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shini--chan · 4 years

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Yandere america (+ russia?) x (fem) country reader. Who he Colonized her. And she wants now be Independently

I’ll take it that Russia is not a yandere in this post – it simply makes things more interesting. To not extend this into infinity, I’ll mostly focus on Russia’s side of the whole drama. I just so happen to have a lot of ideas on this because I once wrote a story with a similar dynamic with a former friend.

Yandere Hetalia

Yandere! America vs Russia

Alfred wouldn’t be one of those yanderes that would completely isolate their victim and shut them away so that you would never see the light of day. Since you’re also a colony, that would mean you’d have to make regular public appearances. He would see it as a chance to flaunt you off to everybody, have made spiff so that you’d be good arm candy. It would probably be during an post-meeting party that Ivan would first meet you.

Ever so gently, he brushed his lips against your knuckles and stared into your eyes. The sweet smile could only do so much to mask how jaded you were.

“A pleasure to meet you, (l/n)”, he smoothly said. Dimples formed around your mouth as you countered with brevity: “Charmed.”

Ivan had long ago learned that people spoke more with their bodies than with their tongues. You were no different. It was evident that you didn’t want to be here – you didn’t sway to the jazz that was coming from strategically positioned loudspeakers, nor were you indulging so merrily in the alcohol that was flowing in rivers tonight. Some of the other personifications were well on their way to getting properly smashed.

You on the other hand, stood there with hunched shoulders and a hand buried in the silk of your skirts.

The next logical step was to identify the cause of your discomfort – you had just aroused his curiosity in that way.

“Alfred told me a lot about you, but he failed to describe the true magnitude of your beauty”, Ivan remarked lightly as he released your hand. The way your muscles tensed even further gave him the concrete answer to many of his question.

The dynamic of an empire and a colony would be all too familiar to Russia, so much so that he wouldn't spill tears for your sake. It is simply how the world works and Ivan had learned to believe in the wickedness in people. Sure, your relationship with Alfred wouldn't match in violence as America’s had with England, or Mexico’s with Spain, but it would nonetheless be of the oppressive sort. Ivan would soon hear from his spies reports on your maltreatment – of how Alfred had quasi forced you into a pseudo-marriage, of how he was draining you dry and forcing you to assimilate his culture and way.

He’d have dregs of pity so if you’d go to him for help he would gladly do so. Ivan would see the benefit of baiting America into doing something rash and additionally flipping the bird at him.

He’d accommodate for you as long as you’d respect him. Should you not do so, then he’d be a bit lenient before totally kicking you out. Respect is the foundation for all good and healthy human interactions and if you wouldn’t comprehend that, then he wouldn’t shy way from showing you the repercussions.

You should have known better than to constantly disregard is advice, not heed his warnings and ignore his explanations as to why he was doing certain thing. Now you had run yourself aground and Ivan wasn’t keen on granting you a fourth chance. He was all snarls and fury.

“No, you're so proud of being a victim, so enamoured with your own suffering that all that occurred to you was that I view you as property. You just have to have a villain in your life. “

He was now standing in front of you, and you were trembling. Eyes as cold as ice and lips twisted into a snarl - he wasn't to be trifled with now

“My compassion and care are wasted on you. Leave.

“Leave and don't dare to ask me for help again. You could have just asked, said you wanted to go to another country. I would have even understood it. But your actions have led to this.“

He turned around, looking over his shoulder.

“I wish you the best of luck, scraping together enough money to survive for a few days in a place you don't know with a language you don't speak. Now get out of my sight!“, he barked and then walked away.

On the flip side, such things wouldn’t come close to happening if you are polite and treat him with human decency then he’ll be more than glad to help you. He would help you set up an army, establish treaties, build infrastructure. You might even grow to like him – Ivan isn’t such a wide-eyed idealist as Alfred is, rather being cynically realistic, and also contemplative.

“You know, the whole matter is a bit ironic”, he remarked lazily one day. You were both sitting at your desk in your makeshift office – you stooped over documents, all logistics, and he had idled his time away with a book since he had already finished his part.

At least he hadn’t thrown up his feet on the table this time.

Tiredly, you looked up from another document entailing rations to stare at him. Violet-blue eyes were already trained on you, and there was that peculiar smile on his lips that was somewhere between sarcastic and amused.

“And what would that be?”, you asked with slight interest. Tension was hanging in the air; it was had in the past few weeks and it would be the same in the future ones. Alfred simply had that effect when he was angry. As a result, you were drained, with only minimal capacity to show interest.

His mind swept off again and he voiced some of his spontaneous thoughts aloud: “You’ve started talking more and also more freely.”

Indeed, you had. Being away from Alfred had given you the opportunity to breath more freely and it was showing.

“That wasn’t what you were referring too. So please, lets get back on track”, you pointed out. Your benefiter tended to switch topics frequently in a conversation and you didn’t have much of the headspace to deal with such convolutions now. You actually only wanted to be in bed at this late hour and following Ivan’s trains of thought could be like stumbling around a labyrinth.

Russia was strange on his own. Probably something about being stuck in the middle – between Western individuality and Eastern collectivism, between Southern hot-bloodedness and Northern stoicism. He took the fact about himself lightly and left you to cope with it.

“What I was referring too,” he elaborated, “was how Amerika was once in your position. So keen on squirming out of the control of England and so determined to dictate his own life. I gave him the one or the other helping hand all those centuries ago and now I’m here doing the say for you. History does have an odd way of rhyming.”

It made you halt in your thoughts, because he was right. Your current situation was so similar to what you knew of America’s teenage rebellion. He pulled and you pushed in opposition. He wouldn’t let go and firmly asserted that you belonged to him, that your rightful place was either at his side or at his feet. Alfred had even been as insistent enough as to repeatedly call you multiple times a day and try to harass you into coming back at him.

Like father, like son, really. Arthur had also held a vindictive, sickening obsession for his eldest back in the 18th century.

A few of those times Ivan had snitched your phone to have a few choice words with your soon-to-be ex. That was before calls had been regulated and locations scrambled, and numbers suppressed.

You had gone out of your way to remember those choice insults that were often yelled into the receiver shortly before Ivan had hung up.

Russia really was right.

#yandere america #yandere hetalia #aph russia #x reader #x colony!reader #yandere hetalia x reader

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halothenthehorns · 3 years

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All in the Family

Chapter 94: The Parting of the Ways

The cold smack of hardwood floor across their faces was not the way to instill motivation for them to keep going with all of this. Lily wasn't even sure of where they were as she got to looking around. They were in a very large, long hall, three dozen fireplaces on each side right up until the proportional middle, where a great golden statue stood. From this far away, she could only make out the largest was a wizard with his wand aloft. Beyond that she saw golden gates.

Frank had found himself landing on a desk and not looking particularly comfortable for it, but he'd also found the book resting precariously on a tiny little needle that had a bunch of papers jammed on it. Clearly eager to keep going with the revelations far more than any of them, who would have liked a year's break from learning any news at this point, he saw Alice coming over to sit by him and began to read The Parting of the Ways.

Lily wasn't entirely sure what that meant, was Harry going to get into a fight with someone else now permanently?, and didn't entirely care right now as she stayed where she was and let out a long, exhausted sigh.

Remus was sitting on the edge of the fountain he'd just pulled himself out of, and still dripping wet, was dumping gallons of water out of his shoe along with a few galleons. Why did he keep getting involuntarily wet? His three friends were slowly meandering towards him, and he wasn't sure if they were looking to pick up on their newest little spiff or just a distraction.

He had no more idea than James or Sirius what Peter meant by it, trying to get them to go check on Regulus. Thankfully Alice had intervened regardless and Sirius had broken off the argument for now, but he was not looking forward to it coming up again. They'd never given a care for Sirius's little brother before this, and nothing of what they'd heard really felt they needed to be letting Peter indulge in this particular friend he seemed to be trying to make.

Admittedly the fact that their group had two really bad fights back to back was putting them all on edge, but Remus didn't at all like the fact Peter was still trying to shake things up. Were they not good enough for him anymore? What did he mean by it, trying to invite Regulus over?

Sirius made it to him first and hopped up on the ledge next to him, dipping his hand back into the water and fishing out a sickle. "Think if you take the coin back the wish goes away?"

Well at least he was still trying to be in a good mood.

"That's implying the wish works at all," he chuckled.

"I know what I'd be wishing for," Sirius told him grandly, giving the coin a little flick with his thumb, and catching it just as fast in his palm. "Heads or tails?" He asked with a grin that didn't at all seem to pertain to the coin anymore.

Remus laughed rather than answer as James and Peter were now in hearing distance. There were still a few beats of silence as they all stood in a loose circle, and Remus's laugh echoed in the Ministry's atrium into the burning silence of Frank retelling everything that they just went through, through Harry. He knew what he'd wish for right now, the banishment of awkwardness.

Peter cleared his throat, and at the last minute Remus thought with relief he was about to lose his nerve and not say it. Then he forced out in almost one breath, "look I'm sorry it bothered you guys, I just wanted-"

"Forget about it," James waved off, not looking at him. "Just let it go. Instead, why don't we see if those elevators work, I want to try and get another go at Bagman's office!"

Nobody responded, James made no move towards them anyways. Instead he kept casting his eyes around, and caught sight of Evans sitting in the middle of the atrium by herself, and without further ado waved and took off towards her anyways.

Peter had a strange look on his face as he watched him leave, before looking back at the two of them with an expectant look on their face.

Neither could honestly think of anything to say, and so weren't surprised, but a bit hurt when he went off and found Regulus standing by himself near a telephone box in the middle of the atrium.

"He really does do that a lot, doesn't he?" He asked Sirius absently, still watching James.

"Go have a chat with that effing brat instead of us lately, yeah," Sirius said in mild disgust, watching the two. He had half a mind to go over there and drag Peter back over here, even though he still couldn't think of anything to say. Five years with him as one of his best friends, and he was drawing an utter blank!

"Huh?" Remus looked at him in surprise. "No, I meant James interrupts Peter a lot."

Sirius looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Alright Evans?" James asked in honest concern as he sat himself down cross-legged several feet away from her. He was honestly worried, he'd never seen her so vulnerable for so long, it wasn't natural of her usual stoicness towards him.

"No," she surprised him by answering in an even voice, eyes on Frank and Alice.

"Anything I can do to help?" He offered instantly, though winced a bit as he couldn't even help his friends lately get back on even ground. He was starting to forget what that had even felt like.

She looked at him then, her large green eyes still red rimmed. It was utterly heartbreaking, he found his hand trying to come up and brush at her cheek despite the fact he was too far away to do such a thing and she'd curse his hand off if he dared. It was the face he kept seeing in his mind as Harry watched Sirius relive his death-advice.

"Sure Potter," her voice was still too even, unnatural. He wished for the ire back, the scorn tone was something he knew how to react to. "Stop fooling yourself."

He couldn't have stopped a smile lighting his face if he wanted to. "Sorry Evans, no stopping that. Anything else though? Back massage? Little life-saving perile? I've gotten out of a few scraps in my time, it's nice to know we team up and get Harry out of one-"

She hiccuped, her facade melted back into tears, but she still didn't turn away as she watched him.

His chest was starting to hurt, he really didn't know what to do now. He'd never been given the chance to comfort her, though he'd imagined it a million different times when she finally admitted she'd never be friends with Snape again and ran to his arms. This, he didn't know what this was. He found himself scooting closer on his butt, he probably looked ridiculous, but he didn't want to actually get up and run to her, like a startled animal who would dart off. "Lily," he so rarely used her given name, much preferring to keep her attention in a way nobody else did.

He was close enough to touch her now, and she wasn't telling him to go away. She wasn't leaning towards him either. She just seemed in stasis, unsure what to do with herself, and that wasn't the Lily Evans he knew at all. It clicked then, an understanding he'd merely brushed off. "Are you listening to the same thing I am?" He laughed at the absurdity of it all. She didn't feel useful?!

"It's your blood that all this was set around, not mine," he reminded, ignoring the rumble of unease that built up in him as he'd never forgotten who was involved in this plan, but he kept his focus on her. "It's your protection that's been keeping Harry safe all these years, apparently I just gave you a chance to run and that didn't even pan out." He did have to force a smile then, that revelation hurt worse than anything so far, equal to Peter's future betrayal. "I'm the one Snape hates, not Harry, your old arse of a friend just needs glasses," he pushed his up his nose and held his head up. "You're the strongest person I know," he concluded naturally.

When finally the worst was done, and it was Sirius as Padfoot escorting Harry down to the hospital wing, her eyes went from Frank to him in here. James saw something strange on her face as he carefully tended to Harry, a boy she hadn't even wanted to admit was hers not long ago. It was his friend, he reflected, that was there for Harry when he still needed someone, and not Snape, an apparently reformed Death Eater with a Dark Mark. "Snape wasn't mentioned in the graveyard at least," he offered quietly, the only consolation he could think to give her for that. "I don't know what happened to him Evans, but I can't imagine it was your fault."

As far as James was concerned, she was literally the only good thing to associate with Snape, and it seemed with her gone, he turned his vicious behaviour she refused to see on anyone and everyone in sight. He wanted to punch his hooked nose off she was now seeing what he had for years now, his desire all these years in light now made him want to curse his past self wanting such a thing.

She sniffled then, and finally brushed a few tears away, then bundled up her sleeve and wiped at her running nose. He leaned forward on instinct to brush her hair away, but she did lean back from him then, and he did as well. He didn't move back farther though.

They didn't say another word to each other as they listened in quiet reflection of this future, of Molly Weasley giving Harry his first hug, of this fourteen-year-old having to take a potion for a dreamless sleep just to escape a few moments of his life.

Alice watched anxiously as Potter stayed by Evans. She forced herself to wait though, not wanting to get in the middle if she actually did hex Potter, but to her surprise he sat a polite distance away and just talked to her. He didn't even seem to be doing anything wrong, and though she didn't show much in the way of comfort, she still wasn't sure of herself about stepping in. Her and Lily were friends now, but that didn't mean she was going to try and stop, whatever this was, from developing. She almost smiled to herself instead, thinking it was more than likely bound to happen eventually.

Instead she laid her head against Frank's hip and listened with displeasure as the Minister of Magic bumbled his way in and ruined the moments. Frank was still sitting on the desk right where he'd landed and had a tart look on his face for it all, the person in charge of their community first trying to skate around every problem, and then flat unwilling to see it. He'd caused a dementor to suck the soul out of the only witness to the events! Frank didn't react much to her being there, he was clearly too involved and frustrated with all these happenings, and she didn't blame him, she was more than upset by the end of it as well.

Her mind drifted to Neville once more, to Frank's mother having to be the one to care for her child all these years. She watched Lily and Potter, but in her mind's eye they were spectral ghosts still, being there in the only way they could for their child in this future. Crouch Junior had his soul taken away as punishment for what he'd done to them in the end, but it didn't really feel like justice, it gave nothing back to this future of misery.

#Harry Potter #HP #fanfiction #reading the books #woflstar #jilly #GoF #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #James Potter #Peter Pettigrew #Regulus Black #Lily Evans #Frank Longbottom #alice Smith

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belphegor1982 · 4 years

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Has this been done before? (with a few tweaks to the dialogue, of course, since the original conversation is from Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

BERTIE: Why does Jeeves look so worried? AUNT DAHLIA: What are you talking about? He looks exactly like he always does. BERTIE: To you, perhaps, old flesh and blood, but I finally learned how to read his emotions. His lips are slightly pursed, and he’s blinking at eight-second intervals as opposed to his normal ten. [gasps] Oh my gosh. He’s having a meltdown! AUNT DAHLIA: “Meltdown” seems excessive. BERTIE: It is a meltdown, mark my words. What ho, Jeeves! Everything oojah-cum-spiff, old thing? JEEVES: No, sir, I’m having a meltdown. AUNT DAHLIA: Good God, young blot, that was amazing. BERTIE: Thank you. It was a lot of work.

#jeeves and wooster #Brooklyn 99 #incorrect quotes

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peonypearls-muddled-musings · 4 years

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Re-introduction

So I’ve gotten an influx of followers which is super exciting! Thank you all for following me! It’s been an exciting year already as I’ve finally gotten kicked in the pants to start the rough drafts of my stories! 2019 was incredibly dry, save for a few instances, but I’m trying to make 2020 a better year for myself and my wips!

So anyway, you can call me Babble, Spiff, Tiff, what suits you! I’m 31 and I work full time. I have a major in baking and pastry arts that I’m not using XD I enjoy drawing and I’ve been doing my best to start putting my glorified daydreams to life.

My major influences have been Disney’s Gargoyles, anime (Digimon, Dragonball Z, some El Hazard, bits here and there) Final Fantasy 7, Kingdom Hearts, Tomb Raider (I’m an old curmudgeon and we only talk about PS1 and L/A/U Lara in this house) Unico and the Island of Magic, and a sprinkling of Reboot and Elfquest, Sailor Moon and plenty more!! (some of these I still actively watch and enjoy like Gargoyles, Unico, FF7, Tomb Raider, and some KH)

I have four major wips! I specialize in fantasy and some sci fi and I’m still finding a lot of my roots, style, and worlds; but as I’ve been working on some rough drafts, things have been coming easier than when I’ve just daydreamed about it. My major wips are

Bequest (title pending) - fantasy/sci-fi/drama (will be focused on in March, July, and November 2020)

59 year old Tad Irving has had a life as a successful movie star, is still happily married to his first and only wife of 30 years, and has 3 wonderful kids. But despite all of the positives, there’s been something eating away at him since he was a child: Where did the source of his inhuman strength come from? A source of power, and horrific anxiety, Tad’s only shred of an answer may have come from his grandfather; who Tad never saw eye-to-eye with. Can Tad, with the rest of his family, unravel the mystery of where Tad’s powers came from? And, eventually, where their family comes from?

Princess Dagney and the Seahorse King (PDatSK) - fantasy/drama (Will be focused on in May and September of 2020)

A mere two hundred years after Humanity rounded up the Shapeshifters and reclaimed their autonomy, Princess Dagney, a descendant of the Shifters, learns her younger brother is dying. Will anyone who is able to help find themselves willing to help kin to the Shifter demons? Or will she only cause more trouble and trauma to still-healing wounds?

Hark - sci-fi/drama w/ biblical Christmas symbolism (we’ll see how that pans out) (Will be focused on in February, June, and October 2020)

Corbin Ghallager is a space cadet, traveling on his ship, the Hark, every few months to try and find an alternative planet to earth. Despite his own illnesses, Corbin’s determination to give humanity a second chance at a real life helps stir the best in people; but also recognition from those who will make things much more complicated.

CoffeeBoy - sci-fi/drama (Will be focused on in April, August, and December 2020)

When Silas Faulkner’s business goes under, he must keep a truce he made with his former rival, Petras Varga: he must serve as a coffeeboy at his home office for five years. Silas gets placed to work for Petras’ daughter, Oksana, who is one of the few actually doing her job (unlike her older brothers). However, Oksana’s views are much different from Petras’, and she’s actually eyeing the CEO spot of Vargas’ tech herself, and she enlists Silas for his tech knowledge and savvy nature. Hoping to see Petras dethroned, Silas and Oksana team up, and begin an underground coup to make the company their own.

I’m currently splitting my wips up per month to focus on them on my blog so I can rotate and keep motivation fresh. I post snippets of the chapters I’m working on through the month, and I’ll occasionally post a character sketch here and there.

You can find my writing here

and you can find my art here!

#Spiff babbles #Hello everyone!#Thank you again for following!

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the-ship-port · 5 years

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Avengers Ship Request

@doralupin01 and here’s your Avengers ship! I hope you’ve enjoyed these and if you have any comments, concerns, want more ships, or just wanna chat sometime, just drop me an ask! Thanks for requesting! :)

Your Best Friend:

Clint!

You apply for a job at S.H.I.E.L.D., passing your training with flying colors. You make your way through the ranks and find yourself working often with Agents Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. As you are an ISTJ and Clint and Natasha are ISTPs, their cognitive functions are near-perfect shadows of your own, meaning they operate in a way that is different but complementary to your own cognitive mechanics. (To further illustrate, your cognitive function stack is Si-Te-Fi-Ne, while theirs is Ti-Se-Ni-Fe.) Your organized (primary)Si grounds their spontaneous (secondary)Se while their observant Se informs your data-storing Si and organized (secondary)Te grounds experimental (primary)Ti while inquisitive Ti informs your intellectual Te, etc. Because your cognitive functions “play well together”, you work well together--naturally, even--on missions. While you start off doing intel for S.H.I.E.L.D., they begin to see the potential of placing you in the field due to your sharp intellect and your craft for interrogation(with some tricks Natasha taught you). You, Clint, and Natasha become something of the three(sharp, smart, sarcastic, introverted)amigos. You and Clint become close mostly from covering each other in the field and learning to rely on each other, but also from the down moments when you’re sitting around the base sharing some dark humor over cold case files. Along with Natasha, he decides to tell you about his family and even takes you to the safe house sometimes, because he sees you as a little(“really little”, he picks, which does not amuse you but does amuse you)sister.

Your Bestie Aesthetic:

Your Bestie Playlist: Wanted Dead or Alive(Bon Jovi) Carry on Wayward Son(Kansas) Give it Away(Red Hot Chili Peppers) Livin’ on the Edge(Aerosmith)

Your Love Interest:

Natasha!

The three of you work together for years, gradually becoming close. As you’re the newer recruit, they teach you everything they know, and you’re an eager learner. Soon, you’re keeping pace with them, although your strengths are different than theirs, and you make a great team. They teach you everything you know, and you and Nat particularly enjoy bantering back in forth in different languages to get on Clint’s nerves.

You thought Nat was pretty from the moment you met her, but you didn’t realize how deep the attraction went for years. The three of you never questioned what made your dynamic work; you were just a good team. You especially enjoyed sitting with her and conducting hypothetical interrogations; you enjoyed it, and found yourself transitioning more and more into simple conversation with her and even banter(you share your sense of humor), and the two of you learn a lot about each other; although Nat’s very private, what can she say? She taught you too well.

Matters changed when you nearly lost her in the field. Yes, you three put yourselves in mortal danger everyday, but you worked with two top ex-assassin agents, and you guess you always figured if one of you was going to die, it’d most certainly be you. But then there she is, surrounded, and one of the grunts charges her. She shoots him several times in the abdomen, but he still manages to wrangle her gun from her as his guts spill and falls on top of her, still. One of the other grunts then grabs the gun and points it right at Nat’s head before she can wrestle herself from under the body. A jolt goes through you and you freeze. You don’t even remember pulling the trigger. But as soon as you do, the grunt that was threatening Nat is down, and three more are looking right at you, aiming their weapons--an arrow pierces one right in the heart, and when the other two look for its source, Nat heaves the heavy body in front of her, letting it take their bullets before ramming right into and disarming both of them, then rendering them unconscious. She looks up at you. You lower the gun, your hand still shaking. Afterwards, she approaches you, and you discuss it--you confess you were scared--terrified--of losing her. Nat assures you you have nothing to worry about, but she does understand the feeling. She’s lost people before, so she knows what to be afraid of...and back when you were still learning, she was constantly afraid of losing you. You look at her here. But she assures you that the three of you are together in this, and you have to know you have each other’s backs, just like you had hers today, and just like she’ll always have yours.

After that, it became increasingly clear how you felt. You begin to spend more and more time with her--almost as though to make up for the years you nearly lost. She picks up on this, and tells you to stop being cheesy(mostly because she doesn’t want to think like that either). One day, you realize you can’t keep running from it; you’re in love with the sarcastic ginger. There’s only one thing to do about it. You buy some roses--that’s what people do with things like this, right?--and approach her. She looks at you and sees the flowers. “Yes.” “What? But I--” “Yes. Where? When?” You invite her out to a restaurant--classic first date--in the country your current mission is in, all the while wondering when you’re going to wake up. But no, you become more and more convinced that this is all real, especially when a couple of backward-thinking drunks eye the two of you and start making homophobic jokes, at which point Nat promptly looks at you. “Mind if I kiss you right now?” “Uh…” Public displays of affection aren’t your favorite...but if it’ll make those two shut up--you nod, a faint blush gracing your pale features. She promptly brushes your hair out of your face, cups your chin, pulls you across the table and kisses you. Just to prove it wasn’t just thrown together to make the drunks shut up, she kisses you again after you’ve walker her home, winks, and says you should do this again sometime.

To tell the truth, Nat isn’t the type to get tied down--and neither was Clint, once upon a time. As things intensify between you, she finds herself falling more and more in love with you, but also growing kind of nervous. She has a heart to heart with Clint about it, and she tells her frankly that the two of you are lucky to have found each other, and if you love each other, you’ve gotta be all in. After that, she goes to spontaneous lengths to demonstrate her devotion, ultimately even taking you out one night after a mission and giving you some roses like those you gave her on your first date. You giggle, since it’s kind of out of character for her, only to look up from the roses to see her on one knee. She tells you she can’t imagine being with anyone else--she doesn’t just want to fight by your side for the rest of your life, she wants to sleep there, and wake up there, and live there--as long as you both shall live. And you say yes.

You have the wedding at Clint’s place--where you two feel safest--in the barn. He cleans the place out and spiffs it up nice with some flowers and other decorations. You appreciate the effort, and make him your mutual man of honor out of gratitude. He rises to the occasion, even planning your respective showers. All of the Avengers are present on the big day, and Clint gets choked up about his two best friends getting married during his speech. You three really are one crazy family.

Your Couple Aesthetic:

Your Couple Playlist: Just a Girl(No Doubt) Captivate You(Marmozets) Kiss Me Deadly(Lita Ford) Paint it, Black(Rolling Stones)

#black #widow #blackwidow #natasha #romanoff #assassin #shield #s.h.i.e.l.d.#agent #agents #ship #request #clint #barton #hawkeye

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sherylnantus · 5 years

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Origins 2019 is almost here!

Well, this’ll be likely the 15th year or so that the Wookie and I have gone to Origins in Columbus - if you’re in the area and love gaming, be sure to check it out!

I’ve signed up for a LOT of Call of Cthulhu RPG games - since I want to run them for our local group, I figure I need to play more and more to become a better Keeper, or DM.

And, oh yeah... Book Cover Reveal!

Isn’t this a fantastic cover? Here’s the official blurb:

Warrior in Love - Odin’s Bastards, Book Three

Special Agent Trace Dyson races around the world, retrieving priceless artifacts from criminals. But his one dream is to recover a spear, stolen from The Valkyrie's Tomb. It's his family's White Whale, his father and grandfather's unfulfilled mission––and when he sees a beautiful and mysterious woman steal a bracelet from the tomb’s exhibit, he’s intrigued. Before he takes her to jail, he has a few questions. Laila Nyland is a Valkyrie on the edge––worn out from her duties, her final mission is to come to Midgard and find a mystical spear lost centuries ago. Forced into a partnership with Trace, she can't help but be attracted to the hardcore treasure hunter even if he drives her up a wall. The more she learns about him––the harder it is to lie to him about her mission. Before their secrets rip them apart, these two will be responsible for saving the world––that is if they can trust each other longer than two minutes.

I really, REALLY liked writing this one because it gave me a chance to get my inner Indiana Jones/Lara Croft out on the page. Along with the Fenris Wolf and Ragnarok.

It’s the last in the series, and unfortunately the last book at present with Entangled Publishing. With my agents dropping me, it seems I’m back to the start with the writing - however, after 21 books I definitely don’t feel like a n00b anymore.

*chuckles*

But I’ve gotten the rights back to an older book, originally put out by Carina Press - my shifter novel, Blood of the Pride. That’ll be reissued in the fall with a new cover, after I spiff it up a bit - it’s almost ten years old, and technology has come a long way, so I need to update it and clean it up - nice to see my writing skills have gotten better with time!

And I’m working on a new book! About 50K into it - basically, imagine if Meghan had said No to Harry... and ten years later, they meet again, under tragic circumstances. It’s still in rough draft, but we’ll see where it leads to.

But right now I’m looking at being at Origins in a month! It’ll be my second year there outside of the Library and going as a pure gamer, so I’m going to have some great new game reviews in the future as the Wookie and I drive over with an empty car and come back stuffed to the rooftop with all sorts of games!

Chat at you later!

#gaming games writing books RPG writer

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judayre · 6 years

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In the wake of this post, I have been doing a lot of thinking. And I’ve been trying to be completely honest, while also acknowledging that with the depression it can be hard to know what’s honest and what’s just brain weasels. I don’t think I want to go looking for another teaching job. Rather, I don’t want to be a classroom teacher or a case manager. I don’t like being the Big Cheese, and there are very definitely pieces of it I have a lot of trouble with. I’m no good at planning, especially long term planning. I have tried several different ways to plan and none of them have managed to stick. I’m not always good at estimating how long things will take or how long they will take students to learn. I am easily side tracked and my willingness to set aside appropriateness to share something funny is really not a good trait in a teacher (I think I’ve been pretty good about it this year in the middle school). And I don’t always pick up on subtleties. I am genuinely good at building relationships and instructing. (See? I said something nice about myself.) I truly make a difference to my kids in a number of ways, and that does include them learning content. And trying to resolve the first part to make it fit the second has been really bad for me the past few years. I’ve hardly written since last summer. I haven’t really knit anything, despite getting the yarn to make grandma convertible mittens. I haven’t gone on wanikani to work on my Japanese since before I left Greenwood. I can’t remember when I last got onto the Old English workbook site. I haven’t been pulling my weight at home - I get home from work and crash, and spend the weekends crashed as well. I love my students. I love helping them in all the ways I’ve been able to help them. I am not sorry for doing this job, or the Greenwood job. But I don’t want to try again. Finding out I was being let go was hard, but not completely shocking. I felt like I was looking over my shoulder and being on trial all year, and every mistake (big and small) meant I was going to be leaving. I can’t do that again. I have a profile on a tutoring site. I’m going to spiff it up and update it in the next two months and push that. I can see about doing home tutoring through the district for students who can’t be in school. And I can look into other things - maybe I’ll see if there are any nerds who want atomic element potholders. Maybe I’ll work on my writing and see if there are places I can get little things published like my brother. There are other things I can do, and that doesn’t mean I’m giving up. And it feels good.

#real life #self reflection

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nimiumcaelo · 4 years

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“Indeed, Miss?” -- Chapter 1

Read it on AO3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14267967/chapters/32908515.

Summary: Bertrice "Bertie" Wooster is a young lady who scorns the attentions of gentlemen. Her maidservant, Rosalyn Jeeves, helps her remain in that cosy lifestyle of the young unattached maiden. However, unbeknownst to Rosalyn, her employer has motives for staying single beyond high standards. When Aunt Dahlia and Aunt Agatha come together to find Bertie a suitable husband, Bertie is stuck with more engagements than fingers on one hand and Rosalyn must find a way out for her wayward employer! Featuring: female Drones, inappropriate-for-a-young-lady haircuts, and short skirts that make Rosalyn feel faint!

Work notes: So, I was wandering through the Jeeves/Wooster tag and saw that nobody had yet dared to make a femslash version of these two! Well, let it never be said that I didn't rush in where the rest of you lot feared to tread!

Chapter 1: Rosalyn Jeeves and the Overheard Conversation

I had not long been in Miss Wooster’s employ before I learned of her… shall we say, idiosyncrasies. It was not that I had reason for complaint; rather, I found everything to be exceptionally satisfactory, not to say exactly what I wished for in a young lady employer. No, the reason this revelation sat unwell with me was because it reminded me of my own oddities and made it rather difficult for me to ignore certain feelings which were best kept locked away.

The incident began, as most do, with an overheard conversation. Miss Wooster and I had been spending the week at Brinkley Court, the residence of Miss Wooster’s Aunt Dahlia and Uncle Tom. The week and its jovial atmosphere had been coming to a close (the latter being caused by the arrival of Miss Wooster’s Aunt Agatha) and I was intending to begin packing Miss Wooster’s things, when I heard hushed voices coming from within the room across the hall. Normally, of course, I do not partake in eavesdropping; however, due to previous experience I had learned that it is best, in all cases, to know the most information possible about Miss Wooster and her acquaintances so as to be of the most use when called upon. Thus, I waited about in the hall, which was mercifully empty, ostensibly replacing a fallen vase.

“She must know that these bohemian activities cannot continue if she is to marry a suitable gentleman,” the voice of Mrs. Gregson said.

“She has her inheritance already, Agatha,” replied the voice of Mrs. Travers. “She may not need to marry.”

“Inheritance is not everything. An unmarried woman becomes a social recluse in her later years; it is unavoidable. She may not realize it now, what with all her revelries, but she will end up a spinster, and a lonely one, too.”

“Perhaps she should quit the society of these young ladies.”

There came forth a sigh. “I believe it would be for the best. I will inform her in the morning and I trust you will put together a list of suitable young gentlemen ready to make her acquaintance.”

“Of course.”

The conversation came to a close and I made a hasty retreat from the premises. Miss Wooster was still enjoying the company of her family and friends downstairs and I was able to pack her things in the relative privacy of an empty room. Unfortunately, that privacy allowed me time to ruminate in my thoughts.

I had often noticed Miss Wooster’s disinterest in the young men of her acquaintance. I did not think it of any importance; certainly the available gentlemen were not nearly up to standard. No one could reasonably blame her for her lackadaisical attitude on that front. Yet I now found myself looking at Miss Wooster in a different light. Previously I had not remarked on her rather modern choice of companions. Now I could not help but see precisely what her aunts were seeing. A young lady who is so fond of spending the night at her friends’ houses may not raise the ignorant eyebrow, though anyone who knew the calibre of Miss Wooster’s companions knew that they were not the fair friends with which one can spend many an innocent hour in devotion.

Thus, it was with a somewhat critical eye that I viewed my employer when she came upstairs to dress for bed. Her demeanor was, as always, full of that particular joie de vivre which she alone seems to possess in such quantities, and she greeted me cheerily as she entered the room.

“What-ho, Rosalyn!”

“Good evening, Miss Wooster,” I responded, laying out her night-gown and silk slippers.

She sat down pleasantly on the bed and I came over to assist her with removing her gown.

“Did you know that Angelo and Tuppy are all ooja-cum-spiff again? Apparently that incident with the flower bed and my shawl is a thing of the past!”

“Indeed, miss?”

“Oh, yes, rather! And glad I am, too. I say, it’s rather rotten to be constantly mistaken for being in love with one’s cousin, what! Hardly the ladylike thing, eh? And imagine the children!”

“Yes, miss.”

She continued her jubilant conversation for several minutes longer as I helped her complete her toilet. When I had finished, I inquired if there was anything else with which I might assist her.

“Oh, actually there is, Rosalyn, if you wouldn’t mind. See, I wanted your opinion on something.”

I assumed she had become caught in another less-than-ideal romantic entanglement. “Indeed, miss?”

“Yes. See, Rosalyn, the thing is that my Aunt Dahlia has just hired a consultant for her magazine.” Here Miss Wooster trembled slightly, yet iron came into her gaze. “This consultant apparently knows all there is to know on the subject of ladies’ hair-styles and, as he is from Naples, and thus won’t be available to me once he leaves my dear old aunt’s abode, I thought it would be jolly good to let him try and have a whack at the old locks and tresses, what?”

“Are you proposing acquiring a new hair-cut from this consultant, miss?”

“Yes, Rosalyn, that’s exactly what I’m proposing.”

“I should not advise it, miss.”

Miss Wooster narrowed her eyes at me. “And why’s that, Rosalyn? Have you another expert hair-stylist up your sleeve?”

“No, miss. I am simply concerned that that style which is currently in vogue will not suit your features most admirably.”

Miss Wooster’s hands stole to the features in question. “Are you saying you think I wouldn’t look good with a bob?”

“Yes, miss.”

“And why do you think that?”

“If you will permit my saying so, miss, you have a heart-shaped face and the bob style is best suited to oval- and rectangular-shaped faces. The style would widen your jaw in an unflattering manner.”

Miss Wooster raised said jaw several inches and affected an aloof air. “What if I wish to have my jaw widened, Rosalyn? Then what of it?”

“Then it is not my place to contest you, miss.”

“Hmph,” Miss Wooster grumbled, and turned away. “You may take your leave, Rosalyn. I have no further need of you.”

“Yes, miss.”

I departed.

#chaptered fics #jeeves/wooster #indeedmiss #jooster #p g wodehouse #jeeves #bertie wooster #f/f

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fuck-customers · 7 years

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Camera store

Hi, some of you might remember my story from last time talking about my last manager disproportionately giving me more work than everybody else in a small time frame or you may not. I provided photo evidence of it

Anyway, I found a new job working at this camera store but things haven’t been so great. It seems like my new boss berates me almost every day about the smallest things, I feel because I’m not fitting into the gender norm of how a woman she act it’s causing him to nitpick everything about me. He says I don’t smile enough, that I should smile more and that my voice is monotone. There is a new guy who also started there same time as I did who essentially shares the same traits as I do but he never get criticized for it.

My boss tells me I should be more “bubbly and spontaneous” a lot like the other two girls who work there, who coincidentally are both around my age (18-20s). The guys working at this camera store are all old dudes ranging in their 40-60s. I found it creepy he would tell me this since I believe I still connect and can be friendly with a customers without completely changing my style/photography and basically acting like dating tv show contestant. The men are allowed to be themselves, why can’t I ?

The camera store can also be a very competitive place to work at because of the spiffs and commission that are given whenever someone manages to sell something, so I’ve had two people basically steal my sales. The customer walks up to me, we’re talking and I’ve had two people bud in and steal my customer. This is usually done when my manager steps out the store for a moment. Not only that, but I’m the only black person working there. I heard a lot of racially insensitive comments being made, and it’s funny how white people assume I’m the “safe” black friend who they can be themselves around because you also have to know that this camera store provides government photo IDs for immigration passports etc. so they have opinions about certain people who apply.

I love cameras and photography and I love to learn but often times it feel as though I’m expected to take the initiative to learn and figure things out by myself while at the same time, if I made a mistake for figuring shit out by myself I’m being told I should’ve asked for help, and it’s not a relaxed learning environment it puts itself off as being. Yesterday I was on the winding someone’s film out of their film camera and I had the camera door slightly cracked because I’m not an expert and they know that and the more experienced girl working there pretty much watched me make the mistake the entire time so the entire film will likely have light leaks on it because she watched me make the mistake but only told me moments later once the manager was standing there so it felt like she was basically was trying to sabotage me. My manager literally has told me that I seem too sure of myself and unsure of myself within the same day. I honestly feel that my race, nationality, and not being a “traditional woman” play into my manager and coworkers attitude towards me.

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macherietiffany · 4 years

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Dear Frances, Our love story begins here. This was just a few days ago, when I came to work with you for the first time — a dreary mid-November day that threatened rain but did not bring it ‘til nighttime. Somehow the clouds knew that we needed the time together. You were empty in body (empty for two whole years!), but not where it counts, in soul (everyone says so; they say what I already knew the moment I saw you, that you have music). My first act for you was hanging this wreath on your front door: a kiss on your forehead. I wanted friends and family and strangers all alike to know that you are claimed and you are worthy and you are loved. Gently, I swept your porch of leaves and cobwebs and placed a few white and pale orange pumpkins around your entryway. Then to the side yard, overgrown with pesky young trees that hid your beautiful brick and charming shrubs, the one filled with lots of wet leaves, tiny mushrooms and stray paper, vines and the sort. I’ll never forget how Jehovah sent a kind stranger out of the blue to help me tackle that task with better tools and two helping hands and a giving heart. This evening, I am listening to the nearby bells call out the passing of time as I lovingly scrub away the neglect from your little bathroom with the lavender cast iron bathtub (you are an old-fashioned lady like me) and unusual kitchen (we will talk more about that later). I am thinking to myself as I do this, “I am cleaning this sink for the first time out of thousands, learning its curves and faded stains and idiosyncrasies. I am initiating a routine that I will carry on for years to come. Tides will change and seasons will pass, and yet I always will come back to this white farmhouse sink to wash out my teacup or scrub away dirt from the little planter outside, or fill a pot with water to make spaghetti.” Yes, Frances, you are my home now. I will work hard, I promise!, to spiff you up as best I can, and love you deeply, and fill you with quaint, comfortable little things. And music. Yes, that truly is a promise: As long as we are together, you shall always have Music. 🎶🗝🎶 https://www.instagram.com/p/B5OsR86JeyEtahjPf8YUIcbn_xJ7ylgnETqL100/?igshid=1p4x3hpic9rai

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dfrobots-blog · 5 years

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ESP32 Tutorial HTTP web server:10. serving image from file system

In this tutorial we will check how to serve an image from the ESP32 file system to a HTTP client. We will use the HTTP async web server libraries in order to setup the server and we will use the ESP32 SPIFFS file system.

From a previous tutorial on how to serve HTML from the file system with the HTTP async web server libraries, please check here.

The tests of this ESP32 tutorial were performed using a DFRobot’s ESP-WROOM-32 device integrated in a ESP32 FireBeetle board.

Uploading the image

Before starting to code and uploading the program to the ESP32, we will need to upload the image to the file system. In order to do so, we will use this Arduino IDE plugin, which allows to upload files to the ESP32 SPIFFS file system from a folder in a computer.

For a detailed tutorial on the procedure, please check this previous post, which contains step by step instructions with images.

As a short summary, after installing the mentioned plugin, we need to create a new Arduino sketch, save it and, on the sketch folder, create a new folder called “data“. In that folder, we should put the image, like shown in figure 1.

Figure 1 – Putting the image in the “data” folder.

Note that we need to be careful regarding the file name and extension, since they will compose the name of the file that will be uploaded to the SPIFFS file system of the ESP32.

For example, I’m using an image that is listed as JPEG, but the actual file has a .jpg extension, and thus we will need to look for a file named “test.jpg” in the ESP32 code.

The easiest way to confirm the correct file name is navigating to the “data” folder using the command line of your operating system and listing the files of that folder. Figure 2 shows this on Windows and, as can be seen, the file is listed with the .jpg extension.

Figure 2 – Image listed in Windows file system.

Note that the size of the SPIFFS file system is limited, so you should not upload images too big. Even if the image doesn’t exceed the maximum size allowed for a file, the HTTP web framework may not work well with very large files, although I haven’t yet tested for these scenarios. Nonetheless, I have tested with images around 20 KB and everything worked fine.

For reference, below you can see the image I have used for the test shown in this tutorial.

Figure 3 – Image used in the tests.

To finalize, go back to the Arduino IDE and, on the “tools” menu, click the ESP32 Sketch Data Upload menu item. Wait for the procedure to finish and, after that, the image should be in the file system of the device.

Take in consideration that the file will be created in the root directory of the SPIFFS file system, so its full path will be “/test.jpg“. In order to confirm if it was correctly created in the file system, you can follow this tutorial to fetch the file size, thus confirming that the file was indeed created.

The code

We will start our code by doing all the necessary library includes. In order to connect the ESP32 to a WiFi network, we need the WiFi.hlibrary. To be able to setup the async HTTP web server, we will also need the ESPAsyncWebServer.h library.

Finally, we will need the SPIFFS.h library, since we are going to interact with the file system in order to retrieve the image.

Following the usual procedure when setting up a web server on the ESP32, we need to declare the WiFi credentials so we can connect the device to the network.

We will also need an object of class AsyncWebServer, which we will be using to setup the routes of the server. Remember from previous posts that the constructor for this class will receive as input the number of the port where the server will be listening to incoming HTTP requests.

#include "WiFi.h" #include "SPIFFS.h" #include "ESPAsyncWebServer.h" const char* ssid = "yourNetworkName"; const char* password = "yourNetworkPassword"; AsyncWebServer server(80);

Moving on to the Arduino setup function, we will start by opening a serial connection to output some content from our program.

Next, we will mount the SPIFFS file system, so we can later access the image we are going to serve to the client. We do this by calling the begin method on the SPIFFS extern variable, which becomes available after importing the SPIFFS.h library.

Remember from the previous post that we can pass a Boolean value indicating if we want the file system to be formatted in case mounting fails. In our case we don’t want this to happen because if we format the file system, then our image will be lost. So, if an error occurs while mounting, then the best approach is to re-upload the file.

Taking this in consideration, we don’t need to pass any value as input of the begin method since the mentioned formatting Boolean value will default to false.

Serial.begin(115200); if(!SPIFFS.begin()){ Serial.println("An Error has occurred while mounting SPIFFS"); return; }

Moving on, we will connect the ESP32 to the WiFi network and print the local IP assign to the device after the procedure finishes. This IP will be needed by the client that will reach the server.

while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) { delay(1000); Serial.println("Connecting to WiFi.."); } Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());

Now we will take care of setting up the route that will be serving the image. As we have been doing in all the previous tutorials, we do this by calling the on method on the AsyncWebServer object.

As first input of the method, we will pass a string with the route, which will be “/img” for this example. You can use other route if you want, as long as you use that one when accessing the server.

As second parameter we will specify the HTTP methods allowed. We will only listen to HTTP GET requests in this route.

Finally, as third parameter, we will specify the route handling function, which will be executed when a request is made.

Our handling function will correspond to sending the image back to the client as answer to the HTTP GET request. To do it, we simply need to call the send method on the AsyncWebServerRequest object pointer that is passed by the HTTP web server framework to our handling function.

Note that the send method is overloaded and it has many formats that we can use. In our case, we will use the format that receives as input an object of class FS (from File System), as second a path to a file in the file system, and as third the content-type of the response.

The SPIFFS extern variable that we use to interact with the file system is of class SPIFFSFS, which inherits from the FS class, which means we can use it as first input of the send method.

As second input we will pass string “/test.jpg”, which is the path of the image we uploaded to the file system. Finally, we will set the content-type to “image/jpeg”, so the browser knows how to correctly interpret the content we are going to return.

server.on("/img", HTTP_GET, [](AsyncWebServerRequest *request){ request->send(SPIFFS, "/test.jpg", "image/jpeg"); });

The final source code can be seen below. It already includes a call to the begin method on our AsyncWebServer object, so it starts listening to incoming requests. Note also that we left the main loop empty since the server works asynchronously, which means we don’t need to periodically poll it for clients.

#include "WiFi.h" #include "SPIFFS.h" #include "ESPAsyncWebServer.h" const char* ssid = "yourNetworkName"; const char* password = "yourNetworkPassword"; AsyncWebServer server(80); void setup(){ Serial.begin(115200); if(!SPIFFS.begin()){ Serial.println("An Error has occurred while mounting SPIFFS"); return; } WiFi.begin(ssid, password); while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) { delay(1000); Serial.println("Connecting to WiFi.."); } Serial.println(WiFi.localIP()); server.on("/img", HTTP_GET, [](AsyncWebServerRequest *request){ request->send(SPIFFS, "/test.jpg", "image/jpeg"); }); server.begin(); } void loop(){}

Testing the code

To test the code, simply compile it and upload it to your ESP32 device using the Arduino IDE. Once the procedure finishes, open the Arduino IDE serial monitor and wait for the the local IP assigned to the ESP32 to be printed, which will happen then the device connects to the WiFi network successfully. Copy that IP address.

Next, open a web browser of your choice and access the following URL, changing #yourIP# by the IP you have just copied:

http://#yourIP#/img

The image previously uploaded to the file system should be returned to the browser, like shown in figure 4.

Figure 4 – Image from the ESP32 file system returned to the client.

DFRobot supply lots of esp32 arduino tutorials and esp32 projects for makers to learn.

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ourmrmel · 5 years

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Mel Feller MPA, MHR, Discusses Advice for Beginning Real Estate Investors

Mel is the President/Founder of Mel Feller Seminars with Coaching for Success 360, Inc. and Mel Feller Coaching. Mel Feller is an Innovator and Business Leader. Mel Feller currently maintains an office in Texas. Mel is currently an MBA Candidate.

First, recognize that it will probably take several years of real estate investing before you will reach your personal financial goal. Assuming that you want to have enough income from your investments to not have to work for money, I estimate about 10-15 years, if you work part-time at it while having “a day job.”

If you get to a point where you can do it full time, it may take a few years less. Some investors disagree with me on this. They apparently are very success in a much shorter period. If you can imitate them, fine. However, the average investor will take; it seems to me, the kind of time that I just indicated.

Some people have other suggestions about how to get started. They often say, “Just do it.” Go out, start trying, and learn as you go. Maybe that will work for you. My opinion is that it is better to know more before you start paying out your money. You might try to avoid mistakes by reading many books before you start—I did—but you will still make your own mistakes—I did, anyway. However, you will probably avoid many of the more common mistakes.

The “secret of success” is persistence. If you want to reach a goal, you have to keep going until you reach it. Financial independence with real estate means you have to keep going for years, usually. Thus, while you want an investing approach that makes you money, you also want an investing approach that makes you happy as you go along. If you do not get emotional rewards, you will probably stop before you are successful.

YES FOR SUCCESS:

Y----You---------------Enough said about that

E----Environment-----Where you invest, and when

S----Strategy-----------How you extract money from the environment

The strategy you employ has to suit you. My strategy could be completely wrong for you, unless you are a lot like me. If it is comfortable, you will continue with it. If it is not comfortable, you will chaff and will want to quit. In addition, might quit, long before you get to your financial goal.

The strategy has to work in the environment in which you invest. Here is a strategy: buy 200-acre farms and subdivide them down into 5-acre “ranchettes” which you sell to homebuilders or people who will live on them. Now, try using this strategy in San Francisco or Manhattan. Not going to work. What might work in San Francisco is to build a 15-story condominium complex and sell the condominiums to the owner-occupants. However, would you expect success if you were to build another 15-story complex 12 miles east of Winnemucca, NV? I do not think so. Maybe 5-acre ranchettes there? Possibly.

If you are not doing too well with your investment program, you can change the strategy, or you can move it to a different environment, where you expect it to perform better.

Your strategy has to give you a competitive advantage, as the economists say. Investing in real estate is competitive. If there is a good deal to be bought, there will be several people interested in buying it. You need to develop an approach that takes advantage of your strengths, and hopefully requires few activities at which you are weak. You need a strategy that uses the resources you have.

What are the resources you can bring to bear on real estate investing? They will vary from person to person. They include such factors as amount of cash you have saved, how good is your credit rating, amount of income you have, particularly that above what you need for living expenses. How much time do you have, and in what part of the week, month, or year? Resources include the contacts you have—people you can call on for advice, money, help, or encouragement. Your knowledge is important—what you know about the environment in which you invest the market value of properties, what your customers want either renters or buyers. What experiences can you bring to bear? How about repair skills, decorating skills, sales ability, imagination, guts, cautious evaluation? All these can be part of your resources. Go with your personality, tastes, beliefs, values, interests, and passions. Do not get involved with approaches that irritate you or make you feel unhappy. For instance, suppose you think landlords are rip-off artists. Do not become a rental property owner. There is no law that you must. Instead, consider rehabilitating rundown properties and selling them to poor people with special government loans.

As an example, I like helping people. I like to invest in lower-income areas, helping people have a clean, nice, safe, comfortable house in which to live. I rent properties to them. When I sell some property, I am happy that I am able to help a first-time homeowner get into a part of the American Dream. Some other people like to find rundown homes in higher-income areas. They spiff them up to be beautiful and then make a profit selling for much more than they paid for the properties. That does not interest me. The buyers of those properties could buy many different properties. They do not need me. In addition, I do not need them.

I also like to do research. I do not like to negotiate. I buy bargain properties at auctions, usually delinquent property tax auctions. I do not have a real estate agent to show me properties and to assure me that the property is in good condition. I have to do research on the location of the property, the condition of the property, the liens and loans against the property, the market value in the area, how much it will cost to fix up the property, and much more. My negotiating is raising my hand at a public auction and saying “Four thousand and one.” Then “four thousand and three.” Easy negotiating for me.

One thing I consider important is that you know how real estate works. What is the importance of different types of deeds? How do you know what loan is the first loan and what does that imply? In addition, there is so much more you can learn. After over 20 years of real estate investing, I am still learning. It is not boring being in real estate.

I think you should expect to spend about six months to 18 months studying about real estate, real estate investing, and the real estate market where you plan to invest – the environment, as I put it. As you study, notice the different types of approaches that different people use or advocate. Ask yourself “how does this fit me?” Imagine the different steps of the process, the activities that have to be taken. With what kinds of people will you be engaged? In what neighborhoods will you be investing? How well will you be able to accomplish that particular strategy of investing? What might prevent you from enjoying it? Being successful at it? What psychic rewards might you get out of it.

I f you are considering becoming an investor in long-term rentals, as I am, I suggest you read a couple of books on property management. This may give you some notion of what you will face and you can consider if it is to your taste. If you plan to rent properties, learn to calculate expenses of owning them—they will be worse than you imagine. Figure out what kinds of properties will provide you with profit if you own them. Learn about taxes, especially income taxes and how real estate can help you. Plan to learn about the laws related to the approach that you take. If you are doing rentals, know the “landlord-tenant” law for your state.

How do you learn about real estate? My suggestion is to take classes at community colleges near you. There are probably classes for people who want to apply for a real estate license. You can take them too.

Read books on real estate investing. Most RE books are mediocre. A few are good. Almost none are excellent. However, you can still learn if you read them. Start at the public library and borrowing books from friends, neighbors, coworkers, relatives, etc. Buy used books, cds, and dvd’s at bookstores or online at such sources as e-bay and half.com. I consistently pay less than 1/2 original price for the materials I buy there. Some is terrible, just like many real estate books. Nevertheless, some are good.

Talk to other, more experienced investors. See if there is a local real estate investors group that meets once or twice a month. Read newspaper articles and columns about real estate. If your local paper does not have nationally syndicated real estate columnists, find one that does, even if it is not nearby. Get a subscription to the Sunday edition mailed to your home.

Go on the Internet to see what you can learn there. There are many different sites devoted to real estate investing and to real estate for sale or rent.

While you study these things, learn about the area in which you want to invest. What are the different neighborhoods like? Where are there vacant, run-down properties if you want to do fixer-uppers? What are the trends of prices and where are people moving to or moving away from? What kinds of properties make good rentals in your area? What are the prospects of making money by buying low and then selling high, not carrying rentals?

I like Bill Greene’s suggestion from his "Think Like a Tycoon" book that you look at 100 houses before you make a single offer. And that is of properties similar to those you plan to buy. If, as you go along, you change your mind about the types of houses and neighborhoods in which you will invest, you may have to look at many more than 100 houses. The idea is to learn market values and what the competition is like—either rentals or other properties against which you will be competing for buyers. When I started out investing seriously, I did this and my knowledge of values increased greatly over a few months of time. Study the multiple listing service properties and the newspaper advertisements for properties. Read realtor.com listing for your area. See them and then follow up to find out for what they sold.

Meanwhile, get your finances lined up. If you have a poor credit report, start cleaning it up. Pay off outstanding debt and put explanations into the credit file. Get erroneous information removed. Cut down your expenses. Save money for investing. Yes, it is definitely possible to buy properties with no cash out of your pocket—I have done it. However, you have more opportunities for profit if you are prepared to pay cash or at least make a down payment. This is increasing your resources with which to operate.

Depending upon your investment approach, you may want to get an equity line of credit secured by your home. Alternatively, you may want to ask banks for unsecured personal lines of credit. You may want to stop throwing away all those credit card solicitations and actually apply for some. Naturally, try to get those with good terms. However, sometimes it is possible to make so much money with just one property transaction that you will be willing to use high-priced money to enable you to get into the deal. Use high-priced money for properties you plan to resell soon, not for long-term holding.

Some people talk about getting a “mentor,” an experienced real estate investor to personally train you in real estate investing. If you can find somebody who is willing to spend time helping you, fine, go ahead and give it a try. But, you don’t need a mentor to work in real estate investing. Very few investors have ever had a mentor. I call it “self-mentoring.” The approach that you take to investing will be very personal. Do get to know many different investors so you can get help with the local “nuts and bolts” of investing: referrals for good attorneys, cleaning people, repair people, learn where to get carpets and plumbing supplies, discover the good escrow and title companies, and all the other services and goods that you will need to be successful. Ask about difficulties you have and individual problems of people you know and on the on-line real estate forums. I do think you need a "mentor."

Try to understand the approaches that these different investors have and their thinking about different aspects of investing. Ask what they like and don’t like, what works for them and what doesn’t. Then you can borrow some of their ideas and approaches in formulating your own direction. Nevertheless, you probably will not find a formula that somebody else uses that will suit you to a tee. Mix and match. Take a little bit from here and a little bit from there. Make them into a coherent program that will generate money for you.

There are many, many different ways to make money with real estate. With a little imagination, you may even create a new way to do so that nobody else thought of. But, most of these ways can be put into three categories, which you can remember if you can say “CAT.”

C is for CASHFLOW. This means you get more money in from a property than you spend owning it.

A is for APPRECIATION. There are three types of appreciation, remembered by FIN: F is for FORCED, such as fixing up properties, moving them, getting rid of title problems. I stands for INSTANT, which you get from buying bargain properties at least 20% below market value. Then there is N for NATURAL. Over time, property values tend to go up, the amount and rate varying with locale, the economy, and market conditions. Held long enough, most properties will go up unless everybody is moving away for the town or you do not maintain the properties.

Which means that you may reduce the amount of taxes that you pay on your other income, non-real estate income. This is over and above the tax write-offs for your investment properties that reduce your taxable income from the properties.

Some people mistakenly add to this list of categories “pay down” or “amortization” on the loan. This is actually a sub-category of cash flow. It is the “forced savings” aspect.

Before buying properties, ask yourself which benefit you want to maximize. In general, you cannot make all three categories big with any one property. You might make one big, one moderate-sized and the other one small. So choose the investment strategy and the property which fits your goal--C, A, or T. For instance, when I buy bargain properties at tax sales, I get very little tax benefit. If I want tax benefit, I will buy a house at market value, but getting financing terms that allow me to get a break-even or slightly positive cash flow. I can also speculate on appreciation with this type of property. Normal appreciation is irrelevant for the bargain buys; the profit is built-in upon purchase with the Instant Appreciation.

Some people advocate getting a "team" together before starting--attorneys, CPAs, loan brokers, maybe real estate agents. I do not think that is necessary. I would certainly suggest that you not delay your investment actions until you get a "team" together. I advocate learning a lot about the local real estate laws and the federal tax rules as relates to real estate investing. Then you can be your own team in part. People make many mistakes by not consulting with attorneys. They sell properties and have to pay terrible taxes—unnecessarily—because they do not understand and consult accountants.

So, do not hesitate to call upon professionals when needed. When you run into problems that a professional can help with, then is the time to find one. One--not a team, in my opinion.

To be successful in real estate investing, in my opinion, you need both movement and guidance. You have to get out and actually invest in properties to make a profit. Therefore, you have to be active. Go and do it. However, don’t do it blindly. Learn a lot before you start making deals so that you don’t make too many mistakes and so you have a strategy that will fit you and the environment in which you invest. Some people get stuck in the learning phase. You will never know everything about real estate investing, so get started even when you do not feel you know it all.

There are two major mistakes that can lead to real estate investment failure, I think. One is doing nothing – there is no profit in that. The other is rushing out too soon and making expensive mistakes. I once read a magazine article about a couple in Chicago that bought, as their first investment, a run-down apartment complex in a very poor neighborhood in Chicago. I forget the title of the article, but I think it should have been “How we lost a million dollars with no money down.” They did not know how to manage rental properties at all and this property was an extremely difficult one to operate. They made many mistakes, lost the building in foreclosure, and lost all the money they had invested.

So, become active, yes. However, do it with caution. There is a lot of money to be made with real estate. Because real estate can cost a lot, there are many ways to lose a lot of money with real estate. The sellers and real estate agents selling a property are not always honest about that property. Nobody will look out for your interest as well as you do. Learn enough to be realistic about properties and how investing works.

Expect to spend about 10 to 20 hours a week studying real estate during your learning months. Even though that sounds like a lot, believe me, there is a lot to learn. If you thought it would be easy to get rich, I disagree with you. However, it is possible to get rich with real estate. The average individual can do it. In addition, it is easier than most other businesses in which you could invest your time and money. Moreover, because you can tailor your investment program to fit you, your chances for success are high. In addition, real estate is a "forgiving" investment. You can make mistakes, possibly a lot of them, and still make a profit from a property. I have made some very serious errors. Still my wealth and property holdings build up.

Just recognize real estate is a business. It will take time and effort. Some people might say it takes that four-letter word “work,” however, if you have a program that fits you and gives you enjoyment, you can convert that word into another four-letter word: “play.” Many people treat real estate investing as a game and play it to win not only money but also freedom to lead the life they want. It can do that for you.

Mel Feller, MPA, MHR, is a well-known real estate, business consultant, personal development consultant and speaker, specializing in performance, productivity, and profits. Mel is the President/Founder of Mel Feller Seminars with Coaching for Success 360, Inc. and Mel Feller Coaching, a real estate and business specific coaching company. His three books for real estate professionals are systems on how to become an exceptional sales performer. His four books in Business and Government Grants are ways to leverage and increase your business Success in both time and money! His book on Personal Development “Lies that Will Sabotage Your Success”. Mel Feller is located in Texas.

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melvinfellerstuff · 5 years

Text

Melvin Feller Looks at Why Buying Texas Real Estate is Smart

Melvin Feller Business Ministries Group in Burkburnett and Dallas Texas and Lawton Oklahoma. Our mission is to call and equip a generation of Christian entrepreneurs to do business as ministry. We provide workshops and resources that help companies discover how to do business God’s way. When the heart of a business is service rather than self it can be transformed into a fruitful business ministry earning a profit and being of service to the community and their customers. Melvin Feller is currently pursuing another graduate degree in business organizations.

Currently, Texas is experiencing an economic boom, making it an attractive place for in state, out-of-state, and even foreign real estate investors.

From 2016 to 2018, five of the ten fastest-growing U.S. cities were in Texas. In 2018, more than a quarter of Texas' growth was concentrated in the state's cities. North Texas is a particular hot spot for growth.

Cities like Frisco, Denton, Flower Mound, McKinney, Plano, Grapevine and Keller are all experiencing unparalleled residential growth, mostly due to the emergency of a high-tech industry and complementary businesses. Some cities have even expanded their borders to accommodate the new residents.

The job market is strong and growing, the cost of living is affordable, land is easy to purchase for non-residents, and the tax incentives are attractive. It's "big city living" with plenty of space. There are plenty of opportunities for smart investors looking to start or expand their portfolios.

However, in Texas, there are great opportunities for creative real estate financing and wide-open spaces as well as great residential and commercial opportunities.

If you are a beginning investor, first, recognize that it will probably take several years of real estate investing before you will reach your personal financial goal. Assuming that you want to have enough income from your investments to not have to work for money, I estimate about 10-15 years, if you work part-time at it while having “a day job.”

YES FOR SUCCESS:

Y----You---------------Enough said about that

E----Environment-----Where you invest, and when

S----Strategy-----------How you extract money from the environment

The strategy has to work in the environment in which you invest. Here is a strategy: buy 200-acre farms and subdivide them down into 5-acre “ranchettes” which you sell to homebuilders or people who will live on them. Now, try using this strategy in San Francisco or Manhattan. Not going to work. What might work in San Francisco is to build a 15-story condominium complex and sell the condominiums to the owner-occupants. However, would you expect success if you were to build another 15-story complex 12 miles east of Winnemucca, NV? I don’t think so. Maybe 5-acre ranchettes there? Possibly.

If you are not doing too well with your investment program, you can change the strategy, or you can move it to a different environment, where you expect it to perform better.

Your strategy has to give you a competitive advantage, as the economists say. Investing in real estate is competitive. If there is a good deal to be bought, there will be several people interested in buying it. You need to develop an approach that takes advantage of your strengths, and requires few activities at which you are weak. You need a strategy that uses the resources you have.

If you are considering becoming an investor in long-term rentals, as I am, I suggest you read a couple of books on property management. This may give you some notion of what you will face and you can consider if it is to your taste. If you plan to rent properties, learn to calculate expenses of owning them—they will be worse than you imagine. Figure out what kinds of properties will provide you with profit if you own them. Learn about taxes, especially income taxes and how real estate can help you. Plan to learn about the laws related to the approach that you take. If you are doing rentals, know the “landlord-tenant” law for your state.

Read books on real estate investing. Most RE books are mediocre. A few are good. Almost none are excellent. However, you can still learn if you read them. Start at the public library and borrowing books from friends, neighbors, coworkers, relatives, etc. Buy used books, cd, and dvds at bookstores or online at such sources as e-bay and half.com. I consistently pay less than 1/2 original price for the materials I buy there. Some is terrible, just like many real estate books. Nevertheless, some are good.

Go on the Internet to see what you can learn there. There are many different sites devoted to real estate investing and to real estate for sale or rent.

I like Bill Greene’s suggestion from his "Think like a Tycoon" book that you look at 100 houses before you make a single offer. That is of properties similar to those you plan to buy. If, as you go along, you change your mind about the types of houses and neighborhoods in which you will invest, you may have to look at many more than 100 houses. The idea is to learn market values and what the competition is like—either rentals or other properties against which you will be competing for buyers. When I started out investing seriously, I did this and my knowledge of values increased greatly over a few months of time. Study the multiple listing service properties and the newspaper advertisements for properties. Read realtor.com listing for your area. See them and then follow up to find out for what they sold.

Some people talk about getting a “mentor,” an experienced real estate investor to personally train you in real estate investing. If you can find somebody who is willing to spend time helping you, fine, go ahead and try it. However, you do not need a mentor to work in real estate investing. Very few investors have ever had a mentor. I call it “self-mentoring.” The approach that you take to investing will be very personal. Do get to know many different investors so you can get help with the local “nuts and bolts” of investing: referrals for good attorneys, cleaning people, repair people, learn where to get carpets and plumbing supplies, discover the good escrow and title companies, and all the other services and goods that you will need to be successful. Ask about difficulties you have and individual problems of people you know and on the on-line real estate forums. I personally think you need a "mentor."

Try to understand the approaches that these different investors have and their thinking about different aspects of investing. Ask what they like and do not like, what works for them and what does not. Then you can borrow some of their ideas and approaches in formulating your own direction. Nevertheless, you probably will not find a formula that somebody else uses that will suit you to a tee. Mix and match. Take a little bit from here and a little bit from there. Make them into a coherent program that will generate money for you.

There are many, many different ways to make money with real estate. With a little imagination, you may even create a new way to do so that nobody else thought of. However, most of these ways can be put into three categories, which you can remember if you can say, “CAT.”

C is for CASHFLOW. This means you get more money in from a property than you spend owning it.

T points at TAX SAVINGS, or tax benefits, which means that you may reduce the amount of taxes that you pay on your other income, non-real estate income. This is over and above the tax write-offs for your investment properties that reduce your taxable income from the properties.

Some people mistakenly add to this list of categories “pay down” or “amortization” on the loan. This is actually a sub-category of cash flow. It is the “forced savings” aspect.

So, do not hesitate to call upon professionals when needed. When you run into problems that a professional can help with, then is the time to find one. One--not a team, in my opinion.

To be successful in real estate investing, in my opinion, you need both movement and guidance. You have to get out and actually invest in properties to make a profit. Therefore, you have to be active. Go and do it. However, do not do it blindly. Learn a lot before you start making deals so that you do not make too many mistakes and so you have a strategy that will fit you and the environment in which you invest. Some people are stuck in the learning phase. You will never know everything about real estate investing, so get started even when you do not feel you know it all.

Melvin Feller Business Consultants Ministries Group in Texas and Oklahoma. Melvin Feller founded Melvin Feller Business Consultants Group Ministries in the 1970s to help individuals and organizations achieve their specific Victory. Victory as defined by the individual or organization are achieving strategic objectives, exceeding goals, getting results or desired outcomes. He has extensive experience assisting businesses achieve top and bottom line results. He has broad practical experience creating WINNERS in many organizations and industries. He has hands-on experience in executive leadership, operations, logistics, sales, program management, organizational development, training, and customer service. He has coached teams to achieve results in strategic planning, business development, organizational design, sales, and customer response and business process improvement. He has prepared and presented many workshops nationally and internationally.

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