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maple-the-awesome · 1 year

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We'll Meet Again...I Know When || Chapter 23

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x GN Reader

Words: 2,475

Overview: Given your old-fashioned personality and obsession with all things 1940s to 1980s, it’s no wonder that most people refer to you as an ‘old soul’ who would’ve rather lived back then than in the modern era. Little do they know, you already did, but with your previous life as Hollie Stark cut short, you’ve been left with some…unfinished business, to say the least. Top of your list? Finally getting to marry your thought-to-be-lost fiancé.

Series Masterlist 🤎 Marvel Masterlist 🤎 Fandom Masterlist

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: HOLLIE JOLLY

'Home' used to be in your modest Washington DC apartment which had been a fair distance between work and family. Back then, you valued having your own peaceful space to relax in with no idiot coworkers or relative disputes to disturb you. Being alone was comfortable then because you didn't know any better, but now you do.

'Home' doesn't feel like home anymore. Whenever you close your eyes and try to remember that time you last lived in an apartment, you just can't seem to see past your days with Bucky. You no longer think about waking up in a soft bed or grabbing something quick to eat before work. You think about waking up on that old mattress on the floor where you could simply roll over and see Bucky already wide awake brewing coffee in the kitchen. You’d spend whole mornings together - whole days really - while enjoying a life that somehow felt more domestic on the run with him than anything else you’ve ever experienced before. You became so accustomed to each other’s presence which felt so...normal and right…you long to feel that again.

Of course, such internal thoughts are never spoken aloud. You don't want to upset your family, especially not when they were so thrilled to see you again. Understandably, they had many questions about your apparent 'new husband' since you had so suddenly dropped the announcement on them two years ago that you’d be moving to Costa Rica with said mystery man whom they’ve never met. Fortunately, it was pretty easy to explain that all away with another ‘white lie’, telling them that you were actually on a top secret mission for work the entire time. They were all breathing sighs of relief, somehow more pleased by the idea that their child might've been on a dangerous spy mission than an impulsive honeymoon.

You stayed with family for a while to catch up, having missed them as much as they've missed you, but it eventually came time to move onward with your life. Although they were sad to hear you'd be moving once again, they were overjoyed to learn you haven’t gone far, at least compared to your last ‘adventure’.

You currently live in Upstate New York which is considerably closer than Romania (or Costa Rica as you’ll let them call it). You don’t just live in any rundown apartment or small house, either - you live at the new Avengers Compound. Really, it’s an excellent fit. You're close to both your families - past and current - with the former believing that you’re working directly for the Avengers which is a better outcome than them finding out you're technically a felon now under house arrest (little details they don't need to become aware of).

You have Tony to thank for receiving only a simple slap-on-the-wrist instead of actual prison time for your crimes. He cleared things up with Ross, arguing in your defense that you 'betrayed' Captain America and the Winter Soldier to help him instead, thus you shouldn't be punished as severely. After lots of debate and nail-biting, it was finally decided that your sentence would be lightened much to your relief: house arrest under the watchful eyes of the Avengers; you haven’t complained.

Living at the compound has been strange and, as you feared, the atmosphere was quite tense in the beginning, not that you could blame anyone. Your former status as an enemy definitely made those first few weeks hostile, however overtime, you've managed to earn the trust of everyone else which may or may not have had to do with your new status as Tony Stark's reincarnated aunt.

...Yeaaah, you were a fool to believe that would stay a secret so long as your nephew was in on it. Apparently, Tony can't keep his mouth shut if it were to save his life, but if anything, you should just be grateful it's only those living at the compound who he told and not the entire world (yet).

No one believed it at first. Even once they realized it wasn't some elaborate joke you were both playing on them, it still took some time to get accustomed to, after all, even if you believe in the idea of reincarnation, it isn't every day that you meet someone who's perfectly able to recall the events of their past life.

Regardless, as awkward as it had been to start thinking of you as some ninety seven year old, it soon turned into an advantage for Happy and Rhodey once it clicked in their heads that you must have a treasure-trove of embarrassing stories to share about Tony and treasure-trove you indeed have. That's why your nephew's currently pouting, slumped against the couch as his friends double over in laughter around him.

"That's not the worst part, though. It was the middle of summer which meant the patio doors were wide open -”

"- Oh no -!" Both men squeal, already knowing where your story’s going.

"- So then you had me, the maid, and like - three gardeners running laps around the yard trying to wrangle a toddler who's having the time of his life as if he's not butt-ass naked and still covered in soap bubbles. That was the last time I tried giving him a bath. My job as aunt was to spoil him, anyways. Who cares if I send him home covered in dirt? As long as he had fun trying to eat it, I guess."

Rhodey and Happy howl with laughter while Tony sinks further into the couch, groaning in embarrassment. Pepper rubs his back as support, although even she's biting back a smile of her own.

Wiping a hand over his face, Tony looks up at you, "You know what I just remembered? How much you liked to make cookies for Santa! Why don't you go do that, huh? I'm sure it'll be nice and nostalgic for you."

"Nah, I'm good. Besides, we're having plenty of nostalgia right here," you shrug, twirling your wine glass before taking a sip in pure enjoyment of his misery, "...Have I mentioned the time Wiz nearly broke his arm jumping out of a tree because he thought -?"

"- Alright, that's enough! Who wants to open presents?!" Tony suddenly shouts, jumping off the couch and clapping his hands together, "Kid, why don't you start handing them out?"

"Right! I can do that!" Peter leaps up from where he had been sitting on the ground against the couch, hurrying to start sorting the massive pile of presents under the Christmas tree with far more seriousness than what’s probably required.

You've only met Peter a few times counting that lovely interaction where he about beheaded Bucky and you in Berlin (which he has apologized profusely for since), but he seems like a good kid. Apparently, he's a young vigilante under the mentorship of Tony whom he clearly admires greatly, so it makes sense that he's spending the holiday weekend at the new compound while his own aunt is out of town.

"Ms. Stark - I mean (Y/n). O-Or, um..." Peter approaches you with a dark blue box with a silver ribbon on top, however he begins to overthink things as he normally does. He's heard some of the Avengers call you 'Hollie' and '(Y/n)', but surely he should be more formal since he isn't an Avenger himself yet. He's just some guy who threw a billboard at you -

"- (Y/n) is fine, kid, or 'hey you' works, too. I'm not picky," you smile kindly at him before taking the present. Checking the name tag, you confirm that your name is written there neatly.

"Who's it from?" Someone asks, you don't bother noting who.

"Doesn't say."

"It doesn't?"

"No..." you examine the whole box, wondering if someone perhaps wrote their name elsewhere, however there's nothing and no one in the room claims it either. While a sender can't be located, you decide to open the present anyways, ignoring Tony's joke that it might be a bomb since Pepper elbows him for you.

Lifting the lip, you find a new tablet inside; an expensive new tablet by the looks even if you don’t recognize the exact brand.

"Woah, I guess someone's been good this year."

"...Yeah..." You're distracted, holding down the power button until the screen turns on rather promptly. Someone's already set the device up since it brings you directly to the home page which has a background photo of a beautiful lake surrounded by lush green trees, although the picture itself is a bit blurry and you think you see a thumb slightly held over the top right corner of the lens; probably not taken by a professional then.

"Well, thank you to whoever my secret Santa is…I just wish I knew who they are."

"Guess you'll just have to ask around with friends and family," Pepper suggests and you nod, looking over the tablet one last time before setting it back in the box so that you can watch others open their own presents.

"What? Did you fall asleep already? 'getting that old?"

You hum tiredly, looking away from the movie you've hardly been watching to Tony who takes a seat beside you, having returned from herding a very sleepy Peter to his room. It's just the two of you now, actually. Everyone else has gone to their rooms, too, worn out from a day of presents, board games, and a big Christmas dinner. Once again, Starks prove to be the best partiers it seems.

"No, but I might pass out if I have to keep watching this damn movie. Holiday movies are sooo cheesy. An AI could write something more interesting - in fact, I’ve seen programs write stuff better than this generic, million in a million script!”

"Oh come on, where's your Christmas spirit?"

"I don't have any."

"You know, for someone named Hollie, you sure aren't very jolly - HEY, STOP! THIS IS ABUSE!" Tony shouts when you begin smacking him with the decorative couch pillow (which he has faaar too many of by the way), "I come bearing gifts and this is how you repay me!"

"Gifts? What kind of 'gifts'?" You ask suspiciously, somehow only now noticing the box he carries under his arm.

He shoves it onto your lap with a roll of his eyes, "Your Christmas present…You're welcome."

You raise an eyebrow, truly confused, "But you already gave me a present?"

"Think of it as a bonus present then," he shrugs nonchalantly. You probably wouldn’t have thought too much about it if not for the way he watches you in the corner of his eyes while taking a sip of wine which makes you even more suspicious.

"...It's not some stupid prank, is it? Like a can of snakes or -?"

"- It's not ‘a can of snakes’. I'm more mature than that," he promises, although you scoff at that idea.

"Oh, really? That sounds like something someone would say before making me open a can of snakes -"

"- Just open the box, damn it. Neither of us are getting any younger here."

Rolling your eyes, you pull the ribbon off the box and open it as ordered. You aren't sure what you expected, but gazing down at the contents, your eyes go wide and your breath hitches, "...Tony -"

"- Dad kept everything in a box in his office...'never let me so much as touch it, so I didn't actually know what was in there myself until I inherited all his shit. I held onto it - you know, for sentimental value and all that crap -, but seeing that I have the real thing now, there's no point in holding onto that dusty old thing myself, not to mention it's technically yours anyways sooo~"

By the time he finishes his sentence, you've already embraced him with tears running down your cheeks. He almost drops his wine glass, but manages to keep it from splashing around as he hugs you back with one arm.

When you eventually pull away, you waste little time taking the ring from the box and slipping it onto your finger where it has always belonged; Bucky's engagement ring - the one he had Steve tirelessly design yet never had the chance to present you with himself...You never thought you'd get to see it again, figuring it must've been buried with you or something, not that Howard and Tony have kept it packed safely away for all these years.

"...This is probably a good time to remind you that you owe me, like, forty two Christmas presents for all the years that you missed, but I'm willingly to cut the number down to twenty five a discount."

"What are you? Five?"

"Five and a half at best."

If you could somehow bend the laws of life even further to visit a council of your own selves throughout the ages, they’d surely be jealous of the current you right now. Why? Because you're finally surrounded by people who know you were once Hollie and accept it. How lucky could you be?

It makes you feel giddy inside - so much so that you hug your pillow to your chest and squeal into it. Have you ever felt this way before? …No, you don't think you have - not since Hollie anyways. (Y/n) has always been torn.

You never really considered it until recently, but as (Y/n), you've never been able to simply...live before. You’ve been expected to be one or the other - (Y/n) or Hollie - while always holding your tongue in fear of letting certain details slip which would surely result in you losing everything you've worked so hard to achieve. You don't have to worry about that anymore, though. You can breathe freely being yourself just as you've always wanted. At long last, you’re finally allowed to be you.

Holding your hand up to the lamp light, you grin at your ring’s beautiful sparkle that you've missed so dearly. Amazingly, it still fits your finger like a glove. You shouldn't be surprised that Howard and Tony kept it along with your other belongings - pictures, jewelry, journals, and more that your nephew had given you after the ring -, however to think you'd ever have them returned? Now that's a stroke of luck, indeed!

Snapping out of your thoughts, you practically shoot up from bed when a ringing sound starts echoing in the silent air. It takes you several seconds to locate the source, digging into the box you had abandoned on the floor to grab the tablet you had opened earlier. The screen shows that a call is coming through and you nearly choke on your own spit when reading the name:

Incoming Call: Bucky

Oh dear...You might end up getting cursed after experiencing this much luck...

NEXT CHAPTER ->

<- PREVIOUS CHAPTER

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blondrichclosetwitch · 4 months

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Blond/Horse 1/8/17

I feel like...

I feel like she....attacked me.

Is this Nusch?

Hi.

I don't know what she did.

How did she even get in? Is it because I asked if she wanted to talk to me?

And so she thought she could talk to me through the pendulum. I don’t want her to talk to me that way.

I meant through the phone.

(groggy) What happened to me during the night?

(pause)

What happened?

My back hurts.

Did she attack me?

I don’t feel well today. I feel shook up.

My head. My neck. I feel like she took all my vulnerable....spots.

Is she.....is she psychologically....

this isn’t you. This isn’t you.

(sighs)

This is blond. (laughs disbelievingly)

Blond why are you attacking me?

Did you attack me last night?

Why?

I’m trying to help you.

All i want to do is help you.

I’m trying to clear our karma.

You have to stop hurting me.

I need peace, i can’t have any more pain.

(pleading) I don’t have any room for it. My body is so broken from the accident.

I don’t have room for you to do any more of this damage to me. You don’t understand (breaking down) i don’t have the space to have bad nights like this. Whenever i have a bad tight, it’s like (fully crying) ...so painful. I need to be able to have a full night of sleep.

I just saw the ayurvedic doctor, and she said she knew i was having nightmares, and i know it’s because of you and my father, and it needs to stop.

Please, try to understand, i am only trying to help you. I only reached out to you yesterday because i saw in the cards that you were in deep pain because of the accident, and holding a secret, and i wanted you to relieve yourself of that anxiety and that mental anguish. I was trying to help you.

But i can’t keep doing this. I don’t want to do this.

I don’t want you...haunting me, i don’t want you fucking with me because i’m not fucking with you.

You’ve got to set me free in that sense.

You’ve got to step into the light, Blond.

I mean it should mean something to you that i already was a Holocaust victim. I’ve already been through. ...i mean granted i committed suicde before they could gas me. Because i wouldn’t let them. But ..we’re not that different.

And even though i don’t know the terrain of your mind, i do know what its like to feel...crazy. Very much so. And i know what it’s like to feel obsessed with love, many times over. I was clearly obsessed with Nusch,i was obsessed with Daniel,..i was obsessed with Jakk.

So i understand.

Though i think i love Jakk now. I’m no longer obsessed.

And there’s real power in learning the difference between love and obsession.

And that when we can put obsession on the altar and get clear from it......because obsession is related to the Devil card, and when we’re chained to our bondage, we’re....we’re chained, we don’t have freedom. But when we can love freely and it doesn’t have that hold on us, and we can breathe, it can be a beautiful thing.

Then it feeds us.

But we don’t need it for survival.

And i learned that in the 2nd cut & clear spell i did before I did the cut and clear....for you. Which is what gave me freedom.

(okay, i forgot about this. Before I did the new year’s eve thing that fakeRandom walked me through, the Tarot Reader suggested to me in a phone session on 11/16/16 that i do something called a cut & clear, where you burn three candles, make three lists, etc. I haven’t gotten to those tapes yet, but I remember it being an extremely painful experience, like I started to have emotional sobbing sessions. And then for some reason, I was told psychically to do one for Blond. To help her let go or something.)

It’s a spell that would give you power, i think. It’s a very powerful spell. It helped me see the truth about my father. Tho that was Katie-slash-Nusch’s help.

And Gina. And Random.

But blonde i need you to understand that i do not want to hurt you...anymore, i never wanted to in the first place. And we have got to stop. Please, hear me.

I mean if anything, I really did always want us to be able to coexist. I really wanted that. And I think that Jakk wanted that too. He really did....from a long time ago.

And i do respect you, and I do know how smart you are...insanely smart. And I’m not as smart as you...but i’m other things.

And hopefully at some point we can learn to...appreciate each other..for what we are.

And i want you to let go of your....whatever it is. The part of you that is pablo, and the part of me that is sonia....we were good friends a long time ago.we were good friends, who were artists together.

And we both loved the same woman, and we *fought* over her. But then we made up before i died.

You were a great great great artist, ...i was merely a blip on a screen as an artist,...but you were a great artist...who was tortured, who never was happy. It makes sense that your soul..has great...torture.

Anyway.

I’m sorry if i upset you by sending you that email....i really am just trying to..get the conversation started and i’m trying to help.

And nusch has been telling me what to do.

I’m just trying to keep everyone alive.

I’m gonna go talk to Nusch right now, if that’s ok. (softly) ok

(pause)

Nusch.

( Tearing up) Nusch.........nusch

Nuuuuuuuuuuuusch

No nusch?

Who is it?

Horse. You gotta catch me up, Horse. Its been awhile.

Hi.

Yeah tell me what’s up

Don’t mind me while i plug in my phone Ok

Jeez. Did blond actually....hear me last night?

So why did she attack me during the night?

Is she like....I thought that she lost her powers? \

So why can she come in?

Do i need to do another cord cutting?

Do i need to do a cord cutting between her & jakk?

Ok.

Is Jakk gonna be mad at me that i emailed her?

Well........

I mean....it’s what the cards said!

Yeah i knew he was gonna be mad at me.

(pause)

When is he gonna talk to me?

Is he divorced yet?

..........................................

What is that about?

Is that about her parents giving me money?

Do you think i need to write Laurie a letter?

It came up in a reading, and then the spirits told me. Well first the spirits told me, and then it came up in a reading with the Tarot Reader, and then it came up in the cards.

So, Horse, are you willing to go as far as to say that yes, she did a spell...i know we went over it before, but you’re saying yes, she did cause my accident.

............

Do you think i should take her to court.

Oh.

You *do*.

How could i prove it, though?

How could I prove it? I couldn’t prove it.

...........................................

“Maggie. “

.....

“Maggie. Maggie.”

“Maggie __________.”

(gasps at visuals and repeats the name)

Holy shit.

..................................

(starts walking around) Holy shit!

Fuck.

Did Lonnie know they were doing witchcraft?

.............

(incredulous) Did Lonnie know about the accident when he met me?

................

He just hadn’t put it together.

Holy shit.

Would lonnie help me get in touch with maggie?

.................................

Would lonnie keep it a secret from Blond that i asked him to meet with me?

Fuck.

......

But you want me to press charges against Blond.

(whispers) holy shit......holy shit

Is that even possible?

(googles) “ witchcraft cases in nyc”

Huh.

........................................................................................

Would it work?

.............

Would Blond be put in jail? ........................................................................................................................... Is Jakk protecting her right now?

....................................................................

Cause he knows she did it. .........................................................................................................

Is Blond..psychologically....insane?

Is Jakk still under her spell? No. And they’re divorced now.

So now what?

(pause)

I can’t even believe this.

You people are so fucked up.

(end tape)

#watch the tapes

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cinnamonroll04 · 2 years

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i don't know what it is about seeing different actors you know of (and mildly obsess over) in the same show that is quite satisfying but it is

#the list of obsessions is getting longer and longer but I don't have anymore space in my bio to put them #this is getting out of hand #david tennant #andrew garfield #freema agyeman #good omens #tasm #new amsterdam #doctor who #tenth doctor #spiderman

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thatgoblin · 3 years

Text

RE Cul De Sac 1A

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Pairings: Leon x Chris

Summary: Leon finally is out from under the government's thumb and is trying to find his place with his new found freedom. A call from an old friend lets him know that he has a place if he doesn't want to stay in D.C. anymore. It just so happens to be with the mostly retired BSAA captain.

Warnings: None

Leon had never felt so exhausted before. Usually he was good with catching a few winks of sleep on the plane between missions and home, but he had passed out completely on the plane to the non-descript city that held his new life. Thankfully he was left alone even with the soft snores drifting around the cabin.

Ears back and eyes narrowed as his tail flicked around to warn anyone who may cross him, he trudged through the airport towards baggage claim. All of his stuff from his apartment had already been packed up and shipped, leaving him with just a few personal supplies and clothes as he finished up his leave of absence paperwork.

He hadn't quit the DOS, but he managed to secure a good few months of leave that would let him actually rest and have a life. With new people in charge, it was easy to get his leave approved as well as a change of address. Hell, Claire had said she'd get Chris and the others to put in a good word for him at the BSAA if it meant he'd stay off of active duty for a while.

While he appreciated the offer, he was going to take his time off first. It was an elusive animal and now that he had it in his hands, he didn't want to lose it.

Once at the carousel of bags, Leon grabbed his before pulling out his phone.

'Message when you get out front. We'll pull up to the curb to get you.'

Tucking his phone away, Leon headed out to the front. The airport itself wasn't actually that big, at least compared to others he'd travelled to. It was a straight shot from the gates to the baggage claim and then the pick up lanes outside. In fact it was a relief to be so simple. No trams or stairs to take, no one to pass because they're going slower than everyone else. It took him just five minutes to get from his gate to the front and that was when he stopped for his suitcase.

Standing at the curb, he took his phone out again and shot a quick text to Claire.

'I'm outside.'

The late September air felt so different from the muggy oceanside air in D.C. It was soft and had a slight breeze. Not scorching hot but not biting cold. It was that transition time where it was perfect to have the windows open all day and night before autumn truly hit.

A red truck pulled Leon from his thoughts as it stopped in front of him. Before he could even register who was in it, the passenger side door flew open and Claire jumped up to squeeze him.

"You made it!" She cried, grinning before letting go. Leon had no time to react as she grabbed his luggage to throw in the back seat of the cab then climbed in after it.

"Hey," Chris said, smiling at him and waving from behind the wheel.

"Hey," he replied, climbing into the truck. Once the door closed, Chris pulled away from the sidewalk.

"How was your flight?" Claire asked, leaning forward between the front seats onto the console. Her tail was wagging briskly, thumping against the seats as her ears were perked and ready to listen.

"It was okay. Slept through most of it," he said. "Just finished up paperwork at the office the night before and only got a few hours of sleep."

"Well, now you'll be able to catch up on your cat naps!" Claire said with a giggle.

"If I weren't so tired, I would give a sassy come back," Leon said with a snort as he shook his head.

"Ignore her," Chris said. "She's had 3 cups of coffee and has cleaned my house at least twice in the last 12 hours. Jill has kicked her out for the day because she's tried of Claire trying to rearrange the dishware in the kitchen."

"I just wanted to have things perfect for when you got here," Claire said with a heavy sigh. "Besides, Chris' house needed it. We even decorated it a bit better too. Now it actually looks like a home and not some squatters place. I swear Chris, sometimes I wonder if you like anything outside of work."

"You're one to talk," Chris said. "If it wasn't for Jill, your place would look like a frat house."

"No it wouldn't and you know that," Claire grumbled. "You're just mad that I have better taste than you."

"Oh no, whatever will I do?" He said, rolling his eyes as he pulled onto the highway.

"Probably have Piers invade and turn it into a military museum if you're not careful," Claire said with a snort.

"You talk too much," Chris huffed.

"And what's wrong with that?" Claire asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I don't know, but maybe the fact that Leon just got in the truck and he's already nodded off despite you chattering," Chris said with a smirk.

Looking at Leon, Claire say the cat boy had indeed nodded off. His face rested against his fist, propped up by his elbow on the window sill.

"Poor guy," Claire said, softening her voice to let her friend rest. "Probably hasn't had a decent night of sleep in a while."

"I'd say it's been a lot longer than just a while," Chris said, his own voice lowering.

The drive home wasn't that long, 20 minutes in the late morning traffic. Claire had settled down, letting Leon rest. Planning to do a few things together could wait. She had been so caught up in her excitement of having her friend move in next door that she forgot the hell he'd exited just a few weeks ago.

It had been rushed for sure, making time and space to get his things there before he did, then trying to figure out what to put in storage and what to put in his room. Leon had sold most of his furniture, really only bringing a few large items like his own TV and bed. His dishes and such were either sold or given away as well, making the move a bit easier.

He was given the guest room in Chris' house, a Dutch Colonial that had been the first house in the Cul de Sac, Albert Wesker's home was a recent addition next door to it.

That was how Chris found out about the older home next to him. Albert had talked about how there were bids to tear the house down because it was so old, built in the 30's and wasn't care of very well after the original owners passed away. The others had purchased the spots of land shortly afterwards before the Home Owners Associate could swoop in and try to put restrictions on what they could build. While theirs were built from the ground up, Chris took his as a project.

It was nearly three months of renovations, which was pretty quick considering how much work had been done, before he could move in completely. It took about the same time for the others' homes to be built.

"Should we wake him up?" Chris asked as he pulled into the driveway of his house.

"I mean, we can't let him sleep in the truck all day," Claire said.

Chris rolled his eyes at his sister who shrugged. Reaching over, he shook Leon a bit by the shoulder.

"Hey, we're home," he said.

The blond tabby opened his eyes before taking a deep breath and stretching.

"Cool." Opening the door, he stepped out and waited for Clair to hand him his luggage. Before she could, Chris was out and had it in his hands. "I can carry my own things," he called after the shepherd.

"Well, it's your first day home," Chris said, turning back to give the other a smile. "Better get used to having someone around for help."

"Does he always do that?" Leon asked, looking back at Claire.

"Basically my whole life," she said with a nod. The two followed the older man into the house, Leon taking in his surroundings the whole time. Inside, he was given a quick tour as there were only a few rooms on the first floor. The second floor was the bedrooms with a bathroom and shower, then the basement for storage.

Leon's room was across the hall from Chris', which was a small comfort of sorts for him.

"I'll go ahead and let you get settled in. I'm sure Claire will let you get some rest before barging in and dragging you off somewhere," Chris said, setting his bags on the bed.

"I was going to let him have the rest of the day to chill out," Claire said, crossing her arms. "Tomorrow is a different story though."

Leon raised a brow at the two, wondering if it had been such a good idea to move in with the Redfield siblings being so close in proximity.

"I'm going to pass out now. I'll try to be awake by dinner," Leon said.

"If you're not, that's okay. Let me know if you need anything," Chris said with a soft smile and a nod.

"Thanks," Leon said, getting enough of a breath in before Claire was wrapping herself around him again but tighter. "Jesus-"

"I'm glad you're here!" She cried into his chest, pulling back to smile up at him.

"Glad I'm here too," he said, a smile tugging at his lips. It was what she wanted to hear and while Leon himself wasn't certain if he was or not, time would only tell.

Master List of Drabbles

Tag List: @abysswhiskey11 @interviewedchicken @lonely-af-fangirl @girl-obsessed-with-things @mmmm----15 @depressedthebluefox @whimsywispsblog @singingsiren98 @parkerschurros @chrissyreid @bohica160 @death-is-beautiful @mittensdun @ravenrune @bsaa-bitch

#resident evil fanfiction #resident evil #fanfiction #chris redfield #claire redfield #leon kennedy #chris redfield x leon kennedy

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randomnessunicorn-imagine · 5 years

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Could I get a Don't ever do that again prompt with Weyoun from DS9 and a female security officer who always gets into trouble? Perhaps fighting a Jem'hadar in order to protect Weyoun? :)

{ I know I’m verylate but I’m still watching DS9 and I was unable to write it before since Ididn’t know the character.

Then his name lookslike Korean, don’t know why, lol, but it’s kind of funny!

If you want a secondpart of this, let me know but you have to tell me a plot, because I’m too lazy to think about it - }

✨ WEYOUN ✨

Peace could not lastforever. Impossible.

For years you hadbeen obsessed with the heaven on earth and the idea that the earth was an Edenbut it was not true. Paradise existed only in the imagination of men, theirillusions. These illusions made them blind.

The earth was apurgatory like any other place and now hostile, mysterious and fickle enemies werecompromising the human race’s safety. Enemies who could take any form, even theshape of your best friend or mother. They did it to know every secret and thendestroy everyone and take any form, take people’s place in the world, and commit crimes and conspiracies under a false name. Sneaky, extraneous, and combative enemies.Enemies similar to the human being of the past when it was still a savage and stilldiscriminated the other human beings just because they had a different skin colouror a different love aspiration. The human race was losing its integrity becauseof these ruthless enemies.

The Earth was notheaven, no planet was because the universe was hell and there was no mercy foranything or anyone. Anymore

You did not want to behavethe same and become like those violent men who had spat on peace and so youdecided to stay on DS9 and help your Captain as much as possible.

The Dominion hadbrought problems everywhere and the panic reached every corner of the space. Noone was safe and no soul could sleep peaceful in the night.

Maybe you were notthe only one who had believed in an awful lie because there were so many otherpeople who still held onto illusions.

They were other kindsof illusions but they still had the same definition: lies told to itself, liesof honey that tasted so good. Beautiful lies that made their lives meaningful,inestimable but they were still lies, and would have dissolved like the morningmist, they would have melted like snow in the sun. Someday, they would havevanished.

At this time, somefanatic aliens who believed that their god was inimitable, fair and perfect, hadinvaded DS9. However, these believers had not even had the possibility ofchoice because the said gods had decided to be worshiped and had decided tochange the original DNA of these races; they modified every individual of thesespecies to reach their dirty and dishonourable purpose. Without consent and morality,defining themselves as gods.

You could not imaginethe changelings, the family of your boss Odo, could be so insensitive andcruel, they only searched for revenge and there was no honour or logic in whatthey pursued. They were only brutal and merciless assassins, anything more. Itwas the horrible truth and truth never tasted like honey, it was bitter anddisgusting.

One of the Changeling’sblind believers was now walking briskly, almost running, on the promenade, hisgaze was focused, serious and composed but you were able to glimpse anotheremotion on his pale face, a feeling that you would define as anxiety. You hadno idea why he was so nervous, but since your duty was to keep the spacestation safe, you decided to keep an eye on him.

The name of thisindividual was Weyoun and you still did not understand if you hated him or ifyou felt sympathy toward him since he was an enemy, but he did not seemthreatening or dangerous, he was not a warrior but a mere diplomat. He lookedso innocent, but you had learned that nothing was as it seemed, you no longerlived in lies and therefore you could not think that he really was innocent.

Nevertheless, youfelt sorry for Weyoun because he continued to obey, believe and submit to thefounders even though they were not real gods because they played with the Vortas’DNA, they genetically modified the Vortas. People who acted in this way couldnot be defined as deities but you also knew that Weyoun and his race would havenever understood this concept and would have continued to adore those changelings,their deities, their masters and jailers.

Afterward, youunderstood why he was running, in fact, he was chased by a Jem'Hadar and thiswas not the first time something like this happened. A Jem’Hadar had alreadykilled Weyoun and so it could have happened again.

You did not helpWeyoun because you were worried about him, you did not want to be a friend ofyour enemy but you helped him anyway because it was your duty. At least, you keptrepeating this motivation to yourself.

You could not feelcompassion for a person like him, just because he had not freely chosen hisfaith and his means and intent were wrong, it did not mean you had the right to be cruel.

Therefore, you ran towardthe Jem'Hadar, you screamed, “Stop! You aren’t allowed to run on the promenadeand any act of violence and harassment is prohibited.” Your voice was authoritative,serious and loud, you pointed your phaser at the Jem'Hadar.

On the other hand,Weyoun did not seem surprised by your reaction but he was relieved because thissituation was stressful, the Jem'Hadars were ignoble slaves, he could not trustthem. While he was listing in his mind all the reasons that made the Jem'Hadar stupidand savage beings, Weyoun hid behind you, without shame or shyness.

Weyoun was sure youwould help him and not just because this was your job but for some other reasonhe was still analysing, he thought you could be particularly interested in him butit was still a mere theory.

Maybe you were drowningin another lie, you were deluding yourself once more but you would never haveadmitted it, or maybe he would have admitted it for you, he would have made yourealizing the truth, your true feelings.

The Jem'Hadar, beforeleaving, looked at Weyoun doggedly, the Vorta would not have escaped forever,and his fate was to dying for the rest of eternity. Actually, Weyoun did notcare about it so much but all these deaths made him wasting a lot of time hecould dedicate to complete his job and help his beloved changelings.

“Oh, Y/N, thankyou very much. That savage Jem'Hadar didn’t want to leave me alone.” Weyoun said,smiling amicably and settled the collar of his jacket that had frayed duringhis ridiculous run.

“I only did my job.”You answered seriously.

“Of course, likeeveryone here.” Weyoun said, looking around with a scrutinizing gaze.

“But why was thatJem'Hadar chasing after you?” You asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

“Ah, I don’tknow, Jem'Hadars have no manners. Many of the things they do make no sense.Maybe he wanted his ration of ketracel-white, it is not the first time theydisobey to a superior order.” Weyoun said, smiling innocently or perhaps insidiously.

“Or he justwanted to kill you. It seems it’s become everyone’s hobby lately.” Youshowed his same smile, talking sarcastically. Maybe you hoped to hurt him withyour words but it did not happen because he chuckled at your joke.

“Is my presenceso unpleasant?” Weyoun asked and you almost heard a charming tone of voicevoice but you knew it was impossible, he could not flirt with you, and then hecontinued, “People only waste their time, they are not like us, verypassionate about their duty, judicious and willing.”

“The presence ofstrangers and people who are threatening the station is not definable as pleasant.”You said firmly. You were exactly the opposite of him: you always said thetruth, nothing but the truth and as a member of security, you had to be honest.“And we’re not the same.” You answered to his last sentence and said, “Otherthan that, don’t do that again!”

“Doing what?” helooked at you with an innocent confusing look.

“Run through the promenade.It’s not allowed, you know, even if they are chasing after you. You can’t doit!” you declared with a cold tone of voice.

Actually, Weyounreally appreciated the way you spoke and behaved, you possessed a charm, maybe it was your courage or maybe it was your blind honesty, which fascinated him a lot. Hesmirked, gently and then he nodded because he did not want to disappoint you.

“I understand and Iwill be more careful next time a wild Jem'Hadar attempts on my life. I did notmean to offend you, mine was just a compliment, anything else. The care and theperseverance you put in your job is laudable, I wanted to expose myappreciation. I am desolated for this misunderstanding.” He said with a softtone of voice, he half closed his eyes, his smile so gentle and you wonderedwhat his real intentions were.

Secretly, you foundhis deceptive ways very alluring, attractive somehow but it was wrong, you felt inadequateand you could not fall for his fake kindness.

You could not even fallfor his sinister and weird games because it made no sense, he was certainly lyingand he had something in mind but the only way to find it out was playing hisown game and see where it would bring you.

“No, don’t worry, I’veexaggerated.” You said politely, but Weyoun could understand you were forcing asmile. You were unable to hide your true feelings and thoughts. He could read you like a book.

“You know I candistinguish lies and truth.” Weyoun said calmly, since you were a bad liar, thenhe kept saying, “You don’t have to be anxious or preoccupied of me, noreason to be.” He tried reassuring you and he looked you in your eyes as if hewas reading the secrets written in your soul, you were hypnotized and lost inhis purple, deep eyes.

You just nodded,unable of speaking or thinking rationally and you loved every word he said.Indeed, Weyoun never stopped talking with his candid and delicate tone, “I’dlike to show you my appreciation, since you have been so kind with me, you havesaved me from that mad Jem'Hadar. Would you like to spend some extra time in mycompany?” His voice so gentle, low and only you could hear his words, nobodyelse even if the promenade was not so crowded but you already forgot abouteverything, about your job, your thoughts of mistrusting and hatred toward the changelingsand you only saw his bright, wide, insightful eyes, nothing else.

You did not havereasons to refuse his invitation and you did not want to do it, even if yourbrain kept warning you that Weyoun was your enemy, you could not trust a liar but somerisk had never killed anyone and so you followed him wherever he would havebrought you.

And then you decided to fall for another illusion, to believe in another lie that tasted like honey, so sweet, gentle and ephemera because it was human’s nature, to live under the dome of delusions.

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readersforum · 5 years

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Your Google Rank Doesn't Matter Anymore

New Post has been published on http://www.readersforum.tk/your-google-rank-doesnt-matter-anymore/

Your Google Rank Doesn't Matter Anymore

For a long time, keyword rankings were a staple part of any SEO campaign. In a lot of cases they were a primary metric used to judge performance.

Today, your Google keyword ranking is just one of several reasons your traffic can increase or decrease.

Google Keyword Ranking

Google keyword ranking indicates where on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) an individual webpage is positioned when a user enters a keyword. Typically, 10 results comprise a SERP, and the higher your position on that SERP, the more organic traffic your webpage will get. Lately, however, there are other SEO variables marketers need to pay attention to.

Just six or seven years ago, we had so much more information on the keywords users were searching to reach our web content. All of this information was available transparently within Google Analytics, and you could get relatively accurate search volume estimates from within Google’s Keyword Tool.

appearance of “not provided” within Google Analytics. This means you can no longer find out which keywords are bringing in the organic traffic your website is receiving. The “not provided” tag looks a little something like this:

This created a ripple effect across many SEO software providers that made a lot of their tools less effective — or at least tougher — to measure the impact coming from organic search on a granular level.

Google’s next major change — a more recent one — was its decision to move search volume estimate within their Keyword Planner tool to show estimates in broad ranges. Instead of learning that a keyword was being searched for 1,400 times each month, we’re told that it’s searched between 1k-10k times per month. This isn’t overly helpful when developing your content strategy.

These changes have forced marketers to adapt their search strategy to focus less on individual keywords and shift to a topic-centric content strategy, especially for content sitting at the top of their marketing funnel.

Keyword Rankings are Inaccurate

One of the major criticisms of keyword ranking data is the fact that it is largely inaccurate. Many industry leaders and even software providers of rank tracking data have admitted that this is the case.

The reasons behind this can be broken down into three broad buckets:

Personalization.

Device.

Location.

Personalization

Around the time of the launch of Google+, the SEO industry was talking a lot about personalization within search. Even after the death of Google+, personalization has remained a big consideration.

Bonus points if you remember Authorship snippets (circa 2012).

Ultimately, Google will deliver results that are personalized to a user based on their search history. This means that if I were to search for a query like “electric cars” and I’d previously been browsing the Tesla website, it’s a possibility that Google would tailor the rankings of the search results to show Tesla near the top.

This wouldn’t be the case for someone that hasn’t previously visited Tesla’s website, which makes it very tough to determine which website actually ranks #1 (because it can be different from one person to the next).

Device and Location

Whilst personalization plays a part in the ambiguity of keyword rankings, it’s nothing compared to the role of implicit query factors like device and location.

One of Google major advancements in search over the past five years has been its ability to take into account aspects of a search query that aren’t explicitly stated. To make sense of what I’ve just said, let’s take a query like, “Boston restaurants”.

Go back to 2010 and a search for “Boston restaurants” would yield a list of relatively generic websites that either talk about Boston restaurants or maybe are a restaurant.

Fast-forward to 2018 and a simple search for “Boston restaurants” will arm Google with a whole lot more information than before. They’re able to see which device you’ve searched from, where you’re located whilst you’re searching, even if you’re currently on the move.

Let’s say that you searched on an iPhone and you’re walking around in the center of Boston at 11:30 am. Here’s what this query would actually look like to Google:

“Which restaurants are currently open for lunch within walking distance of my current location in the center of Boston, MA?”

They’ve gathered all of this information without the individual even having to type it. As a result, they’re able to completely tailor the search results to this individual searchers’ current situation.

So … to answer the question of who ranks #1 for “Boston restaurants” becomes an even more challenging task.

Keyword Rankings are Directional at Best

Strong keyword rankings don’t always equate to high volumes of organic traffic, let alone improvements in revenue. As I mentioned at the beginning, we’ve lost a lot of visibility on search volume metrics, which makes it very difficult to accurately estimate the amount of traffic you can gain from an individual keyword. Factor in the changing appearance of the search engine results page (e.g. the widespread increase in featured snippets) and it becomes an even more daunting task.

If keyword rankings are your North Star, you may be traveling in the completely wrong direction.

Here are three search features that can interfere with your keyword rankings while presenting you with opportunities to capture traffic from Google in new ways:

Featured Snippets

Featured snippets are the enhanced search results that appear at the very top of Google SERPs. They’re a form of “rich snippet,” a grouping of structured data that Google has collected from a webpage. And due to their size, they can take an extraordinary amount of traffic away from the the results beneath them.

What makes featured snippet results so important? Publishers can earn them regardless of their Google rank. That’s right, it is entirely possible for a site below position #1 on the SERP to win this top-dwelling space, making Google rank noticeably less important for topics that are vulnerable to them. Check it out below — as you can see, the featured snippet is pulling in a result that technically ranks in position 3, allowing it to steal organic traffic from the results in positions 1 and 2.

Videos

Video is playing an increasing part in content marketing strategies, and not for superficial reasons. Videos published to any platform, not just YouTube, are now ending up on SERPs where Google has determined the intent behind a search query is best served in this medium.

These video results might take away traffic from publishers, but they also allow you to “rank” for keywords you might not have written content to target.

Image Packs

Image packs are large groupings of images that Google pulls into its SERPs from the Images tab in a Google search. As you can see below, they can be so large that they take up all the space “above the fold” of a SERP. This makes results ranking in position 1 for a particular keyword hard-pressed to capture organic traffic from that keyword unless they’ve published images dedicated to (and optimized for) this keyword.

When all you’re obsessing over is where each page is tracking against a ranking goal, you’ll likely be misses a ton of other value that your content is bringing in. For example, what if you’ve built out some content with the primary goal of driving backlinks or social traffic, but it isn’t necessarily designed to rank for much itself (e.g. a research report)? Using keyword rankings as a determining factor of success could evaluate content in a completely inaccurate way.

Measuring Performance at the Topic Cluster Level

To combat a lot of the issues I raised above, we shifted the way that we measured content at HubSpot. For the past couple of years we’ve taken a step back from analyzing the performance of content on a page-by-page level and looked at the performance of content at the topic cluster level.

Organic search traffic and conversions are our primary search goals, so when we group our content into clusters to try and gain visibility for any searches related to a given topic, we look at the collective performance of these groups of webpages vs just the performance of individual pages.

This model of analysis helps us account for the varying goals of each individual piece of content. Also, running this analysis at scale tells us which topics tend to drive more traffic growth compared to others, and which topics tend to convert traffic at a higher rate.

This information tends to provide much clearer insights for the team as to what they should focus on next without obsessing over individual keyword rankings.

Is There Still a Place for Keyword Rankings?

Despite everything I’ve said above, I’m not actually saying that keyword rankings are dead (I can already see the tweets ready to be fired at me!). Keyword data can be useful for digging into any SEO problems that happen to your site, and also to look into the intent behind certain types of searches.

That said, the new version of Google Search Console that has just recently been rolled out should give you pretty much everything you need here.

More than anything, as a marketer you need to be aware that the data that you’re looking at related to keywords is not 100% accurate. As a result, this should never be your primary performance metric.

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