#Endless Firsts

[ministarfruit]

WE CAN ROT FOR CLOUT

[skipblebee]

Sv au where everything is the same but it's like a reality tv show (the system takes interviews)

[wardingshout]

another alttp dump but mostly january art block fighting this time

[fairsweetlonging]

svsss au where shen qingqiu can't go through with the endless abyss quest, and is just staring at binghe's tear-streaked face, listening to him rambling through excuses and apologies, not saying anything himself. he can't make himself do it, and prepares himself to die, but since the quest must be completed, the world bends to fulfill it, accidentally throwing both luo binghe and shen qingqiu into the abyss.

the stress of it causes shen qingqiu to have a qi deviation, and together with the sheer absolute force of demonic qi slamming into him from the abyss, he's out before he even hits the ground.

since the evil speech didn't take place and shen qingqiu never did anything except stare at luo binghe with an inexplicable look of resignation on his face, luo binghe is hopeful that it's not too late, and he does everything he can to drag his shizun to a "safe" place once they're in the abyss. now, luo binghe doesn't just have himself to save, but his shizun as well, and the force of his determination activates his full protagonist aura (aka binghe is planning to x2 speedrun this thing).

when shen qingqiu wakes up again and finds that he's completed the abyss quest, he doesn't waste a second before comforting his little demon lamb and assuring him this changes nothing, and binghe isn't evil for being a demon.

shizun's words give binghe the additional motivation boost he needs to start tearing through the abyss to find a way out, and though the abyss is horrible and all-consuming, it isn't as bad now that shizun is here to treat his wounds and comfort him and give him loads of information that, by all means, shizun shouldn't have known about, but he does, somehow, and it makes binghe's travels infinitely easier (and also avoids loads of wife plots shen yuan never liked).

they aren't going as fast as shen qingqiu would have liked, he isn't going as fast, he can barely breathe down here and his qi is like a beacon to abyssal creatures, only barely hidden because of without-a-cure, and he's trying to tell binghe everything he knows as soon as possible, to give him everything he needs to get out of the abyss by himself, because shen qingqiu knows he won't make it that far.

the abyss isn't made for him, both narratively and literally, he can't survive here, it's a miracle he even survived the initial drop. he can't bear to tell binghe, but he knows, and meng mo seems to know too, when he visits shen qingqiu in a dream to ask him how he's going to break it to the boy. shen qingqiu has no answer. the plot has been thrown completely off, and for the first time shen qingqiu is at a complete loss. he was never supposed to be here, and luo binghe was supposed to kill him after getting out, what will happen to the plot now?

of course binghe notices, eventually, that shen qingqiu is slowly getting poisoned by the abyss, and that shizun's surplus of doting isn't just to show acceptance, it's to say goodbye.

and shen qingqiu does die in the abyss, after little more than a year. it isn't even a beast or a plant or the acid lava boiling ground that kills him, nothing binghe could have fought or prevented. one day, after resting in a hidden shelter, shen qingqiu simply doesn't get up. his qi has been entirely corrupted, his meridians torn beyond repair, and he's gasping for breath between every bit of information that he tries to make a sobbing luo binghe remember. shen qingqiu has never seen binghe as devastated and lost as he does now, and it's horrible, but he can't do anything about it. the mushroom body isn't ready yet, he holds out no hope for that.

since luo binghe is the protagonist, shen qingqiu is determined to make sure binghe grows stronger from this all and continues his path to becoming powerful and heroic, basically making it his dying wish.

shen qingqiu dies, and his soul is transported to the mushroom body, but it takes years for it to fully develop, and binghe is convinced shen qingqiu is dead.

like in svsss he gets into a war with cang qiong about shen qingqiu's body, because binghe still tries to bring shen qingqiu back.

seven years later, shen qingqiu digs his way out of a grave and, because there is no bad blood between him and binghe this time, immediately goes to cang qiong sect, covered in dirt, and asks what he missed.

[lumenumbrae]

Remembering Amara - Chapter 1: Endless Firsts

My eyes slid open as the fog of mucus washed away from my retinas and sharpened the blurry texture of my plain white ceiling. I slept through my alarm, but by how much? Awkwardly craning my head, I struggled to make sense of the digital LED numbers and pulled the device forward to get a clearer view only for the thing to scare the shit out of me as it went off in my hands. I muted it, swung my feet over the side of my bed, let out a heavy sigh, and set it back on the nightstand. In only one day, it seems my biological clock had re-tuned itself perfectly.

"You didn't just hit snooze, did you? We're going to be late," a high and feminine voice sang from behind my closed door. My heart sped up. Who had broken into my home? By the sound of her voice, she seemed on the younger side, and if timbre can account for stature, petite. It was best to handle this with a sense of maturity and level-headedness. Had it been a man, or a particularly husky-sounding woman, perhaps a makeshift weapon would be in order, but with the dainty squeal of her coquettish inquisition I was positive I could handle her in a fight should it come down to it. The logic was foolproof.

Getting up and clocking the location of the nearest bat-shaped weapon just in case (my desk lamp), I slowly turned the handle and swung forward the cheap plywood door to reveal an angel. Literally. An angel. Only this angel was most likely human and also not an angel. She was two full heads my junior and had a boyish immature figure with straight hips and a barely budding chest dressed in blue pajamas, but my eyes weren't drawn to her body for long. She had a rounded face pulled tight only against her jawline and forehead. Her fair skin still somehow possessed a sun-kissed glow and was adorned with a smattering of freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her ski-slope nose. Her dark green eyes had a distressed droop revealing the sanpaku crescent of white beneath her iris. The entire structure of her heart-shaped face was framed and accentuated by down-soft and lightly tousled ginger hair. The beautiful thing had its stare fixed at me with a bemused smirk lifting every feature half a hair upward.

I was frozen in her gaze. Unable to speak or move or think. Our eyes locked for what felt like a minute but was really only a moment before the slight upturn of her cupid's bow lips began to sag and color began to flush her dotted face. She shyly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“You can get dressed, you know,” she murmured, looking down. “We’re not that late.”

I fired my gaze down at my body, fearing I was naked but relieved to find it was only my torso left unclothed, my bottom half was secured in some generic ratty sweats I couldn’t quite remember buying.

I looked back up to find her still blushing towards her toes.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" I tried to ask as non-insultingly as possible as I didn't want to scare off this baby bird that had someone flown into my coop.

Mission failed. Her face shot up in horror.

“I-I k-know it was l-late last night and dark but you mean you really don’t r-remember –”

“Wait, we didn’t –”

“Your own d-daughter!”

Sharp pain spiked deep into the front of my brain and I instinctively clasped my face into the palm of my hand in a desperate attempt at reprieve. She let out a quick yelp and caught me as I began to fall, which, being twice her size, toppled both of us to our knees. She wrapped me closer to her, allowing me to bury my burning head into the nook of her neck, but the pain was so brief it was already almost a memory.

“Are you okay?” she questioned, more rhetorical alarm than anything else.

"Yes, yes," I said, gently pushing her away from me, feeling slightly annoyed at my sudden episode. I held the small frame of her shoulders in my hands so I could get a better look at her face. Her worried eyes instantly smoothed out my irritation, and I felt an odd obligation to console her. "Of course I remember you Harper, I was just still half-asleep, I guess."

“No, it’s okay. I know it’s been so long. I’ll make up for all that time though, I promise.”

“It’s alright.” I stood up, and stretched my palm out to help her up as well. She really was light as a feather. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just happy to be back here, with you. Why don’t you give me a minute to get dressed.” I wanted her out of my room, to gather my thoughts by myself.

She took a startled step back as if forgetting that I was half-naked, which was an amusing kind of anachronism coming from a girl on the northern crest of womanhood, if only barely. But it made sense. Mine was probably the first male chest she had seen since she was an infant. Maybe even the first male face if the rumors were true. She muttered something about getting started on breakfast, and I closed the door to her back as she scampered away.

I walked towards my desk and collapsed into the office chair, allowing myself to drop the forced smile that I hadn't noticed had set my face so uncomfortably rigid. Lightly, I poked at my forehead with my forefinger, but the pain had subsided completely. It maybe never even happened. Maybe I just fell from stress or exhaustion, and the story my unconscious came up with to explain it was a piercing migraine. Either way, I was fine now.

I noted the time, 7 am, to try and calculate how much sleep I managed to get last night. Harper did say I got in late, but I was having trouble recalling the exact hour and quickly gave up. Based on the heaviness behind my eyes, probably nothing more than 4 or 5 hours.

The letter she wrote me was on my desk. I must've emptied it out of my pocket last night because it was a little crumpled. I re-read it despite having it practically memorized.

Hi dad,

How are you?

I know this is a little weird, I hope it’s not bad of me to write you after so long. I’m sorry I haven’t been. Really.

I’m also sure your life in Virtopia is great and perfect, but the reason I’m writing is just in case maybe you wanted something different.

There's a job opening at my school, in Amara. I told them all about you, and, well honestly, it's not like there are other candidates. It's yours if you want it. There's an extra room in my house. I mean, I'll give you the master bedroom, I'll stay in the spare room.

Just, if you’re interested, get here before the school year starts. I miss you.

Love,

Harper

And I did manage to get there before the school year started. By less than 12 hours. But I guess the job was mine, although I still wasn't entirely sure what it was I was supposed to be doing. Teaching, I suppose. And Harper said there weren't any other candidates, so I used that as a crutch to justify my terrible punctuality, lack of experience, and ignorance of the job title. It didn't matter one way or another to me. I needed to get out, and this could be it.

I threw the letter back onto my desk and sighed in what was quickly becoming a habit.

I grabbed some clothes and slid out into the hall, without being spotted, to the single shared bathroom. The house didn't seem large, and I was still getting used to it, but I could see how it had the bones to be a real home. A new start.

I shaved quickly, cursing when I nicked myself in a couple spots, and took a quick shower, before finding Harper in the kitchen humming to herself while cooking something on the stove. She was already out of her pajamas and dressed in a pastel pink, almost white button-up blouse tucked neatly into a mid-length, white pleated skirt. I wondered if it was the school uniform or simply her own style. I had just put on a short sleeve, white button-up, no tie, and jeans, which I was hoping would be an appropriate level of casual yet professional for my first day.

“Eggs benedict!” she professed proudly. “Your favorite.”

“It is, but how do you remember –”

“Eat quickly,” she commanded, arranging the breakfast on a plate. “You’ll probably want to speak to the dean before class starts.”

***

I arrived at the entrance of the school a little worse for wear. Harper didn’t have a car, and seemingly neither did anyone else. Aside from a few buses, it would seem everyone in Amara walks everywhere.

The school itself left me speechless. Not as speechless as when I saw my daughter’s face this morning, but as far as architecture goes, not bad.

"It used to be a cathedral," Harper explained. The building was large and concrete, with sharp spires emerging like stalagmites from the roof. It was trimmed in lattice molding, and gargoyles defended the large oak arch door. The five steps it took to reach the threshold gave way to a small gold plaque beside the door. 'Bridge Academy'.

“I thought Amara’s school was called Academia Amara?” I asked.

Harper let out a meek giggle. "The Academia is for the gifted students," she explained sheepishly. "That's why they got the real college campus after everything was rebuilt. This is like a spillover school for the less… intellectually adept."

Well, at least that meant I wouldn't be in charge of teaching any super-geniuses; although, if the rumors are true, even their invalids might give me a run for my money.

Inside, students bustled back and forth, teasing and shouting and scurrying to wherever they needed to be, but my presence around them salted the raucous atmosphere. They slowed, stared, and grew quiet. I stopped in my tracks, aware that I had more than a dozen pairs of eyes all belonging to beautiful young women transfixed on a single point: me. I didn't mind the attention but Harper seemed visibly embarrassed by my side, and once the whispering began, she firmly planted her palms against my back and began pushing me through the crowd.

“I hope you’re taking me to see the dean.”

“Class starts in two minutes. You can talk to the dean after.”

I planted my feet firmly into the ground, eliciting a loud squeak against the archaic wood floors and causing Harper to face plant between my shoulder blades.

“Harper, I don’t even know what my job is.”

“You’re my new teacher, silly.”

“I don’t know what subject, or what time block I teach it.”

“It’s all of the subjects. Every time block. Each class only has one teacher for the whole day.”

I spun around to look at her. “Harper, I hope you told them I am barely qualified to teach English.”

She squinted at me. “Didn’t you teach in Virtopia?”

“That was technically my job title, yes.”

Harper shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I hope you know I love you and think the world of you, but like I said, there weren’t any other options. The school needed a warm body, and that’s your role, at least for today.”

“Then I’m your guy.”

She smiled and continued to steer me with her hands despite my ability to walk on my own, and I continued to let her because her thin fingers and minuscule palms pressed against me felt oddly electric. We continued to receive stares from the few girls who remained in the halls, especially with our new choreography, but I kept my eyes facing forward and nearly tumbled onto my face when Harper suddenly came to a stop.

“Here,” she said, standing outside a windowless door.

“I sure hope this isn’t the altar.”

“No, all of the real church stuff is upstairs. This level was actually originally designed to be classrooms. I think just mostly for Sunday school and stuff.”

I paused for a moment, wondering if I should have prepared literally anything at all. If my memory serves, the first day of classes typically is just spent going over the syllabus and expectations. I had not prepared a syllabus and my expectations were ground-level. I made to sigh but caught myself. This was a new life for me. I could be anyone I wanted. I would not allow myself to become a sigher.

“Well, no time like the present,” I said and burst confidently through the door.

What was waiting inside caught me by surprise. The desks outnumbered the students 3 to 1. I didn't even need to use my fingers to count that there were only nine girls inside. They were all clad in some similar version to Harper's button-up and pleated skirt combo, but with different cuts, colors, and styles, so I assumed it was less of an official uniform and more of a cultural expectation.

The girls were already seated, most of them in the middle or front row, and one girl in the back. Still, even with them scattered, the class had an eerie, empty feel to it. I felt Harper's presence behind me and all my new student's glares bore a hole right through me, so I made my way to the board before they could do any significant organ damage.

“Alright,” I exclaimed, as authoritative as possible, wanting to establish myself as a strong and in-charge professor before any miscreants could begin heckling me and risk plummeting the entire class into a disrespectful den of barely-over-the-adolescent-hill hyenas treating me like a substitute for the rest of the year. First impressions were important after all.

“Why are you a boy?”

I had not acted fast enough. I hadn’t even written my name on the board when the girl cut in with a question that, had I prepared one, would have most definitely not been on the syllabus.

As a charming and charismatic adult male used to navigating complex interpersonal social dynamics, my retort came cleverly and naturally, "Why are you a girl?"

The student who asked the question, an olive-toned short woman with dark black hair pulled into a messy bun that almost disguised the curlicue ringlets it hung in, wore a repulsed expression made all the more cutting by her dark, almond-shaped eyes, tiny button nose, and full lips.

“You’re not an idiot, are you? They didn’t give up on us so much they hired an idiot to teach us?” the racially ambiguous instigator accused.

“Listen, given the similarity of our questions, I think your response is a little ironic. But honestly, that may very well be the case. I got in last night, slept very little, and was shoved into this classroom by my very attractive daughter whom I have not spoken to in years.”

A hand shot up from the only girl occupying the last row of seats. She had long, straight black hair sprayed into a sleek ponytail. Poisonous navy blue eyes encircled in dark ringlets, high cheekbones, and a sharp jawline. She was tall, standing at around 5'9", and had a slim, athletic build. It was clear from the get-go that these two would be the problem students.

“Yes?” I said to her.

“Why the fuck did you just describe your daughter as very attractive?”

I made a slight gesture to Harper who was still shyly standing beside me, "Look at her."

Another hand shot up in the front row, this time from an adorable honey-brown-haired, rosy-cheeked girl sitting atop a pear-shaped figure. She had on a pair of round, gold-trimmed glasses that slid down the small bridge of her nose. This one did not wait for me to call on her, "You don't have GSA, do you?"

“I do not know what that is,” I replied.

The messy-bun girl who started all this interjected, "Genetic sexual attraction is a disordered physical and emotional attraction to family members who have restored contact after living apart for long periods."

“Listen,” I started, “if it makes you feel better, I’ll talk to the guidance counselor after class and square away the GSA rumors.”

“You are the guidance counselor,” another girl in the front row whispered meekly. This one might’ve been even smaller than Harper. Her thin face was fixed to her desk, and she had dirty blonde hair done in loose twin-tail braids.

“Wait, I’m the guidance counselor? I thought I was the teacher.”

Messy-bun chortled. “The teacher for each class is also the guidance counselor for that class.”

“Ah, then great news everyone, I have met with the guidance counselor and he has cleared me of any of this GSA nonsense. Now please never bring that up again. Harper, you can sit now.”

"Oh, right, sorry," she squealed and quickly made her way to sit between a curvy body with long straightened platinum blonde hair spilling down across big blue eyes and cherry colored lips whom I had taken note of when I first entered and a square-faced, dark-haired girl who I hadn't noticed until now. She was one of the more striking students in the class, and given the overall attractiveness of the room, that was saying something. She was also possibly the smallest. She had a messy wolf cut, which served to partially hide her pale face and sunken cheeks, and she was scowling right at me through her thin, rectangular eyebrow. I wonder how long that had been going on. I stared at her a moment before she dramatically rolled her eyes and fixed her gaze elsewhere.

"Alright," I said, trying again. I grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote out 'Professor Reed' on the board. "I am Professor Reed. I will be your new babysitter. Once I learn a little bit more about this place, maybe I'll even try my hand at teaching something, but honestly, don't hold your breath. Any questions?"

No less than five hands shot up, including from my own daughter. The betrayal.

"Wonderful. With no questions, let's begin with introductions. You know my name, I'm from Virtopia, and my hobbies include…" The piercing pain returned and I ducked my head into my hand again, groaning a bit against the sting.

"Weird fucking hobby," the girl with the ponytail exclaimed.

By the time she finished the sentence, the distress had faded and I was once again left wondering if that was even real. I caught the wolf-cut girl's eyes again, and if I wasn't mistaken she looked scared, but was quick to hide it.

"Anyway," I continued. "Let's start with you." I gestured to the girl with blonde twin tails.

“Oh, um, yeah,” she whispered, before moving on to what I assume was her name, but was spoken too softly to hear.

“Great, now one more time, but for everybody.”

“I-Iris,” she squeaked out, even this still relatively quiet affect seemingly requiring too much effort and causing her voice to break on the second syllable.

“Pleasure to meet you, Iris. Next.”

Beside Iris, with an empty desk between them, was the girl who started the GSA tangent. She pushed her glasses on instinct back up her nose and they were quick to slide back down. "I'm Emily."

“Great, and anything you’d like to tell us about yourself, Emily?”

"You didn't make Iris tell you about herself." Iris shifted uncomfortably in her chair at the mention of her name, her eyes still transfixed on the same spot on her desk.

“Yes, Emily, that’s called choosing your battles. Now, go ahead.”

“Fine, I’m Emily, I like writing erotic fan fiction and masturbating on the back of the bus.”

“Stellar introduction Emily, everyone else take note. Next.”

A girl of average height with an average face made exceptional by long, flat silver-blonde hair that fell in loose waves around her shoulders and sparkling gray eyes smiled up at me. “I’m Lily. Um, I guess I like gardening and, um, sometimes I also watch movies.”

"Next," I said, turning my gaze to the far end of the front row where a girl with a fake orange tan and large breasts atop a slim, gymnast body wore bold lashes and mascara to highlight the robin's egg blue eyes she had engrossed in her phone. I didn't make to grab her attention again. Just stood silently for around thirty seconds before Emily came to the rescue.

“Jesus, Natalie, he’s talking to you!”

Natalie’s eyes darted up in fear, “Oh my God, I’m sorry, what was the question?”

I glanced at Emily, signaling for her to repeat the prompt.

“He wants to know your cup size.”

“What?”

I rolled my eyes. “We’re doing introductions. Just your name and something about yourself.”

“Oh,” she relaxed, “I’m Natalie. And I do swimming and gymnastics.” Called it.

"Next," I said relishing this moment as the leftmost person in the second row was the wolf-cut girl. I didn't know what it was about her that drew me in so much, but even this tiny inroad I was about to make had my heart pounding. I kept a calm, demure expression and made gentle eye contact in hopes of befriending her through body language.

“Maya,” she said, curtly.

“Anything else?”

“No.”

"Well, alright. See, Emily, picking your battles," I joked to hide my disappointment. "I already know you, Harper, so we'll skip." She somehow looked hurt by that comment, but it felt silly to ask her to introduce herself when everyone here knew each other already besides me. "Next."

The platinum blonde to Harper’s right seemed to be waiting for this very moment, “I’m Ava, James! Don’t you remember me?”

“First off, Professor Reed. Second, no.”

She flashed a fake pout, "Well that's okay, I'm over basically every day, so I'm sure we'll get re-acquanited real well, James.”

Harper was looking at her horrified.

“Next.”

“I’m Kira,” said a pale, smooth-skinned girl with short, choppy hair dyed black with streaks of vibrant pink and blue. Her hazel eyes were slightly down-turned, giving her a sultry look, and her thin-lipped mouth held the perpetual expression of disapproval. "I play guitar."

“Next,” I said, this time tinged with a touch of acidity because we had now reached the messy-bun girl.

“Sofia,” she replied just as gruffly. “And before you start acting like a bitch to me, just know if you really plan on doing nothing as our teacher, you’ll need my help to pull it off.”

I quickly switched to a much more cheery tone, "Noted. Next."

Finally, we reached Miss Ponytail. She looked displeased being forced to communicate with me.

“Amber.” she finally said.

“What types of things do you like to do, Amber?”

“Pass.”

"Now, Emily, remember what I said about picking your battles." I turned back to Amber. "Really, I insist. Why don't you come up to the front of the class and tell everyone a little bit about yourself."

“Everyone here fucking knows me.”

Emily’s hand shot up.

“Yes, Emily?”

“I can tell you all about, Amber.”

“Okay, please do.”

Amber stood up from her seat, looking a little bit frightened.

"Fine," she said before Emily could get a word out. She put on a fake, cutsie falsetto, "I'm Amber, I love taking in stray kittens and watching anime." She just as quickly dropped the voice, "We good?"

“That was perfect, everybody clap for Amber please.”

Emily and Ava were the only two to clap. The betrayal.

I sat at my desk and stared at my new class. Certainly, some of them would need some work. Some would require having their edges smoothed out and others, like Iris, might need some help finding their voice. But overall, I was happy with my students. For what they lacked in personality they more than made up for in hotness.

I glanced back toward Maya. She had returned to staring at me. This time continuing unbroken even when our eyes met. Neither of us blinked as we continued to fix our gazes on each other’s faces.

"Um, Maya, why are you glaring at my dad?" Harper half-whispered, leaning towards her.

“I’m waiting for him to tell us what we’re supposed to be doing.”

There was a small murmur of agreement among her peers, and I met it with a shrug. “Whatever you want, I don’t have anything planned.”

“There are five hours left in class,” Sofia scolded.

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” I replied.

“Okay, then can you at least help us pass some of that time by explaining why you’re here?”

“I’m the new teacher, and guidance counselor, I guess. What do you mean?”

“No one immigrates here from Virtopia, least of all men.”

"Well, first of all, if no one immigrates here, there can't be a least of all. Second, I did, and I'm a man, so I think men actually account for 100% of your immigration."

“Um,” Harper raised her hand tentatively.

“Yes, Harper.”

“I can try and explain it.” Everyone in unison turned to her and she lowered her hand coyly. “So, the dean actually came and found me a few months ago and asked about my dad. She said she knew he was a teacher in Virtopia, and we desperately needed new teachers here, and so I wrote and asked him to come.”

“Why a man, though?” Sofia pressed.

“There’s no law forbidding men from moving to Amara,” Maya said, surprising me.

“Okay, so the rumors are true then.” I took the moment to quell my own curiosity.

Maya turned to me. “Why don’t you tell me what you’ve heard about Amara and I can tell you what’s true.”

"That it's basically a society of super-intelligent women with no men allowed."

She let out a disappointed sigh. "As you know, after NovaCorp petitioned the government to abandon fiat currency in lieu of their own cryptocurrency, they used their new monopolization of the dollar to start a high-tech metaverse city, Virtopia." She was right, I did already know that. I was there when it happened 10 years ago.

"Those wary of the city just becoming a company-town for a megacorporation wherein residents would be dependent on a fake currency only usable inside city limits decided to stay behind." I'm not entirely sure I knew that. I knew some people stayed behind, but all the news inside Virtopia just said that they were heathens or anarchists. It wasn't until well after Amara's incorporation that news began to leak of there being a super society of women. It was always just rumors, though.

"The fact that most people who did not migrate to Virtopia just so happened to be women and of higher IQ is up to anyone's interpretation. But, because there were so many resources freed up from 90% of the population exiting, because the overall average intelligence level had increased significantly, and because there were far fewer men which lead to much less crime and fighting, those outside of Virtopia's walls did create their own parallel society under a new economic structure which does not include traditional commerce, and named it Amara. So, yes Professor, it does consist primarily, though not exclusively, of women who have a higher average intelligence level than those in Virtopia; and yes, it is currently experiencing what might be called a technological and research revolution. You get a C minus." Maya wrapped up.

“Well that is the most I’ve gotten you to talk all day, so I give myself an A plus.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes again.

“So, how do y’all have kids?” I asked.

“By having sex,” Emily answered.

"Just so we're all on the same page, I know how kids are made. I meant here, in Amara."

“Our birthrate is extremely low,” Lily answered softly. “Like, 0.3 or something.”

"To be clear," Sofia said, "since you don't seem like you know much, a society's target birthrate to at the very least replace its citizens each year is 2.1."

“I did not know that,” I admitted. “See, you’re helping already, Sofia.”

“And I’m guessing that’s why the dean asked Harper to bring you here,” Emily said. “To breed all of us.”

“Wait, what?” Natalie, who had until this point been staring at her phone again, exclaimed.

“And you’ll be the first to bat, Natalie. Your body is in pristine condition—definitely the best to bear children. I think we could probably get at least 20 or so out of you before you’re too old and weak. Maybe we’ll even get lucky and a few will be twins or even triplets.”

“Wait, what?” Natalie said again, fear clouding her eyes.

"It makes sense. We're the Bridge Academy. The rejects. Good for jack all except mindless reproduction. Maybe if you weren't on your phone so much you would've done better on your exams."

The chatter continued, and I let the conversation progress untethered as I leaned back into my chair and closed my eyes. Their voices became gargled and distorted as I slowly drifted into sleep.

When he wakes up he finds himself tied to a wooden chair. His sweet, darling daughter is knelt before him, taking care to wash his bare feet.

“This will make you love me, right?” she asks, her voice a shiver reverberating against the cold metal box they exist in, its echo decaying into a descending harmony.

“No, right?” she continues. “Because I know what you really want. All you ever wanted.”

She stands before him, cloaked in an ill-fitting sundress as if to hide her proportions. Coquettishly, she peers off to one side and begins to lift the dress, slowly. She reveals the pale, smooth curve of her stick-thin thighs, higher and higher. It becomes obvious she isn’t wearing any underwear. But where her sweet, innocent, unused pussy should be is a different kind of gash. One made presumably with a hunting knife or hacksaw. Wide, bloody, lined in the yellow and white enamel of fat particles and gaping to reveal her innards had been scooped out. No uterus or intestines or anything, just the red lining of her cavity walls.

“I had to make it myself,” she whispers. “I hope it’ll still work. I tried real hard.”

She reaches forward, and undoes his zipper, pulling out his cock. He is rock-hard, and she smirks at him. She lowers the wound on top of him and due to its sheer size, he slides in easily. Although, there isn't much friction in a cavernous space such as a carved-out stomach. He curses his luck.

“Oh, don't worry, I think I can help with that," she says, reading his mind. She really is the best daughter a guy could ask for. Soon, a warm slithering sensation encases his penis, and then another, and another, one of which even begins trying to protrude down his urethra, although without much success. He curses his luck.

Looking down at what was mimicking the multiplicity of tongues so well, he is pleasantly surprised to see the pseudo-blowjob is the result of half a dozen or so slugs that had crawled from her torso and around his dick. She must have been breeding them in there for some time, because these were fully mature, adult slugs. He surrenders euphorically to the sucking and crawling and biting of these majestic creatures, and so is understandably upset when someone decides to interrupt him.

“Don't you think it's a little early for this?" she asks. He tilts his head to wolf-cut girl. The bitch. So rude to him. And ruining this lovely father-daughter moment, to boot. He would need to teach her a lesson.

Oh wait, that's right, he doesn't teach. That's like his whole thing. He begins to laugh, and wolf-cut girl sighs. Goddamn, that girl is such a sigher. Not like him. He would never let himself become a sigher.

I shot up at the feeling of a small hand squeezing my shoulder.

“Wakey-wakey! I think you should probably go talk to the dean before she leaves for the day.”

I took a moment to gather my bearings. I had fallen asleep at my desk. The girl waking me was Harper. Every other student seemed to have left already.

“Is school over?”

“Yup!”

“Oh, alright. Then yeah, I’ll go talk to the dean. Can you wait up for me? I don’t quite have the route home memorized yet.”

“Of course we’re walking home together!” she proclaimed, insulted.

“Alright, and would you also mind pointing me in the direction of the dean?”

The two of us exited the classroom, and Harper lead me down the hallway, where students continued to deposit their books into lockers, talk to friends, and prepare to go home. Again, my presence had an outsized effect on the space and whispers began to emanate from all around us. In response, Harper just grabbed my hand to lead me faster, but the physical touch caused a collective gasp from those watching. She shifted her head to flash me a smile as if that was her intent.

We hardly made it down the first hallway before we were stopped. Sofia stood before us, intentionally blocking our path. No longer shielded by her desk, I could see she was a few inches shorter than Harper, although likely still breaking 5 feet by an inch or two. I was also disappointed to find I could not quite make out any sort of body type thanks to her shirt and skirt being two sizes too large. Well, at least it left more to the imagination. I also noted she was holding a booklet of some sort. She lifted the bound paper array and pressed it into my chest before making to walk off.

“Any sort of context, or…?”

"It's from the dean," she said, ceasing her walk, but keeping her back to me. "It's logistics about your job and expectations and stuff. I figure it's best if you leave most of the interfacing between the administration and our class to me. I think you could potentially speed-run getting fired if first impressions are anything to go off of."

“And? Why do you care?”

She turned to face me, “I don’t know what happens to our class if they can’t staff a teacher. Even for Bridgers, your class specifically is the lowest performing, and frankly, they’d probably end up just kicking all of them out or something. A teacher with zero expectations who just plans on handing out A’s might actually be the best thing for them.”

“You’re talking like you’re not also part of the class.”

“I ended up with these idiots for different reasons. Reasons that aren’t any of your business.” She spun back around and walked off.

“Well then, that’s that. Ready to go home?” Harper beamed up at me, still gripping my hand.

“Is what she said true? Am I in charge of the dummies?”

That dampened Harper’s expression. “A lot of the girls are actually really smart. They just don’t always do their best academically for various reasons. But with you here, I’m sure you can turn them around!”

“What about you? Are you dumb or just troubled?”

If my previous statement dampened her expression, this extinguished it. Her eyes drifted off into space and she spoke with stoicism, "I did fine in high school, but I mean, you know what happened my senior year. And I guess after that, I just gave up on finals."

I did not know what happened her senior year, but given her demeanor, I figured it was best not to push it. "Ok, well then. Home?"

I watched as she intentionally compartmentalized whatever had just ailed her and in record time return to her bubbly disposition. With a smile, she pulled me towards the exit, through a gaggle of girls who coagulated at the bottom of the stoop, past the brass gates, and down half a block before she finally found it prudent to drop my hand. I suppose without an audience, it was less significant.

"Oh, by the way, Ava and Maya are sleeping over tonight," she informed.

“Maya? You two are friends?”

She stopped under the shade of a cherry blossom. The sun was only a few hours past its peak and its heat pulsed oppressively from the concrete sidewalk all around us. The slight cover provided by the tree made me realize how hot it really was. The early morning was cooler, but still warm enough for the button T-shirt I was wearing, which should’ve been some indication of how aggressive the afternoons would be. Harper’s cheeks were flushed with heat, and I could see beads of sweat forming at her hairline. She wiped them with the back of her hand before they had a chance to travel down the tight flesh of her forehead.

“Yeah, Ava, Maya, and I are best friends.”

“And what’s Ava’s deal, why was she being weird to me today?”

Harper's cheeks surprised me by turning even redder but she managed to maintain eye contact through her embarrassment, "She somehow got it in her head that she's in love with you. I'm sure she'll get over it."

“And how did she get that into her head?”

"Well, we were both practically joined at your hip when we were little," she murmured. “I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder and all..” she trailed off. "But don't worry, I'd never let her steal you," she flashed eyes at me as if that were supposed to mean something. Before I could reply, she spun graciously, her skirt billowing into a cone, and began a light skip back into the atrocious sunlight, leaving me to reluctantly follow.

***

I stared at the packet Sofia had given to me. It taunted me from its post atop my desk, next to the half-crumpled letter of Harper's. This was a watershed moment for me. I could do my due diligence and read the thing, and even if I chose to ignore its contents, I would at least be aware of them. Or I could make a firm commitment here and now to completely abscond any remote possibility of taking my job seriously and burn it. When I thought about it like that, the choice became clear.

I grabbed the thick, three-hole-punched pariah and took it to the kitchen. Harper was taking a shower before the girls arrived, so it was just me and my matches for the time being. I caught the corner of the pages under the lick of the torch but it took some creative maneuvering for the fire to light in earnest. Soon, however, it was a behemoth of a flame. I dropped it into the metal basin of the sink and watched the pyre rise at least a meter tall, just short enough to not catch the cabinets.

“What are you burning?”

I turned to find Maya in the foyer, presumably having just entered from outside. She was still removing her shoes. She had changed out of her school clothes and was in a gray t-shirt that hugged a torso thin enough my hands could nearly encircle its circumference. And jeans.

“The teacher’s manual.”

"Really?" Her brows creased in concern as she walked into the kitchen. She was short. More than a foot under me, and she had to tilt her head upward to make eye contact.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Funny.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? Walking into your teacher’s house without even bothering to knock.”

She gave me a piercing scowl. “Your house? Last I checked this was Harper’s house.”

“I sleep in the master bedroom, I figure it’s my house.”

“You made Harper move bedrooms?”

“She offered.”

"James!" Ava was now in the same one-legged flamingo stance at the entryway, stumbling to remove both her shoes. She had also changed into more casual clothes, which for her was a blue tracksuit, the zipper fighting to stay up against her pressing breasts.

“You girls are very quiet, I need to add a bell to this door.”

She ran past Maya and into my chest, wrapping her arms around me. "Are you excited to spend the night with us?" she asked without letting go. "We can watch movies and gossip about all the shitty girls in our class and you can tell me everything about Virtopia." Her voice was a little muffled because her nose was buried in my sternum.

"That is not what is going to happen," Maya said, matter of factly. "In fact, Professor Reed was just on his way to his room so he could leave us alone for the rest of the night, and with any luck, forever."

Ava twirled away from my chest but kept her back pressed against my torso so that I could feel the softness of her butt dig into my leg. "You think the first night in over a decade I get to spend in the same home as the love of my life we'll be separated?"

“Fine, you go join him. I, however, will mathematically discern which area of the property is farthest away from both of you and spend my night there.”

Ava twirled again to face me, this time seductively placing a palm on my pec and tip-toeing to get her face marginally closer to mine, managing to get her eyes about lip level to me.

“How does that sound, James?” she purred. “You and me, alone, all night?”

"Well, I certainly wouldn't say no," I replied.

“W-what is going on?”

All of us turned to find Harper, hair still wet and slick against her scalp and dressed in only a towel, staring at us in horror.

“James and I are planning on running away together,” Ava smirked.

“I was just trying not to choke on my own vomit,” Maya deadpanned.

“What’s burning?” Harper asked, the flames behind us still fighting for life, albeit much smaller.

“The booklet Sofia gave me.”

“There’s so much happening!” Harper stomped. “Ava! Maya! Come with me!" She stormed forward and tugged at the two girls, dragging them into her bedroom and leaving me alone in the slightly smokey living area. Before leaving, I went to make sure the embers were entirely out, and at the bottom of the ash pile something reflected in the light. I reached for it and found myself holding a gray metallic card with my name engraved across it. It seemed important, so I pocketed it.

I fiddled around, not doing much for a few hours, debating how inappropriate it would be for me to crash the girls’ party. Ava and Harper would surely be delighted to have me, but I figured it was best not to overstep my bounds around Maya too much in one day. She was sort of like a feral cat. You had to slowly insert yourself into their life, more and more each day, until they ease into the thought of domestication as if it was their idea all along.

So, instead, I just listened to their laughs and loud conversation muffled through the thin walls while I stared up at my ceiling. Well, I listened to Ava and Harper’s laughs and conversation. If Maya talked at all, it was not audible. And something told me the girl was not one to laugh, at least not so freely.

It was obvious the girls would be up late into the night, and part of me wanted to remind them we all had school tomorrow. But I decided against it. Contemplating if I was even drowsy enough to fall asleep, it struck me that Harper had the right idea. I was still slicked in sticky salt from the hot walk home, and a shower would probably put me to sleep.

I stripped out of my button-up and jeans, and instead of grabbing anything new, just walked to the bathroom in my underwear.

The warm water was just the ticket as it melted my tensed muscles and washed away the summer swelter. I took my time, cleaning my hair and face and body, and then just standing under the stream before finally feeling at ease enough to crawl into bed and drift off.

Cutting water to the shower, I swung back the curtain and found that there were no towels. The one Harper took to her room must've been the last clean one. I should reprimand her for this later as her father. I very nearly almost sighed but was quick to catch myself. It wasn't a big deal. It'd take no more than 5 minutes to just let myself air dry in the tub, at least to the degree that I wasn't dripping, and then I could just go under my covers a little bit damp.

After letting myself air dry for a little while, I stepped from the shower just as the door to the bathroom opened and shut and one of the girls walked in absentmindedly. I noticed her before she noticed me, but when she finally did look up, Ava froze like a deer in headlights. First, she made eye contact, but as the reality of the situation sunk in, she slowly turned her gaze down until she set her wide-eyed stare directly on my flaccid penis.

The expression of shock and slightly agape mouth was almost comical, and I waited a few beats for her to do or say something, but it quickly became apparent she truly was frozen.

“Can I help you with something, Ava?” I asked.

“Sorry,” she muttered, not moving her eyes and barely moving her mouth, “I heard the shower turn off a few minutes ago and thought you went back to your room.”

“Nope. Still here. Harper took the last towel so I was letting myself air dry.”

"Oh," she murmured, and then, as if some struggling synapse finally managed to fire off, she snapped back. "Oh! Oh my God, I'm so sorry." She slapped her right hand over her eyes. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know why I – I’ll just…”

“Why don’t you just hand me my underwear. They’re right next to you, by the sink.”

“Your underwear? You want me to t-touch your underwear?”

“Weren’t you just talking about spending the night alone with me a few hours ago? This seems like small potatoes.”

"Small potatoes, yup, this is just small potatoes," she chanted to herself, one hand still covering her eyes and the other blindly grasping at the countertop in search of my boxers. It took her a couple tries, but she managed to find them, and holding them outstretched before her, pinched between her thumb and the knuckle of her index, she began to slowly take a few steps towards me.

I was going to just swipe them out of her hand and save her from this clearly tortuous task, despite how amusing I found it, but her blind grace betrayed her and she slipped on the still slick tile floor and I had to switch tacks to saving her from chipping a tooth. I tried to catch her under her armpits, but she stumbled forward more than I was expecting and toppled me onto my back, sending a jolt of pain up my tailbone.

I whistled through my teeth and clenched my eyes until the pain faded to a dull throb and then glanced forward to find I had indeed mostly broken Ava’s fall, her torso laid flat across my thighs and her face… Right next to my dick.

She no longer had her eyes pressed shut. In fact, it would seem she had reverted to her earlier plegic state of wide-eyed astonishment. Her mouth close enough to lick it if she wanted to, her silky smooth hair splayed out, mingling with my own pubic hair, and her giant blue eyes affixed on my cock, I was entirely helpless as the tantalizing combination forced me into a full erection.

At the very least, this helped break Ava from her comatose. She brought herself up to her elbows, her arms straddling my thigh which rubbed against her clothed breasts. The zipper of her jacket was pulled half down, and braless cleavage began to spill out. Instead of pulling away, she used the position to get a closer look.

“Why did it get so big?” she asked, her voice a low whisper. I could now feel the warm breath from her nostrils beating against my shaft.

“They didn’t teach you this stuff in high school?”

"I know what a boner is. Why is it the size of my forearm?" she asked, casting me a cautious glance.

“That’s a little bit of an exaggeration,” I said.

Without hesitation, she shifted her weight to her left side and pressed her right forearm against my penis. They were roughly the same width and length. She struck an accusatory look.

“Don’t give me that, it wasn’t my decision,” I said.

“How does this fit inside people?” she asked. The soft crushed velvet fabric of her sleeve was still pressed tightly down against me. Every small movement I made grinded against it. She didn't seem aware though as she stared at me in curiosity.

"Maybe you can find out someday," I told her, taking careful breaths in to avoid becoming overstimulated.

She blushed and the combination of her platinum hair, blue eyes, and pastel-pink face gave off an Easter palate of sorts.

“W-well, m-maybe…” she seemed to be working up the courage to retort with something.

“Ava! Where are you?” I heard Harper yell from around the living room area.

“Shit!” Ava whispered, jumping to her feet.

"I swear if you're in Dad's room!"

“N-no, I’m using the toilet!” she called out, her voice trembling.

“Is everything okay?” Harper asked, now directly outside the door.

“Yes! It’s fine! Everything’s fine! Just give me a minute. I’ll meet you in your room!”

I lay smirking to myself watching the frazzled girl try and negotiate with Harper. Hours ago she was parading herself as some hyper-seductive spinster, but I was willing to bet this was a lot closer to the real her. Harper relented, and when we heard the door to her room close, Ava beelined it out of the bathroom, not even glancing back at me. Which was a shame, because if she had stopped even for a moment, I could have informed her she was still gripping my underwear in her left hand.

When I heard Harper's door open and close again, I decided just to walk to my room in my birthday suit. But not before pausing briefly in the hall to hear Maya say: "Ava, what is that?"

Which was promptly followed by Harper saying: “AVA, WHAT IS THAT!?”

Satisfied, I ducked into my bedroom, found my enigmatic pair of ratty old sweats, and threw them on commando, ready for bed.

[jkvjimin]

Peaches and cream, sweeter than sweet for @hyyhhope 💗🎀🍧🌸 (cr. namuspromised, 0613data, qdeoks)

[k0mmari]

SY #10 and SY #1618 made by @raindeathlily , there are so so cute and a great way for me to warm up and start writing the next chapter >:))

Check out their original post here!

[notquiteaghost]

re: that fucking staff post. obviously death to algorithms, but i also wanna interrogate the wider underlying assumptions of their logic there cuz. is 'success' having lots of followers & lots of popular posts??? why is that the end goal of using this website. i don't open tumblr to get attention from strangers, i open tumblr to read funny jokes and interesting commentary and to see cool art. encouraging clout-chasing will only increase user engagement if you successfully get people literally addicted to the associated dopamine hit. what if we didn't have to do that!!! what if a website could be a place you went to on purpose because you had fun there!!!!

[buckme]

so like i KNOW this show is technically a drama and whatever but if they let me write it i would make season 9 the most farcical shit ever re: buddie getting together. buck being a poor little meow meow on maddie and chimneys couch because he’s so in love with eddie but he can’t ask him out because eddie’s straight and a renter and whatever

meanwhile eddie (and chris) have been cooking up these big huge immediate marriage proposals that keep getting destroyed phineas and ferb style right before buck sees them

[blanchebees]

More The Endless Forest art

Tip jar

[constelationprize]

Something that drives me insane about Mary is that while I find the ending to her story (getting murdered by the man who made her entire adult life hell) to be profoundly depressing there is some sense of justice and satisfaction on the fact that Nathan and his inner circle take pleasure in torture and in desecrating and disposing corpses and while they caught her they couldn't keep her. They didn't even know she was dead until they kidnapped Neil. And neither did the Hatfords! She didn't want to stay with them in life and so she doesn't stay with them in death either. Her ashes are scattered in the beach and no one is ever going to trap her again.

[starkspi]

From "Unadulterated Loathing" in which Charlie chains these two idiots accidentally together by @otsmosis (who made this comment at the end of the last chapter and inspired me to do whatever this is above)

[doodlejoltik]

sunrise at seaside hollow

[reference, and context, below!]

screenshot redraw of this!

alpha Lumineon based off the one that swims around there in seagrass haven. caught that thing without battling it (sniped with jet balls!) majestic creature...

this captures a moment after quelling Lord Arcanine.

that quest started off with urgency because of the Miss Fortune Sisters; Rei first called Basculegion sometime in the evening or around sundown, and they all had to travel to Firespit in the night. things escalated. Irida arrived swiftly, they prepped the balms fast, and they didn't want Growlithe Arcanine to suffer any longer...

and so Rei quelled the new Lord.

it wasn't easy. nothing at all like Kleavor and Lilligant.

exhausted and shaken, he took his leave. intended to go back to camp, at first, but ended up aimlessly wandering on Basculegion. saw the cave and decided to stay there, to catch his breath a while.

this is actually what i did in my playthrough... discovered this cave by chance, sat and looked out at the view and decompressed (after failing the noble battle Many Times aha XD)

he dozed off, at some point, and woke up to the sun rising.

despite everything, the Coastlands are still so beautiful...

[tsintotwo]

Tom Sturridge as Lord Morpheus in Netflix's The Sandman (Season 2 trailer)

[webonchin]

Ouuhhhyheaaa ouuhyhaaa ,FINALLY! FINISHED SOMETHING BEFORE THE YEAR ENDS

First of all thank you all soooo soo much for following or just liking my art, support means alot to me , second you are all so talented and so sweet! even if you don't create content you are all so cool!! Yes you reading this ,you are so cool!! And for last...

Happy new year's eve, may all your dreams come true!

[arottenlust]

Not to be a freak or anything but where’s the jinmao porn— STOP BOOING ME