rise and fall with each breath she took. She seemed unaffected by the whole thing. Meanwhile, Rob had so many thoughts running through his mind, he couldn’t shut it off.

The whole point of even saying anything probably had a lot to do with the fact that he felt as if he was doing exactly what Rich had warned him not to do. He was falling hard for her.

The way that she had kissed him last night had led him to believe that maybe she felt something too. It had been gentle at first, and then urgent. Even when she said it was done simply so that she could get used to the fact that she may have to kiss him in public, nothing led him to believe that she wasn’t into it. Then there was that unexpected kiss on stage. He knew it was meant to show people that they were in love with each other, but it had felt so real to him.

The way they heatedly made out on the elevator felt like he was right. She liked him and he liked her. Why wouldn’t they replay that night in Vegas, only with a lot less alcohol in their systems?

Seeing her take her clothing off for him as she held eye contact, the feeling of her hands brushing against his skin as she removed his shirt… it had all been so perfect. The only reason that he felt any hesitation was because, for him, the entire moment had been something that he wanted. He adored her, despite their obvious mess and the fact that she had a way of irritating him. Sleeping with her would have meant something to him. He just wanted to make sure it meant something to her as well.

It was probably for the best that he found out that it meant nothing to her before it actually happened. How could it? She obviously didn’t like him. Vegas had been a drunken mistake on her part for sure, and there was no denying that she was consistently trying to avoid him. She wanted out of this marriage and away from him.

At least she had been smart enough to stop it from going too far.

Rob let out a long sigh. The ache in his chest was still present. He really wished he hadn’t said anything earlier. At least he could have had a chance in being with her when they would both remember it. At the same time, he knew that it would have just made his feelings for her grow even more. He would be caught in an unrequited romance with his own wife, and that wouldn’t be good for anyone.

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#what happens in vegas #rob benedict x reader #rob benedict rpf

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asfeedin · 4 years

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WATCH: Q&A with Joe McNally About His Documentary “Watching the Earth Melt Away”

Last week, award-winning photographer Joe McNally walked us through the creation of his powerful documentary, Watching the Earth Melt Away. After traveling to Cooper Island, Alaska on assignment in 2001, Joe quickly befriended George Divoky, a research scientist who has dedicated his life to studying arctic seabirds in the region.

Joined by a film crew, the two met up again in 2019 to document George’s findings and his eye-witness account of the rapidly changing environment.

In this webinar, Joe talks about some of the most meaningful photos captured during his trips to Cooper Island and what it was like to come back and photograph the same location 18 years later.

Watch to learn about:

Joe’s journey to Cooper Island and a closer look at his photos of research scientist George Divoky.

Why editorial and conservation photography are so important

The importance of pursuing personal projects

If you’d like to support scientists like George Divoky and help fund research, housing, outreach programs and other important resources for this community, please consider donating to the nonprofit, Friends of Cooper Island.

On-Demand Webinar: Watching the Earth Melt Away with Joe McNally

All your questions answered

Thank you to everyone for submitting questions throughout our conversation with Joe and during the Q&A! Read through some of Joe’s answers below and feel free to tweet any lingering questions @photoshelter.

This Q&A was lightly edited for clarity and length.

How did your camera gear fare with these extreme climates, particularly when it was much, much colder back when you were shooting with film in 2001? How did it fare when you switched over to digital?

JM: The original visit in 2001 was in fact colder. Film is always a problem in cold weather. We all know that when you pull that acetate out in extreme conditions, extreme cold, it can snap really easy. You have to be careful of your film gate – make sure bits and pieces of film don’t get in there. So I was very vigilant about that. I shot both 35 millimeter and two and a quarter. I had Nikon cameras and a two and a quarter rangefinder-style camera. And that did well, no damage to the film. That was all reasonable. Now, of course, flipping forward to the needs of 2019, it’s really pretty amazing. We were a five-person crew and we did a very viable film, very proud of it, over 14 minutes.

The amazing thing that’s happened over time with us as storytellers, is that films had always been associated with big budgets, film crews, Hollywood and all this sort of stuff. The technology we have now to assist us as storytellers is phenomenal. This entire film was shot on Nikon Z6’s, which is, I don’t know, I’m going to speculate here like, $2200 – $2300; a very affordable camera that produces incredibly good quality video. We were shooting the Z6’s mounted on rigs. Jon [Brundage Jr., the Director of Photography] was fantastic at adapting to the DSLR style of video. And we did just a very simple, mostly available light approach to documentary storytelling and the cameras performed incredibly well. It is extreme conditions, a lot of wind, a lot of dust that can get kicked up by really sudden gusts of wind because there are some sandy elements to Cooper, to be sure. And the cameras performed extremely well.

Of course, the onus really got put on George too, because when I went up originally I had mechanical cameras. If my motor drives died, well, I just manually advanced my film. But here with a film crew with cameras, recording devices, hard drives, and computers, etc. We were really stressing the electricity. We needed an electrical supply and George quite ingeniously has constructed solar systems up there and wind generation to create a viable flow of electricity. So that was definitely a worry going up there, because the days of mechanical advance of film and all that sort of stuff, those are long gone. We are utterly dependent on battery life. And across the board, the equipment performed really well.

Photos by Joe McNally

When creating the documentary, did you storyboard? Did you have an idea of how you wanted to tell the story when you knew you were coming back to shoot the film?

JM: Storyboarding? Not really. But an idea, a thread in my head? Yes. We were … ‘winging it’ is maybe too loose a description. I had a beginning, a middle and end in my head because I was the only person on the crew who had the full history up there to draw on the bank of. But thankfully, everybody on the crew had really good instincts. JB and Cali found really good shots. I had the beginning, middle and end in my head. This shot of George on video as I’m shooting him out in the ocean is a very pivotal piece of the documentary. And also, I knew I had to give some context, so sprinkled throughout the video documentary there are anecdotal and historical stills from when we first met back in 2001.

There’s also a bit of Utqiagvik included (which had been named Barrow, but is now referred to by its indigenous name) because that was our jumping-off point. And I had to go out with the crew by boat. At first, I helicoptered out in 2001. George used to go out on a snow machine because the ice was so dependably thick. Then he had to abandon the snow machine and use a helicopter to get out to the island. And now you either helicopter or you go by boat. It is, again, open ocean. So, we had boat drivers, two of them, depart from Utquagvik and head out to Cooper, which is out on the Beaufort Sea.

Could you tell us about the temperatures you experienced on Cooper Island?

JM: The temperatures back in the original picture, my original visit, were obviously freezing. The temperatures up on Cooper this past summer, during even our short three day period, varied pretty widely. There was one day that we started in T-shirts. We were out there … Cali, who used to be our crew chief, actually took his shirt off and he was sunbathing on Cooper Island. It was so warm and the sun was so strong. By the end of that day, we had every stitch of clothing we could manage back on us because the temperature varies so wildly. I’d say on that day, we went from about the 60’s, maybe even upper 60’s, all the way down to the 30’s in one day.

What are your tips for photographers who want to pursue their personal projects and actually turn them into, hopefully, revenue-making opportunities?

JM: That’s the two-edged sword, I guess, you could call it, or the conundrum we as “modern photographers” face. The technology has never been better. The consumption of pictures has never been more widespread. More people are shooting pictures and looking at pictures than ever before. The web is our movie theater. We no longer have to wait to view things. Dissemination of information is really immediate. There’s this amazing and beautiful opportunity to have a voice; to create a voice visually that you can put out into the world and make some folks pay attention. That’s really what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to get, in this very fast-paced world, somebody to stop, even for a couple of minutes, and pay attention.

Personal projects are a great way to do that because they are obviously infused with your passion. They’re something that you need to say, or want to say.

I always tell young photographers that being a photographer is not something you do. Being a photographer is something you are. It’s inescapable. And if you get that urge, that visual surge in your head and your heart, well, that’s wonderful. (And also sorry for that because it will never leave you!) It will be this ongoing vexation. It will haunt your dreams – the things that you need to do, the things that you want to do.

One of the things that I would suggest, especially if you’re a younger photographer, is to develop a personal project that’s accessible. There’s a young photographer who’s been sending me images. He lives in a small town in Kansas. His name is Luke Townsend. He’s currently documenting the effects of COVID-19 on this very small town in Kansas and he’s doing a very effective job.

And while we’re on the topic, a tip of the hat to all those photographers who are out there documenting this epidemic, this pandemic, and documenting the response to it. And to the first responders and the nurses and doctors and medical personnel who are putting themselves at great risk to keep us safe. Photographers are out there documenting this. Those heroes who are out there now deserve the documentation. We must take notice. Again, thanks to the photographers who are out there doing that.

What that small example I just mentioned is, is the idea of something being practical. Something being nearby. Something being affordable. You don’t have to go to the far stretches of the earth to do a personal project. You can find a wonderful personal project among the people you love.

We’re trying to get somebody to stop, even for a couple of minutes, and pay attention. Personal projects are a great way to do that because they are obviously infused with your passion. They’re something that you need to say, or want to say.

Joe McNally

Can you share a little bit about your editing process? Did you have to do a lot of color casting because of the ice?

JM: Good question. We didn’t have to do much. I’m going to disclaim a depth of knowledge about post-production and video and coloration. We were blessed with a wonderful editor, Tim Sevigny, who took on this project and really sifted through it in a storytelling way. You’ll see there are a couple elements here and there. If you really, carefully and slowly go through the film, there are a couple of shifts here and there that were pretty unavoidable given the meshing of certain old material and then the different environments that we were encountering. But I think overall, the color balance was executed really well.

The important thing to me, in addition to good color, is good resolution. The amount of resolution you can squeeze out of the Z6 is fantastical. It’s amazing. That was all-important to me. But the storyline and how Tim was able to blend the story of Cooper Island, which is part and parcel with George, and then all of a sudden introduce me as this kind of interloper – he did that really artfully and still managed to maintain the storyline focused on George and the birds.

How has your technique changed between 2001 and 2019?

JM: Techniques evolve, right? I’ve had to evolve as a shooter to keep lock step with the technology. It’s not that big a deal, but I shot the first all digital story in the history of National Geographic; the story about aviation back in 2003. And when I shot that, I didn’t know that much about digital, to be honest. I was a newbie and I had to adapt. But for me, as a photographer, the constant element that is the North Star of being a photographer, I believe, is storytelling. And that has not changed at all. I mean, that hasn’t changed since the days of Matthew Brady. Our tools have changed, to be sure. So, yes. I embraced digital cameras. I didn’t care so much about what was happening inside the camera.

All of a sudden, I no longer had film and now I’m shooting to chips and cards and shooting ones and zeroes. All that was fine. I didn’t really want to concentrate on that so much. I wanted to concentrate, as always, on the picture at hand; the emotional response that I could gather through the camera and the lens, the stories that could be told, the beauty that could be potentially captured. For me, I work a lot in the realm of portraiture, so I’m always seeking the beauty of the human face. Those things have remained absolutely constant.

The changes that I’ve experienced are the onslaught of immediacy; delivering to clients really fast. Participation on the web – I’ve had to adapt to that. If you had told me around the early 2000s that I’d be writing a blog I would have said, “What’s a blog?” So it is incumbent, I think, on photographers, and young photographers are especially well-suited to accept this change and embrace it. The tools are there and you can adapt and grow with them, but the basic mission, I’d have to say, remains the same. Tell a good story.

Want to get the answers to all of the questions from the Q&A, including a behind-the-scenes look at Joe’s trips to Cooper Island, Alaska? Watch the on-demand webinar and be sure to check out the documentary on his YouTube channel, too.

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badcowboy69 · 7 years

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A Driving Plan

Here’s a little story that’s going to open up an entire set of new, exciting possibilities for my courier and his partner. It’s also my coming back into writing once more. It’s been too long and hopefully this sort of absence won’t ever happen again. Please give this a read and don’t worry it’s sfw lol It’s just under the cut due to length. As always this features my courier six, Travis Blackfox and his partner, Riley White who belongs to @zoey-and-dakota Enjoy!

The light from the setting Mojave sun filtered through the drawn tan curtains covering the penthouse windows of the Lucky 38. For some the day was finally coming to an end, but for many others it was only beginning. One of those many was Travis Blackfox, co-ruler of New Vegas. Humming to himself, he poured two glasses of red wine to get this evening started. As he shoved the cork back into the bottle a smile tugged at the corners of his moustache hearing the chuckles coming from the other room. Tonight was one of the little traditions he and his boyfriend, Riley, participated in each week. After dinner was ate and things cleaned up, the couple would take the elevator to the penthouse. There they would have drinks and share the company of Mister House, the mysterious being on a computer screen.

Although for Travis it wasn’t that big of a mystery anymore. After the second battle for Hoover Dam was won by Travis and his allies, House explained to him who he is and his mechanics. At first Travis was baffled as to how a person could not only be alive after two centuries, but continue to function and control things. With House now fully trusting Travis enough, he granted the courier permission to see the special isolation chamber where he “resides” via video imagery. He then continued to explain in further detail his past role in the world as well as future aspirations.

It was then Travis was offered the opportunity to continue living in the Lucky 38 and be co-ruler over New Vegas and its affairs. Travis was taken aback by such a monumental request and gift and was unsure on how to respond. Seeing he shocked the courier into silence, House went on to tell him that no matter what he chooses he’ll be taken care of for the rest of his life regardless. Travis didn’t have to stay chained down living in the casino forever if he didn’t want to. Not really having anywhere else to go or truly call home, Travis agreed. He had everything a person could ever want and then some, but always stayed humble and generous through it all.

As Travis entered the room, he gave a polite nod towards the green screened image of Mister House before handing a glass of wine to Riley. Taking a seat next to his partner, he then raised his glass towards their host. “Here we are in another exciting pre-war discussion! What’s the topic gonna be for tonight?” he asked while taking a small sip of his drink, grimacing from the tart taste.

“We were talking about travel and places visited,” Riley replied as he leaned against the couch, casually crossing his legs. “Robert here was telling me about his camping trips to Zion Canyon. I know you’ve been there a few times. Mind sharing some stories?”

Travis suddenly frowned and began plinking his fingers against his glass for a moment making Riley frown as well. He knew every time Travis did that meant he was anxious about something. Riley hoped he didn’t hit a nerve or put Travis on the spot with his innocent question.

Taking a breath, Travis nodded slowly. “A’yup, been there lots of times. It’s beautiful.” He paused and turned his attentions to Mister House. “You’d be pleased to know it’s untouched by radiation. There’s a few mutated critters of course like yao guai and cazadors. Waters are fresh and clean, though. Lots of game to hunt and fish to catch. The Tribals that live there are great.” He then paused for a few moments before lifting his head and holding Riley’s gaze with his. “I’d so love to take you there, but it’s a long ways on my bike and I don’t think you’d be willing to go that kind of distance on it,” he said softly, almost defeated, making Riley understand Travis’ mood change.

“Bike? You’re still tooling around on that thing, Travis?” House chimed in. “After all this time, especially with a partner, I thought you’d have a truck or car running by now for the two of you. With your ingenuity I’m sure you could have salvaged something suitable to traverse the terrain in.”

“Ain’t any vehicles out there good enough for me to do anything with,” Travis grumped, dropping his gaze to the floor and taking a mouthful of wine.

“You mean ain’t any out there you haven’t already blown up,” Riley jested and gave his partner a playful nudge in hopes to make light of the suddenly touchy subject. “You have to admit, you trashed a lot of vehicles that could have had potential.”

“Travis the TNT Terror of the Mojave has destroyed all possible salvageable vehicles? Why am I not surprised,” House said dryly while Travis cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“Ain’t blew up the good ones,” Travis muttered giving House a resentful glare. “Those that got blown up were needin’ to be properly kilt and all.”

Patting Travis on the leg and giving his knee a reassuring squeeze, Riley turned his attentions back to House in hopes to defuse the topic he feared would get heated soon. “There are plenty of vehicles around out there if you can even call them that anymore. Whatever the bombs didn’t destroy the elements finished the job. Hardly any have interiors left to speak of. Those that did aren’t exactly in easy places to get them out let alone work on them. From what I’ve seen, it would take weeks if not months to gather up enough parts from many different cars and areas to rebuild something.”

“A’yup…cars ain’t like the motorcycles which are everywhere and easy to get around. And even though the NCR got their trucks and stuff I’m sure they ain’t willing to hand over parts just so’s I can get a car going.” Travis twitched his moustache in annoyance not liking the direction this conversation suddenly shifted.

However, House didn’t reply and the lack of his typical sarcasm made an uncomfortable silence fill the room. Quirking an eyebrow Travis looked up at the screen where the stoic image of Mister House stared back at him. Travis knew it was only a photograph, but the eyes seemed to be boring into him and it made the courier begin to fidget.

Riley began to pick up on Travis’ unease and he frowned not exactly sure what to say or do. Giving Travis’ knee an affectionate squeeze, he then took the last mouthful of wine and set the glass down on the floor. “So…where did the NCR get their vehicles from?” he began in a feeble attempt to break the silence.

After a few long moments of silence, House’s suave voice finally came through the speakers. “Tell me, Riley…do you still remember how to drive? Or did you even do so back in your days?”

Rubbing the back of his neck before sifting his fingers through his red hair, Riley gave a nod. “Yeah. Yeah I do remember, but I might be a bit rusty at it,” he laughed. “I mean it has been over two hundred years after all. I’m sure driving might have the same concept as riding a bike where once you learn you can always do it…but I don’t think if I were to do it again that I’d have too much to worry about. I mean, there’s no more traffic laws or anything so I’m sure my crappy driving would be overlooked. Hell, it would probably be praised!”

Once again House grew quiet and this time Riley questioned it. “Robert, is everything ok?”

“Travis,” House said after long last, completely ignoring Riley’s question. “Would you be so kind as to go into my old bedroom? I’d like for you to fetch something for me out of the limited edition Nuka Cola protectron. It is still there isn’t it? I know you have a fondness for all things Nuka Cola related and I know of your disdain for those robots as well.”

Glancing at Riley first Travis shrugged and nodded slowly in uncertainty. “Yeah, it’s still in there. Why?”

“If you please, head to the robot and press the center button on its chest. It’ll be the one bearing the logo for Nuka Cola. Bring me what you find inside. That is of course unless you already discovered it with all your poking around.”

“No, I ain’t discovered nothing with my poking around,” Travis grunted as he got to his feet and loped out of the room muttering under his breath. He hastily climbed the stairs and headed towards House’s old bedchambers. The robot in question stood near the doorway as it no doubt did for centuries. However, it now had a Legion centurion helmet on it and was holding a spear thanks to Travis’ redecorating. Pressing his finger against the button that House instructed him to do, Travis half expected the thing to come to life. Instead a small compartment on the robot’s chest opened with a soft pop. Furrowing his brow Travis looked inside to find a small brass key.

Snatching it between his thumb and index finger, Travis looked it over trying to figure out what made it so special. Not seeing any marks or indications as to what it might be for, he turned and made his way back downstairs. As he stepped into the room, Riley turned to look at him, his eyebrows raised curiously as to what it was that Mister House needed Travis to go and fetch.

Travis gave him a crooked grin and shrugged before holding the key up towards the monitor. “Got it!”

“Splendid!” House exclaimed so suddenly that Travis and Riley jumped from being startled. “Now then, I’d like you to take the elevator down to the sub-basement area. That was where you witnessed the upgrades I had given my Securitrons years ago in preparation for the batte. Once there I will give you instructions on what to do next.” With that House’s image instantly vanished from the monitor bathing Travis in its pale green light.

Travis turned to Riley who was already standing and stretching. “I take it we’re off to a new adventure?” he asked, stifling a yawn as Travis stepped towards him.

The courier shrugged and stuffed the key into his pocket. “I have no fucking idea,” he grumbled. “I’m almost scared to find out what this is for. With my luck it’ll be for some creepy ass robot.” “Well, whatever it is we aren’t going to find out about it staying here. Come on, what happened to your sense of adventure? I thought you always liked exploring and discovering new things?” “I do, but when it comes to stuff from House I got every reason to be concerned. He’s the one that hired me years ago to deliver that stupid package that what got me killed. Remember?”

Riley sighed and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he followed Travis up the stairs to the elevator. He could tell his partner was slowly starting to become unreasonable and irritable. However, he knew from experience it was best to ignore him and eventually Travis would get back to normal. Although Riley didn’t know House as long as Travis did, he felt the man wasn’t sending them on some wild, pointless mission. It had to be something really exciting and special for House to suddenly have Travis find some long forgotten key.

Reaching the elevator Travis jammed his finger against the call button with a grunt. “This really better not be something stupid,” he complained while the doors slid open allowing them entrance.

“Have some faith in the man, Travis. I know that placid image on the screen we deal with doesn’t give much away emotion wise, but I picked up a hint of excitement in his voice when you showed him you had the key. I don’t think he’d be excited if this was something stupid.”

Travis waved it off and kept his gaze on the floor as he toed the carpet with his boot. Riley patted him on the shoulder and leaned close to lightly kiss him on the cheek. “Regardless of what this is all about, we’ll find out soon enough.”

Once the elevator got to its destination and the doors slid open, Riley let out a low whistle at the sight in front of him. This was one area of the casino Travis had not shown him and it was truly something to behold. Stepping out of the elevator put them onto a large balcony with a force field wall. It was overlooking what appeared to be a training area of sorts with cement half-walls with targets on them. Various sized ammunition shells were scattered on the floor as was large crumbled chunks of cement. Along the walls were tables with what appeared to be a random assortment of tools, weapons, and more ammo.

“Starting a war?” Riley jested as he adjusted his glasses while turning his attentions to a computer and schematics piled high on the central table of the balcony.

“This was where some of House’s newly upgraded Securitrons showed off their weapons and junk,” Travis said dismissively. “I really hated it when House sent me down here for the first time to watch the trials. I know if it wasn’t for them we probably wouldn’t have won the battle, but they still give me the creeps.”

Riley smirked knowing his partner’s disdain for robots, but he did happen to catch a glimmer of fascination for the place in Travis’ blue eyes regardless. Just then a crackling sound came over a speaker on the wall. “Are you two down here yet?” House asked with slight impatience in his voice.

“A’yup, we’re here. What now?” Travis asked while flicking some empty shotgun shells onto the floor.

“Head to your left and activate the computer on the wall. The password is ‘rosebud’.”

Riley smirked at the possible reference to a pre-war movie, but seeing Travis’ bored expression he knew it went over his head. As he followed Travis to the terminal, he made a mental note to explain it later on back in the Presidential Suite. He would also have to ask House if the movie might be somewhere on holodisc or file for he and Travis to watch one night.

Once at the computer, Travis’ fingers flew quickly over the keys and prompted the machine to life. After a few more clicks a screen appeared asking for the password. Once inputted, Travis hit the enter button and waited. The computer next began to make a soft whirring sound as it processed the information. A beep soon indicated the password was accepted which was followed by a loud and unexpected grinding of gears.

Unsure of what was going on or what to expect, Travis and Riley took a few cautious steps away from the computer. Much to their surprise, the wall in front of them began to slide open revealing a steel door. “Reckon this is where the key comes in,” Travis remarked as he dug in his pocket in search of the key. Finding it he placed it in the hole and looked over his shoulder to Riley. “You ready?” he asked getting a wide-eyed nod in return. Travis turned the key until a satisfying click announced the door was unlocked. Taking a deep breath and holding it, Travis cautiously turned the knob and gave the door a slight push open.

Both men waited as if anticipating a pack of rabid molerats to come pouring out of the room any second, but none came. In fact, nothing happened for that matter. “Well, I guess this is it,” Travis said with a slight bit of unease in his voice.

Riley detected it and clamped his hand on his partner’s shoulder. “Don’t be so nervous. You’ve known House for all these years and from what you’ve told me he’s always been generous towards you. He might have a few rough edges and is snarky, but so is the best of us. I’m sure he means well.” Travis snorted. “Yeah, the man’s all heart. Ah well, reckon we might as well get this over with.” and with that Travis gave the door a hard shove making it bang loudly against the wall. Cautiously reaching inside the dark room, Travis groped around the wall feeling for a light switch. Finding it he flipped it on and waited. Long moments went by until at last the soft buzzing from fluorescent lights could be heard. The bulbs closest to the door blinked and flickered until they came on and the rest followed suit for what appeared to be the length of at least two football fields.

“Holy shit,” was the phrase both men seemed to gasp at exactly the same time. Travis rubbed his eyes as if they were truly playing tricks on him. Riley sort of copied the action by removing his glasses and examining them to make sure they weren’t faulty in some way. Placing them back on he let out a long, low whistle seeing that the scene before him remained the same.

The room was surprisingly huge, way larger than either man might have expected. The floor was made of white marble which shone dully in the fluorescent lights. Various advertisement signs made out of metal hung on the walls along with a few neon ones which worked for the most part. A workshop of sorts was in one corner stocked with a variety of tools,shelves, machinery and parts to who knows what. On the opposite corner from the workshop, was a small bar area that seemed to be fully stocked with various liquors. However, none of decor or set ups were important as the true reasoning behind this room quickly became the focal point.

What was stunning them so much and having them stand with eyes wide and jaws slack was the small collection of pre-war vehicles that were scattered throughout the room. The collection wasn’t huge by eccentric millionaire pre-war standards, but for the current condition of the world, this was a very big deal. The moderate collection consisted of three cars of different styles, one golf cart, and one truck. They were all in perfect condition as best as could be expected for being over two hundred years old and untouched.

Riley was the first to break the shocked silence by taking a few tentative steps forward towards the closest vehicle. It was a small blue golf cart with cracked leather seats which were once white, but now yellowed with age. A pair of fuzzy dice, also yellowed, hung from the mirror and there was a vertical crack down the center of the windshield. “Damn, this really is a treasure trove! Never in my wildest dreams did I think this is what House wanted to share with us. Wouldn’t it be great if this thing still worked? Hell, wouldn’t it be great if all of these still worked?” he asked as he continued looking over the cart, blowing at the dusty dashboard which in turn made him sneeze. However, the question went unheard as his partner had wandered off doing his own thing.

Travis was towards the left gravitating in fascination to a sporty looking red car. He never saw a vehicle quite like this and it made him think of a spaceship. It was a low to the ground single seater car with a glass bubble top. The surface was quite dusty which in turn dulled the paint, but it still looked to be in great shape. Unfortunately all four tires were flat and one of the rims was bent as a result making the car slant at an angle. Travis frowned seeing that and kicked at the tire in disappointment with the toe of his boot. Hearing a low whistle behind him, Travis turned to see Riley sauntering his way with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “Holy shit, a Cherry Bomb!” he exclaimed in amazement while bending to look through its clouded glass.

“Did you ever have one of these?” Travis asked as he wiped away the ancient dust gathered on one of the torpedo shaped headlights.

“No, but saw a few tooling around the neighborhood. Man, these things were fast on the open roads. This…this is amazing. This entire room is simply unbelievable!” He straightened his posture and leaned against the car while continuing to gaze around the room to see what other vehicles were down here. Near where the golf cart sat was a green pickup truck. It was no surprise its tires were flat, but it also had a large oily looking stain under it making Riley frown some. “Looks like that one is out of commission.”

“Yeah…” he began ruefully while heading towards a sleek black four-door sedan. “All these cars…ain’t never seen them in this fine of shape. Not even the ones I saw in those isolated spots out in the Mojave. Seen plenty in storage in garages and stuff, but they were ransacked. These all have possibilities, but I don’t know much about them…well…other than they blow up real good.”

Riley snorted and joined his man at the black car. “Well, promise me you won’t blow these up.”

Travis turned to him grinning broadly. “Aw hell, you take away all the fun.” Wrapping his arms around Travis’ waist, Riley brushed his lips lightly over his cheek before resting his chin on his shoulder. “You have the entire Mojave to blow up. I’m sure you can find it in your heart to spare these vehicles.”

Humming in mock thought Travis shrugged and leaned back against him. “Well…I reckon I can make an exception this time,” he laughed.

“Hello? Are you boys there yet?” House’s voice suddenly echoed through the room.

Looking around trying to figure out where the voice came from, Riley was first in spotting a small intercom near one of the work benches. Tapping Travis on the shoulder he pointed it out. Arching an eyebrow, Travis loped towards the intercom and pressed the call button. “A’yup, we’re here,” he drawled. “Dang this is off the fucking charts, House. I had no clue about any of this. Surprised you ain’t mentioned it before!”

“Of course I didn’t, you ninny!” House snapped. “You always carried on and on about those damn motorcycles of yours. Once the battle was over and we started planning on getting New Vegas and the surrounding areas back in shape I completely forgot all about this room. It’s funny how after all these years a random conversation sparked it.”

“Well, it’s certainly impressive,” Travis admitted as he watched Riley drifting over to a long, pale blue car that was lifted up on four sturdy jacks. “What is it you’d like us to do with this newly gained knowledge?”

“Fix them!” House barked. “Do I even have to suggest that? Ever since I met you all you did was talk about travel and that only increased when you started to reinvent the motorcycles scattered around the Mojave. When that dolt NCR sniper finally left, your talks stopped for the longest time and I never knew how to bring them up. I am not one for coddling, you know this. I knew you’d figure things out on your own eventually. You have a passion, Travis. You are a bright lad and you’ve come so very far. I suppose once again through your passion I’d like to see mine brought back to life. I don’t know what sort of condition of the vehicles are in, but hopefully you’ll find at least one or two that you can get running again. Regardless of being well protected these past two centuries, I’m sure they still suffer from neglect. This could be a great project the both of you can share in.” Travis was stunned beyond words and stood staring at the intercom with his mouth slightly agape. All the years he’s known Mister House, he never really knew the man to be anything other than sarcastic. He always seemed to manage to make Travis feel like a dumb hick more often than not. That alone made Travis not want to spend much time discussing things other than business. He jumped feeling Riley’s hand on his shoulder, bringing him out of his thoughts. “Are you kidding me? It’s perfect! I mean…umm…how do we even get a car out of here? Fixing one ain’t gonna serve any purpose if we can only drive around down here.”

House let out a long and exasperated sigh. “Did you even stop to think how the cars got down here in the first place? I sometimes wonder if that bullet took away more than your memories, courier. Go down to the far end of the room and you’ll see another computer monitor on the wall. It has the same setup like the one you used to get in here. Behind the wall will be a mile long tunnel leading up to a sealed entrance that is similar to one you see in Vaults. Use the key I gave you on the control panel and it’ll open to the outskirts of New Vegas. I don’t know what the situation is for the entrance on the other side, however. It could be covered with debris and if that’s the case I’ll send some Securitrons over to clear it out. Maybe you should take one with you anyway in case the door opens to something unpleasant. For all I know a pack of deathclaws made their nest in the area.”

Travis heard Riley groan at the very notion there might be deathclaws around and it made him chuckle. “Yeah, good point.” He paused for a minute, his finger hovering over the intercom button. Taking a deep breath he pressed the button and said, “This is mighty generous of you, House. I mean, this was obviously something you’ve been wanting to share with me for a while. I’ve been a right idjet and I can’t thank you enough for this unexpected surprise.”

“It’s not your fault,” House replied, his voice sincere instead of the dry sarcasm that Travis was generally so used to. “We are both a little to blame in that matter. Plus I know you had your mind wrapped around Benny, the Platinum Chip, the battle…and afterwards there was simply so much to take care of. Don’t worry about any of that. What’s done is done and it’s all water under the bridge so to speak. You have done so much for me and all of New Vegas, I can’t thank you enough. Consider this a very well deserved added bonus you should have got a long time ago.”

A long bit of silence then followed which caught Riley’s attention. He watched Travis carefully chewing on his lower lip, his mind no doubt zooming a million miles an hour trying to find the right words. He knew Travis had an uneasy sort of relationship with House and was no doubt confused by the obvious attempt to start anew on a more positive note. Dropping his arm over Travis’ shoulders, Riley gave him a squeeze and answered instead. “You certainly are giving back some nostalgia to me in doing this, Robert. We both thank you.” “You are most certainly welcome. Hopefully something down there will be salvageable. Anyway, it’s late. I best bid you two goodnight for now. I will look forward to hearing about any updates and progress.”

“Goodnight,” both men replied almost in unison making Travis smirk as he clicked off the intercom.

“Well…reckon we got a whole lot of work ahead of us now, huh?” Travis asked while stifling a yawn.

Riley put his hands in his pockets and made his way back towards the pale blue car he was looking over earlier. He bent to look under the car then began feeling the tires. “Out of all of them this one might have the strongest possibility of being resurrected. There’s nothing indicating leaks that I can see. Being up on heavy jacks might have very well saved the tires, especially the rims.”

“Chryslus Corvega,” Travis read off the nameplate located on the car’s grill.

“This is the kind of car I used to have. I really hope we can get it to operate.” “Do you know how to fix one?” Travis asked while opening the driver door and taking a seat. Running his hands over the cream colored steering wheel he looked over the buttons and levers on the control panel wondering what they all could be for. Other than the radio everything else was foreign to him.

Opening up the passenger door and sliding in next to his partner, Riley felt a faint smile dance on his lips in excitement. It’s been ages since he’s sat in a proper vehicle. “Not hardly, but I’m sure with your ingenuity and all the books around here there’ll be something somewhere that can assist us further,” Riley chimed while opening up the glove compartment in search of a possible owner’s manual. “I’m afraid the best I can offer is light maintenance and of course the skills on driving it.”

“Lots of potentials and possibilities with this thing,” Travis said, leaning back against the seat while moving his hands over the wheel and making humming sounds like he’s heard the trucks of the NCR make.

Riley chuckled at Travis’ antics then scowled seeing the manual was not in the compartment. “If we can get this thing running…” Riley began, but drifted off not daring to get his or Travis’ hopes up too high.

“When we can get this thing running the trip down the Long 15 to the big waters won’t be just a dream of mine anymore. I mean, ain’t nothing stopping me anyways, but I don’t want to go alone and you ain’t too keen taking that long of a trip on the back of my bike.”

Going quiet for a moment Travis mulled over the possibilities in his mind before continuing. “Four doors…lots of room inside,” Travis encouraged while fingering the keys that still dangled from the steering column. “Plenty of room for supplies. Lots of room for our tent. Hell…back seat’s so big we could just sleep on it instead….fuck on the back seat for all that matters. So much dang room…we can even take Rex with us.”

“Travis, we can take whatever you like with us.” Riley began to bite at his thumbnail for a moment before taking a deep breath and clamping his hand on Travis’ thigh. “Let’s do this! Let’s clean up this place and get started on getting this thing running again. It’ll be a bit awkward for me to remember how to drive one of these, I mean, it’s been centuries,” he chuckled and smiled more seeing the excitement shining in Travis’ crystal blue eyes. “Just don’t be angry if I hit something.”

“Riles, what the hell are you gonna hit in the desert? A fucking cactus?

“Hey, that fucking cactus can do serious damage I’m sure! Then it’s settled. Let’s get a good night’s sleep and we can start on this project after lunch tomorrow. Sound like a plan?”

“It’s perfect!” Travis exclaimed excitedly while getting out of the car. Taking a long, slow gaze around the room at his newly acquired treasure, he nodded proudly and put his hands on his hips. “A’yup, this is gonna be great! Mornin’ ain’t gonna come soon enough!”

To be continued….

#travis blackfox #riley #writings

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terabitweb · 5 years

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Original Post from Rapid7 Author: Christie Ott

In our first Summer Security Fundamentals panel discussion, we had the chance to chat with some folks who live and breathe cybersecurity. Not wanting to miss this golden opportunity, we cut right to the tough questions. The result? Almost an hour’s worth of insightful tips for making your life as a cybersecurity professional less difficult. The common theme? Taking every advantage security orchestration and automation (SOAR) has to offer.

Overcoming limited resources with SOAR tools

When asked what their greatest security challenges were, our panelists quickly zeroed in on a select few. Chief among them were insufficient resources. This is unfortunately a common reality for cybersecurity teams—and isn’t likely to disappear in the near future. However, there is a clever way to combat its effect.

While the obvious answer would be to focus on ways to increase their available security resources, our panelists argued it’s actually the opposite. The focus should instead be on ways to decrease the amount of resources necessary.

When we talk about limited resources, we really mean a general lack of three things:

Time

Workload (FTEs)

Budget

All are somewhat dependent on each other and surprisingly scarce when you need them most. SOAR tools, like InsightConnect can be a great way to decrease your team’s need for all three of these bottlenecks.

When it comes to time, SOAR gives you automated ways to tackle trivial tasks—think less time jumping between tools and staring at dashboards. As you begin to offload repetitive tier 1 chores to a SOAR stack, you naturally have less need for FTE hours worked. Along the same lines, fewer FTEs and resources spent on tier 1 work in general translates to a happier budget (and happier analysts).

[Free Playbook] A Practical Guide to Implementing a SOAR Solution at Your Organization

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Bridging the gap

As a relatively new field, cybersecurity requires some relatively new skills that must be learned. The problem is that these high-demand skills are in short supply.

Compounding this skills shortage is the aforementioned lack of resources with which to bridge the gap. One way to think about this is to shift your focus, and SOAR is great at facilitating just that. What if the underlying problem isn’t a shortage of skills: it’s an over-emphasis on skills that maybe aren’t as in-demand?

Case in point: CIO recently published its list of “most in-demand cybersecurity skills,” including penetration testing, DevSecOps, cloud security, and encryption.

You might notice a theme: all are dynamic disciplines undergoing constant innovation. That said, your current daily activities are likely more focused around “keeping the lights on.” Instead, look for ways to leverage SOAR processes to help shift your focus from mundane, redundant tasks to sharpening your skills in more innovative, forward-thinking matters. Need some inspiration? Learn more about some of the most popular security use cases for a SOAR solution to handle.

De-couple the dashboard

Don’t get me wrong, dashboards are great. They provide a centralized view of just about any security information you could want. However, problems arise when you aren’t so sure what you should do with all that data, leaving you with a deluge of information that keeps you glued to the dashboard and sifting through alerts like a mail carrier on Christmas Eve.

It’s this alert fatigue that poses substantial risk to environment safety. As information in a given dashboard creeps past the functional threshold by which we mere humans can intelligently respond, mistakes are made and alerts are neglected or missed altogether. This error-prone lynchpin of modern cybersecurity represents abundant opportunity for an automated security stack leveraging SOAR.

Instead of relying on a set of tired eyes, SOAR tools can be used to automatically facilitate steps involving sorting, prioritizing, and responding to events. The result is an environment where potential vulnerabilities are remediated in a consistently efficient manner. This in turn leads to greater a security posture and less need for Visine and afternoon cat-naps.

With that, our first Summer Security Fundamentals recap comes to an end. Hopefully you now have a greater appreciation for the resource-liberating, gap-bridging, and eye-saving possibilities SOAR tools provide. Also, be sure to check out the remainder of this summer’s syllabus and sign up to learn more about topics such as vulnerability management, application security, threat detection and response, and cloud security.

Learn more about our SOAR solution, InsightConnect

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Go to Source Author: Christie Ott Summer Security Fundamentals Recap: Orchestration and Automation 101 Original Post from Rapid7 Author: Christie Ott In our first Summer Security Fundamentals panel discussion, we had the chance to chat with some folks who live and breathe cybersecurity.

#Rapid7

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annoyingcherryblossomtrash-blog · 6 years

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Helping Students Become Better Online Researchers

Your students are probably Internet authorities. When it comes to Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, they might know far more than you. All of that time spent tweeting and chatting doesnвЂ™t necessarily translate to deep learning though. As students progress through school, online research skills become more important вЂ” for good reason.

Both college professors and employers will expect young people to know their way around the academic side of the Internet; a skill that for many students, needs to be taught. In a Pew survey, a majority of teachers said that their students lacked patience and determination when doing difficult research. A majority of teachers also said that their students didnвЂ™t know how to use multiple sources to support an argument. WeвЂ™re about to change that. Read on to find some of the best websites for teaching digital literacy.

Image via Flickr by Brad Flickinger

For many students, doing research means typing a word or two into a Google search and using information from the first link that pops up. Students need to know that the quality of their search terms helps determine the quality of the information that they find. If youвЂ™re new to strategic searching, or need fresh ideas, weвЂ™ve gathered some lessons to get your studentsвЂ™ brains turning.

You will find lesson plans to teach strategic searches to middle school and high school students. As with everything on the Common Sense Media site, these lessons are focused on finding quality material and keeping children safe online.

Of course Google will be a go-to source both for doing searches and for finding related lessons. Google has lessons on selecting search terms, narrowing searches, and evaluating sources. Options range from beginning to advanced, so you can tailor the lesson to students from elementary school on up. For some brainy fun, try the Google A Day Challenge, which poses difficult questions that students might be able to answer with their new searching expertise.

Do you have a complicated relationship with Wikipedia? YouвЂ™re not alone. While the site is packed with interesting information, students tend to use it as a one-stop shop for research. Often, they donвЂ™t realize that they need to check the reliability of that information. The Internet is overflowing with all sorts of biases, and students must learn to sort fact from fiction. This can be a challenging lesson to teach, but itвЂ™s usually fascinating as well.

Here, you will find a short video of a lesson on assessing websites. The Teaching Channel also has lesson ideas for teaching online research and fair use. This is a great site for teachers who canвЂ™t devote a full class period to research skills and need quick, succinct lessons.

This is an in-depth lesson plan for teaching students to evaluate web sites. Students will learn to consider the author, audience, and purpose of a website and to ponder the role of advertising. There are good resources here, such as a website evaluation form, even for teachers who donвЂ™t want to use the full lesson.

Find an amalgamation of resources here to teach critical evaluation. There are links to lesson plans and articles on the importance of digital literacy. The 5 WвЂ™s of Website Evaluation worksheet is a handy reminder of everything that your students вЂ” and you вЂ” should be thinking about when gathering information from a website.

Though the Internet offers breadth on every topic, it sometimes doesnвЂ™t offer much depth. And a simple Google search often wonвЂ™t lead students to the meaty resources they should be using. WeвЂ™ve gathered sites that will give students the detailed research they need quickly, saving them вЂ” and you вЂ” hours of frustration. Along with these sites, remind students that many newspaper websites have searchable archives.

This portal guides children from kindergarten through high school on how to select keywords, take notes, and more. It also allows children to search kid-friendly databases, such as Grolier Online, so that they find information that is right for their reading level and age.

Students can search millions of books for information, and they will find previews of pages or even an entire book. Some students might use this to avoid a trip to the library. But with some helpful teacherly guidance, this could be a stepping stone that gets kids into the library to dig deeper.

GoogleвЂ™s academic search site sifts through scholarly articles and even law cases. This is best for high school students who already have some research experience. Send them here when they need authoritative information to support their views.

Explaining plagiarism with books is clear-cut. The authorвЂ™s name is there on the cover, and the author was paid for the work. The Internet can be trickier to work with. Sometimes no author is named, and much of the information is provided for free, so students might not see any harm as passing the work off as their own. Any lesson on research will also require a lesson on citations and fair use. Many teaching websites offer ideas, and weвЂ™ve found a few more.

The writing lab has links to lessons both on understanding plagiarism and teaching students how to avoid it. Use these ideas to have students create their own ethics policy or one for the whole class.

If you think a discussion of plagiarism might be a snooze, check out the resources here. YouвЂ™ll find lessons involving plagiarism in music and even school textbooks. Students can also respond to questions about whether cheating is increasing and whether they consider this a big problem.

Students вЂ” and if weвЂ™re being honest, teachers вЂ” love online research because it saves time. They donвЂ™t have to go to the library and wander through shelves of books. Remind students that although online research is wonderful, librarians are also wonderful. They are experts in information technology and often know of the best resources вЂ” even online вЂ” for students. So keep these websites handy, but befriend your librarian, too.

Editor's note: This piece was originally written by Jeff Dunn and ran on November 9, 2012. A lot has changed since then, so we've had author Sarah Muthler update this piece with the latest techniques and innovations.

5 Comments

October 3, 2015 at 12:06 pm

I once had a lesson with my Spanish learners and we used Google to find specific grammar topics. It was fun and the learners liked it too.

It's a very effective way to teach multiple skills to students.

October 13, 2015 at 3:36 am

Nowadays Internet is need of every people. So keep update with your child in on-line presence and teach them how to on-line research are done. This article is best option for on-line presence.

October 22, 2015 at 2:39 am

That's the danger with doing research today. It is far too tempting to type the search term into google rather than investing the time to do genuine research.

November 12, 2015 at 7:58 am

Our world is addicted to technologies. It's hardly ever to imagine the way technological evolution has changed our lives. So, I think every teacher needs to tech children how to use google and find out the information they really need. Such kind of research, without doubts, will cultivate logical way of thinking. By the way, the idea of plagiarism works! Actually, the problem of plagiarism settled unawares in my class, so I've decided to dedicated lesson to this. We're talking about famous plagiarists. Also, students compared some texts using Unplag checker https://unplag.com/ The results were awesome! From that day, every Friday we discuss with students educational innovations which can paint their studying process.

Christine McKenna Lok

November 16, 2015 at 2:43 am

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