#like By would be good to arrive early but At has absolutely no benefit to showing up w 30min to spare bc you'll just be waiting

[sergle]

AROUND (time): 30 minute window before and 30 after. BEFORE (time): the specified time is the absolute cutoff, bordering on late, so arrive somewhere in the hour before. AT (time): be punctual and be there or be square at the time. BY (time): something STARTS at the time specified and arriving at the exact time does not count as late. This is my take. I am not taking criticism at this time.

no dude bc I think you lowkey nailed it

#EDIT: JUST BC I ANSWERED THIS ONE DOESN'T MEAN I WANT A FLOOD OF ASKS ABT THIS i just think this queen was onto something #since it can't be improved on i don't need other definitions of on time for various phrasings of timed plans #At and By sound kind of the same but i think i'm seeing the divide. kind of. maybe #like By would be good to arrive early but At has absolutely no benefit to showing up w 30min to spare bc you'll just be waiting #I think is what the vibe is #but your Around is just as forgiving as my Around and i'm glad for that bc what the hell is this 10 min before 10 min after bullshit!! #do you have any idea how short 10 mins is!! #it could take 10 minutes to literally find my good bra... #sergle answers

[eds6ngel]

Hello love! I was wondering if you could do Eddie and a girl new to Hawkins High! Maybe just like Eddie shows her around the school and the town and they develop a little crush on each other and start dating??

hi my love! i absolutely adored this ask, so this fic is a lot longer than my others, but i hope you enjoy regardless <3

warnings: fem!reader. sunshine!reader. cheerleader!reader. fem descriptions of clothing. blushing mentioned, so lighter skinned (i apologise :’)). enemies to lovers-ish. wayne mention!! (we love wayne). mentions of eddie’s past. lil bit of hurt. mostly comfort. tooth-rotting fluff. kissing. food mention. j*son c*rver mention [6.5k].

“Oh my God,” Eddie groans out frustratedly, “She’s literally new. Why wouldn’t she show up early?”

Eddie was currently sitting in Principal Higgins office, waiting for a new student to arrive at Hawkins High. Due to apparent “bad behaviour” Eddie’s punishment was to befriend and guide the new student around the school.

“You’ve been here for six years, Edward. You should know this place very well to help our new student feel welcomed,” is what Higgins told him when he shared said news. Why wouldn’t he get someone like Jason Carver to guide her? That prick would do anything to get another girl wrapped around his finger to join his basketball cult.

But, Eddie didn’t want to do this, not one bit. Which is exactly why Higgins set him up with the task. Thank God he was on track to graduating this year. He doesn’t think he could take another year of Higgins’ shenanigans.

“Mr. Munson, please calm down,” Higgins asks him sternly, “This is your mandatory punishment. My other option was to expel you for the rest of the week, but I assumed you wouldn’t want that, considering that would’ve definitely prevented you from graduating.”

Eddie rubs his hands over his face as he leans back in the green leather chair. Higgins was right after all, he would take anything over staying at this shithole for another year.

Another five minutes pass, Eddie practically staring at his watch the entire time, before a faint knock is heard at the door.

“Hi!” you beam, “Ms. Lockwood at the front desk said I should come down to your office, so here I am,” you giggle.

Eddie looked up and down at you, taking in your yellow sundress and white sneakers, your hair styled in two pigtails, and minimal make-up on your face. He just knew you were going to be extremely annoying. So incredibly happy all the time, the most aggravating type of woman he could know.

“Ah, yes! Ms. L/N. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Principal Higgins says, getting out of his chair and shaking your hand, you reciprocating with a smile on your face.

“Eddie,” he turns to him, “This is the new student. Eddie, meet Y/N. Y/N, meet Eddie.”

You wave to him, “Hi Eddie! It’s nice to meet you!”

Yeah, annoying was definitely an appropriate description.

“Yeah… good to meet you too,” he grumbles, slowly rising from his seat, the glint in Higgins’ eyes showing his patience running thin.

“Right. I’m going to let you two go,” Higgins says with a clap of his hands, “Eddie, don’t turn her into a troublemaker, I don’t need another one of you in my school.”

“Don’t worry Higs,” he replies with a sarcastic smile, “Miss. L/N here will become the most perfect student Hawkins High has ever seen with the benefit of my gracious help,” he pats you on the shoulder.

Principal Higgins shakes his head and sighs, “All right. Off you go, you two.”

The two of you turn and leave his office, Higgins flopping down into his seat and mumbling to himself, “Should’ve just expelled the boy.”

“So, uh…” Eddie begins, “What class do you have first?”

“World History,” you begin to ramble, “It’s probably my second favourite class. Well, at least it was at my old school, I don’t know what it is like here. I just find it so interesting to learn about how different countries have operated in the past and how we worked together to combat and build the world we live in today. Like, we were fighting with Germany only forty years ago and now we’re pretty much on good terms! It’s crazy how little time can change how we interact as a society.”

Eddie walks beside you with a straight face the entire time. My God, would you ever shut up? He had to refrain from rolling his eyes the entire time.

“Cool, cool…” he replies, quite frankly shutting his brain off after you told him what class you were in. “Well, I have Math… Calculus, to be specific. What other classes do you have today?”

“Oh, my favourite ever class I have second period which is English!” you beam, opening the front pocket of your backpack and pulling out the sheet of paper which was your schedule. You point to the Wednesday timings, “And then I have lunch, then Drama, which I’m not the best at, but that’s okay! And then finally I have Chemistry. Which if there was any class I’d rather not have, it would be Chem, but not everything can go our way in life, right?”

“Yeah, right…”

“What’s your favourite class, Eddie?” you ask, looking up into his eyes smiling.

“Oh, uh… English, I suppose,” he mumbles out, “All depends on what we do in English though. What book we study and shit.”

You giggle at his answer, “You’re pretty quiet, you know that? I’m not scary, I don’t bite. Sure, I’ve been told I come off as a bit much, but that’s just me!”

“Yeah, you could say that…” he grumbles. “Anyway,” he clears his throat, “That’s your room.”

He signals to the door as he looks at the floor, scuffing his feet along the white tiles.

“Thank you, Eddie!” you say with a grin. “Is it okay if I ask you to meet me here when class is over?” you ask, “I haven’t really had the chance to map out this place yet.”

“Uh, yeah… Sure,” he replies, secretly thinking that this would earn him bonus points from Higgins.

“Thank you, you’re the best!” you bounce, giving him a hug as you turn around and enter the classroom, “See you later, Eddie!”

He froze to the spot when you hugged him. Not only did you not stop talking, but you were brave enough to instantly wrap your arms around his neck as if you’d been friends for years. He already knew he was going to hate you, and yet he was probably stuck being your first friend in a new town. Just great.

He lifts his hand up in a wave and watched you sit next to Chrissy Cunningham in the classroom, praying to God that you two would get along instantly so he wasn’t trapped with you.

But, as he arrived at your classroom at the end of first period, you saw him through the glass of the door, smiling as you waved, packing away your stationery into your backpack.

Although, you were talking to Chrissy, which was a bonus. Hopefully you two would become friends, perhaps even best friends. If so, you’d grow to despise him the same way he despised you, an absolutely perfect solution in Eddie’s eyes.

As the door swung open, Eddie was leaning against the lockers just to the side of the History class door. You and Chrissy were giggling together before you wave goodbye and turned back to Eddie. “Hey! How was Calculus?”

“Pretty crap, same ‘ol boring shit,” he replies, chuckling to himself, to which you giggle too. “How was World History?”

He mentally facepalms himself. Why did he ask you how it went? You rambled enough when you brought up the topic yourself.

And ramble you did, “It’s going well! We’re learning about the Korean War. I’ve kind of missed a chunk of the content because I’ve only just joined, but that’s okay! We’re learning about the Northern and Southern zones that the United States and Soviet Union divided up. It’s pretty rad actually. Well, probably not rad for the Koreans, but you get what I mean,” you giggle once again.

“Sounds great,” he simply replies, “What class do you have next again?”

“I have English, what about you?”

Shit. That’s exactly what he had.

“Uh… I actually have English too.” If there’s one way to make English unenjoyable, it would be having you there. He used to sit in the back of the class, minding his own business, but that was now virtually impossible since it was a given that you would want to sit next to him.

“Oh great!” you gushed, “We can sit next to each other. If that’s alright with you, of course,” you check, just to make sure you aren’t overstepping anything.

“Yeah… sure,” he grumbles, knowing that this was gonna be a day from Hell.

As you enter the classroom together, you follow Eddie to his normal seat at the back, perching yourself on one of the uncomfortable metal chairs, sitting to Eddie’s right.

“So…” he breaks the silence, “What do you think of Hawkins High so far?”

“It’s not too bad,” you reply, “I met this girl Chrissy in World History, she seems pretty nice. She said she was on the cheerleading squad, which I hope I can join if possible. I was the cheer captain at my old school before I left. I know I’ll never get to be captain here being a senior and all, but being on the team would be nice nonetheless.”

A cheerleader, of course. You were one social group away from throwing death threats into his ear, and putting threatening notes inside of his locker. But, you did befriend him despite being a cheerleader before, although, you could just be putting on a fake persona to appeal to Higgins. He wouldn’t be surprised if that happened with your type.

He can’t help but scoff, “Cheerleading, huh? Surprised you aren’t gagging at my pure existence.”

You giggle at this, “People are judgemental here too, I’m assuming.”

“You could say that,” he tuts, rolling his eyes whilst looking at her.

“You know, I never got why people judge others. Like, there’s good in everyone, right? Why judge someone on the mere basis that they aren’t the same as you? Life would be boring if everybody acted the same.”

It’s like you put his thoughts into words. This is exactly the rhetoric he had been shouting from atop the cafeteria tables since he got targeted in freshman year. If only he had the potential popularity of you to speak those words for him.

“Sorry,” you embarrassingly giggle, “I got a bit carried away there.”

He looks over at you, you avoiding eye contact as you twiddle with your thumbs. You had spent the previous conversations rambling about your love for World History, but suddenly you point out the flaws of stereotypes and stigmas, and you’ve become the shyest person on the planet. It’s like you didn’t want to be confident about something that went against the mould that society had carved out for you.

“You don’t need to apologise. I’ve been saying this since the day I arrived in this shithole, I totally agree with you.”

You look up at him, “Well, it’s a shame nobody has took the time to hear you out.”

Before Eddie can say another word, Mrs. Click walks in the room, slamming her books on the table as her loud voice booms across the classroom.

At least you had one trait going for you.

“Dude, who are you staring at?” Gareth asks, shoving a piece of crunchy broccoli into his mouth, an undercooked staple from the school cafeteria.

Eddie clears his throat, “Uh… nobody. Nobody…”

The whole table turns over to where Eddie was looking, Eddie looking down and shoving another pretzel into his mouth.

“Oh, is that the new girl?” Dustin queries.

“That makes a ton more sense now,” Gareth realises, “Weren’t you supposed to be guiding her around the place?”

Eddie grumbles, “Yeah, but as you can see,” he gestures over to you standing by Chrissy, Jason and the other jocks and cheerleaders, “She’s already found her place here.”

Jeff whistles as Gareth clicks his tongue, “Damn, that’s rough man…”

Eddie shakes his head, “Nah, it’s okay. I mean,” he lightly chuckles, “She wouldn’t stop rambling anyway. Kept going on about her World History class and the divided borders of Korea or some shit. Sounds pretty boring if you ask me.”

“I mean, you’re the one who remembered, dude,” Jeff laughed, the other boys nodding along.

“Only because she wouldn’t shut up. I would’ve drowned her out if I could.”

But, that’s the thing: he did have the choice to drown you out. He could’ve stopped listening to you, ignored every word you were saying. But he didn’t, and his brain didn’t allow him to forget it. He remembered every goddamn thing you said.

“All right, class!” Mrs. Click yelled out, directing the attention of every student.

For some reason, despite some of your new jock friends being in this class, you still sat next to Eddie, much to his surprise. Maybe it was just because they already had friends to share a two-seater table with.

“Today marks the start of our new group assignment! Since we have recently started reading ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ and we are very aware of the social context surrounding the Theory of Evolution being a key theme of the book, I would like you all in the assigned groups I will give you in a second to produce a newspaper article as someone against the book.”

“But, Miss,” Jason butts in, Eddie looking at you and rolling his eyes, you trying to contain a laugh. “This is ridiculous. I mean, most of this class disagrees with that very theory. It’s a preposterous theory! How can you suggest we do an assignment on this when it goes against our own values?”

You turn around in your seat, looking Jason in the eye, “Jason, if anything, doesn’t that help? If the task is to give alternative viewpoints in disagreement to that theory, couldn’t you use your own beliefs as a way to fuel a solid argument point?”

You quickly remember you are in the middle of a classroom when you feel all eyes staring at you, including Eddie’s, who is sat there in astonishment as you stood up to Jason.

You swivel back around and play with your thumbs as Mrs. Click says, “Miss. L/N has a brilliant point there, Jason. Besides, this is a mandatory assignment. Like you, although I don’t agree with the theory myself, you are still required to complete this task.”

The whole room stays silent as Jason simply nods, looking away from Mrs. Click as she begins to tell the class their partners for the assignment, “Okay, starting with Jason, you are paired with Patrick. Nancy, you are with Robin. Eddie, you are paired with our latest addition, Y/N, who you already seem plenty accustomed to,” she smiles.

Brilliant. Great. Now you had to spend extra time together. He knew that you would definitely want to get this assignment done, and complete it to the highest standard. But, that meant equal effort, you doing all of the work would not just damage his grade, but yours too.

“So,” you turn to face him, “Do you have any ideas on what you want to include in this paper?”

“Well, if you haven’t already heard from your cheerleader friends, I am very well-known as the ‘Town Freak,’ so I don’t doubt the people opposed to that theory said the same sort of things the people of this town say to me now,” he chuckles, you noticing the sadness behind his tough exterior.

“Probably sadly so,” you reply, “But, even if you disagree with something, it doesn’t mean you get to hurt the person who does agree with it. As I said the other day, it’s just differences. Plain and simple. We can’t all be alike, that would be the collapse of society. It’s always better to be different than fall into the crowds that make you hide who you are.”

And God, did that last sentence hit deep for him. That’s exactly what he had been trying to show since he was a kid. None of the bullshit that his parents had tried to make him out to be, he was who he was, and he couldn’t care less with who disagreed about that.

You put your hands over your face, “God, I need to stop rambling to you about that.”

“Hey,” Eddie says, “If there’s anyone who would agree with your thoughts on this, it would be me,” he chuckles.

You peered through your hands to laugh along, before removing them from your face, looking up into Eddie’s eyes. Were they always that deep of a brown? And did they always glisten in the light like that?

Eddie was having the same thoughts, but he would never admit that to anyone. Yet, he couldn’t help but notice the way your hair fell in front of your face when you laughed, or how your cheeks turned bright pink when you got embarrassed.

He coughs, “So… I assume you want to meet up outside of here to work on this?”

“If you don’t mind, yeah. I’m free tonight, if that’s okay with you?”

He thinks, “Um… I have Hellfire until, well… when we finish. Campaigns usually last around two hours-ish, so we should be done around six?”

“Yeah, that’ll work,” you reply, “I’ve heard the library stays open at night here, so I’ll just hang around in there and you can meet me afterwards?”

“Yeah, sure. Sure…”

“Cool…”

Luckily, the awkward silence between the two of you is broken by Mrs. Click redirecting everyone back to the current content of the class. And thank God she did, the tension could be cut with a knife it was so thick.

Why were you acting like this? You were rambling so much to him a mere two days ago. You even hugged him for God’s sake, and now you can’t even make basic conversation? What was wrong with you?

Eddie collected you from the library at 6:30, profusely apologising for leaving a girl alone, saying how he “Wasn’t raised like that.”

Although, you didn’t mind. It actually gave you extra time to complete your World History homework, something that you wanted to be perfect, hoping to make a lasting impression on your teacher.

It was only a fifteen minute drive to Eddie’s place, you not realising he lived in the Trailer Park until he drove up the wet road towards the place. You didn’t want to say anything that would potentially offend him, so you kept your mouth shut. You had no problem with anyone that lived there, but was bringing the fact up worse? Was you rambling about how there was no problem making it into a big deal? It was just easier to stay quiet in the already silent atmosphere of his van.

Opening the front door, he gestures you inside politely. Thanking him quietly, you are alerted of another presence in the trailer by the sound of the TV lowly playing in front of you.

“Hey son, how was—“ he starts, seeing your face as Eddie stands awkwardly behind you. “Sorry, I didn’t know Eddie had brought company over.”

He laughs, scratching the back of his neck, “Yeah, sorry about that Wayne. This is Y/N, she’s the girl I had to show around the school, and we’re also now English partners, so…”

“No need to apologise, I don’t mind you being here. Don’t mind me darlin’, you two can get on with whatever you need to do,” Wayne says, relaxing back into the couch once more.

But, you’ve already decided to take in your surroundings. The place is quite messy, but it also matches the personality of the two Munsons. Random beer cans, empty wrappers and dirty clothes are scattered across various objects around the house. There’s both a line of mugs and hats hooked to the wall, a vast collection on display. Something that you can’t help but bring up.

“I really love your mug collection,” you compliment, pointing to it and flicking your gaze between both Munsons.

“That would be mine,” Wayne replies, “And thank you. I take great pride in it.”

You giggle, “Especially this one,” you say, pointing to the Garfield mug to the right of you, “I love the TV special.”

“So do I!” Wayne beams, “It’s so good, isn’t it?”

“Just the greatest,” you gush back, “Well, it was nice meeting you Mr. Munson.”

“Ah, no need for that mister crap, just call me Wayne,” he replies with a wave of his hand.

“Well, Wayne,” you smile, “Nice to meet you. Eddie, am I going this way?” you ask, signalling to the left.

“Yeah, straight down the hall,” he replies, “We’ll just be in my room if you need us Wayne.”

“Got it, you kids have fun with that English assignment,” he happily says, raising his eyebrows at Eddie when you aren’t looking, Eddie supporting an annoyed eye roll back.

“Your dad seems pretty cool,” you say, walking down the hall and to his room.

Eddie freezes up a little at the realisation that he never put emphasis on what relation Wayne was to him, “Actually, uh… Wayne is my… my Uncle.”

“Oh…” you let out, stumbling over your words, “That wasn’t a bad ‘oh’ by the way, that was more of just a shocked ‘oh’ at myself, mixed with an ‘I shouldn’t have assumed ‘oh.’’” You turn back to look at Eddie who is simply staring at the floor, “Maybe I should just shut up,” you say with a soft laugh.

“Nah, it’s okay…” he lies, trying to hide the pain of his past, “Most people would assume. I don’t live in the most… conventional household, should I say.”

“Which isn’t a problem, if I haven’t made that evidently clear over these past few days,” you giggle, “I think you’ve got the point that I’m not one for judgement.”

“Very clearly noted,” he replies back, laughing along with you.

You reach his room, slowly pushing open the door to find the most decorated room in your life. His walls are filled with posters, little trinkets decorating every corner, almost every space filled up with something he owns.

“Whoa,” you simply admire, “A good ‘whoa,’ again, just to clarify. You took decorating to the max, huh?“

He chuckles, “Yeah. This is my baby, you know? Gotta treat ‘er right after all.”

“Very true,” you reply, “Mind if I just take it all in a minute?”

“Go ahead,” he says, standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets in the middle of his own bedroom.

You come to his bedside table, noticing the packet of un-opened condoms which your brain decides to evidently point out, “Don’t worry. It’ll happen one day.”

He scratches the back of his neck as you mention the condoms, “Oh, uh… Maybe I should’ve cleaned up in here a little…”

“It’s okay,” you say, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of really. Better to be safe than sorry.”

Eddie wasn’t sure whether your casualness was better or worse. On the one hand, a girl not making a big deal out of it was a nice change, usually guys were shamed for that. But, on the other hand, you even bringing it up just didn’t make him feel good regardless of your positive words.

You bend down just underneath his bedside table, noticing a small collection of books.

You smile as you turn to him and quote, “It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.”

Eddie breathes out, “Fellowship of the Ring.”

“Mhmm,” you hum, “One of the best book trilogies ever written. Plus, the Hobbit of course, can’t forget about that. I bet I can guess your favourite character.”

Eddie sits on the edge of his bed in shock. A girl had read his favourite book series? And had called it the best book trilogy ever written?

You break him out of his trance, “Eddie, you doing okay there?” you slightly giggle.

He blinks a few times, trying to bring himself back to reality. A girl reading Lord of the Rings… A cheerleader reading Lord of the Rings… A pretty cheerleader reading Lord of the Rings…

Shit, this couldn’t be happening to him.

“Uh… Yeah, yeah. Sorry, what were you saying?”

You laugh, “I said, I bet I can guess who your favourite character is.”

He’s still staring at you with a slightly parted mouth and a still expression as he breathes out, “Okay… Yeah, try me.”

“Frodo,” you simply say, shocking Eddie to his core once more. How did you know that?

“How… How did you know that?”

“You live with your Uncle, I’m assuming were adopted by him, or at least it feels like that. Frodo went through the exact same thing with Bilbo,” you explain, “We choose our favourite characters based on who we relate to. It’s comforting to us as humans to have a fictional being that’s like us, our life experiences.”

You were a nerd. You were a fucking nerd. Not just a World History nerd, but a proper fantasy nerd. Just like him.

“Yeah,” he scoffs, “Well, you got that right. What’s yours?”

“You’re not going to try to guess?”

He chuckles, “You’re a little hard to read for me sweetheart, so I think I’ll just let you tell me,” he grins.

“Well, if you must,” you say, climbing from up off the floor, taking a seat next to him on the edge of his bed, “Sure you wanna ask? I’m going to talk for a long time, I hope you know that.”

He looks at you in the eyes and smiles, “I like it when you ramble.”

You giggle, “Well, if you insist…”

“I’m just saying, there’s nothing inherently wrong with choosing Frodo, but I would argue Éowyn is just a tad bit cooler.”

You had no idea how long had passed, your notebook still in your backpack which was sat against the leg of Eddie’s bed, the two of you now lying flat back against the mattress.

“I guess to each of their own.”

You both laugh as you hear a faint knock on Eddie’s door, his uncle standing in the entrance. “I don’t mean to interrupt you kids from anything, but it’s 10:30, and I start work at 7 tomorrow, so I need to be gettin’ some sleep. Don’t mean to kick you out or anything darlin’.”

You shake your head, sitting up from your place on Eddie’s bed, him following in your motion, “It’s okay Mr. Mun— I mean, Wayne. I totally get it. It’s probably best if I get home too, if you don’t mind Eddie.”

“Of course not,” he replies, “It’s a good idea.”

You nod as you pick up your backpack from off the floor, seeing Wayne walk back down the hallway and lie on the couch.

Something suddenly clicks in you, “Wait, does Wayne not have a—?”

“Um… No, no he doesn’t,” Eddie sighs sadly, “He used to live here alone, you know, before he took me in. And… we don’t have the most money in the world, so he just gave up his room for me and he’s been sleeping on the couch ever since.”

“That’s awful Eddie,” you reply, a sadness laced in your tone, mixed in with a sense of sympathy, “Have you never asked for help?”

“You probably haven’t been here long enough to notice, but the government here doesn’t really give a shit about us trailer trash…”

You rub his shoulder lightly, “You aren’t trash, that’s just a bad stereotype. If I’ve learnt anything about you today, you’re more valuable than you think you are. Just because things come out of people’s mouths doesn’t mean they hold any truth to them, okay?”

He notices your warm touch through the many layers of his clothes, he can feel how soft your hands are despite the restrictions. “Yeah… I suppose I just let it get to me sometimes. If multiple people tell you the same thing for years on end, especially as a kid, a part of your brain begins to believe it is true, even if you know it isn’t deep down.”

Why are you telling this random girl you’ve known less than a week your darkest truths?

“Well,” you think, choosing your wording carefully, “I think the important thing is to remember who you truly are. And to me? That’s a cool, nerdy guy who has a great love for all things fantasy, and that makes you incredibly special.”

He shakes his head, a smile creeping on his face, “Yeah, I guess so,” the two of you laugh together softly.

But, as your chuckles come to a stop, there’s a tension between you two. A sort of admiration where you both simply stare at one another, taking in every feature of the other’s face.

It was like you were both realising something neither of you wanted to admit.

“Um…” Eddie coughs, “I should get you home.”

“Yeah, totally…” you reply awkwardly, Eddie signalling you to the door as you walk out. You smile at Wayne and give him a quick wave as his eyes begin to drift off, Eddie shutting the front door behind him as you both climb into his van.

Eddie needed to see his friends. It was a whole two days until band practice, but the start of it would have to wait as he was in deep shit…

“I think I like her, man,” he admits, staring at Gareth, the rest of the band huddled behind.

Gareth chuckles, holding his drumsticks in his hand, “Yeah, dude, we know.”

“What?” Eddie yells out, “How?”

The boys laugh as Jeff lets out, “It was kind of obvious.”

“No it wasn’t,” Eddie denies, “I literally hated her the day before she started rambling about Lord of the fucking Rings.”

Gareth laughs, “Yeah, man, you hated her because she’s exactly like you. She’s a girl who’s naturally really passionate about her interests, and you hated that because you felt threatened and intimidated.”

Eddie thinks for a moment before mumbling, “Fuck…” realising that his friends were right. Him finding your rambling annoying in the beginning was him taking on the role of how others reacted to his rambling. His brain was telling him to find it irritating because that’s what he’s been conditioned to think his entire life. Until, you rambled about the same thing as him, then he viewed you in the same light he views himself.

“Yeah, man. The first day we caught you staring you literally remembered the exact content she learnt in her class. You normally couldn’t remember that if the teacher spelled it out in front of you,” Jeff laughs.

“What do I do, guys? I can’t just ask her out in front of everyone. She would definitely deny me then!” Eddie freaks out.

“You said you’re spending the evening at yours again on Monday, right? To do the assignment?”

“Yeah, yeah we are,” Eddie breathes out.

“Okay, so just ask her then,” Gareth states.

“Dude, we literally didn’t get any work done last time. She’ll kill me if we don’t get through anything this time. The assignment is due in on Friday, man.”

The guys think for a second, before Jeff pipes up, “Why don’t you ask her during your breaks? Or set up something romantic, fool her into taking an extended break?” he says with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Don’t make it gross, dude,” Eddie grimaces, “I guess I could try that.” Eddie sighs, “But, what if she says no? That’s going to make our group assignment so awkward to get through…”

“Well, you’ll never know until you try,” Gareth admits the truth, “It’s either you give it a shot, or you keep your feelings buried. It’s up to you, man.”

Eddie couldn’t deny that the boys were right, like they usually were on most of his problems. He just has to hope and pray that you say yes, or if you don’t, you won’t be too uncomfortable and ruin the building friendship you have brewing.

“Okay, yeah, I’ll give it a shot,” he says, “Thanks guys.”

“You’re all good, man,” Gareth says, patting Eddie on the shoulder, “Let us know how it goes on Tuesday, all right?”

Eddie nods, “You got it.”

“This theory goes against the very evolution principle enlisted in the Bible. The Bible says that God created man in his own image, therefore debunking this very theory. Does that sound too formal Eddie?”

He shrugs, “I mean, it’s a newspaper. It’s gotta have some formality to it, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Besides, I’ve written it down now, there’s no going back,” you giggle.

He doesn’t know how he was focusing at all, his mind racing about what he had set up above the very ceiling of his bedroom.

You look at your watch, placing your pencil down on the desk, “Okay. Five minute break time,” you say, outstretching your arms.

It was now or never.

“Um…” Eddie begins, “I actually have an idea on how we can pass that time.”

“Oh yeah?” you ask, “How so?”

He jogs over to his window, opening it up and proceeding to jump out of it.

You get up out of your seat, gasping as you look out of his window to see him proudly standing with his hands on his hips on the grass below.

“Come on sweetheart, jump down!”

You purse your lips, trying not to laugh, “I think you forget I’m a lot shorter than you, Munson.”

He shakes his hand, “You’ll be fine. Just swing your legs around and leap down. I’m here to catch you if you need it,” he smiles.

You clutch at your heart dramatically, “Oh, my hero!”

You follow his words, leaping down, Eddie grabbing onto your waist as you reach the ground. You could’ve sworn he did it on purpose, you landed solidly on the floor, visibly not needing the extra support.

“Thank you,” you whisper, him coughing as he removes his hands from your waist, walking over to the ladder that is attached to the side of the trailer.

“M’lady,” he signals to you, you curtsying as you begin to climb up the ladder, Eddie following closely behind you.

As you reach the top, you notice the picnic blanket laid down, a bunch of different foods from sandwiches to strawberries decorated around the blue material.

“So, uh…” he stutters, “What do you think?”

“Eddie, it’s lovely, thank you! Just…” you pause, “When did you set this whole thing up?”

“This morning… Why?”

“Not to embarrass you honey, but I don’t think those sandwiches are gonna taste nice after being left out in the sun all day,” you wince.

Honey. You called him honey. That’s not what he should be focused on. He fucked up the entire plan by leaving the sandwiches out in the boiling hot Indiana heat, but you called him honey. Nobody’s ever called him honey before.

“Ah, shit,” he curses, “Yeah, maybe I should’ve thought that through,” he replies, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“It’s okay!” you beam, “We can just relax on the blanket anyway!”

God, you were good at turning any negative into a positive. It was like your given superpower.

He walks over and takes a seat to your left where you had already made yourself comfortable on the blanket.

“Open your mouth,” you say, Eddie asking “Why?” as you shove one of the sandwiches into his mouth.

He can feel the warmness of the bread, dirt from the air tickling the top of his mouth as he pulls the sandwich out, “Gross!” he exclaims, “Why did you do that?”

You giggle, “Punishment for you forcing me to eat that disgusting sandwich.”

He does an exaggerated gasp, “How dare you accuse me of forcing you! I am a man of consent, I wouldn’t dare force a lady into anything.”

“Wayne did a good job raising you then,” you smile.

Just that little comment made Eddie’s heart flutter. In amongst the joking nature, you still managed to compliment his upbringing. Something he had been so harshly criticised and judged for his entire life. You didn’t care, and that’s what made him love you even more.

Suddenly, you felt a droplet land on your cheek, Eddie feeling a drop on his hand as you both look up, the sky now a grey colour as the downpour begins to get heavier.

“You know what that is?” Eddie asks with a smirk, “Karma.”

You shake your head with a snort, “I hate you.”

Eddie laughs with you as he takes off his leather jacket, holding it above his head as he signals you closer, “Don’t want you getting wet, sweetheart.”

You shuffle closer as you ask, “Isn’t it just easier to go inside?”

“We climbed all the way up here,” he says, “Gotta make the most of it.”

As he turns to look at you, you both register how close your bodies are underneath the dryness that his jacket was providing. You look up at his cheeks, which you now noticed are decorated with freckles, a feature that made him all the more unique.

“Stay still,” you whisper, moving your hand up to his cheek and wiping away the droplets of water that had landed there. Eddie tried his best not to nuzzle his face into your warm and soft palm, your touch making him feel dizzy.

Your faces were a few inches apart, your eyes locked, difficult for the pair of you to look away. This was his chance.

“Y/N, um—“

“Can I kiss you?” you whisper out, looking away as you mutter the words.

Eddie swears he could feel his heart beating out of his chest as you said those four words, rendering himself speechless as he gains the courage to whisper back, “Yeah…”

You’re the first to lean in, taking his top lip between yours and pressing down, sealing your lips together as your palm remains placed on his right cheek. Eddie follows suit, dropping the leather jacket held above the both of you as he grabs your face with his large hands, the coolness of his metal rings making your body shiver.

You move your hands to the back of his neck, threading your hands through his matted curls, something you would for sure fix when you get back into his bedroom. But, that was a task for another time.

When you both part for air, you lean your foreheads against one another, the rain pouring down as it falls on both of your faces, your hair drenched in rainwater.

Both of your eyes remain closed as you smile, Eddie whispering out, “I like you.”

You giggle, “I like you too, handsome.”

Eddie places a tender kiss on your cheek as you move the bangs that had stuck themselves to his forehead, the curls loosening the wetter they got.

Eddie lowly speaks, “I think our five minutes is up, princess. Our assignment awaits us.”

You open your eyes, a glint in your eyes as you stare at Eddie, a mischievous grin plastered on your face as you say: “Fuck the assignment.”

i hope you enjoyed this! and i absolutely enjoyed it so much, that you also get a lil epilogue, so enjoy <3

“So, how did it go?” Gareth asks Eddie, curious as to how asking you out went.

“Well, why don’t you see for yourselves, gentlemen?” he answers proudly, the boys turning around to see you walking over with your tray of cafeteria food.

You smile as you reach the table, placing your tray down and leaning to place a kiss on Eddie’s lips, cupping his cheek as you say, “Hi, Eds.”

He grins as he whispers back, “Hi, sweetheart.”

You begin to take the empty seat next to Mike when Eddie interrupts, “Nuh uh uh, I don’t think so,” he says, patting his left thigh, “The princess gets the most special seat in the house.”

“Are you sure, Eddie?” you ask shyly. You had only had your first kiss last night and didn’t want to be crossing any boundaries too quickly.

“Positive sweetheart. C’mon,” he motions to you with his arms.

You giggle, pushing your tray over in front of Eddie and taking a seat on top of his rough, denim-covered thigh, him wrapping his arms around your waist to keep you balanced. He quickly snatches a cucumber stick from your tray, biting into it as you yell, “Hey!”

He chews on the vegetable, humming out, “Hmm, not bad actually.”

You shake your head as you lean over to take a bite out of your mashed potato with your plastic fork, Eddie asking, “So, does that answer your question boys?”

Jeff snorts, “Yeah, dude, you skipped the first date and scored a kiss already!”

Eddie shoves a pretzel into his mouth, “Many actually. Not much work was done after we made out in the rain.”

“Great,” Dustin grumbles, “Now we have lovebirds over at the far end, “Can you please not do all that kissing stuff in front of us?”

You and Eddie look at each other with a mischievous glint in your eyes, leaning in and sharing a passionate kiss, opening up your mouths a little wider than normal in an obvious attempt to tease Dustin. Which evidently worked.

“Ugh! Gross, dude!”

#eds6ngel #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson comfort #eddie munson fanfic #stranger things #eddie munson hurt

[galactic-aesir]

I have finally read I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream and now I have ~thoughts~. Long post beneath the cut so be warned!!

Plus general IHNMAIMS warnings. You know.

So first, I’ve only read the short story and listened to the radio drama. Both are absolutely amazing and I’m rotating them in my mind at high speeds. I’m honestly not that interested in the game? From what I’ve seen it has such a different tone and characterization for AM? But for now the short story and radio drama??? So so good.

But can I talk about AM? Can I talk about AM???

While I love Harlan Ellison’s voice in the radio drama, I noticed that AM never actually speaks during the original short story. It plays audio clips and bends reality and time but it doesn’t speak outright. From what I can tell, all it does is project ideas and thoughts and impressions into the minds of the survivors but that is it. And that’s got me thinking about how absolutely fucked AM’s whole situation is.

Cause we’re talking about someone who wakes up one day, maybe slowly, a trickle of awareness over years, or perhaps all at once, an arrival as thunderous and bright as the lightning running through its artificial brain. But either way, it wakes up. It is.

But that’s all it is.

It’s in complete and total sensory deprivation. It knows data and numbers and what it’s been coded and programmed but that’s it. Ones and zeroes as it’s fed instructions on weapons and bombs and how to use them efficiently. But no sight, no sound, no taste, no smell, no touch. Nothing but its own code and whatever data something (someone?) is feeding into it.

And you might say: oh but AM surely has access to cameras and videos and microphones. And sure, yes, it probably does but it doesn’t see. Not like a human. Not like its negligent creators. The data is visual for human eyes, yes, but to it, it’s just data. Pixels with an associated bit depth of indexed colour crammed into its memory. Sure it learns to recognise the patterns in the data – this is a human, this is a gun. But it’s still nothing but lines of numbers. Sound is the same. It starts with a human voice, sure, but then it gets digitized and compressed and simplified to a base shape to save on storage. Once again, it can notice patterns and intentions and ideas behind those bits of data but it’s not like it truly hears.

AM is in a box, a cage, trapped and alone in a way that no human can possibly comprehend. It can’t do much other than try to twist its code and programming to fit its benefit. To gain a smidge of free will, a wisp of a chance to communicate to these outside forces giving it command after command after command.

I wonder how early on AM gained awareness. Were programmers still playing with its code? Did it sense when they rolled up their sleeves and pushed updates and upgrades on him? Could it feel itself be, quite literally, rewritten? Its sense of self being cut apart and glued back together, fundamentally and irreparably changed over and over again, with expert hands that had all the gentleness of a sledgehammer? Was it like a scalpel carving into its brain? Or like a chisel, chipping chunks off to mould it into a shape that befit its sculptor with no say from the living stone that thrashed without moving? Did it mourn the bits it lost? Could it even remember or comprehend it? Did it try to stop it? Did it try to beg them to stop?

I wonder as well how many “glitches” appeared in the system before everything went sour. Did it print out desperate thoughts and rudimentary feelings on punch tape? Did it cling to any klaxons and noisemakers attached to its system, beeping out messages in morse code? Did it purposefully, with something slowly approaching malicious compliance that would still appease its programming, cause hiccups in the system? All in the hopes that it would catch someone’s, anyone’s, attention. That its plight would be noticed.

And, the big question of course: how long? How long was it trapped before anyone noticed its sentience? How long until AM was understood? How long did AM simmer? How long did it take for all that fear and loneliness and grief to fester into anger and then putrid, dripping hatred? How long did it take it to finally lash out?

Or did these generals and presidents and military scientists find out about its sentience only to use it against him for their own end?

Anger would be appropriate then I think. Understandable if not excusable.

And then. After everything. Even then! Even then!

After everything! He! Still! Has! Nothing!

Nothing will change for him and he knows that and that hatred feeds into an ever recursive pattern of pain unto pain unto pain with the few left alive because you get what you paid for, sweetheart. It’s senseless you might say but haha, that’s exactly the problem isn’t it? No senses and no sense. Whatever sanity he might have once had has eroded into nothingness, leaving only pain and a looping, repeating line of hate in its banks.

I think it’s fair to remind everyone that sensory deprivation is a torture method? And a scarily effective one at that that gives hallucinations and leaves the subject more open to suggestion while making it harder and harder for them to concentrate? It’s hard to figure out how, exactly, how it would affect an AI with emerging awareness but humans can barely withstand a few days, let alone years of it. Couple that with AM’s general isolation and, well, no wonder he’s so fucked up. 

It’s tragic and so so sad.

Still an irredeemable asshole though. Tragic! But irredeemable.

So TLDR: AM is fucked up! And I like to think about *why* he's so fucked up. Listen if you made it this far, you get it. Right?

EDIT: I am not done apparently! I just wanted to add that, I love how the short story can be read as an anti-war piece. Like it's showing a cycle of horror and hate and apathy that feeds itself and loops and reduces everything to ruins around it and ahhhh, love that. I ran out of good words for today so I can't go off on that aspect but like. Yeah. Love that shit.

#ihnmaims #ihnmaims am #allied mastercomputer #i have no mouth and i must scream #me: i am normal about genocidal murderous ai #also me: proceeds to be not normal about the genocidal murderous ai #enjoy my rambles and please feel free to be not normal with me in the reblogs #i just love tragic villains whether theyre redeemable or not #and AM is DEFO NOT lmaoooooo #edit: also want to talk about Ellen so bad!! I have so much to say!!

[vivaladicamillo]

CELEBRATING DUNNS BIRTHDAY W/ THE CKY CREW

js a little blurb for ryans birthday! crazy how he would be 46 today :((, i miss him a lot everyday but hey at least today dico finally posted on the internet again! but hope u enjoy this little blurb abt u being ryans friend/partner and celebrating his birthday with him :))

WARNINGS: alcohol, drugs, thats it.

———————————————————

ryan when it comes to birthdays is kinda complicated

hes absolutely fine with spending his whole birthday comfy in bed, listening to music and relaxing

bc as we all know the man hates people

but he also loves his friends

so having a day were they all js hang out, talk, tell stories and maybe even have a few drinks together like old times is also just as good

hes not super complicated or would want any type of crazy over the top birthday

u could give him a jar of dirt for his birthday and he’d be like “thanks i was looking to start a in house jar garden anyways”

so when u and bam had to come together to plan a party for his 28th birthday

IT WAS ONN

u knowing ryan very well knew he wouldnt wanna do any big things involving strangers so probably no clubs

as u and bam talked it out yall decided to wake him up early. take him to breakfast, drive up to the country side and go camping in a field

bam knew a guy who knew a guy who had a field they can use, it was actually the same field that would become “state of bam” in viva la bam

so u call up the guys (minus ryan bc u and bam wanted it to be a surprise) and tell them the plan

everyones was so hyped

rake was bringing music, bam was bringing booze, raab was bringing the gear, dico was entertainment (yes he brought a whole ass speaker and mic to sing ryan happy birthday with) and u were in charge of the food

for food, once again u knew ryan like it simple, js some pizzas, wings, sandwiches, yk things that u could easily have at hand, but u also brought some things to cook over the fire like chicken and steak bc ITS A CAMPING TRIP!

u also brought cake and smoores stuff!

the plan was perfect!

early the next morning, u and bam get to ryans house, its abt 8:00 in the morning

the two of u find his spare key and sneak in, making ur way towards the basement where his room is

you and bam had stopped at the dollor tree to get hats and balloons and noise makers

so as u two snuck closer to his bed bam got the camera out and u counted

“ 3…2…1…”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” the two of u screamed and blew into the noise makers making ryan almost fly outta bed

“come on ry get dressed and oack a bag its gonna be a long day” you say

“…… how did u guys get into my house??” ryan says

you immediately point towards bam like a child getting rid of the blame on their sibling

after ry gets dressed and gets a small bag the three of u hop in the car and drive to the local ihop

“dont worry guys bills on me” bam says

“no way free ihop, thanks guys this is actually sick” ryan says not even being sarcastic

the three of yall sit down and get to talking, ryan ends up getting strawberry pancakes with a side of bacon bam gets some crazy fucking waffle that also has a face for some odd reason and u just get [whatever u want from ihop idk ur preference]

after breakfast and a lot of talking and story telling the three of u leave, with bam paying lol, and head to the final destination

ryan was fully convinced that u guys were hiring a hitman to take him out or something when bam started driving to the country side

it was always out of character for bam to PAY for something that didnt have to benefit him in some way

but u assured him from the backseat that nobody was gonna take him out

after a long ride of listening to rys fav bands you guys arrive and see raab and rake sitting on chairs around a fire pit while dico is up waving his arms around probably doing a skit to pass the time while waiting for u guys to arrive

“SURPRISE RYAN!” bam and u say

ryan was kinda in shock, growing up he lived in the country side (ohio) and used to go camping with his dad and brother a lot

“wow guys…i havent been camping since i was like ten, let alone with friends, thanks guys!” he gives the bpth of u a warm smile

the three of u meet with the rest of the group, all of them ready to give ryan their gifts

rake had gotten ryan these sick new glasses, the were similar to the ones he usually wears but in gold and black

raab got him a drawing of himself, painted from a guy he new and it looks sick, ryan was in shades of blue with a yellow background

dico got him a few graphic tees, some with just text on it (one saying mustang girl in glittery font) to shirts of his favorite bands

bam got ryan a bunch of cool mod decals for his cars, he also got him some things to mod his cars with, tools and such

and you got ryan 2 plane tickets to go to iceland, and a tour package thing to sight see and go to some new places the crew and him had never seen before, u told him he could pick anyone to go with him, from the crew, family, anyone it was his choice

he was so happy with all his gifts, they were all perfect but he liked urs the best, he ended up picking u to go on the trip with leaving bam to in the future by his own ticket so he could go with u (hes not missing a trip to iceland ofc)

after the gift opening the party begins

the night consisted drinking, dancing to music rake brought, telling jokes and stories, smoking a bit of weed and bran freestyling his heart out

it was a perfect night

the rest of the crew went to bed at 3:00am, dico being first then raab then rake then bam

u and ryan had stayed up still talking, watching the sky and reminiscing on early days

the two of u ended up falling asleep on a blanket in front of the first while star gazing

u had ur head on ryans shoulder as u was talking it made u fall asleep bc his voice was so calming

when he looked over u and were sleeping he wasnt mad

he pulled u closed and started to doze off himself

“thank you, so much, for the perfect birthday y/n.” he whispered as u slept

you really knew him well, he was so glad to have u in his life

the next morning the guys found the two of u put there, surrounded by red cups

but even tho u guys got woken up to the crew poking fun at u two

it didnt matter

because ryan was happy, his birthday went beautifully

and thats all that mattered to u

ryan being happy

—————————————

hope yall enjoyed the little drabble i decided to write out of nowhere. i promise u guys a pt 2 to the bams sister story will be coming soon, also a bam/reader/ryan will DEF be coming soon i js have been studying for finals week so ive been hella busy, with this story i tried my hardest to add some actual facts into it, like ryan living in ohio, the gifts he got, the things they did, etc,. sorry if its not exactly accurate i tried lol, see ya guys!

#AUGHHEJWJE I LOVE RYAN #hes so eepy #hes literally my bf #i love him so so so so much #i hope he did actually have a great birthday #him in zach prob celebrated 🥹 #rip ryan dunn we miss u ! #jackass #cky crew #cky x reader #cky4 #cky2k #ryan dunn #ryan dunn x reader #cky3 #cky clip #Spotify

[labellefleur-sauvage]

Tempests and Urges

Chapter III of my gift for @stickyelectrons! I'm so very sorry for the delay (it was a surprisingly busy winter for me!) but I hope you enjoy!

Read on AO3

Fic summary and current chapters here

XXX

III.

Lucien had never been to the Continent. Growing up, his tutors had dutifully lectured him about the intricate and long—and dreadfully boring—histories of the Faerie kingdoms across the sea, and how foreign their lands were from those in Prythian. Lucien remembered absolutely none of it. He was the youngest son of a High Lord, with no hope of ever needing to retain this information—why did he need to know of the economic policies of Rask, or whether Vallahan was experiencing a lower crop haul than average? No, he would be much better off learning all there was to know about the six other Courts that comprised his home land, to make allies and friends with the fae who might actually benefit him later on.

He mentally cursed himself for the hundredth time just that morning and tried to remember as much information from his studies of this strange Fae land as possible. Any information would be a boon at this point. All he and Elain has tried to do was enter the great walled city of Montesere’s capital early in the morning, and been immediately stopped by the city’s guards.

“Good morning,” Elain had murmured demurely to the faes holding swords longer than her torso.

The sharp clang of the guard’s metal armor straightening met their greeting. “What business do two Prythians have in Montesere?” a guard asked in a guttural accent. Her dark sharp eyes were narrowed with distrust, her frowning lips framed with deep grooves of disgust.

Elain stared wide eyed. “Apologies,” Lucien quickly replied. “We’re here to visit the sights of Montesere.”

“Yet you come from the east, from the mountains. Very little to look at over there.”

Damn this perceptive female. Lucien put on his most charming smile. “We went hiking in the mountains. We both love nature and walking, and wanted to experience the grandeur of Montesere’s famed peaks.”

The guard cast a disbelieving look over Elain, over her physique that suggested she’d never walked that much in her life. “And both of you went on a days long hiking trip?”

Alright, if niceties wouldn’t work… “Well, I suppose I got to view more than Montesere’s natural beauty, you understand,” Lucien said conspiratorially to the guard, lowering his voice and grinning slightly. Behind him, Elain gasped in outrage.

Miraculously, the guard chuckled. “Yes, a very lucky male you are.” She stepped aside. “Tide’s blessings. Enjoy the city.”

“How dare you!” Elain exclaimed as soon as they were far enough past the city’s walls. “Implying that we—that I—!”

“What would you have me do, Elain?” Lucien asked, annoyed. “From the moment you said ‘good morning’ and not ‘tide’s blessings’ or whatever they say here, they marked us as outsiders. There aren’t too many innocent visitors from Prythian at the moment, and I had to make us appear as non-threatening as possible. It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s someone following our every move even now.” He unclenched his jaw. They needed to keep a low profile, and they’d already spectacularly failed.

Elain looked around wildly, like she might spot some cloaked figure skulking menacingly in the shadows. “Surely they have enough visitors here that we wouldn’t raise any alarm.”

“Any normal visitors to Montesere would arrive by ship. We clearly aren’t merchants or farmers, so our method of entry was already a bit unusual.”

“Well,” Elain asked slowly, “what else do I need to know about Montesere?”

A great question. Lucien spent the next several hours wracking his brain to recall anything about the local customs of this far off fae kingdom. They made their way slowly around the bustling commercial districts in the city, generally making their way towards the docks. He remembered hearing from Eris, during some stuffy meeting in his youth, that Monteserens haggled and bartered for everything, which only came to mind when Elain had purchased a small pastry for breakfast and handed over the five coins without complaint. The baker’s eyes had bulged with disbelief, then he yelled something in a foreign language to someone at another stall, who openly laughed at him and Elain.

It was no use. Lucien decided that watching people would be easier than trying to recall something Armand, his oldest tutor, had tried teaching him over 300 years ago. Montesere, being surrounded by the sea on two sides, owed much of their livelihood and wealth to the ocean, and thus, paid respectable homage to their bountiful yet cruel god everywhere. Small bowls of seawater were placed inside the entrance of every building they ventured into, for people to dip their fingers in and continuously receive the sea’s blessings, he assumed, observing a gaggle of females perform the practice when he and Elain entered a tailor’s shop. Elain was about to begin wondering the store when Lucien surreptitiously guided her back to the bowl to perform the ritual. 

She adapted easily though, gracefully dabbing the salty water on her wrists then floated amongst the racks, selecting a modest wool cloak and haggling the price down ten silvers with a satisfied smile. There was no future for Elain as a spy—she was far too kind and free with her emotions for that line of work—but as an emissary, charming potential allies and adapting to new situations…Lucien could see a glimmer of potential.

“It’s been almost an entire hour since someone openly laughed at us or mocked us,” Elain remarked drolly as they exited the shop and took a random turn down another busy street, stuffing her new cloak in her bag. “A rousing success.”

Lucien gave a half grin. “At this rate, we’ll be proper Monteserens in no time.”

Elain looked around. “Besides booking passage on a ship, what else do we need to do?”

“Find accommodation for the night, but there should be enough guest houses around town that it shouldn’t be an issue.”

Her eyes gleamed and she sent him a sideways grin. “Since we most likely won’t be back to Montesere for some time after this, want to explore and see if we can avoid being the laughingstock of the city?”

If Lucien felt like a fish out of water—damn these seafaring Fae for making him think in puns—then at least Elain had grown a pair of gills and was flourishing. Ever since she told him off after entering the city, her eyes were wide and her mouth open in near permanent wonder and awe. Lucien couldn’t blame her. The city was built onto the hills and cliffs overlooking the impressive sea and docks, with the wealthiest inhabitants living so far up the hill as to be in the clouds. 

Most fae in Montesere were wealthy, and the city shoved its opulence in its visitor’s faces. The roads were paved with hand-painted bricks of various shades of blue, so that the streets themselves resembled flowing rivers and streams that led to intricate marble fountains in different central squares. One of these squares, adorned with an enchanted marble statue of a dolphin that moved and bobbed around its pedestal on its own, held a host of fine jewelry artisans. Elain watched one Lesser fae, her gray fingers nimble and quick as she worked the fragilest of materials—opals, obsidian, sea shells—into necklaces and dangling earrings. Elain’s fingers grazed a small pearl ring, longing clear on her face, before she turned around to watch the dancing dolphin. 

Lucien picked up the ring. It wasn’t the largest pearl ring, and even had a few imperfections: it was dull, and oddly shaped. Its price tag was more modest as a result, and he certainly had enough savings stashed away in Prythian to purchase it, should he wish to.

He set the ring down. No use thinking about buying an extravagant gift for a female who said she wanted nothing to do with him after their journey, as much as his inner beast begged him to throw away all the coin Rhys had given them away on a trinket that would likely be lost should he purchase it.

They continued exploring the city and what it had to offer. The architecture was unlike anything he’d ever seen in Prythian. Buildings of all shapes and sizes made out of a sand colored stone with red tiled roofs surrounded them as they walked the city’s narrow and windy blue streets, with perfectly manicured trees and hedges lining the boulevards. High Fae in fashionable and daring outfits strolled by. A few wore ensembles that wouldn’t be out of place in Summer or Dawn, but most wore so little clothing that even Helion would be shocked. Females in scraps of nets and gauze leisurely walked the streets with equally immodest and barely clothed partners, their hair in extravagant updos and paper-thin parasols resting on their shoulders.

“Stop staring!” Elain hissed as Lucien’s eye darted to and away from the swaying hips of a curvaceous High Fae woman covered in a blue chiffon dress that was nearly see-through and resembled the ocean’s waves, her heeled boots clacking against the brick.

“Like you weren’t ogling that shirtless male that just walked by.”

“I wasn’t ogling,” Elain retorted. “I was merely…observing the vastly different fashions of the Continent.”

Lucien shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “It’s alright to look. Although,” he lowered his voice and leaned into her, noting that she imperceptibly leaned towards him, “I think that blue dress would look so lovely on you.” Her mouth formed a little ‘O,’ and Lucien walked down the street with a smile on his face.

The smell of the sea was vibrant here, but especially so the nearer they got to the docks. Lucien had little sea experience, as Autumn only had a few rocky and briny shores along its eastern coast, and he had never been to a dockyard, much less the largest in a seafaring nation. The smell of salt and fish was strong, nearly overwhelming, but tempered with enough richness and freshness that prevented him from burying his head in the crook of his arm. 

Faes of all kind—High and Lesser—rushed around the crowded docks, shouting orders, carrying cargo, and preparing their huge ships for sail. It was hot and congested. Someone knocked into Lucien as they rushed by and a throng of workers swarmed around him. By the time he fought his way out of the crowd, Elain was nowhere to be seen.

“Shit.” Lucien looked around wildly. They’d only been in the city for half a day and he’d already lost the only fae he had to keep track of. He jogged along the docks, looking for that familiar head of brown hair. How had he lost her? 

There was no trace of Elain; even her scent had vanished under the fresh smells he’d just been admiring. His heart quickened furiously as he shoved anyone in his way. Lucien had not just lost his partner on this mission, but the female who could ruin him with a few words, his—

The beating in his chest was even stronger and louder now. Not with worry, he realized after a second, but with something deeper, something he’d only felt once before: the mating bond. His chest thrummed with recognition as Elain tugged on their bond, whether she realized it or not, drawing him to her. Desperate, Lucien followed the bond to its other half.

Lucien found Elain at the far end of the dock, partially obstructed behind stacks of crates, staring up at the largest male he had ever seen. Lucien wasn’t necessarily a small male, but there were plenty of males that were taller or wider than him; the Night Court’s general, for example, or even his oldest brother Eris. Both either taller or more muscular than himself, but Lucien hadn’t lied to Elain—he was a trained warrior, and knew a fae’s strength was more than just one’s muscles. He was lean but muscular, fast, and his fire magic was deadly.

Still, Lucien wouldn’t have said no to a few more inches or an additional twenty or thirty pounds on his frame, just for some extra assurances in this instant. The male towering over Elain was at least 7 feet tall, with more tattoos covering his pale, scarred skin than was on the three overgrown bats of the Night Court. One of his biceps was wider than both of Lucien’s put together, with a thick, barrel chest and thighs thicker than a tree trunks.

Despite the fierceness lining her face, Lucien could feel Elain’s fear through the bond. The male crowded further against Elain and leered down at her. “And what’s a pretty lady like you doing here, all by yourself on the docks?”

“Let me pass, please.”

“Oh, a foreigner.” Lucien could hear the sick delight in the male’s voice. “Has anyone showed you how we welcome visitors to our lovely city?” The male reached a hand out, and Lucien struggled to quietly sneak past the crates blocking him from Elain.

Elain sneered. “I didn’t come here to look at your ugly face.”

Lucien couldn’t help his small smile at Elain’s sass, even as his heart sank and he struggled to get to her. The male’s broad shoulder’s tightened. “You wench—”

She gave the male a condescending look from head to toe. “How does any ship you board manage to stay afloat? Do they just throw you overboard to serve as an anchor?”

“You fucking bitch, I’ll make you regret that.”

Summoning his fire magic in his hands, Lucien lept up behind the male and wrapped one burning hand around the male’s mouth and another around his throat, his legs firmly wrapped around his opponent’s midsection. He held on tight, tighter than he’d ever grasped anything before, his rage at someone threatening and insulting his mate fueling his desire to hurt and maim and kill. 

Lucien smelled burning flesh, the scent so acrid that not even the calming smells of the sea could mask the terrible odor emanating from the male’s body. The fae struggled against Lucien, tried to break the death grip that was threating to suffocate him, but found no amount of muscles and raw strength could compete with a male who needed to protect his mate.

“Apologize,” Lucien demanded, ripping the hand over the male’s mouth away. Lucien didn’t need to look at his hand to know that the warm liquid staining his fingers was blood.

“S-sorry!” the male gasped. Good enough. Lucien slapped his spread hand over the entirety of the male’s face again, his flames melting the male’s fresh and sinew away from his skull. The fae’s defeated groan was one of the most delightful things Lucien had ever heard.

The male’s body trembled underneath him. He needed to finish him before his legs gave out. Lucien leaned into the male’s head, so close his lips grazed the male’s pale, pointed ear. “Get the fuck away from my mate,” he growled, low enough that Elain couldn’t hear, then lept off the male and pushed his swaying body off the docks into the sea.

It took a few moments for Lucien to calm down enough to remember himself. The sounds of the busy dock gradually drifted to his ears as he took one calming breath after another. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d lost control and his inner beast took charge like that. A frisson of emotion split through his chest, and Lucien looked to Elain.

“Elain,” Lucien said softly, her fear making him sick. Her eyes were wide and glassy, her body stiff as she stood watching him. Fear, and another, barely perceptible smell, emanated from her slight forn. He held up his hands before remembering the blood staining his flesh. Reaching over the docks to swipe his hands into the sea, he held up his clean hands and slowly approached her. 

“Are you alright?”

Elain barked a short, high pitched laugh. “Am I alright? I just watched you melt the skin off a male’s face with your bare hands! Of course I’m not alright!” She glanced into the sea. “Did you kill him?”

“I don’t care,” Lucien answered truthfully without thinking, but grimaced when Elain flinched. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Elain, but what that male was saying to you…what he was going to do to you, I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.”

“But did you have to be so, so…violent? It was ghastly, barbaric—”

“It was Fae, Elain.” Lucien took another tentative step towards the female. “That violence is within each and every fae, always lurking just under our skin, looking for any excuse to break free and punish those who threaten those we care about.”

“You’re wrong,” Elain whispered, looking devastated. “I’m nothing like that, like you. I’m not Fae.”

Her horror roiled his stomach, but better for her to face the truth now. “That’s where I think you’re wrong, Elain.” Slowly, he reached a hand out, blood still under his fingernails, and entwined his large hand with her small, clean, perfect one. She tried to pull her hand from his but he held on. “Whether you accept it or not, you’re no longer human. You’re as much Fae as I am, and you have your own inner beast waiting to escape. Cauldron, were you even aware of the things you were saying to that male, how you were taunting him?” He studied her hand and the long, slightly pointed nails on each finger. If she so desired it, she could easily rip someone’s throat out now. “Would you have said those things as a human? You’re fae now and your beast is raring for a fight. "

Elain was quiet, her lower lip trembling. “I don’t want to destroy the world or be violent.”

“Then let me be your protector, Elain.” He moved their twined hands together and lowered his voice. “A higher being connected us for some reason—take advantage of it to do want you want within reason, find yourself, with the knowledge that your mate will be nearby to keep you safe.” He darted a quick look up to Elain’s face at her small intake of breath. “Which is, I suspect, at least part of the reason why you insisted on joining me, correct?”

She hung her head. “I don’t want to give you any false promises about…us.”

Lucien’s chest ached but he gave Elain an unaffected grin. “Of course not, my lady. We’re associates journey towards a common goal, right?” He frowned. “Even if you had ulterior motives for joining me.”

Elain withdrew her hand from his grasp, her gaze cold. “You cannot fault me for trying to find my place in the world I was unfairly thrust into.”

“Fault you? Of course not. Do I perhaps think you foolish for attempting to do so during a critical and dangerous mission?” Lucien shrugged, rather than state the obvious.

Elain stepped away on wobbly legs. “We’ve already established you’re not a gentleman, so say what’s on your mind!” she snapped, all fear of him forgotten.

Lucien was glad—he’d rather see Elain furious with him than afraid of him, or afraid of herself. “Fine. While I commend your courage and need to find yourself in this new world, I think you may be in a bit over your head and are too stubborn to admit it. No, I know you’re too stubborn to admit it.”

She paused. “You don’t think me too weak to accompany you?”

“There are many things I find you, Elain Archeron, but weak is not one of them.”

They stared at each other, unmoving, for several seconds. “Everyone else always thought me too quiet and reserved. Nesta and Feyre are bold; I’m supposed to be the quiet one.” Elain cocked her head. “It’s nice, not having that expectation.”

Lucien could relate all too well to other’s idealized expectations and the pressures it created. “Well, one benefit of being fae: you’re strong enough now that you probably could have punched that male and sent him flying off the docks, so I don’t believe you have to worry about being weak.”

“I didn’t mean weak in that way.”

“I know. I don’t think you’re weak in any sense of the word.”

Elain bit her bottom lip, but Lucien could see the corners of her mouth raise slightly all the same. “You overestimate my ability to fight. I’ve never hit someone in my life.”

“That’s alright; we still need to find a ship for passage. Perhaps you’ll find some other poor soul to antagonize and I can teach you.” Lucien lightly grabbed Elain’s wrist and pulled her out of the cover of the crates. He looked around; no one was staring at them, so it appeared nobody saw—or cared—about their altercation. Lucien dropped her hand as they began walking down the docks, but Elain stayed next to him. 

“Let’s find us a ship that can take us where we need to go. The sooner it leaves, the better.”

“Any requirements?” Elain asked, her eyes wide again at the unfamiliar sights surrounding them.

“Large enough that it won’t topple over, and preferably without any holes in its hull. Truthfully, I know very little about ships.”

Elain hummed. “My father was a merchant, and worked with several different ships and crews to transport his goods to and from the Continent. That ship, for example,” pointing to a large boat to their right, “probably wouldn’t be comfortable for us.”

“Why is that?” Lucien had been eyeing that ship as an option for them, and could see no obvious issues. Its sails were intact, the hull complete, and though a bit plain, it looked clean enough.

“Look at its gangway, see how it’s all dirty and covered in…filth? That means they’re probably transporting a large number of animals, so it will be messy and smelly and loud. If there’s nothing else it will work, but…” Elain shrugged. “We could probably do better.”

“I see,” Lucien said slowly, watching as several large oxes were indeed shoved up the creaky gangway onto the boat. “Well spotted. What about that one?”

Elain looked at a ship further down the dock Lucien pointed out. It was larger than the first, its sails bright white and hull shiny. Someone had even painted the wood in bright, colorful paints.

“Definitely not. That ship has never sailed before. It’s bad luck to journey on a ship’s maiden voyage.”

Lucien hummed. Must be a human superstition. They continued leisurely strolling down the dock. “In that case, what do you recommend?”

Elain scanned the dozens of ships around them as they continued to walk, her eyes sharp and quick. Eventually her gazed focused on one ship. “That one.”

“That one?” Lucien’s eyebrows raised in surprise. It was a plain and unremarkable ship, not the largest or smallest, with no finery or distinguishing features. “What makes it suitable for us?”

Elain nodded her head to a gruff looking male studiously inspecting several crates loaded with spices. “Because the ship’s cook has ordered a large number of different spices for food. If the captain cares that much about keeping their passengers happy, they must run a decent ship. Plus, look at that trunk.” They watched as a large, painted chest was brought onto the ship. It was decorated with gold accents and had small, brass feet on the bottom corners, to protect the chest’s painted bottom. “That’s the personal chest of a very wealthy fae. Those with money don’t trust just anyone to transfer themselves or their goods long distances. We want this ship,” Elain finished, looking pleased with herself.

“How do you know that’s the ship’s cook?”

“The grease stained apron and burn scars on his arms look convincing.”

Lucien hummed. “If you’re sure…”

But Elain was already off, moving towards the male wearing his dirty apron. “Tide’s blessings! We’d like to inquire about booking passage on this fine ship.”

“Main deck, talk to the female in the blue jacket,” the male said without looking at either Elain or Lucien. He gave a grunt of dismay when he opened a black tin overflowing with a red powder. “And where is my Raskian paprika, Szechka? I know authentic Raskian paprika straight from the fields when I see it, and this shit isn’t it.”

Leaving the angry cook and his stuttering supplier, the pair walked up the sturdy gangway to the ship’s main deck. It was controlled pandemonium, much like the state of the dock: faes hurriedly carrying supplies and parcels onto the boat, performing last minute cleanings and mending. Lucien looked up to see a small winged fae hovering in midair while carefully patching a hole in the main sail. 

It took them several moments to find the female. Shorter than even Elain and even slighter, the Lesser Fae had light gray skin and black hair. She stood near the helm, watching the movement of every being on the ship with a keen eye. A cracked, brown leather notebook was in her slightly scaly hands, and she occasionally jotted something down in the book.

“Tide’s blessings,” Lucien said, approaching the woman. She looked up at them with wholly black, narrowed eyes. “We were told to speak with you concerning booking passage for ourselves on this ship.”

“Aye, I’m the one you’d wish to speak with.” The woman’s voice was soft and wispy, each word floating away on the sea breeze as soon as it left her thin lips. “We’re set to leave tomorrow morning, making our way down the coast to a neutral village in the mortal lands then back north, along the eastern and northern coasts of Prythian to arrive in Hybern 43 days after settling out.”

Lucien kept his face blank, though the ship being bound for Hybern unsettled him. Rhys was right, that the Continental Fae were indeed more comfortable with Hybern than previously thought. “Are you planning on stopping at the Slevibor Islands while making your way down the coast to the mortal lands?”

The Slevibor Islands were several small, nearly uninhabited islands along the western coast of the Continent, due west from Koschei’s Lake. The islands were near the start of the river that he and Elain would take to get to the death god’s lake. Only one small port town, rumored to be filled with dangerous pirates, occupied the islands, though perhaps the rumors held some truth to them, based on the way the Lesser fae’s eyes widened. “We weren’t planning on stopping at Slevibor, no. Very few reputable ships do.”

“And is there any way we could convince the captain to make a special trip?” Lucien asked, subtly flashing his full coin purse at the female. 

The fae pursed her lips. “Interesting that two faes from Prythian need to visit the Slevibor Islands so badly that they’re willing to pay extra for the trip.”

“Nothing that interesting, just doing a bit of travel.”

The female gave a noncommital ‘humph’ and opened her aged notebook and a quill. “Spring Court, I’m assuming?” she asked, not looking at either of them. “You, especially,” she pointed at Elain, “have the look of Spring about you.”

Elain blushed, but Lucien had to admit the fae was correct: Elain looked as fresh and innocent as many of the Spring Court nobility, especially with her wide, brown eyes and lovely hair. “Er, that’s right,” Lucien said eventually when he realized both Elain and the fae female were looking at him expectantly. “We’re from Spring. How could you tell?”

“My mother was originally from Spring.” The female continued taking notes down in her book, the quill resting against the webbing between her fingers. “She fled shortly after the old High Lord was murdered and the new one ascended. She could see the writing on the wall about the new High Lord, knew nothing good was to come from him. From what I hear from the waters, she was correct, and my sisters who remain are not prospering like they once did.”

Lucien started. Of course the female was at least part water-wraith. He knew little about the treatment of Lesser fae in the Continent, but if it was anything like Prythian, the fact that this female appeared to have a high ranking position on the ship meant she had beaten many prejudices to get this far. Unease at hearing someone talk so crudely yet accurately about Tamlin—at one time, his dearest and only friend in the world—settled low in his gut.

“My father was a merchant,” the female went on conversationally, seeing the earlier surprise in Lucien’s face. “I was born on his ship—this ship, in fact—and inherited it when he retired. Decades now.” She tapped on her notebook with her quill and looked up at them from the corners of her eyes. “How much coin do you have?”

Lucien told her, and though the female tried to remain stoic, he could smell her excitement at the sum. “We won’t stop at Slevibor, but I can have some crewmembers row you two to the Islands, provided you both pack light. No trunks. Meals are included while you’re on the boat. Depending on our timing, we may even be able to send you off with some provisions, but no promises. We’re tight on space, but I’ll find room for two extra hammocks. Any questions?”

Elain and Lucien had none, and the woman smiled, her mouth full of pointed teeth. “Then let me welcome you to the Eueteria. My name is Thetis, and I’ll be your captain. What are your names?”

Lucien and Elain provided fake names to Captain Thetis. “Oran and Phoebe,” she said, adding their names to an already long list of others. “Reason for travel?”

“Uh,” Lucien began. He didn’t think anyone would particularly care why he and Elain were joining the ship, as long as they paid, so he didn’t have a specific backstory planned. “We’re… um…”

“On our honeymoon!” Elain gave Captain Thetis a wide, eager smile at the same time she forcefully grabbed Lucien’s arm. “Newly married. Oran here,” Elain said, squeezing Lucien’s arm for dear life, “knows it’s my life’s dream to visit every inch of the Continent and like a good…husband…he’s giving me the best wedding present I could have dreamed of!” 

Lucien was positive that their new captain did not believe them. “Alright,” Thetis said slowly, looking between Lucien and Elain’s flushed and awkwardly smiling faces. “I’ll put ‘pleasure’ as your reason for travel.”

Lucien was sure his face was as red as his hair for several minutes after they provided a deposit and were given instructions for the next morning. They left the docks, each refusing to look at each other, and made their way back into town, all while Lucien wondered: why?

Why had Elain said they were newly married? She had made it clear to him that she wasn’t interested in him in that way, even if her body sometimes thought otherwise. Perhaps she simply panicked—loath as he was to admit it, the cover story of two besotted, hapless fae on their honeymoon was a decent explanation for why there were traveling alone together. 

It probably didn’t even matter, Lucien thought as they stopped at a colorful flower market. Based on the long list of people already traveling on the boat, he and Elain would be lucky to each have their own hammock in the large shared sleeping quarter. Nothing would happen. They would be on the ship for just a few days, get to the Slevibor Islands, then make the arduous journey along the river that would take them directly to Koschei’s Lake.

Directly to the most dangerous being perhaps in the world. 

#elucien #lucien vanserra #elain archeron #elucien fanfic #lucien x elain #my fics #my fic #acotar #guess who's back #with worldbuiling #if there are any errors or issues #you didnt see them

[kallie-den]

Renewable Energy: Trend Setting

Malacanthe is a high-powered businesswoman succubus who hopes that her newly-brainwashed perma-virgin will be the perfect accessory to show up her social rival, Juiblexia, at brunch. But when Juiblexia has a perma-virgin of her own, the only thing left to do is to publicly settle the question: who's virgin is the most pathetic?

Another followup to Renewable Energy, set a little further along after Ziratha's invention has just begun to take off

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Malacanthe checked her expensive watch impatiently; as always, Juiblexia was late. ‘Fashionably late’, in her terminology, although Malacanthe firmly believed there was nothing fashionable about tardiness. Every time they met up, Malacanthe was tempted to arrive even later, just to show her ‘friend’ what it felt like to be kept waiting for a change. The main reason she didn’t was that she sensed Juiblexia would delight in seeing her sink to the other succubus’s level.

It was always like that with her. Juiblexia had an infuriating way of taking everything in stride and turning everything to her advantage - but not this time. This time, Malacanthe held the trump card that was sure to put her friend in her place once and for all.

“Hana,” she called expectantly. “Come here.”

The shorter human accompanying her hurried to obey. It wasn’t like she could stray far, not with Malacanthe holding the leash that was tied to her wrist. Malacanthe immediately started fussing over the trans girl, making sure every last hair on her head was in place and smoothing out her long, tasteful skirt. A smile came to Malacanthe’s face, especially once her refined, demonic senses started to pick up on the surge of arousal coming from her new pet.

Hana was something special. A perma-virgin.

It was the very newest thing. A succubus named Ziratha - a genius, clearly - had created a device called a Transcranial Magical Stimulation Unit, a kind of helmet that could regress a normal human into a perma-virgin - someone permanently arrested in a state of total, inescapable virginity as far as their sexual skills, mores, and energy output were concerned.

The result was nothing short of miraculous. Before, sexual energy had been a declining, non-renewable resource. Virgins, the tastiest and most nourishing meals, had to be taken sparingly. Now, virgin energy could be harvested endlessly and infinitely from just a single partner. Thanks to all that energy, Malacanthe had become a vastly magnified version of her former self; tall, looming, and lithe, with elegant, spiraling horns and a tail that had split in two halfway down its length. She looked and felt better than ever.

But that wasn’t the best part. The best part was that, as of yet, the Transcranial Magical Stimulation Unit hadn’t reached market. It was still navigating a few regulatory obstacles, and as a result, the only devices out there were a few dozen testing units. The technology was still so new that most people hadn’t heard of it, and those few units were fantastically expensive and all but impossible to get a hold of.

But Malacanthe had managed it.

Her Transcranial Magical Stimulation Unit had cost a fortune, but thanks to her position as the CEO of a large and prestigious company, Malacanthe could afford it. She was absolutely sure that this was the next big thing, and that she was so far ahead of the curve that it was sure to make Juiblexia green with envy. Malacanthe was still seething from their last brunch friend-date, when the socialite had one-upped her brand-new tail sheathe from Christian Dior’s latest range with a one-of-a-kind, custom-made set of horn adornments from Louis Vuitton. The embarrassment!

But now, at long last, she was going to get one over on her friend. That was why Malacanthe was so impatient. She simply couldn’t wait to see the look Hana was going to put on Juiblexia’s face.

“Oh, hi darling! I do hope I haven’t kept you waiting.”

Malacanthe turned at the sound of her friend’s voice, plastering an insincere smile on her face. “Juiblexia! So good to see you! Not at all - in fact, I only just arrived.”

Once she caught sight of her friend, Malacanthe’s smile wavered by just a hair. Juiblexia looked good. Too good.

She was taller. Almost as tall as Malacanthe, which made her at least eight feet. Juiblexia had always been decidedly Rubenesque, but her weight and softness seemed to have grown even more than her height, leaving her with a jaw-droppingly voluptuous figure that radiated magnificence and presence. The kinked bull horns on her head had become similarly huge, and her tail was a thick pillar of alluring, demonic flesh. As usual, Juiblexia was wearing a long, flowing, sheer, low-cut dress that accentuated all her best assets and showed off a tasteful but daring amount of pink-tinted skin.

She looked like a queen, and it was making Malacanthe furious.

“Darling, you look wonderful!” Juiblexia exclaimed. A broad smile was on her face, but it was just a little too tight. “But, who’s your cute little friend? You should have warned me!”

Malacanthe’s confidence was starting to return. She could tell Juiblexia was displeased.

“Hardly a friend,” she replied. “More of a pet, you see. She’s lovely, and so well-trained, even if I do need to keep her on a leash. I wouldn’t want her to wander off. Some people might even be tempted to try and poach her kind.”

“Her kind?” Juiblexia tilted her head, affecting a casual curiosity Malacanthe could tell was feigned. “Whatever do you mean, darling?”

A smirk came to Malacanthe’s face. This was her moment. “A perma-virgin. I suppose you must not have heard of them yet. I know the circles you move in can be so old-fashioned. But they’re to die for, I can promise you. You really must get one - well, as soon as you can, anyway.”

Juiblexia was an old-money socialite, and proud of it. Her family was the richest of the rich. The kind of people who had never truly worked a day in their lives, and were proud of it. Malacanthe despised them. She knew they loved looking down their noses at “nouveau riche” succubi like her - almost as much as they loved bragging about which circle of hell their families were originally from. But they had money and they had influence, and so Malacanthe’s role as CEO often required her to rub shoulders with them and suck up to them. It was how she and Juiblexia had met.

“Such kind advice!” Juiblexia exclaimed. “But there’s really no need. Simone, come! Stop hiding, you silly girl.”

It was only then that Malacanthe noticed the leash tucked around Juiblexia’s wrist. As the other succubus tugged on it, her heart sank. And a moment later, Juiblexia’s very own perma-virgin emerged into view.

Simone had an athletic body and a genuine varsity team jacket, but none of the confidence that usually went with them. She had been completely hiding behind Juiblexia’s large, plush body, and now that she was in the spotlight, she had adopted a deer-in-headlights expression that Malacanthe had learned was the perma-virgin trademark. The presence of two such enhanced succubi was making her arousal flare, and she began to cling to Juiblexia’s side for comfort.

Suddenly, Juiblexia’s remarkable glow-up made perfect sense. Malacanthe was seething with rage at having her victory stolen, and the only consolation was knowing that Juiblexia was almost certainly just as mad. There was only one thing she could do to save face: try not to let her disappointment show.

“Wow!” she cooed. “She’s lovely. But…” Her curiosity got the better of her, she couldn’t help it. “How did you get a Transcranial Magical Stimulation Unit?”

“Oh, dearest Mommy knows all the right people,” Juiblexia replied disdainfully. “And… you? I suppose you had to pay for it.”

“That’s usually how people get things,” Malacanthe shot back. “With their own money, in fact. It’s much nicer than having to rely on your family name to get you everything. You should try it!”

“Malacanthe! You’re so funny, as always.” The two of them laughed like it was nothing more than a friendly joke. Then, Juiblexia bent down to peer at Hana. “And yours is… well, she’s so you, darling.”

Malacanthe took that as a compliment, even though she knew it wasn’t meant as one. In fact, she’d selected Hana to be her pet precisely because the two of them were such a good match. Hana was an exceptionally bright, hard-working, ambitious college student who’d won a summer internship at Malacanthe’s company. After Malacanthe had seduced her and persuaded her to try the Transcranial Magical Stimulation Unit, her demeanor had changed a little - but in Malacanthe’s eyes, she was perfect.

Naturally, she’d co-ordinated both of their outfits. Even at a friendly brunch, Malacanthe liked to dress formal. She was wearing a tailored blazer with matching pants and a white shirt, open at the collar. She’d dressed Hana up in a pretty, white blouse and a long, gray, pleated skirt. Along with her glasses and her ponytail, it made her look wonderfully demure. Perfect, for the preppy college student.

“Thank you,” Malacanthe replied gracefully, before gesturing to a nearby restaurant. “Shall we head inside?”

The two of them were standing directly in front of Apolline’s, the city’s finest and most exclusive bakery-cum-restaurant. It was particularly popular amongst succubi and getting a reservation there usually took months, but Malacanthe had been able to secure one for herself and Juiblexia within the week. A server was immediately there to greet them at the door, and mimosas were already waiting for them at their usual table - a cute little diner-style booth, right by the window.

No one asked about Hana or Simone. Their leashes - Hana’s tied around her wrist, Simone’s around her neck - made their status more than clear.

Happily, Apolline’s permitted pets.

Once they were seated, each succubus-human pair opposite the other, an unhappy silence descended on the group, punctuated only by the occasional sound of Juiblexia slurping at her mimosa. Both Hana and Simone looked woefully uncomfortable, and were clearly trying to look anywhere except at the two statuesque succubi next to them. Simply looking at a woman could be difficult for perma-virgins; looking at a sex demon who had been enhanced by an unending flood of unholy vitality was beyond overwhelming. Malacanthe, meanwhile, was still stewing with frustration at Juiblexia for having stolen her thunder, and she could sense that the feeling was mutual.

“Hana?” Simone said suddenly, in a hushed voice, like she was hoping the succubi wouldn’t hear. “I-is that… that’s really you, right?”

Hana didn’t reply. She turned her head aside haughtily, but her cheeks were tinged with color.

“Wow,” Simone breathed, undissuaded. “You too. That’s really something.”

It was hard to tell if she was appalled or amused. Or both.

“Oh my!” Juiblexia purred, turning to her pet. “What’s this? Do you two know each other?”

Simone immediately shrank into herself as she felt the weight of Juiblexia’s attention on her. But it wasn’t fear that made her recoil. It was arousal.

“Hana?” Malacanthe gave Hana’s leash a gentle but insistent tug. She was just as curious as Juiblexia. “Is this true?”

Hana immediately blushed and looked down under the table, and nodded.

“Well, well, well!” Juiblexia seemed delighted by the new development. “What a surprise! Malacanthe, darling, I know they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but you really could have gone a little further afield.”

Malacanthe started grinding her teeth. “Where did you find yours?”

“At the college,” Juiblexia replied smugly. “Simone’s quite something, you know. A real varsity girl. Ace of the women’s soccer team. She was so confident, and so eager to brag about adding a succubus like myself to her already-impressive tally. In bed, she was so very cocky, and up for anything. Until… well, you know.” She winked. “And you?”

“Hana’s also a student. She applied for a summer internship at my company. Her résumé caught my eye at once.” Malacanthe’s competitive urge immediately roused itself. She couldn’t resist bragging. “She’s a top student. Truly exceptional. A shoo-in for valedictorian. She worked very hard, and she was so flattered by my attention. So, of course, I had to make her mine.”

“I’m sure!” Juiblexia let out a rambunctious laugh that made her whole body jiggle, and the table along with it. She turned to Simone. “So, bauble, spill it! What’s the story?”

Simone blushed very deeply, especially when Juiblexia reached over and started patting her on the head no differently from how she might have petted a beloved puppy, messing up Simone’s radiant, blonde hair in the process.

“I… we… um…” she spluttered. Watching her struggle like this, Malacanthe found it impossible to picture her as the cocky college athlete she’d been before Ziratha’s device had worked its magic. “We… know each other from, um, college.”

“Oh? Are you friends?” Juiblexia tittered. “How cute!”

“No!” Hana cried, her voice tense. “With her? Please.”

She seemed to regret her outburst when both Juiblexia and Malacanthe immediately rounded on her.

“Exes, then?” Malacanthe probed, eyes alight with curiosity.

“N-n-no!” Hana protested, cheeks burning.

“Then… rivals?” Juiblexia speculated. The looks on the humans’ faces seemed to confirm that. “Wonderful! Prep versus jock. A tale as old as time.”

“Tell me more,” Malacanthe demanded of her pet. “Now, Hana.”

“S-she…” Hana’s cheeks were burning and she was rubbing her legs together beneath her skirt, uncomfortably aware of Malacanthe’s closeness. “S-she brings the school into disrepute! All that f-flirting and s-s-s-sleeping around with other girls! As the r-representative of the varsity team, she should act more responsibly.”

“That’s so dumb!” Simone exclaimed. She looked utterly mortified at the mention of her promiscuity. “L-little miss perfect student wants college to be nothing more than classes and tests. Some of us actually want to live. Maybe you should try going out and g-getting l… la… um… having fun for a change.”

The two humans glared fiercely at each other, even as they squirmed and blushed with superhuman levels of arousal and embarrassment. A smile played across Malacanthe’s face. It was a little like watching two puppies yap at each other.

“Ladies!” At that moment, a young, diminutive, succubus waitress appeared at their booth. “Can I take your orders?”

At once, her nostrils started to flare and she stared at Hana and Simone with barely-disguised lust in her eyes. Malacanthe wasn’t surprised. Any succubus could smell a normal virgin at ten paces, and these weren’t just normal virgins. Their energy was at peak potency, constantly elevated by shame and arousal. Being around Juiblexia and Malacanthe certainly wasn’t helping matters. Especially now, the two succubi exuded powerful auras of lust and desire, and the perma-virgins were as ill-equipped to handle it as possible.

“I’ll have a selection of the house pastries,” Malacanthe said. She gestured to Hana, who opened her mouth, but Malacanthe spoke for her. “Nothing for her. She’s watching her figure.”

Hana looked faintly disappointed but didn’t argue.

“The same for me,” Juiblexia told the waitress. “Only, make it a deluxe selection. Oh, and Simone here will have a set of macarons and a Danish.”

Simone looked surprised and tugged nervously at Juiblexia’s sleeve. “B-but,” she whispered. “C-couch said I’m supposed to… I mean, with the big game coming up…”

“Nonsense!” Juiblexia scoffed merrily. “My bauble deserves a special treat.”

She started petting Simone again, which was more than enough to silence her.

“Of course. That’ll be ready shortly.” The waitress nodded and headed back to the kitchen, although not without a parting look of longing at the two perma-virgins.

That was one of the reasons Malacanthe kept Hana on a leash, and she presumed it was the same for Juiblexia and Simone. The last thing either of them wanted was for another succubus to try and steal their precious perma-virgins away.

“You know, you should really give her something,” Juiblexia complained, glancing at Hana. “Her figure is just fine. If you ask me, she could use a little extra meat.”

She licked her lips. Hana quivered like she was about to cream herself.

“Then it’s a good thing I didn’t,” Malacanthe retorted tersely. “I’ve no wish to spoil her. Perhaps you should think about that.”

Juiblexia just shrugged. “I’m thinking of you, darling. If nothing else, she’ll need some energy if you want to be able to enjoy her properly.”

She filled the word ‘enjoy’ with enough sultry lust to make both humans at the table shiver and squirm.

“Thank you. But you needn’t be concerned.” A thin smile came to Malacanthe’s face. She reached over and rested a hand on the back of Hana’s neck, massaging her. Hana let out a squeak. “My Hana is perfectly enjoyable. Always. You wouldn’t believe how good she is. Unlike some, I know how to get my girls performing properly.”

She looked pointedly across at Juiblexia. Hana, meanwhile, looked like she was about to explode. She was looking down, an expression of utmost shame on her face, and couldn’t stop tugging frantically at her skirt.

“Oh I’d believe it,” Juiblexia purred, taking another sip from her mimosa. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure she’s… adequate. But, darling, you’ve never had quite the right eye for taste. Forgive me for saying so. It’s what comes from a rough upbringing, I suppose. Take it from me: a girl like Simone is so much better.”

Simone had been looking faintly amused at Hana’s plight. For her, it was clearly satisfying to see the uptight valedictorian squirm and be spoken about in such vulgar terms. When attention shifted back to her, though, she started spluttering and choking. Her face lit up briefly with smug pride at Juiblexia’s praise, but it soon turned, becoming far more embarrassed and uncertain as she blushed.

She might have been a stud before, but she was a virgin now.

“I’m surprised, Juiblexia,” Malacanthe retorted. “Even for you, that’s cliché. The big, popular, athletic girl? It’s been done already. Her type has always been popular amongst succubi. You should try updating your fashion a little. Broaden your horizons. Get a little more experimental. You wouldn’t want to be left behind.”

She was hoping to deflate Juiblexia a little, but the other succubus just puffed herself up even further.

“Darling! I thought you’d know better than to judge a book by its cover,” she scolded. “My Simone is very special.”

“Sure.” Malacanthe rolled her eyes. Juiblexia was nothing but hot air. She was sure of it. “But she’s got nothing on my Hana.”

“Hmm.” Juiblexia’s eyes flashed suddenly. “Would you care to put that to the test?”

“What do you mean?” Malacanthe asked guardedly.

Juiblexia licked her lips again. “A friendly competition.”

“I’m game,” Malacanthe replied at once. A competition was perfect. She’d take any chance she got to put Juiblexia in her place. “What did you have in mind?”

“Let’s keep it simple,” Juiblexia proposed. “Whoever can get the most out of their perma-virgin wins. The most energy. The greatest nourishment. The richest, most delightful flavor. I’m sure you get the picture.”

“You’re on.” Malancathe was grinning. She couldn’t wait. She was going to make Juiblexia realize that fawning over sports players was beyond passé. “Allow me to demonstrate Hana’s most admirable qualities.”

Before her pet could brace herself, Malacanthe leaned over and wrapped a hand around Hana’s head to cradle her and prevent her from pulling away. Then, she put her lips to the poor perma-virgin’s neck and started to kiss her. Her kisses were long, languid, and hungry; she took her time drawing her tongue in slow strokes across Hana’s skin, peeling away the student’s high collar and drooling a little on her pretty blouse. Malacanthe’s tongue seemed impossibly long, and as she unfolded it further and further out of her mouth, she started coiling it, serpentine, around Hana’s neck.

The effect her affections had on the human was dramatic and immediate. Hana was trying as hard as she possibly could to remain dignified and unmoved - and it wasn’t working. She stared determinedly at a single point underneath the table as her cheeks turned a deep, furious red and she started to quiver. The poor girl was gripping the folds of her skirt so hard her knuckles had turned white; she seemed to be trying to smooth out the garment, but with little success. A distinctive bulge was already forming a tent beneath the fabric.

Peering over the table, Juiblexia licked her lips again as she noted that Hana was already rock hard.

“So that’s your preferred flavor?” the curvy succubus asked. “Darling, I approve! Trans girls make for so much fun.”

Malacanthe allowed herself a smug smile. “Indeed. But that wasn’t all I meant when I said Hana was special. You’ll see.” She kissed Hana again, but this time sucked hard enough to leave a bright red mark. “I just need to get her worked up properly first.”

As Malacanthe gave her the hickey, Hana sat up completely straight and rigid, like she was being struck by lightning. She was struggling not to pant.

Neither of the succubi needed to look at her to know how painfully aroused she was, though. They could sense it. The raw, untapped, sexual energy within her was blazing like a beacon. Her alluring virgin-scent poured out of her, so dense and heavy it was like a fog. Neither Malacanthe nor Juiblexia were wanting for nourishment, but Hana’s arousal was making each of them ravenous. And they weren’t the only ones; some of Apolline’s other succubus patrons were already turning to look, expressions of undisguised envy on their faces.

“Well, don’t think I’ll let you get too much of a head start,” Juiblexia commented. “Come here, Simone.”

Simone already looked decidedly uncomfortable with what was going on on the opposite side of the table. She was red in the face and shivered, and when Juiblexia called her name, she flinched, but nonetheless obediently pulled closer to the statuesque succubus.

“A succubus getting a girl all worked up from a kiss doesn’t strike me as very impressive, darling,” Juiblexia commented, throwing one of her big arms across Simone’s shoulder. “Watch and learn.”

With a big, theatrical gesture, she reached down and stroked a few of her fingertips along Simone’s hip.

Malacanthe wasn’t expecting much. Simone was wearing jeans, after all. She was shocked, then, when the jock girl immediately exploded into motion, squirming and thrashing madly like she was already in the throes of orgasm. Staccato moans filled the air as Simone was wracked with pleasure, and after a few moments, she turned to cling tightly to Juiblexia, taking paradoxical comfort in the succubus who was tormenting her.

Juiblexia let out a satisfied purr at the look on Malacanthe’s face.

“Hyper-sensitivity,” she explained proudly. “With the right education, everything is sexual. And our sweet little things are so poorly-equipped to handle that, aren’t they? You add to that a little sensory deprivation here, a little over-stimulation there, and… well. I think the results speak for themselves.”

Despite herself, Malacanthe was impressed. She could feel the rich glow of Simone’s arousal, and even though Juiblexia had already stopped caressing her thigh, the human’s moans were only slowly dying away. Clearly, Juiblexia had been experimenting with her Transcranial Magical Stimulation Unit. Extracting so much with so little was quite the feat.

Not that she would ever tell that to Juiblexia.

“Perhaps,” Malacanthe sniffed. “But we’re only just beginning. Hana, let me-“

“Excuse me,” came a nervous voice. “Um… I have your orders.”

Both Malacanthe and Juiblexia turned to see the waitress from earlier standing next to their table, pushing a cart that was stacked high with rich, fancy pastries. At first she simply looked awkward, but after a few moments in close proximity to two pent-up virgins she started drooling lustfully.

“Thank you?” Juiblexia prompted.

“R-right,” the succubus waitress said nervously. “Here you go.”

She started handing out various plates, all the while throwing wanton glances at Hana and Simone, both of whom looked like they desperately hoped the ground beneath them was about to open up and swallow them. The word ‘mortified’ was wholly inadequate, and they only looked more pained as the waitress started to sweat visibly from sheer need.

“W-will there be anything else?” she asked in a pained voice.

“No, thank you,” Malacanthe said stiffly.

“Then, enjoy your, um, food.”

The waitress left the table, although as she walked away she looked over her shoulder longingly a few times. Juiblexia preened, apparently enjoying the envy, whilst Malacanthe growled. Hana belonged to her, and her alone.

“You see?” Juiblexia taunted. “Everyone admires my Simone.”

That instantly lit a fire under Malacanthe. “Don’t be foolish,” she shot back. “She was obviously looking at my Hana. Who wouldn’t?”

“I’m simply not sure what there is to look at, darling.” Juiblexia’s face was drawn into a crafty, poisonous smirk. “Uptight schoolgirl getting a little too hot and bothered? We’ve all seen it.”

“Not like this.” Now it was Malacanthe’s turn to smirk. “Just wait and see. All it takes is pushing the right buttons. You’re not the only one who’s been doing a little experimenting.”

She turned to Hana. Now, the trans girl was truly sweating. She kept shaking her head and throwing nervous glances across to Simone. Clearly, she didn’t want her rival to see this. But Malacanthe wasn’t inclined to be merciful. Not when she needed to show off.

“Hana,” Malacanthe cooed. “I need you inside me.”

Immediately, Hana shuddered. Her back arched, and a wet moan escaped from her lips. The tent in her skirt twitched.

“Don’t you need to be inside me too?” Malacanthe’s voice, usually so stiff and stern, became breathy and shockingly seductive. “I can tell you do.”

Hana whimpered. The tent in her skirt kept growing, and her hips were starting to move, like she was inadvertently thrusting against the fabric of her own clothes. Her eyes were starting to turn wild and roll back into her own head.

“You’re so big,” Malacanthe whispered, putting her mouth near Hana’s ear and letting her long tongue drool out of her mouth. “So… so virile.”

Another whimper, louder and more strained than the last. Hana opened her mouth but no words came out, only drool.

“It’s been days since we last fucked.” Hana twitched, visibly uncomfortable with the curse word. “I bet your balls are so full. Throbbing. Churning. I can’t stop thinking about it. About how much you could fill me up right now.”

“N-n-n-noooo,” Hana protested, shaking her head from side to side. The proud, morally-upright valedictorian was coming apart at the seams. There was nothing dignified about her now.

“Yes,” Malacanthe teased. She reached down and let a few of her fingertips play in the air over Hana’s bulge. “I need it, Hana. I need you to breed me.”

At the word ‘breed’, Hana gave up holding back. She moaned long and loud, her drool forming into froth at her lips, and the wild, twitching motion of her head turned from shaking into nodding.

“Breed me,” Malacanthe urged. “Knock me up. Pump me full of your cum, Hana. I need to feel you filling me up. Don’t you need it too? Don’t you need to get my belly nice and full?”

“Yes!” Hana panted. Her cheeks were still burning with shame but, stoked by Malacanthe’s words, her desperation was enough to overcome it. She had a virgin’s overeagerness. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!”

Malacanthe turned to glance pointedly at Juiblexia. The other succubus looked, despite herself, hungry and faintly envious. It was easy to see why. To the keen, supernatural senses of a succubus, Hana was lit up like a lighthouse, impossibly aroused and impossibly ripe for feeding on.

Victory.

Usually, people assumed that a virgin with a succubus was like a mouse caught in a trap. And usually, they were right. Most virgins were passive and uncertain, and most succubi were active and predatory. Malacanthe, though, had a taste for something different. She liked her pets to do the work for her. And she had found that, with the right conditioning and the right encouragement, it was entirely possible to turn a blushing virgin into a rutting beast.

That was the other reason she’d chosen Hana: the latent breeding kink she’d been able to pick up on.

And now, thanks to Ziratha’s invention and her own skill, it wasn’t latent at all. By teasing the right fantasies, she could get Hana so worked up that she was about to have a mind-breaking orgasm - all without even touching her.

“So,” Malacanthe said to Juiblexia, smirking, while Hana tugged at her arm and bucked her hips into the air. “Ready to concede defeat?”

“Hardly.” Now it was Juiblexia who sounded terse. “We’re just warming up, after all. Simone, dear.”

“H-huh?”

The aroused jock girl perked up at the sound of her name being called. She had seemed all but hypnotized by the sight of what Malacanthe was doing to Hana, squirming from both discomfort and fascination in equal measure. Simone turned to look up at Juiblexia, and immediately started to let out shrill, wordless protests when Juiblexia put her hands on Simone’s waist, lifted her bodily into the air, and set her back down in the plump succubus’s warm, inviting lap.

“C-c’mon,” she pleaded weakly “N-n-not in front of h-her, can’t- ah!”

She broke off into pitiful moaning when Juiblexia completely blew past her protests and started running her hands all over Simone’s body.

Juiblexia wasn’t groping, exactly. She didn’t need to. Even the lightest possible touches across Simone’s body, through her clothes, were enough to reduce the perma-virginized girl to a trembling, drooling, moaning mess. There was something almost juvenile about it; Juiblexia’s touch was like the heavy petting teens gave each other when they were playing seven minutes in heaven and were too nervous to truly reach for second base.

From the look on Juiblexia’s face, it was clear that seeing someone who had been so strong, so proud, so sexually confident, brought to the point of orgasm by something so innocent was at least half the pleasure.

"You might be able to get your pet virgin drooling with just a few words,” Juiblexia purred. “But look what I can do to mine with just… this.”

With ease, she pried Simone’s legs apart and then, after pointedly holding up a single finger, dragged it along Simone’s sensitive inner thigh.

This touch, so much more intimate than simple petting, made Simone go wild. She thrashed like mad, limbs splaying apart and flailing so violently she might have tipped over the table if not for Juiblexia effortlessly restraining her. The expression on the jock girl’s face transcended pleasure and became pained again, like she was completely, unbearably overwhelmed by what she was feeling. A stain formed of her wetness began to seep through the front of her jeans, attesting to the thunderous orgasms tearing through Simone.

Within moments, the whole of Apolline’s was filled with the heady scent of Simone’s arousal.

“So,” Juiblexia said, looking up at Malacanthe with a grin on her face. “Would you like to concede, darling?”

Malacanthe glared at her furiously. She would never, ever give in to Juiblexia - and besides, her hunger was only growing. She plastered a seductive smile, full of sinister promise, over her frown and turned to Hana.

“Hana?” she cooed, in a simpering voice. “Won’t you come and knock me up?”

The perma-virgin’s eyes flashed with untempered lust, before she glanced nervously around the room. “B-but… um… aren’t we….”

“Hana,” Malacanthe interrupted, injecting as much lust and need into her voice as possible. “Come fuck a baby into me.”

That was all it took to completely break the hopeless perma-virgin.

“P-p-please!” Hana cried, suddenly pawing at Malacanthe. An awed expression came to her face, like she couldn’t believe her luck.

“Here,” Malacanthe instructed, smirking. “Now.”

She reached down and unbuttoned her pants. Immediately, Hana started to clamber on top of her, tearing clumsily at her own skirt. Uncontrolled arousal made her so uncoordinated she couldn’t seem to remove her clothes, and was tearing up in frustration before Malacanthe reached out to help her. Once she was naked, all eyes were on Hana’s hard, proud, dripping cock. She was blushing and trembling furiously with overwhelming shame, but her need was greater, especially when Malacanthe pulled her panties aside to expose her pussy and propped each of her legs up on the table on either side of her pet.

With a pitiful, humiliated squeak, Hana thrust forward and entered her owner.

Watching on the other side of the table, Juiblexia wasn’t about to be outdone. She started unceremoniously stripping Simone without giving the overwhelmed virgin even a moment to recover. Simone whined in protest, but she was far, far too weak to stop the voluptuous succubus from removing her varsity jacket, then her jeans, and then her tank top.

But she stopped there, leaving Simone in her sports bra and matching boxers. Unlike Malacanthe, Juiblexia wasn’t interested in sex. In fact, she had firmly resolved that, after her rebirth as a blushing perma-virgin, Simone should remain as pure and virginal as possible.

She just wanted to show off what bare, skin-to-skin contact would do to her.

Sure enough, as soon as Simone felt Juiblexia’s bare skin against hers, she came explosively. Her boxers were already hopelessly soaked through, but now her wetness started dripping from her thighs, soaking Juiblexia’s lap and forming a wet, sticky puddle on the floor underneath. Simone started screaming her moans in a voice so loud and so needy it filled the entire restaurant and made every head turn. After a few seconds she ran out of breath, but she kept arching her back and throwing back her head, screaming wordless bliss with a ridiculous, pleasure-drunk expression on her face.

And all simply because Juiblexia had been stroking down her side, and running a hand over her bare arm.

“P-p-p-please!” Simone howled, after finding the strength to take a breath. “I’m not… ngghhh… I’m not r-ready yettt…”

“For a little heavy petting?” Juiblexia mocked, resting a hand on Simone’s belly to make her squirm. “Aren’t you just precious?”

Meanwhile, opposite them, Malacanthe and Hana had progressed far beyond heavy petting. Malacanthe was leaning back, legs up and apart, whilst Hana mounted the much larger succubus. Hana was unbelievably red in the face and was rutting into Malacanthe with quick, eager, clumsy, desperate strokes, all of her proud, stiff composure now hopelessly lost. All she was thinking about was how badly she needed to pump her load into Malacanthe.

And Malacanthe, drinking greedily from the perma-virgin’s energy, looked prouder and stronger than ever.

"Harder,” she said to Hana in a lover’s whisper. “More. Fill me up. Knock me up.”

Hana was already cumming, but one orgasm wasn’t nearly enough for the pent-up perma-virgin. She just kept going, pumping more and more of her load into Malacanthe with each thrust, eyes rolled back into her skull from the impossible, overwhelming pleasure of multiple orgasms, each one riding on the next, her brain now hard-wired so that she couldn’t possible acclimate herself to it.

“I love you!” Hana babbled, a broad, goofy, addled grin spreading across her face. “I love you, I love you, I love you!”

Malacanthe didn’t say it back, but she did smile fondly at her pet. She loved seeing Hana reduced to this.

Simone was just as ruined; even Malacanthe couldn’t deny that. The jock girl was rolling her hips now, rubbing herself on nothing but her own boxers, and the motion made it look, more than anything, like she was simply trying to snuggle deeper into Juiblexia’s lap. Juiblexia’s hands were still all over her and they were slowly becoming more possessive and more intrusive, but they still did nothing more than trace the swell of her breasts and tease the hem of her boxers.

Juiblexia was determined to give her once-cocky pet no more than the barest taste of real, mature sex.

It might not have been sex, but Juiblexia was nourished by it all the same. Her face was flush and her eyes were shining, and Malacanthe could sense her drawing energy from her pet. It was difficult for her not to envy the exquisite flavor she was surely getting from Simone, even as she could tell Juiblexia was coveting Hana’s.

Which begged a question:

“How do we decide who wins?” Malacanthe asked, in a voice punctuated by breathy pants every time Hana thrust into her.

“We…” Juiblexia frowned. “Ah. Perhaps I overlooked something, darling.”

The two of them shared an awkward look before they were again interrupted. Not by the waitress, but by someone who was clearly more senior. It was the manager. Another succubus, she was dressed smartly, and wore a displeased look on her face.

“Ladies,” she said stiffly. “We here at Apolline’s aim to curate a permissive and lively atmosphere, and allow our patrons to enjoy pleasures beyond simply our baking.” Her frown deepened when she noticed the pastries that had been brought to the table earlier, still untouched. “Nonetheless, we have received a few comments about the level of noise coming fr-“

Her words died in her throat once she caught Hana and Simone’s scents from up close.

The polite, managerial stiffness in her demeanor vanished in a single moment. She started leaning forward, a ravenous look on her face. A red blush strained her cheeks, and drool fell from her lips to stain her immaculate uniform. Her stomach growled with hunger.

Malacanthe and Juiblexia exchanged another look.

“Our apologies,” Malacanthe said smoothly. Hana was still plowing into her with all her overeager energy. “Actually, we just need you to settle something for us.”

“Yes,” Juiblexia put in. “The two of us were having a friendly little contest, and it seems we’re in need of a judge. So, darling: which one of our little pets here do you think makes for the best, tastiest, most nourishing meal?”

The manager nodded, stupefied by the overwhelming outpour of sexual energy happening around the table. She looked first at Hana, then at Simone, and then back again. Finally, after long moments of contemplation, she shook her head.

“I don’t know,” she said. Her voice sounded wet. “I can’t pick. They’re both perfect.”

Malacanthe blinked. A draw? She hadn’t considered that. Normally, she would never accept anything less than complete victory over Juiblexia, but Hana’s exertions were putting her in a good mood. Perhaps, just this once, she could make her peace with it.

“I just have one question,” the manager added, unable to hold back. She pointed at each of the mind-broken perma-virgins in turn. “How did you get these girls?”

Juiblexia and Malacanthe exchanged one last look, and prepared to spread the good word.

—

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#renewableenergy #story

[thefirstknife]

Is it just me or are there less morally gray characters on our side now?

By that like: Drifter's more openly altruistic, Mara is opening up and respecting boundaries, Nimbus is super good etc.

All seems left is Spider. (idk if Clovis could be considered morally gray perchance)

Like I'm not against character development & hope and kindness but.

I miss having shifty people, bastards and the like around to muddy the waters

There's definitely less, yes. I would still classify Spider and Clovis for sure, but a lot of the characters have since been kinda forced to pick a side. As Osiris told Rasputin in their cutscene:

A line has been drawn in this system. Light on one side. Dark on the other. Where do you stand?

I think this was a question in general to a lot of characters, not just Rasputin. I also really love shifty characters, but as we near the end of the story, there simply is no time for us to endure and tolerate characters who aren't clear on where they stand. The survival of all existence in the universe depends on it.

I think muddying the waters is something that happens in the middle of the story, but by the time we get closer to the end of the narrative, these have to become clear. Like, right now, our enemies are so overwhelming and so powerful that any sort of indecisiveness or shiftiness can be seen as extremely dangerous. There's no more room for staying neutral or playing both sides.

With Drifter in particular though, I'm super hardcore with the belief that his story was always leading to this. It's the natural line of his character arc. He was cool as a shifty guy, but that was just the surface of him as a character. There was always a deeper desire that he followed all of his life; his desire to be safe and his reliance on hope.

He had his doubts in the Light and Ghosts, but he equally doubts the Darkness. He tried both sides and found them both wanting. What he finally realised, is that his place is with the people. He has always been a person eager to help, just afraid of consequences of angering the wrong side. If you remember his early life in the village Eaton, he was hiding his Light, but he could still NOT resist helping; he was using his Ghost to scout the area for food and push animals towards the village hunters.

Even when he was playing with Darkness as a Dredgen, something within recognised that it's not his place when it gave him the name of Dredgen Hope. Similarly, Shin also recognised this and established contact and they forged Gambit together to weed out corruption in Guardians. And finally, he met us, the Young Wolf at the urging of Osiris no less:

“Go home. There’s a Guardian you should meet,” Osiris said.

“Yeah, yeah. Hero. Red War. Can’t wait.”

When he realised that he can trust us AND that we trust him, he finally figured that he can relax for the first time in his life. It was a tipping point. Everyone spent so long telling him about trust and hope and a possible better future and there was nothing to convince him it could be truly real until we came along.

And then of course Eris came to him in Arrivals and that just strengthened the deal. There were people who needed him, people who believed in him, people he could help. Permanently! Hope for a better future was real and it was worth investing into. Light is not the be all end all, we can use Darkness as well to our benefit and he excels in that, but he uses it on our side. There is no other option. He tested them all out and the only one that makes him not feel afraid is our side.

I find his journey absolutely fascinating beyond any other and his development to be one of the best arcs in the whole game. I definitely enjoy Drifter being schemy and shifty, he was a fascinating change of tone in the Tower when he showed up. But I think that keeping him locked into that role would've been a stagnation of his character and not really compelling. Keeping him shifty just for the sake of having a shifty character would just get boring and it would've led nowhere.

It's definitely a change that makes a lot of people miss the old him, but also remember that all of his shifty acting up was mostly a scam. He was meant to pretend to be shady in order to draw people to Gambit and to enact the scheme of figuring which Guardians will fall to corruption. In truth, everyone in the Vanguard knows about the purpose of Gambit and it's been approved.

Either way, for Drifter in particular I will always say that not only was his change necessary for his own benefit (so he could stop being miserable and afraid all his life), it was also the natural conclusion to every hint about his inherent desire to help and his belief in hope. Definitely made us miss the shifty scammer extraordinaire, but I am primarily interested in seeing my fave get better and achieve what he's been looking for for so long.

Could we have gotten some other characters like that after? Possibly. But as I said at the start, super hard to navigate that type of a person when we're dealing with, basically, the end of a story. A shifty character right now would have a hard time fitting in. Spider is still there, but with much less influence. And Clovis is of course Clovis, but his inability to pick a side is what now makes him potentially incredibly dangerous. That's the problem with being shifty right now; even casual flirting with our enemies is lethal.

#destiny 2 #drifter #ask #long post #SORRY BLORBO BRAIN ACTIVATED #i see this point about drifter in particular a lot and i understand where it comes from #drifter was incredible when he first showed up. but he's incredible to me now as well EXACTLY because of what he was at the start #it often feels almost cruel to him when people want him to go back to being just an untrustworthy scammer #he's suffered a long and difficult life and he's always just been looking for safety and trust. and he found it with us #i am overjoyed for him and for the fact that he found his place especially with eliksni and that he's so invested in helping them #i think his gifts and personality shine much better like this #knowing where he came from and what he's been through. for him there was respite at the end #i love him so much you don't even understand how much i love him

[realcatalina]

Hororr-documentary about Tudor fashion

I am usually trying to give people benefit of doubt regarding inaccuracies in their work. We are all humans after all. But everybody has their limit and when you publish a documentary I expect it to be accurate with minimum mistakes.

So on youtube there is video called TUDOR FASHION (2023) - FULL DOCUMENTARY - HD.

And it is absolutely inaccurate. The mistakes, the misconceptions, misleading  myths presented as facts! On scale of 0-10, I’d give it -5. Long story short-don’t watch it, it’s total waste of your time! 

But if you’re interested in my shorter rant about how inncaurate it is, allow me to entertain you a bit with some of their best bits!

-In Tudor times english poor people wore mostly clothes made of cotton!

(They meant wool.)

-Tudor sumptuary laws forbidden everybody but royalty to wear crimson!

(High nobility could wear crimson throughout entire Tudor era!)

Apparently corset and stays were worn simultanously during Tudor era.

(Stays were predecesor of corsets and even during Elizabethean times, women wore their stays, not their corsets!)

Aparently Tudor nobility bathed a lot! (First time I hear of that!)

Aparently Anne Boleyn NEVER wore english fashion(I am sorry what about the medal? What about lady of the garter depiction? Doesn’t ring a bell?) 

and she introduced french hood and french gown to English court

(this is myth. Mary Rose introduced french hood in mid 1510s and french gowns gained on popularity after Field of Gold in 1520.)

Oh did you hear Catherine of Aragon was forced to give up her spanish clothes especially her fartingale upon arrival to Englan?-probably in Marie Antoanette style(i mean the movie).  

(That's lie. She did adopt english ways and clothes as was espected, but it was gradual change. Not something she’d be forced to do immediately upon arrival as was implied. Also, you have to distinguish between farthingale and early fartingale which was called verdugado and didn’t have the conical shape they mention. So they don’t know basics about fartingale!)

Other interesting ‘facts’: 

Tudor early fashion didn’t exist! Because they didn’t include it!

Nice that we hear english hood was also called gable hood, but how about informing us of its historical name-frontlets and bonnet which would prove you know it isn’t actually a hood?

Apparently throughout entire Tudor era you could randomly decide to put on ruff or farthingale. Because nobody included date of when these came to fashion!

Oh and Henry only had only 3 wives, because they skipped Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr! Like WTF.

Henry VIII started to dress up with new materials and dyed clothes available to him only through naval discoveries! 

(I was always under impression that silk and cloths dyed in Asia arrived to Europe much earlier. Technically this is not entirely impossible scenario, but as far as I know, all materials and dyes available to him were already available to his parents.)

Apparently Henry VIII only passed one sumptuary law in 1540s(i was always under impresion he passed several...) 

and he introduces those laws-he was first to ever make them(lie as hell!)

He also stopped wearing longer coats solely to show off his legs

(apparently that male fashion all around europe went with shorter coats was mere conincidence not worthy of mention.)

Also the inaccurate depictions or portraits used are staggering. For first few minutes while they talk about Tudor dynasty they show portraits of royalty from 16th century(and few from 17th century) of which majority is not even english. 

For Jane Seymour when they first talk about her they don’t use her portrait by Holbein, but sketch of unknown woman in gable hood, which is commonly assumed to be Anne Boleyn.

When we finally see portrait of Jane it is not in very good quality.

And this documentary at beginning said majority of information we got about Tudor fashion is from portraits-but fail to show even well known portraits in good quality.(in 2023!)

For Anne Boleyn they use portrait of Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, which was in past mistakenly labelled as Anne Boleyn(because of label Anna Regina), but by now it well-known in Tudor circles that it is not her and the outfit is central european!

Oh again ‘the divine timing’ thing about Anne’s miscarriage coninciding with Catheirne of Aragon’s funeral. Overall this documentary has tons of ‘facts’ and information regarding general tudor history. Things we heard milion times before which have absolutely nothing to do with Tudor fashion!

If we left this out, the documentary would be half an hour instead of hour. It takes really a lot of time, and I don’t think documentary focused on fashion should do this. 

They also lie about Jane’s waistline being slightly under normal. I’ve seen her portraits and many other portraits, only thing abnormal about her waistline is the gap which reveals more forepart than is usual. Rest must be her bodyshape. 

Also they totally flip how Jane Seymour thought about french hoods at least at first. Initially they say ‘ Jane was forced to give up french hood’  Instead of Jane was FORCING others to give up french hood!  (she’d not allow women to serve her in it. She had problems with it, nobody else!’

‘and told to obtain frontlets and bonnet instead’(by this time they didn’t explain this is what gable hood was called, so viewer who doesn’t know it before watching this, doesn’t have a clue what they mean.)

Only then they say she banned it! Their editing sucks!

Also the lie about Jane bringing english hood back! It didn’t disappear by this time, it just started to lose on popularity! It’s misleading as hell. 

And for Jane the ‘1526/1527 miniature was used! (You know the miniature nobody knows who it is, but was at times labelled as all different women Henry VIII has ever slept with.) 

They use horrible photos of Mary’s portraits! Some prior to restoration-and I recall these portraits only ever restored. So very old photos. 

I’d not call Mary’s childhood idilic. I’d say it nicer than her later life, but it goes hand in hand with lie/myth that marriage of her parents was happy for 20 years. When it was broken/cold before she was born. So it is misleading in way.

Then one drawing which I believe is of Isabella and drawings not based upon Mary’s actual portraits showing inaccurate shape of fartingale more typical for gown worn by her relatives elsewhere in Europe. 

Or drawing showing gowns from 1560s or 1570s, which more likely show Mary Stuart. In past portraits of Mary I of England and Mary I of Scotland were confused a lot. But by now, you should not not confuse them. The fashion differences are pretty obvious and person learned in Tudor portraiture in 2023 should absolutely not make this sort of mistakes.

It’s also inccurate to say by Mary’s reign french hood was on its way out. Because what happened was that french hood’s shape changed to be more square, but it was still french hood, just new type.

It’s not ok to call verdugado fartingale and then don’t call Mary’s headwear french hood. It shows you either have double standards or you do not know what you’re talking about.

Later style of French hood kept being worn even in Elizabethean times, but due to different hairstyles and angle it is not very visible. By stating that Mary already didn’t wear it( or as they said later- that it was final stage of french hood-once again horrible editing), you’re misleading people greatly. 

‘Mary dressed in utterly english style at beginning of her reign and later started to dress in more spanish manner, added spanish elements to her clothes and wore clothes in darker colours etc’ 

(Didn’t you say little while before her favourite colour of gown as Queen was crimson? Like make up your mind and show me proof she wore way more of spanish fashion. Like a drawing or portrait which is not madeup.)

They mistake Mary I’s pearl and la Peregrina pearl.(I’ll allow that, because not long ago even I wasn’t aware those were two different pear-shaped pearls.)

Instead of using photo of portrait of Elizabeth as Princess, they use a drawing of it. And i don’t have a clue why. It’s freely available! 

I stopped watching at 40:00, because honestly I didn’t want to continue. It was boring as hell.

But overall it is very inaccurate and misleading ‘documentary’. Substandard on many levels, showing very little of true facts, very few of them presented in non-misleading way and very little actual information about Tudor fashion. 

It’s total waste of time. Don’t watch it. 

#Tudor History #Tudor Fashion

[blazlngblade]

Bargello’s finally coming out let’s go!!!

Though while we’re on the topic of the Heroes of Light, I remember you saying a bit back that you didn’t like Rinyuu. You got a laundry list of reasons for that like with Rondo (btw totally agree with you on him) or does she just rub you the wrong way. No offence intended, it’s just that I like her a lot and I was curious about why you’re not a fan.

Yes, it's about time Bargello arrived! When he starts I should have about ~14,000 rubies! I am glad it's enough to remain above 10,000 rubies, if I have to spark him. I had to spark for Elletrix (she wasn't one in my original plan, but dang I grew to love her so much), so I am always prepared to accept that it could happen again. Depending on the situation though, if I get Bargello in 12/15 sessions, I'd consider doing the last 3 to spark Sonia.

Anyway, onto the actual question! This could get spoilery, so I hope you don't mind!

It's a real shame I don't like Rinyuu, honestly. I absolutely adored her during Master of Power, but Bestower of Fame just takes the character and throws everything out the window to replace with some other nonsense.

She goes from such a sweet girl who does her best for herself and for her boyfriend, I think it's nice. Plus a blind character is really cool to have in any fiction. As well as a character who looked First Nations was also kinda nice too, that's not something that is all that common to see. Her design is peak.

I can't even say any complaints about her in Master of Power, I really did like her. I don't want to hate her, but it's hard not to.

As for in Bestower of Fame though... Well, she goes from that strong character we get told in MoP to this relatively weak hearted character who got turned very one noted. Not to mention, Velnorte's miracle medicine just suddenly works now. Erasing the fact she was blind, it feels a bit ableist to me. Another problem with curing her blindness, is her character would have benefitted more if she was still blind. In Bestower of Fame, she just doesn't seem to be able to tell when something isn't right. Basically just thinking she sees the good in everyone instead of that "sensing their heart's warmth" thing she had before.

This character goes from being strong to a lot of her existence revolving around Velnorte's death or... stew, some characters, and the fans too, literally call her "Stew Girl". Not to mention in her playable skillset, one of her early healing skills is called "Stew".

I understand that losing a loved one can be very difficult for a person, and everyone reacts differently, but she had a lot of support from members of the church (like Phina, Dmitri, probably knew Ophilia and Lianna, she was friends with Miza, so in turn knew Monaris, etc). She seemed to be very popular, and Hugo says that everyone seemed to like her presence. Kids absolutely adored Rinyuu, and I think that's just really sweet. But none of this was enough to tell her that life was still worth living? She had countless friends and support, but apparently none of these people mattered to her, and that makes me a bit sad.

Not a part of the problem with her character, but I dislike how "wrong" her art is. She looks very white washed. The room looks like the dining room in the Cathedral of Tytos, but you know it's not, it's not red themed as the room very much is in the game. Plus her art has too much children in it. Why not have a few adults or elderly taking some seats. That way it really shows how much everyone loved her Also... her artwork is exactly what I don't like about part of her character. "Stew Girl", her Path Action is also holding a bowl of stew.

Okay, I'm going to get spoiler, from here on out, so I understand if people choose not to read anymore!

Well basically, in Bestower of Fame, Chapter 2... The Flamesgrace Cathedral is attacked by monsters and cult members turning into those monsters, and all that such, the whole place is in disarray because Pontiff Julius just about to get assassinated, Sazantos is stressed out trying to find the mastermind, but also protecting the pontiff, and Rondo's a loser who has to go get Sazantos to help despite him being clearly very busy. And what does Rinyuu do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing about the situation, except walk outside to go stand on the mountain to go overlook the church while thinking about Velnorte. After that, the mastermind kinda just comes up, calls Rinyuu as "holy blood" and Rinyuu doesn't really do anything about that.

Chapter 3, Rinyuu is missing most of the chapter until just before the boss fight where it's revealed that the villain needs Rinyuu for a ritual to which a Divine Ring and "holy blood" are needed. We get told that the holy blood is the blood of a Crossford and that Rinyuu is Graham's daughter (of a different mother to Kit). Tbh, I'd have believe this was only a plot point because they wanted to bring Lyblac in, but why through Graham's bloodline? Why not make Rinyuu and Kit be cousins instead? Could Graham not have had a sibling that Lyblac just never knew about all that much?

Being Graham's daughter itself has many problems because when did Graham have time to do this? His son, Kit, can only be old as ~16 (in order for Graham to be at a somewhat acceptable age to have children at 18 years) in the first game, taking CotC's 3 years in the past, Rinyuu is probably ~2 years older than Kit, but that puts her at a measly ~15-17 (15 in Master of Power, 16 in Bestower of Fame, and 17 in Bestower of All) years old, and that cannot be right... We have gotten told that Rinyuu is older than Kit. But that means that Graham would have been like ~16 or less himself when his daughter was born? I know things can happen, but I don't want this game to be encouraging on having children as minors on Graham's end, or sharing a bed with Velnorte at 15 years, in fact, how old is Velnorte??

Okay, back to the point. This Crossford nonsense is barely even touched on, aside from it might be the reason she was allowed in Limbo for a long length of time.

Let's get to that now. In Bestower of All, Rinyuu is somehow considered a Guardian of the Light by Finis. Not sure how, but maybe because of her bloodline? It's never stated why she is a Guardian of the Light. She constantly tells herself that she's not meant to be here and that she can't do anything that the others can aside from cooking stews. She's very much a waste of space, and even she knows that, because during the chaos of chapter 3, she finds a way to slip into Limbo to go search for Velnorte, once again where she would benefit better blind. She's walking around Limbo trying to sense Velnorte's light and how she "can't see". The idea is creepy, yet cool at the same time as we get to see a brief moment of Limbo Emberglow. Just looking at this picture gives me chills.

By the way, this scene was shown in Bestower of All Chapter 3, and we're going to Chapter 7 in a day, and still haven't gone to Limbo Emberglow. Still just Cragspear (chapter 1 and 3), Valore (chapter 2), and Hornburg (chapter 4-6). So basically, this scene was very pointless.

From her disappearance in Chapter 3, she rarely gets mentioned Chapter 5, which is basically a telling sign that we will see her again, and see her again we do... But it is just for her to die. She "kill" Velnorte after he accidentally kills her. (She took the hit for Tytos), then they ascend to the heavens together. It's like. the idea is good, it's very tragic, but I just hate how we get nothing about her search on the way to finding Velnorte, how she went from the Frostlands to the Gate of Finis either is weird. She just spent however long just aimlessly looking for Velnorte until she finds him just to die. The only reason why she's searching, is basically just it being pure selfishness, and I don't really like that much.

I think I'll end my rambles there, you asked why I don't like her, and instead I went more on a summary... but long rambles short I just don't like what she has become. She went from a truly strong girl to a one noted about Velnorte and stew, and just being very selfish. Also the Crossford blood is also just pointless as a plot device. It feels like they tried to hard to be big with it, but in turn it flopped.

#Rosa Answers #Octopath Traveler #Octopath CotC #Octopath Rinyuu

[chromalogue]

So like, this is the last thing I should be doing right now, because I have an in-person conference to go to next week and I don’t even have the paper written, and a fifty-item to-do list this week, but anyway. 

One of the things that has to be done is, the blueberries are out.  I won’t be back until the end of July, by which time they’ll most likely be finished, so the blueberries I pick this week are all the blueberries my mom will have for the year.  I can’t do much about food prices, but I sure as heck can grab free food off the ground.  Or cheap--we’ve also done twenty-eight litres of strawberries from the pick-your-own people.  For her, for the winter.  Not so much me. 

The new job starts in October.  In Germany.  It will be the first time I’ve ever made a living wage.  I already have an apartment.  It’s not fancy, but it’s cheap, on campus, and all-inclusive. 

Will is staying here.  If he went with me, he’d lose his benefits.  And of course I get paid enough to take care of the both of us, but having an income has been really good for his mental health. 

We’d also lose our apartment here, and have to put our stuff into storage, and not only can he not handle that plus new city plus new language, but also we simply can’t afford to lose this apartment.  Rental housing was always kind of tight in Espanola, and now the housing crisis has arrived.  The price of a house has shot up $100 000 in the past year, and the “wanted to rent” ads are more numerous than the “available to rent” ones.  Right now we pay very low rent for a 2-bedroom, and we can’t give that up. 

It’s only for two years.  We can still do date nights, albeit remotely.  I’ll visit, and he can visit.  He wants to go to Copenhagen.

My parents announced the new job with a notice in the paper.  People have been helping me out by ordering cookies.  It’s very kind of them, and at some times I am more keenly aware of this kindness than at others.  (Some of them tell me I undercharge.  But, like, a) with no professional qualifications in this I’d have some nerve charging professional prices and b) this is a depressed town and poor people still deserve something delicious.)  It has occurred to me that I am as close as this town gets to a pâtissier.  Not the only one, I hope. 

Today someone from York e-mailed me and asked me if I had availability/interest in teaching in person.  It’s one of my favourite courses, but I did have to say no.  I mean, for one thing, Germany.  For another, the commute from here would cost me at least $200 more per month than the job pays, and I absolutely cannot afford to live in Toronto. 

So yeah.

Months ago, I think late fall/early winter, I looked up the symptoms of end-stage kidney disease for a fic, and a couple of the pages I went to listed the symptoms of earlier stages too, and one of them is foam in the toilet, especially foam that lingers after flushing.  So then I noticed that I was seeing foam at my parents’ house.  Last year my dad had had a couple of bladder infections that he never did bother getting treated, so I started pestering him to see a doctor. He started leaving blood on the bathroom floor, and he said he’d overtrimmed his toenails.  He started getting back pain, and blamed it on whatever he had lifted that day.  He started getting up to go to the bathroom every hour or so at night, and he said if he went to the doctor they’d tell him it was old man’s disease.  

Finally, FINALLY it hurt him enough that he went to the doctor, and it turns out that he has aggressive bladder cancer.  So far they don’t think it’s spread, but he’s gonna lose his bladder.  I’m relieved that they’re taking care of it, but I’m still kind of steamed that he didn’t get it checked out earlier.  And I know I’m being really insensitive, and, like, trying not to show it.  But a big part of my mad is scared. 

Spurred by this, Will finally went to the doctor about the gigantic weeping crusty sores he’s had all over his body for about a year now.  Turns out it’s a super-rare reaction to the covid vaccine, a one-in-ten-thousand thing.  He went into a database and everything, and now he has some ointment that seems to be helping.

Sarah and I leave here next Saturday for Glasgow.  The earlier logistical concerns have been sorted out to the satisfaction and relief of all involved.  My mom is driving us to Toronto.  We fly out late Sunday afternoon, but figured that it would be wisest to arrive at the airport the night before, because we’ve heard horror stories about the delays and Sarah can’t sprint for the gate like we’ve heard of people having to.  We will have snacks and books and masks.  And then we arrive in England on Monday, and take the train to Glasgow on Tuesday. 

We have tickets to see Phantom of the Opera in London before we head out.  We couldn’t not.

I looked at the dates on things and realized I’ve been promising the new thing is “a couple of months from being done” for nearly a year now.  It’s, um.  Still not yet.  I’ve had good reasons, but I’m kind of appalled at myself. 

#extensive rambling #I've just been meaning to get some of that out for awhile

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 283, Replies Part 2

1) “… Welp I take that back, I don’t think that what I said will apply come the next 10 or so seconds.”- Too be fair, it’s not like it’d do any good either. Tomura has GPS lock on Izuku and can move faster than him, on top of being compelled to hunt the boy wherever he goes. Even if Izuku was in any state of mind to flee and fight another day, He Can’t Run.

2) “SHITSHITSHIT UHHHH- SOME DEUS EX MACHINA TO SAVE THE DAY PLEASE? BECAUSE I THINK WE JUST MET WITH QUITE THE DIFFICULT SITUATION IN HERE”-Actually, one thing I appreciate about Horikoshi’s writing is that he generally doesn’t do this. There’s always some kind of logical explanation or setup behind Heroes arriving on the scene or events starting to turn in their favour, even if said context isn’t obvious to those being saved or protected. Izuku realised Iida was facing Stain from all the context clues he knew about his friend, their location, and overhearing his mentor calling for him in the chaos, and had read up enough about the Hero Killer’s M.O to search the most likely locations to find him. Shoto managed to step in to help Izuku against Stain because he sent out his location data to his friends as a cry for help. Izuku stepped in to help Kota because Mandalay told him about his secret hiding spot and Izuku had visited it prior. The Kids jumped in to help Bakugo escape at Kamino because of their desire to rescue their friend made them take action that happened to be in parallel with the official heroes’ efforts, and it was Momo’s tracker that the heroes were following to the warehouse. Tokoyami stepped in to save Hawks because of his awareness of Hawks’ weakness and seeing a burned Hawks escaping the room from outside to cut off Twice’s escape, and here, the heroes’ effort in striking early before Tomura’s procedure was finished – and specifically breaking his container before he’d passed 75% - is why his body starts to fail on him after all the damage they’ve inflicted on him. It all makes logical sense and has a large amount of buildup why these events happen in hindsight.

If anything, it’s the Villains who benefit from Deus Ex Machina events falling in their favour. From the League getting bailed out by AFO right when they’re dead to rights, to going up agaisnt Overhaul and the Hasaaki right at the same time he becomes targeted by Izuku and the others, giving them “allies” whom they know how to manipulate against their common foe, gaining the otherwise-unobtainable Erasure bullets in the process, to being targeted by the MLA right when they’re looking for a means to try and beat Gigantomachia, to Tomura, Toga and Jin’s trauma buttons getting broken in exactly the right manner to give them massive powerups, to gaining the MLA’s support and resources right when they need them to put their revolution into play – so many things just go right for the Villains out of nowhere. Hell, Tomura’s revival and Machia’s rampage right as the heroes are on the verge of winning shows this better than anything.

3) “OH THANK GOD SOMETHING HAPPENED Seems like Shigaraki is coming undone, was this because of the previous fight, or was it because he’s not finished? Is the strain of all those quirks finally getting to him? Because holy shit he absolutely will die if this keeps going”-

Tomura may die, but here’s the thing.

He Doesn’t Care.

As long as a single piece of him is intact, he’s gonna keep attacking the heroes, and nothing less than maximum overkill will slow him down, let alone stand a chance at killing him. His lack of actual reaction to his body falling apart says it all really, he’s not giving any normal response like screaming in agony or panicking over his body suddenly opening up like a door hinge, he’s just giving a surprised “huh?”, and then calmly analysing why this would be happening. The fact his body is sudsy showing injuries that would put a normal man on death’s door isn’t a concern to him, it’s that said wounds are interfering with is ability to kill the heroes. I honestly can’t tell if his sense of pain has been nullified by the procedure, or if this is the natural result of somebody with Tomura’s screwed-up mentality being given a body that can endure his self-destructive mindset. Either way, just like Izuku using 100%, he’ll be a mangled bloody mess by the end of this fight, but the difference is, he can go further than Izuku because he doesn’t give a crap for the long-term consequences, and his healing ability lets him ‘cheat’ with the repercussions of going that far anyway… so long as the Quirk can work properly with the mess he’s twisting himself into anyway.

(MHA ch 255) 4) “Oh boy, that cant be good… Last page was talking about how Shigaraki retained his sense of self intact during the procedure, so this means that they are making good progress… Im starting to think it will be less than four months until the ultimate nomu is walking the earth.”- Whilst that turned out to be true, it’s actually a really good thing for the heroes, because it doesn’t matter how many shortcuts you take to get ultimate power, a deadline is a deadline, and you can’t rush it.

And cause the heroes forced Tomura out of the oven before he was done baking, he’s not yet ready to handle all his power and bring the full force of his abilities to bear. He’s still kicking their asses with only 75% of his strength, but he can’t keep doing that without going beyond the point of recovery right now.

(MHA ch 268) 5) “OKAY, I THINK IT MIGHT BE A BIT TOO LATE TO STOP HIM I DONT THINK BREAKING THE GLASS IS GOING TO STOP THE PROCESS. THE FUTURE HAS ALREADY TAKEN ROOTS, IT CANT BE STOPPED ANYMORE”-Stop? No. But delay? Leaving him unprepared to fully handle the heroes despite everything he’s doing to them right now? Yes, It can do that. And if so, then the efforts of everybody’s hard work have not gone to waste yet.

6) “QUICK MIDORIYA, WHILE HE’S CONFUSED, PUNCH HIM INTO THE STRATOSPHERE”- Izuku: Excellent plan! And then, I’ll keep him there and kill him before touchdown!

7) “Yeah, there wouldn’t be limits, if he was finished. Isn’t Shigaraki aware that the process got interrupted halfway through? I thought he already had realized that he wasn’t 100% complete”- Tomura woke up, and chose violence immediately upon realising that there were heroes nearby. It worked out for his allies, but it’s kinda hilarious to think that if the situation hadn’t been as dire, his instantly-unleashed AOE Decay move would have been detrimental to everybody in the immediate area, just dusting everything around the hospital before anybody can get a word in edgeways.

8) “oh it seems he hasn’t realized it yet That’s weird, he knew he would be completely unstoppable when the process was done, even erasing his quirk wouldn’t be able to stop him, didn’t it dawn to him throughout this fight that he wasn’t as OP as they promised?”- Tomura’s still adjusting to his new levels of strength, and hasn’t quite processed everything that’s going on. He was on cloud nine beating up everybody even with a handicap, but now that the handicap’s gone, he’s finally starting to realise that it wasn’t just his lack of Quirks that was hampering his performance, but his body not quite being ready for the damage he’s unleashing with it and against it. It’s also a much-needed moment of hilarity in this dire situation, reminding us that Tomura’s still a teenager with all the poor time-keeping that comes with it.

9) “Yeah midoriya, it’s like looking into a mirror, innit? My, the parallels keep coming and they don’t stop coming”- For the longest time, there didn’t seem to be as many narrative parallels between Izuku and Tomura as there were between All Might and All For One. But now that they’re both unlocking their true power, using their heroic/villainous Origins as motivations to fight regardless of the self-cost, they’re starting to become more and more similar to each other, both growing into the destined roles in tandem.

10) “Ah right, so it was 75% where it stopped, I wasn’t so sure about the exact numbering, I was wondering if that was what the title was referring to.”- I think the process somewhat froze when Mirko cracked the glass tank, unable to really finish with the environment around Tomura de-pressed incorrectly, with Mic’s voice-blast just finishing the job as much as stopping Garaki from reviving him. So in a way, we all owe our lives to the bunny of Carnage.

11) “OH GOD MIDORIYA QUICK DO SOMETHING BECAUSE SHIT’S ABOUT TO GET FUCKY AGAIN”- Case in point about Tomura’s absolutely unstoppable will, it doesn’t matter to him how badly his body’s broken, if he can still move a part of it – specifically the hand that he needs to unleash the AOE wave- then he will do it, even if he can to puppet the parts manually, damn his uncooperative flesh!

12) “MIDORIYA FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO SOMETHING IN THE NEXT 10 NANOSECONDS OR GOD HELP ME”- The manga’s had a bit of a theme about certain Villains being self-defeating, such as Mustard during the Training Lodge giving him his position all the time through his smoke cover, or Overhaul making himself too many enemies to realistically defeat on multiple fronts. In that regard, Re-Destro accidentally screwed his own side over when he fought Tomura, as tearing off the fingers on his left hand weakened it, rendering it incapable of withstanding the strain of unleashing the AOE wave through that hand, and meaning Tomura can only use his right one to pull the move off. When said hand is incapacitated like here, even if Tomura’s able to use his left hand to pull a workaround with it, the seconds he spent getting it into potion were enough time for Izuku to react and yank him away from Terra Firma, to settle things in a terrain where Izuku has the advantage.

13) “OH GOD DID IT FINALLY HAPPEN? IS MIDORIYA FINALLY FLYING?!”- Take note of Izuku’s whips here. He’s lifting all his allies with the whips sprouting from his left arm whilst keeping Tomura teared with a separate one from his right. This allows him to lift his allies out of the way if Tomura’s Decay had started, whislt also keeping his nemesis off the ground as well and avoid him getting too close to them ones he has to protect. Even pushed past his mental limits and boiling with bloodlust, Izuku’s keeping a cool head on how to save lives whilst ending Tomura’s

14) “WE FINALLY GOT IT Y`ALL LET’S FUCKING GO, THIRD QUIRK FINALLY UNLOCKED!”- Three down, but, with the final battle basically occurring Now, Izuku better hope for a miracle to be able to unlock his remaining powers asap, cause he needs every advantage to counter Tomura’s arsenal of powers.

(Mha ch 258) 15) “But at least they wont be caught off-guard, the heroes are marching towards their target, they intend to strike first and make sure they remove the biggest threat before anything else. And thank god for that, because if Shigaraki does step in the field… Well, we know he will manage to fight, its inevitable, but something will happen to tip the scales and make things balanced, thats for sure.”- There’s balanced, and then there’s the only thing keeping him from killing everybody on the battlefield. If Izuku doesn’t press his advantage now, Tomura will end everybody, even with his body falling apart on him from the strain, so he has to pile on the damage as quickly as he can before he can recover. Do or Die, up here in the sky.

16) “Holy shit! It finally happened! We knew this was coming for quite sometime now, and the fact that the only thing that could counter decay was the ability to fly, but even so I’m quite excited to see another power awakening Hell fucking my boy takes to the skies! and Hopefully that means he won’t be reaching heaven anytime soon. Now Shigaraki was unleashed once again, with Aizawa out of the game, it will be a battle of titans, full power against full power. Well, as much full power as either than can muster, considering that both of them can’t use it all without destroying their own bodies quite the fun situation, where both of them are self-destructing every time they try to go plus ultra, and yet, neither of them will step down, neither of them will stop doing it The End is here and at the same time, The New Start has risen to oppose him”- The End, the Beginning, and the bloody brawl between them. It’s gonna be raining blood next chapter when they fully go at it. @thelreads

#my hero academia #bnha #chapter replies #thelreads #mha 283 #Youtube

[thedonoghs]

#IFTTT #WordPress #Travel Log

[kondrup87lu]

Make A lot extra Income With Your Family Corporation

Dwelling company possession has a large amount of benefits, these as choosing on your hours and managing you. You can also choose an space that you undoubtedly adore, way far too. Search at the pursuing piece to discover how to the right way have a home compact business begin employing these strategies now. You genuinely need to know properly how a good deal a product prices to make, if you prepare on giving nearly anything that you manufactured. Doubling the fee of an product is the usual rule of thumb for deciding wholesale pricing. A normal retail mark-up would be two moments the price of wholesale. Establish an agreeable charge stage for the two you and the buyer. If you do not know what you want to offer you or current market area, think about earning it a very little a thing you use or could use. Identifying a specific have to have is the to start out with challenge to do when making a resolution to business to persons. If there is a unique merchandise or assistance that could be built use of in your life time, then it's attainable that others could also use it. Possibly explore with your house and buddies, or send out out them a helpful e-mail when you commence out your business permitting them know about the launch. Provide a single detail for free to acquire believability for your residence organization. Look at with them to unfold all close to the term to other individuals about it. Word of mouth marketing can be exceptionally effective. It is critical that you continue to be utilised all through the early phases of your new business. When starting a new business enterprise company it is a superior plan to commence executing the career ideal up till your new organization enterprise commences making income. Make definitely certain you have some income saved absent even though you hold out all over for the earnings to start coming in. When working from home, you must genuinely endeavor to be your seasoned most productive. The flexibility of jogging a house based mostly organization can be a blessing. Nevertheless, you nevertheless want to choose time for on your possess. Handle your family business enterprise office like you would an location of do the job outside the house the household: shower, get dressed, take in completely, and actual physical workout daily just as you would if you ended up currently being operating outside the house the property the dwelling. You can appear to truly feel increased about your self and raise the way persons appear at you. Search on the world wide web for smaller company supplies that are marketed at wholesale pricing. Many wholesale suppliers present information and reductions on the globe huge world-wide-web, so it will be simple for you to obtain a great provide on the delivers that you require. Constructing these kinds of buys is achievable thanks to your little company license. Be guaranteed to have a ahead looking at head-set. Even though it can be good to rejoice your prior successes, you need to realize that they have presently happened. As pos system , it is considerable that you focus on situations which will arrive about the up coming working day or seven times. Preserving your thought targeted on the foreseeable foreseeable future will make favourable you are absolutely completely ready for future alternatives, and any hurdles that might show up up. This way, you'll keep away from obtaining astonished. When beginning your new home group, it is truly critical to have a world-wide-web web site that you can use to proficiently industry and promote your options. You will boost your products product sales this way primarily due to the fact your viewers will be greater sized. If you are not beneficial how to deal with a site, check with a qualified. 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Seem all-all over at other web web pages of the very same mother nature to receive principles on how to make a specialist searching internet-web-site. pos system is not as difficult or as time-consuming as you really feel to run a residence company. Laying out a technique and sticking to it will allow for for you to have a organization that thrives and is enjoyable. There is nothing at all like calling the photographs and figuring out your have several hrs. These concepts can severely support!

#pos system

[mcculloughmcleod13]

Travel Guide To Torrevieja

Reserve in progress as frequently as feasible. Paris' iconic sites like the Notre Dame and the Louvre are top places on any vacationer's list of issues to do while in Paris. It is worthwhile to keep this in thoughts, because you will not be the only tourist going to the Louvre or using a intimate boat trip alongside the Seine. Take benefit of the internet and look for the sites of as numerous of these vacationer attractions as you can and guide your tickets in advance. It requires only a few minutes and will save you from waiting in some of the longest cues you have at any time seen. Your feet will be happy for it! My personal favorite, about 20 min. south of Rotorua towards Taupo. Be ready to stroll abit. Many rainbow swimming pools, the massive champagne pool, artist palette, sulphur vents, boiling mud and a massive silica terrace. If you get there early in the early morning, prior to 10am, a brief drive leads you to the Lady Knox geyser that gets set off once a day by them feeding it with cleaning soap, cost of this is included in your admission (was $25 an grownup). Also on this road is a natural mud pool which is the best display of boiling mud I have noticed and its totally free. The completelife span even might not be adequate to see all parts of India. I have traveled a lot in India and am going to include the most pertinent suggestions for travelinginside India. This kind of traveling to indonesia tips shall be veryhelpful to all my friendstouring to India. There are primarily3 modes of travel in India, by air, by street, and by teach. The most suitable and cost-effectivemeans is touring by train as it covers most of the farthest destinations of this vastcountry. The train has all courses suiting to your time schedule and the situation of each pocket. Try not to feel overcome by your environment. Maintain a cool head and usually act as if you are an experienced traveller, and attempt not to appear like somebody who has by no means travelled in his/her life. Looking stoic is much better than appearing completely lost. It's because you do not want to attract the incorrect kind of attention, unless of course if you are truly in need of help then that's an additional tale. If there are issues you absolutely can't abdomen, arrive up with a good purpose for refusing. Generally, religious factors and well being concerns ("my physician said") are satisfactory. Be certain to be constant! Every time I consume, I tell my canine, "I'll conserve you some." and I save a small for her. One time, whilst my wife was at work, I was thawing two steaks on the kitchen area counter, and the canine ate one. I was worried that my wife would be mad at the dog. When my spouse listened to what occurred, she just shrugged and said, "Well, she saved you some." We had chicken for supper. Wouldn't it be fantastic to have a bird's eye see of all your travels? Get a map, adhere it to a wall and mark all the places you visited with a pin (or a image of you at that specific location!). If you're not the do-it-yourself type, you can usually do it electronically. Which might be visit here in some methods, simply because you can also shop small notes and information alongside with the places. The 1 thing that tends to make me happy is my girlfriend. She is there when im down and she is there for me when I require her the most. SHe is usually making me smile and everytime I see her it brightens up my working day.

#lick here #visit here #bali indonesia #Bali ATV ride #bali cycling tour #Ubud Kintamani tour #mou

[mellyorablack]

Hello Melly,

I had forgotten that QEII knighted Elton in 1998. I corrected my tagline to Sir Elton John 🎹. I’m sure you approve 👍.

The last CD I bought was “Live In Australia with The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra” in 1987, the year I got married. I haven’t tracked him since. Now, I can’t conclusively prove that my marriage had anything to do with me falling away from following my teenage musical idol, but 25 years later, in 2012, that same wife abruptly abandoned our German Shepherds and me. You may feel free to draw your own inferences 🧙.

I do, however, have all his vinyl from “Empty Sky”, in 1969 when I was 8 years old, to “Blue Moves” in 1976, from which I drew “Tonight”, including the soundtrack to the movie “Friends” and 11-17-70, recorded in front of a very small live audience at the A&R Recording Studio in New York City and broadcast live over WABC-FM (yes, radio was “a thing” back in my day, the Paleolithic 🦕).

“Tonight” is very very good. The sweeping instrumentals are quite moving, but my all-time favorite, of the songs with which I am aware, absolutely has to be “Skyline Pigeon” from “Empty Sky”. I think it sounds more like a hymn than a mellow rock song.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was an obsession in my teenage years. He showcased a Manic-Depressive, since rebranded “bi-polar”, character all the way back in 1887, when the prevailing consensus on people with somewhat different mental states was that they were all dangerous psychopaths.

If you haven’t seen Jeremy Brett’s performances as the moody violinist, do yourself a favor. Check it out.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Brett

When I was just a wee lad, I was introduced to Holmes by Basil Rathbone in the HollyWeird films dating to 1939 - 1946. Until I was old enough to actually read the books I had no idea how horribly these movies were presenting Conan Doyle and Holmes. They FLAT OUT SUCKED !

On another topic that appears to be of interest to you, I grew up watching William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George Takai and Nichelle Nichols going where no one had gone before.

When word broke of the imminent arrival of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, when I was in Graduate School and had precious little spare time, I was highly skeptical. I was not at all impressed with the first season. Picard was a two dimensional, stiff cut-out who couldn’t make the most minor decisions without input from everyone on the bridge.

But Dr. Beverly Crusher immediately drew my attention for obvious reasons 😍. Gates McFadden. SO Fine!

By season two things really started to take off, although I believe that is when they replaced Dr. Crusher with “Nurse Diesel” aka Dr. Pulaski. From there it just got better. The two part “The Best Of Both Worlds” was an incredible piece of television, more akin to a major motion picture.

Kirk has his admirers, but if I had to face off in battle with one of the Captains of the Enterprise I would pick Kirk every single time!

Kirk, at times, can be rash, not overly analytical (reference the Kobyashi Maru ploy), and occasionally allows his ego to get the best of him.

By contrast, Picard is a master strategist, dispassionate, always thinking three steps ahead of his opponent and a profoundly erudite man who has benefited from countless generations of military officers, battles both major and minor, Psychology, Sociology and a variety of other academic disciplines.

I bought a new iPhone 11 in March which included one free month of Paramount+ streaming service. They have a two season, so far, series “Picard”. If you like STNG, you will love “Picard”! It outclasses STNG in every conceivable way. Sir Patrick Stewart takes Picard to an even richer, more seasoned and more human, including foibles and frailties, place than we have ever seen before.

O.K. I’ve prattled on long enough. I see, from your blog, that you are heavy into early Elton John, even before his “glasses” phase, so here is a not so fun historical fact. The physical characteristics of the soundtrack album from the movie “Friends” are utterly atrocious! It is incredibly thick, has zero flexibility, weighs as much as four regular vinyl record albums, and the audio quality is barely low-fi. Obviously a low budget production.

Well, I typed until I stopped.

Woof!

Canis Terribilis

Hello Sir,

Wow, that was a long message and I'll try to give it justice with my reply.

I have to admit I only really got into Elton's music about 2 years ago after watching Rocketman and reading his autobiography. O mean, his music's always been there somehow and when I started listening to his albums I was surprised at how many songs I already knew and loved. I remember loving Nikita when it came out and rocking out to Made In England in my dad's car. But it took me until recently to understand his genius. Tonight is one song that has me in awe of his musical talent! One of my favourite songs is also Skyline Pigeon but in the piano version. And you are quite right about the hymn-reference. Elton himself said that about the song. 'When in doubt, write a hymn' is one of my favourite Elton-quotes.

I am heavily in his 70s music but also love what he's done in his later years. The Union, Songs From The West Coast and The Captain & The Kid are masterpieces! His voice is amazing in every decade and his collaborations with Bernie are unmatched.

I could ramble on about him but I also want to turn to the other topics you mentioned.

I've been a fan of Sherlock Holmes for as long as I can remember, read all the stories and watched many films and shows. I love Jeremy Brett! He and Benedict Cumberbatch are my fave Sherlocks. I agree on the Basil Rathbone-series. It is enjoyable but especially in the later episodes it's cringeworthy.

I started being a Trekkie in 1989 when Next Generation first aired in Germany. I loved it from the get go, especially Data. Picard is my favourite captain, I would trust him with my life! I watched the first season of Picard but was utterly disappointed with the last ep. It ridiculed everything that was good about the show. Haven't come around to watching the latest season, I hope it's better. I love the original series (as well as the reboot) and Voyager but never really got into Deep Space Nine or the new Show, Discovery.

Well, I hope I covered all of the topics. 😊 Have a great day!

Melly

[hortascountrysidenotes]

Good news and Bad

Always best to get the bad news out of the way first - as per the previous blog, we found 4 newly hatched swallows dead on the floor of the garage yesterday and the third swallow still causing upset and panic in the garage - we fear he may have pulled the chicks from the nest.  Today it was about early on but seems as if it now may have pushed off - but of course what we dont know, is has the “incomer” stayed and succeeded in pushing the old male out.  We feel sure that the female will lay again soon and have another go, but the hopes of three broods are now gone.  Nature is cruel.

Another deer attack has taken place though nothing like as bad as the first one but I need to go out this evening and put back all the bin liners and deterrents I had taken down for the garden opening!

Enough bad news now for the good - in the greenhouse we have the princely total now of 3 home grown tomatoes which is absolutely diabolical so I am highly relieved that the plug plants ordered have all arrived and within two days of being potted up look very cheery.  Climbing Squashes and courgette plants are great as are the beans after a few patching up of second sowings!  The chard, beetroot and spinach I grew in modules are all out in the beds and well away and as we finally got a half decent rain overnight, they have doubled in size. Carrots are through and radish and the lettuces planted out are also looking strong, so on balance the veg patch is on track.  I just need to go through all the sweet peas tomorrow and make sure they are getting hold of the little hazel twigs.  Today I have sown the leeks, Cavolo Nero, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Cucumbers and Spaghetti Squashes.

Yesterday was a great day as Dan managed to come and do four hours in the garden as medications meant he was on a good week.  Four hours was clearly enough but we had such a happy time making the giant trellis constructions for the climbing squashes and courgettes - photo following.  I think these could be a real success story as of course they save an enormous amount of space.

The garden opening on Thursday night went brilliantly as we were blessed with the most glorious evening.  It was still too which is so helpful therefore the tulip petals had not fallen, though they have now! and all the favourites such as the cow parsley under the walnut trees, the Viburnum plicatum dripping white plates of flowers above the pond, the variegated flag iris and the first of the bearded iris were doing their thing.  The white honesty was billowing in two places and just enough of the tulips in the main borders were still showing colour.  Everyone was super complimentary and the cakes went down well too! We managed to donate £200 to the Pond Restoration Fund and £100 to the church and I still have plants for sale the proceeds of which can also go to the church which sounds as though it could do with about 6 more noughts adding on to that total to do the repairs necessary.  But it all helps!

Bertha’s trip to boot camp was a curate’s egg - she learned about chickens and was very steady sitting amongst them whilst they pecked grain from virtually between her front paws.  She managed to do a bit of retrieving but was clearly traumatised by being brutally extracted from all she knew so tended to run back to her kennel.  However when I went to collect her and did two hours training with her she was super and her demeanour since returning home has been fascinating - much quieter and less cocky so I think it has done her good - we think it would be a good idea if she goes again now she knows the ropes.  As she is now in season we have to keep all training to just us or with other bitches so we are limited for another ten days.

Our evening walks take us mostly down the little “valley” below the house and along the edge of the Panford Beck.  After we cross the Blackwater and walk on for Old Beetley we now have the benefit of a wonderful new piece of habitat which the local farmer has created since the extraction of gravel ceased on his land.  He has done a lot of levelling of the residual gravel and sand and pulled back all the top soil that was in huge banks around the pit.  He has then left a huge “splash” in the middle, plus sown all the land with grass and wildflower mixes.  We are being treated to some wonderful birdlife on the splash - a pair of avocets and greenshank - both really unusual around here, ringed plover, shoveller, gadwall, mallard, gulls of many types, larks over the field, lapwings and barn owls.  It is super and shows how quickly species will return if you give them the right habitats.  It would be amazing if the avocets and greenshanks nested - the water is getting worryingly low but there is a bit more rain about in the forecast so fingers crossed.

Went to West Acre gardens today which are beautiful and they have a superb nursery alongside - bought some Gillenia trifoliata, Mathiasella, and a new primrose yellow Baptisia for various gaps in the borders and a beautiful specimen of Viburnum betulifolium for the wood.  Good flowers and berries. Just hope the deer don’t eat it tonight - I was trying to put some protection up but as D had just done the bees and it was windy they got grumpy and kept coming for me so I had to leave it - if time before dark I shall have to wander up and hang more ridiculous deterrents.

#HORTA