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idontlikeem · 1 month

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i'd like to talk about grieving, a little bit. as in the past, discussions of death and cancer below the cut, don't read if this will hurt you, etc....i'm having a bad day and i just need to stream of consciousness for a little bit. sorry.

so my mom died. if you've read my personal posts before or whatever, you probably figured that out. it happened on thursday february 15th around noon. luckily we had a bit of notice that it was coming, so i was able to drive down the saturday prior and spend time with her—three full days where she was pretty much still herself, and part of a fourth.

it's been a really hard month. like, obviously. but i think a part of me still wasn't quite ready for it. i don't know how.

my mom was first diagnosed with breast cancer in fall 2011. she had a mastectomy and went through chemo, and that was hard and scary, but it was i think technically considered stage one—a tumor that was definitely growing fast, but it hadn't spread out of the area, like not to her lymph nodes or anything, and with the treatment she went almost ten years totally symptom-free. right at the start of the pandemic, the cancer came back, but this time it was already stage four, and it was in her abdomen and uterus and intestines.

there was a time when we weren't sure she'd live more than a year. endometrial and other reproductive cancers aren't 'sexy' like breast cancer is, they're not widely studied and there aren't a lot of treatment options. when she had breast cancer i hated 'save the boobies' campaigns (and please never donate to susan komen), but now that my family has lived with another type of cancer that doesn't have tits as a draw, i hate them even more.

my mom made it four years, pretty much, since the first diagnosis. she did chemo, and radiation, and went on medication trials, and put her body through hell to try and fight it. she lived longer than i think any of us thought she would.

the problem with that is how long i've been existing in a state of grief.

i've had years to prepare for this. i've thought about it literally thousands of times—how i'd feel, how i'd tell people, what i'd do after. i pictured it, because i was trying to plan. i was trying to get myself ready.

turns out pre-grieving isn't real. turns out you can't get this pain out of the way by experiencing it in advance. much to my chagrin. i'm not sure there was a way to avoid it, though. so here i am, with four years of grief behind me, and not one second of it has made what's going on now any easier.

some days i forget. every time i'm on twitter or instagram, there are posts i want to send her, and then i don't know what to do with myself. for all that my relationship with her had its hard times, she was my mom, she was my best friend. i love her more than anything and i don't know what to do with myself now that she's gone.

i've been sort of just surviving for the last four weeks. my apartment is a mess, i'm barely leaving, i haven't been good at responding to people. so today i thought i'd at least clean up a little. i'd gone to target a day or two before i drove down to my parents', and i figured i would start with those bags, because they were just sitting there.

i'd forgotten that i bought valentine's day cards for my whole family that i wanted to send. one for each of my brothers, one for my dad, one for my mom. i never sent them, obviously, i didn't even bring them with me. i burst into tears when i pulled them out of the bag, and i've been crying pretty much all day since then. i'm never going to pick out a card for my mom ever again.

i also have a notes app file sitting on my phone. she wrote each of us letters, and my dad sent them out to us, but i haven't been able to open mine yet. it's the last new thing she'll ever say to me. how could i possibly be ready for that? how do i know when the right time to read that will be?

one thing my mom wanted was to die at home. she didn't want it to be in a hospital, and i get it. she spent a month in the hospital after christmas, and god knows how much time cumulatively over the last four years. the fact that she was able to push to get home is something i don't understand, because she was so sick—but she did it somehow. she was able to die in her bed.

and i was with her. like. i wasn't just at home, i was with her.

something they don't tell you about having someone die is you have to start arranging stuff before it actually happens. when we woke up on the 15th, we knew it was only a matter of time—her eyes weren't all the way open and her breath was labored, and she couldn't talk, although at first she still tried to say stuff. we sat there with her and kept her company and talked to her. hospice came by around 11 or 11:30, i don't even remember, and said that based on whatever measurements or readings they take (pupils? breathing? i don't know), it would be between 4-8 hours, and he recommended that my dad call the funeral home. because you have to do that first.

so my youngest brother was driving down from where he lives, my middle brother was in his room, my dad was in his room on the phone, and i stayed with her, because....well, of course, right? and i was just kind of talking, and crying, but trying not to...i don't know, beg her to stay? ask for more time? the nurse said she could still hear, they're pretty sure that hearing and understanding what's being said is the last thing to go, and i didn't want her to feel bad or guilty, or to hurt herself in an effort to stay longer even though there's nothing more that i've ever wanted in my life.

so i told her, you know, we'll be okay. it's going to be unbearably sad, and it's going to suck, but all the stuff we did as a family with her—we'll still do it. and we'll be okay. and there's nothing more important to us than her not hurting anymore, not being miserable and stuck and just...not herself. all that matters to us right now is her, and she didn't have to worry about us, because we'd be okay.

and she took in a breath. there was a pause. she took in another one. and she stopped. that was it.

i didn't even realize at first, not right the second it happened. the hospice booklet had talked about a 'death rattle', about how it happens almost all the time, but that it's more distressing for the people with the person dying than them, that they're not in pain. how the fuck would they know that, i'm not sure i believe it, but...it's what i was expecting. that didn't happen, though. she just stopped breathing.

the amount of guilt i felt for my dad being out of the room...i don't know if that will ever leave me. he said it was ok, because he was having to deal with stuff, and he'd spent a lot of time with her and it was fine, but jesus. how do i not feel like i stole that from him?

i've felt like a shell ever since. i'm back where i live, and i'm getting up and going to work and taking care of my dog and trying to stay connected to life, but...i don't know.

how is it that she's gone? how is this possible? how am i supposed to go the rest of my life without her?

i had four years to get ready for this, and i wasn't. i don't think there's any way i really could have been, but still. it doesn't seem fair that it was so hard for so long, and for NOTHING. nothing is easier now.

i'm sick of feeling sad, and hurt. i feel like i should be over it or something? i don't know, maybe just less actively affected? it's been a month. people's parents die all the time, right?

what am i supposed to do?

#personal

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majorbaby · 1 year

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Aside from being a Potter hater, I really do think it's a shame we lost Henry because McLean Stevenson was a comedic heavyweight not just as an actor but as a writer, giving us The Trial of Henry Blake and The Army-Navy Game. He was unafraid to commit whole-heartedly to the bit, and while some of Henry's heroism in Trial was probably McLean's positive bias, I think it was nice that we got to see Henry's competence as a doctor shine through despite his incompetence as a CO. On early MASH, this was the sign of a heroic character, so it falls neatly in line with what the narrative was trying to tell us anyway.

"Your boss is not your friend" but Henry didn't want to be anyone's boss and he doesn't appear to be suffering any delusions that he's any good at the job. He wants to hang out with the cool kids, Hawkeye and Trapper and do the things they do: get drunk, fuck around, practice medicine and dream of home. I can't think of a show that's replicated the Henry-Trapper-Hawkeye dynamic.

Any time Henry tries to use his rank, he ends up flat on his ass. Women reject him for it, Hawkeye and Trapper pull fast ones on him, and he never lives up to Burns and Houlihan's expectations anyway.

At one point Henry muses aloud to Hawkeye that he might be getting to do more interesting work as a doctor in the war than he was doing back home. I think this is one time I can actually stand to hear the other side of it. What Henry is expressing here is a disillusionment with comforts of upper-middle-to-upper-class suburban life, a very How did I get here??? moment for him if I may say so. And a pretty normal thing for him to feel.

I like how Larry Gelbart imagined Trapper might've responded to a similar hypothetical:

REPORTER: Do you feel this experience has in any way helped you as a doctor?

TRAPPER JOHN: Let me ask you a question: just how many people you figure’re going to be carried into my office someday with a chunk of shrapnel sticking out of their heads? I don’t know where you live, pal, but where I come from very few folks ever step on a landmine in the middle of trying to cross the street.

Instead of Henry coming to this himself, we have Hawkeye to shoot him down immediately, and good on him for it, but those kinds of initial reflections on the state of one's life are the first step to doing something about one's dissatisfaction. For a character like Henry, who isn't often moved to do anything that pushes him outside of his comfort zone, I like this as some depth for him. And I would've liked to have seen him stay on and be proved wrong, you know, without him dying on the way to his beautiful house, beautiful wife etc.

I also think McLean would've handled the shift from the more comedic to dramatic moments masterfully. We already see pieces of it in Sometimes You Hear the Bullet and Abyssinia Henry.

And most importantly we lost something when the incompetent draftee CO was replaced by the on-my-third-war-ex-cavalry-man-and-damn-proud-of-it guy. There's an assumed 'respect' everyone, even Hawkeye, is expected to afford Potter if not for his rank, then his age. This is the opposite of what was done with Henry, where Hawkeye and Trapper openly flouted the notion that they should respect Henry because of his rank.

Like even if Trapper had stayed on and continued in his unquestioning support of Hawkeye's campaigns, I don't think that would've flown with Potter unless the show was willing to make him the butt of the joke the way that Henry sometimes was and indeed there's not much evidence of it ever happening post season 4. There is that one episode where he gets high and the gang ferry him back and forth to get him to requisition supplies - which was great, and very Henry-like but I can't think of many other examples.

Because MASH was progressive for it's time, it's very interesting to see where it draws the line. It didn't do great with race, it was so-so with women all the way through... but these things seem pretty obvious and to some even forgivable on account of "it's the product of its time". I think another limit for the show was the treatment of the highest-ranking officer on the base in the later years. Henry vs. Potter - Henry who the show had no problem trampling over and Potter who it very politely tip-toed past, resulting in some comparatively lukewarm and dated statements on authority. When it comes to Potter "Your boss is not your friend" is something Hawkeye, BJ, Klinger and Radar all need to hear.

#mash #re: mash #henry meta #potter meta #this ended up being potter vs henry anyway but that's one fandom war i will gladly make my militant stance very clear on

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usagi-zakura · 4 months

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Drawing a bunch of my DnD oneshot characters.

They all exist in the same universe, and sometimes pop up in the main campaign (the one with Remus the foxfolk wizbard, and now Moriko the ranger) but whenever someone can't make it to a session we like to do a oneshot in the same world. Its a lot of fun and is great for worldbuilding... and its also fun when we run into these characters later.

There are more... The kobolds Hugs and Kisses also exist in this world, but I've already drawn those a lot.

The characters are:

Nyx Duskrynn: Drow Druid (Circle of the Stars) She's one of three drow siblings with a dark past (though her's is the less dark.. my friend made a set of twins and gave them a really tragic backstory of being kidnapped and used for experimentation... and since I made a drow for the same oneshot we decided to make her the younger sister who got away.) She has since been reunited with her siblings and went on to explore a spooky house that turns out to have held a coven of hags... her oneshot ended up inconclusive but the DM later revealed that Nyx, her siblings and their guardian got captured by the hags... So that may be something our main party will have to deal with at some point (probably in another oneshot because their adventure is technically over). We've been told one of the twins has been freed, but we don't know exactly what that entails yet, nor what happened to Nyx and her sister.

Shadow in the Wind: Tabaxi Monk (Way of Shadow because of course he is) A small time criminal and best friend/boyfriend to Remus' older brother Romulus (its complicated). I've played him in two oneshots so far, one he was exploring another spooky house (there's a lot of those...) and another he was searching for a creature that could grant wishes living in a cave.

Alexis: Centaur ranger (Beastmaster conclave Tasha edition) Nicknamed the "All Terrain centaur" because thanks to class abilities and a magical item (winged boots re-flavored as magic horseshoes) she has every type of movement available in DnD, except burrowing. (I did consider giving her an item that would give her that too just for the hell of it) She's also really fast... being a centuar. So she can fly/run/swim/climb at 45 feet per turn. (Well maybe not climb since Centaurs have their own handicap when it comes to climbing...she could technically just walk right up the mountain wall though thanks to her magic horseshoes). Despite being a ranger she's part of a druid organization that's a pretty big deal in our world. She also gets visions of the future sometimes. She has no special feats for it or anything...she just does.

Her animal companion is named Hermes. He's a bird. He's not designed to be any specific type of bird or anything he's just bird. (He uses the "Beast of the Sky" statblock from the updated BM Ranger in Tasha's Cauldron of everything).

Sapphire Twinkletoes: Fairy Barbarian (Path of Wild Magic) Yeah that's right. Barbarian. (For some reason all my Barbarians are small races...I didn't even try for that it just happened.) I had an idea to make an anxious fairy but wasn't sure what class to make her...the DM suggested Barbarian with the rage reflavored as Panic. I went for wild magic because she's a magical creature but not a magic class...so her magic just goes haywire when she's afraid. She's a lot of fun. Yes her last name was inspired by Avatar the Last Airbender.

Jasmine Greenjoy: Gnome Wizard Played in Pathfinder 2e instead of DnD. Second cousin once removed on her mother's side to the main party's rogue Jade, as the second time I made my character related to one a character made by that player specifically (Jade's player is the same person who made the traumatized drow twins who became Nyx's older siblings). Mainly because they're the same race and I thought it'd be neat to tie them to the main party, even though in the campaign they haven't interacted. They have met...in fact the DM implied that Jasmine's mother was a midwife for Jade's mother when Jade was born, as a reason to explain why Jasmine is a magical misfit. Jade's mother did some suspect magical things on her unborn daughter... I don't know what they did, but as a result Jade was born with bright pink hair and Jasmine... well her hair changes color every day. She likes to have it match her familiar, a fluffy pipefox named Mr. Noodles.

#dnd #pathfinder #ttrpg #nyx duskrynn #drow #shadow in the wind #tabaxi #alexis #centaur #alexis doesn't get a last name #because she's too fast #sapphire twinkletoes #jasmine greenjoy #gnome #fairy

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sleptwithinthesun · 2 years

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this was supposed to be a very simple cold denial scenario. however, i ended up fucking around and now it's 2.8K words and probably a bit Not Good i feel. i could be wrong though so enjoy.

"Hey, Byers, are you alright?"

Jonathan jerks at the sound of his last name, hard enough that the speaker reaches out and places their hand on his shoulder to steady him. "Shit, man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's okay," he breathes, chest shuddering. "Really. I'm fine." The time it takes for him to calm down after something like this feels uncomfortably disproportionate, and almost a full minute passes before he can look up and into the eyes of the one and only Eddie Munson.

Jonathan knows about him, of course. It's hard not to at Hawkins High, where the average grade size is only about one hundred and fifty people. Eddie's been known as the King of Freaks for as long as Jonathan can remember, collecting loners like they were baseball cards. He'd even invited Jonathan to sit with him on his first day on the high school cafeteria, an offer that he'd declined. That move had gotten him branded as someone too freakish to even hang out with the King, and everything had gone downhill from there.

He bites on his knuckle anxiously and Eddie's hand draws back to rest at his side. "I don't know if we've been properly introduced yet, with all the…" He gestures wildly, effectively capturing the essence of everything that happened over spring break. "You know. I'm Eddie Munson."

"Jonathan Byers, but I'm assuming you already knew that."

Eddie laughs a little, nodding. "Yeah. Will told me to tell you that we're finishing up in about ten minutes. They're just taking some time to figure out their final decision of the night."

"Sounds good," he replies. Jonathan starts to inhale, wanting to ask about the campaign, but his lungs constrict halfway through and he's tossed into the deep end of a rough coughing jag. When he manages to catch his breath again, Eddie's staring at him, wide-eyed with worry.

"Sounds bad is more like it. You okay?" he asks.

Jonathan shrugs, willfully ignoring the tickle that's suddenly taken up residence in the back of his throat. "Fine. It's probably just something in the air."

"Ooh, yeah. Steve and I were smoking a bit before we got here, that might be it," Eddie says, wincing. "I'm headed back downstairs, but I can send Will outside when we're done to meet you if you want?"

"No, that's okay," Jonathan says, probably a bit too fast. "I mean. Thank you for offering, but I'm okay." He smiles tightly. The anxiety he feels whenever Will is alone isn't ever going to go away, he knows that, and it still grips him by the throat whenever he thinks too long about its trigger.

"Are you sure?"

He nods, resolute. "Yeah. I'll be fine, don't worry about it."

Eddie eyes him skeptically, but concedes. "Okay. Now..." He spins on his heel, adopting the Dungeon Master persona that Mike, Lucas, and Dustin have been talking about since he and Will arrived in Hawkins. "Let's see what decision you've made!"

The door shuts behind him, and Jonathan lets himself cough into his elbow again once he hears Eddie's steps reach the bottom of the steps. The fit is a bit lighter this time, probably because it doesn't catch him quite as off-guard as the first, but it doesn't hurt any less.

Jonathan knows it's not anything in the air; it's early summer, and his allergies always rear their ugly little head around August. Normally, he'd chalk it up to a dry throat, but because this was a fit in multiples, he's starting to suspect he might be catching a summer cold.

He can't afford to be sick, though, and when Will comes out with bright eyes and real happiness on his face, Jonathan just smiles at him. "How was the campaign?"

"It was awesome. Eddie's such a great DM, like, he's better than any of us ever were when we played together as kids," he enthuses. "The campaign is amazing, too. We're playing in the Underdark, so we started in a dungeon enslaved by the Drow and everything..."

His excited chatter is almost enough to make Jonathan forget about the weight in his chest.

Almost.

When he wakes up the next morning, it's to yet another jag of coughing that he barely manages to muffle into his pillow. An itch scrapes desperately at the lining of his lungs and Jonathan can barely draw the air in between coughs to get the next one out, not with his face buried in the pillow the way it is. The last thing he needs is for Hopper or Joyce to figure out that he's kind of feeling like shit.

Congestion presses at his sinuses, which throb fully as he sits up. Jonathan's always hated being sick, more so because it meant he wasn't allowed to take care of Will or help out at all than how a cold or the flu actually made him feel. He'd really rather just pretend this whole thing isn't happening, and when he presses his hand to his face to check for a fever, he's relieved that he's not overly warm. A glass of orange juice wouldn't hurt, though.

Hopper's been kind enough to allow the four of them to stay in his house, with Joyce in his room, Will and El staying together in her bedroom, and Jonathan on the couch in the living room. He'd been almost certain that El had spent the night with Max, which is why he flinches and stumbles when he sees her sitting at the kitchen table with a plate of Eggo waffles in front of her.

"Sorry," he says immediately, aware of her sensitivities about being perceived as someone (and at times, something) dangerous. "I thought you had a sleepover with Max?"

El smiles with only half of her mouth. "Tonight."

Jonathan nods his understanding, stepping further into the kitchen and opening the fridge to assess its contents. At least Hopper keeps it well-stocked, more than he'd expect from him. It must be because of El and the rest of the Party. "What time is it?"

She glances down at the black watch on her wrist, mouthing the numbers to herself before looking back to Jonathan and saying, "Seven-two-eight."

It takes him a second to translate in his head, but once he gets it, he nods again. "Thanks."

The carton he pulls out of the fridge feels only half-full, but there's no pulp in the orange juice, so he's not about to start complaining. Under El's watchful eye, he pours himself a glass and sets it down on the counter before moving towards the stove, taking a pan on the way. Jonathan places the pan over the burner and turns on the flame, going back to the fridge a second later and rummaging around for the eggs and a loaf of bread.

"What are you doing?" El asks.

"Making breakfast." He cracks two of the eggs into a bowl, then glances around the kitchen. Spying the drawer he wants, Jonathan pulls it open and grabs a fork, then starts whisking the eggs.

El tilts her head, reminding him of Chester from years ago. "What are you making?"

"Eggs... and toast," Jonathan replies absentmindedly, holding his hand over the pan to test the heat. It hovers there for a second too long, and his shoulders jerk once with a perfectly suppressed sneeze before he pulls it away. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

She shakes her head, bedhead calming down slightly with the motion. "I didn't ask anything else."

"Oh. Sorry."

"You apologize a lot." El regards him not with judgement, but rather a simple statement of fact.

"Sorry," Jonathan says again, then winces. "I mean, uh. Yeah."

She smiles a bit at him, then turns back to her breakfast as Jonathan places two slices of bread on the now-heated pan, making toast. Breakfast goes smoothly, without much more interruption from his blooming cold, and by the time Joyce enters the kitchen, he has toast and a plate of scrambled eggs ready for her, and is working on Hopper's. Will won't be up for another hour, at least.

"Morning El, Jonathan," she says, smiling at the two of them.

"Hey, Mom," Jonathan greets.

"Morning, Ms. Byers," El replies, not looking up from her plate. Jonathan managed to convince her to have a glass of orange juice as well, adding something fairly healthy to her breakfast.

Jonathan lifts Joyce's plate and sets it on the table for her, then points to the cabinet across from him. "I think there's tea there, if you want any. Mugs are to the right. Is Hopper going to be up soon?"

Her hand comes up to rub at his shoulder. "Jonathan, don't worry about it. It's summer; take some time to relax a bit. You're supposed to hang out with Steve and Nancy today, aren't you?"

Shit, he is. He really doesn't feel good enough to spend even a few hours around other people, not right now, but he hasn't seen them alone in a few days. Sure, Nancy was around last night because D&D is hosted at her house, but she was busy talking with Robin and Steve wasn't even there. Out of the very few people he's still friends with in Hawkins, they're the two he's closest to.

"Yeah, they're picking me up around ten, I think." Jonathan swallows against a cough, breathing deeply to try and calm it down. "I have some time before they get here."

"Well, then, eat some food," Joyce tells him, gesturing towards the stove. "Hopper can make his own breakfast before he goes to work, and Will's old enough. He knows how to make eggs and toast."

He's not winning this argument. "Alright," Jonathan says, cracking an egg directly onto the pan instead of beating it, then waits anxiously for it to cook as he mentally prepares himself for the day.

"We'll introduce you to Robin sometime soon," Nancy says happily, pulling out of the Hopper's driveway, "but Steve and I wanted the day to just be the three of us."

"We we're thinking we could go to the bookstore, then out for lunch," Steve tells him, twisting around in the passenger seat to face Jonathan. "Does that work?"

He nods. "Yeah, that would be really nice." As long as he can go home and sleep afterwards, then he'll be fine.

Steve turns back to face the front seconds before Nancy hits a pothole dead-on. They all jerk with the force, seatbelts locking, and Steve curses softly as Nancy continues on like nothing happened. Judging by her and Steve's lack of genuine surprise, this probably happens a lot.

"How on Earth did you get your license?" Steve asks, shaking his head. Nancy smacks him lightly on the arm at that, and Steve shoots her an affronted look.

"What?"

"That hurts." He rubs at his arm, obviously playing up his injury, and she laughs as she sees right through it.

The rest of the drive is fairly quiet, with small talk between the three of them and a mock-argument about Steve's questionably mainstream music taste. Jonathan even manages to get into it, asking Steve how many Duran Duran tapes he owns, and then which ones he actually listens to before launching into a talk on why vinyls are going to make a comeback at some point once people realize that their tapes aren't going to last nearly as long.

Speaking of, Jonathan points to the Tower Records store as they pass by it. "See? Right there. I'm telling you, these stores are never going to die out."

"If you say so," Steve says, putting in a new cassette. WHAM! starts playing, an album Jonathan recognizes only from begrudging familiarity with the sound, rather than from actually listening to their music.

"We're going to Borders, Jon," Nancy says. "They'll have records."

And that really shouldn't distract him as much as it does, Nancy calling him "Jon", but he's never had a nickname. His entire life, he's been Jonathan; to his mother, to his father, to Will, to everyone. Jonathan has never been considered childish enough to have a nickname. Even now, it doesn't feel like he's a child, or like Nancy's condescending to him. It just feels friendly.

He realizes he's been silent too long, that he's run out of time to respond. Still, he's grateful to both Steve and Nancy for what they're doing for him. It's not often Jonathan goes out for… anything, really.

Nancy's parking job is surprisingly decent, if one counts being only slightly crooked and having one wheel over the line as a decent parking job. The second Jonathan stands up after getting out of the car, though, the entirety of this cold slams into him. His chest burns for a second and congestion shifts forward in his head, sinus pressure clinging to his temples. He's lightheaded for more than just a moment, one hand clinging to the door for stability.

To put it plainly, he's fucked.

Jonathan manages to blink the blackness out of his vision, floaters dancing around for a few moments more before he glances around and meets Steve's worried gaze.

"You okay, Jon?" he asks, brows halfway up his forehead. "You just... went totally blank for a second, there."

"I'm okay," Jonathan says, voice coming out a little too raspy for his liking. He clears his throat, pursing his lips inwards for a second. "Was trying to remember if Will has Hellfire again tonight."

Steve grimaces slightly. "Oh, yeah. Eddie's been pushing to get the entire campaign in this week, because he's psycho." He grins at Jonathan, then turns to follow Nancy into the store.

They flip through the vinyls for a few minutes, the three of them lined up among the shelves based on music taste. Jonathan doesn't have Cut the Crap on vinyl yet, plus, it's just barely over eight dollars. He can afford to get that, and maybe even a book if it's paperback.

He and Nancy are looking through the political fiction when it, inevitable as it was, finally happens.

"Bless you," Nancy says absently, still running her fingers over the spines of the books.

"Thanks." He sniffles as quietly as he can, really wishing they weren't in a bookstore right now, where quiet is an expectation and any noise above a whisper counts as a disruption. His sneezes aren't even that loud; Jonathan simply feels like he's interrupting conversations he doesn't even want to be a part of.

The tickle crests again, barely even bothering to back down before he's sneezing into his elbow again, stifling it into silence with the only tell being the jerk of his shoulder and little kick-up from his knee.

She blesses Jonathan again, fingers teasing at another book before she pulls it out and starts flipping through it. As she does, Jonathan's stuck with quiet hitching breaths and on the cusp of another sneeze. It's with the third one that she turns and looks at him.

"Oh, shit." Nancy grabs his arm and starts pulling him through the aisles. "You're not going to stop, are you." She doesn't even bother phrasing it as a question, just continues to drag him out of the store.

They run into Steve in the cassette and his head whips up as he sees the two of them. "Uh, Nance? Why're you—"

Jonathan interrupts him with a desperate but still near-silent hitch to his breath, the following sneezes taken from a single inhale. It's not the normal five, but instead accompanied by an extra sixth that completely empties the air from his lungs. He gasps when the fit is over, and Steve says, "Oh" so quietly Jonathan almost doesn't hear it. "Okay, yeah, yeah, let's—"

They get him out to the parking lot where the sun just makes it even worse, triggering whatever fucking response Jonathan has to it and forcing another handful of sneezes out. Steve's cursing at this point, asking Nancy what was happening while the other insists she has no clue and Jonathan just lets them shove him into the car because God the exhaustion is well and truly hitting him now, sinking into his bones. He's always been like this, resisting until he can't anymore and then crashing hard enough it's concerning.

He's still stifling every handful of seconds when Steve squishes into the backseat next to him, worry painted onto his face. "Jon, dude. What's going on?"

"I don't know," Jonathan says, guilt swelling in his gut. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Steve tells him, placing a hand on his shoulder as Nancy slides into her seat. She turns around, staring back at the two of them from the driver's seat with a complete lack of judgement in her gaze. He meets her eyes for just a second before turning away to sneeze again, but even in that second, he can tell that she's not mad at him. Neither of them are. They're just worried about him.

"Let them out, Jonathan, it's just us," Nancy says quietly.

He nods without hesitating, jaw dropping slightly as he finally allows himself the relief of a full sneeze. "uk'tschuu! huh'uktshh!"

Steve rubs his knee, buckling his seat belt as Jonathan fumbles for his own. "Let's get you home, Jon."

#s/tranger t/hings sickfic #sickfic #s/tranger t/hings #j/onathan b/yers #e/ddie m/unson #s/teve h/arrington #n/ancy w/heeler #swts fic

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mari-roleplay · 26 days

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Rain World

Here's the list of characters that I feel the most comfortable writing. Includes a short interpretation of them and few headcanons I have about them

---Hunter---

I may be a bit biased, but this campaign broke me emotionally and mentally.

Interpretation of story:

Hunter is a purposed organism, created by No Significant Harrasment. His goal was to reactivate Moon by delivering a special neuron fly. However, the Iterator had been tried to speed up the process to bring Moon back as fast as possible, which caused rot to start develop within Hunter's body. Nontheless, Hunter was still send on a mission regardless of his health. As time progressess animal's condition worsens, he times to move slower, and suffers from seizures, and hallucinations. Against all odds he completes his mission successfully, bringing Moon back to functional state. However what happens with his body as his time runs out...

Headcanons:

While loyal to NSH, I think Hunter would partially resent him. You wake up with a parasite living within you. The only other person that is alive, is capable of doing anything is the robot that speaks to you. Wouldn't you blame them if you didn't know what was going on? Even a little bit?

NSH while adores fauna and flora, he treated Hunter a bit colder. Their reasoning to do so was because they belived, that they already hurt the creature, if he got too much attached he would feel even worse for doing so. An Iterator who can't create even a simple slugcat correctly...

While calm and harsh on the outside, Hunter is internally panicking just as much as we are when a King Vulture or a Red Lizard shows up.

Scavangers don't like him not because he's hostile to them, but because they can see the rot. They can see something's wrong with him, and they're rather be safe than sorry.

While at begining he could survive of fruits and vegetables with no issue, the rot inside made his hunger grow more and more, so now he must consume meat, because nothing else is filling enough.

Will take care of a slugpup if he finds one, but will leave them most likely with a Moon. Internal heartbreak throughout the whole travel

---Spearmaster---

Heavily modified purposed organism originating from a very distant land. Createdy by Seven Red Suns they follow the Iterator's instructions. Over the time they have traveled the world many times. Often caring inside their body pearls with sensitive informations. One of the pearls they have delivered caused a tragedy. The other pearl was rewritten and served a purpose of a final goodbye from Looks to the Moon. A sad consequence of one too many informations shared.

Headcanons:

The reason why Scavengers are so scared of them at begining is because, Spearmaster is so modified, they look like they crawled out straight out of uncanny valley

Cheiftain simulator goes brrr. Literally all you have to do is sit in front of the toll and create them a bunch of spears

While they can communicated via gestures, they had a bit of a hard time understanding Iterators before they were given a mark.

Communicates with Scavengers via drawings

While nice to Scavengers, they are pretty much a public enemy number one to all the other animals.

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itsbenedict · 3 years

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Two-Faced Jewel: Session 12

Foolish Heroes of Barley

A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]

Last time, the party had returned to Barley to deal with a few loose ends. They've been staying in town for a while, waiting for their hired Deathseekers to deal with the dragon in the tower. This session, their stay comes to an end, and as you can see from the image here, they don't get into any trouble whatsoever.

A few other things happen before their fateful final night in town:

Kevin Softbreeze, the herbalist from the Deathseekers, visits town and sells Looseleaf some magic flowers that repel demons- though they're not very potent, and she'll need to stop by his garden in Cauterdale if she wants some seeds to try growing. Saelhen buys some potent knockout drops.

The villagers appear to still be arming themselves and preparing for battle with Wheat- since they didn't mention Arnie as the culprit at all, and tried to pin it on the dragon directly, Malath is still skeptical that they're totally safe from invasion, and defensive preparations continue.

Rumors spread that Chitch has gone missing, but no one can find the body. The party spreads rumors of their own- true ones- that Chitch went to go find his daughter after learning that the pain-wizard is dead.

On their fifth night in the village- somewhat earlier than expected- they notice something outside the window of their rooms in the inn. Lumiere's tower, previously unnoticeable, is suddenly aglow with some sort of yellow cylindrical magic barrier, made up of hexagonal panels.

Looseleaf rouses the rest of the party- the plan is to watch from a distance, and not interfere. A very loud roar is heard in the distance, which is suddenly cut off in the middle- it seems the Deathseekers have sprung their trap.

It's not too much longer after that when they begin to hear screams from around them in the village.

Saelhen's elf eyes spot... something rustling in the fields around the village. All of them. Quite a lot of somethings. Except despite the rustling, she can't make out anything but barley stalks. And the nothing- the hordes of nothing- is moving towards the tower.

The party leaps into action, heading downstairs with weapons drawn. On the ground floor, they see... something sort of familiar. Those Greed Echoes, the mud-and-grass monsters they fought on the road- one of them is forming itself out of broken bottles, dust, and wooden planks uprooted from the floor of the Harvester Inn. Cassie, the innkeeper, is watching in terror, knuckles white gripping a frying pan.

Congratulations! You're both right! The dragon is summoning an army of hateful Justice Echoes powered by the roused hatred of Wheat that's been stirred up in town!

Oyobi thinks fast, and oneshots the echo in the kitchen with an arrow, shattering a bottle that'd become its core. The screams outside continue, though, and the party exits the inn to find panicked villagers fleeing their homes. Justice Echoes made primarily from twisted stalks of barley have formed in their fields and homes, taking the weapons amassed for self-defense from their owners. They attack only those who resist, and make their way towards the tower.

Looseleaf: Let's just attack some hate-plague spirits and see if they decide to attack us instead. If they don't attack us at all, then we can just ignore them and run leisurely next to them and pick them off as we go. If they attack us, then it's a regular fight. "We're up to do some heroism this fine night, right, team?" Oyobi Yamatake: "Obviously!" Orluthe Chokorov: "Uh, I don't have that one prepared, do I? Uh..." Vayen: Saelhen du Fishercrown: "I am up to rub Mother K's face in the super obvious consequences of her actions while incidentally preventing pointless suffering." "Go team! Woo!"

Looseleaf starts us off by rending the spirit of the closest barley-monster, using her new Painspike ability to make the target Frightened of her.

However... these monsters have no purpose except to attack that which they fear, so rather than the normal effect of being Frightened, Looseleaf has now drawn aggro from this monster. Which is kind of what she wanted! So, that's a win! She now has a way to goad the enemy!

The party takes some swings at the monsters, knocking a couple out, but most of them seem to just be ignoring them, continuing to run through the fields towards the tower. They could become a problem for the Deathseekers if they're not dealt with- or for Wheat, for that matter.

Backup arrives in the form of Malath Kanthalga, who perceives these events as- what else?- an attack by Wheat. She's screaming, demanding to know who's responsible, and smashing echoes apart with her mace. Still, the echoes are mostly ignoring the village- they're grabbing anything they can find to use as a weapon, sort of ransacking the place, but most of them are just fleeing.

So Saelhen comes up with an extremely well-timed plan. It's a really good plan, I love it, and I'm excited to hit them with the consequences of her plan- until Looseleaf issues a timely bit of advice:

Saelhen du Fishercrown: Saelhen dashes (Cunning Action), steps forward, inhales a great gulp of breath... "FOOLISH HEROES OF BARLEY!" she bellows. "WHILE YOU FUTILELY WASTE YOURSELVES AGAINST WHEAT'S DEFENSES, I, THE SECRET SHADOW MAYOR OF WHEAT, WILL BE HERE BURNING YOUR HOMES!" "AND ALSO MENACING YOUR CITIZENS WITH MY PERMISSIVE IDEOLOGY!" She waves her hooded lantern, unlit, above her head, to drive the point home. "WHO AMONG YOU CAN STOP ME AND DELIVER JUSTICE? NO ONE, PROBABLY, I ASSUME!"

Vayen, in a surprising show of, let's call it camaraderie, is very much in support of this plan for some reason! He takes a break from his busy schedule of doing absolutely nothing every turn in combat to cast a helpful illusion, to ensure as many monsters aggro Saelhen as possible!

A few more rounds of combat ensue, with a good chunk of the monsters- including a few very large building-sized hulks- immediately turning to kill Saelhen. The party gets some good hits in, and Saelhen gets a little roughed up. She... would like maybe fewer things to be attacking her, actually.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Their attention is on me, Mother Kanthalga, the secret mayor of Wheat this entire time, but you might be able to calm their anger! These creatures were born from this town's... collective mind, or something, they may listen to you if you order them to stand down!" Benedict I. (GM): Not with advantage, but a 22... "Wh... what? What are you saying? That's..." She hesitates, then speaks, in a booming voice she- well, you spent a few days here, you know she reserves it for sermons. "STAND DOWN! The time to strike against our foe has not yet come!" "We must be prudent! We must defend ourselves, not attack!" [DEFEND OURSELVES,] the echoes agree, continuing to bear down on Saelhen. Saelhen du Fishercrown: Worth a shot!

It doesn't seem like these things are hugely receptive to emotional appeals or logical argument- they have the one emotion, which they're made of, and they don't super do other ones.

In the following combat rounds, Saelhen... takes a few more hits, which she is not designed to do on account of being a rogue.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: WHY DID I NOT DECLARE ORLUTHE THE SECRET SHADOW MAYOR

More echoes emerge from the fields and attack, and Saelhen is starting to look really rough- and Vayen just keeps the illusion on her, not actually helping in any way. Until... one of them goes for Looseleaf, instead. When it starts looking like she might be in danger, he fires off a bolt of blue electricity, which begins to singe one of the monsters attacking her for damage every turn. He's... a higher-level spellcaster than anyone else in the party, apparently!

Looseleaf, with a little room to maneuver, unfolds her wings and takes to the air- up and out of reach of the smaller monsters, drawing their aggro and forcing them to waste turns. Meanwhile, Orluthe and Oyobi, backed up by Malath and a couple of villagers who've reclaimed their weapons, cut down a few more echoes as more surge forth from the fields to replace them.

Saelhen... keeps trying to persuade Malath to persuade the echoes to stop. She does very well at persuading Malath to try that! Malath tries that, wholeheartedly, once again to no effect! Eventually, Malath stops trying.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Would you consider coming to them as a trusted comrade, who trained them to protect them, rather than the one leading them off to war? Maybe?" Malath Kanthalga: "I am going to come to them as a very angry warrior with a mace," she growls. Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Okay! Okay, fair enough. Spiritual remedies off the table, understood."

Orluthe is getting really tired, and keeps whiffing his swings- it's touch-and-go for a while. But Saelhen and Looseleaf's frantic attempts to kite enemies out of range have been paying off, and they manage to down the remaining super-hulks juuuuust before anyone dies.

Benedict I. (GM): Y'know, it's possible that making the two squishiest members of the party draw aggro was not the number one best strategic move Saelhen du Fishercrown: IT MAYBE WASN'T, NO Looseleaf: eh, it's worked out so far!

The combat wraps up, and we transition to a bunch of Athletics rolls to chase down and terminate as many of the smaller echoes as possible. They build a firepit in the center of town, to dispose of defeated echoes in- just in case that's necessary, because who knows what kind of magic is animating these guys.

So after a wild night of chasing, taunting, fleeing, and burning justice echoes- well, it's not so much a wild night as a wild twenty minutes or so- there's a point at which the fields just suddenly fall silent. A pair of echoes chasing Saelhen fall to the ground, inert.

With a good roll...

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...of course, you're free to dismiss this as the ramblings of a crazed outsider. But keep in mind, Mother Kanthalga, that the ones who fell upon your town, tore it apart in a frenzy of violence, and stabbed you repeatedly for your pains, endangering your people, your daughter and your livelihoods, were repeating the words you taught them." Benedict I. (GM): Malath winces. "That... I don't know why they..." Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...think on it. You're reasonable people, around here. You can come to your own conclusions." Benedict I. (GM): "I tell you, I did not make these things! If not for..." She's kind of lost for words. "...Apologies. I have much work to do," she says, and leaves.

After some work mending the village and cleaning up the aftermath, Looseleaf heads back into the inn to check on Vayen, who hasn't been helping at all and is instead drunk at the bar. He asks "Did she make it?"- and Looseleaf gets a nat 20 on Insight.

She's pretty sure that he was talking about Saelhen- and that he sounded almost hopeful. He was unusually jazzed about a plan that involved her being attacked by a horde of angry monsters- and he chose to shoot the echo that was attacking her, not the one bearing down on Saelhen with a bunch of its friends. When she informs him Saelhen survived, she's able to tell he's disappointed.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: so he doesn't hate us, as a group he hates saelhen specifically Looseleaf: But also weirdly- okay, what if: what if he actually has an ancestral quest involving that bracer and he's mad that saelhen beat him to the punch and furthermore used it as a shitty cover story Saelhen du Fishercrown: saelhen going THE DE LA SURPLUS ANCESTRAL QUEST IS REAL???

Looseleaf switches to talking to Vayen via her spirit-magic imitation of the Message spell.

Looseleaf: (Like, Vayen, everything you're doing is about Saelhen in some way or other. And I can't figure out why. You seem pretty much ambivalent towards all of us except for her. I don't get it. If you want Saelhen dead, why haven't you just killed her? I saw that lightning bolt- if you wanted, I bet you could take all of us, in a straight fight.) (You're sending real mixed signals. If you want her dead, why isn't she dead? Why do you want her to be dead via a hand other than your own?) Vayen: He locks up. And then sighs. Looseleaf: (And now you're sitting here sounding all tired and sad and I feel bad about that.) (I dunno, do you want to, uh, talk about it, with someone.) Vayen: "I don't... want her... to be dead," he says, clearly choosing his words carefully. "I have nothing against her." Looseleaf: (Then it's the- bracer??) Vayen: I'm letting that one Insight roll do a lot of work here, but he definitely reacts to that. "I- um, no," he says, lying. Looseleaf: (There is literally nothing significant about Saelhen other than her bracer, unless you plan on telling me that your deepest desire is to defeat the dance emperor of Kanzentokai in a danceoff and reclaim your ancestral throne of dancing glory.) (Which, granted, if that's the case, that'd be amazing.) Vayen: "I don't know what you're- that's not..." "It's all coincidence. Whatever you're thinking. I don't have- I don't have anything against- Saelhen? Noeru?" Looseleaf: (Look, I- okay, here's how I see things. I don't know how the bracer works, it's weird magic stuff, but the way I see it, there's two major ways the bracer could work.) (That is, you either want the bracer for yourself, because whatever it does or whatever you need it for, you need to be the one wearing it- OR, you just need anybody willing to use the bracer to do whatever it is the bracer's supposed to do.) Vayen: "...Can you not?" "I- I have a job." "I have an important job." "It's from the School of Restricted Arts." Looseleaf: "Well, tell us about the dang important job then! Maybe we can help you with it." "I don't get why you're preassuming that we'd never do anything you might want us to do." Vayen: "It's from the School of- are you listening?" "It's secret." "Look, it's- you don't need to worry about it, okay?" Looseleaf: "Hhhhhrlgkrkshxzshktkrrrzzzzktttttkzzz," Looseleaf says, reverting to her natural dialect in a brief moment of frustration. Vayen: "Sure, it's easier if- I mean, she- that was her idea, she wanted to..." "I just- I can just..." "As long as I can keep an eye on..." He groans. "I shouldn't be talking to you." "You're not in the School." Looseleaf: "Okay, just- hhhjkkkkkrkxxxxxtk." Vayen:"Are... you okay?" He's never asked a question like that before. Looseleaf: (I'm fine, that's just how we express frustration, our throats don't naturally conform to making sounds like 'hrrrrrgh', whenever I do that it's a performative thing that I do to adhere to human expectations- look, the big reason why I'm trying to, pound my way through your portcullis of secrecy with a twenty-foot battering ram of blunt communication,) (is because right now Saelhen is like, probably 80% convinced you're trying to poison her in your sleep.) (Seriously, this amount of in-party distrust is, like, way too Ccorde-damned much.) Vayen: "I wouldn't do that," he says. "If I were going to do that, I'd have done it already. Looseleaf: (If you'd express, in a credible way, that you're actually just trying to get Saelhen to do whatever it is she'd do anyways, she'd feel a lot better about it!) (And then she might even work with you to further your goals directly!) Vayen: He doesn't say anything for a little while. "...This is stupid." "This isn't even- it's wrong, even." "Maybe that's why." Man, that bottle he's holding is emptier than you thought it'd be. He's only been here less than half an hour. "Don't try to- guh, friends. He'll never- stupid. What's the point." He sort of collapses on the bar.

Vayen, it seems, can't hold his liquor. Looseleaf... carries him back up to his room.

Next time: the party finally leaves Barley, for good this time! And also a minor medical emergency happens, and also they kidnap a twelve-year-old, but like, it's fine. It'll be fine. Don't worry about it.

#twofaced jewel #tfj log

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lilyevansreyjakku · 5 years

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Love and power

Hello everyone its me again! with my reylo edits and short stories . i haven't had time to post short stories and I want to finish this reylo short story in trying my best by the way. We almost getting near to Dec which I'm very excited About! 😊😊

Here's the link down below for those that want to read from the beginning

Part one

Part two

Part three

@franpaw-reylo-creations @glitzescape @princeofdarkness15 @michellestarswept @bellaren18 @sushigirlali @grlie-girl @winglessone @bunilicious @reylocalligraphy @buffshipper8490 @iaintnosidekick @lastmouseleft @lilia-ula @atchamberlin @rakefiree @corariley @infinitelyblackrose @nancylovesreylo @magicaldogs @reyloisblessed @angelic-hellraiser @black-eyed-suzannah-q @orkindofamazing @xtaketwox @cleverpudding @pandoraspocksao3 @shaara-2 @reyloarmy @thebadjediandthegoodsith @generaloftheneworder @empressdarkren @nite0wl29 @practical-or-brave @ohsnapcrackle @leofgyth @hotty-toddy-rebel-force @emrys-girlwithasaber @antbee17

Thanks everyone for the notes and reblogs ! ✌💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Love and power

Part four

A Reylo au

Empress's and emperor of the desert

Ben was so hungry from the action last night he ate like a wild beast, he forgot that the empress was there in front of him .

" Did you enjoy last night ? ", Ben put gently his hand to cover his mouth ." you know I did my empress ".

" Rey , Ben just rey , when I'm with you alone I'm rey and your my Ben ". Rey looked at Ben who was finishing chewing his food .

" as you say my love " Rey got up and sat next to Ben and grab his hand and kissed it . Ben gasp in delight and became hard again moments later his mouth was testing something sweeter than the sugar cub, her folds was sweeter than sweet candy that this world can offer .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rey had left with kaydel and Finn to the city of jakku to get preparation for a campaign war against the first order .

" here are the maps and drawings of the new projects my empress" , the young man said .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ben was writing a love poem for rey when a young maid of the empress went towards Ben .

" come please ", she whispered everyone was listing to phasma sermon no one was paying any attention to him .

" for ?"

" the empress is waiting for you in the garden ". Ben got up and follow her as he was going through the palace hallway when jade appeared , His smiled fade at the sight of jade.

" had fun last night ?"

"Yes I did in fact I'm going to see her Highness right now ".

Jade smile " I see, will do take care of that beautiful face of yours " . Jade went to the direction towards lor san tekka chambers.

Ben and the maid began to walk towards the hall again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" Did you hear me alderaan ? " BB said as he notice ben wasn't there or anywhere . BB got a bad feeling about this .

"Phasma ! Phasma !"

"What !"

" the alderaan slave! He's not here !"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ben started to have a bad feeling , but dismissed it

" when are we going to get there , this isn't the way to the garden palace ."

The girl stoped when Ben felt something near his throat three men came out of nowhere and began to hit him . Ben felt pain everywhere his body , he couldn't do anything the pain was sharp . the man who had the knife slice through his face all the way down to his arm and chest Ben felt sinking into the darkness each second and passed out slowly Ben received multiple blows . Ben heard that serpent voice whispering to him ," that's what you get for stealiing what isn't yours alderaan slave".

Ben tried to open his eyes but couldn't , "someone like you should die by now ."

" someone is coming " ben heard one of the man say from the distance he felt pain again in his ribs .

Rey was the facec as he slowly fade it to the darkness "Rey " he whispered

~~~~~~~~~~

BB heard noises when he saw the men in black escaping through the balcony of the palace " stop ! Stop I say ! Guards !!". One of the guards caught one.

BB he could nearly keep up when he saw Ben's body lying lifeless

" for all the forces ! Ben ! Ben !".

BB ran for help .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Its very difficult to have order here in the palace, especially here in the mens chambers ". phasma told rose .

" it must be , how do you even do it phasma". Rose asked .

" I don't know really, but the force is with me so far ".

"I see the empress has taken fun of Be.."

" please don't even mention him especially ben, he is the worst one, always does what he wants doesn't get along with anyone from the men, he makes more enemies than frie.... "

BB almost slip which made phasma and rose stare in shock .

"Help ! Please help me ! I need help fast ! "

rose and phasma ran behind BB.Phasma couldn't believe it oh no , Ben ! , she ran where Ben laid lifeless , rose and BB were behind her they all gasped in shook.

"May the force be with us and help us " phasma bend down to check a pulse on Ben hand wrist and neck .

" oh my ! How did this happen ? "

rose looked at all this painc already " the question is what are we going to do ! Phasma ! we were suppose to take care of him like our lives depend on it , orders from the empress herself !".

" oh my the force forgive us for being so irresponsible!".

"Enough ! Help me carry him he's still alive ! BB ! Rose !."

" this was a trap phasma I'm sure !" Rose shouted.

Phasma knew exactly this wasn't no accident she knows and seen many things in here life . she lived in this palace for a long time and knows that men can get out of control but woman are worst during jealousy .

Phasma knew the Prince of yavin was behind this she can swear it .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please like always my darlings no drama this is a fic not real . don't like it keep scrolling I don't want no drama ✌😊💜

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#kylo x rey #rey edit #reylo au #reylo #reylo fanfic #ben and rey #slavebensolo #empresssrey #empressofjakku #cody fern #reylo trash #reylo fam #jelaousy #ben solo #benrey

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clarencenicholsonata · 4 years

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6 Proven Ways A No-Reply Email Address Hurts Your Business & How to Fit It

Historically, organizations have used no-reply email addresses to dissuade customers from replying to certain marketing or transactional emails. However, the days of communicating with customers via “[email protected]” must come to a halting close.

At the end of the day, the benefits of no-reply email addresses are steadily diminishing, In fact, this time-saving “hack” is doing great harm by impeding customer retention and damaging email marketing efforts.

When their responses go unanswered or a no-delivery notification is sent, customers conclude that you do not in fact wish to engage in dialogue with them. As a result, they’re much more likely to take their business elsewhere.

You spend so much time drafting your emails and crafting the best subject lines. it’s high time business recognize the incredible value of encouraging replies. Not only are they an invaluable source of feedback, but they’re also a quick and easy opportunity connect to more meaningfully.

Below are 3 concrete reasons why no-reply email addresses are fast becoming tabooed and swapped out:

1. No-reply emails have higher chances of being written off as spam

In an effort to keep customers happy, internet service and email providers use certain filters to prevent spam messages from making it into their client’s inboxes. Using a no-reply email oftentimes gets your email caught in a spam filter thereby blocking messages from being delivered at all.

Additionally, most email service providers do not allow users to add no-reply email addresses to their address book.

Using a no-reply email address can inadvertently end up defeating the whole purpose of sending the communication when this happens.

2. Customers may feel frustrated by their inability to respond

Customers reply to emails for a reason.They may have questions, concerns or feedback to give. Perhaps the shipping address on their order confirmation is incorrect? Or maybe they need to contact support for assistance. Whatever the reason, your job is to make it as frictionless as possible for them to contact you. The easier that is to happen, the more likely you are to close the sale or keep that customer returning.

Also, a lot of the time, people fail to even check email addresses when responding. So if an email from a no-reply address delivers and your customer replies directly, they may think you’re ignoring them if no response if received.

Worse yet, if they get a no delivery error message, they may start to think your first email was spam. Either way, you’re really not helping your business’ image.

It’s a lot to ask customer to hunt down your preferred contact email address just so they can provide feedback. Stop adding unnecessary steps and pain point to their consumer journey. Do everything in your power to make two-way communication a breeze.

Remember, customers deserve to feel like you value their thoughts and opinions. If you do anything to make them feel like that's not the case, then they will be more likely to seek out a competitor who does.

3. Might not be legally compliant

GDPR (Global Data Protection Regulation) are a set of European Union laws that mandate how companies should be making use of the data they gather about customers and internet users. One of the main rules stipulates that customers must be able to request information about the data collected on them.

By indirectly preventing customer communication with the use of no-reply email address, you run the risk of breaching GDPR compliance. Realistically speaking, subscribers are essentially blocked from exercising their data rights if your business’ no-reply email address prevents them from making contact in the first place.

In other parts of the world, for example the United States, the CAN-SPAM Act gives subscribers the right to opt-out at any time they’d like. This means business have to provide customers and prospects alike with a valid email address that can be used for easy contact.

At the moment there is no specific provision that outlaws no-reply email addresses. Still, it’s essential that you consider potential violations and weigh the pros and cons. Also, do you really want to wait for a law to outlaw a specific practice before you stop using it?

The below infographic on Email Marketing Do’s and Don'ts should be observed before ever hitting that send button:

In order to avoid having your messages blocked, hemorrhaging customers and potentially breaking the law, here’s what you should be doing instead:

4. Swap out your no-reply email for a real email address

You probably don’t need any more convincing, so I advise you to take immediate steps is to swap out your no-reply email address with a more enabling one. A few alternatives to consider include:

A generic, but more welcoming alias like [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]

An alias specific to an email campaign’s focus like [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]

Creating a spokesperson who could be an employee, a mascot or really any fake alias, for example all of Trello.com’s marketing emails are sent from [email protected]. Taco is actually the co-founder's Siberian husky.

Be creative and be efficient. Fight the urge to feel overwhelmed at the thought of loads of people responding to your marketing emails. You want to engage as many folks as possible and thankfully there are several ways of avoiding death by inbox overload. Below are a few tactics that can help.

5. Filter out automated responses

One of the best things you can do is practice filtering out any automated responses. These responses are pre-designed replies sent to acknowledge that a message was received, but are oftentimes automated and unrelated to your message.

Many inbox providers will allow you to specify certain rules that can filter messages based on set conditions.

This functionality can be used to filter out emails containing words like automated response or message delivery notification most commonly associated out of office or delivery failure messages.

Your inbox will thank you once this automatic separation is set up, plus the emails filtered out will still be in a separate folder in case you need to reference them for any reason.

6. Be proactive with providing resources

Granted, one of the biggest draws of using no-reply emails is not being flooded with email responses. One extremely effective effective way to avoid this is to provide as much information as the customer will ever need.

For example, after customers make a purchase, can you direct them to the Frequently Asked Questions page of your website? How about including a link to your help page in your email communications?

As you continue to create new and engaging content around the most often asked questions, be sure to include links to those resources in emails. Your goal is to answer your customer’s questions even before they ask them.

Another option to avoid drowning in customer response emails is to set up a dedicated email address so that you can separate email responses from normal business emails. If you’re using GSuite, this is a super easy set up. Other setups might require a little more technical help. Whatever the case, it’s a great tool for staying organized.

To Summarize

One of the surest ways to lose customers, profits and market dominance is by failing to adapt your business model and practices. There was once a time when no-reply emails were effective. But today, using a no-reply email address is one of many other email marketing mistakes we’ve learned should be avoided at all costs.

It’s user experience leaves much to be desired, it can reduce the overall efficiency of your email marketing campaigns, and can prevent you from receiving valuable feedback from your customers.

Even if you don't make the change overnight, you should definitely be exploring ways to move away from this tool of the past. Instead, you want to use an address email address that your audience can reply to. You also want to set up a procedure to manage these replies.

It’s better to set up your email campaigns, newsletters, and transactional emails with senders that instill confidence in your audience. With email marketing, it’s always better to put your customers’ needs first, as this will always result in better engagement and deeper customer loyalty. You might just uncover some valuable information in the process.

About the Author

Uwe Dreissigacker is the founder of online invoicing software InvoiceBerry & also offers free invoice templates to businesses. Small businesses and sole traders can create, send and manage their invoices, quotes and credit notes with the tool. In his free time, Uwe travels the world and enjoys experiencing different cultures.

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