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that-gay-guy-from-hell · 4 months

Note

Can I request headcanons or a scenario for Reader (pick a gender, idc) giving V a handjob? Just holding him close, somewhere safe in some nice + safe bolt hole somewhere in Red Grave city, listening to him moan (and maybe talk? If he can talk while getting off) while Reader gets him off? Please, his voice is so pretty, he'd sound so nice 😍 And he deserves to feel good 💜

Lineaments of Gratified Desire: V x G/N Reader

Minors DNI; FOR 18+ ONLY!

Seriously, go away; go read some fluff or angst or something.

SUMMARY:

Despite V’s physical limitations and condition, the fragile man has saved you on more than one occasion from certain death. Today, you decided to repay his kind deeds.

BEGINNING NOTES:

Requested 10th June 2023 by Saiyanblood2 on Tumblr :))))

🛏️📔🛏️ Submissive V x G/N reader Fluff..? If you squint Smut Handjob; V receiving 📔🛏️📔 🟪Takes place during DMC 5 🟪The reader is a demon hunter who works with the DMC. 🟪The reader uses Gilgamesh and Revenant. 🟪Quick reminder that “sword” sizes are found in the character's H/C chapter (Linked here) 🟪I haven’t finished “Visions of V” yet (not very good at reading things and I haven’t had much time/motivation to do so no Vergil joke intended lmfao) but I’m like 99% sure that this conflicts with that, sorry. 🟪Yes, I know that jumping from a window you should do like a parachute roll or whatever it’s called; just let me have this lmao 🟪Bagheera is the name of the jaguar from “Jungle Book” which I’ve never seen, if I’m honest. But! I feel like Dante and Vergil would’ve seen it as kids since the movie was made in 1967 and they were born in 1980. (I use Bagheera in here and I figure I should explain it lol) 🟪Boxer briefs (as far as I am aware) usually have a zipper fly; so V’s do as well. 🟪This is my first time writing (and acknowledging) that I h/c V to have an uncut dick. It might be a bit rough; sorry. (Fun fact: I also h/c Vergil and Dante to also have uncut dicks lmao)

===

“So,” Nero mindlessly wandered around the interior of the van, waiting for Nico to finish her work, “You and V, huh?”

As you adjusted Gilgamesh’s gauntlets and furrowed your brow, responding without looking up, “What about V and me?”

Leaning against the inner wall of the van, Nero stuck his hand in his jeans pocket in an attempt to act casual, “You two a thing?”

“Wh-what?” A flustered expression adorned your features as you slowly panned up to meet Nero’s curious gaze.

“Come on,” he gave a playful smirk, leaning forward slightly, “You can--”

A loud southern-accented voice cut him off from the back of the van, “He an’ I got a bet if y’all are fuckin’ or not.”

“If we’re…” You slowly blinked, processing what was said, “V and I are not-” Putting your hands up, you shook your head, “We aren’t anything or doing anything.”

Nico clicked her tongue in disappointment while Nero pumped his fist with a quiet, “Yes!”

Rolling her eyes, Nico pulled a wad of cash from her back pocket, counting out what looked like ten dollars. Nero strolled over to her workbench, a smug grin plastered on his face. In an almost exaggerated manner, he snatched the money from her and tucked it in his duffle bag, which was neatly placed underneath the couch.

A squeak of the van door caught everyone’s attention, V looked around for a moment before his gaze fixated on you, “Pardon my late arrival, I was… busy.”

You smiled and took a few steps to stand closer to him, “It’s alright; it was nice having a break for a few minutes.”

Nero raised a brow, “You guys are already heading out?”

With a nod, you turned to address the pair, “Just a quick sweep of the next dozen or so blocks; we shouldn’t be long.”

“Uh-huh,” the white-haired man took a deep breath, shaking his head with a small smile, “You’re gonna burn yourself out again; gotta sleep at some point.”

He tossed you Revenant which you caught and slid in the holster on your lower back, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead. Besides,” you took a deep breath and sighed, “the city’s not gonna clear itself.”

Making a phone call motion with her hand, Nico spoke, “Keep in touch, hun.”

With a playful sarcastic wink you gave her double finger guns, “Will do babe,” the two of you shared a laugh before you addressed V, who, unbeknownst to you, hadn't stopped staring at you, “Ready?”

“Of course,” he pivoted around, opening and holding the door open, “I’ll follow your lead.”

With departing waves, you stepped out the door, V following suit. A warmth found its way to your face as you smiled as you walked side-by-side; a comforting silence settling between you. Despite only knowing V briefly, you had grown quite fond of the lithe man. The way he treated you and spoke to you was so different compared to the roughness of both Dante and Nero that it made his first meeting with you stick out like a sore thumb.

===

It had only been a week or so after the Qliphoth had appeared.

After only God knows how long, you had taken some vacation time and left the city. Upon hearing the news about the outbreak, you immediately turned around and put your holiday on hold. This wouldn't have been too big of a deal if not for the unbelievably high amount of military checkpoints you had to go through; re-explaining that you work as a devil hunter and your employer had been asked to help handle the situation. It was monotonous, to say the least.

Not to mention that Nico, Nero, and the client--whom you hadn't met yet--were on the complete opposite side of the city.

An exasperated sigh left your lips as you kicked a rock using Gilgamesh's boots. It had been nearly 72 hours since you'd slept, eaten, or had any sort of significant source of water. Exhausted didn't even come close to explaining how you felt.

Thankfully, life decided to throw you a bone and you stumbled upon a relatively un-damaged apartment complex. Not passing up the chance, you headed straight inside and cleared out the first and second floor: given it was only lower-level demons like Empusas. One of the second-floor rooms had a door still attached and a corpse-free bed. Quietly shutting the door, you flopped onto the bed.

Even with you sleeping with one eye open, you were jumped by a demon that you hadn't heard. It was a Nobody and by the time you got your arms up to block, it was too late to ground yourself. The demon smacked you out the room's window.

Landing on your feet, Gilgamesh took the brunt of the fall; however, it still sent a shocking pang of pain up your body. Crumpling over on yourself, you grumbled some obscenities before returning upright. Your eyes settled on a newly formed horde and you put your hands up, ready to fight.

The extent of your exhaustion was becoming evident as you threw sloppy punches and were only able to kick half as high as normal. Despite this, you still managed to clear the demons... or so you thought.

An icicle from a Baphomet nicked your bicep causing you to hiss in pain. Placing a gauntlet over the torn flesh, you spun around to see the demon which was floating right out in the open. Though it was a stupid move, you spirited straight at the icy demon, avoiding all manner of magical attacks.

Using Gilgamesh's saws on your boots, you sprung upwards and drilled up into its brain with the gauntlets; killing it. Smiling to yourself, you landed and shook the corpse from your hand.

Your hair stood on end and your expression fell.

Slowly pivoting around, you came face to face with a trio of Hell Judeccas. As you waited with bated breath for one of them to move, you felt the blood from your wound glide down and drip off your fingers. The Baphomet was a challenge enough right now; so this fight would most likely end poorly for you. Death was almost a guarantee and there wasn't even anyone around to see it.

Taking a deep breath, you took off towards the demons and dodged two sets of blades that were sent straight at you by sliding on your knees. Pulling Revenant from its place on your back, you shot at them, praying that you hit at least one. However, you weren't so lucky and they all moved or teleported out of the way.

Quickly getting to your feet, you readied for another attack when a strange cat-like snarl from behind you caught you off guard. The supposed source of the sound, a large black jaguar, darted passed you and attacked the opposing creatures.

Then a shrill cackle came from behind in the same direction, quickly approaching and flying over you, “Ha! Bagheera was right, I’ll be damned.”

Confusion set in as you watched with mouth slightly agape at the demons being shredded by, what you could only assume to be, more demons.

“ “The most sublime act is to set another before you. / If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.”.” A low sultry voice from behind you caught your attention, turning slightly; attempting to keep an eye on both the demons and the new voice.

“Who-?”

You froze, your already pounding heart picking up a few extra paces at the sight. Though Dante had called you and given you a small description of the newest client of (The) Devil May Cry, you hadn’t expected him to look like this.

He slowly walked past you, sliding the well-kept brown pleather and golden accented book into his, rather promiscuous, leather jacket. When you turned back around to face the demons, the amount of confusion you had only tripled. The two animals had taken care of the three Hell Judeccas, all looking oddly de-saturated and on the verge of death. The gaunt tattooed stranger, using his cane, swept up one of the large demon’s sets of blades and swung them around, slicing it in half. He repeated the action but was able to kill the final two in one combined swing.

All you could muster was a confused open-mouthed huff.

The large hawk addressed the raven-haired man, “Well that was fun.”

Rolling his eyes, the man sighed and turned his attention to the jaguar. The large cat had begun to creep up to you; not in a threatening way but rather, what appeared to be, a curious one.

Just as it got within an arm's length from you, the man placed his cane down using it to support himself, and simply said, “To me.”

Both animals returned to him and quickly disappeared into the man, causing more blackened ink to appear on his pallid skin.

“Are you alright?” His eyes focused on you.

“I-” You closed your eyes and rapidly shook your head, rationalizing that his animals weren't real, thinking it was caused by your delirious state, “I’m fine; thanks for the help.”

A warm smile pulled at his plush lips, “The boy asked me to keep an eye out for someone who looks an awful lot like you,” he gestured with his eyes down to Gilgamesh, “and would have that devil arm.”

You laughed softly, “Nero’s actually here, huh?”

“He is, however, we parted ways after stopping in that woman’s loud van.”

“Nico’s here too?” Shaking your head you looked down with raised brows, “Man, the whole crew’s out here.,” You looked back up, “What about Dante or the ladies? They out here too?”

His smile faded, “No, I’m afraid that they are more than likely dead at this point.”

“Dead? Surely you’re kidding.”

With a flat mouth, he broke his gaze away for a moment, “No. Sorry to relay such bitter news upon our first meeting.”

Grinding your teeth in thought and moving your jaw back and forth, you stood thinking for a moment, “So it’s just Nico, Nero, me, and--?”

“Call me V,” the lithe man took a few strides closer to you, standing comfortably close.

“So you are the client then?”

V nodded, “Yes, that is correct.”

“Man,” you gestured with one hand up and down his body, the other hand resting on your hip, “Wish we had customers like you more often,” for better or for worse, you spoke your mind, “cause damn you’re-- wow.”

He looked down, hiding the slight pink on his face at the comment, and laughed, “You’re much more blunt than the others led me to believe.”

A wide smile stretched across your face, emphasizing the bags under your bloodshot eyes, which V finally noted, “Just callin’ it like I see it, V.”

“May I do the same?”

Putting your arms up, you cracked your shoulders as you responded, “Sure.”

“You need rest.”

Putting your arms down with a heavy sigh, “It’s that obvious, huh?”

V laughed slightly, “Just calling it as I see it,” slowly, he began to walk back the way he’d come from, “We aren’t far from Nico, I'm sure you could rest up there.”

Happily, you turned to follow him, “I’ll follow your lead.”

===

“What’s with that expression Wanderer?” V raised a brow, his voice pulling you from your thoughts.

“Oh!” With an embarrassed smile, you placed a hand on the back of your neck, “Just got lost in thought, sorry.”

“May I ask what you were thinking so intensely about?” He shifted slightly, allowing Shadow to take a break from traveling, and began supporting himself with his cane causing the two of you to move slower.

“Just thinking about our first time, that’s all.”

A breathy sultry laugh left his lips, “ Our first time? Well now, I didn’t take you to be such a bold flirt today.”

“Wh-huh?” Replaying the conversation, your eyes went wide and you turned to him, doing your best to not trip as you continued walking, “No no- I didn’t-- that wasn’t-”

V laughed again, eyeing you up and down from the corner of his eye with a smirk, “Right, pardon my assumption.”

You stared with parted lips momentarily before returning to face the correct way, lips pursed and cheeks unbearably hot. Nervousness settled like a brick in your gut as you watched the ground in front of you, causing you to miss the fact V was staring at you with half-lidded eyes.

Mindlessly playing with his teeth with his tongue, he debated whether to tease you any further about what was said; ultimately he decided to drop it. In truth, however, the lithe man was a bit disappointed that you weren’t thinking about the idea of being with him as he had thought about many times before. V felt almost guilty about the intense lust he felt for you.

The raven-haired poet was unquestionably, unfathomably, undeniably, in love with you--even if he has only known you for a short time. V was certain that he wanted to be with you for the rest of this lifetime and, what could be argued to be, his next; in whatever way you’d have him. Whether it was just as colleagues, friends, or lovers; it didn’t matter, he needed you in his life.

His grip tightened on his cane, realizing that Vergil may end up pushing you away, despite the pronounced dependency on you. You were like a rich dark sweet wine that he was unable to put down and wanted to do nothing but sip upon you till the end of time itself. A low sigh left his nose, secretly praying that he was wrong about how things would be when all was said and done.

“V?” Your voice was quiet as you adjusted Gilgamesh for the umpteenth time, “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” he straightened upright, holding the cane horizontally, gloved fingers wrapping around the blade.

“When this is all over, could we…” You paused for a moment, “stay in contact?”

“Do you want to?”

Sheepishly, you nodded.

V smirked, “Then of course we can.”

Your eyes flicked up to meet his unwavering gaze, smiling brightly at him, “Thanks.”

“Perhaps, if you’d like, we could consider some other things as well.”

“O-other things?” A shake had found its way to your words as you waited with bated breath for his answer.

However, he didn’t answer, instead, he gave a low chuckle and turned his gaze from you, gesturing with his cane, “It seems we have work to do,” he put the metal back down and leaned on it again.

A heavy sigh left your lips and, without a second thought, you took off toward the horde.

Not hearing V calling out for you to stop.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw fast almost unplaceable movement. Although you went to bring your gauntlets up as fast as possible, you were unable to make the time gap. Except when you opened your eyes, instead of a big demon skewering you through your middle, you were on your ass and V was lying on top of you. His arms wrapped around your hips with his face right underneath your navel, face down and breathing heavily.

Before you could ask, a familiar squawking voice chimed in, “Aw, how romantic; Romeo can sure as hell hustle when he needs to,” the bird let out a laugh.

A snarl left Shadow’s maw, seemingly annoyed at the lack of help from Griffon.

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m on it,” Griffon returned to the fight, leaving you to assist V up.

Slowly, he picked his head up enough to look at you, emerald eyes holding a heavy unplaceable emotion. Heat quickly filled your face at the realization of the position you were in which didn’t go unnoticed by the raven-haired man. Without moving too much, V snapped his fingers causing his hair to go white and the last of his tattoos to dissipate.

“Are you alright?” You propped yourself up with one arm and used the other to cautiously tuck his hair back, resting an armoured palm on his cheek.

“Mmn,” he paused in thought, enjoying the feeling of your touch, “If you are then I am.”

A corner of your mouth twitched up slightly, “I’m alright; thank you.”

He took a deep breath in response, resisting the urge to place his face back down against your abdomen. Though all good things come to an end he knew he had to get up. With a grunt, he pushed up and sat up in a kneel, one knee up for him to push off of. However, you were quick to your feet and offered a hand instead, which he graciously accepted.

“I’ve got this,” you squeezed his hand before letting go, “Don’t worry about it.”

Not giving him time to banter or reject your offer, you took off and finished off whatever half-dead demons were strewn about.

It didn’t take long for the horde to disappear into nothing but blood and gore. Admittedly, V always enjoys watching you work--especially with hand-to-hand weapons. Whether it is a holdover from Vergil’s distaste for guns or if it is because of the innate sensual nature of the style; he couldn’t help but find it arousing. The way you seemed to show off for him was just a cherry on top.

There was something in the way you pranced around that he couldn’t help but be mesmerized by. With all of this considered, V was struggling to not become visibly excited and, much to his dismay, was starting to lose the fight.

Once the demons were dead, you waltzed over to V and carefully grabbed his arm, tugging slightly, “Come with me.”

“Is something the matter, Wanderer?” The lithe man’s hair returned to its dark shade as Nightmare faded from sight.

You shook your head, flashing him a closed-eye smile, “Nope; just trust me, V.”

He swallowed hard and nodded, “Very well, lead on.”

A confused tilt adorned his brow as he tried to piece together what you were doing-- or planning. It wasn’t long before the two of you reached the destination you wanted, a mostly intact hotel.

“Could you leave Griffon and Shadow out here, please?” You turned to him, stopping in front of the entrance.

His gaze thinned, “May I ask why?”

“Last time I went into one of these, I got attacked and thrown out a two-story window,” you gave him a falsely doe-eyed smile, “Figure they could be our lookout for a little bit--just until we’re done.”

V wanted to push for a better answer, knowing that made no sense; however, his curiosity got the better of him and, deciding to play along, summoned both familiars.

“Stay here, we will be back shortly-”

Griffon immediately turned to you, laughing with a slightly impudent attitude to his words, “Be careful with him, don’t need him dying of a heart attack-”

You laughed, cutting the bird off, “I’ll take care of him; I promise.”

With that, the two of you disappeared into the building.

“I’m going to scout ahead a bit; okay?” You let go of his arm, making V ever-so-slightly frown.

“Sure.”

As you went on, V’s eyes quickly drifted to your hips. Lewd thoughts echoed in his mind as he watched you seemingly bounce down the hall, peeking into each room with just the right amount of lean forwards so that he got a perfect view of your body. Each stride of yours had this certain flaunting nature to it as if you were purposefully taunting him.

Reaching the final room on the first floor, you decided to head in. Though no one else was aware, you’d already surveyed this building earlier and cleared out every demon within; meaning only small fries--like Empusas--would be here, if at all. This room was the closest to normal there was, having almost zero damage.

The room was relatively large; the bathroom was to the left of the doorway and the rest of the room to the right. The bedding was still neatly tucked, the faucet still ran, and there was even a radio with quite an array of classical CDs.

You made your way over to said radio with a hum, bending over at the waist to rummage through the music.

V joined you in the room, looking around in slight confusion before his gaze settled on you again. A sway had found its way to your hips and, despite your flustered and nervous feeling, you smirked. You knew he was looking at you; confirming your hunch about his oddly vague words.

Eventually settling on a random assortment of Tchaikovsky's work, you slowly stood upright and placed the disc in the player with a half-surprised laugh at the fact it still worked. When you turned around, a wide-eyed stare was all you could give to V, who was shifting awkwardly and avoiding your eyes. Though you’d hope some light teasing would get him in the mood, you hadn’t expected him to get so hard so quickly.

Without a word to him, you slipped past him and into the bathroom. Carefully, you placed Gilgamesh’s gauntlets and Revenant on the countertop then washed your hands, using the soap left in the dispenser. Returning to the room while drying your hands, you meandered toward the extremely confused horny goth.

As you discarded the towel, V finally spoke up, “Wanderer, what are we doing here?”

“Well,” you gently grabbed the open of his jacket, a hand on each side, thumbing over the black leather, “After how many times you’ve saved me, I figure that it’s about time you get a reward.”

His eyes flicked all around your face then down to your forearms, resting his cane against a nearby wall. Cautiously, V snaked his arms around your back and pulled you tight to him, “A reward ?”

“Yeah,” you leaned closer and placed your nose beside his, lips just barely apart, speaking with a whisper, “If you’re interested…”

Closing the gap, V leaned into you for both support and to deepen the kiss. An icy hand slid up your back, gracefully dancing across your still-clothed skin, and came to rest on the back of your neck. Your hands slid down his sides, coming to rest at his belt line, hooking your forefingers into the loops of his ever-tightening skinny jeans.

Switching to long drawn-out heated kisses, V squirmed under your touch as he felt you pull his hips into yours. Breaking away for a moment, the two of you stayed close, breathing heavily in content. A smirk pulled at his lips as he moved to kiss your up jawline, taking his time, making his way to your earlobe, tugging on it with a bite.

V rested with the side of his face against yours. The hand from your neck made its way to your upper back and, mindlessly, the thin man began to sway with you, enjoying the music and relaxing in the moment. You could feel his heart racing from just his chest resting against yours; no wonder Griffon gave you shit about V having a heart attack.

Bit by bit your hands left his jeans and went to his corset, undoing the already loose strings further. Taking the hint, V let go of you and removed his jacket then his corset; being tossed onto the bed and floor, respectively. A small huffed moan left his lips as he watched your hands grope up and down his torso.

“Wanderer…” His voice was low, but brimming with an unmistakable lust.

Resting your hands on the sides of his hips, you stood for a moment. A smirk tugged at your lips as you watched his chest rise and fall with each breath. Leaning closer, you placed a kiss at the crook of his shoulder, followed by a soft bite. V submissively tilted his head away from you, giving you more access to his neck. A smile tugged at your lips as you placed tender kisses, and the occasional bite, along his cold skin. A hand slid to the front of his jeans, finally, your touch wasn’t to just tease him.

V placed his hands on your sides, holding you closer, pursed lips hiding a groan that hung in the back of his throat. Though he knows it’s a bit pathetic, just feeling your hand against his cock was proving to be somewhat of a challenge for the inexperienced man to not prematurely finish.

Using both hands, you went to remove his belt, before stopping. V’s swaying had become much more pronounced--not having a means of support other than you.

You whispered against his neck, “Why don’t we sit down, hm?”

V, much to your surprise, seemed to stumble over his thoughts, “Any par- particular position?”

Fully leaning back, you grabbed his hand and guided him to the bed, “Get up here-- do you need help?”

He gave a nasally laugh, “No, I am alright,” he crawled up onto the bed, kneeling with his knees both on the bed, “Now what?”

Without answering, you climbed atop the mattress as well, sitting with your back nearly against the headboard, and patted your thighs. Understanding what you wanted, V sat on your lap facing you, wrapping his legs behind you.

“You’re beautiful, V,” reaching up, you moved a strand of hair from the front of his face, tucking it behind his ear, and leaned in close, speaking right above his lips, “So very beautiful.”

The gap quickly closed between you and V’s hands cupped your jaw, thumbs rubbing against your cheeks. Your hands went back to work on his belt, making him shift slightly. Feeling that you had the belt fully undone, his lips left yours, and he moved back just enough to look you in the eyes. With kiss-swollen lips slightly agape, V swallowed hard as he heard you unbutton his jeans.

Slowly, methodically, you unzipped the fly on his jeans, making sure to note every little micro-movement V made. This had been something you’d wanted for a long time and you were going to make sure to enjoy every last bit. When you finally broke from his gaze to look down, you raised a brow.

Nervousness pooling in his gut, V noticed your expression, “Is- is something wrong, love?”

A wide smile tugged at your lips, “No- not at all,” trying to hold back a laugh you looked back up at him, “It's just, with the rest of your outfit, I honestly expected you to be wearing a thong or g-string; not boxer briefs.”

V let out a laugh of relief, “I see; I-” A stifled moan cut his words short.

Resting your hand on the inner side of his thigh, you started to slowly run the side of your thumb up and down his bulge.

Heavy exhales left his nose as he watched your hand and he moved his hands to the outsides of your shoulders.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw V’s coat on the bed and got a wicked idea, “You know V,” your motions slowed even further causing him to let out a small huff of disappointment, “I really like your voice…”

His brow twitched slightly, attempting to figure out what you had in store, “Is that right?”

Carefully, you reached over to his jacket, grabbed his book from an inner pocket, and then handed it to him, “Why don’t you read me something, hm?”

“Is there a particular poem you’d like?” The prized item was held between you both, the top of it resting gently against your chest.

You shook your head, “Whatever you think fits best.”

As he flipped through the book, you resumed your touch. With eyes trained on his crotch, you unzipped the boxer’s fly and heard his page-turning falter slightly. Slipping his cock out into the open air, V let out a small moan, a page pinned between his forefinger and thumb.

“Now, now, V.” You looked up at him from the tops of your eyes, “You stop, I stop; got it?”

He pursed his lips and then nodded, continuing with his search. There was a visible shake to his hands as he did his best to play along. Ghosting your fingers along his shaft, you noticed that he had pre-cum already dribbling from his tip and he was heavily twitching; apparently, he was much more sensitive than you’d expected.

Rolling his foreskin back slightly, you thumbed over his tip. His page-turning had stopped again, and you hummed slightly, “Find one?”

With a slightly strained voice, he nodded, “Y-yes, I,” he moaned as you lightly wrapped a hand around his shaft, closing his eyes he continued, “I found something suitable.”

“Good,” you brought your thumb to your lips and put it in your mouth, cleaning the digit, “The floor is yours,” V’s eyes flicked to you, watching you mindlessly roll your tongue over your lips, and his blush deepened tenfold.

A shaky breath left his mouth as he focused on the page before him, “ “What is it men in women do require? / The l-lineaments of Gratified Desire.”.”

Spitting into your palm, you once again wrapped a hand around his shaft. With slow lazy pumps, you noted the feeling of his cock in your hand. Eyes flicking between his face and dick.

V’s brow twitched as he let out a hissing groan, “ “Wh-what is it women do in men require? / The lineaments of Gr-gratified Desire.”,” The raven-haired man’s hips unintentionally jerked slightly at the feeling of you putting your forefinger and thumb tips together, encircling his cock, and gently pulling up on his tip.

He hunched forwards slightly, his hair falling in front of his eyes, “ “The look of love alarms / Because ’tis f-fill’d with fire; / But the look of s-soft de-deceit- / Shall Win the love-lover’s hire” Ngh-ah~” The fragile man’s legs constricted your middle ever tighter with each passing moment. Returning to stroking his entire length, you slowed down; not wanting him to finish quite yet.

Lips trembling, he continued, “ “S-soft Deceit & Idleness, / These ar-are Beauty’s sweetest dress. He--”

A sustained groan left his lips as he leaned forwards even more, placing the top of his head against your lips, which you placed a loving kiss upon, “ “He who binds to himself a- a joy / Dot the winged life d-destroy;”.”

V bucked his hips slightly upwards, desperate for more friction, speaking with a whimpering moan, “Please, Wanderer, I can’t-”

Whispering against him, you slowed your motions even further, “You’re almost done, my love… finish it for me; please?”

Taking a stuttering inhale through his nose and low breathy exhale from his mouth, he licked his lips before continuing, “ “But he who ki-kisses the joy as it flies / Live in Eternity’s sun-sunrise.” Ah-ah~”

Quickening your hand even faster than before, you placed another elongated kiss against his hair, “Good boy.”

Tossing the book from his hands V sat upright. Icy fingers wrapped around the back of your neck and gripped the side of your shoulder. The raven-haired man began to thrust his hips into your hand, practically riding your thighs.

You smirked and leaned in to place kisses on his collarbones, “I love you, V.”

“I- Uh-ah~,” another loud noise came from the man as he felt you add you use his pre to slick his cock even more, “I love you too, Wanderer.”

You upturned your face slightly, kissing his throat up to the underside of his jaw, a confident purr to your words, “You gonna cum for me, V~?”

The frantic shifting of his hands to cup the sides of your face gave you your answer. V guided your face up to his and placed his forehead against yours.

“Please,” his voice was soft and pleading, his mind a hazy lust-filled mess that was unable to come up with any other words.

Upon using one hand to stroke him and the other to play with his tip, you felt his thigh muscles tighten and his fingers dig into you. He pushed his lips onto yours, kissing you as if he were never going to be able to again. His hands wandered down your body, groping at your clothes.

Balling up your shirt in his hands from his grip, he broke off the kiss, a string of saliva connecting you momentarily. The skinny man leaned back and arched his body into yours.

He let out a final full-mouthed moan and bucked his hips one last time as his body tensed.

Warm silky white fluid decorated your hands as you slowly rode out his orgasm. A feeling of pride filled your heart as you made sure to etch the sight before you into your mind.

V’s skin had completely lost all of the inky patches and his chest was heaving. With how far he arched back, you could see the underside of his ribs and the prominent hip dips on each side. You watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he audibly swallowed a few times.

After a moment, he leaned back towards you.

Ghostly white hair fell in front of his flushed features as V’s eyes met yours. A small smile found its way to his lips and the two of you shared one more kiss. This time, however, it wasn’t lustful but a sweet loving gesture. With slow long kisses, V placed a forefinger under your jaw. Upon breaking away, you both shared a breathy satisfied huff and he slid his hand to cup your cheek, thumbing over your skin.

“So,” you relaxed into his touch, “Are we getting attacked or something?” His brow twitched in confusion, “Your hair.”

“Did I really..?” he leaned away and focused on the strands in front of his eyes which were slowly returning to black, “That’s… I didn’t know that would happen; how strange.”

You removed your hands and looked at them, a slight playful teasing to your voice, “Little pent up there V?”

Although you weren’t complaining, V had cum quite a lot harder than you’d expected and made a mess between both of you.

With an embarrassed laugh, he turned from your gaze, and rested his hands on his thighs, “Perhaps it is because you are so important to me…” V didn’t want to admit that he hadn’t even tried to masturbate while in this form--not to mention that Vergil hadn’t done anything like that in over twenty years.

Humming quietly along to the long-forgotten music, you brought your hand up to your mouth and cleaned it off. V’s eyes immediately flicked to you and he stared at you wide-eyed. Slowly, your eyes drifted to his as you continued.

When you went to give your other, less coated hand, the same treatment, you noticed something else and raised your brows in surprise, “That was a quick turnaround.”

The tattooed man looked down and then back at you, “It’s not my fault you are so… appealing to me,” once more, he leaned his forehead against yours, “Wanderer.”

“Mnm, well then,” you placed a long kiss against his lips, biting his lower lip after, “Guess my work isn’t done then, hm?”

“Your work?” V backed away and removed his legs from your waist, running a hand down your middle, resting it just above your hip line, “If it’s all the same to you, this time, I’d much rather be the one to play.”

===

ENDING NOTES: Not me having no clue how to end this lmfao 🛏️📔🛏️ Been a long time since I’ve tried to write V lol I really should write him more Also hope that this was close enough to the request. I just kind of ran with the flow so it’s not exactly the same--the poem reading isn’t really what was asked but I figured it was close enough. Another thing, sorry for the improper dividing of dialogue trees when V’s reading. It was too chaotic for me to feel comfortable leaving in one chunk (which is technically what I should’ve done since it was only V talking) sorry lol Also if you are into like video edit shit, I’ve been re-watching one from “V’s Love” on YouTube titled “V | Slow Down | DMC 5 GMV”. Give it a watch- seriously it’s fans myself gayly oh boy. 📔🛏️📔 Poem(s) Quoted: William Blake: Proverbs of Hell William Blake: Several Questions Answered (full version)

If you like what you read here; please check out the rest of my one-shots on AO3. Comments, reshares, and likes/kudos are appreciated!! Thanks for reading!

MASTER LIST FOR TUMBLR

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voxofthevoid · 2 months

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April Anniversary Final List

I've compiled the 15 fics/ideas you guys picked in response to this post into a detailed list (under the cut). The numbers (51, 43, etc.) are now obsolete because I've added another idea to the list—yes, the total is 94 now, 77 untouched—and plan to keep doing it, which will alter the numbers owing to the way they're organized by ship(s). The doc will stay publicly available (...though I should really go through it and fix all the typos and errors).

Like I said in the OG post, I want to write a scene of approximately 1k for each of these. That's easy enough, usually, but I also want these to be coherent, standalone scenes—connected to the overall fic 'verse, yes, but a self-contained short story nonetheless. And we all know that's not my forte. So, yeah, it's gonna be a hell of a challenge.

These WIPs are not getting struck from my list once I'm done though. I'll be poking at them later, the way I do now—one at a time, until I'm out of the fandom.

Also, the usual disclaimer: If health/IRL fuckery pops up, I'll postpone or cancel the project. Hoping that won't happen, but you never know.

#1. 51 @nearalways

Canonverse pet play featuring a developing relationship, in which Yuuji jokingly says Gojou’s like a puppy and Gojou takes it and runs with it. Yuuji discovers the dubious joys of pet ownership.

#2. 43 @naeldeus

Satoru and her bigass tits single-handedly turn Yuuji from an ass woman into a chest woman, and Satoru’s reaction to Yuuji staring at her tits is to basically smother Yuuji in them in the guise of a hug. It escalates predictably.

#3. 31 @fluffys-nightmare

Yuuji makes a binding vow with the Angel to let her kill him and Sukuna after Gojou’s unsealed, except it doesn’t go as planned and the end result is Yuuji and Sukuna completely merged.

#4. 55 @laughing-sock

A curse user’s failed technique leaves Yuuji with a plush-like replica of Gojou, which Gojou lets him keep. It’s harmless until Yuuji accidentally activates a connection between the doll and Gojou.

#5. 36 (anon)

Sukuna kills the Angel so they can’t unseal Gojou. Teen!Gojou drops into the timeline and retrieves the PR, but they can’t open it. Yuuji has complicated emotional sex with teen!Gojou and spends every spare hour gazing plaintively at the PR. Teen!Gojou is in it mostly for the sex at first, except that doesn’t last.

#6. 45 (anon)

Post-canon where defeating Sukuna still leaves Yuuji with all his loved ones dead. He’s trying to busy himself by helping rebuild society when a new 6E+Limitless user is born, named “Satoru” to honor the last one, and a few years later, the Gojou clan asks for him to be the kid’s bodyguard.

#7. 71 (anon)

Gojou dubcons Megumi in his dorm room while mocking him about his crush on Yuuji, and when Yuuji bursts in after hearing concerning noises, Gojou offers Megumi to him.

#8. 67 @yaoshifollower

Canonverse breakup-makeup AU in a no-Shibuya context, spanning the time from Yuuji’s first year to his early-mid twenties. The sukuita parts are hatesex culminating in cannibalism; goyuu is the endgame.

#9. 03 @lo-55

Gojou tries to seduce Yuuji by rapebaiting him—sleeping on and near him in provocative clothing. Yuuji resists until he doesn’t.

#10. 73 (anon)

Yuuji semi-accidentally seduces Higuruma after their fight in the Culling Games, and during the one-month time skip after Gojou’s unsealed, he manages to semi-accidentally romance both men to the point of inevitable heartache.

#11. 74 @kubo-chan

Pre-canon where Kenjaku pays their favorite child a few in-person visits, finds that Yuuji’s body is rejecting Sukuna’s fingers, and lets their scientific curiosity run a little wilder than usual. Years later, Gojou finds Yuuji while investigating unusual curse activity.

#12. 08 @cunt-recesses

Omegaverse-canonverse alpha/alpha where 20-something Gojou adopts Yuuji, who was being raised by a Sukuna-focused cult.

#13. 50 @zalondra

Omegaverse-canonverse alpha/alpha where becoming Sukuna’s vessel triggers Yuuji’s rut early, a couple of days after he’s accepted into Jujutsu Tech, and since the higher-ups aren’t willing to risk Sukuna’s vessel losing control during that hormonal mess, Gojou volunteers to help him through it.

#14. 42 (anon)

Someone makes the mistake of letting Gojou teach sex-ed to the first-years. It’s a pretty typical class for Nobara and Megumi, but Yuuji's living a different porn scenario every week.

#15. 24 (anon)

Sukuna–Yuuji role reversal where Yuuji’s more interested in his vessel’s teacher than the vessel himself, and Gojou gets too much of a thrill from playing with fire.

#vox unhinged #i've picked the scenes for each one #will probably start in march #alongside the shibuya swap

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starlling-writes · 2 years

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Grimm x Pearl Fanfic WIP

Okay so... because I don't know how long it's going to take me to actually write this full fic, I've decided to post my progress so anyone who wants to can read it as I work, instead of waiting for it to be fully done. (This also will help me to be able to work on writing this while I'm away from home/my computer.)

Because I DO plan on posting this fic properly once it's all done, I'm not going to allow reblogs of this post. I'll keep a running list above the cut of when I make updates to this post, that way it's easy to tell when there is new content. Lastly, I don't think I'll do much, if any, proof-reading/editing of this fic until it's fully done, so there will likely be typos and some changes when the final fic is released. Until then—enjoy!

Updates:

June 10 : part of ch2 added

June 12 : all of ch2 added, first paragraph of ch3

June 15 : more of ch3

June 22 : second half of ch3

June 30 : corrected Grimm's rules at the end of ch3, bit of ch4, & some outline stuff (b/c writing has been tough lately but I wanna share something)

July 26 : bit of ch4, removed outline from last update

July 29 : almost all of ch4 (Word has been acting up lately for me so, to make sure I don't lose anything, I'm updating again now instead of when I fully finish ch4 like I first wanted)

Aug 7 : some missing bits from ch4 & start of ch5. Also, I realized the first chunk of ch4 was a bit wonky from a copy/paste error, so that all should be fixed now.

Sept 8 : missing scene from ch4, and the second half of ch5

~ I do have an idea for the Title, but I don't want to share that yet :P

Synopsis

The Universe has a funny way of working sometimes. Pearl couldn’t see how the Universe kept insisting that, despite being jobless and weeks away from being homeless, things were perfectly fine and she was on the right track. And it didn’t feel helpful when her oracle cards clarified to let Death help guide her. Specifically, a Death-Head. And, in a way that only the Universe would find amusing, it was specifically the Death-Head most known for murder and torture in the North. A small quick prayer led to an accidental run-in, led to a deal that would change everything for Pearl. And for the Death-Head, Grimm, that accepted her request.

— CH 1 —

Pearl felt lost in a freefall.

The Death-Head deal was made, and she knew there was a near-guarantee it would be fulfilled in time for her to keep her apartment. But the unease of what she’ll have to eventually pay Grimm haunted like a shadow. In the day following their first meeting, she thought about canceling it. The only thing stopping her was the bright red number of her bank account. She needed money. She didn’t want to have to admit defeat, to move back home so soon.

She yelled out, jumping up off her bed and striking a determined pose. “This will work out!” she affirmed to herself. She had to push aside all the little things making her worry, and trust.

Trust in a Death-Head.

Alarming on cue, her phone rang. It was him.

“You have an interview tomorrow morning at ten,” he told her with no preamble. “I’ll send you the address. Do you have a suitable wardrobe for office work?”

“I have a couple outfits, maybe,” Pearl admitted. “I’ve had to sell a fair bit of stuff to try to stay above my debts, but I should still have at least one outfit.”

He was silent for a moment. “Hmm, alright. If your interview goes well tomorrow, we’ll need to go shopping for some more.”

We? First lunch with a Death-Head and now shopping together? Pearl’s life certainly took an absurd turn. She withheld a sigh. Then a thought occurred to her. “So what is the job for? Where would I be working?”

“Deah-Head Headquarters.”

Pearl nearly dropped her phone. “Death-Head… Headquarters?” The squeak in her voice betrayed her surprise and unease.

“Is that a problem?”

Now it was Pearl’s turn to be silent for a while. She had no idea what kind of office work Death-Heads required. Would she need to paint her face, too, if she got the job? Pearl touched her cheek. Working so close to Death-Heads… could she stomach it? Should she try to fail the interview on purpose? Sure, she was desperate for a job. But this desperate?

Pearl put her back against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor. She covered her mouth to mute her quickening breaths. Panic was taking over. It wasn’t too late to back out of the deal, but could she really afford it?

“Take a slow, deep breath,” Grimm said gently over the phone. His omniscient recognition of her panic attack sent a jolt through her, disrupting it. She did as he said. “Again.”

When he was just a voice, it was easy to forget what he was. And he had a really nice voice. It took a few minutes, but Pearl calmed down again. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize.” His voice was still so gentle. “You have a lot of questions.”

“Yeah,” she said meekly.

“Hmm. Would you prefer to discuss them over the phone, or in person?”

“You wouldn’t happen to be available for a deal?”

The words escaped Pearl’s lips before she had a chance to second-guess herself. If the cards were urging her towards this path, it was worth the risk. Right?

Grimm looked at her for a hard moment. She didn’t appear to be the type he’d normally take requests from. He’d either be surprised by her, or he’d hand her off to someone else—she sure looked serious enough to make a request. “Hmm, alright. Let’s go have a chat.”

He led the way through the small, shopping strip to a café. He claimed one of the outdoor tables and motioned for Pearl to join him. She sat rigidly, contrasting his casual demeanor. “What do you want?” he asked.

“Oh. Getting right to it.” Now to put her request into words. How specific did she need to be with this? Pearl barely knew anything about Death-Head deals; did they often try to find loopholes in wording, and mess with wordplay for their benefit? She should’ve thought about this more before approaching a Death-Head. “I’m in need of a job. I moved to Lywood not long ago and I haven’t—”

He raised his hand, palm out, gesturing for her to stop. “I meant from the menu. It’s my treat for bumping into you. We can talk work after.”

“Oh.” This… this wasn’t what she was expecting from a Death-Head. If it wasn’t for his makeup, he’d be just another polite man. It muddled her opinions of him.

She took a menu from the centerpiece and gave it a look. A waiter came over shortly after. They set a drink in front of Grimm—he must be a regular here—then asked if Pearl was ready. Deciding quickly, she ordered a macchiato and a chocolate croissant. There had been other tantalizing options, but she kept it small and simple, not wanting to overstep his hospitality.

Once her food was delivered, he started talking. “So, your request is to find you a job, hmm?”

“Basically,” she said solemnly. “I moved here hoping Lywood would be better for me; but so far it’s just been slowly whittling me to nothing. I’ve tried so much, but everything seems against me. Even the guidance from my oracle cards is starting to feel mocking. Hell—it’s because of them that I’m even here talking with you.”

“Hmm?” That got him curious.

She bristled. Did she really just admit that to him? Too late now. She sighed to herself as she fished her cards out of her pocket—it was a little comfort to carry them with her sometimes. She flipped over the top card, revealing Death. “Usually it represents change—a figurative death. Rarely it means a literal one. But right now, it seems to mean you.”

“You trust in your oracle skills that much?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly at him. “Yes,” she said with a bite.

He held up his hands up defensively. “Apologies. I didn’t mean to offend or diminish.” He took a slow drink, stealing the moment to ponder. He glanced between the cards and Pearl. There was something about her, and her situation, that piqued his curiosity. “Do you give readings to others?”

“Not usually? I divine well enough for myself. Most others tend to want more insight than I can usually see. Were you suggesting I become a professional oracle?”

“Hm, no.” He pulled out some money and slid it towards her. “Give me a reading.”

“Huh?” Wasn’t she supposed to be hiring, and paying, him? He… this was not how she thought a Death-Head would be. Was he trying to not scare her out of a deal? Was he trying to make her feel more comfortable so she’d ask for more—so he could ask for more? This felt too odd. “Why?”

He shrugged. “Depending on the cards, I’ll either take your case or recommend someone else.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

Setting aside how bizarre this all was, Pearl picked up her cards and started shuffling. “What do you want to ask the cards? You don’t have to say it aloud; just concentrate on it. And don’t half-ass this! The cards will know if you’re insincere in your request.”

He scoffs. “I don’t half-ass anything.”

It was unnerving, the coldness that crept through his words. She closed her eyes and focused on the cards, imploring them to give him the guidance he sought. Pearl did her best to not channel any of her own desires into the shuffle. But this needed to go well. Whether the outcome resulted in her working with this Death-Head or another, she needed this to work out.

The cards called her to stop. She splayed them out in a row on the table. “Pick.”

“How many?”

“However many you feel you need to.”

Grimm looked over the cards carefully. He could count on one hand the times he sought out an oracle’s guidance. Not because he distrusted or disbelieved their abilities. Just the opposite. The foresight of oracles was a powerful force—one he dared not abuse or take for granted. He pulled a sing card. The Sun.

“Well that’s a good sign,” Pearl reflexively said. She reached over and traced her fingers along the card’s imagery, taking a moment to decipher the correlation between its meanings and Grimm’s question. “The Sun is a very favorable card. Even when inverted, it still often signifies success and happiness and such—though it’s direct for you, so there’s no muted energies, delays, or back steps.”

“Back steps?”

She paused. How to explain in simple terms? “Anyone in divination will tell you that most of it is intuition based and not a firm standard of meanings. Well, one way that inverted interpretations were taught to me is that sometimes it means you have to step back to the previous card in deck and learn something from it before progressing—for The Sun, that would mean The Moon.”

“I see.”

“But again, The Sun is direct for you, so you don’t need to worry about any of that,” she brushed off. She cleared her throat and refocused on the reading. “As it stands, the situation regarding your question looks prosperous and beneficial. It’s a good sign to continue forward. Though don’t take that as a free-ride; you still need to keep up your end in order to reap the benefits.” He hummed to himself as he mulled over her words. As the silence lengthened, making her grow more uneasy by his lack of reaction, she added, “You can pull some more cards for clarity, if you’d like.”

He waved his hand dismissively, his rings catching the light. “No need. I’ll take your request, so let’s talk in more detail.”

Two emotions clashed within Pearl. On one hand, she was glad to be moving forward with her situation, relieved to know that she will soon have an income. But on the other hand… was the good tidings she just foretold to him in regards to this deal? Did The Sun, facing inverted from her perspective, actually mean the setting of her good fortune rising onto him?

She wouldn’t realize it unless she looked back on this moment months from now, but the cards were indeed giving guidance to them both; if only Pearl hadn’t clung to the negative—and highly absurd—interpretation, and instead reflected on her own words.

— CH 2 —

Pearl felt lost in a freefall.

She yelled out, jumping up off her bed and striking a determined pose. “This will work out!” she affirmed to herself. She had to push aside all the little things making her worry, and trust.

Trust in a Death-Head.

Alarming on cue, her phone rang. It was him.

“You have an interview tomorrow morning at ten,” he told her with no preamble. “I’ll send you the address. Do you have a suitable wardrobe for office work?”

“I have a couple outfits, maybe,” Pearl admitted. “I’ve had to sell a fair bit of stuff to try to stay above my debts, but I should still have at least one outfit.”

He was silent for a moment. “Hmm, alright. If your interview goes well tomorrow, we’ll need to go shopping for some more.”

“Deah-Head Headquarters.”

Pearl nearly dropped her phone. “Death-Head… Headquarters?” The squeak in her voice betrayed her surprise and unease.

“Is that a problem?”

“Take a slow, deep breath,” Grimm said gently over the phone. His omniscient recognition of her panic attack sent a jolt through her, disrupting it. She did as he said. “Again.”

When he was just a voice, it was easy to forget what he was. And he had a really nice voice. It took a few minutes, but Pearl calmed down again. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize.” His voice was still so gentle. “You have a lot of questions.”

“Yeah,” she said meekly.

“Would you prefer to discuss them over the phone, or in person?”

Pearl felt lost in a freefall.

She yelled out, jumping up off her bed and striking a determined pose. “This will work out!” she affirmed to herself. She had to push aside all the little things making her worry, and trust.

Trust in a Death-Head.

Alarming on cue, her phone rang. It was him.

“You have an interview tomorrow morning at ten,” he told her with no preamble. “I’ll send you the address. Do you have a suitable wardrobe for office work?”

“I have a couple outfits, maybe,” Pearl admitted. “I’ve had to sell a fair bit of stuff to try to stay above my debts, but I should still have at least one outfit.”

He was silent for a moment. “Hmm, alright. If your interview goes well tomorrow, we’ll need to go shopping for some more.”

“Deah-Head Headquarters.”

Pearl nearly dropped her phone. “Death-Head… Headquarters?” The squeak in her voice betrayed her surprise and unease.

“Is that a problem?”

“Hmm. Would you prefer to discuss them over the phone, or in person?”

“Phone…”

Pearl asked her questions. Grimm patiently answered every one, elaborating when necessary. But soon they weren’t even talking about work. Without realizing it, they slipped into casual conversation, random comments strung into the next

“Take a slow, deep breath,” Grimm said gently over the phone. His omniscient recognition of her panic attack sent a jolt through her, disrupting it. She did as he said. “Again.”

When he was just a voice, it was easy to forget what he was. And he had a really nice voice. It took a few minutes, but Pearl calmed down again. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize.” His voice was still so gentle. “You have a lot of questions.”

“Yeah,” she said meekly.

“Hmm. Would you prefer to discuss them over the phone, or in person?”

“…Phone.”

One by one, Pearl asked her questions. Grimm patiently answered each of them, elaborating as needed, without judgment. Soon the conversation led away from work. One random comment naturally strung into another. The silences ebbed and flowed just as comfortably as the chatter. He even got a laugh out of her.

By the end, Pearl felt comfortable proceeding with the interview.

That’s not to say she didn’t get nervous about it still. She arrived ten minutes early. There were a few others waiting around when she got there. Like Grimm had said, no one here wore the Death-Head mask. It was like any other office building.

There were two parts to the interview: the typical questionnaire portion—though not-so-typical, since the later questions geared towards Death-Head related things—and then a practical test. While Pearl didn’t have direct experience working in an office before, her natural computer and typing skills, and her ability to pick up their specific programs, were of great benefit. Overall, she felt it went well. Though one of the interviewer’s questions lingered like a bad taste in her mouth.

“I’m sorry, I just have to ask. This interview was set up as part of a deal. Why bother with still going through the interview when you could simply get the position?”

“I don’t want to get a job that way,” Pearl said shaking her head. Grimm had questioned that stipulation too, though he didn’t come off as judgmental about it. “I made the deal to ensure I could interview for a job. I still want to rightfully earn it.” She didn’t add that if she didn’t earn a job within her deadline, then she would, begrudgingly, accept one fully handed to her.

As this was a Death-Head deal, Pearl had the perk of having her interview results be expedited. Not that this was a one-and-done kind of thing. Death-Heads were particular about all their employees. And passing the first step didn’t guarantee Pearl a job yet. Still, she made it through the interview. And her background check was nearly done. Next was the temporary work position.

If she made it through that, then the deal would be complete.

— 3 —

Pearl was excited for her first day of work. It felt good to be doing something, to be making money again. For now, she would be training and working in the North branch’s offices. On one hand, the commute was nicer. On the other, Pearl had a lot more interaction with Death-Heads than she expected. She was marginally more comfortable around them thanks to her time with Grimm. Her deal was working out.

But rumors of a deal made with the leader of the North faction soon became a thorn.

Pearl didn’t tell anyone about her deal. So, it was quite surprising to hear office gossip about her and Grimm. Granted, no one knew it was her. There was just talk about how strange it was that Grimm accepted a non-violent deal. She wanted to ask. Wanted to know the extent of what they meant. She knew that Death-Heads often did dirty work, and someone who was a faction leader definitely didn’t have clean hands, but with how everyone was talking about it, their deal was completely out of character for him.

She couldn’t stop thinking about it…

As the days went on and the gossip developed, Pearl kept to herself. She even started taking her lunch breaks across the street in the park. A number of her coworkers noticed the shift in her personality from when she started, though said nothing to her about it.

Grimm also noticed her acting differently.

Since his office overlooked the park, he couldn’t help but notice her visits there. That alone couldn’t be called odd. But he, too, started to hear the gossip. Add the reclusive comments from her performance report, and the pieces started coming together.

Pearl learned of Grimm’s reputation. He knew it was only a matter of time until she did. Still, it left him with a feeling he didn’t enjoy. He decided to check in with her.

Grabbing his own lunch, he made his way over to the park. When he found Pearl, she was sitting alone on a bench, zoned out and pushing her food around its container absently. “Mind if I join you?”

Pearl jumped and looked up at him, eyes wide and cat-ears pointed back. He didn’t mean to startle her. She recovered quickly, shook her head, then scooted over. “Go right ahead.”

He sat down and took his time to open up his bento. Pearl eyed the three-layered box, each layer packed with delicious looking food. Her lunch was measly in comparison. “How are you doing?”

Her shoulders slumped as she looked back down at her sad, barely-touched lunch. “I’m fine,” she said, clearly avoiding giving him the real answer.

His brows knitted the tiniest fraction. He wanted to ask, but ultimately stopped himself from pressing the matter. They weren’t that close. She seemed adamant to not look at him, so he started eating. Minutes passed in silence. Aside from his concern, the moment was quite nice. Grimm ate lunch alone more often than not; and it was a nice change to eat outside.

“Why did you accept my deal?” Pearl suddenly asked with a hallow note in her voice.

The feeling from earlier crept up again, leaving a bad taste in his mouth. Maybe this was a bad fit for her after all. He did something he had never done before and reminded her, “You can still back out of the deal, if you want.”

“What?” she snapped. She turned and glared at him. “Okay first off—that is not what I said at all. Second—why would you think I’d do that to you? I basically have this job already; just because you said you wouldn’t consider the deal done until I’m no longer a temp, doesn’t mean I’d jump at the chance to get out of upholding my end of it.” She sighed heavily, looked down at her lunch again, stabbed at it quite aggressively.

Grimm stared at her. Her snap of fury surprised him—he also now had a feint understanding of the cliché of how cute someone could be when angered.

“Why did you accept my deal?” How to answer her question… Was it because of the novelty of being asked for a simple, non-violent deal? Did her being a fellow half-faced cat sway him to give her a break? Or perhaps it was all the little things—her expressiveness; her determination; how nice her voice was to listen to; the possibility she stirred with her oracle reading; the ease he felt with her—that made him want to help her.

“Hmm, I accepted your deal because… I just wanted to. Don’t know how to explain it.”

Pearl looked at him, examining him as much as his words. His explanation eased her anger. But not her worries. She sighed again, leaning her head back to stare at the sky. “Guess I should start get ready for a hefty price, huh?”

He hadn’t given any thought yet to what he’d ask of her. This wasn’t his usual deal. None of his usual type of demands seemed right. “Payment must be proportional to the deal. Don’t worry yourself so hard over it.”

Pearl stopped herself from thinking of ways a hefty payment could still be proportionately demanded. She wanted to believe that this deal with him wasn’t a mistake to make. She took a deep breath in through her nose, then slowly let it out her barely parted lips. “Okay… Okay. I trust you.”

Days passed and Pearl’s temp position was at its end. Having worked well, she was offered to stay on full-time. “Would you like to do the honors? Since you also have to ask for your payment,” Pearl’s supervisor asked Grimm.

“Hm, yeah I’ll tell her.”

“Do you know what you’re gonna ask for as payment yet?” Grimm gave her a lethal glare, making her flinch and quickly ramble, “Sorry for overstepping. I was just curious. Considering the situa… Sorry.”

Grimm knew what payment he’d ask for. But he didn’t want it to be gossiped around—especially before he could officially declare it to Pearl. He folded Pearl’s acceptance letter and tucked it inside his haori. It’d be another hour before she arrived for work. He’d give her the letter then; if she wanted to hear his payment then too, he’d tell her. Otherwise, he was fine waiting until they had lunch, or when her shift ended—yet another unheard-of thing for him to do; yet again for her.

It's a shame he wouldn’t connect these facts and their meaning until much later. For now, he only recognized the oddness of his actions, not giving them much thought.

Ten minutes after Pearl arrived, he went down to see her. Grimm’s visit was keenly noted by the entire department. And the moment he asked Pearl to talk in private, whispers chomped at the bit for them to leave. Despite everyone knowing Pearl was at the end of her temporary position and it was most likely that Grimm wanted to talk to her about staying on, the gossip of his newest, usual deal was rekindled by the fact that it was uncommon for him to handle such a task.

“It’s time, huh?” Pearl said. “The end of the deal.”

“Yes.” He gave her the letter, then gave her a moment to process it, to ready herself for what he was about to ask of her. “For payment, you owe me nineteen kisses.”

“What?” she immediately interjected. She would have never guessed he’d ask for something like that.

He raised his brow impatiently at her before continuing. “There are rules to this payment. First, only one kiss per day will count towards the payment. Second, kisses must be on the lips.. Third, someone else must be around for the kiss to count. Fourth, you have nineteen weeks to fulfill your payment; if you fail, you’re to quit this job immediately without severance. Lastly, until your payment is complete, you will be my avec to any and all occasions I request.”

She needed another moment to process this. Why was the death and decapitation guy asking this for his payment? Was it some sort of humiliation tactic because there was nothing worse he could reasonably ask for? Ultimately… Pearl decided that it was okay. It was just a handful of kisses. And she was comfortable being around him. Though, maybe less so now that she’d be constantly thinking about having to kiss him. Nineteen kisses. What an odd number to ask for. “Why nineteen?”

“For The Sun card.”

Pearl’s eye twitched. Really? That was his reason? She screamed internally at the way her oracle reading was unfolding.

But it was okay.

She had a job now. And the payment to the Death-Head was generous, all things considered. Things were working out, just like her cards had told her.

“Okay,” she agreed and stepped towards him confidently. “Nineteen kisses. And all those rules. Though tell me.” She glanced to the upper corner of the room. “Does the security guard watching on the camera count for the third rule?”

He wasn’t expecting that. He laughed, smirking cockily at her. “Hmm, know what. Sure. Just this time, it’ll count.”

She quickly raised up on her toes and kissed him. She just as quickly turned away to hide the blush spreading across her face. She cleared her throat. “Is there anything else you need from me?”

“No. You’re free to go.”

Pearl left the break room. Instead of returning to her desk, she snuck into the bathroom. She splashed water on her face a couple times, focusing on relaxing her racing emotions and heartbeat.

Nineteen kisses. Eighteen more to go.

— 4 —

Things continued on for Pearl as they had been the past few weeks. Except now she had an income. She was slowing paying off her debts. And she was also having a lot more, awkward encounters with Grimm at work. It could’ve just been her biased perspective, but he seemed to linger around her more. Did he think she’d kiss him at work in front of everyone? She’d rather avoid that, if possible. Stealing a few kisses while they had lunch across the street at the park was enough of a risk for her.

Sixteen.

It was on another one of these days where she contemplated kissing him, that Grimm called in the last rule of their deal. “Next Friday there’s a small event I have to go to. Semi-formal. I’ll pick you up at 6:00pm.”

Pearl’s thoughts slammed to a halt. She wasn’t expecting this part of the deal to come up so soon. The most formal event she had ever been to was a school dance ages ago. Her thoughts darted in countless directions. “Is… is this a Death Head event?”

“Yes.”

So, she’d have to deal with other Death Heads too… At least it was just semi-formal. Though she still didn’t have anything suitable. She wondered if she could get Grimm to buy her a new dress for the event, just like how he bought her some new outfits for work. Did she dare ask?

“If you have any more questions, just message me,” he said, getting up to leave. Any words Pearl had caught in her throat as she watched him go.

With this event now on her plate, the coming days grew stressful. But Pearl was determined to not let it get to her. She focused on what she could control. Namely, her outfit. She spent her free time thinking about the kind of dress she wanted to wear. The color, the cut and material. She had it all figured out so that when her next day off rolled around, she was ready for a day of shopping. She then planned her makeup and hairstyle for the evening—ultimately keeping everything simple.

She was as prepared as she could be. Grimm was punctual Friday evening. He pressed the buzzer, ringing her apartment. “Be right down,” she said over the intercom. When she came out the front door, they both just… stared at each other, taken aback by the little changes each made.

“Yes.”

“If you have any more questions, just message me,” he said, getting up to leave. Any words Pearl had caught in her throat as she watched him go.

She was as prepared as she could be.

Grimm was punctual Friday evening. He pressed the buzzer, ringing her apartment. “Be right down,” she said over the intercom. When she came out the front door, they both just… stared at each other, taken aback by the little changes each made.

Overall, Grimm’s outfit was the same as it always was: a black haori over a white dress shirt, and plain black slacks. However, the subtle difference of the black-on-black jacquard haori he wore tonight gave him a refined touch. It also helped that he buttoned up his shirt more. But the haori was part of his signature.

And Pearl—she was a breath of spring. Her dress was a comfortable, rayon wrap dress with a ruffle along the hem, and short, flowy butterfly sleeves. The color matched her eyes perfectly. And her golden eyeshadow and rose gold lipstick were the perfect accents.

The soft rumble of distant thunder broke the moment.

Pearl looked to the sky. No clouds were gathering immediately, and she hoped it stayed that way. She’d hate to have to bring a coat—she only had one heavy winter coat, some work blazers, and a few casual jackets and sweaters of varying weight, making none of them ideal for the evening. “I hope the storm misses us,” she said, more so to herself than trying to make conversation. Brushing off her concerns, she turned back towards Grimm. “Shall we go?”

The event was hosted at a fancy hotel, not far from Death Head HQ. Grimm pulled to the front, handed his keys to the valet, then went to help Pearl out of the car. Not that she needed it. She was already walking around the front of the car. Grimm gave her a look. She shrugged. “What?”

“Can I at least escort you inside?” he sassed, raising his arm up in offering.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “You’re seriously upset over not opening my door?”

“I’m not upset.”

“Oh yeah? Your furrowed brow says otherwise.” She smiled coltishly. “Maybe I should escort you inside.” She held up her arm, mirroring him.

His kneejerk reaction was to refuse. She was his avec; he was her senior, both within the company and in age. No one dared joke with him so casually—except for Algoth, though his jokes were more often gibes. Grimm decided to lean into it. “Alright then,” he agreed, and hooked his hand up under her arm. “Lead the way.”

Pearl was not prepared for this. “What? No. I don’t know where to go. I don’t want this responsibility anymore!”

He leaned in close with a dangerous smirk. “Perhaps if you make a little payment, I’ll change my mind.”

Pearl’s face quickly turned red. Did she dare kiss him here in plain view of so many of their coworkers? His face was already so close. It would be quick. Maybe no one was looking at them, so she wouldn’t need to deal with prying questions and gossip later.

“Good evening, Sir,” someone interrupted.

Grimm righted himself and turned towards the other Death Head. “You’re here early.”

“You’re just late.” His gaze slid over to Pearl. “Since you brought an avec this time.”

“Pearl, this is my assistant, Algoth,” Grimm introduced. “But ignore what he said; we’re not late.”

“Tell that to Kahamet.”

“Hmm. I wonder what’s got him so impatient tonight.” He sighed. “Guess I better deal with him sooner rather than later.”

They all went inside together. There were far more guests than Pearl expected. She knew not everyone there worked within the Death-Head Organization. But most did. She took a steadying breath and reminded herself that, as wild as it was, she was one of them now too.

Grimm noticed her nerves. “You okay?” he quietly asked.

“Yeah. Yeah I’m good.”

And for a moment she was.

The stares started to linger as the three of them went through the ballroom. She stopped looking for familiar faces. After grabbing glasses of wine, Grimm told Algoth to keep Pearl company while he went to talk with Kahamet.

“So, you’re Pearl Helmi,” Algoth said slowly.

A little part inside Pearl started screaming. He knew her full name? Well—he was Grimm’s assistant. It wouldn’t be too surprising if he knew about their deal. But his gaze was unforgiving, almost threatening. She didn’t like it. He was even more intimidating than Grimm was when she first met him.

After a drawn-out moment, he made a soft hmph sound. Algoth reached into his jacket, then offered her his business card. “If Grimm acts out of line, let me know.”

Pearl stared at him, absolutely dumbfounded. Was he indirectly threatening Grimm? Did he know something Grimm had planned that she didn’t? She accepted the card. “Thanks?” she said meekly.

“I’m curious though… You’re not his usual type.”

She definitely misinterpreted his words. “W-what?”

“Have you really not heard about his usual deals yet?”

“Oh, our deal,” she said, realizing a little too late how revealing those words were.

A sly grin grew across his face. He wasn’t quite sure yet what was going on with them, but this little slip got him closer. “Yes. Usually, he only makes deals involving torture or murder; requesting payment equally painful, like all one’s teeth.” Pearl shivered. She had heard of this, to a degree, but no specifications about the payments he asked for. “When the paperwork for your deal first came across my desk, I thought it might be some sort of test—to see how attentive I am filing all out papers—or perhaps a joke he was playing.

“But here you are,” he punctuated by tipping his drink towards her. Then he took a sip.

His gaze had yet to waver from Pearl, and oh boy, did she feel it boring into her. Algoth was definitely worse than Grimm. She could enjoy a meal and laugh with Grimm. Algoth, on the other hand… at first he seemed to want to maybe help her—albeit in an intimidating manner. But then how the conversation changed… what was his goal with all that?

Whatever it was, she did not have the energy to parse it tonight.

“Heh, yeah. Maybe he made a bet with someone and had to take next job request he got and ended up with me?” she joked lightly, her heart not in it. She took a sip of her drink and scanned the perimeter of the room. “Do you know where the bathroom is? An eyelash is starting to attack my eye.” It was a lie. Pearl just wanted to escape the intense interaction. If Algoth realized this, he didn’t call her on it.

“Where’s Pearl?” Grimm immediately asked upon returning to the gala nearly twenty minutes later.

Algoth shrugged. “Probably hiding out in the bathroom.”

Grimm’s face twitched into a brief snarl. “And why would that be?” he slowly growled.

“Just made sure she knew the full you,” Algoth answered nonchalantly, staring dully at him. “What is you aim with her? I know what you’re making her pay you.” Grimm’s hand went up, but stopped short from grabbing him by the lapels of his coat. Algoth looked down at Grimm’s hand as it gradually balled into a fist and lowered back to his side. He snickered. "Go comfort your princess," he said. His gaze slid away from Grimm and then took a drink.

Grimm clapped him on the shoulder, took a step closer, and whispered a threat into his ear. "Give me all the shit you want. But not her."

Algoth's smirk grew smugger as his boss walked off. "Wonder how long it'll take him to realize," he said to himself.

It was easy finding Pearl out in the hallway. She was sitting on a bench, casually chatting with another HQ officer worker.

"So this is where you've been hiding," Grimm butted in.

"Oh, hey Grimm. Not exactly hiding. But yeah, taking a break from… all that," she said and gestured in the direction of the ballroom.

"What did Algoth say to you?"

The coworker Pearl was talking to—who had been stiffly silent since Grimm approached—quickly excused themself and gave the two their privacy. Grimm took the vacated seat beside Pearl.

She sighed and dug the business card out of her purse and held it out towards him. "He told me to contact him if you misbehaved. Then he proceeded to remind me of how unusual our deal is. Also—why did you ask for all of someone's teeth?"

"They're good for my bonsai."

Pearl's eye twitched. He… he actually used the teeth for something? "Ah yes, how could I not realize something so simple. Bonsai dentures."

He laughed. All the tension he was holding instantly vanished as her sarcastic joke caught him completely off guard. It was a nice change from the very… professional, meeting he just had with the CEO. And from Algoth being cheeky tonight. He gave her a thoughtful look—staring long enough to make Pearl start feeling antsy.

“Should we get back to the event?” she asked.

“Hmm, as you wish.”

They didn’t make it back inside the ballroom.

They were steps away from the door when someone loudly called out, “Oh look. There’s the cheater who bought her way into the Death Heads.”

Pearl froze. There was no doubt that they meant her. She looked at the floor, afraid to meet anyone’s gaze as attention shifted to them. If it had only been that one comment, perhaps her anxiety wouldn’t have gotten the better of her. Unfortunately, they continued ranting.

“Do you know how many times I had to apply before I got an interview for an office job? And you just waltz right past all that!”

Grimm moved himself between Pearl and the other office worker as they walked over. Judging by the stumbling stagger in their walk and the prominent smell of alcohol, they were drunk. Regardless of intoxication, this was unbecoming of a Death Head.

Others began butting in to deescalate the situation. Pearl would appreciate their help later. For now, she focused on not having an anxiety attack. One little thing after another. Cynically, she started to wonder if the Universe was determined to not let her enjoy this night. “I need air,” she said. She didn’t wait for anyone’s acknowledgement before heading outside.

Grimm watched her leave, then sharply turned back to the instigator. He grabbed them by the collar and pulled them in close. “I suggest you go sober up and never be in my presence again."

That comment earned Grimm some looks as he left, following after Pearl. She was pacing with her arms hugged tightly to her chest, her eyes closed, deliberately breathing in through her nose and out her mouth. She heard him approached and stopped.

“How are you?” he asked.

She flashed a shaky smile. “Just fending off some imposter syndrome. No big deal,” she brushed off.

“It is. Things have changed rapidly for you. Even without some drunk asshole making jealous snarks, it’s understandable to second guess yourself.” He walked closer to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “But you did earn this job on your own. You made that part of the deal, remember? All I did was ensure your resume was seriously considered for job you’re completely qualified for.”

She laughed a little and lowered her head, hiding her smile. How many people got pep talks from such a notorious Death Head? She let his words sink in. Affirmed that he was right. She took one deep breath to clear out all the negativity, then look at Grimm with a genuine smile. “Thanks.”

He nodded, returning his hands to his sides. He glanced over his shoulder at the hotel. “Wanna leave the event?”

“Can we really just leave? I don’t think we’ve even been here for an hour yet.”

Grimm shrugged. “If they get mad at me, then they get mad.”

“Ooo, such a rebel,” she teased.

“I’m not a Faction Leader for nothing, you know.”

A pause lingered between them. “So… Do you just want to call it a night and go home? Or do you want to like, wander around the city?” Pearl asked.

“I’m fine with whatever you wish.”

Well he certainly said that in a way that stirred a little flutter in Pearl. However, she wrote it off as the champagne they had—because why would he be flirty with her?

They decided to go for a walk. Neither knew the area, so they pick random corners to turn at, no true destination in mind. They found a little coffee house having an open mic night. A lush, community garden. But most importantly, a food truck where you could make-your-own fried cheese sticks.

Grimm immediately pulled Pearl over to it the moment he saw it. He had found this food truck a small handful of times before throughout Lywood. They had a fair selection of cheeses that they’d bread and freshly fry. Grimm ordered three dozen of various different cheeses. At first, Pearl was a bit skeptical they’d eat so many. But all it took was one bite and she immediately claimed half of the cheese sticks for herself. Whatever spices were mixed in the breading was perfect; and the breading was the perfect crunchy match for the gooey cheese. She hoped the next time she went out drinking she’d have the fortune of finding this food truck again.

They found a playground nearby and sat on the swings as they ate in peaceful silence. The night had had its ups and down, but in the end, it was turning out well.

And then it started to rain.

At first, it was just a light sprinkle. They sought shelter under a nearby tree. But the rain did not let up. Only increased. They couldn’t stay there much longer. Unfortunately, they had walked pretty far from the hotel; and unless Grimm accepted the future roasting he’d get from calling Algoth by asking him to bring his car to them, they’d have to make a run for it and get soaked.

It was just rain. No big deal.

But Pearl was in a light-weight dress, and was already growing chilled as the rain cooled the once pleasant night. Grimm shrugged off his haori and gave it to her. She was immediately grateful for its warmth. Pulling it closely around herself, they started heading back.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t been keeping the best track of their path. But they laughed about it. Grimm cranked the heat once they finally got to his car. He needed it more than her—Pearl was doing her best not to stare at his completely soaked white, dress shirt. When they arrived at Pearl’s apartment, she lingered in the car, reluctant for the evening to end. Even if they just continued sitting in the car, listening to the rain—that’d be nice. And so she leaned over and kissed him.

Fifteen.

“That doesn’t count, you know?” he said.

Fifteen. Sixteen?

“What? How does that not count?” she defended.

“It’s not daytime.”

“You never specified that rule.”

“The first rule was once per day.”

Were they really going to get into an argument over semantics? Yes. Yes, they were. “Yeah, but you didn’t make it clear that you meant during the daytime. Most people would assume that meant once per calendar day.”

He raised a brow, in both a challenge and in amusement. “Very well,” he smirked. “I’ll count it. This time. But don’t think you can get away with such mischief next time. I’m clarifying now to mean daytime—between sunrise to sunset.”

She blew a raspberry and rolled her eyes. “Oh sure. Change the rules partway through.”

His eyes narrowed at her. “Clarifying, not changing.”

“Hm, yeah no, sure,” she teasingly brushed off. Two months ago, she would not have dreamt of being this playful with a Death-Head, especially not one like Grimm. But she knew him now. Somewhat. She could see the softer sides of him that barely a handful of people got to see.

“Fine then. Day, night—kiss me whenever you’d like.” The small smirk that played on Grimm’s lips made her anxious—but not the negative type of anxious; the eager kind. The kind that made her want to lean forward and kiss him again for no other reason than wanting to.

Fifteen.

Before such emotions could betray her, Pearl hopped out of the car with a quick goodnight called over her shoulder. She suddenly had a lot to think through. Once in her apartment, she leaned again the door, pressing her eyes closed. Her heart was racing. And not just from running up to her apartment. Was she… was she falling for Grimm? No—surely this was just the illusion of infatuation caused by them becoming closer, as friends, mixed with the necessity of having to kiss him.

Right?

She slowly slid down until she was sitting on the floor. Looks like there was still quite a bit to sort out in her life. Not to mention, she just realized she was still wearing his haori.

— 5 —

GRIMM: I can’t come in today. I’m sick

ALGOTH: How did you get sick?

GRIMM: Rain

ALGOTH: You were out in the rain long enough to get so soaked that it made you sick?

Algoth gave his phone an accusatory glare as the minutes added up since Grimm read his last message. He doubted Grimm was sick enough to be unable to respond so soon after initially texting him. Grimm was hiding something. Or, more accurately, not disclosing something so that he wouldn’t be roasted over it.

That meant it likely had something to do with Pearl.

This new relationship his boss had formed with his latest client was… odd. He was curious to see where it would lead. At a glance, they were an unlikely duo. He knew Grimm. He knew him better than almost anyone else. Hopefully, Pearl would keep her wits about her as the two toed the blurry line they established between them.

His peaceful morning’s work was interrupted by a knock at the door. He was surprised to see Pearl. But not surprised by her question.

“Good morning, Algoth.” Her eyes quickly scanned the office. “Is Grimm around?”

“No. He’s not in today. Was there something you needed from him?”

“Oh, no. Not really, I just…” She bit her lip and adjusted her arms behind her back. Her overt nerves got him curious. That was when he noticed the bit of black cloth she was now hiding behind her back. He also caught the sheen of a familiar pattern on the silky fabric.

The puzzle instantly came together.

“He’s home sick today,” he said, cutting off her floundering for an explanation. He returned to his desk and started writing something on a scrap piece of paper. “Since I have to cover both my and his work for the day—you can go deliver his medicine for me.”

“Wha–?”

“The medicine is already paid for; you just need to pick it up from the pharmacy. Here are the addresses—the order is under my name—and codes to get into Grimm’s place.” He handed her the paper. His mischievous expression made Pearl’s ears flatten back a bit. This felt like a damned if she did, damned if she didn’t sort of situations.

“O-okay,” she accepted.

After watching her leave, he shook his head, sat back down at his desk, and shot a text to Grimm.

ALGOTH: Your wife will be stopping by later.

He never got a response—Grimm wouldn’t get around to reading it until late that night—but it amused him all the same.

Pearl stood outside Grimm’s house, staring up at it in awe. She wasn’t surprised that he had such a nice place. Still, the large, finely maintained house loomed as intimidating as the man who lived in it.

Well, best to get this done with—mainly because her shopping bags felt heavier the longer she stood there. Besides the medicine, she bought ingredients for soup. She felt responsible; he had to have gotten sick from being in the rain for so long without a coat. She wouldn’t be surprised if Algoth made the same connection and that’s why he sent her on this task.

“Hello?” she called after unlocking the front door. “Grimm? It’s Pearl. Algoth sent me.” No response came. Tentatively, she went in search of the kitchen. The interior design was impressive. Immaculate. To be able to afford all this… She stopped herself from contemplating the deals he’d done for all of this. “Kitchen,” she quietly reminded herself, getting back on task.

It was immediately to the left of where she stopped to gawk.

After unpacking all the groceries onto the counter, Pearl paused. Did she start cooking first, or find Grimm first? Probably find Grimm. She’d feel more comfortable being there once he knew she was there. He could also help tell her where everything was in the kitchen. She went back into the main room and through the only other doorway. There were a lot of closed doors—which was to be expected, given how large the hose was. “Grimm?” she called again, hoping for a hint about which door he was behind.

But apparently, he was behind her. “What are you doing here?” he groggily asked.

Pearl jumped, letting out a little scream. “Where the hell did you come from?” He lazily motioned over to the kotatsu in the room. On the side opposite the foyer, a was a pillow. He’d been there the entire time; she just hadn’t seen him. “Oh… Well, Algoth sent me to bring you medicine.”

He yawned and scratched the back of his head. “Ugh. Please tell me he didn’t get something grape flavored. He always picks out the worst flavored medicine.”

“I think it’s cherry.”

Grimm gave her a curious look. “So. Where is it?”

“Oh, still in the kitchen. You should take it with food, so I was going to make you some soup.”

If Grimm hadn’t been so sleepy still, perhaps Pearl would’ve been able to notice the intrigue that sparked in his expression. “You’re making me soup?”

“Well yeah,” she said and shrugged. “You caught a cold because of me; it’s the least I can do to make up for it.”

“You didn’t give me a cold.”

“Maybe not directly. But since I wore your haori yesterday, you got soaked in the rain and caught a cold.”

“Yes. My decision caused this outcome.”

She pouted a bit at him, narrowing her eyes slightly. “You must really be sick, you’re starting to sound delirious,” she sassed, turned away, and walked back into the kitchen before he could respond.

He chuckled to himself then followed her.

When she told him she was making soup, he didn’t process that to mean ‘from scratch’. So seeing all the groceries she had set out surprised him. He stared dumbfounded at her.

She stared awkwardly back. “Sooo… Where is all your cookware? I’d like to start cooking, and while I could just open every cabinet and drawer until I find the things I need, it’d be easier for you to just tell me.”

“Hm? Ah, right.” He shook himself from his stupor, and started helping her.

But then he started to help her too much. “Go curl up under the kotatsu again,” Pearl gently ordered as she started to guide him over to the door. “I’ll bring you some soup when it’s done.”

“You sure you don’t want help?”

“I just watched you nearly cut off your own finger. Twice. So go rest and stop trying to add your blood to my soup.”

He obeyed.

Pearl turned on music on her phone and continued cooking. She was enjoying working in Grimm’s large kitchen with all its high-end appliances. Much better than her apartment’s kitchenette. About half an hour later, the soup was ready. She portioned out a serving, buttered a few slices of bread.

Pearl gently shook Grimm awake. “Food is ready.”

He stretched, then slowly sat up. As the smell of the soup hit him, he snapped fully awake. “This smells absolutely delicious.”

She blushed a little in pride. “Thank you. I hope you enjoy. Do you want me to put all the leftovers away now? Or I can leave out a second serving if you’d like.”

“You’re not eating?”

“Oh. Well… no,” she said awkwardly. “Algoth didn’t really say I had the whole day off, so I was gonna go back to work now.”

“Stay.”

Pearl froze. The soft way he said it plucked the heartstrings that had shaken her the night before. Granted, it came out that way absolutely because he was low energy from illness. Still…

Then he added, “You’ve come all this way, and did all this work—relax and eat with me.” When she bit her lip, still hesitating, he continued. “As the Head of the North Faction I can and will order you to take the day off work.”

Something about him pulling rank while he was such a miserable, sickly slump made her want to laugh. And so she conceded. She got herself a bowl of soup and joined him under the kotatsu—damn it was cozy; no wonder he kept passing out.

When they’re done eating, Pearl cleaned up. Grimm made some protest, saying he should be doing all the chores since she was his guest; but she argued back that he’s sick and threatened him to rest.

As she got ready to leave, she noticed his haori she left in the entryway. She traced along the fabric. Picking it up, she returned to the other room and set it beside the once again sleeping Grimm.

She lingered.

There was such a softness to him. And she was probably one of the few who saw this side of him. Unconsciously, her hand moved to brush his hair. But she stopped short, noticing just in time what she was doing.

“Fuck,” she whispered under her breath. She immediately stood up and left the house.

There was no way to deny it anymore.

She had feelings for Grimm.

#fanfic wip #DHD #grimm x pearl

27 notes · View notes

ebitchwriting · 4 months

Text

Dragged Into The Blood

Story Stummary: Never staying in one place for long, moving nearly every year, Lea Anderson was used to impermanence, chaos, and having to leave everything behind at the drop of a hat. Lea never expected that she would be kidnapped and wake up in a rusted, decrepit prison cell because of a madman's delusional belief in eugenics and cleansing the Earth of imperfection. By herself, with only the clothing on her back, she will have to rely on luck and logic to escape before she's killed or worse.

Chapter Summary: Finding Claire and Moira was a miracle in and of itself in this desolate abandoned building, Lea knows that. She should be grateful, she is grateful. But Lea's tenuous grasp on her inhuman abilities is already struggling far more than she wishes. Memories thought to be long gone struggling to push itself to the surface. Not that it matter, none of it matters. All that matters is that she escapes this hellhole before she becomes a worse monster than she already is.

Chapter Warnings: disassociation, blood, gore, death, unhealthy coping mechanisms

Well, it certainly has been a hot minute. Sorry for the late update; I swear I didn't abandon this story! Basically, the MA Apprenticeship program I'm in right now has been chaotic as fuck due to poor planning on the supervisor's end, I had to move back in with my dad, and I'm also finally making myself sit down and work on my manuscript for my epic fantasy novel(which is not Dragged Into The Blood adapted as an original work). I also noticed that despite my using Grammarly, several chapters here have several typos and grammatical errors that are driving me up the wall, so I've been going back through the chapters and fixing them(On Ao3 side). Luckily it seems only Ch1,2, 6, 7, 8, and 9 seem to suffer from that. Regardless, hope you enjoy this chapter!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.

Chapter 14: The Escape... Again

Lea's gaze glazed over from behind the sash, and all sound became indistinguishable. Just muffled, echoing nonsense, overlapping each other into static. Her mind felt foggy and empty, all except for the confirmation that despite her best efforts, she was yet again an experiment in someone's cruel game. Hands twitching, a slithering feeling growing more intense with every passing second. Breaths, short and rapid.

'… Nothing I did mattered…' The screeching of the rusted door opening fell on vacant ears as she stared at nothing, swaying in place.

Only when a hand tentatively brushed against her shoulder did she snap out of it, flinching back to reality and away from the foreign touch. Lea reflexively brought her hands up, ready for a fight, but stopped herself from grabbing the unknown hand and breaking it as she finally recognized the burgundy leather of Claire's jacket. Lea stole a glance up and saw the evident concern etched on her face. Lea shook her head, stepping back from the hand that started to inch back to her.

"I'm fine…" Lea grumbled under her breath, stepping back from Claire, shoulders still taut and tense. Bracing herself to be berated for acting like a child, told to grow up, and pushed endlessly to explain herself until she was desperate for an escape and ready to do whatever it took to be alone. To her surprise, despite Claire's worry, she didn't do any of that. She just nodded, gave her a reassuring but thin smile, and walked toward the door. From beneath the cloth wrapping, Lea's eyes widened, then narrowed, and Lea fought to hold in a growling hiss.

'… Why am I still surprised that not everyone acts like Dad…' Shaking her head, Lea strode forward, falling in line next to Moira, and followed Claire, decidedly not making eye contact and instead keeping her eyes trained on the decrepit building.

The metallic scent that Lea could practically taste and the bright, fresh red bloodstains immediately caught her attention. A pit fell in her stomach as her eyes followed how the trail led toward the only other path. Briefly closing her eyes, Lea strained her ears. Wet, rasping gasps, undoubtedly of someone struggling to hold in their sobs, reached her first. At the same time, Lea could pick up another's harsh, wet, and pained gasping, but it didn't sound like someone on the verge of death. By the choking sounds, it sounded more like they were struggling to calm down. The almost feral sound made the little hair that remained on the back of her neck stand straight. After concentrating on the sounds, Lea hissed under her breath as she realized that with the layout of the abandoned building, it was too difficult to tell where exactly they were or which was closer. All she could tell was that they were near.

Lea's gut twists further with dread after Clarie pushes the next door open, revealing a narrow hallway only briefly illuminated by the flickering light hanging by its wire. Oddly enough, though, there weren't any streaks of blood here. Unfortunately, however, as the three walked past the lone gurney, they found their path was blocked off by a fallen storage shelf.

"I think we can squeeze under this," Claire observed, walking up to the fallen shelf and gripping one side. "Give me a hand, Moira," Claire called out, and Lea awkwardly shifted in place, almost reaching a hand out but, in an instant, letting it fall. With a grunt, Claire lifted the shelf. "Go!" Claire called out as clearly and quietly as she could, her voice strained. Moira wasted no time in hurrying under, with Lea following past her.

As soon as they passed, Moira went to grab the edge of the shelf, keeping it upright. For a second time, Lea awkwardly shifted in place, wanting to reach out and do the heaving lifting herself, but a strong jolt of fear stopped her.

'… I don't know how she'll react… I don't want to be a monster…' Looking around, Lea saw yet another shelf blocked off the hallway. Without another thought or waiting for Claire, Lea approached it and started to push it forward.

"Lea, hold on," Lea heard Claire whisper-shout from behind her, quickly followed by the loud slamming sound of the shelf being let go. Lea winced at the volume, then lifted a hand to wave off Claire's concern.

"You two did the work last time. Let me-" Before Lea could finish what she was saying, a loud, ear-bleeding shriek pierced the ambient silence of the walkway. In an instant, Lea was on her back, using the shelf to shield herself from the person clambering and swiping at her. She could feel her heart thudding at the sight of what used to be a man in front of her. The flesh on his face was messily sewn back together, and the eyelids were sewn entirely shut. Massive iron nails protruded through the arms, which flailed around, trying to claw at her.

Then, just as suddenly, a knife slashes at the ruined arm. Once. Twice. Thrice. Then, the fourth time seems to finally register. The attacker practically leaped off the shelf, running back down around the corner. Lea stared at where it was, eyes glazed over and breathing short and rapid. She didn't protest as Claire gripped the edges of the shelf and took over, moving it forward.

"Oh my God, what the fuck?" Moira's words barely registered to her, muffled and sounding almost like they were a mile away as something started to sharply ring louder and louder. Lea's mind felt like it was turning to cotton, and her limbs seemed nailed to the ground. It wasn't until something nudged her that Lea was brought back to the present. A quick glance up, and she's met with the equally terrified and concerned gaze of Moira, still clutching the flashlight to her chest. With a shake of the head, Lea forces her heavy limbs to grab purchase and push herself back onto her feet.

"That was close," Claire's voice cuts through, out of breath yet surprisingly calm as she continues to push, the scrapping of the metal against the ground echoing in the eerie silence. The horrid noise finally stopped as the shelf met with the edge of a desk, opening a new path. "Come on, stay behind me." Claire called out, motioning them to follow. Neither Lea nor Moira complained about the order and fell in line.

Just as soon as they started to get close to the already wide-open creaking door, an ear-piercing scream broke the newfound silence, quickly followed by the deranged wails from the attacker. Claire wasted no time breaking out into a sprint, chasing after them. Moira and Lea shared a look before running after her, practically slipping as they bounded corners and ducked under fallen furniture.

"Holy shit, it's going to fucking kill her!" Moira shouted, mostly to herself, panting between each word as they followed Claire in her pursuit. The poor woman's terrified screams and the disturbing grunting of the butchered man still bounced off the walls.

In seemingly no time, Claire and Moira came to a screeching halt. Lea, however, realized far too late the barrier ahead and ran face-first into the steel bars. To her surprise, the contraption held up instead of crumpling or denting in.

'… Way to go… Just tell everyone in this fucking hellhole where we are… Fuckin' at least Chris taught me how not to run through walls…' Lea stepped back, a hand reaching up to hide her quickly reddening face and to block off whatever looks she was sure Claire and Moira were giving her.

Thankfully, without a word, the other two simply went up to the steel bars and grabbed the bottom. Within a moment, they were holding the security contraption up. Lea wasted no time going under and to the other side, and as soon as the other two joined her, they let go of the steel curtain. The contraption slams down, deafening the halls.

Shuffling steps. Wet and ragged gasps. The coppery stench of fresh blood. Then, out of the shadows and into the dim light came that poor woman, drenched in her own blood, with a tight grip on her torso as she limped forward. Lea watched in a dazed shock as she collapsed in Claire's arms, all strength leaving her limbs.

"The animal eyes! Oh God…" After a few more wet, rasping breaths, the woman went utterly still and silent. Dead. Lea stared at the woman, even when Claire laid her down gently.

Suddenly, it's as if Lea's no longer in the deteriorating building but elsewhere. She's no longer standing but lying on her back. Oh, so familiar yet alien images of an empty, sterile laboratory room flash in and out, darkness tinging the edges of her sight. It's like her limbs are covered in lead, cold and oppressing and constricting her lungs. Gasps echo in the abandoned room. As Lea turned her head, she was met with the gaunt face of a small child, dark-skinned, tight curls. Lea could see the light fade from her eyes, the rise and fall of her skeletal chest grow still, leaving her alone. A room of corpses. A soft sob escapes Lea's lips. She knew her, yet she didn't, and it felt like a hole was being ripped right in the center of her chest.

Just as suddenly as the memory came, it disappeared when a hand gently but firmly took hold of her shoulder. Lea flinched but stopped herself from darting off and away as her covered eyes met with Claire's carefully guarded yet distraught gaze, wet from held in tears.

'… It's just Claire… It doesn't matter… Just focus on getting out of here…'

"Sorry… let's just get a move on…" Lea muttered, stepping around the body, not sparing a look down. While her sight was slightly hazy and obscured by the cloth, it didn't block out nearly as much as the broken teen had thought. From the corner of her eye, she could see the other anxious girl send a look toward Claire. She gave Moira a small and almost unnoticeable nod before thankfully moving past the bloodied corpse and rounding the corner.

"I can hear the wind out there. This must be the way out." Moira spoke up. Her tone was hopeful this time, and her cadence hardly had any nervous tremors. Lea tilted her head, straining her ears to listen for what Moira picked up on. After a short moment, she could hear it, but from where and how far was the real question.

'… What the actual fuck is the point of this super hearing bullshit if it's absolutely useless in abandoned buildings…'

"I hope it's close…" Lea muttered, awkwardly shifting her head to look down at the ground, rubbing at her arms.

"We just need to find a way through," Claire reassured, voice gentle yet firm. She descended the staircase, covered with dried and fresh fragrant blood. After one flight of stairs, though, the group nearly froze at the sight of yet another relatively fresh corpse.

"What kind of whack-job… this is not ok!" Moira exclaimed, face scrunched up in disgust. Lea agreed wholeheartedly as she observed how the guard's throat was lacerated roughly and to the bone, and how he was hung by his feet. It reminded her of pigs butchered and hung to drain all the blood into buckets. Unfortunately, the dead body had something handy: a set of keys, a way out of this new hellscape.

Claire, nose scrunched up with disgust as well but paired with unsurprised eyes, calmly walked as close as she could to the edge of the walkway. Reaching out, she inched closer and closer to the hanging body. Lea watched with hushed breath, eyes darting from the glinting metal to the bloodied hands, back and forth. Just as Claire's fingertips brushed the edge of the largest key ring, a latch unlocked, and the body fell limply to the base with a loud and wet slam.

"Well, that blows."

"Are you fucking kidding me…"

A blaring noise fills the silence, the same one that sounded off before their cell doors slid open. All three snap their heads in the direction of it. At the end of the stairs was a door with a new glowing green light.

'… I'm so tired of these games…'

#dragged into the blood #original character #resident evil #resident evil revelations 2 #resident evil fanfiction #claire redfield #moira burton #don't expect too much activity the ice storm took my power #ao3 link #ao3 fanfic

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palominocorn · 4 years

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Sims 2 Law Enforcement Career Default Replacement - Fuck the Police Edition (Maxis Match. Ish.)

With thanks to @moocha-muses for testing, chance card ideas, and providing the kick in the ass necessary to make me complete it.

And while I have your attention, remember to support Black Lives Matter and donate to your local bail/legal/mutual aid fund.

UPDATE 15-Jun-2020: the LTW memory icon wasn’t updated, because EA made this whole thing out of bloated, rotten spaghetti code that doesn’t make any sense. I’ve updated the main file to fix this, but if you’ve already downloaded, just put this little file into your downloads and that should cover it.

Under a cut because holy shit I’m a verbose little fucker.

This is a default replacement for the Base Game Law Enforcement careers, both teen/elder and adult, renamed and remade into Emergency Services. Only the Captain Hero level remains; everything else has been changed to firefighters, social workers, and the like. Yes, I’m aware that firefighters don’t usually become social workers in real life, but concert pianists don’t usually become rock gods and that’s default Maxis behavior so nyah.

I did my best to keep it Maxis Match-y, meaning that the salaries and promotion requirements are roughly equivalent to those of other careers, and the style tends toward goofy. There are brand new descriptions for 12 levels (3 teen + all adult except Captain Hero), with chance cards that hopefully capture the same feeling as the vanilla ones. The icons for the career and the associated LTW have been changed to a firefighter’s bugle. Uniforms and carpools have been changed (no new ones, just using existing game materials) to make sense. (The social work level doesn’t use the existing social worker uniform due to the lack of a male version, and I couldn’t figure out how to make the firetruck show up as a carpool, but they’re still close enough.)

This DR should not conflict with existing mods other than other replacements for the career. (If you have replacements for cars or outfits used in this mod, it’ll automatically pick them up.) I think it should work with Midge’s Playable Cops, but it’ll look kind of weird. But I guess if you’re getting a “fuck the cops” mod, you don’t want playable cops anyway. (No, I will not be making a playable social workers/firefighters mod.)

MAKE SURE ANY EXISTING SIMS IN THE LAW ENFORCEMENT CAREER ARE HOME BEFORE YOU PUT THIS IN. Since I changed the hours of some of the levels, your sims could be stuck at work for a very long time unless you reset them. You don’t want that.

LTW behavior has been left alone, so it’ll pick up whatever your game already uses (family or popularity in the vanilla game). The fingerprint scanner is still the reward, and it still attaches to the bio and psych majors. I will likely mod this at some point as part of a career/major overhaul. (ETA: 20 years.)

The forecast predicts a 100% chance of typos, so let me know if you catch those (or, worse, errors), and I’ll fix them. I will not, however, be making new versions with different levels, although if you want to use mine as a base, you can, and I’ll be happy to explain the process. Additionally, I’ve only done string replacements for US and UK English (and the UK is just US pasted over - sorry, Brits), but if you’d like to translate to your language, let me know and we can figure it out.

Drop both files into your Downloads folder, as usual, and that should change every Law Enforcement-related thing to Emergency Services, except one: the LTW UI text. To change that, you’ll have to mod your game files. Here’s how:

1) Go to your Program Files> EA Games> [latest EP]> TSData> Res> Text folder. 2) Make a backup of the Wants file. Put it somewhere safe. MAKE THE BACKUP. Make multiple backups, even! BACK IT UP. 3) [If you already know your computer allows you to mod within the game files, skip this. Mine doesn't, so I have to do this.] Make a working copy of the Wants file. This should be different from your backup. Seriously. Always have a backup. 4) Open your working copy in SimPE. 5) Sort by name or by instance and find Become Super hero [instance 0x00000B63 (2915)]. 6) Click it. 7) From the drop-down menu, select your language. 8) Go to 0x0003 (3). 9) In the "String" box, change both instances of Law Enforcement to Emergency Services. 10) Click "Commit File". The name in the Resource List should now be italicized. 11) Save. The italics should go away. 12) If you made a working copy, exit and paste that into the folder. You'll need admin privileges for this; if Windows asks for them, allow it. 13) Open the file in the Text folder and confirm that the changes stuck - depending on the finickiness of your system, it may take some fiddling. 14) Once confirmed, load your game to ensure it worked. If you broke the file, the game should crash during loading. Put in your backup and try again. 15) If you didn't make a backup, here's one that should be M&G/UC compatible. (If you have a different configuration, let me know and I'll see if I can't track it down for you.)

In addition, I have a complete-but-untested edit to change level 10 of Intelligence to International Super Spy, and a half-complete edit of Slacker to fix the classism and general yuck. Let me know if you’re interested in those, or if you have ideas for other careers that needed to be decrapified (Military and Criminal in particular). Or heck, if you’re interested in the total career/major overhaul I’m working on to fix a million weird problems, let me know, and maybe I’ll get it done before the heat death of the universe!

And, without further ado,

DOWNLOAD LAW ENFORCEMENT TO EMERGENCY SERVICES DEFAULT REPLACEMENT

#Sims 2 #Sims 2 dl #Sims 2 career dl #Sims 2 career dr #Sims 2 career #swearing

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theotherjourney7 · 4 years

Text

“The Week In Tory:

1. The government launched a “Fix your bike” voucher website, only to break in less than an hour.

2. The government said we should all lose weight, yet is still issuing vouchers to help us buy burgers.

3. It was revealed the government spent £400m buying a bankrupt satellite company, OneWeb, to replace the Euro GPS system we lose due to Brexit. Months before, a study by MIT found that OneWeb’s tech is 6x less efficient than the EU solution: the worst of the technologies studied.

4. In June the government merged the Dept for International Development into the Foreign Office, and said the move "guaranteed there would be no cuts in International Aid". Only this week the government cut International Aid by £2.9bn.

5. And the government quietly granted permission for your health records to be given to Palantir, a controversial data-mining company said to have worked with Cambridge Analytica on Brexit.

6. It did both these things (numbers 4 & 5) the day parliament broke up, so there couldn’t be any questions.

7. In answer to questions about the Russia Report, the government’s suggested solution is to (I'm not making this up) to ask Russia to tell us who their spies are!

8. Ex-Russian intelligence staff say 85% of their work is not spying, but “political funding and misinformation".

9. Which brings us to Funding and Misinformation news:

1) Since 2012, the Tory party has had almost £3m in donations from members of Putin’s cabinets.

2) 14 current government ministers have received donations from individuals or companies connected to the Russian leadership.

3) Home Secretary Priti Patel said the Russia Report could be ignored because it was now 9 months old and “out of date”! The reason for the report being “out of date” as Ms. Patel claims is the government as it delayed the release of the report for 9 months, and the reasons given were described as “simply not true” (aka "misinformation") by the Intelligence Committee.

10. Now Covid news where Health Secretary Matt Hancock boasted he had met the targets on his “Six tests” on Covid 19. Well Full Fact found 4 of the 6 targets were missed, one target couldn’t be met because it had never been defined, and 1 “relied on a definition [that] does not reflect practice”.

11. The cross-party Media & Culture Committee found that the government’s support for arts was “vague and slow-coming” and “jeopardised UK culture”

12. The cross-party Public Accounts Committee found : 1)there was an “astonishing failure to plan for the economic impact” of Covid 19

2) It also said the policy of discharging patients into care homes was a “reckless and appalling policy error”

3) It called the government “slow, inconsistent [and] negligent”

4) The chair of the Committee said “A competent government does not run a country on the hoof”.

13. More on-the-hoof news: the government quarantined tourists returning from Spain because Spain was a danger! Yet only the day before, Spain had 2 Covid deaths. Britain had 114! Side note the transport secretary was on holiday in Spain, so was effectively trapped by his own department’s decision.

14. Which brings us to Brexit, and a report from London School of Economics showed a WTO Brexit will permanently shrink 16 out of the UK's 24 industry sectors by up to 15% each. Permanently!!!! This report lead to: 1) A Tory MP tweeted “👍🏼WTO here we come!”

2) Another pro-Brexit Tory MP with a grasp of what's to come tweeted “my strong advice is: take the opportunity to live abroad”

3) Dominic Cummings (chief adviser to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and considered to be the main engineer for Brexit) tweeted that leaving the EU "could be an error”!!!!

15. And now PPE contracts, so prepare to begin eternal screaming:

1) £252m to Ayanda Capital, registered in Mauritius for tax purposes. PPE not delivered.

2) £186m to Uniserve. PPE not delivered.

3) £116m to P14 Medical Supplies, with assets of just £145. PPE not delivered.

4) £108m to PestFix, with just 16 employees. PPE not delivered.

5) £107m to Clandeboye Agencies, a sweet wholesaler. Yes, a sweet wholesaler. PPE not delivered.

6) £40m to Medicine Box Ltd, with assets of just £6000. PPE not delivered.

7) £48m to Initia Ventures Ltd, which registered itself as “dormant” in March. PPE not delivered.

8) £28m to Monarch Acoustics, which makes shop furniture. PPE not delivered.

9) £25m to Luxe Lifestyle, which has no employees, no assets, and no turnover. PPE not delivered.

10) £18m to Aventis Solutions, which has total assets of £332. Not a typo, £332. PPE not delivered.

11) £10m to Medco Solutions, incorporated just 3 days after lockdown, with share capital of (not a typo) £2. PPE not delivered.

In all, approximately £1bn to inexplicable suppliers for PPE that hasn’t been delivered!!!!!

The government still polls well for economic competence. Go figure.

16. Meanwhile a Nuffield Health study found after 10 years of "chronic underinvestment", UK is at the bottom of the league table for health resources; and diagnostics and surgery by the NHS will take 4 years to return to pre-Covid levels! But £1bn for non-existent PPE.

17. The government’s “world beating” test-and-trace programme was described as “scandalous” by the British Medical Journal, and found to miss its 80% target in every Covid hotspot announced this week.

18. And finally, Boris Johnson refused a public enquiry into government handling of Covid 19....”-Russ

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purrincess-chat · 4 years

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Honestly thank you for like... Talking about this because I’m always scared to like reply to those kinds of people who nit pick because I’m afraid I’m bitchy but it’s so discouraging and it makes me not want to write anymore. But like I’m the writer I’m doing this for fun these people aren’t paying me I don’t owe them perfect writing.

Exactly, nonny. I will usually tell them like that's all cool and good, dawg, but like I don't care. And some shut up after that because they recognize that their critique isn't going to do anything, but this one. This one is a special kind of arrogant. I'm not kidding they are still to this day reading mdcsp and leaving me these comments. Every time they disappear for a week or so and I think they're done they come back and comment on two more chapters. I think they're on chapter 14 or 15 last they commented so they're nearing the end and tbh I can't wait.

I try not to be like "fuck you get off my shit" cause some people do mean well, but I have had a few assholes here and there. I had one I posted forever ago bitching about making Marinette changes schools at the beginning of mdcsp and how they thought it was a pussy move and it was kind of obvious that they only read the summary (cause they commented on chapter 1) and nothing else so I literally after their long rant was like "feel better now?" And they were like yeah, sorry I get salty when I'm tired but I stand by what I said. And I was just like "cool thanks for reading the entire fic instead of making a snap judgment from the summary" and they never replied again.

Honestly it doesn't bother me per se outside of just being annoying because I really don't give a fuck, but I know some authors aren't as secure as I am so this type of stuff is the opposite of helpful. I'm just here to have a good time as are many fanfic authors. And I do fundamentally understand that if you put something online anyone can comment on it and see it so trolls will happen, but there is a different level of rudeness that we (all the authors commenting on this discourse) are all addressing here. Because yeah the "lul u suk go die" trolls are everywhere and easy enough to delete and ignore with minimal impact on your self worth, but the ones who actually go line by line and nitpick when not asked to are a different breed of annoying.

Because as I pointed out in a reply to another comment on another post, the critiques they are leaving are rarely helpful.

1. Because if you're commenting on an unfinished piece chapter by chapter, you have no idea what that author has planned.

2. Even if the work is finished and you comment chapter by chapter you have no idea what is going to happen next so if you mention something and it gets resolved later because you just hadn't gotten there yet then you just look stupid.

3. Most authors aren't going to go back and fix things unless it's a silly grammatical error in which case they only might go back and fix it if prompted. But things like pacing and full overhaul likely won't happen.

4. You have no idea where a person is in their writing journey or what specific areas they are working on privately, so it's impossible to tailor your critique without getting to know the writer. Are they a 12 year old just posting for the first time or are they a 46 year old published author? You really don't know that most of the time when you click a new author unless they mention it, so how then can you give them the most effective critique? Spoiler: you can't.

5. Really unless you are working with an author privately behind the scenes, your critiques don't really do much. At least in my experience. Because by the time you see something, it's already published. And sure you can argue that you can help them be better in the future but honestly that writer is probably already aware of where their weaknesses are.

For me, I know my weaknesses lie in descriptions, pacing, and plot construction. I have a lot if individual ideas, but I don't always connect the dots well. I'm aware of that, so having someone say "hey you could have paced this better" or "I think this was rushed" doesn't actually do anything to help me? I know I didn't do that well, but no where in their critiques do they offer a solution to that problem. Pointing out that an issue exists without providing a method or resource to work on it or fix it isn't helpful. Leaving me one off comments without any offer of additional help or resources that can better me isn't helpful. All you're doing is pointing out mistakes. You aren't teaching me anything. You aren't helping. Can I say that enough?

My advice to budding authors such as yourself, nonny, is to take every criticism you read with a grain of salt. If you are aware of your shortcomings and working privately to fix them then know that you are already better than that person has seen you. I personally read every critique I get (even the unsolicited ones) and take a moment to decide if it's a valid critique or not. Most of them aren't because the issues they point out are either things I'm not worried about (missing a comma, having a typo, etc) or things that I've already fixed down the line elsewhere.

You get to decide whether to listen to a critique because not every critique is going to be correct or even helpful to you. Some of it will just be peoples opinions or just bad advice. And unfortunately learning to distinguish between types of good and bad critique just takes time. But don't ever let someone make you feel bad about your writing. Especially fanfic. And truthfully, no good critique should ever make you feel bad about your writing, so if someone leaves a critique like that then it's likely because they're just an asshole who doesn't know how to give proper critique and you can safely ignore them for being ignorant.

If this is a fun hobby then just have fun and ignore the haters. If you want to get serious about writing some day then seek out the proper sources of improvement and take the anonymous comments with a grain of salt. Work with people privately to get better, and only worry about those whose opinions matter (i.e. your critique partner, betas, people you trust, editors, etc.) Joe blow on Ao3 dot com who doesn't think you got a character just right can die mad and that's the tea.

#cat salts #cat replies #asks

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s-n-arly · 5 years

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A Peek into the Indie Writer World – Part IV: A Walk Through the Process

If you’re thinking of going indie, or have already decided to, you may find yourself wondering what steps you need to take. This is a look at the process, focusing on hard copy books and e-books.

The short version, in bullet format for those with very little time:

Write your story

Identify your output product(s)

Copy edit your story

Purchase and/or assign ISBNs

Request PCN (hard copy print only)

Format the story

Create front matter for printed work

Cover art and design

Publish

Market

The longer version with more details below the cut.

Write Your Story

There are many different ways to write. Use whatever process works for you (drawn out, under tight deadline, or anything in between). Revise and edit your draft to ensure you have the best possible version you can. Many people like to use critique groups or beta readers, other people don’t. The key is that your content (poetry, short stories, novella, or novel) is the highest quality you can make it.

Identify Your Products and Process

You can start looking at the various products and printers out there while you’re still in the writing stage. As your story gets closer to being ready to print, you’ll want to have some decisions on your starting point, at least. Will it be an e-book with print to follow? Or do you just want to start with the e-book and see how it goes? Your plans will influence some of your next steps.

Copy Edit Your Story

Most people think of this as proofreading, finding and fixing typos, spelling mistakes, and grammatical errors. In this case, it also includes ensuring your soon to be published book has a consistent style.

Style is a set of rules that provide a uniform look to a document. This includes things like use of font, font attributes (bold, italic, underline), implementation of flexible or optional grammar (such as the Oxford/serial comma), and the presentation of specialized terms. Most fiction publishers have a house style built off Chicago or AP style, both of which have handy manuals. It ultimately doesn’t matter what style you go with, as long as you are consistent.

In the editing world, style often includes formatting elements, but for the indie writer, some of that formatting will vary depending on the product or products you’re producing.

Things to Watch For

Consistent spelling for names of people and places

Consistent terminology for magic or world-specific details (eg: does the world use shape-shifter, shape shifter, or shapeshifter?)

Use of numbers (phone, age, height, distance) are generally spelled out in fiction

Consistent units of measure (unless there’s a good reason for it, you don’t want to randomly switch between metric and imperial)

If attention to detail and copy editing aren’t your strong suits, copy editing is something you should plan to hire out. You can also just hire someone for the pieces you need done. If you have a handle on your house style, but want someone else to proofread, that’s totally a thing that people do.

Purchase or Assign ISBN

If you’re printing with a company that offers a free International Standard Book Number (ISBN), and you’ve chosen to go that route, you can skip the purchasing step. I personally prefer to have full control of all my ISBNs, allowing me to take them with me if I switch printers or distributors.

Buy your ISBN in advance via Bowker. You will need one ISBN for each product you are producing. A trade paperback needs a different ISBN than a hardcover or audio book. There’s often a discount to purchase multiple ISBNs at one time.

Once you have any needed ISBNs for this project, you’ll need to link the number to a book title, and provide some information on the book and edition (publisher, summary, cover etc). This is a good time to perfect your back-cover blurb or teaser. You can come back and update much of the ISBN information later if you don’t have all the elements at the time you’re doing this.

Request a Preassigned Control Number (print copies only)

If you’re based in the US, you’ll want your book registered with the Library of Congress as this increases the likelihood that it will get into libraries. It also provides some added copyright protection.

You will use the Preassigned Control Number (PCN) process, which takes 10-15 business days. Start this far enough before you plan to complete the publication process, to ensure you have your Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) before you go to print. If you have trouble navigating the Library of Congress’ website for questions (and you probably will, it’s not as clear as it could be), you may want to explore the PCN Manual.

To complete the process of registering, you will need to send a hard copy of the printed book to the Library of Congress.

Format the Story

Formatting your work can fit in with style, especially after you’ve gone through the indie process and have a handle on what you want and need. Many writers will create their draft in the most complicated format they are planning on producing, just so this piece is well underway (and less frustrating later). Once the book is ready for publication, they’ll make copies to reformat for other products.

At this point you need to know how you plan to publish and what company you’ll be using, as different publishers have different formatting requirements. Be sure you read the requirements before you put in a bunch of work changing your novel into a font you won’t be able to use.

Features you need to make formatting decisions on include:

Page size (determined by the product you are creating)

Margins (leave room for the gutter – the inside margin where the binding is)

Chapter heading font, size, and position

Indent (fiction usually indents first line of a paragraph)

Line spacing (look at similarly sized books to choose number of lines per page)

Section breaks (asterism or section sign are both good choices)

A Note on Paragraph Styles

If you’re not already using paragraph styles in your word processor, you need to start now. Styles designate font, size, and text attributes, as well as features like line spacing and indents. When used properly, styles ensure consistency and a professional looking end product. They also make it much easier to reformat the entire document if you need different features for a different product, or if you suddenly need a different font for your text body.

If you are creating an e-book, you must designate title and heading 1 styles at the very least, as these are used for navigation. Failure to designate these will often result in your book not meeting requirements for distribution.

Accessibility

Do not use extra returns and the space-bar to place text where you want it on the page. This makes your digital end product inaccessible to people with adaptive reading equipment. Screen readers will read every one of those spare characters, and no one wants to hear “asterisk, asterisk, asterisk, asterisk…” as they wait for the next section. Instead, use your styles to put chapter headings where you want them, and use hard returns (ctrl+enter) to separate chapters.

Front Matter

This is the content that comes between the front cover and the first page of the story regardless of whether it is a print or e-book. The professional standard includes:

Table of contents (this will be automatically generated for e-books)

Title page (should be on the right page for print editions)

Optional content includes:

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Book Cover

This is your primary advertiser for your book, whether it’s print, e-book, audio book, or a serial. You will use this image everywhere to pitch your work. We’ve all been told to not judge a book by its cover, and we all do it anyway, so expect that this is something that must be done right.

Consider your cover a visual extension of the story. It needs to be appealing while giving your reader clues on what to expect. If your zombie apocalypse story has a cover that feels like a Christian devotional, it won’t appeal to some of your readers and you’ll have gone against the expectations of others. You absolutely do not want your book to look like you spewed clip art at the page, a common new indie writer mistake. A generic cover does you no good either.

It’s okay if you don’t have the skills to create a stunning cover for your book; hiring someone to do this for you may be your best bet. It’s worth paying to get a cover that helps readers decide to pick your story. There are a lot of great artists out there, so look around and find someone whose style is a good fit and who you can afford. That said, don’t whine about prices. Artists deserve to be paid what they’re worth.

Publish

The steps at this stage will vary depending on the company or program you decide to go through.

For most print on demand printers, expect to have to buy a proof before the book becomes available to the public.

Market

This stage will vary depending on your comfort level and opportunities. In general, you should be marketing yourself as a writer at any opportunity. This means participating at conventions, doing readings, and posting announcements on your social media and website. Be careful to avoid giving your friends a constant hard sell on Facebook, though. No one enjoys that. Your social media needs to be somewhat active and should include content not specifically related to a recent book release. Posting teaser chapters can be a great try-before-you-buy option.

While this looks like a lot of steps to take, they are spread out over the course of your process of bringing your story to publication, and many are not that onerous. Most print on demand companies have paid services to help with some of these steps, if they seem too great for you to overcome on your own.

⁂

For the first article in this series, check out Part I. Or if you just missed the previous article, check out Part III. To see the next one, check out Part V.

For more articles on writing, check out my Reflections From the Sol section.

#reflections from the sol #indie author #indie world #Process #Indie Writer Series

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hydrus · 5 years

Text

Version 339

youtube

windows

zip

exe

os x

app

linux

tar.gz

source

tar.gz

I had a good week. I fixed some bugs and finished one part of the Client API.

client api

(This is only for advanced users for now.)

The Client API is now ready for some experimentation! Although most of this work has gone much faster than I expected, the last step of actually writing the server commands along with some half-decent test code and help documentation is proving a little slower. This week rolls out 'set up API access' and 'add urls' functionality. In the coming weeks, I will roll out 'add file', 'add tags', and 'search files' commands.

The basic (under construction) outline is here:

https://hydrusnetwork.github.io/hydrus/help/client_api.html

If you are interested in writing a script to talk to the Client API, please have a play with the new service under manage services and review services and see if you can get some fun going. I am interested to hear your feedback and to help if you run into trouble.

misc

I messed up several things last week, thank you for the quick reports. The bugs with ratings service sorting, the manage import folder dialog, and setting a UPnP port on the local booru/client api are now all fixed.

I also added a button to the ratings' review services panel that allows you to delete ratings en masse based on several file categories. If you have wanted to clear all the ratings for your deleted files, check it out!

full list

client api:

wrote some ui to handle client api permissions adding and editing

wrote a 'catch a permissions request' mini-dialog for external api permissions adding

wrote api calls:

GET

/api_version

/request_new_permissions

/verify_access_key

/add_urls/get_url_info

POST

/add_urls/add_url

and made a new 'client api' help page to describe in detail what these do

wrote fairly comprehensive unit tests for the new client api

refactored a bunch of 'hydrus network' specific stuff away from general server code that the client api now uses

neatened up 401 vs 403 error handling across the program, and replaced some clientside error handling that was inelegantly borrowing these network errors

deleted very old prototype file/thumbnail client server fetch code, which was no longer in use

misc and bug fixes:

added a 'clear ratings' button to the ratings service 'review services' panels. it can clear out ratings for deleted, non-local, or _all_ files

the '3 downloaders are working, is it ok to close the client?' message is now folded into the 'confirm client exit (auto-yes in 15s)' dialog. this merged dialog will still appear for users who have the regular confirm client exit dialog turned off (and still auto-yeses in 15s)

the file url downloader now reports 'downloading file' and 'importing url' text status separately

fixed a typo bug from last week that was breaking asc/desc ratings service sorting

fixed a typo bug from last week that was stopping manage import folders from opening

fixed a typo bug from last week that was breaking setting upnp port on the local booru/client api service management panel

the advanced file reparse-and-re-thumbnailing routine now correctly moves a file to its new extension if its mime changes (e.g. png->apng, or webm/mkv distinctions)

the client file manager now silently detects and auto-repairs instances of missing files where the file actually does exist, just with the wrong extension

fixed a url parsing issue that was normalise-mangling url classes with no path but some query parameters

the network engine now uses utf-8 decoding when no specific encoding is set (previously ISO-8859-1)

fixed an ffmpeg video parsing bug when the video included Shift-JIS metadata. it should work for other unusual encodings as well

maybe cleaned up some menubar management code

the filename tagging dialog now uses a notebook for service choice, like the manage tags dialog, rather than the janky old listbook

fixed a py2-to-3 issue with the admin-only 'is server currently busy' check while a backup is running

improved some dialog button event handling. it may completely fix the 'trytoendmodal' issue some users run into

improved some JSON db serialisation error reporting code, trying to pin down an issue several users have seen with session save

improved thread-safety of serialisable objects as they serialise

misc improvements and cleanup

next week

More Client API stuff. I did 'add urls' this week because it was the simplest. I think I can do 'add file' and 'add tags', and we'll see how much of 'search files' I can do as well.

I had meant to try out some high-resolution support for the OS X release this week, but it kept getting put off. I realised I had missed it again just now and tried to slip it in, but my first attempt did not go perfectly. Rather than try to rush it together in the last moments of the week, I have decided to instead give it another go for 340. Sorry for the delay!

#release

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php-sp · 4 years

Text

Vanguard - Advanced PHP Login and User Management

New Post has been published on https://intramate.com/php-scripts/vanguard-advanced-php-login-and-user-management/

Vanguard - Advanced PHP Login and User Management

LIVE PREVIEWGet it now for only $35

Vanguard is PHP application, written in Laravel PHP framework, that allows website owners to quickly add and enable authentication, authorization and user management to their website. It is designed following latest security and code standards and it is ready for high availability websites. Although it is written in Laravel, it can be used to provide secure login, authentication, authorization and complete user management for any PHP powered website. Vanguard also comes with fully documented JSON API which allows you to easily authenticate users from your mobile (or any other) application.

It comes with almost three hundred automated tests (functional and unit), that cover all vital parts of the application and the API and ensures it’s maintainability and stability.

Version 5.0.1

Features

Secure user registration and login

Social Authentication using Facebook, Twitter and Google+

Password reset

Two-Factor Authentication

Remember Me feature on login

Google reCAPTCHA on registration

Authentication Throttling (lock user account after few incorrect login attempts)

Interactive Dashboard

Unlimited number of user roles

Powerful admin panel

Unlimited number of permissions

Manage permissions from admin interface

Assign permission to roles

Easily check if user has permission to perform some action

JSON API to build any kind of applications around Vanguard

Super easy installation using installation wizard

User Activity Log

Avatar upload with crop feature

Built using Bootstrap 4

Active Sessions Management (see and manage all your active sessions)

Admins can impersonate users

Full unicode support

Client side and server side form validation

Fully customisable from settings section

Complete and detailed documentation

Fully object oriented and commented PHP and JavaScript code.

Localization support – Translate the application to any language (English, Serbian and German translations included)

Runs on PHP 7.2.5+

Flexible Plugin System

Security

CSRF Protection – all forms include CSRF token

Session Protection – highly secure Laravel session mechanism

Highly secure one-way password hashing

Server Requirements

PHP >= 7.2.5

BCMath PHP Extension

OpenSSL PHP Extension

PDO PHP Extension

Mbstring PHP Extension

Tokenizer PHP Extension

Ctype PHP Extension

XML PHP Extension

JSON PHP Extension

GD PHP Extension

Fileinfo PHP Extension

Demo and Documentation

Demo link: https://demo.vanguardapp.io

Admin Credentials

Username: admin

Password: admin123

Documentation and Support: https://milos.support-hub.io/

Discount Notifications

Subscribe to receive notifications about discounts and updates: https://vanguardapp.io/#subscribe

Changelog

Check the docs for upgrade guide.

April 8, 2020 – Version 5.0.1

Fixed installation wizard

April 5, 2020 – Version 5.0.0

Fixed custom login redirect issue Upgraded to Laravel 7 Switched to Laravel Sanctum for API authentication Replaced API transformers with Laravel's API Resources Changed API response format

September 16, 2019 – Version 4.0.1

Fixed password reset email issue Fixed avatar upload issue Updated registration and email verification flow

September 13, 2019 – Version 4.0.0

Added Plugin Support Upgraded to Laravel 6

April 1, 2019 – Version 3.2.1

Fix installation issue

March 30, 2019 – Version 3.2.0

Upgraded to Laravel 5.8 Replaced deprecated Larvel str_ and array_ helper functions

October 30, 2018 – Version 3.1.0

Upgraded to Laravel 5.7 Fixed issue with API when country_id field is null Fixed Notifications Settings update bug Improved Two-Factor Authentication by adding one more step for phone verification Added Impersonate feature

June 14, 2018 – Version 3.0.1

Minor bug-fix release to address a few mostly UI related bugs. List of changed files available inside the upgrade guide.

May 17, 2018 – Version 3.0.0

Complete frontend re-write with Bootstrap 4 Remove additional step for Twitter authentication since Twitter can provide an email now Update sizes of the avatars retreived during social authentication

March 13, 2018 – Version 2.2.0

Upgrade to Laravel 5.6 Fix issue with Authy secret key and config caching Fix issues with registration history chart Fix installation issue on PHP 7.2

December 19, 2017 – Version 2.1.1

Added ability to configure dates format across the app Added automatic session invalidation and log out of the user if he is banned by the administrator Added device info on session list page Updated dashboard chart to display data in last 365 days (instead of for current year) Extracted model factories to different files (important for testing purposes only) Fixed autoload include issue for existing websites

November 08, 2017 – Version 2.1.0

Upgrade Laravel to version 5.5 Fix glitch on User Acivity search

September 14, 2017 – Version 2.0.2

Fix avatar update issue when admin is updating avatar for some other user Disable API authentication for banned and unconfirmed users Fix country update issue which occures on some MySQL versions

August 25, 2017 – Version 2.0.1

Fix installation issues from previous version Update documentation

August 23, 2017 – Version 2.0.0

Add fully tested JSON API Fix some minor glitches related to translation

May 1, 2017 – Version 1.3.3

Fix incompatibility issues between laravel-jsvalidation package and Laravel Framework version 5.4.19+ Fix issue where country is set to null after user logs in

April 12, 2017 – Version 1.3.2

Removed zizaco/entrust package and replaced with Vanguard's native mechanism for handling roles and permissions $user->can() method now use Laravel's default authorization mechanism. For checking if user has permission defined by Vanguard, you should use $user->hasPermission('...').

March 06, 2017 – Version 1.3.1

Fixed installation issue Fixed issue with FORCE_SSL

February 18, 2017 – Version 1.3.0

Laravel 5.4 upgrade IMPORTANT: Fixed potential security issue with user avatar upload Fixed issue to don't allow banned users to log in via social networks Expanded and updated automated tests to cover all bugs and issues from above

September 30, 2016 – Version 1.2.1

Fixed bug when creating/updating users from admin panel without selected country Fixed small typos on delete user confirmation popup

September 27, 2016 – Version 1.2.0

Updated to Laravel 5.3 InnoDB is now forced storage engine for MySQL database Slightly improved design E-Mail templates updated (now using Laravel 5.3 Notifications feature) Fixed default country value Fixed n+1 problem for activity page (added missing eager loading) Fixed translation glitches Added IIS configuration file PHP 5.6.4 is now minimum PHP version required (Laravel 5.3 requirement) PHP XML extension is now requirement (Laravel 5.3 requirement) Updated and extended documentation Dropped support for HHVM, since Laravel 5.3 does not support it

March 30, 2016 – Version 1.1.2

Add missing middleware to redirect user to install page if Vanguard is not installed

March 29, 2016 – Version 1.1.1

Added German translation files Add translation for few missed strings Fix some small bugs

March 15, 2016 – Version 1.1.0

Add localization support Use social network profile image as default avatar after social auth Fix problems with pagination while browsing search results for users and activities Handle missing email from non-twitter social provider

February 18, 2016 – Version 1.0.4

Updated documentation Added option to allow redirect to custom page after login Disable access to login page for authenticated users

February 4, 2016 – Version 1.0.3

Updated documentation Fixed css glitches Added more tests

January 25, 2016 – Version 1.0.2

New design for error pages Updated installer to require Fileinfo extension

January 22, 2016 – Version 1.0.1

Add missing configuration placeholder file

January 21, 2016 – Version 1.0.0

First release

LIVE PREVIEWGet it now for only $35

#PHP Scripts

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uniquenightmaredream-blog · 4 years

Text

The tried-and-trusted ways to make a click-worthy and lead generating landing page

Do you need a landing page? Umm… yes.

The co-founder of Unbounce and digital marketing expert, Oli Gardner, agrees.

But do you need lots of landing pages? Yes!

According to this research as well, the number of landing pages is directly proportionate to the increase in conversion rates. Companies that have 10-15 landing pages showed almost fifty-five per cent increase in lead generation and conversion compared to the ones that have ten or fewer.

Why?

Let’s figure out together!

What is a landing page?

Simply put, a landing page is where customers land on by clicking a paid ad. In the world of marketing, where a business’ marketing efforts and sales pipeline take off. It works separately from your website and is a preferred online e-mail marketing tool for two reasons

It is a teaser to your business. You tell your customers what you care about and how your services or products can make a difference in your life.

It doubles up as a lead generation tool. As Neil Patel suggests, assuming that the CTR is bang-on and the campaign reaches out to your targeted segment, the customers would be okay to further slide down the sales pipeline.

A landing page has one job. To convert. To get you leads through targeted ads on social media, or via e-mail marketing campaigns or PPC. Therefore, have a high chance of a conversion. Since it is a separate page, its reporting, feedback and analytics become much more manageable.

However, don’t fall into the trap of thinking landing pages as a cure-all for your lead generation challenges. Creating landing pages is challenging, and making landing pages that work, are functional and beautiful is a Herculean task. It isn’t an overnight solution to bring traffic and generate leads either. Only one out of fifty people who would land on your landing page would go for CTA, making the average conversion rate on landing pages across industry verticals is mere 2.5 per cent.

So, what is it?

All landing pages are pretty. But why don’t they convert? Landing pages receive traffic from paid ads.So, your actual work starts much before dolling up a landing page, okay, launching an ad campaign, then? No much before that!

Irrespective of how you are launching an ad campaign-via a PPC ad, an e-mail or social media, you need to get your CRM database right. All campaigns are kicked off using the data of CRM. If the database your business is sitting on is dirty, you can’t expect to kick off a successful ad campaign and of course, can only dream away for a landing page that converts. This survey suggests that poor data hygiene costs $614 billion to U.S. companies alone. Bad data translates into work-impacting scenario across the processes. It increases operational costs, results in unproductive work hours, dissatisfied customers and poor business processes.

Data hygiene is no longer optional. De-clutter your data for sound business decision.

Why should you hire a data mining service provider?

The data quality 1-10-100 rule tells you that wise humans have been saying all these years. Prevention is better than cure. It costs you $1 to prevent the onset of data decay, $10 to rectify the data and $100 to counter its failure.

For instance, without e-mail data validation, an e-mail campaign can cost your business three times more than a targeted campaign. Not to mention, the less than three per cent response rate!

Why your CRM database is dirty?

Often companies get data from web scraping services, and as a result, the data could be inconsistent, copied and repetitive leading to poor data quality.

And also, because it is natural. People move to new cities; they change job titles and don’t give a damn about your database. Moreover, your salespeople could be in a hurry to fill the lead forms, or to complete their quota with typos or unfortunately, sometimes with false information.

Also Read: Now Save Time and Money with This New Way- Skip tracing for Banking and Finance!

So. if you want to run a successful ad campaign and make a landing page that works and brings you sales leads, fix your data hygiene first with data mining services. Let them find the hotspots for errors and rectify them. An integral part of data mining is data scrubbing and e-mail appending services.

Data scrubbing consist of cleaning the data of inconsistencies, syntax, validation and other inaccuracies. Enhancing the data with rich and relevant information of a targeted user base is called data appending or to be precise, e-mail appending or email verification for an e-mail marketing campaign.

Often when a salesperson would fill information manually, they would leave the demographics or buying preferences. They wouldn’t write a user’s age, demographics or buying choice. A data verification service provider not only does this for you but also gives it a structure and consistent pattern. So, next time when you are doing an address search from a database, you know that you would find it.

So, if you want people to land on your landing page, and not turn it into a no man’s land, you know what to do now!

Alright. But why do I need as many?

A business needs a different landing page at each step of a sales pipeline. People coming from a social media contest require a landing page with a suitable CTA. Similarly, so would incoming traffic from a blog, a webinar registration, an e-book download, a guest post or a YouTube channel. It helps you to track the traffic, figure out what works and what doesn’t while giving you as many avenues to open new possibilities. A landing page puts the spotlight on you by targeting the right set of customers.

Elements of a successful landing page

The first impression is the last. But nobody has told you that these first impressions take the only 1/20th of a second. The best part is you can have as many landing pages as you want. The bad news is there is no written rule or ten commandments set in stone as to what works.

It is mostly the collective knowledge that everybody works with and a simple rule that states eighty per cent of people remember visuals. But your aim should be to create a well-designed and balanced landing page that is visually delightful and pleasing. No noise and clutter, please!

The Conversion Rate Experts suggest that some changes in landing pages and banking on trust elements led to a jump in revenue for Moz. Would you not want to sail in the same boat?

If your answer is ‘Yes’, scroll down for lowdown on how to make a great landing page that brings revenue and relevant traffic to your website!

A landing page is meant for conversion. It is designed to do one work, which is to get clicks and convert. Here are some of the critical elements that make a landing page, exceptional and functional.

Copy: A great headline and a succinct copy with a simple CTA are the non-negotiable attributes that hold the key to success. A catchy headline will prevent bounce rate and prompt the users to read more. The to-the-point copy will tell the customers what is in it for them. Similarly, you wouldn’t like your customers to keep guessing what they are supposed to do once they land on your page. So. a well-thought-out CTA is a must.

What should your content look like? Types of content on a landing page:

Local content: Relevancy is the keyword here. If you can add local elements such as regional language, a local icon can take you a long way in search engine indexing and conversion.

Social content: It is advisable to have different landing pages for social media. Your audience on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is diverse and should be targeted separately to increase engagement rates.

Smart content: Apart from persuasive content, animation, GIFs, memes, and customised content is the way to go! However, it is recommended that you use them in a balanced manner and do not go overboard with any of it.

Your content should answer:

Why: The customers should know why they are at your landing page.

What: What’s your USP?

How: How your product can help them?

Trust emblem: The trust indicators for your business is a logo, customer testimonials and aggregators’ stamp of approvals. If a customer reads a positive review about a service or product, they are more likely to respond and convert into a potential lead. Ensure an optimised flow for your customers.

Keep it simple, silly: Landing pages are a dedicated way to tap into a prospective set of customers. Therefore, directing them to your website isn’t a smart idea. While a single CTA button can increase your conversion rate by sixty per cent, it is wise to keep the form and CTA easy to understand.

Form a connect: Think of a landing page as an experience that you are bringing forth to your customers. So, there shouldn’t be a disconnect at all from a PPC ad, social media ad campaign or e-mail they are coming from. They shouldn’t be taken away with surprise and have to cross-check if they are a secure connection or right page.

Make it pop: Your CTA button should stand out in the grand scheme of things. While it should ‘gel’ with the rest of the page, a customer should know the outcome. It has been observed that a ‘Free subscription to 10-day trial’ work any day better than a ‘sign-up.’

Steer clear of third-party navigation links: Having an external link on a landing page can make customers leave the landing page and move on to the said link. So, even if your landing page is offering a download or registration, it should happen there, without letting the customers leave.

Have a privacy statement: Tell your customers that you won’t sell their data anywhere. Yes, it is crucial. However, be it your website link, social media profiles or anything that can “distract” them from a landing page, should be kept in the footer space, which should also be the minimum. Often a landing page has so much going for it, and you wouldn’t have much space left for it anyway!

The lead generation form: Aha, finally! The only thing that you are going through the trouble of it. Ponder over your target customers and their information. What exactly do you want from them? Often, B2C businesses find that the customers aren’t comfortable giving away their data but the question is, will they check their e-mails even? B2B sales leads, however, thrive on direct contacts. So, figure out your target audience, opt for data scrubbing services, derive action-oriented insights and go for it!

Formulate the exit stage: There are two outcomes to a customers’ arrival at a landing page:

Assuming that the CTA is apt and a landing page is excellent, a customer would leave the desired details with you

The customers would like to get off as soon as they land.

In each scenario, you should have an exit strategy ready for them. If a customer leaves without leaving details, think of incentivising the exit. Then, you can think of redirecting them to your website, social media sites or blog where you can hold them off for a little bit longer.

Similarly, hoping that your customers expect the way you want them to, go for a simple Thank-You message with the relevant details in the e-mail and maybe an offer or promo code.

More than sixty-five per cent of B2B businesses believe in the lead generation capabilities of landing pages. Unfortunately, for most of them, it is either poorly designed or take the customers to the home page.

Don’t make these mistakes and make your landing page great. Start from scratch and get down to the basics, first! Optimise your ad campaign and landing page experience with the power of data! Get your CRM database cleaned. Hire a skip tracing services provider and ensure that your ad campaign is reaching out to the customers that are the right fit for you.

#data mining #data mining services #data appending #data verification #datascrubbing

0 notes

dorothydelgadillo · 5 years

Text

How to Solve for the "Content Editing Takes Too Much Time" Problem

All aboard Liz's time machine! Please keep your hands, legs, and beer bellies inside the vehicle at all times, as we travel back to a late night four years ago. 🚀

It was 9 p.m. Everyone else had gone home, and I was sitting at my desk in an empty office.

At the time, I was Quintain's content manager. In my role, I worked closely with our account managers and our clients, as I managed all of the interviewing of subject matter experts, as well as the editing and publication of all content for our clients.

I also managed our network of freelance writers, and acted as their managing editor to ensure the scope of each piece matched the strategy I had outlined for them.

For each piece, a writer typically received an audio recording of my subject matter expert interview (about 15 to 30 minutes in length, depending on the depth of the topic), a content style guide I had built for the client, an overview of the purpose and persona for each piece, as well as any other notes or outlines I felt they would require to complete the assignment.

As a word nerd, I loved my job... for the most part.

But that night, I hated it.

I Could Have Worked All Night & Still Wouldn't Have Finished

My husband was always understanding about late nights, but I had left him hungry -- "You only have ingredients in the refrigerator; what am I supposed to do with lettuce?"

On top of that, I had 16 different articles I had to work through -- a blend of assignments that had come back from writers, and a client who had finally worked through their own bottleneck of edits.

Given that it took me about 30 minutes to an hour to work through each piece, at the time, I sat there with my head in my hands. I had no idea what I was going to do. At that pace, I could have stayed at work another six hours -- leaving Patrick to starve and my sanity to wither -- and still only gotten through maybe 50 to 75% of my backlog.

I had a reputation of being a great writer and editor at Quintain, but it was the volume that was killing me. Not because it was unfair, but rather it exposed a huge weakness of mine.

A weakness I'm sure a few of you might also be suffering from.

The quality of my work was outstanding, but that didn't change the fact that my editing process was utterly broken and not scalable.

And the situation I was in, at that moment, could have been avoided.

The 2 Most Insidious Editing Process Mistakes You're Making

Years later, with more experience under my belt, I can easily spot the two reasons why I had ended up in that position:

First, I did not push back on my writers nearly enough.

Second, I was trying to edit for everything at once. Which is impossible.

Now, having done high-volume content production management and editing for more than five years in an inbound marketing environment, I can say that these are the two mistakes content managers and inbound marketers make that result in...

Well, stop me if you've heard or said something like this before:

"We can't ramp up content production because editing takes too much time."

"The quality of work I'm getting back from my writers isn't getting better."

"I just want to scream at my bosses who want me to be more efficient, 'You have no idea how bad the quality of work is that I'm dealing with,' but they don't want to hear it."

"I feel like I am never, ever going to get ahead on our content calendar. I'm living in an endless loop of always feeling behind."

"I can never get to the point of being more strategic in my edits, because I just need to get stuff done and up. I'm always in catch-up mode."

If any of these sound familiar, you're probably dealing with at least one of the problems I mentioned above.

Don't Be Too Hard on Yourself

Today, I'm going to explain why each of those problems exist and how to solve for them.

First, however, I want to make something clear to anyone reading this who feels seen, but also feels like a failure.

You're not a failure for not having identified these as problems and for suffering in editing purgatory.

One of the things I've talked about in the past is that the demand for high-quality content has risen, because the inbound marketing space is crowded. So, while it used to be that marketers could pull double-duty as marketers and strategists who moonlight as content strategists and editors, that doesn't quite work anymore.

The skills I'm going to teach you are often not native to the inbound marketing world, unless you've already started hiring people who have some sort of background in professional publishing, journalism, or some other written communication-based field.

But you can learn those skills.

Now, with that bit of emotional housekeeping out of the way, let's roll up our sleeves and dig in...

Problem #1: Not Pushing Subpar Work Back to Writers

Going back to that night in 2015, my biggest problem was that I had seven pieces that had come back from writers. Back then, if I received a piece of writing back from a freelancer that wasn't good, guess what my first inclination was?

I would open up the document and get to work editing as best I could. My goal was to have a finished, client-ready piece by the time I got to the end. Even if it was bad, that just meant I had that much more work to do.

Which is exactly the opposite of what I should have been doing.

This Rule Works for Internal & External Writers

Now, instead of doing this, these are the guidelines I follow and coach others at IMPACT to follow, as well:

Take five minutes to review a first draft from a writer or returned edits on a draft from a client, where revisions have been requested. Skim, do not edit, at this phase.

Deciding to keep or send back content to a writer is often a judgment call that strikes a balance between not driving up costs with unnecessary revision cycles with a paid writer and making the best use of your own time.

The best practices below can help guide you.

When to Return Content to the Writer

The writer did not follow the instructions in the work order, and thus did not meet your expectations.

The focus of the article is correct, but the overall quality is subpar or lacks the polish that is to our standards.

The client has requested revisions that require a restructuring or reworking of significant portions of a blog post that would take more than 10 to 15 minutes worth of work.

When You Should Edit Content Yourself

The writer has done a good job delivering against the work order, and the piece only requires minimal spell checks and tweaks that would take less than 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

The client has provided minimal edits or comments that can easily be implemented or resolved in less than 10 to 15 minutes.

Why These Rules Are So Critically Important

There are two important deviations here from that typical "I'm just going to fix it myself" strategy that solved for a lot of my pain:

The first thing I do is skim; I do not edit. I do not need to deeply edit an article to figure out if we're in the ballpark of what I was looking for. A quick five-minute review will tell me whether or not the quality is where it should be and the strategic scope of an article is in-line with what was asked for. If it's not, back to the writer it goes.

A writer's failure to meet the requirements of an assignment is not my problem. I cannot stress how important it is to not allow your writers -- whether they're freelancers or colleagues who contribute -- to get the "gold star" of completing an assignment if you basically have to do the work yourself to make it useable.

By following these two rules, I drastically reduce the amount of time I spend on fixing terrible work.

Moreover, I do not become a doormat for writers who learn over time -- because I enable them by not holding them accountable -- that I will just fix their bad work for them.

Think about it -- under the "I'll just do it myself" process, there's no incentive for someone to deliver the quality I'm looking for. What's the point, when I'll just do it for them, right?

But I was also hurting myself, too.

By always positioning myself as a reactive editor, I never give myself a chance to develop myself professionally as a content manager or editor who has a voice or a vision. I also never give the writers who genuinely want feedback -- and the ability to learn and improve -- a chance to do so, because I'm just doing it for them.

The best part about this strategy is that, in the cases where the writer failed to meet expectations or needed to do more work, the edits I returned were more global and fewer in number.

Instead of a document with lots of markup, I'd just highlight sections or provide more 80,000-foot view feedback with a note that, once those issues are resolved, we can move into more copy-editing.

(Oh, and if a writer sends me a draft with tons of typos and grammatical errors, I'll send that back, too, with a note to run it through a more careful spelling and grammar check, before it comes to me.)

Problem #2: Editing for Everything All at Once

I'm going to be upfront and say that you are going to think I'm crazy as I explain the solution to this problem.

You're going to think I'm telling you to do more work, which will take more time.

You have to trust me that, with a little practice, this system will create less work for you and make your editing more efficient...

...even though there are seemingly more steps involved.

How We Normally Edit Content

Someone gives us a document.

We immediately start editing it, with an eye for the following:

How's the spelling, grammar, and syntax?

Did they nail the narrative structure -- should anything be moved around?

Have they answered all of the questions or covered the topic deeply enough?

Is the voice and tone -- the "style" -- in-line with brand standards?

How's the visual formatting with bullets, headings, and subheadings?

Considering how important each of those five points are to ensuring a piece of content meets the needs of the audience, while also reflecting positively on the brand that's doing the publishing, this list makes sense, right?

Of course, it does.

But the idea that you can effectively evaluate a piece of writing for each of those items at once is not only asinine, it's incredibly inefficient.

An Example to Show You What I Mean

Let's say you have an 800-word blog article you're editing from an internal subject matter expert. You do all of the copyediting against those five points above, including making a bunch of spelling and grammar edits.

Then, you highlight a section -- let's say three paragraphs -- with a note for the original writer that says:

"I'm not sure this answers the question we're looking for -- can you take another run at this?"

They come back later and the section is rewritten entirely.

If you've made any edits to that section, you can kiss that work goodbye. Now you have a whole new section -- potentially longer than the first -- that needs to be reviewed, from scratch.

The moral of the story here is you need to solve for the big problems in a piece of content first, before you even bother with the window-dressing edits.

But how do you do it?

Here's What You Need to Do Instead

You need to edit for each of those five standards, but in phases. Never all at once.

Otherwise, you'll end up having to redo your work because (a) depending on some of the edits you provide a writer, you may end up in the scenario I outlined above; and (b) it's almost impossible to effectively edit for everything all at once.

You may think you can, but it's likely that you'll find yourself reading and re-reading something over and over again to make sure you got everything.

So, here's how you do it -- assuming they've passed the skim test I discussed earlier:

First, edit for structure and scope. If there is anything that comes up here, ask the writer to resolve those comments before you move onto the next phase, so you don't have to redo your copyediting.

Next, edit for visual presentation and then content style. Once you're sure the ideas are sound and presented in the right order, you can get to work on massaging how the content looks -- maybe a paragraph might do better as a list or you need a few more subheadings -- and then clean up the style of the content.

Finally, edit for spelling and grammar. Even though these edits are the easiest to spot, you're wasting your time editing for this upfront. If there are a lot of them, you should have already instructed the writer to proofread their work again following the skim test. By leaving this step to the end, you're only doing cleanup on a piece of content you know is in-line with the quality and depth of what you were looking for.

(By the way, if you're moving through a high volume of content, there's no shame in using technology to make the spelling and grammar checks a bit easier.)

It sounds simple enough, but it makes a huge difference.

"These Solutions Sound Great, Liz, but That's Going to Require a Lot of Change for My Team"

If it makes you feel any better, this is exactly how I used to feel.

After that night, once I realized why I was struggling with the workload of copyediting at scale, I made every excuse in the book as to why I couldn't make the changes I knew I needed to make.

It'll make our production timeline longer.

I can't go back and ask clients or writers for more work.

We're not far enough ahead.

Finally, once I was done complaining, I realized the "pain" of restructuring how I do my work and communicating that to my team, freelancers, and writers would be far less than the very real pain I was feeling from always being behind.

In fact, it would make that pain go away. And, in a lot of ways, it did.

However, it did require me to finally stand up as an owner of the content process, which meant I had to create a communication strategy that covered the following:

The problems I had identified within our content process, and the pain we were all feeling as a result, so they understood I was solving a problem for all of us, not just for me;

The changes I was going to be making and the why for each, so they could see why each of those changes were important and not arbitrary.

The outcomes I expected to see as a result of these changes, which included our ability to get ahead, to empower others to be the content contributors they needed to be, and, ultimately, to increase the quality of content we were producing -- which help us reach our goals faster.

While I was scared about the communication strategy for it, that ended up being the easy part.

The hardest part for me will probably end up being the biggest challenge for all of you who need to transform your content production and editorial processes.

You have to stick to your guns.

You have to get better at delivering feedback and not wasting your time fixing the substandard work of others -- otherwise, you'll be paying your freelancers money they didn't really earn and/or your internal contributors will rely on you to do your work for them.

But you also have to push back on those who seek to create efficiency in these processes in a way that will erode the quality of what you're producing.

This is much easier to do, however, if you have a process like the one I've outlined. You can say things like:

"This step is non-negotiable and cannot be streamlined. This is where the story comes together, so, if we skip this or 'try to go faster' here, we're going to compromise the final product. However, we can talk about other parts of the process that won't impact the substance of our content."

If your process is a jumble of moving parts, where you can't point to a single step and MC Hammer it by saying, "You can't touch this," you'll never win a process argument. You'll never be able to justify with any authority that you have a process to begin with or steps within it that are worth preserving.

You'll Come Out the Other Side, I Promise!

Of course, you're still a finite resource. You can make your processes more scalable. But there will always be a breaking point where you'll need help in this department, depending on how robust your organizational vision around content production is.

That said, as someone who has been through this pain before -- complete with crying and nights where I questioned if I was good enough at my job -- and solved for it, trust me when I say you've totally got this.

This pain can be temporary, but you have to commit yourself to being the owner of your content and making the changes you need to, so you can get ahead and produce better inbound content.

Not only will you solve for the pain, you'll also create more time for high-value activities that can establish you as a content visionary within your organization.

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/content-management-editing-tips

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davidsilvercloud · 6 years

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The Daily Grind, 28 Nov. 2017

Terry David “Butch/Butch Naked” Silvercloud

"Step aside! I shall perform the necessary heroics" Comic Book Guy/The Simpsons

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T. S. Eliot

....... The DAILY GRIND..... what's up today.

11.5 Million photo views, to date at http://ButchNaked.com. Thank you. At this time I'm getting about 100,000 photo views a week. Again... thanks for the visits. Tell everyone.

My homepage is http://ButchBoard.com

Now keep reading.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an official apology, in the House of Commons, to the LGBTQ community and all those who were affected by a secret government campaign to seek out and kick out homosexuals from the government services from the 1950's to the 1990's.

I left the Navy, in 1968, because I couldn't reveal that I was gay. I was a trained submariner and a Lieutenant in the Canadian Forces. I had signed on for seven years but was offered a discharge when they found out I wasn't taking the permanent commission they had offered to me several times. They paid me the agreed upon separation payment of seven months pay and allowances and an honourable discharge, after having Military Police track me and try to frame me for being seen in areas unbecoming an officer. I told them I would see them in court. They backed off and got real nice.

I've done video of Justin Trudeau...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsCR3hutjuk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVL6g2lpUbc

Tuesday, 28 Nov., 2017. I wuz up about 7:30am. Cool, grey and wet out there and starting to get bright. I had a T3 and watched the news and wrote a bit. Went back to bed around 10:30am and slept for another couple of hours. Now it's 1:30pm.

Had a regular kind of day... painting, coffee, smoking pot, watching TV, exercise, selfies. I fucked my sex toy around 6pm and had a shower after I blew my load. Headed downtown about 6:30pm to get online.

Sorry for any typos or spelling errors. My ASUS Transformer doesn't have spell check and my near eyesight is the shits, and I'm a terrible speller. Turns out geeks can be good with numbers and ideas, but terrible spellers. I moved a lot when young... different schools, so my spelling skills suck. I've been working hard to improve them the past 30 years. My grammar is excellent... just can't spell well.

I hate being old...never did like getting older. I'm one of those people who always looked about 10-15 years younger than they are, and I tended to associate with people in their late teens or early 20's most of my life. The reality is I didn't socialize a lot... I had a boyfriend and I'm not a party and play kind of person, nor do I enjoy drinking, so bars and clubs were never something I cared for. Most people I knew were very casual acquaintances, not close friends. I was surrounded by drinkers and smokers and I don't do either. I smoke a ton of pot... about 1 1/2 oz a month.

My boyfriend died in 1994 and it's been pretty lonely since then. I've not found any way around that. I still find most adults extremely ignorant and immature, or just plain stupid... dumb as a fucking rock. So I keep to myself. I no longer have any quite young friends... they grew up and moved on, or died from sickness or accident. I've found that, since I began looking more my age... that age discrimination is rampant and I don't much fit in anywhere, now. So, here I am, in my 74th year trying to keep busy and useful and amusing. I tire more easily but expect you won't be able to keep up with me and I don't wait up. I like being in charge and the boss... get used to it, you'll be much happier when you do.

Not sure how much longer I'll keep doing the selfie thing and blogging. I take things one day at a time now.

Personal possessions are important. Owning some nice 'stuff' makes one feel more secure and provides some personal pleasures. What is important is to live within one's means and to realize that possessions will not bring happiness by themselves. That said, possessions help. I have a few things that mean a lot to me... I really enjoy looking at them and having them and would feel very empty and betrayed if I lost them. We work hard to gain what we have and should not take it for granted and we should dismiss the boneheads who say possessions don't matter as brain dead idiots.

Humans have advanced because of trade and barter. We can't make or produce everything, and we can't trade for everything, so the invention of debt and money came into being. Money and debt are related... the note is a promise to pay/receive an agreed upon value... but you never do. You just trade the piece of paper to somebody else who ads it to their promises to pay. It's a very useful and progressive idea. Like all ideas, it's prone to abuse and smart people who take advantage.

Money may not buy happiness, but it definitely makes life better. Poor totally sucks.

Money came into being a long time ago as coins. Paper money was more dependent upon the invention of the Indian number system... from India, the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc. that we know today. They were introduced to the west by the Knights Templar who discovered that number system and used it in their secret notes after the 12th century. One could deposit one's cash at a Templar temple in exchange for a note written with secret numbers (the ones we know today) then go on Crusade to Jerusalem and exchange the note for cash there... avoiding robbery on the way to the Crusade.

Trade is changing rapidly, again. Online shopping is outpacing mortar and brick stores. I mention this because shopping took a big turn in style about 100 years ago... in the late 1800's and the early 1900's. The store that made the largest impact was the department store, in London, called Selfridges. When it opened it was a TOTAL revolution in retailing. Even today there are reminders of how department stores can be successful. Selfridges catered to women's shopping... something new in those days. Women, suddenly, had in store washrooms, and the main floor and entrance to the store were totally devoted to perfumes and make-up. Walk into any large department store, today, and you will see that the formula is still being followed. Also, the idea of store displays was invented by Selfridges.... the customer could, actually, touch the merchandise. Selfridges was the first department store to pay a high enough wage that the poorer employees didn't have to room and board IN THE STORE. Yup.. employees actually slept and ate at the stores, before Selfridges.

Meanwhile, don't fret about acquiring possessions. Life is very, very short and you should attempt to enjoy it. Just remember that you don't need everything. Possessions will not take away loneliness. Old man Selfridge, after becoming immensely wealthy, lost it all to twins... the Dolly Sisters. They bled him dry with their gambling debts when he was in his 70's and lonely. He lost the store, his fortune, and died a poor man. The Selfridge Department store is still doing well and in the hands of the Weston Family of Canada.

He had it all... and lost it. When you arrive you don't get to stay. Possessions have to be protected and cared for. Life is hard.

THIS IS THE END OF THE DAILY GRIND.

IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN HERE, BEFORE, HERE IS MORE STUFF TO READ...

I'm a bit OCD and ADHD and go on like a dripping tap. Think Sheldon Cooper, if that rings some kind of bell. I quite simply assume everyone around me is a complete idiot.

http://DavidSilvercloud.com (Blog) (http://David_Silvercloud.Tumblr.com)

http://ButchNews.com (Video) (http://YouTube.com/ButchNews)

http://ButchNaked.com (Photo Stream) (http://Flickr.com/David_Silvercloud)

http://SeriousThunder.com (Art)

http://ElectronSpeed.Tumblr.com (Physics... The Speed of Light, Grand Unified Theory, Gravity, Dark Matter, Dark Energy... how the physical size of the Electron is the clock that sets the speed of light. Gravity is motion and a product of the fact that nothing ever sits still, combined with the magnetic properties of Dark Matter/Energy. Nothing can ever move in an absolute circle and rest is a relativity illusion.

Absolute rest is not possible... ever. The universe can not end. Time is change and is an illusion. It is always now, everywhere, all at once, all of the time. Proof of that is that ANY object MUST be HERE and THERE at the SAME time, no matter how large... even a Galaxy. It is always NOW on both sides... here and there, in space, of the Galaxy... all galaxies, everywhere. Waves can be either physical or electronic. The duality of the universe keeps it ongoing. DNA is the battery of life. When the chains can no longer co-operate, life ceases in the body. Life, itself, is a duality. Time measurement is a relativity convenience.) Time travel is impossible because time is not a place and nothing stays where it was. One year form now the Solar System will have moved about seven BILLION kilometres through space and will NEVER return to where it was... ever.

Earth travels through space like a long wave... it has NEVER, ever made an actual circle, nor ellipse, in space. The circle/ellipse is an illusion of relativity. Nothing can ever travel in an actual circle in space... NOTHING. Nothing can ever go backward. Backwards motion is an illusion of relativity. Time is a repercussion of change and has no fixed rate... things explode or move like a glacier. At best we can only compare rates of change. Our rate of change is called the second/minute/hour/day/month/year system.

WATCH VIDEO FOR EXPLANATION OF THE PATH OF EARTH THROUGH SPACE. Earth moves about 7 billion kilometers through space, each year... in a long wave. Earth NEVER returns to where it was before. Earth is NOT an island in space... one of the reasons why time travel is impossible. If you take a trip through space, outside the Solar System, Earth will NOT be there when you return... it will be far, far away. You will have to return to where it will BE when you arrive... remember, it's moving very, very, very fast through space in a long wave... never a circle, or ellipse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPjohZCMwmI

http://The-Shape-Of-God.Tumbler.com Manuscript of my book... The Shape of God.

Butch, himself. Visual Artist, Photographer, Physicist (Particle, Sub/Atomic Physics/Relativity)

Inhibitions are just so inhibiting, I avoid them.

I'm a friendly, but pretty blunt, kind of guy. No time for beating around the bush. I like to say what I mean and mean what I say. I'm 73 years old. Time is not on my side. You don't have to like me. I'm a social recluse, anyway. I share my life, in photos, video, and words, to let you into my life and hope to inspire you to be a productive and useful human. I have old age issues but will continue to post, here, while I'm well and able. I talk a lot... I'm told it's part of my OCD and ADHD. Come direct at http://ButchNaked.com Sign in if you wish to see me naked.

If you don't know me, the following might help you get to know what kind of person I am. I don't expect you to understand me. I can be a bit OCD and ADHD.

"They've already got more blowjobs than we'll ever get" Steve Smith (American Dad), talking about college jocks.

"Now let us touch testicles and mate for life" Alien on The Simpsons

"It never hurts to have a second set of prints on a gun" Nelson Muntz, The Simpsons.

I'm here to teach you things. While I appreciate other people's opinions, I really don't much give a crap what anyone thinks. Until you prove your worth, I will be nice but you have to earn my respect. The moment you say a word, I'll be figuring you out really, really fast. You should assume that I don't trust anyone. I've not met a single trustworthy person in my entire life. I've met lots of nice people who aren't too bright... well-intentioned folk who know little about anything, people who are nice, most of the time until you say something that offends them. Honourable people agree to disagree.

Look up the phrase "CRITICAL THINKING" then learn to practice it. Most people leap before they look and judge before they listen to the facts. Most don't have enough knowledge, nor experience, to be experts in much of anything. You don't know what you don't know. I like to remind you of that, often.

The only other REALLY IMPORTANT thing to know about me is that I, totally, despise all religions, the teaching of religion, and religious institutions... I despise them as the evilest things on the planet. If you follow a religion, you CAN NOT BE MY FRIEND. THAT'S THAT. You are an ignorant idiot who is an ever-present danger to yourself and everyone and everything around you. Nothing, absolutely NOTHING, is eviler than religion. I don't stand for, nor sing, our National Anthem because it praises a fictitious and superstitious being called 'God'. Only a brain dead moron bonehead ignorant idiot would believe such a thing.

If you have a religion, I will not associate with you... period. You are a danger to be around. Yes, I insult religions... they are extraordinarily evil. I said it, I mean it. You have a right to be an idiot, but not around me. I have a right to defend myself against the horrors of religion and I will. Religion is evil. I can't say it enough times.

http://The-Shape-Of-God.Tumblr.com

I keep a homepage at http://ButchBoard.com

You may come directly to my photostream at http://ButchNaked.com

You must sign in to see me naked. You may download and share nude photos of me... go nuts.

GOOGLE my name (Terry David Silvercloud or David Silvercloud) for more information.

#David Silvercloud #Butch Naked #Visual Artist #Photographer #Physicist

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