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study-coffee-chicago · 3 years

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Stars on your Sleeve (Part 2) [A Jay Halstead Imagine]

A/N: The name of the girl is Y/N (I mostly write my imagines in second person POV...except for the one you guys might see in a few weeks) and cariña is just a nickname/term of endearment in Spanish that means sweetheart. Sorry if anyone got confused about that in part one!

"Dad," you started as you walked into Jay's office after school that day.

It was a Thursday and you had taken the bus from school to the district. It wasn't often that you did this, but you had gotten texts from both your mom and dad telling you that the current case was going to drag on and on tonight, so they wanted you at the district so that you wouldn't be home alone until two or three o'clock in the morning.

"Hi, cariña. How was your day? Learn anything interesting in school?"

"Dad," you groaned. "It's high school, half the stuff they teach me I won't ever use again."

"Well, excuse me for wanting to know about my daughter's day."

"Just can't wait for this week to be over to sleep in."

"You and me both, kid."

"Half the time you work weekends though, Dad," you pointed out.

"Comes with the sergeant title."

"And your sleeping in is like 7:00."

"Point taken. Now, did Mom pack you a few extra snacks or do you need some money for the vending machines?"

"She didn't--"

"Don't even finish that sentence, young lady," Hailey said as she burst into Jay's office. "I packed you a few extra things and you know it. You just want--"

"--Oreos," Jay and Hailey said at the same time.

"Hey, don't blame me! They taste good," you protested. "Anyway, Dad, can I use your laptop to do my homework?"

"Don't you have that school-issued one?"

"That one blocks Netflix."

Jay crossed his arms across his chest. "Homework, huh?"

"I'm just writing a paper. It's not like I'm doing math or reading something."

"What type of paper?" Hailey asked. "Because, I'm pretty sure that if it's a research paper, you need to focus."

"It's a narrative, so I don't need to be constantly focused, Mom."

"Makayla does the same thing," Adam said as he entered the office as well. "Let the kid have the laptop, Jay."

"Thanks, Adam."

"Uh," Jay groaned, "I guess."

"We also have a lead, so you wanna roll out after I give you the info?" Adam asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, Y/N, you need to go into the breakroom now."

"But why can't I stay in here?" you whined. "I want your spinny chair."

"Y/N, this is a case," your mom told you. "You know the rules: no being around the case talk. It's for your own good, we don't want to scar or scare you."

Mom, you know what I've seen, you wanted to tell her, but you knew it would be no use as your parents would never budge on this rule.

"I know, Mom."

Jay pulled his laptop from his desk along with the charger. "Rules?" he probed, holding onto the laptop and charger.

"Dad, I know the rules. Mom, c'mon, tell him."

"It's your dad's laptop, Y/N. I'm not arguing with you or him on this one."

Jay cocked his head to the side. "I'll give you the laptop after you tell me the rules...even though I know you know them."

You sighed. You went through this every time you used his laptop when he was going to be gone. "Only use my account, don't try to login to your account, and do not delete my search history."

"Here you go." He handed you his laptop and charger. "Good luck on your paper. Don't work too hard."

You went into the breakroom and opened the laptop. First, you pulled up Netflix, and then you pulled up your paper. It was your paper for your senior portfolio, which most people were putting off, seeing as you were only a freshman, you didn't need to work on it yet. But, you knew it had to be long, so starting it now would probably be helpful.

The paper was basically a narrative telling a story about each year of school. The stories had to be from two to five pages long, which meant that the paper in its entirety would be between 26 and 65 pages long. But, you didn't mind. It's not like you had to write a boring research paper. You also had to write about your career goals and one wish for your future as well, which would make the paper even longer still.

Seeing as your schooling didn't exactly match up with the American school system until you were around nine and in third grade, you had gotten permission from your teacher to just write about the sections of kindergarten, first, and second grade, as just memories from when you were six, seven, and eight years old.

You'd save the memories of six and seven for later, since you'd have to dig into the part of your brain where you were in the orphanage with your older sister, Illiana.

For now, you just scribbled down a few lines for ideas of when you were eight years old...which was pretty simple since a lot happened in your life that year.

***

"Y/N, we brought you some food if you--"

"Shut up!" Mouse hissed as the rest of the unit clambered up the stairs and into the bullpen. "She's sleeping."

Yes, when Mouse came home he returned to his job as the tech analyst of the Intelligence Unit. And, when Jay became sergeant, he pulled a few strings and got him a huge salary increase.

"I'll pull the car around front," Hailey offered.

"No," Jay whined. "That means I gotta be the bad guy and wake her up."

"Sorry, babe. I call dibs."

"Ew, guys, please keep the lovey-dovey nicknames to home. I don't need to see that," Adam joked.

"Shut up, Ruz."

Hailey swiped the keys from Jay's office and Jay went to wake you up. But, before he did, he saw the laptop, still open to both Netflix and your paper.

There wasn't much in the paper yet, as Jay had expected, only a few bullet points. His name caught his eye below the age 8 section...whatever that meant. He didn't mean to pry (well, really he did), but he closed the laptop without logging you out so that he and Hailey could take a look at it later.

"Y/N, Y/N, wake up."

You were woken up by someone gently shaking your shoulder.

"Quiero dormir, vaya," you whined. That was one thing you always did: reverted back to Spanish when you were tired. At least both Jay and Hailey understood it now because they had learned Spanish...which helped them with parenting because when they were mad at you, they'd talk in Spanish and that's how you know you were in deep shit.

"I know you want to sleep, and I'm not leaving," Jay answered. "But, we're going home so you can sleep in your bed instead of here."

"Mmmm, okay," you mumbled. You rubbed your eyes, but then decided it was too much work to get up, so you just sat up and closed your eyes once again.

"C'mon, cariña. Mom's got the car out front and then all you gotta do is stay awake until we get home, okay?"

"Mmmm," you mumbled and then stood up. He already had your backpack slung over his shoulder and was holding his laptop in the other hand. "Can I skip school tomorrow? I'm tired."

"Not a chance," Jay chuckled. "But, I can drive you to school and we can get you a frappucino on the way there."

"Mom won't be mad?"

"We don't have to tell Mom everything now do we?"

"No, we don't."

***

"What are you doing?" Hailey asked Jay as she slid into bed next to him that night. "Are you seriously checking our daughter's search history this late at night? C'mon Jay, she's a good kid. You won't find anything."

"That's not what I'm looking at. But, now that you mention it, I should probably check that, too."

"Then, what are you reading? Because I know for a fact that your case notes are definitely not as organized as that."

"Wow, Hails, you're so sweet," Jay said sarcastically. "It's Y/N's paper. The rubric was pasted at the top and it looks like she has to write about a memory from each year of her life and her career goals and a wish for the future."

"And you were snooping because...?"

"Because I saw my name. I wanna see what she says about us, Hailey."

"Jay, she loves us, baby. We're her parents. We both know that. You don't need to read her schoolwork to know that."

"Either way, I'm still reading it. Join me if you want, or go to sleep."

"Uh, fine. But if she asks, this was your idea and I will not hesitate to throw you under the bus."

Age 8, they both read to themselves, leaving/running away from orphanage

"God, no matter how many years it's been since she told us what happened, it never fails to break my heart," Hailey said.

Jay wrapped one arm around his wife. "I know, babe. I feel the exact same way."

"Hey, Y/N," the therapist started and you looked up at her. "Do you want to in that room over there and watch some tv while I talk to jay and Hailey? I can even turn on the Spanish movies for you."

"Okay!"

After getting you all set up, she left you in the room with a Spanish children's movie playing while she went to get Jay and Hailey.

"Jay and Hailey?" she asked as she entered the waiting room.

"Dr. Smith," Jay greeted.

"I have something to tell both of you, and Y/N told me it was okay that I tell you. When I asked if she wanted to be the one to tell you this, she said no because she didn't want to make you sad."

They entered the room where you had previously been and Dr. Smith sat in a chair and Jay and Hailey sat on the couch.

"What's this about?" Hailey asked.

"Well, she told me why she ran away from the orphanage."

Jay and Hailey were shocked. You'd been with them for three months and hadn't once mentioned why you ran away and what happened before Jay found you. It wasn't for lack of trying on Hailey and Jay's part, though. They tried. After all, they knew how to talk to child victims. But, they didn't want to push you too hard, and eventually, they just dropped the topic all together because they knew you'd talk about it when you were ready. Apparently, today was the day that you were ready to tell that story.

"And?" Jay pushed. "Why'd she run away?"

"She said that they came for her, the people who you were fighting," Dr. Smith said.

"Los Rebeldes," Jay said, more to Hailey than to anyone else.

"They came for her specifically?" Hailey asked.

"No, they just came to the orphanage. She said that she heard voices--male voices--telling them to get down on the ground and then some shots rang out. Her sister, Illiana, told her to hide and slipped the necklace around her neck. So, she did. She said she closed her eyes really tight and she just laid there, hiding and barely breathing. She said she heard a gunshot and then she heard Illiana scream and she heard squishing noises."

"Oh my God," Hailey gasped.

"You're saying they shot and killed her?" Jay asked, his voice cracking.

"That's what it sounded like, yes."

"How did she get out?"

"She said that she snuck out through a small door in the back of the room. She said it wasn't a real door, but it was a small door that led to the outside, by her description, it sounded about three feet tall and two feet wide."

"The waste doors," Jay muttered.

"The what?" Hailey asked.

"The waste doors...well, that's what we called them on Base anyway. They were these little doors where you could place stuff outside. Sometimes we'd put the packaging of our MRE's there or other crap we didn't need anymore. Not good for the planet, but yeah, that's what we did."

"So, Jay, you're telling me that Y/N essentially snuck out of the orphanage through a trash chute?"

"Well, we used them for waste, which is why we called them waste doors. But, I heard rumors of them being used at orphanages for parents to put their baby in a crib. They'd just open the door and place the baby in the little crib on the other side of the door."

"She moved the crib and snuck out through there?"

"If there was a crib, then she moved it and got out. If not, she just crawled out through there."

"Did she tell you anything about when she left?" Hailey asked Dr. Smith.

"She said that she didn't have much with her, just her teddy bear and that locket. But, she said that she walked for the rest of the day. And, according to her timeline, the soldiers came right after breakfast. She said she was really scared that they were going to find her and so she just kept walking. But then, she found a bit of a forest it sounded like and since it was starting to get dark and cold, she laid down."

"I found her in the middle of the night and she must've been there since sunset. No wonder she was hypothermic."

"We got her her first banana split after that therapy session," Hailey said. "I honestly don't know whether the food was to get her to try something new or to comfort us."

"Yeah, that was a rough night. I didn't even want her to leave my arms," Jay said. "Jay found me and I went home to Chicago," he read aloud. "Man, that night was rough, too. Probably worse than the night where we found out why she left."

"Now, it's crowded here, cariña so stay cerca to us or go mano a mano with me or Hailey, okay?" Jay asked you as the three of you found a parking spot at Navy Pier.

Adam, Kim, Kevin, and Will were all there as well. They had planned to go out and party and go to a bar when Jay returned home, but that changed now that he and Hailey had a kid to take care of, so they had decided to take a trip to Navy Pier.

In the airport, Jay had gotten a huge coffee from Starbucks, seeing as he had barely slept on the way home. Before coming to Navy Pier, you had gone to a place called iHOP where you had gotten some really yummy pancakes, and Adam, Kevin, and Will had made you laugh a lot and Kim spoke Spanish with you.

"What does that word mean?" you asked.

"What word?" Jay asked, looking down at you as he took your hand.

"Cr-crowded," you sounded out slowly.

"Uh, it means there's lots and lots of people."

"Oh, okay. I stay by you."

"So Y/N, what do you like to do?" Will asked you.

"I like reading and play fútbol," you told him.

"Really? Jay loves playing soccer!"

"We played back at the big house in España," you told Will excitedly. "We won and I got lots and lots of goals."

"Looks like you have a pro soccer player on your hands, little brother," Will said to Jay.

"Don't I know it."

"We go on the big thingy you showed me in the little book in the plane?" you asked Jay.

"The Ferris wheel?" You nodded excitedly. "We can do that, but let's walk around first. We might be able to play some games and win you a friend for Osito."

"Really? Osito have a friend?"

"Really," Jay promised.

As you walked down Navy Pier, you were excitedly pointing out every little thing you saw from the ducks and the seagulls to the big yachts floating down the Chicago River.

"Let's go into Garrett's, babe," Hailey suggested when they were inside the big atrium. "Give her a taste of Chicago's world-famous popcorn."

"I think that's a great idea," Jay agreed. "What do you think, cariña? Want to try some popcorn and then we'll get your favorite?"

You tilted your head to the side. "Popcorn? What is that?"

"Palomitas," Kim clarified for you in Spanish. "Hay muchos tipos diferentes de palomitas allí para probar y comprar."

"Oh, okay. Yes, please."

"What did you say to her?" Hailey whispered to Kim.

"Just gave her the Spanish translation of popcorn and then told her that there's a bunch of different types of popcorn that she can try and buy in there. But, you and Jay most definitely have your work cut out for you when it comes to learning Spanish. You're lucky that she's pretty good with English already and that I'm here to help you learn Spanish."

***

"Sleepy, cariña?" Jay asked as he heard you yawn from the backseat.

Hailey was driving and he was holding a big bag of caramel and cheddar popcorn...which Hailey was telling him not to eat all of it because she knew he would. You were in the backseat with your big stuffed bear, whom you had named Osita since she was a girl bear because she had really soft white fur and a pink ribbon tied around her. Jay had won that for you when he played a shooting game. You also had a stuffed duck that Will had won for you when he played a guess the weight game. You named him Pato...which meant duck in Spanish. You had gone on the Ferris wheel and had pointed out all the pretty things in the sky when you were up there. Hailey had never seen Jay so happy as when he was smiling wide at every little thing you pointed out and he tried to explain to you what they were.

"No," you answered as you laid your head against Osita. It was currently 3 pm Chicago time, which made it about 9 pm Spain time.

"Tell you what," Hailey started, "When we get home, we can show you your room, and then we can watch a movie and eat this popcorn. Because, if we don't start eating it soon, Jay will eat it all."

"Jay eat it all if we no eat it too?"

"Jay eats a lot," Hailey joked.

You reached your hand in front of you and towards Jay. "Palomitas please." Jay chuckled and Hailey smiled as he put some popcorn into your little outstretched hand. "Gracias."

"De nada," Jay told you.

"When we watch movie, how I get it?" you asked.

"We get it on the tv," Jay told you.

"No, how I know what they saying?"

Hailey hadn't thought that far ahead when she had suggested watching a movie. "Um," Hailey faltered. "We can make it so it's in Spanish."

"But then you no know what they say," you pointed out.

"We can put words on the bottom of the screen in English for us," Jay suggested. "Then all three of us will know what they're saying. Is that okay?"

"Okay!"

"Hailey," Jay whispered. "What are we gonna watch?"

"She's too old for princesses probably and way too young for action movies...how about Disney Channel movies? We could try High School Musical? That one's pretty good."

"You're kidding Hails. You watched that? Didn't it come out when we were like 20 or 25?"

Hailey held back a laugh. "Yes, it did. But, I babysat a lot of kids in my neighborhood who were around Y/N's age, and we'd always end up watching those Disney Channel originals."

"Okay, whatever you say, babe."

***

"I think I'm gonna bring her to bed," Jay said.

You had fallen asleep halfway through the movie. Before starting it, you had seen your room. It was purple! And, in black letters behind your bed, it said Salon de Y/N, which meant Y/N's room. Jay assumed that Kim had helped Hailey with the spelling and the boys had helped move the furniture into your room. There was also a little basket with a few things they thought you would like, such as a few different colored soccer balls and a bookshelf.

On the bookshelf, Hailey had picked out some books in Spanish that she had found at Barnes and Noble and some short chapter books in English that she used to read as a kid, such as the Nancy Drew series and Little House on the Prairie. She knew that you might need help reading them and might not be able to completely understand them all by yourself yet, but she knew that she and Jay would be there to help you.

"It's 6:00," Hailey protested. "Shouldn't we wake her up and have her stay awake for a few more hours so that her body can adjust?"

"If you're asking an adult like me that, yes, I'd stay awake. But, she's a kid. She needs her sleep. And, I'll probably be up before you anyway, so I can deal with her if she wakes us up at five in the morning."

"Okay super dad," Hailey joked. "Bring her to bed. I'll make us a quick dinner and cover this popcorn so it doesn't get stale. Can't wait for us to go to bed tonight." She winked.

"Hails, as much as I would love to take you up on that, I don't think it's a good idea when it's Y/N's first night. But, I will give you all the cuddles in the world tonight, don't you worry about that."

"As long as you didn't pick up the habit of snoring overseas then I'm all for that, babe."

***

Jay woke up to the sound of soft whimpering. It sounded like it was coming from the hallway but he couldn't be sure. He reached over Hailey and was about to grab her gun from her drawer where he knew that she kept it, but stopped when he remembered that it was probably just you. It wasn't just Jay and Hailey in the house anymore; you were there as well and that's probably where the noise was coming from. And, he didn't want to scare you by holding a gun.

He glanced over at the clock. 3 am. Yeah, sounds about right that you'd be waking up right about now since you'd slept for about nine hours and it was 9 am in Spain right now.

Jay slowly tiptoed out into the hallway, cursing himself that he hadn't left a light on or kept his and Hailey's bedroom door open so you could find them easily.

Jay reached out for the hall light switch and flicked on the lights, causing you to jump. "Hey, hey, it's just me. It's just Jay," he said calmly once he laid eyes on you. You were holding Osito and there were fresh tears running down your cheeks.

Jay never knew the force of an eight-year-old running into him could be so strong as to almost knock him over. You dropped Osito and wrapped your arms around him as if your life depended on it.

"It's okay, it's okay," Jay soothed. "What's wrong, cariña? Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"I-I no know where I was," you mumbled into his shirt. "Was dark. Think you and Hailey left, so I came to find you."

"Oh, sweetie," Jay started. "I'm sorry. I forgot to turn the light on for you in your room so that you'd know where you are. And, me and Hailey would never leave you."

"You promise?"

"I promise." Your stomach grumbled. "Hungry?" you nodded. "Alright, let's get you a sandwich and then get you back to bed."

"You eat too?" you asked.

"You know, I could go for a sandwich."

***

The next morning, Hailey rolled over to see that Jay wasn't in bed next to her and his side of the bed was cold. Then, she remembered you and walked over to your room and slowly opened the door. You looked up from the Spanish book you were reading and put a finger to your lips.

"Jay sleeping," you told Hailey.

Jay was sitting upright in your bed against the headboard, his thumb holding a place in what looked to be a Nancy Drew book.

"Did Jay read to you last night, huh?" Hailey asked as she walked closer to you and Jay.

"Yeah, he told me that Nancy does what you and Jay do with policia. Then, I sleep again and then I wake up and he sleep again, so I started reading in Spanish."

"I think we should let him sleep a little more while we go finish High School Musical and eat palomitas before Jay eats it all. Does that sound good?"

You nodded eagerly and closed your book. Then, you got out of bed and followed Hailey out of your room. And, after hearing that Jay had read to you and seeing him sleeping upright in your bed so that you'd be able to sleep, she had one more reason why she was truly head over heels for the man she married and got to call her husband.

"Look, Jay. She wrote her birthday in here for age 9," Hailey said as she pointed to the laptop screen.

"God, I don't think I'll forget that day for the rest of my life. It was such a good day."

"You are such a sap when it comes to Y/N."

"Hey! let me be sappy about our daughter, Hailey Anne. She's in high school now, high school. That means she'll be going off to college soon."

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself, sergeant," she joked. "Just keep reading this. It was your idea to snoop through her stuff after all."

"Jay, you got the stuff?" Hailey asked as she was sitting cross-legged on their bedroom floor with wrapping paper, tape, and scissors in front of her.

"Jesus, Hails," Jay laughed, "You make it sound like we're doing a drug deal."

"Well sorry if I want her birthday to go really well. Now, did you get them or not?"

"They're in here." He set a plastic bag down on the bed. He took out three framed pictures and laid them out on the bed. Of course, he made sure that the frames were different shades of purple. "Good?"

Hailey stood up and looked at the pictures. "I never know the CPD's sketch software could work miracles like this, so yeah, I'd say we did good."

Over the past month, everyone in Intelligence had told you that they were testing out a new sketch software to use to try to track down criminals. They let you play with it because they said they wanted to see what it would do...even though they knew what it did, how good it was, and it wasn't new. It was just a ploy to make sure they got your birthday gift right. They had told you to try and input someone's face from memory, someone like your older sister, Illiana.

So, when you had to go to the district for the day with Jay and Hailey, you'd ask to play with that software to work on your sketch. Little did you know, they were printing it out on fancy photo paper and putting it in a frame for your birthday. Jay had also swiped your necklace one day when you had taken it off to go swimming and had taken pictures of what your mom and dad looked like. Then, he and Hailey each took one parent and worked on making their faces through the CPD's sketch software.

"Now what the hell is this?" Jay asked as he held up a big board that Hailey had laying out in front of her as well.

"That, Jay, is so we can stick the back of the frames to it so that we don't have to give the three of them to her separately. Then, she can just take them off from it and place them wherever she wants in her room."

"You're smart. Maybe you should've gone to law school."

"Haha, very funny, Halstead. But then I wouldn't have met you."

"Eh, I beg to differ. You'd probably end up being some prosecution or defense attorney and then I'd have to testify, and after getting yelled at by you on the stand, I'd end up making an ass of myself and ask you out for a drink."

"Is that so?"

"That is very much so."

He walked up to her and grabbed her by the waist and she gave him a peck on the lips. "Hails," Jay whined. "Why'd you phone it in?"

"Because we have presents to wrap. Now, sit your ass down on the carpet and help me."

"Yes ma'am. But, damn, you're really going to be the death of me."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

***

"Before we do cake everyone, me and Hailey have one more gift for Y/N," Jay announced by tapping a fork gently against his champagne glass. Yes, the adults were drinking champagne because they were celebrating your first birthday with them as their kid. No, they wouldn't even give you one sip...but you didn't care and you didn't ask.

You had gotten spoiled all day. Will had taken you out for breakfast where you had gotten chocolate chip pancakes with all the toppings. Then, he took you to the sporting goods store where you bought an FC Madrid jersey and to Barnes Noble where you bought a few new books.

Then, when you got home, you were surprised to find everyone from Intelligence there along with some people from Med, and firehouse 51. Emilia, Mouse, and Makayla were there, and your friend, Rosa, whom Emilia had introduced you to earlier in the year at her welcome home party since Rosa was one of Emilia's little cousins.

You had gone outside and played a huge soccer game. And, when you got sick of playing soccer, Emilia busted out a makeup kit she had bought for you. And you, Makayla, Emilia, and Rosa did each other's makeup. While the four of you were doing makeup, a soccer tournament had broken out where Intelligence played Med, and then the winner of that game played Firehouse 51. Intelligence won against Med...mostly due to Jay. But, then they played 51 and they got creamed.

"Here you go, nena," Hailey said as she passed you the gift. Hailey had started calling you nena since Jay had a nickname for you, cariña, which you learned now meant sweetheart in English. So, she decided to call you nena, which meant honey. And, you and Hailey had thought it only fair if you came up with a nickname for Jay. So, the one you decided on was quite fitting in your mind: pecas...which translated to freckles. And, Will, well Will calls you Osa because your favorite animal is a bear. It's probably one of only three words he knows in Spanish next to hola and adios.

The gift was long and hard...like a piece of wood. You slowly opened the gift, wondering what else you could have possibly gotten.

You bit your lip as you finished tearing the paper off and flipped it over. "Mamí, Papí, Illiana," you whispered as you held back tears. "¿Cómo lo hicisteis?" you asked. Seeing as Jay and Hailey had been working very hard on their Spanish for the past nine months, they could understand you and could sometimes explain an English word to you in Spanish if needed.

"We didn't really need to test out the drawing thing," Jay answered. "We just needed a picture of Illiana. And, I got the pictures of your parents from the locket."

At this, you started to cry harder, remembering that day when Jay had to cut your necklace off of you in the back of the Med truck in Spain.

You stood up and hugged both Jay and Hailey at the same time. Now, you had both of your families watching over you: your biological family from in heaven and your parents in the here and now. And, your biological family now had no doubt in their mind up there that you would never, ever forget them.

"You remember what she called us that night?" Hailey asked.

"How could I forget? It was the first night she called us mom and dad. I still remember her exact words when I told her we weren't trying to replace her biological family: Son mi familia en el cielo y en mi corazon, pero vosotros sois mi familia aquí."

"They're my family in heaven and in my heart, but you are my family here."

"Exactly."

"Oh my God!" Hailey laughed. "She wrote sixth-grade: I cheated on a literature test and Mom had to come to pick me up and I got in trouble. And then, Dad went full-on dad-mode."

"No fucking way," Jay laughed as he brought the laptop closer to him and looked for the sixth-grade section. "I can't believe this is what she's going to write about!"

"Well, in her defense, it was the first time we had to ground her and the first time you went full-on, overprotective, my daughter can do no wrong dad-mode."

"Pretty sure the next time I'll do that is when she gets asked to the homecoming dance later this year."

"Jay! You will not! You will not scare the boys away from our daughter!"

"Well, they should be scared!" Jay argued. "We're both cops, babe. We can make their death look like an accident."

"Jay, what you're talking about is murder and I shouldn't have to remind you that that is illegal. If so, I am going to the Ivory Tower tomorrow to get you stripped of your sergeant title."

"Fine, fine. The next time I'll do that is when she gets her driver's license."

"Hey, on the bright side, we wouldn't have to pick her up from the principal's office then," Hailey pointed out. "She could just drive herself home."

"We wouldn't have to figure out which of us should go pick her up like last time?"

"Exactly. And I'm pretty sure she was thankful that it was you and not me who picked her up in sixth grade."

"Miss Halstead," your literature teacher said as she stalked over to you from the other side of the classroom. "Care to tell me what you have under your sleeve?"

"My arm?"

"I don't like being disrespected in my classroom. We both know you have your phone in there. And, lying to me will just make this worse."

"I-I needed it," you stammered, not wanting to have the whole class hear how stupid you were.

"For a test? You know the rules: no cheating. Principal's office, now. Grab your stuff. And, I'll be calling your parents as you walk down there."

You grabbed your backpack and started your walk to the principal's office. It's not like you had a choice...well, you did have a choice. You could've just not used your phone on the test. But, after that last grade you got on that essay and how weirdly worded the questions were, you basically had no choice but to use your phone. It's not like you were using it to look up the answers per se, but you were using it to try and understand the questions because there was no way you were going to ask that teacher.

"Mrs. Halstead, right this way," you heard the office secretary say as they led Hailey to the principal's office. Your phone was sitting on the principal's desk, the tab you had been using to cheat open and you were fiddling with the strings of your hoodie. You had thought about deleting your search history, but knew it wouldn't be of any use because Jay and Hailey would just be able to look it up with whatever police software crap that Intelligence had access to. You knew you'd be in more trouble if you deleted it and they found out that you were lying, so you decided you wouldn't delete it...even though you were regretting that decision as your phone screen stared back at you.

"May I ask why my daughter is in the principal's office when I thought she should be taking a test?" Jay and Hailey knew all about your literature test that day as you had read the book twice to be ready for it.

"That's exactly why she's in here, Mrs. Halstead," the principal told Hailey. "She was trying to cheat on her literature test."

"She wouldn't do that!" Hailey defended you. "She studied so hard!" She looked between both you and the principal, but your gaze stayed trained on the floor.

"Just take a look."

He passed Hailey your phone and she looked at the search history and the timestamps of said history. "Y/N, is this true?"

You nodded. Hailey sighed. "I'm assuming she's suspended?"

"Since this is her first academic infraction, I'm not going to suspend her. She does need to go home for the rest of the school day, though."

"Thank you. C'mon Y/N, let's go."

You hung your head as you left the middle school, Hailey holding your phone and still trying to figure out why you did this. But she knew that one thing was for sure: the minute Jay got home, he would not be happy.

***

"You're kidding me, right?" you heard Jay ask Hailey in the kitchen.

You were currently in your room, but the kitchen was right down the hall, so if you were quiet and focused enough, you could hear their conversation.

"I wish I was, Jay," Hailey said. "Just...here, take a look."

You assumed that Hailey was handing Jay the phone and he was looking at your search history.

Jay took a deep breath and restrained himself from shoving the chair into the kitchen table.

You heard his heavy footsteps coming down the hall and quickly locked your door and then sat back down on your bed.

You heard the doorknob jiggle as Jay tried to open your door.

"Y/N! ¡Abras la puerta inmediatamente!" (Open the door immediately!)

You were in deep shit if he was yelling at you in Spanish.

You didn't move from your bed.

"¡Ábrelo ahora!" (Open it now!)

"¡Estoy viniendo! ¡Calmáse!" (I'm coming! Calm yourself!) You got up from the bed and opened the door.

"Do not ever, ever tell me to calm down ever again! Do you understand me?" Jay asked angrily as he flung open your door after he had unlocked it. You nodded. "Now, I understand that you were caught cheating on a test. Care to explain that to me?"

"Not really," you sighed as you sat on your bed.

"I'm giving you one more chance to explain to me why you chose to cheat. And I suggest you tell me the truth, kid."

You looked up to be met with Hailey standing in the doorway. She nodded to you as if to say you better listen to your dad.

"Well?" he asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"I needed to cheat!"

"Nobody needs to cheat!"

"Well, I did!" You dug through your backpack and found the paper you had to write for the class that your teacher failed you on. "Because of this!" You threw the paper on your bed. "And because my teacher is a puta!"

"You do not call your teacher a bitch, young lady!" Jay yelled.

"Jay!" Hailey yelled. "Take the paper, go to our room and read it and calm down!"

"So Mom can tell you to calm down but I can't?"

Jay turned back to you, but Hailey grabbed his arm. "Bedroom Jay. Now." He left the room and Hailey turned to you. "As for you. You're grounded from your phone for the foreseeable future. Sorry, nena. Now, we'll be back to talk to you after we've read whatever it is you threw on your bed."

***

"We read the paper," Jay said as he and Hailey entered your room again fifteen minutes later. "And, I'm sorry for yelling. I know me and your mom are both detectives, but it'd look better if you told us why you cheated instead of leaving us to put the pieces together."

"I'm sorry, I really am. It's just, I failed that paper. And, I worked really hard on it. And, she said it wasn't a real tradition."

The paper topic was to write about a family tradition and you wrote about the Spanish tradition of eating grapes on New Year's Eve. With twelve seconds left of the year, you'd put a grape in your mouth for every second that passed. You'd try to get all twelve grapes in your mouth, but that was really hard. You wrote about the last time you did it with your family and your papí almost got all of them in your mouth while you only got three in your mouth since you were only three years old at the time.

One of the grading criteria for the paper was that it had to be a real tradition.

"She said that it wasn't a real tradition, Dad. She said that because she had never heard of it and that it sounded weird to her, that it wasn't real. So, she failed me. I also put some Spanish words in there, but I put the translations next to it. I thought it would make it more...what's the word? It's kind of like real? Like it'd make it more real to read? You know that word for it?"

"Authentic?" Hailey asked.

"Yeah, that. I thought it'd make it more authentic to read. And, I knew the material of the book. But, the questions were so confusing and I didn't want to ask her to clarify because she's mean."

"So you googled the questions to try to figure out what they were asking?" Hailey asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry. I really am. I just didn't want you to be disappointed in me and think that I've been here for four years and not know English."

"Oh, cariña." Jay crouched in front of you. "We'd never think that. I promise. And I know Mom would never think that either, right?"

"That's right," Hailey agreed.

"Now, I have to go make a phone call."

"You went off on that teacher, Jay! I don't think I've ever heard you that angry when you weren't in interrogation!" Hailey laughed.

"Well yeah! That teacher's logic and grading criteria were seriously flawed. And, you read that paper. It was really good. As Y/N put it that day, she really was a puta."

Hailey rolled her eyes.

"Wish for the future," Jay read aloud. "I wish that I could figure out why Los Rebeldes came to the orphanage and killed Illiana."

"I think that's enough snooping through her stuff for the day, babe," Hailey said, beginning to feel uncomfortable reading this. "Let's just go to bed."

"Yeah, I'm just gonna take a quick shower and I'll be back, okay? I love you." He gave Hailey a quick peck on the lips and made his way to the bathroom to take a shower.

"I love you, too."

But, Jay barely heard her. He was so lost in thought about how to get answers for you, for his daughter. Hell, he wanted those answers just as bad as you. What kind of sick bastard would come into an orphanage heavily armed and just kill innocent civilians and innocent children?

***

"Mouse," Jay said as he entered the bullpen the next morning, "I need your help with something."

"Jeez, Jay, you're late," Ruzek commented. "Where's Hailey?"

"It's her RDO. And, I promised Y/N a frappuccino because she had to wake up early for school and had to go to bed late last night because we were working a case."

"Does Hailey--"

"No, Adam. Hailey does not know that I gave our fourteen-year-old daughter sugar-laced coffee this morning. And, if you so much as say the words frappuccino, Jay, and Y/N in the same sentence, I will bump you back down to patrol so fast you won't know what hit you."

Jay started to walk towards the tech area where he assumed Mouse would be. His voice carried, so he hoped he'd heard him when he'd said he needed his help.

"Whose idea was it to give Jay all this power?" Adam asked rhetorically. "I think it's going to his head."

"I heard that Ruz!"

"You needed something, Jay?" Mouse asked as he turned around from his laptop and took a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah, can you do something off the books for me?"

"You don't even have to ask anymore, man."

"Just need to make sure you don't assign a case number to it."

"I can do that. Now, what do you need?"

Jay pulled out his phone and pulled up a Spanish newspaper article from two weeks ago. He laid the phone in front of Mouse. "This. This is why I need you."

Mouse looked at the phone and back up at Jay with raised eyebrows. "I'm gonna need you to translate that. I don't speak Spanish."

"Says that the guy who killed everyone in the orphanage that Y/N was in is meeting with his lawyer about an appeal. That son of a bitch. And, it's happening on Monday."

"He's meeting with his lawyer on Monday or you'll know if he won the appeal or not on Monday?" Mouse asked.

"He's meeting with his lawyer on Monday."

"And you need me because...?"

"Think you can hack into Spain's maximum-security federal prison system?"

"You cannot be serious."

"I am dead serious, Mouse."

"Why don't you just wait to hear the news?"

Jay sighed and took a seat next to Mouse. "Y/N has to write a paper and was using my laptop. It was this narrative thing for her senior project, so it's due in a few years. But, I'll spare you the details. Y/N had to write what one of her wishes for the future was and she wrote that she wants to know why the guy killed everyone in the orphanage. Not who, because we already know that it was Raúl Rodríguez. She wants to know why."

"That guy's the one who told them to attack the orphanage? The one that killed her sister, right?"

"That's the prick."

"Okay, I'll see what I can do. I'd know that if it was my sister or my kid that I'd want to know."

"Thanks, man."

"Video and audio?"

"Yeah. I'm probably gonna get Emilia in on this too to translate."

"Why? Don't you and Hailey speak Spanish?"

"We do, but they're gonna talk really fast and I probably don't know law lingo except for the word lawyer."

"Fair enough. I'll get to work."

***

"Hails, Hails," Jay shook Hailey awake.

"Jay? Why are you home so late?" she asked as she rolled over and opened her eyes. It was almost 11:30 and she had gone to bed half an hour ago...she thought Jay would've been home by 11:00.

"Paperwork," Jay answered honestly. He instantly regretted his decision of waking Hailey up knowing her history of insomnia. "But, I shouldn't have woke you up. I'm sorry, babe."

"No, I'm awake now. What's up?" She sat up in bed and turned on the lamp to see Jay changing out of his clothes and into his pajama pants and an old t-shirt. "You don't have to sleep with a shirt on you know."

Jay smirked. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? But, don't want our daughter to walk in on me shirtless."

"She's spending the night at Rosa's," Hailey informed him.

"In that case..." Jay trailed off and took off his t-shirt along with his pajama pants so that he was just in his boxers. "Better?"

"Much better."

Jay pulled back the covers on his side of the bed and slid in next to his wife. She cuddled into his side and he wrapped an arm around her.

"What'd you want to tell me?" she asked.

"How do you know I wanted to tell you something?"

"You had that look in your eye, Jay Halstead. Now, tell me."

"So persuasive." He rolled his eyes playfully.

"Shut up."

"You love it, though." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "You know how Y/N's biggest wish was to know why Raúl Rodríguez attacked the orphanage?"

"Mhmm," she mumbled.

"Well, I'm gonna find out why."

She pulled away from him. "What? How? You're going to Spain? To interrogate him? You know the CPD doesn't have jurisdiction there even though you were a ranger there, right?"

"Hails, I'm not going overseas to find him. I promise you that."

"Okay." She settled back into his embrace. "Then what are you doing?"

"Having Mouse see if he can hack into the prison system so that I can watch the lawyer talk to him."

"And you're going to be able to understand everything they're saying?"

"No, but Emilia will."

"You called her and told her your plan before you told me?"

"No! The only person who knows is Mouse. I figured I'd call Emilia tomorrow. Like I said, I was just at the district late doing paperwork."

"Okay, I believe you. And, we're not going to have her in the room with us, Y/N that is? We're going to tell her why he did this so she doesn't have to hear it from him?"

"Precisely. Now, am I right in assuming that since Y/N's gone for the night that we can be as loud as we want?"

"You are very much correct in that." Then, he gave her a kiss...and this time, he didn't phone it in at a peck.

***

You were sitting in the breakroom Monday afternoon trying to do some American history homework. There was so much reading involved, but it was okay because you liked history. And, there were pictures in the textbook...it wasn't like you were reading Romeo and Juliet like you had to do in English class.

You knew Emilia was here because she had brought you some fries, much to your mom and dad's dismay since your mom had packed you a few extra snacks. But, Emilia said she had to hold up her reputation as your cool aunt...even if she wasn't related to you whatsoever. And so far, she was holding it up.

You didn't know why she was here, but you assumed it was because Kim was in the field and they needed someone to translate audio. Sometimes Jay would call in Emilia if he knew that she wasn't working to do some translating so he didn't have to deal with calling up a patrolman. You also knew from hearing some of his conversations with Will that Will wanted to ask her out.

And, you hoped she say yes. You wanted Emilia to be your actual aunt. Apparently, she had a thing for doctors according to Jay's side of the phone conversations you'd heard, so you hoped it'd work out if your uncle Will ever got the balls to ask her out.

All of a sudden, Emilia came into Jay's office and he took off running. Hailey saw this and she started following them.

"What?" you asked yourself.

They always would tell you if they had to leave and they'd always be sure to tell you they loved you before they left.

You quietly walked out of the breakroom and towards where you had seen them running to. You assumed they were in the tech area because of the direction they ran in and the fact that whenever Emilia was here, she was most likely in the tech room.

As you got closer, you started hearing Spanish.

Someone talking about an attack...an attack on an orphanage.

A man said it was in the Tabernas Desert.

You peeked your head around the corner to see that on the screen there was a man in a nice suit and someone sitting at a table with handcuffs on.

"Anything we don't already know?" Hailey asked.

"Not that it sounds like right now," Emilia answered. "They're just talking about the orphanage Y/N and Illiana were in and where it was."

So this is the guy who did it. This was the guy--no, the monster--who led the attack that killed your sister.

"The lawyer just asked Rodríguez why he did it," Emilia said.

"And?" Jay asked

"Jay, I need to be able to hear them talk, so shut up."

Jay held his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"The lawyer just asked if it was something personal, something like Rodríguez being an orphan and he didn't have a good experience there so he attacked it, something that would tug at the board of appeals heartstrings essentially." There was a pause as Emilia continued listening. "He said no." She paused again. "Oh my God."

"What?" Jay asked frantically. "Why did that prick kill innocent children?"

"He said he ordered the attack because the orphanage was receiving aid from the US, for things such as food, clothing, and basic necessities."

"Un-fucking-believable." Jay wanted to punch something, but he restrained himself. "So, because our country was helping those who couldn't help themselves, this prick went after them?"

"That's what it sounds like. I'm sorry, Jay."

"Hails, how are we going to tell Y/N?"

"You guys don't have to tell me," you said as you made your presence known. "I heard the whole thing."

Jay sighed. "I'm sorry cariña, really I am. I'm sorry that this happened to you. That you had to find out this way. That this was the reason for what that monster did. I'm sorry."

"Dad read my outline?" you asked, turning to Hailey.

"Yeah, nena, he did. It was just open and you know him, he couldn't stop himself."

"Because he's a detective before he's a sergeant, just like Nancy Drew," you said, bringing it back to the books you'd used to read with your dad every night when you had just come over to the states from Spain and were working on your English.

"This should never have happened," Jay said softly as he walked over to you and brought you into a tight hug. "People that do these kinds of horrific acts shouldn't have the right to be born, much less to live."

"But if that wouldn't have happened you wouldn't have found me. And I wouldn't have found my forever Mom and Dad."

A/N: I wrote over 6.5k words to get this posted today! That's a new personal record for me! Also, my neuroscience class is kicking my butt right now, so if I don't update as frequently, that's why. Hopefully, I'll get one out every week or every two weeks at the latest. Please like/reblog and comment because I love getting feedback and it keeps me motivated to write. If you want to be added to the taglist, just tell me and I’ll add you!

taglist: @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @onechicago18 @iamasimpingh0e

#jay halstead #jay halstead imagine #will halstead #ranger! jay #chicago pd #writer #writing #fanfic #fanfiction #imagine #chicago pd imagine #chicago pd fanfic #chicago pd fanfiction #jay halstead fanfiction #jay halstead fanfic

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jebazzled · 3 years

Text

it ain’t your muse! (shut up & write, ft. rihanna)

You nerds are always talking about your muse. My muse this, my muse that, I have no muse, my muse went the way of the dinosaurs, if my muse comes out of its burrow and sees its shadow I won’t be able to write for six weeks.

Shut up about your fucking muse!

It is true that you might go through periods where it is hard to find time and energy to write, or negative experiences in a writing community might leave you with anxiety surrounding writing. But by and large, writers block is something you can overcome!

Please, for the love of god, let me help you.

Writing is a muscle, and you’ve got to exercise it if you don’t want it to atrophy.

This tutorial is a bit of tough love about y’all and y’all’s diddly-darn muses, and some advice for snapping yourself out of it!

So here’s the thing about writing, my loves. You have to actually do it.

TERRIBLY inconvenient, I know.

I’m not here to tell you how to manage your work-life balance or how to manage your time. If you’re not writing much because you straight up don’t have time to write much, my advice is simple: pare down on your characters, focus on the plots that matter most to you, and spend some mental health juice on reminding yourself that there isn’t an RP Prom Queen, and even if there were, it’s better not to live or die by that bizarro crown.

But if you’re having trouble writing because of Your Muse... I’m cracking my knuckles.

We’ve all written with folks before - or been that folk before - who need a very specific set of circumstances if they’re going to write: they need time to Pinterest, need to listen to a specific playlist, need to get in the mindset, need the thread to scratch a very specific itch and need all of it to come together before the moon passes out of a waxing gibbous. As a fellow dev ho, I understand the appeal of writing to suit a mood, of vibing to a playlist, of prioritizing the stuff you’re going fucking feral for, of having the stars align while you do the thing. But if you’re like this when you’re writing for other people -

well, you’re making things difficult for both you and your writing partners! We can’t control the external constraints on our time, e.g. work and school, and we can’t always control the nonsense our psychology spins to keep us from writing. But some things are within our control, and by god, if there is any control to be had in the year of Mother Sappho 2021, don’t you want it?

At least some of your writers block is probably dumb as hell. So let’s beat the shit out of that part.

Anyway, if you’re yakking on and on about how your muse demands a bottle of red wine and a scented candle and fairy lights and soft socks and the blood of the servant, willfully given in order to spit out 200 words, or whatever...

it’s not that fucking deep.

Writing is a muscle. It’s like any other muscle: you need to exercise it.

If you’re training for a 5k, you don’t sit on your couch listening to “Eye of the Tiger” until race day. You get your ass off the cushion and pound the pavement. You probably start by alternating walks with short bursts of running. You probably don’t work your way up to actually running 5k at a time for a few weeks. And once you’ve run that first 5k, you don’t go sit on your couch to listen to “Eye of the Tiger” until the next race. You keep running to stay in shape for the next race.

Writing is like that.

What you write does not have to be perfect.

You can work on the post for six weeks and there will still be things you could change. You know what change your writing partner would have appreciated most? If you’d posted it for them three weeks ago. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

Cut yourself the same slack you cut for your writing partners. Do you yearn to keelhaul them if their reply isn’t worth a National Book Award? No, because you’re not an asshole. They’re also not an asshole. Everyone is reasonable here. Write something that responds to what they gave you and that gives them something to work with. Not every single post has to be capital-I Inspired. ✨

What you write does not have to be a vibe ready for the Goop newsletter.

I was a creative writing major in college, and I was always having to turn stuff in for class that wasn’t exactly what I wanted to work on: a short story set in another country when I just wanted to write a play with puppets, an essay about food when I would rather write one about a weekend drive, etc.

Sometimes, you write what you write when you write it not because it’s getting you hot and bothered but because you’ve owed a reply for A While and you feel bad about keeping someone waiting. It will still be fun, because you chose to do that thread with your character and someone else’s character for a reason, and that reason stands, even if your monkey brain is yearning to play with that slime that makes fart noises when you put it away.

(Pro tip, here: don’t do threads you don’t actually have any interest in writing! It is less awkward to tell someone, “I am not interested in my character weed whacking your character’s lawn” than to waste their time with 10 posts of it before telling them, “I am not interested in my character weed whacking your character’s lawn.”)

The more you write, the easier it is.

Let’s talk about running again. A couple of years ago, I went on a bit of a kick with the running. I ran at least three times a week. I would bring my running shit with me to work so I could run in the park near my office. I would make running dates with friends. I would reward myself with a bagel from my favorite cafe if I did a run. And you know what? Once I got myself past the hurdle of pulling on my running clothes and lacing up my shoes, I enjoyed myself. When I ran 5k without slowing to a walk, I was proud of myself. When I told myself, “let’s do another loop at the park!” and stopped to take a photo of the sunset, I enjoyed myself. I would not have enjoyed myself if I hadn’t hit the goddamn pavement.

Put your ass in your fucking chair. I don’t care if you don’t have the right scented candle. Write 50 words. Right fucking now. I’ll wait.

Write another 50.

Now write another 100.

How long did that take you? Some days, it might take you 90 minutes to write 200 words. But that’s 200 more words than you would have written in 90 minutes of browsing Pinterest waiting for an angel to come down from heaven and write this post for you.

All that bullshit you do to Feed Your Muse? It’s stalling, you idiot.

The more you make yourself write instead of just thinking about writing, the easier it will be to actually fucking write.

I used to sit and stare at posts for hours and hours and hours before submitting them, so worried about the post being good enough. When I moved to a neighborhood with an aboveground train line, I was able to write on my morning commute, and writing every morning - even if only the 200 words I could crank out on mobile in 30 minutes before work - got me out of my weird writers block crutches and security blankets. It didn’t take as much effort to write, anymore. I wrote over 200,000 words in 2019, and over 300,000 words in 2020, when I had barely any commute at all to use on writing. I didn’t magically have endless hours of free time. I just wasn’t wasting my free time pretending that being on Tumblr counted as writing.

Tough love: doled out. And now:

TIPS & TRICKS FOR BEATING “””Writers Block”””

Stop acting like Writers Block is real. It’s not that it’s not real, but by telling yourself that you have Writers Block, you’re making it worse for yourself. You’re making excuses for yourself. I used Writers Block to stall writing my Topics in Creative Writing: Folktales portfolio for 3 months, and you know what happened? I still had to turn in the fucking portfolio, because the person I was writing for didn’t fucking care about my fucking Writers Block. And you know who had to sit her ass in a chair and write 30 pages of folktales in a 24 hour period? Me. It’s almost like my Writers Block was just PROCRASTINATION.

Set a timer. If you’re looking at your list of replies owed and you’re feeling like it might be easier to “do character dev” and “build a playlist” than to write your posts, break the task into smaller pieces. If your server has a sprint bot, use it. If not, set your own timer. Organize your list of threads with the ones you’ve owed replies on the longest at the top. Set your timer for 20 minutes and see how much you can write for the oldest post you owe. Not done? Set the timer for another 20 minutes. Keep setting that timer until that post is done and you can drop it in the tags channel. Now do the same for the second oldest. CRANK! THEM! OUT! If you find that it’s depleting your creative energy, that’s not unusual! When I get to this point in my own posting habits, my oldest replies owed are usually for Albus Dumbledore, a character I write specifically because I hate him. It is often easier to knock out all his posts in one chunk rather than shift voice, so this ends up working out nicely.

Don’t indulge your stupid stalling tactics. Do you typically get sidetracked by Pinterest? Put your phone away and close that tab. Do you get absorbed in lining up the perfect music for writing a post? Write in silence, asshole. Do you need to be in your favorite chair with the right lighting? Go sit on a park bench and write on mobile. It’s nice to write in idealized environments. I rented a treehouse last summer to write 10k on a novel! I get it! But you absolutely can write in other environments, if you have to. And if you can get yourself to write on a dark skin on your iPad at an airport in the Midwest while waiting for a flight - well, shit, think of how much you’ll be able to write on a laptop when your diva ass demands are properly met!

Don’t take on shit you don’t want to write. I fully admit that these tactics feel a bit like homework/chores/a to-do list for what is of course a fun hobby. You know how they say “love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life?” If you don’t take on plots, characters, and threads that don’t have a lick of interest or excitement for you, this shit won’t feel like a hassle.

Hope this whips all you little miscreants (myself included) into shape! Now quit your yapping and start writing.

#rp guides #resources #writing resources #on writing #stop trying to make writers block happen. it's not going to happen.

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softsalome · 3 years

Text

the photographer’s assistant.

Repost from my old account, @/softperfuma.

Modern AU.

“This stop is- Sinsa Station. Sinsa Station. The doors are on your left.”

Catra was the first out the train car and up the stairs, grumbling every step of the way. The faster she was off the train meant the faster she got to her meeting, which meant the faster she was out of Gangnam.

If anyone asked, she didn’t hate being there, not really. But she definitely didn’t care for all the pricey clothes and even pricier cars, and people that seemed to have never worked a day in their lives. A short train ride to the southern side of the Han river didn’t bother her. It was the air that reeked of privilege and wealth gap as soon as she left the station. Though considering she got a fine dust alert that morning, it might be the pollution as well.

She glanced at her watch as she got closer to the cafe where her meeting would be held, deciding to wander upon realizing she was nearly a half hour early. Milling about the attached boutique, she looked at a tag out of curiosity, quickly hissing at the sight of the price. Catra wasn’t exactly a broke college student, but the blazer in her hands cost more than a shopping trip and month of eating out combined. Gingerly setting it back in its place, she headed to the cafe and ordered the americano she desperately needed. It was before noon, which meant it was far too early for her to come to grips with being awake.

Sliding into her seat after grabbing her drink, she fell into a daze, looking out the window and following the lines of the makeshift bamboo forest outside the cafe. She was so out of it that it took a few moments for her to notice the hand waving on the other side of the glass, and she sat up with a jolt as the hand - and its owner - headed inside to greet her.

“Hi, Catra! It’s nice to finally meet you!”

She didn’t need him to take his mask off to know he was grinning from ear to ear, settling into the seat across from her with a huff as he finally peeled the thing off his face.

“You too, Bow,” she replied calmly, her eyes following the camera he placed on the table between them. “Busy day?” she asked innocently, her head nodding to the side as she wondered who her competition for top priority may be.

While Bow Arcas was new to the city, he definitely wasn’t new to photography. Mostly doing hobby and occasional freelance work, his portfolio was three years and dozens of models long. Catra couldn't believe it when he reached out to her first, and even had one of her roommates look over her phone to make sure it wasn’t broken. (The phone was fine, but when she got it back it had a VPN that was set to a server in Milan. She didn’t ask.) And as aloof as Catra always appeared to be, she was afraid of having to fight tooth and nail to work with one of the best photographers in the city. Between her college classes and finally beginning to accept brand deals, she didn’t have much energy for anything else. She doesn’t remember how she did it before her social media accounts started to pay the bills; it was just one long blur of anxiety and scholarship applications.

He smiled again, toying with his cased camera as he answered. “Not really. Just some test shots this morning with my roommates. I usually do fashion and event stuff, but lately I’ve been wanting to delve into candid photography.”

“Ah, gotcha,” she answered, immediately relaxing in her seat. She looked on as Bow took the camera out of its case, pressing a few buttons before handing it to her from across the table.

“If you want you can look at them while I order. Here, these buttons will take you back and forth through the photo reel.”

Before Catra could protest, Bow was up and on his way to the counter, leaving her to flip through the photos.

The first couple were fuzzy and silly: a shot of Bow in the mirror, both hands holding the camera in front of his face as the strap dangled in front of his pajama-clad body. Following that was a woman, presumably his roommate, flipping him off from the hallway. Her hoodie was pulled tight and obscured her face, but Catra could still make out long tufts of purple and pink hair. Then there were more closeups; light streaming through someone’s fingers, the manicured nails recognizable from a few photos before. A collection of feet crossing the living room floor, the shutter speed slowed so the feet seemed to move in slow motion. The girl with pink hair came into view again, her hoodie pulled back enough to reveal a soft, round face and short eyebrows. Her head was thrown back in a laugh as she walked, her body frozen in time mid-stride towards the kitchen.

And then she appeared. And she was beautiful. Of-fucking-course she was beautiful.

The change in angle meant a change in lighting, and Bow definitely took advantage, taking the shots from a lower height for the next dozen or so photos. She was broad shouldered and blond, her hair grazing the middle of her back before a few stills caught her sweeping it up into a ponytail. The muscles in her arms were taut as she fixed her hair, only outlined by the steam rising from the kettle behind her. The next still took Catra by surprise, the mystery woman staring directly into the camera. Her eyes were a piercing, stormy blue, and Catra felt like she was looking right through her. The next few shots cut a little deeper, with the woman smiling instead, standing in the same position as she fiddled with the heart shaped pendant that hung just above her sports bra.

Catra flipped back to the beginning as Bow walked back, trying not to linger on the blond.

“What’d you think?” he asked, taking a sip from his sweet looking latte.

“They look good as hell, dude.” Catra replied, sipping on her drink and hoping she wasn’t absolutely transparent.

“Thanks! I was thinking I could try a few candid shots with you too; I feel like it fits the current aesthetic you’re going for, especially on Instagram.”

Catra nodded, thankful to any and every god that Bow did his research. Now she didn’t have to whip out her Pinterest board and subsequently feel very weird about it.

“So, what do you have in mind?”

They talked for over an hour after that, discussing everything from the photos Catra would want, compensation, and editing preferences. Bow offered to do a primer shoot first, and Catra was glad to see how well they could work together before she had to start burning holes in her pockets. Bow’s prices weren’t nearly as steep as Catra would’ve thought, but with rent on her heels and her brand work just getting started, she could really use a free session. They agreed to a time and place the following weekend, and Catra saved Bow’s number into her phone as he started texting rapidly and organizing his things. Bow mentioned that he might have one of his friends help with the shoot, which Catra agreed to with a quick wave of her hand. The more that Bow can focus on the photos the better.

“You heading out?” she asked, stirring the melting ice in her glass.

“Almost,” Bow answered. “My friends are going to meet me here so we can walk home together.” Catra fiddled with her hair, hiding her ears in the curls in case they started to redden.

“If you’re good to stay a little longer, Catra, you can meet them.”

“No it’s alright,” she said a bit too quickly, packing the last of her things in her purse. “I have some errands to run and I live in Hongdae, so..”

“Oh yeah, of course! Sorry I assumed you live closer; I live around here so I just-”

“You live here? In Sinsa?” Catra asked as she stood, leaning on the seat with one knee as she waited for an answer. “You got money like that, Bow?”

He laughed hard at that, causing a few patrons to turn to see what the commotion was. One glance at Catra and they were satisfied, quickly turning back to their own business.

“Not really,” he said, as he wiped a tear from his eye. “Just lucky. And I have some good friends.”

She nodded in response, pushing her chair in to leave after they both bid their goodbyes. Walking towards the exit, Catra was already thinking about how the photoshoot the following weekend would go, and if she could ever handle meeting Bow’s friends.

But unfortunately, the universe didn’t much care about what she could handle. She was looking at the ground as she walked towards the exit, so she didn’t see the face of the person that opened the door for her, opting to softly say her thanks in Korean and stride past. She then got a nose full of wisteria and an English reply.

“Of course… Catra?”

She quickly looked up at the sound of her name, hoping it wasn’t a stranger. She wasn’t against her followers approaching her on the street, but she’d be lying if it was anything short of draining. But with the way her heart dropped to her stomach, she might’ve preferred a fresh face.

It was her. Adora. That’s what Bow said her name was. And she smelled like wisteria. And she was beautiful. Of-fucking-course she was beautiful.

And just as any other sane person would’ve reacted, Catra’s mind went completely blank.

“Hi,” she said, nodding vaguely to Adora and the cotton candy girl from the hallway photos. Then she just… turned. Turned and kept walking. She was sure she heard someone pipe up to speak behind her, but she ignored it, turning the corner and not looking back once, eyes fixed ahead and searching for the nearest station entrance.

She slumped into the train seat with a huff, the seat next to her as empty as it often was. Catra never felt hurt by the fact that people tended to be too intimidated to sit next to her, and was actually a little thankful for it now, as she opened Bow’s account and started to scroll through his feed looking for a familiar face.

After 30 minutes and a train transfer later, she finally found it: a selfie of Bow and the cotton candy girl, Shimmer, she thinks, and a bit of blond hair at the edges of the photo. Tapping on the screen, she captured the missing piece, a tag that would lead her directly to the page. ‘et.adora’, the tag read, and she cursed under her breath when it led to a locked account. She squinted at the abstract display photo as she stepped off the train again.

“Why the fuck do locals always lock their shit? They don’t have anything to hide!”

By the time she reached the exit, she had given up on what felt a lot like cyberstalking, ready to stuff her phone in her pocket and focus on the music thrumming in her ears as she walked home. But her phone buzzed in her hand before she was able to, the emojis quickly filling her screen.

Bow: It was nice meeting you, Catra! I’ll see you next week! Adora and I will be at exit 5

Adora and I will be at exit 5.

Catra stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, her head rolling to the side as people walked around her, ignorant to her sudden distress.

“Fuck.”

Next week was going to be interesting.

#catradora #msww #spop #shera

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de-facto-slut · 4 years

Text

Release Me Into Orbit

(Dark!Bucky x Black!Female Reader)

Summary: Bucky and the Reader are trying to heal from the trauma of their pasts.

A/N: Here we dive into the past. The true beginning to our characters stories. This story takes place both in the past and the present so get ready for that. I do plan on releasing the next Chapter of Invisible Chain soon! Stay tuned.

Warnings: Non-Con, Dub-Con, Violence, major character death, Manipulation, emotional abuse, physical abuse, eventual Kidnapping, Breeding Kink, and angst etc later in the story.

Honestly More tags will be added.

Ch 2: 2014

Longing.

It was hard for Bucky to see anything through the small opening in his cell door. He had lost count of how many years he had been locked up a long time ago. There were no windows that allowed him to even guess when it was night and when it was day. Inside his cage they made sure he had no human interaction; they left Bucky completely alone. As the years passed the only thing keeping him company was his own thoughts. Bucky would try his hardest to focus on his fragmented memories before the war. Those memories contained the few good things he could remember about being human. His first kiss behind Sal’s Diner. The smell of his mother’s home-made cherry pie. The scary thing was he couldn’t even remember his mother’s face, just the smell of her fragrant pie. To be honest he couldn’t remember any faces. They were all just blurs. When it came to his captors all he knew is that they had the same routine in place for him every day. They would feed him his one meal, then they would return to remove him from the cell. The strong ones would drag him through a maze of corridors until he reached a room filled with bright fluorescent lights. The lights illuminated the dreaded device they used for their experiments.

Rusted.

The experiments were the only time he interacted with anyone outside of his cell. Bucky could never see them properly as they always hid behind the bright lights. All he ever got to see were their shadows as they moved about speaking their foreign tongue. Nobody ever spoke to him unless they were reciting the very words that caused him great mental distress. Those words were a curse that was cast on him a long time ago after the war. One that followed him, captor to captor. They would often drug him, just enough so he’d be a little disorientated, but they made sure he’d still be able to feel and hear everything. Once drugged, that’s when they would begin torturing him. The only thing they would change in his routine is the method in which they tortured him. Each time they would try a new method to test the limits of his body and the limits of his mind. Unfortunately for Bucky, the day didn’t end until he physically and mentally could not take anymore. Eventually, they didn’t even need to use pain or the dreaded spell to get him to comply.

Seventeen.

It was a strange sensation to not be in control of one’s own body. It was a sensation that Bucky should have grown used to, but he never could. It was as if his own consciousness was taking a back seat while someone else controlled him over and over, each driver just as brutal as the next. He was always vaguely aware of what atrocities they made him commit in the name of science, and that in itself was torture to live with. When they would return him to his cell, he could barely get a wink of sleep as the images would replay over and over in his mind. Their screams ringing in his ears. This was what they had reduced him to, he was just a tool to them. Eventually, he had to do everything in his power to keep himself from going completely mad and that just meant numbing himself to it all. The bright-eyed man from Brooklyn that was just trying to save the world was gone years ago. In his place was a murderer. A weapon. A monster. And that’s all he’d ever be.

Daybreak.

It was a day like any other, except it was storming outside. Bucky could tell by the sounds of the fierce winds howling against the facility that and he had finally been moved to a cell with a small window. Bucky had learned that he had been with these particular captors for several years. Honestly, everyone that ever ‘owned’ him was the same in his eyes, so it didn’t matter how long he was kept. Eventually, he’d just be handed off or kidnapped again by someone else that wanted him. Luckily for him, years of compliance and loyalty earned him an upgraded cell and some limited freedoms. Along with some of the smaller changes he was finally able to speak their tongue, just another language to add to his impressive portfolio. There weren't a lot of things Bucky could do to entertain himself. If he wasn’t on an active mission, he was pretty much tied to his room unless they allowed him a break from his cell. In his free time, all Bucky could do is entertain himself by working out. And that’s all he ever did.

Furnace.

He was face down as his palms supported his weight in a push-up position.

“Two hundred and Forty-Nine.”

“Two Hundred and Fif-”

Nine.

He suddenly paused looking towards the door of his cell. He could have sworn he had heard a voice. Bucky waited patiently, but there was only silence in return. Perhaps he had imagined it, or maybe he was truly going mad. He returned his gaze to the floor before he heard it again. It was a voice, it was faint, but it was definitely a voice.

Benign.

“Hello?” it called out softly as if in a whisper.

Homecoming.

The voice was suddenly followed by the sound of the metal slot on the door sliding to reveal two eyes peering at him. Bucky was unsure of how to respond, mainly because he was unsure what was going on. The men who came to retrieve him from his cell never spoke to him, and this person was clearly speaking English. English felt foreign to him now, he hadn’t heard it in so long. Bucky suddenly sat up watching the eyes on the other side of the door. Again, there was a moment of silence before they spoke again.

One.

“Can you understand me?”

It was a woman.

Freight car.

---

“Mom! Hurry, I’m going to miss my flight!”

You rushed down the stairs with your bags in your hands. Your shoes caught on the last step almost causing you to trip. A quiet curse left your lips as you attempted to stabilize yourself. Your father watched as he tried not to laugh at your misfortune. Carefully, you handed him your bags and he tossed them into the trunk of his truck.

“Fragile!” you shouted at him.

You crawled into the back of the car as you patiently waited for your parents to join you. Eventually, after what seemed like another 30 minutes gone by, they entered the car. “Do you have everything?” your father asked one last time.

“Yes, now let’s get going!”

It felt like freshman year of college all over again. Instead, you were a graduating senior and you had just accepted an opportunity of a lifetime. A few months ago, your professor, Mr. Brigmova, had presented your class with an opportunity. The top five students in the program would be able to join him in a work-study program. You were still unsure how you beat out several other students, but you did. You felt extremely lucky to be able to partake in such a program. To be among the top 5 students in your area of study was everything you could have hoped for. It showed your parents that it wasn’t a waste of time or money to send you out of state for school.

Ever since middle school, you had always wanted to study genetics and biology. When you reached high school, you learned about Bioinformatics and molecular genetics and you made up your mind on what you wanted to do. When you told your parents, they began immediately running numbers in their heads. Feeling guilty about your career choice and the school you chose to attend; you worked your ass off to get and keep a 4.0 GPA. In turn that promptly led you to the 3rd spot among the top 5 students. And not to toot your own horn, you were the only double major among them. Double the hard work, so deep down you felt as if you were #1 anyway.

As a result of all your hard work, you were flying across the world for the first time. You’ve never been so nervous before your professor had revealed the location, you had never heard of Sokovia. You wouldn’t have been able to locate it on a map either, it was such a small country. This was also the first time you had to travel without your parents, and you’d be away for them for five months. You would have no safety net out there. Before you knew it, you had arrived at the airport and you could feel the butterflies settling at the bottom of your stomach like a heavy rock. You felt like you had to use the bathroom, but you knew better than that. Your parents helped you remove your bags from the car as the other cars honked impatiently. You flipped the respective vehicle off before embracing your parents one last time. You exchanged your goodbyes before you disappeared behind the airport doors.

It was the longest flight you had ever been on. After getting off the plane, you were tempted to kiss the frozen ground, but you had seen enough cartoons to know what would happen. In Sokovia, the winters were harsh around this time, and thanks to your research beforehand you were prepared. Or at least you thought you were. You exited the airport to be greeted by the harsh Sokovian winter.

The bitter cold of Sokovia nipped at your bare cheeks and the tip of your nose. Slowly it seeped into the pockets where you kept your gloved hands numbing your fingers slowly. The cold was nothing like you were used to back in the south. Immediately, regret settled right beside the nervousness as you realized you wished you had stayed behind the airport doors just a moment longer as you waited for your ride.

The streets were not as busy as google images made it seem. It was probably due to the fact that it was unbearably cold, and it was late. You desperately wanted to return to the warmth of indoors, but you feared missing your shuttle. You moved about in hopes that it would warm you up while you waited for the shuttle as you watched it grow dark. Not wanting to expose your hands to the cold you peeked at your pocket for the time before you left you made sure to adjust it for the time difference. The shuttle was running late and that worried you, you knew nothing of the language to get help if you ended up stranded.

Eventually, you took a seat on your suitcase, holding onto it tightly. The last thing you would want is to be robbed in a completely different country. You waited for what seemed like almost an hour in the cold before you saw the shuttle pull up in front of you. Slowly you stood on your two feet stretching as you watched the shuttle door slide open, only to reveal your professor. Mr. Brigmova was a tall man with an average build in his early forties. He had dirty blonde hair and striking gray eyes. If not for the slight wrinkles near his eyes, he could have easily been mistaken for his early thirties. He motioned you inside as he jumped out to grab your bags for you. You did as you were told climbing into the vehicle as the warmth inside embraced you. You watched as Mr. Brigmova carefully placed your bags in the back seat of the shuttle. He flashed you a smile as he slid into the seat next to you. “It is good to see you, Y/N.” He greeted you. “It’s nice to see you too, Mr. Brigmova,” you replied.

“Please, call me Peter. We’re colleagues now.” He responded. You noted it was just you, Your professor, and the Driver. Out of everyone you were the last from the program to make it in. Your professor turned towards the driver tapping the back of his seat, “My gotovy k rabote.” He mentioned in his native tongue. You weren’t completely sure what he had told the driver but the fact that the shuttle started moving probably was related. Peter turned to you noting how tense you were placing a hand on your knee and squeezing it lightly. His action surprised you, but he only flashed you a smile in return,

“Relax you’re in Sokovia now.”

#bucky x you #bucky x reader #dark!bucky barnes #bucky fanfic #dark!fanfiction #Dark Fic #dark!marvel #dark!bucky x reader #dark!bucky x black!reader #dark!bucky x you #dark!bucky x y/n #dark!mcu #black reader #bucky × black reader #sam wilson

55 notes · View notes

notebooknebula · 4 years

Video

youtube

Dan and Crystal Mewhorter - A Story of Life Changing Success in Real Estate Investing.

https://www.jayconner.com/dan-and-crystal-mewhorter-a-story-of-life-changing-success-in-real-estate-investing/

Jay Conner is joined today by Dan and Crystal Mewhorter.

Dan and Crystal used to both work full time, Crystal was in the healthcare industry and Dan was on call 24/7 supporting software for the coast guard. A few years ago the couple stepped away from their careers and entered real estate investing.

Now after four 4 years since the couple have met Jay they have raised millions of dollars in private money and private funding for their own business.

Dan and Crystal business model in real estate investing focused on a combination. Meaning 80% to 90% of their portfolio have some terms deals and the predominant piece of that percentage is in “rent to own status”. While ten (10) to twenty (20) percent are in “fixed and flip” by which are all in private funds.

An estimate of the couple’s average profit and equity is seventy two thousand dollars ($72,000.00) per house.

If you want to learn more about the recent deals that Dan and Crystal have done, how they found, funded and all the work that needed to be done to make a successful deal, just continue watching this video.

Real Estate Cashflow Conference: https://www.jayconner.com/learnrealestate/

Free Webinar: http://bit.ly/jaymoneypodcast

Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $64,000 per deal.

#RealEstate #PrivateMoney #FlipYourHouse

————————————————————-

Jay Conner (00:00): Well, hello there and welcome to another episode of Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner. I’m Jay Conner, The Private Money Authority and your host on the show. And that this is your first time joining us. We want to give you a very, very special welcome. We talk all things real estate here on the show. We talk about investing in single family houses, commercial deals, land, self storage, any way you can think about carving up a real estate deal, we talk about it. We talk about how to find deals, how to fund deals, how to rehab them. If you’re into rehabbing, how to sell them fast, how to automate your business and actually work in the business list and 10 hours per week and make a lot of money while you’re doing it. And if you’ve been tuning into the show you know that I have amazing guest come on the show you’re with me, and today is no exception, but before I introduce my guests today, by the way, the reason you should stick around is we’re going to be talking about actual deals that are going on right now.

Jay Conner (01:13): And my guests are going to talk about how they’re finding these deals these days and what the numbers are looking like, and you’ll be able to duplicate it. But first I’ve got a free gift for everybody that is tuning in. And that is, I recently launched my membership, which is called The Private Money Academy. And in this membership we are live on Zoom coaching calls at least twice a month, and we have phenomenal content and teaching inside the membership sites. So if you’re remotely interested in getting more funding for your deals, without relying on local banks or mortgage companies and not relying on hard money lenders, cause this has got nothing to do with hard money, this is private money. If you want some more funding for your deals and not have to worry about your credit score and verification of income and all that mess.

Jay Conner (02:04): Well, get right on over to www.JayConner.com/Trial. And that’s going to give you a full month’s free access to all the benefits of the Private Money Academy. So again, that’s www.JayConner.com/Trial. Be sure and take me up on that free offer. Well, it’s now time to bring on our guest today. Oh, one more announcement. I really appreciate for you to be if you’re tuning in, on iTunes or any of the venues like that, be sure to subscribe and share and like and review particularly review of being a whole lot to me as well, I’d appreciate that. So now on our guests, my guests today are up in Virginia and we first met oh somewhere around four years ago or so, and it is amazing what they have accomplished in such a short period of time.

Jay Conner (03:12): They’ve raised millions and millions of dollars in private money and private funding for their own business. And they’ve massed a huge wealth and equity and cash since doing deals. In fact, in just the past four months up there in their market, they have purchased 16 additional houses bringing their portfolio to almost 100 houses that they have in their portfolio and their inventory. And I’m going to bring them on here in just a second to share with you how they’re finding these deals these days, how they’re getting them funded and what their business model is looking like. So with that, welcome to the show, Dan and Crystal Mewhorter.

Crystal Mewhorter (03:55): Hey Jay.

Dan Mewhorter (03:55): Hey Jay.

Jay Conner (03:57): Hello, good to see you. And didn’t we have just a fantastic time last week here in Eastern North Carolina at my live event, The Real Estate Cashflow Conference.

Dan Mewhorter (04:09): Absolutely

Crystal Mewhorter (04:09): So much fun. It was so great to be in person with all the students.

Dan Mewhorter (04:13): Yeah.

Jay Conner (04:13): And we had our Mastermind meeting last, let’s see a week ago last Monday and Tuesday, two full days. That’s our top elite group Mastermind members from all over the nation. So yeah, we had us a full week, Monday through Friday for sure. Didn’t we?

Crystal Mewhorter (04:30): Absolutely.

Jay Conner (04:31): So, Crystal and Dan, whichever one of y’all wants to do the talking I’m sure you all want to go back and forth. Why don’t you tell our audience how it is that we even know each other.

Crystal Mewhorter (04:46): So I had, I have the great privilege of actually running into Mr.Jay Conner. So I was at a Real Estate Investing event and I was running down the hall as I’m known to do. I generally don’t walk very slow. So, just wasn’t paying close enough attention, ran smack into him we were at the elevator up, he was delightful, surprisingly pleasant. I had no idea who I was talking to at the time he introduced himself asked me a couple of questions. I went back to the event, you know, had my head hanging just a little bit, cause I was really quite embarrassed and not moments later he’s introduced as the next speaker which much to my surprise. From that point forward, I had the great opportunity to get to know Jay and Carol Joy and then ultimately attended their events sometime later. Dan and I did, and got to know them a bit better.

Crystal Mewhorter (05:39): And I think the really special part was obviously spending time with them at their events and getting to really know them and, what a family it really is. So signed up to be members of the Platinum Program and we worked the entire program. And as Dan had said, we did what Jay said, that is his rule, Jay said to do it. So we have to do it. And we really credit that to our success. And in the end of it all have the absolutely awesome, awesome pleasure of getting to assist with coaching, your students that are in the program at this point. So we’re very, very blessed.

Jay Conner (06:16): Absolutely. So I sort of spilled the beans, but the kind of results that you and Dan personally have achieved so far and not to be personal or too specific, but how would you describe, your results?

Dan Mewhorter (06:36): Phenomenal. And it is far out exceeded or exceeded my expectations and we just continue to keep growing. So we continue to do what we do and it works for our market and we’re still using the basis of it as your structure and it’s been great.

Crystal Mewhorter (06:55): And I would chime in life changing. So we’re both incredibly fortunate. We both worked full time, many, many hours. So I was in the healthcare industry and also in leadership. So I worked well over full time. Did activities required, nights, weekends, things like that. And was raising two small children and actually stepped away from that career a few years ago now and are able to enjoy a lifestyle we could have never have dreamt and Dan was able to step away from his way over full time career. Cause he was on call 24/7 supporting software for the coast guard and in their search and rescue program. So the two of us has an incredibly different life than we could ever have imagined. So life changing would be the best word.

Jay Conner (07:47): So you’ve been both of you been full time working together husband, wife team in The Real Estate Investing. And how long have you all been full time now?

Crystal Mewhorter (07:59): I’ve been three years.

Dan Mewhorter (08:01): And two and a half for me. Just a little less than two and a half.

Jay Conner (08:04): That’s awesome. So tell everybody, what does your all’s business model look like? And what I mean by that is, you know some real estate investors focus heavily on terms. And I know you all do a lot of terms deals. Some investors rely on hard money as far as funding their deals. Some investors buy and hold, some buy and flip, some do a mix. So what’s just the overview of your all’s business model look like?

Crystal Mewhorter (08:36): Our business model is focused on a combination. So by all means we do a lot of terms deals. That’s one of the things that we specialise in and really enjoy the benefits of. So at any given time our portfolio has about and it, of course it changes cause it’s goes through evolution. So 80 to 90% of the portfolio may have some sort of terms in that and or predominant the predominant piece of that is in a rent to own status. And though all of those deals, whether they’re owner finance, subject to you or any other level of combination of creative financing may have some private money on that as well. And then anywhere from 10 to 20% at any given time are fix and flip directly all private funds.

Jay Conner (09:25): What’s your average profits looking like these days? And when I say average profit, you may have, you know, you sell a lot on rent to own, so you haven’t cashed out on selling it rent to own, but you got a big chunk of equity. So, either in cash out profits or equity, what’s your average profits looking like?

Crystal Mewhorter (09:45): Average, when we put it together I guess about two weeks ago, we revisited that to see what our numbers look like. We’re averaging 72 as our profit margin, obviously they vary.

Jay Conner (09:57): Yeah. Just to make sure everybody understands that $72,000, not separate, we’re not talking $7,200 in wholesale fees. We’re talking profit and equity of $72,000 per house. What’s the median price, a house in your all’s area.

Crystal Mewhorter (10:16): 250,000.

Jay Conner (10:18): So you’re 250. So obviously for you to be getting these kind of average profits, you gotta be finding these in very, very deeply discounted being able to buy them deeply discounted, right?

Crystal Mewhorter (10:30): Yes.

Jay Conner (10:30): Yeah. So I asked you to come on the show today and talk about a couple of recent deals that you all have done. So let’s talk about your first deal and let’s tell them everything, you know, from how you found the deal? How much you paid for it? How did you fund it? What kind of repairs if any, were required? What did you sell it for? Or how did you sell it? What kind of marketing you use to locate it? And just sort of from start to finish,

Crystal Mewhorter (11:04): Do you want to talk about long lap or do you want me to start? Okay. So a purchase that we just recently completed within actually, I guess, about two weeks we found the deal. It was actually someone that identified us on Google. So we can attribute that to all of the SEO efforts that we’ve put in place. So search engine optimization for those that aren’t familiar with that term, having had companies that have assisted us with that as well as really working that organically. So making sure that we’re reaching out to our customers asking them to share when they have a good experience and so forth. So this was a Google search.

Jay Conner (11:47): Let me ask you all this. What are just I mean, if someone wants to other, I mean, it’s always best to hire an Expert, but if someone’s wanting to increase their organic results of people just searching to find them. What’s a couple of tips you can give people on increasing their exposure on the internet and people finding their website.

Dan Mewhorter (12:12): So, I mean, we do a lot of free advertising, free SEO, organic SEO, if you will, Facebook and the social medias. So whether it be Twitter, Instagram whatever else we get out there, I don’t know, we’ve got a ton of them out there, but Facebook, primarily we do a lot of advertising on our Facebook business page to get the word out of that. When it comes to Google searches though, when you put on your website, if you have a website and you should have a website if you’re a business, you should be putting in a lot of keywords in there that when people do a search for say, buy my house fast, or sell my house fast, or sell my house in X city, putting those phrases in there will allow them and on your Google my business page, which you should have as well, putting those in there, those allow people to find you on a Google search.

Dan Mewhorter (13:08): So understanding what people are looking for when they do searches is really critical. I would highly suggest that you do some research on that. There are websites you can go to. To identify what people are looking for in your area.

Crystal Mewhorter (13:22): And another really simple tip is send your link, your Google link out to people that you’ve done business with. And it doesn’t have to even be necessarily a buyer or seller. It could be somebody that’s had a really good experience with you in terms of working with them on something where you’ve supported them or assisted them, but sending them the link so that they can go in and give you a Google rating. And a review, those things help a great deal. And those are really simple things to do. Not always easy to get people to reach out and complete those things. But if you send people a link, they’re generally more apps to get that done for you.

Jay Conner (13:58): Excellent. All right, well go ahead.

Crystal Mewhorter (14:01): Okay. So, Oh, so he found us on a Google search. We had a conversation, this is a three bedroom, two and a half bath in Virginia Beach. So it’s a good area desirable. The current CMA is 185,000. We were able to negotiate with him to 1225, and he did not want to accept terms. So actually I’m going to give you probably for the first time ever when we’ve discussed deals, I’m going to give you two that aren’t entirely cash, which is a little unusual

Jay Conner (14:42): Now, what was his motivation? What was his hot button?

Crystal Mewhorter (14:47): He got a job in Louisiana and this is actually a second house. So, he was trying to rent It, have had a terrible time with it. Last thing you want to do is be renting this house, when he just gone through a not great situation, and move to another state far, far away.

Jay Conner (15:07): We can never know for sure why other people decide to do what they do, but do you know, or do you have a guess as to why this particular seller was willing to give up so much equity?

Crystal Mewhorter (15:20): I do actually. He’s done, and he did not want to have to go through the process and try to get a realtor he’s been down that road felt like that wasn’t a very comfortable road either. I.e, getting what he wanted and for him to get to know that the sale was complete and we we’re going to hand him the cash, He was fine.

Jay Conner (15:42): Gotcha. So repairs, are any rehab required or is it a, just a beautiful house?

Crystal Mewhorter (15:50): He actually completed all the repairs from the previous tenants, even putting in new carpet and painting.

Jay Conner (15:56): So you don’t have to touch it. All you gotta do is put it on over to disposition. So the numbers again were the after or the as is value.

Crystal Mewhorter (16:06): The as is value Yeah, it’s 185,000, we bought it for 122,500

Jay Conner (16:11): 122,500 Okay, nice.

Crystal Mewhorter (16:14): Yeah. And so, and of course we’re selling it rent to own, so we’re going to be able to increase that sales price. But as it stands right now, if we were to take it to market and, you know, sell it ourselves, we obviously could make 62,500 on it just directly as it sits today. We won’t do that. It’s in too good of an area and it’s and it’s also a townhouse, so it’s like fairly ideal for a rent to own status.

Jay Conner (16:49): Right.

Crystal Mewhorter (16:49): And so it really fits the bill. So our monthly going out to our private lender is $883. Actually, It’s 1550 all day, every day to rent to own it. We might even be able to push that a smidge, but like on a really, you know, fair day, we can do that. So it’s already cash flowing $667 for all intent and purposes as it sits now. And so we’ll actually go ahead and carry it for a little while and watch what the market does and sell it from there.

Jay Conner (17:12): Well, you know, for the long term selling rent to own is the most profitable.

Crystal Mewhorter (17:16): Yup.

Jay Conner (17:16): Because when they get ready for a mortgage, your rent to own buyer they didn’t negotiate with you on price.

Crystal Mewhorter (17:27): Uh-huh.

Jay Conner (17:27): They and when it comes time for them to cash out, you’re not having to pay realtor fees on selling.

Crystal Mewhorter (17:36): Yup.

Jay Conner (17:36): And, you typically don’t have to go through the painful process of the buyer hiring their inspection company and nitpicking you to death. Right?

Crystal Mewhorter (17:48): Absolutely.

Dan Mewhorter (17:50): Yeah.

Jay Conner (17:50): So you just closed on it two weeks ago and just to make sure everybody knows what we’re talking about. When you say you funded this deal with private money, does that mean you went to a broker or how did you, what do you mean by, in your case? It’s funny with private money.

Crystal Mewhorter (18:09): Oh, so one of our private lenders that has their money in a self directed IRA. So somebody from our warm market.

Jay Conner (18:16): Right.

Crystal Mewhorter (18:17): Directly our warm market, it’s not even a conversion from a cold to warm there’s somebody that was in our warm market. It was actually somebody that Dan worked with when he flapped all the CDs on the desk when he walked out the door.

Jay Conner (18:29): So Dan what’d you tell folks about that CD is.

Dan Mewhorter (18:33): Okay, so we, Jay.

Crystal Mewhorter (18:36): What’s the CD?

Dan Mewhorter (18:36): The CD is The Private L ender CD.

Crystal Mewhorter (18:38): The 16 minute stress free investing.

Dan Mewhorter (18:42): Right. It’s the intro.

Jay Conner (18:44): Right. And so what is it? And how’d you use it and how did it work?

Dan Mewhorter (18:48): So, when you’re in Jay’s world, Jay will help you create these CDs. But we thought it would be great if my beautiful wife with her lovely voice would create one as well. So we locked her in a closet for about, I think it took about an hour really to get it what you wanted. And it walks through the introduction of what a self directed IRA is and how it can invest for you and how you can make a profit off of it. And it’s kind of like a 10,000 foot introduction into it, to get you interested in it, and get you to kind of understand that there’s other ways that you can invest in real estate. You can buy and sell and do what you want to with your own money and not be a slave to somebody else.

Crystal Mewhorter (19:28): It’s the teaser,

Dan Mewhorter (19:30): A teaser,

Crystal Mewhorter (19:30): And what do you do with it?

Dan Mewhorter (19:32): So, when I decided that it was time for me to leave my job prior to being escorted out of the building, which is what they do on a government job, I took probably about 50 CDs, about 50. And I distributed them to everybody’s desks within a hundred feet of my cubicle. Everybody got one. So they all started calling me up and laughing and saying, that was the funniest thing they’ve ever seen. And now they’re all starting to call us up saying I was funny, but now I’m interested because the mark has been doing the whole roller coaster thing for him. So, Yeah.

Jay Conner (20:10): Right. So that’s the gives everybody an introduction to what Private Money is. So the funding that you got on this deal was actually from an individual using their retirement funds. And of course you probably had to train them on how to get their retirement funds moved over from wherever they had them, to a self directed IRA company, and then that, and then they could fund your deal or deals by using their retirement funds.

Crystal Mewhorter (20:36): Absolutely.

Jay Conner (20:38): So, have you already got a buyer for this rent to own home?

Crystal Mewhorter (20:41): He had, how many did you have on this one last week?

Dan Mewhorter (20:44): 700.

Jay Conner (20:47): 700 inquiries.

Dan Mewhorter (20:49): Yeah. 700.

Jay Conner (20:50): Wow. I think you might have it sold.

Crystal Mewhorter (20:54): Think so.

Dan Mewhorter (20:56): Weeding through them all, finding the best qualified one.

Jay Conner (20:59): Right. So you’re still working through all those inquiries,

Crystal Mewhorter (21:02): Correct. Cause we were gone last week, so yeah, so we took communications and talked to people that we in sent out potential applications. But we don’t have them firmed up. I.e, we haven’t run background checks or confirmed their exact funds, So.

Jay Conner (21:24): Right. What did you price the house at?

Crystal Mewhorter (21:28): What did we price the house at.

Dan Mewhorter (21:29): A monthly?

Crystal Mewhorter (21:31): No, we priced at 1550. What did you sell it for? Did you do.

Dan Mewhorter (21:35): 200 even? I think I put that on my 200,000, even as what they put out.

Jay Conner (21:40): Okay. So back to the point, when you sell on rent to own, you’re able to raise the price above what it will appraise for today. For at least two reasons your rent to own buyers are not negotiating with you on price per se, but they would be in the multiple listing service. And the other reason is how long are you going to give them the cash out 12 months? 24 months? How long is the term?

Dan Mewhorter (22:03): On this? On this one is a 24 month one.

Jay Conner (22:08): Right.

Dan Mewhorter (22:08): But again, the way that I communicate with them is that obviously I’m looking for the most qualified people to go in there, the ones that A, can afford it and not be eating beans and rice the entire year or two years, Right? And not be housed for. And then B, the ones that their credit, while it may not be the best credit to be able to get a mortgage. It’s not the worst one either. So if they’re in there and they’re sitting at, you know, 500 X, whatever it may be, I know I can get them qualified because we have, we’ve got a great credit repair program that we sponsor as well. So I know I can get them requalified as long as they follow through. I also look at their record of where they are renting at before and make sure there’s no addictions, things like that. And if they match that 700 dwindles down very quickly to probably about 75 of those 75, I have a conversation with them. And if I feel good about that, and Crystal feels good about it because we’re pretty good about judging people’s personalities by conversations.

Dan Mewhorter (23:06): Then we decide, okay, these are the top five. Let’s get them in there. And we know that they’re most likely going to qualify well before the two years. So we do explain to them if you’re able to qualify quickly and you don’t want to rent it the entire time, just let me know when you’re ready to qualify when you’re ready to get you on mortgage. And then we’ll shut it down. So, we can get them qualified as quickly as three months, or it may take the entire two years.

Jay Conner (23:29): Gotcha. Well, those numbers work. Let’s say your $200,000 is the option price that you’re selling it for. You bought it for 122.

Crystal Mewhorter (23:40): Uh-huh.

Jay Conner (23:40): Yeah. You probably didn’t have to take that one to the committee, did you?

Crystal Mewhorter (23:43): No.

Jay Conner (23:43): That’s awesome. Look, I know you all came prepared to talk about another deal, but we’re out of time on this show. So will you all come back on another episode very, very soon.

Crystal Mewhorter (23:55): We would love to, anytime.

Jay Conner (23:58): Awesome. I’d love to have you come back and talk about the other deal or deals that you had lined up. Well, I know the audience wants to hear it. So any parting comments before we wrap up this show,

Crystal Mewhorter (24:10): I just want to say, you know, thank you for all that you’ve done for us. And it’s really great to be part of this world and everybody that’s out there, just listen and do what Jay says. So anybody that’s getting ready to join us on the journey. We’re super excited for you. If you’re in the early part of your journey and looking at either the membership or you’re following the podcast listen up and look for your opportunities, cause there’s just so much out there and we are so blessed and fortunate and really excited to be able to give back.

Jay Conner (24:40): Well, thank you so much, Dan parting comments.

Dan Mewhorter (24:43): If you can make it to one of Jay’s events, I highly suggest that you do so. The networking alone there is incredible, but getting to meet Jay and the family in person and not just virtually here, which is great, but in person is absolutely phenomenal. Again, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Jay, it’s been a heck of a ride and we look forward to seeing where we’re going and sharing it with you as well.

Jay Conner (25:04): Thank you Dan. Thank you Crystal, Carol Joy and I love you guys, and I love your servant’s heart. You’re making a big impact in a lot of people’s lives so that you have it Folks! That wraps up another show. I’m Jay Conner, the Private Money Authority wishing you all the best and here’s the taking your real estate investing business to the next level. I’ll see you on the next show.

#Jay Conner #Private Money Lender #Real Estate Business #Real Estate #Real Estate Investing #Real Estate Investor #Real Estate Profit #The Private Money Authority

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squarecarousel · 3 years

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Interview with Caitlin Alexander

Well folks, we're nearly at the end of our Square Carousel journey, and there are just two interviews left – both with two of our longest-standing members! Today, we reconnect with Caitlin Alexander, who has been with the Square Carousel Collective from its very beginning almost 10 years ago. Although we've featured an interview with her here in the past, it's been so long that we are due for an update! When she's not freelancing or performing her duties as an SC admin extraordinaire, Caitlin works tirelessly on her craft, creating prints, products, hand lettered posters, and artwork that embrace the earthy beauty of nature. With a strong focus on environmentalism and a sense of community, her artwork exudes a warmth and complexity that draws the viewer in and invites them to stay a while. Read on for her gems of wisdom!

Make Earth Cool Again

Q: Comparing your early work from your first few years after college to your most recent pieces, you've kept a lot of the textural, playful essence of your style while refining certain elements. Has your process changed much since those early days, and if so, what do you now do differently?

A: Such a great question straight out of the gate! My process has changed quite a bit since I graduated in 2011 (almost a decade ago... yikes!). In college, part of my crafted identity as a brand-new illustrator was my traditional use of gouache paint. I actually, in all honestly, was kind of a snob about it, because so many people in our department worked solely digitally. I felt that digital painting was a crutch, which I suppose can be true in some cases, and possibly even more-so when you're applying that to college students, but I certainly had no ground to stand on. In reality, my snobbery kept me from learning critical tools, as I never took Photoshop or Illustrator classes, aside from the one that was required for graduation. This hindered my work a great deal outside of college, given that illustration is so often paired with graphic design, and editing work for clients was so much more difficult traditionally. In 2013, I got a job designing t-shirts, and lied to the company, saying I knew how to use Illustrator. Luckily it was remote, so I was able to teach myself without anyone hovering over me, but that was so foolish, looking back, given the expensive education I got at SCAD should have been my opportunity to learn those things. I introduced digital work more and more over the years, and by 2016 or so, I was primarily a digital artist. Gouache will always have a place in my heart, and I will still break out the tubes occasionally, but working digitally has allowed me to grow so much more as an illustrator, with the ability to edit, paint with more detail, and having more control over color and layering.

Q: Of all the projects you've done in your professional career, which would you say is closest to your heart?

A: Probably the picture book I worked on a couple of years ago, titled "Cool For You." I had a lot of creative freedom for that project, and the subject matter of climate change is personally very important to me. Working with the author, Marianna, was really wonderful, as well.

Cool For You book cover

Q: The Southwest influence on your work is pretty significant, and I think it's safe to assume you appreciate the majesty of the landscape in your region of the country. However, if you had to live in another state, which would you choose and why?

A: Funny you ask that, because I've actually considered moving from Texas to Colorado lately! The culture there is still very western, but I appreciate the liberal point of view (Texas has been grating on me lately, even living in Austin), and the landscape is even more stunning out there! I'd be close to so many inspiring National Parks. Plus, summers wouldn't be 8 months of the year and over 100 degrees for half of it!

Travel West postcard (1 of 6)

Q: TV shows or movies?

A: Lately, Jordan and I have been watching New Girl on repeat. I'm not usually one to watch a show or movie over and over again, but I think we really just needed something light and fun, since life has been so very stressful over the last year.

Q: What's your favorite subject to draw?

A: This one is hard! I'm torn between people and landscapes. People are more fun and comfortable for me, and I could knock out a bunch of them quickly. Landscapes are always intimidating, and I'm nervous the whole time, feeling like I can't remember how I did it the time before. It's so strange, because it always ends up fine! But since I feel that way, the payoff is so much greater when I feel satisfied with the final result.

Q: What would a perfect day look like for you? A: I probably would have answered this totally differently pre-COVID, but in this current world we live in, I would absolutely love to have what used to be a normal, uneventful weekend day for me: Jordan and I would sleep in a little, see an early afternoon movie at the Alamo Drafthouse where we'd eat lunch, then spend the rest of the afternoon browsing used book stores and estate sales, and then meet our friends at the neighborhood coffeehouse for dinner and Trivia Night. I will be so happy to have that again.

Cover art for East Side Magazine

Book Lover Ladies series- The Book Clubbers

Q: What have you learned from your years at Square Carousel, whether organizing behind the scenes or as a contributor?

A: Oooof!! So SO many things! Wow... well, I'll go with the most obvious first: as a member, I learned how to continue to make portfolio-worthy work, even without jobs coming in. That was definitely the most valuable thing about Square Carousel, in my opinion, and hopefully what everyone else got out of it, as well. It can be so hard for fresh graduates to keep up that momentum, and the group saved many of us from becoming stagnant. In terms of running the group... it's been rewarding, but honestly very difficult throughout the years. There have been many ups and downs, and finding the right balance between structure and patience can be extremely challenging. I'm super proud of Elizabeth and myself (OG members!) for keeping it running through the messes-- we've been through some shit together! My major takeaway is the importance of diligence. Projects, businesses, organizations-- they all need at least a couple of people who just keep chugging along, always maintaining the structure (schedule and accountability) and balance (rules and lighthearted encouragement).

Moth magnets

Q: As the readers are aware, Square Carousel drawing to a close soon. Do you have any plans for what you'll do with the extra time you'll have after our tri-weekly challenges end?

A: You know, I actually haven't thought about this too much yet. It's probably because I'll just fill it with more self-imposed projects and deadlines, since I was able to bring that skill I learned in Square Carousel into the rest of my career a while ago. (Or more real jobs! That would be ideal!) I'll miss the community though, and hope to find a way to keep that aspect of freelance life alive. Instagram friends, anyone?

Q: What's your quirkiest habit?

A: Jordan told me recently that he found it weird and endearing that I joke-sing to my cats in the kitchen about really stupid stuff... so probably that! Official Cat Lady© status achieved.

Caitlin and Buster Keaton the Kitten

Q: What advice would you give to a newbie illustrator just starting out today?

A: I'd give them the hard advice that our professors didn't really give us in school: there is no way this is going to work out for you if you're not incredibly committed to pursuing it. Now, don't get me wrong-- I'm not telling anyone to have an unhealthy work/life balance because I think that's a toxic sentiment. But you have to keep illustrating and illustrating and illustrating, and arguably more importantly, keep networking and networking and networking. You're going to be rejected or ghosted more often than not, but if you really want it to work out, you're going to keep doing it anyway. And taking critiques if industry folks offer them, to grow and become better. Don't become stagnant in those critical building years.

Caitlin’s studio

Q: Anything else you would like the readers to know?

A: Yes – thank you so much for supporting Square Carousel through our amazing ten years of challenges! We really appreciate everyone who has kept up with us, checking out the illustrations for each prompt and reading our posts and interviews. Y'all are wonderful, and we hope you'll continue to find us, wherever each of us fly from here! And on that sweet note, we say goodbye for now! Check out Caitlin’s website for more, and follow her on Instagram for new art when it drops.

Join us next time for our final interview!

#interview #caitlin alexander #illustrator #interviews #square Carousel #gouache #digital artist #artists on tumblr #artist interview #cba illustration

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webmagazine · 3 years

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Top 12 Legitimate Ways to Make Money Online (Beginner)

Earning money has typically been associated with and restricted to the traditional ‘offline route. With the Internet taking over a large part of our lives, more people are looking for ways to earn money online to increase their financial inflows, with secondary income streams or you can say it a passive income stream

There are numerous ways to earn money online, some of these ways might be fake. Also, do not expect to earn a huge amount quickly when using online avenues to earn money.

Here are a few online platforms, websites, and tools that can help you to earn money online.

1. Become a freelancer or freelance writer

Doing freelance work can greatly increase your income. Freelancing has always been a popular way to earn money online and the Internet has several options. There are several websites offering freelance tasks for people with varying skills.

All you need to do is to create an account in any of the following websites and Get paid for every single work done. Get a great reputation and you can turn this into a full-time job.

Some freelancing websites

Upwork.com

Fiverr.com

Freelancer.com

Peopleperhour

2. Make Money with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is one of the best ways to make Passive income online. The best part about affiliate marketing is that you can be an affiliate for nearly any company, from Shopify to Amazon to Uber to FabFitFun and You can start it at any time you want even with a 0$ cost.

Affiliate marketing allows you to earn a living by promoting other brands. This is like a symbiotic partnership. When visitors to your site buy products or services by clicking on such links, you earn out from it.

If you really want to make money online doing affiliate marketing, your best bet is to focus on content marketing and building a blog through a website.

3. Surveys, searches, and reviews

Simply answer online surveys or product tests and make money from home. You can easily make an extra $250 a month while watching T.V.

Take a look at some paid survey websites listed below. At all of these websites, you not only earn some extra cash but also get rewarded through gift vouchers, prize drawings, free products, etc. All of these sites mentioned below are free and easy to sign up and use.

Swagbucks

Survey Junkie

Opinion World

4. Start a YouTube Channel

If others can make money from YouTube, so can you. Your YouTube channel should focus on a single Specific niche so you can build a strong personal brand around your niche.

The secret to making money on youtube is to create content people want that either educates or entertains. Always adds value in people’s lives through your content.

You can use a headline that’s witty to entice people to watch, or you can use keywords that are optimized for YouTube search. Once you’ve reached the 1,000 subscriber milestone, you can officially monetize your channel with Google Adsense and Youtube ads.

5. Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the secrets of every successful Business On the web. Anyone who is serious about making money online, email marketing certainly can prove profitable. Before you even try to market anything to anyone via an email list, be sure that they’re people that subscribed and opted in willingly to you.

When you try to market to people via email, you won’t find as much success you deserve as per your work. So you have to work a little bit smartly.

What, if those email subscribers are actively and keenly interested in what you have to say, and they signed up directly through your blog or site, your rate of success will be much higher than expectations.

Email Marketing will grow your business faster than any other marketing medium! I use and recommend GetResponse

5. Build A Blog

Blogging is one of the oldest methods for making money online. People who love writing tend to start blogs with a niche focus.

One of the most exhaustive endeavors when it comes to making money online is to build a blog. But we all know that building a blog with a real readership is difficult. It takes a lot of work and time to scale in this field. You have to be consistent and patient in order to succeed in the field of Blogging.

Blogs can easily generate tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars per month when done right with the right strategy and content. Yes, One can even build a six or seven-figure income stream from Blogging.

6. Create Side Gigs

Create a side Gig that can help you to make money online while you keep your full-time job. If you’re looking to make an extra couple hundred dollars per month, this is a great idea to start without any investment. There are thousands of people who earn thousands of dollars from freelancing.

Use platforms like Fiverr to create gigs. When you’re new to Fiverr, you’ll want to focus on offering a low price so you could get your first Client. Treat the client like a friend and actually deliver overvalue in the form of a finished product that you can feature on the platform on your portfolio.

The thing with Fiverr is that it’s also a numbers game. If you look at top Fiverr users, you’ll see that they have multiple gigs available. The more gigs you add, the more your chances to list on the first-page increase.

7. Do Translation Work

If you need an instant way to make money Online, translation work is a fairly good niche to be in. You’ll need to be fluent in at least two languages to do this successfully or you can take the help of a Google translator.

In Starting You will need to show some proof of your ability and expertise to translate the project. If you have a language degree or experience translating text, make sure to add it to your portfolio. This will increase your chances of getting hired.

The List of Sites where you can make money online contains:

Upwork

Fiverr

People per hour

Pro Translating

8. Use Shopify To Build Your Own Online Store

When you’re desperate to make money now, sometimes the only option is to sell your stuff. If you’re unemployed and struggling to find a job, selling your possessions is one of the best ways to make money fast. You can earn money online using the links below,

You could always build your own online store using a platform like Shopify. Shopify makes it easy to build a transactional website without all the hassle, which takes much of the guesswork out of doing what some would consider a highly-complex task.

The company markets its services with being able to start selling online in seconds. In order to start, first, you have to do research work through Google Trends, After you’ve figured out stuff to sell online, start your own online store using Shopify. You’ve proven that you’ve got what it takes to be an online retailer. I believe in You, you can do that!!!

9. Sell Photos Online

Whether you’re a professional photographer or just love Clicking great and high-quality pictures, you can monetize your Skill in several ways. you could consider selling them through sites like Shutterstock and iStockPhoto, two of the biggest photo resources online to make money in an easy way.

If you’re looking for more exposure, you can use a site like a burst to sell your stuff. However, if you’re looking to monetize your phone photography quickly, you can use Foap, an Online photo Selling Website.

10. Build An Amazon FBA Business

If you want to go directly to the world’s largest online platform with an enormous audience and traffic, think about setting up a Fulfilled-by-Amazon (FBA) business. Amazon will pick, pack and ship your orders, and almost everything on your behalf. You will get exposure to unimaginable audiences to market your product.

Clearly, there’s a lot of demand on Amazon, and if any product is going to sell, it’s going to sell well on Amazon. But your products should be something that will easily sell at the world’s largest online retailer. Generally, products between $10 and $50 sell very well here, but you have to consider the competition. Do the right market research before jumping on Amazon FBA.

If you are an expert in a particular subject, you can easily earn by mentoring people online. Online tutoring provides you a platform to connect online with students of all ages, across the country to provide doubt-solving help, expert advice, and tutoring in the subjects for which you have expertise.

11. Invest in Stocks

You can also make money online by investing in equity and stocks. If you have knowledge regarding stock, you might want to skip this money making idea, No Matter if you’re new to stocks you can easily learn and from it with the help of Upstox, A brokerage Platform to invest in stocks, While they also provide you with some videos and articles, which helps you to learn about stock investing quickly.

But remember one thing it can also result in money loss if you’re inexperienced. If you currently hold a 9 to 5 job, look into your company’s financial programs and you can start it on a part-time basis.

12. Buy & Sell Domains

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#make money online #make money fast #millionaire #affiliate marketing #dropshipping #stock investing #sell photo online #amazon fba business #amazon fba #youtube #youtube channel #blogging #hosting #freelancer

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sorcierarchy · 4 years

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Quarter Moon Spellcraft: Better Business Spell for Artists

For this first quarter moon of the New Year, my boyfriend and I decided to focus on bringing in new business. We are both entering new stages with our personal endeavours, him starting his own hustle and me going into my last semester of school, subsequently hitting the job market this summer. He just moved up here from Cali, so there is a lot going on and we both need to be bringing in some money from our side (and hopefully future main) jobs.

Spell Preparation

For this spell (and a few others I’m trying out this month), I chose something from Judika Iles book Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells. I picked this because I trust in her research, and I wanted to use some ingredients I already had at home. I’ve done many money spells and rituals, and even more sigils, but figured the New Year would be a good time to try some new methods and improve on documenting when things work/don’t work. It also just so happened that this spell specifically is for bringing money to artists, and that was too on the nose for me to ignore.

My intention is to take as many spells as possible and perform them “as is” so I can troubleshoot more easily, but when you have been practicing as long as I have you sometimes just can’t help yourself and end up having to tweak things a little bit…

The instructions read as follows:

Carve and dress one small purple and one small green candle to suit your personal circumstances. Place the candles on either side of a Fool card drawn from the tarot deck of your choice. Burn and trust to inspiration.

The significance of purple and green (inspiration and money) are pretty straightforward, and the Fool is a great representation for new beginnings, maintaining one’s sense of wonder towards their art, setting aside criticism and expectations, etc.

There were no explanations on what type of oil to dress the candles with or what to carve into them. Initially, my plan was to simply dress the candles in a basil infused olive oil (both great for protection and money), and carve dollar signs into them…

… but this is where I ran into my first problem.

Sometimes a witch doesn’t have the right candles on hand. Sometimes a witch has got to run to the store and make a purchase. Sometimes a witch can’t quite find what they’re looking for.

I did find a purple candle, that was easy. BUT it was lavender, and while I do love lavender, I do not associate it with inspiration and creativity. I associate it with sleep and protection, and while I will never have too much of those, the last thing I need is to be falling asleep every time I want to start an art project. I was also unable to find a green candle on short notice… so much for that.

I debated changing my spell completely and picking something else, but I couldn’t bring myself to neglect this spell. It’s too perfect for what I need, this final semester and making my portfolio, it seems like a waste to not start the year off with this beautiful little spell, so I’m breaking my own first rule here and subbing in some alternates.

Instead of the usual coloured candles, I’ll be sticking with my run of the mill white tea candles that I almost always use for spellwork. I will be dropping the colour associations entirely, and instead using herb associations: basil for the green candle, mugwort for the purple candle. I’m lucky in that I have an enormous supply of mugwort near my apartment, and keep basil on hand. I’ll be dressing the candles in a basil infused olive oil and will carve a sigil into each before burning them while meditating on the Fool’s card from my deck.

How to Create Herb Correspondences with Plain White Candles (for when you don’t have coloured candles available)

This is a pretty common occurrence for me, as I almost always have a ton of plain white tealights on hand since I use them for fire scrying and many of my ritual spells, but never got into candle magic per se. It’s very common to have colour correspondences for candle magic and it is a major portion of the spellwork, but I needed to improvise and use what I had on hand for the spell while trying to keep in line as much as possible with Iles’ version of the work.

If at all possible, I highly recommend following spells to the letter when you can, especially if you are trying it for the first time. It’s easier to troubleshoot when you have done exactly what the spell required, in the event that things don’t work out. For this reason, I wanted to keep in touch with the candle magic and simply replace the colours with plants of similar association.

The technique is fairly simple, you have probably seen it elsewhere online before. All you need to do is light the candles, allow them to burn and melt the top layer of wax as much as possible. Once it is sufficiently melted, put out the flame and sprinkle the herbs so they fall into the melted wax. Let the candles cool, and when you are ready for your spell you can simply light them as you would normally and use them as you would your coloured candles.

Cautions: Inevitably when you burn these candles, some of the herbs will also burn. Some herbs are not safe to burn, and some can be toxic to animals when burned. Research your herbs before attempting this and check for toxicity. Avoid burning them around pets to be safe. Mugwort may cause allergic reactions, especially if you are allergic to ragweed.

Spell and Notes

I chose to do the spell during the planetary hour of Saturn to establish control, foundation, discipline, etc. I carved a + sign into each candle and anointed them with a basil infused olive oil. Here are the spell instructions again as a reminder:

Here is my final setup, with the Fool’s card from my Revelations deck by Zach Wong:

I meditated for a few minutes and let the candles burn. And that’s it! I feel pretty happy with the spell, I will report back on it when I feel there is progress in regards to it. I usually expect for there to be some kind of return within a week, so we’ll see what happens <}:-)

#witchcraft #spell work #money manifestation #witchblr #folk magic

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norbert-weber · 3 years

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https://www.aier.org/article/an-education-in-viruses-and-public-health-from-michael-yeadon-former-vp-of-pfizer/

➖➖➖Dr. Michael Yeadon is an Allergy & Respiratory Therapeutic Area expert with 23 years in the pharmaceutical industry. He trained as a biochemist and pharmacologist, obtaining his PhD from the University of Surrey (UK) in 1988.

Dr. Yeadon then worked at the Wellcome Research Labs with Salvador Moncada with a research focus on airway hyper-responsiveness and effects of pollutants including ozone and working in drug discovery of 5-LO, COX, PAF, NO and lung inflammation. With colleagues, he was the first to detect exhaled NO in animals and later to induce NOS in lung via allergic triggers.

Joining Pfizer in 1995, he was responsible for the growth and portfolio delivery of the Allergy & Respiratory pipeline within the company. He was responsible for target selection and the progress into humans of new molecules, leading teams of up to 200 staff across all disciplines and won an Achievement Award for productivity in 2008.

Under his leadership the research unit invented oral and inhaled NCEs which delivered multiple positive clinical proofs of concept in asthma, allergic rhinitis and COPD. He led productive collaborations such as with Rigel Pharmaceuticals (SYK inhibitors) and was involved in the licensing of Spiriva and acquisition of the Meridica (inhaler device) company.

Dr. Yeadon has published over 40 original research articles and now consults and partners with a number of biotechnology companies. Before working with Apellis, Dr. Yeadon was VP and Chief Scientific Officer (Allergy & Respiratory Research) with Pfizer.

Below is a transcript of the video above:

My name is Dr Michael Yeadon.

My original training was a first-class honours degree in biochemistry and toxicology. Followed by a research-based PhD into respiratory pharmacology; and after that I’ve worked my entire life, uh, on the research side of the pharmaceutical industry – both big pharma and also biotech. My specific focus has been inflammation, immunology, allergy in the context of respiratory diseases (so the lung, but also the skin). So I would say I’m a kind of a deeply experienced inflammation, immunology, pulmonology kind of research person.

I initially became concerned about, the, our response to the coronavirus pandemic towards the middle or back end of April as early as that. It had become clear that if you look at the number of daily deaths versus the date the pandemic had turned. Really, pleasingly, already the wave was fundamentally over, and we would just watch it fall for a number of months – which is what it did. And so I became very perturbed about increasing restrictions on the behavior and movement of people in my country and I could see no reason for it then and I still don’t.

Government’s response to emergencies is guided by the scientific group who sit together under the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies or SAGE. So they should provide scientific advice to the government about what’s appropriate to do. SAGE has got several things wrong, and that has led to advice that’s inappropriate and – uh, not only has had horrible economic effects, but has had continuing medical effects in that people are no longer being treated properly.

SAGE took the view that since SARS-CoV-2 was a new virus that they believed there wouldn’t be any immunity at all in the population. So, I think that’s the first thing. I remember hearing that and I puzzled, because I already knew – because I read the scientific literature that SARS-CoV-2 was 80% similar to another virus you may have heard of called SARS that moved around the world a bit in 2003, and more than that: it’s quite similar, in pieces of it, to common cold-causing coronaviruses.

So, when I heard that there was this coronavirus moving across the world I wasn’t as worried as perhaps other people were, because I figured that since there are four common cold-causing coronaviruses, I figured that quite a lot of the population we’ve been exposed to one of those viruses, and would probably have a perhaps substantial protective immunity. And just to explain why I was so confident everybody knows the story of Edward Jenner and vaccination, and the story of cowpox and smallpox. And that the old story was that milkmaids had very, uh, clear complexions: they never suffered from things like smallpox, that if it didn’t kill you would leave your skin permanently scarred. And the reason that they had the protection was that they were exposed to a more benign, related virus called cowpox.

Edward Jenner came up with the idea that if it’s cowpox that saves the fair maid – he reasoned that if he could give another person an exposure to the cowpox, he would be able to protect them from smallpox. Now, he did an experiment that you can’t do now – and he never should have done it – but apocryphally, or really, or maybe you’re ill, we’re not sure. Edward Jenner acquired some of the liquid from a person infected with cowpox. Relatively mild pustules that then go away. And he got some of this and he – he scraped it into the skin of a small boy and a few weeks later, he obtained some liquid from some poor person that was dying of smallpox and infected the boy. And, lo and behold, the boy did not get ill and that gave birth to the whole field of what’s called vaccination. And vax, the vaccine’s “vac.” It comes from “vaccus,” the Latin name for cow. So, we are really familiar with the principle of cross immunization.

I’ve thought quite a lot about, you know, the vulnerable people in in care homes and there’s an awareness that, even though people really careful using PPE and so on, but that’s only going to go so far in a kind of, hot house environment where people are pretty close together in a care home. So the question I’ve had all year is: once one or two people, you know, got the virus in a care home, why wouldn’t almost everyone get infected? And of course the truth is, they didn’t. And one interpretation of that distinction is that a large proportion of people in the care homes had prior immunity.

At this time of year, about 1 in 30 people have a cold, caused by one of these coronaviruses. And just like the protection against smallpox provided by previous exposure to cowpox, so people exposed to having had a cold caused by one of these coronaviruses they’re now immune to SARS-CoV-2. So, 30% of the population was protected before the start. SAGE said it was zero – and I don’t understand how they could possibly have justified that. There’s a second, and equally fatal, unaccountable error that they have made in their model. The percentage of the population that SAGE asserts have been infected to date by the virus is about seven percent. I know that that’s what they believe and you can see it in a document they published in September called “Non-pharmaceutical interventions” and it says sadly more than 90% of the population is still vulnerable.

It’s unbelievably wrong. And I’m just going to explain why: they’ve based their number on the percentage of people in the country who have antibodies in their blood. And only the people who became most ill needed to actually develop and release antibodies around their body. So, it is certainly true that the people who have lots of antibodies were infected. But a very large number of people had milder symptoms, and even more people had none at all. And the best estimates that we can arrive at is that those people either made no antibodies, or so low amounts that they will have faded from now.

A recent publication on the percentage of care home residents who have antibodies to the virus very, very interesting. This time they were using high sensitivity tests for antibodies and they carefully picked out residents that never were PCR-positive: these are people who never got infected. And they found that 65% of them had antibodies to the virus; they never got infected. So I believe there was high prevalence of immunity in that population prior to the virus arriving. Big story in the media, recently, was that the percentage of people with antibodies against the virus in their blood was falling. Now, this was cast as a concern that immunity to SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t last very long. Well, you know, anyone with knowledge of immunity would – would just simply reject that. It’s not the way immunity to virus works – that would be T-cells. So, if the antibodies are falling gradually over time – which they have – from spring to present, the only plausible explanation is that the prevalence of the virus in the population is falling, and that’s why the antibody production gradually subsides.

Less than 40% of the population are susceptible. Even theoretical epidemiologists would tell you that that’s too small a number to support a consolidated and growing outbreak, community immunity, herd immunity. So, SAGE says that we’re not even close, and I’m telling you that the best science, by the best scientists in the world, published in the top peer-reviewed journals, says they’re wrong: that more than 60 of the population are now immune, and it’s simply not possible to have a large and growing pandemic.

Really good news, genuine good news, to hear that there’s data emerging from the vaccine clinical trials, and we are seeing vaccines that raise not just antibodies – but they’re also producing T-cell responses. This is great; back to proper science, proper immunology. That’s how immunity to viruses works. So, my surprise though, and it’s just annoying that when we’re talking about, uh, the percentage of the population that’s still susceptible we only talk about antibodies, like seven percent from SAGE. Why are we not talking about the 50% that have got T-cell immunity?

And so you might be thinking if Mike – and Dr Mike Yeadon is telling you these things… – or how come the pandemic isn’t over? Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but I believe fundamentally it is over. The country has experienced almost a complete cycle now of the virus sweeping through the land, and we are at the end of it. London was –was horribly affected in the spring, and somewhere in early April they were experiencing several hundred deaths per day from people dying with similar symptoms in respiratory failure and, uh, inflammation. And at the moment the number of people dying of SARS-CoV-2 in the capital is less than 10. So it’s down by 98, or something like that. And, the reason it’s down, is because there are now too few people in London susceptible to allow the virus to magnify, to amplify, to get an epidemic. And, and they would have been hit by now, because they were the first place hit in the spring. And I think what we’re seeing now in the Northeast and the Northwest would be the dying embers of the spreading out of this virus. And I’m very sorry that it is still true, that a small number of people are catching it, getting ill, and dying.

So why aren’t the media telling us that the pandemic is over? It’s not over because SAGE says it’s not. So SAGE consists of very many scientists, from a range of disciplines – mathematicians and clinicians – and there are multiple committees. But I found to my surprise – and I’m actually going to use the word – horror, that in the spring, all the way through the spring and summer, SAGE did not have on their committee someone who I would call a card-carrying immunologist; a clinical immunologist. I have to say I think that in the spring and summer SAGE was deficient in the expertise it had. They should have armed themselves, you know, with – around the table all the people required to to understand what was happening, and they didn’t do that. People asked me then, “Well Mike, if it’s, you know, if it’s fundamentally over, why are we still getting hundreds of deaths a day from SARS-CoV-2?” And I’ve thought a lot about this. There is a test that’s performed where people have their noses and tonsils swabbed, and then a test (called a PCR test) is performed on that. And what they’re looking for isn’t the virus – you might think it’s looking for the virus, but it’s not. What they’re looking for is a small piece of genetic sequence; it’s called RNA. Unfortunately, that bit of RNA will be found in people’s tonsils and nose not if they’ve just caught the virus, and they’re about to get ill, or they’re already ill. It’s also going to be found if they were infected previously weeks – or even, sometimes, a small number of months ago. Let me just explain why that is.

If you’ve been infected, and you’ve fought off the virus (which most people do), you’ll have broken, dead bits of virus. These are tiny things smaller than your cells, perhaps spread all the way through your airway, embedded in bits of mucus, maybe inside an airway lining cell. And so over a period of weeks or months you bring up cells that contain broken, dead pieces of the virus that you have conquered and killed. However, the PCR test is not able to detect whether the viral RNA has come from a living virus or a dead one (as I’ve just described). So I think a large proportion of the so-called positives are, in fact, what I call “cold” positives: they’re correctly identifying that there is some viral RNA in the sample – but it’s from a dead virus. It can’t hurt them, they’re not going to get ill, they can’t transmit it to anybody else. So they’re not infectious. So that accounts for a large number of the so-called positive cases. These are people who’ve beaten the virus. Why are we using this test that cannot distinguish between active infection and people who’ve conquered the virus?

This test has never been used in this way – and I’ve worked in this field. It’s not a suitable technique it’s a – it’s the kind of technique you would use for forensic purposes, if you were trying to do a DNA test to establish whether or not a person was at the scene of a crime. You would not be doing these tests by a windy, supermarket car parking; what looks like plastic marquee tents; on picnic tables. It’s not suitable at all – and it definitely shouldn’t be done in the way it’s been done. It’s subject to many mechanical errors, should we say, handling errors. If this was a test being used for legal purposes, for forensic purposes like a DNA identity test, the judge would throw out this evidence; would say it’s not admissible. It produces positives even when there’s no virus there at all. We call that a false positive.

As we’ve increased the number of tests done per day, so we’ve had to recruit less and less experienced laboratory staff – and now we’re using people who’ve never worked professionally in this area. What that does is it increases the frequency of mistakes, and the effect of this is that the false positive rate rises and rises. So, if you had a false positive rate of one percent – which Mr. Matt Hancock [British Secretary of State for Health and Social Care] told us was roughly the number they had in the summer – then if you tested a thousand people that had no virus ten of them would be positive, astonishingly. If the prevalence of the virus was only one in a thousand, that’s 0.1% – as the Office for National Statistics told us it was through the summer – then if you use the PCR test only one of them will be positive and genuinely so. But if the false positive rate is as low as one percent, you’ll also get 10 positives that are false.

Some people did say to me, “Well, there’ll be a higher percentage of people coming forward for testing in the community,” so-called “Pillar 2” testing, because they’ve been instructed only to come if they’ve got symptoms. But I call B.S. on that one. I don’t think that’s true. I know lots of friends and relatives who’ve been told by an employer, “Well, you’ve sat near someone who’s tested positive, and I don’t want you to come back to work until you’ve got a negative test.” I’ve seen information from many towns in the North – certainly Birmingham was one; Manchester was another; Bolton – where councils (and I really think they were trying to be helpful) were out leafleting the people of their cities saying, “We’re going to come round and swab you all because we want to track down this virus.” Now once you start testing people, more or less randomly, instead of [those] having symptoms you get the same amount of virus in the population as the Office of National Statistics found which is, at the time was, one in a thousand. And I’ve just told you Matt Hancock confirmed during the summer they had a false positive rate of about one percent. So that means out of a thousand people 10 would test positive, and it would be a false result, and only one would test positive and it was correct.

This test is monstrously unsuitable for detecting who has live virus in their airway. It’s subject to multiple distortions that are worsening as we get into the winter. As the number of tests done per day increase[s], the number of errors made by these overworked, not very experienced lab staff increase[s]. I think it’s not unreasonable to say a best guess of the false positive rate at the moment – what’s called the operational false positive rate is about five percent. Five percent of 300,000 is 15,000 positives. I think some of those positives are real; I don’t think it’s very many. Now, the problem with this false positive issue [is] it doesn’t just stop it at “cases”: it extends to people who are unwell and go to hospital. So people who go to hospital having tested positive – and it could be a false positive, and I think most of them are at the moment – if you go to hospital and you’ve tested positive previously, or you test positive in hospital, you’ll be counted now as a Covid admission.

Although there are more people in hospital now than a month ago, this is normal for autumn. Regrettably, people catch respiratory viruses and become ill, and some will die. I just don’t believe it’s got anything to do with Covid-19 anymore. There are more people in intensive care beds now than there were a month or so ago. That’s entirely normal as we move through late autumn into the early winter: those beds become used. But there aren’t more people than is normal for the time of year, and we’re not about to run out of capacity, certainly at a national level. But I think you know it is going now: if you should now die, you’ll be counted as a Covid death. But that’s not correct; these are people who might have – have gone to hospital having had a broken leg, for example, but they’ll – three percent of them will still test positive, and they’re not, they haven’t got the virus. It’s a – it’s a false positive, and if they die they’ll be called a Covid death – and they are not. They’ve died of something else.

One of the most troubling things I’ve heard this year was Mr. Johnson telling us about the “Moonshot” testing everybody often, maybe every day, is the way out of this problem. I’m telling you it’s the way to keep us in this problem: that number of tests is orders of magnitude higher than we’re already testing now, and the false positive rate (however low it is) will be far too large to accept. It will produce an enormous number of false positives.

What we should do is stop mass testing. Not only is it an affront to your liberty, it will not help at all: it will be immensely expensive and it will be a pathology all of its own. We’ll be fighting off stupid people – mostly government ministers – I’m sorry to say, who are not numerate, and do not understand statistics. If you test a million people a day with a test that produces one percent false positives, 10 000 people a day will wrongly be told they’ve got the virus. If the prevalence of the virus was say 0.1%, like the Office of National Statistics said it was in summer, then only a tenth of that number, uh, 1,000 would correctly be identified. But you can’t distinguish amongst the 11,000 who have genuinely got the virus and who are false positives. Moonshot, I think, will have a worse false positive rate. It’s not fixable, and it’s not necessary either. The pandemic – having passed through the population not only of, of the UK, but of all of Europe – and probably all of the world quite soon – it won’t return. Why won’t it return? Well, they’ve got T-cell immunity. We know this. It’s been studied by the best cellular immunologists in the world.

Sometimes people will say, “Well, it looks like the immunity is starting to fade.” You’ll sometimes see [statements] like that, and when I saw the first headline like this I remember being really quite confused, because that’s not the way immunology works. Just think about it for a moment. If that was how it worked it could kill you. When you had to fight it off, and if you had successfully done that, it somehow didn’t leave a mark in your body. Well, it does leave a mark on your body. The way you fought it off involved certain pattern recognition receptors, and has left you with – as it were – memory cells that remember what it was they fought off. And if they see that thing again it’s very easy for them to get those cells to work again in minutes or hours, and they will protect you. So the most likely explanation is it’ll last a long time.

So I read a bit more about this so-called tailing off of immunity – and I realized they were talking about antibodies. Just incorrect to – to think that antibodies, and how long they stay up, is a measure of immune protection against viruses. I mean you can tell I’m – I don’t agree with this. It says there have been some classic experiments done on people who have inborn errors in parts of their immune system, and some of them have inborn arrows that means they can’t make antibodies, and guess what: they – they are able to handle respiratory viruses the same as you and me. So, I don’t think it’s harmful to have antibodies, although some people are worried about the potential for amplifying inflammation from antibodies, but – but my view is that they’re – they’re probably neutral, and you definitely should not believe the story that because the antibody falls away you’ve lost immunity. Again, that’s just not the way the human immune system works.

The most likely duration of immunity to a respiratory virus like SARS-CoV-2 is multiple years. Why do I say that? We actually have the data for a virus that swept through parts of the world 17 years ago called SARS, and remember SARS-CoV-2 is 80% similar to SARS, so I think that’s the best comparison that anyone can provide. The evidence is clear. These very clever cellular immunologists studied all the people they could get hold of who had survived SARS 17 years ago. They took a blood sample, and they tested whether they responded or not to the original SARS, and they all did. They all have perfectly normal, robust T-cell memory. They are actually also protected against SARS-CoV-2 because it’s so similar, it’s cross-immunity. So, I would say the best data that exists is that immunity should be robust for at least 17 years. I think it’s entirely possible that it is lifelong. The style of the responses of these people’s T-cells were the same as if you’ve been vaccinated and then you come back years later to see, has that immunity been retained? And so I think the evidence is really strong that the duration of immunity will be multiple years, and possibly lifelong.

There have been but a tiny handful of people who appear to have been infected twice – now they’re very interesting, we need to know who they are and understand them very well, they’ve probably got certain rare immune deficiency syndromes. So I’m not pretending no one ever gets reinfected, but I am pointing out that it’s literally five people (or maybe 50 people), but the World Health Organization estimated some weeks ago that 750 million people have been infected so far by SARS-CoV-2. That means most people are not being reinfected, and I can tell you why that is: it’s normal. It’s what happens with viruses, respiratory viruses. Some people have – have called for “zero Covid” as if it’s some political slogan. And there are some people I’ve heard calling for it almost every day; they’re completely unqualified to tell you anything.

Something that’s really important to know is that SARS-CoV-2 – it’s an unpleasant virus. There’s no question about it, but it’s not what you were told in spring. We were originally told that it would kill perhaps three percent of people it infected – which is horrifying. That’s 30 times worse than flu. We always overestimate the lethality of new infectious diseases when we’re in the eye of the storm. I believe the true infection fatality ratio of Covid-19, the true threat to life is, the same as seasonal flu.

So there’s no reason why you would want to try and drive Covid to zero. It’s a nonsense – that’s just not how biology is. And all the means I have heard, uh, proposed, as ways to get us there are much more damaging and pathological, I would say, than than the virus itself. It’s simply not possible to get rid of every single copy of the Covid-19 virus, and the means to get you there would destroy society. Forget the cost – although it would be huge – it would destroy your liberty, you would need to not go out until you’ve been tested and have your result back. And I have described how the false positive rate would just destroy it from a statistical perspective. I don’t believe it can be done: it’s not scientifically realistic, it’s not medically realistic, and it’s not what we have ever done.

As the virus swept towards the UK in the – in the late winter and early spring I too was concerned, because at the time we were told perhaps three percent might die. So when the Prime Minister called for a lockdown I wasn’t pleased about it, but I understood that we should try this. But it’s important that you understand, that when we look at the profile of the pandemic as it passed through the population, that it was clear that the number of infections every day was falling. We’d passed the peak quite a long time before lockdown started. So we took all that pain, that locked down pain which was multiple weeks – I don’t remember exactly how many multiple weeks – we took it for nothing. If there was a really important effect of lockdown on the number of people who died, or the rate of it, you should at least be able to order them. Like, these people had locked down, and these didn’t – and you cannot. All heavily infected countries’ shapes are the same, whether they had locked down or not. They don’t work. I don’t know why anyone is allowing you, know you, to be pushed into this corner.

I don’t think we entirely know why it is that some countries were hit harder than others, but I have to say I think scientifically the smart money is on a mixture of forces. One would be this cross immunity. Although China had an awful time in Wuhan, in Hubei province, it didn’t spread elsewhere in the country, and I suspect that meant because a lot of them had this cross immunity. And I think nearby countries, in the main, had lots of cross immunity. So that’s one possibility. The other one, though, is in terms of the severity of what did the virus do to a particular population. We’ve seen devastating effects in countries like UK and in Belgium, uh, France, and maybe even in Sweden, and much smaller numbers of deaths in other countries like – like Greece and in Germany. And you might think, “Well, was that was it something that they did?” And I wish it was true, because if it was something we did we could learn from it and do it and it would work in the future. But there’s no evidence whatsoever that it was anything humans did. The passage of this virus through the human population is an entirely natural process that completely ignored our puny efforts to control it.

So there is this theory – I don’t like the name very much – but it’s called “dry tinder.” If people in a country who are vulnerable for to dying in the winter (usually of respiratory viruses), if you have a very mild winter season, like UK did – we had a very mild seasonal flu last year and the year before and so did Sweden – then what happens is there are larger number of very vulnerable people who are even older than usual, and – and I think that’s why we suffered a rather large number of deaths. It was still only 0.06% of the population, equivalent to about four weeks of normal mortality. But countries that had very severe winters recently, and Greece and Germany certainly had very lethal winter flus in the last two years. I think then, they had a smaller population of very vulnerable people, and that is the main reason why they lost fewer people. It’s not to do with locking down, it’s not to do with testing, or tracking, or tracing. I personally don’t think any of those measures have made any difference at all. So Belgium and UK and Sweden were particularly vulnerable, whereas adjacent Nordic countries – I – I get fed up with hearing about this, uh, idea that they locked down and that’s why it saved them and afraid the other Nordic countries had normal flu epidemics the last two or three years. Sweden, like UK, had very mild epidemics: you can just go and look at the number of deaths, it’s sub-normal for UK and Sweden. And now we’ve got a supra-normal, a larger-than-normal, number of deaths from Covid.

Now there may be other reasons, I’m not saying there are not but I think those two main forces – the amount of prior immunity and the so-called “dry tinder,” what vulnerable fraction of the population did you have as a result of seasonal flu being intense or not – I think that accounts for most of it. And it’s – it’s just puberistic and, uh, and – and kind of silly that our government and advisors tell you that doing things that have never worked in the past, like lockdown are going to make any difference to the transfer of respiratory viruses. I don’t believe it for a moment. There’s no scientific evidence behind it and there are much stronger scientific hypotheses that do explain it. You might think that in terms of numbers of deaths – excess deaths – that Covid has produced such a large number that this will be an awful year for excess deaths, but surprisingly not. 2020 is lining up to be about eighth in a list since 1993.

Roughly 620,000 people die every year in this country. They say in life we are also in death – and it’s true, it’s been awful for those who have been personally affected by illness and death, but it’s not particularly unusual in terms of the number of people who’ve died. So one of the things I’ve noticed has happened in – in recent years is that we almost seem to be moving, uh, you know post-science, post-fact as if – as if facts don’t matter. For someone who’s qualified and practiced as a professional scientist for 35 years I think it’s deeply distressing that, I don’t think you should listen to me if I talked about – I don’t know, the design of motorways or something – like, I don’t know anything about motorways or – or how to grow trees better, I don’t know anything about that. But I do know quite a lot about immunology, infection, inflammation, and the way infectious organisms move through a population.

I’ve no other reason for giving this interview other than I really care what happens to my country – and we have to pull ourselves out of this. And I personally believe the way forward is twofold, it’s not difficult. One, we should cease mass testing of the mostly-well in the community immediately – it only provides misleading and grey information, and yet we’re driving policy almost completely based on it. It’s definitely wrong, we should not do it. Use the tests in hospital – I’m not saying don’t test – don’t continue mass testing, and for God’s sake, don’t increase the number of tests. It is a pathology all of its own which must be stamped out by right thinking people. And I’m afraid the people on SAGE, who have provided the modeling, the predictions, the – the measures that should be taken, that their work is so badly, and obviously flawed – lethally incompetent, that you should have no more to do with these people. They should be fired immediately. And the effect of that advice has been to – have cost lots of innocent people their lives from non-Covid causes, they should be dismissed and reconstituted using an appropriate group of skilled individuals – especially avoiding any who might even have the suggestion of a conflict of interest. I think we’re right at the edge of the precipice. I really hope that we can pull back.

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londonfxclub7 · 3 years

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Foreign exchange Signals - Ways to Instantly Trade That you Have Decades with Forex Trading Experience

forexsignals

You should think about forex signals if you're not yet dealing profitably, have reduced experience, or just will not have much time to dedicate to your forex trading.

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Free alerts by comparison have no these incentive, so end up warned and deal them at your own personal risk.

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sweetlydraws · 5 years

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Painted Lady AU One Month

For contexts watch my Miraculous Ladybug Human Animatic.

I don’t know about the France school system or anything like that. I’m American sorry. Also in the animatic, I forgot Adrien asking Marinette not to call out Lila at the end of the episode. So slight fix. This is my first fanfic of any kind, so if anyone characters are weird, I’m sorry. Enjoy.

Warnings: Slight character bashing. Not really bashing just not in a good light.

(Master Fu, Adrien sorta, the class in general.)

Marinette P.O.V

I was falling. I don’t know what falling is supposed to feel like. No, I do. I trip and fall all the time. No, I don’t know what falling to your death feels like. There was no Ladybug to catch me. My body feels all the gravity of the world pushing down on it. At the same time, it felt like I wasn’t moving at all. Why am I falling? Thinking for a second… Ah, I remember now. I was akumatized. It all comes back to me. The gift, their harsh words, throwing Tikki, and accepting Hawkmoth. Other than that it was blank. Why did this have to happen… If only I hadn’t agreed with Adrien.

*Flashback*

I make my way to school, I had missed the prior day due to being sick. I had worked all weekend to build up my portfolio and hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep. Stretching, I yawned. Still tired. I start thinking of more designs.

“Hey, girl! Where were you?!” A loud yelling voice broke my thoughts. Regaining focus I see its Alya. Smiling I wave back. Walking over to her.

“Worked my self ragged. Ended up getting a bad fever because of it.” I explained.

“Why are you working so hard? Making something for Adrien?” Alya teased. Blushing hard I tried to respond but was cut off by a familiar but unknown voice.

“Marinette! It’s so good to see you.” Before I could identify the voice a body hugs mine. It wasn’t a friendly hug or even a hug that had nice intentions. This hug was hard and unconformable. Prying myself away I see that its…. Oh no. When did Lila return?! My heart was pounding so hard I felt it in my eardrums.

“Lila, when… When did you come back?” I questioned.

“I came back yesterday. I was so sad to see you weren’t there.” She replied with a fake sadness in her voice. Lila’s hands are still holding on to my arms. As she spoke she squeezed hard. “ I do hope that we can be better friends the year.” The snake lied through her teeth. Breaking my arms away. Alya looks at me through questioning eyes.

“Sorry, Lila I had a fever and don’t want to get you sick as well.” I eased Alya. Lila smiled. I don’t like this. Heavens knows what she’s been feeding them. My mind starts to race. I faintly hear Alya say that she and Lila are heading to the library for a pre-school study group and wants to know if I want to come. I can’t muster any words and simply shake my head. Lila said something about me being flushed and making others sick. As they leave I rush to the bathroom. Thankfully no one was there. I splash cold water on my face to calm down.

“Are you okay Marinette?” Tikki asked from my bag. I guess she doesn’t want to risk being seen.

“Honestly. No, Lila is a bad liar. The last time she was here she caused a lot of drama, for both me and Ladybug.” Honestly, I was just worried. Lila had the ability to make the class bend to her will. With me being sick yesterday and Chloe the only other person who doesn’t believe the lies coming out of the snake’s mouth, visiting her mom in America. Lila had free reign of the school. Luckily no one was akumatized yesterday while I was sick, so at least that was good. I dry off my face.

“I have to figure out what damages Lila has done and set things straight.” I resolved.

“What if she didn’t do anything?” Tikki proposed.

“No, knowing Lila she had up some grand story involving some celebrity and some politician. Last time she lied about Ladybug.” I shot back. Tikki didn’t reply, so I think I won. Looking at my phone class was starting in about 10 minutes. As I leave the bathroom and start making my way to the class, a hand grabs me. Turning I see, Adrien?!

“ Marinette before you say anything, I need you to promise me you won’t call out Lila for anything.” He all but demanded.

“Wait, what?” I yank my hand away. “Why? What did she do yesterday?” I questioned back.

“She hasn’t… She hasn’t hurt anyone.” He stuttered.

“Adrien, that is a low bar. What did she say.” My comeback caused him to falter. He quickly straightened himself back.

“Marinette ‘she hasn’t hurt anyone’ is a fine bar for her to reach. Yes, she has lied but the lies haven’t caused anyone to be akumatized.” His reply was weak.

“No one has been akumatized because they don’t know she lying. If they find out then they’ll be akumatized.” His argument wasn’t bad but it wasn’t perfect. “Marinette if you tell them anything, you will be the reason why they become akumatized.”

My brain couldn’t keep up with his words. Adrien grab my arm again, “Marinette promise me.” His grip didn’t tighten but it felt unconformable. All I could do was nod. He didn’t let go, “Marinette swear to me.” Swear? Swear on what…

“I swear on my earrings. They are a gift from a family member. They mean the world to me. I swear on them.” My horsed voice said. He seemed satisfied and let go of me. I make my way to class. My arms burned but the feeling didn’t come pair to the burning in my chest.

*Flashback Over*

I don’t know how far it is from the top of the Eiffel tower to the ground but it feels like it has been hours. I muster up the courage to open my eyes… A ceiling? Moving my body, I feel a sheeted bed. My body hurts. I’ve felt pain from a Ladybug battle before but this is far worse. Wait! I quickly reach for my ears. I don’t feel any earrings. Pulling my body up with a groan. Looking around, I’m definitely in my room.

“Sweetie!” A voice joy-full called. Looking I see my dad. We lock eyes and he just starts crying. I want to move to comfort him, but when I go to reach out to him, I recoil in pain. I hear the door shut. Sitting in silence, I hear moving and crashing from downstairs. No doubt that dad is telling mom I’m up.

“Tikki?” Geez, my voice is strained. She doesn’t answer but I do hear some light movement.

“Marinette!” My mom bursts through the door. Rushing towards me crying. She and I hug, dad joins in.

“I love you guys, but everything hurts.” I meekly said. They pull away. “What happened? How did I get here?

“Ladybug brought you home. She said she caught you and you passed out… She also told us what had been happening at school.” Mom answered. Ladybug? I’m Ladybug or at least I was. Master Fu replaced me so quickly. I could feel tears growing in my eyes. Maybe he never believed in me, maybe he always had a backup plan for when clumsy Marinette messed up to much. I feel a hand caress my face. Mom is looking at me her eyes red from crying.

“ We’re not making you go back there. Do you remember Clover-Bloom academy?” Mom asked, not moving her hand away.

“I thought I missed my chance,” I remember. A month or so after Lila returned and started to turn everyone against me. I received a letter saying that if I was able to make one of the outfits I designed and send it to them I would be accepted… I was so depressed I couldn’t even think of holding a pen let alone making a dress.

“You did. But! We contacted them and they told us that we were very lucky because a student in your grade, had transferred out. They said if you can design a few more designs and take a few tests, you’ll be able to get in.” Dad’s voice was joyful.

“How long do I have?” I meekly asked. This voice started in the back of my head saying ‘ They pity you. It is all your fault. If only you kept your mouth shut. You would still have Tikki, Adrien, and all your friends.’

“Well, you have about a month… But, you’ve been passed out for a few days.” Mom or dad said I couldn’t be sure. A few days! Why? Did… Did anyone come to see me? ‘ Why would they? Dirty lying, bully Marinette. You don’t deserve to be in their presence.’

“We had a doctor come by and check you out. She said that you were fine, just exhausted.” Mom… Yeah, it was mom who said that.

“Has… has anyone come to see me?” I whispered. Mom and dad look at each other than to me then back to each other. Mom sighs.

“Some did. Nino, Juleka, Rose all came to see you.” Mom said.

“We didn’t let them. We were so angry about what they did to you. We told them you were ‘sleeping’, and I don’t know if they wanted to say sorry or wanted answers. We couldn’t let them near you. We hope you understand sweetie.” Dad finished.

“No..no Ayla or Adrien?” I barely got out. They didn’t reply verbally, only shook their head. ‘ See they now how evil you are. The others pity you. Using a akuma to manipulate them. How are you any better than Lila? Its good Fu got a different Ladybug. You. Are. Not. Deserving. Of. The. Title. Ladybug.’

“Is it alright if I can be alone. This is a lot to take in.” They nod.

“Is there anything you would like to eat for dinner?” Dad asked.

“Nothing in particular.” I smiled falsely. They smile back as they leave. I move my body to have my legs off my bed. I feel wetness falling on my legs. I’m crying again. ‘Cry baby.’ I laugh weakly. My laugh is cut off by the sound of movement again. It wasn’t Tikki, the who was it.

“I know you’re there. Show yourself!” I try sounding tough. The moving stopped and hushed whispers can be heard. The whispers stopped. Then, Pollen?

“Hello, my lady.” Pollen greeted gesturing for some to also come out.

“Good to see you again.” Trixx? One other kwami came out, but I didn’t recognize them.

“Hello, Marinette. My name is Nooroo. I am the kwami of transmission and connected to the butterfly miraculous.” Nooroo introduced. Wait, the butterfly miraculous, as in Hawkmoth!

“How are you here? Didn’t Hawkmoth have you! And why are Pollen and Trixx here?” I asked.

“You saved Nooroo!” Trixx gleamed.

“As for us, you had taken us from my late queen and the former fox.” Pollen answered.

“Late queen, former fox?” I repeated. Late, former. Did I kill them?! “Are they okay did I-”

“They are fine minus a few bruises and scrapes. I will do my best to recap what happened to you.” Nooroo interrupted.

*One explanation later*

“If I had taken all of their miraculous’ then where is Wayzz?” I asked.

“They left to rejoin Master Fu.” Pollen answered.

“And you all didn’t? Shouldn’t we take Nooroo back to Master Fu?” I was very confused. “And why did mom and dad say that Ladybug brought me home, when there was no Ladybug in the fight?” All the kwamis look at each other and start whispering. Nooroo pulled away.

“To answer all those questions I first need to tell you about Duusu.” Nooroo said floating over to me. I open my hand for them to sit in. Pollen and Trixx settle next to Nooroo.

“Duusu?”

“Yes, Duusu is another kwami that Master Fu lost. Duusu is the kwami of Emotions. They however are… how shall I put this? Corrupted? Yes. Corrupted. Anyone who uses them will fall ill and Duusu themselves will start to fade. In other words, Duusu is dying.” I gasp. “I can not tell you why Duusu is corrupted, but I will tell you this I do not trust Master Fu to protect us,” Nooroo stated.

“Why?”

“Master Fu is the reason we were all lost,” Nooroo said.

“All? Master Fu only told me he lost the butterfly and another miraculous.” The other miraculous must have been Duusu.

“He lied. Master Fu lost everyone other then Wayzz.” I moved my hand to my face, cause them all to fall. I need air, I can’t breathe. I move ignoring the pain and open one of my windows. The sound of Paris is calming. ‘You didn’t deserve the truth.’ I grab my head. I feel a small body hug mine. Then another, and another.

“I’m sorry. I- I don’t know. I thought Fu trusted me.” I tried to justify.

“Fu is an old man. He made a lot of mistakes. Perhaps he thought that if he told you an alternate story after he died it would be the truth. Wash him of his sins?” Nooroo questioned. “Due to an old curse put on us I can not tell you who Hawkmoth was. Hawkmoth is desperate to get the Ladybug and Cat miraculous’ so no doubt he will use Duusu.” They continued.

“Speaking of the Ladybug miraculous.” Nudged Trixx.

“Right. There was no Ladybug. After you retrieved Pollen and co… I had taken over your body.” Nooroo hushed voice said.

“Taken over my body? How?” I asked.

“Kwamis have a lot of different power. We’ll tell you about them later. Back to the story. I had taken control and did a mass akumatizing. This one is permanent.”

“Permanent?”

“When I myself akumatize someone, the effects are stronger and in this case permanent. I made everyone believe that Ladybug came and saved you. I also made Hawkmoth and anyone else forget that you had me. So Hawkmoth no matter how are he tries can not remember who saved me from him.”

“What about Chat and the others? They should know that I had taken their miraculous’ as well?”

“I altered their memories as well. No matter how hard they try they will only remember that they lost the miraculous’ through there own incompetents. And before you ask, Wayzz and Plagg both said they would lie for us.” Nooroo smiled. I simply nodded. This was a lot to take in.

“What happens now.” I’m not sure if it was a statement or a question.

“Now. I need, no we need your help.” Nooroo said floating to be in front of me. “I need you to my power to help find and fix Duusu.”

“I can’t,” I whispered. “I was akumatized. I lost Tikki. I-I..” I start to cry. ‘I’m worthless’

“My lady. You were the best Ladybug. You can not hold the fact that you have emotions against your self.” Pollen said comforting me.

“Yeah, when Tikki would come to see us, she would praise you to no end! We heard what happened to you. You are human.” Trixx joins Pollen in comforting me.

“You saved me. You went against what Hawkmoth told you to do and saved me. I would have no one better to be my new holder.” Nooroo said holding my face.

“I have a month. One month to get in Clover-Bloom and start anew. There we will save Duusu.” I resolved. Standing up I walk over to my computer, they fallow me. “Chat Noir visits me. So staying here would be a bad idea. Clover-Bloom has dorm rooms. We won’t be bothered.” Turning to face Pollen, Trixx, and Nooroo. “I promise I will save Duusu. I will heal them. And I will protect every single Kwami.” Nooroo smiles.

“That’s all we can ask for, Marinette.” Nooroo gleamed. They all fly over to me and we hug. I don’t care what my old classmates think of me anymore. I have Pollen, Trixx, Nooroo, mom, and dad. Stretching, I log on to my computer.

“I better get started on these test.” I smiled. For the past year, I had nothing to look forward to, and now I have everything.

End

The next animatic is Painted Lady 1.5 Wolf in Sheep clothing. I’m not sure when it will come out but I’m working on it. Adrien’s and Plaggs art will be coming out sometime.

#miraculous ladybug #ml salt #kinda #miraculous ladybug AU #Painted Lady Au #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #ML Pollen #ML Trixx #ML Nooroo #ML AU #vlosteen #vlo-writes

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