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celestial-alignment · 2 years

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Could you write meta on Jim/Artie, pretty please?

Hiya! I’ll be honest, I almost never write meta because I assume no one cares to hear my thoughts, but I was really excited to get this ask! So thank you, Anon!

I don’t know what kind of meta you’re craving, so I’ll just start and see where it goes, okay?

Okay. So, one of the things I love so much about the dynamic of Jim/Artie is how much they obviously love each other. And it doesn't even have to be in a romantic way.

The way that Jim looks so fondly at him when Artie shows off his repertoire of knowledge, the way that Artie looks so proudly at Jim when he accomplishes athletic feats. They finish each other's sentences and punchlines and laugh together, never really at each other. They have contingency after contingency to make sure that they can always be there for each other.

With any portrayed professional partnership, they're usually going to get close in some way just by the shared experiences they have. Brothers-in-arms and all that. But that kind of bond can happen between people who otherwise would never like each other, or who still don't necessarily like each other even though they have this bond. In other shows and movies, we see this as a sort of butting heads, being reluctantly fond, pretending to hate each other, etc. (Which, don’t get me wrong, is also a really fun dynamic. Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuriyakin, for example.)

But we kind of get the impression that even if Jim and Artie weren't both in the war, or in the Secret Service together, these are two men would still genuinely love each other's company if they had just met in a saloon one day. They make each other laugh, there is mutual extreme trust, and they just seem to GET each other, even if they seem like polar opposites.

But they're so alike in all the right ways. Their skill sets complement each other, and they're personalities are different enough, but they both obviously crave the thrill of the job, serving a president that they believe in, and doing right by the people they meet. They are both completely insane in all the right ways, too, but they are fearless without being stupid.

They both think ten steps ahead of any situation, but the best thing about that is that they both plan with the other in mind. It’s like there is no future without the other one there, the other one necessarily has to be there. Jim KNOWS he can count on Artie to scout ahead and get reconnaissance, Artie KNOWS he can count on Jim to follow up and use that Intel to complete an assignment. Jim can punch his way through a stampede and Artie can blend into it, but they learn from each other and can adapt when needed. Sometimes Jim sneaks, sometimes Artie punches. Neither of them have to pick up slack for the other. They are effortless together, like a self-perpetuating machine, and they are two halves of a whole, even if they are each individually forces to be reckoned with in isolation. And if you’re the bad guy who separates them, or threatens the other half, then God help you.

So yeah, that's what I think about daily when I think about Jim/Artie.

#ask #meta #the wild wild west meta #tww #the wild wild west #the wild wild west tv #jim west #james west #artemus gordon

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laikaesque · 2 years

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you can classify a lot of my mutuals into like 3 categories you have red + co (will, rowan, noodle, red obviously), tumblrina asylumn (micah, wilbur, basil, cas, ilya, roxie), and ctnt/cq circle (thes, holly, onyx, claire, emiko)

#if youre not on here its ok i just cant categorize u #i still love u guys dw ^__^

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votestaynight2 · 8 months

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15th Day - limited. (Scene 2)

Bit of a short update today.

"――――Of course…! What about the match is decided!? I can't back out now…!!!!"

"That's the spirit. It seems there is no need for hospitalization." "Eh――――――Kotomine…?"

"…That is my line. You and Rin were abandoned at the door. I wanted to leave you two, since you made a rather ugly pair as abandoned children go, but you were also dead on your feet. Had I done nothing, there would have been two dead bodies in front of my church. A church cannot afford that image, so I had no choice but to treat you."

"――――――――" …I figure out the situation I'm in. This is the chapel. There's nothing wrong with my body. The energy that was swallowed by Sakura's shadow has recovered. I lost consciousness back in my yard. It must be the same for Tohsaka. Rider probably carried us here.

Rider has no means of healing wounded people. Kotomine was probably the only one she knew that could heal us. How long has it been? The time is――――

"It is three in the morning. You have been sleeping for about twelve hours since you were carried here." "――――Twelve hours!? That's half a day…!" I get up from the chair I was lying on. I can't lie around like this…!

"Kotomine, where's Tohsaka!? She was there too, right!? Where is she!?"

"I have Rin resting at her place. You only had your energy taken away, but she had her magical energy taken away. It would normally take seven days to recover, but the land of Tohsaka is good for her. If all goes well, she should regain consciousness by tomorrow afternoon."

"―――I see. So her life's not in danger?" "No. The soil of that land is special. It is a ley line that is said to have been home to vampires. Rin is her family's heir, so she will be back to her impudent self if I keep her buried for a day."

"……" I think I heard something I'm not used to hearing, but I decide not to ask about it. Let's hope he doesn't literally mean "bury".

"――――I see. Thanks for the care." I leave the church.

I know what I have to do. Follow Sakura. Bring back Ilya. Bring back Sakura. Protect the one I love. So what if the fight's outcome is already determined? I still have the power to fight. So this is no time to be hesitating.

"――――――――" There's no time. I can't waste time going back home to find a weapon. …No, these people can't be fought with weapons from my house.

Sakura and Saber. Zouken and Assassin. If Zouken is after Ilya, I have to assume all my enemies are at my destination.

"So, where are you going, Emiya Shirou? I do not know the situation." "…? It's obvious. Ilya went with Sakura to protect us. She said to go to the castle if Sakura wants her formal dress. I don't know what this formal dress is, but they're likely heading to her castle."

"Formal dress…? No, never mind that. Matou Sakura has become your enemy? Then the victor of this Holy Grail War is decided." "…………" It's irritating, but Kotomine's right.

Zouken and Sakura. Sakura is obviously the superior Master, but she can't disobey Zouken. …I don't know what she's trying to do with Ilya, but it'll end once she meets Zouken. No matter how much Sakura refuses him, the crest worm in her body will control her.

"――――Hey, more importantly! Why are you following me!?" "It will be too much for you alone. If Ilyasviel has been kidnapped, I cannot just watch quietly."

"Wha――――" I stop at the unexpected reply. What did he just say――――?

"Too much for me? So you're going to help me…!?" "Are you discontent? You will be fighting against the greatest force. Now that Rin cannot help you, my powers should be of assistance."

"――――――――" There's no way I'm discontented. I'm happy for any help, but――――

"Why? There's no reason for you to help me." "Of course not. It is just this one time. Do not consider me your ally after we rescue Ilyasviel. We can never understand each other." "Then…"

"It is simply for mutual benefit. Furthermore, they defeated all my Servants. Is that not a good enough reason?"

…There's no lie in his words. A lot has happened between us, but he has never lied to me. I――――

#votestaynight

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timeandspacelord · 1 year

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As promised, some slightly more coherent thoughts based on my tags here. There are many

Okay, so Juris' whole thing was the reciprocity that was supposed to be inherent in the amplifier system, right? For him, that meant he and the dragon killed each other at the same moment and then their spirits sort of fused and he got shapeshifting powers. And then he basically gifted that power to Zoya since she was his protege.

For Alina (again, this is more obvious in the show bc as far as I remember, there wasn't a big moment quite like this in the book), it meant being able to take control of her power from Aleks bc even though he was the one who killed the stag, it and by extension Ilya wanted her to have its power. That reciprocity was there.

Since living beings can still act as amplifiers (only when in direct contact with a Grisha), it would make sense that death wouldn't have to be a part of this equation, especially since both of the above examples involve one side essentially gifting their power to the other. And, in fact, it canonically doesn't! Because when Alina finally has her "a door once opened can be crossed in either direction" moment with Aleks and yoinks some of his power, that links them, allows them to draw (at least a bit) on each other's powers. Theoretically, if they were on the same side, it might allow them to strengthen each other or amplify each other's power. The exchange of power is what does that. (You may notice that their connection stuff doesn't happen until after Alina has her moment at the end of S&S, once again reinforcing that idea of reciprocity.)

And I do think Ilya Morozova might've figured that out, later in life, after he made his daughter an amplifier to save her life and fell out of the history books. We don't actually know what he did for the rest of his life or if he even died or was just like. fuckin hiding from his dumbass homicidal grandson. It's possible he and Juris talked and theorized at some point. (I do like that idea bc Juris really seems to have taken Ilya's ideas and broken them open and fleshed them out, and I like the idea of them acting as sounding boards for each other.) I think Morozova might've deliberately chosen someone to receive the power he put into the world who would be willing to destroy the heir that was too similar to his younger self but do everything to save the heir that was a reminder of his worldview change. Which is a bit off topic, but worth mentioning.

So! Imagine a world where people know about this theory of reciprocity when it comes to amplifiers. It's not about killing something to gain its power, it's about the mutual giving of power. Sometimes that comes in the form of mutual death (and maybe that's the only way for shapeshifting to happen idk), but that's not a necessary part of the process. It's about forming a bond through which you can share power. I don't know how that works, obviously what happened between Aleks and Alina is non-replicable, but the fact that it happened and that this concept is very much a big aspect of the overarching themes in this series implies that it can be done in better, more consensual and less damaging ways. Ways that don't involve Merzost, but instead involve the deeper understanding of the transient nature of the Grisha powers and how they relate to living things. (See how these ideas are all connected?)

Pretend, for a moment, that this concept is not fundamentally story-breaking for the original trilogy, and imagine an Alina who knows this. Alina who has been dreaming of the stag, who can sense that it wants her to have its power. And Mal who's been tracking it through the winter into the spring and one day, when he's the last member of his tracking party left, he finds its shed antlers. And he takes them with him as proof, and when he sees Alina again, he gifts them to her, not knowing that he just undermined Aleksander's whole plan by giving Alina exactly what she needs to have David Fabrikate her an amplifier. And how fucking badass it would be for Alina to have a whole-ass giant stag as a familiar. And then the sea whip. And by the time they figure out about Mal, well, why would she need anything but a lock of his hair, braided neatly around her wrist?

But AU aside, imagine the future of the actual Grishaverse. When people figure this out (people other than the Saints, that is - I 100% think Grigori's bear could've been an amplifier) and start taking animals as their familiars instead of their bones as their amplifiers. Combined with the way Grisha powers will start changing as the ideas surrounding Grisha power start to evolve? The world will be so different! It's so interesting to think about!

#I did write this at my friends originally so apologies that it definitely sounds like it lmao #shadow and bone #s&b #the grishaverse #tgt #grishaverse #rule of wolves #king of scars #kos #I have so many thoughts about this universe y'all

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multimoose · 4 years

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. Hey I just wanted to make a post to let u guys know that I'm pretty sick and stretched thin lately so pls don't take it personal if I don't answer ur dms. I only really have the energy to talk to my good friends or about rp things I'm currently invested in rn

#out.#obviously ilya my mutuals #but yeah i might not answer every meme or ask #or dm #because im trying to save my energy for school #and taking care of myself #and usually that means my convos are limited to ppl who i already talk to a lot & who #are concerned with my life & wellbeing bc thats the energy i kinda need rn #that being said dont be afraid to reach out bc i promise it isnt personal but im just so tired #and i self isolate when im ill #mentally i mean . obviously if im sick i am distancing irl lol #but yeah just a note #because some people have been upset with me lately #but if i don't answer your dm about plotting it's because i physically and mentally can't

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stormxpadme · 3 years

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Whumptober 2021

No. 10 - flare-up

Fo.A. 3

"I'm used to more lavish welcoming ceremonies."

"Ada, by the …" Tarisilya startled so much that her mare grumpily nipped her arm because she'd come a little too close to Manyala's sensitive belly with her grooming brush. "Sorry, sweetie." She breathed a kiss of apology to the animal's velvety nose and hurried to the fence of the settlement's paddock to properly greet her father-in-law. It was a shameful proof of her limited attentiveness at the moment that she hadn't noticed the quick hoof steps of a certain tall, spotted mount approaching from the riverside earlier. When one was so lost in their mind from trying to sense even the smallest cold breeze of fear or the threatening pressure of emptiness in their mental bond to their husband, the world right around them tended to lose color and sound. Besides, her settlement was not yet prepared for a guest, especially not one of such high honor. "I didn't expect you before tomorrow night." Remembering very well that Thranduil was just as little enthusiastic with too much touch, safe from closest family members, as she was, she restricted herself to a brief bow and a warm smile when the King put a his hand on her shoulder across the top bar for an appreciative moment.

"There was little reason to stop along the way. Hotspots of crisis in my realm are rare these days, thankfully. So we could make haste." Thranduil rewarded his own mare with an amicable pat of her neck for her endurance and brought her inside the generously enclosed meadow for a little grass and water. "And your message sounded urgent."

"It wasn't meant to." Tarisilya raised an eyebrow in surprise. As glad as she was for Thranduil's support in the current situation, she honestly hadn't meant to sound that alarming. Apparently, her letter had been clear enough anyway. After the issues and fights the two of them had had in the past, sometimes, she still had to recall to mind how empathic and insightful her father-in-law could be when he wasn't busy drowning his sorrows and frustration in a wine bottle. "You must be hungry if you rode through the night. Let's go to the fire. I'm afraid, most people are either out working already or not yet up, so we'll have to postpone a celebration."

"You didn't call me here for an early Midsummer, Ilya. Speak, please." With an impatient sounding sigh, Thranduil unclasped his robe, revealing a resilient travel garb of leather that didn't make Tarisilya feel that inadequate with her messy bun and her well-worn stable dress anymore, and freed his mare of his small travel bag around her neck, so that she could wander off toward the water through. The King had obviously not prepared for a longer stay, Tarisilya noticed with a twinge of regret. Which was very understandable. So shortly after the war, there was still a lot to do in his Kingdom, even after the destruction of Dol Guldur and many of his people leaving for the west.

She shouldn't be stealing more of his precious time than he could spare. And yet, with how things had developed after she'd sent that pigeon, she was glad that this time, she had mustered up the courage to ask for help quickly enough. And that Legolas and she had found back to their mutually respectful and considerate relationship from their early years by now, to a point where there was no more need to have such a conversation that was meant to be for his sake in secret. "It would be fair if we waited for your son to return."

"He's out at this time?" Thranduil's skeptical eyes turned to the purple clouds and the last of fading stars above for a moment. Of course, he would know his only child well enough – contrary to certain vicious rumors – to remember that Legolas was very much enjoying not having to rise before the sun did, now that the duties of defense and battle were over. And Legolas' letters home about the settlement's progress were frequent enough to also be able to tell, there weren't many projects in the wilderness of Ithilien that demanded his presence in person at this point.

Right now, keeping things in order in the camp itself was more important for him and Tarisilya, and she couldn't deny, that made things a lot easier. Not only because she'd had to do without her husband for far too many stretches in her life, not even only because their son, like all elven children, needed both parents by his side in his first few years as much as possible, seeing as they had already risked his wellbeing by spending far too much time apart during her pregnancy. Having Legolas around a lot also freed her of the constant anxiety of him possibly getting himself in trouble in the middle of an area still filled with last stray enemies, because his health suddenly failed him. "A ride in the woods with Cyron and Thondrar." She went back to brush her mare's black fur with mechanical, absent movements. There had not been a lot of sleep in the last few weeks, and the constant, panicked lookout in a mind that was not her own for signs of trouble was sapping her strength reserves. "Eru knows how long it took me to convince him to take one of the others with them. It's not like I don't get it, you know? Cyron is getting big enough to be curious about riding and the wood life himself. Of course, he wanted to be alone with him. But Cyron is far too small to even sit for long on his own yet, leave alone ride. Thinking they'd be out there alone if something happens, and I wouldn't even know where to look …"

"Ilya." Only when her father-in-law grabbed her hand and held it tight, she realized she'd been cleaning Manyala's left foreleg for the third time in a row. "What is it?"

"He stopped going on hunts, ada." Dropping the brush, she pressed her face against her mare's neck with a shaky sigh, trying to keep herself together. Thranduil was the last person she wanted to be weak in front of, still.

"Ilya …"

"No, you don't understand. He keeps on saying, it's no longer fun or that he has more important jobs to do now, but that's not it. It's his eyes. He's started missing his shots again." She gratefully reached back when that narrow, strong hand was back on her shoulder, not surprised to feel that Thranduil's skin had turned colder under the thin leather of his glove. They'd both thought they had more time before this would happen again.

"I can call one of our healers here," the King said after a few seconds of heavy silence. "Some are still left in the woods who know his case from the start. I've made sure he went to see them whenever he was in the palace ever since that accident happened back then. They never had much success, I'm afraid. But if you need support …"

"No … Yes … I don't know." Tarisilya shrugged her unoccupied shoulder and wiped her eyes quickly on her mount's fur, thankfully caressing Manyala's fine head when her loyal companion nosed her side. It felt like it had only just been yesterday since she'd finally got her beloved horse back from Rohan, and they had not been out there for a long ride in years. It would have been very tempting, going on another journey. Too tempting, bordering on selfish. The settlement needed Legolas and her as often as they could be around, and Tarisilya was forced to help out in the Houses of Healing often enough as it was. They did still have their own life too, though. And depending on when Thranduil would finally overcome his pride and admit, he'd long stopped really being at home in a place far from everyone he loved, she might not have many chances to see his Kingdom before it would no longer be what it was. "Maybe we'll come to visit you soon. Cyron hasn't seen Mirkwood yet, at least not in a way he can remember. I think we still have time before the next bout will come. And it is unlikely that even our common gift can make any kind of difference. Whenever I try to feel what's wrong with Legolas' eyes, I'm running into a wall in his head. Until such time when they will fail him again, I need to learn as much as possible about things I have not been taught in my healer training, simply because we never had a case like his in Lórien or the other realms of Men and Elves I have visited."

"I am not a healer, Ilya." The gentle pressure of Thranduil's touch growing, he turned her around, the slightly awkward but very understanding brush of knuckles against her cheeks drying her tears.

His hand was shaking slightly, so she reached for it with both of hers, humming the warmth back into it with a few well-trained notes. She needed to remember more often that the best cure for the soul was often comforting others. And in this certain regard, as much distance as there had been between father and son in the last few millennia, Thranduil was decades, miles ahead of her. "No, but the only one he trusts with his condition. He's still trying to go easy on me with it, no matter what I do. This needs to stop, ada. I don't want to go behind his back ever again. That's why you're here. Show me what I need to know. Show me what he needs when the darkness comes back." It became almost frighteningly silent in their little remote corner at the camp's edge. It took Tarisilya several seconds to realize, she'd all but frozen, paralyzed by the intense look from the same ocean blue pair of eyes that her husband had mesmerized her with all these centuries ago, the burning ice in her father-in-law's pupils intimidating as ever, though. And for a – fortunately respectfully shallow – glimpse, they'd stared right into their soul.

With a choked gasp, she broke away from Thranduil's hold, and he bowed his head to her in apology, but that disapproving, worried frown above his thick brows remained. "It's been years, Ilya. Have you two still not established a proper marriage bond?"

She wasn't sure what exactly that had to do with anything but felt the need to draw up her defenses anyway, turning away with tight lips to approach a firmly locked box by the fence, to get an apple or two for Manyala's breakfast. "When do you think we had time for something like that? We have a settlement to lead, and in every minute that does not require our attention, we're there for Cyron."

"A bond shouldn't be something you have to work on in the first place. It's usually there right after the first unification." Thranduil sounded about as enthusiastic about the unwanted image of an official ending to a wedding ceremony in his head as Tarisilya, who was glad he couldn't see her intense blush from over there. "My wife and I, we were out of duty for weeks after our vows. When souls connect like that, you have to learn anew where your own body and mind begins and where your lover's ends."

"Well, not everyone has thousands of years to get to know your partner before saying, I do," Tarisilya answered with more bite than she'd planned to use, in the light of a rather unfair reproach for someone who'd been responsible personally for Legolas and her never having a proper courting period. "It's been thanks to Lady Galadriel's and your quarrel that I had to wait a millennium for your son to acknowledge his feelings for me. So might want to look in the mirror if you need someone to blame for us not being able to completely fall into each other yet."

When she returned, a couple of neatly cut apple slices in hand, there was something sparkling in Thranduil's eyes that she couldn’t quite place, which was just as unusual as the King not trying to argue with her about this, and she wondered if there was a joke somewhere in this whole story that she'd missed. For some reason, he decided not to press it, and it was probably better that way. She had a feeling, she didn't want to know. "If it's time you need, time you shall have. Find me a pigeon that knows their way to Eryn Lasgalen. It would seem, I will need more than two robes and a couple of rings and necklaces for this stay."

It was an offer, Tarisilya had not expected. For the first time in weeks, she felt like she could breathe a little easier again. Feeding Manyala slowly, piece by piece, she tried to get her exhausted thoughts in order, make a real sense of Thranduil's unexpected inquisition earlier, in vain. "Can you stay away for so long?"

"I'm the King. Who's supposed to stop me?" Her father-in-law chuckled, but it didn't sound too happy. "It's about high time I get to know my grandchild better anyway. Make use of that chance, Ilya. I can tell you what you need on your talan to make life there easier for someone who loses their most important sense. I can teach you how to write books and draw images that you don't need your eyes to understand for. But if you really want to support your husband in this, you need to be closer to him than I ever managed to get. He and I, we are trying, as you know, but I do not think we have enough time left in these realms to mend all that is broken. It would ease my mind to know that even if I should not be around one day, he will not be alone in the dark."

"Never, ada." This was a promise she could give him with all of her heart.

For someone who was not used to either deal out or receive a lot of touch, Thranduil gave amazingly comfortable hugs, it turned out.

When they both weren't close to tears anymore and finally got around to finish taking care of their horses, Arod's cheerful neighing in the distance announced their family's return..

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@whumptober2021 | @whumptober-archive

#whumptober2021 #no.10 #flare-up #the lord of the rings #fic #lord of the rings #and all tolkien lore #dysfunctional elves ftw #stormys fanfics #fanfiction #thranduil

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nuka-nuke · 6 years

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Love Letters

Ilya learns something new about Mike.

@life-is-no-sugarlicking comes up with a lot of great headcanons for Ilya and Mike’s relationship, but this one inspired me to actually try to write it! So here ya go, my first ever fic. Starring her character Mike, which if you don’t know him, what are you doing with your life?

The air hung heavily in the penthouse of Fizztop Grille. It was fairly early into the summer months, and already the humidity of Massachusetts was bringing on a familiar haze to the theme park. Mike drew his cigarette up to his lips and inhaled slowly, allowing the nicotine to fill his lungs, and eventually letting the plume of smoke add to the stagnant atmosphere with a deep sigh. He laid lazily upon the bed on the raised wooden platform in the corner of the room with half-lidded eyes staring upwards towards that weird painting of some kind of pre-war sunset that hung above the headboard, unable to find the motivation to finally get himself up off that ancient mattress.

It had been hours since he woke up in the unbearable heat to find the Boss had already left his side. In the past couple of weeks since he had been spending more time here than in the arcade he normally resided, he had learned that it was normal for her to rise before him since she had such issues with the weather, but a glance around indicated that she had headed out for the day. Most likely with that suck up piece-of-shit he added to the thought with a visible sneer. He despised when she’d leave with him alone. Gage may still be her right-hand man, but that did not change the fact that he had an unfortunate amount of familiar knowledge of their mutual boss. Even though she insisted those ties had been cut, and even though he knew it was childish, he still fumed at the thought anytime it arose in his mind.

Not that it matters or anything, he bitterly crushed the cigarette out right onto her nightstand, It’s not like she ‘n I’ve anything different.

But the interrupting sound of the elevator creaking its way up the side of the building made him perk up, and with a mechanical whirl he swung his prosthetic leg onto the floor to finally rise up off the bed.

“Hey there, Snowflake,” Mike grinned at the sight of his boss as the elevator reached its final stop.

Her normally carefully styled silver hair looked disheveled with loose strands of curls falling out of her ponytail and off into the air, and her automatic rifle, painted obnoxiously with the style of the Pack, was slung haphazardly over her shoulder along with a clutch of documents she held in her hands. Even her make-up was smeared across her right cheek with the struggle of a long day’s work.

Ilya wordlessly dropped her weapon to the side with a resounding clatter as soon as the elevator drew to a stop. Her footsteps over the threshold seemed drawn and exhausted, but in his vision, she was still like a corporeal work of art, coming to life to free him from this boring day. Like a magnet, her arms immediately draped themselves around him and he scooped her up from the ground into a grateful embrace.

She dusted the scarred cheek she was presented with with several kisses before simply resting her head onto his bare shoulder. “Baby… Am I ever glad to see you,” her voice was quiet and wistful, unusual for his normally confident Overboss.

Mike couldn’t help but smirk at the compliment, whether she meant it as one or not didn’t really matter, and swung her down to the antique sofa beside the entrance. He sat with a metallic creak of protest from his artificial limb and placed her onto his lap. She made no effort to change the direction in which he carried her and seemed quite content just to nestle into the chest of the man who greeted her.

“Yeah? Rough day out there, huh?” he answered, his voice hoarse with the cigarettes and whiskey he’d occupied his day so far with. He shifted her slightly until he could properly press a kiss to those lips that graced his mangled cheek.

Ilya rose to meet the affection and hummed with a pleased sigh. “Well, do you know what a Gatorclaw is?” she began, those icy blue eyes finally flicking up from under long lashes to meet his gaze.

Mike visibly flinched when she did, but tried to play it off with a casual maneuver to brush the bangs off her forehead. He’d never outright admit it to her, but those eyes of hers were seriously terrifying; like nothing he’d ever seen before in all the radioactive wastelands he’d traversed. While they could viciously strike fear into the souls of many of the men and women here in Nuka World, he had learned to find that healthy fear of her almost arousing during all this time they’d spent together. She could still be pretty scary when she wanted to be, though.

“Ehh, can’t say I do,” again, he punctuated the sentence with a resolute kiss.

“Then you’re lucky,” Ilya grumbled, finally shifting out of his embrace to stand and toss the documents which remained in her grasp onto the coffee table beside them.

Mike glanced down towards the papers with a disinterested sigh. He had been more enthused by the Boss making herself comfortable on his lap and was disappointed that that was already over. “What’s all this?” he said in a tone which obviously hinted that he actually didn’t care, and instead focused on watching her walk away.

“Hmm. Just… Some things from Gage,” she hesitated without looking back, and he could feel his stomach sink. Just the mention of that name killed the mood he’d been trying to create. “Don’t worry about it.”

Her flippant disregard of something that clearly would annoy him just annoyed him even more. “Well, what is it?” he tried to play it off like it really didn’t matter, but he could tell by the way she immediately looked over her shoulder with those piercing eyes that he didn’t fool her one bit.

“Why don’t you just fucking read it if it bothers you?” Ilya responded coolly.

For a brief second his expression faltered, as if she had slung a harsh insult at him instead of a simple suggestion. Her brow furrowed thoughtfully.

Over the years in her life before all this, she had worked hard to make herself astute to the needs of others. She could tell what someone wanted, and especially what they wanted to hear, before even they knew. “She could sell ice to an eskimo” as her father always put it, and it was a skill she benefitted from greatly while in this new wasteland. And in this moment, she paused to choose her words carefully.

“Mike,” she slowly started, in a much softer tone, “ … do you not know how to read?”

“W-what?” He let out a short scoff and quickly stood up, waving a hand towards the papers nonchalantly. “Of course I can fuckin’ read, you think I’m an idiot? Man, you’re crazy,”

She stared at him silently. The feeling of her analyzing him was palpable and it made his face burn.

“I just, y’know, really don’t give a shit what kinda love letters you’re sharing behind my back with your ex-man, yeah? Like, he’s probably… probably just jealous that you’re with me now, fuckin’ obviously. Who wouldn’t be?” Mike shrugged with an over the top flourish and turned away from her. Her lips had curved into a hurt looking frown and he couldn’t stand to see it, especially with knowing he had caused it. He knew he was overreacting too much for her to actually believe him, but he couldn’t stop; for some reason just her finding out this one simple thing about him seemed to send him spiraling into a panic.

If she knew this, she knew some way she was better than him. She knew a weakness... And showing weakness only ever leads to getting himself hurt again.

“I didn’t mean that as an insult,” her tone remained the same, melodic and soothing, despite the fact that his seemed to unintentionally be rising in volume. “It’s just, not something I expected. That’s pretty uncommon, even in this world,” Ilya took a few tentative steps closer until she could see his face again, identifying from the way he stood avoiding her eyes that she was probably the first person to figure this out about him on their own and clearly he wasn’t equipped to deal with this kind of embarrassment.

“… So what now, you’re pitying me?” Mike cringed, just wishing he could have backtracked and reigned in his petty jealousy to avoid all this. “I don’t need your pity, Boss. You don’t…” he stopped himself, finally turning to look down with his mutilated vision onto the face of the woman standing so closely at his side. She was observing him thoughtfully with those translucent blue eyes, like maybe she actually genuinely had feelings, or at the very least some kind of compassion for him, but he told himself that he had learned better over the years than to fall for that. Everyone in this Wasteland was only looking after themselves, including himself, and she’d find some way she could use this against him. But his own thoughts sent a pang through his heart.

One of her ghostly hands extended to rest upon his back, the gentle contact against his skin sending an electric pulse through his whole body that knocked him out of the hypnotic effect of her gaze. He whipped around to face her fully, shoving that tiny hand away in the process. “You can’t know what my life was like, okay, Ilya? You think I had time for shit like that? I mean, fuck—“ his voice wavered and he hated it, one hand furiously rubbing into his blind eye. “I worked since I could walk. I grew up on a shitty farm out here, and I worked, just like everyone else. We all did. Me, my parents, my sist—“

Mike groaned to interrupt himself, having said too much again. Every time he opened his mouth, it was like a tidal wave of words he really didn’t ever want to say, but couldn’t hold them back. She didn’t even need to say anything and he was pouring out his fucking guts to her, what the fuck was wrong with him?

These were things he never wanted to talk about, things no one knew about as far as he was aware. He hated seeming like a weak wastelander like all the rest out there and kept up his confident visage at all times, at all cost. But despite himself, here he was, for some reason laying out to her his actual emotions plain as day. He just felt an inherent need to make her understand; he couldn’t let her walk away and think less of him, and the strain of attachment he suddenly felt for the Overboss seemed to facilitate his desire to explain himself. How did she manage to have this kind of hold over him?

It’s not like me and her have anything deeper than she had with Gage, the thought again bitterly resurfaced, but at this point he even found himself reluctant to believe it.

He was deeply considering at the moment how effective it would be to just shoot himself in his good leg with her rifle there on the ground to get out of this conversation when he was drawn out of his mind by those tiny arms extending up to loop around his neck. Ilya was significantly shorter than him and needed to stand on the toes of her boots to reach, but still strong enough to yank him down to her height and reconnect their lips in a forceful kiss, silencing all his grumbling once and for all. He could feel his stomach twist into knots for reasons he really didn’t want to delve too far into and the panic seemed to come to an abrupt pause. Unsure of how to respond from here, he just stood there, dumbly bent in half into his lover with his arms hanging at his sides.

After a few minutes, she leaned out of the kiss, but did not allow him any opportunity to storm off again; her right hand tangled itself into his messy blonde hair to redirect his head to rest face down into her chest. The motion was so gentle and careful that despite his instinctive reaction, he couldn’t even find the ability to force himself to remain on guard against her. His own arms slowly lifted, enveloping her small frame in a returning embrace with only a moderate amount of remaining caution. “You don’t need to be so worried,” Ilya began, and with his face buried in her breasts he couldn’t see but felt another small peck be placed against his temple. ”I care about you... And you can trust me,” she spoke softly, her voice now down so low he could barely hear it, as if this was a secret which only he was allowed to know.

This comfort was so unusual than anything he’d experienced before that it threw him off. She wasn’t judging him or mocking him. She didn’t even seem effected at all about any of the frantic rambling he just poured out onto her. Nothing that he expected to come did. Instead she just whispered kindly with that indiscernible accent she had, holding him tightly until he sighed the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been keeping.

In that moment, he even found himself actually believing her.

“Besides, of course Gage is jealous I’m with you now. I mean, why wouldn’t he be?” Mike let out a muffled laugh and finally she could feel the tension release from his shoulders.

Both arms abruptly squeezed her tighter and then he tilted his head away from her chest so he could glance back into her eyes. “Ah, what’s that? Sorry mate, I was distracted by these tits. Fantastic.” He grinned, relieved the conversation had successfully shifted tones when he heard her bright sarcastic laugh as a response.

She swiftly stepped backwards until they were reacquainted with her ragged old couch again, never letting her hold on him slack. She dragged him along with her the whole way back, causing him to trip over his own feet to remain attached to the much tinier person in the way she demanded from him. Finally they were face to face once more, one mechanical leg pressed into the sagging cushions beside her hips, where she could adequately reunite their lips once again. In the middle of the kiss, she practically purred her response, answering his joke with a very serious, “Oh, you can believe I will give you something to be distracted by.”

#ilya valle #mike williams #my oc #friend's oc #fallout fanfiction #nuketext #lots of nuketext #i am really nervous to actually post anything i write ever. buuuuut here we go then #only because dino said she loved it #oc x oc #flirty trashbags #my writing

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terresdebrume · 5 years

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I think today I finally put my finger on why Gaby/Ilya/Napoleon doesn't work for me, a lot of the time.

I don't have anything in particular against the idea of it (though for the sake of transparency, I should say that my natural leaning goes toward monogamous mlm ships) and sometimes I read fics I find enjoyable enough, but a lot of the time ot3 fics irritate me, and I couldn't figure out why until I read one where Gaby sees Napoleon is about to speak and thinks 'he's about to say something stupid again' and had to close my laptop and give myself time to calm down.

In the end, I think it boils down to: this does not sound like love to me. I hate being in the middle of a fic and then two out of the three people in a relationship just casually and without any joking undercurrent act with a degree of disdain for the third (who, most of the time, happens to be my projection character) that would honestly just make me cry like a baby if I felt them directed at me, especially during sex.

I mean, to be fair, this is in keeping with the movie's canon, in that it very much felt like Gaby was angry at everyone (see: the part where she slaps Ilya twice for no reason and essentially beats him up because she's frustrated*) but actively disliked Napoleon, a feeling I think is mutual. So, having her, in fic, be disdainful of him? Completely in keeping with her character, especially if it takes place soon after the movie.

But I do not, for the life of me, understand how that sounds like a loving relationship to some people. I mean, obviously a lot of it is due to my preferences and my particular wishes for fiction in general, don't get me wrong. I just. I guess some ot3 fics feel to me more like stories where you have Gaby/Ilya happening and then they bring Napoleon (or, well, Solo, since a lot of fics won't use his first name**) in as the pity fuck.

And these may not be the entirety (or even the majority?) of the tag but honestly it's enough that I end up with that feeling a good chunk of the times I go looking for stories there. And it anoys and frustrates me more than it should (frankly I've found it hurtful on occasion #ProjectionIsABitch) and I guess what I'm saying is I should probably give up on this tag...and possibly also the ot3 stories that land in the Napollya tag.

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*Yes, I do read that entire scene as abusive and the fact that it is inserted in the middle of what is clearly meant to be a romantic arc between her and Ilya will never not piss me off.

**Tbh I don't get what's up with that either. I mean. I know we have "Only my mother calls me Napoleon" but still, by the time they are supposedly having a romantic and sexual relationship? Really? Idgi.

#Matt has a life #Hidden somewhere #Matt reads #ARUMPH GRUMPY GRUMP GRUMPING #Out of the tag #TMFU #Napoleon Solo #Gaby Teller #Illya Kuryakin #Shipping #I'm not saying Napollya is inherently better #Or that I like every fic #I'm not at all into fics where the ship is constantly posturing or being agressive toward one another for example #I honestly don't get the point of shipping a relationship if there's not a little tenderness in it but then other people ship differently so #*shrug*#anyway #I jist wanted to understand what bothered me about this specific subset or ot3 stories #now I have #yeah

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derpcakes · 7 years

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Spookyfic act one author’s notes

So, with two chapters of Spookyfic out we’re officially at the end of the first act, with all of the characters and relationships that will be important to the story introduced, and with a juicy intriguing Inciting Incident kicking us forward into the next stage of the plot. Given that this is a mystery story, I welcome any and all theories, wild and outlandish or otherwise (`ω´) I might not be able to confirm or deny anything, but I am genuinely curious and excited to see what people think!

Some notes (bonus material? Director’s commentary?) on The Tale So Far below the cut:

youtube

There are a few concrete things that led to the creation of this fic—some of them I can’t talk about yet bc they’ll be spoilers, but let’s start with the basic catalyst:

I finished the first semester of my honours year and my brain kind of melted. I wanted very badly to write something entirely new and many steps away from the work and topics I’d had my head buried in for three months. I thought this was the optimal time to jump back into coffeefic, but alas… it didn’t really gel with me, and felt too much like Something I Had To Do, and the last thing I want is for a work so close to my heart to feel like a chore. It is still happening, it’s just been put on the backburner so that I can attack it (and finish it!!) when it’s a more exciting prospect and I can dedicate more of my heart to it

I played Night in the Woods with my sister and got punched in the guts

There are many inspirations that have fed into spookyfic, but NITW was the big one that gave structure to these themes I was thinking about. Obviously, the title is a Night in the Woods nod—it is, in fact, taken from the last line of the official website’s blurb for the game:

But things aren't the same. Home seems different now and her friends have grown and changed. Leaves are falling and the wind is growing colder. Strange things are happening as the light fades.

And there's something in the woods.

…because it just sent such a shiver down my spine. Hot damn this game does atmosphere well (I wrote a whole post about it here, if you want details—spoilers don’t kick in until after the YouTube clip!), and so artfully combines complicated character relationships, worldbuilding, and spooky mystery that it just got into my brain and wouldn’t leave. It’s pretty obvious that spookyfic owes a lot to this game. I really wanted to capture that same mix of off-kilter creepiness, the strong sense of character and detail to the setting, and coming-of-age story. The premise of “college student returns home due to undisclosed mental health issues and is forced to reconnect with their small town, also holy shit, mystery” is inspired directly by NITW, but the pattern diverges after this first arc—i.e. Something in the Woods won’t spoil the end of Night in the Woods, and if you’ve already played Night in the Woods, you don’t have to worry about having the end of spookyfic spoiled.

I definitely recommend that game if you’re digging an artistically distinct, fun, emotional rollercoaster of a story. The soundtrack is also rad as hell. But I think I’ve sung the praises of that work enough for now, so here are some other miscellaneous notes about parts one and two of my own story:

“The Vanishing of Shinji Matou” is a nod to Stranger Things, the first episode of which is called “The Vanishing of Will Byers”

As with coffeefic, this story is set… kind of in a liminal space, country unspecified. Just as coffeefic is set in “a big city full of opportunity and rife with coffee culture”, spookyfic is set in “a small town where nothing ever happens” because the setting is just another character that adapts to the new AU

Ilya’s death isn’t a reference to anything in particular, I just really enjoy the “fire and ice” motif for the Einzbern-Emiya siblings

As much as it’s a hot pot of nonsense (I also have a post about this going up soon lmao), I have to thank Riverdale for providing the inspiration for the core of the mystery plot: Riverdale’s mystery also surrounds the death of a nasty teenaged boy whose family has so much bad blood and complex antagonisms with the rest of the town that basically everyone has a motive. This initial hook is basically the only well-constructed thing about Riverdale

Sometimes editing/redrafting is getting halfway through a story and going “wait, this is a whole new universe, and THERE IS NOTHING STOPPING ME FROM GIVING MAIYA A WIFE” (you will meet her in the next chapter, if enquiring minds want to know :3)

Shirou and Sakura…. are very good and I love writing them, both as individual characters and as a relationship dynamic. They suit slow-burn so well, but, having kind of tread that water already in coffeefic, I was interested in writing a story where they resolve their romantic tension early on and face the rest of the adventure as a couple. They go from Mutual Pining to Practically Married within a chapter and it’s great. It also opens up the floodgates for them to be much more emotionally honest with each other, having gotten The Big Secret of their crush on each other out of the way. I’m also super duper enjoying having them as dual protagonists

A big shout-out to @itsallwineglasses for being such a helpful beta editor, whether it was insight on the tone and description or just hilarious reactions and asides (｀･ω･´) ｂ thanks bud

#spookyfic #(`・ω・´)

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toomanysinks · 5 years

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Kleiner’s Mamoon Hamid thinks we could be in a 15-year-long bull market (and other insights from the firm)

Late last month, the venture firm Kleiner Perkins began an official reboot, with a new, $600 million fund, as well as some new faces blazing the trail for the outfit going forward, including Mamoon Hamid and Ilya Fushman, investors who joined Kleiner from Social Capital and Index Ventures, respectively.

Their roles at the 47-year-old firm are being watched closely. Kleiner was long considered part of a very small circle of top venture funds, but a series of missteps in recent years had yanked it in another direction, with a seemingly endless string of departures further tarnishing its brand. Now, Hamid and Fushman, friends whose paths crossed as children in Frankfurt, Germany, have an opportunity to restore KIeiner to its former glory.

Last week, at a small event hosted in San Francisco by this editor, Hamid and Fushman talked about Kleiner, touching on people who’ve left the firm, how its decision-making process now works, why there are no senior women in its ranks, and what they make of SoftBank’s Vision Fund. (Hint: Hamid doesn’t entirely get it.) They also talked about why they are putting their necks on the line to turn Kleiner back into a powerhouse. Much of our conversation, edited lightly for length, follows.

TC: Mamoon, you left Social Capital, a firm that you’d cofounded, to join Kleiner Perkins in late 2017. Why?

MH: I’d left [my previous venture role with U.S. Venture Partners] n 2011 to start Social Capital with a couple of friends. And it was right around when Steve Jobs had passed away And it seemed like the foolish thing to do. But we were able to raise our first fund and get off the ground and raised a number of funds after that and made some really great investments. Then I had a chance to join Kleiner. There was a point when Kleiner and Social Capital were talking about merging, but it’s hard to do mergers, of private companies, venture capital firms. It’s hard to do, and I think it was the right decision on both parts not to do it. But I got to know the Kleiner folks through that process and it was too compelling to pass up [when they reached out].

TC: How would you characterize your experience at Social Capital, and how does it inform your work at Kleiner?

MH: I’d say venture capital is a very boutique asset class. It doesn’t scale all that well as it comes to both people inside of a firm and the capital you deploy into companies. All you do is create more clones of those companies . . . because the world is finite in terms of what should be out there and what should be used. There shouldn’t be seven versions of Slack; there should be one or two maybe.

The same is true of venture firms. I think what works is a small, nimble, group of dedicated domain experts in certain areas. You can’t have armies running around with your business card [reading] Social Capital. And I think how we look at ourselves at Kleiner Perkins, that’s precisely who we are and who we used to be. If you look at [Kleiner’s] best days, it was a group of five to seven partners, making some really great decisions.

TC: Were you concerned about trading one dramatic situation for another? You knew what was happening inside Social Capital; meanwhile, everyone knew that Kleiner was going through some kind of transition, with a lot of people leaving.

MH: I think part of [my focus] was to be this small group of people, in consumer, enterprise, and I could foresee that happening. Because that was the right strategy, it wasn’t a surprise to me. It wasn’t like I got there and was surprised and thought, Oh my God, this is happening. It was supposed to happen. This is where we driving it to.

TC: Ilya, what made you think this was the right move when Mamoon then asked you to leave Index Ventures to join Kleiner?

IF: Index is a top European venture capital firm. I knew Danny Rimer from Dropbox. Mike Volpi is a partner, and he helped me a lot. And I helped [the firm] get established here in San Francisco, and I did that for about three years, which was frankly an amazing time. And like Mamoon deciding to leave a firm that he started, for me, the decision to leave Index and this part of Index that I helped establish was really difficult — one of the most difficult career decisions of my life, not just because of the firm but the people and the companies they are a part of. So I took a long time to think about this.

But Mamoon and I had chatted on and off for about three years, and a lot of what we talked about as we worked on [shared portfolio companies including] Slack and Intercom and a few other things was what would an ideal venture firm look like if we built it from the ground up. What would be the principles, how would we structure it, how big would it be, how would we think about people who come into it and progress to different levels. And what we envisioned is what we’re building now at Kleiner Perkins. For me, the opportunity to build that atop 47 years of investing history was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

TC: Before we move on, why the split with Mary Meeker and the growth stage business? My understanding was the firm’s best returns in recent years have come from that later-stage side.

IF: Certainly, there were some great logos in the growth-stage fund. But I think returns from [earlier-stage] venture were pretty great as well.

I think where we came down as we were thinking about strategy was this notion of how do you compete. There’s a lot more capital at the seed stage; there’s a lot more capital in growth stage. When we think about ecosystem and landscape of venture, when you look where we’re focused predominately today — which is Series A — the type of work we do and the kind of skills required is mentally quite different from late-stage investing. There’s basically no data. We’re helping founders hire their first sales leader and figure out their product strategy and helping them navigate partnerships. And when you look at the late-stage growth side, a lot of it is financial engineering, and you have to be really good at it, because you have to price things really well. For us, if we’re off 20 to 30 percent on price, it’s probably okay as long as we pick the right company.

And mutually, as we thought about our individual fundraising strategies and our futures, we came to the conclusion that it made complete and total sense for the folks on the early stage and for Mary and other folks to go off and do late-stage investment.

TC: What about Beth Seidenberg and Lynne Chou O’Keefe, two life sciences investors who also left last year? Is health care not interesting to Kleiner? It seems like it’s suddenly interesting to other firms.

MH: Beth is one of the world’s best life sciences investors. She actually retired from Kleiner Perkins. That was her intent with the latest fund, and she has always lived in L.A. and she started her own fund down there and that was part of her plan. So that was not a surprise.

We still do health investing. I think all of us have done digital health investing . . .though they’re more like consumer or enterprise companies. They just happen to sell into the healthcare vertical.

TC: Tell us about the decision-making process and whether that has changed since the two of you joined.

IF: Given that we’re small, we can make decisions very quickly. Sometimes you have to make a decision in a matter of hours or days, and we want to be able to do that, and you can only achieve that with a small, tight-knit group.

So our process is pretty simple. We get together. And you kind of read the room. And if I look at Mamoon and he’s looking at me really skeptically when I’m excited about an opportunity I’m bringing in, I’ll think about it and vice versa. We want the process to be organic and as sort of non-structured as possible to [surface] those decisions that aren’t always unanimous.

If you look at data in venture, the deals where everybody thinks they are bad are probably pretty bad. The deals that everybody thinks are good, they do okay. But it’s really the ones where there is disagreement, where’s there’s controversy, those are the outliers. And it makes intuitive sense, because if it was obviously correct, someone would have build it before.

TC: I hear you have some [junior] investors who are rockstars, including Monica Desai. Will she be a partner some day? Does Kleiner have an apprenticeship model on your watch?

IF: There are various ways to think about a generational transformation or evolution. Our view is we want folks who are thinking long term in their career as investors, who are thinking about and curious about technology, otherwise, you’re pretty bored. And we absolutely think of it as an apprenticeship, learning model where these folks get to work with not just one particular partner or domain but really across the partnership. The goal is to have them invest as quickly as possible and then help companies grow. So it is for us, hopefully Monica and Annie [Case] will be partners very soon.

MH: All five people who are partners today at KP grew up in the business. We were all associates at some point in our career and all of us wanted to be venture capitalists. So there really has to be this mindset of, I really want to do this job, I want to do it really well, and to help great founders build great companies. And we want people to really internalize that aspect of what we do.

TC: Kleiner isn’t the only firm to have five male partners. But given the firm’s history and the press attention paid to it, I wonder: did LPs push back on [your gender makeup]?

MH: LPs don’t push on it. They ask about it. But they also want to make sure that we hire the right people. You’re making a 10-year hire. I’d known Ilya for three years plus before we consummated this relationship. And the KP folks had known me for 10, 15 years before I came to KP. And [longtime partners] Ted [Schlein] and Wen [Hsieh] had already been at KP, Ted for 22 years and Wen for 13 years. So these are really long-term decisions that you’re making, and it’s really important to get it right.

If you spend a year grooming someone, the worst thing that can happen is six months to a year later they’re gone because there’s organ rejection. And that applies to a man or woman, it doesn’t matter. But we’re hiring a consumer partner right now and we’ve been pretty public about wanting some of our partners to be female as well. But you do have to get the chemistry right, the desire to do this job right — everything has to really fit.

TC: What do you think about SoftBank and its Vision Fund? Is it the best thing to happen to venture capital? The worst thing? Soon to be tomorrow’s news?

MH: I’m confused by them. At the Series A, it really doesn’t have an impact. However, the downstream effects [are seen] as companies mature or need to raise capital, or don’t need to raise capital and are offered a bunch of money from SoftBank, which can draw out things. We’re seeing less and less of that, by the way. [There’s] less and less of ‘Here’s money that you don’t need, because we have lots of money to deploy.’ I don’t know why, but last year we saw a lot of that.

I’ve only worked with one company that has raised capital from SoftBank and there’s was a very normal looking round. But I don’t know what to make of SoftBank right now.

TC: How are you feeling about the market generally? A few weeks ago it looked like things were slowing down. Now it seems to have shifted yet again.

MH: It’s weird to be in a nine-, ten-year old bull cycle. Hindsight and statistics suggest that we should have a recession soon. But we’ll tell you that the view on the ground, and the companies we’re involved with, that there’s really strength in almost all of them. These are normal companies that should see softness in their business if there’s something coming down the pike, and we haven’t seen that softness yet in our order numbers. In fact, they’re stronger than ever before.

I don’t know. Maybe we’re in for a 15-year bull run. Maybe there’s this perfect storm of technology coming of age and being so mainstream that there’s not just hundreds of millions of users but billions, and the markets are going to continue to expand and tech companies will continue to thrive, which I think truly is the case. So I don’t know when this one stops. I’m not a macroeconomist, but so far, on the ground, it all looks good.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/14/kleiners-mamoon-hamid-thinks-we-could-be-in-a-15-year-long-bull-market-and-other-insights-from-the-firm/

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fmservers · 5 years

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Kleiner’s Mamoon Hamid thinks we could be in a 15-year-long bull market (and other insights from the firm)

Last week, at a small event hosted in San Francisco by this editor, Hamid and Fushman talked about Kleiner, touching on people who’ve left the firm, how its decision-making process now works, why there are no senior women in its ranks, and what they make of SoftBank’s Vision Fund. (Hint: Hamid don’t entirely get it.) They also talked about why they are putting their necks on the line to turn Kleiner back into a powerhouse. Much of our conversation, edited lightly for length, follows.

TC: Mamoon, you left Social Capital, a firm that you’d cofounded, to join Kleiner Perkins in late 2017. Why.

TC: How would you characterize experience at Social Capital, and how does it inform your work at Kleiner?

MH: I think part of [my focus] was to be this small group of people, in consumer, enterprise, and I could foresee that happening. Because that was the right strategy, so it wasn’t a surprise to me. It wasn’t like I got there and was surprised and thought, Oh my God, this is happening. It was supposed to happen. This is where we driving it to.