#Food and Beverage Management Training

[strangesuittheorist]

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[katszumi]

bakugou katuski wasn’t sure how you managed to break his shell. he didn’t find himself surrounded by friends— shitty hair, raccoon eyes and dunce face forced themselves around him so they didn’t really give him a choice (though he secretly appreciated it).

but, you, tenacious, vexatious, obnoxious, you found your way to him. he despised how easily you spoke to him, like a mother to a toddler. do you know who he is?

it was first year. bakugou knew who you were, how could he not miss the clamorous sound, also known as your voice, every morning. you were aggravating, but you were tolerable. he realized that when you two were paired for an assignment. you were assertive, deeming that you could hold your own against his trivial insults. it wasn’t admiration that struck him that day. no, not even close. you just earned a little bit of respect.

soon after, you were attached to his hip. why? he couldn’t even answer that. every morning you’d meet him halfway at a local coffee shop to make your trip to ua, because “who wants to walk alone?” was your reasoning. he didn’t believe your statement, but he disregarded it. in fact, he looks forward to his morning walks with you every night, sometimes even waking up earlier than usual to buy the two of you a beverage before you arrived. a decaf coffee for himself and an iced coffee for you. “i was thirsty. it’s just a one time thing.” was his answer when you first asked, but you and him both knew it wasn’t.

you two had daily conversations: mainly about school, how deku has ticked him off for the millionth time, or some stupid shit you brought up to irritate him as a joke. you were the only person he could converse with and not feel completely enraged by the end of it. he supposed that your voice wasn’t so clamorous after all.

it wasn’t until after class 1a moved into dorms that he started to notice things about you. instead parting your hair in the middle, you did a side part. you often switched the two every couple of days. you preferred sweet candy over sour, but you were obsessed with spicy food. you routinely listened to the same artists; he makes a mental note to force you to listen to new music. you always exercised in the training room at six o’clock on the dot, never a minute before or after.

bakugou knew he was fucked when he began looking for you.

movie night in the dorms lounge? he consistently searches for your figure, because if you’re not there he’s simply not going. choosing partners for an assignment? of course, it’s you, it has to be you. who else would be able to bear with him? a new album was released from his favorite rock band? he waits to listen, because you had to be there.

he even found himself doing stupid shit for you. like holding your backpack for you, because ‘it makes your back ache’. cooking for you because you’ve overworked yourself, you needed the nutrients anyway. helping you study for the next test, groaning at how easy it is and you should understand it, but deep down, he doesn’t mind. he’d save a spot for you next to him on the couch whenever everyone would do a group activities, you don’t deserve to sit on the floor like the rest of the extras.

bakugou was gentle when he was around you, everyone noticed it too. at first, it was a revelation to his classmates, surprised that bakugou could do such sweet things. it felt as if bakugou was painted a new man on a perfect canvas. but, they soon realized it was only you he was this way towards. his aggressive behavior remained with the rest.

though, the man himself didn’t realize his transformation until denki mentioned.

“how come you don’t yell at y/n, but you scream at us all the time?”

bakugou’s face contorted with confusion. that wasn’t true. “the fuck you talking about, dunce face?”

he shrugged, “i don’t know. i just feel like you’re more chill with her than any of us.” mina and kirishima co-signed his words with a nod of agreement.

silence surrounded the room, bakugou’s eyes planted on the floor.

he wanted to say because it’s you, beautiful, determinate, fierce, alluring, you. but, instead, the corner of his lip quirked up into a smirk, his eyes dawning onto the golden-haired boy in front of him.

“she’s bearable.”

like always, his words failed to convey his true emotions. bakugou katuski knew you weren’t just bearable. oh no. you were a million things more than that; you were his anchor to his crazed storm.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Hi there! I'm writing a barista character and got a bit stuck. Do you have any notes on how to write baristas (e.g. what shifts are like; what you have to learn to be one, etc)? Thank you so much!

(Your posts here are invaluable, by the way, and super helpful. 😄)

Writing Notes: Barista

Barista - specializes in making a variety of coffee and espresso beverages.

Usually works in a cafe, coffee shop or bookstore where they take customer orders, complete transactions and serve drinks.

May also prepare and serve a few small meals and pastry options.

Day-to-Day Tasks

As a barista, you would:

prepare the premises or outlet ready for opening

welcome customers, take orders and process payments

prepare and serve coffees, hot snacks, sandwiches and cakes

clean and tidy work areas, equipment and coffee machines

check and order new stock

Preparing Beverages. One of the barista’s primary duties is preparing various drinks to meet customer preferences. This involves:

Crafting Espresso-Based Drinks: Baristas skillfully pull espresso shots, steam milk, and create drinks like cappuccinos, lattes, and macchiatos. They ensure each beverage has the perfect balance of flavor and texture.

Brewing Specialty Coffees: Many coffee shops offer pour-over coffees, cold brews, or French press options. Baristas must understand brewing methods, grind size, and extraction techniques to achieve the desired flavor profile.

Creating Latte Art: For many customers, presentation matters as much as taste. Baristas often add intricate designs, such as hearts or rosettas, to elevate the visual appeal of lattes and cappuccinos.

Customizing Orders: Customize drinks to customer preferences by adjusting sweetness levels, switching to non-dairy milk, or adding extra espresso shots.

Other barista duties may include: 

Welcoming patrons to the shop

Building a relationship with regular customers and remembering their orders

Explaining the cafe’s special menu items as necessary

Recommending beverage options if requested

Following recipes and presentation guides to make beverages

Preparing plates or takeaway containers of pastry and food items

Cleaning and maintaining the commercial coffee machine, steamer and blender

Following health and safety policies

Removing dishes from the table as patrons finish their drinks

Preparing checks and taking payment from patrons

Work Environment 

Baristas work in a variety of coffee shops with the following characteristics:

Standing and walking around for extended periods of time

Lifting and carrying food and drink trays to tables

Working near many other customers, servers and kitchen staff

Wearing a uniform if required by the restaurant

Working environment may be noisy

Typical Hours

40 to 42 hours (variable) per week

Evenings / Weekends / Holidays (on shifts)

Cafes and coffee shops typically open early in the mornings

May require baristas to be flexible with scheduling to meet customer demand

The work can be fast-paced during busy periods

Suitable job for students and part-time workers

Career Path & Progression

There may also be opportunities to move into:

barista staff training

equipment maintenance

coffee tasting and buying

product development and marketing

You could become self-employed and open your own coffee shop.

With experience, you could become a:

store manager, then

regional manager, with a coffee retail chain or franchise.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Flexible Hours: Perfect for students or part-time workers.

Skill Development: Learn customer service, multitasking, and coffee expertise.

Social Interaction: Build relationships with customers and colleagues.

Career Growth: Opportunities to advance into management or specialty coffee roles.

Cons

Physical Demands: Standing for long periods and repetitive motions.

Irregular Hours: Early mornings, weekends, and holidays are typical.

Modest Pay: Entry-level wages can be low, though tips often help.

How to Become a Barista

You can get into this job through: a college course; an apprenticeship; applying directly; training with a professional body.

College. Although not essential, you could do a college course that would give you some of the skills needed for this role. Courses include:

barista skills

food and beverage service

retail skills

Apprenticeship. You can apply to do a Hospitality Team Member Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship.

This will usually take 12 months to complete

A mix of on-the-job training and time spent with a college or training provider

Direct Application. When you start, your employer will put you through training in barista skills and product knowledge. Some employers may prefer you to have experience in customer service, retail sales or catering.

Common Personality Traits

22,778 baristas were surveyed to learn what personality traits and interests make them unique. Based on the Holland Codes:

Baristas tend to be predominantly conventional individuals, meaning that they are usually detail-oriented and organized, and like working in a structured environment.

They also tend to be realistic, which means that they often enjoy working outdoors or applying themselves to a hands-on project.

Based on The Big Five:

Baristas score highly on openness, which means they are usually curious, imaginative, and value variety.

They also tend to be high on the measure of extraversion, meaning that they rely on external stimuli to be happy, such as people or exciting surroundings.

Barista Tools

Baristas use a wide variety of tools to complete their duties. Some common tools:

Espresso Machine. Allows you to brew highly concentrated black coffee. During this process, the machine forces pressurized hot water through finely grounded coffee. Some types of drinks you can make using an espresso machine include: Macchiato; Cafe latte; Cappuccino; Mocha; Affogato; and Americano

Frothing Steam Pitcher. Used to create any drink that requires milk. A frothing stream pitcher helps you create a milk foam to top off a cup of coffee. You can also use this type of pitcher to create an assortment of latte art. Frothing pitchers are stainless steel and feature a handle and pouring spout. A narrow spout can offer control when pouring latte art, such as a heart or rose. You can also find frothing pitchers in different sizes, depending on the amount of milk you want to froth.

Foam Frothing Spoon. After creating foam from a steam pitcher, you can use a foam frothing spoon to control how much foam you pour over a cup of coffee. Using a frothing spoon can prevent spilling that may occur when pouring the foam into a cup of coffee. This type of spoon features a flat tip that makes it easier to scoop only foam from a steaming pitcher.

Thermometer. When making espresso, it's important to consider the brewing temperature, along with that of the milk froth. If your espresso machine doesn't come with a proportional-integral-derivative, use a thermometer to measure espresso as it leaves the brew head.When making a drink that requires steamed milk, it's important for the milk to reach the ideal temperature of about 149 degrees Fahrenheit. To reach this temperature, consider using a frothing thermometer for complete accuracy. A frothing thermometer can also help you avoid burning the milk while ensuring a caramelized milk finish that can elevate the flavor of any coffee.

Commercial Coffee Maker. This type of coffee maker lets you brew a standard cup of coffee. After filling it with water and coffee grounds, a coffee maker filters hot water through a basket holding coffee grounds. After filtering, black coffee enters the coffee pot. You can use this black coffee for a standard cup of coffee or for other drinks such as an iced coffee or latte.

Tamper. Baristas use tampers to brew espresso, whether in a machine or through a stovetop espresso maker. A tamper lets you pack loosely dosed coffee grounds so they're tightly pressed, ensuring a quality espresso shot. You can also adjust the length of a tamper depending on the espresso dosage.

Scale. Helps you achieve a consistent and accurately measured espresso shot. In terms of measurement, a scale helps you determine the amount of beans you use for one shot. If you use a quality grinder with a doser, you may not need a scale.

Coffee Grinder. Grinds fresh coffee beans before the brewing process. A coffee grinder lets you grind as much coffee as needed, whether for an espresso shot or a large batch of coffee. Many coffee grinders have conical burrs that let you select the size of your coffee grounds.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Hi, thanks so much for your lovely words, you're too kind! Hope this helps with your writing 💕

[ra1nbw]

Bags - 2

summary: Ellie's friendship with you started off innocent, you both were un-attachable, doing everything together, constantly getting mistaken as a couple and playing along with it. That is until Ellie develops a crush on you, her presumably straight friend, where her only choices are to pursue her feelings hoping you feel the same way, or... packing away her feelings along with your friendship.

pairing - awk!bfflellie x confused!fem!reader

ellie’s a cfa employee bc i said so 😇

“All these little games, you can call me by the name I gave you yesterday.”

It was a Saturday evening and ellie was currently working her 4-9 shift at the great Chick-fil-A. She was put at nearly every station which she found absurd since she was only working 5 hours, and that’s if they don’t allow her to clock out early.

The establishment recently came back out with their ‘Pineapple Dragonfruit’ drink and ellie had to make at least thirty of them while working at the drinks station. poor girl nearly exploded.

Since her job has new hires, her manager took her off of drinks and had her train someone on expo. “Expo is pretty easy, all you’re doing is carrying food to whichever car is on the receipt. Here, i’ll show you.”

ellie grabbed a bag that held an 5 count kids nugget meal paired with a pineapple dragonfruit drink and allowed her eyes to glance down at the name written on the receipt that was stuck on the white paper bag.

the name read out ‘y/n’ and ellie couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face as she began searching for what she would assume to be your bitch of a dads red subaru until her eyes met yours in the passenger seat of-

“Felicity! wow, hey!” ellie spoke to the blonde girl who was dressed in a pair of light blue linen pants paired with a navy blue and burgundy red sweater. Mind you, it’s springtime with a scorching heat of 84°.

“ ‘sup.” felicity responded with a small smile before turning her attention back to her phone. ellie couldn’t help but let her thoughts race.

‘why is y/n with her?’

‘did she at least pay for your food?’

‘wait- god i hope not, i should be the one paying for her food.’

‘have they been hanging out all day-‘

“yoo-hoo! earth to ellie???” you called out, snapping the auburn girl out of her thoughts.

“i’ve been tryna get your attention, you seemed to be thinking a little too hard over there.” you added on.

ellie was a little flustered, bringing her free hand to scratch at her neck. “yea, uhhh, sorry ‘bout that! i see you got the pineapple dragonfruit drink, you seemed to enjoy it a lot the last time i brought it for you.”

“ ah hell yea! this drink is the best seasonal drink you guys could’ve came out with. fuckin’ love it” you exclaimed, unable to keep your smile down.

“anyways, uh here you go! straws in the bag of course!” ellie quickly handed the bag to you, careful not to make physical contact with felicity who was in the drivers seat.

“thanks babycakes.” you said to ellie, quickly taking your straw out the bag to put in the cup. you took a sip before dramatically rolling your eyes back due to how sweet the beverage was. “literally so amazing, oh my goshhh.” you exclaimed once again.

“god, dramatic much?” felicity said, seeming to come off as joking but still didn’t fail to piss ellie off a little.

‘only I can call her dramatic, not this bit-‘

“quit it! anyways ellie, thanks for the lovely food! i’ll catch you later!” you said before blowing her a kiss and felicity driving off.

‘babycakes? that’s a new one.’ ellie thought to herself.

“uh hello? there’s more bags over here.” the kid being trained shouted from across the lot, bringing ellie back to reality.

“shit- sorry dude, got a little distracted.”

═════════════════════════

by the time ellie got home it was 9:30. joel had picked her up before heading out to his night shift at the bar.

all ellie could think about as she prepared herself for a shower was the tall lanky blonde you were with today. she couldn’t help but let her nerves get to her. she knows you’re not gay yet still can’t help but think about the possibility that there could be something deeper than friendship between you and felicity.

“I’m so screwed.” ellie said out loud to herself, grabbing clothes out of her drawers. she settled on a minecraft tee paired with a pair of her boy boxers before stepping foot into her and joel’s shared bathroom.

during her shower, her mind wandered.

‘are my feelings obvious and she’s just oblivious?’

‘what if she knows but doesn’t want to say anything because she thinks it’s weird?’

all the negative thoughts were getting the best of ellie and caused her to shut her brain off completely for the remainder of her shower.

after she allowed her head to fall against her pillow, ellie decided to text dina about her special guest appearance at work today.

‘what could that possibly mean?”

ellie thought to herself.

‘y/n isn’t gay, at least she says she isn’t and that’s enough for me… for now!’

‘this is screwing with my head, i can’t even talk to her normally anymore.’

before she could drag herself down more with all her thoughts, she decided to just plug her phone up and close her eyes, hoping she’d be able to sleep without her mind wandering.

═════════════════════════

it was lunch time at school, and you were standing with ellie, dina, and jesse talking about whatever you guys could think about.

“ellie! your birthdays almost here~, have you decided where you’re gonna have your dinner at?” you asked her, staring at her with curiosity.

“yea actually, i have. there’s this new mexican restaurant that we haven’t tried out and i think it’ll be a pretty cool place.”

“dude i absolutely love mexican food… stomachs rumbling just thinkin’ ‘bout it.” jesse cried out, rubbing his stomach with her left hand.

“that sounds so good, can’t wait to stuff my face with fajitas and whatever.” dina responded.

═════════════════════════

as lunch came to a close, you walked off with dina while ellie was stuck with jesse since their classes were closer together.

“sooo… you and y/n?” jesse spoke.

“god are you kidding me? dina told you im guessing.” ellie couldn’t help but drop her head back, bringing both her hands up to her face before sliding them down, letting a dramatic groan slip out.

“that and it’s pretty obvious. you guys look at each other like nobody else is around… makes me wanna barf sometimes not gonna lie.”

ellie could only scoff at jesse’s response, not believing that the feeling could be mutual on your end. “man, i’d really wish you and dina would let the ‘y/n likes you too�� train go. she doesn’t even like girls, and even if she did, it seems her and that felicity chick get along way better.”

it tasted so bitter on ellie’s tongue even bringing up the fact that you and felicity could possibly be together, almost makes ellie want to gouge her eyeballs out.

“believe what you wanna believe man, im out.” the male said, saluting to ellie before turning his heels towards his classroom.

‘no way she likes me back.’

————-

i lowkey don’t know if this is good but i tried! i’m thinking of making only five parts of this, so only three more chapters after this! i also want to kind of make one shots for tlou and yellowjackets characters or whatnot so lmk lmkkkk…

also! birthday dinner next chapter 😇😇

@lovewitchss @beanbagbitch

[insaneglitter]

⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ Amtrak/Luxury Train Waiting Room ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

🅆🄴🄻🄲🄾🄼🄴 🄰🄱🄾🄰🅁🄳 🅃🄷🄴 🄹🄾🅄🅁🄽🄴🅈, 🅃🅁🄰🅅🄴🄻🄻🄴🅁!

The Journey:

Welcome, Traveller! You are now aboard The Journey, an endless, entirely personalized, luxury sightseeing train ride around the most beautiful and idyllic scenes your mind could ever conjure. Massive windows stretch from the ceiling to the floor among various cars on the train. Some glass ceilings boast light-catching prisms, casting rainbows onto the below. Stained glass windows frequently adorn the walls of the train, with occasional cars with illuminated-glass floors. 

The Journey is perfectly paced to constantly display an array of the different environments it passes through. The Journey may transcend realities at any moment, altering our outside surroundings to a new, beautiful reality. Perhaps The Journey will take you to some realities you’ll recognize, hm? 

The Journey is smooth, gliding through its path and rearranging itself effortlessly. Water in showers/baths, pools, and food are unaffected by the movement of the train. Any activity upon The Journey is done without resistance from the train.

The Journey offers complimentary cuisine and desserts from various culinary backgrounds, available 24/7 through self-serve buffet, room service, or sit-down dining in any dining car. The bar cars boast extensive juice and smoothie bars alongside their alcoholic beverages. No food or beverages served aboard The Journey will be upsetting to the stomach or the taste buds. Alcoholic beverages and spicy food always go down smoothly. Though you can eat to satisfaction, you find there’s always room for more. 

Your Journey will be staffed by the most beautiful of women, in the most ethereal dresses of all kinds. These women have individual names, but can be addressed communally or summoned under the name Gem. Gem may take a primary form of your choosing, and will also appear if called with the intention of her appearing. She materializes quickly, don’t be startled! Gems are truly and genuinely happy to be staff aboard The Journey. They are well cared for and are satisfied with their lives and work. Don’t feel bad asking for anything, they genuinely enjoy going the extra mile. No request is too large or off-limits. 

Your private experience, including your Gem system, is a priority. Gem Staff, alongside any current or future additions to your Journey experience, can be altered or customized via the ring on your right ring finger. A ring of your own likeness, sporting your favorite metal or color. Spinning the indestructible ring in any direction will display a hologram into the air above it. Through this hologram, you have access to every aspect of your experience. Gem Staff, decor, food, special car additions, wardrobe, personal appearances, anything. You can see every aspect of yourself, the train and it’s passengers, and manage accordingly. Any actions will be added to The Journey instantaneously. 

Passengers can exist on your Journey. From any reality you wish, or simply strangers, but you can always alert Gem Staff that you’d like a private experience, never to be in contact with other passengers. As if they didn’t exist on the train. The Journey offers several private spaces, cars, and suites just for you or your selected passengers. 

Here are some, but not all, types of train cars on The Journey:

Giant spas with every treatment, massage, or service imaginable. All-day pampering, massages and scalp rubs, saunas, mani-peds, herbal and mud baths, jacuzzis, fruity drinks, soft robes…

Interior and exterior observation decks boast expensive, comfortable, and luxurious furniture. Exterior balcony areas have hammocks and small campfires, perfect for fresh-air sightseeing. Don’t worry about the balcony, even if you deliberately jump or exit the train at all, you’ll automatically appear in the nearest empty seat. 

Large libraries of works from across various realities. Once you begin to read, you’re encapsulated by the text, any of the books can easily engage all of your senses. You can choose the ambience of these carts, whether in soft music, by soft fireplace crackling, or complete silence, the experience is yours.

Pools, lagoons, lazy rivers, splashpads, and babbling brook areas on a train? I think yes. The water is always the perfect temperature, no matter where you are. Maybe round up some passengers or Gem Staff for a round of chicken? 

Arcade/Casino cars have modern, vintage, and futuristic games of all kinds. Various tables of card, dice, or tile games. They even have a very active Dungeons and Dragons table always ready for your return. 

Various skill cars for learning different trades. A painting car, a piano learning car, a crocheting party, hair braiding, a nail-doing car- any skill you could be interested in. All skill-related cars or activities are staffed by Gem Staff for mentoring, inspiration, or expert advice.

The bedroom suites have various sizes of the most comfortable, coziest beds, exactly how you like them. The sleep here is perfect and blissful, full of pleasant dreams of your various realities. Each rest leaves you feeling perfect and refreshed, but you can always fall asleep with no struggle whenever you wish.

[thehoneycrypt]

Sugar, Spice, & Everything Nice

I. COFFEE BEANS & UNSATSIFED DREAMS

word count: 5k

pairing: sugar daddy!jayce x sugar baby!reader

contains: the brutality of working in the food/beverage industry, karenism, alludes to depression, social and physical isolation

summary: life as a barista is fine when the customers are, but a terrible exchange between you and a demanding customer leaves you upset and angry. billionaire jayce talis emerge from his solitude to get his life back on track. your hard days lead to an unlikely meetup.

author's note: chapter one is here!!! many thanks to my beta reader @bb-enablefreebuild for her help <3 i hope y'all enjoy this, i know a few folks in @madschiavelique's discord server were craving some sugar daddy jayce ;D

The aroma of coffee beans and freshly warmed pastries wafts through The Last Drop, a local café in the heart of Piltover City. Chattering customers of all sorts fill up the shop, some awaiting for their drinks while others partake in their sweet treats. It’s a busy day, the third busy day in a row for the week. Busy days mean more tips, but–

You run through the backside of the café, sweat sticking to your forehead from the heat emitting from the various equipment. The morning shift is down by two workers, leaving you and your remaining coworkers Gertude and Mylo to man the ship, a rapidly sinking ship.

“We need a medium flat white! Oat milk and medium roast!” Gertude yells to you from behind the cash register. The amount of customers waiting to order barely fits inside the queue belts, some grumbling about the long wait. Remember, busy days mean more time.

“I’m on it!” you shout back in confirmation and make a mad dash into the back of the shop. 

With the grace of a bull in a china shop, you throw yourself at the espresso machine and dump some coffee beans inside the chute, turning the machine on and adjusting the setting until you pull out an adequate espresso shot. You hastily steam the oak milk and with the ingredients ready, you pour a flat white as best as your trembling hands could.

“Flat white with oat milk and medium roast!” you pop out to the front with the coffee in hand. An older woman with a quilted jacket appears before you, “Thank you, dear,” she takes the coffee from your hands. She pulls out a five dollar bill from her pocket and hands it to you, “Good luck to you and your friends!”

“Thank you so so so much,” you thank the customer profusely. She tips her head and walks off; you turn around to get back to the coffee machines when an annoyed voice calls out to you, “Excuse, ma’am.”

You spin back around to the front and come face-to-face with a middle-aged man in business attire. His face is so red, you fear that he’s having a stroke. Unfortunately, Mr. Not-Having-A-Stroke thrusts his to-go coffee cup towards your face, “This coffee is the worst thing I’ve ever tasted! I want a refund!”

You attempt to placate the businessman with a well-trained smile, “I’m sorry, sir, but we have a no refund policy because all of our items are perishable.”

“What?!” he screams. The businessman snatches the cup from your hands, “That’s ridiculous! I demand to speak to your manager!” 

Fucking Karen. You let out a small sigh from under your breath and slip into your default customer service voice, “Yes, sir. One moment, please.” 

Mr. Karen gives a grunt of approval, “Good, I don’t have all day.”

You piece of shit. “If you’d just give me a moment,” you shout for your boss from the back of the shop before turning towards the customer, “He should be here momentarily.”

Less than a minute goes by when Mr. Tomato-Face starts tapping his foot.

Two minutes pass, still no sign of your boss. The businessman glares daggers into your soul, “Shout for him again.”

“Sir, he’ll be here in a few. Please be patient,” you grit your teeth.

Another minute goes by.

“Shout for him. Again,” Mr. Karen demands.

“Sir, like I said, he’s—”

Splash!

You fail to shield yourself from the splash of coffee chucked at you from the angry customer. Lukewarm coffee hits your chest and your face, drenching your apron and shirt in muddy brown. A hush falls upon the café patrons, most witnessing the volatile exchange.

“Sir.”

The deep but calm voice of the café owner—Vander Gallagher—breaks the silence of the room. He towers over Mr. Tomato, his muscular biceps on display with his fitted shirt. The businessman cowers pathetically under the massive figure of your boss, “Oh— I—”

“I’m asking you to leave the premises,” your boss states. He shoots you a glance and asks, “Would you like to press charges for assault?”

“No need,” you wipe off some coffee droplets from your face, “I’m not gonna waste my time on a lowlife like him.”

“Very well,” Vander looks down at the businessman and places a large hand on his shoulder, “How about you pay my kind barista over here so she can replace her uniform, alright? A fifty dollar bill should do, then you can be on your way.”

“O– O– Okay,” the businessman stammers, opening his leather wallet and pulls out the requested bill. Vander smiles at the coward’s cooperation and pockets the money, “Say smile!”

In a flash, Vander snaps a photo of your assaulter with his phone. The businessman winces at the sudden flash and retreats from the café once released from Vander’s hold. A few café patrons trade concerned frowns while others mumble among themselves. 

“Apologies, folks!” Vander puts on a cheery smile, “Please continue with your meals and drinks! All is well.”

Chitchat resumes in the café, whispers about the earlier scene reaching your ears. Vander enters the back with you and pulls you into a side hug. Defeated, you accept his touch and crumble.

“Take the rest of the day off,” he informs you. Shaking your head, you reply back, “I can’t, we’re already low as is– Don’t worry about it,” Vander cuts in, “I’ll take over for you and don’t worry about the pay, I’m still paying you for your whole shift.”

Tears prick in the corners of your eyes and you sniffle, “You sure?”

“I’m positive,” your boss confirms. He passes you the fifty dollar bill, “Here’s your compensation for that asshole. I’ll give you a new apron.”

“Thanks,” you offer Vander a weak smile and shove the bill in your pocket.

“Of course,” he chuckles, “

You strip yourself of your ruined apron and pass it off to Vander. He waves you goodbye and you leave for the small break room in the far back of the café. Wiping away any escaped tears, you approach your locker and crack the combination lock to open it. You toss your visor and name tag inside before removing your satchel and jacket from the locker, slamming it shut with an annoyed huff. 

Fucking asshole, you steam your anger out in your thoughts, as you exit the café, This was one of my favorite shirts, the stained shirt is of your favorite cover album of your favorite band, The Firelights. You plop down outside the café and hug your knees to your chest, I hate it here. I hate working here. I hate, I hate, I—

“Hi.”

A husky voice greets you. Peering up from your ball of sadness, you see the owner of the voice. It’s a bearded man dressed in a baseball hat and dark sunglasses, paired with a plain white T-shirt and blue jeans. His bomber jacket appears weathered from use; you narrow your eyes to get a closer look and notice a familiar symbol on the breast pocket, a tilted hourglass. 

“Can I sit here?” the man inquires, his broad stature blocking the blinding light of the sun.

“Sure, be my guest,” you mumble indifferently. 

The man takes a seat beside you and rests his head against the concrete wall, “Bad day?”

“Very bad day,” you reaffirm, pulling out of your sadness ball and stretching out your legs. 

The man beside you raises his eyebrows and points at your shirt, “You’re a fan of the Firelights?”

“Oh,” you nod and cast another look at his bomber jacket, “Yeah, I am. You are, too, yeah?” you gesture at the Firelights’ symbol on his jacket, “Judging from the jacket.”

“For sure,” he smiles at you, a pearly white and toothy grin. Despite his Goliath form, the strange man radiates oddly comforting energy, “What happened to your shirt, though?”

Your expression darkens at his question, “Some asshole threw coffee at me ‘cuz I wouldn’t give him a refund,” your words are sour like a lemon, “I doubt I’m gonna be able to get this stain out...”

“Want a new one?” the man asks.

“Want?” you furrow your brow, “Of course, I want a new one, but I don’t have room in my—” you cut yourself short. Why am I telling this man my life story?

“Let me get you one,” his voice is firm, “No ifs or buts.”

You run your hands through your hair, already exhausted enough from the day’s events, and relent to the stranger, “Fine. Deliver it to me the next time you come to The Last Drop.”

“Will do,” the strange man extends a large hand to you, “By the way, it’s nice to meet you, even though it was under not so great circumstances.”

You take his hand and it engulfs your own, as you two shake hands, “Nice to meet you, too, stranger,” you answer back.

The man before you removes his sunglasses and reveals his bright, hazel eyes. His eyes stare into yours and for a moment, all is silent. Pretty, you think to yourself.

“Jayce, actually.”

“Mm?”

“My name’s Jayce. What’s yours?”

You tell your name to Jayce and he grins.

“What a beautiful name.”

Your face warms up at his compliment, a contrast to the autumn chill. 

Noticing your flustered expression, Jayce simply smiles back.

“I’ll see you soon.”

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

The Man of Progress. Golden Boy. The One Who Revolutionized the World.

Jayce Talis has many names in reference to his extraordinary work with Hextech and other inventions powered by  new, once unknown sources of energy. He’d been dreaming of changing the world ever since he was a child.. In his heart, Jayce knew he could and that the Universe would guide him to achieving it. 

In elementary school, Jayce discovered such a strange crystal, abandoned in the fields outside his house. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, with its unnaturally vibrant blue color and rigid texture. That crystal would become the key to Jayce’s quest of bettering the world.

Years went by, as Jayce grew up from a chubby cheeked boy to a handsome, grown man. He sped through high school, college, and graduate school with the help of a lacrosse scholarship, but Jayce felt no fulfillment with his fancy degrees. His free time was dedicated to toying with the crystal. Hours were consumed by his non-stop research in his university’s lab, but no answers would come about.

Then Viktor Novak entered the picture, the second key to revolutionizing the world. 

A scrawny, vampirically pale man, Jayce would encounter him infrequently during his time at graduate school. As assistant to the Dean, Viktor had to be everywhere and juggle everything. The two would have the occasional conversation, but nothing bloomed beyond that; not until a chance meeting in the engineering lab that exposed Viktor to the allure of solving the mysterious crystal. 

Viktor shared the same dream as Jayce, to make the world a better place. With his cane in tow, Viktor climbed from the pits of the small subsector of St. Zaun to the skyscrapers of Piltover City; a brilliant man who wanted more in life than to be an assistant and to give power to his community. A dream that would come to fruition with the help of that little blue crystal. 

The night that changed the world involved the pair running through more equations and analyses than a stockbroker with cocaine. They were running on fumes and an empty coffee pot. In the midst of their sleepless delirium, Viktor suggested the impossible, “What if it’s from space?”

Jayce laughed his head off at the mere idea, his head throbbing from caffeine withdrawal and the desperate need to sleep. Yet, the steely glint of seriousness in Viktor’s eyes made the scientist quiet down. He never considered the possibility of the crystal’s origin being from space…the crystal’s structure was more similar to quartz than anything else. 

While Jayce pondered the possibilities, Viktor set down a streak test plate and filed the crystal against it. It sparked. At the same time, the lights in the lab flickered for a brief moment. 

Curious, Viktor rubbed the crystal against the plate again, inciting the same reaction from the lab lights. No material on Earth has ever done that. 

A crazy idea exploded inside Jayce’s head. 

He grabbed the crystal off the streak plate and secured it inside the lone centrifuge in the corner of the lab, much to Viktor’s horror. He scolded Jayce for such a reckless act, but Jayce fired back with the notion that if the crystal was an unknown material from space, they couldn’t operate under Earth rules. 

Unable to argue with his logic, Viktor handed his fellow scientist some eye protection and stepped far away from the centrifuge. Jayce strapped goggles firmly around his eyes and steadied himself with a deep breath. He d turned  on the centrifuge and history unfolded before their very eyes. 

The crystal spun like a gymnast on steroids. It spun and vibrated and spun some more until– 

The centrifuge exploded in a flash of blue light, energy rippling through the lab. Lights in the lab intensified for a moment before blinking out, engulfing the room in darkness. Jayce and Viktor ran to the windows and stared outside in a mix of awe and concern. The power grid for the entire campus was fried, shrouding the university in pitch black. Viktor hobbled back to the damaged centrifuge and brushed off some debris, picking something up. In his hand, the crystal laid unharmed.  

Jayce Talis and Viktor Novak, a pair of terribly exhausted and somewhat deranged scientists, discovered renewable energy unlike anything the world had ever seen.

They secured the funding of sponsors like Medara Industries, the potential of getting their grubby hands on potent energy was too powerful to resist. Jayce and Viktor developed a wide variety of inventions powered by the energy of the crystal, which they dubbed as the Hex Crystal. From engines for cars to prosthetics, the two’s inventions soared them into the stratosphere of fame and glory. While Viktor preferred to be in the shadows and tinker away in the lab, Jayce was made for the spotlight; he enchanted the nation with his charm and smarts, cementing his place as America’s Sweetheart and The Man of Progress.

Jayce Talis achieved his dream of changing the world… but the cost of such victory would catch up with him eventually. 

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Seven years had passed since the discovery of Hextech and the founding of Hex Energy Incorporated. A board of directors and investors was established and managed a bulk of the corporation, such as marketing and finances. Viktor Novak, one of the two founders, became the CTO—chief technology officer—but still dedicated his time to hiding in his personal lab and creating schematics for new inventions. As for Jayce Talis, the other founder, he maintained the position as chief executive officer, the CEO and smiling face of Hex Energy.

Jayce had everything, billions to his name. When the money from Hex Energy started rolling in, his first “purchase” was spent on his mother, Ximena. He ensured that her retirement would last for decades; she deserved it, after all, as she spent a good decade or so raising Jayce by her lonesome after his father’s passing. 

After setting up his mother for a life of comfort and security, Jayce’s later financial decisions were much more impulsive. He indulged himself in a playboy lifestyle with yachts, international trips, and mansions galore, brimming with the smooth and the sexy. Jayce lived it up like Bruce Wayne without a care, drowning himself in the thrills of fame and fortune. 

The appeal of such a life wore off eventually by the time Jayce entered his late twenties. There weren't enough fancy suits or round trips to Rome in the world that could compensate for his desire to do better for humanity. 

So, Jayce lit his playboy persona on fire and sold off his frivolous purchases for charity, turning a new leaf as a philanthropist. Like his co-founder and partner Viktor, who vowed not to be a millionaire, Jayce channeled his money into a variety of charities to lighten the load of his bank account, even creating a few of his own to invest funds in. With his new image, Jayce became America’s Favorite, a man who could do no wrong. In the eyes of the public, he was a hero.  

Truth to be told, Jayce Talis was a loser.

Or at least that was how he felt. Viktor was his only friend and his last—as well as  only—romantic relationship fizzled out after a year of courting. Of course, so many people wanted to be friends with the Jayce Talis, but no one wanted to be friends with Jayce Talis. Vultures, these fake friends Jayce had the misfortune of making during his stupidity in his mid twenties. Those stabs from those he trusted most took its toll on Jayce and little by little, he withdrew. In the blink of an eye, he vanished, hidden away in the comfort and safety of his penthouse. 

With Jayce out of the public eye, rumors sparked about his health and wellbeing. Gossip magazines ran article after article on the reclusive billionaire while paparazzi were on the hunt for a photograph of him in the hopes of a lucky break, to get the golden ticket from capturing the Jayce Talis. 

By the third month of “living up” as a hermit, Jayce received a wake-up call from none other than Viktor Novak. 

“Jayce,” his friend’s accented voice crackled from the speakerphone. Jayce’s phone rested on the glass coffee table, its owner preoccupied with scrolling through cable TV, “Jayce, you need to go outside.”

“I’m fine here.” Tombstone? No. Jumanji? No. God, there’s nothing but shit on cable.

“No, you’re not,” Jayce could hear his partner pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, “You haven’t left your penthouse in months. It’s unhealthy,” Viktor sighs, “and that’s especially bad when the man with the terminal lung disease says so.”

“No matches yet?” Jayce powered off the TV and picked up the phone, taking it off speaker and holding it against his ear. 

“No, not yet, but I’m still top on the list,” answers Viktor, “But this isn’t about me, Jayce. I’m calling you as a warning.”

“A warning?”

“Yes, a warning. The board has been talking. There have been… discussions of your absence and your role with the company.”

Jayce’s grip on the phone tightened, “What have they been saying?”

“That they want you to resign.”

Within Jayce’s hand, the phone screen threatened to crack from the pressure.

“I’ll be in the office tomorrow morning. Bye, V.”

“Wait, Ja–” the CEO hung up the call with a huff. Jayce collapsed back down against the plush sofa and stared at the ceiling fan. His eyes followed the spinning, Resign? Are they insane?! They wouldn’t have jobs if it wasn’t for me and Viktor! 

Jayce pushed himself off the sofa and dragged himself to the bathroom, What assholes. When I get back tomorrow– Jayce’s train of thought vanished, as he took sight of his reflection in the bathroom mirror. No longer did a clean cut and shaved Golden Boy appear in the mirror, but rather a dishevelled beast of a man. His hair reached just above his shoulders, paired with an unkept beard. Depression beard, huh?

Jayce made a quick call to his stylist Margot, who was surprised to hear from him—I thought you died! was how she put it—and scheduled an appointment for later that day to address his beauty emergency. With the appointment confirmed, Jayce entered his Spotify app and turned on whatever ‘motivational’ playlist he could find.

Pumped up music played throughout the bathroom, as Jayce showered for the first time in weeks. Lathering him with bourbon-scented wash products, Jayce relished in the relief that the hot water provided him. He exited the shower back into the steamy bathroom and dried his body and hair, finally clean after weeks of bed rotting. Jayce hated to admit it, but showering did help his mood. 

Once dried, he left the bathroom and threw on a makeshift disguise. Jayce knew that the public wouldn’t recognize him with such long hair and a beard, but he couldn’t take the risk. He dressed as generic as possible and topped it off with his bomber jacket from his college days, the tilted hourglass symbol from his favorite band The Firelights stitched on the breast pocket.

Sunlight greeted him when he vacated his penthouse and outside the apartment complex. He winced at the brightness and covered his eyes with a pair of sunglasses. Jayce wedged his way into the foot traffic, making his way to Margot’s studio. 

A sudden pang of hunger hit Jayce’s stomach, accompanied by a loud growl. Guess I could go for a bagel and some coffee. He continued walking until he caught sight of a café, one surprisingly close to Margot’s. Exiting the bustling sidewalk, Jayce made a beeline for the café, with the words The Last Drop written on its sign.

He reached out for the door, ready to go inside–

Jayce hears a sniffle. 

Close to the entrance of the café, he sees a young woman hugging her knees to her chest. Jayce takes a step closer and the pleasant scent of coffee hits his nose, unsure if it’s from the café or the woman. He hears more sniffling and frowns. Poor thing.

“Hi,” the greeting stumbles from Jayce’s lips without thinking.

At the sound of his voice, the woman lifts her head from her knees and looks around the area, her eyes landing on Jayce. His chest constricts like a boa had wrapped itself around it. The hunger in his stomach is replaced by the sensation of nervous butterflies. The woman before him couldn’t have been more than 25 or 26, but the dark circles under her eyes age her. Poor thing, she looks overworked.

“Can I sit here?” Jayce asks in a gentle manner, not wanting to frighten or come off as creepy. 

“Sure, be my guest,” the woman mumbles. 

Jayce plops down beside the woman and rests his head against the concrete wall. Eyes hidden behind polarized sunglasses, Jayce casts a sympathetic look and smiles at the poor lady, “Bad day?” he inquires.

“Very bad day,” she answers, exhaustion and sadness evident in her tone. The young woman stretches out her legs and lets out a defeated sigh. Jayce opens his mouth to offer reassurance when he notices her shirt, it features the album cover of Misfit Toys, one of the earlier albums from The Firelights. Near the neckline of the shirt, there’s a prominent brown stain splattered on it. 

“You’re a fan of the Firelights?” Jayce points to your shirt. It’s a rare sight to see someone wearing such early The Firelights merchandise unless they had been a fan since the beginning. 

They complimented their merchandise and the familiar feeling of awkward silence begins to sneak its way in. Jayce, desperate to keep it going, blurts out a question about the prominent coffee stain on her shirt. And there goes your opportunity to be a normal guy, ‘Golden Boy’.

The woman’s expression soured at his question and Jayce bit the inside of his cheek. Shit, did I piss– “Some asshole threw coffee at me ‘cuz I wouldn’t give him a refund,” she spits out to Jayce, “I doubt I’m gonna be able to get this stain out,” her eyes glisten with tears. 

Jayce’s instinct is to embrace the woman and comfort her, but he restrains himself from being overly affectionate with the stranger. Don’t come off as a creep, don’t come off as a–

“Want a new one?” Don’t be a creep, Jayce! Damn it!

“Want?” the woman perks up at his offer and furrows her brow, “Of course, I want a new one, but I don’t have room in my–” she shuts herself up and lowers her gaze. Don’t have room in your what? Jayce ponders, In your budget? What has the world come to that someone can’t buy a shirt without worrying about their finances?

“Let me get you one,” Jayce reasserts, unrelenting, “No ifs or buts.” You deserve it after the horrible day you had.

The woman runs her hands frustratedly through her messy hair and concedes, “Fine. Deliver it to me the next time you come to The Last Drop, I work the rest of this week until Friday,” Jayce does an internal fist bump of victory.

“Will do,” he takes a mental note of the T-shirt design. To Jayce’s surprise, he extends his hand out to the woman, a gesture of good faith, “It’s nice to meet you,” he smiles, “Even though it wasn’t under not so great circumstances.”

The woman takes his hand and intertwines it with hers, so small and dainty in comparison. She shakes his hand and returns the good regards, “Nice to meet you, too, stranger.”

Jayce relinquishes his hand from the handshake and takes off his sunglasses, no longer bothered by the sunlight. He locks eyes with the woman, the world around them suddenly silent. Why do I feel so nervous? Jayce questions himself, God, guess I really have been a hermit that I’m getting all flustered just from looking at a woman. The woman bats her eyelashes and slightly parts her lips, likely a subconscious response. Nonetheless, it sends arrows straight into Jayce’s heart, his pupils engulfing his hazel irises. 

“Jayce, actually,” he breaks the silence.

“Mm?” the woman tilts her head at Jayce.

“My name’s Jayce. What’s yours?”

And she, you evidently, answer his question. Jayce grins. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman, “What a beautiful name.”

Your eyes widen a bit and you avert your gaze to conceal your flustered face. Jayce can’t help but smile. Adorable. His phone buzzes with an alarm notification, alerting him that his appointment with Margot is in five minutes. Jayce springs up from the ground and bids his farewell, “I’ll see you soon.”

He walks away from the café, purposefully slow. Jayce takes a few sneak peeks from behind to see if you’re still outside the café. There’s no sight of you, you probably left to take care of your soiled shirt. 

The bell above the door jingles, announcing Jayce’s arrival to Madame M’s, Margot’s studio. It’s uncomfortably empty, no sounds of blow dryers or chitchat between stylists and customers. Why is it so empty?

High heels clicking against hardwood floor signals the arrival of a blonde woman with green makeup, “Jayce, baby!” the blonde–Margot–embraces Jayce and gives him a smooch on each cheek, “I’ve missed you so much!” she leads him to a salon chair and drapes a cover over his front, “Where have you been, darling? You vanished off the face of the Earth!”

“It’s a long story,” the CEO awkwardly chuckles.

“Wanna get into it?” the stylist hums, as she rummages through her styling tools. 

“I rather not,” he answers. 

Margot sets down a range of hair clippers and scissors on the table under the mirror, “No worries, just curious. Are we doing your usual today?”

“No, just a clean-up,” Jayce interjects. 

“Very well!” Margot claps her hands together, “This shouldn’t take too long then,” a small smile graces her lips, “Something’s different about you, Jayce.”

“Besides the long hair and beard?” Jayce snorts. 

“Besides that,” Margot grabs some hair clips and scissors, “You look like you went through Hell and I take it that this is your first day in public since your…” she sections off parts of Jayce with the hair clips, “...Your disappearance from the public eye a few months ago. You sort of look like a sad lump of shit..”

“Geez, thanks,” the CEO huffs. 

Margot runs a section of black hair through her comb and snips off the dead ends, “You ran into something,” snip snip snip, “Or someone.”

Jayce’s blood turns cold at her deduction and masks his shock with a cough, “Ah! Well, uhm… I did encounter someone, yes. You’re not wrong about that.”

A boisterous laugh rings in Jayce’s ears, as Margot continues to cut his hair, “Oh, darling! It’s written all over your face. That someone left a mark on you.”

“I was heading to get some coffee when I saw her outside the coffee shop, crying. She was having a bad day and I was trying to cheer her up, that’s all.”

“Mhm… I doubt that. She lit a spark in you. I can tell, of course. I’m French, after all.”

Jayce goes quiet and the earlier events play back in his mind; a toothy grin forms on his face when he remembers your honeyed voice and your beautiful eyes, “She was– is pretty, but that doesn’t constitute ‘lighting a spark’ in me.”

“Think about it deeper, baby. After months of your absence from the public eye, what did the one person you encounter today do?”

It clicks.

“She… didn’t recognize me?”

“Bingo!” Margot cheers, snipping off the last necessary strands from Jayce’s hair, “And isn’t that such a relief? To be unknown?”

Jayce mulls over Margot’s words while she touches up his beard. It is a relief to be unknown, Jayce had not been so since his college days. Talking to you had been the first normal conversation he had with someone in months—no, years—beyond Viktor, his mother, or his de facto sister Caitlyn Kiarmann. I have a chance to be normal. Glee and excitement bubble up in his stomach. 

“Look at your face, darling,” Margot whispers, “You look happy.”

Jayce focuses his gaze onto the salon mirror. He’s now cleanly groomed with a stylish haircut and beard, no longer a Sasquatch. The expression on his face is one of simple content, not too strong and not too weak. 

For the first time in months, billionaire CEO Jayce Talis looks happy.

All because of you, a disgruntled barista whose ruined day led to your paths crossing. 

[ashiemochi]

bestie, I ain’t gonna lie - I’m very hungover at work for reasons I’ve already told you

Can I have a comfort drabble of Leon taking care of an icky and hungover reader 😭 I’m dying

You were promoted -- and that was all it took to convince you to invite Leon for a celebratory night out with loads of drinks and snacks. Leon tried to convince you that there was no need for you to take care of the bill, but you were stubborn.

"You always buy drinks for me, so it's my turn!"

You really just wanted a reason to spoil him instead.

One drink turned to two, then to three, then to four, and then more.

You weren't shooting for that many drinks, but Leon kept going as if he didn't have a liver. You knew about his high tolerance for alcohol and his history with drinking, but it seemed like he learned how to not relapse.

And maybe he didn't drink as much as you. Maybe it was him just taking small sips and enjoying the beverage unlike you who was going all out for the weekend. You were calling the shots (and downing them) as Leon casually busied himself with his Brandy and the small cup of peanuts.

You'd ramble about random things that didn't make sense with those red cheeks of yours and those drunken and slurred giggles. Leon was just as happy as you were about the promotion -- though let's be honest, his monthly paycheck was your whole year salary.

And more.

Even when you went to dance with some friends from work, Leon chose to stay by the bar. It wasn't like he hated dancing or mingling with the crowd -- if it's with you, he'd recreate a whole Step-Up scene. If it's with you, then he'd do anything.

But from his spot, Leon sat quietly with a drink in hand, his eyes trained on your swaying form like a hawk. In both lustful and protective ways -- and love.

So, when the night ended and morning came, Leon was still there for you. Though he didn't know how someone like you could vomit that much.

"Fuck me, I'm going to dieeee..."

Leon bit back a snicker as he held your hair back, inwardly cringing at the sounds of you emptying your guts. You didn't even manage to open your eyes before you found yourself rushing to the bathroom with a pounding headache.

For a split second, you even thought you passed out but it was just your legs giving out from the sudden movements of hopping out of bed. And because you were extremely hungover, but that's beside the point.

You were dying.

"No, you're not going to die." Leon rolled his eyes lightheartedly at your dramatic nature, his hand rubbing your back, "You're just hungover. It'll pass."

"You mean... I'll pass away..." You drawled, your voice croaky and still heavy with sleep.

Leon chuckled and that made you straighten up a bit, turning your head slightly to look over at him and he cocked up a brow at the scowl on your face.

"What?"

"You're laughing at me..." You mumbled, "You think this is funny?"

"Absolutely not, baby," Leon laughed and shook his head, "I think it's very cute. You were practically drinking for the both of us last night."

"Ugh... I knew it..." You moaned, dropping your forehead to your arm that was resting on the toilet seat, "You didn't drink shit."

"I did, just not as much as you." Leon pointed out, leaning forward to press a quick kiss on your head, "C'mon. Luckily for you, I know exactly the right things to do in this situation."

"Die?"

"Not even close."

Leon was a gentleman. First things first was to get you some rest to get rid of that headache. He got you some painkillers and water, emphasizing you finish the whole cup. It was one of the few moments where he'd be stern with you.

Only during the times when you wouldn't be taking care of yourself.

Next thing was food. By the time you woke up, it was in the afternoon and you were starving if not still a bit nauseous. So, for something light on the stomach but filling, Leon made some chicken noodle soup.

A banana smoothie too for the hangover to dissipate completely.

Third, a hot shower which Leon turned it into a hot bath instead as you were a bit lightheaded still.

By the end of the night, Leon had you all snuggled up against him on the couch in your comfy clothes with nothing but some ice cream and even more water.

[zoesblogsposts]

o 625 words to know in your target language o

There is a really interesting blog called "Fluent Forever" that aids foreign language learners in tricks, tips and techniques to guide them to achieving fluency "quickly" and efficiently. One of the tricks is to learn these 625 vocab words in your target language, that way you have a basis to start delving into grammar with ease as you can understand a lot of vocab right off the bat. Plus this list of words are common across the world and will aid you in whatever language you are learning. Here is the list in thematic order

• Animal: dog, cat, fish, bird, cow, pig, mouse, horse, wing, animal

• Transportation: train, plane, car, truck, bicycle, bus, boat, ship, tire, gasoline, engine, (train) ticket, transportation

• Location: city, house, apartment, street/road, airport, train station, bridge hotel, restaurant, farm, court, school, office, room, town, university, club, bar, park, camp, store/shop, theater, library, hospital, church, market, country (USA,

France, etc.), building, ground, space (outer space), bank, location

• Clothing: hat, dress, suit, skirt, shirt, T-shirt, pants, shoes, pocket, coat, stain, clothing

• Color: red, green, blue (light/dark), yellow, brown, pink, orange, black, white, gray, color

• People: son, daughter, mother, father, parent (= mother/father), baby, man, woman, brother, sister, family, grandfather, grandmother, husband, wife, king, queen, president, neighbor, boy, girl, child (= boy/girl), adult (= man/woman), human (# animal), friend (Add a friend's name), victim, player, fan, crowd, person

• Job: Teacher, student, lawyer, doctor, patient, waiter, secretary, priest, police, army, soldier, artist, author, manager, reporter, actor, job

• Society: religion, heaven, hell, death, medicine, money, dollar, bill, marriage, wedding, team, race (ethnicity), sex (the act), sex (gender), murder, prison, technology, energy, war, peace, attack, election, magazine, newspaper, poison, gun, sport, race (sport), exercise, ball, game, price, contract, drug, sign, science, God

• Art. band, song, instrument (musical), music, movie, art

• Beverages: coffee, tea, wine, beer, juice, water, milk, beverage

• Food: egg, cheese, bread, soup, cake, chicken, pork, beef, apple, banana orange, lemon, corn, rice, oil, seed, knife, spoon, fork, plate, cup, breakfast, lunch, dinner, sugar, salt, bottle, food

• Home: table, chair, bed, dream, window, door, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, pencil, pen, photograph, soap, book, page, key, paint, letter, note, wall, paper, floor, ceiling, roof, pool, lock, telephone, garden, yard, needle, bag, box, gift, card, ring, tool

• Electronics: clock, lamp, fan, cell phone, network, computer, program (computer), laptop, screen, camera, television, radio

• Body: head, neck, face, beard, hair, eye, mouth, lip, nose, tooth, ear, tear (drop), tongue, back, toe, finger, foot, hand, leg, arm, shoulder, heart, blood, brain, knee, sweat, disease, bone, voice, skin, body

• Nature: sea, ocean, river, mountain, rain, snow, tree, sun, moon, world, Earth, forest, sky, plant, wind, soil/earth, flower, valley, root, lake, star, grass, leaf, air, sand, beach, wave, fire, ice, island, hill, heat, nature

• Materials: glass, metal, plastic, wood, stone, diamond, clay, dust, gold, copper, silver, material

• Math/Measurements: meter, centimeter, kilogram, inch, foot, pound, half, circle, square, temperature, date, weight, edge, corner

• Misc Nouns: map, dot, consonant, vowel, light, sound, yes, no, piece, pain, injury, hole, image, pattern, noun, verb, adjective

• Directions: top, bottom, side, front, back, outside, inside, up, down, left, right, straight, north, south, east, west, direction

• Seasons: Summer, Spring, Winter, Fall, season

• Numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 21, 22, 30, 31, 32, 40, 41, 42, 50, 51, 52, 60, 61, 62, 70, 71, 72, 80, 81, 82, 90, 91, 92, 100, 101, 102, 110, 111, 1000, 1001, 10000, 100000, million, billion, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, number

• Months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

• Days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

• Time: year, month, week, day, hour, minute, second, morning, afternoon, evening, night, time

• Verbs: work, play, walk, run, drive, fly, swim, go, stop, follow, think, speak/say, eat, drink, kill, die, smile, laugh, cry, buy, pay, sell, shoot(a gun), learn, jump, smell, hear (a sound), listen (music), taste, touch, see (a bird), watch (TV), kiss, burn, melt, dig, explode, sit, stand, love, pass by, cut, fight, lie down, dance, sleep, wake up, sing, count, marry, pray, win, lose, mix/stir, bend, wash, cook, open, close, write, call, turn, build, teach, grow, draw, feed, catch, throw, clean, find, fall, push, pull, carry, break, wear, hang, shake, sign, beat, lift

• Adjectives: long, short (long), tall, short (vs tall), wide, narrow, big/large, small/little, slow, fast, hot, cold, warm, cool, new, old (new), young, old (young), weak, dead, alive, heavy, light (heavy), dark, light (dark), nuclear, famous

[equinox-86]

Noctis Character Profile

"Greetings. Kaminashi's top Vampire Hunter squad at your service. Please report any sightings to HQ immediately."

C a n y o u h o l d h e r h e a r t ?

Most of the info listed here is still a work in progress :P Some things might change. Note that Noctis is very cold in the beginning but gradually warms up to the vampires, which results in forming strong connections and friendships later on.

General

Kanji: アエクアリス・ノクティス

Romaji: Aekuarisu Nokutisu

English: Aequalis Noctis

Also known as:

Pyromaniac, Jirai-Onna, Alcoholic, Chichinashi, (and many others, by Ayato) Bitch-Chan (by Laito) Livestock, Lilith (by Ruki) M-Neko-Chan (formerly by Kou) S-Neko-Chan (currently by Kou after witnessing Noctis kicking Ruki and Yuma in the balls during MB's Prologue) Drunkard, Punk, Mesubuta (by Yuma) Lilith (by Azusa and Karlheinz) Woman, Vessel, Bloodbag (by Carla) Chew toy (Shin)

Her Nicknames for the DiaBoys:

Ayato: Ayarou (Ayato + Yarou) Laito: Netorare/Cuck Reiji: Megane/Four-eyes, Mom (jokingly), Old man Shuu: Old man Ruki: Ojou-Chan (jokingly) Kou: Gigolo Yuma: Gorilla (due to his strong physique), Meathead Carla: Old man (jokingly after getting along) Shin: Cyclops, Eyepatch-bastard, Ankle Biter, lap dog Most of these nicknames aren't in use anymore or used jokingly after More Blood and Dark Fate.

Personal Information

Age: 18 (Physically)

Status: Alive

Race: Demon/ "Lilith" ( She is from a demonic species higher ranking than a Founder.)

Gender: Female

Height: 5'3

Hair Color: Black (natural) and Fuchsia (dyed)

Eye Color: Blood Red

Occupation: High ranked Vampire Hunter, 3rd year Student at Ryoutei Academy

Relatives: Unknown

Hobbies: making cocktails

Favorite Food: Alcoholic Beverages

CV: Yoko Hikasa

A mysterious figure with an unusual name. Affiliated with the church lead by Seiji Komori, Noctis was sent to the Sakamaki Mansion under false pretenses as a "Sacrificial Bride" in order to ruin Cordelia's plan and gain the Sakamaki brothers as allies for the sake of the assassination of Karlheinz, as well as to stop future women to be sacrificed to vampires. Unable to bear the thought of dooming his adopted daughter Yui Komori, Seiji forged a plan to train and send a powerful demon whose memories he took, to doom the Vampires. If Noctis were to die as a result of the plan, he would feel no guilt, as she is not human. She believes she is human, as she spent her time living among them.

Personality

Noctis is a very calm and patient person, who could snap fast if someone acts unreasonable. She's very defiant to the vampires and doesn't tolerate their abusive behavior towards her, often engaging in physical fights with some of them. The mistreatment results in her getting dependent on alcohol and she is sometimes seen drunk during school hours in HDB. Despite appearing like an honor student at first glance, Noctis tends to engage in delinquent behavior. Despite of this, she is a responsible person that manages to complete her tasks decently, such as supervising Ayato and Laito to make sure they do not to cause trouble at school under Reiji's order. Noctis likes to throw sassy remarks at the vampires. She often gets in unnecessary trouble for running her mouth. She takes joy in teasing Ayato and Shin, who are quick to lose their temper, which she finds humorous. Noctis' has a resting face which makes her seem cold and serious, but it is easy to get a reaction out of her. She keeps her thoughts and feelings to herself and rarely shows compassion towards the vampires as to keep herself safe and not give them an opportunity to use her weak points against her. Rather than showing pity, she gives them advice from a rational perspective. She's very analytic and observant. Laito managed to break her cold barrier by constantly toying with her emotions for his own amusement, mainly enjoying the new expressions she makes by provoking her and putting her in situations that would cause her to show fear. His little games of psychological manipulation slowly resulted in Noctis showing more emotion and eventually warming up to the Vampires in More Blood.

Appearance

In most outfits, Noctis is seen wearing a heart choker on her neck and on her thigh to make biting more bothersome to the vampires. It serves as an extra protection measure.

She is always carrying a lighter with her.

Relationships

WIP

Trivia

With her drinking habits, Noctis developed spitting fire using alcohol and a lighter as a special skill.

Noctis hates cranberry juice as a result of drinking it too much to restore her iron levels.

When Reiji nags her too much, she jokingly starts calling him "Ossan" (おっさん) meaning "old man." Here, she refers to him or any other vampire as a grandpa due to how old they are.

Opposite to Yui, Noctis is a demon with a "human heart." Due to her memory loss, she was treated like a human by the church and learned their morals and values.

Noctis has a reflex that causes her to punch what causes her fear. For example, If someone were to jumpscare her, they would get punched by accident.

As a result of sharing a roof with 6 men, Noctis started to adapt manly speech mannerisms, such as using "ore" instead of "atashi" when referring to herself.

[imawreck]

Fights

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier x Original Character, Platonic!Thor x Original Character

Summary: Thor becomes Max’s rock during her hardships, and the blooming relationship between the Super Soldiers is crushed by distrust.

Warnings: Blood and betrayal, needles, bad decisions

Word Count: 4,762

Max-

It had been two days since the mission and my body had finally recovered completely. Within those few days I had kept myself busy with training. Of course, I trained in my own rooms to ensure I wouldn't' run into a certain metal-armed assassin. I didn't want to see him, too afraid that the mere sight of him would send my head spiraling. That was the last thing I needed.

On the upside, a certain god had decided that he was going to keep me company as I recovered. Each morning he would be lounging in my floors' small living room with a cup of coffee in his hands. He would smile and wave me over, "Good morning, Lady Max."

I let him do most of the talking, finding myself oddly comforted by his easy and bright personality. He filled most of the silence with extravagant stories of his home and his travels. It was a little confusing at first, but I soon learned all about the realms. It was hard for my mind to make sense of, I came from such an old time, but I knew it had to be true. He had shown me his hammer and the lightning that would travel over his skin without harm. He was simply amazing.

This morning was no different than the others as I made myself walk down the hall and into the kitchen. He sat in his usual spot with his mug of coffee and smiled brightly at me. "Good morning Lady Max, you look lovely this morning."

I let a shy smile tug at my lips, "It's just Max you know, I'm no noble or anything. Just me."

He furrowed a brow, "I beg to differ. You are most definitely a Goddess."

I couldn't help the sound of disbelief that left me as I laughed, "Far from it, actually. How are you this morning?"

His smile grew as a lock of golden hair fell in front of his eyes. "Quite good actually, I have managed to make you laugh. Are you feeling better today perhaps?"

I shrugged, "Maybe a little." I opened the fridge and pulled out the jug of milk stored inside, turning towards the cabinet to pull out the lucky charms and a bowl. "My wounds have healed."

Thor still spoke to me as my back was turned, his voice carrying easily over the sound of my shuffling. "Your healing is quite remarkable. As are your skills, I've heard."

I nodded, "I'm good at what I do. Though, some don't seem to feel the same way." I let my sentence trail off as Bucky's face flashed in the back of my mind. I shook it away, "But you are a god, Thor, surely your troops are just as much a sight as I am."

"You would definitely stand a chance." He laughed, "You might even be able to beat Valkyrie, our best warrior apart from myself, of course."

I raised a brow, returning the milk and cereal to their homes before I padded over to the couch to join him. "Is that an invitation to spar? I'm in the need for a new partner."

Thor's eyes lit up, "I would be honored to spar with you."

I spooned a pile of cereal into my mouth, "You're on then."

I munched on my cereal for a while, taking my time as he sipped his beverage and we both enjoyed the light of the morning. I had gotten to know Thor decently well while he came to keep me company, and in a strange way it comforted me to have him around. He was easy to talk to when I felt like it and never too pushy when I didn't seem to respond most days. He was kind and funny too, always laughing.

When I finished my food I eased off the couch with a huff. "I'll change and meet you down there."

Thor simply nodded and downed the rest of his drink before he brought his hand down hard, pulling back at the last moment and setting the cup down on the glass table with a little pat. "No smashing cups," I heard him mutter before he got up and headed towards the elevator.

I smiled at his odd habits and swiftly left for my room. Today was the first time I had really left the floor. I dreaded running into Bucky or anyone else in all honestly. I didn't feel like answering questions or feel the hot burn of Bucky's judging eyes follow me around. I had ignored it for long enough though and I needed to find a use for myself to take my mind off of everything. Slipping on a simple long sleeve black shirt and some leggings, I made my way over to the door once more and headed towards the training room. The elevator ride down was quiet and just long enough for me to steel my mind just in case I ran into him.

The door chimed and I trudged out, eyes sweeping over the halls and peering through the glass walls separating the rooms. No sign of Bucky. I did see a familiar trimmed profile working in a lab a few rooms away from the training room.

Tony had labs everywhere and seemed to rotate floors with different projects. He always had a place close in case some genius idea came to mind. I watched as he tinkered with something on his latest suit with a look of focus on his face.

I hadn't talked to him either, not since radioing in. I wanted to, really I did, but I had no idea what to say or how to explain anything.

I shook the thoughts from my mind, focusing on the task at hand. I moved through the halls and found myself in the training room in no time, met with the God of Thunder dressed in a fitting t-shirt and a pair of sweats. His blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail at the back of his head and stray hair still framed his face. It was odd, seeing a god look so mundane. Of course I had only met one. I had no idea how they dressed normally.

Thor turned once he noticed I had joined him and threw me a playful smile. "I thought you had forgotten me."

"Have a little faith." I stretched my arms over my head in order to loosen my joints. "I could never pass up a chance to take down a god."

Thor's laugh echoed through the room and I couldn't help but chuckle along with him. It must have caught Tony's attention because a few moments later the glass doors burst open and his giddy form waltzed in. "Hey you two, it feels like I haven't seen you in forever."

Thor frowned, "Stark I saw you just this morning and we talked about M-"

Poor Thor couldn't get his sentence out before Tony was pulling me into a hug and yammering on. "Jeez kid, come around more often."

I awkwardly patted his back before he pulled away, looking over me proudly. "I have someone I want you to meet."

"What?" This whole thing was getting really weird.

"Friday! Have Pete come down here and say hello." The AI answered him swiftly and before I knew it there was another person making their way down the hall.

He was young, I could tell that much. He wore a loose hoodie and a pair of sweats with a backpack slung over his shoulders. I could practically smell the nerves rolling off of him as he pushed open the doors. "Hello, Mr. Stark, Sir."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Ease up Peter, they won't bite."

"Well," I nudged Tony with my shoulder, "I might." I took in his brown hair and matching chocolate eyes, his lithe stature too. I stuck out my hand when he approached. "Max, can't say I've heard much about you which is surprising considering Tony never shuts up."

He hesitantly took it in his own with a small smile, surprising me with his strong grip, "Peter Parker, nice to meet you. Is your hair naturally white?"

I smiled back, "Parker, I've heard that name once or twice, and yes it is."

Peter's eyes seemed to widen a little as they glanced behind my back. "O-oh my gosh I'm sorry, Mr. Thor. I didn't even see you- I mean I did, how could I not? You're, well, you're you." He jutted his hand out again and gave another nervous smile as Thor laughed once more, shaking his hand. "Nice to see you, Sir."

"You as well, young Peter."

Tony clapped his hands together, "Fantastic. Now that you're all acquainted, I'd like for you to teach Peter some skills."

Both the boy's eyes and my own widened as we both spoke at the same time. "What?"

Tony shrugged, "I thought it would be best if he learned from a professional. Plus, I wont be sending you on a mission until I know you are one hundred percent healed and ready to go." He gave me a pointed look, "And Thor told me that you would be training today anyways. Perfect timing, huh?" Tony began to back away with a thumbs up, inching towards the door.

The smile that tugged at his face looked a little too proud and I itched to knock it right off. Of course I couldn't, because a little training wouldn't hurt me and a mission was on the line. If teaching a kid some self defense would get me back on the field I suppose I could do it.

"Fine." I turned to Peter, who looked a little paler than when he came in. I spoke to him as I picked a wrap off the bench and began to wrap my knuckles. "What kind of experience do you have? Any field work?"

Peter's eyes were practically saucers, "I, uh... I've saved the city a few times. I catch burglars and that sort mostly."

I nodded, "So you have some sense of hand to hand. That's good, means we can skip that part." I gripped my hands a few times, testing the wrappings before I turned to Thor who had mimicked my actions. His hands were wrapped neatly and he seemed to be adjusting his hair. "You can take the bench for now and watch Thor and I spar. Make sure to pay attention."

Peter nodded and made his way over to the side of the mats, plopping his bag down and then taking the bench. He watched us with blatant excitement.

I waited for Thor to enter the ring before I raised my fists. "I'm going to walk you through this match Peter," I called behind me, "So listen up." I circled the mat, Thor's eyes on me the whole time as he stayed directly in front of me. He had a sly smile on his face and joy in his eyes. I couldn't help but smile back as I spoke, "Always keep your eyes on your opponent. The second you take them off, you've lost."

I swung my leg outwards, aiming straight for Thor's side. Surprisingly he reacted fast enough to snag my foot with a triumphant smile. I used his firm hold on my calf to pivot my other leg up with just enough force to land a solid kick to the side of the god's head. He released his grip to regain his senses and I used the opportunity to coach Peter a bit more. "Secondly, always look for an opportunity to disable or disorient your opponent. If he has you trapped or pinned, aim for anything that will cause them pain. Pain leads to the instinct to release or retreat."

Thor had gathered himself then, lunging with a punch aimed for my stomach so I sidestepped him easily and watched as he stumbled a few steps. "Use their weight against them if you can and try to use the least amount of energy. You never want to be the one to tire first."

I could hear the heavy steps approaching behind me as Thor barreled towards me. I turned, watching him raise his fists and prepared to counter before his leg swept out and caught my ankle. My back slapped the mat hard and a heavy weight settled over me.

Blonde hair tickled my cheeks and a blinding smile shone on Thor's face, "Does this mean I win?"

I felt his thighs pressed against my own, caging me in. His arms held him up over me, palms spread out on either side of my head. My cheeks burned at the proximity.

"Hardly," I managed to say before I gripped his wrists and slid upwards on the mat, planting my heels on his shoulders and kicking him backwards. I watched his body launch through the air before he skidded to a halt a few feet away. A groan left him as he rolled onto his stomach.

I stood, brushing off my hands and planting them on my hips as I made eye contact with Peter. "Lastly, don't underestimate your opponent. You don't know their skill set or strength. If you can pin them, do it. Don't leave them any leeway."

The brunette nodded eagerly, "That was incredible! You were like BAM, and he was like NOPE, and you were like WHACHA!" His arms flailed animatedly as he spoke, nearly causing him to fall off the bench before he caught himself.

I smiled at him, warming at his bright personality. "So, wanna give it a shot?"

"Absolutely! I can totally do this." He slipped his hoodie off of his head, leaving him in a black t-shirt and his sweats. Peter hopped up onto the mat as Thor made his way behind him muttering something under his breath with a look of awe on his face. Peter didn't seem to pay him any mind as he adjusted the bands on his arms.

I planted my feet, raising my arms. "Don't hold back, show me what you've got."

He nodded surely before he held his arms out loosely. We stared at each other for a moment, trying to gauge each other's move. Suddenly he threw his arm up and flexed his hand, sending a wire of some sort to catch around the ceiling and using it to swing his body towards me. I wasn't fast enough to move, so I threw my arms up to block his kick. My feet slid backwards quite a ways and my arms ached with the impact of his kick. The kid was strong, really strong.

He didn't stop his actions though, slinging more of whatever his bands spit out towards me. I felt the impact of it hitting my chest and spreading outward, pinning me to the wall behind me. I hadn't realized we had gotten that far from the mat. Two more hits had my hands pinned out to the sides of myself all the while Peter remained hanging from his wire attached from the ceiling.

To say I was stunned was an understatement.

I stared at him, taking in the way he gracefully swung from the wire to the floor, but it wasn't a wire at all. I turned to look at my hands. The substance that clung to my hand looked a lot like... a web? I frowned, squinting in confusion. "Are these spiderwebs?"

"Yeah! I make them myself- well in a lab not like in me." His face went red at his statement but I wasn't focused on him, too busy admiring the strength of such delicately made webs.

"These are amazing Peter, like, really cool. You must be incredibly smart."

Peter shrugged, a shy grin on his face. "I'm almost top of my class."

I nodded, not doubting him one bit. "Guess I broke my own rule. I greatly underestimated you." I tried to yank my hand free, hearing the webs stretch and refuse to break against my strength. "These things are seriously strong too!"

"Oh, yeah you can't break out of them. I'll have to grab the dissolver from my bag."

"Don't worry about it." I reached a clawed finger through the gaps in the webbing, cutting through easily and escaping the confines of the web. I did the same for the one on my torso and other hand, freeing myself and tugging off the remnants from my clothes, "I got it."

Peter gawked at me, his eyes glued to my hands. "You have claws? Those totally weren't there a few minutes ago, I swear it. Did you just grow them? How? That's like, not humanly possible!"

"No, not normally." I gave him a grimace, "I'm not exactly one-hundred percent human, there's some animal DNA thrown in the mix. I'm not sure what exactly, you'd have to talk to Banner and see if he knows, but I do know there's some sort of big cat in there." I let the claws fall to the floor, ridding myself of them before I snagged them off the floor and walked over to toss them in the nearest trash can.

"You are the coolest person I've ever met besides Mr. Stark. Sorry, Mr. Thor." Peter looked like he had just struck gold.

Thor laughed from his place at the bench, "I am not offended, young Peter. Max is surely every bit as extravagant as you describe her."

I scoffed, "Ease off the flattery you two. I'm just like everyone else."

Just then, the glass door's swung open and Tony made his second appearance for the day. "I have to say, that was great work Peter. I'm really impressed that you bested Max here. I've seen her take out the whole team without breaking a sweat." Peter practically grew three inches at Tony's compliment, but then Tony turned to me. "You though, were holding back on both of them. I want to know how that arm is doing and I need you to really work it to prove to me it isn't causing you any discomfort."

I sighed, "Tony my arm is fine-"

He waved his hand, cutting me off, "I want you to spar with Barnes. Cap is busy with a report for me. I've already called for him to come down and spar with you so you can't tell me no."

My stomach dropped, "Tony, that really isn't necessary."

I prayed he heard the desperation in my voice, but he turned away, motioning for Peter to follow him. "Do you want to go on missions or not?" Tony's pointed look suggested it wasn't negotiable. "Come on Pete, we can watch this one from the security cams while you help me in the labs. I've got some interesting things to show you."

Peter shrugged his hoodie back over his shoulders and slung his bag over his arm, waving to Thor and I as he trailed after Tony. "It was nice to meet you, Max! I hope I see you again, and it was nice to see you, Mr. Thor."

Thor gave him a hearty laugh and a wave goodbye with it, unwrapping his hands and stretching his back with a groan. "You are quite the opponent Max, though I am humbled by my defeat. Tony spoke of your talent highly and I see now he was not exaggerating."

I chuckled, relaxing my shoulders and massaging the now healed wound. It was indeed healed, but phantom pains continued to haunt me. "Thanks, you surprised me too. Not many have the skill to catch me off guard."

A blinding smile crept onto the god's face, and he shook his head. "We should keep a running list then. See who can best the other more."

I huffed, delighted by his playful challenge. "You're on."

There was only a moment to breathe in the small bit of happiness before the elevator chimed down the hall and tore me back to the reality in which I found myself in.

Light footfalls, one just barely louder than the other, the telltale sign of the Super Soldier I had been avoiding the last few days was making his way to the training room. The scent of leather and metal tickled my nose, and I fought the urge to flinch away from it. The moment of dread must have managed to claw its way to my face as I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder drawing my senses back to the room.

Thor's face was one of sympathy as he spoke to me in a soft voice. "I'll see you around Max, tomorrow morning same as always."

I didn't know how he figured it out, but Thor had managed to see what so many in the tower had failed to. Somehow, he knew the source of my agony. Yet there was never judgment or pity in his eyes. Only kindness, and I was grateful for it.

Thor released me as he made his way to the door right as Bucky's looming form entered the room. I watched as they exchanged a glance, tense and steady, before Thor simply continued his trek to the elevator.

I didn't speak, busying myself with adjusting my wraps and re-tying my hair in a poor attempt at a topknot. Bucky didn't talk either which filled the room with a suffocating kind of quiet. There was only the shuffling of our clothes or the sharp sound of Velcro.

I took a breath, steadying myself for whatever would happen. It was just a spar, something that had to be done before I could throw myself into something dangers, something distracting. Anything to get me away from here.

"You've adjusted your wraps six times in the last five minutes."

His voice rattled me, sending a quake through my bones. I covered it as best I could, though I'm sure the cold eyes that stared at me when I turned had caught it regardless. "If you don't wrap your hands right, it could affect the fight." It was a shabby excuse, but he didn't point it out.

Instead, he stood in the center of the mat with his arms at his sides waiting for me. He wore all black like me, a black t-shirt and a pair of joggers to match. Neither of us wore shoes, though I was barefoot unlike him. Preferring the sureness of the ground beneath me. Bucky's expression was guarded and blank, like the soldier I had seen long ago. So similar to it that I felt the blackness surge its ugly head inside of me to swallow up my sudden sorrow. I stood though, tall and confident despite the hurricane brewing in me. I would succeed, no matter what.

With steady steps, I found myself on the mat. I felt my arms raise, maneuvered my feet to hold my ground, and then it began.

I felt his metal fist collide with my side in an instant, a bone crushing force I couldn't dodge. My mind was too muddled with emotions, too vulnerable in his presence to focus on blocking. He swung hard with his right next, slamming it against my stomach in one harsh blow. I could feel the fracture in my ribs and the bruising already forming on my stomach. I tried my best to control my breathing, to expand my crushed diaphragm. Bucky hardly gave me enough time to recover before he was after me again.

I forced my body to move, barely escaping a kick aimed for my cracked ribs. Exactly where he had hit before.

He was aiming for vulnerabilities. He knew how hard he had punched me, and still he rushed to attack my side. I took in his face, the stony façade he had put up in my presence. But his eyes showed me, they always have. There was rage crashing in his stormy eyes. Gone was the Bucky I had laughed with and slept in the gentle comfort of a shared bed. Gone was the man who had gotten up to make me breakfast and taken me out on a date to sweep me off my feet.

Standing before me was someone I didn't know. A soldier and nothing more.

So, I would show him the same.

It was like a switch. I felt the grip I had fought to hold over the blackness growing in me the last few days slip, letting it claw up my stomach and consume my insides in numbness. I lashed out, feeling my fingernails snag on his arm and shred the flesh beneath. He grunted, pulling his arm back to momentarily examine the damage with his steely eyes.

I didn't let him have long, taking his pause as an opening to smash my knuckles into his nose. I felt the crunch of bone beneath my fingers before I drew away, kicking his legs out from under him as he cried out in pain. My fingers gripped the fabric of his shirt, tearing holes through it as I lifted his torso from the ground and drew my fist back once more. His cold fingers wrapped around my wrist along with the warmth of his other in a crushing grip. Still, I held him there, fist raised and a snarl on my face.

Bucky only stared at me, coughing on his own blood as it poured from his nose. I stared right back, anger and betrayal worming through the numbness inside.

How dare he? I have only ever defended him, protected him. And this is what I get?

I lowered my fist, letting him drop back to the mat as I released his shirt. I turned from him, making my way out of the training area. "Friday, restrict all Barnes' access to my housing floor. Emergencies are the only exception."

The AI responded kindly, "Right away, Max."

I only stopped to turn to the only security cam in the room, "I want a mission file by tomorrow morning, no teams. Solo only." I shoved the glass door open, practically rushing out of there in an attempt to beat the tears from slipping down my face.

______

Banner-

The lab was vacant save for myself and my irritatingly squeaky chair. I had been here since the sun rose this morning hard at work over my studies. I had busied myself with Max's genetic work, fiddling with the samples I had and sorting through her various genetic components.

I had found Tiger, multiple reptile DNA I was still trying to pick apart, and partials of amphibian DNA all connecting to her various capabilities amplified tenfold by the Super Soldier Serum. None of it should have even been possible, not with the technology they had so long ago, but Max was living breathing proof of Hydra's genetic success.

They had created the perfect weapon.

I wasn't interested in the weapon part though, much more fascinated by her healing capabilities. Her body regenerated and healed to its original form. As it was after the Soldier Serum, at least. I had studied nearly night and day, searching and experimenting. Creating a serum of my own made purely of her regenerative properties using the samples. I tested it on my own cells, watching as it fought with my monstrous genes and conquering it. Reversing the damage I had done to myself years ago. Watching it turn my cells back to as they were.

I sat with a needle in my hands and the microscope in which I had just used to test it sitting on the lab table besides me. I tilted the silver casing around my creation, watching the red liquid churn inside the glass encasing it. It could potentially cure me. I had proven as much testing it on my cells. All I had to do was inject it and I would be free of my alter ego.

I lifted my hand, feeling it shake with the adrenaline flowing through me. The needle slid beneath my skin with a pinch, and I watched the liquid drain into my veins. The metal of the injection clattered against the counter, the only sound in the lab besides my own heartbeat throbbing in my ears. Sweat pooled on my brows as the serum began to burn away the previous cells, changing me, reverting me back to how I was before. I groaned, dropping to the floor as a wave of weariness overtook me. It didn't matter to me though. I knew it would be worth it.

It would be worth it...

Tags<3

@imdoingathingmom / @blackbirdwitch22 / @cjand10 / @calwitch

[strangesuittheorist]

Diploma in Hotel Management | Top Hospitality Training

Are you looking to kickstart your career in the hospitality industry? A Diploma in Hotel Management could be the perfect step toward achieving your goals. Whether you dream of managing a luxury hotel, overseeing operations in a busy resort, or running your own restaurant, this program offers the essential skills and knowledge required to succeed in the fast-paced world of hospitality.

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Diploma in Food and Beverage Management

Diploma in Event Management

Diploma in Front Office and Housekeeping

These courses are usually structured with classroom learning, practical internships, and industry exposure, ensuring that graduates are well-prepared for various roles in the hospitality sector.

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A Diploma in Hotel Management offers an exciting entry point into the world of hospitality. If you're passionate about providing exceptional service, managing operations, and ensuring guests have a memorable experience, this program will provide you with the skills and confidence to thrive in the hospitality industry.

🚀 Enroll Today and Begin Your Hotel Management Career

[scenariosnoknb]

I'm begging you, please, can we get a part three of the scenario where y/n quits being a manager because of aomine? I am invested!

Hi hi! This is part three!

Part 1 is here and part 2 is here

Warnings: None (I think) just a hint of awkwardness (?)

At this point, I'm not even sure how many parts this will have (even though I already have a rough idea on how I want it to go) but I don't think it'll actually be long. Still, I hope you enjoy part 3!

"____, you're leaving?" Riko turns to ask you as you walk out of the changing rooms for the hot spring

"I'll wait for the team, but I think I'll pass for another minute in the water." You wince as you remember the noises from the boys' side of the bath. It was one thing for the water to be too hot, it was another to feel that amount of secondhand embarrassment

Did they really think nobody would hear them? The only thing keeping the sides apart from each other was a bunch of wood, honestly even if they whispered they were so audible that it wasn't even funny

"You sure? I took care of the guys already." Riko said as she cracked her knuckles with a mean look. The kind of face that would scare any type of delinquent to run away with their tails between their legs

"Positive. Besides, the heat was making me feel nauseous already." You reply honestly as she nods, before gesturing that she is going to enter the bath

"Have fun and relax!" You call after her

Now, what exactly were you going to do while everybody on your team was in the hot springs?

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

You crouch while waiting for the vending machine to bring out your beverage

"I'm so tired." You yawn as you close your eyes for a moment. For some odd reason, you also felt tired despite not joining the players in the team for their training. That said, you did assist Riko and were running around to make sure that the players had what they needed— food (because who knows if the players will even live another day if they eat the coach's cooking), beverages, those ice they use, and tapings. So if you have to say, you guess training camps were really time-consuming and tiring for everybody on the team

"Can I get a drink?" Your eyes suddenly shoot open as you grab your beverage from the machine before standing up straight

"I'm so so-" You stop mid-sentence as you turn around to apologize to the person behind you

You knew there was something familiar about that deep voice

You two stare at each other. Whenever you look at him, you sometimes find it hard to believe that he was the same guy you met in your first year in junior high school. His eyes used to be so lively, and he was actually one of the friendliest guys on the team. Honestly, he was among the first people you got along with in Teiko

But as you look at him now, you can't help but wonder where that boy went? Was it really impossible to get some sort of life behind those eyes? Or maybe just maybe inflate his extremely large ego?

He was the first one to break away from your little staring contest. He turned his head as he placed his hand on the back of his neck in an awkward manner

"How're you?" He finally breaks the silence between you two as you avert your eyes. Damn it. You had to give in to the awkwardness between the two of you

"Fine." You answer shortly

"You?" You finally ask after almost a minute of contemplating whether you should do it. You really weren't interested to know, well okay, maybe a small part of you were curious

"Great." He also replies as silence once dawns upon the two of you. Really, it was amusing how things have changed

"I'm going now." You sigh, "See you around, or whatever." You say dismissively before turning to another side to go somewhere—anywhere where the blue head wasn't around. Hell, you were even considering going back to that bath just to avoid having to face him again

It was almost comical how much you wished to kick him in the groin or get one punch in whenever you think about him, but when you were actually faced with him, you couldn't even get a word out to return those hurtful words he said to you in the past

Well, whatever. The next time you would see him was going to be in the Winter Cup court (you hoped), you were going to make sure that you would give it your all to support the team to win this time

So deep in thought, you didn't even notice Aomine's eyes lingering on your figure as you walked away

[fawazseo]

10 Natural Ways to Lower High Blood Pressure Safely

Millions of individuals on the globe have high blood pressure, which is recognized as the silent killer. Untreated, it proceeds silently to maim your heart and arteries, kidneys, and brain. The positive news is? Sometimes you do not require a medication to get it under control. Most behavioral and natural remedies are proven to reduce high blood pressure safely and with no side effects, with the aid of scientific research. Now, we will examine 10 time-tested methods that may help you to cure high blood pressure without medications.

 Eat a Heart-Healthy Diet: Potassium as well as decrease Sodium.

Diet adjustment is one of the best natural ways of reducing high blood pressure. The majorities ingest excessive amounts of sodium, mostly disguised in restaurants and processed food. Large sodium intake makes the body store water which elevates the level of blood pressure.

Limit sodium to less than 2,300 mg per day, and the best is to take no more than 1,500 mg.

Meanwhile, include more foods that contain potassium in your diet that will create balance and neutralize sodium and release blood vessels. Fruits such as bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados, spinaches and white beans are good sources.

The DASH Diet

The DASH diet is a special diet that aims to lessen high blood pressure by eating instead of pills. It emphasizes:

Whole grains

Lean proteins (particularly fish and poultry)

Fruits and vegetables Fresh

Low-fat dairy

Nuts and legumes

The DASH diet helps decrease systolic blood pressure up to 11 points in only several weeks because saturated fat and cholesterol is reduced, and fiber and important nutrients are added.

Exercise Regularly

One of the strongest natural ways of blood pressure control is the use of exercise. Aerobic exercise regularly, like brisk walking, cycling, swimming or jogging, will help your heart be stronger as well as more effective at delivering blood.

There is no reason why people should not attain 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, simply 30 minutes a day, five days a week. There are also cardiovascular benefits brought about by the resistance training and flexibility exercises, such as yoga.

Stay at a Healthy Body Weight

It would further add pressure on your heart and the circulatory system. A decline in blood pressure levels can be immense, even with a loss of just 5 to 10 percent of body weight.

Dwelling on long-term weight management such as calorie management, portion awareness, active lifestyle, and choice of sugary liquids or processed snacks. Reducing the waistline also results in direct measurement of reduction of blood pressure.

Restrict the intake of Alcohol.

Although a moderate amount of alcohol consumption may be healthy for the heart, heavy drinking of alcohol elevates the blood pressure level, as well as interacting with certain drugs.

Men: two drinks daily only

Women: only 1 drink a day

There is no need to start drinking to keep healthy, in case you are not used to it. Rather, identify water, herb teas or fruit juices as your beverages of choice.

Putting a Premium on Sleep

Sleep disturbance is not a common consideration in blood pressure regulation. Adults require approximately 7-8 hours of sleep every night. An increased blood pressure can be as a result of sleep apnea, sleeplessness or regularly waking up at night.

The following are suggestions on how to better sleep hygiene:

Screen time 1 hour before bedtime period

Dark, cool, quiet, and very important to keep your bedroom

Restrict caffeine and the consumption of heavy meals at night

A healthy cardiovascular system is based on a good night's sleep.

Deep Breathing and Meditations Exercises Practices

Prolonged stress causes changes in the level of body hormones that increase blood pressure with time. Mindfulness, meditation or breathing exercises will stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system and reduce heart rate, relax blood vessels.

This is a basic exercise that you should do every day:

Breathe deeply by taking air in your nostrils in 4 seconds

Wait 7 secs

Breathe out (through the mouth), gradually taking 8 seconds.

This will help decrease the blood pressure surge due to stress by doing it just 510 minutes a day.

Include Natural Supplements

There are certain natural supplement effects, which indicate an improvement in blood pressure. Before going on a new supplement, it is always important to first discuss with your healthcare provider, especially when you are on medication.

The best ones are:

Garlic extract- it has allicin that dilates the blood vessels

Magnesium aids in vascular tone and the heartbeat.

CoQ10- enhances Energy and heart nutrition to the cellular level.

Omega-3 fatty acid, which is contained in fish oil and is known to reduce inflammation as well as enhance the health of the blood vessels

Green Tea Drink

Green tea contains high antioxidants called catechin which aid healthy blood vessels and in easing inflammation. It was demonstrated that methodic intake of green tea may reduce systolic and diastolic pressure to certain extent.

To get maximum benefits, it is best to try to consume 1-2 cups a day, preferably unsweetened.

Eat Dark Chocolate (But In Moderation!)

Well, you heard it right. Dark chocolate, especially its variant containing 70 percent or more cocoa is rich in flavonoids which help to maintain vascular health. These substances assist to relax blood vessels and enhance circulation resulting in moderate decreases in the circulation pressure.

Take that in small square (approximately 1 oz) per day, and prefer those that have little added sugar.

✅ Want More Natural Strategies?

Just imagine that you really want to control your health and not to be dependent on medication too much, you should begin by trying out natural adjustments in your life first. They do not work only on blood pressure but assist with improved vitality, cognitive performance, and overall health.

👉 Learn the complete strategy here.

Conculsion

It should not be hard to manage high blood pressure. When done steadily, small adjustments in your diet, exercise, stress levels and sleep patterns produce significant outcomes. Improving heart health among individuals takes a safe and effective route and these ten natural strategies with scientific, and holistic support enable achievability.

Make a step today, and today take control of your blood pressure the natural way.

[eccentric-nucleus]

i played some 'tavern master' and it really makes me think about how the vast majority of 'sim' games are just logistics simulators. this is a game about how to structure your tavern throughput to get your waitresses to efficiently take orders & bus tables. it's entirely about 'last mile' distribution of beverages and food. this makes how it totally doesn't care about anything before the last mile. click on a barrel and click 'refill' to instantly refill a barrel at any time. ditto with food supplies. but maybe the devs don't realize the game is all about waitress logistics because there's not actually any way to assign them to specific zones

when i was playing per aspera it was likewise very funny that a game all about constructing mines on mars didn't have any kind of dedicated shipment infrastructure. sorry, you can't make a train. it all has to be ad-hoc rover drone networks. you can make a 'hyperloop', though.

the source of the humor here is that... in real life so much of everything is logistics. empires have risen and fallen based on their ability to move things around. moving things from place to place is like 80% of all economic activity. i mean, i guess nearly 100% if you factor in how you can't really do anything with anything unless you have it, physically. video games are traditionally not very good at logistics mechanics unless they really wanna commit and be A Game About Logistics Management, because there's not really a lot of ways to high-fantasy up grain transport or w/e. (and the games that are all about logistics, like, transport tycoon or w/e, are usually still using very gamified mechanics like "you get paid more the quicker your deliveries are", which maybe makes sense for like, produce, but less sense for like, iron ore)

this was also kinda a big issue with uhhh endzone. that was a game where it was very easy for your logistics systems to collapse under their own weight. it's a very common failure mode in a lot of games: you get some bottleneck that doesn't get resolved and you don't realize until your entire manufacturing web collapses, and that's partially player error but also partially the game maybe not fully realizing how critical logistics management is to the game & giving the player tools to control that with the necessary fidelity over large systems

[usafphantom2]

#TomcatTails

#TomcatTuesday

RED FLAG Shenanigans Part 1

RED FLAG is a two-week exercise held several times a year at Nellis Air Force Base several miles northeast of Las Vegas. It’s an advanced air-to-air combat training event that “aims to offer realistic air-combat training for military pilots and other flight crew members from the United States and allied countries.” Since my first squadron, the VF-24 Renegades, obviously qualified for the event, we volunteered to go……twice….in two years. Multiple DACT events?? VEGAS??? Sign us up!

The following five vignettes are offered to explain how these kinds of events went for an early 90’s Tomcat squadron. They’re pulled from both of our visits there in 94/95 and are representative of each of them. The first one in 1994 we all got to stay in a Howard Johnsons near the airport (decent breakfast!) and for the second one we got to stay in a “No-Tell Motel” across the street from the city jail (syringes and hookers!). Life was good, as we’d all fly once a day and have some of the best Liberty imaginable in Sin City, USA. I’ll use vignette #1 to illustrate how fun that nightlife was (names and callsigns changed to protect the innocent).

Who’s Got the Spike Watch?

As you may imagine, cutting 28 Fighter Pilots and RIOs loose in Loss Vegas can be rather…..interesting. Per usual, we’d tend to travel in large packs (10-12 wasn’t unusual) and we’d roam the streets going to various casinos (“always bet on Renegade Red!!”), consuming the local food and beverage (shrimp cocktails and bourbon), and communicating with the indigenous peoples (showgirls).

We had a RIO in the squadron (“Spike”) that was from North Carolina, complete with heavy accent, that would on occasion imbibe just enough bourbon to cease conscious brain function but not quite enough to make his legs stop working. One fine evening, Spike was right there with us and then all the sudden he was not. Shit. We searched a bit but no joy, so ended up going back to the hotel to get some shut eye.

Morning arrives and Spike had returned sometime late in the evening. We’d heard he’d banged on some of the Sailors room doors while in his underwear and they eventually steered him to one of the Officer’s rooms. We’re all downstairs for breakfast just waiting for Spike to tell us what the hell happened. He didn’t remember, naturally. But he DID say “I have a pocket full of receipts, ATM withdrawal slips, and I can’t find my wedding ring.”

Uh-oh. So we lay out all the paperwork in chronological order. Apparently, he’d hooked up with some honey (not physically, just out partying) and they: withdrew $500 in cash for gambling, had a $140 dinner at a steak restaurant, and spent $600 at a handbag store. Oh, and he gave the girl his wedding ring. Skipper hears about this and he appoints us all as having the “Spike Watch” for the rest of the detachment. Spike was not happy but managed to stay married because his wife is a Saint.

Beating Up on Eagles

Our primary role is (again) Red Air, the bad guys, with very limited A/A missile capability and our job was to suck up Eagle AMRAAM and then get to a merge and have some fun. My favorite engagement occurred mid exercise. We were set up in the west of the working area in the low 20,000’s and the Eagles were in the east way up in the ionosphere in the high 30s, probably 60 miles away. At the “fights on”, we push east and descend a bit to try and pull them out of the high block. They didn’t bite.

At about 40 miles we can see them waaaaaay up there; a wall of eight Eagles each with a contrail. Now normally, if you’re emitting contrails (“marking”) you want to get out of that block because the bad guys can see you. But a wall of EIGHT Eagles at 38K’ with 4+ AMRAAM each is pretty formidable so at that point, they have an “I don’t care if you can see me, you’re going to die” advantage. Sure enough, the whole wall of eight turns 45° to the south; they’d sorted and shot missiles at all of us hapless Red Air missile sponges. After 30 seconds or so, “Timeout kill; all Red Air is dead.”

With that part out of the way, the “continue” call comes and now we roll up our sleeves for some turning and burning. The Eagles know we’re not coming up there so they come down to meet us. Perfect. Their wing is optimized for the thin air; the Tomcat swing wing is optimized for the thicker air below 20K’. We’d all broken up and were now raging singes, and I get radar on an Eagle that’s headed right at me. We’re all the way north and clear of the rest of the jets, so it’s just me and him mano a mano.

We close, and then we’re visual, and it looks to be a left-to-left pass. I’m at my best corner speed (320 kts) because I know that down here our degrees of turn per second is pretty close but he has a slight advantage. I need to find a way to get some angles and I hit upon a pretty basic intimidation move as we’re about to merge. Normally at an ACM merge, you pass wingtip to wingtip at 500 feet separation and when you pass, you start your turn, either into him (2 circle) or away from him (1 circle). My plan is for a 2 circle fight to maximize my turn rate. But what I DON’T do is wait until our wingtips pass to start my turn.

I wait until we nearly merged, throw the stick hard left with some rudder while I’m at his left 11 o’clock and put a BIG OL’ TOMCAT right in his face, like I’m early turning him. All he sees is this aluminum overcast right in front of his jet, seeming to be digging for a turn before even passing. Our jets then actually pass and I snap on 6.5 Gs and max perform the Tomcat across his tails and nose low. And my gambit works. As I visually acquire him in a couple seconds, he hadn’t started turning….and THEN he snaps on his best turn. But it’s too late. I’ve already got 20° or more on him, I’m below the horizon, and in 2 circle flow it’s just a matter of time. I pull harder to to scoop the turn out across the circle and get into a firing position pretty quickly. Worked out real nice for me on that one. Naturally, there were other merges that didn’t. In the debrief we met up and chatted and he was a newer Eagle pilot and said “I’ve never seen a jet that big move like that.”

BUFF Too Tough

At one point, we had a B-52 show up. Affectionately known as the BUFF (Big Ugly Fat F**ker), she’s a remarkable platform and it was an honor to see one in flight. On one particular run, she was making her way across the area up in the ionosphere with the Eagles there to protect. We all REALLY wanted to bag a BUFF as it would be huge bragging rights. Our division of Red Air starts this particular run and with four Eagles/one Buff in the East, we turn in and head for ‘em. Our plan is to break up into four raging singles about 40 miles and dive for the deck and hope to ingress get under the Eagles and behind the BUFF and do our best to cornhole her from behind.

Things are working pretty good, but the Eagles have a GREAT system and they managed to bag 3 of us. But not me, luckily. I’m in the weeds in the high desert roving through a valley and my RIO is doing his best to get his radar up and on the BUFF. Sure enough, there she is at 4 miles in the medium 30’s. Now, remember I’ve related before that the F-14A with the TF-30s didn’t do so well above 30K’ (as in “could barely get there”), so I know we wouldn’t have much time for the shot, basically making a stern conversion in the vertical. So we light the cans, accelerate to ludicrous speed and start a climbing 50° nose up slight turn to the right.

Once we’re visual, it’s just a matter of timing your turn and climb to arrive in a firing solution at the BUFF’s 5 o’clock position and start blastin’ away. That’s the plan anyway. What ACTUALLY happens is this. We’re about 3 miles at her 5 o’clock, the heart of the envelope for the stern quarter Sparrow shot, and my RIO tries to get a radar lock. I see the diamond/symbology bounce around, feel the antenna thumping at my feet and SCHWACK the radar antenna hits the stops hard low and right. RIO tries again, same result. At this point, I figured out that a jet as big as the BUFF must have a jammer suite as big as a tractor trailer. Sure enough, no WAY we’re going to get a radar missile on her. Fair enough, switch Sidewinder (heat seeker). I didn’t know if I had enough ‘Winders to bring down a BUFF (two 20-pound warheads against a 200,000 pound jet), but I’d give it a try.

‘Winder up, good seeker symbology, try and maneuver to get the seeker on one of the motors…..and….remember when I said we didn’t do well up above 30K? Well, controls are getting mushy and if I put any kind of pull on the jet I’d probably stall one of the motors, and I’m getting slower a little at a time. I keep fishing for a bit but the seeker didn’t want to give me a good lock. A couple growls, but no tone. Dammit. No way guns were going to work in this scenario, so discretion being the better part of valor……let the nose drop, abandon my one shot at a BUFF, and on the descent shake my fist while screaming at the sky “Curses!! A curse on you, BUFF!!!!”

This is part one of "Red Flag Shenanigans". Tune in next week when we finish the series with "Mirage 2000, Dammit" and "Area 51 is Real."

@RSE_VB via X

[awbsblog]

Profitable Business Ideas for 2025

As we step into 2025, the business landscape is evolving rapidly. With advancing technology, changing consumer needs, and increasing digital adoption, new opportunities are emerging. Whether you want to start a full-time venture or a side hustle, choosing the right business is key to success. Here are some of the most promising business ideas for 2025.

1. Artificial Intelligence-Based Businesses

AI is revolutionizing industries, and businesses that integrate AI solutions will thrive. Some ideas include:

AI-Driven Virtual Assistants for Businesses

AI-Powered Personalized Shopping Experiences

AI Tools for Content Generation and Automation

2. Sustainable & Eco-Friendly Ventures

With rising environmental concerns, sustainable businesses are in high demand. You can start:

Zero-Waste Packaging Solutions

Renewable Energy Consulting & Solar Panel Installation

Eco-Friendly Fashion and Accessories

3. E-Commerce & Online Selling

The online marketplace continues to expand. If you want to start an e-commerce business, consider:

Customized Print-on-Demand Products

Niche Subscription Boxes (organic food, pet treats, etc.)

Selling Digital Products like E-books & Templates

4. Health & Wellness Businesses

The health sector is booming as people become more health-conscious. Profitable options include:

Virtual Fitness Training & Home Workout Plans

Organic & Herbal Supplement Business

Meditation & Mental Health Coaching

5. Digital Marketing & Branding Services

Businesses are investing heavily in their online presence. You can offer:

SEO & Content Marketing Solutions

Social Media Management & Growth Strategies

PPC Advertising & Influencer Marketing Services

6. Freelancing & Remote Work Opportunities

The freelance industry is thriving. If you have a skill, you can monetize it through:

Professional Blogging & Copywriting Services

Graphic Design & Website Development

Virtual Assistant & Administrative Support

7. Online Education & Coaching

E-learning is growing exponentially, and you can take advantage by offering:

Creating & Selling Digital Courses

Career Guidance & Resume Writing Services

Language & Soft Skills Training

8. Tech Startups & Software Development

Tech solutions are in high demand, making software development a lucrative field. Ideas include:

SaaS (Software as a Service) Solutions for Businesses

Mobile Apps for Personal Productivity & Business Management

Web3 & Blockchain-Based Platforms

9. Food & Beverage Industry Innovations

Food-related businesses continue to evolve with consumer preferences. Some trending ideas are:

Cloud Kitchen & Food Delivery Business

Organic & Plant-Based Snack Manufacturing

Specialty Coffee, Tea, or Juice Bars

10. Pet Care & Accessories Business

The pet industry is booming, providing great business opportunities. Consider:

Selling Organic & Handmade Pet Products

Professional Pet Grooming Services

Personalized Pet Clothing & Accessories

Conclusion

The year 2025 offers numerous business opportunities across various sectors. To succeed, choose a business that aligns with your skills, interests, and market demand. By staying innovative and customer-focused, you can build a profitable and sustainable business.