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ferusaurelius · 4 years

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Nihlus Fic Headcanons

My latest fic, The husbandry of victory is blood (on AO3), is basically a Nihlus Kryik and Mass Effect mercenary/batarian culture headcanon backstory where @expertmakodriver reacted by asking me to ... please translate w/e I was on about.

So here it is! The English translation of my Nihlus Kryik worldbuilding art project.

In reality, this type of character sketch is something I would normally keep private. But since we need more Nihlus content, both it and the headcanon basis are all public and free to use and/or transform as you see fit without attribution.

Please, I’m begging anyone who might want to use any of these ideas in whole or in part: write it and save me from having to do it myself. You do not need to credit me, but I would appreciate a link to your work so I can promote it! :)

Tfw you actually need to annotate your own fic...

Long post - everything is under the cut!

Organized by the order each element is referenced in the fic, with the divided sections labeled as [NUMBER] on the left.

Edited 5/28/2021 because I forgot some things.

[Title] “The husbandry of victory is blood” - Taken from “Sparta Says No” by A.E. Stallings. I actually thought about using this as an alternative title for another fic, but I figured this background sketch for Nihlus more aligned with the themes. I strongly suggest you go and read the poem without taking my word for the following interpretation: the contrast between growth and destruction, and civilization built through conquest or through agriculture. I enjoy the high-level commentary on society. The metaphorical encounter between farming and war is something I wanted to bring to my work, and I wanted the title to color the tone of the epigraph from Virgil’s Georgics. On a more personal level -- my grandfather joined the military in part to seek out opportunities he wouldn’t have had if he’d stayed on a farm, and I decided to draw on that experience for Nihlus.

[Epigraph] - Virgil, Georgics Book I (tr. H. R. Fairclough) - I picked a public domain translation of the poem and went hunting around for a line that had juxtaposed farming and war imagery. It’s a fairly common classical motif! Wars often stopped and started based on the seasonal harvest and the necessity of feeding the community and supplying the troops. You can’t fight a war and gather in wheat at the same time. Digging up the weapons pf the dead in farm fields is a powerful image. My take on Nihlus draws on the tension between fighting and negotiation that I also connect to the symbolic opposition between agriculture and warfare. The Georgics are also just really neat.

[1] Half-face markings - I could write a whole headcanon post on turian colony markings and how mercenary modifications fit in with them (and I will at some point). You’ll see in this fic that I regularly use terms for how much ‘real estate’ the colony markings cover. My HC is that there are variations of colony markings that can be worn as minimalist (smallest critical details), half-face (upper or lower, may include simple full-face designs without a lot of paint), full-face (both, usually more elaborate), and full-crest (what it sounds like on the tin). These are all just different styles and up to personal preference, though there are a few cultural connotations or stereotypes about people who choose which version. Plus I felt really bad for people who might have super-complicated full versions of markings and wanted to give them something more aesthetically lightweight that would have the same meaning.

[1] Batarian trader patois - An evolving lingua franca with many dialects. Nihlus is uncannily fluent at the one spoken in the Terminus, which is mutually intelligible with the dialect spoken in the Attican Traverse. This is a language without a formal codex that sounds a little strange even to batarians born into the Hegemony. Since batarians have been around and in contact with the Citadel and council races for ~1000 years longer than turians (true if the timeline on the wiki is correct, but I haven’t done the backdating myself), I HC that batarians have a more refined and developed spacer and trading culture. Traders and smugglers are infamous for liking to be beyond Hegemony control and when their government withdrew from Council space, they just kept up with business as usual. Many of them have a shared religion based on debate and argument over the meaning of the Pillars of Strength and the way to live an honorable life.

[1] Terminus languages - They exist, both with and without formal linguistic codexes available to ordinary citizens of Council space.

[1] Hierarchy basic - The common turian colonial language spoken in Hierarchy space. Nihlus was born outside turian space, so he had to learn it from his parents and from educational videos. While he has only a vague accent, certain words and phrases he uses come off as very strange to turians who were raised in Hierarchy space.

[1] Draughts - A popular ancient board game dating back to before the Romans. Pieces move by sliding on the board or jumping over each other to capture. I originally wanted to use river stones as a metaphor, but Nihlus at that age had never seen naturally flowing water. I figure everyone has a version of a capturing/marker/stones sort of game.

[1] Amma and appa - Batarian words for grandmother and grandfather. Nihlus is a bit of a ‘surprise’ baby for his parents. This nice older smuggler couple are longtime associates of the mercenary group and, while they have never done fighting themselves and have no children of their own, they are friends of his mother and father and are absolutely delighted to “adopt” him. He is their smol spikey grandson, they teach him to speak and act like a proper young batarian, and anyone who argues with them about how exactly he is related will end up on the wrong side of an airlock.

[1] Vatar - A canon planet in the Mass Effect universe with a cold and inhospitable environment, located a short relay hop away from Omega (“downtown”) in the Terminus Systems. Mercenary groups have outposts dug into the surface. I rolled with it.

[1] Falx - The turian name of the mercenary group Nihlus is born into. A falx is both a Roman entrenching tool and also the most overhyped Dacian curved blade weapon you’ll see in ancient art and literature. In essence? The word has been used to refer to both weapons and farming tools for a very long time. The group is a batarian-lead mercenary company with a very long history of turian cooperation, which enjoys stable political ties to other such batarian splinter groups. Traders and smugglers often form the links between them. The batarian word for members of this same group translates as “harvesters” or “reapers.” HAHA. And you thought this was a no-Reapers AU…

[1] Truce customs - A batarian mercenary outpost thing. If you’re friendly and in mechanical distress, or if you have something to trade, it’s not unusual to head to a known group of mercenaries and ask for truce on tightbeam broadcast to get someone to meet you or actively flag your ship with their ident codes (aka: make you temporarily register in local space as belonging to their ‘fleet’). This is usually for medical essentials, emergency mechanical trouble, and also serves as an informal way for Terminus merchants and traders to make a living without having to worry about being boarded every time they deliver the groceries. It’s considered a grave breach of etiquette to violate truce terms and those who do are hunted down as examples to the rest. Truce terms make “ordinary life” possible for outposts that are otherwise on the edge of traveled space.

[1] Trade-cloth - A canon quarian cultural object. Mentioned in the the fandom wiki and probably part of a quarian codex somewhere. Intricately patterned cloth is common on the Migrant Fleet, but the personal cloths are seldom given to outsiders. Nihlus’s gift is one used in trade, but displays a pattern with more ‘friendly’ cultural connotations than something that would be sold and mass-produced in a shop. It was made special for him by his childhood quarian friends. It’s something that it would be appropriate for him to wear like a scarf on formal occasions when he’s dealing with quarians, or when he’s invited to quarian parties or festivals.

[1] Colony crescents / Falx sickles - Yeah there’s some repetition here, but it’s mostly to contrast the two. I HC that Nihlus’s base colony markings are already curved. “Sickles” are embellishments which add a cutting or combative edgeline in some places and very overt stylized weaponry to standard colony markings. They are additions or alterations that are unique to mercenary groups and may read as “flamboyant” or “aggressive” because they are noticeably different in appearance to Hierarchy turians. This is more or less on purpose, and is a bit on the taboo side. One does not wear these additions or draw their markings in these styles without genuinely belonging to one of these groups -- the patterns are not easy to reproduce correctly or in the right places, and they are generally a source of stigma in Hierarchy basic training.

[1] Sand-bath - How you clean a turian when water is scarce and everyone has to share it.

[2] Draw and fire from retention - The shooting-sports specific term for “shooting from the hip.” Kinda. This breakdown of a scene from Collateral, one of my all-time favorite Michael Mann films, will give you an idea. All of the referenced gun techniques are also more or less real, and lining up your body posture so that it helps with aiming and putting the rounds where you want them to go is a real thing. Nihlus has a great deal of practice in shooting as self-defense and was training alongside professionals from a young age. Going to the range is one of his hobbies (but not mine, I’m lame and that’s loud).

[2] Triginta Petra - A canon Mass Effect world that is a dustball home to hardscrabble turian farmers. Kavala Kryik’s family were some of the first colonists and they’ve been scratching a living from the surface since she was nine years old. They are very proud of this fact, since it gave them opportunities they wouldn’t have had on their native Oma Ker (also a canon turian world).

[2] Laskaris - Nihlus’s mother’s original family name. Kavala Laskaris. While I don’t have any particular headcanon about whether or not turians do the whole ‘changing surname’ thing when they marry or pair off or whatever, Kavala really liked both the alliteration and the overall aesthetic. Joked with Inaros Kryik, her husband and Nihlus’s father, that she only married him for his pretty colony markings.

[2] Lupulin - Literally, hop acids and the essential oils that you get from ‘hoppy’ beer. A direct reference to hops (Humulus lupulus) and brewing, because why not? Actually is a mild sedative and produces a bit of a chemical high.

[2] Stiletto - A pistol from Haliat armory (turian weapons manufacturer).

[2] Blooded sickles - Worn only by mercenaries who are full / fighting members of Falx or their direct allies. Batarians have their own culturally-coded marks, some of which have been adopted and/or adapted by their turian members as embellishments to colony markings. I HC that newer “commercial” groups like the Blue Suns and Nyreen’s Talons, without a shared cultural background, are imitating this style of marking rather than the other way around. Merc-born turians with old-style batarian trade connections tend to recognize each other through these symbols, which are used most often outside of Council space (i.e. the Terminus Systems and the Attican Traverse).

[2] Pillars of Strength - Canon batarian religious artifact. I treat them as a text or a particular philosophy that values free will and independent action as the signifiers of ‘strength.’ While I don’t have a fleshed out or specific HC for what the ‘tenets’ are, I do know that slave implants are treated as anathema.

[3] Struthious - A reference to Earth ostriches. Some kind of chicken-like prey animal that turians like to cook and eat. Mostly because the thought of Nihlus running around like a chicken to entertain his sisters made me laugh.

[4] Cutter - Bigger than a personal clipper and better armed, with living space for a crew. They come in various sizes and are smaller than frigates.

[4] Cup of mourning - A turian funerary ritual. On Taetrus, performed with a distinctive form of dark ale. Different colony groups have different cultural traditions.

[4] Thalia, Tomyris, and Traian - Nihlus’s three turian siblings. Thalia and Tomyris are his younger twin sisters. Traian is the youngest and his baby brother. While they’re only hinted at in this fic, I do plan to make some references to them in the Air Needing Light arc at some point. There’s also a chance they’ll get their own short!fic appearances.

[4] Hierarchy military grants - A HC pool of money that the Council races put up to fund large-scale basic training for anyone (turian or another client race) completing compulsory citizen service.

[5] Talons and suns - Generic references to other symbols that are common incorporations for mercenary groups. I HC that these were adopted and color-coded by the Blue Suns and the Talons rather than conceptually created by them!

[5] Fuck the cause, we’ll die for a drink! - Profane versions of the turian Hierarchy anthem are popular drinking songs among the merc-born. If it’s a patriotic and well-known song, you can pretty much guarantee turian mercenaries have parodied it. Awkward for colony-born squadmates who find these renditions hilarious and catchy—but also a little horrifying.

[6] Optio Sideris, 85th Atrax Legion, Fifth Cohort Operations Section - A one-off turian Blackwatch OC I may bring back in another fic at some point because I ended up liking her. The Hierarchy military organization borrows from the HCs I use for the Air Needing Light AU: 85th Atrax Legion is a joint special forces organizing legion made up of six cohorts. The 5th Cohort is informally known as Blackwatch, while the “Operations Section” is a generic term used by intelligence operators. Optio is a mid-tier leadership rank.

[6] Batarian body language - Batarian language and manners are highly dependent on physical cues according to the Mass Effect canon. I took this one step further with a HC that Nihlus is essentially a native speaker of turian-adapted gestures that translate successfully into batarian social patterns. This physical vocabulary is most refined and most present in culturally batarian mercenary and trading groups with a strong history of turian association and recruitment. While older turians can learn and approximate the gestures, they are best learned and absorbed in childhood. Nihlus “speaks” a form of gestural batarian that places him as a native of the Terminus Systems.

[6] Interrogating batarian prisoners - No torture involved! Optio Sideris trains Nihlus in a more practical form of intelligence gathering that involves building rapport, establishing trust, and remaining consistent. Even pirates or smugglers who would not normally give information to a Hierarchy patrol flotilla can be convinced to—if not speak—occasionally offer hints about the locations and activity of slavers. Nihlus is notable for actually being conversant in traditional batarian moral interpretations of the Pillars of Strength, as well as being able to walk the fine cultural line between guarded respect and abject deference.

[6] Merc Red - Nihlus’s batarian nickname among the patrol flotilla’s prisoners. A sign of individual respect, since it contains no profanity and is just blandly descriptive.

[7] Broken weapons - A traditional sign of thanks between two non-allied mercenary groups when one has agreed to truce terms. Mostly symbolic.

[7] Tattoos - The permanent marking method of choice when turians are full-grown and have developed a strong preference for the color and personal style of their colony markings. Nihlus decides on a complex ‘full-crest’ Taetran colony pattern embellished with Falx blood sickles. This is more or less him being loud and proud about both his colony origins and his mercenary background, as well as putting them on an even footing by tattooing the entire pattern: mercenary symbols and all.

#mass effect #nihlus kryik #my headcanons #my writing #air-needing-light #long post #fanfiction #nihlus kryik headcanons

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echoes-of-realities · 5 years

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be my fire in the cold (and I'll be waiting by the mistletoe) - 24/25

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[From the Start] // [Fanfiction] // [ao3]

[Previous Chapter]

Chapter Summary: The Nutcracker has its last show; Santana and Brittany spend Christmas Eve together.

Notes: We’re Almost there fam! Also the actual George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker doesn’t stop after Christmas and goes up to December 30th at least, but just for simplicity’s sake I’m taking artistic liberties and in this universe the ballet’s last show is today.

Chapter 24: watching old movies while the fireplace fades

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The last show of the production’s run is at two, but Brittany still gets up early to help Mercedes finish up the last of her packing. She’s leaving with Sam as soon as the show is over tonight to head back home until New Year’s, her and Sam heading to her parents’ place first and then his; usually the company and crew will have a wrap-up party as soon as the last show is done, but with it being Christmas Eve and all, this production of The Nutcracker usually skips that tradition so everyone has more time with their families and has it sometime between Christmas and New Year’s.

Mercedes is just zipping up her suitcase when Brittany wanders into her room, yawning and absently pulling her messy hair up into an even messier bun. “Nee’ ‘elp?” she mumbles.

Mercedes giggles and rolls her eyes. “You’re only wearing one sock,” she comments mildly.

Brittany looks down, too tired to feel surprised, and shrugs. “Lefty was too hot,” she says nonchalantly, and Mercedes bursts into giggles. “I’ll help you take your stuff out to the living room.”

Mercedes hefts her suitcase off of the bed and motions to the pile of wrapped gifts in the corner of her room, all neatly packed into couple of reusable grocery bags. “You can grab those.”

“What time is Sam picking us up?” Brittany asks as she trails after Mercedes.

“Like, nine thirty-ish?”

“Cool,” Brittany says, “I’ll have time to tidy up then.”

“Why?”

Brittany feels a blush creep into her cheeks before she can even think to try and hide it, which probably would have proved useless anyways, since Mercedes has, like, hawk eyes when it comes to Brittany’s embarrassment.

Mercedes, sure enough, looks back and instantly spots Brittany’s blush, her grin taking on a wicked edge. “Oooh, is your girlfriend coming over?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Brittany mumbles automatically, but even as she says the words it kind of feels like she’s lying.

“In all but name maybe,” Mercedes says, and Brittany has to concede her point.

“The name part of that is kind of important,” Brittany argues as she drops the presents beside Mercedes’ suitcase.

“Maybe,” Mercedes concedes, “But the feelings part is pretty important too, and that’s definitely there.”

Brittany smiles a little, almost involuntarily, as the thought of being in love with Santana still fills her with bright warmth, and hums in acknowledgement. “I invited her to spend Christmas Eve here since neither of us had any plans.”

“I’m happy for you, Brittany,” Mercedes says softly, and Brittany grins bashfully down at her toes, too distracted by the warmth blooming in her chest realize that Mercedes has started smirking at her. “Just don’t christen any public places please.”

“Mercedes!” Brittany squeals, patting at her cheeks as the blush burning there flares up into an inferno.

“And make sure you kids stay hydrated and well-fed, you don’t want to run out of energy.”

“No no no!” Brittany shrieks, fleeing backwards towards the bathroom, her skin burning bright red from forehead to collarbone, “I take back anything I ever said when you and Sam got together!”

Mercedes smirks because, considering the teasing she got back then, there's no way she's going to give Brittany a break now that she's in love. "Make sure you're safe!" she calls.

“Oh shut up!” Brittany calls back before slamming the bathroom door shut.

///

Even though it’s Christmas Eve, the theatre is surprisingly—or not so surprisingly—packed, people already starting to filter into the lobby even as the company and crew take their last lunch break of the show’s run an hour before half hour. Brittany’s always antsy for last shows, both excited for it to be over so she can finally rest (and, this year, spend the evening with Santana) but dreading it because it means that there will never be another show like this, with this particular group of dancers and kids and crew, ever again.

Santana brings her lunch from that sandwich shop she loves, the same place she bought lunch for them that very first time, kickstarting their almost daily lunch and supper dates. Santana doesn’t bother with any pretences, just sinks down to the floor right beside Brittany, taking her left arm and draping it over her shoulder so they can cuddle and eat. Mercedes, Sam, Tina, and Mike all show up about halfway through their break with an assortment of food between all of them, sprawling on the floor to complete the circle in an impromptu picnic and fondly teasing Brittany and Santana as soon as they all realize their spending Christmas together.

Every single time Mercedes catches Brittany’s eye she feels heat crawl up into her cheeks at the knowing glint there. Santana seems to notice something tense—not bad tense, just the knowing and teasing tension when you know your friend is laughing at you across the room—and quickly takes Brittany’s free hand, as soon as they’re both done eating, and pulls it into her lap to play with her fingers, tracing the webbing between each finger and pressing down on her knuckles like piano keys. It eases the blush from Brittany’s cheeks and softens the teasing glint in Mercedes eyes, and Brittany soaks in the feeling of being surrounded by so much love, from her friends and from Santana, before the chaos of the last show overtakes them.

///

The audience is electric during Brittany’s last performance, knowing it’s their last chance to see this show until next year, and Brittany dances better than she ever has before, knowing that Santana is hidden in the curtains watching. She dances for the audience and she dances for herself but, mostly, she dances for Santana, for the woman who brought laughter and love into her life, who brought her family to her, who brought her love of Christmas back.

Her bow goes on longer than normal as the audience cheers for her, and she’s breathing quickly as pride fills her limbs in place of heavy exhaustion. She exits the stage to continuing applause, waiting in the wings for Jake to go on and do the opening of the Coda before she joins him. She feels someone watching her, and a smile tugs at her lips before she even turns to catch Santana’s eye, and the smile on Santana’s face makes her stomach flutter with about a bajillion butterflies, her chest blooming with warmth and love.

Santana shakes her head a little, still smiling softly, as if she can’t quite believe that Brittany’s real, and Brittany gives a small wave, feeling her heartbeat everywhere, before she turns back to the stage and prepares to join Jake for the Coda, Santana’s gaze heavy and warm on her back as she steps back into the lights.

///

Mercedes helps her out of her costume and unpins her hair quickly so she can rush off to meet Sam and they can try and beat the rush out of the city back to her parents’ house tonight; since it’s the twenty-fourth already, nobody has to pack the show back up into storage until after Christmas.

Mercedes gives Brittany a tight hug before she leaves, still continuing her teasing and making Brittany blush all the way to the tips of her ears as she chases her best friend out the door and runs straight into Santana, who quickly gives Mercedes a brief hug goodbye before turning to Brittany with a wide smile.

“Hi!” Brittany greets brightly, pretending her skin isn’t splotched with pink despite Santana’s adoring gaze on the blush in her cheeks.

“Hey,” Santana says softly. She’s already dressed in her jacket and has a small bag of overnight stuff in one hand, wearing the scarf and hat that Brittany had lent her last week and tying Brittany’s stomach into knots at seeing her own clothes on Santana. “You ready to go?” she asks.

Brittany nods and they just smile at each other for long moments—Brittany taking in this moment, this feeling, this girl—before Brittany turns to shrug on her jacket and collect her things. Santana stands patiently by the door, waiting until Brittany’s locked her dressing room before she reaches out to take her hand, their fingers tangling together easily as they head down the hallway, Brittany quickly easing Santana’s bag from her other hand so she can carry it for her, not missing the smile Santana gives her or the way her stomach ties itself into warm knots at how couple-y it feels.

They wave goodbye and wish Merry Christmases to their friends as the pass them on their way out of the theatre, deciding to walk back to Brittany’s apartment since it’s still pretty nice out despite the snow that falls in gentle swirls of white as they step out onto the street, dusting Santana’s borrowed hat in a thin layer of white and sparkling in her dark lashes. Santana glances up at Brittany and smiles, bright and unabashed and dimples-deep, before looking forward again with that breathless, flustered look she gets when she blushes. Her cheeks are a little pinked, from the cold or her blush Brittany’s not sure, but it makes liquid warmth pool in her stomach, so happy and so in love that she doesn’t know how anything in the world could ever feel better than this.

Her attention is drawn across the street where two men hold the hands of a little boy, helping him take a couple stumbling steps before swinging him into a high arc, his giggles bright with childlike innocence even across the lanes of slow moving traffic.

“He’s cute,” Santana says beside her, drawing Brittany’s eyes back to hers.

“You’re cute,” Brittany says automatically but sincerely. Santana rolls her eyes a little but doesn’t even bother to bite back her smile. “We should stop on the store on the way past. We can get something for supper and maybe, like, baking stuff or something?”

“Baking?” Santana teases, and Brittany shrugs a little.

“What? I may be a disaster in the kitchen when it comes to baking but I know you aren’t,” Brittany says with a smirk, “Tina told me.”

Santana gasps over-dramatically. “What a traitor!”

Brittany just giggles and tugs a little on Santana’s hand in hers, pulling them even closer together and soaking up this feeling of unbridled joy.

///

The grocery store is insane, but they’re in no rush so they just wander the aisles leisurely, dodging over-excited kids and frantic parents and slow old couples, giggling at everyone rushing around despite the fact that they both just feel comfortable and relaxed.

Santana carries their two bags of groceries and snacks since Brittany still has her bag, and they tangle their fingers together again as soon as they step back out into the weak winter sun. It’s already past five, but they’re still in no rush as they head back to Brittany’s apartment, discussing their plans on which Christmas movies they have to watch and which ones they’ll skip.

Brittany takes the groceries from Santana and drops them off in the kitchen, directing Santana to turn the tree on and set up the living room for their movie marathon, before heading down the hall to drop Santana’s bag off too. She stands in the hallway for a long moment, fighting an internal debate before she finally pushes her door open and drops Santana’s bag by the dresser; she’s honestly not being presumptuous, because Mercedes offered her room if needed, she’s just being hopeful.

By the time she gets the groceries put away and a couple hot chocolates made, Santana is already snugged up on the couch, one blanket over her lap and the other around her shoulders, the lights turned off except for the Christmas tree and the television screen; she’s already figured out the DVD player and the empty case to Home Alone sits on the shelf of her and Mercedes’ combined collection.

Santana brightens as soon as Brittany comes into her view, shifting around until she can lift both blankets up for Brittany. It takes a little bit of maneuvering, but eventually they get settled against each other, curled under the blankets, without spilling a drop of hot chocolate. Santana quickly hits play on the DVD remote before tossing it onto the coffee table and taking her mug from Brittany.

“I used to watch Home Alone every single year,” Santana says quietly, a nostalgic smile on her face, “And I kind of want to restart that tradition.”

“But you’re not home alone,” Brittany teases.

Santana tries to give her a smug smirk but her eyes are as soft as her voice, “Maybe I want to make some new traditions.”

And, really, what can she say to that without shouting her love from the rooftops? So instead she just cuddles further into Santana and sips her hot chocolate.

Even though they start out sitting under the blankets, as soon as they finish their hot chocolate they end up laying out on the couch, Brittany flat on her back with Santana sprawled on top of her, repurposing Brittany’s breasts into her own personal pillow, and the blankets wrapped around them. Brittany ends up spending more time watching Santana and playing with her hair than she does watching Santana’s favourite Christmas movie, but watching Santana is her favourite thing so it’s a pretty fair tradeoff.

Her mom calls about three-quarters of the way through Home Alone and Santana lifts herself off of Brittany just enough to reach the remote and pause the movie before cuddling back into her while Brittany talks to her mom and curls a strand of Santana’s hair around her finger, and it feels so domestic that she can’t imagine doing anything else for the rest of her life.

After Home Alone they take a break to make supper, giggling the entire time as they weave around each other in the kitchen and end up spending more time laughing than they do eating.

Brittany runs to the bathroom while Brittany sets up another movie, laying back on the couch and waiting for Santana to see her choice.

Santana’s gasp is as satisfying as Brittany thought it would be as she grins up at the ceiling, waiting until Santana rounds the couch to stand in front of her, blocking out the dim lights from the Christmas tree and the title screen for Gremlins on the television.

“Brittany!” Santana whines.

“Santana!” Brittany teases.

“I swear to god, Brittany, if I get nightmares from this,” Santana threatens toothlessly.

Brittany just giggles and tugs Santana down to the couch with ease. She falls onto Brittany and instantly softens and sighs in contentment as Brittany wraps both her arms tightly around Santana and draws her further into her embrace, nuzzling into Santana’s hair until she can kiss her forehead. “I’ll chase the nightmares away,” she promises. Santana’s breath hitches and she presses a kiss to Brittany’s collarbone, making Brittany’s skin burst into burning goosebumps at the feel of Santana’s soft lips on her skin.

“You better,” Santana mumbles into Brittany’s neck, waiting until Brittany reaches for the remote to play the movie before she nuzzles herself as close to Brittany as she can and still see the television.

Brittany thinks her heart might just burst from loving Santana so much.

///

They fall asleep sometime in the middle of Gremlins, waking up hours later to the twinkling Christmas lights against the night sky Brittany can see through the window, the television having automatically turned itself off after so long.

Brittany trails her fingers along Santana’s back and sides, drawing swirling patterns into the warm body above her with just enough pressure to gently wake Santana, who just cuddles further into Brittany instead of waking fully.

“We’re real party animals,” Brittany teases.

Santana grunts and nuzzles her nose into Brittany’s neck. “Saving it for New Year’s,” she grumbles.

Brittany laughs and feels a smile curl against her neck in response. They lay there for a couple more minutes until Santana finally emerges from Brittany’s neck, propping herself up on one elbow, the blanket falling from her shoulders, and glancing across the living room before gazing down at Brittany with the softest look on her face.

“Hi,” Brittany murmurs.

Santana’s eyes are liquid and dark and basically hold the secrets to the entire universe. “Hi,” she whispers, nodding her jaw towards the television with a small smile but not dropping her gaze from Brittany’s, “It’s eleven-eleven. Make a wish.”

Brittany glances to the side and sees the bright red time glowing on the television box thing that she never remembers the name of. She smiles and closes her eyes, wishing for the one thing she wants more than anything, the only thing she’s wanted all month.

“Did you make your wish?” Brittany asks after long moments of silence, her eyes still closed and her body feeling Santana along it even better with her lack of sight. Santana hums in acknowledgement and Brittany smiles blindly. “Good,” she whispers, “I hope it comes true.”

“Oh, I have a feeling it definitely will,” Santana murmurs, and the feeling of her thumb brushing along her cheek finally draws Brittany’s eyes open, fluttering at the sensation.

“Mine too,” Brittany whispers.

“Oh yeah?”

Brittany nods slowly, one hand stilling against the small of Santana’s back and the other one sliding along her shoulders under waves of dark hair, her fingers almost brushing the nape of Santana’s neck as Santana sighs and tilts her head down a little.

Santana’s face hovers a scant few inches above her own, the lights from the Christmas tree painting her skin in splotches of faint blue and red and green. One of Santana’s hands curls against the fabric of Brittany’s t-shirt, plucking and worrying the fabric between her fingers, her eyes caught on the peak of Brittany’s cheek but not actually meeting blue eyes.

“You’re nervous to kiss me,” Brittany realizes.

“I mean— Kinda?” Santana says sheepishly, “Not like nervous nervous but like— I mean we’ve literally been trying for forever and every time we do we get interrupted and now I’m worried that we’ll keep getting interrupted or it won’t be—”

And then—

Then Brittany slides her hand a little further up and guides Santana’s lips to her own, her rambling cut off by the gentle pressure of Brittany’s mouth moving slowly against hers. Santana’s lips part under Brittany’s and she lets out this breathy sigh into Brittany’s mouth and Brittany’s soul trembles with the weight of Santana’s lips against hers. Santana tastes faintly of chocolate, but something sweeter and deeper, and she tastes of summer nights on the west coast, bright and warm.

She tastes like home.

Santana’s fingers trail across her face as she presses closer, and Brittany feels both steady and like she’s about to float away, like everything over the past week, over the past mouth—probably over her entire life—has built towards this moment, like this is exactly what she was made to do. Santana’s lips move against hers with all the time in the world, like they’re stuck in a traffic jam with nowhere else to go, her lips soft and pliant against Brittany’s, eyelashes fluttering against the peak of her cheek, noses nudging together, and Brittany smiles into the kiss because this—

This is everything that Brittany’s been looking for her entire life.

She pulls back just far enough to press their foreheads together so she can try and breathe properly, but with Santana’s nose still nuzzling against hers that proves impossible. “Are you still nervous?” she whispers.

Santana doesn’t answer, she just uses the hand on Brittany’s jaw to guide their lips back together, and then they’re both smiling into the kiss, too wide for it to be anything more than all teeth and no finesse. Brittany lets her hand drift from the small of Santana’s back and start to wander her body under the blanket, the other playing with the baby fine hairs at the back of Santana’s neck.

Santana lets out a fluttery little sigh into Brittany’s mouth and Brittany can’t help but press up to kiss her harder again, and again, and again, and again—

///

When Brittany wakes up hours later in her bed, it’s to Santana drawing hearts on her bare stomach. Her fingers are light and soft against her skin and Brittany’s breath hitches; there’s no intent behind Santana’s touch, she doesn’t skate her fingers suggestively lower or higher, she just trails her fingers across Brittany’s skin with quiet marvel, and it jolts something in Brittany. No one’s ever touched her just for the sake of touching her and mapping her body before, just to connect the freckles and moles sprinkled across her torso into constellations, just to map each scar and imperfection that puckers her skin.

No one’s ever touched her just to learn every inch of her skin against their fingertips.

Santana realizes that Brittany is awake when the hand Brittany has curled over her waist starts lazily scratching at the soft skin there. She turns her head up towards Brittany and, even in the dim of the middle of the night, she can see the softness to Santana’s smile, the shadow of a dimple in her cheek, the love shining in her eyes, and something buzzing and warm tugs low in Brittany’s stomach as she falls in love with Santana all over again.

“Hi,” she whispers.

Santana’s smile widens a little. “Hi.”

“Merry Christmas,” Brittany says, reaching a hand up to tuck a strand of dark hair back behind Santana’s ear. She’s not sure exactly what time it is, but by the time they managed to untangle and stop kissing long enough to pull themselves up off the couch and stumble down the hall, the bright red time glowing on the television box thing had read 12:34.

Santana smiles and nuzzles into the hand that cups her jaw. “Merry Christmas,” she returns quietly.

Brittany leans up to press a soft, probing kiss to Santana’s lips, chaste and intimate all at once. “So did your wish come true?” she asks as she falls back to the pillow.

Santana nods and her smile loses its softness and takes on that playfully teasing look Brittany so adores. “Well, I wished that we would finally actually get to kiss without being interrupted, and, well,” she drags her hand down the bare skin of Brittany’s ribs to make her point and they both burst into laughter, Santana’s head dropping down to Brittany’s shoulder as they giggle. She presses a lingering kiss to the soft skin there and Brittany’s breath hitches as Santana props herself back up on her elbow, her other hand trailing circles on Brittany’s hip, and smiles softly at her. “What about you?” Santana whispers, “Did your wish come true?”

Brittany softens until she feels like she might melt right through her bed at the sweetness to Santana’s expression. She takes a moment to trace a heart on Santana’s hip before she smiles up at Santana. “Yeah, it did.”

Santana trails her hand up Brittany’s torso, skating her fingers against her breastbone and dipping into the hollow of her collarbone before she reaches Brittany’s face and cups her jaw, leaving a trail of buzzing heat in her wake. She leans down to press the softest of kisses to the corner of Brittany’s mouth and Brittany’s pretty sure her soul trembles at the contact. Santana draws back just barely enough to speak, her half-lidded eyes softening and the very tips of her lips brushing against Brittany’s chin as she speaks. “What was it?” she whispers.

Brittany just tilts her head up to press their lips together, both of them sighing at the contact.

“You,” she breathes, “Just you.”

#brittana #brittany pierce #santana lopez #glee #brittana fanfiction #glee fanfiction #my writing #story: be my fire in the cold (and I'll be waiting by the mistletoe)#it's christmas eve??????#I'm literally in Shock that we're actually here????#this is the chapter that everyone (mostly me lmao) has been Impatiently Waiting for #me @ me: you should try writing a sort of slow burn fic to challenge yourself #also me @ me: OR you could just have them KISS right NOW #in other words this is the closest to a slow burn I'll ever get lmao

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littlemisssquiggles · 5 years

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I remember before episode 9 being worried that they would make the whole thing about Jaune and not give much to Oscar and they DID and I’m kinda pissed that my pessimism was proven right.

Ifeel like I’ve already chewed everyone’s ear off with how much I shared my own disappointment in V6 C9 last weekend so I’m gonna make this as brief as Ipossibly can. Yeah, V6 C9 was not thebest. It was a solid good episode, I’ll admit now but still notgood in terms of Oscar development; at least for me. The fact that wedidn’t even get to see him have his own moment of deep thought and recollectionis still sad. I remember when I said my piece about the last episode, I got folkstelling me to chill out because there’s still 5 episodes left in the season forthem to flesh out Oscar.

Inow realized that they were kind of wrong in the sense that. I mean they wereright in the general sense but wrong in terms of how many episodes remaining inthe season. It’s not 5 episodes left. It’s 4 since V6 is now 13 episodes longand since the season is expected to end on January 26th, as of now, we only got 3episodes left. When I made my interpretation of what the remaining episodeswere going to be like, I was hoping that C9 and 10 would’ve been Oscar-centricepisodes where we were provided further backstory on Oscar’s character and/or atleast get the characters to focus on their relationship with him for a while.

Ithought C9 would’ve been the episode where the heroes, particularly Ruby, Jaune, Ren and Nora reflect on their bonds with Oscar and reallyhighlight what Oscar meant to the team through the eyes of the four people who hadthe most interaction with him, calling back to last season in Mistral. Did anything likethat happen? Did we get any real sense of depth to Oscar’s bonds with anyone on theteam? In my opinion …er….kinda…maybe…ish…not really but yeah in a away. We got something is what I’ll say to that and what I also noticed is thatpart of that was some cool foreshadowing forOscar in the finale.

Ifigured that C10 might be the episode where we could get answers on whathappened with Oscar during the events of C9; and maybe some insight into hispast. However that doesn’t seem to be the case either since, judging by today’sepisode length and synopsis, we’re going full Huntsmen 12 this episode. It’sstraight into the heist so we’ll be lucky if weget a brief breather moment where some characters talk a bit before jumpinginto the heist scene.

“…Our heroeshave one shot to pull off the heist of their lives, and if they’re going tosucceed, they’ll need everyone to do their part. It’s go time!”

Thefact that they brought up that everyone must do their part in order for the heist to go offwithout a hitch is a tell-talesign that somethingis going to go down. The plan is probably not going to go accordinglyand I wouldn’t be surprised if Oscar plays apart in either starting it or fixing it. Not because I’m a proud Pinehead and I want my favourite freckled farm boy turnedbarn prince to get his moment to shine but mostly because of certainforeshadowing clues dropped last episode.

Forstarters, Jaunetold the rest of the JNR_QROWMBY that they’re not going to Atlas without Oscar.He also mentioned that the team isn’t complete without Oscar. That was the second red flag for me. And now for the biggest one: Oscar’s speechto the team.

“…I don’tknow how much longer I’ll be me but I do know that I want to do everything Ican to help with whatever time I have left…”

Thefact that the Writers highlighted Oscar saying that he’s going to do everythinghe can to help with whatever time he has left has me thinking two things.

The Merge willbe introduced in V6 C10 hindering Oscar from doing his part in the heist but our boystill manages to pull it off before falling unconscious after the deed is done.Though the heist is a success and the group do manage to score a ship asplanned, they soon realize that Oscar is not with them. He never made it backfrom his side of the mission, forcing the group to make a choice: Leave for Atlaswithout Oscar or go back in for him.

Thiscan reinforce what Jaune said last episode about not leaving forAtlas without Oscar. So if Oscar is absent, I can see Jaune volunteering to goback in for him with Nora and Ren providing back up and cover fire while theremaining team do their best to ward off the oncoming Atlesian Military by stallingtheir ship from departing. Maybe Ruby might even join them and it can be TeamRNJR coming to Oscar’s rescue. Who knows?

Or…drawinginspiration from a theory made by @miki-chan13, perhaps…during his part of theheist, Oscar stumblesacross something that could potentially be dangerous but is the key to thegroup going to Atlas. Basically it’sa kind of lifeor death scenario where Oscar would probably sacrifice himself for the group togo to Atlas, probably doing the cliché thing of turning offcommunication with the rest of the team or telling them if anything shouldhappen to him, leave him behind and think about the mission or basicallyanything self-sacrificial that they can do with Oscar because that definitelyseems to be his mood right now.

Sobasically, Oscarends up getting his ass knocked unconscious while doing some courageouslystupid or stupidly courageous shit during his part in the heist which was actuallya key factor to the mission’s success or something like that. And when Oscar regainsconsciousness, he awakens deep within his own mental mind palace and or dreamscape where he will essentially come face to face withOzpin or the memory of the one of the past Wizards of Light who will guide himtoward Ozpin or something.

That’smy hunch for this episode. As of C10, we are in the finale stretch and I don’t know if Oscar is going to get touched onat all. A part of me is still banking on Oscar and Ozpin meeting inside hismind for the Merge in the finale and duking it out—y’know Man with Two Soulswith each soul fighting for control—I’d like to think we’d still get thatconfrontation but…who knows at this point? I’m trying to go into these episodeswith as little expectations as possible in order to avoid getting my soulcrushed again like C9. Damn did that one sting.

Fornow, all I have are my small hunches. So we’ll see how today’s episode will go fellowRWBY fam.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#squiggles answers: rwby #oscar pine #rwby theories #rwby volume 6 theories #rwby volume 6 spoilers #Anonymous

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years

Text

Where are we headed in 2017?

This is our annual post, where we focus on where we are heading for the coming year in business, life, and travel.

I’m not one for setting goals. They often lead to disappointment. James Altucher has written about this here and in his book and does a much better job of explaining why I don’t set goals. He doesn’t agree with goal setting either (love him!!)

Now be warned – I am a highly motivated person. I don’t need a S.M.A.R.T. goal to whip me into action.

I know the big picture of what I want to achieve and I take daily action steps towards that. More importantly, I work on my mindset and spiritual mojo to make the creation of it more effortless and I always leave the doors open to change and something better.

I don’t pressure them into happening by my determined date and a set amount. I let it happen at the right time BUT, and this is so important, I do take constant action. If you need SMART goals to help you stay focused and take action then do them!

I often write on a list of things to be done for each day, just so I don’t forget anything that is due or important. I don’t often stick to them because something may come up that draws my attention. I tune into how I’m feeling and if my gut says keep going with this and I do.

98% of the time this leads me to new discoveries, directions, and insights that have dramatically helped my life. If I was so rigid to the list and goals, I would have missed it.

That’s why I follow this process now rather than setting goals as it has proven over and over again to benefit me more.

I still plan things out and am working towards something, but the process I use gets me in the framework of working on getting it done, rather than being something I’m working on doing.

James suggests operating around themes instead of goals. I call them focus words or intentions, but it’s the same thing. I share more of that at the bottom of this post.

If you know what’s important to you, what you want to create and why then you don’t need goals, you’ll get it done each day with small steps.

When I reflect back on my life all the amazing achievements that happened have been total surprises.

Don’t mistake that for luck. I’ve had a very significant role in creating the surprises, but I’ve also let go and allowed the right opportunities to come at the right time.

I enjoy life so much more when I let it flow and let go of SMART goals. When I attempt to embrace them I never enjoy the process, I don’t get results that thrill me and they make me feel dissatisfied and disappointment.

It’s all about the feelings y’all. It’s the year for unplugging from what doesn’t serve you!

For you it may be different – you gotta stay in tune with what floats your boat. This is just a new approach for you to mull over.

Travel for 2017

This is going to be the year of America Unplugged. We’ve been planning this for 18 months now and have had so many delays.

But as I said before, I’m flowing with it. If I was so rigid to those goals and time frames I’d be so disappointed and bitter by now with how this has turned out.

I trust that it has not yet been the right time and things are still moving into place. The delays have actually allowed us to get a lot more done behind the scenes so we can handle the growth and change of the new journey without getting stressed while on the road.

We’re going to enjoy this trip.

We’ve submitted another 50 odd pages of extra requested documentation for this business visa – a detailed three-year itinerary. How can you plan three years in advance?

We’ve adhered and created it, which has been good for the direction and story ideas, but of course the disclaimer, “this is subject to change” is also on it!

Here’s what we intend to happen for travel in 2017.

Hawaii

Boom. Three weeks in February. Let’s kick off America Unplugged in style. It’s been a lifelong dream.

Colorado

Colorado is the Flavour of 2017 for us. We are madly in love with the state so have planned multiple trips for this year.

Skiing in March

Summer fun in July and August

Christmas – a log cabin in the Rocky Mountains has been our White Christmas dream for many many years. Let’s make it happen.

If you have any tips on things to do in Colorado please add it to this post. It’s where we are collecting them.

North Carolina

We cannot go back to the US for an entire year and not visit our home state.

If you’re only new to our blog, North Carolina is not our original home state – we are Australian, but we lived in Raleigh for four years and are madly deeply and truly in love with North Carolina.

Gotta get back there in time for March Madness to see our Tar Heel Boys bring it home and jump over fires in Franklin street like we did in 05 and 09. Yep, we’ve got the winning mojo for them. We plan on exploring NC (and hanging with friends) for April and May.

If you have any tips on things to do in North Carolina, please add them to this post.

Texas

Craig has scheduled in Texas for May and June. Not sure what’s happening in these months, but it’s a good time to visit and brings us closer to the mountain states and California for the rest of the year.

BlogHer Conference in Florida

I’ve already brought my ticket to the BlogHer conference in Orlando.

I enjoyed it so much last year and got so much value from it that I’m pretty sure I’ll fly in for it no matter where we are. It will be a much shorter flight than flying from Australia for it.

This could be an opportunity to sneak the girls for a surprise visit to Harry Potter world. Kalyra will kill us for waiting even this long to take her. We’ll see if it will be a solo mission for me or the whole fam can fit it in.

New Mexico

We’ll be heading to New Mexico. We’ve spent time in Santa Fe before. We want to revisit this time and also explore this state more in-depth. We’ll be calling for your tips soon.

Utah

Utah partly inspired our American Unplugged road trip idea. We think it’s one of the best states in the US for travel.

It’s so beautiful, yet we’d rarely hear of travelers going there, choosing instead to visit the most well-known places in the USA and so missing unplugged secrets like southern Utah!

We’re very excited to return and explore more.

Nevada

Our friend, Spencer Spellman has completely sold us on Reno – forget Las Vegas!

I’m watching his Insta stories every day and getting inspired to hike, ski, SUP, rock climb, drink great coffee, and smoothies, and of course share a few of his cocktails with him in all those bars he keeps showing.

We’re planning on a Nevada visit for the month of September.

California

Let’s close out the 2017 year with an in-depth exploration of California through the months of Sept – Dec.

High on the bucket list is to attend the Ontrapalooza conference in Santa Barbara. It’s a conference hosted by Ontraport, which is my email management software system.

I recently attended an Ontraport Bootcamp and found it to be one of the most beneficial and practical workshops. I have a powerful tool at my fingertips and I’m super excited to use it and learn more about business building at the conference. I am now a super fan of Ontraport.

Plus, Kalyra was named after a winery in Santa Barbara so we’re keen to return.

If you have any tips on things to do in California, please add them to this post.

Business & Blog Growth

Email community

Email is the most favourite part of my blog and business!

It’s where I have the most intimate conversations with our VIP travel tribe. You can join us by clicking here I love them. I share with them messages of inspiration, love, and hope each week and they reply to me with open hearts sharing their stories, their struggles, and their dreams.

A few weeks ago, I asked them to share with me what was interesting about them; I had the most wonderful evening reading their replies and learning more about them.

This year, I am focusing on growing my email community even more. Not just growing it, but ensuring I am sending the right messages to the right people.

As mentioned, Ontraport is about to help my email community and communication improve immensely.

New Website

Yep. Another new redesign of our website. We hate the current one. The branding is all wrong and the navigation horrible. You can’t find any of our best content.

We’ve been working with an amazing design team this year.

Amanda from Kaleidoscope Design Studio has completely nailed the new look and branding, and Chris from RTWLabs our web maintenance and developer guru who is doing all the coding and making the design come to life from functional code perspective.

We hope to have this launched by the end of January.

We’ve also created a bunch of super useful resource pages to help you find the content you need to travel more and create better memories.

I’m creating new free email series and freebies to match the new site and messaging which is all about unplugging to reconnect to those things that really matter – travel being one fantastic way to help you do that.

Video and Instagram stories

We started creating travel videos last year, we’re continuing that this year.

We’re looking at investing in new camera equipment (this Sony Mirrorless is on our wish list) and will be doing all we can to learn how to be better videographers. We really love our videos.

We’re also loving Instagram stories. Our community is growing over there and they are loving the raw behind the scenes sneak peek at our life – not always travel related.

Craig and I both now have personal Instagram accounts that we are having a lot of fun with. You can catch us at Carolinemakepeace and craigmakepeace.

Expanding our team

Last year we shrunk our team. The cost of living in Australia is ridiculous, plus we’re saving for our big US trip and had a lot of other priorities to funnel our money towards.

We’re coming back out of that hole and have much better financial structures in place. We can’t manage all we do on the blog with full-time travel so we’re looking to expand.

I’m not quite ready yet, as there is still a bit of fear and uncertainty to work through, but it’s an intention I’m working on for this year.

Traditional media

We’re very focused on getting into traction in media once we start our America Unplugged journey.

We think our story is pretty cool to share, we want local communities to jump out and share their unplugged secrets with us, so we can share them with you, and we’d love to share what’s so wonderful about Australia as well while we’re in the States!

We’ll be working hard behind the scenes to make it happen. My Aunt suggested over Christmas that we aim to get on the Ellen show. I must say I like that idea!

Focus words/intentions

So instead of goals, I tend to have focus words or intentions. They align more with how I want to feel, rather than what I want to achieve.

Instead of focusing on X amount of email subscribers in a goal format, I’m focusing on growing my email list, but with the underlying intention and focus being creating something that feels joyful and loving.

Putting quality above quantity. The number doesn’t matter as long as the purpose and feeling is strong.

Everything we create in life is a result of how we feel. So if you focus on that, then life will bring you experiences and moments that align with those feelings.

Goals won’t matter to you at all then because you’ll be living a life that feels good.

It keeps you open to surprises and miracles and keeps you connected to awe, gratitude, and wonder which only helps you to create more amazing things to feel great about! Yay – these cycles are no longer vicious.

Mine are simply the same each day and year:

Freedom

Abundance

Vitality

Joy

Love

Growth

Security

I consider what each of these looks like for the various aspects of my life and then take daily action steps to make them happen.

For example, my daily morning routine has evolved from this.

I go for an early morning walk/run (vitality)

I watch the sunrise and meditate (joy/love/freedom)

I have my morning tonic tea (vitality)

I read empowering books (growth)

I cuddle my girls when they wake (love/joy)

and then work on my business and different parts of my life I want to grow (growth/security/love/freedom/abundance).

Step by step. I don’t feel pressured to do any of these by a looming deadline or goal. I do it because of how it makes me feel. My results don’t matter so much because the moments of my life feel free, joyful, secure, loving, abundant, healthy and purposeful.

I don’t feel pressured to do any of these by a looming deadline or goal. I do it because of how it makes me feel. My results don’t matter so much because the moments of my life feel free, joyful, secure, loving, abundant, healthy and purposeful.

I do it because of how it makes me feel. My results don’t matter so much because the moments of my life feel free, joyful, secure, loving, abundant, healthy and purposeful.

I would never get up early and go for a sunrise run because my goal was to lose 5kgs and get fit. But, I effortlessly get up at 5:15am to do it because it helps me feel all those things above.

Sometimes I walk, sometimes I run, sometimes I do yoga. It depends on what I feel like, (freedom allows me to choose what that is each day).

I’ll be moving every day in some form because vitality is important to me. I don’t even consider the end result of losing weight and getting fit, it’s a by-product.

It’s amazing how much my life has evolved by focusing on these things instead of goals. These feelings grow for me each day, which is how I evaluate if my life is successful and in balance.

Try it.

But don’t expect overnight results, please. It takes time to change – step by step, day by day.

I had a subscriber email me today to tell me how she completely transformed herself and her life in just nine months by choosing to do one thing different each day – simple things like shopping at a new supermarket or trying a new dish.

She said she can’t even remember who the old person was. That’s how you subtly and slowly change your life. Small steps fueled by a feeling that you value the most.

That’s how you subtly and slowly change your life. Small steps fueled by a feeling that you value the most.

Small steps fueled by a feeling that you value the most.

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Where are you headed this year in travel and life?

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