#some of these have been in my drafts for ages and since the 911 one is back on my notes I thought it was time to finish this one | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

me-and-your-husband · 4 years

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Need Someone (Part 2)

Summary: Reader gets into some trouble, and doesn’t know who else to call besides her best friend’s dad, District Attorney Andy Barber.

Warnings: age gap, kidnapping and attempted sexual assault.

Pairing: Andy Barber x Reader

Word Count: 2.2k

Note: Lets say reader is 18 and in senior year.

I had managed to get my captor to untie me from the bed, which was the first step in the right direction. Now, I sat with my legs hanging off the side of the bed, trembling. He sat beside me, stroking my hair. I could feel his hot breath on my neck. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that I would be able to endure less of it. When I was finally able to stop thinking about the man’s lingering breath on my neck, I felt his dry lips attach to my neck in a chaste kiss. I let out a noise of disgust, and my eyes widened when I realized what I just did.

A calloused hand came up to grip my jaw, and the man swiftly turned my face to meet his. His eyebrows met in a frenzy of anger, yet the corners of his mouth curled up in a sinister smirk.

“I thought you were ‘gonna be cooperative, Hon’,” He said rhetorically. My bottom lip trembled out of fear when I tried to speak. Breaking eye contact, I moved my gaze back down to my hands, clutching the bed sheets.

Just then, I felt a cold force hit my cheek, sending me flying to the floor with a thud. I pressed my hand to my cheek, my cold hand being a vast contrast to the burning flesh where the mark was left. A shaky breath escaped my lips, as my eyes darted around the room, searching for a plan. The man let out an almost grizzly-like growl at this, and lunged toward me. Luckily, I was able to bound away and stumble through the bedroom door. Trying to navigate my way through this house was difficult; the man had carried me up here when I was unconscious.

Sprinting to the door to what I assumed would be the stairs, I slammed the door behind me and my trembling hand frantically moved to lock it, but the whole door handle had been removed. Adrenaline pumped through my body as I looked around the room. It seemed to be a guest room, decorated with little but a bed, a nightstand with a single lamp on it, and a rocking chair sat by the small window, which was currently open, letting a draft in, causing the thin curtains to sway in the breeze.

My legs took me to the window, where I yelled for help as loud as I could, even sticking my head out the window to wave to anyone passing by. It was light now, around noon, according to the place of the sun in the sky. Surely, the Barbers had realized something was wrong when Jacob didn’t hear from me yet today.

“Come here, you bitch!” is what echoed through the hall, heavy footsteps approaching the door. The thought went into my head for a brief moment, and I knew I had to at least try. I grabbed the lamp from the nightstand and removed the shade, revealing a glass lightbulb. Quickly, I ran to hide behind the doorknob-less door, and held the lamp close to my chest, Drawing a deep breath in, I waited for the door to swing open.

Once the door opened, I waited for the man to step far enough into the room. His sweaty figure had it’s back turned towards me, to which I stepped forward, raising the lamp above my head. I brought it down with force, and the sound of glass shattering could be heard amongst the throaty groan the man let out. Blood trickled from his bald skull, as his hand came up to check the wound site. When he seen that crimson painted his fingers, he slowly turned around to face me. The lamp in my hands, which were cut and bleeding from the glass, fell onto the ground in between us.

“You little slut. You think you can do this to me? Just wait until I get my hands on you, you little...” I couldn’t hear the rest, as my legs took me down the stairs, as if I knew this house like my own, and for some reason I ran right past the back door, and went for the kitchen. Flying around the kitchen island, I grabbed a knife from the knife block. Getting down with my back up against the cabinet of the kitchen island, I tried to steady my breath. For a few minutes, I heard nothing but silence. Then, a low, steady, unwavering, monotone groan, and something dragging. Then, more silence.

Hot tears spilled onto my cheeks, and the copper taste filled my mouth. I let go of the bottom lip that I had been anxiously gnawing on and stood up to take a peek over the island. My face was met with the man, blood running down the side of his face, leaning forward over the counter.

“Well, hi there,” he whispered, almost inaudibly. A blood-curdling shriek left my lips, one that felt like I had been holding back for a century. His large hand grabbed me by the hair, picking me up and throwing me across the kitchen floor, causing the knife in my hand to fall and slide across the floor.. I landed with a crack, and tried to ignore the pain resonating in my arm.

“No, no please stop, you don’t have to do this,” I cried, crawling backwards as best as I could on my elbows. I inched towards the knife, as he stalked towards me. He brought his foot out and gave me a hard kick in the ribs, gaining another cry out of me. As I lay there clutching my side, he sat on my legs, keeping me in place. Reaching into his pocket, he brought out a small gadget. Flipping it open , he revealed that it was a pocket knife.

“Now, since you won’t behave, I’ll give you something to remember me every time you look in the mirror,” He stated dastardly. Despite my thrashing, he brought the knife up to just under my left eye on my cheek, and pressed into the skin. He didn’t go deep enough for me to bleed out, nor for it to scar, but it still hurt like a bitch,

His other hand came up to cover my mouth, muffling my screams and protests. He dragged the blade along my flesh, but in moment of his hesitation, I caught him off guard and brought my fist up to his stomach. The blow was hard enough for him to fall off of me, releasing my legs. I crawled on my stomach over to the knife that was now a few feet away from me.

When my fingertips brushed the hilt of it, A strong hand wrapped around my ankle. He pulled me back towards him, but luckily I had managed to wrap my hand around the knife’s blade, cutting into my hand. I moved my hand down to the hilt, and turned around. I plunged it straight into his neck, and his eyes popped out of their sockets. Both of his hands immediately came up to clutch his bleeding neck. Blood gushed and squirted out of it. Within ten seconds, we were both laying in a pool of our blood, more his than mine.

I listened to his breathing patterns. They finally went form sounding mucus-filled and clotted, to none at all. Once I had realized he was really dead and he was safe, the adrenaline started to wear off and I became tired.

The realization that I needed help was what brought me back from drifting off. I managed to climb off the floor, and reach the house phone that sat on the counter by the stove. I grabbed the phone and dialed 911, but a thought crossed my mind. What if I get charged for murder? What if they don’t understand it was self defense?

I finally make up my mind, and make the decision to call the only other person I know that can for sure help me. I dialed Andy Barber’s number, and waited as it rung. I crossed my fingers in hopes that he would pick up. While it was ringing, I took in my surroundings. The white kitchen walls were now splattered with blood, the tiled floor flooded in it. My clothes were soaked in either his blood or mine. This reminded me of my cheek, to which I brought my hand up to swipe across. This was a bad idea, as the touch made it sting more.

I was pulled out of my trance by a tired, raspy voice. “Andy Barber speaking,” came from the other line, and I let out a breath I had been holding in.

“Andy?” I said, but it came out in almost a whisper. It was like I could physically feel him perk up.

“Y/N? Is that you? Where are you?”

“Andy, I don’t know where I am. I’m in a house,” I told him earnestly.

“Alright,” he sighed. I could just imagine him running his hand over his face. “Look for bills, or anything that could have the address on it,”

I hummed in response and began scavenging the kitchen for bills or documents. I went through all of the drawers and cupboards with the phone between my ear and shoulder, finding nothing. I was just about ready to give up when I noticed a paper pinned on the stainless steel refrigerator with a magnet. I crept up to the fridge, almost cautiously. I held the phone to my ear with one hand and reached out for the paper slowly with the other. I plucked it off of the fridge and held it in front of me. My trembling hand made it difficult to read, but I could make out a name.

ROBERT ARTHUR HADDOCK

1271 ASPIN WAY

“1271 Aspin Way, that’s where I am,” I said in monotone to the phone. Andy cleared his throat.

“Okay, alright. Just hang tight, honey. I’ll send the police down, they’ll be there shortly. Stay on the line, okay?” he said soothingly.

“No, no Andy you can’t, I-”

“It’s alright, honey it’ll be fine, I trust these people. I wouldn’t let them anywhere near you if I didn’t,” He reassured me. It might have been inappropriate, the time and place considered, but the pet name he kept using made my heart flutter.

“It’s not that, I...I killed him,”

Silence from the other end. I could picture Andy’s mouth agape.

“But-but it was in self defense, I swear! He was trying to hurt me, he did hurt me. Oh right, I’m still bleeding,” I said, voice trailing off at the end. This brought him out of his silence.

“What! Y/N, you’re hurt? How bad is it?” He badgered, concern laced in his voice.

“I think my arm’s broke, he cut my cheek, and he kicked me in the ribs. There’s blood everywhere, oh God. I don’t even know how much of it’s mine...” I mewled, my voice cracking at the end, the tears coming back down again.

“I’m on my way,” Andy stated.

“Please don’t tell Jacob, and don’t bring anybody else, please,” I begged.

“I won’t,” he said gently, before I heard a car door open and shut swiftly. “...Y/N?”

“Yes?”

“It’s been nearly three days. For three fucking days you could have been dead,”

Sitting on the floor by the front door, I sat talking to Andy as he drove. This house was on the other side of Newton.

The phone I was using gave a warning beep, to let me know that it was almost dead.

“Andy. the phone’s almost dead,” I said softly.

“It’s okay, I’m almost there. I’m about five minutes away, you can unlock the-”

The phone died.

Letting out a sigh, I threw the drained house phone across the room. “Damn it,” I murmured to myself. It was then, sitting in the approaching darkness, utterly alone, that I realized that I needed to use the washroom. The only problem was, I didn’t know where it was, and I just killed the guy who owns it.

I stood up with a grunt, and started opening random doors. When I opened the last one at the end of a long, white corridor, a foul smell floated into the air. Trying to keep down the lunch I was deprived of, I plugged my nose. My eyes found a small string hanging from the ceiling, to which I assumed would turn on a light. I was correct.

Bright orange light flooded the small room, which revealed to me that there was one flight of stairs below me. At the bottom, the sight I was presented with shook me to my core.

Seven women lay on the landing at the end of the stairs, all defiled and mutilated. The bodies of the women were bloated and purple, and some even looked like they had started rotting.

The scream that left my mouth this time was so vile and so loud, that I couldn’t hear Andy forcefully opening the front door and stumbling in, yelling my name. I only stopped screaming when I fell to the ground, either passing out from blood loss or shock, cheeks wet from tears. Andy’s thick arms wrapped around me, catching me before I hit the hard ground.

Tags: @zaddychris @kyrarose16 @lexeeehhh @kelbabyblue @lovelivelife128

@kalesrebellion

#andy barber #andy barber x female reader #andy barber x reader #defending jacob

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thecandywrites · 4 years

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Orctober- Fall Formal

Ok so this was originally meant to be part of orctober. But then I found out about the OKCryptid and I JUST HAD to do that instead but this has been sitting in my drafts and I know it’s two months late but I’m on break for school and I’m catching up with everything and god damn it, this story is so cute and still more or less based on my own life and how I wish I would have had the courage to ask my crush out but I never got the chance so this is my own wish fulfillment and fantasy but with an orc twist and the headcanon that orc culture would take to beads like it’s it’s own subculture and how each bead has LAYERS AND LAYERS of meaning and TRADITIONS on how they’re given and recieved and how they have various styles to suit the recipient and that’s a discourse I will gladly discuss with anyone who will listen to me. Thanks for reading.

Orctober- Fall Formal.

Your name was Brianna Wright and you sat at your lunch table, by yourself, eating and doing homework so you didn’t have to do it at home, listening to the music on your phone through your headphones and drowning out the roar of the other students, most of which were sitting with their partners discussing details of the fall formal and since you were painfully single, you did your best to drown them out while trying to not let it get on your nerves before you took a break and snuck a peek at where your crush usually sat at his table not too far away but he wasn’t sitting there, he must still be going through the lunch line you supposed before you turned back to your homework. It was your first week back to school in your senior year and you noticed how everyone seemed to settle in. Couples had split and come together over summer break and made new friends and lost old ones. Things changed and yet stayed the same.

Your crush was none other than Kihro Soche, an orc who actually worked for your dad along with Kihro’s dad Kidron who was a partner with your Dad’s business and operated his own sister branch downtown, the first to do so several years ago. Hell everyone at Kihro’s table worked for your dad because their dad’s worked for your dad and they were their own father’s apprentices. It’s not that they were mean to you or picked on you, no, far from, they were always polite, both on the job site and in school but that was as far as it went because while all of you were friendly, you just weren’t...friends, or at least you felt they weren’t. Despite your dad’s success and your own younger sister’s popularity, you were surprisingly a loner. You were all business while you were in school and on the job site and you took your own education seriously, which meant you were dream for the teachers who often got you to tutor the jocks, most of which were orcs- to make sure they stayed on their athletic teams, while your teaches handled the trouble makers. Because of this you were neither bullied- nor popular because the only time anyone joined you at your table was when they wanted something from you, usually academic help. You lost count of how many “I owe you one’s” you had with half of all the teams in the school but you were never going to be one to call in those favors.

But despite all this Kihro was special. He wasn’t on any teams and he never asked you for help with anything because he was not only very intelligent himself but he was also more or less the leader of his group. You liked to suppose that if this was a few hundred years ago that Kidron would be an orc cheiftan and Kihro would be the next cheif after his dad stepped down. You had known him for several years as well and he had been to your house when your dad made Kidron a partner in the business and it was your first big “official” meal that you had cooked. Kihro had been with you when you collapsed on a job site this past spring, Kihro was the first one to get to you and actually picked you up and had woken you up and held you as your dad called 911 and he had carried you to the ambulance and his family had visited you in the hospital after that. That’s when your crush on him started, at the tender age of 16 and now that you were 17, it didn’t show any sign of letting up, it just got worse. But while he was always friendly with you and when you had been on the job site together you two worked really really well together but that’s where it appeared to stop and every day you just accepted that you two were just too different and that as much as you fantasized about you two getting together, it was never going to happen. He just wasn’t interested.

Your dad was a plumber by trade, a master plumber at that and he co-owned Wright Plumbing with your Papa, your mom’s dad- Larry Franks and together they ran the biggest- and in your opinion, the best- plumbing business for the west side of the Great Lakes Region. Your dad employed about 75 other plumbers, almost all of them journeymen in their own right and allowed them to bring their own children- the vast majority of them being sons- along with friends and family into the business too as their apprentices. Your dad had hired about a dozen orcs and a half dozen dwarves and other halflings at first, all of them remained and were now running their own branches of the business in the different communities and in the decade since then, the business grew and expanded almost exponentially. Your dad didn’t care what clan these orcs came from either, he employed everyone who was competent and because of this, he was able to hire from all the clans in the area and they all got along for the sake of the business and wore their uniforms with pride and because of the physical nature of the business, orcs, dwarves and halflings also had the intelligence, intuition and strength and stamina needed for the work and they always gave the best results while having high ethics and morals while doing so. Your dad made sure all of them were protected by the union, had very generous wages, large enough to solely and very comfortably- support large families on. The business also had the best health, vision, dental and life insurances the company could get, they got sick leave, maternity leave and even their apprentices made good money- often double minimum wage just to start out and then going to triple with experience, skill and expertise and a lot of these apprentices got headstarts on their own journeyman’s license requirements, many of them getting their liscences once they graduated high school.

To celebrate the business’ success, your dad often hosted company picnics every summer, they had been potluck at first but as the company grew and became successful, the more he could afford to put into them and make them the blow out events they were- that were the highlight of the year for his employees. Your dad had competition BBQ joints come in and cater to the event, roasting hundreds of whole hogs and a couple hundred chickens that got fried and barbequed and got dozens of kegs of different kinds of beer too in addition to it still being a potluck. You had wanted to work up the courage of asking Kihro to dance with you at the company picnic but your dad had you working the grill for most of it, grilling your body weight in steaks over a dozen times over all day, which you actually enjoyed doing because you loved to cook and worked wonders with meat but you just never got the chance to get away long enough to ask Kihro to dance with you and you knew there was no way he was going to ask you to a school dance and at the end of the night you just accepted that it was your fate to be forever alone and so close but so far from what you wanted. And with your health being as bad and as fragile as it was now, you knew there was no way you were going to go into plumbing as a career yourself so the only times you saw Kihro was either at school- which you were going to be graduating early from in a few short months, or at the company picnics or home shows. That was it, so you accepted the fact that eventually you’d drift apart and be strangers at some point and grow out of this silly crush. And you were scared of asking him and him rejecting you or asking in front of his friends and all of them telling their dads who would then report it to your dad. You were stuck and there was little to nothing you could do about it other than accept the situation as what it was.

What you didn’t know is Kihro had been crushing on you hard for the last 5 years. There was a reason he was the first one to you when you collapsed on the work site, because he had been watching you for a long time and knew that something was wrong for months and when you had dropped to the ground, he had dropped what he had been holding and ran like the wind to get to you and he picked you up and cradled you to his chest and would not let you go and it wasn’t until the paramedics came that he finally gave up his hold on you and he had been the one to really push his family to visit you at the hospital and to see you so sick and practically skin and bones and so close to death, had nearly broken him and he had never prayed so much in his life for you to pull through. Swearing to any god that would listen that if you could pull through, he would do whatever it took to take care of you and never have you this close to death or danger again. But his dad forbade him from doing anything about his attraction to you and he made good money and was able to save a small fortune as an apprentice but it wasn’t nearly what he expected your father to demand for a guy like him to be interested in his daughter. Because while your dad was relaxed and easy going at work, he was especially protective of you and your sisters.

Kihro had wanted to ask you to dance at the company picnics for years now too but his dad had shut him down every time and he knew your dad’s rules of not dating while in school but to hear that you were going to be graduating early after first semester, before winter formal- since your dad had casually mentioned it to his dad, he knew his window of opportunity was going to shut forever and if he didn’t ask you to at least one school dance- he felt like he was going to die, hell- he’d dance with you in the middle of this lunchroom if he thought you wouldn’t die of embarrassment. He tried to get as close to you as he could, when in class, he tried to pair up with you when you were in the same classes together and tried to be as friendly and nice to you as he could be without being creepy or causing any suspicion on your part and he just ADORED you. To him, you were already perfect and already the girl of his dreams because you were humble, sweet, kind, intelligent and had a great sense of humor and you could cook like nobody’s business and you were great with your little sisters and fantastic with his younger siblings and you just oozed ‘mom’ vibes which he was really into. One of his teachers had said that with women there were a couple of types- the fun kind that you dated and the marrying kind and to him, you were both. He had questioned his attraction at first, thinking it was only because you were the “boss’ daughter” and “off limits”, things he couldn’t have- according to his father and everyone else who worked for your dad and he had thought that he only wanted you because he couldn’t have you. But the longer this attraction lasted and the more he thought about it and pondered it, the more he realized that he really didn’t care if you were the boss’ daughter or not. Wright Plumbing could go down and out of business tomorrow and that wouldn’t change how he felt about you because you were an amazing person all on your own and it was your own personality’s merits that attracted him so strongly.

But he and the others were just...scared, scared of rejection, scared of your dad, scared of their own dads and any retaliation they might experience if they even tried to ask you out. But Kihro was done being scared and yesterday had been his journeyman’s license exam and he had passed it with flying colors and he was ready and prepared just in case this blew up in his face. Because as a journeyman there were other plumbing companies that would hire him, granted not for as much as your dad offered his journeyman’s plumbers that had been with him for a few years but it would still be a living that he could support himself in case this went south. So here he stood, kind of frozen in fear after getting through the lunch line and so nauseated from his anxiety he couldn’t even look at his food as he looked from his friends who were giving him the thumbs up and nodding over to the table you were sitting on before he forced his feet to move forward, mentally counting down the steps as he mentally rehearsed what he was going to say to you over and over in his head. He really didn’t want to screw this up.

It wasn’t until you noticed movement in your peripheral vision that you looked up and nearly let the food in your mouth fall out as your jaw practically dropped as you realized he was walking towards you before he sat down across from you.

“Hi,” he greeted you and you could tell he was nervous and you started to worry that maybe you were about to be the victim of a prank and he could see the fear in your eyes and it made his anxiety whirl in chest even more.

“Hi…” You answered slowly after you swallowed before you just subconsciously held your breath, waiting for the floor to drop.

“Um, look, I just...I wanted to ask you if you’d like to be my date for the fall formal.” He blurted out so quickly you didn’t really catch it.

“What?” You asked as you leaned forward and tried to focus harder on him over the roar of the other students.

“I wanted to ask you to be my date for the fall formal.” He repeated as you frowned in confusion.

“Uh...is this...some kind of trick or a joke or a dare or did you lose a bet or…?” You asked as you were more confused than anything and looked from him to the other table he usually sat at and saw them all staring before they tried to look away and act casual which for you was a red flag as panic gripped your own chest as you looked from them back to Kihro worriedly.

“No! No, I didn’t lose any bets, this isn’t a dare or a joke or a prank or anything like that, I swear. I would never dream of doing any of that, especially to you. No uh. I just....look, it’s senior year and my dad said that he had overheard your dad say that you were graduating early and so you won’t be in school for the winter formal or prom, otherwise I would be asking you to go with me to that, but um, I know you usually don’t go to the school dances and I know your dad is really strict with you about the whole dating thing but it’s senior year and I’ve chickened out the last few years and if I don’t at least ask you to one dance before you’re gone for good- I’m always going to wonder what might have happened if I just asked or hate myself for never having the guts to ask out the one girl who deserves to have fun the most because you work just as much and just as hard as I do. And please, don’t think I’m asking this, thinking that you’ll put in a good word for me with your dad either and this has nothing to do with the plumbing side of your life, I just...I just wanted to ask you to the dance.” He confessed and you wanted to cry tears of relief and happiness because holy shit, you had to be dreaming, you must have passed out again and hit your head, this had to be a fantasy, there is no way this was real. Any moment now you’re gonna shake your head out of your haze and see that you were indeed still alone at your table and had imagined all of this.

“Really?” You asked, almost afraid you were dreaming as you finally exhaled and took a few deep breaths to catch your breath again.

“Yeah,” He nodded. “So...what do you say?” He asked, both hope and fear clearly on his face as he in turn held his breath.

“Yes.” You agreed.

“Really?” He lit up with the brightest, most excited smile you had ever seen him wear.

“Yes really.” You laughed.

“Ok, thank you, thank you so so so much, oh gods, I was about ready to have a stroke and pass out, that was harder than the journeyman’s license test.” He breathed in relief and held his stomach and put his other hand over his racing heart that had been pounding so hard in his chest he feared it was going to break his ribs as he caught his own breath and finally relaxed.

“And did you pass?” You asked curiously.

“I did, with a 98.” He answered proudly which made you clap in excitement.

“That’s awesome, I’m really happy for you.” You offered.

“Thanks.” He smiled bashfully before he dug into his meal, finally getting his appetite back as did you too before you tried to figure out matching outfits, of course now that you were having this conversation yourself, this kind of thing stopped annoying you as you exchanged phone numbers to stay in touch.

“So if you’ve been wanting to ask me to the school dances for a few years, why is it just now that you��re coming over here and actually talking to me?” You asked as his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“Because I’ve been a scared and gutless piece of shit being too scared of your dad and what he could do to me if it didn’t go well.” He answered honestly as you frowned.

“My dad separates his home life and his business life pretty well, besides, I have absolutely no say in anything to do with Wright Plumbing, I think the worst you’d ever have to face is him giving you the “rules for taking my daughter out” talk. Like that’s it. Now I would worry for you from your clan’s side because if you fuck up bad enough, I know the clan self polices themselves. But from my dad’s side, no, I don’t think you have that much to worry about, not really. I mean, I do, because he’s the head of my family and I live under his roof and he has always tried to control every aspect of my life so please don’t do anything that I would catch grief over but we’re both practically adults, I think we can trust ourselves and each other to behave as such.” You reassured him as he had a look on his face you couldn’t really read.

“Well, then let me reassure you that I would never dream of ever stepping out of line and do anything inappropriate with you so you don’t have anything to worry about from me but you’re not wrong about the clan thing, they would bury my ass in a hill if I ever did anything to jeopardize their position with the plumbing business.” He confessed.

“Well, considering all of that, you’re risking a lot just to ask me to a dance. If our positions were reversed, I don’t know if I would have the guts to do what you just did. I mean it took me nearly dying for my dad to realize that plumbing was not for me and I worry about all the apprentices that work under their fathers because granted plumbing is a good skill and a good trade and something that you can make a really good living off of but I worry that it’s been forced onto you guys like it was forced onto me and how many would leave if they woke up one morning and realized it wasn’t what they wanted to do with their lives but they’re afraid they won’t find anything else that will pay as much as my dad does or maybe if they wanted to be artists or clothing designers or restaurateurs or just..any other profession than their dad’s profession that they won’t get the same support.” You reasoned and Kihro was dumbstruck by how profound your statement was because that was very much an issue a lot of them dealt with, granted he personally didn't, but still. He realized that they were wrong to not socialize with you for fear you'd expose that to either your father or theirs.

“So..what are you going to be doing then?” He asked curiously as he leaned forward to really listen to what you had to say as you mirrored him and leaned forward to and now you felt like you were in kissing distance. But he probably wouldn’t be down for that.

“Medical massage therapy. I’m going to White Heron. That’s just off of Westnidge.” You answered proudly as Kihro’s eyebrows shot up in surprise but a smile bloomed on his face.

“Wow, that’s...not anything like plumbing.” He chuckled.

“I know right? Kind of the point. It was either that or engineering school to design roller coasters.” You shrugged as Kihro barked an amused laugh.

“Well both seem like a lot of work but a lot of fun, would you be comfortable enough to practice your massage on me though?” He asked boldly but hopefully because the thought of having you massage him sounded like heaven, although how he wasn’t going to pop a boner while you did so was going to be the hardest part unless you just needed private homework practice, he’d be all about that.

“Yeah I would, White Heron has a spa so the students can get their required practice hours in, it’ll be a few months before I’m allowed to give massages but they’re only $35 for 50 minutes. But again, both of us will have to be professional during the treatment.” You nodded as your cheeks stained rose while your own smile turned a bit bashful.

“Yeah, I think we can do that.” He grinned with a nod as your grin mirrored his before his grin turned mischievous and he gave you a quick peck on the lips right before the bell rang, blanking your mind of all rational thought and reason.

“Huh…?” You swooned breathelessly as your eyes fluttered back open and Kihro was both smug but also biting his lip because he was kicking himself for not doing that sooner, especially for you to have that reaction to him before he leaned forward and kissed you again, this time, you took a firm hold of his shirt and really kissed him back. Not believing that Kihro was the one to give you your first kiss and what a kiss it was. Unfortunately you don’t have any more classes with him for the rest of the day.

You felt like you floated the rest of the day and got home and started dinner and couldn’t stop smiling.

“Hey Brie, how was school?” Your dad asked when he came home and peeked into what you were cooking.

“It was good, Kihro told me he passed his journeyman’s license yesterday with a 98.” You reported proudly.

“Yeah I know, I put together a sign on package for him that he should be signing this weekend.” He answered.

“Oh good, he’s been a really good employee for how long now?” You tried to ask casually.

“Oh a good five years, now that he’s a journeyman, he’ll probably be Kidron’s second in command of the downtown branch.” Your father predicted.

“Good. So if he asked me to the fall formal, you’d be ok with it then?” You presumed before your father did a complete 180 and nearly snapped his neck whipping his head to the side to look at you incredulously

“He did what?” He asked.

“Kihro, the guy you’ve employed for the last 5 years, who’s father has been working for you for 12, who you’ve known since he was 5, who’s father is one of your most trusted OG’s, from one of the few families who came and visited me in the hospital and it was Kihro who got to me first when I collapsed and it was Kihro who knew something was wrong with me before anyone else did and it was Kihro who carried me to the ambulance himself, asked me to a school dance, I can go with him right?” You repeated.

“You’re too young to date.” Came your father’s reply as his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“I am aware of that rule of no dating while I'm in high school. And this is a dance for one night, there will be chaperones, I’m sure you’ll be demanding that Grace come with me which I’m cool with. You already track where I am on my phone constantly, have I not done enough to earn your trust so that I can use my own judgement on something like this? Hasn’t it been you who has taught me how to read and deal with people and how to be perceptive and use my own concience and insticts. Besides, don’t you think I know that not only would you kill him if he tried anything, but his father and his clan would too if he dared step out of line because I’m “the boss’ daughter” and he actually made a point to say that him asking me to the dance had nothing to do with you or his job or his father’s job or anything like that. It’s just a case of a boy asking a girl to a dance. This shouldn’t be this complicated Dad. Most fathers around here don’t get the luxury of really knowing who is asking their daughters to the dance, you do though and if Kihro has earned your trust and respect enough that you want him working for you and being the second in command at your downtown branch, that should be more than enough. He should have earned enough trust and enough respect that you can trust him with me, for one night at a school dance. That’s all this is right now.” You defended.

“But what if he wants more than that from you? I don’t think you’re aware how different orc culture is compared to our own.” Your father posed and you wanted to scream but today, you were ready to fight.

“You’re right, I don’t know everything about orc culture because all I know is what I’ve witnessed myself. But I’m sure there are others who could teach me about it if Kihro and I started dating. But if you want to play Devil’s advocate, let’s go. Worst case scenerio if you say yes, is I go, he get’s handsy because he manages to smuggle in a whole fifth of tequila or vodka or whatever and he gets hammered drunk and looses all his senses, he wants to be a two pump chump and I say no and he forces me to have sex anyway and rapes me because he’s twice my size and probably ten times my strength, he could do it if he really wanted to. Would that be fair in saying that is the worst case scenario?” You posed as your dad crossed his arms over his chest and didn’t say anything but you could tell that you hit the nail on the head with that one.

“Now, if that were to happen, yes that would be horrible and unforgivable but thankfully they make something called the morning after pill and they make birth control I can get on but just for the sake of argument, if he knocked me up, I have a choice, get an abortion or keep the baby and become a teenage mother. Both are options in that horrible circumstance but that’s the risk any girl takes in having sex. But back to Kihro- you know as well as I do that orcs tend to self police themselves within their respective clans. Do you really think his father would let him continue breathing if that happened or hell his whole clan would hunt him down because in cases like that clans get together and there would be an orc hunt of a scale I can only imagine and there wouldn’t be anywhere Kihro could run and hide that he wouldn’t be found and then they would all let you take the first shot with your shotgun because not only did he just dishonor his family line but he dishonored his clan and he just put the clan’s honor into jeopardy by literally screwing the daughter of one of the few humans who employs a good number of the clan members and gives them more opportunities than most do and is an invaluable ally to every clan around here, and it would put tension on the relationship the Stormbreaker Clan has with all the other clans and would make the clan itself a target. Now, would you say that’s a fair assessment?” You proposed and waited until your father nodded his agreement.

“Now, let’s flip the coin and look at the best case scenario. Best case scenario, he comes, picks me up, drives me there, keeps his hands to himself, doesn’t drink, doesn’t do drugs doesn’t do anything dishonorable in any way. And we still manage to have a good time. And he drops me off at home before curfew and that’s that and we just remain friends and he’s still gainfully employed by the end of the night and you separate church and state or in this case personal life from business life and allow me to have a life usually enjoyed by most girls my age in our society. Now let's take this one step further, he asks me out and he wants to have a romantic relationship with me which I am open to, he asks me to be his girlfriend and again, for the sake of argument, I say yes to that but only after I get an education from multiple verified sources about how different you say their culture is from ours because if I was going to enter into a romantic relationship with him, I would want to go into it with my eyes wide open and know what I was getting into, so let’s just say for the sake of this argument, that all that happens and, we date for a while. And either it doesn’t work out and we aren’t a good fit for the other and we part- or if, and I mean if, it does work out, we fall in love and want to get married. Then it’s still up to me if I want to marry him or not. And let’s just say I do marry him. You would then- have a son in law who is in your business and you get to keep the business in the family, not that that would ever be my motivation for saying yes to him because ultimately the business may thrive or die with the seasons but marriage is for life but it would be a perk and you get to have human-orc halflings for grandchildren if my Crohn’s goes into remission and stays in remission long enough for me to pump out a few kids and you just get to deal with my decisions and the consequences of those decisions whether they be positive or negative.” You paused to take a breath as your father listened closely.

“Kihro obviously took a very great risk and leap of faith to even take the chance in asking me to the dance and he has had an interest in me for, apparently, the last few years but his own father has shut that down because of our situation and then when he heard that I'm graduating early he realized that his own window of opportunity to ask me to a dance was closing and that if he didn't ask, he was going to lose the opportunity for good and he would have always wondered "what if" and been upset with himself that he didn't just bite the bullet and ask instead of letting his fear of you and what you could retaliate with or the fear of his own father and what he could retaliate with- stop him. So since he took a great risk, I want to reward that by letting him have the pleasure of taking me to a dance. That's all we're asking for right now. I realize that it’s your job to take care of me and keep me safe and you’ve done an amazing job, just, give me enough rope to hang myself on with this. Please.” You requested.

“Fine, one dance.” Your father begrudgingly agreed.

“Thank you, now if and when you want to invite them over for dinner this weekend so you can lay down the rules and the law, but only if you will assure and reassure Mr. Soche that he gets to keep his job and all the other orcs from the Stormbreaker clan get to keep theirs too because this should never endanger all of that.” You specified. “Does that sound fair to you?” You offered.

“That’s fair.” Your dad decided before he stepped away to make a phone call and you used that opportunity to give Kihro a heads up that he and his dad might possibly be getting a call from your dad to invite them over for dinner to have that “talk” you warned him about as you mentally prepared what you were going to do and what you needed to do to prepare yourself and the house for company. You listened attentively as your dad talked with Kidron and smiled in relief when your father assured and reassured that it was ok with him that Kihro asked you to the dance and that everything would be ok before you got an idea and texted all the orc girls you knew and were friends with and swore them all to secrecy and asked for advice on what to do and how to best please and impress Kidron and his wife Rhiox, all of them were surprised if not excited about the development before they clued you in on more of the orc traditions and customs and the expectations that would be put on you if you and Kihro ever got serious which you found yourself biting your lip to keep your smile from splitting your face in half but you wanted to walk into this with your eyes wide open before you asked for a huge favor that had all your friends squealing in delight before they all eagerly agreed to it.

“And what did they say?” You asked your dad when he got off the phone.

“They’ll be over Saturday at 5.” Your father answered.

“Good, I’ll need to go shopping Thursday then, I’ll have a list and a proposed budget by Wednesday.” You offered.

The next day Kihro had you sit at his table and kept his arm around you possessively but you were happy you were received so well into their fold and then after school your other friends from the other school districts met up with you after school to give you what you asked for. A catalog to show you the different beads and what they meant in the Stormbreaker clan as you quickly looked it over and were amazed at how such a simple thing was entrenched in tradition and had layers and layers of meaning and how there were traditions and rules for the giving and receiving of beads before you had them bring you to an orc bead store. The best one in the area where you tracked down and bought the bead of your choice. And you didn’t get any bead, you got one that had a lot of meaning for you as well. Because if you were only going to get one chance to give something to him, you wanted him to have this, it would just be hard to not give this to him until the time was right and you both hinted at dating but for right now, you just both had to survive the dance and see how that turned out but rumors had already sprung up and suddenly guys seemed to come out of the woodwork to express interest to which you had to albeit, a little regretfully inform them that you weren’t dating him, that he just asked you to the fall formal and that was it and if they had any other questions to ask Kihro which most of them chickened out because Kihro was himself- very intimidating.

By Saturday you were amped up. You were cooking a feast with all the necessary components and Kihro's bead was burning a hole in your pocket. You were nervous but excited and hoped you were getting all of this right.

They arrived and one look at Kihro and he was just as nervous as you were but just having him there, looking at you like you were the moon and had hung up the stars in the heavens was enough for you. You went ahead and poured two beers, one for each of his parents and handed those to them with a warm greeting and welcomed them into your home which both surprised and impressed them before you got to get Kihro a beer too, happy to have the chance and opportunity to touch hands as you passed it over before you all sat down to dinner, Kidron and Rhiox very impressed not just by the portion size but what you cooked. You must have had over a dozen beef femurs split and roasted so that the marrow was easy to get to and Rhiox just kept grinning at you and her husband and Kihro and you could tell she was just tickled by all of this and genuinely happy and excited. Kidron however, you could tell he was biting his tongue and you could just see that he thought all of this was a bad idea and you didn’t know what you could possibly say or do to help assure him that it was actually a good idea.

“Ok, I’d like to address the elephant in the room. I realize that Kihro took a risk in asking me to the dance, which I’m honored that he did and I’m happy to go with him. Is there anything I can do to earn your respect and trust or assure you or even reassure you that by allowing us to do this is the right choice?” You asked and Rhiox damn near started crying and the smile she gave you told you that she was already so happy and moved that you would ask such a thing in such a respectful way and was very impressed as Kidron simply sat there and blinked at you a couple of times as the ghost of a smile almost started to spread on his face.

“We already respect and trust you so don’t worry about that.” Kidron answered with a small but gentle smile.

“Good, I only hope to continue to gain your respect and trust and if there is anything in particular I can do- please tell me.” You nodded and that seemed to be the magic words because after that, all the tension coming from Kidron completely melted.

“Likewise George. If there is anything I can do to continue to earn your respect and trust, just let me know.” Kihro added as he made sure to look your father in the eye saying that as everyone then looked to your father to see what his answer would be.

“Well, I know you are risking quite a bit. And I don’t think I need to explain what the stakes are…”

“No because that would be unnecessary, it’s a dance, there will be chaperones, we will behave, I don’t know what else I can say without beating this dead horse to a pulp here.” You interjected as Kihro smiled appreciatively at you.

“Ok, so, that being said, I still want to make sure we all come to an understanding of what the expectations are, you’ll have her home by ten. Grace is coming with you as a chaperone, no drinking, no drugs, keep your hands to yourself except for dancing and even then, hands at her waist. Understood?” Your father insisted.

“Understood.” Kihro shook your father’s hand as you just wanted to die, you were practically an adult and they were just complicating things. But at the end of the night you got what you wanted- a chance to dance with your crush. As cheesy as that sounded.

Your mother, despite hating to go shopping, did take you out and got a dress that was both beautiful yet modest, tasteful and becoming.

But you never got to wear it.

The night of the fall formal you found yourself in the hospital again, another flare, another near death. But you weren’t alone. Kihro was right there by your side as your family and his went and got something to eat, Kihro not leaving your side though and keeping you company.

“You should be at the dance.” You murmured softly.

“Nope, I’m where I’m supposed to be tonight.” He shook his head as he just squeezed your hand that he was holding a little tighter for a moment as he gave you the softest, most adoring smile.

“I wanted a night with you, that’s exactly what I’m getting.” He added.

“I thought you wanted a dance?” You gently contended, a half smirk at the corner of your mouth, your voice hoarse from vomiting so much.

“Do you think you could stand?” He asked which made you frown.

“I guess?” You answered before he got up and gently helped you get out of bed, your hospital gown hanging off your frame as your robe made sure you were modest from behind too. Kihro was careful to make sure you stayed connected to everything before he got your favorite song to play on his phone and set it down on the bed and wrapped his thick and well muscled arm around your waist to hold you up so that your toes rested on his boots as his arm held you fast to him so that you didn’t have too much weight on your feet as he simply stood by the bed and just swayed to the music with you which you thought was beyond romantic.

“This isn’t the gown I thought I would wear for my first dance with you.” You chuckled as you just let your head rest on his chest, listening to the steady beating of his heart and just relaxed in his arms and happily let him hold you up because your strength and stamina had been wiped out.

“Nah, the gown doesn’t really matter, it’s the girl in the gown that does though.” He whispered before kissing the top of your head affectionately as you smiled gratefully.

“When you make it through this, would you want to be my girlfriend?” He asked before you lifted your head.

“Absolutely.” You agreed before he bent down to kiss you softly, his swaying slowing down as your arms wrapped around his neck before his other hand that wasn’t around your waist came up to hold the back of your head as he kissed you earnestly, pouring his soul into it which was sweeter than honey and purer than gold and he still stole your breath away.

The song ended and he helped you get back into bed before you had him get you your purse in one of cupboards before you got a special beaded coinpurse out, one that you got just to house the bead you had gotten him.

“I had wanted to give this to you tonight at the end of the night if it had gone well and if we had both worked up the courage to ask the other out.” You said as you handed it to him and he smiled so brightly and proudly as tears came to his eyes as he realized what bead it was before he was on his knees next to the bed and kissing you again and hugging you tight.

“Thank you Bri, you have no idea how much this means to me.” Kihro thanked you earnestly before he had you put it into the braid in his hair before he presented you with not just one bead- but three because he couldn’t decide on one at the bead store before you had him put it into your hair which he happily brushed and braided exquisitely and just about the time he was done and you settled back into bed, your families came back with food for Kihro and some bone broth for you.

“Hey dad, we’re dating.” You announced weakly but happily as you pointed to your hair and in particular the beads in your hair with a weak but proud smile as Riox practically burst the windows with how loud her cheer was as she enveloped you into a hug and welcomed you into their family and their clan and told you all about it as she urged you to get better as soon as you could as Kidron and your Dad both smirked at each other, figuring this was gonna happen sooner or later.

So it wasn’t the fall formal you wanted, but it was the outcome you had always hoped for. Besides- there was always winter formal...

#Orcs #Modern Orcs #modern orc love story #orc boyfriend #orctober #late orctober #Fall formal #Better late than never #exophilia #monster boyfriend #monster romance #orc romance

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claws-of-vibranium · 5 years

Text

Can’t Leave (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

A/N: Am I back??? Not really, but I found this lurking in my drafts and decided to patch on a quick ending. Not sure if it will reach anyone, but hello and enjoy if you’re seeing this!

Word count: 1.4k

Warnings: angstyyyy

It wasn’t like you hadn’t seen it coming - of course you had. It had started with him “casually” bring it up during date night.

You had elected to stay in for the night, ordering take out and renting a movie from Redbox. The food was gone, and the movie credits were rolling as you stayed tucked into Bucky’s side on the couch, your head resting on his chest. Bucky glanced down at you and smiled, thinking that the sight of you curled up next to him was something he would never get tired of.

“Hey, Y/N? Are you awake?” he spoke softly.

“Mm, yeah. What is it, Buck?”

“I’ve been thinkin’ about asking you something. I’m not really, uh, sure if you want me to ask you, though.”

“What’s the question?”

“If I tell you, you’ll know exactly what I’m gonna ask…”

“Bucky Barnes, I’m pretty sure I already know what you’re going to ask. We can talk about it, okay? It won’t ruin everything if it’s not a total surprise.”

“God, you know me too damn well, darlin’. Alright, so… I mean, we’re talking about marriage, right? What do you think about it?”

“I think… Well, I know that I was totally against it for years. I never grew up wanting that sort of thing. Hell, while other little girls were planning their weddings and their families, I was sitting right next to them wondering what the hell they were thinking. I never understood why they fixated on it, even at such a young age. I didn’t understand how someone could mean that much to me. And those thoughts continued until… until I met you, really. When, one morning, I woke up in your arms and I knew that I could never feel so accepted, so loved, so cherished with anyone else. I’ll never let that go, Bucky. I’ll never let you go.” You paused, smiling at Bucky, caressing his cheek. “That’s why, when I think of marriage now, part of me still squirms. I spent so long thinking it wasn’t for me, but then I think of you. And damn it,” you gasp, on the verge of tears, “I think of you, James, and I don’t feel that way anymore. If I were married to you I would be the happiest person on the planet.”

You took a deep breath as you calmed yourself back down. As you looked at Bucky, a huge smile was spread across his face. You grinned back at him, watching as he leaned his face toward yours. You sighed as your lips met, and smiled against Bucky’s lips. When you pulled apart slowly, you were both still smiling like idiots.

“So do I even have to ask you to marry me, doll?”

“Nice try, Barnes.”

His next move was to leave jewelry advertisements and catalogues around your apartment - on the kitchen table and coffee table - each booklet conveniently left open to the pages displaying engagement rings.

“So, Buck…”

“Yeah, baby doll?” he called from the kitchen with his mouth full. Typical.

“I can’t help but notice… there are like half a dozen booklets from jewelry stores around the house…”

He sauntered into the living room from the kitchen, smirking at you and munching on some fruit. “Yep.”

“You wanna tell me why?”

“Mm. Nah, I think you can figure it out on your own. You’re a smart woman.”

“I know I am, Barnes. Maybe you should still tell me why you’ve got all of these laying around. Do you want me to tell you exactly what I want? Do you want me to give you a general idea? Or what?”

“I dunno. Wanna just go pick it out with me?”

“That’s not a very good surprise.”

“Since when have you liked surprises, darlin’?” he smirked.

“Good point. I’ll go with you, baby.”

Picking out the ring had gone surprisingly well. You and Bucky had talked to one of the salespeople at a jewelry store, and you had specified your preferences while Bucky had discussed your price range. Both you and Bucky had agreed that you’d like a more vintage design as a nod to his history, and Bucky was extremely proud of himself for securing a ring which he knew you would love - it wasn’t too extravagant, but it was still elegant and shimmering. All that was left to do was create the perfect setting, the perfect moment for your lives to further come together.

You smiled softly in the mirror at Natasha as she pinned another piece of hair into place. Your gaze shifted to Wanda as you parted your lips so she could finish your lipstick and complete your look. They stepped back after the final touches were put in place, their faces lit with pride and excitement.

“You look amazing, Y/N! I am so excited for you.” Wanda took your hands in hers and practically squealed with excitement. “I can’t believe you’re getting engaged tonight!”

You smiled back, squeezing her hands. “Thank you for your help, Wanda. And for your friendship.” You turned your gaze to Natasha and let go of Wanda’s hands, moving to stand in front of the red-haired beauty otherwise known as your best friend. “And you, Natasha… your love and support mean the world to me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

She simply smiled and embraced you warmly, murmuring softly in your ear, “Ditto, honey.” She pulled back with a grin on her face and looked to Wanda before turning back to you. “Now, let’s get you dressed.”

You pulled off your robe, draping it over a chair before pulling on your dress and letting Natasha zip it for you. You allowed them to tweak your appearance before pulling on your shoes and heading to meet Bucky, followed by hoots and hollers from your best friends.

As you approached the lobby, your excitement grew. Even though the events unfolding tonight wouldn’t be a total surprise to you, you knew Bucky would have some tricks up his sleeve to keep you on your toes. Once you were nearing the lobby, you could see Bucky facing away from you, his hand in his pockets. When he heard the sound of your shoes clicking against the floor, he turned to face you, a smile on his face.

“Doll, you look... incredible,” he breathed.

“Well, you’re not so bad yourself, sergeant,” you smirked.

He offered you his arm and matched your grin. “Ready to go?”

“Of course, my dear,” you took his arm and made your way out of the tower. Outside, a car was waiting for you, courtesy of Tony. Hand in hand, you relaxed as you drove through the city.

After arriving at the restaurant, all you had to wonder about was when he would ask the question. Trying to keep it out of your mind and enjoy the moment, you focused on the wonderful food, drink, and conversation you were sharing with Bucky. When you were done with your meal, he stood and asked for your hand, your heart nearly jumping into your throat.

“Care to join me for a stroll in the moonlight?” he winked, all the charm and charisma of a less-troubled man shining through.

“I’d love to.” You smiled and took his hand.

There was a slight chill in the air, and Bucky slipped his jacket off so you could wear it around your shoulders instead. Between the coat, his arm wrapped around you, and knowing what would happen before you went home for the night, you barely noticed the temperature.

When you reached the top of a hill, overlooking most of the park, Bucky paused.

Smirking, he asked, “Have I made you wait long enough?”

You shook your head. “James Barnes, you’ll be the death of me.”

He merely gave you his heart-stopping grin, and kept his eyes on yours as he knelt down. “Y/N Y/L/N, would you marry-”

Time stopped as Bucky heard the shot go off. Barely comprehending, he looked around for the assailant before checking on you. But when he noticed a blossom of red bleeding through your dress, his heart dropped and his blood ran cold.

“Y/N, Y/N, no!”

You fell, powerless. Catching you in arms, Bucky wrapped his arms around you, holding you tight to his chest.

“Bucky-”

“No, no, you can’t leave me. Doll, it’ll be okay, just hang on. Let me- let me call Steve, the team, 911, oh my god. Just- just stay with me. Please, please, please...”

“Bucky, I love you.”

He looked down at you, already placing the phone next to his ear.

“Bucky, stop. I’m not-” you sputtered. With your last breath, you sighed, “love... you.” With your last breath, you looked into his eyes and sighed, “I love you.”

He bowed his head and pressed his lips to your forehead as he whispered his last promise to you.“I love you, too.”

Request: Ohhh i feel like a terrible human being but how about an angsty fic where bucky/tony are getting ready to propose and they do all the pre-propose stuff and he gets down on one knee and they say yes and slide the ring on their finger and then the reader gets (successfully) assassinated? You don't have to do it if u don't want to but i was just putting it out there okay thank you goodbye ily

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #avengers #marvel

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wokainight · 5 years

Text

[BRODUCE 911] EP.23 Waiters

you were casually strolling back to the staff office to do a change of outfit (jisung have given you a proper one now with actual pants and all) and put your belongings away. it was going to be your first day of night shift and most day shift staff would be on their way home by now. you wondered if everyone was resting well at home.

opening the door, the everyone in your mind was casually sitting down on the lounge section of the staff office.

YOU: Oh! Hello! /you chirped, being in a good mood.

you scanned your eyes around and was surprised to see so many day shift staff still here. there was yongguk, seungwoo, youngmin and woojin. you also spot donghyun sitting next to youngmin giving you some sort of a sign... which you couldn't break down or comprehend. but you did pick up the tension in the room.

YOU: Is... everyone okay? /you slowly started.

DONGHYUN: Haha of course we are hey guys? We should get home now. It's been an hour since all of you dorks sat down and contemplated about life!

YOU: *what are they doing.. are they... perhaps...?*

DONGHYUN: (y/n) where did you go anyway?? /panicking by this stage.

YOU: I went out for a late lunch and then I was just walking around to kill time before my shift started *they must be forming a meditation club* /you watched as all four doctors sat still with their heads down. *ooooh they could be playing heads down thumbs up... i wanna join*

DONGHYUN: See guys? She only went to lunch! /looks around. Who did you go with anyway?

YOU: With hyeongseob /you replied while shuffling through your bag and reaching out for your phone. Yongguk-ssi you never called me so I wasn't sure if you were finished or not /smiles at him. Was there something that you needed to tell me?

YONGGUK: /flustered you remembered. O-oh? Uh no... I was just going to call you *come on make an excuse* .....if i needed you to do another errand

YOU: /nods. Oh sure, feel free to contact me in the future. Well, I'll take my leave now /heads to the female locker room.

SEUNGWOO: ..........apparently she went to a cute cafe with that white rabbit

P.WOOJIN: ....hyeongseob never told me...

YOUNGMIN:

YOUNGMIN: Let's go home guys... we're doing nothing to solve our problems.

YONGGUK: *she remembered about the call* /pleased.

notes: this will be the last of broduce911 from my draft. i actually wrote this ages ages ages ages ages x1000000 ago. thank you for everyone who read through this really badly written series! we’ll see each other sooner or later!

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legionnairelass · 6 years

Text

Please accept this tiny excerpt of a fic I’ve been working on on my phone since the middle of the school year and still haven’t finished. This is part of the unedited first draft, so yes, I know the dialogue is a little bit stilted, and the actions are quite clear, but please be gentle, okay?

“That stuffs gross, I wouldn’t touch it even if it came with all the hot babes on the other side of the river.” Eleven year-old Dirk Morgna snarks. Gigi Cusimano, also the same age, agrees with a grin she probably thinks looks like her older brother’s; tight and wolfish, it doesn’t, because she’s eleven and too young to look scary.

Jan just stares across the road. They’re watching a group of older teenagers, nobody they know well, hitting up with some needles. They’ve never seen anything like it before. According to the people across the river, the ones that lived in two story (at least!) houses, and paid for their kids to go to college, everything on this side of the river was disgusting and miscreant. It wasn’t true. This side (the east side) was pretty bad compared to the west side, but some neighborhoods were better than others.

Supposedly this was one of them. Jan had never seen anyone do anything heavier than weed or coke here, but just about everyone did that, everywhere.

Shvaughn offers him her popsicle. It’s lemon, their favorite. Last summer Imra Ardeen had taught them to use molds, popsicle sticks, and lemonade to make their own popsicles.

Jan accepts it, and takes a long kick, savoring the sour but sweet taste. Gigi giggles something about cooties, Shvaughn rolls her eyes, and Dirk grins indulgently, but doesn’t say anything, because he’s Jan and Shvaughn’s best friend, and he doesn’t really think either of them could ever have cooties.

There’s a fleshy, slapping sound across the street that makes Jan cringe. One of the teens had collapsed onto the pavement, and was laying motionless, a needle stuck in his arm. His friends flicked around him, stumbling into the walls of the nearby buildings, and crying out in panicked stupors.

The last bit of the popsicle slides down Jan’s throat without him chewing. Shvaughn and Dirk take his hands. Shvaughn’s is steady like a lifeline. Dirk’s is iron. He’s scared, Jan can tell.

“What do we do?” Gigi whispers, her voice quavering. She’s scared too, Jan realizes. There’s a girl kneeling by the collapsed boy’s head, screaming and crying in hysteria.

Jan find his voice. “Let’s go. Inside.” Shvaughn stares at him for a moment. She’s white as a sheet, but still steady. Jan doesn’t move, he doesn’t feel he can.

After a moment, Shvaughn tugs at his hand, and pulls him to his feet. He pulls Dirk up with him. Dirk tugs on Gigi’s arm, until she’s up off the stone steps.

“C’mon.” Shvaughn is leads them all up the stairs, and into Gigi’s house. Jan keeps his head down, and doesn’t look back. Shame wells up in his heart. He’s lived in the East Side long enough to know 911 responses to ODs are slow at best. But he still feels like there had to be something he could do. There isn’t, he reminds himself. He’s ten, almost eleven, and eleven year olds aren’t important enough to do anything.

He doesn’t look back when the screen door slams behind him, but he notices Dirk does, andJan’s heart goes numb with terror for some reason he doesn’t yet understand.

#legion of super heroes #untitled Jan/Dirk/Shvaughn 21st century drug-related thing #its a progressively growing monster in my phone's notes #i'll finish it someday #jan arrah #dirk morgna #shvaughn erin #gigi cusimano #OT3: The Redheads Jan Deserves #My writing

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writeinspiration · 7 years

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If you need a sign to stay alive, here it is.

You are unique.

You are valid.

You are loved.

You are enough.

You have always been enough. You will always be enough--and more, more than you may ever realize.

YOU MATTER.

I don’t care if it feels like you don’t matter. You matter to somebody on this planet, even if you don’t think you do. Somebody out there needs you. Someone would be sad if you vanished.

Take a deep breath and kick depression (or whatever else is holding you back or frightening you) in its sorry butt. (Kick executive dysfunction in the butt while you’re at it.)

You matter. You have always mattered. You will always matter. Full stop. End of subject.

I have collected a great number of depression/anxiety/suicide resources over the years. I’m creating a more comprehensive way of containing them and making them more accessible to people who need them. See them below!

(I am well aware that some links are on there more than once. Please don’t message me regarding that.)

It gets better!

I love each and every one of you. <3 Please don’t be mad that I haven’t replied to you yet–I promise I’ll get to it when I’m healthier. I can do one or two every so often like I have been, but I’ve been pretty neglectful, and I’m truly, deeply sorry about that.

And remember: no matter how much things suck, it gets better.

Fight. Win.

Stand up every time you are knocked down.

It is okay to cry. And it is also okay to be afraid of getting back up.

But when it comes down to it, you need to do what is best for you, whether that’s ending a toxic friendship or learning how to manage your time better.

Everyone needs different things, and that doesn’t make you better or worse than anyone else.

You are loved. You are wanted. You are important.

Embody love to the best of your ability, and you will go far.

Take one step and then another step. Your journey will be long and hard. But you can do it.

You are loved.

Your life has value.

There are a million reasons to stay here with us.

It gets better.

Just hold on for 40 more seconds, and then 40 more seconds.

Count with me if you need to.

And one day, you’ll realize that it’s been a long time since you last found yourself whispering those comforting numbers under your breath.

Anyone can change their life.

Taking care of yourself doesn’t have to be hard.

Find an outlet if you need to.

Don’t take the plunge.

Please stay here with us.

Motivational wallpapers (made by me!)

Self-care help (my personal reserve)

Self-care masterpost

Reminder: You’re going to be okay. What you are going through will pass. Just remember to breathe.

————————————————————————————-

DISTRACTIONS

Here are some distractions to help keep your mind occupied so you aren’t too focused on your thoughts.

Draw something

This website translates the time into colours.

Create your own galaxy.

Play flowing.

Make a 3-D line travel where ever you like.

Listen to music.

Calm.

Ocean mood; do nothing for two minutes.

SLEEP ISSUES

8-hour sleep music.

Rainy mood.

Meditation.

Coping with nightmares.

How to cope with nightmares, 11 steps.

Calm

Foods that can affect your sleeping, both positively and negatively.

UNCOMFORTABLE WITH SILENCE

Rainy mood.

10 hours of rain and thunder.

3 hours of rain and thunder.

Human heartbeat.

Rainforest.

Sound of rain on a tin roof.

Autumn wind.

Rain on a tent.

Traffic in the rain.

Soft traffic.

Fan.

Train.

Simply noise.

MyNoise.

Rainy cafe.

ANXIETY

How to stop worrying.

Tips to manage anxiety and stress.

The 10 best-ever anxiety management techniques.

Self-help strategies for anxiety.

Helping a friend with anxiety.

All about worrying.

8 myths about anxiety.

SAD, ANGRY, AND DEPRESSED/DEPRESSION

“I’m always sad.”

Feeling sad.

Going through trauma.

“I’m always angry.”

Anger management.

All about anger.

National helplines and websites.

Self-help strategies for depression.

Dealing with depression at work.

Dealing with depression at school.

ISOLATION AND LONELINESS

Pets and mental health.

All about loneliness.

“I feel so alone.”

10 more ideas to help with loneliness.

How to deal with loneliness.

SELF-HARM

Alternatives to self-harm and distraction techniques.

146 things to do besides self-harm.

More alternatives to self-harm.

Self-harm alternatives.

How to take care of self-harm wounds/injuries.

Getting rid of scars.

ADDICTION

How to help a friend with a drug addiction.

What is addiction?

All about alcohol and addiction.

The facts about drug addiction.

EATING DISORDERS

Helping a friend with an eating disorder.

Eating disorder treatments.

Support services for eating disorders.

Self-help tips with eating disorders.

Eating disorder recovery.

Recovering from an eating disorder.

100+ reasons to recover.

Understanding and managing eating disorders.

DEALING WITH SELF-HATRED

3 ways to ease self-loathing.

How to turn self-hatred into self-compassion.

Self-hatred resources.

10-step plan to deal with self-hate.

SUICIDAL

International suicide hotlines (1) (2)

Preventing suicide.

Reasons to stay alive.

Dealing with suicidal thoughts and feelings.

Coping with suicidal ideation.

SCHIZOPHRENIA

All about schizophrenia.

Helping a person with schizophrenia.

Understanding and dealing with schizophrenia.

Delusions and hallucinations.

OCD

Managing your OCD at home.

Overcoming OCD.

How to cope with OCD.

Strategies for dealing with the anxious moments.

BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER

Helping someone with BPD.

All about personality disorders.

Treatment for BPD.

ABUSE

Healthy relationships vs. abusive relationships.

Emotional abuse.

Overcoming sexual abuse.

Hotlines services.

5 ways to escape an abusive relationship.

Domestic violence support.

Signs of an abusive relationship.

What do to if you’re in an abusive relationship.

Surviving abuse.

What you can do if you’re sexually harassed.

Sexual assault support.

What to do if you’ve been sexually assaulted or abused.

BULLYING

How to stand up against bullying.

How to protect yourself when it comes to cyber-bullying.

How to help stop people from bullying you.

LOSS AND GRIEF

How to cope with a suicide of a loved one.

Grieving for a stranger.

Common reactions to death.

Working through grief.

(Other loss and grief)

Moving away from friends and family.

Coping with a breakup.

GETTING HELP

Seeking help early.

All about psychological treatments.

Types of help.

All about age and confidentiality.

THINGS YOU NEED TO REMEMBER

Don’t stress about being fixed because you’re not broken.

Remember to remind yourself of your accomplishments. Tell yourself that you’re proud of yourself, even if you’re not.

This is temporary. You won’t always feel like this.

You are not alone.

You are enough.

You are important.

You are worth it.

You are strong.

You are not a failure,

Good people exist.

Reaching out shows strength.

Breathe.

Don’t listen to the thoughts that are not helping you.

Give yourself credit.

Don’t be ashamed of your emotions, for the good ones or the bad ones.

Treat yourself the same way as you would treat a good friend.

Focus on the things you can change.

Let go of toxic people.

You don’t need to hide; you’re allowed to feel the way you do.

Try not to beat yourself up.

Something is always happening; you don’t want to miss out on what’s going to happen next.

You are not a bother.

Your existence is more than your appearance.

You are smart.

You are loved.

You are wanted.

You are needed.

Better days are coming.

Your past being dark doesn’t mean your future isn’t bright.

You have more potential than you think.

Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.

Please remember to look after yourself and know that you are more than worth it and you deserve to be happy. Keep smiling, butterflies x

Depression tag

Writer’s block and depression (1), and again (2), and some pick-me-ups (3)

First drafts don’t have to be good.

Write a whole bunch of crappy sentences if that’s what it takes to get a good one.

Don’t let it get you down. Just get it done.

Your big ideas are worth pursuing.

It’s okay that you’re not who you thought you would be.

Anxiety GIF masterpost.

You are allowed to be whatever gender or religion you most identify with. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

You are a darling, lovely individual who deserves love and happiness. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

You are worthy of being wherever you are in life. You can do anything if you put your mind to it. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

National Alliance on Mental Illness

Mental health screening tools (1) (also available in Spanish (2))

Eating disorder recovery tools (1) and resources (2)

Suicide Prevention Lifeline

National Institute of Mental Health

Suicide prevention Twitter

Comprehensive approach to suicide prevention

Resources for schools and communities

To Write Love On Her Arms:

You were created to love and be loved.

People need other people.

Your story is important.

Better days are ahead.

Hope and help are real.

If you are in crisis, please call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.

The deaf and hard of hearing can contact the Lifeline via TTY at 1-800-799-4889. All calls are confidential. Contact social media outlets directly if you are concerned about a friend’s social media updates or dial 911 in an emergency. Learn more on the NSPL’s website .

International Suicide Hotlines Listed Below

(Outside of the United States)

Please click on your country below:

Argentina Suicide Hotlines

Armenia Suicide Hotlines

Australia Suicide Hotlines

Austria Suicide Hotlines

Barbados Suicide Hotlines

Belgium Suicide Hotlines

Botswana Suicide Hotlines

Brazil Suicide Hotlines

Canada Suicide Hotlines

China Suicide Hotlines

Croatia Suicide Hotlines

Cyprus Suicide Hotlines

Denmark Suicide Hotlines

Egypt Suicide Hotlines

Estonia Suicide Hotlines

Fiji Suicide Hotlines

Finland Suicide Hotlines

France Suicide Hotlines

Germany Suicide Hotlines

Ghana Suicide Hotlines

Gibraltar Suicide Hotlines

Hong Kong Suicide Hotlines

Hungary Suicide Hotlines

India Suicide Hotlines

Ireland Suicide Hotlines

Israel Suicide Hotlines

Italy Suicide Hotlines

Japan Suicide Hotlines

Liberia Suicide Hotlines

Lithuania Suicide Hotlines

Malaysia Suicide Hotlines

Malta Suicide Hotlines

Mauritius Suicide Hotlines

Namibia Suicide Hotlines

Netherlands Suicide Hotlines

New Zealand Suicide Hotlines

Norway Suicide Hotlines

Paupua New Guinea Suicide Hotlines

Philippines Suicide Hotlines

Poland Suicide Hotlines

Portugal Suicide Hotlines

Russian Federation Suicide Hotlines

Somoa Suicide Hotlines

Serbia Suicide Hotlines

Singapore Suicide Hotlines

South Africa Suicide Hotlines

South Korea Suicide Hotlines

Spain Suicide Hotlines

Sri Lanka Suicide Hotlines

St. Vincent Suicide Hotlines

Sudan Suicide Hotlines

Sweden Suicide Hotlines

Switzerland Suicide Hotlines

Taiwan Suicide Hotlines

Thailand Suicide Hotlines

Tobago Suicide Hotlines

Tonga Suicide Hotlines

Trinidad and Tobago Suicide Hotlines

Turkey Suicide Hotlines

Ukraine Suicide Hotlines

United Kingdom Suicide Hotlines

Zimbabwe Suicide Hotlines

Feeling generous and want to thank me for my work on this blog? Then please click here and donate to me via PayPal!

You can also become a patron of me on Patreon.

I edit blog posts for $5 each via Fiverr. I’d love to help you out!

Don’t have a dime to spare? That’s totally fine! :) Thanks for your support~!

Click here to get a random “Why Aren’t You Writing?” post!

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satashiiwrites · 1 year

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Snippet Sunday

Tagging whoever wants to participate. No pressure. Made my own snippet sunday banner even (it’s not fancy but it’s mine….)

Title: The First Spectre, Chapter 2: Eden Prime

Fandom: 911, Mass Effect Trilogy/series

Pairing: endgame slowburn Buddie. Other canon 911 relationships all fair game.

Fic summary:

Thirty years after the mars ruins were discovered leading to the Charon Relay and twenty since the First Contact War, humanity is still striving to take its place amongst the Citadel Council as equals. Commander Evan “Buck” Buckley, the lone survivor of Akuze is nominated to become the first human Spectre.

When his test mission goes sideways, Buck uncovers a much larger threat against all sentient life. Can he convince the Council to prepare for war or will they ignore the dangers that are closing in?

A new cycle has begun. The Reapers are coming.

Tags/warnings: first draft. Biotic Eddie Diaz. Commander Evan ‘Buck’ Buckley, epic long slow burn.

“Is that mark on your face from Akuze?”

“It’s a birthmark, actually. Akuze didn’t leave any visible marks on me.” Mental scars? Yeah it’d left dozens. He could still hear the screams of his squad mates in his nightmares as the giant worm had smashed apart the survival capsule they’d attempted to hole up in after their ship had been gobbled up. The engineers who’d designed those had accounted for earthquakes and dozens of other probable catastrophes but they’d never guessed or had the imagination to plan for giant building-devouring worms with acid spit and teeth sharper than an obsidian surgical scalpel.

“But it left invisible ones,” Lieutenant Diaz correctly added, pensively watching the surrounding brush for movement. “I understand that.”

Buck supposed that Diaz did get what he meant. In reading his military jacket, Buck had noticed that he’d received credit for prior biotic training—which was very unusual as Diaz had joined up as soon as he’d been old enough. To have training beforehand meant that he’d been trained as a kid which had been made illegal about ten years ago after some scandal about kids being abused at a training facility without parental oversight. Diaz was just about the right age for…

Shaking his head, Buck banished that train of thought. If Diaz was one of those kids he’d be dead. There must have been some other training program offered before the law changed.

#the first spectre #911/mass effect AU #commander evan “buck” buckley #biotic eddie diaz #epic slow burn #snippet sunday #first draft #evan buckley #eddie diaz #endgame buddie #space opera au #buddie space opera

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progressivleythin · 7 years

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whos to blame

whos to blame for the reasons you drink

whos to blame for the reasons youve screamed about how you hate her

it was me i was once again the reason.

i dont want to keep going, i want to end it so bad but ive people i wanna see

you tell me im being dilusioinal but i remember seeing you threaten to leave this house if i keep doing that

i was simply laying down by my dad at the time. simply laying down smiling,,happy

shes a child mom my sister yelled i watched from the top of the stairs wondering what was happening. i was four or five

at 13 i witnessed or heard persay my dad finally beat you in front of me. you threw his phone you were both drunk so i was scared to call 911 as id have to live with his mom.

at 14 i realized my dad was a piece of shit but you mom, you stayed golden to me because you were on my side most

still. at 14 my dad punched me for the first time while screaming about how disrespectful id been to him i was simply walking away from him to keep from bursting into tears. he came two days later apologizing saying he cried at work about hitting me.

nearing the end of age 14 you had a fight with him. he was gonna leave and i didnt mind ive been wanting him to since i was around nine maybe?

he kept slamming doors and id chosen to mock him out of anger. bad choice as itd lead to your constant wish for death sofia. “you know what!? shut the fuck up sofia, its your fault its all because of you that me and your mom are always fucked up. if you werent here wed be fine but you and your fucking ungrateful ass keep getting in the way. im fighting it right now but you dont know how much i wish i could beat your ass right now for what YOU did to us”

thats when it clicked..youve never cared about me all along. and my fear of my dad peaked that day and my suicidal thoughts took control i relapsed that day after nearly two years clean! are you proud? you were both drunk and he admitted to his thoughts of abuse to me while you hid away in your bathroom “cleaning” to which i found out meant doing cocaine and smoking weed. i sat completely straight faced listening to him say that and worse trying to shw i wasnt weak but that one tear left my eye and i knew it was over im never gonna be stronger than the fucking hate from my “parents”. that night i tried suffocating myself before bed because i thought itd be better if i was gone.

at fourteen years old you led me to my first suicide attempt,or second if you consider the time i took four ibuprofen pills “because of my headache”.

im fifteen now and nearly cried tonight on the way home because you screamed fuck you to dad and i was scared hed hit you or me in front of the baby. or maybe hed decide to turn into oncoming traffic and end us all. that fears only been growing since and its only been four hours maybe? i nearly cried in front of you both because the baby knew what happened and wanted to cry too.

thank you parents! for showing your child how happy you are to have them in your life.

to anyone currently reading this ive only listed some of the worst. im not abused im not treated as a slave im simply treated as a human im happy when im not around them but im ok i have my older siblings to save me if times get rough.

to my mom if you ever find this i wanna say fuck you but i fucking care about you too much to mean it. i constantly think youre there for me but its because ive tried to forget the moments youve said bad about me.

and my dad i have nothing i want to say to you. no thank yous none at all not even a fuck you because itd mean i care enough to waste my breath. you try but i wont let you back in no matter what.

to my brother.. the only one whos helped me most i truly love you more than my own life! id take anybullet for you okay? youve been more of a parent to me than mom and dad and i thank you more than anything for that i love you so much so so so much franco too. i havent ended my life because of you and im truly grateful for you youre my angel and i cant live without you were both pretty broken after all. i hope you find yourself soon and i find my happy soon. i really really do love you okay? you shaped me into most of the person i am now and i cant imagine not having you. id probably be dead because you know how to make me feel happy. im crying most while writing to you because its true i cant be unhappy with you. thank you so much brother so much youre an angel with your own problems and you still take time to listen to me angrily rant about mom and dad.

to franco. youre three ive known you for a while and im glad i can. im also staying alive for you i want you to remember me as a great older sister rather than an aunt. youre like my little angel too..one that bothers me enough to get out of my room or enough to laugh genuinely inlove you and your dad so so so so so much youre both the light of my life im so truly grateful for youre presence in my life

to my sister. were not as close as sisters should be. im closer with my brother but i have amazing memories with you i hope we have more dude. ive had some deep convos with you maybe not like my brother and me but enough to know how your relationship is and im glad you trust me with that info. i love you so so so so so much too i hope you have an amazing future. i hope we get closer soon otherwise idk who ill come out to first

to my closest cousins. im sorry most of you didnt find this out sooner im sorry for being so awkward with every interaction we have for constantly fucking things up. i feel like an annoyance constantly so thank you for putting up with my shit.

my internet friends ive never met any of you but thanks to you guys too even the most recent ones :) some of you really listen and helped me through some dark shit.

to anna, the first person id ever r e a l l y dated. weve never met and we dated and yeah it didnt seem like it but it feels nice saying i have dated someone even if it was barely anything physical. you truly have heard my nearly darkest thoughts ive kept most because i dont wanna be a burden. you fit with the lil gaurdisn angel group too, youve helped me alot and were both pretty fucking fucked up people. idk what my life would be with out you. you mean alot to me maybe not as much as my brother as he has the highest “score” so far but its near that.

to keana and amaya. im fucking sorry for constantly speaking about my fucking weight to you guys especially you amaya youre so fucking young and ive already shown you eating disorders i hope you never have these thoughts. keana i feel the same i gotta get annoying to you at some point im sorry

to past me this is your “rough draft” maybe? for a suicide note. im not killing myself i just wanna get it out.

once again to my brother your tribute made me cry most dont tell me i dont care for you. you mean so much to me youre really keeping me alive by alot okay? keep it up big bro please i cant do this without you i know youre as broken as me somewhere youre doing great and youre gonna make it i hope i do too.

10.06.17

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cloudbusterpress · 5 years

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What it’s like to be a speechwriter

Do you have a gift for knowing what people are trying to say, and how to help them say it so they shine? Do you enjoy researching topics, and have an ability to encapsulate that research into a clear message? Is the persuasive essay your favorite assignment in English class? If so, scroll down to read more about speechwriting from a professional in the field, former speechwriter Rob Costello. And check out all the other cool careers in writing profiled on TIPS FOR TEEN WRITERS!

How did you get started as a speechwriter?

I never set out to become a speechwriter. In fact, when I was a teenager I didn’t really set out to be much of anything. I graduated high school not having a clue what I wanted to do with my life, and for most of my 20s I worked in a series of low-skill, low-wage jobs. I cleaned toilets and flipped burgers. I dealt cards in a casino. I processed trade documents for an international bank.

When I met my future husband, I moved to Ithaca, NY to be with him. There I got a job dispatching police and emergency services for the Cornell University Police Department. What a crazy, intense job that turned out to be! I quickly realized answering 911 calls all day long was way too stressful for me, and so after only a year of doing that, I managed to snag another job at Cornell that was much more my speed: receptionist in the Dean’s Office of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS).

This is where I spent the next decade, working my way up from receptionist, to the dean’s administrative assistant, and finally to her executive assistant and chief of staff, where I helped her run the college. I enjoyed this experience very much. CALS is one of the leading ag and life sciences research institutions in the world. Working for the dean, I got to learn a great deal about the cutting-edge environmental, biological, and food systems research happening in the college. I also met tons of interesting people, from Nobel prize-winning scientists and Fortune 500 CEOs, to senators and members of Congress, and some of the brightest, most dedicated students in the world. Finally, I learned the ins and outs of what it takes to run a world-class research and academic institution with well over a thousand faculty and employees, and an annual budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

It was during this period that I first realized I could make a career out of writing. A big part of my job was helping the dean manage the huge volume of correspondence she received, literally hundreds of letters and emails a day. Because she couldn’t possibly answer all of these messages herself, I often drafted responses in “her voice,” which she would then review, edit, and sign. I’d always loved to write, and over time this became my favorite part of the job.

Eventually, I went back to school, earning my bachelors degree in English and an MFA in writing for children and young adults, while still working full-time (something I don’t recommend if you can possibly avoid it). When the position of the dean’s speechwriter became available, my educational background, extensive knowledge of the college, and deep familiarity with the “dean’s voice” made me uniquely qualified for the job.

What is a typical day like?

It’s hard for me to pin down what a typical day as a speechwriter was like, because speechwriting was only half of my job. At the same time, I was also the college’s social media manager, which meant I ran CALS’ Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and YouTube platforms, and wrote articles for various college publications. Depending on the dean’s public speaking schedule, which varied widely throughout the year, I could spend as much as 80% of my time working on speeches or as little as none.

That said, when I left CALS a few years ago to pursue fiction writing and teaching full-time, the dean was giving anywhere from 90 to 120 public addresses a year, which breaks downs to something like two to three speeches a week. Of course, not all speeches are created equal, and many of these were brief remarks that required minimal research and preparation.

On the other hand, some of the major speeches, such as the annual State of the College address, could take weeks to prepare. These involved massive amounts of research and data collection, interviewing faculty about new college initiatives, reviewing financial and budgetary reports with college officers, creating graphs and gathering photographs for slide presentations, familiarizing myself with the venue and A/V equipment that would be used for the speech, and then finally crafting the speech, followed by multiple rounds of revision with the dean.

In general, when I was working on a major address like this, most of my day was spent at my desk in front of my computer, doing research, drafting the text, and preparing the slides.

What training, education or preparation would help someone to be a good speechwriter?

To be honest, the most important training I received came from my high school English teachers, who taught me how to write a persuasive essay. When you reduce them to their essence, most speeches are merely persuasive arguments read aloud. They begin with an introduction that leads to a thesis statement, followed by a series of supporting points that build to a summary conclusion. Since I was also active in speech and debate as a teen, I had experience crafting arguments about complicated issues that were accessible and easy to convey while speaking. Who knew the basic skills I learned in high school would turn out to be so important to my job years later?

In college, I did coursework in speechwriting, presentation making, and rhetoric that was all very valuable, too.

Finally, all those years working in the dean’s office furnished me with a wealth of knowledge and resources that proved invaluable to my speechwriting career. Having a basic understanding of the different kinds of scientific research conducted in the college was crucial, because so many of the dean’s speeches involved promoting that work to alumni, politicians, and other stakeholders. It also really helped that I’d become something of an expert on the institution of CALS itself. This meant I always knew just whom to ask to get my questions answered quickly and accurately. Furthermore, because I was so familiar with the college’s inner workings, I understood many of the complicated subjects the dean spoke about, such as the budget and various policies and initiatives. This enabled me to craft speeches without a lot of coaching that were coherent and authoritative on these complex matters. I can’t imagine how hard it would have been for me had I not spent so many years beforehand getting to know the dean and the college so well.

Of course, this experience was unique to me and my job in CALS. But generally speaking, I think for any aspiring speechwriter the lesson here is to become as much of an expert as you possibly can on the subjects you will be writing about. Do your research. Ask questions. Be curious. Learn as much as you can before you ever sit down to write, because all of that knowledge will lend your speeches clarity and authority.

What skills do you think helped you do the job of speechwriting well?

Writing well persuasively is the most important skill to master. Knowing how to frame an argument and anticipate counterarguments is a big part of this, as well as being able to translate complicated issues or ideas into simple, clear, compelling language. Listening is also an essential skill, as well as being able to take critical feedback. Time management and organizational skills are invaluable, especially when multiple deadlines loom. Basic research, journalism, and interviewing skills are also extremely useful. Being comfortable setting up and troubleshooting A/V equipment is important, as is proficiency with presentation and graphics software like PowerPoint, Prezi, InDesign, and Keynote.

What type of person would be a good fit to be a speechwriter?

Somebody who is tenacious about getting the facts right. Somebody who enjoys writing persuasively and changing people’s minds with words. Somebody who doesn’t seek the spotlight and who doesn’t mind having another person receive the glory for what they’ve written. Somebody who cares passionately about the agenda being pursued by the person or organization they work for. (For example, it’s probably not a great idea if you’re an environmentalist to take a job writing speeches for the President of Exxon!)

What are the down sides of speechwriting?

You spend most of your time alone at a desk! It can be a challenge to find a good speechwriting job. Your job satisfaction is often dependent on whether or not you are able to satisfy one person (the person giving the speeches), so if you have a difficult or demanding boss, it can make your life a real drag.

What are the up sides of speechwriting?

Speechwriting is a great job for an introvert! It’s also tremendously rewarding to be able to work with an influential leader to craft a speech that may change people’s minds and influence lives. In my time at CALS, I worked on several major addresses the dean gave about the environment, education, and the value of scientific research in promoting a better world, all issues I care deeply about. Speechwriting gave me the opportunity to feel that I was contributing to the academic and scientific mission of the college, without actually being an academic or a scientist. Speechwriters can often play an important role in helping to spread the word about important issues and ideas. If you care about things like politics and activism, but aren’t the kind of person who can get up in front of others and lead, being the one behind the scenes who helps those leaders be more effective in communicating their messages can be extremely empowering and satisfying.

What resources, professional journals, organizations or social media sites keep you informed about your industry?

Unfortunately, I’ve been away from speechwriting for a while now, so I haven’t kept up with current resources. However, I do know that the Professional Speechwriters Association was founded in 2013 and offers information and links to non-members on their website.

Any words of advice for people interested in speechwriting?

I think it’s most important to develop a good rapport with the person you’re writing speeches for. After all, you are essentially putting words into their mouth. Words they will be speaking in public. Words they may be judged on and/or criticized for later on. By the very nature of the job, speechwriters are often working for influential public figures, such as politicians and other leaders. It can be a strangely intimate experience to see these powerful people with their guard down, expressing fears, anxieties, and vulnerabilities that don’t always correspond to their well-honed public images. It’s important, therefore, that you earn their trust by doing everything you possibly can to make their job easier. This means listening to how they speak, their unique speech patterns, vocabulary choices, and sentence structure. It means familiarizing yourself with the kinds of jokes and anecdotes they’re comfortable telling, as well as the subjects they wish to avoid. It means being scrupulously well-prepared and always having your facts straight, so that they are not embarrassed by giving out bad information or saying something inadvertently offensive or disrespectful to their audience. Finally, it means understanding what’s most important to them about the speech they are giving, what their goals are for it, and what message(s) they are trying to convey. After all, it isn’t about you and your pretty words. Your number one priority is to make sure they shine!

Rob Costello writes fiction for and about queer youth. He holds an MFA in Writing from the Writing for Children and Young Adults Program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. An alumnus of the Millay Colony for the Arts and the New York State Summer Writers Institute, his short fiction has appeared in Hunger Mountain, Stone Canoe, Eclectica, and Narrative, and is forthcoming in Rural Voices: YA Stories of Growing Up in Remote Communities (Candlewick, Fall 2020). He teaches creative writing to teens and adults, and has been on the faculty of the Whole Novel Workshop at the Highlights Foundation since 2014. He recently finished work on his debut young adult novel entitled An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys, and lives with his husband and various four-legged companions on top of a wide and windy hill in upstate NY.

Find out more at www.cloudbusterpress.com.

#speech writing #writing tips #writing career #jobs #speechwriter #young adult #teens #careers #careers in writing

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mastcomm · 4 years

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Live Kobe Bryant Death Coverage

The helicopter carrying Bryant had no ‘black box.’

There was no voice recorder in the helicopter that crashed in Calabasas, Calif., on Sunday, killing the N.B.A. legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people who were on their way to a basketball tournament, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

“There wasn’t a black box, and there isn’t a requirement to have a black box” on this helicopter, Jennifer Homendy, a member of the N.T.S.B., said at a news conference on Monday.

But there was an iPad in the helicopter that included the ForeFlight application, which pilots use while in the air to review flight plans, monitor weather briefings and more, she said. Investigators would review the iPad and other evidence recovered from the crash site, which extended about 500 to 600 feet away from the center of the wreckage.

“It was a pretty devastating accident scene,” Homendy said.

During the flight on Sunday morning, the fog was so thick that the pilot had to get special visual clearance from air traffic controllers before continuing on the route.

The Los Angeles Police Department had grounded its helicopters, but the pilot was licensed to fly in inclement weather and continued toward Bryant’s Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The helicopter lost contact with controllers at 9:45 a.m., and two minutes later, witnesses called 911 and reported hearing the sound of whirring blades and a fire on the hillside. The aircraft had smashed into a hill at 1,085 feet.

The investigation, which the N.T.S.B. is leading, will include a review of weather conditions, but it will encompass much more, Homendy said.

“We look at man, machine and the environment, and weather is just a small portion of that,” she said, adding that investigators would review records and evidence tied to the pilot, his company, the helicopter and its instruments, and more.

LeBron James was ‘heartbroken and devastated’ by Bryant’s death.

On Monday night, LeBron James posted a tribute to Bryant and his daughter Gianna on Instagram, saying he was “heartbroken and devastated.” He referred to Bryant as his brother.

“Man I sitting here trying to write something for this post but every time I try I begin crying again just thinking about you, niece Gigi and the friendship/bond/brotherhood we had!” James wrote. “I literally just heard your voice Sunday morning before I left Philly to head back to LA. Didn’t think for one bit in a million years that would be the last conversation we’d have.” He added, “My heart goes to Vanessa and the kids. I promise you I’ll continue your legacy man!”

On Sunday, footage emerged of James and other Lakers teammates coming off the team plane and embracing one another. Bryant’s death came the day after James passed him on the N.B.A.’s all-time scoring list.

Separated in age by just six years, the men were friends and regarded as the heirs to Michael Jordan. Their ties had been nurtured over close to two decades, ever since the day in 2002 when Bryant and James met in Philadelphia. The next year, with the league more comfortable with the notion of signing a player straight out of high school thanks to Bryant’s success, James entered the draft.

They eventually played alongside each other in the Olympics and were fierce rivals when they played for opposing teams in the N.B.A. But especially once Bryant retired and James moved to Los Angeles, they were known to share hugs and jokes in public. Bryant’s last Twitter post before his death was a message congratulating James, who had just passed him on the N.B.A.’s career scoring list.

The pilot was called experienced and meticulous.

The pilot on board the helicopter, Ara Zobayan, learned to fly in 1998, after taking a sightseeing flight over the Grand Canyon. He was certified not only to fly under instrument conditions — navigating with the use of instruments — but also to teach other pilots seeking to obtain their own instrument ratings. And he had no accidents or enforcement actions on his record according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

So pilots who knew Zobayan were perplexed by the crash, describing him as an experienced and meticulous operator. He had flown Bryant many times before.

“Supercautious, supersmart,” an instructor said. “I can’t see him making this kind of mistake.”

A movement is building to put Bryant in the league logo.

More than 1.5 million people have signed a Change.org petition suggesting the N.B.A. redesign its logo to honor Bryant.

The petition, started by a teenager, was the first this year to surpass one million signatures, the website said. The idea was supported by some past and present players, including Jamal Crawford, Paul Pierce and Jamal Murray.

The red, white and blue logo was designed in 1969 and features the silhouette of Jerry West, the retired Hall of Fame player for the Lakers. In 2017, West said on ESPN that he was flattered but didn’t relish the attention it brought.

“If they would want to change it, I wish they would,” he said. “In many ways I wish they would.”

Bryant’s every move on and off the court was dissected by rivals and observers.

Bryant was among the most compelling figures in the N.B.A. for years, his rise to stardom, his legal trouble and his final seasons relentlessly chronicled and dissected by rivals, fans and journalists.

He was, the columnist Michael Powell writes, “a confounding and intriguing star, complicated and intelligent and self-aware and nasty, and accepting all of that in himself.”

Reporting was contributed by Dave Phillips, Tim Arango, Louis Keene and Scott Cacciola.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/live-kobe-bryant-death-coverage/

#Sport

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torentialtribute · 5 years

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Newlywed Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs found dead in Texas hotel room

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died at the age of 27, the team announced on Monday.

Police in Southlake, Texas, said Skaggs did not respond in his Hilton hotel room shortly after fourteen. He was declared dead on the spot and the authorities don't suspect cheating, but the investigation is ongoing.

In a recorded 911 call obtained by The Blast dispatchers can be heard who consider the situation a & # 39; medical emergency & # 39; to mention.

During a second call from 911, a dispatcher categorized it as a & # 39; possible death investigation & # 39 ;.

& # 39; We report with great sadness that Tyler Skaggs had died earlier in Texas & # 39; the Angels said late on Monday afternoon in a statement.

& # 39; Tyler has always formed and will remain an important part of the Angels family. Our thoughts and prayers have been with his entire family during this devastating time. & # 39;

Skaggs had posted a photo with his teammates getting ready to board a plane to Texas the day before he died. He is survived by his wife Carli, whom he married at the end of last year.

<img id = "i-f3a47e75ff9db3e8" src = "https://ift.tt/301lxM7 -9_1562017013601.jpg "height =" 634 "width =" 634 "alt =" Pitcher Tyler Skaggs, Los Angeles, died at the age of 27, the team announced on Monday. He is pictured with his wife Carli, with whom he married at the end of last year. "

<img id =" i-f3a47e75ff9db3e8 "src =" https://ift.tt/301lxM7 -9_1562017013601.jpg "height =" 634 "width =" 634 "alt =" Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died at the age of 27, the team announced on Monday.

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died at the age of 27. The team reported Monday, depicting his wife Carli, whom he married at the end of last year, depicting his wife Carli, whom he married at the end of last year

<img id = "i-9f88c2247bdd737e" src = " https://ift.tt/2XL5xjK "height =" 456 "width =" 634 "alt =" Skaggs are seen during his last game at home against Oakland athletics on Sunday "

The Angels & # 39; would play the Texas Rangers on Monday, but the match-up has been postponed,

ESPN reported.

Angels players and coaches who had arrived at the Rangers & Ballpark in Arlington for the series opener left about four hours before the scheduled start of the game to return to their hotel.

The Rangers clubhouse was also closed when general manager Jon Daniels and manager Chris Woodward told their players what had happened and fired them.

Woodward described it

& # 39; There were a lot of beautiful emotional guys in there, you could have one of those moments where you're just stunned & # 39; and said the Rangers thought of the Skaggs family and the Angels organization. to tell. Some boys knew him. (Jesse Chavez) had played with him in LA, & Woodward said. & # 39; Some boys who didn't even know him were visibly shocked. You could tell. & # 39;

Daniels told reporters that he would be open to talk to the MLB about postponing the remaining three games in the series, if necessary.

& # 39; I am deeply saddened by today's tragedy in Texas & # 39 ;, said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in a statement.

& # 39; Each of us at Major League Baseball expresses his deepest condolences to Tyler & # 39; s wife Carli, their family, their friends, and all their Angels teammates and colleagues & # 39; s.

& # 39; We will support the Angels organization during this most difficult period, and we will make a variety of resources available to Tyler's teammates and other members of the baseball family. & # 39;

The news was reached with dozens of other tributes from teams and players who knew Skaggs.

& # 39; My heart has been crushed. Life is so unpredictable and we should never take anything for granted, & Delino Deshields, midfielder for the Rangers, wrote on Instagram. & # 39; This is not just an angel from Los Angeles, but a loss for our entire baseball family and community. It was a pleasure to have fought against you for the past 5 years. You were a real competitor and my thoughts and prayers will be with you and your family forever. (19459003)

Pitcher of Oakland A James Kaprielian has retweeted the angels' statement and wrote: & # 39; Can't even believe this. tweeted: & # 39; I am deeply saddened to hear the news about the death of teammate Tyler Skaggs. Praying for his family to find peace at such a difficult moment. Sad moment for baseball. & # 39;

Skaggs posted this photo with his teammates getting ready to board the plane to Texas the day before he died The Angels would play the Rangers in Arlington on Monday, but the game has been postponed Skaggs is third from the right in a black shirt with a cowboy hat

<img id = "i-f56dc2957d537351" src = "https://ift.tt/301lznd 15505104-7202537-image-m-26_1562019899723.jpg "height =" 675 "width =" 634 "alt =" Carli Skaggs has remained silent in the hours since the death of her husband. The couple is pictured during their wedding in December. "

<img id =" i-f56dc2957d537351 "src =" https://ift.tt/2XEBlHf .jpg "height =" 675 "width =" 634 "alt =" Carli Skaggs was silent in the hours since her husband's death. wedding in December "

Carli Skaggs has remained silent in the hours since her husband's death. The couple is pictured while dancing in December

Skaggs threw five innings Sunday during their last game against Oakland athletics.

With number 45, Skaggs ended this year with 7-7 out of 15 starts with a shot at 4.29 ERA with 78 strikeouts in 79 2/3 innings.

The resident of Woodland Hills in the Los Angeles area graduated from Santa Monica High School in 2009 and was drafted by the Angels in the first round.

He was traded to Arizona in August 2010 Diamonbacks and made his MLB debut two years later before he was traded back to the Angels in 2013.

Skaggs has been part of the regular pitching rotation of the team since returning from the Tommy John elbow operation in 2016.

His death comes ten years after another Angels pitcher, Nick Adenhart, died in a car accident in 2009.

Jose Fernandez, a double All-Star pitcher for the Miami Marlins, was killed in a boat crash at Miami Beach, Florida, in September 2016. Pitcher Darryl Kile, who played in the majors for 12 seasons (1992-2002) was on his way with the St. Louis Cardinals when he died in June 2002 in his Chicago hotel room. Albert Pujols, now a member of the Angels, was Kile's teammate.

<img id = "i-51d60c2398fb4599" src = "https://ift.tt/306Ring -24_1562019346615.jpg "height =" 382 "width =" 634 "alt =" <img id = "i-51d60c2398fb4599" src = "https://ift.tt/2Jfy8Vf 23 / 15505356-7202537-image-a-24_1562019346615.jpg "height =" 382 "width =" 634 "alt ="

<img id = "i-51d60c2398fb4599" src = "https: //i.dailymail. co.uk/1s/2019/07/01/23/15505356-7202537-image-a-24_1562019346615.jpg "height =" 382 "width =" 634 "alt =" <img id = "i-51d60c2398fb4599" src = "https://ift.tt/2XJ2zwi" height = "382" width = "634" alt = "<img id = "i-51d60c2398fb4599" src = "https://ift.tt/2XJ2zwi" height = "382" width = "634" alt = "<img id =" i-51d60c2398fb4599 "src =" https://ift.tt/304lf7m .jpg "height =" 382 "width =" 634 "alt ="] Skaggs are said to be t unresponsive found in his hotel room at the Hilton Southlake (photo) "

Skaggs was reportedly found unresponsive in his hotel room at the Hilton Southlake (photo)

<img id = "i-7b0eecc52b9e6c92" src = "https://ift.tt/2XOKPQo "height =" 794 "width =" 634 "alt =" The Angels have released the statement above on Twitter following the death of Skaggs <img id = "i-7b0eecc52b9e6c92" src = "https://i.dailymail.co. uk / 1s / 2019/07/01/22 / 15504868-7202537-image-a-21_1562018285897.jpg "height =" 794 "width =" 634 "alt =" <img id = "i-7b0eecc52b9e6c92" src = "https : //i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/07/01/22/15504868-7202537-image-a-21_1562018285897.jpg "height =" 794 "width =" 634 "alt =" The Angels have the above statement released on Twitter hours after the death of Skaggs <img id = "i-7b0eecc52b9e6c92" src = "https://ift.tt/301lBvl 37-image-a-21_1562018285897.jpg "height =" 794 "width =" 634 "alt =" The Angels released the above statement on Twitter hours after the death of Skaggs

<img id = "i-affded1e5b9b19c7" src = "https://ift.tt/2XLlUgg" height = "817" width = "634" alt = "Major League Baseball & # 39; s official Twitter account too"

<img id = "i-affded1e5b9b19c7" src = "https://ift.tt/2NyDsEw /1s/2019/07/01/22/15504860-7202537-image-a-20_1562018275077.jpg "height =" 817 "width =" 634 "alt =" The official Twitter account of Major League Baseball also shared a tribute to Skaggs "

<img id =" i-affded1e5b9b19c7 "src =" https://ift.tt/2XLlUgg "height =" 817 "width =" 634 "alt ="

The official Twitter account of Major League Ba seball has also shared a tribute to Skaggs

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#Newlywed Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs found dead in Texas hotel room"

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robinsoncenter · 5 years

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[Qsc_asuw] SPRING! Newsletter Week 10

Welcome to Week 10! <3

Alchemy Poetry Series Return with Anastacia Renee (Tuesday, June 4, 2019) 7 PM - 11 PM @ Wa Na Wari 911 24th ave, Seattle, Washington 98122 Join us at Wa Na Wari for our return installment of the series on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 featuring Anastacia Reneè $5 Admission / ALL AGES

Anastacia-Renee is a multi-genre writer, educator, and interdisciplinary artist. She is the current Seattle Civic Poet and author of six books.

Alchemy is a curated performance art space that elevates voices that are often silenced. Performers in our community focus on the brilliance of storytelling by offering personal stories and reflections that are socially relevant. We are powerful artists and our space allows our audience to witness the craft at its highest form. We believe that art is a divine power to create community. Every first, third and sometimes fifth Tuesday of the month at 7pm, we call on two featured performers and a showcase mic at Wa Na Wari. ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION:

One flight of stairs to the first floor.

The restroom is up another flight of stairs, on the second floor.

Street parking is available.

There are couches and folding chairs inside the venue.

It is near bus lines 3, 48 and 8.

Please email us at alchemypoetryseattle [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or concerns.

Healing Embroidery (Thursday, June 6 2019) 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM @ Columbia City Church of Hope 3818 S Angeline St, Seattle, Washington 98118 Want to learn a new, creative approach to self-care? Join the NW Network for a completely free, all supplies included, 3-hour embroidery workshop in which we will:

Learn more about the NW Network’s services for LGBTQ+ survivors and other community supports

Discuss how embroidery and fiber art has been used by queer and marginalized communities to express grief, solidarity, and resistance ** Brainstorm ideas for a self-care toolbox including easy-to-start creative projects

Learn basic stitches, pattern creation techniques, and project ideas

Meet new crafting friends and maybe start a queer sewing circle

No creative experience, skills, knowledge, or tools required. All materials will be provided and participants take home a starter set and a how-to zine to continue projects at home. This workshop is open to:

LGBTQIA folks and our loved ones who pre-register on Eventbrite. Given the limited quantity of supplies, this is important to ensure that everyone has materials to work with. If you can’t make it, please call or email to cancel so we can give your space and supplies to someone else. If registration fills up, contact Peter to get on the waitlist: [email protected] 206-568-7777

• What food will be available? We will provide snacks. You’re welcome to bring food into the space if you’re unable to eat beforehand. • What supplies will be provided? Can I bring some of my own? Each participant will get one hoop (5”), 1 needle, a seam ripper, 3 colors of floss (thread), a disappearing ink marker, two squares of canvas, and a pattern- either a premade one or one you create. Participants will also get a how-to zine. You can take all the above home after. If you have some embroidery supplies already that you want to bring, that’s cool, too.

The space is down a steep ramp with hand and guard rails that lead to flat landing. While there are no steps to the Community Engagement Space, we have a hard time describing this as a wheelchair accessible space because of this ramp. Our staff is glad to problem solve around access to this space and we are actively seeking other alternatives that are truly accessible.

Interpreters are available and happily provided free of cost. Please let us know ASAP if you need an interpreter, since we will need to book them in advance.

• Entry doorway is 6 feet wide, double doors, with no center bar • Bathrooms are all gender with single and multi-stall bathrooms. • Please let us know if you have any allergies, food or animal related. • We ask that folks come to the series with low-to-no scents to keep everyone welcome and present during the workshop. Space is low fragrance but not fragrance free. To lessen the effects of chemical exposure on our community members please come as fragrance free as possible. For more information on why we ask this, check out the following links: https://www.brownstargirl.org/blog/fragrance-free-femme-of-colour-realness-draft-15 https://eastbaymeditation.org/resources/fragrance-free-at-ebmc/ Other questions, needs, comments, concerns? Contact Peter! [email protected] 206-568-7777

Queer Me Out - 50 Years from Stonewall in Seattle (Thursday, June 6, 2019) 5 PM - 7 PM @ W Seattle Great Room - 2nd Floor 1112 4th Ave, Seattle, Washington 98101

Up-close with the movers, shakers & boundary breakers who are pushing the LGBTQ+ movement forward. Join us at W Seattle for a Queer Me Out event, followed by Q&A for our amazing panelists, and drinks and a DJ in the Living Room. This is an Official PrideFest event and complimentary to the public (but register for a guaranteed seat)!

***This is a complimentary public event but please buy a ticket so we can have an accurate head count of seats. Registered ticket owners will be let in first and if there is additional room, anyone without a ticket will be let in. RUN OF SHOW 5PM-5:45PM - Doors Open + Cocktail Hour 5:45PM-6:30PM - Panel Discussion 6:30-6:45PM - Q&A 6:45PM - Network, Cocktails and DJ in the Living Room LED BY: EGAN ORION

Egan Orion is the founder of Seattle PrideFest and a longtime fixture in the Capitol Hill LGBTQ community. He has been producing PrideFest at Seattle Center for 12 years now and PrideFest Capitol Hill for 5 years. He also is director of the Broadway Business Improvement Area and Executive Director of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce. He’s also running for Seattle City Council District 3. In his free time, he writes novels, climbs mountains, and goes on long walks with his yellow lab, Oke.

PANELISTS CANDIS CAYNE

Candis Cayne is an American actress and performance artist. Known in the NYC nightclub scene since the 1990s, Cayne came to national attention in 2007 for portraying transgender mistress Carmelita on ABC’s prime time drama Dirty Sexy Money. The role makes Cayne the first transgender actress to play a recurring transgender character in prime-time television.

ARSON NICKI

Arson Nicki is Seattle's preeminent aggressively transgressive drag artist. They produce, host, and perform at Rapture at the Timbre Room every second Saturday, as well as at Fresh at 18th & Union: An Arts Space every quarter. Arson has showcased their work at the Seattle Art Museum, The Factory, Mokedo, project205 (Portland, OR), and performed in clubs and bars up and down the West Coast. Their work focuses on pushing drag's creative boundaries, presenting queer performance in unconventional contexts and spaces, and expanding underserved populations' access to drag.

SARAH TOCE

Sarah Toce is an award-winning journalist Sarah Toce was honored with the 2017 Community Builder Award by Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. In 2017, she was recognized as one of the most powerful journalists by Curve magazine. She was also the recipient of the distinguished 2016 LGBT Leadership Award from the Washington Diversity Council.

MONSERATT PADILLA

Monserrat Padilla is the coordinator of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, a powerful statewide coalition of over 150 organizations that are building the defense line to protect our immigrant and refugee community. She was a co-founder of the Washington Dream Coalition and has led national & statewide campaigns. Monserrat has been organizing LGBTQ, immigrant and communities of color on the ground for over 10 years to build collective movement power.

TONY RADOVICH

Tony Radovich - Tony Radovich is a queer, activist, elder, Radical Faerie and mentor who has been living with HIV for over 30 years. As a community organizer he has helped to shape the communities we live in, always carrying forward the power and legacy of direct action and leadership. He has been a champion of peer-based recovery support services for over a decade; always meeting people where they are at with dignity and respect. These days he helps to organize low- and no-income Washingtonians with VOCAL-WA (Voices of Community Activists and Leaders) a community-based organization made up of former and active drug users, homeless, and those affected by HIV/AIDS or Hep C, or impacted by the failed war on drugs and mass incarceration. "As older activists, our role now is to walk alongside young leaders, not to disappear and leave them to it." Jane Shepherd

PAUL BLAKES (KALUHA ICE)

Born and raised in Seattle, it took Paul Blakes coming out twice to fully find his footing in the early 1990s when he became friends with a group of gay men who thought him about drag, gay life, cruising, the family you choose, bad decisions, AIDS, and love. As with every drag queen, Paul’s queen career began at Neighbours on Halloween night October 1990 as Kahlua Ice. With the help of some amazing drag queens to help show him the way, Kahlua became the co-host to Neighbours lip sync nights and eventually hosted for over 10 years. During that time our community was constantly in a fight against HIV, AIDS, Homophobia, fights for gay marriage and equal rights, along with so many other threats. Paul says that “what would appear to be the worst of times were also the best of times, because we were in the fight for our lives together.” Throughout his career as Kahlua Ice, Paul became Miss Gay Seattle 28, along with a member of the Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle and the Olympic and Rainier Empire where he was able to raise money and awareness for homeless gay youth, aids research, gay marriage/equality and any of the multiple issues that where plaguing the community in the PNW but all around the country. Kahlua Ice was also the 1st runner up to Lafamme Magnifique International, as well as Miss Gay Vancouver 121/2, Half Empress of Bellingham, La Femme Magnifique of Seattle and the creator of the Mr., Miss and Ms. NEIGHBOURS pageant. After a while, Paul decided to move away from Kahlua, and did a rotation with the national tour of Sound of Music, as Supervisor of hair and makeup until he was diagnosed with end stage renal failure. After many humbling experiences and countless surgeries later, Paul is grateful for what he has been through because he wouldn’t be where his is today as a licensed hairdresser working at a high-end salon and spa in Seattle.

Queer Art Party! (Friday, June 7, 2019) 6 PM - 9PM @ Friday Afternoon 4228 Stone Way N, Seattle, Washington 98103

In celebration of Pride Month, we at Friday Afternoon Tea are excited to host our first ever Queer Art Party! View the art of local talent Laura Cameron and create your own fabulous work of art to take home.

This is a family-friendly event and all art supplies will be provided.

Transgender & Gender Diverse Support & Social Group @ U.T.O.P.I.A Seattle 205 E. Meeker St. Kent, Washington 98032

[trans] ACTION is a support/social group for sex workers that is held every first Wednesday of every month. It is an opportunity that provides sex workers a safe space to engage in topical discussions relating to their life and/or work. This gathering is open to transgender and gender diverse sex workers with current or past experience in the sex trade.

Upcoming Dates :

Wed June 12 (6-8pm)

Discussions include topics such as:

*Safety and self- care

*Decriminalization and Destigmatization of sex work

*Know your rights training

*Legal assistance

*Employment & housing

[trans] ACTION promotes and values confidentiality regarding interactions within the group.

ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION:

The undisclosed location has ample parking, all-gender and ADA-accessible restroom. Come and build community with us! For more information please email Ara-lei at [email protected].

Queer Art Walk (Thursday, June 13, 2019) 5 PM - 9 PM @ Capitol Hill (Seattle) 500 E Pike St, Capitol Hill (Seattle) 98102, 98112, 98122

A partnership between PrideFest and the Capitol Hill Art Walk, June's show features queer artists at various venues around Capitol Hill (usually numbering 15-20 altogether). An easy, gentle June stroll through some of the best art the queer community has to offer.

Poster design by Angelita Martinez and Nikoli Shaver

Let’s Talk is a free program that connects UW students with support from experienced counselors from the Counseling Center and Hall Health Center without an appointment. Counselors hold drop-in hours at four sites on campus:

Mondays, 2-4 PM, Odegaard Library Room 222

Tuesdays, 2-4 PM, Ethnic Cultural Center Room 306

Wednesdays, 2-4 PM, Q Center (HUB 315)

Thursdays, 2-4 PM, Mary Gates Hall Room 134E

Let’s Talk offers informal consultation – it is not a substitute for regular therapy, counseling, or psychiatric care. To learn more, visit letstalk.washington.edu. The HUB’s front entrance is wheelchair accessible and the common area is to the right of the main desk. An all-genders restroom can be found at the 3rd floor, down the hallway from the Q Center. Gender binary bathrooms with multiple stalls can be found on each floor of the HUB. The HUB IS not kept scent-free but we ask that you do not wear scented/fragranced products (e.g. perfume, hair products) or essential oils to/in the Q Center in order to make the space accessible to those with chemical injury or multiple chemical sensitivity.

Thank you for being a part of our community <3 We are so glad that you are here, and we are so glad to get to know you! Have questions about the QSC? Just want to get involved? Find our office hours online at hours.asuw.org. To hear more from the QSC be sure to like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter & instagram to stay up to date with all queer and trans related happenings on campus and in Seattle! With love, Mehria, Outreach & Engagement Intern.

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