#not tagging each mentioned character but. i hope the target audience sees this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

speed-seo · 2 months

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4 Key Pillars For Creating An Effective Content Marketing Strategy

It is easy to get lost in the crowded online marketing we are exposed to every day. with so many offers and advertising bombarding us every second. What is not easy though, is to choose the best advertising channels for our businesses. For that reason I decided to write this article. To let my readers know the answer to this problem.By understanding the answer you can laverage the information received and use it to concentrate your marketing effors in the right marketing strategies.You see among all the content marketing strategies, there a four of them that are considered to be the pillars of content marketing. These content pillars, are not the only ones, no, they are NOT. But surely you can do a proper content marketing plan with them.So, in the hope of leaving you with enough information to help you solve the problem of deciding which content strategies to follow, I present to you the for key pillars for creating an effective content marketing strategy. Let's go! Content Marketing Pillar #1: Search Engine Optimization The first pillar of successful content marketing is proper search engine optimization (SEO). If your content isn’t designed to be easily found in search engines like Google, you’re missing out on massive opportunities for organic visibility and traffic. On-Page SEO On-page SEO refers to optimizing individual pieces of content to improve their rankings. This starts with doing keyword research to identify terms and topics your audience is searching for, then strategically incorporating those keywords throughout each piece of content. Specific on-page elements to optimize include: - Headings and subheadings - Use relevant keywords in your H1 and H2 tags. Break content into logical sections using headings. - Body content - Mention keywords naturally in the first and last paragraphs, as well as 2-3 times throughout. Avoid overstuffing! - Image file names and alt text - Rename files and use descriptive alt text with target keywords. - URL structure - If possible, include keywords in the URL for each page. - Meta descriptions - Craft compelling meta descriptions of 150-160 characters that incorporate keywords. By taking the time to optimize each piece of content for relevant search terms, you can substantially improve its organic findability. This in turn leads to more traffic and visibility for your brand over time. Off-Page SEO Beyond optimizing on-page elements, you also need an off-page SEO strategy to improve rankings. This refers to building links and earning mentions of your content from external websites, especially authoritative sites related to your industry. Some effective off-page SEO tactics include: - Link building - Reach out to other sites and publishers to request backlinks. Offer to create and contribute guest posts with links back to your site. - Earned media - Pitch your content to journalists and influencers to secure coverage and backlinks from reputable sources. - Social sharing - Promote content across social media to boost engagement and increase chances it gets organically shared online. - Local citations - For local businesses, list your site on directories like Google My Business, Yelp, and others relevant to your geography and niche. - Site speed - Improve your site's load times, security, and technical SEO to enhance crawling and indexing. With a balanced effort between on-page and off-page optimization, you can improve domain popularity and trust indicators that lead to higher SERP rankings. SEO Tools and Best Practices Here are some helpful SEO tools and best practices to incorporate into your optimization efforts: - Keyword research - Use Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz Keyword Explorer to find high-value keyword targets. - Competitor analysis - Analyze competitors' sites and content using SimilarWeb, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to identify opportunities. - SEO audits - Run site audits with Moz, Ahrefs, or Screaming Frog to catch technical issues. - Sitemaps and robots.txt - Create XML sitemaps and a robots.txt file to facilitate crawling and indexing. - Page speed checks - Use Google PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom Tools to improve site performance. - Metadata - Confirm metadata like titles, descriptions, alt text, and more are optimized. With proper SEO implementation, you can maximize the organic visibility of all your content. Driving more search traffic will amplify results across all other content marketing metrics. Content Marketing Pillar #2: Valuable, Engaging Content The second pillar for content marketing success is consistently creating high-quality, engaging content tailored to your audience's interests. Without value-driven content, even the best SEO will only go so far. Research Audience Needs and Interests Start by researching your target audience - what information are they looking for and how can you uniquely meet their needs? The specific topics and content types you create should directly align with their search intent and preferences. You can gather intelligence on your audience through: - Surveys and interviews - Directly ask customers what content they want via surveys and interviews. - Social listening - Monitor relevant social media conversations for common questions and discussions. - Keyword research - Assess search volume and trends for informational keywords. - Competitor analysis - Review competitors' top-performing content for inspiration. - Analytics - Check Google Analytics behavior reports to see which existing content resonates. Armed with these insights, you can refine your personas and define strategic content themes that will appeal to their interests. Aligning your calendar with audience needs ensures your content will add value. Create Content Across All Relevant Formats Today's audiences consume content across a variety of formats and platforms. That's why a successful content marketing strategy should include multiple content types including: - Blog articles - In-depth articles are ideal for informational search terms and showcasing thought leadership. - Videos - Both live-action and animated videos appeal to visual learners and stand out in feeds. - Infographics - Visual guides condense complex topics into easily digestible shareable formats. - Podcasts - Audio content is great for on-the-go audiences and extended storytelling. - eBooks and guides - Long-form downloads offer in-depth exploration of popular topics. - Social media updates - Bite-sized tips and insights on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn. - Interactive content - Quizzes, assessments, and calculators engage audiences through value-add. Experiment with different formats to determine what your audience most responds to. Maintain a healthy mix of content types in your calendar to continually capture attention. Ensure Quality and Originality With all content you produce, the quality and accuracy should remain paramount. Your audience values authenticity and being treated like intelligent individuals. Always fact-check information to avoid spreading misinformation. While repurposing evergreen insights can be helpful, ensure you're delivering enough exclusive value. Seeking unique angles on popular topics covered by competitors shows your audience they can rely on you as a trusted, credible source. Detailed, well-researched content demonstrates respect for your audience. By making quality and originality core priorities, your content will excel at building loyal audiences that keep coming back for more. Content Marketing Pillar #3: Content Calendars and Planning To keep your content marketing engine running smoothly, the third essential pillar is maintaining a consistent content calendar. Planning calendars and setting publishing schedules will optimize your workflow and effectiveness. Define Content Marketing Objectives Start by clearly defining your overarching content marketing objectives: - Traffic - How much monthly/annual traffic do you want to drive? Which keywords will you target? - Leads - What lead generation benchmarks are you aiming for? How will you convert content readers? - Engagement - What social engagement rates and email list growth do you expect? - Brand awareness - How much do you want to increase brand visibility and familiarity? With specific goals established, you can strategically create content designed to achieve each objective. All efforts should ladder up to your identified KPIs. Map Out a Content Production Schedule Next, plot your content themes and topics into a production schedule spanning 3-6 months. This calendar view makes it easy to plan topics around upcoming events, seasons, and promotions. Aim to maintain a regular publishing cadence for each content type. For example, 2 blog articles per week, 1 video per month, 1 ebook per quarter. Consistency is key for sustaining momentum. Leave room in your calendar to create content tied to trending topics in real-time. Staying nimble to respond to current events will keep you top of mind. Refer back to your calendar frequently and share across teams to keep all efforts aligned and on schedule. Maintain Consistent Posting Frequency With your calendar set, diligently execute your publishing plan to turn out content on time, every time. Whether you publish daily, multiple times per week, or less frequently - stick to the cadence you've defined. Predictability with your content builds loyalty and keeps audiences engaged. That said, remain flexible to make adjustments based on performance data and audience response. You may discover certain topics or formats really resonate and warrant increased frequency. Find your optimal balance between consistency and adaptability based on results. Your posting frequency should ultimately align with audience needs. Content Marketing Pillar #4: Performance Evaluation and Refinement The final pillar for effective content marketing is continuously evaluating performance and refining your approach. Without regularly analyzing your results, how will you know what's working? Select Key Performance Indicators Start by determining your most important key performance indicators (KPIs) for content success. Potential metrics include: - Traffic - Sessions, organic traffic, landing page views - Leads - Form fills, demo requests, email list sign-ups - Engagement - Social shares, comments, email open rates - Brand awareness - Brand search volume, backlinks, domain authority Choose 2-3 metrics that best align with your overall objectives. These will serve as your north star for assessing content efforts. Assess Performance and Identify Gaps With KPIs selected, closely monitor your dashboards and analytics to measure content performance. Assess which specific topics, formats, and distribution channels are generating the strongest results. Identify any content gaps where you're falling short of goals. Diagnose why certain content may be underperforming through surveys and social listening. By regularly reviewing content analytics, you gain crucial insights on where to improve. Continuously ask how you can optimize to increase engagement and conversions. Adapt Your Approach With performance insights in hand, use learnings to adapt your content marketing strategy. Double down on your highest-performing content while phasing out or repurposing any underperformers. Explore adjustments across elements like: - Content topics and themes - Formats and design - Distribution channels - Promotional tactics - Call-to-actions Stay on top of trends and leverage timely topics. But avoid drastic overhauls - iterate gradually to build on previous success. Ongoing analysis and refinement is crucial for continually improving results. Don't "set and forget" your content marketing program. By remaining agile and data-driven, you can scale your content success. Key Takeaways on the 4 Pillars of Effective Content Marketing Creating a thriving content marketing strategy takes much more than simply posting blog articles. To maximize your impact and results, execute on these four essential pillars: - Pillar #1 - Implement on and off-page SEO to improve organic visibility and traffic to your content. - Pillar #2 - Produce high-quality, engaging content tailored to your audience across formats. - Pillar #3 - Maintain a consistent content calendar to organize and schedule content efforts. - Pillar #4 - Continuously evaluate performance using KPIs, then adapt and refine your approach accordingly. By mastering these four pillars, you can develop an effective, results-driven content marketing engine that delivers value and wins loyal audiences. Consistent optimization based on data will help you improve the ROI of your efforts over time. Focus on providing genuinely helpful content that builds trust and authority. With the right pillars in place, your content marketing will connect with customers and propel your business forward. Read the full article

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cowboy-turtle · 2 years

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these fluff prompts are such a cute idea and the ones you've posted so far are so good!! can i get #17 with din? <3

TYSM for the request and for the kind words! I think this may have a touch more hurt/comfort in it more than fluff… but we’ve still got shy, flirty Din 😉

(& thank you to @queen0fchaos for helping me come up with this story & beta-ing!)

February Fluff Prompt #11: “I can’t stay away from you.”

Pairing: Din Djarin x gn!Reader

Word Count: 1,846

Tags: injured character, brief mention of hypothermia, flirting through weapon talk

ct’s february fluff masterlist | main masterlist

The first time you saw him, you thought he wasn’t real.

It all happened so fast: your blaster getting knocked out of your grip, your target getting the upper hand, the flash of a vicroblade towards your throat.

But he was faster. A streak of light hitting metal, stunning like the speed of hyperspace with how quickly he subdued your bounty. His masked face revealing nothing as he hauled them onto his shoulder, a long glance at you panting on the floor, a tilt of his helmet in question before he disappeared.

No, there’s no way he’s real. He came from the stuff of legends.

You had to come back to your guild empty-handed, the bitter taste of lost credits sitting heavy in your mouth. When you explained what happened, your audience of other bounty hunters exchanged a look. This hadn’t been the first time they’d heard of this man, this myth, too good at his job to leave room for anyone else. They told you to shake off the encounter, a tracking puck sliding across the negotiation table. Clear your head with a new target.

The next time you ran into each other, he’s almost startled to see you again. You’d be touched he also remembered you, if you weren’t busy chasing a Twi’lek down the crowded narrow avenues of a Canto Bight marketplace. You studied the maze-like streets beforehand and were trying to guide him to a dead end, a hopefully easy end to this tiresome pursuit. But before you can get him to veer left something whistles past you, snagging around the bounty’s legs and sending him sailing into a meiloorun melon cart.

You stumbled to an ungracious stop, the Twi’lek struggling beneath the silver rope tight around his knees. The blur of a brown cape billowed down in front of you as the Mandalorian descends from the rooftop, his binders secured on your bounty’s wrists before you could object.

He looked up at you then, an apology in his half-shrug.

“Maybe next time.”

His cockiness frustrated you, seething under your skin when you slammed the now useless puck back on the table. It’s turned into a personal vendetta and you demand something harder, something high-paying, the farthest possible distance away from where you could possibly encounter the gleam of beskar steel.

Your insistence led you to Hoth, to a bounty no one had been able to track for weeks. Your speeder sailed past the snowy, barren landscape, the ping of your tracker barely audible over the howling wind biting at your ears. You’re so focused on that you almost didn't hear an icy chunk lodging itself into your engine, the mechanical whine of breaking parts that preceded you sailing over your handlebars.

When you could finally upright yourself on the snowbank you landed on, your comms screen is cracked, frosted over into uselessness. Your only hope is the plume of spiraled smoke your engine left behind that acts as a flare to your location, if it doesn’t get swept up in the wind before you’re found. The only thing you could focus on to stave off the numbing sensation that’s starting in your limbs was your bounty’s puck, the blinking red light going in and out of focus as you felt the gentle call of sleep.

Your rude awakening came in the form of being dragged, a hard stone floor replacing the chill of snow. You could barely make out shapes, but you recognized the shine of metal armor.

“How’d you find me?” you slurred, impressed your blue lips can even move right now.

“Heat signature.” There’s a pause, concern in his voice. “It was barely there.”

His cape came down to wrap around you, his flamethrower stuttering to life to start up the bundle of drywood he’s gathered from inside the dark cave you’re in now. When he still found you mostly unresponsive in front of the fire, he regards you with hands gripping his hips. Then he sighed to himself, reaching up to slip off a pauldron. The metal clinks to the floor.

“Wh…what are you doing?” Your chattering teeth barely let the words leave, heat escaping with each puff of breath you’re forcing out.

The Mandalorian slips off the other pauldron. “My armor is only going to make you colder. I…I need to get you warm.”

It was hard not to watch him undress, his armor piling into a heap before he’s stepping towards you in his underthings. His helmet almost looked out of place now on his head, ducking down as he wraps the cape tighter around you to pulls you towards him.

He readjusted your body with an easy strength, until you’re bundled up to his side with his arms wrapped around you. Your sudden shyness heats up your face better than any fire could, the duraweave of his shirt scratching against your cheek. You can feel his heart racing just beside your temple, a tempo much too fast for a resting body.

“Are you c-cold too?” you whispered.

He paused. Then, “No.”

You both fell silent as he focuses on getting you warm. It’s hard to tell what’s night and what’s blizzard right outside the mouth of the cave, wind whipping tendrils of snow closer to you every now and then.

But it never reached the snugness in which the Mandalorian is holding you. The freezing cold deep in your bones settled into a dull ache, a tremor every now and then that he tries to shun away with his hands rubbing up and down your side.

A tiny sigh escapes your mouth and, embarrassed, you try to deflect to the subject you know best.

“Want to know how I got that ion blaster?”

That gets his interest, so you tell him all about how you won it in a very intense game of sabacc. You can feel your strength returning, running through your roster of pistols and rifles, blades and spears, your hunting bow you liked to save for special occasions. He regards you silently as you animatedly recall one of those occasions.

“You really like your weapons,” he observed.

A proud grin crept up your face. “They’re my favorite accessories.”

You look away from his unwavering glance and nodded towards the tiny pellets that adorn his vambrace. “What are these?”

He explains what whistling birds are, how they’re made. You scrunch your nose.

“That’s unfair, letting your weapons do all the work for you.”

He chuckles. “Maybe if you worked smarter and not harder, you’d catch a bounty.”

You shoved at him half-heartedly and he only takes the chance to capture your hand, letting it rest in the warm embrace of his own. And even though you can’t see his face, something about the way his mask ducked down when you looked at him came across as shy.

You start trading stories about how you came into possession of each of your weapons, agreeing that they shouldn’t be bought, only earned. The next time you shivered he doesn’t think twice, pulling you closer towards him as a mellow sleepiness begins to pull at your eyes. You barely hear his murmur, but it carried you into your dreams.

“Get some sleep, mesh’la.”

When you stir awake, the fire has died down to embers along with the blast of the blizzard outside. The stark, white landscape shimmers beneath the blinding sunlight, your upright speeder by the cave’s entrance sticking out of the monotonous snow. Your rescuer has disappeared, but a new message blinks on the comms device he’s left behind.

“I’m being called off planet,” his filtered voice crackles when you played it, “but your speeder should be working now. I left you the coordinates where I last saw the bounty.”

The gesture touches you, just as much as it infuriates you. It wasn’t a fair game if he gave you the upper hand. But you can’t complain when the reward keeps you living comfortably far longer than any other prize has.

You still take jobs, though. Not for the credits, but for the thrill of the chase. And maybe for the chance encounter of something else.

Your heart betrays your true intentions when it stutters in your chest, catching up to your armored rival in pursuit of your latest target. But something’s off, he’s stopped running, doubled over instead as he holds his side. It’s then you notice the metal sticking out just beneath the side of his abdomen was not a part of his armor. He points down the alleyway.

“Go. They’re headed towards the docking bay.”

Your eyes dart between the wound he’s pressing, grip slackening each second as he slides to the floor, and the bounty that’s about to round the corner.

You drop to your knees, the satchel you keep slung across your back swinging forward as you parcel out medical supplies.

“Why aren’t you going after them?” he gasps out.

You inspect the wound. “I need to get this out. On the count of three, okay?”

He groans. “Okay.”

You pull the knife out before he can reach one, his startled grunt of pain teetering off as the cooling bacta spray takes effect. He’s silent as he watches you busy yourself with the wound.

“You didn’t answer.”

You look up at him for a second to cast a withering glare before returning to your work.

“The next time I win a bounty over you, I want to earn it. Not have it be some act of charity.”

That takes him by surprise, and his helmet tilts to inspect you in this new information.

“So you’ve thought about that,” he finally muses, “catching a bounty before me.”

You huff. “Maybe.”

“Is that why we keep getting the same assignments?”

You feel heat creep up the back of your neck. It wasn’t the only reason anymore. But you dismiss the thought with a shake of your head.

“Looks like you can’t get rid of me then.”

“No, it’s more like…” his chuckle ends in a pained cough, “it’s more like I can’t stay away from you.”

A coy smile curls up one side of your mouth. “Well, do you want to?”

He doesn’t answer, not right away. He seems content just watching you finish the bandage, the minute drawing ever nearer when you wouldn’t have an excuse to touch him anymore.

Then, finally, “No.”

You look up to find his visor staring straight at you. “No, I don’t want to.”

You fight a smile. “Good.”

Your handiwork will be satisfactory enough until he has an actual medic check it out, which he doesn’t promise to do when you help him back up. Gods, he’s going to be trouble.

You sling your bag to its spot on your back, regarding each other.

“I’ll see you around then?”

He nods. “I look forward to it.”

You start walking away when another thought occurs.

“Oh wait,” you turn. “Mando…”

But he’s gone already, like some phantom you’d conjured from longing. He was as silent as a secret. A whisper, a rumor, a myth.

A legend.

taglist: @1800-fight-me @iamskyereads @microsoftcraint @thisgirl-knm @dobbyjen @arahxdjarin @triggerhappyflygirl @athalien @phandoz @queen0fchaos @c4psicle @sunnshineeexoxo @mrsudontknowme @rosethornxs @wyofabdoms @mandosmistress @thirddeadlysin @kissasith @cmc1014 @morenhoe @mssbridgerton

#ct's february fluff #din djarin x reader #din djarin x you #din djarin #the mandalorian #pedro pascal character fanfiction

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sweeterthansammy · 3 years

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𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒; 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐲'𝐬 𝟏𝐊 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Welcome to Writer's Express, well known as Tumblr's #1 local cafe! All are welcome to showcase their outstanding abilities in terms of writing. All general questions may be directed to the front desk. Without further ado, ladies, gentlemen, babes all around, take a seat as we await our phenomenal authors. Feel free to browse our menu.

A/N: Anddd here we are. Never in a million years did I think that I would have the opportunity to provide a thousand plus people with simply shit writing. Thank you all so much. Each and every single one of you. I genuinely admire every single one of you - those of you that go out of your way to hype up my work, those of you that put a smile on my face with all of your compliments, and my mutuals. Without any of you, I wouldn't be where I am today and I will forever be grateful. This is also my first time attempting to host a writing challenge so I hope that at least some expectations were met 😭

Rules and regulations:

Fandoms and characters will be listed beneath this section.

There will be different subjects - contents seen throughout cafes, i.e phrases, interior designs, food, specific situations, etc. This is a first-come-first-serve dynamic. Whoever claims a topic first will get to write for it, the same goes for the character. If someone has already claimed the character that they want to write for, there is no way for you to claim the character as well.

Appropriately tag your work. Whether they be trigger warnings, or general warnings (especially for smut), please make sure to tag your work appropriately for the targeted audience.

Anyone is eligible to participate. It doesn't matter if I hardly know you, you can most definitely join in on the fun. Nor does it matter if you're a beginner writer.

This is a judgment, bully-free zone. I will not tolerate anyone putting down each other for their work, much less the readers.

Further questions may be submitted through my inbox, messages, or simply submit a post.

Character list: Characters will be divided in accordance with the appropriate fandom. Feel free to add in a character on your own. Just make sure to let me know so I can accurately link your work to the subject chosen.

Harry Potter:

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Blaise Zabini

Mattheo Riddle

Theodore Nott

Sirius Black

Remus Lupin

James Potter

Criminal Minds:

Spencer Reid

Derek Morgan

Luke Alvez

Aaron Hotchner

Emily Prentiss

Jennifer "JJ" Jareau

Penelope Garcia

My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia:

Katsuki Bakugou

Eijirou Kirishima

Shoto Todoroki

Izuku Midoriya

Denki Kaminari

Tenya Iida

Touya Todoroki/Dabi

Marvel:

James "Bucky" Barnes

Steve Rogers

Sam Wilson

Loki Laufeyson

Thor Odinson

Natasha Romanoff

Outer Banks:

JJ Maybank

John B. Routledge

Pope Heyward

Rafe Cameron

Kiara Carrera

Sarah Cameron

Stranger Things:

Steve Harrington

Billy Hargrove

Jonathan Byers

Robin Buckley

Nancy Wheeler

If you want to write for any other character not mentioned on this list, once again, that's perfectly fine, just please remember to notify me.

*Notes: As everyone takes their pick, the character will be crossed off. In terms of smut written for underage characters, all characters, including readers, will be aged up to 18+.

Subjects: Subjects will be listed in terms of which categories they identify with. C/N = Character's Name.

Phrases:

"Would you like that hot or cold?"

"To stay or to go?"

"Sorry, how do you spell that?"

"I'd have to check the back."

"How will you be paying today?"

Food:

Double Espresso

Cold Brew

Irish Coffee

Witch's Coffee

Eiskaffee

Green Tea

Blueberry Muffin

Coffee Cake

Gingerbread Scones

Strawberry Shortcake

Taiyaki

Manju

Randomized:

"Table 5!"

Staring out the window on a rainy day.

That first sip of coffee on a Sunday morning.

C/N buying Y/N their items after bumping into them.

C/N being a secret admirer/stalker of Y/N (non-con).

Y/N waiting for C/N to finish their shift, vice versa.

Y/N running into C/N over and over until they finally offer to buy Y/N a coffee.

If you'd like to incorporate an element of your choice that isn't listed above, feel free to do so. As with the characters, please message me so that I'm aware.

*Note: As everyone takes their pick, the prompt will be crossed off.

Writing Guidelines: These are pretty straightforward guidelines. They will be edited if I have missed anything.

You get to control the character, plot, and setting. It is up to you in terms of how you'd like your work to come together. There are no restrictions, seeing as I want you to put your creativity forth.

All genres are welcome. Whether it's fluff, angst, or smut, I still ask that you tag everything appropriately and list any possible warnings.

All pronouns are welcome. Feel free to use any pronouns in your work regardless of what pronouns other authors are using.

Any bodily anatomy is welcome. You can choose whichever anatomy you're comfortable with.

In terms of posting your work, you can post the work on your own blog which I will then link on the masterlist that I have created.

Have fun! I want you to have as much fun as you can with this writing challenge. You're not obligated to write in any shape or form - make it unique, make it you.

Please try to use the tag 'sammy's 1k celebration' when uploading your work so that I can easily find it.

Deadlines:

Spots are available starting Sunday, July 18th.

On Sunday, August 8th, I'm hoping that we can start working on our pieces.

The deadline is Saturday, October 2nd. Anything submitted later is perfectly fine, seeing as many of us are preoccupied with school and work.

Once again all questions may be directed to my inbox, my messages, or submit a post.

Tagging a few of my writer buddies that may be interested: @belouva @writingsomewrongs @thotbutpurple @acosmis-t @eunoniaa @taylathornton @lunar-writing @chokemepansy @roonilwazlibimagines @obxjj @sortagaysortahigh @sunsetholland @cognacdelights @amourtentiaa @blessednereid @quindolyn @toxicmodernity @dracosathenaeum @dracomalfoys-wh0re @glossymalfoybackup @yourlocalmaraudersbabe @anywherebuthere @yellowsuitcase @cloudywitchh @havenpotter @happymoony @disartrous @miiamour @gryffindors-weasley @vixen @sylvielaufeydottirr @dreamy-clousds @siriusblklftv @wonderfilworld @ronsonlywhore @ronsbadidea @dreamcxtcherr @gxtitobxby @feverdreamreid @pansydaisy @amphxtrite @cupids-crystals @mrzweasley

#sammy's 1k celebration #1k milestone

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thunderbirds-are-fab · 2 years

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7, 8 and 17 😊

7. What's an episode you tend to skip?

I don’t really hate any episodes of TAG, but the one episode that comes close is Impact, for reasons that I’ve had lengthy discussions about. Basically, they bungled Ridley O’Bannon’s second appearance into a plot that frustrated me and made me hate her for acting in a way I thought was out of character for her job description for the sake of plot, and everybody got mad at EOS for no reason when she was just trying to help. I don’t like seeing the code baby being sidelined, especially knowing that they criminally underused her in Season 3.

8. Would you want to live in the 2060 portrayed by TAG?

ABSOLUTELY. It’s so nice to see a future version of our world that has HOPE in it, but realistically done. I didn’t expect a kid’s action adventure show to give that angle, but it does it really well. I’m sure I’ve said this before in a post that of course I can’t find now that I need it god dammit, but TAG makes an effort to point out the things that were wrong in the past, our present, and why they do things the way they do now in their 2060.

We destroyed the great barrier reef, and Helen Shelby restored it. We had another World War (or “global conflict”), and now military organisations work together to protect people again instead of fighting each other. We polluted the world, and oil rigs and heavy metals in the sea and trash in the ground are being cleaned up by technology we made to solve those problems that we caused.

The original 1960s series was great, but it was very much a world of it’s time. Same setup as the real world, just with commercial rockets and nuclear powered ovens in our kitchens. TAG took into account the less than perfect world we have today and gave us a version where everything turned out for the better because we worked hard to make it better. That’s an amazingly honest and motivational message for them to give their young target audience, and they really didn’t have to include it but they worked it into the whole universe of the show seamlessly.

17. Was there anything you'd have liked to see in the show that they didn't?

I literally have a meter long post sat in my drafts that’s been half written for months just about things I wish TAG had shown us and questions that got left unanswered. I really need to post that some time.

In particular, I wish they’d shown us more of what happened before and after the events that we saw in the show. I know that a lot of fans got insanely hyped for the tiny mention we got of Lucille/Mom, and any time Jeff’s past achievements were brought up. Whole fanfics have been written based on the tiniest nugget of canon history lore. Establishing a history for the characters that you’re watching right now makes them feel bigger, more grounded, deeper, more 3D... however you want to put it. It would also really have helped with incomplete characters like Kyrano, The Mechanic and the Chaos crew especially. Where the heck did those guys come and go from?

As for after, I really mean what happened after Jeff came home beyond he hugged his sons and they gave Alan a graduation ceremony on the spot. Did Captain Taylor and Colonel Casey come to see him? How did the world react? How did he react to the world after being totally isolated in space all that time??? I would really have loved it if ITV at least did some ‘slice of life’ at home on Tracy island 30 second webisodes to answer stuff like that, but it probably wouldn’t have been a good enough use of their budget. Oh well.

#thank you so much!#i've wanted to talk about these things for ages

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rivalsforlife · 3 years

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thoughts on aai2?

oh no I don’t know if I’ll be able to think of anything mean to say because I love aai2 with all my heart, it makes me feel so much.

It really feels like a love letter to Miles Edgeworth’s character and really digs into him and his motivations and history and then centers an entire game around that. The central question of “should he be a defense attorney or stay as a prosecutor?” is one that’s probably been on a lot of people’s minds since the first game when he makes that comment to Phoenix, and even moreso after T&T where he pretends to be a defense attorney on Phoenix’s behalf. And aai2 not only comes up with an answer to that but also gives justification for that answer in a way that’s extremely heartwarming and absolutely fits Miles’ ideals of Truth And Justice, as well as showing how exactly he would NOT be fit to be a defense attorney (that one dialogue in the Imprisoned Turnabout where he’s talking about finding the truth of the case and then Kay jumps in and says “but Mr. Edgeworth, remember we’re not just doing this for the truth, we’re doing it to save Simon!” meanwhile Miles... completely forgot about that.)

I feel like anyone reading this should already know that I’m going to be getting into very spoilery territory with this and I will tag it accordingly, so I’m just gonna go for it: Simon Keyes. What a villain. Not only is he a surprise villain but one that you can sort of see coming, his motivations are sympathetic and he’s an excellent foil to Miles (which the game itself points out) plus he is so so so good at targeting everyone’s emotional weakness, which is like my favourite thing from a writing standpoint, when you get to see the villain talking and they make some comment and you shout “YEAH HE HAS A POINT” in the audience. The game tries to brush it over, but I hear you, Simon, and you’re so right.

“You will focus on the truths most convenient to you to prove your argument?” That’s like basic human confirmation bias, but also something that the games tend to do a LOT, and Miles had done quite a bit of throughout the game. Kay’s found on the roof with all this evidence on her? It must be planted, there’s no way his dear little Kay could be a murderer. But once it turns against Simon, Miles isn’t as interested in saving him, he just needs to keep “turning things around” to fit his line of logic so far.

“You never really cared about saving me, you just wanted to pretend to be a defense attorney like your father?” Maybe Miles did care a bit about saving him, but it’s quite clear he’d completely abandon Simon and turn against him if it turned out the truth wasn’t on his side. Plus, he wanted to explore that history Gregory left him, the childhood dreams he’d been forced to abandon. But he has changed as a person, since then, and he can’t completely go back to the person he used to be, but he can still grow and escape the worst of himself, and take that trauma inflicted upon him and use it to fight against the corruption he was molded to perpetuate!! UGH it’s so good I am feeling things about Miles Edgeworth again.

The new characters are also excellent for developing his character. Ray is the connection to Gregory and as a result Miles’ childhood that Miles hasn’t had in such a long time, and is able to provide him with guidance on his past while challenging him on if he wants to pursue it. (Seriously, get rid of the creepy jokes and Ray would definitely be one of my favourite characters.) Justine is a parallel to AA1-Miles, still believing blindly in the system and thinking it will always dispense justice (just look at how the reveal that MvK forged evidence for a false verdict shakes her) -- she still has a strong sense of justice, but it’s restricted by her faith in the rule of law. Sebastian is like Bratworth, in a way, naïve and being used by a father-figure in order to enact their own agenda, and in the end, is forced to learn that person never had his best interests in heart and learn how to move on from that as a prosecutor, despite that person being the one who put them on the prosecutor’s path to begin with... pretty much figuring out how to reshape their destiny.

And the game doesn’t just focus on these characters, it focuses on all the bonds Miles has with these people, and also explores the various ways a parent-child bond can present itself (healthily, unhealthily, complicated or not so much, biological or adopted) and the influences of that on the children. From Miles+Greg to Sebastian+Blaise, even Franziska+MvK, Kate+Jeff, John+Justine, even Simon+Dogen vs Simon+Gustavia... the game spends so much time fleshing these out and their impacts on the people involved. It’s also just a game about human relationships in general. Miles learning how to express himself properly to say thanks, or say how much people mean to him. Miles showing actual respect for Gumshoe. Gumshoe finding his own reasons for being a detective that’s not just about helping Miles. Franziska learning how to move on from what her father did to decide her own path. Miles and Kay, I hope everyone knows how strongly I feel about Miles and Kay, that father-daughter type bond has a permanent place in my heart now. Kay, who is lost and clinging to this image of her father as a Great Thief and trying to follow in his footsteps to be a hero just like him, and then deciding in the end to make her own path in life. Sebastian feeling lost and alone and abandoned but finding the courage to stand up with the support of the people who care about him. Miles being a pillar of unwavering support for these two kids, who he can see so much of himself in, trying to set them on a better path in life. And I can’t forget Phoenix, who doesn’t ever appear and isn’t mentioned by name, but whose influence you can feel through all of Miles’ actions, as the man who saved him, who showed him the value of bonds between people, who, in essence, taught him how to love and be loved and open his heart to others again!

This game has so much love in it, it’s really about love -- platonic love, familial love, the absence of love and what affect that has on people like Simon, how love can save others from turning down darker paths, the extent that love can drive people to do ridiculous things to save those they care about, how love can change people for better or for worse, how it can be a vulnerability but also a strength. It has one of the things I really love about AA, this focus on bonds that aren’t romantic, because none of the major relationships focused on in the game are romantic but you can still feel so much love that all of these characters have for each other.

WOW this is going on a while I should probably stop. I have a lot of feelings about this game. I just wrote more instances of “love” than I ever think I have before. Um, in conclusion, I love this game? Like it has its flaws (pacing issues... all the jokes Ray makes...) but overall it’s probably the game that makes me feel the most, every single time I watch a playthrough or play it myself (totaling several times now) I just find more to love and it still always makes me feel things. I honestly don’t know if I can be objective about it haha.

#aai2 #aai2 spoilers #long post #aa rants #? it's not negative at ALL this is like tonally the complete opposite of my others #I feel too much now agh I'm going to need to lie down to process these feelings #asks

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allwaswell16 · 3 years

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5 favorites of 2020

I was tagged by @kingsofeverything & @disgruntledkittenface Thanks Lauren and Maggie!!!

RULES: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome work.

1. Until (series) - Ohhh this fic. I feel like this fic came along and saved me this year. I actually intended to write the prompt this came from (well an irl situation that @jaerie got herself into actually lol) last year and it was going to be short. But when I went to write it, all these other ideas popped up, so I shelved it and decided to write it for Big Bang. I was concerned about getting 25k out of hahahahahahahaha This series clocks in at almost 62k. My main goal was just to get to write about cowboys lol, but then it turned into a fic about finding your place in the world and how the concept of home looks different for different people. I didn’t know where to set the fic, but then a friend @big-sue suggested this area of Colorado and it just really fell into place then. I could just see it all happening once I had the location. And I just grew to love these characters so much. The side pairing of Niall/Shawn Mendes felt like it’s own side story, which I then turned into the second part of the series. These characters comforted me when I needed comfort, and as you’ll see I’m a sucker for my friends, so I wrote a third part...a wedding time stamp for @nouies who mentioned she’d like to read it. This series was an escape for me this year, and I just hoped that it could bring a little bit of comfort or escape for anyone who read it.

2. When You Know - I do this thing where I feel a need to challenge myself to write things I’ve never written before, so at the beginning of the year when my friend Laura came to me with a prompt, I decided it was just what I needed. The prompt was simple: assassin Louis and cupcake Harry. So there was a lot of room to do what I wanted with it. I’m actually really proud of how it turned out. I set out to create a certain mood with the fic, which is something I’ve been trying to work on in my writing. And I really feel like I captured just what I wanted with it.

3. Interview with the vampire - I am a huge fan of reading rare pairs, but the only rare pair I’d written before this one was Tomlinshaw. So I decided to sign up for the Louis and Men Fest and try out a different pairing. Well, I originally was going to write Louis+Cillian Murphy, but then my friend @outropeace asked for Louis+Rob Pattinson after Rob had that absurdly delightful interview with GQ. So I somehow ended up making it a/b/o and used the interview as part of it and included a plot twist. It feels like a fever dream tbh. lol. But I think I really captured Rob’s chaotic personality, so I’m pretty damn proud of it. Also, I was shocked that people actually read this, the rarest of rare pairs (it’s literally the only one in the pairing). a;lsdkfj I had low expectations for its reception, but surprisingly, some people actually read it! It has better stats than some of the other rare pair fics I wrote this year lol.

4. Over - Are you sensing a theme wherein I am weak for my friends and I write their prompts? lol. This is another one that Laura prompted me to write. I wrote this for the 1d Breakup Fest and it’s based on a viral tweet, but I changed it from strangers to lovers into exes to lovers to fit the fest. I put all my favorite things to write in this fic...exes, pining, sexual tension. And the thing I discovered while writing this was that I don’t dread writing smut anymore. I have been forcing myself to practice writing it for years, and I finally reached the point where it’s no longer hard to write. I’ve gone back to reread that part of the fic because of a few comments people had made about that part, and I realized that I’d managed to do what I always wanted to do...write smut that felt emotional and relevant to the story. And I was like, hey I did it! lol (Only took me 83 fics to get there a;lsjdkfd)

5. Hesitate - So I had finished writing for the breakup fest, and as a mod, I realized there were no rare pairs in the fest. So I decided to write a second fic for the fest (and convince @taggiecb to write one too lol) but this time a Lilo one. So I let it simmer in my mind for about a week and then sat down and wrote this pretty much right from my head, which just never happens. The whole story just spilled out of me and I just knew exactly the dynamic I wanted between them, which later I realized was probably due to long talks with @magicalrocketships about Louis. LOL. But it’s fine because she was my target audience anyway. Writing this felt so joyful, so it’s one of my favs.

I tag anyone I tagged above and also @brickredtoe @thepolourryexpress @cocoalou @mynameisrainbow @absoloutenonsense @reminiscingintherain @2tiedships2 @vintageumbroshirt @joliepetitelou

#tag things

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peppersonironi · 4 years

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Batfam/Avengers Crossover Chapter Five: The Assassins’ Bond

Tagging: @the-fair-maiden-of-fandom

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types

Relationships: Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Natasha Romanov & Damian Wayne, Clint Barton & Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tim Drake & Duke Thomas, Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent, Dick Grayson/Wally West, Roy Harper/Koriand'r/Jason Todd,

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon, Justice League (DCU), Alfred Pennyworth, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Clint Barton, Thor (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, Alfred the Cat (DCU), Bat-Cow (DCU), Goliath (DCU), Selina Kyle’s Cat Isis, Kate Kane (DCU), Duke Thomas,

Additional Tags: Batbrothers (DCU), Avengers Meet The Batfam, MCU/Batfam crossover, Crossover, no beta we die like robins, rated T for Jason’s language, I bleeped it out though. Just to be safe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, canon? What’s canon?, Deaf Clint Barton,Deaf Character, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Happy Batfamily (DCU), Birdflash and joyfire are implied/referenced,

Summary: Nat sets out on her assignment to gather information about the bats, and ends up talking with Damian.

Natasha couldn’t seem to find anyone to investigate, which was weird. Usually, when she wanted to find someone, she did. Nat hadn’t seen any of the other Avengers either, which was also strange.

So Natasha wandered the halls of the manor. She had already checked the Cave, though it was also empty.

After half an hour, Natasha turned to the gardens. She wasn’t really searching at that point, only enjoying the early afternoon breeze. But soon enough, she heard sounds of laughter.

Following it, Natsha wound through a shaded path to find a large lawn occupied by the bats, as well as Peter, Banner, and Thor.

They were in the middle of what seemed to be an extreme version of capture the flag. Nat looked for someone to talk too, but they were all invested in the game. Then she noticed Damian on the sidelines, inside a clearly marked square that must have been the ‘prison’. He looked angry, and seemed to be passing the time by doing drills with his katana. Once again, Natasha was struck by how precise he was.

"Hey kid."

Damian glanced at Natasha, clearly suspicious.

"Hello Romanoff, do you want something?''

Nat smiled. “Call me Natasha. And no, not really. You looked bored, so I thought I’d offer you some company.”

Damian scoffed and returned to his drills. Natasha sat down, and was soon joined by a large dog whom she had never seen before. "Is that your dog?" She asked.

Damian nodded stiffly. "Yes his name is Titus."

Nat looked at Titus with gentle eyes. "Hi Titus." She reached out her hand for the dog to sniff. Titus obliged, and then began to nussle her hand, quickly warming up to Nat.

Damian’s whole demeanor changed at the sight. He relaxed significantly, and even had a soft smile on his face. “He likes you," Damian said as he set his katana aside and joined Natasha on the grass.

Nat smiled right back at him as she began to pet Titus. "Titus is a great name for him. Latin right?" Damian nodded. "You know the meaning?"

Damian scoffed. "If I didn't then I wouldn't have named him Titus. An honorable dog deserves a name that literally means `title of honor’."

Nat chuckled, surprising even herself. "I like you kid, you've got spunk.” She nodded over at the now abandoned katana. Time to see what she could get out of him. “And your fighting technique is impressive."

Damian’s face became a mixture of guarded and prideful. "Of course it is, I was trained to be the best."

"Well your father sure does a good job."

Damian pursed his lips and remained silent for a moment before replying. "He didn't train me. I … was trained by my mother."

Nat looked over at him softly. “The one that Jason blames for him killing?”

Damian scowled. “Yes. My mother is responsible for bringing my brother back from the dead using the Lazarus pit which is … not quite magic. The pit induces its user with enhanced aggression, and memory loss which she utilized to manipulate Todd to her will.”

Natasha sat still for a moment. She really didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, that did partially explain Jason’s references to murder. On the other hand … the woman sounded horrible.

“Why would she do that?” Nat asked quietly.

Damian stroked Titus for a long moment before replying. “My mother is part of a group called The League of Assassins - led by my grandfather - that is dedicated to … saving the world.”

Natasha almost raised an eyebrow at that. Assassins and world-savers really didn’t seem like they would go together well.

“Not like you saved the world,” Damian continued, “But through brutal, unforgiving justice. They wish to reform civilizations across the world into total submission to my grandfather.

“So my mother took it upon herself to take in a newly raised from the dead Jason Todd, train him, and set him upon Gotham. Her point to it all was to harm my father, who is very much against League ideals.”

There was a sudden shout of triumph from the game, and the pair looked over at Tim crowing over a downed Peter Parker. They were silent for a long time, watching the game play out. Finally, Nat took it upon herself to speak.

“I never knew my parents. I grew up in a top secret Soviet-Russian training facility designed to create the perfect operatives, or assassins.” She took a breath as she looked over at Damian.

The boy had shed his smirks and scowls. His eyes were wide and innocent. There was a quality of quiet hope in his face. Like he was amazed that someone else could understand him.

“You’re like me,” he whispered. Then raised his voice slightly. “I was trained from birth. Mother and grandfather wanted me to be the heir. The perfect heir. I was taught every conceivable way to kill, to torture, to withstand any injury.” Damian was no longer looking at Natasha. His eyes showed that he was in another place. Another time.

“We were chained to the bed at night to prevent escape,” Natasha replied. “Sometimes they would make us fight to the death. To weed out the unworthy.”

“Weakness was not tolerated. The moment I made a mistake I was punished. I was to take it willingly.”

“When we trained with guns, they gave us real people to use as targets.”

“Emotions were a liability. I was to never show any, I was never to trust anyone. Not my trainors, not my servants, especially not my own mother.”

“We weren’t to trust each other either. Sometimes they would randomly order to kill your friends, and you had to. Otherwise you were killed.”

Damian sighed. “The worst part was leaving. Mother dumped me with Father - for training she said. I was to learn what I could from him. And I did, I learned a lot. But not what she wanted me to.” He looked over wistfully at his family. “I learned to trust. I had to believe I wasn’t invulnerable. I … I had to learn what it felt like to be … wanted .”

Natasha nodded at him, though he wasn’t looking at her. “Clint was sent to kill me, after I had been an operative for a while. I was the best, so people began to take notice. So S.H.I.E.L.D. sent Barton to eliminate me. But when he found me, he didn’t. He … had mercy on me. Something I had never known. He recruited me. I worked with him, and S.H.I.E.L.D. to help people instead of killing them. I had to relearn almost everything.”

They sit in a comfortable silence for a while. Neither bothering to pity the other. Just enjoying the companionship of another like them.

Then Nat spoke up again. "I'm not good with …" Natasha paused trying to find the right words. "Comfort. But, I understand"

Damian looked at her, then nodded. “I understand as well.”

They sat together for a while, looking at the game progressing. They talked about their lives, and even started to explain their families as well. Damian talked briefly about Bruce’s tragic childhood experiences, as well as Dick’s. He went into detail of Jason’s death and then resurrection. Tim’s becoming Robin. His neglectful family. Damian explained Cassandra’s past, and how Duke lost his parents. He mentioned Stephanie and Barbara, and how they joined the vigilante life as well. He didn’t go into detail, though, saying that their stories were not his to tell.

In return, Natasha talked about befriending Clint. How Steve became Captain America. How Tony built his suit. Banner’s experiments, and how he became the Hulk. How Thor found himself on Earth. What she knew of Peter, and how he became Spiderman.

“Do you trust me?” Damian asked, looking over at Nat when she had finished speaking.

Natasha smiled. “Yes. I’m assuming that’s what your goal was?”

Damian had the nerve to not look apologetic. “We may or may not have overheard your entire conversation after lunch.”

Nat nodded, she had figured as much. The Boy had been almost a bit too loose lipped in the beginning. But she could tell that as the conversation went on, he spoke freely because he wanted to, and not because he was trying to supply info.

“Did you draw the short straw?” Natasha asked.

Damian scowled. “T-t, no. Father said that if any of you were to question us or our motives, we should hold nothing back. You had the nerve to approach me first.”

Natasha laughed freely and ruffled the boy’s hair. He frowned, but didn’t push her hand away.

“Do you trust me now?” He asked, tentatively.

Natasha paused and tilted her head. “Yes, I think I do. You didn’t lie to me, I know that.” Damian rolled his eyes, and Natasha smirked a bit. “But also, you and I are similar. I don’t think I could distrust you if I tried.”

Damian nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Good, I would not want to disappoint Father.”

Natasha smiled. “I don’t think he would be disappointed if I didn’t trust you. He seems quite reasonable.”

Damian outright snorted. “Say that again when I have a slight cold and he won’t let me on patrol. He can be quite unreasonable in mother-hen mode. Not unlike Grayson, unfortunately.”

Nat chuckled. “He loves you. That’s important.” There was another shout of victory from the field, then Natasha continued. “What about me? Trust goes both ways, you know.”

Damian frowned in concentration. “Yes, I believe you have earned some trust. I don’t know about Stark though, he seems … unstable.”

Natasha couldn’t help but outright laugh at that statement. After a moment of surprise, Damian joined in.

“That,” Natasha said between huge gasps of laughter, “Is by far the best thing I have heard in a long time.”

“Do you deny it?” Damian asked.

Natasha was almost crying from laughter. “No, not in a million years.”

Damian smiled at Nat. “Thank you, Romanoff. For talking. I believe you will make a valuable ally.”

“Call me Natasha, kid. Or Nat. Or Tasha. I don’t care. But not Romanoff. Friends aren’t so formal.”

Damian furrowed his brows for a moment before relaxing. “Very well, Tasha. We are now friends?”

Natasha smiled at Damian. “If you want to be.”

The boy pet Titus for a few thoughtful moments. “Very well. I accept. Together, we shall be a formidable force.”

Nat chuckled, ruffling the kid’s hair once again. This time, he didn’t bother frowning.

Just then, a voice called from the field. They both looked over to find Dick running up to them. “Dami! I’m so sorry! I thought someone had gotten you out! Well, the game’s over. Want to join in the next round?”

“T-t. Of course you forgot. If this had been in the field, I could have been killed by now.”

Dick smiled easily at his little brother. “So, what do you say?”

Damian glanced at Nat before replying. “Very well, I shall partake once again in your childish games, Grayson.” Then he smirked. “But I demand that Tasha be on my team. Since you are clearly untrustworthy.”

Dick looked curiously over at Natasha, a small smile on his face. “Sure Lil’ D. Let’s go.”

He motioned for the pair to follow him, then turned and ran off back toward the field.

Damian looked over at Nat. “You will be on my team?” He looked like he was trying to hide how hopeful he was.

Natasha got up and offered her hand to Damian. “Together, we shall be a formidable force, right?”

Damian grinned at her and accepted her hand. “Our reign of terror shall be legendary.”

#Avengers Meet The Batfam #dc/marvel crossover #batfam #avengers #batfam shenanigans #Natasha Romanov & Damian Wayne #natasha romanoff #damian wayne #Titus

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drink-n-watch · 5 years

Text

Hello boys and girls. I hope you are having a great day. Healthy, happy and well rested. For my part, I’m still struggling to get that last one under control after that wonderful horrible thing that happened at the convention. What thing you ask? Well I’m so very glad you did ask! It would have been a really short post otherwise. Sit back, relax: let me paint you a mind picture.

do I have your attention now?

A little while ago, I dragged Mel out of Anime land where she’s been… Well… You’ve read the fanfics… To attend Otakuthon with me. It worked. Yay! I’m generally ambivalent about conventions but I’m glad I went. It was fun. And exhausting. Funny how those two things so often go together. Like most conventions, Otakuthon has a large amount of artists from all over coming together to sell goods. The special part is that unlike in US cons, you can hear them talk in French which is entertaining… I’m not a very nice person. I must say though, most did a wonderful job no matter what they may think!

Mel and I decided to do a tour in the artists’ alley (that’s how it’s called but it’s more like an artists’ gymnasium), on Friday evening after work. No big thing, I had been up since 5 and I really just wanted to scout out the place before going back the next day. I was successful! In one of the back rows, a pleasant and clearly very talented young lady was displaying her prints for sale (side note: there were so so many prints guys, it made me consider putting in more walls….) which caught our eye and we went in for a closer look.

This sounds like a casual venture but you need to fight your way through hordes of fans, occasionally in pointy and dangerous looking cosplay, to get anywhere near the booths, let alone buy something. Moreover with my vertically challenged state I really need to have a front row view. As I try to avoid touching strangers, this closer look involved a series of acrobatics, getting on my tippytoes and trying to figure out how to stretch my neck like a rokurokubi while working hard on giving off an intimidating aura to make people part before me. I’d like to think it’s the aura that did the trick.

there’s no way this can go wrong

When we finally reached the booth, victorious, Mel bought some stuff and I admired the images on display. Off to one side there were a few BL and Yuri prints that caught my eye. The images were lighthearted and loving. I didn’t recognize any characters but the BL one’s were labelled 19 days while the ladies sported a neat little tag with the words “their story”. I made a mental note, hoping it wasn’t original art work and moved on.

Friday evenings are busy for me. No no, not with social outings and tons of friends, you silly! Friday evenings are when I finish up the Given collabs with Karandi and put the gallery post together to go out on Saturdays. It’s also when I watch DanMachi, Dr. Stone, Granbelm and Fire Force and review them all (or as many as I can before passing out). Coming home late means it was around 11 when I was done watching and had to start on writing. Keeping in mind that I had been up since 5 and had a full Saturday planned. I got through 2 reviews before giving up and calling it a night.

That’s when I got the bright idea to read a little something before bed. I remembered the prints and got to googling! 19 days is indeed a rather popular Chinese you series. It’s artistic and a lot of it has no dialogue. It’s in my to read pile. Their story is also a Chinese webtoon (alternate or original title: Tamen De Gushi) about two girls finding each other and it devoured me.

I had to force myself to close my computer early Saturday morning when I got to chapter 130. I finished up the remaining 63 chapters when I got up a few hours later. It’s an ongoing series and believe you me that I will be keeping up with it!

anytime, anywhere

I read a lot of webtoons, doujin and even more traditional manga but I rarely talk about them on my blog. I also rarely give up my sleep on the one weekend I actually have to stick to a schedule in order to read something I could finish anytime. So why is Their Story different?

That’s an impossible question to answer. The short and most accurate response is : I like it. I really like it. The longer one is that it has great pacing and a good sense of humour. The narrative respects the characters which are all well crafted and complex while remaining realistic and consistent. They are recognizable as people you may be friends with but just a bit more fun since you only hear about the adventures. The discovery of sexuality and social pressure is modernizes, told from a contemporary setting where a lot has changed and the stigmas aren’t the same but some things are still painfully old fashioned. Their Story is a coming of age from the point of view of modern young women and we don’t get enough of those. And it is also absolutely heartwarming. Not everything needs to be tragic and sometimes we can manage to cut ourselves on the softest things.

I didn’t do a good job. I’m still trying to get back those lost sleep hours. Ok, let me just give you this one random chapter as an example:

This chapter isn’t directly related to the story so there are no spoilers here, but the general theme has a connection with an earlier arc. It’s obviously feminist and if that annoys you…well you probably have given up on my blog a long time ago cause I am way more annoying than Their Story. I don’t see that many webtoons trying to make these points. Their story is fairly innocent and could easily be targeted at a younger audience. An audience that might not have completely acknowledged these realities. It made me so happy to think that somewhere a 13 year old saw this and thought, I never thought about it nut that’s sort of true…it kinda sucks. I also don’t think this story is particularly targeted to girls, as such the more personal perspective is even more interesting.

And a chapter like this works only because the author spend 180 chapters before it making us laugh and worry and fall in love with the characters. It’s not a message manga it’s a story that occasionally has something to say beyond it’s own fiction. Have I mentioned it’s adorable. Ok. Let me try again, here is one of the early chapters…..

I hope this has wetted (yes, this one time the error is on purpose) your appetite enough. It really is a great webtoon. Unless you are opposed to Yuri for some reason, I recommend you give it a try.

For my part, I scrapped myself together best I could, trying to make myself look somewhat presentable for the con and went right back to spend an entire day walking in heels on a few hours sleep. When I got back to that booth I told this entire tale of woe to the poor confused artist and openly blamed her for my sleep deprivation. Then I bought the Their Story print. here it is. I love it. Thank you..

I Ruin My Sleep Schedule Again, This Time With Yuri! Hello boys and girls. I hope you are having a great day. Healthy, happy and well rested.

#love #manga #romance #Their Story #wow #Yuri

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fishylife · 5 years

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spoilers for longest day in chang’an ep 23 and 24

I’m halfway through the show and I think that this was a big turning point. Li Bi is no longer in his lofty tower with his crew of intellectuals and now must rely on himself. Same with every other character because now 朝廷 is far too messy and no one can wholly rely on any authority figure.

I knew that Cui Qi was going to die halfway through the show because I spoiled myself like a dumbass. So it wasn’t surprising that it happened. However, I did think that the sequence of scenes could have been a little better executed.

Cui Qi had been wavering between career ambitions and loyalty to the Jingansi for a few episodes, but before episode 23, he’d basically accepted the higher ranking general spot with the 右相. Only in episode 22/23 did he return to Jingansi, but it didn’t really feel like he was returning because he needed to do right by his brother. It just felt like he was returning because he thought it was the right thing to do, and he was bound by morality rather than by love.

The fight scene itself was okay. It wasn’t as refined as some of Zhang Xiaojing’s, but Cui Qi is a more gritty dude, considering his weapon of choice was twin maces. By the way, I was really banking on him whipping out his signature weapon at the very end, because at the very least, he needed to be true to himself.

I’m not totally certain on why Long Bo decided to grant that bit of leniency based on Cui Qi having served in the same squad as him. Anyway, at his death, first Cui Qi had a bite of his bread, which was a tribute to his brother (if I remember correctly), and then on the tag, he wrote Chang’An, which I guess was his other ambition in life, to be there for the people of the city.

During the scene in which Long Bo attacked Jingansi, I thought that Jackson Yee’s performance wasn’t as good as it should have been for such a turning point for Li Bi. When his team was being attacked, Li Bi yelled for the guards, for anybody to help, but they were alone. Li Bi’s dialogue showed his helplessness and his shock, but the delivery just wasn’t there. It really didn’t feel like those words came from the heart like they were supposed to. The words that were said by Li Bi were not the rational, precise words that we would usually hear from Li Bi. They were desperate words by a boy who was mildly panicking.

Just a side note, Li Bi had called all the scholars back to Jingansi and they were hanging out having goodies before they started working. When they saw Li Bi had arrived, they all scurried over to him and offered him treats. I thought that little part was cute; despite Li Bi technically being their supervisor, I think the scholars, especially the older ones, were perhaps fond of him like a son that they were proud of for being so successful. And when Long Bo had arrived, they were all desperately trying to get Li Bi to hide. Part of that was definitely loyalty, but I think some of that was due to love too.

After the fire, Li Bi went on his own to follow Long Bo, so he’s really on his own now. Li Bi was caught following and taken back to the hideout. I think Long Bo and Wen Ran might try to play mind games with Li Bi, whereas Yu Chang will probably try to beat him up because she’s not so subtle. Somewhere along the way, He Fu may show up. I think if Li Bi talks to any of the four of those characters, we will be able to find out more about their back story. The info they tell Li Bi may not necessarily be that helpful to him, but it would mean something to the audience since we’ve seen more of those characters than Li Bi has.

Now that it’s been established that Tan Qi and Zhang Xiaojing are an item, I’m worried that Tan Qi might be relegated to the “love interest” role. Before, Tan Qi was an extension of Jingansi and despite being a slave, had her own agency and even some authority when acting on Li Bi’s orders. She’s been assigned by Li Bi to help Zhang Xiaojing, but I was pretty sure Zhang Xiaojing could have managed on his own. I think perhaps Li Bi just wanted to have eyes on Zhang Xiaojing, especially because it might’ve been hard for the people in the signalling towers to keep track of him during the festival. Along with the Christian deacon, their first task involved confronting that guy who used to be Zhang Xiaojing’s friend in the army. However, as we could see in that scene though, the deacon and Tan Qi were sort of in the way of Zhang Xiaojing getting real information out. I hope we don’t get more of those scenes. I want to see Tan Qi doing real substantive work, like we know she can.

While I enjoy the Christian deacon as a sort of comedic relief character, as well as a character who had some parkour scenes, I hope he’s more than just a tag along character to Zhang Xiaojing, and that he is able to contribute more to the investigative side of the story.

It seems like the Crown Prince asked 右相 Lin Jiulang to investigate the fire at Jingansi on his behalf. It seemed like Lin Jiulang just wanted to get the matter off of his hands and called on Ji Wen to find the culprit as soon as possible. Ji Wen used the easiest target and pinned Zhang Xiaojing as the culprit of the fire and also of everything bad that had happened that day, including the kidnapping of Wang Yunxiu.

Now I think Jingansi will become the battlefield of the Crown Prince and Lin Jiulang in the sense that they will use Jingansi as a pawn against each other. In a weird sequence of events, Yao Runeng has sort of become the representative of the scholars of the Jingansi. He was with them from the beginning of the investigation (sort of) so I guess they expected him to stand up for them. He didn’t, and he told the scholars that they have to heed Lin Jiulang’s words, but I think he also did it for self preservation, and the preservation of the scholars’ lives. Yuan Zai had warned Yao Runeng when he was going to confront Ji Wen, but I think Yao Runeng also did want to protect the scholars too. The past few episodes were sort of a coming out for Yao Runeng; he’s stopped being so scared all the time, just wanting to survive and live the rest of his life doing nothing. Instead, I think he realizes that he has a calling here. First it was joining the battle at Jingansi, although he did it a bit late. But I think he will do a bit of his own political maneuvering to get more information, rescue Li Bi, and/or help out Zhang Xiaojing where needed.

It looks like Yuan Zai has become Lin Jiulang and Ji Wen’s default guy to carry out their bidding. However, I refuse to accept that Yuan Zai does not have his own agenda. He has definitely kept Wang Yunxiu with him for political protection. Nobody wanted to let anything happen to her because that would enrage her father, so as a result Yuan Zai himself could be protected too. I also worry that Wang Yunxiu has become a character with no agency. Her only role so far was to get kidnapped, and she’s technically been kidnapped by Yuan Zai too. Like I know Yuan Zai has been treating her well, but as I mentioned about, it really seems like he kept her for political reasons rather than because he actually likes her company.

General Guo’s been getting more scenes in the past few episodes, with all the messages he’s been delivering to Lin Jiulang, as well as the behind-the-scenes stuff he’s been helping Li Bi with. I wonder if he’s going to continue helping Li Bi.

There’s still a question mark for Wen Ran in terms of how she fits into all of this. We’re probably going to learn more about Zhang Xiaojing’s history with his squadmates, and I think Wen Ran is related to that somehow, considering how her dad died a very strange death in Chang’an.

We also need to find out how Wen Ran and Long Bo are related, to the point that Long Bo considers her his family, and that he’d planned the attack for her.

I think we will also learn more about He Fu’s back story, and maybe more about what exactly Lin Jiulang did to destroy his family.

I think Lin Jiulang, who was portrayed as the big bad in the beginning and still sort of is, will kind of move to the sidelines. I don’t really think he’s the big bad here. I think he’s just acting out of self interest, rather than anything more sinister than that.

We still haven’t even seen the emperor. From what I’ve seen and heard, it seems like his presence was a little underwhelming, which I get, because we’ve already bonded with all of the other characters already.

I really want to see more of the Crown Prince. I’m pretty sure he has a close relationship with Li Bi, considering Yao Runeng said that he used to supervise them learning and training together when they were younger. However, this Crown Prince isn’t particularly evil or conniving and just seems like a normal dude who’s trying his best. So I want to see how he does his part to help Chang’an, or if he just succumbs to going with the flow of 朝廷.

Yeah, so this half way point was a big change in atmosphere to the story. For one thing, now it’s night time so all the buildings and architecture just feel different. But as I mentioned, Li Bi is on his own so he doesn’t have Xu Bin or his other scholars to give him more information. Now he really has to rely on not only his own smarts, but his own position and reputation (or what remains of it) to not only get out of Long Bo’s grasp, but probably try to get help from 朝廷.

I’m mentally preparing myself because as some people said, the episodes later on get really draggy. But I’m still excited to see how everything unfolds. I’m also excited to see my favourite characters overcome their challenges.

I’m really falling in love with Chang’an the city, which is first and foremost the main character of the story, let’s be real here. All the characters speak about Chang’an like it’s a spirit or treasure to be protected, and they’re right. What they have in Chang’an is so special. Ahhh I’m trying to be cautiously optimistic but I really am excited.

#thinking out loud #thoughts #tv #the longest day in chang'an #長安十二時辰

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speed-seo · 2 months

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4 Key Pillars For Creating An Effective Content Marketing Strategy

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khadij-al-kubra · 6 years

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Can I Bar-row Your Attend-tion (ch. 5)

Pairing: Roman/Patton

Characters: Roman, Patton, Logan, Virgil, Thomas, Dio (Deceit), (OC)

Word Count: (Eh, I give up XD)

Summary: Roman and Patton are two bartenders at a local bar & grill with some serious chemistry. However, the only people who don’t realize it are each other, and one of them is in a relationship…on the rocks.

Author’s Note: Hey friends! This is it. The Final chapter! I know it’s been forever and I am SO SORRY!! Thank you so much for your patience and for sticking with the story ‘till the end. I am SO grateful to you all!! It means so much to me that you all enjoyed my writing, more so than you could know! If you’d like to be in the tag list for any other works I may write in the future, please let me know. If not, no worries! Just knowing that this story was able to make people smile and laugh is enough for me. And as always feel free to leave a comment in the messages or reply if you have any notes or constructive critiques. I’m always open to writing advice. Enjoy!

<--PREVIOUS

Chapter 5: Make it a Double (POV- Roman)

“Greetings hungry and thirsty patrons! Logan, I got your text and lucky for you my rehearsal got out early tonight. Apparently the director ate a bad—“

Roman had expected it to be a busy night at the bar & grill. He had expected everyone to be a bit wound up and stressed from work. The last thing he ever expected to see when he walked through the door was Patton in front of the bar crying in Virgil’s arms. The sweet man before him, the object of his affections and who always wore a smile, looked so broken and vulnerable before him.

It shattered Roman’s heart.

He rushed to Patton’s side immediately and gently cupped the other bartender’s face in his hands. Roman tried to wipe away some of the stray tears with his thumbs. They did not belong there.

“Patton, what’s wrong?” Roman asked. “Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you? Are you sick?”

Patton didn’t seem to be injured yet his wracked sobs continued as he shook his head. The sight of his beloved so distraught twisted Roman’s chest and made him want nothing more than to fight whatever had cause Patton so much pain.

“Virgil, what on earth happened!?” he asked, turning anxiously towards his friend.

Virgil signed. “You’re not gonna like this…”

Roman listened as Virgil filled him in on what he’d witnessed in Archwood Park. How he’d spotted Dio kissing someone else, proof that he’d been cheating on Patton for who knows how long, and how Virgil immediately went to Sanders’ to tell Patton the truth as gently as possible. It wasn’t that Roman couldn’t believe that Dio was capable of cheating. Far from it to be honest; after all, both Roman and especially Virgil had good instincts about people and neither had ever liked the dancer. What shocked and revolted Roman was the fact that Dio had been so villainous as to do such a thing to someone as kindhearted and loving as Patton. Poor sweet Patton who would never hurt so much as a fly; heck, he would likely nurse one back to health. How DARE he betray the trust of my precious Patton!

It took every ounce of strength not to erupt in righteous fury then and there. Right now Patton needed him. He took a breath to quell his anger for the moment and stepped back to properly look Patton in the eyes with all the tenderness he could convey. Although his honey eyes were waters and his freckled face blotchy, Patton still looked to Roman like the most sublime creature in existence. Roman searched for the right words to best comfort Patton, to reassure him that he deserved so much better that this act of betrayal, that we was worthy of the most true and faithful love.

Before he could however, Patton caught him in an embrace with such force that he had to take a step or two to regain footing. The heat rose to Roman’s cheeks. Sure they’d hugged before, but never so intensely as this. He could feel Patton trembling as he cried. Screw not crossing any lines. Roman wrapped his arms around Patton and held his trembling figure close, stroking fingers through his soft wavy hair in the hopes of soothing his wounded heart. Patton…can you feel how much I love you? And he did love Patton, so very much…and he would avenge his love’s broken heart even if it was the last thing he did.

Reluctantly, he pulled away. Roman took Patton’s hand and kissed it before nodding to Virgil. ‘Take care of him for me,’ he mouthed, and Virgil nodded back ‘I will’. Reassured that Patton would be in good hands, Roman turned to the door, clenching his fists.

“I’m going to kill that creep.” Roman marched forward, a man on a mission.

“Roman where are you going? You just got here,” said Logan.

“Sorry boss. I’ve got a knuckle sandwich to deliver!”

Roman held tight to his anger as he walked out the door, barely registering that Patton had called out to him.

He held onto his anger as he got into his car and drove over to Archwood Park where his co-worker has often mentioned that his boyfriend (ugh! he doesn’t deserve that honor!) often performed at this time of night.

He held onto his anger when he parked his car in a 24 hour spot, just in case things got ugly and he hoped they would get ugly for a certain snaked faced prick.

He held onto his anger when he marched through the park until he found his target in question, surrounded by a small audience that watched him breakdance and contorted his shoulder in a crude fashion. Roman shuddered, disturbed. I’ll never understand what Patton saw in him.

He just barely held onto his coiled up rage until he forced his way through the crowd and finally unleashed the full force of it through his fist onto Dio’s tattooed face.

“THAT IS FOR PATTON!” Roman shouted.

The crowd around them gasped. Some took out their phones. Roman took great pleasure in seeing the look of surprise and pain on the dancer’s face as the force of the blow knocked him to the ground.

“What the HELL was that about, Prince?” asked Dio, wiping the blood from his lip. A bruise was already blossoming on his cheekbone.

“You STAY AWAY from my Patton, you lying, cheating, slimy SCUMBAG!”

Dio stood wobbly back up and straightened his bowler hat. “Why does everybody call me slimy? I’m not! I just have large sweat glands.”

“You betrayed the trust of your boyfriend, the most pure hearted person on the planet, and cheated on him with some other man. You’re a two faces LIAR and that is what makes you a slimy boi, you villainous serpent!”

“Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. Roman saw with satisfaction that he’d managed to chip a tooth. “But he isn’t your Patton, and you’re interrupting my performance. So why don’t you do yourself a favor and—“

“The only favor I’m doing,” said Roman, grabbing him by the shirt, “is telling you one last time. Stay. Away. From Patton!”

“Wait, Patton from that old dive bar downtown?” said an audience member.

“That really sweet guy from Sanders’?”

“This guy cheated on him?”

Dio looked nervously around as his audience went from cheering for him and tossing dollars into his hat to whispering about him. He was really sweating now.

“No way to save face now.” Roman smirked up at Dio as he looked around him frantically. “Can’t lie your way out of this one you son of a—”

A fast and painful knee to the side from Dio silenced Roman. He let the other guy go and clutched his stomach in pain. That was definitely going to bruise later. At least he didn’t get me in the face.

“What I do in my private life and relationship is non of your business. Besides, Patton will never believe you over me. He trusts me too much. It’s not like we both don’t know he’s a naïve lovesick—“

Roman tackled him to the ground. “YOU AREN’T WORTHY OF PATTON’S LOVE!”

Roman and Dio rolled on the hard concrete ground trading blows. Dio was fast but the actor was stronger and madder, so he landed more hits than the dancer beneath him. He got some good shots to the ribs that would surely leave his pale form black and blue for days, as well as a nice shot to the eye. Dio got in some scrapes and gave Roman a split lip (he did manage to get the face), but by the time someone pulled Roman off him Dio was the worse for wear.

“Alright, alright, break it up!” Roman turned and, to his dread, saw that the voice belonged to a park police officer. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Officer,” said Dio, who was also being held up by another policeman. “This crazy stranger just came out of nowhere and assaulted me! Arrest—ow.”

“Stranger? You’ve known me for months you liar!” Roman scoffed. “And I did not assault him for no reason, officer. I came here to defend the honor of my friend, whom he has been cheating on! If anyone deserves to be arrested it’s him for crimes against love and all that is decent!”

“Enough!” said the female officer holding him back. “Did anyone see who threw the first punch?”

The crowd of onlookers seemed, for the most part, to be on Roman’s side more than Dio’s. Roman even recognized one or two faces from the bar. However, no one wanted to lie to the police so they mumbled and reluctantly pointed to Roman. That was enough for the officer.

“That settles it. Looks like I have to take you down to the station. Officer Hobs, looks like that one needs a doctor, so make sure he finds a ride. Show’s over folks.”

The officer placed her handcuffs on him, lead him to her car nearby, and read Roman his rights. Sufficed to say, it was the most terrifying drive of Roman’s life. Ohhh sweet Sondheim, I’ve really gotten myself into trouble this time. Even so, he couldn’t help thinking that it was worth it. At least, he hoped it would be…

…They soon arrived at the police station, yet to Roman it all felt a bit unreal. Having his mug shot taken (worst headshots ever), taking his thumb print, giving them his personal information, and having the handcuffs removed when brought to a grey walled room. It was only when he was sitting beneath those fluorescent lights and saw his battered reflection in the double sided window/mirror (sweet mother of hairbrushes, what was his hair!?) that it hit Roman just how much shit he’d landed himself into.

“Listen, I can explain—I didn’t mean—don’t I get a phone call or something?” Roman rambled nervously.

“No,” said Officer (according to her badge) Rivera. “Personal calls are restricted to persons in custody and questioning…Relax kid, this isn’t Law & Order. I’m just going to ask you a few simple questions and have you explain to me in full detail what happened and why. Clear?”

Roman gulped. “Crystal.”

So he answered her questions first. Then he told Officer Rivera about his day, told her about Patton and his relationship with Dio as well as his own personal feelings for Patton. She took notes in her pad as he spoke and didn’t seem very partial to whatever he said in his defense. However, when he got to the part about Virgil and his discovery of Dio’s infidelity, it seemed to strike a chord with her. True, the officer hid it behind a professional demeanor, but Roman was a good enough actor to catch subtle expression changes in other people.

“So that’s what happened,” Roman finished with a deep breath. “Am I…going to jail?”

Officer Rivera finished jotting her notes and steepled her fingers before answering. Good lord this woman knows how to leave you in suspense.

“Ordinarily you’d be tried under charges of assault.” That sent a chill up his spike. “However, the other guy didn’t make any official charges against you and since there were no reliable witnesses or officers on scene at the time, this could be classified as a misdemeanor. Which we don’t make arrests for. So you won’t be prosecuted.”

Roman released the breath he’d held. “Oh thank goodness!”

“That being said we’ll still have to keep you here overnight as protocol. Unless you can pay the fine for bail.”

“I’m a part-time bartender and community theater actor. Do I seem like I have that kind of money?”

“Wait, community theatre?” At this she let her impartial police demeanor slip. She looked down at the file with his man on it. “Roman Prince…You wouldn’t happen to be part of the RENT production going on, would you?”

“Uhh I am?”

“You wouldn’t happen to be friends with my daughter Krystal, would you?”

“Why yes, she’s out Mimi—Wait, you’re Krystal’s mother?” Didn’t see that coming.

“I am. So you’re the new friend that she keeps talking about. My daughter says you’ve got quite the acting chops, and that you’re a pretty stand-up guy.”

“Well, I think you’re daughter is pretty fantastic too. Probably one of the best actors I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Not to mention one of the best singers I’ve ever heard. I mean seriously, she can hit an A about high C! Do you know how HARD that is? She’s SO talented!”

The policewoman chuckled. “She did say you were pretty over the top. And yeah, that she is.”

Officer Rivera seemed to be regarding Roman in a new light. He shifted awkwardly in his metal chair as she stared him down, drumming her fingers on the table. Then she sighed loudly.

“So, technically you aren’t allowed to make any calls…I on the other had am free to,” she said. “So, if I happened to know the number of a certain family member of yours or a friends or…”

She slyly slid a piece of paper and her pen across the table to him. Ohhh! Catching on, Roman wrote down the number of Sanders. It was one of the few phone numbers he’d remembered off the top of his head (they’d confiscated his cell phone along with his wallet), and surely Thomas or Logan would still be there at least. Ah geez, he is not going to be happy about this. He finished and slid the paper back over.

“I can’t thank you enough Officer Rivera ma’am.”

“Don’t thank me yet. I’ll see what I can do. Meanwhile, I’ve gotta take you to a holding cell here for a little while. Don’t panic, it’s not a jail cell. Think of it as a really small boring waiting room.”

Roman nodded his understanding and allowed her to take him to a small room with one crosshatched window on the metal door. With an apologetic face, Officer Rivera locked him in. He looked around at the grey stained walls and dented metal bench against the wall. Might as well have a seat. The bench was cold and uncomfortable, yet as tired as Roman felt he could’ve probably taken a nap then and there. That is, if he wasn’t feeling the aches from his fight setting in on him finally.

All the adrenaline and anger form before was gone, leaving him all aware of the bruise on his side, the scraped skin of his knuckles and the iron taste of dried blood on his cut lip. It was worth it. It was SO worth getting to punch Dio in his stupid face. At least, that’s what Roman kept telling himself. Being in such a solitary quiet place gave him too much time to think about whether or not he had acted too rashly. Yes he has done it with the intent to defend Patton’s honor, but was there a bit of selfishness to it as well? After all, he’d never liked that Dio got to be Patton’s boyfriend and not him. Was it really right of him to have stepped in on Patton’s personal life like that? And what would Patton think of him after he found out Roman had basically kicked his boyfriend’s ass, even if it was for good reason? The first thing Roman would do once he got out of this place is apologize to Patton.

If I get out of this place…

…Roman must have dozed off at some point for a bit. He was suddenly jarred awake by the screeching sound of a metal door unlocking. He sat up with a grunt.

“Prince, you made bail,” said Officer Rivera.

“Wait, really? But who—“

Before he could finish Logan stepped in from behind the policewoman’s back. Roman had never been happier to see his stoic face.

“Logan?”

“Roman. How are you?” asked Logan, scanning Roman’s injuries. “I apologize I was unable to come sooner. I had to stop at the bank first.”

The tone of his voice revealed how concerned he truly was. No doubt Roman must have looked a wreck. He gave Logan a guilty half smile as he stood up from the hard bench and met him at the door.

“Trust me, I look worse than I feel. A lot better than I left Dio looking,” he said.

Logan nodded to him and, to Roman’s surprise, gave a flickered grin. “Good.”

Logan turned to Officer Rivera. “Since I made the payment in cash to your chief officer, I trust he won’t be called in again?”

“Given that there wasn’t any police witness at the scene it could be classified as a minor offence. Besides, the other guy neglected to place any official charges against your friend, so as far as we’re concerned he’s free to go.”

“Thanks again Officer,” said Roman. “If there’s any way I can repay you, I shall.”

“It was no trouble. Just tell my daughter to call her mother more often,” she said with a wink.

“Consider it done.”

He gave a mock bow that made her chuckle deeply and Logan rolled his eyes. That is, until they saw how Roman winced from the motion. Guess Dio had put more of a dent in him that he’d realized.

“We should get going Roman,” said Logan. “Thomas, Virgil and Patton are waiting back at the bar & grill. I have my car.”

They retrieved Romans things before leaving the police station and headed to Logan’s parked Volkswagen. Logan filled him in on what had occurred at Sanders after he’d stormed out. How he’d closed up early, the way their regulars had stood up and vouched for Logan and getting the call from the police station. It left Roman both surprised and in awe. He knew that their customers were loyal, but it warmed his heart to hear just how much. Not to mention the way Logan had put himself out there for his employees. Guess the cyborg had a heart after all. Roman always suspected as much.

When Officer Rivera said she’s make a call to Sanders’ for him, he’d thought that Thomas or maybe Virgil would be the ones to come to the station, even if the couldn’t get him out. Roman never expected his boss and friend to be the one to come to his rescue, let alone go above and beyond by paying what must have been quite the pricey bail. He’d never be able to repay him enough.

“Logan,” said Roman. “I didn’t get to properly thank you back there. For what you did, I mean. Paying my bail like that, it was, I can’t thank you eno—“

“Just for the record, the price of bail will be coming incrementally out of your next few paychecks,” said Logan. “And I do not care if we are friends. If you ever pull such an impulsive stunt like that again, even if it was for a noble reason, I will NOT let it slide and I WILL be forced to have you find work elsewhere. Understood?”

There was a stern bite to each word that came out of his mouth, and Roman couldn’t help shrinking a bit in the passengers seat. It felt like when he was scolded by his mother as a young boy for standing on the dinning room table reciting soliloquies.

Roman gulped. “Clear as crystal.”

“Good,” said Logan. After a pause he turned to Roman on a stoplight and his face actually softened up again. “Speaking outside of being your boss, however…that was a noble thing you did. Defending Patton’s honor.”

“Wow…Thanks specs,” said Roman, humbled.

“Of course,” Logan said, with a smile. Then he turned back to the road. “Once I had learned the details of the reason behind your sudden departure and Patton’s distress at the hands of Dio, I too had the urge to smite him down like the hand of God. Albeit in a much less physical manner than you opted for.”

Roman gulped when he caught the icy glint behind his glasses. He made a mental note to never get on Logan’s bad side.

“So, we are friends then?” Roman asked teasingly.

“That was the impression I’ve been operating under. However much I attempt to remain impartial during business hours.”

“Come on poindexter, you love us. Admit it. You’re a big ol’ softy.”

“Falsehood.” Logan couldn’t hide his faint blush.

Roman laughed. “So, as friends, can I ask you something that I’ve always been curious about?”

“Of course,” said Logan, keeping one hand on the steering wheel as he pushed back up his glasses.

“Why did you decide to own a bar and grill? I mean with your brains I would’ve imagined you’d want to be some sort of teacher or a chemist or something.”

Roman was afraid he had stepped too far into personal territory. However, Logan simply smiled and even gave a low chuckle.

“I can understand why you would think that, and truth be told I had considered being a mathematician for a long time.”

“So why a restaurant owner?”

After a pause Logan said, “As you know, I have aspergers syndrome, and as such I have never been the best at picking up on social cues or reading people. That doesn’t mean I have no desire to connect with people, it just makes it more difficult. Growing up, people were like a puzzle that I need to solve—that I wanted to understand and connect with better.”

Logan made a turn signal before continuing. Gee, the ride from Sanders to the park to the police station hadn’t felt half as long to Roman the first time around. Then again, I guess time moves a bit differently while in the back of a police car.

“Something I learned from growing up in a large family–aside from the fact that little brothers are demons–was that people seem to connect more openly over a shared meal in a comfortable environment. Thus over time I thought to myself, what better way to combine my love of mathematics and my desire to better observe and understand others than by operating my own business, specifically a food establishment? So I earned my GED, bought Sanders from an old family friend, and turned it into a bar & grill.”

“And…did you get what you wanted out of it?”

“Indeed. Running Sanders’ and familiarizing myself with our customers has helped me to connect with people better than I ever could have. Tonight was proof of this. Granted the lot of you exacerbate me to no end some days but…becoming friends with you, Joan, Talyn, Virgil, Thomas and Patton especially has helped me tremendously in this regard.”

He noticed how Logan had made no attempt to hide the warmth behind those words and even smiled more openly than he’d ever seen. Perhaps it was because they were speaking outside of work that he’d let himself do so. Here he wasn’t Logan the boss man, he was Logan the friend. Either way, Roman had never felt closer to the big nerd. However, the mention of Patton brought Roman back to reality.

“How…how is Patton? Did he say anything when I left?” Roman asked. “About…me?”

Logan breathed out through his nose. “It’s difficult to say. He was a 9 on the emotional pain scale regarding Dio’s betrayal, and he seemed distraught over you after hearing about your temporary incarceration. I can only imagine how he will react upon seeing your current state.”

Roman gulped at hearing his fears confirmed and silently cursed his own impulsiveness. He didn’t regret throttling Dio, but the last thing Roman had wanted was to cause Patton further pain, yet he did just that. Still, he had to face Patton eventually. They rode in silence the rest of the way.

“Oh Patton,” he whispered to himself, “please forgive me.”

* * * * *

They got back to Sanders about 15 minutes later. It was strange going back into the bar & grill when it was all closed up, yet the light peeking out from inside through the blinds reminded Roman that his friends and crush were waiting for them inside. Logan unlocked the door and Roman followed him inside.

The bar had been cleared, the floors mopped and the chairs stacked atop the tables. Virgil was nervously scribbling on a napkin while Thomas was telling him something, likely going over breathing exercises judging by the rise and fall of their chests. Patton was pacing over by the bar and nervously fiddling with the sleeves of his favorite grey cardigan. Roman guessed he likely had changed out of uniform into his own clothes, given that Patton was also wearing a blue polo instead of his black t-shirt. When Logan shut the door with a clank all three heads shot up.

Roman only had eyes for Patton, who looked both relieved and about to cry. He felt so guilty for causing Patton further grief. Surely he must be mad or at least disappointed in Roman for going off to fight for him. Roman prepared for the worst.

“Hey, everyone…” Roman rubbed the back of his neck. “Patton… I’m so—“

Patton’s arms were around him before he could finish. The force of his hug could’ve knocked the wind out of a football player. He pulled back when he heard Roman groan. Patton’s hands gently probed over him as though he were made of fine china.

“Roman, thank goodness you’re alright! Are you hurt? Did Dio hurt you? Did they press any charges? I’m SO glad you’re not in jail anymore! Oh, what happened to your lip? And just look at your knuckles, they’re swollen!”

Roman blushed at being fussed over in such a way, but at least Patton wasn’t angry. “Patton, I’m alright, I promise. Just a couple of bruises and some scrapes here and there, nothing major. Logan took care of things with the police, so it’s all good padre. I promise.”

At this Patton finally relaxed a bit. Virgil and Thomas came over to him as well once Logan caught them up on everything that happened back at the station. They were clearly irritated at Roman but seemed just as relieved.

“That was a really stupid thing you did dude,” said Virgil.

“Roman, buddy, I know you’re all about the chivalry, but don’t go running off and getting into fights like that,” said Thomas.

“Not without us as backup at least,” said Virgil.

“Indeed,” said Logan.

“Okay?” asked Thomas.

Roman knew full well that neither of his friends were fighters in the slightest. Still, the gesture meant a lot to him. Looking at Logan, Virgil and Thomas standing around him, he felt incredibly grateful to know they’d always have his back; even when he was being an impulsive love struck idiot.

“I swear,” said Roman. “And listen, Patton, about…about Dio—“

“I don’t care about him. Not anymore,” said Patton. “I’m done with him. Officially and for good.”

There was a hard edge to his voice that Roman had never heard before. He looked to Virgil for confirmation if this was true and the artist gave him a nod, smiling at his stepbrother proudly. Although they weren’t good circumstances by any means, Roman couldn’t help but feel proud of Patton for standing up for himself like that. The sweet bartender was a lot stronger than he let on. Aaand Roman wasn’t ashamed to admit to himself that he was incredibly happy that Patton was now free to court. Of course, all that could wait till much later. They had time. He could wait.

“Well then,” said Roman, “I’m proud of you Patton.”

“As am I,” said Logan, placing a hand on Patton’s shoulder. “I don’t know very much about the complexity of your relationship, but I think it’s a fair assessment that Dio was a raging douchbag.”

Virgil laughed. “Couldn’t have said it better myself. He was never good enough for my brother.”

“Heck yeah. You deserve way better Patton,” said Thomas. “We’re all proud of you.”

“Yeah, I’m proud of me too,” said Patton.

Roman caught a flicker of sadness in Patton’s eyes. He was about to ask if Patton was truly all right, but before he could Roman found his hands gently being cradled in the other mans. A blush crept up his face.

“I’m just glad that you’re safe,” said Patton, kissing his scraped knuckles. Roman winced, but he’d never felt happier. “Come on. Let’s get you fixed up.”

Patton gently dragged him by the hand to Logan’s office in the back. Roman would have followed that man anywhere he’d asked. The others didn’t follow and frankly he was glad of it. Roman wanted to talk with Patton in private.

Patton closed the door behind them and gently sat Roman down while he got out the first aid kit from their bosses/friend’s desk. Logan’s office much like his personality: clean, organized, and precise. Roman did however notice there were three framed photos on the desk next to a stack of documents. One was of a rather large family standing in front of a Christmas tree with Logan amongst them. Another was of Logan standing with a proud smile in front of a newly opened Sanders bar & grill, and the last one looked to be a candid photo (no doubt taken by Patton) of Logan with every one of the Sanders’ employees as they laughed at some statement or other. The photographer had even managed to capture the rare laugh from Logan frozen in time.

“Alrighty, now lets get you cleaned up,” said Patton as he took a seat across from Roman. He took out antiseptics and bandages from the kit. “This might sting a little.”

The swabs did sting a bit, but Roman sat patiently as he let Patton nurse his battle wounds with all the focus and tenderness of Florence Nightingale.

“So…it’s truly over between you and Dio now?” Roman tentatively asked.

“Yeah,” said Patton as he wrapped bandages around Romans knuckles. “I called him up after I found out about your guys’ fight and ended things.”

“Oh...” Roman gulped. “I’m sorry. I-I din’t mean to be the cause of—”

“Oh no, no, it wasn’t about you Ro!” Patton said quickly, placing a reassuring hand atop Roman’s. “It was about Dio. After he cheated and hurt you—hurt someone I cared about, well, that was the last straw.”

Roman’s shoulders relaxed. “Ah, then…good. So, how are you feeling?”

Patton paused for a moment and then took a deep breath. “Lighter. Like I can breathe again. Honestly, I hadn’t let myself realize how unhappy I started to feel towards the end of the relationship, how over it truly was, until tonight.”

Patton finished taking care of Roman. Then he put the first aid kit on the desk and scooted his chair closer to Roman before continuing.

“I think part of me suspected he’d been cheating, but I…just thought it’d be easier to…avoid all those nasty feelings, y’know? I hate to admit it, but I’m not sad about it being over…which makes me feel guilty because I’m the one that ended it and it-it was my first real relationship so i—so what does that say about me?”

Roman used the pad of his thumb to gently brush away the tear that streaked down Patton’ cheek. Hesitantly, he cradled it in his hands. To his pleasant surprise Patton actually leaned into the touch. The gesture choked Roman up a little.

“Patton, you have every right to feel however you feel…but if you think it means there’s something wrong with your heart, then you could not be farther from the truth.” said Roman, looking him in the eyes. “You have the strongest, most pure heart of anyone I’ve ever known. You deserve someone who recognizes that. Who treasures your heart and treats you like the most sublime creature in all of existence! And if someone isn’t doing that or isn’t meeting your heart’s needs, then you have every right to walk away without guilt. You deserve to be happy!”

Patton let out a sad laugh, but at least the silent tears ceased. Roman saw a sad smile creep up the other’s face.

“Thanks Roman. I don’t need all that wooing though. All I want is someone to be present with me, to spend time with. Someone who I can be playful with and share things with and we’d take care of each other. Someone who, maybe, finds me…desirable, somehow? Someone…”

Patton looked up at Roman with, perhaps, something akin to hope in his eyes. It made Roman blush, the intensity of that hopeful yet open look humbled the young man as he waited patiently for his secret love to finish.

“Someone who…loves me…as much as I love him. Do you…think there someone out there like that for me?”

Roman’s face was hot as a hearth now and he couldn’t stop the frantic flutter of his heartbeat. It’s not like he was new to the ways of love and he certainly had never been the shy type. Yet Patton’s words had submitted something within him and he couldn’t for the life of him find the right words or poetics to say to the man before him. So, he went with instinct.

“There is…”

Roman leaned in slowly. Patton seemed to have edged in as well, until finally Roman closed the distance between them. He felt Patton stiffen only for the slightest of seconds before melting into the kiss with equal measure. Perhaps it was his overactive imagination but Roman could’ve sworn he also heard a small whimper from the other. Patton’s lips were softer than Roman could have ever imagines, and there was a faint lingering flavor of chocolate sweetness there as well. No kiss had ever felt like this before, with so much underlying knowingness that this thing between them was right. It felt like a drop of honeyed milk on the tongue of his parched heart. Kissing Patton felt like coming Home.

I’m going to be by this man’s side for as long as he wants me, Roman vowed.

Sadly though, breathing was still a thing. Patton was the first to pull away. He touched his bottom lip with the tips of his fingers. A rosy blush colored his freckly face and he gaped at Roman, which made him panic.

“I—I’m sorry! I thought you—I should’ve asked your consent first—I—“

“Chai…”

“W-what?”

“Your lips, they…they taste like chai. Spiced and sweet and warm.” Patton smiled warmly at him. Roman melted. “I like it. I like you Roman. More thank like you, I…love you.”

“I love you too Patton,” Roman beamed. “So very much!”

A giddy laugh spilled from Patton’s lips and Roman just wanted to drink it in with his own mouth. They’d have all the time in the world for that though. Roman beamed at his beloved and they touched their foreheads together. Their silent reverence of each other was interrupted however by the sound of a slow clap coming from the door.

They both turned to find their friends peeking in through the office door. (Roman could have sworn they’d closed that) Thomas peeked in from the right beaming at them, Virgil leaned against the doorframe arms crossed and grinning cheekily, and right in the middle giving the slow applause was Logan; a satisfied smile upon his face as well. They really are a bunch of snoops, Roman thought slightly irked. Still, he couldn’t help smiling as well. He was just too gosh darn happy to care.

“How long have you all been there?” asked Patton.

“Long enough bro,” said Virgil.

“No way we were gonna miss this!” said Thomas. “Virgil, you owe me twenty bucks.”

“Damnit,” Virgil grumbled.

“Language, kiddo.” Patton said, eliciting a laugh form them all.

“How about you Logan. Do you have anything to say about this?” asked Roman.

“Well,” Logan said, adjusting his glasses, “it is certainly about time!”

Roman barked a laugh at that. Yet he knew now that it came from a place of caring. In less than 24 hours he’d been called form rehearsals, gotten in a fight, taken to jail, bailed out, and now here he was in the afterglow of his first—and hopefully not last—kiss with the love of his life surrounded by his dearest friends. In the back of an old hole-in-the-wall bar and grill no less! It was almost too much drama even for the actor. Yet when he felt Patton slide a hand into his and saw his beloved angel smiling back at him, he knew that it had all been worth it.

“Sure is specs,” Roman said, yet his eyes were all on Patton. “It sure it.”

The End

Last Author Note: I just want to say again that I am SO grateful to you all for sticking with this story!!! There has been so much crap going on in my life in the past month. Through all the emotional strife and drama with my family, the one thing that’s kept me sane is my writing and knowing that you all were here waiting for the ending of this fanfiction. Knowing that this story has actually make people laugh and smile made me want to keep doing what I love and that helped me through everything. So I want to thank each and every one of you for your patience, kind words and support. It means so much to me that you all enjoyed my writing, more so than you could know! Lots of Love to you all.

- Khadijah

Tag List: @altruistic-skittles @thekeytohappiness-is-you @canadian-crofters@icecoldparadise @bluebloodstains@purpleshipper@patchworkofstars@axyzel @hissesssss@beautifully-terribly @pink-and-purple-flowers@jynxlovesluck@thatsanswitch @6tick6tock6 @hanramz-the-fander @azlinne @helplesscreator @thestoryofme13 @bibbidi-bobbity-booyah@accidental-sanders @moonstonefox12 @hissesssss@smokeyrutilequartz @phlying-squirrel @madly-handsome @puns-and-patton @notveryglittery @eequalsmcscared @safesandersides@lizziepopanime @anxiously-unsatisfied-world @beautifully-terribly@justisaisfine @ab-artist @helplesscreator

#Bar & Grill AU #Royality #sanders sides fic #roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #Logan sanders #thomas sanders #sanders sides fandom #ocs #deceit sanders #KDsWriting

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pepperoniwhirlwind · 5 years

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🌼~Honesty Hour~🌼 (pt. 2)

I was asked by @lovelynhiddenkittens to do 150 questions in the honesty hour tag quite a while ago, and only did a third of it. But no longer will this be the case! Midterms are mostly over (the two biggest ones are done at least) so I can focus on more fun things, like answering these questions! Here’s my answers to questions 51-100:

51. Ever wished you were someone else?

Yes. I have a lot of internalized shame about my body type (petite and curvy) that whenever I see someone super tall or toned I just want to be them. Even if it’s only for a day. I don’t have these wishes so much anymore though. Alex and I have been dating for 5 months (on the 21st of this month) and he loves my body type. Thanks to him, I’m learning to love myself, and learning that I don’t have to be a model to be loved~ 💕

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself?

My depression. I feel like it makes me a burden on everyone, and although it’s shaped who I am, has it really changed me for the better? Maybe I’m more understanding and empathetic because of it, but it’s also caused me an inordinate amount of pain, and unnecessary pain for my loved ones.

53. Favorite make-up brand?

I don’t wear make-up often enough for me to even have a clue.

54. Favorite store?

What I’m buying changes which store I prefer. If it’s food, I generally hit up Fry’s. If it’s home decor (Which Alex and I needed quite a bit of in recency, given that we just moved into an apartment together a few months ago) I shop at Target. If I need to buy shampoo, face wipes, deodorant, shaving cream, etc. I typically go to Wal-Mart. Does anyone really have just 1 store that they shop at? I know if I bought non-food items at Fry’s I’d go bankrupt. 😂

55. Favorite blog?

That’s a real tough one. I love all of my Tumblr friend’s blogs. @im-here-cause-im-not-all-there posts a lot of stuff I relate to, same for @theperksofneurodivergency, who always posts great content. Seriously, I could sit here for ages and list off all the people on Tumblr that I follow, but that would be ridiculous. Rest assured that if I follow you, it means I generally like what you post.

56. Favorite color?

I love darker colors on the cooler end of the color spectrum; mainly green, blue & purple. I even like pastel colors occasionally. Though that’s more likely when I’m being influenced by some of my alters who like lighter colors. Like Honey, who loves pastel colors, and all things sweet really. That’s why sunflowers are her favorite flower. She appreciates all the sunny and cheerful things in life. ☀️ In our inner world, she even has a garden that she tends to regularly, and grows (you guessed it) sunflowers, among other things.

57. Favorite food?

Oh look, another tough one. Hmm... It really depends what I’m in the mood for. But my boyfriend recently started taking me to Schlotzsky’s, which has a lot of really good sandwiches. Though, I’m always down for some Arby’s. I’m in a rut there, but I don’t care. Their roast beef classic and curly fries are to die for. 😋

58. Last thing you ate?

Speaking of Arby’s... 😆 I ate there for dinner last night in celebration of passing my proctored exam for my math class. It was worth 75% of my grade, and I wasn’t allowed to have anything (they even confiscated my bottle of water). It took 2 hours and was suuuper stressful. So my BF rewarded me with Arby’s when I passed~ 😄 This is just one of the many reasons why I love him~ 💖

59. First thing you ate this morning?

It’s the morning right now, and I haven’t eaten yet... 😅 Does the two sips of my boyfriend’s coffee count?... No?... Okay. *sighs* I should go eat now actually, so I can take my morning meds. Thanks for reminding me, Tumblr ask!

60. Ever won a competition? For what?

I got first place in a race once... then immediately quit the track team. 😂 Running just wasn’t for me. I’ve won blue ribbons for art (culinary and painting mostly) before at the 4-H Fair, but I don’t think I’ve ever been in a proper competition that I won. I recently participated in a Drag Show at my college, and even signed my performance (I know ASL, and I hoped it would make me stand out a bit against the competition), but I didn’t win. It was actually a really close call between all the participants, and the host/judge couldn’t decide who the audience cheered louder for, so the lady who’d set up this event had to come up and make the decision. I was one of the first people she decided should leave the stage. So, needless to say, I felt a little embarrassed and defeated afterwards.

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what?

I never even had detention 😂 ; I was a goody two-shoes growing up. I was always the teacher’s pet, so no, I was never suspended or expelled.

62. Been arrested? For what?

⬆️ See the point I made above for your answer. ⬆️ I’d have to cease being a goody two-shoes first before being arrested is even a possibility, so no, my record is squeaky clean... we won’t speak of the songs I’ve illegally downloaded from YouTube though. >-> <-< Don’t tell the po-po about this, or else I’ll be forced to participate in court-ordered rehab for my music addiction. 😂

63. Ever been in love?

Yes~ 💘 I’m in love right now, with the most supportive and understanding man I’ve ever known~ I shouldn’t have to say who at this point, but I will. It’s my BF, Alex~ ❤️

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss.

Well, this was back when I lived in Indiana. I had a core group of friends, that all happened to be on the LGBT+ spectrum, so we were practically dripping in rainbow-y goodness. 🌈 Mich, essentially the leader of the group, is trans. While Levi is gay and Laci (she thought she was a lesbian originally, and identified as such for the time that I knew her; I don’t really have contact with any of them anymore) is bi. That just leaves Sasha, who is also bi, and she was my first kiss. Mich, Sasha, I, and others (Levi and Laci weren’t there though) all decided to play spin-the-bottle. Sasha was the first person I landed on, and I still remember her kiss. It was soft, like a cloud, and tasted like strawberries. 🍓 It was a wonderful first kiss, but I definitely prefer kissing Alex the most~ 😍

65. Are you hungry right now?

Well, considering I just ate a mini donut with my pills... yes, yes I am. 😂 ...Don’t you judge me either! Alex and I bought a bunch of mini donuts for our last D&D gaming sesh at Tyler’s, and there was still a bunch left over, so someone has to eat them, and I didn’t feel like making a proper breakfast. Plus, the one I ate is strawberry flavored, so how could I not eat it? If anyone turns down a strawberry donut, suspect immediately that they are a lizard-person.

66. Do you like your Tumblr friends more than your real friends?

What a savage question. No, I do not. I like all of my friends, equally, whether they’re online or offline. I only care if my friends are good people or not; and if they care and respect me as much as I do them. Whether they live nearby or not is of little importance to me. I base my friendships off of their character, their morals; not their place of residence.

67. Facebook or Twitter?

Well, I don’t have a Twitter, and only really check my Facebook once in a blue moon. So... neither?... What, is that not an option? Fine... I choose Facebook... I guess.

68. Twitter or Tumblr?

Tumblr.

69. Are you watching TV right now?

No, I’m currently typing this... I am listening to music though, of course. 😆

70. Names of your best friends?

Well, Tyler’s the only friend I have IRL that knows me, like, truly knows me. By that, I means she knows about my DID, among other diagnoses, as we’ve talked at length about both of our diagnoses before. Since she has Bipolar disorder, she gets what it’s like to have a “scary” mental illness; the ones that get characterized by media to always be violent and unhinged. She didn’t judge me or fear me, she only asked questions and tried to learn as much about my system as she could, which tells us that she truly cares and understands. I’ve told other people before, but they’re either no longer a part of my life, or were creeped out by my DID, and are choosing to forget that I ever told them in the first place. My Tumblr friends also know about my DID, given that I post about it and mention it in my blog bio, but there’s a certain level of anonymity on the internet that allows for me to be more open about it. Telling someone IRL? Now that’s terrifying. It takes a lot of trust, and given that I have had some bad reactions in the past, it makes it even more daunting.

71. Craving something? What?

Honestly? A vacuum. And a mop, while I’m at it. I’ve been cleaning for most of the morning, and those are the only cleaning supplies that I need and don’t have. I keep trying to talk Alex into buying them, but he’s not as bothered by dirty floors as I am. He even walks around barefoot on these filthy floors! IDK how! Even if I’m wearing socks it bothers me. I don’t like stepping on anything, and the only way I don’t feel what’s on the ground is if I’m wearing shoes. So... I basically never take off my shoes except for when I’m in bed. 😂

72. What color are your towels?

What a weird question. 😆 Before I moved in with Alex, I lived with my parents, and we didn’t have a standard color of towel. We had an assortment of colors from multiple old sets of towels, a lot of them raggedy, some of them bleached, most of them ancient. Then when I started living with Alex, we still have some towels of differing colors, but most of them are blue and soft~ ✨ The sheets and pillow cases are blue too, though a lighter shade.

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?

Not anymore. I used to when I was younger though. When I was a kid my stuffed animals felt like my children. I would rotate which ones got to sleep with me each night, hug and kiss them all goodnight then tuck them in. If one of them fell out of my arms in the middle of the night, it would wake me up immediately. Not even a slow, groggy wake-up. It was like my motherly instinct was an alarm clock, so I would wake up instantly and be wide awake, frantically searching for the stuffed animal that fell out of my arms. I would then pick them up, dust them off and apologize, then snuggle them and drift off back to sleep. When I was a teenager, I mostly cuddled them when I was lonely and needed some companionship to fall asleep. Now that I snuggle and sleep with my boyfriend each night, I no longer sleep with my stuffed animals, but I still love them and keep them as decoration for my bed at my parent’s house, since I never really sleep there anymore. I nap there occasionally, but that’s about it.

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?

Uhhh... I’ve never actually counted, but at least a tub full.

75. Favorite animal?

Elephants and foxes, equally~ 💖

76. What color is your underwear?

I’m wearing black panties at the moment. It’s satiny with lace, so it’s cute and comfy; the best of both worlds. 😉

77. Chocolate or Vanilla?

Definitely chocolate, 🍫 provided it’s not too rich.

78. Favorite ice cream flavor?

I’m obsessed with matcha green tea ice cream right now, OMG, it’s sooo good~ 😋 Same goes for the matcha green tea frappuccino at Starbucks. It’s the only drink there that I actually get. I’ve tried other beverages they have, and generally don’t like them, but the matcha green tea frap is too delicious for it’s own good.

79. What color shirt are you wearing?

I’m actually wearing a really comfy dress right now, that I slept in as a nightgown last night. 😆 It’s gray and has a lace band on each sleeve.

80. What color pants?

⬆️ Once again, reference my previous entry. ⬆️ I am pantless, given that I’m sporting a dress at the moment.

81. Favorite TV show?

Oh geez... another hard one. Let’s see... I’ll just put the name of the show I’m watching the most right now. That would have to be “Crazy Ex Girlfriend” on Netflix. Before that I watched the newest seasons of “BoJack Horseman” as well as “Orange Is the New Black”, but I’ve already finished those.

82. Favorite movie?

Honestly, I’ve been really obsessed with “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” recently. When I re-watched it as an adult, I noticed how much more serious that movie is compared to Disney’s other films. They cover some pretty dark subject matter, and do it well... *sighs* if only they’d nixed the addition of the gargoyles. They ruin every emotional or tense scene that they’re placed in, and make the lighter scenes just plain cringey. I know they wanted to make it suitable for kids, but I think Disney underestimates what kids can handle, especially considering they reference the darker scenes subtly enough so as to keep the movie’s G rating intact. Like what about the goat, Djali, that belongs to Esmeralda? The goat could have been the comic relief, but instead they brought in the talking gargoyles. They couldn’t even do something cool with the gargoyles, like make them a part of Quasi’s imagination. He’s been alone in a bell tower for his entire life, so it would make sense that he would begin talking to the statues and giving them personalities... but no... it’s shown at the end that the gargoyles can interact with and impact the real world, making them a part of it as well.

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2?

Well, considering I’ve only ever seen the first one, and didn’t even know there was a second one, I’m gonna have to go with “Mean Girls”.

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street?

I’ve never seen “21 Jump Street”, so once again, “Mean Girls” takes the cake.

85. Favorite character from Mean Girls?

Oh, that’s hard, especially when they’re all such fun characters. Janis is pretty cool, so she’s up there, but Karen is probably my favorite. She’s such a simple, naive soul, you can’t help but love her.

86. Favorite character from Finding Nemo?

Dory, hands down. But I wanna give a special shout-out to Bubbles, the character from the fish tank that, (you guessed it) is obsessed with bubbles. 😆 He cracks me up every time.

87. First person you talked to today?

Alex. Considering we both wake up in the same bed, it would be nearly impossible for him not to be the one I talk to first thing in the morning.

88. Last person you talked to today?

Once again, Alex, given that it’s still early in the day and I haven’t seen anybody else yet.

89. Name a person you hate?

All of my abusers. Every. Single. One. They made me feel small, worthless, and unloved. So I hope each one of them feels that way for the rest of their miserable existences.

90. Name a person you love?

My boyfriend, Alex~ He’s my world, my hopes and dreams, and everything I aspire to be~ 💖

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now?

No. I want to punch all of my abusers in the balls. With a baseball bat. Repeatedly, until they’re infertile.

92. In a fight with someone?

No.

93. How many sweatpants do you have?

Only one. I want to buy more, but that requires that I have money, which I don’t.

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have?

I have my Nirvana sweatshirt, my “Nightmare Before Christmas” sweatshirt, and two hoodies with my college logo on them. One’s gray and the other is red.

95. Last movie you watched?

“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”.

96. Favorite actress?

I have no idea. So I’m gonna go find a list of the top 100 actresses and go from there. *some time passes* So, I found an actress I actually know, and that’s Krysten Ritter, who played Jessica Jones on Netflix’s hit series named (you guessed it again! Wow, you’re really good at this.) “Jessica Jones”.

97. Favorite actor?

That’s a tie between Robin Williams (I really miss him... He was such a vibrant and energetic actor, who also knew how to portray more serious, and heart-felt scenes. He was a skilled actor and a good man. May he rest in peace.) and Tom Hanks. I like quite a few films starring those actors.

98. Do you tan a lot?

Never.

99. Have any pets?

No... 😭 RIP Batman and Robin (my previous pet hermit crabs).

100. How are you feeling?

Productive! I practically cleaned the whole apartment in like 2 hours this morning, and just finished another third of this ask! I’m on a roll, and intend to do homework in a minute. For now though, I’d like to thank everyone who read through to the end, as well as thank @lovelynhiddenkittens for sending the ask in the first place! Sorry it’s taking so much time to finish it, but I’m over halfway done now! Whoo~! 🎉 *sets off a confetti popper and basks in the confetti shower* Anyways, take care everyone! I hope you all have a fantastic rest of your day (or night, wherever you are, just have a wonderful time!) See ya ‘round the bend~! 👋

*grabs a broom and begins sweeping up the confetti, muttering to myself* Why do I do this? Every time, I know I’m gonna have to clean it, but I do it anyway...

#honesty hour #asks #tony

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inky-thoughts · 6 years

Text

How to Organize a Zine 101 #3

Hello~

I already talked about figuring out your zine and the zine’s schedule as well as what you should bring with you to successfully manage a zine.

I think the next step should be building up

Web Presence

I already talked a wee lil bit about it in Part 1 but I think I should elaborate a bit more on it as it’s basically the backbone of almost every fanzine nowadays.

A small disclaimer: Please take everything with a certain grain of salt as I am not a professional when it comes to social media managment. These are just some pointers I consider useful/helpful as they worked for me or other zines I had a brief overview of.

Where to post?

First of all, think about what platforms you want to use, and get familiar with them if you aren’t already. Learn “the way” of it to know which rules/guidelines to follow, because not every platform is the same in tonality or which kind of content spreads fastest.

The most common platforms that I’ve found to work with zines pretty well are Twitter and Tumblr. As both are available as apps for practically almost every phone, it’s also easy to check and keep updated with when you’re on your way.

Tumblr is quite interesting because it’s bascially like a website (and yes, you should keep in mind that the mobile version doesn’t support tumblr sites) and you can conveniently store all info to your zine, answer questions in public, and reblog post e.g. previews of zine entries. It’s easy to spread information quickly if you use the correct tags and post them in the best time frames for your audience.

Twitter is kind of like a news ticker, or gets used by many like this. It’s easier to engage with people and “spread the word” by tagging people who might be interested in the zine.

Also, think about where you as a manager have the bigger following so you can forward e.g. tweets or posts or make your own announcements about the zine to your following and potential customers.

What to post?

Obvious things are announcements like schedules, FAQ, details on the zine, application progress, previews, contributor lists, links to online shops, etc. This is kind of basic together with updates like if important e-mails to the contributors went out etc.

However, this isn’t everything at all. What I found great in other zines (which we completely ignored for our zine and I think that’s a very sad thing actually) was having specific dates (in fandoms stuff like characters’ birthdays, anniversaries etc.) or more general things like widespread holidays, or “event dates” (? - like world women’s day, labour day, you get the twist) that somehow correlate to your zine. For example, one zine I participated in was about the girls of a certain fandom, so they chose the Day of the Girl to start previews to kickstart the preorder phase - and I really loved that! It brings everything in another perspective because it’s not just a zine for a few little nerds to enjoy, but it conveys a much more pronounced message that way. Including those kind of dates, whether it’s just a small post like “Happy New Year” with a small update on the zine progress, or a special sale because it’s xy character’s birthday and it happens to also fall perfectly into your schedule, it just makes your zine feel more honest and considerate of their passion for the zine’s content. It isn’t mendatory, but it definitely has a more lasting impression.

Also, you might want to think about what medium you want to choose - photos/pictures generally get more attention as it is highly visual (plus it’s easier to find on a twitter accound for example) and can be a nice addition to your text. This is where you definitely should think about some kind of corporate design for your zine that is eye-catching enough to get attention from a lot of people and still matches tone and intention of the zine. Gifs may give a post a bit more animated, funny, or simply emotional expression, so having a few sets of gifs/images (perhaps from the source material if it’s a fan zine) handy isn’t such a bad idea. It’s something we didn’t have and I basically have only regret about it.

How?

You also might think about the tonality of how you appear on the zine’s social media. Generally, fandoms are a rather friendly and casual place to be, so you can slip a small joke or something like that into your posts, however, you shouldn’t go all “LOLZ dat boi xDDDDDD” because you still want people to take you seriously and (if it’s a for-buy zine) pay real money for your zine. Keep a certain level of professionalism but don’t have a complete stick up your butt is all I’m saying as you don’t want to alienate people because of one thing or the other.

If you’re modding the zine with several mods (which I highly recommend!), also add signatures at the end of each post (we did it with -Mod [our name]) so it’s easier to clear up misunderstandings etc. as people know who they’re talking to and maybe one mod just didn’t read the memo or something. With tweets it’s just wasting precious characters but on tumblr you aren’t limited at all.

Also remember tagging: It feels like a science itself, and partly it is. First, tag what it’s about. You need to reach the fans, so if it’s about a certain ship or characters, tag those. Tag the fandom, and, very important, tag that it’s a zine. having those covered at first makes you pop up in e.g. tumblr search more as tumblr had changed that only the first 5 tags will be where you’ll appear. Some blogs which collect zine posts have a specific tag they’re tracking, so including some of these comes in quite handy. The rest is mainly to maintain a system on your blog, which everyone needs to figure out themselves. Tagging on twitter is kind of different as you have a limit, I would always go with ships/content first, then perhaps fandom, and zine only if you’ve got some characters to kill. Also please don’t use completely unrelated tags only because they’re currently trending - this is just plain annoying and it’s more likely that people will ignore you instead of gaining some interest in your project.

When?

Do your research on what times are the best to post your content to get your target audience, especially as shipping can be very expensive so you want to have national interest in first place. Every social media has their own specific timeframes where content goes viral the fastest. There is no 100% correct formular, but some tendencies at least, so you can help your luck out a little bit.

Grooming Your Media

To most social media, the key to success is consistency, so you definitely shouldn’t sleep on this. Luckily, social media are (except for most forums but then again your phone usually also has a web browser) usually available as app version, meaning you’re quick to responst or check in. - That’s what you usually think but truth be told, apps also don’t always work perfectly, and especially the tumblr app is known to be rather wonky. I also (this is a personal preference, though) find it easier to compose posts and pick the right pictures on my computer, so if you’re the same way as I, I would advise you to calculate half an hour up to maybe 3 per day/every two days to check in on all your zine’s accounts. It depends a bit on how active the current phase is and how many questions/inquiries people are sending your way.

Tumblr luckily has the queue option, and it definitely saves you a lot of time when you need to bring up an important post regularly. Through the queue, the blog also stays more active, thus has likely more traffic or is simply more noticible as it stays fresh in mind.

Twitter, however, doesn’t have this function (or I’m definitely not aware of it), and, truth be told, also isn’t concipated for this kind of thing. There aren’t really many updates you can post during certain phases of the zine, but there might help the above mentioned dates you might want to keep in mind. Tweeting about the occassion and connecting it with your zine might raise interest and more traffic on your account. And yes, then there are the really busy phases where you simply can’t keep up with social media as the zine demands all your attention. However, sometimes people just want to know how busy you are, so tweet it! A sentence or two are probably enough, and then you’re basically good to go for the day. Just remember to retweet your tweet during your breaks.

And, again, checking on your media should be a regular thing because waiting for an answer for 1-2 days is a different thing than a month or so later (this accidentally happened to us because we didn’t get a notification), so don’t just check “does the system signal me that there are new messages” but actually go into all possible messaging systems directly to check because sometimes tech is a bit wonky. (Also check the message requests!!!)

To maintain a certain level of activity can be a pretty tough job and by now I’m actually inclined to believe that one of the mods should be responsible solely for the social media management while the others work on the actual zine. However, I can’t say I’ve had experience with handling stuff like this that way. It definitely would have gotten a lot of pressure off my shoulders (I mean there’s a reason why companies have a special department handling all this stuff.)

Also, when I say “post regularly,” you can determine what is regular. This can be 24/7, every other day, or once a week, maybe also every two weeks but I suppose no less than that or people might forget you even exist. It’s just important to keep that schedule up so people can build a habit of expecting and getting to see a new post at a certain time.

It feels a bit hypocritic for me to talk about this topic because I think I’m not doing a very great job at it myseld simply because I easily neglect stuff like this, but again this small series is about learning from our/my mistakes so you don’t have to make them with your zines.

Thank you for reading, I hope I’ll find the time to write the next installment soon!

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#inky rambles #zines #fanzines #fandom zines #how to organize a zine 101 #fan zines #long post #advice #art advice

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