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lupinsx · 4 years

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Cherry Lollipop

masterlist

Request: Hii! Can I request a George Weasley x Slytherin!reader who is best friends with Draco, set post war, where the reader has always had a thing for him over the years. And she's in Diagon Alley with Draco, and he convinces her to go talk to George. And just awkward flirting and fluff?

Pairing: George Weasley x Slytherin!Reader

Summary: After hiding from society in fear of the reputation Slytherins have, Y/N is forced to finally talk to her not-so former Hogwarts crush.

Word Count: 2k

a/n — I love this idea so much, thank you for requesting! I hope you all enjoy this, it was really fun to write.

tags: @obsessedwithrandomthings @malfoys-demigod @do-do-do-do-dora @ickle-ronniekins

*contact me if you'd like to be added to the tag list!

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"You can't stay in denial forever, Y/N."

"Really? Because I wholeheartedly intend to."

You were currently stood in front of a shop. A particularly ornate building, one that stands out within the row of various older businesses. While you hesitated on entering, your best friend stood tiredly next to you.

It's been a year since the infamous Battle of Hogwarts. The one which solidified the awful conviction of Slytherins being inherently evil, declaring you, Draco, and all other former housemates as outcasts to society.

You have rarely exited your dainty flat since, choosing to cower away rather than comfort the wizards head-on; making this visit to Diagon Alley being the first in months.

"Come on, just talk to him!" Draco groaned in exasperation. You merely glared in response at his seemingly bold suggestion.

Laid in front of you two was Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, an esteemed joke shop run by recent students. It was the current sole owner of the shop your friend was urging you to greet—George Weasley, better known for being your longtime crush.

It was during your earlier years in Hogwarts when that particular twin caught your attention. Part of a mischievous duo, though he stood out amongst it as a man of his own. With his tousled ginger hair and trademark brazen grin, it was hard for him not to leave an impression.

And so, you watched him over the years. You admired George from the sidelines as he resided in the centre spotlight, his usual cherry lollipop poking through his cheeks as he and his brother receive applaud for their latest jape.

But never have you stepped out of the surrounding crowd. No, not once have you considered doing so.

You could thank your house placement for contributing to your reluctance to face your crush. The whole Voldemort situation had practically all of Hogwarts loathing Slytherins. There was too slim of a change that George would be exempted from that hateful majority, and you were too fearful to ask. Not to mention, you doubted George would be exactly eager to converse with the best friend of his younger brother's bully.

"What's so scary about talking to someone?" Draco asked, a slightly mocking tone passing through as he crossed his arms.

All it took was a gesture to the nearby wizards and witches to convey your point. "He hates me. Just like everyone else here."

"Everyone else here?"

"Merlin, Draco, you can't stay ignorant of the deprecating glares we've been getting since we arrived. Every corner is just a new judgemental scoff." Although Draco didn't attempt to deny your point, he chose to brush past it instead as he offers an encouraging squeeze to your shoulders.

"So, are you gonna go in or not?" He questions, allowing one final opportunity for you to take action through your own will. However, upon first sight of you shaking your head tentatively, he shifted your position to face the doorway.

"Alright, there goes your choice. You can thank me tomorrow."

And with that, he landed a nice shove onto your upper back, forcing you inside the shop with the sound of harmonious bells to commence your arrival. Just as you thought you could promptly slip out unnoticed, footsteps began approaching you, coming gradually closer until an imposing figure came into view.

It was George Weasley, the very owner you were afraid to see.

"H-hello," you stammered, inching closer to the doorway. The store was deserted, much to your confusion, though you quickly realized why upon glimpsing the closing sign displayed upfront.

George tilted his head and elevated an eyebrow, invoking internal butterflies to the slightest degree. "We're closed. I can't sell you anything."

"I didn't come here for that." Although you meant to say you had arrived on accident, he interpreted differently and instead gestured you further inside.

"Well then, I don't mind the company."

Turning on his heel, he then went back to restocking the shelves as your feet stood frozen in your position by the exit. However, all it took was a single glance at your direction for you to immediately follow after.

"So, Y/N L/N," George began, his eyes set on the objects in front of him, "you're the Slytherin in my brother's year, right?"

You only nodded timidly, taking a seat on the ladder next to him. Part of you felt worried about him knowing you, while the other part felt almost flattered. Regardless, you had too many thoughts racing in your mind to engage in normal conversation.

Noticing your lack of response, George looked up from the box with a warm smile. "A quiet one, huh?"

You were thrown off guard by the absence of clear revulsion in his expression. With his amiability mildly calming your nerves, you mustered a somewhat confident tone. "Only sometimes."

George gave an airy chuckle before returning back to the tedious work. You watched intently as he unloaded the boxes onto the shelves, his face contorting with every strenuous article.

Without much thought, you blurted out the one thing on your mind since your rather abrupt arrival. "You've changed."

"Changed?" he mumbled curiously, his attention now diverted from the task. "In what way?"

You paused, scrutinizing his appearance thoughtfully before responding. "I suppose you've gotten more mature. You dress fancily and have your hair a lot neater. No more cherry lolly either."

A grin spread across George's lips as he sat down on the floor, chin resting on his palm as he held a playful gaze. "I'm surprised you remember the lollipop. Flavour and all."

Your eyes diverted from his intense stare, arms crossed by your chest as you fidgeted in your seat. A smirk almost rose to the surface before you suddenly came up with an explanation.

"I mean, a lot of girls in my year were swooning over you. I've heard Weasley twins trivia nearly every day," you uttered with hesitance, attempting to conceal your former (and still remaining) liking towards him.

It seemed to have worked, as he stood up to resume his duties. "Then I'll take your observation as a compliment."

The area grew silent again, only the sound of him working filling the air. You simply played with the ends of your fingers as you tried to think of what to say. After a while of him unloading the products, George grabbed the box and dumped it into the storage room, heading to the front counter before gesturing you over.

Rather than going over there promptly, you stood up and spoke from your side of the room, inciting a questioning glance from the boy further away. "Are you a parking ticket?"

A cringe made its way onto your countenance as you grasped what was said thoughtlessly. Meanwhile, George stood confused by your question.

Without waiting for a response, you did what you always do best, and what was constantly discouraged by your best friend. The embarrassment was wiped from your face as you took a couple of steps forwards and continued your words with pride.

"Because you've got fine written all over you."

There was a brief moment of silence before George hunched over with mirth as a loud chortle escaped his throat. His amusement took down your short-lived confidence, replacing the proud smile on your face with a sheepish expression.

"Oh god, where did that come from?" George asked between laughs, tears welling in the corner of his eyes.

You bit your lip as you made your way to the counter, eyes faced down. "I don't know? I wanted to fill the silence, I guess."

"Here, I got a better one," he said as you leaned on the counter, George standing behind it while counting the register. He paused his movements to think, before perking up with a pointed finger.

Clearing his throat, he laid his forearm on the counter and leaned slightly. "Can I follow you home?

"Cause my mom always told me to follow my dreams."

You pursed your lips, shaking your head slowly. George had a look of disbelief upon seeing your expression. "Nah," you drawled, "I've heard better."

"Alright then, tough crowd, I suppose," he chuckled.

Being able to witness George's radiant grin up close and hear the sound of his buoyant laughter brought a smile of your own onto your usual inscrutable countenance. After a while of exchanging the cheesiest lines one could possibly muster, a thought occurred in your head, taking over your mind at a rapid rate.

"George, why don't you hate me?"

His face appeared visibly confused by your sudden question. "Why would I?"

"Isn't that how most wizards feel at this point? That former Slytherins are all Death Eaters in hiding." You paused, face twisting with regret before continuing, "Plus, I'd doubt your younger brother would be too fond of me either."

George reached for your hand rested on the countertop, gripping it assuringly. "You're not a bad person."

"But I—"

"Y/N, you were never a bad person. Sure, your friend Malfoy might have been an ass, but that's not you. I saw you during the battle."

Your face heated up as you retracted your hand to bury your face in the palm. Recalling the events, you knew you had nothing to be proud of during that time. "Oh god, I know I left early into it but I swear I didn't want to."

George only gave a light chuckle upon noticing your distress. "I know, but that wasn't what I was referring to. I'm talking about how you shot down a Death Eater and was ready to do it again until your parents threatened you."

"You... saw that?" It was inconspicuous, a result of an impromptu decision to go against your parents and Voldemort. Though the bravery was shut down after a mere minute when they had warned there would be no mercy if you'd continue. It was tough to simply abandon the fighting students, but when wands were pointed directly to your temple, what more can be done?

With a small smile, he nodded, staring directly into your eyes. "Yeah, I did. It was quite admirable."

At this point, you were beyond elated. Face noticeably a blood-red shade, you were afraid to spill your guts to the charming fellow behind the counter.

"I— uh, I gotta go," you spluttered, diverting your eyes to the spectacular posters surrounding the main display. However, your words caused George to stand straight with a slight sense of urgency.

Rushing to the back room, he held up a finger to stop you from leaving. "Wait, I have something for you!"

Your flustered state was put on a brief pause as you peered curiously into the narrowly opened doorway. Once George emerged from the dim room moments later, you were surprised to see a small envelope in his hand.

"I didn't know what else to put the stuff in," he mumbled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he handed you the envelope. You clutched it tightly, your interest in its contents growing with each passing second.

"Thank you," you said, shifting your weight from side to side. Just as you were about to exit the store, George hopped over the counter and waved excitedly.

"Come again soon!" he shouted, the grin on his face matching the playful George Weasley you've always known back in Hogwarts. Biting your lip to prevent an overtly wide smile from arising, you nodded your head, pushing through the door as you internally squeal.

Later that night, once you arrived in your desolate apartment, you were quick to unseal the envelope and turn it upside down the reveal the contents.

First to fall was a piece of hastily ripped paper. The words were messily scribbled, though roughly understandable. Picking it up, a small giggle escaped your lips.

You must be a broom, cause you swept me off my feet.

Below the line was a phone number, your eyes widening upon catching sight of it. But before rushing to type it in, you emptied out the rest of the envelope. Only one other thing came out, causing you to beam with delight at the sheer nostalgia.

A bright red cherry lollipop, the very same kind you've spent years watching in the hands of George Weasley.

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a/n — Ah I'm so glad I could finally write another imagine for one of the twins 😭 Please like, comment, and reblog to show support! Feel free to send requests or feedback in my asks. Thanks for reading!

#harry potter fanfiction #harry potter one shot #my prompts #writing #harry potter #george weasley #george weasley x reader #george weasley imagines #george weasley one shot #george weasley fanfiction #george weasley fanfic #my imagines #weasley twins

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uncultureddirt · 4 years

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Waiting (Part 1/3) - Mark Lee fic

~REQUESTED~

“Staring got boring”

PART TWO ||| PART THREE

You liked to watch him from afar, across the classroom napping during a lecture, vigorously taking notes, or flipping lazily through his book. You liked to watch him stand in front of the class and present, stuttering every couple of words, and watching his cheekbones bulge as he tried not to smile. It was at this time of day you found yourself walking to your literature class, staring at the back of his head as he turned into the classroom a few steps ahead of you. He took his seat in the corner and began to fish through his bag for his notebook as you walked in. Noting your presence emerge in his peripheral vision, he paused his search and slowly looked up.

As you make your way to the opposite side of the room, you could feel his dark eyes on you, and you were glad. After sitting down in your chair, you looked over and met his eyes. He smiled lightly and turned away, beginning to search again for his notebook.

“Just say ‘hi’ to me,” you mumbled under your breath. You turned your head and looked out the window.

‘Mark Lee,’ you furrowed your brows, ‘hmm’

Turning back towards him, you watched as he talked to the kid in front of him. You smiled softly as he laughed loudly and joked around with the boy. You almost inserted yourself as a third member of the conversation. You wanted to join in. You wanted him to talk to you.

‘Talk to me like that.’ you frowned and looked towards your desk, flipping open your notebook.

The class silenced themselves as your teacher, Mr. Darten, entered the room. He was young, fresh out of school, and full of passion for reading and writing. You liked him; he was a cool guy. Instead of his red mug he always had in hand, he carried a large box.

“Dude, what’s in that?” someone yelled. The class was too comfortable with him, but Mr. Darten never yelled or scolded them for their informal behavior.

Mr. Darten smiled as he spoke. “I dug this out from the storage room,” he said, placing the large box on the table in front of the class. After wiping off the tiny layer of dust he opened it and spoke again, “This marking period will be centered on William Shakespeare.”

He sat on the table next to the box and reached an arm inside. As he pulled out a Macbeth book, the class groaned. Nobody likes Shakespeare.

“Mr. Darten are you serious? The whole marking period?” a girl behind you whined.

“Yes. Your first major project will be a book analysis. You can pick any Shakespeare novel in this box. There are about three copies of each. Those who pick the same book will be partners. You guys will work together on this and in a couple weeks we’ll have presentations.”

Mr. Darten came around with the box, each kid digging around to find the right book for them. Luckily, you were first to pick.

‘I need something easy…’ you thought as you sifted through the dusty paperbacks, before pulling out a small book with a purple ripped cover.

“Ah, Romeo and Juliet. Kind of basic y/n. You better really wow me with this. No surface level stuff,” Mr. Darten laughed.

He was right. You couldn’t have picked a more basic Shakespeare novel, but you didn’t care. It was easy. You flipped through the pages while you thought about the project, completely forgetting there was another copy to the book in your hand.

“Hey y/n,” you looked up to the sound of your name and saw the book cover in a familiar boy’s grasp, “Mr. Darten said you picked this book too.”

Your eyes widened as you stared at the glossy purple page. You felt your ears heat up slightly and bit the inside of your cheek, concealing your smile - you wondered if he noticed.

‘Finally!’

“Oh, hi Mark! Uh yeah, I picked this too. I guess we’re both basic huh?” you laughed as he sat in the desk beside you.

“No, I think we just both hate Shakespeare.”

“I think you're right.” you looked at him and smiled. He chuckled lightly and quickly looked away, his face blushing gently.

You began to flip through the book calmly as the inside of you was swarmed with butterflies. Though you’d always watched him from afar, all you really wanted to do was talk to him, but you felt he never shared that desire. Little did you know how wrong you were.

As you discussed how you guys were going to tackle the book and assignment, he zoned out. Mark stared into your face as you talked, noting the birthmark on your face and the way your eyes looked when the light hit them. He watched you flip your hair and squint as you attempted to read the words ahead of you. Your voice was like peaceful music playing in the back of his brain; its notes and inflections were strong, but the words didn’t register. He was lost in your glowing abyss, a place he’d encountered from afar, but up close was overwhelming.

“Does that sound good?” you asked once finishing laying out your ideas, “Mark?”

Your voice calling his name ripped him from his trance and he jumped slightly, “Yeah,” he lied, “Sounds great.”

He left school clutching the glossy paperback in his hands. As his fingers flipped the old pages, he thought of you and your pretty face. His stomach was still swinging from class and the thought of working alongside you.

“Okay. You have to do a good job on this. You gotta impress her.” he said quietly as he pulled open his car door. He placed his backpack and the small book in the passenger's seat and sank down into the leather seat. Exhaling deeply, he pressed the key into the ignition.

“Alright William, help me out here” he said aloud to no one in particular, not even the writer resting peacefully underground.

“For the next week, begin class sitting next to your partner and start working.” Mr. Darten went on, “You don’t have to wait for me to begin class.” He then nodded his head and raised his red mug to his mouth, taking a long sip of his black coffee.

You watched as Mark picked up his bag and walked towards you, taking a seat in the empty desk beside yours. You liked the placement of your desk; it was right next to the large window out-looking the courtyard. You often got distracted, finding yourself lost in the swaying trees or trapped in the muggy air during rainy afternoons. The window let a certain type of light spill into the classroom, one that filled it fully, but never made you squint. It was warm; you liked it.

This light reached Mark’s face as you began to discuss the first part of the book. It caramelized his brown eyes and highlighted his dark hair.

“So they hate each other?” Mark asked, his eyes glued to the page ahead of him.

“No. Their families do. Romeo and Juliet don’t know each other yet.”

“Right and Romeo’s depressed about Rosaline.”

“Mhm.”

“And Juliet’s supposed to marry that Paris guy.”

“Right.”

“Well, obviously none of it’s gonna work out. It’s conveniently set up for these ‘forbidden,’” He made air quotes with his fingers, “lovers to meet. Sooo sly of you William.” Mark put the book down and looked at you to smile.

You laughed, “Mark that was lovely. Great analysis” you said mockingly.

“Thank you.” He looked down quickly after you two made eye contact, cautious not to lose himself in a daze again.

Slowly your conversation digressed from Capulets and Montagues to you and him. It was a normal conversation, something you had been waiting for. You rested your head on your hand as you two talked. You began to notice his eyes shifting, and voice faltering every couple minutes. It was almost as if he would forget what he was saying mid sentence and have to begin again. It reminded you of when he would present in front of the class, the random stutters and slight blushing.

‘Is he nervous? No. There’s no way.’

It was Sunday morning. The road was empty, the sky was clear, and the air was cool. You were driving in your car on the way to Sunbelts, a small breakfast bar in your town center, when you noticed a light flash on your dashboard.

Fuel Level Low

“Shit, I need gas.” you mumbled.

You started to drive in the direction towards the gas station and pulled in. Opening the car door, you stepped out and let the cool morning air hit your face. You enjoyed getting out early on Sundays; it was peaceful to have time to yourself. As you pressed the gas pump in the car you looked up, noticing two other cars join you. You watched an old man slowly get out of his vehicle and slide on his glasses as he looked at the pin pad on the gas pump. You leaned against your car before turning your head at the sight of something familiar. On the opposite side of the old man was a slim figure wearing black joggers and a loose black tee. He had on specs and his hair was a bit messy, but he looked cute.

“Mark Lee?” you said loudly. You knew it was him, it wasn’t even a question, you just wanted to startle him.

The old man placed the gas pump in his car as Mark looked up quickly. He looked panicked, but he covered it up with a smile.

“Oh, hey.” Mark said back.

“Your hair looks great,” you laughed, pulling the gas pump out of your car.

He furrowed his brows and lifted a hand to his hair, feeling it defying gravity.

“Oh my god,” he started laughing, “I didn’t even know it looked like this.”

“Wait, I’m coming over to you.” you said jumping into your car.

“Is that your girlfriend?” the old man asked Mark as you slowly pulled around the lot, intending to park next to his car.

“Oh uh, no. Hah, she’s… she’s not.” his face reddened at the question.

The old man smiled and chuckled softly, “Not yet.” He lowered himself back into his car after paying and drove off, leaving Mark with a wink and a pondering thought.

You poked your head out of the car window. “Come with me to Sunbelts.”

Mark smiled, he noticed your messy hair too and lack of makeup. He liked it. He thought you looked perfect. He wanted to tell you that, but he couldn’t, so he just stared.

“Okay, sure.”

“Follow me.”

He nodded and got into his car, placing the key in the ignition and letting it start. As you pulled out of the gas station, he followed, tapping his wheel nervously, and smiling. As he drove behind you, your voice saying his name replayed in his head, like the sweetest song he’s ever heard. Your voice elicited some response within him, one of excitement, desire, and anxiety; it made his stomach burn and heart race. It was a feeling of discomfort, but encased in joy or dipped in gold rather. The feuding feelings coexisted.

‘Mark Lee?’

There was that song again. He exhaled and smiled again. Ah, how lovely.

To be continued...

#kpop #NCT #NCT 127 #nct dream #mark lee #kpop fanfic #nct imagines #nct scenario #mark lee fanfic #mark lee imagines #mark lee scenarios #nct fanfic #Gwrites #HI GUYS HERES PART ONE!#I REALLY HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY THIS #LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL #im very excited to put my first work out in so long #thank you all for waiting you are so so kind #KISSES AND HUGS

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tomerbed-blog · 4 years

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HTC One M9

The excellent HTC One M8 finally has a successor in the form of the HTC One M9.one of new phones 2015 ,We can equally take in hand the unit and in this preliminary HTC One M9 review we take a look at everything that is new to the unit. Design: as two drops of water For the design of the HTC One M9 has his own words combined the best of the M7 and M8, The m9 has a rounder brushed aluminum and looks in our opinion better than the M7, but because the back is a lot smoother, he quickly slips out of your hands. The HTC One M9 is like his predecessors made from a single piece of anodized aluminum, but is more resistant to scratches and slightly sharper edges. Personally, we find the beautiful contours of the M8, but when holding the M9 have substantially more grip. at first sight you see the design of the M9 a little like its predecessors. He is again in gold, silver and dark gray (with a gold edge) and the differences between the fronts of the M9 and M8 is almost nothing. The screen size is the same with the m8 and the same thing for the placement of the Tree Sound speakers, which sound pretty loud again. At the top of the device is an infrared sensor available that helps you control your TV or set-top box. The power button, which previously was located on the top, it is moved to operate the right side and therefore it is more easy to use. We turn to the M9, especially attack the objective of the square camera, Unlike its predecessor, there is a current camera. HTC One M8 has an ultra-4 pixel camera and a corresponding 2-megapixel camera that can be used to define stereotypes strongly thereafter, the ultra-pixel camera of the HTC M9 is moved forward, and the new is that the M9 improved the camera on the back to 20 megapixel (more on that later). For the rest, the back is quite similar, the dual LED flash, plastic lines and the HTC logo are in the exact same location. Screen and hardware: ready for the futureThe screen of the HTC One M9 measures 5 inches and has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. HTC has not chosen to equip the device with a larger screen and a higher screen resolution and that is what we are concerned only good news. The unit is still good when using it with only one hand and you don't feel that you run out of room. The viewing angles, color reproduction and sharpness are very good, for the battery the HTC M9 have a large battery of 2840 mah and again has an excelent battery life, During our test review of the HTC ONE M9 , we haven't tested it thoroughly, but when swiping through the interface and start the camera and various apps there's no noticeable delays. with the Snapdragon 810 chip and 3GB of RAM the device is powerful enough to run multiple processes simultaneously . The Snapdragon 810 is a octacore processor, which means he has eight cores. The chip has four cores that are used to perform light tasks, such as when you send a message via WhatsApp, and four cores that are intended specifically for heavy tasks, such as playing 3D games, shooting 4K videos. This is already happening in many other chips, but the system has been improved with the Snapdragon 810. Furthermore, the M9 have 32GB storage that can be expanded up to 128 GB with a memory card. And the Dolby technology that HTC uses should ensure that the sound from both the Tree Sound speakers and headphones will sound fuller and more powerful, though we have not been able to test this properly. Software: slim and supple However, the updated software of the HTC ONE M9 have expanded to take in hand. The device runs on Android 5.0 standard Lollipop with Sense 7.0 software skin . You can choose from a number of pre-installed themes, but also create one based on photos that you have made. The device is adapted to your home screen and lock screen and look at the color palette of the picture. You can applied this colors in the theme, so your background is in accordance with the colors and icons of the interface. the Sense 7.0 software skin make the m9 more smarter. also the social homescreen Blink Feed doesn't shows only interesting messages from media that you follow, but also photos of locations where you've been and restaurants in the area, based on information from Yelp and Foursquare. The M9 also learns from your app usage. There is a useful widget that displays frequently used apps , and you can display apps related to multimedia and entertainment ,it is also possible to customize the list of apps as you want and that allow you to get access faster to your favorite apps. Another nice new feature is One Gallery, a gallery that brings all your pictures together, including those of Google drive , facebook , Dropbox and Flickr, And You can link these accounts to the gallery and That way you know where a particular photo is available, but you also have the ability to search your entire photo library by keyword . so at first glance the software of the HTC ONE M9 is clever. The interface works smoothly, Sense 7.0 focuses on unity and convenience numerous handy features (like the ability to customize the touch buttons below the screen) that's really add something. Camera: better selfies and customization the camera of the M9 has a large number of options to shoot perfect pictures. However, the camera app is simple to use. You can limit yourself to shoot in auto mode, but also have many customization options (white balance, exposure, ISO speed) at your disposal. At the front we find the four ultra-pixel camera that we know from the One M8, The main advantage of this camera is that it captures selfies shoots in low light condition with good quality. The same applies to 20-megapixel camera on the back, though we noticed during the review test that it focuses slightly faster and even in dark environments you can shoot pictures with lots of detail. and according to HTC the m9 run with an algorithm that ensures that the exposure, sharpness and contrast are adjusted constantly for the perfect shoots.

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letmehearyousayyeahh · 5 years

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Postage

Another Brittana attempt to keep writing. Also on FF.net.

The recesses of the half-open curtains did let the golden glimmer of mid-afternoon sunlight into the room. Bright roads where flecks of dust flew, fluttering in a circular dance, over the scene that was unfolding in that room, where a blonde, blue-eyed woman, sitting on the floor in the Indian style, reviewed belongings and junk surrounded by cardboard boxes and souvenirs.

Brittany, 29, struggled to focus on the mechanical task of pick-examine-save/throw-repeat, trying not to think about why she had to do it, or the consequences of recognizing the reality that lived in the form of memories between those papers. Her aunt Stephany, the woman who had raised her after her parents' death, had passed away after a long and painful illness; and it was Brittany's job, as the only family she had left, to take over her belongings; the one who had the job of determining what was going to the trash and what was left, in the form of a memory, to torment her.

Cleaning was, however, the least important thing. Once finished, the boxes would return to the storage room from which they should have never left and Brittany would try again to live in the new reality that the death of her aunt had created: an empty apartment, a lounge without an armchair under the spring sun (she had found her sitting there, already corpse, a few weeks ago very early in the morning; after her aunt, that chair was the next victim), and, ultimately, a new life marked by loneliness and a house too big for a single woman and so many memories of other times; if not happier, at least more in company.

Brittany was not what what we could define was extrovert, no: in her 29 years she had managed to gather a brilliant record of friendly failures, some failed attempts of romance; and a noble but sensitive heart that had to cover itself with a thick cloak to emerge more or less unscathed from the life that she was told to live. Brittany, however, was pragmatic: she did not disdain good company when she had the opportunity to take advantage of it; it was simply that the blonde had more appetite for a quiet afternoon with a good book or playing cards with her aunt than for nights full of bustle, strobe lights and sharp screams, meaningless exchanges and empty conversations. It was not isolation, it was ... well, maybe it was, she sighed inwardly, closing the box on which she was working, already full of unnecessary papers, but which she had decided to keep nontherless; and moving on to the next one.

This introversion had not been a problem for his professional career; On the contrary: Brittany was good at what she did, whatever it was, because she took each job with passion and dedication, and her desire to do it well, whether it was washing dishes, serving tables or correcting manuscripts; That ended up by attracting the attention of her bosses and guaranteeing her good job prospects. "Whatever you do, do it well", her aunt always told her. She allowed herself a small smile as she opened the last box, but quickly busied herself erasing it from her face and concentrating on the content of the last pitfall between her and the empty room next door. Seeing its content, however, she could not prevent the smile from returning to her face, and this time she did not fight against it.

In that cardboard box her aunt had kept her collection of comics: Batman, Spiderman, X-Patrol, you name it; all the comics her aunt bought for her every and other week, as a reward for her good behavior. Brittany loved to review those old pages, full of characters so familiar to her, but at the same time so old, much more than her; and it comforted her to think that she somehow connected with other worlds while she navigated between their pages, thinking of all the boys, now men; who they had also laughed and cried with the adventures of their favorite heroes.

Following this impulse, her hands went unconsciously to the first section that she always read as a child: correspondence. Tradition today disappeared, these old youth magazines were accompanied by a section where their young readers could send letters, poems, riddles or little jokes to be published in the section; and Brittany was sure that many of them still kept, with secret pride, that particular comic book where their small contribution was published.

Her favorite part of this section was always the exchange of letters: a piece of paper, an address and an universe of possibilities available to anyone's pen. At that moment, Brittany sighed. She had never been encouraged to write to any of the addresses that appeared in her comics, either because she never connected with any of the letters that were published there; or in some other case, out of shame, and fear to express her illusions of finding a related soul in a paper and that the letter would return unopened. Or worse, to never get a response.

Remembering those doubts, which made her debate in front of blank sheets of paper that eventually never took the form of a letter, Brittany noticed one of the columns of the magazine in front of her. There, one Marvin W. Hodges wrote to the world to offer his friendship to everyone who shared his passions for Batman (the best detective in the world), videogames and reading. Being fifteen years old at the time (Brittany verified that the publication date of the magazine was 1985, right now that Marvin was already a man about her own age), the letter and its contents were quite the use of a teenager in general; but it was the last phrases that caught the attention of the blonde beyond her memories: "Although I like to read everything and give any story a chance to conquer me, I never read or read better or bigger phrase than" In my world, Great Expectations only live between the pages of a book. ' A literature lesson in the heart of a few letters. "

Brittany was not ten years old anymore, shame was the least of her worries now. But the death of her aunt Stephany had left her in a state of emptiness, of emotions contained by the thickest of walls to keep her from falling into utter despair. That phrase, well known to Brittany as a young woman and even as an adult, got what her aunt's advice had not achieved during all the previous years: that those feelings of modesty before the rejection of a stranger seemed the biggest nonsense . Recognizing in other letters the words of one of the lines of her favorite book, Brittany thought that she had finally achieved the impossible until now: find someone like her, with whom she could connect through some letters, or some notes, or the simplest nonsenses that the brain invents. Someone like her aunt. Someone she knew it was out there, but who insisted on not letting herself be found. Until now?

Determined, she squeezed the magazine between her hands and lifted her chin, a resolution gleaming in her cerulean eyes that had not been there since the morning of Stephany's death. Why not? The worst that can happen is that nobody answers, she told herself as she got up effortlessly from the floor, still holding the magazine, and went to the desk under the window to start a new adventure. Which, she hoped, distracted her from the pain of Stephany's absence for a while, before she had to get used to living without her.

The sound of the closing door echoed through the walls of the empty apartment. With a sigh, the brunette woman left her keys on entrance's table and balanced herself to remove her coat without releasing what she was carrying in her hands. If she left the bag full of groceries on the floor, she knew that she would end up dragging them through the floor to the kitchen later. Practice makes perfect, and she managed to keep the bag and the correspondence that she had just picked up from the mailbox in one hand still stable, while with the other she hung the coat on the coat rack; and went to the kitchen to release ballast.

Once she had crossed the threshold, she carefully placed the bag on the table and went to the other side of the counter, where the only window in the room was, to quickly review the contents of the mailbox. The placement responded to a double motive: March in Lima was beginning to behave as usual, and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon the storm could be chewed in the air. The dark clouds obscured the little light that the twilight already left on the city, and the kitchen was almost in complete darkness; but the brunette refused to spend energy on the five minutes that would take to verify that the letters were either advertising or bills. After this, she would throw them into the trash can that she had right under her eyes, the #2 for her placement in the kitchen. Review-wrinkle/save -repeat, simple. Then, since it was still early, she would have a good shower and then dinner.

Thinking about whether the aubergines would not be too heavy for the last meal of the day, she left the last cable bill on the countertop to keep it in place with the others later and then noticed the next letter, one of the two they had to look. Suddenly, she forgot about the shower and the aubergines when she opened the envelope and took out the cardboard card, broken white color and full of printed pink ribbons, that was addressed to her in printing calligraphic typography and exaggerated italics. To Santana Lopez / +1.

Unconsciously, she rolled her eyes before finishing reading the invitation to the wedding. Right now she did not remember who she was exactly, but the name tickled her memory, they were classmates at some time in the past. Middle school? High school? It couldn't have been at college, I would remember ... or not? I can't put a face to the name either... it can not be that chubby girl...? She whispered, to herself, while reading that Mindy and Hugh were happy to invite her to celebrate with them the happiest day of their lives, and urged her to be at the Lima Presbyterian Church on Sunday, May 5 at 11:00 o'clock in the morning. to be a witness to their liaison, and later attend the meal that will take place to commemorate such a great event for the couple, relatives and various friends. Many greetings from Mindy and Hugh. RSVP.

She had a few seconds of hesitation, she had to admit it. But finally the impulse got the better of her and she broke the card in four before throwing it away. Maybe it was the remorse, or simply that the day invited to melancholy, but she remained for a long time looking at the broken cardboard, which seemed to shine against the black plastic bag. She could not explain why, but that invitation had given her a good kick in the ass. She had even left her for a while without air in her lungs. Why? If she did not even remember that girl anymore, she did not care at all if she got married or pierced her nipples. Then why? Having answered no to the invitation would have been enough. May you be very happy and all that, and we will see each other in the next life. At that moment, Santana sighed. Without wanting to do it, she had found the why.

Wish you happiness. May it go well for you, I wish you a prosperous and happy marriage. Blah blah blah. And after the parade, back home, alone. To work; to decide if the aubergines are good at night. If she should turn on the light or not for ten minutes she'll be in the kitchen. To live with a lot of room in the closet and a bottle of pills in the first drawer of her nightstand to close her eyes and not feel trapped in a life that no longer recognizes as her own..

When is that you get used to be accustomed to life? It is a question that Santana asked herself many times. When does you stop believing in the stories of the books, full of decisions and consequences? Full of something, period? And when you get used to the fact that life really is a succession of days, with its nights, in which the emotion of decisions and mistakes come out of yourself, instead from coming from the outside? Where the hell was that succesion from which everyone leaves and enters at will around her? College, work, house, marriage, children, grandchildren? And the weekends out? And the retirement in Florida? I had the college degree, I had the job, I had the house, and I had a succession of minutes and hours as my life, nothing more. What it's left for me to do?

Sighing, she allowed herself one more moment of tribulation before moving on to the next letter, the last one; to throw it away, whatever it says, to start your shower plan, dinner and we will see next. Strong emotions, indeed. What Santana still did not know, while opening an envelope that she had not noticed too much, was that this letter was not for her. And that, even so, it was going to give her what she had been asking for so long in silence.

Dear Marvin:

I hope you do not get scared when you receive a letter today, after so many years, but it was precisely today when I found an old copy of the #35 Detective Comics where your address came from; and when reading your letter to the magazine I have needed to write you these words. I do not even know if you will receive them, maybe you are dead, or you no longer live there... but I had to try. Because in fifteen years it has been passed, your letter has managed to encourage me to write to other people, something that fills me with fear, but at the same time it moves me, thinking about all the possibilities that this can entail; and why did you end your letter quoting one of my favorite writers, David Martín; and, by its mouth, the great Zafón, in The Angel's Game. Marvin, my great expectations also live between the pages of that book, and I only hope that this letter, in some way, reaches you; and feel the same thing that I felt when reading your words: that, somehow, having found us, even if only through an old magazine, we could get to exchange some thoughts or ideas, to try to get those hopes from between the pages and bring them to the real world.

Again, I'm sorry if this catches you outright, and I understand if you do not want to answer; Even so, I wish you all the best, and I hope you have found some hope, however small, outside the books.

Take care,

Brittany

After reading the letter, Santana blinked slowly. Once. Twice. One more time. I still did not understand very well what I had just read. Disconcerted, she took the envelope from the counter and searched for the sender. That was it, she had opened the envelope without realizing it, and that letter was not for her. Marvin W. Hodges. 154 S Metcalf Street Lima OH 45804. She had been living in that apartment for at least five years, and she knew from the real estate agency that it was been in the market for so long, so that Marvin must have lived among those walls more than twenty years ago.

To think that she had a personal handwritten letter in her hands, after years of not receiving any (although this one had not been for her either, really? Would this be a crime?), that stirred something inside her chest. A rare ... emotion? Yes, to think that someone had been rummaging through some old magazines and had found something that had turned her insides up so much, to take her to write to a stranger ... It was something new, something she would never have expected. Something that removed her insides too.

But what caught her attention the most, that managed to put a sincere smile on her face, was the literary reference. God, how many years had passed since I read that book ... It featured one of her favorite characters, which she counted among her most intimate friends, and she continued to identify strongly with her, her strong will and the courage she displayed throughout the series to pursue her destiny. Although, Santana thought with some bitterness, imitating her with fifteen years seemed easier than now with 30. Distracted by her thoughts, she went to the living room without paying much attention to the shopping bag she was waiting for her at the kitchen table. She had more important things to do. How to get rid of the idea of answering that letter that was not addressed to her. Or convince herself to sit at the table, take the paper she had and the first pen available and vomit over the paper all her thoughts: that this stranger had achieved, with just one letter, stir all the sadness that had kept inside her chest for years. She did not really know which of the two she would choose at the end.

Dear Brittany:

I apologize for my audacity in answering this letter that is not addressed to me, but seeing the effort you have put into your words, I felt responsible in some way, so I have decided to answer you. Marvin Hodges no longer lives here. I do not know what happened to him, because I came to this apartment five years ago, and from what I know of from the real estate people, it took a long time between rentals, so I guess it would have been the house of his parents at some point, which Marvin left after putting your contact address in the magazine. I'm sorry if this disappoints you, but the truth is that I can not say the same. Brittany, reading your words has been like opening the window to a new world that I thought was buried in my memories. I have also read Zafón's books many times, and many others later, but Great Expectations quote is still the best for me, because it is still the one I identify with the most.

I apologize for this diatribe, in which a bored thirty-something years old complains about life is going and going around her, while she remains stuck in her memories of other happier times, but somehow I know that you will forgive me and, I hope that, somehow, you understand my desire to start living and stop surviving.

I know I'm not Marvin, and we really do not know each other and surely this will seem crazy, but I think that even with all this, we could try to catch some of those great expectations from those pages and try to mash them together, see if is there is something worthy in them for us.

Again, thank you for your letter ("your letter." Anyway, I hope you are ok with this, wherever you are, Marvin), and I sincerely hope to read you soon.

Sincerely,

Santana Lopez.

Three years later…

Brittany was busy closing the last boxes. She still had to collect half of the bookshelf, pack the rest of the books and take down the boxes, so that tomorrow they moving guys would pick them. Taking a breath, she passed her forearm across her sweat-beaded forehead and sighed, tired. The summer sun fell on her because it was coming in full force through the windows, sans curtains anymore. It had been the first thing she had packed, and now she was paying for it suffering the heat.

After hearing the front door close, the noise echoing through the walls of the almost empty apartment, she got up quickly and went to the bookshelf to finish emptying it. While placing ordered by size and weight the volumes on the floor, next to the box where they tended to fit; she took one in her hands which she had not read in a long time. Standing there, she smiled nostalgic. It had always been one of his favorite books, but for almost three years now it had another meaning, much deeper than her teenage readings and the memories of distant days that those pages brought her.

Keeping her smile, she turned with the book still in her hand when she felt a presence behind her. There, at the door, Santana was waiting, leaning against the frame, with one hand holding her six months bump. She could not help but smile when she saw her wife, it was automatic since that distant afternoon when she received the first letter and Brittany disarmed her for the first time. But now the smile widened when she saw what she had in her hands.

No words were needed. Many had already been said. Brittany simply put the book back on the shelf and approached her wife to kiss her gently on the lips, and caress her belly with one of her hands, which entwined it with her wife's at the bottom of her belly.

It had been years since their Great Expectations no longer lived among books' pages.

fin.

#brittana #fanfiction #fic #brittany #santana #au #postage #myfic

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havingonlydreams · 6 years

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i am never going to use this tumblr for posts again

alright so since i finally got out of testing today and i learned how to scroll frame by frame through youtube videos, i am going to reward myself by doing an unnecessarily thorough breakdown of the quanzhigaoshou live action trailer imagery(watch cn fanbase beat me by a country mile)

nighttime cityscape/highway scene fades out

team happy walks into one side of an arena, wearing competition uniform (i will explain this later)

we switch to team excellent era, coming in through the opposite side of the same arena, also in competition uniform. their side of the arena is lit in red, not blue. are they playing at the same time? is this happy vs ee? :shrug:

also, why tf is a backpack part of all these uniforms? how much stuff do esport players need to carry anyway? did a backpack company sponsor the production??

panning shot of signs, looks like they’re for huang shaotian or blue rain

that’s cruel, br-fen. why does captain get no love :cry:

shot continues moving, now the signs are for han wenqing

based on lighting, i don’t think they’re the same shot

fade out to scene of arena packed with fans and players

if I’m getting these signs right, looks like it’s (right to left, moving with the camera):

team void, tiny herb, tyranny, blue rain, excellent era

so, all stars

honestly, the scale’s kinda small. thumbs down to location scouting – the weird lighting polyhedrons confirm that it’s the same arena as the one from the happy/ee shots in the beginning, so expect ~location weirdness/ambiguity~

unnecessarily synchronized card insertion

based on the card logo, i wanna say tiny herb?

ee responds in kind!

tyranny puts headphones on in unison. the headphones are white. also, i think this is their casual uniform. based on the giant maple leaf in the background, i would say that this is an away game with ee, but the worn metal and circle room in the background look more like tyranny’s supervillain clubhouse

now ee is playing. this shot looks like ee turf – they’ve got white-backed seats, and that weird angular lighting motif. also they’re wearing black and blue headphones because ~product placement~

i say turf, not arena, because there don’t appear to be any actual player booths in these two shots, the set design looks like what we’ve seen for the clubhouse pics (this is because the production couldn’t afford to film all of the games in actual arenas, isn’t it)

also, ee is wearing competition uniforms.

now tiny herb is playing on what looks like the same set, but with the background lit in red, not blue. maybe they’re playing against ee? also from this angle I can clearly see that they are *headsets*, not headphones, which means that vc is not banned by this version’s alliance. some dude in blue is hanging out in the background, probably an official of some sort. I am not sure whether this is their casual/competitive uniform

a guy in ee uniform sweeps his hands across a keyboard with unnecessarily colorful backlighting

~product placement~

ye xiu (yang yang) stands in front of ‘glory pro league’ hologram thing with his back turned, wearing the happy casual uniform

mouse shots! keyboard shots!

face shot! (of ye xiu, wearing casual uniform (puma!) and headset (white))

group shot of happy walking down arena hallway, wearing competition uniform. this is where I explain this bit. so as far as I can tell, every team has (2) uniforms: a casual uniform, which looks like a tracksuit and those enormous thick sweatpants had an ugly, ugly, baby, and a competition uniform, which looks dorky as hell. all of the female characters manage to elevate the terrible costuming by being beautiful, but are dragged down by the fact that apparently the alliance uniform for women mandates a miniskirt, because apparently no one has gotten cold legs in an arena, ever. (to be fair to the costume department, its not that they did a terrible job, its that their job was to replicate esport uniforms, which are a hot mess)

the main difference between happy’s casual and competitive uniform, btw, is that the casual one has a high collar and the puma branding, and the competitive has this funky sweater? not-collar thing

idk fashion words

also, ye xiu is wearing a mask because Reasons

(the reason is that judging by chen guo, this is from the challenger league arc, and the producer/director/writer/whoever decided to move around certain things)

boom! ee vs happy in the big arena, baby~~~

one dude from each team is standing under the spotlights, probably sx and yx by process of elimination

presumably!yx is NOT wearing a mask. maybe it gave him acne

pan across team happy getting ready to play in their booth? idk where this is

i see at least three types of headsets in this shot, and wei chen, who is not wearing his. maybe he got knocked out early?

now it’s the weird circle room that was in that early shot with tyranny! advertising on the ceiling lights, nice

I … have no idea what’s going on here. giant ee leaf on the sides, bunch of logos I can’t make out in the back, there are just *way* more people in here than any match would call for

like I think the dudes in the middle are wearing ee casual uniforms, but everyone else seems to be wearing black tracksuits? i don’t even know

ye xiu, geared up in full hobo gear (long coat&hoodie), storms out of the ee club set that was previewed in earlier set pics.

keyboard and mouse action!

ye xiu playing in the ‘storage room’ on a gaming laptop. also, he’s changed into a *different* hoodie

I have no clue what brand the laptop is; it’s the same as some of the monitors in a couple of earlier shots, might be Chinese?

yu wenzhou cameo

ye xiu hobowalking sadly in the snow (ngl, the hoodie make me laugh a little)

excellent era (w/su mucheng) walking into some stadium wearing casual uniforms. they are piss ugly

(the uniforms, that is. also ee minus mucheng, but who’s counting?)

happy coming from the opposite direction, also in casuals

and they pass each other! dramatically!

probably!yx taking a glory badge out of a box. can’t make out the details, but it says ‘1’ at the bottom, so these are probably the drama replacement for championship rings

tang rou focus shot! also, if that’s her line in the vo, I am *very* pleased

“turn all of the ‘can’t be done’s into ‘can do’”

yu wenzhou shot in casual uniform

ye xiu on The Motorcyle (pfft)

chen guo prepping for a celebration at Happy! she is Very Excited about that champagne tower. not sure who the two messing around with balloons in the bg are

tang rou in a cab looking upwards –

-to su mucheng, walking inside a stadium while wearing ee competition uniform

huang shaotian smiling at yu wenzhou while the rest of br preps. also, the blue rain competition uniform is an Abomination, which you will not appreciate until seen face on

ye xiu, whispering ominously ‘this is the last match’ as happy leans in around him

wei chen and… steamed bun? who is making a weird face, thumbs up

‘good luck’ whispers wang jiexi

and steamed bun *grabs* the challenger’s league cup, lifting it to wild cheers

chen guo and the crowd are ecstatic

partayyyyyyy

‘I will NOT give up’ says han wenqing, man who nobody, ever, has thought would give up

han wenqing and huang shaotian fistbump as tyranny and blue rain walk down a hallway, both dressed in their competition uniforms. zhang xinjie is confused. yu wenzhou is smilingly tolerant of the fact that hst is fistbumping right across his chest (huang shao is going to DIE, later)

okay so,

uniforms

tyranny’s looks fine! maybe the best competition uniform in the alliance (the bar is not high)

they’ve got a pretty normal chevron pattern across the front, some stripes. about the only problems are that the pants are a *little* too tight, and that some tyranny members are absolute maniacs who zip their jackets up all the way so it looks like they’re wearing the worlds weirdest collared shirt

blue rain …

so the closure is not that bad! pretty unconventional, an asymmetric zip with two fasteners across the top and some kinda … shawl collar? idk. I actually like it

but the pattern … i feel like someone said to the costume department, ‘you know, all of these uniforms have too many straight lines in their designs. we should add some curved lines. give the curves to blue rain! they’ve got no girls, so it’s the only way they’ll get any!’ and then they doubled down by adding raised piping for emphasis

that, and the way that uniform material looks like some kinda spandex-velour mix … it reminds me of the star trek:the next generation uniform! also, the casual uniform does the same curved line thing except in the opposite direction, and as a cutout, so its even worse

chen guo cheering in crowd

maybe a projection screen? tyranny and ee logos up on the wall

and happy logo SLAMS shut

ye xiu with his hoodie looking sad and pathetic in the snow up at happy

happy in competition uniforms coming downstairs (chen guo, so challenger’s league)

also damn, happy internet café is *swanky*

I mean, my eyes would hurt from the glare after a while, but it’d be pretty

EXCELLENT ERA

trophies. looks like seasons 1,2,3 going down to the left

sun xiang at the whiteboard lecturing ee. he is the only one not wearing the casual uniform. where is your piss ugly uniform, xiang xiang? this is a team endeavor, you’re not allowed to not wear it. it builds morale

BLUE RAIN

yu wenzou smiles

huang shaotian … fake guitars? with … something that’s been bundled up

TINY HERB

i guess this is why they redesigned the logo, so it would match the aesthetic and could be slammed shut like this, but i still don’t like it

honestly, tiny herb training room aesthetic is incredibly beautiful and soothing

but still way too much white, what the hell ppl, don’t you know about eyestrain?

‘today we’re training how to put our headsets on, synchonizedly’ sponsored by hp

also apparently that *was* the tiny herb competition uniform earlier, since this is the casual one. hmm. a bit too olive drab. tyranny’s still winning

signature wang jiexi EYES shot

TYRANNY

tyranny training room looks a lot less like a supervillain lair when brightly lit! go figure

now it looks like an overexposed supervillain lair *set*. progress!

captain han is ANGRY

hands clasp in front of happy members in the bg. tang rou is def not paying attention

is ye xiu wearing a mask AND a hat??? dude, chill

happy walking into crowd of fans&paps … somewhere. why is steamed bun kneeling next to the door? :it is a mystery:

group cheer! no ladies

group … orange juice! with su mucheng! damn, qiao yifan’s tall.

confetti in the stadium, and reporters charge forward

judging by teams and signs, this is all stars, so reaction to ye xiu’s dragon raising its head?

‘beautiful!’ ejaculated ye xiu

key and mouse action ~~

and the crowdteam happy goes wild!

team fist pump! someone has put their phone on their chair. I hope they don’t sit on it

ye xiu putting on headset in happy internet café. cant tell if this is hobo!hoodie or hoodie no.3

ye xiu :eyes:

key press. wtf program starts up with ‘s’

cgi is cgi

everything looks super gloomy and overcast ~ i hope they do more varied environments

and we see lord grim! they’ve gone for a really…tarnished metal? look for the MMU

like, I would not mistake it for an umbrella.

yang yang face

THE KINGS AVATAR

Okay, so if you were looking for anything of actual substance in this, looks like they’re doing ch.1 - 1052 at least, probably 1-1060, so the end of the challenger league arc.

#tka #qzgs #quan zhi gao shou #tka live action

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joemaharana · 3 years

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7 home staging tips to quickly sell homes in Oakville

Preparing new homes for sale involves a lot of research, remodeling, and negotiation, but the one thing people forget to implement is home staging. Even the most luxurious and lucrative real estate properties in places like Oakville fail to promote the main focal points of the house. We see many Oakville luxury homes for sale and some remain listed in the market for a significant amount of time. The main reason is that homeowners stall the staging and redesigning process. Due to lack of specialty and value, the property gets sold at a significantly lower amount and it also takes more time to get it off the marketplace.

Home staging is the best way to elevate your house value and increase the number of potential buyers. Real estate research shows that homes staged before listing were sold 80% faster than those listed afterward. However, staging new homes for sale demands numerous changes to the position of furniture, house spacing, and many more additions to the interiors. So what is the solution here? You can hire a professional stager or follow some simple tips given below to get the best bid for your property.

Tip #1 Depersonalize your Home

The first step to sell houses quickly is to forget that it’s your home. The more you cling to your personal items, the more time it will take to sell. Once it’s on the market, it becomes a commodity that people are ready to pay a good sum in value. When we see a house for sale in Oakville, we envision our future and visualize what it would be like sitting in the living room or playing catch in the backyard. Personal attachments can make the buyers uncomfortable and it would be hard for them to understand the flow of the house. At first, this can be a little difficult to change your style and taste, but to effectively stage your home, it is required to look at it objectively.

Tip #2 Make a Plan and identify things that need upgrades

Would you buy a house with broken tiles or damaged cabinets? Exactly! So when you are placing new Oakville homes for sale, you do not want to fall short because you forgot to replace a few handles or tiles. So, make a list of all the mandatory replacements for the bathrooms and kitchen. Don’t miss a single room while noting repairs, as buyers see these quirks as problems and it can be used as a bargaining chip during the negotiating process. It is recommended to focus on the essentials while thinking of damages such as room heaters, ventilation, air conditioning system, and other electrical panels. Once you are done eliminating the repairs, it is now important to examine exterior surfaces and look for cracks or leaks. Some areas that can use fresh paint instead of replacements include bathroom tiles, cabinets, and wood paneling. Some common colors used for applying thin coats are white and dark gray.

Tip # 3 There is always something left to clean

You should start deep cleaning before you even list your home on the market. While cleaning your rooms and front porch, you should keep this in mind- less is more. Homeowners should tuck away all the times that don’t uplift the style or texture and it is better to showcase more space than unnecessary items. One of the biggest selling points that every seller should remember is to make buyers feel spacious when they enter any luxury homes for sale in Oakville or other lucrative real estate opportunities in the country.

Decluttering includes everything! People tend to forget small things like cupboards and closets, but it is repeatedly observed that buyers tend to look at every minor detail of the house. The best way to reduce your pieces in each room is by renting a storage unit during the house-selling process. For example, if there is a home for sale in Oakville, you should rent a small storage unit that is easily accessible. After you made the rooms more spacious, it is time to bring the fibers and colors back to life on every carpet in the house.

Tip #4 Bring in the ‘WOW!’ effect

Buyers pay premium amounts when they see something special in a property. And as a seller, you need to ensure to bring in the ‘WOW!’ effect and close the deal. Some of the most expensive houses for sale in Oakville have this special effect and buyers fall in love with the place in a matter of seconds. One of the most liked aspects of real estate property is the stunning views through wall windows. If you hire a professional stager, he or she would advise you to not block these large wall-size windows with furniture. Sellers can also buy brand new floor-to-ceiling curtains as a part of their staging process and it will entice every potential buyer. Interior designs also play a huge role in displaying the special features of the house. It has been observed in many Oakville houses where they use wallpapers with a unique texture that makes each room stand out. In terms of high ceilings and large rooms, one can use low-profile furniture, as low sofas and beds create an optical illusion that meets buyers’ expectations.

Tip # 5 Natural flow is an invisible element for all new homes for sale

House tours should have that natural flow and buyers should want to explore every corner of the house. This invisible element can be cracked by placing eye-catching elements at the top of the stairs, in hallways, and a few other special places in the house. This makes the buyer feel excited and would want to look at every room and level inside the house. Natural flow can be more emphasized by highlighting every focal point in the house and making them accessible to the buyer. The simplest way to understand the flow of your house is to put yourself in the shoes of your buyers. While you take a tour of your own house, there are some questions you need to ask yourself and you think objectively. Are there any obstacles that hinder your movement from one room to another? If yes, then you have to change the position of the furniture.

Creating focal points doesn’t necessarily require a professional interior designer, so look for things that can be taken to the next level. Got a beautiful window with a stunning view or an interesting original fireplace? Then, make sure to put something attractive to draw more attention to these focal points. This way, new houses on market draw more attention and could potentially close the deal at a huge profit.

Tip #6 Showcase the versatility of the space available

Showcasing the amount of space you have and displaying its versatility is so underrated in the home staging process. Sellers should consider rearranging the front porch if present to make it more appealing and spacious. Having a front porch gives sellers a huge opportunity to amplify the curb appeal. It gives a feeling of comfort, so take full advantage of it. Homeowners should also avoid keeping pet accessories and toys on the floor, as it can disturb the flow. The best way to put your house in the spotlight is by using new light fixtures or hiring a professional landscaper. Try to modernize your lighting systems and add more layers to show different shades of each room.

Tip #7 Make a way of life individuals are searching for

Just dial back to when you were in search of a brand new house for sale and you will understand what buyers actually look for in luxurious real estate properties. The colors should be neutral and bold, as every modern family is looking for that combination. Each room should have a purpose and it should highlight the best use of the space available. If you have any extra space left-over, then make sure to furnish it and add new fixtures to increase the overall property value. For instance, utilize a little work area with a stool to present a workspace, or add a daybed to an office to make additional dozing space. Another of the principal things potential purchasers will see is your post box. In the event that you have an old, worn-looking post box, it can create a bad first impression.

# Bonus Tip

Hiring a professional real estate agent in Oakville for advice on home staging can help make necessary changes to the house so that it gives huge profits in return. It is suggested to see it as an investment and not an expense, as consultations with an expert home stager make sellers take better decisions in choosing the right colors and furniture placement.

Takeaway

The main purpose of home staging is to show the true beauty of a seller’s house. It encapsulates every element with fine detail that meets almost every buyer’s expectations. House staging fills gaps and it makes every property unique. Before sellers walk their way out of the door, they need to spot check every corner of the house and cross-check with the list they have made. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to bring in some friends to ask for their feedback. This way, you will most likely impress many buyers who, in turn, will surprise you with good offers.

0 notes

providentially-demonic · 6 years

Text

The Perfect Christmas

My Christmas gift for @morsprocella. Hope you enjoy it!

Sometimes it was hard to know what Arthur was thinking, even after reconciliations had been made and the relationship between the three of them had made its first tentative steps in a new direction. The joy that had lit his face when they had all confessed their feeling for each other had been unfeigned and blinding.

But Arthur had lost a lot of the more carefree attitude that Lewis remembered him having. He was a little skittish, though he did his best to hide it.

So that was what was making his current overly-cheery attitude a little disturbing.

He was wearing a gleefully ugly christmas sweater Vivi had given him a couple of years back and was engaged in a spirited discussion of the merits of one type of christmas tree over another with the seller. Vivi was dancing from one tree in the yard to the next, joyfully exclaiming over each, cheeks red in the cold air.

Lewis was enjoying watching her, but he was keeping a careful eye on Arthur, who had moved on to asking about the best method for keeping the tree looking good during the holidays.

Vivi suddenly made a high-pitched sound of joy and began jumping in place, her scarf flailing wildly with the movement. “That one! That one, that one, that one! It’s perfect!”

Arthur’s head came up like a startled dog and he zeroed in on where Vivi was pointing.

It was a massive spruce, the branches on the bottom well over four feet around and at least nine feet tall at the tip.

Much as he wanted to make her happy, Lewis frowned doubtfully. “Are you sure? I think that might be a little big for the living room.”

Vivi pouted dramatically at him. “No, it’s not! We can make it fit.” The look in her eyes promised that he had better help in that regard. He hadn’t tried modifying their shared apartment yet— though he’d experimented with one of the vacant ones on same floor, trying to expand the inner dimensions without changing the outer ones. He was still learning about just what he could do with his abilities. “It’s perfect! Arthur thinks so too, right?”

Arthur nodded, smiling at Vivi. “If you think it’s the perfect tree, then it must be the perfect tree.”

Vivi squeaked and flung her arms around Arthur’s neck, kissing him soundly on the cheek.

Arthur flushed but slung an arm around her waist. “I guess we found the perfect one,” he grinned at the seller. “We’ll take it.”

The seller quoted a price and Lewis blinked. That was a little much, even for a tree of that size. He sucked in a breath and adjusted his sunglasses. “Um, doesn’t that seem like—”

Arthur pulled out his wallet. “I got this, big guy. Small price to pay for the perfect tree.”

Lewis noticed Vivi quirk an eyebrow, but she said nothing as Arthur paid for the tree. The seller helped them tie it atop the van and threw in a wreath when he handed Arthur his receipt..

Arthur drove home, ‘hmm’ing and nodding to Vivi’s enthusiastic chatter about how they were going to decorate it. Lewis sat in the back, holding the wreath and wondering just why Arthur’s enthusiasm seemed just a little bit... off.

Lewis helped carry the tree upstairs and with several minutes of concentration (and some helpful coaching from Mystery), managed to tweak the dimensions of the living room so the tree fit. Shortly afterwards, Arthur helped Lewis carry up boxes of decorations from their storage unit in the basement of the building. Lewis summoned his deadbeats to help with the lights while Arthur made sure the tree was secure in its base.

The antics of the deadbeats soon had Vivi laughing uproariously, because, when excited, the deadbeats resembled nothing so much as overactive kittens. There was much tangling of the lights and batting ornaments across the room before Lewis decided it was a bad idea and shooed them off to play with a package of tinsel. At least that he could clean up and wouldn’t have to worry about them breaking.

Vivi went at it like a general after that, directing both of them on everything from the number of strings of lights to the placement of the ornaments. She scrutinized everything, directing both of them with, “Higher! No— one more branch to the left. That’s it! Perfect!”

Arthur followed her instructions like he’d been born to it, only satisfied when Vivi had pronounced perfection on each ornament and candy canes placing. When everything was to her satisfaction, Lewis floated up and placed the star on the top of the tree.

Vivi kissed his cheek and Arthur’s after he rejoined them on the floor. “Absolutely wonderful,” she enthused. “It’s just right!”

Arthur sighed and smiled at her. “Good. That makes me happy.”

The next day, Arthur and Lewis went out to pick up groceries, a normal enough activity, but Arthur kept questioning him on what he considered a perfect christmas dinner. Lewis grinned and said a perfect dinner would be getting to spend it with his family and Arthur and Vivi.

“”Not what I meant, big guy.” Arthur flushed and rubbed the back of his neck in a habitual gesture of embarrassment. “I meant for the actual foods. Vivi— she wants you to be able to eat christmas dinner, so she’s researching charms that will let you eat, at least for a little while. She says if she can’t work it out, though, she’s gonna let you borrow her body for a bit so you can. It won’t bug her, that girl can eat twice her weight, so she’ll happily eat more later, but y’know, we need to know what foods you would want for dinner.”

Lewis shook his head, a warm feeling in his nonexistent stomach. Trust Vivi to care so much. “She doesn’t have to do that.”

Arthur chuckled wryly. “She will anyway. You know her.” He tossed a box of cereal in the cart; something filled with sugar and colors not found in nature. “So spill before she decides to go ask your folks.”

Mama would undoubtedly tell her and then insist they come over so she could make all of them for him. Lewis didn’t want that. He wanted to spend time with his family, but not with Mama and Papa trying so hard to make foods for him to taste. When Arthur had turned back to the cereal, Lewis replaced his choice with something a little healthier, ‘hmm’ing thoughtfully. He wanted Arthur to stop running on energy drinks and quick (and usually bad for him) snacks. “I guess just little finger foods, like Mama and Papa always did. Since Christmas was always about family, they didn’t want to spend all day in the kitchen, so we always just had things that could be prepped ahead of time and snack on during the day.”

Arthur turned back and put his original choice of cereal back in the cart with a defiant look, but he didn’t try to take out the other box. “Okay, that’s cool, but what kind of things? What do we need to get for them?”

Oh. Lewis thought wistfully on the variety of finger foods his parents always had. Closing his eyes, he pulled up the ingredients of some of his favorites from memories of helping Mama and Papa prep them for Christmas. He mentally crossed off a few of the spicier ones, because he didn’t want to have things Arthur couldn’t eat, and began to recite an ingredient list, mostly to himself.

Lewis opened his eyes to see Arthur frantically scribbling on the back of Vivi’s hastily jotted grocery list. “Arthur? What?”

Arthur finished writing and shoved the paper at him. “Make sure I didn’t miss anything, willya? My note-taking skills are a little rusty.”

Blinking, Lewis took the paper from him and read over Arthur’s cribbed handwriting. “Just eggs. Arthur, we don’t need to—”

Arthur waved a hand to cut him off, taking the list back with his other hand and hastily noting eggs on it. “No. We do. Help me find all these things, okay?”

Lewis scowled down at him, but Arthur was not deterred, grabbing his hand and hauling Lewis after him. He checked against the list in his metal hand constantly, questioning on which brand he thought was the best for each ingredient. Lewis humored him until Arthur insisted on picking out the most expensive brand, when Lewis told him the cheaper one would do. “He took the bottle out of Arthur’s grasp. “You’re going overboard, Artie,” he scolded gently, replacing the bottle and taking the other, less-expensive one to add to the cart. “This one is fine. We don’t have to go crazy on this.”

Arthur scowled and swapped the bottles, defiantly placing himself between the display shelf and Lewis to keep him from switching bottles again. “I am not going overboard. I just want things to be absolutely right.”

Lewis, ignoring the other customers nearby, reached out and cupped Arthur’s cheek. “It will be. You’re stressing over the little things, when the big one is already right there and absolutely perfect.”

Arthur mmmed and leaned his head into Lewis’s hand, his eyes slipping closed for a second. “It is?” his voice sounded heartbreakingly uncertain.

Lewis brushed a kiss over his forehead. “It is. We’re all here, together. Nothing could be better than that.”

That seemed to do the trick, because Arthur’s shoulders sagged as if a weight had been lifted off of them. After that, he seemed far more amenable to Lewis’s suggestions, though if there was any debate on which was the better product, he insisted on the higher price one, unless Lewis flat out told him that a cheaper brand was better in quality. Still— the total was far more than Lewis was comfortable with, but Arthur paid for everything without a flinch.

When they had returned home, Lewis put the groceries up while Arthur headed off for a shift at the garage.

Vivi wandered into the kitchen while he was working and hopped up to sit on the counter, putting canned goods in the cabinet above her when Lewis handed them to her. “What’s the matter, Boo?” She asked, raising a foot to block him from going past her.

Lewis thought he’d been keeping his thoughts hidden, and Vivi snorted at his look, poking him with her toes. “Your hair keeps flickering and spitting off sparks. That only happens when you have something on your mind troubling you.”

Lewis ducked his head. He’d have to work harder at that. It wouldn’t do to give himself away in public. Quietly, with many pauses to gather his thoughts, Lewis told Vivi all the small things that had been troubling him about Arthur’s actions lately.

When he finished, Vivi sat there quietly for a long moment, her eyes distant and thoughtful. She made a soft sound deep in her throat and looked a little concerned herself.

“I think—” she said at last. “That he’s trying too hard.”

“Too hard?”

“Mmhmm,” she nodded. “Too hard to make it all—” she waved her hands in the air for a moment. “Perfect for us. That’s a word he’s used a lot lately. Perfect. He went shopping with me the other day, looking for, I quote, ‘the perfect gift for Lewis,’ and he wasn’t satisfied until I assured him that it was perfect and you would love it.” She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I think he’s pushing himself to do everything for us, but not actually enjoying the holiday, not when he’s trying so hard to make it all ‘perfect’ for us.”

Lewis had to admit that she had a point. Arthur seemed far more interested in making certain that the holiday was perfect for Lewis and Vivi and not in enjoying it himself. For example, in the van earlier, while Lewis knew Arthur loved the funny and decidedly twisted christmas songs like “Christmas at Ground Zero” or “Away in a Madhouse,” he’d insisted on putting in a Mannheim Steamroller CD he knew Lewis loved. It had felt decidedly surreal not having Arthur gleefully belting out the dark lyrics of some of his favorite holiday songs.

“We need to show him—” Lewis began

“That it can’t be perfect without him,” Vivi finished decisively for him, thwacking her palms down on the counter with a loud slap. “Trees and presents and food are all well and good, but he’s what we need for it to be perfect, not any of those things! Right, Lew?”

Lewis could only nod agreement.

Vivi hopped down from the counter. “Great! Let’s go!”

“Go where?” Lewis questioned, swept along in her wake by the sheer force of her enthusiasm.

“To kidnap an Artie-bae and convince him that he doesn’t have to make things perfect, that they are just because he’s with us!” she declared, grabbing the spare set of keys from the candy dish by the door. Arthur had left the van, walking the two blocks to his uncle’s shop.

“Right now? Vivi, he just went to work!” Lewis protested, but followed her out the door and to the van.

“Doesn’t matter.” Vivi waved his concern off. “Lance will forgive us once we tell him why we stole Artie.”

“Better to ask forgiveness than beg permission, eh?”

“Right-o. We need to show a certain person it’s him we need, not all the trimmings and trappings.”

Lewis chuckled and boosted her up into the driver’s seat.

She grinned at him enthusiastically and started the engine. “Here’s the plan— I’ll run a distraction while you snag an Artie. Then we—”

Lewis put a finger across her lips, smiling at her gently. “I may have a better idea.”

“Mmm?” She mumbled against his finger.

Lewis went around the van and climbed in the passenger seat. “Simple. It’s almost noon. We tell Lance that Arthur was supposed to go out to lunch with us. He wasn’t, but Lance doesn’t know that and Arthur won’t object. We can steal him away without him suspecting anything.”

Vivi’s eyes brightened and she shot him a wide grin as she put the van in gear and pulled out onto the street. “Ooh, I like. I didn’t know you could be this sneaky?”

Lewis returned her grin, tugging his sunglasses down to give her a wink. “Maayy-beee,” he drawled.

Lance didn’t put up a fight, in fact he all but shoved Arthur at them. “G’wan, get him outta my hair. Feed him and let him work off some a’ that energy somewhere that ain’t my shop.”

Vivi saluted sharply while Lewis hustled a protesting Arthur into the van. “But I have work to finish—”

“It’s a simple transmission check on Mrs. Howell’s caddie. I can do that in my sleep. Now get outta here with them.”

“Yessir!” Vivi reached over to snag Arthur’s hand. “C’mon, You got your orders, bucko!”

Arthur let her and Lewis manhandle him into the middle of the front seat, sandwiched between her and Lewis. As she pulled away from the garage, he grumped at her, “Was this really necessary?”

“Yep,” Vivi popped the ‘p’ as she swung a left and pulled into the drive-through of a McDonalds.

Arthur’s lips pulled sideways in a rueful smile. “I know you didn’t all but kidnap me just to hit Micky-D’s, Vivi.”

“Not really, but I’m starving and you need to eat anyway...” She adopted a obnoxiously loud voice that sounded like a cranky version of her grandmother. “You’re so skinny. You look like the wind could blow you over. You need to eat more.”

“Vivs, you are starting to creep me out. You should not sound like your grandmom.” Arthur pulled a face as she rolled down the window and leaned out. “Also, she would never tell me to eat more. Might whack me with her cane, but...”

“Shoosh, you!” Vivi scolded before turning to her attention to the drive-through speaker. “Yeah, can I get like three— no, four orders of chicken nuggets, two large fries, and a mocha frap, please? And what did you want, Artie?”

Arthur rolled his eyes at her, “A cheeseburger and small fry. Nothing to drink though, there’s an energy drink in the cooler in the back.”

Vivi blew her bangs out of her eyes. “And two cheeseburgers— you know what— make those double-cheeseburgers and another large fry.”

The tentative voice on the other end of the speaker told her her total and advised her to pull forward, while Arthur huffed sourly. “Vivi—”

“I told you, you need to eat more. I am not having you shrivel up on me!”

“I’m not going to shrivel up on you, Vi!”

“Not listening.” She pulled up to the first window and passed her money to the teen, who looked far more relaxed when he saw there were three of them in the car.

“She has a point,” Lewis elbowed Arthur. “You don’t eat enough... or right, but being that we’re at McDonald’s—”

Vivii shot him a dirty look. “We need food. I am not doing this on an empty stomach. And at least it’s not Taco Smell.”

An apprehensive look flitted over Arthur’s face. “Doing what exactly?”

Vivi focused all her attention on getting the change back and pulling up to the second window, leaving Lewis to squirm uncomfortably as Arthur’s gaze turned his way. “Um... well...”

“Lewis—” The way Arthur dragged out his name made him twitch in his seat.

Vivi, now safely stopped at the second window, caught the collar of Arthur’s vest and tugged him over, stopping his questions with a kiss that left him panting and dazed. She shoved him back into Lewis, who almost automatically wrapped his arm around the smaller blond.

“Foodage now, talky-talk after,” Vivi tapped her finger against the tip of Arthur’s nose as he stared at her, wide-eyed. “So shoosh. I promise— it’s nothing bad.” She cupped his cheek in one hand and smiled at him, lacing the fingers of her other hand through his hair in a soothing stroke. “Trust me, willya?”

Still shivering with reaction, Arthur nodded slowly, almost unconsciously leaning back into Lewis.

Lewis tightened his arm and raised his temperature a little, hoping that it would work to calm Arthur a little.

Arthur said nothing more until after they had their food and Vivi turned the van onto the road out of town, taking the turnoff to Deacon’s Bluff, a seldom used stretch of road that ran up the hills that surrounded Tempo. She pulled the van off the road at Lighthouse Point, named for the tower of stone that time and wind had shaped naturally into a facsimile of a lighthouse. Parking in the shadow of the tower, she killed the engine and turned in her seat to face them, taking a slow sip of her drink.

“What’s going on?” Arthur asked plaintively, still leaning into Lewis. He’d wrapped his arms, flesh and metal both, around his own abdomen in an unconsciously defensive posture.

Vivi sighed and popped a nugget into her mouth, chewing contemplatively for a moment.

“Vivi?” Arthur pled.

With another sigh, she abandoned her food and squirmed closer until Arthur was sandwiched between her and Lewis, leaning into him as much as he was leaning into Lewis.

“Artie... Look at me.” She reached up to turn his face down to hers. “You know Lew and I both love you, right?”

Arthur shivered hard. “That sounds suspiciously like the prelude to a ‘But...’ ” He murmured, his voice thick and trembling on the edge of breaking.

“No,” Lewis broke in sharply. “No. No buts. There is no but about our loving you. This is about us loving you enough to make you look after you.”

“Eh?” Arthur squirmed. “Lewis, I’m fine. I know you worry about my eating and sleeping habits but you cannot blame Vivi’s grease-capade on me.”

“Hey!” Vivi protested, poking Arthur’s ribs.

“Not talking about that either. I’m talking about you running yourself ragged to make Christmas perfect for Vivi and I. Everything just so and you wearing yourself out trying so hard.”

“Yeah,” Vivi interjected. “It’s not perfect, not by a long shot.”

“Wha—?”

Lewis bent his head and pressed a kiss to Arthur’s temple. “Stop trying so hard. Make some time to enjoy the holiday with us, not trying so hard to make everything great for us that we barely see you.”

“I—”

“Seriously, Artie, it can’t be perfect if it’s not about all of us together. It’s only perfect with you in it.” Vivi said, reaching up to press a kiss on his lips. “The trimmings and the tree don’t matter at all if you aren’t sharing it and enjoying it with us.”

“All I want for Christmas is you?” Arthur cracked a wobbly smile.

“There is a reason that’s a classic, you know.” Lewis added with his own smile. “That’s what we need to be happy.”

“I have everything I need right here, “ Vivi laughed, waving a hand to indicate the two men she was pressed against and the van that surrounded them. “Well, minus a smart-aleck dog, but let's not tell him that, okay?”

Arthur breathed a shaky sigh. “C-can we just stay here for a bit? I don’t think I’m up to going back home just yet. My stomach’s still all knotted up.”

Vivi reached over the back of the seat and snagged the blanket in the back seat, pulling it over all of them. It smelled slightly of dog, but it had never been warmer. “I think that’s just perfect.”

#msaholidayspirits2017 #MSA #fanfic #ot3 snuggles

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droneseco · 3 years

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Govee Flow Pro Wi-Fi Light Bars Review: Customizable Flashy Lights Are Fun

With colors abound, the Govee Flow Pro Wi-Fi Light Bars can light up any room, making them a solid RGB smart lighting option for all budgets. The automatic light changing Video mode doesn't live entirely up to expectations, but the customization options, easy to use app, and general color output make the Govee Flow Pro's a decent RGB lighting option for any home.

Govee Flow Pro Wi-Fi Light Bars

8.00 / 10

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With colors abound, the Govee Flow Pro Wi-Fi Light Bars can light up any room, making them a solid RGB smart lighting option for all budgets. The automatic light changing Video mode doesn't live entirely up to expectations, but the customization options, easy-to-use app, and general color output make the Govee Flow Pro's a decent RGB lighting option for any home.

Specifications

Brand: Govee

Integrations: Alexa, Google Home

Protocol: 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Hub Required: No

Music Reactive: Yes

Multicolor Capable: Yes

Pros

Lots of customization options

Good array of colors

Very easy to install and configure

Integrates with other Govee products

Cons

ColorSense camera is low quality

Video mode only outputs one color

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RGB lighting is everywhere, turning homes and offices across the land into beautiful light shows. Portable RGB lighting is even better, allowing you to bring an ambiance to your living room for a film then turning your kitchen into the scene of a rainbow-colored rave.

Govee's Flow Pro Wi-Fi TV Light Bars tick those boxes nicely, and while they're not the flashiest or most stylish of RGB light-towers, the end product and customization options make them a worthwhile contender in this increasingly busy (and color-filled) space.

What's In the Box?

Before delving into the hardware specs and shiny RGB lighting configurations, here's what you'll find in the Govee Flow Pro Wi-Fi TV Light Bars box:

2x Flow Pro Light Bars

2x Light Bar desktop stands

2x Light Bar screen mounts

1x camera

1x control box

1x power adapter

There are also some foam stickers, which you'll use to configure the ColorSense camera, and the configuration and user manual.

Govee Flow Pro Specifications & First Impressions

The Govee Flow Pro light towers are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled, and integrates with Alexa and Google Home, but does not offer Siri support. Furthermore, the maximum supported screen size for the Flow Pro is 45 inches.

Here's the full spec list:

Size: 47 x 3.31 x 3.31 inches

Color Temperature: 2200-6500k

Lumens: 400lm

LED Type: RGBICWW

Power: AC 100-240V

Input: 12V/2A

Camera: 2MP

Connectivity: 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0

Controls: Desktop control box, Govee Home app for Android and iOS, or voice command via smart assistant

Out of the box, the Govee Flow Pro lights feel decent enough. They don't carry a substantial weight to them, but this is to be expected for a lighting product you can mount on the rear of your TV or monitors. That said, the desktop stands are weighted to stop them toppling over, and along with the screen mounts, are extremely easy to install.

Plugging the light towers and camera into the control box and a power source only takes a moment, and you can find yourself cycling through the myriad color schemes and lighting modes within a couple of minutes of unboxing.

Overall, it's a good first impression.

Wondering why there is a camera? The Govee Flow Pro camera monitors your screen, analyzing the colors on display and changing the RGB lighting in response. Here's a short video of the RGB color changing camera response underway. The first game is Red Dead Redemption 2 Online, the second is Day of Infamy, and the third is Project Cars 2.

youtube

How to Setup the Govee Flow Pro

Govee's Flow Pro Light Bars are very easy to setup and get up and running. It's a four-part process:

Position your stands and attach the light bars

Connect the light bars and overhead camera to the control box

Configure the camera via the Govee Home app

Customize your light bars with the Govee Home app

1. Position the Govee Flow Pro Light Bars

The first thing to do is decide where you're placing your Govee Flow Pro light towers. How you decide may depend on your existing TV setup. The screen mounts with attached lights protrude 5cm from the surface of the device. If you have a wall-mounted screen, you may not find enough clearance directly behind your hardware.

If this is the case, you have a few options: switch out for the desktop mounts, mount them behind a storage cabinet or TV stand, or you could even lay the light towers atop your TV itself, provided you have a strong enough stand. The light towers themselves are lightweight and shouldn't cause an issue regarding weight, but you might have to fiddle with placement if you go for this.

The second thing to consider is the light bar USB cable length and the control box's positioning. You can control the lights using the Govee Home smartphone app or a smart home assistant, but the light bar cable length will also dictate your lights' location in relation to the control box, which serves as the power source.

Once you decide on where you want your Govee Flow Pro Light Bars, it's time to reach for the mounts. The desktop mounts are weighted and freestanding, so you can move them around to adjust the lights' position. Whereas, the screen mounts come with a self-adhesive patch ready to stick to your TV or monitor.

Attaching the light bar to the stand is easy in both cases. With the desktop stand, you slot the cable end into the stand, allowing the cable to escape at the bottom. The screen mount stands attach to the back of the light bar with a handy secure notch. Once they click into place, they won't budge unless you attempt to remove them specifically.

2. Connect the Govee Flow Pro Light Bars and Camera to the Control Box

The control box has three inputs:

Power

USB Type-A for the Light Bars

USB Type-C for the overhead camera

You must now decide where you want to position the ColorSense camera. I've tried overhead and underneath the screen, and it makes little difference to the camera picking up on-screen color changes. You can go with whichever configuration suits your setup or is most aesthetically pleasing.

Stick the camera to the top of your screen, in the center, using the tear-off sticky strips, then attach the USB cable to the control box.

Next up, plug the USB cable for the Light Bars into the control box, followed by the power cable.

At this point, you can take the Govee Flow Pro Light Bars for a spin—you don't have to wait to configure the camera to play with the lights and try out some colors. Tap the power button on the control box. The lights should default to the camera video mode, instantly illustrating how the colors change in response to your screen.

You should also note that video is the default lighting mode. Once you switch away from it using the control box, you must enable it again using the Govee Home app.

3. Configure the Camera and the Govee Home App

Your next step is to configure the camera and the Govee Home app. Although the lights work without the app, it is well worth installing and learning how to use because it features customizable light colors, color schemes, lighting patterns and modes, and much more.

Download: Govee Home for Android | iOS

Download the app, then fire it up. In the top right corner, hit the + icon, then search for h6054. Your Flow Pro Light Bar should appear. Select it, confirm any permissions requests, then pair with your device using Bluetooth. Once the pairing completes, you can give your Govee Flow Pro Light Bars a name (which you can change later for use with smart assistants).

Now the proper configuration phase begins

Lighting Bar Position: Switch each lighting bar on and off, confirming its location. If the light bar is on the opposite side, select Switch Positions > Position Correct.

Foam Stickers: Take the eight foam stickers from the box, position them according to the image on your screen, and select Ready.

Calibration: You'll see an image snapped by the camera. Drag the four points across the screen, then make sure the top-center point is aligned. Hit Next. Now, drag the yellow points to the suggested locations, making sure they're aligned. Hit Submit.

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Once the configuration ends, you can begin experimenting with color schemes and lighting modes in the Govee Home app.

Selecting Govee Light Studio opens Govee's suggested lighting schemes, a color gallery, and some interesting-if-garish videos from other Govee users. Note that in the final section, the other users are using various Govee lighting products, not just the Govee Flow Pro. Still, it may well inspire you!

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window['gallery_2'] = new Swiper('#swipper-2', { direction: 'horizontal', spaceBetween: 20, slidesPerView: 1, centeredSlides: true, preventClicks: false, observer: true, observeParents: true, loop: false, keyboard: { enabled: true }, // If we need pagination pagination: { el: '.swiper-pagination', }, navigation: { nextEl: '.swiper-button-next', prevEl: '.swiper-button-prev', }, }); var images = document.getElementsByClassName("gallery-2-images"); for (var i = 0; i < images.length; i++) { images[i].addEventListener('click', function (event) { var swiperDiv = document.getElementById('gallery-modal-2'); var imagesArray = document.getElementsByClassName("gallery-2-images"); index = Array.prototype.indexOf.call(imagesArray, this); window['gallery_2'].slideTo(index, false, false) swiperDiv.style.display = 'block'; document.body.style.overflow = 'hidden' }); } function closeGallery(element){ element.parentNode.style.display = 'none'; document.body.style.overflow = "initial"; }

You can also use the Govee Home app to combine multiple Govee lighting products into a single Scene. Once paired, you can set the lights to turn on or off at a specific time or use a similar color scheme.

Govee Flow Pro Lighting Performance

The video earlier in this review illustrated how responsive the Govee Flow Pro lighting system is while using the monitoring camera, known as Video mode.

In short, the Flow Pro video mode isn't responsive enough and with enough overall lighting quality to use as a permanent feature. The changes can be stark and choppy, and the lighting doesn't always reflect the main color on the screen nor pick up subtleties in color.

Furthermore, even though the light bars can display multiple colors at once (as you'll find in Music mode), Video mode cannot make use of this, presumably because images move too fast for the 2MP to respond to. Add in some ambient lighting in the room, and the Flow Pro camera struggles even more.

Is this a reason to dismiss the Govee Flow Pro?

Absolutely not. The Govee Flow Pro adds a nice splash of color to a room.

The Govee Home app makes it supremely easy to customize color schemes, chop and change modes and settings, and generally adapt the aura of your RGB setup to your liking.

For example, the DIY mode enables you to build custom color sets matched with different lighting effects, while the Music setting responds to audio and displays lights accordingly across several different color modes.

Just make sure the control box can hear the music directly, as that's where the microphone is housed. You can also adapt the sensitivity of audio-lighting response, as well as between dynamic and ambient modes.

Govee Flow Pro Light Bars Repairability

As you might expect, these RGB light towers don't offer much by way of repairability. The product user guide states, "the internal light source of the light bars cannot be replaced. If damaged, the light bars must be replaced."

On the flip side, these are very low wear and tear parts, and most owners will keep the Flow Pro Light Bars in a single location. The LED lights in the towers should last for tens of thousands of hours. One thing you can do to make sure the light bars last longer is to keep the cables slack, reducing tension and the chance of accidental breakage or overstrained cables or connections.

Govee Flow Pro Light Bars: Budget-Friendly Customizable RGB Lighting

The Flow Pro won't suit everyone. If you want your RGB to be color accurate to whatever is displayed on the screen, the Govee Flow Pro will probably disappoint you.

But the Govee Flow Pro Wi-Fi Light Bars is a great budget RGB lighting option that will fit easily into most homes or offices. I've been using the Light Bars on my desk with dual 24-inch monitors, and the result is excellent.

Govee Flow Pro Wi-Fi Light Bars Review: Customizable Flashy Lights Are Fun published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

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crescentcrona · 7 years

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Idk if you ship this but could u maybe do a soul/kid Drabble?

I do ship em, plus I’ve written for them before!! I’ll be making a page for all my requests soon lmao I got a little carried away with this one and it probably needs to be touched up, butt here There was abandoned rooms all over the DWMA. Students and teachers alike had started rumors that the reason for the empty rooms was murders and curses, anyone who stays feels a supernatural presence. If you decide to teach in that pacific room, madness will seep into your bones and you’ll end up taking your own life. The rumors and myths were as creative as they were excessive, a new one for each room, with a crazier backstory then the last.The real reasons were disappointingly less exciting. When Death had created the academy, he made sure to add dozens of classrooms for any kind of elective. But over the years, the main focus has been on soul study, the history of weapon evolution, the anatomy of meisters and weapons, the basics of resonance, advanced resonance, countering magic, etc. To top it off he still had to make room for teaching what normal schools taught. (if he had a choice he really wouldn’t though, government school policies to uphold and all that business) So with so many classes but so little time, he had to get ride of over half the elective classes, leaving the rooms abandoned, usually with spare desks and supplies. He’s repurposed some of the rooms for study halls and storage, but within the endless halls on the school you’ll fine room upon room of empty students and leftover books. But, as any curious teenager did, they explored the rooms skipping classes or maybe even napping. In Soul’s case, he had claimed a very specific room, upstairs to the very end of the hall to the left.On the rusted plaque at the top, in faded letters read “MUSIC ROOM” Soul had a love/hate relationship with the room. At first he would hide out, skipping classes and when he first joined the academy, he would eat alone here. On stressful days with Maka, he would go here, telling her he was going for a walk to calm down.The room was mostly bare, with old guitars lining the entrance. The walls were dark wooden planks, and it was carpeted with a seafoam green rug. There was no piano, which made Soul both thankful and saddened. There was additional instruments tightly sealed in cases, like violins and trumpets. To his absolute pleasure, he did one day find a box of kazoo’s. The room reminded him nothing of his home life and yet he realized, every time he felt homesick he would run back here with his tail in between his legs. The albino remember learning that piano players also made skilled guitarists, so in any remaining free time he had, he would practice in the forgotten room. No one ever came here and no one ever heard his playing. Eventually Soul had built the courage to actually play, occasionally humming along to his strummed cords. He preferred it to be this way, with no judgmental tutor to slap at his hands whenever he made a mistake. However, one day his secretive streak of guitar playing came to an end when one (1) Death the Kid had managed to walk in without Soul realizing. To his further embarrassment, Soul had went through the entire song without any wrong hand placement, humming to the rythem of the strings. When Soul went to flip the page of the teachers would be lesson book, he heard clapping behind him, causing him to almost snap his own neck looking behind him. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE.” His face was as red as his eyes, clumsily taking the guitar strap off and tripping on his feet trying to stand. This was not how he wanted to be known.“I thought people are supposed to clap after performances, Soul.” Kid answered, sly smile gracing his lips. “Thanks, I guess. I was just about to leave anyway.” Soul looked away, unable to make eye contact with the demi god. “No, its fine. Father sent me up here to collect some paperwork from past teachers when I overheard your playing. I thought you only played piano?” Kid asked, looking around the room himself. “I do, but I’ve been practicing with this,” Soul lifted the acoustic guitar up by the neck, “Its really not so hard after you’ve gotten the hang of it.” Kid stared at it, hand on his chin in thought. “You can have it, if you’d like.” “What now?” Soul, with his already hurting neck, whipped it again in the direction of the raven haired boy. “The guitar. For some reason father already has over a dozen of them, only collecting dust. But on one catch.” Kid lifted his pointer finger up. Soul was staring wide eyed, nodding his head. “Yea what?”“You have to play for me.” Now pointing directly at Soul, the demon scythe felt his heart flutter for a single moment. “Play? Like as in, play the guitar? For you?” Soul asked. What the hell was wrong with him. “Yes, I do believe that’s a fair arrangement. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll see you tomorrow in class, Soul.” And with that he walked out the room, leaving a flustered Soul to gape alone.

#soul eater #soul/kid #what even is the ship name??#soul evans #death the kid

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hawaiianhalfwolf · 7 years

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How Far I’ll Go | Solo

“But I come back to the water, no matter how hard I try”

Keeping his foot on the break, Noah just listened to the steady chug of his truck’s engine through his open window, the rhythm almost in time with the throbbing in his hand. He didn’t know exactly why he was driving, except to just drive, to get himself out of that stupid house for a day. The one where everyone was mad at him for coming home with more injuries and not being more cautious and not like proud that he was able to help close two of those stupid portals. “Well excuse me for trying” He muttered into the cab the light in front of him finally turning green.

Shaking it off though Noah just kept driving trying not to think very much. Because when he did he remembered the boat from yesterday. He remembered every vivid detail, down to the small red pen mark on one of it’s seat cushions (courtesy of a younger more devious Noah). It was Ka Lupo, or The Wolf in its english translation, and his dad had loved that boat like one of his own children. He even sacrificed his own garage space for his precious boat, so it could sit there protected during the winter.

Now The Wolf sat at the bottom of the Narraguagus bay. Even in the winter.

Biting at his lip as the the sting of wetness rose behind his eyelashes, Noah just kept driving, trying not to think about that day again. Because he had so many good memories of his dad and the sea. So many just good memories in general that one bad wasn’t worth it.

Taping his fingers against the wheel he let the breeze from his window run through his hair wondering where the hell he actually was. And he didn’t know if it was subconscious, or just his truck having a mind of its own and taking him to a place he thought he needed to be, but Noah’s eyes widened slightly when he saw the sign. Daryl’s Mini Storage. Listening to his tires screech slightly as he applied the brakes Noah hurriedly turned on his blinker, heart beating wildly in his chest. He hadn’t been here in years, but he could still remember the number as vividly as his own birthdate. 434B

Parking close to the locker after being stopped for some information by the gate agent Noah stopped the engine examining his key ring. He knew he had the key, the one he’d stolen from Cahill years ago. It had been on his key ring ever since, a silent reminder that he’d almost forgotten about. Taking a deep breath Noah opened his truck door and got out. Standing in front of the faded red door, Noah inserted the key into the lock, before rolling open the creaky storage locker door. Standing there Noah took in all of the shit piled up inside, and begged himself to just breathe through it. Because inside of this storage locker was every piece of furniture, and every piece of paraphernalia from his old house, down to the ratty old couch they’d kept in the basement.

Feeling his legs start to shake Noah sat down cross legged in front of it all eyes glancing over the stacks of boxes and the piles of furniture. It was all still here. Cahill hadn’t done anything to it. Reaching out for one of the end side tables nearest him Noah felt along it for the scratch, the one he’d put there when he was a toddler playing with his mother’s keys. Yea it was all still here.

Sighing slightly Noah took his hand off the table. Last time he had been here he’d been 15 and he remembered sitting here exactly like this and just sobbing. But today he didn’t really feel like crying, he just felt, well sad. “And that’s what we call progress” He muttered to himself as he stretched his legs out slightly. Yea If only his therapist could see him now.

Sitting there looking at just everything all piled up in this massive room Noah noticed something he hadn’t noticed in a while. The large black zippered bag that was wedged in between the side of the wall and a stack of boxes, its placement careful but yet haphazard. As if the person who’d put it there didn’t really want to put it it there at all. Taking hold of it Noah manhandled it out into the open the weight and shape familiar in his hands. He didn’t even need to take off the case to know it was his Dad’s old Mini-Mal, one of his most prized surfboards. If Ka Lupo had been like his third child, this Mini Malibu 3 finned surfboard he’d had shipped to the house from his favorite shop in Hawai’i might have been his fourth. Leaning it up against the outside of the locker Noah just stared at it. The last time he saw this surfboard in it’s entirety he’d been 14 years old, back when they used to surf every saturday.

Unzipping the cover Noah ran his hand over the rough deck, everything coming back to him. He had been too small to properly ride it back in the day, but he remembered the few times his dad had let him practice with it, his dad trying to give him pointers after every run. It was an unspoken rule but Noah had a feeling this board had always been meant for him when he grew into it, his dad taking care to teach him how to care for it. How to love it just like he did.

And now he’d never be able to ride this board again.

“Actually no.” Noah breathed out into the storage locker. He was not going to let that stupid boat and that stupid wreck take this fucking away from him too. Zipping the cover back up on the surfboard Noah placed it in his truck mind made up. He knew how to surf. He knew how to swim. He knew how to do both of those things, and unbeknownst to a lot of people he could do them well, like really well. So what was the difference between then and now? I mean he was bigger after all, and probably the perfect size now for this thing. And it wasn’t like he needed someone to drive it down to the water for him. He was perfectly capable of that himself now with his truck. What was stopping him?

Oh right, that one measly fear.

Taking a breath, Noah looked at the surfboard in his truck. Surfing meant getting back in the water, and the water meant. He paused, the feeling of the ocean water in his lungs, the feeling of fire in his lungs as he begged for just another minute. One more minute to pull his brother from the wreckage.

Leaning his head on the side of the truck Noah just focused on breathing the wetness behind his eyes threatening to spill again. Except this time, this time was different. “God fucking damn” He yelled the rage inside boiling over. It had been 8 years. He should be over this by now. He should be fine. He should be riding that surfboard by now, just like his father wanted.

And you know what he was going to.

#touchofsolo #solo #solo: how far I'll go #storyline: how far i'll go #tw: drowning #tw: death mention #//dun dun dun #what is noah going to do?#tune in for the next instalment #lol this isn't my best work #but i wanted to get it out today at least #so i can work on the next part

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woodenstreet · 5 years

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5 Console Tables to Embellish your Space with Some Extra Grace

The most overlooked and statement making piece of a furniture unit is the console table.

The major purpose of adding this to your décor is for the decorative purpose but, you can also use the console tables for many purposes.

If you can think outside the box regarding its placement and decoration, this can be a visually interesting piece of your home.

At Wooden Street, we have rounded up 5 console tables online for you to adorn your décor. And here we go.

1. Hamlet Console Table: - If you are someone who gravitates towards something which is a trend and of in the moment then this can be your call.

A mix of style with functionality is the perfect term to describe this console table. This console table has two drawers to offer for storage purpose. And the shape of the legs is what makes this console table more arresting.

You can place this console table in your entryway or in the hallway to make the most use of it.

2. Boho Console Table: - Bohemian is what you call the reflection of your personality? Or do you feel that your décor is going little lackluster? Then you can relate to this one.

This console table is perfect for adding a splash of color to your space. We all know the importance of the first impression, so to make the most use out of it, you can put this in your entryway.

Plus, the best thing which comes with this console table is you don’t need to put your heart and soul to think what to put on it. This design is already decorative, so all you need to enhance this beauty is to add minimum decorative stuff.

3. Smith Console Table - Are you someone who is more rooted in tradition then this can be your steal. The design of this table is towards the exotic side as it has animal carving on it.

And, if we talk about the functionality, then this console table has three drawers for storage. If you have a living room which is of traditional décor, then you can add this in your living room or even in a hallway for that matter.

4. Boris Console Table: - Modernist but highly versatile piece of a console table. Versatile because you can use this in your bedroom, living room, entryway and you can also use this as your Tv Unit.

The design of this console table is something which can hog much of attention if you play with the decorative items correctly.

5. Castor Console Table: - This small console table is perfect for those who are little afraid of experimenting in the console table. Or someone with compact spaces and still wants to adorn their spaces from the console table.

The design of this console table is minimal and modest which allows playing with its decoration. And also, this one is not chunky, gaudy and anything extra so you can invest in this without any single thought.

Style is a journey and not a destination so get inspiration from these 5 types of console table and create your decor style. To buy these console tables lend up yourself at woodenstreet.

You can customize the console tables with us as we also offer the option of customization. You are just one click away for customizing the product which you have always dreamt of.

For more information call us at +91-9314444747 and have the best shopping experience.

#console table #wooden console table #best console table #corner table online #buy corner table in India

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audio-luddite · 6 years

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Number 2

Speakers.

I have been an audio enthusiast for decades. I have heard a lot of good stuff. I think the equipment I own today is good. I am often bemused by the claims of pundits and reviewers who do not actually have to pay for the equipment they praise. Then there are people who invest so much on new equipment or accessories it must be good to justify the investment. Too often there is psychology involved. For some people it is bragging rights. For others it is desire to achieve the unachievable at any cost.

Once I was in a high end audio shop looking for some equipment and they were demonstrating a very expensive setup. It had Wilson Watt / Puppy speakers (If you heard of those you know it’s expensive, and good if stupidly named) Mark Levinson electronics (also good and expensive) playing a very good CD. It sounded awful. The system cost a fortune. It may have been the room or something broken, but it was horribly harsh and it hurt my ears. A serious and well-heeled client was listening intently and the salesman had all but convinced him this was nirvana. I said nothing but left the room to stop the pain.

The interaction between various components is complex and very often the results are imagined if not due to some obscure electronic interaction. That interaction may happen in setup A but not in setup B. Very high end boutique devices are often unstable under certain conditions. If the effects are real they are probably due to hidden incompatibilities of equipment.

Then there is the phenomenon of confirmation bias and prejudgement. Confirmation bias is negating evidence that does not agree with your pre-existing opinions and giving exaggerated weight to things that support it. There were famous blind auditions of equipment where experts failed to discern which premium device is which. Apparently it is easy if you can see the labels. Myth and legend are real factors in this world.

Very subtle issues can justify often extraordinary expenditures.

So we come to speakers. They are arguably the most difficult equipment to design and build well. They can be very easy to build mechanically, but the quality of performance is the issue. Electronics can be tested and measured and certified to be almost perfectly faithful to the signals they process. Speakers have distortion and response errors several orders of magnitude worse. An Amplifier may have 0.01% distortion and be considered poor. A Speaker can have 15% - 30% distortion and be considered great. It is a kind of art. Part is the art of persuasion.

Speaker designers are therefore somewhere between artists and engineers.

The artist side interprets some fundamental concept then the engineer side executes their best try to achieve it. The fundamental issue maybe be based on observation or even science, but the interpretation is usually something else entirely. Being guided by skill or experience I prefer to call it art as science tends to focus down to a common point and eliminate bullshit with numbers. In that case they would work to a single optimum solution and there would simply not be the huge variety of devices sitting in people’s homes. There are many philosophies resulting in a large variety of products.

There are successful and respected speakers built using many different approaches. One designer will advocate an idea that others will cheerfully ignore. Sometimes it makes little difference in the marketplace as there are always some people who enjoy the particular result.

One idea is that Omni-direction is the secret. You want a perfect driver that puts out the full range of sound in every direction. There are two variants of this. The first is the ideal Sphere, the second is the perfect line source. One represents an idealized mathematical point the other being a mathematical line. There has been a lot of effort put into these with varying degrees of success. You can buy examples of serious attempts on it.

Many speakers are measured in anechoic chambers to determine and adjust their response to maximize quality and performance. An Anechoic chamber is a profoundly unnatural condition and unless you make your listening room anechoic it is also an invalid design assumption for speakers for your home. It is interesting that many affluent owners will have large sound absorbing arrays installed in their rooms to help their systems sound better. They try to approach the anechoic condition or at least compensate for the problems in the basic speaker design philosophy.

The concept of omnidirectional speakers came out of those chambers. A famous example is the Ohm Walsh drive. It is a narrow cone of various materials mounted vertically and you listen to what would conventionally be the backside. The usual front of the cone in enclosed and the “back” is now outside and visible and radiates 360 horizontal degrees. It is a conceptually brilliant execution of Omni direction. It is a difficult speaker to place and power. It is good only if the underlying concept is valid, which it really isn’t. I explain why later.

Another classic design is the imperfect and famous Bose 901 speaker. The foundation principle was the observation that 90% of the sound in a concert hall was reflected from the walls and only 10% was direct from the performer to the listener. Dr. Bose the designer was an MIT professor in Boston and just as brilliant as one would expect an MIT professor to be. Boston has a famous concert hall which may be where he made his observation or discovery. Thing is this 90% - 10% factor is not a scientific test result. It was just something he thought of.

If you go to a concert and hear an orchestra the proportion he claimed may have been true from some seats. But if you listen to an opera singer and you have a good seat the proportion may be reversed. Also for chamber music or jazz or any recording that does not involve a big concert hall it is simply an invalid assumption.

The 901 had 8 small full range speakers on the back intended to bounce 90% of the sound off a wall and one speaker of the same type shooting forward. It also had an electronic equalizing circuit to correct the bass and treble compensating for the limits of the drivers. It was well thought of and basically worked if you had a suitable sound reflecting wall to use. Those people that liked them liked them a lot. Those that did not, did not. The material and finish of your back wall had as much effect on the sound as the speaker drivers.

Another philosophy is a perfect sound producing sheet. Imagine a curtain between a performance and the listener which radiates the perfect image of a recording. This has been tried in several products. Most electrostatics and planar magnetics start from this philosophy. They have fans and detractors. All have some degree of compromise or putting a positive spin on the “optimization” of features. It is a play in the physics of drivers. Usually the size is the main compromise as they have never produced a full room width of speaker for a consumer. They have come close. Large planar speakers are really large. The major flaw of this approach is that these are dipole radiators. Everything coming out the front is also coming out the back inverted and reflecting on the walls of the room. That moves a lot of air and is a seductive effect. Moving a lot of air is a good thing and helps to create “presence”.

I know this concept intimately. I once built full range electrostatic speakers with a full one square meter of radiating surface per channel. The finished devices were 4 feet tall, 4 feet wide and 8 inches deep. They were in many ways spectacular but in others they fell short. For a time I loved them, but I knew there were problems including taking up huge chunks of apartment space. I still have most of the parts for them in storage.

A fundamental advantage large planar speakers have is they move a very large area of air and couple to the room well. This can be expressed as good acoustical impedance matching. Good matching means the speaker energy is very well transferred to the air in the room. Yet the dipole effect is not really an advantage due to reflected waves and cancellation. There is just as much sound coming off the back as the front and those waves bounce around and interfere with the sound in front. Fans of the type will say it is all about placement, but that is an avoidance strategy.

Often the physical construction of large planar speakers has its own sound. I once auditioned a large expensive and successful electrostatic speaker that if you tapped the frame you heard a distinct “bong” sound. It was a combination of the metal frame and the fact it was a drum head in its own right. Not good behaviour to have, yet a highly respected and expensive speaker.

The place we return to time and again is some type of box with some kind of motor that pushes air around. This is easy to build and convenient to live with in most cases. The box can be simple or extremely exotic. I saw one spectacularly expensive box that looked like an enormous scale model of the inner ear canal. It was very artistic, very expensive, and very silly. The motors were high quality examples of the ordinary cone stuff you get in common boxes. It was still a box, and likely the shape was pure artistic interpretation as there is no logical reason to mimic it.

Every speaker I have heard has some starting idea be it the perfect sphere of sound or the infinite line of radiation or the curtain of truth. You have to buy into the idea to justify the cost of execution. The single biggest problem is actually the room you place them in. A close second is you have to live with them and if married you need that person to buy into it too. Ugly and large is not good in that case. I take this seriously. I have built my own speakers for decades. I do so as I firmly believe I can buy better parts for a given price than in a commercial product. I have learned some tricks. Some things work, some do not. I do not think there is a single perfect solution. Specifically I have never seen or heard one.

Almost a century ago a clever man named Klipsch designed a speaker that took very little power and used the walls of the room in such a way that the room became part of the speaker. It was primarily driven by the fact that in that era the power of amplifiers was very limited. He used horn loaded drivers which use power much more effectively than cone drivers because the horn is an acoustic impedance matching device. The problem he solved was limited power of amplifiers and this required a large horn for the bass frequencies. Using the room walls was expedient. They also are in many ways spectacular but in others they fell short. They produce the bass tone of drums and tone of brass instruments magnificently, but the human voice is distorted. They require you have a decent size room with available corners. He is long dead but his company lives on at least as a brand and you can still buy the Klipschorn speaker.

This is a dynamic field for manufacturers and hobbyists. Some solutions work fairly well but look weird. I have seen a popular hobbyist design that looks like an awkward assembly of plumbing parts. It may sound good to their ears, but it looks embarrassing. There is an emotional tie in for the hobbyist. If you invest much time and money as a consumer or a hobbyist you are not likely to admit your system is less than ideal. My giant electrostatic speakers were the result of long hard effort and expense so I was emotionally invested in praising them even if they performed marginally in some respects. And there is the question of what actually is good.

If you listen to live music it is not radiating from perfect spheres or planes or lines. Usually it is from one or two people or a large group of performers doing what they do on a stage or in a room. Speaker design philosophy is not considered on stage or in a recording studio for that matter. Can a speaker create a convincing image of a jazz singer with just a piano accompanist and of a big band, or even a symphony orchestra? That is quite a trick for the speaker. I have a small inexpensive speaker set that does the solo jazz singer voice very well, but would go up in smoke if you asked for the orchestra or a rock band. Also recall that aside from full choirs and classical ensembles most performers sing or play directly into microphones that catch just them and are “mixed” into stereo channels by another person in the chain. You hear what they let you hear. Realism is not really important to that chain.

There are a few recordings out in the wild that are different and try to be true to the idea of honest sound. Many recordings from the 50’s and 60’s for classical music tried to preserve the concert hall experience. There are newer attempts. One example is, “Trinity Sessions” by the Cowboy Junkies. It was recorded in 1988 using a single multi-channel microphone direct into a digital recorder. It was done in a Church in Toronto famous for nice acoustics and natural reverberation. The band was set up around the microphone and had amps and guitars and PA basically as it would be in a small club. If you listen to it with honest speakers you hear a room and a band as you would have heard if you had been there. To hear this you need honest speakers.

I consider all dipoles and line source and reflecting speakers as dishonest. Add to those any speaker set far enough from a wall to create reflections that vary with direction. The simple reason is that you are hearing things that are not in the recording but may be pleasant effects. They may sound good, but they are not on the recording. A dipole sends significant energy out the back which bounces off a wall back to you and makes at best a clumsy reverb. At worst it upsets the tonal balance with cancellation of waves. It is an accepted truth that reverberation sounds nice which is why every Karaoke bar uses it to tame the evil squawks of the average customer. It is mixed into popular singers voices like sugar on breakfast cereal. Since all dipoles do that they can sound unnaturally nice and let’s call it sugar coated.

Same thing for omnidirectional speakers with the difference being the rear wave is in phase rather than out of phase. It is still a reflected sound reaching your ears that is not on the recording. This is additional information created by the interaction of the speaker and the room. This is not just limited to speakers as the normal type of distortion in Vacuum Tube circuits is even harmonics and is often described as “air”. If you add tube amps to dishonest speakers, as many audiophiles do, you get a double dose of sugar. These things are popular and sound pleasant but they are not honest. The question then devolves into one of honest vs dishonest. Real sound or sugar coated.

The source of the problem is not the quality of the equipment or its execution. It is the philosophy of the design and how it works in the room. Speakers that have significant reflections off of walls are to be avoided. That includes box speakers set away from the walls or that have extra drivers pointed in strange directions. (I have built those too.)

#audiophile speakers

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jeremystrele · 4 years

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Dreaming The White Interiors Theme

If a white theme is your interior design dream, then these four peaceful white homes are going to whisper to your heart. This collection includes a multitude of home sizes and styles too. We have a super modern apartment with beautiful textured wall panels, misty grey accents and a stunning master suite. There is a compact open plan living room coupled with a practical home office-bedroom combo. We explore a large luxury apartment in Brooklyn, New York, with an extra large entertaining space and bedrooms that overlook the park. Then, we finish up in a minimalist interior, where perhaps the white decor plays the most prominent role of all.

Visualizer: Alexandru Ionita The glow of a fish tank brings the only splash of electrified colour into this pure white and misty grey living room scheme. Ribbed gypsum panels accentuate the placement of the recessed tank, and fashion a decorative tv wall.

The initial white flooring is replaced by grey boards in the lounge area, to softly establish definition between the two zones.

A modern sofa forms an L-shaped arrangement around a marble coffee table set. A piece of modern wall art adds a brief dark moment to the light room palette.

The dark wall art balances out the blackness of the TV screen mounted opposite, and the adjacent slender black window frames.

Pale grey drapes soften the window, and compliment the ripples and folds of the decorative wall panelling.

The white flooring by the fishtank belongs to the kitchen, where a series of white and light grey units make up a two-tone design.

The small kitchen is crisp minimalist volume. Its white marble backsplash draws inspiration from the marble coffee table in the neighbouring lounge.

A lounge chair carries the grey accent through into the bedroom, along with another set of soft grey curtains. Marble bedside tables bring the luxe element. The copper table lamp is the Punk lamp by Blue Dot.

A clear glass vase with a simple sprig of greenery adds life to the marble table at the other bedside.

Gypsum panels texture a headboard feature wall.

The bedroom opens up to a spacious ensuite bathroom with a luxury bathtub. A large bathroom light hangs like a great moon over a cool marble landscape.

Routed doors bring ribbed texture to a white floor-standing vanity unit.

Copper strips slice through the vanity mirror and marble backsplash.

Designer: Evgeny Garchu This apartment uses a similar textured effect to create eye-catching feature walls, but this time a green accent colour vies for a share of the attention too.

A glass coffee table helps the compact lounge arrangement to look more open.

A white table and light grey modern dining chairs pull up by a white L-shaped kitchen. Wood flooring warms up the scheme.

Stone slabs tile the floor of a grey and white lobbyway. A stone grey ottoman rests by a wood effect console shelf.

In the bedroom, a green throw adds a shot of fresh colour to a neutral scheme. Orb bedroom pendant lights brighten the bedsides.

A single bedroom is decorated in the same palette, but this time incorporates a home workspace with built in storage and shelves. An oversized bulb-style bedside table lamp adds a touch of whimsy.

The bathroom features a recessed light strip, which frames the room in blazing white LED illumination.

Source: James Edition This four bedroom, three bath apartment in Brooklyn New York is a sprawling 3,273 square feet home at the Richard Meier Building in Prospect Heights. The luxury living room features a pure white tufted sofa set and matching ottoman, ultra modern white lounge chairs and ice white coffee tables.

The expansive open living space is made possible by scattered structural support columns, which build a look of grandeur. A wall of glass opens the entire room up to glorious views over the park.

Floor lamps line up in a spectrum of colour, forming a bright modern art piece in the minimalist dining room.

An upscale one wall kitchen with dining island offers up a casual alternative to the formal eating zone.

The white kitchen features quality Sub-Zero, Gaggenau and Miele kitchen appliances.

Rift cut oak floors run seamlessly through the apartment, including in the bedroom. A long oak dresser compliments the floor tone and adds warmth to white walls. A bedroom chair brings in an unexpected jolt colour and pattern. The curvaceous design is a Womb style chair, inspired by Eero Saarinen.

The minimalist bathroom layout is built with crisp linear white volumes, including a block shower seat, floating vanity unit and a sharp angular bathtub.

A second bedroom is spiced up with a multicolour rug and a cherry red drawer unit.

Bedroom three is a simply furnished twin room with acid yellow accents.

A fresh welcome is laid out in the building’s white lobby.

The roof terrace provides comfortable outdoor social space.

Apartment floor plan.

Visualizer: Mohamed Mousa Located in Uptown Cairo, Egypt, this 472 square metre white interior features an ultra minimalist living room. A single matt gold cushion floats on the milky couch.

A solid black round coffee table anchors down the airy lounge arrangement.

At the other side of the open plan, a gold dining room chandelier adds a sculptural element to the minimalist space.

Matt gold cushions line up plumply along an all white bed set in the solid white minimalist bedroom.

A dropped ceiling and smooth wall panels perfectly box the bathroom.

The minimalist home office revolves around a centrally situated desk, which forms a stark black island in a sea of white.

White archways dramatically frame the white hall and entryway, where a snow white console table and mirror meld with colourless walls.

Wood effect cabinets build a baseline U-shaped kitchen, leaving upper white space completely untouched.

Recommended Reading: 30 White Living Rooms 33 Dazzling White Dining Rooms 30 Modern White Kitchens 32 White Bedrooms

US Presidents' Office Interiors

Modern Classic Chairs

IKEA 2012 Catalog

Floor plans of homes from famous TV shows

Loft Design

Colour-blocking: Creating room in small spaces

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drewebowden66 · 4 years