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teaberrii · 7 months

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Chapter 5: City Meets Country

After ending a five-year relationship, you pour all your energy into work. Your latest assignment? Staying at a popular bed-and-breakfast to gather information. It should be a piece of cake... If only the owner isn't the man you scolded on the street.

Jing Yuan/You

Notes:

Cross-posted on Ao3

Female reader

Chapter index at the end of chapter one

"...Pretending to date, you say?” The woman sitting across from the detective looked him in the eyes. “What a bold move you’re suggesting, Detective.”

“It’s just empty words that’ll get you an invitation. You want to prove your innocence, don’t you?”

“Is this your sense of justice talking, or…” There was a curious glint in her eyes. “...Are your personal feelings getting the best of you?”

The detective quietly scoffed. “I am here to do a job. They say you’re guilty, but you say you’re innocent. We need more evidence.”

“...Innocent until proven guilty, is that it?”

“It’s what I’d like to live by.”

A loud honk makes Welt stop. He quickly takes a step back upon seeing the red stoplight. He’d been so engrossed in thinking about his book’s latest scene that he almost walked onto a busy street. He didn’t know why, but since he saw you and Jing Yuan walk into the stone villa, Welt was hit with an idea. And, throughout his walk, he’s been fleshing out the details.

When Welt woke up this morning, Dan Heng was reading on the couch while Dan Feng was on the balcony, enjoying the fresh morning air. As soon as he stepped inside, Welt asked, “March still isn’t up?”

“She wasn’t in her room,” Dan Feng said. “Texted her a bunch of times, and she said she’s on her way back.” He looked at his watch. “She should be back in… 3… 2… 1…”

The door opened, and March walked inside. “You’ll never guess who I bumped into!”

As she said she’d met you and Jing Yuan at the pool, Welt's phone buzzed with a message.

Can you get it done in the next two months?

Welt’s shoulders fell upon reading the message from his editor.

“Welt?” Welt looked up and saw his friends looking at him. March glanced at his phone. “Something wrong?”

“No. Just some spam text,” he said, slipping his phone into his pocket.

The light turns green, and as he crosses the street, he thinks back to the text. It’s been a few years since he changed from writing non-fiction to fiction, and it’s been a bumpy adventure. While he’d built a reputation writing non-fiction, writing fiction proved to be a challenge. There's no right or wrong in creativity or imagination, something that Welt finds exciting and frustrating. And while his book sales have marginally improved since he first started, it still feels like he's looking into a dark tunnel, one where no one has a solid answer of where to go. They just push him for deadlines. Can he outdo his last book? Will he succeed? Maybe his creativity just doesn't resonate with the market as much as he'd like.

He walks past a train station and sees you talking with a few tourists. By the time he walks up to you, the tourists are already leaving, and he can see the gears turning in your head.

“Hey.” You look up, surprised. He looks at the foreign tourists and back at you. “Were they asking for directions?”

“Nah. I was doing some research.”

“Research? Does that involve talking to random people?"

“Kind of. Sort of. Not really.”

“Well, I’d be interested in hearing more.”

As you and Welt walk down the street together, you tell him about the reason you're here. But so far, you’re still coming up a little empty.

“Some tourists have been wishing for more hotels,” you say. “It’s strange.”

“It's a good question, and it’s something I noticed, too.”

“Sounds like you have insights to share.”

“Nothing that I think would be useful,” Welt says with a sheepish grin. “You know who you should talk to?” The little smile on his face gives you a hunch. “Jing Yuan.”

And you’re right.

“...Because he grew up here?”

“That’s right. There’s no one better to ask.”

Well, you might as well make the most of his fake boyfriend status. But…

“How long have you known Jing Yuan?” you ask.

“We met when he was still getting the B&B off the ground. So, it’s been about eight years? But, the funny thing is, we went to the same grad school, and we never knew.”

Grad school… Now, you’re curious. What did Jing Yuan study? Was he already thinking about opening a bed and breakfast? Was he already married?

“Both of us were there on a scholarship,” Welt continues. “I don’t know if you know but he was a corporate guy before he started this business. Director of Operations at an IT company.”

“...I don’t know if I should call him crazy for leaving a cushy job or…”

“...Or admire him for his courage?”

“I think both.”

“They say crazy people create history.”

You remember Jing Yuan’s bold move to kiss your cheek. “...He truly is a man full of surprises.”

Welt chuckles. “Sounds like someone’s fond of him now.”

“That’s—”

A loud sob interrupts you, and then, “Yanqing hit me!”

You and Welt stop and look at each other upon hearing the familiar name. To your left, there’s an elementary school. Without thinking, you and Welt enter the front courtyard, and you see a small group of kids gathering around Yanqing and a young girl about his age. Her long white hair is in a ponytail, and her reddish-pink eyes look anxious and scared. Yanqing is standing in front of her but he’s facing a larger boy who’s crying.

“What’s going on?” a woman walks towards the children and the larger boy runs to her.

“Yanqing hit me!” he cries.

“I…” When Yanqing looks off to the side, he gasps. “Auntie! Welt!”

The woman looks at you just as you and Welt come up beside Yanqing. "And you are...?"

Before you can answer, the boy frowns and glares at you. "Yanqing should apologize!"

Ignoring him, you put a hand on Yanqing's shoulder. "Do you want to tell us what happened?”

“...He was bullying Clara.”

“Is that true, Clara?” the woman asks, looking at the girl behind Yanqing.

“I didn’t say anything wrong!” the boy insists.

"You were making fun of her!" You hold Yanqing's hand, and his shoulders slowly fall when he looks at you. "...I'm not a bad person."

You affectionately pat his head while the woman says, “Let’s go inside, shall we?” Then, she looks at you. “Are you his aunt?”

You and Welt glance at each other. “Um, well—”

“Yes,” Yanqing answers, and you look at him. Then, quietly, “...I don’t want Dad to get called in when he’s so busy.”

The woman leads all of you inside the school and into the empty classroom, away from the prying eyes of the other kids.

“...Clara, do you want to tell us what happened?” the woman asks.

Clara is fidgeting when she looks down. “...Yanqing didn’t hit him.” You see the intimidating gaze of the boy. So, you stand in front of him, blocking her from seeing him. “...But, he did push him.”

“See!” The boy steps in front of you.

Welt frowns. “Let her finish.”

Clara looks at the boy and says, “But it was because he was bothering me.”

“What did he say?” the woman asks.

“I didn’t—”

You shoot him a look, and the boy crosses his arms.

Clara was building a sandcastle in the sandpit when she felt someone behind her. She turned and saw a larger boy who was looking at her with a curious but distasteful look.

“Is it true that you have two moms and no dad?” Feeling uncomfortable, Clara stood, but before she could walk away, he quickly blocked her path. “It’s just a question.”

“...Leave me alone.”

The boy frowned. “What? Are you embarrassed because it’s true?” Yanqing, who was walking by to play on the swings, overheard the question. “Who’s your dad?”

“I don’t have one,” Clara said quietly.

“What? I couldn’t hear you.”

Yanqing stopped, noticing how uncomfortable Clara looked. Then, he looked at the boy. “Stop bugging her.”

He glared at him. “It’s none of your business.”

Yanqing glared back. “She’s uncomfortable!”

“I was just asking her a question.”

Yanqing walked toward Clara and extended his hand. “Let’s go play on the swings.”

“Hey!” The boy rudely forced Yanqing to look at him, and Yanqing acted on instinct.

Soon, the boy was on the ground, his palm scratched by the concrete.

The woman sighs. “Apologize to Clara.”

“Why?” he challenges. “It’s not like I did anything wrong.”

“But you did,” you say, frowning. “You made her feel uncomfortable.”

“Who asked you, old woman?”

Before you can say anything, the woman sternly says the boy’s name. “Apologize. Or, I’m calling your parents.”

The boy mutters, “Sorry,” without looking at you or Clara.

Once that's over and done with, you and Welt strike up a conversation with the woman who you now know as Yanqing's teacher. Turns out Yanqing's taking summer classes at the same elementary school Jing Yuan once went to.

By the time you and Welt are ready to leave, a loud bell rings throughout the school, signalling the end of recess. The kids are filing in and heading toward their respective classrooms. You and Welt are standing outside the staff room with Yanqing and Clara.

The young girl shyly looks at Yanqing and says, “Um… Thank you for what you did.”

“We’re similar, so… I can kinda understand how you feel,” Yanqing says with a smile.

“Similar…? Ah…!” You can see the lightbulb in her head go off. “You’re the one with two dads…”

“It’s a good thing!” Yanqing has his fists clenched in front of him as if eager to communicate his point. Then, with a soft smile, he says, “It doesn’t matter as long as they care about you.”

“Yanqing! Clara! Time for class!”

Clara is the first to leave, though it looks like she wants to wait for Yanqing. But, he turns to you and Welt and makes a gesture for you to crouch.

“...Could you keep what happened today a secret?” he asks quietly. A sigh. “I know pushing is wrong…”

“You just don’t want Jing Yuan to lecture you,” Welt says.

“Maybe…”

“I don’t think you should keep it from him,” you say. "But… I know you feel uncomfortable. So, I’ll keep your secret.”

“Really?” Yanqing’s eyes are shining.

“He’ll find out either way,” Welt says. “Jing Yuan's quite perceptive.”

The boy’s shoulders fall, but before he can say anything else, you see the teacher peek out from the classroom.

“Go to class,” you say. "We won't say anything."

Yanqing pouts but gives you and Welt a quick hug, and then he runs off toward his classroom.

◆◆◆

“Yo.” Jing Yuan is on his lunch break in the restaurant downstairs of the stone villa when he hears a familiar voice. Dan Feng pulls out the chair in front of Jing Yuan and jokingly asks, “Seat taken?”

“You’re alone?”

“March ditched us. As for Dan Heng”—Dan Feng rolls his eyes—“he wants to relax and spend his time reading today.”

“And Welt?”

“Can’t reach him. He’s been gone for a while. But—”

The buzz of his phone interrupts him. Once he pulls it out of his pocket, Dan Feng chuckles. “Well, speak of the devil.”

Jing Yuan takes another bite of his noodles just as Dan Feng says your name, making Jing Yuan look up. “They’re together." Jing Yuan almost chokes and quickly leans back to compose himself. Dan Feng laughs. “They bumped into each other in town. That’s what I meant.”

A small cough. “I see.”

Dan Feng puts an elbow on the table and slightly leans closer. “What’s your relationship with her, anyway? What were you two talking about earlier today?”

“Someone’s curious,” Jing Yuan deadpans.

“Well, yeah! Is she a friend…? Or…?”

“Yes.” A small pause. “...And I’m helping her with some things.”

“...Some things? Like what?” When Jing Yuan goes back to eating, Dan Feng rolls his eyes. “What’s with the secrecy?”

Jing Yuan wipes his mouth with a napkin and puts it neatly to the side. Then, he puts his arms on the table. “Why are you so curious about her?”

“Because it looks like you’re interested in her, and it’s been a while since you showed interest in anyone. So, of course, I’m curious!” Dan Feng gently taps his phone on the table. “Plus, she’s kinda cute, too.”

Jing Yuan thinks back to when he first saw you protecting his cousin. He found you frustrating, even more so when you took his phone and demanded him to pay for the spoiled cake. But that was when he got a good look at you. Was it inappropriate that he found you physically attractive?

He never expected to meet you again at the restaurant that night.

The look on your face told him that something was weighing you down, which he later concluded was your ex. Jing Yuan thought about interfering when he saw your ex preventing you from closing the taxi door. But he weighed his options and decided to wait and see. Then, when he saw that look of exhaustion on your face in the taxi, it was like looking into a mirror.

He saw his old self.

“A bed and breakfast?”

Jing Yuan and his wife were sitting at the table for dinner that evening when he brought up the dream he’d had since graduate school. He’d never spoken about it to anyone, even his wife whom he’d known since college. This was his little secret, something personal that he didn’t want to share until he was sure he wanted to go through with it. And, after countless weeks of thinking, he didn’t want any regrets.

“Xianzhou’s been budding as a popular tourist destination,” Jing Yuan said. “...It would be great to go back and—”

“...But, there’s nothing there.” Jing Yuan–chopsticks in hand—was reaching for some food on a plate. But, he stopped and looked at his wife with mild confusion. “Don’t get me wrong, Jing Yuan. Xianzhou is beautiful, but… there’s really nothing there. No technological advancements. No flourishing economy… Why would you want to go back?”

Should Jing Yuan be surprised? Probably not. His wife had grown up in the city; she was a city girl who never showed any interest in the countryside besides a vacation to escape the busy city life. But living there? Out of the question. Jing Yuan should’ve known.

Jing Yuan put his chopsticks down. “I grew up there, and… I’ve always wanted to start a business.”

She put her hand on top of his. “...But, didn’t you promise me we’d be starting a family? Don’t tell me you’re going to run off and start your little business and leave me to take care of the baby.”

“No. Of course not. That’s not what—”

“You just got promoted too.” She sighed. “Let’s stick to what we planned.”

Jing Yuan knew his wife would be against the idea, but he’d been hoping for open communication. Instead, she wasn’t even looking at him anymore but at an article on her phone about preparing for your first baby.

And that was just the beginning.

“Hey.” Dan Feng taps the table. “You listening?”

Jing Yuan’s phone buzzes, and he quickly takes it out. After taking a glance at the work email, he slides it back into his pocket. Then, he looks at his friend and says, “It’s true I’m interested in her.”

Dan Feng lets out a low whistle. “Haven’t heard you been this direct in a while either. Kinda refreshing, if you ask me.”

“...But, we’ll see how things turn out.”

Dan Feng slowly nods as Jing Yuan finishes the rest of his food. “Keeping a level head as you pursue her, huh? A logical approach, as expected.”

Jing Yuan isn’t playing around, but he hasn't forgotten the pain of a broken heart. You’re a city girl, much like his ex-wife. Plus, he has Yanqing. That’s when it hits him. It’s been too long since he felt his heart race for somebody. He isn't thinking, and if not for this conversation with Dan Feng, he would not have realized that his head is off in the clouds.

“Oh, hey." Just as Jing Yuan neatly puts his chopsticks on top of his bowl, Dan Feng says, "Before you leave for your big boy meeting... We’re having a BBQ party tonight. If you’re not busy, come join us.” Then, with a little smile, he adds, “We’ll be sure to invite her, too.”

◆◆◆

You and Welt end up parting ways. With you looking to get more information, Welt had gone back to the bed and breakfast first.

“Hotels? Why would we want more of that here?”

That isn’t the response you’re expecting. You manage to strike up a conversation with some of the locals after ordering some food from a popular food stand. They are women in their forties or early fifties who run small businesses nearby.

“Seriously,” one of them says with an exasperated sigh. “All corporate people want to do is come in and control everything! If we let them in, they’ll be putting us out of business!”

“Right! Just like those punks a few years ago.”

Punks?

The women look at you. “Why are you asking such strange questions? Are you one of them?”

“Them? No, nothing like that,” you answer, even though you have no idea who they’re talking about. “I was just curious as it’s my first time here.”

A woman sighs. “We only need family businesses here. All of them corporate people and whatnot can stay the hell away.”

You know better than to generalize the opinion of just two locals, but the animosity is unexpectedly strong.

You’re mulling over the interesting thought when someone says, “Bar Girl?”

You recognize the voice. When you turn, Blade and Luocha are walking towards you.

“It’s not Bar Girl,” Blade corrects his friend as the men stop in front of you. “Jing Yuan calls her Corporal.”

“Corporal…? Huh… Thought he’d go with Sweetheart like he does everyone else.”

Everyone else…? It’s somewhat of a petty thought, but does Jing Yuan call every girl Sweetheart?

Luocha sticks out his hand. “I didn’t get a chance to properly introduce myself last time. I’m Luocha, and I’m a physician here.”

“You’re a local?” you ask, surprised.

A small chuckle. “Born and raised. What? Do I look more like a city boy to you?” He nods toward a street. “I run a clinic just at the end here.”

You take his hand. “I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“I hear you’re staying at Jing Yuan’s B&B,” he says with a small smile. “How’s that going?”

“Am I supposed to say I hate it?” you ask sarcastically.

“We can keep a secret.” Luocha nudges Blade. “Right?”

“This is Jing Yuan we’re talking about,” Blade says. “There’s no way he’ll provide anything less than excellence.”

“That’s quite a statement,” you say. “...But, so far… it is true.”

“Soundin’ a little glum, chum.”

“You’re thinking too much, Doc—ah!”

You almost stumble when someone pushes you while wrapping their arm around your shoulder. You aren't sure who to expect, but surely not March smiling at you.

“How’d you like the view this morning?” she asks.

“...View?”

She lightly pinches your cheek. “The view of a half-naked Jing Yuan.” Blade and Luocha glance at each other before looking at you as if looking for an explanation. March turns to them. “Jing Yuan graced us with his presence at the pool earlier today.”

“Sounds like a great time,” Luocha deadpans.

“You wish you were half the man he is.”

Luocha scoffs and puts a hand on his hip. “Someone sure is more talkative than usual.”

As March lets you go and continues bickering with Luocha, Blade sighs. “Here we go again.”

“Looks like all of you are close.”

“Close? I suppose that’s one way to put it.”

“My, I wasn’t expecting to see so many familiar faces.”

March and Luocha stop bickering at the sound of a woman’s voice. You look past them and see a tall, slender woman with pale hair and red eyes. There’s an elegance in the way that she walks that tells you she’s a no-nonsense woman.

Then, you hear Blade say a name, one that you don’t recognize. But it’s what he says after that takes you off guard.

“...That’s Jing Yuan’s mentor.”

Chapter 6

Tag list: @suoshiii @lordbugs @lxry-chxn @seirenspinel @immahuman @queencybow @grimreapersscythe @nqctre @winterpein

#jingyuan x reader #jing yuan x reader #jing yuan x you #jing yuan x y/n #hsr jing yuan #jing yuan #jingyuan x you

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aspd-culture · 9 months

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So I noticed that the criteria states that the symptoms have to show themselves before 15. However, I feel like I've developed my empathy has lowered in the last 5 years or so. Stealing and some purposeful manipulation is all I can really think of as things I did as a child, other than that I was a pretty sensitive kid. But after every traumatic event I feel like a part of me shut down my feelings, and I remember losing some of that automatic emotional tug reaction to things. However, it's only recently that I went through a prolonged period of isolated emotional agony for basically years on end. Ever since then I've been feel pretty irritated at people's emotional displays and don't feel any instinctual pity. I've been having trouble not getting straight up angry. I did still cry when my cat died, and I still feel some emotions, especially with fiction. I wouldn't torture an animal for no reason, but I often think about harming others physically. I'm agonizingly bored all the time, and I feel like my "normal" reactions to things, like acting really sorry, have just become habit more than anything else. Idk what I'm asking for here tbh. Thanks anyway.

Upon re-checking the DSM criteria for this ask, I believe what it is saying is that some marked symptoms of ASPD (aka non-age appropriate antisocial traits not otherwise attributable to normal development and/or other known issues), not that you have to have every symptom that would lead to diagnosis before age 15. Technically, it actually says there must be “evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15 years” which has much different criteria than ASPD does. Stealing and manipulation, if done frequently enough, could very likely qualify for that criteria, depending on the opinion of the professional doing the evaluation. I could be wrong, but that is how I am reading it, and I think it would make more sense that way.

Even if you were in the process of developing ASPD as a child, the reason that it can’t be diagnosed before 18 is that it, for the most part, is said to be able to be avoided before that age, even in a child with antisocial traits, if they are given adequate support. In children who go on to develop ASPD, these antisocial traits worsen over time rather than get better, and solidify into a true personality disorder as the brain moves past the developmental stage where it could be avoided. Therefore, it stands to reason imo that the symptoms would likely continue getting worse and potentially have entirely new symptoms begin to show up later in life. After all, one of the symptoms of ASPD is substance abuse, and while many teens engage with substances, it is far more common to see that symptom pop up well past the 15 year old limit.

In the presence of new/extended trauma post-age 15, I would honestly be more surprised to find a pwASPD whose symptoms *didn’t* worsen in response to that. The more our maladaptive worldview is confirmed - such as through experiencing further trauma - the more our brains double-down because it has been proven right. When that happens, it can justify reacting more harshly and putting up more solid defenses against the danger that evidently may show up at any moment, as far as our brains are concerned. At its core, ASPD is a response to trauma (at least the *vast* majority of the time), so the more trauma you add, the greater that response may be.

Plain text below the cut:

#aspd-culture-is #aspd culture is #aspd culture #actually aspd #aspd #aspd awareness #actually antisocial #antisocial personality disorder #aspd traits #anons welcome

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theawakenedstate · 6 months

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7 Powerful Strategies for a Structured & Consistent Spiritual Growth Journey (With a Spiritual Planner)

If you were to sit down at a coffee shop with me and ask what was the top spiritual growth lesson I learned this year, I might surprise you with my answer. The hugest thing I learned this year was Strategy! Specifically, Structure, Organization, and Strategy naturally enhance my Intuitive Flow aka Spiritual Alignment. This gives me back my Time, Energy and Focus. I know it shocked me too when I started thinking about it.

At the start of the year, I enrolled in a very in-depth marketing course and it changed my entire content creation world! Have you noticed? 😉 The Main Aha moment from the entire program was that I realized how much I was lacking strategy across the board of my own life, so I started expanding that outward to other areas of my life.

Some of these being Fitness, my Spiritual practice, Goal Setting Process, My Meal Prep in the kitchen, my content Process and so forth. I’m going to be honest with you, if I can find a way to get out of doing things manually or Creating more Flow in my workflow – I am the first to do it!

Structure is not a bad thang.

Why Do We Need More Structure, Organization, and Strategy as a Spiritual Person?

The Short Answer: Awareness. As a Spiritual person bringing more Mindfulness and Conscious Awareness into my life has consistently proven to be the strongest method to Personal Well-being,Positive Mental Health and Emotional Empowerment. Why?

Conscious Awareness is the dynamic opposite of reactive behavior.

Without Structure, Organization, or Strategy, we’re just a loose cannon floating in the wind without a purpose to our actions. Without awareness, We cannot create real change. In other words, we’re either more reactive or running on unconscious impulses in our everyday decisions. I invite you to consider how many times you impulsively open an app on your phone and get back to me on that….how many times did you click it?

As we live in the digital age of society, we have to be aware of how much Reactive behavior is created purely from External Influence in our day-to-day lives for our own mental and emotional health.

Examples of reactive Influence:

For example, Your goal today is to Film a Video for Youtube. Scenario: scroll Instagram, you say 5 mins of scrolling. You see someone’s post about the full moon and then you get in your head ‘maybe i should be making a post about the full moon too?!” Suddenly half an hour later, you’re on Canva designing the perfect Full Moon Post. You didn’t realize you were actually procrastinating and forgot about the video! Or how about this one:

You read about the latest conspiracy theories and suddenly you’re externally influenced by them. Then you decide to start doom scrolling and suddenly you’re feeling paranoid or unsafe to leave the house! As Spiritual People, It’s important to have Mental Discipline to promote more mindfulness and conscious awareness so we can reduce our reactive thoughts with pure conscious thought. This helps your Intuition the most, besides it’s better for your health too.

One of the Strongest ways to do this is with more Structure, Strategy, or Intentional Planning!

The Benefits of Structure & Intentional Planning

When it comes to Structure usually one of the hugest excuses we put up is that “it’s not intuitive” to plan or structure our day. There is often a language of “I can’t use strategy because I lose my Flow or Intuition”. WRONG. This is what I’ve discovered:

1. You Have the Right Mindset to Accomplish Your Tasks naturally enhancing your Intuition

I actually find the opposite to be true. The more I’m intentional, I am literally programming my mind towards exactly what I wish to achieve and the mindset I need to go with it. This naturally enhances my intuition and I’m more likely to tap into Magnetic Aligned Action in my daily tasks, like a mofo GPS programmed to a destination!

2. You’re Naturally More Consistent with your Spiritual Practice

When we add more structure or Strategy to our Spiritual practice we are more likely to show up consistently to it. This allows us to give up our excuses of “I never have time, space or energy for my spiritual growth, journaling or yoga practice”. Also with the benefit of more structure, you’re more committed to doing the Inner work and Meeting the Promises you make to yourself. Hence More Confidence & Soul Certainty! (Solar plexus Chakra empowered! )

3. You Gain Back Your Time and Even Energy

Do you know how much, wasted energy goes into something when we’re not structured on the goal, task, or outcome? Sure we can argue here that Flow takes us on detours for a reason. However, think about how much time is often wasted when we’re not even clear or Intentional about what we’re going to do. For example, If you know what you’re going to eat for dinner tonight, you are less likely to spend an hour trying to figure out What’s for dinner or rummaging in the cabinets for ideas. Then on Hungry impulse, you make something really unhealthy because you’re now starving. In the same way, If you have a sacred space you go to each morning at 8 am to journal or meditate, you are more likely to show up and just do it. Instead of, you know waffling around with your own resistance and ego mind-chatter talking you out of it. Likewise, If you put on your workout gear, with the sporty bra, you are more likely to just jump into your workout. Case in point. Structure changes lives. 😉

So now that we know the benefits of Structure, What are some easy ways you can start to Incorporate More Structure into your Spiritual Life? We all need a little bit of Order inside of all of this collective chaos, right? Right.

7 Ways To Track, Plan, and Create More Structure for Your Spiritual Growth Journey

Since I carry my own Spiritual Awakened Life Digital planner with me every day and it helps clear my head on the daily, I started adding more of my spiritual growth into my Daily Planner. It felt pretty natural to start adding my spiritual journey into my daily, weekly & monthly planning sessions. Now when I go to Plan my Entire Week, I have my Birds Eye View of my Momma Everyday Tasks, My Career Tasks, and My Spiritual Growth all together! This helps me stay organized and helps my Mental well-being too.

Let’s be frank, Writing things down keeps my mind clear and sane. I am less stressed when I write things down, this makes me naturally more Intuitive and Present-minded. Here are 7 ways I track and structure My Life included in both my planner & Journal

1 – Break down your Entire Week with Intentionality

Do you know what’s happening during the entire week or are you flying blind by the seat of your pants? Probably the most used page in my entire planner is The Weekly Intentions Page.

At the start of the week, I allow myself some time to loosely plan what my focus is for the week with Intention. Each day is broken down, I see my weekly schedule. I write down my Self-care ideas, Mind-Body Spiritual Practices, What I want to work on for fitness, business, Important Dates I have, School or family gatherings, Fun Activities, and so forth. I plan the Bird’s eye view of All of my goals both Spiritual, lifestyle, and business. There is something about the Bird eye’s view of my schedule that just clears my brain completely.

2 – Use Habit Trackers For Your Meditation or Spiritual Practice

One of the most unconventional things I do for my Spiritual practice is I like to use Habit Trackers for Radical Conscious Awareness. This is a mini trick that I NEVER see mentioned in personal development and It’s helped me with Self-Awareness repeatedly so I can Track my consistency, emotions and energy levels. Habit Trackers are really helpful if you have a hard time Following through on your spiritual practice or you have a lot of excuses to commit to a practice (real talk). The Habit tracker gives you a reward system to promote consistency, discipline, and Structure! You know if you commit to 25 days of Meditation, you now have the Awareness of How often you are meditating vs. just going off your impulse of meditating when you feel like it. You can also set up habit trackers with a Fun End Goal in mind, like if you do 25 days of meditation you treat yourself to an oracle deck or a gourmet chocolate – depending on your personality this may or may not work for you. Play with it!

In general, incorporating Habit Trackers into ANY SKILL or HABIT you’re wishing to bring to life is so so good for increasing motivation and consistency in any skill. I cannot recommend Habit trackers enough for Conscious Awareness and more Mindfulness.

3 – Track Your Self-Care & Mental Wellness

Another way you can Track Your Spiritual Growth with more Structure is to lay out a Self-Care Plan! With a Holistic Wellness Tracker you can Write down your weekly plan of Self-care & mental health. For example: How many hours you slept, your Spiritual practice, self-care routine, mindset work, Daily Joy and even Creativity. Keeping track of your Mental Wellness, allows you to see where you may be lacking. Maybe you need more daily joy, mindset love, consistency of spiritual practice or more daily recharge with a self-care ritual. When we keep track of our Mental Wellness, we’re more aware of how we might be letting things slip through the cracks like sleep or self-care for instance. This awareness also gives you a look into Why your mood or emotions might be behaving in a certain way. Now you’re aware you got only 5 hours of sleep last night, maybe you won’t be so hard on yourself that you’re not as productive as you should be. 🙂

4 – Increase Your Mindful Eating with a Food Log & Meal Prep

If you’re working on increasing more mindful eating, looking to lose weight, gain weight or simply eat more healthy, you could start recording a weekly food log for more Awareness. Some people are not aware of What They eat throughout an entire day or especially during the holidays! (guilty 🙂 ) This helps give you the Conscious Awareness of Tracking what you eat from Morning to Night. You might surprise yourself with this, maybe you’re not realizing what food groups you consistently crave or eat. In the same regard, maybe like me, your food diet has to change for your menstrual cycle and you cycle sync your diet around it. Being aware of the shift in what you’re eating during each phase of your cycle is also hugely beneficial to less painful symptoms and hormonal Mood swings.

Likewise, we have to talk about the Benefits of Meal Prepping! My man used to think I was crazy because I always Prep a week ahead on what i’m making for the week. Now I use Everyplate for designing my meal flow for the week and then on the weeks I don’t use Everyplate, I write down a list of ideas of new Pinterest recipes I want to try each day of the week. Maybe I don’t want a big fancy thing on Monday so this is an easy meal day and so forth. This is a very unconventional way to increase your Mindful Eating Habits by structuring ahead your meal plan for the week.

5 – The Mindful Breakfast of Champions: Using Daily Intentions in your Daily Schedule

Do you want to know How I stay organized with such a crazy schedule sometimes? One thing I cannot live without is my Daily Intentions! I always take the time every single morning to write my intentions for the day and often look at my planner for my daily schedule. (I’ll be honest, sometimes I am not THIS ORGANIZED with my schedule, I am a mom afterall and distractions happen allthetime…mylittlepony) but Daily Intentions are a MUST.

In my Spiritually Awakened Life Planner, I have it broken down by: Weekly Goals, Daily mantra/affirmation, Daily Vision, Spiritual Practice breakdown, Daily Joys, Movement Exercise isolation by muscle group, Daily Schedule, your Classic To-do List, followed by the big kahuna, Daily Intentions.

Do I do all of that every day 7 times a week? Not always, I like to take the weekends off and holidays 🤣 However, This combination keeps me Mentally Disciplined and Structured with Pure Intention for my Daily workflow. I’m like a Laser beam of intent when I do it!

Sometimes My Daily Schedule looks like this:

For example, After I do my Daily Affirmations and set up my Intentions, I look at asking myself: MIND: Did I do my daily journaling for my mindset and Intentions?

BODY: My Daily Movement and Muscle Isolation today?

SOUL: What is my spiritual practice today? WEEKLY GOALS: What’s my 3 Goals this week? TOP PRIORITIES: What are the Top 3 Things I must focus on today? BRAINDUMP TO-DOS: Write down my Daily To-do List. IMPORTANT DATES: What needs done this week? & What is happening? DAILY MANTRA: What is inspiring me lately? DESIRES: How do I desire to feel today? ➡️This Mindful Schedule setup allows me to easily live with more Intention in my Daily Routine and Spiritual Life. I invite you to consider: how can you start to add more Intention into your daily routine?

6 – Working with the Moon with Monthly Rituals

One way to bring more Flow into your Structure is by creating a practice of working with the Moon. You can set up New moon Intentions and Full Moon Releasing rituals to help you begin your journey into Moon Rituals. This is something I do periodically where I set up my Own Manifesting and Healing Rituals for the Moon. I use my Digital Planner as a Guide to help keep my notes in order.

You use the New Moon Sheets for your Goals and Intentions you wish to call in.

Then you use the Full Moon prompts for Healing, Releasing, Closure and Letting go.

It’s one of my favorite ways to add more rituals into my Spiritual Life. Working with the moon has enormous benefits to it. This is why I also recommend Moon charting If you’re new to working with the Moon so you can see the benefits yourself. Right now it’s featured in our Giftmas – 12 days of Gift giving for the Holidays.Try it out yourself!

7 – Yearly Vision & Goal Mapping Even By Quarter!

Here’s the truth, If you don’t sit down and ask yourself what you even want, how do you know? This is where Yearly vision and Goal Mapping come in. The #1 Way to get more Intentional with Spiritual Growth and Consistent Goals is to Know What you’re aiming at.

What is your Target? aka Your Vision, Goals & Soul Desires.

If you have no target – You have nothing to aim towards and this is what you tell the Universe. In my Spiritual Awakened Life Planner, There is Yearly Visioning, Quarter Goal Check in and Goal Mapping sheets. These help you develop clarity on your goals and desires, period. This is so you know how to go into the New Year with supreme FOCUS and know your WHY behind your Goals, keeping you in more alignment.

Getting Clear on your Spiritual Growth, regardless of what you’re wishing to accomplish, requires sitting down and looking at the Vision. You can’t get clear on growth or worry about your lack of consistency, if you don’t know what your direction even is. Likewise, you can’t make a resolution on trying to lose weight, without a REALISTIC PLAN to back that up.

Why Resolutions Often Fail is the Lack of Realism

This is why most resolutions fail. They don’t have the Mindset or Realism to back up their goals with consistent action due to lack of planning. The best way to add more Structure to your Spiritual Journey is to Get Clear on your goals. Do you have goals? What is the Vision for your Life? What do you even want? How do you desire to feel? Do your thoughts support your goals? Are you taking action on them? This is work we do heavily in Awaken Your Aligned Vision Workshop. The Workshop for Your New Year Goals to help set you up for success in the New Year. It’s now featured inside of The new Monthly Membership, The Soul-aligned Life Academy!

In conclusion, My biggest lesson of the year is that strategy is KEY to Intuitive Flow and Alignment. I know that Tracking my Spiritual growth, Daily Intentions & even goals in my one place every day lets me reflect. This is one of the most excellent ways to be consistent and add more structure to your Spiritual Awakened Life. I hope you enjoyed these powerful strategies to help you on your own spiritual growth journey.

How do you like to track your spiritual growth in your planner?

Drop a Comment and Let me know below!

Your Spiritual Growth is so important but are you consistent with it? Sure you could do All of this in a Journal or Squeeze into your Daily Lifestyle Planner…. However if you want everything just laid out for you, Check out my Spiritual Planner, The Spiritual Awakened Life Digital Planner. Available now in Celestial Midnight and Celestial Unicorn Design. A Perfect Companion for Your New Year Vision, Monthly Spiritual Goals, and Daily Intentional Planning. Find out more info and a BTS walkthrough below.

https://www.theawakenedstate.net/consistent-spiritual-growth/

7 Powerful Strategies for a Structured & Consistent Spiritual Growth Journey (With a Spiritual Planner)

#consistent spiritual practice #growth mindset #mindset #spiritual planner #spiritual practice #strategies

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lollipopsub · 1 year

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~ getting to know your BL mutuals ~

I was tagged by @leonpob so lessgo

I’ve been stressed about this for days cause I need to make the RIGHT choices?????!

rules: answer the questions and @ some people. include the tag 'g2ky BL mutuals 2022' on your post so we can find everyone's answer.

what have been the BLs that took you by surprise this year?

I think I was the most surprised by Eternal Yesterday. I went into it expecting something more along the lines of Senpai, This Can't Be Love or Kabe Koji, which is kind of slapstick, lighthearted and not too intellectually challenging, but boy was I proven wrong. The show manages to take a ridiculous premise and turn it into a well-written, well acted story that is probably going to break my heart (at the moment the final episode is yet to air...)

what have been the BLs that you felt a bit a lot disappointed with this year?

Sing In Love.

I was excited about a grittier plot and a new Japanese production, but it just made me uncomfortable and I did not want to finish it.

Cherry Magic The Movie also felt like a letdown. It just bored me, honestly.

what has been your favorite BL this year?

omg i looked up a list to see which ones were from this year, and it was like 5 Japanese, 5 Korean, 5 Taiwanese and then 60 billion Thai😂

I think my favorites are Old Fashion Cupcake and Eternal Yesterday.

Old Fashion Cupcake is everything I wanted in a good drama; good pacing, relationships between characters that make sense, believable character behavior and good acting and also really hot actors.

Eternal Yesterday has just absolutely overwhelmed me. I am a sucker for melancholic stories (to the surprise of literally no one), and the way Japanese dramas manage to wrap up some quite profound thoughts about the world and what it means to be a human is something I really adore.

In Episode 6 when Koichi asks if it's impossible for the people you love to be tied in the same place; for two people to be equally important to and loved by you. Or Episode one, where Mitsuru says it's not that Koichi broke down his wall, but he opened a door through it.

I really thought about adding More Than Words to the list, but I feel like it shouldn't really be grouped into the BL-genre. I still feel like the frames of the genre are limiting many aspects of film-making and storytelling, and that it's more an LGBT+ story than a BL drama.

favorite BL couples (not just of 2022)?

BounPrem and YinWar I think. Now that Prem has gone independent, I just want him to drag Boun with him to Yin and War to create a Supreme Company for Hot People™ and to actually make the YinWar Concert Trailers into a really hot show.

Especially War is an absolutely incredible actor, so I just really hope the two of them will get some interesting projects in the coming year!

what's your non-BL favorite this year?

Silent.

No doubt, no question. It's so good. Everyone and their grandmother should watch it pls.

.... Oh wow I am really biased, huh? 😬😬

I didn't intend for every show on here to be Japanese, I just think the Japanese shows I'm mentioning are a lot more well-rounded than the Korean and Thai and Taiwanese counterparts that I've seen this year. I am intrigued by how Korea seems to be branching out more and embracing the genre not as adaptations of fictional stories, but as stories about people. I just feel like the genre is so old in Japanese medias that they're a step ahead and I like how the Japanese shows are carried by the stories of the characters and their little lives rather than some large, daunting outer factor.

I want to tag a lot of people but I am an awkward turtle so I don't have a lot of people to tag. I hope it's ok to tag @storge and @chaeunwoo 🥺

#g2ky bl mutuals 2022 #japanese bl #bl recommendations #lollipop talks to the void #yinwar #bounprem #eternal yesterday #more than words #old fashion cupcake

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adamjagger · 2 months

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Alright guys, so after an extremely long break from the usual blog post I am back to post one on a topic I’ve been working on for a very long time. That topic being my go to rifle setup. Let’s dive right into this.

All good rifles have to start from a good,solid base. My base happens to be a bcm 14.5” upper and a bcm complete lower that I picked up from Brownells a long long time ago. A lot has changed on the base rifle since then but we will get into that shortly. Once I had the solid base to start my go to rifle build on I had to start thinking about the other things I would need like optics, light, sling, etc. at this point I’m going to fast forward 5 or 6 years to now since there no reason explaining all the old parts I had vs the parts I have today.

So as you can see in the picture above, this is a very busy setup. I wanted something extremely versatile and that could be applied to pretty much any situation. So with that let’s talk about sighting systems. Like I just said, I wanted something versatile so I went with the extremely proven eotech system. Funny thing about that is this is the exact same optic I bought for this rifle years ago when I started this. Going along with the eotech we have the eotech g43 magnifier combo that brownells sells asa set. The Unity Omni mount is basically the only way I can tolerate running a magnifier and the reward of being able to instantly have 3x magnification is extremely satisfying. Along with sighting systems we might as well touch on the laser. I just recently upgraded my holosun ls321 to the Steiner dbal d2. Which so far I am absolutely loving it. While it is on of the heavier units available it definitely is no slouch when it comes to performance.

Next we can talk about basically everything else on the rifle. Starting off with the light, I now have 4 of these because I like them that much. The modlite okw, these are extremely durable and powerful lights. Like I said I have multiple variations of this in 18350 , 18650, rifle, pistol, and helmet mounted and I really really like each of them.

Next up… the can. I just recently picked this up and I’m loving it. It is a griffin armament reece5. So far performance has been awesome, plus I really like the simplicity of their taper mount system. The device I’m using under it is their taper mount 3 prong flash hider which is a pretty damn good device on its own.

Since this is getting long winded I will blast through the remaining items pretty quickly.

Arisaka handstop- love the simplicity

Flatline fiber padded sling - the best in my opinion

B5 sopmod stock- a staple in the industry

And the bcm mlok rail, grip, and the new mk2 charging handle are all awesome.

Overall I think this is an extremely solid setup for what I am looking for in a go to rifle. If you made it this far let me know what you think down below. As always go check out brownells, they are a big supporter of everything I am able to do. Link to them will be down below which helps me keep doing what I’m doing.

Check out the rest of my socials, I don’t have a linktree at the moment since they decided to remove me but you can easily find me on the platforms.

#brownells #bureauofpropaganda #gun review #ar 15 rifle #ar 15s

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grabyourluck-blog · 2 years

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How NOT To Be a One-Hit Wonder

New Post has been published on https://www.referral-master.com/how-not-to-be-a-one-hit-wonder/

How NOT To Be a One-Hit Wonder

I mentioned in a previous article that you don’t want to become one of those many one hit wonders that make a big splash on the Internet and then vanish – but how do you make sure that you’re not? Because it’s really easy to say you won’t be, but the fact is that no one PLANS to be a one hit wonder; in fact it happens when you DON’T plan.

I’m going to offer some tips here for ensuring that your success is not the flash in the pan variety, but rather the type of success that continues to pay off day in and day out for years to come.

Really what we are talking about is becoming what you might call a “repeat success.” Because isn’t that the opposite of being a one hit wonder? There is nothing at all wrong with that initial success – it’s repeating that success over and over that gets you the outcome you’re seeking. Sort of like being a one hit wonder a hundred or even several hundred times. And when you view it like this, you see that it becomes easier.

The first thing I’m going to recommend will sound too easy, perhaps, but it’s extremely important that you try it out for the next 21 days. I say 21 days, because psychologists say it takes that long to make a new habit. Plus, it gives you the proper chance to evaluate the results and see that what I’m telling you is profound, to say the least.

Okay, are you ready? The first thing you need to do to ensure you have ongoing success is to pick a number from 2 to 5, and then do that many things in your business everyday.

Let’s say you are a super busy person with a full time job and a young family, so you don’t have much time to devote to your online business. Your number is going to be 2, because you’re only going to have time to do 2 things a day. If you’re working online full time, your number is 5. And if you’re in between, you can determine the right number for you.

Now then, every evening you’re going to make a list of the most important things you need to accomplish the following day in your business. If your number is 2, then write down the 2 things you want to do. If your number is 5, then you’ll list the 5 things.

Obviously, you’re not going to choose 5 really big things like “build a new website,” “create a new product,” etc. Instead, you’ll break down your tasks so that they’re manageable and doable in the time allotted. And then you’re going to do those things, no matter what. As in, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS.

Doing the things on your list takes priority over your favorite TV shows, eating out, etc. These things are as important as brushing your teeth and sleeping, and once you realize that then you’re not arguing with yourself on whether or not to do them, you’re simply DOING them.

I told you this would seem too simple – does it? Because this one technique will do more for you than almost anything else. Certainly it will allow you to accomplish more than any self-help seminar you could attend, or any time management tool you could use. The list technique is not new, it’s old and it’s proven and you know what else? It flat out WORKS. So if you’re not already doing it, then I encourage you with all my heart to start using this method now, today, right this very moment.

A word of caution – I see students of Internet Marketing get very excited and say something like, “I am going to do TEN things every day!” But this is a trap. What happens is you get burned out and in less than 21 days you’re not doing ANYTHING in your business because it just became too overwhelming, too time consuming and too much like WORK. And isn’t that what so many of us are trying to escape, the drudgery of WORK?

So don’t fall into that trap. If you have lots of hours in your day then choose the number 5, do those 5 things in the morning and early afternoon, and then TAKE THE REST OF THE DAY OFF. That’s right – do not allow yourself to get burned out because you will find that your biggest asset in your business is actually your enthusiasm for the business.

Also, do take a day off. Not 2 days, at least not in the beginning, because if you take 2 days off those 2 days often become 3, and then 4, and then you’re not doing anything. But you can take one day off and go do something totally unrelated to your online business, and come back refreshed and re-energized the next day.

My second tip for ensuring you have long term success is so simple, and yet few people understand the power of it. Ready? It’s to FINISH WHAT YOU START. If you start creating a product, finish it and then promote it. It’s not finished until you get it out there and promote it. If you’re writing a blog, set a schedule and keep to it. True, your blog will never be “finished,” but if you stop writing then it’s as good as an unfinished project.

Look, I probably sound like your parents on this one. “Son, you’ve got to learn to finish what you start.” Why do you suppose your parents said that? Frankly, they probably said it because their parents said it, but there is a terrific amount of wisdom behind that thought.

First of all, if you don’t finish what you start then you have wasted your time and energy on that project. Second, you receive nothing in return for your effort – you can’t make sales and earn money on a product you didn’t finish.

Third, unfinished work breaks you down psychologically. Having unfinished tasks in your life is like having pesky little green goblins sitting on your shoulders tapping you on the side of your head and telling you that you’re a failure. Why? Because an unfinished project is a failure. It’s a constant reminder of something you intended to do but didn’t follow through on.

One note: If you’re in the middle of a project and you realize that it’s the WRONG thing for you to be doing (for whatever reason) then by all means bail out. There is no sense wasting more time on something once you’ve realized your project has little hope of success.

Careful planning and research should minimize the instances of this happening, but there are times when things aren’t in our control. For example, you’re writing a series of promotional emails for an affiliate product that suddenly gets pulled from the market. Best case scenario – re-adapt the emails to another product and move on.

Which brings me to my next tip for ensuring you are not a one hit wonder – success loves SPEED. If you are quick to move from idea to implementation, you’ll seldom have a project that goes unfinished or doesn’t pan out.

For example, if you’re writing code for a plug-in on a piece of software today and you get it finished next week, you can start selling it. If it takes you 6 months to write that code, and the software is obsolete in 5 months, you’ve wasted your time.

Not to mention the fact that speed also reduces competition, at least initially. Using the plug-in example, if you’re fast you can get that plug-in on the market 2 weeks ahead of any competitor, rather than weeks behind the competition. Again, success loves speed so when you get a great idea, don’t sit on it, ACT on it. NOW.

Next is your mailing list. Yes, you need to be building a list. I don’t care what kind of marketing you’re doing or want to do, what your product or service is, etc. It doesn’t matter, because everyone who enjoys long term success online is growing a list.

In fact they have TWO lists – a list of buyers and a list of interested prospects. And whatever else you are doing, you need to be building that list and sending them offers. This is KEY to long term online success. I know you’ve heard this before, but if you’re not aggressively building your list then you’re just not “getting” it and it’s high time you start.

I don’t mean to sound like a drill sergeant on this, but it’s simply not negotiable. Unless you want to be some flash in the pan marketer who creates a product, sells a few hundred copies and disappears off the Internet, you MUST build a list and never stop building that list.

The reason you can never stop is because some people on your list will lose interest in your niche, or they change email addresses and don’t tell you, or any of a number of reasons they are no longer a viable prospect, and so you always need to be adding new prospects in order to continue to grow your business.

Now some folks will say that you don’t need a list because of social media, to which I’ll vehemently disagree. Social media is an awesome tool to help you build your list, and I highly recommend you spend time on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube if it’s helping you build your list. But you still need a LIST of people who know you and like you so that you can send them emails and yes, SELL them stuff.

You’ll find that the majority of your income comes from emailing your list and either letting them know about your own products or suggesting an affiliate product on which you earn a commission.

The best thing you can do when it comes to list building? Build quickly, aggressively and without hesitation. What I’m saying is, find all the best ways that work for you to build your email list and then be relentless in using those methods to build your list even bigger and stronger.

Look at it this way – if you add 10 subscribers a day to your list, in a year you will have 3,650 subscribers. But if you really focus your time and resources on list building and instead of adding 10 subscribers a day you add 100 subscribers a day, in a year you will have over 30 THOUSAND subscribers.

This is a profound difference in just a year. Multiply it out over 3, 5 or 10 years, and you can see how worthwhile it is to be aggressive in your list building.

Of course quality matters as well. A list of buyers is worth far, far more than a list of prospects.

I’ll tell you my secret for quickly building a list of buyers: Create a product that sells for $5 to $10, and then give away 100% of the commission to your affiliates, paid immediately via PayPal. You’ll find software that automates this if you look for it. By paying your affiliates 100% commission that goes straight to them, they have a huge incentive to promote your product. And YOU get to keep the prospects and market to them time and time again.

The marketers who DON’T build a list? Those would be the one-hit wonder people. They do something, make some money, but don’t stay in touch with their customers and prospects. And the funny thing is, they left the lion’s share of the money on the table because it’s in the FOLLOW UP that you make the REAL money.

Think about this – you sell a $17 product, get a list of buyers and prospects, and then do nothing. Or you never bothered to gather the list in the first place. So whatever you made on your $17 product is ALL you are going to earn.

But if you captured the email addresses, you can continue to market to these folks for days, weeks, months and even years to come, earning thousands of dollars more in affiliate commissions and by selling your own products.

And the last bit of advice on how NOT to be a one hit wonder? Focus. That is, choose a niche and focus on that niche at least until it’s earning you a steady stream of income. Once you hit that level, if you think you want to try a second niche, go for it. But using a scattergun approach from the beginning to enter 2, 5 or 10 niches all at once is only going to yield you minimal results at best because your energies are so dispersed.

In other words, you can get a tiny bit of success in several niches simultaneously, or a whole lot of success in one niche – your choice. Personally I prefer to devote all of my time and energy to just one niche, and I’ve found it pays off quite well.

And by niche, I do mean NICHE. Weight loss is not a niche. Weight loss for women over 50 in the Dallas area is a niche. Or weight loss for work at home moms. Or weight loss for diabetics. The more narrow your focus, the easier it can be to reach your target audience and to get them to purchase because they feel you are speaking directly to them.

So don’t choose the “make money” niche because you’ll discover it’s too vast and too broad. Instead, choose the; “part time work for high schoolers” niche or the “supplement your social security with a profitable hobby” niche. See the difference?

I know I’ve given you a lot of tips here. You might want to go back and review (then implement aggressively), because it’s equivalent to rocket fuel for your business growth.

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icinch · 2 years

Text

How NOT To Be a One-Hit Wonder

New Post has been published on https://www.cinchhomebiz.com/how-not-to-be-a-one-hit-wonder/

How NOT To Be a One-Hit Wonder

I’m going to offer some tips here for ensuring that your success is not the flash in the pan variety, but rather the type of success that continues to pay off day in and day out for years to come.

Okay, are you ready? The first thing you need to do to ensure you have ongoing success is to pick a number from 2 to 5, and then do that many things in your business everyday.

You’ll find that the majority of your income comes from emailing your list and either letting them know about your own products or suggesting an affiliate product on which you earn a commission.

This is a profound difference in just a year. Multiply it out over 3, 5 or 10 years, and you can see how worthwhile it is to be aggressive in your list building.

Of course quality matters as well. A list of buyers is worth far, far more than a list of prospects.

I know I’ve given you a lot of tips here. You might want to go back and review (then implement aggressively), because it’s equivalent to rocket fuel for your business growth.

0 notes

kmgoogiemin · 2 years

Note

Hi Georgia! Thank god all those tkkrs and antis come to your blog, they opened my eyes, I was so wrong about life but they fixed my misconseptions!

1. Turns out, IG is the only proof of life, at least since 02Dec.2021. As I don't post shit there my personal life in particular is a mysery and in general I'm dead, hello from the other side! That's obviously the only reason jm posts sth once in a while too as much as he don't like it, just to let the world know he's still alive.

2. Celebrities get into relationships based on opinions of internet anons who ship them. I bet that's how tomdaya got together, their agents told them they're being shipped. I can totally see that convo bw jk and tae:

jk: hey, tae, many shippers believe we look good together, so lets have sex and get married!

tae: great news, jk, I feel like I already am pssionately in love with u! Wait, what if I'm not gay?

jk: well u are if ppl say so, hurry up and take ur pants off, ppl on twt say IG selcas mean we f*cked!

3. Twitter trends obviously also prove which ships are real. Like, the more ppl want sb to be together, the bigger the chance those 2 will be together cuz 1) see par.2 and 2) the sheer power of thought, if ur wish is strong enough it comes true, especially if you keep repeating it like a prayer. Jikook trending doesn't count though cuz apparently fanservice, duh.

4. Jikook is definitely a fanservice cuz all we know abt them happened ON cameras, that's how we know anything at all and so their relationship is all fake. Tkk is real cuz all their meaningful moments happen OFF cameras and no one has literally zero proof those moments happened which means they definitely happened, thank god there are smart shippers who could figure that out of thin air. In general this should mean everything all ships do on cameras is fake tkk including and I'm confused but that's probably just cuz I'm not smart enough to understand that.

5. Everybody hates jm, how could I not realise that?! Like, I thought I loved him but that big warm feeling I have towards him must be, in fact, hate (thanks to your anons I know now)! So what if he's been trending on Twitter almost daily for years with thousands of 'jm we love u, u'r amazing thank god u exist' posts, it's simply impossible someone could love him for real! I bet it's all his own manipulations, that's why he barely comes online, he's too f*cking busy juggling multiple accounts writing posts abt himself, he overdone it so much he got his own name muted but that cunning little ass still manages to trend daily with half a dozen other names! Thank god Yoongy his bf sleeps all the time he's off work otherwise their relationship wouldn't last cuz jm barely has time for anything else. Srsly, let this poor guy go already, all those men and women all over the world falling for him don't exist, it's all a big fat lie! And that model who screamed 'jm marry me!' was totally paid by jm.

6. South Korea is apparently a gay paradise with fairies and unicorns, just like in those BL webtoons one can find online where every man is hot and gay and women only exist if they're gay too, I mean, Korean artists drew that so they must be telling the truth, right? Homophobia doesn't exist there, that's why BH covers the real gay couple with the fake gay couple, the only reason celebs don't rush to come out is cuz their nasty companies want them to play straight to milk all those naive female fans who dream of marrying them one day or believe celebs are all saints who gave chastity vows. Actually, homophobia doesn't exist anywhere, so taekook (proven couple cuz see par.2-4) will definitely officially come out very soon (again cuz they took a habit of coming out every week since they got IG, ahh the power of that SM!) you just wait and see. And other ships will follow suit cuz BTS is obviously one big gay circus, see utube edits and wattpad/ao3 ffcs for proof, they're obviously all documentaries.

Phew, I'm sure I missed sth, I mean I'm going through fundamental changes in my head u know so it's easy to forget sth but I'm looking fwd to the new revelations, my life will not be the same!

seeing it all written there kinda is just crazy

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dongsichenged · 3 years

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here’s a really comprehensive overview of how things shook down in the c-fandom by reddit user u/visible-following-50 (as of 11pm CDT 8/24/2021)

I wanna provide some C-ent perspective on this:

Overall all accusations concentrate in the period between August 2019 - February 2020

PART 1: Monday 23th 10-11pm The scandal first erupt on Twitter but reached Weibo around 10pm. There were instantly 10+ gossip accounts who were sharing the screenshots with no translation, fresh from Twitter. It took a bit for users on Douban to translate them and reshare them on Weibo. The gossip accounts definitely got tipped off, since they posted about it all at the same time.

Fans tried to look for proof the pictures, the screenshots, the audio and the timeline were fake. Apart from some small fans, most of his big fans asked Lumis to not share unverified debunks... they had previous experience sharing things too early only to find themselves ridiculed, so they pretty much just spend the whole night looking for harder proofs and keeping his trending topic on the entertainment list and not the main one. I am PERSONALLY quite confident, the company knew already what was going at that point. His trending topic never reached the main board... it was the #1 on the ent board for the whole night... people are guessing it was company’s doing...

As for the debunking proofs. I can confidently say, none of the proofs given and shared by small fans were solid proofs. That’s why his big accounts in China never started to share massively those posts. Twitter instead was more vocal in believing them.

1/ Pictures: the finger one is the fishiest one. It looks extremely not like his finger. But the three selfies, no fans managed to find where they come from. The only possible guess they come from leaked Kakaotalk. 2/ Audio: the fans found one part of the audio coming possibly from Bubble, but there’s a slight change in tone and the second part of the audio still is missing from Bubble. People use it as a debunking proof, but we can’t say for sure 3/ Timeline: the alleged nights they spent together did in fact coincide with the nights Lucas was in Seoul, just a very packed agenda. Like August 28th, he just landed in Incheon from Dubai at 5-6pm and supposedly spent the night with her right after. September 9th, he took a flight from Shanghai to Seoul, landed, spent the night with her, the day after directly took a flight to Dallas for SuperM concert. Technically all possible, also technically could be fabricated to match his schedule perfectly as second half of 2019 Lucas schedule was known to everybody due to SuperM and the amount of flights info. Beginning of December he was in China despite her claims. That is the only part we can be 100% it’s not true, since we have receipts of Lucas being in Beijing doing fanmeetings.

As for the gaslighting, asking for money and being rude to her, we have no proof whatsoever, since all the Wechat shared just show Lucas saying I love u and trying to meet up with her.

At this point, 99% of his fandom in China still believed in him and many spent the night not sleeping, to clear his searches, battle with antis and so on. His group mates akgaes also spent the night shitting on him.

PART 2: Tuesday 6pm The whole day went by with Lumis still clearing his searches, with anti inventing new rumors (they shared a dick pick of him quickly proven to be fake) which had Lumis and different members akgaes fight, but nothing big in comparison. After Jalapeño teaser dropped people were excited and we received also info Lucas and Ten have booked flights for China on Sept 10th. Then at 6pm a new girl came out, again, the news instantly shared by 10+ gossip accounts on Weibo, spreading the visibility.

The second girl is a Chinese girl claiming to have been contacted by him after a fansign (she provided receipts of her fansign participation) and supposedly met up in ShengYang. The girl had no pictures just a bunch of screenshots. She claimed they had sex with no protection and him lying saying he hasn’t had sex in a year and similar stuff.

Overall by this time, most of fans still didn’t believe her since she provided no pics and all the Wechat conversation were seen as not strong proofs (they can be easily photoshopped)

PART 3: Wednesday 8pm The third girl posted on her weibo account (with no personal info), the final blow. With pictures.

She supposedly got his contact by sending him a message via airdrop once she found him on Bluetooth during an offline event. They quickly added each other. They “dated” or more correctly they FWB for a period where she asked multiple times whether he was single, but supposedly the timing overlapped with the two previous girls, hence why the third girl decided to expose him, cause she felt cheated.

She accused him of cheating, badmouthing his members (they don’t work enough, one of them stole one of his fashion gig), not liking Keep Running (too much pressure from seniors).

Keep in mind none of the above accusations are found in her shared screenshots, as she said these are part of their conversation while drinking.

She provided 3 pictures: one of him sleeping (which many fans suspect to be a picture of him sleeping on WayV dorm due to matching sofa and Bella’s toy) and two pictures of him with drinks and sigarettes (the fishy part is that his hairstyle doesn’t look like his hairstyle in end of 2019. Edit: it could have been Moonwalk period hair.). While girl #1 selfies could have been Kakaotalk profile pics, these pictures look 1/ not photoshopped 2/ taken without him knowing.

At this point, Lucas big fan accounts broke down... this girl pictures were the final blow. While some fans still finds them fishy and claim it could have been staff selling their pics (which allegedly happened before between staff and sasaeng), after 24 hours of radio silence and continuous rumors, no sleep and constant fighting, his fancafe and his most high profile fans gave up and believed the accusations. Please note his solo stans only believe that he did sleep around, no mentions of badmouthing or his personality.

Lucas’ image among Chinese fans is definitely purer than what Ifans think of him. If Ifans think him being sexually active is nothing strange, for C-fans him sleeping and especially with fans, multiple at once, was too much to handle. Also many felt like at this point, regardless of whether he’s able to disprove the accusations, his image in China is ruined forever. SM not saying anything was too much to handle.

PART 4: Tuesday 10pm onwards.

With the fancafe leaving and many big fans leaving, the rest of Lumis saw this as a sign these big fans knew more than them, had some sort of proof from SM that the allegations were true. Rumors spread like fire among fandom and many fans quit due to fancafe quitting.

Fancafe quitting trended at #3 on Weibo main board, that single Weibo post had over half a million likes.

The rest of the night, Lucas trended with various hashtag, all on main board, between 3 to 15 in terms of positions. The same day a TV presenter was ousted for r*pe.

One of WayV most famous sasaeng shared on Weibo that Lucas does have an habit of flirting back when you send him something via airdrop. This sort of backed the possibility of the third girl story of how she met Lucas.

The rest of the night we still had some small rumors spreading of people saying that he does flirt with fans, he does look like a fuck boy, he was already a player before debut and so on. To be honest, I wouldn’t care about these since they all sound like people jumping on him.

Some WayV and almost all solo fans of the other members started to ask for his removal from the group. Many believe the accusations (since again, after 24 hours no solid debunking has been offered) while some others in any case think his career is done and his image will only tarnish the group.

As you can see, all of this play out very quickly. A bit over 24 hours and we are yet to see any response from SM.

Currently the remaining Chinese Lumis (a new fancafe opened to substitute the old one) are mostly just waiting for some confirmation or debunking from Lucas or the company itself. On Weibo they just basically gave up on digging for more proof themselves (apart form some small individual fans)

#lucas #wayv #.text #clarification

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jilytoberfest · 3 years

Text

Author - @thequibblah

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this, Suze! You can find her on ao3!

1. What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

All of my writing quirks are insane, not interesting, and one of the ones I hate (and love to mention) the most is that I am super, super neurotic about numbers and love keeping track of my timed sessions. I have been known to have Excel spreadsheets for my writing…

2. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your stories?

Hmm...probably the exact balance I strike between juggling things in my head vs. being super organised. I think when I came back to fic I thought I could handle a lot with minimal organisation, but I have proven myself very, very wrong.

3. Do you have any suggestions to help others become a better writer? If so, what are they?

Read. A lot! I know people dish out that advice a ton, but it can’t be understated — and read widely. Try to read published books as well as fanfiction. You’ll learn a lot about developing your own style by sampling the breadth that’s out there. And read about writing, not because everyone’s methods will work for you, but because it’s both interesting and helpful to see what other writers find helpful. Plenty of well-known authors have blog posts or even memoirs about writing, so go find what your faves say about their approach!Everything else, I think, is subjective. But these two are essential.

4. What do you think makes a good story?

For me personally, a good story is immersive. It sucks me into its world totally, and makes me feel along with the characters. It makes me not want to put it down — and when I do put it down, I feel like the world around me has changed with the experience I’ve had in reading.

5. What is the first book that made you cry?

Oh, geez. Charlotte’s Web for sure, ha, but I basically spent all my teen years crying into my pillow over young adult fiction, so there’s a long, long list after that.

6. Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Energise, for the most part. I won’t lie and say i’ve never been stressed or tired even writing the most exciting parts of my fic, but by and large the experience of writing is cathartic.

7. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? If so, what are your tips to overcome it?

Oh, often! I usually change format or genre when I'm bored of reading — or I watch something or listen to a podcast instead. Usually it’s just that I'm forcing myself to read something I'm not that excited by, or not in the right headspace for. So taking a step back is what helps best.

8. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly?

Honestly, I think anyone could be a writer. All it takes is reading, and practising expressing yourself — a.k.a., practising writing. It has less to do with actually feeling emotions yourself, and more to do with being able to imagine and express emotions. So, yeah, that might be easier if you feel things strongly, but it’s not a requirement. You could be the most repressed person in the world (LOL) and be a successful writer.

9. If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Oooh — I think to stick to my guns and treasure every idea. In young-me’s defence, I do still have tons and tons of notes with discarded plots and concepts, but there’s no such thing as hearing that piece of advice too much. Being able to tap into creativity — and being able to come up with concepts that are uniquely you — is special!

10. What was your hardest scene to write?

Like, ever? I think, keeping things vague in the interest of avoiding spoilers, there’s always a lot riding on big relationship beats — fights, shippy moments, etc. — that stresses me out as much as it excites me, ha. And the fights tend to be the harder ones for me, because it’s hard to parse the emotion I feel the characters are feeling and sell it so that the reader can believe an argument would escalate the way it does. (I love writing arguments, though, so it’s totally a love-hate scenario!)

11. What is your favorite childhood book?

Ah, I have about nine million answers to this, but I’m going to pick a maybe lesser-known answer — I adore the Old Kingdom books by Garth Nix, and haven’t found anything that makes me feel the same way those books did.

12. How long on average does it take you to write a one shot or a chapter of a fic?

I’m a pretty fast drafter once I sit down to write, and I usually manage about 1000 words every 30 minutes, but it takes weeks of pre-planning to get there. Maybe it’s just that I'm a fast typist, lol.

13. A fic that inspires you?

Gosh, what fic doesn’t? I feel like if i answered this honestly i’d list out dozens, and Joy would be furious at me for exceeding the character limit or something. But I'll choose one at random — I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Burn Easy”by efk_girldetective since I first read it. Warning, it’s mature, but what I love about it is that it’s a Muggle AU that still manages to immerse me in the magic of its setting. I feel just as transported reading it as I would reading something set in Hogwarts — and I want all my fics to feel like they’re their own little universes!

14. How do you edit your work?

Bold of you to assume I “edit”... No, haha, seriously, I just reread my own writing a lot. Like… I can’t overstate how much. I tend not to do big-picture edits, because usually (with a multichap like Come Together at least) I’ve done enough planning before I draft that I don’t need to do massive restructuring once words are already on the page. So I just line-edit my way to posting, and miss plenty of typos in the process.

15. Where does inspiration come from?

Art of all kinds! I read and watch a lot of things that I cherry-pick fic ideas from, and of course music factors into my writing process so heavily, playlist-making is a step of its own.

16. Who has been helpful for you as you write for the fandom?

Well. WELL. I think it is a well-known fact that I would languish without the support and friendship of Clare ( @clare-with-no-i ) and Senem ( @keepingupwithpotters ). I worry that I’ll miss someone if I continue to name names, but there have been loads of people sprinting with me on Discord of late or just direct-messaging me on Tumblr and I appreciate all of them so, so much!

17. What is your fav POV to write from?

I said recently that while I find it easier to write from Lily’s POV, James is fun because he surprises me more!

18. What is a fic you would love to write but are worried you won’t be able to accomplish it/nervous it wouldn’t work out?

I’m not necessarily nervous it won’t work out...but I’m writing a loose Edwardian era AU with magic that is...basically a novel and I’m not entirely sure there’s a target audience for this...but there’s ME and I know I can’t wait to read it LOL.

19. Do you ever self insert in fics?

Well, I think there’s a little of me in pretty much every main character in my stories — it makes it easier to grapple with their emotions, their quirks, and their flaws when I have a direct reference point. And there are other characters who are, say, aggressive Jily shippers who exist in the background that I relate to for obvious reasons LOL. But I’ve never straight-up dropped myself into a story — though I could do it and find a way to make it hilarious, I think.

20. What is the story you are proudest of?

This is so hard because my answer changes so often! But I will give the easiest one here: Come Together has taken so much of my time and has been such a labour of love, and I sometimes forget how far I’ve come with it. And I’m really proud at having done that.

21. Do you prefer writing canon jily or muggle au?

I wouldn’t say Muggle AU, but I think I like canon vs. AU for different reasons — the former because the wartime pressure offers the kind of stakes you can’t really get in other universes, the latter because of the flexibility and range. Which I know is such a non-answer, but I do like both equally and I just switch between my WIPs when I get tired of one or the other, ha.

Thank you for doing this!

#thequibblah #jilyinterview #jilytober fest #jilytober 2021

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spenciegoob · 3 years

Text

Who Needs Luck?

A/N: hi! I solely wrote this because of my 3 recent visits to NY (no, I sadly did not meet mgg)... plus i’ve been going there my whole life.. this is becoming the longest authors note, but as i’m writing I just want to say the people who work at food trucks in nyc are the nicest people ever, ask them about their day (AND TIP OMG PLS)

Summary: Reader invites Spencer to go to New York City with her where he finally sees the beauty right in front of him.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Category: Fluff!

Content Warnings: reader can’t drive very well (I apologize if this is a callout post), slight road rage, language

Masterlist

Word Count: 2.4K

____

I never considered myself a lucky man. Life had proven time and time again that no matter how many four leaf clovers I set out to search for, how many pennies on the ground faced heads up I stumbled across, luck was never on my side. I’ve learned to live with it, accepted my fate as the world’s smartest punching bag long before I was even in college.

But then I met her, and as cheesy as it sounds, I didn’t need luck that morning.

The second I woke up, the universe seemed to have it out for me specifically. I swung my legs over my bed, and in my half asleep daze stepped on my glasses, successfully breaking them. Unable to see on my short trip to the bathroom, I stubbed my toe… twice. Once I finally finished my morning routine more methodically, I walked out of my apartment only to bump into a stranger, sending the coffee she was holding all the both of us.

I had tried to apologize so many times, cutting my words short when they didn’t feel right. I had gotten through a series of “I’m, uh, oh, I, you,” before her smile interrupted my thought process, leaving me awestruck instead.

“That’s okay, but you owe me a coffee now.” She giggled, actually giggled, even with the scorching liquid causing her shirt to stick to her body. “Maybe… together?”

I didn’t hesitate to agree, taking her up on the offer that weekend and never looking back. Even when a loud crash, followed by a quiet, harsh ‘shit’ woke me up in a startle, there was no regret. Maybe just a little concern for my girlfriend who now that my eyes have adjusted to the darkness, can be seen holding her knee on the floor of our bedroom.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to wake you,” she whispered out, grabbing onto the dresser to stand straight again. Once she was on her feet, she came over to sit on the edge of our bed, immediately running her fingers through my hair. If I wasn’t so worried about her knee, I probably would’ve fell asleep again.

“Are you okay?” She giggled at my scratchy morning voice before nodding her head. It’s then I realized how the sun hasn’t even begun to rise, the room still pitchblack. “What are you doing up?”

“Getting ready to go to the city, sleepyhead,” she said as if it was the most obvious answer, but truthfully, it left me with more questions.

“At... 5 am?” I sat up, glancing at the alarm clock three times just to make sure I was reading it right. She may have always been a little strange, but usually at a reasonable hour.

At this, she stood up to continue getting ready for the very early morning. Now I notice why she fell, the piles of clothes leading to the closet had to have at least half of her outfits compiled together.

“Well, yeah. I want to get there before noon.” Even in my perplexed state, I rose from the bed and carefully tiptoed around haphazardly thrown clothes to reach her.

While wrapping my arms around her waist still hidden under my t-shirt, I questioned. “It’s right outside? You have 7 hours.”

She turned to look at me funny as if I wasn’t the one digging through clothes and waking up before dawn to walk literally 5 minutes to my desired location. My eyebrows must have subconsciously furrowed at one point, because she brought her hand up to stroke her thumb on my forehead. Immediately, I felt the tension melt, no longer caring to correct my confusion. She still did it anyway.

“Not DC, silly. New York!” I wish it were untrue, but my heart dropped at her words. She was leaving, going to a city I wasn’t familiar with beyond reading about, solving cases, and memorizing subway maps. Is this how she feels every time I board that jet?

“W-what? You’re just going to New York City?” I inwardly cringed at how desperate and sad I sounded, but I really didn’t want her to leave.

“Mhm,” she mumbled, turning back around to return digging in her closet.

“For how long?” Please change your mind. Please change your mind. Please change you-

Realizing that I was fully awake, she let out a boisterous laugh, allowing the way it bounced off our four little walls to return back to us. It was a sound most treasured. “I was hoping to get back around 9.”

“What?” I leaned back to look at her like she was absolutely preposterous. I mean, she was!

“Roadtrip!”

That’s how I found myself in the passenger seat of her car, no coffee in my hand because I wasn’t allowed until I have “a real cup of coffee.” Whatever the hell that means better happen soon, because as much as I loved watching the way she concentrates on the road in front of her, my eyes were starting to droop.

“It’s going to be another 4 hours. You can sleep, my love.” How she knew me so well, I will never be able to figure out, but I was out before we even made it across state borders.

That however, didn’t last very long. My girlfriend may be short and sweet, but behind the wheel? That’s a different story. The horn to her car is a very familiar sound when I’m jolted awake by a sudden stop.

“Really, asshole? Go!” She yelled, slamming her hand against the top of the steering wheel before looking over at me. “Hey, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to wake you yet. I forgot how awful drivers are here.”

“Where is here exactly?” I questioned, sitting up from my slouched position to find cars practically on top of each other on a road not wide enough for two lanes.

“New Jersey. We’re 10 minutes away.” Wow, I didn’t realize I slept for that long, and I have to admit I’m a little surprised I wasn’t woken up sooner.

“How are we 10 minutes away? It’s at least another 30 to get to the tunnel.” Looking at our surroundings didn’t help me determine our exact location. To the left of us, there were dozens of graffiti murals on the side of what I assumed was another elevated highway. To the right, sidestreets with local businesses ranging from auto repair shops to fast food joints to gyms.

“Nuh uh, stop analyzing mister. You’ll know when we get there.” She waved a finger in my directions, putting a pin in my scrutinization. I pouted right back, successfully playing along to the theme of her scolding me like a 5 year old.

“I don’t like surprises you know.” It was the truth, but her contagious laughter that filled the car made me slightly less disinclined to stop asking questions.

“Oh I know, but trust me, you’ll like this one.” She went to go reach over to grab my hand from where it was resting in my lap, but stopped short and retracted in favor of slamming the horn. “Oh, come on!”

***

“So you drove to a train station... in New Jersey?” I asked while she was… attempting to park the car.

“Well, yeah. I’ve been taking this route since I was a little girl.” Once she finally figured out how to evenly space a two door convertible in a very spacious parking spot, she unbuckled her seatbelt, and was quick to grab her bag from the backseat. “Well, come on mister, we’re going to miss the train.”

To be quite honest, I have never been so lost in my life. I could probably pinpoint our exact location on a map if I wanted to, granted I was given any sort of information, but part of me didn’t want to. Scratch that, all of me didn’t want to, because my entire life has been planned out in front of me before, but right now, I get to be spontaneous with the most beautiful girl on the planet.

“Don’t let go of my hand,” she told me, lacing our fingers together and pulling me forward. “Don’t stop to look around, you will get pushed.”

We made it inside, and if I thought the DC transit system was bustling with people constantly, this place was so much worse. There were hallways left and right, all packed with people in a rush. It seems everybody had some place to be and zero time to get there.

“Upstairs.” We walked up two flights before reaching a platform, buying our tickets and making it just in time for a train to arrive. “I know they come every 8 minutes, but thank god we made this one,” she said as she sat down.

The cart we were in wasn’t too crowded, and once I finally found a map on the wall across from us, I saw that it was a direct ride to the World Trade Center.

“You said you took this train when you were little?”

“Yeah, I went to the city a lot as a kid. This was the easiest, and the cheapest way there.” A small smile played at her lips, obviously the product of some childhood memory. “I used to hop it.”

“Of course you did,” I laughed back with her, thinking about how an innocent looking child would be the first person to get away with sneaking onto the train.

***

“I said it before, I will say it again. Do not let go of my hand.” This time it was more stern, and if I were being honest, I would say that it got me the slightest bit nervous. She must have noticed, she always does, because she continued. “Don’t worry, it just gets congested and I don’t want to lose you.”

She was right about that, it indeed was very congested, but that was okay because she was holding my hand, and I would follow her just about anywhere if it meant she kept looking over her shoulder and smiling when she saw me. Once we made it across the way, and in front of heavy looking glass doors, she turned to me and started walking backwards.

“You okay? This is definitely not off to a great start.” She was wrong, it was off to a perfect start.

“Yeah, I’m okay, but you might want to watch where you’re going,” I said before her back hit the door.

“Please I can get here with my eyes closed.” And then we were outside, and all 5 of my senses were hit immediately. The sun was shining down on us, and before I could complain about not bringing my sunglasses, she handed them to me. My heart fluttered at the innocent act, taking the sunglasses with such gratitude even though she had already moved on to retrieve hers. “Do you smell that?” She asked.

“There are a lot of answers to that question,” I told her, not knowing if she was talking about the smell of the construction happening at the corner, the permanent garbage smell or something entirely different.

“The hotdogs, silly. Come on, there’s nothing like ‘em.” This time, I laced our fingers together, not because I was scared of losing her, I was, but I just really wanted to be closer to her. She didn’t mind, in fact, she let out a content hum and leaned her head on my arm as we walked to the stand.

“Can I get four hotdogs with sauerkraut and two grape sodas,” she asked the vendor, who politely nodded before moving on to prepare our food.

“You’re going to have a heart attack by 35,” I said as I nudged her with my shoulder. She gave me a small push back before answering.

“Is that a doctor’s diagnosis?” She asked as she took our now ready food into her hands, after paying the man before I even had time to blink. I just grabbed the two cans of soda and followed her where she was making a beeline for a park bench. “Watch out for skaters.”

“Yes, it is indeed a doctor's diagnosis.” I unwrapped one of the hotdogs before taking a bite. I closed my eyes and let out a content hum. “It may be a little worth it.”

“Exactly.” We sat there quietly, enjoying the warm weather and sounds of wheels against pavement. At one point, she rested her head against my shoulder, and I am convinced wherever she went would be Heaven.

***

“Are your eyes closed?” We found ourselves with both our hands interlocked, my eyes closed while she walked backwards. I gave an ‘mhm’ before she continued. “We’re here, just keep them closed, and…” her words trailed off. “Okay open.”

I opened my eyes to her holding her arms out in the middle of the largest bookstore I’ve ever seen. “Surprise!” My eyes were bouncing everywhere. It wasn’t too crowded, the large stairwell across the store catching my eye first. There were bookshelves tens of feet high, all loaded with different genres and authors. To the right of us, tiny knick knacks and pins and socks. It was beautiful.

“Wow,” I whispered out, still stuck in my place admiring our surroundings. She was beaming up at me, a hint of pride at her successfulness to drag me 6 hours away to the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.

“The Strand has always been my favorite place in the city. Come on, let’s go explore.” She grabbed my hands again, pulling me deeper into the store towards a shelf labeled adult fiction.

***

Six books, three pairs of socks and a postcard later, we were back on the busy streets of New York, aimlessly walking and admiring the tall buildings and different attractions. Well she was, I was admiring the way she was looking around like it was her first time here. Maybe I should have been paying more attention to our surroundings, but no amount of skyscrapers or fountains could possibly ever match up to her level of beauty.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” I asked randomly, startling her into jumping a tiny bit before giggling. She stopped us, turning to face me fully before reaching up to grab my face in her hands.

“Once or twice.” The kiss we shared on the New York streets were no different than the ones before, but this time, it felt like a silent promise. A passing between two lovers that no matter where we are, our love is the most beautiful thing there is. “I love you too, dork.”

___

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lunarrin · 4 years

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Twisted Wonderland Theory! May have future spoilers so please skip this post if you don’t want to risk getting spoiled.

I accidentally posted this before it was finished before, that’s why this might seem like a repeated post, whoops sorry. Edit: Also I tumblr keeps on messing up the format and making me edit it again ;-;

Anyways, It seems like a bunch of people are interested in learning more about this theory circulating among JPN twisted wonderland fans so here I am to display the possible evidence/hints. I had to use google translate to look at some of their claims and although it’s easy to just confirm on your own the claims I have to admit I couldn’t list some of their claims simply because I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Please keep in mind this is only a speculation and has no in-game proof or foreshadowing that I’ve seen at the very least proving it, so take it with a grain of salt. Now, onto the theory!

The Ace Betrayal Theory

This theory concerns our beloved Ace Trappola and concerning “coincidences” that point to Ace possible betraying us in the future. If you would like to look at the twitter posts yourself, search up エース裏切り説し on twitter.

So first of all, the first thing that may point at things being not what they seem, or at least that something is wrong is the Heartslabyul dorm main characters. There are 5 main characters from the Heartslabyul dorm and in terms of cards it seems a bit odd that there is no sign of a joker within the dorm, of course you could chalk it up to Riddle being the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland so he doesn’t count as a “Heart”. With the “heart” suit being represented by Ace and Riddle, is it possible one of them could also represent the joker? In this case, when I say “joker” I don’t mean they’re gonna be like “surprise I’m actually a joker not a heart suit!” I more so mean that one of them will like a wild card. Given that Riddle already had his episode, and Ace’s status proven by the twisted wonderland opening to be a main character, could we say that Ace could be the “joker” of the dorm in a way? The wild card? Of course this point is based on perspective, if you exclude Riddle from being counted as a “Heart” suit then the dorm is fine, but if you count him as someone representing the “Heart” suit then the repetition seems odd.

There is one main concerning part of this theory that surely would be difficult to pass of as mere coincidence, and it’s Ace’s last name, “Trappola”.

In Italian is means “trap/pitfall(a possible danger)".

And Ace is the only dorm member to not have his suit somewhere in his last name, instead he has Trappola, a Venetian trick-taking card game where the Ace is the most powerful card. (Funny enough, it seems like the Deuce is the second most powerful in terms of points alone) And it’s no news to anyone who’s read Ace’s profile that he enjoys card games doesn’t he? What’s a trick-taking card game? It’s a tile based game where each round is called a “trick” and in Trappola, your goal is to take/win the trick. Funny thing is, in Trappola specifically, it seems like the player is awarded bonus points for taking a trick(s) with a Deuce.

There is also another trick-taking, or more so, trick-avoiding game called “Hearts” where you try to have the least amount of points by the end of the game. You get points by wining hearts in tricks in which the amount of points lost depends on the the specific card, with the ace of hearts giving the most points (something you do not want). A fan interpreted this in terms of twisted wonderland to be another pointer for Ace betraying the group just as the Ace of hearts in the game in a way betrays you because it gives you the most points, I personally feel like this is a stretch? But I listed it anyways in case you wanted to know.

Edit: It has been brought to my attention that the Red Queen and Jack of Hearts are from Alice through the Looking Glass and not Alice in Wonderland so the next point does not hold as much ground anymore, but I’ll leave it here anyways

Then there is Ace's similarity or possible link to a character within Alice in Wonderland, being the Jack/Knave of Hearts, who betrays the Red Queen (whom he was previous lovers with, and in general close to the Red Queen). Both Ace and Jack(or the Knave of hearts) have a heart on or around their left eye (our right). Both Jack and Ace steal a tart from the Red Queen (Queen of Hearts (Riddle) in Ace's case). Next, Both betray the Red Queen/Queen of Hearts respectively at one point (Jack tries to kill the Red Queen while Ace tries to take Riddle’s dorm leader position).Off topic coincidence, there is an otome game where the Jack of Hearts is named "Ace". Now this point’s coincidences seem difficult to be just “coincidences” but at the same time you could also say that Ace’s role as the Jack of Hearts has already ended since he has already had his failed attempt at overthrowing Riddle. The concerning part of this link though is that the Jack of hearts tried to kill the person they were at least it seemed to be very close to and at least loyal to (when in actually he hated her) while Ace himself wasn't very close to Riddle at that point, but who is Ace close to and loyal(?) to? MC and the gang ;-; But still take this possibility as a grain of salt.

Of course, we know Ace’s name isn’t Jack, or at least, hopefully he doesn’t pull a “Ace is not my true name at all! Instead I’m also named Jack/Knave!”. But he does have a older brother who once went to the same school, could it be that Ace’s brother is named Jack/Knave? We don’t know much about his brother besides it seems like he was rather relevant as he led a parade that is shown in a picture in one of the halls of the school and that he’s good at card tricks. And similiar to how the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts are different, the Knave of hearts and the Red knight could also be different, with the Knave of Hearts and the Red knight being Ace’s brother and him. Still, we need more info to see how relevant Ace’s brother is in all of this.

Next we have the Twisted Wonderland Opening Movie, which has proven to spoil/hint at plot lines before with Azul as the opening movie teases Azul’s overblot form as well as his child self photos. Now in the opening a fan has noted that every character so far that has been seen alone (besides the part where they have the character’s names and dorms, this part (because Kalim appears and the dorm leaders have to be alone)

Every character that has appeared alone or a bit during the opening so far has overbloted, Jamil, Leona, (and we can guess Malleus and Idia will overblot). While every other character has been introduced with someone alongside them, for example, Epel only appears with Rook, Floyd only appears with Jade, Jack only appears with Ruggie, and the Diasomnia group(minus Malleus) only appear with each other. But who else appears by them self? Our boy Ace.

And Deuce who the OP proves alongside Ace has the same amount of relevance is introduced alongside Cater and Trey

Now for Ace to overblot, it probably means he’s gonna do something villainous like I don’t know, betray the group?

Now here’s the thing, does Ace’s character/personality have the potential to be evil/betray us? Yes, 100 times yes. This is the man who went up to us in the prologue and acted all nice and everything explaining the Great Seven, only to laugh (maniacally?) at our misery and ignorance claiming to have only visited us to mess with us and essentially mock us. If Deuce is the person who could and would (if you pissed him off) physically beat you to death, then Ace is the person to psychologically and emotionally torment/manipulate you, oh and verbal abuse too, he’s good at that. One thing I personally find very concerning about Ace is his hobby of card tricks, like aren’t you guys based off of cards? Are you trying to tell me Ace is good at manipulating/messing with people?

Like we’ve seen Ace be good at acting and lying on two separate occasions in the story, one with us in the beginning, two with the guard at the underwater museum. In his personal stories, for example in the ‘A Kouhai This Honest’ story, Trey comments on how Ace did indeed have ulterior motives to helping Trey besides just wanting a cherry pie as Ace was trying to fish possible test questions out from Trey. This is their conversation:

Ace: “To collect information, I’m carrying all this heavy stuff~ Beside, Trey-senpai you too… You knew from the beginning I wouldn’t carry all this stuff for a pie with lots of cherry on it “

Trey: “ You… could it be you were lying about liking cherries too?”

Ace: “ That’s the truth. I learnt that from my big brother. “When you’re lying mix a bit of truth in it” he said”

And with the ‘Tch, I Got Found Out’ personal story he tries to take the profit all for himself:

Ruggie: “ But anyway, isn’t it fine in the end? It wraps up without sensei knowing so your mark doesn’t get affected Anyway, I’m also… wait, Ace-kun!? Where are you going with that bag? That’s the mandragoras to be sold to the ghosts. Don’t just take it like that!”

Ace: “ Tch, I got found out. I thought I could sneak off with it while you two aren’t looking at me ”

Ruggie: “ You were planning to slip out and take the pay all for yourself huh? What an impudent first year”

Jamil: “ When I thought you were being all meek…You sure are bold”

Ace: ”Hehe, I’ll take that as a praise, senpais ♪ “

It clear to see Ace at times schemes for his own benefit, whether that is taking advantage of his senpais or other people, Ace will lie and pretend to be innocent while carrying out his ulterior motives. Funny how his big brother taught him that.

On another note, Ace has the uncanny ability of being able to copy what he sees, from his brother’s card tricks, to how to speak hedgehog from seeing Rook just say the phrase once, from quickly learning how to extract um, something from mandragoras and doing it very efficiently. Perhaps will his unique magic be a copy magic, maybe copying the unique magic of others? If so, that sounds like an ability that could build up blot fast if he uses it willy-nilly. (it also sounds OP)

All in all, it seems like Ace really does have the potential to be the villain at one point (even though almost all of them are villains lol).

One more thing pointing to a possible Ace betrayal in the future is kinda a stretch in my opinion, but I will list it anyways because it’s coincidences are a bit unnerving. It has to do with birth month flowers and the Dahlia, a flower which can symbolise “Warning someone about a potential betrayal” and Dahlia is the birth flower of August, what month comes right after August? September, the birth month of both Ace and Jamil. Guess what? Jamil betrayed Kalim in the story.

Well, that’s it for the evidence at least I found people using for the Ace betrayal theory, some of it is a stretch and some of it’s is concerning if it was a mere “coincidence”. I hope you enjoyed reading this, regardless if in the end you believe in this theory or not. I personally love this theory because I love the thought of Ace getting more development in the future, also the fan art people make for this theory is great. For example, the twitter account @GPs_ac has a piece of fan art of the ace betrayal theory and it’s great.

Also If Ace does betray us, I want to see Deuce beat him into the ground ahahaha... (I still love you Ace but I will be hurt if you do betray us, this is why I stan Deuce lol)

Turns out MC can’t trust anyone but Deuce, because Grim is probably gonna overblot and Ace might betray.

Also, fun fact. The Ace of Spades symbolises death

Haha very funny Disney, making our lovable no braincells duo represent death

Anyways feel free to comment your thoughts on the theory!

#twisted wonderland #ace trappola #twst ace #twst #twisted wonderland spoiler #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland theories #twisted wonderland theory

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twsttheory · 3 years

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⚠️Chapter 5 spoilers⚠️ Chapter Recaps and Predictions for Future Dormitory Chapters.

Pardon me for being a little slow but I have just realized a trend? Aside from the fact that Twisted Wonderland seems to be a very “Screw society” game, the take-away of every Twisted Wonderland arc reflects the morals the of their respective Disney classic, except the villains are the ones experiencing it.

Heartslabyul:

Just like Alice in Wonderland, the first plot of the first Chapter centres around the idea that rules are not always meant to be followed. However, as I have mentioned in a previous post, many have theorized that the story of Alice in Wonderland is the journey of a child towards adulthood, during which they begin to realize their individual personalities. The Queen of Heart’s tyranny thus represents societal rules and expectations. In the first chapter, this is not illustrated by Riddle’s strictness. Instead, it is illustrated by the expectations and rules that Riddle’s mother has imposed on him. Riddle will then learn that not everything his mother said is correct, and will grow to have his own opinions. We even see him screwing up the mont-blanc. His mistake is very... um... him though.

Savanaclaw:

Following the Heartslabyul arc is the Savanaclaw arc. Again, the plot is similar to that of The Lion King. Both Leona and Scar are the second-born, and the fact that their brothers have a son makes it impossible for them to become kings. This has lead to Leona’s somewhat inferiority complex. The lazy lion proceeds to come up with a plan to overthrow the more powerful Malleus in the Magift competition, but fails because of the Heartslabyul gang. No matter what he does, not everything goes according to plan. This is where “Hakuna Matata” becomes important. In the Lion King, it is taught to Simba, the protagonist, but in Twisted Wonderland, it has become a lesson that Leona has learnt. Life is not fair, but instead of choosing to dwell on that concept and suffer, you could choose to be happy instead. Despite not being able to become King, Leona is still very intelligent and very much capable, earning the respect of his dorm members and many more people.

Octavinelle:

Fish arc covers the topic of bullying, which many of us have experienced. In this chapter, Azul strives to become more powerful as a result of bullying, and has thus grown to become a very talented mage. His collection of contracts is similar to both Ariel’s collection of human objects and Ursula’s collections of those who failed to pay their debt. All these collections are but material collections, and in Azul’s eyes, his collection is a measure of his worth, as seen from when he declares that he will be useless if Leona were to destroy the contracts. What both Ariel and Azul were missing was as a matter of fact not their material collection. Instead, it was love for Ariel, and friendship for Azul. Jade and Floyd gave him friendship, which he did not have as a victim of bullying, and I’m pretty sure that he realizes that both their presences are more valuable than mere material contracts. I am also certain that Jade and Floyd think so too, although they say otherwise.

Scarabia:

Scarabia arc’s overblot goes to Jamil, you poor boy. Because of his position as the Asim family’s servant, he believes that as long as he is in the presence of Kalim, he will never be able to be who he really is. Aladdin also thinks that he cannot be with Jasmine if he isn’t royalty. However, we all know that Jamil has more to offer as an individual. He is intelligent and powerful, and will remain intelligent and powerful despite his position as a servant. Aladdin is loved by Jasmine despite being a non-royal. Scarabia’s chapter centres around the idea that an individual’s potential and worth is not defined or limited by their status or position, as Jamil has surely proven to us.

Pomefiore:

The recent Pomefiore arc is also very relatable and nothing less than outstanding, highlighting the importance of “beauty” in more than one way. This chapter straight up tells us that ballet is not restricted to girls, and it has already earned my respect. What’s more outstanding is its emphasis of effort. Vil is shown to be frustrated because of being in Neige’s shadow. GIVE HIM THE LICENSE TO BE FRUSTRATED HE WORKED SO HARD! Despite his hard work, he is less popular than the cheery and pretty Neige. In the VDC, Neige’s cover of a children song grabbed more attention than the song he poured his sweat, blood and tears over. No one cares about the effort behind the scenes, and all the praise goes to the final product. In Snow White, the Evil Queen will never be the most beautiful, because she is ugly inside. This could apply to this chapter. Despite being more successful, Neige, unless stated otherwise, lacks the diligence and hard work that Vil has put into his craft.

Ignihyde:

All right folks this is where the predictions starts. The recurring theme of this game is conflict against society. From this, I will predict that Idia and Hercules will share a common theme. People call them monsters. Hercules is called a monster because of his inhuman strength, while Idia’s case will most likely be because of Ortho. Idia is undoubtedly a genius engineer, and since Ortho is a cyborg, there are chances that he was once a human but died, and is turned into a cyborg by his brother. Idia creating him from scratch is not likely because he already mentioned a “previous Ortho”. Because of this, Idia is feared by many people as well. However, if this theory were to be correct, it would mean that the story will follow the moral in Hercules that underlines the importance of staying true to oneself and that people will love you for who you are. Hercules definitely stayed true to himself, and in the end, instead of being labelled a monster, he became loved by many. I’m sure that it will be the same way with Idia, although I am not sure about the situation that will help incite this.

From how he encouraged Riddle to break away from his mother’s rules in the first chapter,, it is highly possible that Ace would play a role in helping Idia express his mad scientist vibes. If Ace does not help Idia, he will probably still play a big role alongside Ortho, as they are both younger siblings. From ghost marriage, we can also see Ortho’s ability to call Ace out on his bullshit. Ace is a child full of lies, and his true personality may also not be what he displays every day. With Ortho’s advance “Your body sayin you lyin boy” technology, I think that we could finally see a change in our dumb ginger boy’s personality, as well as gain some juicy insight into the Trappola household. Epel is also a plausible factor, seeing that he has embraced his cute and wild side in Chapter 5. However, if the story were to follow the same pattern as in Chapter 3 with Jack and Octavinelle, Epel will most likely only help the main character, and Vil would help with the dorm leader in question. But we’ll see about that.

Diasomnia

Sleeping beauty is a story where love is a powerful force. In the dorm that is very family orientated, there is no doubt that love will be a common theme in this story arc. However, just like Pomefiore, the first year also has to play an important role in the story. Sebek, unlike waka sama, is probably mortal. Another theme in sleeping beauty is that growing up presents all sorts of existential crisis. I am pretty certain that Sebek’s existential crisis would come in the form of fey vs human. Power vs mortality. How will Malleus overblot then? Following the pattern, it would likely be because of a problem that contrasts to their first year. As Sebek gets to know the idiot combo, he will gain more friends, and Malleus might find his most loyal guard taken away from him, or it may come in the form of Sebek or Silver, or both, objecting him in some way. If both happen to be proven wrong, it is still likely that he will overblot because of something that involves his loneliness or lack of understanding of mortality. It could even be caused by seeing Sebek and Silver grow up, and suddenly be hit with the realization that they both may one day leave his side or pass away, and that the main character, who does not fear him at all, will also one day return to their world or die, leaving him behind once again.

The conflict will probably then be resolved by the understanding that despite all this, he has friends. Lilia, Sebek, Silver, the main character, and perhaps even Ace and Deuce, and Idia and Ortho for good measure, are people precious to him, and it is important for him to treasure the time that he has with them.

That’s all for today! These are probably not accurate, and I’m sure that Yana Toboso is at least 10 dimensions away from me when playing chess, but it is fun to compare the storyline with their respective classic film. Either ways, only time will tell how the story progresses. So I’ll keep an eye out for any previews! Thank you for reading!

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jacepens · 3 years

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okay, so I was reading through some of your posts, and I definetly need to hear more about the "flirting-through-their-wives" thing tho...

yes yes indeed!

Thank you msrandomstuff! I shall do my best to provide:) <3

Let me start first with Lafayette's letter to Washington and this lovely little passage here: June 12-13, 1779. Laf to GW.

"Be so kind, My dear General, as to present My Best Respects to Your lady, and tell her how happy I would feel to present them Myself to her, at her own house—I have a Wife, My dear General, who is in love with you, and affection for you Seems to Me So well justified that I Can’t oppose Myself to that Sentiment of her’s—She Begs you would Receive her Compliments, and Make them acceptable to Mrs Washington—"

Now, this is just my biased speculations but- Lafayette says Adrienne (although should I take into consideration the extra playful nature here when he just names her as "a Wife"? Rather than my wife or Adrienne? Is it suspicious or regular Laf behavior? One could look at that and say, right or wrong, "a Wife" may not actually be Adrienne...if you catch my drift.) is very in love with Washington and Lafayette feels just as strongly as she does! But if we are flirting through our wives, let me add that my wife continues to compliment yours and actually, let me praise and compliment you twice, George. Because Laf did start this letter by expressing his concern for Washington's safety. Romance aside, I could see Lafayette playfully doubly begging George to keep himself safe and remember his Marquis loves him.

But it's Washington's response that really gets me, and it gets the little cogs in my head turning.

Sept 30, 1779. GW to Laf

"Tell her [Adrienne] (if you have not made a mistake, & offered your own love instead of hers to me) that I have a heart susceptable of the tenderest passion, & that it is already so strongly impressed with the most favourable ideas of her, that she must be cautious of putting loves torch to it; as you must be in fanning the flame. But here again methinks I hear you say, I am not apprehensive of danger—My wife is young—you are growing old & the atlantic is between you—All this is true, but know my good friend that no distance can keep anxious lovers long asunder, and that the Wonders of former ages may be revived in this—But alas! will you not remark that amidst all the wonders recorded in holy writ no instance can be produced where a young Woman from real inclination has prefered an old Man—This is so much against me that I shall not be able I fear to contest the prize with you—yet, under the encouragement you have given me I shall enter the list for so inestimable a jewell."

Washington has immediately caught Lafayette! hehe. (On a historian-rambly note, I just love how human and playful the line: if you have not made a mistake, and offered your own love instead of hers to me is) And it seems that Washington very enthusiastically receives Lafayette's double compliment! He even confesses to having a heart susceptible to the tenderest passion, you know, the only kind of passion Lafayette has for Washington. (It could be nothing. But. I find it interesting that it is passion, singular rather than passions, plural. I honestly read it as passions but nope...just one passion. Could be normal, might not be.)

But please please I need to talk about the second half. George continues to assure Laf (I mean his "wife"-) that he is so favorable of her (him) that he must be careful to...put love's torch to the flame of George's fondness. I actually find this part extra fascinating and while my first thought is, how cute!! I can't help but read into it the longer I look at it.

So, hear me out. George is afraid of falling in love with Lafayette or vice versa or naming what they share as love love. Again, this is more heavy speculation and just one way to read it, but this sentence just really stands out to me.

But, it sounds like this is a conversation they've had before, so often in fact, that George knows exactly what Lafayette would say in response. Lafayette does not mind the danger. Mind the danger. (not apprehensive of the danger) Do you- do you see what I see? (what's more dangerous than being in love love with a man?) But but then I hear some sadness from George. There can be no real danger when they are separated by the ocean and even their age? A fire cannot burn them down from such distance. (Now I'm just talking...)

But no fear!:) We will be reunited, (I'm having an epiphany, Laf was anxious of George at the beginning of his first letter. That's probably a giant leap to make but I'm making it anyway lol). Ps can someone smarter than me tell me what the Wonder of former ages is? xD I can take some guesses, but I'm not too sure. Maybe it's nothing fancy at all.

But but please. The way it ends. George seems to go a little back and forth between sad, self-deprecating and hopeful and loving, but he ends on the cute cuuuute fact that Lafayette encourages his pursuit and love:) George will enter the list so the inestimable jewel of Lafayette's..."wife". (Lafayette)

Cute. Too cute. Am I digging too far into things that have no meaning? Perhaps. Is this still just...flirting with each other through their wives? (platonic or romantic) Yes oh my god yes.

But I'm not done. (Same letter from GW to Laf)

"It only remains for me now, to beg the favour of you to present my respectful compliments to your (but have I not a right, as you say she has made a tender of her love to me—to call her my) amiable & lovely Marchioness—& to assure you that with every sentiment of the most perfect regard, & personal attachmt I have the honr to be My Dear Marquis Yr Most Obedt & affect. Servt"

Please. please. Pleeease. Come oonnnnn. The emphasis on "your" (I checked Laf's full letter that he wrote the above passage in. He never once calls Adrienne "my" just, "a wife". Technically, "a Wife" could be anyone. I rest my case. (or it could be the differences in French and English for all I know. I don't know French, but I'm assuming Laf knows the difference between a and my at this point. Maybe a bold assumption, maybe not.)) only to very cheekily add again, George caught Laf's double compliments of him through his wife. George knows he's writing this to (my) Lafayette. And then of course, he calls Lafayette My (My!!) Dear Marquis (no abbreviations this time here folks). Obviously, I know George calling Laf My Dear Marquis is nothing out of the ordinary, but in this context, it seems worth nothing, does it not?

And. This quote still keeps me up at night. It's not a full flirting-through-wives, but what does it meeean?

From Laf to GW. 5-10 January 1779. (Right before Laf left for France during the war, same year as those letters above)

"I hope you will quietly enjoy the pleasure of being with Mrs Washington, without any disturbance from the ennemy till I join you again;"

I could again spend way too much time looking at all the different angles of this. It- it's just the "till I join you again" that really gets me.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this?? I hope it was sensible, but really, thank you so so much for giving me an excuse to ramble about this. I feel like there are still so many different ways this could be interpreted and if I had more time, I would love to find the photocopies of these letters to potentially analyze even what was crossed out or what looked rewritten vs very natural and not edited. (Washington claimed he didn't edit his letter much, but how true is that I wonder? lol)

Also, not that I think you would, but don't take anything I've said as fact except for the quotes themselves:) Like I said, this is all my (biased) speculations and interpretations but it's honestly not built on a lot of background on how they communicated with other people. (Again, if I had more time, I'd love to see if I could find if these things were standard for them to say or rare).

But really, on an aside, can historians stop assuming everyone as straight? I want lgbtq+ until proven differently xD. Because when you think about it, the lgbt spectrum is a vast number of identities and straight is just one. (Not that people who aren't alive to label themselves should officially have modern labels put on them, but in that same thought, why then call them all straight?)

Ok ok you've listened to me talk enough.

Thank you!! <3 I hope this satisfies:) (ps anyone is free to add to this)

#washette #I talk your ear off #I'm sorry but thank you #asks #msrandomstuff #did I ever tell you I love your icon?#you know I bet these dumbasses never once thought that random enbies would be intensely analyzing every word they wrote for gay subtext #but here we are #suck it

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andromedasstarship · 3 years

Text

in the stars - chapter 4

photo credit - @ssa-emilyhotchner

pairing - aaron hotchner x reader

warnings - canon typical criminal minds, stalking, angst. pretty tame chapter

summary - “I’m on a date.” You responded flatly. The other end of the line went silent.

a/n - hi besties. so this chapter is p short compared to the last one, i had like 7k something chapter 4 and it just didnt feel right, BUT that means chapter 5 is basically done i just need to edit it soooooooooooo hopefully wont take a long time lol! enjoy, heart yall forever

masterlist // series masterlist // read it on ao3

chapter 3 / chapter 5

-----

The rest of the team was left in various levels of shock. Everyone was struggling to process the bomb of information that had just been revealed. With hindsight, it was easy to connect the strange levels of tension and intimacy that radiated between you and Hotch. What was more difficult to swallow, was the new understanding that Hotch had been keeping this secret for nearly five years. Random ‘trips’ that Hotch would take out of state or the subtle sprinkles of wealth showing up in the form of gifts suddenly made sense.

This was completely uncharted territory for the entire team. Given Hotch’s history, it wasn’t too difficult to understand how protective he may be of any relationships post-Haley; but the magnitude of your relationship- both in terms of your status as well as length-, and the withholding of information even on the case was a different form of betrayal that couldn’t be kicked under the rug.

Hotch had always been one of the fiercest advocates for unity, truth and an equal playing field when it came to information concerning a case,- Morgan was still feeling second hand embarrassment for Jordan- for him to be the one to hold back such influential info was difficult to fully wrap their heads around. Anger, of course, was felt and there would certainly be time for that anger- not even getting started on the amount of questions everyone was bound to have-, but as the team was silently processing, they all reached similar conclusions. Hotch was displaying a softness and side of him they hadn’t seen in a very long time and they wouldn’t let their valid frustrations get in the way of solving this case.

Morgan was the first to speak, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I need to text Garcia about this.” He said, shaking the phone a bit. Everyone managed to laugh at that, all certain that Garcia would have the most interesting reaction to the news.

“You know…, the other day when she was giving me a tour of her house, I pointed out a bottle of Dalmore 25 she had on the wall. She got really weird about it and I thought she was trying to play modest, but this, this makes a lot more sense.” JJ remarked lightheartedly.

“So now we know Hotch has some game then, huh?” Morgan quipped, a large grin on his face. When everyone just stared blankly back at him, even more confused than they already were he continued. “Do you all not remember when he ‘magically’ got a bottle of Dalmore 45, those start at twelve grand”

Reid was about to open his mouth and add to the conversation, but just as the words were leaving his mouth Hotch stormed back into the conference room. One hand was tightly balled in a fist while the other was gripping his phone.

“She’s not answering her phone. Three times, it went straight to voicemail.”

“She isn’t on set today, when she left this morning she told me she had work related errands to run.” Emily recounted, racking her brain for any more info about your whereabouts.

Hotch strode over to an open laptop at the edge of the table, quickly hitting a series of buttons until a very flustered Garcia appeared on screen; her mouth dropping open when she saw Hotch.

“Questions later Garcia,” Hotch opened, already anticipating that someone Derek would have informed her of the latest news, “I need you to track Y/N. I want her current and last location.”

“Yes sir! I uh, I will do that right now for you.” Garcia responded, clearly doing her best to hold back the hoard of questions and comments she had. The sound of her vigorously typing filled the room. “Alright sir, so the bad news is that it looks like her phone is currently turned off, but! The last place it pinged at was outside of Chateau Marmont about three hours ago. Which for those of you who don’t know this place is notorious for being the A-lister hideaway-”

“Garcia, do a wide search for her name and location for today’s date. Check to see if there’s been any media sightings on her whereabouts.” Hotch ordered. He hadn’t forgotten how uneasy it had made him once he found out how easy it was to locate you. Paparazzi were a different form of ruthless and he’d never realized how difficult it actually was for people in the spotlight until he met you.

“Let me see…, yes sir you are right! I’m getting a bunch of hits of her entering the-” Garcia’s sentence falling off with an ‘oh’.

“Garcia, what’d you find?”

A headline popped up on the screen.

“Emma Co-Stars Pictured Together Out At Lunch: Has The Love Moved Past The Screen?”

Underneath, multiple photos of you quickly loaded. There you were, cheerily standing next to your co-star, looking up at him with a big grin on your face. The photos showed the two of you in different positions as you made your way inside. A few of him as he opened the car door for you. One of you with your arm wrapped loosely around his while you walked up the door. One of you ducking under his arm as you entered the restaurant.

The tension in the room was palpable as everyone did their own mini attempt at profiling the photo. It was difficult, you’d clearly proven to be a great actress and they knew you were capable of manipulating your outward emotions. It was even more difficult considering it was just a handful of mediocre quality photos.

Hotch was tightly gripping the edge of the table, forcing himself to keep a level head. He knew it was unreasonable to get angry over the idea of you with another man, but it didn’t help the pang in his heart as he recognized the genuine signs of happiness you were emitting.

“JJ,” Hotch said, voice dangerously calm, “call the restaurant and have them discreetly tell Y/N that ‘Andi’ is calling her.” Discretion was the highest priority for him, the envelope being even further confirmation that the unsub was closely trailing you. The last thing he wanted to do was either trigger a violent reaction or cause him to go underground.

Back when the two of you had been together, out of an abundance of caution, you used to refer to Aaron as ‘Andi’ in public. You hated not being able to thank him in speeches or mention him in any capacity, so this had been your best way around it.

“Yes sir.” JJ responded, quickly moving out of the room to make the phone call.

“Garcia, do you have any leads on the kid that dropped off the envelope?” Hotch asked.

“No sir. The car he left in was reported stolen a few days ago with no leads as to where it went. Camera feeds loose the car about three blocks away and his face was too obstructed to get any hits that way.”

“Alright, once JJ comes back with confirmation Y/N’s gotten the message, I’m going to pick her up. I want the rest of you to work with Garcia and categorize these photos. Cross reference whatever you can to get a timeline.” Hotch ordered, the rest of the team not being to be told twice.

-----

“Where the hell are you?” Aaron demanded.

Even through the phone, you could tell he was absolutely seething. It was bad, by the time you had picked up the phone you’d amassed a total of twenty texts and nearly ten missed calls from Aaron; not even mentioning the individual missed calls you had from each member of the team. It was bad, but in your defense it had been less than an hour from the first missed call to your current response.

What could you say? You were big on not being on your phone when you were spending time with friends.

“What do you mean, where the hell am I,” you answered, rolling your eyes as you leaned up against one of the private bathroom countertops. “How did you describe it before Agent? I’m very in ‘demand’.”

You could hear him groan through the phone and wondered if he was running his hands over his face; something he used to always do when you were being difficult; he absolutely was.

“Y/N-”

“I’m on a date.” You responded flatly. The other end of the line went silent. As you were debating whether or not you should add the part about it being a publicity date, Aaron’s voice came through.

“End it. I’m picking you up. The drive there from the station shouldn’t be more than 30 minutes.” Aaron said, his voice dangerously even.

“I’m perfectly capable of getting back to the station on my own Agent. I don’t need you stirring up an absolute scene-”

“Y/N,” he started, voice commanding in a way that told you he was serious, “a package was delivered to the station today. Filled with hundreds of photos of you over the years,” he paused again and you could hear him take a deep breath before continuing, “there’s photos of us in there. The unsub knows.”

You went silent, mouth opening over and over, unable to find anything to say. You had always envisioned a world where you and Aaron were some sort of ‘public’ knowledge, but never like this, obviously never like this.

“Y/N, I need to come get you,” Hotch said, his voice much softer now, “I can’t-, I need to see that you’re safe.”

“I’ll make something up,” You said quickly, before adding, “there’s a private valet area, I’ll send you the instructions to get past the gates and I’ll let the security know you’re coming to pick me up.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes, don’t draw any attention to yourself.” And with that he hung up, leaving you stunned in the bathroom. You gripped the edges of the counter, staring at yourself in the mirror. You wished you could stay in the bathroom for hours, desperately needing some time to privately process what Aaron had told you.

That wasn’t in the cards for you though, so you quickly did some pointless attempts at ‘straightening’ your appearance- more for your benefit than anything else- before you turned the lock and left back for your table

You slipped back into your seat across from your friend and co-star Johnny.

“Your friend alright?” Johnny asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” you said with a small smile, “she’s fine. But my Agent called me when I was in there, she apparently managed to set up some last minute FBI consult to help me prep for an audition I have coming up. According to her, she ‘pulled a lot of strings for this’.” You said, rolling your eyes. The lie sliding out of your mouth with ease. “Whoever this FBI dude is, is supposed to come pick me up right about,” you looked down at your phone, “now apparently. So I guess our little date has to end early.” You said, giving him an exaggerated sad pout.

Johnny rolled his eyes at that, giving you a small laugh. The two of you were both equally uninterested, romantically, in each other. But you did get along quite well, so being ‘forced’ into hanging out with each other outside of filming wasn’t bad; you’d probably hang out outside of filming anyway

“No worries, we still on for running lines later tonight?” He asked.

You thought for a moment, before nodding. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Now, help me flag down the waiter, I want to get one last drink in before I go.”

-----

About twenty minutes later you found yourself waiting out in the private courtyard of the restaurant. You were doing your best to calm your nerves, this being the first opportunity you had to try and process what Aaron had told you. You should’ve seen it coming, if the stalker was so obsessed with you, he must’ve noticed Aaron in your life at some point. But you had been so careful.

Then the other obvious thing hit you. His team knew. You were wondering how the team had taken the news when you saw the black SUV come into view. Aaron quickly stopped the car in front of you and before you could move to open the passenger door yourself, he was out of his seat in a flash, coming over to where you were standing.

For a moment you were both silent. You felt tiny under his unrelenting gaze, his eyes scanning your entire being as he ensured himself you were okay.

Without thinking, you launched yourself at him, wrapping your arms tightly around his waist, ensnaring his arms tight to his side. As soon you realized what you did, you were internally kicking yourself, moving to loosen your arms nearly as fast as you had put them there.

“Aaron I-”

Before you could finish your attempted apology, Aaron had pulled his arms from under yours and repositioned them around you, pulling you tightly against him. Your head naturally fit perfectly under his and you took in a deep breath, letting his scent surround you. It was cliche, but you both were thinking about how perfectly your bodies melded against each other.

You felt his hand rest gently on the back of your head, gently stroking down your hair in a steady rhythm. “I got you.” He whispered, so quiet you nearly didn’t hear it.

You pulled your head back so you could look up at him. “I’m scared.” You said, admitting it aloud for the first time.

Aaron was staring hard down at you, his face soft. “I know,” he started, moving a piece of hair away from your face, “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, okay?”

You nodded at that, missing his warmth when he started to pull away from you. He kept a protective hand on your lower back, guiding you towards the passenger seat. He opened the door and helped you in, gently shutting the door behind you. As soon as your door was shut he wasted no time in getting in the driver's seat, starting the car up again. With a quick check to make sure your seatbelt clicked was in, Aaron peeled out of the parking lot.

A few floors above the courtyard, in one of the private hotel rooms, a curtain was angrily thrown shut.

-----

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no permission is given to copy or republish my writing on any other platform or account. if you see this story outside of my blog or my ao3 it is stolen work. i do not own nor claim to own criminal minds or any of the character involved in it.

#aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x you #aaron hotchner/you #aaron hotchner/reader #self insert fic #'stori talks #in the stars #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfic

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