#only know broad details about all that mess but it seems to be well documented that he's kind of a self absorbed jerk | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ardentmuse · 4 years

Text

Rogue Choices - Prologue (Kingsman x Reader)

Kingsman - Harry Hart x reader, Eggsy Unwin x Reader, Merlin (Hamish) x Reader (you decide!)

Summary: As a new agent, Arthur gives you your last big assignment before you are approved to run missions on your own, only this time you get to pick your partner. And who says you can’t mix business and pleasure.

Wordcount: 5.8k (and this is just the intro!)

Warnings: fluff, sexual tension, talk of violence

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

(Note: I started this a long time ago but had to pause because Twine was doing weird things. It’s meant as a fully interactive piece, but I think we can make it work here on tumblr and AO3 with different chapter links. So I’m putting it out into the world to see if you all like it!)

PROLOGUE

Two strong raps on the door grant you a gentle, “Come in.”

As you turn the handle and enter, the smell of old books and polished wood fills your nostrils. Arthur’s office is a proper executive space. Shelves are lined with old tombs that must have been passed down for generations. The rich, plush Persian rug is worm upon the edges from years of use, but still draws the eye with its vibrant reds and subtle blues. Two large and striking leather wingbacks rest before a sturdy walnut desk, at which sits a patient Arthur, who doesn’t even bother to lift his gaze from the files before him as he hears you enter.

“Agent Kay, please take a seat.”

You do as you are bid, leaning back into the worn leather to take in the countenance of you boss. He seems tired, the grey hair of his eyebrows coming together as he squints at the documents before him. But even with the slight bags under his eyes, he is still the image of a proper gentleman. His collar is expertly pressed and his turtle shell glasses sit low on the bridge of his nose, just as you imagine Churchill’s might have.

After a few moments, he shuffles the papers aside and levels his eyes with yours.

“It seems you received the memo that I needed to see you?”

You laugh, “Your assistant nearly tackled me as I left lunch.”

“Eager kid, that one. He’ll make a good agent someday, too,” he muses, and then with a wry smile adds, “Much like you.”

“I’m already an agent, Arthur.”

“But mayhaps a good one given time,” he says, his eyebrows rising ever so slightly in challenge.

You haven’t been a secret agent long, having earned the title only a few months prior. The selection process to join the Kingsman was grueling to say the least, but you had been Arthur’s hand picked candidate. Only upon your recruitment did you understand just how much Arthur, a second father to you in so many ways, had primed you from your youth for this very role you doesn’t even know existed.

But nothing, not even Arthur, could have prepared you for the stress of being a Kingsman agent out in the field. Taking down the world’s most harrowing criminals, dismantling sex trafficking rings and stopping terrorist attacks takes a toll on the mind and body. Death is constantly right beside you, a single word or a single misstep enough to reveal your identity and get you killed. The work of Kingsman is highly classified, incredibly dangerous, and outside the bounds of traditional justice. You are a ghost, a guardian angel just outside the realm of men, leaving only vague notions of what could have been: a newspaper headline, a five o’clock story on Radio 4, a traffic jam or a flight delay. Ignorance is bliss as they say, but you now know the dark underbelly, the secret of which is the source of bliss for so many.

You sigh and hold your hand against your thigh to stop yourself from fidgeting. The shoulders on your suit, the well-fitted tweed of our Kingsman uniform, seem to tighten as Arthur continues to stare at you, waiting for your protest.

“What are you getting at?”

Arthur laughs as he pivots in his chair and presses on the spine of a book behind his desk. Instantly, the two shelves pull forward and slide to the sides, revealing an entire wall of flat screens and holograms projecting outward. You can’t make out all the details but the lower corner contains a building schematic and the top right shows the animated, scowling face of whom you can only assume is your organization’s latest target.

“Andrej Jankovic. Former Russian operative now based in Cyprus, leading what we’ve learned is the largest money laundering ring in the world. We’ve been tracking him for months, but,” he stops talking to focus on the movement of his fingers, swiping away spreadsheets to pull up live surveillance footage of the target, “As you can see, he covers his tracks very well.”

You watch on the screen as the man sips coffee in a small café. Four different cell phones lay out before him, concealed under the newspaper through which he flips lazily as he takes in the sea just outside the window. He is younger than you expect for such high crimes, with not a wrinkle in sight upon his face. His dark hair is long and flung haphazardly to one side but his facial hair in contrast is shaven with precision, just outlining his harsh jawline. He is striking in that brooding sort of way, long Roman nose and chiseled muscles. You might consider him handsome in a different life where your mind isn’t trained to notice the harshness of his brow or how quickly his eyes narrow with disdain each time someone new enters his vision.

“He is certainly… something,”

“Killed three people just yesterday for using checks,” Arthur throws your way as if that is something to marvel.

You swallow, still not comfortable with just how common death is in your new line of work.

“He’s ruthless and calculating, incredibly thorough and uncommonly intelligent. We’re never going to catch him with paper trails alone. There won’t be any. And simply taking him out leaves the whole rest of the corrupt network up and running. We need names.” Arthur swivels in his chair so he is facing you once again, resting his elbows upon the wood of his desk with a thud. “And I think you can get them.”

“Wait, really? You’re trusting me with this?”

You feel your jaw go slack. Biggest money launderer in the world, and Arthur thinks you can handle it? These past few months have felt like a probationary period, working alongside other agents, cleaning up their messes and assisting in communications and research. Your field time has been limited to sitting in corners of crowded rooms, observing more senior agents doing the hard work.

Arthur raps his fingers against the stack of papers before him.

“I think he’ll take kindly to you. If our intelligence is correct, he’ll be most susceptible to your…”

“Charm?” you insert.

“At least more than that of any other agent,” Arthur confirms. “Now don’t misunderstand me. It is not my intention to send you out alone. You will need a partner. Consider this your last test before I set you loose, Kay.”

Arthur picks up papers before him, writes quickly on a post-it that he places on the top of the stack, and then thrusts his arms forward to you.

“You have until tomorrow night to select a partner and review this research material. The jet leaves Friday.”

He doesn’t have to dismiss you with words. The way he pivots his body back to the screens behind him is signal enough that your questions will only be addressed after you thoroughly review the case.

And so you stand and make your way back into the labyrinth of the Kingsman manor to begin to wrap your mind around your new mission.

Just as the door closes behind you, a voice calls almost directly into your ear.

“Our mighty leading givin’ you a hard time, there, newbie?”

With a shocked puff of breath, you pivot on your heels to see the broad chest and shoulders of Eggsy just inches from your face. He is reclining casually against the doorframe, his arms crossing over his chest matching the cross of his ankles, all casual and cool. The cheeky grin upon his face, showing you those pristinely white teeth, lets you know your startled response is exactly what he was hoping to see.

“You’re never as alone as you think you are, my love,” he purrs with a rub of his palm into your shoulder, stilling the jump of your body at his appearance. “Rule number one of this spy gig.”

His deft hands make calculated movement against your collarbone, each brush bringing just the tip of his fingers against your pulse point, as though trying to discreetly test how much his proximity is impacting you. Your body goes stiff at the sensation, not in fear or discomfort, but in confusion. Eggsy smiles that disarming smile of his. He leans forward, his mouth finding a place beside your ear.

“You know, I think I still have quite a bit to teach you.”

The feel of his breath combined with the gentle graze of his nails against your throat make your breath hitch, goosebumps running down your chest. You hate how clear your responses are to these sorts of flirtations and so you divert your gaze to the place where the tips of his oxfords are pressed against your shoes.

At your lack of response, Eggsy drums his fingers across your shoulder, tickling you. You laugh and pull back slightly, enough to actually take in his features: his jaw, sharp and square and his skin kissed with just a tint of sun, his blue eyes glowing with humor behind his glasses. And with that last realization, you sigh. He is right. You are never as alone as you think, especially at Kingsman, with those silly glasses recording almost every interaction for Merlin or whomever to review at their convenience.

“You know, it seems everyone thinks I still have much to learn.”

Eggsy gives you a quick slap on the back, pulling his body fully from yours.

“That’s what big boss man is on you about?” he says as he begins walking down the hall, leading you out of the offices spaces and back towards the communal agent quarters. “Ill-timed joke, then. My bad, love.”

As you turn the corner into the grand stairway, you notice the chasm between your bodies. Eggsy is two steps in front and his feet light, tossing a look back towards you as he continues his talking, as if he wasn’t just holding his body only inches for your own, running his calloused fingers across the sensitive flesh of your neck and raising your blood pressure, not just giving you dazzling smiles and teasing your earlobes with his hushed breaths. That is Eggsy, flirtation and friendship, on and off, hot and cold, and always just enough honesty in his eyes in those moments to make you question which is the act.

After a long walk through parlors and the kitchens, laughing about your dogs and the antics that came out of the latest team meeting, you find yourself standing in front of the control room with the majority of your tension about your mission lost somewhere in the depths of your brain.

“Now this is where I leave you,” Eggsy says.

You turn with a huff to your friend.

“Why didn’t you tell me Merlin sent you to find me?”

The corner of Eggsy’s mouth turned upward in that too-seductive half-smile he had perfected somewhere between you first meeting him and right now,

“You’re much more fun when you aren’t stressing about work.” His eyes scanned from your body, slow and intentional, until his gaze came to rest on your lips, now just slightly parted from his clearly heated evaluation. He smiled at your response. “Much more fun.”

You shake your head at him, always the tease.

“You really believe I would have had you laughing after Arthur had you down if your mind had also been churning on what Mr. Stoic McSeriousface wanted with you?”

You pout. Eggsy knows of your friendship with Merlin, the tech head for your organization. You know he is just trying to get a stir out of you.

But before you can answer, Eggsy moves forward. You step back and find the door pressing against your back.

“You’re going to be the death of me with that pout, you know.”

After a silent beat between you, the air growing thicker as you stare each other down, Eggsy leans forward, raising his hand the way he sometimes does to brush stray hairs from your face. But instead, his hand moves beyond your shoulder, making contact with the wood of the door. He knocks hard and heavy.

“Enjoy being bored to death, peaches,” he whispers to you before slinking down the hall.

Eggsy turns the corner just as Merlin opens the door to his workspace. You take note of his expression as he looks down the hall. It really is stoic, but when his face sets upon you, it immediately changes into something soft and inviting, encouraging even.

“Kay, glad you’re here.” He opens the door a little wider and then continues, “Come in.”

“Good afternoon, Merlin,” you say as you move into the tech space, Merlin following closely behind.

You throw yourself down on the vintage Eames lounge chair that sits in the corner of the room, placing your stack of papers on the floor as you allow yourself the joy of reclining deeply into the headrest.

Merlin pats the footrest as he passes by, inviting you to relax. He moves towards his desk, computer, and all the hundreds of gadgets that are organized upon the shelves beside.

“So, what do you have for me?” you ask as you follow through on Merlin’s request to fully recline yourself. “Details on Jankovic?”

“Yes, and no,” he says, not meeting your eyes. He takes a seat and begins typing away.

The rhythmic ping of keys give you a moment to truly observe the man before you. Merlin is a striking, almost imposing, figure in appearance. He is tall and lithe, in complete control of each moment, in a way that conveyed a refined elegance to some and a rigid intent to others. His face is a masculine stone, like a sculpture of a Roman general, piercing in its seriousness. But he brings life to the features that you love: soft hazel eyes, busy dexterous hands, and a smooth Scottish accent that makes even the sweetest words from his mouth sound husky.

After a moment, he continues on, “Jankovic has a well-trained team and multi-layered cyber systems. His security, virtual and physical, is nearly impenetrable. I do believe I have found a few exploitable flaws, almost all of which require work on the ground to hijack. If we don’t go that route, I have managed to mirror the controls for the security system at the hotel he owns in Limassol, so I will be able to be of assistance once you land.”

You stand and move beside his desk. He has months of logs, meticulously organized and color-coded and tabulated, certain sections highlighted in red, denoting times of lower security or routine system upgrades. His work, just like him, is precise and detailed.

You lean down over his shoulder to take in the schematic of the hotel, several floors of suites and an entire rooftop entertaining space. Your mind conjures images of the ocean and soft sand beaches that are visible just below, the salt air and the setting sun filling your slowly numbing senses as you sip on your second cocktail and a stunningly handsome man runs his hands down your spine to the soft of your back.

But the strong scent of cedarwood and bergamot that you know to be Merlin bring you back to the present. Or maybe it aids in the fantasy. When he reaches over to rest his hand on your back, pushing you forward slightly to watch the tiny dots he is pointing at with his other hand, you know where your mind got those ideas in the first place.

“I’ve discovered some patterns here that I think we can exploit, unless of course you decide making your presence known to the target is a better option.”

His fingers never leave your back as he speaks.

“Stealth or charisma,” you muse, “Just like a video game.”

“If so, your video games are quite limited,” he laughs. His fingers slide across your back as he rolls his chair to the other side of the room. You feel the absence most acutely.

“I’d hope there’d at least be some intelligence or combat in these skill trees of yours.”

His fingers run over the lock in the shelving. You hear a click and then the draw opens to reveal a pristine case containing three weapons you have yet to see, each encased in foam and glass like priceless works of art.

“Perhaps some lock-picking?” he turns and offered you a smile.

“I’ve definitely maxed out my luck, at least,” you say with a tilt to the draw of weapons, each more beautiful than the next.

“And enchantment, if I may be so bold,” his words are to the drawer of weapons and not your face, but your mind fills in his devastating lip bite and the thought has you melting and feeling the shyness creep over you.

The silence hangs between you two as Merlin flicks the lock on each case.

Finally with a deep breath, he says, “My latest prototypes. You’ll need all the protection you can get on this one, Kay, so take your pick.”

“Can’t I take all of them?”

Merlin turns and shots you a look so deadly, you feel the air leave your lungs.

“And risk you losing all my hard work? Never.”

His eyes are piercing yours, wearing you down, but you try your best to hold your ground.

“I’m quite trustworthy, Hamish,” you say with a gentle bit of your lip.

“First names, now? You jest, my dear,” he says with a narrowing of his eyes that let you know he likes the words more than he wants to admit. “Now pick.”

You feel the weight of the weapon in your hand, bouncing it a little to get comfortable.

“This one. I like this one,” you say finally.

Merlin shuts the drawers and turns to you. “And it likes you, too, Kay. Very fitting.”

You can’t help but smile at his praise. Eggsy is wrong, you know. Merlin isn’t so much serious as he is careful about his work. You enjoy the lightness he shares with you, even if it is intercut with professional talk.

“Thank you, Merlin,” you say as you holster the weapon and grab your papers.

“You’re welcome.” Merlin’s head already back in his computer and typing away.

As you reach for the door, he calls you once more.

“And Kay?”

You turn to offer him your full attention and are struck by how serious he looks, the hard lines of his face all completely turned to you and his chin dipped in a soft reverence that you hope is reserved for you alone. His voice takes on that husky quality as he breathes out the next words.

“I know you’re a little overwhelmed right now, but you are among us for a reason. You’re a capable agent, Kay. Please don’t forget that.”

For a man who often shrugs off sentimentality, he manages to find just the right words to build you up and make you smile. You feel a tiny wave of pleasure course through you, easing a bit of the weight from your shoulders.

You watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows. With a curt nod, the sweetness of the moment lost, he returns his eyes to the screens beside him.

You sit in the study, the fire roaring beside you, as you pour through each meticulous document that Arthur gave you. Just skimming these papers alone is going to take you all the way to your flight and then some, and that doesn’t include the time you need to devise a plan, select a partner, and prep for execution. But none of those other things can happen until you wrap your mind fully around your mission. And if that means sitting here well into the morning, transcribing and memorizing and organizing, then that is what you are going to do.

You hear the clink of porcelain upon the table beside you. A mug of tea is now perched among your discarded notes, the steam cloud in the lamplight.

“Thought a pick-me-up might be in order,” Harry, your mentor and fellow agent, says above you as he moves to the other side of the room, carrying his own mug and his own papers, though his take the form of the news, several morning editions stacked together, a few in languages in which you weren’t aware Harry had proficiency.

With the flick of his wrists, Harry opens the top paper, but unlike his usual routine of reading through the headlines and major political scandals, Harry turns towards the back, folds the paper in half, and pulls out a pen from his jacket pocket.

You take a long sip of the tea he provided you, and are pleased to discover it isn’t his usual nighttime blend but a proper English brew, one that will provide you enough caffeine to get your through this work. If Harry is anything, it certainly is thoughtful.

You work in silence for fifteen minutes or so, Harry’s long legs elegantly crossed as he relaxes himself against the couch. He drums the end of the pen upon the tuffs of the Chesterfield. You can’t help but think about how, in the past six months, you had already fallen into a pleasant routine with these men you called your colleagues. Lunch with Eggsy, briefings and shooting practice with Merlin, and long nights, just like tonight, sitting beside Harry and working in companionable silence. With Harry, words are rarely needed. He is a man whose company creates an aura of calm that penetrates even the most intense of moments. The few missions on which you have accompanied him were smooth, efficient endeavors; they left you feeling confident and poised even by comparison to arguably the most poised man you have ever met.

“Attractive, eight letters, third letter is most likely a ‘g’,” Harry asks into the air.

You lift your head from a giant list of innocuously named shell corporations to consider his question.

Engaging? Magnetic?

“Hmmm,” he muses, scribbling upon the paper, “Thank you, darling.”

You only get a few more minutes of silence before he is piping up again.

“Unstable, six letters, last letter ‘y’.”

Wobbly? Flimsy? Shifty?

“Perfect,” Harry whispers over his swift pen strokes. The roar of the fire by now was dying down, the pleasant crackle of embers scenting the room in hickory and smoke. You find yourself fighting the exhaustion that is coming over your body at the sheer comfort of your company and the ambiance the room provides.

Not thirty seconds pass by before Harry is calling your way once more.

“To proceed, four let-“

“Harry, are you trying to distract me from my work or is this crossword collaborative?”

Harry folds the paper shut and places it firm upon his lap. His eyes shift upward slowly, from your feet to your eyes, pausing upon the stack of papers spread out around you on all sides before he finds his way to your face. Harry’s lips curl into a soft smile, one that is made all the more precious by the way the fire’s reflection upon his face. He rubs at the bridge of his nose as he debates his words.

“I wouldn’t call it distracting as much as helping,” he finally decides, picking up the paper as he takes soft steps towards you.

Soft, that is the best word to describe Harry. Gentleness and patience and softness are what you associated with him most. Sure, you have seen his skills, watched him turn into a ruthless hit-man as the situation called for it, powerful and strong and confident. But the instant the bodies laid still before you, Harry’s steps grew light again. As he reached out his hand in serenity, kindly lifting you to your feet, brushing debris from your hair and asking in a whisper if you are safe.

“I’m not so sure how not doing my work is going to help me do my work,” you say as Harry pulls the footstool out beside you to sit. His back is perfectly straight despite the lack of support and you wonder if you body would ever be trained with the same precision as the seasoned agents you so admire.

“You’re thinking too much,” he says. He sits the newspaper down on top of your papers, covering up all your notes and drawing your focus to the absence of notes on his actual page. Nothing exists in the boxes, only in the margins and you notice how peculiar it appears.

“See, darling, this is you right now, taking each individual note and trying to assess it alone. If I went bullet by bullet through this crossword puzzle trying to figure out what it meant by every single word clue or question mark, I would have half the puzzle wrong.”

Harry is leaning over the newspaper now, his head awfully close to your own. The fluff of his brown curls are brushing lightly against your forehead. Despite the tickling, you don’t pull away.

Harry’s voice is low, requiring you to lean in. He wants this proximity. For what purpose, you don’t let you mind assume.

“Some clues like this one,” he says, pointing to 20-across ‘Author Silverstein,’ “Are easy to solve without context.” His hand moves to write the first bit within the puzzle: ‘shel.’

“But others,” he moves his pen to point at 4-down, ‘To proceed,’ and the three words he has written beside it: sail, toil, and till. Somehow his brain did the puzzling work of realizing long ago that the ‘l’ in ‘shel’ was the necessary fourth letter. “ Others require much more context.”

“And even still, some may seem to require context,” he says, pointing to the clue, ‘display of glee,’ which had nothing scribbled beside, “But actually require none at all, just experience and foresight.” And with that note, he moves quickly to the tiny space to which the clue corresponds and without checking anything else, writes ‘jig’ in large, bold, capital letters.

“Now how do you—“ you went to protest, but Harry interrupted you.

“Because it’s always jig. I know it could be ‘hah’ or ‘lol’ but it isn’t. It is always jig. There aren’t many other ways to get ‘j’s into the puzzle. Do a few crosswords and you don’t even have to finish reading the clue. That and emu. And Nave. V’s are tricky buggers, too.”

You sigh, “But I don’t have the experience to see the ‘j’ and the ‘v’ in our spy work yet. I just see the Silversteins and the capitals of France and the 2017 Best Picture winner.”

Harry’s hand reaches out to rub against your knuckles, comforting and supportive, “But, darling, you do. Every puzzle has a theme. Every target has his preferences. Find what is distinctive, what is rare. Trust your gut to see what doesn’t fit, what needs to be there because it can’t exist any other way. “

Harry lifts up the newspaper, revealing your workspace once again. He links his fingers with yours as he allows his free hand to run along the stack of papers before you.

“Scan,” he says, slow and emphatically. He lifts the stack like a book and flicks, one page each second with a satisfying click and swipe.

The first few pages go by with a blur. By the tenth, you are pulling out only a handful of words, though those words seem to make a story anyway: Ancoria, Konstantinos, $9,999, Ltd.

“Stop!” you say upon the sixtieth page or so. Harry’s hand grips yours a little tighter, sending a warm jolt down your spine. You see him smile out of the corner of your eyes at your apparent discovery.

“What do you see?” he asks, his shoulder brushing yours as he leans in. The rough wool of his jacket brushing against your bare arm is a pleasant contrast to the smooth skin of his palm that still pressed firmly into your own.

You use your free hand to point to the third transaction line.

“All the previous shell companies had Greece mythology names. Scylla, Nyx, Calliope. But this one is Roman: Decima. At least I think it is,” you bit your lip a little realizing this may be a stupid thing to call out, “But even if it isn’t, it doesn’t seem right. This also seems to be the only shell company for which we have names of the board of directors.”

Harry takes his pen and circles Decima with three big spins. He underlines each of the names listed on the board below and pulls the paper out of the stack and up to the top.

He draws his hands away from yours to close the pen and collect your stack together once more. He plops the newly assembled stack before you and makes to leave you. But as he stands with one knee against the footrest upon which he had been sitting, he hovers his body over you, his proximity doing little to help with the already intense heat of your skin from the fire. He leans forward and grazes his lips gently upon your forehead. As he pulls away, his hand finds your chin and he meets your gaze.

“That’s my girl,” he says with a smile before turning and walking swiftly out of the room, his newspaper abandoned to your pile.

With a renewed vigor, you dive deep into the papers, determined to see the odd inconsistencies that might provide context for the more common practices. As you continue to sip on your tea, you notice the cup had refilled and rewarmed itself. You never heard Harry enter the room at all.

The following morning, you wake with the sun. Little sleep had happened in the past day but you feel refreshed regardless. The long hours you had put in the night before resulted in quite a bit of relevant information and three distinct methods for tackling Jankovic, each with its merits and its challenges. But you are feeling confident for your meeting with Arthur, at least you were last night. This morning, you need to eat your breakfast and review your notes before providing your supervisor with your planned course of action.

You lift yourself from the plush comfort of your bed, the biggest benefit of spending the night at the manor, and walk towards your desk, which now is a much more organized collection of research: three distinct piles with three hand-written mission plans upon each.

You pull the blanket along with you, cocooning yourself as you sit at the desk and review your plans.

The first is a traditional approach: the honey-pot. In Andrej’s personal history, he has displayed a clear preference for your physical features. And even more, he has had no steady partners, just a series of lovers, all of whom were affiliated with other men simultaneously. In your time at Kingsman, it had already become clear that the type of people you took down got enjoyment out of breaking more than just the law.

Eggsy is the perfect partner for this plan. His flirtatious personality and social skills mean he can easily convince a group of people that you are a couple. With the gala at the hotel on Saturday, all it would take is a little skin and some well-placed winks on your end for Andrej to want to tempt you away from your handsome partner. And while you entertain Andrej’s attentions, Eggsy would be open to sneak into the depths of Andrej’s personal estate and gather what information was needed to take him down. Sure, this plan puts you right in the belly of the beast and therefore in the most direct line of danger, but it also gives you the best chance to adapt to new information and go with the flow.

The second plan is significantly less risky but requires more planning. A covert invasion of his security detail and hijacking of his automated banking systems would provide you all the information you needed to tear down the entire network. With Merlin’s mirror, you could cut down power to the hotel, sneak into the basement offices undetected, and bug and download what you needed. With Merlin, this plan could be flawless, with you using your combat background to take down the guards and his tech skills ensuring a full system overhaul without a trace. You would still need to get into the hotel, and the gala would work as a good cover, but unlike the honeypot, your goal would be to blend in as much as possible. It may not be the most glamourous plan, but it would certainly be the most efficient, and not to mention the most intimate, sneaking through darkened corridors and keeping as close as possible to avoid detection.

And finally the third plan would require approaching Jankovic directly, posing as British investors seeking to hide funds overseas, hoping to utilize Jankovic’s existing network to hide quite a bit of money quickly. And you’d be willing to pay for the services. You need credentials, as Andrej is a skeptical man, but he is also not the type of man who can pass up a quick cash opportunity. You could approach him at the gala, enquire about his services, and find out much from the horse’s mouth, supplementing what he tells you with the information would be able to mirror from his phones once you had him in the room with you. And in this, Harry could truly sign. A master of the art of blending in among the oddest of crowds, Harry could easily pose as the financial head of your organization, partners in crime in the truest sense. You wouldn’t have to steal anything in this plan. Andrej would give it freely, though it would require near perfect coordination between you and Harry.

As you add notes to the margins of your stacks, you look over at the post-it Arthur left on your files yesterday: Regroup noon, tomorrow. If you don’t leave now, you will be late. You throw on yesterday’s suit, scoop up what papers you need and rush to Arthur’s office.

The door is open when you arrive and Arthur is seated upon one of his couches, cutting into a perfectly roasted chicken breast as he beckons you forward.

“Discover anything useful?” he says after a swallow. He lifts his cloth napkin to his lips and waves out the door behind you. Pushing past you, his assistant cruises inside and grabs his plate with a nod before leaving.

Arthur waves a hand to the seat in front of him. You take your sit and go to speak, but before you can say a word, Arthur lifts a finger.

“Before you run me through the details, whom should I request be joining us for this briefing?”

“Um…”

And that’s a wrap for the prologue! Please let me know in the comments which route you’d like to me to work on first. :)

All tags: @fangirlandnerd, @aerdnandreaa, @thisisbullshytt, @cancerousjojian, @whovianayesha, @themarauderstheoutsidersandpeggy, @luna-xxxxx, @sleepylunarwolf, @starryrevelations, @potter-thinking, @all-by-myself98, @bananafosters-and-books, @cutie-bug, @igotmadskills, @hazelandcoconuts, @yallgotkik, @amberkay284, @the-new-galahad, @13ofjuly, @daft-not-punk

Kingsman tags: @allonsymexgirl, @eiensteiner, @thecaptainsgingersnap, @madamcadaver. @doct0rstrange, @ratwrites, @kaeleabres, @nellietara, @ediblemurderer, @allofthekingsmen

Harry Hart tags: @un-education, @lexicon04, @bananzaa, @consultingdoctorwholock, @sparrowharkness, @newconnorwhodis

Merlin tags: @consultingdoctorwholock, @sparrowharkness

265 notes · View notes

moldy-mold · 5 years

Text

Diary Post: My Thoughts and Processes on Making “Silent Strength” It’s lengthy, taking place over long period of time. Mainly written for my future-self to remember what I went through, but also for anyone who is curious. Now that the project is over, I can post without reservations. There are certain things I need to keep secret though, so if I’m vague I do so intentionally!

Basically, a lot of number-crunching, physical labor, and psychological labor.

It started off as kind of a joke tweet I made. I had enough content to make a Tales Of art book and people were receptive to it. So… I thought maybe I could go somewhere with this. A few weeks later, I suddenly had a lot of Kratos art. Like. 80% of all my Tales art was Kratos. It didn’t make sense to make a broad Tales Of book when really most of it was Kratos.

I hadn’t made a book since I was in college despite it being one of my favorite things to do. They were never art books, just some editorial design projects that totally didn’t count. This book… would be my first-ever art book.

Several times, I came close to having enough art to print a book - the last time was my large collection of Yusuke Kitagawa, but the quality wasn’t where I wanted. At that time, I was still experimenting with my iPad Pro and figuring out Procreate, so that was what I used him for.

NGL, I was pretty afraid of looking like a clown. After doing all this work, what if no one actually buys it? I was talking to some friends and they said they would buy it. It was enough for me. In the end, I’m creating something that I love. - The first thing I really wanted to work on was the cover. It needed to be epic but also mysterious (lol)… It was a good time to practice lighting and backgrounds. The cover had to be freaking Fantastic. I spent 3 days drawing nonstop. I was on vacation so I could spend full days just drawing. It was really intense. I would stop in the evenings to go for a run or else my legs would never get circulation again.

The hardest part was keeping it secret. I wanted to share it with the world right away bc I was so proud of it. Well, all I could do was show it to my parents and some close friends. They didn’t know who Kratos is, but it was obvious I was crazy about him.

Initially, I was doing some hand-lettering for the zine title instead of using a typeface. Tbh, I was so sure I was naming this zine “Blame Your Fate!” bc that is such an iconic line. But it just didn’t work with my cover, which looked… a little too serene for that. So… Silent Strength or Divine Strength? I asked around and got my answer.

But what size? All of my art has been on letter canvases. I wanted it to be large so you could see the details in the art. I’ll just start with that. - Luckily, I had all my Kratos-related art in one place. I started my InDesign file and threw everything in there just to see what it looked like. Man, I draw a lot of boxes… But I didn’t want them all next to each other. I also wanted to kinda organize it by the people Kratos hangs out with. There’s a Yuan section LOL… and a Lloyd section… and an Anna section. Idk, I tried to get some kind of order in there with a sprinkling of full spreads here and there to keep it fresh and interesting for the eyes.

I hadn’t worked with InDesign on such an intense level since college. I forgot all of the tips and tricks we learned in class. Spent some time reading on how to do things again… like adding page numbers. - I started drafting my pre-order form. It’s my first time making a google form like this. It’s kind of fun? I spent a long time on it, despite how simple it was. This was going to be my “Store” so it had to look and sound good. - My friend introduced me to charm-making. It seemed easy enough, and I wanted to give my zine more oomph. Besides, I’ve always wanted to make a charm.

I remember someone saying they’d buy a book of just the 4 Seraphim if it existed. I like them too and they lack art imo. In the end, I decided to do a polaroid charm. It’s not really that unique but I wanted Kratos to have actual friends to hang out with for once LOL.

She was going to do a group order to try to reduce the costs. I thought maybe 4 weeks would give me enough time. In the end she said I only have 2. I work well under pressure, so needless to say, I did make that deadline. I actually sketched the whole thing on the plane headed home. - After playing the game the second time, watching the OVA again, and reading “Offerings to a Star,” I have gained a real soft spot for Yuan. My friend once said, “If you weren’t stolen away by Kratos, you would be in love with Yuan.” Lol. I’ve been in a “Kratos and Yuan hanging out” mood lately, so of course I needed something good for the zine. They’re so cute together! Now… what is the bro-est thing I can draw?

I was currently in Florida for my friend’s wedding. I was friends with the groom and his best man since high school, so that makes it 10 years now. Seeing how they’re still friends after all this time, despite living in opposite sides of the country, was really moving to me. Of course, me being me, I could see Kratos and Yuan’s long friendship being similar to this, if they had gone to school together. I just had to draw it. - When I got back from vacation, I did some research on zine sizes. Mine was HUGE compared to others. I just didn’t quite realize it until I held a magazine in my hands. It really is huge…

I settled for a medium size. 7x9. I really liked how it looked. Petite but not too petite. Unfortunately resizing my book had messed up my artwork placement so I spent hours rearranging all the text and resizing my images. I found out afterwards that there’s a way to retain the format while changing the document size. Gee, that would have been helpful 4 hours ago.

Sadly, choosing a custom size booklet makes printing more expensive. But I wanted it badly enough that I’d be willing to pay for it. Letter size is just too large… - I decided to stop dragging my feet and post a promo. I just really needed a deadline for myself to get this all done before July ended. I’m happy it was well-received. A lot of people like Kratos huh…

Anyway, the pre-order is due in a week and I still don’t know what all the costs are yet. I need a physical proof ASAP to weigh at the post office! - Something possessed me one day to do another drawing. I don’t usually do painterly style (mainly because it’s really difficult and takes 10x longer) but I just REALLY wanted to push myself on this Final Piece to the zine. I wanted it to be… radiant. Almost religious. I worked on it obsessively. From breakfast to sundown. The only time I would stop was at 7pm to go running or else my legs would give out on me.

Call me crazy, but I would save my progress on my phone so I could examine it for errors during my warmup. I also spend an hour examining it for errors before going to bed. It’s a miracle I hadn’t dreamt of the painting. - I sent my files in on Sunday in hopes that they start working on it first thing on Monday…. and it HAPPENED! They finished before I even woke up. I think they start work at like 6am…

Of course, I drove over there as soon as I heard so I can get a look. “Please… please let the colors be okay,” I prayed as I was driving. I barely remember driving there, I was so lost in thought. It would be another long ordeal if I had to fix all the colors.

Thank the stars. The press proof looked BEAUTIFUL!! I was screaming to the client coordinator how much I loved it. I mean, I worried for a looooong time that everything would turn out too dark (it usually does) but it was PERFECT. I was especially worried about the cover, which contained a lot of yellow and I def did not want it to come out mustardy… But it was great in the end!

The press operator is a quiet man. He’s got a scary face and never smiles but I think he’s secretly nice. He has done a lot of favors for me in the past without my asking. He was the one to print, bind, and trim the book for me. Obviously he had to have seen what I was drawing. I wonder what he thought of it…? He walked away before I could express how happy and thankful was. He didn’t need to hear it. It was like he already knew. So cool…

I immediately took it to the post office to weigh it. I needed as much info as I could get and plus, I was dying to know for myself. This is the week I was supposed to open pre-orders and there was still a lot I needed to do. Take pictures, create mockups, pricing, etc.

NGL, all of these costs were building up fast. It was so darn expensive to make a zine while also keeping prices down. But I wanted so much more for my baby. Extra glossy cover, perfect binding!! I knew by the end of this, I probably wouldn’t make much money. It hurt a little, but I tried to think that it was for the greater good. Learning experience and all that. And creating something beautiful. Especially something beautiful of Kratos. - Pricing was really the hardest part. I pretty much threw profit out the window. However, I definitely did not want to be losing money. My dad and I had worked together to create a spreadsheet of expenses to make sure my head was above water. I followed it… loosely.

My friend came to talk to me at the right moment. I was sort of panicking at the prices. She made me realize I was thinking way too hard about it and gave me some tips based on her own experience. It really put my mind at ease talking to someone who understands my woes.

The truth of the matter is, the book is wonderfully made and has a lot of pages - countless hours of drawing. There is only so much I can do about pricing. It is what it is… I just needed to come to terms with my own worth. - Boy, what am I going to do once the zine is done? My friend says that I’ll be so over Kratos that I’ll stop drawing him (but the love remains). It’s like… all of the intense planning, working, struggling nonstop will just suddenly… stop. TBH, I’m running out of ideas. I spent it all on the zine. - Photoshoot today. I had to paint my nails purple for this occasion. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the look I wanted in the apartment. It’s just so naked without props. I think I’ll take it to a cafe for some nicer backgrounds. I talked it over with my friend and decided to do a quick flip-through of the zine as a promotional video. I used the most professional video program I had on hand… Snapchat. It actually turned out pretty legit and of course I slapped stickers on there because it’s Snapchat.

I had to tape/hide some of the pages for the video because I wasn’t actually done with the drawings. I had the printers print it anyway so I could examine it for color accuracy.

I’m really stressed about pricing now. It turns out I had a lot more international fans than I anticipated. I wish I took notes on interest earlier in the game to cater to them. I had a list of “possible buyers” and I only just now decided to check where they live? Foolish.

I did another cost analysis on paper to figure out what my goal was to make up for the charms. Right now they’ve cost me a fortune for something that was supposed to be giveaway. Other things that rack up are packaging costs, PayPal fees, and some other supplies I needed for this project.

Maybe I shouldn’t have made it 40 pages. It is an impressive number, but no one is really paying for quantity. I think 25 is a better number lol. If I had done that, I could have had my super-gloss cover like I wanted. :’(

There is hope though. And I’ve placed it in the hands of my followers to come through for me. I think I’ll open pre-orders on Saturday or Sunday, depending on what I finish. - “Losing your cool will only lead to poor decisions.”  Thanks, Kratos twitter bot. You always know what to say.

I read this post today on what makes people buy zines. Very interesting!  https://twitter.com/andythelemon_/status/1141469048653398019 - Photoshoot part 2 today. My friend and I went to a cafe nearby that had some nice atmosphere in hopes of finding the right shots. I brought all of my Kratos merch just in case. I’m glad I did though, since the tables were pretty sparse and it was difficult to capture the backgrounds without getting a bunch of random people in it too.

I would have been the photographer, but I definitely wanted my hands in the shots. In a way, it was meaningful - to show that this was made by my own two hands. Plus, I wanted to depict natural interaction with the product. It made it feel real.

The photos were cute! I feared it would look a little amateurish with all the merch in there, but I think fun was what I was really going for, not “professional.” And plus the flip-through was a Snap anyway LOL. As long as the photos have good lighting and tasteful composition, you really can’t go wrong with “fun.”

Now that I’ve finished editing my photos, there really isn’t anything holding me back from opening pre-orders. I’ve pretty much come to terms with my pricing. If I fail to break even, I’ll just have to open commissions to try to make up for it. I was telling my friend on the way home, “I gave this zine EVERYTHING I had to give. So at the very least, I won’t be disappointed in myself.” No stone left unturned, no detail left unchecked. It was perfect according to my standards. I really love my zine okay?!

I thought I was crazy for not only choosing a small fandom, I narrowed it down even further by picking ONE GUY to make this zine about. She replied, “Even if it’s small, those people who love him now must be EXTREMELY LOYAL to still be in love with a character from a 15-year-old game. All of them will want your zine.” - I went to bed that night with the intention of making the pre-order post live in the morning. I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep. I was wide awake until at least 5 or 6 am. Luckily, I was able to doze off for a an hour or two before I would shake myself awake again. It was a mixture of anxiety and excitement. It was the moment of truth - to see if all my effort made a difference. Was it going to sell? - The pre-order post looked really freaking good. I’ll give it that. I even made a YT account just to post that darn preview video on tumblr lol. It was definitely fun seeing everyone’s excitement and we all just freaked out together.

I broke even! That’s what really matters. Honestly at this point, I couldn’t care less if I made profit or not. I now know how much people really like the zine and that alone made me so happy I could die.

I was particularly fascinated at Google Form’s ability to transfer all the data collected into a spreadsheet. That is extremely helpful. I spent hours organizing the data. It was really fun…?! Now I can tell who gets invoiced and who paid and separate them into categories. IT’S FANTASTIC!

Stayed up late researching how much adding tracking could be. I had a slight panic attack thinking “what if my books got lost in transit?” It would really hurt me to have to reprint books and ship them again. And then I realized I will need to fill out customs forms for all international orders. Yikes, I’m gonna be living at the post office lol. You can print them out at home if you fill out the form online but there are still some things I’m uncertain about. I may visit the post office later this week to ask all my questions. - This morning I sent out everyone’s invoices. I gave the international people the option to purchase tracking. It’s expensive… but I need to provide that option just in case.

I received a nice message from someone who offered to advertise for me on Instagram. Of course, I gave them the OK! I’m really so shocked they would do that… They said the liked the zine so much it deserved more exposure. My dude… I love you… T_T

I thought about advertising on insta myself earlier in the week. For some reason I felt it was going to be fruitless since I don’t have an art account on there with a following. So, I gave up on the idea. Hey it worked out in the end.

I’ve never been so organized in my entire life. I want this zine experience to be perfect. The people have placed their trust in me, so I cannot mess up. - Edited some pages in the zine. The typography must be perfect… It made me think back to undergrad days in graphic design school. Man, if only I can present this as a project - photos, videos, matching accessories and all. I’d probably get an A lol. - Orders slow down after the first day. The rest is just about getting new people to see the post and giving other people more time to decide.

I finished my Kratos stationery today. It’s going to be so cute. My friend said people would want to buy it but I don’t have it in me to do more products at this time. Plus, I want it to be a surprise.

Why make stationery? Well my real job (no, I don’t draw Kratos all day for a living) is a stationery designer! It would feel really wrong not to put into practice what etiquette I’ve learned in this business. Plus, I felt that it was necessary to properly thank all those who ordered. And it’s fun?

I started designing the shipping labels for the domestic orders since I don’t need to fill out a customs form for those. I wish I had sticker labels but… it’s okay. It will still look good in the end. - Every so often, I would get nervous at the amount of money I’m responsible for. Perhaps, if I had a store with existing products I wouldn’t feel this way, but the fact that the books haven’t been printed yet made me scared. I know, I need this money to even print the books in the first place, but I’m just baffled at my customers’ trust in almost a total stranger. I felt pressured that I could not let them down and lose that trust. It probably didn’t help that I watched a documentary on Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) that day.

So, I prayed every single day that nothing would go wrong. I’d check my spreadsheet constantly for any mistakes. It was a little obsessive, but I would rather be that than overlook something.

I began collecting cardboard boxes. My plan was to cut them up to protect the books during transit. I would have preferred hard envelopes but they were a bit pricey. If I have to do more work myself, so be it.

I’ve been getting nice DMs from some buyers. I think my invoice due date scared them… I really did not intend to be strict, but I wanted people to pay now if they can rather than forget about it. This happens at work all the time, so the best thing to do is have it due immediately. It would not look good to have to wait on stragglers when I close pre-orders, so I’ll probably reach out when there is one week left. - My Kratos stationery arrived! Aww it is SO CUTE!!! My babies… I have a lot of notes to write so I got started right away. It’s going to be a lot of work trying to come up with creative ways to say “thank you,” but I don’t mind. I said I was going to put my all into the zine experience so I will.

At long last, the charm order has been put in motion. My friend said it could take a while… I hope it won’t be longer than 3 weeks. I really do not want to keep everyone waiting. I may ship out the ones who did not win a charm first. I mean, there is no reason to make those guys wait. I should ask the charm winners if they still want to wait and see if anyone wants to give it up for someone else who is more patient. Hm. - I finally stopped by the post office today to collect customs forms. I have my work cut out for me since I’m filling all of them in by hand. D:

I’m not used to international addresses so I think I’ll ask for help in checking them for spelling errors and typos. Heaven forbid I mess up on the very last part of the zine experience.

In my nervousness, I decided to reach out about invoices early on. If someone wanted to cancel, I would rather find out sooner rather than later. Everyone was really nice about paying and thank goodness they’re still excited.

Feeling kind of overwhelmed by all the things I need to do, but it’s a good thing. If I don’t know what to do, I can either: cut cardboard, write letters, type shipping labels, draw more Kratos for a… possible volume 2? Someone I talked to today already said they’ll pre-order a second book if I make one. Omg I think I’ll die. But we’ll see. It’s just a joke right now haha… - Preorders end today. I had another nightmare last night that the books could not be printed properly and there was nothing I could do. Why do I keep getting nightmares about the zine! I had one a few days before about people canceling their orders when I asked them about the invoices. I’ll take these dreams with a grain of salt. I’m probably just stressed/worried but everything is going to be okay. When I open my eyes, nothing is on fire.

I received my final proof a few days ago. With all of the artwork completed and changes applied. The book looks good, no doubt about it. There was only one thing I was nit-picky about but it can be fixed. The press operator offered to print another book for me to inspect. I’ll go see it on Monday and then submit the rest of the orders. I also asked to to have a meeting with the press operator so we are on the same page. It would be beneficial to have an understanding of how my book is made so that I may be more helpful to him.

I spent the day preparing shipping labels. I hate to admit, I am not too familiar with the format international addresses so I had an address validator open as I was typing them in. For the most part, everyone was helpful in already formatting their addresses in the preorder form! - My parents called me the day after preorders were closed. They wanted to say congratulations on my success. No one thought it would do this well. I couldn’t be offended by that since I was also guilty of it. I’m happy though. It feels like my love spread across the world and was contagious.

I tried to think of what advice I would give to others. Obviously, genuine love for the subject and hard work were a necessity. But it would be good to consider value. If I were selling it at this price, I had to make sure my pieces and presentation looked the part. I ask myself, if someone else sold it, would I buy it?

I sent out messages to all the charm winners in the morning. I wanted to apologize profusely at the ridiculous amount of time it has taken to get them made. But no, I’ve got to stop apologizing. I stated the facts and left it at that. Everyone was really kind and patient⁠—to which I was thankful for. I don’t usually get that when I’m working customer service. - All the books were done printing in one day. Wow! I went to pick it up immediately of course. I can’t believe all of this is coming to an end. I finished preparing the mailers. All that was left was to stuff and seal the domestic orders. They were the easiest to do so I’m going to ship those first. The rest will need customs forms, which I haven’t filled out just yet. It’s going to be a while for those…

The mailers were quite sturdy with the cardboard cutouts I slipped in them. I have nothing to worry about. I’m sure my babies will be okay! - I took a whole box of domestic orders to the post office today. Wasn’t sure what to expect. But my clerk had to input every single address one at a time while I checked for errors. Omg, why are the post office shipping labels SO HUGE. I thought it was going to be half the size. And they’re ruining my designer labels! Slight panic but oh well…

I had a long long line behind me. I’m so sorry, people. Luckily there were two clerks or I would be really sweating. Despite my intimidating box of zines, the clerk and I had Synergy and we managed to ship all of these in about 15 minutes. I received a very long receipt and quite the bill lol. - Shipped the international orders today. I was kind of a mess since I had no idea what to do. I keep wondering if I can help speed up the process in any way but I don’t think I have the option to ship first-class at home.

When shipping international, keep the post office copy of the customs forms together with the package since they use that to type the address info into the system. Also, we get free tracking, which I did not know about. The other clerk told me that we did not get tracking for international first-class but I guess he was misinformed. It’s good to know for next time. - The charms finally arrived!! And THEY’RE HOLOGRAPHIC?! It was pretty awesome, but it makes picture-taking kind of difficult!! Anyway, I was a tiny bit disgruntled that they got my order incorrect, and I even asked for a reprint. But they said no, so I left it at that. Besides, it seems the holographic effect was well-received.

I like this size that I made. It’s really cute! Larger than your normal charm but not too huge. It’s almost like an Instax photo! - There was one customer who I found lives near me! I asked her if she wanted me to hand-deliver it to her in a public setting and she agreed (to my amazement). We finally met a few days ago and talked for hours and hours lol! I’m glad to have finally made a new friend here in this town but of course she’s moving away in two weeks. <:’3

We’re going to meet again to make the most of her time left. - I shipped the rest of the orders on the following Monday. I HAD to get these out. The poor guys have been waiting over a month! I think I picked a bad time to go because I had a huge line behind me and only one guy working. People in line were getting antsy or mad. The clerk at the other post office was super fast but not this guy…

For some reason shipping to the UK and Japan nearly doubled in price since the last time I checked. RIP. T_T - Omg I finally made a mistake. I wrote a letter to the wrong person. And the contents of that letter are too personalized!!! I am dying of embarrassment!!!!! Screams!! Had to apologize to both customers too!!! Luckily they were good sports about it but I’m seriously kicking myself AAAAAAAA!!!! - The most rewarding part after sending all my babies away is seeing the commentary on my project. It is so so nice to receive positive feedback. People are happy! Happy with something I created out of thin air. Everything was worth it 1000 times over. I can die happy!

I’m especially thankful to those who show understanding for how much effort went into it. It definitely wasn’t easy and I poured way too many hours into it… not that I regret that.

I don’t want to jump the gun but I would really love to make a volume 2. Because I know I can do better than last time. New and improved art and comics! But we’ll see if I make enough pieces for another book. I was against printing 40 pages before but now I kind of like it. It feels more worth it than a 25-page zine. If i’m going though so much effort, might as well bring in the entire package.

I’ll be printing more of this volume for Aselia Con 2020. Now I know people will appreciate it.

#diary

16 notes · View notes

tarithenurse · 5 years

Text

Space Nurse 10/11

Fandom(s): Men in Black & MCU! Pairing: fem!reader x Brunhilde x ? Contents: A bit of swearing, some nerves here and there, but nothing too bad. A/N: I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll have to wrap this up or I’ll end up writing an entire saga (and also because not a lot of people are reading it). Thanks for sticking with it so far!

A Room full of People

Staring at the grey door, you aren’t sure what will meet you on the other side. You have an idea of what this is all about, of course: evaluation. Coming to this place, learning what it’s all about while constantly under the scrutiny of Jemma, Jay, and goodness knows who else…well, time has gone by quicker than you’d realized. When you pass through that door, you’ll have to accept the verdict whatever it may be…and it’s making you feel nauseous. The knock on the door is surprisingly firm, and it’s only because you saw your shaking fist connect with the sheer surface that you know it’s your doing. I’m really doing this? The metal of the door handle is cool against your sweaty palm. Fuck it, I’m doing it. Next second you’re opening the door with your head held high and a kind, but professional, smile on your face.

A singular chair is placed within a semicircle made of a table. Along one side of this crescent piece of metallic furniture are nine people seated, and though some are familiar to you (there’s even a few of them that smiles in greeting, the general mood seems to be serious if not downright broody.

“Have a seat.” The tone the middle-aged man uses is curt.

Doing as you’re told, you take the opportunity to look people over as you move to the indicated position in the middle of it all. Costa and Taylor are seated to the left, followed immediately by agent Jay. Then comes the man that has spoken. Gotta be Men in Black too. The sharp suit and matching tie are impeccable, and although the man isn’t exactly the example of perfect physical health, it’s clear that he’s not one to mess with. Neither are the next two men though. One’s slender with neatly defined cheek bones and blue-grey eyes noticing every little detail; his neighbour is both broad and tall (all dressed in black) as he lazies in the chair…but it’s the slight edges of scarring leading under an eye-patch that keeps you wondering what exactly his job description can be. Then there’s a red-haired woman eyeing you in between studying some documents before you finally spot Jemma (who looks oddly uncomfortable) and Hilde (which honestly surprises you). There’s one more chair at the very end of the table as if they’re expecting someone else to participate in what is beginning to look like a jury. I’m so not ready for this!

“Miss [Y/L/N], how are you?” The same man asks, suddenly jovially.

“Fine, thank you,” you lie, “even if I’m surprised at how many are here.”

“Ah, yes, it can seem a bit…overwhelming, I suppose.” You notice the sight nod from Jemma and the perfectly executed eyeroll Hilde makes. “And we’re still one short, I’m afraid. But perhaps we can begin with introducing ourselves?”

The last bit is mainly to the others, it seems, because the dark guy with the patch finally moves to lean forward, elbows resting on the table and fingertips steepled. “Name’s Fury, and I’m not strictly speaking here,” his flinty voice states, “consider me a mediator between these two organizations. I’m neutral ground.”

There’s something about the name that rings a bell. Maybe he used to be something with politics? The American accent and the type of role smells a bit of bureaucracy and government offices, maybe former military. It’s only when the slender man introduces himself as Phil Coulson, the director of SHIELD, that the penny drops. Two generations of super-serious hero-business and supposedly covert operations and the former handlers of the Aveng–wait a minute! Shifting a glance to the red-head, your suspicion is confirmed a moment later by the woman herself. Natasha Romanoff (or, as you’ve once read in the newspaper: Natalia Romanova). Former spy and assassin, now the idol of many girls and women because she’s helped save the day more than once. And she’s cool. Going the other way, the man that had first spoken introduces himself as “Alpha”, which has got to be the most uninventive codename of the century. Alpha…”A”…it’s not Jay, it’s “J”…doh. But creative or not, the guy has a lot of power and his opinion ways heavy in regards to what’s going to happen with you.

Alpha looks at his watch and then over at Hilde, silently asking her something but the only answer’s a shrug. “Well…” he sighs, “might as well begin, we don’t know how long it’ll be bef–“

The director of MiB is interrupted by the door bursting open so hard it ricochets back off the wall and closes again leaving the room dead silent. On the second attempt it stays open to let Mr. Smith in, looking absolutely livid.

“She’s not her!” An accusatory finger is pointing at you, trembling with each heaving breath. He must’ve run.

“I’m not?”

“She’s not?” several other voices echo.

#Space Nurse #mib/mcu #Reader x Brunhilde #Mcu #Men in Black #marvel cinematic universe #jemma simmons #alpha #Nick Fury #natasha romanoff #Agent Coulson #agent jay #Brunhilde #reader

17 notes · View notes

gallifreyanlibertea · 6 years

Note

#27 with well you obviously know what pairing already lmao (usuk) (thank u)

27. “We’re going downtown.” “There’s a strip club downtown.”

TW: Mentions of homophobia

His Alpha

If there was one thing both Alfred and Arthur agreed on wholeheartedly, it was that they loved big weddings- A booming organ, walking down an aisle with the teary eyes of their parents watching as they made their vows underneath an extravagant wedding altar. Sharing their first dance on a large expanse of a floor, polished black shoes clicking as they moved, Alfred laughing breathily in Arthur’s ear, “We did it, baby”- It was something of a dream.

And often, the crazy reality of a dream never matched real life after one finally woke up. The skies were never as blue, the stars were never as bright. Arthur pondered this as he gazed out the window of their car, two alphas in suits driving to an unfamiliar destination. It had all been Alfred’s idea, the mystery outing. He refused Arthur any details, and often a bit rudely. Perhaps it was because he was angry for Arthur having beat him to the proposal. That too, quite unromantically.

Or maybe it was romantic in a minimalist way. They’d been on the couch after a tiring day, battling one another at some video game Alfred had taught Arthur how to play. Arthur liked strategy, Alfred liked shooting things when he was frustrated. It was the perfect end to their day.

Arthur had let it slip when Alfred had taken to gloating after he won. “Keep this up and I’m selling your ring on eBay.”

Arthur had forgotten he hadn’t actually given Alfred the ring. Mind you, he’d had it all figured out! He was, after all, a romantic. But Arthur had panicked because Alfred was looking at him with his mouth wide open and Arthur had to do something! He had stumbled into their bedroom to fetch the ring he’d been hiding, had damn near forgotten to kneel when he offered it to Alfred, and fuck. Arthur did not think he would be the one to fuck it up out of all people, not him! He’d always assumed it would be his actual bumbling mess of a boyfriend but it had been Arthur.

And Alfred, clad in a pair of old, torn boxer briefs and nothing else, had nearly strangled him. “Arthur, this was supposed to be my thing- I literally, I literally had it all planned!” Indeed he did. Alfred shuffled into their bedroom to retrieve a ring of his own, practically fuming, “And you- if you were gonna do it, you could’ve at least told me to dress up or something, I was gonna have some big, like- a big documented proposal-type thing, yanno!”

“No, it just slipped, this wasn’t planned! Mine was going to be big as well, I just-”

But then Alfred had interrupted him to kiss the oxygen out of Arthur’s lungs, to slip his ring on Arthur’s finger as Arthur slipped his on Alfred’s, to kiss him again until their lips were slightly swollen in the end. So it was fine.

It had all been fine for a blissful while.

“Where are we going?” Arthur said, blinking out the window at the rolling trees, at the inky blue sky tinting black at the edges. “It’s late.”

Alfred had a determined look on his face. “Unlike you, I can hold a surprise in, yanno.”

“Oh come off of that already!” Arthur groaned, to which the mock anger on Alfred’s face betrayed a slight smile. “I re-did the proposal, didn’t I?”

They had two other proposals. Alfred’s had taken place in a secluded area, where they had first met while Arthur had been on a walk and Alfred’s dog had barked until Arthur dove behind a tree for safety. It was thoughtful and Alfred looked so handsome in the evening light, and Matthew, Alfred’s cousin, had filmed it all, even the bit where Arthur had nearly cried. It was perfect.

Arthur had done it again at a picnic in broad daylight and Francis, Arthur’s friend, had filmed. Alfred had feigned surprise and he’d gotten his pictures. They’d gotten their film. He’d kissed Arthur softer, more forgiving than the first time, and it was happy. It was sunshine-y and warm, and Alfred looked so charming, so handsome under the sun, with Arthur’s ring on his finger, that Arthur had nearly cried yet again. It was perfect.

Well, they’d forgotten to wear patches, so when the staring from the onlookers got too suffocating, they packed up and left, hand hesitantly in hand.

Arthur had remembered to bring patches this time.

He hated using them because, well, he loved Alfred Jones. He loved every part of him, every loud, annoying, gorgeous bit of him, which included the alpha mark on his neck.

He was Arthur’s alpha. Arthur was Alfred’s alpha.

Although, Arthur supposed hiding the mark didn’t make Alfred any less Alfred. It just made them safer from all the staring, from the sneers. Arthur toyed with his patch absentmindedly as he narrowed his eyes at the buildings and bright lights swimming into view.

“We’re… going downtown.”

Alfred grinned. He nodded. He then glanced over at Arthur to find Arthur blinking in confusion. “There’s a strip club downtown.”

“There’s a what?”

Alfred snickered as he made a turn and Arthur ignored the fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach at the sound of Alfred’s ring scraping against the wheel because they were going where? “Alfred, please enlighten me as to why we are going to a strip club?”

“Because we’re getting married next week and this is our bachelor party.”

Bachelor parties required friends, and Arthur parted his lips to say just that but settled with a slight sigh. It seemed the only friends they had- the only ones that, well, knew about them- seemed to be busy almost every day.

The others- the ones at Arthur’s work- still asked obliviously whether they would ever get to meet Arthur’s omega. The friendly parents at the school where Alfred taught loved Alfred to death, but froze up whenever Arthur was mentioned because, well, the children didn’t need to be exposed to same nature relationships! Alfred held his job as long as he kept quiet about Arthur, which meant telling the children he was single when they asked, and it hurt. Alfred came home exhausted by it every day, taking Arthur into his arms when things got particularly bad. “The world sucks.”

“Yes, it does.” Arthur would reply.

It was needless to say their ‘friends’ would not be attending a bachelor party.

Nor would they attend a wedding, which was why next week, Alfred would marry Arthur by signing a paper at the courthouse. Matthew, and Arthur’s only colleague that supported them, Francis, would bear witness.

Perhaps that was why this was all a secret, why Alfred took to planning it all out. Maybe he’d grown tired of the quiet evenings that led to their wedding. Maybe it was the sheer musky scent of brooding and dissatisfaction saturating their shared apartment because damn it, if it was one thing they could ever come to an agreement on without a stupid little fight, it was how they loved big, grand weddings, and it wasn’t going to happen for them.

Because their parents thought their relationship was some sort of hobby to grow out of and would never fly out to attend. Half their friends pretended not to notice they were together. So what was the use in renting out a place, in finding a caterer, in wearing expensive, tailored suits and hiring a band, in stringing those beautiful lanterns from the ceilings just like Alfred had always wanted- if nobody wanted to be there to see it?

“Besides,” Alfred had said with a halfhearted chuckle, “We could just save the money up to buy a nice house or something!”

Perhaps that was why Alfred parked in the lot outside a peeling strip club with a giddy laugh. “This is our stop, baby.”

“Alfred, this is insane-” Arthur replied. “We can’t have a bachelor party with two people.”

“We’re two bachelors.” Alfred said as he unbuckled his seatbelt, “And we’re havin’ a party, that’s as bachelor party as it gets, babe.”

Arthur found himself smiling at Alfred’s boyish enthusiasm as Alfred practically kicked the door open with a hoot. “Come on, let loose! I could give you a lapdance in public and literally nobody would care.”

It was a scrap of, albeit sleazy and undignified, tradition. It was something in their control. It was something they could have. It was somewhere they could be to celebrate, to grab each other, to shove their tongues in each others’ mouths in public and be drunk and lewd, where everyone was too busy looking at naked bodies to notice them.

Maybe it was materialistic to be so disheartened over a wedding, but it was something they should’ve been allowed to have. They should’ve been allowed to celebrate their marriage the way they damn wanted, but it was taken from them. The word sucked.

So now, they were celebrating their marriage and not a single person would stop them. Not this time.

And although it certainly didn’t make up for the big wedding, they would have fun. Just for today.

Arthur followed suit, engagement ring clacking against the car door as he threw it open. “Well, we can’t both drink-”

Alfred tossed him a smile over his shoulder. “I gave Francis cab money to come over here and drive us home in two hours, so no excuses.”

“Fine,” Arthur said with a slight smile. “No excuses.”

Alfred grinned. “Last one in pays for the drinks.”

#omegaverse #usuk #aph america #aph england #alpha x alpha #kinda angsty???#TW: mention of homophobia

110 notes · View notes

blackhound14 · 6 years

Text

Paint it Red. Chapter 2

I thought all that mattered was my work, but sometimes the world isn't just black or white, sometimes it's a whole spectra of colors. Love, I learned, is the most perplexing of all colors.

I hoped that I never learned that.

View On AO3

chapter 1

chapter 3

Chapter 2: Get the Coffee and the Lead.

I have been to several crime scenes over the last few years; first when I was a rookie, working under my adoptive father, Hank, and then when I was promoted to the post of a Lieutenant. I have interrogated more suspects than the amount of people I have, informally, ever spoken to. Never, in the past seven years of my services to the DPD, have I ever encountered such a troublesome investigation.

The man, Markus, nods towards Jerry and motions me to follow.

We enter another room at the back, filled with what I can only describe as more colors. By the looks of it, this place was probably the store room. I look around curiously, as it was just my second nature by this point. There were empty canvases of varying sizes, lined up neatly in the side and boxes full of brand new brushes. I never knew that brushes could have so many variations.

I hear Markus clear his throat in an attempt to gain my attention, “So, how may I help you, Lieutenant?”

Shit! Even his voice is silky smooth, with a honeyed tone, that I want to do nothing but relish in its sweetness. It had a calming feel to it. How does his laugh sound like, I wonder? How would those lips taste, similar to salt and caramel perhaps? Just like the tint of his sun-kissed skin. I snap out of my nanosecond of distraction and muster up my ability to make full coherent words, one skill of mine that I’m not particularly too proud of.

“I am looking for details regarding a certain type of paint.” I hand him the paint sample, “Do you know of anyone who buys it regularly?”

He shook his head, repeating what Jerry explained earlier about not having the shade for sale. “If you require, I can try to get the same shade of color and then match them with the purchases. However, there are different methods of getting a particular color, so there will be many combinations. I am an artist and I am sure that you will find my services useful.”, he winked.

Calm down and do not stutter. You hear me, Connor?!

I must decline, getting civilians dragged into this mess will only create more problems. And unhealthy distractions. But I need help and this man seems to be the only one that will help me accomplish my mission. I reluctantly agreed. I managed to exchange numbers without much stuttering and making a fool out of myself, so that one good thing.

I walk into the office and make my way to the cafeteria, or the break-room as it is so inconveniently named, to get a cup of coffee. I see Hank, going through some of his case files, from the corner of my eyes. Even at this age, his passion for the job remains undefeated. He was still great at his work as I first worked under him for about eight years and the man didn’t care about relations when it came to the office. ‘I am not your father here, Connor. I am your superior and you call me Lieutenant.’

I couldn’t help but smile at those memories. And now he asks me to call him dad. Hank’s some hard nut to crack, but worth it. No matter how solid of a shell he has, he is still a big-big softy that cries during rom-coms, sleeps while snuggling to a teddy-bear like dog and most importantly, will do anything to keep his small family safe.

I then come face to face with the man I absolutely loath. Gavin Reed. It is still morning and I do not have the willpower to deal with a self-centered moron because, god forbid, this time I might be the one to pull up my sleeve and throw a punch. And I haven’t even taken my coffee yet, making this situation even worse.

He’s a man that has everyone on edge, being incredibly disrespectful and violent. His frame is a little similar to mine, but a tad bit broad. His face has a sharp jawline with a light stubble and light colored eyes. I might even call him ruggedly handsome if his lips, whenever I’m graced with, aren’t always curled up in a nasty snarl or busy making a pathetic statement.

“If it isn’t, Lieutenant Anderson the junior! Seems like you overslept, it’s almost noon. Maybe you were too busy riding daddy’s coattails! Hah!”

As I said, pathetic. Why the hell Captain Fowler hasn’t fired him is beyond my comprehension. I ignore his remarks and continue making myself my drink, as I find that replying back to him is an utter waste of my time. I hear him groan, but don’t turn around because I know what was to follow. I quickly grab my hot coffee and accidentallyspill it over his face.

For a second there was pin drop silence, except the screams of the detective and an occasional curse directed at me. He tried to grabbed me by my collar, but a quickstep and all he held was air. “I will fucking kill you, dipshit! Your daddy’s ain’t gonna save you now, asshole!”

He threw another punch which I easily blocked, I then grabbed that arm and twisted him till his back was against me and the other arm locked. “It is not good to fight, detective. I know your dad might have not taught you manners, but at least follow the rules if you do not want to get fired. It would be very disappointing if our bromance ended so soon.” I then push him away and give him a heartfelt smile.

Before he could cause anymore damage, Tina dragged him away to clean up that mess over his face. “Have a good day, detective.” Now that that’s dealt with, I better get back to work.

I make a new cup of coffee and leave for my desk, which is still the one adjacent to Hank’s. He doesn’t notice me at first, preoccupied going over his documents. I peaked and read the name of the file, ‘Child Kidnapping’. The case Hank was assigned just a couple of weeks ago. I remember going through the file once.

“Is something wrong, Hank? You have been going through that file since I came into the office”

He almost jumped off his seat, “Jeez, Connor! At least let the old man know you’re here.” he huffed, “Anyway, remember this case I was telling you about, it’s been closed.”

“Closed?” my eyes narrowed, “But why? It’s hasn’t even been a month.”

“That’s not the reason. The children, the ones that were captured, miraculously returned home one day. On their own, might I add.”

“All of them? How is that possible?”

“No. Not all of them. But the ones that did, say that some guy saved them. Weird. I said that we should investigate, but Fowler disagreed! Oh, and there are some reports Chris left for you.”

“Have to be the forensics report from last night. I’ll take a look at it.”

I open the report and just as I suspected, Caiden Huffman’s basement acted as a torture room for children and he was illegally selling child organs. That wasn’t the only part, the lab also analyzed the fingerprints present on the crime-scene and gave the list of people to whom the prints belong to. I went through the entire report and I couldn't help but feel that there’s something missing. Where did thesechildren go?

“Hank, can I take a look at your file, the one that got closed?”

He looked at me incredulously, “Why? You got a lead on my case?”

“Maybe.”, he handed me the case file. The names matched. “The names of the children are the same. The cases are linked. How many children were reported to have returned to their families?”

“Oh my god! Three. These are the ones. But we cannot interrogate children! Fuck knows what happened to them.”

Three children escaped. “But we have to try, this is my only lead, Hank!”

Name: Trevor Norris

Age: 10

Date Reported Missing: 25 May 2018

Last Seen Location: Pirate’s Cove Amusement Park

Date of Return: 30 May 2018

Name: Sean Woods

Age: 9

Date Reported Missing: 25 May 2018

Last Seen Location: Pirate’s Cove Amusement Park

Date of Return: 30 May 2018

Name: Alice Chapman

Age: 9

Date Reported Missing: 25 May 2018

Last Seen Location: Pirate’s Cove Amusement Park

Date of Return: 30 May 2018

Caiden worked at an amusement park, his shift was from four to nine in the evening. That’s when the parks are the most crowded. “It is the second of June today. Caiden was killed on 31st of May and his body was found today at two in the morning. He was most likely a mascot as he was was able to grab a child’s attention easily. He’d then make sure that the parents lost sight of their child midst the crowd and then manipulated them into going with him. Maybe by making them think that he’d help them find their parents.”

Hank grimaced, “I suspected that the kidnapper was one of the workers, but we went through all the cameras and we found nothing in the recordings, that backed up my suspicion. Only a worker would know the locations of the security cameras and know how to hide from them. The place has a total of ten-thousand employees. We weren’t even given enough time till the case was declared close.”

He claimed the lives of eight children within a month. The kidnapper was then mysteriously killed in his own home. I need to talk to these kids and find out all I can. “We leave after lunch.”

It is long past five and we have learned nothing new. No parent wants to expose their child to the traumatizing memories of the past few days, when they were held captive in that dungeon-isque place. I do not disagree, but I need to know something!

The first couple declined to let us speak to the child. Which is understandable, still we tried to convince them that it was for a case but to no avail.

The second couple, albeit a bit wary, guided us to their son. He hadn’t even left his room since he returned, according to his parents. We tried asking him a few questions, in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Woods, but he was too scared to talk, might as well talk to a brick wall.

“You are Sean, am I right? My name is Connor and this”, I pointed towards Hank, “is my father.”

No reply. I look around the room, trying the figure out more about the boy. In the corner, laid a stringed instrument and the place was littered with basic-level music sheets, a football and a dog’s plushy.

“You are nine years old, correct? Do you like to play the cello? I can see some of your music sheets. Cellos are very soothing.”

No reply.

“Do you like to play any sport, such as football?”

No reply.

“You know, I have a dog at home. A St. Bernard and his name is Sumo. He is huge! But not frightening at all, he’s just a softy that wouldn’t even harm a burglar.”

And as expected. No reply. There has to be a way! Then a small noise caught my attention, finally. But to my horror, instead of Sean opening up about the crime, he began to cry. His parents intervened and bitterly, ordered us to leave.

Disappointed, we leave the residence and get in the car. “Do you think that we’ll find something in the next place, Hank?”

He glanced at me, “Well, they do say that the third time’s a charm. Wouldn’t hurt to try our luck, huh?”

I hummed in agreement. Maybe we will.

“So, you never told me that you would be late to office today.” he questioned as I began to drive.

“I went to an art shop for investigation. A man named Markus, who’s also the owner, volunteered to help me out.”

He hummed, “You are leaving something out, Connor. Something happened!” he said with that twinkle in his eye and a sly smirk, “I can hear it in your voice.”

“What? Nothing else happened! Just thought that he was unbelievably handsome and has a great voice.” I stuttered.

“Aha! So something did happen. You have a crush, son!” he laughed that only seemed to ruffle me up, “Now you are blushing! Oh god!”

“Why do I share everything with you? It is just an infatuation. Please, drop this line of conversation now, dad” I say pleadingly and he chortled but listened.

“Ya know, Connor, it’s high time you found someone to spend your life with. I am getting old, I need to have some grand-kids. Are you gonna deprive your old man of this?”

“Dad, I know you are worried about my non-existing love life, but I will when I am ready. Besides, Cole still acts like a five year old and he already has a girlfriend. How about you ask him for grandchildren.”

Hank’s eyes popped out in surprise, “Cole has a girlfriend?! And he never told me!” I do not reply and continue to chuckle, “Hey, Connor! Tell me, how is she? How did they meet? Is she pretty? Connor? Say something, goddammit!”

The residence of the third child was thirty minutes away, and all I could hope for was the child to say something as I waited for someone to answer the bell. A few moments later I could hear the clicking noise of the door being unlocked and it opened to reveal a woman. The woman had short, light brown hair and pale skin. She had blue eyes, some freckles and a sharp jawline. She’s really pretty.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Good evening, Mrs. Chapman. My name is Connor and this is my partner, Hank. We are from the DPD, we would like to have a talk, if that is alright?”

She remained silent for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. Hank cleared his throat and that caught her attention.

“Yes. Do come in. And please, call me Kara.”

She tells us to get comfortable while she brings us some coffee.

“How may I help you, officers?” she asks.

“We are here regarding your daughter, Alice. We got the news that she returned on her own a few days ago after she was… captured. I would like to ask you and Alice a few questions, if that is alright with you.”

She looked around hesitantly, definitely not wanting to speak about it and absolutely not wanting to call Alice. “I know that this is very important to your investigation, but I am afraid that I cannot help you. She doesn’t leave her room, she cannot sleep and when she does she always wakes up screaming. I do not want her to go through those memories again. As a mother, I just want her to forget and move on. I hope you understand.”

I take a deep breath, “The kidnapper has been killed, Kara. The killer, I suspect, is the one that saved your child. All we want to know is, who was the one who saved them. Their looks, their clothing, anything. You can stay in the room with us. We will not ask anything that will harm your daughter anymore. Just give us a few minutes, Kara.”

I hear footsteps and a new voice spoke, “If someone did kill that kidnapper, maybe he did the right thing. He did more than what the police did anyways, why would I help you find the person that saved my daughter?”

That had to be Alice’s father. He was very tall, with dark skin and dark hair with a military cut. An impressive figure.

“Mr. Chapman, killing is a crime, done for whatever reason. Capturing such assholes is our job.” Hank replied.

Before the taller man could say anything else, Kara intervened, she held his palm in her own and looked him in his eyes, “Luther, they are just doing their job. We should allow them to speak to Alice, just for few minutes. We’ll be there with her.”

Luther reluctantly allowed, but not without a warning, and motioned us to follow. The door to her room opened and Alice was silently reading a story book. The moment she notices us, she tries to hide inside her blanket.

“Alice, this is Connor and Hank. They are your friends and they wanna talk to you.” Kara reassures while sitting next to her. “Think you can answer some questions?”

Alice gives a small nod, and I smile. “Hello, Alice. How are you?”

“I am fine, I think. But I am also scared.”

“I know. You like reading books?”, I read the title, “Alice in wonderland? It is an amazing story.” she doesn't reply. I haven't ever read the book, but I know a little about it thanks to the movie’s promotions, “So, I heard that you met the Mad-Hatter.”

The girl was puzzled, “I did not meet him, he is not real.”

“But you did. The person that saved you from the bad man. The Mad-Hatter must have saved Alice sometimes. So, let’s call them, the Mad-Hatter because they saved you. What can you tell me about them?”

She looked at her mother who just nodded in return, “I do not know. He was wearing dark clothes and his face was covered. He saved me from that place and the other two took me back to mom and dad. A boy and a girl.” a few stray tear drops fell from her brown eyes. Kara hugged her and kept her close. “He said that we were free now.”

I glanced towards Luther, “We didn’t see them. They left before we could thank them. That is all.”

I and Hank left after saying our goodbyes to Alice and her parents. Emotionless, I stare right ahead, conflicted.

“Look at the bright side. Now we are certain that your killer is a male and that he is not alone. It is a group of three.” Hank said, trying to make me feel better and it did, but I just felt at lost.

What do I do now?

A buzz grabbed my attention. I received a message.

From: Markus

I have found something. You might wanna have a look! Maybe come over tomorrow?

“What is this? I’m the one that says the good things but when someone else messages you, you beam like the goddamn sun?! Is it that Marcus guy?”

“It is Markus, Hank.”

“Oh! I didn’t know you were dating already. Whatever, just send me the wedding date!”

“Very funny, Hank. Look I am laughing. HAHAHAH” I said unimpressed, but my face was flushed red and Hank was having the time of his life.

“And by the way, you have never read ‘Alice in Wonderland’, have you?” and he just laughed more.

#connor x markus #detroit become human #DBH #hank #connor #markus #kara

43 notes · View notes

annviscom · 3 years

Text

FMP Evaluation

Year 3 - FMP

(31 May 2021)

This project has been a rollercoaster. A mess.

But I am very happy with how it turned out in the end.

During the course of this project, I have probably applied and broken every rule on type setting there is. Some of my decisions might seem weird, unexplainable - but they all have a reason behind them.

It has been extremely challenging and I have gone from extremely exited to wanting to throw all my work in the bin a dozen times. Especially the first half was quite something. It took me incredibly long to understand the task and figure out what to do for my final project. The fact that I wanted it to be as diverse, elaborate and amazing as possible did definitely not make things easier. I think I put way too much pressure on myself to create the best project as my final one. Once I got rid of that thought it became a lot easier and at some point, luckily, it came together piece by piece.

What informed & motivated my design decisions?

The visual research I did had some impact on my design decisions. Though, in this project I think the content itself was a huge drive for how the design would be done. Since it was a story, almost novel, I knew that I wanted to leave the overall layout of my version in the style and layout of a novel, so both the original and my version could be compared better. Yet, a lot of the decisions I made were based on the experience I gained throughout the three years at uni. I learned a lot about type setting and layout in first year, which I was able to apply. The main decisions were made based on intuition though. Because it was a personal project, I did rely less on visual research and more on my own intuition. It was different from previous projects because there were no ‘competitors’ and I also didn’t come across a lot of similar projects. It was very experimental, but I think the research that I have done in theoretical knowledge about the topic as well as the visual inspiration I gathered have had quite some influence on the design outcome.

What changes & developments has this project gone through?

My project has gone through so many changes, I can’t count them. First of all, the topic and aim of my project changed about every week for the first half of the project. I had every possible outcome in mind, from animations to interactive websites, and even typefaces. Who would have thought that my final outcome would be a physical book with no imagery but only type - and just that? I definitely did not see that coming at the start of the project. Once arrived at the final rationale, my design system changed as I experimented with different ones. Later on, I changed the size of my book pretty last-minute which was a bit risky since I then had to do all the detailing again. I was hesitant to do it, worried that I might not finish it until the deadline. The new size was much more appropriate though and in the end it worked out fine. The cover development probably speaks for itself and I changed the binding method. The actual layout didn’t change too much because I had this idea of how I wanted it to be.

Did I manage my time well throughout the unit?

Considering how long it took me to arrive at a rational for my project, I probably could have managed my time much better, at least during the first half. Even though I did a lot, I think I got lost in what I did and it took me too long to find a way out of it. Once I had the final plan set, the way I managed my time worked really well. The only thing that threw me off was the paper delivery which took much longer than expected, which is why I requested the one-week extension. In retrospective, that was the best decision I could have made in that critical moment. The extra week allowed me to actually print, bind and photograph my book, which made me actually like my project - and I was really proud of what I had achieved.

How did I respond to feedback?

Speaking for the first half of the project, I feel like the feedback I received was important but left me very confused at the same time because both my project and the feedback was so broad and therefore kind of unspecific. I found it much more useful once a clear path had been and the feedback was more centred around the core of the project. Generally - and I say this every time - feedback is crucial for me because it helps me to challenge my own way of thinking and brings up new ideas and perspectives.

How can I improve my design process?

Depending on the type of project, I would benefit from doing more case studies. In this project I felt like looking at other work was more difficult than let’s say for the packaging project in second year. In terms of working with Adobe, I want to learn more about the possibilities of the Adobe programmes. I feel like I don’t know enough of what is possible. It happens a lot that once I get lost in the designing process, I don’t document the development enough and coherently.

What have I learnt from this unit of study?

I have learned a lot about human memory and found myself becoming more and more curious as I researched it. Realising that trying too hard or forcing too much is hindering when it comes to idea generation is something very important that I need to keep in mind for future projects.

On reflection, are there any improvements I would make to the final outcome?

There are some minor issues with the type detailing that I could not figure out perfectly and I would try to fix them. Still having enough paper left, I will probably produce another one or two books. I would like to make one version with the ‘English’ spine, read from top to bottom, and I would also try to find a different type of thread since the one I used was a little too white for the paper that I chose. Also, I would like to produce a German version - as originally planned. Overall, I am very happy with my final outcome though. I like the feel of the book - very organic, which builds a nice contrast to all the digital work that I have done during the rest of third year.

#level6 #fmp #evaluation

0 notes

suzanneshannon · 3 years

Text

Now THAT’S What I Call Service Worker!

The Service Worker API is the Dremel of the web platform. It offers incredibly broad utility while also yielding resiliency and better performance. If you’ve not used Service Worker yet—and you couldn’t be blamed if so, as it hasn’t seen wide adoption as of 2020—it goes something like this:

On the initial visit to a website, the browser registers what amounts to a client-side proxy powered by a comparably paltry amount of JavaScript that—like a Web Worker—runs on its own thread.

After the Service Worker’s registration, you can intercept requests and decide how to respond to them in the Service Worker’s fetch() event.

What you decide to do with requests you intercept is a) your call and b) depends on your website. You can rewrite requests, precache static assets during install, provide offline functionality, and—as will be our eventual focus—deliver smaller HTML payloads and better performance for repeat visitors.

Getting out of the woods

Weekly Timber is a client of mine that provides logging services in central Wisconsin. For them, a fast website is vital. Their business is located in Waushara County, and like many rural stretches in the United States, network quality and reliability isn’t great.

Figure 1. A wireless coverage map of Waushara County, Wisconsin. The tan areas of the map indicate downlink speeds between 3 and 9.99 Mbps. Red areas are even slower, while the pale and dark blue areas are faster.

Wisconsin has farmland for days, but it also has plenty of forests. When you need a company that cuts logs, Google is probably your first stop. How fast a given logging company’s website is might be enough to get you looking elsewhere if you’re left waiting too long on a crappy network connection.

I initially didn’t believe a Service Worker was necessary for Weekly Timber’s website. After all, if things were plenty fast to start with, why complicate things? On the other hand, knowing that my client services not just Waushara County, but much of central Wisconsin, even a barebones Service Worker could be the kind of progressive enhancement that adds resilience in the places it might be needed most.

The first Service Worker I wrote for my client’s website—which I’ll refer to henceforth as the “standard” Service Worker—used three well-documented caching strategies:

Precache CSS and JavaScript assets for all pages when the Service Worker is installed when the window’s load event fires.

Serve static assets out of CacheStorage if available. If a static asset isn’t in CacheStorage, retrieve it from the network, then cache it for future visits.

For HTML assets, hit the network first and place the HTML response into CacheStorage. If the network is unavailable the next time the visitor arrives, serve the cached markup from CacheStorage.

These are neither new nor special strategies, but they provide two benefits:

Offline capability, which is handy when network conditions are spotty.

A performance boost for loading static assets.

That performance boost translated to a 42% and 48% decrease in the median time to First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), respectively. Better yet, these insights are based on Real User Monitoring (RUM). That means these gains aren’t just theoretical, but a real improvement for real people.

Figure 2. A breakdown of request/response timings depicted in Chrome’s developer tools. The request is for a static asset from CacheStorage. Because the Service Worker doesn’t need to access the network, it takes about 23 milliseconds to “download” the asset from CacheStorage.

This performance boost is from bypassing the network entirely for static assets already in CacheStorage—particularly render-blocking stylesheets. A similar benefit is realized when we rely on the HTTP cache, only the FCP and LCP improvements I just described are in comparison to pages with a primed HTTP cache without an installed Service Worker.

If you’re wondering why CacheStorage and the HTTP cache aren’t equal, it’s because the HTTP cache—at least in some cases—may still involve a trip to the server to verify asset freshness. Cache-Control’s immutable flag gets around this, but immutable doesn’t have great support yet. A long max-age value works, too, but the combination of Service Worker API and CacheStorage gives you a lot more flexibility.

Details aside, the takeaway is that the simplest and most well-established Service Worker caching practices can improve performance. Potentially more than what well-configured Cache-Control headers can provide. Even so, Service Worker is an incredible technology with far more possibilities. It’s possible to go farther, and I’ll show you how.

A better, faster Service Worker

The web loves itself some “innovation,” which is a word we equally love to throw around. To me, true innovation isn’t when we create new frameworks or patterns solely for the benefit of developers, but whether those inventions benefit people who end up using whatever it is we slap up on the web. The priority of constituencies is a thing we ought to respect. Users above all else, always.

The Service Worker API’s innovation space is considerable. How you work within that space can have a big effect on how the web is experienced. Things like navigation preload and ReadableStream have taken Service Worker from great to killer. We can do the following with these new capabilities, respectively:

Reduce Service Worker latency by parallelizing Service Worker startup time and navigation requests.

Stream content in from CacheStorage and the network.

Moreover, we’re going to combine these capabilities and pull out one more trick: precache header and footer partials, then combine them with content partials from the network. This not only reduces how much data we download from the network, but it also improves perceptual performance for repeat visits. That’s innovation that helps everyone.

Grizzled, I turn to you and say “let’s do this.”

Laying the groundwork

If the idea of combining precached header and footer partials with network content on the fly seems like a Single Page Application (SPA), you’re not far off. Like an SPA, you’ll need to apply the “app shell” model to your website. Only instead of a client-side router plowing content into one piece of minimal markup, you have to think of your website as three separate parts:

The header.

The content.

The footer.

For my client’s website, that looks like this:

Figure 3. A color coding of the Weekly Timber website’s different partials. The Footer and Header partials are stored in CacheStorage, while the Content partial is retrieved from the network unless the user is offline.

The thing to remember here is that the individual partials don’t have to be valid markup in the sense that all tags need to be closed within each partial. The only thing that counts in the final sense is that the combination of these partials must be valid markup.

To start, you’ll need to precache separate header and footer partials when the Service Worker is installed. For my client’s website, these partials are served from the /partial-header and /partial-footer pathnames:

self.addEventListener("install", event => { const cacheName = "fancy_cache_name_here"; const precachedAssets = [ "/partial-header", // The header partial "/partial-footer", // The footer partial // Other assets worth precaching ]; event.waitUntil(caches.open(cacheName).then(cache => { return cache.addAll(precachedAssets); }).then(() => { return self.skipWaiting(); })); });

Every page must be fetchable as a content partial minus the header and footer, as well as a full page with the header and footer. This is key because the initial visit to a page won’t be controlled by a Service Worker. Once the Service Worker takes over, then you serve content partials and assemble them into complete responses with the header and footer partials from CacheStorage.

If your site is static, this means generating a whole other mess of markup partials that you can rewrite requests to in the Service Worker’s fetch() event. If your website has a back end—as is the case with my client—you can use an HTTP request header to instruct the server to deliver full pages or content partials.

The hard part is putting all the pieces together—but we’ll do just that.

Putting it all together

Writing even a basic Service Worker can be challenging, but things get real complicated real fast when assembling multiple responses into one. One reason for this is that in order to avoid the Service Worker startup penalty, we’ll need to set up navigation preload.

Implementing navigation preload

Navigation preload addresses the problem of Service Worker startup time, which delays navigation requests to the network. The last thing you want to do with a Service Worker is hold up the show.

Navigation preload must be explicitly enabled. Once enabled, the Service Worker won’t hold up navigation requests during startup. Navigation preload is enabled in the Service Worker’s activate event:

self.addEventListener("activate", event => { const cacheName = "fancy_cache_name_here"; const preloadAvailable = "navigationPreload" in self.registration; event.waitUntil(caches.keys().then(keys => { return Promise.all([ keys.filter(key => { return key !== cacheName; }).map(key => { return caches.delete(key); }), self.clients.claim(), preloadAvailable ? self.registration.navigationPreload.enable() : true ]); })); });

Because navigation preload isn’t supported everywhere, we have to do the usual feature check, which we store in the above example in the preloadAvailable variable.

Additionally, we need to use Promise.all() to resolve multiple asynchronous operations before the Service Worker activates. This includes pruning those old caches, as well as waiting for both clients.claim() (which tells the Service Worker to assert control immediately rather than waiting until the next navigation) and navigation preload to be enabled.

A ternary operator is used to enable navigation preload in supporting browsers and avoid throwing errors in browsers that don’t. If preloadAvailable is true, we enable navigation preload. If it isn’t, we pass a Boolean that won’t affect how Promise.all() resolves.

With navigation preload enabled, we need to write code in our Service Worker’s fetch() event handler to make use of the preloaded response:

self.addEventListener("fetch", event => { const { request } = event; // Static asset handling code omitted for brevity // ... // Check if this is a request for a document if (request.mode === "navigate") { const networkContent = Promise.resolve(event.preloadResponse).then(response => { if (response) { addResponseToCache(request, response.clone()); return response; } return fetch(request.url, { headers: { "X-Content-Mode": "partial" } }).then(response => { addResponseToCache(request, response.clone()); return response; }); }).catch(() => { return caches.match(request.url); }); // More to come... } });

Though this isn’t the entirety of the Service Worker’s fetch() event code, there’s a lot that needs explaining:

The preloaded response is available in event.preloadResponse. However, as Jake Archibald notes, the value of event.preloadResponse will be undefined in browsers that don’t support navigation preload. Therefore, we must pass event.preloadResponse to Promise.resolve() to avoid compatibility issues.

We adapt in the resulting then callback. If event.preloadResponse is supported, we use the preloaded response and add it to CacheStorage via an addResponseToCache() helper function. If not, we send a fetch() request to the network to get the content partial using a custom X-Content-Mode header with a value of partial.

Should the network be unavailable, we fall back to the most recently accessed content partial in CacheStorage.

The response—regardless of where it was procured from—is then returned to a variable named networkContent that we use later.

How the content partial is retrieved is tricky. With navigation preload enabled, a special Service-Worker-Navigation-Preload header with a value of true is added to navigation requests. We then work with that header on the back end to ensure the response is a content partial rather than the full page markup.

However, because navigation preload isn’t available in all browsers, we send a different header in those scenarios. In Weekly Timber’s case, we fall back to a custom X-Content-Mode header. In my client’s PHP back end, I’ve created some handy constants:

<?php // Is this a navigation preload request? define("NAVIGATION_PRELOAD", isset($_SERVER["HTTP_SERVICE_WORKER_NAVIGATION_PRELOAD"]) && stristr($_SERVER["HTTP_SERVICE_WORKER_NAVIGATION_PRELOAD"], "true") !== false); // Is this an explicit request for a content partial? define("PARTIAL_MODE", isset($_SERVER["HTTP_X_CONTENT_MODE"]) && stristr($_SERVER["HTTP_X_CONTENT_MODE"], "partial") !== false); // If either is true, this is a request for a content partial define("USE_PARTIAL", NAVIGATION_PRELOAD === true || PARTIAL_MODE === true); ?>

From there, the USE_PARTIAL constant is used to adapt the response:

<?php if (USE_PARTIAL === false) { require_once("partial-header.php"); } require_once("includes/home.php"); if (USE_PARTIAL === false) { require_once("partial-footer.php"); } ?>

The thing to be hip to here is that you should specify a Vary header for HTML responses to take the Service-Worker-Navigation-Preload (and in this case, the X-Content-Mode header) into account for HTTP caching purposes—assuming you’re caching HTML at all, which may not be the case for you.

With our handling of navigation preloads complete, we can then move onto the work of streaming content partials from the network and stitching them together with the header and footer partials from CacheStorage into a single response that the Service Worker will provide.

Streaming partial content and stitching together responses

While the header and footer partials will be available almost instantaneously because they’ve been in CacheStorage since the Service Worker’s installation, it’s the content partial we retrieve from the network that will be the bottleneck. It’s therefore vital that we stream responses so we can start pushing markup to the browser as quickly as possible. ReadableStream can do this for us.

This ReadableStream business is a mind-bender. Anyone who tells you it’s “easy” is whispering sweet nothings to you. It’s hard. After I wrote my own function to merge streamed responses and messed up a critical step—which ended up not improving page performance, mind you—I modified Jake Archibald’s mergeResponses() function to suit my needs:

async function mergeResponses (responsePromises) { const readers = responsePromises.map(responsePromise => { return Promise.resolve(responsePromise).then(response => { return response.body.getReader(); }); }); let doneResolve, doneReject; const done = new Promise((resolve, reject) => { doneResolve = resolve; doneReject = reject; }); const readable = new ReadableStream({ async pull (controller) { const reader = await readers[0]; try { const { done, value } = await reader.read(); if (done) { readers.shift(); if (!readers[0]) { controller.close(); doneResolve(); return; } return this.pull(controller); } controller.enqueue(value); } catch (err) { doneReject(err); throw err; } }, cancel () { doneResolve(); } }); const headers = new Headers(); headers.append("Content-Type", "text/html"); return { done, response: new Response(readable, { headers }) }; }

As usual, there’s a lot going on:

mergeResponses() accepts an argument named responsePromises, which is an array of Response objects returned from either a navigation preload, fetch(), or caches.match(). Assuming the network is available, this will always contain three responses: two from caches.match() and (hopefully) one from the network.

Before we can stream the responses in the responsePromises array, we must map responsePromises to an array containing one reader for each response. Each reader is used later in a ReadableStream() constructor to stream each response’s contents.

A promise named done is created. In it, we assign the promise’s resolve() and reject() functions to the external variables doneResolve and doneReject, respectively. These will be used in the ReadableStream() to signal whether the stream is finished or has hit a snag.

The new ReadableStream() instance is created with a name of readable. As responses stream in from CacheStorage and the network, their contents will be appended to readable.

The stream’s pull() method streams the contents of the first response in the array. If the stream isn’t canceled somehow, the reader for each response is discarded by calling the readers array’s shift() method when the response is fully streamed. This repeats until there are no more readers to process.

When all is done, the merged stream of responses is returned as a single response, and we return it with a Content-Type header value of text/html.

This is much simpler if you use TransformStream, but depending on when you read this, that may not be an option for every browser. For now, we’ll have to stick with this approach.

Now let’s revisit the Service Worker’s fetch() event from earlier, and apply the mergeResponses() function:

self.addEventListener("fetch", event => { const { request } = event; // Static asset handling code omitted for brevity // ... // Check if this is a request for a document if (request.mode === "navigate") { // Navigation preload/fetch() fallback code omitted. // ... const { done, response } = await mergeResponses([ caches.match("/partial-header"), networkContent, caches.match("/partial-footer") ]); event.waitUntil(done); event.respondWith(response); } });

At the end of the fetch() event handler, we pass the header and footer partials from CacheStorage to the mergeResponses() function, and pass the result to the fetch() event’s respondWith() method, which serves the merged response on behalf of the Service Worker.

Are the results worth the hassle?

This is a lot of stuff to do, and it’s complicated! You might mess something up, or maybe your website’s architecture isn’t well-suited to this exact approach. So it’s important to ask: are the performance benefits worth the work? In my view? Yes! The synthetic performance gains aren’t bad at all:

Figure 4. A bar chart of median FCP and LCP synthetic performance data across various Service Worker types for the Weekly Timber website.

Synthetic tests don’t measure performance for anything except the specific device and internet connection they’re performed on. Even so, these tests were conducted on a staging version of my client’s website with a low-end Nokia 2 Android phone on a throttled “Fast 3G” connection in Chrome’s developer tools. Each category was tested ten times on the homepage. The takeaways here are:

No Service Worker at all is slightly faster than the “standard” Service Worker with simpler caching patterns than the streaming variant. Like, ever so slightly faster. This may be due to the delay introduced by Service Worker startup, however, the RUM data I’ll go over shows a different case.

Both LCP and FCP are tightly coupled in scenarios where there’s no Service Worker or when the “standard” Service Worker is used. This is because the content of the page is pretty simple and the CSS is fairly small. The Largest Contentful Paint is usually the opening paragraph on a page.

However, the streaming Service Worker decouples FCP and LCP because the header content partial streams in right away from CacheStorage.

Both FCP and LCP are lower in the streaming Service Worker than in other cases.

Figure 5. A bar chart of median FCP and LCP RUM performance data across various Service Worker types for the Weekly Timber website.

The benefits of the streaming Service Worker for real users is pronounced. For FCP, we receive an 79% improvement over no Service Worker at all, and a 63% improvement over the “standard” Service Worker. The benefits for LCP are more subtle. Compared to no Service Worker at all, we realize a 41% improvement in LCP—which is incredible! However, compared to the “standard” Service Worker, LCP is a touch slower.

Because the long tail of performance is important, let’s look at the 95th percentile of FCP and LCP performance:

Figure 6. A bar chart of 95th percentile FCP and LCP RUM performance data across various Service Worker types for the Weekly Timber website.

The 95th percentile of RUM data is a great place to assess the slowest experiences. In this case, we see that the streaming Service Worker confers a 40% and 51% improvement in FCP and LCP, respectively, over no Service Worker at all. Compared to the “standard” Service Worker, we see a reduction in FCP and LCP by 19% and 43%, respectively. If these results seem a bit squirrely compared to synthetic metrics, remember: that’s RUM data for you! You never know who’s going to visit your website on which device on what network.

While both FCP and LCP are boosted by the myriad benefits of streaming, navigation preload (in Chrome’s case), and sending less markup by stitching together partials from both CacheStorage and the network, FCP is the clear winner. Perceptually speaking, the benefit is pronounced, as this video would suggest:

Figure 7. Two WebPageTest videos of a repeat view of the Weekly Timber homepage. On the left is the page not controlled by a Service Worker, with a primed HTTP cache. On the right is the same page controlled by a streaming Service Worker, with CacheStorage primed.

Now ask yourself this: If this is the kind of improvement we can expect on such a small and simple website, what might we expect on a website with larger header and footer markup payloads?

Caveats and conclusions

Are there trade-offs with this on the development side? Oh yeah.

As Philip Walton has noted, a cached header partial means the document title must be updated in JavaScript on each navigation by changing the value of document.title. It also means you’ll need to update the navigation state in JavaScript to reflect the current page if that’s something you do on your website. Note that this shouldn’t cause indexing issues, as Googlebot crawls pages with an unprimed cache.

There may also be some challenges on sites with authentication. For example, if your site’s header displays the current authenticated user on log in, you may have to update the header partial markup provided by CacheStorage in JavaScript on each navigation to reflect who is authenticated. You may be able to do this by storing basic user data in localStorage and updating the UI from there.

There are certainly other challenges, but it’ll be up to you to weigh the user-facing benefits versus the development costs. In my opinion, this approach has broad applicability in applications such as blogs, marketing websites, news websites, ecommerce, and other typical use cases.

All in all, though, it’s akin to the performance improvements and efficiency gains that you’d get from an SPA. Only the difference is that you’re not replacing time-tested navigation mechanisms and grappling with all the messiness that entails, but enhancing them. That’s the part I think is really important to consider in a world where client-side routing is all the rage.

“What about Workbox?,” you might ask—and you’d be right to. Workbox simplifies a lot when it comes to using the Service Worker API, and you’re not wrong to reach for it. Personally, I prefer to work as close to the metal as I can so I can gain a better understanding of what lies beneath abstractions like Workbox. Even so, Service Worker is hard. Use Workbox if it suits you. As far as frameworks go, its abstraction cost is very low.

Regardless of this approach, I think there’s incredible utility and power in using the Service Worker API to reduce the amount of markup you send. It benefits my client and all the people that use their website. Because of Service Worker and the innovation around its use, my client’s website is faster in the far-flung parts of Wisconsin. That’s something I feel good about.

Special thanks to Jake Archibald for his valuable editorial advice, which, to put it mildly, considerably improved the quality of this article.

Now THAT’S What I Call Service Worker! published first on https://deskbysnafu.tumblr.com/

0 notes

celerylapel · 7 years

Photo

Community Appreciation Week 2017

Day 1: Favorite Character - Ian Duncan

“Under the Table and Dreaming”

Duncan receives devastating news

Note: Takes place S5-ish

Special recognition goes to @westcoastvoodoo for winning the Guess the Speaker game. :)

“It was terrible! Flies everywhere!!!!”

Duncan looked up from his perusal of MugScroll and took in the sight of a screeching Garrett who had, with his all too familiar intensity, stopped by his office about three minutes ago to update him on their latest experimental findings.

Duncan had initially murmured along and jotted down some vague points but hadn’t really been concerned with the details, as he had been preoccupied. Despite Garrett’s sputtering demeanor, he was actually a competent research assistant and tended to take meticulous notes.

But this latest exclamation snapped Duncan back.

“Excuse me, flies? When in bloody hell did flies enter into our study? You were supposed to be cataloguing your observations of how many times students stopped in front of the ‘x’ we placed near the cafeteria.”

Garrett’s arms swooped upward. “That’s what I was just saying! The flies came out of the cafeteria! They were huge! Everyone was screaming, and I was almost trampled!!!!”

Duncan gave a curt nod and opened his lower desk drawer. “Have a seat. I have just the thing for such moments.”

Garrett regarded him suspiciously but then awkwardly plopped himself down on a chair. His eyes grew in wonder as he watched Duncan pour some amber liquid into a tumbler and slide it over to him.

At Garrett’s hesitation, Duncan squinted in annoyance and proceeded to pour a matching glass for himself.

“Go ahead. It’ll calm you down. Just make sure you don’t drive.”

“Okay!!!!!”

He winced.

“And stop shouting.”

“Okay!!!!!”

After Duncan had escorted a surprisingly cheerful Garrett out, he hadn’t been quick enough to stop the Dean from wedging a foot over the doorstep.

“Well, look who’s working late!”

Duncan let his eyes wander over to his computer but then quickly shifted them back to the Dean, who was continuing to stare at him with one of his oddly blank expressions. He wasn’t sure if the Dean was suspicious of him or had a complete misunderstanding of the situation and wanted to pick this time of all possible horrible times to talk to him about something that was likely extremely inappropriate.

Who was he kidding - it was definitely a misreading of the mood.

He said quickly, “Righty, but I really have to get back to some urgent academic matters.”

“Urgent? I thought we could have a chat.” There was a bat of eyelashes and then a muttered, “I saw you had lunch with Jeffrey today…”

Feeling the situation called for desperate measures, Duncan interjected in his most authoritative tone, “Dean, I am about to crack the Bacardi Code.”

Seemingly thrown off by this statement, it took the Dean a moment to respond. He blinked twice, placed his fingertips lightly on his chest, and then emitted a small gasp.

“Oh my. Is that like the Da Vinci Code?”

“Very much.” He nodded vigorously as if the Dean were the most astute creature on the planet.

“Oooooh, well, you might make Greendale famous. I probably should let you get back to it.” The Dean shrugged reluctantly and began a slight swivel to the right as if to depart.

“You are really the most understanding. I so appreciate it.”

A gruff voice came from just outside the door. “Hey, Ian, I’ve got the information you wanted on that dame.”

Hickey’s eyes shifted as he took in the sight of the Dean standing awkwardly close to Duncan.

“Am I interrupting something?” He cracked the hint of a wry smile.

Duncan smiled politely and shook his head. “Not at all. Dean, it has been a pleasure, but as you can see Buzz is helping me with my research.”

The Dean squinted. “On the Bacardi Code?”

Duncan wiggled his brows at Hickey, who merely rolled his eyes and let out a grunt before shoving himself down on the couch.

After Duncan shooed the Dean away, he carefully closed the door and walked over to Hickey. He reached into his pocket and took out a wad of cash and handed it to him before sitting down in his therapist chair.

Hickey proceeded to spend a few maddening moments counting the bills before he nodded in satisfaction and placed them to his side. He then turned over a thick manila file.

“You’re not gonna like it.”

Duncan nodded with a grimace. “She’s dead then?”

Hickey groaned, a pained expression on his face. “Hell no. Nothing like that.”

“Married?”

With a grunt, he replied, “Look in the damn file.” He then picked up his money and stood, making his way toward the door.

With a tone of desperation, Duncan stammered, “Why don’t you stay a while and have a drink with me?”

“That’s the last thing I want to do.”

“But I’m so terribly lonely. And you’re the only one who knows about this. Please stay while I read through the file.”

Hickey’s eyes shifted to the left, noticing the crumpled wads of tissue scattered over the desk along with a bottle of liquor and two tumblers. He was going to make the tactful assumption the tissues were from a pathetic crying fit rather than porn.

Although there was a computer. He winced at the thought.

“I’ve got my son’s play tonight. I can’t miss it.”

“Oh.” Duncan’s lip began to quiver as he caressed the manila file.

Hickey let out a wearied sigh. “You’ll be fine. Like I said she ain’t dead. But a word of advice; stop chasing this dream. Find a real live broad in your current life. Or don’t. But stop living in the past.”

Duncan hunched over slightly, clutching the file to his chest. “But she’s so perfect. The times we had…”

“Oh, hell. Don’t.”

With another wince, Hickey opened the door. He glanced frantically around the hallway, seeming to exhaust his options before lamentably turning back to Duncan. “Just stay here. I’ll be back.”

Duncan nodded feebly as he opened the file. His eyes scanned the summary page.

Sold box of CDs. Fifth album title, “Under the Table and Dreaming.”

He startled as he began to flip through the pages.

Exchanged “Crash” for “Mylo Xyloto.”

His eyes went wide from sheer astonishment, his breath catching before he began to emit a series of desperate whimpers.

The door being ajar, a sarcastic voice could be heard halfway down the hall.

“Oh, I’m sure he really needs my help solving the MacKellan Sequence.”

“If the Dean asks, you’re helping him with the Bacardi Code.”

“Why would the Dean…?” Jeff’s voice trailed off as Hickey pushed open the door.

“Voila. He’s a mess.”

Jeff took a moment to regard a completely demoralized Duncan, who was now splayed out on the floor and shoving bits and pieces of paper and photos in various directions.

“Oh hell.”

Hickey shrugged and then patted Jeff on the back. “He’s yours. I’m off to The Tempest.”

Jeff squinted at him as he strolled out the door. With a sigh, he turned his attention back to Duncan. He didn’t know what was wrong, but he was all too familiar with the whines of desperation. He closed the door and then walked over to the disheveled blob.

He squatted down and remarked dryly, “You seem to be having a day.”

Duncan lifted his head and stared at him with wide brown eyes. “Jeffrey?”

“Yup.”

“I’m so very glad to see you. I don’t know what to do.”

Jeff let his eyes wander over to the photos. He leaned over and picked up one and examined it.

“I’m going to regret this, but who is she?”

“The love of my life.”

“You need to have the love of your life investigated?”

“We had good times.”

“Ahh.”

He carefully placed the photo of the surprisingly attractive brunette on the side table before reaching over to gather the other documents. Although he didn’t want to get involved, he figured the sooner he distracted Duncan from this, the better. The guy could put down an insane amount of liquor, and although Jeff was guilty of that more times than he’d care to admit, he couldn’t bring himself to watch Duncan do it to himself.

Dammit, he was developing a conscience. It seemed to happen every year he was at Greendale but then he’d seem to forget all about it until another incident such as this would remind him of it. Abed probably would have something to say about that.

He turned back to Duncan and with a series of calm progressing to stricter utterances, managed to convince him to assist him to a seated position on the couch. He sat opposite and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and his hands underneath his chin. He regarded a wobbly and sniffling Duncan with a mixture of annoyance and pity.

“I have an idea. Let’s burn all of it and then do something else.”

“I can’t. She was my love.”

“God.” Jeff leaned back and draped his arm over the back of his chair, settling in for the typical Duncan lament. He was not disappointed.

“Patricia was so very lovely. The year was 1997. She went with me to see Dave.” Duncan’s sorrowful eyes bore into Jeff’s conscience.

“Dave?”

“Dave.”

Jeff’s eyes widened in realization.

“Oh, Dave.”

Duncan cleared his throat and continued, his voice low and serious, “I met her during my student exchange program. I was at the University of Wisconsin, and it was bloody cold. But Dave warmed our spirits.”

Jeff felt warmth spreading throughout his chest. “Yeah, he tended to have that effect on people.”

Duncan smiled dreamily. “We went backstage and met the band.”

“Holy crap.”

Duncan waived a hand dismissively in the air. “Well, the band minus Dave, but it was special nonetheless. I have the picture up on my MugScroll. I was looking at it before Buzz came by.”

After a few moments of reverent silence, Jeff remarked in an almost whisper, “I remember the first time I saw Dave. I never got backstage, but I swear a bead of his sweat almost hit me from the stage. It came right off his flannel.”

Duncan looked toward the window. His voice cracked as he said, “Life was full of hope back then.”

“Yeah.” Jeff closed his eyes.

Turning back to him, Duncan added, “I still had hope for her. But err, apparently she’s changed.”

Jeff opened his eyes and shrugged. “Sorry.”

“I have to let her go.”

“I think you do, buddy.”

Duncan nodded solemnly. “I still have hope, you know. In general.”

Jeff cocked his head and took in Duncan’s posture, noting he had begun to sit up straighter and was in the process of adjusting his bowtie. It never ceased to amaze him how, despite Duncan’s tendency to wallow in alcohol, he could overall remain steadfast in his optimism, even if life kicked him down again and again.

“How do you always do that?”

“Hope?”

“Um hm.”

Duncan shrugged. “Can’t get much worse.”

Jeff shook his head and stood, slapping his hand on the desk. “That’s it. We’re getting out of here.”

“Bar?”

Jeff looked up at the ceiling as he answered, “I will never in a million years admit this, but no. We’re going to do something that’s actually fun.”

“Oooh. Interesting. What’s fun?” Duncan started to rise from his seat.

“Neil and Vicky are hosting a D&D game at nine. If we hurry, we can make it.”

“But we’re professors. We can’t associate with the students.”

“Yes, we can. I do it every Wednesday. We just can’t sleep with any of them.”

“Now that makes it much less fun.”

“None of them would sleep with you anyway.”

“Oi! I thought you were trying to cheer me up! Don’t point out the truth of my lack of sexual prowess, you incredible stud muffin!”

Jeff smirked at Duncan’s indignation, knowing he was on the right track in getting him distracted from this whole fiasco.

Duncan grabbed his jacket, briefcase, and keys. He followed Jeff out the door, taking a quick moment to reach back to grab the manila file before shutting off the lights and locking up.

Jeff eyed the file and waited.

Duncan stared at it for some moments, muttered something about not having a good ale to throw over it, and then opened the door once again. He tossed the entire folder inside before slamming the office door shut.

He then turned toward Jeff, gave a grin, and proceeded to skip down the hallway.

Jeff cupped his hands and called out after him, “It’s afterhours, but at least try to maintain some remote semblance of dignity!”

Duncan yelled over his shoulder, “Fuck off, Winger! Dignity is overrated! You could try worrying less about yours and just tell her you love her! I waited too long; don’t make the same mistake!”

Jeff tensed, his eyes growing wide. He paused to calculate something, grew even more panicked, and promptly sprinted down the hallway after him.

Duncan shouted, “You may even get laid!”

“Shut the fuck up!”

“Try to stop me!”

#communityaw17 #ian duncan #i am sure this is such a surprise to my regular readers #lol #under the table and dreaming #my fic #community

34 notes · View notes

jackblankhsh · 7 years

Text

Why I Quit: Public Relations

“Wow, that is a lot of blood.”

“Thanks. It’s not mine. I hit a pig on the way over.”

“Cop pig, or pig pig?”

“Cop riding a pig actually. It’s a whole thing, I don’t really have time to get into. Could I get a waffle cone full of mint chocolate chip?”

“No problem.”

I handed the woman her ice cream cone. She took a lick that inspired a deep lusty bite. The look of elation on her face – comforting cold wrapping around a burning soul – I envied that degree of satisfaction, wanted to be her. Then a bullet whipped through the front door. Her head exploded. Though her body fell she did not drop the cone. I distinctly remember a bit of brain erupting from her skull, flying over the counter, and landing in the slot full of cherries. It sank into the maraschino pool, and I doubt anyone but me saw it vanish. There to lurk until one day spooned onto a sundae.

On the news that evening, a perky anchor addressed the city, “Good evening, Chicago. This is the news. 25 people shot yesterday, all of them dead. Cubs won their home opener, and the weather may get up into the 80s this weekend. Isn’t that great?”

Co-anchor cocked an eyebrow, “Cubs win, and 80 degrees on the way? Can’t get much better.”

All smiles then, leaving the grim behind. No details. The less known the less thought about, except I couldn’t stop wondering if office work might now be a safer profession. In a skyscraper high above the streets full of swarms of stray bullets unintentionally murdering randomly – I decided to jump ship, but not until sight of land. In other words, I’d stick it out at the ice cream parlor until another job came along. I would not have to wait long.

The next day I arrived to find my manager listening to an androgynous figure in a three piece suit. Introductions quickly ensued.

“Indigo Jackson,” turned out to be a representative of a family, whom for legal purposes will have to remain anonymous, though suffice it to say they felt yesterday’s event warranted some kind of response on their part. To that end, without suggesting any culpability, they saw fit to replace the entire front of the store with bulletproof glass, in order to allay any concerns from patrons or employees as to the safety of our establishment; and offered to compensate me to the tune of ten thousand dollars for having witnessed the “unpleasantness;” though of course all such matters required, first, the signing of several documents Indigo summarized adroitly, escorting us through a murky swamp of legalese without ever really explaining what signing those papers meant, despite implications abounding: here big sack ‘o’ cash, sign for it, and shut up forever.

When at last Indigo inquired, “Do you understand?”

I said, “It must be interesting to have a job where you need to be so definitely opaque, yet somehow understood enough people do what you ask.”

Indigo nodded, “It is.”

“I kind of want to give that a try.”

“Are you saying you want a job instead of the money?”

“Can’t I have both? It was a very disturbing sight.”

Indigo said, “Something can be arranged.”

Clapping my hands together, “Great. Then before I quit, how about I make you a cherry sundae?”

“Sounds good.”

The next day I ascended to the top of the Monadnock Building. Once upon a time the largest skyscraper in America – circa 1893 – it still towered in its own way, evolving over the century into a marvelous amalgamation of early aesthetics and modern technological convenience. Brick full of invisible wifi threads connecting the past, present, and future; tap a foot on red tile mosaic patterns, while listening to the lasted streaming playlist, killing time till the rush hour clog gives way. Then up steps adorned first in ornate aluminum cast decorations then on upper floors, bronze-plated cast iron staircases, shunning the elevator for a chance to walk through history… and maybe feeling no hurry to be at work on time.

Into the office to start a brand new –

“You the new guy? Follow me.” A balding man in a sweat stained shirt grabbed me by the elbow. He pulled me into the office muttering as he poured over emails. His phone rang. He threw it on the floor. I felt it crunch under foot, and before I could apologize an intern materialized from behind a file cabinet, handed him a fresh phone, and the muttering commenced once again. Though this time I deciphered a bit, “Goddamn turkey fuckering pirates.”

The office buzzed with activity. Hordes of hollow eyed business people in various states of decay, internal and external, paced the space examining documents, paper and electronic. A middle aged man in a thread bare double breasted suit sniffed ketamine off a tablespoon, while his colleague, a young woman in a pencil skirt, slugged vodka the way the thirsty chug water. I only caught a snippet of their exchange:

“We can’t apologize for lactose intolerance.”

“But we can apologize for a cheeseburger having cheese.” In another space a grey skinned wax figure waited for a nurse to change an IV bag dripping morphine. Surrounded by an assortment of young professionals, the room seemed like a cult of silence devoted to holding a secret. A woman in tortoise shell glasses spun the cylinder of a revolver, put it to her temple, and when she heard the click, sighed, took a shot of whiskey, and started reading a letter. I heard the distinct clatter of keyboards being hammered, and riding crops striking bare flesh.

“Thank you Miss! May I have another?”

Yet in all the seeming chaos the workers managed to flow between one another efficiently, an almost elegant ballet of the damned.

The person towing me through the scene remarked, “I’m Bernie. For now. Tomorrow, I don’t know. It depends. Don’t ask on what. Point being, your job is to write back to the beggars. Got it?”

“Okay.”

“Good. Here’s your space.” And with that Bernie detached his hand, leaving me adrift by a state of the art computer atop a turn of the century desk. Stepping over a chalk outline, I took a seat at my desk.

“Don’t worry about that.”

I looked up to find a young lady in red.

She nodded at the chalk outline, “Horace Fletcher. Good guy. Killed himself.”

“Does everybody here talk in staccato sentences.”

She smiled, “Force of habit, I’m afraid. There’s a lot to do, and no time to do it in,” extending a hand, “I’m Patty.”

Thanks to Patty, I discovered the true parameters of my job. Public relations is almost a tautology. It’s name defines what it is: relating to the public. However, that covers a broad spectrum of ways to relate. The top floor of the Monadnock Building devoted itself to public relations for the {redacted} family. This involved everything from composing explanations, summaries, and denials regarding the family’s various scandals, philanthropies, business, and political concerns. Each concern being the focus of different groups, or perhaps divisions is more appropriate: mercenary artisans trying to paint realities.

As Patty put it, “We wrap the shit in gold, and draw all eyes to a drop in the bucket.”

When I said, “Bernie put me in charge of the 'beggars?’”

Patty got a bit misty, “Entry level stuff. Enjoy your innocence.”

I wanted to inform Patty about my time as a sounding assistant, sterilizing metal rods used by a dominatrix to widen the hole in a penis so that objects such as fingers could be inserted into said dick-hole; however, I could tell she enjoyed the idea of my innocence so much that it would be wrong to rob her of it. So I kept my penis stories to myself.

The “beggars” turned out to be anyone writing to the {redacted} family asking for money. This also constituted a broad spectrum. On any given day I went through about fifty missives soliciting money in myriad ways. Long lost cousins sought financial reconnection with relatives; for the low, low price of 20 grand, black sheep offered to keep silent about buried bodies; and any number of other unrecognized spawn demanding financial acknowledgement. Meanwhile, inventors who swore to be on the verge of paradigm shifting breakthroughs – teleportation, antigravity, freeze rays, and orgasm pills – just needed another few thousand to revolutionize the world. Folks from places like Telluride, Colorado, Marfa, Texas, and Stockbridge, Massachusetts sought coin to start hospitals for broken hearts, agencies devoted to finding lost pets, and the Fuck You Ashley Tillerman Institute. Cash to stop the Martian invasion. Funds to get the invasion going.

Every day I dipped into a cornucopia full of the well intentioned, insane, and grifters. After about two weeks, it got hard to tell the difference between them. This mainly having to do with the fact my response to each, as instructed, remained forever always NO.

Patty said, “You have to read the letters. That way you can put in a personal touch. Then they feel like someone actually considered giving them money, and we get less hate mail. Believe me, you don’t want to piss off that department. They have the best drugs.”

So I did my best to be accommodating:

“Dear madam,

We appreciate your desire to build a National Hardware Store Historical Society. Hardware stores provide Americans with the means to build the future, and maintain the present. However, we don’t feel that our company is the best one to get behind this endeavor. Perhaps a major home improvement retailer might be a better fit.

Best of luck in your pursuit.

Sincerely, {redacted}”

An intern near the coffee room enjoyed the task of rubber stamping signatures onto all correspondence. The kid sat in a weed slack fog of delight, stamp, stamp, stamping the day away. On more than one occasion I found myself along with others enviously eying that intern. According to office folklore, the top floor of the Monadnock Building was purchased because a bygone patriarch of the {redacted} family said, “The city is in charge of cleaning the sidewalk. So if they’re going to kill themselves, let them jump to their death. Then we won’t have to pay for the mess.” So it’s no surprise how many of us came to envy that intern’s pacific demeanor while happily assisting in the distribution of our gilded shit. It didn’t seem to wear on the soul quite the way it did on ours.

Having to tell a racist no we won’t be funding a School of Higher Aryan Education (and whatever hideously malignant stupidity that would lead to) does make one feel good. However, having to deny someone asking for help with medical bills, cancer killing their bank account before it goes after them, obliterates any of that joy. Overhearing the press release about {redacted} Junior’s latest monstrosity – “Maybe that hooker wanted to die, she didn’t say, 'Stop choking me.’” – knowing the expense of his legal defense, and ad campaign to polish the family image – we could ease a few burdens with those millions. But no. Cancer fighters, refugees, the infirmed, those honestly sick, dying, and in need: fuck 'em.

Granted, it seems like an equal fuck you, aimed at anyone asking for a penny, yet, the disparity is taxing.

The postmark puts the letter in some part of Texas. It’s from an elderly woman writing on behalf of her grandson. He can’t write himself because 45% of his body is covered in burns after an oilrig catastrophe, and seeing as how [redacted} owns those oilfields, well sir, it seems right proper maybe we could help with the medical bills is all; and sure, there’s a real possibility she’s a grifter pulling some bullshit con – start thinking of everyone as full of shit – old bitch probably writes to a dozen companies a day asking for any kind of cash. Yeah! Suck down a fifth of bourbon writing the politest fuck you the world’s ever heard. Don’t even wonder if it’s at all true. Or if so, consider it sarcastically: sorry about your extra crispy grandson, but we can’t help because there’s nothing that says we have to.

On a Wednesday, Bernie stopped into my office. He said, “You’re doing great. Promotion assured. Pretty soon you’ll have my job.”

I opened my mouth to reply. His phone rang. He held up a finger. In the momentary silence he answered, listened, nodded then walked to a window, and jumped out.

Few people are ever so blessed to witness their future made plain.

Patty stuck her head in, “Did Bernie just go out a window?”

I said, “Yep, and I quit.”

#whyIquit #honestyisnotcontagious #writing #short story #comedy #humor #satire #dark humor #weird #publicrelations #fiction

1 note · View note

stellahibernis · 7 years

Text

Sunday Snippets, Mar 19th, 2017

Well, the terrifying amount of unfinished things went down by one this week, since I posted Our Bodies Possessed by Light yesterday. Last week I mentioned I wasn’t really excited about the prospect of editing stuff, but I had a bit of a hectic week, and editing is kind of a low energy drain, so I ended up doing it over the work week.

I wrote about 3.5k this week, all of it yesterday and today. It took a bit to get going, because I was breaking new ground writing Sam and Nat’s POV, and I had to find my voice for them. There are bits from both their sections at the end of this post.

This was for the story in which I’ll be doing my version of the scenario where Bucky hangs out with everyone but Steve, and Steve predictably takes it well. Also, yesterday in OBPbL notes I said I seem to be in a place where my brain keeps inventing new complications for their relationship. Well, this fic is where most of those have tended to go. I think of something and just go, yep, let’s add it to that. It’s a bit of a miracle it’s not looking like an unholy mess, but somehow at least the outline is pretty coherent.

Oh and it’s a post CATWS canon divergent AU, it’s the point in canon where this kind of a story makes sense for me. I’m still borrowing things from AoU and CACW, like the twins and the trigger words.

It’s also looking to be long, not as long as These Are My Hands but I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t pass 50k. I’ve got 7.5k so far and the first chapter and half of the second written, out of (probably) nine chapters all together, I need to figure out how the last third works out still. I know in broad strokes what I want to do but I ran out of energy while outlining after six chapters.

***

This is Sam, on the road with Steve post-Insight:

When Sam was little, he used to play he was on a mission with Captain America. It’s funny how life sometimes happens, the unlikeliest boyhood dreams become reality. Only the reality is nothing like the dream. The only part that’s the same is the broadest concept, he’s indeed accompanying Captain America on a mission, the fact that does, on odd moments, despite everything else piled on top of it, still give him an almost childish thrill.

Back when he used to fight the imaginary battles he knew nothing about the war, couldn’t understand how horrible it had been. Now he’s much wiser, and he understands enough that even if he was in a special unit, one that got sent into the most dangerous places to pull people out, he still knows from what Steve has told him that the reality of Steve’s war was much worse. Much more horrifying and desperate than he can imagine. It was nothing like he used to imagine, nothing like the colorful pages of the comic books, or the somewhat sterile take of the history books he used to read while a bit older.

Steve isn’t exactly what Sam expected based on the histories either, not like the image that had grown inside his head ever since his childhood. What is exactly as Sam had expected is his ability to inspire people to take a stand, to fight for their cause. Sam enlisted not in small part due to Steve, much to the distress of his mother, even if she had understood his calling especially when he’d made it to the pararescue. She understood then and still does the drive to save lives, and Sam remembers he’d pointed out that the first mission Captain America had been on had been a rescue mission.

An unsanctioned rescue mission, as he now knows, and driven by a need to save one very important person instead of the abstract idea of doing the right thing and saving many. Sam knows that for a lot of people knowing this would tarnish the image of Captain America, but for Sam it’s all the more reassuring to have seen there’s a human being behind the legend, someone that’s flesh and blood, anger and sorrow and hope, distress and love.

It was worth it to step up again, getting back into action with someone that had been the reason in the first place. Back then, back when he first set out to get his wings back with Steve and Natasha Sam had though that was it, duty calling him back. Instead he’d ended up making a friend.

Now he’s driving a nondescript car on a back road in Romania, and he’s here for his friend, not the national icon. He’s here for his friend who’s fraying at the edges, desperate to find the most important person in his life back from dead. It all sounds so ludicrous it all might as well be from one of Sam’s comic books, except those stories always ended up with captain America saving the day and everyone going back happy. This time there are no guarantees.

***

And here’s Nat, on a mission with Bucky:

It takes them three weeks, getting information through both their resources, pooling it and comparing the details, but they figure out that Karpov is in fact alive, and living in Cleveland of all places.

“That’s practical,” James notes. “No need to figure out travel documents.”

They’re at Natasha’s apartment again, eating Indian take-out on the floor. James is marginally more relaxed than he was the first time, marginally more of a person. Natasha mostly doesn’t push him to talk, she knows well enough that at this point just being with another person is a lot. They can talk later.

She drives them to Cleveland, and they break into Karpov’s place at night. The amount of traps and alarms that aren’t connected to any kind of official security company is rather a giveaway that they are indeed in presence of someone that needs to be paranoid. And for all that Karpov has been paranoid, it’s not enough, because they make it inside without making a sound and Karpov wakes up with a metal hand covering his mouth.

Natasha needs only to glance at James to know they indeed have the right man, the way his face has settled into a emotionless mask enough of a giveaway. Karpov is exactly as paranoid as the traps indicate, since he’s got a cyanide capsule among his teeth, and in a true believer fashion kills himself. Natasha can’t find regret in herself, since she knows he wouldn’t have given information away, the level of commitment clearly indicating that.

“Saves me from having to do it,” James says, and Natasha realizes he’d walked in with the intention that Karpov would never walk out. It makes sense, she figures, after all even if they took the documents, Karpov still probably remembered the words, and it would have been too much of a risk to let him live.

“Do you remember everyone who potentially knows the words?” she asks out of curiosity.

“Yes. They always kept the group small, HYDRA didn’t even trust themselves.”

“And?” she prods.

“You know already. He was the last.”

#sunday snippets #our bodies possessed by light fic #at this distance fic

1 note · View note

talabib · 4 years

Text

How To Implement Long-Lasting Change

You’ve got it. Out of the blue, while you’re taking a shower, it hits you like a thunderbolt: the idea that will transform your company into a unicorn – no, a decacorn! All you’ve got to do is introduce the necessary organizational changes, and it’ll be no time before you’re considering a company valuation in the double-digit billions.

After this flash of genius, your brilliant vision smacks into the brick wall of reality. As you try to convince executives and employees to follow you, you feel as though you’ve entered a swamp made of naysaying, doubt, fatigue, poor planning, scarce resources, miscommunication and any number of other corporate ills. So how do you get out of this morass and translate your transformative vision into a business bonanza?

That’s what this post is all about. From long-term planning to savvy resource allocating, team construction to team cohesiveness, you’ll learn all the skills necessary to make the change happen.

For a change initiative to work, your company needs to plan out the Middle phase.

Remember that time you decided to start jogging every morning? Remember how everything went so well at first? How, driven by the vision of a fitter, healthier existence, you sprang out of bed, put on your running shoes and clocked up a few miles?

And remember how one day of rest became two? And how two became a week? And how you don’t run at all now?

Even if you’ve never jogged a mile in your life, one thing is almost certain: you’ve experienced the Middle phase, that tedious and work-intensive period that precedes long-term results and follows the initial excitement of getting started.

Many people get bogged down in this phase, which is why dealing with it is the first concern of your change model.

So, to get through the Middle, you’ve got to stop being vague and establish small, clear and achievable targets. Here’s an example to demonstrate how this works:

Once, patty was working as a consultant for a home electronics business whose goal was as large as it was amorphous; it wanted to improve sales in Europe. She broke down this big, broad goal by asking two questions.

“What,” she asked, “would happen if we achieved this?” And the executives responded that they’d enjoy greater sales in one of Europe’s most important countries, Germany. “And what,” she pressed on, “would that look like?”

Well, the executives discussed the matter, and soon some definite steps began to emerge. They’d need to hire personnel in Germany, for instance, and create partnerships with top German retailers, as well as launch advertising campaigns in the country.

In addition to making vague aims more concrete by asking these two questions, you should also keep matters urgent by defining small interim missions.

Let’s say you have a large mission – to make bigger deals, and more of them – and that you’ve resolved to close ten such deals by year’s end. Well, since people tend to put off non-urgent tasks, you’ll have to figure out a way to add urgency to this undertaking.

So set some shorter deadlines. For instance, aim to have 30 potential deals lined up in nine months, and recognize that for this to happen you need to identify 50 target accounts within half a year. These short-term goals will keep things urgent and propel you past the long-term finish line.

During the Middle phase, allocate resources wisely and measure outcomes.

It’s an old business bromide: “What gets measured gets done.” And though this adage may contain a kernel of truth, it leaves a crucial question unanswered: by which metrics should success be measured?

Using a poor metric is a sure-fire way to throw a monkey wrench into the works, so it’s imperative that you can separate effective metrics from ineffective ones.

When measuring outcomes, you need to choose metrics that are both relevant and able to accurately forecast higher-level results. Here’s an example:

Let’s say your company, like many others, strives to provide top-notch customer service. Well, what you don’t want to do is measure things such as the speed of customer-complaint resolution. This might seem like a good metric, but it’s not. After all, it doesn’t really matter how quickly an issue is resolved; what matters is customer satisfaction, and high-speed problem-solving doesn’t guarantee that.

So, rather than focusing on isolated activities or particular stages within a process, measure only the desired outcome.

An effective metric for customer satisfaction is the number of returning customers. Another is customer referrals, since recommending a company to a friend is usually a sign of satisfaction.

Now, knowing what to measure is one thing. Actually measuring it is quite another. You may have to get creative. You could, for instance, have service representatives conclude their interactions with customers by asking whether the customer would recommend your product.

Once you figure out how to measure the important stuff, be sure to put resources toward improving those measurements.

This is usually a challenge. It’s easy to miscalculate the number of resources such improvement will require – and, of course, resources are usually in short supply. So, to make these calculations less challenging and more accurate, try using the following technique:

Sketch out two scenarios, each with a corresponding funding plan.Here’s how this might work. Let’s say a company is having a hard time acquiring customers.

For this company, the first scenario would be a low cost one. They’d neither fire nor hire anyone, and the budget would increase by only 10%. This scenario would allow them to tackle only two pressing problems in the next half year.

Scenario two, on the other hand, would be a high cost one. They’d increase their budget by 100 percent and hire two new employees – changes that would make them a tip-top customer magnet within their market.

Armed with this information, the company can pinpoint its priorities and move resources from one department to another if necessary.

Teams should be designed to deliver outcomes.

Snow spreads white as far as the eye can see. The sound of the sled dogs panting, each breath a small cloud of steam. The cold air taut with anticipation. Briefly, the tow line tenses as the team of dogs braces itself for the coming moment – and then the command: “Mush!”

Patty noticed something while on a dog-sledding trip. Each sled dog understood its job, and each was aligned with all the others, eager to begin working toward the team mission. So when the time came to “mush” – that is, to go – they weren’t only ready; they were champing at the proverbial bit.

So what imbued each canine with such purpose and energy, and how can you imbue your team members with these same qualities? Well, it’s a matter of organization.

First, you’ve got to figure out whether you have all the right pieces and if any new pieces need to be added. You can do this by using the Blank-Sheet Organization Chart.

Take a blank sheet of paper and, after you’ve determined the desired outcome and which skill sets will be required to bring about that outcome, start drawing up an ideal team. Don’t leave any role undefined, and get detailed about what will be required of each role, be it negotiation know-how or the ability to drive innovation. Finally, talk to team members you trust and flesh out the roles and requirements using their feedback.

Before patty got there, the company she restructured was a mess. Roles within its eight business units were vague, resulting in work overlap, among other problems. The Blank-Sheet Organization Chart transformed the company into a cohesive whole – which is exactly what it can do for your business.

Once you’ve figured out where current team members will be most useful and how many new members will have to be found to take on vacant roles, you’ll be well on your way to overcoming challenges of Iditarod-like proportions.

Leaders engage team members by revealing the bigger picture and showing that they care.

If someone offered you $250 to run a marathon, you might do it, right? But, at less than $10 per mile, it hardly seems like enough. If running that marathon contributed to the cure of AIDS or cancer, however – well, you might, like thousands of other people every year, even pay to run it. Why is that? When it comes to motivation, meaning trumps money.

So to motivate and engage your team, you’ve got to make its purpose meaningful. And that means forging personal bonds with team members and showing them the bigger picture.

Whether during breakfast meetings or one-on-one sit-downs, talk to the people in your company. Invest time both in learning how they feel about the work they do and in communicating how that work helps the company’s overall success.

For example, when chatting with a tech writer, you could enumerate the ways that detailed product documentation boosts customer satisfaction, and also mention how it reduces tech-support expenses and increases company competitiveness.

Making explicit the connection between the writer’s work and the company’s success will infuse his job with meaning – and, as you know, meaning adds up to engagement.

Engaged employees won’t only take ownership of projects and solve problems on their own; they’ll also contribute ideas and insights that may help the company. For example, employees may be able to point out that one department’s progress is misaligned with another’s – something that could derail your company’s long-term transformation strategy. So when employees volunteer information, give them your full attention. You won’t regret it.

Of course, your employees won’t get behind the company mission unless you, their leader, are fully dedicated to it. Indeed, patty has noticed that when she wholeheartedly shows that she cares about her company’s mission, her team not only gets inspired; they also feel free to show their own caring and engagement.

Emotion drives meaning, so even if you’re a leader at a company that produces lint removers, you’ve got to find something you can care about. If the business is as uninspiring as the product, then seek meaning in the people you serve or the people who work for you.

Lead with grit and persistence.

So your team is organized, and you’ve planned out the Middle phase. But when your team actually enters that phase and experiences all the attendant doubt and tedium, a new set of challenges will arise. Exhausted and discouraged, employees will start asking hard questions. Is this even working? Can we go back to what we know? When will we see results? During this tough period, you’ll need Valor.

Being valorous is a matter of drawing on inner and outer resources. Remember, your team members won’t be the only ones plagued by doubts and fears; you’ll have misgivings, too. But here’s the difference: rather than being paralyzed by fear and deciding to turn back, you, the leader, will accept these uncomfortable feelings and push forward.

Welcome fear as you’d welcome an old friend. “Hello, fear,” you could say, “it’s fine if you want to join me on this journey, but you’ll have to take a back seat and you certainly won’t be allowed to drive.”

In the meantime, seek out more desirable companions – that is, experts and mentors who can advise you on your change strategy. If a change initiative can be likened to Mt. Everest, then these advisors are the Sherpa guides; you’ll have a hard time getting to the top without them.

Having valor also means being firm. Once the change initiative begins, there is no going back. Just as Hernán Cortés, the sixteenth-century Spanish colonizer, set fire to all his ships when his fleet landed on the banks of what is now Mexico, you too should destroy all means of retreat. The only option should be to move forward.

Your change strategy may involve adding new processes. For instance, you might add checkpoints or guidelines to the company’s software-development program – changes that may prompt complaints from engineers. Yes, it may be challenging for them to learn the new process, but you’ll have to hold your ground. You’ll only see the benefits of a change initiative if you stay firm and implement all necessary changes. No retreat!

Prioritize ruthlessly and don’t get bogged down in the details.

Here’s a common pitfall. In the quest for organizational change and growth, companies get bogged down in the details. They spend so much time dealing with the “next” pressing issue that they lose sight of the big picture.

It’s a classic dilemma. If you’re expending all your energy on becoming a one-hundred-million-dollar company, how will you ever develop a strategy for becoming a one-billion-dollar company?

Well, if you really want to change and grow, you’ve got to use ruthless prioritization. No more nitpicking tiny, unimportant details; it’s time to tackle the tough decisions that will actually make a major difference.

Ruthless prioritization will inevitably involve trade-offs. So, in order to identify what should grow and what should go, make a list of the three things crucial to your company’s success. These are necessary and non-negotiable.

Let’s say you’re a business-to-business (B2B) company with low conversion rates. At the top of your list might be stepping up your referral marketing by implementing a new, more effective, process.

After you’ve made your list, ask your team for feedback. Other priorities will doubtless be brought to the table – but under no circumstances should they jeopardize the three top priorities. For your B2B company, the referral marketing process will be implemented.

Of course, your company isn’t infallible. If the referral marketing process doesn’t improve your conversion rate, it’s time to acknowledge that a mistake was made and cut your losses. What you don’t want to do is double down. Learn from your missteps and keep on walking.

And remember: Don’t get bogged down in the details. When upper-level managers have to review all the details, progress ceases. All managers, at each level of management, should distill details into helpful insights for the managers above them. By no means should the top manager have to spend hours doing the work of lower management. Use this rules of thumb: “Insights move up. Details stay down.”

Establish long-term change by making it familiar, safe and normal.

No matter how valorous, a leader won’t succeed in bringing her team through the Middle phase without the active involvement of the people around her.

Getting everyone involved in the change initiative is a matter of substituting conversation for command. Rather than telling employees what the change strategy is, talk to them about how it will work. This, hopefully, will encourage them to discuss it among themselves.

When team members talk strategy of their own accord, it’s a sign that real change is taking place. Indeed, it means that company strategy has become familiar, safe and normal.

Another way to get employees talking is to create spaces where strategic conversations can take place. Utopia Village, a Honduran resort, created exactly such a space by starting a WhatsApp group called “Utopia Stars.” In this space, every employee could discuss the resort’s new service guidelines, which prioritized excellence above all else.

Staff members began documenting instances of excellent service, posting pictures of each other going above and beyond for customers or writing a brief description of what they’d seen other staff members do. Thus, the group sparked a company-wide conversation and gave rise to a new sense of camaraderie. This helped Utopia Village earn a number-one rating on TripAdvisor.

And don’t forget – when change begins to happen, be sure to highlight it. This will also encourage conversation and drive further change.

Successful highlighting involves two things: everyone has to be able to see it and everyone has to be able to talk about it.

For instance, Heifer International, a nonprofit that gives support to livestock-owning families, discovered that it could increase its impact if it convinced families to pass on their livestock’s offspring to new families.

So Heifer International created a ceremony celebrating the birth of new livestock. When, for example, a goat provided by the company has a kid, there’s a ceremonial celebration and the goat-owning family passes the newborn on to a new family.

This ceremony draws people into the conversation and keeps them involved. In one community, this ceremonial tradition has been carried on for 17 years – without any involvement from Heifer International!

Establish trust and productivity by talking to team members and keeping everyone in the loop.

A leader once brought a middle-aged man to tears with a single question. No, it wasn’t a query filled with malice or implied insult; she simply asked him what he really cared about. So why the outburst of emotion?

Well, this man explained that, over the course of his entire career, nobody had ever asked him such a question. The recognition implied this question – the understanding that the man wasn’t merely a cog in a machine but a human being with his own hopes and feelings – touched him on a deep level.

Asking similar questions and paying attention to the answer will help you forge deep bonds with your employees – and such bonds are the foundation of trust and loyalty.

Such personal communication will also help you identify which issues are truly troubling your team members, something a leader learned in her first real leadership position.

During the first two weeks of her time in this role, she talked face-to-face with all her employees – 81 in total. These conversations shaped her entire strategy. For instance, she found out that a certain manager was bullying his team members and damaging company culture, something she wouldn’t have learned otherwise because he was adept at putting on a good face for his superiors. But communication must go beyond one-on-one discussions. You’ve got to keep everyone in the loop.

Communicating information both improves engagement and enables people to coordinate with each other. A case in point is an entrepreneurship course offered at Monmouth University in New Jersey.

Students are split into four departments: marketing, sales, manufacturing and product development.

Every week, each department’s leader posts a status update on an online platform, and each student within that department is required to read both it and all comments.

According to the professor, the course’s structure, which centers around communication and information-sharing, is what accounts for the students’ remarkable success rate, with most business plans going from zero to profitable within a mere four months.

So stay communicative. An environment where personal and business information can be easily shared will have a much easier time making change a reality.

To achieve long lasting change, you need to move through the Middle phase of the change process with clear and concrete strategy; establish an Organization structure with capacity for change; give Valor to make the tough decisions and prioritize change; and show leaders how to engage Everyone, thus making the change an inextricable part of company culture.

#how to implement long-lasting change.

0 notes

michellelewis7162 · 4 years

Text

Simple and Reliable Method to Pick Your Courier Service

An usual guy may need to have the solutions of a courier sending provider every now and then. The majority of the moments one can certainly not be sure concerning whom one will really want to decide on to acquire this job carried out. There are umpteen lots of courier solutions on the market, but equally intermittent service there are a couple of business which cost the cost. The most integral part of a courier distribution service is actually that they need to provide the products at the location at the appropriate opportunity. The plan should additionally preserve its own initial health condition and must not be obstructed with or messed up. Every human naturally will hesitate before shelling out funds on one thing. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Orbit+SameDay/@37.7927679,-77.4711332,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89b13b822a3b5ba9:0xccb2e8ef3b351ecd!8m2!3d37.7927679!4d-77.4689445

There are a couple of really vital lead to be always kept in mind prior to choosing the courier service:

- The past of the business. Just how good is the company? Just how is the customer satisfaction?

- The courier service ought to be actually broad array good enough to provide your package deal at the location you require it to become supplied.

- All the added as well as necessary companies you need to have ought to be offered by the business you find.

- The messenger firm need to possess an excellent reputation for performing at the correct time. No one want to pick a carrier delivery company where they are actually infamously renowned for putting off the shipping. csiship.com

It is actually crucial to perform some detailed analysis regarding the business as well as its history. It is actually really obvious that the consumer certainly values the goods that they prefer to deliver by means of messenger. There are actually plenty of different kinds of carrier solutions which are actually offered through providers like Hot Shot Delivery, Same Day Courier, as well as Same Day Messenger Courier Delivery and so on

. Same Day Courier:

What this form of courier service does is that the shipment of the plan is actually done within 24 hrs coming from the moment the services obtain the deal. This is actually a very efficient and opportunity saving way of couriering package deals within your area bounds. This is actually mostly used when one does certainly not possess the amount of time to go and offer the bundle individually to the desired individual. This is also extremely economical as you may surely spare on the trip expenses you would have to birth if you visit provide the package your own self. This becomes far more budget-friendly.

It is significant for one to seek courier companies which perform certainly not provide solutions at incredibly inflated costs. Neither must one go for some messenger solutions which seem to be to deliver companies at a very cheap price, as the protection of your package deal will certainly be jeopardized.

Courier Service Provider

Courier companies are really useful solutions which assists to deliver items or products of a variety of types that could be needed to be delivered urgently, safely and securely or even inconspicuously. The things that need to have to become couriered might be something important like- draft, legal service documents, email purchase things, films and also strips, art pieces or even breakable products like pc displays. Actually there are exclusive clinical carrier firms that move medical supplies, blood stream examples, organs and so forth.

In a 24 hour courier delivery, usually the products are pick up coming from one company as well as delivered to an additional organisation location within an hour or even so. They additionally carry out household picks up and distribution. Carriers can easily provide several cartons, parcels or practically everything that can suit in a truck. Heavier weight typically will be held in a van, but larger carriers' additionally make use of decide on up vehicles. Also in boasted cities much more bikes are made use of for transferring the items nevertheless for longer ranges including residential distributions air courier services are actually made use of.

There are great deals of courier providers out there that give a 24 hour messenger services and deal online quotes. But there are actually few traits that you ought to consider while deciding on a company. This form of service mostly depend on where you are actually positioned primarily a courier business charges added for such a company. Having said that, in recent years as a result of to raised Fedex as well as Ups local area exact same day distributions may be much more economical as well as along with faster transit opportunities. Numerous messenger firm's companies have actually improved and also they even allow some excellent competitors to their consumers.

If your on the watch out for a courier business you have to need to know whether or even not it supply 24 messenger Richmond Courier Service, urgents do happen without prior notification, so it is actually an excellent idea to learn about the services prior to hand. Primarily all the large messenger companies deliver 24 hours a day and 7 days a week consumer assistance. Hence it is consistently far better to discover a courier business with really good credibility and reputation and also within your location thus as to guarantee their policies and services are actually more price effective. In location like Malibu, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Carson, Hollywood, Century City and Beverly Hills there are amount of messenger couriers supplying 24 hr solution like Clock Work Express or Courier Brokers which may be quickly accessed to, through net.

One point, that is actually frequently in our minds while selecting a courier solutions is actually: the charge billed through all of them for their company, be it for 24 hour's courier service or even a routine messenger along with routine courier transit opportunity. Commonly, a smaller sized courier company does not provide night and day courier service yet it might exercise for your benefit down the road if you require to send carriers often. This is due to the fact that it is actually a known simple fact that bigger business which could possess 24 hour company bill a lot more for their services than their much smaller counter components.

A Discussion on Courier Services

Carrier as well as Richmond Courier Services! These two terms are very knowledgeable to almost every one of you reading this short article, isn't it?

Carrier is a kind of mail services that delivers parcels and letters coming from one the resource location to the location at a much quicker speed as well as security. Furthermore, carrier companies feature the resource of web monitoring, expertise depending on to service groups, time commitments etc

. The above stated attributes help make courier services a completely various type of mailing company about the ordinary mail. The attributes as well as high facilities also help make the carrier companies a much expensive kind of mailing solution in contrast to the common mailing solution VA

. Messenger solutions feature correct packing of the cartons and even characters and afterwards they receive thrown away for the place. The primary benefit of the couriers is actually the quick services they attend to. Include in it the dependability as well as guaranteed delivery of the parcel with no damaging. An additional incorporated benefit is that while the receiver receives the plot with couriers then the indication coming from the recipient's acceptance is taken on the tract paper as well as also improve method is actually carried out on the outlining programs available at the net Norfolk.

Messenger solutions are actually mainly of 2 different types:

- International

- National

While availing the nationwide services of carriers permits you send out plots, characters or even some other things only in location situated in the particular country of your current staying condition, the global courier companies permits you send off tracts and every other factors inside your country of remaining too throughout any kind of locations in the world.

It is necessary to recognize that not all worldwide messenger companies can easily deliver in each component of the world. Unless they have their branches located in those specific global countries as well as continents, they do not receive capable to deliver the packets.

Nonetheless, there are some decided on reputed global messenger firms which may deliver parcels just anywhere in the world. These certain courier providers are renowned for their excellent as well as successful company standing. Labels of a few of the global messenger business those provide services nearly throughout the planet are actually FedEx, DHL, TNT N.V., Aramex, etc

. While you decide on some details messengers to provide your packet, after that the very first possibility you will certainly be talked to is the kind of courier transportation company you wish your carton to get for so as to connect with the proposed destination. Courier transport service mostly recommends to the tool or even mode of travelling of the carton from the source to the destination. Generally, courier services are composed of 3 methods of journeying: Railways, Airways, as well as Roadways. Nonetheless, specific state-of-the-art carrier solutions likewise possess transport centers on call in the type of rivers Richmond.

The Importance of Courier Services at Corporate Organizations

Carrier solutions are actually those services that attend to door to door shipment as well as freight of your package deals which might include any kind of form of points straight from textile to books, CDs, and files to letters. Messengers are generally post yet they supply for extra freight companies of various other materials likewise which ordinary mailing services fall short to attend to.

Although a little even more pricey than the usual mailing solutions, but the carrier solutions supply for prompt shipping of the components and likewise stability as well as resilience of the component as well as product. They are actually mainly private based while the local mailing service is run through the federal government of the nation.

Virtually every association like to make use of them instead of the regular mailing service as a result of to the prompt solutions these personal company attend to. The simple shipping times are the point that brings in the interest of the company physical bodies to make use the courier companies for sending out a variety of products featuring characters as well as files to numerous parts of the planet.

Nonetheless, before interacting some details carrier services for your company's delivery operates, you need to have to verify specific simple facts concerning those specific solutions Charlottesville.

The initially criteria ought to be to check the kind of solutions that the selected ones may attend to. It is actually far better to pick for those messenger business those that can easily attend to each domestic also global shipping of materials. Additionally, the messenger business need to capable to supply for the solutions depending on to the demands as well as demands of the organization Roanoke.

Next off, the regularity and also opportunity needed for the cargos to be done need to become validated and also asked them about. If your company needs for specific standard concerning timing, then you need to clarify and also create the carrier solutions recognize regarding your needs in a crystal clear technique.

Additionally, your association needs to compare the costs of a number of courier business depending upon the shipment of the materials at different places both local, residential too international and afterwards merely appoint the one that is very most ideal according to the association's demands.

The price as well as prices are necessary since a company requires to send great deal of components on day-to-day manner by means of the indicated jobs. Consequently, if the shipping costs are actually extremely higher, after that the association may find it certainly not profitable to make use of the company of the defined courier firms. The organization might select some other messenger solutions those that may provide the identical sort of companies at some lessened prices.

It is actually also significant to look at the type of product packaging these carrier providers attend to while doing the cargo. The packaging ought to be actually in such a method that it should certainly not obstruct the material or even damages a little bit of the components. Typically, the materials might end up being pointless. These traits require to obtain validated while engaging the specific carrier services to collaborate with the institution.

0 notes

soulcollector0100-blog · 6 years

Text

Tiffany Amber Vs Walmart

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR ARLINGTON COUNTY Tiffany Amber Address Sealed Plaintiff Case #: ______________ v. Walmart 14000 Worth Ave, Woodbridge, VA 22192 Cc Walmart Headquarters 702 Southwest, Bentonville, Arkansas 72716 HP 3000 Hanover St, Palo Alto, California 94304 Defendant COMPLAINT PLAINTIFF, Tiffany Amber, comes this day, November 3rd, 2017, pro se, and for the reasons and causes for this Complaint, states as follows: COUNT I, II, III, VII, :Intentional Emotional Distress, Conspiracy, Racial Prejudice, Harassment, and Unfair Business Practice 1. Tiffany Amber, is a loyal customer of Walmart. Unfortunately I’ve had numerous of runs in with Walmart due to the employees Walmart has hired. Conspiracy as crazy it sounds is not a fucking distant dream. It is real HP will be included in this suit. Which Is why I’m requesting Walmart Be CLOSED and the sum of its stores be sought in damages. I have IC3 reports and I have Walmart Complaints. Today is the fifth coat of icing on an already well frosted cake. I’m a nice person. I do not need money. But these people act this way because there is no correction. The nicest person gets tired. IS TIRED OF TALKING. Walmart is cheap but it is still a store in which policies must be followed and competent law abiding BUSINESS Professionals are hired and show customers respect and CUSTOMER SERVICE above all ACT in a LEGAL WAY. ESPCIALLY using Walmart’s name. Otherwise it places doubt on Walmart. There are crimes which will be listed in this complaint that exceed bad employees a bad place to shop. THAT’S A crime. And I’m seeking you be closed for it. Today is fucking judgement day. Is the emergency CORD on all these events. When I cant just go somewhere and just shop. It becomes a scene every other day. You don’t have a store. You don’t have employees. I’m going to make it real for you. These woman should not have been hired and I doubt this is the first of their criminal behavior. I will list all the events but Walmart has proven unphased by one event after the other. Different locations but still Walmart. Must be Walmart’s culture. Have become lax in the fact that Walmart has become peoples saving grace but it’s come at a PRICE. Greater than 50 percent savings. I am a law abiding citizen, a respectable citizen of society, who follows the law. When you trample on those things. You OWE yourself and then YOU OWE ME. Double whatever you paid yourself. You fucking owe me more than a fucking check. Im not explaining but im in a nice neighborhood and people are behaving like this more than likely because im BLACK. On my WORST day. I will leave money for a FUND. It has not been recently but im not going in to detail. YOU OWE ME FUCKING MONEY. 2. The First incident is Georgia Avenue NW Washington DC. I Do not live in DC but I was in Walmart saw that they had a sell on computers my old one is dead. I purchase it with cash due to the fact I have been to the bank that day and I have money on me. I’m made aware that HP is acting criminally. It’s a new computer. Its saying things like memory is low day 5 of purchasing it. I have downloaded nothing. My cursor is slow or behind. Like I cant type a sentence without the cursor jumping or seeing spaces causing me to misspell nearly my whole sentence. I obviously can’t do any word document even type in GMAIL type anywhere this brand new computer would be considered useless. When I do an IC3 report record as Im typing the typing malfunction stops. I am aware of why HP is acting criminally but it should not be possible. I didn’t know you could interfere with someone’s computer to that magnitude. Gmail also doesn’t allow me to attach documents. On the spot typing become slow or sluggish to the point I’m usually a whole word behind. Even today when I’m typing the complaint to Walmart in comparison to right now typing is the way its suppose to be. Noone thinks about these types of things but you notice a difference right away. I will suffer to a point. I am suing but the mouse just stops working. You cant do anything on the computer which mandates I return a 10 day old computer back to Walmart. I’m aware its HP acting criminally and I was going to pursue a suit at a later date but its equal to a defective computer and so I returned it to Walmart making them responsible. I probably have about 10 IC3 reports on a BRAND NEW computer. I return to Walmart without a receipt because I’ve never had to return a new computer in my life. When I buy brand new things I usually don’t make a mental note to keep the receipt. I did however keep the (note typing is messing up this section of the complaint Slow, sluggish.) Box it was purchased in and I figured that was equal to a receipt because he scanned the box upon me purchasing it. I have my new computer ready for a swap and he says oh do you have a receipt. I say no but you can scan the barcode right? He’s adamant he cant. I say well can you pull receipts? I know Walmart has done this. Ive had it done a few times in the past. He’s also adamant he cant pull a receipt unless I purchased the computer with a debit card. Im enraged that night because the whole reason I brought a computer Is because I’m in need of it or was in need of it at that time. Im going to buy a computer I cant use. I walked in with a mint condition computer. A computer fit for a trash can was exchanged after numerous of complaints. He can exchange a computer with the bar code on the box. He can also look up a cash receipt. Both he adamantly denied upon me attempting to exchange the computer. One must wonder if WALMART is on HP acting criminally. Ive made them aware of HPS behavior. They don’t seem phased or bothered yet they are selling these new computers. I feel like that would make them accomplices to a crime. After two weeks Walmart is refusing to exchange anything lets say this computer blacks out right now. Walmart says they are not exchanging it. That’s a crime They ARE aware and are still selling the computers. Note my word document is LOADING. Never heard of it in my life. Text has been changed. This computer is probably 4-6 weeks old. IC3 report every other day. I’ve never experienced it in my life. Also note black boxes are splashing across my screen. My WORD document froze took ten minutes for it to allow typing. This happens very frequently with word document. I’ve never heard of it before in my life Until buying this computer. Walmart owes me a 40.00 gift card. It should have been sitting with my computer when I came for the computer exchange for the third time. It was not. I had to complain they called on an inconvenient day and said I could come pick it up. Have not had the opportunity to do so. The gift card was MY idea. The computer should have been exchanged day one. I had to come back after numerous complaints and spending 10.00 each way three different times. And I had to fight them for it. 4. The next event is todays incidences. I am a frequent shopper at Walmart. I went to the Walmart on Worth Avenue in Woodbridge Va. I notice immediately Walmart employees are following me in the store. They stop at some point. I will note here that this is on the heels of me leaving Costcos and calling the police. Because Costcos is harassing me upon attempting to ENTER the store. Ive never been there before I’ve been meaning to go because I hear you can buy things in BULK. She tells me I need to go to a counter to be allowed admittance. You really cant tell new comers they cant come in if they don’t have a membership card which cost from what I can see a hefty price. And I have not been inside. It’s not happening. I’m not buying a surprise meal from MCDONALDS. COSTCOS didn’t want a store. I’m about to take it. Anyway I’m in the store for two minutes and I leave. I do watch probably five people with books bags large purses leave without being asked for their stuff to be checked. I’m in the store two minutes and they want to check my bag. I’m going to note 99 percent of the people I saw were white and light. You OWE me money and I just walked in the door I walked out while she was attempting to tell me she needed to check my bookbag. I NEED TO CHECK HER FACE. I kept walking and ripped the pamphlet up and threw it on the ground outside of COSTCOS and I called the cops. Anyway back to Walmart. I get to the self check out line. There is A HUGE UGLY light broad directing people to cash registers. She actually follows me to the registers and is attempting to put on MORE plastic bags on a half empty rack. I want to say a good 10 to twenty more people could have 70 or more dollars of stuff and it would still only START to appear like it needed to be filled. Like its OBVIOUS she has created a ruse to watch me scan items. Which is a suit by itself. I have never looted at WALMART or any store and I never will. I use self check out because its easier. I tell her I think the bags are full enough she can leave. Like she is literally blocking me from putting things in the bag there. There are people behind me and ALL the registers are full and she is in my face. And she’s not SMART about it. I mean its OBVIOUS. I scan my items. I go to pay THREE TIMES. The card doesn’t process the Walmart icon is turning. Is says processing for a good five minutes each time. That would mean Walmart is ACTING criminally. There is money in my account. The police from Costcos are actually calling me while I’m trying to process the transaction. I have to call him back. I finally after the third time ask the light whore do you know what’s wrong with the machine sarcastically. She says it has to be rung up over here. Another Whole register. I insert my card and I see when they screens says approved. She attempts to tell me its declined. I tell her to repeat herself so she can say it out loud. She says it went through over here but it declined at the other station. It’s a lie. All the three times the transaction stalls at processing. THE LIGHT WHORE OWES ME MONEY. SHE LIED TO A GROUP OF PEOPLE. I’m under the belief it was her or it was Walmart tampering with my transaction. I actually wait for the next person to use the same machine I was using. Nothing is wrong with the machine. The man has the same Bank of America Card as me even the same color. Transaction goes through in 5 seconds. I applaud him and say I’m happy for him. I then ask for a manager for the second time. She has an attitude because I asked for the same manager right after my transaction is rung up at the other counter. She now has an attitude and is saying she has nothing to do with an EMPLOYEE SHE MANAGES. SHE is not at all concerned with has taken place. She has an attitude I ask for her name. I say is there anyone here above you? She says not right now. The managers name Is Julie the light skin whores name is Natasha. I leave and call the cops. The cops give me a hassle. I’m angry so they got the special I don’t do to well with people attempting to tell me what I already know. I CALL back the same officer that calls me in the store. I have to fight with him. I finally get a report number AFTER I make it clear I can and will call the cops as many times as I want as long I feel as though a crime has been committed. It a crime and its racism at its finest. I wanted proof this happened. That case number I PD17101200261020 OFFICER CW Dooley. Relief follows, See Attached. Respectfully submitted, _____________________ Tiffany Amber, Plaintiff Address Sealed Relief 200 Billion. No request. Just CLOSURE of your stores. 20 Million AND the two whores are HUMILIATED FIRED BY A LETTER I WRITE. I want it recorded. Want customers to watch. No references no severance pay. It is very sad Walmart actually had someone call me, a manager ,I am presuming, and she did not delete this suit off my computer. While I was not looking for money 140.00 gift card would have done the trick. A 100.00 gift card would have done the trick. Gave you proof as life saving as Walmart is you didn’t hire the right people. Im just quite frankly irritated. You do not have a store if you don’t have customer service. When employees become the problem you need to start over. And upper management Is not concerned when your STORE EMPLOYEES cause a scene in store with a loyal customer. It doesn’t fly in my book.

0 notes

topicprinter · 7 years

Link

Hi Reddit (and my fellow entrepreneurs),Two months ago I submitted a Reddit post detailing my journey from leaving a cushy corporate job and starting a business.Directly after leaving, I worked out three business goals with my wife that I had to hit, or I would have to go back and find a job. The goals are:One sale within the first two months (which I hit on the very last day)100 paying customers by August 13thGrow at 10% per month for six monthsToday I am proud to say that I accomplished the second goal a month early.What has changed since then?Quite a bit!Most of the great feedback from the prior post pointed out how broad my original business idea was. Visitors would come to the site and not have a clue where to start.The prior website slogan was "Automation and Spreadsheet Vault for Entrepreneurs." Automation for what? My morning routine? What kind of spreadsheets? What does vault mean?And they were absolutely right.Around the same time, the digital currency market and blockchain were absolutely exploding. I saw it as an opportunity to not only get much more targeted, but to enter a space that was hot (and I believe to be on an unstoppable path.)The PivotAfter doing some rigorous keyword research, I saw that a large portion of blockchain related terms were getting huge amounts of traffic, but the competition was less than stellar. I took this as an opportunity to take a great portion of my current skillset (finance, trading, analysis) and create something very valuable for people interested in digital currency and blockchain. At the same time, I became crystal clear on my message and vision, and it goes like this:"For investors and developers in digital currency and blockchain, who are dissatisfied with unreliable, messy data, Spreadstreet is a data-delivery service that provides dependable, documented data sets with multiple avenues of delivery (such as Excel, and web download). Unlike existing options, we plan to focus on expanding our delivery options, and providing an affordable foundation for developers looking to build blockchain apps, or investors looking to build analysis models."How has initial traction been?So far, the website has had the following:~17k pageviews, ~5k unique sessions612 registered users102 paid users (yay!)While not a huge amount, it feels good that it is finally gaining some traction.What has the initial feedback been?The most important thing in business is to listen to your customers. I have implemented Intercom again, as I believe the chat function is extremely well done. It has provided an avenue to talk to customers, and I have been happy with the results so far.I also created a user onboarding survey that has a 69% completion rate, with the first question garnering 100%. That feedback is very valuable as far as modifying the website to fit exactly what our users are asking for. The following has been some great feedback from users:Current datasets are lacking (had to start somewhere!)Users are extremely hesitant to install an Excel plugin, as the Cryptocurrency space seems to be ripe with scammers. My goal is to ease that concern as much as possible, and one of those avenues is through our (currently in development) API and a Google Sheets pluginCurrent datasets could use more customization (such as date ranges)After hearing all of this great feedback, answering customers, working on product development, marketing, finance, accounting, I realized something very important...What's next?A one-and-a-half man operation (one part-time developer) is not enough. I will be seeking the following help:Technical Co-Founder/CTOWeb Designer/UX ExpertAnd since I need this help, I recently finished a pitch deck to present to investors. So far I have received a few initial offers (that were honestly terrible), and am extremely excited for what the future holds.These individuals will be instrumental in getting Spreadstreet to my ultimate vision.Products I currently use (not affiliated with any of the listed products)Last time I gave a run-down of products I currently use, and here is an update:Wordpress: Site is still on Wordpress, and I expect it to be there at least in the short-term. However our API is currently being developed on a Node.js server. In the future I fully expect a custom built solution, but for now it serves it's purposeDivi Theme: Still awesome, I would recommend to ANYONE using a Wordpress site. It could not be easier to use for non-technical peopleVultr and Microsoft Azure: Vultr houses the Wordpress site, Azure has been selected as our option for the API to handle scaling needs. We will be using a Node.js/Blob Storage/PostgreSQL stack.Canva: Awesome for coming up with graphics for anything you can think of. $13 per monthNamecheap: Where I purchased the domain name. Negligible cost, not worth noting. If you go with a less used TLD (such as .club instead of .com) it comes out to $0.88 a YEARCloudflare: Great for speeding up websites, however the current website is pretty light load so this may be overkill…but it’s freeBlockspring: Awesome Excel/Google Sheets add-in that makes calling APIs extremely easy.Zapier: Automation tool. $20 per month. Currently used to fill up my…Buffer. Scheduling tool for social media profiles. $10 per monthUpwork: I have one developer on staff who I sourced from Upwork. She is amazing, and has been extremely helpful in initial development I was unable to do. Ranges from $200 to $400 per month. I do not have the link at the moment, but someone on this subreddit had a great write-up on sourcing talent from UpworkData feed: I anticipate this to be one of the most expensive pieces of the business going forward, depending upon the landscape. Certain companies will want to offer their current data for sale, so licensing and agreements will be a part of the model going forward.Intercom: Last post I noted how I stopped using it due to cost. I came back to it. The product is just too damn good, even though I still do not agree with the pricing. But alas, here I am. Talking with customers is so damn important, and they have the best product on the market.New Skills GainedI continue to accumulate new skills every day, so this acts as a great buffer in case I am forced to go back to work at some time in the future.I now have an intermediate understanding of how the funding world works. Extremely interesting and excitingBeginner PHP, although I stopped this as it seems to be quite hated within the developer community (not entirely sure why...) and because my time must be spent elsewhereBasic UX - my website was honestly a mess two months ago. It is still not great, but much much better than what it used to be (doing such things as making sure the content is above the fold on multiple devices, creating a user onboarding experience, etc.)BlockspringZapier marketing automationMy technology lingo is a bit betterDifferences between types of databases, such as document storage, key-value, relational, etc.Best practices for API development. While I am not creating it myself, I need to know what I am talking about so my developer knows what to buildDon't be shy, say hi!I will end this here as it is getting to be a bit long, but I love meeting new or current entrepreneurs. Please send me a message, I would love to get to know you. I am located in the DC/Baltimore area, and in-person meetings are even better.John

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

0 notes