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5-seconds-of-bucky · 3 years

Text

Undertow (IV)

CH IV: Market Moments

Word count: 3.8k

Warnings: none

Listen to the audio version here!

Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3

Shawn felt slight guilt for letting the fib glide so smoothly off of his tongue. He and every other native to the town knew the market stands would have a slim chance of selling cheeseballs. Shawn knew not only because he works there, but also because he found the clear tub of the snack at an actual grocery store.

But the fib was worth it in his eyes. It resulted in Y/N running amuck in a quest for the orange snack, asking any patron she ran into where she could find some. Shawn just kept chuckling at her from his designated stand, apron tied around his waist. Anytime Brian noticed his employee’s lack of concentration during the beginning of the shift he would remind him in a stern tone to “keep your eyes on the bananas, not the girl.” And any bystander would have thought that comment triggered Shawn’s immediate tensing muscles and nostrils, flaring like a bull.

His employer knew, though, comments like those never put Shawn on edge like that. Brian’s eyes followed the young man’s gaze to see the same Y/N Shawn had introduced him to earlier that day. It was the stranger chatting her up, with his shoulder against one of the wooden beams nearby, that caught his attention. Based on the fuming reaction of the one beside him, the man piqued Shawn’s interest just as much. His sandy blonde hair and all-too-tight shirt made Shawn think to himself, why not just tattoo try-hard on your forehead?

“Jealous much?” Brian mumbles beside Shawn’s ear, resulting in a surprised yelp from the proximity. Though his emotions were undeniable, he refused them anyway.

“M’not.” Crossing his arms over his torso, Brian immediately patted one of his biceps in an attempt to bring them down.

“Don’t look so angry. Customers will think you’re unapproachable,” he hisses. Shawn obeys for the sake of his paycheck but refrains from straying his eyes from the two for long. Any customer who wanted assistance purchasing an item or had a question they demanded Shawn answer, the boy would only spare eye contact with them for fifty percent of the conversation.

“It’s been fifteen minutes. What could he possibly be talking about with her?”

Brian hums. “People talk about lots of things. Who knows, maybe they’re finding they have lots in common.” Shawn only scoffs at this.

“Please,” she’s a walking mermaid talking to a mooching lifeguard, Shawn thinks, “they have nothing in common.”

“Okay, how long can you hold your breath for?” Wesley’s lips form a devious smirk as the question leaves them. Y/N’s lips can only part, losing all acts of shaping anything near an answer. Her mind suffices a simple “just a while” seconds later, hoping it wasn’t too vague to beckon more questions. Lucky for her, it seems Wesley has a knack for caring more about the response to his own questions rather than hers. This was nothing new to Y/N, who did in fact, grow up with her father as a parent.

“My record is six minutes and fourteen seconds. It’s on my bucket list to beat the world record: twenty-two minutes and twenty-two seconds. I know it’s ambitious, but…” frankly, Y/N is growing bored of the conversation. As guilty as it sounds, she saw no point in speaking to Wesley when she would vanish from his world in a few days and head off to...somewhere else.

“Hey, let me ask you something,” she breaks off Wesley’s incessant chatting with a small smile and does not wait for his go-ahead to continue. “If you could go live anywhere on Earth, where would it be?” Wesley’s lips form a small ring as a strange, high-pitched tone leaves them. Y/N stands with wide-eyes and is too afraid to ask what that was or where it came from, deciding to stay silent.

“Does it have to be real, or can it be mythical?”

“I mean…preferably real, but--”

“Because my father always told me these stories when I was younger about this place on Earth. He claimed society was so different down there compared to the one on land, that he called it a world in our world.”

“D-down there?” Y/N responds in a meek voice, eyebrows raising.

“Yeah...Atlantis. You’ve heard the stories too, I’m assuming.”

“I mean...I’ve only seen it in that movie about the fish girl.”

“The mermaid,” he corrects.

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Well, my dad described it differently. He said that their kingdom was built and crafted from a sunken city. Even after seeing it demolished and crumbled, the Atlanteans knew they could transform it into something incredible. And he went on about all these abilities they have, like how their eyes adjust naturally to the darkness of the water, how they have this innate connection to marine life and can communicate with any sea animal that crosses their path; they don’t even need to hold their breaths underwater!”

“Sounds like your father was a great storyteller…” Y/N chuckles nervously, eyes darting to the passing bystanders who continue giving Wesley concerning looks. Her blood was quickly running cold in fear of finding somebody with similar, piercing eyes Wesley’s father probably mentioned too.

“That’s the thing. My father might have been good at telling stories, but he is a horrible liar. I remember the fourth time asking him how Santa Claus could get into our house with no chimney and a locked door he could not come up with an answer and told me it was a myth. The same thing happened when I asked why we had to buy eggs when the Easter Bunny got millions for free. And when I asked how the Tooth Fairy had access to all the printing presses to international currencies without being arrested, he got upset with me...told me I was too smart for my own good.”

Y/N is slowly becoming baffled by the precarious names he is throwing out and decides to let him continue. Drawing any suspicion to herself due to confusion over well-known characters of the land-walkers is the last thing she needs.

“But, when it came to talking about Atlantis, he never seemed to run out of details. Any question I asked about it, he always seemed to have an answer for. I would ask more about it now because everything inside of me is telling me it’s a real place. But...I’m scared if I confront my dad about it…”

“He’ll tell you it’s fake.” Y/N pieces the end together for him. His lopsided smile slowly turns into that of a frown, earning a sympathetic gaze from Y/N. “Well, I don’t know how credible I am as a stranger, but…” She lifts a hand to rest on Wesley’s shoulder, “I think your father is right. You are too smart for your own good...and I think if such a place were to exist, there would be more evidence of it.” Wesley nods but soon pauses, becoming entranced by Y/N’s sincere gaze.

“What’s wrong?” Her voice demands.

“Huh? Oh, nothing you just,” he clears his throat, “you have really pretty eyes.”

The orbs he was transfixed on moments before widen at this compliment. All at once, her mind rewinds itself to replay this afternoon with Shawn; his curls tickling her neck, the chuckle in his throat vibrating against her and her ruining their “moment”, a word she has yet to find a clear definition on. She also replays Connor’s entrance and comments about Shawn looking near ready to lock lips with her or be her utter demise through suffocation. Either activity sounded both passionate and intimate in a way Y/N was unclear about wanting with Wesley.

“Oh,” she whispers, dropping her arm from his shoulder in a haste.

“I-I’m sorry, that was awkward,” Wesley apologizes.

“No, no it’s alright. I just...I don’t want you to choke me,” she blurts, earning a few puzzled stares from those around them.

“What?”

“Or kiss me. Or...I don’t know, whatever happens in these moments.”

“Moments?” One of Wesley’s brows arch.

“Yes, a moment. Was that a moment? Because I think I just had my first one today and I’m not sure how--”

“Hey, Y/N, breathe.” He reaches both hands out to take her by the shoulders, quickly demonstrating a deep inhale and long exhale. She follows, mimicking his timed breaths down to the second. “It doesn’t have to be a moment if you don’t want it to be.” She nods, slowing her quick breaths and throwing a glance over her shoulder subconsciously for a quick peruse at Shawn’s figure behind the wooden stand. She smiles to herself, seeing his concentrating frame bend and twist meticulously to stack the bunches of bananas to perfection.

“Was it with Shawn?” Wesley asks. Y/N looks back toward him, pulling her brows together.

“Was…”

“Your moment. It was with Shawn, wasn’t it?”

“I..uh…” Her cheeks begin glowing red upon being caught.

“Hey, I’m not going to be upset.” He shakes his head, blonde streaks falling against his eyelashes. “Mendes and I might be tough on the water, but…” He takes his hands off of her shoulders, “I could never hate the dude enough to take his girl.” Y/N spares Wesley a grateful smile.

“Thank you.” She mumbles, preparing to pivot and return to Shawn’s stand.

“Oh, wait, Y/N--” the girl’s head turns back, humming.

“Where would you go, if you had the chance?” His question makes her eyes flicker down in thought, a pondering silence filling the air around the two.

“I’m not sure, actually. I don’t know if there is a place that could live up to this…” Through her answer, Wesley’s eyes met Shawn’s above her shoulder. Realizing he’d been caught, Shawn turned his body away, the feeling of dejection consuming his insides by the sight of his savior and worst enemy conversing.

“Well, just know a lot of people would miss you here if you left. More than just me,” he says, pressing a palm against his chest. Y/N looks behind her once more, only to be met with Shawn’s back.

“He would especially miss you.”

Another fond smile crawls onto her lips as she thanks Wesley again. When she turns to retreat to Shawn and Brian, the sinking feeling Wesley was awaiting inside of him felt more like a hot air balloon running off of helium than it did a whale with an anchor. As he begins walking in the opposite direction, sparing cursory glances at some of the products or swim trunks he walks past, his phone begins blaring its ringtone. He is stunned to pull it out and to be met with a pixelated version of his father and the name “DAD” overtaking the screen. Did his father finally keep his promise?

“Dad, hey!” The young man greets with exuberance.

“Hey, son. Finally got some free time…” Ripley announces at a regular volume. Hidden in between a few displays, he peers at Wesley slowly drifting from the curious girl, who was now speaking to an associate and pointing to the yellow fruits between them. “Tell me, how is it going? Did you win that surfing contest?”

“Yeah, but it kind of sucked to win now that I think about it. One of the other guys got really hurt.”

“Eh, I’m sure he’ll be fine. That’s what a rookie gets for going up against my son!” he barks a laugh. “I bet that trophy won you a couple of girls’ attention, huh?” Wesley gulps.

“I mean...not really--”

“Don’t lie to me, son. I can hear how lovesick you are. What’s her name?”

“Are you almost done yet?” Y/N groaned after Shawn finished up with a customer. She was sitting in a chair Shawn found under their table, picking at her nails in hopes that something interesting would happen.

“We’ve got another hour before we close up but then we have to put everything away so it’ll probably be an hour and 45 minutes before we can leave.” He shot her a smile as she dramatically slumped in the chair.

“They didn’t even have cheeseballs! I wasted half my day asking people if they had cheeseballs and they looked at me like I was insane.”

“Gee, I wonder why.”

Y/N rolled her eyes. She couldn’t help that she wanted the orange delicacy and in her opinion, these people were insane for not having it. “Just shut up and do your work so we can get out of here faster.”

“You’re so bossy.”

“I know what I want. Can you blame me?”

Shawn turned his back to her, opting to ignore her complaints instead of feed the fire.

“So you’re ignoring me now? Rude.”

He tried his best to keep the laugh in.

“That’s fine. I’ll find someone else to talk to.” She stood up and brushed off her pants, purposely bumping Shawn in the shoulder as she walked past. He reached out to grab her arms before she could get too far, forcing her to stop and turn around to look at him. “What, scared I’m going to find someone else to buy me cheeseballs?”

“Just stay safe.” There had been something nagging at his gut since he saw her with Wesley earlier and he was wary to let her out of his sight since then.

“Okay?” She gave him a funny look. “I’ll stay safe, no need to worry. Trust me, I know how to take care of myself.” It didn’t make Shawn feel much better but he let go of her anyways.

She walked off, only looking back once to shoot him a wink. He could only shake his head as he went back to work, wondering how it had been only one day and he was already infatuated with this girl.

Y/N walked around from table to table, actually taking the time to look at the contents this time. She didn’t have any money, as she found out earlier that day, but she still enjoyed looking at what each stand had to offer.

She looked around for a while before one stand in particular caught her eye. It was pushed back in a darker corner of the marketplace that people would probably miss if they weren’t paying attention.

She approached the table slowly, making sure to not startle the person running it, who seemed to be asleep in their chair. The table was decorated in an array of beachy looking stones and jewelry.

The person woke in her presence, sitting up and pushing their sunglasses up on their nose. “Why hello there.”

Y/N smiled at them, suddenly offset by their demeanor. She kept her gaze on the trinkets on the table, running her fingers over the symbols imprinted in them. Some posed a striking resemblance to the things she could find in her jewelry back home. Or, what used to be home.

“See something you like?”

“Yeah, they look a lot like-” She stopped herself, realizing that she almost revealed her identity.

“Like what?” They leaned forward, urging her to go on.

“Just, uh, something I saw in the store the other day.”

“You know,” They leaned back, crossing their arms over their chest. “Some say these came from Atlantis. Straight from the room of the princess.”

“Oh really?” She forced a laugh, retracting her hand to her chest. “Won’t the princess be upset that her things were taken?”

“She lives there no more. Ran away from an arranged marriage and was never found. I’m sure she cares very little about what happens to her old possessions.”

“That makes sense.” Her voice was so quiet she almost didn’t hear herself.

“Please, take whatever you’d like. I’ll give it to you, half price.”

“That’s very kind of you, but I can’t.” She looked back to Shawn on the other side of the market, seeing him busy bagging some fruit for a customer.

“Are you sure? Such a beautiful girl deserves beautiful jewelry. Perhaps that boy you’ve been sitting with would want to get you a gift?”

“I really should get going.” Y/N nervously scratched her upper arm. “Thank you though.”

“Always! Come back any time.” They gave her a sly smile and she took a few steps back. “Have a great day.”

“Uh, you too.” She gave a polite smile and nod, turning around and hastily making her way back to Shawn.

The vendor pulled their sunglasses down from their eyes, revealing a pair of piercing green eyes. They pulled out a phone from their back pocket and unlocked it, clicking on the name Ripley in their contacts and bringing the phone to their ear.

Someone picked up at the last second, a gruff “what?” to greet the caller.

“It’s Merlin,” the vendor spoke. “I’ve got eyes on the subjects.”

Shawn’s post-work exhaustion and shopping trip from earlier in the day made heaviness caress his eyelids without complaint. Y/N hoped it would be the same for her, but she felt there was a kickdrum where her heart usually lied and the incessant wriggling of her toes beneath the bedsheets was impossible to control. This night in particular was when the girl felt scared to let sleep wash over her like a high-tide. Various scenarios of her waking up tomorrow without Shawn beside her or not in his bed played in her mind on an unrelenting loop.

The lime green digits on Shawn’s nightstand read 2:23 when the girl surrendered to the endeavor of catching shut-eye and opted for shuffling from beneath the covers and waddling to the kitchen. Despite seeing Shawn lock it earlier that night, she inspects the front door anyway. She does the same with the windows, even going as far as to flip the lock back and forth to build the small sense of security she felt. Even then paranoia still cloaked her mind and hypnotized her to grab the near-empty bin of cheeseballs from the kitchen cabinet and situate herself into a sitting position on the kitchen island, eyes pointed directly at the meager shard between the curtains of the kitchen window.

Slowly, the girl grew disoriented from the lack of sleep and stress harboring her for the last few days. The vision her distressed subconscious conjured is one far more macabre than she could have manifested while awake. Not only did they find her, but they kidnapped Shawn alongside her and drug him down to the depths of the water with no mercy. The scream he elicited when he no longer carried any valuable oxygen was muffled and distraught. Bubbles blurred his face, which, in turn, made tears build beneath Y/N’s eyelids. When she witnessed the facade of him go limp in the guard’s merciless hold and begin sinking, the whimpering pleas for him to wake up and escape quickly morphed to crackling screams.

When she heard his voice break through clear to her, the lids shielding her vision flung open. Immediately, her eyes stung from the contact of the cold air to her hot tears as she observed Shawn and Connor’s perturbed expressions. Glancing down, she found her arms stiff and cradling the bucket of cheeseballs to her chest.

“Uh…” she sits herself up, mimicking the position she was in last night before trying a buoyant tone of voice. “Good morning!”

“Good morning...you alright?” Connor lifts an eyebrow in Y/N’s direction, while Shawn is still lost for words after stumbling into her body tucked inwards and crying out for him.

“I’m good! Just came down for a...late-night snack. I must’ve closed my eyes for a few minutes.” She assures, holding up the plastic bucket for their eyes to study.

“Seems like you were here a little longer than that.” At this comment, she twists her body around and gasps at the numbers on the stove. The numbers 7:04 stared back at her menacingly.

“Woah,” she breathes out, whipping her head back to face Shawn and Connor. “My bad.”

“Were you feeling okay last night?”

“Yes,” she squeaks defensively. “I just...had trouble getting comfortable is all.” Crossing her arms, she refuses to meet Connor’s questioning eyes and Shawn’s features, still locked in place. “I’m going to the bathroom.” Y/N excuses herself in a mumble before sliding off of the counter and scurrying through Shawn’s open bedroom door, shutting it behind her. When a second closing door sounded, Connor looked directly at Shawn’s profile.

“So, you’re not gonna tell her what you heard?” Shawn glanced down to his fingers, picking at his nails.

“Why should I?”

“I mean, if a girl I was into confessed her love for me in her sleep I wouldn’t be standing there keeping quiet.”

And Shawn’s initial reaction was quite the opposite. When Y/N murmured “I love you” followed by his name an undeniable smirk tugged the corner of his lips. The man wasn’t quite sure he felt smitten at the same level, but he could surely reach it. And he wanted to, but the only thing stopping Shawn from planting a kiss to her lips the moment her eyelids fluttered open happened to be the echo of her cautionary messages playing on a loop in his brain. Both knew their relationship already pushed boundaries that threatened their lives to those looking for Y/N and to draw any more attention to themselves would be a ludicrous choice.

Furthermore, Y/N has shown no signs of traveling these last few days. For Shawn to jeopardize this new affair by selfishly wanting more out of it would only result in her packing her bags and leaving. She even preached that she would only provide Shawn with a load of heavy burdens and trouble. He begs to differ, since the moment they crossed paths, his woes were as scant as raindrops. But even in this unacknowledged intimacy, Shawn understood he must reciprocate the blurred lines, throw out the words he can never say to her, realize that she could up and leave any day now.

This new friendship was one Shawn was riding like a bumpy wave. And each time he thinks he may be near the end he plummets back into the thought of her. Every being of Shawn wants to follow Y/N’s instruction and keep paddling to the next wave to sweep him up.

“It was just a dream, Con. It didn’t mean anything.”

Whether or not he had admitted to himself, though, he was already snagged beneath by her undertow. The depth she chooses to yank him down to could be the least of his worries. The only doubt suffocating him is the matter of her deciding to let him go.

Look out for the next part of Undertow coming out 2/19/21!

Join the taglist to see what happens next!

Taglist: @fallinallincurls @ilumxna @lonelyreputation @purely-imagines-and-fantasies @shawnmxndxs @learning-howto-be-myselfx3 @sillyquirkymendessupporter @itsalwaysbeen305 @friendlyneighborhood-mendes @marissje @princessmia1705 @rosetoronto @itrocksmysocks @organicpurplepants

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afewmarvelousthoughts · 4 years

Text

Falling Ch. 4

Master List: @afewmarvelousthoughtsadmin

Pairing: Bucky X Reader [and a few more to come]

Summary: For a moment you had something good, something wonderful. But moments pass. Now, left with nothing but the ashes of a life and a love you fought so hard for, you find yourself in a free fall. Who will you be once you hit the bottom? [Sequel to Only For A Moment but can be read independently.]

Warnings: Loss, grief, violence, death, blood, just all the things

A/N: Well... Ya know I’m at a loss for what to say about this one. It’s a lot and goddamn if I don’t love me some angry Steve Rogers.

Also, thank y’all so much for the really great feedback on the last chapter! I absolutely love hearing from readers.

OH! If you read my Stay series there is a sad little easter egg in here. Let me know if you catch it.

TAGS ARE OPEN

“I still can’t believe it,” Bucky pushed a stray piece of hair from his face. “She even agreed to take my name.”

Steve couldn’t help but smile.

“Sam can’t believe that one either.”

Bucky chuckled, “Glad he and I can agree on something.”

“I’m so happy for you, brother.” He settled a hand on Bucky’s good shoulder, feeling like his chest was going to burst.

Never in a million years could he have imagined James Barnes actually settling down. He certainly never thought they’d ever be watching a peaceful sunset over the water discussing how happy Bucky was to be settling down. But their lives had been nothing if not a long line of surprises; at least this one was pleasant.

Bucky let out a heavy sigh, a cloud of worry suddenly darkening his features.

“Stevie…” The old nickname shot a pang of worry through Steve’s gut. Bucky didn’t take his eyes off the water as he continued. “If something were to happen-”

“Buck, nothing is-”

Bucky let out a low bitter laugh, “Careful there, pal. Getting dangerously close to a lie.”

“I’m not exactly the most popular guy in the world,” he tilted his head to meet Steve’s worried expression. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m about to disappear.” Bucky shoved Steve’s shoulder with his own, “I’m not you. I have no intention to go lookin’ for trouble.”

Steve scoffed, rolling his eyes, “Jerk.”

“But,” Bucky continued, ignoring Steve’s soft jab, “trouble seems to like me so… Just…” He took a ragged breath, eyes once more on the horizon.

“Just what, Buck?” When Bucky looked back Steve almost lost his breath. The emotion on his friend’s face like a knife in his heart. Fear, worry, shame, and something else all swirl around him.

“Just promise me you’ll look out for her.”

That afternoon with Bucky by the lake plays over and over in Steve’s head throughout the flight back to the states.

Look out for her, was all Bucky had asked.

Take care of her, Okoye ordered.

He wanted to do both.

So why did he keep failing?

Why had he placed his own burdens on you the same night you’d lost your own battle with grief? Why could he keep up appearances for everyone else but not you? Why was he sitting here across the jet while Thor did what he should have been doing?

He would do better. He had to.

When the jet lands at the compound his resolve wavers just a bit. They were all supposed to come home together. He’d promised Wanda that…

“I’m good, Thor,” your voice pulls him back.

Thor stands, making his way out of the jet, Rocket at his heels. You don’t move though, bolted to your seat, eyes on your clasped hands as if in prayer.

Natasha steps away from the captain’s chair, glancing at you then him, an unspoken question on her face. Steve nods in response and she too leaves.

Steeling himself for rejection, he stands, slowly walking over to you and extending his hand.

You look up at him with painfully red eyes, the circles beneath them making the effect all the more harrowing. He thought of what Okoye said M’Baku had called you. Demon.

Surprisingly, you accept his hand.

“Here,” he reaches for the backpack slung over one of your shoulders, “let me.”

“No,” you release his hand, immediately gripping the strap of the bag with white-knuckled force. He tries not to look put off by the action and suspects that he failed, if your follow up was any indication. “You can get my duffle though.”

A half-smile tugs at his mouth, “Alright.”

Shouldering his bag and yours he heads out into the later afternoon sun. It had been almost full night when they left Wakanda and such transitions always shook him. He credited that with the reason he didn’t immediately notice that you remained frozen at the foot of the ramp.

“Y/N?” He asked gently, heading back toward you. With a chill he remembered how you’d stood in the woods that night, unmoving.

“Are you sure I should be here?” You ask, voice barely above a whisper.

His brows knit in confusion, “Of course. Why wouldn’t-”

“Isn’t this technically Stark’s place? I doubt he’d want… Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” They’d cleared it with Pepper, and in his opinion, that was all that mattered. “If anyone has an issue with it they can take it up with me.”

You nod in acceptance and follow him inside.

The room Steve showed you to had the cold but comfortable feel of an upscale hotel. Not a speck of dust or item out of place.

“If you need anything just find me or ask Friday,” Steve said running a hand through his hair. “Kitchen should have a few things according to Rhodey. And-”

“I’m good, Steve.” You didn’t want him to feel obligated to linger.

“Ok, but if-”

“I said I’m good,” your tone was filled with far more bite than you intended. You cringe at the hurt that quickly flashes in his eyes.

“Alright,” he nods. “Get some rest.”

“You too.”

As soon as the door closes behind Steve you can hear Bucky’s voice in your head.

Look out for him. He’d asked that of you not long after you made your marriage official.

God, you’d hated that entire conversation. Hated that even in the safety of Wakanda he was afraid of something happening to him, something he couldn’t control. Now you hated even more that he’d been right.

He’d trusted that you would take care of the only family he had left.

And you were failing him.

Your right hand begins to tremble, thrumming with power, fingers flexing, reaching for the ghost of his heartbeat.

Anger flares in your chest. Curling your hand into a tight fist you slam it into the door, again and again, until the metal finally groans.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper, your forehead pressed against the door, breath catching. “I’m so sorry, Bucky.”

Suddenly you sway on your feet, a wave of pure exhaustion rolling over you. Cradling your bloody fist to your chest you shuffle to the bed, unable and unwilling to face another moment of consciousness.

When you wake, it’s full dark. Your hand throbs with pain but it’s better than the memory of loss it carried before. You locate a fully stocked medkit in the bathroom - perks of crashing at a superhero base you guess - and bandage your hand. After that, you’re unsure what to do with yourself.

Aimlessly you pace the room, growing somehow more numb and frantic with each circuit. From time to time your packed bag catches your attention; you know you should probably unpack but… The thought of getting the bag, opening it, going through the contents, finding where to put each one. It felt like an insurmountable task.

Finally, the grumbling in your stomach breaks through, forcing you from the room.

There wasn’t a ton in the kitchen, which made sense considering no one had been living here full time, but mercifully there was bread, peanut butter, and jelly in the fridge which was enough.

You pour all your focus into the familiar task of making PB&J. Taking far too much care to get the peanut butter right to the edge of each piece, making a little well for the jelly, not pressing too hard when you cut. So, when someone presses on your awareness you jump in alarm, body hovering about a foot in the air.

“Shit! Sorry,” Natasha holds her hands up trying to be unthreatening. It’s then that you realize the cabinet doors are shuddering. You swallow a breath, feet back on the ground, the cabinets silent once more.

“You’re good. I was just… distracted.”

“I see that,” she looks from the two sandwiches to you. “Never seen someone pay that much attention to a peanut butter sandwich.”

You shrug, “Want one?”

“No. That’s yours. I can-” You float one of the sandwiches over to her. She smiles. “Fine.”

She grabs the sandwich and leans against the counter across from you.

For about half a sandwich you eat in silence. It’s not uncomfortable but the unspoken crackles.

“I lost someone once…” Your eyes shoot to hers. A sheen of unshed tears makes her eyes glitter in the dim kitchen. “She was like you.”

“How?”

“Gifted.” You snort at the word.

“She didn’t view it as a gift either. Charlie,” she pauses, taking a shaky breath, “could read emotions, catch glimpses of memory, even read thoughts if she set her mind to it. Empathetic with telepathic tendencies was what her S.H.I.E.L.D. file called it.” A soft smile fills Natasha’s face, “She just called herself a freak.” She sets her plate down, half a sandwich still on it.

“We… It wasn’t what you could call traditional. We never settled down, couldn’t. But, we made it work in our own way. She… I loved her. I’ve never… Anyway, she-” Natasha’s voice breaks.

You don’t breathe, don’t move. All your effort is focused on listening and keeping control of yourself even as you feel your power threatening to break free.

Finally, you ask, “How long?”

“She’s been gone almost ten years.” That hits you right in the chest. “I wish I could tell you it gets easier, but…” She trails off.

A vision of your future flashes in your mind. Years spread out before you. Empty and aimless without the warmth of his smile or the ring of his laughter.

There’s a scream bubbling up in your chest. Without warning Natasha reaches across the small space separating you, grabbing your hand with ferocious strength.

“I just wanted you to know you’re not alone.”

Her touch shakes you. The warmth of her palm, her fingers shifting between your own.

Neither of you let go.

It just happens. One moment you’re about to drown in the understanding that there was no coming back from this, no healing, no return, and the next-

Your lips crash into hers.

They’re warm and soft. Something real and solid and alive. Her mouth opens against yours, your other hand reaching to cup the back of her head. You want to forget, ashes and heartache and loss - burry those feeling in the heat of her.

“Stop,” she breathes heavily against your kiss.

That one word sends reality crashing back into you. With a sharp breath, you release her, stumbling back into the opposite counter, hand covering your mouth to keep in your shock.

Around you, things begin to hum, a low deep frequency rather than a shaking, as you feel your perception dive beneath the surface. The plate next to you lets out a creaking sound as it begins to crumble.

Too much.

“It’s ok, Y/N,” Natasha grips your shoulders.

“I’m so sorry,” you croak from beneath your hand.

“It’s ok,” she smiles, rubbing your upper arms comfortingly. Slowly you regain some kind of control.

“No,” you shake your head. “That was- Fuck!” You pull away from her, pacing several steps away, gripping your head trying not to lose it.

“I should never have… God, Nat, I’m so-”

“Stop,” she says in a tone that broaches no argument. You turn to look at her, arms crossed leaned against the counter like nothing happened.

“Didn’t I just say you weren’t alone? I get it. I do. I’m not hurt or offended. We’re good.” She walks over to you, forcing you to release your grip, lowering your arms.

“We’re good. Ok?”

You nod in response, not trusting yourself to speak.

“Let’s finish these sandwiches.”

Steve spent the last week and a half on a razor edge.

He managed to retain his composure the few times he found himself among the others. Thankfully, save for a handful of meals and some attempts to scan for Thanos however they could, everyone kept to themselves.

Despite the commitment he made on the jet, he couldn’t bring himself to spend more than a few minutes in your presence. The one time he did, he spent most of the night blowing through punching bags.

He’d been so fucking concerned for you. So worried your grief would be too much. You’d be lost, and he’d have failed Bucky in a way he could never forgive himself for. Clearly, after what he’d seen in the kitchen, his concern had been for nothing. You were moving on nicely.

With one more ferocious right hook, the punching bag lost the fight.

Huffing with exhaustion and exertion he collapses onto the padded floor of the training gym, resting his forearms on his knees.

“We don’t have an endless supply of those ya know?” His head shoots up to see Rhodes leaning in the doorway.

Steve pushes his sweat-damp hair from his eyes, “Seem to be the only one using ‘em so we shouldn’t run out too soon.” Rhodes nods in acquiescence, hovering in the door.

“What’s up, Rhodes?”

Rhodes sighs, “Pepper wants to go back into the city. Start figuring out what to do now.” The more time that passed the more likely it was that Tony, like the others, wasn’t coming back.

Steve nods, “When?”

“Tomorrow.”

It would mean two fewer people to serve as a buffer between you and him - he wasn’t even particularly thrilled to be around Natasha right now - but it was also two less to keep up appearances for.

“You’ll let us know if we can help?”

“Of course. And if-” Rhodes is cut off as the building shudders.

“Friday?” Rhodes asks.

“Captain Danvers has returned and appears to have a craft of some kind with her.”

He still didn’t know what to make of the mysterious woman who’d clearly been close with Fury but they weren’t in a position to be picky - they needed all the help they could get.

Steve and Rhodes rush out, the others right behind them.

No one speaks as Carol lands the ship and steps away.

The ramp lowers and, Tony, supported by a tall blue woman, staggers out.

Without a thought for the past, Steve rushes to help.

“I couldn’t stop him,” Tony says, voice rough.

“Neither could I,” the words feel bitter on Steve’s tongue.

“I lost the kid,” the sorrow in Tony’s eyes is like salt in every wound Steve carries. The kid. The one from Queens…

“Tony,” the words stick, “we lost-” He doesn’t know what to say. There are too many names. Thankfully Pepper runs up, gathering Tony in her arms.

Steve turns away from the moment just in time to see the bitter, pained, look on your face. Despite his anger, he feels his heart ache for you.

True to form, Tony wanted to immediately know what happened in his absence. Seeing the images of all those they knew and loved - everyone he failed to save - lined up as Natasha gave the rundown made him feel like he was being crushed.

“As far as we can tell, he did exactly what he said he would. Wiped out half of all living creatures…” Natasha says, her voice surprisingly only shaking a bit.

Steve glances toward Carol, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

“And what’s with him?” Tony asks, gesturing toward Thor’s slumped form in the atrium.

“He thinks he failed,” Rocket says in a matter-of-fact tone. “Which he did. But seems like there’s a lot of that goin’ around.”

Tony gapes at the raccoon, “You know, until this second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear.”

“Maybe I am,” Rocket says, sounding tired.

“We’ve been scanning, trying to find him,” Steve says. He can feel Tony veering off course. It was a defense mechanism, his wit. While Steve couldn’t blame him now wasn’t the time. “You fought him Tony-”

“Who told you that?” All eyes shoot to Tony in confusion. “He wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the store. There was no fight-”

“Ok,” Steve tries to say gently. “But did he give any clues, coordinates, any-” Tony cuts him off with a raspberry noise.

“Tony,” Steve is too damn tired to hide his exasperation, “we need you to focus.”

“And I needed you!” Tony swipes at the bowl of oatmeal and the glass of water sending them tumbling as he stands on shaky legs. “Past tense. We lost because you chose to leave. We lost because of-” He takes one teetering step toward Steve before his body stops, rigid. Steve looks at you, your focus squarely on Tony.

“Enough,” you say in a low voice. Tony turns his head, noticing you for the first time.

“Who the fuck are you?” Tony looks around for an answer. “Has she been here-” Steve can see when you release Tony, the action sending his frail body swaying.

“This isn’t on Steve,” you say, dismissing Tony’s question. “You don’t get to come for him like-”

Tony laughs, “Oh! Oh, I remember you now. Barnes’ little-”

“Tony,” Steve says in a warning tone. Tony, ignores him.

“Fangirl. The murderous Sinead O’Connor look suits you by the way.” Tony eyes you, waiting for a response that doesn’t come.

“Why are you here?” It’s impossible to miss the venom in Tony’s voice. “From what I saw, your deranged-” The table begins to shake followed by a low creaking groan.

“Ooo, spooky. This isn’t Wakanda sweetheart. We don’t harbor murderers.” You visibly flinch. Steve’s blood boils.

“Tony! What the hell?” He closes the distance in a beat, beginning to pull Tony away, but serum or not he could never be faster than Tony’s sharp tongue.

“Isn’t that what you are? Reaper.” Tony nearly snarls the moniker Hydra granted you. The floor begins to shake. You look away like you’d been slapped. “Yeah that’s right I read-”

When you turn back you don’t say a word, just spit in Tony’s face before storming out, the tremors going with you.

“Classy new friends, Rogers,” Tony says, wiping his face with his sleeve as Steve grabs his shoulders.

“I think you’re the one who needs a lesson in class,” Natasha says.

“Do I? You know what,” Tony rips the arc reactor from his chest, “here.” He presses it against Steve's hand. “Why don’t the two of you take this and your new best friend and go find Thanos. See if you can do better with-” Tony doesn’t finish before collapsing.

You didn’t know where to go.

Part of you wanted to run. Leave them and all of this behind and never look back. All promises made to the dead be damned.

But you just couldn’t quite bring yourself to do it.

Instead, you find yourself on the roof, staring out into the trees. Futility you try to calm your power pulsing in your body like a caged beast, restless and screaming for release.

Unsure of what else to do, you let it sink into the concrete under your hands, pulling at the tiny particles until a chunk of the low wall surrounding the roof comes free. It hovers before you as you focus all your power into it, feel each tiny atom humming even in this inanimate chunk of rocks and cement.

This time, you force your eyes open, even though your brain stutters with the effort of maintaining this level of perception - visual and whatever you could call this. The concrete begins to crumble, you feel your power plucking away at the pieces, pulling them apart bit by imperceptible.

Deep in the recesses of your mind, you feel the hunger. It’s as though whatever the stones left behind was seeking sustenance in this strange destruction.

Your right hand begins to tremble, the memory of losing your hold on Bucky rising fast to the surface. As your palm flattens - muscles remembering their position at that moment, desperate to return to it - you force your hand into a fist. Immediately, the floating chunk of the wall crumbles to dust.

Dumbfounded, you stare at the heap sitting on the edge of the wall as bits are caught by the wind. Fear rises in the back of your throat, tasting metallic on your tongue.

Thankfully, Natasha arrives before the panic fully grips you, providing a welcome distraction.

Wordlessly she stands beside you, eyes on the peaceful scene. All you can think is that she’s standing so close to danger and doesn’t seem to notice.

“Tony passed out.”

“I didn’t-”

“No! No. No one thinks you did. I just meant… If you wanted to come back in.” You grip the wall, knuckles white, unsure of what you want.

She sighs, “He’s really not-”

“Don’t try to defend Tony Stark to me. Not after-” You don’t have it in you to even think about Bucky.

“Right…” The silence rises like a wall between you.

Rather than speak, Natasha lays a light hand on your shoulder. You sigh and nod.

Rhodes steps out of the small medical room off the lab when you and Natasha make it back inside.

“He’s probably gonna be out for the rest of the night,” he says on a sigh.

“Good,” you throw a raised eyebrow at Carol. “You guys take care of him and I’ll bring him a Xorrian Elixir when I get back.” She turns on her heel as you exchange a questioning glance with the others.

“Where’re you going?” Steve asks, striding after.

“To kill Thanos,” she replies without missing a beat.

“Hey!” Natasha calls after her. “We normally work as a team around here we could-”

“We know up there is more your territory but this is our fight too,” Steve says. The slight exasperation in Carol’s expression makes you smile just a little. You hadn’t spent much time with her but you found yourself liking her nonetheless.

“Do you even know where he is?” Rhodes asks.

“I know some people who might,” Carol says.

“Don’t bother,” Nebula, says. You’re pretty sure it was the first you’d heard the woman speak. “I can tell you where Thanos is.”

Nebula’s story about her father sends chills down your spine. You’d always thought parents couldn’t get much worse than your own but you were clearly way off the mark. But when Rocket pulls up the scan from their ship any remnants of cold flee your veins.

“Hey, hey, hey. We’d be going in short-handed ya know?” Bruce cautions.

“Look he’s still got the stones so-” Rhodes backs him.

Carol meets your eyes, “So let’s go get him.” You nod. “Use the stones to bring everyone back.”

“Just like that?” Banner questions in disbelief.

“Yeah,” you and Steve say in tandem. You meet his eyes.

“Just like that,” Steve finishes.

You’d no sooner made peace with the concept of literally going to space than you were boarding the ship thanks to Carol’s quick fuel trip and Rocket’s adept repairs.

It seemed unreal that you were looking out at Earth. From here, just outside the atmosphere, it looked peaceful and unassuming. When the ship turned, facing space rather than the broken planet you’d just left, you felt like you could stare into that beautiful endless sea forever.

“Okay,” Rocket begins, ending your awe. “Who here hasn’t been to space?” You, Natasha, Steve, and Rhodes, look awkwardly at one another before raising your hands. Carol catches your eye, a smirk on her face. You werene’t sure if you should laugh or be terrified.

“Why?” Rhodes asked, his tone suspicious. Carol laughs.

“You better not throw up on my ship,” Rocket said dismissively.

Nebula’s countdown was hardly visible over the sound of your heart. But the moment the jump began you calmed.

Your mind felt silent, your power, unable to keep up with the movement surrounding you, just gave up. It felt incredible, like a tense muscle relaxing. And the colors.

Space opened up around you, an indescribeably beautiful swirl of color and light.

It was over too soon. But on the plus side, no one threw up.

As Carol goes down for recon you all move about the ship, nervous energy thrumming through the air.

The planet beneath you didn’t look so different from your own. You wonder about the people there, wonder if they realized what kind of monster was hiding among them.

“There’s no one but him,” Carol’s voice relays on the comms. A whole planet. And not one other being… Anger curls in your chest.

After Carol gives a full rundow of his location Steve relays your plan of attack.

You’d approach in teams. You and Carol would go in first since your abilities would give you an advantage. Thor, Rhodes, and Banner would follow - the two suited men assisting in restraining Thanos whole Thor removed the gauntlet. The others would follow.

“We can’t hesitate. If he has even the slightest window he’s going to use it,” Steve says.

“Let’s do this,” Thor responds, weilding his axe.

On the planet’s surface you feel suddenly off kilter. That insidious hunger rising in the back of your mind, reaching for the stones and their power. It ached at the base of your skull.

“Ready?” Carol asks. It pulls your focus away from the strange feeling and replacing it with fear as you remember the last time you faced Thanos. None of you were enough. How could this be-

The fingers on your right hand tingle, the ghost of a heartbeat beneath your palm.

Fuck fear.

“Absolutely,” you say without an ounce of doubt pushing against the ground with your power, sending your body into the air.

Carol blasts a hole through the roof of Thanos’ hut and shoots inside. You follow her down.

The moment she has him in a headlock you push your power into him, keeping his body immobile focusing on his left arm. Rhodes and Banner join moments later, adding their strength to restrain this creature.

Curiously, you realize that you don’t feel the pull of the stones.

Thor arrives as planned, severing the gauntlet from Thanos’ body, hand and all.

You release your hold on him, your power lifting the gauntlet, devoid of stones into the air.

“No,” you breathe, an indescribable dread beginning to fill your chest.

“Where are they?” Steve demands. Thanos only groans.

“Answer him!” Carol barks tightening her grip on his throat.

“The universe required correction,” Thanos wheezes. “After that, the stones served no purpose…” His gaze falls to you, “Beyond temptation.” You shiver, stepping back, letting the empty gauntlet fall to the floor.

Bruce rushes Thanos but you can hardly hear them. The room seems smaller, hotter. Your ears begin to ring, your power throbbing through your body.

“Where are the stones?” Natasha asks in a trembling voice.

“They’re gone,” he huffs, “reduced to atoms.”

The shock of his statement tears through all of you, a near tangible wave.

It only holds you for a breath.

Atoms.

Silently you allow your power to sink into the ground beneath you. Just like on earth you can go deeper, deeper until you can feel the fabric of everything.

You could fix this. You would fix this.

Steve glances at your retreating form. He can’t blame you for leaving, no matter how much he wants to.

The small hut is immensely oppressive suddenly. Just breathing gets harder with each second. He hadn’t had a panic attack since 1943, he didn’t think he was still capable. But right now he felt that familiar rapid pace of his heart, the tightness in his chest… It blurs the voices around him, everything growing staticky until-

With a roar Thor severs Thanos’ head from his body in one clean swing.

He begins to feel the panic recede to make room for the shock. Still he doesn’t move.

“What now?” Natasha croaks.

Steve can’t even attempt a response. Rocket begins to rummage somewhere behind him.

“I know what I’m doing,” Steve turns to see him dragging a small crate. “Taking everything that’s worth anything.” He pries open the crate pulling out something that looks like a wine bottle. The metal top comes off with a tug and he drinks deep. “Including all his booze.”

“Toss me-” Thor is cut off by an ear-splitting crack of thunder.

“Y/N,” Steve says in barely a whisper, cold seeping into his bones.

Carol beats him outside but he’s on her heels. The ground trembles before they spot you.

“What the...” Carol breathes. Guilt and fear begin to stir in his gut.

On the top of the mountain behind Thanos’ hut, you’re barely visible through a growing funnel of dust and cloud, but he knows it’s you.

“Want a lift?” Carol asks, extending her hand. He nods. In seconds they’re on the mountain top just outside the wall of dust. Another loud boom shatters the otherwise quiet air.

Visions of that night in Wakanda whir through his mind as he stares. He remembers your pain, your screams, he remembers the blood… and the blood that streamed from your eyes and nose when he and Okoye found you at your house… and-

“Look out for her.” Bucky’s voice in his head once more.

The risk didn’t matter. He had to get to you. If you tore him apart in the process so be it but he would not let another person he cared about die.

He’d taken no more than a step in your direction when Carol’s hand tightened on his upper arm. He tries to pull free but she holds him fast.

“Look,” Carol says with a note of almost reverence in her voice.

“I see her! And I wo-” The words die on his tongue.

In the air between your hands, he can just barely make out six points of light beginning to pulse like stars through the haze. Blue. Green. Yellow.

“Dear god…” He doesn’t know what else to say.

The others had arrived at some point, though Steve couldn’t say when.

“Can… Is she that powerful?” Carol asks, seemingly unable to look away.

“I don’t know,” Steve answers honestly.

Natasha steps up beside him, “Steve should we-” Your scream cuts her off.

This scream isn’t like the one in Wakanda. It’s not the unyielding cry of mourning. Rather this scream is one of barely restrained agony, a soldier shot on the battlefield who refuses to fall, quick but heavy. His breath leaves him in a woosh as he watches your knees hit the ground.

Your bloody face contorts with pain. Yet your hands remain outstretched, the points of light between them beginning to form ghostly shapes.

“They’ll destroy her,” Thor says.

Once more Steve pulls at Carol’s grip on him.

He panics, “We can’t just let her-”

“No,” you say in a voice that is not quite your own. The awful, powerful, resonance of it shakes him to his marrow. “I can do this.”

“It’s her choice,” Rocket says. Steve looks to each person, eyes begging, but they all nod in agreement.

Filaments of light rise from where the stones are forming like smoke. He notices as some caress your skin, leaving glowing paths in their wake. More and more touch your flesh, searing your outstretched fingertips in zigzagging lines.

Your back arches, your hands tremble, you cry out once more as the stones flash vibrant and whole for one moment - so fast he could have imagined it - before they vanish.

The small tremors that had been pulsing through the ground cease, the dust falls, the clouds dissipate. Suddenly the world seems darker and far too still.

Then there was you, in the middle of a patch of barren ground, sitting back on your heels, body swaying. He’d swear your expression was serene. Something in him knows - even before you release a wet rasping cough, blood flowing from between your lips - that you’re lost.

Everyone remains frozen, unsure of what to do. Until you collapse, breaking the spell.

They all rush forward, pushing past him.

He should help.

Yet all he can do is watch, paralyzed by the realization that he isn’t sad or heartbroken over your loss. The only thing he feels toward you, as he watches Carol lift your prone form to search for a pulse she won't find, is jealousy.

One moment there was only darkness. A foreign yet curiously familiar weightlessness. Peace.

The next you felt like you’d swallowed a forest fire.

Heat bloomed in your chest and abdomen. You could feel the flames crawling up the tiny veins of your eyes and nose, tingling in your skull.

Gasping, you claw at your throat. Trying to understand what the fuck was happening.

“You’re ok,” a woman’s voice said in soft tones. “You’re ok. It’ll pass.” It was Carol, one hand supported your back while the other pulled your hand away before you could break skin.

“Xorrian Elixir, hurts like a bastard but works every time,” she offers you a weak smile.

“What?” You croak.

“Nothing,” she shakes her head. “That was one hell of an effort.”

An effort.

Not a success.

You go numb.

Whatever Carol had given you may have healed your body, pulled you back from the brink, even pushed your power back into its box. But everything you had left, you’d poured into that last act, that final attempt to bring the stones back and reverse this nightmare, no matter the cost.

And you’d failed.

There was nothing left.

Natasha lays a hand on your shoulder, “We’re here.” It takes you a moment to realize what she means. Honestly, you didn’t even remember getting on the ship…

You follow her out in a fog and stand a few paces away from the others numbly staring into the night sky when suddenly you find yourself tumbling through the air.

In your present state, you don’t know how to react consciously, but your power catches you before your face meets the ground, acting like a cushion. A memory of Bucky tingles in your mind before it’s interrupted by a voice.

“Get up!” A rough voice, dripping with rage, bellows.

It doesn’t register as Steve. Only when you roll over, leaning up on your forearms do you realize. His face looms over you, twisted with a dangerous cocktail of emotions.

“Get up!” His hands grip your jacket, the fabric beginning to tear as he lifts you to your feet. Breaking his grip, you stumble back, unsure what to make of the situation.

“What the-” You don’t get to finish.

Steve’s fist cracks against your jaw sending you reeling for a split second. It wasn’t a full-force hit, you sparred with him enough to know that. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell.

Your power pulses over your skin just once, tingling like static. A flicker of emotion rises in your chest, pushing back on the hopeless void just a bit.

“If you’re gonna hit me, Rogers,” you spit blood from where your cheek and teeth met, “don’t insult me by holding back.”

Roaring, he charges you.

Everything after that was a blur.

As it used to do years ago your power fled in the throws of a fight, that part of your mind shuttering itself lest you lose control. You preferred that. True, he was stronger than you, so your power would have helped, but you were quick, smaller, and Bucky had taught you well.

You pay no mind to the shouts from the others to stop. Blow after blow you just keep going. Neither of you concerned about the consequences.

Because this felt… good. There was no denying that. The taste of blood and sweat and adrenaline on your tongue.

“What did you think you were doing?!” He managed to get you in a lock, pinning your arms against your back with your face in the dirt.

“What the hell are you talking about?” You ask managing to work yourself free.

“On that fucking mountain. What the hell-” You cut him off with a solid punch to the gut.

“He said he reduced them to atoms.” It made sense enough to you.

“And?!” He recovers but you pivot away from his next blow. “Since when can you-”

“Do you not remember Wakanda? Big fucking crater in the ground?"

You continue to dodge one another’s volleys.

He shakes his head, “You could have died!” Steve somersaults, landing a kick to your shoulder that you weren’t sure didn’t dislocate it. You hiss in pain.

“So what if I did?” Grimacing you force the join back, nearly screaming. He seems to notice and for the first time, you see his resolve melt, a glimmer of concern showing.

“One life-” you pant.

“Your life, Y/N!”

“My life for trillions.” You get his feet from under him, pinning his arms to the ground with your knees. “Same math you did in 1945.”

He throws you off and you land in a kneeling position. White-hot rage colors his expression.

“Oh,” you laugh bitterly, “I forgot, Steve Rogers, is the only one who gets to make the sacrifice play right?!”

Time blurs. It may have been thirty seconds or maybe an hour before you have Steve on the ground once more, his throat between your thighs. You fight with screaming muscles to keep him down.

“What was I supposed to tell him?” He wheezes.

The question throws your equilibrium, causing you to lose your hold. He sucks in a raspy breath, grips your thighs, lifting you up off the ground and tossing you over his head.

You expect your power to cushion you but it doesn’t. Your hands burn as they catch your fall, the ground tearing at the skin.

Anticipating his next move you roll to the side, barely avoiding the body blow he was about to land. He rolls in the opposite direction from you.

“Guess it doesn’t matter,” he says as he stands, venom in his voice.

“What?”

It doesn’t matter because you’re a failure twice over, a voice in your head whispers. But you want him to say it, want someone to recognize it, to hold you accountable for your weakness.

“You’re clearly moving on just fine,” he spits. You freeze mid-lunge, gaping at him.

His voice drops low, “Call me old fashioned, but I figured you’d mourn your husband a little longer before having midnight trists in the kitchen.”

The power that had evaded you comes back in a tidal wave. It crackles beneath your skull, humming in your veins. For a breath, it’s overwhelming, the world, and its multitude of layers rising in your awareness. Then it settles just enough for you to gain control and slam it into Steve.

He sucks in a breath as your power constricts him.

“How dare you,” you say, so low you don’t know if he can hear. You squeeze, feeling tiny blood vessels burst under his skin.

“Do it,” he huffs, eyes locked on yours. “Do. It.” His anger slips from him with each forced breath replaced by desperation.

You release him and he stumbles back.

“We’re not finished, Y/N!” He screams at you as you turn away. Even without your eyes on him, you feel his rapid approach.

With a thought you lift him from the ground in mid-stride, taking his body several feet into the air before slamming him back down with ground-shaking force.

“Yes, we are,” you say without looking back.

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#bucky x reader #bucky barnes #steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #natasha x reader #post infinity war

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medea10 · 4 years

Text

My Review of Rinne

(a.k.a. Kyoukai no Rinne)

How did I get into this anime? Let’s just say the creator of this series, I’m a fan of. Rumiko Takahashi is the creator of this series as well as several other well-known anime series including Ranma ½, Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, and my personal favorite InuYasha. That alone was reason for me to get heavily interested from the get-go. But because of the time it came out, I had too much on my plate to pick up one more anime, so I put it on the back-burner for a few years. And despite the mediocre score and listless hype over this, I’m still interested to see what Rin-ne is all about.

As a child, Mamiya Sakura has been different from other children. When she was a child, Sakura ended up in the afterworld and returned to the world of the living after a day of wandering around. After that incident, she gained the ability to see ghosts/spirits. Fast-forward to the present where she’s a high school student and meets a Shinigami named Rinne Rokudou. Rinne is a half-human (which is rare in the afterworld) and works as a Shinigami like his parents and grandmother before him. He can be seen by regular humans, but if he wears a special cloak, he becomes invisible to everyone. This makes it easy to put spirits to rest without being seen by humans!

Both Rinne and Sakura are able to see what others cannot and this often helps Rinne when he takes on a mission. Throughout the series, Rinne ends up taking on random spirits every episode with a cute mascot that often helps him (Rokumon), a love rival (Tsubasa Jumonji), a girl who likes him (Ageha), and several other colorful characters in the human and afterworld. Check out the afterlife. Just be sure to bring your checkbook, nothing’s for free!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Sentai Filmworks is the licensor of this series and by the looks of it, this series has already been released in video formats and has no dub to speak of. So I’m going to assume there will be no dub to this in the future. This is kind of a blessing to me! Because if I’m watching a Rumiko Takahashi series, I would highly prefer hearing the voice actors of Vancouver! That’s right, if this series doesn’t contain Richard Ian Cox, Kelly Sheridan, Brad Swaile, or Brian Drummond, the dub will be scum.

Okay, I admit that’s mean. I grew accustomed to the other Takahashi classics that if this got a dub, I would have flipped if I saw the Texas voice actors on this.

As for the sub…where oh where could Kappei Yamaguchi be? Oh where, oh where could he be? One way or another, we are going to hear him. And we do! BUT, he’s not a main character this time. That honor goes to Kaito Ishikawa. Everything in the last three years has gone to this guy. And who am I to complain? I friggin’ love him in nearly everything he’s in. Yeah, this series does have a lot of familiar voices, including several that have been memorable characters in Takahashi’s other series. Kappei Yamaguchi (who is well known for InuYasha and Ranma) is featured as well as Satsuki Yukino (well known for Kagome on InuYasha) Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Rinne is played by (known for Kiawe on Pokemon SM, Genos on One Punch Man, Mitsuo on Golden Time, Urie on Tokyo Ghoul :re, Sakakibara on Assassination Classroom, and Naofumi on Shield Hero)

*Sakura is played by Marina Inoue (known for Sonia on Pokemon Journeys, Armin on Attack on Titan, Yoko on Gurren Lagann, Jessica on Umineko, Kyouko on Skip Beat, Wataru on Hayate, and Rei on H.O.T.D.)

*Rokumon is played by Hitomi Nabatame (known for Serena’s Mother on Pokemon XY, Yukiji on Hayate, Margery Daw on Shakugan no Shana, Saori on Oreimo, Nanao on Bleach, and Raynare on High School DxD)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: I have a guilty pleasure for Kain’s cat, Suzu. She’s just so care-free that she fucks up at least 98% of the time she’s shown on this show. And I gotta admit that she makes me laugh whenever she’s on the screen.

DISLIKED CHARACTER: You would think I would pick that snot-nosed brat (Shouma) introduced in season two for this list. Or Kain for that matter! Both of these boys annoy the living fuck out of me whenever they’re in an episode. But then Rinne’s father peaks his douchey head in.

Oh wow, horrible parent alert! Sabato Rokudou is Rinne’s father and holy shit what a bloody scumbag. He’s on the same tier as the parents from Hayate the Combat Butler. Yeah, that bad! As we all know, the after-world is a capitalist society and everything has a price. This guy has been stealing his own son’s money since he was a little boy. Add to that, Sabato fills his son with false promises (including meeting his own mother). Even in his current age, Sabato finds ways to steal money from his son when he’s trying to earn means while living in the world of the living. Even putting him in a million yen in debt! And just causing life to be miserable for Rinne whenever he comes by! Tamako, how could you birth such an inconsiderate bastard into being?

Nice to see my prediction from when I wrote my Worst Father’s of Anime list over a year ago came true. Sabato remained a dick-head throughout all three seasons. Amazing! I guess the only nice thing about him is that he’s not going to be in a relationship with Ichigo while she’s still a child.

SHIPPING: So Kyokai no Rinne is following the same protocol as a lot of Rumiko Takahashi’s other animes. So we have the male and female main protagonist that’s going to be the main ship (even though it seems more friend-zoned most of the time). There will be a reoccurring girl character to cause friction between this main ship because she loves the male protagonist. And we have to add several boys after the main female’s heart too.

And just for good measure, let’s add a boy interested in the male lead and a couple of secondary ships that may or may not happen.

Hey, InuYasha and Ranma ½ had the same setup. Rinne is just following suit!

Rinne x Sakura has pretty much setting sail since the end of season two even without a full-on confession from either one of them. Rinne has had feelings for Sakura since season one. Sakura on the other hand, I can’t get a grip on what she wants in terms of a romantic partner. I want to say she’s oblivious to the advances of Jumonji or Ageha’s jealousy, but on the other hand, I feel like Sakura just doesn’t care what happens romantic wise. But the fact that she’s constantly helping Rinne might be a big, fat clue.

Rinne x Ageha is that one-sided ship that you know is never gonna happen (along with Sakura x Jumonji), but it doesn’t stop die-hard shippers from supporting it until their final breaths. I am actually impressed that Ageha doesn’t hold a grudge against Rinne because his father kinda brain-washed Ageha’s sister into giving Sabato money all the time. Several other characters hate Rinne for that alone, yet Ageha is still devoted to loving Rinne.

I do wonder that once Rinne x Sakura are a sure-thing if Jumonji and Ageha are going to hook up.

Rinne x Matsugo was one of the wildest ships I could have imagined. First of all, Matsugo’s debut episode came with a hint of love-hate. But by the end, Matsugo went from hating Rinne over a misunderstanding to going all “Bros before Hoes” on us! After that Matsugo stopped at nothing to get Rinne. Even blowing off the one girl that actually likes this obsessed freak!

Kain x Renge is actually the one ship that doesn’t revolve around Rinne because both Kain and Renge hate Rinne’s guts. Renge likes Kain, but also has to hide some pretty heinous things from him like working for Rinne’s father as a Damashi-shinigami. And as we all know, Kain has a vendetta against Sabato, his family, and anyone affiliated with Damashis due to his own family situation. Kain unfortunately sees Renge as an ally or a friend. He wants her to continue her studies since Kain can’t go to school. Dude ain’t got time for a side-chick! He’s gotta work for a living because his mother gives all their money away to Sabato.

That guy seriously grinds my gears.

RUMIC WORLD EASTER EGGS: Rumiko Takahashi has been around for quite some time and many of her creations have become quite well-known. That’s why when Rinne came in anime form, fans took to the forums to gab about how Ageha is the spitting image of a one-shot villain from InuYasha or that Sakura’s mother has a resemblance of Lum or that Jumonji looks like a modern-day Miroku (minus the perverted charm). Every now and then, we get a special little easter egg shown from Takahashi’s other works. Most notably, Lum shown on the currency and carnival prizes that have a lot of figures from Ranma ½!

My favorite easter egg was of course during a next episode preview where Sabato and Tamako (who are voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi and Satsuki Yukino) end up doing some dialogue that’s…

…You all know what this is…

END OF SEASON ONE: So the final episode, Sakura was able to have something she hasn’t been able to obtain in over 10 years. Three days of peace without having to be bugged by a spirit. As a reminder, Sakura as a child visited the other world and after that experience, she’s been able to see spirits. Tamao gave Sakura some candy to eat so that she would be like every other human around her and not see spirits every waking second.

This couldn’t have come at a worse time for Rinne as he had to take out over 5,000 spirits in the middle of an A-1 run. And because Sakura accidentally opened the barrier containing these spirits, they were trying to come after her. So Rinne had to get rid of all 5,000 (and lose money in the process with special tools). It took three days, but Rinne was able to do that. And because Rinne had his special coat on (where normal humans are unable to see him), Sakura wasn’t able to see him until the candy wore off. Even though Sakura got a whole bag of those candies, she hasn’t used them again.

At the end of the episode, Rinne and Sakura break the fourth wall by announcing that a second season was coming!

SEASON TWO: Oh thank you Jesus, the opening and ending themes aren’t bland bags of genericness like the previous season. Great improvement, especially when you get one of the best singers from Love Live to do the opening theme! Good on you!

Music ranting aside, this season we are introduced to a lot of new characters in the human and spirit world that are going to be seen more often than not. Starting things off, apparently Ageha has a cat employee (much like the relationship between Rinne and Rokumon). Except Ageha and Obero’s relationship is a lot more dysfunctional. Kain also has a cat employee named Suzu. She’s more spazzy compared to Kain’s serious demeanor. Actually, there are several cat characters introduced this series and even a few episodes dedicated to them later on.

One more thing I should mention about this particular season is that we got to see Sakura have a little more growth here. For a while I found her too plain for my taste, but this season we see her become a Shinigami (for a day) and we even get possible love interest with the finale. Now let’s head over to that part.

END OF SEASON TWO: The final two episodes consisted of Rinne being invited to a high school mixer in the Afterworld by a former friend, Matsugo. The thing is Matsugo used to hold a vendetta against Rinne due to a misunderstanding from their childhood. But unlike every other misunderstanding from this series, this one was resolved within an episode or two and Matsugo’s buddies with Rinne again. Actually, Matsugo’s feelings are teetering from childhood friend to full-blown bromance.

How do you get rid of a nuisance who can’t take a hint? Bring Sakura with you to the mixer and have her pretend to be your girlfriend! The big problem here is that Rinne is putting food and money over Sakura. And if you were in Rinne’s shoes, you can see that these two are more important than a girl. Rinne is poor as fuck! If he gets a chance at winning some money or food, absolutely fuck everything else! Unfortunately, Sakura caught wind of all of these ulterior motives and started to question her own relationship with Rinne. And I gotta hand it to Sakura, because if this were an old-school Rumiko Takahashi female protagonist like Akane or Kagome, Rinne would have been destroyed in a matter of seconds. Sakura doesn’t cuss him out or show a resting bitch-face. Actually, she never does! But by the end of this two-parter, Rinne realized that Sakura is pretty important to her, maybe even more than other things.

At the end of the episode, Rinne and Sakura break the fourth wall again by announcing that a third season was coming!

SEASON THREE: Much like the previous season, we’re continuously introduced to new characters that serve some sort of purpose, a new love triangle involving the main or supporting cast, and 2-3 filler stories an episode. However, in the mid-point, we get introduced to 2 new characters that answer some questions that have plagued many of us since the beginning.

You know how nearly every male protagonist of Rumiko Takahashi has a missing mother? Whether it be due to premature demise or she’s a crazy-bitch like in Ranma ½, the mother figure is usually M.I.A. Otome was Rinne’s mother, but she disappeared when he was a baby. Only now, her scythe returns suddenly. Add to that, a mysterious little girl named Ichigo moves into the area (and just like Sakura, she can see spirits).

Long story short, Ichigo is the reincarnation of Otome (Rinne’s mother). I can get over this whole Kikyo/Kagome crap because this is a Rumiko classic. But I just feel ewwie whenever I see Ichigo and Sabato. Thankfully Sabato has no intention of doing anything creepy to Ichigo. He has some standards, so he gets a point with me there. The reason why Otome disappeared was because she wanted to hide her old yearbooks from Sabato, which lead to her being caught up in a stampede of wild animals that lead her to the wheel of reincarnation. And the reason why she was trying to hide these old yearbooks was because she didn’t want Sabato to know the ugly truth.

That she is really two years younger…than her mother-in-law.

Dude…I know Tamako looks extremely young to even be a grandmother…but damn, Otome goes to these lengths to lie about her age.

ENDING: We don’t really get any kind of monumental moment or climax until the very final episode since all of the episodes between Ichigo’s reveal and the finale were mostly just side-stories involving spirits/demons of the day. The final episode had Rinne, Sakura, Renge, and Jumonji taking part of a school festival at Matsugo’s school. But it mostly takes place in a test of courage cave. Apparently this feature is notorious for causing many couples to break up and people can’t turn around otherwise they’re disqualified. But if you make it all the way through, free food! And you know Rinne is not going to turn down a chance to get free food.

But we get another moment much like the end of season two where Rinne has to choose between food and/or money or Sakura. Actually, Rinne ended up choosing Sakura. And unlike a bunch of other pissed off couples, Rinne and Sakura’s relationship (or lack there of) is doing pretty well.

So we end with no love confessions on any front, no happy ending for Rinne in hitting a Shinigami lottery or some crap like that, and no hope in a fourth season.

*sighs*

This was…just an okay anime. I can see why people just think this is okay or mediocre. With me, there were several things that bugged. First of all, I found several things in the anime that felt very inconsistent. Especially when it came to the spirits plaguing the human world! There are some scenes where something out of the ordinary happens and it plays out like you would expect like people freaking out. But then you get these moments where, okay, why are regular humans seeing this? The annoying narrator likes to point out the obvious in literally every episode. Why, didn’t we establish the obvious earlier?

Speaking of the narrator, could you be any more annoying?! How many times are you going to remind us of things in the series? I know there are useful moments with the narrator like when he’s describing all the different items Rinne and other Shinigami use to put a soul to rest. But then there’s this repetitive nature to the narrator where he constantly reminds you of shit you’ve known since episode 1. It’s useful when you want to remind the audience at the beginning of each season, but not every couple of episodes. WE ALL KNOW RINNE CAN’T BE SEEN BY HUMANS IF HE’S WEARING HIS CLOAK! SHUT UP ALREADY!

I’m not sure if the anime covered everything in the manga as I have not picked up the books…yet. I’m sure the manga has gotten a little further with many of these potential ships like Rinne x Sakura to hope that maybe one day we’ll get something from them. I’ve spent a good year and a half trying to grasp at what I really think of Sakura Mamiya. First of all, she’s a huge improvement in the main female role. When you compare her to the other girls from Takahashi’s works like Kagome or Akane (who eat Carnation Instant Bitch every morning), Sakura is quite pleasant.

But then you see Sakura showing no other emotion besides satisfied, meh, and let me put on my surprise face. She hardly ever gets mad. I’m not saying go on a rampage like Kagome when she yells at InuYasha, but for fuck’s sake, tell Rinne off every now and then. Christ-balls, he’s put food and money over you so many times you’ve earned a few yells. And he constantly borrows money from you and you know he’ll never pay you back!

The story is mostly the spirit of the day trope. In later seasons however, we get two or three mini stories an episode dealing with some sort of spirit with no personal growth involving any of the main characters. Rinne gets ahead during the episode, but gets smacked back to where he began and we repeat the same thing in the next episode. So yeah, it got boring when we’re stuck in a slump like that. I even had high hopes in season two when we got that one episode where Sakura was a Shinigami for the day. I thought Sakura was going to evolve a little bit after that, but alas that was not the case. We go right back to the spirit(s) of the day trope!

But I always felt drawn back with several of the colorful characters. I always enjoy Rinne’s grandmother, Tamako. Kain’s cat, Suzu is the silliest thing ever and I love her dearly. Masato will always suck and it’s a joy to watch him fail at everything. And call me a sucker for boys fighting over the girl, but whenever I see Rinne and Jumonji get jealous at each other, I enjoy it. Not on levels like Inuyasha and Koga, but good enough here.

So, I would give it a couple of episodes to make your own decision if you want to drop it or continue watching Rinne.

In the meantime, I’m gonna wait patiently for that InuYasha sequel that’s coming out in October. Thank Arceus Rumiko Takahashi gave us something in 2020.

If you want to check out Rin-ne, all three seasons are available on Crunchyro…

Uh-oh! As of this date and time, Rin-ne is removed (along with 76 other titles) from Crunchyroll’s site. Glad I finished before they got rid of it! Just watch it on HI-DIVE.

Now then! That took a good 18 months to get through. Hopefully the next anime is a lot shorter than that one. What’s next on my Sentai block?

Suffering!

Huh? Does that mean Re:Zero? Or Akame ga Kill?

Nope.

Oh, Made in Abyss! But this looks cute and innocent, how could this possibly be…?! Almost had you all fooled! Looks can be deceiving. Yeah, this anime is gonna hurt.

#Kyoukai no Rinne #rinne #sabato rokudou #sakura mamiya #ageha #kain #renge #rinne rokudou #jumonji tsubasa #anime review #obero #suzu #rokumon

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andthebandbeginstoplay · 5 years

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My Two Fandoms Collide: A Paul McCartney x Taylor Swift Masterpost

Hello friends. It has recently come to my attention that there is crossover between my two favorite fandoms. I am here to answer all your Paul McCartney Taylor Swift questions, and generally provide support for the idea that there will be a collaboration between the two iconic songwriters on T’s new album. Are some things a stretch? Sure. But I want to explore all possibilities. Buckle up because it’s gonna be a wild ride.

This all seems to have started when Paul McCartney told BBC that the song Who Cares, on his new album, Egypt Station, was inspired by Taylor Swift and her relationship with her fans. The song is about internet bullying and Paul said:

"I was actually thinking about Taylor Swift and her relationship to her young fans and how it's sort of a sisterly thing. And I was imagining talking to one of these young fans and saying, 'Have you ever been bullied? Do you get bullied? Then I say, 'Who cares about the idiots? Who cares about all this? Who cares about you? Well... I do.’"

Basically Paul McCartney is the sweetest best person alive and I love him very much.

This all came to the attention of Swifties when Taylor Swift said that Paul McCartney was one of the top three things influencing her in a video for Time Magazine. She called him a role model, and praised his incredible abilities as an entertainer. (Another influence she said was tumblr :D Also interesting that both Paul and T have crazy strong and supportive tumblr communities...although i have no idea if Paul has ever been on tumblr, but if so HI PAUL WE LOVE YOU)

Given the bajillion clues that Taylor has been dropping about her new album recently, we can reasonably assume that this comment needs a fair amount of dissection. So here are all of reasons that Paul McCartney and the Beatles are going to be important in TS7:

1 - We’ll start with the most obvious clue, which is on Taylor’s Instagram. In February Taylor publicly started her TS7 era with a new instagram aesthetic, basically on February 10th everything went from red, white, and black to sparkly, dreamy pastels. In the very first picture of this era she is wearing a fairytale worthy dress. Guess who she credited for the outfit? Stella McCartney, a designer and Paul McCartney’s daughter. This is also interesting because when she credits people (style, photography, etc.) she typically just lists them at the end of the caption, but in this post she thanked Stella as part of the caption, so it seems like she was specifically calling attention to the McCartney family.

2 - Paul & Taylor have one very unique thing in common - they are both “dead”. The old Taylor, of course, died in Look What You Made Me Do on Reputation. However, Paul’s death was not self inflicted. Basically in the 1960s rumors started to fly that Paul McCartney had died in an accident and the Beatles had replaced him with a look-alike in order to keep their fame and upward trajectory going. People thought that the band had left clues in their album art and lyrics, and went on a crazy easter egg hunt to find the truth (sound familiar, Swifties?) “Paul is dead” was basically the best meme of 1969 and the story went 1960s-viral and was picked up by radio stations, newspapers, and magazines.

3 - In 2018 Taylor Swift interviewed Pattie Body who is a FUCKING ICON. She was one of the most famous models of the 1960s, was married to the Beatle George Harrison for most of the time the Beatles were together, and inspired a million incredible rock songs (like Something by The Beatles and Layla by Eric Clapton). In the interview they talked a lot about Beatlemania and what it’s like to deal with an extreme amount of attention and pressure, especially at a very young age. I particularly found this pairing interesting because T hasn’t listed the Beatles as a main influence before, so I was excited to see the crossover beginning. Full article here.

4 - In the ME! music video there’s an entire section where we are randomly taken to a 1960′s concert. Tbh this is super unrelated to anything else that is happening and doesn’t really make much sense with the rest of the video, that exists in a fantasy city. All of the outfits in this scene are very Pattie-Boyd-like, but what I think is even more significant is the screaming, crying crowd that Taylor & Brandon are performing for. People in the crowd are going CRAZY for the performance. A couple of the close-up shots of people in the audience completely losing it look identical to fans at Beatle’s concerts at the height of Beatlemania.

5 - THIS ONE GOES OUT TO THE GAYLORS. One of the most popular theories about the Beatles, specifically on Tumblr, is that Paul McCartney and John Lennon were in love. Their couple name is “McLennon”. There is evidence for days that the bandmates were more than friends and a general consensus that WE LOVE THEIR LOVE. However, they always had to keep things hush hush because #the60s and #PR. There is a lot of speculation around Taylor’s sexuality and the idea that she might come out in her seventh album. From rainbows to pronoun usage, there are a lot of clues that T likes girls, but had to keep quiet about it for the sake of her PR.

6 - LAST AND CERTAINLY LEAST both Paul and Taylor are known for dancing their butts of at awards shows, even if no one is dancing with them. I’m mostly putting this in here because I wanted to post these cute gifs of them:

OKAY THAT’S ALL I HAVE FOR YOU THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME I NEED TO LOG OFF NOW BEFORE I COMBUST

#the beatles #paul mccartney #taylor swift #ts7 #fandom

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doocentral · 5 years

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LET’S TALK ABOUT “SCOOBY-DOO! RETURN TO ZOMBIE ISLAND”

The 50th Anniversary for the Scooby-Doo franchise has been interesting so far and it just started. We’re beginning to see a fancy “50th Anniversary” logo popping up on Scooby merchandise, we received a movie that attempted to bring closure to “The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo”, and Shaggy suddenly became an all-powerful meme lord. But something that hasn’t been discussed as prominently or been in the spotlight as much is the potential sequel we are going to be seeing this year to “Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island”.

Yes, you read that right. Evidence is emerging on the Internet and in Scooby-Doo media that suggest an upcoming “Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island” movie. It hasn’t been a huge discussion topic and I find that shocking.

I’ve talked about this with other Scooby-Doo fans including the moderator for Scoobypedia. Jesse Silver is an animator and cartoon artist who has a history (on LinkedIn) of work on various Scooby-Doo projects including direct-to-video movies and “Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!”. He wrote a most in July on his LinkedIn page stating that he had just finished work on “Return to Zombie Island”. He had this project listed in his work experience along with a potential King Arthur-themed Scooby-Doo movie (both of these items have since been removed from his experience yet this screenshotted post remains).

Then Tumblr user @scoobyescubidu made a post regarding “Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island” easter eggs appearing in the two most recent DTV Scooby-Doo movies (”Scooby-Doo! And the Gourmet Ghost” and “Scooby-Doo! And the Curse of the 13th Ghost”). I have yet to watch “Gourmet Ghost” myself but I did notice the “Zombie Island” reference in the “The Curse of the 13th Ghost” movie (reference my review of that movie).

In “Gourmet Ghost” we can see a painting on the wall portraying what appears to be the Moonscar Mansion. And in “The Curse of the 13th Ghost” we see the unmasking of the Moat Monster in a photograph in Daphne’s bedroom. They’re very uncanny references to “Zombie Island”. Something to remember too is how the original four DTV Scooby-Doo movies (”Zombie Island”, “Witch’s Ghost”, “Alien Invaders”, and “Cyber Chase”) aren’t often referenced if at all outside of those movies. If I remember correctly, the only movie that does reference those four movies aside from “Gourmet Ghost” and “The Curse of the 13th Ghost” is “Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire”. The Hex Girls make an appearance in that movie and Shaggy and Scooby are seen playing what appears to be a “Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase” video game in the Mystery Machine.

But “Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island” isn’t referenced again anytime after “Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost”. So why now?

Based on these recent references to that movie, Jesse Silver’s LinkedIn page, and the fact that the 50th Anniversary is the perfect time to celebrate the most celebrated and appreciated Scooby-Doo movie in the franchise, “Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island” makes sense.

Let’s face it: it’s coming.

I’m admittedly weary about this for multiple reasons...

“Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island” is one of the most important pieces of Scooby-Doo media ever made. It’s reignited a new generation of love for the cartoon after a stagnant period in the 1990′s. It held Scooby-Doo to a new standard (for the time). It took the existence of supernatural phenomena in the Scooby-world (which wasn’t new) and engineered it to create a compelling, dark, and complex mystery. It was also of great importance to my childhood.

I don’t want to reject a sequel to this movie because it’ll “ruin my childhood”. I’m not the target audience for Scooby-Doo anymore so that’s out of my control. But I don’t think a sequel to this movie is all that necessary or justifiable. Something that made “Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island” a really memorable movie was its art style and mood. The animation was beautiful and masterfully set the tone for a cartoon that up until this point had been innocent spooky fun. Trying to reinvent the magic of “Zombie Island” in the fashion of a modern Scooby-Doo movie would be challenging and likely non-complimentary to the original.

Another problem is the voice actors. The voice for Daphne in “Zombie Island” has passed away and every other character besides Fred had voices provided by actors who haven’t been affiliated with Scooby-Doo projects in recent years. (And I doubt Warner Bros. would go to the trouble of bringing them back -- even if those actors were at all interested).

It’s not often a sequel or reboot of a classic movie or franchise goes well. That goes for Scooby-Doo movies too. “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” made about $9.5 million less than “Scooby-Doo”. And “Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins” had a rating of 6.1 million on its premiere night while its sequel the following year had 5.1 on its premiere. (And let’s face it, who even cares about “Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster?)

Maybe the fact it’s a sequel won’t doom the movie from the beginning. But what about the story? “Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island” had awesome characters, villains, settings, and mysteries. And the movie concluded pretty neatly with the cat creatures dying, the zombies being able to rest, and the curse of the Harvest Moon being broken. What else is there to say? What could the gang possibly be returning to Moonscar Island for? What could be bringing them back? I just don’t see a sequel being able to wow me when there doesn’t seem to be anything that would revive the story without suggesting that Simone, Lina, and Jacques somehow didn’t die.

What if it’s a reboot though? Or a remastered version of “Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island”? Would that be at all desirable or needed? That’s up for debate I guess but I don’t think we need it.

What do you think of the idea of “Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island”? Is this something you want to see or are you wanting it not to happen? Or do you not care either way? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this because “Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island” is a special part of the Scooby-Doo world. Let’s talk about it!

#scooby doo #scooby dooby doo #scooby doo where are you #scooby doo fan #scooby doo blog #doocentral #hanna barbera #warner bros #scooby doo on zombie island #zombia island #return to zombie island #scooby doo return to zombie island #movie #nostalgia #memories #childhood #cartoon #discussion #let's talk

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kirain · 6 years

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Dear Dragon Age Community!

Let me start by saying that I don’t want to sound like an entitled gamer, but it's been confirmed that Dragon Age 4 is currently in production. That said, I want to send BioWare and EA a list of suggestions that I think most fans of the saga would like to see. If you agree with this list, please reblog with #Bioware, #EA, and #Dragon Age so hopefully both companies will see this post and take my suggestions to heart. Feel free to add your own suggestions as well. If you’re anything like me, Dragon Age is near and dear to your heart and you really want them to blow our minds with another epic sequel! Wardens, Champions, and Inquisitors unite!

1. Don’t rush it! I know hardcore gamers can be pretty intimidating, to the point that they nag and threaten and force you to release a game early– but don’t give in! Just know that they don’t represent the majority of us. Most of us would rather wait and for a glitch-less, well-rounded game, than a half-assed, heavily bugged disaster that’s barely tolerable to play. If it’s obvious that a lot of heart and soul went into the final product, we’ll stand by you and denounce the haters every step of the way.

2. Beta testing. Remember that consoles and PCs work differently. Please ensure that the game runs smoothly on all systems, not just one. I realise that PC gamers generate almost 50% of all sales, and that that number is only growing, but that doesn't mean console gamers should be forgotten. We're still diehard fans who simply can't afford a $2000 PC.

3. More kick-ass companions with one personal quest (or more) for each one. If there’s one thing we love about BioWare, it’s their colourful characters and awesome companion interactions. Please give these characters as much thought as possible. Each one should be someone’s pet project, because each one should have a unique personality. You nailed it in DAI and we hope to see that kind of dedication and creativity again!

4. Romance options. I understand that it’s hard to please everyone, but there should be several options for every orientation. Don't forget your target audience. I hate to say it but video games are mostly dominated by straight men, and in DAI straight men only had two choices-- Cassandra, who's a bit too brutish for most, and Josephine, who isn't even a main companion. In contrast, gay men only had two choices as well-- Dorian and Iron Bull. Straight women had more options than most, but one of their choices was a liar (Blackwall) and the other was a heartbreaker (Solas). And lesbian women got the shortest stick with Sera as their only option for romance. What I'm saying is, we need more variety. It might be a difficult feat, but we'll definitely appreciate it.

5. Story. Most gamers don’t even care about graphics or setting, so long as the story’s good. Please do your best to come up with a gripping narrative that we’ll love to follow. We also want to see a great conclusion to the cliff hanger DAI left us with. I think many of us are expecting Solas to be the main antagonist of Dragon Age 4, and it would be incredible to see how that plays out.

6. Story import. Please don't tell us we played through three games only for our choices to be stricken from the experience now. Please allow us to import our world state from DAI. You've done a fabulous job connecting the stories so far, and we're dying to continue it.

7. Don’t break our hearts. A little pain is fine. A little sorrow it fine. Audiences love being moved, but no one wants to finish a game and walk away feeling emotionally butchered. You can tug at our heartstrings, but please don’t shred it into a million pieces.

8. Speaking of broken hearts ... please tell us that Hawke is still alive if we chose to leave him/her in the Fade.

9. Throwbacks to the original games. You’ve done a great job with this so far, so all we ask is that you keep at it! It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside when we see characters from the old days, or find a fun little Easter egg. It’s very nostalgic and we need that. Enchantment!

10. Make our choices matter. Please. We want to see the impact of our choices and how they affect everyone and everything around us. We want to think before we act, not act with the knowledge that it won’t matter.

11. Allow us to save and import/export our character profiles. In DAI, it was rough having to recreate the same face if we lost/restarted a game.

12. Keep the same combat system! It literally kicks ass! The only thing I can recommended is more specials. Remember, there's no point in fixing something that isn't broken.

13. Continue to let us build and colour our armour/outfits. That was an awesome bonus that was a lot of fun for DAI players. It was a great way to let us express our individuality as players, and I for one spent hours finding the perfect armour for my character and companions.

14. Don’t experiment. Please. You nailed the graphics in DAI, and that’s all we could ever ask for.

15. Jumping! Jumping is important, and we’re so happy you included it in DAI! Please keep the jump feature!

16. Multiple voices for the main character. I understand that hiring voice actors is expensive, but if you’re able, I highly suggest you follow this pattern for Dragon Age 4. Having so many choices really made DAI go the extra mile for so many people.

17. Can we have a mabari, please? :)

18. The amount of side quests and locations to explore in DAI was absolutely stunning. There’s a reason DAI was awarded Game of the Year and considered a fan favourite, and this was one of them. I think most of us would be overjoyed to see the same variety of maps and quests available in Dragon Age 4.

19. Don't kill Varric. You can trick us into thinking he's dead for a while. Hell, you can even injure him, if you want. But don't kill him. That would be ... such a dick move.

20. Good character presets. Please give us decent templates. Something that we can mould into a character we can all be proud of. Please don't limit our options.

Again, these aren't demands, just suggestions. I personally won't send out death threats or burn down buildings if these suggestions aren't met. XD But as a long-time fan of Dragon Age ... I will be very hurt if BioWare doesn't listen to their fans on this. A lot of people are looking forward to Dragon Age 4, and we're ready to help you make it something that will be remembered for generations of games to come!

Ma serannas!

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thisislizheather · 3 years

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March Magic 2021

Above Photo: Cherry Blossoms are in bloom at the University of Washington right now - Photo By Kai Wang

Am I alone in thinking that was the longest March of all time? It truly felt like it would never end. Usually I love my birthday month, but with everything still the way it’s been for the past year, there really didn’t feel like much of a reason to celebrate. Also, Nathan got COVID. It was awful and scary and I was worried about how he’d be, but all is well and he just got his vaccine this past weekend, which is incredible. So a real roller coaster type of month, but thank god it’s over.

Here’s everything that went down last month.

I recapped how my winter list of things to do went.

Forever an optimist, I made a list of spring things that I’d like to do. One of my favourite things to do is get a pedicure on the first day of a season. I don’t get them very often at all, so it’s a nice way to usher in some new weather.

I finished watching Superstore, which is such a great show. I would’ve never watched it on my own, so this is why you have to listen to your best friend’s recommendations sometimes. They know more than you. Also, it was weird as hell to hear the Smashing Pumpkins song Today in one episode. Just seemed like a strange pairing, them and this show. Or any show, really. But I mean they did lend a song to that Apple ad, so I guess the old days of Billy Corgan complaining about everything are over.

I read and reviewed Joan Rivers’ book Enter Talking.

I made my way back to Lilia with Irene to devour their seasonal leek focaccia & green salted butter, which is always heaven on a plate. (Me and focaccia have had a pretty strong love affair going on for some time now. I plan on making it at home soon, but I can’t decide on the flavouring I’ll want to add to it. There are too many possibilities.) We also shared two pastas: the corzetti with pine nuts, marjoram & parmigiano reggiano as well as the sheep’s milk cheese agnolotti with saffron, dried tomato & honey. Always a good meal here. Might benefit from some new pastas, though.

Above Photo: My sweet baby girl, leek focaccia & her green salted butter

Above Photo: Stunning Irene & pasta

Above Photo: I’m very excited for bread

I got my first Moderna shot! I usually have tons of anxiety around needles, but somehow it wasn’t a problem this time (maybe because I had the kindest nurse on the planet). It sounds so simple, but she told me to look away, to take a deep breath and while I was taking that breath she put the needle in and THAT WAS IT. So grateful for that advice. Must remember that for life now. I have my next shot on April 8th! (I did get COVID arm, but it went away in 24 hours so it really wasn’t a big deal.) Also, I’ll definitely ask a medical professional, but if it’s allowed then I’m definitely getting my card laminated for free.

There’s this great, cute new store called Gift Box on Broadway in Astoria. It’s very similar to Lockwood, only better. Lots of cards, gifts, beauty products, candles, that kind of thing.

It’s green garlic season and we must all celebrate! I’ve also decided that I might devote my life to compound butters. Making them, eating them, giving them away as gifts potentially. Maybe this is what’s been missing.

Google image search the vagar faroe islands and let’s go.

I can’t stop putting this Esti vegan feta on everything, it tastes exactly like regular feta only slightly less salty.

Everything from the brand Umbra is gorgeous.

These are officially (and my niece Layla can attest to it) the greatest socks on the planet. Not too tight, not too short or high, and soft as a cloud.

Best kale caesar dressing I’ve had in months. And I love the idea of using breadcrumbs instead of croutons to liven things up a bit.

I made this roasted winter citrus and wow was it hot fruit. It should be a crime to make something look this good, but taste average as hell.

I started using the app Google Keep to organize all of my lists and tasks and I love it. It’s so much better than using Notes.

HOW have I never even HEARD of Shake Shack’s Innovation Kitchen?! AND HOW HAVE I NEVER BEEN. It’s moved to the top of my current Must Visit list.

I may or may not have fallen down a rabbit hole of incredible Melissa Clark recipes. Love this woman.

If you live in Englewood, New Jersey, how do you not just LIVE at this bakery? My god. Every item. In my mouth. Now.

And listen, I’m no scientist, but this seems like huge news…?

If you find yourself anxious or unsettled, this video of lasagna being made from scratch is the most soothing thing I’ve come across in months.

Target sells candles?! I’m the last person on earth who learned this. $4 for an actually great mini candle is wild.

Tried a slice of the red velvet cake from Milk Bar and it was unexpectedly good. I don’t usually care about red velvet (because it’s a scam?), but honestly their cakes always find a way to taste amazing.

I made this cajun linguine and it was so lackluster, I hate when a pasta recipe doesn’t work out. It’s so upsetting. Also, cajun seasoning can blow me.

They’re opening a Sonic in Manhattan, which I’ve never been to before, is it worth going?

I know Eataly is for tourists, but once in awhile I like to stop in to peruse. I tried one of their prepackaged foods (the eggplant parmesan) and it was a hard pass. Just no flavouring at all. The only thing that saved the day were their individual little Italian chocolates. Always amazing. I do want to eventually try their dried pasta Afeltra since I’ve heard such good things about it.

I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely not ready to watch documentaries about the pandemic yet. I don’t know if I’ll ever want to. I mean… we’re still IN IT, for christ’s sake. HBO needs to just sit down.

Tell me that you know the song Sea of Love.

You had me at “cheese-oozing focaccia.”

Great piece on diet culture by Julia Turshen.

When I was in Seattle in April a few years ago, I wandered onto the University of Washington’s campus and was blown away by their gorgeous cherry blossoms. They have a livestream of them right now, if you’d like to take a look.

With plastic bags officially banned now, I desperately need a basket bag to take when I go to the farmer’s market. So f-ing lovely. Everyone will think I’m Belle or some shit.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a fresh Jamaican patty in my life, so I’m definitely going here the next time I’m in Mississauga.

I love this chickpea salad, especially after adding basil.

Some of these are actually really great tips.

How on earth have I never heard of the restaurants Dell’anima or Anfora?! They’re both under the Joe Campanale umbrella (of L’Artusi fame)! I’m so excited to go. Just look at those menus.

Speaking of, I can’t go for too long without eating the wagyu steak tartare at L’Artusi. It’s a problem. (It also makes me want to buy a really great finishing olive oil, so I’m looking into that. I’m thinking either Monini or Frantoia.)

Above Photo: Wagyu steak tartare at L’Artusi

One thing I’ve started to do that you should too: buy good butter. I stopped buying margarine many years ago and thought I was a better person for buying regular grocery store butter. But sweetie, you can do more. The butter (specifically European butter) in specialty shops or some bakeries or markets is EONS better than the run-of-the-mill basic grocery butter. And it enhances literally everything that you use it in. Right now, the butter in my fridge is beurre de baratte butter and it’s ridiculously good. Obviously I’m not going to use this butter when I’m baking because I’m not a millionaire, but when I’m making something savory for dinner? Or a compound butter? Or on top of asparagus? On some bread as a snack? It’s unreal.

Speaking of food advice: don’t buy your parmesan at the grocery store either. I’ve never had amazing parmesan from there. It’s always the same, even the expensive stuff. Get your ass to a cheese shop. Enough already, you’re an adult.

I tried a CBD chocolate and just as I thought: it’s a scam. Just like red velvet. It did nothing for nobody.

I bought this tea tree toner on a whim from The Body Shop and I might keep buying it for the rest of time. I use it on my face right when I get out of a hot shower and it’s kept my face feeling incredible lately.

A new coffee shop opened up in my neighbourhood called Coffee Avenue and I can’t recommend it enough. The macadamia milk hot chocolate blew my face off.

I finally ate at Bar Primi in the city and it was spectacular. We had the ricotta crostino with hazelnuts & truffle honey (which is almost like a dessert, it’s so good), the linguine with 4 cloves of garlic & breadcrumbs as well as the penne ragu alla bolognese with ricotta which was the very best. Can’t wait to go again. Loved the atmosphere of the place, too.

The seasonal candle is out at Trader Joe’s and it’s grapefruit, which smells perfect. I’ve finally stopped hoarding their candles and have started burning them. Only took me a year of lockdown to realize I should try to enjoy my life.

Lemon Kit-Kats exist and all is right with the world. Delicious.

I don’t go very often, but I’ll always love The Dutch. Perfect cornbread. Perfect tartare. You can’t go wrong.

Above Photo: Housemade scallion-chipotle cornbread with whipped butter

Above Photo: Wagyu steak tartare, capers, bearnaise aioli

*Note: if it seems like I eat a lot of steak tartare - I do. Good observation. It’s incredible.

Controversial opinion but the Dove chocolate peanut butter eggs are one millions times better than Reese’s peanut butter cups. I couldn’t believe it either.

This leads me to another declaration: Easter candy might be better than Halloween candy. Hear me out. Halloween candy is almost chaotic when you think of the candy options, it’s overwhelming and more often than not, disappointing. Easter candy, however, is usually always new and fresh each season. They’ve got to work harder to get you to notice Easter candy, so infact you’re getting a more well thought out product, which usually tastes better. Anyway, can you tell I’m depressed…?

I went to the new Ulta location in NYC in Herald Square and it’s great, it seems bigger than the UWS one and it’s way more convenient to visit. Must remember. Oh! But speaking of Ulta, remember how last year they had such great birthday gifts? They really dropped the ball this year. They’re trying to give a $5 Mario Badescu facial spray as the March gift?! Are you fucking serious?! That’s the worst. Literally the worst gift of all the months. Fighting every urge in my body to write them a strongly-worded letter about this. Just insanity. I didn’t even go claim it. Keep your damn gift, no spray can calm me down from this.

New love: macadamia milk in my iced coffee in the morning. Just heavenly.

I rewatched Wall-E and what a great movie. For all ages. Too perfect.

Love the song Team by Lorde.

I watched the Woody Allen & Mia Farrow documentary on HBO and it’s obviously a must watch. So many things I didn’t know about that story were shown, this man needs to be stopped.

If you ever get a new phone and you want to transfer over all of your WhatsApp messages to your new phone (and you’ve never backed them up), you can pay $40 and use this site to do it.

The new Super Mario World in Japan looks incredible.

Do not judge me, but I ordered (and returned) a SKIMS bralette. I was swayed by a few photos of women wearing it and wanted to see for myself what it felt like. Verdict: crap. Sure, the material is soft but only because it’s so poorly made and unsupportive. An immediate return. The beautiful colours of the bras are what sells the product, in my opinion. It’s so hard to find well made, beautiful browns and neutrals in undergarments.

Speaking of what’s her name, I also ordered this KKW mini lip liner set that I’m unfortunately in love with. I use it as a lip liner and filler, and each fucking one is gorgeous. I’m going to do a post to show you. You’ll see what I mean.

I came across this wonderful stationary store in Chelsea, City Papery. I could spend hours roaming the aisles in there. Made a mental note to go back to get some really beautiful envelopes (why on earth am I still buying the basic-ass white envelopes at CVS??), such a great store.

I’m proofreading a book right now about the idea of living with intention and I’ll post a link to it as soon as it’s released later this year. It’s honestly one of the best self help things I’ve read in a long time.

I’ve had a Pinterest account forever and I recently organized a lot of the recipes into seasonal categories, which has inspired me to make so many new meals this season. Check it. Also, I haven’t tried these yet, but these spring recipes (below) sound delicious.

Blueberry Ricotta Cake with Lavender Glaze

Banana Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Lemon Almond Pudding Cake

Asparagus Quiche with Hash Brown Crust

Apricot Shortbread Bars

Buttermilk Lavender Scones

Carrot Cake Bread with Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting

Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Lavender Mascarpone

I’ve mentioned my filmmaker friend Dusty before (his film Violation was at Sundance this year), well his movie is a Critic’s Pick in the The New York Times this month, which is amazing and so well deserved. Truly could not happen to a better person.

I have eaten approximately five pounds of asparagus since spring began and I can’t see myself stopping anytime soon. It’s so fucking good. One grievance: that huge, fat asparagus. Why’s it so big like that?? Unnatural as hell. Give me that thin, beautiful asparagus that’s increasingly so hard to find any day. And to anyone who’s like, “Don’t you hate how it makes your pee smell?” - why you gotta go smell your pee? Be normal, weirdo.

I did Nathan’s podcast and we talked about how it’s been so beneficial to get some intentional offline time each Sunday.

Here were the best tweets of the month.

Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: I’m trying so hard to find a way to stream the last three episodes of Stanley Tucci’s Searching For Italy which has been impossible to find, will definitely go check out Little Island, excited to maybe go to the Kusama exhibit, I’d really like to make the Carbone garlic bread, I want to locate and try milk bread, my brother Robbie told me to mix balsamic vinegar & mayo and put it on a burger so I’ll try that soon, I bought some dried Rao’s pasta so I can’t wait to make it, I’m so excited that movie theatres are opening on the 2nd here (I’ll be fully vaccinated very soon so this is great), and I’m adding a resolution: I’d like to do one new thing on the first of every month (examples: buy stock in something, eat ramen, etc.).

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in February over here.

#best of NYC #NYC #NYC 2021 #this is liz heather #Liz Heather #march 2021 #things to do in NYC 2021 #Kusama exhibit #Stanley Tucci #Positive Anger #monthly post March 2021 #monthly post #best tweets #how to spend spring

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donald-clemons · 4 years

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How to Optimize and Use Online Marketing Campaigns for Success in 2020 – CommerceNow ‘20 Part 1

This past June, 2Checkout was the proud host of our fourth CommerceNOW 2020 online event, bringing together some of the greatest minds in eCommerce, digital marketing, conversion rate optimization, customer retention, global payments, and more, to share their knowledge and acumen.

Over the two-day event, 14 renowned speakers shared cutting-edge trends and actionable insights on how to grow an online business (even during a pandemic), with an audience of 3,000+ professionals. This is the first of a series of blog posts where we’ll share the key takeaways from the CommerceNOW ’20 sessions. Don’t forget you can also register to watch all of the recorded webcasts here.

Three of our experts addressed the importance of Optimizations and Online Marketing Campaigns to Succeed In 2020. Among their key takeaways:

Continue to use search for a useful view of consumer behavior and intent, and take appropriate action, despite this current crisis;

Conquer your organic search challenges with sharpened and refocused SEO skills;

Make campaigns easy to understand, interesting, and fun.

In a presentation by Purna Virji, Senior Manager of Global Engagement at Microsoft, “The Digital Advertiser’s Guide to COVID-19,” Purna explored the elevated relevance and use of search in the context of the pandemic.

With brick-and-mortar retail shopping on hold and people stuck at home, online search is top-of-mind for customers, and what they are searching for is distinctive, too. Some searches, naturally, are down, like for travel and lodging, while financial services and retail (especially for things like home goods and appliances, since we’ve all become very home-focused) have gone up dramatically.

In short, however, paid search is like “a steady ship during stormy waters,” Purna asserted. It’s been impacted the least by COVID, she pointed out, and has simultaneously benefitted the most.

Purna advised businesses to optimize their advertising and marketing strategies by focusing on three areas:

Immediate strategy—quick actions they could take today, like modifying their message and imagery to show they connect with what consumers are facing and how their lives have changed.

Restoration strategy—what will the world look like after the pandemic? Start building strategic remarketing lists and adjust their KPI’s to be more flexible with their benchmarks.

New opportunities—what ways can they capitalize on changes brought on by the pandemic? Begin to target their advertising with the re-rise of desktop shopping in mind; lower their budget but keep their advertising up and running; expand to a broader audience to reach new users who have become customers because of the pandemic.

For each of these areas, Purna supplied a checklist of items to examine, with a deep-dive into specific directives for each: Ads, Keywords, Audience, Bidding, and Budget.

Purna also advised companies to take a “health check,” looking at the following:

Audience dashboard: High-level and granular views of audience performance and bid adjustments based on KPI’s;

Comprehensive gap analysis: New keyword opportunities to stay ahead of the competition;

Negative keyword conflicts: Identify opportunities to resolve conflicts;

Share of voice dashboard: Identify how to optimize your budget, bid, and ads for your audience campaigns.

Purna concluded her presentation with valuable resources and helpful links about advertising and marketing during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as charitable ways to give back during this challenging time.

Aleyda Solis, SEO Consultant and Founder of Orainti, addressed the topic of SEO difficulties in eCommerce and ways to turn them into successes, in her presentation “How to Win SEO for eCommerce in 2020—Main Challenges and How to Overcome Them.”

Organic search is the main traffic driver for eCommerce and shopping sites, Aleyda pointed out, but sites have characteristics that make it challenging to optimize them as effective as businesses would like, such as:

High number of products

Highly dynamic inventory

Complex taxonomy

In turn, she said, these challenges can cause common SEO issues, like the following:

Crawl budget issues

Content indexing, duplication, and cannibalism issues

Internal linking challenges

The good news? Aleyda says these issues actually can be a great opportunity to sharpen your SEO skills, in two ways:

Optimize your product pages with limited control and highly dynamic inventory

Internal linking and indexing of facets with non-standardized attributes.

Aleyda does a deep-dive into numerous ways to accomplish these two tasks, with examples and visuals, to make it more likely that consumers will find your product and purchase it.

Olga Andrienko, Head of Global Marketing, SEMRush, presented “Ways to Improve Customer Retention: Gamification Cases by SEMRush,” sharing three campaigns her company has recently conducted and the components that contributed to their success.

The three simple tenets Olga cites when talking about the success of SEMRush’ marketing and advertising: Make your campaigns easy to understand, make them interesting, and make them fun. “Gamification is the perfect way to deliver these three things,” she asserted.

In one example of a campaign using gamification, Olga described how a new eBook on SEO techniques was used as an incentive to upgrade from a basic subscription to what they call their GURU subscription. After launching the campaign, they realized their GURU clients were also interested in receiving the eBook, so they were welcomed to join.

Make it interesting: The campaign goal was to increase their clients’ awareness of the range of SEO tools SEMRush offered, especially those they were not yet using.

Make it easy: They initially sent an email blast with a straightforward, non-time-consuming sign-up for five tools. The eBook was the “prize” for doing so.

Make it fun: If the user signed up for all five tools, they received a follow-up email with an animated “vault” to open, with the eBook as the “treasure” inside.

The results? An almost 50% open rate for the campaign newsletter, 750 participating, and with almost half of those who opened the newsletter—900—signing on for new project setups.

Olga described another successful SEMRush campaign: animated Easter eggs, hidden across their interface, which when clicked on would reveal information on a product tool … as well as another Easter egg to click on. Every customer who clicked on an egg would receive a personal response via Twitter, making it a very personal, fun “game” with lots of social engagement.

Their Easter egg hunt led to 9,300 users participating over the two weeks, +1,500 actions in SEMRush by users, and over 8 million impressions for tweets with #semrushegghunt. Four of the five tools featured as Easter eggs got significant new visitor boosts.

Olga also addressed their tactics for social media campaigns, and emphasized that “it’s all about empathy, care, and customer support.” She cited the following steps for successful social media campaigns:

Make it personal: Use the person’s first name whenever possible, when communicating, to make the contact more powerful. “It will resonate more than anything else,” Olga said.

Respond to unhappy customers: Retain users by responding to social media complaints where your company is tagged. You have a better chance of retaining the naysayers, even if they are unhappy, if you engage in open discussion with them.

Respond as quickly as possible: Even if you have to give them a more complete answer the next day, make contact immediately—they will appreciate it and you will build trust.

Fix their complaint: If you can, address and find a solution to the problem they are having. They are likely to become your biggest advocate.

Don’t apologize for the company: Instead, use the following formula: “I see you,” “I care about you,” I am sorry you feel that way,” and “Please hear me out.”

Olga’s key takeaways:

Attracting and keeping clients are equally important.

Don’t invent a new platform; use your website interface, email and social media.

Talk to your audience, especially when they are upset with you.

Make your campaign easy, interesting, and fun.

To learn more about the trends, insights, tips, and tricks that some of the greatest minds in eCommerce, digital marketing, CRO, and customer experience shared at CommerceNOW 2020, you can sign up here to access all the sessions.

The post How to Optimize and Use Online Marketing Campaigns for Success in 2020 – CommerceNow ‘20 Part 1 appeared first on The 2Checkout Blog| Articles on eCommerce, Payments, CRO and more.

How to Optimize and Use Online Marketing Campaigns for Success in 2020 – CommerceNow ‘20 Part 1 published first on https://yousweetluxury.weebly.com/

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gethealthy18-blog · 4 years

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101 Valentine Quotes And Wishes For Your Sweet Sister

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/getting-healthy/getting-healthy-women/101-valentine-quotes-and-wishes-for-your-sweet-sister/

101 Valentine Quotes And Wishes For Your Sweet Sister

101 Valentine Quotes And Wishes For Your Sweet Sister Harini Natarajan Hyderabd040-395603080 January 13, 2020

Sisters are the best thing in the world. They are your mom, dad, and best friend rolled into one. Valentine’s Day does not have to be all about romance. It is also a good time to celebrate the people you love – including your sister. Here is a list of best wishes and quotes you could send to your sister, your blessing in disguise, and make her Valentine’s Day memorable.

Valentine’s Wishes For Your Sister

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A sister is the best gift that our parents can give us. Don’t know what I would ever do without you. Happy Valentine’s Day, my sweetie sis.

Sisters are like two flowers in a garden. I am blessed to have a beautiful flower with me. It’s a blessing having you, cutie. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Having a sister is like having a best friend who will love and protect you forever. I will never get tired of loving you. Happy Valentines’, sis.

No matter how different we are, I love you so much. Having a sister is worth having a million friends. Thank you for everything, my love! Happy Valentine’s Day.

Crushes would be so useless if you didn’t have a sister to tell about them to. I am blessed to have you, my sweet sister. It is like having a part of childhood preserved forever. Happy Valentine’s Day!

As an elder sister, you are very much like my second mom, who protects me from every unforeseen danger. Happy Valentine’s Day to my guiding angel.

A role model and a person you can look up to forever. A sister is the best gift of your life. Happy Valentine’s Day to my role model.

Having a sister is like having a soulmate who loves and defends you always. Thanks for having my back! Happy Valentine’s Day, sis!

The worst enemy and the best friend all at once – yes, that’s what a sister is. Thank you for being a part of me. Happy Valentine’s Day!

A sister is like a hero who you can count on. You could beat the Avengers any day. Happy Valentine’s Day, my Wonder Woman!

To my favorite person on earth, you make the world a happy place to live in. Thank you for everything! I love you. Happy Valentine’s Day!

A sister is a bundle of love and joy. You mean the world to me. Happy Valentine’s Day to the sweetest sis.

A sister is your teacher, your defense lawyer, your personal agent, and your go-to person. Thanks for being all of this for me. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sisters have a unique relationship that people who have not loved someone unconditionally find impossible to decipher. Thanks for being the Tom to my Jerry. Happy Valentine’s Day!

The love of a sister is like a protective shield. Love you for always looking out for me. Happy Valentine’s Day!

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A sister is a mentor, a leader, and a best friend. What would I ever do without you, my angel? Happy Valentine’s Day!

A sister will always take pride in your achievements. She is someone you can trust with all of your secrets. Happy Valentine’s, my forever secret keeper.

I don’t think I deserve an angel like you, but I love you until the end of time and will never lose you. Happy Valentine’s Day, sister.

As long as you are with me, nothing bad can happen to me. The aura of your love protects me from all dangers. Happy Valentine’s Day to my protector.

A sister is someone who reaches for your hand, touches your heart, and stays there forever. I hope I get a sister like you in every life. Happy Valentine’s Day, sistah!

A sister will ignore all the bad and remind you of all the good in you. Blessed to have you, sis. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sisters will always stick with you through thick and thin. Thank you for standing by me, no matter what the situation. Happy Valentine’s Day to my constant.

If you find life’s hill too steep to climb on your own, take my hand, and you never have to do that alone again. I love you, sister. Happy Valentine’s Day!

A sister loves you from the heart. No matter how much you fight, you cannot be drawn apart. Happy Valentine’s Day, sister!

A toast once heard: “To my big sister, who never found her second Easter egg until I’d found my first.” Robert Brault (Isn’t that a really cute thing to make your sister smile!)

You are my real-life Santa, who has always showered me with gifts and love. I love you, sweetie. Happy Valentine’s Day!

A sister is everything you wish you could be. It’s a blessing having you. Happy Valentine’s Day, dear sister.

Sister love tops all love. I have found my bestie in you, and I am lucky to have you in my life. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Dear sister, it will always be sisters before misters. I love you. Happy Valentine’s Day.

We grew up together and have shared the most beautiful stories ever. I could have never imagined a life without you. Happy Valentine’s Day, my sister, my love.

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I have been stupid to have hated you, but you always forgave me and made me a better person. Love you forever! Happy Valentine’s Day.

Having a sister is like having a best friend you don’t want to get rid of. Happy Valentine’s Day.

There can be no situation in which a conversation with your sister will not comfort you. Happy Valentine’s Day, my comforter.

A sister is a soulmate for life. Happy Valentine’s Day, my soulmate!

A sister is one that always cares, is loving and kind, and will always do anything for you when you need her. Happy Valentine’s Day, my constant.

Happiness is sipping a cup of tea and chatting with your sister and feeling warm and happy to have her around. Happy Valentine’s Day, my cuppa joe!

When someone messes with my little sister, they mess with me. Forever your protector! Happy Valentine’s Day.

Dearest sister, This Valentine’s Day, I want you to know that you can count on me like one-two-three, and I’ll be there for you – always.

Having a sister is like having an army to support you, no matter what. Happy Valentine’s Day, my one-woman army.

A sister is a gift to the heart who teaches you the meaning of life. Thank you for never giving up on me. Happy Valentine’s Day!

It is very difficult to find someone who will know you as well as your sister. Happy Valentine’s Day!

No bond is ever so strong as that of two girls connected at heart. Happy Valentine’s Day, sister.

We have shared the most special times of our lives, and that includes a lifetime – from childhood until old age. Happy Valentine’s Day, my sister.

I may not be able to solve all of your complications, but I won’t let you face them alone. Happy Valentines Day to my sweetest sis.

We fight and love each other at the same time. Thank you for always being there for me. Happy Valentine’s Day!

We bond through habits, likes, and love for each other, dear sister. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Quotes For Your Sister

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“Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that looks down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other.” – Sojourner Truth

“The two sisters didn’t come wailing. They came quietly, holding on to each other. As if they needed no one’s comfort but the others.” – Kristen Ciccarelli

“As anybody with two older sisters can tell you, a closed-door is like a red rag to a bull. It cannot go unchallenged.” – Alan Bradley

“The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation.” – Oscar Wilde

“Sweet, crazy conversations full of half sentences, daydreams and misunderstandings more thrilling than understanding could ever be.” – Toni Morrison

“What sisters are for if not to point out the things the rest of the world is too polite to mention?” – Claire Cook

“That’s the best thing about little sisters: They spend so much time wishing they were elder sisters that in the end, they’re far wiser than the elder ones could ever be.” – Gemma Burgess

“The boughs, without becoming detached from the trunk grow away from it.” – Victor Hugo

“I love the notion of “storm sisters” – soul friends who help us get through life’s most raw and painful transitions.” – Jennifer Grant

“Little sisters can be a pain, but the big sister heroine worship can’t be beaten.” – Allison M. Lee

“When sisters stand shoulder to shoulder, who stands a chance against us?” – Pam Brown

“She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling even in the dark.” – Barbara Alpert

“There is a language every sister knows, a language tender beyond words and rarely spoken. It runs like a string between two hearts, and we only pluck that string in times of trouble. This night we speak as sisters.” – Kathleen Baldwin

“A sibling may be the keeper of one’s identity, the only person with the keys to one’s unfettered, more fundamental self.” – Marian Sandmaier

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“As I grew up, one of my strongest allies has been my sister.” – Patti Smith

“My sister and I are so close that we finish each other’s sentences and often wonder who’s memories belong to whom.” – Shannon Celebi

“She is the only person left in the world who shares my memories of our childhood, our parents, our Shanghai, our struggles, our sorrows, and, yes, even our moments of happiness and triumph.” – Lisa See

“We may look old and wish to the outside world, but to each other, we are still in junior school.” – Charlotte Gray

We shared a room, you stole my toys, and then my clothes, but best friends we became.” – Catherine Pulsifer

“A younger sister is someone who trusts you to defend her. Someone who thinks you know the answers to almost everything.” – Pam Brown

“Elder sisters never can do the younger one’s justice!” – Charlotte M. Yonge

“She’s my little sister. Mine to torture and mine to protect.” – Julia Quinn

(Here is a funny one which will surely make her smile!)”Never let an angry sister comb your hair.” – Patricia McCann

“You can be boring and tedious with sisters, whereas you have to put on a good face with friends.” – Deborah Moggach

“How do people make it through life without a sister?” – Sara Corpening

“She’ll go and fall in love, and there’s an end of peace and fun, and cozy times together.” – Louisa May Alcott

“An older sister is a friend and defender – a listener, conspirator, a counselor and a sharer of delights. And sorrows too.” – Pam Brown

“The mildest, drowsiest sister has been known to turn tiger if her sibling is in trouble.” – Clara Ortega

“Nobody fights you like your own sister; nobody else knows the most vulnerable parts of you and will aim for them without mercy.” – Jojo Moyes

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“You must recognize that the way to get the good out of your brother and your sister is not to return evil for evil.” – Louis Farrakhan

“Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other.” – Carol Saline

“If your sister is in a tearing hurry to go out and cannot catch your eye, she’s wearing your best sweater.” – Pam Brown

“Sisterhood was about shared experiences, trust, knowing you had people who would be there for you and would listen to you no matter what, and who could always tell if there was something wrong.” – Michelle Madow

“They were the ones who, with a single look, knew if you were about to burst into giggles or into tears and why.” – Michelle Madow

“Of two sisters, one is always the watcher, one the dancer.” – Louise Glück

“Back in time, it seemed that having a sister was a tragedy. Instead, it is one of the best presents my parents could have ever given me.” – Sara Anzellotti

“A sister is someone who owns part of what you own: a house, perhaps, or a less tangible legacy, like memories of your childhood and the experience of your family.” – Deborah Tannen

“Only your sister could know how it felt to grow up in the house that made you.” – Jessica Taylor

“When you can’t look on the bright side, I will sit with you in the dark.” – Alice in Wonderland

“Sisters never quite forgive each other for what happened when they were five.” – Pam Brown

“Sisters are reliably good for two things: hating and loving.” – Jessica Knoll

“She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she’s the reason you wish you were an only child.” – Barbara Alpert

“That’s what sisters do: we argue, we point out each other’s frailties, mistakes, and bad judgment, we flash the insecurities we’ve had since childhood, and then we come back together. Until the next time.” – Lisa See

“Sisters share a bond unlike any other thornier, but also tender, full of possibility.” – Joy McCullough

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“At this point, none of us are sure why we fight. We’re sisters. We need no good reason to fight, even though we have plenty of them.” – Ken Wheaton

Nancy: “sisters are a shield against life’s cruel adversity”. Decca: “sisters are life’s cruel adversity.” – Mary S Lovell

“Is solace anywhere more comforting than that in the arms of a sister?” – Alice Walker

“You know full well as I do the value of sisters’ affections; there is nothing like it in this world.” – Charlotte Bronte

“Friends grow up and move away. But the one thing that’s never lost is your sister.” – Gail Sheeny

“I’ve known every love possible, but as the years stretched out, the love I longed for the most is the one I shared with my sister.” – Josephine Angelini

“How the hell do you sum up your sister in three minutes? She’s your twin and your polar opposite. She’s your constant companion and your competition. She’s your best friend and the biggest bitch in the world. She’s everything you wish you could be and everything you wish you weren’t.” – M. Molly Backes

“Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet.” – Vietnamese proverb

“Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk.” – Susan Scarf Merrell

“A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves—a special kind of double.” – Toni Morrison

“I never try to make anyone my best friend because I already have one and she is my sister.” – Unknown

These quotes and wishes will surely touch your sister’s heart and bring back fond memories that you have shared. Celebrate the beautiful bond you share with these messages. Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Harini Natarajan

Harini has over 12 years of experience in content writing and editing for online media. She specializes in the areas of business, health and wellness, and lifestyle and is proficient in Medical Sciences (Biology, Human Anatomy and Physiology, and Biochemistry). As the Chief Editor, Harini ensures that her team delivers interesting, engaging, and authentic content. Her background in Biomedical Engineering helps her decode and interpret the finer nuances of scientific research for her team. Harini is a certified bibliophile and a closet poet. She also loves dancing and traveling to offbeat destinations.

Source: https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/valentines-day-for-sisters/

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justabelfastgirl · 5 years

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This is a repost from Northern Irish Girl Online which is no longer active.

Hello, you beautiful, sexy, people,

Thanks again to the AMAZING ROSS, I felt that should be in capitals because it’s like a superhero name. He tagged me in this and I loved his responses so I’m excited to get started with this one.

1. I can text in Swedish/Danish (kind of)

Have you ever seen The Bridge? It’s a Swedish/Danish show based on two detectives. It’s probably one of the hubby and I’s favourite shows to watch together next to Parks & Rec, Brooklyn 99 (NINE-NINE! Fans of the show will get this and I better see it in the comments!) and The Vikings (Ragnar can father my children whenever he wants, thanks).

We got so engrossed in it that we started texting each other in Swedish and Danish one day, lol. We know a few words just from watching the show so much and the rest was down to Google Translate. It’s on the bucket list to visit both Sweden and Denmark one day and the infamous bridge the show is named after. I can’t recommend it enough.

I don’t mind watching a programme with subtitles as you honestly get so engrossed in what is going on that you don’t even realise they aren’t speaking the same as your native tongue.

Author Top Tip: It’s also a brilliant way to learn a new language.

2. Farts

My farts, or as we say in Northern Ireland if we want to be polite, poofs, are so loud that they can wake people from their sleep. My biological mother used to tell me that if I was sitting on the floor (which I tended to do a lot, I found a hard floor more comfortable than a chair, I still do… I don’t know why), and I farted that she could feel it vibrate in her feet.

I suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome and was first diagnosed at 17 whilst studying for my A-Levels. I’ve lived with it for a very long time so I know what can upset my stomach and what might set me off. I have to be so careful with my stress levels as that’s my biggest trigger. I do plan to do a post on it as I’ve noticed the pain has increased as the years have gone on, so I’m currently researching more on the subject before I post my own blog post on it.

3. I’m weirdly obsessed with certain cultures and historical eras.

I’m weirdly obsessed with Native American culture, I have been for as long as I can remember. I think it first started when I was a kid and saw Pochantos which, fun fact, is my favourite Disney film. For those unsure of what I mean by Native American culture or haven’t seen Pochantos (um… why are you reading this? Go watch it!) I mean Indians. Not people from India, see below picture.

I mean… he’s not wrong.

Historical Eras I’m obsessed with are Ancient Egypt, especially the Gods & Goddesses. Which is strange because I have little to no interest other “modern-day” Gods. However, I would definitely follow the Ancient Egypt Gods until the end of the earth. Weird, right? My favourite was, of course, Anubis, not because he was the God of the Afterlife, but because duh, he was a Jackal’s head.

Photo Credit: Sunima

The Tudors

Again, this is strange (you’ll see why on my next one), but Henry VIII era had me totally absorbed in History class and I remember asking my Nanny that I wanted books on The Tudors for Easter that year instead of an egg (yeah, I was that geek). I really don’t know why as we all know that Henry was a wee wanker when it came to women. He was just greedy all around with food, money and women.

Big Henry VIII – The Original Manwhore Fuckboy

4. I don’t like The Queen and hate the hype around The Royals

Before you start, my mum (my step-mum) pretty much verbally smacked me for saying this. My mum loves The Queen, as does my dad. My granda… he was on the fence from my chats with him. I honestly feel the older I get, the more I remember my talks with my hero, the more I realise he has basically formed my opinion’s on a lot of things. The only time I’ve watched anything Royal related was Harry & Meghan’s wedding because Harry is an actual ledge (and I have a bit of a thing for him, I’m not gonna lie) and I was already a fan of Meghan from her role in Suits. Also, has anyone seen the bad lip reading at Harry & Meghan’s wedding?

If not, I swear on my life it’s funnier than the Star Wars ones. If you haven’t seen those or the NFL ones either… I, I just dunno what to say to you. Who even are you? I’m such a good egg (only because I mentioned it I had to go watch it again or I’d make you go find it yourselves) that I have provided the video for you below. Prince Wills isn’t so bad, especially after I watched this. For the record, I personally think Hagrid (Rubeus Hagrid for the diehard #HP fans) was the right answer. I mean, no one is as cool as Hagrid.

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PW: “I hope you understand we’re puppets”

PH: “You said we had free will.”

PW: “No, I didn’t.”

Wills telling Harry the real truth. May 2018

Why do I not like Big Lizzy? Several reasons, the main one being CHARLES, idol-worshipping of someone who from where I sit hasn’t really done much and that’s with research, I wish we could vote. I’d totally vote for Harry to take the crown at least the charities he, Wills and their wives get involved in are ones that will really make a difference. People may say she isn’t control of a lot of things as she has left it to the governments in the United Kingdom Let me ask you this then, who does the Wicked Witch of Downing Street, I mean… Teresa May, report to? Uh-huh.

Big Lizzy is also the boss of the HM Forces, yet I don’t think she even cares how much those lads and ladies are actually paid. I ranted about this on Twitter recently when Andrew Trimble, Ulster Rugby player (I think?), said he wasn’t paid enough to “go to battle” every day. Andrew Trimble earns hundreds of thousands of pounds from playing rugby, sponsorships, appearances and so on. When I educated him on how much a Marine is paid before he passes out he shut up immediately and stopped responding to me. I looked for the Tweet for ages and then got fed up, it’s on my Twitter somewhere, good luck finding it!

Now, he’s not the only one. You look at footballers, celebrities and so on, they earn millions. Soldier’s will never make that amount of money, but they fight for our freedom. Anyone else see something wrong with this?

I grew up with military family members, not only that, but I lived on the Shore Road which was smack bang in the middle of North Belfast. Every single day, I would go outside and wait for the PSNI and RIR (Royal Irish Regiment), British Army, possibly the Royal Marine Commandos (RM aka, LADSSS) to drive past my house so I could wave at them and tell them that they were amazing. I was 11 when The Good Friday Agreement came into force, I was a child that grew up in the Troubles. My after school TV had a few kids shows, and a lot of Northern Irish news whilst my dad lived with me. The older I got the less kid/teenage TV the more I watched the news.

5. I’m still on the hunt for three books I read as a teenager over 20 years ago

Photo Credit: Jaredd Craig

You will never know how painful that sentence was to write, 20 years ago!! I still think I’m fucking 20 then I get slapped in the face with the fish of reality and it hurts me to my soul. Anyways, I read three books that to this day I remember like it was yesterday. The thing about it is they weren’t life-changing books at all, all of them were fiction. I’ve tried searching for them by the titles I remember them by, but to no avail. I asked my library, but they changed their system 10 years ago so there is nothing from prior to that, anymore. I have even gone on websites and described the books in detail, but nothing and it’s my biggest pet hate, ever.

My hubby said it just shows when I’m determined to do something I never give up on it. He should know, I was determined to do him 14 years ago, 14 years on and almost 9 years of marriage and it’s still happening, lol!

6. I’m quite smart and have a freakish memory

And Omigod totally modest! Not tooting my own trumpet, but you don’t study Psychology if you haven’t got some brains.

I can’t remember what I did yesterday, but I could probably tell you the worst serial killers ever known, the horror films that have certain aspects of them that are inspired from real historical events (and they aren’t the ones you think), be able to figure out what films Will Ferrell quotes come from (thanks mostly to my husband who is a big fan of Will Ferrell, as am I), what a book I read 20 years ago was about and what I thought of it, song lyrics, full songs, history and shit.

I could also probably tell you something that happened in my childhood in great detail, but if you asked me what I did in work last week, I’d just shrug and be like…. “talking to people and shit”.

7. I’m a massive tomboy and I once got my finger trapped in a grating (drain cover) looking for a tennis ball whilst plotting to murder IT with a tennis racket.

“Eddie discovered one of his childhood’s great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.” – Stephen King, IT.

Okay, let me explain. I, as I mentioned in a previous post, grew up around lads. I was the eldest granddaughter on my dad’s side and second eldest on my mum’s side. This meant the people I looked up to were all lads, I used to fight with my other female cousin all the time. Which is funny because when we got older we were as close as sisters. It was because I was such a “lad”. I love football, wrestling, playing rugby, kickboxing, getting dirty, gaming and other stereotypical “laddy” things.

I’ve more male friends than I do female, but my three best friends are all female. I’m on good terms with every single one of my exes, bar one. Whilst in the majority of the relationships, I broke it off, I did it in a way that wasn’t dickish and tried to cause the least amount of pain to anyone and everyone involved.

My two best friends, Barrie and Bryan (they’re brothers and we’re still in touch today), we were going through our wanting to be a tennis player phase. This was in between our Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles and Marvel Superhero’s phase. Barrie and I were slamming some serious ball against the wall in my back garden with our tennis rackets.

I can’t remember which one of us it was, but I’m going to blame Barrie because he’s not going to read this to defend himself, but the ball ended up disappearing down the drain. Being the intelligent childer we were, we followed what we thought was the right pipe system, out through the cul-de-sac out of my back to the drain just across the road from Barrie’s house.

We thought this would be the drain it would appear in. I had seen IT by this point, Barrie had not. I wouldn’t call Barrie a pussy, because he actually fights for a living now and would no doubt kick my ass for it, but let’s just say he was a sensitive wee sausage when we were young.

I was determined to find IT and beat him to death with my tennis racket so my thought process, being the kid I was, was that if we lifted the lid he’d either hear it and come to us or already be there. I was determined to protect Barrie at all costs, despite him being a few months older, he and Bryan were like brothers to me and everyone who knows me knows, I’d put anyone who hurts my family in the ground.

Barrie was in charge of holding the grating lid open and I was in charge of retrieving the ball when it came past (and also unbeknownst to Barrie killing IT). I can’t remember whether it was a car, someone yelling at us to get out of the drain (quite possibly this one) or, Barrie just being a fucking eejit and not paying attention, but he dropped the grating lid on my right fingertips.

I don’t know who cried more me or him. I think him, we ran back to my house, my fingers pissing blood and both of us covered in it looking like we’d just sacrificed ourselves to Satan. For some reason, I remember there being quite a few of my dad’s family in the house that day visiting, but it could be my warped memory of my childhood.

Both sets of parents were there that day, course mother dearest went absolutely nuts yelling at me, I, again, protected Barrie despite him clearly giving himself away by crying (because he felt so guilty he had hurt me and that I was bleeding so much, told you he was a sensitive wee sausage). Saying it was my fault and my idea, the truth did come out in the end. My four fingernails were hanging off, the worst being my middle finger.

I don’t remember an A&E visit, but I remember one of my bigger cousins saying I was hardcore as I was only crying because I’d gotten blood on me and was still deadly fearful of my mother beating me back then. He told me my fingers tips were clearly broken as they’d been crushed in the grating.

My dad ended up having to pull the middle fingernail off as it was just hanging there, at least I think it was my dad, it could have been my ma, I don’t remember I thankfully blocked out the actual experience, the rest of them broke off. To this day, my fingernails and fingers are off to one side. See pics for proof, below.

8. I love to learn, a lot!

I’ve said this previously, but for those new here, I used studying as an escape, same with reading, from what I suffered as a kid. I would get lost in history books, books from the library, for hours on end.

I read abnormally fast, often finishing a standard 330-word book in half a day if I am up early, or a day depending on what I’m doing. I bring a book with me everywhere I go, just in case.

Holiday’s are funny as there is usually at least 6 books and a Kindle in my hand luggage, increasing to 8 to 12 books by the time I get on the plane. My hubby just rolls his eyes, now but knows they’ll get read.

To put my learning into perspective I thought the best thing to do would be to create a table which is split into self-taught and qualified/things I hold certificates in. It’s a bit mental to look at, but 100% my proudest achievement after being mentally healthy following a 2 year battle with my PTSD.

Self Taught Academia Criminal Psychology Psychology and soon to be Forensic Psychology Photography Dental nursing Photo Editing History (Irish & UK) Blogging, Writing English & English Lit Criminology Criminology Human Resources Human Resources Counselling Counselling (including CBT, Life Coaching, Career Coaching) Rearing dogs from pups to adults Autism (including all areas of the spectrum) Norse Methodology Health & Social Care Wiccanism Business Administration History of Music & Music Genres Psychology Parapsychology Makeup Artistry, Beautician & Nail Technician Computer programming (hacking, website creation) Viral Marketing Cooking Art & Design Swedish/Danish (written, only) BASIC French (Oral & Written) Basic Italian – Basic/Intermediate at the moment Sewing, crochet Maltese – Intermediate First Aid (Child, Adult & Pet) Book Publishing (with coaching from my sis Christina) Business Auditing UK, NI and Irish Law Sign Language Level 1 UK, NI and Irish Employment Law UK, NI and Irish Employment Law Child Psychology & Counselling (mentoring from NSPCC) Woodworking, carpentry, building smaller homemade objects Mental Health Conditions & Disorders Accounting Different religions and cultures Sociology

This isn’t me showing off, just as an FYI. This, to me, is a list of things I have used as PTSD survival techniques. I’ve posted twice about what happened to me when I was younger.

I also challenge you all to make a list of things you have taught yourself when I say self-taught, I mean not going to a school, college, university online or off at any time. It doesn’t matter if you were taught it by a family member or something like that, it’s anything you’ve taught yourself to do without the help of professionals.

I would be deadly interested to see everyone else’s lists, and probably want them to teach me stuff I don’t know, lol.

9. I’m obsessed with little Asians and want to adopt all the little Asians, but my husband won’t let me.

I don’t know okay? I really don’t know when it started or how it started. My dad (who is not racist, I promise) always calls me cheeky face or, I swear he isn’t racist, he just isn’t very original with nicknames, I’m sorry if this offends, oval eyes. I’ve a round-shaped “pea” head as my dad and husband like to remind me of on a somewhat weekly basis, they’re wee shites like the Chinese people (known for having rounder faces).

I have oval-shaped eyes (doesn’t everyone you say, actually no, no they don’t) which are angled upwards, like a person of Chinese descent. I have my granddaddy’s eyes as you honestly couldn’t tell whether he was squinting or his eyes were wide open. Mine is slightly more open than his, but when I’m tired you can see why my dad has dubbed me what he has.

When we pass anyone of Phillipene, Chinese, Thai or Japanese descent husband calls them my people because I absolutely love them and I really do have myself convinced that, as well, as being Italian/Maltese/Northern Irish/English I have either Native American (hence my fascination with them) or another Asian descent in my heritage. I’d love to do that 123 and Me test, but I don’t have a spare $50. If you’d like to donate that to me then lemme know, lol. what? You don’t ask you don’t get!

My cousin is married to a beautiful (inside and out) woman named Christina who is from the Philippines and they have two gorgeous wee kids. I keep “jokingly” telling my family I’m gonna kidnap them one day and adopt them,.

There have been times my friends and my other half have literally had to pull me away from the kids as I just think they’re so cute and I just want to talk to their parents and play with them. That’s really weird, isn’t it? I shouldn’t have told people this… 🤷‍

10. I can rap, well.

Don’t believe me? Ask my three best friends and my husband. My husband couldn’t believe it the first time my friend Sarah B and I rapped every single lyric to Tupac’s – Hit Em’ Up. It was our song, but it’s the same for any other TuPac, Dr Dre, Xzibit, Ludacris, N.W.A, Eminem, 50 Cent, D12, and many, many more songs in my rap repertoire.

I’m going to challenge some different peeps this time, some of my lovely followers. So…. I challenge the following people to do this and tag me so I can read them:

@MsCreativeKerr – Kerry-Ann

@HappyMentality – Ri

@the_rolling_20s ‏ – Ruth

@comfortinganx ‏- Deanna

@larylarxx – Lauren

Don’t forget to tag me so I can read yours! For everyone else, please follow these gorgeous girls.

10 Unusual Facts About Me (A Re Post) @LaureltonStudio #TheClqRT #bloggingtribe @TheBloggersPost @wetweetblogs @sincerelyessie @UKBloggers1 #bloggingbeesrt @BloggingBabesRT #BloggerLoveShare @LovingBlogs This is a repost from Northern Irish Girl Online which is no longer active. Hello, you beautiful, sexy, people,

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yogurtcut5-blog · 5 years

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hello?

Is blogging still a thing? I wouldn't know.....it's been a while, hasn't it? This corner of the Internet has been dark for so long I may have forgotten what I'm doing, and I often wonder, why write? Who is reading--and who cares what I have to say? Why have I been putting myself out there for so long?

My second semester of nursing school brought with it paper after paper--millions of words written late at night on mostly-boring subjects, all of which had to be carefully formatted and cited--two things that will eventually suck the soul right out of a girl. Every corrected paper came back the same--top marks for research, presentation, flow, grammar, a bunch of other boring technical stuff (except my in-text citations--I've decided I really hate APA format), and always a comment scribbled large in red, "but I can still hear your voice". So I tried my hardest to write like a robot, presenting only facts stripped of all creative thought. And finally, after enough papers, I feel like they finally stifled my voice.

The last few months I've had ideas fill my brain--it's always overflowing--usually late at night or when I'm out on the trail. I'll jot down a note on my phone or in a little journal I have, but I can't seem to turn them into anything more than just a thought. They sit there like seeds that haven't been watered. I've slowly started sorting through some of those seeds, seeing if I could make sense of them--taking time to water and find a warm spot in the sun so they can grow.

So I've been writing a little here and there--in the quiet hours of the morning, and slowly piecing together thoughts to share again. This space is so outdated and dusty--links are old and broken, there are many questions unanswered, I know. Sometimes I feel like torching the place and starting fresh.....but for now, here's a very brief update from the last 6 months. If you follow along on my instagram (@_sheenarae) then nothing is probably new to you, but for the rest of you, I present to you:

January-June 2016 (abridged version)

January.

Started the year in Montana, atop a frosty butte. A new semester. Hospital clinicals--placed some IVs, pulled some staples, changed bandages on an amputated leg. Watched people come out of anesthesia which is super entertaining! Gave an enema on my birthday. Yeah--I turned 33, it wasn't my favorite birthday this year--the winter was long and dark and I was like, "HOW DID I GET SO OLD?!" We climbed a lot at the gym, went south for a weekend to get on some real rock, and took advantage of all the snow--the kids are skiing like champs!

February.

uhhhhh......haha I can't remember much. I think there was.....snow? My head was buried in those aforementioned papers. I played weekly pond hockey with some awesome mamas in the valley. Traded my running shoes for cross country skis. We headed south again for an icy cold campout (like frost on my sleeping bag in the morning, icy cold). Jonah got glasses. Climbed some more....

March.

Clinicals at the State Mental Hospital--I learned aLOT.....but I'm glad that's over with--phew! Robby and I took a weekend date down to St. George (more on that later). I teamed up with my friend Mike Butler and he got me lifting weights and eating waaaaayyyyyy more protein. I have been a pretty scrawny runt my whole life and I've been working hard these last few months to get stronger so I could improve my climbing--it's working! (Mike is awesome by the way if you want to reach out to him for your own weight loss/weight gain program, check out his website!) So yeah, lots of weights, more paper writing, tests. Easter was in March so I got dressed and did my hair--go me!

April.

I took an online Statistics class that I kind of forgot to pay attention to (I need deadlines), so April was all about learning what Statistics is (still don't know), so I could ace my final and be done with it forever (did it!) Jonah turned 11 (how?!) We got some more baby chicks. I stressed out over finals. We ran away to the desert again and ate at my very favorite restaurant in the whole wide world.

May.

I finished my first year of nursing school and didn't die! I've been out of school since early May--and it's been the BEST! I started my pre-requisites for nursing school in January 2014 and have not had a lot of time off since. The first summer I had a few classes, and then last summer I had to take my TEAS test to try and get into my program, and then I had to apply, interview, stress stress stress. Then I got IN, and had exactly one million things to do over the summer to get ready for school to start--it never felt like a true vacation with all the deadlines weighing me down. So these last few summer weeks have been nothing short of the best days ever. I've been running, biking, climbing, camping, trying to keep the weeds from taking over my garden (it's impossible), and just hanging out with my family. Robby and I see each other again--our school/work schedules were so conflicting I felt like we would sometimes just wave in passing, but now we even go on real live dates.

June.

Kids out of school! We've been to the desert, I took the kids to Montana, and we are loving summer evenings outside. Lucy got her cast off from her broken arm in May--she also turned NINE!

Biking is fun, and so are strangers who forgot to say "look here" when they take the photo. I forgot how much I love zipping through the trees on my bike.

Backyard jam sessions....

Early morning climbs with my girls....

....and now, we are ready for July! Consider yourself officially updated, and maybe next time I'll dive into those seeds I have growing.

Thanks to the one person (mom) who read through this! Talk soon

*I have so many unanswered comments on here--sorry about that! I really have not been around. I also have over 3000 unread emails.....whoops. While most of them are ads and what not, some of them are from YOU GUYS, and I'm sorry, I've just had to really prioritize my life this past little while and all things internet-involved are pretty far down my list. Thanks for always being here though!

*I get lots of questions about why I'm not posting recipes anymore. We really keep our meals pretty simple and most of what we eat is already on my blog. I just haven't had any extra time to develop anything new, let alone take pictures of it. When in doubt, make eggs!

*I always get such a great response when I post the gear we love and use--I will continue to do that, and I apologize for old links that may not be taking you where you want to go. I will try to get an updated gear list for you soon!

*If I get enough questions on this post, I can do another Q&A post like I've done in the past.

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Source: http://inthelittleredhouse.blogspot.com/2016/06/hello.html

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lucyariablog · 5 years

Text

Learn From the Best: 8 Inspiring Content Marketing Examples

People learn by creating connections between the familiar and the possible. So it should come as no surprise that, as content marketers, we often approach the task of developing new ideas and initiatives by referencing, analyzing, and iterating on the creative experiences we know and love – standing on the shoulders of giants, so to speak.

Of course, discovering the essence of what makes some campaigns rise above so many others is no small feat. Nor is figuring out how to apply those elemental insights in pursuit of our own business goals, audience needs, and competitive opportunities.

To help ease your creative content journey, we’ve just done some of that legwork for you.

In our latest examples collection, Get Inspired: 40 Examples That Are Driving Content Marketing Forward, we show how leading B2B and B2C businesses raised the marketing bar with standout content efforts. An update to one of our most popular e-books, this year’s edition features novel creative formats and platforms, shares insights on the latest technology-driven approaches, and illustrates new ways brands are igniting the flames of long-lasting consumer passion with a spark of ingenuity.

We hope you’ll love every one of the examples included in the full e-book. Here’s a sneak peek at a few of my favorites – along with some lessons from their success:

Lesson 1: Help evangelists tell their stories

What’s more powerful than content that tells your brand story? Enabling influential members of your audience to share their experiences with your business. Give them a way to express their ideas, opinions, or artistic talents – and recognize them for their contributions – and you’ll earn a special place in their hearts.

Case in point: #WeAreCisco

Cisco invited 20 super-ambassador employees from several office locations to an online brainstorming session about how to connect with university students, new graduates, and other members of Generation Z. That group (dubbed the Kitten Rainbow Unicorns to reflect everything that’s awesome about the web) developed a successful ongoing program in which the company’s young go-getters share daily Snapchat Stories about what it’s like to work inside Cisco.

.@Cisco ambassador employees share daily #Snapchat Stories about what it’s like to work there, says @joderama. Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How 3 Serious Brands Engage Humanly on Social Media

Lesson 2: Place your products in a practical context

Creating content that provides exclusive tips and reveals hidden functionalities or offers helpful user hacks, shortcuts, or personalized offerings can deepen engagement and help customers get more out of their investment in your brand.

Case in point: Orlando Magic’s personalized communication

AI tools can make messaging more targeted and valuable. For example, the Orlando Magic NBA team uses Wordsmith to personalize its emails and in-app messages to fans and ticketholders. The messages are triggered by pre-set rules, conditions, or available offers like ticket resales.

.@OrlandoMagic uses #AI to personalize emails and in-app messages, says @joderama. Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 13 Smart Brands Using Technology to Power Their Content

Lesson 3: Solve problems with self-serve utility

Answering customer questions and providing easy access to account data, tech support, or other customized solutions is a great way to increase their satisfaction with your business – not to mention it can save some wear and tear on your sales and service teams and call centers.

Answering customer questions is a great way to increase their satisfaction with your business, says @joderama. Click To Tweet

Case in point: Cleveland Clinic’s MyChart Patient Portal

A patient journey complicated by the need for ongoing care can present health care industry marketers with a distinct set of informational challenges. But Cleveland Clinic is among a number of digitally savvy health care organizations rising to the occasion with its patient portal and MyChart system. Invaluable content tools like this offer patients direct access (online or through the mobile app) to relevant portions of their electronic medical record (including lab results, diagnostic images, prescribed medications, and physician notes and recommendations), enabling them to easily share information with their health care providers and take better control of any follow-up care they might need.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Does Your Health Care Content Hold the Cure for Customers in Crisis?

Lesson 4: Deliver a personalized experience

The best content campaigns are those that linger long past the initial engagement and satisfy a customer’s need for ongoing personal attention. Whether it’s telling a series of universally relatable stories or enabling your audience to process and apply greater emotional intelligence to decision-making, creating content that speaks to their individual motivations and unique situations is a powerful way to build more trusting and loyal relationships right from the start of their interactions with your brand.

Case in point: OppenheimerFunds’ Fact vs. Feeling tool

To help potential clients assess how best to approach long-term financial planning, OppenheimerFunds conducted Optimist Index research, using biometric technology to gauge the physical cues that bodies exhibit in reaction to three key investment themes: aging, emerging markets, and innovation. The resulting emotional response data formed the basis of a multi-sensory interactive content experience that provides visitors with a personalized reflection of their economic optimism and suggests investment strategies that would best align with their comfort level.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Dump the Sales Funnel in Favor of Lifecycle Marketing

Lesson 5: Spark meaningful discussions that promote worthy causes

Though some topics – like mental illness, racism, gender identity, or homelessness – are daunting for even dedicated nonprofit brands to approach with due sensitivity, significant benefits can be had when you position your marketing content as an agent of necessary change. Informative content that increases understanding of deep-seated societal issues; provides a forum for open, honest discussions; or actively advocates for those in need raises the bar for marketing with purpose – a critical differentiator among millennial and Generation Z consumers, who might prefer to support brands that believe in something greater than themselves.

#Marketing w/ purpose is a critical differentiator among millennial & Gen Z consumers, says @joderama. Click To Tweet

Case in point: Be Vocal’s Beyond Silence documentary

This nonprofit organization partnered with award-winning documentarian Shaul Schwarz to launch Beyond Silence, a 29-minute documentary that takes a novel approach to discussing mental health. The film follows three people living with mental illness, honestly portraying their personal struggles, yet showing how their lives changed for the better when they decided to speak out about those struggles. Despite the absence of any paid promotion for the film, Beyond Silence successfully extended the reach of the Be Vocal message. According to health care communications agency Biosector2, the effort earned coverage in more than 242 articles and an estimated 416 million impressions.

Beyond Silence extended reach of #BeVocalSpeakUp message to 242+ articles & est. 416 million impressions. @joderama Click To Tweet

And, looking beyond its marketing impact, the effort has also led to a meaningful societal change: The Federal Bureau of Prisons has begun to incorporate Beyond Silence into its mental health and suicide prevention training program for 63,000 staff members across 130 locations.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

How to Be an Agent of Change: Examples From Top Content Marketing Award Winners

How to be Purposeful With Your Purpose-Driven Content [Examples]

Lesson 6: Prioritize lifetime customer value

The old Girl Scout mantra – make new friends, but keep the old – may hold a nugget of wisdom for marketers, since research has shown that it can be more cost effective – and more profitable – to focus on retaining customers rather than on acquiring new ones. If you have a hot brand on your hands, why not reward those loyal customers and active subscribers for their passion and patronage by giving them exclusive content they can’t find elsewhere – like a sneak peek behind the scenes, Easter eggs for them to discover, or new platforms on which to connect with others who share their interest?

Case in point: SEMrush’s Easter Egg Hunt

SEMrush is a competitive research toolkit for online marketing with more than 20 research tools for SEO, PPC, and content marketing, and an expanding list of features. Although coming up with those new features hasn’t been a problem, telling its users about them has. SEMrush gamified its educational process with a virtual Easter egg hunt, challenging users to find 15 “eggs” by completing desired actions within various SEMrush tools.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 4 Case Studies Show How to Crush It With Out-of-the-Box Content Marketing

Lesson 7: Incorporate the awe factor …

Working with innovative platforms, interactivity, or other tech-enhanced content techniques is a great way to impress both digital-savvy audiences and those who are eager to enhance their field of experience. Being among the first brands to branch out into uncharted territories can also give you a distinctive edge over your competition – as long as you have a sound strategic reason to incorporate those flashy new features.

Case in point: Gjensidige Insurance’s “Birthual Reality” experience

youtube

Sweden’s Gjensidige Insurance worked with a local hospital to film the birth of a child in 360-degree video, creating a VR experience that anyone can watch. It’s a fantastic way for expectant moms to get a sneak peek into the birthing experience, which typically remains shrouded in a cloud of anxiety-inducing mystery. The insurance company anticipates that the effort (shot from a respectful angle that lets viewers stand in alongside the mom) may help expectant parents feel more comfortable and prepared for the birth of their own child.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Does Your Health Care Content Hold the Cure for Customers in Crisis?

Lesson 8: … but never underestimate the power of the ‘aww’ factor

Brands in all industries, from beer brewers to business computers, understand the emotional appeal of injecting cuteness into their content (just think of how many adorable animals found their way into Super Bowl commercials last year and tell me I’m wrong). That’s not to say your business should randomly put a kitty meme or puppy picture into your next video or blog post and call it a strategic campaign; but if your brand already has an organic connection to a topic your audience members are likely to feel passionate about, why not look for creative ways to further their joy while simultaneously furthering your marketing mission?

Case in point: Getty Images’ Amanda Foundation Collection

Pet adoption is a rewarding experience on its own. But the Amanda Foundation (a Los Angeles-area rescue organization) found a great way to make gorgeous pictures of the animals under its care pay off, too. The group partnered with Getty Images to create a stock image collection using the photos the Amanda staff routinely takes in its efforts to help homeless pets find loving homes. For every stock image purchased from the collection, the Amanda Foundation receives a donation.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Win at Content Marketing

Conclusion

As busy content marketers, we may not have the kind of time it would take to map the full genome of content genius down to a reliable and repeatable science, but we can all recognize the signs of an authentic and powerful storytelling effort that inspires audiences to take action. We hope these examples give you plenty of raw material to keep driving your own creativity forward.

To download the 2019 e-book with all the great examples, click here.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Learn From the Best: 8 Inspiring Content Marketing Examples appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2019/01/best-content-marketing-examples/

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a-breton · 5 years

Text

Learn From the Best: 8 Inspiring Content Marketing Examples

To help ease your creative content journey, we’ve just done some of that legwork for you.

We hope you’ll love every one of the examples included in the full e-book. Here’s a sneak peek at a few of my favorites – along with some lessons from their success:

Lesson 1: Help evangelists tell their stories

Case in point: #WeAreCisco

.@Cisco ambassador employees share daily #Snapchat Stories about what it’s like to work there, says @joderama. Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How 3 Serious Brands Engage Humanly on Social Media

Lesson 2: Place your products in a practical context

Case in point: Orlando Magic’s personalized communication

.@OrlandoMagic uses #AI to personalize emails and in-app messages, says @joderama. Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 13 Smart Brands Using Technology to Power Their Content

Lesson 3: Solve problems with self-serve utility

Answering customer questions is a great way to increase their satisfaction with your business, says @joderama. Click To Tweet

Case in point: Cleveland Clinic’s MyChart Patient Portal

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Does Your Health Care Content Hold the Cure for Customers in Crisis?

Lesson 4: Deliver a personalized experience

Case in point: OppenheimerFunds’ Fact vs. Feeling tool

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Dump the Sales Funnel in Favor of Lifecycle Marketing

Lesson 5: Spark meaningful discussions that promote worthy causes

#Marketing w/ purpose is a critical differentiator among millennial & Gen Z consumers, says @joderama. Click To Tweet

Case in point: Be Vocal’s Beyond Silence documentary

Beyond Silence extended reach of #BeVocalSpeakUp message to 242+ articles & est. 416 million impressions. @joderama Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

How to Be an Agent of Change: Examples From Top Content Marketing Award Winners

How to be Purposeful With Your Purpose-Driven Content [Examples]

Lesson 6: Prioritize lifetime customer value

Case in point: SEMrush’s Easter Egg Hunt

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 4 Case Studies Show How to Crush It With Out-of-the-Box Content Marketing

Lesson 7: Incorporate the awe factor …

Case in point: Gjensidige Insurance’s “Birthual Reality” experience

youtube

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Does Your Health Care Content Hold the Cure for Customers in Crisis?

Lesson 8: … but never underestimate the power of the ‘aww’ factor

Case in point: Getty Images’ Amanda Foundation Collection

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Win at Content Marketing

Conclusion

To download the 2019 e-book with all the great examples, click here.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

from http://bit.ly/2R46QD9

#Online Marketing

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theconservativebrief · 5 years

Link

I know we’re online, a space where it feels like everything we’re talking about is either iconic and the greatest of all time or a horrible crime against humanity that has ended our personal will to live, so I’m going to be very careful about overstepping into rhetorical hyperbole that makes you doubt my ability to process scales of importance or things in relation to other things. But I still have to tell you: There are so few objects in this world that fill me with as visceral and physical a rage as a “Hermione 2020” sticker.

Each time I see this sticker — which, if you’re unclear, is promoting the totally fake candidacy of a made-up British child Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series for the upsettingly real position of president of the United States — feels the way a light pat on the direct top of your head feels. The way the Keith Urban song “Female” feels. The way that scene in The Sopranos where Junior Soprano breaks up with his girlfriend by shoving a lemon meringue pie into her face feels. The way a consolation prize feels when what you lost is, like, the belief that you will see women become full citizens of the United States in your lifetime and what you’re being consoled with is a dumbass sticker.

I mean, have you heard the phrase “adding insult to injury”? Have you wondered what you might use as the perfect, unimpeachable example if you had to explain the idiom to someone in just one second?

have you heard the phrase “adding insult to injury”?

To me, “Hermione 2020” is it. It says I am right that a woman will never be president, but that it’s okay because a fictional witch from England might. “Valiant effort!” it says. “Please retreat into the back of your imagination! Go ahead and unravel, placate yourself with your fantasy life, it’s fine!” I see “Hermione 2020” on cars and on coffee shop laptops, on YouTubers’ lapels and on innocent children’s school things on the train, on the internet and in the world. And each time I see it, I do unravel just a little more.

As we approach the midterm elections, and as questions of what constitutes real, urgent political action — the kind that protects others from harm and preserves some hope that democracy will not end — are again at the center of conversation, I’ve been wondering why exactly this one sticker is so uniquely appalling to me. Surely, over the past two years, I have seen enough “feminist merch” to be used to it. To not feel the need to bicker over something so small.

Is Hermione 2020 objectively worse than Supreme’s new “18 & Stormy” T-shirt, which features a computer-generated composite of 18 of the women who’ve accused Donald Trump of sexual assault or harassment, plus Stormy Daniels? I mean … obviously no. Is it worse than Outrage, a boutique in Washington, DC, that was, chillingly, founded in October 2016 and that sells an entire line of clothing that says “OMG GOP WTF”? No, I guess I have to admit it is not, and that I’d spend the next 48 hours eating Hermione 2020 stickers before I would agree to walk into that store.

I know Hermione 2020 is not worse than this Instagram comment from the “female-led brand” marketplace Bulletin, defending its “Ladies is pimps too” phone case: “We weren’t focusing on the literal meaning of pimp. More the colloquial meaning which is similar to ‘boss.’ Happy to chat with you — feel free to DM us about it.”

I know all this, yet Hermione 2020. Oh, my gosh. Even now, I feel like I’m one misplaced milligram of caffeine away from biting through my own tongue.

“Hermione 2020” was created by the in-house design team at New York City’s largest bookstore, the Strand, in December 2016, and is currently listed in the merch section of the store’s website with the product description, “Muggles for Hermione! This is the type of strong-minded, no nonsense wizard we can get behind.” The Hermione 2020 button combo five-pack description is similar to that of the sticker, but also worse: “Accio Hermione to the Oval Office! Can you even imagine how organized she would be in the White House? This is a strong woman we can get behind.” You can also buy a Hermione 2020 T-shirt, pin, mug, and magnet.

Similar items are available on Etsy and TeePublic, and from the Harry Potter Alliance — a nonprofit that reframes social and political issues through the lens of the Harry Potter series to encourage Harry Potter fans to participate in activism, and “the exclusive merchandiser for Granger/Lovegood 2020!” (“Lovegood” referring to the character Luna Lovegood, apparently Hermione’s vice president.)

To be fair, Hermione 2020 is rooted in the canon of the Harry Potter universe. In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the play co-written by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany and first staged in London in the summer of 2016, Hermione Granger is the Minister for Magic. Widely accepted extrapolations from the broader Harry Potter timeline say Hermione took on this role sometime around the start of her daughter Rose’s fourth year of school at Hogwarts, which would have been in 2020.

When I spoke to the Strand’s head of marketing, Leigh Altshuler, a couple of weeks ago, she said the sticker is, in part, a reference to this in-universe event, and that the Strand often hides “Easter eggs” like this in its products for book superfans to find.

Sure. But merch does not exist just for delight. In fact, the Strand does not currently spend any money on advertising because it does such a good job with merch. According to Altshuler, the store sold 100,000 tote bags last year.

She politely defended the Hermione 2020 merch, which is sometimes more popular than the store’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michelle Obama, and “Make America Read Again” lines, but sometimes not, depending on the week. “With the resistance and with this message of female empowerment going on, we definitely see that particular line at a steady sales pace. We hope that when we make these cheeky slogans, it helps people identify with the slogan itself and also as a reader, who is curious, who wants to be more informed,” she told me. The sticker is “a response to people getting more political” and is “inviting younger people to get more involved.”

“She’s so relatable and easy to champion”

“Who better [to do that] than a young female heroine that so many people in the literary world love?” she asked, and I was having trouble gearing up to argue until she followed it up by saying, “She’s so relatable and easy to champion.”

Oh, no. I know this is not what she intended, but I don’t think I can stomach, again, being presented with the impossible goal of finding a woman who is ambitious and driven and one-in-a-million smart and also relatable. Also not threatening. You know, not the hero of the book series that built a billionaire.

“It helped put a positive spin on things, and it still does,” Altshuler continued. “Maybe if somebody feels discouraged and like they want to give up hope, it helps people see forward.”

But forward to what?

“Harry Potter Nostalgia for Millennials,” on YouTube. Abbey Howe

Dissecting the broader trend of feminist merch for Racked just before the Women’s March last January, Aminatou Sow wrote, “Shopping is shopping and political action is political action, and no matter what anyone says, it’s very hard to blend the two in a sincere way that actually results in the kind of political change we so desperately need.”

She pointed out that while seeing something like a “Future Is Female” sweatshirt in the wild might make her feel just a little more comfortable for a second or two, it didn’t tell her anything about whether the wearer would actually be willing to “speak about injustice” when the moment arrived.

On a more conceptual level, her argument was preceded by comparative literature and gender scholar Ewa Ziarek, who wrote for the Journal of Speculative Philosophy in 2012:

On the one hand, art and aesthetics, implicitly or explicitly, have been a rich resource for feminist thinking about the nature of difference, gender, sexuality, and politics. On the other hand, however, the question of aesthetics has been, more often than not, subordinated to the more urgent issues of feminist politics.

My anger, while easy to feel, and an eye-roll, while easy to execute, is maybe not so totally, universally fair. There are great feminist artists who have taken on slogans and iconography as their primary media: Jenny Holzer, the Guerrilla Girls, Barbara Kruger (who also gave us the perfect words for addressing that Supreme T-shirt monstrosity we discussed), and many others twist the familiar language and symbols of our popular culture to make statements that question the necessity of our terrible structures.

In Kruger’s work in particular, the female body is described as a battlefield, and the ways in which feminists can control and distort public perceptions of their bodies — not explicitly with graphic tees, but not explicitly not with graphic tees — is framed as guerrilla warfare. The problem is the temptation to do this and nothing else.

Since I guess I don’t, not really, not purely, have an issue with people wearing slogan shirts, I think more of what frustrates me about Hermione 2020 is that it references the dull, inane, continued use of Harry Potter analogies to explain political realities that are either far more complicated or far more grim than could possibly be elucidated by a series of children’s novels.

“Even Hogwarts fell to Voldemort,” people tweeted after the election. “It’s Dolores Umbridge shit,” a famous scientist tweeted about the details coming out of a child immigrant detainment camp on the US border, referencing the evil headmaster who took over the school in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The pleading refrain of “read another book” became so common, it’s now a meme.

“The internet is always going to be the internet, and there’s always going to be someone who’s unhappy with something,” Altshuler told me, seeming annoyed for the first and only time in our conversation. “There’s always going to be people on Twitter talking about everything. In terms of us talking about Harry Potter or books in general and the relationship to politics … we are a bookstore. We don’t really get the feedback of ‘we don’t want to hear anything else about books.’”

Okay, fair enough! The Strand does not need to be my scapegoat. I hate this sticker more each time I think about it, but probably only because I’m using it to embody complicated questions it is not well-suited to embody, much like I am accusing others of doing.

Admittedly, I have a handpainted “Make Feminism a Threat Again” poster in my room. I don’t really consider it particularly clever or a tangible form of political action, but do like to look at it. I’m not saying hokey merch should be given an “all good” simply because I’ve indulged in it, but maybe I should do others the courtesy of giving their chosen presentation of values and beliefs some more generous critical thought. Not just a knee-jerk so strong I shatter my own chin. My anger, after all, has far more diffuse a target than one sticker.

“There was never an intention of mocking,” Altshuler told me. Hermione 2020 “takes the edge off, or the pressure off. I think we really were trying to maybe help people not feel so let down.”

I still hate it. But it’s fine.

Want more stories from The Goods by Vox? Sign up for our newsletter here.

Original Source -> The unbearable condescension of Harry Potter feminism

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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elizabethcariasa · 6 years

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12 overlooked tax breaks to hunt for as you file your taxes

Kids all across the country, including those in my neighborhood, spent Saturday hunting for brightly colored eggs. Or, if they're in the Washington, D.C. area, perhaps they're getting ready to participate in tomorrow's (Monday, April 2) 140th annual White House Easter Egg Roll, like the youngsters in the photo above did last year.

Their parents, however, are more likely this weekend to be hunting for tax breaks as the April 17 filing deadline nears.

Every tax season, lots of taxpayers overlook some deductions, credits or other tax moves that can reduce their eventual Internal Revenue Service bill. Here are some that might have been hidden, but which you now should put into your tax-saving basket.

But before you start checking out these eggs-cellent tax treats, a timing heads-up. The tax breaks listed below can be claimed on your 2017 tax return due in a couple of weeks. As for the 2018 tax year, some of them have changed or even been eliminated due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). In those cases, I'll add a note — designated italics and an egg because, well, Easter eggs! — pointing it out.

OK. Let's go hunting for often overlooked tax breaks!

1. Multiple properties, multiple deductible property taxes: While you can only deduct mortgage interest on your main and a second home, you can deduct the property taxes you pay on all the personal real estate you own. As long as you paid the property taxes, which were based on the assessed value of the homes, to a governmental taxing authority, claim 'em all.

While this itemized deduction is a good tax benefit for your 2017 tax return, the TCJA now limits the total of all state and local tax deductions you can claim on Schedule A to $10,000. If all your property taxes exceed that this year, you won't get their full deduction benefit.

2. Moving expense to take first job: Here’s an interesting tax twist. Job-hunting expenses incurred while looking for your first job are not deductible, but moving expenses to get to that first job are. Even better, you don't have to itemize to claim this. If your work-related relocation last year was more than 50 miles, you can deduct 17 cents per mile of the cost of getting yourself, your family and your household goods to the new area, plus parking fees and tolls for driving your own vehicle.

Claim this above-the-line tax deduction if you can on your 2017 tax return. Note, though, that the new tax law means, starting with the 2018 tax year, that the moving deduction is no longer allowed for anyone other than members of the military.

3. Sales taxes on major purchases: If you itemize, you can choose to deduct either state and local income taxes or state and local sales taxes (SALT). If you write off sales taxes, the IRS provides a table of your state's average deduction amount for this Schedule A claim. But don’t forget to add in the sales tax paid on major purchases, such as a new car or other motor vehicle, boat or even a plane.

Again, the sales taxes you pay are part of the TCJA 10-grand limit in 2018 through 2025 tax years. This claim might not be worthwhile on your 2018 or beyond taxes if you find you're already near the $10,000 cap.

4. Interest on your RV or boat: Interest paid your main home's mortgage is one cherished by homeowners (and the real estate industry). But homes come in many forms. As long as where you hang your hat has sleeping, cooking and toilet facilities, the IRS says it counts as far as the residential mortgage interest deduction. This means a recreational vehicle or some boats qualify. And the interest on your unconventional home counts even if you don't live in it year-round. Tax law allows you to deduct interest on mortgages for up to two dwellings, your primary residence and a second home. That includes second homes that hit the road or float.

The TCJA left the mortgage interest deduction in place. However, the new tax law did reduce, in most cases, the home loan limit for this itemized deduction. Now instead of allowable interest on a mortgage up to $1 million, the cap is $750,000 ($375,000 for married filing separate filers).

5. Mortgage points: With mortgage interest rates going up (thanks Federal Reserve!), some folks might find it worthwhile to pay points to get a lower loan rate. If you itemize, you can deduct the points, which for tax purposes are considered as prepaid interest, you paid to purchase or build your primary home. Generally, if you can deduct all the interest you paid on your mortgage, you can also deduct all of the points.

For 2017 tax returns, the deductibility limit applies to loans of $1 million or more to buy your home (or homes). Under the TCJA, that limit, as noted in tax break Easter egg #4, drops to $750,000.

6. Added standard deductions for older, blind filers: If you claim the standard deduction, the amount is based on your filing status. Older and visually impaired taxpayers, however, can claim additional standard deduction amounts just by checking boxes on Form 1040 (and doing a bit of added math). For 2017 returns, you're allowed an additional deduction of $1,550 as a single or head of household filer or $1,250 for each jointly filing spouse who checks the box as being age 65 or older at the end of the tax year. You're also allowed an additional deduction of the same amounts for blindness, even if do have some vision. The Form 1040 instructions has details on the age and sight requirements, as well as the worksheet to figure your added amount.

The TCJA keeps this additional standard deduction amount for older and visually impaired filers in the tax code. For the 2018 tax year, it is $1,600 for singles and heads of households and $1,300 for each spouse in a married couple.

7. Earned Income Tax Credit: The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) could put thousands of dollars in your pocket, but the IRS says that every year millions of eligible taxpayers don't claim it. The reasons it's overlooked are varied. Make sure you know whether you're eligible and, if so, claim the EITC (yes, even if you're single and have no kids). Certain qualifying filers in 2017 could get a credit of up to $6,318. The one downside here is that under 2015's Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act, returns where the EITC is claimed means the IRS must hold tax refunds until at least mid-February. Judging from my email and comments here on the ol' blog, actual delivery of refunds from returns where the EITC (and/or the additional child tax credit) are claimed are taking much longer to be processed and sent.

The EITC's general application is unaffected by the TCJA. However, the new tax law permanently changes the way inflation is calculated for annual inflation adjustment purposes by mandating use of the Chained Consumer Price Index (CPI). The Chained CPI means that EITC benefits will increase more slowly than they would have under prior tax law. For 2018, the maximum EITC amount was $6,444 under the old tax law, but was cut using the new inflation method to $6,431.

8. Retirement savings credit: If you are stashing cash for retirement, check out the Saver's Credit. As long as you don't make a lot of money but are contributing to an IRS-approved retirement plan, such as a traditional or Roth IRA or a workplace 401(k) plan, this credit could get you a $1,000 tax break.

There are no TCJA changes to this tax credit either, so if you contribute to an IRA or workplace retirement plan in 2018, check out your retirement Saver's Credit eligibility again in 2019 when you file your 2018 tax return.

9. Lifetime Learning Credit: Most focus on educational tax breaks is on those that help young people go to college. But if you've got your degree and are now on the job, Uncle Sam can help with your continuing education. Claim the Lifetime Learning Credit, which is worth up to $2,000 per tax return, if you take courses that help you improve your work skills.

At the risk of repeating myself (again), the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doesn't change this educational tax credit. If you take a class this year, check out the Lifetime Learning Credit in 2019 when you file your 2018 taxes.

10. Medical mileage: With medical costs apparently increasing every year, these expenses are a prime itemized expense. However, you must accumulate medical and dental costs that are more than 10 percent of your adjusted gross income — yes, it was temporarily bumped up from 7.5 percent to 10 percent for all filers by the TCJA — before you can deduct them. Beyond the standard doctor and prescription co-pays, there are some often overlooked medical costs can help clear your AGI threshold hurdle. One that's easy to forget is mileage for medical treatments and picking up prescriptions, Jot these mile amounts down and then use the optional standard deduction amount, which is 17 cents per mile for 2017 taxes, to figure how much to claim.

The TCJA put the 10 percent threshold in place for the 2017 (retroactively) and 2018 tax years. Be sure to take a close look at your medical costs this year. The mileage rate to use to help you clear the 10 percent hurdle when you file your 2018 tax return next year is 18 cents per mile.

11. Costs of caring for others: Parents are well aware of the costs of child care. They also usually know they can claim a tax credit to cover some of those costs. But if you pay someone to care for another dependent while you go to work, those expenses count toward this tax break, too.

Stop me if you've heard this before, but don't stop reading. There are no TCJA changes here, so this year if you use an outside caregiver for someone, say an elderly parent who lives with you, so you can go to work, be sure to check this tax credit out in 2019 when you file your 2018 taxes.

12. Self-Employment tax breaks: After years of widespread job loss, many Americans have opted for self-employment. Being your own boss, however, does come at a price. Workers often must buy their own health insurance, as well as pay a sometimes hefty self-employment (SE) tax. Make sure to deduct those self-employed medical policy premiums as an above-the-line deduction. Don't forget to also claim half of your SE tax as an adjustment to income. And if you contributed to a self-employed retirement plan, that amount can be claimed in the final section of page 1 of your Form 1040, too. That retirement plan contribution also counts toward the Saver's Credit cited in Easter egg tax break #8.

The TCJA primarily concentrated on major corporation tax breaks, but it did make some changes, too, that will affect small businesses. These three self-employment tax breaks for entrepreneurs, however, are still in the Internal Revenue Code. Claiming them this and next year could help your bottom line, which definitely will contribute to making your business a bigger success.

I hope at least some of thees often overlooked tax breaks can help you cut your 2017 and, where still applicable, 2018 taxes.

And on this Easter Sunday, I hope your Easter basket is full of goodies and your heart and life are full of joy and blessings!

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