#it I really think of Karen was told sooner and there was better communication it would have played out differently | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

iholdmysaiproperly · 4 years

Text

This is my contribution to the @daredevilexchange, a fic for @valinorbound using the prompts, Foggy, Karen, and Matt setting up their new partnership, a post-Defenders reunion, and team as family.

“What do you mean you haven’t spoken to any of the other Defenders?” Foggy asked as he strained to squeeze a conference table into the space above Theo’s shop. The Three Avocados, as Foggy liked to call them, were busy trying to convert space previously used for storage into a semblance of a lawyer’s office.

Foggy and Karen were trying to treat Matt’s vigilante side job like a normal extracurricular activity. But it was proving to be a little harder for them than if Matt had taken up, say, the violin. Foggy thought that Matt was better off in a team up, rather than working alone - safer that way - and had brought up the Defenders. It turned out that Matt hadn’t spoken to any of them since the Midland Circle debacle.

Matt, after trying to duck the question for at least five minutes by attempting to clear some clutter from what was soon to be their waiting room and keeping up a running commentary of what he guessed the items were, had finally mumbled something about not having seen them since the building had come down. He hoped they would drop the subject, but judging from Karen’s quick intake of breath and the fact that Foggy had completely stopped all movement for about 10 seconds told him that this was never going to happen.

“Matt, buddy,” Foggy began, “I saw them after it all happened. When we all thought you were, you know,” he dropped his voice to a whisper, “dead.”

Behind him, Karen rolled her eyes, but stayed silent, emptying out an old file cabinet she hoped they could use.

“And, let me tell you, man, they were pretty broken up about it. I mean, you stayed down there when they all came up. That leaves a mark on people. Hell, Matt, YOU leave a mark on people, and you really need to get better at the whole,” here he stopped his futile efforts with the table and leaned against it, “you know, communicating thing. Starting with NOT LETTING PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT YOU GO ON BELIEVING THAT YOU’RE DEAD.”

“What Foggy is trying to say,” Karen interrupted, shooting Foggy a look over her shoulder as she approached Matt, “Is that even if you don’t team up with these people again, you should at least let them know that you’re ok.”

“I’m sure they’ve heard by now,” Matt answered them dismissively. “It was a little hard to miss Daredevil’s return; it was all over the news!” Hearing both Foggy’s and Karen’s heartbeats start to pick up, he asked, “What?”. They were both getting worked up about something, but he really just wanted to focus on what they were doing - making a fresh start for the new Nelson, Murdock, and Page and making sure they were ready to open the doors on schedule.

Seeing that Foggy was about to yell again, or possibly pull his hair out in frustration, Karen placed a hand on his arm and took a step forward, “Matt, don’t you think that they might want to hear it from you? Whatever the four of you went through down there, it was pretty intense. And then to think that you stayed down there when they all got out. That had to have been difficult for them. I think you owe it to them to at least let them know that you survived.” As she spoke, Karen moved slowly toward Matt, as if toward a skittish cat. “They may not love you like we do, but I’m sure they’d be happy to hear from you again if you were to reach out.”

Matt sighed, running his fingers back through his hair and turning away for a moment. They were right. He knew they were right, but at the same time, his plate felt awfully full just then. The Yakuza seemed to be trying to make a play for the hole left by the Hand, he, Foggy, and Karen were attempting to get their new partnership underway, which meant a lot of physical work as well as paperwork, and he was making more of an effort to be a better friend to both of them. This meant trying to juggle a worklife, social life, and his nightlife, and he lived in constant fear that one of those balls was going to drop on his head.

The thought of reaching out to three more people, even if it was just socially, was more than he really felt up to at the moment. Admitting that, however, was something that he just didn’t think he could do right now, either. He couldn’t see their faces, but he could picture the sympathetic looks that Foggy and Karen would give him, as well as the requisite pep talks and encouragement to cut back on his nighttime activities if he so much as hinted that he was feeling a little overwhelmed.

After a moment, he decided that the only way through this was to admit that Foggy and Karen were right, and call up the other Defenders. Maybe he would get lucky and a quick phone call would suffice.

____________________________________________________________________________

Murdocks don’t get lucky, Matt thought as the limo he sat in propelled him through the city. We get hit, we get up, we use pain to keep us going, but we never get lucky.

Matt’s hope and plan went off the rails with his first phone call. It was to Jessica, who first hung up on him, then called him back to yell at him until he had to hold the phone away from his ear fearful of hearing damage. She hung up on him again, then called back, clearly inside a bottle, to yell some more. It took him two days before he recovered enough to call Luke, who was overjoyed to hear from him, but a lot more sane about the call than Jessica had been. Fewer expletives as well.

The call had gone so well, in fact, that he immediately called Danny, a decision he was now regretting. Danny had also been overjoyed to hear from him, and had immediately suggested that the four of them meet and catch up. “You don’t have to do a thing,” he promised over the phone, “I’ll arrange everything. Hey, did I tell you I bought that restaurant we all met at? Yeah, after the car came through the front window, I sort of had to in order to avoid being sued. Anyway, it’s mine now so I can host you all there for a reunion dinner! I’ll call the others and set it up, how’s the 20th work for you?” Given that it was the 1st, and the 20th seemed ages off, Matt agreed and hung up the phone wondering what he had gotten himself into.

The next few weeks flew by as they continued getting Nelson, Murdock, and Page up and running. They were officially open for business, and the word about the hot shot pro bono attorneys was spreading. Karen was almost never in the office, off following some lead while Matt and Foggy did their best to keep up with the unending stream of people who flowed through their doors.

They were so busy, in fact, that Matt had completely forgotten about his dinner with the Defenders until a limo had pulled up outside of the shop one evening, and a beaming Danny - he could actually hear the man smile - had him by the arm and inside the limo before he had time to blink.

Any attempts Matt made at stalling or entering the restaurant quietly were thwarted by Danny, who pulled him inside, while calling out enthusiastically to the others the whole time. Matt was immediately greeted by a punch to the gut and an, “Asshole!” from Jessica, who was clearly still mad at his failure to communicate the fact that he was still alive. He struggled to get his breath back while he felt Luke watching him, “I’m STILL not giving you a hug,” the bigger man told him, his hands folded inside his hoodie, “But I am glad to see you, man. Glad you’re still with us.” And with that, he good naturedly swatted Matt on the arm while Matt tried not to flinch, remembering the wallop he had just received.

Luke moved off toward Jessica, who Matt could hear pouring shot after shot of what smelled like cheap whiskey. Guilt flooded him for a moment as he faced the fact that his decisions had caused this pain. But, he had promised Foggy and Karen that he was going to start doing better, so he took a deep breath and steeled himself for what was coming next.

Danny, who hadn’t let go of his arm as if afraid Matt was going to turn around and leave again, pulled him further into the restaurant toward a table in the back that was already filled with food. Given how much Danny could eat, that wasn’t surprising. Matt seated himself and began to toy with this knife and fork. For a moment he was actually thankful to be blind, as it meant he didn’t have to make eye contact with anyone as the others seated themselves at the table and dinner got underway.

The meal started out somewhat awkwardly with Danny doing most of the talking. Eventually, Matt managed to get a word in edgewise, and apologized to the others for not reaching out sooner. There was a brief pause while the others let him squirm for a moment, and then things relaxed and the evening became a lot more, if not fun, then at least enjoyable.

So enjoyable, in fact, that when Jessica announced she had to leave to follow up on something, the other three decided to join her. A lot of whiskey went into this decision, but Jessica had said this was a routine surveillance, after all, so what could go wrong?

____________________________________________________________________________

Matt cursed the Murdock luck again as he ducked what sounded an awful lot like a computer printer flying at his head. The paper tray had come loose and was sliding outward in one direction while the power cord whipped around in the other, making a whistling sound that distracted him. He dodged the printer easily, but the cord caught him across the face. He grabbed it and used it to swing the printer back at the thug that had thrown it at him, knocking the guy backwards so that he stumbled into the man standing behind him, taking them both out.

Jessica’s “routine surveillance” had turned out to be on a very angry and destructive executive who had been caught slipping back into his office presumably to destroy evidence that showed the fact that he had been appropriating funds. Jessica was acting on a tip that the scumbag was planning on leaving the country soon, and she was hoping to gather evidence of this tonight.

A security guard clearly on the man’s payroll spotted Jessica taking pictures, though, and all hell had broken loose. The next thing any of them knew, they were engaged with several hired goons who had clearly been instructed not to let them get away. When the hired thugs realized that they were clearly outmatched, they became desperate, throwing everything but the proverbial kitchen sink at the group. It didn’t really matter in the end, but it did slow the Defenders down enough that the evidence was destroyed before the executive was out the door and into a town car. This led to a heated argument about whether they should follow him, or simply turn over the images that Jessica had managed to take before the shit hit the fan and walk away from the mess. Matt was personally torn on the subject; this wasn’t normally his game, but he hated to see guilty people slip away. Luke was all for turning over the evidence and getting out of there before someone called the cops on them, and Matt was leaning toward agreeing with him, but Jessica and Danny were outraged and argued that it wasn’t enough to simply send some images when the guy could be anywhere within an hour.

In the end, it was decided that Matt and Danny would trail him while Jessica and Luke got the images into the right hands. Thankfully, the guy was easy to trail from the rooftops, and they were able to keep reporting on his whereabouts while Jessica and Luke got the info to her client, who was able to go to the police with his case.

It was dawn before Matt made it back to his apartment. He managed a quick shower and a quick nap before he dragged himself into the office for the day. For the first time in ages, he actually considered calling in, but he knew that if he did the others would worry, and he had enough guilt to deal with. Making them worry wasn’t something he could bring himself to do just then.

Foggy and Karen were waiting for him, both of them clearly eager to hear about how his evening had gone. Matt could hear them talking excitedly when he entered the shop and headed for the back stairs. They were hoping that he had enjoyed himself and that maybe he would consider working with one or more of them in the future, which Foggy felt would be safer for him in the long run, to have someone watching his back, what happened at Midland Circle notwithstanding. Matt was touched, and had to pause for a moment before he let them know he was there. He didn’t want them to realize that he had overheard them. That, and he was pretty sure he looked terrible after last night, plus he was moving a little oddly due to Jessica’s punch, which had left him a very sore, and black and blue stomach.

He could smell coffee, though, and in his rush to arrive on time he hadn’t had any yet. He was so desperate for caffeine he was willing even to drink the coffee if Karen had made it. In fact, he might have to ask her to make him his own pot; he was so tired he was afraid he’d end up doing something dumb like forgetting to put the carafe under the stream.

Pausing outside the door, he straightened up, suppressed a hiss of pain from his bruised abs, and plastered a smile on his face. He knew he looked bad, but he wasn’t sure exactly how bad until he went in and heard both Karen’s and Foggy’s heart rates jump up about 50 beats a minute each. They were both silent for a moment before they rushed him, talking at once.

“Matt! What happened,” Karen asked as she ran to take his cane and steer him toward a chair.

“Matt, buddy! What the hell happened last night? I thought you were having dinner with Danny, Luke, and Jessica!” Foggy was alternating coming in close and quickly backing up again, obviously not sure what to do. “You look like shit, buddy. Don’t tell me you blew them off and went out Daredeviling,” Matt could hear the frown in Foggy’s voice and was quick to reassure him.

“No, no, I did meet up with them. I swear. And it was nice, really. I mean, Jessica punched me in the stomach when I first walked in,” Matt paused as he heard Karen’s sharp intake of breath. She reached a hand toward his stomach, but he brushed it away with a shake of his head. “I’ll be fine, really. And I did deserve it. I realize now that I shouldn’t have left them hanging like I did. And, can I get some coffee? Please? I was out till dawn, and I haven’t had any yet.” He trailed off, his head starting to pound from caffeine withdrawal. He must have looked as bad as he felt since Karen got up to fill him a cup without asking any questions.

“So, what, did Luke and Danny take turns on the rest of you? It looks like you got smacked in the face by a whip,” Foggy had finally succumbed to his need to be close to Matt, and was gently turning Matt’s face toward the window with his fingers so he could get a better look at the damage.

“Actually, it was the power cord from a printer,” Matt said sheepishly as he took the cup of coffee from Karen, “Thanks,” he told her, “this is exactly what I need.”

“A power cord?” “From a printer?” Foggy and Karen spoke over one another in their confusion. Matt had to laugh in spite of himself.

“Yeah, I know, it sounds weird. But… trust me we did have a great time. It was a little awkward at the beginning, but then we relaxed and it was good to catch up. I apologized for not having reached out sooner.”

“And they whipped you with a power cord?” Foggy interrupted. He and Karen were both confused, and starting to wonder if Matt had hit his head.

“No, no, that happened later,” Matt laughed. “Jessica needed to go to check up on something for a client. We decided to follow her, and if I’m honest a lot of whiskey went into that decision. Things went a little sideways, which is where the printer came from. I’ll spare you the details, but the cops arrested the guy just before 4. We split up then and I made it home before 5, grabbed about two hours of sleep and here I am. We agreed to stay in touch, though, maybe make dinner a regular thing if not the fighting.” Matt smiled at his friends, who he could tell were torn about how they felt on this subject.

“Well,” Foggy began slowly, “are you sure you want to be here today? No offense buddy but you really do look like shit. In fact, I’m not sure you should see any clients; I think you’ll scare them.”

Matt started to protest, but then paused, weighing Foggy’s words. It was true his appearance might be off putting to some of their older clients if Foggy and Karen’s reactions were anything to go by, and it was also true that he was trying to be more open about how he felt with Foggy and Karen - part of their agreement when they decided to work together again, but he honestly didn’t want to leave either, despite how gnarly he felt. He decided to come clean.

“Yeah, I know I probably look awful, and frankly I’m not feeling that great either, but I think I’d really rather be here with both of you than home on my own.” He paused to try to get a read on the others, but they were still and silent, heartbeats steady. More nervous now, he continued, “I could just hole up in the back, take care of the back end details, Foggy you could handle the face to face for the day,” he trailed off, as the others were still not giving him anything to work with.

Evidently, though, they had both come to a decision, “Sure thing, buddy,” Foggy said, standing, “Why don’t we clear off that table near the closet and you can work there for the day. It’s kind of hidden behind those weird Chinese screens my mom stashed up here, so no one will see you. And besides,” he said, with a glance at Karen, “I think I speak for both Karen and myself when I say that we’d probably be happier to have you here with us where we can keep an eye on you than have you off on your own, knowing that you’d be likely to jump off a fire escape or something just to help an old lady across the street.” He was smiling, Matt could hear it in his voice. Karen said nothing, but refilled his coffee cup and went to start clearing off the back table.

Matt smiled at Foggy in relief, glad to finally have no secrets between him and his friends - his family.

#daredevil exchange #daredevil fic #defenders #matt murdock #daredevilexchange

20 notes · View notes

unfolded73 · 4 years

Text

Five Times Ronnie Was a Friend to David and One Time She Was a Friend to Patrick (1/1) - schitt’s creek ff

"I think it's less about Ronnie disliking Patrick, and [more about] Ronnie seeing this person come in and having a huge effect on someone she cares as much about as she does David," Robinson said. "Ronnie likes to take her time and figure things out, and err on the side of suspicion." -- Karen Robinson in The Advocate

Rated Teen, 3876 words

___________________________________

When Ronnie saw Stevie get out of the car that morning with David Rose, she almost spit out her coffee.

Ronnie had been going on Roland’s annual turkey shoot since before she’d run for town council almost a decade ago, when she’d shot more turkeys than any of the men on the trip and had earned a lot of grudging respect. This morning, she’d been standing there with Bob and Roland, shooting the same kind of shit they always did. Their council meetings often devolved into this kind of idle chatter, which was one of the many reasons it was hard to get anything done in Schitt’s Creek.

The day was cool and crisp and Ronnie’s thermos of coffee was warm in her hand. She was already looking forward to swapping it for beer later, after they’d hopefully bagged a few wild turkeys. Then David and Stevie arrived, and Ronnie’s attention was thoroughly diverted.

Ronnie hadn’t really spent any time with David Rose yet. She knew Johnny because he’d made a nuisance of himself at a couple of council meetings, and she knew Alexis, thanks to her court-ordered community service. (And yes, Alexis was a princess — the type of person you’d see on one of those ridiculous reality shows on basic cable. But she showed up for her community service dates and made some kind of an effort. Plus she was pretty; not Ronnie’s type and way too young for her, but admittedly enjoyable to look at.) Ronnie had even spoken to Moira, the most baffling of the Roses, a couple of times at the café. David, she hadn’t really given much thought to yet.

Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. She’d clocked David as queer right away, and she couldn’t say she was sorry to have another queer resident in Schitt’s Creek. But she’d also assumed he was vain and probably an asshole, and she didn’t have room in her life for assholes. Seeing him at the annual turkey shoot didn’t fit at all into her preconceived notion about him.

The way he handled a gun, that fit into her preconceived notion about him. Still, he was trying, and she had to give him credit for that. Ronnie took pity on him and helped with his grip on the gun so that the recoil wouldn’t knock him flat. And when he shot his first turkey in the neck and had to watch it slowly die, she did feel sorry for him, patting his back to commiserate.

When they paused for a break in the early afternoon, Ronnie took it upon herself to bring David a beer. He accepted the bottle with a poorly-restrained grimace. “Thanks.” His voice was quiet, the edges from earlier filed off.

“How did Stevie talk you into this, anyway?” Ronnie asked. “Doesn’t seem like your scene.”

He looked down his nose at her. “How’d you guess?”

She just raised an eyebrow and waited.

David huffed. “I don’t know. Stevie asked me, and there had been this bug thing, and… I figured if I said no, it would just confirm her assumption that I have no practical skills. And… I don’t know. She’s been a… friend… to me. So.”

Ronnie nodded, impressed with his openness. Maybe it was brought on by the trauma of killing a turkey, but it was openness nonetheless.

“Plus, I had nothing better to do,” David added.

Ronnie clinked her beer bottle against his. “Fair enough.”

Ronnie couldn’t help being curious when word got around that David was starting to get things set up inside the general store, that maybe he’d be opening his new store soon, although no date had been announced. There was a lot of buzz around town about it — Brenda had been telling anyone who would listen that David Rose was a fan of the moisturizer she made at home and would be selling it under his label. If Ronnie was honest, Brenda was getting a little too excited about it given that the store hadn’t even opened yet.

Still, when Ronnie came out of the café one afternoon and saw a sign painter starting to work on the windows outside, she wandered over to have a look.

She tapped on the door, waiting until David looked up and beckoned before she went in.

Already, she could see David’s mark on the space. All the metal shelving from the old general store was gone, replaced by wood furniture that gave the store a much more upscale look. David was busy sticking labels onto bottles in the middle of the room, his tongue between his teeth as he concentrated on his task.

“Hi, Ronnie,” he said, his eyes darting around nervously. “Are you here to revoke my business license?”

She laughed. “I don’t have that kind of power.” Sticking her hands in her back pockets, Ronnie rocked on her heels. “I just wanted to get a look at the place.”

David gestured around. “Here it is. There’s a lot to do still.”

She looked around at all the boxes of products, at the empty shelves left to fill. “You don’t have any help?”

“Oh, I do, actually? Not at the moment, but I have a… I guess I have a business partner now?” A furtive smile flickered on his face. “Not officially, yet. But I will have a business partner.”

Ronnie raised her eyebrows. “Who?”

“Um, Patrick Brewer? He works with Ray right now, but—”

“That guy? Isn’t he brand new in town?” Gwen just so happened to have introduced her to Patrick last week as the newest player on the Café Tropical baseball team.

David shrugged. “I guess.”

“And so you trust him to help you run your business… why exactly?” Ronnie had gotten the impression of a hypercompetitive bro type, what little of Patrick had caught her attention during the game. She hadn’t been impressed.

David’s eyes widened. “Because!” She stared at him and waited for him to elaborate. “Because he knows about taxes and grant money and food product licenses and I don’t know about any of those things.”

“So you’re going to entrust your business to him,” Ronnie said flatly, shaking her head. “Isn’t that exactly the kind of trust that led to your family losing all your money?”

“Patrick’s not going to embezzle money from me,” David said with an eye roll. “For one thing, I don’t really have any money for him to embezzle. And for another, he’s not that kind of person.”

“How do you know?”

“I just know.” David huffed, flailing his hands around. “Now can you please stop trying to give me more things to be anxious about? Believe me, I’m anxious enough as it is.”

“Okay.” She sighed. David was like an innocent lamb in some ways, she thought, and not just because of his fuzzy sweaters.

“Look, I know the town council would have preferred Christmas World, but—”

“Oh, that was mainly Bob and Roland,” Ronnie said. And Moira, it had to be said, but she wasn’t about to mention that to David in case he didn’t already know. “Personally, I think year-round Christmas stores are tacky.”

“Thank you.”

“Whereas this place looks like it’s gonna be…” She scanned the room again. Somehow it seemed brighter than it ever had under the previous owners. Maybe it was just that the windows were clean. “Really nice. Classy.”

David gave her a charming, lopsided smile. “That’s the plan.”

“Where the hell is Bob?” Ronnie said, looking at her watch. The sooner they got this council meeting started, the sooner she could get on with her day.

“Robert does seem to have a rather dégagé relationship with the clock, doesn’t he?” Moira said, flipping the page on the book she was reading.

“How late is David’s store open?” Roland asked. “Jocelyn wanted me to pick up a couple of things on my way home.”

“I’m afraid I don’t monitor the hours of my son’s place of business, Roland,” Moira said with a bored sigh.

Roland leaned back and put his feet on the desk. “I mean, assuming they aren’t making a habit of closing early so they can get up to some hanky-panky in the back room,” he said with a snicker. And then when no one commented, he added more directly, “Twyla told me David and Patrick are an item.”

Moira finally looked up. “Are you asking me to gossip about my own son’s romantic liaisons?”

Roland was undeterred. “Just curious if the rumours are true.”

“I’m not sure which rumours you speak of, but yes, I understand that David’s relationship with his business partner has grown into an affair de coeur.”

“So you are going to gossip about it then,” Ronnie said, her chin resting on her hand.

“I shall give no further details, Veronica,” Moira said, going back to her book.

Ronnie didn’t give it any more thought until she saw David in the café a few days later. She was lingering over her breakfast at the counter when David came in and ordered a coffee and a tea to go from Twyla.

“How’s the store, David?” Ronnie asked when Twyla went to make the drinks.

“It’s… great, actually. People seem to want to buy the things we sell, which is nice.”

“Well, that is sort of the whole point of owning a store.” She hesitated, unsure if she should say anything else, but then she figured, what the hell. “The scuttlebutt around town is that you and you and your business partner are more than business partners.”

“Oh, so people are talking about us,” David said with a frown.

Ronnie shrugged. “It’s a small town and there’s not much else for people to do. You know how it is.”

He looked insulted at the idea that he would know how it is.

“It’s an awful lot to share with one person, David,” she said, because she’d been there before, when she was young. Madly in love and certain that she’d found the one, the stereotypical U-Haul lesbian, moving too fast and getting her heart broken. She’d learned the hard way.

“Are you giving me relationship advice?” His head moved a complicated dance on the end of his neck, somehow expressing his anxiety better than his words ever could.

“I’m saying that getting involved with the person who you have to run a business with can get messy when things don’t work out.”

His eyes flickered down to his shoes. “I know. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I fuck it up.”

“So sure that you’re going to be the one to fuck it up?” she asked, feeling that same protectiveness that he’d always engendered in her for some reason.

“Well Patrick isn’t going to be the one to fuck it up, he’s… perfect, basically?”

Him? she wanted to ask. Instead she said, “Nobody’s perfect.”

Twyla brought over David’s to-go cups.

“Just… be careful, that’s all I’m saying,” Ronnie said, accepting the check from Twlya and pulling out her wallet to pay.

“I will,” David said softly. “I mean, I am.” But she could tell that he was already a goner, his cheeks flushed and bottom lip pulled between his teeth. He also pulled his wallet from his pocket, handing over some cash to Twyla. “He’s… new at this. Being with a man,” David said, so quietly that she almost didn’t catch the words.

“Oh, boy,” Ronnie said, because she’d been down that road too. She’d been an experiment to a few girls who later decided they weren’t really all that bisexual after all. She’d been forced back into the closet by girlfriends who weren’t ready to be out. All of it sucked. She guessed David had been through his share of those kinds of relationships too.

Fighting every aloof instinct she had, Ronnie put a hand on David’s arm. “If you ever want to talk, I’m around. You can give me a call.”

David looked as surprised by this moment of tenderness as Ronnie herself was. “Thanks, Ronnie.”

“Any time, David.”

Ronnie was on her third whiskey when David and Stevie arrived at the Wobbly Elm.

David was wincing as they joined her at the bar. “I hope my partner hasn’t driven you to drink, Ronnie.”

Ronnie glared at him. As if she cared enough about Patrick Brewer for anything he did to drive her to drink. “I finished the bathroom when I said I would, didn’t I?”

David held his hands up in surrender. “The bathroom is beautiful, Ronnie. The calligraphy workshop last night went off without a hitch.”

“Glad to hear it,” she muttered, her drink back at her lips.

“Will you shut up about the damn bathroom, David? We’re here to drown my sorrows, remember?” Stevie said, poking him in the chest. “Go get us drinks.”

“Fine, fine,” he said, moving down the bar to get the bartender’s attention.

“Drown your sorrows?” Ronnie asked.

Stevie sighed. “The guy I was seeing turned out to be an asshole: the Stevie Budd story.”

“Mm.” Ronnie took another sip of her whiskey. “I’d say the problem is men, but my love life hasn’t been much better lately,” she said just as David rejoined them.

“I thought you were with… what’s her name? The gravel lady,” David said.

“Karen,” Stevie said at the same time that Ronnie said, “We split up.”

“I’m sorry, Ronnie,” Stevie said, lifting her hand as if she was going to touch Ronnie’s back, and then wisely thinking better of it and dropping her hand back to the bar.

Ronnie shrugged. “It happens.”

“Wow, this has, like, never happened to me,” David said.

Stevie narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“I’ve never been the one with the successful relationship in a group of people at a bar like this. I’m always the one crying into my martini.”

“Shut the fuck up, David,” Stevie said.

“Does that sound like a thing you should be saying to us right now?” Ronnie asked, her voice going high with indignation.

“Just for that, you’re buying the next round too,” said Stevie.

“Okay.” David said, biting his lip. “Sorry.”

***

“And so apparently a casual fuck is all I was good for,” Stevie said before drawing more pot smoke into her lungs. She and David sat on the hood of Stevie’s car at the far end of the Wobbly Elm parking lot. Ronnie stood beside them, holding herself steady using the car’s side mirror and sharing a joint with these children because apparently that was how low she had sunk.

“That’s bullshit, Stevie,” David said, taking the joint from between Stevie’s thumb and finger.

“Well, you’d know,” Stevie said.

“That’s exactly it, though,” he replied before pausing to hold the smoke in. “It’s because you are such an excellent person in other ways that it would have been a mistake to ruin it with sex,” David said in a long exhale before passing the joint to Ronnie. “Or, with more sex, I mean.”

“Maybe I’m also bad at sex,” Stevie said.

“You are definitely not bad at sex. You’re great at sex,” David said.

“Really?” Stevie asked.

David nodded. “Yep. Yes.”

“You’re great at it too, David.”

“Uhhh, yeah. Of course I am.”

“I am getting such a fascinating window into your relationship,” Ronnie said as she passed the joint back to Stevie.

“I bet you’re great at sex too, Ronnie,” David said.

“Damn right I am.”

“Stevie and I tried the friends with benefits thing a long time ago,” David explained, the marijuana freeing his tongue. “And although we’re better off as friends and I’m very much in love with Patrick, that doesn’t stop me from seeing that you are the whole package, Stevie Budd, and if Emir didn’t see that then he can suck a bag of dicks.”

Stevie laughed wildly.

“Same goes for Gravel Karen,” David said, gesturing up and down at Ronnie.

“Uh huh,” Ronnie said impassively, although deep down she was pleased.

Stevie’s head dropped until her chin touched her chest. “I’m gonna have to leave my car here. We should call a cab.”

It occurred to Ronnie that she wasn’t anywhere near sober enough to drive either. She was out of practice at this whole going out and drinking in bars thing, and she was even more out of practice with this smoking pot thing. “I’m too old for this,” she said with a heavy sigh.

“I’ll call Patrick,” David said, fumbling for his phone. “He’ll pick us up.”

Which was how twenty minutes later, Ronnie found herself climbing into the back seat of Patrick Brewer’s Toyota next to Stevie, who immediately let her head fall onto Ronnie’s shoulder. David was planting a sloppy kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek in the front seat, making Patrick wipe the saliva off his face with the sleeve of his hoodie.

“Wow, you guys reek of pot smoke,” Patrick said, looking at Ronnie with his stupid Bambi-eyes in the rearview mirror.

“Just drive, Brewer,” Ronnie said.

“Straight men are the worst,” Stevie murmured. “Why do I bother with them?”

“You’re asking the wrong person, honey,” Ronnie said, petting Stevie’s hair.

“So they tell me I have you to thank for all the extra flowers,” David said, sinking into a chair next to Ronnie as she put a forkful of wedding cake in her mouth. She caught a flash of his inner thigh before he crossed his legs, and while Ronnie had no interest in the male half of the species, she’d have to be dead not to appreciate David Rose in that skirt and those boots.

“Well, it was the least I could do,” she said after she’d swallowed her bite of cake. “You deserved a nice day.”

“And you and the Jazzagals learned our song,” David said with one of his lopsided smiles, a glass half-full of champagne dangling carelessly in one hand. “You, Ronnie Lee, stood in a room full of people and sang the song that Patrick sang to me at the first open mic.”

“That was Jocelyn’s idea,” Ronnie said with a frown. “I had to go along with the group.”

David elbowed her. “Come on. Admit it. You don’t totally hate Patrick. You like him a little bit.”

She was going to admit no such thing. “I don’t hate that he makes you happy. I don’t understand what you see in him, but I’m glad that you’re so happy.” And then she felt tears welling up again, as if it wasn’t bad enough that she had cried during the ceremony. She fervently hoped no one had seen her wiping away tears.

He grinned more widely, so she guessed she’d given him a satisfactory answer. Ronnie looked over at the dance floor, where David’s husband was currently dancing with his sister-in-law.

“I hear you’re buying the place out on O’Beirn Road,” she said.

He nodded, his face positively glowing with happiness now. “I’ve been admiring that cottage from afar for years. We’ll be moving in next month.”

“A place like that, it might need some work done. I trust you’ll come to me first if you need a contractor?” She took another bite of cake. It was delicious cake, moist and citrusy, and she savored the bite on her tongue.

“Of course we will. I have some ideas for the kitchen, although we might have to wait a year or two until there’s enough money to do justice to my vision.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want to do anything that didn’t do justice to your vision.” She ate some more cake and watched David watching Patrick until she couldn’t stand it any more. “Ugh, your heart eyes are giving me a stomachache. Go dance.”

David held his hand out to her. “Come dance with me, Ronnie.”

She hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and took his hand and let herself be pulled out onto the dance floor.

+1.

Ronnie had almost dozed off at her desk in Town Hall when he came in.

“Patrick Brewer,” she said, eyeing him up and down. “Shouldn’t you be off on a honeymoon somewhere?”

He approached her nervously, his hands clutched together in front of him like a supplicant. “We decided to hold off on the honeymoon until we could afford to go somewhere really nice.”

“It’s not time to renew your permits for the store already, is it?”

“Nope. I’m here about council, actually,” he said.

“Public meetings are the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month,” she said, leaning back and putting her feet up on the desk.

“Okay, but I was more curious about the open council seat. With Mrs. Rose gone.”

“There’ll be an election to fill the seat,” she said, her feet thunking back down to the floor. “Why?”

“I, um… was thinking about running.” He chuckled nervously. “To keep it in the Rose family, I guess.”

“Assuming you’d win,” she said. “That’s presumptuous.”

“Is anyone else running?” he asked, a little of his usual, annoying self-confidence showing through.

Ronnie sighed. “Not yet.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Is that really the reason you want to run? To keep it in the family?”

Patrick cleared his throat and stood up a little straighter. “No. Since we’re settling here pretty much permanently, I’ve been thinking about other ways I might be able to contribute to Schitt’s Creek. I have ideas about bringing more business to downtown. And David and I have gotten to know several of the farmers in the area, selling their products in the store, so I hear a lot about their concerns.”

Ronnie stared at him for another few seconds, and then opened a file drawer, pulling out a form. “You’ll need to fill this nomination form out and get five signatures to support your nomination,” she said, pointing at the blank spaces on the form. “Think you can do that?”

Patrick took the nomination form from her. “Do I think I can get five people to sign my nomination form?” he said, sounding a little bit testy. “Yes, I think I can manage that.”

“You’re a real joiner, aren’t you?” she asked, hand propped up on her hand. “Baseball, community theater, town council… next you’ll be joining the curling club.”

He smirked. “I would, but it interferes with my hockey practice. Besides, Ronnie, you do all those things. Plus the Jazzagals. I’d say it takes a joiner to know one.”

She huffed out a laugh. “Tell you what,” she said, reaching for the form. When he handed it back to her, she signed on the first nomination line. “I’ll give you your first signature.”

Taking the form back, Patrick gave her a bemused look. “I figured I’d be the last person you’d want filling the empty seat on council.”

She shrugged. “Not the last person…”

“Okay, thanks,” he said with an eye roll, turning to leave.

“I’m looking forward to hearing your ideas,” she called, making him stop and turn back. “And if you win, I’m looking forward to kicking your ass on a regular basis, just like I do in baseball.” And then Ronnie laughed, loud and long.

“Good to talk to you too, Ronnie,” Patrick said, headed back toward the door.

She was still laughing. “Say hi to your husband for me!”

#schitt's creek ff #schitt's creek fic #david x patrick fic #david x patrick ff #my fic

32 notes · View notes

cs-discourse · 4 years

Text

I do not wish anything but good things upon Dia and everyone else involved with this, and I hope that Dia is doing okay and wish them the best moving forward, and I don’t know too much about Rise since I was never a part of it since I never really cared for it, but a couple things.

One, if people paid for their cats, it is not them feeling entitled to them or someone else’s art. They literally fucking are. They bought that with money they earned. That isn’t an entitled Karen. If they didn’t buy it, it is still theirs. They won it or claimed a free service option (I have no idea how Founders worked so the free service may not be totally correct but still my point stands) that was offered to them, and it is theirs. You can’t give someone a gift and then just take it back. Rise isn’t one of the special circumstances where that’s okay, nor was it accidental. While someone made the art, it now belongs to whoever bought it, or whoever it was given to, because they now own it. If the species wasn’t closed I can understand not wanting to allow selling, but if the species is closed, that’s really just a straight up dick move, especially if the people paid for it. There’s only so much you can do with something very community based without the community, and if people lose interest, there’s no way they can get that money back and at some point, it may be money they need. While there doesn’t seem like much can be done if that rule is broken, Dia is a mod on CS, with sway, and they could probably have a user banned for breaking that species rule. I’m not saying they would, but that abuse of power is possible. Also, not allowing them to be used on other sites is also really not okay? It would be more understanding if Dia paid for them herself, but from my understanding, people pitched in to pay for the lines currently used, so there’s not even that excuse. I read the closing post, Rise cats are now considered regular OCs, and it’s not right to constrict the use of their official reference like that. If it were to not upload to places like imgur or Pinterest, that I get because the credit becomes untraceable then, but what if now that the species doesn’t exist someone wanted to develop them elsewhere? There’s no longer any reason to police that and as a species owner myself there really isn’t any justifiable reason I can see to not allow that.

Two, as someone else has said already, Dia took that custom for currency, and if she wasn’t certain about something, she absolutely should have asked for clarification. Most people who take commissions that I’ve seen, references are super important, and if there’s not enough, they ask. They don’t talk it over with other staff members, they go directly to the person and ask. If there was no “surprise me” or “I really do not give a shit about what you do outside these things”, she should have gone straight to Faded to clarify. That is on her. She also says to Fadedfyre that that’s the problem with people ordering cats with technical terms and she wants it to go away. If it’s a problem, then if she was unsure and this has happened before and she doesn’t want it to happen, then she absolutely should have asked for clarification. It’s good she offered to change the eye color, really good, but this could have been avoided if she had asked. It also could have been avoided if a reference had been provided to begin with, but Dia still should have asked. Anxiety is also not an excuse for making someone do extra work or entitling you to it, but from what I saw that was not what Fadedfyre was asking or doing. They explained, asked if anything could be done, and even in their rude reply did not demand or ask for anything to be fixed. They didn’t seem to come in expecting something to happen, just wanting to see if something could be done.

Three, yes, Fadedfyre was rude and really shouldn’t have been like that, but they admitted and acknowledged they were and aren’t acting like it was okay to be rude, and I am also not saying that it was okay, because it’s not, and it’s a huge no. However, they weren’t asking someone to remake it, they were merely asking if anything could be done. That’s not a “demand” for someone to change it. A month also isn’t a super unreasonable time. No where near ideal and definitely a long time, yes, but not insanely unreasonable. It should have been dealt with sooner, but there is so much that can happen in a month and so many reasons why it couldn’t have been dealt with sooner. Real life is a huge one. Personally, since October I’ve been super busy with things and struggling to fix things and I’ve only had a few moments of spare time, and just this month, my cat died, I’ve gone back to the place I was mentally a few years ago which is the worst place I’ve ever been, and my gecko completely surprised me with two babies out of fucking nowhere when I thought her breeder hadn’t ever bred her and I didn’t think eggs could even survive in her tank and I was proved very wrong. I’ve not had any space to breathe. So much can happen out of nowhere and take all your time and energy and a CS species probably isn’t near the top of your priority list. Fadedfyre expressed that they’ve had a lot of in person stuff going on and had anxiety and it took a lot to get them to message Dia, and while I have no idea what is going on for them, I can completely understand where they’re coming from with that. Anxiety can cause you to take ages to work up to being able to do things, and when you’re already going through heavy shit it can take even longer. That anxiety (and excitement) can also make things take longer to realize. You can rationalize, tell yourself that you’ll like it and that it’s not really that bad and your feelings will pass, and then they don’t, and it’s been awhile and you have to accept it and want to see if you can do something about it. Authority figures are also so insanely difficult to approach and Fadefyre said Dia reminded them of people that were not good in their life and that made things harder. To me, Ria definitely comes off as a terrifying authority figure that gives the typical emotionless authority copy paste authority person responses, so I know to me it would take weeks to be able to say something, because I do not do well with people like that, and people like that played a massive hand in fucking my life up and now I instantly distrust anyone who is like that because my only experiences with them are the people who ran my school promising me that nothing would be done, and then the next day sent a fucking policeman to my house to force me to school when I wasn’t able to go in because my anxiety was just too much and I just couldn’t force myself to go. Dia’s comment on anxiety really should not have been made and feels so so unsympathetic and not understanding. I am sure Fadedfyre wanted to address it earlier, but for many reasons they simply couldn’t, and saying “oh I know anxiety makes it hard but if you do it sooner anyway the person will take it better and this thing will go better” really does not help. It’s something that is already known, and the wanted result, but it can’t always be achieved and saying that just makes you feel even worse and as someone with anxiety I can assure you we feel bad enough about it on our own and that’s part of why we take so long. Fadedfyre really should not have responded the way they did but oh god I can see why that caused a snap. That sentence next to a smiley face would have set me off too if it had taken me ages to work up to things because thats the attitude the people at my school had and it’s a hurt I’m still healing from. Brushing off someone’s anxiety like that isn’t cool and it may just be me but Fadedfyre’s apology for Dia reminding them of those two teachers seemed really genuine. Also, I may be blind but I don’t see where the art was insulted? It was never called bad or terrible or shit, just the judgement was a bit harshly criticized. The blocking is justified but as a staff member and species owner, it feels really premature. In authority positions you need to be open and a point of contact, and if you have to block someone it’s best to refer to someone else or at least wait a bit longer to see if there’s an apology or explanation.

Four, NaCI shouldn’t have been told they had to judge them. Things didn’t go as planned and they weren’t in the place for it and someone should have at least been allowed to take over if they volunteered. Also, Dia deleting the post and saying staff should be the ones to answer questions when it wasn’t that also was not okay.

Five, if Dia really didn’t tell the staff either, that’s also not good. She should have at least told them beforehand or made them aware she was considering it.

I don’t think anyone should be mad at Dia or hateful towards her for closing Rise because you need to do what you need to do for your mental health and I cannot stress how important your mental health is, but that doesn’t mean people can’t be upset or critical of what happened because Rise is something that meant a lot to many people. Just be respectful no matter how you’re feeling.

I apologize for how long this is and mods, even if this isn’t posted and I imagine it wont be, I am so truly sorry you had to read all this. You guys are cool and I’m sorry to have made more work for you and wish you all the best and hope you have a most wonderful year.

#cs discourse #submission

11 notes · View notes

sablelab · 5 years

Text

Covert Operations - Chapter 69

DISCLAIMER: This is a modern AU crossover story with Outlander and La Femme Nikita. LFN and its characters do not belong to me nor do those from Outlander.

SYNOPSIS: A chance meeting in the park worries Karen but when her boyfriend Andy Ma turns up unexpectedly James Fraser’s suspicions of Claire’s neighbour, and her male friend escalate.

Just to let you all know … I will post twice next week on TUESDAY and FRIDAY. THANK YOU all for reading, liking, reblogging and commenting on last week’s chapter. I really do appreciate you doing so. Thank you too, for your concern for Claire. Here’s what happens next, so please enjoy this chapter.

Previous chapters can be found … https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

CHAPTER 69

The explosion had been a dreadful incident causing some panic to set in from those gathered in the park, and many people were rushing to leave in case there were more hidden explosives. Despite the pandemonium Claire hurried back to where Karen was still sitting on the bench unaware that the man who had bumped into her had been tailing her the whole time.

When she saw her neighbour jogging back to where she was sitting on the park bench, Karen sat up as she approached, seemingly better than when Claire had left her to rest her ankle.

“Hey what just happened? I heard a loud bang.”

Looking at Karen on the park bench, Claire replied, “Yeah ... a car just exploded in the car park.”

“Oh, my goodness! ... Was anybody hurt?” Karen asked feigning concern but at the same time outwardly noncommittal.

“I think so ... but I’m not certain.”

“That’s too bad. How horrible.”

Shock registered in her voice at such an unforeseen happening. “It was.” However, Claire was a bit more upbeat when she asked, “So … How are you feeling?”

“Much better thanks ... My ankle’s still a little tender ... but it’s okay.” “That’s good.”

“Perhaps we better get going then. This place is going to be swarming with police soon,” Karen added as they heard the loud shrill of police sirens pierce the air. “We could be here for ages especially if the police want to interview witnesses.”

“Good idea ... we might get caught up otherwise.” “Exactly ...” She paused before adding, “Hey! We might bump into Andy on the way home. He did say he would try to meet up with us.” “Perhaps he was held up with the commotion on the other side of the park.” “Yeah ... knowing him he probably went for a stickybeak. He’s such a “Nosey Parker.”

‘You’re obviously made for each other Karen. He is just like you.” Claire replied satirically thinking that Jamie’s misgivings were accurate.

At that moment she reflected on what she’d just said to Karen Yee and it hit her when the preverbal penny dropped.

She was cross with herself for not picking up on Karen’s personality a lot sooner, but in retrospect she had ignored all those Section One triggers because she wanted to believe that Karen was genuine in her friendship. She really wanted to think the best of people but sometimes her judgement was clouded and in this case hers certainly was. Perhaps Karen had also pandered to her insecurities that she’d noticed in her, and suspected her as being in need of a friend. Hence, she’d developed a friendship by grooming her to think she was sincere. She wanted to believe in Karen, and hence made excuses which in any other situation, normally would have set off alarm bells.

Jamie, however, had seen through her neighbour’s charade immediately but that was because he was more perceptive than her. Maybe Karen had reacted to Jamie’s more threatening persona. He had certainly had her on the back foot last night. Did he unnerve her that much?

All of these reasons now made complete sense. Section training had skilled her to recognise traits that may be suspicious, but in Karen Yee’s situation these were a slow burn that really had not manifested until Jamie had pointed out his misgivings. She felt a fool but would continue the charade, but with a little more caution this time.

“Touché Beauchamp … I guess we are.”

Her neighbour laughed remembering what she’d said to Claire about her being nosy as well, but Claire took her meaning differently. If Karen was suspicious, then so too was her boyfriend Andy Ma.

Slowly getting up from the bench, Karen tested her weight on her sore ankle and hinting that all was fine, they set off together again, but this time at a slow jog. However, this time Claire was more observant of their surroundings.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As the two women jogged along, they noticed a steady stream of people also making their way to the scene of the explosion in the other direction in the park, obviously for a voyeuristic look, and curiosity as to what had occurred there. They jogged further away from all the hustle and bustle until it seemed as if they were the only two people around. It was quite isolated now, and winding their way back along the path, they soon came to a small wooden bridge across an ornamental pond. Since Karen said her ankle was still causing her some grief, they decided to take a brief rest. She sat on the railing staring at the water below, while Claire propped her arms on the barrier too doing a few stretching exercises.

They were alone, and except for the two of them and a drink vendor, the park was deserted.

“We seem to be the only ones here at the moment,” Claire replied looking around canvassing the surroundings but seeing no one.

“I suppose people are curious as to what happened on the other side of the park, or have left and gone home,” Karen said as she glanced around too.

“Probably.”

“I told Andy we’d stop at this bridge on the way home, but I guess he went the other way too,” Karen stated nonchalantly glancing down the path to see if she could see her boyfriend approaching. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Some moments later, Claire saw a few lone joggers pass by out for their morning exercise but Karen’s boyfriend Andy Ma wasn’t one of them. Wistfully staring down into the water she watched as a family of ducks glided under the bridge making the water ripple out as they swam by.

“So, you really think he is the one then?” Claire asked wondering if Karen would elaborate more information about Andy Ma.

“Yes ... yes I do.” “That’s good ... Never be with a man who fails to treat you as you deserve.” “Andy takes such good care of me and he spoils me rotten.” “That’s awesome.” “Thanks. He’s a good man. We have a lot in common.” With her thoughts on one man in particular, Claire answered pensively, “Good men are hard to find.” “Yes, they are. I was so lucky to meet Andy at the club. We hit it off straight away.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ While they rested a while, the two women continued their conversation unaware that someone was approaching the bridge. Without warning, the man drew nearer to them as they were talking. Karen and Claire were soon conscious that they did have company after all when they were distracted by the sound of footsteps on the gravel path.

Karen Yee looked up but her delight soon turned to disappointment when she saw who was approaching them but she quickly masked her reaction of disquiet. Claire also turned in the direction of the footfalls. Her eyes lit up when she saw Jamie approach casually dressed wearing his signature black and dark glasses. Once he reached where they were standing, he smiled broadly at her seemingly at the “coincidence” of running into her in the park. Leaning towards Claire, he kissed her on the cheek in a friendly greeting.

The touch of Jamie’s soft lips to her cheek felt incredible and her stomach did a little quiver of excitement. However, because of his dark glasses, she was unable to see the penetrating gleam in his eye as Jamie spoke, but nevertheless his Scottish accent washed over her like the gentle fluttering of butterfly wings.

“Hi Claire.”

“Jamie! Fancy seeing you here? I thought you had gone to Shanghai on business,” she stated smiling brightly and staring intently at his lips. She gave him a secret look then glanced down unable to hold the stare she knew he was giving her.

“What are you doing in the park?”

Despite her friendly banter, to Jamie’s ear, the inflection of her voice indicated that his Sassenach would be waiting for an explanation as to what had happened a short while ago when he had met Fiona Graham. He thought he’d seen Claire behind a tree, now he was certain.

If only she could see his eyes, Claire would have known that Jamie would explain to her just who the woman was, and why he was meeting her in the park before their rendezvous.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Change of plans Claire. I was to meet the client here but they failed to show up.”

“Oh!”

Jamie didn’t give any more away about why he was in the park this morning but merely replied with a double entendre question of his own, “Sae how are ye?”

Claire saw the wry smile on his mouth and couldn’t help but think of all that had transpired between them last night, but she held her nerves and remained calm despite the butterflies in her stomach at seeing Jamie this morning and replied, “Fine.”

Then breaking from his penetrating scrutiny Claire turned towards her neighbour, “Oh! Karen! You remember Jamie, don’t you?”

He glanced at her jogging partner who had quietly witnessed the exchange between the two people. Karen gave him a wary glance but her voice was controlled and cordial. “Sure. Nice to meet you again Jamie.”

Sensing some tension between the two of them, and interrupting before any further conversation could take place, Claire asked, “Would you like to join us for juice Jamie?”

Although he answered affably, his eyes did not leave Karen’s face. “Why not?”

“I’ll just be a few moments,” she said leaving James Fraser and Karen Yee alone as she went over to the vendor to get the drinks hoping that when she returned the tension between them would have dissipated.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The two people stood on the bridge not communicating but silently sizing each other up as they watched Claire make her way towards the juice vendor a little way from the bridge. Jamie was well aware of Karen’s unease in his presence although she tried hard to cover it up, it was this fact that intrigued him about her. Karen apprehensively looked around as if waiting for someone to appear and didn’t immediately look at James Fraser.

Why was she so wary of his presence, and why was she so reticent? If she had nothing to hide, she had nothing to fear about him, but it seemed that she did.

“Do I make ye nervous?” He asked noting her behaviour. That got her attention and Karen looked at him. “No, of course not ... It’s just that you surprised me when you appeared out of nowhere.” What she saw was a man who had a handsome face but with a demeanour that gave her nothing to go on. The dark glasses didn’t allow her to read his eyes either, so it was impossible to see what he was thinking or feeling. However, he did make her nervous. Claire’s friend James Fraser unbalanced her and despite his friendliness towards her ... she just knew this was a dangerous man. Not only that, but her plans may have been thwarted because of his appearance. This may very well change everything. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten ye. What is it about me that scares ye? With bravado, Karen answered his probing question. “I guess … I guess ... You’re a little intimidating ... Which means you’re not very nice.” Jamie’s blank stare was his only answer, but Karen was not to know that, and she rambled on. “You’re handsome too. You probably get everything you want from women.” He elicited a wry smile at her statement. Looking at him, Karen saw her reflection in his glasses which was a little off putting and tried another tact, “So Jamie what ... do you do?” “I’m an art dealer actually ... I buy art for galleries,” he replied reaching into his inside pocket of his jacket and withdrawing a business card. Handing it over to her, she looked at the inscription as Jamie continued. “I’m looking for unique Asian art here in Hong Kong and mainland China which is hardly intimidating or scary ye ken,” he added candidly. Karen fingered the card then placed it in the pocket of her sweat pants. “I heard that Chinese works of art are very popular in the United States. Is that true?” “Aye ... some artists are fetching millions of dollars for their work.” “Oh ...” she replied surprised. Then completely out of the blue, Karen changed the subject yet again. Focusing the attention back onto him and trying to unnerve this menacing man at the same time, boldly asked, “Is Claire your girlfriend?” “No.” “But you love her, don’t you?” “Why would ye say that?” “I don’t know ... just a hunch,” she replied smugly thinking she had achieved a victory by hitting the nail on the head about their relationship because of the way Jamie was being evasive. “So? How long have ye and Claire been jogging together?” Jamie asked ignoring her jibe. “Quite a while.” “Do ye ever jog alone?” “Sometimes ... and sometimes I run into my boyfriend. Lots of people jog in this park Jamie. It’s very popular.” “Aye ... I had noticed.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ As they were talking and waiting for Claire to return with refreshments, a man’s voice unexpectedly called out from the path as he ran up to them. “Hey Karen!” Looking up she noticed that Andy had arrived. He looked pleased to see her and smiled. Moving over to where she was standing talking to the stranger on the bridge, he leaned over with his hands resting on his thighs breathing heavily. “Hi babe ... Sorry I’m late. It couldn’t be avoided. Will you forgive me?” “Of course. Where have you been? Claire and I have been here for ages,” she replied trying to cover up her displeasure at his lateness. “There was an incident on the other side of the park. It’s sheer chaos over there. People and police everywhere. I had to take the longer route.” “Oh.” Slyly glancing at the tall, imposing stranger on the bridge Andy placed an arm around Karen to gather her to him, then whispered in her ear in the guise of a kiss. “Who’s the guy?” Jamie keenly watched the exchange between the two. Appearances were not as they seemed and his suspicions about the couple were heightened. The tension in the air was palatable and now that this man had appeared as well, James Fraser’s Section hackles were intensified. Just who was this woman really, and who was the man with her? Karen made the introductions. “Andy ... this is Claire’s friend Jamie.” “Jamie,” he warmly replied extending his hand in greeting. The two men looked at each other. Andy could tell by his handshake that Jamie was an imposing man but he could garner nothing else about him as he was wearing sunglasses. “Andy,” James Fraser replied sizing up Karen Yee’s companion as he was him. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Claire had seen the reticent interaction between Jamie and Andy Ma from the drinks stand and knew that all was not well and as she returned with the juice in her hand, Karen was still making the introductions between the two men. She fleetingly looked at Jamie, then smiled and spoke to Karen’s boyfriend.

“Hi Andy ... so you found us after all.”

“Yeah.” Evidently Jamie had reservations about him as well and she knew by his bearing that he was sizing Andrew Ma up. Whether it was his years of Section One training or not, but James Fraser had an uncanny sixth sense about people whereas she was less analytical and took people more on face value. When she had met Andy at the nightclub, her Section hackles had not been raised except for the name of his band. He had appeared very demonstrative towards Karen and although somewhat shy and reserved, Andy was polite. This was obviously not the case with Jamie as they were quite aloof with each other. Noticing that Claire’s friend was keenly watching them made Karen feel very uncomfortable so she interrupted before more conversation could take place. She also knew that they needed to get out of here before Billy Tan turned up as planned, for they would have to rethink their plans again now that James Fraser had appeared on the scene. She dreaded having to contact their superior Sun Yee Lok, but he would need to be contacted because of their failure to carry out his orders.

“Listen Claire ... Andy and I might get going ... you obviously have things to talk about with Jamie.”

“Please don’t leave on my account,” he interjected, attentive to the way Karen and her boyfriend were behaving. James Fraser studied the interesting interplay between the couple, particularly as his presence had obviously unnerved them. Claire agreed. “You don’t have to go. Stay.” “Yes ... I’ve only just met Andy and I’d like to get to know ye both better.” Jamie added in a friendly manner. He watched as Andy Ma looked at Karen and vice versa weighing up how they could avoid his invitation. Fortunately he gave himself and Karen a way out with his quick reply. “Sorry Claire but I really have to get back for rehearsals with the band; we’re going on tour tomorrow and the boys want to get together for a final rehearsal. I’m already running late.” “Oh ... Okay ... but what about your drink Karen?” “Thanks ... I’ll drink it on the way back home,” she replied taking the offered juice in her hand. “Oh, and Claire ... I forgot to tell you, but I won’t see you for a while. I have a conference in Beijing and will be away for the rest of the week.” “Wow that’s great ... You’ll be back for Jonathan Randall’s party though won’t you?” “I wouldn’t miss it.” The couple began to leave and as they jogged away Karen turned and called out, “Enjoy the rest of your week Claire.” “Thanks.” Following the couple’s departure with his eyes, Jamie observed the obvious tension that was taking place in their conversation as they left and the frustrated way Karen disposed of her drink in the rubbish bin. Regardless if Section had no Intel on Karen Yee yet, she and her partner knew something and he would find out what it was. They were acting too suspiciously. It was all far too coincidental that this Andy Ma had been at the park at the very same time as Claire. The couple had certainly not expected him to turn up at the park when he did.

Had he foiled a kidnapping plot against his Sassenach by the pair?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Claire came and stood next to Jamie. Turning to her, he removed his glasses and looked her square in the eyes as he ran his hand softly down her back. He hesitated a little before tightening his hold around her waist.

“Sassenach ... be careful of those two.”

Her eyes reflected her inquisitiveness to his statement, but she turned and quietly watched Karen and Andy leave with his words of warning echoing in her ears. Perhaps she should keep a more open mind about Karen and her boyfriend as this was not the first time that Jamie had aired his suspicions.

“I will Jamie.”

Continuing to watch the couple’s departure, Claire happened to see the man who had bumped into her on the other side of the park jog along the path. She watched as he slowly jogged up to Karen and Andy. They nodded at him as if he was known to them and then they spoke for a short while. The man looked over towards where Claire was standing and waved at her, but he hurriedly continued on his way picking up the pace of his stride when he saw Jamie look his way. James Fraser missed nothing. He too witnessed what had looked like an ordinary friendly exchange between joggers, but his Section mind saw something more. They had clandestinely glanced over to where he and Claire stood then just as quickly had looked away. The three people had exchanged a few, quick but what appeared to be heated words together before they had jogged off down the path out of sight. “Claire.... do you know that person who just passed by Karen and Andy?” “No ... but he looks like the man who bumped into me earlier on the other side of the park.” “Really? What happened?” “Nothing much. He apologised and offered to buy me a drink ... that’s all.”

Jamie was pensive but wary of what she’d just told him. “Hmmm?”

“I know that look James Fraser. What’s the matter?”

“Oh, nothing Sassenach, really. It’s just, when I saw that man look over towards you, it occurred to me he might be suspicious.” He didn’t wish to alarm her, just urge her to be more aware of those around her, so he repeated his warning once more.

“Be careful Claire.”

“Yes Jamie. I will be more vigilant if I see that person again.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Thinking nothing more of it, Claire smiled and turned towards him with the juice in her hand asking, “Orange juice? However, although he was piecing two and two together, Jamie was taken in by her infectious smile when she offered the drink and replied. “Aye.” “Voila!” She said handing him a bottle. Unscrewing the top, Jamie placed the bottle to his lips. “Thank ye Sassenach.” Claire watched as if mesmerised by what he was doing, and as he swallowed the orange liquid, she felt a funny feeling inside her stomach.

“You’re welcome.”

It was eerily too quiet all of a sudden.

This was the first time Claire had seen Jamie since last night and if she was completely honest with herself, she was glad that Karen and Andy had gone. Looking around she noticed that there was not a single person in sight. They were alone. She suddenly felt a little nervous but excited too all at the same time. All thoughts of Karen Yee, her boyfriend, the mystery jogger and the woman Jamie had met in the park paled into unimportance. She looked at James Fraser as he lowered the bottle. Their gazes caught and it was as if they were in a world of their own. Claire bit her bottom lip unable to break from his gaze.

Although her mind was in two places at once her heart did a little flip as her thoughts reflected on their growing relationship on this mission and in particular the consequences of their assignation last night.

This mission had certainly brought them closer together and last night had unquestionably proved to her that Jamie did indeed have feelings for her. Her feelings for him were stronger than ever before, but she still had some trepidation about what would happen when they both returned to Section One once the mission was over. Would Jamie pull back or would they be able to make a commitment to each other? She only hoped that they could have a relationship despite obstacles that may lie ahead. Operations and Madeline were obsessed with results and were cognizant to anything that would affect Jamie’s team’s capabilities to achieve success. But if their numbers didn’t alter and 100% containment was achieved, would they be able to sustain their growing feelings for one another in Section? Time would tell. She was totally confident that she could appease any doubts he may have about continuing their relationship.

Jamie could not make love to her so passionately or comprehensively as he did last night and not share the same desires.

Smiling at him, Claire wondered if he could read her mind, but even if he could she didn’t care. She loved him. She was drowning in Jamie’s scrutiny however; there was something more in his gaze this time than she had seen before. His piercing, blue eyes were the window to his soul and she knew he was troubled about something. He was worried about her and this time his concern for her was very tangible. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ to be continued

Just a reminder that I will post twice next week on TUESDAY 6th and FRIDAY 9th.

#jamie and claire #James Fraser #claire beauchamp #jamieandclaireau #Jamieandclairefanfic #jamieandclairecrossover #outlander fanfiction #covertoperations #section one

76 notes · View notes

drkarenhill · 4 years

Text

Big News || Self Para (Ft. Eugene)

Eventually, Karen stopped cleaning the kitchen counter, and the stove, and the cupboards, and the sink... Eventually, she put the towel down and stood in the middle of her kitchen, surrounded by silence. Kate was still napping and Spencer... well, Spencer was still gone and she had no idea where he had gone to. Or what. He could be anywhere right now, she had no idea. But she would not text or call him. He said he needed a time out, so she would give him a time out. But the silence of their home was killing her.

Suddenly, her phone rings and she literally throws herself at it, thinking it might be Spencer calling. But instead, she reads her dad’s name. She first sighs, almost thinking of not picking it up. Especially because he was Facetiming her, and she felt like her face was all swollen up and red from the tears she had cried, cleaning up her kitchen forever. But after a quick check in the nearest mirror and seeing it did not show all that much, Karen gives in and slides her finger on the screen, picking up her dad’s call.

“Hey sweetheart!” Eugene excitedly greets her, and she pulls it together, forcing up a smile. “Hey dad, how are you?” She asks, and he frowns. “I’m great, you? You sound off?” Karen shakes her head and quickly comes up with, “Kate’s napping, just not talking too loud.” But her dad does not buy it and shakes his head. “Are you alright?” He asks, and Karen swallows. She would not get out of this without giving him the truth. Eugene tilts his head and shakes it slightly. “What’s up, baby girl?”

Karen sighs heavily as she walks her way to the living room and plops in the couch, shaking her head and covering her face with her free hand. Then sliding it off and closing it into a fist to rest her head on, she gulps. “Spence and I... had a disagreement... Misunderstanding... I don’t know, whatever it was.” She says in a defeated tone, sighing. Eugene frowns. “What happened?”

Karen swallows. She was unsure about unleashing the big news, especially since Spencer seemed to just want to forget completely about it, but she needed her father’s advice. “He has a sister.” She gulps, Eugene staring back at her, shocked. “A sister?” Karen nods. “His father... biological father,” she shakes her head, trying to use the correct words for Spencer’s sake, knowing that was not even how he would put it but sticking to the facts. “Anyway, he had this whole other family he created for himself, and he had a daughter. Spencer’s sister... biological sister...” She shakes her head again.

“Wow...” Eugene breathes out, “How did you find out about it? She reached out?” Karen swallows, sighing deeply before shaking her head. “Actually, he already knew. But I just found out about it. He never told me before. Penelope actually called us this morning to let us know that she had been looking for him, researching him up.” Eugene stares back at her, eyebrow raised up. “Oh.” Karen’s very own eyebrow raises up the same way and she nods strongly, repeating, “Oh. Is right.” Something about her dad’s oh felt satisfying, like he was giving her a right to be upset and somehow, she needed that confirmation.

“Well maybe he had a good reason not to tell you?” Eugene offers, but Karen did not want to hear that. “That’s crap, dad. We’re married, we have a kid, you’d think that he’d tell me these things?” Eugene frowns. “Maybe not,” he shakes his head and Karen frowns, not following. “I mean you got your own stuff, you don’t just tell your story to anybody, maybe he’s just more protective of his?” Karen tilts her head and shoots her dad a glare through the phone. “With me, his wife? Really, dad?” Eugene sighs and shakes his head. “Baby girl, I’m sure he’s got a good reason. Look, if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that this man loves you with his whole entire heart.” Karen cuts him off and snaps, “I know that, dad, I never doubted that for a second, it’s not about that.” Eugene nods. “I know. What I’m saying is, he’s obviously had a rough childhood. So rough, he may not deal with it well still, and he shuts out rather than talks about it. Or he just doesn’t want to go there again, I don’t know? But all of which has got nothing to do with you here.”

“Maybe not, but I’m his wife, and I want him to talk about these things with me. He shouldn’t be walking out the door and going I don’t know where to deal with it, he should be turning to me, talking to me, figuring it out with me. We’re supposed to be a team, dad, we’re supposed to do this together, like we’ve done since Kate was born.” Karen breathes out angrily, snappy. Eugene shakes his head and tilts it again, shrugging. “Baby girl, sometimes some things are just so hard to handle, you can’t face it, even less with the people you care about the most.” Karen sits still and freezes a moment, feeling the double-meaning in that. She gulps. “Don’t,” she says, and Eugene shrugs. “This isn’t about mom, or my father.” Eugene shrugs again. “Maybe not, sweetheart, but I still spent years keeping that secret from you and as much as I hate that I did, I did what your mother asked me. And I did it trying to protect you.”

Karen shakes her head and looks away, sighing heavily. “Look, just hear him out. And give him time, and space. Just... try to understand why he’s reacting this way. If it seems so unlike the man you know, then there has to be a reason behind it. Us guys, we don’t always open up that easily... And chances are, if he’s been deeply hurt, it’ll take time. And I wouldn’t push him to open up if he’s not ready. Just, let him come to you, baby girl. In his own time and way.”

Karen stares back at her father through the phone and gulps, knowing deep down he was right. “I just, I want to understand. I want to know, I want him to let me in, not just expect me to understand without understanding or knowing anything, you know?” She sighs. Eugene nods. “I know, and you should tell him that.” Karen shakes her head and sighs. “You said he went out?” Karen sighs and nods. “I don’t know where he is, and I don’t know when he’ll come home... And I don’t want to call him. He clearly wanted space, so.” She shrugs. “I’m giving him that.” Eugene nods. “That alright, we both know he’ll be coming home sooner rather than later. Just... snuggle my grand daughter for me in the mean time, and remember; give him the time and space to open up about this. But let him know how you feel. Communication, sweetheart... That’s the key.”

Nodding, Karen swallows and sighs. “I know...” Eugene nods back and smiles at her. “It’ll be alright, baby. I know it will.” Karen keeps nodding as she looks away. “I love you, you keep me posted alright?” She nods again and looks back at her dad, holding back a sigh. “I will. Thanks dad.”

Hanging up, she stares at her dark phone screen for a moment before putting her phone down, staring at the wall before her. Communication, her dad was right. They had to communicate better about this. Kate’s cry resounds and brings her back to reality. Sighing, she puts her phone on the low table and gets up, heading down to her daughter’s room.

#Para #self #self para #Karen #Eugene #Big News

2 notes · View notes

gentlemanmendes · 6 years

Text

Building bridges

a/n: part 2 of breaking bridges. I am honestly so proud of this and I hope you all like it as much as I do.

part 1

The only light that lit the lounge room was coming from the lamp in the corner. Shawn had called his mum on his way informing her that he would arriving soon. Now he sat in the lounge room, leaning back on the couch feeling nothing but regret. He should have just left it when y/n said she didn't want to talk about it he thought to himself.

His mother entered the room with two mugs of hot tea in hand. She had been asleep when her son called in need of a shoulder to cry on and any advice. They tried to keep as quite as possible not wanting to wake his father or younger sister who were sound asleep at this early hour in the morning.

Karen sat across from her son waiting for him to speak when he was ready, which was almost instantly.

"I just don't get it!" He sighed running his hands through his chocolate brown waves out of tension.

He couldn't understand why y/n just simply wouldn't open up to him. She barley gave words of reassurance to him and when she did it was small and quick. He knew very well that she loved him but her lack of trying was getting in the way. She knew everything about him, wasn't it only fair that he knew the same of her.

But it's not y/n's fault. She had warned him three months into their relationship that things with her would be difficult, at the time he had reassured her, let her know that it didn't change anything and he was sure that at the time he meant it. What about now, did he still mean it?

"I don't know what to do." He whispered tenderly, his lost gaze meeting his mothers, pleading for her to give him a sense of direction.

Karen sighed understanding that this must be tearing her son apart. She had only ever met y/n once meaning she didn't really have an opinion of her yet but Shawn deeply cared for her and seemed genuinely happy with her.

"Love, I can't give you an answer. You need to figure that out on your own." She informs him honestly. The truth does hurt I suppose. "But I can help you figure out your answer." She added hoping to ease some of her sons tension. Shawn understood that this was his mothers way of asking him to elaborate further on the situation.

"It's just the fact that she doesn't open up to me." He begins the frustration obvious in his tone. "Everything else is everything I had ever hoped for in a relationship." He sighs honestly. "She's adventures, kind, passionate, and has such a big heart." He listed almost in disbelief. But of course not everyone can be perfect. To Shawn giving up on y/n seemed impossible, he would be loosing some irreplaceable.

He let out a huff as he tugged on the roots of his hair.

"I understand she has been hurt but why do I have to pay the consequence for what others have done to her?" He was so infuriated that tears had formed in his eyes.

Although y/n had never told Shawn what the cause of all her emotional scars was, he was well aware that they were there. It was evident in that hard look that came across her face when he told her he cared about her, it was obvious in the way she tensed her body when he became affectionate, it showed in the way that she never seemed to be surprised or hurt when things got rough almost like she was waiting for things to go down hill so she could say I told you so. All these small things that she probably wasn't aware she did gave away just how hard she had become inside, but Shawn knew that deep down y/n wasn't like that. It was the fear of being hurt again that made her behave like that. He had seen the caring and loving side of her even if she refused to admit it.

Karen moved closer to her son wrapping her arm around his broad shoulders as she ran her fingers through his messy hair.

"Relationships are difficult." She started pausing to let out a huff."There is no right or wrong way to do anything, but you can try or you can give up, those are your options. If you try there may be a chance you could succeed but sometimes it's impossible to change people. If she wants to open up to you then that proves that there is something worth fighting for. Have you tried talking to her about it?"

"Yes! She is well aware of how much this effects me!" Shawn fumed, his fists bawling and his frown deepening as his breathing became rugged. Tears of frustration were threatening to spill but he refused to let them fall.

Maybe he should just give up? The state that he was I'm right now couldn't possible be worth anything. He felt violated, empty and vulnerable with all these crazed emotions getting the best of him. How could something so stupid take such a roll on him? All he wanted was to know that y/n loved him enough to trust him but right now he wasn't sure she felt either of those emotions towards him.

"I don't mean bringing it up when you are mad I mean actually sitting down and talking about it, the way two friends would talk about something over coffee." Shawn paused to think.

Maybe his mother was right.

Now that he thought about it he only ever brought the topic up in fights or to start a fight.

It was obvious!

Such a tender topic should not be thrown around while tempers are hot, it should be handled delicately like a new born in a blanket. The whole time he had been going about it the wrong way and he hadn't even realised.

"I guess I can try." He shrugged. His pride had already been damaged enough tonight, he refused to admit aloud that he had done something wrong even if it was just to his mother. "I think I'm going to bed now." Shawn informed his mother causing her to nod her head as she walked him to his old bedroom glad to have him sleeping in the house even though the reason wasn't necessarily the best.

***

When Shawn stepped into his apartment he had to fight the urge of turning back around. The place he called home felt cold and empty as he continued to walk through the hallway. Surprise flushed through him as he noticed the place was exactly the way he left it, he even began going through the kitchen cabinets to see whether or not the plates and glasses were still intact. Shawn had always known y/n to throw and break things when she was mad, not at him but just at anything from the wall to the floor to anything hard enough to cause destruction. He had a always assumed that it was a way of letting out her frustration because she never knew how to verbally communicate her emotions allowing all that anger to build up until she exploded. The fact that the place was still tidy worried him more than it would have if the place had been turned upside down.

Next he made his way towards the bedroom, she was probably still asleep considering that it was only seven in the morning. He hadn't been able to sleep and decided that the sooner he spoke to y/n the better. However he was met with an empty bedroom. His eyes glanced at the mirror that he had once come home to after a fight to find completely shattered with y/n attempting to pull the glass out of her fists. The mirror was still in its place as was everything else. The bed was still messy from when he had pulled himself out of it only a hand full of hours previously, waking up in the middle of the night to find that y/n wasn't in bed felt like a life time ago. If he had known what the outcome would have been he would have just stayed in bed and kept his mouth shut.

His finally decision was to try the ensuite. As he swung the door open he was met with a lit bathroom, y/n crawled up into a ball on the bathroom floor asleep. His eyes scanned the bathroom for damage but no destruction had been caused other then the fact that the toiletries that had lined the basin had been knocked over, some even on the floor.

Slowly he bent down next to y/n, remorse taking over him as he realised how fragile she had become in the last few hours. His fingers gently pushed away the hair that had been covering her face to find her cheeks blotchy, no doubt from crying, and her closed eyes holding dark circles under them which was obviously due to her lack of sleep last night.

Shawn whispered her name as he gently nudged her arm. She stirred in her sleep before rubbing her eyes telling Shawn that she had woken. He guessed that she wouldn't be in a heavy sleep due to the lack of comfort the bathroom floor was offering.

Y/n looked around confused by her surroundings as she blinked furiously trying to wake herself up, Shawn's eyes not once leaving her. When y/n noticed Shawn hovering over her in a crouching position she sat herself up, remembering the events of the previous night. She pushed herself back so she was leaning against the bathtub for support due to her lack of energy.

Now that the guilt of what they had said to each other was settling in neither wanted to be the first to break the silence.

Shawn sighed realising that if he wanted to move past this he would need to be the one to break the silence. He change his position so he was now seated beside y/n leaning against the bath, after all he may get comfortable who knows how long they would be here for.

"I love you." Shawn admitted aloud causing y/n to cringe.

She hated when people tried to fix the damage they had caused with words of comfort.

Shawn however wasn't aware that y/n had already heard him say those three words earlier that night.

After all those three words had been the start of all this, wasn't it only fair that they ended with it as well.

"But I feel that sometimes I'm more committed to you than you are to me." His voice broke a little, the lump in his throat being the cause.

Y/n felt her chest tighten. She never meant to make Shawn feel this way and she had no idea how to stop. How do you fix something when you don't even know how it broke in the first place ?

"The thing is I know you do love me, even if you won't admit it to yourself let alone me, I know you do." Shawn insisted positive of what he was saying. Y/n could have easily walked away when she wanted to, she had multiple chances to but she never had, wasn't that evidence enough? "Which is why I refuse to give up on you the way most people would, but when will you realise I'm not most people? I'm not hear to break you and then leave, I would get absolutely nothing out of that. I want to be with you for as long as I can but you seem to be making it a little difficult." Shawn chuckled to himself at the end. A little difficult would be a massive understatement.

"I know." Y/n sighed admitting to her fault. "But I don't know how and I don't know why, all I know is I'm scared." Shawn was overwhelmed by the sudden tears y/n was letting fall. She had only ever cried in front of him when she was frustrated but right now she looked terrified. Her eyes wide and her face pale as she pressed her lips into a thin line as though she was physically trying to stop herself from saying more.

Not sure of what to do, Shawn took y/n's hand interlacing their fingers. He wasn't aware if this had comforted her or not but this was his way of letting her know he was here for her. Emotions were too high for him to hug her. This gesture felt like the most appropriate for the situation.

"Relationships are scary." Shawn agreed. "And I don't know of any ways to solve that but I do know that I want to experience so much more with you and even if you don't open up to me I will still stay by your side, no matter how much it fucking annoys me." Shawn watched y/n as he spoke, gripping her hand a little tighter for more reassurance, meaning ever single word he said. Y/n turned to Shawn a small smile playing on her lips as she watched him.

"I hate you." She chuckled shaking her head causing Shawn to break a smile. He knew that was her way of agreeing with him to move past this, to keep facing her fear, that she didn't like where this was going but she wasn't going to stop.

Shawn pulled their interlaced hands to his mouth kissing the back of y/n's hand.

How do you fix something when you don't even know how it broke in the first place? You find the problem. No matter how many times you may fail and feel like giving up there will always be a solution.

#shawn mendes imagines #Shawn Mendes Imagine #shawn mendes #shawn mendes story #shawn mendes blurb #shawn mendes series #shawn mendes oneshot

176 notes · View notes

keepingupwithlinmanuel · 6 years

Text

‘In the Heights’ 10 Years Later: From ‘Vague Promises’ to a Broadway Smash (Exclusive)

When Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the initial draft of his first musical, In the Heights, it was an 80-minute, one-act show with music that sounded like a hip-hop version of Rent combined with Marc Anthony. It was 1999 and Miranda was a sophomore in college at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, itching to write his “dream show” because he wanted a “life in musicals.”

“The version was not for credit. I just really needed to write it,” Miranda told ET following a celebration of the musical at BroadwayCon at the Javits Center in New York City, where members of the original cast and crew reunited 10 years after the show opened at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on March 9, 2008.

The winner of four Tony Awards, including Best Musical and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, In the Heights follows a bodega owner (Miranda) and other residents of a largely Hispanic American community in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan over the course of three days. The original cast included Mandy Gonzalez, Christopher Jackson, Karen Olivo, Priscilla Lopez, Janet Dacal, Andréa Burns, Carlos Gomez, Olga Merediz, Robin de Jesús, Eliseo Román and Seth Stewart.

Following a big showcase on campus, Miranda put his first draft in a drawer and let it sit there for two years after getting “vague promises” from friends of friends, saying they’d reach out once they’d started their own production company. “Who on Earth makes good on a promise like that?” he joked. Sure enough, they did. “They came to see my senior thesis and I met Tommy Kail for the first time the week after I graduated. The fact that we clicked so immediately was the greatest luck of my life.”

Three years later, In the Heights premiered in 2005 at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, before moving Off-Broadway to 37 Arts Theatre in 2007. It then ran on Broadway for 29 previews and 1,184 performances before closing on Jan. 9, 2011.

Like Kail, who was the musical’s director, the production marked the first time Miranda partnered with composer Alex Lacamoire and choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler. All four worked together on Hamilton, which also saw many members of the original Heights cast reuniting with Miranda. “The hardest part about this business is finding collaborators who are on the same page, and I found that really early,” boasted Miranda. “That was the head start -- finding someone who understands what you’re making.” When it came down to making music edits, the show’s book writer, Quiara Alegría Hudes, who joined the creative team in 2004, says Miranda worked best under pressure. “Every time [Lin] got story notes, he would write a new song,” she quipped.

One song was written at three in the morning before a workshop performance later that day. “Piragua (Reprise)” was conceived on a 10-minute break during tech rehearsals on Broadway. But there were dozens of other songs Miranda wrote at various stages of the show’s development that never made it into the final version, including a solo for Jackson’s Benny. “That song exists because Chris was like, ‘Where’s my Act II solo?’ for, like, three years,” Miranda teased.

The first piece of music Miranda ever wrote for the show, surprisingly, never made it to the final cut. “It was a song about Benny coming out of his own Jean-Claude Van Damme movie and how cool that movie was,” Miranda said, revealing that the first set of lyrics he wrote that has any DNA in the Broadway version was the phrase “In Washington Heights.” When Miranda first wrote those five notes, he said, “Nina was coming home from Yale [which was later changed to Stanford] on Metro North. The lyrics eventually became part of the opening number and title song ‘In the Heights’ and sung by the company.”

While Miranda was unknown at the time, many of the actors recalled the same energy exuded by the creator when they met him at auditions in the basement of Manhattan’s Drama Book Shop. “It was electric in the room. I had never seen anyone like Lin,” remembered Gonzalez, who played Nina. “I knew I wanted to be a part of it forever.” Broadway veteran Lopez (Camilla) had just finished another show when she was given a CD with some songs. “Before I knew it, I was in love hearing the music,” she said. Merediz, who played Abuela Claudia, was confused when she first learned of the show. “My agent called me and said, ‘It’s a show...they’re rappers.’ I said, ‘Rapping? What do you mean rapping?’” But Olivo (Vanessa) was in awe on Day 1. “When I heard the music, I was like, ‘Who’s letting this dude do this?’ He was a superhero in my head.”

“As soon as Karen walked in with her hair down to here like she owned the place, that was it,” Miranda said, adding: “There was no shortage of talent. There was no shortage of talent of people of color. I have five companies of Hamilton to prove it.”

Many in the cast felt their roles mirrored their personal lives. “‘Brave’ was such a personal song, because the whole character I knew so well,” Gonzalez said of playing Nina, the first in her family to go to college who then gets kicked out. “Being the first in my family to leave my hometown and do better -- to sing that every night was kind of like therapy for me.” Jackson admits he was living every aspect of Benny’s life. “Along the way, [Benny] raised himself and he and his friends raised each other. That was all happening in real time.”

“Vanessa was who I was during that time,” Olivo remembered. “I [came] from a bad home and being poor. I always wanted something more and bigger than what people told me I could have. Each night was a little bit of that. [The creative team] would see me come into rehearsals and say, ‘That is what Vanessa would do except she’d be in heels and a short skirt.’”

While a film adaptation originally being produced by the Weinstein Company is no longer in the works, Miranda said “that will happen when it happens,” revealing that a screen version has been stalled since 2008. “That’s one of those [things where] I will tell you when I walk into a set and no sooner.”

In the meantime, a reincarnation on stage is not an impossible idea. “I’d like to see a revival of it at some point, but not with me in it. I’m too old, but I’d love to see that,” Miranda told ET. “I think we will feel when the time is right for that.”

Bonus: Lin and Karen react to viral Lin-related content:

youtube

#lin manuel miranda #in the heights #karen olivo #video #articles #et online

27 notes · View notes

karouselkidsstemkreations · 4 years

Text

STEMdate 3.27.20

As I sat down this morning to write, I looked up and snowflakes are falling again. We started the week with snow and I guess now we will end it with snow. I don’t expect too much from this storm, but it beats rain any day! Asia, our Belgian Malinois, loves the snow! It’s like watching a kid in a candy store who can’t decide what to buy first. She runs and prances around and is so proud of herself for being able to play in it.

Yesterday, I had to venture out. It’s not really what I wanted to do, but I had two bills that needed to be mailed and no stamps. I drove down to the post office downtown. Traffic seemed almost normal, but the stores are all closed and it’s somewhat ghostly. The post office was pretty busy. We only have one in town and it’s usually busy anyway. Signs were posted and tape was on the floor so we could all practice social distancing. The best thing about the post office is AD.

AD is the father of four, including a set of triplets that are in sixth grade. He’s always positive and knows many of his customers. He cheerfully gave me a book of stamps and thanked me for teaching his kids. It’s not often teachers get thanked by their student’s parents, but he makes a point every time I’m in to thank me. Yesterday meant just a bit more. Come Monday, we will be sending out our lessons online and then doing check-ins with our students. I miss the kids and I hope we can be back together sooner rather than later!

One of AD’s children is in my pirate time (advisory). When we did our All About Me presentations, H told us all about her rabbit and showing her rabbit at the county fair. She was so proud of her trophy and ribbon and showed us pictures. Today’s STEM-venture is inspired by her.

STEM-venture #10

1. First, if you are not familiar with The Tale of Peter Rabbit, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PALWSrnhQ9Q

2. Your goal today is to keep Peter Rabbit out of Mr. McGregor’s garden. You will build a fence that he can’t get through.

3. Gather up household and recycled items such as popsicle sticks, glue, cardboard, scissors, tape, styrofoam trays, paper towel or toilet paper rolls. Anything you can think of, even Legos! You will also need an object that represents a carrot. You can make one out of paper or cardboard.

4. On a scratch piece of paper, draw your design. The garden doesn’t need to be too big, maybe 6″ by 6″. Remember, bad little bunnies such as Peter can jump or crawl through a regular garden fence. How will you prevent this from happening?

5. Once your design is on paper, you can begin building. Don’t be surprised if your first design isn’t quite like you imagined, think about how to change it and make it better, that’s all part of the design process.

I would love to see your creations! You can email pictures to me at [email protected]

Happy building!

Karen

The legal stuff:

“This material is based upon work supported by the Corporation for National and Community Service under AmeriCorps Grant No. 18AFHCO0010008. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of, or a position that is endorsed by the Corporation or the AmeriCorps program.”

0 notes

yaldazameanie · 7 years

Text

(Not your typical) Note to Self:

No no no no no. Not today or any day. This is your reminder. There will be more. This is your wake up call. You’ve come too far to go down this road again. Listen up. You are worth more than this. You are better than this. You are so incredibly loved. Do you know how many people love you? You are sooooo loved, why focus on the opposite? Don’t do that to yourself, you will have bad days, weeks, more even, you’re human, and you happen to have mental illnesses, but that’s okay. You’re a fighter. You fight for those that you love. So fight for yourself. You may not see it right now, but you do love yourself. I love you. Always. You forget this sometimes, more often then not, but I do love you damnit. Love me. Take care of me. You were doing so well! You made so much progress. I know you don’t think so and don’t see it sometimes, but you have. You took time to think, to learn more about yourself, you reached out for help, you treated yourself to new things, new places, new opportunities, and you’ve accomplished so much! Be proud of yourself! You are so much more than enough. No matter what you think right now. I know, it’s hard to see right now, especially when you feel like this and think “I should have done something sooner” “I should have communicated more” “I shouldn’t have pushed away” maybe, but you needed the space to get yourself together so that you could focus on getting better, you had to get better for you and him. I know, okay, I know, it hurts, but you had shit to do so don’t blame yourself. You didnt fuck up. You stop that. You did not fuck up. You needed to make sure you were ready and okay enough to go back into something so that you would never have such a meltdown happen again. The last thing you needed was to rush into things and hurt anyone anymore. You had to think, a lot, it’s a big decision and you did, you were just too late. I know it’s heartbreaking but, you can’t live in regret with what if’s? Shit happened. You can’t change it. I know you want to, I do too, but you can’t force these things. There is no time machine to rewind. I know you’re hurt and shocked and upset, that’s normal, but everyone is different. Some people can let go and heal easier than others. There is no one to blame. It happened and I know you hate that it did, but this is life. You’re so stubborn and hopeful kid. You love so hard … you give so much, you’re sensual in all aspects. It’s a strength, but can be a weakness. I mean, look at where you are now because of it. Questioning your entire being. I know you want a chance, but you shouldn’t have to beg for one. How is that fair to you? You know that. You know. You’re just stubborn and beyond hopeful and don’t beat yourself up for what it, that’s who you are, it’s not pathetic, you just had to try. That’s who you are, all in. I understand. Listen to me and listen to your beautiful and wise mother. Anyone that doesn’t want your love, doesn’t need to have it. Don’t beg someone to be in your life if they don’t want to be, and don’t beg them to love you, why? Cause if they want to be in your life, they will be. If they want to love you, they will love you. It’s fairly simple. Yet feels complicated, right? The heart has a hard time getting around that concept. You can’t blame yourself. You can’t blame him either. No one is to blame. Shit happens. It sucks, but what can you do? Nothing at this point. You’ve done all you can do. Don’t force anything. You can’t. That’s not how it works. You tried. You really did. Let time work it’s course now. You know your worth. You aren’t replaceable. In the sense that there is only one you. You’re you and there is only one of you, unless you got a clone runnin’ around somewhere, which last time I checked, you don’t. You do apparently have a lot of doppelgangers though… aaaaanyways I know you will always have love for him and be there for him because that’s just who you are, don’t be ashamed of that, and quite frankly, you just are ridiculously in love. That’s okay. Look, I know you’ve locked him in your heart, he’ll be there, it’s kinda stupid to not think so, he was a huge part of your life, you’ll miss him and think about him, but you’ll learn to live with it in time. It’s what I keep hearing so I’ve decided it is true. You are tough, you also put on the tough front, but deep down you’re the biggest softie, like a damn cat, you act like you are sooo tough at times, but you just wants to be accepted and loved and feel warm and purrrrr. Although you’re better at pretending to be a dog than a cat, your throat won’t let you purr. Haha. You’re pretty ridiculous. Still love ya! I digress. But I know one thing, it’s that you don’t lie. Always straight forward. Stay that way. It’ll get you places. It’s why people trust you. You love who you love. You forgive. If people let you go, you take them back, remember your breakup with Karen? You play a dangerous game with your heart girl, but what’s life without some risk? Who knows what the future holds? There’s that damn hope again … I know. I knooooow. Okay. I know. Hope is kinda killer. It hurts. It hurts like a bitch. It hurts to all hell. The thought of someone else with the person you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with? Fuck. You spent 7 years together. I get why you have hope. It’s gonna be painful. Breakups are compared to the pain you feel when someone passes away, cause in a sense you lost someone. It will hurt. Let it hurt. It’s part of life. You’re learning. You’re a hopeless romantic. You watch too many movies or something. I blame The Office. Just kidding. Maybe… I digress. Again. I know it will take time, but let it be. For your sake. You’re so frickin’ stubborn. You’re not giving up. Don’t think of it that way. You just can’t lose yourself and you won’t. I won’t let you. If it’s meant to be, it will be. Let’s leave it at that. Now. Seriously though, listen to your mom. She knows your worth, so should you. She always means well. Always. She’s tough and can say things that hurt, but she loves you more than you’ll ever know. Her intent is never to hurt you. Never forget that. You are a part of her. Literally. Ya know? You came out of her? You know. You’re a smart cookie. Anyway. Your father, your silly crazy father, he wants his baby girl smiling and happy. He wants to help. He is there to give you that hug you need and let you cry on his shoulder. He does the stupidest shit to make you laugh, and it works! He’s here. Enjoy your time with him. He’s here. Your brother even loves you. He may not mentally be all there, but he knows what’s going on. He understands. He wants you happy. Let them be there for you. They’re your family and you are lucky to have one that loves you and cares so much about you. They taught you how to love. They love all your friends and the people that you’ve brought into your life as if they were their own. Nothing but love and warmth and kindness from them. Thank them for giving you life. Thank them for raising you to be this strong and beautiful woman. There are times when you won’t want to have been brought into this world, but hey, you’re here kid. So make the most out of it. Life is hard. Of course. No one. I mean, no one, has ever said it would be easy. Are you kidding? It’s always going to be hard, it’s tough, but you are tougher. Life will throw things at you, but that’s okay. Cause you’ll get good at catching. You’re learning. Always learning. Always growing. Did I mention… You are enough. You are enough. You. Are. Enough. You’ve gotten so far. You’ve achieved so much and made progress and grown so much. Stop selling yourself short. You’ve been accepted into a great college. You’re about to get a degree dude. You have a job where the managers actually care about you and your well-being. You’re going to travel with one of your best friends aka your sister. Your friends are beyond supportive. They have your back and you have theirs. Your friends. Oh man. You mean so much to your friends. You have been told time and time again, that you are such a beautiful soul, that you are so passionate and supportive, protective (maybe too much at times), and loving. You are so forgiving, you always want to see the best in people and you are there for them, now let them be there for you. They will be there. They are there. Look at how much support you have. They are checking on you, they are there for you, they hold you, they listen, they are proud of you, and above all they love you. So much. You do not break yourself down for this. You get stronger from this. You learn. You progress. You do not and cannot let it consume you and bring you down anymore. It’s time to get back on track. You have so much potential. So much love to give and feel. You are not empty. You are the exact opposite. You are so goddamn full. Overflowing even. Maybe stop being so guarded, let some of it out. You may feel empty right now and that’s okay, I mean c'mon, who wouldn’t in this situation? Add depression and anxiety to the mix. Shiet. That’s a hell of a ride you’re being taken on. I get it. But you aren’t empty, you are full of life. You’re still here and that itself is such a major accomplishment. You’re here. There were times when you really didn’t think you would be, but you’re here. You are worth it. You are worth it. You are worth. Don’t ever let anyone make you question it or make you feel otherwise. That includes YOU girl. You will question it from time to time, but girl, you know you’re amazing, right? At the end of the day, you are enough and worth it all. This is a part of life and you are learning. You take it a day at a time. You let yourself feel. Let me repeat. Let yourself feel. No matter what it is. Cry. Let it out. Let it pass. Love, Laugh, Live, then cry again. You will have good days and you will have bad days, everyone does, we are human with feelings. It’s okay. It’s nothing to be ashamed of and there it no rush. Take your time. It’s how you heal. You have to let yourself heal. You’ll learn and grow from it. Stop picking at your wounds. They’ll leave scars, yes, (cause you really pick at things too much, like ya face … stop it.) but consider it a battle scar, a tattoo, to remind you that you’re capable of putting up a fight against this thing called life. Love yourself. I know you do. Treat yoself! And that doesn’t have to involve money. Take a walk in the park. Breathe in the air. Let it fill your lungs. Feel the life around you. Take in the beauty that is in this world. There’s so much if you let yourself see it, and dude, pups. All the pups! Don’t let your view be clouded by the ugly things in this world. It is faaaaar from perfect. Acknowledge it, know it is there, but know that it is not the only thing in this world. There is good in it. Always. Keep your head up kid. You got this. Love, Yalda

#yes i know i wrote a book #it felt good to write it out though #life #self love #reminder #reference

4 notes · View notes

ecotone99 · 4 years

Text

[RF] Chapter One - Fear and Liberation

Chapter One - Fear and Liberation

On my sixteenth birthday I moved out and was put up in a B&B by social services, in an old Victorian building next to a railway bridge. That's where I spent the next two weeks, alone in my small room with a selection of my favourite foods bought with shopping vouchers from my best friend's mum, and one communal bathroom with a precarious lock I didn't trust. When I went, I had to sit with both of my legs to the side pressing against the door.

The first step into that unfamiliar room, more than ten miles away from the town I grew up in, brought an extreme fusion of terror and freedom. I was frightened, because I was alone with no idea what was to come, and too young to make big decisions and face the adult world and my independence. But free, because I was outside the reach of tyrannical adult rulership, technically able to do whatever I wanted. I remember thinking, "I'M FREE!"

I freaked out whenever I heard a knock on the door. My uncle, who persuaded me to leave home in the first place, warned me of the dangers I might face in the social housing systems. Even though I'd already been through so much, I was naive and full of childish hopes, but in the back of my mind somewhere I was vigilant to the darkness of existence. Everyone in the building looked shady. I kept myself to myself.

I spent the first two days exploiting my newfound freedom, on my Nintendo DS, sending funny faces to my friend across the Wi-Fi, eating cheese toastie bagels with tomato ketchup, designing games from the paper and card I'd bought from Poundland and playing them on my own, and watching my Doctor Who DVDs on the small TV above my bed.

The next day my youth worker Kezia came to visit. She rocked up in her cute little car wearing those laced heels, I don't know what they're called. She had her shiny black hair in a ponytail, and pink rosy hamster cheeks and mousy lips with tiny teeth. I adored her in ways you can imagine a sixteen-year-old boy would.

She drove us to a coffee shop in town and we discussed my situation over a social-services-paid lunch (i). So far, I'd been living off an emergency payment by the government, she told me. I didn't really understand it that well. I was just pleased I somehow had more money to spend than I'd ever done. Though admittedly I wasn't buying any "toys".

Apparently, I wasn't guaranteed any money yet; I needed to go to the Job Centre and apply for something called Income Support and Housing Benefit. That's the only way I'd be able to live in accommodation long-term.

We chatted for a bit. I told her I was worried about what was going to happen with money and if I was going to be able to live anywhere. She reassured me that as long as we did all the things she said we needed to do, everything would be alright. But I was annoyed, because to me the process seemed so cold and heartless; at the end of the day, I was a kid with nowhere to go. The fact that I had to go through any process at all seemed crazy to me.

When we were done talking, we took a trip across town to the Job Centre and picked up a couple of forms, then went back to the car to head to what would be my new place, just as soon as everything went through, as Kezia told me it would. I was going to start the form in the car but before I even put pen to paper Kezia told me we were already there, and I was nervous.

The house was at the top of a steep hill, at the end of a secluded road. It was another Victorian-style building, but with unpainted grey stone and a lot bigger. As we traversed up the long hedge-lined driveway towards the big red door, I couldn't help get the creeps. It looked like some kind of haunted mansion, and with the trees around it in the middle of nowhere, it kind of felt like it.

The fact that it was social housing with six rooms, a communal living room and kitchen, and two communal bathrooms, didn't really sum it up.

We buzzed the Office button on the side panel next to the big red door. "Come in." A high-pitched voice replied. I tried pushing the door but it wouldn't open, so we buzzed again. "Sorry, the door mechanism sometimes gets jammed, we're having it fixed soon. I'll come down and let you in."

An old-ish woman ballooning at the thighs opens the door. "Heya. Miserable weather isn't it?" (It had been grey all day). As I stepped into the tiled hallway I felt empty. I wasn't sure whether that was me or the house. "I'm Karen. Nice to meet you Luke." She said, waddling us up the stairs and then through a door which seemed to lead up to the attic and into an office. We all sat down.

"Hello Luke. I understand you've come from a difficult situation and you're looking for a place to stay."

"Yeah." I didn't know how to feel about this whole thing. Is this really the place where I'd be living for the next year/ foreseeable future? "This is a new housing project. Currently there are no residents. There are six empty rooms, so all of you who are moving in will be new to this experience."

"That's something you were worried about, isn't it Luke?" Kezia turned to me. I nodded unconfidently. "Have you sorted out the housing benefit stuff yet?" The woman asked my youth worker as though I wasn't there. "Yeah we went down there today didn't we?" I nodded feebly again.

Karen told me some basic stuff about the accommodation and what my living situation would be like, by going through this wad of paper which she called a Tenancy Agreement. All of these words meant nothing to me. I was either living there or I wasn't. I don't know why I had to sign a piece of paper to make it official.

Memorable information from the Tenancy Agreement includes: almost nothing, except:

. Staff in the office every weekday from nine to five, available to chat and talk through problems.

. No curfew - can go and come back as I please.

. Guests must be signed in, and for no more than two days a week.

. Security take over from staff and don't leave until staff get back the next day.

This one interested me. I already didn't feel safe, especially how my uncle had hyped me up for some kind of life or death confrontation with someone who might want to steal my money. So, hearing there would be security made me feel a bit better. I didn't know at this point what I was up against. I'd been through many fights in school and wasn't confident or keen to go back to doing it. Especially since my last fight involved me getting repeatedly punched in the face with zero retaliation. Ever since that I had been humble.

But hearing there was security, it was like being in the presence of a teacher in the playground; you know the bullies can't harm you as long as they're around. At least, that's the way I hoped it would be.

I left with squids in my stomach; half excited, half terrified, and feeling slightly sick, dreading a little having to go back to my B&B room and spend the rest of the day on my own without Kezia. As she drove us back down the hill, I managed to persuade her to let me fill in the Job Centre forms in her car while she parked in town.

I scribbled through it quickly and she helped me with some of the questions. I ran through town and handed it in at the JC, then she drove me home. "Let's arrange another meeting. How about next Tuesday?" She said. I agreed, but secretly wished I'd see her sooner, and then sooner again. She was the only source of stability I had. "And Luke," I turned awkwardly towards her car, "Make sure you shower!"

"Yeah yeah." I said condescendingly, skipping back into the B&B like a div.

I know for a fact I hadn't showered in a week, at least.

I went to the supermarket twice that evening just as something to do and get my mind off being alone in the B&B, it was hard to sleep with all my anxieties swirling around my mushy head. I was floating in the ocean of uncertainty, as I had done for most of my life. But this time I was truly alone. One worry in particular kept circling: what will my housemates be like? Will they be as brutal as my uncle said they would be? Or will they be nice? I am nice, aren't I? Would I be able to make friends? Find a girlfriend, maybe?

The next morning I woke up dramatically, as though I had been pummelled in the chest with a bag of bricks. A bag of lead bricks. I felt the emptiness from yesterday creeping through the front door of the B&B, spreading its unwanted talons across the walls of my subconscious, attempting to trap me inside myself, inside the prison of panic I'd become accustomed to.

I couldn't spend another day cooped up in this B&B. I felt not-well, scummy, like I was deteriorating fast. I needed to do something, before this feeling swallowed me up completely. I got in the shower.

I spent fifteen minutes in the hot water and steam and decided to go on a long walk, explore the local area.

I had heard there was a beach about a mile away, which was one possible destination. The weather was grey again, but it didn't look as though it was going to rain. So that was something. Though, I'm not one of those people who is uppity about having ice creams on a cold day (ii).

Before I went out officially for the walk, I wanted to get some milk for my Cheerios (iii) and also maybe a packed lunch. So I put on some clean clothes and donned my blue rucksack, opened the door and set off down this road that was still alien to me.

It was strange. As I stepped out into the pavement, my anxieties lifted. Cars that scooted past me on the narrow road seemed friendly. The silver linings in the grey sky shone. The Cornish seagulls cawed in the distance. The coastal air filled my lungs. I had this feeling like New Beginnings. I could almost hear Rose's Theme in my head from Doctor Who. I was my own person in the big world, free from my tyrannical mother, with my whole life ahead of me.

I almost skipped to the supermarket. And I probably did.

Footnotes

(i) She told me she got a budget of about £5 for lunches and drinks. I am led to believe this has since been completely abolished due to Conservative government cuts and Brexit. Also youth workers are no longer part of social services.

(ii) This was before I found out that cold foods actually make you cold.

(iii) I liked to start the day with some calorie-rich cereal. I'd usually have two bowls. Sometimes it was Wheetos, sometimes it was Cheerios. It depends on how hung up I was about my health at the time (Wheetos being the sugary, unhealthier option I would avoid. They were also expensive).

submitted by /u/PuerEternus [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/2Bds1jN

#Blogger #Story

0 notes

anniecuoco · 4 years

Text

Upon graduating from Elon in December of this year, I feel as though I have finally grounded my ideas about what I’d like to do after I leave here. I know I am a diligent and solution-oriented communications design student with a concentration in textile, graphic and product design. I am passionate about developing trend forward textile projects within the fashion and home industry.

Nearing the end of my two-summer-long internship with Earthbound Brands, I interviewed my supervisor Danielle Dorn and work colleague Rommy Cabrera. I was able to get a better feel for the work they do within the company and everything they have done that’s lead them to where they stand now. I also learned about the skill set of fully-developed graphic designers and what challenges they faced in the process. Danielle is the creative director of the graphic design unit, and Rommy is a junior graphic designer—a role that I am interested in taking on as my first job. Through these internships I have learned an incredible amount of information that pertains directly to my major, and directly to textile and product design. Those working by my side in the graphic design unit always keep my job interesting and fun. Every day I work on various projects at once. Some, I am doing solely for my portfolio and others that will eventually be published by Earthbound. Knowing that the work I do is being put to use professionally by this company makes me feel successful and fills me with courage and pride.

Danielle said that the most appealing part about her job is that she’s never working on the same thing. “Every day is something different which keeps my job interesting and exciting…I always get to learn about new products, concepts and new businesses.” She continued that the most appealing part is also the biggest challenge in that “it’s exciting to work in new areas but it’s also a challenge to work in such a fast-paced environment where you’re learning so many new things at once.” Danielle began her career as a home-fashion designer, which is something I aim to be one day. I have always had a dream to own my own home fashion design line.

In terms of the skills that are needed for a future in the textile and graphic design industry, Danielle says “across the board Adobe Creative Suit is a must know. If you don’t know how to use the programs you won’t get very far. The most important for us are Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.” She says we are also looking for someone who has a BFA if they want to work in graphic design. This is something that stuck with me, because I am constantly trying to expand my skills in Photoshop and Illustrator. I have come home from my internship night after night talking to my parents about how I have all of these amazing ideas in my head, but I just don’t have the skills to put it on the screen, and this has become very frustrating to me. That is why I have been looking forward to taking this course for so long. To expand my knowledge of the Creative Suits by practicing and creating content for my portfolio. Another thing that Danielle told me that really stuck with me is when she said, “your portfolio is the number one thing getting you in the door, because if your portfolio isn’t good, then how do we know if any of the work you’ll do here will be good?” She says you must be aware of that when you go into the graphic design industry—you must be prepared for “fast deadlines, late nights and crazy hours.”

During my second interview, Rommy gave me advice as a graphic designer who has just finally realized her career path. In high school, Rommy took a digital media class and that’s when she realized she had a passion for design. She attended a two-year college for graphic design at the Art Institute of NYC. After that she had an internship at HBO and began working at Earthbound the following year. She too believes being skilled in the Adobe Suit is very important to obtain a job in graphic design, but also that it is important to have a creative mind. This triggered me, because I have always thought of myself as having a very creative mind. “Of course, Adobe is useful to know because they are a tool for you to create, but you must use your creativity and what’s around you to get your started.” She believes you will not have anything to put in Adobe if you have no inspiration or ideas. “Always be curious, always ask questions, always be accessible.”

In terms of a plan for my portfolio, I believe I will have no problem gathering relevant content that I have created. I am working on textile and graphic design to put into my portfolio basically any time I have nothing else to do. If I’m hanging out after class, I’m working on a design, if I’m watching TV, I have my computer out with inspiration pulled up. When I am scrolling through social media, I screenshot a design if it inspires me or triggers an idea for my portfolio. I am extremely determined to be the best I can be at this point in time and I am motivated to be ahead of the other graduates who will soon be competing for the same jobs as I am.

Another thing that I was having trouble with nearing the end of this summer is that I felt like my resume was not strong enough. I wanted to have other relevant job experiences on my resume that will help build my brand and the overall strength of my resume. I took initiative and I am not set to intern with Bernhardt Furniture in October at the High Point Market. Although I will be taking on the roll of a sales-associate, I believe that having High Point Market on my resume will absolutely give me a leg-up when applying to jobs in the near future. However, as an aspiring product/textile designer, I do not have any textile experience on my resume other than a bit sprinkled here and there over the course of my two graphic design internships at Earthbound Brands. In order to build my resume even further, I will soon begin a second semester-long internship at Karen Saks in Raleigh. Karen Saks is a high-end interior design showroom, exclusive to the trade, and catering to professional interior designers in North and South Carolina. “They are a multi-line showroom, carrying a large selection of fabric, trims, wallcovering, floor covering, fine art, hardware, furniture, and accessories from manufacturers world-wide”. This is absolutely the most exciting experience that I have lined up for myself so far, as I will take on the roll of a textile-design intern. I am very proud of myself for showing such initiative to build my resume. I simply reached out to Karen Saks via their Raleigh website email contact and that was it. At Karen Saks I will gain great experience and knowledge about fabrics, rugs and carpet, trim, wallpaper, as well as the ins and out of the business.

As an aspiring textile/product designer, I have already set up a plan for the basis of my portfolio. I have purchased my domain and my website format on Squarespace and have created a general layout based on my portfolios potential audience. I will be sending my portfolio to textile and graphic designers who will want to see my designs organized pertaining to type and described in brief. I believe that Elon has helped bring my Adobe skills from beginner to intermediate, and from there I have been encouraged and motivated by my professors to further expand my skills through the many different projects I have been given over the last two years. My professors have stressed the importance of the portfolio for communication design students as well. We were required to begin working on a beginner level portfolio in our COM220 course. This introduction to the portfolio was very helpful as it guided me through the first steps to becoming a graphic designer and deciding what exactly it is that I may want to do. Seeing my work laid out on a wix page and organized by type made me subconsciously pick favorite parts and pieces of my portfolio. This eventually led me to realize what I enjoyed doing most. For a while I was very unsure what I wanted to do with a graphic design degree and it overwhelmed me the endless possibilities and types of designers that exist. When I finally realized what type of design I wanted to do, I felt like I was finally ready to begin working on my new and professional portfolio.

Some of my realistic goals for the near future are to have a professional looking portfolio by mid-fall. I’d say by the end of the semester, but I’d like to have the confidence to send out my portfolio sooner than this, which I think is a realistic goal. With that, I’d also like to begin networking in the near future.

One thing I am confident that I am good at is making myself and my surroundings look fantastic! I absolutely love fashion, styling and home design. I am a lot more organized than my mom and when I see clutter around the house I can’t stand how bad it looks, so I organize it for her. I can immediately feel a sense of better energy and relief when I take a cluttered bookshelf full of old high school folders, broken charge cables and an old printer and turn it into an area that people want to look at and hang out around. I love good, clean, organized style and I believe I am very good at this. My mom always jokes that I could have a TV show that helps people organize their homes and get rid of clutter. I worked at a clothing store called LF in Greenwich Connecticut as a stylist as well and I absolutely loved it. Looking good, helping others look good, and being somewhere that is organized and aesthetically pleasing makes me feel good. I also feel like I have a very creative eye for picking patterns that match and creating content from scratch that people will be impressed by. However, I still think I can work to improve this skill a great deal. It was not until I identified these things about myself that I realized what type of designer I wanted to be. I always knew I had a creative edge and eye for patterns and textile design, but I never thought to put it into words and use these parts of myself in my career.

By the time I graduate from Elon, I see myself having a job lined up that I am excited and eager to begin. I see myself taking on a roll creating textile designs for a company that suits my taste and my values as a designer. This means that I’d like to be working somewhere that emphasizes sustainability. I have read dozens of articles and looked into various campaigns regarding the fast fashion movement. This has always been something I’ve been passionate about and I hope that the company I work for has similar morals and values pertaining to the types of materials they use.

0 notes

gilmoregirlsbigbrother · 5 years

Text

EPISODE #1

As the cast get settled into the Dragonfly Inn, tensions arise between a few guests. Personalities don’t always mesh and alliances are formed quickly in the first few days of the game. Let’s check in on the houseguests as we begin our journey on Gilmore Girlssssss Bigggggg Brother!

Andrew

Lov it is lit rally 6 hours ahead of est in italy and like my dummy dum dum ass was like oooooo lets play this fuckin game that starts in the middle of my italy trip?? so i love that for my brain. i saw the post, saw clash and dan got the twist thingy, talked to some people for a little bit, and then went the fuck to bed

Isaac

This cast fucking blows.

Randy

5 of the cast are women, 16 are bitches ding ding is it bad that i dont see myself not making it late game like i thought i had an uphill battle but these bitches accepted me so easily so this is gonna be easy

Chelsea

Hi everyone! I'm gonna try to stay on top of my shit but no promises. There are a lot of people that I don't know at all in this game, but so far Randy, Clash, Nick, and Dani have been the people to message me. Dani and I played Guyana together and did well, so it's nice to have her as someone to talk to this early on.

I don't really see any obstacles yet, it's all a matter of how i bring my game to the table and who i learn does it better. This is my second BB game so I have a little bit of learning to do since the gameplay is a bit different than Survivor.

I love the idea of going to Friday night dinner. Not only do i love dinner and Friday nights, but i think it's completely fair and chill. Your decisions may or may not help you and that's what I like. I enjoy seeing how advantages work for different people and how people make weaker ones work in their favor.

I joined this game last minute when I wasn't planning on playing for a while, so I'm still trying to get mentally prepared for the conversations and challenges ahead. I hope that doesn't put a target on my back.

Nick

https://youtu.be/KKrQn3xNd1A

( a little while later)

Still no reply from Karen but according to Randy, Karen has a premade that she plans on sticking with all game. Randy also told me he wants me to win hoh but I don’t know if I really want it.

(a little while after that)

Karen messaged me which is a yay! I’m hoping he was just busy and didn’t see my message but who knows... can’t wait to play this first hoh and get last in it probably!

Andrew

at this point with the people left who can still win hoh.....i think theres a chance that dani or madison could put me up just bc idk them and im having very boring, fake conversation with them lmao. i love being a meninist! anyway-- i think id be fine with everyone else? i hope. so likeee fuck this hoh ig. i dont need it. if i somehow get it, ill just put up the people that ive talked to the least? also im lowkey worried JG would put me up just bc we arent talking a lot. i should talk to him more huh.. anyway i would hope im good w everyone else. nick - who i was worried about - even told me im good with him if he wins hoh and i told him same. so wow oh wow ive made my first deal of the game

Head of Household commences and Clash is the Head of Household after a water balloon fight. Alliances begin to form as a obvious friendship of Karen, Isaac, Ricky and Andrew is spotted by another emerging friendship of Nick, Madison and Randy. But, is everything as it seems?

Liana

Hi first confessional here. I've been struggling with playing 2 games at the same time it's hard to keep up. Now i get some quiet time to catch up this lovely morning. This cast is fun and varied. I was excited to see some people I've played with in the past (Drew, Karen, Isaac, Andrew, Dan, and Ricky) and meet some new people. I'm finding it hard to message people because I hate the awkward small talk in the beginning but I don't want to get targeted. While I know those people from the past, they're also obstacles because I know, according to timestamps, Karen and Isaac targeted me in the HOH and they're probs definitely working together. I'm hoping I can stay under the radar for now and let large groups go after each other until I get a chance to build more relationships.

Madison

Let's review

In the past 24 hours I have: -implied f2 with Dan -implied f2 with Nick -f2 with Clash -Alliance with Nick and Randy -implied alliance with Bobby and Nick -alliance with Randy Adrian JG Clash

Nick

Clash winning HOH is acceptable! I think he trusts and likes me and he wanted me to win hoh when I was still in which shows something. On top of that we both had the same sorta idea to put Isaac and Karen up which I’m just here like “bye bye bitches” and these inactive players will hopefully learn how to speak some English.

Dan

Clash winning hoh is like a damn Hawaiian vacation for me. I don’t have to worry about being nominated, I still don’t have to talk to these crackheads, and I can maybe get noms how I want them. I love being pretty

Ricky

My first night in the Dragonfly Inn was riddled with terrible associative experiences in my real life, .org life, and romantic life. So....not great.

Adrian

im here and im ready to dominate

Drew

Right now i don't have a game, Andrew and I keep talking about maybe deciding to start playing but then everyone else who's like old school PI type people that we could tap (Ricky, Isaac, Karen) keep sucking massive ass

so the plan is to be just barely known enough to survive and then we'll reassess in like three rounds when i start wanting to win challenges

aka when the cast gets normal sized

Andrew

i mean im gonna work with isaac and ricky for sure i think bc we're a power trio and can fuck shit up when we put each of our single brain cells together. i like also wanna work with karen and/or drew and/or sammy bc they all me friends. i usually dont trust karen or drew for too long in games but like this is bb and not survivor and i play these 2 games v differently so we'll see what happens. madison and nick were really giving me nothing to work with night one even tho i wanted to have more indpeth convo with them. dan and jg i wanna try working with. clash..... we're gonna manipulate xoxo

clash has been involved with a lot of drama in this community and to be real i still dunno how i feel about him cuz like,,,,,ive only hosted him? and hes kinda immature but like also ig i can work close with him in an actual game and get better bearings on who he is.. maybe he can be a good ally? maybe i can just manipulate the fuck out of him and get him to say he loves me after knowing me for 6 days?

(a little while later)

me to dani: yeah it’s hard being in everyone’s pms haha Also me: rapid fire texting every single houseguest all the way from the homeland

(a little while later)

I'm tryna talk to everyone just so I'm not nominated because for whatever reason I have a bad track record of getting nommed week one? I only wanna win veto comps if I'm actually on the block. HOH rn is dumb and I'm just gonna do the bare minimum to keep myself from being nominated lol

(a little LATER after that)

okay so im gonna make a list from 1 being who i wanna mcshoot to 11 being no pls i dont wanna pull the trigger piglet

1. Madison ew smelly 2. Dani kinda smelly dont trust it 3. JG i like dunno where i stand w him 4. Clash i think he trusts me but that would be crackhead hour 5. Randy same with Clash but less hormonal(?) 6. Liana dont think she'd put me up.. 7. Karen same with Liana but im better fwiends w her uwu 8. Nick we made a deal so like? stick to it?? 9. Adrian a cool man that I wanna get closer to 10. Isaac we tryna power trio w him and Ricky 11. Ricky I think he'd have a better chance at beating Isucc

1 is take em out chief and 11 is sweet bb boi owo

(jesus take the wheel the cameraman gets super tired but Andrew keeps speaking)

Dear diary, clash won hoh today, and I hope he doesn’t put me up. If he does, then I’ll just bully him by constantly posting the screenshots of him confessing his love to Madison kimrey in the house chat. Till next time! Andrew <3

also yikes I guess dani assumes I’m the one who took her out in the challenge but like there were 8(?) of us left and lit rally lov we’ve talked for like 5 minutes so I could not give less of a shit lol

I could use Dani’s passive aggression to fuel a nuclear power plant

After the nomination ceremony where Isaac and Liana are nominated, tensions brew between Bobby and Isaac (which makes Isaac concoct a lie to make Bobby feel bad for being mean). The houseguests start to form alliances on late night calls, notably Madison’s two alliances Weiner Hard and The Chipettes.

Nick

VL Cast Assessment/Opinions:

Adrian - We don’t exactly talk often but I feel quite safe with him... he gives me laying low type player vibes and I’m gonna let him do his thing! Overall like him a lot and there’s potential with him as an ally in the game.

Andrew - He’s quite chill! He and I talk a lot and I personally really like him and his attitude. I think he doesn’t scream threat but late game he may be the main social player and threat to win. I consider him a worthy ally

Bobby- I LOVE BOBBY! He’s overall really fun and has a great personality. We are definitely close in this game! The one issue is he makes it very clear he hates Ricky and that could put a target on him and possibly me if they think we are close. He’s someone who I will 100% have their back in the game

Chelsea - She’s sweet... nice personality and doesn’t seem to have any enemies. I think she’s a super nice person and there’s really nothing negative to say about them at the moment besides I wish we connected more sooner.

Clash - CLASH IS AMAZING! We knew each other way before this and we already had the bond but we never worked together... hopefully this time it will be different and we can work with each other long term!

Dan - I love him but the house thinks otherwise... people see him as a kind of a crazy over the top player based on past games... but in my opinion it’s better to have those types of people on your side rather than against you in these types of games... sadly he might be a common target in this game.

Dani - Dani is so kind and I love her so much! We talk all the time and the only issue I have with her is that she’s after Madison who I also like and trust. Their feud might ruin my game long term!

Drew - I like drew but I feel like he automatically thinks I’m with him because we know each other... we haven’t talked a ton but when we do I enjoy the talks a lot as he’s genuinely a good and funny guy!

JG - Same a Clash where I knew him before this and I trust him but we never played together! I think everyone likes him and he is someone who I gotta trust or I’ll fall out of the loop.

Karen - Rocky start but we actually talked a bit and connected a bit. I’m hoping for more but as of now I don’t trust Karen that much.

Liana - Chips wife omg I love you. they are nominated right now and I’m worried people will evict her because if she “puts the baby down” as some say, she may be really threatening long term in the game.

Madison - Hate this bitch... obviously joking but she can be trouble long term if I don’t keep an eye out for her... she’s going to create and be in drama and I gotta be ready to deal with the aftermath. Trust and love her but she can ruin everything for me in one day if she wasn’t in the right head space

Randy - This bitch is so funny! I want to work so bad with randy and I think it may actually happen! He is someone I hope I can count on long term in the game!

Sammy - We are slowly making connections and he reaches out to me very often so I’m happy to see someone is reaching out to make a bond with me rather the other way around! I’m excited for what’s to come!

Isaac - He might as well not talk to anyone at all because he’s basically inactive... he didn’t even speak to the hoh when they made nominations then got mad when they went up... it’s annoying that you think you deserve to stay over Liana who’s putting work in.

Ricky - I like him! He talks with me which is nice and I’m just overall looking forward to more conversations because I find him funny and interesting!

Andrew

I wasn’t nominated which was lit and clash said I’m one of his closest allies.. dunno if that’s true or not but I’ll run with it for now. Liana being nominated im neutral about but isaac could be an issue bc I’m supposed to be working with him. But sometimes he’ll go inactive in games? And idk why. I guess his aunts in the hospital which is a yikes but also he shouldn’t be surprised if he’s on the block. Also calling clash an incel and Bobby a dick in the chat is a look but also Bobby kinda WAS being a dick so like understandable. PS - who has the social tact now miss isaac? ... ily

Madison

Idk if I could trust Nick fully because he's already backstabbed Randiddy and my keeping things from both him and Bobby is just easier for me. I'm gonna keep my mouth shut this time and not cause too many fights but I also wanna fight most of these people. The noms are also sexy as hell and I hope Liana goes because she has a child to take care of and she should go back to that

Randy

https://youtu.be/QZC4skhewkg

The veto commences, and Sammy reigns victorious in the Word Ladder challenge. Isaac and Liana remain final nominees. But will rumors of the “premade” on a house call seal Isaac’s fate?

Ricky

literally not one single person has spoken to me today except sammy and he said hello and nothing else so i’m not doing shit until i am told anything

Randy

youtube

Andrew

so i think isaac is dying and people are coming to me like "i know hes ur fwiend uwu" and im like well im obviously not gonna be a dumb dumb bubblegum lookin ass bitch and rock any vote when im tryna play this UTR friendly to everyone game. my game rn is based purely on conformity and being a wallflower. so if isaac has to get sent down the river then bring me a boat bitch

Madison

i can't wait to evict all these boring ass people

0 notes

byronheeutgm · 6 years

Text

7 Ingredients of Great B2B Marketing Teams

B2B marketing is harder than ever before.

More tools. More technology. More competition. More customer expectations.

Every B2B marketing team faces these same obstacles. Yet, some of them succeed disproportionately. Why?

I partnered with my friends at Teamwork.com to figure out the answer. We conducted a series of interviews with high-performing B2B marketing leaders to probe how they manage their people, how they use technology, and what they value and emphasize day-to-day.

We found seven commonalities that were present across essentially all of these great B2B marketing teams. They are seven ingredients for success, and several of them really surprised me.

(Note: We use Teamwork.com to manage every task and project at Convince & Convert, including this one. We’re huge advocates for the platform).

I worked with Ray Coppinger, Director of Marketing at Teamwork on a Webinar recently where we unveiled the seven ingredients. I very much encourage you to watch the replay, as it provides much more detail on these distinguishing characteristics and B2B marketing team dynamics.

I’ve summarized our findings below. The full Webinar replay is here.

Great B2B Marketing Teams: The Participants

In order to be a great B2B organization, you must now employ and manage a superb marketing team. Today’s marketers must be fast, smart, nimble, and—at all times—data-driven.

Peter Bell – Has more than 25 years of experience in marketing, with experience working with major Microsoft brands like Surface, Skype, Xbox, MSN and Windows. He is currently Senior Director of Marketing (EMEA) at Marketo.

David Cain – As Chief Marketing Officer at PlanGrid, responsible for driving market leadership, global awareness, demand generation, and strategic events. David has held B2B marketing leadership roles with leading SaaS companies, including Marketo, SuccessFactors, and OpenTable.

Robyn Itule – Until recently, Senior Manager of the Content and Creative team at Insight, leading a team that tells stories with text, multimedia, video, and visual design. Robyn sets the vision for content strategy that drives our brand journalism efforts by helping businesses run smarter.

Tim Kopp – Prior to joining Hyde Park Venture Partners, Tim was the CMO of ExactTarget and CMO at Webtrends. He’s run interactive marketing for Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble and serves as an adviser and board member to many others.

Kyle Lacy – He’s obsessed with how technology influences and ultimately changes human behavior. Kyle has previously lead content and marketing at ExactTarget and Salesforce.

Nancy Laviolette – Nancy is a forward-thinking marketing professional. She offers a unique combination of creativity and analytical skills, and uses her ability to assess both of these vantage points simultaneously to deliver an effective balance of visual nuance and sound business decisions that ultimately enables strong brands recognition.”

Jeff Rohrs – Author, recovering attorney, bacon-lover, and Clevelander-at-heart who serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Yext in New York City. Jeff was VP of Marketing Insights at ExactTarget prior to joining Yext.

Elizabeth Sosnow – Elizabeth is Managing Partner at Bliss Integrated Communication where she is a part of the management team responsible for the company’s overall operations and strategic direction. She has been named a “B2B Social Media Thinker,” “100 People to Watch in PR” and runner-up “B2B Twitterer of the Year.”

Karen Steele – Karen brings over 25 years of B2B technology marketing experience to LeanData as their CMO. Karen has held executive roles at VMware, Informatica, Xactly, and most recently Marketo.

Great B2B Marketing Teams: 7 Success Ingredients

There is not a magic pill or a one-size-fits-all solution to building a highly successful team. What I did find, however, were seven themes that surfaced repeatedly in my interviews with marketing leaders:

1. Hire for Corporate Culture

Even though marketing is becoming more data-driven and specialized, these leaders still look for cultural fit first, perhaps more so than experience and expertise.

When I asked Peter Bell from Marketo about how he hires the right employees for his organization, he’s looking for three things: skills, experience, and then cultural fit. Can you guess which he values most?

“Cultural fit is possibly the most important because I can train for the rest of it. There are some roles where I am prepared to train. There are some roles where I’m not,” he said.

2. Make Success Metrics Transparent

Each team has their own measurements and style but everyone knows the importance of goal accountability.

The key is that all members of the team are clear on WHAT the scoreboard is, and each has access to real-time view of how they are tracking.

Lessonly’s VP of Marketing Kyle Lacy knows exactly what his team is responsible for and how they’re tracking their measurables, and that’s a good thing since I’m an investor in the company!

“We have many goals that are known and public within the marketing team. We’re responsible for leads, MQL (marketing qualified leads), and ACV (average customer value). We even have a goal for demo ratings. Each time sales does a software demo, they rate it 1-5. If they score it below a 3 in quality of prospect, we meet to determine why,” explained Kyle.

3. Align With Sales

As customers self-educate deeper in the funnel before talking to a sales rep, marketing’s role increases drastically. Marketing’s impact, in theory, has the same outcome as hiring more reps. The best B2B marketing teams are closely aligned with sales, and view their job as empowering the success of the sales department.

According to the Aberdeen Group, aligned sales and marketing teams show 400% higher annual revenue growth than do non-aligned teams.

Jeff Rohrs of Yext is certainly an advocate of this alignment.

“Our approach is to understand at a deep level what’s going on in the sales opportunities, and we want our marketers in those calls hearing what’s important, what’s moving, where they can potentially add some relationship building efforts,” he said.

The way Jeff has positioned his team as a partner to both the customer and the sales team is something I really love. Having the unfiltered access to the information and feedback only makes it easier for all parties moving forward, especially as new programs are rolled out or other marketing materials need to be tweaked.

“It’s imperative they be on those calls and hear those conversations. It’s another set of ears, and experience we can deploy based on what they learn in those calls.”

4. Prioritize Projects

Marketers have more projects to tackle than ever and keeping tabs on each of them can become a full-time job in and of itself. In short, it’s hard to determine which tools are right for your business.

Using a project management system like Teamwork Projects helps keep everyone organized and on-task, but prioritizing what projects to tackle, and when, is a huge driver of B2B marketing success.

So how do our group of all-stars handle tools, priorities, and the goals they serve?

For starters, they begin with their most essential apparatus: strategy.

“What kills most CMOs within a year or 18 months”, says Tim Kopp of Hyde Park Ventures, “is that they don’t know how to prioritize. You need to figure out sequentially how are you going to go and knock down the dominoes and drive massive prioritization. I think it’s part art, part science.”

5. Provide Real-time Feedback

Successful B2B marketing leaders are constantly providing input to their teams. They may have annual review cycles, but they don’t wait for those to praise or course-correct their people.

This ingredient is closely associated with hiring for corporate culture as it directly ties in with how all facets of the company (employee, management, and human resources) are gauging their progress.

Assuring that there is a forum for observations and reaction makes managing teams much less cumbersome and does wonders for eliminating any surprises that may be lurking in the shadows.

These times for feedback are not a way to find dirt, as David Cain pointed out – on the contrary, they’re a way for team members to work through any affair, good or bad.

Nancy Laviolette always tells her team to be on their toes. As she describes it, “Sometimes it’s like, “you, me, [conference] room, right now.”

As Robyn Itule sees it, “Feedback is a gift.” Of course, this feedback may not be easy to hear in every situation, but it’s essential to growth – and the sooner the better. This was something I heard loud and clear from all of our participants.

6. Encourage People to Solve Their Own Problems

No matter how good your strategy, no matter how perfect your tools, and no matter how wonderful your people – disagreement and dilemmas will happen. Really, it’s okay to say it.

When disputes arise, however, great marketing teams almost invariably solve the problems themselves. They do so with outstanding communication between the affected parties.

No tattling, or asking Mom or Dad to intervene, as Elizabeth Sosnow, Managing Partner of Bliss Communications, puts plainly. While no marketer is looking to sow or create conflict, the ability to create a culture where people are able to come to a resolution, without senior intervention, is crucial to growth.

“In our team, one of the things that we’ve tried to do is to help people if they don’t naturally feel comfortable become candid. Dissension, negativity, and arguments happen almost always if someone isn’t direct and honest,” Sosnow told me.

7. Focus on Storytelling

There are lots of tactics, playbooks, and metrics in B2B marketing – maybe more than ever. But ultimately, it’s about persuasion, and among today’s often-jaded customers, persuasion comes best in story format.

Many of our marketing leaders mentioned storytelling as a key element of their success, and their growth.

Without a doubt, all of the technical pieces are essential to keeping the lights on – but automation, emails, and great Facebook ads don’t keep customers engaged and coming back for more.

To drive that kind of success, B2B marketing teams must focus on amazing stories that give people motivation to take action with you.

So many of our marketing leaders mentioned the key need for storytelling to generate B2B success, but no one did it quite as eloquently as Karen Steele, CMO of LeanData.

“You still must have a singular brand level value proposition. Who the heck are you and what do you stand for? Never, ever deviate from that, because if you lose that in the heart and mind of the customer, then it doesn’t matter what story you’re telling. If I can always be true to that brand promise, I’ll always be able to tell a great story, and get people to connect with me. Everybody’s talking about ‘engagement’, but you can’t do engagement without the promise and the story,” Steele explained.

Which of these 7 ingredients of great B2B marketing teams do you have? Which do you need to work upon? Grab the no-obligation Webinar replay for MUCH more detail on this subject.

https://ift.tt/2NGNsLS

#7 Ingredients of Great B2B Marketing Teams

0 notes

rodneyevesuarywk · 6 years

Text

7 Ingredients of Great B2B Marketing Teams

B2B marketing is harder than ever before.

More tools. More technology. More competition. More customer expectations.

Every B2B marketing team faces these same obstacles. Yet, some of them succeed disproportionately. Why?

We found seven commonalities that were present across essentially all of these great B2B marketing teams. They are seven ingredients for success, and several of them really surprised me.

(Note: We use Teamwork.com to manage every task and project at Convince & Convert, including this one. We’re huge advocates for the platform).

I’ve summarized our findings below. The full Webinar replay is here.

Great B2B Marketing Teams: The Participants

In order to be a great B2B organization, you must now employ and manage a superb marketing team. Today’s marketers must be fast, smart, nimble, and—at all times—data-driven.

Kyle Lacy – He’s obsessed with how technology influences and ultimately changes human behavior. Kyle has previously lead content and marketing at ExactTarget and Salesforce.

Karen Steele – Karen brings over 25 years of B2B technology marketing experience to LeanData as their CMO. Karen has held executive roles at VMware, Informatica, Xactly, and most recently Marketo.

Great B2B Marketing Teams: 7 Success Ingredients

1. Hire for Corporate Culture

Even though marketing is becoming more data-driven and specialized, these leaders still look for cultural fit first, perhaps more so than experience and expertise.

“Cultural fit is possibly the most important because I can train for the rest of it. There are some roles where I am prepared to train. There are some roles where I’m not,” he said.

2. Make Success Metrics Transparent

Each team has their own measurements and style but everyone knows the importance of goal accountability.

The key is that all members of the team are clear on WHAT the scoreboard is, and each has access to real-time view of how they are tracking.

Lessonly’s VP of Marketing Kyle Lacy knows exactly what his team is responsible for and how they’re tracking their measurables, and that’s a good thing since I’m an investor in the company!

3. Align With Sales

According to the Aberdeen Group, aligned sales and marketing teams show 400% higher annual revenue growth than do non-aligned teams.

Jeff Rohrs of Yext is certainly an advocate of this alignment.

“It’s imperative they be on those calls and hear those conversations. It’s another set of ears, and experience we can deploy based on what they learn in those calls.”

4. Prioritize Projects

Using a project management system like Teamwork Projects helps keep everyone organized and on-task, but prioritizing what projects to tackle, and when, is a huge driver of B2B marketing success.

So how do our group of all-stars handle tools, priorities, and the goals they serve?

For starters, they begin with their most essential apparatus: strategy.

5. Provide Real-time Feedback

Successful B2B marketing leaders are constantly providing input to their teams. They may have annual review cycles, but they don’t wait for those to praise or course-correct their people.

Assuring that there is a forum for observations and reaction makes managing teams much less cumbersome and does wonders for eliminating any surprises that may be lurking in the shadows.

These times for feedback are not a way to find dirt, as David Cain pointed out – on the contrary, they’re a way for team members to work through any affair, good or bad.

Nancy Laviolette always tells her team to be on their toes. As she describes it, “Sometimes it’s like, “you, me, [conference] room, right now.”

6. Encourage People to Solve Their Own Problems

No matter how good your strategy, no matter how perfect your tools, and no matter how wonderful your people – disagreement and dilemmas will happen. Really, it’s okay to say it.

When disputes arise, however, great marketing teams almost invariably solve the problems themselves. They do so with outstanding communication between the affected parties.

7. Focus on Storytelling

Many of our marketing leaders mentioned storytelling as a key element of their success, and their growth.

Without a doubt, all of the technical pieces are essential to keeping the lights on – but automation, emails, and great Facebook ads don’t keep customers engaged and coming back for more.

To drive that kind of success, B2B marketing teams must focus on amazing stories that give people motivation to take action with you.

So many of our marketing leaders mentioned the key need for storytelling to generate B2B success, but no one did it quite as eloquently as Karen Steele, CMO of LeanData.

Which of these 7 ingredients of great B2B marketing teams do you have? Which do you need to work upon? Grab the no-obligation Webinar replay for MUCH more detail on this subject.

https://ift.tt/2NGNsLS

#7 Ingredients of Great B2B Marketing Teams

0 notes

dainiaolivahm · 6 years

Text

7 Ingredients of Great B2B Marketing Teams

B2B marketing is harder than ever before.

More tools. More technology. More competition. More customer expectations.

Every B2B marketing team faces these same obstacles. Yet, some of them succeed disproportionately. Why?

We found seven commonalities that were present across essentially all of these great B2B marketing teams. They are seven ingredients for success, and several of them really surprised me.

(Note: We use Teamwork.com to manage every task and project at Convince & Convert, including this one. We’re huge advocates for the platform).

I’ve summarized our findings below. The full Webinar replay is here.

Great B2B Marketing Teams: The Participants

In order to be a great B2B organization, you must now employ and manage a superb marketing team. Today’s marketers must be fast, smart, nimble, and—at all times—data-driven.

Kyle Lacy – He’s obsessed with how technology influences and ultimately changes human behavior. Kyle has previously lead content and marketing at ExactTarget and Salesforce.

Karen Steele – Karen brings over 25 years of B2B technology marketing experience to LeanData as their CMO. Karen has held executive roles at VMware, Informatica, Xactly, and most recently Marketo.

Great B2B Marketing Teams: 7 Success Ingredients

1. Hire for Corporate Culture

Even though marketing is becoming more data-driven and specialized, these leaders still look for cultural fit first, perhaps more so than experience and expertise.

“Cultural fit is possibly the most important because I can train for the rest of it. There are some roles where I am prepared to train. There are some roles where I’m not,” he said.

2. Make Success Metrics Transparent

Each team has their own measurements and style but everyone knows the importance of goal accountability.

The key is that all members of the team are clear on WHAT the scoreboard is, and each has access to real-time view of how they are tracking.

Lessonly’s VP of Marketing Kyle Lacy knows exactly what his team is responsible for and how they’re tracking their measurables, and that’s a good thing since I’m an investor in the company!

3. Align With Sales

According to the Aberdeen Group, aligned sales and marketing teams show 400% higher annual revenue growth than do non-aligned teams.

Jeff Rohrs of Yext is certainly an advocate of this alignment.

“It’s imperative they be on those calls and hear those conversations. It’s another set of ears, and experience we can deploy based on what they learn in those calls.”

4. Prioritize Projects

Using a project management system like Teamwork Projects helps keep everyone organized and on-task, but prioritizing what projects to tackle, and when, is a huge driver of B2B marketing success.

So how do our group of all-stars handle tools, priorities, and the goals they serve?

For starters, they begin with their most essential apparatus: strategy.

5. Provide Real-time Feedback

Successful B2B marketing leaders are constantly providing input to their teams. They may have annual review cycles, but they don’t wait for those to praise or course-correct their people.

Assuring that there is a forum for observations and reaction makes managing teams much less cumbersome and does wonders for eliminating any surprises that may be lurking in the shadows.

These times for feedback are not a way to find dirt, as David Cain pointed out – on the contrary, they’re a way for team members to work through any affair, good or bad.

Nancy Laviolette always tells her team to be on their toes. As she describes it, “Sometimes it’s like, “you, me, [conference] room, right now.”

6. Encourage People to Solve Their Own Problems

No matter how good your strategy, no matter how perfect your tools, and no matter how wonderful your people – disagreement and dilemmas will happen. Really, it’s okay to say it.

When disputes arise, however, great marketing teams almost invariably solve the problems themselves. They do so with outstanding communication between the affected parties.

7. Focus on Storytelling

Many of our marketing leaders mentioned storytelling as a key element of their success, and their growth.

Without a doubt, all of the technical pieces are essential to keeping the lights on – but automation, emails, and great Facebook ads don’t keep customers engaged and coming back for more.

To drive that kind of success, B2B marketing teams must focus on amazing stories that give people motivation to take action with you.

So many of our marketing leaders mentioned the key need for storytelling to generate B2B success, but no one did it quite as eloquently as Karen Steele, CMO of LeanData.

Which of these 7 ingredients of great B2B marketing teams do you have? Which do you need to work upon? Grab the no-obligation Webinar replay for MUCH more detail on this subject.

https://ift.tt/2NGNsLS

#7 Ingredients of Great B2B Marketing Teams

0 notes