Tumgik
#fellow: YOU GO TO A PRIVATE ELITE SCHOOL WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW????
bl0rbohandbag · 6 months
Text
twst really said h*man trafficking 🥰😘😍
fellow kidnapping and attempting to sell elite college students, who are very important people whose absence will be NOTICED (they literally missed school to go to the park AND told all of their friends about it!!!) is so fucking funny, in a way. leona is a literal PRINCE. vil is a celebrity. kalim has a history with kidnapping. the tweels are mafia heirs (allegedly). ortho is a shroud!! from book 7 events we know his parents would notice something was amiss and would storm playful land if he sent a signal. their nrc colleagues are going to notice they are missing in no time.
the fact he chose to kidnap them all at the same time. are you not afraid of the law. are you not afraid of being murdered.
96 notes · View notes
modernelites-if · 11 months
Text
Tumblr media
Modern Elites is a 18+ raunchy slice-of-life IF that follows you, a young royal, navigating the world of the obscenely rich and immensely famous while trying to keep your elite, royal family together in the midst of drama and tabloids.
Setting: modern times, fictional tiny country of Selusa, New York, Paris and more.
Genre: slice-of-life, drama, romance
Celebrity. Pop Culture Icon. Heir.
Royal.
As the heir to the Selusan throne, you're known by many names. Growing under the spotlight hasn't been easy, especially since it seems the vultures all want a piece of your elusive family. Country clubs, yachts, parties, private jets, elite schools, you've had it all.
But is there something missing?
Tumblr media
Customize your heir from appearance to gender identity to personality. Dictate what kind of person they are: rebellious, dutiful. Do they care about the royal line or are parties more on their mind? Will you keep a squeaky clean rep or ruin the family name?
Customize Salusa and cater the country to your taste.
Dictate what kind of leader you want to be, and how others percieve you.
Experience the life of the hidden .01% and the drama of the ultra wealthy.
Engage in fiery, dramatic romances that could either uplift or ruin you and your family.
and more to come.
Tumblr media
THE ADVISOR
Imogen/Ian Lancaster [f/m]- your family's advisor and publicist. I has cleaned up every mess, every leak, every scandal and at this point, there are no secrets between your family and them. Coming from a well-off family themselves, they know exactly how this world works...and they navigate it with a steel will and a cold, detached demeanor. I has you handled like an adult with a child, trying (and probably failing) to keep you in line. Anything you do will go through them, so it's better to think twice.
THE BETROTHED
Everett/Eva St. Clare [m/f] - the eldest of one of the most influential businessmen on your side of the world, black sheep, and a source of gossip in polite society, there have been talks of a betrothal between you two since the partnership started. Because of that, you two are forced into a fake romance for the cameras. E is an arrogant and brash casanova, sex-obsessed, and is proudly noncommital with string of rumors that follow them like their own entourage. Unfortunately for you, E's exploits can damage the carefully constructed facade you two have built. Of course, E doesn't give a damn.
THE REBEL
Vince/Vivian De Grasso [m/f] - (secretly) fresh out of jail and newly reformed (not) V's politician of a mother has asked in a favor from your family: to reform them and stifle their rebellious ways by adding them to your security detail. Your father having a soft spot for the kid, brings them in as one of your guards. Hopefully V keeps in line...or not.
THE COMMONER
Cordelia/Corden Bowen [f/m]- an employee at the country club you frequent, someone less polite would call them a 'nobody.' C has a bit of an attitude, but that's expected from someone who is used to getting berated by rich people all day. There's not much else to say about them...or maybe there is?
THE JOURNALIST
Romi Marshall [m/f]- a famed journalist with contempt for royalty and elitism. Their newsletters frequently slam you and your family's every move, and they don't like you one bit. You can confidently say they're your biggest hater.
THE ROYAL BEST FRIEND
Oliver/Olivia Ames-Astor [m/f]- a fellow prince/princess from another country and your best friend, who is still hung up on their ex. Forced to betroth someone else, O has so many problems you can hardly sort through them. Still, they're kind and as polite as you'd expect from a person who has had etiquette lessons drilled into them since childhood. They're also your best friend, so there's that.
2K notes · View notes
Note
Do we have any information on how the boys learned magic before going to college? Did any of them take lessons in magic as kids? I seem to remember someone mentioning that they were self-taught, but I'm not sure if I just imagined it
Tumblr media
Magic lessons are not typically included in general education since the majority of people in Twisted Wonderland's population cannot use magic to begin with. You need to go to special schools like NRC or RSA and/or be extremely privileged or in special circumstances (such as a family member willing and able to teach them) to have access to formal magic education. In most cases, someone's magic can manifest but they may not have the means for materials/lessons nor the talent to be recruited to an elite institution to hone that magic. That would make most people "self-taught". I believe this is the case for characters like Epel, who have implied that they used their magic to beat others up (since he has magic as his "edge") back home for making fun of his looks. This is also the case for Deuce, who was known for summoning cauldrons to take out fellow delinquents. I'm sure there are others I could list, but I can't think of specific instances at the moment.
As for those with formal magic education or training:
Vil is the only one of the main cast that has explicitly stated that he did not have any sort of magical studies prior to NRC.
Royals like Leona (and, by extension, probably Malleus and Kalim, who is related to a royal himself) have had formal magic studies prior to NRC.
This is speculation but Jamil may have also sat in on his lessons or at least been taught some magic for bodyguarding purposes.
Riddle's mom tutored him privately.
Silver and Sebek were mentored in magic and physical combat by Lilia.
Azul studied grimoires and perfected his UM on his own, but his grandma also taught him what she knows.
Idia was already building technomantic robots before NRC, but it's not clear if he was self-taught or formally trained.
This goes into speculation territory, but the twins' parents emphasized teaching them physical self-defense. Given how protective the Tweel parents are implied to be, it is possible that they also taught their sons magical self-defense.
It can be inferred that Rollo's brother didn't have formal magic education due to his youth and/or inability to control his spells; he seemed to just spellcast for fun.
347 notes · View notes
i-write-boop-spoops · 5 months
Text
Leon Proposal and Wedding Headcanons
i understand the poll is not over yet, but this is the clear winnder! i've been watching a ton of wedding content recently, so i was so jazzed to receive this request. thanks anon!
features: gn! reader and 1 mild sexual refernce. other just pure fluff! also not proofread
Enjoy!
Now that he’s no longer champion
Leon has his sights on a much more important title
Husband
And the first step to gaining that title?
Finding a wonderful, awesome person that he loves and loves him back unconditionally?
He’s already got that covered!
Spoilers! It’s you!
Now he has to take the next step
The proposal
With Lee, I can see this going two ways, depending on the kind of person you are
If you’re someone who loves the spotlight, a fellow elite-class trainer and/or a major celebrity
I can totally see him proposing to you in front of a massive crowd in Wyndon Stadium
After an intense heart-pounding match
If you’re his opponent, when you go to shake his hand after the battle, he’ll take it
And drop down on one knee
If you’re just watching the match, he’ll call you out to the pitch
As the new head of the Galar League, he’s already got the staff clued in, no surprises with them
You walk onto the pitch to a roar of applause, having an inkling of what’s about to happen, where Lee gives you a kiss, takes your hand and get into position
Presents to you a little velvet box
And gives a heart-warming but brief speech
He’d love to go on, really pour his heart out… but some of the things he wants to say are just for your ears only
The whole time the audience is waiting on bated breath
With the occasional holler of “Go Leon!” and “Say Yes!”
Somebody did shout “Say no! I wanna marry him first!”
Which admittedly made you chuckle
The whole proposal is being broadcasted on the big screen, and across the region, maybe even the world
Which means, when you say – no, exclaim - “Yes!”, It’s the yes heard around the world
The crowd goes W I L D
Just an eruption of clapping and hollering and screaming
But you don’t register it at all
No, you’re too focused on the love of your life, slipping a gorgeous ring on your finger
And taking you in his arms
So warm, and strong, and perfect
He holds you to his body like you’re the most precious thing to him
Which you are
“I love you,” you hear him whisper in your ear
Your answer comes in the form of a passionate, triumphant kiss
Which makes the crowd go even crazier
Now, if you’re someone who’s more introverted, private and/or not a fan of public proposals
I imagine it’d go a little something like this;
It’d be a proposal in your shared home
And he’ll pull out all the stops to make it as romantic and as cosy as possible
He’ll secretly take a half day from the battle tower to prepare everything while you’re busy with work/school/etc.
The whole living room will be transformed
I’m talking candles (with your favourite scent)
Bunches upon bunches of favourite flowers
An arch decorated with said flowers
And so many photos of the two of you together from your relationship
Plus, ones of you that he just thinks are cute
He’ll prepare your favourite meal or order your favourite takeaway too
And he’ll wait by the front door, practically buzzing with excitement (and a touch of anxiety)
I mean, he’s pretty sure you’ll say yes
But he has an old, toxic friendship with doubt so, it’ll always be there, whispering falsehoods
You arrive home
Greeted by the sight of your purple haired himbo
And the lovely display he’s set up for you
It’s not your birthday, so you know something special is afoot
Even though, you’re certain it’s going to end with a proposal, you still end up feeling surprised
He takes your hand and walks you through all your memories together, reminding you how much you mean to him, how lucky he is to have you, how you’ve always been there for him, how much he loves you
And how he can’t imagine his life without you
It would be too painful
All ending with him getting on one knee under the arch of your favourite flowers
You’re crying, he’s crying
As you say “Yes!” and share a tight embrace
No matter if his proposal is public or private, the wedding is DEFINITELY private
That celebration of your love with you friends and family, just isn’t for the world to see
Except a few photos on social media a week or two later lol
It’ll be cute, quaint rustic affair
Probably in Wedgehurst or Postwick
In one of those farmhouses that double as wedding venues
Raihan is most likely best man
Hop’s just a bit too young
But he’s definitely a groomsman, and the ring bearer
He and Wooloo take this job very seriously
If you for one second think Charizard isn’t also a groomsman and wearing a bowtie, you’re SORELY mistaken my friend
The guest list is mainly your and his friends and family, and the Galar League
For the life of me, I can’t imagine Lee in a plain black suit/tux
He’ll at least wear a jacket that’s a colour that suits him
Probably something that’ll match the colour scheme
Let me tell you one thing
Well, two things
Lee will definitely cry
And he will carry you over every. single. threshold.
No exceptions
When he goes in for the kissTM he’ll cup your face and kiss you with so much love and passion you’ll be breathless
I’m sorry but that just gives me butterfrees
He will give a speech and a toast to you at the reception
It’ll be heartfelt and dorky just like him
Raihan’s best man speech is funny, and just a touch irreverent
He definitely harps on about how you’re way out of Leon’s league
And how smitten Lee is with you
When it comes to the cake, if you let him, Lee would like to smush a bit of it on your face
Just a little smush
Which he fully expects you to do back to him
Again, only if this is something you want
You two will definitely feed each other cake either way though
During the whole reception (and before) Lee just has this goofy, lovestruck expression on his face
He gives you heart eyes the entire time
And he keeps asking if it’s really real
Is he really your husband now?
You delight in telling him yes, every time
 Your first dance is basically just the two of you hugging while you sway to music for like three minutes
The world disappears, and it’s just you and your husband
It’s perfect
After a fantastic night of food, dancing and fun
Leon picks you up and carries you over one last threshold
Sure, the night may be done, but the fun? That’s not over yet ;)
106 notes · View notes
lastsonlost · 1 year
Text
Jack Reid, 17, a student at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey took his own life after being bullied by other students
A year after his death a school statement recognizes the failure of the school to protect Jack noting how inaction by teaching staff contributed to his death
School has committed to taking corrective actions including appointing a new dean who will be responsible for dealing with mental health issues 
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources 
An elite New Jersey boarding school has admitted that 'more should have been done' after a student took his own life in his dorm room following a year of bullying by his peers.
Jack Reid, 17, attended The Lawrenceville School, between Trenton and Princeton, where tuition is $76,000 a year. 
He died on April 30, 2022, but in the 12 months leading up to his death he had become the victim of a vicious bullying campaign that consisted of cruel and malicious rumors that labelled him as a campus rapist. 
The rumors were made up by fellow students and were said to Jack both in person and posted anonymously online thereby spreading the story beyond the campus walls.
During a secret Santa gift exchange among his classmates, Jack was given a rape whistle together with a book about how to make friends.
Although school staff were made aware of the bullying, the school has now admitted make an extraordinary admission of failure on the anniversary of Jack's death. 
'There were steps that the School should in hindsight have taken but did not,' the school wrote in a lengthy statement. 
Most damning of all is the fact the school did not make a public or private statement that it had in fact investigated the rape and found the rumors about Jack and the entire story to be completely untrue. 
Neither Jack not his parents were ever told that he had been exonerated over the claims.
The school's officials have now admitted that they were aware of the bullying, but fell short in their obligation to protect him. 
In a frank, honest and heart-wrenching admission the school, which ranks among the nation's top boarding schools, believes Jack's death could have been prevented and stated how 'there also were circumstances in which the involvement of an adult would have made a difference.'  
'As we seek to improve as a community, we have examined our role and take responsibility for what we could have done differently. Lawrenceville's top priority is the physical, social, and emotional health, safety, and wellbeing of our students. We recognize that in Jack's case, we fell tragically short of these expectations,' the statement read. 
'Jack was universally regarded as an extremely kind and good-hearted young man, with an unwavering sense of social and civic responsibility and a bright future. We continue to mourn this loss,' the school wrote in the statement noting how a settlement had been reached with his parents, William and Elizabeth Reid.
The agreement requires the school, which hosts 830 students, to undertake a series of corrective actions, including creating a new dean's position that will focus on mental health issues, with the goal of becoming a model for anti-bullying and student mental health. 
'We feel like we both have life sentences without the possibility of parole,' Jack's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Reid, a clinical psychologist, said to the New York Times.
'The only thing I'd love to change here is to get Jack back. I can't. I do know if he were alive, he would want me — both of us — to try to make something good out of this and honor him in the way he lived his life.'
'We think bullying, with the 1,000 times echo chamber of the internet and everybody knowing, is much more devastating to kids and, in Jack's case, produced a very impulsive act,' dad, William Reid said. 
'He had to escape the pain from the humiliation he was feeling.' 
The school explained how after a student who previously had been disciplined for bullying Jack was expelled for an unrelated violation of school rules, Jack was allowed to return the school but was left largely unsupervised where students gathered.
'Some harsh words were said about Jack,' the school revealed adding that administrators did not notify or check on Jack once he was back on campus.
Later that night, Jack, who was a Dean's list student, took his own life, telling a friend that he could not go through the ordeal again. 
He had a bible in one pocket of his gym shorts, as well as a note directing his parents to a Google document, in which he described his helplessness.  
Tumblr media
MORE HERE
25 notes · View notes
charlxttelabouff · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media
Task Eleven → Intro & Connections
charlotte la bouff
Character Information*
The Basics*
FULL NAME: charlotte la bouff
NICKNAME: lottie
GENDER: female
PRONOUNS: she/her
AGE: twenty-six
OCCUPATION: socialite/influencer
FACECLAIM: madelyn cline
ORIENTATION: straight
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: single​
The Personality*
+ Kind-Hearted, Excitable, Flirty - Ditzy, Spoiled, Hyperactive
if you look up the terms ‘child born with a silver spoon in her mouth’, a picture of Charlotte La Bouff would pop up. From the very moment the girl was born, the world revolved around her – according to her dad, and who was she to question that? Her father a wealthy businessman, Charlotte was given everything her heart desired and more. She never had to lift a finger, and she had people catering to her every whim. Living the high life had never been more luxurious.
Charlotte met Tiana, her best friend and dearest confidant, through their dads – Tiana’s dad an employee of her own dad. The two were joined at the hip, so much so that Charlotte all but demanded to go to the local high school alongside Tiana rather than being shipped off to a fancy private school. 
Her father relinquished and enrolled her in the high school. It had been a blessing because since then Charlotte grew as a person and learned that her family was in fact far better off financially than others. She learned an appreciation for the life she’s been granted, and also educated herself about her privilege. Since then, Charlotte has made a point of donating to causes and taking part in countless charity events. Her influencer status comes in handy since she can take advantage of her platform to give smaller voices a big microphone.Her father has tried on countless occasions to train Charlotte for her to finally take over the family business one day, but what kind of teenage girl wants to focus on taxes over texting? None. That’s who. It took her to her early twenties to accept the fact that this would be her future and her family legacy. She’s since started paying attention to her dad’s life and career lessons. Turns out the man knows something.
Additional Notes*
throws lavish parties - normally invite only but the recent new year bash was open to the whole town
her father works 24/7, she’s alone all the time at the la bouff estate a part from the staff members the family hire 
always wears pink - it’s always incorporated in to an outfit
Wanted Connections*
friends
neighbours
fellow socialites
rich kids of redwood hollow™️ - the elite of the elite
other influencers
ex’s
her fathers business associates
college friends
Wanted Plots / Plot Ideas*
rich & poor - they’re both from two different worlds but somehow manage to strike up a friendship
advantage - someone tries to take advantage of charlottes kindness to get to her money
employee - an employee of the la bouff household but charlotte treats them more like a friend 
rich kids of redwood hollow™️ - i love these elite bitches & want more debauchery with them
Taken Connections*
idek what to identify these two as - @hans-omedevil
bestie - @penelopedeery & tiana
close circle - @but-theylovehim @ashley-armbruster @ashleybxulet @ashley-quinlan @itsashleytomassian @hans-omedevil​ @henrikhera​ @notasweetnightingale
dad’s business associates - @haydenbodaway​
Other*
One character from the open tag you would like to see taken / added to the Most Wanted page -  from the most wanted page - louis wooley & from the open tag to be added to the most wanted page - tianaaaaaa
One Character you want to see a bio for in relation to this specific character - maybe charlottes dad? 
7 notes · View notes
merrock · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
CHARACTER INFORMATION
face claim: Dacre Montgomery.
full name: Owen Ryder Anderson.
nickname(s) / goes by: Ryder.
pronouns & gender: he/him, cis man.
sexuality: bisexual.
birth date: October 22, 1994.
birth place: Boston, Massachusetts.
arrival to merrock: September of 2022.
housing: suburbs.
occupation: waiter & artist.
work place: The Garden & From Brush to Canvas. family: cousin, Greyson McVey.
relationship status: single.
PERSONALITY
Ryder likes to think that there's a little bit of every place he's visited wrapped up inside of him. Having traveled the world and partied with the elite, Ryder has developed the kind of personality that can make him easy to hate -- unless you really get to know him. He's good looking and he knows it, and has a real talent or the art that he makes, but both of those things can lead to him walking through life with a chip on his shoulder. Snarky and rude when provoked, but brings a six pack to every party he's invited to. A good guy who likes to hide it.
WRITTEN BY: Katie (she/her), est.
BACKGROUND / BIO
Growing up, Ryder never really knew what his father did for a living, and despite the fact that he’s an adult with career aspirations of his own, he still doesn’t really know. Born on October 22, 1994, the only child of a socialite mother and someone that his friends joked was in the mafia for a father, Owen Ryder Anderson has never, ever looked or acted like an Owen, and will openly scowl if he is called anything but Ryder. A colicky, finnicky baby, he kept his nannies and nursemaids from getting much sleep, and his parents on their toes all through his younger years, especially when he began to draw on the walls of the arts and crafts room. (Looking back, his parents have said that they should have known he would grow up to be an artist.)
As he was growing up with the silver spoon wedged firmly between his lips, Ryder’s parents were growing further and further apart, finally divorcing when he was only five or six years old. Or beginning to divorce – it was a very long, painful, drawn-out, messy process, for which most of the experience, he lived with his mother in Boston. His pre-teen years saw him frustrated with his life, acting out, mouthing off, refusing to pay attention in school, and by the time the divorce was finalized and his mother was ready to live her new, lavish lifestyle, she was also ready to send her son packing, and Ryder headed off to live with his father on the road. He had a private tutor that traveled with them, excelled in one on one studies, and began to really hone is passion for the one thing that made him happy and feel at peace: art.
It was a natural conclusion for Ryder to enroll in school, and he was accepted into the Massachusetts College of Art and Design after graduating from his high school program, settling back into his life pretty happily, making a lot of friends and making strong connections with fellow artists as he studied his hardest to really develop the passion he loved so much. Still, during his breaks and long weekends, he traveled with his father, helping him with business trips, enjoying warm beaches during the winter, and being able to learn a little bit about a lot of places as he went. But it was in Massachusetts, during his college years, that he met someone who was unlike anyone he had ever known before at a local party – a girl that he didn’t expect would change his entire life. The two struck up an online friendship after the party and gradually began an online, long-distance relationship.
After graduating from college, Ryder spent a few years traveling with his father, going to Australia, Dubai, China, anywhere that he had business. But then the call from his mother came in – her new boyfriend owned a small gallery and would love to show his paintings, if he had any, and invited him to come back to Boston. Surprisingly, he made a lot of sales, and even gained a little fame in the art world, garnering a little bit of a social media following (although he jokes that it’s largely because he paints shirtless). The gears began to churn, and Ryder used the money he made on the paintings to start a little nest egg for himself, booking a ticket to Maine and begging his father over the phone to help him secure a house to call home in Merrock. With the promise that he would take care of all bills after he settled in during the fall, Ryder made the jump the tip top of the north east, and cannot wait to see where the journey takes him. Although no longer in said relationship, he's never looked back on his move to Merrock, and has found himself really digging in to starting his art career in earnest.
2 notes · View notes
wildwoodgoddess · 2 years
Text
Educating Miss Holmes: How a female Sherlock could have gotten an education in the 1870's
(This is an ongoing series about the historical case for how canon Sherlock Holmes and John Watson could have been women. It is leading up to the launch of my new web novel series on Patreon, Ladies of Baker Street—a sapphic/wlw, Victorian women adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.
As usual, I’m using the hashtag #A Study In Victorian Women for this series, if you want to follow along. If this interests you, please follow me as well as comment on/like/share this post. Thanks!)
Tumblr media
(Image credit: Cambridge Girton College Stanley, by Mary Evans, 1913)
After the harrowing experiences Dr. Watson and her peers experienced while trying to gain their medical degrees, the educational path for a Miss Holmes would seem at first to be much simpler.
And it’s true, to a point. But our goal here is not just to make sure Holmes is educated, but that she lines up as closely as possible to canon Holmes. Can that be done?
First, we need to know what we are up against. What is canon Sherlock Holmes’ education?
We only get a few hints here and there. It’s not like Dr. Watson’s proclamation in the first sentence of A Study in Scarlet of when and where and what kind of degree he got.
What we do know from the stories is that Holmes is of a slightly higher social class than Watson and may have descended from landed gentry. So his early schooling would probably have been from private tutors at home, and he may have attended a college such as Eton to prepare him for university. (Reminder to my non-British readers that such colleges were equivalent to middle schools and high schools in America, or any education system for 11-18 year olds.)
Other people suggest that Holmes may have avoided going to any of the elite boys’ colleges. He claims that he was “never a very sociable fellow” and preferred hanging out in his room doing his own thing rather than spending time with other students. He also did not participate in a lot of the sports that were popular with other school boys. His only sports were boxing and fencing.
But we really don’t know. What we do know is that he spent about two years at university. We don’t know which university, but it’s reasonable to assume it was probably one of the elite schools for upper-class men, such as Cambridge or Oxford. He was friends with Victor Trevor, whose father owned a wealthy estate, and the references he makes to his courses would indicate he had not chosen any particular course of study and was simply picking from things that interested him.
Finally, though we don’t know for certain what years he attended university, most people who spend time thinking about these things believe it was around 1874-1876, based on the events in The Gloria Scott.
We don’t know why he left school after two years or if he sat exams for any degree. He never mentions it. But we do find him in a laboratory at St. Barts doing chemical experiments when Dr. Watson first meets him, and Stamford is clear that he is not a medical student.
With that vague a background, we have a ton of options for educating Miss Holmes. What follows is just the path I chose for my version of her.
If we assume that Holmes was born in 1854, then as the daughter of an upper-class family of that time, she would probably have been educated at home with governesses and private teachers until the age of 11.
Given who Holmes is as an adult, it’s almost certain that she would have been a precocious child who would easily have outstripped the knowledge of all but the most well-educated of governesses. To allow for her to become the Holmes of legend, we have to assume that her family was very progressive and supportive of educating women. This isn’t at all out of the realm of possibility, as there was a large movement among most social classes at the time to improve education for girls and women.
So it’s entirely possible that our Miss Holmes could have received private tutoring that allowed her to flourish intellectually and explore whatever areas most interested her through childhood.
She could easily then have gone to either a finishing school or a ladies college of some kind through age 18, similar to our scenario for Dr. Watson. These schools were often run by progressive feminists who would have let her prepare for a university entrance exam, but she may have still felt very pressured to also learn domestic arts and prepare to be a “godly wife and mother.” It would really have depended on the college.
Alternately, she could have continued studying privately. The rules about school attendance were much different than they are now, and as long as she could prove she had the required knowledge (either by gaining certain certificates or passing an entrance exam, she didn’t need to go to any particular school as a teenager.
She just needed to find a university that allowed female students.
In order to stay as close to canon, or the quasi-canon of Holmesian scholars, I really wanted my Miss Holmes to go to Cambridge or Oxford.
But this would be out of the question. Oxford did not admit women for degrees until 1920, and even then, they had a quota that only 25% of the student body could be women. This continued until 1957!
Cambridge was even worse. They didn’t allow women graduates until 1947!
But hold on…it’s not quite as impossible as it first appears.
Oxford formed a women’s college in 1878. Women could take classes and attend lectures. But they weren’t allowed to graduate. Such an arrangement, while immensely unfair, could easily explain why a Miss Holmes would have attended university for only two years without graduating. But the timing is a little off. We want Holmes in university around 1874—four years too early for Oxford.
So what about Cambridge? Ah! Well, that is a different matter entirely!
Even though women would not be granted Cambridge degrees until 1947, it was actually the first university in Britain to establish a residential college for women in 1869. Established by Emily Davies, the goal was to offer women an education equivalent to what Cambridge offered men and to prepare women to take the same Tripos examinations as men students.
Girton College started out in a large house in Hitchin, about 30 miles from Cambridge with only five students. It quickly outgrew this location and moved to Girton in 1873—closer to Cambridge to let lecturers teach there more easily, but far enough away that it would be difficult for male students to “fraternize” with the women.
Getting those lectures was still difficult, though. But in spite of the challenges, three women unofficially sat and passed the Tripos exams in 1872. In 1880, Charlotte Scott obtained permission to officially sit the Mathematical Tripos. She scored high enough to be the “eighth wrangler”—which means she did better than all but 7 of the male students.
However, because she was a woman, Cambridge refused to acknowledge her achievement. She was not allowed to attend the awards ceremony, but when the man who was announcing the awards said “eighth” all the students (presumably men) started shouting her name to honor her. Back at Girton, the women students and faculty literally crowned her with laurels and celebrated her with songs and an ode written by a staff member.
The following year, in 1881, Cambridge allowed Girton students to officially take any of the Tripos exams, but their scores were ranked separately from the men. God forbid the men should be subjected to the cruelty of being outdone by a woman.
It would have been totally possible for Miss Holmes to have attended Girton. But she may have been frustrated by limited lecture offerings and stifled by the rules meant to ensure that the ladies maintained decorum and didn’t cause any scandals.
These feelings of being hemmed in, of not having the intellectual freedom and access to knowledge that her mind needed could easily have made her decide after two years that a university education was not necessary.
With the right family connections (which her brother Mycroft would have had), Holmes could have continued her studies in Europe or chosen to gain a degree from the University of London after they opened their degrees to women in 1878.
But by then, she had been set on a different path. I think Holmes was too independent to care very much about a degree. It was the knowledge, the understanding, she craved, not the recognition. And knowledge was something she could gain from books and journals and her own experimentation.
Perhaps she or her family gained connections with the Royal Free Hospital that allowed her to use their labs for her experiments, making the way clear for a certain meeting of destiny on January 29, 1881.
If you would like to find out more about what Holmes’s university experience might have been like, her friendship with Victoria Trevor (it’s…ahem, just gals being pals, y’all), and what she may have done after she left Girton, you may enjoy The Glorious Scot, which is my adaptation of her very first case. It’s available to my newsletter subscribers.
Next time: What exactly was the “New Woman” and how would female Holmes and Watson fit in to that movement?
44 notes · View notes
nkogneatho · 3 years
Text
ENEMIES TO LOVERS + KYOUTANI KENTAROU (f!reader)
Requests are open. Prompt list here.
Requested by @satisfactory-simp
Tumblr media
A/n: Hello. I am really sorry this took so long. My tumblr was glitching so I am unable to answer and my drafts won't save. Anyways, here you go. I hope you like it.💕
Disclaimer: I do not own the character, the character in this 18+.
Warnings: Smut, Angsty.
Tumblr media
Life basically sucked. You barely had any friends, not so comfortable with your family, and plus just took admission in a new school. Seijoh was known for elites. You thought it'd be nice to have decent people around you until your very first encounter was with this horrible person.
"Can't you walk properly? Don't you have eyes?", excuse me? Who is he yelling at? Isn't it his mistake you thought but you really didn't want to get caught in a mess on your very first day at school. You just apologized and left.
When the lecture started, you felt everyone staring at you and mumbling. You look up only to see they were glancing a bit backwards. You turned your head to find the very same guy you met in the corridor covered in bruises. What the hell?
"Got a problem with me? Is there anything on my face", shit. You stared at him for too long.
Yes there is. "Um no nothing, sorry" wait why am I apologizing? Did he get bullied. Judging from his posture and attitude doesn't look it. He seems like the one who bullies other. You really didn't like him or anything about him. He was the same. You were just classmates nothing more than that but still whenever you saw each other, there was this hatred. Maybe it was because you both always encounter each other on the wrong time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
One day, after the lecture you went to explore the school and it's well known volleyball players. You found the practice hall empty and locked. Maybe it's there day off. You heard a continuous loud sound arithmetically. You saw Mad dog practicing his serves. Balls hitting the ground so hard that you were sure they were gonna bursts. A girl approaches him. They were arguing. Is she his girlfriend? Well sure it was none of your business but since you had nothing to do, you stayed to watch.
"Mad dog. I am trying so hard to make you go out with me"
"Didn't I tell you I am busy. I don't have time to go for dates", he clearly wanted to make her go but she seemed to hung up on him.
"But-"
"No buts. I told you. It's my decision. Now scram", he glared at her. She walked away with a frown.
Later when you arrived in your class you saw it was pretty crowdy.
"I am telling you, he purposely held my hand and slapped me", the girl cried. It was the same girl who was asking him out on the ground.
"Stop lying you bitch", Kyoutani's rage was clearly visible.
"Look at him using such words at her. I am pretty sure he did it.", people around started talking about him but they were wrong. You were there when that happened. You clearly saw the whole thing and none of this shit occurred.
"She is lying.", you spoke up. "I was there. I went to explore the volleyball club but then I saw her asking him out. Kyoutani didn't do anything. He just told her to fuck off.", Kyoutani's eyes widened at you. Never in his life anyone ever trusted him. It's that when he fell for you. He did ask you to date him later but you denied saying "I was just helping a fellow classmate. That's no reason for you to want to date me" . He was still not giving up.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
One evening, he saw you on a date with someone else. That's it. That was enough to break his heart. He couldn't take it so he approached you disturbing your dinner with the person.
"Hey. We still have to complete that project", his eyes hooked on your date, glancing them.
"Can't you see I am between a conversation and this is my private time?", you frowned.
"I don't care. We have to complete it. I don't want to fail because of you", you were sure he was just making an excuse.
"Fail? Since when do you care about studies so much?"
"Since I wanted to pass", a fake smile on his face.
You both started arguing and were so involved in each other that you forgot about your date. When you turned your head to glance at them but they had left.
Kyoutani noticed that and walked out of the diner with a 'plan successful' look on his face.
You paid the bill and followed him outside. You gripped his arms and swayed it to make him face you.
"What?", he asked.
"What the fuck do you mean what? Wasn't it you who just ruined my dinner with them?", rage flowed your mind.
"Who cares?"
"I don't get you Kyoutani. Why did you do that? Why do you always behave like this with me?"
"Because I am in love with you, you dumbass. And I know you think, I just wanted to date you as a return for your favor for saving my ass but no. I can't help but think about you. And it fucking hurts to see you with someone else when you don't even know how I genuinely feel", he tried so hard not to cry then and there.
To be honest, yes you were a bit of an ass to him. You weren't different from those people cause even you judged him the first time you saw him. The reason you have always avoided him is maybe you were scared he might be a violent person. But now? Now after watching him like this? After knowing that he is actually a soft person and people just test him? You couldn't help but shed tears knowing how bad he must've been hurt. Overthinking about it will only ruin the moment. Your mind was a mess at that time. All you knew that if you let this chance slip, you will surely regret it. Without a second thought you gripped his collar and placed a deep kiss on his lips. You swayed away, both standing in confusion. "I-I am really sorry. I-I didn't k-know what happ-", he interrupted your stuttering latching his lips on yours. You held the hem of his jacket like holding on your feelings for him. It wasn't clear what you guys were doing at this point. What was your relation? But none of you could deny the fact that it was surprisingly comfortable.
"Can we go at my place?", you pulled away to catch a breath as you asked him. Awed at your question but he still assured that you were okay. "Are you sure?"
"Yes", eyes closed as you placed a kiss on his cheek.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
You invited him in, keys jingling as you threw them on the counter. "You wanna eat something?", you asked searching for beverages in the fridge.
"Yeah, you.", your cheeks reddened at his words.
"Obviously I'm kidding", he approached you as he didn't wanna make things awkward but now you couldn't get the thought out of your head. The thought of how would Kyoutani look settled between your legs.
"I mean, you can if you want to.", honestly? Even you were kinda stunned at your own statement. His legs advanced towards you, arms practically caging your sides. Face rigorously close to yours. If you both kissed now, you knew things just won't stop there.
Eyes wandering on each others lips before grabbing them, the space between you to closing in as you inhaled and dwelled in his softness. Wodering despite how rough he looks, he is nothing but a delicate person.
His big arms picked you up and carried you to the couch in the hall.
"Are you sure the door's locked?", and that was the confirmation that you won't just end it on a kiss tonight.
"Yeah", he lifted up your skirt to find your thighs rubbing together in embarrassment but that was the heat between your legs. You slowly started spreading them, a part of you hesitating because of how wet he made you with just some kisses. Kyoutani's eyes perked up at the view in front of him. The wet spot on your panties were clearly visible and so some of your juices flowing from the hem of it through your inner thighs. I swear he gulped down his breath at just how sexy you looked like this. He gave you a glace for consent and you nodded. Without further ado, he licked the wetness on your inner thighs then following your sex. His first lick had you squirming because of the temperature difference. "You taste so good", tongue only left your pussy once just to compliment you.
"It's kind of-- embarrassing", you bit your finger that made him turn on even more. You peeked at the tent growing in his pants. "Kyoutani. I want you inside me", he legitimately slapped himself. "What are you doing?", you asked.
"Just making sure it's not a dream", you wrapped your hand around his neck pulling him in. "No, it's not a dream. This is for real. We are for real Kyoutani". "I love the way you call me Kyoutani unlike everyone else. Only you have the right"
"Oh you'll love it even more when I'll call you daddy", bitch don't you have shame? Is what you were screeching inside but who cares?
He didn't know he had that kink until you said it. "Where's the bedroom?", a question without a second thought.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He placed you on the bed delicately. You both started stripping, making sure there's nothing bothersome between when your skins touch.
Your thighs rubbed against each other the second you saw his big and thick length.
You helped him put on a condomn and then lied back with your legs apart, perhaps an invitation to just put it in.
Kyoutani gently slid his dick in your sloppy wet cunt. You hissed at the thick length stretching you out. "Is it hurting? Should I stop?". "No. Please keep going.", it did hurt a little but you were so greedy for that feeling.
He made sure to move subtly. He doesn't want to cause his love pain. Once your pussy got adjusted to it, he started thrusting. Dick reaching places, no one ever did. "Call me daddy again", you were smiling internally learning how you got him this hard. "Please fuck me Daddy. I want you", these words were enough to make him go harder as he gripped your hips. "Ahh ahh-- Kyoutani Ahh", you couldn't hold your moans at this point. It took just one deep thrust for you to come undone. Walls clenching around his dick your hands did the same to the bedsheets. Seeing you like this, the girl he fell in love with was a very unknown feeling as he never fell for anyone before.
He couldn't hold it back in. He shoved it a few more times as he reached his own high. He dropped himself on top you, elbow digging deep in the mattress as his upper body balanced on it. Eyes making sure to never yours which were half-lided from the overwhelming heat after a long time.
"You know, it really ached when you ignored me before. But now here we are. Still can't believe this happened"
"I ignored you because I was scared that I might catch feelings and it won't go the way I want to", yes, you were honestly scared.
"So what changed your mind?", the curiosity stucked in his mind.
"The fact that someone was willing to give their heart to me was enough to make me fall for you at that confession. I love you Kyoutani", now that you discovered him, even your feelings became clear.
"I love you too", he cooed with a smile.
Turns out all of that wasn't the hatred but denial of the fact that deep down, you both were meant to be but just the circumstances weren't coping up with you two.
Tumblr media
©All the wrting contents belongs to nkogneatho 2021, do not repost.
276 notes · View notes
jrcraddock828 · 3 years
Text
READ, WEEP, PRINT AND KEEP!
This should be on the front page of every newspaper.
Charley Reese's Final column!
A very interesting column. COMPLETELY NEUTRAL.
Be sure to Read the Poem at the end..
Charley Reese's final column for the Orlando Sentinel... He has been a journalist for 49 years. He is retiring and this is HIS LAST COLUMN.
Be sure to read the Tax List at the end.
This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. The article below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day. It's a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!
545 vs. 300,000,000 People
-By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.. ( The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.)
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House?( John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. ) If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to. [The House has passed a budget but the Senate has not approved a budget in over three years. The President's proposed budgets have gotten almost unanimous rejections in the Senate in that time. ]
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ..
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.
Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees... We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
What you do with this article now that you have read it... is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren't so true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he's fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for
peanuts anyway!
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid...
Put these words
Upon his tomb,
'Taxes drove me
to my doom...'
When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What in the heck happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'
I hope this goes around THE USA at least 545 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!!
GO AHEAD. . . BE AN AMERICAN!!!
SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW
10 notes · View notes
ladyartemesia · 4 years
Text
▨ Lady Artemesia’s Milestone Message and Milestone  Fic Preview ▨
Tumblr media
• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • 
Dear Mutuals and Followers,
When I started this blog nearly six months ago(ish?) I never expected to fall so in love with the lovely people in this community. You have been wonderful and supportive and I have truly enjoyed getting to know you, and talking to you, and loving BTS proudly alongside of you. Thank you for every moment, I have so many truly incredible moots - ALL of whom are SIGNIFICANTLY cooler than I am - and if I attempted to list you all, my perpetually scattered brain would no doubt forget someone and I’d have to fall apart dramatically about it. So...to all of you - thank you for following me. I am so bloomin thrilled that you do. To my amazing mutuals - each and every one of you are brilliant creators and supportive members of our community and I benefit every day from the art and positive energy you bring to my dash. Thank you so much...
to my hearts... 
There are a few of you who have been much closer than others and you I must recognize with only these inadequate words...
I utterly adore you. Thank you for being my friend.
▨ Amazing Ana @xjoonchildx​  ▨ Wonderful Lindy @ppersonna​ ▨ Sweet Sunshine Donna @taetaewonderland​ ▨ My First Friend and Angel Jahni @glossyfever​  ▨ Fabulous Lemon @lemonjoonah​ ▨  and my fellow Thirst Queen Reese (there is a line in this fic I wrote just for you - you’ll prolly know right away) @luxekook​ ▨
Honestly there are many more names I could put on this list, Many more people I have grown close to and I will continue to grow close too - believe me when I say - I luv and appreciate you all, but there are 7 members of BTS and these 6 ladies are - in many ways - my “other 6.” The roles they have played in my growth as a writer and a creator have been significant. They read my work, encourage me, hype me up, share my finished products, and - most importantly - share their friendship. I am blessed to be a part of their world.
Thank You All... My Lovlies...
- Viola
• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •
Heart of the Storm
• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •
• FIC PREVIEW •
• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •
Genre: Fluff • Smut • Hint of Angst • Secret Feelings/Strangers to Lovers
Word Count: 4kish (preview 1kish)
Warnings: Hurt/Comfort • Hints of Classism • JK is Soft and Strong (full fic has more warnings)
Rating: Explicit/18+ (for the full fic)
Summary: Jeon Jungkook is the handsome RA that you could never quite bring yourself to talk to, and you are the ice princess whose status kept you far out of his reach... But a selfless act of kindness in the midst of a terrible storm forges an unexpected bond between you - one that could break your guarded heart... or finally set it free. 
• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •
This is the song JK sings...
• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •
You’re afraid of storms. 
Born to privilege (at least so you’ve been told), but money could not buy the love of absent parents, nor could it purchase any sort of freedom from the kind of fear that gripped you now. 
You shouldn’t even be here...
Alone in a dorm while everyone around you caught planes and trains and buses back to their diverse points of origin. 
The girl who usually slept in the bed across from yours is your roommate and  best friend since sophomore year of high school. She was a scholarship case at the elite private prep where the obscenely wealthy dynasties of Southern California sent their entitled spawn. 
A lone pair of Chuck Taylors in a sea of Jimmy Choos.
And a breath of fresh air.
Her father worked in stores; your father owned them. Yet you had become sisters in the truest sense of the word.  
When the storms came, she climbed into your bed and held you till the thunder died down. 
But she and the comfort of her familiar embrace were 30,000 feet above you now; well on the way to celebrate the spring holidays with her chaotic tribe. 
You could have escaped for the week - like the majority of your peers - but your father was on vacation with his new wife (who graduated from high school a mere four years before you did) and the dorms were infinitely more inviting than the sterile halls of your family’s real estate holdings. 
So here you were. 
Alone in a storm.
Or so you thought...
Being an RA looked good on resumes and paid better than most work study jobs, but for Jeon Jungkook, the obligation to stay in the dorms over spring break (when he could be chasing music festivals along the California coast) was a definite downside. 
He heard the sobs on his way up from the laundry and dropped the basket of clean clothes on the stairs. 
Only one person signed up to stay over the holidays - the only person who managed to spark shivers down his spine without effort or awareness. 
The princess. 
That’s what they called you when they thought you weren’t listening - an unoriginal label laced with jealousy and petty bitterness. 
But it fit you, nonetheless. 
Elegant even when you were clumsy. Distant even in a crowd. Reserved in ways that spoke of intensive social training and endless expectations. 
And you were screaming. 
His hand wrapped around your doorknob in a matter of seconds, but you could not hear him calling out to you over the thunder and the ringing in your ears. 
You did not hear the lock splinter when he slammed his body against the frame like his father taught him to do in case of a fire or an emergency.
Jungkook saw you often in and out of the dorms - yet you never really spoke to him, never offered him more than the occasional pleasantry or disinterested smile. 
He was out of your orbit and you were out of his league. 
But the princess was nowhere in sight now...
Now you were just a terrified girl curled up on her bed and Jungkook felt his heart wrench painfully at the sight of you so untethered. 
You could not see him - even though he stood right in front of you. It wasn’t till his hands connected with your shoulders that you finally registered the presence of another human being and slowly brought your eyes up to meet his.
There was a moment of silence as your gazes melded together in a strange intimate haze unlike anything either of you had encountered before. 
Then you reached out - curling your hand into the loose fabric of his shirt as you yanked him down on top of you. 
“Please,” you whispered into the firm plane of his chest, “please hold me.”
Strong muscled arms wrapped around you.
And for the first time in so very long...
You felt safe.
He smelled like fresh laundry and a hint of vanilla.
But oh...
He felt like home.
Not the many houses you grew up in - but a home. The kind you only ever heard of.
“It’s ok,” he whispered, lips pressed intimately to the sweet softness of your hair, “I’ve got you.” 
Thunder shook the room again and you burrowed impossibly closer to him, too frightened to notice that you wore only a t-shirt and nothing else, too terrified to care that the haven you sought was the beautiful man you passed by countless times in last few months, but could never quite work up the courage to speak to. 
Now your body tangled desperately with his, drawing immeasurable comfort from his solid warmth and the soothing circles he traced over your back. 
Jungkook was profoundly aware of both your state of undress and the soft curves of your body pressed insistently against his own, but that awareness paled in comparison to the fierce wave of protectiveness swelling up within him. 
You were no damsel in distress. You were brilliant, beautiful, and president of the self-defense club. He’d seen you flip a linebacker over your shoulder like a pancake during a demonstration once (which had given him an immediate boner for reasons he deliberately never explored).
But right now - right here - in this moment - you needed him... and holding you close - keeping you safe was the only thing on his mind. 
The tremors came and went sporadically as the storm raged on around you. His arms were an anchor each time the fear threatened to sweep you away. 
It took a few minutes for your scattered senses to identify the new sound braiding hypnotically in between the rolls of thunder and the rhythmic cadence of your own breathing. 
Jeon Jungkook was singing to you. 
Another time it might have amused you to consider that a man whose face and form bordered on sinful possessed a voice that was utterly angelic. The notes he sang curled through the air, piercing effortlessly past the fog to wrap over your heart like a warm blanket. 
“I see you getting sad... I see it running through your blood...”
Your muscles began to relax. The pounding in your chest began to slow. 
“Let it run like water out of mud...”
Your breathing gradually evened out.
“Yell the sadness loud... Throw it up against the wall...”
Sensation crept back into your limbs. Awareness returned. 
“See what stays then go and put it on... It keeps you warm…”
And suddenly you were in his arms - truly in his arms for the first time that night. 
“I will love you anyway with all your demons in the way… Nothing can keep us apart...I walk through walls into your heart…”
His warmth was everywhere. The gentle comfort he brushed over your skin swirled around you till the sound of the storm faded away. 
Till there was only him. 
“I don’t mind… I don’t mind… I don’t ...mind…”
He felt the change in you, the incremental return from disconnected terror to tentative presence of mind, but you made no move to disentangle yourself, content to let his touch and his voice chase away the last trace of your nightmare. 
You would stay in this moment - safe and surrounded and so unexpectedly content - forever if you could. 
Jeon Jungkook had found you adrift and pulled you back from the edge. He’d done what no one else could..
What no one else (save your best friend) had even bothered to try.  
And he’d done it selflessly.  
As a corporate princess, you were worth millions in assets, but so often left begging for pittance when it came to genuine care. 
You would have paid millions to be held like this just once. 
The adrenaline raging through your body finally began to dissipate, and in its immediate wake, exhaustion crashed over you heavy and hard. 
Sleep tugged insistently at the corners of your mind, but one last coherent urge burned so brightly that it could not be ignored or overtaken. 
Your fingers twisted into the thick curls at the nape of his neck, drawing him down till you felt the soft press of his lips against your own. 
You had never kissed like this; intimately - languidly - as if the brush of his mouth against yours was familiar across worlds and lifetimes. The small intake breath before he gave in to your gentle exploration was the loveliest sound you had ever heard. 
He was the song that drew you - not like a siren to your doom - but like a lighthouse to the shore. 
• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •
FULL FIC POSTING TUESDAY 6/30
COMMENT ON THIS POST IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO THE TAGLIST
Ask My Muse: Have a question for the characters in this work? Send it to my ask box and hear their side of the story.
Endnote: Please let me know what you think so far? Theories? Ideas? Anything really... Feedback is really the only compensation I will ever receive for producing this content. I swear I treasure each word like the gold. 
Masterlist: I got more where that came from...
• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •
139 notes · View notes
alkhale · 4 years
Text
Shoot the Ball (Ushijima x Reader) Ko-Fi request
Guuuurl can I please get like a bunch of accidental run in encounters with ushiwaka plssss I feel like he doesn’t get much love
Here’s the problem with a school like Shiratorizawa.
It’s a big school.
Fucking huge.
Massive campus yet elite, trimmed student body with a very personal class average of students to teachers. Private tutors are offered in every nook and cranny of the libraries, and the dorms are luscious and extravagant.
Unknown to many of your classmates but most of your team members are aware, you got into Shiratorizawa on a favor from your childhood kyudo coach and a hefty scholarship you had to claw your way towards over a bunch of other studious bookworms. 
You’re the leading star on Shiratorizawa’s kyudo club, the ochi from your tachi group, the last person to shoot, the person who guides the rest of the team. You also hold the position of captain in your third year at Shiratorizawa, and kyudo is all you have ever known and love.
But, but, but, but, at a school like Shiratorizawa where a classic, high performance sport like kyudo, a traditional, beautiful sport like kyudo should be fairly popular, your club and your teammates’ performances are always outshone by more high-energy, easily watchable sports.
Shiratorizawa’s sports expect nothing but the highest level of triumphs from all their divisions. From basketball to dressage on horse, each club is required to perform admirably. If you perform well, the more funding you got for your club, the more prestige, and all good things.
Shiratorizawa’s kyudo club is actually high on the list, last year your team placed first at the Inter High and made it to the top four in nationals. Despite all this, despite the fact that you even scored consecutive kaichus, hitting all your marks and not missing a single arrow, making waves in the kyudo community and getting higher renown for your team, your headmaster still refused to acknowledge your club.
You’d come to him, white headband tied around your head, posters ready, armed and prepared to fight tooth and nail for an increase in funds and a spot at advertisements because if your fellow student body just knew about the sport, more people would join, more people would watch, and your club wouldn’t be in danger of closing down after you graduate or declining—
“It’s just not popular!” your headmaster clapped you over the shoulders himself, beaming. “Keep working hard though! Good job last year!”
Because popular and television-worthy, massive poster worthy, constant overhead announcements in the morning and the afternoon about matches, constant offered opportunities for extra credit, belong to certain sports at Shiratorizawa.
Shiratorizawa’s Boys’ Volleyball team.
Every morning you came to school and stared in disgust, not out of a personal vendetta for the guy, but for his whole damn team for taking the spotlight for the past three years you’d been here at Shiratorizawa, at the giant, blown up poster lining your school’s walls, posted in any classroom you two might have together. He flooded the school’s daily bulletin, online articles, even the god damn konbini near your house when your returned home for the holidays.
Ushijima Wakatoshi.
Volleyball star, playing for Japan’s national youth team—which was something you did drool over because nationals was your goal for kyudo—and even top of all his classes.
You kinda hated this guy and you didn’t even know him.
But it was no matter because this year you planned to take your team all the way to the top. Everyone at this damn rich school was going to known kyudo and love it, damn it. They were going to sing your praises all the way down the halls, line up outside the shooting range to get a peek at your beautiful team and fall in love with the bow.
All the way to the same stage this rich, boastful school’s especial crowning achievment and pride, enough to get them their own stupid bus, enough to get them their own damn gym, enough to get them their own damn cheer squad and—
Your first real, personal meeting with Ushijima Wakatoshi goes something like this:
I don’t need more protein, I need better results. You frowned, staring at the picture of the protein drink you’d been texted that was apparently quite popular these days, according to your fellow teammate. She constantly sang its praises, promising nothing but the best and urging you to start getting into it.
“Your practice schedule is too rigid!” she lectured, shaking her hands at you as you notched another arrow and took aim. “You’re going to shoot arrows till you’re an old maid! No one will marry you at this rate!”
“Kyudo will marry me,” you said, completely serious. “I’m marrying the best kyudo archer of this era and no one else.”
“He’s over fifty!”
“I like them older anyways.”
While normally you would have ignored your vice captain in favor of your own home remedies, your joints were acting up lately, specifically your left wrist and that was never a good sign. You had a feeling the tautness to the new string you were trying to break in wasn’t doing you any favors either. You needed to keep an eye on it in case it got worse.
I can’t bring this team down.
The school’s mini-grocery was fairly empty at this hour. Most students were back at the dorms and anyone still lingering around should’ve just finished with their own club practices.
The rows were designed so items could be taken from either side, not just one. You browsed the aisle, tempted by the choco-snacks but willing yourself to put another batch of fruits in instead. Have to treat my health like second nature. Results don’t come from potato chips.
“Finally,” your eyes zeroed in on the brightly colored bottle. A hefty size, meant to be poured out in cups and drunk daily. You had no idea how it would taste, but by your vice captain’s face, it couldn’t be too great.
You crouched down, reaching for the last bottle on the lowest row.
A massive hand engulfed yours at the top of the bottle’s cap, swallowing your hand whole.
“Holy shit!” you shrieked, ripping your hand away—only to find yourself unable to do so with the massive hand still laid down over yours. You hit the floor on your ass, gaping in horror at the monstrous palm and the calloused fingers and fearing this was finally the moment you were dragged into some abyss by an unknown creature and killed—
Eyes like olives, flecked with gold.
You stared, caught, unable to move for a second. You’d always thought his eyes were brown. You never noticed the weird lining to them that gave them a sharper look, like an eagle or—
“My bad,” Ushijima. Ushijima Wakatoshi said, his voice a deep, resounding rumble in his chest like a goddamn bear. 
He crouched there, sitting back on his heels, directly across the aisle from you, peering through the metal shelf like some kind of monster trying to fit through a crack. His massive hand and massive arm barely had to leave his body to reach the same bottle of protein you’d both been shooting for. 
Ushijima Wakatoshi.
All at once, the flood of posters assaulted your brain. The blaring announcements, the squealing girls, the headmaster, the volleyball buses with his face printed on the side, the magazines, the articles and—
You blinked, once, twice.
His lips parted.
You ripped your hand out from under his with a hefty amount of force. The action sent you flat on your back and you were sure he’d gotten a front row view of under your skirt but you really didn’t give a crap.
“Have it!” you barked out, awkwardly scrambling to your feet. You grabbed your basket and Ushijima blinked once at you, slowly, face monotonous. “You need it more anyway, jerk!”
You huffed, shoulders puffing up. Ushijima was silent on the other side of the aisle, wordlessly taking the bottle of protein with him as he stood.
You gaped.
HE’S A LIVING TREE.
Your neck actually craned a bit, straining to look up at him and he stared down at you from the top of the aisle.
His arm promptly stuck itself through the gap in the shelf, offering the drink to you.
“I’ll be fine,” he said, voice devoid of emotion. “You should take it.”
For some reason that irked you.
You forcefully—struggling with great difficulty—shoved the drink back to his side through the shelves. Ushijima blinked once, slow down at you and you bared your teeth at him before hoisting your basket up into your arm and storming to the check out where you flew through your wallet, aggressively paying the lady at the counter, nearly running into a smirking redhead at the doorway and rushing the rest of the way to your dorm where people kept asking why you looked so damn mad.
“Who was that?” Tendou chirped, sidling up to Ushijima. “A fan?”
Ushijima stared out the still swinging door and calmly examined the bottle of protein in his hand.
“No,” he said.
“...you gonna continue with the sentence or what?” Tendou prodded.
I hate this time of the year. You frowned, burrowing deeper into your muffler as you fought the early morning chill. Several other students were trudging beside you, sleep in their eyes as you all headed to the regular meeting for club time slots. You always showed up as early as possible to get the best dibs for your club. 
You absently kicked a pebble in your way, wondering how you should organize practice this week. You wanted to brush up on your form again and—
Why was everyone looking at you like that?
“Good morning.”
It took you a moment to realize a massive shadow had engulfed your own. You stared at your feet for a moment, rubbing your eyes before slowly turning.
Ushijima Wakatoshi bore down on you, face cast in dark shadows from the early morning darkness, puffs of steam clouding by his mouth where he breathed.
He looked like a monster.
You felt your hackles raise, nearly jumping out of your sneakers as you started to backpedal away from him, “Hah?”
“Good morning,” Ushijima said, looking completely unfazed by the crack of dawn and cold.
You continued to hurry backwards toward the gym while barking back at him as Ushijima took calm steps forward—since you were both headed the same way—every three of your steps one of his own.
To anyone else, it looked as though a bear were advancing on a chihuahua.
“G-Good morning to you too!” you snapped. “Bye!”
“What?” Ushijima asked.
“I said bye you—”
“We’re still headed the same way.”
“Stop following me then!”
 - - - - - - - - 
You smirked, hefting the pile of posters into your arms. This was it, this was going to work for sure. No way anyone could ignore the please join flyers if you were pinning them up all around the school, and the team had worked hard to make it stand out and eye catching, appealing to all genders and interests.
Your wrist was starting to bother you a bit, so you shifted the papers to the other arm. I got careless trying to get the bow turn again. I need to slow it down and ice it tonight.
Who says we’re last on the funding list? You grinned, grabbing your tape. They can’t ignore us with a bunch of members—
“Good afternoon.”
You screeched, dropping your stack of flyers onto your foot. They scattered the hallway.
Ushijima calmly turned his gaze downwards, staring at the colorfully illustrated flyers now flooding both your feet.
Join the kyudo club!
“You,” you snapped, urging your heart to calm and shoving your tape back into your pocket. You hurried, grabbing the flyers and restacking them as he stood, towering above you. “What the heck do you want? Do you get some kind of kick out of scaring people or—”
In one smooth, swift motion, Ushijima had crouched down beside you. You stared, gaping in disbelief as his large hands—he has such big hands, I’ve never seen anyone with hands that big, this guy is all muscle and—moved across the floor, gathering up the papers in one fell swoop. His bangs shifted slightly over the slight furrow of his brows. 
Ushijima looked at you, quiet, somber, unreadable as he carefully put your stack back together.
He looked weird in the school uniform. You were so used to seeing him in his volleyball one. He seemed like a different person. Oh, you’re the type that leaves the first button undone.
“I did not mean to scare you,” he said, slow, with that rumbling voice of his. It sent a timbre down your spine.
Ushijima remained silent, staring calmly at you, seemingly content with the silence.
“Y-Yeah, well,” you started. “My bad then.”
You quickly stood, lifting your stack. You stared down at Ushijima for once as he calmly looked up at you and promptly ran off without another word, unable to figure out the weird awkwardness that sat on your tongue whenever you dealt with him.
I mean, it’s not like I really… hate him right?
Why the hell am I running into him so much?
You just needed to shoot some arrows and you’d feel a lot better.
-----------
You shot too many arrows.
You frowned at your throbbing wrist, giving it a look of utter betrayal. The nurse had said to give her a few minutes for her to come back with some pain killers. You were only in the infirmary this time because the pain had gotten to a point where you’d actually dropped your bow in the middle of a draw.
Prelims are coming up. You glared harder at your wrist. You just needed to ice it and you’d feel better. I can’t let them down.
You were taking them straight to the top and then it’d be kyudo posters this school would see, not just stupid Ushijima’s face and—
“(L/n)-san.”
You screeched, nearly toppling off your stool. Your wrist smacked into the counter and you hissed in pain, tears pricking the corner of your eyes.
Ushijima stood in the doorway of the infirmary, staring at you with furrowed brows.
Why him, why now? You grunted in greeting, gingerly rubbing your throbbing wrist, turning away from him toward the window.
You heard the door close behind him, focusing all your attention on anything else to ignore the massive presence behind you.
“What happened?”
WHY IS HE TALKING TO ME. 
“Oh, this and that,” you said simply, vaguely, struggling to find better words. You… you really didn’t hate this guy personally or anything, but it was personal at the same time? You didn’t know how you felt about him and it was making you confused.
You hated being confused.
Ignoring any and all other social cues, Ushijima took a seat on the stool beside you, back and posture impeccable. His hands calmly set on his knees. His volleyball uniform like second skin against his form, revealing nothing but miles of muscle and hardwork.
You stared at him in disbelief.
Ushijima faced forward, face unreadable.
….okay. You awkwardly glanced to the side, rubbing at your wrist. Way to make it even more awkward. Does this guy not socialize much or what?
“Uh,” no! Don’t talk to him! Just keep your mouth shut! “What happened to you?” you said awkwardly.
Ushijima’s face relaxed an inch. You blinked in surprise.
“My knee,” he said. “Coach made me go get it checked out.”
“...me too,” you said. He looked at you. You looked away. “Not my knee, I mean. My wrist. My vice captain will have my head if I didn’t. I told her I could just ice it.”
“You should be more careful,” Ushijima said.
You looked at him. He looked at you.
“I’m sorry?”
“You do not need to apologize.”
You stared.
Ushijima motioned to your wrist, not taking his eyes off your face, “Your fans would be disappointed if you were unable to perform.”
“I-I’m sorry?”
“You do not need to apologize,” Ushijima said again, shaking his head. You gaped at him. “I would be disappointed. I wish to see your kaichu again.”
Your brain short-circuited. You were left to dumbly look at Ushijima. He seemed to take pity on you and turned fully on his stool, several heads taller, looking down at you before he calmly said—
“I am a fan of your archery.”
The two of you sat there in silence.
Steam shot out of your ears as your face exploded into red. Ushijima watched in silence as you toppled over your stool and back onto the ground.
- i also stan one giant tree
582 notes · View notes
thedeviltohisangel · 3 years
Text
Whiskey In A Teacup/1
Tumblr media
When Santi first got out of the military, he hadn’t known what to think of his options. There was always the option of giving up and going back in. The option to join a shadowy private military company. Go into private security. Go on the recruiting circuit. Maybe even become a cop. But none of them seemed like the best path. They all seemed like giving up. He had been trained by his country to be an elite, lethal machine. Being anything but the best felt like a cop out. So when an old friend of his reached out with an offer from the Secret Service, he accepted it on the spot.
masterlist is my url/writing or on ao3
send me any one shot requests for these two
When Santi first got out of the military, he hadn’t known what to think of his options. There was always the option of giving up and going back in. The option to join a shadowy private military company. Go into private security. Go on the recruiting circuit. Maybe even become a cop. But none of them seemed like the best path. They all seemed like giving up. He had been trained by his country to be an elite, lethal machine. Being anything but the best felt like a cop out. So when an old friend of his reached out with an offer from the Secret Service, he accepted it on the spot.
----
The election had recently ended with a brand new administration being ushered into the White House. Pope thought he looked cookie cutter. Like he was aging perfectly, his wife wasn’t aging at all and his family had all done Cotillion. He was in an empty conference room flipping through the personnel files that had been left for him before he waited for his friend to pick him up for whatever orientation he had to go through. 
“Santi! Glad you were able to make it in.” He stood and shook his friend’s hand, happy to have someone to talk to.
“Yeah and was cleared to read the briefing materials,” he answered as he dropped the folder back down onto the table. 
“Good. So the basics are out of the way. Now, I vouched for you hard with leadership and they want you on the detail. Close circle, last line of defense type of shit.
“Perfect. Exactly the stakes you know I’m cut out for.” 
“I know that. But the future First Lady doesn’t.” Santi furrowed his brow.
“Why does that matter?” His friend cleared his throat.
“She has requested she look every agent in the inner circle in the eye before they are officially assigned. Protective wife and mama bear.” 
“You’re not saying the debutante daughters are included in my assignment are you?” Santiago hoped he wasn’t. They looked like stuck up brats and he would rather join Will on the speech circuit than put up with attitudes like that.
“I’m saying the other agents have been tripping over themselves to try and get conversations with the older one.” His friend pointed at her picture on the table.
“That’s disgusting,” Pope whined. “How do I get her approval? I got to wait a week for an appointment?”
“Her and the daughters are at a photoshoot right now for the cover of Vogue. Said she would talk to you there.”
“Great.” It would be one of his more unconventional interviews but Santi was eager. Chomping at the bit to get back in the game. Feel useful again. Devote his life to something other than thinking about the past. 
----
The people allowed on the set were few. His friend introduced him to a few other agents and pointed to where the incoming First Lady was smiling for the camera.
“Let’s find somewhere we can wait for her to be done.” Santi kept his head down, smiling politely and shaking hands where appropriate, as they made their way towards the rooms in the back of the studio. There were two agents standing outside a door, nodding once as they let Santi and his friend into the room.
“Marnie, can you help me zip?” The female voice was coming from behind the dressing screen in the corner. Both men looked at each other, not sure what the appropriate thing to say was.
“Sorry, ma’am, we can go-”
“No that’s fine. I think I can do it myself.” Pope stayed silent as the woman, he thinks it was Penelope, stepped out in a beautiful blush pink dress that hugged her like it was made for her. He hates that his mouth ran dry and his tongue felt thick. But he pushed it aside as quickly as it came. “You’re new. And not in a suit. A friend of yours, Sam?”
“Yes ma’am. This is Santiago Garcia. Old Army buddy. He is here for a job interview.” 
“A pleasure to meet you ma’am.” Santiago extended his hand and Penelope shook it even though her eyes were rolling.
“So stupid she makes all of you talk to her first. But I guess that’s why I am not in charge,” Penelope shrugged. “I’m sure it will go well and I’ll see you around, Santiago.”
“Santi,” he blurted out before he could stop himself. “Just...Santi.”
“Santi,” she whispered like she was just testing it out. “The pleasure was all mine.” She smiled as she spun, the skirt flying around her like a Disney movie, and then she was out the door and gone.
“Isn’t she something?” Sam mused as he still stared at the door she had just disappeared through.
“Beautiful. And probably a troublemaker,” Pope replied. 
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” his friend teased with a slap on his back. The sad thing was, he thinks he did.
----
Penelope hated that no such privacy existed in her life anymore. It hadn’t for awhile but it had only gotten worse in the past month since her father won the election. Even now, lying in bed flipping through fashion magazines, there were people bustling in and out to pack her stuff for the move. People asking which fabric and color she thought looked best for her inauguration dress. If she liked this or that singer for the National Anthem and if she thought her peers would find this or that choice relatable. She answered with a smile and took it all in stride but couldn’t wait to shut the door and go to bed. But even there she dreamt of flags and men in suits and waving until her arm felt like it was going to fall off. There was no such thing as privacy and there was no such thing as peace. Penelope felt she was no longer her own person but everyone’s. They told her that’s what being in the first family meant. But she didn’t like it and she didn’t want it. 
“Ma’am?” It sounded like her new assistant on the other side of the door.
“Yes?” Penny had just started winding down for the night. Her face was soft from copious amounts of moisturizer. Her hair was fluffy after she took her time drying it. Her silk nightgown was kissing her legs with every step. She was tired. She wanted to curl up in a ball under a pile of blankets and dream of simpler times.
“Your new agent is here. I just wanted to introduce you before he started his first shift.” Penelope sighed and moved back towards her closet to find a knit robe that would help protect at least some of her humility.
“You can come in.” She recognized him instantly as the handsome man from the Vogue set. He looked even better now. Well groomed and in a suit that must have been tailored by an old school professional.
“Ma’am this is-”
“Santiago,” Penelope said before the introduction could be finished. “I’m glad to see the interview went well.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“We’re practically the same age. Any other title other than ma’am would work better.” He made her blush just by looking at her. It was tragic and sad. That she had to meet him like this. That he had to be someone that worked for her father. That he had to be stoic and professional all the time. That they hadn’t just met in a bar on a Saturday night or bumped into each other at a mutual friend’s backyard picnic. 
“Of course. I’ll think on it and get back to you,” he offered with a smile.
“Agent Garcia is on interior duty tonight but I am sure you’ll get used to his presence quickly, ma’am.” She didn’t bother correcting her assistant. She didn’t care what she called her.
“I look forward to it.”
----
“Alright let’s go over Polar’s schedule for the day.” It had been a couple of days since Santi had started and so far he was enjoying it. His fellow agents were nice enough and had a similar sense of humor to him. Many of them had even served and it was nice to swap stories with people other than the men in his unit. He was posted close to the action and was never really bored. Penelope was his principle. Her safety was his only priority most days and he was by her side at morning show appearances, fancy dinners with campaign donors and visits to DC elementary schools. Things were moving faster and tighter the closer they got to the inauguration. 
They hadn’t spoken much since his first night. Just nods and smiles as they made elusive eye contact throughout the day. She was beautiful. That was the simplest way for Santi to describe her. The most professional way. It was wrong but he wanted to know more about her. Learn what made her life. Made her cry. What she liked to eat and what she would order at McDonalds. Santi was someone full of life and warmth and love for those around him. Sometimes it was hard to be so cold. He hadn’t had to be so since he retired from the military. It was dredging up old feelings from the past. But he was more concerned how he felt more comfortable than he had before. How being alert and hearing radio static and a gun at his hip made him feel more at ease than the creature comforts of home ever could.
“We’ve got a pilates class, Skype call with a dress designer and then a private dinner.”
“Private dinner?” Santi hadn’t heard that on the schedule before and it made his ears perk up.
“She’s been seeing this guy-”
“Kind of a douche,” one of the other agents chimed in.
“-and it's very underwraps, very lowkey.”
“We normally draw straws or play rock, paper, scissors to see who has to take it.” Santi furrowed his brow as all the comments flooded his system.
“What’s so awful about a dinner date?” he asked, almost afraid of the answer.
“It’s the company she keeps,” one chimed in.
“He’s dull and chews weird.”
“Hurts to listen to and hurts to watch.” They all groaned in unison.
“I’ll take it then. The watching and listening part.” He was a low man on the totem pole anyways but he was also curious. He wanted to see this train wreck with his own two eyes. He took the file when it was offered, leaving the room when they were dismissed.
“Curiosity killed the cat, you know,” Sam muttered as he fell into step next to him.
“I know. This will satiate me,” Santi replied.
----
He stood dutifully by the car, waiting to open the door for Penelope whenever she was ready to go. The twisted part of him was excited to see how this night played out. Maybe it would at least be worth the good story. How the beautiful first daughter dated a slob and he was paid to be a third wheel.
“Santiago? I didn’t expect to see you here tonight.” Her fingers tightened around her clutch as she squared her shoulders to face him. 
“Yes…” he froze when he remembered he had agreed to not refer to her as ma’am.
“Still thinking of something else to call me?” she asked with a smirk. Penelope didn’t wait for him to respond and instead slipped under his arm and into the backseat of her car. 
The drive was dead silent. Santi felt awkward but knew this was a part of the job he would have to get used to. She wasn’t his friend. Wasn’t a girl he had picked up at a bar. She was his top priority in the least romantic way possible. He would take a bullet for her. When they arrived at the restaurant he moved swiftly to open her door and escort her into the dining room. They moved towards the back where a man was sitting alone. He looked like a college lacrosse player to Santi. In the most stereotypical of ways. His hands itched to pull Penelope’s seat out for her when her date didn’t, his eyes going to the menu instead of complementing the black dress she was wearing. Maybe he had been wrong. Maybe this was going to be torture.
10 notes · View notes
emma-what-son · 3 years
Text
How Sir Philip's son cast a spell on Emma Watson: The super-woke Harry Potter star and the playboy son of the disgraced Topshop tycoon - it's hard to think of a more unlikely romance, writes ALISON BOSHOFF
One can almost see her eyebrows raised in quizzical disdain. Hermione Granger would surely disapprove.
Pictures emerged this week of Emma Watson, the serious-minded Harry Potter actress and eco-warrior, hopping out of Sir Philip Green’s family helicopter in Battersea, South London. Curious, some would think, given Emma’s long-standing war against fast fashion, that she would accept a lift from the fallen King of the High Street.
More curious still, however, is that Emma, 31, has apparently been enchanted by Brandon Green, Sir Philip’s 28-year-old son, whose longest relationship to date seems to have been with a Belarusian bikini model. Could there be a more unlikely romance?
Aside from both being awash with money —Brandon is an heir to a £2 billion fortune, while Emma is said to be worth about £59 million —they appear to have almost nothing in common. Yet according to a friend, a certain magic is in the air.
‘Brandon has been wooing Emma,’ says one source. Another says: ‘They are an item, although she hasn’t met the family yet.’
Emma, who once mused about being ‘self-partnered’, has certainly had more suitors than her single status would have you believe.
At 17, an early boyfriend was rugby player Tom Ducker, but her most serious romance seems to have been with another rugby player — and fellow Oxford student — Matt Janney, with whom she broke up in 2015.
Then there was another Oxford student, Will Adamowicz. The relationship lasted from 2011 to 2013.
She was then seen out and about with actor/producer Roberto Aguire, whom she first met in 2005 on the set of Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. She also seems to have a particularly weak spot for young tech millionaires, as she has dated at least three of them, most significantly U.S. entrepreneur William ‘Mack’ Knight, whom she split from in late 2017 following a two-year romance.
Then came a six-month love affair with handsome Glee actor Chord Overstreet. They broke up during the summer of 2018.
She was then spotted sharing cocktails with tech CEO Brendan Wallace, a New Yorker, now 38, who is co-founder of a venture capital fund. By summer 2019 she was rumoured to have moved on to another tech millionaire, Brendan Iribe, CEO of Oculus.
She most recently split from her boyfriend of two years, businessman Leo Robinton.
It’s a longer list of amours than you might expect for someone who claims to be ‘self-partnered’, but then Emma is a woman who solemnly examines her life.
‘The boyfriends or partners I’ve had have generally made me feel really cherished. They have built me up,’ she said.
Quite how Brandon — who featured in Tatler’s ‘most eligible’ list in 2014 and was once caught patting Kate Moss’s bottom — fits into Emma’s orbit of admirers, remains to be seen. Although, like Emma’s other admirers, he does have a job running a tech investments company.
So who is this handsome young man — and what does Emma see in him?
Born in 1992, he was raised in Monte Carlo with big sister Chloe. His mother, Tina, is resident in the tax haven and was the ultimate owner of the Arcadia group, which went into administration last year. He went to the principality of Monaco’s International School.
To say his was a gilded upbringing would be an understatement. A source in Monaco says: ‘All the time he was growing up, the Greens would never fly commercial, always in their private jet.
‘They have a private chauffeur and in the family penthouse at the Roccabella building in Monaco there are uniformed maids standing to attention in every room just in case someone needs something. That’s the lifestyle Brandon was born into and has always thought was completely normal.’
He and Chloe have the use of the 109ft yacht Lionchase — Sir Phil has the 295ft Lionheart —which is moored in Monaco in the winter and cruises around the Med all summer.
I’m informed that his mum will pick up ‘seven-figure’ boat bills for the pair of them at the end of the season without blanching.
Brandon’s 2005 Bar Mitzvah caused a stir. It was held at the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, with entertainment provided by Beyonce, Destiny’s Child and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. There were 300 guests over three days, all hosted by Sir Phil, who was then the boss of Topshop, BHS and Dorothy Perkins, all part of the Arcadia group.
When he was younger, Brandon seemed to be happy to join Chloe in a celebrity-packed party lifestyle. Locals say he was ‘practically living in Monaco’s Sass Café and partying until dawn every morning with a bevy of models’ in his 20s.
Kate Moss — a friend of his father — spent much of her 2011 honeymoon break with Jamie Hince on board his yacht and they got on famously. In 2013 he was spotted playfully groping Moss’s bikini-clad bottom while on holiday in St Barth’s. At the time he was 21.
When she was 21, Emma Watson had been famous for a decade and had just finished making the Potter films.
While Brandon found life one long, joyful party, she was struggling introspectively with having money and acclaim. As she recently said: ‘I’ve often thought, I’m so wrong for this job because I’m too serious.’
She felt physically sick when she found out how much money she had earned from the Potter films, and considered not renewing her contract to complete them.
Following stellar A-levels, she took an English degree at Brown University in Rhode Island — over five years, due to disruption from filming.
Brandon Green doesn’t have a degree. There was some idea that he might buck the family trend and go to university, but Sir Phil told an interviewer at the time: ‘It’s up for discussion,’ and evidently it was decided that was not the right path.
Instead, he spent years learning the ropes of the fashion business with Sir Philip and working for Arcadia.
As the BHS scandal raged in 2016 — after Sir Philip sold the company to a bankrupt, with a hole in its pensions provisions — and the company went bust, Brandon was sent to host a table at the Met Gala Ball in New York in his father’s place.
For three years, he was also a regular at the Topshop show at London Fashion Week, sitting with model Jourdan Dunn and chatting to Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
He began to go to Cannes, again as part of Topshop’s presence at the film festival, and to attend the Amfar charity gala on the arm of girlfriend Maryna Linchuk, a Victoria’s Secret model who towered over him.
But when Chloe became more involved in the family business and started designing shoes, Brandon stepped back from the spotlight.
They are a close family, all the more so since the woes that beset the Arcadia Group and Sir Philip before it collapsed. In fact, this seems to have acted as a wake-up call for Brandon.
A source said: ‘Once Philip fell from grace so badly, all the A-list celebrities and many of the world’s elite dropped the Green family completely. It really shook them up.
‘There was a party in Monaco that a family friend threw for them in the middle of the BHS pensions scandal. Brandon looked around aghast and said to Tina, “We don’t know anyone here!”
‘They felt the world hated them. Philip would fill his days doing laps of Monaco on foot with his bodyguard and personal trainer. Tina would busy herself in her art gallery or with her interior design business. There were a lot of tears; it was an awful atmosphere for the staff and for the family.
‘Brandon could see how transient popularity is and how big A-list stars had been using them for free holidays on their yachts for years. The whole experience sparked a “woke-over” in Brandon.
‘He got very interested in biodiversity and saving the oceans. He does a lot of charity and advocacy work with both Monaco’s Prince Albert’s Foundation and Princess Charlene’s Foundation. He is a trained deep-sea diver, he is very into fitness and gets involved with galas and charities that help the planet. He does frequent beach clean-ups and whatever he can to help.
‘It’s all very low-key, as he doesn’t want to be seen to be doing charity work for PR. But he’s been getting Tina to donate a hefty amount of money to charities that help save the planet too, saying they should do some good with their huge fortune.’
A second source says it is now Brandon, rather than Chloe, who is the apple of Tina’s eye, and he who is seen as the one who will eventually turn the family’s public reputation around.
A friend says: ‘He is very disciplined, intelligent and keen on study. He reads a lot, he travels a lot. He’s polite and well-mannered. Whatever he does, he embraces it fully. His parents are proud of him.’
His hobbies include skiing, at which he excels. He trains almost daily and took part in a gruelling cycling and swimming charity event last year for Princess Charlene of Monaco’s charity, going from Corsica to Monaco.
The friend adds: ‘He eats right and doesn’t drink or party — he is a very nice young man.’
How Brandon came to meet Emma, whose woke credentials may prove challenging for his family, is somewhat unclear, although it is believed his newfound interest in charitable ventures may have steered him her way.
Last year Miss Watson joined the sustainability committee at Kering, the owner of top fashion brands such as Gucci. She was labelled ‘Hollywood’s queen of ethical dressing’ by Vogue.
She has been taking a break from acting after appearing in the 2019 film Little Women but remains an active advocate for ‘race and gender justice’ via various charities. In 2014 she became a UN Women Goodwill ambassador, and she also ran a feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf, on Twitter.
She loves writing poetry, jigsaws, cats and nights in.
Her first purchase with the Potter millions was a ‘brick-like’ Toyota Prius. She said: ‘It’s sensible and boring, like me.’
Not that Emma is as staid as she says. In conversation with Gloria Steinem at an event in London in 2016, she revealed that she subscribes to a sex education website called OMGyes.
It’s a far remove from the days when she was cast in the Harry Potter films at nine years old, having been found via the theatre club she attended. She only completed filming the last Potter when she was 20, in June 2010.
Sources who knew her in the Potter days say her father Chris’s influence was paramount, even though she lived with her mother in Oxford.
The experience of growing up on Potter was so constricting and stressful, when the cast and crew held a ‘wrap party’ at Harry’s Bar after the final set of reshoots in 2010, she didn’t attend.
She said in 2017: ‘It’s something I’ve really wrestled with. I’ve gone back and quizzed my parents. When I was younger, I just did it. I just acted, it was just there.
‘I was finding this fame thing was getting to a point of no return. I sensed that if this was something I was ever going to step away from, it was now or never.’
Post-Potter, her films have been generally low-key. It is said she turned down the La La Land role that brought Emma Stone an Oscar.
Her £3 million London home was selected after she viewed it over Skype, because she can come and go unobserved.
That’s not to say her life is in any way normal: her social circle includes fashion figures such as Antoine Arnault of the LVMH dynasty, she has been the face of Lancome perfume and launched a collection with the ethical fashion label People Tree.
The question now is, will Emma finally find lasting love with a most unlikely Green?
1 note · View note
notebooknebula · 4 years
Video
youtube
Randy Lawrence, The Real Estate Preacher, Joins Jay Conner LIVE!
https://www.jayconner.com/randy-lawrence-the-real-estate-preacher-joins-jay-conner-live/
Jay Conner is joined by The Real Estate Preacher, Randy Lawrence.
“I’ve seen and done it all in real estate. Now I want to help you achieve the success I’ve enjoyed.” – Randy Lawrence
Prosperity Capital Partners lives its mission of serving others by providing Investors with financial freedom: Double-digit returns with zero capital loss and excellent tax benefits to our private investors for 17 years via asset-backed real estate investments.
Families with high-quality, affordable homes: Offering updated affordable housing enhancing the quality of life of working American families who live in our apartments.
https://pcpre.net/ https://therealestatepreacher.com/
Real Estate Cashflow Conference:
https://www.jayconner.com/learnrealestate/
Free Webinar:
http://bit.ly/jaymoneypodcast
Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $64,000 per deal.
#RealEstate #PrivateMoney #FlipYourHouse
————————————————————
Jay Conner (00:02):
Well, hello and welcome to another episode of Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner! I’m Jay Conner, the Private Money Authority, also the host of the show. And I wanna welcome you whether you’re a brand new or you’ve been following the show for some time. My lands! We’ve launched back in June, 2018, tracking fast over 300,000 downloads. Thanks to you. And I do need your help. If you find this episode to be valuable, and you can use this information in your real estate investing business, then please help me out. Let’s share this information, like share, subscribe, write, and review whether you are on iTunes or watching on YouTube or any of our other platforms. Well, here on the show, we talk all things that relate to real estate investing. We talk about how to find deals. We talk about how to fund the deals without relying on local banks, mortgage companies, or even hard money lenders.
Jay Conner (01:11):
We talk about how to sell houses, rehab houses, and how to automate your business to where you’re actually running it. And it’s not running you. But as I mentioned, I’m known as the private money authority. I became an expert on raising private money and I’m not talking about doing business with brokers. I’m talking about actually attracting hundreds of thousands and in the millions of dollars in funding, that’s got nothing to do with your credit, your verification of income, or actually even the number of deals that you’ve done. If you’re interested in getting more funding for your deals to where you never miss out on a deal because you didn’t have the money, I’ve got a free gift for you. Yes, I have got a new monthly membership that I launched that I’m going to show you how to get free access to the membership. It’s called The Private Money Academy, and on the, or in the membership twice a month, I am live on Zoom with coaching for all of the Academy members.
Jay Conner (02:11):
We’re tracking fast to a thousand members. Right now, we got about 150 members. And as a matter of fact, the next live Zoom coaching call is within the next week. So I’m going to tell you how to get in, you get the live coaching. We also put someone, one of the members in the hot seat where we analyze your business, figure out your challenges and fix your challenges to where you’re able to take your business to the next level. And we also have new content and training in the membership every month on finding, flipping, automating funding, selling, et cetera. We also cover all in the membership, all types of real estate deals. We cover single family houses, commercial land, self storage, and you name it. We got it covered. So here’s how you can take advantage of checking it out for free. Go to www.jayconner.com/trial.
Jay Conner (03:10):
Again, that’s JayConner.com/Trial. Look forward to having you live on the membership Zoom conference calls. Well now in addition to that, if you’ve been tuning in for any time, you know that here at Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner, I have amazing experts. And in fact, the guests that I have on today’s show is a good friend of mine and is a fellow member of a very top and mastermind group where we have about 120 real estate investors from all across the nation. We get together about four times a year and help each other out on our businesses. Well, let me tell you about my friend. First of all, he’s an entrepreneur with over as of today, 24 years of experience, and he has four very successful real estate investment companies.
Jay Conner (04:08):
In addition to that, my friend and I have got the same, same heart, and we’ve got a lot in common. He’s a pastor and also a founder of multiple life-changing ministries. And as of this day in the last 15 years, he has impacted and then blessed impact over 40,000 people. He’s been seen on CBN, NBC, CTN and featured in the St. Petersburg times Tampa Tribune. And he’s known as the transformation expert. In addition to that, he’s experienced his own life transformations as well, overcoming the upbringing from a broken home and his life as a drug dealer to becoming a successful entrepreneur, pastor husband, and a father. In addition to that, his spiritual breakthroughs led him out of the economic collapse and the financial collapse of 2008. And man can, I not relate to that! Took him from bankruptcy to a real estate rehabbing business, generating a seven figure annual income, again, something else that he and I have in common.
Jay Conner (05:16):
Also he, and I’ve got another yet person. That’s a mutual friend and mentor back in 2013, he co-authored a book titled Dare To Succeed with Jack Canfield, who is the co-creator of Chicken Soup For The Soul detailing in this book his personal and professional rise from the ashes, his mentors and his coaches include world renowned business leaders, authors, international speakers, such as Les Brown and also John C. Maxwell. He also is an active member contributed to the same mastermind group that he and I are a member of. Comprise, as I mentioned of nation’s elite real estate investors, beyond that he passionately believes in God’s promise of abundance and freedom, and he uses his unique strategies to help transform lives like yours by unlocking spiritual, mental, and tactical financial potential through real estate investing. He also has a very popular podcast titled The Real Estate Preacher on the podcast. He shares his successes and his failures along with his proven strategies and techniques that help build systems that work he’s proven them to work. And he does this so others like you can achieve their own seven figure incomes and their own abundance, just like him. Welcome to the show. My friend, Randy Lawrence also known as the Robo State Preacher.
Randy Lawrence (06:47):
Awesome! My brother. Good to see ya.
Jay Conner (06:49):
Good to see you too, man! Would you reach around please? And like scoop up a little energy and bring to the show to grab a little more
Randy Lawrence (06:59):
After that intro I’m ready to jump up and run around the building Man! Praise the Lord!
Jay Conner (07:04):
Randy, you’ve got quite the story, quite the backstory at one time you were a drug dealer you were bankrupt. You were like, you know, you were like slap dab in one time. And the financial collapse of 2008.
Randy Lawrence (07:19):
Yup!
Jay Conner (07:19):
So, before we get into those pieces of your story how about give us your backstory and little an overview as to.
Randy Lawrence (07:29):
Yeah
Jay Conner (07:30):
Where you’ve been in, what you went through to get you where you are now
Randy Lawrence (07:34):
For sure, man. Well, so my background, I come from, you know, a broken home parents divorced it, you know, four or five years old that kind of led to, by the time I’m in middle school, high school doing my own thing, kind of wayward with the wrong crowd, wrong group, doing the wrong things and just, you know, partying and all like that. Went on through college, got my degree in finance, minor in economics, went into the stock brokerage business right after that really kind of continued on with that same kind of money and partying lifestyle and all. And it was probably about 27 that I, you know, had had success in, in that respect, but really wasn’t fulfilled. And it was at that time that I really kind of found through reading a book Norm Miller chairman of Interstate Batteries, where it outlined about faith in God.
Randy Lawrence (08:25):
I put my trust in Christ. It really just complete 180 from my life, Got involved in the church locally and then got met my wife there. We got married and then, you know, God called me in the Ministry as well. And so I’m running a money management company that I started and then also ministering there at the church and probably around about 2003, God, just really, Has showed the power of the difference of what real estate can do versus, you know, stocks, bonds, option traditional money management. So really started focus on that. And you know, that was really the beginning of where things took off for us. We sold our money management practice in 2006 and moved out North of Tampa to start a church. And then of course that’s where we were having gone through that economic collapse that happened here in Florida.
Randy Lawrence (09:17):
And it was just quite the incredible journey because I was simultaneously pastoring the church, also running the real estate business and navigating the economic collapse that the whole country went through. So really kind of an incredible time at that moment in time.
Jay Conner (09:34):
Did you say you met your wife at church?
Randy Lawrence (09:36):
I did. You know, it’s funny. My dad always used to ride me now again, he was in North Carolina, we’d see each other, maybe once a year, talk on the phone once a week, I’d be going to the bar at happy hour after work, you know, and talk to him on the weekend. And he’s like, what’d you doing? That’s all, I’m going out with some friends at a ball game. And he’s like, man, you should go to church. I’m like go to church? He’s like, well that’s where you going to meet you a right girl. And I’m like, yeah, that’s not the kind of right girl. I want to meet, but he was right. You know? And so yeah, I was blessed to meet my beautiful wife, Sarah Jo there. And we’ve been married now 21 years coming up in October.
Jay Conner (10:16):
Did you say her name is Sarah Jo?
Randy Lawrence (10:18):
Sarah Jo? Yeah. She’s.
Jay Conner (10:20):
We got two things in common, We both met our wives or our to be wives At church.
Randy Lawrence (10:25):
Yeah.
Randy Lawrence (10:25):
And both of them have good Southern devil names. Mine’s Carol Joy,
Randy Lawrence (10:32):
Okay.
Jay Conner (10:32):
And yours is Sarah Jo, you want to know something else we got in common?
Randy Lawrence (10:36):
ah.
Jay Conner (10:36):
So in your bio in 2013, you coauthored a book with Jack Canfield named Dare To Succeed.
Randy Lawrence (10:44):
yup!
Jay Conner (10:44):
Well guess what? Two years later in 2015, I got certified as a Jack Canfield trainer by Jack Canfield.
Randy Lawrence (10:53):
Awesome. Yeah, it’s a, it’s amazing how many things, you know, it’s like the commonalities that the Lord, when you surround yourself with great people, it’s like you attract those similar qualities. And then here it is, you know, that we’ve been together through CG and the friendship there. And then now as we connect together with that further, you find all these backstories that line up with the identical things. That’s just pretty cool.
Jay Conner (11:22):
Well you know, I don’t know who came up with the idiotic idea, In my opinion, that opposites attract that’s stupid.
Randy Lawrence (11:29):
yeah.
Jay Conner (11:29):
I want to be around people. That’s like me. It’s like birds of the same feather flock together. Right?
Randy Lawrence (11:34):
For sure. Absolutely. And that’s, you know, we’re really, as you begin to have the synergies, the thinking is the same, the thinking that elevates one another and pushes each other to higher levels. That’s when I heard your intro about the monthly mentorship program, it’s like, man, that’s what people need to be a of because you know, you just, you come together with great thinking and then it inspires your thinking and then you see these actions that others are doing, or, you know, it’s just a win, win. It’s like the synergy of one plus one, it’s more like, you know, two times two equals four and then it just expansively grows, you know? And that’s the thing, man. So,
Jay Conner (12:15):
Yeah, exactly. So would you say, first of all, were you raised going to church or no?
Randy Lawrence (12:21):
I was not. You know, both my parents, you know, kind of by the time I was in middle school, I was kind of given ability to start making my own decisions and, you know, good parents, but this not focused on, you know, religion or, and again, as a broken home you know, they were just trying to do the best they could do to do their thing. And, you know, so that left me to my own accord and left them on accord. I probably connected together with the wrong group and ran with the wrong crowd and all that kind of stuff.
Jay Conner (12:53):
So I want to speak for a moment to people listening in or viewing whichever platform they’re viewing as someone or listening. My best guess is the majority of people out there like you and me went through a time in their life. The majority, not all, but a lot of people went through a time in their life or an extended time in their life that was very dark. Right? And I went through my dark time. My dark time lasted from the time I was 21 years old until I was 24 years old. And it just progressively got darker and darker and darker. Here’s my question for you. Did you have a wake up call? If so, what was it?
Randy Lawrence (13:42):
Yeah.
Randy Lawrence (13:42):
And if you did, what was it?how did you get out of it?
Randy Lawrence (13:50):
Yeah, So I was, you know, in that period for me would probably been 13 through 27. So like 14 years kind of like a Joseph in the journey, the two kind of coming out of the pit and all like that. But it was really at 27. I was helping take care of my mom. She had gone through numerous health challenges with failed back surgeries and all like that. And I had gotten a DUI charge, you know, for driving home apparently intoxicated. And again, I’m like, no, you know, that’s not the truth, but really what it was for me at that moment was it was this wake up call that here I am, 27, I’m facing the possibility of losing my license for six months. And, you know, I worked at a brokerage firm in Tampa. I lived in Seminole there with my mom helping to take care of her.
Randy Lawrence (14:43):
There were these recoveries and health things she’s going through and it just hit me like, you know, good Lord, man. I’m nowhere near where I want to be in life, cause if I lose this thing, now I’ma have to ride my bike to the 711 and maybe get a job. There not knocking people to work at 711, but that was not my aspiration. And I’m like, what I’d aspired to become and to do and achieve is nowhere near the realities. And the truth of the matter is it’s because of where I’m at in my life and the choices. And so that began to be that process to me, to see it’s like, what I’ve been doing is not the right thing. And so in short order, I laid my hands on a book, another friend of mine and I we’d started in an automotive garage and in the we sold interstate batteries.
Randy Lawrence (15:33):
And so the interstate battery salesman dropped off a book called beyond the norm. And it was about Norm Miller and his journey. I thought it was a sales success book, but it was his journey on how he came to faith in Christ. And then they became the number one battery reseller in the world and went on to such great success. And when I read that book, I’m like, that’s it, he’s got a beautiful wife, he’s got success, he’s got fulfillment. He’s in, he’s found it all in Jesus. And I’m like, wow! And I’m like, you know, Lord, if that’s true, and this is real come into my life, come into my heart, show me the direction you want me to go. And it was just like wham! This giant Volkswagen that I’ve been carrying on my shoulder for 15 years was just released. And it was just an incredible thing. And I, I knew I didn’t know what exactly happened, but I knew something happened and that my life had been changed. I could just feel it at that moment,
Jay Conner (16:31):
If you would like to follow Randy Lawrence and his story, you can follow Randy at www.TheRealEstatePreacher.com So Randy what does your, so how’d you. So when did you start in real estate? How did you get into real estate and what is your business model look like today?
Randy Lawrence (16:52):
Yeah, so we started in 2003. I bought my first multifamily property with little small duplex in 99. And you know, just really loved real estate even while I was a stockbroker and a money manager, you know I just loved real estate. And the more I looked at it, I saw the power of the returns you could generate in real estate with a really a lower adjusted beta or better risk adjusted return than what we were getting with our stock portfolios. And so it was 2003. I mean, God just really helped me to see that’s the direction. And so we bought our first small apartment complex in 2003 and began buying more properties. Now in Florida, it was a real white hot market. So it was tough to get properties. My first mentors had a several thousand doors that they own in apartments.
Randy Lawrence (17:41):
And so that had always been our focus, but you know, we probably started in five and six rehabbing houses just cause there’s so much, you know, money that could be made in that arena. And so we started building that business and also, you know, owning the small multi-families and 2008 hit. We went through the decline here in Florida you know, thankfully it was a great retooling that helped me to just learn a lot through that process. And so we came out through that process where a lot of people just left real estate. We did a huge short sale business, helped hundreds of people. And then, you know, 2011, 12, 13 started rehabbing houses again. And then 15 started focused back on large multifamily. So now to this day, kind of fast forward, we have over a hundred million dollars in apartment complexes on our commercial multifamily side. We have probably three more complexes under contract. Now we’ll buy eight more complexes next year. It’s kind of a velocity approach that we use. And then we still on the residential side buy fix and sell about 70 houses a year.
Jay Conner (18:53):
Wow! That’s quite an operation for both single family and your commercial, what size operation do you have as far as employees that are with you full time and numbers size is your team?
Randy Lawrence (19:08):
Yeah. So our internal team here in the office, we’re based in Largo, Florida, which is kind of the Tampa Bay area. We have seven employees in our internal office team. And then we have right about 28 employees that are through our multifamily side, through our management partnership so that, you know, they’re, they’re not direct report to me, but they work for our company through our management operations. So with every property that we buy, cause on the apartment side, our complexes tend to be 75 units to 200 units is the range kind of the sweet spots, probably a hundred, 110 15. And so every one of those complexes, we always have a full time manager and a full time maintenance. And so with every complex we buy that adds two more people to the mix. And then we have a regional manager that oversees them. And then one of our internal asset managers that oversee them as well
Jay Conner (20:07):
On your apartment complex projects is your business model to search for distress properties that you can fix up and get the rents raised and then turn them for a profit or what’s your business model would like, are you staying in the deal long term or what?
Randy Lawrence (20:24):
Our focus typically is about a three year hold. We look for kind of the threefold, the Holy grail, if you will, that we’re looking for the, the property that has a, you know, original type condition. So we focus on workforce type housing. So that’s people making between 30 to 60 grand, you know, real C, C plus type property. These people are, you know, typically blue collar or lower end white collar workers, you know, just good quality working Americans. They need a good place to live. So that property typically built in the seventies, early eighties, original condition on the interiors. A lot of times, a little bit of deferred maintenance, you know, where they’ve owned it, but they just haven’t really fixed it up and kept it spruced up on the outside. They’re typically, you know, keeping the cashflow and then operational areas where we can improve efficiencies.
Randy Lawrence (21:15):
Cause we have a more corporate structure, you know, large scale discounts. So with that, we’re able to go in upgrade the units so that they’re for about $3,800. We’re able to make them like new two thousands, you know, paint the cabinets, new floor, new lighting and then bring the rent because if they’re renting at 800 and the market’s at nine, it makes sense. This place is a little tired. The place is not updated. So we’re able to update the units on the turn. So that keeps cashflow consistent. It keeps us to be, you know, positive out of the gate so that we’re not running a negative. And it also is much more secure because we’ve got positive cashflow from day one. So on a hundred unit property, it takes us probably about 18 months to cycle through the rent roll, renovate the units. The first 90 days though we renovate the exterior. So it gives it a fresh pop and looks nice. So, you know, you know, the first three months you pull up on the property, looks like a new place and we’re able to start methodically working through the rent roll to improve the interiors during that time as well. And then that prepares us to be done within 24 months and then operate it for another 12 months to really improve the the T 12 and prep it ready for sale.
Scott Paton (22:37):
I think we lost Jay for a minute there, Randy. So.
Randy Lawrence (22:42):
No problem. Well then, you know, so just kind of carrying forward with our business model on it. So typically those properties, you know, we’re buying them at 85, 90, 95% occupied, and we have people that invest with us in the complex. So, you know, we’re buying a, let’s say a $10 million complex, we get a seven and a half to $8 million loan. And then that additional 2 million comes in the form of our capital as well as other people investing with us. And you know, it’s a typically like that is a three year hold period based on the model that I just share.
Scott Paton (23:18):
Cool! So I have a question that’s of interest to me, and that is, is the, if I invest in your deal or your project, is it interest that comes back or interest plus a percentage of profits? Or how does that?
Randy Lawrence (23:33):
So how it works on the majority of our properties, we have a preferred return model where you’re getting a 12% preferred return. So you get 7% paid on cashflow. So that’s a quarterly check every quarter. And then you get another 5% appreciation that is then a preferred return so that you, for example, put in a hundred grand, you’re getting 7,000 a year paid quarterly and then another 5,000 a year that’s accruing as appreciation so that when the property sold in three years, you get the hundred grand back plus another 15,000. That’s the appreciation. And then meanwhile, you were paid 21,000 through the cashflow during that three year hold period. The interesting thing with apartments too, and this is one of the greatest elements to it because you’re an actual owner in the individual apartment, you get a K1.
Randy Lawrence (24:24):
And so instead of a 10 99, you get a K1. And on that K1 because of the depreciation, you’ll get you typically on a hundred thousand, about a 40,000 depreciation loss. So you actually got 7,000 of income, but your tax statement shows you lost 40 grand. So you don’t pay any tax on that 7,000. So it really is a highly favorable and tax efficient investment vehicle.
Scott Paton (24:48):
I don’t understand why anyone would buy stocks, just listening to you right now. But Jay has returned.
Randy Lawrence (24:54):
Awesome!
Scott Paton (24:54):
I’m going to step away and make room for him right now.
Randy Lawrence (24:58):
All right. Very good.
Randy Lawrence (24:59):
So I don’t know what happened, but poof! I’m going poof I’m back
Randy Lawrence (25:05):
Yeah.
Jay Conner (25:05):
So, You may have already answered this question, Randy, but one more chance, your favorite way to find your apartment deals and how many of you got the analyze to buy one?
Randy Lawrence (25:14):
Yeah, they’re very good questions. So really, you know, we network in any market. So like if you focus on a market that you want to be in, we want to be in high growth markets cause that’s where demographics and jobs are coming. So in that market, you’re going to have typically three to five people that are the majority of the brokers that sell the big projects. Right? And so we develop a relationship with those people. They know that we’re no BS shake on it, we get it done. And with that, we’ve developed a very clear track record and a confidence. So when a deal comes that’s like, I just got an email yesterday, guys like, Hey, we’ve got an amazing property that it’s off market. The sellers looking to want to sell it. We want to get your input on it. First we get that kind of first shot at stuff that other people aren’t going to get because of the relationships we’ve developed and the performance that we’ve done in executing, you know? And so that’s really the number one strategy that is yielded the results that we’ve seen. And then currently we own 11 complexes right now just over a thousand doors. And then we have three more complexes under contract right now. That’ll bring us right to about 1400.
Jay Conner (26:34):
Awesome. And how many deals you’ve got to analyze to buy one?
Randy Lawrence (26:37):
Oh yes. That’s the question right there. So it probably is anywhere from 30 to 40, a lot of times, you know, we’ve developed a system where I have a full time acquisitions person. We have a two 10X14 double spreadsheet and he’s just going through property after property, after property. And so on a weekly basis, kind of the crap that’s on the back and it migrates to the front. So now when you get to the front page, the top 5 to 10 are right there for me to look at. And then we say, okay, dive into this one, this one, this one. And that’s a process that we’ve refined and developed so that we’re able to go through that kind of ball on, because you got to shift through the chafe, define that, you know, nugget of gold and you know, and that’s really been the key.
Randy Lawrence (27:26):
And so I think a lot of times people looking at apartments, you know, they mistake well like, Oh, well I look at this one or look at that one. And it’s like, that’s really not how it works. You’ve gotta be willing to 1, be accurate and understanding the dynamics that go into it. And then 2 have the volume ability to be able to look at a lot of deals.
Jay Conner (27:45):
Excellent. Well, Randy has been such a pleasure to have you here on the show and folks to stay connected with Randy Lawrence, go on over to his website at www.TheRealEstatePreacher.com. God bless you, Randy. Thank you so much.
Randy Lawrence (28:04):
Thank you so much, brother. You have an awesome day. God bless.
Randy Lawrence (28:07):
You too. There you have it. Folks. This wraps up another episode in show of Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner. I’m Jay Conner, The Private Money Authority wishing you all the best here’s to taking your real estate investing business to the next level. And I’ll see you on the next show!
18 notes · View notes
eliteprepsat · 4 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Your freshman year of high school is an especially exciting time. You’ve made it past middle school or junior high to the big leagues! Yet, your freshman year can also feel like an especially peculiar time in your academic career. This is because, although middle school or junior high is in your rearview, graduation likely seems a long way off, and you can find yourself asking: Is it too early to start planning for college?
The answer to the above question is this: While you don’t yet need to have your college application letters written or your dorm room posters packed, there are some practical steps you can take at this stage to ensure your success in both the college applications process and in your eventual transition to college life. To start thinking about these processes, here are 7 tips for what you should be doing to prepare for college as a high school freshman.
1. Create an academic roadmap
You might not yet know what you want your college major to be. And that’s OK! In fact, many college freshmen don’t yet know what they want their majors to be, and they only make this decision a year or two years into college—once they’ve completed all required coursework.
However, even without knowing what you want your college major to be, it’s a good idea as a high school freshman to create an “academic roadmap.” This will guide you through your high school studies and help prepare you for your college career. To create your academic roadmap, just ask yourself a few basic questions:
What are your strongest subjects?
You might consider taking Honors or even AP courses in these areas, since AP courses can help boost your GPA and (at some schools) even count toward college credit.
In what subject might you need a bit of extra help?
It might be a good idea to seek a tutor in this area.
What do you most enjoy learning about?
Knowing the answer to this last question is perhaps the most important because it can give you an idea of the field you might be interested in pursuing as a major in college and an eventual career after college. Additionally, knowing this can help you to pursue extracurricular opportunities related to the subject. These extracurriculars will not only be fun, but they will also help your admissions prospects when it does come time to apply to college.
2. Seek expert advice
In general, asking the questions above will help you to create a basic academic roadmap that can assist you in planning for your academic future. However, remember that you’re never alone in this planning. There are many experts out there with whom you can collaborate when creating your roadmap.  
Most high schools have just such experts on hand to help you. Trusted teachers are, of course, a great place to start. But don’t forget to also seek the advice of guidance counselors, who are trained to discuss matters of the future with students. These counselors can help to ensure that you are taking the necessary classes required for admission to most colleges and universities. And, when the times comes, they will also be able to assist you with the college applications process. If you have any specific questions (such as if you should take the ACT or the SAT or what to expect when applying for college financial aid), just remember that your high school guidance counselor is your #1 resource for all matters of planning your academic career.
3. Familiarize yourself with the college experience
To be successful in college, it will do you well to know beforehand—to the extent that is possible—just what you’re getting yourself into. And, in part, you can familiarize yourself with the college experience by the courses you take in high school. Most high schools offer college prep courses, such as Honors classes, AP classes, and IB (International Baccalaureate) classes. While each of these class types differs somewhat, they are all similar in that they are more advanced than the average high school course; so, they can give you a good sense of the work load and level that will be expected of you in college.
Outside of your coursework, you can familiarize yourself with the college experience through good old fashioned word-of-mouth. If you have family or older friends who happen to be of college age, ask them about the transition from high school to college. What were their biggest difficulties? What were their happiest surprises? Having these conversations with trusted people who have recently gone through this experience can help you to anticipate and plan for your own college experience well in advance.
Tumblr media
4. Build effective study habits
Much of college is spent studying. And for better or worse, there isn’t the infrastructure in place for studying in college that there is in high school. Once you get to college, mandatory study halls and time left at the end of class to get started on your night’s homework will be a thing of the past. So, it’s a good idea to build effective study habits now that will benefit you for many years to come. To this point, it’s important to know that there isn’t a “one size fits all” style of studying. The study techniques that work for your friends or classmates might not work for you.
So, what is your studying style? Do you work best first thing in the morning? Or into the very late hours of the night? Alone in your room or with a group of friends at a coffee shop? In complete silence or listening to your favorite tunes? Figuring out your studying style and building effective study habits now will save you a lot of time (and possible heartache) once you get to college!
5. Experiment with extracurricular activities
Again, it isn’t necessary to begin writing your college application materials as a high school freshman. However, you can make certain choices now that will help you to be a better applicant when you apply to college. And a big part of what makes you a better college applicant is your involvement in extracurricular activities.
The great part about being a freshman a few years out from college is that you still have a good amount of time to explore your interests and hobbies. But a helpful tip to consider is that you pursue both breadth and depth throughout this exploration. While it is definitely a good idea to try new things via a number of different extracurricular activities, it is also important to remember that your involvement in extracurriculars demonstrates your motivation and responsibility to college admissions committees. So, be sure to find at least one activity you especially enjoy that you can stick with consistently in order to showcase such commitment.
6. Complete a college scan
As a high school freshman, you don’t yet need to be going on college campus visits or scheduling interviews with admissions staff at your dream schools. These are steps you will likely want to consider taking in your junior year of high school. Rather than performing a formal college “search,” you might instead start thinking about what we could call a college “scan.” This, again, involves asking yourself some basic questions about what you’d like to get out of your college experience, scanning colleges for whether or not they fit your criteria, and narrowing down schools based on your preferences. Where would you like to study geographically? What size school would you prefer to attend? What specialized academic opportunities (such as study abroad programs or internships) would you like made available to you? As you complete high school and the college applications process nears, this initial scan will help you to have a more realistic view of where you’ll eventually apply.
7. Finally, don’t forget to enjoy high school!
It’s important to remember that a huge part of college is the experience outside of the classroom, meeting and socializing with your fellow students. Often, when one arrives at college, they are thrown into an environment where they know almost no one and are forced to live and make friends with new people rather quickly. And high school is a time to learn the skills necessary to effectively thrive in this scenario.
Of course, high school is also an important time to plan ahead by creating a foundation from which to be academically successful in college. But, there will be plenty of time for studying for exams and pulling all-nighters when college actually arrives. For now, remember that working 100% of the time is ultimately unhealthy for one’s mental and physical health.
According to an article from Forbes.com, working too much can lead to stress and—eventually—to burnout. “Burnout can cause fatigue, mood swings, irritability and a decrease in work performance.” And just as this can happen in the workplace, so too can this can happen in the study space. So, for now, remember to leave some time to have fun and enjoy high school. After all, maintaining this kind of work-life (or school-life) balance will help you to be more successful in your academic career in the long-run!
Stacy G. is a writer and teacher who has taught composition, literature, and creative writing courses at a number of public and private universities across the U.S. She has also taught SAT, AP English, and Literature SAT Subject Test courses at Elite Prep. She likes poetry, dogs, and poetry about dogs.
11 notes · View notes