#when i got back to my desk it was 87 degrees in there…

[parasolids]

successfully cleaned the bathroom trainwreck, w’s in the chat please

[sometimesiwritebadly]

Rogue Thoughts (Spencer Reid x FBI Agent!Reader)

Summary: Soulmates can occasionally hear each other’s thoughts. You happen to hear the thoughts of a fellow FBI Agent while you’re interviewing for a position at the BAU.

Check out the series

Warnings: Some language, but it’s just fluff

Notes: SOULMATE AU MOTHER HECKERS

Word Count: 2k

Masterlist

After nearly 30 years of listening to your soulmate’s thoughts, nothing could surprise you at this point. While most of your friends or family heard relatively normal things from their soulmates before they met, your head consisted of random facts about anything from mental illnesses you’d never heard of to Greek philosophy. Once, you had what you learned to be some of Friedmann’s equations stuck in your head for a week. Despite how little you cared for mathematics, your curiosity had given in eventually and you ended up googling it after 3 days. Whoever your soulmate is, he’s an absolute genius. 

Sometimes the thought of just how smart your soulmate is feels a little daunting; You’re not dumb, you have a master’s degree in Criminology and worked for the FBI, but you couldn’t help but wonder if your soulmate would be disappointed when the two of you finally meet. There’s no way of telling which of your thoughts your soulmate had heard from you over the years; maybe he learned about your study of criminals or some of the bad guys you’d managed to catch over the years...or maybe he learned about how you have almost every episode of Friends memorized. Recently, the thoughts you heard have become more frequent. Back when you were a kid, the thoughts you heard could be weeks or even months apart, but as you got older, you heard his thoughts more and more often. Your mom had said that must mean you’re going to meet your soulmate pretty soon; the same thing had happened with her and your father. 

“17 interviews and we still don’t have a replacement…”

The thought entered your head for a moment, but flickered away before it completed. “Don’t distract me today, soulmate. I’ve got a job interview.” You thought. Even though you don’t have any control over which thoughts he would hear, you hoped he had gotten your message. You currently worked in Crimes Against Children with the FBI, but after 4 years excelling in that area, one of the higher-ups, Strauss, had suggested applying for the renowned Behavioral Analysis Unit. You had become a profiler of sorts within CAC; when you were in college you had attended multiple lectures on the subject matter. Even though you weren’t officially trained, your bosses all agreed that you had the potential. Plus, the BAU had been down an agent for a while, so today you were meeting with SSA Hotchner.

When you arrived at the FBI headquarters today, instead of heading to your usual building, you went to the building where the BAU was held. Your nerves were getting the best of you as the elevator slowly made its way to the 6th floor, and to make matters worse, your soulmate’s thoughts were flying through your head at an astronomical rate. “I should book a flight to visit mom soon…” “Maybe we’ll finally get a new agent today....” “if Morgan tries to make me do his paperwork one more time…” Clearly, he hadn’t heard your plea to try and keep it down today. Or, he has just about as much control over which thoughts you heard as you did with his. Despite the foreign thoughts filling your head, you tried your best to stay focused as you exited the elevator and made your way towards Hotchner’s office. 

As you walked through the room, your eyes were pulled from your destination to the various people sitting at the desks. Or, more specifically, to a certain guy filling out paperwork diligently. “Holy fuck, he’s cute.” You thought. Almost immediately, his head snapped up towards you. “Did he…?” “Wow.” You both thought at the same time. This time, you stopped walking, and he pushed away from his desk to get a better look at you. Your interview had almost completely slipped your mind until you heard someone call your name.

“SSA Y/L/N?” You turned away from the guy, who you were now incredibly intrigued by, to the man you recognized as Aaron Hotchner. 

“SSA Hotchner, it’s good to see you again.” You said, giving him a wave. You weren’t a fan of shaking hands, although you were nervous your avoidance of the motion would come off unprofessional. Luckily, Hotchner didn’t seem to mind.

“Please, call me Hotch. My office is just this way, if you’d like to follow me.” Hotch led you to his office, where you took a seat in the chair across from his desk. Luckily, the thoughts from your soulmate - who may or may not be sitting right outside this office - had calmed down, so you had a clear head for your interview.

~~~

“Garcia!” Spencer burst into Garcia’s batcave, shocking the girl. Morgan stood next to her, looking at Spencer like he was insane.

“What’s wrong, pretty boy?”

“I need to know the name of the agent Hotch is interviewing right now.”

“Ok, you could’ve just asked like a normal person instead of giving me a heart attack!” Garcia grumbles, sitting in front of her computer to pull up the information. “Do I at least get a reason as to why you need to know about,” She paused, reading the name that had popped up on her screen, “SSA Y/N Y/L/N?” Spencer leaned down next to Garcia, so he could see the picture of you on the screen.

“Y/N Y/L/N…” The name felt perfect coming from his lips. It was like he never wanted to say another name again

“Reid? Seriously, what's up with this girl? Do you think she’s bad news?” Morgan asked, clearly concerned about Spencer’s actions

“N-no, I, um, I think she’s my soulmate.” Spencer whispered, not really registering what he had said until Garcia’s excited squeals finally tore his eyes away from the computer screen

“Oh my god this is the best thing that’s ever happened! Are you sure? Oh my god I need to do more research! No wait - if you think she’s your soulmate what are you doing in here with us! You need to be with her and fall in love and get married and name your first born after me like yesterday!” Garcia began rambling, grabbing Spencer’s hand and practically dragging him out of her office and back towards the bullpen. She continued talking as they walked over, while Morgan trailed behind with a wide smile on his face. 

Prentiss and JJ had been chatting at their desks when Garcia dragged Spencer in. “Code Red, ladies! Spencer Reid met his soulmate and she’s with Hotch right now!” Garcia announced, finally letting go of Spencer’s arm. 

“Holy shit!”

“Oh my god, Spence!”

Emily and JJ both gave Spencer a hug, while a blush rose to his cheeks. “I-I don’t know for sure yet. I just, it was like something was pulling me to her. And this time when I heard her thoughts it just felt so…” Spencer was at a loss for words, which was very rare for him. He couldn’t describe this brand new experience.

“Like everything suddenly made sense?” JJ suggested, as the only one in the group who actually knew what the experience of meeting your soulmate was like. 

“Yeah.” Spencer nervously began to play with his hands, turning to look at the door. Through the blinds of Hotch’s office, he could just make out where she was sitting. “Good luck.” He tried to send her the thought, knowing that if they really were soulmates, he should have more control over which thoughts she would hear or not. He may have been imagining it, but he swore she saw her figure get less tense through the blinds.

~~~

“Well, Agent Y/L/N, you’re certainly one of the best candidate’s I’ve interviewed so far. I know you still have an active case to finish with CAC, but once that’s resolved we’d love to have you transfer over here to the BAU.” Hotch said with a small smile.

“Thank you so much, Hotch! My current case is almost wrapped up, so I should be able to officially transfer within the next week or so.” You said with a smile. The both of you stood from your chairs, and Hotch opened his office door for you. Immediately, your eyes found the man again, and you found he was already looking at you. 

“Did you want to meet the rest of the team? Clearly, they’ve all decided it’s social hour anyways.” Hotch suggested, clearly not too pleased with the group that was very clearly not doing any work at the moment. He had mentioned that the team didn’t have a case right now, but you were sure there was still plenty of paperwork to get though.

“Yes! Please.” You said, maybe a little too enthusiastically. Even though you did want to be on good terms with the whole team, right now the only person you cared about was the man in the cardigan.

“Guys, this is SSA Y/N Y/L/N, she’ll be joining us here at the BAU soon. Y/L/N, this is SSAs Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau, and Dr. Spencer Reid. Penelope Garcia is our technical analyst, and SSA David Rossi should be around here somewhere-” 

Hotch was practically cut off by Penelope, who immediately pulled you in for a hug. You did your best to hide your discomfort, but you had always been a bit of a germaphobe.“Oh my God it’s so lovely to meet you, we’re all so excited for you to join our little family…” Penelope began to ramble as she pulled away from the hug, which you found endearing. 

“Is she like this all the time?” You thought. 

“Yes. You’ll get used to it.” Your eyes immediately move to Spencer’s. Dr. Spencer Reid.

“I’m sure I will. Don’t know if I’ll get used to talking in our minds though.” You think. You were completely tuned out of the conversation the other Agents had started, now focusing only on Spencer.

“Well, studies show that transitioning to life with a soulmate can be jarring, but not because of discomfort of hearing thoughts. It usually takes couples a long time to learn how to turn it off, which can result in soulmates getting to know each other’s secrets rather quickly. That’s why nearly 38% of soulmates will break up within a few months of starting a relationship, although it should be noted that 87% of those that break up will end up getting back together at some point in their lives.” Spencer’s thoughts began racing, and you suddenly understood all the random facts you had learned from him over the course of your life. As he told you the facts and figures of soulmates breaking up - not the best subject for a pair of soulmates that just met, but you didn’t mind - you noticed that the rest of the team had stopped talking and were now just watching you and Spencer converse in your heads.

“That probably explains why we’re talking with our thoughts instead of out loud. And why your team is staring.” Spencer’s cheeks reddened when he looked away from you and realized you were right.

“Honestly, I forgot they were there. Which is rare for me, I have an eidetic memory.” You laughed aloud at his remark, earning more confused looks from everyone else.

“Sorry, guys, I guess we got a little...distracted.” You spoke aloud for the first time in a few minutes. Spencer moved closer to you, his hand itching to take yours.

“Oh, please, don’t apologize, I was the same way with Will after we met. I know how overwhelming it can be at first.” Jennifer waved off your worries, and extended a hand towards you, “You can call me JJ, by the way.” 

“Oh, um, I don’t really shake hands, I’m a bit of a germaphobe.” You worried once again about coming off as rude, but this remark only made JJ, and the rest of the team laugh.

“Wow, you two really are soulmates, aren’t you.” Derek remarked, swinging his arm over Penelope’s shoulder as he spoke.

“I’m the same way.” Spencer explained to you, “It’s actually safer to kiss.”

“I’m sure we’ll put that to the test when we’re alone.” You didn’t think it was possible, but Spencer’s face became even more red after your thought entered his own head.

~~~

tagged: @dr-reid-ismyspiritanimal

[bangchanstudio]

my roommate is a ghost | han jisung (ch. 2)

pairing: han jisung x reader (fem)

genre: college;au, parallel universe??

tw: mild nudity, mild talk of death, ghosts, cursing

word count: 1,360

writer’s note: so i guess i was a little more inspired lol 2 chapters in one night! sorry if it’s still a little bland, its hard to get the bases down lol please let me know if you like it!

plot: you had a bad habit of seeing ghosts. sometimes they were scary, sometimes they were rude, but hardly were they ever cute. one day as you were getting ready for class you walked in on your roommate showering… except you didn’t have a roommate. and he wasn’t exactly a ghost. (loosely inspired by the webtoon Freaking Romance by Snailords)

[10:55pm]

ghost han jisung was sitting cross legged in the middle of your small couch while you paced back and forth nibbling on your thumb. this can’t be right, you insisted in your head mumbling mindlessly the thoughts running through your skull. if he was a ghost why didn’t he disappear when you slapped him? he didn’t even disappear the second time you slapped him when aelin left for hana’s either.. you stopped abruptly turning to face ghost han jisung, the sudden movement making his eyes go slightly wide as he flinched back. safe to say he wouldn’t be messing with you, though you did feel bad for slapping him... twice.

“how old are you?”

jisung tilted his head curiously before responding, “19, you?”

“19″ you mumbled before going back to pacing. “so, just to be clear, you’re not dead?”

“how many times are you going to ask me that? I am not dead. I’m sure i would have remembered such a traumatic life event”

you waved a hand dismissively, “you say that but explain how you disappeared this morning? I was waiting for you to come out of the bathroom but you never did. and when i went to go check on you, you were gone. just- vanished into thin air. like a ghost.”

“I don’t know how to explain it either. I woke up at 6:15am, got in the shower, washed my hair, scrubbed my body, brushed my teeth and that’s when you so rudely walked in on me. i never left my dorm.” he crossed his arms, his biceps distracting you a bit. pull yourself together, you can’t crush on a ghost, that’s all kinds of weird.

“okay, so let’s say you’re not dead. what year is it?” there has to be some logical explanation to all of this.

“2020″ jisung answered, “this is columbia university, weather today was partly cloudy 87 degrees, a small earthquake hit cali last week, lunch in the main cafe today was chicken pasta and ceasar salad,”

everything sounded right until he said, “President Clinton spoke today at-”

“Trump, you mean?” you clarified stopping dead in your tracks.

“No... Hillary Clinton.” both of you stared waiting for the other to say sike, but neither of you broke. you moved around the small coffee table sitting on it and leaning to face jisung eye to eye, the closeness making him flatten his back into the couch.

“who is the 45th president of the united states?”

“hil-hillary clinton,” jisung stuttered blinking as if to see you more clearly. “the first female president.”

“no...” you said quietly, “donald trump is president. the first cheeto.”

jisung bursted out laughing, “did you just call donald trump a cheeto? no, he lost the race. what are you even saying?”

“I’m dead serious!” you insisted, quickly pulling up trump’s wikipidea page on your phone before showing him. jisung looked at the phone screen intently reading it before pulling out his own phone and showing you his screen.

It was a news article with the exact same date as today,

tuesday, august 18, 2020 president clinton addresses the rumors of...

“there’s no way...” you trail off. a thought suddenly occurred to you. “can i use your phone?”

jisung handed it to you and you quickly went to dial your phone number from his phone, you placed the phone to your ear hearing it ring but your phone sat idle on your lap, the screen black.

“hello?” you hung up immediately as a deep male voice answered. definitely not you.

“Here,” you said shoving your phone into jisung’s hand, “call your phone.”

“why? if you want my number you could just say so.” he said wiggling his eyebrows.

“no you dummy, i just called my phone number from yours and someone else answered.”

he nodded and dialed his number placing the call on speaker. it rung for 20 seconds before going into, “you have reached the voicemail box of Doctor Sarah Ledwi-”

jisung ended the call before saying, “so, what exactly is this suppose to mean?”

what was this suppose to mean?

[6:30am]

the blaring alarm of your phone woke you up cutting through the dark fog of whatever dreamless sleep you were in. the room was dark but someone left the bathroom light on last night and by someone it was probably jisung. you hadn’t figured much out, the only things you two were able to gather through google searches and quizzing each other was that you seemed to live in different realities. you both were alive, just not in the same dimension. jisung admitted to seeing you in his bedroom mirror during move in day last week but it was only for a second, so he chalked it up to a trick of the eyes and a hang over. but that was the first day you were seeing him. eventually jisung got up to use the bathroom and never came back, that was around 4am.

luckily for you today was your late day, lecture wasn’t until 9am, though you set your alarm early to try and have some type of decent schedule or a routine but you couldn’t help giving into sleep just a little while longer.

a little while longer ended up costing you both of your lectures as you forgot to set another alarm to wake you up, instead you were awaken by a pounding at the door.

“what the hell?” you grumbled covering one eye with your hand and squinting with the other. you tapped around the night stand looking for your glasses but the insistent pounding made you get up blindly just to shut up whoever was at the door.

“who the hell are you?” you answered, not recognizing the prick at the door. he wasn’t much taller than you, sporting black on black and a baseball cap.

“oh sorry, i didn’t realize jisung had a girl over.” he said with an australian accent. “could you let him know i finished the beat we were working on?”

wait a second... did he say jisung? no, this can’t be happening.

“who’s the 45th president of the united states?” you asked,

the guy looked at you as if you were crazy, before chuckling, “uh- hillary clinton?”

you groaned telling him you’d let jisung know before closing the door and looking at your surroundings. this definitely wasn’t your room. there was take out left on the coffee table, men’s clothes laying in the bathroom floor. there was a clock by the tv that read 12:32pm and on the desk by the window was a calendar. it had, what you assumed, was jisung’s schedule.

“lecture 1: 9:30am-10:45am, lecture 2: 11:00am-12:15pm.. he should be back soon then,” you mumbled to yourself talking a look at the other things on his desk. a midi keyboard, studio monitors, a recording microphone. was this guy some kind of soundcloud rapper or what?

since you missed your morning lectures, you were free until the afternoon your last lecture of the day being 7pm. but... how exactly were you suppose to get back? jisung doesn’t even know how he was able to go back and forth twice. you caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror realizing you were still only in a towel from last night. the both of you had been so caught up in the mystery of what was happening that it never occurred to you to put some clothes on, and fuck that’s how you answered the door just now.

*beep, beep, beep, beep, click*

you turned as jisung walked in with another guy trailing behind him. they were laughing about something but jisung gasped as he saw you standing there... in a towel.

“Sorry mate, but you can’t come in I- uh,” Jisung fumbled for an excuse as he shoved his friend out the door.

“Ohh, you didn’t tell me you had a girl over, now i know who caused those bags under your ey-” he shut the door on him mid sentence before turning back to you and running his hand through his hair.

you pulled at a black supreme tshirt he had in his closet, “mind if I borrow this?”

[talpup]

Summary: Yami Sukehiro just wanted to join the Magic Knights and make his mentor proud.  He knew there would be trails.  He knew trouble would come his way.  Knew he would be faced with discrimination for being a foreigner and a peasant.  What he didn’t know.  Didn’t expect.  Was that literal Chaos would come his way.  That he and his mentor’s sister would be at the center of world ending trouble.  Or that he would fall in love with his mentor’s sister and face more than discrimination; but the jealously of Nozel Silva who loved the same woman he did.

Please remember this fic is rated mature and has warnings of violence, abuse, sexual tension, eventual sexual behavior, and other possible triggers.  For a full list of story tags please check the fics AO3 (link to that at the top of my tumblrs homepage).

If you read anything I'm offering this week it should be the chat in chapter 87 comments that I had with @XYZ25 over on ao3.

SERIOUSLY!! Their questions are always SO good and never fail to drive and inspire me; but this week things went off on a 'plot bunny' tangent about this fics version of Nozel eventually becoming Wizard King and Solid becoming King.  To better understand Solid becoming king you'd have to read the thread and the way the line of succession works in this fic.

Anyway, I HIGHLY suggest you read the thread.  @XYZ25 came out with the BEST PS that I could totally and WANT to build a fic around.

Chapter 88

Teris woke up squinting at the bright sunlight shining through her bedroom window.  She wondered if only the night had passed or if she had been out longer.  Taking it as a good sign the she was home; she washed her face, brushed her hair, and changed.  She was still filthy and reeked of smoke, but a bath would have to wait until after she found out what happened.

Following her sense of Yami’s mana, she made her way to the Captain's office. Finding the door partially open, she knocked and entered.

“Good. You’re awake.”  Jax greeted.

“Hornsby?” Teris asked, taking a seat next to Yami before the Captain's desk.

“No one was lost but their crops completely were, and the town’s as good a gone.  Hage lost several crop fields but more than half were spared, and the town itself untouched.”  Jax told.

“From the sounds of it the high winds you all had at Hornsby spread the Wild Fire far and fast.  The Sorcery Lance’s that attacked us also didn’t hang around as long, nor did they go around lobbing jars of Wild Fire.”  Yami turned in his chair to face Teris, expression hard as concerned eyes looked her carefully over.  “What the hell were you thinking?”

Teris’ eyebrows furrowed.  “What?”

“I told him how you tackled the Sorcery Lance readying to throw a jar of Wild Fire.”  Jax told Teris.

“Oh.” Teris pulled at a hang nail.  “Sorry.”

“It that an apology or a question?”  Jax complained of her tone.

Upset and concerned as he was, Yami couldn’t stop his smirk.  “She has a knack for that.”

“What the hell were you thinking?”  Jax echoed Yami, scolding Teris.

“I—I didn’t.  I just acted.”  Teris said.

Jax ran a hand roughly over his face.

“Sorry.” Teris said in the same questioning tone.

“Damn right you’re sorry!  You could have died.  Instantly.”  Jax’s throat bobbed at how close he’d come to losing another Vice Captain.  Swallowing the emotion, he joked.  “Where would I have been then?  With Yami as my sole Vice Captain.”

“Captain’s right.  This only works if one of use acts without thinking; and that’s my thing, you can’t have it.”  Yami jested, squashing his needless worry.  Teris was here, safe and alive.

Teris looked between Yami and Jax, easily reading their concern.  This time her apology was genuine.  “I’m sorry.”

“No more leaping at foes throwing jars of Wild Fire.”  Jax told.

Teris couldn’t help but smirk at how crazy it sounded.  But that’s exactly what she had done.  She recalled the mans chard form crumbling to nothing beneath her and wrinkled her nose.  She met Jax’s eyes remembering what the Sorcery Lance that had stood above her said him.

Jax looked away, seeming to read her mind.  He cleared his throat and stood, suddenly needing some air.  “Don’t let her take away and do anymore of my work.”  He told Yami, exiting the office.

Yami grinned at Teris.  “Yes, sir.”

Teris looked after Jax in concern.  She had never known the Captain to date.  Not that she had ever paid attention to his private life.  But if what the Sorcery Lance had alluded to was true; remembering something like that so soon after his best friends death--

“They think the Spade Kingdom started the Wild Fires.”  Yami said, breaking into her thoughts.

“What gave them that idea.  The fact that Sorcery Lances attacked throwing jars of it?”

Yami’s lip twitched upward at her heated sarcasm.  “Greywright said it was cause they wanted us to know they started the Wild Fires and did it in retaliation for Rayla’s death.”

Teris scowled.  It was pointless telling Yami what he already knew.  But even if they had killed Rayla, it would’ve been justified.  Then again Rayla had said her King hadn’t known of her actions.

Teris rubbed her eyes, hoping this mess wouldn’t cause a war.  Along with Sir Jorah, it would be Greywright’s job to make sure that it didn’t escalate to that.  Did she really want such a job?  Would someone come along during her time as Magic Knights Commander and create a similar mess to the one that she and Yami had caused?  She hoped not. Even if Teris didn’t want the job, which she did, she didn’t have much of a choice.  Only the rank of Magic Knights Commander or Wizard King would save her from banishment.  She refused to have Yami fight to free her from her family.  Even if the brother Yami would face was Fyntch and not Julius.

Yami looked Teris carefully over again.  With her not having bathed yet, it was difficult to tell how injured she was.  Clearly there were no terrible wounds and she didn’t appear to be in obvious pain. Still, he wished they could feed off of each others mana.  It had been almost a year since they’d been able to do so.  Almost a year since the Summer Solstice had churned the core of their mana so badly that they couldn’t trust letting their mana get near the others. It was like living in a too small cell; unable to take a full, deep breath.

Yami gripped her wrist, pulling her hand away from her face.  “What’s the matter?  Still weakened from playing catch with Wild Fire?”

Teris would’ve laughed if her head hadn’t been buzzing with everything she had learned the past few days.  Jax’s possible tragic love life the least disconcerting discovery.  She had barely begun to examine what had been done and said while they were captive in Rayla’s lab. She hadn’t even started to process what they’d been told about Advisor Ellara...

She tugged against Yami’s grip till it loosened from her wrist.  Her hand slid down his wrist to hold his hand.  His presence comforted her like nothing else could.  His calm, sure strength sheltered and steadied her.  With Yami, she could do anything.  Face anything.  It had nothing to do with the combination of their magic and the destruction it could cause.  Yami was her anchor in the chaos of this world.  With him at her side.  With him as her home.  She had the inner strength and will to face whatever came their way.

“They lied.”  Teris said.

Yami frowned, eyebrows furrowing.  “Who?”

“Greywright. Sir Jorah.  Julius and Jax too I guess.”  Teris said.

Her hand tightened around his. The other balled into a fists.  Teris didn’t know if the built up mana would have killed Yami, or caused him to experience something similar to what she had gone through on the Summer Solstice; nor did she care.  Rayla had put Yami’s life in danger. Fuegoleon and Nozel had been injured and put in danger as well.  The fact that the Agents of Chaos had been the ones to find and help them left her with a strange mixture of anger, self loathing at her weakness, and a sense of indebtedness.

Swallowing those emotions, Teris said. “After the Summer Solstice, Sir Jorah said they would tell us everything.  From the Agents of Chaos and what they knew of them, down to anyone else who had an interest us. Never once in that telling did they mention the Spade Kingdoms Magical Science division. Yet Greywright clearly knew of their interest when he spoke to Rayla.”

Yami pulled his hand free and leaned forward, forearms resting on his thighs. He hadn’t caught that, and understood why Teris would be upset about it.  They faced so many dangers already.  To learn that there were even more groups wanting at them only added to the danger. Yet what good would knowing do?  Greywright had known of the Spade Kingdoms interest in them and had wound up in Rayla’s lab right along with them.  They had thought they’d known the Agents of Chaos wanted them for the Winter Solstice.  Wrong as they were, the Agents of Chaos had proven they knew exactly where they had been hidden and could get to them.

Yami shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe they forgot.”

“Forgot?” Teris echoed.

Yami scratched the back of his neck and admitted.  “I’ve forgotten the names of all the other groups other than the Agents of Crazies. Maybe they forgot when telling us too.”

“Yami--”

“Do you trust them?”  Yami cut in.

Teris stopped and blinked.

“Do you trust Julius, Jax, and Greywright?”  Yami asked.

“Of course I do.  But--”

“Then it doesn’t matter.”  Yami said over her.  At her expression, Yami plucked at her pant leg.  “We’ve got bigger things, Ikigai.” When she didn’t respond to the nickname in the accustomed way, he sighed.  “What’s this really about?”

Teris looked away.  Learning that yet another group was interested in them. That Yami had been contacted by the page of Chaos at least twice and hadn’t told her.  That the Wizard Kings Advisor was working either for or with the Agents of Chaos, and effecting Sir Jorah to some degree; and Julius, Jax, and Commander Greywright had kept it from them all this time. It was all too much. She was tired.  Tired of the secrets.  Tired of being hunted, wanted, preyed upon because of some supposed primordial power she didn’t understand, hadn’t asked for, and would gladly give up if it meant she and Yami could live in relative safety and peace.

“I don’t like secrets.”  Teris said.

Yami licked his lips.  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the page of Chaos sooner.  I should’ve.”

“Damn right you should have.”  Teris snapped.

Yami’s tender, loving eyes met her fiery ones.  “You were already upset cause of that mess with Rayla.  I didn’t want to worry you more.”

“Don’t you think I can take it?”

“Ikigai.” Yami gave a chucking scoff at the stupidity of such a question.  Of course he thought she could take it.  Teris could take anything.  But just because she could didn’t mean she had to.  It didn’t mean he wanted her to.  What kind of future husband would he be if he didn’t seek to shield and protect the woman he loved?

“What does that mean?”  Teris implored, a slight tired whine entering her voice.

Yami smiled, chuckling further.  “You want me to start keeping record of the times that blasted thing contacts me?”

“Yami.” Teris rolled her eyes.

“Don’t sound that like.  I know how you love your notes.  You’re almost as bad as the paper sniffers in Magic Investigations.”

“Am not!”  Teris playfully smacked him.

Yami laughed.

Teris smiled and shook her head.  “You’re terrible.”

“Terribly in love with you.”

“Stop it.”  Teris blushed.

“It’s true. I’ve got it bad.  Bad enough to be willing to keep some stupid record if you wanted me to.”

“You don’t need to keep record.  But if it starts happening regularly, I expect you to tell me.  I really don’t like secrets.”  Whether it was the timing.  The way Yami was looking at her.  Or the fact the she felt like a total hypocrite having said such a thing.  Teris said. “Nozel kissed me.”  Her eyes widened at her confession, and hurried to explain.  “I didn’t want him to.  It happened a long time ago.  More than a year ago in the stables at Nova House.  I didn’t kiss him back.  I—”

“I know.”  Yami said, ending her babbling explanation.

Teris stared, breath caught in her lungs, leaving her unable to speak.

Yami inhaled deeply, shoulders relaxing as he slowly exhaled. He hadn’t realized there had been a lingering weight from it all until it was gone.  No doubt Teris felt the same relief. His lips twitched slightly upward, though he was unable to hold the smile.  “I’m glad you finally told me.  Glad you finally trusted me enough.”

“I trusted you.”

“Not in this.  Not back then.”

“I—I--” Teris lowered her eyes and mumbled.  “I didn’t know what you would do. I was afraid you might do something that got you in trouble.  Afraid you might think I wanted it and led him on.”

Shaking his head, Yami muttered.  “How can someone so smart be so stupid?”

Teris’ head snapped up at that.

Yami huffed at the temper in her eyes.  “That’s right.  I called you stupid.”  He stood and pulled her up with him.  “Do you think I led Rayla on?  Wanted her to kiss me?”

“What? No.”  Teris said, fiercely.

“Well then?”  Yami’s arms wrapped around her waist. “I mean it when I say I trust you with him, Teris.  That I trust you with anyone.”

Teris hugged him.  Yami was right, she hadn’t trusted him enough in this or else she would have told him sooner.  Guilt over the unwanted kiss and having hid it from him gone, she murmured into his shoulder.  “I love you.”

Yami’s arms tightened around her.  “Thank mana for whoever dropped you on your head.”

Teris pulled back and looked at him.

“It’s the only reason I can find for you loving me.”  Yami said.

“Shut up and kiss me.”  Teris pulled him down and kissed him before he could obey.

88.2

‘Trust me.  I got this.’ Jax’s eyes squeezed shut at the last words he had said to the woman he thought he would marry.  He had been cocky.  A newly promoted Vice Captain taking his girlfriend out on date.  He hadn’t gotten a ring yet but he had been planning to.  And then a team of Sorcery Lance’s, looking for an escaped citizen, had attacked a nearby village.

Of course they had rushed to help.  Jax was a Vice Captain, and Belinda a Senior Magic Knight.

Both Bronn and Julius had told him it wasn’t his fault; their various reasons sound and reasons Jax had given others who had lost a comrade in the filed.  But his friends words had rung hollow.  Belinda had been more than a comrade.  And they hadn’t been out in the field.  They had been on a date.

If only he had pick somewhere else for them to go.  If only he had made them wait for back up.  If only...  If only...  If only...

Jax’s hand closed around a scorched piece of fabric.  Threadbare from years of being carried in his pocket.  From being taken out and rubbed.  It was the only piece he had left of her.  A torn piece of her squad cloak that had ripped when a wave of lava from a Sorcery Lance’s attack had crashed through and took her from him.

Until last night, he hadn’t revisited that horrible day in over three years. Sure she still occasionally came to mind, his hand often drifting into his pocket seeking the last remnant he had of her when she did.  But he had finally stopped reliving the terrible torment of that day.

Or so he thought.

“Thought I’d find you here.”  A familiar voice sounded from behind.

“It was where I use to pick her up when we snuck out of base after lights out.” Jax said, eyes on the scrap of fabric in his closed hand.

“And left me in a sticky situation cause as Vice Captain I was expected to stop such things.”  Julius said.

Jax huffed, slipping the fabric back into his pocket and turned to his friend.  “Doing your duty or looking away while your friend and your future Vice Captain had a secret meet up couldn’t have been an easy decision.”

“It was easier than you think.”  Julius smirked, shrugging a shoulder. His smile fell.  “She would've made a fine Vice Captain.  Certainly more fun and forgiving than Jon.”

Jax nodded, feeling silly at the tears that still gathered after so long.

Julius produced a bottle.  “I brought her favorite drink.”

“That crap.”  Jax laughed, despite himself, remembering how he told Belinda it was nothing more than rotten grape juice.

Julius pulled another bottle out from under his squad cloak.  “I also brought your favored whiskey.”

“Now you’re talking.”

Julius moved beside him.  The two men sat on the ground facing the stream that was part of the border for the Azure Deers property.

Julius watched Jax open what use to be Belinda’s favorite wine.  “I should've been there.  I’m sorry.”

For a moment Jax wasn’t sure if Julius was talking about last night or that terrible day.  Seeking to ease his friend's needless guilt, he threw the bottles cork at him.

“Hey!” Julius wiped at the stain on his shirt.

“Like you can’t use your magic to fix it or buy a thousand new ones.”

“Not if I hope to cover your tab this month cause of that stupid bet.” Julius said.

“You’re only calling the bet stupid cause you lost.”

“Yeah, and?”

Jax chuckled.  “You’re a good friend, Julius.”

“I know.”

“And humble.”  Jax snarked.

Julius smiled, watching Jax lift the bottle of wine to his lips.  “I know that too.”

If you do go to ao3 to read that comment thread, feel free to jump in with any ideas and/or questions.

As always comments and reblogs are VERY MUCH appreciated.

Next chapter snippet:

“Don’t toy with me!  I’ll don’t care what memory mage I have to use. I’ll know everything you do even if it leaves you drooling and catatonic.”  Jax said.

“Just make sure you don’t call upon Advisor Ellara Shaw.”  Iban said, hands lifted in yielding submission.

[therearemorethanfivenights]

Chapter 11 is up!

I’m spending my quaran-time wisely by writing about a dead teenager hunting for her killer.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11674818/chapters/56827993

I’m also working on art, some shorts about characters we’ve yet to see and a backlog of chapters for if/when I lose momentum again. Planning ahead is important, kids.

Continue reading under the cut-

It had been a fair few hours since Marie's strange episode, and she was up and about once more. Up, about, and ready to follow her first lead. "Seriously, do you think I would hide something like being the witness to a god damn murder from everyone? I'm literally designed so that I can't do that." Mangle was sat sorting through a small box of mini LEDs. She was there, she was the one who screamed and was dragged off, it was impossible for it not to have been her. "That's my point exactly! Unless it was some insane near-death vision - which it definitely was not - then you were there. Yet somehow, you don't remember a thing. That can't have been an accident!" Marie grabbed her friend's shoulders tight, startling her. The tiny bulbs scattered at her feet, some finding there way through a gap in the floor panels of her den and dropping to the floor below. 

"Ifreann... what do you mean? You think someone wiped my brain? This isn't a movie Marie, and even if that was what happened, the only person who could have done that was..." She trailed off as she thought. The whole thing made more sense than she wanted to admit. If anyone had seen a crime, the criminal would want to remove the threat of them talking. So it was entirely possible that she had seen her friend's murder. By that logic, any one of the animatronics could have been a witness to or even assisted with one of the murders. But they couldn't. "Fixing our mechanisms is tricky, but doable. Rewiring a whole bunch of stuff in our brains, so to speak, is nigh on impossible. At the time of you getting shanked-" "Tactful as always." "I was the only person capable of doing anything remotely close to that. There was only one man who could have done it to such a degree of 'not-fucking-everything-else-up-as-well', and he was definitely dead by then." She finished, muttering further as she began the grueling task of tidying the bits on her floor. Marie paused. She was right, of course. Everybody knew the fate of William Afton, he had killed himself shortly after the Bite had occurred. Unless...

"What if he wasn't dead. What if he isn't."

"What?"

"William, the guy who built you. You said that he was the only one capable of fiddling with your head with that level of precision. To wipe all traces of an event without leaving a weird gap in your memory that would make you suspicious. What if he never offed himself, but just made you forget who he was... describe him for me." Marie had a hunch. "What, William? Well, he was... he was... I... I don't remember anything about him." She stopped picking at the floor. "But, he was always elusive, right? Not many people saw him and we only did during the early days. We never saw him after we were installed at the restaurant. At least... I don't think we did."

It suddenly made sense. Or at the very least, more sense than it had before today. If her theory was correct, then it would explain why, despite being walking security cameras, nobody had seen anyone suspicious. They were programmed to find everything about this guy completely normal, no matter how much creepy lurking and luring he may be doing. But while she had a plausible suspect, there was no motive. "I'm going to think on this a while. You, uh, have fun with your blinky lights." She said, handing her the closest one before floating out the door and away. 

Dawn had been listening in as best she could. "Marie, not to butt in..." She emerged from the shadows beneath Mangle's den, squeezing awkwardly past various shelves. "I just wanted you to know... if I can help at all... like with all of this..." Marie smiled, trying to seem as unfazed as possible. "I know. I'm fine D, really." She continued towards the door. Dawn frowned. She didn't really understand any of this, and that bothered her. Normally if Marie had a problem she would tell her. She felt useless. "Actually..." She stopped. "Mind if I ask you something? Just wondering-" "Yes?" "Before you started here... There was a time between you and Afton right? When there was just, nobody doing repairs?" She asked. "No, I mean, yes there was nobody here. I think mostly it was just Mangle doing what she could." Dawn replied. "It's weird though, even with a robot brain, it would have taken a long time to figure out everything she has. So, before she knew what she knows... lucky there weren't any major problems, right?" She laughed nervously. "Huh."

Mike and Amy were still sifting through what information they could find on the Bite of '87. "Remember how this was just supposed to be a nice walk around to work off lunch?" Amy teased. She was enjoying their conspiracy hunt to a degree, but they'd reached an impasse a few articles back. There was the motive for murder but nothing could prove that the man was alive, let alone anywhere near the establishment at the time of the first murders. "I know." Mike was uninterested. If he wasn't here he'd be obligated to be at 'home' with his 'family'. No thanks, there had to be some way to prove him either right or wrong, either would be preferable to listening to his extended family argue about political bullcrap. And then the Puppet hovered in.

"Hey, how you feeling? I overheard something had happened. Blow a fuse?" Amy asked sympathetically. Chica came by to explain that something strange had occurred on her way to see exactly what that meant, but they were too absorbed to follow. "Yeah... something like that." Marie peered over at the screen. "So what kinda smut are you looking at?" She asked, half-joking.

"News stuff."

"So no tits? Disappointing." She sighed. Amy raised an eyebrow. "I'm kidding. Mostly. What kinda news?" "We have this theory, about our killer, but it's nothing to worry over." Mike turned the monitor to show her the current article. "I mean, it involves a locally famous suicide being faked and a cyber-child, so probably in the realm of the crazy and slash or impossible." He scrolled absentmindedly onward. Marie immediately tensed up. "Mike... Is this the case of one William Afton? Because boy-howdy do I have some interesting insight into that mess." She made an uneasy grin. Mike nodded, almost amazed. He got up from his chair and let the Puppet sit down, uncaring as to whether it would make a difference. He perched by Amy on the desk, who seemed just as stunned. "We... have the motive to believe he's the one doing this, but there's no way we could prove he's still around. If we could then maybe, but right now we've hit a wall." He explained. Marie nodded slowly.

"Funny, I have the opposite problem. I can prove he was around I think, but not why." She said. "But you might not believe the 'source' exactly."

Mangle hadn't remained in her den for long. The more she tried to think of her creator, the less she seemed to actually remember, and this was bothering her. So she decided to ask around. Crawling through the vents, she tried to think of her earliest thoughts, before she had arrived at the pizzeria. Vague memories floated around. A voice, she could remember a voice, but was it his? It was polite, asking her things, always amazed by her answers. That had to be him.

"Toy Foxy? I wanted to ask you something." He said. "You're voice is different. It used to be the one I gave you, do you remember?" He imitated a voice she barely thought her own. "But now it's something different. Why is that? Do you know what it is?" She remembers feeling pestered, but she always answered. She had to, being considerate and helpful, but she didn't feel like it at times. "It's... Irish, isn't it? I just prefer the way it sounds. It feels like... the other voice is good, but it's yours. I want this one, it sounds like me. Why? Are you offended I didn't like what you gave me? Because I'm not changing it now." She laughed. She was much happier then, if a little annoyed by the barrage of questions.

She crawled out of the vent and down into the main hall. Below, Toy Chica was sat on her phone. Everyone had seemingly scuttled away, presumably coming to terms with today's revelation, but Toychi seemed to be entirely over it. "I've seen weirder things on the internet, in case you were wondering why I haven't curled up in a corner. I can see your reflection, y'know." She said, not looking up. Mangle extended her neck as far as possible to continue the conversation. She always misjudged how high the ceiling in here was. "Hey so, how much do you remember about William?" She asked. Toychi shrugged and continued to look at her various social media feeds. 

"Come on, I need to know because of reasons." She swung her face so her hair covered Toychi's vision. "Important reasons." She affirmed. Toy chica sighed and did as she was asked. "I remember he was from England. And like, he was married I think." She said, trying to push Mangle's head away. "But nothing personal? Nothing the just us, his life's work, would remember? Or even what he looked like?" "Of course I remember... huh. That's... totally not ok. I have an amazing memory, how the hell can't I remember that guy?" She immediately began searching her phone. "I remember he gave me this, maybe I took pictures," she switched to the internet, "Google knows everything, maybe they have a picture!" She was becoming increasingly distressed. "Mangle! What the fuck does this guy look like?!" She cried.

At this point, Toy Freddy had emerged from backstage. "What the heck are you yelling about now? Is anyone else secretly a ghost?" He wasn't feeling up to any more ghost shenanigans. However, this didn't seem like something he could ignore, given the frantic pace at which Toy Chica had begun waving him over. "What colour hair did William Afton have?!" She asked, still aggressively applying as many advanced search keywords as possible. "What? How the heck would I know?" He responded. She barely acknowledged this, still scouring her device. Mangle clambered not-so-gracefully down from the ceiling. "Was he fat, or thin? What colour were his eyes? Did he have freckles? We should know, man, but we don't! Why?!" Toychi dropped her phone into her lap with a small thud before burying her face in her arms on the table. 

"I mean, yeah, that is a little unusual. Maybe it's a glitch? Or maybe we just don't remember? Ten years is a long time." He sat beside her. It was strange but surely there were more important things happening than trying to remember one man. "A glitch for all of us? And I have over a thousand people's names, faces, birthdays, favourite flavours of ice-cream... We can't forget things, not really, not unless we delete things ourselves." Came a slightly muffled reply.

"Ok, but why does he even matter. He made us then dropped off the face of the earth, big deal." He said. He was actually quite interested in helping find out just how exactly someone had removed all traces of themselves from their minds, as William no doubt had done, and why, but Toychi was in hysterics and he wasn't prepared to encourage her.

All the while, Mike continued to compile his resources. Marie decided it'd be best to let him handle things. She felt a little bad since as it was, everyone else was cleaning up this mess that she was at the center of, yet she was just idly floating around and keeping as far from it all as she could. Aside from the notes she'd been compiling, it was all down to the others. But she was far too tired to deal with anything more. She ducked into the arcade and flopped haphazardly into her box once more. She stared into the darkness, admiring herself. She had done fairly well, all things considering. 

"Why me though?" She asked aloud. It was an interesting question. From Mike's debrief, she knew who had killed her. At least, she thought she knew, because she was an outlier. The other victims were all connected. All were friends of Michael's older brother, William's nephew he'd taken in according to what little she remembered about her brother's friend's family. Then there was Alex, who could possibly have been a part of the group that hurt Michael. He wasn't, but William couldn't have known.

So why? She remembered the basement, the safe room. But that made no sense either. She was smarter than that, she watched horror movies all the time. How in the world could a total stranger have lured her into the basement of the Pizzaria?

Then she saw it.

It was a gift box, very like the one she now resided in. Aside from its sudden appearance, it could have been mistaken for a completely ordinary wrapped box. Something a child could have left for her or forgotten before closing the other day. It was Christmas after all. "Alright then." She said. Maybe she'd overlooked it, she wasn't exactly thinking straight. "Happy Hannukkah, me." She picked up the box. It wasn't small at all, yet it barely weighed anything. There was a small tag hanging from the bow. She squinted to read what it said, "You are not alone. If you awaken them, they will help you find him. They will help you hunt him. They will grant revenge... Ok, this is some weird shit." She dropped the box on the floor. 

"Revenge is for losers anyway." She laughed through her nose, amused by the idea that she'd want revenge. Really, she just wanted this guy found and dealt with for the sake of others, for Alex. She eyed the box with suspicion. "What does it mean, 'they'. Other kids? The ones from before?" That made sense. It didn't make any sense at all because this was all insane, but then again she was a ghost so she was already pushing her own beliefs. "Maybe..." Against her better judgment, she picked the box up again.

"Maybe I should let them out. Or bring them back with this thing, whatever it's for. I mean, if these are the other kids... what harm could they do, right? If they're vengeful I can stop them, I'm more powerful. I think." She wondered exactly how powerful she was. Enough to put a stop to some stupid toddler tantrums. She grasped the ribbons on the lid of the box. She tried once more to recall what happened the night of her death, secretly hoping that she wouldn't need this supernatural pandora's box to fix this if it even could.

It was the eve of Halloween, the eve of her birthday. "God, and then he just gets up as if nothing had happened." She was hanging around the alley beside the pizzeria, "Hey, mind letting me in on those?" She referred to the box of cigarettes in Vincent's hand. "These things kill you know." He said but still offered her one. He hadn't been ok since the Bite had happened. It was weird the place was open so quickly after such a massive accident, but it was probably something to do with corporate greed or whatever. She was more concerned about her friend. 

"Look, you need to take time off. I couldn't give any less of a shit what your boss says, this place should be shut for the rest of the year and you need help." She brought a cigarette to her lips and lit it. A terrible habit for a kid, she knew, but she was running out of legal ways to stave off stress. She sighed a long trail of smoke as he shrugged at her. "Don't shrug, you know I'm right." She said, resting her hand on his shoulder. He brushed it away dejectedly and continued to stare at the floor. 

"No offense Marie... but you don't know jack shit about what's going on right now. You don't know anything and you never will. You can't." He glared at her. Something was definitely off. His voice kept faltering, changing almost. Like his whole person was just an act. It scared her. But she thought she understood. "Just focus on keeping yourself safe, ok?" He tried to smile at her. She was a child, of course, there was no way she'd understand how this worked. Vincent sounded almost like her father, in a terrible sort of way, but it was fine. They'd both suffered, he was trying to push her away for both of them. She understood that.

Her face that night was a mess of make-up and grime. She'd looked for hours but he was gone. Her throat burned from trying to make her voice heard over the crowds of kids rushing to and fro. Nothing mattered anymore. Her parents, of course, blamed her. And for once, they were right, everything was her fault. But even now, as her mother wailed into her father's lap, as her father retold what they knew to his fellow police officers, she was going to fix this. She slid her window open and climbed outside. She clutched the only thing that seemed to bring any comfort, a doll of the Puppet, a gift from Vincent for her birthday last year. She hurried to the bus-stop. There was only one bus this late, she'd be walking home, but it didn't matter. She hopped on and dropped a large handful of change through the tiny gap.

Getting in was easy. Vincent taught her a trick with the back door into parts and services. "Alex?" She cried softly into the darkness. She wished she had a torch, this place was much creepier in the dark. She stumbled through the small warehouse. "Alex?" She was trying to be as loud as possible and as quiet as possible, she knew there'd be a guard on duty and the police could get here soon. She felt a little less concerned about the guard, she'd met Scott once and he seemed like a nice enough person, but he'd also likely call her parents. 

"Alex?" Her voice echoed through the corridors. Eventually, she found herself in the arcade. She pushed her back against the wall and slid to the floor. This was it. Alex was gone forever. "Marie? Oh my god Marie what are you doing here?" Vincent's voice. He flashed a light through the door and approached her spot. "You! Where were you! He's gone, he's gone, it's your job to stop this stuff!" She kicked at his shins. "I'm sorry..." She began to sob again. Vincent knelt by her and offered his hand. "It's ok, we'll find him. Follow me." He said. She sniffed and cleaned her face as best she could.

They slowly made their way through the halls, checking every inch for any sign of Alex. "What are you even doing here, I thought Scott worked nights?" She asked, checking under each table for any scrap of evidence. Vincent handed her the torch. "Switched shifts. Work keeping me focused, you know?" "Like, focused on anything special, or focused on not..." "I said you know, didn't I? Got to keep going." He looked around. "I'm going to head back to the office, maybe some security footage will help. Think you can check the other rooms yourself?" He tossed her the keys and headed off before she even replied.

It'd been some time. What was he doing? She began heading towards the office. A door. Staff only. Maybe...

Stairs. Cold. Pain.

"No."

Marie stared at the box. William was a sure fit for everything, but he'd need access to the security footage to delete any evidence, and he had no idea who Marie was. She'd stumbled on Alex's body, sure, but how would he have known she was there if he was just popping in to murder a child then leaving again. He'd have to have been in the building, in the office to watch where she went. "No." He'd have to be working in the pizzeria, with an alias as a cover. "No." He would have to have been someone that she trusted, and who trusted her as much. "No. No that's ridiculous."

Michael used to call Vincent 'dad'. How did he know how to help Mangle and Dawn? Scott always seemed like Vince was his superior when he wasn't. He could always somehow buy her all sorts of nice things on pittance pay. Henry's kids own the place, yet they let Vincent get away with things anyone else could be fired on the spot for. He could mimic voices so well, was it such a stretch to say is 'real' voice was a fake too? Things she'd never questioned before suddenly seemed to pile up. He first talked about doing everything themselves, keeping the police and the victim's families as far away as possible. But he would never hurt her, he cared about her, he was her best friend.

Then, without her meaning to, the bottom of the box tumbled to the floor, the top still stuck in Marie's grip. The arcade machines flashed violently as a group of masks resembling the cast's old animal heads appeared, much like her own. They fizzled into small balls of light, then vanished. A message appeared on one of the cabinet screens. 'Give gift', it read. 'Give life', it read. Marie let the lid join the rest of the box on the floor. The screens went black again and left her in the dark.

"Oh no."

[inspiringwhilerespiring]

Yall know i love this survey shit<3

1. List 5 things you want to do before the year ends.

-finish 5 books

-lose 20 lbs

-produce more art

-travel out of the state & country

-heal my heart and love myself a lil more

2. What color are your pants?

not wearing any

3. Favorite motivational quote.

damn, there’s A L O T. prob something simple and to the point. I like “proud, but never satisfied” and “the distance between your dreams and reality is called action”

4. When was the last time you drank coffee?

yesterday; got a new french press for christmas<3

5. What was the last thing you ate?

lmao the weirdest shit. hot cheetos, some hummus, and a bar

6. Favorite animal.

soo many; always been fascinated by sharks. Elephants are up there too.

7. Favorite song.

currently anything Kid Cudi - he soothes my soul

8. Last movie you watched?

National Lampoon family vacation I think?

9. Any turn ons?

of course; im one of those gay people who gets turned on by having an emotional connection first and foremost; but if were strictly talking physical shit - any neck action is sexy af. or just taking breaks to make eye contact.

10. Any turn offs?

bad breath lol and just being a dick in general or inconsiderate

11. List 4 big words off of the top of your head.

cognizant; superfluous; compelling; anguished

12. What are some meaningful movies?

First ones that come to my mind that left an impact or a meaningful message are Shawshank Redemption, Avatar, Wall-E (lol), Forest Gump

13. 2 most important people in your life right now?

Myself honestly 

14. What are 3 things you want to do before the month ends?

Find a desk, order a blender, and form a morning routine

15. When was the last time you read a good book?

Currently reading Michelle Obama’s -Becoming; before that I read the Alchemist and it was good

16. How long do you study for usually, if you study?

I don’t

17. Do you have any nicknames?

Pollo, Hayls

18. Favorite kind of perfume? (fruity, alluring, etc.)

Viva la Juicy, but honestly all of them - been sticking to essential oils or all natural shit lately - anything with Amber is good.

19. Do you have any international friends / friends who live out of state?

yes<3

20. What is something unique that you do every single day?

lol shower? I dont really do anything special i dont think?

21. If there was a movie based on your life, what would it be called?

“Becoming” lol because I feel like I am always growing and changing and adapting and learning and ill never just be one thing

22. When was the last time you bought a gift for someone?

Recently - christmas time

23. Are you a shopaholic?

no - but i just got an amazon prime account and thats game changer fa real

24. What are some songs that always make you feel better?

Love - Kid Cudi, 

25. List 3 activities that you can only enjoy by yourself.

Sitting in the tub (otherwise that shit is too crowded lmao)

Reading a good book

Masturbating prob?

26. If you could live in any biome (and survive) which biome would you live in?

Tropical island

27. How do you like being roused in the morning?

cuddles and soft music (prob reggae) and if i aint got shit to do a bluntttt fam

28. How was your day? What did you do?

it was ok - fighting some inner demons lately and feeling really low :/ but i got a little bit done so im giving myself a break

29. What did your last text message say?

“bye”

30. Do you respond to texts quickly?

depends on who it is lol

31. Who was the last person you called?

my mom

32. List 5 things that are on your wish list.

i wanna learn another language

I wish to be able to see more things change for the better in our world

i wish to skydive

i wish to live in another country for a while

and i wish to love myself

33. If you were famous, what do you think you would be famous for?

maybe being a host of a talk show lol

34. Winter or summer?

both

35. What is a quality that all people should have?

empathy

36. If you could have a large collection of one item, what would that item be?

my inner white girl and materialistic ass says shoes - but idk i think it would also be cool to have a collection of books or photographs - ya know that sentimental shit i be on

37. What have you been thinking about lately?

wow so much - a lot of reflecting honestly about who i have been and how i’ve treated others and how i am trying to change myself - so ironically enough, i’ve also been thinking about the future and trying to focus on who i want to be and where i want to be

38. What is the secret to a happy life?

taking it day by day im sure

39. What are some phrases you say often?

“nice” lol to my clients a lot

40. Favorite food?

lately its been asian - like thai and vietnamese. fuck now i want some dumplings and curry and egg rollllz

41. List 3 wishes.

already fuckin diiiiiddd fam

42. What are some of your greatest fears?

memory loss, dying, losing others

43. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer?

idk whats app prob

44. Most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen (in real life)? 

machu picchu

45. Spicy food:Like or dislike? 

LOVE

46. Scary movies:Like or dislike?

Depends

47. Do you like to travel?

Do you know me lol

48. Any regrets?

yeah always, but i try to live my life without any and honestly id never go back and change em

49. Do you like rain?

obsessed; fav weather actually

50. What do you spend most of your money on?

food

51. Would you rather visit the past or the future?

past bc im a sentimental person; future is exciting and i like surprises and the unknown and dreaming about that shit - id rather not know.

52. Favorite clothing store?

depends - urban outfitters is my style but i like goodwill just as much

53. What is the best advice you can give to those who are feeling down?

this too shall pass

54. How often do you think about your future? Does it scare you?

honestly not often enough, i try not to over think things or it tends to give me anxiety. why worry about things that are far out of our control? I just take shit day by day

55. What angers you the most?

ignorance. and rude ass people. when someone isnt being genuine

56. When was the last time you got majorly angry?

yesterday

57. When was the last time you got really sad?

today

58. Are you good at lying?

im sure everyone is to some degree

59. What foreign language would you like to learn?

spanish

60. How many languages can you speak and what are they?

just one - semi fluent in spanish

61. How often do you go to parties? If you don’t, what do you do instead?

lol 

62. What books do you plan to read this year?

not sure! I have a couple but we shall see

63. Do you have breakfast every morning?

yes i try to - its my fav meal

64. Tell us a secret.

then it wouldnt be a secret

65. How many concerts have you been to?

a few

66. Last hug?

wasnt long enough

67. Who knows you better than anyone else?

myself

68. Baths or showers?

ooooooh damn, depends

69. Do you think you’re ambitious?

i could be a little more

70. What song is stuck in your head?

lmaooo wake up in the sky by gucci mane and bruno - thats been my shit lately

71. Countries you’ve visited?

Peru, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Caymans, Philippines

72. What do you most value in your friends?

Communication and laughter

73. What helps you to sleep better?

putting my got dang phone away from me

74. What is the most money you have ever held in your hand?

prob like 2 grand or some shit

75. What makes you nervous?

when i over book myself or take too much on and have a lot on my plate - so time management i suppose

76. What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?

to live in the present moment; and to take care of myself 

77. Is it easier to forgive or forget?

forgive for sure - i dont really ever forget

78. First mobile phone?

ayyy a flip phone and it was see thru and lit up and had a walkie talkie!

79. Strangest dream?

lmao ew no im so ashamed

80. Best dream?

flying or something

81. Who is the smartest person you know?

my grandpa it seems

82. Who is the prettiest person on tumblr?

idk

83. Do you miss anyone right now?

very much, always

84. Who do you love? Why?

everyone, because life is too damn short for hate

85. Do you like sharing?

yeah lol bc i expect ppl to share w me in return

86. What was the last picture you took with your phone?

idk actually

87. Is there a reason behind everything that happens?

yeah id like to think so

88. Favorite genre of music?

i was raised on hip hop so i feel like that is my go to but honestly i love reggae, alternative, a lil bit of electro chill shit, R&B, oldies, jazz, anything 

89. If you had one word to describe yourself, what would it be?

Understanding

90. Describe your life in 5 words.

roller coaster. fun. emotional. loving. growth.

91. Describe the world in 4 words.

crazy. beautiful. strong. vast.

92. Craziest thing you’ve ever done?

skinny dip?

93. First three songs in your favorite playlist?

cocaine model - zhu

is this love - bob marley

tadow - masego

94. Are you more creative or logical?

def without a doubt 100% creative/emotional/empath/sensative/does things based on feelings rather than reason type person lmao

95. Would you rather lie or hurt someone with the truth?

truth always

96. What are you most proud of?

my ability to communicate and understand people

97. What personality trait do you admire in other people?

strength/humility 

98. When you imagine yourself as really, really relaxed and happy, what are you doing?

smoking a fat ass blunt doing yoga on a sunny day while its 68 degrees out and im on a beach 

[multipleservicelisting]

Shirley Abrahamson, Trailblazing Wisconsin Judge, Dies at 87

Shirley Abrahamson, an indefatigable jurist known for her activist voice and tart dissents who was the first woman on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and later its first female chief justice, died on Dec. 19 in Berkeley, Calif. She was 87.

Her son, Daniel, said the cause was pancreatic cancer.

Justice Abrahamson spent 43 years on the bench, 19 as the chief justice. She was long the only woman on the court, but when she retired in 2019 and moved to California, five of the seven justices were women. There are now six.

At Justice Abrahamson’s retirement ceremony, her friend Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, said in a videotaped tribute, “As lawyer, law teacher and judge, she has inspired legions to follow in her way, to strive constantly to make the legal system genuinely equal and accessible to all who dwell in our fair land.”

Justice Ginsburg died in September.

In opinions, speeches and articles, Justice Abrahamson often wrote about the rights that state constitutions provide citizens — like protections against unreasonable searches and seizures — but the federal constitution does not.

“New federalism,” she wrote in the SMU Law Review in 1982, “describes the willingness of state courts to assert themselves as the final arbiters in questions of their citizens’ individual rights by relying on their own law, especially the state constitution.”

She was perhaps best known for her dissents, like the one in State v. Mitchell, a 1992 case in which the court ruled that the increased penalty a defendant could receive for a hate crime was unconstitutional. (The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision.)

“Bigots are free to think and express themselves as they wish, except that they may not engage in criminal conduct in furtherance of their beliefs,” Justice Abrahamson wrote. “The state’s interest in punishing bias-related criminal conduct relates only to the protection of equal rights and the prevention of crime, not to the suppression of free expression.”

She also opposed the court’s divided decision in 2015 to end the investigation into whether Gov. Scott Walker had illegally coordinated with conservative groups during the campaign to recall him three years earlier.

“Lest the length, convoluted analysis and overblown rhetoric of the majority opinion obscure its effect, let me state clearly,” Justice Abrahamson wrote. “The majority opinion adopts an unprecedented and faulty interpretation of Wisconsin’s campaign finance law and of the First Amendment.”

Justice Abrahamson had by then acquired a national reputation. In 1979, she was one of several female jurists considered by President Jimmy Carter as possible replacements for Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. (who, as it turned out, stayed on the bench until 1990).

In 1993, Justice Abrahamson was on the short list to succeed Justice Byron R. White. President Bill Clinton chose Justice Ginsburg.

“She felt incredibly honored — and thought it was great fun — simply to have had her name floated as someone possibly under consideration,” Daniel Abrahamson said in an interview. “She expressed neither surprise nor regret at not getting the nod.”

Shirley Schlanger was born on Dec. 17, 1933, in Manhattan. Her father, Leo, and her mother, Ceilia (Sauerteig) Abrahamson, ran a grocery store.

At 6, Shirley declared her intention to be a lawyer. She would later say that having immigrant parents — they were both from Poland — taught her to believe that “this country was open” and that “no doors were closed.”

After graduating from Hunter College High School and New York University, she married Seymour Abrahamson and accompanied him to to Indiana University, Bloomington, where she got her law degree in 1956 and he earned a Ph.D. in genetics.

The couple then left for the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she studied under the law school professor J. Willard Hurst, a pioneer in the field of legal history. She received a degree in legal history from the university’s law school in 1962 and was soon hired as the first woman lawyer at what was then known as La Follette, Sinykin, Doyle & Anderson, where she rose to be a name partner.

A legal generalist, she was best known as a tax lawyer. While working at the firm, she helped write the City of Madison’s equal-opportunity law and was director of the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1967 to 1974.

She was named to the court by Gov. Patrick Lucey, a Democrat, in 1976, and was elected to 10-year terms in 1979, 1989, 1999 and 2009. As the senior member of the court, she became chief justice in 1996.

After her ceremonial swearing-in by William H. Rehnquist, the chief justice of the United States, she told the 1,200 people gathered at the state Capitol: “It is my prerogative as the state’s new chief justice to begin with a momentous announcement: The Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings are tied. You’re going to be home in time for the second half.”

Justice Abrahamson helped make the court more accessible. During her tenure, it held its administrative meetings in public and she backed an educational program that brings high school students into the court to hear arguments.

Janine Geske, who served on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the 1990s, recalled the erudition of Justice Abrahamson’s lengthy opinions (“each one of hers is a law school class”) and the excellence she demanded from her colleagues.

“When I first got to the court and circulated my first opinion,” Ms. Geske said in an interview, “I got a four-page, single-spaced memo telling me that it wasn’t strong enough. I remember gasping and feeling bad, but I learned that what she cared about was to strengthen an opinion even when she was on the defense. Some other justices didn’t accept that.”

Indeed, in 2015 the conservative majority on the court, with which she had been in increasing conflict, voted to replace her as chief justice with Patience Roggensack. They took this action after voters approved a constitutional amendment that ended the practice requiring the chief justice to be the most senior member by service.

“I publicly stated that I recommended the change because age does not necessarily mean brilliance or kindness,” William Callow, an opponent of Justice Abrahamson’s who served with her on the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1977 to 1992, told The Capital Times in 2016.

Justice Abrahamson sued to block implementation of the amended law. A federal judge tossed out her lawsuit; she appealed but dropped the suit in late 2015, reasoning that pursuing it would take too long. She vowed to remain “independent, impartial, and nonpartisan, and help the court system improve.”

She retired a year after receiving her cancer diagnosis.

In addition to her son, she is survived by a grandson and a sister, Rosalind Sarlin. Her husband died in 2016.

Justice Abrahamson was known for the long hours she devoted to her work, which led her to eat at her desk, at speaking engagements and at restaurants with friends and colleagues. Her single-mindedness was noted by her husband, who spent time in Japan studying the effects of radiation on survivors of the United States’ detonation of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“Whatever I leave for her in the refrigerator when I leave,” Professor Abrahamson, told The Associated Press in 1996. “is usually there when I get home seven months later.”

    Multiple Service Listing for Business Owners | Tools to Grow Your Local Business

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The post Shirley Abrahamson, Trailblazing Wisconsin Judge, Dies at 87 appeared first on Multiple Service Listing.

from Multiple Service Listing https://ift.tt/3oMpUaE

[5llowance]

Who should I contact to report my employer for falsifying visa documents? My now former boss got me a Z visa by opening a fake business in both our names at the same address as the school. I have tax documents showing how much he paid taxes for me based on a fake salary/contract. via /r/China

Who should I contact to report my employer for falsifying visa documents? My now former boss got me a Z visa by opening a fake business in both our names at the same address as the school. I have tax documents showing how much he paid taxes for me based on a fake salary/contract.

So a bit of context. I had been working at the same school since June 2018. Before coming there he guaranteed me a visa. Said he could get me a management visa which would still allow me to work at the school. Well, that fell through. He eventually opened a fake business in both our names with the same address as the school). Through that he was able to get me a work visa.

I was forced to leave China in February due to the virus (had my parents visiting and wasn't willing to risk their health at the time). We tried getting back on March 27th but about 60 foreigners were pulled off 2 spring airline flights and told we couldn't board because we arrived to close to midnight.

My boss decided to wait until the middle of May to tell me that he wasn't going to hold my job for me. I asked him for my salary documents so that I could use them to apply for my wife's permanent residence visa so that we can return to Canada. This is when he sent me both the tax receipts and my paystubs (took 3 fucking weeks to get these even though they are right beside his desk).

I also asked him for my contract completion bonus. He said he would deduct one month (May, was going to deduct February, March and April as well but I said that wasn't fair because I still had to work remotely for those months (was only paid 2k rmb/month for those 3 months as well)) from it because I wasn't able to return to work. I asked him about it again yesterday because my contract was now complete (as of June 8th). He said he would calculate it and let me know.

He messaged me saying that I had to pay 2400rmb for 1 months rent (May 15th to June 15th which is bullshit because the housing contract actually ended on May 15th and we had most everything sold and moved from the house) and was also charging a 200rmb cleaning fee (yet I never got paid a cleaning fee when I had to clean that apartment and our previous one because they were a mess before moving into them).

He hasn't told me the total amount I will receive yet but I know he will take the majority of what I feel I'm old and I also won't receive my flight allowance. When he does eventually pay me, I am going to ask him to give me a break and help us out. My family lost everything because of this virus. All of our belongings were left in China and had to be sold at a massive loss. Add that to basically losing 87% of my salary for February to April and 100% since and we are basically in a bad spot. I was relying on this money. If he can spend 15,000+ rmb once or twice a month at KTV's then he can do right by his employees.

If he doesn't, I want to report him. He has one other teacher working there under the same situation I was. He also hired another new teacher who is currently teaching on a business visa and also doesn't have a degree. Who should I send these documents to? I also have the Wechat conversation screenshotted where he specifically tells me not to show anyone the tax documents.

What do y'all think I should do? Tbh, I'm considering giving him an ultimatum (after receiving whatever money he is going to send me first) telling him if he doesn't pay me in full that I would report him. I know it's technically blackmail but I think this situation calls for it. Also have a very long letter that I plan to share in every school Wechat group. I'm still in the homework groups and my letter (explaining everything that has happened and just how bad of a boss he really is) will be shared in all of them. There are 19 groups and over 200 parents in these groups. Multiple of which are police, PLA and PLN.

Submitted June 13, 2020 at 04:59AM by MuayThai1985 via reddit https://ift.tt/3fdfwUi

[goldsteinsistersimagines]

Still Healing

Pairing: Tina Goldstein x fem!reader friendship

A/N: College modern AU. This was mainly for me since my mental health has been on the fritz lately. Some of the things the reader does in this is harmful, and I don’t condone it in any way, nor do I want to romanticize it. But I hope if anyone else is going through the same thing, this can help a little bit by giving a little hope. I know for me, personally, it helps to think of people I look up to helping me during my time of need. I understand this isn’t true for everyone and some people need to completely step away. Protect your own mental health, please. Don’t read unless you know you can handle it. I’ve put a read more cut, but mobile users will have to just scroll past if you don’t want to read it (sorry). 

WARNINGS: Self-harm, cutting, blood, eating disorder, mental illness, drinking

You sniffled as you made the final cut and watched as the blood flowed out of your arm and drip into the bathroom sink, feeling numb inside. You turned on the sink with shaky hands, your right wrist burning. You took a jumbo bandage from your drawer and placed it on top of your cuts. Everything around you seemed fuzzy, and you couldn’t bring yourself to emote properly. You walked to your bed and laid in it, sighing. You looked up to the ceiling and ignored the stinging. Eventually, you closed your eyes and fell asleep. 

You were woken up by your phone vibrating on the nightstand. You groaned as you turned towards the sound and looked at the caller ID. It was your friend, Marie. 

“Hello?” You answered groggily. 

“Hey, wanna get dinner tonight?” 

You looked at the clock. 11:45 am. If you went back to sleep, you could wake up again by 2 and would only have to wait 5 hours to eat. 

“Yeah, sure.” 

“Cool! Meet at Cheesecake Factory?” 

You smiled. “You got it.” 

You placed your phone back down on the nightstand and got up to use the restroom before returning back to bed. When you woke up again, it was 2:23 pm. You got up and went to the bathroom to get ready. 

You looked at yourself in the mirror, poking at the pudge of your stomach.

‘I need to run,’ you thought. You had just gone on a two mile run the night before. You took off your pajamas and changed into your athletic wear and headed out for a run. A humid 87 degree day wasn’t going to stop you. 

When you got back, you drank some water. You saw yourself in the mirror and your face was red from being out in the sun. You washed your face and then took off your bandage, wrist still streaked with red. You took a shower and opened a new bandage. 

“What happened to your wrist?” Your friend asked. 

“I was working on a project and scraped my wrist across the edge of my desk,” you lied. You always had a cover story in the back of your mind. 

You enjoyed having Marie’s company. She was your best friend. It felt good to be with a friend and not cooped up all alone at home. But when the night ended, you found yourself alone again. In the past, you would drink a little too much so you wouldn’t go home alone. You would always wake up hating yourself for mooching off someone and leave before breakfast. 

Often times, you would think of Tina. She had graduated after your freshman year. Though you only knew her for a semester, she had changed your life. She took you into her apartment the last time you had too much to drink because your ex was there and you hated what you had done to them. You hated yourself. Your first mistake was pre-gaming with your friend, Ryan. Your second mistake was mixing different alcohols together. A friend had to carry you to Marie’s car. Tina sat in the back seat with you to keep an eye on you. 

“Did you see what she drank?” 

“I thought she was drinking Bicardi. She’s usually fine just drinking that. I don’t know what happened,” Marie explained.

You looked out the window, letting out a little chuckle. Tina looked at you with concern. She tucked a lock of your hair behind your ear. 

“(Y/N)? Baby, how much did you drink?” She asked gently. 

“I... I don’t remember,” you slurred. A smile crept on your face. “I just kept adding more!” You gestured wildly. 

“Okay.” The brunette huffed in frustration. 

You looked at Tina with concern. “Tina... Am I going to die?” 

The woman looked at you sympathetically. “No, (Y/N). You’re coming home with me. I’ll make sure you’re okay.” You slowly nodded. 

When all of you arrived at the apartment, Marie got out of the car with Tina and they both helped support you as they walked you into the building. When you got into the elevator, your eyelids felt heavy. 

Marie took your hand. Worried you might lose consciousness, the woman squeezed your hand. “Hey, (Y/N)? You wanna play a game?” Your friend asked. You groaned but nodded. “I just squeezed your hand. Can you squeeze my hand back?” You complied. “Good.” Another squeeze. You squeezed in response. Eventually, you kept getting sleepier and your squeezes were losing strength. Marie shot Tina a worried look. 

“(Y/N), I know you want to go to sleep, but you gotta stay awake for a bit longer, okay?” 

You grumbled in response. 

“What’s your name?”

“(Y/N),” you mumbled. 

“What college do you go to?” 

“Ilvermorny Uuuuuu,” you slurred. 

The elevator opened and your friends helped you walk to the apartment. 

“This is it,” Tina informed your other friend. Marie went in with you. 

Marie helped with the pull out couch and sat you down. 

“It’s cold,” you said, referring to the mattress beneath you. 

“I know, Tina went to go get some sheets and blankets,” Your friend reassured. When you were forced to get up so Tina could make the bed, you protested. 

“I know, girl. I know,” Tina said. “All right. All done.” 

Marie helped settle you down. Tina took off your shoes. When you went to lay down, your stomach didn’t feel great. You groaned. 

“Are you going to puke?” Tina brought a trash can close to the bed. 

“My stomach feels funny.” 

“Okay, alright.” Tina got on the bed with you and sat behind you, stroking your hair. “We’re just going to sit like this, okay? Is that okay for your stomach?” 

You nodded. The last thing you heard before going to sleep was the quiet whispers of Marie and Tina. 

When you woke up, you were lying down, and multiple blankets had been placed on you. Tina was sitting on the adjacent stand alone couch. When she noticed you had woken up, she quickly got up. 

“Hey,” she said, helping you sit up. 

You groaned. “What time is it?” You asked. 

“11:54 am. Are you hungry?” 

“A little.” 

“Okay.” The woman walked to the kitchen to make some food. “There’s Advil and water on the table here.” 

You got up and felt your head throb. You walked over to the table and took some Advil and drank the entire cup of water. 

“What are you in the mood to eat?” The brunette asked you. 

“Something plain,” you said. Your stomach couldn’t handle too much food when you had a hangover. 

“I have oatmeal, cereal, toast...” Tina listed.

“Toast sounds great,” you said. 

“Toast it is.” 

You spent practically the rest of the day at Tina’s until she drove you back to your place that evening. Throughout the semester, your friendship grew and you admired Tina. How she was able to balance everything and still get work done. How she was strong for everyone and always had a calming presence. You had a deep appreciation for her. She was your hero, your role model. She took you under her wing. She helped you get professional help and you got sober. She was the reason you stayed sober. 

You were getting better. You were sure of it. You hadn’t cut in more than half a year. You stopped counting calories. You stopped excessively exercising. You took your meds consistently. And then you found yourself back home for the summer. Your relationship with your parents weren’t the best, though you tried to make the best of it. When you came back, you felt a little better. But your parents had put new pressures on you. And then you slipped. And that’s how you found yourself back in this endless loop. 

Marie was getting worried about you, but she couldn’t get you to open up. But she knew one person who could. 

“Why are we going this way? Everyone else is going to the reception,” you asked as Marie took you by the hand, leading your towards the back exit. The two of you were just at a student art showing.

“I just have to show you something.” 

When the two of you exited the ballroom the gallery was held at, you saw a familiar person, and your face immediately lit up. 

“Tina!” You shouted. You ran into the older woman’s arms and she laughed. She held onto you tightly as joyful tears started streaming down your face. “You came back.”

The woman chuckled. “I did.” She kissed you on the side of your head. Marie decided to let you two be alone to catch up while she went back to chat up other people. When Tina pulled away, she noticed you lost some weight. She didn’t think much of it. But when she took your hand she saw your scars. 

“(Y/N)...” The woman raised your hand a little and ran her fingers over the cut scars. She looked up at you like she was about to cry. “Are these new?” 

You looked at the ground and nodded. You tried to keep it in, but you couldn't anymore. All of your pent up emotions came back up in the form of tears. You started to sob. 

“I’m sorry,” you croaked. 

Tina sniffled, tears also leaving her eyes. “Oh, (Y/N).” She brought you in for another hug. “I just wish you told me what was going on,” she whispered. 

��I-I didn’t want to b-bother you,” you said between sobs. 

The woman gave a small laugh. “You could never bother me. Please don’t ever feel like you’re a burden. Because you’re not.” The woman ran her hand down your hair, trying to soothe you. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” Tina repeated. She made soft hushing sounds until your sobs got quieter. 

“I’m sorry I disappointed you... I didn’t want to disappoint a-anyone,” you hiccuped. 

“You didn’t disappoint me, (Y/N). You’re still healing. I’m here to help in any way I can. Okay?” 

You nodded into the woman’s shoulder. 

“I love you. Everything’s going to be okay.” Tina held you until you calmed down. 

Later that night, she decided to spend the night with you. The next day, she helped you organize your things and write little reminders like when to eat. You threw away the razor you had been using. And you made the decision yourself to set up an appointment at student health with one of the psychologists. 

You were going to get back on track. You were going to get better.

[bwprowl]

We’ve got little looks at some adorable toys this week, with a cute lil’ plush dog, cute lil’ SD figure, and even a cute lil’ Death Star! Heck, we’ve even got tiny swords and shrunk-down toy *dispensers*! We’ll also take a peek at some new fantastical figures, and then I’ll run head-on into more new Transformers acquisitions (I’ve had quite a few of them). So take a little time out of your day for these Tuesday Night Toys!

New Stuff: Ein-al Fantasy

Quantum Mechanix has pre-orders up for their new plush of Ein from Cowboy Bebop. While I’m certain this isn’t the first time the cyber-courier corgi has been seen in stuffed form, this one is *new*, and pretty darn affordable too. He looks cute, and Bebop’s an evergreen property, so I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people who want this.

Boss Fight Studios revealed the next round of entries in their H.A.C.K.S. series of 3 ¾ inch figures. Along with a bunch of customization parts for their ‘blank’ bodies, there’s three new ‘fantasy’ character figures coming out: A knight, an elven archer, and a ‘cave faerie’. These are looking really nice as far as ‘generic’ fantasy figures go; that knight in particular fills a much-needed niche. I’m also super-into the design of that faerie myself, love the goggles and the demon wings, might have to look into picking it up. It’ll be interesting to see what various colors these get repainted into (for instance, Boss Fight, guys, can I get that archer as a Drow?).

Wishlist: Ball Pit

Our good buddies at F-Toys have a new line of blind-packs coming out. These are Bakumatsu-era sword replicas. They actually include the sword, sheath, and a larger replica of the sword’s blade itself. The blade is…just a blade, and is in 1/8th scale besides, but the real point of interest here is that the swords are 1:12 – figma scale! So if you’ve wanted some extra swords for your figures to arm themselves with (maybe in contrast to all those Little Armory guns), this would be a good way to do it. They've even got a musket wielded by Ryouma Sakamoto!

If you need a fun way to dispense little toys like that, then Bandai has you covered with the ability to get your own half-scale gashapon machine. It works and everything, even accepting real money (well, if you have yen coins on hand), but at half the size of a ‘typical’ capsule machine. I love the way the description recommends it for ‘weddings and parties’. It only comes with six capsules, you might have a lot of disappointed friends and family members left over.

And continuing on the theme of fun scales, Sega’s Premium Ship Collection from Star Wars has a Death Star coming out in detailed miniature: exactly 1/800,000 scale to be exact! This brings the Space Station that’s no moon down to just under six inches in diameter, and the absurdity of that scale measurement alone makes this an entertaining listing to me. It’s amusing how making something so small can effectively call attention to how big it would actually be. It even comes with a little superlaser attached!

And there’s a new entry in the Cu-poche Friends series coming out, a cute little dude named Dino. He’s got pajamas and glasses and his hair looks a little like cat ears. I dunno, I like him.

On Desk: Playing catch-up

So *of course* the day my BBTS shipment of new TFs I’d broken down and ordered online arrived was the same day Target finally restocked their TF section, so I came home with an armload of new ‘bots at the same time a whole box of them was waiting for me. I had a lot to open. So for now I’ll only take up your time talking about two of my favorites from that huge-haul day.

First up is Triggerhappy. Everyone who got their hands on this remake of the ’87 Target Master at the end of last year was raving about him, and now I can finally see that they were not joking around. Triggerhappy rules, guys. Like, I wouldn’t have expected a later-G1 line filler to be anything special, but for whatever reason, Hasbro really brought their A-game. Triggerhappy is made out of some very nice, sturdy plastic (I know it’s weird, but I can’t emphasize enough how he just ‘feels’ a bit nicer than the other toys in the line) with solid joints all around and a very well-accomplished color scheme. The dark blue with the white and gold and all the extra paint apps, he really ‘goes the extra mile’ as it were. I like his face with the eyes and all actually painted like a face behind a plate.

He’s got good play-value here too. Most notable are the cannons on the arms and how you can pop his hands in and fold them forward, and then even THOSE have holes in ‘em so you can peg his guns into them to make him especially trigger-happy. It’s like the designer on this saw Triggerhappy’s original toy, and how he couldn’t actually use those big guns in robot mode and was like “Oh no, this will not do”. He’s at once just a good ‘generic Decepticon’ for your bad guy shelf, but also dynamic and interesting enough to stand out and look cool and entice you to pick up and fiddle with him.

And he is great for that. His transformation is just a delight, particularly the whole torso spinning 180 degrees, but also with how solidly those arm panels lock in, or the way the legs bend around to meet to form the rest of the jet mode. It’s clever and fun to do, which is everything you could ask for in transforming a Transformer.

And Triggerhappy’s jet mode is just the icing on that cake. It’s this beautiful spaceship-fighter thing that’s a bit X-Wing but mostly just awesome. Like it’s a fantasy vehicle but they don’t use that as an excuse to half-ass it, it’s well-designed with the guns pointing out from the wings and the slick design of the nose/cockpit. Love the tailfins in the back. I love it so much you guys, I’m already super-psyched we’re getting two retools of it as more Decepticon Target Masters.

Like if you’ve been on the fence about trying out Transformers toys but seeing all the stuff I’ve posted here and especially with my insufferable constant raving about how cool the Titans Return line has been, I encourage you to start by checking out Triggerhappy. Just on his own, he will not disappoint you.

The other new TR TF I was really excited to get though was the new Voyager triple-changing Megatron. I think I’m an outlier and the only one this toy was appealing to *that* much, but really, I’ve been chomping at the bit for this thing since we first saw it displayed last year. Just the design of the whole thing appealed to me. And I didn’t care that it was blatantly a pretool of Blitzwing, I like Megatron and I liked this design for Megatron. It swings way closer to the current comic design appearing in MTMTE/Lost Light, and I wanted a Megatron like that to stick some Autobot symbols on. This guy fit the bill, and I am happy to report that as a toy, he doesn’t disappoint.

Like even without that comic connection, I think I just plum like the look of this Megatron more than the Leader class toy from Combiner Wars. Sure it’s not soaked in shiny silver paint or as slavish to the cartoon look as that one, but I uh, don’t care. I like this guy’s grey. I like his built-up, panel-y look. I like his clean, simpler head design even more than the (admittedly nice) detailed evil-lookin’ one from the CW toy. This Megatron looks like my new pal and I want to keep him on my desk forever. Adding the Autobot symbols helps a lot with the look I think, the mix with all the red in the deco very nicely.

And Leader Megatron’s transformation (nice as the tank mode ended up being) was such a simple disappointment, but this Megatron is a triple changer, and he’s a nicely complex one at that! Like I was actually caught off-guard by it, the relatively simple triple-changing of Sentinel Prime and even Alpha Trion had me off my game, but Megatron actually feels like a workout! It’s the kind I like, no mistake. I love the way the arms unfold into panels and wrap around in different orientations for jet and tank modes. I love the shifting chest panel with the deep-red painted interior chunk and the way *that* swivels around and unfolds into the jet nose. I don’t quite love the amount of Excessive Force you have to use to mash the legs into place, but I got used to that after a couple of tries.

The vehicle modes are definitely what you’d expect from Triple-Changer vehicle modes, particularly those associated with Blitzwing, but I like them all the same. The jet mode is chunky from the bottom, but solid and whooshable. You can mount the cannons in various orientations on it, and in one of my favorite features on the toy, the cockpit can be popped open and his Titan Master, Doomshot, actually seated inside! You can view his tiny little head through the tiny little window, it’s adorable.

The tank mode isn’t quite as good as the jet mode, but I still like it. Yeah it kinda looks like it backed into a jet and crumpled the wings about it, but the front end with the thrusters pointed forward and the pointy bits from the wrapped-around tread panels looks weird, but cool. And I’m amused by seating Doomshot in the top of the turret with the little pop-up viewscreeen. It’s all very Action-Master-y.

I love the toy myself, but no, it’s not perfect. The stickers are hot garbage (the ones on the wings are already lifting up on the corners) and I might go in on some Reprolabels if/when they make some to replace them. And the fit for the cannon-peg on the right arm on mine is a bit loose. This isn’t a huge deal, especially since the Megatron I’m imagining this one as isn’t really supposed to be using the cannon anyway, but it’s a thing all the same. But I can excuse any of these little issues, since the toy delivers on the looks and ability to fuss with it that I was looking forward to. I’m very happy with it, and hey, it’ll also make a great Blitzwing.

Also appropriately, looks great with the new Hot Rod

And you’ve all been great too, everyone! Have fun tonight, and I’ll talk to you again next week!

[britishhiphop]

RIP: Scott La Rock

“By age 25 Scott ‘La Rock’ Sterling had achieved what many people only dream of. As part of a duo called Boogie Down Productions, he was on the verge of signing a major recording contract and he had kept a promise that he had made to himself: He, a young man from the South Bronx who had become a high school basketball star and had earned a bachelor’s degree in business, would settle for nothing less than stardom. All that came to an end Wednesday 27th August 1987 when Mr. Sterling was fatally shot outside the Highbridge Homes on University Avenue in the South Bronx.” —Esther Iverem, The New York Times, August 31, 1987 Twenty-three years ago, New York’s adolescent rap scene was forced to grow up. Violently. The murder of Scott La Rock was much more than simply the loss of a talented up and coming DJ. In many ways, La Rock—in both his life and his death—set the stage for hip-hop as we know it today. While he was alive, La Rock drafted the aesthetic blueprint for gangsta rap with the previously unexplored street themes and shocking imagery of BDP’s classic Criminal Minded (the only album he ever recorded). On the business side, his Black-owned independent label, B Boy Records, pioneered the burgeoning genre’s rebel entrepreneurialism. “Scott would have been Puff before Puff, no question,” says Chris Lighty, a close friend of Scott’s who now runs the Violator Records empire. “But without the dancing. He approached the music as a business at a time when most people just wanted to be down and make records.” Born March 2, 1962, in South Ozone Park, Queens, Scott Monroe Sterling was raised far from the grimy scene that he would later help to mold. His parents split when he was four, and he lived with his mother, Carolyn Morant, a career municipal employee. When Scott was young, they moved from Queens to the Morisania section of the Bronx, and then to Morris Heights. Scott excelled in both academics and sports at Our Savior Lutheran High School, graduating in 1980 and heading off to Vermont’s Castleton State College. He earned a varsity letter in basketball there, but as it became clear that his talent would never take him to the NBA, Scott switched his extracurricular focus from hoops music. “Our turntables were on our desks and our books were on the floor,” said La Rock’s four-year college roommate, Lee “The Mack” Smith Jr., to the Times back in ‘87. “I would come home and hear the bass before I opened the door.” After graduating in 1984, Scott returned to New York in hopes of finding work and making in-roads to the music industry. Through a connection of his mother’s, Scott landed a jacket-and-tie nine-to-five as a social worker at the Franklin Armory Men’s Shelter on 166th St in the Bronx. At night, though, he’d lose the noose, spinning at the blossoming hip-hop hot spot, the Broadway Repertoire Theatre on 145th Street. Socially gifted, Scott quickly earned a rep for his skills on the turntables and a progressive business sense as well. “He was just a smooth, approachable brother,” remembers DJ Red Alert. “He could relate to any type of person, that’s why so many people gravitated to him.” Beyond spinning records, though, Scott aspired to create his own. He began studying the art of making beats at his Bronx buddy Ced Gee’s place and searching the city’s clubs for a worthy MC partner. (Ced would go on to form the Ultramagnetic MCs with Kool Keith Thornton.) Strangely, La Rock would find his rapping other half not among the denizens of dimly-lit nightspots like Broadway R.T., but under the bright fluorescents of the shelter where he worked his day job. One of Scott’s responsibilities at the shelter was doling out subway tokens to those who needed to travel to job interviews. Shortly after starting, though, he got wise to the fact that several of the shelter’s residents were faking interviews to score tokens, which they’d use instead to go party. When Scott confronted one of the hustlers, the situation got loud and ugly. The resident called Scott a “house Negro, one paycheck away from homelessness.” Scott countered that the homeless man was “obviously lazy, otherwise he’d have a job.” Security was called to separate the two before they came to blows, and the resident left the shelter. The homeless man was Kris “KRS-One” Parker—a cocky, 20 year-old graffiti artist and self-taught “philosopher” who preferred the street life to the mundane world of working. Three months later, Scott ran into him at Ced Gee’s apartment (coincidentally, KRS had also been putting in time on Ced’s equipment.) After their less-than-civil start, Scott extended the olive branch by inviting KRS to one of his parties. “My mind got blown clean out of my head,” remembers KRS-One of his summer 1985 introduction to the hip-hop scene at the Broadway R.T. “Just seeing Scott DJing, and then watching Mantronix walk by, and then Doug E. Fresh is in the corner grabbing a drink… It was just too much for me.” Scott took a liking to KRS, and to two of his fellow shelter residents, Joseph “Just Ice” Williams, Jr., “I.C.U.” and 15-year-old Derrick “D-Nice” Jones, a cousin of a security guard. “He’d invite us down and we’d hang out way past the nine p.m. curfew, get drunk and party,” says KRS of BDP’s prenatal period. “At the end of the night Scott would take us all out for breakfast and we’d talk about who we were gonna be and what we were gonna do.” “Scott gained a freedom hanging out with us,” KRS continues. “And being around him made us feel important.” via britishhiphop.co.uk

[hennyjolzen]

Color me taken aback Crucial

Seeing Stars

November 2, 2016  

By Betsy Thrailkill Tetsch ’86

In January 1986, I faced some hard choices. I had spent the better part of the last three semesters in France and faced a daunting 21-hour load of classes to complete my degrees in French and theatre in the four-year time span granted me by my parents. I was busy and a little overwhelmed.

Compounding my stress was the fact that I had also accepted a summer job at the NATO hotel in Bad Godesberg, Germany, without my parents’ knowledge or consent. No parental approval (or funding) meant I needed to come up with the money to buy a plane ticket to make it to my European summer job. As luck would have it, I saw an advertisement for “breakfast help” at the Francis Marion Hotel just a short walk from campus. The hours from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. would work with my class schedule, so I took it. When they offered me the night receptionist job, I took that, too.

It was a long semester of studying and working, and working and studying. Let’s face it, a European trip is expensive for college students no matter the decade – but I was determined to go. The drudgery and sheer insanity of taking that many hours and working in customer service was punctuated by one incredible event: a face-to-face meeting with writer and novelist Tom Robbins. A chance meeting that, at the time, was the ultimate fangirl experience for this proud literary geek.

Tom Robbins was in Charleston to appear in Alan Rudolph’s movie Made in Heaven. The film starred Timothy Hutton and Kelly McGillis, with cameo roles featuring rockers Tom Petty, Ric Ocasek (of The Cars) and Neil Young. One fateful morning after the breakfast shift, as I was tearing my polyester uniform off to rush to the theater for class, my night manager informed me that Neil Young and “some author” called Tom Robbins would be checking in late that night and that I was to check them in under whatever pseudonyms they chose.

My heart froze. Could it really be that the author of Still Life with Woodpecker and Jitterbug Perfume was coming to Charleston and checking in during my shift? That evening I grabbed my worn paperback copies of these two titles from my private dorm room on Coming Street before heading back to work for the night shift. I distinctly remember thinking that when I was making real money, I would only buy books in hard cover. At the hotel, I clocked in, hummed “Cinnamon Girl” and waited for my literary hero.

Sometime well past midnight, two black-leather-jacket–wearing, straight-from-California–looking gentlemen entered the hotel lobby. It was Robbins and Neil Young. This was it. The moment had arrived. My heart was beating in my throat. I already had the books skillfully positioned on the counter and blurted out something about how Robbins was my favorite author and would he please sign my books for me. He did. As he was signing them, I said, “Mr. Robbins, I love your rings!” to which he replied, “My rings are big and weird like me, and your rings are small and cute like you.” I can still hear him saying those words to me right now. In my excitement to meet the quirky writer, I completely ignored Neil Young – undoubtedly the more famous of the pair. The whole encounter lasted maybe 10 minutes, including check-in, but it continues to be one of my most vivid memories. It was a pivotal brush with stardom where I realized that celebrities were just people. And that it was even possible for them to be nice people.

This spring, 30 years after my starry-eyed encounter, I decided to attend A Charleston Affair for the first time with my dear college friends, Maura Hogan ’87 and Becky Headen. Maura told me that Tom Robbins had written about our fateful interaction in his most recent autobiography, Tibetan Peach Pie. When I tracked down a copy of the book and peeled back the pages to find that passage, I was surprised to discover a highly detailed account of that meeting between myself and him.

And here it is:

   One of the perks of associating with celebrities is that you get to experience firsthand the state of invisibility. Step out in public with any rock star or Hollywood actress and poof! – You disappear. People look right through you. It’s a kind of enchantment, more effective than the graduate program at Hogwarts. Once during the filming of Made in Heaven, however, the tables turned and the cloak of invisibility unexpectedly fell about unaccustomed shoulders.

   There had been a small but lively dinner party at the house in Charleston provided to Debra Winger and Timothy Hutton for the duration of the shoot. The house was in an upscale neighborhood a good distance from the downtown hotel where most of the cast and crew were lodged. At the end of the evening, I caught a ride back to the hotel with Neil Young and his manager. In the conversation that ensued, Neil learned for the first time that the guy in the backseat was a novelist. He’d never heard of me or my books, assuming all evening that I was an assistant producer or some other functionary connected to Lorimar Studios. He was mildly surprised, I suppose, but didn’t seem particularly impressed.

   It was well past midnight and the hotel lobby was deserted. To retrieve our room keys, Neil and I approached the front desk more or less in tandem. When we got closer to the desk, the night clerk – a pretty woman in her early twenties – suddenly lit up like a ballpark, clutched her chest, and made an audible sound that resembled a mixture of a sigh, a squeal, and a purr. Naturally, Neil thought the excitement was for him.

   “You’re Tom Robbins, aren’t you?!” the girl gushed. “I heard you were staying with us.” She went on to tell me how wonderful my books were, how much they meant to her, while the great Neil Young (and he truly is great) waited impatiently – invisibly – for his key. The human ego is a treacherous apparatus, best kept at a safe distance from the self, but I confess I took a small measure of pleasure in making a star play the transparent ghost for a change.

It was a moment to be sure – evidently as much for Tom Robbins as for me. I believe now, at 51, that life is a series of divine collisions rather than a string of random events. The fact that one of my favorite authors chose to write about me 30 years later convinces me of this even more.

– A jack-of-all-trades, Betsy Thrailkill Tetsch ’86 divides her life between creating art at her business, CanvasOne; teaching people how to sell stuff; helping refugees; and spending time with her delightful husband and two daughters.

[postcards-to-home]

Sunshine, Positivity & Rainbows

4/14/18

Shit, are they mad at me?

“I just.. didn’t feel like it tonight”

**Sighs*, Okay whatever, but you were the one who got everyone onto the idea

Ya.. I know. Just tired, . again.

“Okay.. well see ya later”

 9pm on a Saturday night and I’ve managed to do it again.I’ve master the skills it takes to round up the miscellaneous people that make up our “Drinking club.”Who doesn’t go out and drink on a Saturday night. That’s would be so un-American of us if we didn’t get tanked for the hell of it. Somehow I’ve manged tot ake a nap, at 7pm on a Saturday and it all went to shit after that. From known reasons  It’s the part of me that hates committing to an idea of which is “going out.” I think I’ve turned into an old lady considering who I used to be last year at this time. Just the thought of going out had me dressed and drinking by 7pm at my desk bumping tunes with my friends. Currently that part of me has dwindled fondly allowing the element of myself that appreciates relaxing to bloom into a full addiction. Fomo, the fear of missing out, is no longer a consideration on my mental pallet of thoughts. Indulging in my thoughts of the past, present and future in a circular manner  has enthralled me. There  has been no other time in my entire existence I have had the ability to chew away at my whole and tear it apart bit by bit in the most selfish way possible. Others thoughts, actions and feelings are no longer in my vision, persuading me in either direction. This is not to say I don’t ask my loved ones for advice or ask their opinion. I’ve just never felt so liberated in seeking my own truths, and understanding my own self worth. I’ve had many in the past say “ Know your worth,” and it’s a saying easy to shrug off. But now I truly understand the value within that whole-heartedly and it’s a beautiful thing.

Referencing the discussion that sprawled this pondering, my friends in deed were disappointed with my decision. It is that point in the semester where people’s feelings are coming out at the seams quite literally. Self control  has worn thin, attitudes have risen and it is not to be taken so personally .Stress and homesickness come out at the oddest times. There are things going on with people, their home lives trickling through the walls they’ve built up and its something they aren’t necessarily prepared to face. The end is near. I was watching Girls Incarcerated on Netflix which is a television show about teenage girls living in  a juvenile detention center in the Midwest. The show was fascinating to watch from an educational standpoint with a lot to say about living. What struck me the most was how the young girls acted before it was their release date. Screaming, throwing fits the whole nine yards of emotions across the spectrum. Wouldn’t they be excited? Well that would have been the obvious answer but for a lot of them home was an unknown, and it is in human nature to fear the unknown. Itook that message and directly related it back to how it is at  school now. Sure we aren’t in prison and things aren’t horrible we are all fairly happy but the end is quickly approaching. There is an ultimate fear of the unknown of how things a re going to be when we return to our lives in the states,. I know I can agree with that. Our lives are essentially on hold here , waiting to resume until we make our ways back one by one. There’s all this stress and anxiety and this build up of excitement, which sometimes translates to anger, or worry or even depression. It’s a hard pill to swallow for some of us as we have to face things we’ve been avoiding. What I hope from admitting this is that we can understand these attributes to some of declines the past few days and weeks and come together to celebrate the present Even just doing small things like taking a hike after class would make all the difference because like We’ve all heard before  “ You only live once so make it count.”

 4/14/18

“ I need an ambulance,” said Alexis as she began to beg and plead for her mother. She was sitting hard on the rocks  that straddled North Steyne beach along the ocean. She was cradling her right foot in her palm near tears, whimpering. We had been bare foot a quarter mile from our hot spot on the sand, with nothing but our bathing suits on and a camera in hand to take pictures. With the wind at a near 20 mph and 87-degree weather it was perfect photo shoot weather. I had a new swimsuit, Alexis had her camera shipped over when her parents came through and it was an all around good time just loving life. That was until she stepped on a barnacle and the whole world came spinning down around her. I won’t continue to embarrass her but after a few hours, assistance from strangers and life guards she finally waddled onto the beach only to immediately down a vodka cruiser. It was well deserved to say the least.Our day simmered down quickly.

The swim shoot was a MAJOR success, in case you were all wondering. Pictures soon to come in the future :)

4/15/18

Quietness has struck the castle grounds. Many on campus students have begun disembarking on journeys across country as finals are quickly approaching. The school bar has been shut down briefly until further notice due to underage drinking and a promiscuous student body. To push potential boredom out of hindsight we rose to the occasion and traveled to the Botanical Gardens in Sydney. Miranda, Alexis and I had a day for ourselves exploring the extensive flower gardens that were not only arrangements of flowers but rather mini museums so to speak. Huddled together by their groupings, there was a large collection of exotic plants, fern collections, Australia’s largest succulent plant wall and much more. Seeing the beauty of full bloomed wax begonias alongside the trifecta of geraniums reminded me so fondly of home. The smells flowers bring arises such calamity from within. Everywhere from the lavender bushels to the 7ft tall sunflowers stalks I felt welcomed and at ease under the sweet golden rays of sydney’s sunshine.

The three of us even pondered the museum Art Gallery of New South Wales, located right along side the gardens. A surprise find that we enjoyed delightfully so. The museum was filled with a mix of old and new from historical European oil paintings to contemporary and modern art. The curiosities that are evoked from such art is awe-inspiring. I thought very much of how Emily and Grace would favor the rainbow colored mirrored windows, the hum of the museum and pondering the bookstore openheartedly. Maybe one day, but for now ill have to keep my bits of inspiration to myself for now, my musings locked away with a forgotten key. Please take a fierce look at my new shoes. I’m not one to brag BUT they do have me feeling like a real life Barbie doll in action.

[wz2sseo]

18 SEO Tactics That Require Just 30 Minutes Every — SEO NYC & Digital Marketing

I feel SEO comes with a reputation for being meticulous and painstaking.

And perhaps that is accurate to a certain degree.

The initial phases of an search engine optimization campaign can, in fact, be grueling.

There’s on-site everybody’s favorite — SEO that is technical, also — SEO SEO.

So it may be sort of a nuisance.

There’s a large number of “fast fix” SEO approaches that take hardly any moment.

Many could be performed within 30 minutes.

Now, I’m not going to inform you that any specific technique will bring about massive results by itself.

But they may have a considerable impact and provide your search engine optimization campaign a nice boost, when done together with one another.

So let’s get right down to it now.

Listed below are 18 SEO tactics that will take you more.

1. Get installed on Google My Business

Local SEO is important, especially if you’re a business.

If you’ve been skimping on this component of SEO, you will want to devote a few minutes setting up a watch on Google My Business.

This enables you to edit all the info verify contact information, add images, track reviews, and much more.

This may give you a enormous edge over competitors who don’t capitalize on this strong resource.

2. Optimize your profile

Already have an eye on Google My Business?

Why don’t you devote a while sprucing it up and making certain that everything is “just perfect?”

Listed below are

Be certain all your organization advice is up-to-date

Add additional information such as hours, parking location, menu information, etc..

Pick certain categories (e.g., “fresh organic grocery shop” rather than just “supermarket”)

Change any amateurish looking images with broader, more professional ones

Encourage loyal customers to depart reviews

3. Get installed on Google Hunt Console

I adore Google Hunt Console!

If you are not using it, then you are leaving money on the desk and not getting the most.

Here’s a screenshot describing exactly what Google Search Console is: how

Although there is a wide array of features, here are some things you can do to improve your SEO:

Check who’s linking to your site

Check index standing

Monitor crawl errors

Manually submit new articles to be booted

4. Check your site’s rate

I am positive that you know precisely how critical site speed is.

It only takes a few seconds, and it will give you information on what you could do to speed this up.

Here’s the advice I got when I did a speed test for Quick Sprout:

5. Check your site’s mobile-friendliness

I believe that it’s safe to say that smartphones are a trend.

In reality, many experts labeled 2016 as “the tipping point” for hunt, when it eventually eclipsed search.

Research discovered that the average American spent 87 hours surfing in their smartphone in August 2016.

This will enable you to know what shape your site is in and also what measures you want to consider (if any) to solve any difficulties.

6. Improve URL construction

You’ve been blogging for awhile, possibly years.

Back in the day, you did not pay all that much attention to your posts’ structure.

Because of This, they seem something like that:

It is reasonable to say this isn’t going to do and it’s going to make it unnecessarily hard for search engine robots to decipher the significance of your articles.

To make your site more SEO-friendly, go back and enhance these URLs so that they seem like that:

7. Improve mediocre titles

Coming up with epic names for blog articles can be a little tricky occasionally.

Perhaps in the past, you ended up buying less than stellar names.

A fantastic way is to look over your articles to recognize.

Simply enter your search phrases, and it will generate 700 potential titles with a single click.

Here Is What happened when I entered “content marketing:”

8. Study AdWords ads to Boost titles and tags

Enter a keyword in Google, also check the ads that pop up out.

Look for awesome backup that you could possibly use for tags or titles.

Here.

He hunts for “glass water bottles” and comes up with these ads:

From there, he comes up with such phrases:

BPA-free

Keep you comfy

Durable

Reusable

So, why is this so wise? Think about it.

The phrases used such as these would be the result of extensive A/B testing, so that you know they receive clicks and conversions.

By incorporating you can save yourself an immense quantity of time and energy.

9. Locate dead links

Broken or dead links can be a real buzzkill.

Not only can they be disruptive to the visitors of your website, but additionally they won’t do.

However, You can identify any of these links

Type in your site’s URL, and it’ll do the job for you.

Go back, and then make some necessary repairs.

10. Do some inner linking

In a post on NeilPatel.com, I mention that I wrote a blog post every day for five years and gathered hundreds of articles.

But I made a mistake. Any of my articles that were relevant and I never connected!

Fortunately, I figured out simply by linking new articles to ones that my SEO can enhance.

I highly recommend taking a little bit of time to put up some inner links if you created the same mistake with your older content that I did with mine.

Even a 30-minute session must render your SEO in better shape than before.

11. Find link opportunities on Alltop

If you are unfamiliar with Alltop, it’s basically a directory where you can discover some of the world articles in one location.

Here Is What pops up when I input “content marketing:”

What you wish to do is spend a little time looking for link prospects.

Search in your business to see whether there are some bloggers with whom you can build relationships.

12. Find link opportunities on BuzzSumo

It is possible to use the same procedure .

Enter your search term, and you’re going to get a list of results.

Here Is What I get with “content marketing:”

From there, click on “View Sharers” on any articles that interest you.

You view a list of individuals who shared that post.

These can all be people with whom you may choose to form relationships, which could eventually translate into link-building/guest-blogging opportunities.

13. Offer your lower-ranking webpages a boost

I am sure that you know that having articles standing is worthless.

When there is a post ranked say # 42, it may also be ranked # 20,000,000.

Here is the way to enhance that.

Identify a few of your articles ranked on Google’s third or second pages.

These have gained some degree of traction but need a small boost to get on page one.

To get that boost, install some inner links.

From time to time, that is all it takes to receive them “over the hump” and on prime search engine real estate.

14. Goal two major business sites

This may be an old school tactic, but it could still end up being rather fruitful.

It involves locating two A+ business sites you had been unaware of.

As soon as you find them, render a few opinions that are awesome with a link.

On top of this, I suggest observing and subscribing some on Twitter with all the hopes of building relationships.

15. Claim your Bing list

I feel a great deal of marketers discount Bing.

It is like comparing David in terms of search engine market share to Goliath.

Bing receives a percent of overall searches.

Bing’s talk of the research market grew over Google’s this past April. To be accurate, Bing’s market share rose by 0.2 percent while Google’s dropped by 0.2 percent.

Google’s overall share of the US background search market has dipped below its previous 64 percent to 63.8 percent. Microsoft’s share of background search is now sitting at 21.6 percent.

Can Bing be overthrowing Google any time soon? Likely not.

But by claiming your Bing record there is still SEO juice to be had.

Sign up for Bing Places to claim, complete, and verify your record.

If you’re a more community organization, this may be especially useful.

16. Write detailed descriptions for videos

Do you place any videos?

If this is so, you may be passing up a golden prospect.

What I really mean is that you are probably failing to extract all of of the search engine optimization potential.

And this boils down to descriptions.

Writing a description such as this:

Brian Dean recommends leaving a 200+ word description such as this:

Not only will this help your rank improves but it can improve your ranking.

And it does not take that long.

17. Turn a standard post to some long-form post

By saying the truth that long-form content ranks better than, say, a normal post, I am not going to insult your intelligence.

But here’s a nice little trick that you can perform with content.

Start looking under 1,000 words, that is pretty good but never lived up to its potential, for a post that is shorter.

Then spend 30 minutes “up it” by adding more content, charts, charts, images, etc.. until it’s bona fide long-form articles.

18. Spy on competitors

In the end, it’s time to tap into your inner James Bond.

By doing this, I suggest “spying” on a few of the key competitors.

Just visit SEMrush and kind in their URL.

Within minutes, you can find info

Top natural key words

Organic position distribution

Backlinks

Best sourcing

Indexed pages

This will provide you with intel that enable you to be effective and could guide your search engine optimization effort.

Conclusion

SEO does not have to be back-breaking, mind-numbing work.

There is an abundance of SEO jobs that are smaller you can easily complete in 30 minutes.

Can allow you to measure up your SEO without an quantity of effort.

When you’re doing many (five or more), it can possibly lead to a significant breakthrough.

Have you got some other fast and effortless search engine optimization approaches up your sleeve?

from SEO Consultants – wz2s.net http://wz2s.net/18-seo-tactics-that-require-just-30-minutes-every-seo-nyc-digital-marketing/

[callme-rez]

Life got real in Cuba

 Vacations are great times to challenge yourself and gain more life lessons. Here are the top 10 things I learn while vacationing in Havana, Cuba.

1. In the Air

There might be a surge of American tourists in Cuba for several reason. Not only did America and Cuba decide to end the embargo between each country, but the flights to Cuba are very reasonable. The cheap ticket is what caught my cousin's Diane attention. Originally she wanted to go to Grand Cayman Island, but then she saw round trip tickets from Ft Lauderdale to Cuba for around $140, and she was sold.

She invited myself and 8 other family members and friends to embark on an adventure to Cuba. Note that flying from the Southeastern region of America will shorten your travel and cost. Most of the ladies who came along flew directly from Miami and lasted less than 30 minutes in the air.

 My experience was a tad different since my sister and I flew from NYC. It took me about 20 hours to get to Cuba. I flew from JFK airport at 6 a.m. via AreoMexico and had a 6 hour layover in Mexico City. Then arrived to Cuba at 11 p.m. 

2. Visa to go please.  You must have a visa to enter Cuba as a American citizen. You can read this Huffington Post article that explains that under the President Obama adminstration the the sanctions for Americans to travel to Cuba independently has loosen, but you must declare the visit is for an educational journey or one of the other 12 categories to authorize the trip.

Visa can be purchased online or through your airline company. If your flight has a layover in another country, then get your Cuban visa there. I paid $320 Mexican Pesos (MXN) for mine, which is around $20 US Dollars (USD). Jet blue Airlines charges $50 and Spirit Airlines demands for $100.  3. Life without Internet *sigh* 

It's 2017 and internet and wifi are still  not common in Cuba. Luckily my first night was spent at an Airbnb near an internet cafe. It was literally a park with benches and an Afro-Cuban guy with locs and freckles name Julian selling what looked like calling cards for less than $5 US Dollars (USD). The cards had the sign-on information on it, and it seemed like the wifi worked better on iPhones than Android phones (#ijs). When you find these internet cafe space you must take advantage because outside of a hotel, those are the only places you can get connected. 

4. Show me the money. 

Cuba has no relations with American banks, therefore, there are no ways to withdraw money. Come.With.Cash.

My group and I tried to find a way around it by getting money transferred through Western Union, but sadly we were informed that Americans cannot receive anything if we aren't exchange or medical students. Although research might say a USD to the Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC) is 1 to 1, but in my experience we received .87 CUC for $1 USD. When exchanging money it became very tricky. We attempted to exchange our money before we arrived, just learn the most banks in US don't have CUC. So we traded in our USD for Canadian dollars, and when we arrived to Cuba we exchanged our Canadian dollars it to CUC, just avoid a 10% surcharge some exchange booth places on USD.

5. Cars go a long way.  Cuba is known for their vintage American cars, but I now understand why they've taken pride on restoring and salvaging these classic vehicles.

It's because you need a car to truly get around. There is no Uber, so if you're in the wrong location taxis are very hard to find. It's best to be selective when choosing your lodging location. If you settle down on the outskirts of the city, then secure a full time driver or book through a travel agency/group where grounds commuting is secured.

We secured a 4 bedroom 4 bathroom house with a pool in Santa Fe, Havana, which is a community on far west coast of the city. It is about 14 miles away from the heart of Havana. Our distance was like South Bronx to Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn (for those who know NYC).  6. Hablo Espanol?

I got to Cuba thinking my Portuguese speaking skills will get me far, but boy I was wrong. Everyone knows how to read and write, but those without a college degree aren't familiar with English language. I found myself being frustrated in the midst of broken translation and conversation with the locals.Travel with your Spanish speaking friend, a translator or a translation app already downloaded to be able to have clear communication. 7. To Airbnb or not to? 

Yes Cuba has Airbnb, and from my experience they are cheaper than a hotel room. With a hotel room you'll have Internet, WiFi, a direct currency exchange desk in the lobby, but the price point can range from $300 - $500 CUC a night. Meanwhile an Airbnb in Cuba most likely won't have internet access, but you may will still have breakfast for a reasonable price. Our 4 bedroom 4 bathroom house in Santa Fe was about $970 for three nights. After dividing it among 8 people it just became $121 per person.

 8. A comida (the food)

Food in Cuba is very cheap. For about $4-7 CUC you get a hefty plate of rice, beans and chicken/fish from a local restaurant. My group and I had to spent less on food than anything else. We went to Area 53 restaurant for my cousin's birthday dinner.

It was more on the pricey end of things, but many of  our meals didn't exceed $10-14 CUC. One thing I noticed is that Cuban love their pork. It should be obvious from their popular Cuban sandwich, but the swine was everywhere especially in the brown rice. In addition, the seafood is superbs. You can purchase two lobster tails for $12 CUC.

 9. Plan your Excursions

Planning your trip to Cuba is necessary because you will not have access to do research when you get to the island. We didn't have much time to create a plan on activities to do. There was one thing my cousin was adamant about, which was exploring the caves in Varadero Beach, Cuba.

Varadero is about 2-3 hours away from Havana. For $5 CUC we swam in 22 Farehinet, 66 feet deep, crystal clear fresh water in Cueva de Saturno (Saturn Cave). The water was so refreshing. The lifeguarded told us not to pee in the water because there are little creature that will swim up your urethra. We all were shocked, until he started laughing and confessed he was joking. Supposedly there are no animals in the water, but it's definitely a place worthy enough to bring your goggles to discover what lies beneath.

Shortly after we went to the beach and got to watch and twerk as the sun set. 

 10. Turn up

This should definitely be a duh? But often times when you're traveling things don't go according the plan. Or there are a series of misfortunate events. Regardless of what goes left, still try to saver the moments.

This is your vacation from your everyday routine and an opportunity to tap into a whole different world and meet new people. Don't get frustrated with the lack of amenities that have been a norm to you like hot water, and fast-food and internet. You'll make it back to your materialistic prize possession in due time. Until embrace the different. 

[britishhiphop]

RIP: Scott La Rock

“By age 25 Scott ‘La Rock’ Sterling had achieved what many people only dream of. As part of a duo called Boogie Down Productions, he was on the verge of signing a major recording contract and he had kept a promise that he had made to himself: He, a young man from the South Bronx who had become a high school basketball star and had earned a bachelor’s degree in business, would settle for nothing less than stardom. All that came to an end Wednesday 27th August 1987 when Mr. Sterling was fatally shot outside the Highbridge Homes on University Avenue in the South Bronx.” —Esther Iverem, The New York Times, August 31, 1987 Twenty-three years ago, New York’s adolescent rap scene was forced to grow up. Violently. The murder of Scott La Rock was much more than simply the loss of a talented up and coming DJ. In many ways, La Rock—in both his life and his death—set the stage for hip-hop as we know it today. While he was alive, La Rock drafted the aesthetic blueprint for gangsta rap with the previously unexplored street themes and shocking imagery of BDP’s classic Criminal Minded (the only album he ever recorded). On the business side, his Black-owned independent label, B Boy Records, pioneered the burgeoning genre’s rebel entrepreneurialism. “Scott would have been Puff before Puff, no question,” says Chris Lighty, a close friend of Scott’s who now runs the Violator Records empire. “But without the dancing. He approached the music as a business at a time when most people just wanted to be down and make records.” Born March 2, 1962, in South Ozone Park, Queens, Scott Monroe Sterling was raised far from the grimy scene that he would later help to mold. His parents split when he was four, and he lived with his mother, Carolyn Morant, a career municipal employee. When Scott was young, they moved from Queens to the Morisania section of the Bronx, and then to Morris Heights. Scott excelled in both academics and sports at Our Savior Lutheran High School, graduating in 1980 and heading off to Vermont’s Castleton State College. He earned a varsity letter in basketball there, but as it became clear that his talent would never take him to the NBA, Scott switched his extracurricular focus from hoops music. “Our turntables were on our desks and our books were on the floor,” said La Rock’s four-year college roommate, Lee “The Mack” Smith Jr., to the Times back in ‘87. “I would come home and hear the bass before I opened the door.” After graduating in 1984, Scott returned to New York in hopes of finding work and making in-roads to the music industry. Through a connection of his mother’s, Scott landed a jacket-and-tie nine-to-five as a social worker at the Franklin Armory Men’s Shelter on 166th St in the Bronx. At night, though, he’d lose the noose, spinning at the blossoming hip-hop hot spot, the Broadway Repertoire Theatre on 145th Street. Socially gifted, Scott quickly earned a rep for his skills on the turntables and a progressive business sense as well. “He was just a smooth, approachable brother,” remembers DJ Red Alert. “He could relate to any type of person, that’s why so many people gravitated to him.” Beyond spinning records, though, Scott aspired to create his own. He began studying the art of making beats at his Bronx buddy Ced Gee’s place and searching the city’s clubs for a worthy MC partner. (Ced would go on to form the Ultramagnetic MCs with Kool Keith Thornton.) Strangely, La Rock would find his rapping other half not among the denizens of dimly-lit nightspots like Broadway R.T., but under the bright fluorescents of the shelter where he worked his day job. One of Scott’s responsibilities at the shelter was doling out subway tokens to those who needed to travel to job interviews. Shortly after starting, though, he got wise to the fact that several of the shelter’s residents were faking interviews to score tokens, which they’d use instead to go party. When Scott confronted one of the hustlers, the situation got loud and ugly. The resident called Scott a “house Negro, one paycheck away from homelessness.” Scott countered that the homeless man was “obviously lazy, otherwise he’d have a job.” Security was called to separate the two before they came to blows, and the resident left the shelter. The homeless man was Kris “KRS-One” Parker—a cocky, 20 year-old graffiti artist and self-taught “philosopher” who preferred the street life to the mundane world of working. Three months later, Scott ran into him at Ced Gee’s apartment (coincidentally, KRS had also been putting in time on Ced’s equipment.) After their less-than-civil start, Scott extended the olive branch by inviting KRS to one of his parties. “My mind got blown clean out of my head,” remembers KRS-One of his summer 1985 introduction to the hip-hop scene at the Broadway R.T. “Just seeing Scott DJing, and then watching Mantronix walk by, and then Doug E. Fresh is in the corner grabbing a drink… It was just too much for me.” Scott took a liking to KRS, and to two of his fellow shelter residents, Joseph “Just Ice” Williams, Jr., “I.C.U.” and 15-year-old Derrick “D-Nice” Jones, a cousin of a security guard. “He’d invite us down and we’d hang out way past the nine p.m. curfew, get drunk and party,” says KRS of BDP’s prenatal period. “At the end of the night Scott would take us all out for breakfast and we’d talk about who we were gonna be and what we were gonna do.” “Scott gained a freedom hanging out with us,” KRS continues. “And being around him made us feel important.” via britishhiphop.co.uk