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#like???? last time it was £70 and two weeks at a big company with loads of staff and resources

blurredcolour · 1 year

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The Witch of November

Summary: Jake and Bradley’s second deployment has you discovering a lot of things about yourself, including just how much the two men mean to you. Or When The Three Of You Realized What You Were.

Part of my Poly Hangster Universe. Read Part One - In Search Of Obliteration

Pairing: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x Jake “Seresin” Hangman x Female Reader [Hangster x Female Reader Polyamorous Relationship]

Warning: Angst, Mental Health Struggles, Nightmares, Lack of Appetite, Insomnia, Nail Biting, Stress-Induced Weight Loss, Anxiety, Unhealthy Coping Strategies, Difficult Discussions of Feelings, Rating – T.

Credit: Paramount Pictures

Word Count: 5120

The oldies playlist filled the quiet emptiness of the primary bedroom as you worked on folding the last of Bradley’s shirts into the storage tote. It was a poor replacement for the usual sounds of life that filled Jake and Bradley’s home, conversation, laughter, activity, but the songs from the 60s and 70s brought a continuity in their absence.

You smiled softly as you pulled another of his father’s tropical button-up shirts from the drawer, taking extra care as you folded the sleeves down the back, barely registering the song change to Gordon Lightfoot’s The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead When the skies of November turn gloomy With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed When the gales of November came early

It was difficult to fathom the next four months without them. They’d had two weeks’ notice – fourteen days to prepare you for the face that they were being deployed for sixteen weeks at sea. It was not their first deployment since your meeting at the liquor store. Not long after that dream-like night you had spent with them, followed by the sun-drenched afternoon spent with their squad in the sundress they had ordered via Postmates, their colleagues too polite to pry at their flimsy introduction of you as a ‘new neighbour’, they had left for ten days.

At the time you’d had no more than a superficial understanding of their profession. Of the peril in which they put themselves on a daily basis – even more so during missions. A few emails had been exchanged between the three of you then but before you even really had a chance to miss them, they had shown up with your apartment bearing take out. The outcome had been four orgasms and a noise complaint.

The ship was the pride of the American side Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most With a crew and good captain well seasoned

This time, however, everything was different. Nearly six-months into your relationship – well, for starters you felt confident calling it that. Perhaps the three of you could have done a better job defining things, but they had given you a key to their house, and you had a toothbrush that lived in the cup with theirs in the ensuite bathroom. Spending most weekends, and the occasional weeknight there, you had successfully avoided another noise complaint and fallen into a very natural rhythm with them.

So, when their orders had arrived, it had been a rather rude awakening. An intrusion in the happy idyll your trio had built, but not altogether unexpected. You’d done a remarkable job convincing Jake, Bradley, and even yourself that you would be all right; that they had no reason to worry about you. And when they decided to once again use a property management company and put their home up for short term rental in their absence? You’d also convinced them to save some money and let you take that on for them.

After all, you had a key and the time, it would be no issue for you to finish packing their things away into the garage and then stop in to clean between rentals. Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms When they left fully loaded for Cleveland And later that night when the ship's bell rang Could it be the north wind they'd been feeling The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound And a wave broke over the railing And every man knew, as the captain did too ‘Twas the witch of November come stealing

You snapped the lid shut on the tote, grabbing your phone and tucking it into your pocket, letting the song continue to play as you carried the last load down the stairs and into the garage. Sliding the box into place, your eyes scanned over the stacks of totes and racks of garment bags – two lives tidily packed away, on hold.

The words of the song, now slightly muffled by the fabric of your pants yet still audible, began to register in your brain and you pulled your phone from your pocket to hear them better. Unbidden, the images sung by the folk singer of a horrific storm began to flood your mind. A helpless ship filled with mortal men dwarfed by the fury of nature.

Two men, who meant a great deal more to you than you had the nerve to put into words as they wolfed down their breakfast that morning, in a vast ocean. How easily they could not return – swept aside by a cruel wave, attacked by a wrathful nation, or eliminated by something so utterly mundane as human error. How easily you could be putting their things away for the very last time.

The unwelcome thoughts tore through your consciousness and had you stumbling back into the door frame that connected the garage to the rest of the house, gasping for breath as tears blurred your vision. The sheer cruelty of your mind, parading the worst possible outcomes through your brain in vivid detail, had you pressing a hand to the centre of your chest, trying to calm your racing heart. You felt sick and acutely alone in a house that was suddenly much too spacious, listening to a song that was far too gloomy.

“Good god, get a grip girl.” You snarled tearfully at yourself before barking a laugh that even you would have to admit rang hollow against the concrete floor.

Shaking your head viciously to clear the morbid thoughts of peril at sea from your head, as though it were an etch-a-sketch needing to be reset, you turned your rush of desperate energy toward skipping the last of the song. Inhaling deeply through your nose as the much more upbeat Surfin’ USA by the Beach Boys took over.

“Better…It’s just day one…. You’ve got this…” You wiped at a few rogue tears that had stolen down your cheeks before doing one last check that everything was stored properly, locking up the garage and heading back into the house to finish cleaning.

One hour – and many deliberate song choices – later, you finished mopping your way out of the house, turning off the lights as you went. Setting up a door code for the guests set the arrive the next day, you headed home near ten, finding it surprisingly easily to fall asleep. The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait When the gales of November came slashing When afternoon came it was freezing rain In the face of a hurricane west wind When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck saying “Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya” At seven PM a main hatchway caved in, he said “Fellas, it's been good to know ya”

The problem reared its head once more in the inky blackness of the night, rain and saltwater lashing your face, stinging your eyes. You could hear Jake and Bradley screaming for you, their voices carried on the wind from opposite directions, impossible to pinpoint no matter how you twisted your body this way and that.

Something unseen collided forcefully with your body, plunging you into a dark, icy sea. You clawed futilely through the water, unable to discern up from down, left from right, as your lungs began to burn with the need for breath.

You thrashed yourself awake from your nightmare, fumbling with the switch on your bedside lamp, desperate for light to dispel the murk of the freezing water, movements still filled with the frenetic energy of a drowning victim. At last, the incandescent bulb clicked on, flooding the room with warm light, reminding you that you were in your bed…. safe….

But Jake and Bradley…. heaven only knew where they were. You hugged your knees to your chest and choked out a sob, feeling just as useless as you had in your dream. They could be screaming your name right now and there was absolutely nothing you could do to help them. In your weakened state, you were utterly defenseless against the onslaught of tears, so you simply turned your head to smother your ragged sobs into the plush of your pillow – not wanting to risk a noise complaint over this of all things.

The captain wired in he had water coming in And the good ship and crew was in peril And later that night when his lights went out of sight Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Terror and theoretical grief and something that you still stubbornly refused to name despite all evidence to its confirmation wrung every last tear from your body until your eyelids were swollen and heavy with irritation. Pulling your exhausted frame from the tangle of sheets and sodden pillows, you trudged to the bathroom to rinse your face, wincing at the person staring back at you in the mirror.

You had done such a good job of convincing Jake and Bradley, of convincing yourself, that you would be all right in their absence, that this sudden burden of anxiety and gut-wrenching fear felt like a betrayal to your own self. You were an adult. You understood what it meant to date a Navy man. Yet here you were, crying your eyes out about things you had absolutely no control over. Over things you were proud of your boys for doing.

So whatever selfish childishness had suddenly possessed you, it had to be quashed with brutal efficiency. It would be wildly unfair for either of them to even sense that you were struggling and the simplest solution to that was you just had to stop it right now. Despite the ruthless glare you were delivering yourself in the glass of the bathroom mirror, however, that traitorous body of yours had somehow found the wherewithal to produce fresh tears to send rolling down your hot cheeks.

“Fuck…” you croaked, sinking your face into your hands.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours

Three weeks, two days, and five hours. Despite sending them an email every day, you did not hear from Jake or Bradley for three weeks, two days, and five hours after they left you at their house that morning. It was more than enough time for your nightmare to bloom into full grown neurosis.

Stern pep-talks in the mirror were a non-starter, so you began addressing the inevitable sleep issues with melatonin gummies. And when those produced nearly every side-effect on the bottle? Over-the-counter pain killers. The terror still managed to find you, however, even in your chemically enhanced sleep, and a set of dark circles took root beneath your eyes. Your make-up kit expanded, and your routine became longer to hide them.

You threw yourself into your job, desperately trying to fill every waking moment with activity, treading water above the yawning darkness of dread that lay just below the surface. Between overtime hours and managing Jake and Bradley’s house as a rental – cleaning between renters and being on call for any issues that may pop up – you had little time for socializing. Which suited you just fine, because you knew those who cared about you would see through your thinly veiled disguise of make-up and busyness and you were most certainly not ready for a real conversation about what was going on.

You were idly nipping at a hangnail on your index finger as you reviewed a client’s file when your phone buzzed with an email notification and you gasped audibly when their names popped up, making your co-worker shoot you an inquisitive glance.

“Sorry…” You whispered with a wince, scooping the phone off your desk and diving into your email app to read through their joint reply four times before finally exhaling in relief.

They were well. They were tired, but they were alive and missed you and appreciated your emails. You hugged your phone to your chest, not caring how dramatic it might look to your already suspicious colleague, a few tears of joy gathering along your lower lashes.

The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her They might have split up or they might have capsized They may have broke deep and took water

The relief that one email brought was short-lived, affording one, maybe two good nights of sleep before you were plunged back into your cycle of agony. Your stomach grew averse to, and disinterested in, all food save your favourite ice cream, and after throwing out your fourth meal-prepped lunch you surrendered to its demands and proceeded to subsist entirely upon cartons of that.

You lost weight. Everyone seemed eager to tell you how good you looked as a result of it, which only seemed to twist the knife that had taken up residence between your ribs a little tighter. The circles beneath your eyes grew darker and your make-up kit expanded yet again. With all that you were juggling, you somehow failed to notice that you had chewed your nails raw – a self-soothing technique thoroughly acknowledged by the scientific community, but an action you remained blind to.

There were more email replies, with the promise of some possible phone connectivity in the coming weeks, but you were entirely immune to joy now…feeling not unlike a hollowed-out shell of yourself, filled with the black and white static of a television station that lost its signal.

And all that remains is the faces and the names Of the wives and the sons and the daughters

You were fighting with the first corner of the fitted sheet on the primary bed, the bed the three of you usually shared, when your phone started ringing with an unknown number. Releasing the stubborn fabric, you let the elastic spring back into place, mattress frustratingly bare as you picked up.

“Hello?” You answered, expecting it to be the couple slated to arrive tomorrow afternoon.

“Pretty girl, holy shit it’s so good to hear your voice.” Rooster’s rasped statement hit you like a physical blow to the chest, and you stumbled to a seat on the bed.

“Bradley?” Your voice waivered pathetically and you cleared your throat painfully. “Hey! Hey, it’s so lovely to hear yours.” You continued in a much sunnier, confident tone, scouring the tears from your eyes roughly with the heel of your palm.

He sighed your name warmly, but you did not miss the exhaustion that coloured his tone.

“Fuck, I am so sorry it’s taken this long to be able to call, I swear to god I’ve never been on communications blackout this long before. Everything ok?”

“Just great, well…I miss you both so much, but the rentals are running smoothly and work’s going fine, and the weather never changes here so I don’t have any complaints.” You were sure to smile, just like they taught you at work, so the happy tone would carry through the phone line. “You guys doing all right?”

“We are, you perfect woman, we are. Jake’s right here, falling asleep against the wall. Let me pass him the phone.”

There was some muffled scrambling against the receiver before Jake drawled your name, sounding even more exhausted than Bradley.

“Hey Jake, how’re you doing? You showing them all who’s the best?” You forced a grin, hoping to give him extra encouragement by stroking his ego.

“You know it, pretty girl. Me ‘n Rooster here are kicking all their asses…You promise to be extra desperate for us when we get home?”

You mustered a giggle for him, extremely thankful it was only a phone call so you could keep your expressions to yourself.

“You know it, Hungman…”

“Jesus Christ, I miss you…”

“Three weeks, Jake…” Not that you were counting, or anything.

“I can barely keep my eyes open pretty girl, I’m so sorry, I can’t wait to see you.”

“It’s ok Jake, please go get some rest, ok? I’ll see you soon.”

He murmured his goodbyes before Rooster came back on the line.

“Hey pretty girl, I’m not much longer for this world either.”

“I really appreciate you two taking the time to call me. I’ll see you both in three weeks.”

“Three weeks…” He sighed heavily. “I’ll try and email you our docking time and text you when we’re in the car ok?”

You had offered, initially, to drive them. To drop them off and pick them up, but the process for obtaining a pass was a lengthy one and though, none of you admitted it out loud, would have involved defining your relationship on paper. And so, they had departed in Jake’s pick-up truck, which was still waiting for them on base.

“Do what you can, have a good sleep, Bradley.”

“Night, pretty girl.”

You both stayed on the line a moment, listening to one another breathe, before he finally disconnected the call and you dissolved into tears as you sank onto the rug beside the bed.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings In the rooms of her ice water mansion Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams The islands and bays are for sportsmen

With the final rental checked out, you had a week to put their house back together before Jake and Bradley returned home. You had been careful to write down where things had come from so that you could return them to their rightful place. You took to sleeping at their home so that when the inevitable nightmares or overthinking arrived, three am companions you had grown so very accustomed to over the past four months, you could simply roll out of bed and continue unpacking for them.

True to his word, Bradley managed to email you, letting you know they would be returning that Sunday morning. By Saturday noon, the house was in order, and you made a trip to the grocery store to stock their fridge so they could take it easy their first few days back. You made a special trip to their favourite bakery for some treats, as well, and when you ran out of things to do you went out and walked the beach. Your body was a sharp contrast of fatigue and nervous energy, everything inside you was screaming out for rest but your mind would simply not allow it to.

Your melatonin gummies only afforded you three hours of sleep that night, leaving you pacing about the house like a zombie until the last of it cleared your system. You showered and put on your makeup, carefully ensuring the dark circles were covered. You put on one of their favourite dresses, hoping they wouldn’t notice that it was a little looser on you than before. Or perhaps, like everyone else, they would applaud your new figure.

Setting up the coffee, you held-off starting the brew cycle, waiting for the text to arrive from Bradley that they were on their way home from the base, wanting it to be as fresh as possible. You nearly jumped out of your skin as your phone vibrated with the notification, sliding off your seat at the island and pressing start button before doing one last circuit of the house, unable to sit down.

You were just setting out their favourite mugs on the stone countertop when you heard the engine of Jake’s truck pull into the driveway, rushing to open the front door. Bradley was halfway up the walk when you yanked it open, covering the last of the distance in two long strides before bending his knees to hoist you up into a bone-crushing hug. You squealed as in his excitement, or perhaps his misjudgement of your weight, you shot up higher than expected. Jake laughing brightly as he jogged over, wrapping his arms around both of you tightly as Bradley set your feet back on the concrete walkway.

Nestling your face between their bodies, you inhaled deeply, fingers curling into the fabric of their clothing as you savoured the fact that they were present, they were real, they were alive. Jake shifted back and hooked a finger beneath your chin, coaxing your face up. You smiled at him tremulously, blinking back tears as he leaned in to press his lips to yours firmly. Sighing deeply into the kiss, your fingers sought Bradley’s curls, sinking your fingers into his hair affectionately as he patiently waited his turn, his hands running along your sides, massaging your hip, your butt.

Gasping against Jake’s lips as Rooster’s hand gave a particularly greedy squeeze, you pulled back to press your lips to his, a shiver rolling through your entire body at the feel of his facial hair against your upper lip.

“You wore our favourite dress, pretty girl…” You heard Jake murmur against your shoulder, his fingers toying with the hem. “Mmmm we should get you inside before the neighbours get jealous.”

Reluctantly, you allowed them to pull back and gather their things from the truck, leading them inside.

“That coffee smells amazing…” Jake sighed, setting his bag down at the foot of the stairs.

“Let me grab you a cup.” You nodded and quickly moved into the kitchen, filling Jake’s mug and setting it down to reach for Bradley’s.

In your haste to be of service to them, you had misjudged the edge of the counter, the coffee cup wobbling precipitously before tumbling over to smash on the tile, splashing hot liquid and broken ceramic in all directions.

“Fuck!” The curse flew from your lips, and you quickly set the coffee pot back onto the element before bending down to pick up the sharp shards with your bare hands, thoroughly irritated with the mess you had made of the freshly cleaned floor. Not to mention the fact that you had just destroyed Jake’s favourite mug. “Shit, shit, shit…” You hissed, collecting pieces of crockery in your palm, sniffling in a stubborn attempt to hold back your tears.

A pair of arms wrapped around your waist and hauled you back against a strong, broad chest.

“Careful pretty girl, you’re going to hurt yourself…” Bradley’s gravelly voice filled your ears, and you opened your mouth to protest that you were just fine when an ugly sob tore from your throat.

You slapped your free hand over your mouth, mortified, biting down hard on the inside of your cheek in an attempt to stop any more of those from escaping. You felt Bradley tense behind you and saw one half of the look he shared with Jake reflected on the blonde’s face through the stubborn stream of tears in your eyes.

“Ok pretty girl, it’s ok, just a mug all right?” He drawled, carefully taking the broken shards from your hand and setting them on the counter.

“Why don’t you go upstairs with Jake while I take care of this, and we’ll have coffee in bed hmmm?” Rooster soothed and you managed a nod, not really meeting Jake’s eyes, but you could see the furrow of concern on his brow as he pulled you close, tucking you against his side. He led you up the stairs, hand on the small of your back, and into the ensuite bathroom.

“Let’s get you cleaned up hmmm?”

You sniffled and blinked at his words, glancing at the mirror and wincing at the state of your makeup. You grabbed your toiletries bag, opening it up to find your remover wipes, but before you had a chance to get started, he had set you on the counter between the double sinks, your back pressed against the mirror. One broad hand came to rest on your knee, his thumb rubbing warm, soothing circles on your skin as he pulled out the bottle of melatonin first. Then the painkillers. Followed by the eye drops to help with your dry eyes from the constant crying. These items he lined up on the counter one at a time, his face unreadable. And farther below Lake Ontario Takes in what Lake Erie can send her And the iron boats go as the mariners all know With the gales of November remembered

At last Jake produced the make-up removing wipes and turned to you with a gentle, patient expression as he carefully removed the layers of makeup you had become accustomed to painting on every morning to hide the ravages of the nighttime hours on your face. By the time he had cleaned it all off, your eyelids fluttered open to see Bradley leaning in the doorway quietly watching you.

You had spent more time unclothed with the pair of them than anyone in your life and yet you had never felt so naked in their presence before. You tried to avoid their eyes, to focus on your hands in your lap, but Jake caught your chin with his thumb and forefinger, raising your gaze once more to meet his. There was unconcealed concern there, now, and you watched his adam’s apple bob with a pronounced swallow.

“What’s going on, pretty girl…” He tacked your name onto the end of his question, adding a level of seriousness to the moment that had you squirming slightly and Bradley walking over to lean against the countertop beside you.

It was your turn to swallow painfully, groping for words to express just what the hell was going on, before you let out a huff.

“I’m ruining it…” You slumped back against the mirror in defeat, earning a raised eyebrow from each man. “You’re finally home for the first time in months and I’m ruining it…god I have no idea what I’m doing…” You scrubbed a hand down your tired face, dark circles beneath your eyes laid bare by Jake’s handiwork, and began to gnaw on your thumbnail thoughtfully.

There was another look shared between the pair of them, but this time you could see the concern shared in their gazes. There was an element of knowing something held in that look. Something they weren’t saying aloud. It irked you, made you even more annoyed with yourself for being so broken that you couldn’t even welcome them home properly.

“I’m supposed to be having amazing reunion sex with you both right now to make up for the fact that you’ve been gone, and I can’t stop crying…” you wiped at your face angrily before Jake caught your hand in his, lacing your fingers together and squeezing gently.

“You think we would ignore the fact that you’re not ok just because we want you, pretty girl?” He gently kissed away a fresh tear as it stole down your cheek.

Your eyes flitted over towards Bradley as he brushed away another tear on your opposite cheek with the backs of his fingers, treating you with more kindness than you had shown yourself in weeks.

“Please…what’s going on…” He rasped, voice roughened further by emotion, his brow furrowed.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral The church bell chimed ‘til it rang twenty-nine times For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald

You glanced between the pair of them, filled with trepidation, but quite honestly holding back these words had not served you in the least, so perhaps releasing them might at the very least provide some relief.

“My dumb ass has gone and fallen in love with two men with one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and I have no idea what I’m doing…” You exhaled in surrender, eyeing their faces intently to see how they might react as a hurricane of butterflies erupted in your stomach.

There was silence for a moment, and your worried that you had been too cryptic or too forward, until a flicker of hope dawned as smiles began to tug at their lips. You gasped as they both leaned forward at the same time, aiming for the opposite corners of your lips. It was awkward and claustrophobic and yet it felt so incredibly right to share a kiss between the three of you simultaneously. Sliding your arms around their necks, you held them close as they clung to you so tightly you felt as though they might have a decent chance of fusing your broken pieces back together.

“I love you, too.” Bradley whispered against your cheek, making you shiver in delight as Jake murmured your name adoringly.

“Love you both.” He grinned, not to be outdone.

“I’m really…sorry that I’m such a mess, please don’t…blame yourselves I…”

Bradley shook his head firmly.

“But we are to blame. At the very least, partially. We left you alone for the first time by yourself with nothing…pretty girl, will you ever forgive us?”

“Of course I forgive you!” You said quickly, kissing him firmly and wiping at a few of his tears that had slipped from the corners of his eyes.

“You were far too convincing, I promise to be a lot more skeptical in the future.” Jake teased but shook his head, assuming a more serious expression. “You’re our partner and we’re going to do a much better job of this going forward, ok?”

You gave him a watery smile and hauled him in for a firm kiss of agreement. They ushered you into your pajamas and the three of you curled up in bed, Bradley and Jake enjoying their coffee and baked goods with you sandwiched tightly between them as they regaled you with stories of their travels. Warm, safe, and contented, you found your eyelids drooping heavily. Jake’s hand rubbing soothing circles on your back and Bradley’s fingers tracing the features of your face were not making it any easier to stay awake.

“Sleep…” One or both of them whispered, and you made a soft noise of protest but were otherwise helpless against the rising tide of exhaustion.

You awoke to a bedroom painted in the hues of sunset, snuggled tightly into Bradley’s chest, the scent of pizza filling the air.

“That smells good…” You sighed drowsily.

“You hungry, pretty girl?” Jake drawled, the bed dipping and jostling as he walked closer on his knees, carrying pizza boxes over as you slowly sat up, nodding as a jaw-cracking yawn took over your body. “Good, let’s get some meat back on your bones.” The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee Superior, they said, never gives up her dead When the gales of November come early

With The Three of Us Masterlist

#hangster x reader #top gun angst #reader x rooster x hangman #hangman x reader #rooster x reader #hangman x rooster #bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #jake hangman seresin x reader #top gun imagine #top gun maverick fanfiction

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1teamdotai · 1 year

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How to have More Productive Meetings

A Microsoft study found that people spend an average of 5.6 hours in a week in meetings. And for managers, this time is often double or even triple. And 69% of these people felt that the time spent in meetings is unproductive.

Another study found that 39% of people admitted dozing off in meetings, and 70% have brought other work to meetings.

An article by Bain & Company reported that executives/managers spend more than two days in their working week preparing for meetings.

A majority of workers today find meetings a waste of their time. However, they are unavoidable when working in a team. You definitely can’t find a way around it but you can surely adapt ways that make them highly efficient and productive.

The three meeting checkpoints

Every meeting follows a certain pattern. And there are certain checkpoints where you should analyse how things are going before moving forward.

#1 – The Memo

Imagine being invited to a party where you do not know who’s coming, what’s the occasion, or where’s the venue. You’ll be confused most of your time.

Similarly, when team members are invited to a meeting, they should get the meeting memo that includes the agenda, team members involved, resources, and other details. A meeting memo ensures that everyone in the meeting room is on the same page before the meeting begins.

It is also ideal to start a meeting 5 minutes before the scheduled time. It just gives everyone some time to settle in and take a breath.

#2 – The in between

A lot happens during the meeting. From brainstorming to noting down each idea and opinion – it can be a lot. So it’s always best that you have a process in place to keep things on track.

There’s always a lot to note down during a meeting so the first thing to focus on is how you handle meeting minutes. Remember it should be easy, quick, and easily accessible for everyone.

Typically, a team member or the manager notes everything down and then sends an email to all or each team member with the details. Then they delegate tasks based on these details. This is a process followed by most teams today. But it is very time consuming and ineffective.

Adapting to technology and tools that enable you to have more efficient meetings is also a great way to enhance productivity. At 1team.ai, we use the MoM feature to note down our meeting minutes. It allows us to create a task, assign a user, and save notes in one go!

#3 – The beginning of the end

You should always keep the last 15-20 minutes of your meeting aside to conclude everything and delegate tasks. This is especially important for meetings that are longer than 45 minutes. Keep some time aside to sum things up, and ensure that everyone is leaving the meeting on the same page.

Don’t forget to plan what’s next. And when your next meeting should ideally be.

Bonus: Quick tips to save time during meetings

The shorter, the better.

Assign time to each point in your agenda and strictly stick to your schedule. This will ensure that you efficiently go through things and do not waste time.

Ideally, shorter meetings are better because people generally have a shorter attention span. They are likely to grasp more information in a 15 min meeting than a 2 hour meeting.

Don’t rush.

When you assign time to each agenda item, ensure that you appropriately fix the time required by each point. The catch is to assign proper time so you don’t have to rush through things when trying to adhere to a schedule.

It is important to plan your meeting schedule right or you might miss out on some good ideas.

Invite fewer than 8 people.

Robert Sutton, a professor of organisational behaviour at Stanford University, found that big teams suck. Based on research he concluded that meetings will be more productive if they include 5-8 people.

Sutton writes that “larger teams often place overwhelming ‘cognitive load’ on individual members. Most of us can mesh your efforts with and maintain good personal relationships with, say, three or four teammates.”

Call on people by their name.

Instead of asking questions of taking suggestions from a group, invite individuals into the conversation to keep them engaged. It is common for team members to lose interest during meetings so this can be a great way of setting them up for success and creating an innovative culture.

#meeting #productivity #teamwork

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felassan · 3 years

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Jon Renish (Foundation Technical Director @ BioWare, working on DA4) recently did a Twitch stream where he played through some DAO. Although he works on DA, this is his first time playing through DAO. He’s playing through it looking at random details from a dev perspective as he’s currently working on DA4 and therefore wants to know more about the previous games.

On the stream he mentioned some tidbits on the development of DA4. There were also some insights and anecdotes about the development of DAO and similar. It’s a 3 hour stream so I collected them here in case that’s of use to anyone (for example not everyone can watch streams which don’t have subtitles/captions). The stream is a fun/interesting watch though, so if you’re curious or able to watch I recc doing so. 😊 The rest of this post is under a cut for length.

Please note that there’s some paraphrasing on my part, this is not a transcript. There are also some additions from another dev who featured on the stream to give some commentary. The stream also contains more snippets that at times I couldn’t make out (I tried my best!).

(There is a mention of Cullen’s VA in the text below.)

DA4

Jon said he can talk about things about DA4 that aren’t “consumer-facing”, but he can’t say anything about the game that would be consumer-facing but which isn’t already publicly available. There are several reasons for this. One, that’s not his job, there are people whose job this is and they let each other do their respective roles. Two, BW are a publicly-traded company, so if he said something that could affect that that would be insider trading. Three, they’re not done making DA4 yet, so if he said that they have added [x] to the game and people got all excited about that or pre-ordered on that basis, but [x] ended up being cut, people would be like ‘BioWare lied to us’, when it’s just that things changed during the course of development, as is often the case

He’s glad that fans are excited for the game but notes that fan expectations are always double-edged. It can be really tough as some people started ‘playing’ the game in their heads as soon as they heard of it. That’s fine, he loves that, but he hopes that peoples’ expectations don’t turn into requirements. Clearly BW have alluded to certain characters, like Solas, being in the game, but some fans say things like “If [say] Morrigan isn’t in the game, then, rahhh!” Y’know, there’s a lot of talk about how certain characters have to be in the game, and yeah.

On characters which are quantum (i.e. characters which can die or which can have similar end-states as death in previous games): their being quantum makes it really hard for the devs to work with those characters in subsequent games. The devs naturally aren’t going to put as much effort into characters which could have died previously. A character can have had an amazing appearance throughout/role in a previous game, but if there is a risk of something happening to them and of them being removed [effectively] from the plot, it just doesn’t make sense to have them as a major character in a subsequent game. If a character can, say, sacrifice themselves in some glorious ending, the devs have to make sure that if they use them again, in worldstates where the character didn’t do that, the character is kind of ‘muted’, as the devs don’t want to disrespect the players who made a different choice

A comment in chat expressed a wish for Shale in DA4. Jon’s response is that he has no idea on that front

Bugs don’t come out of crunch, they come out of development in general. Crunch does impact on the quality of a game though. In recent years BW are always really trying to reduce crunch, they’re currently working really hard to bring it down. The best way of doing that is by controlling scope. As creatives it’s tough to balance wanting to make great stuff and be industry-leading with the desire to constantly do extra passes over things they’ve created like the audio, art etc. Their biggest enemy is time, other ways of reducing crunch or time spent in general include iterating tools to make often-repeated processes as time-efficient as possible

I think the following was an observation on the industry in general as opposed to a BW-specific/-exclusive comment: he thinks that as a result of this sort of thing [working to reduce crunch], a lot of games are going to have to be smaller and a lot more focused in scope i.e. the devs will have to focus on hitting the key selling points of that particular game/series as hard as they can, and cut down on branching out sideways/wide on a bunch of random other stuff

Jon doesn’t personally engage in character creators in games, but he knows that for some players that expression is worth a lot of time and focus. BW want to be industry-leading in this kind of stuff as it’s something which is interesting/key/integral to their games

In a way BW have made their own nest of problems what with every DA game being so different to the previous one. Still, he notes that each game has a staunch fanbase that says that their particular favorite game is the best one in the series

He doesn’t want people who think that DA4 isn’t what they want to buy it and be upset - there are so many other great games out there! BW are going to make the game they’re going to make - if some people like it, that’s great, and if some people don’t, that’s cool. Sometimes waiting until reviews are out and/or really seeing beforehand if a game is something that you want [has things/features in it that you want] prior to getting it - as opposed to jumping right in or pre-ordering - is a good idea. Fans don’t always know what they want, but they do know what they like - these are 2 different things

He hopes that whatever they ship for DA4, people go “I enjoyed this experience”, and that then, if there’s additional content for it down the road, people can decide, “do I want this further content?”

On hair: BW are using the new hair technology in the latest version of the Frostbite engine, so they’ll see what they can do! This was said in response to a comment about the hair in the latest FIFA games (as EA make FIFA)

A comment in chat asked about a flying mechanic (griffons). Jon’s response is that flying is such a heavy gameplay mechanic that you can’t put it in a game without everything in the game being built about it (see Anthem)

Relating to the above comment, in DA4 mounted combat would be cool but then they’d have to make the game ‘around’ mounted combat and make the mounted combat feature meaningful

On the underwater concept art: it should not be interpreted as a promise of gameplay. BW have amazing artists who sit down for a couple weeks while they’re in early production and just draw loads and loads of all kinds of stuff. Concept art is like a moodboard or Pinterest board. Elsewhere in the stream he advised, take all the concept art together like a mosaic and ask, ‘what is the overall theme[s] here?’, and to zoom out from individual details. [This stuff echoes PW’s word on concept art]

BW don’t generally write things or the choices as bleak as the choices in DAO were anymore. This is a conscious choice on their part, they want their game to be fun [note: this was said when the side quest in Orzammar where the Warden has the option of convincing a dwarven mother to abandon her young baby to die was being played through. It seems to refer to intensively grimdark choices/beats of this kind]

I think this was more of a general comment on games: SSDs (solid state drives) mean that players will see shorter elevator rides (Mass Effect - was this a reference to the remaster?) and fewer switchback corridors (those are actually loading zones). Generally, these are going to change mechanically the time it takes to do stuff in games

The devs have lots of features on their backlog that they’d like to offer players but each will ofc involve implementation and subsequent maintenance, and each one that is chosen to add is being chosen over something else. And sometimes, it’s hard for them to tell if [x] feature or [y] feature would be better to add to the game

They’re about to work on a giant feature (a pure tooling feature, something that isn’t consumer-facing) that is probably going to take ~2 staff years of effort [I think “staff effort” includes multiple staff working concurrently, so 2 years of staff effort doesn’t = 2 years of time chronologically] to get done in the next few months. They’re investing all this effort across the people working on it because they don’t want their artists and designers etc to have to deal with the problem that it’s going to solve anymore. I’m not sure what this feature is but elsewhere in the stream they referred to tooling and automation and gave the example of, the better your tooling is, the fewer times you have to manually set the camera for a human vs elf vs dwarf position, for dynamically-generated [cinematic?] content and for the first pass to be automated (if this is the case, less time is spent/wasted on redoing it and manually touching it up) [see last bullet point in this section]

He doesn’t know how big DA4 is going to be but said “let’s ballpark and say like most games it’ll be somewhere between 70 and 100 GB”

If we kept our Wardens as the PC throughout all 3 games, at the end they would be so powerful that it’d be a bit like “Let’s just do [thing], I’ve killed gods before, whatever”. He thinks it’s good that they have fresh characters each time in DA in order to reset that power level. Some people want more Commander Shepard in the next Mass Effect and he feels like, ‘what else could you possibly want / what else could that character possibly do after 3 games?’

When asked how much freedom he/they have now to focus on next gen, he said that there’s actually almost no difference on that front. The problems never change. They now have better renderers, better ray-tracing, better graphics cards etc, but they have always made DA games for high- and low-spec PCs, so it’s actually about gameplay systems. The freedom isn’t power-based and them getting access to more cores and more RAM generally isn’t going to change how the games are played. The games still have to be made for hard drives on PC. Dev creativity matters more than power here. The challenge of building a BW game is more about/from managing loads of different plotstates, loads of different art pieces, etc

On the title situation (two): names are the last thing they worry about because names have to go through legal before being approved. Every name, including character names, has to be checked in case it’s a famous person, or associated with something bad, or offensive in a different language due to localization etc

They don’t do face scans of people with big beards

There was also a bit about changes/developments to/in the cinematic design process and associated tooling [?] but I found it too hard to follow sorry >< This bit of commentary begins at timestamp ~ 1:52:45 and continues til ~ 2:00:05 [keep listening through the bit where they pause for a cutscene]

General BW

There’s currently ~350 staff in Edmonton, ~200 in Austin and more elsewhere

He notes that DA games sell pretty well, but relative to EA games in general, they’re a drop in the bucket compared to FIFA

DAI

5% of players of DAI never created a character [Q: does this refer to people who just used the default appearances/presets with no editing, or people who only played multiplayer?]

The mounts don’t actually go faster than running, this is an illusion

I think they said it has 55,000 lines of dialogue. [I’m pretty sure I remember devs elsewhere saying it has 80,000 lines of dialogue]

One of the companions had to have their name changed during development because of legal/translation reasons. It sounds like the original name sounded too close to something offensive

DA2

Back when DA2 was internally code-named “Nug Storm”: this was at the beginning when it was pitched to the team on a set of slides. The image on the slide for that pitch had devil horns, a metal hand and no flesh, it was just made out of fire and flames

DAO

The engine DAO is made on is the third engine that they tried for it during development. [David Gaider has gone into the DAO engine stuff some on Summerfall’s series of DAO playthrough streams]

The cracks on the cracked eluvian asset are modelled after the crack on the Tardis in Doctor Who from around that time, as at the time some devs had been talking about Doctor Who a lot. A dev actually added this factoid to DAO’s entry on TV Tropes but someone else (evidently not a DA dev) came by and deleted it saying that it was too much of a stretch x)

Before the game had its name there was an HTML script that randomly generated possible titles for consideration, it adds verbs and nouns together e.g. “Grim Dark”. One of the craziest possibilities that it once generated that the devs always remember is "Bone Wind”

One of the portraits that’s used for decoration around the world in-game (it’s of a bearded human man) is actually of a specific BW staff member

He played through Stone Prisoner, where Wilhelm’s son Matthias gives exposition in the cellar. Matthias is voiced by GE and this had been pointed out to Jon earlier on. Jon: “I don’t think that character’s voice acting was super strong there”

On the in-game area towards the end of Stone Prisoner: Outdoor areas in games are large and one of the things needed for them is streaming, so different chunks can be ‘streamed in’. There’s a tower [?], and technically the top of the tower was made an outdoor level so that sky stuff could be there, though it didn’t really need to be. The person that made it an outdoor level chose the very smallest chunk size for the terrain mesh, which determines how fine of a streaming they do. So when playing, every time you moved like 4 meters, the game would stream out 50-100 chunks behind you and the same in front of you (this is the bubble around the player of what actually exists). Because it was so small, it was constantly thrashing the CPU and disc to do all the loading. The devs were like “this isn’t going to work”, but they barely had any time. The solution: they made a new level that was outdoor and copied all the sunlight and other settings, but with the largest chunk size. They copy-pasted the entire level from one to the other. The problem with that many chunks then is that there was a giant expanse of flat terrain sticking out of the middle of the tower. They didn’t know if the story was going to involve shots of the outside of the tower for this sequence or not, so they took the terrain deformation tool and bundled all the terrain vertices at the bottom of the tower in a giant clump. So to this day there’s a mess of vertices and twisted terrain at the bottom of the final level that probably no-one has ever seen [not sure though if this anecdote is in reference to a place in that DLC or somewhere elsewhere in the game?]

There were also some tidbits on Anthem, however I didn’t note them down (sorry).

If you think I misheard or misunderstood anything from this stream please let me know and I will edit/fix it. :)

(Thankyou to some of my friends who explained a tech detail from this to me.)

[source] <-- current rewatch link

#dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #dragon age #bioware #video games #greg ellis mention #morrigan #queen of my heart #solas #mass effect #anthem #next mass effect #i love these factoids and insights into game dev it's so interesting and fun #i actually started this post yesterday but 2 hours in I was so sleepy (it was mad late) so I called it a night

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saundraswriting · 3 years

Text

Need Some TLC Chapter 8: Reminiscing.

SUMMARY: You're forced to sleep, during which Bucky clean your apartment and thinks back through your friendship.

WARNING: possible trigger for SH via overworking.

NOTES: Sorry it has been so long. This chapter has been a draft since September. Available on Ao3 here as well.

Masterlist // Ao3 // Previous

Bucky returned to the game and his friends. He knew he had a goofy smile on his face, but did nothing to squash it. You were safe and asleep in his bed, his friends were near and relaxing. No one was in danger or hurt. He was able to breathe a little easier.

"She's down for the count. I'm glad she's off. She needs a break." Bucky told Steve, who nodded in agreement.

You are so whipped; carrying her like a blushing bride, tucking your girl in." Sam teased.

"Nope. You won't get to me. I am quite aware of how I act around her." Bucky turned his his nose up at Sam's teasing causing the others to chuckle.

"Let's finish our game and leave. Bucky's got a sick girlfriend to care for." Clint said, the others agreed.

They wrapped up the game of Trivial Pursuit and cleared the last of lunch. As they left, Natasha and Sam passed along their praise to Bucky for taking proper care of you.

Steve and Bucky cleaned up their mess from their friends. Bucky gathered your things and looked at Steve on the couch. "I'm going to unpack her stuff and clean up the apartment. Maybe do some laundry. She needs to rest and she won't do that if her place is messy." Bucky told him. Steve only waved settling deeper into the couch. Bucky knew that even though it seemed like Steve was resting, he was as alert as ever. "Thanks, Steve. I should be back soon." Bucky left, and using your keys entered your apartment.

You place was a disaster. There was a sink full of dirty dishes, the counter had some and the top of the stove housed some dirty pans. Your trash obviously hadn't been taken out in a few days judging by the smell. Your bathroom floor was overran by dirty scrubs that were so filthy, they could have stood up and walked away. The was a handful of towels mixed in. Your living room had a smattering of empty food wrappers and meal replacement shake bottles. You couch had become a blanket breeding ground and seemed to have become your temporary base of operations. You apartment normally very tidy reflected your lack of time to clean and your recent days spent at the hospital.

Bucky had known since you walked through his door, he was coming over to clean your apartment. You worked 60-70 hour work weeks and when he could he would come over and make you dinner. He either kept you company or supplied a extra set of hands for the days you were really tired or busy. He originally helped you as a way to repay you for all the thing you knowingly and unknowingly helped him with but over time it changed from he should help you to he wanted to help you. He wanted to help you anyway he could, to make you smile, to keep you healthy and happy.

He first decided a load of laundry was the start point. He grabbed your scrubs and threw them all in, adding your extra laundry sanitizer to help with germs and the softener the way you like it. He peeked into your room and saw the perfectly made bed. 'How many times has she come home and collapsed on the couch to get up a few hours later and do it all again?' He kept cleaning, scrubbing the bathroom until it gleamed. He moved on to sweeping and mopping while some of the dishes soaked. He stayed on top of the laundry, he hung your scrubs and replaced the throws that littered your furniture. He was washing the dishes when one of your novelty mugs caught his attention. The was a crack in the handle and the sight of it made him smile.

Steve and Bucky were on their to the compound, the first floor of their building practically empty, talking to themselves. When they saw you it was too late, you were carrying boxes and definitely weren't able to see them. In the aftermath of the crash, Bucky helped you to your feet while Steve fixed your boxes. Nothing was broken except the mug, the handle cracked clean off.

" Ma'am! Are you alright? Anything hurt? Are you dizzy?" Bucky questioned. You shook your head, shrinking in on yourself a bit.

"Ma'am, all you belongings are fine. Nothing broke pardon your mug. I will gladly repair it for you."

You didn't answer him, looking at the ground. Steve and Bucky shared a glance and looked back at you. You seemed to be frozen then you looked up thawing instantly. "Captain Rogers? Sargent Barnes?" You gasped. "I am so sorry. Are you injured?" You lurched forward, hands millimeters from their bodies, wanting to assess for injuries.

They laughed and shook their heads. They tried to be unintimidating, seeing as how nervous you were. "Ma'am, a slight run in like this didn't even phase us. You were the one who ended up on the ground." Steve said.

"I am fine. A little sad my favorite mug is broken." You sighed, handling the pieces affectionately. "Oh, my name is Y/F/N Y/L/N. I am moving into apartment 5B." You stuck out your hand. Steve and Bucky shared a look. That was there floor. The building had two or three apartments per floor.

"Welcome to the building. I'm Bucky Barnes. This is Steve Rogers."

"Nice to properly meet you both. I am a general care nurse at Mercy Hospital. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to knock." You grinned up at the two Avengers before gathering your boxes.

"Please let us help. Can't let you do this all on your own." Steve offered. You shook your head moving to the elevator.

"First, I am strong independent woman. Second, you were obviously o your way to somewhere. Third, 'can't let me? You should know by now, Captain, that is not how you speak to a woman. Fourth I refuse to allow Captain America and The Winter Solider carry my boxes, that is a little too degrading for me." You were just about to step into the elevator. Thanks anyways, boys. Have a good day." You tossed over your shoulder. Steve and Bucky stared at your back before sharing another glance.

Steve blocked the elevator doors with his arm. He darted forward and took the boxes from you. Bucky flashed a grin, turning towards the door leading to the parking garage. "Ma'am, I'm Captain America, yes. And I wasn't really asking."

"Oh? Does the rest of the world know how much of a punk you are?" You asked.

The memory pulled a laugh out of Bucky at you sink. The was the first of many moments the three of you shared.

The day had continued. The three of you had gotten everything out of the moving van. Once done you shoved them out the door telling them to go to work, you had to return the van. When Steve and Bucky got home, they could hear muffled shouting and swearing, you hadn't waited for them to come back before moving furniture.

"Y/N, open the door please." Steve said with a sigh. He knew now he would have to keep an eye on his new neighbor seeing as she was impatient. You wretched the door open, hair sticking to your face and neck, face red with exertion and a plate of brownies in your hands.

Brownies that you thrust at Steve. "Here is payment for helping me today. I am sure the extra calories will be burned off quickly." You shut the door right in their faces.

Bucky and Steve were stunned silent outside your door. They could hear you yelling at yourself quieter than before. "No, they won't join you for dinner, you dumbass. Anyone else would have helped you move in." You were pacing, almost stomping. You threw the door open and took the plate of brownies back. "You can't have these until after dinner. Dinner I would like you ta have with me. In return for all your help." You had a smile on your face even though your hands were shaking.

In one sentence you had caught Bucky's whole undivided attention. He was infatuated with your sass and strength and complete disregard for his and Steve's day jobs.

Bucky blinked back into awareness. He had finished all of your dishes while reminiscing about the day you met. That first day had set the trend for the rest of your friendship. You treated them like normal people, there were a few times you seemed to freeze because of their looks or bulk but most of the time you refused to tolerate their bullshit but you were there for them when needed. You helped keep them grounded when the anxiety and stress and nightmares locked them in their heads and apartment. Bucky liked taking care of you, he liked having a friend that depended on him and appreciated him not for his enhancements but for himself. He liked returning your easy affection and acts of service. He continued to clean your apartment, folding your clothes and putting them on your clean bed. He was straightening up the living room again, fiddling with the throws thinking of the first time you had let him in.

He had just gotten back from a mission. Another group with a badly put together doomsday plot, you had just gotten back from a 3-11 shift. You hadn't seen either of them in a while, your schedules not matching up so you were excited to see Bucky. Bucky was alone, Steve wanting to stay at the Compound to finish up the paperwork and work off the last of the tension. You had forced him into your place with the promise of pizza and his pick of documentary. That was the moment Bucky fell in love with you. You didn't mind that he had the habit of being quiet and sullen. You didn't mind that Steve wasn't there, you were okay with just Bucky. You let him in, you were warm and soft and inviting. He fell asleep on your couch. The next morning Bucky woke up with a pillow and blanket, a big platter of cookies with a note on it.

Taking care of you when you were sick with a cold was the least he could do after everything you did to help him with recovery. You helped him see the benefits of therapy, even helping him through the rougher spots. Sometimes Bucky thought he was closer to you in ways than Steve. Steve didn't know about the late nights spent on your couch learning everything he could about the strange and sometimes intimidating future he found himself in. Steve didn't know how much you soothed him on the bad days, even the thought of you made him smile when he was stuck in his head.

He took one last look around and deemed your apartment clean enough, he turned all the lights off and grabbed your trash to take to the community trash room and headed back upstairs to begin dinner for the three of you.

"I would say it smells good but we both know I can't smell anything." You voice interrupted him. Bucky turned a large grin showing his teeth and dimples lighting up his face. Your breath caught in your throat. Academically you had noticed Bucky's attractiveness. You spent days...weeks pushing down the thoughts and feelings Bucky initiated and it worked for a while. Worked until Bucky started noticing you. At the beginning you had worked regular hours and were doing well but as time passed, needs at the hospital grew and you went from well to good to ok. Bucky began putting the numbers together-the little sleep, the long hours, lost weight, decreased appetite-realizing your lack of self care.

Healthcare was not an easy field, it took a toll on you mentally and physically. You stopped taking care of you to take care of others and after so long it was hard to stop. You had begun the insane hours six months ago, your supervisor promising it wouldn't be long, there was a few graduate nurses due to start soon. You ignored the signs of a depressive episode, lack of attention, apathy, disregard of personal needs-thinking it was just burn out. You decided the best option would be to work through it, get on the other side of the staff issue and take a vacation and be done with it but the staff is still short and now you were sick and needed Bucky to take care of you like a child.

He spent so much time trying to help you with your issues after he worked through his own. His recent help and attention did nothing to help ease you affection for him, you couldn't say anything though. e rarely let people into his circle, he spent too long giving himself willingly or unwilling to other people for you to even ask him for anything. You just enjoyed being close enough to be there for him to lean on, you wanted to help him shoulder his burdens like he did you. 'Bucky Barnes is too good.' You thought.

"Y/N! You're up. Good! Sleep alright? You didn't sleep very long." Bucky said. He gave you a quick look over, seeing you with messy hair while wearing his clothes brightened his smile even more.

"Yeah, I did. I got a little hot so I thought it would be a good time to get up and see what was happening. How was the rest of your team bonding?" You asked.

"I am working on dinner." Bucky told you. You walked over to where his was working only to nudged away. "Aw, hell no, sweets. You are sick. I ain't getting your germs all over my food. Even if I can't catch it. Also you are my guest, so sit down." You took the hint and sat at the table, leaning on your hand.

"I am a guest at your place while I am here. So I can't be of use? But at my place, you have free reign?" You straighten up, glaring at Bucky's back. "You say I am your best girl and you help me all the time, but I can't help you?" Your bravado shrank a little. You felt your eyes grow wet.

"My sweet girl. I'd love nothing more for you to be over everyday. I want you to get better before anything else. I am helping you know. You have already helped me. You just existing helps me every single day. That is why you are my best girl. Always." Bucky pulled you into a tight hug, he could feel you trembling. "Everything is fine. Things were never not fine. I am not yelling at you. I just want you healthy. I also want you to have a place where you can relax. If that means I do chores at your place or you don't do chores at my place then so be it. I don't want you working so hard." Bucky's voice was low and rumbled in your ear where it was pressed to his chest, soothing your frayed nerves.

"Sorry Bucky, I get emotional when I am sick. Doesn't help I've been stuck in my head the last few days." You took a deep breath, calming down even more.

"Baby doll, never apologize to me for how you are feeling. Your feeling are always valid no matter the reason. I like knowing what is going on in that pretty little head of yours at all times. Now, instead of sitting here in the kitchen uncomfortable, got sit on the couch."

"I am only going because I want to pick out a movie, not because you told me to." You tried to sit on the couch but missed the mark turning it into a tired flop.

"You are always so stubborn. Just sit and rest. You have today and tomorrow and the next day off. Let me pamper you. You work too long." Bucky turned back to dinner.

"I know. Work's been so hard lately and my mental health has been deteriorating. I know I can't keep this pace up forever. I also know that I depend on you too much, but I am trying. I am just...so tired you know?" You couldn't face Bucky instead talking to the remote used to control the F.R.I.D.A.Y implemented media library.

"It is okay to be tired. It is okay to ask for help and depend on others. It is okay to put yourself first sometimes." Bucky told you. You stayed silent, thinking over what he said.

"Did you learn that from your therapist?" You joked fiddling with the remote.

"No, I learned that from you." You jerked your head up to see Bucky looking at you. "You taught me that." He reiterated. His blue eyes shone with sincerity. "Now, pick something to watch." He tried to lighten the mood.

Steve came through the door at that moment. "Sorry Buck, I told you that I would stay here but I was needed at the Compound. How's it going?" Steve asked you.

"Good. I am going to take more meds after dinner, and I slept a bit. I was getting the movie of the night started. Wanna get comfy and join me?" Steve agreed and went to do just that. You cued up the movie and waited.

After a bit, Steve came back and Bucky handed you your meds and a plate of food. "Here you go. Make sure to drink all that gatorade."

"Yes, mom." You said sarcastically.

Bucky sighed heavily. "Don't joke. Between you and Steve I am surprised I haven't grown feathers and the ability to cluck."

"I don't know Buck, you do tend to cluck quite a bit." Steve teased him. Bucky glared at him with no heat, moving to take his food away. "No! I'm sorry. Don't be mean." You laughed at their antics.

Dinner passed with jokes and laughter and ended with Bucky tucking your sleeping form back into his bed. He tried to leave but you had ahold of his shirt. "Stay, please." You said, tightening your grip.

"Okay, hun. I'll stay. Let me get changed." You snuggled deeper under the covers while he got changed. Bucky crawled in with you, you turned over squeezing close. He watched over you as your breaths got slower and more regular. You shifted a bit mumbling under your breath. "Love" you Bucky." Before dropping fully into sleep. Bucky smiled with a "I love you too." before doing the same.

*******************************************************************************************

So what did you think? Thank you so much for hanging around as long as you have! I appreciate all your support.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes fanfiction #protective Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x nurse! reader #bucky barnes x medical! reader #steve rogers x tony stark #steve rogers fanfiction #domestic avengers #avengers family

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100layersofdaddyissues · 4 years

Text

Angel - Chapter 2

Here is chapter 2 of angel, i hope it satiates you fiends.

Warnings: smut, conspiracy around death, swearing

this was co-written and edited by my main bitch @bonjour-je-mappelle-fuckyou

It had been days and you’d neither seen nor heard from Maxwell, you were beginning to worry that he had forgotten you in this big apartment, worrying that you had quit your job and left your home just for him to forget that you’d agreed to an arrangement with him, but hey, at least he forgot you in this apartment, and not your old one. He wasn’t asking for rent, Darius had brought you groceries the morning you had gone to your apartment to get the rest of your belongings, you reckon you were good for at least a few weeks before you ran out of food.

As you pondered how long it would be until someone kicked you out or you starved you heard a short knock on the door, well it looks like you might last a few more weeks than you’d anticipated.

You opened the door to see Darius standing there, tall and proud, “good morning Miss, I’ve been instructed to take you shopping for some new clothes, it seems Maxwell has anticipated your start at his Lord Industries this coming Monday and I’ve been told to show you the dress code of such a company, though with us both knowing Maxwell like we do I’m sure you could assume.” Ahh so he hadn’t forgotten you, that’s a good sign.

“Darius please, if you keep calling me miss, I'll start calling you sir and I don’t think either of us would prefer that. Y/N is a fine name and I think I would like to hear it more often. And yes, I’m sure I could assume the dress code Max ‘requires’ though I’m sure most of my clothes would suit that.”

Darius let a short puff of air out of his nose, what you had come to know as him laughing apparently. “while that is true miss- ahh sorry Y/N, the man is loaded and quite frankly a scoundrel, let’s go load up for the sake of it, I’m sure you would appreciate a new pair of boots, the ones I met you didn’t see you have any arch support.” He had a slight smirk on his face as he spoke to you.

“Darius that’s scandalous, also leave my Docs out of this, they might as well be vintage, my mother bought them in the UK in the 60s” you said looking down at your cherry red docs, which had obviously seen way more than they should have.

“Ahh so they’re definitely provided no support, your poor feet, we must amend this. Come on, get dressed in the next ten minutes or I’m going to drag you out of this door by those frayed laces.”

While it sounded harsh, the tone of his voice and the expression accompanied let you know that he was joking with you, he could be quite cheeky as you’d noticed the first night you met him, although he acted quite different in front of Max, in fact he didn’t act like anything in front of Max, he was silent, if you couldn’t see him you’d assume the car drove itself. The demeanor change between them concerned you slightly.

“Alright no need to get violent, I’ll be just a sec.”

When Darius told you that you’d be going shopping you’d assumed you’d be going to a mall, so it confused you completely when you drove past the mall you’d shopped at so many times, only for him to drive into the rich side of town, the streets were lined with high end fashion stores and boutique cafes, and oh look at that, more illegible French on restaurant windows.

Walking around this part of town in a miniskirt and a boxy blouse felt wrong, you really didn’t fit in here. Darius led the way, practically pulling you into stores, seemingly knowing every sales assistant in each shop, it made you slightly insecure, how many times had Darius brought someone like you to go shopping, you weren’t used to being one of many. Most of the men you previously had arrangements with had only been involved with you, and the occasional wife, (yes they know don’t look at yourself with such disdain), it didn’t sit well with you that you might be sharing Max’s affections.

You tried on dress after skirt after blouse after horrible blazers with those horrible shoulder pads. God you missed the trends of the 70s. You really didn’t know what you were looking for, thankfully Darius had been leading the expedition, telling the assistants which clothes you would be requiring. Each time they took the item to the checkout you felt a sense of guilt, it was really starting to pile up, finally after a particularly hideous ensemble consisting of cheetah print, neon green and you guessed, shoulder pads, Darius called time, deciding that you had both racked up quite the amount on Max’s card, (though you really don’t think you could take any of the credit, or blame.)

“Y/N I don’t mean to intrude but you’ve been uncharacteristically quiet through the last few stores, is there something wrong?” honestly you didn’t know if there is although you couldn’t deny your silence was out of place. “yeah of course I’m fine, I just get overwhelmed when shopping, that’s all, it's no big deal, it was nice that you knew everyone.” You paused for only a moment contemplating whether you should ask your next question but before you could even stop yourself our mouth was spewing out the words, “how did you know everyone by the way?”

“Before I was Mr. Lord’s driver, I was a driver to Mrs. Lord. No, no it's not what you think. Maxwell and marriage aren’t two words that go in the same sentence. Mrs. Lord was his mother. She was quite the shopper and not the talker. So, while she was trying on clothes, I made friends with the clerks. It made both our times much more pleasant around her Highness.” somehow and for some reason it eased you to know that it was Maxwell’s mother that made the connection and not a line of women preceding you.

“What is Mrs. Lord like?'' Maybe the person who raised Max is an indication as to who he is now.

“Was, actually, she died when Maxwell was 17, along with her father, it was terrible really, their private jet went down over the triangle, it's such a shame, Max really needed his parents around that time, after that the house help and I remained the only thing close to family he had, he shut off and down, became ruthless and cold, he used to be such a bright and kind young man, I saw the life leave his eyes the day he found out that it had left his parents. I'm sorry Miss I’ve probably already said too much, I’m not really sure I should be speaking with you about this, it's not that I don't trust you but Maxwell is very private, if I hadn’t have been there to see it I would never know, he has never spoken about his parents, to anyone.”

Somehow what Darius said about Max and his parents really stuck with you, even after you’d gotten back to the apartment, you couldn't stop thinking about how horrible it must have been to grow up without parents, especially through such important years like his 20s, they’d miss every milestone he has in his adult life and he’ll miss having his parents there for them. You didn't have much time to think on it, you'd only been home about 30 minutes before the phone starting ringing on the nightstand next to you, you picked up the receiver to hear a breathy voice on the other side, “angel, I’m gonna need you to open the door,” and then the call was dropped.

Maxwell. You rushed to the door, when you swung it open you noticed a slightly disheveled Maxwell staring at you with darkness clouding his eyes, “you know you could have just kno-” but you were cut off when he pushed the door closed and slammed you against it, his lips smacking straight into yours in a fit of heat and passion, you weren’t sure where this was going but you weren’t going to complain, “just shut up, I’m pissed and I wanna fuck you. Now. go to the bedroom, make sure you’re naked, face down. Do you understand?” you just nodded, looking up at him with what he assumed to be excitement, you basically sprinted to the bedroom, quickly undressed and headed his note to be face down. As you anxiously anticipated what he was going to do to you, all thoughts of his parents had been replaced with possibility.

“God you're such a good girl for me aren't you” he was standing at the door staring at you, eyes raking over your naked body. You heard his footsteps get closer to the bed and then suddenly you were hit with a sharp smack to your ass, “god this ass is fucking incredible, I can’t wait to see how it looks in all those new clothes you bought, wanna give me a private show of them?” “yes, sir I’d love to” your voice was high and almost pathetic sounding, Max had done nothing more than briefly spank your ass and suddenly you're already so out of breath. “Not now angel, you’re going to let me fuck you good, and then you’re going to show me how well you can walk afterwards.”

You heard him undo his belt and then clothing hit the floor, the bed dipped either side of your thighs and suddenly both his hands were on our hips and he was pulling up to him in one swift lift, “god this pussy, is fucking beautiful, and you’re already so wet, is this what I do to you? You like being manhandled like this doll?” you just whimpered at him praying he would touch you. “Come on angel with your words, tell me how this is affecting you.” you could hear the devil's patented smirk on his face as he spoke, knowing how riled up he was getting you. “Yes sir, I love it, I love when you throw me around, you're making me so needy sir please I love it please do more” you could barely pause to take a breath you felt so needy and so pathetic that he was affecting you in this way but after the last night you spent together you thought you were right to be.

“There's no time to play around tonight angel, I need you now.” His voice was harsh and low, it made you cower away from him, but his grip on our hips was strong and tight and he wasn't letting you go anywhere, he spanked you, one, two, three more times, “are you ready angel” you could tell he was impatient and so were you. “Yes, dear god yes please, please just fuck me.” and with your words, he slammed into you, his hips hitting your ass with the force of a freight train. For someone who sounded so desperate he was going admirably slow, every thrust into your pussy was forceful almost calculated, as he rammed into you. You felt frustrated at his pace, like he was holding back and that is not what you needed right now, you needed him to fuck you, rough, hard, fast. Now. “Please, Max don’t make me beg for it please just fuck me, use me, I need you to go faster, be rough with me please.”

“My pretty girl so whiny,” he quickened his pace, pistoning into you sending your brain into a frenzy, your legs already turning to jelly, “is this how you want it princess? Me fucking you like a little whore? Hmm?” his words were almost enough to drive you over the edge already, you had barely even started, and you felt like you were already close. “Please Max it’s so good fuck so good sir I love it when you use me.”

Max pulled out of you, and before you even had time to protest he had flipped you over, he shoved three fingers deep inside you, looking down on like he was ready to eat you whole. “You filthy little girl, you're ready to cum, aren't you? I've barely even gotten started and you're ready to finish? No that's not how this is going to work. Let's see how many times you can cum for me, let's see how many orgasms I can pull out of this beautiful cunt.” his words were as vulgar as the way he was fucking you with his fingers, if you both hadn’t been breathing so hard you’d be able to hear how wet you were, every thrust sending like heaven to his ears. He removed his fingers and lined himself up once again, no time for teasing he thrust back into you, resetting the fast pace he had previously set. “Tell me how rough you want it doll, tell me what you want from me.”

Your mind swirled with the possibilities, all you could choke out was, “choke me, and smack me, I’m your whore please please please just use me.” immediately one hand flew to your throat, grasping it tightly but not enough to cut off your air supply. He kept ramming into you and you could feel yourself starting to get close as you moaned so loudly “Sir please, please, I’m so close, please let me cum” “do it doll, come all over my dick I want to feel your pussy cry for me.” and with his words you did just that, the hand around your throat tightened as you fell into sick bliss, your brain was experiencing an orgasm 100 times better than it ever had and you couldn't tell whether it was the lack of oxygen or Max’s dick that was making you feel higher than any drug could take you. As you came down, Max was still fucking you, slower than before but not as excruciating as originally.

“I think if we had any neighbours up here you would have just earned us a noise complaint.” he smirked down at you. Yu were still dazed, pathetically smiling up at him when a harsh smack hit your face waking you up. “Already so fucked out baby how cute,” he knew just how to get you going, his lips were back on yours as he kept fucking into, drilling his cock deeper and deeper. You were whining and moaning not caring at this point if half of the city heard you, you were getting the fuck of a life time and as you screamed out Maxwell’s name you’d hoped everyone would hear how well the most important man in the city was fucking you.

“You ready for one more baby doll coz I’m getting close and I don’t wanna leave you behind.” he didn’t give you time to respond when his thumb flew to your clit rubbing it in circles almost as fervently as he was fucking you, and just as Max had planned you started to feel like you were on the edge again.

“Max please I’m close again.” you warned him, he sped up, quickening his pace even more somehow, “not without me doll you hold it until I say you can come you understand me?” you whined out a breathy yes, hoping you could head his orders, it felt like an eternity before he finally whispered, “Cum” in your ear and you did just that. Both you and Max were a moaning screaming jumble of limbs as you milked his cock dry and he pounded into you savouring the sweet release. He fell on top of you, both sweating profusely as you laughed out. “I don't know if you'll be getting that fashion show, I don't know if I can't even stand on these legs let alone walk.

He laughed as well, it was a nice laugh, you quite liked it.

Max got up, helping you to the bathroom and sitting you in the shower, he told you to sit and wait for the water to warm but you told him it was no problem, your hot water got cut off a few times at your old apartment so cold showers were almost the norm for you. As you sat in the shower trying to regain what little focus you had, you had expected the door to close and for Maxwell to leave, but when you finally emerged from the shower you saw him sitting on your bed, well his bed.

“Have a drink or you'll get dehydrated.” he said, pointing at the glass of water on the nightstand. You never expected Max to be so caring after sex, you’d fallen asleep after the last time, so you guessed he just didn’t care about aftercare.

“I think if you keep this up, I may be paralysed, my legs don’t work properly, if you want me to make it to work.”

“Yeah, I think I would rather see you at work on Monday, might fuck you on my desk to make up for lost time this weekend. How does that sound, angel?” God did that sound good, you wanted him to absolutely rail you if you were being honest, you had no concern as to whether anyone would hear you or not.

You woke up in the early hours of that Saturday morning, alone once again in bed, your legs felt like jelly and they were almost torture to walk on. You trudged your way into the kitchen, hoping to find something you could eat, when you saw Maxwell sitting on the counter, not on a chair at the counter, on the counter with his legs dangling like a little kid. “Good morning Maxwell.” your voice made him jump a little, clearly not expecting to see you there, he didn't move from his position on the counter though. You walked towards the emptying fridge and picked out an apple, placing yourself between his legs has you took a bite, “good morning to you too angel, we have got to get that fridge stocked up.” he must have seen how little you had in there, you'd spent so much on clothes and yet you spent less than 50 on groceries, where were your priorities?

“Oh no it's okay, I’ll just buy some next week after I get paid. It's no big deal. I'm used to not having a lot to eat. I'll be fine.” you were telling the truth; you never had a lot of money to buy food after utilities and rent. “Well, be that as it may angel, I’m not letting you starve until then, you can just take one of my cards, we have a specific arrangement here and I know I got you a job at my company but I’d like to know you're living up to your own tastes and requirements, I have plenty of money to burn and this is an offer I will not let you refuse, do you understand me?

“Yes sir, I understand.”

“Don't you dare get me all riled up right now I don't think you could handle another round, or three.” he was right. You couldn't. But god did you want to. “Do you have any plans today or tomorrow?” he asked you, you weren't sure why, but now that you thought about it you did have plans.

“Yes, actually I do. I've got lunch with my friend jade today and then we're going to see that new movie, Footloose. I think it's called, anyway, Kevin Bacon is in it and he's totally rocking so I don't care what it's about.” you couldn't be sure but you thought you saw Max tense up a little at your comment on Kevin bacon. Eh, who knows what goes on in that man's head. Who cares?

Meeting Jade that afternoon seemed to be a lot harder than it should have been, Max did not let you leave the bed until you were at least three orgasms deep and your voice was hoarse. “Maybe next time we can do it on that kitchen counter.” he says to you after he finally catches his breath. “Max! People eat there!” you were shocked at his remarks but honestly you thought it kind of hot. “Yeah and I want to eat there too.” his smirk was so heavy on his voice your pussy actually quivered at the thought of Max eating you out on the kitchen counter.

“Well I need to get dressed and meet my friend, so you better let me get up, or do I need another orgasm to get permission for that?” Max just laughed and waved you off, silently telling you to go get ready.

Jade had been one of your closest friends since you moved to the big city you now called home. She was sassy and brilliant, an amazingly talented person, you were honestly jealous of her at times, she was an incredible writer and she was almost done film school, she was killing it and you felt like you were lagging behind in life, but that doesn't mean you couldn't be happy for her, (and gather potential black mail so she would put you in one of her movies when she becomes a big amazing director.)

“Hi, why haven't you called me in a week and a half?’ “well hello to you too Jade, and it's none of your business but it happens to do with a shared interest of ours.” you hadn't realized that you haven't spoken to her in that long, you can't believe it had only and yet already been a week and a half since you met Max.

“You’re fucking Maxwell Lord, aren’t you?” she deadpanned. You couldn't tell if she was psychic or just pulling a fake out, but alas you put her mind to rest with a (slightly) shouted. “HOW DID YOU KNOW?” okay, fake out, you put your foot in it now. “Yes, but oh my god you can't say anything to anyone okay?” your voice was much quieter now with a lot more stress laced in it. “Oh my god I have to tell everyone. OW! Okay I won’t tell anyone but hold fuck how?” and so you told her. You told her about the bar with the sticky floor, the sex you had in his apartment that night, his car, Darius, the fact that he didn’t want him living at your house so he gave you one of his to live in, the sex you had this morning and the job he gave you.

“So, you're telling me you gave this guy such a good blow job he made you head of accounting? Your power of sex never ceases to amaze me. Hey when you’re rich can you buy me a house please I’m dying in that apartment, if my brother doesn’t find his own place soon I may actually fucking kill him, and you’re going to have to help me hide the body and I know you don’t like hiding bodies but this is my murder to-” “oh my god shut up, first of all, you say that like he’s gonna give me enough money to buy myself a house let alone you.” you cut her off, it was true, you didn't really anticipate him giving you that much and if Halo’s paycheck was anything to go by you won't have enough to buy yourself a house on that salary, you'll barely be able to afford rent when Maxwell, inevitably, tells you to move out.

“Oh please I give it a month, two tops, before he's in love with you and asking you to move into his big fancy apartment on the other side of town.” you did like the sound of the big fancy apartment, but neither you nor Max seemed like the type to want a relationship out of your arrangement. “no, this is just sex and money.” you weren't sure if you were telling her or yourself, but you said it with enough conviction that she seemed to believe it.

“Okay but if you do end up dating the bachelor boy be careful, from what I hear he's bad news and not just business wise. Rumour is that he killed his fiancée a couple years back, they got into a car crash in England and no one has seen her since. He said she lived and left him, but who goes to England and just leaves?”

You weren't sure how, but you'd never heard that rumour before, sure you'd only moved here 3 years ago but you'd think something like that would be hot news around town for ages. “I’m sure that’s just a rumour Jade he really doesn't seem like the type to be involved in something like murdering his fiancée.”

“I'm just looking out for you, I could be wrong, but if he tries to take you to England, I'm kidnapping you first. Deal?”

“Deal.”

to be continued...

tags: @mandoalorian-mainblog @mrschiltoncat

#pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal #pedro pascal smut #pedro pascal fanfiction #maxwell lord #maxwell lord x reader #maxwell lord smut #maxwell lord angst #ww1984 #wonder woman 1984 #wonder woman #wonder woman fanfiction #dc fanfic #dc #dc comics

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howaminotinthestrokesyet · 3 years

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Behind The Album: Load/Reload

Metallica’s sixth and seventh studio albums were released in June 1996 and November 1997 respectively. The two albums can be taken into consideration as almost a double album as most of the songs on each album were all written around the same time. The records would see the band venture completely away from thrash metal into the realm of hard rock, blues, southern rock, and even country. A majority of Metallica’s loyal fan base would be completely alienated by the album and the new Metallica image brought out during its promotion. James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich once again acted as the primary song writers for the record, which began at Ulrich’s house in California in 1994. They would bring in almost 30 demos to Plant Studios when recording began in 1995, so the decision was made to split it into two separate albums. The artist that influenced the songs on Load included Kyuss, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Primus, ZZ Top, Pantera, Corrosion of Conformity, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Oasis, Alanis Morissette, and Garth Brooks. Lars would have this to say about the criticism towards their new musical direction. “This album and what we're doing with it – that, to me, is what Metallica are all about: exploring different things. The minute you stop exploring, then just sit down and fucking die.” For this album, Hetfield and Kirk Hammett began to experiment with blues style riffs and guitar styles, while Ulrich began to simplify his drumming style getting rid of the double bass drumming he had utilized on every album to date. Hetfield’s lyrics abandoned any consideration of politics or society at large, but instead became very personal about his depression and sadness regarding his late mother and Cliff Burton. Other tracks focus on his own depression in dealing with these issues. Metallica was trying to gain a looser vibe with the music on this record, so Hammett for the first time on an album played rhythm guitar. For this record itself, the run time comes in at almost 80 minutes making it the longest LP the band ever produced. They needed to cut out one minute of the “Outlaw Torn” in order for the cd to play correctly without skipping. The back cover of this album had this explanation on it: “When we were doing the final sequencing of the 'LOAD' album, the record company told us that we couldn't go a second past 78:59, or your CD's wouldn't play without potentially skipping. With our 14 songs, we were running about 30 seconds over, and something had to give, so the cool-ass jam at the end of 'Outlaw' got chopped.”

The cover of the album was a photograph created by Andres Serrano that combines bovine blood and his own semen in between two sheets of plexiglass called Semen and blood III. The album does not specifically name the photograph, but instead only refers to the photographer's name. James Hetfield hated the use of this picture as the cover. He would say, “Lars and Kirk were very into abstract art, pretending they were gay. I think they knew it bugged me. It was a statement around all that. I love art, but not for the sake of shocking others. I think the cover of Load was just a piss-take around all that. I just went along with the make-up and all of this crazy, stupid crap that they felt they needed to do.” The album also saw Metallica remake its logo, an alternative symbol the ninja star, cut their long hair short, dress in designer clothes, and wear eyeliner. Once again, Hetfield absolutely despised these changes to their brand and image. “Lars and Kirk drove on those records. The whole 'We need to reinvent ourselves' topic was up. Image is not an evil thing for me, but if the image is not you, then it doesn't make much sense. I think they were really after a U2 kind of vibe, Bono doing his alter ego. I couldn't get into it. The whole, 'Okay, now in this photoshoot we're going to be '70s glam rockers.' Like, what? I would say half – at least half – the pictures that were to be in the booklet, I yanked out. The whole cover thing, it went against what I was feeling.” The backlash from their fans was significant as they felt completely betrayed by the band's new image. Years would pass before they would gain the trust of the diehard fans once again.

Load would represent a commercial success for the band as it stayed number one on the Billboard 200 chart for four weeks. And in its first week, the band moved 680,000 copies, making for the most successful week in the band's history. The record would go on to be certified as five times platinum selling 5 million copies. The critics were mixed on the album noting the change to hard rock. Rolling Stone liked the record. "The foursome dams the bombast and chugs half-speed ahead, settling into a wholly magnetizing groove that bridges old-school biker rock and the doomier side of post-grunge '90s rock.” Melody Maker was not as enthusiastic about the record saying that there were moments on the album where you needed to ask the question, has Metallica gone soft? AllMusic found the record to be boring, the same song over and over, and poorly played. Lars Ulrich would say this about the mixed reviews towards the album. "With Load, it was disappointing that some people's reaction to the music was biased by how they dealt with the pictures – the hair and all that crap. People have come up to me years afterwards and said, 'I never gave the record a fair chance because I couldn't get beyond Jason Newsted wearing eyeliner.' But 'The Outlaw Torn', some of that shit is pretty fucking awesome."

The follow up album Reload would be released in November 1997 with similar commercial success as it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart selling 436,000 copies in its first week. This would be the last album that Jason Newsted would play on with the band. As noted previously, the original intention was to release the songs as a double album, but then it was decided that doing so many songs might have issues. Kirk Hammett would say this about the recording sessions with producer Bob Rock. “We were gonna do them both as a double album, but we didn't want to spend that long in the studio. Also, if we did a double album, it would have been a lot more material for people to digest, and some of it might have gotten lost in the shuffle." Reload became the first album that the band featured another singer as Marianne Faithfull lended her vocals to “The Memory Remains.” Once again, the band used a photograph from Andres Serrano mixing bovine blood and his semen. Critics for the most part liked the album, but they did note that the music seemed to be heavily influenced by southern rock. One of the big takeaways for some critics was the fact that Reload felt like the leftovers from the Load sessions. This also showed in the fact that the record was only certified platinum three times.

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withabackpackandcamera · 3 years

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June 30th, 2021

Day 5: A Day in Myvatn… And A Night in Myvatn…

Having a home base in Akureyri the last few days was amazing. It’s always so nice to be able to stay somewhere for more than just a night. You get to spread out, get comfortable, drive less, and not have to keep moving your stuff. So this morning, it was slightly disappointing to have to pack all of our stuff again and pack the car for the long road trip ahead to Seyðisfjörður, where we’d only be staying for a single night before packing up and leaving again. But before leaving Akureyri, the family and I walked downtown to purchase some pastries and baked goods for the road from Kristjan’s Bakari. We briefly walked through downtown and took some photos before we turned back toward the house to grab the car and start our very full travel day.

The first stop on our itinerary for the day was the Myvatn geothermal area, a place I had visited very briefly the last time I drove around the entire Ring Road. We stopped by the pseudocraters at Skútustaðagígar and briefly hiked in to see the windy views from there before driving on and making quick pit stops at the Myvatn Panoramic Viewpoint and Dimmuborgir. At Dimmuborgir, we actually left the car for a short stroll down a paved walkway through the lava rock formations before circling back out to the parking lot to continue our drive.

Next, we accidentally drove out to Hverfjall, an old cone volcano, because the GPS led us there thinking the area was the stop for Grjótagjá, a hot spring cave that is famous for some love/sex scene in Game of Thrones (which I have never seen). But after finding the right location for Grjótagjá, we turned out of the Hverfjall area (without hiking or doing anything memorable) and drove over to the original destination of the hot spring cave. The Grjótagjá cave was a pretty neat area to see. The cave was dark but had lots of little cracks for lights to seep through. The scene created by the incoming streams of light in conjunction with the blue-appearing spring water in the cave was pretty cool. Minh and I spent some time here trying to take photos of the cave but gave up before long as all the photos started to look the same.

As we approached the mountain pass out of the Myvatn area, I took my family over to the Myvatn Nature Baths to give them a brief window tour of the bathing area that I enjoyed with some friends back in 2017. Because we were short on time and no one was particularly excited about paying to jump into a hot spring, we decided to skip soaking in a hot bath this trip and reconsider it again if we had time later on during the trip. But it was a good thing we didn’t bathe today because the wind was crazy and that would’ve made for a subpar bathing experience.

After we left the Myvatn Nature Baths, we made one last geothermal stop at the Námaskarð Geothermal Area, an rotten-egg-smelling area well known for its geothermal activity expressed in the forms of colorful landscapes, bubbling mud, and natural vents of sulfuric gases. Because it was so ridiculously windy and sandy in this area, we didn’t stay for very long. At first, the family wanted to skip the area and move on with our trip given the wind conditions. However, because of the uniqueness of the site, I made a very real effort to get Cynthia and my dad out of the car to quickly view the area. And I was successful in doing so. With the wind howling and throwing sand and dust everywhere, we quickly ran through the area as we shielded ourselves from the violent wind and the sand it was pelting at us. But it was worth it as my dad and Cynthia got a chance to see some very unique sights. It wasn’t long before we ran back into the car to get away from the elements and braced ourselves for the start of the long leg of the day’s travels: the 3.5 hour drive to Seyðisfjörður.

With a big dust storm slowly blowing across the landscape in front of us, we drove for about 10-15 kilometers from Námaskarð before the unthinkable happened. Our car started to go haywire before breaking down completely… in the middle of the road… in the middle of nowhere.

So, let me paint the picture of the situation for you. About 30-60 minutes prior, while driving, I noticed that some random warning lights (namely an A symbol with a circle arrow around it) on my dashboard had started blinking and I couldn’t figure out why that was the case. So after some quick troubleshooting (and not figuring it out), I didn’t think anything of it and continued to drive. Then, after we left the Námaskarð area, I noticed that the engine light had turned on, which is a very, very strange occurrence for a brand new car with just over 2000 kilometers on the odometer. And that was slightly concerning. But after consulting my handy-man dad, we carefully continued our drive.

Until I started hearing not-normal sounds coming from under the hood of my car. Something that sounded like it was not spinning the way it should under the hood of the car. Like, in the engine or something. At this point, I got very concerned. And things only got worse when, in conjunction with the weird spinning sound, I saw more dashboard warning lights start to light up and blink. Not good. That then quickly spiraled into an actively malfunctioning car. First to completely go nonfunctional was the gas pedal. Oh no, not good. Because the gas pedal died while we were cruising at a speed around 70kph, the car just slowly and surely lost its speed as it kept rolling along on the highway. 70…60...50...40...30...20...10… Zero.

At one point, as the car was slowing down due to the road’s friction and its nonoperational gas pedal, I looked out to find a safe gravel turnoff to steer the car into. The first turnoff I noticed was slightly dangerous and not ideal given that it was sloped down from the road into the lower area beside the highway. Wouldn’t want to get a dead car stuck facing downhill. So I pushed our luck and kept waiting, since we still had some momentum left. But eventually, the car died JUST before we reached a safe, spacious gravel turnoff/lot that was a much better option for parking a dead car. Because we didn’t make it there with just our momentum, my dad and brother had to quickly jump out of the car and push the car 20-30 meters while I steered it off the road. Once we were situated in the gravel lot, the car, for the most part, died on us. The engine no longer worked and the steering wheel no longer turned.

But the family and I stayed very calm under these distressing circumstances. Everyone kind of knew what needed to be done. We briefly checked under the hood of the car to see if there was anything we could diagnose. Nope. Then Cynthia quickly called Blue Car Rental with our (luckily strong enough) 3G cell signal to notify them of the situation and get directions on the next steps we should take. All the while, the dust storm in front of us was blowing by and, fortunately, not toward us.

Once the rental company was contacted and our screenshotted location was emailed over to them, all we could do in the car was sit there and wait for a mechanic and tow truck to make their way out to us in the middle of nowhere next to a dust storm. And given combination of the protocol of needing a mechanic to first diagnose the car problem, the lack of a Blue Car Rental office anywhere outside of Reykjavik/Keflavik, and the fact that another car could not quickly be made available to replace our car, we weren’t sure how long it would take to get things resolved so that we could hit the road again. So we sat there. We waited in the car. We briefly spoke with one random passerby who had stopped by to make sure that we were OK. We took some hilarious modeling photos with the car. And we watched the sandstorm blow by.

Then, Martjin the Polish Mechanic came to our rescue! And it was unexpectedly fast! Within about 30 minutes of our initial contact with Blue Car Rental, they were able to get in touch with Martjin, who works/owns a car shop (Six60?) on the edge of Myvatn near the Myvatn Nature Baths and was contracted by the car rental agency to help out in these situations, and send him over with his excessively huge (and fittingly American) Ford truck with a tow bed behind it. It was while I was photographing Minh modeling next to the dead car that we saw the big truck and big, burly mechanic approach.

Once he was out of his car, we introduced ourselves and I explained the situation to him. And the first thing he (basically) told me as he was assessing our red 2021 Kia Sportage was….”This is the fourth car of the same make and model from Blue Car Rental this week alone that I have had to tow for similar reasons.” It was the fourth car that he had towed because the car (a brand new Kia Sportage in all instances) had died all of a sudden despite a full fuel tank, good oil, and with everything else checking out OK on initial investigation.

It was only while he was preparing to tow our car that he received a call from Blue Car with the answer to the car problem he had been stumped by for the last week. The crankshaft sensor in the car was not working in these models and that it was a manufacturing issue, an issue he himself could not figure out, solve, or fix with his mechanic skills alone. With that new information, he pulled our car onto his tow bed and loaded us into his car to take everyone and everything back to his shop.

Along the 30 minute drive back to Myvatn, he presented us with several options (some doable, some not so doable) for how to proceed with our situation. Normally, Martjin has two spare Blue Car rentals at his shop for these exact situations. But unfortunately, given that this was the 4th issue this week with Blue Car Rental, there were no spares left to offer. So that wasn’t an option. The other options were to try to get a car rental here as soon as possible (and it wasn’t going to be that soon since Blue Car had to find a replacement car, load it up, find a driver to tow it out to Myvatn, which was 6-7 hours away) to continue the trip later this evening (but actually, in the wee hours of the morning) knowing we had an AirBnB already booked in Seyðisfjörður OR to stick around the Myvatn area for the night and restart our trip in the morning with a new rental that would be towed ALL THE WAY from Reykjavik and arrive by morning. After he made some quick calls to assess all other options and my family and I had discussed the options, we ended up making the safest decision, which was to stay the night in a hotel in Myvatn, take it easy, and make up lost ground once we had our car delivered tomorrow morning.

Once that decision was made, Martjin made a ton of calls to all of his contacts and quickly made a three-room booking with the relatively fancy and expensive Sel-Hotel Myvatn for the night. We made a pit stop to pick up his “little blond devil” of a son from the nearby kindergarten and then stopped by his shop to wait for him to finish up some things before he dropped us off at the hotel. While waiting at the shop, we met a nice couple, Will and Mary, from Miami who had also run into some car issues and were also on their road trip around Iceland but driving in the opposite direction of us. We had a nice conversation with them and even shared our trip experiences and trip tips as we passed the time.

Before long, Will and Mary were ready to hit the road again after their flat tire was replaced, and we were ready to head to our hotel with Martjin. A short ride later, we were dropped off at Sel Hotel Myvatn, where we spoke with and checked into our hotel with the very nice and welcoming front desk lady named Kate. After we were given the keys to our three rooms, we moved upstairs to our rooms to get situated and get Cynthia ready for her work day. We hung out for a bit in the hotel rooms before heading down for a relatively early dinner in the nice hotel restaurant downstairs.

At the hotel restaurant, we treated ourselves to a nice and relatively expensive dinner (assuming that we’d get reimbursed for it by the rental car agency as part of the hotel stay). We ordered their Northern Diver Pizza with bacon, ham, and pepperoni, tiger shrimp scampi style scallops starter, lasagna, trout dinner, and pulled pork sandwich. It was so yummy! Though I wish we had gone haywire and ordered even more yummy food to fill up on! I guess we did the responsible thing… for the car rental agency, hahaha.

With stomachs filled with delicious food, we went to chill upstairs while waiting for our hotel sauna shed/room to be prepared. It took about 30 minutes for the hotel staff to ready the sauna room but once it was ready, the family minus Cynthia sat in a steamy, hot, humid, and very uncomfortable indoor sauna for about 30 minutes or so. My dad and I were the first to exit since we couldn’t deal with the heat and steam anymore. I guess it was slightly cleansing… Once everyone was done with the sauna, Minh and I headed to the hotel lobby to play a couple games of pool before my dad and I did the same. And funnily enough, in-between games with my dad, a little Iceland kid on his way to the Westfjords with his family wanted to jump in and get a game with me. So we played a couple of turns before he had to leave with his mom. Funny kid. By this point in the evening, the family was getting tired. So everyone except me and Cynthia headed upstairs to turn in for the night and get some much needed rest.

As for me, I hung out downstairs with Cynthia while she worked before going out and exploring the area right across from the hotel that we had briefly stopped at earlier called Skútustaðagígar, where all the pseudocraters were located. I left the hotel around 10pm and hiked along the different paths leading around the pseudocraters before I came across a nice wildflowery slope with the sun setting in the background. With very few, slow-paced moments to do landscape photography on this trip, I wanted to make the most of this particular scene. So I ran back to the hotel to grab all of my photography gear and headed right back out to the flowery slope where I spent an hour watching the sunset while attempting to capture a photograph worth writing home about.

After freezing outside in the Myvatn wind for an hour or so, I headed back into the hotel to clean and wash up before going to bed. Cynthia wasn’t yet done with work by that time so I went to bed first because I knew that recharging for tomorrow would be a smart thing to do given the ground we had to cover due to the unfortunate circumstances we ran into today.

Looking back at today’s debacle, our impromptu back-up plan wasn’t too bad! But here’s to a more reliable car and a more productive day tomorrow!

5 Things I Learned/Observed Today:

1. The Myvatn area is named after the large lake in the area and there is no associated town called Myvatn town.

2. Lake Myvatn is a bird-watching haven for tons of tourists. If you see heavily-armed photographers with huge lenses and camouflage, they’re probably there to take photos of birds.

3. Much of the Myvatn area is formed from the interaction of lava and water. For example, the lava rock formations at Dimmuborgir formed when lava spilled over water-filled depressions or marshlands forming a lava lake. Due to the overlying magma and lava lake, the sub-surface water layer heated up and created steam that escaped to the outside through vents that eventually became surrounded by solidifying magma. Over time, the results of this process were lava pillars, columns, and ridges like the ones at Dimmuborgir, which are the remnants of the steam vents of old. Similarly, you have the pseudocraters of Myvatn which were formed from a similar process. When molten lava flowed over water or wetlands, water became trapped underneath the lava field and started boiling. The pressure caused explosions where the steam escaped to the surface. Over time, the repeated explosions ripped apart the lava, which piled up around the steam vent, forming a pseudocrater (per the infographic sign at the site).

4. Brand new car rentals are not fool- and fail-proof. Always be on the lookout if your engine light turns on randomly and unexpectedly. It’s never a good sign for a new car. And when things like that happen and the car company needs to send a mechanic out to inspect it and tow it, it’s really expensive for the car rental agency. Per Martjin, it costs about 1000 Euros to send him to check out and try to diagnose the car issue at hand. So that’s for the service. On top of that, it costs approximately 3000 Euros to tow a rental car from Myvatn back to Reykjavik. VERY VERY EXPENSIVE. Luckily, if it’s a manufacturing issue, it’s not on us, the customer, to pay any of that. Thank goodness!

5. Lake Myvatn is considered the land of midges. They are everywhere. And they are a nuisance. Luckily, when it’s super windy outside, they pose no problems at all because the wind sweeps them away. Per the hotel, if the midges fly into your rooms due to open windows, just leave your windows open as they will attempt to fly out right away, thus causing little issues. An issue only occurs when you close your windows and they’re trapped inside.

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cruecifymesixx · 4 years

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Love and Leather /Part Seventy/

Word Count: 9.6k

A/N: sorry it took so long, I’ve been sick plus I also have a part time job on top of my full time job now cause I like money and have a lot of trips this year. Anyways, holy shit! 70 chapters! It’s gone by super fast! Enjoy! Let me know what you think!

Warnings: Language

Taglist: @brideofdraculana , @xstarryeyesx , @aryssav , @miserablecunt @dangerous-like-a-loaded-pistol , @fandomshit6000, @anntheboneless @venus-calum, @justjodeye, @supernaturalvikingwhore, @hi-my-name-is-riley, @extremesadnerding, @thatbandchick39, @awkwrdcait, @countrygirlswonderland, @awesomealmostdopestudent, @romanticvengeance , @tashy-bear, @krazykatkay456, @terror-triplet, @shouttatthedevill @beachystars, @rodriguez025, @kickstart-myheart-sixx, @s-outhie, @anxious-diabetic, @awkwardblackgirls, @rockersbox, @brooklyn-antiques, @shamelessobsessions, @jerseytaint, @lilytalebi, @criminalyetminimal, @motley-queen, @trapt-in-a-dream, @lunamadhatter99, @broke-n-bitchy, @thanks2pete, @slowandangry, @lovesick-heart0, @keepcalm-and-beyou, @miriampraez, @teenwolflover28, @lilyhw1, @motherloovebone, @random-internet-user-4471, @falcon-arrows, @talranocchia2001, @wheresmyvodkabitch, @waywardprincess666, @iluvmesomemarvelndc, @zoenicoles,@vamprlestat, @supersoldierballerina, @primal-screamer @electradestiny, @marshbev, @n0-sh0rtage-0f-faults, @cruebaby, @ggorehorror, @valentines-in-london, @miss2001babe, @nassauartist @cmft-jr-winchester, @bokkie92, @notworthyofyou1120 @xrosegoldwolfx @lauravic, @mgkobsessed, @chaoticvybe, @kellysimagines @thoughtsoftheantagonist @marvelismylifffe, @sleepyjunhong @meetthesixxter @sparxx27 @gingerspicetalks @kaitieskidmore1 @unknownoblivion @nevergoodenuffbutokaaayyy @kylieinwonderland @haileynicoleseavey17 @lavendersoundbarrier @ijustwanttokiss70srogertaylor @duffshairdye, @xxisxxisxxis, @findingmyth, @xpoisonousrosesx, @m0rnlngstar, @cranberrirolls, @oskea93, @love-struck-aries, @idumpyourgrass, @minxtruck, @i-want-to-shoot-myself, @cruesixxlover1991, @arianareirg, @fentitrbl, @dogmom2014, @sinningsixx, @motleycrueprincess

-October 1995-

“Are we there yet?”

I closed my eyes, bringing sunglasses over my face as i ignored Arianna’s persistency. I looked out the window, seeing all the mansions and perfectly green grass that was all too familiar. Arianna and I arrived in Los Angeles about an hour ago, with a trunkful of luggage as most of our stuff had already been shipped to the house.

“Mom, are we there yet?”

I looked over at her, noticing she was staring out the window, “Yeah, just a couple more minutes.” I assured her. Nikki had a driver pick us up from the airport as he was busy running around getting stuff and making sure the house was ready for when we arrived. He had left New York two weeks prior once I told him I wanted to come back home. Nikki was over the moon.

Arianna seemed to take us telling her we were moving okay? She was upset the first few days as she didn’t want to leave her little friends but then Nikki started telling her all the cool things in California and she was no longer upset.

My heart began to race as we parked in front of black gates before the chauffeur punched in the code and they opened up, “Mom! There’s daddy!” I smiled as Arianna pointed to Nikki who was sitting on the front steps with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. The car came to a stop as I helped Arianna get unbuckled before she opened up the car door herself and ran into Nikki’s arms.

I got out of the car, examining the house before Arianna’s fit of laughter and excited screams pierced through the air as Nikki scooped her up and covered her face in kisses, “I’ve missed you so much pumpkin! Did you have fun on the plane?”

“Yes! Mommy let me sit by the window! It was the coolest thing ever!” I forced a smile when she looked at me. I noticed there was now a water fountain in the middle of the driveway, I wonder if that was Brandi’s doing? Concrete planters by the steps were a new addition as dark red roses were planted, beginning to wilt in the autumn air

I heard a jingle plus the patter of paws run out the front door, “Anarchy!” I yelled her name before getting low and sticking my hand out. She approached me, tail between her legs as she growled a bit before sniffing my hand. She soon pounced on me, smothering me in slobbery kisses, “Oh baby, I’ve missed you so much! Look at you! You’re so big now!” My smile was wide as I scratched between her ears.

Arianna walked up behind me, “Be gentle with her, okay?” I muttered, showing Ari how to pet her softly. I stood up, dusting off my jeans as Nikki caught me off guard by picking me up.

“I’m so happy you’re home.” He sighed as I rubbed the back of his shoulders and kissed his cheek, “These are for you.” His grin was contagious as he handed over a bouquet of yellow sunflowers.

“Did you get her bedroom set up?”

He rolled his eyes, “Of course I did. Did you think I would slack off and not do anything until last minute?” I nodded, smiling at his words, “Well I didn’t! I’ve been busy getting the house ready for yours and hers arrival. Still cleaning out the downstairs guest room for your friend however she’s not important to me so I’m not rushing it” I smacked his sternum lightly, giving him a warning glare as he smirked and kissed my hand.

“Don’t start. Is my bedroom ready?” I asked, turning my cheek to see Arianna running around with Anarchy.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s the old guest room upstairs and her room is next to it.” He grumbled, “and I had the closet extended so you can have more room for all your clothes.”

My eyebrows raised in surprise, “Oh, well thank you. You didn’t have to do that. We have some luggage in the trunk. The rest of our stuff will be shipped out later this week and mom already has a buyer interested in the apartment.”

“Good. No more New York. Guy, you mind bringing their stuff in?” Nikki ordered the chauffeur as he nodded and began doing so, “Angel, you wanna go see your room? Check out the house?” Nikki spoke to Arianna as both her and the dog ran up to him.

“Mommy says you have a pool.” She cheered as Nikki grabbed her hand and they walked inside.

Anarchy stayed by my side as I patted her head, “I can do this.” I mumbled as I walked through the front door after them. My eyes immediately went to a crystal chandelier that was resting against the wall, looking up at the high ceiling and seeing a gigantic hole with wires sticking out. Patches of white paint were on the wall, that was no longer the off grey shade I remember it being. The floors were marble, shiny, sparkly marble but I noticed boxes of laminate wood off to the side. The couches I loved so much were replaced with sleek black leather ones, the coffee tables and rug were still the ones I had picked out years ago. He had let Brandi change everything in my house.

I stopped at the entry way table, putting the flowers down and looking into the mirror. I sighed heavily, feeling my gut wrench into a tight knot.

“We are over.” I said quietly, eyes full of tears as I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I tugged my face away from his hands as I stared down at the engagement ring around my finger before sliding it off and leaving it on the entry way table.

“Here.” Nikki pulled me from the deep corners of my brain as he walked over and placed a glass vase full of water down. He gently took the flowers, unwrapping the from the sheer pink cling wrap and placed them in the vase.

“They’re pretty.” I mumbled, feeling the soft petals as he chuckled, “Not as pretty as you.” I looked at him as his smile went away, “What?” I shook my head as I looked over at the boxes of wood and chandelier, motioning to them as he sighed.

“Having some remodeling done to get it back to how it was. Brandi changed a lot of things...as I’m sure you can tell.” Nikki explained as he looked around the living room, “I’m trying to figure out what shade the walls were but I can’t really remember. Thought maybe you would. Or we can pick a different color if you wanted.”

“The walls were a pearl white. There’s cans of them in the garage...or there was.” I shrugged, as I continued looking around the house. I felt Nikki following after me slowly, taking hesitant steps.

I stopped at the stairs, looking up them and then down the wall as basses we’re hanging, at least he finally found a place for them.

“Vanity! Stop! You aren’t leaving!” Nikki roughly grabbed my hand as he pulled me to him, “Please, Van. I didn’t mean it. I love you, you know I love you.”

“Do you love me?” I asked softly, turning around to look at him as he became confused.

“What?” He laughed, “Of course I love you. You know I love you.” He reached for my hand and pulled me to him before wrapping his arms around my waist, “Why’d you ask that?” He peppered kisses on my cheek and across my jaw.

“Just making sure...” I mumbled as he pulled away from me, but kept his hands on my hips.

As if he knew what I was thinking, “Look, I understand this is going to be difficult for you to adjust to but you have no idea how happy I am for you to be here with me, Arianna too. We’ll take it one day at a time, okay?”

I nodded as I stepped on my tip toes and kissed his lips, “Okay.”

“Ew! Cooties!” Arianna stepped between us and pushed us away from one another, “Where’s Auntie Clem?” She peered up at us as Nikki quickly picked her up and held her close to him.

“You moved here to be with daddy. I’m sure uncle Tommy is keeping her company. Go upstairs and check out your room sweet pea.” Nikki retorted as I brushed my knuckle over her cheek.

“She’ll be here in a few days. Tommy’s helping Clem finish packing up her things and then she’ll be here.” I assured Arianna as she nodded before Nikki put her down, “Come on archery.” She giggles as Anarchy followed her up the stairs.

“She’ll learn her name.” Nikki laughed, “So I was thinking, maybe this weekend we can have the guys come over? They wanted to come today but I told them you’d probably want to relax and unpack a few things before seeing everyone.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, “Yeah I’m kinda tired. I just want to shower and go to bed...” I looked around at some of the pictures on the wall , “Is all of Brandi’s stuff out of the house?”

Nikki nodded, “Yeah, yeah. She just has a few things to come get but they’re out in the garage. She keeps saying she’ll get around to coming over and getting it, but I’ll make sure you two aren’t home when she does in case she starts her shit.”

I smirked, “I don’t mind. Would love to see her actually.” I plopped down on the couch, they were uncomfortable and I hated the fabric. The leather felt fake.

Nikki chuckles as he came over and sat next to me, “No, no. The last thing I want is Arianna seeing your explosiveness.” He stretched out and rested his head on my thighs, “We also have a meeting on Monday to go see Arianna’s new school. I think you’ll like it. I looked and asked around to see which private school was the best.”

I nodded, running my nails through his hair as he closed his eyes and let out a soft breath of relaxation, “Home sweet home.”

After dinner I had gotten Arianna showered and to bed after her demands of digging through boxes so I can find a book to read to her. I dragged the remaining suitcases up to my bedroom. Anarchy ran in front of me as she jumped up on the bed and laid down.

“You know, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” I spoke to her as she wagged her tail and I crawled in beside her. I closed my eyes and ran my hand down her back, “I hope you bit her a few times.” I chuckled to myself, “...or at least growled at her.”

“Van come here!” I sighed as Nikki yelled for me, “Vanity!” I rolled my eyes as I pushed myself off the bed.

“Yeah?” I called out for him, rubbing my face as I walked out my bedroom door, “I’m in the bedroom!”

“Baby, just please let me explain.” I watched as Nikki grabbed a towel, almost slipping on the linoleum floor as he walked out of the bathroom and towards me, but I turned away from him, “Van, babe, I...I’m so sorry.” Nikki spoke softly as he wrapped a warm hand around my arm.

“What’s up?” I asked him as I stood at the bedroom door, seeing his back turned towards me as he was looking through his dresser for something. I cleared my throat and crossed the threshold. Black curtains hanged still but the walls were now a red shade.

“Sorry? You’re sorry!?” I rolled my eyes at him as I went opened the closet it door, causing it to slam against the wall. I grabbed a suitcase, throwing it on the bed before I started grabbing handfuls of clothing.

“I’m...I’m trying to find it. Where the fuck did it go?” Nikki mumbled to himself as he threw black shirts and black jeans on the floor.

“Find what?” I questioned as I looked at the disheveled bed sheets and the white bass that was laying on top of it.

“Babe, baby no. No, come on.” Nikki begged, “Fuck! Vanity!” I heard his voice crack, as it took everything in my being not to stop packing my stuff, “Van, please. Do-don’t leave.”

“Ah! Found it!” Nikki said as he pulled out a small satin red satchel. I crossed my arm over my sternum, holding onto my other arm as I took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly.

“Here. Um...here. It’s...just take it.” He smiled at me as he held the satchel by the string on the tip of his finger.

I reached out for it and held it in my hands, “Thanks..” I mumbled, “I’m gonna go to bed.”

He chuckled, “Aren’t you gonna open it?” Nikki’s hand reached for mine as he pulled me over to his bed, forcing me to sit down with him, “Here. I’ll just-“ he took it out of my hand before untying the knot and outcome that charm bracelet in the palm of his hand.

“Don’t leave?!? What am I suppose to do!!” I screamed at him, tears finally hitting me as I saw him jump at the loudness of my voice.

I watched as he clasped it around my wrist, “There.” His grin was huge as I looked down at it, before taking it off again and holding it.

I could tell that hurt his feelings by the way he shifted on the bed, “I’ll uh...I’ll wear it tomorrow or something. You know I don’t wear jewelry to bed.”

“Yeah, no, of course.” He spoke fast as he scratched the back of his head, “Just thought you’d want it back. Look...I added uh another charm.” His hand engulfed mine as I saw a emerald gem, “Arianna’s birthstone, i thought it would be a nice addition...”

I nodded as I got off his bed, feeling his eyes watch my every move, “Thank you. But uh I’m tired and I’ll see you in the morning.” He reached for my arm and pulled me back to him, “Nik-“ he cut me off by forcing his lips on mine.

“Just sleep in my bed tonight.” He spoke through the kiss, placing his hands on my ass as he pulled me on top of him and he lowered himself on the bed.

“It-it was an accident, okay? She was flirting with me and I just-“ I quickly picked up my studded belt and threw it at his head, watching him duck it as I then threw a single combat boot, seeing him wince as it hit his side. Stuffing your cock into someone’s mouth isn’t a fucking accident.

I put my hands on his shoulders and pushed myself away from him, but he wrapped long fingers around the base of my neck and pulled me back into a heated kiss, feeling his tongue find it’s way to mine. He rolled us over as I was underneath him in an instant, “Please baby?”

Nikki stared at me as I shook my head, trying to blink away tears as I was choking on a breath of air. His face softened as he got off of me, “Van...”

I brushed him off as I climbed out of his bed and started walking to my bedroom, but he was following me, “Vanity, I’m sorry.” He pleaded as I wiped my face. I couldn’t close my door fast enough as he blocked me from doing so.

I held the bracelet tightly, feeling the charms poke my skin as my back was turned towards him. I couldn’t control the loud sob that pushed past my lips, “I want...I want to go to bed.” I told him, not bothering to look at him or get undressed for that matter as I pulled the blankets back and got underneath them.

“I know it’s hard being here again.” He spoke softly, “I mean..I don’t know, but I’m assuming it isn’t easy being back here...with everything that’s happened. I’m sure it’s overwhelming for you, but doll, you don’t have a clue how happy I am. I know I’m just repeating myself but I truly am so fucking ecstatic you’re here again.”

I didn’t say anything in return as I buried my face in the pillow. I heard him sigh heavily, “I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.” I knew he was waiting for me to say it back but I just couldn’t right now. I was feeling way to many god damn emotions. Nikki leaned over the bed and kissed the back of my head before the lights turned out and my bedroom door was closed shut.

*A few days later*

Arianna screamed as she ran to the front door, “How fo you even know it’s Auntie?!” I yelled after her as she tried reaching for the door handle but couldn’t. I opened up the door for her and she immediately collided with Clementines legs, almost making her fall backwards, “Auntie! You’re here!!”

Clem stumbled back a bit before smiling, “What are you doing up? You should be sleeping cupcake!” Clem dropped her bags and picked her up, “I have missed you! Have you been having fun without me?” I rested against the door frame, seeing Tommy get out of the car and start getting luggage out.

“Mommy let me stay up! And I went to the zoo today and saw monkeys and the hippos!” Clementine smiled at Arianna as she yawned a bit, it was an hour or so past her bedtime.

“Oh the zoo? I am jealous. You’ll have to tell me more tomorrow after you wake up.” She put her down and walked over to me.

“Go tell daddy you’re ready for bed. He’s upstairs.” I nudged her inside as she went up them, waving bye to us from the top of the stairs. I turned to look at Clementine as she sighed deeply, “I have missed you.” I hugged her tightly as she squeezed me even tighter, “How was the flight?”

She rolled her eyes with an added groan, “Made me realize how much I actually hate flying. First class snobs are the worse, I should’ve just flew coach. But it was fine, tolerable.” I chuckled as Tommy came over with both hands full of suitcases and a duffle bag hanging off his shoulder.

“Uh her room is down the hall and past the living room and kitchen then the third door on the right.” I told Tommy as he nodded, not saying a single word or giving me a smile as he quickly brought them inside.

“What’s that about?” I asked Clementine as she smirked, “A very short leash.” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I guess the whole ‘you’re still married’ conversation didn’t go too well.

“I got a bottle of your favorite wine.” I told Clem as she followed me in the house, “Are you hungry? We went out to dinner but I brought home leftovers.”

Clem shook her head, “No, I’m okay. We grabbed a bite to eat at the airport. Has he been good?”

“Nikki?” I chuckled as I grabbed the bottle of wine and glasses, seeing her smile and nod, “Yeah, he’s been good. Still trying to get use to everything and him again.” I pulled out the cork, making it pop, “He’s been nice, sweet. Too nice actually.” I poured the white wine into our glasses before handing one over to her.

“No shit talking? Wow, surprising.” Clementine retorted as I brought the glass to my lips.

“He hasn’t talked shit.” I mumbled, “That much.” I shook my head as Clementine rolled her eyes at me and sat down at the island bar in the middle of the kitchen.

“I won’t start. But Nikki talks shit more than he plays that bass.” Clementine spat out as I chuckled.

“That bass also paid for you to fly out here, for this house, oh and that bottle of wine.” My eyes went wide as Nikki walked into the kitchen at the wrong time, glaring solely at Clem. I glanced between the two before taking another drink.

“Should I throw money at you in thanks?” Clementine quickly fired back as Nikki rolled his eyes and took my glass from my hand and took a sip, “Thank you very much Nikki for allowing me to stay here. It’s very nice of you.”

I nudged Nikki’s side, motioning to Clem as he sighed, “You’re welcome.” Nikki murmured as he turned to face her and forced a smile.

“Nikki, I think Clementine has a lot of luggage. You should help Tommy bring it in.” I spoke as he looked over at me, closing his eyes before taking a deep breath in before opening them.

“Of course, princess.” He spoke through gritted teeth, griping as he stormed out the door.

“Short leash.”

After a while, Clementine and I were sitting outside around the fire pit Nikki had turned on for us as we finished off the bottle of wine, “Whoops.” Clementine chuckled as she accidentally kicked the glass bottle over.

“So, did you talk to Tommy about the whole Heather situation?” I asked as I leaned back into the chair and kicked my feet up on the ring concrete block ring around the fire pit.

Clementine looked over at me, “Yeah, he tried denying it at first but then eventually did tell me they were still legally married and said it’s just the lawyers bickering over who gets what or who deserves this. So now he’s been a total kiss ass ever since then.”

I smiled a bit, bringing the glass up to my lips when the boys came out, laughing as they walked over to us, “I’m sure it will smooth over.” I told Clementine as she nodded. I scooted over when Nikki came and sat by me, taking the glass of wine out of my hands and taking a sip before giving it back.

“Everything’s in your room and the rest of your stuff will be out here in the next few days, at least that’s what the moving company said.” Tommy explained as Clementine smiled at him.

“Thank you babe.” Clem smiled as she gave him a quick peck on the lips.

I smacked the back of Nikki’s head lightly when he pretended to gag, “Quit it.” He grinned at me before kissing the side of my arm.

“So, Nikki was telling me about having a party to celebrate you being back?” Tommy spoke as I chuckled, but nodded anyways.

“That’s what he wants. I don’t mind. Nothing too big just a few people. I wouldn’t want it to overwhelm Arianna.” I explained to him but looked at Nikki.

“I think a party would be nice. Gives you a chance to see all your old friends.” Clementine added as I smiled.

“Yeah, you could finally meet Lucia and Tonya.” I responded, seeing Nikki and Tommy exchange looks with one another but I brushed it off.

“I could pick up some burgers and hot dogs, if you wanted Nikki?” Clementine suggested as he looked at her.

“Uh okay? Yeah, sure that would be great...” Nikki muttered as made myself comfortable and rested my body against his chest and draped his arm over my torso.

“Thank you Clemmy. That’s very nice of you.” I added with a smirk as Clementine returned it back to me.

“Of course, but I’m beat. I’ll see you guys in the morning. Tommy? You staying the night?” I saw his eyes light up as he nodded his head feverishly.

“I mean...uh if it’s okay with you two.” Tommy looked at me and Nikki as I nodded.

“We don’t mind.” I smiled, “I’m not washing the sheets though.” Clem’s face turned red under the light from the fire as she grabbed Tommy’s hand and dragged him inside.

I closed my eyes and relaxed as Nikki’s knuckles ran over my thigh, “I haven’t seen or talked to Lucia and Tonya in forever. Are they still at the diner?”

I felt Nikki’s body become tense as I sat up and looked at him, “What’s wrong?” I questioned, poking his cheek to make him smile.

“Van, when was the last time you talked to Tonya?” Nikki asked but I shrugged.

“I-I don’t know? Maybe before I left? I uh I can’t remember? Does that make me a bad friend?” I frowned a bit as he sighed, “Nikki, what’s wrong?” I scooted away from him a bit as I tried to figure out what he was thinking but he was difficult to read. Nikki looked at me, his hazel eyes filled with sorrow.

“Babe, Tonya died.”

I tilted my head to the side, chewing on my bottom lip as I looked at him, “Nikki, that’s not funny…”

He exhaled deeply as he ran his hand over his face, “Vanity, Tonya died in ‘91, September to be exact. She got sucked into the junkie life and ended up overdosing on smack.”

I looked at him through teary vision as he reached over and held my hand, “She wouldn’t do that..she…she barely did coke with me. Nikki this isn’t fucking funny.”

“Baby, I wish I was joking, but I’m not. She started dating this guy. I met him once at the diner, I went there time to time after you left and one day I went and she was so fucked up. I offered to help her get clean but she didn’t want it. I’m sorry Vanity.” Nikki murmured as he brought my hand to his lips.

I sucked in a deep breath of air as I grabbed my glass of wine and chugged the rest of it, “And Lucia?”

Nikki smiled, “She got married in ‘93 I want to say? Popped out a kid in ‘92 then again last year. She just moved up to Washington right before I came to New York. Leo is a cool dude. Some car mechanic or whatever. Met him a few times.”

I stared into the fire, wiping my eyes as I shook my head, “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Nikki looked at me like I had grown three heads, “Van? Really? You left. No one knew where you were. Thank god Tommy was stubborn enough to annoy Greyson enough into telling him where you were.”

I leaned back onto the loveseat, looking up at the stars, ”Tonya’s dead.” I muttered to myself as Nikki kissed my forehead.

“I’m so sorry Van. She has a nice little headstone, I Uh…her family couldn’t afford a funeral so I paid for it, anonymously though. She was a bit mad at me, she dumped a milkshake in my lap after me cheating got out into the tabloids.” Nikki explained to me as I laughed.

“Well, wherever she might be…” I looked up to the stars again, “I hope she’s alright….and I’m happy she dumped a milkshake on you.”

Nikki rested his head against the seat, looking up at the stars too, “I deserved it. Shit, Lucia came to a show and threw a cup of beer that was aimed for me and ended up hitting Brandi.”

I chuckled a bit, “That’s Orion’s Belt.” I said, pointing to the three stars in a line, “It consists of Zeta, Epsilon and Delta. And then you have the Canis Major and Minor which represents his dogs.” I explained, glancing over to see Nikki squinting up at the stars.

“And all the way at the bottom is a constellation called Scorpius which is for the scorpion that killed Orion and the Little Dipper is his arrow while the Big Dipper is his bow.” I looked over at Nikki as his smile was huge.

“God, I love you. You always surprise me.” Nikki muttered as he kissed me sweetly.

“Daddy taught me that when he’d make Greyson and I go camping. Every time he’d ask me what stars they were until it was drilled into my brain.” I smiled weakly, feeling a twinge of pain as Nikki played with my hair.

“I found my dad.”

I smiled, turning to look at him, “Nikki! That’s-that’s wonderful! What is he like? Where does he live? Do you talk him a lot?”

Niki chuckled, shaking his head a bit “He died back in the late seventies. A heart attack on Christmas Day, so my half brother says.”

My heart broke for him. Knowing that he spent his whole life chasing the ghosts of parents that were never there for him, to only find out one of them was already passed.

“Oh….I’m sorry Nik.” I mumbled quietly as he continued running his fingers through my hair, “At least you found out you have a brother. I thought it was just sisters. Have you seen Deanna again?”

He brushed it off, “Ah don’t worry about it. He was already pretty much dead to me.” He laughed, but I knew better than that. I curled up against his chest and wrapped my arm around his waist snuggly, “As for my half brother…he was more thrilled to find out his sibling was Nikki Sixx. Dude told me he lost his virginity to ‘Home Sweet Home’ as we were standing on our fathers grave.”

I laughed a bit but reached up and kissed his stubbly chin, “As for Deanna, no. Haven’t seen her since you threw that birthday party for me. No call, no letter, nothing.”

My head rises with the deep in take of breath he took before he exhaled, “You’re a good parent Sixx. I’d choose you in every life time to be my baby daddy.”

A rumble of a laughter vibrates through his chest as he smooths his hand over my hair, “Well, I’d choose you in every lifetime regardless if we were able to have children or not.”

“You’re just kissing my ass now.” I giggled, pressing my lips to the tattoo on his sternum.

“Well, I can really kiss it if you want me too.”

*Saturday afternoon*

“You know, I think this party is a good thing. Two birds one stone. You can see everyone all at once and won’t have to repeat yourself over and over.” Clementine muttered as she stood behind me, zipping up the dress I had put on, “And maybe you should’ve worn something more comfortable. You’re at home, not an award show.”

I rolled my eyes, staring at her through the mirror, “This is comfortable and I can’t have anyone thinking just because I’m a mom now I can’t look hot, I mean, not like it’s hard or whatever.”

Clementine laughed, “Yes my majesty, you will outshine everyone as usual.” I nodded at words and grabbed onto her shoulder as I put my heels on.

“Do you think they’ll be nosy? Or judgmental? I know the band will be okay, or I hope. Vince can be mean sometimes and I don’t want to deal with it but I’m sure Nikki will tell him to fuck off if he does or if anyone does, or I hope he does. You think he will? Right? Nikki wouldn’t let anyone give me a hard time especially in our home? Right?”

Clementine looked at me with raised eyebrows as I sucked in a deep breath of air, “I’m going to throw up.” I mumbled, resting my hand on my stomach as I sat on my bed.

“Van, just relax okay? I think some might be a bit nosy but who are they to judge? They’re a bunch of LA snobs at least from what I could tell. I’m sure Nikki would tell someone off if they become a hassle and Vince, well, who gives a shit about him….just breathe, you’re getting worked up for nothing. You’ll have fun.”

I nodded as I combed my fingers through my hair, “But, I was sent up here to get you so…let’s go.”

We walked down the stairs as I heard the chatter of our guests as well as some rock music, “Where’s Arianna?”

Clem glanced back at me, “Shes running around with Skylar and some other kids, she wasn’t even shy like she usually is.”

“That’s great.” I mumbled, stopping by the kitchen as a platinum blonde who I’ve never met ran up to me.

“Oh my gosh! Vanity it is so good to see you!!” She was over zealous as she pulled me into a tight squeeze. I stiffened like a board as she gripped my shoulders and gently shook me around, “Gosh! Look at you! As stunning as ever!”

I stared at her, “Uh…yeah…thanks for um coming.” I cleared my throat as I tried remembering who she was.

“Well! I got to go! We will definitely have to get together for lunch some time! Talk to you later!” The blonde left as quick as she came, grabbing hands with a brunette and walking out my front door.

“I have no idea who she was. Who did Tommy invite?” I expressed as Clementine shrug it off.

“Maybe all your coke use as seeped into the memory area of your brain.” I glared at her as she chuckled in return.

“It’s called the hippocampus actually.”

She rolled her eyes at me, “I like you better when you’re not being a smart ass.”

I stepped outside, squinting as the sun was blinding me, “There you are!” Nikki came over, pulling me into his side as we started walking in the direction of the band, “The guys have been waiting for you. Worry about everyone else later, they don’t matter.”

Our backyard was half of people I couldn’t recognize and half being me thinking I knew who they were, I knew them but couldn’t put a name with it…so really, who was this party even for?

Nikki’s hand stayed on my lower back as he guided me over to the guys, who in return stopped laughing and ogled.

“Well, don’t be shy now princess!” Vince said, nudging Sharise off his lap as he got up and walked over to me. Vince shoved Nikki away playfully as he wrapped me up in a big hug and kissed my cheek.

“Nice to see you too Vinny…” I patted his shoulder as he pulled away from me and examined me in typical Vince fashion, “Still hot as ever.” He whispered before Sharise came over and gave me a hug.

“It’s been such a drag since Heather divorced Tommy and Brandi was such a bitch.” I smiled at her embrace as her doused in hairspray locks tickled my nose.

“So I’ve heard.” I chuckled as she smiled at me before going to sit with Vince again.

Mick looked at me, pushing his sunglasses up as I tried forcing a smile, “Hey…” I spoke softly as his tough exterior diminished as he pulled himself up slowly from the chair. I noticed he was slouched over a bit more then what I remember.

“What’s so special about Tommy? You let him know where you are but not me?” My smile faded away as I stared at him, “You just run across the country? Give birth to a beautiful little girl and you don’t even call me?”

Nikki stepped over to me, draping his arm over my shoulder, “Mick..” Nikki attempted to warn him, but even he knew better then to do so.

“Shut it.” Mick said roughly, “I’m talking to her, not you.”

I frowned a bit, “Mick, it was just-“

“Complicated?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing my head to nod at his words, “I missed you?” I said unsure of myself as he shook his head.

“Do you know how much of his bullshit I had to deal with the last few years?” Mick finally broke into a smile, “Had to keep his ass from doing anything stupid, all three of them actually.”

Nikki scoffed, “Hey! I was fine!”

I chuckled, moving away from Nikki and to Mick as I put my arm over his shoulder, “I would’ve called eventually. I still stayed in the loop of everything because of Tommy but thank you for making sure Nikki was alright, even if he was being an idiot.” Mick grinned, looking past me and at Nikki.

“Well, he’s always going to be a dumbass regardless. I’m happy you’re back Vanity. Hasn’t been the same without you.” Mick engulfed me in a hug as I rubbed his back gently.

“Have you met her yet? Arianna?” I asked Mick as he shook his head.

“No, but she’s busy being a kid so it’s fine. Sit, tell me all about New York.”

I chuckled as Nikki handed me a beer and sat down next to me, “Uh…it was okay. I lived at the top of an apartment building in Brooklyn and worked at a strip club as a bartender. Met Tommy’s girl, Clementine a few months after I moved to the city, had Arianna, raised her and now I’m here.”

“And tell Mick what else you did.” Nikki butted in, smirking as I flipped him off, he reached over and kissed my finger.

“Nikki’s just jealous because I also had a boyfriend.” I stared in a matter of fact type tone as he chuckled.

“A boyfriend? And then I’m guessing Nikki scared him away when he found you?” Vince questioned as I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, something like that. But anyways, what’s new with the band? Anything going on? Any tour? Album?” I questioned, looking at all of them as they looked at each other.

“Yeah, Sixx. What’s going on?” Vince quirked an eyebrow as Nikki chuckled bitterly.

“Well, can’t make any new songs if our singer doesn’t show up to rehearsals, now can we?” Nikki barked back as I watched the two bicker. Clearly nothing had change.

“Well, can’t sing any songs if our primary songwriter has been preoccupied the last little while.” Vince retorted, cocking his head to the side and smirking as Nikki stared at him.

“Whatever. I’m not doing this with you right now. We’ll save it for tomorrow.”

I sipped on my beer, eyes flickering between the two as they glared at one another, “Uh…Skylar has gotten big. I don’t even think she was walking yet.” I cut the tension as Vince’s eyes locked on mine.

Vince snorted in laughter, “What? Did you expect the world to stop spinning just because miss Blackwood got off the ride? Miss Blackwood since you two didn’t…well never mind.”

My eyebrows furrowed as I watched Sharise attempt to simmer him down. I grabbed Nikki’s hand, shaking my head as a way to tell him not to buy into his bullshit. Nikki instead let go of my hand and went over to a table full of snacks.

“Don’t be a dickhead, Vince. You’re in my house and if you can’t act right you can go.” I stated, pointing to the door as he smirked.

“Oh relax, Vanity. I meant no harm by it, just trying to ruffle Nikki’s feathers. It was just a joke.” Vince explained himself as Sharise looked pissed off for me.

I simmered down when Arianna walked over to me, hands behind her back as she rocked on the ball of her heel, “Well, hello pumpkin.” I smiled at her, wiping vanilla frosting off her cheeks, “Was the cake good?”

She giggled, “Yes! Uncle Tommy let me have two-“ she held up her fingers, “Pieces of cake!”

“Isn’t Tommy the nicest? Baby, I have some people that want to meet you too.” I patted my lap as she climbed up, her back facing me as she looked at the guys.

“That’s Mick and that’s Vince. Those are daddy’s other brothers and that’s Vince’s wife, Sharise. They are Skylars mom and dad.”

Arianna became shy as she laid back against my chest and started covering her face with my hair, “Oh, don’t even start right now.” I tickled her sides as she yelled and squirmed off my lap as she ran straight to Nikki who picked her up.

“Well, looks to me you’ve done a mighty fine job raising her, kid.” Mick spoke as I looked over at him, a wide smile on my face due to his words.

“I’ve tried my best. I think she’s adjusting to the move and being around Nikki all the time pretty well. I really hope she’s happy here.” I expressed as Mick nodded.

“I’m sure she’s happy having both of you and I’m sure it’s a good thing for her to see you two be together as well.”

I cocked my head to the side, “Together? Nikki and I aren’t together.” I laughed at his statement, “Did he-he told you that?”

Mick shrugged but Vince spoke up, “Hasn’t shut up about it.”

I looked over at Nikki who was running around the yard with Arianna and Skylar, “Yeah, no. Me and Sixx aren’t together. We aren’t even sharing the same bedroom.”

Vince and Mick both started laughing as Sharise rolled her eyes, “Well, I think it’s a good thing that you two are taking it slow due to the history and what not. I’m sure things will work out.” She looked on the bright side of things as I shrugged.

“Yeah I guess. I’m in no rush to be with him, and I’ve told him that. We’re just co-parenting, I haven’t slept with him since New York.” I finished off my beer as I nodded my head to the music that was playing.

“Short leash.” Sharise giggled as I glanced over at her, smirking.

*a few hours later*

“…Just make Clementine clean it all.”

I looked at Nikki who held a beer bottle in his hand as he watched me pick up trash from the party, “She’s not our maid Nikki. It was your idea to have the party you should be cleaning up too.” I stated, taking the bottle out of his hand and trading it with the trash bag I was holding.

I hopped up on the counter taking a sip of his drink, “So uh…what was that about between you and Vince earlier?”

Nikki ignored my question as he stuffed paper plates and empty soda cans into the trash bag, “Okay then…” I whispered to myself.

“Is it because of what he said? Because I wasn’t even really that upset about it so you shouldn’t be either.” I tried guessing as he shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it, okay?” Nikki gave me a stern look as I rolled my eyes.

“Is it the music? Did you guys have a fight before I came?” Nikki threw the garbage bag down after tying it closed, “Well that was dramatic…”

He leaned against the counter, taking the bottle away from me as he looked deep in thought, “Vince is acting like a little bitch and it’s pissing me off. He hates everything we’re trying to do. Blows off rehearsals and then complains he doesn’t like the material but how is he suppose to like the material if he ain’t helping us make it? He’s acting like he’s fucking better than us.” Nikki’s voice was riddled with disdain as I looked at him.

“I’m sure it’s not like that Nikki.” I said, pushing strands of onyx hair out of his eyes as he moved his head away from me.

“How would you know? You haven’t even been here Vanity.” Nikki snapped quickly as I quirked an eyebrow in surprise. He exhaled deeply as he put the bottle down and placed both hands on either side of me, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.” Nikki placed a soft kiss on the side of my neck before looking at me.

“It’s okay. You’re right, I haven’t been here. But I’m sure if you’re forcing the music to happen it’s not going to be good….” I trailed off as he rests his hand on the side of my thighs.

“The music is good. The lyrics are great, it’s just him that’s holding everything up. Anyways, I’m tired of talking about Vince. Do you wanna watch a movie upstairs in my room?”

Code word for ‘let’s see how long it takes for you to get bored of the movie and let me stick my hand down your pants’

I shook my head and patted his cheek “No, Maybe tomorrow we can wa-“ Nikki cupped my face and planted his lips on mine, “Sixx..”

He stepped away from me, resting his forehead against my shoulder, “You’re torturing me.” Nikki murmured as he wrapped his arms around my body and pulled me closer to his.

“Torturing?” I laughed, “How am I torturing you? I’m not doing anything.”

He groaned, “That’s exactly how you’re torturing me. You aren’t doing anything or giving me anything.”

I scoffed at his words and shoved on his shoulders, “You sound like a real jackass right now, Nikki.”

His laugh vibrated through me. Nikki stepped away from me but still kept his arms raveled around my waist, “No, no I don’t mean it like that. I mean here I am being all nice and loving and affectionate and you aren’t doing the same.”

I rolled my eyes, “Nikki, you’re being dramatic.” I hopped off the counter, caught between it and him, “You and I aren’t together. I don’t have to be affectionate towards you anyways.” He tilted his head up, standing straight as he took his arms away from me.

“Yeah. You’re right.” Nikki looked away from me as he bent down to pick up the trash bag. He said nothing else as he walked out back, slamming the glass door as I rolled my eyes at his outburst.

Hope he didn’t wake up Arianna.

*Monday morning*

I wish Nikki and I were a normal duo, that way we wouldn’t get looked at in a strange way every time we stepped out into public. We had arrived at Arianna’s school, the Hidden Hills academy. A teacher had already stopped walking and waited by the wall as we passed them and I highly doubt she was star struck from seeing Nikki Sixx. Other parents that were dropping off their kids judged with silenced looks too.

It didn’t help that Nikki was wearing a half buttoned leopard print shirt with all of his tattoos out on display with tight dark denim jeans and a bulky chain hanging out of his back pocket. I sighed quietly and pulled up the low cut shirt I was wearing as we walked into the main office.

“Hi, we have an appointment with the dean for Arianna Blackwood?” I spoke softly as Arianna tried peering over the counter to reach her hand into the candy bowl.

The older woman with square glasses hugging her face and fake pearls wrapped around her neck. I knew they were all fake by the same shade of white they were, real pearls aren’t. I saw as her eyes flickered to Arianna and Nikki who already made himself comfortable in the chairs, “Very so, the dean will be with you shortly.”

Arianna followed me over to Nikki as I sat down next to him and she crawled up on his lap, “I don’t like this school already.” I mumbled to Nikki as I tried taming Arianna’s hair and then his.

Nikki chuckled before scrunching up his nose when Arianna grabbed his hand and spit the candy into it, “I don’t like their candy.” He shook his head before grabbing a tissue and wiping off his hand before throwing it away next to him.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be so fancy…I heard good things about the school. Maybe I should have worn a tie or something.” I watched as Nikki buttoned his shirt up a bit and ran his ringed fingers through his hair, “Maybe put the tits away too..” He whispered to me as I lightly swatted his arm, but pulled my shirt up again.

“You look fine. We look fine. You’re just a rockstar and I’m a heiress and you’re my ex fiancé who knocked me up and I hid our child for five years only to move back into your gothic castle. Yeah, it’s fine. We’re gonna be fine.” I breathed out as Nikki rubbed the back of my neck softly.

“Why are you freaking out? You fit in here.” He laughed a bit as he kissed the back of Arianna’s head.

“I do not fit in here. Los Angeles snobs are completely different than Texas snobs.” I retorted as he nodded.

“I mean, we could leave if you want? Look for another school? I’m sure there is others in the area. I just want her to have the best education she can. If I gotta bake cookies and go to car washing fundraisers I will. I’m not coaching little league though, that’s where I draw the line.”

I chuckled a bit, “I’m not being friends with the other moms. They were annoying in New York and they’re probably annoying here too. Especially if they’re a ditzy housewife married to a retired basketball or football star.”

Nikki grinned, “What about you? When you’re married to a retired rockstar?” I looked over at him, eyes rolling as I shook my head.

“I think I want a normal husband. Marry a doctor or a teacher, someone boring.” I smiled as he tugged my hair a bit.

Nikki took his hand away from me when a older gentleman wearing shiny black dress shoes, a khaki suit and a red tie walked up to us, “Hello, are you two Mr and Mrs. Blackwood?”

It took everything in my body not to start laughing, especially as Nikki glared at me, “No, I’m Blackwood and he’s Sixx. I’m Vanity.” I said kindly, seeing his unamused expression but he stuck out his hand anyway for me to shake.

“Gregory Davis. I’m the dean of students here.” He extended his arm out to him, “Nikki.”

“Poison?” Gregory motioned to Nikki’s hair as he glared at him.

“No, Motley Crue.”

Gregory nodded, “Hello Arianna. How are you doing today?” He spoke to her as Ari became shy and hid her face in Nikki’s neck. “Please come into my office.”

“Maybe marry him. He’s boring and he has money.” I whispered to Nikki as he elbowed my side.

A dark wooden desk with fancy burgundy leather chairs sat on either side, his name was engraved in a gold plate followed by black pens and papers sprawled over his desk. We sat down in the chairs as Nikki put Arianna on his lap as she played with one of his bracelets he was wearing.

“Thank you for letting us come in and see the school on such a short notice.” Nikki explained as I noticed the dead plants hanging around the window.

“You’re very welcome, the pleasure is all mine. We are a very relaxed school but we also make sure the curriculum comes first before anything else. We offer many different programs for our students to exceed in. In kindergarten, we focus on building the structure for the years to come while your child will be here. We tend to lean to more books, shapes and math rather than irrelevant puzzles and play time or story time.” Gregory explained as he started flipping through paper work.

I cleared my throat, “She was at a private school in New York. She went through pre-K and her reading levels are immaculate, she also has a interest in music and art.”

He nodded, “Yeah, Nikki had brought in paperwork from her old school to give to us. She’s very smart for being so young. We have a lovely music program but we don’t offer that until first grade due to the lack of patience and attention span a kindergartener could have, but we will pay close attention to see how she does in her class.”

“Auntie won’t be here?” Arianna asked as she looked up at Nikki.

“No angel, Clementine won’t be with you at school, you’ll be okay.” He spoke softly as he brushed his hand over her hair.

“Her aunt was an assistant in her class back home, I mean back in New York. She’s been a tremendous help. I mean, so has nik- I mean her dad has helped too.” I explained, adding a nervous chuckle as Gregory stared at me.

“But Auntie knows art and my favorite stories…” Arianna began pouting, “It’s okay princess. I’m sure your new teacher will know the same things.”

Gregory looked at her, “Arianna, we don’t pout when we don’t get our way.” He scolded her as I stared at him and then glanced at Nikki who was already clenching his jaw.

“Now, it may not be finger paint and noodle art but we will be sure she can express herself. I see that you made sure she got the best education despite being away from her father. It’s good to see you two taking responsibility and working together.”

Nikki shifted Arianna on his lap as I stared at this fucking asshole, “I’m sorry? I don’t think our personal business concerns you.” I snapped as Nikki quickly reached for my hand and held it tight.

“Doll, I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that.” Nikki attempted to calm me down as his thumb brushed over my hand, I interlaced our fingers together and held his hand in my lap.

“I’m not trying to ruffle your feathers, Vanity. It’s just a proven fact that young children need both parents, even more so in the first few years of their life.” Gregory explained to me as I continued to glare at him, “And I’m sure with Nikki being a rockstar, him leaving all the time wouldn’t be much help.”

Nikki’s eyes narrowed to Gregory, “Arianna has plenty of people in her life to help her grow and me being a rockstar has nothing to do with how she’s going to be here.”

Gregory loosened his tie as he sat back in his chair, “I’ve been the dean of students for over twenty years. We have had plenty of rockstars children come through here and we, the school, end up having to teach them manners and practically raise them.”

“And my kid isn’t every rockstars typical child.” Nikki snapped hastily, “The only people raising my daughter is her mother and I. She has manners of a saint already so thank you for your concern but we don’t need it.”

“Nik, lets just go.” I mumbled to him as he nodded, “Thank you for your time.”

Nikki put Arianna on the ground as he stood up, “Yeah, thanks for nothing.” I sighed as he reached for Arianna’s hand and we walked out of of the office.

“People like him are the reason what’s wrong with the education system.” Nikki complained as we walked down the hallways and out of the school.

“Maybe we can look at public school?” I suggested as he scoffed and dug our the keys to the car.

“I mean, would public school even be that bad? I know you went, but you also didn’t finish…” I mumbled as I watched him help Arianna into the car and buckle her up.

He glared at me before walking to the drivers side and getting in, “You wanted her to have a good education. I spent weeks looking for a good school. I gotta try again for a good public one then.” He explained as he started the car and we began driving, Arianna mumbling incoherently to the radio station.

“Well how hard could that be? It’s just public school.” I shrugged it off as he chuckled.

“Because I don’t want her being in a shit one or in a rough area of Los Angeles. I’ll just look again, it’s not a big deal.” Nikki breathed out as he took a sip out of his water bottle.

“Nikki, I want to give her the most normal life we possibly can. I don’t care if it’s public or private school. I just want her to be happy.” I explained as he squeezed my thigh, “I know normal isn’t in our vocabulary, but still, I want her to have a good childhood.”

“She will, Vanity. I promise. I’ll give her whatever she needs, alright? Don’t worry, just let me take care of it.” Nikki said as he grasped my chin between his fingers for a moment.

“So now that Clementine is here…” I rolled my eyes under my sunglasses and leaned my head against the seat, “Is she gonna be getting a job?” Nikki asked as I leaned my head and looked over at him.

Shrugging, “I don’t know? I’m not Clem. Art is her job, just like music is your job.”

Nikki chuckled a bit, “Well she’s also staying at the house my job paid for her with all of her art stuff.”

With an exasperated sigh, “Okay, so what? You want her to pay rent? Do I have to pay rent too?” I argued back as I saw him roll his eyes.

“I just don’t want a mess, Van. That’s all.”

I brushed aside his comment, “You have a five year old daughter who is always messy and sticky and playing with glitter. You’re going to have a mess regardless.”

Nikki eyeballed me, “Well, Clementines an adult. I don’t want to be picking up after her too.”

I rolled my eyes again, “Yes sir, I’ll make sure the house is pristine. Do you want me to get on my hands and knees and scrub the floors with a tooth brush as well?”

“Only if you’re naked and wearing the highest heels you have.”

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spookieloop · 4 years

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5 MALE CHARACTERS I LOVE

Tagged by: @fadedjacket Thank you!!! I think I’m also going to take the opportunity to go on about WHY I love these characters

1: Doom-Head (Rob Zombie’s 31)

First and Foremost I love Doom-Head because I’m thirsty AF, but beyond that the character absolutely steals the show; Richard Brake gave a STUNNING performance. He’s a fun character because he seems like he’d be just an edgy-grimdark type of character, but he is the kind of loser trash man who says the word “dong” and loves the sound of his own voice so much he fucks himself over(and he absolutely IS an edgelord). BEYOND affectionate ripping on the character, he is actually so TRAGIC when you think about the time period the movie takes place in, and the fact that Rob Zombie is a very smart man with a great love of the time period. In the movie, we catch glimpses of Doom-Head’s mental state, which is obviously...suffering; compounded by the fact that the movie takes place in the late 70s, and the fact that the character is at least in his forties(Brake is in his 50s), there was absolutely no such thing as decent mental health care in his youth. I could talk for hours about this character. And I have on my Horror Side Blog @its-monster-mash

2: Porter Gage (Fallout 4)

I HAVE talked for hours about how much I love Porter Gage and why, I run a Gage Request blog at @raiders-r-us, and a general fallout sideblog @0nce-in-a-bluem00n

Basically, Porter Gage is a companion in Fallout 4’s Nuka World DLC and is your second in command as you lead and manage a group of Raiders; though he has personal morals that go above and beyond your standard raider. If you go down his friendship/romance route, he will open up to you about his backstory and how he became a raider in the first place. In short, as he grew up he watched his family constantly knuckle under to raider gangs, and at age 13 he ran off and joined a mercenary company...who also knuckled under to raiders. So from 16 on he’s been a raider. It’s the only life he ever really knew.

I ADORE his character because if his parents had stood up to the raiders, or his mercenary company had been a little tougher, Gage would almost definitely not have become a raider. Unlike the typical raiders of the Fallout universe, Gage hates chem use, and has a strong work ethic(to the point where he will get pissed if the player chooses lazy dialogue choices); those two things alone set him above the rest, but it also can’t be ignored how intelligent Gage is. He’s been leading the Nuka raiders from the sideline(he chooses to be second in command to avoid a bullseye on his back) since before they found Nuka World, he cares deeply about his people whether he would admit it or not. IN SHORT, Gage is such a dynamic character and I live for that shit.

3: John Seed (Far Cry 5) Farcry Sideblog is @wrath-of-eden

Dear Sweet Johnny Boy. Honestly, I walked into the living room when my husband was playing Far Cry, the loading screen with John’s picture came up, and we were both SHOOK because he resembles my husband A LOT(like right down to the outfit, John’s outfit is basically what my husband wore to our wedding); so I was predisposed to like John.

What I WASN’T prepared for was how emotional I would get when I played through Far Cry 5 myself and learned John’s backstory. I didn’t go through the same religious torture John did, and I never struggled with drug addiction, but I did have a very traumatic childhood that resaulted in a similar “Yes” complex and intense need for approval. Up until a few years ago when I had a scary moment that taught me the importance of enforcing boundaries, almost every significant figure in my life took advantage of my inability to say no, often in malicious ways. To me, John represents someone who never had that awakening. The evil shit John does, he does because he BELIEVES it; that becomes undeniable in his death seen(in the gif). John was tortured and made to believe it was good and necessary, so he believes he is doing the right thing when he tortures people; Joseph only reinforces this. As horrible as the torture aspect to his character is, I see too much of myself in him not to feel for the character.

4: Cullen (Dragon Age) Dragon Age Sideblog is @the-greyest-warden

I have been crushing on this character since he was an awkward blushing mess in DAO, so being able to romance him in Inquisition?? You bet your ass I jumped at the opportunity. This character appears in both earlier Dragon Age games, so I jumped in FULLY aware of his trauma...but I didn’t expect his addiction arc.

I loved Cullen’s entire storyline; I think his timeline of trauma/lashing out/healing felt very natural. People hate on Cullen for having been harsh against mages, but he was TORTURED by mages he probably knew since he was young; the evils from both mages and Templars he experienced in Kirkwall would be a compelling case for his negative feelings, the growth he has done by Inquisiton is honestly so impressive, and really shows what a compassionate and critically thinking character Cullen is. His addiction plot line takes it to a whole new level for me personally though, because my husband was an addict when I met him; so I am very intimate with the reality of watching your loved one suffer through withdrawals, and watching the person you love reach his breaking point and still push himself beyond it. (My husband has been clean for over two years now, and our son turned one year old last week ❤️)

5: Vegeta (Dragon Ball Z)

The gif says it all. Vegeta has been my favorite character on DBZ since I was a little girl first watching his villainous little ass land on earth. From then to current DBZ content? Vegeta’s character growth is absolutely immeasurable. He went from big bad villain to a fiercely devoted husband and father(certainly a much better husband and father than Goku has ever been). His development was so gradual it never felt out of place; I don’t think there is any other beloved character from my childhood for whom new content continues to be made who has NEVER disappointed me.

Tagging: @thatpinkthot @atomkatz @chazz-anova @just-an-adventurer @undead-gearhead @aimsharpfloora @booklover2929 @xredskullxx

#mypost #tag game #5 fictional men #doom-head 31 #doom-head #porter gage #john seed #cullen dai #vegeta

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joshslater · 5 years

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Unrivaled pt. 2

Continuation of part 1.

The wheels of justice spins fast when greased with money. It wasn't many days until Trevor arrived, freshly hosed down and suited in bright orange, to his cell in the medical service inmates block at Greene Prison. He was welcomed by his cellmate Steven, who explained that they were the envy of every other inmate in the prison. "Good food, good atmosphere and absolutely no violence". He looked Trevor sternly in the eyes as he said the last part. Everyone were keen on keeping their medical service and avoid resentencing to a longer prison time. They were only 14 inmates in the block, and after the presentation round Trevor was oddly happy about where he was. Well, prison, but the best kind of prison he thought.

Next morning, during breakfast, one of the guards told Trevor that he had been picked up for a long term study at Phoenix Medical. The entire table went silent.

- What? - Dude! - WHAT?! - Not even 24 fucking hours and you get Phoenix! That place is legendary. Everyone wants there. None of that test-for-side-effects-bullshit. They improve people. They make tech for movie stars and athletes. Not even 24 fucking hours....

The facility was located in the industrial area outside a small town three hours from the prison. Although shackled and in the locked backseat of a police car repurposed for low risk inmate transfers, Trevor was feeling pretty good almost the entire trip. Taking the final turn on the wide roads between small factories and office buildings he could see the facility. It was an ugly six story concrete office building that probably dated back to the 70s. The bottom floor was double height and wider than the rest of the building and windowless. It probably had housed a production line for something way back. Around the complex were parking lots and a tall, sturdy fence. Right next to the gate was a big sign "Phoenix Medical - A Hamlin Group Company". It was like a gut punch to Trevor. Kyle’s family owned this place. They owned him for the next one and a half year.

Trevor was taken in through an entrance by the old loading docks. The inside looked much better than the outside suggested. Fresh paint, modern design, LED-lamps, high tech security. He was handed over to two Phoenix guards and Mr. Thompson, site trial manager. The core mission for Phoenix Medical, he explained, was to commercialize high end cosmetic procedures. This facility in particular focused on "whole body" procedures, like fat loss, muscle development and athletic conditioning. Several gold medalists of the Red Bull Olympix used their procedures.

He left and Trevor was taken to the arrival processing room by the guards, where he stripped and showered. A doctor then had him photographed and 3D-scanned, performed a whole host of tests and had a bunch of samples taken. The doctor pressed something that looked like a big stapler to his chest, to the top of the sternum, and pressed a button. It sounded like a staple gun too, and Trevor jumped by the sharp but short pain. He could see a small mark of an incision glued shut. Finally the doctor made a series of injections in his left and right arm, and gave him two pills to swallow.

He was given clothes - trunks, socks, compression shirt, shorts and sneakers - and once dressed led through several locked doors deeper into the facility. The shoes were weird. Although they fit perfectly, they had some sort of slightly uncomfortable soles in them. He arrived at a stripped down office room inside the more secure parts of the facility. Sitting behind the desk was Mr. Thompson again. He didn't offer a seat.

He explained, as if Trevor didn't already knew, that Trevor was their test subject for at least the next year. The facility didn't have a lot of guards or security, but since almost all inmates preferred this to any alternative he shouldn't count on any help to escape. Quite the opposite. And if he did escape it would be up to Phoenix Medicals discretion whether or not to continue, extend the time by up to two years, or resentence him to prison time. The tracker chip behind his rib cage would ensure that he would be found. One of the injections would make him fall into coma within a week should he not get his daily counter agent, and he would be given a monthly booster shot.

Further, Mr. Thompson explained, Trevor was a criminal given this privilege and opportunity to serve society. As such he was required to fully comply with all instructions, or punitive procedures would be administered.

- You have been selected to be part of a study in muscle growth. One of the injections you received during your entry processing have already started the process we want to study. You will be given pre-sized portions of food, and you are required to fully consume them. You will be given a schedule, and you are required to strictly follow it. You will be given exercises and targets, and you are required to strictly complete them. Do you understand? - Yes. What do you mean with "muscle growth". I already have quite a lot of strength from my dancing. - Oh, that is nothing. We are going to push ahead as far as we can in the time we have.

He flipped through some of the documents on the table, until he found a small note.

- I have a message from Kyle Hamlin himself here. "Make the fucker swole AF so he'll dance like a pregnant hippo."

Trevor had barely started the shouting when the guard’s taser collapsed him on the floor. He was dragged to a procedure room down the hallway and secured to a table.

- Those are the kind of outbursts that we can't have. You need to understand that the procedure we are about to perform is because of your own actions.

Trevor didn't say anything. A doctor clipped a blood monitor on one of his fingers. He then inserted two needles into his arm, that connected through plastic tubes to a machine that looked like a dialysis machine. He pressed a few buttons and Trevor could see blood leaving the body in one tube, and after about 10 seconds he could see it returning in the other tube.

Then nothing happened. The machine was humming and the clock was ticking away. After perhaps five minutes Trevor started to feel warm and clammy. After a few more minutes he could feel his heart starting to race. Faster and faster. He was quickly soaking in sweat. His body was on fire. He could feel the pulse beating in every limb. It kept going like crazy for perhaps 15-20 minutes until it started to dial down again. When the doctor finally removed the needles and released him from the table he felt like he had had the most intense dance practice ever. He was soaked in sweat, skin was flush red and his blood vessels had popped like never before.

He was taken to his room, told to be in bed before 8, and then had the door shut and locked on him. For the first time in two days he was alone in a room. He just stood still a minute and looked at his new home, a sparse room with a made bed, a table, a stool, a toilet and a sink. On the wall was a flat screen TV, a mirror and a digital clock. 17:22 it said.

He removed the damp shirt and looked into the mirror. He was still flush from the procedure and the blood vessels all over his body made him look like the underside of kale. He sunk down on the stool by the table, his emotions in a whirlwind. He felt despair. He felt violated. Not just whatever they had just done to him. Not just having a tracker chip injected. Not just having stuff pulsing around in his bloodstream that did things to him he didn't know. The worst was knowing he was the unrestricted recipient of the whims of a spoiled, vindictive teenage brat.

Standing on the table was a tray with a large plastic bottle with a yellow-tinted white fluid and a sealed plastic container with something that looked like oat porridge. Dinner. He realized that he hadn't eaten since breakfast and dug in. The "milk" tasted like some chalky protein drink and the tub contents was basically porridge with tuna fish and chili flakes mixed in.

Maybe it was the hunger, but it all tasted alright to him, and quickly finished all of it. He wanted to see what was on the TV, but he had no sooner finished the dinner when he begun to feel sleepy. He suspected the food was drugged, but then he had had an eventful day. He got naked and went to sleep right away.

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ghostofviperwrites · 5 years

Text

Next Time

Requested by: @girlwithaddiction

Pairing: Bushi/FC

Category: Smut

Word Count: 1782

Warnings: Oral sex

70. “I can’t think straight with you.” And 87. “I make you nervous.”

As a courier I got to deal with a lot of people from various scopes of life. From the richest of the rich, to those barely hanging on by a thread. It wasn’t any of my business what I was delivering. I was paid well not to ask any questions. Just deliver the boxes and go on my way. There were one off deliveries and regulars. I had my fair share of strange encounters, from the people that answered the door in nothing but their underwear, to those that looked like they hadn’t bathed in weeks. Through it all I kept a smile on my face and a professional attitude. I was making good money and I wasn’t giving any one a reason to complain about me.

There was just one guy who got under my skin. I had taken over his deliveries from the last courier who had gone out on maternity leave. When he opened the door for the first time I had been speechless. I had seen plenty in my time as a courier, but someone wearing a mask was certainly a first. The purple gold and black mask covered his face with just his eyes and mouth visible, with the tiniest bit of dyed blonde hair peeking out the back. I felt I had quickly recovered, but judging by the amusement in his dark eyes he had noticed my gawking. As soon as he had signed for his packages I was gone.

I had delivered to the man named Bushi several more times in the past month. We only spoke the most cursory of words to each other, greetings and small talk, yet I had developed a crush on the mysterious man. I was curious about the masks he wore, a different one every time I saw him, and why he wore them. About once a week I was at his door delivering several packages. For the first time I was curious as to what was in the packages of one of my clients. They all came from the same place (I peeked even though it was against regulations) and let my mind wander to all the things that could be contained therein.

Today I was earlier than usual, my route being altered to accommodate another client. I didn’t think it would be a big issue, as clients were aware we could deliver any time after 8:00am. He was usually quick to answer, but today I stood on the doorstep knocking insistently and sweating in the unseasonable warmth as I waited for him to answer. I knew he was home. I could see his car parked in the driveway. Just as I was about to give up I saw a light flicker on in the window above the door and the curtains move. I felt bad as I had obviously awoken him, but I had deliveries to make. Knocking again I waited, shifting from foot to foot until the door was flung open.

Then I found myself staring into a bare chest. A very muscular bare chest leading to a flat stomach and boxer briefs that hugged him like an extra skin. My breathing hitched in my throat as my eyes traveled over the very clear bulge of his cock, those spandex briefs outlining every glorious inch of his huge dick.

Bushi clearing his throat jerked from my daze, my eyes flying to meet his rather unamused ones.

“Are you going to stare at me all day or are you going to deliver my packages?” Bushi asked in irritation. I didn’t get the chance to answer as from deep inside the house Bushi’s phone rang making him mutter a nasty curse. “Bring them inside.” He ordered sharply before disappearing down the hallway.

I hesitated briefly, the rules of my company strictly prohibiting entering client’s properties, but my curiosity got the better of me. Pulling the handcart with his boxes into the entry, I followed his path following his voice to what turned out to be the kitchen.

I couldn’t keep my eyes off him as he stood with his back to me, my eyes memorizing every inch of it. How was a back so sexy? I could make out the lines from his sheets pressed into his skin which had me thinking of him lying in bed. Swallowing heavily I forced myself to look away, roaming my gaze over his kitchen tuning out his conversation as I made note of all the fancy gadgets littering Bushi’s counters. My attention was drawn back to the man in question as he pulled a coffee cup from the cupboard and placed it in the single cup brewer. The smell of coffee filled the air as Bushi shuffled around the kitchen, still talking in low tones to whoever was on the phone. I followed him with my eyes, lingering on the curve of his tight ass as he bent over to pull sugar from one of the lower cupboards.

I blushed when he turned around and caught me staring once again, but this time he didn’t look angry. Instead the corner of his lips twitched and a calculating gleam settled in his eyes as they roamed over my body.

“I’ve got to go.” He said into the phone, disconnecting the call and returning his attention to the coffee maker.

“I wasn’t sure where you wanted these,” I said trying to regain some professional footing, waving my hand at the boxes as he approached. Bringing the cup to his lips Bushi took a sip keeping his dark eyes focused on me as he leaned against the counter. I was hyper aware of how close he was, mere feet away. Just a step or two would have me in his arms.

“Did you just want me to drop them and leave, or I could take them wherever you want, or maybe just in the entrance way…I just wasn’t sure.” I trailed off as he continued drinking his coffee and letting me ramble on.

“I make you nervous.” He said when I was finally silent, not asking but telling.

“A little.” I admitted.

“Why?” Bushi asked reaching to set his cup on the counter he was leaning against.

“I mean, you’re standing there looking like pure sex, in those tight little shorts that leave nothing to the imagination and its completely inappropriate for me to be in here with you in nothing but your underwear looking like you just tumbled out of the sack and I’m a woman and I can’t help but notice how sexy you are and my minds a mess. I can’t think straight with you.” I said. Well, I certainly hadn’t intended to say all that, but now my words hung heavy in the air and I just wanted to run from his house and forget about ever delivering to him again.

As I was going to make my great escape, intent on abandoning my cart and chocking it up to a loss I would pay for out of my own pocket Bushi reached out and grabbed my arm, a gentle tug pulling me against his chest. My hands flew up in surprise landing on his bare skin and I stared up with wide eyes as his hands went to my hips and pulled me close to his body. He didn’t say a word as he shifted us around, my back now pressed to the counter ledge. Our eyes were locked together as his hands went to the waist of my pants. I should have objected as he began unbuckling them and sliding the pants down my legs, but I was past the point of caring. I would worry later about the ramifications of what I was doing. In this moment I wanted nothing more than Bushi. My panties soon joined my pants in a pool at my feet and I squeaked as Bushi lifted me up effortlessly and sat me on the counter. I swallowed hard as he grinned and pressed a kiss to my lips before dropping to his knees. The counters were just low enough for his face to be lined up perfectly with my pussy and anticipation raced through me as Bushi brought his face closer to my sex.

His shoulders pushed my legs apart and spread my pussy for him as he leaned in. His lips were soft as they touched my flesh, pressing a kiss to the quickly dampening skin then flicking his tongue lightly over my clit. His slow light touches had me moaning in no time, teasing me mercilessly as I wanted more as he masterfully worked me into a frenzy. I cried out when he finally quit with the teasing and dove in, his tongue making long firm strokes through my slit as my hips bucked against his mouth. My thighs tightened around his head as he buried his tongue in my head, Bushi’s hand moving up so his fingers could tease and pluck at my clit while he tongue fucked me.

Palms flat on the countertop I pushed my hips into Bushi’s face as he stroked me with his tongue, my panting growing louder by the second as he brought me to the brink of orgasm. I whimpered when he pulled his tongue free, grinning up at me as he switched his fingers to my hole, sliding two into me with ease and pumping them hard before bringing his mouth to my clit. I arched with pleasure as he sucked my clit through his teeth, nibbling on the swollen bud and pushing his tongue against it while continuing to fuck me with his fingers. Within seconds I was cumming, screaming loudly as I climaxed bucking against Bushi’s mouth.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand Bushi pushed to his feet. He gently slid me off the counter and helped me step into my panties.

“What about you,” I asked gesturing towards the evident bulge in his boxers.

“You’re already late and I’ve got somewhere to be. You’ll make it up to me next time.” Bushi said grabbing my clipboard and signing with a flourish before grabbing his boxes.

Then he ushered me out the door, pressing a kiss to my lips and smacking my ass when I turned to head down the steps. The door closed behind me and I walked to my car in a daze, loading up the hand cart and climbing in. As I pulled away I grinned. That wasn’t how I had planned to start my morning, but it was a definite upgrade.

#bushi fanfic #bushi imagine #njpw fanfic #Wrestling Fanfic #mywriting #ghostofviperwrites

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bohemianrhapsody86 · 5 years

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200 Things About Me (originally 200 Things You Can Put In My Ask)

I got this off of @rami-malek-trash - don’t know who the original poster was, sorry if it’s you. I’m bored and cramping and no one usually sends me asks anyway, so I’m just going to answer all of these myself

200: My crush’s name is: Drew (Now boyfriend, but he was my middle school crush) 199: I was born in: 1986 198: I am really: cool 197: My cellphone company is: T-Mobile 196: My eye color is: green 195: My shoe size is: 9.5/10 194: My ring size is: 9/10 193: My height is: 5′6″ 192: I am allergic to: Nothing 191: My 1st car was: 2001 PT Cruiser 190: My 1st job was: Server at a local pizzeria 189: Last book you read: Startalk: Everything You Ever Need to Know About Space Travel, Sci-Fi, the Human Race, the Universe, and Beyond by Neil DeGrasse Tyson 188: My bed is: Not very comfortable. I need a new mattress, but I need a job first. 187: My pet: A siamese cat named Chico. 186: My best friend: Amanda 185: My favorite shampoo is: I like using Aussie 2-in-1, I also like using Shimmer Lights occasionally so I can keep my gray hairs nice and shiny. 184: Xbox or ps3: PS3 183: Piggy banks are: Cool. I have one that counts my change lol 182: In my pockets: Nothing because they hate putting usable pockets in women’s pants. 181: On my calendar: I marked where I started my period yesterday, and my boyfriends 32nd birthday is next Tuesday. 180: Marriage is: Something I want everyone to have the option for if they want it. 179: Spongebob can: use his imagination 178: My mom: is amazing! 177: The last three songs I bought were? Cool and Sucker by The Jonas Brothers, Don’t really buy many singles, just albums if I’m interested and their cheap. 176: Last YouTube video watched: Brooke Candy - Paper or Plastic 175: How many cousins do you have? Too many to remember 174: Do you have any siblings? Yes, an older brother and older half-sister. 173: Are your parents divorced? Yes, they divorced back in 1999 172: Are you taller than your mom? Yes. We used to be the same height, but gravity has taken a hold of her and squashed her down. 171: Do you play an instrument? I used to play the trombone in middle school, but that was 20 years ago. I’m sure if I ever got my hands on one again, I might remember a scale or two. 170: What did you do yesterday? Went around town job hunting and then bought a maxi dress at a local craft store. [ I Believe In ] 169: Love at first sight:Yes 168: Luck: Yes 167: Fate: Yes 166: Yourself: Sometimes 165: Aliens: Yes 164: Heaven: Yes and No 163: Hell: We live there now. 162: God: No 161: Horoscopes: Yes 160: Soul mates: Yes 159: Ghosts: Yes 158: Gay Marriage: Yes 157: War: No 156: Orbs: Yes/No 155: Magic: Yes [ This or That ] 154: Hugs or Kisses: Kisses 153: Drunk or High: High 152: Phone or Online: Online 151: Red heads or Black haired: Black haired 150: Blondes or Brunettes: Brunette 149: Hot or cold: Cold 148: Summer or winter: Winter 147: Autumn or Spring: Autumn 146: Chocolate or vanilla:Chocolate 145: Night or Day: Night 144: Oranges or Apples: Apples 143: Curly or Straight hair: Curly 142: McDonalds or Burger King: McDonalds 141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: Milk Chocolate 140: Mac or PC: PC 139: Flip flops or high heals: Flip Flops 138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: Sweet and Poor 137: Coke or Pepsi: Always been a Pepsi girl 136: Hillary or Obama: Obama 135: Burried or cremated: Cremated and turned into a tree or my ashes made into a vinyl 134: Singing or Dancing: Singing 133: Coach or Chanel: Neither 132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: Katherine McPhee 131: Small town or Big city: Small Town 130: Wal-Mart or Target: Target 129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: Ben Stiller 128: Manicure or Pedicure: Mani 127: East Coast or West Coast: East Coast - never been to the West Coast 126: Your Birthday or Christmas: Birthday because it sometimes falls on Thanksgiving. 125: Chocolate or Flowers: Chocolate 124: Disney or Six Flags: Disney 123: Yankees or Red Sox: Neither, Cubbies til the day I die. [ Here’s What I Think About ] 122: War: Pointless 121: George Bush: Better than the asshat in office now. 120: Gay Marriage: If I can get married to my boyfriend, the my friend Jerry should be able to get married to his boyfriend, Josh. 119: The presidential election: I hate that orange buffoon. 118: Abortion: I’m pro-choice. 117: MySpace: Always had trouble figuring out my Top 8 and what background I wanted to use. 116: Reality TV: Only thing I really watch are cooking competitions. Those are the only ones that matter. Not a fan of the Kardashians or the Bachelor/ette bullcrap. 115: Parents: My mom is amazing, my ‘dad’ was never really there. 114: Back stabbers: Asshats 113: Ebay: Hardly use it. 112: Facebook: Good to stay in touch with people you want to/some of the groups on there are awesome. 111: Work: Don’t have a job as of yet. *keeps fingers crossed I hear back from someone soon* 110: My Neighbors: Loud AF and nasty. I live in an apartment and the neighbors upstairs have so many kids and animals up there it’s ridiculous. I wish they’d leave. 109: Gas Prices: Ridiculous, but not as bad as I’ve seen it before. 108: Designer Clothes: Meh, not my style unless I find something in my size at Goodwill. 107: College: Been there, done that. Not really for me. Never graduated. 106: Sports: I like watching them, mainly baseball and basketball. The NFL can go fuck themselves. 105: My family: Love my blood relatives and my chosen family. 104: The future: It’s so bright, I gotta wear shades. [ Last time I ] 103: Hugged someone: last night when my boyfriend came over and brought me my phone charger. 102: Last time you ate: An hour ago. 101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: At my bestie’s baby shower. 100: Cried in front of someone: Sometime last week 99: Went to a movie theater: When Endgame came out 98: Took a vacation: 2010 97: Swam in a pool: A few summers ago 96: Changed a diaper: 2007? 95: Got my nails done: 2007? 94: Went to a wedding: 1999 93: Broke a bone: Never *keeps fingers crossed* 92: Got a peircing: 2012? 91: Broke the law: I probably broke the speed limit yesterday at some point. 90: Texted: about 2am this morning. [ MISC ] 89: Who makes you laugh the most: My bestie Amanda and boyfriend Drew 88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: my cat. 87: The last movie I saw: Ant-Man 86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: getting a job 85: The thing im not looking forward to: Interviewing for a job 84: People call me: loyal 83: The most difficult thing to do is: finding a job 82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: Yep, 77 in a 55. 81: My zodiac sign is: Sun - Sagittarius, Moon - Leo

80: The first person i talked to today was: If you count texting my boyfriend at 2am, then him. 79: First time you had a crush: Sometime in Elemetary School. 78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: my mom 77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: yesterday 76: Right now I am talking to: myself 75: What are you going to do when you grow up: I have no clue 74: I have/will get a job: soon 73: Tomorrow: Never Comes 72: Today: Is the day 71: Next Summer: Not here 70: Next Weekend: I have no clue 69: I have these pets: 12 year old 17 lb cat named Striper. 68: The worst sound in the world: My cat hacking up a hairball. 67: The person that makes me cry the most is: myself 66: People that make you happy: my mom, brother, sister-in-law, boyfriend, best friend. 65: Last time I cried: sometime last week 64: My friends are: amazing 63: My computer is: pretty cool and loaded up with Sims stuff. 62: My School: I don’t go to school anymore. 61: My Car: gets me there. 60: I lose all respect for people who: disrespect me or my loved one. 59: The movie I cried at was: Endgame 58: Your hair color is: salt & pepper 57: TV shows you watch: Legends of Tomorrow, Worst Cooks in America, Any cooking show really. 56: Favorite web site: Tumblr 55: Your dream vacation: Somewhere away from my town 54: The worst pain I was ever in was: when I had that ovarian cyst. 53: How do you like your steak cooked: medium 52: My room is: messy 51: My favorite celebrity is: too many to list 50: Where would you like to be: in bed 49: Do you want children: nope 48: Ever been in love: yes 47: Who’s your best friend: Amanda 46: More guy friends or girl friends: About the same. 45: One thing that makes you feel great is: music 44: One person that you wish you could see right now: my grandma 43: Do you have a 5 year plan: I don’t even have a 5 minute plan 42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: Kinda, not really 41: Have you pre-named your children: Nope 40: Last person I got mad at: The Dump, but that’s a daily thing. 39: I would like to move to: out of the US 38: I wish I was a professional: crocheter/crafter [ My Favorites ] 37: Candy: Butterfinger Cups 36: Vehicle: Don’t really have one 35: President: Barack Obama 34: State visited: Pennsylvania 33: Cellphone provider: Always been with T-Mobile 32: Athlete: Anthony Rizzo 31: Actor: Tom Hanks 30: Actress: Sandra Bullock 29: Singer: Freddie Mercury 28: Band: Queen 27: Clothing store: Lane Bryant 26: Grocery store: Aldi 25: TV show: Don’t really have one 24: Movie: Too many to count 23: Website: This black hole of a site 22: Animal: Cat 21: Theme park: Don’t really have one. I did enjoy Six Flags over Georgia when I went back in 2002. Dollywood is always fun but it’s been even longer than that since I’ve been there. 20: Holiday: Halloween 19: Sport to watch: Baseball 18: Sport to play: Nothing. 17: Magazine: Entertainment Weekly 16: Book: Harry Potter 15: Day of the week: Thursday 14: Beach: Virginia Beach 13: Concert attended: Jonas Brothers in VA Beach 12: Thing to cook: bacon 11: Food: bacon 10: Restaurant: Hmmm....don’t know that one. 9: Radio station: Classic Hits 102.7...hardly any commercials and they tell you the artist and song title after every song. 70s, 80s, and 90s songs. 8: Yankee candle scent: Don’t have one 7: Perfume: The scented oils from a local curiosity shop have some of my fave scents. 6: Flower: Iris 5: Color: Blue 4: Talk show host: Jimmy Fallon 3: Comedian: I’ve got several 2: Dog breed: Corgi 1: Did you answer all these truthfully? Yes.

#personal #200 things about me #bored #cramping #I need some sleep but can't sleep #period brain

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munro71munro-blog · 5 years

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bestseocompanybsc · 5 years

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING SHOULD BE PART OF YOUR ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY

Internet marketing depends on your ability to take advantage of multiple sites and spread yourself around as much as possible, while still retaining a legitimacy of profile and interest, i.e., posting nonsense or sales pitches won’t cut it. It’s important to understand that the more information about your company there is on the internet, the more potential business you can create. Your efforts will be greatly rewarded in the long term. Posting once or twice or even five times isn’t the right game plan. Posting every week or even more frequently is, as long as the content is meaningful. There are some techniques, or “tricks”, to expand your presence that are easy to implement and will pay huge dividends.

Open accounts and set up pages on the four major social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn (if your products and services relate to business), or Pinterest if you are focused on the consumer market. A new player, Nextdoor.com, has appeared and we are finding excellent response to that site; it’s not in all markets yet and some types of business may find it unappealing, but for retail, the trades, and other consumer areas, it is excellent.

A big part of your message is your website itself. After all, when people see your post, ideally, they will click through to your website to “Read More…” or to see if you have something they may be interested in. So, ensuring that your website is an attractive vehicle for introduction to your company is important. A few simple reminders:mer market. A new player, Nextdoor.com, has appeared and we are finding excellent response to that site; it’s not in all markets yet and some types of business may find it unappealing, but for retail, the trades, and other consumer areas, it is excellent.our major social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn (if your products and services relate to business), or Pinterest if you are focused on the consu

• It should be visually attractive. If your site hasn’t been redesigned in the last five years, that’s too long and it should be overhauled to reflect the latest trends and marketing nuances, and it needs to be responsive (if you’re not sure what that is, it’s definitely time. Page load speed, SSL security, etc. all need to be reviewed. • If your site is using AJAX or Flash, they need to be replaced. In their day, these technologies helped produce attractive sites, but those days are gone, and those technologies are no longer useful. • Placing your products and services into visual boxes or adding attractive lists is important. Ideally, a viewer can see and click through to their area of interest in one click. • Having strong “call to action” prompts is vital; phone number at the top, isolated “Contact” button or simple form visible is important (check your mobile version to make sure the phone number appears right at the top. Likely 70% or more of your viewer/searchers is using a smartphone!).

The first impression is very important, so make sure it is a good one (we have actually doubled and tripled conversion rates by redesigning the pages or creating new landing pages). Customers who visit your website for the first time are generally looking for something specific or want to see what you have to offer (but keep in mind they will “visually inspect”, not read, to determine if you offer something they want). Making your home page (where approximately 70% of viewers/searchers land) will help form their opinion of your company and your products and services. Enabling these viewers to “find their way” and understand what you stand for is vitally important.

So, back to posting. What will you post? Two simple rules: one, make it topical, i.e., something the viewer might be interested in right now; and, two, focus, focus, focus. You always have a second audience, the search engines, so you want to focus on important keywords for your business and include “keyword phrases” in whatever you write. Your article or post can help you connect with members of your target audience. As you become adept at using social media, you’ll find it easier to customize your postings and accommodate your audience (actually both audiences, if you include the search engines). Use the tips provided in this article to boost business; success with your Internet marketing efforts/activities.

A good source for determining what is topical is to use Google Trends. It will list subject matter and how many people are searching for that topic. Topics do not have to be about your business, i.e. if you’re a roofing company, an article about improved roadways or a recent community event can be a good topic. You can introduce your roofing services in the last paragraph pointing out you’re local and ready to evaluate their roofs or any leaking issues.

Being active on social media will increase your customer base, but it is not necessarily a “short term” game. On important aspect is for you to gain followers, likes, and even email addresses. These can be used for sales and “push” notifications. These people are an important source of future business. Allowing your customers an opportunity to leave feedback others will see is kind of an online "word of mouth".

Two ideas for expanding your potential or “reach” was mentioned. Here they are:

1. Use IFTTT (www.ifttt.com) to automatically generate abstracts from your article postings on your website. If you’re not familiar with IFTTT, we can work with you to set it up. This will allow you to automatically repost to 20-30 social media sites when you post something on your website (this article is being reposted on that basis). This will geometrically expand your reach.

2. Identify and repost into Facebook groups. You can find groups of several hundred members to hundreds of thousands of group members (and these members in turn can repost to their followers who can number in the hundreds to tens of thousands). Lok for affinity groups, i.e., people who live in your area, people who use your products or services, organizations that cater to people who utilize your products or services.

Hopefully this information is useful. Social media marketing isn’t necessarily difficult, but it can be time consuming. We would be glad to discuss with you acting as your social media representative. It’s not terribly expensive, as little as $500 a month, and it removes the burden from your shoulders. The results, long-term, are worth it.

You should re-evaluate your website on a periodic basis. Again, your website is the first impression many of your prospects will form about your company. See how we can help.

Looking at, and analyzing, what your competitors are doing is a useful exercise and can lead to meaningful insights. Include their websites, keywords, and postings in your review. If you can determine what they are doing that you are not, it is the first step for improving your marketing efforts. Also, where you see gaps in their marketing strategy can provide insights into what you might want to emphasize to build on the advantage that you have.

The post SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING SHOULD BE PART OF YOUR ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY appeared first on Best SEO Company.

source https://bestseocompany.info/social-media-marketing-strategy/

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jane-wei · 5 years

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3am bordem

1 Favorite place to be?

A quiet cinema with a massive screen

2 Something I can never live without?

Water

3 Hobbies that I’ll never give up?

baking

4 Three words to describe me?

Proffestional, day dreamer, loyal

5 My biggest fear?

ebaressment

6 What makes me angry?

ignorance towards others

7 My inspiration?

creativity and passion of others

8 Favorite wild animal? Why?

any big cats, because they literally are just big cats

9 Favorite food?

pizza, always

10 First memory of life?

probably playing with lego and having my dad make me spaceships out of lego

11 The best advice I got?

write every day

12 Where do I see myself in 10 years?

hopfully own my own flat or house, maybe running my own production company, maybe acting in some plays

13 Books reading these days?

im not a big reader, but when i read i read loads, i must read DUNE soon

14 The fictional character I want to be?

Luke Skywalker

15 My hidden talents?

quiet farts

16 Favorite type of music?

electronic or classical, if its both at the same time its magic

17 When do I feel happy?

when things are going right for collegues or loved ones

18 Which song would I like to hear to be happy?

duran duran ordinary world

19 My favourite word in English?

surety

20 My favorite word in Spanish?

da nada, that count as two?

21 Top 3 things on my bucket list?

visit hobbiton, sky diving, meet mark hamill

22 The most heard song in 2017?

redbone by childish gambino

23 Last book you’ve read?

probably a comic book or an excerpt from a book on how to direct actors

24 Favorite quote?

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.

J.R.R. Tolkien

25 If I had a superpower what would it be?

Creating objects, although that has a lot of responsibility, but it would end world hunger

26 Favorite sport?

rugby, its the only one id watch begining to end, but to play definatly badmington, brutal game

27 Biggest Dream?

be a jedi

28 Favorite Singer?

the chap who won x factor uk last year, Dalton Harris, that guy can create magic

29 Favourite Cusine?

italian

30 A positive quality about me?

I want to know what you have to say, i might get nervous at the answer or speaking other people in general but im interested

31 A negative quality about me?

push down my self confidence

32 Best place I’ve visited?

brecon beacons in wales

33 When do I laugh the most?

when something is funny, but also breaking through social conventions in a dark kinda way, nothing insulting just a little dark here and there

34 When do I get creative?

when travelling, trains and buses are great, but only when i can see a wide vista, so trains goign through the countryside are ideal, or in a creative soace with othe rlike minded creatives. enough of creativity for now eh?

35 Favorite lyrics?

nothing overlly specific, but i like Plan B’s stuff, Radiohead always do somethign interesting, A Tribe Called Quest are geniuses with words

36 The most scary thing I’ve done?

confront people, its tough, especially when you know something has to be resolved by words and talking

37 Biggest accomplished achievement?

going to film school, something i thought was impossible for a working class lad like me

38 What am I horrible at?

not keeping healthy

39 Favorite book genres?

sci fi and fantasy for sure

40 Any adventurous thing I want to do?

travel

41 Something I would like to try?

sports, i feel that if i was encouraged at school in sports id be a real jockey

42 Optimistic or pessimistic?

depends on the day, optimistic is the goal, that way your always looking up

43 Favorite TV show host?

Mel and Sue, old school bake off

44 A talent I want to acquire?

playing the violin and anoy other musical instrument i can egt my hands on

45 Something from my childhood that I still have?

1 teddy bear and 1 fluffy teddy style cat, those are going to be family heirlooms

46 If I had a chance to change something what would it be?

death of family members, but you cant dwell on such things, itll drive you mad

47 What would I do to calm myself?

music and cleaning

48 When do you find yourself singing?

while out walking or home alone

49 What do I consider unforgivable?

any attack on others, physical, psycological, verbal, insinuated

50 Have I ever sleepwalked?

as a kid yes but not since, if i did id definatly wear some kind of body camera and find out where id go

51 If I got a chance to go somewhere, where will it be?

everywhere, every continant at least 5 times

52 What is my dream career?

feature film writer/director

53 An impossible wish?

a real lightsaber

54 Who is my greatest role model?

i like elders who are accepting of others and those who take great joy in heling others

55 If I could live in any home on a television series, what would it be?

does the U.S.S ENTERPRISE count?

56 Favorite song currently?

Tiny Dancer by Elton John

57 Advice to people?

try to be understanding of others, dont put yourself or your skills down, make every day count, give yourself some credit for what youve done so far, make sure you get a little tlc every now and again

58 How do you handle jetlag?

sleep

59 Describe your style?

nerd

60 Favorite makeup product?

i dont use any, but i do get asked if i use mascara, all natural

61 What’s a guilty pleasure you have?

early naughties action movies, Van Heling with Hugh Jackman the main culprit

62 Favorite Star Wars Character?

The crew of the Ghost, you could never pick one over the other

63 Any pet peeve?

laughs with high pitches

64 If you could die your hair, what color would it be?

red

65 What’s your schedule these days?

in need of a job so a lot of job hunting, school is 2 days a week(ish) got a few writing jobs so putting pen to paper, need to start learnig lines for a play in the summer

66 Have you ever cut your own hair?

only the fringe and i didnt think it was that bad but when i got into school EVERYONE laughed #embaressmentismykryptonite

67 Who’s your style icon?

my friend zach, simple gorgeous colors

68 Do you consider yourself a good liar?

if the lie is a simple one

69 Favorite movies as a child?

star wars, star trek, lord of the rings, predator which i watched way before i was supposed to, i was also in the spy kids generation

70 Last show you’ve binge watched?

star wars rebels and the eric andre show

71 First toy you’ve had?

probably my teddies, but i do remember having star wars actions figures and lego very early on