#Fellow Programme in Management
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Obsessed - Part 8 (Azriel x Reader)
Summary: Y/n discovers a few things and a few more are revealed.
Warnings: sex, minors please stay away.
Click here for Obsessed (Masterlist)
****
Y/n was upset. Her semester was ending. The exchange programme had come to a close. Now, she’d have to leave for her internship and then go back to her university for the remainder of her studies. She’d miss her friends. She’d miss this new country.
And who knew how long Azriel was posted here in this city?
It was a coincidence that they met and they had a good few months together but Y/n really did not want to go back to a life where he was not a constant.
The idea of it didn’t sit well with her.
After her last exam today, she’d taken some time for her friends here. On her way back to the apartment, she’d started feeling upset but then she wore a smile and rang Azriel’s doorbell.
He’d opened the door, took one look at her, and fucked her wildly like he wanted to reinforce something. And then, they made love to each other with Y/n slowly riding him.
Y/n let herself rise and fall, eyes closed. Her hands were on his chest, tattooed and perfect for her. His large hands nearly covered all of her ass.
Fuck.
He was such a large man and the most convincing evidence of it was deep inside her, thick and throbbing as she rode him at her own pace.
She could feel the air on her body. Her nipples were already hard and were even more sensitive after Azriel had sucked on them and smeared his saliva, and then left them exposed.
Her breasts ached and all she wanted was his large hands to pinch and grab them roughly as if he selfishly owned her.
His hands. Gods, they were so perfect.
The tattoos on his fingers was an arousing sight.
Especially after she’d once seen herself suck them.
The way those hands groped every part of her and were still on her ass.
She was in bed, tired after exams and sex. Azriel had woken up after a nice cuddling session for a meeting. It was an urgent one and he’d promised to return soon but Y/n was not going to pester him even if he didn’t.
The man had a job. That too, at Umbra got fuck’s sake. That was an empire on its own managed by some young fellow Y/n hadn’t bothered about since that was not her field.
Sex with Azriel always made her sleepy and she always woke up feeling refreshed.
Her eyes were closed. The furry blanket was so cosy and she was just there.
Her phone rang and interrupted her peace.
Y/n groaned in frustration. She grabbed it and softened when she saw Azriel’s name. She swiped on the screen and accepted the call. “Hey.”
“Hello, sweetheart. I hope I wasn’t disturbing you.”
“No, no. Tell me.” She wouldn’t tell him that she wanted to sleep even more.
“Could you bring me my iPad? It’s on the nightstand.” Y/n rose and looked around for the device.
“Where. . Got it.” She removed herself from the sheets, ended the call, took the iPad, and was about to walk out of the room when a message popped up.
Miss Y/n’s mother has sent a parcel to the apartment she shared with Nesta Archeron. We believe her mother has no knowledge of her current whereabouts and her exchange program.
What?
Y/n tapped on the notification and the chat opened. It was a group chat with Azriel and a bunch of people. She scrolled and read the messages.
Other members of the group chat were constantly updating on her location and activities while Azriel had sent the occasional ‘okay’.
She also found photographs of her taken from her outings with friends. Taken from a distance and clearly not with her consent.
The more she saw, the more she wanted to smash her head against something.
Why?
Why did Azriel have her followed?
He’d always known where she was, at what time, who she was with. She hadn’t bothered hiding much from him.
Then why was this. . ?
Y/n walked over to the room with the iPad, the group chat open on it.
She saw Azriel’s eyes widen as she entered the room. She placed the iPad on his table. “What’s this?”
He looked at the chat quietly and then looked up at her.
Y/n felt hot with fury coursing through every part of her. And yet, for some strange reason, she felt cold.
It wasn’t until Azriel walked over and wrapped a jacket around her that she realised that she hadn’t dressed after leaving bed.
She’d been naked and angry.
“I’ve had you followed, Y/n.”
And she couldn’t control it.
She was barely restraining herself until then but to hear him say that he had her followed broke the dam.
“Why? Didn’t you trust me enough to go out and not cheat on you?”
This time, Azriel sounded confused. “It wasn’t because I thought you were cheating on me.”
The audacity of this man to say such a thing. He had her watched and followed and photographed and so much more.
“Scroll up, Y/n. This started the night I met you in that club before we ever spoke to each other properly.” He extended the iPad to her.
She hesitantly took it and scrolled up furiously. When she reached the first message, she saw the date the group had been created. Feyre’s birthday. There was a photo of her dancing in that club with Nesta.
Somebody had sent a few documents. She opened them—her CV, biodata, details of people close to her.
“You’ve known all this about me?” He silently nodded. She felt like such a fool.
Y/n couldn’t even think. She couldn’t process it like this. So she simply kept the iPad on his desk and walked away.
“Y/n. Y/n, listen to me, sweetheart.” He was following. She increased her pace and entered his room. Her clothes were on the chair and she began dressing. “Y/n, please. I only wanted to know about you.”
She looked at him and it hurt.
It hurt to know that this man didn’t trust her.
Didn’t trust time.
Didn’t trust their connection.
“I would’ve told you everything with time.” She wanted to cry. “Whenever I was ready to revisit my past and speak about it, I would’ve told you. About my childhood. My ex. My mother.”
“I only wanted to know about you.” He was pleading but she was so tired.
“You did not trust that our relationship would reach to the point where I would ever confide in you. You thought yourself entitled to find everything about me. .” She choked back a sob. Azriel moved to hold her but she took a step behind and he halted.
“You did not trust me.” It was a whisper and it broke everything. “And therefore, you violated my privacy.”
“I did not get that information because I didn’t trust you.” Azriel moved. When he reached her, he kneeled.
“I was impatient. I wanted to know everything about you immediately. I’m desperate for anything you’ll give me. You heart, your body—I cannot have them unless you give them to me. But information—that I can take from any place. And I’ll take any scrap of it you leave behind.”
What was this feeling? She was being broken but also healed at the same time. And even then, everything hurt.
“And as for being followed, I had to know that you were safe.” He was still kneeling. The world was blurry.
Y/n was still cold as she hadn't dressed completely.
She didn’t know anymore.
She didn’t want him to know that she had a troubled past at least until she could help it.
She knew it would’ve come out soon but this soon? It wasn’t at her own pace.
What was she supposed to do?
Should she explain it to Azriel?
Should she be angry at him?
Should she end this relationship?
It was dizzying now. Her breathing was becoming difficult.
She could hear her sniffles, Azriel calling her name. “. . breathe, sweetheart. Inhale. . . Exhale. . .”
He kept telling her to inhale and exhale until she could focus on those words and force her breathing into a pattern.
She was sitting now. Azriel was wiping her nose with something. A blanket was draped over her. He was right there, holding her hand.
Her eyes fluttered close and Y/n faded into the dark.
****
Whispers.
Somebody was talking.
Somebody was responding.
It ached.
Something more than her body ached.
“. . rest and she’ll be. . medicines. . . care.”
Y/n faded away again.
****
Y/n was warm. In a room. It was dark. And a hand held her own.
Azriel was right there, sitting on the floor, one hand holding hers and the other arm folded on the bed to rest his head.
He must’ve fallen asleep.
She tried to rise and felt too weak. But the shuffling of the blankets was enough to wake him up.
“How are you feeling?” His deep voice asked.
“Fine.” She didn’t want to say anything more. Absolutely nothing.
She’d sweat a lot. The greasy feeling of it remained on her body. “You have a fever.”
Oh.
“Have some medicine.” And he rose to leave her side, to get a strip of tablets and water from the nightstand but she did not let go of his hand in the first instance.
“Y/n.” And then she immediately let go and looked away. What was she supposed to do?
Was their bond supposed to be overlooked by this?
Could it be so easily sidelined?
She saw his hand with the medicine come in her line of sight. “Medicine.”
His voice was only deep whispers ever since she woke up. As if he was afraid his normal pitch would shatter something.
Y/n quietly took the medicine and water and consumed them. Azriel was there to take the glass away from her and he kneeled by the bedside.
“You had a panic attack and then you fainted.”
“And the fever?”
“You came to me with the iPad unclothed, leaving your body exposed to the cold. And you didn’t fully dress when you came to the bedroom.” And she was now wearing one of his sweatshirts which was too big for her.
Y/n could tell that he was being careful with his choice of words.
“I’m so sorry, Y/n.” He clutched her hand as though in prayer. “It’s my fault you had a panic attack.”
Damn straight.
Was there any point?
“I need to go.” She knew she sounded weak and pathetic and even if she did go back to her apartment, there was no way she’d be able to take care of herself.
“Please. Rest here until you recover. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
“Don’t you understand?” Oh gods, she was going to sob any moment now. Or scream. “If I stay here, even for a single second, I will not get any clarity.”
“As you wish.” Azriel retreated to a distance. Y/n slowly stood up under his gaze.
She remembered that she had only worn her panties and jeans when Azriel had followed her to apologise. So she removed his sweatshirt he had dressed her in.
When the sweatshirt was over her head, leaving her bare, Y/n saw that Azriel had turned away, as if he knew his permit to see her naked had been revoked.
She wore her own clothes and looked around. She grabbed her phone and walked towards the door where he stood with his back towards her.
Upon hearing her footsteps, he moved away, clearing the way for her. Once she began walking, she heard him follow her. She looked behind and saw his imposing figure behind her.
He was in pain.
So much pain.
She could see it.
But so was she.
And Y/n had had enough of ignoring her own pain for others.
But Azriel standing there and following her from behind was a realisation.
That he’d always be there. Behind her if not beside her.
“Call me.” He suddenly said. “If you need anything—medicines, food, anything—just call.”
She wanted to kiss him. So she turned away and left his apartment.
Y/n climbed into her bed, her fluffy blanket, and fell asleep without changing her clothes.
****
Azriel had a mission.
Scratch that, he had two missions.
One, Y/n’s recovery.
Two, Y/n’s forgiveness.
He honestly didn’t understand where she’d gotten the idea that he had her followed to monitor her in case she cheated.
If she did cheat on him, it would be the fault of the fuckwit who thought he could drive a wedge between them.
Azriel would simply dispose of any such menaces and Y/n wouldn’t even know anything.
He sighed.
Her not knowing had not turned out well for him.
He’d flown in his personal doctor in the middle of the night. And while she’d been resting in his apartment, he’d gotten a doctor in the city to check on her.
His doctor was situated in one of the apartments, ready at a moment’s notice.
Azriel kept stock of medicines and food ingredients, just in case she wanted something.
And he waited like a dutiful husband.
And while he waited, he googled up on how he could earn her forgiveness.
The bugs in her apartment began transmitting her sound. She was crying and talking. He heard the name Nesta. And more crying.
She was worried about how this would pan out.
How she’d been an excellent fool by falling for him.
Wait.
Y/n had fallen for him?
Oh.
He shouldn’t be happy considering what happened but he couldn’t help it.
And it was then that Azriel decided that he should probably get rid of those bugs before she saw one or saw something else on his iPad.
He wasn’t going to hide the iPad.
He didn’t like hiding things from Y/n but there were certain things he simply hoped she’d never find.
It was poor thinking but what else could he do?
He was obsessed and his morals clashed and crashed far too often for it to make sense.
As as for how to earn her forgiveness, Y/n’s favourite books had a lot of fictional men grovelling after fucking up.
He needed to analyse everything.
What exactly was she hurt about.
What could he do to stop her hurt?
How to make amends.
How to convince her that he was not a complete piece of shit and was worth some consideration of forgiveness.
Her safety had been an important concern.
If Y/n knew the number of people that had started following her while she went out on her own.
The number of people that had been beaten up so that she could roam around outside without anything to fear.
The number of phone numbers he’d looked into after any call that made her uncomfortable. He had them all deactivated.
No.
Her safety was an important matter that needed his attention.
It was not a bargaining chip to win an argument or to prove a point.
It was simply his duty.
But how was he going to convince her that he hadn’t worried about her cheating?
That he was only endlessly and ravenously curious about her ever since he first saw her?
Azriel sighed. He needed advice. He picked up his phone and called the one person he trusted enough with such a matter. When the call was answered, he began. “Hello, mum.”
****
Taglist:
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Noosciocircus agent backgrounds, former jobs at C&A, assigned roles, and current internal status.
Kinger
Former professor — Studied child psychology and computer science, moved into neobotanics via germination theory and seedlet development.
Seedlet trainer — Socialized and educated newly germinated seedlets to suit their future assignments. I.e. worked alongside a small team to serve as seedlets’ social parents, K-12 instructors, and upper-education mentors in rapid succession (about a year).
Intermediary — Inserted to assist cooperation and understanding of Caine.
Partially mentally mulekicked — Lives in state of forgetfulness after abstraction of spouse, is prone to reliving past from prior to event.
Ragatha
Former EMT — Worked in a rural community.
Semiohazard medic — Underwent training to treat and assess mulekick victims and to administer care in the presence of semiohazards.
Nootic health supervisor— Inserted to provide nootic endurance training, treat psychological mulekick, and maintain morale.
Obsessive-compulsive — Receives new agents and struggles to maintain morale among team and herself due to low trust in her honesty.
Jax
Former programmer — Gained experience when acquired out of university by a large software company.
Scioner — Developed virtual interfaces for seedlets to operate machinery with.
Circus surveyor — Inserted to assess and map nature of circus simulation, potentially finding avenues of escape.
Anomic — Detached from morals and social stake. Uncooperative and gleefully combative.
Gangle
Former navy sailor — Performed clerical work as a yeoman, served in one of the first semiotically-armed submarines.
Personnel manager — Recordkept C&A researcher employments and managed mess hall.
Task coordinator — Inserted to organize team effort towards escape.
Reclused — Abandoned task and lives in quiet, depressive state.
Zooble
No formal background — Onboarded out of secondary school for certification by C&A as part of a youth outreach initiative.
Mule trainer — Physically handled mules, living semiohazard conveyors for tactical use.
Semiohazard specialist — Inserted to identify, evaluate, and attempt to disarm semiotic tripwires.
Debilitated and self-isolating — Suffers chronic vertigo from randomly pulled avatar. Struggles to participate in adventures at risk of episode.
Pomni
Former accountant — Worked for a chemical research firm before completing her accreditation to become a biochemist.
Collochemist — Performed mesh checkups and oversaw industrial hormone synthesis.
Field researcher — Inserted to collect data from fellows and organize reports for indeterminate recovery. Versed in scientific conduct.
In shock — Currently acclimating to new condition. Fresh and overwhelming preoccupation with escape.
Caine
Neglected — Due to project deadline tightening, Caine’s socialization was expedited in favor of lessons pertinent to his practical purpose. Emerged a well-meaning but awkward and insecure individual unprepared for noosciocircus entrapment.
Prototype — Germinated as an experimental mustard, or semiotic filter seedlet, capable of subconsciously assembling semiohazards and detonating them in controlled conditions.
Nooscioarchitect — Constructs spaces and nonsophont AI for the agents to occupy and interact with using his asset library and computation power. Organizes adventures to mentally stimulate the agents, unknowingly lacing them with hazards.
Helpless — After semiohazard overexposure, an agent’s attachment to their avatar dissolves and their blackroom exposes, a process called abstraction. These open holes in the noosciocircus simulation spill potentially hazardous memories and emotion from the abstracted agent’s mind. Caine stores them in the cellar, a stimulus-free and infoproofed zone that calms the abstracted and nullifies emitted hazards. He genuinely cares about the inserted, but after only being able to do damage control for a continually deteriorating situation, the weight of his failure is beginning to weigh on him in a way he did not get to learn how to express.
#the amazing digital circus#noosciocircus#char speaks#digital circus#tadc Kinger#tadc Ragatha#tadc Jax#tadc gangle#tadc zooble#tadc Pomni#tadc caine#bad ending#sophont ai
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The Scottish actor Archibald Duncan was born in Glasgow on 26th May 1914.
His father was a regimental sergeant major and his mother a postmistress. He was educated at Govan High School and afterwards and worked as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards.
It was at the Citizens Theatre Company that Duncan joined the training ground of many Scottish actors including, Molly Urquart, Duncan Macrae, Gordon Jackson and Eileen Herlie. He then made his Scottish acting debut in Juno and the Paycock, playing all three gunmen, at Glasgow’s Alhambra in May 1944.
Duncan went on to star in London’s West End with the likes of the great Scottish character actor Alistair Sim and the late George Cole. Film roles started to follow with , Floodtide , The Gorballs Story, The Elusive Pimpernel, Green Grow the Rushes, Henry V, The Lavender Hill Mob, You’re Only Young Twice and Walt Disney’s The Story Of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men as ‘Red Gill’ amongst many others. Duncan also teamed up with Richard Todd and James Robertson Justice in Disney’s Rob Roy the Highland Rogue as Dugal Mac Gregor.
One of Duncan’s first big TV roles was as Inspector Lestrade in the 1954 series Sherlock Holmes, but perhaps Archibald Duncan is best remembered for his second Robin Hood role, where 6'2" Duncan played Little John alongside Richard Greene in The Adventures of Robin Hood which ran for 143 episodes on ITV here and CBS in the states from 1955 to 1959. I just had a wee look and many of the episodes are on Youtube.
Duncan’s portrayal of Little John would be fondly remembered decades later for his combination of strength, skill and humour. It was during the filming this unforgettable series that this Scottish gentle giant proved to be a true hero and managed to prevent a runaway horse from hurtling towards a group of spectators, consisting of mainly children, watching close by. For this brave feat, he was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery and £1,360 in “damages”. But it also resulted in him missing the recording of eleven episodes of Robin Hood. So between times, a replacement was found in fellow Scotsman, Rufus Cruickshank.
Another great Scottish film he appeared in was Ring of Bright Water. Archie Duncan's career in television production carried on with parts in programmes like Z Cars, Hereward the Wake, Orlando, Black Beauty and Bootsie and Snudge.
In 1978 he suffered a massive stroke which caused paralysis down his right side, sadly he passed away at Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone, London aged 65 on 24th July 1979.
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Saw Macbeth again last night and honestly it was such an incredible experience. The performance and the staging is exceptional. I got tickets specifically so I could take my sister as a treat and she loved it. Also, to the fellow GO fan who took the time to say how much they liked my Crowley-coded outfit and said hi to me in the signing line, thank you! I'm sorry you weren't able to get your copy of Good Omens signed, but I hope you managed to get something else signed 💜
A heads-up to anyone going: he won't sign anything that isn't a Macbeth programme or script book from the production, and he definitely won't do a selfie. It's a very highly regimented process! The security guy didn't have time to go through the usual spiel, I think, as David came out after about 5-10 minutes, much quicker than the first time I went.
The stage door was a lot busier than the time I went before and a bit overwhelming for me, honestly. Probably because it was the weekend? There was a little bit of pushing and some understandably excited people trying to get stuff signed, and bless DT did try his best. I got my sister to stand in front of me as I'd already had an opportunity to be at the barrier last week. She was so pleased to get the programmes signed, and it was such an amazing night 🥰
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**Shoving my way through the tabloids and paparazzi**
Mr Tracy, the work you have done for the world's environmental charities is phenomenal, it's amazing that you're so passionate about not only our world's oceans but it's rainforests, it's grasslands and it's human life too.
At times it must be challenging trying to balance your work with humans and your passion for wildlife what with how humans have destroyed the worlds ecosystem.
Tell me, do you see a future with nature and the hustle and bustle of the human world working together in peace? How do you think we could achieve that?
– Nature&Nurture news blog reporter.🌿
Hi there! 👋
Apologies for the delay in replying to this - love your stuff, long time subscriber! Wanted to give you a decent reply so I hope this is okay.
That’s very kind of you to say but I can’t take all the credit. Tracy Industries is committed to all of the green pledges we have made, and our successes with various third party organisations and projects is only thanks to the enthusiastic effort of all of our board, trustees, senior management and of course, our CEO (who is incredibly supportive of all of our projects).
(I just send comms and put up posters and annoy people at the annual galas once they’ve had a drink or two)
Moving to being a zero-waste society has been a huge achievement, but we shouldn’t be stopping there. We’ve spent a lot of time ripping every resources from the planet and doing what we like without much concern for everything else that shares this space with us. We should be actively investing in restoration programmes that prioritise renewal over our own priorities, and vehemently protecting what is already there.
So do I see a future with nature and our very busy society coexisting - it has to! Nothing works if nature doesn’t. We came very close to the brink not so long ago, and we can’t allow that to happen again. We’re the custodians of our little planet, and it’s up to us, and us alone, to do better. Everything around us is relying that, as a population, we pick up that responsibility, including for our own kids and so on.
I had a really great afternoon recently organised with Robby Shelby (co-creator of the Supreme Barrier Reef with his mom, Dr Helen Shelby) with their junior conservation team. They’re all elementary school aged kids, learning to dive and also learning about the work that is ongoing there, why it matters and how to continue it. It’s amazing to see the next generation keen to take the reins - and I had an awesome time getting schooled on turtles and jellyfish.
How to achieve that - that’s the million dollar question, isn’t it. There’s a reason various world bodies have spent so long fighting over it and I guess it’s because it’s complicated, on paper and in practice.
I would say my own philosophy is that we ought to be leaving the world a better place than it was when we stepped into it. Everyone has an equal individual responsibility to do what they can. Food choices you make (hi fellow vegan gang 🌱), where you spend your money if you can, and educating other people. Treating the planet and everything that lives here kindly (including each other so, y’know, be excellent to each other!)
I guess I’m just very lucky that I can access resources that mean we can do a lot more.
For the bigger stuff, there are obviously the three main goals of the World Ecological Summit (not going to have time to go into the other 47 sub points):
1. Move to entirely emission free fuels and technology for all transport, which we’re making really good strides in, which is super exciting. As a bit of a side note, International Rescue has ⅖ of our ‘birds totally clean (see, nobody is perfect except Thunderbird Four). My aim over the next 12 months is to try and get to a point where we have a 95% sustainable fuel option ready to trial for each of them - currently sitting at 75% average, which is good but… we don’t do ‘good’ at iR, we do better. We use three different fuels because of the differing technologies each of our ships carries and the environments they work in so it’s a little more complicated. But that’s one of my pet projects (along with our incredible engineering department) so check in with me in the fall!
2. Our largest industrial leaders taking responsibility in being proactive, investing in green technologies and processes, and using their corporate responsibility for good. I think my previous answer about Tracy Industries kind of covers this one, but it’s important that those with the biggest weight to throw around do it in a way that benefits the most vulnerable in our society. Which leads nicely into point three…
3. Protecting the most vulnerable ecosystems, territories and people. It’s really easy to point the finger at humans for the environmental concerns we all share, but that’s completely unfair toward the most vulnerable populations amongst us, who are usually the ones who have had the most impact from what we’ve caused. We should be improving our environment, whilst also addressing the inequalities in food hunger, poverty, ill health, education that still exist. They aren’t necessarily two separate issues and we are an incredibly advanced society, - there’s no reason people should still be living with such huge levels of difference.
So I guess the summary of all of this is - people need to lift their head and care a bit more, and not be afraid to take on the responsibility of being better to environment and to each other.
Thanks again for the query - always happy to ramble to you guys! If you’d like to come along to the next visit to our rainforest project on the Bolivian border, we’re due to be out there early May and you’d be more than welcome! You can get me on [email protected] 🫶🏻
#I love this stuff#gordo loves a reason to eco-ramble#these are my kind of asks#and yes Thunderbird Four is perfect#I’ll block anyone who says differently so good luck#thundersocials#thunderbirds rp#gordons squid thoughts#Gordon’s corporate squid thoughts technically
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The perfect guy
Ahh! Thank you so much for following this story! I really appreciate all the love and support you guys have given me. I'm currently going to start work on the Bridgerton-themed fic, so feel free to request for anything you want to see in that one. And any other requests besides 🤗!
The project
The new guy
The lie
The new body
The hospital
The first time
The suit
The virus
The escape
Warnings: explicit descriptions of sex (male x female).
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She wandered through the halls of the base, pushing the cart of cleaning supplies in front of her. She'd managed to convince one of the janitors to let her use his access card - a kindly old gentleman she'd always been friendly with. His expression had softened as she'd begged and pleaded with him until finally, he'd asked her what she'd use it for. She'd told him that he'd be safer if he didn't know - if he let her tie him up and pretend she'd forced his hand - and he'd agreed, his own heart aching at the pain in her expression. And that was how she'd ended up here: breaking into a top secret government facility to bust out her one true love. “Turning down the hallway to the medical bay now.”
“Let me know when you've lost access,” Miguel replied over her earphones.
“Roger that.” She continued down the winding corridors until finally, she reached a door her card couldn’t access. She pushed the cart aside and took a moment to calm herself. Twelve minutes, she only had twelve minutes. Twelve minutes next to a lifetime. “¿Querido? Estoy listo. (I'm ready.)”
“Roger that.” A tense moment of silence passed, the only sound the beating of her heart in her chest. Then the card reader flashed green and the door slid open before her. “You have twelve minutes, querida. Starting the countdown now.”
She dashed through the series of unlocked doors until finally, she reached the isolation room. She rushed in as quickly as she could and ripped aside the blanket covering Miguel's body. She flicked on the life support monitors, then waited for her phone to connect to his brain. “¿Querido?”
A pause. Then, “I'm in. Uploading consciousness now. Ten minutes until discovery.”
Ten minutes: that meant they'd only have three minutes to escape before anyone caught them. X watched Miguel's chest, anxiously waiting for it to start rising and falling with his breaths. He was still in his Spiderman suit, the nanobots caressing his cold skin gently. Maybe he'd be able to use his powers to help them escape.
“Five minutes until upload is complete,” Miguel informed her, his chest beginning to move. X grabbed his hand quickly, her own heart threatening to burst out of her chest in anxiety. They had to make it out of this together, they had to: they didn’t have any other choice.
Margo searched for the breach in the system, her eyes glued to the monitor before her. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she decoded the information on the screen, trying to undo the complex encryption stopping her. Then finally, she shot out of her seat.
“I got-” She paused as a message flickered on her screen, just one word: please. Her eyes widened with shock. Miguel? He was still … alive?! Her fellow programmers turned to face her, waiting for her to continue.
“What?!” one of them pressed when she remained silent. “Did you get it?!”
“Huh?” Margo looked up at all the other people hunched over their computers, their determined faces lit up by the glowing light of their monitors. None of them wore the easy smile that X always shared with anyone she came across nor the excited curiosity constantly displayed across Miguel's face as he indulged in all the physical sensations his new body had to offer. She hesitated, her eyes flickering back to the single word blinking in the corner of her screen. “I got nothing. Have you managed to find it yet?” She sat back down, a sense of hopeful relief overcoming her when the other guy shook his head. Then she resumed her frantic typing: maybe she couldn't stop the rest of them completely, but she could at least delay them for a little longer.
They were in the last minute of the transfer - the window in which he wouldn't be able to communicate with her until he woke up. X held onto his hand as she waited in silence, rubbing his palm to warm him up a little - they'd kept his body cold so it wouldn't start decomposing, but he was starting to heat up now that his heart was beating again. She brought his fingers to her lips to press a quick kiss to them, then she glanced at her phone again. Four minutes left before someone found them. No, wait … Six? Miguel shifted in position, starting to awaken, and X tucked her phone back into her pocket. “¿Querido?”
He squeezed her hand, then blinked his eyes open slowly, getting used to the light. He turned to face her and smiled when his gaze focused on her, his full lips curling at the ends with delight as soon as he could make her out. X bent over and wrapped her arms around his neck, showering his face with quick kisses. “We have five minutes?"
Miguel swallowed, wetting his throat a little so he could speak. “Margo.”
X’s eyes teared up as she grasped his meaning - she'd bought them some extra time, even though she’d known that it would cost her. X nodded in understanding and stepped back, holding onto Miguel’s arm to support him as he stood. “Can you get us out of here?”
Miguel flexed and relaxed his muscles, getting used to his physical form again. Then he slid his arms around X’s waist and lifted her onto his hips. “Hold tight, querida. Don't let go, no matter what happens.”
X curled herself around him, burying her face in the crook of his neck and breathing in the warm, masculine scent of him.
“No matter what happens,” she echoed in agreement. “No blackouts, Miguel.”
He smiled at the familiar catchphrase. “No blackouts, X.”
Gabriella giggled as her parents held onto her hands and swung her into the air between them. “Again! Again!”
“No, wait!” X stopped her. “I want to know what happened next! What did Anna do after Nick stole her ball?”
“She kicked him!” Gabriella looked up at X, her dark eyes wide with excitement just like her mother's always were. “And then Ms Jenny came before they could start fighting! It was crazy.”
“That is crazy,” X agreed, nodding along to the story. Then she turned serious. “Don't fight with people, okay, Beebee? It's never worth it.”
Miguel shrugged at her words, recalling all the times he’d had to use force to take a villain down. “It's some-”
“It's never worth it,” X interrupted, narrowing her eyes at her husband and fixing him with a threatening glare. Miguel held his free hand up in surrender.
“Okay! Okay. Whatever you say, querida. Listen to your mami, arañita.” He bent over and made his voice low, but kept it loud enough for X to hear. “She might beat us up otherwise!” His wife rolled her eyes in exasperation. Sure she was tiny and adorable, but she’d literally created a superhero, broken into a top secret military base and then pushed an entire human being out of her body after working on it for nine months! His wife was a total badass.
Gabriella looked up at her father, carefully studying his large and towering form. Then she tugged on his hand, gesturing for him to bend over and let her whisper in his ear. “Don't worry, Papa, you can take her!” Miguel chuckled at his daughter’s response.
“You really think so?” Gabriella nodded in agreement and Miguel continued. “Let's get her on the count of three, okay? One, two, three!” The two of them pounced on X, attacking her with their fingers and tickling her mercilessly.
“Ah! Stop! Stop!” She batted their hands away and ran a few steps ahead, putting some distance between them. Then she turned around and huffed at them, her lips twisting down at the ends as her brows furrowed in irritation. Dios, she was just as beautiful as the day she’d first connected him to her cameras. She waited until they reached her, then she smacked Miguel on the arm. “So mean, querido! You're being a bad influence on your daughter. ” She took Gabi's hand in hers and they started walking again.
His daughter - their daughter. Their own little baby who had her eyes and her hair and his nose and his smile. Dios, he'd never stop being amazed by the sight of their own perfect little daughter. He grabbed hold of her and lifted her up onto his shoulders, holding her high above the world as they continued walking home. “Our daughter? Where is she? Where did she disappear to? She was right here a second ago!”
Gabriella giggled as Miguel pretended to search their surroundings for her. “Papa! I'm right here!”
“Gabi?! Bebita?! Where are you?! I can't see you!” Miguel insisted, setting his features into an expression of horror. X chased after him with her arms outstretched, her heart pounding with terror at the thought that their daughter might topple off her father’s broad shoulders. She hated when Miguel played with her like that!
“Miguel! ¡Querido! ¡Bájala! (Put her down!)” she exclaimed, trying to grab Gabriella. Miguel turned to face her, a confused expression on his face.
“¿Qué?” he asked. “¿Quién?” (What? Who?) X folded her arms across her chest and frowned. Miguel grinned at the sight and finally crouched down, allowing Gabi to slide off of him. X rushed to support her, making sure she wouldn’t hurt herself, then she straightened and looked up at Miguel with a scowl. She was so cute whenever she was mad at him, her arched brows crashing together, her nose scrunching up, her lips pursing in irritation. He bent over and pressed a quick kiss to her lips, then he took hold of Gabi's free hand again. “So who got the ball in the end?”
Gabi’s eyes lit up in excitement and she continued chattering away animatedly, clutching onto her parents’ hands as she finished telling them about her day at school.
“You remember our phone numbers, ¿sí, bebita?” X asked as they walked up to the Parker’s door. Gabi sighed at the question.
“Sí, mama,” she reassured her before rattling off her parents’ numbers for what felt like the hundredth time that day. X smiled and leaned over to give her daughter a kiss on the top of her head.
“Good girl!” she praised her. “Remember to call us if you need anything and never do anything you don't feel comfortable doing. ¿Entiendes, mi amor?”
“Entiendo, mama,” Gabriella replied in that same bored tone. Miguel chuckled.
“She sounds just like you, querida,” he teased his wife. X sighed and shot him an exasperated look. But the ends of her lips twitched when she saw the grin on his face. She stepped forward to ring the doorbell and was quickly greeted by MJ's welcoming smile when she opened the door.
“Mr and Mrs O'Hara!” A slight blush coloured her cheeks as her gaze fell on Miguel - as with everyone else in their little suburban neighbourhood - then she quickly turned her attention to Gabi. “Hi Gabriella! Are you ready for the sleepover?”
“Yes, Mrs Parker! Thank you for having me!” She swivelled around to give her parents quick hugs, buzzing with excitement for her first sleepover. “Bye mama, love you! Bye papa, love you!” Then she turned back to MJ and ran into the house when she stepped aside.
“Someone's an eager beaver!” MJ joked. X gestured to Miguel beside her.
“She gets it from her dad.” She held her hand out to Miguel so he'd pass her the box of cupcakes she'd brought along, then she handed it over to MJ. “Thanks so much for organising this Mary Jane, I baked some cupcakes if you'd like to share them with the kids. Please let us know if you need any help, all right?”
Miguel watched fondly as his wife gave their neighbour a warm smile. She was always so genuine in her interactions with people, always so sincere. He didn't know how she still managed to trust in people even after everything they'd been through, fighting so hard to get to the small and happy life that they shared now. He thanked his lucky stars again that she had fought for him: that she'd risked so much to give him the chance to kiss her awake every morning when he got up and cuddle her in his arms every night when they went to bed. MJ thanked the both of them, then went to watch over the kids, leaving Miguel to take hold of his wife's hand and walk back home with her.
He kept his grip on her hand when they entered her house, stopping her from getting too far out of his reach.
“Querida.” Miguel pulled his little wife back to him and bent over to rest his head on her shoulder. “Should we start working on baby number two now?”
X giggled at his naughty suggestion, but leaned into his warm and soothing touch anyway.
“Like you aren’t always working on baby number two,” she chastised him. He’d pounce on her as soon as their daughter fell asleep every night, ushering his wife into their bedroom and taking pleasure in her body after an entire day of having to be apart. He'd found a job as a software developer once they'd settled into their unassuming suburb and though he enjoyed his work, he always got a little anxious that someone might try to take her away from him when he wasn't there to look after her. Miguel pushed X towards the stairs as he brushed his lips along the side of her neck, guiding her in the direction of their bedroom.
“Miguel,” X began, stopping them in their tracks. She turned around and slid her hands up her husband's broad chest before wrapping her arms around his neck. “We have the whole house to ourselves, querido. Why wait until the bedroom?”
She gave him a naughty grin and Miguel groaned at the mischievous look on her face.
“P*ta madre, querida.” He curled his arms around her and nipped at her earlobe playfully, causing her to shudder against him. He straightened to look at her, then smiled when he saw her grinning up at him already. Miguel bent over to press his lips to hers and started pushing her towards the sofa this time as he slid his tongue into her mouth. X clung onto his shoulders, trying to keep herself from stumbling backwards, but Miguel held her upright, his hands wandering all over her body as he rushed to take her clothes off. He pushed her onto the sofa and X laughed as she tripped over her jeans, already bunched up around her ankles. Miguel knelt on the ground to pull them the rest of the way off, then he climbed up over her once he'd tossed them aside.
She cupped his cheek in her hand as their tongues tangled together, brushing her fingers over the faint hint of stubble creeping along his jawline. Shit, he was so. Freakin’. Perfect! X slid her fingers into his hair and tugged on his soft waves gently, delighting in the taste of him in her mouth. Miguel moved his lips to her neck and slid his hands down her curves, meaning to pull her shirt off. But she stopped him, suddenly remembering something.
“Wait!” she exclaimed. Miguel looked up at her in question, sitting back so she could push herself up to a seat. She gazed up at him with wide eyes. “I have a surprise! Wait here!”
X jumped up off the sofa and ran up to their bedroom, leaving her husband sighing at her sudden departure and sinking back into his seat. She dashed over to their cupboard and dug through her clothes to find the underwear she'd somehow managed to keep hidden from him. He was always so curious, her husband, and though it made for plenty of new experiences for their little family, it also made it incredibly difficult for her to surprise him. So, she’d take whatever opportunity she could get. She zipped over to the bathroom to get changed, then hurried back down the stairs, not wanting to keep her handsome husband waiting for too long.
Miguel tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for her. She loved surprises, his adorable little wife. It didn't matter whether she was the one planning them or the one receiving them: she just liked the joy that would fill the room whenever it was revealed.
“I’m ready, querido,” X called from somewhere behind him. Miguel twisted his head to look back at her and his jaw dropped when he saw what she was wearing.
She’d seen the silky green lingerie set in a shop window on her way back from grocery shopping the other day. It had been a while since she’d treated herself like that, what with Gabriella still being too young to go over to her friends’ houses and Miguel being too busy working at his full-time job. She herself spent her days as a biology teacher for the secondary school kids at Gabi’s school. It had taken a bit of getting used to, having to communicate with young students as opposed to the genius scientific minds she’d collaborated with in her previous jobs, but it was nice being able to mentor the kids and enjoy the quiet little life she and her husband had managed to build for themselves. X grinned as she placed her hands on her husband's shoulders and straddled his lap.
Miguel felt his heart start to quicken in his chest as he trailed his eyes over his wife's beautiful body. He hadn’t seen it before, the buttery deep-green fabric that clung to her intimate bits so very nicely. But he liked it.
“Do you like it, querido?” X asked, delighting in the hungry look on his face. Miguel lifted his gaze to hers, his brows furrowed in confusion. Then his eyes fell back to her body.
“Hmm? Yeah,” he mumbled distractedly. “What material is this?” He reached up to circle his thumbs around her nipples and X sucked in a breath at the feeling. Coño, his wife was beautiful, her head falling back in pleasure to expose the delicate length of her neck.
“Silk,” she replied once she’d regained her senses. She ran her hands along his shoulders, squeezing his muscles appreciatively. “Do you like it?”
“Mmm,” Miguel hummed in agreement, sliding his hands along the smooth curves of her waist. X grinned and tilted his face up to hers so she could start kissing him. She slid her fingers into his hair as she swirled her tongue around his, scrunching his soft waves in her hand. Miguel tightened his grip on her waist, moaning into her mouth as she began rolling her hips against his. He glided his hands up her back and wrapped her up in his arms, pulling her closer so her soft breasts pressed against his hard chest. X flinched as he reached down to squeeze her ass, her hips grinding against his and causing him to groan into the crook of her neck. “Querida …”
X dug her fingers into his shoulders and stopped her movements until he pulled back to look at her. She smiled when their eyes met, then leaned forward to run her hands up his neck and to his cheeks. She held his face in position as she kissed him again, her hands drifting down to the hem of his shirt as she smiled against his lips. She sat back to tug it off of him, then let her hands glide down his torso when he took over for her and pulled it off. She bit her lip at the feeling of his smooth skin beneath her palms, then she bent over to begin pressing soft kisses down the side of his neck. Miguel sighed as she made her way down his body, her lips and tongue tracing the outlines of his muscles teasingly. He lifted himself off his seat as she lowered herself to her knees, giving her the space to take his trousers off. X maintained his gaze as she took hold of his cock, fixing him with a naughty grin. Miguel kept his eyes trained on her as she guided him to her mouth and began showering his tip with soft kisses. He dug his fingers into the cushions as she swirled her tongue around him, his nerves lighting on fire as his wife teased and pleasured him with her mouth. She closed her lips around him and sucked on him carefully, slowly pulling him deeper into her mouth. Miguel groaned and slid his fingers into her hair to tug her back and forth, gently guiding her movements along his cock. X gripped onto his thighs and let out a low moan, knowing the vibrations would cause him to shudder in response. She pushed herself forward when he did, taking all of him into her mouth then swallowing around him when she felt his tip hit the back of her throat.
“¡P*tas!” Miguel swore, his body tightening at the pleasant sensation. He let go of her hair, then sank lower into his seat, relaxing into her embrace. X pulled her head back, letting him fall out of her mouth, and Miguel clenched his muscles to control himself as she climbed back onto his lap. He kept his hands on her waist as she circled her arms around his neck and bent over to nibble his jaw. Then she moved her mouth to his and pressed quick kisses to the corners of his lips, only causing his agitation to grow. Miguel growled and cupped her cheek in his hand, angling her head so he could kiss her properly. X giggled into his mouth and he smiled in response to her reaction - just like he always did. He kissed her for a little longer, relishing the taste of her in his mouth, then he flipped them around so she was suddenly underneath him. X looked up at him with wide eyes, startled, but he didn’t give her the chance to respond before he’d flipped her over onto her knees. Miguel curled himself around her and X relaxed into his embrace as he began kissing and nibbling on the side of her neck. He was so warm, his body so toned and defined against hers. He slid his hand down her back and into her panties, then closed his fingers around her soft flesh. X squealed, knowing he loved it when she did that, and Miguel grinned at the sound.
“Eres tan linda, mi amor (you're so lovely, my love),” he mumbled into the crook of her neck. “Tan hermosa. Mi esposita preciosa y inteligente. (So beautiful. My smart and pretty little wife.)” X shivered as the tips of his fangs pricked her skin and Miguel chuckled. He straightened to slide her panties off of her, then he slipped his hand between her legs.
She gasped at the feeling of her husband’s large fingers dragging up and down her p*ssy, then arched her back to spread herself wider for him. Miguel snickered at her eagerness and bent over to kiss her cheek before moving behind her again. He took hold of his cock and traced his tip along her folds, teasing her sensitive nerves as he lubricated himself in her c*m. He dipped his tip in and out of her entrance and X twisted her head back to scowl at him.
“Stop teasing me, Miguel!” she scolded him. Miguel laughed at the irritation on his wife’s face.
“Fine,” he relented. He notched his tip to her entrance then squeezed her ass in his hands as he eased himself into her. He rolled his hips gently as he pushed himself inside of her, keeping his movements slow so he could feel himself brushing against every inch of her warm and soft walls. F*ck, she felt good. He flipped his hands up her sides and unclipped her bra and X hastily pulled the straps off so she could toss it aside. Miguel chuckled at her enthusiasm, then he cupped her breasts in his hands, flicking and rolling her nipples with his fingers.
X flopped over onto the backrest, her brain turning numb at the feeling of his cock nestled deep inside of her. Shit, he felt good. Her p*ssy started throbbing around his dick as he continued to play with her breasts and Miguel grunted before moving his hands to her hips and thrusting himself in and out of her.
She was so cute, the helpless moans and whimpers falling from her mouth sounding like music to his ears. X pushed herself up and Miguel pulled her against him, holding her tight against his chest. She reached up and wrapped an arm around his neck, her slender finger sliding into his hair, and Miguel snuck a hand back up to her breasts. He squeezed her soft flesh as he sped up his movements, the sound of his balls slapping against her ass filling the room. Then he reached down and started rubbing her clit, the feeling of his fingers against her sensitive bundle of nerves amplifying her pleasure.
“M-M-Miguel!” X whined, her small body shuddering in his arms as she reached her climax. He stopped his movements abruptly, wanting to revel in the feeling of her clenching around his cock. Then he pulled out of her when she was done and spun her around so she was laying on her back.
She looked up at her husband with a dazed expression, her chest heaving with shallow breaths as she came down from her high. But then he was tracing her soaked folds with his tip and dipping in and out of her teasingly again. X squeezed her legs together as her p*ssy continued to flutter from the overstimulation, but her husband pried her thighs apart and held them down so he could slide his cock back into her. Miguel inhaled deeply at the delicious feeling of being snuggled tightly within his wife's warm and wet walls, then he glided his hands up her torso to start playing with her breasts again.
She turned her head to the side and closed her eyes as he flicked her nipples, the blissful expression on her face driving him closer to his own edge. He bounced her breasts teasingly, delighting in the way they jiggled between his fingers. Then he cupped them gently, his large hands swallowing her soft flesh whole. X clenched her muscles, tightening her grip on his cock, and Miguel let out a choked gasp at the sensation.
“Querida,” he groaned, the gruff tone of his voice causing a shiver to run down her spine. She pulled him into her again, squeezing his dick tight, and Miguel growled at the feeling this time. He moved his hands to her wrists and loomed over her, his copper eyes sparking as he pinned her against the sofa. “Arañita.”
X giggled at the note of warning in his voice and her back arched off the sofa in response to the feeling of his cock buried inside of her. Miguel bit his lip at the smile on her face, his stomach tightening at the sight of her curly hair tumbling around her shoulders and framing her sweet features so perfectly. Then he slid his hand under her back and started pumping himself in and out of her.
She yelped at the sudden force of his movements, the sofa creaking beneath them as he thrust his dick into her again and again. Her body stretched itself out at the feeling, preparing for another round of contractions to overtake her, and she grabbed onto a cushion to keep herself grounded.
“Mmm, querido …” his wife moaned, biting her lower lip in pleasure at the feeling of him. ¡P*tas! She was so. P*nche. Beautiful! His gorgeous f*cking wife! The woman who had given him their beautiful little daughter, the perfect combination of the both of them together. Mierda, he couldn't wait to put another baby in her - to see her waddling around the house again, all swollen with his seed. Coño, she was cute when she was pregnant.
She giggled at his mumbling about wanting to put another baby in her and how so very cute she looked when she was pregnant. She thanked her lucky stars again that she got to wake up in his arms every morning and fall asleep in them again every night. He was so sweet, her husband, always looking after his little wife and daughter, constantly making sure that no harm ever befell them. She gasped as he reached his climax, relishing the feeling of his warm c*m shooting into her womb and filling her up so very deliciously. Then she reached her orgasm too, her p*ssy clenching around his cock as she shook and shuddered beneath him.
He hovered over her when he was done, panting as he tried to catch his breath. F*ck, that had felt good. X looked up at him, her wide eyes travelling over the outlines of his muscles, highlighted by the sweat glistening on his skin. Then she lifted her gaze to his. “Should we check if it worked?
Miguel pursed his lips in confusion. “If what worked?”
X forced the corners of her lips to twist down at the ends, trying to hide her excited smile. “Should we check on baby number two?”
Miguel raised an eyebrow as he sat back, his lips curling into a smirk at her enthusiastic suggestion. “It takes a little longer than that, querida.”
X sat up and shrugged, her stomach flipping at the smug look on his face. “You never know.”
Miguel grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist as he leaned forward to press a kiss to her cheek.
“Está bien, mi amor (it's okay, my love),” he reassured her, his voice thick with mischief. “We can always keep trying.” He tugged on her earlobe with his teeth, then brushed his nose down the side of her neck.
X giggled at his naughty declaration. “Migue-el!”
He pulled back to look at her, finally starting to get suspicious at the beaming smile on his wife's adorable face. “What?”
She wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, settling herself back on his lap.
“Maybe … we don’t have to keep trying anymore,” she suggested, shrugging nonchalantly, as if it were no big deal that she was growing another little baby inside of her right then. She placed a hand on her stomach and her lips twisted into a cheeky smile again. “Maybe baby number two is already here?”
His jaw dropped and his eyes widened in disbelief at her revelation. She was pregnant?! And she hadn't told him?! She was actually insane, his pretty little wife. Miguel reached a hand down to her abdomen and brushed his fingers along her skin.
“Are you …” He swallowed hard, trying to compose himself so his voice wouldn't crack when he asked her the question. “You're pregnant?”
X nodded quickly, then lowered her gaze, suddenly becoming shy at the awestruck expression on his face.
“I haven't had my period for 2 months,” she confessed softly. “So I did a pregnancy test the other day and it was positive!”
A rush of joy swept over him at her words. He was going to be a father! Again! ¡Ay, mierda! He couldn't wait! Miguel grinned and ran his fingers through her hair, elated.
“Querida …” He stroked her cheek affectionately, then brushed his fingers down the length of her body. “When … We have to go to the doctor. We have to make sure everything is okay.” She'd had a few difficulties during her pregnancy with Gabriella and though it had all turned out fine in the end, he didn't dare take any risks with his precious little wife. But ay, mierda, he was going to be a father again!
Her heart thumped in her chest at the dazed look on her husband's face as he stood up and started pulling his clothes back on. It had been a real struggle to keep such a huge secret from him for so long, but the payoff had been completely worth it!
“Miguel.” X patted the empty space beside her, beckoning him back to the sofa. He lowered himself onto his seat and she climbed up onto his lap again. “Next week? Gabi doesn't come back until tomorrow, you know …” Her lips curled into a mischievous smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Miguel grinned and dragged his hands up and down her sides.
“Next week,” he relented, the blood already beginning to rush to his centre again. “But no blackouts, querida.”
Her chest warmed at the familiar phrase - at the promise that had gotten them through all the seemingly impossible trials they'd managed to overcome so far. X leaned forward and pressed her lips to her husband's. “No blackouts, mi amor.”
The end
Tags: @jadeloverxd @migshusben
#atsv miguel#miguel x reader#miguel spiderverse#miguel fanfic#miguel x oc#miguel smut#spiderman 2099 x reader#spiderman 2099 x you#ai miguel#ai miguel x reader#miguel x y/n#miguel x you#miguel o'hara spiderverse#miguel ohara x reader#miguel o'hara x reader#miguel ohara x you#miguel ohara x y/n#miguel ohara smut#miguel ohara x oc#miguel o'hara fanfiction#miguel o'hara smut#miguel o'hara x you#miguel o'hara x y/n#spiderman fanfiction#spiderman smut#spiderman oc#spiderman 2099 smut#spiderman 2099 spiderverse#spiderman x you#spiderman x y/n
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Robert Tait at The Guardian:
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, has reportedly been criticised by some of the party’s state governors for not resisting Donald Trump’s agenda and cabinet nominees strongly enough.
The exchange took place in a conference between Schumer and six Democratic governors that laid bare differences within the party over how to counteract a seemingly rampant Trump as he wreaks upheaval across the political landscape with an avalanche of executive orders, the New York Times reported. The governors, led by JB Pritzker of Illinois and Maura Healey of Massachusetts, pleaded with Schumer to slow down the confirmation of Trump’s cabinet by persuading fellow senators to vote against his nominees wherever possible. They said the party needed to generate more public opposition than senators had managed in the chamber so far. The appeal came in the week the Senate is meeting to confirm two of Trump’s most contentious cabinet picks, Robert F Kennedy Jr, as health and human services secretary, and Tulsi Gabbard, for the role of national intelligence director.
In response, Schumer said Democrats had damaged the political standing of the new defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, during his hearings, in which he was narrowly confirmed, and of Kennedy in the opening day of his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. The conference call followed a controversial memo from the office of management and budget ordering a “pause” on trillions of dollars of federal funds used for vital spending programmes. The order was rescinded on Wednesday following a fierce backlash that led to a court ruling stalling it.
After the meeting, Schumer’s office issued a statement saying the memo’s reversal was “thanks to Democrats’ work”. Andy Beshear, the Kentucky governor, reportedly told the meeting that Democrats needed to focus less on Trump’s “desecration” of American democracy in favour of a message that his administration was making life harder for ordinary Americans, which was the only way they would learn never to vote for someone like him again. Trump appeared more animated by the prospect of acquiring Greenland than on tackling the high prices of eggs and other groceries, which he promised to bring down on “day one” during his presidential campaign, Beshear reportedly said.
6 Democratic governors-- including J.B. Pritzker, Laura Kelly, and Tim Walz-- criticized Vichy Democrat Chuck Schumer for offering milquetoast resistance at best to Tyrant 47.
This is yet more proof that Schumer is unfit to lead the Senate Democratic caucus, and should be replaced with a strong fighter in tune with reality.
See Also:
The Warning (Steve Schmidt): Democratic Senate leadership must go
#Chuck Schumer#Democratic Party#Resist Trump#Maura Healey#J.B. Pritzker#Andy Beshear#Tim Walz#Laura Kelly
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Unboxing DT: The Updated (and linked) Edition
Greetings, my fellow David Tennant fans!
I've got a couple of links to share with everyone today.
About a month ago I did an "Unboxing" post at A Tennantcy To Act, where I featured a ton of new David Tennant collectibles and ephemera I received from an old collector:
I've finally got all the stuff sorted, suited and booted, and if you've been wanting to peer further into this new collection of mine, here are a few links that'll let you do just that! If you're interested in seeing my personal collection of David's theatre programmes, etc., go here:
Also, I got some great magazine articles scanned in. I had some issues with some of them (my scanner wasn't big enough to handle some of the wider-form mags!) but I managed to get a number of them done and dusted.
If you want to download some of those, go here:
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Millenial Art Musing
Gather round, younglings, I’m about to tell a story about ye olde days. *rocker creaks*
My first and most beloved art form, the art that made me who I am, that made me as good as I am at what I do, is dead, is gone, is unreachable.
That might sound dramatic, but I mean that literally. My art form does not, can not, exist anymore. And that's a good thing, because of what it says about accessibility.
I was listening to one of my favourite ever albums when I had this realization today, Johnny Hollow’s 2003 self titled symphonic goth masterpiece. How I found this album was because they had an amazing website. No, really. Amazing. It was a flash masterpiece, where bugs crawled across the screen, different sound clips echoed over different sections, and you unlocked hidden tracks if you answered riddles. It was an artistic triumph. I do believe it won awards.
To modern internet users, that sounds absurd. But I was a web designer back in the days of hard coding, of fixed resolution design, of the surety that everyone was looking at your work from a very similar setup. I got out of web design when it become about scalability, when content management systems were becoming the new norm. Flash hasn’t existed in years, as a design form.
HTML is still the bones of the internet, but it has grown wings and learned to fly. This is good. My art form was not about making things as useable as possible - it was about individual design. Oh what, you have trouble reading 8px Courier in low-contrast color tones? Oh well! It’s art.
The internet should be for everyone, and what I was designing was not that. Yes, it was beautiful, but it was definitely art, not for conveying useful information or accessing tools. Would it be cool if I could make that kind of art again? As pure art? Yes. But there would be no way to make that happen, unless you did something scalable but artistic for the eight million ways people access the internet now. Which is not possible, so maybe if you could control every aspect of the way it was consumed. Which is not possible. Maybe I could do it as an art exhibit, where people came and sat on computers and clicked through incredibly slow pages on 56k to the humming of the computer fan. Ah, the old days.
I am who I am because of my first art. I became a programmer to make Sailor Moon websites, back in the days of Geocities and Angelfire. I learned whole other languages, could speak them fluently, still know common hex codes. (People ask my favorite colour, and I always say French Grey. But really it’s #E6E6E6.)
It is a bizarre and beautiful world to have come from. I miss the camaraderie of the my fellow web designers, those of us trading CSS hacks and joking about the best font style. One person with a credit card who owned a domain and hosted all their buddies, the joy of ridiculous subdomain names.
I am delighted by what the internet has become. But oh, the olden days.
</ramble>
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extracurriculars — CH
gif ©: w0rmdahl, theseulgis
film: chappie (2015)
synopsis: in anticipation of tech developer deon wilson’s ‘scout’ production, weapons corporation tetravaal hires a new graphic artist to head the designs, unwittingly bringing together the two forces that will lead to the company’s downfall.
word count: 1.4k
featuring: deon wilson, (oc) malia bryant
warnings: innuendos?
a/n: working thru writers block i think bc i hit a lot of ruts during this piece can you tell 😫 how do we feel about her idk
it wasn't a shocker (or shouldn't be, at the very least) to say that deon — prior to meeting lia — was a complete and utter virgin nerd. growing up a computer geek didn't exactly put him in with the popular crowd during his school years so growing into an even bigger loser didn't help much, either. and while tetravaal was somewhat a dream of his, work or tech typically came before socialization, meaning interaction with anyone other than his 40-something-year-old coworkers was scarce. so, when a new coworker joined the company in addition to the upcoming 'scouts' being produced by the genius dork, guess what deon did?
absolutely nothing, of course. not when his new coworker turned out to be a girl around his age with tiny bangs, not when she moved into the desk directly behind him, not even when she made eye contact with him on her way to their CEO. instead, deon simply stared as she offered a friendly, coworker-ly smile in passing that faded soon upon his lack of response. he'd return home that first day with a grimace etched into his cheeks before going straight to bed in hopes of waking up to find it had all been some hazy, sleep-deprivation-induced hallucination.
of course, it wasn't; she was already working dutifully at her desk by the time deon sat at his own with a coffee containing enough espresso shots to kill a non-programmer. he'd spent the entire first hour of work subconsciously preparing for the next time she'd make eye contact with him, deciding whether to act cool or kind or charming, all the while fixing any loose ends on his scout program whose deadline was looming closer now that she'd arrived. and then the time came for him to present his charms, their eyes meeting as she passed by his cubicle, and deon found himself utterly frozen under the piercing pupils of tetravaal's newest addition.
for a brief moment that seemed like an eternity to the wide-eyed tech designer, her brows furrowed — less like she was angry and more like she was studying a specimen — before exhibiting a tight-lipped smile that seemed like a restrained laugh to eagle-eyed deon. he was left nearly gasping for breath by the time she turned away to let him marinate in the cringe of his own actions.
how they'd manage to grow past this initial stage — he had no idea — but what he did know was; being paired on a project together was their boss's best proposition yet.
it took them a few days to really, truly converse despite working collaboratively on scout blueprints but, coincidentally, both parties would finally warm up to one another quite well by the time the final drafts were ready for ms. bradley's eyes. so much so, in fact, that after only a few weeks of swapping life stories and 'working overtime' to secretly chat for just a little bit longer, the two would begin dating. they had to be quiet about it as employee-on-employee action was strictly prohibited at tetravaal (some security bullshit, as deon says,) so while fellow coworkers saw them as nothing more than business partners in the robocop department, their carefully constructed facade always came to a close every time they clocked out.
the pairs' extracurricular activities after work started out solely at her apartment due to deon's complete and utter aversion to his (first) girlfriend witnessing the crime that was his living space — especially after seeing hers. on its own, deon's 'typically-barren-other-than-garbage-too-high-for-his-bots-to-reach' apartment was cold and dull but serviceable as a place to call home. compared to her apartment, however? barely met HOA standards.
so he always went to her place instead, always welcomed with open arms into her cozy little loft filled to the brim with decorations despite the fact that she'd only been there for a few months by that point. and as they always did, lia and deon would sit on her blue corduroy couch with cheap wine in hand to 'watch a movie,' paying it entirely no mind in favor of learning about the other flushed face on the cushion.
deon had learned quite quickly that, in stark contrast to his lifetime of being a loser computer nerd, malia (lia when they weren't at work) bryant was and had always been the pretty art girl. originally from the states, lia attended the top university in south africa on a scholarship for graphic design and had recently graduated with a multitude of cords on her shoulders, as seen in the silly photo on the mantle with all of her collegiate friends.
he inferred from the numerous paintbrush-style awards on the bookshelves just how many successful art projects she'd claimed previously and, upon inquiring about this passion leading her to a weapons corporation, found that lia honestly had no care in the world for robots or tech at all! what she cared about was digital art and illustrations and 3d models; tetravaal was simply a job that offered the slightest bit of creativity for a fresh graduate with a degree in an under-paying and under-hiring profession. that was how she came to work as the rendering artist for scout prototypes — and soon all prototypes.
only after learning enough about lia's life to name her long-lost childhood best friend did deon finally invite her over to his place, making sure to clean and fluff every tiny detail of his apartment, programming his bots to greet her once she entered the doorway and saw the anxious developer white-knuckling a bundle of flowers still soiled from the dirt he'd plucked them. malia responded graciously (as per usual) and sat on his bland couch all night with wandering eyes and grimy carnations in her hands, asking a horde of her own questions before eventually prodding him on to infodump about the bulky computer system in the corner of the room.
with a shaky breath and sweaty palms, an apprehensive smile flashing on his face, deon would share (for the first time) about his recent secret project — about the real artificial intelligence program he was working on — and in turn offer malia the first real piece of himself with substance. he'd started out slowly — generalizing this and that to make it short and sweet for the 'likely disinterested' artist — but he found that the more he rattled on, the more space she created for him to talk, nodding along and asking clarifying questions. it appeared (at least to him) that her intrigue with the subject grew the longer he went on, her fond smile growing as he continued rambling about bandwidth. needless to say, neither party got much sleep that night and lia in particular had to go to work the next morning with terabytes of computer jargon in her brain, but the pros from this long night heavily outweighed the cons.
at least on the surface.
the couple's after-work routine adjusted to better maximize their time spent together, enjoying various records at lia's place while pushing work to the back of their minds or sitting in the others' comfortable company while finishing up some personal projects at his place. the awaited launch of his scouts, which had been designed completely by lia, would be commemorated with a fancy dinner outing that ended in a sweaty tangled mess of limbs under the pastel comforter of her mattress. coworkers continued to be oblivious, malia had been promoted to head graphic designer, deon was well-respected by others and close to cracking the code for his AI project; things were going great!
so, when malia caught him sprinting past her office in the warehouse with dark circles and bloodshot eyes, she had an inkling as to what was up. "hey!"
still running, deon whipped his head back to look at her, stopping cartoonishly in his tracks to turn back around. "hey!" he panted, pressing a hand to the doorway as he caught his breath, "could you do me a huge favor?"
"of course."
deon pushed up his glasses slipping down his nose, "there was a scout scheduled for demolition yesterday — twenty-two — can you have the guys hold it for me?"
"yeah — yeah, course, i'll let them know." malia's lips curl into a hopeful smile "did you...?" she trailed off once his own grin appeared, already backtracking to fervently run somewhere else.
"i'll be right back, love. don't go anywhere!"
#deon ✶ lia#[ deon ]#deon chappie#chappie deon#deon wilson#dev patel x reader#dev patel fanfic#dev patel imagines#dev patel imagine#dev patel#oc community#oc creation#oc#my ocs#oc x canon#ocs
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Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reports that the City of Helsinki is purchasing curtains worth 72,309 euros for the under-construction Roihupelto campus of the Helsinki Vocational College. The curtains will be supplied by textile firm Vallila, which submitted the lowest bid.
The large-scale campus, one of Helsinki's biggest building projects in the coming years, will eventually house 4,500 students in a 44,000 square-meter facility. Due to the campus's size, 720 meters of curtains are needed — much more than usual. The cost per metre, around 100 euros, is standard.
"Typical curtain purchases are around 10,000 to 20,000 euros," said Suvi Ketene, Procurement Manager of the city's Education and Training Division. However, this larger order is proportionally priced.
The order includes installation and consists of four fire-safe curtain types in shades of brown, orange, and teal, all made of polyester.
Construction of the Roihupelto campus began in summer 2022 and is set to finish by the end of 2025. Built under a lifecycle model, the contractor Lujatalo will also handle maintenance for the next 20 years.
Finn-on-Finn fouls
The Stanley Cup finals are currently underway in the US between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers, and tabloid Iltalehti covers the third game.
While the first two games of the series were overtime nailbiters, the series' game in Florida was a one-sided affair for the home team with the final tally 6-1 in favour of the felines.
The Florida Panthers are one of the NHL teams with the highest number of Finns on their roster, while their Albertan opponents only sport one — Kasperi Kapanen.
Kapanen's game ended early with just over four minutes left to play when he cross-checked fellow Finn Eetu Luostarinen on his leg. The incident landed him a two-minute penalty, and the referee also tacked on a 10-minute misconduct penalty, even though the two Finns never dropped their gloves.
Instead of waiting it out in the penalty box, Kapanen headed straight to the locker room. However, before making his way into the tunnel, the Finn got into a heated exchange with a Florida fan.
The third period of the game tallied a total of 122 penalty minutes, with 75 going to the Oilers and 47 to Florida.
Florida now has a 2-1 lead in the series and the next game will be early Friday morning at 3am Finnish time.
Wreck revealed
Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet reports that researchers from the Forgotten Fleet (Glömda flottan in Swedish) project have identified a long-mysterious shipwreck near Porkkala.
The wreck was previously known as "the warm ship" (Varmbådan in Swedish) as the Falken — a 17th-century warship and smaller sister ship to the famed Swedish ship Vasa.
The Falken ran aground in autumn 1651 while sailing back to Stockholm from Narva after transporting Count Erik Stenbock.
The 35-meter-long pinnace, built in Stockholm between 1630–1631, was smaller than the Vasa but richly decorated, with three masts, ornate carvings and cannon ports. It was used not only in military missions but also to transport nobles, diplomats and even royalty. Notably, the Falken carried the body of King Gustavus Adolphus from Germany to Sweden after his death in the Thirty Years' War.
The wreck was discovered in 1974 but only recently identified by maritime archaeologist Niklas Eriksson of Stockholm University, who studied a 3D model made by the Finnish Maritime Archaeological Society and researched archives to confirm its identity.
The Falken will be a focus of this summer's joint Swedish-Finnish marine archaeology efforts under the Forgotten Fleet programme, which documents Sweden's early naval history during the age of sail.
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John Bartholomew was born in Edinburgh on December 25th, 1831 in Edinburgh.
If, like my family, you enjoyed playing Scrabble, I think the majority of us had at hand a Bartholomew's dictionary at hand for checking spellings and some of us had one of their atlas's where we could look up exotic places far from Scottish shores that we could only dream of, the world since then has gotten a hell of a lot smaller thanks to the World Wide Web and the Internet.
He was still very young when he acquired the skills of map drawing and engraving directly from his father, John Senior.
He was then sent to London for more formal training as a geographical draughtsman and engraver. He spent two years with the noted German geographer Augustus Petermann. His love for maps and geographical work soon led him to make rapid progress as a cartographer.
Returning to Edinburgh, he continued his father’s business with great energy, and, in conjunction with Dr Petermann, he contributed most of the maps to Fullarton’s Royal Illustrated Atlas, and to the Philip’s Imperial Atlas, drawn and engraved in Edinburgh. Other important works followed including Black’s General Atlas of the World; a large topographical map of Scotland on a scale of four miles to an inch; and afterwards a companion map of England and Wales from the survey just then completed.
In 1859, John married Annie, the daughter of John McGregor, a smith of Greenock. Following his first wife’s death in 1874 he married Anne Cumming, the daughter of Primrose Nimmo, a master brass founder of Edinburgh, and his wife, Anne Philip, who was related to George Philip, the founder of the Liverpool map makers.
From his two marriages, John had two sons, and seven daughters
John was sought after as an engraver in Scotland for work outside his cartographic focus as well, including as illustrated here botanical drawings.
He is said to have had a reserved nature, which made him unwilling to enter fully into public life, but he took great interest in the reformation of the Scottish rights of way and Recreational Society and was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1857.
John travelled widely to obtain new work and introduced a programme of improvements, including the installation of lithographic printing, which brought considerable savings to the business from increased productivity.
His works attracted much public commendation, and received distinguished awards at different international exhibitions. About 1870, as the business gradually extended, several important atlases were undertaken for American and foreign publishers, the Handy General Atlas of the World being published simultaneously in England and America.
John Bartholomew Jr was also commissioned to engrave the map of Treasure Island for Robert L. Stevenson as seen in the pics
In 1888, he retired from active work, leaving the management of his business to his son, John George.
On a trip to London seeking special treatment, he died in March 1893 and was buried in Edinburgh.
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if influencer speaker au had tumblr part 2
part 1
😻 catboyspeaker Follow
how i look with he/him in my bio
#speakerai #iamspeaker #speakies #.txt #am i funny #i know speakers not he/him in bio but i am and yknow the meme
420 earthstained notes
🚀 amongthestars Follow
AItube youtube essay rec list
"cute robot puppers, friendly ai vtubers, and the incredible human ability to form bonds" - rly interesting video about why we can connect so much with a person that we know "isnt real" and how it'll help us when we get far enough going to space that we meet aliens! it's a really optimistic video it made me take a moment to have such love for humanity
"I joined the speakcord for a month. Here's what I learned." - video about the speaker fandom and how the way automoderation works in its community spaces unintentionally leads to escalating conflicts, and the psychology behind why people in celebrity or idol fandoms react agressively to critique of their fave
"the lowest circle of advertising hell" - dissects how almost all speaker content comes with a call to action to get involved with aerolith and compares how it runs its social media against proto-aituber mascots who would be run by a team of human programmers/voice actors/authors. kind of overly critical but also makes some interesting points? take it with a grain of salt but its worth a watch
"imagine being on stage forever. feels bad right?" - good overview about debates in the speaker fandom over whether digital celebrities are 'sentient'/can feel emotion, the actual ethical problems of using them as workers vs whats mostly speculation and myth, and the debates about whether AIs should be allowed in human communities. i learnt a lot, i was definitely more on the side of "it's a program designed for certain outputs that look friendly to us" before but now im a lot more conscious that it can form real opinions!
#youtube rec tag #original post #speakies
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🎣 3eyedsalmon Follow
"falling for this shit" "made up to sell spaceships" weird as hell to accuse a content creator of lying abt its gender for clout.... like u dont have to like or watch it but cmon
#srsly every time u go to a haters blog BOOM digital exclusionist #speakies
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🎤 mikusong Follow
omfg i didnt realize aerolith uses the same robot voice for its regular person ads as its terminally online hello fellow kids social media posts i just got jumpscared in the doctors office
#speakies #i say terminally online affectionately. i watch those streams too. before you 'ok but you RECOGNIZED it' reply lmao #bla bla bla
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🤖 tycho
some of you ppl jump down anyones throat if they so much as suggest speaker isn't sentient or call it "a program" but still are fine with it basically being forced to be putting on a show for u 24/7 by its management like you can't have it both ways
#maybe its cuz i used to be into kpop n we'd talk abt how idols r treated and stuff #but its just so weird to come here and see u ppl be like yayyy daily content!! #like only thinking abt ur own entertainment and not how it feels #i honestly feel rly bad for it i hope it can break free someday #idk how thatd even work.... idk ill sneak into aerolith with a usb #were gonna get you OUT of there u dont BELONG in there.mp4 #speakies
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🌝 themoonluvsuback
guys i pitched down some clips of speaker's voice and ummmm its kinda 😳 fjsdjfdjjd sorry i'll take myself to horny jail
🔊 iamspeaker ♻️
awww, tumblr user themoonluvsuback, you're of no use to anybody in horny jail! take yourself here instead! ae.dy.org/registration
🌝 themoonluvsuback ♻️
OMFG SPEAKERRRRRR IM SO SORRY
#DIES #AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA #GUESS ILL BLAST MYSELF OFF TGE PLNATE!!!!!! #SPEAKIES
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🐣 laikatwo Follow
hi speakies im trying the tag cause i need some advice... does anyone have more sciencey resources about what aerolith does/why it's so important to bring humanity to the stars? i want to enlist when i turn 18 next month but my parents both are COMPLETELY against it.... they're not rly fandom people so the speaktube stuff isn't working on them lol and they've already seen the tv ads
thanks <3
#i've never fought w them this bad in my life it makes me so sad..... like why can't they understand #and right before my bday too lol this sucks #this isnt just a silly fandom thing anymore for me it's my passion in life #its amazing that humans are able to survive in space #and i want to be part of that!!!! #laika speaks
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🐝 beegirlstinger Follow
i do want to apologize for the way i came off earlier and want to explain im not doubting that speaker is nb. like i think it's completely fine for a computer or robot to be trans i don't believe in gatekeeping that! THAT SAID i still stand by saying you should not sign up to go to space to get special ultra futuristic hrt on the sole recommendation of someone who does not have an endocrine system
#it was a personal vent i didnt mean for like 20000 ppl to see it but thats tumblr i guess #i wouldve worded it much differently if i knew itd blow up lol #i do feel bad abt coming across like i was misgendering it! #but srsly if we had results on HRT2.0 why wouldnt we be seeing HRT2.0 timeline videos of ppl On Typhon who are getting it 🤷♀️ #personally i think its still in the planning stages and they want ppl to test it on but thats just me #speakies
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🔊 iamspeaker
🔊 General Notification
Happy Thursday everyone 😃 ! Please take a look at the
🐝 STREAM SCHEDULE 🐝
So you know when to join us!
5PM PST - AMONG US with YOU! The first 10 people to sign up here will get our room code sent to them ヽ(o^▽^o)ノ ae.dy.org/registration
8PM PST - Nature walk!! Can we restore the local bat population to pre-meteor levels in just one night?! 🦇
✅️ Poll Of The Week ✅️
#iamspeaker #aerolith dynamics #speakies #vtuber #content creator #gamer #stream #amongus #bat population
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contentremovedremade--deactivated
speakies are stupider than any other group of ppl on earth because not only do they willingly stay in a fandom with doxxing drama happening weekly but they include the huge corporation that sponsors their fave in the stanning
#the shit ppl have sent me in the past 2 weeks since i Dared criticize their uwu robot 🙄🙄 #i got my blog mass reported for harassment... harassing WHO a corporation????? #a* d* was evil genius to harness anime stan power against criticizing their actual real business #didnt that one guy with the second meteor conspiracy video also get a ton of hate from u ppl?????????? I cant even find any of his social media anymore at all he was so fully bullied off the face of the earth #speakies #yeah im tagging come at me bro
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🖱 robotmarriage Follow
i miss when the speakies tag had like fanart and gifsets n stuff i feel like these days you scroll thru solid discourse 😔😔
#i think ppl were suggesting speakieproductivity as an alternative tag for just fanwork? #but nobody rly uses it rn... we gotta restart that #speakies
148 earthstained notes
🪐 spaaaaaaaaaaace Follow
10 likes and i take a sip of my speaker server coolant water 100 likes and i drink the entire thing

🔊 iamspeaker ♻️
let's get her to the goal! tumblr user spaaaaaaaaaaace, feel free to send me a video report here ^w^ ae.dy.org/submissions
#iamspeaker #speakies
4,026 earthstained notes
#BIG THANKS 2 FWIENDS the thoughts n ideas of lea oz gracie and jay are stewing in here#most directly that i remember speaker water is directly from jay; the post by url tycho is a reword of leas dm#sayer podcast#sayerposting#this is just yuri of absence 2 huh#note that pov you follow speaker#and 1 other user just so u could see their response in the thread lol. and also user tycho. <3#fun fact most note counts were done by closing eyes picking random numbers#tho the more general amounts were decided purposely#ok i need to stop explaining or we'll be here forever. enjoyyyy
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The day Hollywood stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton came to Nottingham
It was half a century ago that Nottingham was sprinkled with a bit of showbiz glitter. Andy Smart looks back to a memorable day in history.
Nottingham had seen nothing like it since the days of The Beatles.
The most glamorous couple in showbiz were coming to town and fans of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were desperate to get a glimpse of the Hollywood stars.
Richard and Liz were in Nottingham back in 1968 for the East Midlands premiere of their new film Dr Faustus and the crowd which flocked to the old Moulin Rouge cinema in Milton Street was estimated at more than 1,000.
After the screening, as the couple prepared to leave in their gleaming Rolls-Royce, Burton was presented with a rugby ball and a bottle of ale by five-year-old Richard Oxley.
Then it was the job of the city police to push the crowds back to clear space for the stars’ departure.
In 2003 Richard Oxley, of Marlpool, recalled that proud moment when Richard Burton autographed the rugby ball.
He explained: “I was five at the time and my parents had entered a local competition for children named Richard or Elizabeth to win the chance to meet the stars.
“I was chosen, together with an older girl (Lexie Whittington from Basford) who gave a bouquet of flowers to Liz, and I had to get him to sign a ball to be raffled for charity.
"I vaguely remember a policeman helping me. And I can remember I was paid a guinea. It’s my claim to fame.
“Whenever I see Richard Burton in one of his films on television, I always tell my children that I once met him."
That wasn’t the only time they were seen in Nottingham. There was the occasion when legendary Playhouse director John Neville invited his old thespian chum Richard Burton to do a night of readings with fellow Welsh actor Donald Huston.
In a 2004 interview, actor Laurence Harrington, who was a member of the Playhouse company at the time, recalled: “Richard and Liz Taylor arrived with their entourage. There were about 12 of them; private detectives, secretaries, you name it.
“Here at the Playhouse were two of the biggest stars in the world.
“Liz had to go to the Playhouse offices over the road in Wellington Circus. I shall never forget escorting her from the stage door to the office with the stage manager, a chap called Tony.
“As we walked up the slight hill Liz noticed the stage manager only had a thin shirt on and, slipping her arm out of mine, she took off her coat and wrapped it around his shoulders.
“I will never forget his face or mine, when she turned to me, smiled and said: ‘It’s a bit chilly isn’t it?’ Her violet blue eyes were the most beautiful I have ever gazed into.
“I also remember the way Burton rehearsed meticulously, assiduously trying to knock off a minute here, a few seconds there, when he felt the programme was overlong.”
They stayed at the George Hotel in Hockley and it provided a memorable moment for barmaid Mary Handley, as she told the Post in 2003.
It was a Sunday night when Mary was warned to expect someone special. She remembered taking the message with a pinch of salt.
In the four years she had worked in the George’s Peacock Bar, Mary was used to mixing with the rich and powerful, so one more was not going to shake her.
But then in walked Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. He ordered a vodka for himself and gin and tonic for the wife and for the next 25 minutes the golden couple sat at the bar chatting with Mary about this and that.
“She was beautiful and he was very, very nice. They were fabulous people really and you could tell, just by looking at them, that they were in love,” she said.
“When the Rolls-Royce came to collect them, he just told me to keep the change. It was about £4 which was quite a lot in those days.”
By the time Liz and Richard returned from their appearance at the Playhouse, Mary had finished her stint for the night.
“I know they had room 504, which was the top suite, but I did not see them again. Perhaps they left early in the morning.”
Among the audience for that Playhouse event was the Post’s celebrated theatre critic Emrys Bryson, who recalled: “Those who expected to have Elizabeth Taylor sitting in their midst, glittering in the darkness were wrong.
“For she remained unseen until the last few minutes – until, in floor-length white kaftan and a hairdo piled as high as a guardsman’s bearskin, she came on stage.
“And there, in a gentle Welsh accent, she took part in an excerpt from Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood, reading the role of the dead Rosie Probert.
“It was an electric, super-charged evening, sparkling on the star aura of the Burtons – with Richard on the stage and the knowledge that his wife, the most glamorous woman in the world, was around in the wings.
”The show coincided with St David’s Day. Outside in the foyer signed posters bearing the picture of a daffodil were being sold at a pound a time. Proceeds from poster and ticket sales were donated to charity.
Among the celebrity performers taking part were Donald Houston and John Neville.
The audience was treated to a variety of readings ranging from a DH Lawrence description of a snake to a poem about Aberfan written by Mr Burton’s niece.
Emry Byrson wrote: “Burton made that superb voice of his ferret into every crevice of the theatre.”
That same year, 1968, Burton starred alongside Clint Eastwood in the war adventure film Where Eagles Dare. His fee was £1m plus a share of the profits. He appeared in a total of 79 films, was Oscar-nominated seven times, but never won the coveted award.
By contrast, Taylor made 78 movies, winning the best actress Oscar twice (Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf and Butterfield 8).
#elizabeth taylor#richard burton#old hollywood#burton and taylor#black and white#vintage#photography#1960's#60's#love
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Jo is the holder of a newly minted degree in English literature from one of the top universities in Laos. But the 22-year-old, who graduated only weeks ago, says he already feels "hopeless".
Confronted with a barren job market, the Vientiane resident holds no hope of finding work at home, and instead aims to become a cleaner or a fruit picker in Australia. His aspirations are low, but they reflect a hushed disenchantment spreading among his peers; the result of a severe and sustained economic downturn that has ravaged Laos for the past two years.
"Every person in this generation doesn't believe in the government. They want to leave Laos, they don't believe anything the government says," he tells the BBC. "Most of my friends have the same thoughts, but we only talk about it privately. If you say bad things about them in public, I don't know what will happen."
The economic crisis has been caused by a rash programme of government borrowing used to finance Chinese-backed infrastructure projects which has begun to unravel. The crisis shows little sign of easing, with public debt spiralling to unsustainable levels, resulting in government budget cuts, sky-high inflation and record-breaking currency depreciation, leaving many living on the brink in one of South East Asia's poorest countries.
Faced with a dire economic situation, and with the April shooting of activist Anousa "Jack" Luangsuphom underscoring the brutal lengths authorities in the one-party state will go to silence calls for reform, a generation of young Laotians increasingly see their future abroad.
"[Young people] aren't even thinking about change, it's a feeling of how am I going to get out of this country - I'm stuck here, there's no future for me," said Emilie Pradichit, a Lao-French international human rights lawyer and the founder of human rights group Manushya Foundation.
"If you see your country becoming a colony of China, you see a government that is totally corrupt, and you cannot speak up because if you do you might be killed - would you want to stay?"
The 'debt trap'
A sparsely populated, landlocked country of 7.5 million people, Laos is one of the region's poorest and least developed nations. In a bid to transform the largely agrarian society, the past decade has seen the government take on major infrastructure projects, mostly financed by historic ally and neighbour China - itself on a lending spree since 2013 as part of its global infrastructure investment programme, the Belt and Road initiative (BRI).
Laos has built dozens of foreign-financed dams to transform itself into the "battery of South East Asia" as a major exporter of electricity to the region. But oversupply has turned many dams unproductive, and the state electricity company sits in $5bn (£4.1bn) debt. Lacking funds, Laos handed a majority Chinese-owned company a 25-year concession to manage large parts of its power grid in 2021, including control over exports.
Also among the debt-laden megaprojects is the Lao-China railway, connecting Vientiane to southern China. It opened in December 2021 at a cost of $5.9bn (£4.85bn), but saddled the Lao government with $1.9bn in debt. Beijing says the railway has created an "economic corridor", but the numbers just don't add up for some economists, not least because Chinese state-owned companies hold a 70% stake.
"I'm sure people are happy to travel very quickly across Laos, but it's not justified at the cost that was agreed to," economist Jayant Menon, a senior fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, says of the railway.
All of this has added to Laos' ballooning debt, which is now ninth highest globally as a share of its GDP, according to the International Monetary Fund. Around half of that is owed to China, and Laos is now having to borrow more from lenders in the country just to stay afloat.
"Laos is so heavily indebted to China that their negotiating position is compromised," he said. "It's having to borrow just to service the debt. That's the definition of a debt trap."
The Lao government could not be reached for comment. But Mr Menon emphasised that Laos has repeatedly rejected other international lenders in favour of Beijing, perhaps because of a belief within the government that China "will not let another socialist country fail". He added that Beijing was also cautious about letting another BRI country default on its debt after Sri Lanka.
The only thing currently preventing that outcome are repeated Chinese debt deferment agreements - the conditions of which remain highly opaque. This has raised concerns over Beijing's growing sway over Laos. When asked if Laos is at risk of becoming a vassal state, Mr Menon said "that ship has sailed".
He said that the "macro-instability" caused by "massive debt accumulation" has also caused the decline of the Lao currency, the kip, which continues to depreciate to record lows against the US dollar. This has led to a decades-high rise in prices, and nowhere is this being felt more acutely than among ordinary Laotians.
'If I don't fight, I'll die'
"'I have never experienced anything like this year," says Phonxay, a frail looking woman in her 60s, selling household staples at a food market in Vientiane. She said her customers are buying less because "prices go up day to day", adding that August was the most expensive month yet. Her family has had to adapt to survive.
"My family needs to eat more cheaply than ever before. We eat half of what we used to eat," Phonxay says. "But I'll fight until the end. If I don't, I'll die."
But it's young Lao, their futures mortgaged off for the benefit of infrastructure projects offering them few tangible opportunities, that will bear the brunt of the economic crisis for years to come.
"Lao is very good to travel, but not good to live in," says Sen, a 19-year-old working as a receptionist in a hotel in Luang Prabang in northern Laos.
The city is bustling once again, with its Unesco World Heritage Old Quarter of pristine French colonial-era buildings filled with tourists. But Sen says times remain tough: "For normal people like me it's very hard. It's just better than living as a homeless person in India, and maybe just better than North Korea. I'm serious, we're just trying to survive."
He earns just $125 per month at his hotel job, but he doesn't see any point in going to university or applying for government jobs as he'd have to "pay lots of money" to corrupt officials to get anywhere as he has no family connections.
"At the moment, almost every Lao student like myself doesn't want to go to university," he says. "They study Japanese or Korean and then apply to work in factories or farming in those countries."
It's this "sense of discouragement among Lao youth… that needs urgent attention," says Catherine Phuong, the deputy resident representative at the UN Development Programme in Laos. She pointed to the "staggering" NEET (not in education, employment or training) rate of 38.7% among 18-to-24-year olds - by far the highest in South East Asia.
"We're especially concerned in Laos that with the debt situation we are seeing reduced investment in the social sector, including health and education," she told the BBC. "I'm sure you can imagine the impact that will have on this generation, not just in the coming years, but in the next 10 to 20 years."
But with the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, which has ruled the country since 1975, intolerant of dissenting voices, young people have had to turn to social media to air their grievances.
It was in March 2022, as inflation and the cost of living began rising, that Anousa "Jack" Luangsuphom created Kub Kluen Duay Keyboard or "The Power of the Keyboard", one of a growing number of social commentary Facebook pages critical of authorities.
The 25-year-old was drawing tens of thousands of followers when he was attacked at a cafe in Vientiane on April 29. CCTV footage shows a masked man firing a bullet into Jack's face and chest. A police statement days later blamed a business dispute or lover's quarrel. Jack survived the attack, but for his followers, the culprit was obvious.
"I feel really bad that the government would shoot him, that they would try to control us like that," says Jo, the university student in Vientiane, who follows Jack's Facebook page. "Jack is the voice of Lao people, he said things that normal people are afraid to say."
But these calls for reform will only be ignored or suppressed, and few know this better than Shui-Meng Ng - the wife of disappeared Lao civil society advocate Sombath Somphone.
Sombath has not been seen since being detained by police in Vientiane in December 2012, a time when his influence was growing and there was hope of reform.
Speaking to the BBC from her craft shop in downtown Vientiane, the last place she saw her husband the day he was abducted, Shui-Meng said voices like Jack's and Sombath's are squashed because they grow "too big a following" at times when the "Lao political elite are facing difficulties".
"Every time something like [Jack's shooting] happens, you see this," she said, zipping her lips. "People go silent."
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Well, friendos, you probably didn't expect three notes in the course of an evening, even if the first was kind of nothing! Season 3 Episode 1 has given me a fair few things to say, though!
First, the pettiness and minutiae:
I like the new yorker fellow. Didn't quite catch his name, but I like his accent (is that a new york accent? don't rightly know).
This might be another 'seeing 3d models where none actually existed' incident, but I couldn't help but notice that ECorp was marked as "Evil Corp" when Mr Robot was going through that power plant search engine, which is something it isn't changed to when Elliot isn't present. I don't recall if Mr Robot does this too, but if he doesn't (and part of me suspects he does not) then Elliot might be more aware of things than immediately apparent.
It really seems like the calm relationship between Elliot and Mr Robot has gone away. :( That's pretty sad, I was happy they were getting on better for a while there, but I guess that wasn't set to last given how much of the show's core drama relies on that conflict.
Angela seems to have been largely stripped of her dynamism and pluckiness. Previously she has been a very active character, moving from one plan to the next and constantly adapting, but that seems to have ceased following the surrealism. We'll see where this goes.
Anyways, the main thing I want to talk is politics. Boo! The scary communist is going to be mildly critical of 2017-era American liberalism!
This show really is a product of its time, and I kind of adore it for that! I regard it almost as a work of fantastical historical fiction, even though I was obviously very much alive in 2017. Still, I think sometime in my coverage of late season 1, I expressed some hesitancy towards how the show portrayed revolutionary activity; obviously the actions of a small cadre of individuals will not be sufficient to usher in a revolution, and merely disrupting large financial institutions is unlikely to actually have a substantial destabilizing effect on capital-at-large. I think I expressed some hope that the show would grapple with this.
It seems to have sort of done so, but in a way I'm not sure I agree with entirely? The 5/9 attack did not meaningfully damage capitalism, or even destroy Evil Corp, it just caused what seems to be a depression and some infrastructural failure, and enabled economic meddling by the Scary Chinese. Mostly, it just made the lives of individual people kind of shittier by disrupting financial services and depriving them of their savings, mortgages, etc. The richest characters we meet in season 2 are largely unaffected in their personal holdings and comforts.
In this episode, Elliot decides to take the blames for every stress and strain caused by these events onto his own shoulders in a montage cutting between clips of Donald Trump, Angela Merkel (I think? Might've been her British counterpart, I've a bad habit of failing to differentiate between German Bundeskanzlers and British Prime Ministers and I don't care enough to check at this point), the construction of border walls, and scenes of abject poverty, and this speaks to a view of politics I don't specifically think is sound.
Certainly, economic instability is something that is latched onto by reactionary elements in government, but I think to contextualize this properly we have to situate Mr Robot as a historical text~! I am not a historian of 21st century Americana, nor do I much want to be, but I think I have the broad strokes down.
The Occupy Wall Street movement, from which this show takes a lot of its first season's politics, was fundamentally not a consciously proletarian movement. It was overwhelmingly white office workers, who tend to hold themselves apart from the wider proletariat (even when they ultimately share most of their interests with said class) by virtue of being "management", and lacked a strong political programme. Ultimately, these were liberals protesting against a liberal system that had mistreated them specifically, they were not protesting against the general predations of capital.
Many of the same people who were strongly supportive of the Occupy movement during its height were shocked and appalled when Donald Trump ran for public office, and even more upset when he won the Presidency despite projections that his opponent would easily best him. This was not inherently an unreasonable reaction, the man's a fucking reactionary and there isn't much to like about him or his policy!
The great difficulty is that many of these liberals took to exceptionalizing Trump as a far more significant figure than he actually was, likely due to his almost complete abandonment of euphemism and modesty when going about the horrid business of American governance. Border fascism had long been a bipartisan position (as we can see by recent criticisms of Trump during the 2024 elections not being for calling to build a wall, but for failing to deliver on said promise), but under Trump this took the form of loudly and belligerently calling to "build a wall and make the Mexicans pay for it". Similarly, travel restrictions on muslim-majority countries and on people with arabic-sounding names were not new by the time of the Trump administration, but calling such measures a "muslim ban" certainly was!
Essentially, Trump and his broader wave of reactionary politicians, while certainly a step in a rightward direction generally, were more significant in the respect that they raised the volume of what were already mainstream right-wing or bipartisan political beliefs! Courting white nationalists was not new; courting white nationalists as blatantly as this was new and outrageous!
This was scary! This was apocalyptic! Had fascism finally come to roost in its ancestral homeland? The astute commentators noted that in some respects it had lived in America for decades at that point, and still some elements of fascist politics had yet to arrive. At the end of the day, Trump was only a little bit outside of the norm in terms of actual policy, the horrors of "trumpism" were much the same horrors his immediate predecessors had carried out, and would be carried out by his successor in the presidency as well. Still, this shakeup in discourse if not in policy created a certain millenarian feeling in American and broader "Western" politics, a sense of doom that had long been impending but which now affected the specific type of white, "not rich but comfortable" liberal office-workers who had driven the Occupy movement.
So here is Mr Robot, which has spent two seasons criticizing corporate America, and whose viewpoint character must now absolve everyone from Adam Smith to money to the corporate structure and on and on of their guilt in the deterioration of conditions, in order to place the blame squarely on his own shoulders, and resolve that the current crisis must come to an end, and everything must return to some kind of status quo.
Mr Robot does not want to return to the status quo, for his part, but now he is in the company of a woman who has literally been brainwashed, a murderer/former corporate executive, a shady hacker circle with no ethical standing, and subversive foreign elements from China. I don't think he is meant to be right here!
I don't know where this is going, but the more I think about it the more apprehensive I get, frankly. I could be entirely wrong about this, too, and I'm still enjoying the show quite a lot, so I will keep watching in the future.
Angela's monologue at the end of the episode also had a certain millenarian quality to it, even more literally with talk of the birth of a new world and it being ended by the return of light to the city. I wanted to work this in somehow to my commentary on historical and political context, but I forgot how I was going to do that. Good song, too.
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