#you’d think i’d never been to vancouver in my life but i’ve gone every year

[butchtaurus]

tryna plan out my two days in vancouver. cause depending on the weather there’s only so much i can do. and i have dinner plans for two days. and my mom wants to go over to park royal after her seminar thing. i’m def going to the art gallery on one of the days tho

[spine-buster]

Alone, Together | Chapter 36 | Morgan Rielly

A/N: So I hate to announce it, but the end of Alone, Together is coming.  I’ve planned out 40 chapters to the story, which means it will be ending soon.  Please do not fear – I have planned at least four one-shots for the future, and still might do blurbs of scenes you guys requested I write about since they weren’t included in chapters.  Canon questions are ALWAYS welcome, even when I’m finished writing.  It has been such a wild journey and I cannot wait for you guys to see what is in store for Morgan and Bee in the last chapters and in the future!

“How beautiful is this?!” Bee exclaimed to nobody in particular as she stood atop the first step that descended down on the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  She knew what it looked like because she had Googled it before, so she knew exactly what to expect.  But researching something online and seeing what it looked like was completely different than seeing it in person, and Bee was…flabbergasted.  Overwhelmed.  The beauty that surrounded her on this gorgeous sunny day was unparalleled.  Everything she experienced on the West Coast just kept getting better and better.  The roar of the river flowing beneath the bridge, and the trees – there were so many beautiful trees surrounding the canyon – she just couldn’t get enough.  It was like something out of a fairytale or book; an unpublished Tolkien novel about paradise.  

“Isn’t it, though?” Shirley smiled from ear to ear, seeing Bee’s enthusiasm and excitement about the bridge and the scenery.  “Wait till we actually get on the bridge.  You feel like you’re a bird walking up here!”

“I feel like in a past life I must have been a woodland creature,” Bee said.  “Everything about this is so beautiful.  And I feel so…I don’t know, calm.  Excited, but calm.”

“That’s what a temperate west coast rainforest will do to you,” Andy piped up from behind them, causing them to laugh.  “Ready?”

Bee took one last look upwards, taking in all the trees and foliage, before setting her sights on the bridge in front of her.  She wasn’t too scared of heights, per se, but the logistics of the suspension bridge freaked her out a little bit, and, well, it was a long drop down, regardless of how beautiful everything else was around her.  She hesitated for a moment, mentally preparing herself to take the first steps down, when she felt Morgan’s hands grab at her waist quickly before sliding them over to grab her hand.  He squeezed it gently and appeared at her side.  

“You can do this,” he said gently, nodding his head.  “You want me to go first?”

Bee shook her head.  “Just…let’s go together.”

“Okay.  Let’s go together.”

They both took another step down.  And another.  And another.  Then, slowly, slowly, walking along the bridge.  Bee kept her eyes on her feet the entire time.  She could see the black of her shoes and the brown of the bridge.  She didn’t know how far she’d gone – if she’s gone far at all – and assumed Andy and Shirley had probably already made their way to the other side by now.  

“Look up, Bumblebee,” she heard Morgan’s soft voice.  

When she did, she was greeted with the vast openness of the bridge, the crisp air, the lush greens of the trees, and the rushing blue water of the river beneath them.  A smile crept its way onto her face, slowly, as she took in the sights before her.  “Wow…” she whispered to herself in amazement, trying to internalize the moment.  She looked beside her, to Morgan, already smiling at her.  “Wow.”

“Wow indeed.  You ready to keep going?”

Bee nodded her head.  In the distance, she saw Andy flailing his arms about, trying to get their attention.  Shirley, in front of him, was holding her phone up to take a picture.  “I think your parents might have other plans,” she nodded her head towards them.

Morgan didn’t hesitate.  He wrapped his arms around her body, turning their bodies towards his parents, and rested his chin on the top of her head.  Shirley gave big thumbs up.  Bee was smiling from ear to ear.

***

Bee had never been on such a long bike ride in her life.  She’d taken her fair share of bike rides around Toronto – usually up in the suburbs, in the neighbourhood where Rocco and Clarette lived, since biking on major streets downtown scared the living shit out of her – but this was different.  When she had agreed to go on a bike ride with Morgan in Stanley Park, the famous expansive park in downtown Vancouver, she thought it would be a short ride.  Morgan clearly had other things in mind.  They started their journey at the Stanley Park Lawn Bowling Club, riding along the perimeter of the park before stopping halfway to take pictures near the Lions Gate Bridge.  They then mounted their bikes again, following the paths that went directly through the middle of the park, amongst the hundred year old trees, until they finally reached the Vancouver Seawall, yet another scenic destination, overlooking the Vancouver Harbour and all the tall, glass condo buildings in the West End and Gastown.

It was only then that they truly descended off their bikes – taking photos together, getting strangers to take pictures of them – before they brought their bikes underneath a tree, leaned them against the wide trunk, and laid down on the grass.  “My thighs feel like they’re on fire,” Bee mumbled as she plopped down onto the grass, spreading out her limbs for dramatic effect.  

She heard Morgan chuckle slightly.  “Maybe I can help with that,” he hummed, his hand immediately going to her thigh.

She slapped it away instantly.  “We are in a public God damn park, Morgan Frederick Rielly.  Put your hand away.”

He snorted.  “I was just gonna massage.”

“Sure.”  

“Stop making fun of my primal urges.”

“It’s called public indecency and they will arrest us in this park.”

“They might arrest you for being so hot you’d start a forest fire.”

Bee did the most dramatic eye roll in the history of eye rolls before scoffing at the comment.  Morgan could only laugh at the disgusted face she was making.  “Oh my fucking God, Morgan.  You are literally the absolute worst, you know that?  Like, I’m not even joking.  The worst.”

“You love me.”

“You’re lucky I do or else a comment like that would warrant a 72 hour sex ban for being literally the corniest thing to come out of anyone’s mouth in the history of humanity.”

Morgan pretended to scoff back at her.  “You’re mean when you’re tired!”

“You’re so hot you’d start a forest fire,” she mimicked his deep voice.  “The literal worst,” she laid back down flat on the grass.

“Get over here,” he grumbled playfully, rolling over so he was on his side, propping himself on his elbow as he draped his arm over her.  He leaned his head down slightly to kiss her, and for all her teasing, her dramatic eyerolls and her scoffing at his corny comments, she kissed him back readily.  “I love you,” he mumbled into her lips.

“I love you too.”

He kissed her again.  “Did you enjoy the bike ride?”

She nodded her head.  “This place is beautiful.  You always take me to the coolest and most beautiful places and it makes me never want to leave.  I’m tired and I’m red as a tomato but I could have stayed biking on that path forever.”

“I just want you to see how beautiful it is out here,” he said.  

“Can we build a house along the path we just went on?  Right in the middle of the trees?”

Morgan chuckled slightly as he dipped down, resting his head on her chest.  “You just tell me where, baby, and I’ll build it.”

***

“Morgan.”

“Hm?”

“What are you doing?”

“What do you think?”

They were on a boat in the middle of the Georgia Strait, watching the sunset again before making their way over to Gibsons to spend the day there.  Both were both already fully clothed, at Morgan’s insistence so they could start the day early – Bee in a sundress and him in his usual slacks and t-shirt – and he had taken it upon himself to cuddle with her again under a blanket as they watched the sunrise from the boat.  Just like last time, except Maggie had to stay home since she probably couldn’t handle an entire day out and about in Gibsons.  The boat ride was going to be tranquil, too.  Just like last time.

Morgan, apparently, had ulterior motives.  

Bee’s breath had hitched in her throat when she first felt Morgan’s hand slip and wiggle its way between her thighs.  His hand stayed dormant for a while, almost as if he had just put it in between her thighs to warm it (the crisp morning air was a bit nippy), but slowly, slowly, his hand kept sliding up, and when he was finally close enough, he began moving her panties out of the way.  That’s when she spoke up.  “Really?  Now?”  

“Always.”

“But what if we get caught?”

“By who?  The people in the other boats?” he asked sarcastically.  It was 5:30am and they were the only boat out for miles.  

Bee’s breath hitched in her throat again as she felt one of his fingers gliding along her lips lightly.  Just as she had planned that little surprise when they were in Kelowna, he had been planning this, apparently.  He knew exactly what he was doing when he told her to get dressed that morning and had made the comment about the sundress being cute and ‘very appropriate’ for the coastal town of Gibsons.  “I seriously don’t know where you get all this energy from.  Not that I’m complaining, cause I’d ride your dick across the Pacific Ocean if I could.”

Morgan smirked.  “I told you that my New Year’s Resolution was to have more sex with you.  I’m not one to break a resolution.”

“You’ve broken your clean eating during the season resolution like, every week since you’ve made it.”

“That’s different.  This is sex with you,” he stressed, causing her to laugh lightly. 

The only problem with Morgan’s surprise was that he wanted to take it slow.  Like, painstakingly slow.  Glacial pace slow.  Geologic time slow.  He teased the lips of her pussy much longer than Bee would have liked, and inserted only one finger after what felt like half an hour.  To make matters worse, he was talking to her and holding a conversation as if he wasn’t fingering her on the Goddamn boat, forcing her to participate instead of relishing in the feeling.  Her mind kept going back and forth – from talking about what book he should read next to the tingle making its way up her spine as he curled his finger in her slowly.  He was teasing her, putting her through psychological warfare, and he knew it, and it was all part of his plan.

She hated him.  But fuck, she loved it.

Another finger slipped in after a while.  As was standard, she found it harder and harder to concentrate on whatever words were coming out of Morgan’s mouth as his fingers moved lazily inside of her – she tried to keep the conversation, she really did, but with each movement and each further tease of his thumb near her clit, she was getting more and more sensitive.  Her body was already flush with heat.  “Morgan.”

“Yeah baby?”

“You’re gonna kill me, you know that?”

“Why?” he asked with fake innocence, at the same time curling his fingers in her, causing her to squeeze her thighs together.

“Really?” she demanded.

“You want me to stop?”

She glared at him.  “If you stop I’m throwing you overboard.”

“That’s what I thought,” he said, a third finger now slipping in so painstakingly slow she gave throwing him overboard a serious thought.  She squirmed slightly, trying to maintain her position but knowing it could change at any moment.  He began placing butterfly kisses on her shoulder, moving up to her neck.  She closed her eyes.  “Feels good?” he asked.

She could only nod her head as she let out a sigh, finally concentrating on the feeling of his three fingers inside of her.  If he was done playing his games, she was done playing them too.  “Your fingers always feel good inside me,” she whispered.

“You remember when we were doing this before Auston’s New Year’s Eve party?” he asked.  She nodded her head again, a smile creeping its way onto her face.  “I could have stayed home that entire night and fucked you senseless if you had let me.”

“I was a bit more naïve back then,” she joked.  “I wanted to make a good impression on your friends.  I thought if we didn’t show up Auston would hate me.”

“Auston could never hate you.”

“At least we got to see him make out with a cupcake.”

Morgan snorted, his nose and lips grazing the skin of her neck as he chuckled.  “Does he know you have that video?”

“No.”

“Keep it that way,” he giggled, biting down on her skin gently.  “And you remember Valentine’s Day?”

Did she remember Valentine’s Day?  What kind of question was that?  The question should have been ‘Do you remember the time I fucked you senseless with my hand four fingers deep in your pussy?’  She found herself nodding her head again as he curled his fingers, causing her to squirm.  “How could I forget?” she asked, an obvious strain in her voice.  

“If I remember correctly, I’m one finger short of how I was fucking you that night,” Morgan said, his voice low.  His thumb finally, finally attached itself to her clit, lazily rubbing circles.  Bee bit down on her lip.  She couldn’t help but try to move her hips so he could go deeper.  “Fuck Bee, you’re desperate aren’t you?”

“You fucking know I’m desperate,” she whispered harshly.  “I’m so fucking hot and so fucking wet and I’m ready to fucking explode, Morgan.”

“Guess I better go slower, then.  Tease you a little more,” he whispered in her ear, removing his thumb from her clit.

“Morgan Frederick Rielly, your fingers have been in my pussy for more than a fucking hour.  If you take any longer I will not be held legally responsible for what I will do to you.”

Morgan chuckled.  A low, hearty chuckle as he bit down on the skin of her neck again.  She wondered if he was leaving marks.  “All you have to do is say the magic words, baby,” his voice was so achingly sweet.

“I want to cum, Morgan.”

“Those aren’t the magic words,” his thumb grazed her clit teasingly.

She took a deep breath.  He was really going to make her do this on a fucking boat in the middle of the Strait of Georgia at 6:45 in the morning.  “I want to cum, Mr. Rielly.”

“That’s a good girl,” he said, his thumb finally beginning to rub circles again, all three of his fingers curling inside of her, causing her to squirm.  He continued his movements at a steady pace – nothing too fast or slow – and could feel her wetness building and her body getting more and more heated.  

Morgan saw the moment she closed her eyes, unable to take it anymore.  They were both silent as her orgasm tore through her entire body, powerful and long, leaving her body shaking and squirming for a while.  Morgan didn’t stop – really, did he ever? – until her hand reached in between her thighs to grab his.  His fingers left her pussy, and she watched through hooded eyes as he brought them to his mouth and sucked on them, tasting her juices.  

“Are you hard?” she asked quickly.

“Yeah.”

“Let me sit on your cock, Morgan.”

He unbuttoned and unzipped his pants quickly, shoving them half way down his legs as he saw Bee stand and bunch up the skirt of her dress around her hips.  She moved to stand in between his knees, facing away from him as she lowered herself onto his lap.  He moved her panties with one hand and grabbed his cock with the other, guiding it into her, and she began bouncing up and down in no time, her hands leaving her dress and squeezing onto his thighs, her nails digging into his skin.  

For all his teasing of her, he knew he wouldn’t last long like this.  Bee bouncing on his cock was probably his favourite view – never mind that beyond her was one of the most beautiful sunrises, with some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.  He could watch his cock disappear into her pussy all day.

“You’re lucky I’m not as big a tease as you are,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder to look back at him.  

“I don’t know about that,” he grunted, his hands going underneath the fabric of her dress to grab her ass.  “You existing is a tease to me.”

“Cheeky.”

“I see something else that’s cheeky.”

She smacked his thigh playfully.  “I love you, Morgan.”

“I love you too, baby.”

“Are you close?”

He nodded his head.  “I want you to cum again too, baby.  With me.”

She nodded her head, turning back around.  After a few more minutes, he felt her walls clench around his cock again, and she cried out his name.  He steadied her bouncing as he came inside of her, never ever getting tired of the feeling of filling her up.  She leaned back into his chest, his cock slipping out of her as he wrapped his arm around her.  They were both breathing heavily as they came down from their highs, Morgan peppering Bee’s shoulder and neck with light kisses.

“I love you,” Bee repeated her earlier sentiments.  “So damn much.  You have no idea.”

“I love you too, Bumblebee.  More than anything.”

***

“Out of all the amazing restaurants downtown…I have to say, the backyard of the Rielly house is my favourite place to eat,” Bee said, leaning back in her chair as she swallowed the last bit of perfectly grilled filet mignon.  She turned her head to look at Morgan sitting beside her, smiling.  “That filet was great.”

“I thought it was a bit salty,” Connor joked, garnering a sneer from Morgan and a laugh from Bee.  “Whoever seasoned the vegetables did a much better job.”

“You’re just saying that so mom will slice you a bigger piece of cheesecake,” Morgan snarled.  “Don’t fall for it, mum.  That steak was grilled perfectly medium rare.”

“Oh alright you two,” Shirley waved off her quarrelling boys.  “You’re both getting a big fat slice of cheesecake.  No need to butter me up about it.”

“Reminds me of the time you boys were fighting over who was giving the homeless people at the shelter bigger portions of turkey for Thanksgiving,” Andy quipped.  “Everything was always a competition with you two when you were younger.  How old were you boys?”

��I was twelve,” Morgan remembered.  “It was two years before I left for Notre Dame.”

“Yeah, I was in my first year of high school,” Connor nodded his head before focusing his attention back on his brother.  “Have the Leafs kept doing that Covenant House volunteering for the holidays?”

“Every year,” Morgan nodded his head.  

“Have you joined in?” Andy asked.

“Of course.”

“I’d like to get in on that next time…if I can,” Bee piped up.  “I used to be on the receiving end of that sort of stuff.  It’d be nice to give back.”

Morgan gave her a look.  He wasn’t exactly shocked that she’d want to do volunteer work – this was Bee, after all – but to him, her tone sounded like she had been waiting to say this for a very long time.  “Really?”

Bee looked at Morgan as if it was the most obvious choice in the world.  “It’s been almost a year now.  I think it’s about time.”

“You must have discussed it with some of the other girls, then,” Shirley offered.

“I’ve actually discussed this with Aryne Tavares,” Bee said.  “We’ve talked about it a lot, actually.  She did a lot of charity work down in Long Island and she’s been continuing it in Toronto, and I think it’s time for me to start too.  I’m actually going with her to Sick Kids when we get back to Toronto, but I’m thinking there’s other stuff I can do, too.”

Morgan should have known she had already started this discussion with Aryne.  “That’s great news, Bee,” Shirley smiled.  “What were you thinking?”

“Well the Leafs have always had a relationship with Sick Kids Hospital – I know Morgan goes there a lot too, has been there a lot, so that’s one,” she began.  “Since we got Brucey from the Humane Society I thought of maybe doing something with them…like, promoting adoption drives and stuff like that.  Literacy programs too – going into elementary schools and promoting reading to kids,” she continued.  Morgan could tell her tone was getting more nervous the more she spoke.  “And…um, Aryne and I have been talking, and I think, uh, it’s really good, cause, well, it’s really important to me that, uh…I get involved in something like Alateen.”

The words hung in the air for a moment, everybody around the table digesting what Bee just revealed to them.  Morgan barely blinked.  Connor was nodding his head slowly.  Andy and Shirley looked like they were still listening intently – like they hadn’t processed the information yet.  It was only until Andy spoke up that Bee felt the weight lift off her shoulders.  “That’s very honourable of you, Briony.”

“I haven’t um, looked into it yet or anything.  It’s just a very basic idea,” Bee felt the need to explain herself.  “It’s just that, you know, I could have used a mentor growing up in that situation.  Somebody to sort of guide me through.  Not somebody to tell me that everything was going to be okay, because I knew things weren’t going to be okay, but at least somebody to speak to.  And I think of all the kids – all the teens – who are going through what I went through, and it just feels right to try to help them.  Nobody really…I didn’t know these resources existed growing up – mostly because I lied to my teachers, because I’m sure they would have told me – but I just think that I could…you know…provide some insight.  Some help.  However I can.”

She felt Morgan grab her hand underneath the table and squeeze it tightly.  Connor was nodding his head approvingly now, as were Andy and Shirley.  “That’s fantastic Bee.  You’d be great at that,” Shirley said.  “You have built such a successful life for yourself, and you can be a real role model for those kids.  They’ll be able to see someone who powered through, who survived, who got an education and is working and is making a success out of herself.”

“Yeah,” Bee nodded her head.  “Um, I know I’m gonna need to clear it.  I know it’s a very touchy subject for a lot of people and I don’t know if it’ll get approved or whatever, but it’s something I’d like to do.  If not now, in the future.  And if I can’t do it with the Lady Leafs, then maybe through Scotiabank.  Or on my own.  I don’t know.”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Andy affirmed, swirling the remainder of his wine around in his glass.  “I think you were meant for something like that.”

***

Andy and Shirley didn’t have rules this time – however imposed or unimposed they were the first time around in January – so Bee and Morgan slept in the same bed, his bed, that night after dinner.  They were spooning – on their sides cradled into one another, Morgan’s arm draped over Bee and Bee’s legs curled into his – just enjoying each other’s warmth.  The sun had set long ago but the light from the moon illuminated the room slightly.

They were staring into each other’s eyes.  They had been since they lay down together.  Morgan initiated it and had barely stopped.  Bee could only indulge him.  

“You’re the strongest girl in the world, you know that?” he whispered, his voice low and soft.  “After all you’ve been through, after all you’ve had to overcome, you’re still willing to talk about your experience.  I don’t know if I’d be able to do something like that.”

“It’s never something I’ve backed away from.  You know that,” she said in an equally soft voice.  “I told you from the get go.  I’m not ashamed.”

“I’m just scared,” he admitted.

“About what?”

“Any scrutiny you’ll get for talking about your past and what you’ve been able to overcome.  I’ve told you how harsh the media can be.  You’ve seen how harsh the media can be.  But it’s not even…it’s the DMs.  You know how nasty they can be and those girls can be fucking crazy.  We still haven’t solved the DM issue enough for me to be confident that you’re…you know, safe.”

Bee brought her hand up, cupping his face.  “Whatever scrutiny I’ll get will be from low-lives,” she began.  “Who would go after a girl for trying to help children with alcoholic parents or relatives?  You’d have to be a special kind of dumbass, to be quite honest.”

“I know, but--”

“Besides,” she interrupted him.  “I’m a big girl.  I can handle it.  This is going to do way more good than harm because I’m not ashamed of where I came from.  Even if I just help one person, Morgan, it’s worth it.  It’s worth it to me.”

[cali-holland]

Ten Years- Shawn Mendes One Shot

Pairing: Shawn Mendes X Reader

Prompt: Ten years ago, Shawn told you he liked you, but you weren’t ready. After meeting again, those feelings haven’t changed.

Word Count: 2100

Based On: When You’re Ready by Shawn Mendes

Masterlist    Shawn Mendes Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

~~~

“I’m really going to miss you when you’re gone, you know.” Shawn said, looking over at you from across the hammock. Sitting in the park’s hammock, you felt at ease with him as you watched the trees swing from the wind; that sense of peace left when he brought up the dull topic.

“I’m going to miss you too. Vancouver’s going to be so boring without you.” You frowned, not wanting to think about how your father decided to move your entire family across the entire country.

“Who am I going to bother during class now? I can’t imagine making it through school without you.” He stated, sitting up and making the hammock swing a little.

“I think you’ll manage. We’ll still talk, right?” You asked, sitting up to mirror him.

“Of course. You’re my best friend, Y/N. I’m going to call you as often as I can.”

“We should make a pact.” You suggested, “So we’ll for sure see each other again. Is ten years too long?”

“Ten years? That’s so far down the road.” Shawn replied as your mom began to call you back inside the house.

“Ten years.” You nodded, “We’ll see each other again in ten years, right here.”

“We’re going to be twenty, what if we can’t make it?”

“You’ll make it work, Shawn. I know I will.” You said.

“Y/N, we need to be leaving.” Your mom called you again from the car and you stood up from the hammock.

“I want to tell you something.” Shawn said, grabbing your hand as he followed you.

“Tell me in ten years.” You smiled, pulling him in for one last hug. You two held onto each other tightly, as if your lives depended on it. After a moment in his warm embrace, you let go and left with a small smile.

“Ten years.” He whispered under his breath as he watched you leave. All he could hope for now is for you to truly remember him, just as he knew he’d remember you- his childhood best friend who took his heart with her to Vancouver.

~~~

10 years later

“What do you mean you’re going to Canada?” Your friend and roommate asked you as you sat on your floor, packing your suitcase.

“I have to go to Pickering.” You said, “I’m meeting someone.”

“What are you talking about?” She kept her eyebrows raised at you, not moving from her spot in your doorway. “You’re not even from Pickering.”

“Correction, I grew up there. I moved to Vancouver when I was ten, and I promised my childhood friend that I’d meet him there in ten years. Well, ten years is in two days.”

“You’re going all the way to Canada for your childhood friend? I can’t tell if that’s cute or crazy.” She paused, “You do realize you’re literally missing a week of your internship for this, right?”

“Well, yeah, but I told them about this when they hired me. I’m fine, everything is fine.”

“Okay, you have fun in Pickering. I’ll just be here enjoying my California sun.” She teased before leaving.

She had every right to think of your plan as crazy. You were scared that going back to Pickering was going to pointless. You couldn’t help yourself from thinking that maybe Shawn didn’t even remember your pact, or even you. The two of you hadn’t talked in years. In fact, the last thing you remember was him calling you for your twelfth birthday, and then all calls ended and he went on to become a superstar. There was an optimistic part of you, hoping that the boy you liked all those years ago would show up for you again.

~~~

“I’m leaving.” Shawn nodded as he repeated his last statement.

“I got that, but why? Is there something planned that I don’t know about?” His manager asked him and Shawn simply shook his head.

“Not really. I just made a promise to a friend that I’d see them this weekend, so I need to go home.”

“A friend? What kind of friend are we talking about?” He asked skeptically.

“She was my best friend until she moved away. We made a pact to see each other again.”

“Are you even sure she’ll be there?”

“Yes, I know her. She wouldn’t forget me.” Shawn couldn’t hide his smile as he thought about how much you could’ve changed in the past ten years. He was dying to see you again, and he was hoping that you’d still treat him the same as you did back then- that you wouldn’t treat him as the Shawn Mendes and instead would treat him as the dorky kid from Pickering.

“Was she just a best friend or something more?”

“Why all the questions?” He teased, “Well, I did really like her, but we were just kids, and besides I never told her how I felt.”

“Be careful when you’re there, okay?”

“I will be.” Shawn nodded again, continuing to pack his clothes for his trip.

~~~

Two days later, you nervously sat on a bench near the hammock. You were early, but you weren’t sure if Shawn would remember the time, or if he’d even show. You let out a small sigh and continued to look around the park; it was as if nothing had changed to you.

“Y/N?” You heard someone ask from behind you. You turned around and your eyes fell upon Shawn. You immediately pulled him in for a hug, a wide smile spread across your face.

“You really came.” You said, pulling back from the hug. You two both took a moment to look over the other. Gone were the braces and the childish clothes. Shawn was now incredibly taller than you with a strong build, and, well, needless to say, you had hit puberty and now looked like a mature young adult.

“You doubted me?” He teased as the two of you sat beside each other on the bench.

“I didn’t doubt you at first, but then you went on to become famous. Where did that come from?” You playfully slapped his arm and fully realized just how much more built he had actually become.

“I know, it’s been crazy.” He ran a hand through his curly hair, “What’s been going on for you?”

“I’ve got two more years at a university in California and I currently have an internship for the summer.”

“You left Vanouver?”

“You didn’t expect me to stay there my whole life, did you?” You joked.

“I don’t know what I expected. I learned a while ago to never expect anything.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You let out a laugh at his comment, knowing he didn’t intend for it to sound the way that it did.

“No, no, that’s not what I meant. You always did the unexpected. You’re so spontaneous. I love that about you.” Shawn smiled at you, before he realized his mistake, “You know, it’s just a- a good quality.”

“I get it. I love that you never know what to say.” You replied and he let out a chuckle.

“You got me there. I can’t argue with that.” He said, “Do you want to grab some drinks or something?”

“Yeah, sure.” You nodded and the two of you made your way to the small pub across the street from the park.

You sat at a small table in the corner of the room and Shawn went to grab you drinks. While he waited for them, he looked over at you and made a silly cross-eyed face at you. You couldn’t help but laugh and he flashed you his best smile. Your heart skipped a beat as you drowned in that smile again.

“So, any big news we should discuss?” Shawn asked, setting down the drinks. He sat in the chair across from you and began to sip his drink.

“Big news?” You raised an eyebrow at him, questioning his words again.

“For starters, I don’t see a ring, so no engagement or marriage I assume, but what else?”

“If this is your way of asking if I have a boyfriend, you’re doing a horrendous job.” You paused to take a drink of the intoxicating liquid in front of you, “The answer is no, by the way.”

“That’s a good answer.” Shawn winked at you playfully.

“Okay, rockstar, what about you? I can’t bring myself to even try to keep up with the tabloids.” You stated.

“I’ve been to busy performing to think about a relationship.” He replied, mentally adding ‘and I’ve been waiting for you’.

“You know, last time I saw you, you said you wanted to tell me something.”

“Oh, did I?” He seemed to look away from you nervously. You placed your hand on his, bringing his attention back to you.

“Judging by that reaction, you remember it, so what was it?” You asked, your eyes pleading for him to tell you.

“I may or may not have wanted to tell you that I liked you, as much as a ten year old could.” Shawn explained with a somewhat awkward tone in his voice. You took a moment to think before responding. Over the years, you had considered different options of what he would say, but none led to this. You had always admired him, even when you were younger. He was your best friend, your crush too; but that was ten years ago and you two had grown and changed since then.

“I don’t know what to say.” You said quietly, feeling your peppiness from early slowly diminishing.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to say anything.” He shifted his hands so he was now holding yours and he traced his thumb over the back of your hand gently, “I guess I wanted to tell you back then, so I might as well tell you now. We were kids though-”

“Has it changed?” You asked him. Your eyes never left his.

“Has what changed?” Shawn asked, surprised by your sudden response.

“Have your feelings for me changed?”

“It’s been a while. You’re still an incredible person.”

“Are you saying yes then? Because I too liked you all those years ago.” You said, smiling at him.

“Are you being serious? We were just that stupid back then to not say anything?” He let out a laugh at the thought.

“We were only ten.” You teased.

“What do you say- do you want to see if this would work?” He proposed with the same soft smile on his face.

“You’re on tour right now, and I’m still in school.” You said, your own smile faltering, “Why don’t we wait until we’re ready? At least, we can stay in touch better now.”

“Tell me when you’re ready then. I’ll be waiting.” When his eyes met yours again at the proposition, you knew he’d keep his promise, just as he kept his word for ten years.

~~~

“Isn’t late?” You asked when you picked up your phone.

“Yeah, but I missed you.” Shawn said and you could picture the smile that was on his face.

“You’re such a dork.” You laughed.

“So how was your day?” He asked you.

“Uneventful as always. And how was your show?” You replied. It had been two weeks since you two reconnected, and he called you every day, just wanting to hear your voice as you rambled on about the smallest things.

“Exciting. The crowd was amazing tonight, I wish you could’ve seen it.”

“I know.”

“I have a break now. Can I come see you?” Shawn asked softly.

“Of course.” You laughed.

“Good because I’m outside.” He said.

“Outside?” You repeated as you heard a knock from your front door. You immediately went to open it.

“Told you I was outside.” Shawn teased as he pulled you in for a tight hug.

“My place isn’t even clean, I wasn’t ready for this.” You replied, feeling guilty about the mess.

“It was a surprise, you weren’t supposed to be ready.” He laughed, pulling away from you slightly but never moving his hands from your waist. “I really did miss you.”

“I missed you too.” You smiled up at him. “Shawn?”

“Yeah?” He replied as one of his hands trailed its way through your hair.

“I am ready now.” You told him.

“You have no clue how happy that makes me.” Shawn smiled, “Can I kiss you now?”

“We’ve waited ten years for this. Don’t make me wait any longer.” You teased. His hand now rested on your cheek as he leaned down and gently placed his lips upon yours. You smiled into the kiss while your hands got lost in his curls. He pulled back and rested his forehead against yours, his breathing still beating on your face.

“Ten years is way too long.”

[bamby0304]

The Spice of Life- Ch.3

Series Masterlist

Summary: After your character is killed off on the show, Supernatural, you take up your best friend’s offer to live with her while adjusting to your new life. Under the Ackles’ roof, you quickly have your life turned upside down once more when secrets come to light. Before you know it… you’re dragged into the heat of it all, and you love every second of it.

Pairing: Jensen x Reader x Danneel 

Word Count: 4.3k

A/N: Thank you @dean-winchesters-bacon for looking the chapter over!! :)

Warnings: Explicit language. Poly relationships. Little bit of angst. Smut. Threesome. F/F. F/M/F. Voyeurism. Masterbation. Fingering. Oral (female & male receiving). Unprotected sex. Squirting. 

Bamby

You couldn’t wipe the smile from your face. Things with Danneel had been going so well since you’d moved in weeks ago. You felt at home, like you belonged. The kids loved you, having some girl time was great, and building your relationship with Dani was just the cherry on top.

Sitting in the living room, flicking through your phone while some random movie played on the TV for background noise, you really settled into the chill feeling surrounding you.

“Okay so,” Dani came around the couch and dropped down beside you heavily, “Jensen is coming home.”

Your world came crashing down as your froze on the spot, feeling all your anxieties you’d managed to fight through rise back to the surface.

“They’ve wrapped up for the season, so… it’s hiatus time,” Dani noted, watching you carefully. When you said nothing, she went on, “He’ll be home tonight.”

Holy fuck. “Wow…” you cleared your throat, shifting on the spot uncomfortably. “That’s short notice.”

Chewing her lip, still watching you carefully, Dani could sense your discomfort. “Y/N-”

“When did you find out he was coming home tonight?” you asked, not hiding the accusing tone from your voice.

There was a pause as she contemplated how to answer before giving in, “A few ago days.”

“A few ago days?!” Dropping your phone on the couch, you unfolded your legs, pushed yourself up to your feet and began to walk away.

“Y/N, wait!” Dani was hot on your heels, climbing over the back of the lounge to follow you. Reaching out, she grabbed your hand and tugged until you turned to face her. “I didn’t tell you because-”

“Because what? Because you’re worried that I’ll come crashing back to earth, remember you’re married to one of my best friends, and freak? Because you’re worried I’ll realise I’m a horrible person for getting involved with you, and stop? Because you didn’t want to miss out on a few extra days with me before my guilt inevitbaly reared it’s ugly fucking head up?” Pulling your arm out of her grasp, shaking your head, you backed up. “Did you ever think that I might need time to process?”

The hurt in her eyes was almost enough to make you stop. She was quite clearly concerned and scared, but you were too far gone. You were freaking out.

“I can deal with being my married best friend’s fuck buddy. What I can’t deal with is having to sort all my emotions out in less than twenty-four hours before her husband comes home. Does he even know about us?”

“Yes!” she quickly blurted. “He does know… kind of.”

“Kind of? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means...” Taking a deep breath, she averted her gaze as she answered, “It means Jensen knows that you and I have been flirty and a little touchy, but he doesn’t know how far it’s gone.”

“Does he know we’ve had sex?” After a few moments of silence, you pressed, “It’s not a difficult question, Dani. Yes or no?”

“... yes?”

“You’re not supposed to answer with a question of your own!” Throwing your hands in the air, you turned and tried to storm off again.

She just continued to follow.

“He knows we’ve had sex, but he doesn’t know how many times. He and I usually talk it out before we hookup with other people, but with you it was an impulse thing,” she explained. “We’re gonna sit down and talk it out when he gets home. So we’re all on the same page.”

Still shaking your head, you just kept walking through the house, heading for the spare room- which was supposed to be yours, but hadn’t been used for the majority of your time at the Ackles’.

“Does he know I’ve been sleeping with you?” you questioned, needing to know just how out of the loop Jensen was.

“Kind of,” she admitted, clearly feeling guilty. “He knows we’ve been sharing a bed, but he doesn’t know it’s been every night. And I don’t think he knows there’s anything sexual about it.”

Coming to a sudden stop you turned to her with an enraged glare. “We have fucked every night. Every fucking night! How could he not know about that? How could you have kept this from him? I thought the two of you had this whole open relationship thing going on? Aren’t you supposed to know your shit or something?”

“I’m sorry!” she exclaimed. “Look, I’ve liked you for years, and Jensen knows that, but I never thought anything would ever actually happen. I never thought you’d feel the same, and I sure as hell never thought we’d act on those feelings. If I did I would have talked to Jensen before inviting you to stay with us.”

“But we did act, and since then you’ve had weeks to talk to him about it. You talk every night. You couldn’t find a moment to just let him know?”

“What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey honey, I’ve been screwing Y/N on the side. Hope you don’t mind. Can’t wait for you to come home.’?”

You shrugged harshly. “Sounds good to me.”

“He’s in Vancouver, Y/N. I’m not going to just jump someone’s bones without talking it out with him in person beforehand.”

“But that’s exactly what you did.” This time when you turned and stormed off, she didn’t follow you.

…

Staying away from Danneel was hard throughout the day, but you needed time to process. Knowing that Jensen was coming home and didn’t know the extent of your relationship with his wife… it definitely made things awkward and complicated.

You weren’t sure how you were supposed to feel or what you were supposed to do, so you settled in letting your emotions do whatever they wanted. That’s how you ended up sitting in the middle of you bed, staring at the wall across from you, as guilt piled on top of more guilt.

Jensen had helped you through so much. He was one of your closest friends, and here you were taking advantage of his hospitality… and his wife.

To be fair, she took advantage of you just as much as you did her, but that wasn’t the point. You weren’t an innocent party in this situation. Now you had the responsibility of fixing the problem you’d helped make.

Unfolding your legs, you huffed out a sigh as you forced yourself out of the bedroom. As you wandered through the house you kept your mind focused, letting the guilt encourage you.

When you found Dani she was in the kitchen, leaning against the bend with a beer in front of her.

“Hey.”

Turning around, she was quite clearly surprised to see you. “Hey… I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again tonight.”

“I thought it would be best if we talked things through before Jensen got home,” you noted as you walked towards her. “We need to be on the same page, Dani.”

Averting her eyes with guilt, she nodded. “I know.”

“No I don’t think you do. If you did, you would have told me when Jensen was coming home sooner. And you would have talked to me about how this thing between you works. If I’d known you two usually talk things out before you start something with someone new, I wouldn’t have let things go so far.”

“That first night, I thought it was just going to be a one time thing,” she admitted. “If I’d known, I would have told Jensen right away. I swear.”

“I believe you, but now we’ve got a potential problem on our hands. You didn’t tell him and he’s coming home… in a few hours. We need to figure out what we’re gonna do before he gets here.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Well, for starters, I’d like to keep seeing you,” you admitted. Her lips stretched out into a wide smile, and you shrugged. “Not gonna beat around the bush. There’s feelings here, and I’d like to keep it going. If Jensen doesn’t like that, then I’ll respect his wishes. But I’m kinda really hoping after we talk it out with him he’ll be okay… eventually.”

The two of you did go behind his back- even if it was unintentional on your side- so you expected some kind of consequence to come from that. If it meant you had to keep your distance for a while you were willing to do that. That would lead to a different problem, however, considering you lived with them and the only other people you could crash with were Jared and Gen.

Fuck, I don’t even know if Jared knows. That was a problem for another time.

“Until we talk it out with Jensen, though, hands to ourselves.” You gave a firm nod, crossing your arms over your chest as you rested your hip against the counter. “I’m sleeping in the spare room tonight. I don’t want to have to potentially explain everything to Jensen when he walks through the door.”

“So we’ll talk about it tomorrow?”

“After breakfast. The man needs food and coffee in his system before you tell him you cheated.”

“I didn’t cheat,” she argued. “We’re open.”

“If you didn’t cheat then we wouldn’t be feeling so shitty right now,” you countered.

The look on her face let you know she agreed, she just wasn’t able to say the words out loud.

You knew how much Dani loved Jensen, and how much he loved her. The idea of hurting him, of going behind his back like the two of you had, hurt her almost as much as it was bound to hurt him once he found out. It wasn’t going to break them, but it could potentially screw with their trust.

“Okay.” She nodded, still not meeting your gaze. “We sleep in separate beds, feed him in the morning, fill him up with coffee, and then tell him everything.”

You tensed at that thought. “You sure we need to tell him everything?” She raised a questioning eyebrow at your question. “Could we possibly leave out that thing we did in the shower with the thing and the thing?”

Smirking, she gave a little chuckle. “We can skim over that.”

“And let’s not tell him about Gen just yet… I kinda wanna make sure Jared knows first,” you added.

“Sure. We’ll keep the details to a minimum.”

…

Crawling into bed that night was a little weird considering you’d been sleeping with Dani so much lately. Not just in a sexual way. You’d found yourself wrapped in her arms as you drifted off to sleep every night since you’d started whatever the two of you had become. Going to bed without her felt odd.

But it a necessity. Telling Jensen was going to be hard enough without him finding the two of you curled up together in the bed he shared with his wife.

Falling asleep was a little difficult considering how restless you were feeling, but soon enough you managed to drift off. It was early in the morning when someone crept into your room and woke you.

Still half asleep and not exactly thinking straight, you didn’t question the obvious sound of someone kicking off their shoes and stumbling towards the shelves on the wall opposite the bed. You didn’t even question the fumbling that went around as whoever was in the room moved some things around.

It wasn’t until you felt the blankets lift and the person climb into bed that you fully realised you weren’t alone.

As the other person settled in, you rolled over, causing them to yell out in fright and fall out of the bed.

“What the hell?!”

Leaning across the mattress, you looked over the edge to the ground. “Jensen? What are you doing?”

“Going to bed. Obviously.”

“This isn’t your bedroom.”

“I thought you would be in there.”

Your brows furrowed in confusion. “And why the hell would you think that?”

He threw his hand up and gestured at you. “Because you too had your moment. And you’re best friends. And… isn’t that what girls do?”

“Women. We’re women,” you corrected. “And no, not all women do that. Especially not when I thought you would go to her as soon as you got home.”

The door suddenly opened, revealing Dani. She stood in the doorway with a robe wrapped around her and a concerned look on her face. When her eyes landed on her husband, however, the expression turned to shock and confusion.

“Jensen?”

“Hey babe.” He waved at her from where he was still flat on his ass.

“Dani?” You eyed her curiously. “What are you doing down here?”

“I heard shouting and something heavy fall. I thought you were hurt,” she explained.

“No.” You shook your head. “Just scared the shit out of your husband when he tried to climb into bed with me.”

“I did not try to climb into bed with you! I thought you would be with Dani.” He looked over his shoulder at his wife. “I told you I’d crash in the spare room when I got home. Didn’t wanna cut in on your girl time.”

There was a pause as Dani tried to recount their conversations until she remembered what he was talking about. “Right… I forgot, sorry. With all the stress and everything-”

“Stress?” Jensen cut her off. “What have you been stressing about?”

Eyes wide, you watched Dani as she realised what she’d admitted. “Oh, um… nothing.”

Looking from Dani to you and then back, Jensen’s concern grew to suspicion. “What’s going on?”

…

Sitting on the bed next to Dani, you watched as Jensen paced, trying to work through everything the two of you had just admitted to him.

“So, let me get this straight. The two of you have been fucking like rabits, and neither of you felt the need to let me know?”

“In Y/N’s defence… she didn’t know you didn’t know,” Dani admitted. “And she only just found that out today… like you.”

Nodding, he didn’t respond as he kept pacing, eyes glued to the floor in deep thought. There was something a little scary about the intense look in his face. Not scary like he might explode with rage, but more… you had no idea what was going through his head and the unknown did not sit well with you.

Coming to a stop, he turned to you. “How far?”

Glancing at Dani questioningly, you then turned back to him. “I don’t understand the question.”

“How far has this thing gone?”

“Only-”

Lifting a hand, he cut Dani off without looking away from you, “I love you, but right now I wanna hear from Y/N.”

You shrugged. “I don’t know what else there is to say.”

“Have you been sharing a bed every night?”

There were a few ways you could respond, but when it came down to it you decided the past path to take was the honest one.

“Yes.”

“How often have you been fucking?”

“Depends on the day, but most of the time it hasn’t actually been about the sex. We just hangout,” you admitted.

“Hangout?” He watched your carefully. “Are there feelings here?”

Swallowing the lump in your throat, you nodded. “Yes.”

His eyes darted to Dani who promptly nodded but didn’t say anything in return. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the ceiling and after a pause finally responded, “I’m pissed that you didn’t talk to me, Dani, but I’m also not surprised this happened.” He gestured between the two of you. “I’ve known about Dani’s crush for years. So, we need a quick fix that’ll make this even.”

“A quick fix?” You had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

He gave a sharp nod. “Dani and I might be open but we talk about everything. Her being with you without talking to me messes with things. I need to know I can still trust her, and she needs to know I’m still in this. That I’m okay. So,” he looked from you, to her, and then back, “how do we do that?”

Twiddling your thumbs, you opened your mouth and said the first thing that came to your mind, “I could move out? Find somewhere else to stay? Let you two sort things out?”

“No.” Dani shook her head quickly, reaching out to grab your hand. “That’s not gonna fix this.”

“She’s right.” Jensen nodded. “You being out there is just gonna stress us out. We’re not the only ones affected by this situation.”

“So what, then? Huh? How are you going to even out the trust again?” you asked them both.

Something in Jensen’s eyes changed as an idea came to mind. “I want to see you.”

“Excuse me?” You looked up at him, completely confused.

Watching her husband, Dani seemed to quickly understand. “He wants to watch us,” she explained as a grin began to tug on her lips.

Your heart began to pound in your chest as you looked from Dani to Jensen and then back. You couldn’t believe your ears. Where they seriously suggesting you and Dani have sex in front of Jensen? Would that actually fix anything?

“I want to know what it’s like for the two of you, and the best way to find out is to see it first hand,” Jensen started, seeing your apprehension. “But… I also wanna feel it. You’re an attractive woman, Y/N. I’d be lying if I said I’ve never thought about you that way.”

Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.

Dani brought her hand over to rest on your thigh as you stared up at her husband. Turning your attention to her, you caught her gaze and found her searching yours before she leaned forward. Her movements were slow, allowing you the opportunity to stop her at any time, but you didn’t.

When her lips brushed against yours you fell into that dizzy feeling that always came over you when with her. It was like the simplest of touches from Dani could render you useless. You became putty in her hands.

Despite the lightheaded rush she gave you, inside you could feel a struggle as Jensen’s presence continued to concern you.

Trailing her lips away from yours and along your jaw, Dani whispered in your ear, “You know you can always say no if you don’t want this.”

“I’m just nervous,” you admitted, eyes darting over to where Jensen stood, watching the two of you with blown pupils. “I don’t want to make things worse.”

Pulling away, she turned to her husband and you watched as they shared a silent conversation. Then she was looking to you again. “You need to relax.” Pressing another gentle kiss to your lips, she then pushed off the bed and moved to Jensen. “Watch us.”

Sucking in a breath, you couldn’t tear your eyes away as the two of them met in a deep and hungered kiss.

Jensen grasped her hip with one hand and her face with the other, holding her close as he practically growled against her lips. Dani made quick work of his shirt, stripping Jensen down between kisses until the only thing he wore were his boxers.

With a grin on her lips, Dani pulled away from Jensen and lowered herself to her knees in front of him.

You watched with bated breath as she stroked his clothed cock, drawing your attention to the size of him. Jensen was a big guy… all over. Even with his cock still hidden, you could tell it was bigger than you’d had before.

Eyes following every move, drool gathering, you whined as Dani pulled Jensen free from his boxers.

The sound drew her attention to you as she stroked the shaft, her eyes meeting yours. At this point the thought of looking away didn’t even come to mind as she brought the tip of him to her lips and into her mouth.

Jensen groaned at the warm feel of her mouth wrapped around him. Bringing his hand down to her hair, he guided her movements ass he began to bob her head slowly. The pace gradually built up, but remained steady. It wasn’t about fucking her throat, but about building the tension.

You felt your pussy twitch and literally ache with a need. Desperate for some kind of friction, you dragged your pants down your legs and let them hang off one foot as your hand then moved between your thighs. When you felt just how wet you were, you let out a mangled moan that caught Jensen’s attention.

His grip on his wife’s head still remained, allowing him to pull her away from him. She didn’t fight, letting him go with a ‘pop’ before looking up at him.

With his eyes still on you, he told her, “I think Y/N is ready to show me.”

Not needing anymore instructions, Danneel rose from her knees and sauntered towards you.

Your heart was still pounding in your chest as you watched her. Crawling onto the bed, between your thighs, she leaned in close, pressing her lips to yours. Still leaning in, she guided you back until you were lying down with her hovering above you.

“Do you want this?” she whispered against your lips.

Nodding against her, you moaned, “Yes.”

She began to crawl down your body, fingers plucking at the buttons of your shirt to open it and reveal your chest. Her lips sealed over your nipples as her fingers continued to trail down until they met the slick slit of your pussy.

Arching into her touch, you whined as she caressed your folds, taking pleasure in teasing you.

Your head rolled against the bed as she began to push a single finger into you, stroking your walls until she found that perfect spot. As your head turned you spotted Jensen. He was now sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, watching his wife as he fisted his cock. Noticing your eyes on him, his gaze met yours as Danneel continued to crawl down the bed until she was laying between your thighs.

The first stroke of her tongue against your clit had you bucking off the mattress. She was quick to hold you down and keep you in place as she leaned in to give you more. Clutching the blankets underneath you, you cried out as a second finger joined the first and began to stroke your g-spot.

Jensen’s eyes were on you and you alone now, taking in the way you reacted to his wife’s touch.

A sheen of sweat covered you as your chest heaved under heavy breaths and a pounding heart. Twitching and flinching under Danneel’s touch, you held onto the blankets with a white knuckled grip. The sounds and words that fell from your lips were nothing short of pornographic as you felt the coil inside you tighten, and tighten, and tighten, and tighten until…

“Fuck me!” you cried out as you came, bucking as much as you could under Dani’s hold.

Pulling away from you, she slipped her fingers out to rub your clit gently as you rode through the rush of energy that was pulsing through your from head to toe.

Before you could come down from the high completely, Jensen pushed out of the chair and over to the bed. Dani moved out of the way quickly as her husband knelt between your thighs, lined himself up, and thrust in.

The first push made you scream as the size of him stretched you further than you’d ever been stretched before. The sting of pain only added to the pleasure that was still buzzing through you, quickly pushing you into a second orgasm that brought tears to your eyes.

Placing his hands on either side of your head, Jensen dropped down and crashed his lips against yours in a kiss that stole the breath from your lungs. His tongue pressed into your mouth, sliding against yours as he claimed every part of you with his touch. Thrusting hard and fast, fucking into your cervix with every thrust, he kept you in a state of dizzying bliss between cohenrent and stuck in the high of your orgasms.

When his lips left yours you whined, arching into him, seeking out more of his touch. Instead of giving you what he wanted, however, he leaned back on his heels and grasped your hips, angling you until he hit your sweet spot with every thrust.

Kneeling beside her husband, Danneel snaked her hand between the two of you and quickly found your clit. Breathing heavily, eyes dragging over the view of you underneath him, Jensen fucked you hard and fast as his wife rubbed at your clit until you couldn’t take it anymore.

Lips parting in a silent scream, you felt something burst inside you as you squirted around Jensen’s cock. Your walls squeezed him tightly, clenching and keeping his cock deep inside you as your body shook with pleasure so intense your vision blurred.

Groaning, Jensen lost control and spilled deep inside you as your walls held him with a vice like grip.

Tears were streaming down your face even after you’d mostly calmed from your orgasm. Gently, Jensen pulled out of you, watching the way you flinched and whined at the loss.

Leaning in, Danneel took his cock in her hand and brought her mouth down to him. You watched as she cleaned his softening cock, moaning as she did so. When it became too much and he was too sensitive for more, he hissed and pulled away from her. Danneel wasn’t done however. She then turned to your slit.

Jensen watched as your back arched almost painfully while his wife licked at your sensitive pussy carefully. You cried out, wanting more but knowing it was too soon. Realising when it was time to stop, Danneel pulled away to sit back on the bed and watch as you tried to calm down completely.

Dropping down on the bed beside you, Jensen took a deep breath as he stared up at the ceiling. “I could get used to this,” he admitted, all thoughts of potential betrayal gone.

Without skipping a beat, or thinking it through, you nodded. “Me too.”

Bamby

[pendragaryen]

10 Questions Tag Game

Rules: Answer 10 questions, ask 10, and tag 10 people to answer them.

Tagged by @burninghoneyatdusk , thank you Sam! <3<3<3

1. What’s a memory you wish that you could go back in time to and relive?

Honestly? The Dystopia The1OO-Convention i’ve been back in April 2018. It was... a complete bliss from start to finish. I love our The1OO cast! I really do! I had the time to meet, hug and chat with many of them, to do photo-ops and join them at the saturday night-karaoke party. And this memory is very dear to me. Nothing can destroy it. Not even fandom hate.

2. If you could talk to your 13 year old self, what would you tell her/advice would you give her?

I’d say: “Approximately 8 years from now, you’ll meet that guy you’ll decide to move in with together, to travel a lot with, to share lots of nerdy stuff you both love. And then, another 7 years from that you’ll meet ANOTHER guy and you might FEEL as if you’d met the love of your life, as if you finally know what REAL love is... But... trust me... DON’T DO IT!!! JUST DON’T!!! SPARE YOURSELF THE PAIN, OKAY?!” *curls up into a ball*

3. What’s your favorite quote of all time? Why?

“Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened. Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”        ―      J.R.R. Tolkien,            The Lord of the Rings    

It isn’t difficult to guess, why that’s my favourite quote ever. “The Ring” could be replaced by basically every obstacle in your life, everything that causes you pain or let you suffer. Back in 2001 and from that year on, these words really had been a guiding light for me. A spark of hope. They still are. And they never fail to bring me to tears. Never.

4. What is the quality you value most in a friend?

If he/she’s trustworthy. And a good listener.

5. If the pandemic magically ended today, how would you spend tomorrow?

I would buy a ticket for the train and travel to meet my best friend IMMEDIATELY.

6. If you could go back in time and live in any era & location, and face no danger, where would you choose?

Ouf... There are so many countries i’d love to know better. But... out of the countries i already visited (and completely isolated from the question of going back in time) ... i would probably prefer to live in Canada/British Columbia, where my aunt lives (honestly, i’ve hardly ever visited a more beautiful location. The mountains, the ocean, deep forests filled with giant redwoods, beaches... and the most chill metropolis ever: Vancouver). OR... Denmark. I LOVE Denmark. We’ve been there a lot when we were kids. It’s so calm and peaceful there. And there are endless beaches!!! On one side you’ve got the rough Northern Sea with its often very high waves. And on the other side you have the Eastern Sea, much calmer and easy to take a swim in. Mh... I can’t decide.

7. What heroine of a movie, book, tv show, story, or history do you relate to most?

Morgana le fay from the original Arthurian Legends. I’ve been a fan of the Arthurian Legend for AGES now... let me think... since the early 90s probably. And i’ve read TONS of books and novels about it. I know almost every version of her, good or evil, healer or deathly witch. And i can relate to almost every part of her, and if it’s just a little. But the picture of her that had the most impact on me was her characterization in novels such as “The mists of Avalon” or “The road to Avalon”. These definitely shaped my view of her as a strong, independent woman, who suffers a lot - but refuses to give up and stands tall despite loss and angst. I don’t identify myself with that picture of her. I like to see her more as kind of a model. Someone to look up to. Morgaine/Morgan/Morgana le fay taught me a lot throughout all these past years. I owe her...

8. Without saying who the person is, what is a question you wish you could ask someone but can’t?

“Are you happy now, with the life that you’ve chosen? With that wife from the other side of the world and two kids? Is that what you ever wanted? And why didn’t you ask me to marry you, when we were already years into our relationship? Would it have been okay for you IF I had proposed? Probably EVERYTHING would have gone different, if we only... “ But that’s the past. And I’ll never get the chance to ask all these things anyway. It’s gone.

9. In one sentence, what are you personally struggling with right now?

ONE sentence???? Omg... um... I hope my fragile health lets me doing my job until the end of september, when the time of my “observation” finally ends (I was kicked out of my job 3 years ago bc of illnesses and there was a law suit and they decided, that i had to go 3 years without being ill for more than 10 days each year - if i can do that, i can keep my job - and that period of time is ending soon! Fingers crossed!).

10. What’s a book/article/story that brought you joy/comfort/healing that you wish others would read?

Joy: Definitely The Hunger Games trilogy. And Bellarke-fanfiction of course (Especially “Training Wheels” by bettsfic and “Don’t wake me” by grumpybell for example. ;) )

Healing/Comfort: Almost everything written by Nikita Gill. And i’m a sucker for (picture) books about “Hygge” - a danish way of life, coziness and comfort.

My Questions

I’ve already done this last week and here are my questions if you want to participate! https://pendragaryen.tumblr.com/post/623645366859005952/10-questions-tag-game-rules-answer-10-questions

[missymariee]

First Anniversary – Noah Centineo

A/N: This is just pure fluff. Like if this was a scene in a movie I’d stop watching it because it’s just THAT cheesy! Thank you @prvncess-mimii for requesting this, I hope you like it x. 

The sunlight filters through your light-coloured curtains waking you up from your peaceful slumber. Your eyes flutter open and you immediately smile remembering what day it was. You look over to left to see that your boyfriend’s side of the bed was empty. You stretch your limbs out and grab your phone to see if he’d gone out. Once you saw that Noah hadn’t texted you about leaving your apartment, you assumed he was simply in the washroom. Until you heard noise coming from the kitchen. You sit up in the bed and crane your neck trying to see into the hallway when you hear him starting to walk towards your bedroom. 

“Good morning babe” you sit up straighter as your lovely boyfriend walks into the room carrying a silver tray. You look him up and down admiring how attractive he was even in the early hours of the morning. He was wearing his grey sweatpants and a loose white T-shirt, his usual morning attire. His curly locks were falling in front of his eyes obscuring his vision, which is probably why he slightly stumbled over the grey carpet by your bed. 

“Morning” you reply with a lazy grin. Noah places the silver tray on your night table and leans in to peck your cheek. You look over excitedly to your side to take a peak of what was on the silver platter. It had two large plates on it that had pancakes stacked up high with maple syrup dripping down, two glasses that were filled with what you assumed was Noah’s famous berry smoothie and tucked away on the side there was a little box covered in pink wrapping paper and a white card next to it. 

“You made us breakfast in bed” you coo at his sweet gesture and he nods. Noah places the tray on your legs and jogs around the bed to get into it from his side. He snuggles up next to you and puts half of the tray on his legs so you would both be supporting it. You could tell he was a little nervous because he wasn’t as talkative as he usually is and he had a concentrated look on his face. His eyebrows were close together and he was biting the inside of his cheeks, as if he was trying to think of the perfect thing to say. 

“You okay Noah?” your question zaps him out of his thoughts and he gaze focuses back on you. He smiles softly and his eyes lock with yours. He loved staring into your eyes and admiring their colour. He found everything about you to be so fascinating and beautiful that sometimes he’d lose track of time by admiring you. You did the same too, you were both always in awe of one another and it wasn’t just your looks. You admired Noah for the funny and wise man that he was, just as he admired you for being the strong and kind girl you are. 

“Yeah I’m okay. I’m just so happy to be here with you” he replies and gently bops your nose. You giggle and lean into his tanned arm. 

“I’m glad you’re here too.” He’d been gone for a few weeks to shoot a film in Vancouver and you had been missing him so much. A part of you thought that he was still going to be away at work today but he had surprised you last night by showing up unexpectedly at your doorstep with a bouquet of your favourite flowers and a cheeky grin on his face. 

“Like I’d ever miss our first anniversary” he replies seriously but with a smile. It was no secret that Noah was a romantic and yet he always found ways to surprise you in the most adorable ways possible. For your half-year anniversary, which Noah convinced you was a ‘real thing’, he had taken you for a sunset picnic on the beach where the blanket he had laid on the sand had red rose petals all around it and in the middle of the blanket there was a plate full of your favourite desserts. His friend Jack had helped place the whole thing while Noah drove you there blindfolded. So, you couldn’t begin to imagine what sort of romantic gesture he’d be doing for today. A one-year anniversary was a big deal, for the both of you. You, because you’d never had a serious boyfriend and him, because you were the first girl he truly knew he loved. 

“You know I wouldn’t be mad if you had to work today” you quip as Noah starts to eat his pancakes. You grab a piece as well and plop it in your mouth, almost melting at how delicious and fluffy his pancakes were. 

“I know and I love you for that. But, I wanted to spend the whole day with you and without any interruptions. After all, it’s our first anniversary and that’s a big deal” you heart soared at his words. The fact that he felt that your anniversary was special said a lot about him. You loved that he didn’t feel like it was an obligatory celebration. 

You both finish the delicious breakfast that Noah had made in between talking about your plans for the rest of the day. Once you finished debating whether to have a quiet night in or get all fancy and go out, you noticed that there were still items left on the silver tray. 

“Sooo,” you stretch the ‘o’ out catching his attention “What’s that?” you point over to the little box and card still placed on the tray. Noah’s eyes light up and he grabs the items to hand them to you. 

“It’s just a little something special for my favourite girl” he grins as you start to read the card which had the most loving message written inside it. Your eyes started to well up with tears as they read Noah’s sweet words about how much you meant to him and how his life had gotten better since you’ve been it in. 

“That was so sweet” You place the card down on the bed and lean in to give Noah a quick kiss. 

“Now open up the box” he urges you with a big grin. He was almost certain that you were going to like what was inside it. You unwrap the pink paper to reveal a black jewellery box. You pop the top up and let out a little gasp. 

“Oh Noah” your heart melts as you take out the necklace from the little black box. It was a gold chain that had a heart dangling from it with the date that you met Noah engraved on the back. 

“Do you like it?” he asks hopefully and nod your head quickly. 

“I love it, thank you babe” he grins at your reaction, happy that you liked the necklace. “I’ve actually got something for you too” you grin as Noah’s eyebrows go up in surprise. 

“Really?” 

“Yep” you leap out of bed and grab the blue holographic bag from your closet. You bring it back into bed and plop it into Noah’s lap. “Happy anniversary! I hope you like it” you smile brightly as he starts to take the tissue paper out of the bag, revealing the gifts you got him. The first was a book that Noah had been wanting to read for ages and the second was a poem you’d written. 

“This is perfect, thanks babe” he smiles widely at you and you grin back, happy that he liked his gifts. He leans in closer to you and cups your cheek, bringing your lips to his. Your lips mold together perfectly almost as if you’d been made for each other. Kissing Noah was a feeling you couldn’t describe, everything about it made you feel alive and loved. 

You both pull away to get some air, your foreheads leaning against each other. He gently rubs his thumb over your cheekbone and sighs contently.

“I’m so in love with you” he whispers softly. 

“I’m in love with you too” you reply with utter confidence. You knew with every bone in your body that you were in love with Noah. He was your person and you were his. 

Your lips reconnect and you could swear that fireworks were going off all around you. It felt like the most magical moment ever, and you loved it. 

Masterlist

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[toolatetofall]

Before

Okay, I am so fucking excited. I’ve finished the first draft of part 1 of 6 of my mass effect fanfic. Going long-term, it’s going to be a ShepShep fic, but I think I’m going to characterize their relationship more as queerplatonic than sexual. It’s a 2 Shep AU (obviously) where male Shep is the “main Shepard”, but it’s told from femshep’s POV.

Anyway! It’s in second POV for femshep, and the events in the prologue are prior to joining the Normandy. She has the Earthborn/Sole Survivor background. This is a rough draft, so I haven’t posted it on AO3. To that end, I’d really appreciate hearing thoughts on characterization, writing, any minor mistakes, etc. Please feel free to message me!

I’ve never done a TW before, so if I miss something, please tell me and I will add it! I think the things that need a TW have to do with the backgrounds, so death, physical violence, gang activity. Again, if I miss something, PLEASE tell me. 

Before

The memory of your mother is a hazy one. You know you loved her- her face is harder to conjure. You have the vague memory of citrus perfume, too-blonde hair, shoulders shaking with laughter. You have a holo from her case file, and you suppose you look enough alike, mostly around the nose, but you just... you can’t place her in your childhood. 

It was a Tuesday evening when you found out she was missing. You’d been staying with your neighbor while your mother was at work, parked in front of the TV munching crackers as the characters on screen sang a song about friendship.You can remember every stupid word. 

Amanda, your neighbor, had been getting testy; your mom was late. It was almost three hours past when she got off work when Amanda got a call and chaos broke.

The rest of the evening comes only in flashes now.  The itchy, pink and yellow jumper you’d been wearing with snot-drenched sleeves. The worn, leather seats in the back of your caseworker’s car. An unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar place. 

It’s a blur; you didn’t understand completely what was happening. You were six. You knew that mom was gone, but you didn’t understand where or why. You asked when she was coming back. 

They didn’t have an answer.

----

Your mother was never found. Maybe she died, either back then or since, maybe she’s still alive somewhere, a survivor of the Reaper war. You have no idea, and frankly you aren’t sure that it matters. At least now. It mattered then. 

Because your mother wasn’t declared legally dead, at least until you were fourteen, you couldn’t be adopted. You didn’t have any family to take you in either- not your mom’s family, she’d never talked about them, and certainly not your father whose name wasn’t even on your birth certificate. Instead, you floated from home to home every few weeks, months, years, hauling all your worldly possessions in trash bags along with you. Some placements were better than others. There was one where you’d only lasted two and a half weeks, but there was another that was almost 18 months. 

The Shepards. You’d liked them; Nick and Silas. They were an eldery couple that you’d moved in with after your 9th birthday. They moved off-planet when you were ten. They’d petitioned to adopt you and take you with them, but your mom was still legally alive, and you were moved. 

You found it hard to settle after that; nothing was comfortable. It couldn’t be. The moment you got comfortable was the moment you’d be moved again. 

The Reds were different. You don’t remember how you fell in with them, not specifically, but you do remember having that aching need to belong somewhere, and that they fulfilled that need.

You were useful to them. You could crawl into places that the others were too big to get into. You could get into a building and squirrel away cargo, or let others in. You weren’t a bad pickpocket either. You were a child; if (when) you got caught, you could play innocent, not like the others. You could claim ignorance, youth. The Reds protected you. You were indispensable. 

Until you weren’t.

----

Your biotics announced themselves with an explosion of blue light. You’d been in the middle of a job with Miller, trying to sneak some cargo out of a warehouse outside of Vancouver. He’d said something (you can’t remember what now, but it had pissed you off), and suddenly there was a flash of blue, he’d been thrown into the shelves a few meters away, and the bones in your arm had wrenched themselves apart. You’re sure you screamed, that both of you did, but you don’t remember. The pain had been so blinding that you’d passed out in seconds. 

When you woke up in the hospital, you weren’t alone. Your caseworker, Cecil, was there, accompanied by a dour faced person in navy blue. Sargent Blake, Cecil had told you. Sargent Blake was there to invite you to the Alliance. 

The System’s Alliance needed biotics; they’ve always needed biotics, and the state wasn’t really equipped to handle them. The Alliance had a program for biotic children. They’d taken care of the criminal charges you’d faced, and they would provide food, lodging, and education. You were a ward of the state, and the state transferred your custody while you’d slept. Invite. Feh. Like hell. The decision had already been made. 

Still, you were luckier than Miller. You found out later that he was comatose for almost eight months, and arrested after he awoke. To say the Reds would no longer welcome you would be an understatement. They would’ve loved to get their hands on you. 

Didn’t matter. The Alliance had you.

----

“Jane Shepard? The doctor will see you now.” You’d hesitated before following the nurse out of the waiting room. Shepard. It felt so odd. You hoped the change would keep the Reds from finding you, and you knew Nick and Silas wouldn’t mind. 

Still, there were a lot of changes in a short amount of time. New ability, new name, and now new place and new species. Well, new to you anyway. As your salarian nurse took you to your exam room, you’d tried hard not to stare as they ran you through a standard medical battery.  The alliance had brought you and all of their other new trainees to the citadel to get your physicals and your implants. It was surreal. You’d never seen an alien before, at least in person. Everything was so new, you’d never felt so... off balance before. But this was your new normal, and you had to adjust eventually.

----

You officially enlisted in the Alliance on your eighteenth birthday, to the surprise of no one. You’d already been engaged in their biotic training program for almost two years, and you were close to completing your secondary education under the program. 

Every single teenager in that program ended up enlisted. Sometimes you guys liked to think of what you guys could do outside the Alliance; teachers, writers, cops, scientists, everything, but for the life of you, you’d never been able to imagine anything else. The Alliance felt inevitable; biotics weren’t exactly welcome in civilian life, and you didn’t have the money or support system to try to strike out on your own.

Basic was split, biotics separate from the others. It was weird. In this place of training and strength, there was an underlying understanding. The biotics were more dangerous. They had had training before. They didn’t need a weapon; they were weapons. But at that point you weren’t sure how to be anything else.

----

Nomination for ICT wasn’t a surprise. You’d worked your ass off for the Alliance and anyway, if there was a push for biotics to join the military, there was a shove to get them into special forces. You’d been a good little biotic; kept your head down, temper in check, taking and conquering even the most basic assignments without problem or complaint. 

Despite the competitive atmosphere of Vila Militar, you’d ended up making friends for the first time in years. Or maybe they made you. Shaw, a too-energetic, puppyish engineer, was never going to let you shrug off his friendship, he was too damn persistent. John Shepard had also been pulled into his orbit, and the two of you had bonded over your exasperation with Shaw, mutual love of shit beer and competition, and frustration at sharing a name.

The three of you were an odd group, but it worked. Shaw was excitable and personable, keeping you together with sheer will. John (not Shepard, you’re Shepard) was responsible, a group mom through and through, trying in vain to keep you out of trouble. And you? Well, you’ve always been a bit... brusque, but they balanced it well. 

They were family, or the closest you’d had in a long time. The rest didn’t matter.

----  

John-fucking-Shepard, the big-fucking-hero. Of course he was on Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz, and of course he kicked ass to the point he was getting the Star of Terra, not to mention his damn N7 commendation. 

“Just in the right place at the right time,” he’d said sheepishly when you and Shaw had caught up with him after the ceremony. You’d never rolled your eyes so hard. John always had a lucky streak a mile wide and it wouldn’t end anytime soon. 

“That’s okay,” Shaw had replied with a grin as you pulled John into a headlock and messed his hair. “We’ll get you next time.”

He’d laughed because of course he did. “I look forward to it.”

----

When you had landed on Akuze with your unit, you’d expected pirates. Slavers. A straightforward explanation to the missing colonists. Instead, the only thing to greet you were empty, undisturbed buildings. It was like everyone just got up and left. 

Your platoon, all 49 of them plus you and Shaw, searched the colony on your commander’s orders, but there was nothing. The terminals were all wiped clean, the data pads were gone, there weren't any tracks. Hell, there wasn’t even dust. 

You all made camp nearby as the sun sunk below the horizon. None of you would say so but there was something eerie about the lost colony. Haunted. Like the planet was holding its breath.

The first maw came near midnight, announcing itself with a roar and with trembling ground that shook you out of sleep. They caught you by surprise. You may have had guards and scouts, but there was no warning. 

You don’t remember much of the attack, dammit, you don’t remember. There are flashes of chaos- gunfire, screams, thresher maws pulling whole ground transports full of soldiers beneath the Earth. You remember running so hard your breath was just quick gasps, the cobalt corona of your biotics expanding around you, flashes of Shaw’s face contorted with resolution, the red of viscera everywhere you look. 

You’re not even sure if those are real memories, or just echoes from your nightmares. Maybe it’s your brain filling in the gaps from what you’ve been told. 

You were found 11 clicks away from camp, splattered with blood and armor corroded from acid, and passed out from pain (or so you were told. You don’t remember). Both of your arms had broken during the ordeal, likely from over-extending your biotics. You were alone. No platoon, no Shaw, not even a single body. The team that found you said that the colony was in a maw nest, that six thresher maws had attacked the camp. They destroyed the colony, the camp, and your platoon. In return, the unit only managed to kill two of them, but the bastards had the element of surprise. 

You didn’t put it together until you were in a hospital, but something was wrong. More wrong than losing your whole platoon, losing Shaw, to fucking worms. They’d said the colony must have been destroyed by the maws, that they must have killed the colonists, but that’s not right. Those buildings were spotless. There were no bodies. There was no anything. The maws didn’t kill the colonists. They’re not that clean. 

You tried to tell the brass. They’d given you your N7 commendation for surviving that hell; you thought that meant they’d trust you. They didn’t. 

“You’ve been through a lot,” they’d told you at the memorial. “Maybe you need to take some time.” Maybe they were right, but you still knew what you saw. If you wanted answers, you’d have to find them on your own time. 

----

You hit a lot of dead ends fast, and used up most of your leave following up leads that took you nowhere. It’d barely been a year before you only had one path left.  The Shadow Broker.

It took every last credit you had, but they agreed to send an agent to meet you. 

John agreed to go with you to the meet up point on the Citadel, in some hole in the wall cafe. It felt like time was slowing down as the agent approached. You were finally going to get answers. Then time stopped with a loud CRACK, and the contact fell dead, a hole left in the middle of their head. 

You were paranoid; you’d always been paranoid. That day, it’d saved your ass. You’d been trying to get the fuck out of there when another bullet ripped through your barrier, bruising your back but, mercifully, nothing more.

You’d been far from the door. There had been two shooters, above, out of sight. 

You and John didn’t say so after you’d escaped, but it had been a warning shot. Any snipers worth their salt could have killed you. 

Stupid, you were so stupid.

You’d returned to your apartment, head pounding. Before you said a word, John had pulled you against his chest, squeezing hard. You remember looking him in the eyes, seeing the naked fear there.

“Stop looking.”

You’d promised you would.

You didn’t.

----

Well, at least not intentionally. When you contacted the Shadow Broker again (or their intermediary anyway), you were informed the price for the information had doubled. You were already broke, you couldn’t afford the information. You tried to double back and get your hands on the report from that day in the cafe, but there was nothing solid to follow, no leads. 

What you got instead was a new assignment. 

Operation Adrestia. The words tasted odd in your mouth. It’s internal affairs, sort of. Monitoring and chasing leads on operations led by humans that would wreck Alliance credibility with the Citadel. Monitoring and thwarting fringe scientists, extremists groups, keeping tabs on category sixes... 

You didn’t do the investigation, just acted on information the brains gave you. If you were honest, you actually liked it. At least it was more interesting than your service had been. Lead to some good stories at least. 

Disrupting a Terra Firma attack on a predominantly salarian transport. 

Stopping colonial governments in the Traverse from antagonizing batarians to trigger Alliance/Hegemony conflicts. 

Even the less ostentatious operations like quietly discharging an Alliance attache who’d looked a little farther than legal into AI.

It kept you busy, but it was work you loved.

----

It was 2183 when you were contacted by Admiral Kahoku. He had found out his squad was lured to their deaths with a false distress signal in the middle of a maw nest and correctly assumed you’d be interested in following the thread. Akuze was common knowledge, and Kahoku was the first member of the brass to even humor your idea that it was anything other than a tragic accident. 

He’d gotten in touch with the Shadow Broker. They’d given him a name and a location. 

Cerberus. 

Binthu in the Voyager Cluster. 

Finally, a chance for answers. 

He was planning to go and wanted back up. Probably smart, considering how Cerberus disrupted your previous contact with the Broker. 

It was quick and quiet, like everything you did for the Alliance. Scans of the planet reveal three active Cerberus strongholds. 

The two of you decide that time was of the essence, that you needed to be quick to get information before they noticed you. 

You decided to split up. 

That was a mistake.

[d-s-winchester]

Southern Style

(gif credit to the creator)

Pairing: Misha x Reader Word Count: 1,069 Warnings: none Song: Southern Style - Darius Rucker A/N: Here is my entry for @impalaimagining‘s 1K Follower Challenge! My prompt was the gif above along with the song Southern Style by Darius Rucker. Italics are a flashback. This might be one of my favorite things I’ve ever written so I really hope you guys like it! Anyway, feedback for this is awesome! :)

Misha adjusted himself in his seat as the interviewer got ready to ask the next question. All of the questions thus far had been about the show and Castiel so he knew the next few questions would be about you. They hadn’t touched on his relationship yet.

 “How did you feel when Y/N finally agreed to go out with you? Was it different than when she said yes when you proposed?”

 Misha let out a laugh.

 “It wasn’t different at all, really,” he smiled, “both times I couldn’t stop myself from getting overly excited. I kind of let out a little enthusiastic ‘yes’.”

 The interviewer laughed before asking her next question.

 “Can you give us some details on your relationship since the wedding is right around the corner?”

 “That depends on what you want to know.”

 “Anything,” the interviewer prompted, “everything.”

 “That’s easy,” he smiled.

 He smiled at the memories of you that flooded his mind. It was almost like he was lost in a dream as he went on to describe your relationship, this was the first time he’d went into such detail.

 Misha wasn’t expecting to fall in love with you. He’d gone to Georgia for a short vacation on a whim. He went there to clear his head, get some time away from all the hustle and bustle of being on set. The moment he set foot in that diner he had a feeling his entire life was going to change, though.

 “Can I start you off with a drink?” you asked with a bright smile and a southern drawl and immediately he was taken by you.

 “Uh, water is fine,” he smiled, composing himself.

 In his opinion you were the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. You weren’t wearing much makeup and he knew you didn’t need it. You’d brought him his water and he placed his order. Throughout the rest of his meal he’d flirted with you more than he’d care to admit but it paid off because he’d left that diner with your number.

 Two days later he was taking you out to dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in town. You were dressed in a sundress and sandals, perfect for the warm summer weather of Georgia, and he thought you looked incredible. It was a perfect first date as far as he was concerned, ending with him walking you to your front door and a sweet first kiss goodnight.

 Over the next few weeks of his getaway the two of you spent all of your free time together. He’d come to realize that you had a lot in common. He learned you loved to read and were very well read, you were pretty adventurous when it came to food and you enjoyed to spend as much time as possible outdoors – whether that be at the beach or hiking. He learned that you loved to travel but didn’t really have the time to do so because of your job.

 He came to find that you were the picture of perfection and the perfect real life adaptation of a true Southern Belle. That night you were both lying on a blanket on the beach on the lake when he learned that you wanted your father and two brothers to walk you down the aisle. He learned that you were a fan of classic rock and preferred oysters to clams.

 Every minute he spent with you he was falling more and more in love and when it came time for him to leave he was reluctant to go. You assured him more than once that you would be waiting for him when he decided to pass through again. As he walked toward airport security he promised you he would never just pass through, that every time he set foot in that small Georgia town it would be to see you.

 He made good on his promise, flying out to see you every time he had a weekend off, and when he couldn’t come to you he flew you out to Vancouver to see him. After going through that for almost a year it came time for him to meet your parents. Even though he was nervous your laid back nature made it that much more comfortable. Your parents loved him and he loved them. By the time the visit was over he had made the decision that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you.

 It was only a few months later that you’d uprooted your life and moved in with him in his apartment in California. After that your life seemed to shift. Due to your new location you had the opportunity to pursue your dream of becoming a photographer. Your life was taking a turn for the best and you were more than grateful.

 Five months after you’d moved in with Misha he took a short trip to see your father. Once Misha had his blessing he took you out to dinner and asked you to be his wife. He couldn’t imagine his life without you and frankly, you couldn’t imagine your life without him. You accepted enthusiastically and immediately began the wedding planning.

 With just a few days to go until the actual event you were in a frenzy. As stressful as it was you were more than excited about the wedding and the rest of your life with Misha.

 “We’re both really excited,” Misha finished his recount.

 “Sounds like you really love her,” the interviewer smiled.

 “I do,” Misha grinned, “Y/N is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Walking into the diner that day was the best decision I’ve ever made. My life would be completely different if I’d picked somewhere else to eat. That diner and the state of Georgia might be my new favorite places.”

 “With good reason,” the interviewer smiled, “I wish you both the best of luck, though I don’t think you’ll need it.”

 Misha thanked her and smiled. Once the interview was over he went home to you, more than happy that seeing you in the kitchen making dinner – an apron tied around your waist – was what he had to look forward to for the rest of his life. He wasn’t lying when he told the interviewer that walking into that diner that day changed his life. It not only changed his life, it gave him everything he’d ever wanted.

[rilenerocks]

Dear Michael,

Well, here I am again. There are those who find this habit of my writing you letters to be a bit bizarre. The good news about that is that I don’t care. What a relief to be able to ignore the judgments of others. One less thing to worry about. I haven’t found any other place to lay my problems which provides significant relief.  I just need to spill this stuff out to you because my brain is spluttering right now. You know how it goes with me. Too much thinking, too much stimulation and I start boiling over with anger, disbelief, indignation and rage. You were my safe, peaceful place where I could purge myself of such toxicity and eventually slow down, let go, sink in, feel still. This time that’s happening is so over the top crazy that I have no idea how to process what I’d refer to as next. It’s not like I haven’t had my share of issues which required hard choices, or rough patches, or confusion and pain. But this atmosphere is just so utterly bizarre and isolating, both literally and figuratively. It doesn’t matter that you’ve been dead three years this month. I’ve found nothing to replace that cushiony place between us, that retreat from the rest of the world where we could soothe each other and make ready to tackle what’s next. So here I am, with another addition to the hundreds of notes I’ve written you these past few years. 

A couple of things set me off last night. Here we sit in the midst of the world pandemic. The divisions in this country are so profound. You know how many years I studied and puzzled over the Civil War. Well, effectively, it’s still raging. I’ve always known that. But the overt ugliness rearing its head across the country is hard to take. There have been demonstrations all over with protesters demanding their freedom from “house arrest.” That’s how they view the quarantine. Not a mandatory safeguard to protect human life. Rather an interference with their personal agendas.They want to be free to come and go as they please. They don’t want to wear masks and practice social distancing. Some splinter,( at least I hope they’re splinter), groups with multiple axes to grind have shown up at state houses armed to the teeth. I saw a photo of one guy at a store, carrying a rocket launcher and two handguns. The nuances of this complex virus elude so many people. The country is expected to experience 100,000 deaths by June 1st. In mere months. There’s no universal treatment, no vaccine and inadequate testing. The economy is approaching depression level statistics in terms of unemployment, closed businesses and generalized hunger. The pressure to reopen the economy is being pushed by the government. Unemployment is crushing for people and they need to work, to have incomes. But do they also have to get sick and maybe die? The stimulus package from the federal government was too small. I have no idea if the Senate will pass a Democratic bill that will cost a lot more money. The alternative? Open the country and gamble with public health.  It’s an election year and Trump is incensed that the pandemic has tanked the economy he hoped to ride to reelection. He has lied to and misled the public on so many occasions I can’t count them. Human life is not at the top of his list-that’s about power. This recent comment, circuitous ignorance, drove me over the edge.   “Don’t forget, we have more cases than anybody in the world. But why? Because we do more testing,” Trump said. “When you test, you have a case. When you test, you find something is wrong with people. If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases. They [the media] don’t want to write that.” I thought I’d lose my mind.

Then late last night I got an email from the park district with this disappointing news.

Aquatics – There will be no summer pool season at Crystal Lake Park Family Aquatic Center or Urbana Indoor Aquatic Center. All aquatics programs (swim lessons, swim teams, exercise programs) canceled through July 31.

I’m so sad about this.  And I hate myself for letting it get to me. I know that there are infinitely worse things happening to all kinds of people which are so much more challenging than losing your exercise venues. There have been these memes going around which have really resonated with me.  Like the one about Anne Frank and her family living silently in an attic for 25 months to try staying alive. Or the one from George Takei about being rounded up to live in internment camps, victims of xenophobia in their home country. Not to mention the underdeveloped countries always hovering on the edges of war, famine and natural disasters. I get all this and remain conscious of the bigger picture. But I can’t help it – I’m still bummed out that I can’t swim. I don’t feel as good without the water, mentally or physically. The endorphin release that I get in the water isn’t replicated by walking. I’m glad my knees work but hitting that concrete isn’t exactly forgiving. I go to the water because it soothes me and now I have to do without it. And I will. But I don’t like it. Today I was pathetic. I drove over to the pool and just stared at its locked gates and emptiness. It’s so gorgeous there, big sky, plants, twittering birds. Sigh.

It’s hard to figure out what life will feel like when everything “opens up.” I don’t trust anything right now. If I go out wearing my mask and gloves I sometimes see people who aren’t doing that looking at me disdainfully. I guess they don’t know or care that in my mind, they are potential enemies, the people who could be the silent purveyors of the virus. It’s still spreading in our state. No one has any clue whether the summer will bring a respite as is the case with influenza. This disease is not influenza and continues to bring surprises like a new manifestation of dangerous symptoms in children. Previously they were thought to be safe. What if I could be a danger to our grandchildren? How can I know?  I hope we can all get tested soon. That would be helpful although it’s not clear whether antibodies to the virus are temporary or lasting. Am I just going to continue to lead the quarantine life just to be safe? That’s a huge change from how I’ve been trying to live since you died. After a few months passed, I realized that your valiant efforts to stay alive were what would inform the way I would live without you. After all the talking about what you wished for me, new partnership and intimacy, I knew you didn’t really get it. I could never settle for anything less than our cataclysmic, cosmic connection that defined our whole adult lives. I know you meant well and that you wanted me to be happy. But what I felt was that I wanted to live as big and hard as you did. So I started doing that pretty fast. I started traveling, mostly on my own. You and what lay between us empowered me, as it still does.

Tonight is the evening before I was to be headed to see the sights in these photos – the Mendenhall Glacier on a whaling boat and the town of Sitka. Yup. The trip of a lifetime, two and a half weeks in Alaska,  starting in Vancouver, cruising for a week and then disembarking for a land journey into Denali National Park. Can you believe it? Other than another scuba diving trip, I know you would have loved that I was going to have this adventure, something we often talked about doing together. Ironically, one of the ships that carried Covid19 passengers and wasn’t allowed to dock anywhere for a long time, was the very one I was booked on – classic, right?   So as this pandemic continues, what are the odds of my replanning that trip? Will planes and ships, effectively Petri dishes for rapid disease transmission be something I’ll be willing to risk, at least for the foreseeable future? Right now, my answer is a resounding no. And in the meantime, I’m getting older. Smack in the middle of the Covid19 death group.

I hang out in our garden, working away. Your herbs have come back every year – they smell heavenly and make me feel you’re rising up and through me, starting with my feet. I’ve already used the chives. Yes, in this lockdown time, I’ve gone back to cooking after all that time of minimal kitchen duty. I’m making your recipes, a bit fearful that they won’t taste as good, but so far I’m doing ok. I listen to music for hours. For the most part, it’s nourishing for me. Only 50 years’ worth of songs remind me of us. Every now and then I get emotionally ambushed, as my playlist is random, and then I have these great purging meltdowns on our dirt. One of your posthumous musical gifts to me is Pete Yorn who’s been doing live shows on Instagram. Did you even know what Instagram was? I know you’d be amazed to see me using Zoom for long distance family get-togethers and even meetings. Doing my civic duty like you always did, I’m now on the city’s Historic Preservation Committee. Seems fitting as I sit in our home, built in 1893. I’ve been doing some self censorship these past few months which I’d promised myself I wouldn’t do with this blog. As the world got overwhelmed by the pandemic, I stopped writing about your cancer. I felt like it might be too dark a topic when people were being subjected to this new global stress. But as I wonder how long I’m going to be around, I really want to get back to finishing our story. At least that part of our story. Having an orphan cancer and everything that goes along with it is an important topic to share. I know it’s harsh. I was looking through some of the photos that go along with it and they’re pretty brutal. How did I even take them? But they’re only part of our story. A lot came before and to my constant amazement, a lot has come after, even years after you’ve been gone.I took the pewter tag you left on my mourning quilt and put it on my keychain. I have the other X-rated one hidden away. I use your favorite towel and still sleep on my side of the bed. People tell me I’m lucky because I have my kids and grandkids around me. I know that’s true. But I don’t get to sink into them at night, and most hours of my days are silent while they blare your absence. How exactly does that work? I am without answers. All I know is that what was and is you and me still surges inside me. Just having written this provides me incredible relief. Who knew, Michael? Actually we both did – we talked about it often enough. I’m glad you’re still with me although in all candor, I wouldn’t mind something a little more concrete. But thanks for sticking around. Love you.

Spluttering Dear Michael, Well, here I am again. There are those who find this habit of my writing you letters to be a bit bizarre.

[shrinkingwmn]

I finally got to go to the Circle Craft Holiday Market! It is a yearly market downtown that is always held on a long weekend. I wasn’t able to attend in the past because I was working but my days off have changed and when my friend asked if I wanted to go I didn’t even pause to think, I just said yes!

A Holiday Market? Hell yeah!

I went in with a budget, which I’m pretty sure I went over. I went in with the plan to buy Christmas presents, I mostly bought stuff for myself. I went in with a plan to buy a healthy meal at some point in the day, instead I ate all the samples.

Suffice to say, the day didn’t go as planned, which I’m glad about because the fun was spontaneous, I like the stuff I bought, and the samples were free!…which in my version of math helps offset the cost of oh say, the necklace I bought… 😉

It was definitely not crowded, I guess most people went on the first and second day it was open? I like that it wasn’t crowded, no fighting to see the displays, easy to walk around without getting bumped, it was much more relaxing than some of the Christmas events I’ve been to. Plus, it was inside so we were cozy warm. 🙂

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One of my favourite booths was a company called JusTea. It is a Vancouver based, family run business. They go to Africa a couple times a year and source all their tea from there. The tea is all ethically sourced, and some of them are picked (or is the right word harvested?) by a woman’s co-op. Each tin has a picture of one of the farmers on it, so you can see who was making your tea leaves. The teas smell amazing! I kept taking deep inhales of the teas like I was trying to get high from them or something lol but really, it was just because it smelled that good. There was a fruity tea called Purple Rain that not only smelled delicious but had a taste to match. In the end I bought African Breakfast, which is their version of an English Breakfast or Orange Pekoe. It is a mixture of different tea leaves which gives it a more complex taste. Each tin also comes with a hand crafted spoon that took 9 hours to make. 9 hours on a spoon, talk about a personal touch! The gentleman manning the booth mentioned that when you want to buy more you can go to their store and they will sell it to you in a compostable bag, so you can refill your already existing tin, and not create garbage when throwing out the bag. Why doesn’t every company do that? That little touch makes me love them even more. Here is their website if you want to check them out: https://justea.com/

Another great booth is abeego, they sell reusable beeswax wraps that you can use to keep your food fresh and protected, whether it is covering the top of a bowl of leftovers you have in the fridge or wrapped around the sandwich you’re taking to work. I actually own a set of these, they were a gift, and I haven’t used them yet because they kinda freak me out. Instead of buying any at this booth I just grilled them to get a better understanding of how they work and I am kinda amazed. The beeswax has antibacterial properties so you don’t need to worry about your beeswax wrap touching your food. Like you see in the picture you can wrap it around the cut end of a vegetable (their sample is a cucumber) and it will keep the end fresh. You can take your cheese out of the plastic and wrap it in a beeswax wrap and the cheese will stay fresh and mold free longer. They are fairly low maintenance for care, rinse them off using cold water, use a mild dish soap if you really want, then let them air dry. They can be rolled or folded for storage. An important thing to remember is not to get them hot, they are made out of beeswax after all, and what does beeswax do when it gets warm? It melts. So if you’re putting hot left overs in a bowl and want to use the beeswax sheet to cover the bowl, wait until the food is room temperature before covering the bowl. Pretty easy right? Oh, and when they finally reach the end of their life, which is when they stop sticking to surfaces or itself (this can take a year or more to happen) you can either compost it or rip it up and use it as a fire starter when you next go camping. Which for me will be never, so compost it is! I’ve gone from wondering “what the hell I am supposed to do with these beeswax wraps?” to “I can’t wait to use these!” Super glad I stopped and talked with them. Oh, and they are also locally made and ship anywhere so if you are interested their website is: https://canada.abeego.com/

I bought myself a necklace I absolutely 100% do not need, but really wanted, and apparently wanting it mattered more in the moment than needing it lol

Again, a Canadian made product, well, work of art really. The holes in the charm are the Capricorn constellation, my constellation. It is simple, and pretty, and I can see myself wearing it often. She also had a necklace I’m regretting I didn’t get a picture of that is the word fuck, dangling down so you’d have to turn your head sideways to be able to read it if you were looking at someone wearing it. I actually also really wanted that one, but since I spend the majority of my time at work, where I would not be able to wear it, I opted for the one I could actually wear and enjoy on a daily basis. Go figure lol Rachael, the artist, has a lot of beautiful pieces, and since Christmas (and other holidays) are coming up you may want to check out her website at http://www.laughingsparrow.ca This was my most expensive purchase at the Market, and while I wish jewellery didn’t cost so much I can understand why a hand made piece, that is sourced from sustainable materials can’t be cheap. You get what you pay for, and I feel I got something great that will last.

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The other edible things I purchased are a jar of Pink Grapefruit & Champagne preserve, which I will instantly make less fancy by putting on toast. I don’t know how to describe it other than delicious. The Preservatory is a business out of Langley BC, they focus on small batch artisanal preserves, and lemme tell ya, they are good at their niche. I have seen them in a shop called All of Oils in Surrey BC but hadn’t tried them until they offered samples. Man am I glad they offered samples. Their website is: https://thepreservatory.com/

Sweet Thea is a bakery out of Langley BC, they are where I got the cookies. I know the package says I bought Ginger Crinkle, and I did, but if you notice, not all the cookies in the bag look the same. That is because the friend I went with bought a bag of Chocolava cookies and we swapped three for three. I honestly don’t know which I like best. Normally I’d be saying of course the chocolate cookies, but the ginger is also incredibly good. They are soft cookies, both types, and just so decadent. We split one of each cookie in half so for our first cookie we got half of each and while normally I am that person to keep dipping in to the cookie package, I didn’t reach again. Not because they weren’t good, but because they were so satisfying I didn’t need more. I didn’t even know that was possible, did you? You can find their website at: https://www.sweetthea.com/home The lady we bought from wasn’t as friendly as people at the other booths but I’m going to assume that is because it was nearing the end of the day and she was probably tired after a long three days working the market. We may have gone at a quiet time but I’m sure the other days were much busier.

That deceptively simple Lemon Square package is hiding an amazing lemon coconut  square inside. That small square is meant to be cut in to four pieces! The flavour is so strong, not in a bad way, that you don’t need more than a small square to satisfy you. Well, in theory, I am not cutting and sharing that square lol  Here is their website: https://thelemonsquare.ca/

And lastly, Whiskey Marmalade by Blaire’s Confectionery. They are a company in Kamloops BC that makes Scottish treats. They had various types of marmalade, shortbread, fudge that isn’t fudge (apparently in Scotland it is called something different), and probably other yummy items that they didn’t have at the booth or I didn’t notice. Hey, I can’t manage to see everything ya know, especially when I am sampling shortbread and fudge that isn’t fudge lol Their website is being redesigned right now and when I tried to go to it was directed to check out their page on Facebook so if you want to find them I’d search for them there. I didn’t sample the marmalade, I hate marmalade, but I thought my brother might like it, so I got it as part of his Christmas present. Don’t worry, he doesn’t read my blog so no ruined surprise for him! I also wanted to buy the fudge that isn’t called fudge but couldn’t bring myself to spend $10 on a food indulgence…says the woman who ended up buying cookies and a lemon bar *rolls eyes*.

Can a couple pieces of art be anymore Canadian than a beaver in a canoe or a mama bear and cubs in a canoe? I’m thinking no.

So there you have it, an afternoon of wandering the booths, buying stuff, hanging with a friend, and enjoying my first Christmas activity of the season. Only 42 more days until Christmas!

Circle Craft Holiday Market I finally got to go to the Circle Craft Holiday Market! It is a yearly market downtown that is always held on a long weekend.

[bintaeran]

Interview with Charlotte Bell, Author of "Hip-Healthy Asana"

Interview with Charlotte Bell, Author of "Hip-Healthy Asana" Nina Zolotow

by Nina

I'm pleased to announce that today is the release date for Charlotte Bell's latest book Hip-Heathy Asana: The Yoga Practitioner's Guide to Protecting the Hips and Avoiding SI Pain! You can order this important book from Amazon, Shambhala Publications, Indie Bound, or your local bookstore. Would you like to know more about the book? Yes, I thought you would. That's why I did a rather in-depth interview with Charlotte that I'm featuring today so you can learn why she wrote a whole book about how to keep your hips healthy with yoga and what her basic approach is to hip health.

Nina: Can you introduce yourself to our readers? What is your yoga background? And what are your previous publications?

Charlotte: I began practicing asana in 1982. My first teacher was a student of Indra Devi. Six months after I started practicing, I moved to Salt Lake City and connected with teachers in the Iyengar tradition. I studied in that tradition for decades. My most influential teachers have been Donna Farhi, Judith Hanson Lasater, and Elise Miller. I began practicing Insight Meditation in 1986 with Pujari and Abhilasha Keays, also certified Iyengar teachers, and regularly attend retreats there and at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. I’ve taught yoga, mostly in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area, but also in San Diego, Vancouver, BC, and Volcano, Hawaii. 

I’ve been writing a yoga column for CATALYST Magazine for about 10 years, and also write for Yoga U Online and the Hugger Mugger Yoga Products blog. Previous to writing my book Hip-Healthy Asana, I wrote two books that were published by Rodmell Press and are now a part of Shambhala Publications’ list: Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life: A Guide for Everyday Practice and Yoga for Meditators: Poses to Support Your Sitting Practice.

Nina: After writing your previous books, what made you decide to focus an entire book on yoga for healthy hips? 

Charlotte: I became very interested in the subject of hip-healthy practice after being blindsided by a hip x-ray indicating that there was significant degeneration in both my hip joints. I had thought that because I was flexible and had kept myself in good shape that my hips were immune. Nothing I did in yoga practice felt uncomfortable, even the most extreme poses. What I didn’t know then was that cartilage has no enervation. This means that you don’t feel degeneration until your cartilage is gone and your joint is bone on bone. 

All of my most influential yoga teachers, at some point, suggested that I focus on stabilizing my joints instead of pushing my natural flexibility. But I was under the mistaken impression that yoga was about becoming more and more flexible. Because of this, it fed my ego to be the most flexible person in the room so I just kept pushing my flexibility. 

These days, I think that there’s even more pressure to perform the “advanced” poses that push your joints to their limits. People who post photos of themselves doing some of the really crazy poses on Instagram get lots of encouragement and kudos. As yoga has become more popular, the extreme poses, which, in reality, most people’s structures will never be able to perform, have become the gold standard. 

While I know that my particular genetic inheritance, specifically hip dysplasia, is the reason for my bilateral hip replacements, I also wonder if the crazy poses I used to practice may have sped the process up. So my idea in writing this book is to give yoga practitioners an alternative viewpoint that might help them prevent problems further down the road.

Nina: I’m very glad you’re taking on this topic because I know that hip problems, including hip joint wear and tear as well as SI joint problems, are a kind of “dirty secret” in the yoga community. In a nutshell, what is your basic advice for yoga practitioners to help avoid hip injuries and/or problems.

Charlotte: There are many reasons that people’s hip and SI joints degenerate and destabilize when they practice yoga. Some people are more prone to problems than others simply because of differences in structure. So it’s a bit of a challenge to come up with some sort of blanket, anatomy-based advice. 

If there were any advice I could give about the mechanics of practice, I’d encourage people to question alignment cues, to take time to feel the effects of them on your own body. There’s really no single instruction that is going to fit everyone. Some of the alignment “rules” that have persisted for decades don’t make anatomical sense and can even cause hip and SI joint problems. Instructions such as squaring your hips in standing poses have been taken as gospel for decades. My experience with this particular instruction is that it really doesn’t make sense for most people’s bodies. 

The intention you bring to practice determines the eventual results of your practice. That’s why a good portion of Hip-Healthy Asana addresses intentions for practice. Here are a few suggestions invite exploration into how you approach your practice:

Do your own practice. Comparing your practice to someone else’s is not productive. We all come into the world with very different structures. Some people’s hip sockets are shallow; other people’s are deep. The location of hip sockets on the pelvis and the angle of various hip sockets can be very different. The size, curvature, and angle of the femur shaft can be really different. All this means that no two people’s yoga poses are going to look the same. Comparing yourself to someone else is truly futile, and trying to emulate someone else’s practice can cause injury. 

Develop an inner reference system. Mindfulness goes hand in hand with healthy practice. As I said earlier, we won’t feel the effects of pushing too far into our hip joints if our cartilage is still intact. So shifting your intention from pushing into your edge to gently approaching your edge—and even staying a bit inside your edge—will help you keep your joints within their healthy range of motion. 

Stability is as important as flexibility. We all know that being too stiff is a form of imbalance. But most people who practice yoga don’t recognize that being too flexible is also a state of imbalance. Practice to find a balance between mobility and stability. Practice stabilizing poses, such as balancing poses and standing poses, to build strength. 

Nina: And what about people who already have these types of problems? 

Charlotte: It’s important to understand that everyone’s practice has to change according to the reality of their present situation. I had SI joint instability for years that often turned into painful sciatica. Because of this, I had to alter my practice, which meant giving up some poses I really liked that were exacerbating the problem. Pigeon Preparation pose was one of them. Not only do we come into the world with our own unique structures, but our bodies also change over time. We need to be flexible enough (pun intended!) that we can let our practice evolve with us.

Nina: I once wrote a post called Not All Yoga Poses Are Created Equal, in which I said that some poses should probably not be practiced every day while others were safer for regular practice. What are your thoughts about that? And, if you agree, which poses do you think should be practiced only occasionally and why. 

Charlotte: That’s a great post! I like to use a food metaphor for this idea: There are certain poses that are like vegetables. They’re the basics that provide sustenance and should be the foundation of your practice. In general, these are the simpler ones: standing poses, balance poses, restorative poses, and gentle twists, backbends, and forward bends. Then there are the “fancier” poses, which are more like dessert. They can feel good to do once in a while, but they don’t provide sustenance. If you do these so-called “advanced” poses every day, you’re more likely to suffer imbalances. 

The extreme “fancy” poses, such as putting your ankle behind your head, have no evolutionary purpose in terms of helping us maintain health or grace in performing our everyday activities. In fact, destabilizing or degrading your joints from practicing too forcefully can make everyday movements more painful and difficult. It took decades, but I’ve finally given up the desire to do these poses. I no longer feel there’s something I need to prove. Maybe that comes naturally with age or maybe it has to do with having gone through two hip replacements. Even though my titanium hips are every bit as flexible as my original ones were, I just have no desire to practice the fancy poses anymore. They don’t serve my ability to move through my life.

So, in a nutshell, I’d say that the poses that can help you do the things your physical body needs to do to accomplish your daily tasks are the staples. Poses that help you sit, walk, run, squat in your garden, climb stairs, and get down onto the floor and get back up are the poses that should be a part of your daily practice. 

Also, it’s important to vary your practice. Practicing the same poses every day can cause repetitive strain injuries over time. Tune into what your body needs on a given day. 

Nina: Do you have anything else you’d like to say to our readers about hip health? 

Charlotte: Yoga practice can’t grow your cartilage back if your hip joints degenerate to the point where they need to be replaced. But it can help you move through the process of replacing your hips with greater ease. A committed foundation of asana practice can help you recover much more quickly. 

If you do find yourself facing a hip replacement, be thankful that the technology is improving all the time. In the year and eight months between my two replacements, the hardware changed slightly and the post-surgery and physical therapy protocols changed for the better. My hip replacements truly gave me my life back. I wouldn’t be walking today, let alone enjoying yoga practice, if it hadn’t been for my hip surgeries. Every time I find myself wandering the gorgeous landscapes in my adopted home of Utah, I feel grateful for the technology that helped me regain my ability to hike. 

Nina: What are you up to these days? And are you planning to tackle any new topics? 

Charlotte: I’m doing a lot of writing and editing, for Hugger Mugger Yoga Products and Yoga U Online. I really enjoy getting to read the articles on Yoga U—including yours—because I always learn something new. I’ve enrolled in a two-year mindfulness teacher training program that starts next January, so that will keep me busy, along with my own classes and workshops. I continue to flesh out my workshops on healthy hips. There’s so much more to learn! 

I’ve got a few ideas in mind for a possible new book topic, but I need to develop them a bit more before I’ll feel ready to write a proposal. I’m pretty sure my next writing project will lean more toward philosophy and meditation, but I’m not sure exactly what it will be yet.

Charlotte Bell began practicing yoga in 1982, and started teaching in 1986 and has taught yoga continuously since then. Certified by B.K.S. Iyengar, she teaches classes, workshops and teacher trainings. In 1988, she began practicing Insight meditation. She teaches asana and beginning mindfulness classes at Mindful Yoga Collective, the studio she founded in 2013. Author of two books, Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life: A Guide for Everyday Practice and Yoga for Meditators, Charlotte has written for Yoga Journal, Yoga International, CATALYST Magazine, Yoga U Online and the Hugger Mugger Yoga Blog. For more information visit charlottebellyoga.com.

Subscribe to Yoga for Healthy Aging by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook and Twitter ° To order Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being, go to Amazon, Shambhala, Indie Bound or your local bookstore.

Interview with Charlotte Bell, Author of "Hip-Healthy Asana" https://ift.tt/2JKw8GJ themostdangerous1 https://ift.tt/2HGSZhB via IFTTT

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We Hear You: ‘No More Reasons Why Congress Can’t Totally Repeal Obamacare’

Editor’s note: Republicans’ failure to repeal Obamacare after assuming control of the White House as well as Congress registered strongly with our audience in recent days. The day after President Trump’s 100th day in office, today’s mailbag leads off with two related letters, one signed by 17 GOP and grassroots activists in Pennsylvania.—Ken McIntyre 

Dear Daily Signal: Since it was enacted into law in 2010, most Americans have opposed the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. In elections since then, Republicans have campaigned on the promise of total repeal of Obamacare. We, political constituents and grassroots supporters, responded by giving Republicans the House, then the Senate, and, in 2016, the presidency.

There are no more reasons why Congress cannot totally repeal Obamacare (“What’s in the New Obamacare Deal That Could Unite Conservatives, Centrists“).

The new American Health Care Act, as it stands now, is not Obamacare repeal.  Most Americans agree, given that only 17 percent support the bill, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll.

We ask nothing more than our legislators honor their campaign promises to repeal Obamacare.

Repeal means dismantling the Title I regulatory structure in the legislation that has caused insurance premiums to skyrocket, swelled Medicaid rolls and inserted the federal government between patients and our doctors.  The 2015 repeal bill, which passed both the House and Senate, is a starting point for repealing Obamacare.

Replace means implementing free market solutions, eliminating taxpayer-funded abortions, and returning to patient-centered health care.

The House Freedom Caucus is not the problem. They are attempting to honor what the Republican Party has promised its supporters since 2010.

We, the undersigned, represent local grassroots groups whose members are your readers. We now ask that promises to us are honored: Congress must repeal Obamacare, then replace it. No more excuses.—Betty Dunkel-Hernon, for Valley Forge Patriots Republican Committee, Schuylkill Township, Pa.

Also signing: Lucy Tscherne, Valley Forge Patriots; Linda Hertzog, West Chester Tea Party; Lisa Esler, Delaware County Patriots; Jane Marie Toal, Citizens for Liberty; Don Reimer, Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots; Larry Denver, president, Faith & Freedom Coalition, Pa.; Charles Beatty, vice president, Faith & Freedom Coalition, Pa.; Susan Hancock, Smart Girl Politics; Donna Ellingsen, Republican Committee, Elk Township; Linda Cleaver, Republican Committee, Londonderry Township; Marsha Spencer, Republican Committee, Lower Oxford West; Margaret Layden, Republican Committee, Tredyffin M-6; Barbara Albright, Republican Committee, West Bradford 4; Beckie Laughlin, Republican Committee, Valley North 635; Jane E. Brown, Landenberg, Pa.; Rita Misero, Coatesville, Pa.

Editor’s note: The above letter arrived April 24, before House conservatives announced support for new revisions of the health care bill.

Repeal Obamacare, Don’t Replace It

Dear Daily Signal: I don’t understand why this Republican Party is so completely unable to understand what it is Americans are asking for (“Health Care Talks Continue as Republicans Face Questions on Obamacare Repeal“). You can forward my frustrations:

I am a taxpayer with a lifelong chronic medical condition, Crohn’s disease, and I work in the medical field. You’d think I’d be ecstatic to have Obamacare, except that I’ve grown up having private insurance and for a brief time in young adulthood I was on disability/SSI.  I’ve had to sacrifice and struggle to have insurance coverage all my life.

So let me make this clear: The worst year of my life, bar none, in terms of dealing with this disease, insurance, etc., was the year I was prostrate to the federal government for my support. I vowed, never again.

Government does nothing efficiently or well. I’m sorry to burst the bubbles of our hard-working, dedicated Congress, but they cannot make anything at all work economically. At all.

Congress should repeal Obamacare completely. Why can’t Congress just set the rules, and then just let the free market solve the coverage issues by itself? Why not just let insurers offer coverage anywhere, without restrictions to certain states, and then get out of the way?

Check your (huge) egos, Congress! Let health care be handled by people who know how to manage money and who know something, anything, about health care and health insurance. Please, I’m begging you: Get out of health care.—Galen Jackson

Republicans Shrink From the Budget Battle

Dear Daily Signal: I am a very conservative person who reads a lot about current events online across seven to 10 different websites, excluding “mainstream media” sites.  I read Genevieve Woods’ commentary on congressional Republicans and couldn’t agree with her more (“Even With Republicans in Charge, Upcoming Budget Battle Looks Grim“).

The GOP is a bunch of spineless wimps who are continually outplayed by the bully “illiberals.”  The GOP doesn’t seem to have learned any lessons on strategy  from the Harry Reid/Barack Obama years.

The lessons: Get out in front of it, stick disliked legislation in a drawer someplace and forget about it.  Do not put anything forward that the president will veto. Finally, when all else fails, threaten the GOP, and if that doesn’t work, threaten them some more. Why isn’t the GOP following the Democrats’ model?

I particularly like Ms. Woods’ following recommendations, quoting from her commentary:

They should be calling the Democrats’ bluff and put forward legislation that does what they promised—reins in government spending, starts addressing America’s debt, and secures our border and national security needs.

If enough Democrats in the House and Senate don’t vote for it (such legislation requires 60 votes in the Senate), they should make it clear that they will go into every state where vulnerable Democrats are up for re-election in 2018 and tell voters there that their lawmaker was responsible for shutting down the government over liberal pet causes—such as funding for sanctuary cities and Planned Parenthood—or because he or she didn’t want to allocate funds to secure our border.

As a result of reading so much about current events, I am definitely of the opinion that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been around too long and needs to be gone.

He doesn’t appear to be strong enough nor clever enough to lead the GOP and Senate to victory on important issues for this country.  The budget and debt ceiling are two of the really important ones.–Tracy Gore, Vancouver, Wash.

The Best Thing Trump Has Done for the Country

Dear Daily Signal: Morgan Walker’s article regarding ‘SKYPE’ reporters is excellent (“This 1 Change Trump Administration Made to White House Press Briefings Is Shaking Up the Media“). Finally, a great example of a positive spin on political news coverage.

The goal of the “mainstream media” has always been to manipulate and control the way the public thinks. It could be the most powerful force for good on the planet.  Unfortunately, it runs in the opposite direction, and is clearly the greatest threat to the Trump administration and democracy in our country.

Isn’t it ironic that the media is missing such an incredible opportunity?

Love him or hate him, perhaps the best thing President Trump has done for the country is to finally expose the biased and corrupt mainstream media for what it really is.  The “swamp,” our incredibly stupid and inept Congress, is a close second.

Please share with Ms. Walker. Also, kudos to Fred Lucas and others for continuing to investigate the George Soros conspiracy to cripple the USA from within. Glad to be a member of The Heritage Foundation.–Hank Mattox

Trustworthy News Sources a Rare Commodity

Dear Daily Signal: Your news organization, and like-minded others, should consider creating a set of standards defining acceptable practices for certification as an Associated Conservative Press Certified News Source, or similar copyrightable name (“By Choosing Trump Hater as Dinner Speaker, Mainstream Media Embraces ‘Opposition Party’ Status“).

Trustworthy news sources are a rare commodity across America for everyone, but especially for conservatives.  Someone with the resources of the Koch brothers could create a nationwide news brand on their own.

But in lieu of that, it would be helpful to have a branding device that conservatives could use to validate online media, and possibly also print and broadcast media, as reliable and accurate.  Not in the sense of dogma, but rather accurate and true by professional journalism standards.

If you think this idea is worthy of consideration, please contact your worthy peer groups for possible action.—Newell S. Jones

No Trump Voters Need Apply?

Dear Daily Signal: Having once had a mainstream media job, I prefer to remain anonymous here. Read the last paragraph of this recent New York Times ad for “a new Rio de Janeiro bureau chief, one of the most exciting and dynamic assignments in the world,” including coverage of both Brazil and Argentina:

The New York Times is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual’s sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics.

Quite a laundry list.

But would The New York Times hire a Trump voter? Or do they rule out 50 percent of the U.S. population?—A Reader

Dear Daily Signal: I was very disappointed in the lead letter in your recent “We Hear You” roundup (“I’m a Sailor, a Marine, and a Transgender Woman Who Was Born This Way“). In all honesty, if we allow human beings to determine what’s acceptable in American society, we might as well neuter the Constitution because it only can be read through the eyes of biblical understanding.

John Adams stated: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

What I am saying here is not my opinion or prejudice. This is historical precedent, as well as legal precedent. This is not right-wing rhetoric from the lunatic fringe. This is legal and historical fact.

By the way, The Daily Signal is wonderful. Better than reading all of the other “rags” out there. If you want good success, maintain honesty and integrity. It will reflect well on The Heritage Foundation, which has always been a refuge for honesty and truth.—Bobby G., Woodstock, Ga.

On Racial Groupings

Dear Daily Signal: Regarding Mike Gonzalez’s commentary (“There Is Time to Reverse Obama Census Proposal That Promotes Group Identity Politics“), national or regional origin and ethnicity does not constitute racial origin. It should not be used to determine the population mix in the USA.

Skin color is irrelevant. We all should strive to be Americans and determine our race according to the basic four: black, Caucasian, Native American, Far Eastern/Oriental.—Cone S. Underwood

How Are We Doing?

You are doing very well.  I look forward to each new edition. Keep up the good work. And thanks.—Bill Williams

The border wall needs to be started and the national debt reversed. Still top of list.—Vtext

I’m a big fan and daily reader of The Daily Signal.  I was wondering if someone could write an article analyzing why all the Earth Day / March for Science hoopla didn’t include any outrage for the lack of the “scientific method.” It was a rigorous standard for science in the past hundreds of years, but now isn’t being followed 99 percent of the time.—Darren Richardson

Great job. I enjoy reading.—Christine Dukart 

Thank you!—Margi Wallo

Keep up the good work.—Ed Phillips 

Receiving The Daily Signal keeps me up with what is going on, not only in the U.S. but all over the world. And that, I really appreciate. The commentary is good and accurate, which is not offered on too many websites. Thanks for all the good you are doing.—Howard Shoemaker

The post We Hear You: ‘No More Reasons Why Congress Can’t Totally Repeal Obamacare’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

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We Hear You: ‘No More Reasons Why Congress Can’t Totally Repeal Obamacare’

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We Hear You: ‘No More Reasons Why Congress Can’t Totally Repeal Obamacare’

Editor’s note: Republicans’ failure to repeal Obamacare after assuming control of the White House as well as Congress registered strongly with our audience in recent days. The day after President Trump’s 100th day in office, today’s mailbag leads off with two related letters, one signed by 17 GOP and grassroots activists in Pennsylvania.—Ken McIntyre 

Dear Daily Signal: Since it was enacted into law in 2010, most Americans have opposed the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. In elections since then, Republicans have campaigned on the promise of total repeal of Obamacare. We, political constituents and grassroots supporters, responded by giving Republicans the House, then the Senate, and, in 2016, the presidency.

There are no more reasons why Congress cannot totally repeal Obamacare (“What’s in the New Obamacare Deal That Could Unite Conservatives, Centrists“).

The new American Health Care Act, as it stands now, is not Obamacare repeal.  Most Americans agree, given that only 17 percent support the bill, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll.

We ask nothing more than our legislators honor their campaign promises to repeal Obamacare.

Repeal means dismantling the Title I regulatory structure in the legislation that has caused insurance premiums to skyrocket, swelled Medicaid rolls and inserted the federal government between patients and our doctors.  The 2015 repeal bill, which passed both the House and Senate, is a starting point for repealing Obamacare.

Replace means implementing free market solutions, eliminating taxpayer-funded abortions, and returning to patient-centered health care.

The House Freedom Caucus is not the problem. They are attempting to honor what the Republican Party has promised its supporters since 2010.

We, the undersigned, represent local grassroots groups whose members are your readers. We now ask that promises to us are honored: Congress must repeal Obamacare, then replace it. No more excuses.—Betty Dunkel-Hernon, for Valley Forge Patriots Republican Committee, Schuylkill Township, Pa.

Also signing: Lucy Tscherne, Valley Forge Patriots; Linda Hertzog, West Chester Tea Party; Lisa Esler, Delaware County Patriots; Jane Marie Toal, Citizens for Liberty; Don Reimer, Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots; Larry Denver, president, Faith & Freedom Coalition, Pa.; Charles Beatty, vice president, Faith & Freedom Coalition, Pa.; Susan Hancock, Smart Girl Politics; Donna Ellingsen, Republican Committee, Elk Township; Linda Cleaver, Republican Committee, Londonderry Township; Marsha Spencer, Republican Committee, Lower Oxford West; Margaret Layden, Republican Committee, Tredyffin M-6; Barbara Albright, Republican Committee, West Bradford 4; Beckie Laughlin, Republican Committee, Valley North 635; Jane E. Brown, Landenberg, Pa.; Rita Misero, Coatesville, Pa.

Editor’s note: The above letter arrived April 24, before House conservatives announced support for new revisions of the health care bill.

Repeal Obamacare, Don’t Replace It

Dear Daily Signal: I don’t understand why this Republican Party is so completely unable to understand what it is Americans are asking for (“Health Care Talks Continue as Republicans Face Questions on Obamacare Repeal“). You can forward my frustrations:

I am a taxpayer with a lifelong chronic medical condition, Crohn’s disease, and I work in the medical field. You’d think I’d be ecstatic to have Obamacare, except that I’ve grown up having private insurance and for a brief time in young adulthood I was on disability/SSI.  I’ve had to sacrifice and struggle to have insurance coverage all my life.

So let me make this clear: The worst year of my life, bar none, in terms of dealing with this disease, insurance, etc., was the year I was prostrate to the federal government for my support. I vowed, never again.

Government does nothing efficiently or well. I’m sorry to burst the bubbles of our hard-working, dedicated Congress, but they cannot make anything at all work economically. At all.

Congress should repeal Obamacare completely. Why can’t Congress just set the rules, and then just let the free market solve the coverage issues by itself? Why not just let insurers offer coverage anywhere, without restrictions to certain states, and then get out of the way?

Check your (huge) egos, Congress! Let health care be handled by people who know how to manage money and who know something, anything, about health care and health insurance. Please, I’m begging you: Get out of health care.—Galen Jackson

Republicans Shrink From the Budget Battle

Dear Daily Signal: I am a very conservative person who reads a lot about current events online across seven to 10 different websites, excluding “mainstream media” sites.  I read Genevieve Woods’ commentary on congressional Republicans and couldn’t agree with her more (“Even With Republicans in Charge, Upcoming Budget Battle Looks Grim“).

The GOP is a bunch of spineless wimps who are continually outplayed by the bully “illiberals.”  The GOP doesn’t seem to have learned any lessons on strategy  from the Harry Reid/Barack Obama years.

The lessons: Get out in front of it, stick disliked legislation in a drawer someplace and forget about it.  Do not put anything forward that the president will veto. Finally, when all else fails, threaten the GOP, and if that doesn’t work, threaten them some more. Why isn’t the GOP following the Democrats’ model?

I particularly like Ms. Woods’ following recommendations, quoting from her commentary:

They should be calling the Democrats’ bluff and put forward legislation that does what they promised—reins in government spending, starts addressing America’s debt, and secures our border and national security needs.

If enough Democrats in the House and Senate don’t vote for it (such legislation requires 60 votes in the Senate), they should make it clear that they will go into every state where vulnerable Democrats are up for re-election in 2018 and tell voters there that their lawmaker was responsible for shutting down the government over liberal pet causes—such as funding for sanctuary cities and Planned Parenthood—or because he or she didn’t want to allocate funds to secure our border.

As a result of reading so much about current events, I am definitely of the opinion that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been around too long and needs to be gone.

He doesn’t appear to be strong enough nor clever enough to lead the GOP and Senate to victory on important issues for this country.  The budget and debt ceiling are two of the really important ones.–Tracy Gore, Vancouver, Wash.

The Best Thing Trump Has Done for the Country

Dear Daily Signal: Morgan Walker’s article regarding ‘SKYPE’ reporters is excellent (“This 1 Change Trump Administration Made to White House Press Briefings Is Shaking Up the Media“). Finally, a great example of a positive spin on political news coverage.

The goal of the “mainstream media” has always been to manipulate and control the way the public thinks. It could be the most powerful force for good on the planet.  Unfortunately, it runs in the opposite direction, and is clearly the greatest threat to the Trump administration and democracy in our country.

Isn’t it ironic that the media is missing such an incredible opportunity?

Love him or hate him, perhaps the best thing President Trump has done for the country is to finally expose the biased and corrupt mainstream media for what it really is.  The “swamp,” our incredibly stupid and inept Congress, is a close second.

Please share with Ms. Walker. Also, kudos to Fred Lucas and others for continuing to investigate the George Soros conspiracy to cripple the USA from within. Glad to be a member of The Heritage Foundation.–Hank Mattox

Trustworthy News Sources a Rare Commodity

Dear Daily Signal: Your news organization, and like-minded others, should consider creating a set of standards defining acceptable practices for certification as an Associated Conservative Press Certified News Source, or similar copyrightable name (“By Choosing Trump Hater as Dinner Speaker, Mainstream Media Embraces ‘Opposition Party’ Status“).

Trustworthy news sources are a rare commodity across America for everyone, but especially for conservatives.  Someone with the resources of the Koch brothers could create a nationwide news brand on their own.

But in lieu of that, it would be helpful to have a branding device that conservatives could use to validate online media, and possibly also print and broadcast media, as reliable and accurate.  Not in the sense of dogma, but rather accurate and true by professional journalism standards.

If you think this idea is worthy of consideration, please contact your worthy peer groups for possible action.—Newell S. Jones

No Trump Voters Need Apply?

Dear Daily Signal: Having once had a mainstream media job, I prefer to remain anonymous here. Read the last paragraph of this recent New York Times ad for “a new Rio de Janeiro bureau chief, one of the most exciting and dynamic assignments in the world,” including coverage of both Brazil and Argentina:

The New York Times is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual’s sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics.

Quite a laundry list.

But would The New York Times hire a Trump voter? Or do they rule out 50 percent of the U.S. population?—A Reader

Dear Daily Signal: I was very disappointed in the lead letter in your recent “We Hear You” roundup (“I’m a Sailor, a Marine, and a Transgender Woman Who Was Born This Way“). In all honesty, if we allow human beings to determine what’s acceptable in American society, we might as well neuter the Constitution because it only can be read through the eyes of biblical understanding.

John Adams stated: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

What I am saying here is not my opinion or prejudice. This is historical precedent, as well as legal precedent. This is not right-wing rhetoric from the lunatic fringe. This is legal and historical fact.

By the way, The Daily Signal is wonderful. Better than reading all of the other “rags” out there. If you want good success, maintain honesty and integrity. It will reflect well on The Heritage Foundation, which has always been a refuge for honesty and truth.—Bobby G., Woodstock, Ga.

On Racial Groupings

Dear Daily Signal: Regarding Mike Gonzalez’s commentary (“There Is Time to Reverse Obama Census Proposal That Promotes Group Identity Politics“), national or regional origin and ethnicity does not constitute racial origin. It should not be used to determine the population mix in the USA.

Skin color is irrelevant. We all should strive to be Americans and determine our race according to the basic four: black, Caucasian, Native American, Far Eastern/Oriental.—Cone S. Underwood

How Are We Doing?

You are doing very well.  I look forward to each new edition. Keep up the good work. And thanks.—Bill Williams

The border wall needs to be started and the national debt reversed. Still top of list.—Vtext

I’m a big fan and daily reader of The Daily Signal.  I was wondering if someone could write an article analyzing why all the Earth Day / March for Science hoopla didn’t include any outrage for the lack of the “scientific method.” It was a rigorous standard for science in the past hundreds of years, but now isn’t being followed 99 percent of the time.—Darren Richardson

Great job. I enjoy reading.—Christine Dukart 

Thank you!—Margi Wallo

Keep up the good work.—Ed Phillips 

Receiving The Daily Signal keeps me up with what is going on, not only in the U.S. but all over the world. And that, I really appreciate. The commentary is good and accurate, which is not offered on too many websites. Thanks for all the good you are doing.—Howard Shoemaker

The post We Hear You: ‘No More Reasons Why Congress Can’t Totally Repeal Obamacare’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

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What We Learned: What's next for the Dallas Stars?

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One of the less talked-about aspects of the NHL season has been the utter failure of the Dallas Stars, a team that was one win away from a Conference Final just last year.

They’re 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, but that includes a three-game losing streak. In fact, the Stars have seven streaks of at least three losses this season. They’ve only won three in a row once.

The extent to which this club struggled was, as I’ve said many times, foreseeable. You knew the goaltending situation was going to be horrendous, and here we are with a team .900 save percentage versus a league average of .913. Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi have cost the team a collective 28 goals, probably about nine points in the standings, give or take.

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But those nine points only get the Stars to 80 in 74, which still isn’t close to a playoff spot here. You’re not wrong to blame the goaltending, but the problems go much deeper. The loss of Jason Demers and Alex Goligoski to free agency for what ended up being effectively nothing (Arizona gave up a fifth-round pick for the rights to negotiate with Goligoski) had a huge negative impact on this team’s ability to remain competitive, especially because GM Jim Nill had no plan to deal with their loss.

Esa Lindell went from having 56 minutes of TOI in the NHL to being the team’s No. 2 defenseman. It hasn’t gone well: he has a negative possession impact, only 14 points despite well over 21 minutes a game. Dan Hamhuis has been a somewhat effective replacement for Demers insofar as he’s performing well enough on the second pairing (though providing only one goal and 15 points doesn’t help much), but after that it’s a mess. Jordie Benn and Johnny Oduya, before they were traded, were having more mediocre years in a long string of them.

The other guys? Well, clearly Lindy Ruff didn’t trust many of them. Julius Honka only got about 16:30 a night in his 10 games. Greg Pateryn, coming over from Montreal, is getting less than that. Jamie Oleksiak isn’t doing much of anything in sporadic appeances.

So the question for Nill quickly becomes: How do you move this team forward without just committing to a full-on rebuild? The idea that you’d in any way bail on a Seguin-and-Benn-in-their-primes group with a solid support cast is foolish, as is the idea that you’d trade either Seguin or Benn (or both?) in pursuit of worse finishes. Probably safe to say, too, that just continuing to fly by the seat of your pants as you did this year is a waste of everyone’s time, energy, and money.

The good news is they have some money coming off the books. Patrick Sharp, Ales Hemsky, and Jiri Hudler save you $11.9 million if you don’t re-sign them. And they only have to retain role players and lower-end guys coming off their ELCs. Maybe you even buy out one of these awful goalies. That gives you money to spend.

But here’s the problem for Nill: You need a couple top-six forwards, clearly. You need at least two middle-pairing defensemen, but ideally a top-pairing and middle-pairing guy. How many of those are going to hit the market this summer?

The list of pending UFA defensemen isn’t exactly star-studded this year. That’s going to become increasingly true as time goes on, because the ability to draft, develop, and retain puck-movers is the Next Big Thing in hockey, if it’s not already. Who do you identify as a guy — ideally in his mid- or late-20s — who fits that role? The amount of money someone’s going to throw at Karl Alzner this summer is already unconscionable, and after that your best option honestly might be Brendan Smith. At least Nill already knows Kris Russell isn’t worth pursuing.

The picture is also pretty bleak up front. Unless you want to throw yourself into the Alex Radulov sweepstakes (assuming there is one, and you can get Lindy Ruff to actually play him despite his nationality), what kind of difference-makers are you even going to find up front to fill out that top six? T.J. Oshie? Thomas Vanek? Teddy Purcell? These aren’t good options either. And you probably have to dramatically overpay for them given the small number of options available to you.

Then there’s the goalies. Even if you buy out one of your two current problems in net, what do you spend the rest of the money on? Not Ben Bishop, right? A Steve Mason reclamation project? Maybe Brian Elliott or Chad Johnson? There just aren’t a lot of good options here either.

Maybe you hope the Vegas Golden Knights kick some stuff loose for you, giving you the option to make some trades. It’s a tough situation, but Nill has kind of painted himself into a corner.

You look at the problems this team has on the ice, too, and a lot of it boils down to not generating enough quality chances, and allowing too many. Pretty simple formula for problems, and while you can say it’s one that springs from personnel, you also have to say Ruff has no concrete answers here. The problems have only gotten worse as the season progresses here, and they’re bigger now than they’ve been at any point in the past two years.

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Perhaps you blame the talent sell-off (which was the responsible thing for Nill to pursue) but they’ve been around a lot longer than the deadline.

Yahoo

Would the Stars fire Ruff and go out in search of a new coach? Tough to say. Should they? I’d argue yes. Because if you’re getting these kinds of performances from a veteran coach given the quality of the top half of this roster, why not see what new ideas do for you instead? Other coaches have done more with less. Ruff’s doing less with more.

Not that firing the coach necessarily fixes the problems this team obviously, predictably has. But it at least starts a process whereby you can say “We’re trying to fix this.” It’s the easiest change to make at this time and probably moves you in the right direction.

If results don’t improve under a new coach — and I would expect they wouldn’t take any sort of huge step forward — then you kick the tires on bigger, more institutional changes. But if the Stars’ window is already closing, given the talent they have at the top of of that lineup, it’s a big problem, and you can’t come close to blaming anyone but Nill.

Depth should be the easiest problem to correct, but here we are anyway. Having traveled down the only logical road this team could have taken, the path out shouldn’t be this difficult, should it?

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Seems like maybe Brandon Montour is a player.

Arizona Coyotes: Clayton Keller, come on down.

Boston Bruins: Charlie McAvoy and Jacob Forsbacka Karlsson, also come on down.

Buffalo Sabres: Tough to think of anyone who’s having a better second half than Jack Eichel.

Calgary Flames: Folks, Brian Elliott has one regulation loss — and 13 wins — in his last 15 games.

Carolina Hurricanes: This is a 10-game point streak for the Hurricanes. They’re now five points out of a playoff spot with two games in hand on everyone in front of them. This is getting wild.

Chicago: Jonathan Toews was really mad his team lost 7-0 to the Panthers and that’s because he’s a Good Leader and not because losing 7-0 is something everyone hates to do.

Colorado Avalanche: This is the headline of the year.

Columbus Blue Jackets: You’ll never guess why Columbus is winning again. It’s almost like their success is wholly dependent on one player.

Dallas Stars: Patrick Sharp, everyone likes him.

Detroit Red Wings: Folks, Steve Yzerman, who is the GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, played for the Red Wings. Not sure if you heard about that but it’s true. One of those Mike Modano or Daniel Alfredsson things where he played one year there.

Edmonton Oilers: Jordan Eberle has been around long enough to play 500 games? I am a thousand years old.

Florida Panthers: Twenty-eight goals is a lot for a guy they got basically for nothing. Hmm.

Los Angeles Kings: Well, uh, yikes.

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Minnesota Wild: If you’re getting demolished at home by the Canucks, you’ve got big problems. And many of those problems rhyme with Bevan Bubnyk.

Montreal Canadiens: I think it’s safe to say they have the division wrapped up at this point.

Nashville Predators: I think this is what they call Peaking At The Right Time.

New Jersey Devils: I feel so bad for Taylor Hall.

New York Islanders: Maybe if you get six power plays you should have more than 19 shots in a game. Maybe.

New York Rangers: What’s truly amazing is that every time Henrik Lundqvist missed time in the past few years, his backups have been almost unbeatable. What a thing to happen.

Ottawa Senators: I mean, y’know, they’re not that good.

Philadelphia Flyers: Hey what team did this Bobrovsky guy used to play for? Just wondering.

Pittsburgh Penguins: These are the takes I need in my life.

San Jose Sharks: Send anyone who is still, in the year of our lord two thousand seventeen anno domini, a “Joe Thornton Hater” to me. I will deal with them roughly, as is fitting.

St. Louis Blues: Well they, uh, got the point at least.

Tampa Bay Lightning: I hate this!

Toronto Maple Leafs: Best Leafs highlight on Saturday night? Eichel scoring an effortless goal and celebrating directly in front of a few Leafs fans who made the trip down to Buffalo.

Vancouver Canucks: What a day for this guy.

Vegas Golden Knights: Amazing, truly.

Washington Capitals: Just a big ol’ kid out there, even now.

Winnipeg Jets: Journalists aren’t supposed to lie to their readers.

Play of the Weekend

Ryan Donato, hello.

Ryan Donato must not be feeling well because that was sick!@Harvard_Hockey leads 2-0. pic.twitter.com/WHoEdOWtRB

— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 26, 2017

Gold Star Award

MANCHESTER, NH – MARCH 26: Andrew Oglevie #15 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates his overtime winning goal against the Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks during the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Northeast Regional Championship final at the SNHU Arena on March 26, 2017 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The Fighting Irish won 3-2 and advance to the Frozen Four in Chicago. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images)

College hockey is the best hockey. Don’t let anyone tell ya different.

Minus of the Weekend

If you have a small daughter who knows how to skate, please don’t let USA Hockey convince her to play at Worlds. They’re getting desperate, and no one wants to be a scab for them.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Year

User “Le Grec” is Going For It.

To NYI: Duchene, Landeskog

To COL: Nelson or Strome, Lee, Barzal, Pulock or De Haan, 2017, 18, 19, first round picks…

Signoff

When you go home tonight, there’s gonna be another story on your house.

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

(All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)

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