#gas can spout

[1talapia-007]

#gas can life hack #generators #gas can #winter #gas can spout

[diablo1776]

#government failure #big derp #worst gas can spout ever

[sewercentipede]

my dream is to own my own house (in a country/city where social services like public transportation healthcare and food/environmental regulations are top notch and the nightclub scene is popping) and my bathroom would be the most important room in the house, it would be huge, with a vanity and lots of seating, have heated flooring (as would the entire house) and that light switch that emits heat, the shower would be huge with multiple rain-style and other style shower heads and would have wooden benches and double as a steam sauna. the European toilet would have built in Japanese style bidet (all the works), there would also be a non-European toilet option. and a giant claw footed bathtub. and I would be able to smoke a cigarette on the toilet or in the bath because it would be my house and my bathroom. (I’d have 3 full bathrooms ideally, 2 minimum, but the big one would be for me and only me). Also my closet would be the size of a bedroom

#the kitchen would be second most important but all I’d really care about is gas burners and tons of counter space and cubbard space #and MASSIVE sink. with a faucet that you can pull out like a hose #*spout not faucet #crohns really influences what my ideal house fixtures are

[fdelopera]

Yo Gentiles! Looks like I'm going to need to give some of you a crash course on what antisemitic language looks like, because I've been seeing entirely too much of it from some of you here on Tumblr.

Now, I think it's time for a Jewish history lesson, because I've been seeing way too many Nazi-related conspiracy theories going around. If you hear contradictions to the basic information that I am about to share (i.e., if you hear someone saying that the Jewish people are "a race that originated in Europe"), it is likely that you are hearing a white supremacist, anti-Jewish conspiracy theory.

So, here's the basics of Jewish history. Jews are indigenous to the Levant have been there for thousands of years. The Levantine people that Jews descended from have been in that area of the Levant since the Bronze Age. Jews as a distinct people have been there since the Late Bronze Age. Before it was Palestine it was the Kingdom of Judah, then Judea, and then Judaea, and that is literally where we are from. The word Jew means "a person from the Kingdom of Judah." The Romans renamed the area Syria-Palaestina (which they borrowed from the Greek name Palestina) in the 2nd century CE after destroying the Second Temple in Jerusalem and leading another campaign to try to eradicate the Jewish people (guess what, we're still here, motherfuckers).

And even after the Romans tried to annihilate us, even after they scattered many of us into European diaspora, many Jews came back, again and again over the ages, and there have nearly always been Jewish communities in the region throughout history.

And if you come for me or try to dispute any of this history with white supremacist bullshit, I am a Jew who has studied way more Jewish history than you. And as politely as possible, you can take your white supremacist conspiracy theories and fuck off into the sun.

Okay, with all that out of the way, let's get into it!

Gloves are coming off, because this is just a sampling of the Nazi dogwhistles I've been seeing here on Tumblr about the Jewish civilians who were tortured, murdered, and worse:

- If you say shit like, "The Jews got what they deserved"...

GUESS WHAT? You're talking like a white supremacist, and you need to fucking check yourself.

- And if, on the other hand, you say shit like, "The reports were probably overblown. I think those were paid actors. I don't think those Jews were murdered. No Jewish children were killed. No Jewish bodies were desecrated" blahblahblah...

GUESS WHAT? You get to sit with the Nazis at their table for lunch.

- If you tell Jews "go back to Europe where you came from"...

GUESS WHAT? Not only are you telling the descendants of Jewish refugees to go back to the Spanish Inquisition, the Russian pogroms, and the Nazi gas chambers, as I explained in this post, but you are also repeating a white supremacist conspiracy theory about the origins of European Jews.

Jews are a Levantine people from the area of the Middle East currently called Israel (formerly called the Kingdom of Judah, and then Judea). While there was some emigration to Europe during the late Roman Republic and the early days of the Roman Empire, the first mass migration of Jews to Europe was a forced migration. Gentiles from the Roman Empire dragged us there as captives after 70 CE, the year Rome destroyed the Second Temple.

- And if you're telling yourself that there are "good Jews" and "bad Jews," and those Jewish civilians were "bad Jews," so they deserved to be tortured and killed...

GUESS WHAT? You're spouting white supremacist ideology.

Antisemitism takes a long time to deprogram.

A lot of gentiles grow up with anti-Jewish ideology that they have never questioned.

And a lot of Christians are kept ignorant about Jewish history because preachers and priests fear it would make Christians question the many inaccuracies in the Bible.

But the first step in noticing antisemitic beliefs is to notice when you start singling people out *because* they are Jewish.

And I have been seeing some of you gleefully celebrating the murder of Jewish civilians *because* they are Jewish.

And that is antisemitism.

That is one step closer to the next generation of Jews getting shoved into the gas chambers. And there are only 16 million of us left in the entire world. We're 0.2% of the world's population. And we cannot afford another Holocaust.

And if your response to me saying that is, "Well, those Jews deserve it."

Guess what. You are making it easier for Nazis and white supremacists to spread hatred and commit acts of violence against Jewish people. And you will have to live with that blood on your conscience.

So...

If you are a gentile, and you see other gentiles repeating these kinds of white supremacist dogwhistles about Jewish people, here's how you can help:

1. MOST IMPORTANTLY: Help them direct their focus away from attacking random Jewish people online and towards helping Palestinians.

Actions that people can take right now are contributing to verified charities and relief organizations that help the people of Gaza. Some organizations that are verified by CharityNavigator.org and CharityWatch.org are:

Anera (92% rating on Charity Navigator)

Palestine Children's Relief Fund (97% rating on Charity Navigator)

Doctors Without Borders (98% on Charity Navigator)

2. Call that shit out. Tell people that they're being antisemitic, and explain that Jew-hatred is dangerous to Jewish people. Antisemitism gets Jews attacked and it gets Jews killed. In the US, many synagogues require round the clock security to protect against white supremacists who want to murder Jews. In Pittsburgh, my old home town, a group of Nazis from north of the city planned the murder of Jewish congregants at Tree of Life Synagogue, and so far only one of them (the gunman) has been arrested and convicted of the murders. The others are still at large.

3. Explain to them that it is antisemitic to celebrate someone's death *because* they're Jewish. ALSO, it is antisemitic to blame a random Jewish person for the actions of ANY government, whether that be the Israeli Government or the US Government.

4. Explain to people that they're not going to solve this conflict by posting antisemitic statements and memes online. All they will do is alienate the Jewish people in their lives and make those Jews feel scared and unsafe. And they will contribute to this current wave of antisemitism.

Antisemitic hatred doesn't help Palestinians. All it does is put Jewish people around the world in danger.

#tl;dr if you celebrate the murder of jews *because* they are jews you are an antisemite - end of story #just fyi - i will be monitoring the comments so if anyone posts anything antisemitic i will delete your comment and block you #antisemitism tw #jumblr

[p2iimon]

i love outside. id love an outside i dont have to pay for someday

#in gas #theres no parks close enough to walk to and for some strange reason #the options of ‘incredibly busy roads’ and ‘shitty movie theater parking lot’ and ‘shitty neighborhood’ #arent doing it for me #…. i can go to the grocery store ig #simons spouting

[sillygreenrat]

Introducing The Smiling Critters!!! This isn't entirely an AU persay but i like to call these guys the 'Better Bigger Bodies'. Toys that are ACTUALLY SENTIENT without the need for child testing and experimentation! Hurray!!! Might draw more of the B3's eventually but for now u get the sillies bc i LOVE them...

more spammy headcanon info under the cut!

DogDay: -he/they (demiboy) -ageless (mentally 21) -cocker spaniel -leader of the group by default due to outgoing personality -people pleaser at heart, loves going along with the group once the ball is rolling -can tend to get lost in his own thoughts, bottles thiings up for the betterment of others Catnap: -he/they/it (nonbinary) -ageless (mentally 23) -russian blue -second in command by default (hates it) -always tired but is also an insomniac, lavender gas has stopped being effective for them -very bad add that doesn't mix well with the insomnia

Hoppy Hopscotch: -she/her (cis) -ageless (mentally 19) -white tailed jackrabbit/hare -motivational backbone of the group -sets high expectations for herself that she does her best to acompish -she hates it when shes told she can't do something

Kickin' Chicken: -he/him (trans ftm) -ageless (mentally 18) -leghorn chicken -youngest of the group (and shows it) -usually the one to innitiate games. loves having fun, very adhd -has really bad abandonment issues, covers it up with entertainment

Bubba Bubbaphant: -he/him (cis) -ageless (mentally 26) -bornean elephant -oldest of the group (and shows it...) -talks a bit too much, but is only try to help and usually only has the best intentions, just a bad way of showing it -remembers too much about things that probably shouldn't matter anymore

Bobby Bearhug: -she/her (trans mtf) -ageless (mentally 21) -black bear -the all forever mighty mom friend -always there to be a shoulder to cry on. she'll be your #1 listener and reassure you as much as you need -she doesn't quite know her own strength sometimes

Craftycorn: -they/them (nonbinary) -ageless (mentally 19) -unicorn -shy, introverted friend who draws on napkins at dinner -loves to express themself through art, whether that be drawing or writing, maybe singing -horrible at reading people, constantly worried for friendships but doesn't outwardly say it

Picky Piggy: -she/they (demigirl) -ageless (mentally 20) -red wattle hog -always inviting people over, loves planning get togethers -loves to cook and bake, always making something that she gets her friends to try -has horrific intrusive thoughts they kind of just spout out sometimes

#fitz posting #my art #poppy playtime #ppt 3 #poppy playtime chapter 3 #smiling critters #dogday #catnap #hoppy hopscotch #kickin' chicken #bubba bubbaphant #bobby bearhug #craftycorn #picky piggy #smiling critters redesigns #fan design #better bigger bodies #b3 au

[thatoneguydownthestreet]

FEM ALIGNED DNI

Housewardens x male reader but reader is from the apocalypse and takes his apocalypse shit with him. Gas masks part 3

Vil, Idia, and baby girl Malleus

Vil:

 his absolute first instinct was to throw you into a bath and keep you there until you smelled at least decent enough to not be a public calamity

your ceremonial robes were tore, burnt, and- was ghat blood?!

your hair looked like it was cut by his deranged aunt with a kitchen knife

half of what you were wearing wasn’t even apart of the uniform!

and this weird...mask thing you were wearing was just the cherry on top

the spoiled, rotten, ugly cherry on top

sevens- did you have no shame? no decency? 

vil knew very well that some people just had no care in the world as to how they appeared, but this..

this was just atrocious

when you had passed him during the ceremony, he had taken out one of the perfume bottles that one of his managers had given him for a late birthday present and spristed it in a circle around him

much to the delight of a lucky few and the annoyance of some others

later that  night, when he was back in his own dormitory, rook had told him that you were probably going to be sent back home. 

rook was wrong

well, he hoped rook was wrong, either that or he’d just been hallucinating this whole time and everyone around him was just going with his crazy

either way. he was still looking at you in magic history class as you whispered quietly with that spade boy that you were always around

well, at least, Duece was whispering, he didn’t know about you, he couldn’t see your mouth

or your face

...

had anyone every really seen your face?

were you ugly?

sevens forbid that you were actually quite handsome under there, or he was going to throw a fit

a very composed, quite fit that he would have within the safe walls of his own room

what was the professor talking about again? 

why was he in a class with freshmen anyway? 

why were you looking directly at him?

... shi- 

the cracked material, chipped paint, and scratches that lined the mask had always put him on edge

the strange circle things that popped out the the actual mask part didn’t make things any better

and the fact that he could hear your breathing whenever you walked by? actively made things worse

luckily, he’d always magaged to stay roughly on the sidelines of you and your. fashion choices

but to have your full attention on him...

to see the mask for the full monstrosity that it was...

great sevens it was ugly

...

you didn’t take your eyes off of him for the rest of class

it was unnerving

...

“Mr. schoenheit”

he didn’t jump. he didn’t.

“yes?”

“do you need something from me? did i offend you in someway?”

“why in twisted wonderland would you thing that?”

“because you keep starring at me”

...shit

shit shit shit.

take a deep breathe... calm down... down let your skin break out from stress

eh. might as well just come out and say it.

“perfect. why the sevens name do you wear that awful mask? you should know well by now that it’s not at all fashionable, and if you’re trying to make a statement than i must say it’s rather vague and you’re not accomplishing a whole lot here”. it was the cold hard truth, but it was still the truth

“oh! i can assure you that this is not for fashion”, you seemed somewhere between shy and proud as you touched a gloved hand to your mask.

Vil was somewhere between confused exasperation and hard annoyance

he was about to passive aggressively ask you more questions when you said soemthing that caught him off guard

“you see, i don’t have any magic like all of you. so i don’t have anything to protect me from the lead”

...potato 

what?

“...excuse me?”

he heard you sigh through the mask, like he was the one spouting nonsense 

“you know...the lead in the air? the nuclear traces? those. i can’t just magic those away, so i use this to breathe”

.

..

what the fuck

what the fuck are you talking about

also what’s nuclear?

Vil stared at you for a long minute, noticing a few of the little details on the mask that he hadn’t noticed before

why were there so many scratches?

What was with the numbers?

Was that really dried blood like he thought it was? 

he straightened up, clasped his hands in front of him, and then spoke to you like you were a confused, lost child, trying to ignore his own panic that was beginning to bubble up

Uhhhh...how to go about this....

Vil straightened up and smiled. Clasping his hands out in front of him and leaned down slightly, speaking to you like you were a scared, confused child

like the condescending bastard he is

“potato. turnip. you absolute cabbage. take your mask off please, and give it here so i can put it somewhere we’ll never have to see it again”

even as the words came tumbling out of his mouth, Vil knew they were the wrong words to say

“ehhh....now now. It’s a very reasonable request, as the air here at Night Raven College is very clean”, look at him, speaking like Crowley, only a little less ....Crowley

oh look, now you were about ten paced back

Yeah, he could just feel the death glare you were giving him right now, so he quickly made an attempt at damage control

ah, now you were running away

wonderful

Idia:

Bro didn't know what was going on during the sorting ceremony, he just heard yelling and some other shit

Probably met you through Azul to be honest

Somewhere, in an alternate universe, where Azul Ashengrotto is less of a pussy, he takes you to the boardgame club, where you meet the campus zombie

he most definitely thinks you're a serial killer the first time he sees you

you have a mask on, you have a hood up, you have gloves on, you don’t have an inch of skin showing, you hardly ever talk

sounds like some serial killer shit right there chief

These guys just really love avoiding you at all costs dont they?

give him a minute yall (or a month) he’ll realize that you’re probably not a serial killer

probably

in all honesty, you kind of look like one of the video game characters he likes, you just have a super creepy mask

and you say a lot of weird shit sometimes

but other than that you’re...ok 

i mean, he has to explain literally every single game you guys play together, but you learn quick!

very quick

it kind of freaked him out how intently you seemed to be listening to him explain the rules of monopoly 

but. whatever. maybe you just really liked monopoly pr something idk

Idia never goes outside, so he lowkey forgets just how weird you and your little mask actually is

honestly, he just told himself that you were just a really dedicated cosplayer and promptly forgot about it

until you absolutely freaked out when he tried to grab it

now, in hindsight, he realizes that he probably shouldn't have done that

but in nowsight, he’s more focused on trying to figure out when he got on the floor and where you pulled that knife from

Damn bitch- that knife looks like shit!

It looked like it was crudely put together and meant for one, deadly slash

Which would have been for him if another club member wasn't there to pull you off and call epel

Yep. It took the yeehaw coming down for you to finally stop fighting the gameboard club and chill

And idia...idia was conflicted....

...

You didn't show up to any if the club meets the next week, but you did the week after that

The only problem was that you wouldn't look at each other. At all.

I mean, you can't really look at the person who almost killed you last week and just be like

YOOOOOO YOU GOT DABOLLONS?

Yeah didn't think so

So idia does what he does best, and asks his Google.com ass brother

And then panics when ortho doesn't get the correct results

Well what the hell does he do now?!

...should he just ask you?

....

Anyways expect a visit from ortho soon

And prepare to tell him EVERYTHING about the silly little mask you insist on wearing

Also don't think too much about it if idia just kind of looks at you with an expression of pity from then on

Don't worry!

You'll know why soon enough

"Uh....perfect?"

"Hm?"

"Um...can I ask a question?"

"...well you can ask"

"OK uh. What's with the mask?"

Idia just felt you raising an eyebrow at him, like the answer was the most obvious in the world

"I wear this mask so I can breathe properly. I don't know what's in the air here and I don't want to choke"

...

Heh?

Da fuq?

Well he's not too surprised because ortho basically told him the same thing, but it was a bit different hearing the words from you compared to his brother

Great seven- how the hell do you tell someone that their wrong about something like this?

How do you tell anyone anything period?

Uhhhhhhh....

"Your wrong"

Eh, not the best or most graceful way to correct someone but it got the job done ig

"...excuse me?"

"Listen unless you breathe something other than oxygen and relatively safe levels of nitrogen, then you're not gonna choke and die from breathing the air"

Have you ever seen a wild animal take its first steps?

Idia hasn't, but he was guessing this was what it was like

You paused, seemingly battling with yourself on ....something

Idia didn't know what

But he had a couple of guesses

And one really good one

Malleus:

How you didn't get smited the first time yall met is a mystery

But once you both got past the "is this guy going to/try to kill me?" And that awkward "almost friend but not quite" stages, you were acting like lifelong friends

Like, boundaries basically don't exist anymore, lifelong friends

That guy lurking outside of your dorm? Nah don't worry! That's just hornton!

He just does that

Oh look! Now he's in your house!

I really hope you didn't want to eat that ice cream

Can't sleep? Go find hornton! You know where he is :)

Yes you do :)

Look at you, finally making friends that you probably hopefully won't need to bury in an unmarked grave

Between the walks and the late night lessons on architecture and gargoyles and the 3am snacking on whatever you could find in the Ramshakle dorm, perfect, why do you have all this food hidden underneath the floorboards?, you and malleus were close like 🤞

Well...not totally because, however close you got emotionally, there was always kind of a...wall

A small barrier between the two if you that was getting much too big

Why?

...bro

You didn't know his name, he didn't know yours

You didn't know who he is and where he's from, and he most definitely didn’t know shit about you either

Plus, neither of you were particularly touchy, so the closest yall got physically was just sitting next to each other either on the rotting couch of Ramshakle or when you walked a bit too closely while looking for gargoyles

Why did you always walk so close anyways?

Seriously, it reminded him of silver and sebeck

...

Come to think of it. You never do relax, do you?

...do you not trust him?

Was it something he did?

Actually, did you trust anyone?

He didn't know, he never really saw you on campus, and even when he did, he made an effort to avoid you at all costs, lest you may discover who he actually is

And wouldn't that just be tragic? Would you treat him differently, maybe? ....he didn't want to know the answer just yet

He wished his meemaw grandmother was here to help him

Because he was not going to lilia about this

He wasn't

"...hey lilia?"

Malleus draconia then heard a mischievous little giggle and regretted everything

He was absolutely not going to lilia

So what did that leave him?

...you

But how to ask such a question without it seemingly coming out of nowhere?

Hmm..

"Child of man", his tone was gentle, he didn't want to scare you off by asking, because he still had no idea how he was going to ask in the first place

You seemed happy enough to answer him though, perking up slightly where you sat on the steps of Ramshakle when you heard his voice

It made him smile just a bit

"Hm?"

"Child of man...forgive me for asking this out of the blue, but why do you always insist on wearing a mask?"

He saw you deflate just a little and suddenly wished he had more experience with having friends

"Ah...well hornton, I use it to breathe"

"...Ah, do you have some sort of medical condition then?"

"No? I just can't magically filter the lead and radiation from the air like you all can"

....you said that like it was the most natural thing in the world

Ok. Maybe he WOULD bring lilia into this

And maybe shrouds younger brother

But before that...

"What is radiation?"

...

"You know..."-He did not, in fact, know- "the leftover nuclear power and radiation from the bomb zones"

....

.......

What.

________________________________

Yall everybody thank @haru-tofuu for reminding me that I haven't posted one of these in over a month because I have zero perception of time.

Ok. So the next part of this series will be the red bandana you wear around your forehead and what that symbolizes and the guys reactions to that. Also I'm probably going to do those by dorm because I want to write ADeuce and my bbg (jamil)

#twst x male reader #twisted wonderland x male reader #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland #vil schoenheit #vil shoenheit x reader #vil x male reader #idia shroud #twst idia #idia x male reader #idia x reader #malleus x male reader #malleus draconia x reader #malleus draconia #twst malleus #twst vil

[skyward-floored]

Febuwhump Collab Day 4 (& 22) — Obedience, “you weren’t meant to be there”

This one I wrote with two prompts in mind, and as I was going along I realized it also fits with the day 17 one as well (hostage situation) so three at once! I feel bad for Time, I’m always giving him a hard time in this au...

Warning for some injuries, some violence, and a gun that gets waved around in a threatening manner

Today’s lovely art

Ao3 link

————————————————————

Time drove down the street with the windows down in his car, enjoying the cool air that blew inside and ruffled his hair. It was a lovely afternoon, and he was glad to not be wasting it in an office.

Some kind of maintenance for the building he worked in had forced Time out of his office, and with nothing better to do, he’d been allowed to take the rest of the day off. He was looking forward to being home alone with Malon for a bit before his sons returned from school, and was already relishing the quiet they’d get to enjoy.

...Assuming, of course, that there wasn’t anything else that required his attention in the meantime.

Time sighed. Ever since supers had been (somewhat reluctantly) legalized again, it seemed like the crime rate had doubled to try and make up for it. Every other day he was stopping a bank robbery, or mugging, or any number of random misdeeds. He was endlessly relieved they were all no longer classified as illegal, and they’d fought hard for it, but... it was starting to get exhausting.

As if on cue, the music from the radio was cut off, and a news anchor began spouting off a report of an in-progress museum robbery.

Disappointment washed over him, and Time sighed and changed lanes, turning away from home and towards the direction of the museum. Malon would have been listening to the radio as well, and she would know he would go to help.

So much for our quiet afternoon.

Putting aside his disappointment, Time turned up the radio to hear the details better, mentally forming a plan for when he got the Hyrule Museum of History. The robbers had gone to the wing where the gems and older artifacts were housed, and had apparently blockaded themselves inside. He couldn’t believe they were brash enough to attempt a theft in broad daylight, at the largest museum in town at that...

But then again, perhaps they want some publicity, Time thought with a snort. There were always criminals around trying to make themselves out as bigger then they were.

The woman on the radio continued with the details, and Time suddenly jerked his head down to stare at it as she repeated the name of the building.

A robbery at the Hyrule Museum of History.

The same museum where several of his children had a field trip scheduled for today.

Time breathed in sharply and stepped on the gas, navigating towards the museum with an increased urgency. Not all of the grades were scheduled to be there at the same time, but there was at least one group that was supposed to still be at the museum now, and three of his sons had been there today.

No, calm down, he berated himself, getting honked at as he narrowly made it through a light, you know they can all handle a crisis, they’ve proved that. And they might not even be there anymore.

It was completely possible that all of their classes had finished and had already gone back to the school, or that the school groups were on the opposite side of the building from where the robbers were. Or maybe his sons had been evacuated with everyone else and would be waiting outside when Time got there, wanting to help out.

Maybe.

Time reached the museum in record time, though the trip seemed to take forever. He ducked into an alley and changed into his gear at lightning speed, then ran for the building, sirens in his ears.

There was a whole crowd of people outside, confused kids and frightened adults, police and security guards trying to maintain order through the clamor. Time left the police to their business of corralling civilians— though he made sure to scan the crowd for three familiar heads, heart sinking when he didn’t find a single one— and went through a side door, out of way of the crowd.

The officer guarding the inside jumped at the sight of him, but quickly realized who he was, directing him to where the robbers had gone with a relieved look.

“We got a report that there’s some kids missing from a school group, Mr. Deity,” he warned before Time went on his way. “It’s possible they’re in the wing the robbers sealed off, but we haven’t been able to get inside to check yet.“

Time’s stomach clenched, but he nodded, and headed for the section that housed ancient jewelry.

The halls were eerily quiet apart from Time’s rapid bootsteps, normally crowded halls foreboding and empty. He didn’t go to the main doorway of the wing, knowing that’s what the robbers would expect, and also where the police would be focusing their efforts, and instead went for one of the smaller doors.

Sure enough there were no police there, only an entrance blocked off by a huge fallen statue of some kind. Time had no trouble moving it aside enough that he could get through, and began running again, his heart in his throat.

Please, please let them be outside, please—

It was even quieter in this section, and Time didn’t pass a soul as he ran past paintings and bones, ancient armor and swords displayed proudly on the walls. Yet the thieves must have hidden a lookout somewhere, for when Time turned the corner into the room housing the most rare pieces, they were waiting for him.

There were at least six of them visible, wearing dark clothing and masks that covered most of their faces. All were armed with guns, most pointed in Time’s direction, but one was pointing towards the group of kids huddled in the center of the room.

Legend right in the line of fire.

Panic and anger roared to life in Time’s chest, but he shoved them away, forcing himself to remain collected in front of the group of criminals. Showing weakness would do nothing but give them an advantage, and despite the fact that he wanted to do nothing but charge forward and get Legend out of there, he remained where he was.

Legend locked eyes with Time, and the relief in his gaze made Time’s hands threaten to shake.

“Hm, Fierce Deity,” the man pointing the gun at the kids said, levelly meeting his gaze. His mask seemed more sinister than the rest. “The report indicated that you were not the most likely hero to show up here today.”

“Let them go,” Time demanded, the other kids watching him in frightened hope. He recognized them as ones from Legend’s class, thankfully no more of his sons among them. “These kids were just here for a field trip, don’t mix them up in this.”

The man crept closer to Legend. “They will be fine if you allow us to leave with what we came for.”

“They’re just kids,” Time said, voice darkened with anger. The man looked at him in an almost bored way, then back down at Legend. “What is it you even came here to steal?”

“That’s our business,” the leader said with a smile in his voice. “Now drop your weapon, and they will be fine.”

Time breathed out, scanning the room again before returning his gaze to Legend. His son was too far for him to reach before anything happened, the other kids as well, and even if there was a remote chance he could get Legend out of the way, it was unlikely he could protect all of the hostages.

You should have been more stealthy coming in—

“D— Fierce Deity,” Legend said in a soft, urgent voice, and Time looked at his son with increasing desperation. “Don’t listen to him, just get everyone else out of here, I’ll be—”

The gun was pressed to Legend’s head, the click of it being cocked near deafening to Time’s ears.

“Put your weapon down, or he gets a bullet through the head,” the man said softly. One of the other kids whimpered. “Swiftly followed by the rest of them.”

Time looked between the man and Legend, seconds ticking by loudly in his head. It was a nightmare knowing he had the power to stop every thief in the room, but being unable to do a thing. He had to stop them, but he couldn’t do anything, not without risking Legend, or any of the other kids, not unless he—

Legend’s lip trembled, almost imperceptibly, and Time exhaled as he bowed his head.

Then he dropped his weapon.

Legend gave him an agonized look as Time raised his hands in surrender, and though Time couldn’t see the man who was still holding the gun to his head’s face, he was sure he was smirking at them both.

Rage abruptly slammed into Time, more powerful then any of the emotions he’d been dealing with so far, and he gave the robber a look of pure hatred. How dare he mix these kids up in a stupid scheme that was doubtless just to make some money?

No lives were worth a couple of pretty rocks, no matter how rare.

“Get on your knees,” the man demanded next, a hint of glee in his voice, and Time grit his teeth and did as he said.

The other robbers jeered as he kneeled down, and closed their circle around him, one kicking at his legs to make him go down faster. A fist suddenly connected with his face, and Time flinched backwards, laughter ringing in his ears. Another blow hit him on the knee, pain bursting up his leg, and he forced himself not to react.

“You’re not going to fight back?” one of them mocked, making him gasp as he jabbed him in the stomach. “It’d be so easy, just one little punch!”

“Let them go and I’ll give you a fight,” Time growled, but the man with the gun shook his head.

“No, I’m enjoying myself too much. Leaving can wait, the Fierce Deity at our mercy is too good of an opportunity to pass up on,” he chuckled. “Rough him up boys, this could be our break into the big time if word gets out.”

Time barely had time to brace himself before the blows began to rain down, all of the robbers eager to swing a punch or two his way.

Now part of Time’s powers was increased durability, his body able to handle much more strain and abuse than any normal person. But he wasn’t invincible in any sense of the word, and the robbers all had extremely hard boots and gloves, and a few had weapons that slammed into and jabbed at sensitive points all over him.

And he didn’t dare fight back.

By the time they were finished knocking him around, Time had a split lip and bruised ribs, and he wasn’t confident his knee would hold his weight. But despite the pounding in his head and the sharp ache radiating up from his middle, Legend was still unharmed, and so were the other kids.

That was all that mattered.

Time breathed in and met Legend’s eyes for a second, his son’s blue gaze wide and equally angry and fearful as they looked at each other.

“You’ve had your fun,” Time said in a voice more hoarse then before. “Now do what you said, and let them go.”

The leader idly twirled his gun, the barrel no longer pressed to Legend’s head, but still much too close to it. “I don’t think so. I don’t want any funny business from you. They’ll come with us until we’re well on our way, and then they’ll be freed.”

The fire in Time’s stomach roared. “You said you’d let them go if I dropped my weapon.”

“Your own fault for trusting the word of a thief,” the leader shrugged, and Time nearly leapt at him then and there. “We’ll be on our way now. And if you decide to follow us before we’re gone, this little group here might just—”

Someone dropped from the ceiling and landed on top of the man.

He let out a shocked cry as he was thrown to the ground, and Time realized Wild had been the one to drop from above, fully in his costume, and Hyrule and Malon soon dropped down along with him.

Relief swept over Time at the sight of his wife and other two missing sons, both safe and sound. Despite the pain when he moved, he swung out at the nearest robber, who took his punch full on the chin and fell to the ground, immediately unconscious.

A gun went off somewhere, but the familiar sound of the bullet being stopped by Hyrule’s shield rang in Time’s ears. A shriek accompanied it, and Time saw his wife hustling the kids back and away from the fight.

“We got what we came for, let’s go!” the leader of the thieves shouted, having somehow wrestled himself away from Wild, and they all sprinted out into a hallway.

Wild’s face screwed up in anger and he bolted after them, Hyrule following close behind. Malon didn’t immediately follow though, pausing at Time’s side and putting a concerned hand on his face.

“Are you okay?” she breathed worriedly, running her thumb by his split lip. “I heard on the radio, I came as soon as I realized, but I had to find the boys first—”

“You need to get those kids out of here,” Time interrupted softly, clasping her hand for just a moment. Malon scanned over him, then nodded, her eyes worried behind her mask.

“You’re right. We can regroup in a bit,” she murmured, and Time pressed the briefest of kisses to her hand.

Malon quickly stood and went back to the group of kids, giving Legend only a short squeeze on the shoulder since she was in costume and wasn’t supposed to know him. She began ushering them out in a different direction than the bandits had gone, and Time watched them leave, relieved they were all fine.

Stumbling slowly to his feet as they trailed out of the room, Time winced as he put weight on his one leg. He’d certainly had worse, but unless Hyrule was willing to help him along, he’d probably need a doctor. Relaxing afternoon indeed.

Legend suddenly materialized at his side as he managed to stand, his face still pale from what had just happened, eyes wide as they looked him over.

Time didn’t hesitate to bundle him into a tight hug.

His ribs ached with the action but Time didn’t care, and he ignored the way his hand shook as he ran it through Legend’s hair. Legend hugged him back equally tight, and Time rested his head on top of his, relief threatening to send him to the ground again.

“Dad, I’m okay,” Legend said, his voice shaking a little.

“I know. I know you are,” Time breathed. He didn’t let go though, and neither did Legend, and Time ran another hand through his hair, still unable to get the image of Legend with a gun pressed to his temple out of his head.

If even one thing had gone differently...

Time silenced the thought before it could form, and gave Legend a squeeze.

“You shouldn’t have let them do that to you,” Legend said, his voice unusually quiet, and Time sighed, pulling back just a little.

“I couldn’t let them hurt you,” he replied, cupping a gentle hand around Legend’s chin. Legend swallowed and averted his gaze. “And I can handle a few punches. That’s nothing in comparison to what he would have done to you and the others.”

And I would endure it thousands of times if it ensured your safety.

“You still shouldn’t have,” Legend mumbled.

“But I did. And I’m okay,” Time reassured, ignoring every ache that protested the fact. “This wasn’t your fault, Legend.”

Legend only closed his eyes, and Time drew him near again, Legend’s hair brushing his chin.

“I’m okay,” Time reassured again, this time in a whisper. “We’re both okay.”

Legend gripped a little tighter at Time’s suit, Time’s hand running over his hair, and they stood there in silence for what felt like a long time before pulling back, and joining the fight with the others.

#this is after when the movies would take place but not too terribly long after #linkeduniverse #Incredibles au #lu time #lu legend #whump #febuwhump #febuwhump 2024 #day 4 #day 22 #day 17 #tw gun #tw injury #Incredibles au fic #writing from the floor

[evolutionsvoid]

The great seas bear many gifts, yet are home to many dangers. The tales carved upon ivory speak of the treachery of the waters and of the beasts that lurk within it. It is no wonder that the ships of wood and bone set sail with so many blades and harpoons, as they either expect to encounter these monsters or instead are seeking them. Some of the greatest blessings that can be found in these waters are pulled from the bodies and guts of these immense beasts, making for fine materials or fetching high prices back on land. Life upon the sea is dangerous, but many do find a living out there. For them, it is crucial to know the great leviathans that dwell in the depths, and know how to deter them or best them when they rise to the surface. This determines if their ship will return to port intact, or will join the horrid beasts below in the dark depths. 

Of the creatures of the ocean, there is no doubt that the Bowel Serpent is the most foul of them. A great worm that writhes through the depths, swallowing prey in a gaping toothless maw. Belching from their mouths are clouds of filth and rot, filling the waters with the taste and smell of death. Scavengers and hungry predators arrive to feed on this chum, only to be sucked into the waiting maw. Though their length is impressive and their reek terrible, Bowel Serpents are not apexes of these waters. Other leviathans see their boneless flesh as a fine meal, and seek to sink their teeth in. To ward off attackers, these serpents discharge large clouds of waste and putrid slime, blinding foes and choking their gills. This smokescreen gives time for the worm to slink away, or perhaps fight back with powerful crushing coils. At times, they flee to the surface, where their presence is known far and wide by the horrid odor they release. Spouts of noxious gas belch from their blowholes, driving away some animals while drawing in others who mistake it for a rotten carcass. For whaling ships, this wretched reek is the sign of a hunt, and they aim their ships straight for the source. Ivory harpoons and bony hooks are launched towards its soft flesh, hooking in and preventing escape. A long fight will go down, with the hopes that the many wounds will bring this leviathan down eventually. Yellowflame is kept away from these battles, in fear that it will ignite internal gases and cause the whole worm to explode, taking the entire crew with it. 

From these battles, a valuable haul of ambergris, oil, blubber and hide is won. Many parts of this rotting worm make for excellent fuel, a fine replacement of Yellow Bile when on long journeys at sea. Their skin is good for clothing and equipment, either repelling liquid or keeping it in where they want it. The meat, while plentiful, is one that will make any sailor or fisher groan. Its horrible smell and pungent taste is made only worse by the fact that it is very much edible. While most would prefer to use it as chum, it is an undesired product that few on land would purchase, thus ship captains use it as cheap food to feed the crew. Why waste the good meat that could be sold, when there are stores of useless flesh that could fill the crew's bellies? Needless to say, "worm stew" or "gut steaks" are despised by sea folk as a whole, but when the other option is starving, these meals are choked down with grumbles and swigs of potent ales. 

While Bowel Serpents are infamous for their terrible stench, land folk like to joke that these beasts are used for perfume aboard whaling ships. As they say, Bowel Serpent odor is noxious and overpowering, but it sure beats the smell that comes off the crew when they are at sea for months on end.           

-----------------------------------------------

"Bowel Serpent"

Hey, it's not my fault that there are old drawings of sea serpents that look like intestines! What was I supposed to do? Ignore them? Impossible!

#sea serpent #serpent #intestine #monster #creature #sea monster #art #drawing #fall of ichor

[mylifeisweirdok]

Everyone with snow incoming:

-make sure your cars' gas tanks are full (they can freeze)

-make sure your curtains are drawn (insulation for your windows)

-make sure your water spouts are dripping (frozen pipes explode, sinks and showers especially)

@random-shit-writing @qs-random-shit @mothmanhamlet @thatonemothhaslanded @heml0cked @dnpanimationstudioclone

[userholland]

snowed in hell

you didn't think a weekend with your boss could get worse... actually, it does once you're snowed in with him and away from home. you thought he was the worse, but there is something beneath his cold exterior that's very passionate and romantic and you're curious if you can explore that.

PAIRING: ceo!tom holland x assistant/secretary!reader

GENRE: smut 18+ minors dni!, pwp, enemies to lovers (?), secret crushes, lots and lots of longing and pining, dom!tom + dom!reader

WORD COUNT: 3.2k [the longest one so far lol]

A/N: merry christmas eve/happy holidays! sexy present here lmao. i haven't written smut in a while so apologies in advance but i thought id just throw one in there. honestly may post more on my smut sideblog now that i have a bit more time to write! let me know if this series has been great for you guys :D

𑁍 masterlist 𑁍

"A weekend away didn't seem like a bad idea"... is what you should be thinking. The winter wonderland that was this beautiful snowfall was all nice and cheery until you're going with your boss for one of his many conferences before the holiday season can start.

Now, Tom Holland wasn't bad looking, but once his egotistical comments spouted out of his mouth, you were able to snap back into reality. Not only could he sound like the most out-of-touch guy, but he flaunted how successful he was on-top of his looks.

So when he invited you－ no, expect you－ to come to this conference, it was a bit of a disappointment when you thought that it would be your one weekend of not doing anything that revolved around him. Now it was all about him... as per usual.

Carefully driving to the five-star hotel, all he did was talk about his own expectations and try to figure out what to say at the big dinner they were holding before tomorrow's conference. All you could do was make mental notes since you were driving and he was checking himself in the mirror in the backseat.

Luckily, you had adjoined rooms so there was some separation between your lives these next two days. While he was working in his room, you hoped to go on the slopes and enjoy breakfast on the nice outside deck while reading a book. Maybe even meet someone like in some cheesy romance movie.

"No, no, we have the charity ball on the 5th. The opening of the library the week after." Tom sighed, "Yes, yes, darling, I'm aware of that, but we can move all those dates... Trust me, I know Mr. Morales isn't with his wife on Tuesdays and Thursdays..." He continued, his left eyebrow arched.

You could roll your eyes, but all you did was take a deep breath.

"Well, I checked in the mirror and I can say that today is gonna be a great day." He smirked.

Oh, God. You needed this thirty remaining minutes to turn into thirty seconds.

"Y/N, slow down a bit. We're in no rush." Tom signaled his hand, looking through the front windshield.

"Yes, sir." You grinned, fixing your posture as you eased your foot off the gas pedal.

♡ ♡ ♡

You're relieved once you're checked into your room, knowing there was one wall between you and Tom. When you lay on your bed, basically hoping into the soft mattress, you let out a huge sigh of relief.

After a few minutes of hearing Tom's muffled voice through the wall, it was silent. You fix your skirt and button up before knocking on the door until Tom said you could come in.

When you step in, you see Tom standing in front of the full-body mirror by the window. As much as you wanted to complain, he did look good in a dark suit. You saw him adjust his sleeves under his jacket, but his tie was crooked.

"Here, I let me fix your tie." You trailed as you walked over.

You leaned into your heels, pulling the tie a bit down before pulling it perfectly where the top button of his shirt was. His brown eyes glossed over as he watched you, admiring how the orange light from the sunset laying against your face.

When you lifted your head, you saw his eyes, but you two could just produce awkward laughs. When you were hired, all your friends envied that you worked for someone as handsome and suave as Tom, and so were you. It was his huge ego that got in the way. Then, there were moments like this where that small crush bloomed back up.

Tom couldn't disagree that there weren't some feelings in the beginning as well. Workplace relationships were frowned upon, and already keeping his father's company afloat, there was no need to try to impress you. He would rather fight off those feelings then see where it goes.

"Thank you, Y/N." He said before clearing his throat.

"Of course, sir." You grinned.

"You don't have to always call me that. It's Tom, darling."

"I know." You quickly said, but you felt heat on your cheeks.

"Well, we need to get down there." He quickly gathered himself before the two of you left your rooms.

When you entered the elevator, it was just the two of you. There wasn't much said but it stopped on the floor below, a few people filed in and you felt Tom place his hand on your lower back as you took a few steps back.

You leaned next to him, placing your hand on his chest. Tom's heart hadn't beat so fast in a while, but in that moment, he thought everyone in the small space could hear it.

"Sorry, sir." You said, pulling your hand back and then tucking your hair behind your ear.

"You don't have to apologize, darling."

Your eyes fixated longer on him before the doors opened, and he walked out with the others.

Quickly, you followed him before he was practically mobbed by his peers, asking all these questions and statements while you stood behind his back. A few times he'd look over his shoulder to make sure you were close, and you would show him a small smile.

Time got away as he loved to talk business before timidly tapped his shoulder and he turned his attention toward you.

"Sir, the conference starts in five minutes."

He chuckled, "Oh, I have to go but nice seeing you guys. Let's catch up this weekend." Tom smiled at the few men.

As the two of you walked away, Tom's smile fell and his hands played with the first button of his suit jacket.

"What happened?" You asked, trying to keep up with his fast pace.

"Just because I have the money to finance their plans doesn't mean I can. I'm not..." He trailed, "Well, I'm not some dream maker. Let's put it at that."

"Sorry about that, sir." You cleared your throat.

"Remember what we spoke about?" He asked, turning to you.

"Tom... I meant Tom." You trailed, giving a half-smile.

He actually smiled back, something you rarely saw but the two of you continued to the hall, taking your seats before a long meeting.

♡ ♡ ♡

After an hour and a half, you and Tom went to the bar as per his request. Instead of sitting at the stools, you were sat at a table and you weren't use to spending a dinner with him. When the waiter came by, you were going to order for the two of you until Tom spoke first.

"One glass of scotch neat and a gin and tonic, light on the tonic." He said, impressing you.

"You remembered?" You asked, sounding like an old friend.

"Of course. It's not always your job to do that." He grinned.

Once you got your drinks, you cheers to the night and a successful start to the weekend. You almost wanted to toast to Tom not getting on your last nerve, but a man came by with 'manager' written under his name on his tag.

"Excuse me, but we just wanted to tell you that there is a harsh snowstorm right now. There may be some bad cell service and the roads are completely covered so, I would advise you not to go out tonight if you were planning to leave."

"Thank you for telling us." Tom nodded.

"We can send anything complimentary to your room if needed, Mr. Holland." He reassured him before leaving.

"Wow, so you're not new around here." You joked a bit and wondered if it was okay.

"Yeah, I've come here a few times. With my dad before I took over the business. Anything you need, on me."

You nodded, taking a sip of your drink, and then the rest of the hour was getting to know one another. He got to know you better than when you were first interviewed, but now that he was relaxed, Tom got to know you better than the side he aggressively showed in the office.

He had been meaning to sit down with you for a long time, wondering if there was any chance he would, but he thought about his reputation too much. He knew it could be a mood-killer sometimes, but there was a lot to hold yet being with you right there made him forget all of that.

There was an unspoken tension at the table and neither of you two wanted to address it... but there was still enough time in the weekend.

♡ ♡ ♡

That night, you weren't sure how to feel. You wondered if there was actually anything you felt romantically toward Tom. You paced the room a few times and ended up staring into the night sky through your deck.

Once you tried to focus on the silence of the room, you could hear the muffled TV noises coming through the wall that shared your rooms. You took a few deep breaths as you approach the door, talking yourself through this in your head.

You knocked, "May I come in?"

"Yeah!" Tom shouted.

When you entered his room, the beginning of the movie Charade starring Audrey Hepburn was on, oddly fitting with the location you were staying at. Tom walked from the bathroom, his tie loosen and his shoes off. He seemed more relaxed than you did, but he probably wasn't wondering what was coming of this in your mind.

"Hi... I uh, I just heard the TV and thought I would um... I uh, come over." You said, knowing how awkward and childish it sounded.

"Yeah, just an old movie. I was practicing my speech for tomorrow's conference." He said, gently pulling off his cuff links.

You hummed, standing there and your knees suddenly felt weak.

Tom took a second look at you, "Is everything okay?"

Butterflies swarmed inside your stomach, fuzzy feelings exploding and all you could do was slowly walk over to him. He sensed what move you could make, but Tom stood tall and strong, able to easily do it.

"Y/N, look at me." He softly commanded.

Your eyes met, and all you could hear was the TV in the background and the sound of your heart beating in your ears. Just as you took a step closer, he placed his hand on your soft cheek. Soon, your lips met in the middle for a spontaneous kiss that tasted heavenly.

As your tongue pressed against his, practically melting at how soft his was, his firm hands began to unbutton your top before he pulled away from the kiss.

"Is this okay?" He practically whispered.

You hummed, "Yes. Yes, keep going."

Just like that, he contiuned pulling apart the buttons one by one as your noses brushed against one another's and you could barely take the tension.

Once you undid the last button, you let your shirt fall near your feet. Standing there in your silk white bra and skirt, you slowly pushed him toward the bed until he sat down. His eyes trailed your body as you stood only a few feet away and your hands met the back of your skirt.

He watched you slowly peel down the zipper, the fabric pulling from your body before it fell to the ground as well. Tom's mouth gapped a bit, seeing your stockings were attached to a white garter belt and the matching lacey, white panties beneath them.

Tom was loss for words, the dim lights not doing any justice for your body. He leaned up as you walked toward him, and his hands immediately met your hips. He slowly pressed his lips against your lower abdomen, giving you butterlies as he continued to tease.

As you watched him carefully place his wet kisses, your hand met his soft curls and carded through them each time he got lower. He used his teeth to pull at the top of your panties, letting the fabric lightly slap your skin.

"You look like an angel, you know that?" He muttered.

You wanted to nod, but he ran his hand up your inner thigh before meeting your clothed slit. He smirked as he massaged the wet spot on the center of your panties. Your swollen clit ached, trying not to let your knees get weak as you still stood infront of him.

Your hands met his shoulders, and your fingernails lightly grazed his freckled skin. He kept moving his two fingers ever so slowly as he left a small love bite on your hip.

"I bet you want me to fuck you senseless, yes?" He groaned, "Until you can't even say words... just my name."

A small moan left your throat as he switched to his thumb rubbing on your clit. You gulped, wanting him to pull them off already but instead he brought you down to your knees.

"Not before you prove to me you're a good girl who deserves to be fucked so good." Tom nodded, holding his eye contact with you.

At first you wanted to pout, but you also wanted to show him that you were no force to be reckon with either. He thought he had the control and you were going to change that.

"Yes, sir." You trailed, giving a new meaning to the respect addressing he always told you not to use.

After unbuckling his belt, you threw it to the side before unzipping his pants. His cock pressed against his briefs, bigger than you expected. You tossed his pants along with his belt before your hand moved against his hard that stayed below the soft fabric.

Your fingers pulled each side of the band of his briefs, watching his cock spring up and all felt was your face feeling hot. He carefully watched your hand perfectly grip his base, pumping his hard slowly as your tongue ran over his red tip.

"Fucking christ, fuck." He groaned, using his weight to push up on his elbows as he laid back on the bed.

He expected you to be fast, but the slowness of your pace was killing him. Your hand moved up and down, your spit lubricating his base and your mouth wrapped around his tip.

"Don't fucking tease me all night, darling." He lowly growled, his hand moving through your hair to keep it from your face. He wanted to watch every second of his cock in your sweet mouth.

As your hands pushed against both his thighs, you felt his cock grow harder as his tip pressed against the back of your throat. You couldn't see Tom, but heard his moans he was obviously trying to hold back.

"No teeth, darling. Open your mouth wider... fucking. Yeah, fucking feels good." He practically panted.

Before he felt himself on the edge, you pulled away and all he could hear was his own heart beating. He didn't question fast enough, and you were already on your feet before straddling him.

"You had your fun, now you're gonna show me why you deserve to fuck me." You giggled, half-smiling then pressed your lips against his. He liked this side of you.

Tom rolled the two of you over, the cool sheets against your back. He parted your legs as he trailed wet kisses over your bra, down your stomach then over your panties. You tilted your head watching him unclip your stockings from your belt, then pulling your panties to the side.

He propped your left leg over his shoulder before placing a kiss on your clit, so swollen and wet. His tongue perfect stoked below your clit and right above your slit, just the place to make your whole body squirm. Tom continued to flick his tongue right at your sweet spot, holding down your hips as they tried to move.

A trail of quiet moans left your lips, completely in awe of how he took his time. Just as your stomach turned, his two fingers slipped inside you. They curled and moved slowly as his tongue worked your clit.

You could cum right there, letting him watch your whole body wither but you wanted to play the long game too. Your grip moved to his curls, tugging so hard the move you tried to hold back your orgasm.

"Oh... oh, I wanna..." Your voice strained, ending up biting your lip.

Tom smirked before leaving wet kisses up your slit and then further up toward your hips until wrapping his lips around your right nipple.

You leaned up on your elbows, smiling to yourself before he kissed you again, "I wanna be in control now." You whispered.

The two of you switched positions again, straddling him as he leaned his back against the headboard the of bed. You slowly wrapped your arms back around him, pecking faint kisses up his neck before meeting your noses again.

Your one hand guided his tip to your slit, rubbing it against the wet entrance before sinking down on his lap. His low, rough grunt was against your lips, but all you could do was smirk.

"I bet you want me to move now on your cock. I can feel it stretching out my tight hole." You whispered once more.

He didn't think such a dirty sentence could come from those lips.

"God, you feel fucking amazing, you tease." He said, his fingers pushing into your hips.

"I don't want you to cum until I say..." You kissed him, "Think you can do that, sir?" You teased.

Surprisingly, he nodded his head but he was completely putty. You fixed your posture to make your back straight, then start moving your hips. His head falls, pressing his forehead against your shoulder.

Tom tried to refrain from moving, bucking his hips a few times. You tried to take control by kissing him and make sure he's distracted, but there was no stopping his wanting to turn the two of you over and have his own control back.

"Don't be shy, tell me if you're gonna cum." You whimpered, also feeling your walls tighten around his throbbing cock.

"God, yes. I'm gonna cum." He grunted between your kiss.

You sped up the pace of your hips, hearing the slapping of your skin fill the room. You gasp and whine, "Don't cum yet."

But, he was so eager.

"Not yet... not yet." You trailed as you felt near your edge. You wanted him to wait until you were right there too.

By this point, he didn't want to move his hips, afraid of letting go since he was holding back. Your nails dug across his back, your clit incredibly swollen and your wetness trailing down your inner thighs.

"Fucking cum now, God!" You announced in a whiny tone.

Tom pushed down your hips, and his cock bottomed out inside you. Your voices were shaky and hoarse by the time you came back down from your highs.

Your head fell against his shoulder, both of your bodies settling as you huffed to catch your breaths. You slowly rolled off of him and lay next to him in his bed. Quickly, he pulled the covers over you two and leaned on his side to look at your tired self.

"Think we can go for round two in say..." He checked his watch, "Ten minutes?" Tom joked.

You smirked, "Make it five and I promise I'll have you screaming louder than me."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Not for me, sir."

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland smut

[thatlittleegyptologist]

Are we still clowning on the anons trying to tell you how awful living in Europe is? Because I (a USian) saw them spouting nonsense and was like 'Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones'. Several communities there do not have access to safe drinking water at all. Texas's insistence on building their own electric grid incompatible with the rest of the country's meant that about 246 died in the 2021 winter storm. I'm trying to move to the land of bones because the US? YIKES

The US is not without its problems infrastructure wise, yes. I don't think any country is in all honesty.

Though, I think I should address how anon seemed to be getting wires crossed about the situation in Europe:

Most homes here are maybe 100 years old at most, some 150 ish, but most only 40-70 years (something something rebuilding after two world wars). Of course, you get ones built earlier that people still live in. I've known several people in my life who lived in 16th century built homes with thatched roofs. My own home is about 60 years old.

'The buildings are crumbling' yeah, they're old...so they will. But they're not falling down so there's no issue. We make repairs!

Despite their age they do have all the mod cons! Yes, including the 16th century farm houses! You see with continuous settlement people repair and renovate the existing homes, so over the years things like electricity/central heating/plumbing etc have been added.

That said, depending on when stuff like electricity and plumbing was installed it can fail. Anon said that anecdotally a socket had blown. This could be due down to age. However, it can also be down to an american adapter being the wrong voltage for the european plug socket. That tends to make them short out. I've had two american friends at uni who had plug sockets short out on them when arriving in the UK because they used the wrong voltage adapters. Nothing to do with the wiring. Mostly to do with no checking voltage requirements. I've had to do the same when holidaying on the continent. If I take the wrong one I'm gonna damage something.

While central heating and air con are in abundance in Europe, not everyone needs air con. In Northern Europe, before climate change, we experience cold winters but mild summers so our homes needed good central heating and thick walls to keep the heat in. Which they have! However, now climate change is upon us...imagine living in a house where the walls are thick and trap heat but it's 40c outside and you don't have air con still because it's still too expensive a thing to install for 3 weeks use a year at best. That's why anon has seen Europeans complaining about being too hot. The temperatures are record breaking high, and because it's not normal for it to be like that we don't have air con. Southern Europe, where it's much warmer, is where homes more regularly have air con. Pretty much every commercial building, regardless of location or age, has some sort of air conditioning and central heating system.

The 'europeans don't have central heating' probably comes from the posts about how most of us are going to freeze to death this winter due to fuel prices/shortages. We have central heating, we just can't afford to put it on. Thanks to Pusheen (fameux dictateur Russe) invading Ukraine, gas prices in Europe have gone through the roof. In the winter I used to pay £75 for gas and electric per month. Now, I pay £120 for gas alone. I live alone. My consumption is less (I halved the time I have the heating on to save money so it's -3c and I only have the heating on 2 hours a day). Many more people are in a worse off state than me. They can't afford to heat their homes at all. Add in inflation, which has pushed food prices sky high, recession, and stagnant wages, and people are dying from not being able to put the heating on. They've got it anon, but they can't afford to use it and also eat.

Moving to the 'move somewhere without bones' part of it all. Europeans are fine digging up bones and mosaics. Happens all the time, I've no idea why anon thinks we'd need to move or why we'd be mad about it. It's our history! Part of continuously living in an area for centuries means that inevitably when you dig down for foundations you're gonna find bones. That's where the Archaeologists come in! Laws here dictate that an archaeological survey must be conducted on any build site, so that if there is something there it can be properly recorded! This is so we don't end up with what we currently have where it's like 'nope no idea what's down there' and the surprise is a WWII bomb or a roman cemetery, or even a plague pit.

Actually that last one is one I've experienced. When I was looking into archaeology as a degree I went to a dig site for a new shopping centre where they'd discovered victorian ruins, a medieval abbey destroyed by Henry VIII, and a plague pit all on the same site. An absolutely wild time. These guys had to be moved or secured before the actual building work could commence. You can still go down and see the plague pit if you know the right people because the building was built in a way that preserved it.

Anyway, the digging of graves is where everyone seems to get funny with regards to archaeology. They'll accuse archeologists of grave robbing or disturbing the dead and that's so far from the truth it's unreal.

Firstly, there's so much paperwork involved when remains are found. So much. 90% of the time archaeologists don't even deal with human remains because we're digging up buildings instead. I don't know why people seem to think 99% of our work is with the dead. It's not. After finding remains, then we have to decide what is safe for them. If we can leave them in situ we will. You excavate, analyse, record the find, and then cover them back up. People seem to think we're getting to the grave site and then removing everything to keep in a box. That's only done if the remains are in danger from the construction or agriculture that's being performed there. It's a choice between saving a person's remains, or letting them get destroyed by construction work. Which do you think is more respectful in that scenario?

We don't make that decision lightly either. So many elements are factored into the decision, including the safety of the site (will someone come along and steal for the antiquities black market? See: Egypt and the reasons mummies are moved to storage when found.) and how best to keep this person's dignity. We don't want to smash through remains with bulldozers and concrete. Where we can, like that famous McDonald's in Italy with the body in the floor, we keep them in situ so they do remain in their graves. In the UK, recently, there was a huge mosaic uncovered in a field by a farmer. Archaeologists excavated it, recorded it, took a load of photos, didn't disclose the precise location, covered it back up, and then told everyone 6 months after it has been discovered just to preserve the site.

Most archaeological finds were discovered months before the public even knew about them in order to preserve the site and not get illegal traffickers trying to make money off things (again, the reason mummies in Egypt are moved to museums. it's for their safety not because no one wants them to be in their graves). We want these people and artefacts to rest in peace as much as you do. Believe it or not Archaeologists do care about the people and places they are tasked with uncovering and protecting. Sometimes you've got to move those bones because if you don't someone who doesn't care for anything but making a quick profit will dig that site and sell what they find.

Often it's a race between archaeologists discovering sites and therefore affording them security from getting disturbed, and traffickers digging in locations they know something might be and selling what they find to some rich bastard where it'll never see the light of day.

TL;DR: Europe isn't living in the Middle Ages, we're suffering from climate change and soaring fuel/food prices, and Archaeologists perform a vital job that isn't about grave robbing but about preserving and protecting the past from traffickers and giving those dead we do come across a voice in the present.

#this got long #but anon was too insistent on their bullshit yesterday that I wasn't in any mood to explain

[romiyaro]

ꜱɪʟʟʏ ʜᴜꜱʙᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴄᴇɴᴀʀɪᴏꜱ (ᴍɪʏᴀ ᴏꜱᴀᴍᴜ)

atsumu | oikawa | iwaizumi | bokuto

Miya Osamu always thought that, if he ever got into a relationship, he would be the cool and calm type of boyfriend. The one who's always chill and comes off a bit detached.

But just one month into the relationship with you, Miya Osamu shamefully admits that he suffers from an acute condition of incurable grabby hands.

Yes, grabby hands.

And now that you both are married, this condition has spiralled out of control, morphing into a sort of adorable clinginess. Now he cannot have a good day if it doesn't start with waking up to groping you. Osamu believes you are his lucky sign. As long as he has you he will be fine.

But you know better than that. All of these excuses were his ways of finding reasons to come hug you. But these days the man isn't bothered to even cover up his clinginess.

'What? I'm being clingy? Suck my dick I'm yer husband.'

But he's particularly clingy when he's upset; or has something on his mind.

Like now. It's very difficult to not burn the omelettes you are frying when you have a koala of a man clinging to your behind. Osamu is very comfortable right now. He's set a chair right behind you and is seated there with his arms wrapped around your waist and face pressed to your ass.

You shake your ass, trying to shove him off. But Osamu just grunts and bites into the plush of your buttcheek.

It's almost painful. But not quite.

"What's got you moping like that, Samu?" You ask, flipping the omelet. Yep, it was burnt. You can feel the pout adorning Osamu's face as you switch off the gas stove. Turning around you cup his face in your palms, pushing his chin up to make him meet your eyes.

"Atsumu said my onigiris taste like shit."

Ouch. That was brutal. You and Atsumu both knew how very conscious Osamu was with feedback on his onigiris. And that was very asshole-ish of Atsumu.

You dramatically gasp, lamely trying to comfort Osamu, "Atsumu knows what shit tastes like? Hmm, probably yes. No wonder he spouts so much shit all the time." You ruffle his hair, pushing it away from his forehead as you adore his face now sporting a smile.

Osamu chuckles, nudging his face into your stomach, "Funny how that's exactly what I told him."

"Hell yeah. We won't let him taste a single onigiri until he washes his mouth off all that shit then."

His embrace turns impossibly tighter as he mutters, "I told him that too."

yep. family bonding at the cost of miya atsumu never backfires~

#osamu x reader #osamu x gn!reader #miyaisamu x reader #miya osamu x gender neutral reader #[ silly husband scenarios ] #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu scenarios #miya osamu #osamu scenarios #osamu fluff #haikyuu fluff

[neonscandal]

Manga With Me: Obscure Head Canons (and Hypotheses) You’d Probably Develop When Reading the JJK Light Novels, Pt 2

Same as before, hypotheses at the end in case you want to keep it light and tight!

Part One

⚠️ Spoiler Warning for Jujutsu Kaisen Thorny Road at Dawn and season 2 of the anime (manga spoilers are vague at best).

Head Canon: The Moral High Ground is Going to Cost You

There's something to be said for sorcerers who operate in secret, careful to not evoke chaos with the existence of their strength and power and that of curses. Moreso when, in the heat of battle, they still factor in the greater good and weigh it against those in immediate danger. We saw it in Shibuya as Gojo used his technique in the presence of countless civilians which still came at a great cost to them. He was a bit more cavalier but the first story focused on Inumaki and his monk-like discipline to never use words carelessly lest he curse those around him.

Curses and curse users are shown to be morally impudent and his careful existence is juxtaposed by a curse user with a similar technique who employs it freely and without giving it a second thought as he tries to capture and subsequently traffick Nobara. Even when backed into a corner, Inumaki is taking hits to avoid accidentally causing harm to Nobara and it does him no favors. This is obviously indicative of a larger theme we see wherein the primary antagonists of JJK are regularly seen frolicking on the beach, playing soccer, playing board games, etc. Meanwhile, the limited stock of sorcerers are regularly having their asses handed to them for the sake of doing the right thing. Another stunning example of this is Nanami Kento when compared directly to Mei Mei.

Head Canon: Perhaps, More Specifically, Emotional Ties to Others Are Going to Cost You

What's funny about this is the fact that this is shown multiple times in a novel that only has five stories. We've already seen it countless times in the anime/manga:

JJK 0 - Yuta's inability to part with Rika curses her.

Season 1 - Megumi saves Yuji or vice versa and it brings about Sukuna and the killing curse upon Tsumiki.

Season 1 - Junpei's mother is used as his breaking point just as Junpei himself is used as leverage against Yuji.

Season 2 - There's something to be said about Riko Amanai and the hopelessness and turmoil her death inspires, whether you want to say Geto was emotionally tied to her or not.

Season 2 - In the story's biggest reveal, we come to realize that Gojo's inability to properly dispose of Geto's body creates a vulnerability Kenjaku is able to exploit.

While the story with Inumaki also ties into this, I think his relationship with Nobara is more proximal and subsequently, his story more or less shows that he is earnest regardless of whose safety is on the line. Emotion being a sliding scale and all, it makes sense that Mechamaru's story is the best example of how, even when there wasn't a physical risk to him, he was still grappling with how best to win a fight against another shikigami user. Mechamaru is uniquely qualified for the fight since his robot body is the only thing that can go into a gas infused curtain. While this is another example of technique matchups, ultimately, it's a far better insight into Mechamaru's presumed pragmatism when weighed against his affection for Miwa. He'd rather potentially gamble a strategic loss than jeopardize a friendship bracelet she'd given him. As for it's impact on the larger story, this heat of the moment desperation to maintain this connection to Miwa is perhaps what later inspires him to be greedier down the line in seeking a new body from Ken!Geto and Mahito and... we see how that turned out.

Head Canon: Gojo is Far More Sentimental Than His Flippancy Suggests

Gojo is constantly on his bull shit. The duality of the strongest sorcerer capable of processing everything who is constantly spouting Digimon references, binging sugary sweets and asking about his colleague's kink satisfaction is my favorite thing, honestly. Gojo cavalierly addresses his responsibilities as a sorcerer, one could argue he's kind of a bad teacher, but he goes out of his way to protect people even if his manner is rude. He point blank told Ijichi to not become a sorcerer lest he be killed which was disrespectful as hell but... the man had a point. Ijichi falls under the purview of Gojo's concern (whether that be as his once kohai or given how useful he is to him now, I won't say) and Gojo pulls strings to make sure that he too is taken care of. Ijichi, the backbone of operations at Jujutsu Tokyo carries that weight unyieldingly because he assumes "it's the least he can do" even though we know that managers actually pave the way for a lot of the goings on in jujutsu society. It's a symbiotic relationship but Ijichi carries every loss, like Yuji's death on a mission, excruciatingly personally. To the point where it wears him down. In the last book, we saw that, following Geto's defection, Gojo recognizes the delicate nature of a person's heart. It's why he entrusts Yuji's mentorship to Nanami. What's interesting about all of this is, if he can see Ijichi's stress and exhaustion, how did he miss Geto's? Maybe that's a burden he also carries. Ironically, I think this harsh way of caring for others is maybe the way of the sorcerers because we see it with Megumi and Nobara in how they treat Yuji.

Head Canon: There's an Obvious Sacrifice of Youth in Jujutsu Society But There's Also Nowhere for Girlhood to Exist

With what we don't see of Mai in the main story, the story that centers on her deciding to go against orders and take on a curse much stronger than her is actually so heartbreaking? Let's start off with the fact that she chose to unnecessarily exorcise a flyhead which is ultimately what forges a connection between her and Yuu, a girl who later became a window for sorcerers. Seems like a small task considering Mai's relative competency but as the story progresses, we get a deep insight into the fact that, the terror Mai had for curses as a kid is still alive and well within her. Whether she can defend herself or not, she is still fearful but she pushes forward "alone" because that's the only choice Maki left her with.

What's interesting about Mai and the Kyoto students is, 1) the sheer volume/concentration of female students compared to Tokyo and, 2) their propensity to attack as a group with the exception of Todo. In JJK 0, Maki remarked that those who are weak tend to have to stick together. I don't mention this as an assessment of the relative strength of Miwa, Nishimoto or Mai (especially since I still think Miwa will get a power up). But this story demonstrates their pack mentality when they were just idling in a cafe like students should but even in not allowing Mai to go after Yuu alone. Their success was because of their reliance on one another but, from what we've seen in Shibuya and what's to come in the culling games... that doesn't bode well for fighters who can't defend on their own.

Mai is a product of one of the big 3 jujutsu families, the Zenin clan being incredibly misogynistic to boot. As such, she is still downtrodden and runs the risk of being admonished even when fulfilling duties in line with what a sorcerer should do. She (and the other girls) are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Additionally, I assume the Kyoto school's tendency to fight as a group is from the influence of Gakuganji (which leads me to think Gojo might be pushing his students a bit more recklessly for the sake of making them stronger). But where there are many characters, specifically adults, who have an outright desire to protect their childhood, I think it's interesting that Mai, Miwa and Nishimoto are doing all they can to hang onto whatever sense of girlhood they can muster. It makes them catty and they seem to espouse some misogynistic ideals of what girls should look like and be but the basis of it is still desperately grasping at something that keeps them soft in the face of terror which, in their own mind, is probably a rebellion to what they know. That and, I think Mai is hyper aware of her weakness. That coupled with her dissatisfaction as a sorcerer ultimately later guides her steps in the resolution of her character arc.

Hypothesis: There's a Reason Gojo is Always Pondering the Figures and Politics of Periods Long Gone

I frequently question what goes on in the mind of Satoru Gojo. He has, for all intents and purposes, all the time in the world to process and compute all the mysteries of the universe. Instead, he asks his coworkers about whether they're caught up on Jump Comics at bars. He's so unserious. But at the same time, he'll immediately follow this silliness with a deep cut like -

"Our precious present rests atop the deeds of our forebears." - Gojo Satoru

He absolutely gets clowned for his random pop culture references and, any time he calls upon a historical reference (of which he seems to be really knowledgeable about), it seems shocking to most of those around him (Shoko notwithstanding). The girls who get it know that Gojo is just as traumatized as Geto. He's just traumatized ✨🤪 where Geto is traumatized 🔪. So this veneer of goofiness belies what is ultimately a really contemplative person and one who holds a clear grievance against jujutsu elders. We know that Gojo telling Megumi about their ancestors locked in battle is obviously something that becomes a critical plot point later (hello, Sukuna showdown which we're not getting into here). It told Megumi he could have power that rivals Gojo's but it was also critical exposition for us as readers. We've also seen that Yuta, a distant, distant Gojo relative is similarly OP and this was established by his ancient connection to Gojo as well. Again, critical exposition into how things fall together when Gojo is no longer on the board. But what I'm hypothesizing is... suppose Gojo had tangential knowledge of Kenjaku this whole time? Kenjaku was clearly wary of Gojo, for good reason, but was Gojo already aware of the existence of the body snatcher? What a reveal that would be.

Hypothesis: There Are Bad Match-Ups But The Best Way To Beat a Cursed User Is With A Stronger Version Of Their Own Technique

So this isn't a comprehensive hypothesis since I know it's only half true. Por ejemplo, in the first two stories Inumaki fought a cursed speech user and Mechamaru fought a shikigami user. The victorious combatants happened to have stronger versions of the shared technique (and maybe a strategic edge). This, of course, lends to the idea that the resolution to this story may lay in the hands of Yuta Okkotsu. Okkotsu can summon immeasurable cursed energy and copy techniques. Who's gonna check him? BUT, in reality, we also know that there are also, canonically bad matchups. For instance, Yuji and Nobara are bad matchups for Mahito - Yuji's soul is protected in a sense and Nobara's technique allows her to strike spilled blood or discarded limbs/extensions of one's body to injure the main body.

We know Sukuna, at this point, is the big bad that will require taking down but we don't know how at this point. Nobara would of course be helpful given the still outstanding fingers but is tentatively off the board for now (this is a hill I will die on). But, are there other allies who haven't been revealed that will help in taking Sukuna down or will it all come down to Yuta? At this point, Gege wrote themselves into a box they are trying to course correct with the in universe power scale but I'm curious how things will fall.

What do you think? There's a fifth story that is super heartwarming and too sad to write about given the conclusion of season 2 so go read the novel for yourself and let me know your thoughts!

#manga with me #manga with me jjk #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #anime #manga #headcanon #head canon #meta analysis #manga analysis #jjk light novel #thorny road at dawn #jjk meta #meta #gojo satoru #yuji itadori #inumaki toge #nobara kugisaki #mechamaru #muta kokichi #mai zenin #yuta okkotsu #kiyotaka ijichi

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Former FBI official accuses Marjorie Taylor Greene of spreading foreign propaganda

Mark Alesia, Investigative Reporter

April 13, 2024 6:08AM ET

Marjorie Taylor Greene talking to reporters in February. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is spreading the propaganda of American adversaries on social media, knowing those countries will amplify her messages for impact they wouldn’t otherwise have, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s former assistant director for counterintelligence.

In Monday’s debut of The Defiant Podcast with Brooklyn Dad Defiant, shared in advance with Raw Story, Frank Figliuzzi tells host Majid Padellan, “What we’ve caught Russia and China doing … is they’ll take a statement from Marjorie Taylor Green — or someone like her, someone who doesn’t deserve a particular amount of attention — and then those foreign intelligence services amplify it across social media.

“So she has immediate amplifying support out there. She knows when she spouts something ridiculous there’s going to be foreign adversaries who blow up her message so we can’t avoid it.”

Greene’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Raw Story.

READ: A criminologist explains why Trump’s Manhattan trial is the biggest threat to his freedom

In the podcast, Figliuzzi, who works for NBC News, emphasized China’s role in spreading misinformation and disinformation.

“We focus almost exclusively on Russia at our own peril,” Figliuzzi said. “Because recent reporting, including from my outfit, NBC News, has pointed out that the Chinese are already at it — already fully engaged in attempting to mess with our next election. It’s chaos they want to sew.”

Padellan said Figliuzzi described the situation by using a phrase he coined: “spamoflage,” a cross between spam and camouflage.

“He said they’ll create a clone of, say, CNN’s website and post information that’s kind of true but kind of not true,” Padellan said. “He said by the time people figure out it’s a bogus site, it’s already done its damage.”

Figliuzzi told Padellan that China wants Trump to win.

“Because he is more easy to manipulate, he’s more susceptible to influence,” Padellan said.

Padellan is a staunch progressive and social media influencer who has 1.3 million followers on X, formerly Twitter. In 2021, the New York Post attacked him for taking money from a pro-Democrat political action committee, Really American, in 2020. FEC records show the total was $59,088.

Padellan responded that he was always open about the affiliation. He did design and social media work for the organization. FEC records show no payments since then to Padellan.

He said his motivation is his five children, three adults and two teenagers.

“I feel a very strong sense of responsibility about the kind of world I’m passing on to them,” Padellan said. “This is personal. I have skin in the game. I feel like it’s my civic duty to do everything possible to illuminate the truth, to make sure I do what I can to cut through the (bs).”

[sarahlizziewrites]

OC Kiss Week 2024 - Day 7 - "Dare"

In which Dr Williamson Jones chooses something other than a drink. (1054 words) WIP: Til Death Do Us Part (pre-canon) Characters: Dr Williamson Jones, Navraj Choudhury  taglist: @vacantgodling, @imsoveryveryconfusedatlife, @mrbexwrites, @hippiewrites (+/-) Content warning: alcoholism

Wine makes me warm and chatty: flushed cheeks and a purple tongue spouting purple little lies. Port makes my fingers and toes numb like they’ve been blissfully forgotten about. Whiskey makes me belligerent and sharp, a knife in the darkness.

Gin makes me all of those things, and messy and daring besides. 

Gin’s the thing to drink in India - oh yes, the quinine in the tonic is supposed to stave off malarial fever, and the proof of the spirit kills off the microorganisms in the drinking water the likes of which London has left behind - but that’s not why I drink it. I drink it because I like the way it makes me numb and chatty and warm and sharp all at once. I drink it because I’m hardly daring at all, otherwise.

I’ve tried to remember if I was drunk when I agreed to come to India in the first place, or when I first invited Mr Choudhury to stay late for another drink. I’m still not totally sure why he stays late chatting most nights. He must like the man I am when I’ve had a drink as much as I do. Almost as much as I like him, and the hot, daring thrill I get when he turns his attention on me. 

Tonight, that thrill is more like a torrent, the Ganges in violent flood, as I try to pay attention to the words he’s saying, rather than the shape of his lips as he says them. Tonight may finally be the night I decide to do something about this feeling that makes my skin burn and my tongue grow thick in my mouth. 

“Another drink, Mr Choudhury?”

“No, thank you,” he says, standing. Diluted disappointment fills me. “I had better go.”

It is late, after all. From the damp heat of the verandah, I follow him back through my bungalow, his sandals tapping out a rhythm on the tiles of the atrium, my own steps trudging a reluctant half-beat behind. Gas lighting gives this place an old-fashioned, amber look, which I’ve grown quite fond of. Mr Choudhury looks especially attractive in the light, giving the mahogany of his skin an undertone that gleams like gold. 

God, I’m wrecked.

As though I said that out loud, he turns abruptly, and my messy, numb brain takes a moment to catch up. I go barrelling into him, spilling gin and tonic and lemon all over his clothes.

My sharp, single-syllable expletive won’t un-spill the drink, and the handkerchief I pull from my pocket doesn’t do much better. But somewhere along the way, my hand ends up clenched in the front of his kurta, soaking up the alcohol, and the broad span of his arms are around me, holding me up. 

“Sorry–”

“You asked me earlier,” I begin, carefully loading my vowels with the armour of an English gentleman, “what I had to lose, in my life. Well…” I fill my lungs with something humid and gin-scented. “For a man like me, in my position, with my…tastes…” There can be no doubt of my implication in the heavy emphasis of the word. “It is like falling from the stars.”

“No lasting harm done,” he says, altogether too kindly. I dab uselessly still, enjoying lingering here, close to the heat of his body that somehow cuts through the muggy heat of the air around us. At a certain point, the pretence is all but gone, and we’re just standing in the atrium, far too close.

A miasma of boldness fills the small space between us, and I take a bet on the amber glimmer of his dark brown eyes.

Damn it all, I do want him. Enough to trust him, perhaps where I shouldn’t. He’s an intelligent man - he could easily ignore my emphasis and choose to listen to my words, leave all this behind us. But he doesn’t.

“Then, forgive me.”

Christ, but his hands are big. Big enough to cradle the back of my head and span the short hair at the back of it, pulling me to him. I’m pleasantly numb at the edges of my sensation, but the place on my jaw where he leans close and places his warm lips is urgently alight. 

I hardly realise I’m clinging to his thick arms like a maiden in passionate throes, or that I’m tilting my chin up to his lips, balancing on my tiptoes: certainly, this position is compromising, but I don’t care. 

“Mr Choudhury…”

“Call me Raj,” he mutters into my skin, mouthing slow, deliberate kisses down my jawline.

“Williamson.” It seems silly, now, to only lose the formality when his lips are on my neck and I’m burning with arousal. “Can I prevail upon you to stay a little longer?”

He halts, almost as though he’s only just realised he’s kissing my neck. He huffs out a small laugh, felt rather than heard. “You’re drunk,” he whispers, but he doesn’t let go. “You should go to bed.”

“You should come with me.”

Gin makes me daring, and I blame it for my messy words. He pulls back then, observing me with brown eyes a shade more sober than mine. Alright, a lot more sober. The burning arousal turns rapidly to burning shame.

“I’m sorry–”

“I would,” he says, eyes dark and serious. It’s a look that makes my pulse pound thickly, making the numb parts of me come alive again. “Only…not when you’re like this. Ask me again, on a different night.”

My head is bobbing in a nod before I know I’m even responding. He’s right. Tonight, it’s time for me to sleep off my drink and a good portion of my hangover, and hope he remembers his promise on a different night. Hope he stays, hope he likes the man I am when I’m not…like this.

Arms dropping to my sides, my heels find the ground again. Gaps fall, relatively cool, where we were touching, and slowly, we both walk to the front door. 

“Goodnight, Raj.”

“Goodnight, Williamson.”

—

Gin makes me messy and numb and daring and belligerent. So tonight, I keep the drinks cabinet closed. 

Raj is sharper in the amber light tonight, and when he shakes my hand in greeting, no part of me is numb.

“Evening, Raj. Can I pour you a cup of tea?”

#wip: til death do us part #ockiss24 #ockiss #ockissweek