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#I think gardening in the UK is more of a middle class thing than in Germany
lawlietscaramels · 24 days
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I have a question about rie. I know she has a lot of alternate names/aliases, but I’m not really sure on who uses what name, if that makes sense? Like, do specific people call her certain things? Oh! And does L have any cute nicknames for her?
-🎲
Aliases ╾ Rie
YIPPEE!!!!?!!
Any excuse to drag Rie onto main 🩷 and to procrastinate on my other drafts...
 ★━━─・‥…━━━☆
I'll organise by the basic rule: the main reason she has so many aliases is to help blend in – depending on the country. It won't work everywhere, of course. So, country - names - about the name - nicknames - about the nicknames.
╾ JAPAN
please note: the kanji in brackets are ordered last name - first name, as is typical in Japanese names. So Rie is not 高村 but rather 理恵.
Rie Takamura (高村理恵). I picked this because Rie is a fairly common name for girls meaning "reason". As for Takamura, it's like most common Japanese surnames in that it's somewhat geographical. Specifically, it means "high up village."
Hina Suzuki (鈴木陽菜). I actually don't know the exact meaning, but I didn't pick it for that: Hina and Suzuki are incredibly common names (think John Smith). It has the anonymity of Jane Doe.
Nicknames: Riri (by me; maybe by Matsuda and/or Misa). Miss Rie-san (by L. two honorifics...). Rie Pie (by "Matty Beef Patty" and "Mello Jello," because they got cross at her and decided to give her a taste of her own medicine. She's soooo pissed off that it doesn't rhyme).
╾ USA, UK, CANADA, AUSTRALIA etc...
Rue Dixon. I'm not sure if I ought to add a middle name. Rue I picked simply because it sounded similar to Rie (I didn't pick her real name, or even that she was French, until later. That probably sounds weird, but my creative process is too I guess..) and – come on. The meaning is so cool. Later, I learned BB uses it as an alias, which I'm just going to play into MWAHAHA (sobs). As for Dixon, it's after Elizabeth née Dixon, mother of Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley.
Nicknames: um, Rue... (by Naomi. The "um" is a permanent fixture/hj). This is her name throughout Another Note.
╾ FRANCE
Reinette Rose Descôteaux (real name. how dramatic are her parents (me)). I struggled picking this name. I speak English (unbelievably) and I've been studying Japanese for a long time, but I've never really touched French up until developing Rie. I just picked something that sounded nice and didn't have an objectionable meaning for her first name. I kind of stomped over the fact middle names are uncommon in France and patched it up with the fact some kids have, like, dual first names (I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm thinking of things like Marie-Belle). As for Descôteaux, HOPEFULLY, it means something to do with gardens.
Aurélie Rousseau. I don't have any plans to use this one in RieCanon so far – perhaps in proLogue: 1429. Same process as above with the first name. Rousseau came up in my sociology class along with a couple of other white dead guys, and I thought the name sounded nice and Rie-ish.
Nicknames: Reine-Rose (L. He pronounces it wrong, pretty much just to annoy her. "Rainy rose" instead of "rehn rose"). Rosey (by L, about twice a year, when he feels cutesy). Pétalette (by her parents. I'm still figuring out Rie's childhood).
╾ INTERNATIONAL
1429 (fourteen twenty-nine). This is a real alias Rie goes by, even though it's not a name, and it's her main title throughout my fan made prequel arc. I don't remember how exactly I picked the number, but I like it.
Nicknames: Cat (by L, strictly once. She calls him mouse for a good while).
╾ OTHER
Rie goes by "L" a lot too. It's an agency more than a person. I feel like I read that somewhere, but there's an equal chance I made it up... Anyway, she does most of the PR stuff, and takes over if L gets sick or if she knocks him out to get some rest.
I'm trying to figure out if she went to Wammy's, or if there was time for her to meet the kids between 1429 and LABB, or something else. If she went, she'd go by Q or maybe X. I think different kids left at different times, so different letters opened up at different times. It's the simplest explanation I can think of, though I must admit it still doesn't answer everything. What is that again? Occam's razor?
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adarede · 6 months
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Houses in usa and uk
Saw a post that started by showing what comes up when you google "average american neighborhood". i had some agreements and some disagreements with that post but what i wanted to do here was just post some pictures of houses
average uk house price is £288,000 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/housepriceindex/latest) average usa house price is $349,770 (£282,000) (https://www.zillow.com/home-values/102001/united-states/) so sounds pretty similar
USA: (searched houses on zillow in ohio; state chosen randomly)
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UK (searched houses in lincolnshire; county chosen due to my belief it has similar vibes to ohio despite having been to lincolnshire once and the usa 0 times)
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observations:
uk houses are almost always brick, usa seems majority are wood? this makes me think i need to check the insulation sitch in each country
you can get 2 bedrooms for a lot cheaper in the usa. first house in usa is 960sqft; 1st uk house is about 750sqft (rightmove doesn't say directly so i added up sizes of rooms). so both are pretty small.
average uk house is 818 sqft. average usa house is 2467 sqft. average usa lot size is 13,000 sqft. average uk garden size is 2,000 sqft.
semi detached houses are not so much of a thing in america. in the uk they are the most common house type, making up a third of houses. they are considered slightly better than terraced houses for no obvious reason.
exact average house price gets you an extra bedroom & bathroom in the usa
final uk house has approx 3,300 sqft; chosen to be comparable to final usa house
i wonder which houses an american would choose as "typical" or "representative" from the ones that come up on property search websites; i'm attempting to choose based on what seems typical out of the results but i don't have the broader cultural context.
average uk salary for someone in their 20s is £26,000 (https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/pay-salary/average-uk-salary). this is £21,700 after tax in england.
average us salary for someone in their 20s is $45,600 (£36,800) (https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/average-salary-by-age/). this is $36,800 (£29,700) after tax in toledo, ohio.
uk annual post tax salary is 7.5% of a house. us annual post tax salary is 10.5% of a house. broadly similar.
for a mortgage you can usually borrow 4x your salary (combined if buying as a couple). single british person in their 20s can borrow £104,000. this could buy a small terraced house in a downmarket town. Here's one:
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conclusions:
It is still possible to buy a house in your 20s for the average person. If you are significantly below average on these metrics you probably won't be able to buy a house on your own.
you can get more house for your money in the usa but it's the same order of magnitude - american houses at each price point seem to have 1 more bedroom than british houses.
a large house is way more expensive in the uk though. about double the price. smaller country, more densely populated, etc.
it's interesting to me to observe how what counts as middle class differs between the two countries. One thing I've observed is that americans consider frozen food to be lower class. They also sometimes mention not having fresh food in their shops. It would make sense for fresh food to be a stronger status signal in america if this is the case then. so for houses, a 900sqft semi-detached house is perfectly middle class in the uk. I wonder if it would be considered lower class in the usa, or whether land would be less of a status signal in usa since there's more of it so living in a large house would signal less about you...
i now feel like i have an accurate idea of what the average american house looks like. now, what to do with this information...
#op
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ilikesallydonovan · 3 years
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alicentsgf · 3 years
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Things the americanised internet thinks is cute:
Dark Academia (photos of white kids in fancy uniforms at british private schools/redbrick universities)
Cottagecore (loads of photos of upper/middle class british gardens, houses, and villages)
British period dramas (literally just members of the gentry/nobility wafting around looking elegant)
Things the americanised internet thinks is funny and/or gross:
the british working class accent (notably the Multicultural London English dialect)
'chavs'
any british poverty food - baked beans on toast, cheap cut pies, chip butties, etc
pretty much any british regional accent (i know you cant understand louis from one direction pls just shut up about it. the upper class monopolises the media and arts so naturally you're more used to their accent)
when british people have bad teeth (dental care is not covered by the NHS and many working-class people cannot afford care out-of-pocket)
that the national dish is a curry. even though its a specific dish created (or at the very least heavily adapted) in the UK by the British Bangladeshi community? I lose my shit over this one. Like seriously the way you guys talk sometimes its like you think 'british' is synonomous with 'white'. You can't just erase entire communities to fit your narrative. I won't get too much into the racial aspects of all of these points but it's important to note jamaican, african, and south asian immigrants have brought a lot to british working class culture specifically. Like... you guys think its bad that they continued to enjoy their own cuisine and share it with the people around them once they got here? I swear some of you go so far with cultural appropriation you come right back around to 'everyone should go back where they came from'.
I understand most of you aren't surrounded by the cultural framework to understand how classist you sound talking about modern britain, but you are not immune to british propaganda just because you do not live here, in fact you're probably less immune as you (somewhat understandably) do not have the cultural knowledge to notice the red flags. But ignorance isn't a good enough reason to propogate classism thoughtlessly. I'm not saying you can't engage with elements of cottagecore or dark academia, but you definitely can't put repackaged aspects of middle and upper class british culture on a pedestal and then shit on all the aspects associated with the working class its so blatantly fucked up. Theres a good reason a lot of British people get so touchy about strangers on the internet mocking the rhotic british accents, americans just don't understand it because class-specific accent privilege doesn't exist within your cultural framework in the same way. You clearly all decided British people can't take a joke, but honestly it's just you're being a lot more offensive than you realise.
Do you not see how deeply wrong it is that so many of you seem to enjoy the superior feeling you get from trampling another culture? You guys will straight-up whitewash britain just so you don't feel guilty about it. You clearly think you're punching up but you're not, being british does not ensure affulence or 'whiteness' any more than being american does, and whenever any of you goes to say anything about Britain in a non-historical context all that comes out is pure classist ignorance as you leave middle/upper class britain absoloutely untouched. So educate yourselves, please. Working-class americans have more in common with working-class brits than they do anyone above them on the social ladder in the US.
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A rather tongue in cheek look at the British class system.
This post started life as an answer to an ask “how do you know which class you are?”- which is an interesting ask to receive, as I always thought most people in the UK had a strong sense of the class system and their place within it.
In the UK, class extends beyond economic factors and each social class tends to have their own, identifiable culture. This culture is, or can be inherited, and it means that people can sometimes identify as a class that doesn't match up with their current apparent economic circumstances.
Apart from the fact I find this personally very interesting, I do think it’s important to examine the class system in the UK. Classism is a very real phenomenon, which exists, for starters. class definitions are difficult and vary with culture and historical moment, but I'll attempt to lay out some key characteristics from my cultural perspective.
The aim of this analysis is not to offend (although it is, at times, to amuse), nor to present one class as “better” than the others.
 Lower- Working class: Your family have traditionally working in non-professional jobs, such as manufacturing, service/hospitality roles, other “unskilled” jobs. Work was likely insecure (especially post Thatcher) and there were periods of being out of work and relying on benefits. Historically, working class people would have lived in council houses or “tied accommodation” but increasingly, they live in insecure rentals. At times, outgoings will have exceeded the money coming in, and there may have been periods where your family needed to rely reselling goods or unconventional sources of credit in order to make ends meet. Increasingly, even in work families are sometimes relying on foodbanks. You/ your family are less likely to drive and own a car. When you were young, it’s likely that you were informally cared for by relatives, or your parents worked opposite shifts to cover childcare.
You speak with a regional accent- it might be pretty strong and you use regional dialect. You eat “tea” in the evening and “dinner” at around midday. A lot of the men in your family follow a local football team, and likely attend games. They might have a bet on the horses, but are unlikely to actually go to the races. Growing up, you might have gone to the park for a kick about with your mates, but you are less likely to have been part of an official team or organised hobby.
You may well care about your appearance, but you’re likely to do things like dye your hair at home, rather than go to a salon. Your clothes are sometimes second hand, but this isn’t through choice. It’s likely you have some clothes or outfits you consider “best”. You may have piercings or tattoos and care less about appearing “conventional”. When you go out, you probably go to a local pub which some people might consider “rough”, but you also sometimes go out clubbing.
You might be close to your family, and the community you grew up in, but it’s also very possible that these relationships are somewhat strained for various reasons. Celebrations such as Christmas (if you celebrate it) and birthdays were important to your family and your parents might have gone a bit overboard with this, even (especially) if they couldn’t afford it.
 At some point in your life, you’ve used the word “scab” as an insult- even if you didn’t know what it meant.
  Upper-Working class: Your family have traditionally worked in skilled trades, or regular “non-professional” employment such as manufacturing. You might also have relatives in the army or in the police force. These days, they might be self employed, but they would be less likely to employ someone else. There are varying degrees of financial comfort, and these days, your family may own their own home but you’re not “wealthy”. It’s unlikely your family have assets or investments beyond one property and cars. If you’re younger than about 35, you or your siblings might have gone to university, but no-one in your parents’ generation has. Your parents probably have a degree of debt beyond a mortgage (if they have one). You probably spent time in childcare when you were young because your parents had to work. If your parents have a mortgage, they are potentially overstretched by it and concerned about how they will pay it off before retirement.
You probably speak with a regional accent and use dialect words. You also use words like serviette, dessert, pardon etc. Someone in your family is really into football but they are more likely to support a team in the premiership and watch games on TV rather than going to matches- if they are into rugby then it’s rugby league unless you’re from Wales or Cornwall. You probably learned to ride a bike as a child, and it may have been your main mode of transport as a teenager. You’re more likely to do a hobby as part of some kind of formal group or club, but it’s unlikely to be one that requires a lot of expensive equipment.
You/your female relatives are probably quite house-proud and take a lot of care over their appearances. There’s probably time spent fake tanning and getting nails done. You’ve probably got a feature wall somewhere in your house. You might have your own distinct sense of style and belong to a “sub-culture” but if you have tattoos, they’re likely to be well planned and/or relatively easily hidden. When you go out, you probably go out clubbing, but you probably have a “local” too.
Family and community are important to you- it’s likely you haven’t moved that far from where you grew up (unless you were really desperate for work). It’s possible the area where you grew up is pretty deprived, although it may be increasingly a victim of gentrification, depending on where you are from.
You know someone who bought their house via “right-to-buy” and thinks this makes them middle class.
 Middle Class: Your family have traditionally worked in more professional jobs. These may not require a degree (especially historically), but we are talking things like accountant, lawyer, doctor, teacher, civil servant etc. They earned a salary rather than being paid by the hour. Some degree of their assets were probably inherited, and they may have some investments e.g. shares or a buy to let property, but this isn’t the whole of their income (unless they are retired and have a decent pension too).
Your parents owned their own home, and are/will be mortgage free by the time they retire. You probably had regular foreign holidays growing up. Your parents are likely to save up for big ticket items, rather than get into debt. You’re not the first generation in your family where people went to university. It’s very likely you had a stay at home parent for part of your childhood.
If you speak with a regional accent, it’s probably not very strong, and it’s likely you don’t use a lot of regional dialect words. You call your midday meal lunch, and your evening meal dinner. If you go to the pub to watch a sports match, it’s more likely to be the six nations than a football game. But it’s equally likely you aren’t into sport at all. Your parents probably made you get swimming and music lessons growing up, and you may well have a hobby- possibly one that requires a bit of financial investment on your part.
You like to think you have a sense of style, but you don’t like to look like you are “trying too hard”. You might be especially into a certain genre of music or films. You may make a nod to subculture in the way you dress, but if you’re older than a teenager, you probably dress in a relatively “conventional” way. You go out to bars, or chain/mid-priced restaurants, although you might also go to a pub for a meal or if there was music on.
Your family probably don’t all live in the same place, and you may only see them relatively rarely. It’s likely your parents have friends from uni or NCT classes who to some extent take the place of family in your life. You may not have a strong sense of community and it’s very possible that if your parents live rurally, you might have moved to the city for work. You’re probably not very religious.
At some point in your life, you have sneered at someone for being a “chav”.
 Upper-middle Class: Your parents are pretty wealthy and almost definitely went to university. You went to a well known university. They likely went to private school and you probably did too (although not a super famous one). If you didn’t go to private school, you went to a grammar school, church school or the most sought after “comp” in the county (your parents probably moved house to get you in). Someone in your extended family owns a second home, or at least a really nice house in the country. You/your parents almost definitely have inherited wealth and assets, as well. You/your parents may just work in a well paid job, but they may also own a medium to large size company. You probably had multiple holidays abroad each year (and it’s very likely you went skiing). If one of your parents’ cars broke down, it would have been very easy for them to replace it, without needing to save up or get into debt, but you don’t have any fear of debt, either. It’s very likely you can get a job through “connections”. It’s likely they employed a cleaner and possibly a gardener, and maybe au-pair or nanny as well.
You speak with an RP accent, and you might have “pudding” after your “supper”. It’s very likely you play a team sport of some kind, probably rugby, cricket, hockey or maybe lacrosse. You might row, or ride horses, or sail. You’ve always been able to do whatever expensive hobby you like, and money has never been a barrier to progressing. You may well shop in charity shops, and brag about the bargains you find there. You may drive an “old” car, but it’s probably a 4x4, genuinely vintage, or quirky in some other way. You have inherited jewellery and possibly some home furnishings. If you’re talented in some way, (sport or artistic) you were probably given every opportunity to persue this.
Networking is important to you and you feel part of a community. You’re probably quite socially confident. It’s likely you know some of the people you work with socially as well. You probably expect to live a reasonably traditional lifestyle, and you’re less likely to be part of a “sub-culture” (unless you’re making a career as an actor or a musician). You probably observe religious festivals, but you don’t go regularly to a place of worship. You avoid chain restaurants, but you like to go to the village pub.
On some level, you probably think “poor” people bring it on themselves through poor decision making.
Upper Class: Historically, your family were rich enough not to have to work for a living, and someone in your extended family owns a very large amount of land. You’re related to someone with a title. You went to a well known private school and you may have boarded. It’s likely your family own multiple properties- some are rented out and some you live in. Some or all of these were inherited, rather than bought. You may have a “private income” of some kind. Your family may have had to “diversify” in recent years, and you may actually be working more than your ancestors did. You might have gone to a well known university, or you might have gone to somewhere like RAU. Your family own multiple cars, and one of them is probably a 4x4. It’s likely your family employed “staff”. At some point since the second world war, your family may well have had to sell off property etc- but your money worries are “how do we avoid selling off land” not “how do we afford to replace the washing machine”.
You talk like you are from the 1940s, and everyone you know has a stupid sounding nickname. You use your own form of impenetrable slang- probably specific to whatever school you went to. You’ve probably been hunting and you know someone who plays polo. You go to events like Royal Ascot, Henley Regatta, the Boat Race and Goodwood etc. You ski. You’ve been on multiple long haul holidays, and you probably went on a “Gap Yah”.
Everyone you know knows everyone else you know and you’re suspicious of people who you don’t have acquaintances in common with. You’ll get married, in a church (you are CofE and white) and having children is fairly important to you. You’re probably involved with some kind of charity work.
You pride yourself on not being a snob, because you got on well with the people you met in Africa, but you’ve never actually spoken to someone who grew up in a council house.
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drawlfoy · 4 years
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The Wonders of Ohio P.5
masterlist (check here for parts 1-4!) request guidelines
pairing: draco x reader
request: from 14 year old me babey
warnings: cringe, mentions of drug use, mentions of sex, language, and just bad writing
summary: y/n is in her senior year of high school when she is asked to take on an exchange student from britain that’s a little...different. this is NOT a nonmagic AU. draco is still a wizard and this will become and integral part of the story shortly.
a/n: heyyyy everyone. i graduated from high school this week and i’m posting this as my happy-one-year-to-me. as some of you may know, i posted my very first fic on this day a year ago. i’m really happy to see how i’ve grown since and i’m so lucky to have shared this with all of you. anyways, nittygritty--
this part is really the last slow exposition chapter. chapters 6 on will be a whole whirlwind beginning with homecoming and i hope that you guys are willing to stick around. i promise itll be worth the wait. y/n is going to get the story arc of a lifetime and also please do not hate heather she is just going through it ok 
anywayssssssss
tags tags tags  @gruffle1 @missmulti @cleopatera @hahaboop @accio-rogers @geeksareunique @eltanin-malfoy @war-sword @cams-lynn @itsivyberry @ayo-cowbelly @nerd-domland @erisdogwood @loveissupernatural
word count: 4.6k (;))
song recs: 
strawberry blonde -- mitski 
in your neighbors garden -- mimi bay
wishes -- beach house
ode to artifice -- samia 
pink in the night -- mitski
enjoy <3
The seatbelt buckle scorched the side of Y/N’s exposed neck as she turned to face the disheveled blonde in the passenger seat.
“Do I need to teach you to set an alarm?” 
Draco let out a huff. “Stop. Do you have a….a comb, or a brush, or something here?” His hands looked abnormally fidgety. Their actions were shaky, varying from patting his pockets to running through his hair. He seemed more and more frustrated each time his hands left his pockets empty. 
How curious Y/N thought as she racked her brain for any remembrance of putting a brush in her car. It was always a mess, and she honestly couldn’t blame Draco for assuming that anything could be in there.
“I don’t think there’s one here,” said Y/N, trying to sound at least a little sympathetic despite the fact that his tardiness had them 10 minutes late. “You can look around if you want, king.”
“What’d you call me?” His voice was suddenly sharp and awake.
Y/N rolled her eyes so hard that she thought they’d get stuck in the back of her head. “You don’t--ok. It’s a joke. You can call guys here that.”
“And it means that I’m…?”
“It means I’m acknowledging that you exist, I guess. It’s not like it has a strict negative or positive connotation. Like, I can say ‘Ok king’ to any man telling me something and it can either be sarcastic, or it can be because I don’t know what else to say and just want to let him know I heard him.”
Draco’s eyes looked a tad glazed over when Y/N dared a glance in his direction.
“I know it’s confusing. I’m sorry. I’ll try and ease you into the world of American slang.” 
He granted her a little “uh-huh” before opening up the glovebox with great difficulty and rummaging through the mess. Y/N would’ve felt more embarrassed about the tampon that fell on the ground in the process if he seemed like he actually knew what it was. 
Her attention turned back to the road as Draco continued to sift through things. Y/N couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything embarrassing hidden away in the corners of her car--after all, it hadn’t been organized since the beginning of summer--and decided that it was better to pretend it wasn’t happening.
It wasn’t the eerie silence that eventually prompted her to turn to look his direction--no, it was the weird energy in the car, like the feeling right before a thunderstorm. All the hair raised on her arms, and she shivered...but it was stifling hot in the car.
“Oh, did you find a brush?” she asked. His hair laid as perfectly as always, but his hands were lying shaking in his lap, palms to the sky. No hairbrush was in sight.
“Er... “ He was paler than usual, which was quite the feat for someone who looked like a ream of paper. “No. Just remembered a trick my father taught me.”
She tensed at the mention of his father--the very first time Draco had done so. “Oh. Okay. Glad you got it figured out, king.”
Her voice lightened on the last word, hoping she could coax a little smile out of him. 
“Don’t call me that.”
“Ok.”
oOo
 There were many things Y/N thought she understood, but Draco Malfoy being in her Physics C class was not one of them. She took pity and sat next to him as he fumbled his way through the first lecture. His notes, while neat, were littered with crossed out portions and question marks. 
You do know there’s an eraser on your pencil, right? she jotted on a note that she sent his way. His brow furrowed and he seemed to tap at the end of the eraser for just a few moments before deciding otherwise and xing out another practice problem he’d done incorrectly. Symbols that she’d never seen before were scattered all throughout his notes. 
Maybe the UK kids just learn stuff differently.
By the time that Physics came to an end, Y/N was eager to get away from the storm cloud that was brewing over Draco’s perfectly smoothed and infuriatingly pretty moonbeam colored hair. The amount of attention he was getting from all the other girls made Y/N want to jump off a cliff--suddenly everyone was her “best friend” “just wanting to check up on what happened over summer”. She was grateful to see the face of Lizzy, grinning and looking mischievous during their break period.
“You must be Draco,” said the redhead, a glint in her eyes. He looked a little scared.
“Er...yeah.”
“Mind giving us some privacy? Y/N and I have some urgent matters to discuss,” she continued, looking him up and down. Y/N attempted to ignore the twist in her gut as she watched him swallow and nod, turning away to go brood elsewhere. Once he was out of sight, Lizzy grabbed her arm and yanked her into the girl’s bathroom.
“It’s so funny how he’s following you around like a lost puppy,” Lizzy said. “Also, he’s gorgeous. If you don’t at least try to get some of that, then I’m never trusting your judgement again.”
“But, Li-”
“The boy’s a fucking walking Wattpad story cover. Dark, tragic past, unbelievably sharp jawline, rich parents, exotic accent....honestly, Y/N, I don’t know what else you could want.” 
“Mom literally called him my host brother,” said Y/N. The bathroom was starting to smell suspiciously like cotton candy. “That’s wrong. On so many levels.” 
“But you’re not related!”
“But it’s gross! And predatory! The kid doesn’t even know how to do basic algebra! I’m all he has!” 
Lizzy’s eyebrow found its new home in the middle of her forehead. “You’ve gone absolutely batty if you think that every girl cursed with attraction to men in Cincinnati wouldn’t jump his skin at the chance. Use your head, queenie. He’s not alone. Shoot your shot.”
Y/N opened her mouth to serve back a retort--that was definitely there, thank you very much--but decided against it once she realized that the bathroom had become dead silent. “Um...maybe we can go over this later.” She flickered her eyes over to the line behind them that was now intently hanging on their every word. “I forgot I had to talk to the counselor.”
Lizzy was smirking as they exited the bathroom and began the search for Draco. It didn’t take long--the circle comprised of Heather and her friends was more than enough of a giveaway that he was about. 
“Draco, sorry to make you wait,” Y/N called out. It took all her effort to abstain from cringing as her voice rang out across the group. Heather turned to send her a big smile.
“Hey Y/N! You didn’t tell me that Draco was from London!” 
“He’s not,” she responded. “He’s from Wiltshire.” 
“Wiltshire. Of course. That’s what I meant.”
Draco’s smile was tense as he looked down at Heather--who stood roughly 4 inches below him--but he was smiling, and that wasn’t something that Y/N was on the receiving end of frequently. She didn’t know whether to be offended or relieved.
“I’m sure. Break’s almost over, Draco. I can show you where the English department is before the time is up.” 
 He paused, looking down at the blonde grinning up at him. “Er, actually, Heather already offered to show me around for the rest of the day.”
“Yeah, for sure. I’ll see you in French.”
Y/N was shocked at the sheer amount of jealousy that rose up in her throat as she turned away and made her way to Art History---the only class Y/N and Draco didn’t share. The walk was strange. Being in solitude after having a gloomy British boy attached to her hip was understandably eerie. Because that’s all it was. Adjustment. Nothing else.
She settled in at a table full of her friends, namely Sylvia. The tall girl was always a bit whimsical, but Y/N found that she was a breath of fresh air compared to everyone else. It made sense that Sylvia would take Art History--her dark academic inspired aura and the perpetually hot mug of black coffee just screamed history nut. 
“How’s your new brother?” she asked after the teacher had taken attendance. “I say that because I haven’t heard his name yet.”
“Ick, it’s gross to think of him as my brother,” Y/N responded. “And I know! We need to catch up. I’m sorry about not talking to you for a bit. The time difference was a bit weird during your trip.”
“It’s ok, I get it. I was away on family business, anyways. I didn’t expect you to spend your days staying up until the wee hours of the night to tell me all about your exchange student. Anyways. His name?”
“You’re gonna scream when you hear it, Vie,” she said. “Draco Malfoy. It’s so posh. You have no idea. It definitely suits him, though. He’s very...You good?” 
Sylvia’s olive toned face looked a bit paler than usual. “Yeah. Yeah, I just remembered that I forgot to take the trash out this morning. I’ll have to text my mom about it.” She adjusted the wool cardigan that hung around her shoulders and came up looking composed. “Draco, huh? His parents must hate him.”
“At the very least! He’s so rude. And uptight. I can’t tell if it’s just a Brit thing or if it’s because he’s an asshole.” 
Sylvia laughed. “I mean, when I was there over the summer, it was a different culture for sure. We’re by far louder. But I didn’t meet many mean ones. You must’ve just got a bad apple, then.”
“I guess so. He is pret--”
“Ladies, is there something you’d like to share with the rest of the class?”
“No, Mrs. Jensen,” Sylvia and Y/N said in unison. 
oOo
“Thoughts, king?” 
“I told you not to call me that.” Draco glared at her as he tried to open the passenger side door to find that it was locked tight. “Unlock? Please?”
“And I told you not to get cozy with ASB kids, yet here we are,” said Y/N as she slotted the key into the lock and turned. 
“What’s it to you?”
“Nothing. I’m just looking out for you.” She slammed the door shut and threw her bag in the bag. The line of traffic to get out of the school was long and stuffy, and she was eager to just get it over with.
The wait was so hot that Draco peeled off his stupid formalish jacket that was on thin ice of being called a blazer and probably worth more than her car. Y/N tried to look away as his hair became slightly ruffled, but she couldn’t pry her eyes away. It was endearing, almost, how someone who could look so posh and serious could have ruffly hair--and hair that naturally light, too. She had asked him one night if it was dyed, and he scowled at her and told her the grammatically correct term was dead, and that his hair was alive, just like the rest of him, thank you very much. She dropped it. 
Y/N finally rolled down her window after the AC simply refused to satisfy her, and the wind was a nice reminder to keep in her own lane. Draco was beautiful. There was no other way to put it. He had a feel of power to him, like he was capable of anything but just held it back. But he was just as inaccessible as he was pretty, and there was nothing she could do about that.
“Y/N?” He asked after a few moments of sitting in silence. “What’s Homecoming?” 
“Who told you about that?” 
“Heather. She asked if I had a date. Is that like a ball here?”
“She asked you if you had a date on the first day?”
“Yeah.”
“Fuck. ASB kids never do sleep, huh.” 
“What?”
“Homecoming isn’t a ball. It’s like a...an…” Y/N paused as she saw Draco raise his eyebrows. “It’s, like, uh….Well I guess it is like a ball. An American one, though. Way less extravagant. It’s an excuse to get dressed up and run around the city. There technically is a dance, and all the ASB kids have to go, but literally no one else does but the underclassmen. Normally I go out with my friends and a date to somewhere fun and take pictures. And then get trashed afterwards.”
“Classy,” said Draco. “I think you can go now.”
A honk behind her emphasized his point as the space in between her and the car in front widened substantially. 
“Thanks. Anyways, it’s not really a big deal. I’d suggest not going with Heather so you can skip out on the dance portion. Or if you want to go with her, get her to come with us into Cincinnati because I am not going to spend my last homecoming watching a grind circle.” 
“A...what circle? And I don’t want to go with her.”
The relief Y/N felt was embarrassing. “Um...better if you don’t worry about it. You have a long time to figure it out anyways.”
He seemed satisfied with that answer, propping his elbow up on the center console. The pristine button up he was wearing had ridden up, exposing the pale skin and the bottom of the tattoo she had seen a hint of earlier. “Do you have a date?”
“Um. No, not yet. I don’t think anyone except for couples do yet. We have until the end of this month to figure it out, so I’m not too worried about it.”
He nodded as Y/N’s car finally left the school parking lot and began picking up speed. 
“I’m assuming you had balls? At your posh boarding school?” 
“Er…” Draco ran his hand through his hair, ruffling it further. “We only had one. It was when I was 14. We called it the Yule Ball.”
“Why only one?”
“It was for a special occasion. We had two other schools join us as well. It was quite a good time.”
“So every student only has one ball in their lifetime?”
“Of course not. Some of us--the ones from old families--have events like that regularly.”
“I’m sorry if this is overstepping my bounds,” began Y/N, noticing how he tensed up, “So you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But, I’m just wondering, what is your family like?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like are they nice?”
“Oh.” The line in his forehead relaxed. “No. They wouldn’t like you.”
“Glad to hear it,” she said. “Do you like them?”
She heard the breath hitch in his throat. “I don’t know anymore.”
“I’m sure it’s hard to think about it when you feel like they’ve just shipped you off without anyone,” she added. “I’m really sorry, Draco. I know I’ve been a bit mean to you. I know that I’ll never be able to understand what you’re going through right now.”
The slight smile that spread across his face would’ve knocked her to her knees if she wasn’t already sitting down. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
The silence that awaited them for the rest of the journey was comfortable.
oOo
School began to pick up the pace after the first few days. Y/N got into the swing of homework and her extracurricular workload. Draco was having a bit more difficulty, she presumed, but he’d never admit to it. She took pity one evening and gave him her laptop opened to a Khan Academy tab for Physics and was pleased to see that he showed up to class the next day with completed homework. He asked to borrow her laptop on a much more frequent basis after that. 
The routine they settled into had her heart leaping into her chest almost constantly--they’d eat breakfast together at the table, Y/N would try to ignore how pretty he looked across the table as they shared a pot of black tea (earl grey, which Y/N was thrilled to learn was his favorite as well), they’d get in the car, she’d write him notes in physics to help him (even though he never asked, he always smile and give a little shake of his head before unfolding them and intently staring at her writing), they’d drive home together and bitch about their French teacher, he’d retire to his room and do whatever pretty blonde Brits do in the afternoon, they’d meet unexpectedly at the same time in the late evening to have a final cup of tea, and then they’d go to bed and do it all over again. 
It was difficult for her to admit, but Y/N was falling very quickly for Draco. It was gross, and wrong, and manipulative, and completely against the code of conduct for exchange families, but she couldn’t help but spend her days fantasizing about how his gold-spun hair would feel as she ran her fingers through it or how gently she’d trace her fingers around the tattoo on the soft flesh of his forearm…
But Y/N knew those thoughts weren’t right. And they would go away. Eventually. 
“How’s it going?” Sylvia asked, effectively snapping her out of her thoughts. The Art History sub told them to go into independent study, whatever that meant. Y/N was not very good at either of those words.
“Pretty good. I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks already,” she said. “It’s gonna be Halloween before we know it.”
“I can’t fucking waitttt,” said Sylvia. “I’m gonna be Wednesday Addams.”
“Again?”
“What else would I be? I get a new high collared black dress every year. It’d be a shame if it were going to go to waste. What are you gonna be?”
“One of the thousands of students finishing their UChicago ED app hours before the deadline.”
“You’re kidding. Can’t you just finish it the day before?”
“Where’s the fun in that? And, plus, I don’t have an idea as cool as Wednesday.”
Sylvia smirked as she opened up her planner and began to jot down something. “How’s Draco doing? I haven’t seen much of him lately. It seems like he never hangs out with us at break anymore.”
“Yeah, I ended up getting him connected with the Physics teacher. He’s getting tutored now. He thinks it’s all bullshit, but I don’t want to be the reason he doesn’t get into a good school.”
“Is that all you care about?” She smiled at Y/N. “Lizzy was telling me that you’re interested in him.”
“First of all, keep your voice down. Second of all, I’m not supposed to be, so I’m not.” Y/N hoped that the edge in her voice was convincing enough.
Her friend raised her eyebrows so dramatically that her glasses nearly slipped off her nose. “Y/N, who’s gonna hear about it. You guys are both going away at the end of the year anyways, and I’m sure he’s not going to be writing to his dear mum about his love life. If it’s consensual, there’s nothing wrong with it. I think it’d be good for both of you.”
“I see that, but let’s put me in his shoes right now.” Y/N shuffled in her seat and clasped her hands. “I’m rich. I’m British. I’m very hot. My parents throw extravagant balls for me and I kiss pretty girls that say water like ‘wota’. I’ve spent my life in silk and I only drink the finest teas. My family is so important that I had to be shipped off halfway across the world just to be safe. And now my incredibly expensive life has reached a peak because I’m sleeping with a random girl in Ohio that has run approximately 4 stop signs since I’ve met her.”
“You’re sleeping with Draco?” 
Y/N turned to see Lauren, a wide-eyed, obnoxious, but well meaning girl staring at her. She heard Sylvia stifle a laugh behind her. “No. I was kidding.” The smile that she followed with was awkward and showed way too many teeth. 
“Oh, okay,” said Lauren. “Do you know if he likes anyone?”
Sylvia’s smirk widened.
“No, actually, he’s a pretty private guy.” Y/N sent her another tense smile, and Lauren finally turned away.
“Jealous, huh?”
“Shut up, Vie. You know I wouldn’t go for him. Even if I had the chance.”
She just raised an eyebrow and smiled. 
The afternoon brought its own set of struggles. Their French teacher had blown up at another student who had been caught cheating on their last test, and it was all Y/N could do but hold back her snickers until they were out in the parking lot.
“I can’t believe they still managed to conjugate their cheat sheet wrong.” Y/N was gasping for breath as she unlocked the car door and threw her stuff inside. Draco was watching from the passenger seat, his lips in a soft upturn. “Can you imagine? Oh my god.”
He just shook his head and turned to look out the window, but she could see the smile slowly stretching across his face. “Ridiculous. You could totally tell Monsieur enjoyed it, too. I bet he gets off on making kids like Joey cry.”
“I had a teacher like that,” he started. “He was a Poti-a chemistry teacher.”
“Oh? Did he ever attack you?”
“No. He liked me. Family friends and all.”
“Ah. I almost forgot that your family was rich and influential. Thanks for the reminder.” She reached across and lightly punched his shoulder. His smile, though still remaining, seemed to shrink. “Hey, what’s that in your bag?” 
Y/N motioned to the cardstock peeking out of his nondescript black backpack that always seemed to fit more than it was meant to. She could make out a few words written in what looked like a bright red sharpie--something that did not exactly scream Draco Malfoy aesthetic.
He froze up. “Er. It’s from Heather. I think she called it a Homecoming ask?”
Y/N’s throat dried up to the point that no words would willingly make the climb from her diaphragm to her tongue; instead, she settled for giving him a little nod and what she hoped was a convincing smile.
“I told her I’d think about it,” he continued. “I remember you saying that the school dances sucked. So I let her know that I wasn’t sure yet.”
She nodded again. “Super cool. You can do whatever you want, though. You can come with my group if you’d like, but you’re welcome to go with Heather’s.”
“What? So you aren’t coming with me if I go with Heather?”
“Fuck no, dude. I don’t hate her, but I would way prefer to spend a night with my friends than some girl from my French class that only talks to me because she thinks you’re hot.” 
The expression Draco made reminded Y/N that he would never get comfortable with American girls calling him hot. “Ok. Have you found a date yet?”
“Chad from Econ asked me yesterday.”
“Is that why my seat was covered in glitter?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going with him?” Draco’s hand was clenched tight in a fist in his lap.
“I think so,” said Y/N, steeling herself and deciding to just go for it. “But, of course, if you asked me I would say no to Chad. Just out of principle. I am supposed to be your tour guide, after all.”
The only parts of him moving were the few stray wisps of his hair being pushed around by the AC going. 
“But that’d be weird. I’d only expect you to take that up if you really didn’t want to go to the dance itself.” She swallowed and pulled out onto the main street, putting distance between them and the school. He was silent for a few moments. The quiet, normally comfortable between them, was stifling and strange. She pretended to ignore the way he was fiddling with his cuffs. 
“Yeah, it could be,” was all he said before slumping against the window and closing his eyes.
Mrs. Y/L/N was sitting at the head of the coffee table when the two arrived home, carding between a stack of letters in front of her. The mug of something--probably that new decaf blend she hadn’t stopped raving about--was sitting lopsided on a coaster, just barely about to topple off the edge. She looked like she hadn’t moved for hours, the novel she had been previously reading sat face down to preserve the spot next to her no doubt lukewarm drink.
“Hey Mom,” Y/N said as she set her keys down. “Anything good?”
She looked up, her expression morphing from startled to happy. “Other than the college brochures? Nothing, except...hm, what’s this?”
Her well manicured hand pulled at a crimson envelope, with sloping writing that seemed to shimmer in the light. 
To the Y/L/N Family, it read. The loopiness of the writing looked like it wiggled at the ends, but that had to be a trick of the light. It was dim in the kitchen during afternoons, after all. 
“It looks cool, open it u--”
“No!”
Draco’s voice had never sounded so loud as it did then as he lunged across the kitchen, snatching it out of her mother’s hand and clutching it to his chest. “Er, it’s for me. I recognize the handwriting.”
 “Cool, see you later,” said Y/N. She was up the stairs and slamming her door before either of her housemates could say another word. After the horrible embarrassment that was technically Draco’s rejection, she needed to be alone. 
Even burying her face into her pillow and squeezing her eyes shut didn’t keep the scenes from their car ride at bay. She had been so stupid, so stupid. Why did she even think he wanted that? He was her brother, after all. Oh god, does he think we’re all from Alabama or something?
She wallowed for a few more mournful minutes before deciding that she had to pick herself up and handle it like an adult. After all, she was going to be 18 in just a few months. There was no excuse for her to act like a child anymore. And, plus, it wasn’t like she couldn’t just play this off as a pity invite. Yes,that’s what she’d frame this as if he ever asked her about it again. She felt bad for him was all it was. 
Once satisfied with her internal dialogue, she rolled out of bed and made for the foyer where her bag was still on the table. She’d first walk on Legos barefoot before she had to let a stupid boy--especially one that didn’t know how to turn on their shower and had to ask for her help every time--come between her and her 4.0. Never.
Her thoughts were cut short, however, when she heard a new sound from his side of the hallway. She froze, listening closely. 
Draco was crying.
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matrixaffiliate · 4 years
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Endeavor
Chapter Update! FFN and AO3
Next chapter goes up on August 15th! =)
Chapter 3
"I swear, Lupin, you work more now that you have this job than you did when we were taking a full semester and you were working two jobs." Kalil sat down at the kitchen table where Ted had laid out his old school notes to try and come up with a clearer direction forward for what he had spent the last week coming to think of as his company.
"It is not that bad, Ghanem," Ted laughed. "I've got a good chance here to build this into the launching pad of my career. But I've got to get Vic up to speed too, so I'm also teaching her business classes after work."
Kalil sat down at the table, "Now when you first said your coworker's name was Vic, I thought their name was Victor. But you keep referring to them in the feminine connotation."
Ted laughed, "Vic is short for the French name Victoire."
"And, she needs some personal tutoring after work because…" Kalil smirked at him.
Ted shook his head, "It's not like that, mate."
"Really? Because you haven't been this willing to work outside of your shift in the three years that we've been friends."
Ted looked back at one of his books. "Yeah, well she has a boyfriend."
"Wait, she's taken?"
"Yep." Ted huffed.
"She says she's taken or you know she's taken?"
Ted looked up to glare at his friend, "My second interaction with her was walking in on her snogging the bloke, so yes, she's taken."
Kalil raised his eyebrows. "And you're not happy about this."
Ted sighed. "Sorry, she's pretty amazing and it's just frustrating to meet a girl that I could see myself with, and for her to be in a relationship."
"Well, if she's taken, she's taken, mate," Kalil put a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should protect yourself a bit here, back off on the time you spend with her, like only being with her during office hours."
Ted nodded, "Yeah, I'll think about it."
Kalil moved his hand away and shook his head as he walked back down the hall to his room.
"Don't be that guy Ted." He called out.
Teddy didn't respond. He needed to get this business figured out and then he needed to head out to get some shopping done before he went to his parents' place. They'd been excited to have him over on a Saturday. Ted hadn't had a free Saturday evening in years.
And honestly, he had already realized he was that guy. Ted was flirting and looking for every stolen moment he could get with a girl that wasn't available. If he were in Sean's position, he'd probably want to pummel him.
But Sean wasn't treating Vic like he really cared. Vic had disclosed that Sean canceled a day trip to the White Cliffs for the chance to compete in a pub quiz league. He was so certain he and his mates would win that he decided it was worth canceling the trip, and he was vague with her when it came to rescheduling it.
Ted wanted to pummel the idiot.
That was obviously not an option, and so Ted settled for teaching her business after work a couple of nights a week as they ate dinner and goofing around during the workday. Ted lived for those stolen moments; those moments where he felt like it was them, no unnecessary significant others involved.
Maybe he'd get her to teach him to speak French. He took a few classes in before uni, maybe he could get her to spend a little longer with him in the evenings teaching him something after he taught her business.
A part of Teddy wanted to cuff himself upside the head, but the more time he spent with Vic, the easier it was to ignore that part of him. He had set some physical boundaries for himself, and that made Ted feel like he wasn't really crossing any lines. He was making friends with Vic, taking an interest in her life outside of work, and spending time with her. That's what friends did. He was her friend. That was it.
And if he took advantage of those moments to feel closer to her than he should, well, that was for him and no one else to know about.
OoOoOoOoO
"So, you're liking working with Ron?" His dad asked as he handed Ted a drink and set the pitcher down on the table in their back garden.
"I don't work much with Ron. Between me and his niece, we run this operation on our own." Ted sat back in his chair and sighed contentedly. He liked having evenings off. He'd forgotten what it was like to be able to decompress before half eleven, let alone have a Saturday to himself.
"It's just the two of you?" His mum set some cheese and crackers down on the table.
"Unless we need the big boss, yeah," Ted nodded.
"Which niece of his are you working with?" His dad pulled the cheese tray a bit closer to him.
Ted smiled, "Victoire, his oldest niece. She's Bill and Fleur's daughter if that helps you place her."
His mum laughed. "I know Bill, she must be a firecracker. He fancied himself a rebel, pierced his ear and grew his hair out long; he even bought a motorcycle. Made his mum furious as I understand it."
"How did you know Bill?" Ted tried to not look too interested.
"He and I went to A-levels together," his mum swatted a fly away and nearly upturned the cheese tray but just missed it. "It was happenstance that Harry and Ron and Ginny ended up in school together as well."
"To be fair, it was also happenstance that you and I met." His dad took her hand and kissed it.
Ted sighed. It felt like he would never get to the point his parents were at.
"Everything alright, son?" His dad turned to look at him.
"Yeah," Ted forced a smile, "It's just been a long week getting everything settled at work. And I really think Ron has a second company brewing with this, so I'm trying to get things rolling to show him that this could stand on its own feet. It doesn't need Bread & Butter to hold it up."
"Ron didn't build Bread & Butter in a day, Teddy darling. Make sure to pace yourself." His mum's timer went off and she went to retrieve dinner.
Ted stayed quiet. He knew his mum was right, Ron had built his franchise up over the course of nearly fifteen years. But this didn't need the same kind of organic growth that a bakery chain needed. This was selling kitchen equipment, kitchen equipment branded with the name of a successful franchise across the UK. It just needed the push that Ted was willing to give it.
Plus, he got more time with Vic when he pushed this forward, so it was a win in more than one way.
"Do I get you next Saturday too?" His mum asked as she set dinner on the table.
Ted laughed, "No, I promised Harry I'd take the kids for ice cream to say thank you for getting me in touch with Ron."
"Give them a hug for me. I know they're James' and Lily's grandkids, but I think we all claim them as our own."
"Mum, I'm six years older than Jamie."
"It doesn't change that your dad and I are old enough to be their grandparents."
"I am, but you, my love, are most certainly not." His dad chuckled. "But I've always liked how much those three look up to you, Teddy."
Ted shrugged, he rather liked it too if he was honest.
OoOoOoOoO
"This was a low blow, Weasley," Ted shook his head as he ate his Chinese takeaway the following Friday.
"You left me with no choice. If I hadn't ordered beforehand then you would have paid for it again. I already owe you for five dinners."
"You hide your devious side behind that pretty face, you even knew my order."
Vic kicked him under the table, "Don't announce my secrets!"
Ted laughed, "So tell me, have you ordered the next five dinners as well?"
Vic grinned, "I'll let you sit in anticipation."
"So torturous," Ted grinned back at her and had to put a great deal of self-control into not reaching out to take her hand or run his foot along her calf.
"What are you doing with your weekend?" Vic asked as she pulled a dumpling from the box with her chopsticks.
Ted smirked, "Wondering what my plans are Weasley?"
"I'll tell you mine," Vic shrugged.
"Let me guess, you're going to go home and spend the weekend wishing you didn't live with your parents?" Ted teased.
"No, I'm going to figure out what your last name is." She smirked at him.
Ted tutted, "That would be a shame, my wolf looks rather nice on your desk. I've come to enjoy seeing him there."
Vic laughed and kicked his foot under the card table. "I am going to figure it out this weekend. Come Monday, I'll know more about you than you could imagine me learning in two days."
Ted raised his eyebrows at her. "I think you're bluffing."
Vic shrugged, "Good, that will make it that much better when you walk in on Monday and I call you by your full name."
"Oh, you think you'll find my middle name too huh? Yours isn't even listed on the company roster."
"Did you go looking for it?" Vic laughed.
"Of course, I did, I had to exploit every advantage available to me." Ted shrugged as Vic laughed.
"You're ridiculous you know." Vic's smile was soft again, it was that smile that made Ted's stomach flutter.
"One of my many faults."
Vic tucked a lock of hair behind her ear before letting out a long breath and tossed her takeaway container in the bin.
"We should get started," she pulled her notepad in front of her.
"Right," Ted moved to his desk for his notebook and the notes he'd prepared yesterday after work before rejoining Vic at the card table.
"Did everything from Wednesday make sense?"
But another voice responded.
"Wednesday?"
Ted turned to the open door where Sean stood.
"Sean," Vic's voice conveyed her surprise. "You said you had plans tonight."
"They fell through," he leant against the doorframe. "I decided I'd rescue you from working late."
"Oh, er," she looked at Ted with wide eyes and Ted forced a smile for her.
"Go on, your Casanova awaits."
Vic bit her lip and looked torn for a moment longer before nodding. "We can do this on Monday, right?"
"Sure, whenever," Ted put his notebook away in his backpack.
"Alright, I'll, I'll see you Monday."
"Yeah."
Ted didn't dare look up as Vic walked out. He didn't want to see Sean kiss her.
OoOoOoOoO
"Teddy!" Lily ran into his arms.
"Hey, sweetheart," Ted hugged her. "I swear you're taller every time I see you."
"Grandad says that's what happens when you feed kids. Mum and Dad left for their show already, but come on! I want you to meet my cousin! She's so cool!" Lily pulled him down the corridor.
Ted laughed and kicked off his shoes, expecting to see another twelve-year-old girl as Lily pulled him to the back garden.
He nearly tripped over himself when he crossed the threshold.
"Vic?"
"Ted?"
"What are you doing here?" They said in unison.
"Really? You already know her? I wanted to introduce you two." Lily pouted.
"I work with Vic, Lils." Ted squeezed Lily's shoulders.
"You do?" Al frowned, "But Vic works for Uncle Ron."
Ted chuckled, "And so do I."
Vic was blushing and Ted wondered why his showing up had this effect on her. She didn't blush when he walked into work.
"Ted!" Jamie grinned as he walked out to the back garden. "Dad said you weren't going to be here till five."
Ted grinned and pulled Jamie into a hug. "I thought I'd come a bit earlier to catch up, but I see you lot already have someone around."
"Oh, yeah, Vic this is Ted, he's Mum and Dad's godson." Jamie introduced them.
"They work together, Jamie," Lily rolled her eyes. "And if they hadn't, I would have already introduced them."
Jamie's brow creased for a moment. "Oh, right you both work for Uncle Ron, I remember Dad saying he set you up with the job."
Ted nodded, "Yep. So, I guess everyone knows everyone now."
"Right," Vic stood up, "I should probably let you four go to dinner."
"Can Vicky come?" Lily took hold of Teddy's hand and he tried to keep himself from looking down at her big brown eyes.
He failed, and then he caved.
"If you're free, Vic, you're welcome to join us."
"I don't want to impose," she bit her lip but Lily went straight to her side.
"You wouldn't be imposing, Vicky! Please come! We haven't seen you much at all since you got that boyfriend last year."
Ted rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his socks as Vic spoke.
"Alright, I can come for a little bit."
Ted looked up to see Vic smiling at him, that shy soft smile that made his stomach clench.
"Great," he smiled back at her, and suddenly the awkward way they'd left things the night before seemed to fade away.
"Grab your things, you lot," Ted turned to the Potter kids, "I'm thinking some fish and chips are in order tonight."
"Aye, aye captain!" Al saluted and the three of them went for their things.
"So…" Ted followed Vic as she went back inside the house.
"Hi," Vic moved to the front door and put her shoes back on. Ted followed suit.
"I guess maybe I should have told you my plans for the weekend, huh?" He chuckled.
"Well, this might have been less awkward that way." Vic bit her lip. "I really can just bow out if you want time with them."
Ted felt his whole body react in panic at that suggestion.
"No! I mean if this is weird for you then I get if you want to leave, but I mean, we're friends, right?"
Vic's face took on a relieved cast and she smiled again. "Yeah, yeah, we're friends."
"Alright, well, friends can grab dinner together, right?"
Vic grinned, "Definitely."
Ted took a deep breath and went to say more when the Potter kids came sliding into the front entry.
"Let's go beat the dinner rush," Jamie opened the door and ushered everyone outside.
"Jamie, you're sixteen, will you stop acting like you're the adult here. That's Ted and Vic's job." Lily rolled her eyes.
Jamie shot her a glare and Ted intervened in what was a pretty regular fight he'd seen between the two of them.
"It's normal for Jamie to care enough about you to want to help guide you Lils, and it's fine to not want him to as well, right Jamie?"
Jamie rolled his eyes, "Right."
"Is Vic riding shotgun?" Al asked. "Dad and Mum say that when there's another adult, the front seat always goes to them."
Ted unlocked his car and looked over at Vic. "That's completely up to Vic."
She bit her lip and looked down at her shoes for a moment before looking back up at him. "Sure, sure I'll sit up front."
"There you go, Al, your parents' are always right." Ted grinned, and let their little group think it was in response to Al's eye roll.
But in reality, he couldn't have stopped smiling if his life depended on it, because Vic was sitting shotgun in his car.
"So, Vic," Ted asked as he pulled out of the Potter's drive. "What brought you to my godparents' home tonight?"
Vic immediately blushed. But before Ted could ask further, Al answered.
"She said she had a question about Dad's family."
Ted felt his eyebrows shoot up. The Marauders were Harry's family, and that included him.
"Really?" Ted smirked at Vic, who turned to look out her window. "I could have answered any questions you might have had."
Vic shrugged. "I didn't have your number."
"What did you want to know?" Lily asked.
"Wait," Jamie leant forward. "I thought you wanted to know my thoughts on your rough draft of your book you sent me. That's what Mum told me when she mentioned you'd be coming over."
"Right, so it was that too, and, er…"
Vic's face was bright red now and Ted found it adorable. He also felt a bit guilty, so he gave her a way out.
"Pull out your phone, I'll tell you my number." Ted smiled over at her.
She mouthed thank you and pulled out her phone. Ted rattled off his phone number and then got Al and Jamie talking about the latest Zelda game for the rest of the car ride to the restaurant.
"I can buy my own dinner," Vic protested when they were waiting their turn to order.
Ted rolled his eyes at her, "I'm sure you can, but if Harry finds out you bought your own dinner, he'll have my head, and then he'll send the rest of our family after me, so just do me the favor and let me pay for everyone."
Vic glared at him, so Ted played dirty.
"I gave you my phone number." He ignored the way Jamie eyed him.
Vic huffed and then nodded, "Fine, you can buy my dinner."
Jamie looked back and forth between the two of them. "It's not a date, Vic. Your boyfriend can't be upset about this."
Vic turned bright red and Ted sighed. Leave it to these three to find ways to unintentionally make Vic feel called out.
"I'm sure her boyfriend is a reasonable bloke, Jamie," Ted tried to redirect the conversation with the lie. "Now, why don't you lot find us all a table?"
"Won't you need help with the food?" Al asked.
"I've got Vic to help," Ted glanced at her and she smiled at him. "You three find us a good spot."
Jamie ushered his siblings further into the restaurant and Ted leant back against the wall while they waited for their order to be ready.
"Sorry," he looked over at Vic as she leant against the wall next to him. "They can be a bit much sometimes."
"They're my family too, Ted." She smiled at him. "I'm just embarrassed. I didn't expect to see you tonight."
"Is it a bad thing to see me tonight?"
"No, I just won't be able to complete my master plan now." She bumped his shoulder.
"You had a master plan? And I wasn't included? I'm offended!" Ted bumped her shoulder back and smiled as their easiness finally returned.
"I couldn't include you! You wouldn't share the information!"
Then it clicked and Ted laughed.
"You were going to use your cousins to figure out my full name, weren't you?"
"I thought I could sweet-talk it out of Lily. She always talks about how much she likes you and I thought I could just show up and get her talking about you and then casually ask what your full name was." Vic chuckled, as her blush deepened.
Ted felt like his chest was trying to take flight.
"I have to give you full marks for creativity."
"Yeah but it won't work now," Vic bit her lip. "If I ask anything about you after tonight, she's going to think I fancy you."
Ted swallowed hard, "Well, don't lose hope yet."
Vic looked over at him, "You've had a change of heart?"
"If you send me a text, I can come up with some clues so you can guess my full name." He kept his eyes focused on the kid behind the counter calling orders.
"Alright," Vic's voice was quiet. "I'll text you after we get my cousins home."
Ted smiled.
Then the kid behind the counter called his order number.
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Kay, so I found this old story idea I had a while back but never really did anything with, and I figured hey, I've got 300+ prisoners beloved followers who for some reason put up with my garbage, so might as well inflict this upon them.
That being said, welcome to what I call The Department for the Colonisation of Childhood Whimsey.
So our story starts with a little girl called Dee.
Dee lives in the UK, in a council estate. When she was a kid, there wasn't all that much space to play or do the things richer middle-class kids got to do. Her parents house didn't have a garden, the local streets were too dangerous for a child to go out and play in, and the house itself was cramped and crowded.
Despite this, Dee had what could charitably be called an overactive imagination, an imagination she channelled into two things: a plastic triceratops toy she called Sarah, and a book - a blank book of A4 paper that had coffee stains on it and papers falling out when she got it - that she claimed had a magical power: anything written in the book would come true.
Cut to a few years later. Dee is in high school, and like a typical teenager she's moved on from her childish dreams. That is, until one day when Sarah the triceratops approaches her after school and tells her she's in danger.
So, yeah, pretty basic beginning, you've probably seen fifty books that start out like this, and that's all I wrote back when I was actually trying to make this a thing. However, one thing I always do vis-a-vis my writing style is worldbuild, and it's the worldbuilding that I'm really keen on with this idea. So, let's talk about that:
The actual premise of the story is simple: at some point in the 1960s, the British government came to the conclusion that the British Empire was more or less doomed. Not only was the post-war economy not capable of sustaining an empire, not only was the Cold War between the Americans and the Russians ravaging them, but an increased awareness of the plight of one's fellow man was inspiring many people - not just in the colonies but in England too - to demand independence. No matter how hard they tried, Parliament could not forsee a solution that the people would accept where the British Empire continued.
So, a solution was posed. For the past hundred years or so, the government had been made aware of the existence of pockets of space-time created by people with active enough imaginations. From Neverland to Oz, from the Hundred Acre Wood to Wonderland, these places had resources beyond any place on Earth - magic, especially. If the public would not countenance colonisation where they could see it, then perhaps the solution would be to colonise somewhere they could not see?
Thus, the British Empire never really died. It simply... moved.
Cut to the present day, and the Department for the Colonisation of Childhood Whimsey is still going strong. Almost every parallel world is under their control, and the profits of these regions are beyond belief. However, rather naturally for stories like this there is a resistance movement, that seeks to free the imaginary lands from the Department. Although they are small and weak, they have had several worthwhile victories over the Department in the past few months, and the higher-ups in the Department, including the shadowy and little-seen Director, want all such resistance movements stamped out.
This, rather naturally, is where Dee steps in.
Every generation, one in a million people have the ability to shape the forces of Imagination itself, and the stories these people tell, and others tell after them, become reality in the Imaginarium. These people become known as Imagineers, and Dee is one such person. However, the lack of much real output for this power has led to most of it being placed inside The Book, which has led to a fascinating feedback loop - Dee's Book not only influences the Imaginarium, it influences physical reality itself to a certain extent. Thus, the Department need simply write in the book that the resistance movement does not exist, and it will be so. The resistance, naturally enough, are not down with this, and have sent Dee's childhood friend to bring her and the book back to them, to keep them safe.
There's also a ton of other small worldbuilding touches I came up with, chief among them being the thing the Department sends to collect Dee - a Stalker, the amalgamation of that seemingly universal childhood experience of that thing that followed your car on long journeys. But a couple of words on the characters:
The leader of the resistance is Peter Pan, because of course he is, why wouldn't he be? He's much more of the capricious, vaguely fae Pan of the book, not exactly evil but very much ammoral and childish. He's mainly invested in reclaiming Neverland, the Lost Boys, and Tinkerbell, although there is the subtext of him using the Department as an example of the inevitable consequences of growing up - although he's completely forgotten Hook, like he does in the book, he's still looking for that antagonistic relationship with a grown-up.
Peter's second-in-command and the one really running the resistance is Princess Ozma, who's much more... agreeable than Pan. Oz has been colonised too, but Ozma is still in nominal control of it, and she supplies the resistance with all the resources she can, although she can't openly work against the Department because the CIA branch of it has Dorothy imprisoned and are basically pulling a 'we have your wife' scenario on her.
The third key player in the resistance is Alice Liddel, who provides the resistance with shelter and safe passage - the Department has been having little success applying the logic of supply chains and regimented exterminations to a place as willfully chaotic as Wonderland.
The rest of the resistance are mainly heroic characters from other public domain stories, although some of the heroes are working for the Department, either willingly or because they're coerced, but one of the other main characters - and Dee's eventual love interest - is a character called many things, but most commonly Insert.
Insert is... complicated. Like the Stalker, they're an amalgamation of a certain new-fangled trend - namely, they're every self-insert character that's ever been written. Naturally, they have a habit of... changing, at random intervals. On any given day, they're any gender, of any ethnicity, of any sexual orientation, and with backstories ranging from an officer on a starship in the far future to a student at a school of magic in Scotland. Given literally everything about them is eternally mutable - including their allegiance to the resistance or the Department - the resistance members treat them with some distrust, a distrust that Dee generally doesn't share. Their relationship is pretty rocky at first - Dee thinks Insert is only interested in her because she can use The Book to give them a concrete identity, Insert is angrt when she reveals this because the constant shifting is just who they are, they don't want to be bound down, and later on there is a genuine dilemma of whether or not Insert is interested in Dee by their own choice or because she's clearly the protagonist and a key part of their identity in a lot of their lives is to be shipped with the protagonist. Also, obvious joke but at several points Insert turns into Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, because of course they do.
The Department's side isn't that interesting - it's a whole load of villains, some of the more... problematique heroes, and a few hundred grunts. The most interesting character is The Director. He's never seen, even by the highest ranking members of the Department, and no-one knows anything about him other than his gender. Everyone in the resistance has a different theory of who he is - Pan has a suspicion he may have faced him before, Ozma thinks its the Nome King, Alice the Jabberwocky, and Insert fluctuates, as is their nature, although the top two choices are Voldemort or Dumbledore.
It's Dee, however, who figures out the truth, when captured by the Department. The others couldn't possibly know him, but Dee's heard his voice before, in her history classes.
The Director of the Department is Winston Churchill, made immortal by the collective consensus of him as The War-Time Leader. Unfortunately for the whitewashers of history, the immortal they created isn't the brave fighter of tyranny, but the actual Churchill, warts and all, the man who starved over two million Indians out of spite and neglectfulness. Dee being a descendant of Indian immigrants, this meeting isn't perhaps the best one.
There are side effects to the Director's immortality, however. Since the perception of Churchill is tied so deeply to his speeches, to the voice on the radio, that's all he is now. He wants The Book to give him back a body again, and the Department is basically a means to that end.
That's about all I'd concretely plotted out, otherwise I just had random ideas for sequels:
The America Book, where the resistance goes to rescue Dorothy from the CIA version of the Department, which is located under a theme park that is as close to Disneyland as it is possible to be. Naturally, the head of the American Department is Walt Disney's cryogenically frozen head.
The India Book, because a book about British colonialism has got to touch on India at some point. I haven't gotten far in this one, but one idea was that there would be an ongoing war between the native myths and legends - Hindu mythology, the Mahabharata and such - and what is derisively referred to as the 'imports' - namely, the Jungle Book. Again, no idea how this resolves itself, and frankly as a Brit myself I am in no way equipped to tell a story about India, but food for thought.
That's basically it. This isn't a 'here's something to hype up this series' thing - this is an idea I had, I did some thinking about it, but other things happened and I'm kinda splurging this so anyone else who wants to do this idea can pick it up. If you write something like this, feel free to tell me and I'd love to hear about it.
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purplesurveys · 3 years
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1013
surveys by -thoughtlessdork
Have you ever had the chicken pox? No. I’m constantly in a place of waiting for it to pass by, because everyone tells me all people are bound to have it at one point in their lives (idk how true that is, though). I am also told it gets a lot suckier as one gets older, so...not too thrilled about it at all.
how often do you do laundry? I don’t handle that chore myself, but it’s done 1–2 times a week in our house.
Have you ever been evicted? Nopes.
would you grow your own garden? I don’t see that happening. I’m a magnet for killing plants.
do you know anyone who snores? I do.
Trigger warning kinda, by the end.
what is your favorite font? Proxima Nova. It’s the default font that my org used for all documents and works-in-progress, and it ended up becoming my actual real-life favorite. I’ve always picked out that font even outside of org matters.
do you know what a wombat is? Sure.
would you make a good movie critic? Not at all. I don’t know enough about different filmmaking elements to make a reliable critic. I’ve criticized things like acting, plots, and dialogues in the past, of course; but there’s still so many things that go into films that aren’t overtly projected like lighting, symbolism, hidden meanings, etc. I don’t have a very good nose for those.
what goal are you aiming for this year? In the last 8 weeks of the year? Hmm...avoiding corona would be at the top of that list, lmao.
are you currently reading any books at the moment? No. I’ve stopped opening the book I used to constantly mention on here.
when i say foxy lady what comes to mind? Beyoncé’s character in the Austin Powers movie she was in lol; her name was Foxxy.
would you have liked to have lived during the Victorian times? Wasn’t this era like a golden age of sorts for the UK? I’d love to visit for that purpose; but given the still-horrible hygiene and living conditions for most people of the time, I wouldn’t choose to live there.
would you own a Siamese cat? No.
have you ever had an ultimate adrenaline rush? I don’t think so. I’ve had bursts of energy in the past, but I wouldn’t call any of them an ultimate adrenaline rush.
do you like deviled eggs? I’ve never had them; it’s not a common dish here. But they always look so good in the American shows I watch??? I really hope they taste as good as they look.
what tends to upset you? Hearing anything about animal abuse.
what's the farthest you've walked? I can’t give you a distance, but my parents opted for us to walk the whole time we were in Bali (except if we had a tour day which included transportation). Walking in an unfamiliar - and very humid - country and not knowing where anything is (this was before food and travel apps got as detailed as they are today) and ending up walking long stretches because you can’t locate any good local spots is a very easy way to run out of patience, apparently.
what is your favorite horror movie? Carrie was pretty fun.
what does your favorite shirt look like? It’s a twist on the Chicago flag, made black and red and with a raised fist in the middle. At the back it says “CM Punk: Best in the World.” Been my favorite and most overused shirt for the past 9 years. My friends tease me about it sometimes, but I don’t care lol, the shirt is very significant to me.
is your life like a daily routine? It is, but I prefer that it is. I like when things are in my control and, for the most part, predictable. I enjoy spontaneity in short bursts.
were you ever told as a child if you eat carrots you'll have pretty eyes? So many times.
what career are you most interested in? Communications and media, so it’s great that I’m headed there so far.
have you ever seen a rooster? Sure.
what time do you usually wake up? I wake up wake up by 7:30 or 8 AM, but I usually also wake up for a bit any time between 4–6 AM. Sometimes I choose to stay up from then, and sometimes I’d want to go back to sleep.
what do you think about religion? It’s good when people use it for good, or if it has helped save a person’s life. In my own personal experience, though, it’s beenhard to find Christians who aren’t hypocritical. So even though I see religion’s potential, I don’t have a lot of trust in believers themselves.
what made you feel most accomplished in your life so far? Graduating college.
have you ever seen a lunar eclipse? I saw the super blue blood moon two years ago, which according to a quick Google search is a lunar eclipse! So yeah, I’ve seen one.
what are you allergic to? No allergies.
do you ever feel like people hold things you do or say against you? Only my mom does this.
what can't you afford but wish you could? Front-row Wrestlemania tickets. My childhood (and now adulthood) dream is to go to Mania 50 which is only 14 years from now, but at least I still have more than enough time to save up for it. 
--
what is one word that sums up this year so far? Revelatory. ever felt like you were putting your life in danger? [trigger warning] Yes, it’s called suicidal tendencies. what do you like with your eggs? If scrambled, with cheese. If omelette...stuff that crap up with everything lol. Tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, cheese, ham, bacon, and onions are all good in my book. what remedy do you partake when experiencing the common cold? The good ol’ wait-for-it-to-go-away life hack. would you ever spend a weekend in the mountains in a log cabin? That sounds amazing. I sure would. have you ever been called a psycho? No. have you ever taken martial arts? would you? No but I was always a little envious of my cousin who was taken to taekwondo class every weekend when we were kids. Sure, I’d take classes if I had the chance. who is someone you look up to? Nacho, but he’s gone now. is there something you're anxious about? I have work jitters for tomorrow, but they’re manageable for now. Otherwise I’m feeling pretty good. what is the longest you've gone without sleep? A little above 24. what is the longest you've been on the phone? This makes me cringe now, but it was like 8 hours long or something like that. It was still the ~honeymoon phase of that relationship and we were still clingy. We never did it again after that. do you care about calories? No. do you know someone with a really annoying laugh? Nah, can’t think of anyone. what band do you mostly always listen to no matter what mood? Paramore.  have you ever been to Indianapolis? Nope.
--
what type of bread do you like to eat? I eat white bread all the time, but my favorite kind is brioche. do you have any great great grandparents still living? Two greats is a bit too much don’t you think? Lmao. Anyway, my last great-grandparent died in 2010. I never knew my dad’s grandparents, and my great-grandfather on my mom’s side had died all the way back in the 70s. what is one country that you really want to visit someday? India. who usually cooks or what do you usually crave the most? Those are two different questions haha. My parents take turn cooking; and as for my craving, I find myself seeking sushi most of the time. ever been associated in a program that was a complete waste of time? Yep, like that one time I had to attend this 5-hour mandatory program/seminar before my driver’s license could be issued to me; it taught me nothing I didn’t already know about driving, and it used driving tutorials that I’m pretty sure were recorded in the 90s. This seminar took place in 2016. do weird numbers call your phone? Not regularly. Occasionally an unknown number will come in, but I reject all those. where are you right now? Sitting up on my bed. do you tend to care about other people's feelings more than your own? Yes. I really shouldn’t. what type of lifestyle do you want to obtain? if you haven't obtained it [trigger warning] I haven’t even figured out yet if I love life enough to want to stay in it. A type of lifestyle isn’t much of a priority for now. what was something that use to frighten you as a child? Getting lost at the mall. have you ever been on a train? Just once. who's been in your life the longest? did you expect this person to still be around? Apart from family, Angela. Yes, she’s here for the long haul. how do you feel about anatomy? Fascinating. I’d take a class on it. Insert interesting fact here: Read this on Reddit a few days ago, so I’ll just copy-paste the whole thing: “When Jadwiga, the King of Poland (medieval Poland referred to every ruler as King regardless of gender), was considering a marriage proposal from the Grand Duke of Lithuania, a chief concern among her court was that said Duke was rumored to have massive genitals to the point that they would kill his wife on their wedding night. Two of her councilors volunteered to travel to Lithuania to try and discover the truth of these rumors, which naturally meant they would watch the Duke as he bathed. They returned and happily reported that not only weren’t the Duke’s genitals fatally large, they were in fact a tad smaller than average, so nothing to worry about. Thus Poland and Lithuania were united, and the rest is history.” Got a chuckle out of that one when I read it that I just had to scroll through the entire thread again just to be able to share it here lmao.
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sophierattueba2a · 3 years
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Research of setting continued
Whilst the vibrancy and controversial nature of graffiti, crowds of people and a slightly more dangerous urban environment would be fitting for the Hyde character, on the other hand it is very unlikely that Mary would live in a place like this. So, I began to look at the surrounding areas from Camden city centre and Brick Lane. I actually found that there are some slightly more suburban areas close by, with houses dating back to the 1840′s.
According to the Knight Frank real estate website:
‘Early Camden had been a quiet, middle-class residential market town in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, but by mid-19th century the wider area became a major transportation hub, connecting London with the rest of the UK.’
"With railway and canal construction came labourers and a substantial working class population made inner Camden and King’s Cross their home."
https://www.knightfrank.co.uk/residential/age-of-housing-stock-in-london/camden
I can fit this in really well with Mary’s backstory. I imagine her growing up in an upper-middle class household, so maybe the house she is living in now has been passed down through her family, who first moved into the area around 1840 as traders. This would give an explanation as to how she can afford to live in London with a librarian’s salary.
I still wanted to keep her close enough to Camden High Street however, so that she could easily go there on foot when in Banshee form (which has more strength & speed). So, I looked around Google maps to find houses near libraries in the outskirts of Camden, and came across this one:
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(google maps)
30 Norfolk Road. I can’t find any information on when this house was built but I think the brickwork gives it a suitably old aesthetic, plus, a garden which I think would be attractive to a couple in retirement age. Most houses on the street look similar to this.
I’ve managed to find a real estate brochure for the house that has a floorplan and some pictures. The interior is a lot more elaborate than I had assumed, with 8 bedrooms (although any room on the first and second floor that isn’t a bathroom is labelled as a bedroom) and a photo of the house’s modern & sleek decoration. Apparently there are also plans to build a basement with a gym and cinema room.
The pdf also mentions nearby schools, one of which being South Hampstead school for girls. This has been running since 1876 and its students achieve exceptionally high grades. I can imagine every girl from Mary’s family attending this school, then her, where she’s put under a lot of pressure, not only academically but also from the knowledge that she has to live up to those who attended and succeeded before her.
(https://www.shhs.gdst.net/ [Accessed 28/12/20])
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https://assets.savills.com/properties/GBSJRSSTS190020/STS190020_STS19001950.PDF [Accessed 28/12/20])
This, I think, is way too modern for how I envision Mary and her Husband to live, but I am still going to use this house as my main source of inspiration for the exterior. So, for the interior, I began searching for pictures of 50/60s themed interior décor and wallpaper, as well as old-fashioned homes.
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Old-fashioned elements like big armchairs, furniture doilies, an outdated kitchen and long curtains are important, I think, for portraying the idea that this house is stuck in the past. I want it to feel like Mary hasn’t been allowed to change anything since her parents redecorated in the 60s- a stifling and aged atmosphere. Although, I would also imagine it with slightly less trinkets & patterns, as I can see her parents seeing these things as frivolous. Plus, this would also help to remove some character from the house, I want it to feel as boring as possible. 
I would also like to take a similar approach to the library. Again I’ve used Google Maps to find some close the area, and found Primrose Hill and Keats community libraries. Neither have particularly interesting architecture or interiors, or even many actual wooden shelves, opting for metal and plastic ones. So, I think they may work well for creating an equally stifling, indistinctive environment.
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I did however, want to create a space within Mary’s house that is exclusively for her- a sanctuary that reflects her inner desires more closely. I thought a cosy, cramped study with messy bookshelves and dim lighting would create a safe, enclosed atmosphere, where Mary is free to escape into her books. Plus, this could be the secluded space where she transforms into the Banshee for the first time. Maybe, when growing up this was her bedroom, but she has now moved into the main bedroom with George.
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By toning down the character of Mary’s surroundings, Camden High Street (with it’s bright storefronts and street art) will hopefully feel almost magical in comparison. This would be hard to convey in the script, but after Mary transforms I want the setting to change with her- to become more lively and vibrant.
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Character Interview!
What is your name?
“My name is Kharon, just Kharon.”
Do you know why you were named that?
“I assume someone gave it to me, um, the internet tells me my name means "fierce brightness" but also it could mean "of keen gaze". So I guess I was named after my eyes? Or maybe it is not that deep.”
Single or taken?
“Single.”
Stop being a Mary Sue!
“I don’t know what that means? Who is Mary Sue?”
What’s your eye color?
“They are a honey amber color in my human form, and a bright gold color sometimes in both my forms.”
How about hair color?
“Black, as far I know.”
Have you any family members?
“Yes, I have parents as well as many full and half siblings and extended family gets a little... hmm, mixed in. The Gods were not very picky, lets say with who they decided to copulate with.”
Oh, how about pets?
“I have one, which comes and goes, A skeleton cat named Fiona.”
Now tell me something you don’t like.
“I do not like the feeling of dry sand under my feet, I enjoy wet sand for some reason. Just not hot wet sand under my feet, specifically. I do not know why it makes my skin crawl a bit. Well, when I have some on my bones.”
Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?
“I have many! I like to garden, paint, craft, put things together, travel. I like rock climbing, and most sports. I like to dabble in most things, since it is nice to experience new things.”
Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?
“Yes.”
Ever … killed anyone before?
“I am not really allowed too.”
What kind of animal are you?  
“I... do not know?”
Name your worst weaknesses? 
“No.”
Do you look up to anyone at all?
“I used to.”
Are you straight, gay or bisexual? 
“I normally classify myself as Bisexual leaning Pansexual.”
Do you go to school? 
“No, I do not need to. I am very old.”
Ever want to marry and have kids one day?  
“Yes, I would love to. Someday, that is. As long as we can work things out to benefit both of us. I mean, not like a contract or anything. I just mean, as long as we both agree on things to marry, but also I would love children regardless of marriage.”
Do you have fangirls/fanboys?  
“I do not think so. Some people get excited when I tell them who I am, but that is more of a shock thing, than a fan thing. I think.”
What are you most afraid of? 
“Ending up alone or Dying alone.”
What do you usually wear? 
“I prefer to wear nothing, but that is frowned upon most places so. I just wear whatever I find that I like.”
What’s one food that tempts you? 
“Ice cream. There is not much I wouldn’t do for a nice fresh bowl. Hmm.”
Am I annoying you? 
“Not at all.”
Well, it’s not over!
“Okay...”
What class are you (low class, middle class, high class)?  
“Um, I don’t think I have a class? With all the coins I collected over the years I guess I would be... maybe high class? But I don’t really care for those kinds of labels. Class labels are stupid.”
How many friends do you have? 
“A few.”
What are your thoughts on pie?  
“I love pie! Pecan or apple is my favorite! But I would eat any that is put in front of me to be honest.”
Favorite drink? 
“I think tea, cold or hot. I would prefer that over anything else, with coffee a close second, then chocolate milk third.”
What’s your favorite place? 
“I do not have one favorite, I have a few, for different reasons.”
Are you interested in anyone?  
“Perhaps.”
That was a stupid question… 
“There are no stupid questions.”
Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?
“I think lake, the Ocean tends to be extra salty and I do not like how it makes my skin feel sometimes.”
What’s your type? 
”My type? Type of what?
Any fetishes?   
“I do not think so?”
Seme or Uke?  
“I... I don’t know what that means?”
Camping or indoors? 
“Both have their benefits, but maybe camping? I like outside, sometimes being indoors can make me feel claustrophobic.”
Who asked me to interview you?
“Cam did.”
Who would you like to send me to?
“Uh, anyone?” ( @hellsholyground, @shotbled, @oceanforged  & anyone else who wants to do this <3 )
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ilikesallydonovan · 5 years
Text
I’m still shocked by how much more the odds are stacked up against poor people in the UK - or even just against the lower end of getting by. The most visible difference is in the availability of fresh food, and if you think about it, that goes way back. In the UK, housing has always been shit, so working class housing often didn’t have usable kitchens, and working class people relied on takeaways from (the very least) Victorian times onwards. Compare that to my (ethnically) German family (they were living in Czechoslovakia before the War). They were working class through and through - most of the family worked in the local paper mill. Home-cooked food played a big role in their life. I know for a fact that they lived in the shittiest block of flats in their village - it was the last one with loos across the backyard. But even though they had the shittiest house, they could and did cook at home. (On a side note, the shittiest, poorest housing in my home town is still quite a bit better than some of what’s deemed ‘quite good housing’ here in the UK). In my hometown, all the pre-war working class housing came with a garden attached that was big enough that homegrown fruit and veg could be a substantial part of your diet - you’d have a block of flats standing directly at the street, and stretches of gardens behind. I now live in a town of roughly similar socioeconomic history, and the pre-war working class housing here has teeny tiny backyards and nothing else. Of course, in big German cities, you also don’t have gardens attached to apartment blocks, but you’ve got lots of Schrebergärten (allotments, but slighlty different). Lots and lots. (I’m not sure if my impression is correct, but I think that gardening is a rather middle class thing in the UK - at least in the part of Germany where I’m from it’s very much part of working class culture, and lots of people still grow fruit and veg, although today it’s mostly a hobby. It was more than a hobby in the GDR, when many people grew fruit and veg on a semi-professional scale because there wasn’t much of a choice to buy in the shops, especially if you didn’t have the right connections). This difference in access to food and ability to cook stuff still goes on today - in the poorest part of my hometown, you’ve still got a proper supermarket where you can get fresh fruit and veg and cooking ingredients at normal prices, even a bit cheaper than the bigger brands. The choice for each type of food is not as big as in a nicer supermarket, but you’ve got lots of types of food all in all. In the not even that poor part of town that I lived in the UK for a while, all you have is a convenience shop that barely ever had any veg on its tiny veg shelf, and barely sold any cooking ingredients. They sold lots of sweets and crisps though, and at inflated prices at that. If you’re poor round here, you have to either go to an overpriced convenience shop that barely sells anything besides snacks, or you have to buy a bus ticket to get to the big, cheaper supermarket (or walk quite some way - it doesn’t help that this is not a cycling country, so you can’t get cheap bikes and use those to get around). Whether you live in a nice or not so nice part of my hometown doesn’t dictate the price of your weekly shopping. In the town I live in now, the weekly shopping will make a bigger dent in your budget simply because you live in a poor part of town, and you’ll barely be able to buy fresh food on top of that, so you can’t even try to reduce your budget by constistently cooking cheap dishes at home.
And it’s not only that - I get a better class of bank account in the UK purely because I earn more money, which means that I get higher interest. I also have access to credit cards with better conditions. To reiterate - I get more money because I have more money. That hasn’t happened to me or any of my German friends with German banks.
Don’t get me started on transport costs - you can just as easily live in a part of Germany that has shit public transport, but when you do have public transport, it’s consistently cheaper. Granted, the cost of public transport is the same of rich and poor people (although I have to say, in this town, the rich part has much, much better bus connections than the poorer parts), but it impacts poor people more.
In any case, it’s no surprise that the UK has a much higher rate of poverty than the other big economies of Europe.
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dogtraininglove · 4 years
Text
Secrets of the Brain Unlocked - How to Increase Brain Power
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The brain contains everything that makes us who we are. This comprises not only every talent and skill, but also the records of all our experiences, hopes and dreams, the friendships and achievements that give meaning and purpose to our lives.
It's no wonder then, that with every little 'brain hiccup' - forgetting a name, losing our car or house keys (again), a sudden losing streak in our Bridge or Mahjong game - we see our lives slipping away. In fact, many people fear losing their memories more than death itself.
The good news is that although the brain does shrink with age, its remaining capacity is very large. Even with age, most brains can still learn and add new stores of information. Moreover, there are techniques that show you how to increase brain power and maximize your mental abilities. You can train your brain and improve the efficiency of your memory, whatever your age.
How to increase brain power - Age and Experience
The common saying 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks' is not true. Ageing may have some effect on memory and learning capacity. However, the experience and knowledge store that age brings can compensate for much of this. Moreover, memory improvement techniques can help preserve your mental functions into old age. Using simple aids such as diaries, post-it-notes or electronic reminders can also help counter memory slips.
How to increase brain power - Expand our Interests
As we age, our mental filing cabinets become packed with records of our lives well lived. Yet through it all, the brain makes more complex associations between ideas and puts new learning in the context of a vast store of experience. This means that it becomes easier to take in new information about topics of which we have some knowledge and experience. So someone who plays chess as a hobby for instance, will build on his knowledge of different chess positions and strategies the more he plays. He can draw on this knowledge and experience when he encounter something similar next time, and become a better player.
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The same is true of any area of interest, hobby or profession - Stamp collecting, music, politics, medicine, psychology, astrophysics or even television soap operas. Besides helping to maintain your mental abilities, pursuing a new interest will make life more stimulating.
Two Breakthroughs
The brain, once a mysterious 'black box' that scientists could not decode, is finally revealing some of its biggest secrets. This offers huge promise to anyone who's worried about "losing it". Two of the main findings include
(i) We do grow our brain cells
Who doesn't remember downing one too many glasses in their youth and joking, 'Well, there goes another thousand brain cells'? Many of us still believe that we start life with billions of brain cells, and then slowly lose them with time (and alcohol). We'll then have fewer brain cells by our twenties and thirties, and by middle age. But in fact, in a remarkable discovery, scientists have learned that the brain generates new cells every day, in a process called neurogenesis. What really happens is that most new brain cell growth continues until early adulthood, around the age of 18 to 20. Thereafter, new brain cells do grow, but more die off than are replaced, so there is a small and gradual but progressive overall loss of brain cells throughout the rest of adulthood.
The crucial point is that it's not the number of cells, but the connections between them that matter. Whenever you learn new things, you create new connections between the cells and thus increase the capacity of your brain.
(ii) The more your use your brain, the greater its capacity
The second major new finding is equally encouraging. We used to think of the brain as if it were a fixed electric power grid, like those that send electricity to our cities. When the system gets old or overloaded, power decreases which then leads to. flickering lights and break down of appliances. We believed that age wore down memory and comprehension in a similar way and there was nothing we could do about it.
Today, we know that the brain can continue to adapt and expand its capacity as needed. Not only does it generate new brain cells bit it also creates new connections between those cells in the form of intricate nerve fibers called dendrites. The more connections in your brain, the faster and better you think.
Brain Power Truth (1)
There are more potential connections between the cells in a single brain than atoms in the entire universe. The brain has about 100 billion neurons (nerve cells), and each neuron has up to 1,000 'docking points' where it can connect with others. If all of these potential connections were made, there would be well over 100 thousand billion information exchanging links. In practice, of course, only a tiny fraction of these connections are ever established.
Use it or Lose it  
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Whether you're balancing your accounts, learning salsa, or playing gin rummy, your brain's 'electricity grid' lights up like Time Square. Chemical messages travel at speeds of up to several hundred kmh from one nerve cell to the next along 'cables' called axons. Waiting to receive all that information are nerve cell 'branches' called dendrites. You yourself play the most important role in keeping this network humming.
According to Robert Loggie, professor of human cognitive neuroscience at Edinburgh University, learning new skills and new knowledge increases the number of connections in the brain. The more connections there are, the more efficient the brain will be. Forcing our brain to learn new things causes it to sprout more and more dendrites, expanding our capacity to think, learn and remember.
Being mentally lazy - getting stuck in a rut, never trying anything new - has the opposite effect. The brain allows unused neurons to die and 'prunes' under-used dendrites, just as a gardener prunes dying branches on a tree.
Brain Power truth (2)
A small number of people possess what memory experts call 'total recall'. They can remember every detail - what they wore, what they ate, what the weather was like, who visited that day and so on - of any specific day from adolescence onwards. Such memory feats highlight the vast potential of human memory.
Rich Rewards
Keeping our brains in tip-top shape may even protect against the decline in mental functioning that tends to occur with age. Many studies have shown that higher levels of leisure related mental, physical and social activities are associated with better cognitive health later in life. Of course, it could be that people who choose a more varied and challenging lifestyle are more mentally active to begin with. But taking up or increasing your level of activity does seem to confer benefits. A 2008 review commissioned by the UK government's foresight project, 'Mental Capital and Wellbeing', noted that cognitive training in later life could improve memory, reasoning and speed of information processing, and that the gains could be long-lasting, for at least 5 years. A multitude of other studies have reached similar conclusions.
Here are simple everyday ways to increase brain power.
Talking - A study found that chatting for 10 minutes a day improves memory and test scores.
Walking - In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers looking at data from the US Nurses Study, involving more than 18,000 women, found that long term regular physical activity, including walking, is associated with significantly better cognitive function and less cognitive decline in older women.
Omega-3 dietary supplement - A study looked at use of omega-3 in 65 older adults showed improvements in the connectivity of the brain, increases in the size of key brain regions and improved cognitive functioning after 26 weeks of use.
How to Increase brain power - Action Plan
What's the best way to nurture your neurological garden? Small lifestyle tweaks can help you think more clearly, retain information more effectively and concentrate better. It can be as simple as going for a brisk walk, taking an occasional class, or getting enough sleep.
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Diet is important. A study published in 'Archives of Neurology' suggests that following a Mediterranean diet can provide a powerful defense against mental decline. After 5 years, people who followed this diet - high in fish, fruit, vegetables, legumes and monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, moderate in alcohol and low in red meat and dairy products - had a 28% lower risk of cognitive impairment.
Brain Power truth (3)
A 'happy' brain can help to fight off infection. The body's immune system responds directly to changes in the brain. A sad event - such as losing a loved one - can produce a measurable depletion in the number of infection-fighting blood cells for 4 days.
In later articles, I will lay out advice on the best foods to eat for brain health, and what to avoid. Why high cholesterol levels and belly fat can be bad for your brain as well as your heart. You'll discover why exercise is good for your brain, not just for your body. And how simply getting adequate sleep can almost magically clear up fuzzy thinking. (The ability of test subjects assigned to memorize lists of words improved by 30 percent after a good night's sleep)
There are also 'brain villains' that can rob your brain of its power. How can your protect yourself? Some usual advice: smoking and drinking to excess are just as bad for your brain as they are for the rest of your body. But there are other more surprising findings.
Muddled thinking? Blame it on stress. In one study, stressed medical students performed significantly worse on an important exam. Depression can also rob us of brain power: The symptoms can include foggy memory, difficulty with comprehension, even slurred speech. In elderly people, these symptoms are commonly mistaken for dementia, but mental skills can improve when depression is treated.
How to increase brain power - Cross-train your brain
We've probably heard the common advice to take up crossword puzzles and play mahjong or chess to keep the mind fit. That's a good start. It will definitely make you better at solving cross-word puzzles or playing either game. But that alone won't help you find your car keys or remember phone numbers and names, says cognitive neuroscientist Robert Loggie. Just as runners devote a portion of their training to swimming and cycling, you'll need to vary the range and difficulty level of your activities if you want to keep your brain in prime shape. Athletes call this cross training
Go through a series puzzles and exercises designed to challenge your brain in the 6 main cognitive areas: attention and focus, general memory, processing speed, verbal skills, number skills and reasoning. I'll provide some examples in a later article.
Spend a few minutes on them weekly and you should notice improvements in your brain 'fitness'. Discover everyday strategies to recall names that are always at the tip of your tongue.
There's evidence that intellectually curious people are more resistant to brain decline. They have what scientists call a cognitive reserve, which means that they have more nerve cells and dendrites than others to begin with. So if their brains eventually suffer damage due to disease such as Alzheimer, they are likely to function well for a longer period. So develop a curious mind for things around you that matter.
Are you now inspired to banish memory slips, chase away brain fogs, sharpen up your concentration and focus, reduce the risk of dementia and boost your self confidence? Look no further. Check out my website in the link below to find out more about how to increase brain power to make the most out of life.
I take a keen interest in personal development and helping people make the most out of life. I believe in life-long learning and self improvement to keep being relevant, meaningful and contributing to society. I have spent many years studying the traits and values of successful people and applying this in my job as a successful fund manager and in my personal life. 
Know More Click here https://bit.ly/3chZl82
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how do you know what class you're in?
Your social class in the UK?
I think it’s really hard to define, and I honestly think most people in the UK “just know”- although I also sort of know that’s a stupid thing to say.
There are economic factors and there are cultural factors, and it’s also down to your family history. And there are classes within classes too- you can be upper middle class, or upper working class, for example.
The following is semi-serious, semi tongue in cheek, and I’d love my followers to chip in too!
Working class: Your family have traditionally worked in non-professional jobs. These might be skilled trades, service/hospitality jobs, “unskilled” jobs or casual work. These days, they might be self employed, but they would be unlikely to employ someone else. There are varying degrees of financial comfort, and these days, your family may own their own home but you’re not “wealthy”. It’s unlikely your family have assets or investments beyond one property and cars (if they are doing well). If you’re younger than about 35, you or your siblings might have gone to university, but no-one in your parents’ generation has. Your parents probably have a degree of debt beyond a mortgage (if they have one). You probably spent time in childcare when you were young because your parents had to work.
You probably speak with a regional accent and use dialect words. You also use words like serviette, desert, pardon etc. Someone in your family is really into football and supports a team that isn’t in the premiership- if they are into rugby then it’s rugby league unless you’re from Wales or Cornwall. Your female relatives are probably quite house-proud and take a lot of care over their appearances. You probably have a hobby, but it’s probably not one that requires a lot of expensive equipment.
Family and community are important to you- it’s likely you haven’t moved that far from where you grew up (unless you were really desperate for work). It’s possible the area where you grew up is pretty deprived, although it may be increasingly a victim of gentrification, depending on where you are from. Your family home may have been a council house or rented, and it’s very likely that your housing didn’t always feel secure.
If you celebrate Christmas, this was probably really important to your family and your parents might have gone a bit overboard with this, even (especially) if they couldn’t afford it.
At some point in your life, you’ve used the word “scab” as an insult- even if you didn’t know what it meant.
Middle Class: Your family have traditionally worked in more professional jobs. These may not require a degree (especially historically), but we are talking things like accountant, lawyer, doctor, teacher, civil servant etc. They earned a salary rather than being paid by the hour. Some degree of their assets were probably inherited, and they may have some investments e.g. shares or a buy to let property, but this isn’t the whole of their income (unless they are retired and have a decent pension too). Your parents owned their own home, and are/will be mortgage free by the time they retire. You probably had regular foreign holidays growing up. Your parents are likely to save up for big ticket items, rather than get into debt. You’re not the first generation in your family where people went to university. It’s very likely you had a stay at home parent for part of your childhood.
If you speak with a regional accent, it’s probably pretty soft, and it’s likely you don’t use a lot of regional dialect words. You call your midday meal lunch, and your evening meal dinner. If you go to the pub to watch a sports match, it’s more likely to be the six nations than a football game. But it’s equally likely you aren’t into sport at all. Your parents probably made you get swimming and music lessons growing up, and you may well have a hobby- possibly one that requires a bit of financial investment on your part. You like to think you have a sense of style, but you don’t like to look like you are “trying too hard”.
Your family probably don’t all live in the same place, and you may only see them relatively rarely. It’s likely your parents have friends from uni or NCT classes who to some extent take the place of family in your life. You may not have a strong sense of community and it’s very possible that if your parents live rurally, you might have moved to the city for work. You’re probably not very religious.
At some point in your life, you have sneered at someone for being a “chav”. It’s likely you’re quite insecure and there’s lots of things you don’t think of as “classy” and try to avoid.
Upper-middle Class: Your parents are pretty wealthy and almost definitely went to university. You went to a well known university. They likely went to private school and you probably did too (although not a super famous one). If you didn’t go to private school, you went to a grammar school, church school or the most sought after “comp” in the county (your parents probably moved house to get you in). Someone in your extended family or friendship circle owns a second home, or at least a really nice house in the country. You/your parents almost definitely have inherited wealth and assets, as well. You/your parents may just work in a well paid job, but they may also own a medium to large size company. You probably had multiple holidays abroad each year (and it’s very likely you went skiing). If one of your parents’ cars broke down, it would have been very easy for them to replace it, without needing to save up or get into debt, but you don’t have any fear of debt, either. It’s very likely you can get a job through “connections”. It’s likely they employed a cleaner and possibly a gardener, and maybe au-pair or nanny as well.
You speak with an RP accent, and you might have “pudding” after your “supper”. It’s very likely you play a team sport of some kind, probably rugby, cricket, hockey or maybe lacrosse. You might row, or ride horses, or sail. You’ve always been able to do whatever expensive hobby you like, and money has never been a barrier to progressing. You may well shop in charity shops, and brag about the bargains you find there. You may drive an “old” car, but it’s probably a 4x4, genuinely vintage, or quirky in some other way. You have inherited jewellery and possibly some home furnishings. If you’re talented in some way, (sport or artistic) you were probably given every opportunity to persue this.
Networking is important to you and you feel part of a community. You’re probably quite socially confident. It’s likely you know some of the people you work with socially as well. You probably expect to live a reasonably traditional lifestyle, and you’re less likely to be part of a “sub-culture” (unless you’re making a career as an actor or a musician). You probably observe religious festivals, but you don’t go regularly to a place of worship.
On some level, you probably think “poor” people bring it on themselves through poor decision making.
Upper Class: Historically, your family were rich enough not to have to work for a living, and someone in your extended family owns a very large amount of land. You’re related to someone with a title. You went to a well known private school and you may have boarded. It’s likely your family own multiple properties- some are rented out and some you live in. Some or all of these were inherited, rather than bought. You may have a “private income” of some kind. Your family may have had to “diversify” in recent years, and you may actually be working more than your ancestors did. You might have gone to a well known university, or you might have gone to somewhere like RAU. Your family own multiple cars, and one of them is probably a 4x4. It’s likely your family employed “staff”. At some point since the second world war, your family may well have had to sell off property etc- but your money worries are “how do we avoid selling off land” not “how do we afford to replace the washing machine”.
You talk like you are from the 1940s, and everyone you know has a stupid sounding nickname. You use your own form of impenetrable slang- probably specific to whatever school you went to. You’ve probably been hunting and you know someone who plays polo. You go to events like Royal Ascot, Henley Regatta, the Boat Race and Goodwood etc. You ski. You’ve been on multiple long haul holidays, and you probably went on a “Gap Yah”.
Everyone you know knows everyone else you know and you’re suspicious of people who you don’t have acquaintances in common with. You’ll get married, in a church (you are CofE and white) and having children is fairly important to you. You’re probably involved with some kind of charity work.
You pride yourself on not being a snob, because you got on well with the people you met in Africa, but you’ve never actually spoken to someone who grew up in a council house.
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bondsmagii · 4 years
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Whats life like UK?
that’s a very broad question, and I have no idea how to do it justice lmao. I mean, for the most part it’s alright? for me, anyway, and that’s something to keep in mind because I am one person in a whole country. it’s alright. there’s a lot about the country that I’m not happy about, and there is so much to criticise, but like. there’s things I enjoy, too.
there’s a lot going on the UK. it’s a very diverse place, and there’s lots of influence from other cultures and worldviews. the downside to this, of course, is that there’s a not insignificant problem with racism and far-right political groups, but unfortunately that’s hardly unique anymore. most people I’ve met have been very tolerant, and so long as you avoid any middle-aged white people in the Home Counties or rural Lincolnshire, or anyone with a beer belly wearing a Union Jack, you should be alright. politically we’re a mess right now, but we also have some good stuff, like free health care which is something I never take for granted.
the weather sucks. like, that’s a given. it rains a lot, and when it’s not raining it’s threatening to rain. we have a heatwave every year (most people just call it “summer”) and our houses suck in them because they’re built to keep in heat, so basically you just suffer and die for the entire time and everyone is complaining about the weather even more than usual. we do occasionally get some pretty cool wild weather though: we actually get hurricane force storms here, and every so often an impressive snowstorm will show up.
socially we’re a fun bunch. I do like the fact that people in this country are always down for some fun (banter, if you will). we like to get together, we like to drink perhaps a little more than we should, and we’re very good at poking fun at ourselves. the sense of humour in the UK is an acquired taste, and I think that if you’re not used to it it can be kind of a lot, but we really do love snatching ourselves and we really love snatching our politicians. we have a very dark sense of humour, and perhaps a little risqué at times, but I’ve always appreciated it. it’s very useful for when things are tough. 
everywhere has a lot of history. as a historian, that’s obviously something I like. we’re an old country, and the evidence is everywhere. buildings that are centuries old are common in pretty much every major city, town, and even village. castles and manors are everywhere. ruins and ancient sites are everywhere. pretty much every major town or city has its own museum because it’s historically significant. you can dig in your garden and find 1,000-year-old coins. it’s pretty cool. 
we’re a very haunted country, too. ghost stories are everywhere, and pretty much any place you can point to on a map has at least a couple of ghost stories about it. the UK is said to be one of the most haunted countries in the world, and Scotland is said to be the most haunted country in the world, so if you like your paranormal encounters it’s definitely worth coming for a visit. it’s probably got something to do with all that history.
if I could criticise the place with something specific, it would be that we’re not very good at moving out of the past. this isn’t as bad with the younger generations (especially as immigration has helped in terms of the younger generations having more worldviews to interact with) but it’s certainly bad with the older generations, and of course it’s very much seen in policies and government. people in the UK like to find a way that works and stick to it, and we can be very slow to change. even with overwhelming evidence, our politicians and society leaders are reluctant to admit there’s an issue and take action to fix it; there’s still a very “stiff upper lip” attitude that seems to think that enduring a problem is better than preventing it, or acknowledging it and fixing it. I hope this is something that will die out with the older generations. 
there’s also like, a serious class divide. it’s not like it used to be back in the old days, but it’s sure as fuck still not great. there is an upper class here that’s just... kind of backwards, if I’m honest, and there’s a huge divide between the country’s rich and the country’s poor. I mean, we have people living in literal squalor and poverty, especially in the north. you can pretty much draw a line: the south (London and the surrounding counties) are rich, and the further north you get, the poorer it is. the government also doesn’t really seem to give a shit, surprise surprise. in London it’s especially clear. you can have dilapidated council houses (social housing) backing on to literal mansions; you can have huge gated houses with Lamborghinis in the driveway and there’s a homeless person sleeping on cardboard outside. it’s ridiculous, and I don’t know how it isn’t being addressed with more seriousness. 
but really, I don’t think there’s any problem unique to the UK. we have our own variables contributing to why they’re there, but overall most countries deal with this bullshit. there are certainly worse places to live, but the things I love about the country just makes me even more saddened to see the things that I hate about it. I like living here, overall, but I’m frustrated because we could be so much better as a society. but I’m sure I’m not alone in that, and I’m sure that pretty much anyone could say that about their own countries.
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isitgintimeyet · 5 years
Text
Letting Go
AO3
Previous
Thanks for your comments and support for this new story. I really appreciate it.
Thanks to @mo-nighean-rouge and @happytoobservenolongerdistant
Chapter 2: Homeward Bound
And each town looks the same to me The movies and the factories And every stranger's face I see Remind me that I long to be Homeward bound I wish I was Homeward bound
Simon and Garfunkel
The subdued ping indicated that the captain had switched the seatbelt sign off and it was safe to walk around the cabin. Not that Jamie had any intention of doing that. The luxury of a business class seat meant that for once, he didn’t have to spend the entire flight with his legs folded and his shoulders hunched, trying to somehow fit into the space allocated to an economy passenger. No, for this entire flight, he planned on stretching out on his wonderfully reclining seat as much as possible, preferably with a glass in his hand.
He sipped his glass of champagne and wiggled his toes appreciatively, now clad in the soft sleep socks provided by the airline. The business class ticket from Dulles back to the UK was an indulgence, but, for once, Jamie felt he deserved it. Eight years he’d been away in America. Eight years with only fleeting trips home, little time to spend with his sister and her ever-expanding family. But the breeding programme he’d been working on in Kentucky was now inextricably linked with the breeding at the Lallybroch stables, providing much needed stability for the Fraser family business. The time was finally right for him to return home, back to Lallybroch for good.
His father’s heart attack, six months before, had made Jamie realise how much he was missing and how much he wanted to come home. Although his father was now making a good recovery, Jamie’s stomach turned over as he remembered the panicked phone call from his sister Jenny in the middle of the night and the mad dash to the airport for a plane, any plane to bring him across the Atlantic and then to Scotland. That heart attack had been a bolt from the blue, catching the whole family unawares.
Jamie’s mind began to wander. If things had been different, maybe she might have picked up some symptoms, detected the heart problem earlier. No... he stopped his traitorous mind from going down that path.
Accepting a top up of champagne from the passing steward, Jamie thought about his plans. Once he’d caught up with his family, he knew he had to spend time reconnecting with his old friends. He had kept in touch over the years -- emails, the odd FaceTime conversation, a fleeting visit -- but it was never the same as actually being around all the time, dropping by for a coffee, a quick pint or dram in the pub, making last minute plans for a run. He had a lot of time to make up.
There was one connection from eight years ago that Jamie knew he would not be looking to reestablish. When he first arrived in America, he thought about her all the time. He lived in a state of expectation, convinced she would ring or email, admitting she had made a mistake and would come to him. He caught glimpses of her in every crowd, only to be disappointed when he got closer. As time went by, his disillusionment grew until he finally accepted she would not be reaching out to him. So he trained himself never to think about her, never to wonder what she was doing, never to ponder on what might have been. And if, after a couple of drinks, he found himself tempted to Google her name or search through social media, he quickly sought out alternative diversions.
There had been a few alternative diversions during Jamie’s time in America. All very willing and pleasant enough, but ultimately very one-sided. Each one ended with no regret or sense of loss on his part. His heart had healed nicely and he intended to keep it that way.
As the cabin lights dimmed, Jamie pulled the blanket over him and settled down for a nap. As he was pulled deeper and deeper into sleep his mind wandered, random images crowding his brain… horses in a field… his father relaxing in his study… light reflecting through a whisky tumbler… being put to bed drunk… the scent of lavender hand cream… soft hands against his cheek… a mop of brown curls on the pillow next to him…
Awake, Jamie could stamp out these thoughts, prevent them from taking root, but asleep, well, his mind would not let him forget.
*************
Claire had been pleased but not a bit surprised by Mrs. Fitz’s powers of persuasion. A little chat with Lamb over a couple of cups of her cherished Fortnum and Mason Royal Blend tea, poured from the Royal Palaces bone china teapot (purchased on a recent trip to Kensington Palace) had convinced him to rent out the house for a maximum of two years, at which time his finances should have returned to a healthier position.
With that battle won, Claire then encouraged her uncle to contact all the creditors and agree monthly repayment plans. All this was dependent, of course, on finding tenants for the house.
Although she decided not to say anything to Lamb, she was still worried. Their house, even in an appealing suburb of Glasgow, was an acquired taste. On the one hand, the high ceilings, elegant sash windows and very large garden would be attractive to prospective tenants, but the downside was the sheer size of the six bedroomed Edwardian villa and its associated running costs. It was true what she had told him, most of the similar properties in the vicinity had been converted into blocks of flats frequented by young professionals. She still believed the logical decision was to sell. However, that was not her choice to make.
The reaction of the letting agent did not inspire confidence either. After he was shown around the entire house, making copious notes and taking many pictures on his phone all the while, Claire waited patiently while he appeared lost in thought, contemplatively sucking air through his teeth. Finally, he quoted a figure suitable for monthly rental before issuing a caveat.
“Ye ken, this may no’ be that easy tae rent out. It’s an awfa big house, sae many bedrooms. Would mebbe suit a family wi’ five or six bairns, and ye dinna see many of those around these days.” He sighed. “We’ll do our best… but would ye no’ consider selling? There are builders who would jump at the chance tae own a property like this.”
Claire smiled, her most reassuring smile guaranteed to calm the nerves of patients and their loved ones. “I’m sure you’ll do your best, Mr. Shand. I have every confidence in you.”
********
Claire’s confidence seemed to be misplaced. A fortnight went by before she heard from Mr. Shand again. She was at her desk dictating patient letters when Mr. Shand rang her with an update.
“Ms Beauchamp, jes’ tae give ye some news,” he began. “I have had some interest in yer house and I’m arranging a viewing. I dinna ken if ye wanted tae show them around or leave it tae me?”
“Well, if I’m free I’d be more than happy to do it. Depends when it is.” Claire reached for her large desk diary.
“They said they would like tae view this Saturday, afore the rugby if possible.”
Claire flicked to the page. “That seems to be fine with me. Who are they? Is it a large family?”
She could hear Mr. Shand flicking through papers in the background. “Weel, no. It’s jes’ a couple. What drew them tae yer house is the garden. They have been living abroad for a few years but are returning home and want a place near the city centre but wi’ a bit of green about them. Perhaps they feel they will miss the wide open spaces, ye ken. Anyway, I believe they are no’ long married. Their name… Fraser… Mr. And Mrs. Fraser.”
Suddenly Claire felt the contents of her stomach rising up. Swallowing hard to quell the nausea, the phone slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor. Scrambling to retrieve it with fingers refusing to cooperate, she could hear Mr. Shand calling her name.
Breathlessly, she managed to pick the phone up and speak, her voice hoarse. “Sorry, Mr. Shand, I just dropped my phone. I’m sorry, I was looking at the wrong date. I’m afraid I won’t be at home on Saturday after all. Sorry, could you do the honours?” She cringed at her repeated apologies.
Claire folded her arms on her desk and rested her head on them, trying to calm her breathing. For god’s sake, it had been eight years, she would not have expected him to remain celibate. Getting married was not unusual and it would no doubt make bringing a partner to live here much easier from an immigration point of view. But did he not recognise the address? Had he forgotten all about her, or did he just not care?
Sitting up straight, she tried to think logically, not jump to conclusions. She lived in Scotland, where the surname Fraser was not exactly rare. There must be thousands of couples with that name. It wouldn’t be her Fraser.
Claire had not even thought about him in the past few years. Gone were the days when she lay in bed longing for his touch, sleeping with her phone on the pillow in case he rang to apologise. Her heart never skipped a beat when she caught a glimpse of fiery red hair in a crowd of people. She never found herself religiously watching Scottish rugby matches wondering if, across the Atlantic Ocean, someone else was watching too. She only kept his faded old rugby shirt because it was so comfortable to sleep in… there was no other reason at all.
Claire was a honest person, she prided herself on it. And she was… very honest… at work, with friends, with her uncle.
The only person she regularly lied to was herself.
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