#Class 10 Geography Questions and Answers | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

iovebarca · 9 months ago

Note

hi my love!!! i hope ur doing well 💗 i was just wondering if you could maybe do a fluffy tutoring fic with pau x reader? either where reader is tutoring him or he’s tutoring reader. thank you sm!! 💌

Maps, Dates and Crushes - Pau Cubarsi

Authors note: Hey guysss how are we doing??

WC: 1000+

warnings: incorrect grammar (probably), my first language isn't english so if you notice any mistakes please tell me, fluff!

Geography class wasn’t exactly Pau’s strong suit. He was a quick learner on the field, but when it came to memorizing capitals, mountain ranges, and river systems, his brain felt like it was running in circles. That’s exactly why he found himself in this situation: tutoring sessions.

His geography teacher had noticed his struggle and decided to step in.

“Pau, you’ll be working with her,” the teacher had said, nodding towards you. You were the top student in class—smart, confident, and the one who always had the right answers. The girl he’d had a quiet crush on for months but never dared to talk to.

And now, you were his tutor.

It was a dream and a nightmare all at once. On one hand, he’d get to spend time with you, but on the other… well, you’d soon find out just how bad he was at geography.

The first study session was planned for Thursday evening at your house. You had texted him, “Come around six. We’ll get you caught up.”

Pau stood in front of your door at 6 p.m. sharp, trying not to let his nerves show. You opened the door with a smile, dressed in an oversized sweater and leggings, looking effortlessly beautiful. He almost forgot to breathe for a second.

“Hey, come in,” you greeted, stepping aside to let him in. “We’ve got a lot to cover, but don’t worry, we’ll pace it out.”

He followed you inside, trying to calm the nervous flutter in his stomach. Your home was cozy and inviting, which helped ease the tension in his shoulders. You led him to the dining table, already covered with textbooks, notebooks, and maps.

“Alright, let’s start with the basics,” you said, flipping open the geography textbook. “We’ve got time.”

The next two hours flew by in a blur of maps, highlighters, and your explanations. Pau tried to focus, but it was hard not to get distracted by how effortlessly smart and confident you were. You made geography seem easy, breaking down complex ideas in a way he could actually understand.

At 8:30, you paused, leaning back in your chair. “Okay, we’ve made good progress. How about a break?”

“Yeah, I could use one,” Pau admitted with a sheepish grin.

You reached for your phone, casually pulling up Uber Eats. “What do you feel like eating? I was thinking burgers and fries. Or is that too risky for your diet?”

Pau chuckled, caught off guard by how thoughtful you were. “I mean, I am supposed to be watching what I eat for football…”

You raised an eyebrow, teasing him a little. “So, no burgers then?”

He hesitated for a second, then grinned. “I think I can handle a burger. Just this once.”

You smiled back, happy with his answer. “Good, because there’s no way I’m surviving this study session without fries.”

You placed the order, and soon enough, the two of you were digging into your food while talking about everything other than geography. It was surprisingly easy to fall into a rhythm with Pau—he wasn’t just the quiet, shy guy you saw in class. He had a sense of humor, and when he relaxed, you found that you really liked talking to him.

By the time you finished eating and went back to studying, it was almost 10 p.m. Pau tried his best to stay focused, but you noticed him sneaking glances at you every so often. The way his gaze would linger on you for just a moment too long made your heart race.

And that’s when it hit you. He likes me.

Your own heart fluttered at the realization. Maybe it was the way his voice softened when he asked you questions or the way his eyes sparkled whenever you smiled at him. Suddenly, the idea of this being a simple tutor-student situation felt a lot more complicated—and a lot more exciting.

By 11 p.m., the study session was winding down. You had gone through most of the material, and Pau seemed a lot more confident than when he had first walked in. He started packing up his books, but there was a hesitancy in the air, like he wasn’t quite ready to leave.

“Well,” you said, standing up and stretching, “I think you’re going to ace the next test. You’ve really improved, Pau.”

“Thanks to you,” he said with a shy smile, slinging his bag over his shoulder. He lingered by the door for a moment, his fingers nervously fidgeting with the strap of his backpack.

There was a long pause, the silence between you charged with something unspoken. You could feel it hanging in the air.

“So, um…” Pau began, his voice low, “I was wondering if… maybe you’d like to go out sometime?”

You blinked, caught off guard. “Like… a study date?”

Pau’s face turned a little red, and he quickly shook his head. “No, not a study date. I mean, like, an actual date. Just… the two of us.”

Your heart skipped a beat, the realization hitting you all at once. Pau Cubarsí—quiet, sweet Pau—was asking you on a real date.

A slow smile spread across your face, warmth flooding your chest. “You want to go on a real date with me?”

He nodded, his eyes soft but hopeful. “Yeah, I do. If you want to, I mean.”

“I’d love that,” you said, feeling your cheeks flush with excitement. “How about this weekend?”

“That’d be perfect,” he replied, his whole face lighting up.

For a moment, you just stood there, both of you grinning like idiots. And then, before he could leave, you stepped closer and gave him a soft, quick hug. Pau’s heart raced as he wrapped his arms around you, feeling like he was on cloud nine.

When you pulled back, you gave him a playful smile. “And don’t worry, we’ll avoid burgers this time. Just in case.”

Pau laughed, his nerves melting away. “Yeah, I’ll stick to salads.”

You both shared a quiet laugh, the air between you lighter and full of promise. And as Pau left your house that night, he couldn’t stop smiling. Neither could you.

#fc barcelona #pau cubarsi fluff #pau cubarsi oneshot #pau cubarsi imagine #pau cubarsi #pau cubarsi x reader

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fruitssn4cks · 10 months ago

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A/N: i think I’ve fallen victim to the A03 writers curse as I dropped my beautiful computer down the stairs early this week. Anyways I hope yall enjoy a nice slow burn because I was 3500 words in like “I STILL HAVEN’T ADDED THE SMUT.” I think I did dumbification justice here but lmk ofc. Anyways this will be on A03 soon enough.

Office hours

Warnings: Dumbification, DubCon, Power Imbalances, cruel Zhongli lowkey, Spanking, Degradation. Lmk if I missed anything ❤️

Make sure to study chapters 9-10, 13, and 14 in your Geography Book and come prepared to discuss your findings next class.

Yeah right, if only the reading was comprehensible! The paragraphs about climatology jumbled together before flying off the pages, toward different corners of your room.

You’d studied so hard that when you squinted your eyes, it didn’t provide you with a clearer look, but instead blurred further. Only when you blink rapidly would the fog temporarily dissipate from view. At this point, you were one eye rub away from convincing yourself that this was a visual impairment, not a school related mental breakdown.

And that wasn’t the worst of it, your hands had begun to cramp from gripping your highlighter or pen while you frantically tried to write to retain some of the knowledge. That’s when you knew things were going downhill.

And to the surprise of no one, that didn’t work.

What was once a well organized notebook was now filled with scribbles or yellow streaks— and occasionally tears— as you continued to hunch over your desk.

You were— are a good student. B average, nice scholarship, advanced placement, everything had been going nicely but a stupid geography had been your downfall.

You didn’t intend on doing anything related to the subject when you took the class, and you surely weren’t now that you had a taste of the stress, but you had signed up for the class with a bit of peer pressure from your friends.

It was easy they said, we’d see each other more they claimed. If you could go back in time, you would warn yourself that only the latter was true, and only for a while anyway.

The first day of class in the crowded auditorium, you’d secured a plush seat with your group of friends. You’d figure the class would be easy enough, you’d taken a handle full of history classes through high school and now college.It didn’t hurt that Professor Zhongli was easy on the eyes—and the ears. His deep, rumbling voice paired with sharp hazel eyes was enough to distract you. And then there was that long ponytail, somehow managing to look both professional and a little magical when it caught the light. Oh, and an empty ring finger.

Honestly, if the whole teaching thing didn’t work out for him, envisioning Zhongli as a model wasn’t hard.

Everything started out fine. The first quiz had been easy enough, based on the contents of the syllabus Mr Zhongli passed out on the first day of classes.

After that, the harder stuff started. Climatology, Geomorphology, Hydrology, every single horrific

topic, that you couldn’t comprehend. The first couple class days, you would joke around with your friends, listen to music, anything else but study in the designated time. Your teacher however, never said anything, never called on you to answer a question, read aloud, nothing. If you doubted before he knew your name, you were sure he didn’t know it now.

When the second test came around, you knew you’d made a grave mistake, not only by not taking the class seriously but actually signing up for the class in the first place. A fat F, circled in red ink, rested at the top of your paper. When your friends sports low to mid A’s and B’s, you knew something had to give. And apparently the solution was simpler than you’d thought, as written in neat handwriting below the F was a note.

Perhaps you should try sitting up front, away from potential distractions.

Maybe instead of blindly signing up for the class you should have looked his name up on ratemyprofessor, even now you wanted to leave a scathing review on his surprisingly perfect record.

The paper was promptly balled up and thrown into a small corner of your room, probably next to your syllabus.

How utterly ridiculous. If he could notice you getting distracted during his lecture, he could also realize that you had stopped talking to your friends in class a long time ago.

But that wasn’t the real problem anyways, and you knew it. His class was too hard. It was deadline after deadline after deadline, whether it be of assigned reading, essays, peer review, and God forbid you attempted the extra credit.

There was bonus work to boost your grade so

of course you didn’t expect the work to be easy but hard was a true gross understatement.

The directions were simple enough, do this, this, this, a little more of that, and this again. As expected of a college course, but how could you manage to do all of that if you couldn’t finish— let alone understand the work you were actually required to do.

Soon enough though, you tossed your pride aside and moved to the front of the class. And true to his advice, you had been able to comprehend more, not a lot more, but something was better than nothing.

And it seemed he noticed too, his eyes began to actually find yours in class and his smile seemed genuine too. A polite, encouraging grin that never ceased to make your efforts seem worth it.

The next test, however, reminded you of your standing in the class. A cursive D+ sat like a black hole on the front of your quiz packet. Progress like that was truly no progress at all.

If you hadn’t already wasted water crying during the test itself, you would have broken down when he returned the paper to you. Face down.

With the actual exam coming up, you knew you needed to see Mr Zhongli in person. Under no circumstances could you fail this class, even if it didn’t help you further your career you still couldn’t flunk it. Lest you want to lose your scholarship.

The bag crossed over your chest, felt extra heavy as you trekked to Zhongli’s office. Maybe it was the computer, or the spiral notebook, but most likely it was the 319 page Geography book buried somewhere inside it. The physical copy was paid for by your scholarship but the online copy was not and being the broke College student you were, it definitely was not affordable.

Your knuckles brushed against the oak door, below the golden name plate that read Dr Morax. The name seriously fit him, it sounded just as professional as he was.

After a firm come in you found yourself inside his medium sized office.

He gave you time to take in your surroundings, multiple diplomas of varying degrees and schools hung on the cream walls. The wooden desk that separated you two was an organized mess, numerous stacks of papers, some graded, some not. Other nicks nacks were neatly placed on the desk, the school mascot bobblehead, newton's cradle, a small wooden globe, the things usually expected to see on a teacher's desk. This room was definitely bigger than most professors work spaces than you had seen.

“Please take a seat,” Mr Zhongli motioned to one of the plush seats in front of his desk. His own position was relaxed as he leaned back in the chair, hands folded neatly on his lap, one of his long legs sat draped over another. His slim ponytail was draped over his white button down, so long that it almost reached down to the black slacks he wore.

“Nice of you to finally stop by.”

Now that felt underhanded. Your eyes snapped up to him ready to say something back, but the words died in your throat at his look. HIs gaze was half lidded while he sported a lopsided smile that bordered on a smirk.

“Finally?” You sank into the seat, dropping your satchel onto the hardwood floor beside you with a sigh.

“Oh yes, your grade in my class is far from satisfactory.” Zhongli’s grin became tight while he spoke. The once playful glint in his eyes was taken over by a serious demeanor. Professor Zhongli.

You shifted forward, crossing your own legs to mimic his attitude.

“Yes sir, I’m sure you figured that’s why I’m here,” your voice sounded a lot more pathetic than you expected it to. It reminded you of the one time in high school when you begged your PE teacher to let you skip the FitnessGram Pacer test.

Let’s just say the second worst grade you’ve ever gotten was gym.

“I do,” Zhongli drawled, he now placed his arms on the desk, one hand remaining still while another gripped a pencil, “but truly, I’m not sure there’s much I can do for you.”

That was not what you had wanted nor expected to hear and your face reflected that. The whole wide-eyed mouth open shabang.

Zhongli released a breathy laugh at your expression, "there's nothing I can do for you but I believe you could help yourself.”

The anger you felt at his first dig was now bubbling back up, with more force. How many times could someone slyly insult you in one sitting?

¨And how could I do that sir?” Zhongli matched your attitude, pushing himself fully under the desk. His expression remained pleasant though, a nice albeit thin smile stretched across his face.

¨You could start by actually paying attention in class.”

Really? Like you hadn't just moved your seat to sit in the front of the class, mind you, BY YOURSELF. And all he had to offer is that your focus was still waning, it was though, only because you had the sexiest teacher ever though. Not from lack of effort on your part, so it’s not like it was truly your fault to start with.

Zhongli patiently waited for you to begin a retort before cutting you off with a demeaning wave of his hand, ¨Yes, yes, you moved. Like you should have from the start, you don't get a high five for doing what is expected of you. What I’d like to know is why you still struggle in my class, it’s definitely not from lack of opportunity.”

¨I assign plenty of extra credit, so I’m assuming it's not that.” Zhongli’s eyes flickered down, no not to your hidden bust, but to an open planner on his desk, before they met yours again. ¨Perhaps you should consider dropping my class.”

That finally made you bristle, visibly too, your eyes widened again as you recoiled. His words might as well have physically struck you. Being a good student meant that most teachers never had to criticize you, let alone act so sharp. His Zhongli’s blunt statements hurt in a way only a prideful student like you could feel.

You needed to act unbothered and hopefully, get under his skin too. Fixing your face into something a bit more stoic you started again.

“Doesn’t it reflect badly on a Professor if they have failing students?” You found your nails to be more interesting than meeting Zhongli’s intense gaze, his eyes seemed alight from the fierce way he stared at you.

What you didn’t expect was a throaty laugh from him, that pulled you from your nail inspection.

“Students, yes. One singular student, not so much.”

Negotiations had definitely fallen through.

Outwitting people was something you were good at. One thing that hurts more than having your ego bruised is having it body slammed when you find out you're not as good at something as you believed yourself to be.

Reading your reaction Zhongli chuckled again, “oh dear, not the answer you wanted was it?”

Your eyes couldn’t lift from the floor now, but even that served as a constant reminder of the stage you were hoping to walk on. Before any of this happened.

Zhongli’s voice pierced the silence, “Well, I have some time to help you study now, is that fine with you?”

Really there was only one choice, but you contemplated both regardless. You needed his help to bring up your grade and hopefully pass the upcoming exam but also, you didn’t want him to belittle you any further.

Maybe you could study on your own. In high school you reviewed for biology tests using the Amoeba Sisters. Did they even have anything like that for geography though?

When you found the courage to meet Zhongli’s eyes again, now lounging in his chair with his hands braced behind his head. Your ears tinted pink when you saw his lips, still in a smirk but not as wide.

Maybe you could deal with his taunting for an hour or two. For your grade of course! Not because he was gorgeous or anything. Although it helped.

“Fine,” decided to lighten the mood a bit you added, “hopefully you’re better at this than in class.”

Zhongli let out a breathy laugh while he leaned further back in his chair to glance at the clock. “Perhaps, though you may find my teaching methods unconventional.”

“Oh?” You dug into your satchel to find your textbook, “how so?”

Zhongli crossed his arms in front of himself before releasing a thoughtful groan, one that had your pupils blow open a fraction wider. “How about I quiz you, and for each question you get wrong..”

His gaze flickered from the sky of contemplation to you, “I could use a more… tactical approach. Like consequence and reward.”

As his smirk seemed to stretch, the air in the office became heavier. You blinked, believing you were imagining his suggestive voice.

“Consequence?” It’s not like your grade could get much lower so what could he do to harm you?

The pause that followed was thick with unspoken meaning, you didn’t dare move either. You were frozen in the plush chair, pinned by Zhongli’s half lidded stare.

“For each wrong answer, I could bend you over my knee and spank you.”

You blinked, then blinked again. Did he really just say that so calmly? Like he asked you to make a batch of flashcards. Heat rose to your already rosey cheeks, and you quickly looked away, feeling your heartbeat just a bit faster.

“You can’t be serious!”

“What’s wrong with that? It’s a straightforward form of discipline, it may even work on you.” The way he said the word you sent a chill down your spine. The word felt heavier, like he was implying that even someone of your caliber could understand.

You swallowed, hard. But you didn’t stand up from the chair, nor did you threaten to report him. Instead you stayed seated and actually considered his suggestion.

“What if I get the answers right?”

You seemed to be endless entertainment to Zhongli as he laughed again before retorting, “as unlikely as that maybe, we can come up with a suitable reward if that happened.”

Your pulse pounded in your ears as you completely ignored the ruder side of this comment.

Zhongli leaned in slightly as he gestured to the study materials laid out on his desk, “shall we begin? Or are you not going to be attentive enough again?”

He was challenging you, skillfully he goaded you

into playing his game, to participate in something where you both knew you were likely to lose. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that caused you to act so desperate. If you told on him now, you could probably drop the class without it being on your record, but a deeper desire helped guide your answer.

“I can focus,” you said, a little sharper than you had intended, “what’s the first question?”

Zhongli reached for the discarded textbook on his desk, flipping to a random page towards the middle. His smirk deepened as he read over the line.

“This is something we went over in class rather recently. Describe the process of orographic precipitation.”

Before you could catch yourself, your face fell. Your mind had blanked on you. And given the cruel grin Zhongli bore, he knew you wouldn’t know the answer.

Even though you vaguely remembered the name written on the board in class, the words didn’t arrange themselves in your head for you to create a clear answer with.

“I don’t remember,” you quickly added before Zhongli could speak, “this isn’t fair, you knew I wouldn’t know this.”

“I just opened the book, I didn’t choose the page at all.” His smug tone was nothing to match the satisfacted grin proudly stretched across his face.

“I also just mentioned we went over this in class so maybe it’s not any fault of mine anyway.”

No use in arguing with him especially because you did somewhat recall him going over it.

“Next question.”

For five whole minutes, Zhongli asked you question after question. Each of which you got pitifully wrong. As time went on you itched for Zhongli to end this sadistic game, which he was no doubt dragging out. Maybe to humiliate you, or maybe to tally up each incorrect answer and actually hit you for each of them.

Your face began to blush at the possibility of him actually spanking you. He probably only said it to get under your skin and hopefully get better results. If that was the case, you’d be very disappointed but also relieved, you didn’t want to get hit that much.

“—paying attention.”

“Latitude!” You exclaimed before shrinking in on yourself. You knew for a fact that the answer to whatever question he asked that ended in paying attention was definitely not latitude and nor would an answer be so simple with him.

Suddenly Zhongli stood up, dropping the textbook closed back onto his desk. His expression was somewhat pleased but also very annoyed. Once he reached your side of the desk, he grasped your wrist, pulling you to your feet. And with a gentle yet steady hold, he guided you to his side where he once again sat down, only to look up at you expectantly.

Zhongli’s black trousers made it hard to see any depth in his pants, but from the visible bulge you could make an educated guess on how he was feeling.

“Must I spell everything out for you? Lower your pants and bend knees over my legs.”

Face falling again, you tried to ask why that was necessary before Zhongli cut in with a sigh.

“How will I know it truly hurts if I’m not hitting your skin?”

That was almost a logical explanation if it wasn’t so sadistic. Your face must have been bright red with embarrassment as you unbuttoned your slacks. His honey eyes tracked your every move, as you lowered the fabric down your legs, then stepped out of them all together.

Feeling a bit relieved at your choice of black underwear, and not your hot pink ones, you slowly draped yourself across Zhongli’s lap.

Only a few seconds ago, you were speculating on if Zhongli was actually hard or not but now you could tell he was as his erection poked your waist.

You could feel his heat from his palm warming your plush flesh as he rubbed small circles on your ass above your underwear.

Then came the first hit. A sharp pain stretched across both mounds of soft tissue, the ache rippled down your legs and to your toes. Rebelliously, you bit your lip to hide any noises of discomfort or the subtle pleasure.

“Oh? After being shown just how pathetic you are, you refuse to even take your punishment correctly?”

The hand Zhongli had used to hold you flush against his lap, slipped to your face and squeezed your nose shut. In shock, you opened your mouth to protest but before you could, a much harder slap landed against your ass. A loud cry of pain— definitely not pleasure, tumbled from your lips.

Heavy tears traveled down your face and wet Zhongli’s pants.

“Two hits and you’re already crying?” He softly kneaded the skin before slapping it again, “no matter, I assumed if you weren’t good at school you’d be good at this.”

“But I am good at school! It’s just your stupid class—.”

A slap rang out in the room as Zhongli delivered the harshest slap yet. This time he didn’t rub the skin, instead he lifted you off his lap and placed you on the cold hardwood floor of his office. The coolness soothed your burning bottom.

“You may surprise me yet with some skill.”

You took only a second to wipe your tears before you heard the sound of Zhongli removing his belt. Instinctively, self preservation won because you scrambled back, hitting your head on the edge of Zhongli’s desk in the process. But shockingly enough, he didn’t wrap it around his hand to hit you harder.

Instead he placed it on the desk as he worked on undoing his slacks button and zipper. Once he finished that, Zhongli reached into his pants to pull out his penis.

Truth be told, you weren’t a prude, you’d had sexual encounters before, none that went past giving or receiving oral sex but still. Zhongli’s dick was pretty too though, a thick underside vein ran from the scrotum to his tip. The head itself was flushed, apparently the blush he lacked on his face his cock made up for.

Still, the size itself was impressive, you couldn’t tell how long it was but at least your fist and a half.

From the angle you sat on the floor at, you couldn’t tell if he had any hair but you doubted a man as well kept as Zhongli would be anyways.

Suddenly his hands shot out and grabbed you under your arms, turning you around and placing him on his lap. In this position his thighs rested between yours.

“I had considered making you suck me off when you eventually did come to see me about your grade but to think you were such an… abysmal student, we’ll just do this for now.”

Zhongli lifted your ass before sliding your panties to the side and thumbing your clit.

“You couldn’t even take your punishment honorably, not that I expected you too anyways..”

Zhongli droned on as he rubbed same circles on your pearl. Though you hadn’t heard a single word he said, not that you had the capacity to do so anyhow, his fingers skillfully manipulated you to putty in the man’s hands. His middle finger slipped to your entrance as he began to lethargically massage your g-spot.

You had heard of that area but, you nor your previous partners had been able to stimulate it the same way Zhongli was now.

Reached a new height as he introduced another finger, further pressing into the velvety zone.

Maybe it was because you hadn’t been touched in so long that you came so quickly but it happened regardless. Your orgasm washed over you like a tidal wave as Zhongli allowed you to ride it out. The pleasure was kin to a hot shower (that you would definitely be taking once this was over with) after a long day. One of those showers that you sit in the tub and let the water trickle down from your hair to your toes.

Once the pleasure was over though, it was done completely. Zhongli removed his hands before pushing you down into the desk, half of your face buried into a stack of ungraded papers. His hand pressed down between your shoulder blades effectively pinning you to the wood.

You heard the chair roll behind you as Zhongli stood up, his penis slipping in between your folds.

“Now that you’ve had your pleasure, I will be taking mine.”

Without further warning, Zhongli began to pierce you, inch by inch he sunk deeper in your quim. He wasn’t rough, nor was he forceful as he pressed on. His hand still remained placed on your back but his other trailed down your side before grabbing your hip and pulling you back onto him. So now not only was he entering you, he was pulling you back to meet him halfway.

Your lower body ached at the intrusion, as low moans of pain and contentment left you. It felt weird to be filled up like this but also so natural. Now you hated not going further than oral sex with anyone else.

When Zhongli was completely inside you, he stopped moving to sigh, “truly made for this. If all were to fail, you could always sell yourself. I’m sure you’d make a nice sum of mora.”

Words of protest were turned into lewd moans as Zhongli began to grind into you, not not thrusting but slowly rolling his hips. Remembering your setting you bit your lip again, in hopes of not drawing unwanted attention.

“Don’t,” Zhongli began to pick up the pace, no longer rocking but instead coming all the way out before pounding back into you, hitting that special sponge inside you. “Everyone has already left for the day.”

Your gasp was turned into a high pitched moan as Zhongli rammed into you particularly hard. Him knowing that no one was there let you know just how in control of the situation Zhongli was, with that came a shocking revelation. He probably planned this all along.

You weren’t given anymore time to think about that possibility as Zhongli slightly lifted your chest from the desk. Now that one of his hands no longer had to hold you down, it wrapped around to toy with your nipple.

The harsh pulling on the soft nub brought out more yells from you as he didn’t relent of his intent to bully his way into your womb.

“Look at you,” Zhongli cooed, “drooling on yourself.”

Although his words were embarrassing, they didn’t register in your mind as you tried to bounce in tandem with his thrusts. At least you attempted to before his grip on your hip tightened in warning.

That hand also slipped to the front and sloppily rubbed your clit, leaving you to support your rocking weight on unsteady arms. The sound of his hips meeting your sore ass sent resounding sharp claps into different corners of the room.

It felt like hours upon hours of Zhongli’s grunting in your ear, the sudden sharp pain shooting up your spine from your butt, him pinching your sensitive nipple.

Now his movements were a bit choppy as, you assumed, Zhongli was close to reaching his orgasm. As opposed to traveling faster, his cock was going deeper, looking to bury its head in your cushiony womb. Merely seconds before him, you came. A second mind numbing euphoria, almost as rich as the last one covered you like a heated blanket. Your eyes squeezed closed as you were captured in bliss.

Just as sudden as it had started, it ended, as Zhongli emptied himself inside you. After a few seconds of his warm seed spurting inside you. The room was still hot with both of your gasps as Zhongli’s musky cologne permeated your senses from behind you.

Following your shared daze, he pulled out of you, allowing his semen to also drip onto the floor. You collapsed face first onto your geography textbook. Behind you, Zhongli’s leather seat creaked as he fell onto the chair. The sound of a draw opening made you aware enough to open your eye a little bit.

Zhongli's fingers came into view as he held a small tablet, “It’s a plan b.”

Opening your mouth to allow him to place the pill on your tongue you shut your eye again. You wanted the moment to never end, the nerve damaging pleasure you experienced tonight was truly life changing, but your momentary reprieve was ruined by the sound of Zhongli redoing his pants. In the midst of cleaning himself up, he rubbed up and down your back gently.

“You’re earned an A for the quarter by the way.”

Quick end note. Do you think Zhongli have a plan b implies that he’s done this before or that he prepared for you really well?

#genshin impact yandere zhongli x reader #yandere zhongli x reader #genshin impact zhongli x reader #zhongli smut #zhongli x reader #yandere zhongli #kinktober

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upinthecloudss · 8 months ago

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HC Time!

saw a picture with the person's hc's of how people sat in the class and got inspired-

i've been having brainrot over mcl these past few weeks so here you go - a product of a semi lifelong obsession.

also these are spanish names so Karla = capuccine

I know that Farres' class is a free seating kind of thing, but I HC that they eventually fell into this arrangement by their last year of high school - i feel that beemoov could've juiced out more slice of life stuff with the class so here i am

lowk i get this from hints from dialogues but these r my personal hc's of how classes would be at Sweet Amoris' Class F (F for Farres, not the grades they get lmao) - ignore the a in the pic i had a brain fart and i'm too lazy to change it

i yap so beware under the cut

Class F

they share all classes in the same room except for science, arts and pe so this is them in their natural environment

the people in the first row kinda keep to themselves

its the last two which initiate most of the banter (ie the twins mostly) BUT others tend to join in most of the time.

the first row is the most 'serious' about their studies

genuinely the 'problem' class of the school - it's either peggy trying to camouflage herself with the couch in the teachers room, nath and castiel on the verge of killing each other, amber, alexy and rosa's costume fiasco, and CANDY capitalised bcus she's genuinely involved in everyone's life at some point (chismosavirus i love her)

they don't all get along in a 'family' sense, but they did grow familiar with each other over the years and there are some very close friendgroups in their class

when they need to, they definitely can unite (they even convinced amber, li and charlotte to help with the bunnies, which was insane to me)

ik that they are all ver cliche-ish characters, but mcl surpisingly made them work very well together

Farres

teaches geography & history but is also Candy's class homeroom teacher

ppl tend to walk all over him which is something he cannot avoid with students in any of his classes

loser man he's v funny to me

if nath or melody are not in class and he asks a question there is always a 10 second long silence AT LEAST

trying his best bless his heart

i hc that the class gave him a goodbye gift of sorts after graduating, thanking him for his patience with their insane antics

maybe something like them naming a bunny in lysander's family farm after him or something as bizzare like that - call back to the time they almost got him fired in ep 18 with the bunnies they let out

All these hc's are about them in the class environment, but there is sm more i have in my back pocket

Nath

his dad's pressure to excel in school is obv influenced him sitting first row

even after gaining his independence, we still see him become valedictorian on ep 39 (?) or 40 i forgot so i assume that he started being more relaxed about his studies AFTER hsl

that's why he usually stays in that seat for most of his hsl

imo best seat in the class if you want to pay attention - close to the teacher but also right in front of the whiteboard

not a teachers pet, but castiel likes to use his choice of seat in a free seating class as an opportunity to call him one lmao

doesn't really care about who sits next to him, choice of seat was solely out of the need to keep up with his father's standards

doesn't mind sitting next to melody, even if he feels a bit overwhelmed by her constant attention, bcus he knows that she's also a diligent student

doesn't answer every question, but tends to raise his hand more than once every class

straight a's - we all know this

doesn't interrupt classes if it's not school-related - so don't expect him to be adding onto any banter that may go on during class time (unless it's castiel provoking him, but he only tends to speak up after his independence from his parents in ep 23)

ppl don't tend to listen to him when he asks for silence in the class (when farres is also unable to shut ppl up prior LMAO)

some ppl tend to find him annoying - too perfect for their liking - but after the whole ordeal with his dad people cut him some slack and realise that their annoyance prolly came from jealousy

sm angst material but let's move on

Melody

(apologies if i'm too mean to her,,, i dont love her character and it's not even about the nath possesiveness, more on that in another post if i feel like it :p)

this simp would have sat on mud in a heartbeat if it meant sitting next to nath

i always hc'd that, even though she is a good student, having a crush on nath actually drove her to be even better as a way to impress him

so, she chose to sit first row mainly bcus she is a good student, but deep down (or not that deep down lmao) knowing that she could've chose any of the other chairs in the row, it's obvious why she chose that specific seat out of any other

since she sits closest to Mr Farres out of everyone and shes also class rep, she's usually the one to hand out worksheets or go on errands for teachers (given that it's not an important job that fits nathaniel's role better)

ACTUAL teachers pet - it kind of annoys most in the class (even irks nath at some points lmao) bcus she always seems to eager to prove herself in a super obnoxious way

straight a's but is the type of whiny girl to be upset at anything less than an a (i get her)

looks down on ppl that don't get good grades and is kinda condescending (i don't relate there)

type of girl to SHHHH people loudly even if they're literally whispering

candy and rosa are big victims of this given that they are (1) chismosas by nature (2) sit right behind her

her attitude doesn't really change throughout school life

if you are nath route i imagine she absolutely stares daggers at us or anyone else when nath sits next to them in class

Lysander

before you pull out the pitchforks telling me about lys and castiel being besties - this doesn't mean that they have to sit together in class

hear me out

lysander is more serious about his studies, even if he is quiet he is a diligent student.

nath actually respects and kinda resents him for this, you can see that he doesn't have the pressure to be a good student that nath has but he still tries his best and does very well in class (straight low a's / high b's student imo)

angst hc's another time i swear

best classes/ones he enjoys the most are lit and history

castiel tends to call him a nerd, lovingly, opposed to how he does it to nath

doesn't participate much in class, but when he does it's usually to give correct answers when the class seems to draw on a blank

or bcus he is asked directly by Farres, lmao

before priya came in their second to last year of high school (my hc timeline but idk) lysander sat alone in the table so castiel would go over and sit next to him if he felt like spending more time with his best friend every now and then

he tends to enjoy his peace, so doesn't mind sitting alone

gets along well with priya when they sit together, but they tend to sit in comfortable silence

doesn't write much of his personal writing during class, he learnt that people tend to be way too curious and try to take a peek

or ask him to read it aloud to the rest of the class - that one lit class was a living hell for him

tends to daydream in class if he's tired

Priya

my beloved,,,, they will never make me hate you

came in last of everyone in the class so she took the only remaining seat

is still a beast in studies so it doesn't matter where she sits - will get straight a's anyway

except for art lmao

type of student melody wishes she were

effortlessly smart - and when she gives answers she's not overly snobbish

shes so ,,,, marry me

who said that

is up to sitting next to anyone that isn't amber's witch crowd - but if she ends up near them she doesn't hesistate to put them in their place

offers to switch places with friends that may be struggling more with classes and sit in rows behind her- she knows that sitting closer to the front will force people to focus more (it's usually kim or candy who get these offers from priya, bcus she knows that they have the potential and priya hates seeing them fall behind - and candy yaps too much with rosa sometimes)

she's always looking out for people, helping with violette and kim in maths with difficult exercises etcetc

i see her calling out an answer umprompted if she sees that the person that the teacher asked to has no idea - if she likes the person ofc

Delanay: what is a mitochondria?

candy: uhhhhhh

priya: POWERHOUSE OF -

ik that answer is wrong shut up

doesn't give two shits about being a 'model' student, she is interested in learning so that makes her a good student by default

loves history - political side of it even more, and can go on long tangents on all the 'underdogs' of history and on giving a voice to the less fortunate

cannot stand when people blame teachers when its their own incompetence in a subject

e.g will get so angry when Li complains about 'how she was supposed to know that europe is not a country if farres never told them' in an exam on the european union

gets mostly a's, some b's big fat d's in art im afraid tho

she knows the struggles of teachers given that her mother teaches elementary students so isn't ever really too disrespectful (with limits, she sometimes joins in on banter)

Kim

has a lot of potential, but tends to be demotivated when she compares herself with the 'smart' people

what she doesn't realise is that she could be as 'smart' as them if she also put in the same effort as them

she does let her grades slip at some point, but she never does so deliberately

complicated history with studying, i forgot if it was her mom who dropped studying when she was her age and then went back to it once kim was in high school (mentioned in the ep with iris' party), but tries her best to not let down her parents

sat next to violette who was too scared to sit on the same row as amber and company, but wouldn't have minded sitting further back

you will never catch her dead getting herself involved in class

during her time being tutored by nath, he challenged her to answer a question in class

he called her a coward, basically, so she did it ONCE to defend her honour

but then once became a few times as she became more confident with her abilities

graduated with b's, even a stray a in the mix

would never admit it but she's very thankful for nath and candy's help and appreciates the supportiveness from her friends + family to not quit on trying in school

if you look at her during class, you will know exactly what she is thinking about - it's all on her face

doesn't understand class? furrowed brows, pout and frustrated mumbling while she scratches away at her page

is annoyed at amber's stupid remarks? rolls her eyes to the back of her head so hard

got a good grade? her eyes sparkle just a little bit, "no violette what are you talking about i just got some dust in my eye-"

overall wins the idgaf war i love her

Violette

so debilitatingly shy bless her heart

will NEVER open her mouth in class

if she is asked to answer kim will jump to answer umprompted, a la priya

"sorry sir i thought you were asking me"

"is your name violette?"

all of her notes have a new 'doodle' in the margins

but the doodles are like

masterpieces

mostly portraits of her friends, kim and alexy taking the spotlight

as well as her dad

and maybe her mom? but she tends to get emotional so she reserves those drawing for outside the classroom

karla tried to pick on her one time for drawing in class and kim scared her into not messing with anyone for a whole week, and violette ever again

people are so supportive when she actually makes an attempt to speak, even castiel knows to shut up with his sarcastic remarks

but then the silence freaks her out and next time u will hear her will be in 2 business years at least

or karla laughs at her stuttering or something (looking for amber's approval) but that happens only once thanks to kim

amber and her friends don't pick on her much, simply because they prefer to go for girls that they are jealous of and she never draws their attention

Rosa

is the type of student to have 1000s of excused absences

leigh signs her permission slips and stuff and since the headmistress can't be arsed to do her job properly she gets away with it lmao

actually gets by well with exams

she already has a dream to move onto the fashion industry so she isn't too worried about her grades

chismosavirus #1 she will always be the first to be called out by teachers for trying to gossip in class

she's always super offended by the scolding even though its 100% true

"i was literally whispering!! besides, your date with [crush] is way more important than trigonometry"

"we had a map of asia on the whiteboard, rosa"

candy always has to stop rosa from strangling amber and co. everytime they pick on her best friend

"it's not worth it rosa"

"you are way too nice, if i were you they would be dead in a ditch by now"

"what?"

does people's makeup or gives tips during homeroom if they ask her to

she loves it

or sometimes candy's hair during class

"this is not a beauty salon girls"

does it anyway

Candy

depends on the player ofc, but she's obviously shown to have high capacities in school if she applies herself - so her grades are entirely up to her

theoretically sits next to rosa, but since her best friend doesn't come to school too often people sit next to her if they feel like it (like our route or alexy hehe)

chismosavirus #2 bcus rosa infected her and also that how she is by nature

doesn't cause many problems in class, and only includes herself in the banter of the class if she is directly dragged into it by the back rows.

sits in front of the witch crowd and is sadly a victim of their annoying teasing

i love her but she cannot defend herself for the first 30 episodes of the series i swear

she does sit in front of charlotte, who is the 'chillest' of the trio so she usually gets peace in class if they feel like ignoring her

besides, she REFUSES to change seats because of them - she would never give them the satisfaction

Iris

the backbone of the class for sure

is surprisingly good friends with castiel so she's the designated 'peacemaker' if its a small thing (not if theyre literally about to punch each other, she's not suicidal)

and also gets along well enough with most people fine enough

"if someone is acting mean it's probably a mistake" my girl is too good for this world

genuinely tries her best but is lost in class like, 80% of the time

barely passes her exams but she passed so you go queen

she's not like, stupid, but school is not the path for her

laughs at stupid jokes that the more extroverted people make in the middle of class, but isn't usually the one to start anything in class

participates if asked to

doesn't mean she gets the questions right

isn't picky about who she sits with, was the only one who was willing to sit next to karla

so that's where she ended up

Karla

so she obv chose to sit next to amber's friend group, even though its obvious she's not really a part of their group

ALWAYS acting out to bully anyone as a way to 'prove' herelf to them

people tend to ignore her, like flat out

she's so forgettable that teachers even forget to rlly punish her for any out of line comments

actually good at school, but hides it as much as she can

because of this, and other things, charlotte respects her the least - shes basically dragging herself across the floor for their approval

plain annoying but forgettable

never really makes good friends with anyone - comes close to it with melody (but them both have self esteem problems and make it everyone else's problem, so ig that's why they get along better than others) and iris but because shes enemy to no one

Charlotte

most 'quiet' of the witches trio but doesn't mean she's not as cruel outside of the classroom

gets respectably high grades, but could get much better if she tried

also strong contender of the idgaf war

but you can never really tell what she's thinking of people when they speak in class

or at any point

keeps to herself and her friends but loves to jump at the opportunity to be mean to candy by whispering shit to her

is the more indirect type of cruel, will give karla the silent treatment, literally does not acknowledge her ever

she hasn't stuck gum to candy's hair by now because of rosa's presence, she's annoyingly perceptive,,,

when she leaves school Li takes her place

outright refuses to answer any question that farres asks her

"ms charlotte! would you mind sharing your answer with the rest of the class? it was exceptionally well written"

"i would mind, yes"

sat there bcus amber sat there

Amber

she is so annoying god bless castiel's soul

sat in front of him as "an infallible flirting tactic"

"trust me Li - doing it in the long run will have him at my feet by next month tops"

is the type of girl to throw her hair on top of the table behind her

castiel tried to cut it once in retaliation once he saw that she wouldn't get the hint when he pulled on it anytime she did it

"he was too shy to try to braid my hair, i'm subtly giving him chances to make him go crazy for me. trust me li trust me."

literally only sat there to try to get with castiel

he couldn't give less of a shit, is incredibly annoyed by her

and chooses to ignore her

has barely passing grades, but she lies about it to her parents

besides, they tend to pay more attention to nath's results

"what can i say, i'm just daddy's little girl"

... moving on

always sprays 2000 spritzes of perfume and chokes armin because she does it in his direction

"AMBER i'm going to die from asphyxia if you keep spraying that shit liquid on me"

"MR KEENAN LANGUAGE"

"i didn't know you knew what the word asphyxia meant bro"

"shut up alexy"

always has the most stupid things to say

it has candy sighing loudly

"SIR CANDY IS TELLING ME TO SHUT UP"

"I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING"

"YOU THOUGHT OF IT"

"WE ALL DID"

outright annoying

tends to insult candy, armin, alexy, and kentin the most but her preffered pick will always be candy

genuinely stupid holy shit

"europe is a very big country"

surprised she didn't fail her final exams

insisted on sitting next to amber but since there were no more tables she just pulled a chair next to her

farres tried to make her move but she ignored him lmao

if it's a more strict teacher she moves next to lysander before priya came in

after that she used the excuse that there is no other seats to stay there

took charlotte's seat when she left

out of the three, makes the stupidest remarks

doesn't initiate the bullying, but its always her just repeating anything that amber or charlotte say like a parrot

literally bird brain

not much to say, doesn't involve herself in class

mostly looks at herself in the mirror during class or browses high end clothing stores online

loaded asf so has convinced herself that grades don't matter

will be the death of her parents one day

Alexy

came in after most people and wanted to sit near his brother so they sat at the back where there were three seats available

armin sat next to castiel because he was more 'covered' by the three girls in the table in front of him to play his console

so alexy ended up sitting alone in the table next to armin for a little until kentin showed up

lowk a blessing for him bcus we all know he was defo into him

always one of the most talkative, or to join in on jokes that his brother screams out in the middle of class

not a class clown, but usually the one to start interruptions in class

he doesn't even intend to interrupt, but he likes 'commentating' on what is going on - his words

okay at studies, is indifferent to his grades and has no pressure to do well by his parents

this seating arrangement was the cause of him becoming closer to kentin - even if they never became anything that alexy would've wanted to, he appreciates their time spent together

teases kentin in class alongside his twin

peak 'people in the back row' meme type shi

brings snacks to share with the back row

armin, alexy (and kentin even if he likes to complain) are usually messing around a whole lot but tend to go unnoticed

Armin

sat at the covered seat next to castiel so that his teachers let him play his games in peace

type of person to put his console behind an upside down book

has a surprisingly peaceful coexistence with his table buddy

castiel hates that he calls him irl table moot

catch him playing on his console 90% of the time - the 10% is Delanay's classes

calms down with it over the years but never abandons his gaming

he's gets frustratingly high grades considering the little attention he pays in any of his classes

speaks in brainrot

can't stop himself from spouting out the most chronically online shit in class

it's so strange one would think he is playing videogames and not paying attention and then will just

"can someone tell me what is the name of the city that is being covered by my finger right now?" "LMAO KID NAMED FINGER"

all while having his eyes glued to the screen of his PSP

only candy sometimes laughs if shes his route bcus she's equally as nerdy

if not it is met with the most awkard silence

he's so unfunny bless him

everyone but alexy question his sanity but eventually get used to it

likes to have 'back row basketball' competitions with his brother (and kentin, who they always manage to pull at least one attempt out of him) where the first person to get a piece of paper into the bin next to mr farres' table wins

mr farres has given up on trying to stop them

he's just used to flying balls of paper whooshing past his head

atp who cares, as long as they don't hit him

or they also try to see whoever manages to land a spitball on amber's head without her noticing for the remainder of the class

castiel likes to join in on that one

Kentin

came in a bit after the twins so had limited seat choices

didn't really feel like sitting first row with lysander and also wanted to have candy in his line of sight so he went for the seat next to alexy at the back

says he regrets it sm because the 'twins are so annoying' but never made an attempt to change seats

"oh kennykins~ when will you ever let me give you a style change from those horrible military style pants??"

"you can't escape from my brother on a fashion mission kenny"

"IT'S KENTIN i can´t stand the two of you"

also okay at his studies, his dad only cares about his results in p.e tbh (angst material again but ill ramble in another post)

is kinda iffy aboout sitting in the same row as castiel but will never admit it

besides the twins are like a buffer zone so it's okay

doesn't stop castiel from laughing at them bullying teasing him

kentin gets so defensive bless him

"WHAT DID YOU SAY- SAY THAT AGAIN IF YOU DARE"

"KENTIN GO OUT TO THE CORRIDOR RIGHT NOW AND CALM YOURSELF DOWN"

and it was just castiel releasing air through his nose to laugh

he pretends he hates the back row but he has to admit that he has the most fun there

made his best friends there literally (not castiel tho sorry king)

and its kinda a release from the expectations to be a 'man' from his dad and just to be silly with his friends

and now im getting angsty lets move on

if candy is kentin route and he sits with her some time,,,, oh lord

when he goes to sit at the back row the next day he is received as some kind of cheating husband coming back to his unstable wife

"so i see you finally got bored of us"

"its okay kennykins *sniff* we understand that we will never be her"

"you are breaking our hearts and you don't even seem to care"

"the betrayal,,, how can you even come back after all that you have done?"

this continues on for the rest of the day until kentin agrees to buy them lunch

Castiel

does not give af

bad boy cliche - sits at the back, feet on the table and doesn't write down a single line of writing if he can

chose to sit at the back simply because he doesn't care for classes

finds armin entertaining, even if he calls him 'irl table moot' and generally doesn't really understand any of his jokes

does find the twins´ jokes funny if its them making fun of kentin

also doesn't care for kentin being scared of him or trying to pick a fight in class

is on the verge of strangling amber anytime she tries her weird ass flirting on him

him being salutatorian at graduation is so funny to me because he proved that all that his teachers gave him shit for "because you will never get passing grades with your behaviour" and here he is

only time he contributes to class is to throw snarky remarks at people - mostly nath ofc

sarcastic man apocalypse and he is their king

will sit next to lys if he feels like it sometimes but he is mostly allergic to breathing the same air as 'first row smarty mcfuck boy" (one of his many loving nicknames to nath <3)

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shifterdera · 4 months ago

Text

Okay, shifters, storytimeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

So, manifesting is shifting (you basically shift to a similar reality, where the thing you manifested happens), which means that I FINALLY HAVE MY FIRST VERY OWN SHIFTING STORY!!!

Yesterday I had to learn 10 pages of information about hormones for my biology lesson, cause the teacher would ask us questions. Every student would get two random questions.

And, well... I read through the ten pages, looked at some info closer, but I couldn't remember all the thousand different hormones. Okay, Thyroxin is for bones and growth, but that's mostly it.

So in that same day Ive read a post here on Tumblr that said that SENSES DONT SHIFT AT ALL!!! And it was explained so well! In the end there even was written, that that's the reason, why you shouldn't care about the noises and your surroundings. (You can read it, I reposted it, it's right under this post on my profile).

So, in my geography class, right before the biology class, I began manifesting that I will get the questions, answers to which I know. AND GUESS WHAT??!!

I was listening to the questions the others were getting and I was realising, the that I know NOTHING at all from what they were asked. And when it was finally my turn.... I was SHOCKED from how easy yhe question were. I got literally THE easy questions.

So basically, I finally CONSCIOUSLY shifted!!!!!

Go shifting!!!!

Forever yours,

Dera

#reality shift #shifting community #shifting #reality shifting #shiftblr #shifting blog #shiftingrealities #shifting motivation #shifting consciousness #shifters #shifting storytime #storytime #shiftin

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lixiebokie · 1 year ago

Text

we can’t be friends

idol: niki x reader

authors note: ik it’s ni-ki but my phone autocorrects it and the amount of times i’ve written his name so sorry

warnings: mentions of fighting, bullying and not eating

chapter 2

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

people at school weren’t very nice.

everyone knew that, they were nothing like the girls at her old school. most of them got along sure there was a few bitchy ones but that was very rare.

it had only got to second lesson and y/n had already left the classroom from comments being made. some chubbier boy throwing balls of paper at her. at the first ball she was curious after he motioned her to open it. inside reading ‘nice specs’ if she knew no different she would have thought it was a compliment but by the snickers coming from behind her and the continuation of the paper tossed at her, it most definitely wasn’t someone trying to befriend her.

she wasn’t familiar with the school at all the corridors looked the same which made finding a member of staff impossible.and she desperately trying not to run into her cousin. if sunoo saw her like this she doesn’t think she’d heard the end of it.

he’d been leaning against the lockers with a few of his friends and quickly took notice of y/n thinking she was a teacher.

it wasnt unusal for him to bunk off lesson, mostly with jake and sunghoon. it was rare for heeseung to join them but he had geography and had gotten into an arguement with his teacher which ended in him storming out the classroom and after a long rant to miss gyu, his english and favourite teacher, he managed his way into doing his jobs for the period he usually had his geography lesson. he wore a smug look on his face as he strolled back into the classroom telling mr yang he won’t be returning as he was doing ‘head boy duties’. but they only took 10 minutes and then he had met up with his friends.

jungwon never skipped lessons, jay was had PE which he never missed and ni-ki was either strolling about looking for the boys, as he never read the groupchat, or in the schools kitchen. his older sister was working part time in there last school year and this for her cutlery course in college. he didn’t spent a lot of time in there but you could find him in there. the boys guessed it was to speak to her or sneak free food but they wondered how the other kitchen staff were okay with it?

sunoo pushed himself off the locker taking the lollipop out his mouth. “what are you doing out of lesson?” he asked.

she stopped hearing his voice and looked at him.

she couldn’t even turn around because he’d just follow her and the last thing she wanted to do was go back to that class.

“nothing.” she tried to walk past but he caught her before she could.

“are you crying?”

“no.” she sighed running her fingers through her hair.

“someone was picking on you?” sunoo questioned with a dark gaze. she didn’t answer instead keeping her eyes on the dirty floor.

“do you want us to do something?” one of the taller boys in the group asked looking at her.

he had a cold expression, his eyebrows sharp and a small piercing.

it seemed like a rhetorical question, as if they were about to start laughing at her. she didn’t know what to say so she tried to push past them. “you’re sunoos cousin?” one boy spoke and she nodded not looking at any of them in particular.

“hey,” one of the grabbed her arm. “who was it?”

she looked back at him. “why do you care?” he didn’t answer his stare becoming more intense.

“idk someone called minjoon or something?”

“kim minjoo. of course.” heeseung scoffed. “we’ll sort him out, no one is rude to sunoos family.” the boy was beautiful, y/n was quite stunned. he had a raveny coloured hair and big brown eyes, a high nose bridge and soft smile. she’d seen him on posters around school but didn’t realise he was one of sunoos friends.

“i appreciate that but i don’t want to get picked on more so leave it.”

the group of boys watched her walk away.

“what’s her problem?” sunghoon asked, sunoo shrugged.

“you’re just gonna let minjoo upset her?” heeseung questioned finishing his lollipop and putting the stuck in his pocket.

sunoo didn’t answer instead taking out his phone. “what cousin you are.” he scoffed again watching as she turned the corner and went out of sight.

ni-ki pushed open the door, the whloe class turned to him surprised by his unusual presence.

“nice of you to show up mr nishimura.”

ni-kii ignored the teacher throwing his bag on the floor slumping in his chair.

the teacher was an old bald wrinkly man, mr choi, he was niki least favourite teacher.

it was unusual for ni-ki to show to lesson let alone mr chois science lesson. but since all the boys had exams that day the only one who he could bunk with was jungwon but like ni-ki could get him out of a lesson.

not long after ni-ki had walked in a small girl had followed behind him. he’d never seen her before but he wasn’t the most observing so he just watched as she waddled over to the teachers desk before taking the seat next to him. oh gosh. everyone knew he hated sharing his desk or having anyone around him, even if he was barley ever in lesson. everyone knew he hated sharing his desk. and no one dared sit near him.

he didn’t bother looking back to the shocked expressions already feeling them burning in the back of his head.

“could you move your foot?” she shook the chair hoping ni-ki would move his dirty shoe off the seat she was about to sit in. he ignored her instead putting his other foot there aswell. she frowned tipping the chair making niki to nearly fall of his own. she smiled at him before taking the seat.

“omg y/niee come sit with mee!” one of the boys whined from the back of the class.

ni-ki looked at girl noticing how she now had her hand over her ear.

“y/niee!” he continued.

ni-ki started to get agitated by kim’s squeaky voice. if it wasn’t for minjoos grown out features you wouldn’t think the 17 year old boy had hit puberty yet.

“y/-“

“shut the fuck up would you kim.” ni-ki scoffed. he didn’t even turn but he still sense the other boys gut wrenching smirk.

“or what nishi you gonna fight me like ben park last week? hm! or do you wanna be a hero and stick up for new girl cuz you fancy her?”

y/n rolled her eyes. she wasn’t watching, she was silently scribbling on some paper hoping something would take her away from the twos bicker.

“the only thing i fancy is seeing you with a bruised face now, i suggest you sit down or i’ll give you a worse injury than bens broke leg.”

at this point ni-ki was in minjoos face, well.. minjoo was at nikis chest. with nikis 6ft height against the other boys 5’6 appearance.

minjoo wasn’t intimidating, and all round looked like a leprechaun, which is why niki was quick to try and shut him up. ni-ki had many a reason for it, he didn’t care about the girl. he just wanted to see minjoos face bloody and bruised with his mouth shut for once and this girl was the perfect excuse for it.

“boys stop kissing sit down.”

ni-ki glared at mr choi who had walking back into the classroom from photocopying more worksheet.

“do me a favour and shut the fuck up.” ni-ki sat back down, mr choi working his way around the classroom.

“um thanks for that, minjoo is so annoying.” ni-ki looked where the quiet voice was coming from.

the girl was looking at him.

he scrunched up his face. “i wasn’t sticking up for you, minjoo needs to learn how to shut his god damn mouth.”

she shrugged. “still it’s the first lesson we’re someone’s said something back to him, i wish i had your confidence.”

mr choi placed two sheets on the front table, ni-ki grabbed it even though he wasn’t planning on doing any of it.

the reproduction system.

you’ve got to be kidding me.

——

at lunch y/n sat alone. she had been unsuccessful at making any friends so it was her only opition.

she’d tried to find a spot away from minjoos group of friends which was hard when he was so loud in the canteen.

leaving her sitting in the corner.

a group of boys filled her company in less than a few seconds.

“what are you doing?” she sighed.

“cant be known for being loners cousin so here we are.” sunoo grabbed food off her plate.

“minjoo said anything else?” heeseung the oldest had asked looking at her with kind eyes. he looked the softest out of them all, or it might of been because of how attract y/n was to him.

“um yeah he was being annoying then started arguing with some boy.” y/n shurgged.

ni-ki side eyed her which she ignored.

“who was the boy?”

“idk someone in my class.”

“well as long as he didn’t do anything to you.” heeseung smiled.

“stop flirting shes 17.” sunoo scoffed.

“which is why i’m wondering why someone hasn’t forced ni-ki next to her!” sunghoon shouted making the two look at him.

“what have i done?” ni-ki asked breaking his silence.

“i mean youre both-“

“sunghoon just stop talking.” jake tapped his shoulder.

she was flustered by sunghoons undertones, she’d never had a boyfriend before. going to an all girls school for the past 7 years she’d only interacted with the same gender, she was surprised she was even able to speak to boys after the sudden change of scenery.

“speaking of ni-kii youre in her year do you know who minjoo was arguing with?” heeseung asked. niki sat back.

“how am i suppose to know.” he shurgged.

the girl better not spill.

——

the boys had decided to have a quiet night in.

well.. in sunoos house, with out his permission.

so the seven of them were cramed into sunoos small box room. it was already stuffy with just him and y/n sharing the room. sunoo was laying on the bed with heeseung while jungwon sat on the floor helping y/n with some homework. the rest of the boys down stairs making some food most probably ramen.

“hey sunoo.” sunoo looked up from his phone to his cousin sat on the floor.

“can i tell you something but you have to stay secret.” sunoo raised his eyebrow. what was so important that he had to keep quiet about?

he hummed indicating for her to carry on.

“yk the one i said was arguing with minjoo well he’s one of your friends but i forgot his name.” at this point heeseung was also staring at her.

“who?”

“tall black hair quite scary-“

“ni-ki? it must be he’s the only one in your year group.” heeseung pushed himself off the bed.

he looked back at sunoo. “ni-ki stuck up for her!” heeseung laughed sunoo joining in.

“no, you should be focused on the fact ni-ki nearly had another fight!” jungwon crossed his arms standing to heeseungs height.

“hes fine he can stick up for himself.”

“yeah and get kicked out of school, and then probably drop out-“

“won calm down, ni-ki doesn’t even go to lesson anyway.. what we care about is the fact he stuck up for sunoos cousin!”

y/n poked heeseungs foot. “why is this a big deal?”

sunoo layed back slightly resting on his elbows. “niki barley likes us, let alone people in his year group and he’s stuck up for you who he doesn’t even know.. that’s not like him.”

“i’m still.. whatever please just don’t say anything he’s already scary as is and i don’t-“

“calm mini sunoo we won’t say anything.” jungwon spoke.

the door opened to the four boys from down stairs carrying in seven bowls of ramen.

“won’t say about what?”

“nothing!” y/n looked at him before quickly going back to her work.

the bowls were passed out and only then did they realise they had made one bowl short.

“sunoo share with your cuz there’s not enough.”

“no way.” sunoo spoke with a full mouth.

the boys looked around before ni-ki slid his bowl away from him. “i’m not hungry.” he pulled out his earphones plugging them into his phone.

“woah, did you just give up your ramen for y/n?”

“no i’m not hungry.” niki spoke coldly.

he was already annoyed they weren’t going out tonight and having that girl there was pissing him off. the only girl who he doesn’t mind around is jays girlfriend sooji who barley is around them anyway.

so he just didnt feel like eating. even if he hadn’t ate all day he just wasn’t hungry.

“ni-ki you didn’t eat at lunch, are you sure?” heeseung took ahold of the bowl keeping it close incase the youngest changed his mind.

“i ate in lesson so it’s not like i’m starving.”

he huffed putting his feet on sunoos expensive desk.

“oh yeah what did you eat?”

“i had gimbap y/n was there you seen me didn’t you?”

all the boys turned to her.

did she?

she hadn’t seen anything or payed attention to niki but she felt if she disagreed then it would be worse than agreeing.

“yeah he gave me a piece.”

“see now i don’t want it.” heeseung shurgged passing the bowl to y/n.

“thank you.” she spoke up. ni-ki just nodded putting his headphones in his ears.

through out the night y/n woke. the room was full of jakes snores and jay on the phone to his girlfriend not even trying to be quiet.

she heard a small pss. from the other side of the room to see ni-ki peeking his head out of the small on suite bathroom sunoo and her shared. she was confused but stood following him into the bathroom. he closed the door before looking at her with his cold eyes.

“listen, i don’t know you you don’t know me. we’re gonna keep it like that okay. whatever i say you go along with and you better not say anything about me and minjoo. got it?” y/n stood shocked.

“what?”

“listen them out there over step and try and find out things i don’t want them to know so if i say something you just agree. hey maybe we will even look like friends.”

y/n shook her head. feeling the same fear from earlier.

“what do i get?” she asked.

he raised his eye brow. “you?” he huffed thinking for a moment. “i’ll get minjoo to leave you alone i know he’s been a pain your ass since you got to school.”

that did sound good.. “okay fine.” she sighed.

ni-ki unlocked the door shoving her out so he brush his teeth.

ni-ki was already out the door before anyone was even awake. which left the others wondering if he even slept that night.

it wasnt uncommon for him to sneak out before the morning.

it was also wasnt uncommon for the boys to worry about ni-ki.

he wasn’t an open character, they are still clueless how they even became his friends.

ni/ki barley spoke around them, never laughed with them, never ate around them, never told them about his family life.

he was kinda just there.

ni-ki liked it that way. he didn’t like being a burden, or being pushed over boundaries he liked to keep himself to himself.

if you seen them you wouldn’t even guess ni-ki liked them but if anyone was to talk crap about them niki would be the first do something.

ni-ki had snuck out that morning grabbing his bike but before he could hop on he noticed a small brown envelope shoved in between the chains.

ni-ki crouched looking at the sealed letter.

he grabbed it looking up to sunoos window that he just climbed out of. it was still pitch black and all where asleep upstairs so it wasn’t a sick prank from them, well also because they were way too scared of the youngest boy.

ni-ki took his key ripping it open.

he forcefully pulled out the letter throwing the now crumpled envelope onto the ground.

nishimura riki

s3oUl aband0neD workH0usE - thRusdaY 7 pm

niki frowned reading the letter.

he crumpled it up shoving it in his pocket before standing and getting on his bike. he looked back at sunoos house one last time before riding off. the boys couldn’t know about this but ni-ki had a feeling what this was about.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

thank you for reading!

[taglist: @yangjungwonnie , @clampclover @yjwxfxr @larnieboox88] purple are unable to be tagged sorry!

#enhypen #enhypen imagines #niki #niki imagines #niki scenarios #niki x reader #niki drabbles #niki angst #niki soft hours #niki hard hours #niki fluff

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gallivich · 6 months ago

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16 jan

2025 #3

hai tumblr lucky number 3 (or maybe thats 7 BUT ILL GET BACK TO U ON DAY 7)!!! School decent now im out the shower with my fingernails about to fuckign fall off ok.

Omg whats so fucking crazy is the dsmp drama atm wdym back in like 2020 i was watvhing them all be friends laughing together and now THIS is happebing. Likeee what. Im so fucking full up coz i ate a small meal like 5 hours but i ksut want mozzarella sticks SO BADwell. Technically called halloumi fries but taht just sounds gross af . Anyway. School. These fuckass boys keep saying i have a big nose LIKE I DONT ALREADY FUCJING KNOW but its so embarrasing coz theyll say it and no one even notices them like ur looking a little desperate. But like its kinda my first experience ever with first hand bullying and im js thinking like this is no fun at all tbh. I JUST FEEL SO LONELY ALL THE TIME IM ACTUALLY DONE lowkey consider offing myself often solely because of my lack of friends. Like thats js not thr wwy to live is it. But then it all goes away whn im back at school so im just waitng. OOHHHBFUCK NO ITS FRIDAY!!! i just like wednesdays and thursdays NO GEOGRAPHY!!!!! I fucking hate geographys nd im terrified of my fucking bitchass geography tracher god shes so fuckijg rude. Okmore about my day:::

In drama my ljke bff (in myclass afleast) didnt wanna talk to me or snyrhjng and i was just ljek. Oh. Even tho we're the closest to eachtoehr in the class and i jsut dont see why not so i ahd to pair with people who are like bffs w eschtojer and i jsut so wasnt feleing it. And then the meanest girl in my class was crying all day and im jsjt sorta like ca n someone get. Her emotional support like it ruins the vibe so bsd. Had a maths test and couldnt answer a single question and lunch was awkward af but i saw my crush alot so idm so mich AND LIKE NOW THAT I LOOK BACK ON THE DAY LJTERALLT NOTJING HAPPENED

Then i went to chemist and boight mabelline like magic stick or whatever tf they call it but it was lokwey in thr weong shade and makes me look like a ghost BUT I THINK I CAN MAKE IT WOrk. Im not wasting 10 fuckign quid no way like that shits expensive AND AFTER MONTHHSS OF WANTING I FOIND BURTS BEES POMEGRANATE LIPBALM. Lowkey shit doesnteven smell very good or tint lips and it made stupid alarm go off snd it scared me so bad what if they think i stole it and thry track me down. Abyway! Im just so out of it today bothing good happened nad im bored and im not excited tor tomorrow but im kinda excited actually because i can yap to friend in biologyfor 2 periods straight and theres a lockdown happening mid geography SO LIKE BASICALLY NO GEOGRAPHY IF U THINK HARD ENOUGH ABOUT IT. I fucking despise geography. YAAAYYY. I feel bad because its almost my dads birthday next friday AND I HAVE NO HFUFKING CLUE WHWY TO GET HIM and my mums lowkey acting psycho af like chronically ill i lowkey in my heart beloeve shes got bipolar like actually no joke i see it in her eyes (joke) but not a joke coz i think she does

The second hand embarrasment when i was scrolling on tiktok with ym friend ya and her "secret" account whereshe posts like intense vents on comes up on my fyp while shes watching LIKE THAS SO EMBARRASING FOR HER ABUT I SCROLELD PASTVSO IT WASNT LIKE A BIGDEAL idk ok i just booked to tommy innit he said give me a goddamn minute i saidbitch pass me the blubt icnalled for the dick not s hfkcjng man hunt!

Today im enjyong mozzarella sticks, glee, sinjin, spice and everything nice, FUCK IDK!!!!!!! Ok idk what to go watch i judt wnana sleep but i haent done ANYTHIGN today so i feelim wasting th eday away

Today im hating being full, my face, homework, smelling bad, anxiety snd everythingelse bad sorry for sad quinn gif theres no normal quinngifs and lwokey mood. Relishing in the fact ive only cried once thebwhole year. Man im winning(not oncluding lowkey tearing up sniffles DOESNT FUCKING COUNT)

lover, you shouldve come over - jeff buckley

#glee #quinn fabray #jeff buckley #digital diary #dear diary #journal #diary #blog #diary entry #mozzarella sticks #school #BORING DAY #im so full #croissant?#lover #oh oh oh lover #OOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO LOVER #u shouldve come over.#but its not too late!

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grecoisms · 3 months ago

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title: sobremesa (10/20)

pairing: lalo salamanca x female oc

rating: M

chapter summary:

“You had a favorite subject?”

“Math”

“Why?” Christ hated Math because his teacher was an ass.

“Had a talent for numbers” he said, winking.

It was incredible for Chris that Lalo had an answer to everything.

“ Remember. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

Stephen King ; The Shawshank Redemption

From the start, Mom was trying her best to be brave.

But Chris could see through her mask.

When frightened, Mom had a habit of tapping her thumb on her ring finger. Chris first noticed the tick at the vigil, when Uncle Tom went to talk to her. His voice was low, his jaw was set. Grim, he would not meet Mom’s eyes. After the funeral, they did not did not see him again. Is Uncle Tom angry , Ella asked, not noting how Mom bit her tongue before answering. But Chris did. It was another habit of Mom. Something she did before trying to soften the blow. Telling Ella, face drawn – I’m sorry, baby, he won’t call for a while .

For a while was something adults liked to use instead of never .

Mrs Sill, for instance, always said to him: Chris, you should not speak for a while. His head teacher often threw him a disappointed look when he raised his hands, asking yet again something completely “unrelated to the lesson”.

To be honest, not many teachers liked him. Milo and he made a list with bullet points. They called it Reasons Teachers Hate Chris .

The list was the following:

Chris asked too many questions. – He was just curious. Wasn’t that the point?

Chris could read fast, but not read things aloud – The words would merge into a line and then disintegrate as he read. The only teacher who noticed this and did not ask him to read was Miss Irmans, the Geography teacher. (Because of this, and the fact she taught him about General Sherman (the 275-foot-tall tree!), he thought she was the bestestest teacher in the whole school. Possibly the world.)

Chris’ handwriting was “ugly as a sin” – Chris was left-handed. The quote was taken from Mr. Grant, verbatim. The comment hurt.

Chris once activated the sprinkler system – In his defense, he was just showing Milo how to make fire by hitting two random rocks together. The fire alarm was way too sensitive. At the end of the day, he liked to think of it as something borne of honest enthusiasm.

Chris once took a lizard to class – Nepomuk, the beautiful sagebrush lizard, who Chris christened during recess, jumped on Mrs Sill five minutes into Math Class. Chris was standing in front of the whiteboard. The lizard jumped right onto Mrs Sill’s head. First, she was screaming at the lizard. Then, she was screaming at Chris.

Chris’ father died – You may think that made you sympathetic. But pity was more the word for it. Pity and apprehension. As if Chris had carried something nasty to school in his backpack after his father had died. Milo wagered this was because adults were older, and were closer to death, and Chris reminded them of their morality. Or was it mortality?

Christ didn’t mind the dislike. Not really. But he felt awful when they called Mom on the phone.

And they always called her if he got in trouble.

When he was the source of trouble.

Yes , in Mrs Sill’s cyanide-blue office, Chris was made to stand in the corner behind a doorlight, watching as his teacher called his mom, mouthing the words; Yes, I’m afraid he is still struggling.

Easter Monday, a month ago, he looked up the word in the dictionary. Children’s Thesaurus. Even though he did not feel like a kid anymore.

to struggle (verb), having a hard time doing something.

Hard time . Sounded bad.

Now, mid-May afternoon, Saturday, with the arms of the sun licking shadows onto the kitchen, watching this stranger wash the plates at the sink while humming a tune, Chris wondered if Lalo ever had a hard time doing something.

“You liked school?”

Humming still, Lalo didn’t answer right away. He finished rinsing the plates and stacked them onto the dish rack. One after the other, he stacked them – neat and slow. Then, while reaching for the dishcloth, he finally turned.

“Liked school?” he sounded puzzled. A smile was playing on his lips. As if Chris sitting at the kitchen table, homework open, phone ready, was the single most amusing thing he had ever seen in his life.

To Chris, it seemed like Lalo was always smiling.

He had a lot of smile-types though.

Smile-categories .

The smile he threw at Chris now was mild. Smile in the making.

“Nah” he said at last, shaking his head. The light seeping through the slim-small windows caught the grays in his hair and turned them silver. The smile shifted into a grin – so wide it turned the sides of his mouth tight. “Thought it was a waste of time.”

Chris grinned back. Today, he found out that Lalo was not a bad person to hang out with. That he was, in fact, fun . Ella and he – they could just about ask anything from him.

“You had a favorite subject?”

“Math”

“Why?” Christ hated Math because his teacher was an ass.

“Had a talent for numbers” the strange man said, winking.

It was incredible for Chris that Lalo had an answer to everything .

“When did you start having gray hairs?” asked Ella, after Mom left and they finished cleaning the table.

“Ay, enana , after I did not eat my veggies.”

“No, reallyyyy .”

“Huh, lemme think… Bit before I turned forty.”

“How old are you, Lel -, sorry, Lalo.”

“Can you guess?” Lalo replied, but Ella was already dragging him across the living room by the arm. To Toto, in the hutch.

“Do you like rabbits?”

“¡ Por supuesto !”

The rabbit was strangely alert as they held her up. Mouth curling into a careful sort of smile, Lalo took Toto in his arms. A funny sight. A small fleck of fur in a big set of hands.

“How old is she?” Lalo asked after inspecting the rabbit’s eyes.

“Eleven” Chris interjected. “Like me”

Lalo held up the squirming rabbit to his face.

“¿ Eres una chulada viejita , no ?” he purred.

Then, looking at Chris, he added.

“You look older, capitán. ”

It sounded like a compliment. It sounded like an invitation to ask more.

“Where did you learn to cook so well?”

“My abuelita taught me.”

“Who?”

“My grandmother.”

“Does she live near?”

“She used to.”

“What’s her name?”

“Elvia Adela”

“Do you have siblings?”

“I have a lot of cousins”

Lalo kind of dodged this question, Chris noted. But that was okay. Each time his mobile phone buzzed with a text from Mom, Lalo pretended not to notice though the sound was loud so it was impossible not to. Chris knew that Lalo knew. That Mom was checking on them. Checking whether Lalo was reliable. But he didn’t make an issue out of it.

For this, too, he was cool.

“How many cousins?”

Lalo’s mouth twitched. So did his mustache.

“ Demasiados . Too many to count.”

He was still holding the rabbit, petting it absentmindedly.

Chris narrowed his eyes.

“Do you have rabbits?” he asked, feeling Ella straighten next to him.

Lalo leaned down to them.

“You two keep secrets?” his voice was hushed.

They nodded.

“Pinky promise?” Lalo asked, holding out his little finger which was longer than Ella’s and Chris’ little finger linked together.

They shook on it. First Ella, then Chris. That seemed enough.

“I don’t have rabbits” Lalo’s voice turned to a whisper. “But I have horses.”

He could not believe his ears. Turned to his sister to see if she bought the story. And sure enough, Ella’s eyes were as round as dollar coins.

“What, like… real horses?” Chris was still skeptical. Horses cost a lot of money.

“Real horses” Lalo nodded sagely. “Around five.”

Ella grabbed his wrist again.

“Do you braid their hair? What color are they? Oh and –”

And so on.

So many were the questions and answers that Chris had nearly forgotten to write to Mom every half an hour. The day, like Lalo, was fun.

They watched Cinderella during which Ella asked Lalo if he could braid her hair. Lalo refused outright, saying she should ask her mother first because he might mess up her hair. Then after the movie, Lalo made them food again: rice pudding with honey and cinnamon – they were just about to eat when the phone rang.

Lalo’s.

He motioned them to eat as he stepped outside the kitchen, his Spanish lilting, short, like the call itself. It was over within three minutes. Chris was counting the time on the clock above their heads, his eyes following the cat whiskers as they turned round and round again.

When he came back, Lalo seemed smug.

“ Jefe, ” He had a different name for Christopher in store. “When you finish, we go to clean the garage a bit. Save your mamá some time, huh?”

Chris frowned into his pudding which was very sweet.

“Why bother?” he mumbled. “We don’t go in there.”

“I can come!” chirped Ella, in tandem with his protest.

There it was again , Christ noted. The strange smile. This smile of Lalo’s did not reach his eyes. Not really. Chris saw it first yesterday: when Lalo talked with the policemen when they wanted to see the house. When Chris said goodbye to Tim.

Lalo was still smug, but the smugness had some strain in it. A shadow.

He turned to Ella first.

“ Muñeca , your dress is too pretty. Your mom, huh , she’ll kill me if I get some dirt on it. Now – he gestured towards Toto in her hutch before Ella could open her mouth to protest – what you will do is feed that pobrecita and then find those gel pens you told me about and put them in order. So when I come back, we can color the book on your desk together. ¿ Va ?”

Tempted by the prospect of coloring animals together and not alone, Ella agreed.

Lalo turned to him next.

“I have a surprise ready,” he said evenly. “And we need to make space in the garage for it.”

Chris felt his pulse quicken. His eyes darted toward the window. The sunny street behind the glass.

Was someone here?

If anything strange happens, call me.

Mom, frightened, reluctant to leave.

Do you understand?

As if reading in his mind, Lalo spoke before he could even glance toward the general direction of the phone.

“Chris?”

He nodded as a reflex.

His phone was not on the table.

Did he leave it on the sofa while watching the movie?

“Christopher.”

The older man’s voice was still light but it did not bear any objection. It was impossible not to look up into his face.

“Your mamá” Lalo’s eyes were densely dark, like a pit. “She knows about the surprise. It’s a car. She and I… we talked about it.”

That sounded odd , but perhaps Mom forgot to mention it.

“Wanna call her?” Lalo continued airily. “Even if she’s busy, she’s gonna pick up.”

True. She would pick up immediately, fearing the worst. Bad news. Again!

I’m afraid he is still struggling …

Silent, Ella’s eyes were darting back and forth between them.

“No” Chris’s throat was tight. “I’ll help.”

One moment he was still watching Lalo tapping his fingers on the table as he finished his bowl, the next, he was trailing him to the narrow corridor leading to the garage. In the half-dark, he caught the outline of the bracelet on his ankle, blinking blue, like a toy and blinking fast, because Lalo was lithe on his feet.

“Ta-da!” his voice boomed as he opened the door.

Better to get this over with , Chris thought though he lingered at the door for a moment.

Inside, it was just as he remembered. Air sweet and sharp with the smell of oil around, space slightly cooler than the house. A cramped space. Small and gray and sad .

“See those boxes? We need to move them closer to our side.”

Lalo was unfortunately pointing the boxes on the left. The Box included. He nearly winced .

“What’s up, capitán ?” Lalo followed his gaze, sharp. “See something strange?”

“It’s…” how to explain? “My d-dad’s stuff is in there.”

Silence.

Chris looked down, toeing the hard concrete with the sole of his shoe.

His chest felt strange - like someone had put weights on it.

“Is he dead?” he heard Lalo ask, and his voice was almost… curious?

He nodded.

“Recent?”

He shook his head.

“More than a year?”

A nod.

Lalo hummed. Chris could also hear him moving, see him crouching at the edge of his vision.

“You want me to move it – or do you want to do it?”

His head snapped up.

Sure enough, Lalo was crouching right before the box, hand hovering just before the letter ‘M’. His face was dimmed again.

“It needs to be moved either way, Cristóbal. Somewhere seguro . You can start with it. Might make the rest of the work easy.”

He pointed towards the other side, to the space between the jam shelf and the stairs. Intact.

“There.”

“C-can we… can you help?” the words tumbled out of nowhere.

There was no smile this time. Only a blank expression and a black gaze.

Then a nod. Once. And Chris felt a relief so great he felt faint.

Motioning him closer, Lalo had some instructions.

“You listening?” and only when he was sure he was, he continued. “I’ll see how heavy it is first, but when we lift it, make sure you crouch. No lifting when you are still standing ‘cause it’s gonna fucking hurt. Show me your grip.”

And he checked how strong it was.

“ No está mal ” he hummed and then waved Chris away to test the weight of the box.

Heart thundering, Christ watched as Lalo reached under it.

And noticed, for the first time, that he was left-handed.

Like him.

That made the weights on his chest a bit lighter.

“Okay, it’s not bad” Lalo thumbed his mustache before grabbing the box again. “ Ándale – crouch down!”

Despite Chris being slow (partly because Lalo kept navigating in half-Spanish) they didn’t have to stop (not even once!) not even when he made the wrong turn and almost crashed into the camping boots.

It was true, what he said. Once they put the box away down, it was easier. Once he caught his breath, it was easier to talk, too.

“T-they said he was drunk” he blurted out.

Lalo was already focused on the next step: eyeing the rest of the boxes. Keen on finishing the task, probably. Mom was like that.

But when he spoke, he saw Lalo tilting his head back. Saw his eyes narrow.

“He crashed his car near the train station, up North. They said he was drunk.” the weights on his chest reappeared. “Mom wouldn’t tell me if that’s true.”

Lalo’s gaze was a heavy thing.

“I lost my papá early too,” he said, almost softly. He was watching Chris through half-lidded eyes as if stuck in a thought. “I was nine when he died.”

This was such a coincidence that Chris forgot his sadness for a second.

“Your dad died?”

“ Sí .”

“Did he…” It felt wrong to ask, but this was Lalo, and Lalo had an answer to everything. “Did he die in a car crash like my dad?”

This time, however, Lalo’s face did something real strange – it was not his strange smile. In fact, he did not smile at all.

It was more like his face folded on itself and closed off to show a shadow instead of a man.

He is angry with me, Chris thought with panic, but then Lalo broke into a grin again.

“ Nah ” he smiled the shade away. “He was just careless .”

Careless… what does that mean?

“Come on, capitán ” Lalo put his hand on his shoulder and shook it a bit. “We gotta move the boxes but we can talk while we do it.”

“O-okay!” he was eager to talk and happy that Lalo wasn’t angry, after all. That was good. Great, even. “Did you move a lot of boxes when you were young?”

“Tons” Lalo's laughter reverberated from the walls. “Now… how about a game?”

“A game?” repeated Chris as he followed him to the boxes.

“Yeah, you see…” Lalo brushed his hair back from his face before crouching. “You know so much about me already, but I don’t know anything. You think you could help me out, jefe ?”

“Oh… sure. Ask away!” said Chris and crouched to help Lalo with the boxes and his questions.

#lalo salamanca #lalo salamanca x oc #better call saul fic #bcs #my writing #yes. this is a chapter about lalo manipulating the SHIT out of children. as one would.

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wyattletterz · 4 months ago

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progress report card ☆ 10/04/25

current grades:

☆ english lit / lang - 8

☆ maths - 4

☆ science - 4-4

☆ film studies / religious studies - 6

☆ geography - 2

☆ history - 4

i was super nervous about getting my report card back, especially as I felt I hadn't done so well on english lit poetry. Turns out I got the highest in my class + a grade 9 on every question except for the unseen poetry 2 as I hadn't had the time to answer it.

I'm rlly pleased with the results I got!! film studies was unexpected as I was a little unsure (but I've moved up two grades from my last mock!) AND I got my first ever pass in science (complete luck but maybe I'm capable of it again). Just need to work extra hard to get my Religious Studies to an 8 and my History to a 6 (which i've been working on a lot) and I'm all on target for myself ^-^

#blog #blogging #gcse #gcse studyblr #student #study blog #study #studyblr #gcse student #grades #study motivation #studying

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casquecest · 1 year ago

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✨15 QUESTIONS FOR 15 MUTUALS✨

Thanks for inquiring after me, @forestdeath1 and @nodirectionhome-ao3 x

1. ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

My middle name is my great-great grandparents' surname. They immigrated from Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland around 1850. My mum and one of my nieces also have it as a middle name, and if I ever have a kid -- regardless of gender -- they'll have it as well. I used to hate it when I was a kid because no one where I grew up could either spell or pronounce it correctly, but now I love it.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

I don't know exactly. I know I got drunk and listened to Beethoven a few weeks ago, so it was probably then. I find it cathartic, and will do it on occasion just for that release.

3. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

Nein.

4. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?

I tend to be rather dry as opposed to sarcastic.

5. WHAT SPORTS HAVE YOU PLAYED/DO YOU PLAY?

I'm reading this as asking which sports I've done in an official competitive setting outside of gym class, in which case, I've competed in: dance (ballet and tap); gymnastics; softball; basketball; orienteering; swimming; marathoning (and other road races); and I shoot pool. I, um, love sports.

6. WHAT'S THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE?

Probably their hair and general countenance.

7. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

¿Por qué no los dos?

I like scary movies, I enjoy happy endings, but what I really can't resist is a tragedy.

8. ANY SPECIAL TALENTS?

I can dislocate my shoulders and belch on command. I've got a pretty good head for facts and figures and do pretty well at trivia. I also do well at karaoke and drawing, and just generally being a consummate badass 😎.

9. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

St Louis, Missouri, USA.

10. WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES?

I love puzzles!! Crosswords are my favourite, and have been since my grandmother taught me how to do them when I was little, but I also love jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles, rebuses, cryptoquips, sudokus, etc. You name it, I probably want to solve it. I also love travelling (I pretty much just save my money to travel), drawing, reading, running my mouth, pool (like billiards, not like beach), and going to restaurants and playing critic (I do this with breweries as well, but not as often). I love trying new things. I'll get too bored otherwise. I also just like wandering around.

11. DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS?

Not currently. Fishies would be relaxing. If I ever move to a larger place where I'd have space for a decent-sized tank, I'd look into having fish again.

12. ALL-TIME FAVOURITE PIECE OF MEDIA?

I had some smartass answer in my head when I sat down to start answering these questions, but it's left me now. Trust me, it was terribly clever and witty.

13. FAVOURITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?

History and Human Anatomy and Physiology. I also adored Geography in middle school (it wasn't offered as a class in my district past that point, which is a real shame).

14. WHAT IS YOUR DREAM JOB?

As many others have said, I do not dream of labour. I just want to explore and be paid for it, lol. I did just apply for a job with a major airline, so, hopefully, that pans out as the position pays well enough and there are travel perks.

Being a pathologist would be wicked cool and suit me as well. Medical mysteries are just another puzzle.

15. WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOUR?

I call it slate.

I'm just going to tag a few people, but if you want to do this as well, consider yourself tagged =D

@tvnacity @thelighthousestale @wendibird @rodiniaorzetalthepenquin @mariekavanagh @artemisia-black @avocado-moon @ladymalchav @casinthegarden @sl-walker @padfootswhiskers

#This is me #This is my face #...kind of #nodirectionhome-ao3 #forestdeath1

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bestiascoaching12 · 2 months ago

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Best IAS Coaching in India for UPSC 2025: Compare Top Institutes, Courses & Reviews

When it comes to preparing for the prestigious Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), choosing the right coaching institute can be the most crucial decision an aspirant makes. Among the several IAS coaching institutes in India, Plutus IAS has emerged as a leading name, especially for UPSC 2025 preparation. Known for its hybrid model of teaching, personalized mentorship, small batch sizes, and a result-oriented approach, Plutus IAS is increasingly being recognized as one of the Best IAS Coaching in India. This article offers an in-depth and unbiased review of Plutus IAS, covering its history, courses, faculty, teaching methods, fee structure, online and offline modes, optional subject support, student reviews, and final verdict.

Introduction to Plutus IAS

Plutus IAS is a Delhi-based coaching institute that has become a popular choice among serious UPSC aspirants due to its strategic and well-researched pedagogy. Widely regarded as one of the Best UPSC Coaching in India, the institute offers a blend of online and offline learning, thereby catering to aspirants not only in Delhi but across India. Established over a decade ago, its commitment to quality education, personalized attention, and continuous evaluation has set it apart in the increasingly competitive coaching industry.

With the growing demand for digital learning, especially post-COVID, Plutus IAS quickly adapted and designed an advanced hybrid learning model. This model provides both in-person classes at its physical center in Rajendra Nagar, Delhi, and online sessions accessible across the country. Unlike many traditional institutes that rely solely on physical classroom interaction or prerecorded lectures, Plutus IAS offers live interactive classes, recorded sessions, detailed notes, one-on-one mentorship, and personalized feedback mechanisms. This ensures that students receive consistent support throughout their UPSC journey.

Teaching Methodology and Course Structure

The most distinguishing feature of Plutus IAS is its student-centered approach. The institute maintains a small batch size of 30–40 students, which allows teachers to give personal attention to each aspirant. This is a huge contrast to many big-name coaching centers where batch sizes often exceed 100 students. At Plutus IAS, students can directly interact with faculty, ask questions in real time, and receive feedback on their answer writing. This environment mimics a tutorial-style format that is proven to be more effective for competitive exam preparation.

The General Studies (GS) foundation course is structured to cover the UPSC syllabus comprehensively within 10–12 months. The curriculum is designed to cover all four GS papers for Mains, along with CSAT for Prelims, and includes essay writing, ethics (GS Paper IV), and interview preparation. The course schedule ensures timely completion of syllabus, regular revision, and daily answer writing practice. Weekly tests and monthly mains answer writing assessments help track progress. Plutus IAS also provides daily current affairs analysis, making students aware of relevant news and helping them build analytical and writing skills crucial for Mains.

The CSAT classes are taught by experienced faculty and include practical problem-solving sessions with live interaction. This is especially beneficial for aspirants from non-mathematical backgrounds who often find CSAT to be a hurdle.

Optional Subjects at Plutus IAS

In addition to the GS course, Plutus IAS offers coaching for several optional subjects. Optional preparation is a critical component of UPSC Mains and can significantly influence final ranking. Plutus IAS currently offers optional courses in Political Science & International Relations (PSIR), Geography, Sociology, History, Law, Public Administration, and Psychology, among others. Each optional subject is taught by specialized faculty with years of experience and expertise in their respective fields.

For example, Dr. Huma Hassan’s classes in PSIR are widely appreciated for their depth and clarity. Similarly, Ankit Sir’s classes in Current Affairs and General Studies are popular for integrating contemporary issues with syllabus topics. Optional classes typically run for 4 to 5 months and include full syllabus coverage, previous year question analysis, answer writing sessions, and detailed notes. These subjects are taught both online and offline, with access to recordings for future reference.

Faculty and Mentorship

Faculty is the backbone of any coaching institute, and Plutus IAS is known for hiring some of the best educators in the UPSC preparation domain. Most teachers have years of experience in civil services coaching and have either appeared for the exam themselves or guided successful candidates. The faculty at Plutus IAS includes notable names like Dr. Huma Hassan (PSIR), Shashank Tyagi (Polity & IR), Ankit Sir (Current Affairs), Siddharth Sir (Geography), and Pankaj Sir (Sociology).

What sets the faculty at Plutus IAS apart is their availability and interaction with students. Each aspirant is assigned a personal mentor who monitors their academic growth, answers subject-related queries, and provides moral support during tough phases. Mentors help create personalized study plans, discuss test performance, suggest improvements, and provide detailed feedback on answer writing. This 360-degree support system helps reduce the burden on aspirants and improves their chances of success.

The mentorship continues beyond classroom hours and is available even after course completion, especially during the Prelims and Mains phases. During the interview stage, mentors assist in Detailed Application Form (DAF) analysis, mock interviews, and soft skill development.

Test Series and Answer Writing Programs

Plutus IAS is widely regarded for its high-quality test series, especially for Mains. The institute conducts both Prelims and Mains test series with full-length and sectional tests. The tests are based on the latest UPSC trends and are followed by detailed model answers and evaluation. Every test is designed not just to assess knowledge but also to enhance the student’s ability to think critically, articulate clearly, and structure answers effectively.

The Mains Answer Writing Program (MAWP) is one of Plutus IAS’s most appreciated offerings. In this program, students write answers daily or weekly, which are then reviewed and marked by subject experts. The feedback is personalized, constructive, and aimed at helping students develop the writing skills necessary to tackle UPSC’s analytical and dynamic questions. This continuous practice ensures that aspirants are ready for the real exam well in advance.

In addition, the Essay Test Series covers a wide range of philosophical, socio-political, and economic topics, helping students develop a balanced and coherent essay writing style. Plutus IAS also offers specialized crash courses and booster programs before Prelims and Mains for quick revision and intensive practice.

Online Learning and Hybrid Model

One of the biggest advantages of Plutus IAS is its hybrid coaching model. With the rise of digital education, the institute has invested heavily in building a reliable and user-friendly online platform. All live classes are recorded and made available to students for revision. Online students get access to the same material, mentorship, test series, and faculty support as offline students. This model has enabled students from remote regions, working professionals, and college students to pursue UPSC preparation without relocating to Delhi.

The learning management system (LMS) of Plutus IAS includes video lectures, PDFs of class notes, daily current affairs updates, test portals, and doubt-clearing forums. Students can attend classes from their mobile or laptop, interact in real-time, and revisit any lecture multiple times for better understanding. This flexibility ensures that students can learn at their own pace while still being part of a structured environment.

Fee Structure and Payment Options

Plutus IAS offers competitive pricing, especially considering the quality of education, small batches, and individual attention it provides. The fee for the General Studies Foundation Course (Prelims + Mains + Interview) is approximately ₹1,00,000 to ₹1,25,000. The optional subject courses range from ₹35,000 to ₹50,000, depending on the subject and duration. The Prelims and Mains Test Series are available separately at a cost of around ₹20,000 to ₹30,000.

Student Reviews and Success Stories

Plutus IAS has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from students over the years. Many aspirants who have qualified Prelims, Mains, and even reached the final interview stage credit their success to the focused environment and mentorship provided by Plutus IAS.

Ritika, an aspirant who cleared UPSC Mains in 2023, shared her experience saying, “The mentorship at Plutus IAS kept me on track during my toughest days. The personal guidance helped me stay disciplined and improve my answer writing over time.” Another aspirant, Amit from Lucknow, mentioned, “Being from a small town, I always thought cracking UPSC would require moving to Delhi. But Plutus IAS’s online classes brought Delhi-level coaching to my doorstep.”

Final Verdict: Is Plutus IAS Worth It?

To summarize, Plutus IAS has successfully combined the best aspects of traditional classroom teaching with the convenience and scalability of digital education. The institute’s focus on personalized mentorship, rigorous answer writing practice, expert faculty, flexible learning modes, and updated content makes it a top contender among UPSC coaching institutes in India. Recognized by many as the Best IAS Coaching in India 2025, Plutus IAS is an excellent choice for UPSC 2025 aspirants—especially those who value small batch learning, quality interaction, and performance-based support.

Whether you are a full-time aspirant or a working professional looking to prepare alongside your job, Plutus IAS offers the flexibility and structure required to prepare efficiently. Its test series, optional coaching, and interview preparation further ensure that students are covered through all three stages of the examination – Prelims, Mains, and Interview.

#best upsc coaching in india #best ias coaching in india #best ias coaching in delhi

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mayisgoingnuts · 11 months ago

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Okay I'm sorry but I'm like SUPER curious and I wanna write this down before I go back to sleep by my alarm

What's it like in Brazil? Like is it stereotypical or is it different?

My main question is languages, I've always been confused about how others know English that well but aren't American or British or whatever. Idk I'm stupid but I've always been curious about that.

School systems, WTF ARE THEY LIKE?? Are they better than most American schools?? (They probably are)

-⚡

OOOO JFJDF IT'S OKAY I'M SUPER GLAD TO ANSWER THEM,, imma try my best to do so atleast

-> It's PRETTYY diversed tbh buut the way most american media shows it is either with soccer, carnival/carnaval AND SPECIALLY ONLY TALKS ABOUT RIO DE JANEIRO FKNDK we don't have only one state I promise (but I can't judge too much I already suck with the geography of my own country imagine others)

ALSO I ALREADY SAW THAT FOR SOME REASON SOME PPL SAY WE LIVE IN THE FRICKING,, FOREST?? OR SMTH. OR GOT MONKEYS AS PETS. WE DON'T,, (someone must have or do ofc but it's not common. Btw these ones are racist don't be like that pookster/lh)

Atleast where I live is pretty simple, with no huge buildings or anything but there is this type of place nearby, it's definitely NOT as pretty as the ones out there but it can nice!! Just gotta be careful with the ammount of people and pickpocket-

Annddd for people in general almost everyone knows each other and is nice about it unless you give them a reason not to be so I'll give a 8/10 for that around here☝️

-> We got english classes and courses!! That's why most people knows atleast the basic- in my case I learned it by myself as I grew up but yeah it's very common

-> Depends on the state, my teacher told me the best public school in Brazil according to statistics was in Ceará and I dunno how it is there, but as a whole I don't thinkk sooo?? Pretty sure american ones are way better with teaching and such specially because we're getting some study app bullshit mdbskjf BUT WE GET THE CHAOS QUALITY WITH US cuz istg there's always a story to tell/pos

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187days · 2 years ago

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Day Eight

I ran my first PLC meeting this morning. I didn't have a ton of stuff on the agenda: some updates from the leadership team, a few reminders (ie- don't forget to submit emergency sub plans to the substitute coordinator), and a request that all 10-12 teachers give the US citizenship test (which is now a state graduation requirement: all students have to pass with a 70% or better) before the end of the month so we can get some initial data. I was planning to let everyone do subject-specific planning after that, but we got to talking about the test, working on special ed. modifications, etc... and then Dean 1 walked in and joined the conversation.

So, hey, that's cool.

I'm getting the hang of this department head thing. Slowly but surely.

I'm getting the hang of teaching half block classes, too. Global Studies was pretty perfect today: ten minutes of vocab practice, followed by a slideshow on world geography (visuals for the information they read about last class, some surprising maps, some data about global poverty and conflict) to get some big ideas in students' heads. We discussed- and in some sections that went better than others- right up to the bell, so that was awesome.

Oh, but there was a solid ten minute distraction in my third section. A wasp got into the classroom, and I tried unsuccessfully to either shoo it out the window or kill it with my broom. There was shrieking, there was laughter. Then one of the boys whacked it with a book.

So... that happened.

Moving on.

My APGOV students read and discussed HB10- the "parental bill of rights," which was tabled last spring. We went on several tangents during that discussion about how laws are enforced, and what happens when enforcement mechanisms are unclear, etc, etc.. Then they read the amendment to RSA189:11 that made the US citizenship test a graduation requirement. Their first attempt at it is tomorrow, so we took a look at the questions, played a Kahoot, and then I asked them what they thought. Views in the room were mixed: some students thought the information on the test was trivial, some thought it was important, some thought that if immigrants need to know it than so should natural born citizens. We got into a discussion about what other information they thought should be on the test (for immigrants and for students like them) instead of or in addition to what's actually there. That was really interesting.

I stayed fairly late- till 4:30ish- because I had to finish the answer key for the test, and I had some classwork from Global Studies to grade. The downside of half blocks: twice as many students as I used to have, so grading takes longer. It's all good, though. I could've left it for the morning, I chose not to. And now it's done!

#teaching #teacher #teachblr #edublr #education #high school #social studies #PLC #department head #conversations about current events #kahoot #us citizenship test #day eight

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newstfionline · 2 years ago

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Thursday, January 18, 2024

Pacific Northwest hunkers down for ice and freezing rain, while other US regions also battle cold (AP) Parts of the Pacific Northwest were under an ice storm warning through Wednesday morning, threatening to add to the damage brought by a powerful winter storm that hit the region over the weekend. Area of southwest Washington and western Oregon—including that state’s largest cities of Portland, Salem and Eugene—were expecting to see a quarter-inch to an inch (6 to 25 millimeters) of ice, while freezing rain was forecast in the Seattle area. Schools were closed in many places, bus service curtailed and warming shelters opened while officials warned of continued treacherous road conditions and the chance of new power outages, even as crews struggled to restore electricity to thousands who have been blacked out for days.

What the Child Care Crisis Does to Parents (NYT) On a Saturday morning last May, Julia Sachdev, a mother of a 2-year-old and 4-year-old, woke up to an email from her children’s preschool. The school—which her children adored and had been in operation for over 50 years—announced that it would be closing in a month. In the following days, she and her husband scrambled to find an alternative that was a reasonable driving distance from their home. Most of the places they reached out to had long waiting lists. Some said their waiting lists were full. Some never even called them back. The Sachdevs’ experience is far from unique. For years, American parents—regardless of family roles, paid work status, geography or income—have struggled to find and maintain stable child care. Research shows that roughly half of Americans live in child care deserts, meaning that they have limited or no access to care. In September, federal relief funding put in place to support more than 220,000 child care programs during the pandemic abruptly expired. This steep drop-off in investment, which has been termed a child-care cliff, is projected to lead to the closing of thousands of preschools and child care centers around the country. Some families are already feeling the impact, and many more may soon find themselves in situations like the Sachdevs’.

Trump's rise sparks isolationist worries among US allies (Reuters) As Donald Trump strengthens his lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, some U.S. allies are worried about an American turn toward isolationism, a shift that would reflect an electorate largely focused on domestic issues. That was shown in polling in Iowa where Trump scored an overwhelming victory, with foreign policy the top issue for just one in 10 participants in the state's caucus. National polling provides a similar picture. When Americans have cited matters involving foreigners as the country's top problem, they most often have referred to immigration and not foreign conflicts, Reuters/Ipsos polling over the last decade shows. While domestic concerns have long dominated U.S. politics, isolationism has grown in recent years—particularly within the Republican Party.

French President Macron uses broad news conference to show his leadership hasn’t faded (AP) French President Emmanuel Macron made a point of showing his leadership hasn’t faded in more than two hours of answering questions at a news conference in which he promised a stronger France to face the world’s challenges. “I still have three years and a half in office,” he said, describing an ambition to both change the daily life of the French and tackle global crises. The 46-year-old centrist president promised “audacity, action, efficiency” in the hopes of strengthening his legacy through a series of reforms, starting with an economic bill meant to boost growth and tax cuts for middle-class households.

Ukraine needs money from the US and Europe to keep its economy running. Will the aid come? (AP) Ukraine’s hard-won economic stability is under threat again as the government faces a large budget hole and its two biggest allies and sponsors—the United States and the European Union—have so far failed to decide on extending more aid. Without pledges of support by the start of February—when EU leaders meet to decide on aid—and if no money arrives by March, that could risk the progress Ukraine has made against inflation. It has helped ordinary people keep paying rent, put food on the table and resist Russia’s efforts to break their society’s spirit. Ukraine spends almost all the money it brings in through taxes to fund the war. That leaves a huge deficit because there are other bills to keep society functioning, like old-age pensions and salaries for teachers, doctors, nurses and state employees.

Putin says Ukraine’s statehood at risk if pattern of war continues (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Ukraine’s statehood could suffer an “irreparable blow” if the pattern of the war continued, and Russia would never be forced to abandon the gains it had made. Putin made his televised comments a day after Switzerland agreed to host a global summit at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Putin dismissed “so-called peace formulas” being discussed in the West and Ukraine and what he called the “prohibitive demands” they entailed. “Well, if they don’t want (to negotiate), then don’t!” he said. “Now it is quite obvious, not only (Ukraine’s) counter-offensive failed, but the initiative is completely in the hands of the Russian armed forces. If this continues, Ukrainian statehood may suffer an irreparable, very serious blow.”

NATO official warns West: Be ready for ‘anything’ (Politico) NATO countries need to be on red alert for war and "expect the unexpected," the chair of the alliance's military committee of national chiefs Rob Bauer said Wednesday. "We need public and private actors to change their mindset from an era in which everything was plannable, foreseeable, controllable, focused on efficiency ... to an era in which anything can happen at any time. An era in which we need to expect the unexpected," Bauer said. “The tectonic plates of power are shifting,” he added. “And as a result: We face the most dangerous world in decades.”

Deadly Iranian Strikes in Iraq and Pakistan Inflame Regional Tensions (NYT) Iran hit its neighbors Pakistan and Iraq with missile strikes on Tuesday, prompting strong denunciations from both countries and raising fears that upheaval in the Middle East could spiral out of control. In both cases, Iranian officials said they were going after terrorists they accused of being behind recent attacks on its territory that have badly shaken Iranians. This month, suicide bombers killed 84 people at a memorial procession for a revered Iranian military leader, and in December, an attack on a police station killed at least 11 officers. The Iraqi and Pakistani governments rejected Iran’s justifications. Iran’s actions came amid widespread fears that the devastating war in Gaza could become a broader and deadlier regional conflict.

Gaza keeps losing communications (Washington Post) Israel’s war on Hamas has deprived people in Gaza of food, water, electricity and shelter. It’s also disrupted communications. Gaza’s cellphone network had struggled before the conflict. Now, under Israeli bombardment and the mass displacement of Gazans, it’s failing as people are trying to connect with loved ones and secure resources. Communications blackouts have also stymied aid organizations and emergency workers trying to coordinate with the local population and with each other. And for Gaza’s journalists, the blackouts are an impediment as they try to inform the world about suffering in the enclave. Israeli bombing has damaged cellphone networks, according to Mamoon Fares, director of corporate support for the Palestinian Telecommunications Co., or Paltel, one of two providers in the enclave. Most of the internal fiber connections that link to switches and street cabinets “are damaged and need to be fixed,” he said. Cellphone towers had also been damaged. “We have more than 550 towers inside Gaza,” said Fares, who is based in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “Most of them were partially or completely damaged.”

Qatar and France send medicine for hostages in Gaza as war rages on (AP) A shipment of medicine for dozens of hostages held by Hamas was en route to Gaza on Wednesday after France and Qatar mediated the first agreement between Israel and the militant group since a weeklong cease-fire in November. The medicines arrived in Egypt and were on the way to the border. A senior Hamas official said that for every box provided for the hostages, 1,000 boxes would be sent in for Palestinians. The deal also includes the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave. The agreement came more than 100 days into a conflict that shows no sign of ending.

U.S. Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen for a Third Time (NYT) The United States carried out a new military strike against Houthi ballistic missiles in Yemen on Tuesday, the U.S. military said, but the latest salvo against the Iran-backed group left the White House grappling with how to stop a battle-hardened foe from disrupting shipping lanes critical for global trade. The strikes on Tuesday, the third overall against the group since a U.S.-led air and naval barrage hit dozens of targets last week, destroyed four missiles that the Pentagon’s Central Command said posed an imminent threat to merchant vessels and Navy ships traveling through the Red Sea and nearby waters. But the pre-emptive American strike also came on the third day in a row the Houthis have defied the Biden administration and its allies by firing missiles at passing ships, damaging a Greek-owned cargo vessel on Tuesday. The Houthis damaged a U.S.-owned commercial ship on Monday after attempting to hit an American warship the day before.

China’s population falls (WSJ) Births in China dropped by more than 500,000 last year to just over 9 million in total, accelerating the decline in the country’s population as women shrugged off the government’s exhortations to reproduce. The number of newborns has gone into free fall over the past several years. Official figures released Wednesday showed that China had fewer than half the number of births in 2023 than the country did in 2016, after China abolished the one-child policy. The latest number points to a fertility rate—the number of children a woman has over her lifetime—that is close to 1.0, a level considered by demographers as “ultralow.”

Invasive fire ants form ‘rafts’ as they spread on Australia’s waterways (Washington Post) An environmental group has issued a warning about the invasive threat posed by fire ants, which have been documented forming “rafts” in floodwaters to access new territory amid ongoing heavy rain and cyclone conditions in Australia’s northeast. Reece Pianta at the Invasive Species Council said the insects were “one of the world’s worst invasive species” and were known to be more active immediately before and after rainfall. They can be seen joining together in buoyant clumps pulled along the current in waters in the Gold Coast region of Queensland state this month, in video footage the council shared Tuesday. “They can form rafts and float on floodwaters and land in new locations to reestablish their colonies once the floodwaters recede,” Pianta said in a phone interview. “Quite remarkable, but also quite scary.” Fire ants are capable of a sting that can be painful for an hour and in rare cases can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction. They often attack in a swarm of ants stinging at once.

#headlines #news

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