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headingalaxys-sweet · 2 years

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Neko’s Brought me to my Lover:

Germany 🇩🇪

Germany had just arisen from his still-warm bed. He stretches his limbs so that his muscles have a smooth transition from rest into high heart rate mode. He touched his toes and then lifted his arms to the sky. He then proceeded to change into the black sweatpants he used for jogging and a white T-shirt. He slipped on his usual black tennis shoes and began to finish his preparations for his daily morning jog. He gave his legs a few more stretches and he felt like he was fully ready for his morning run.

“Hans are you ready Katze?” He says in a soft but stern voice.

His grey/ blue eyes nodded in agreement. The cat was also ready to start the day off right.

Ludwig grabbed the green cameo-colored harness and secured it around his precious grey cat, Hans. Ince his cat was ready to go he snapped on his Apple watch to track his morning jogs progress and to count his macros.

‘Alright, let's make today productive.’

Ludwig began his journey into the cool morning air the sun was only grazing the darkened night sky lightly. The navy dome held within it a now collision between the two solar opposites. There was a brilliant reddish-orange that faded into yellow and progressed into cooler hues. Ludwig loved this time in the morning. The world was still quiet and cradled by darkness. When he left his home and began his jog he didn’t immediately start with a run. He took some steps and decided to take in the early morning glory and all it had to offer. The birds chirping and the wind beginning to nip at his ears with the chilled breeze. Peace. The only time where he wasn’t bombarded by the tremendous list of things he had to get done on his to-do list.

He strolled passed the surrounding houses on the pathway that led into the forest he liked to frequent on his morning jogs. The houses were all pastel or solid white. There were floral vines that cascaded down them like a lightning bolt of early Spring blooms of yellow, pink, and blue. While passing the cottages he could see that all but one had their lights on. They were dim and he could smell a green tea of sorts being brewed. While he could only smell the tea Hans could smell another cat nearby in the same house that the scent of tea was wafting from.

Someone else in the neighborhood enjoyed early mornings just as much as I did. How nice.

As Ludwig mused to himself as he continued to the forest Hans decided to wander away from their usual route.

‘Boring I want to do something cool today. Maybe make a new friend that I can make battle plans with.’ Hans begins to maneuver away from Ludwig and re-route himself towards the only cottage that was alive at 5:30 am.

Ludwig only realized his cat had plans when the harness’ lead was suddenly yanked from his left hand.

“HANS! WAS MACHTS DU?!?! WARTEN SIE!” (What are you doing!?! Wait!)

Hans made a mad dash towards the small home and broke in through the cat door in the back that led straight to the kitchen.

‘Mein Gott. Why? And this early in the morning?!’ He lets out a long sigh and begins his way toward the house. ‘I hope whoever lives there isn’t too angry that a rouge cat decided to show up this early in the morning.’

“MEWOOOOOOW.” Hans, announces himself to the inhabitants that live inside. He was greeted by y/n a 20-something that had a cat beside them while they were making breakfast of sorts. Bread, with some sliced meat, and some basic cheese and of course the tea.

“Hello, there little guy.” You were amused that a random cat with a harness decided to bust in your home this early in the morning. You chuckle at the sight. Your cat hides behind your legs and peeks out at Hans.

“Mew” your cat looks up at you.

“Hahah. It’s okay (cat name). It’s just another cat.” You giggle at your cat's reaction to the grey one that seemed interested in trying to meet your cute marble cat.

Hans allows you to pet him. He purrs and even lays down to let you rub his belly. Your cat however was staring at the events like: ‘Bruh. You kidding me right?’ She was not happy with Hans.

Just as you arose from the floor to pour out your steeping tea you hear your doorbell ring.

‘Must be the cat's owner. That was fast.’ You wander to the door to open it to reveal a sturdy-looking German man that was your age. His beautiful blue caught you in a bind.

oh …

“Morgen. Morning. Uh, I’m sorry to bother you this early in the morning but….” Ludwig lets his eyes swing low to the ground. He was caught off guard by how beautiful you were so in an attempt to save face he decided not to stare you down in the eyes. Plus it was hardly 6 am. So the excuse that he’s tired and just trying to get his cat might just be an excuse that could work and not scare you away.

“Seen your cat? Yes, he’s-”

“Mewwww mewwwww~” You hear Hans cry out to your marble cat.

“Want to just come in and maybe have some tea? It looks like your cat has taken a liking to mine” You let out another chuckle that Ludwig finds cute and he is in disbelief that you’re allowing him in. He trails behind you inside to your quaint kitchen where you quickly grab the tea before it got to the point to where it would be bitter and poured it into two mugs.

“Do you take milk and sugar with your tea? It’s Jasmine tea by the way.” You hand the mug to him.

“Just the tea alone will do for me thank you. Again. I’m so sorry about my cat he can be wild sometimes.”

“It’s fine things happen and cats are crazy. No harm no foul.” You retort you really didn’t care.

“Want to have some bread with this sausage? I found this nice bakery yesterday and it was epic and the supermarkets here are fantastic.”

A foreigner.

Ludwig was lost in thought as he watched Hans meowed relentlessly at the marbled cat that stared at him with disgust from the wooden high chair.

‘Verrückt Katze.’

You placed the food on the table and prepared your tea with milk and some honey and watched your two cats go at each other for the next couple of hours.

“By the way what's your name.” Trying to break the silence and ignoring the no answer to the previous statement.

Ludwig snaps out of his trance of watching the cats.

“Huh? Oh Yes, it’s Ludwig Belischmidt. And you are?”

“(First name, Last name) nice to meet you Ludwig.”

“Y/N what a pretty name. So I take it that you’re new ja?”

“Yeah from (Country name). I’m starting a new job here.”

And from there a new relationship between the two of you bloomed. Ludwig takes his time in courting you but it was sweet all the same. Even for your two cats who eventually learned to love each other.

#hetalia fandom #hetalia fluff #headingalaxys sweet #hetalia #hetalia fanfiction #hetalia x reader #headingalaxys writes stuff #nekotalia #ネコタリア #nekoくらぶ #fic writing #hetalia fanfic writers #hetalia imagines #ヘタリア #ヘタリアaxispowers #germany x reader #hws germany

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subbyenbywitch · 1 year

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[tv review] ds9 2x20 & 2x21 "the maquis" (1994)

the lead-in to this two-parter was the tng episode “journey’s end,” y’know the racist one about indigenous people. no, not that one. or that one. or that one. the one with wesley. yeah, there ya go. the chaser was “preemptive strike,” the drastically better episode where ro goes undercover to figure out what’s going on with the maquis and ends up joining them. so, yeah, neat little arc that cuts between two shows to give the titular antagonists of this episode an auspicious introduction.

this wasn’t a phenomenal two-parter or anything, but it gets the job done. sisko feeling personally betrayed by hudson leaving starfleet for the maquis is a familiar look that ds9 will return to again & again whenever they’re the antagonists. i think the first episode did a great job of introducing him and emphasizing his relationship with sisko, and both actors did a really great job of making their relationship feel lived-in so even though this was an entirely new character you really do feel for sisko when he finds out his friend has turned his back on sisko.

dukat’s role in this episode is also an interesting one. i love his dramatic entrance and the tense cooperation between him & sisko. speaking of well-known cardassians, though, in the petty complaints department, this two-parter’s lack of garak was nigh unforgivable. how do you do an episode that’s largely about political intrigue with the cardassians and not include him? c’mon, man!

the politics of the entire cardassian border thing are a bit interesting. like, the thing that ds9 brings up pretty often is that they’re dealing with life on the margins of a spacefaring utopian socialist society whose citizens are largely provided for in every material way, and consequently can generally be relied upon to treat each other with respect & kindness. there’s a line that’s said in a few different places, that it’s “easy to be a saint in paradise,” and what ds9 is often interested in is where the cracks in paradise are, and how people behave there.

i’m anxious to see how i’m going to feel during this rewatch about the way that’s handled on a micro & macro scale, and i’m sure there are going to be things that i violently disagree with. but my overall memory is that where the show usually lands is that all of these people really are dedicated to what the federation stands for. that they don’t want to fight, but that it’s worth fighting for.

i appreciate that sisko refuses to destroy commander hudson’s ship at the end of the engagement when both sides are basically knocked out of fighting commission but not destroyed, because he refuses to kill someone for defending his home. but one thing i would have liked to see tweaked a little bit is the conversation at the end of the episode. when kira tells sisko he should be glad he prevented a war, and sisko is all broody and asks if he actually prevented it or just delayed the inevitable. because when you’re in a position of marginal power in a situation like this, preventing a war for as long as you can is absolutely the most heroic thing you can do? it’s literally at the very limit of what you have control over.

i get why sisko is broody & uncertain here, but i don’t like fading to black on his brooding. i would have liked kira to have a forceful rejoinder about this being literally the most he can do. like, i don’t think anyone could have possibly have expected him to have done as well as he did. there’s maybe like three people in the galaxy who could have pulled it off.

anyway, yeah. pretty good two-parter with banner moments for sisko aplenty.

b-rank

#star trek #star trek ds9 #star trek deep space nine #ds9 #deep space nine #tv review #reviews #tv

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remenar · 1 year

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[Sažetak] 7 Rules for Positive, Productive Change - Esther Derby

"If people won't change, you change the people" izreka je koju sam nedavno čuo. Da li je to ispravan način uvođenja promjena - nisam uvjeren. Velikom rotacijom ljudi u organizaciji stvara se određena doza nesigurnosti i straha. Također, gubi se znanje i iskustvo ljudi koji odlaze iz organizacije. S druge strane promjene ljudi uvode nove ideje i, potencijalno, pozitivne promjene. Kako god, smatram da je ta izreka primjenjiva kao zadnja opcija. Od kada sam pročitao knjigu Black Box Thinking, drugačije gledam na pojam marginal gains. Mala poboljšanja mogu puno značiti kada se sumiraju. Autorica knjige, "7 Rules for Positive, Productive Change - Micro Shifts, Macro Results", bavi se baš tim efektom. Mali pomaci, veliki rezultati. Kroz 7 pravila - više smjernice nego pravila - približava nam kako malim pomacima se mogu dogoditi značajne promjene. Štoviše, sugerira da se uspješnost velikih promjena znatno povećava kroz puno malih promjena nego jedna velika. Ukratko, uživao sam čitati ovu knjigu. I svaku promjenu koju ću pokušati provesti u budućnosti - provoditi ću primjenom ovih 7 smjernica.

Introduction

"Cynefine identifies five domains: obvious (until 2014 referred to as simple), where best practices exist and apply-, complicated, where there is at least one right solution and expertise applies; complex, where new approaches must be invented; chaotic, where the best advice is to stabilize quickly; and disorder, which is a state of unclarity, not knowing which domain applies" "Any given change maybe positive for some people, and a negative for others" "Change is a social progress" "Skill and will aren't always the problem. When they are not, focusing there can prolong an undesirable pattern" "Training may be useful and necessary, but it's not sufficient" "Standardizing nonstandard work may make matters worse" "Long feedback loops delay learning and improvements" "Observed patterns result from many underlying influences"

Chapter 1 - Change by Attraction

"Most people, whatever their position in the organization, would prefer that their experience of change be "above the line", where they have a choice, they learn and grow, and they have a sense of control and personal agency" "A willingness to ler people gat their fingertips on a change orients an organization toward no su much the specific change but rather a comfort with uncertainty and complexity" "The irony is, people live in complexity and engage in complex changes all the time" "We are all experienced at living with uncertainty and managing complexity. Until we go to work" "To use a very common example, when people use war metaphors to describe business activities - collaboration is less likely" "At best, coercion, rewards, and positional authority result in compliance, not engagement, and certainly not in creativity" "Change by attraction is the opposite of "driving change"" "Change by attraction has the opposite effect: resistance fades because there is nothing to push against; there is only something to move toward, by choice" "The 7 rules are not a stepwise process. Use the one that will help generate a movement in the moment" "Rule 1. Strive for Congruence. Congruence is the foundation of integrity and open communication in times of change" "Congruence is the foundation for change by attraction, and in contributes to referent power" "Rule 2. Honor the past, present, and people. Paradoxically honoring the past helps people let go of it" "Honoring the past contributes to referent power by reinforcing respect" "Rule 3. Asses what is. People think change starts with a vision, but it really starts from where you are now" "Assessing what is increases the chance that an intervention will fit the context and will fix or at least improve the problem" "Rule 4. Attend to networks. Work - and change - happens through webs of relationships" "Pay attention to networks, which rely on referent power" "Rule 5. Experiment. Little changes limit disruption and allow people to learn" "Experiment enable people to use their own power to think and learn, and they make people agents of the change" "Rule 6. Guide and allow for variation. Empower reasonable deviation and new possibilities" "Encouraging people to think deeply about what variation (within boundaries) best fits their context increases not only the like hood that a change will fit but also ownership of that change. It also allows for the possibility of creative new solutions, again tapping into people's own power" "Rule 7. Use your self. You are your most important tool for change"

Chapter 2 - Strive for Congruence

"Congruence, in the sense I use it, is an alignment between a person's interior world of thoughts and feelings and the exterior world of their social and physical reality" "Incongruence is a stress state. It is response to feeling or threatened. For many people that's a perfect description of change" "Stress also affects cognitive and emotional processes; it manifests as mental slowness, confusion, and an inability to concentrate. Emotionally, stress leads to irritability, apathy, and a sense of being overwhelmed" "Congruence is an anti-stress state" "Congruence is an individual matter, but it contributes to psychological safety, which is a group level phenomenon, and is tightly tied to group learning" "Demonstrating empathy means you listen, acknowledge, and accept feelings and points of view as legitimate. Empathy is fundamentally about respect" "This is the key: people rarely change because someone has a bright new idea; they change to save something they value"

Chapter 3 - Honor the Past, Present, and People

"When I talk about honoring the past, I'm not suggesting nostalgia or deference to "We've always done it this way". I am talking about respect for some basic fundamentals" "People aren't likely to change just because someone shows up with a good idea or snappy presentation. It comes down to making human connection - understanding where people are coming from and what their challenges and aspirations are" "Most people want to improve, but few want to hear from an outsider, or from anyone else for that matter, that they are wrong" "Logical arguments, data, and persuasion may work for simple changes or those that don't threaten belief, habits, status or identity" "When people are holding on tightly to the past, it's because there is something they value and they have no idea what might replace that in the future" "When a change connects to value, people move toward it without pushing" "Transformational conversations happen when people seek to understand rather than to convince" "Demonstrate that you are willing to listen, engage, and understand other's points of view" "If you are looking to change something, it is worthwhile to pay attention to the quiet wheels too - the things that aren't the current focus of your fixes" "In every organization there are things that work well, good ideas that need a nudge, and people who deeply understand the problem at hand"

Chapter 4 - Assess What Is

"Progress happens through learning, diffusing ideas, adjusting constraints and structures, and dampening and amplifying differences, as well as through interpersonal exchanges and network influences" "The formal structures shown on the chart affect how work gets done - but so do structures that are not visible" "CDE describes the three conditions that determines the speed, direction, and path of a system as it self-organizes" "What people do about these concerns depends on where they sit in the organization, perspectives that I call Steering, Enabling-and-Enhancing, and Making domains, or the SEEM model" "The Steering domain has to do with directional decisions that affect the entire organization" "The Enabling-and-Enhancing domain is about funding and prioritizing work so that it flows smoothly into teams (clarity), makin sure teams have what they need to do their work and are actually functioning effectively" "Quality is an amorphous concept that can mean different things to different people"

Chapter 5 - Attend to Networks

"Overlooking networks and inadvertently breaking one costs time and usually money" "Networks don't rely on positional, reward, or coercive power.They form based on relationship, trust, and expertise" "When I'm working on a project, I generally want to know two things: whose opinions are trusted and respected and whom people go to for advice" "While there is no doubt that we are all connected through chains of personal relationships, however remotely, influence does not persist through all these steps" "Understanding existing networks can speed the flow of information and identify key people to include early on" "During times of uncertainty and change, emotions surge. In the absence of information, people will fill any information gaps with their worst fears" "Rumors telegraphs what people are worried about. Paying attention to rumors enables tuning communication to allay concerns"

Chapter 6 - Experiment

"Big changes are often perceived as threats. Big changes are also big bets" "Working small on influencing factors is often the only way to make progress on big problems" "As I'm using the term, experiments are tiny interventions intended to learn about how a system respond, to nudge things in a better direction, and to suggest what to experiment with next" "Keep an eye on the end goal, but keep experiments small, even tiny" "The key is to find something you can act on now, without the budget, permission, or an act of God" "Every experiment should have a rational hypothesis, informed by what has happened in the system up till now, and difference that is desired" "Design experiments to manage risk, not to eliminate it" "The following questions were tested by dozens of coaches and consultants to aid them in forming that lead to learning (and limiting disruption): - What factors may contribute to the current problem or situation? - Which factor can you control or influence? - What is your rationale for choosing this experiment? - What questions are you trying to answer? - What can you observe about the situation as it is now? - How can you detect the experiment is moving in the desired direction? - How might you detect that the experiment is moving in an undesirable direction? - What is the natural time scale? - If things get worse, how will you recover the situation? - If things improve, how will you amplify the experiment?" "Experiments do no come with a guarantee of success, unless learning is the goal. Learning and innovation both require stepping into unknown. Mistakes happen"

Chapter 7 - Guide, and Allow for Variation

"Standardize for simple problems where best practices apply, simplify and call on experts for complicated ones, and allow for local variation and emergence when problems are complex" "Boundary stores provide a way to avoid mandating when it is unnecessary (and potentially harmful) and achieve desired outcomes" "In complex systems, however, change happens and new patterns form through small evolutionary steps" "Change involves modifying conditions and adjusting constraints, structures, and policies" "Complex change is impossible to predict, and frankly messy" "Try something, observe, adjust, and keep moving forward until the way becomes clear" "When people have freedom to bring their own knowledge, experience and intelligence to refining a change, they own it. They aren't victims, but co-creators. That's a success story"

Chapter 8 - Use Your Self

"Change is a social activity, and how you show up matters" "There are several skills that will serve you well in change (and in life in general): empathy, curiosity, patience, and the ability to observe" "It is a foundation for applying these other skills" "Curiosity seeks out factors that contribute to a situation so that they can be mitigated or ameliorated" "Framing your questions can help fill in the gaps. Hone your question-aksing skills with who, what, when, where, and how questions to learn more about the environment" "I try to avoid why questions. Why questions may cause people to feel defensive or that they have to come up with a cogent explanation when they don't have one" "Even if we can't generate results in complex systems, observations can inform and support a rationale for experiments and interventions" "Empathize and be curious; that will help activate patience. Then observe to enable informed experiments"

Dodatne poveznice

GoodReads: 7 Rules for Positive, Productive Change: Micro Shifts, Macro Results Amazon: 7 Rules for Positive, Productive Change: Micro Shifts, Macro Results Blackwell's: 7 Rules for Positive, Productive Change: Micro Shifts, Macro Results Esther Derby: https://estherderby.com/

Preuzimanje sažetka

https://vladimir.remenar.net/sazetak-7-rules-for-positive-productive-change-esther-derby/ Read the full article

#agile #change #marginalgains

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alexandreawinstone · 1 year

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What are FADS?

The definition of a Fad is a form of behavior that results in popularity over a short period of time, this can evolve from cultures, generations or social groups. The word fad is evolved from the meaning of short-lived popularity but fades away, it is often seen as sudden, short-lived and quick spreading. It includes diets, clothing, toys and makeup. Some popular fads throughout the fashion years include corsets, which were invented in the 16th century and quickly become very popular in 2022, to adding feathers into your hairstyles in 2010 generated from the 70s era creating that bohemian vibe.

Macro

A macro trend refers to a large shift in the consumer behaviour that will affect a business long term, lasting 5-10 years, for example social media. Social media has created a major shift within the industry as it has become increasingly popular as time goes along and has lasted for years.

Micro

Micro trends tend to accelerate the process meaning they leave the trend cycle much quicker, because they rise to popularity quicker. Social media apps like Tik Tok, Instagram and Snapchat are the main platform to micro trends as the turnover to posting an image or video to an online platform is much quicker then printing a report in a magazine or waiting to see a catwalk. Celebrities have a major influence on micro trends as they have a large target audience that aspire to them, them being a major fashion influence to their audience. Even TV shows and films are an influence on society, for example in season 2 of Euphoria there was an 89% increase for a black cut out dress worn by the character Maddy Perez. Micro trends are short lived as they are normally impractical to wear, for example micro miniskirts, since the 00s these have been in and out of fashion many years but only lasting a short period over the season. This is because of their impracticality; the low waist and miniature length has meant that it has become difficult to wear in the winter and for day to day lifestyle and quickly fades onto the next trend.

How will this effect my work?

Understanding what a fad is effectively is useful for my upcoming work as I can identify which ones are fads, for my project it is important to understand which is the best to use as a trend generator. Trend generators will use fads to help them discover the short-lived trend of that season. I think that I will need to focus on some fad trends and designs for my A/W23 lookbook collection, as it can increase the sales within the industry. However, there are some cons to fads, as it’s a short-lived trend it normally only lasts for a season this can effect sales as it isn’t as stable compared to classic trends which are always succeeding. Fads are important withing the industry and not just throughout my project, mistaking a fad for a trend could result in a major loss of sales as it’s not what the consumer wants that season.

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thelaalzari · 2 years

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Delicate Floral Prints and Embroidery For Late Spring With Flower Power!

Only the fall season was allowed to wear flowery designs not too long ago. However, flowers are now as vital to your outfit as black. Having said that, fall is the time of year when flowers come out of hiding and are flaunted by many to complement the changing of the seasons.

This fashion display was inspired by the fall season and featured a variety of flowery clothing. It's time to change your wardrobe in preparation for the next fall season. So stop worrying now! Laalzari has never abandoned you, and we won't stop assisting you while the seasons and their dynamic fashion changes pass. Read on to see some of our favorite looks from the flowery autumn collection:

Satin silk affairs!

Introducing this magnificent outfit, which combines the indo-fusion ethnic designer crop top with the charm of the color purple. a soft satin silk dress with a scalloped design cut dana flower embroidery, and sequins. This dress is made with a distinctive neckline and front split pleats that capture the vibrant fall.

Town Of Lilies!

The Emerald-hued vintage lilies organza ethnic outfit, beautifully highlighted with hand-made gota embroidery on dupatta, paired with a printed with meticulous texture. Embroidered ensemble with theatrical hand-stitched detailing, following the route of her grace, decorated with antique beads, crystals, and stones in hints of pearls.

Floral Sapphires

Fabricated in pure organza this beautiful blue suit features ensembles that are custom printed with macro flower motifs fading in and out. This surreal illustration is accentuated with contemporary floral prints and embellishments in pop-colored tints.

Banarasi blues

This beautiful range of banarasi suits is designed with floral, classy patterns, and floral designs with bright hues. The best features of these handwoven embroidered suits are that it is lightweight, smooth, sheer, shining, and a must-have to style in this late spring season. This pure banarasi silk suit is beautifully designed in blue and floral patterns highlighting beautiful flower motifs on the dupatta. A pretty floral dream to wear on all occasions. Exuding regality, our upcoming release encapsulates your desire for be versatility, timelessness, a little magic, and Banarasi blue sparkles.

#ethnicwear #indianwear #fashion #onlineshopping #saree #ethnic #indianfashion #traditional #indianwedding #kurti #instafashion #sarees #sareelove #style #lehenga #india #traditionalwear #partywear #fashionblogger #kurtis #wedding #ootd #sareelovers #bhfyp #handloom #designer #weddingdress #dresses #cotton #suits

#ethnicwear indianwear fashion onlineshopping saree ethnic indianfashion traditional indianwedding kurti instafashion sarees sareelove style

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xtruss · 2 years

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How Has Turkey’s Economy Kept Growing Despite Raging Inflation? Many Turkish Businesses Are Struggling To Cope

— Briefing | Industrial tension | July 21, 2022 | The Economist | Gaziantep and Istanbul

On the wall of Savas Mahsereci’s office is a black-and-white photograph of his father and grandfather making shoe soles from recycled tractor tyres. The room is upstairs from his factory on the outskirts of Gaziantep, a city of 2m people in south-eastern Turkey, close to the border with Syria. Like his forebears, Mr Mahsereci is in the recycling business. His family firm, mtm Plastik, makes refuse bags, disposable gloves and pellets for use in moulded products. The business has grown rapidly. It now occupies 20 times as much factory space as it did in 2004, and started exporting in 2016. Supply bottlenecks in China are “a big opportunity for us”, he says. Other industrial firms in Gaziantep are benefiting. The city enjoyed record exports last year, says Mr Mahsereci.

Outside observers may find stories of thriving Turkish businesses hard to believe. Since 2018 the country has limped from one currency crisis to the next. Foreign investors have shed Turkish bonds and stocks. The lira has slumped. Inflation has jumped to almost 80% (see chart 1). Yet the economy has somehow kept going. In the swisher parts of Istanbul, 1,100km west of Gaziantep by road, all the signs of a thriving emerging-market mega-city are on display: bustling commuters, well-stocked shops, gridlocked traffic.

The resilience of Turkey’s real economy is something of a puzzle. It was one of the few big economies that managed to grow at all in 2020. Last year gdp rose by a handsome 11%. Recent figures show that industrial production rose by 9.1% in the year to May. Even seasoned businessmen have been taken by surprise.

At the centre of the mystery is a tug-of-war between two forces. On one side is a business dynamism that drives Turkey’s economy forward. On the other is the erratic policymaking that has undermined it. Under pressure from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the central bank has kept interest rates unduly low in the face of leaping inflation. That is especially unwise as Turkey is a low-saving country that needs to attract foreign capital to cover a persistent deficit on its current account, a broad measure of the balance of trade (see chart 2). It is an importer of energy, with much of its gas supplied by Russia and Iran. When energy prices rise, its trade deficit—and its need for foreign capital—tends to increase.

Until now, dynamism has trumped fragility and bad policy. But beneath the surface, there are signs that Turkey’s monetary instability is catching up with it. The authorities have resorted to desperate measures to husband the country’s diminishing stock of foreign exchange and to prop up the lira. But credit is drying up and investments are being put on hold. Runaway inflation has left many people struggling to make ends meet. Mr Erdogan faces presidential and parliamentary elections in June 2023 at the latest and he trails in the polls. He has dominated Turkey’s politics for two decades and seems unlikely to go quietly. Economically and politically, the coming months are likely to be volatile.

Bazaar To Bizarre

For a while, Turkey had the macro-economic stability that now eludes it. Reforms after a crisis in 2001 were transformative. One big change was the granting of greater independence to the central bank in pursuit of low inflation. New laws put constraints on public spending and opened up government procurement to competitive bidding. When Mr Erdogan came to power in 2003, he stuck to the new policies. Inflation dropped to single digits. gdp growth took off. Productivity picked up.

But over time the impetus for economic reform faded. The central bank succumbed to political pressure and lost sight of its inflation goal. Mr Erdogan’s love for grand infrastructure projects was given free rein. The procurement law was gutted. Building contracts were handed out to cronies. A building boom displaced export-led manufacturing as the economy’s engine. Construction is a low-productivity industry, so the quality of gdp growth dropped. It is also notoriously sensitive to interest rates—perhaps one reason for Mr Erdogan’s insistence on keeping them low.

Even so, a decade of easy money and surplus global savings after 2008 kept Turkey’s international credit line open. But there were balance-of-payment scares, such as during the “taper tantrum” of 2013, when the prospect of tighter monetary policy in America sparked an emerging-market mini-crisis. By the summer of 2018, Mr Erdogan’s belligerent insistence that high interest rates were a cause of high inflation, and not a cure for it, sparked a flight of foreign capital. The lira began a steep collapse in value (see chart 3). The last vestiges of central-bank independence were destroyed. Three governors were sacked by Mr Erdogan in as many years.

In the closing months of 2021, interest rates were cut by five percentage points, to 14%. The lira came under renewed pressure. Inflation has since surged from about 20% to almost 80%. But Mr Erdogan is unmoved. Those who insist on a link between interest rates and inflation “are either illiterates or traitors”, he said recently.

Amid such chaos, it is remarkable that the economy has kept going as well as it has. Much of that is the result of Turkey’s many commercial strengths. It has a large domestic market of 85m mostly young consumers, and has long been a staging post for trade between east and west. The country’s business culture has deep roots. The proportion of the population that aspires to be entrepreneurs is high by international standards.

There are, broadly speaking, three kinds of Turkish business. The first is large firms, often conglomerates. These account for a quarter of employment and half of the business sector’s value-added. Some are joint ventures with European firms. The best manufacture high-quality capital goods, car parts and military hardware for export. They approach German levels of productivity. At the other end of the scale are small, unregistered firms, with low productivity. In between is a third group of medium-sized family firms, with some workers on the books and others not.

This structure helps explain the agility of Turkish business. Many large firms are conservatively run and diversified across industries and export markets, which gives them a built-in resilience. The largest conglomerate, Koc Holding, has four main divisions: vehicles and parts (in joint ventures with Ford and Fiat), white goods, oil refining and banking. Sabanci Holding, another conglomerate, has retail, energy, cement-making, banking and manufacturing businesses.

The best mid-sized family firms share with them a nimbleness that comes from years of living with economic volatility. Turkey has a history of high inflation. Bosses have become experts at juggling finances. Companies have had time to adjust to a weak lira since 2018. Many have reduced their dollar debts.

Smaller firms adjust by other means. The line between company and household is blurred. Risks are pooled among family members. Very often the response to adversity is to work harder. Four-fifths of the workforce put in more than 40 hours a week in their main job, one of the highest shares in the oecd—though long hours compensate for low labour productivity. Another strategy for small and mid-sized firms is to push business into the grey economy, where wages often do not keep up with inflation or minimum-wage laws.

Istanbulls

Hard work and agility help businesses to keep going. But they also need demand. One of the big surprises in Turkey has been the strength of consumer spending. Inflation in the high single-digits has weighed on consumers in Europe and America. Yet, in Turkey, far higher inflation has not sapped demand. There are plenty of theories as to why. One is that consumers saw the fall of the lira, knew what that meant for future inflation, and splurged in anticipation of higher prices. Durable goods in particular are a hedge against inflation. New cars, white goods or imported luxuries hold their worth better than lira, even if they are not as liquid a store of value as, say, gold coins or dollar bills. With interest rates so low in real terms it is almost negligent not to borrow to spend.

But credit is not the only fuel. Turkey’s young population has a high propensity to consume out of wealth gains, says one Istanbul-based economist. And well-off householders have much of their wealth tied up in foreign-currency deposits and property, which have held or increased their value.

For companies that sell mainly in Turkey and for whom imported raw materials are a big part of total costs, the lira’s collapse is a headache. But it has been a big stimulus to exporters whose costs are mostly in lira and whose revenues are in hard currency. The real exchange rate (that is, adjusted for relative inflation in Turkey and its export markets) is what matters for export competitiveness. Turkey’s has fallen a long way (see chart 4).

There are other factors that also favour Turkish exports. The cost of shipping from Turkey to Europe is far lower than from China. Goods can be shipped from Gaziantep via local ports in less than 72 hours, says Mr Mahsereci, compared with a minimum of a month from China. And supply is more reliable. Turkey can also export via the Aegean or the Black Sea.

Yet accelerating inflation poses big challenges for even the most agile business. One is pricing strategy. It is tricky to judge where to pitch prices. Too high, and you risk losing market share to rivals; too low, and you may find you do not cover replacement cost. Hard decisions seem to multiply. “You have to be ready to negotiate with all of your customers and all of your suppliers all of the time,” says a businessman. “It is very, very tiring.” Some prices are slow to adjust. A large share of mobile-phone subscribers have 12-month contracts. Many are still on last year’s prices.

Businesses must protect themselves from inflation to survive. This often means that the cost is pushed onto others. That creates tensions—between landlords and tenants, shops and customers, and firms and their suppliers. No business can afford to defer the settlement of its customers’ bills for very long. “Payment terms of three to six months are down to zero to three months,” says an Istanbul-based investor. And there are other pressure points. Turkey’s external deficit has not gone away. In principle, devaluation is a remedy. It works by stimulating exports and crushing demand for imports. The export fillip is working, but strong consumer demand has kept imports high.

Against The Flow

Turkey must either attract fresh foreign capital or draw on its existing reserves of foreign currency. Both are becoming harder. The quality of capital inflows to Turkey has steadily degraded over the past 20 years. Foreign direct investment (fdi), the “stickiest” form of capital inflow, has not matched the levels of the mid-2000s, when Turkey followed more orthodox policies (see chart 5).

Some European bosses now see Turkey as a potential alternative to China as they seek to shorten and diversify their supply chains. Last year ikea said it would move production of some of its furniture from Asia to Turkey. Hugo Boss, a clothing firm, said it would add capacity to its factory in Izmir to reduce reliance on Asia. But Turkey’s monetary instability—and a deterioration in governance and the rule of law—is a bar to another fdi boom. Portfolio flows into Turkish bonds and shares have evaporated. That leaves Turkey ever more reliant on short-term syndicated loans extended to local banks. As interest rates go up worldwide, these are harder to come by.

The situation for reserves is also perilous. Turkey’s central bank has burned through tens of billions of dollars trying to prop up the lira. Official reserves of foreign currency are negative if swaps with local banks are taken into account. (The central bank still has holdings of gold.) Meanwhile private-sector demand for dollars and euros has risen. At their peak last year, two-thirds of bank deposits were held in foreign currency. The growing illiquidity in currency markets means exporters have every incentive to hoard dollars and euros from their overseas sales.

The authorities are striving to curb this creeping dollarisation and to stop the lira from falling further. A scheme has been in place since December which indemnifies deposits switched out of dollars or euros and into lira from exchange-rate losses. In January Turkish exporters were ordered to hand over 25% of their hard-currency earnings to the central bank. That figure was raised to 40% in April. Complaints from corporate treasurers that they needed a float of dollars and euros to pay for vital imports or to service debts had no effect.

In a sign of growing desperation, the authorities went further. On June 24th Turkey’s bank regulator said it would ban loans to firms that cling to significant hard-currency holdings. This measure was to stop companies borrowing lira on the cheap to speculate in dollars. The initial reaction in Istanbul was shock. Suddenly the main concern of corporate Turkey was not inflation but a potential credit crunch.

Not (Yet) Melting Down

If the regulation is strictly enforced, says one executive, banks will be unwilling to lend and firms will be forced to cut back on non-essential spending. Some may struggle even to get enough trade credit to finance their working capital. It may not come to that. Noises from Ankara are that the banks will not bear the burden of verifying whether borrowers are complying with the new regulation.

Still, companies are turning cautious and big investments are being put on hold. “Everybody is waiting for the elections,” says an investment banker. Mr Erdogan’s ak Party is clearly behind an alliance of six opposition parties in opinion polls. He trails in polls against the plausible opposition candidates for the presidency. His defeat would probably mean a return to monetary orthodoxy.

Taming inflation would be a big and painful job, but Turkey’s experience after 2001 shows that, with the right policies, it can be done. fdi could rebound to take advantage of Turkey’s position as a low-cost manufacturing hub on Europe’s doorstep. A rally in the stockmarket is plausible, given how cheap Turkish shares have become. Yet electoral defeat for Mr Erdogan is far from certain. He has jailed political opponents, bullied the media, sought to suppress free speech and could resort to all manner of chicanery to cling to office. Many of the people interviewed for this article did not want to be named.

And before then, the exchange-rate crisis might enter a new, more combustible phase. Once the summer is gone, and the boost to hard-currency earnings from tourism starts to fade, things could get dicey. A tranche of protected lira deposits matures at the end of August. The state has $6bn of external debt payments due in the second half of this year, according to Morgan Stanley, a bank; big companies and banks have $23bn coming due. It seems unlikely that all these debts will be fully rolled over. Yet somehow the diminishing stock of foreign exchange must be augmented—or husbanded. In a worst-case scenario, limits might be placed on withdrawals of householders’ dollar deposits.

Perhaps the economy will somehow muddle through until the elections. As strange as Mr Erdogan’s approach to monetary policy has been, his fiscal policy has been quite conservative. The public debt-to-gdp ratio was 41.6% of gdp last year. This is comfortably below the debt burden of Turkey’s emerging-market peers. Given the country’s low solvency risk, perhaps its friends in the Gulf might stump up some of their petrodollars.

Turkey has withstood some remarkable strains. Now, more than ever, Turkish businesses are focused on survival. Inflation breeds uncertainty and uncertainty breeds caution. The things you must do, you keep doing, says a businessman. The rest can wait. “You live another day.” ■

— This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline "Inflation Nation"

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superbnature · 6 years

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autumn - fading beauty - 2 by gerkenmartin http://ift.tt/2hkU1IL

#autumn #yellow #color #water #macro #contrast #light #drops #shadow #dark #fading #black forest #Schömberg #tele

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uroboros-if · 11 months

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Please please share some coding/designing wisdom. Your game is so damn pretty 😭😭😭 Could you tell us what template you used and how hard it was to make it look like it is today? I imagine so much work must have gone into it

😭😭 I am no expert, but these are just my rationale/methods behind the visual choices I made!

For the template I used—I used Vahnya's Template! However, this post by @/manonamora-if has a whole section for templates that I wish I saw or checked out before making my IF! In another lifetime, I might've just used nyehilism's template to achieve the bottom sidebar instead of torturing myself learning how to do it... ;;

Below, I go into detail the timeline of designing Uroboros, as well as advice through the process I went!

Design Timeline

I started designing the UI late October 2022, and kept fixing, changing, editing it well into February and maybe a little bit of March 2023.

October 2022 - Early iterations of the design. Looked for stock images and began implementing it to add a background to the sidebar and the actual passages. Swatched some color palettes and began implementing them into the IF. Later decided to make the sidebar on the bottom instead of on the side. Also, added a title screen.

November - Testing different backgrounds for the IF's sidebar. Added a textbox to the passages, also worked on the black fade transitions.

December - Finished working on the sidebar background for both light and dark theme, began work on the background of the IF instead.

January 2023 - Finished working on the dark and light theme backgrounds! Started work on drawing the skill icons for light and dark theme, and finished!

February - Changed the title screen to look better on mobile, created a circle logo, added a border to the textbox. Also, made further edits for light theme.

March - Just remade the "Uroboros" logo.

If you're wondering why it took approximately 5 months to get to the final version—don't worry! I wasn't working only on the design for 5 months. My partner helped make the edits for the design, while I worked on coding them in and writing.

I spent a lot of time trying to get a grasp on Javascript, SugarCube, and HTML all throughout this time as well, to know how to fluidly add these things. Meaning, while I was working on these visual elements, I was also figuring out how to do the "looking" mechanic, black and white transitions, figuring out how Tweego worked, radio buttons, and so on.

Do note I've been busy the entire time throughout, so perhaps you can do this much quicker than I can!

The "Secrets"

1. Please—look at IFs you love! What are some visual aspects of other IFs that you love and want to include in your story? I started by analyzing parts of other IFs that I love. I liked Wayfarer's textbox; I liked how the choices looked in When Twilight Strikes. I liked the textboxes in the beginning of Zorlok. Find the things that amaze you about other IFs, and implement it your own way!

This seems like super basic advice—but trust me, once you think, "How can I put this in my game?" you will not only be able to have it, but most likely, you'll also learn a LOT.

While seeing how I could make the radio buttons, for example, I started researching. I googled "How to live change text?" and then I found out about jQuery, how to use the replace macro, etc. etc. JUST from researching how to do exactly one (1) feature.

2. What is missing in other IFs? Think about your own reading experience. I didn't like the clunkiness of some, how the sidebar is on the side when space on a mobile-screen is severely limited length-wise. So, I put the sidebar on the bottom.

I didn't like how other choices look in IFs, so I wanted a way to do mine that's nice and elegant(though it's still a little hard to read, admittedly).

Again, researching how to do the things you want opens many doors for you. I learned how to style <li> and change how bullets look, learned how to style links in Twine in general, etc. etc. again with just this ONE thing I wanted to change/add.

3. Don't do the work all by yourself. I struggled so hard because I hate asking for help. I was happy to Google other people's problems, but I never thought to open up my own thread or ask anybody in the community for help. Please, not only ask, but also—your work doesn't have to be completely original.

Use templates. Look at manon's amazing masterlist of things you can implement. I also have a few macro's that you can use, like multipronouns for MC, that does the work for you, for free.

Rip people's codes—respectfully. I'm not saying from other IFs, but online in other places. If they appear on help forums or are publicly available through places like CodePen, chances are that they're open-source or licensed in such a way that anyone can use it (e.g. MIT license).

Again, here is Manon's masterlist, which includes custom macros you can use in your game (Chapel, HiEv and Cycy are my high recommendations)! Additionally, here's my code for multipronouns here and my code for setting RO genders here.

4. MAKE IT READABLE!! Even if you want your game to look pretty... please, I'm begging you, make it easy to read. This is the most important thing ever.

I have a short attention span, and so does my partner. We reviewed the game to make sure we are NOT compromising the reading experience with our design. As much as we want fantastical backgrounds, we wanted to make sure it was at least not distracting. As much as we want gaudy styles, we want the actual passage to be suited for the long haul.

The most, most important part is to enhance the reading experience--not by adding things on, but by making it simple and intuitive. As someone in the computer science field, the user experience is CRITICAL. Put yourself in their shoes, think about them first and foremost.

Twine is amazingly customizable, and its powers can be wielded for good and evil. Plenty of amazing writers but inexperienced UI designers, especially from CoG, get into Twine. CoG almost completely takes away the design element, so Twine is a whole new ballpark.

Uroboros has a lot of pomp, but the actual textbox is uncharacteristically simple in comparison. The simplicity against an otherwise fantastical, but non-distracting background helps give it elegance. The sidebar, in contrast, is very eye-catching—but, it's also out of view most of the time, and isn't built for long reading.

To add on, make sure it's readable on mobile. I guarantee 80% of your readers are going to be reading your IF on their phone, and probably at 3 AM, so you will want the mobile to look as good as PC, or even better.

Closing Thoughts

Anyway, as basic as this advice is, this is really what guided my entire thought process behind my visual choices! -- Picking and choosing what you like from IFs, figuring out how to do them through research, and making sure your IF is built to be read for a while.

Thanks so much for asking, thinking that I have wisdom to impart!! 😭🫶💕

#uroboros-if #uroboros #asks #anon #writing reference #writing advice #if resources #twine resources #twine design #twine coding resources #gameplay design

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gejianxin · 6 years

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autumn - fading beauty - 2 This picture was taken in one break at noon on monday. I walked through the forest and park surrounding the place of my work. Some things cought my eye and camera.....

#autumn #yellow #color #water #macro #contrast #light #drops #shadow #dark #fading #black forest #Schömberg #tele

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88mooncat88 · 4 years

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find the bug🐞 …………………………………………………………………………………………… #nature #travel #explore #instagood #beautiful #instadaily #spring #photooftheday #picoftheday #grass #ukraine #kiev #comment #green #color #colors #black #fade #macro #stick #liffy #bug #beetle (at Національний Ботанічний сад ім. Гришка НАН України) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl2HRE9htWv/?igshid=1g9nokjc87uw4

#nature #travel #explore #instagood #beautiful #instadaily #spring #photooftheday #picoftheday #grass #ukraine #kiev #comment #green #color #colors #black #fade #macro #stick #liffy #bug #beetle

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unknownwriting · 3 years

Text

Ruin Our Friendship

[Part 2]

Summary: Poor Ace has fallen head over heels for his best friend but he's scared that he'll ruin their friendship if he tells her. (pt. 1)

Characters: Portgas D. Ace

Song Inspiration: Jenny by Studio Killers

Work count: 1.6k

Notes: Omg I love Ace so much and I miss him so much too. I wish I could find more fanfics with him ☹️

━━☆⌒*.

Loud music and laughed filled the college bar, as everyone celebrated the beginning of the weekend. It's not rare to have parties like these every Friday, the weekend is the only free time said students can relax and party. While shouts of laughter ring from the happy drunk, cries of stress and sadness can be heard from the sad drunks too. One sound of drunken cries can be heard from a college regular who always companied with his friends. Portgas D. Ace, a junior in college who seems to be having a bit a girl problems at the moment.

"I just don't understand why this has to be so hard. Why can't I just tell her!?" The jet-black haired male cried out slamming his beer onto the bar, along with his head. His friends looked down at him, all thinking the same question.

"You've never had trouble before. Just tell her, she probably won't even shoot you down. And if she does, a bunch of other girls would be happy with you." His close friend Thatch tried to soothe the younger man with his girl problems. It was true though, Ace never seemed to have any problems with any girl so what made this girl so special. Why can't he just come out and say it?

"I wanna but (Y/n)'s my best friend and if she doesn't like me, it's just gonna make things soooo awkward." Ace exclaimed picking his head back up and looking over at Thatch. With his ears ringing from the noise and his head hurting from the alcohol, he found it hard to think straight. Ace didn't mean for the night to go this away either but after a few cups, he just couldn't help himself from talking about it. It's been a while since he first fell in love with his best friend and the feelings don't seem to be fading anytime soon, they only continued to grow. Although he's dated others before these feels seem to be so new to him, he couldn't help but overthink them. At one point, he honestly thought he had heart failure. His eyes fell back down to his beer as he mumbled, "I don't wanna ruin our friendship..."

"Then don't." Another voice, Macro, chimed in as he's finished his drink. The others looked at him clearly confused and raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Seeing how the 2 of them didn't understand at all, Marco sighed as he began to explain what he means.

"Decide whether or not you wanna date her. Because being friends and being lovers are 2 different things. So make sure you wanna actually date her before you make your move." Marco explained, clearing up the confusion for Thatch but not for Ace. He still looked at Marco with confusion. Ace knows (Y/n) like the back of his hand, so why would she be any different from his lover. Now that Marco tried to explain his thoughts, Thatch took over hopefully to clear up at least some of the confusion.

"Take her on a practice date."

"A practice date?"

"Yeah. Invite her to an amusement park or a movie and see how it goes. Just make sure you don't bring up it being a practice date and all." Thatch explained. Ace looked at him, slowly coming around to the idea, and once he was able to understand the idea his eyes lit up. It wasn't a bad idea, going on a date with (Y/n). He thought about how it would be a go on a date with her and how cute she would end up being. However, the more he thought about the idea didn't make much sense to him after all. Wouldn't it just be like going to an amusement park with his best friend?

"Uh...but isn't that the same as hanging out with her?" Ace questioned already feeling sober. The idea completely sobered him up, as if he hadn't had any beer tonight.

"Tell her that you are inviting her to a date and I promise you it won't feel the same." Thatch laughed, slapping Ace's back, "If you tell a girl it's a date I guarantee she's gonna be a completely different person."

"But you said not to tell her it a-"

"Just ask her!"

ミ☆

After a long night of Macro and Thatch trying to help out their dense friend, they finally got Ace to ask (Y/n) out. It took a bit longer for him to build up the guts to ask her but it didn't come as a surprise when she ended up saying yes. Marco and Thatch heard of (Y/n), they've seen her around school and heard so many stories about her from Ace. They haven't met yet with her being a year below Ace, but they already knew what she was like. Of course, she was gonna say yes because she's just that nice of a person, even though the date was very last minute. With Ace going on a date, the 3 of them had called it an early night and helped Ace with a few things, like buy the tickets and planning out his outfit. Once all of that was done, all Ace has to do is go on this date with his best friend, which sounds more stressful than it was. He ended up arriving a bit early but it wasn't long till (Y/n) had shown up.

"Ya'know, I was a bit surprised when you asked me on a date. I almost thought you didn't have it in you." (Y/n) teases as she walked up to Ace, who leaned against the railing of the entrance, scrolling through his phone. Once her cheery voice filled his ears though, he quickly perked up and dropped his phone to his side.

"Didn't have it in me?" Ace questioned, raising an eyebrow and checking (Y/n) out. Thatch was right, mention 'date' to any girl and they will certainly prepare for it. She wore a simple outfit: shorts, a cute top, and a long cardigan to cover up. She's never been on for accessories but a small backpack covered her back. It really wasn't any different from an outfit she would wear to class but there was something about her now that just seemed different. Maybe it was the glow of her skin, or the bright smile on her pink stained lips, or the sparkle in her (e/c) eyes. It was as if Ace was seeing her for the first time again. That's when the nerves kicked in. His heart began to race, butterflies began to set in his stomach and his palms began to turn all sweaty. It was obvious that Ace had it bad. Real bad.

"Well seeing how dense you are, I just-"

"You look so pretty." Ace had blurted out, cutting (Y/n) off. Not only did he cut her off but it completely caught her off guard too. A small blush crept up to her cheeks and she let the compliment sink in. (Y/n) took a moment too long because Ace began to worry and definitely began to panic. The date had barely even started and he already messed up. But before he could even think about it long, (Y/n) giggled softly and smiled back up at Ace.

"You think so? I wasn't sure what to wear so I chose to keep it simple. I didn't want to show up too fancy when all we're doing is going to an amusement park." (Y/n) happily explained, loving the comment so much. It was that reaction that gave Ace the boost of confidence he needed. With the butterflies still in his stomach, he smiled brightly down at her thinking that maybe the feelings just might be mutual. Maybe (Y/n) could feel the same way about Ace.

"W-we should probably get going then. I don't want the lines to get long." Ace cleared his throat, as he turned on his heel and faced the entrance. (Y/n) raised an eyebrow at his suddenly shy behavior, but seeing how she somewhat already knew what the reason was, she didn't press the matter. A teasing smirk fell over her lips as her eyes trailed down to Ace's hand that hug at his side. This was a date, after all, might as well treat it like one. Jumped right to his side, (Y/n) grabbed his large, warm hand and intertwined her fingers with his, sending chills down her back. Before Ace could even react, (Y/n) laughed out loud and began to skip off with Ace's warm hand still in hers.

"Let's go ride all the rides!!" (Y/n) cheered loudly, dragging a confused Ace behind her. Once he finally realized what the situation was, his face burst into a million shades of red. The last thing he had expect was to feel her hands within his. His heart began to race as he took a moment to just try and process. Ace didn’t think (Y/n) would act like this one a date, whenever the 2 of then hung out (Y/n) would always end up commenting on how she doesn’t need a boyfriend. So it’s safe to say that was one of Ace’s concerns, she always says that so what makes Ace thinks that she would say yes. Yet here they are holding hands and going on a date, something (Y/n) said she wouldn’t have time for. Although all those thoughts seem to disappear when he felt her hands within his. They were so soft and warm and felt so small in his. Filling her hands oddly made him relax and calm down. With a sigh of relief, Ace caught up with (Y/n) so he wasn’t stumbling and smiled down at her.

Maybe today will but just as he imagined

#portgas d. ace #ace x reader #one piece #one piece fanfic #one piece x reader #modern au #portgas d. ace x reader #unknownwriting💕

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thisweekingundamwing · 3 years

Text

This Week in Gundam Wing (Aug 29 - Sept 11, 2021)

That’s right folks! Because of the long weekend last weekend, you all get a two-for-one this round-up! Lots of excellent stuff from the fandom the last two weeks, so take a look and show your fellow fans some love!

--Mod LAM

Fanfiction

Dirty Computer (CH 11/?) by @doctormegalomania

Pairings: Heero x Duo, Wufei x OFC

Characters: 5 pilots

Rating: MATURE

Tags / Warnings: minor violence, espionage, unreliable narrator, post-war, reference to past injury, implied/referenced self-harm

Summary: Years after the war, nothing is what anyone hoped for. Peace reigns supreme.

Man Lion Thing Dude (CH 14-16/?) by @anaranesindanarie

Pairings: Trowa x Duo, Triton Bloom x Duo

Characters: full cast, original Trowa Barton, OCs

Rating: EXPLICIT

Tags / Warnings: graphic depictions of violence, whump, blood, alternate universe, supernatural, were-creatures, family problems, arranged marriage, mentions of torture, smut, magic

Summary: Duo Maxwell is estranged from the last of his remaining family who are demanding that he return home for an important announcement. Meanwhile, Duo has been having strange encounters with 'wild' animals, all of whom seem to be hunting him.

The Life of the Immortal Jellyfish (CH 15-16/35) by @lemontrash

Pairings: Duo x Wufei

Characters: 5 pilots + Relena, Hilde, Noin, Une

Rating: MATURE

Tags / Warnings: post-canon, post-Endless Waltz, UST, roommates, Preventers, slow burn, insomnia, friendship

Summary: Is it chance that lands Duo and Wufei in the same university dorm room? They’re not stupid enough to believe that but too tired to fight it. Duo’s dragged himself back from the brink of going too far and remains teetering on the edge while Wufei’s doggedly trying to prove himself to the ‘good guys’ in the aftermath of the Eve Wars. Sleep and normalcy eludes them both. As they become increasingly aware how damaged they are, they start to edge towards friendship, or something more, but all too soon the peace seems jeopardised by a new and manipulative threat.

Prompt Fic by @gemstonecircles for @bryony-rebb

Pairings: Wufei x Sally

Characters: Wufei and Sally

Rating: PG

Tags / Warnings: flashbacks, future fic, tropical diseases, best partners evar

Summary: “I’d come for you”, he said. “No matter what, when you need me, I will be there.”

Prompt Fic by @gemstonecircles for @boxofhatebrains

Pairings: Duo x Quatre

Characters: Duo and Quatre

Rating: PG

Tags / Warnings: music, friendships, concerts, foul language, complicated relationships with faith, cherry-picking manga

Summary: “You free Saturday night?”

Prompt Fic by @gemstonecircles for @heartensoul

Pairings: Duo x Relena, Heero x Trowa

Characters: Heero, Duo, Trowa, Relena

Rating: MATURE

Tags / Warnings: REO Speedwagon, future fic, receptions, reunions, getting together, smoking, shotgun kisses, first kisses, cherry-picking manga, FT what FT, look at my life look at my choices

Summary: The reception, at least, was a welcome reprieve from most of the events that she’d been forced to attend in the last half-dozen years.

Prompt Fic by @gemstonecircles for @noirangetrois

Pairings: Duo x Relena

Characters: Duo and Relena

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags / Warnings: stargazing, criminal trespass, future fic, FT what FT, discussion of panic attacks and mentioned ptsd

Summary: “Well, guess we’re here until the solar storm clears,” Relena sighed...

Prompt Fic by @gemstonecircles for @seitou

Pairings: Heero x Trowa

Characters: Heero, Trowa, Relena

Rating: MATURE

Tags / Warnings: 1+R friendship, dates, home cooking, future fic, beers, fade-to-black sex, sweet dumb men in love, everyone ships it

Summary: “I have good MREs that I was saving for a special occasion.”

Katahimikan by @ktsskb / katopiyoon AO3

Pairings: Duo x Quatre

Characters: Duo and Quatre

Rating: General

Tags / Warnings: post-Blind Target, Pre-Endless Waltz, non-confessions, pre-relationship

Summary: “I’m just taking a little rest,” Quatre smiles. He lets himself get slightly more comfortable, loosening his posture.

Orgel by @ktsskb / katopiyoon AO3

Pairings: Duo x Quatre

Characters: Duo and Quatre

Rating: General

Tags / Warnings: alternate universe, fantasy elements, established relationship, injured character

Summary: Duo comes home late with a gift.

Fanart

Doodle Prompts (1x3x5) by @seitou

Heero x Relena (elf AU) by @lokineko

OZ Military Ball (13x11) by @keiko1183

Zechs and Duo Hairbraiding by @keiko1183

Several by @gundayum

Wedding Bells (3x4)

Snuggles (1x2)

Trowa’s a Pathetic Clown

Duo as the Little Mermaid

King of the Hill (Heero, Relena and Bobby/Mariemaia, and Trowa)

Kinbaku WIP (3x5) by @2pcbart

Relena as John Cena by @farshootingstar

Quatre learning to knit by @farshootingstar

On the Wing by @theboringbluecrayon

Snuggles (3x4) by @circusoftrash

GW Crack by @circusoftrash

Heero EW Redraw by @mei-jimenez-art

Relena FT Redraw by @mei-jimenez-art

GW Kiddo Doodles by @lemontrash

Jellyfish Fic Art (2x5) by @sparkchemy for @lemontrash

Summer (1xR) by @alphaikaros

Zechs and Relena by @alphaikaros

Belated MerMay Relena by @serenestorm

Sexy Trowas (Part I, Part II, Part III) by @serenestorm

Summer Duo by @owlinpajamas

Relena and Heero by @darksharinganz

Other Fanwork

Gunpla and Cosplay

Duo Maxwell Cosplay (Part I and Part II) by @itsjesskage

HGAC Wing Zero by @macks-mechas

Headcanons and Discussion

The Accidental (?) Seduction of Trowa Barton (3x4) by @a-river-of-stars

GoL Thoughts with @kittykatz

Dorothy and Treize, Cathy and Trowa

Treize and Zechs

Treize, Dorothy, Heero, and Epyon

Lieutenant Trant Clark

Other Fun Stuff

GW Sims 4 Portraits by @eslanes

Power Stances, with Zechs and Treize by @the-reanimated-bhg

Quick: look pensive with gloves by @the-reanimated-bhg

@incorrectgundamwingquotes still making us laugh (example)

Memes and Macros

This is my boyfriend’s boyfriend (Rx1x2 and Hx1x2) by @portrayalmuse

Dad Jokes Zechs (Part I and Part II) by @bonmotfic

Heero’s Romance Novel by @the-reanimated-bhg

Coffee Puns with Cathy by @the-reanimated-bhg

Requesting Leave with HR by @the-reanimated-bhg

Zechs, the master of pick-up lines by @the-reanimated-bhg

Spaghetti Westerns by @the-reanimated-bhg

Calendar Events

@gwcocktailfriday is back with this week’s prompt! Be sure to post your responses on Friday (September 17) between 3-5PM EST!

@gundamzine has opened up the mailing list, so be sure to register to get your FREE PDF on October 1! In the mean time, be sure to follow the account so that you can learn about the stellar 2021 Zine Crew members. Also consider donating to the team’s chosen charity, World Literacy Foundation (donations are optional, but encouraged). In the meantime, check out some of the previews, with more to follow.

September is National Prostate Awareness Month and @expewrites and @boxofhatebrains are hosting a GW Prostate Health Event at @prostatehealth-gundamwing beginning September 1. More info is available on the Event AO3 Page but in brief, options are to (1) create something or (2) donate to your prostate health organization of choice.

Sign-ups are officially open for the 2021 Holiday Gift Exchange with @thisweekingundamevents! Sign-ups close September 30, and participants will get their assignments in October, followed by the creation period November-December and finally posting in early January 2022.

@/ficwip (Twitter) is hosting a “Rise of the Dead Fandoms” event. Contributor sign-ups end on September 30, so be sure to register soon! Creation period runs September-October; posting will be in November. More info at their FAQ.

The @weedgrandpacookbook is an homage to the fanon of Mike Howard as the Gundam Wing’s chillest Weed Grandpa. Check out the Zine Calendar and FAQ for more info and be sure to complete the interest check before September 30.

Spooky prompt idea generation for the GW Hallows Event will kick off mid-September, and posting period will happen in October. Stay tuned to @thisweekingundamevents!

Keep an eye on @gwoc-october while you’re at it for news on the GW Original Character (OC) October Event. You can expect a prompt calendar to go live in September with posting in October…but you can also just use the month to showcase works with your original GW characters!

#gundam wing

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swampgallows · 3 years

Text

im nowhere near ready to upload another chapter of salt the roads, it’s been a pretty slow go with my mental health being in the pits these last few months, but with the news about ao3 i’m not sure if i should upload it there at all. i dont have much confirmation outside that one post as to whether or not that policy is real as it is, but as an adult survivor of child sexual abuse and a survivor of adults creating sexual “fan” content of real life me (drawings, stories, memes [though they were called ‘macros’ back then], photoshop) i dont want my work to share a space with people who cater to pedophiles, nor do i want it on a platform that excuses, or even facilitates, catering to pedophiliac interests.

ao3′s layout looks better than ffn in my opinion, and it seems to be the go-to for most fanfic, but ive noticed even in my own trawling through the WoW tags that the majority of fics are porn, and a lot of it is full of “taboo” or fringe kinks.

it even affected my overall trajectory of writing salt the roads: i was so anxious that nobody would read my story unless i put sexual content in it that i put a disclaimer at the beginning that there would be some, in hopes that people would click it and give it a try anyway. i wrote two sex scenes for str, one of which “fades to black”, and one that is more explicit. the explicit scene i wrote genuinely as a practice of my own writing ability: i wanted to challenge myself to write a scene where the partner’s genitals remained ambiguous to avoid breaking the Reader’s immersion.

this has been one of my goals for STR the entire way, which is why i do my best not to describe any physical traits of the reader beyond the injuries, and to carefully word referential dialogue so that i don’t use any pronouns. “it” is used only in the most derogatory manner, chiefly when the orcs are discussing the human as an object or animal (rather than a thing without a gender). i also didnt want to use the “they/them” shortcut, as 1. some people are quite uncomfortable with they/them as “default” pronouns and 2. it can be a little confusing in text imo, especially when referring to different individuals within a group, and in avoiding physical descriptions too i didnt want it to be like “the human xyz” over and over. there’s already quite a bit of that as it is.

part of the reason this next chapter is taking so long is because it had a sex scene in it which i have, so far, entirely gutted. i wrote it back in 2016 so the tone of the work has changed, as well as the pacing, and i wasn’t really happy with it anyway. but the intention was also polluted, as i felt i needed to inject sex into my story to make it worth the ao3 audience’s time. the remaining sex scene will stay for the reasons above, but it’s ultimately a “skippable cutscene”. ive considered even uploading it as its own chapter so that it’s entirely skippable, and even writing an author’s note at the bottom that says "this is the only sex scene. if that’s why youre here you can stop reading now” LOL. i figure people just open it up, hit “entire work”, ctrl+F for a bunch of synonyms for penis and then leave anyway.

im going to back up the work as it is on ao3 regardless, as i consider that the ‘finalized/published’ version. since i write in notepad i do have some html tags here and there but everything else is raw-encoded on ao3 at the time of upload. my end of the year project i guess can be mirroring the upload to FFN (wattpad seems to have a much younger crowd, and my work is not intended for audiences under 18).

while i appreciate all the good ao3 does... even 4chan removed its lolicon board within its first year of operation. it didn’t prevent cp from being uploaded, not by a long shot, but its rules at least condemned pedophiles from using it as a base of operations. hopefully ao3 will consider updating its policies but in the meantime i will work on mirroring salt the roads on ffn. whether i upload the new chapter to ao3 will depend on whether or not the policy has changed by the time it’s done.

#str #ao3 #csa tw /#cp tw /#long post /#ffn

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knightofcaliban · 3 years

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Confusion (for the angst writing prompts)

[Angst Drabbles]

Everything was black.

He wasn't dead. He knew that because on some level he was aware of how black it was. It was as if a void of nothingness had enveloped his consciousness, depriving him of all sensation save that which he could turn inward. And even that was hazy and muddled. He knew who he was. He was Bedivere, Master of the Knights Redemptor Chapter of the First Legion. But he did not feel like Bedivere, Master of the Knights Redemptor Chapter of the First Legion. Something was different. His limbs felt too long, his chest felt too heavy and his mind was a whirl of repressed thoughts fighting to climb to the fore of his memory.

You should be dead.

That one thought was loud and clear above all others. He focused on it, striving to wrap his fingers around it and buoy himself up through the emptiness around him. Memories came to him as he did so, flashing images and fleeting sensations bubbling up from his subconscious. He saw glittering lance beams in the void and the muzzle flash of macro-cannon batteries firing broadside. He felt the jolt of impact as a boarding torpedo struck its target and burrowed through adamantium plating. He smelled spent gunpowder and the tang of heated brass that came with spent bolt casings. He heard the clash of swords, the crackle of the power fields colliding, and he could taste ozone on his tongue.

Then it was all wiped away by the chill of the open void and the assuredness that death's embrace would follow.

You should be dead.

But I am not.

The thought intruded on his mind and popped the emptiness around him like a bubble. Bedivere suddenly felt like he was falling. No, not falling. Rising. Everything around him was falling, like water being drained away. He could hear muffled voices, and mechanical sounds that reminded him of life support machines in a medicae or apothicarium. Cold despair gripped his hearts as, just for an instant, he believed he had been interred in a dreadnought's sarcophagus.

Then the air shifted and bright light broke the blackness, blinding him with such intensity that all he saw was white expanse.

When it faded, Bedivere found his vision blurry. But that too corrected itself, his eyes adjusting as the last of the amniotic fluid surrounding him washed from his face.

He looked up.

Standing over him was what could only be an adept of the Mechanicum. The red robes and extensive bodily augmentation were a dead giveaway. The adept looked down at Bedivere through red eye lenses. They irised back and forth, and Bedivere felt the adept were zeroing in on specific parts of him.

"Life signs stable." The adept's voice was a harsh synthetic, like the sound of a vox being interrupted by static. "Heartbeat, regular. Breathing, regular. No organ rejection detected. Decryonization successful."

It took Bedivere a moment to realize the adept was not speaking for his benefit, but for the benefit of the servo-skull floating at the adept's shoulder. One eye socket boasted a pict-recorder, no doubt to save this moment for posterity and future study.

"Astartes," the adept said. Bedivere blinked owlishly at him. "Step from the cryo chamber."

Bedivere tried, but found his limbs unresponsive. They were heavy, like lead weights, and he had to focus in order to get them to move. Slowly, he managed it, placing a hand on the side of the chamber to steady himself. As he waited for his legs to adjust to holding weight again, Bedivere looked around. His mouth fell open.

He stood in a vast chamber, constructed almost like an amphitheater with tiered rows rising away until they disappeared beyond even his enhanced vision. It was a massive space. Each level boasted countless pods, each pod filled with a single Astartes. Other Mechanicum adepts filed along, stopping and performing decryonization on certain pods and recording the results.

"Where am I?"

"Mars," the adept said. "In the stasis vaults of Archmagos Belisarius Cawl."

"Who?"

The adept did not respond. Instead, it focused on the dataslate in its hand, mechadendrite manipulators tapping information into the chart on the screen.

"Astartes," it said once finished. "Bedivere. Please proceed down the procession way to barracks 37-D." The adept pointed with a metallic finger. Bedivere followed the gesture and could just make out a door at the end of the platform which led to, he presumed, barracks 37-D.

"Why?" he asked.

"To be registered as awoken and to be fitted out with armor and weaponry."

Though there was no shift in the adept's mechanical tone, something about the way its dendrites twitched told Bedivere it was becoming irritated with his line of questioning. Bedivere did not reply. He simply nodded once, then began walking along the processional. He passed many cryopods on his way. Most were filled with an occupant. Some were empty. A few were in the process of being emptied. Bedivere caught glimpses of confused faces and blank expressions. He wondered if they had the same questions he did. He wondered if the adepts tending to them would be more forthcoming with answers.

The doorway rose up before him. As Bedivere passed through it, he decided it didn't matter. The answers he wanted did not reside with a menial Mechanicum adept slated to tend a farm of Astartes in stasis. But they did reside with someone.

And that someone was somewhere on the other side of the doorway.

#[ghost of caliban: era indomitus]#drabble

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