#Hiring an Managed IT Services Provider Company | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

d-dantes · 8 months ago

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⛏ ─── • 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐬

Pairing: Gyuutaro Shabana x F!reader

Warnings: Modern au, mostly gyuutaro pov, self-depricating thoughts (gyuutaro), use of petnames (baby, pretty thing, pretty girl), 'brat' mention, male masturbation (non descript), mild dry humping, fingering, oral (m+f receiving), messy blowjob / face / throat fucking, panty stealing, praise, mention of breeding, biting, idk lotta plot with some porn

Wordcount: 16.6k

Notes: Please don’t look too hard this is just a giant self-indulgent love letter to this man. Not thoroughly beta read, be gentle 🥹

He hates this job, he really does. The flood of faces day in and day out, the monotony of the same insipid meaningless pleasantries exchanged against his will lest his plucky little barely twenty one year old party animal manager tries to scold him for being ‘unfriendly’. It’s infuriating, to say the least, and he simply isn’t paid enough for it despite the obscene amount of hours he takes up because his boss (that never even sets foot into the independently owned store) refuses to hire anyone extra.

Gyuutaro barely makes rent either, he’s thankful his roommate covers it without complaint when he can’t even though he hardly ever expresses any gratitude for it; he’s hardly ever home with how much shit he has to take care of. At this point the apartment was just proof of address because good luck getting a job when you’re homeless; he should know.

Plus, why should he thank the striped asshole anyway? The room dedicated to him was only a fulfilled favor from the man’s brattle girlfriend and self-proclaimed sister of sorts but Gyuutaro didn’t refute the statement either. Hakuji wasn’t exactly a welcoming man but he’d do anything for his little ‘princess’ so his headache is Gyuutaro’s gain, for what it was worth anyway.

He’d probably save more money if he didn’t send nearly every dime he had to his biological sister to ensure she never went without. A weekly ritual of scraping together what he can to give Ume as an allowance for whatever she so desired, things her scholarship doesn’t cover because he’ll be damned if his pride and joy would ever go without.

Even if that meant pinching pennies and skipping meals often to do so. It’s worth it to him, knowing she’ll be able to pursue her dream in clothing design and not have to take up a part time job to split her attention between. It’d be such a shame for her flawless face to bear the same dark circles that decorate his under eyes.

Thoughts like those are what get him through the doubles he pulls and minimal days off without killing anyone. Though, Gyuutaro swears he’ll hear the shrill ringing of cooler alarms along with the wretched chime of the convenience store doors opening and closing constantly in his sleep. He’ll probably hear it long after he quits, if he ever does.

Maybe the job wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t have to perform so much customer service; chatty elderly, rude and entitled soccer moms with their unruly little brats at six in the morning, burnouts that think they’re slick when they’re asking for cash back the second they walk inside and buy ninety-nine cent rolling paper. He hates it all, hates never being able to reach his boss and being expected to make judgement calls that are well above his pay grade like he gives more than a singular shit. Vendors and sales representatives coming and going with information on ads that he forgets the second they leave.

All but one; one rep that comes in never dressed in any uniform the company surely provides.

You always come in dressed casually where nobody would think you were working unless they’d seen you regularly. Black jeans because you “hate the work pants” with a plain black tee and a snapback hat that has your company’s logo embroidered professionally on the front with your hair pulled through the hole in the back while the fringe too short for the ponytail hangs from the sides, framing your face that you try and hide. You shake it up sometimes by wearing a company-provided jacket but only when it’s cold out or wearing your hair down entirely so it forces your hair to frame your face a little more than usual but he definitely prefers it like that. You always come in with a smile too, a sort of cheery that Gyuutaro would usually sneer at and waving to him behind the counter while making a beeline to the storeroom, grabbing a clipboard to sign in as proof that you even showed up in the first place even though he tells you often it didn’t matter. Gyuutaro was the only one ever here and if the teenager worked she’d call him a million times for questions she could figure out for herself but you flash him a playful little smile and tell him, “me signing in give her one less reason to call you on your day off.”

It didn’t though, the airhead would ask him where the sheet was despite it never moving from the same spot it’s always been in but he keeps that to himself.

You’re nice, that’s what he would say about you and probably the first and only kind word he’d used for anyone besides his sister for the first time in his entire life.

And it’s an objective truth, you’re incredibly friendly in a professional sense, he guessed anyway. Overly considerate as well. You asked about his day each time you spoke to one another but not in the obligatory way of menial conversation. You’re probably the only rep he even bothered to remember the name of, you’re the only one he’s ever taken the time to say more than two words to. Pretty too, objectively speaking of course, nice to look at so maybe that’s why he didn’t mind interacting with you more than the average person he was forced to deal with.

That’s the reasoning he gives himself anyway as Gyuutaro takes a second to look around the parking lot from the window, seeing if anyone else would come in before hopping over the counter and wandering over to the store room. It’s just to help you with whatever you’re doing, he’ll just see if you have any questions about inventory and then get back around to count the cigarettes or something; nothing more, nothing less.

You’re tapping something into your phone whenever he rounds the corner to the backroom, leaning against the doorframe with his hands shoved into the pouch at the front of his hoodie, the weight of them dragging the baggy material downward and giving him more space around his throat before clearing it ‘innocuously’’ to let you know he was there, sparing you from a fright. You look up for a second, face scrunched into a concentrated scowl that quickly melts into your usual soft look as you flash him a quick smile then get back to whatever you were doing on your phone.

“Yer kinda early today, huh?” kicking off from his perch as he ventures further into the room as you glance over all the inventory.

You’re scowling again whenever he gets closer, a short silence falling between you before you turn to him; nodding after heaving a bereft sigh after tucking your phone into your back pocket, “Yeah, reset guy called out so I’ve gotta do it instead because corporates breathing down our necks about the completion rate being so low. Boss told me he’ll cover anything else I have today but hey, I’ll get to bother you for a while.”

He can’t help but chuckle at the way you stick your tongue out at him as if you lingering for an extended amount of time could ever be a bad thing, continuing to babble about what you’ll have to do and what’s happening with all the products in the store. It sounds like a lot, obviously it is since your schedule was essentially cleared for it.

“You gonna’ need any help?” The question falls from his lips reflexively, surprising himself because he was never one to offer assistance to anyone, much more likely to make their lives harder and enjoy their suffering in the meantime.

The chime to the store's entrance doors rings when you open your mouth to answer, closing it quickly as you wave him goodbye with an apologetic smile as Gyuutaro rolls his eyes with a snarl to his lips. Pulling one hand from his front pocket and putting two fingers together at his temple paired with an exaggerated but muted explosion sound as he backs away from you to tend to the customer but he earns a cute, tinkling giggle from you over the semantics. He leaves you to your work while he helps the customer with whatever it is he’s needed to do. Put x amount on pump whatever, buying a ridiculous amount of junk food, vape stuff; whatever it is he’s not really paying attention while they’re talking to him and he pushes buttons on the register as that melodic sound plays on repeat in his head until you emerge from the back, his eyes on you instantly.

It’s obvious he’s staring at you, too, watching while you walk back and forth from the storeroom and between the aisles and displays of different products. Pushing standees around as kicking stacks to certain spots and bending over every so often to rotate perishable stock with a few choice words over the delivery drivers performances but it drains out quickly as Gyuutaro drinks you in.

And your shirt that usually drapes down to your ass rides up to reveal just a peek of lacy panties, making a pervert out of Gyuutaro quickly. Warming his chest with wandering thoughts that stray too far and end up carrying the heat in his veins until he has to shed the oversized hoodie.

Customers come in sporadically after that, keeping him tied to the register as he yells responses across the way to you the few times you poked your head around to ask him something. It’s about three hours whenever he’s finally able to actually move away from the counter and meet you in the storeroom where you’re tidying up, bent over yet again and his eyes instantly drag downward to enjoy the view but you sense his presence quickly enough.

Standing up just as quickly as crystalline hues flit to meet your gaze, saliva gathering on his tongue with the way you greet him so warmly like he weren’t just ogling you for the umpteenth time today.

“Hey!” chirped as you toed at the neat stack you were tending to when he’d appeared, “I’m just about done, I’m sending back all this junk in these boxes.” You could’ve told him the sky was green and he wouldn’t have questioned you, let alone the shit to do with this building he prays burns down. You’re typing away at your phone again at a system he never bothered to learn after explaining all the changes he may actually retain simply because it was you who said it.

Gyuutaro rubs at the back of his neck while you finish your professional spiel, biting at the skin on the inside of his cheek, “sorry I didn’t get t’help ya any, shit timing I guess,” but you smile at him nonetheless, waving your hand and dismissing his apology.

“It’s not a big deal at all, promise. You looked like you were ready to jump over the counter and throttle someone anyway,” he likes the way you giggle at your own comment, how it lights up your whole face and makes him need to swallow a little more. Thinks it’s cute, thinks you’re cute and he’s actually pretty annoyed he didn’t get to speak to you more the one day you’re at his store longer than an hour. Scowl marring his perfectly imperfect features as he slouches and scoffs as he recalls the faceless nobodies that kept him away from you.

“Everyone’s pretty fuckin’ annoyin, like they don’t have a shred of sense. We were busier than normal today too, should’ve just traded you jobs for the day,” to which you only gave him a sympathetic pat to his forearm in response.

It makes him feel warm, a comfortable heat in his chest, with how you always laugh at whatever he says or are just so genuinely enthused to speak to him and that you feel inclined to be near him or touch him. He scratches at the slope of his throat in a subconscious bid to fight the unfamiliar feeling you evoke, flicking the scythe earring that dangles from the tunnel in his stretched lobes while he thinks of what else to say; never one to actually desire for conversation to carry on.

“Uh, so, you gotta order more overpriced shit or?” Was all he could come up with, his cheeks heating rapidly when you look up from the small handheld clutched in your hands and nod before returning to whatever it is you do. Thankful for the dark marks he’s had since birth that spreads from his right cheek to just below the center of his left eye for once in his life as it disguises the blush that probably tints his pale skin. Sighing as he gives up on finding something to say and leaning against the doorframe again while peeking over your shoulder as you add and subtract god knows what to the store owners bill. Jarring him from his stupor when you shift from one foot to the other on your feet before you exhale heavily.

“Alrighty, ’m all done here now, you got much longer today?“

He groans long and low before he nods, scowl deepening and scratching noisily along his sharp jawline, “yeah, Imma be here pretty late, gotta’ work a twelve today because my boss is a dick and the brat he made manager has an important college party she can’t miss. Ya can only tell me yer dyin to have a train ran on ya in so many ways.”

That makes you frown, genuinely disheartened for a reason Gyuutaro can’t really understand yet, eyebrows scrunching as you chew at your plush lower lip for a second. The next moment you’re whipping your phone out of your back pocket and clicking several different apps before you turn it towards him and he sees the add contact screen, “Put your number in, I get off after I head back to our office to clock out and wouldn’t mind coming by to help.”

“To bother me, you mean?” quipped in jest as he takes your device with a raised eyebrow and crooked smile that makes you squirm minutely under his gaze, tapping in his contact information and sending himself a text with a playful little middle finger and scythe emoji in it to save yours before handing it back to you. You laugh at the text, rolling your eyes with a nod while tucking your phone away and moving toward the door with Gyuutaro hot on your heels, “Bothering you is an obvious given, you should know that.”

Playfully shooing you out the door in mock annoyance in response, hanging in the doorway as he sees you out to your car and for once the blaring chime doesn’t annoy him as it screeches in his ears.

The days don’t drag on like they used to after that, probably due to the fact that he spends all day on his phone now texting you. He’s in a better mood too, smiling more (at his screen but smiling nonetheless) because the conversation doesn’t feel forced or stagnant and you’re always engaging in one way or another and if you can’t think of anything to say you you send a meme or a picture of another location that you’re at for the day.

‘You’d never do this’, your text bubble highlights, which makes him roll his eyes, tapping at his screen in between mindless tasks he can’t focus on.

‘Probably would if it made you have to be here awhile longer,’ Gyuutaro smirks while he types it, lopsided grin splitting his face as he wonders if you’ll fluster over it or at the very least read it in his tone. He’s gotten a little more bold with you in the weeks you’ve been texting; mostly not so subtle hints of his attraction, telling you you’re cute for simple things and complimenting you in ways that couldn’t be considered platonic. You’re animated in the ways you respond too, displaying how what he says makes you feel with caps lock and unintelligible key smashes and Gyuutaro takes it as a good sign. The awkwardness of flirting with you had long since gone away because of it and he's learned you’re the incredibly nurturing type.

Displaying it overtly and subtly all at once with questions like, ‘Did you sleep alright? Have you eaten today? I’ll be in the area today do you want me to pick up lunch? Have a good day!

The more receptive you are to him the more he does it, always toeing the line of borderline sexting without plunging into it just yet.

For now he’ll just enjoy the mutually casual flirting, he thinks it’s flirting anyway, that’s what his roommate's stray of a girlfriend (and his bonus sister, he guesses) says when she snatches his phone from his hands or reads the screen from over his shoulder. Taunting teasingly ‘serial killers got a girlfriend’ before they end up rough housing as he wrestles for his phone back until her man came to separate them and toss her over his shoulder.

Gyuutaro couldn’t say he was opposed to the notion, however, you’d creeped your way into his personal life instead of lingering at the doorway of his professional life only. You both text one another as often as you can, but he feels the times where he has to wait, keenly aware of every agonizing minute as he drums his fingers along the counter and clicks through apps on his phone; he even hears a phantom chirp of your text notification every so often and cringes at himself if he dwells on that feeling of desperation too long.

Lets his mind wander in fleeting distraction when there aren’t customers to busy himself with. Gyuutaro thinks of how his roommate has made fun of him for checking his phone so often just yesterday, recalling the scene vividly in his mind's eye.

Hakuji watching the lanky man waking his screen or unlocking and locking it back more times than he can count. His legs growing restless as he did so, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he lounges in the living room of their apartment.

Pots and pans clatter as the bulkier of the two searched for the correct cookware as he commented from the kitchen, “y’know Shabana, it's pretty refreshing seein you this hung up on someone that isn’t your sister.”

The heavily tattooed man doesn’t realize the connotations of his phrasing, or maybe he does, Gyuutaro could never tell when Hakuji tried his hand at banter. The response was the same regardless “fuck off, stripes.”

His roommate puts his hands up in front of his torso in mock surrender, “just saying, seems like yer really into her, princess said the girl sounds into you and could be a good thing going.”

Gyuutaro didn’t respond further, simply sneered before retreating to his sparsely decorated room with his brows furrowed in thought over how the both of you interact and if the chemistry was really that palpable that people on the outside looking in could notice it too.

Returning to that line of consideration now as he waits, ruminating on it and if there were different attempts Gyuutaro should make but it’s abandoned quickly when an eagerly anticipated response wakes his screen and your name graces the notification bar on display.

‘Miss me?’ He reads it in your voice, a sweet sound that rattles around in his head more than he’d willingly admit to anyone aloud. Lips curling up around jagged teeth as he goes to tap out a reply before the door swings open dramatically enough that it agitates Gyuutaro. Growl rumbling from his chest only to die in his throat when he sees you standing with a beaming smile before you hold up a plastic bag with two containers of takeout while you laugh at him.

“Gotcha!” Exclaimed between your erupting giggle fit as you place the food on the chipping countertop as you make your way around the counter to him, “you should’ve seen your face you were about to lose your shit.”

The snarl he wears is significantly less menacing and off putting than any other that he’s adorned but only because it’s directed at you, “didn’ tell me you were stopping by pretty thing, didn’t even get time to make myself look all nice.”

You scoff as you lift yourself onto the adjacent counter facing the window, your back to it after you’ve laid out your respective meals, “always look nice, now eat, I know you haven’t since I came by yesterday.”

Gyuutaro doesn’t miss how you quickly slip in the compliment but you give him no time to refute it, chuckling himself as he shakes his head while grabbing his plate of food and the utensils that came with it. An upwards quirk lingers on his lips even as he takes a bite and lets his lids slip shut to savor the moment rather than the food itself, a pleasant heat pulsing softly behind his sternum as he realizes you’ve been subtly learning about him too. That you’re at least well versed enough to know how quickly he’d refute your genuine response to his sarcastic jab at himself.

Instead he lets you have this win, enjoys the fact that you genuinely find him appealing instead of the nagging urge to mock you for it before you could mock him because there simply isn't a singular instance where that would transpire. You were too good for that, too good for him he knows but Gyuutaro is a selfish man that takes what he wants and unfortunately (but oh so fortunately despite how unaware of the fact he was) for you, you and your affection was what he had his sights on.

‘I’m on vacation starting tomorrow,’ you break the rare silence that had blanketed the space after swallowing your own bite of food. Gyuutaro pulled from his musings with a confused sound muffled by his mouthful as he urges you to continue, “I’m not doing anything special. Staying home all week.”

You want to squirm over his expression, still clueless with a thin brow quirked high on his forehead hidden behind long fringe that hangs in his face. Waiting a moment in case he just needed the time to process what you were saying but once he continues to miss the point you finally sigh and ask him outright, “Do you want to hang out with me sometime during the week?“

Only for an impish grin to spread on his devilishly handsome face that makes your throat, ears and cheeks burn with heat, “thought ya’d never ask. Just lemme know when ya want me.”

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You’re relatively busy the rest of the week after you inform him of your time off, tying up loose ends so you don’t run the risk of being contacted during your vacation and leaving notes for whoever will be filling in for you. Too dutiful in Gyuutaro’s opinion considering all the times you’ve ranted to him about your coworkers screwing you over as he thumbs away frustrated tears when you’ve reached your breaking point over the added workload. Always telling him that it’s easier for you in the long run if you just take care of things ahead of time but you ignore him when he reminds you of how you pick up everyone else’s slack but they don’t allow you the opportunity to do the same.

It doesn’t sit right on his tongue and weighs heavy in the pit of his stomach but he lets it go when you ask him to; offering him placating words as if he were the one that felt overwhelmed.

So he just opts to make you laugh because apparently Gyuutaro’s ‘so good at cheering me up’ and he ‘always knows just how to put a smile on my face’.

But your relief come the end of the week is palpable even without the several texts to him in all caps about how you’d completed all your tasks and written out all your emails for the ‘team’ so you’re ‘home free.’ You’re so ridiculously cute Gyuutaro can’t even stand it, embarrassed about how his heart skips a beat when you ask him his schedule and if he’ll want to come by this Sunday before he could even respond to your joy. He takes a moment to calm himself, exhaling slowly as you coordinate a short back and forth and commit to a plan.

Excitement making his stomach twist with a different sort of hunger than he’s ever suffered from before. Fuck, was he in love with you?

He wished he’d never asked himself that question, at least not before he was going to spend time with you outside of work. The first time he comes over is somewhat awkward, being alone with you in private, nevermind the fact that it’s in the sanctity of your home at that, surely would’ve been.

The space is tidy, he notes, like you like to keep things neat and orderly the same way you do at work and he honestly isn’t surprised; demonstrating his assumption by holding out your hand for his keys as you toss them into the little bowl on the entryway table that houses your own set. Busying yourself as you move around the space before disappearing into the kitchen that wafts the smell of dinner throughout your home and makes him salivate.

“Dinner’s almost ready,” you call from the other room but Gyuutaro only coo’s a cool ‘kay’ as he seizes the opportunity to explore his surroundings as he meanders to your modest dining room table that doesn’t look like it can seat more than two people at any given moment.

There are only a few scattered pictures on the wall, family he presumes, mostly you and who he guesses is your mother as well as a few that are of people that bear no resemblance to you at all that Gyuutaro gathers must be your friends. Closest to the archway that leads into your kitchen is a singular ornately designed analog clock and some painted canvas’ on the opposite side that lead down the extended hallway that make him smirk to himself, a little pleased to learn on his own that you like to paint and you aren’t half bad at it either.

Your home is dimly lit as well, curtains drawn for privacy and it blocks out a significant amount of natural light but it's rectified with lamps that cast a softer yellowish glow to illuminate the area. Overall you decorate pretty simply, modestly, keeping mostly essentials with the occasional knick-knacks placed sporadically so the space doesn’t feel so empty or bland.

Pulled from his reverie when he catches sight of you preparing the plates for both of you, snarling his lip because like fucking hell you were going to do more than you needed to especially on your vacation, especially over something like this.

Broad palm and lithe digits with knobby knuckles take the ladle from your hands with ease, sucking his teeth at you when you go to protest with a cute whine but he stands firm. Taking your dish and holding it higher so you couldn’t try and snatch it from his hands as he spoons the steaming food onto the ceramic. You relent easily enough though, but not without any complaint as your shoulders slumping animatedly in exaggeration as you let him finish up making both plates instead, “I could’ve done it ‘taro.”

“Ya cooked,” short and to the point as he hands you your food, jerking his head backwards because if he acknowledges the cute nickname for him he doubts he could contain he already barely concealed desire for you, “I’ll serve it. How it works.”

Nevermind he’s never served another soul in his life that wasn’t blood related to him. What had you done to him? Will you keep doing it?

He hopes so as you retreat from him, exhaling slowly to calm himself before he follows you into the next room to find you already comfortably sat at your table; waiting for him to join you before you start eating. Something Gyuutaro never let Ume do while they were growing up, always wanting to make sure she’d had her fill before he’d even consider eating.

But food was plenty when it came to you, he knows how to pick his battles as well, Gyuutaro didn’t think he could get away with strong arming you with something simple like this again. Sliding into the cushioned seat next to you as he digs his spoon into the hearty stew after only a moment's pause. Puffing out a disbelieved chuckle when you make no move to start eating yourself as you stare expectantly at him.

He rolls his eyes but take a decent spoonful and shovels the meat and potatoes into his mouth without even blowing on it to cool it off with little reaction besides a hum of satisfaction. Pointing the dirtied utensil at you when he swallows and lets the taste warm his belly, “s’great, now eat lil brat.”

The deliverance was a little curt but not insultingly so as you beam at him, rolling your lower lip between your teeth as you nod before finally tucking into your own plate with a playfully flippant, “was gonna, just needed to let it cool down.”

You do love your technicalities, Gyuutaro’s learned, “lucky yer cute, liars never are.”

Nudging at you with his elbow before the meal continues in amicable silence, interrupted with light conversation and Gyuutaro getting up to make himself a second bowl halfway through while you sit with him as he polished that one off as well.

This was probably the longest either of you had taken to eat any meal before, Gyuutaro never one to eat very often which was apparently in the way his skin clung to the bonier areas of his body; you because you bite off more than you could chew in other areas of your life and used the excuse of ‘never having the time to stop and eat.’

But this meal was enjoyable, one you both wanted to savor that didn't pertain to the food at all. Lingering at the table as you both idly chat a little bit more than you would when you see him at work or over text. You’d known about his sister of course but it’s more enjoyable getting to watch him talk at length about her more, have him detail to you about her personality quirks and cherished memories from their childhood that you’re sure she would be utterly mortified to know that he’d regaled them someone she hadn’t even met yet.

He was more like a proud dad than a loving older brother but you admire that about him, adored it rather. There weren’t many men like Gyuutaro that would accept that sort of responsibility over their sibling at such a young age, it shows you how good of a father he’d be one day before you nip that train of thought in the bud.

You hadn’t even met the most important person in his life yet, nevermind that you weren’t even dating or discussing the prospect of it, what did you think you were doing with mental images of him cradling a precious little swaddle of a newborn that looks like a healthy mix of you and–

“Ya feelin alright?” his voice has you careening back to the present from a future you imagine a little more than you should, looking somewhat stupified then shocking at the cool feel of the back of his palm on your heated cheek, “feel warm.”

Your fingers wrap around his wrist thoughtfully before pulling it away gently, patting it assuringly only to chirp out tightly, ““m great! Soups n’stews just warm me up a little too much.”

You’re aware that that sounds less than convincing but you breathe a sigh of relief when he shrugs his shoulders with a smirk before figuring now was as good a time as any to start clearing the table. It makes you frown though, reaching for him quickly and grasping onto his baggy shirt, “you don’t have to do that, I’ll get it.”

Gyuutaro casts a glance over his shoulder to scold you lightly over this as well but his words die in his throat when he sees your crestfallen expression. His cleaning up feels like their time together was already coming to an end and you’d be lying if you said that wasn't more than disappointing.

So he stops, stands less slouched than normal as he turns to you and lets his index finger hook beneath your chin to earn your gaze, “we’re gonna watch a movie yeah? What kinda asshole would I be if I dined n’ditched?”

His tone is so low and gentle paired with his touch as well as that soft expression on his face that he pulls off flustering and pacifying you in one fell swoop but you do the same to him in turn. Facilitating that pleasantly uncomfortable heat in his chest like a flickering flame that has smothering ash kicked from it’s core the moment your crestfallen expression melts from the warmth of your relieved smile.

This much of a change in mood so quickly, all because he said he’d be staying with you for a little while longer? If you’d told him weeks ago Gyuutaro alone was capable of that he’d have cackled maniacally in your face.

Well, maybe not your face specifically, but still the sentiment stands, the notion would’ve been unfathomable to him. Gyuutaro favored souring people's moods and leaving a bitter taste in their mouths but the thought of doing that to you in any capacity makes his stomach twist in familiar discomfort.

He doesn’t realize you’re still within his grasp until you reluctantly pull yourself from him, reaching for the stacked dishes in his other hand only for him to shift it further out of your reach, “What did I say earlier?”

Your arm flails slightly, trying in vain to take the bowls from him before you huff in momentary defeat and fix him with a defiant pout, “that I cooked so you made the plates, not a thing was said about cleanin up.”

“It was implied.”

“Implied where, in your imagination?” Wrestling with him playfully as he gives you his back before your arms slip between his own but still only come up short thanks to his lanky limbs, “I can clean up two plates, seriously.”

“Didn’t ask,” purred with his back to you as long legs carry him into your kitchen with three easy strides, maneuvering about the area like he belonged there as he crouched to the cabinet below to grab a new sponge on assumption alone. You protest a bit more, knocking your hip into his in a weak attempt to bump him out of the way only to be quietly humbled over how he doesn’t even budge. Averting your gaze and pouting with warm cheeks when he glances at you with that shit-eating grin of his before leaning against your counter with your arms crossed in an exaggerated huff.

Tapping your foot quietly against the hardwood floor as the sound of running water and the gentle clink of ceramics and metal fills the tranquil moment; simply watching Gyuutaro work comfortably in your kitchen and enjoying the delusion of domesticity until your heart races. Inhaling audibly and collating his curiosity as you scoot slightly away from him, patting your thighs because you’ve been too idle for too long.

“Actually.. Since you insist on not letting me clean in my own house, do you mind if I grab a shower? I don’t like taking one super late,” a habit even when you’re on vacation, trying to give yourself as much relaxation time before you finally decide to wind down for bed far too late in the night for how early you always seem to wake up.

Gyuutaro gives a simple nod, resuming his self-assigned task but not without an internal scoff to himself and a smirk that fights it’s way onto his lips with the passing thought of his roommate being wholly aghast at Gyuutaro in this moment considering he never even so much as looked at the sinkful of dirty dishes back home.

Glancing over his shoulder again when he catches the motion of you awkwardly shifting your weight on the balls of your feet as he quirks his brow. Tilting his head for the dip dyed ends of his mop of wavy locks to shift out of his eyes, “Need somethin else? Or was that an invitation?”

You stiffen and he almost thinks he’s overstepped and completely misread everything between the two of you up to this point before he watches you press your palms to your cheeks the same way his sister does when she’s trying to calm herself down. Attempting to stammer out a response but you can’t even meet his gaze and as relief washes over him he taps his foot near yours and shoots you a damning wink, “m kiddin, take yer shower or I’ll start the movie without ya.”

“Don’t you dare,” scowling exuberantly, recovering from your momentary malfunction in a way that has Gyuutaro grinning, “make yourself comfortable when you’re done, swear I won’t take long.”

He only responds with another nod, giving you an easy smile as he returns to the task at hand, grabbing a few of the stray tableware and cups while he was at it. He can feel you lingering though, feels your gaze on his back and it fleetingly makes the nape of his neck burn but he doesn’t resent the feeling. Another sensation only you stoke in him, one he doesn’t question because subconsciously he knows the cause even if he teeters between delusion and denial.

You almost look in a daze from what he can glean from his peripheral everytime he sets a dish into your drying rack, snapping you from it as he flicks soaked digits in your direction, “doubt this is an efficient way to shower pretty thing.”

The way you squeal and giggle louder as he flicks more water at you before you race off down the hall to your bathroom makes his (now full) shrunken stomach do a flip, fluttering in another of many foreign yet familiar sensations he continues to amass from your presence. Drying his hands as he smirks over the dull thuds of your feet and the door at the end of the hall shutting hastily as Gyuutaro calls out, “can’t blame me for using all the hot water either yaknow.”

Surprisingly satisfied with what he accomplished he moves to linger in your living room idly with nothing to do, glancing about and opting to occupy his time by familiarizing himself with the dwelling after shedding his hoodie when he rounds the couch. Picking up your scattered candles and appreciating the sweet smells that recognized the times they clung to your skin or clothes before wandering further into your home. Hoping to gain more than a shallow glimpse into your life and how you live it outside of the small window he knows you from on a week to week basis or walls of text messages exchanged for hours on end could ever offer him.

Returning to the kitchen first, concocting a flippant excuse of having a sudden sweet tooth should you emerge from the corner without him noticing, not that he’d really need one for some innocent perusing.

Starting off simple as he rummages through the fridge to see what you like only to find a random assortment of ingredients and a case of water. Frown marring his features with a slight growl, sucking his teeth because why the hell were you worrying about his eating habits when your fridge looked this barren? He’s a hypocrite for certain as he tells himself to get on your case about it later while straightening his spine and shutting the heavy door with an indignant scoff. Unsatisfied with his snooping yet as he opens and closes every cabinet in the room and stares into the pantry, growing bored before long and settling to just lounge in the living room.

Resolving to actually behave and respect your privacy.. That is, until he hones in on the sound of the running water of your shower trying and failing to muffle the sound of a melody sung in an impossibly sweeter tone than he already thought you’d had. Stalling mid stride, staring blankly down the hallway and at the simple door your voice emanates from.

A siren song for certain the way it draws him to you, craving to hear it more clearly as he closes the gap; allowing only the inch thick distance of the particle board and the few feet between it and your shower to separate you both. Leaning against the structure carefully with his ear pressed to the surface, almost holding his breath as he enjoys the sound of you. Arms folded over his chest with a ghost of a smile on his lips as his lids slip shut as if you were serenading him explicitly. Jarring when you a loud clattering of several things follows your cute little yelp, and he pauses to see if you’ll whine in pain, untensing when the sound never comes nor does the captivating cantical.

But that’s fine for now, something else has stolen his attention anyway as he carefully pushes away from the bathroom door to push open another. Knobby knuckle nudging open the already already ajar entryway to the room across the hall.

Your room.

And he shouldn’t slink in, knows he shouldn’t slither through the marginally larger gap he created but, the lamp on your bedside table casts such a warm and, like everything else about you, inviting glow. Call Gyuutaro a moth to a flame if you wanted, vying for just a little bit more of you in any way he could get his greedy little hands on.

Even for something so insignificant and inconsequential as the areas you dwell in, but there was an aspect of intimacy associated within the sanctity of where you seek solace and Gyuutaro has always been a man starved of many things. and since he’s met you you’ve only ever fed him more and more. He’s thankful you’d never taken the lesson to never feed a stray to heart.

Because he wants to invade every fiber of your very being, infect your life slowly like the plague he saw himself as. Praying to any god that only ignored his pleas until Gyuutaro finally stopped asking and dolled out misery that he’d be terminal for you but in a softer, more affectionate way.

The feeling festering in the space between his ribs as he stands in your sanctuary. Your room is as simply decorated as the rest of the house aside from a marked amount more pictures and tchotchkes that tell him more than idle chit chat ever could.

Even silence is a conversation, easy to glean desired information so long as you were willing to look for it.

Like that you loved deeply and cherish the moments you get to spend with those so fortunate enough you afford the affection if the candid moments immortalized in photos and preserved in protective frames are any indication. Friends mostly, some from your childhood, most from recent years alongside a lone photo of you with a woman you bare a vague resemblance to. Parental problems maybe? May you and Gyuutaro be kindred spirits.

Perhaps that alone validates his next assessment. Where he grew callous and cold you chose to be kind and warm, obvious enough, to him, that you crave comfort as his eyes rove over the abundance of plush creatures of all varieties, stuffed foxes, cats, a pink fawn as well as a rotund bat plush that looked specifically tailored to cuddle artfully arranged around strawberry shaped pillows.

Your bed itself reminds him more of a little nest with how it’s tucked into the corner of your room to accommodate the comforts artfully arranged around strawberry and heart shaped pillows along with the fluffiest comforter Gyuutaro has ever seen with another blanket folded at the foot of the bed. He wants to lie in it on the worst of days with you in his arms, curling around you protectively. Burns to bury his nose into your hair after kissing your crown as the smell of your shampoo, the sound of your breathing and the feel of your skin against his lulls him into the most restful sleep he’s ever gotten in his rotten life.

Gyuutaro has to take a few steps back, berating himself over the faithless fantasies from his wicked and treacherous heart while staring at your empty bed. The longer he lingered the more likely he felt he’d be inclined to stay and for once he didn’t want to intrude or invade, not without your explicit invitation.

Though he bumps into another piece of furniture on his exit, the rounded edge of the sturdy wood stabbing just below his shoulder blade causes him to hiss in pain. Pivoting on his heel with a snarl that quickly fades into benign curiosity as his hand strokes along the lip of your dresser.

Drumming his fingers against the material as he purses his lips and quirks a thin brow. Weird place to put something like this, in his opinion, rocking on his heel and as he does he can catch a glimpse of the bathroom just outside of your own room. Easy access, it must be here for when you forget your clothes to spare yourself the shameful shuffle in the starke nude despite living alone.

The thought makes him laugh, the scene a domestic one he’d never imagined of anyone as his hand rests over the top. Drumming his fingers against the hardwood as serenity turns salacious in his ever working mind.

It’s shameful, he knows this already, but what wasn’t when it came to Gyuutaro? If he were a kinder, more compassionate man, the kind of man you deserved, the wherewithal to not violate your privacy like this would be a nonissue.

But he wasn’t, never even considered to be and doubts heavily he ever would; in this life or the next.

So the drawers are already quietly opened with a practiced ease.

And of course they’re all organized. Jeans, skirts, shorts, leggings and sleepwear in the bottom two drawers. The one above those holds all your shirts, long and short sleeves alike with some camis and tank tops and he chortles over the realization that you’ve sorted the storage's contents by the placement on your own body for the most part.

Gyuutaro opens the top drawer last, he can hear how heavily he swallows as it creaks open, pausing with a scowl at the shrill sound. Is there any real reason for him to open the final drawer? No, not really, but there wasn’t any valid justification for coming to your room in general either; so, why should he stop now? Guilty is guilty, is it not, he’s always been punished severely regardless of his transgression anyway. It’s why he selfishly prioritized his own pleasure where he could and you being his currently coveted prize was enough justification to slide the drawer open further.

Just enough to revel at the assortment of bundled silky and lacy underwear alternatively. He should be ashamed of himself, feel disgusting for how he cards through the variety of styles with a lidded gaze and lazy smile, but he doesn’t.

Doesn’t still as he conjures images of you clad only in the pretty black, lacy pair with a precious little pink bow on the front while you stand between his spread legs with your hands on his shoulders before you climb to straddle him. Lashes fluttering over the daydream as he fists the fabric with a white knuckled grip before he forces himself from his reverie.

Heaving a bereft sigh as his cock twitched and threatens to throb if he doesn’t leave now, quickly but carefully closing the drawer after he’s pocketed the lingerie before finally fucking leaving your room and just in time for him to hear the steady stream of water to stop.

He’s in the living room again when the bathroom door opens and the humidity accumulated billows out. You're toweling your hair dry as you pad towards him, wearing a satin red camisole and dark dolphin shorts but you might as well be dressed to kill.

“Sorry I took a little bit, I just know after the movie I’ll want to go to sleep as soon as it's over,” there’s a ringing in his ears that almost drowns out everything you’d said to him. The sound blaring as crystalline hues quickly give you a once over as you cross in front of him

Gyuutaro croaks out a tight ‘s fine’ as he sits sprawled on your sofa, one arm draped over the back of the couch as he slouches lower. Cursing inwardly as he folds his leg in a way that keeps his swelling cock from tenting the material of his jeans. Gritting his teeth and subtly tensing every muscle in his body to will blood flow anywhere else but you (always unintentionally and jn the best of ways) make his life harder. Plopping down into the plush cushions with a saccharine suspire that will fuel his fantasies later before leaning your head on his shoulder while clicking through several apps before settling on Hulu.

So sweetly handing him the remote with a chirped ‘you pick’ like he wasn’t fighting for his life right now. He couldn’t be fucked to actually choose a movie so he chose some suggested horror flick and hoped for the best.

It takes about fifteen minutes into the movie before he’s finally calmed enough to let his arm fall from its perch and drape around your shoulder and tuck you into his side properly. It’s criminal how easily you adjust into him too, shifting your weight more into your hip as your head tucks into the crook of his throat and your hand splays just over his diaphragm after you’ve pulled the throw blanket over you both.

He doesn’t absorb anything from the movie, not that he’d really been attempting to anyway. Mentally occupied by how well you fit against him, how warm you are as well as committing the fragrant notes of your shampoo and body wash to memory. Mind wandering to anything else, though any and all thoughts still pertained to you, to stave off the dread of the movie ending because the last thing he wanted to do was to go home alone tonight.

Until he notices how you grip onto him for dear life, whole body tensing before you flinch and fist the material of his hoodie tighter; all normal reactions to a horror film. Gyuutaro almost wants to chuckle over your reactions until you whimper and hide your face, trembling over the gory and frightening scene that has him hastily fumbling for the remote to pause it.

You opt to hide in his throat when he does until his broad palm cups your cheek after a long moment and coaxes you to look at him, nose nudging against your own when he rests his forehead on yours. Cooing at you in the softest tone he could manage when you apologize for no reason while trembling in his hold, thumb swiping over the apple of your cheek as his fingers caress the hinge of your jaw.

Your eyes are pretty when they’re glassy with tears but he doesn’t think he wants to see them this way ever again, not from this circumstance anyway. There were probably less selfish ways to comfort you but he tells himself he isn’t a selfless man as Gyuutaro closes minimal gap between you, sealing his lips over yours. Chaste and tentative at first, testing until you whine approvingly and press closer.

It’s all the permission he needs to do what he does best; take.

His hand slides to the curve of your skull to press you closer to him, leaning into the contact as he tilts his head with a hum. Your lips are as soft as he thought they’d be, softer maybe but he won’t get too lost in those details. Not when you return his fervor by weaving your fingers into his loose locks, blunt nails scraping deliciously at his scalp and how you barely break the contact to take a breath.

It’s more than encouraging to him, slightly emboldening Gyuutaro as his tongue swipes along your plush bottom lip before you grant him entry. Your muted moan swallowed by him as he shifts you into his lap for you both to be more comfortable.

He figures it to be a safer bet than pressing you into the cushions and climbing on top of you. ‘Easier to hold back this way,’ Gyuutaro inwardly assures himself while staring directly at pure temptation with a lustful gaze. Chest heaving as you lean back just enough to adjust and sit comfortably in his lap before chasing his lips once more.

Broad palms finding your natural waist as your thick thighs frame his narrow hips and you cradle his jaw as if he was your personal treasure. Nipping at and gently pulling his own kiss swollen lower lip before you tug the hair at the base of his skull for him to tilt his head.

Eyes glinting with mirth paired with a mischievous little smile that he mirrors as he palms the nape of your neck, “feelin better?”

“Maybe,” giggling as your thumb swipes at the corner of his lips, “not sure yet.”

Dipping for another kiss as a chuckle vibrates his chest, reverberating against your own as your tongue swirls around his. Gasping in pleasant surprise when your clothed slit brushes over his throbbing cock, chasing the sensation by grinding down after he slouches lower in his seat.

It feels good, you feel good, even through the layers of clothes like this; it still makes Gyuutaro groan. His hands slipping lower and palm the fat of your ass to pull you closer as he presses further into the plush couch. Whimpering in turn when you repeat the motion with more confidence, rolling your pelvis into his only for him to rut upwards somewhat awkwardly until he falls into a comfortable unspoken rhythm.

Gyuutaro’s in trouble, mind racing with the desire to pull the thin, flimsy material of your shorts and panties to the side to glide his cockhead through your sticky folds. Gripping your hips with a bruising force that you seem to more than enjoy if how they jerk in his hold was any indication before tap your fingers on his wrist. It gives him pause, swallowing thickly thinking he’d done something wrong when you lift your ass and reach between your bodies to fumble with his button and zipper before he grabs both of your hands in one.

‘Wait, fuck, don’t wanna—“ he can already see you start to deflate at perceived rejection whenever he grabs your chin gently. Carefully cradling your jaw when you try and shy away from him to force eye contact, “nah don’t do that, believe me pretty girl, I fuckin wanna, but not on the first date. You’ll think I’m easy.”

He winks with a Cheshire grin that makes you giggle, relaxing against him as your thumb swipes affectionately over the marks he thinks are ghastly.

“Movie was shit anyway,” shifting you to sit in his lap with your back against the arm of the couch and your head tucked into his throat, “I’ll head home a little later. Put something on ya like.”

You nod but don’t detangle from him, only adjust enough to where your legs are kicked over one side to sit comfortably in his lap. Spending the next hour letting YouTube autoplay comfort videos with one another’s hands laced together in your lap and even still, when it’s time for him to head home, it feels too soon. Lingering in your doorway after he grasps at his discarded hoodie and helps you into it to see him off after demanding he text you he’s made it home safely with a petulant pout he wouldn’t dream of denying.

And true to his word he sends a concise ‘home’ after you’ve tucked yourself away in a bed that now feels too big with just you in it’s confines. Breathing a sigh of relief as you reply with a heart and telling him goodnight before you shimmy lower into your thick comforter.

On the cusp of slipping into a dreamless sleep when your screen wakes that does the same for you in turn when you groan to see what disturbed you.

A text from Gyuutaro that read “how bad I wanted to, btw” after resorting to fucking his fist with your pilfered panties pressed to his nose. A picture attached of him that’s cut just above his toothy, satisfied grin to just below his toned abdomen where you can see sticky white stain pale skin.

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It’s safe to say the proverbial ice had finally been broken, the shift in your relationship with one another unspoken and the nature of it is still undefined but you’re both certain (at the very least) that you're on the same page.

From the time he wakes up to the time you fall asleep you’re in constant contact with one another, texting between chores around your households or having extended phone calls during his shifts at work. Conversation feels impossibly easier than before, lighter, uninhibited and lacking any gnawing desire to fill any silences that fall between you often.

The week carries on doing simple activities, seizing any opportunity to see each other again any chance either of you get. Gyuutaro doesn’t collect nearly half as many of his usual hours because of it and he already knows his paycheck will suffer dearly for it but he can’t say it was any real loss. The lack of monetary gain is more than accommodated for with your loving laughter and welcoming warmth; tipped a gratuitous amount of unmitigated tenderness and unconditional care.

Paid in your panoply of both subtle and unsubtle displays of affection like sending him to work with a home cooked meal every day, for instance. Packed up nice and neatly in glass containers tucked away into a branded lunch box he’s never once seen you carry around. Always placed into his hands when he reluctantly kisses you goodbye for the night though it does hold an endearingly innocent ulterior motive on your part, hinted at with your ‘firm’ demand for the containers return the next day. Creating an excuse (besides the desire to keep his belly full consistently for the first time in his life) he doesn’t realize is just so he’ll have a built in reason to come over again, not that he ever needed one but it felt easier than outright asking him to come see you every day of the week.

Until the weekend before the end of your holiday arrives and Gyuutaro can see the telltale signs of trepidation that threatens to ruin one of the best weeks you’ve had in a long while.

The shift in you has Gyuutaro the slightest bit clingier, more doting in his own unique ways and subconsciously caring for you in the way you like to be loved despite having never been told how. He asks if you need groceries just to volunteer to drive you there, adding to it by insisting, “n’ if yer a good passenger princess I’ll take ya on that bike ride you’ve been beggin me for, maybe we’ll get that too sweet coffee ya like too.”

Treating the chore like an exciting excursion, playing dirty by sweetening the deal plus that damning lopsided grin of his is infectious and it only splits wider when you pout bleeds into a tentative smirk. Agreeing to his terms but with an added stipulation, “passenger princess needs her gas pumped and control of the radio.”

He slouches with a quirked brow and faux scowl before hooking his index finger beneath your chin, tipping it upwards to seal his lips over yours in a fleeting press. Muttering a graveled ‘deal,’ acquiescing to ‘staunch’ demands as if the exchange didn’t go exactly in his desired direction, heart warming as you giggle gleefully in victory before gathering your things to leave.

You hated shopping alone but with Gyuutaro it wasn’t nearly as nerve wracking and hard to focus. Wandering down the emptier aisles at a leisurely pace with him at your side and comfortingly placing his hand at the small of your back to guide you through the more crowded ones. Your basket gets filled with far more items and ingredients than it ever has for either of you separately, discussing dinner options and planning meals for certain days so he’ll have leftovers for lunch. Neither of you comment over how domestic the entire process is for the nature of your still undefined relationship, just enjoy the feeling and ease of it all.

Though if you asked Gyuutaro, regardless of if you were around or not, he’d proudly and possessively proclaim that you were his and he was yours.

He knows you better than most anyone else at this point too, bagging the groceries how you liked to have them sorted without even needing to be told. Gently kneeing your thigh when you try and carry a single bag out to your car and again when you try to do the same whenever you get back home.

“Don’t piss me off brat,” sniped with a notable lack of malice as he shifted his loaded down arms out of your reach, giving you his back as he crossed the threshold of the front door.

“Or what?” You taunt daringly only to give him little trouble, though not for a lack of serious trying. Looping your arms around his tapered waist and dragging your feet to slow him down to no avail before resorting to swiping uselessly at the bags before they’re all placed onto your countertop.

He only sucks his teeth at you in response for now, rolling his eyes when you snatch at a bag he reaches for to unpack and stick your tongue out at him for good measure. Repeating that process for each bag as it devolves into a harmless game, tricking one another with twitching hands and sudden jerks when reaching for what’s laid out on the countertop until there’s nothing left. The whole process of the menial task breezed through with your antics, simpering as you bump your refrigerator door closed with your hip. Turning to gather the discarded bags while Gyuutaro faces your pantry, humming as you flatten and fold the plastics before a startled yelp rips from your throat.

Broad palms placed onto the countertop cage you in as Gyuutaro’s chest presses against your back, the surprise makes you shrink lower but he grabs at you when you squirm, “where’re ya goin?”

His voice still playful but a silky pitch lower than what you’ve heard before, almost purring in your ear as Gyuutaro cups at your jaw, pads of his index finger and thumb pressing into hollows of your cheeks when you whine. He chuckles at you, the sound vibrating against his ribcage as he nips at your ear to elicit more of the enticing sounds from you; breathing you in as he lets his hands rove over your body.

Periodically pawing at the parts of you he knows are sensitive just to watch you try and drop to your knees to writhe from his hold fruitlessly until you giggle and gasp, “alright alright, let go of me taro.”

Just the response he was hoping for as he handles you with absolute ease, brushing his lips over the slope of your throat as his arms tighten around your natural waist. Hoisting you up just enough so your toes just barely graze the flooring as you flail in the short distance he walks from your kitchen to your living room. Stopping at the furniture placed in the center of the room before he corals you once again, growing bolder by pinning your hips to the frame on the back of your sofa. Lips to the shell of your ear as he shudders out a breathy exhale when you arch your back and the swell of your ass brushes against his crotch, “or what?”

He takes a sick delight in how your eyes widen but leaves no time to dwell on the notion before deft digits make quick work of your button and zipper. He works both of his hands into your pants, massaging at your hips and palming the sides of your thighs as he shimmies the dark denim lower until it pools at your knees. Taking the time to knead appreciatively at the exposed flesh as they crawl higher, cupping your mound and pressing the pads of his middle and ring fingers over your clit as Gyuutaro slouches around you.

Your breath hitches at the contact but the lack of tension in your body tells him enough that it isn’t unwanted. Encouraging Gyuutaro further by turning your toes inward as he pulls the lacy material to the side to feel you uninhibited, eyes rolling when you twitch in anticipation but he won’t leave you wanting. Parting your folds to play in the quickly gathering slick and he can’t help but think about how much warmer you are than he thought you’d be; warmer than what he’s fantasized about since the end of the week previous.

He moves almost reflexively, swirling his fingers around your pert bud in firm circles, growing in confidence when your head lolls forward and you brace your forearms on the back of the couch. Ass brushing against his crotch as you go slack in his hold, dipping lower as you spread your legs just a bit more for him, rewarding Gyuutaro with a throaty sigh as he tests out what makes you feel good. A learning experience for the both of you as the sound of slick clicking and shushed suspires mingle in the space between you.

Working you up after a few testing pressures and motions, guiding you to your climax while his breath dampens the skin of your throat and the sound of him warms the blood in your veins. The coil in your lower belly tightening with intensity as your thoughts race, all of them about him and how he makes you feel, how you think he feels about you. Focusing on how he praises you, encourages you, the feel of his cock prodding at the curve of your ass and the more he coos at you the warmer you feel.

Clutching at the cushions of the couch for dear life and finally, finally tipping over the edge when he nips at the lobe of your ear and husks, “cum for me baby, show me how good I make ya feel.”

Shuddering in his hold and your voice breaks on the syllables of his name as you reach rapture, arching your back and he supports you with his free hand as he overstimulates you with the other. Cupping your throat while you moan his name so sinfully while his fingers swirl in lazy circles over your puffy clit, hips twitching and bucking uncontrollably into his hand until you have to grip desperately at his wrist for some reprieve. Heaving a heavy sigh of relief when he relents and occupies himself with littering the slope of your shoulder up to the hinge of your jaw in gentle nips and caste kisses.

Slowing his affectionate assault, Gyuutaro takes a moment to bask in the afterglow of your orgasm, marveling slightly over the pleasure he provided for you. Drinks in how you slack in his hold, leaning into him because the tremble in your legs betray you. He didn’t think it possible for you to look any more beautiful but your blissed out, satisfied expression and the softness to your features that follows proves him wrong.

Letting the moment linger until you regain your bearing before he helps you straighten up by fixing your hair and step completely from your pants after voicing you’d wanted to change. Lovingly kissing your temple with a soft apology for getting carried away but not without a swift smack to your ass and a wink, repeating coyly, “told ya not to piss me off pretty girl.”

He starts dinner while you get comfortable before coming to help cook and you equally split cleanup duty afterwards. Gyuutaro all but corrals you into the living room as soon as he’s done with the dishes, drying his hands on the decorative towels before quickly grabbing at your waist before you had time to notice.

Eager to get situated on the plush furniture and fluff one of your many throw blankets over you both. Cuddling on the couch soon after, again, with you in his lap and his chin resting on your crown as time ticks by watching all the updates to the shows you’ve taken to enjoying with one another until he checks the time and sucks his teeth.

“Gettin late,” he grumbles as he all but tosses his phone onto the couch cushion beside you, “should probably head home so I can drag my ass outta bed for work tomorrow.”

You almost visibly deflate, relaxed features devolving with dejection as you reluctantly move from his lap for him to stand. You watch as he rises to full height and takes the time to stretch but you grab at his wrist reflexively before he can move to put on his shoes, releasing him when he turns to you with a quizzical look. Turning fully and squatting down to your eye level when you pull your feet up onto the couch and bring your knees to your chest while you fidget with your fingers the way you always do when you’re working up the nerve for something.

Glancing away quickly when he brings his palm to cup the side of your head, stroking along it soothingly before you groan dramatically. You surprise him with the sound, making his brow quirk and he leans back slightly when you drag your hands down your face before resting your forehead on your knees with another groan. Mumbling something that’s too quiet to be understood but too loud for you to be talking to yourself so he leans closer to you, comically cupping his ear with one eye open wider than the other.

“Hah?” Scoffed slightly and though he can’t see it you roll your eyes, “that a mouse I hear squeakin at me?”

“I said,” you shoot up with a scowl on pretty features, “why don’t you just stay the night instead.” Rushed out in one breath, like you’d lose the nerve if you’d attempted to deliver the sentence in any other way.

Your shoulders slack again, tilting your head to lean your cheek on your knee as you fix him with this unintentionally hopeful look, “If you wanted to anyway, you don’t gotta of course. It’s just that it is kinda’ late and I can just bring you to work tomorrow but, you absolutely don’t have to. It's just that you live across town—“ you stumble through your sentence for him to, thankfully, cut off your rambling.

“Ya had me at ‘I said’ pretty thing, why the hell wouldn’t I wanna stay?” Gyuutaro teases as he leans forward on his haunches, pressing a kiss to your forehead before he flops back onto your sofa, pressing his back into the arm of it. He reaches for you, hand encircling your wrist with ease as he pulls you between his legs and into his arms, “plus ‘m not gonna say no to a night away from my roommate and his girl bein’ loud as shit.”

“You could’ve just said yes,” you scoff as you reach for his phone and the remote previously tossed to the wayside, handing both to him after you’ve woken the screen to check the time, “one more episode? Then we should head to bed.”

You’re telling rather than asking him, batting long lashes up at him as your chin rests on his sternum as if Gyuutaro could ever really deny you anything you desired but that doesn’t mean he won’t put on his own theatrics. Pulling a giddy little giggle from you when his head lolls back and he heaves an exaggerated sigh but powers on the tv anyway.

But ‘one more episode’ turns to two then four because ‘they can’t just leave it on a cliffhanger like that!’ Until Gyuutaro inevitably has to be firm when he tells you at nearly midnight that, “ much as I’d love to pull an all-nighter with ya, I do have the early mornin shift baby.”

Halfheartedly you pour at him, certain he won’t relent this time but you’re beginning to grow accustomed to asking just the slightest but more of him. He’d say he’s rubbing off on you, secretly he’s happy to notice it even as his thumb and index grab at your plush lower lip as he tuts. The sound of your petulant whine is music to his ears as he cackles before tapping suspiciously closely to your ass.

“Fine, fine, I guess you win this time,” you groan playfully as you detangle yourself from. Standing and stretching as you hold out your hand to guide him to the bathroom as if he hadn’t spent every day of the week in your home.

Gyuutaro’s brow quirks high and a ghost of a smile tugs at the corners of his lips when you push into your bathroom with him in tow. Blood ready to thrum in his veins simultaneously with elated and nervous energy as you yank open the shower curtains.

Though he deflates quickly with a burning heat stinging the nape of his neck that forces him to grip it to abate the burn when he realizes you’re just preparing the shower for him. He clears his throat as you slip past him in the small space with a cute, “oh one sec,” as you all but scurry into your room.

The lanky man tails you like the stray he calls Hakuji’s girlfriend and the one he always has been. Standing and yawning as he slouches in your doorway, debating minutely if he should just crawl beneath your cozy looking comforter and force you into his arms with the excuse that he could just shower in the morning. Swaying forward with intent when he’s pulled from his reverie by the sound of your searching. He leans like he’s going to help you in rifling through your drawers before gasping in satisfaction.

You produce clothes from your dresser that he doesn't remember seeing whenever he snooped through their contents last week, heart skipping a beat and his fists clenching, hidden away by his pockets before you explain without prompt.

“They’re my brothers,” you add quickly, like you couldn’t bear the misunderstanding, “he’s nowhere near as tall as you, though. They’ll probably look like capris but I doubt you’ll want to sleep in jeans. Turning the nozzle up on the shower makes it hotter, down is colder and in is off kay?”

He showers quickly, he has to, as much as he’d like to stand under the spray and let the warm water soothe tight muscles he’s ready to lay down with you in bed. The thought is lame to him, but it’s been on his mind since he’d come over the first night; since he stood in your room and familiarized himself with it just in case he didn’t get the chance to. Groaning to himself as he slouches forward and the water streams from his wet mop of unruly locks and into his face, off his nose and blurring his eyes before he snarls.

It was too good of a day to let his self-deprecating tendencies ruin it, finishing up what should’ve been a relaxing experience by using a modest amount of your body wash, shampoo, and conditioner. Thinking idly as he steps into just the pair of joggers alone that you liked the same sort of scents his sister liked to use, maybe just a bit sweeter where her preferences are more floral.

He’ll have to introduce you soon, if you were up for that anyway. It was a miracle he hadn’t mentioned you to her yet with how much time he was spending with you; cautious in case this (like everything else in his life) blew up in his face when whatever deity harbored a grudge against him in particular decided they needed some entertainment.

Gyuutaro finally emerges from the bathroom as he tugs the spacious hoodie on over his head and discards his worn clothes into the hamper with your own. Brow quirking in confusion when he sees the bed still made, no you sized lump beneath the thick comforter.

“Babe?” Called as he spins on his heel but you scurry hastily from the hall. Tucking your hair behind your ear as you step into the room and close the door behind you.

“Sorry, sorry,” huffed as you cross the room hurriedly as tug your covers back, “thought I heard something. Then I saw I forgot to turn off the oven and then I was making sure the front and the back doors were locked.”

Gyuutaro should be more than alarmed at the mention of forgetting to turn off the oven. Should question if you do that often and if he’s going to need to remind you or check himself before he can rest.

He should be, he likely will the following day but for now he’s far too captivated by you. Adam’s Apple bobbing as he swallows thickly when sky blues rove over your body. Drinking in how you don nothing but one of the hoodies he’d left here with only panties underneath. Overtly ogling you, letting his eyes linger on your pillowy thighs before they’re hidden from view when you crawl beneath the covers.

“Gonna sleep standin up taro?” Cooed cutely as you tap the empty space next to you, “pretty sure this is more comfortable though.”

You’re so cute to him, every positive descriptor he could use for a person comes to mind when he looks at you. Alluring without trying to be, or maybe you were with the way you pose yourself even beneath the thick comforter. Adorable with the way you smile at him, however impish the expression may be at times. You make Gyuutaro’s mind race but externally he looks calm as he crosses the room to join you even as he retorts, “maybe not with yer popsicle feet.”

Proving him right instantly as you cling to the warmth of his body, blade of your foot working up his joggers up just enough for your skin to touch his and earn a hiss. A curse from his lips hangs in the air but he resents none of what transpires as you squeal and giggle while Gyuutaro wrestles to return the favor. Gripping at his hoodie to let his cold hands rest at your waist before you offer a truth he’d rather label a concession.

Finally settling down with your back to him, scooting back into him until you’re contoured to the curve of his body. Finding an acceptable position to cuddle and be cuddled when his leg settles between yours with Gyuutaro’s arm thrown around your torso to keep you close.

Not that you’d dream of moving away, shimmying lower with an excited energy moments after you’ve both quietly settled together. And you were tired, honestly you were, whenever you’d initially got ready for bed.

Until Gyuutaro came out of the shower and you fully registered he’d be staying the night.

You’d cuddled plenty before, all during the week you’ve crawled in his lap or curled comfortably on his chest. You weren’t particularly that shy about anything with him either, not entirely anyway; more bold than you’d certainly ever been with all the times you’ve straddled him and held his face in your hands to kiss him as much as you pleased.

Going to sleep together was comparatively one of the more innocent, albeit just as intimate, moments with Gyuutaro.

Heaving a heavy exhale as you scoot ever closer into him, curling into yourself and writhing slightly as you adjust the position of your bodies. Wrapping your arm around Gyuutaro’s as it coils tighter around you, satisfied with the slight change before the sound of his voice sends a pleasant shiver down your spine.

“Too much energy,” husked almost groggily from the gravel in his tone against the shell of your ear.

You shift slightly, kissing his knobby knuckles in silent apology as you twist your body once again, “m tryin to get comfy, just a little restless.”

“Ya sure it’s just that? Don’t really look like yer tryin to go to sleep baby,” voice a low tease as his other arm snakes between the mattress and your waist. Rough pads of fingers pressing into the soft flesh of your stomach as he slides lower, slipping beneath your panties to cup your mound with a sigh and, “need some help?”

You cast a glance in mock innocence over your shoulder at him, a pleading gleam in your eye as you slowly nod your head.

Not that he was entirely waiting on a definitive answer, having received an explicit enough response when you’d spread your legs wider for him, but; he still had no intention to deny you as he slowly rolls his fingers over your clit until your hips. Testingly at first, varying pressure and motions while he watches what you respond best to until your hips are bucking into his hand and you sigh out his name so sweetly, breathily.

He builds you slowly at first, basking in the way you respond to him but just when you’re on the cusp of euphoria he pulls his hand away, halting your high so abruptly you voice your frustrations just as Gyuutaro turns you onto your back.

“Don’t whine,” as he lays you on your back, fingers looped into the band of your panties on either side of your hips before tugging them lower to slip them off your supple thighs to position himself between them. Wasting no time in burying his face in your cunt like a man starved.

You don’t get time to protest, gasping with a roll of your eyes as you arch from the mattress with his first languid stripe up your soaking slit. Gyuutaro lets out a low, rumbling groan at the taste of you that sends pleasant vibrations and shocks of pleasure shooting up your spine. Lost in you as he laps lazily as your lips, harding whetting his appetite like this before his fingers join the fray, calloused pads playing in the gathering slick before adding just a modicum of pressure to spread your sticky folds as he ducks his head lower. Lids fluttering and he relishes in how your hips twitch just before the tense with each lazy lap until his lips purse around the pert little pearl at the apex of your pussy for a kiss.

Sweetly, affectionaly before sensually suckling at it in an adoring assault, alternating between rapid lateral flicks of his wet muscle and circling around it until your fingers thread through wavy locks.

Arching slightly from the mattress as your hips twitch minutely into his face, earning a rumbling chuckle from Gyuutaro and another kiss to your puffy clit. Softly sighing his name, broken by a muted moan and choked by a gasp when he resumes the motions he’d found you’d liked the most.

Humming your approval to him as your thighs tremble around his skull and your nails gently rake along his scalp as he works you over generously. Fueled by every sound and reaction you reward him with, never liking the sound of his name more than how you gasp it as thick digits sink into your greedy cunt gradually.

Gyuutaro’s middle finger first as he tests the motions and finds a rhythm. His ring finger follows second and it has you spasming without control, biting your lip to stifle the first debauched moan. Surely stoking his ego as you helpless rut into his face with babbled, witless whines of his name as you gripped the sheets beneath you like a lifeline.

He enjoys watching what he does to you, delights in how helpless you are to the pleasure he provides as the taste of you turns saccharine on his tongue when the coil finally snaps. Exhaling a breathy, “fuuuck, oh ‘taro ‘m cumming,” as the tension bleeds from your body and the roll of your hips falls out of sync with him.

Left reeling after he’s pulled his fingers from your convulsing cunt and climbing up your body, given no time to consider lamenting the loss as Gyuutaro cups your face for an impassioned kiss. Long tongue swiping over yours as he coos praises at you throatily between dizzying kisses but you’re too focused on the rigid length that pokes into the fat of your inner thigh. Leaky tip steadily staining his borrowed sleep pants as it soaks through his underwear, throbbing and left neglected while he enthusiastically tended to your own pleasure.

Humming as your fingers thread into his unruly locks and your leg hooks on his hip before moving in one swift motion, flipping your positions to straddle him instead. Arching into Gyuutaro and giggling at the muted sound of surprise that you swallow in chasing kisses, resting your weight on the tops of your thighs. Hovering slightly as your hands splay out over his chest, body alight and still thrumming with the aftershocks of euphoria as you arch into him, hands sliding from his pectorals to his trapezius.

Your thumbs swipe along the columns of his throat as your lips seal over his with a hum before reaching higher to thread into his hair. Blunt nails scratching soothingly at the curve of his skull as his arms wrap around you to pull you closer.

His lips seal over yours with a sigh as his hands roam your body, groping intermittently with appreciative groans that grow in volume.

“Fuck, I want you,” husked against your skin as his head dips to litter your throat with open mouthed kisses. Jagged teeth nipping pleasantly at sensitive flesh as you tilt your head to the side to grant him more access. Whining encouraging when Gyuutaro’s teeth testingly sink into the slope of your throat, moaning unabashedly when he adds more pressure. Not enough to break skin but enough to mark you as his, lovingly marr the unblemished space with the structure of his jaw.

Every reaction to him fuels him, goads him further and fans the flames of desire even more so as you soak through the lacy garment you wear and his borrowed joggers. Finally reaching between your bodies to grip at the elastic band and pull it down just below his sac to run his leaking tip between your folds.

“Wait, wait, ‘taro” muttered between hungry kisses, gently pressing your fingers into the planes of his chest, “do you have a condom?”

There’s a glaze over Gyuutaro’s eyes, lidded gaze “never had a reason to carry one pretty girl,” nosing at your pulse point, lips brushing over the thrumming artery affectionately as he kneads at the juntures of your thighs, “do you?”

“Um.. no? Was I supposed to?”

“Nah, m’ glad ya don’t, jealous guy after all” winking as he squeezes at the fat of your ass again and gives you a fleeting kiss, “but if I sink you on my cock I ain’t gonna wanna pull out.”

It is a little early on for him to even consider breeding you even though, in his shriveled little heart you’ve made room in, he’s certain you’re the one; he doesn’t want to risk scaring you off. Missing how your lips part in a soundless sigh at his comment, if he hadn’t you likely would’ve been pinned to the mattress with the entire length bullied into you in one stroke to feel that delicious burn of the sudden stretch.

Instead you give him a parting kiss that leaves him momentarily confused, subtly shimmying as you litter a trail chaste but loving brushes of your lips over every part of him that you adore.

First to the corners of his lips that curl up with his devious grins, impish smirks and gentle smiles. Then to the inky black birthmark that decorates both edges of his mouth, dipping lower to his adams apple that always bobs distractingly and sometimes holds your gaze in the times there’s a lull in conversation.

Your hands glide down his body to dip beneath the material of his hoodie as you straddle his knees. Hem of his borrowed hoodie pooling at your wrists as the pads of your fingers press into the toned flesh of his abdomen, firmer as your push upwards when Gyuutaro stops you. Broad palm and long digits resting on both of your hands to halt your ascent, jarring you slightly, ready to recoil in embarrassment thinking you’d misunderstood and were too forward when his free hand grasps at your chin to keep you in place.

“It’s not that baby, god it ain’t that,” he whispers, moving some loose hairs away from your face and running his thumb over your cheek, “just.. You don’t have to, ‘m not.” His voice softens and the sentence trails as his confidence wanes drastically with no intention to finish it, unsure of how he wanted to explain to you.

If he wanted to explain at all; especially something he thought he’d resolved and absolved himself of at a young age from cruel lessons hard learned.

You cup his face as lovingly, as you always do, comforting him with touch alone in ways even he didn’t know he needed and Gyuutaro is ever grateful for it as he leans into your palm with fluttering lashes. He’s certain of one thing as you blindly offer him consolation, he’s that same sniveling coward he was as a child.

He fears rejection but only from you, that it’ll take seeing him laid bare before you for you to finally feel the repulsion someone like you should’ve always felt towards a man like him.

You’ve proved yourself gentle with his jagged edges though, a sanctuary for him to find solace, time and time again.

“I want to, please?” your voice is barely a whisper, hand resting gently over his clothed cock, your index finger tracing the outline of his heady length.

Gyuutaro swallows thickly, the hushed plea and how you palm him making him throb with a need that overshadows his cowardice. He concedes to you once again as he nods, untrusting of his voice to not embarrass or fail him should he try to respond. You flash him a dazzling smile, the same one that had him fisting himself in the shower or in his bed with a pair of your underwear balled to his nose the nights following his days filled with you.

Would you laugh if he told you that all the simple things you did made him ache for you down to his bones? Probably not, because you’re kind like that, because you’re here with him right now, eager to please.

His blood roars in his ears and rushes in his veins over the way your fingers dance along his abdomen, pushing up his oversized hoodie to expose the years of his neglect the months of your care could only dream of reversing.

You can see some of his ribs but they’re far less pronounced than before he’d met you, though much less drastically and the crests of his hips still protrude a little too sharply for either of your liking.

And even though you’ve never judged him once in the time he’s known you, Gyuutaro still can’t help but hold his breath when the fabric is completely tugged over his head and you run your hands back down his body with such caring adoration.

You lean forward to kiss him then, a reassuring peck to his lips where your taste still lingers, another to his jaw, mapping a trail down his body to finally press another just below his navel as you untie the drawstring of his bottoms. You can feel his abdomen tense beneath plush lips when you hook your fingers into the material, urging you to press another kiss directly above the elastic band.

“Lift your hips,” your voice is sweet, gently commanding as he complies with little delay and shimmies from the cotton blend. Your fingers tap up his lithe but densely corded muscled thighs, sliding over his rigid cock that tents the fabric of his underwear before you let soft hand linger over the straining material. His jaw clenches tightly, molars gnawing at the inside of his cheek while you rub your palm over the bulge, kneading coyly and swiping your thumb over the darkened fabric dampened by his leaky tip.

Finally tugging his boxers down after a few agonizing minutes with a mischievously cute giggle but only just enough to free it of its confines and no lower. His engorged tip taps against his pelvis with a soft pap, saliva pooling on your tongue at just the sight of it, flushed and leaky.

You ogle him for a long moment and his lips part after his tongue nervously darts out to wet the flesh when your fingers wrap around the base of him. Your palm feels cool compared to the heated skin throbbing beneath it, it makes him hiss reflexively and you flinch slightly but thankfully your confidence doesn’t wane.

Moderately emboldened as you place your thumb and index fingers on his mons so the underside of his shaft rests in the web of your palm. Keeping his hard cock directly upright as you adjust closer to him, lying on your stomach between his legs.

His heart could almost skip a beat at the sight of you, how focused you look, he can’t tear his gaze away from how you stare at him. As if Gyuutaro and the pleasure you’ll provide him is the only thing that’s going through that meticulous little mind of yours that he’s come to adore.

Leaning closer as you purse your lips around the mushroomed tip with unwavering eye contact just to tease Gyuutaro as he had earlier. Humming coyly as you pull back with a mischievous quirk to your lips as you take a moment more to appreciate the view.

Memorizing the was his fingers fist the sheets and his pretty face dusts with a hint of red while his cock twitches in your hold.

It’s long, just like you thought it would be, thick too with a slight curve and a prominent vein in the underside. The muscles of his abdomen tighten when you test different pressures until you think you’ve found one he appreciates, thumb tracing over the slit of his mushroomed tip to spread the pre that leaks from the tip next.

He lets out a hiss, chest rising and falling a little faster when you give him experimental kitten licks to the head down the underside of his shaft. Tip of your tongue tracing over the vein all the way down only to let the flat of the wet muscle caress his girth as you drag upwards again.

Ending your teasing as you wrap your lips around the head of his cock, taking him in slowly, sensually. Stretching your lips around it to form a tight ‘o’ before suckling gingerly in a way that earns you a beautiful sigh that has your lashes fluttering open to drink in just what you do to him.

Only to meet the gaze eyes of clear blue skies now darkened into a stormy cobalt before his hips jerk upwards slightly into your pursed lips with a curse, “fuck baby don’t do that, I could cum just lookin at ya like this.”

You take more of him, hum giddily when he huffs a light “fuck”, threading his fingers into your hair to push the lose strands that fall into your face. It’s tender, the way he tucks some behind your ear and gently holds the back of your head as you bob on his length.

“You’re so pretty,” Gyuutaro whispers, hips thrusting slowly, albeit jerkily, into your mouth. Emitting an involuntary rumbling groan when you hollow your cheeks, taking him in to the base of his cock in tandem with his thrusts.

You make him more vocal than you’d imagined he’d be, clenching your thighs to abate the throb to your clit from the sound of him.

Gyuutaro can’t help the noises that escape him before long, jaw falling slack as his head lolls back onto your headboard while he rewards you with his pleasure. He apologizes each time you gag on him, each time he thrusts to the back of your throat that makes your eyes water but you can’t say you hate it, far from. You thoroughly enjoy the way he chases his climax helplessly, using you for his pleasure while still being so loving.

His hands scratch lightly at your scalp, winding your hair carefully around his fingers, “Yer perfect, shit, yer amazin’— d-don’t stop baby please.”

You bring your hand down from where you caress his hips, fondling his sac to aid him toward his climax. Humming as you watch his jaw set tightly and Gyuutaro can no longer manage the rut of his hips, fucking up into your face with abandon when the coil finally snap. He lets out a long, relieved moan whenever he finally cums down your throat with a stuttered curse and throaty growl as your only warning.

He rides his high, fucking your slowly until he’s calmed down and you pull away with an audible pop. Swiping away the drool that dribbled down your chin, smiling to yourself as you appreciate the state you’ve left him in.

Gyuutaro’s managed to regulate his bresthing when you crawl up his body, tucking into his side with a leg kicked over his own. He presses his lips to your temple after he runs his thumb over the corner of your lips to wipe away the bit of saliva you’d missed. You nuzzle into him, arms wrapping tightly around his torso, warmth radiating between you both, “feelin’ good?”

“Yeah, feeling great. I think I’m gonna call out today,” he says after a long minute, lacing his fingers with yours over his chest, “it’ll be fine for one day.”

You hum tiredly in response, lifting your head slightly to rest your chin on his chest as a single digit twirls a lock of your hair mindlessly. Simply basking in the afterglow of everything and not just what Gyuutaro has done with you tonight.

He pulls your face to his in a tender kiss, one where you can’t help but smile at the affection, rolling your lip between your teeth when he cups the curve of your skull.

“Would ya wanna have lunch with me later? Want ya to meet my sister.”

#vixen writes #gyutaro smut #gyutaro x reader #gyutaro x you #gyutaro x y/n

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reasonsforhope · 2 years ago

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Note: Reasons to Be Cheerful has had weirdly huge formatting issues for the past six or so months, so if that version is a mess, this link should work better.

"Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the Sunshine State’s largest power utility, employs all the people you might expect: electricians, lineworkers, mechanical engineers — and a few you might not. For over 40 years, the company has kept a team of wildlife biologists on staff. Their task? Monitoring the giant carnivorous reptiles that reside in one of the state’s nuclear power plants.

Saving the American Crocodile

What sounds like a low-budget creature feature is actually a wildly successful conservation story. It goes like this: In 1975, the shy and reclusive American crocodile was facing extinction. Over-hunting and habitat decline caused by encroaching development had pushed its numbers to a record low. By 1975, when it was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, there were only 200 to 300 left.

Three years later, in 1978, workers at the Turkey Point nuclear power plant in Homestead, Florida happened upon something that must have made them gasp: a crocodile nest along one of the plant’s 5,900-acre “cooling canals.” Rather than drive the crocs away — perhaps the easiest solution — FPL hired a team of biologists and implemented a Crocodile Management Plan. Its goal was unconventional: provide a suitable habitat for the crocs within the workings of the nuclear power plant, allowing both to coexist.

Over the course of the next 30 years, FPL’s wildlife biologists monitored nests, tagged hatchlings and generally created a hospitable environment for the reptiles. As it turned out, the plant’s cooling canals provided an ideal habitat: drained earth that never floods on which to lay eggs directly adjacent to water. Over the years, more and more crocs made the cooling canals home. By 1985, the nests at Turkey Point were responsible for 10 percent of American crocodile hatchlings in South Florida. In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service downgraded the American crocodile’s status from endangered to threatened, singling out FPL for its efforts.

The program continues to this day. To date, biologists have tagged some 7,000 babies born at the plant. In 2021, there were a record-setting 565 crocodile hatchlings at the Turkey Point facility.

"Reconciliation Ecology"

Turkey Point’s efforts are an example of what is known in the conservation world as “reconciliation ecology.” Rather than create separate areas where nature or animals can thrive in isolation from humans, reconciliation ecology suggests that we can blend the rich natural world with the world of human activity. Michael Rosenzweig, an emeritus professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, was a leading force in establishing this concept. The author of Win-Win Ecology: How the Earth’s Species can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise, Rosenzweig has pointed out that although human encroachment has typically been considered a threat to biodiversity, the notion that the world must be either “holy” or “profane,” ecologically speaking, is simply not true.

“In addition to its primary value as a conservation tool, reconciliation ecology offers a valuable social byproduct,” writes Rosenzweig in his first chapter. “It promises to reduce the endless bickering and legal wrangling that characterize environmental issues today.”

-via Reasons to Be Cheerful, May 5, 2022. Article continues below. All headings added by me for added readability.

Dr. Madhusudan Katti, an associate professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University, was inspired by Rosenzweig when he did his postdoc at Arizona State. Katti has now been in the field of reconciliation ecology for two decades and teaches classes on the subject. “To me it’s finding solutions to reconciling human development with biodiversity conservation,” Katti says.

This common ground between development and conservation can be consciously planned, like FPL managing a crocodile habitat at a nuclear power plant or the state-sponsored vertical gardens and commercial farms on high-rise buildings in Singapore. Other examples include the restoration of the coral reef around an undersea restaurant in Eilat, Israel, or recent legislation in New York City requiring patterned glass on high-rise buildings, making windows more visible to migratory birds. Other planned examples of reconciliation ecology can be more individually scaled: a rooftop garden in an urban setting, modifying your garden to earn a “backyard bird habitat” certification from the Audubon Society, or even just mowing your lawn less often...

Reconciliation Ecology: Nature's Already Doing It Without Us

But there are countless examples of “accidental” incidents of reconciliation ecology, as well. One of Katti’s favorites is the kit fox of California’s San Joaquin Valley. “The kit fox was one of the very first species listed on the Endangered Species Act,” Katti says. Its decline was caused by habitat loss through agricultural and industrial development, as well as the extermination of the gray wolf population, which led to an increase in coyotes. So kit foxes adapted and moved to new habitats. One of these was the city of Bakersfield, California.

“Bakersfield, surrounded by oil pumps, would be the last place you’d expect to find an endangered species,” Katti says. But researchers think kit foxes have migrated to Bakersfield because they actually have more protection there from predators like coyotes and bobcats. “The kit foxes have figured out that if they can tolerate the human disturbance and live with people, then they are safer from all these other predators,” he says.

Living in the city has led to some interesting behavioral changes. In the wild, for instance, a female kit fox gives birth to her young and raises them by herself in a den. But in the city, researchers have observed multiple females raising their litters together in the same den. “It’s like a form of cooperative breeding,” Katti says. “That wouldn’t happen in the wild.” ...

The Big Picture: How We Think about Conservation

Reconciliation Ecology isn’t just we humans welcoming animals like crocodiles and foxes into our environments, though. It’s also living with nature in a way that most Western societies haven’t done since the Enlightenment. “In recent years, there’s been a recognition that the ‘fortress conservation’ model — keeping nature separated from humans and not thinking of or valuing human-inhabited landscapes — those ideas are outdated,” says Katti.

In fact, in Katti’s classes on reconciliation ecology, he embraces the notion of reconnecting people with their land if they have been unjustly separated from it. “The term reconciliation also applies to all the colonial legacies where both nature and people have been harmed,” Katti says. “For Indigenous communities, the harm done to ecosystems, it’s happened together. So you can talk about addressing both. That’s where a lot of my thinking is at the moment.”

A hopeful version of this sort of reconciliation is happening in California where colleagues of Katti’s who are tribal members are re-introducing “tribal burns” in some areas. Controlled burns have been a part of many Indigenous cultures for millenia, both as a way to prevent devastating forest fires, but also to encourage the growth of certain plants like hazel that are used for basket-weaving and other crafts.

“The notion that people don’t belong there and ‘let nature take care of itself’ doesn’t really work,” Katti says. “That’s the legacy of Western European Enlightenment thinking — a divide between human and nature. That is a real faulty view of nature. People have been part of the ecosystem forever.”

-via Reasons to Be Cheerful, May 5, 2022

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route22ny · 2 months ago

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Parks, libraries, museums: here’s why Trump is attacking America’s best-loved institutions

by Margaret Sullivan, The Guardian

The president’s funding cuts and bullying are about dividing Americans and tightening his grip on power

Mon 2 Jun 2025 08.00 EDT

The author and environmentalist Wallace Stegner called our national parks “America’s best idea”.

Certainly, these jewels – 85m acres of parkland throughout all the 50 states – are beloved by the public. So are America’s public libraries, arts organizations and museums.

But that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from threatening or harming them.

These institutions are under siege. They are hurt by deep funding cuts, the loss or bullying of public employees and, in some cases, by threats of extinction.

Why would any politician – especially one as hungry for adulation as Donald Trump – go after such cherished parts of America?

It seems counterintuitive, but this is all a part of a broad plan that the great 20th century political thinker Hannah Arendt would have understood all too well.

Take away natural beauty, free access to books and support for the arts, and you end up with a less enlightened, more ignorant and less engaged public. That’s a public much more easily manipulated.

“A people that can no longer believe in anything cannot make up its mind,” said Arendt, a student of authoritarianism, in 1973. Eventually, such a public “is deprived … of its ability to think and judge”, and with people like that, “you can then do what you please”.

That’s what Trump and company are counting on.

It’s also part of the effort to divide Americans into two tribes – the elites and the regular folks, the blue and the red, the drivers of dorky hybrid sedans and the drivers of oversized pick-up trucks.

The arts and nature, by contrast, serve to unite us. When you’re admiring a redwood or gazing at the Grand Canyon, you’re neither Republican nor Democrat. The same goes for listening to a beautiful piece of new music or choosing library books to read with your children.

But division and grievance serve Trump better. And so, we have the attacks on marginalized people, on university research, and the performing arts, often in the guise of eliminating waste or discriminatory hiring practices.

“The Trump administration has launched a comprehensive attack on knowledge itself, a war against culture, history and science,” Adam Serwer wrote in the Atlantic recently in a much-discussed piece describing “the attack on knowledge”, putting in broad context Trump’s defunding of universities and attempts to discourage international scholarship.

What’s really going on is a longterm power grab.

In crippling learning, beauty and culture Trump and his helpers “seek to make the country more amenable to their political domination”.

When it comes to the parks, as the Guardian’s Annette McGivney reported recently, the harm is well under way.

Thousands of staffing cuts mean that many parks lack adequate supervision, that campgrounds are closed and that the care of precious natural resources is neglected.

Again, it’s by design, as the former national parks director Jonathan Jarvis told McGivney.

“There are ideologues who want to dismantle the federal government,” Jarvis said. “And the last thing they need is a highly popular federal agency that undermines their argument about how the government is dysfunctional.”

Mark Nebel, a longtime manager of a program at the Grand Canyon, and a true believer in the value of national parks, spoke about the personal toll.

“The Trump administration says this is all about efficiency, but it is nothing of the sort,” said Nebel, who became demoralized at the harm being done and abruptly resigned.

Reducing government waste may sound good but it looks more like willful destruction.

Among the many agencies that are under attack are the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. These organizations provide crucial support for public libraries and museums, grants to artists and writers, and much more.

They make us better as a people. They uplift us. Like the parks, they can bring beauty into our lives. And as the poet John Keats wrote, beauty and truth are inseparable.

But truth is only trouble for the would-be autocrat.

And truth itself is under attack, as Trump – a prolific liar – tries to control the message to the public by controlling the reality-based press. That’s how successful propaganda works.

Toward that end, his administration is trying to defund public media, including NPR and PBS, and – partly through lawsuits against media organizations including CBS News and ABC News – to intimidate journalists and their corporate bosses.

A more ignorant, less enlightened, more divided electorate is far easier to manipulate. And the power grab, after all, is the larger aim.

Once that power is fully secured, there is no one left to challenge the endless grift and self-dealing that is a hallmark of this administration – the sale of meme coins, the pay-to-play pardons of criminals and the cultivation of rich guys and their fat wallets.

The diminishment of truth and beauty is part of a long game, but one that doesn’t have to prevail.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/02/national-parks-libraries-museums-trump

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture

#american dystopia #national park #public media #mind control #resist

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sciroccoorion35 · 8 months ago

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Lockwood POV

I've seen some discussion about whether you could write the L&Co books from Lockwood's pov and how difficult that would be with his book characterisation, but I think I've got it!

The Very Secret Diary of A.J. Lockwood

The Screaming Staircase from Lockwood's POV Rating: T WC: 543

Day 1: Well, it’s official! George and I have started our own agency right out of 35 Portland Row. Lockwood and Co. at your service. The paperwork was a chore, but we’ve done it. Now to begin building our reputation. I have plans for attracting a high paying clientele with interest in the kind of personalised, bespoke care only a small, independent agency can provide.

Day 16: Inspector Barnes himself came by today to inspect our headquarters. He also gave me some warnings about the way we took out the ghost over on Bagley Walk, but we got it to the furnaces in the end, so I don’t see that it’s any big deal. Looking forward to showing this Barnes what we can accomplish without the need for adult supervision.

Day 72: George left his ghost jar in the bath again. Seriously considering writing up an official company policy that covers this. Or possibly just a renter’s agreement.

Day 117: Hired a new assistant. His name's Robin. I think he's gonna be great. Wow, this is really starting to feel like a proper agency!

Day 123: Robin ran off a roof in a blind panic. Not a great start tbh. I will need to do a much better job checking the next assistant's fortitude. Maybe George can help me come up with something...

Day 175: New hire Miss Lucy Carlyle! I really think we've got a good one this time. She's asked me to call her Lucy and it feels weird somehow with her for some reason. But I'll be damned if I'm going to call George 'Mr. Cubbins' so I will have to get used to it.

Day 346: Lucy has burned down a house. Granted, the Type 2 inside really whipped it up into a conflagration, and yes, I did forget to bring the chains, but still, there’s no denying it was her Greek fire that was the initial spark explosion.

Day 349: 60,000 pounds!?!? Bloody Barnes. He’s doing this on purpose. He wants us out of business and out of his hair. I’ve put on a brave face in front of George and Lucy but I don’t know how we can possibly get through this.

Day 351: I have a plan. It’s a little risky, and I need to do as much preparation and snooping as I can manage to squeeze in, but if handled carefully, I think I can save the agency and even put us ahead of where we were before. If not, well, this might just be my last entry as A.J. Lockwood, head of Lockwood and Co.

Day 365: What a year it’s been! I forgot to update after the Combe Carey affair, but it was spectacular! I’ve got a bunch of press clippings I’ll stick in here for posterity, but the important thing is that the agency is right where it should be. Between me, George and especially Lucy, I really feel like there’s no case we can’t take on. Things are truly looking up!

Day 365, part 2: Lucy has just told me the most extraordinary thing. On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t write it down just yet. Wouldn’t want anyone to think…anyways, please disregard. Looking forward to a fruitful year 2!

#lockwood and co #anthony lockwood #fanfic #lockwood and co fanfic #the screaming staircase #lockwood pov

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linkablewritingadvice · 10 months ago

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How much should it cost to be a writer?

It depends what route you’re taking. If you are planning to go for traditional publishing, which looks like you finishing a manuscript and then querying agents who will then take your book to publishers, you should be paying for basically nothing. One exception would be if you decide to hire an editor to get a pass over your manuscript and/or query package before sending it off, but this is not required.

If you are in the process of trying to get your manuscript traditionally published, you may be approached by a “publisher” offering to publish your manuscript for a fee. THIS IS A SCAM! An author should never be paying for “publishing services.” Anyone asking you to pay for your own printing, marketing, etc. costs is taking advantage of you. These are called vanity publishers and they will not turn you a profit, help you attract readers, or provide you the prestige of being published.

Always check on Writer Beware - search for the name of the person or company. You can also just google that name along with the word “scam” or “reviews.” In general, don’t let yourself be blinded by dreams, or let yourself be convinced that something is a good idea because you really want it to be true. Never, ever, ever pay a publisher.

If you are going the self-publishing route, you will be paying for certain things, but none of those should be payment to be published. You are the publisher. Uploading your manuscript to Amazon or other marketplaces is free. However, you will be paying for things that a publisher typically pays for. This could include:

-Cover art - you could do this yourself, though this isn't recommended. A good cover is key to a book's success, so budget to purchase a pre-made book cover, or hire a professional cover artist.

To find pre-made book covers, you can just Google "premade book covers," or check one of these sites: BookCoverZone RockingBookCovers Beetiful

And here's a list of places to buy both custom and pre-made cover designs that's a good start. You can also check Reedsy and Etsy for people listing cover design services. If there is a self-pubbed author whose covers you love, try asking them what artist they use.

-Formatting - you could do this yourself using a formatting program like Atticus, or you could hire someone who does professional e-book formatting.

Here's an article on the turbo-DIY route. Here's a list of formatting programs you can use. To hire someone, you can simply search for book formatting services or look at places where people list such services for hire, like Reedsy, Fiverr, or certain Reddit boards.

-Ad campaigns - you may want to pay for ad campaigns on platforms like Meta or Amazon. More niche, author-specific platforms like BookBub, Book Funnel, or Book Sirens also come with certain costs.

-Author services - you may wish to hire an expert in things like marketing, blurb copy, social media metrics, newsletter management, etc. You can find information on that here.

Be aware that scam publishers might try to pitch themselves as "author services" - you should be paying someone to help you with specific aspects of your self publishing work, NOT paying to be published.

-Software and platforms - whether it's a subscription to Duotrope, a paid Scribophile account, access to pro Canva features, etc. you may decide to pay for tools that you will use to do your work well.

-Expert advice - some people offer courses, books, or other resources on how to do specific things like write a compelling blurb or run an effective ad campaign. You may notice that a lot of the links I shared here will include upsells from people doing exactly this!

Be very cautious about this, as most of these people claim that they make tons of money on their self published books, but really, they make their money selling this stuff to people like you. Always check out a person’s free resources first, and wait to invest in this sort of thing until you have a specific question you need answered or are trying to do a very particular thing that you need granular guidance on.

One thing you should NOT pay for is a review, feature, or interview. Self-published authors will be approached by a lot of scammers who claim that, for a nominal fee, they will share information about your book to their huge audiences. These are completely useless and a waste of money. Never spend money on this.

Always keep track of what you are spending on all of this. You may be able to deduct it from taxes you pay on your income from writing, and you will want to really understand what your profit margins look like.

#self publishing #writing #writer beware #writing advice

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fuck-customers · 10 months ago

Note

I'm getting increasingly frustrated to the point where I'm full-blown pissed off at the fact that no one at my work seems to know anything about a service that is literally provided by the company.

So when I first got hired at my job, I did not have a bank account (a VERY long story-my last bank fucked me over and did very sketchy things with my account) and I opted to be paid via a debit cart provided by the company.

Well now my card only has a few months left until it expires and I've received no notice via work or the banking app associated with the card about being sent a new card, how to go about ordering one, etc. So, like an idiot, I ask my coworkers and bosses.

The mod the first time I asked was just a lead, who doesn't deal with the payroll side of management, so I understood why she didn't know. Then, the next day I asked the ASM, who also didn't know. Then the SM, who literally does payroll, who also didn't know? Bro come on. This is a service directly provided by the company you are a manager for.

I obviously need to have a valid card, because I need to access my money, so I guess I'm going to have to fucking contact the company that makes the cards directly. What a hassle.

Posted by admin Rodney

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mariacallous · 6 months ago

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A young technologist known online as “Big Balls,” who works for Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has access to sensitive US government systems. But his professional and online history call into question whether he would pass the background check typically required to obtain security clearances, security experts tell WIRED.

Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old high school graduate, established at least five different companies in the last four years, with entities registered in Connecticut, Delaware, and the United Kingdom, most of which were not listed on his now-deleted LinkedIn profile. Coristine also briefly worked in 2022 at Path Network, a network monitoring firm known for hiring reformed black-hat hackers. Someone using a Telegram handle tied to Coristine also solicited a cyberattack-for-hire service later that year.

Coristine did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

One of the companies Coristine founded, Tesla.Sexy LLC, was set up in 2021, when he would have been around 16 years old. Coristine is listed as the founder and CEO of the company, according to business records reviewed by WIRED.

Tesla.Sexy LLC controls dozens of web domains, including at least two Russian-registered domains. One of those domains, which is still active, offers a service called Helfie, which is an AI bot for Discord servers targeting the Russian market.While the operation of a Russian website would not violate US sanctions preventing Americans doing business with Russian companies, it could potentially be a factor in a security clearance review.

"Foreign connections, whether it's foreign contacts with friends or domain names registered in foreign countries, would be flagged by any agency during the security investigation process," Joseph Shelzi, a former US Army intelligence officer who held security clearance for a decade and managed the security clearance of other units under his command, tells WIRED.

A longtime former US intelligence analyst, who requested anonymity to speak on sensitive topics, agrees. “There's little chance that he could have passed a background check for privileged access to government systems,” they allege.

Another domain under Coristine’s control is faster.pw. The website is currently inactive, but an archived version from October 25, 2022 shows content in Chinese that stated the service helped provide “multiple encrypted cross-border networks.”

Prior to joining DOGE, Coristine worked for several months of 2024 at Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain implant startup, and, as WIRED previously reported, is now listed in Office of Personnel Management records as an “expert” at that agency, which oversees personnel matters for the federal government. Employees of the General Services Administration say he also joined calls where they were made to justify their jobs and to review code they’ve written.

Other elements of Coristine’s personal record reviewed by WIRED, government security experts say, would also raise questions about obtaining security clearances necessary to access privileged government data. These same experts further wonder about the vetting process for DOGE staff—and, given Coristine’s history, whether he underwent any such background check.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about what level of clearance, if any, Corisitine has, and if so, how it was granted.

At Path Network, Coristine worked as a systems engineer from April to June of 2022, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn resume. Path has at times listed as employees Eric Taylor, also known as Cosmo the God, a well-known former cybercriminal and member of the hacker group UGNazis, as well as Matthew Flannery, an Australian convicted hacker whom police allege was a member of the hacker group LulzSec. It’s unclear whether Coristine worked at Path concurrently with those hackers, and WIRED found no evidence that either Coristine or other Path employees engaged in illegal activity while at the company.

“If I was doing the background investigation on him, I would probably have recommended against hiring him for the work he’s doing,” says EJ Hilbert, a former FBI agent who also briefly served as the CEO of Path Network prior to Coristine’s employment there. “I’m not opposed to the idea of cleaning up the government. But I am questioning the people that are doing it.”

Potential concerns about Coristine extend beyond his work history. Archived Telegram messages shared with WIRED show that, in November 2022, a person using the handle “JoeyCrafter” posted to a Telegram channel focused on so-called distributed denial of service, or DDOS, cyberattacks that bombard victim sites with junk traffic to knock them offline. In his messages, JoeyCrafter—which records from Discord, Telegram, and the networking protocol BGP indicate was a handle used by Coristine—writes that he’s “looking for a capable, powerful and reliable L7” that accepts Bitcoin payments. That line, in the context of a DDOS-for-hire Telegram channel, suggests he was looking for someone who could carry out a layer 7 attack, a certain form of DDOS. A DDOS-for-hire service with the name Dstat.cc was seized in a multi-national law enforcement operation last year.

The JoeyCrafter Telegram account had previously used the name “Rivage,” a name linked to Coristine on Discord and at Path, according to Path internal communications shared with WIRED. Both the Rivage Discord and Telegram accounts at times promoted Coristine’s DiamondCDN startup. It’s not clear whether the JoeyCrafter message was followed by an actual DDOS attack. (In the internal messages among Path staff, a question is asked about Rivage, at which point an individual clarifies they are speaking about "Edward".)

"It does depend on which government agency is sponsoring your security clearance request, but everything that you've just mentioned would absolutely raise red flags during the investigative process," Shelzi, the former US Army intelligence officer says. He adds that a secret security clearance could be completed in as little as 50 days while a top secret security clearance could take anywhere from 90 days to a year to complete.

Coristine’s online history, including a LinkedIn account where he calls himself Big Balls, has disappeared recently. He also previously used an account on X with the username @edwardbigballer. The account had a bio that read: “Technology. Arsenal. Golden State Warriors. Space Travel.”

Prior to using the @edwardbigballer username, Coristine was linked to an account featuring the screenname “Steven French” featuring a picture of what appears to be Humpty Dumpty smoking a cigar. In multiple posts from 2020 and 2021, the account can be seen responding to posts from Musk. Coristine’s X account is currently set to private.

Davi Ottenheimer, a longtime security operations and compliance manager, says many factors about Coristine’s employment history and online footprint could raise questions about his ability to obtain security clearance.

“Limited real work experience is a risk,” says Ottenheimer, as an example. “Plus his handle is literally Big Balls.”

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autistichrlady · 1 year ago

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The Cover Letter Toolbox

Or, how to write cover letters while autistic.

One of the autistic traits I have is difficulties with what's called "expressive language" - I don't think in words, and putting my thoughts into words takes a lot of time and effort. For me, going straight from a blank page to a full sentence that makes sense is difficult, and making that sentence sound professional is even harder. So I came up with a way to avoid starting from a blank page. This is what I do instead.

When I've read a job posting and decided I want to apply, I start by making a list of qualifications and things from the job posting that I have or can do, just a list of words or short phrases like

Customer service experience Scheduling Microsoft Office

Then I go under each of those list items and make it into a full sentence.

Customer service experience: I have five years of experience in customer service.

Once I have the most basic version of that sentence, I think about details that I can add to it. The point of a cover letter is two things-

to summarize the things from your resume that are relevant to this job, so the person doing the hiring doesn't have to read the whole thing and connect the dots themselves.

to add details and explain things that might not be in your resume.

So some details that I want to add here are that I didn't just talk to customers myself for five years, for part of that time I was a manager responsible for training other people to give good customer service. And I was good at that- we always got good results on our customer surveys, and we also always hit our goals for stuff like signing people up for the loyalty program. So now I've got a second sentence:

As the [job title] with [company], I trained our entire team on how to best serve our customers and helped ensure that my location had the best results in the region for customer loyalty.

Another thing from the job posting that I want to address with this bit is that the job I'm applying for involves helping people over the phone a lot. So I want them to know that even though my experience is in a different environment (retail instead of an office front desk) I did still have to answer phone calls and help people over the phone. This is the type of detail that's not in my resume and that someone wouldn't necessarily guess, but I really did answer a lot of phone calls working in retail.

I also added a little bit of Flavor, so it's not just assisting customers, it's "welcoming, respectful assistance". Yes, I did try like five different words there before picking these ones. Usually I look back to the job posting and pick something that relates to what they've said they want. But I find it a lot easier to figure out details like this after I have the basic structure.

This is what I ended up with for my Bit About Customer Service:

I have five years of experience in customer service, providing welcoming, respectful assistance to customers over the phone and in person. As the [job title] with [company], I trained our entire team on how to best serve our customers and helped ensure that my location had the best results in the region for customer loyalty.

If I really wanted to add a lot of detail, I'd put numbers in here- how big "our entire team" was, what the "best results" were and how we were measuring it. But the position I'm applying for is with a small organization, and probably doesn't involve measuring sales in the same way, so I decided not to add that. If I was applying for another retail job, I'd include those things.

I repeat this same process with each of the qualifications from my list, copy-paste each of those bits in order of how important they are, and then I need an opening and a closing. For the opening, I start by stating the obvious.

Dear hiring manager, I am applying for/interested in/etc. [this position]

and then I apply my school-essay-writing techniques and do a one-sentence preview of the qualifications I just got done writing about.

I am confident I have the customer service skills, computer expertise and organized mindset to excel in this position.

For the closing, this job posting specifically mentioned putting your contact information in your cover letter, so I did that, and then I like to thank them for looking at my application because that's a nice polite note to end on.

I can be reached at [contact info]. Thank you for taking the time to consider my application, and I look forward to hearing from you. [signature]

Extra Bonus Brownie Points:

Go to their company website and add something that shows you have looked at their company website. Like yes, the main reason you're applying for this job is it's available and you need money, but besides that, there's gotta be something at least a little interesting about this company that might be cool if you get to work for them. In this case they had a whole big section about charities they donate to and how they get involved in their local community, so I added this right before my closing:

[this company's] contributions to charities such as [things from their website] are truly admirable. I've grown to love [this city] since moving here, and I would be honored to be part of an organization that does so much to contribute to the community.

Now wait before you go here's the important part:

I don't delete any of this stuff.

I copy/paste out the finished bits into a new document to send to the recruiter, but I keep that list of qualifications with sentences under each one.

Now I have a document with a list of qualifications I have and nice professional-sounding descriptions of those qualifications, and for the next cover letter I write, I can reuse them if they're relevant, so I don't have to redo all this work of making words make sense. If I decide to change them a little bit for the next job, I'll keep the new version next to the old one under the same heading. I also keep my openings and closings.

I used to have a big file like this but I apparently didn't back it up before my old computer died, so I'm having to re-create it, but you guys this saves me so much time I would otherwise spend staring at a blinking cursor. And it's easier than saving the full finished cover letter and trying to pull sentences out of it, because all the Bits are already organized by topic. (And it lowers the risk of accidentally copy-pasting the wrong company's name.)

I <3 my cover letter workbox.

#Autism #Actuallyautistic #Neurodivergent #job search #job applications #cover letter #Writing tips

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storm-angel989 · 1 year ago

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Eres jodidamente estúpida, niñita?

MAJOR SHOUT OUT TO absolut3lyn0t�� for ALL the help with editing and for teaching me Spanish! I can't WAIT to use the things I've learned in the Outside The Office series!

Enjoy!!

I strutted across the stage with the confidence instilled in me by three of hell's most powerful overlords. My hair on point, my smile perfected, my outfit, killer. And my VoxTech watch that served as a location tracker? Sitting in my locker at school alongside my phone. As far as my family knew, I was staying late for volleyball tryouts.

Walking through my highschool hallways, it was impossible to miss the plethora of help wanted posters plastered all over the walls. The job description was simple, requiring nothing more than excellent customer service skills and a large, bolded eighteen plus only need apply. The pay started five dollars above minimum wage, with the promise of hefty cash tips.

The money was really what caught my attention. After listening to my father bitch about last month’s credit card bill, I decided it was time I started working, without the hovering of my father, my Uncle Valentino or my Aunt Velvette. I needed money that wasn’t connected to them in any way, shape or form- dollars I could spend how I pleased, and without their input. Unfortunately for me, my father owned VoxTech, the biggest company in all of hell. Even as his daughter, I couldn’t be sure where its tendrils spread. Whatever job I chose, I needed to fly under the radar.

School first, you have more than you need and access to anything you could possibly want. Is what my father had told me when I first asked if I could start working. You have no reason to get an afterschool job. Focus on being sixteen, kiddo.

And I knew damn well if my location popped up in some new place consistently, I would be discovered and forced to quit on the spot. So as soon as I made the decision to apply, I made it a point to tell my family I was trying out for the volleyball team.

Glad to see you decided to leave behind that silly job idea, my father had said over sips of his morning coffee. Believe me, someday you’ll wish you didn’t have to work so much.

As if.

I walked into the address listed on the flyer, noting the shift in scenery as I made my way deeper downtown. Open interviews, they called it, two pm to ten pm. I had already filled out the application on the bottom of one of them, if you could even call it that. Three easy to answer questions.

Age? I filled in eighteen.

Availability? After School hours.

Size? I scribbled down the number.

I followed the directions to the address on the flyer and handed my application to the demon at the door. The place itself looked a little run down, done up in red, black and gold. But it certainly gave the appearance of being a high end facility- especially with the long stage and the pole at the center.

I was quickly ushered inside and seated across from a shark demon in a red fedora. He looked me up and down and just like that, I was handed a uniform of red and hired me on the spot for the shift that started ten minutes ago.

“With your body, I mean, your smile, you’ll make an excellent addition to our team,” he praised.

“What exactly is my job title?” I asked as he led me to the dressing room.

“Waitress,” he responded easily. “But really, you’ll do a little bit of everything. And don’t worry, we’ll provide everything you need.”

The first few days were simple. The manager assigned me a false name the first day, and I quickly learned that while I was working, that’s the only name that was called. Honestly, it was the most difficult part. The rest was relatively simple.

Every two hours the girls were required to meet behind the stage, walk across and out down to the pole, take a swing around with a smile as an announcer introduced us by name. It was nice, honestly, to be valued like that. The rest of the responsibilities were easy. Dress up, smile, flirt, take drink orders and find a reason to bend over. To say I didn’t enjoy it would be a lie. The money was good but the attention? Even better.

The fourth day, however, the manager pulled me aside at the start of my shift.

“Hey, reader. The big boss is coming in. Check out his new hires. I’m putting you with him. Be extra nice. He’s known for leaving hefty tips and promoting on the spot. Trust me, you’re gonna want to keep him happy.” And with that, he pushed me towards the stage.

After introductions, I put on my biggest smile, adjusted my dress so that it revealed just a little bit more and walked confidently over to the VIP booth. Time to impress the boss.

“Hi boys, how are we doing tonight?” I purred as sultry as I could. “My name is Reader’s False Name and I’ll take care of anything that you desire.” I leaned forward onto the table. “And I do mean anything…” I reached out and set my hand on the red jacket of the man I assumed was the boss. “What can I get you tonight, sir?”

He looked up at me and instantly, his expression turned to anger. Cold fear shot through me as I recognized the all too familiar features.

“U-uncle Valentino? Wh-what are you doing here?” I stammered as I took a step back.

“The better question is what are you doing here, niñita?” He growled as he stood up. He pulled his coat off and yanked it around my shoulders, effectively covering my entire body. He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me towards the back towards the dressing rooms. The door slammed shut behind us.

I tried to wriggle away, “I work here! I got an afterschool job after Dad got on my case last month.”

I didn’t think his expression could twist into deeper disgust.

“I changed your diapers! You can’t be working in my clubs!” He snarled.

I crossed my arms. “Uncle Val, I’m sixteen!”

“Eres jodidamente estúpida?” He took a deep breath. “That’s half the issue! Who even checked your age una perra ciega?! What fuckwit hired you?” He paused and pulled out his phone. “You know what? It doesn’t fucking matter. You’re fired. Whoever hired you is fired, hell I might shut this entire fucking club down. Oh, and it goes without saying that you’re fucking grounded!”

I looked at him incredulously. “You’re grounding me for getting an afterschool job?”

“No, reader, I’m grounding you for taking an afterschool job at a strip club! Oh, and for leaving your watch at school. We make you wear that for your own safety, muñeca! You could have been killed, or raped or worse!”

He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me towards the front door. I caught my father’s name on his phone screen and my heart sank even deeper. Fuck.

“You’re going home with me right now, bebita. And keep my jacket on, I don’t want to see your tits ever again.” He practically spat as he shoved me into his awaiting limo.

I sat next to him for the duration of the ride, my arms crossed as I listened to the phone call between him and my Dad. From what it sounded like, I was about to meet my maker.

“Phone. Now.” He demanded as he outstretched his hand. “Or did you leave that at school too?”

At least he sounded a bit more calm. Maybe I wouldn’t be in as much trouble as I thought.

“It’s in my locker,” I mumbled. “Along with my homework. So if we could stop on our way home…”

“Delay the inevitable all you want, your father is pissed. And so am I.”

“Yeah, I got that,” I mumbled as we stopped in front of the school. “I’ll go in and…”

He snorted in amusement. “Like hell you will. I’ll go inside and get it for you. What’s your locker number and combination?” He leaned forward, “it’s in your best interest to tell me, niñita.”

He was probably right. I sank back as I watched him walk into the front office of the school as if he owned the place. Come to think of it, there was probably a high chance that one of the three did have some sort of control over the school. I leaned my head against the window as I waited. I would never be allowed to grow up, hell, after this Dad might not even let me leave the V tower.

Valentino stalked out of the school moments later, my pink backpack slung over his shoulder, and one of the flyers in his hand. The other hand held his phone and I winced at the furious slurry of English and Spanish came flying out of his mouth. Several curses later, he ended the call and turned to me.

“Any of your other amicico’s get involved in this? Fess up now, or I promise I will make sure that you lose every privilege you have.”

“Not that I know of,” I mumbled quietly as I pulled his jacket tighter around myself. “And I would tell you if I did.”

“I would hope so, cariño,” he grumbled as the limo stopped. “Word of advice? I would go straight to your room and change. The less of you your father sees, the better.”

We rode in silence in the elevator and as we stepped off, I came face to face with the furious faces of my father, Vox, and my Aunt Velvette. Uncle Valentino walked towards them and wordlessly pointed to my room. I tried to scurry away as quickly as I could.

“Change, wipe that clown makeup off your face and get your ass to the living room,” I heard my father shout.

I thought the makeup was pretty, I said to myself sarcastically as I stood in my bathroom shower, scrubbing it off. Without the makeup remover the restaurant, or should I call it a club, provided, taking it off took ten times longer. I pulled on my leggins and a sweatshirt and braided back my now wet hair, hopeful that by removing any trace of the club I would somehow lighten the punishment that was sure to come. I slowly made my way out to the living room.

“Come sit, little princessa,” Valentino gestured. “Join us.”

I kept my eyes down as I made my way across the living room and sank into my usual seat on the couch.

“Look at us, reader,” my fathers authoritative voice filled the air. “And start talking. The floor is yours.”

A few heartbeats of silence while I tried to gather my thoughts.

“You know, staying quiet won’t help your case,” Velvette interjected. “Come on, talk to us. Honestly, I think it’s pretty funny.”

“There is nothing funny about seeing my little princessa half naked, tits out, in my own fucking club,” Valentino shot back. He mumbled something in Spanish that sounded vaguely insulting.

“And let’s not forget the danger you put yourself in,” Vox added. “You left your phone and tracker in your locker at school. You’re lucky I don’t have the doctor put a chip in your arm.”

“I didn’t know it was a strip club, okay?” I said in exasperation. “I just wanted to make my own money! I got mad when Dad went through the credit card bill last month and I just, I just wanted privacy and to buy what I want without being questioned! And I’m willing to work to earn it, but Dad wouldn’t let me.”

“Reader. You’re sixteen. You need to focus on schoolwork, grades and being a teenager- you’ll have plenty of time later in life to…” my father began.

“Vox, her request isn’t unreasonable,” Velvette cut him off. She looked thoughtful. “Nor is your idea about the chip in her arm.”

All three of us stared at her in disbelief for completely different reasons.

“I am not letting Dad put a chip in my arm-” I began.

“She is not going out to work,” my Dad shouted at the same time.

“Eres jodidamente estúpida?” Valentino added. “The fuck, Velvette?”

A grin slowly crept across her face. “Well then, it seems we have a few bargaining chips on the table, don’t we?”

“I don’t like where this is going,” I said.

“Yeah, neither do I,” my father added.

“Well the way I see it, we have a few options and plenty of room for compromise,” she said with a glance at Valentino. “On one hand, reader could concede and let Vox put a chip in her arm in exchange for being allowed to get a job. Or she could come work for one of us, and have the money deposited in a private account. Or a third option, Vox if you’re so hell bent on her focusing on school, and she wants privacy so damn bad, let her open her own account in her own name and deposit money into it each week. This way she gets the privacy she wants, and you get her staying focused on her studies.”

“I’m not letting you put a tracker in my arm, so that options out,” I replied.

“And I don’t want you working at all- not for me, not for Velvette, and certainly not for Valentino,” Vox added.

A look of understanding broke across Valentino’s face and he grinned widely. He leaned back, “then I suppose the third option is the only one that fits, hm amicito?” He took a sip, “I do have to ask though princessa. How exactly did you plan on cashing your paychecks without your own account?”

I felt myself turn red. “I…wasn’t planning on cashing them and just using my tips.”

“I can’t decide if that’s clever or stupid,” Vox muttered. “But fine. We’ll go open your own bank account tomorrow and I promise to keep my eyes off of it. But you need to promise to keep focused on your studies, got it?”

“Deal!” I said excitedly.

“Also, I think you owe your Uncle Val an apology more so than any of us. I haven’t seen him that scarred since, well, I’ve never seen him that upset.” Vox added.

“Sorry, Uncle Val,” I muttered.

He looked pained, “you’re growing up, mi amore. But this isn’t the place for you to be, ever again. I fear what would have happened to you if I hadn’t chosen to come in tonight.” He stood up and planted a kiss on my forehead.

“Your jackets in my room, Uncle Val. I promise I’ll give it back,” I muttered as embarrassment flushed through my face. “I guess it was kinda sketchy.”

“Common sense, niñita. I cannot wrap my mind around why you didn’t turn around as soon as you stepped into that neighborhood.” He turned to walk towards the kitchen. “Discussion for tomorrow night, I suppose.”

I frowned, “what’s tomorrow night?”

“Oh, you didn’t hear? Your papi, Aunt Velvette and I came up with a brilliant consequence, if I do say so myself.”

Dread knotted in my stomach. Uncle Valentino was well known to be the most…creative in his punishments.

“I signed you up for volleyball, mi amore. After all, isn’t that what you wanted to do?” He gave me a wicked grin. “And I’ll be the one…ensuring you arrive in a timely manner for the next eight weeks. And don’t worry, your papito already brought you all the equipment you’ll need.”

I groaned. This had the potential to be not only incredibly embarrassing in terms of my abilities, but also I somehow doubted he would sit there quietly. The image of him sitting on the bleachers, screaming into the phone, cursing in Spanish and English made me want to die right then and there. “Uncle Val, I hate sports. And I hate team sports even more.”

“Then maybe next time you’ll think before becoming a stripper, hm conejito?”He patted the top of my head and sashayed towards the kitchen.

He couldn’t be that angry if he was using my childhood nickname. I leaned back on the couch and tucked my knees up.

“You’re lucky that's your only consequence,” my father grumbled as he scrolled through his phone. “That chip idea isn’t off the table, you know.”

“We’ll get your bank account set up after your grounding is done,” Velvette reassured me. “In the meantime, what do you all want to do for dinner?”

Thank god Velvette was the master at changing the subject.

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thesilliestrovingalive · 3 months ago

Text

Reworked Group #8: Amadeus Syndicate

POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING: Viewer discretion is advised due to references to human experimentation, SA, and kidnapping.

Overview

The Amadeus Syndicate was formed by Manfrida Amadeus after she established a strong alliance with the Chief of the Regular Army and President Marx. Oghma introduced her to President Marx, who was looking to collaborate with a highly skilled scientist to enhance military and technological profits. Doctor Amadeus and President Marx initially believed that the Chief of the Regular Army would disapprove of a new alliance with a notorious woman of science, but he readily accepted it as he was in desperate need of additional support for military advancement. With substantial funding from the Regular Army and President Marx's defence contract business, they were able to establish themselves as a financially successful organisation. They served as the scientific and medical branch of the Regular Army due to their extensive knowledge of various sciences and advanced medical equipment. They proved to be a promising opportunity for upcoming scientists and those who had been unfairly dismissed from their jobs, making it easy for them to hire new employees eager to work with the Amadeus Syndicate.

Many banks invested in the organisation after it gained fame through its various technological gadgets, weaponry, and war machines as well as its significant contributions to the fields of science, medicine, and technology. These banks provided further financial stability by offering them their own secret accounts, an opportunity that Doctor Amadeus seized. As a result, they were able to own multiple banks around the world, becoming a very wealthy company.

They significantly advanced the military machines and operations of the Regular Army, becoming known as the pioneers of the Super Vehicle line following their joint discovery of the Golden Slug. They conducted numerous scientific and technological experiments on behalf of the Regular Army, the most notable of which is the esper super soldier program, which experiments with psionic energy to create inhumanly advanced troops. Surprisingly, they're responsible for creating the Conference on International Cyber Terror Countermeasures within the Earth Federation as they possess a thorough understanding of technology and the issues that cyber terrorism causes.

However, behind the backs of the Regular Army, they managed numerous illegal and questionable projects, ranging from the illicit acquisition of Tuatha Dé Danann technology to the development of a sentient bioweapon. They conducted mutation experiments on carefully selected innocent Regular Army troops, transforming them into Mutated Soldiers. By leveraging the genetic traits of these Mutated Soldiers and integrating them with salvaged Martian bioengineering technology and rocks containing abnormal levels of radiation from the temporary landing of the Monoeyes UFO, Danu, they engineered a zombie plague. They also strengthened their paramilitary forces by contracting pirates and the Phantom Strike, ensuring they had access to reliable mercenary services.

They're responsible for desecrating ancient Egyptian tombs, triggering widespread mummy outbreaks to record the curses of each pyramid and harvest the mummification breath of the mummies for bioweapon purposes. Additionally, they conducted secret nuclear testing on Pallas Island and rigorous scientific experiments on the plant life and insects inhabiting the Oro Sol Ruins, leading to the creation of numerous mutated creatures, such as the Man Eaters and Flying Killers. During investigations in the Arctic to mine for gems and minerals and uncover more Tuatha Dé Danann technology, they inadvertently reanimated the Sasquatches, freeing them from their icy prison, which had remained intact since the Ice Age.

Three months before the Great Morden War, Nadia's unprecedented betrayal and word about Marco's sexual assault would lead to the untimely downfall of the Amadeus Syndicate. The Regular Army uncovered their hidden secrets and severed their alliance, igniting a fierce battle aimed at dismantling the Amadeus Syndicate by destroying the Amadeus Mainframe Base. However, with the support of the Ptolemaic Army and access to far superior technology, the Amadeus Syndicate managed to effortlessly push back. This battle proved detrimental to the Regular Army, resulting in significant losses of soldiers and war machines, which gave the Rebel Army an opportunity to easily overpower them once the Great Morden War began. The Amadeus Syndicate was able to quickly recover, thanks to Ptolemaios' mutual assistance and the substantial funds stored in their global banks.

After the Great Morden War and General Morden was freed from imprisonment, the Rebel Army lost a significant portion of their funding and was largely defeated by the Regular Army. Originally, General Morden intended to negotiate with Rootmars, but he quickly recalled his meeting with Doctor Amadeus and decided it would be a brilliant idea to form a triple alliance, relying on the vast wealth of the Amadeus Syndicate to rebuild his army. Since the formation of the alliance between the Rebel Army, Amadeus Syndicate, and Pipovulaj, Doctor Amadeus has made an effort to supply her allies with mercenaries, scientific assistance, and advanced weaponry and vehicles.

The Amadeus Syndicate is a highly advanced paramilitary organisation and rogue scientific corporation. Their goals are idealistic in nature, focusing on better understanding the forces that govern the universe, regardless of the cost. They aim to evolve human knowledge, free themselves from mortal limitations, and reset civilization by altering the world's timeline with Doctor Amadeus serving as their goddess. To achieve this without legal constraints, they rely on the resources of General Morden, Ptolemaios, and Rootmars, allowing them to freely test their prototypes and conduct experiments.

Insignia

It features a white circle outlined in electric blue. At the bottom, there's a rose gold ribbon displaying the Latin motto "Scientia est omnia" ("Science is everything" in English), rendered in teal. In the centre of the circle, the astronomical symbol for 99942 Apophis features the serpent god Apep in bluish-black with a golden star.

Uniforms

Mercenaries

Low-ranking mercenaries wear a Soldier Plate Carrier System (SPCS) featuring a silver-grey, baby blue, and poppy red camouflage pattern. They don navy blue army cargo pants, along with field tunics that have a seven-button gilt-brass front closure. They wear French blue Enhanced Combat Helmets (ECH), manatee driving gloves, and a carnelian armband displaying the Amadeus Syndicate insignia. Their footwear consists of manatee combat boots, and they wear a leather utility belt equipped with a holster for their handgun, a sheath for their combat knife, and a French blue waist pack that holds their walkie-talkie. They carry light blue teal rucksacks that contain various supplies, including energy bars, sample collection kits, rope, thermal vision X-ray goggles, a portable tablet for recording essential intelligence, and mechanical, engineering, lockpicking, and hacking tools.

High-ranking mercenaries wear an Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV) featuring a silver-grey, old lavender, and rose taupe. They don greyish-purple cargo pants with two additional pockets on the back, paired with field tunics featuring an eight-button golden front closure. Their headgear includes lilac Enhanced Combat Helmets (ECH), and they wear English lavender tactical gloves with silvery purple padding and a rose taupe armband that displays the Amadeus Syndicate insignia. Their footwear consists of English lavender paratrooper boots with spiked soles, and they sport a leather utility belt equipped with a holster for their handgun, a sheath for their machete, and a lilac waist pack that holds their walkie-talkie. A purplish-black bandolier encircles their waist above the belt, containing either syringes filled with deadly acid or smoke bombs. While they carry the same rucksacks and supplies as low-ranking mercenaries, theirs is in a dark rose colour.

Mercenaries serving as sharpshooters are required to carry rifles equipped with incendiary bullets that can travel long distances and fire multiple shots rapidly. They either store these special explosive rounds in their waist packs or SPCS (IOTV for high-ranking mercenaries). The rifles resemble a Mauser Karabiner 98k but are reinforced with blue-grey adamant and feature an advanced scope that locks onto the nearest target.

Mercenaries serving as bomb experts are required to carry extra grenades, rolling bombs, and handheld rockets in their load-bearing backpacks.

Mercenaries serving as mortar troopers are required to wear bluish-black gas masks with green-tinted lenses, similar to those worn by Ptolemaic Army special forces operatives. They're tasked with bombarding oncoming enemies using chemical mortar shells that contain low levels of nuclear radiation and arsenic poison gas.

Mercenaries serving as bazooka-carriers are required to carry around an energy-blasting bazooka similar to the one used by the Future Bazooka Soldiers from Metal Slug 7/XX.

Mercenaries serving as the elite are required to wear tactical bodysuits made from heat-resistant, electric-resistant, waterproof, and bulletproof synthetic muscle tissue, similar to the DOLL bodysuit. Their bodysuits feature breast and standard cargo pants pockets, and they have a glossy dark purplish-blue finish. They easily neurally link to the wearers, granting them the strength and durability of an archdemon without inducing hunger, though they don't produce life-saving electrical pulses. They also wear E-Armour, but the articulated pads are in a bronze hue and the centre of the vest displays the Amadeus Syndicate insignia. They wear bluish-black US Navy MCU-2/P gas masks, silver-white gloves, and bronze-hued pelvic protectors that aren't overly pronounced. They wield AR-10 Autorifles, but the bullets are somewhat slow-moving.

Special Troops

Cyborg troops are meticulously designed to resemble the paramilitary Syndicate Infantry, Rebel soldiers, and Ptolemaic Army guerrillas and special forces operatives, including their uniforms and weaponry. They also have robotic versions of General Morden, Allen O'Neil, Lieutenant Wired, and Lieutenant Colonel Macba in their arsenal.

Hazmat soldiers wear the same orange and green suits as the enemies of the same name in Metal Slug 4, but their load-bearing backpacks are safety yellow and they feature the Amadeus Syndicate insignia emblazoned on the back of their helmets. The suits have bulletproof visors and protect them from all pathogens, toxic spills, acid exposure, and infections from zombies and mummies. Each load-bearing backpack features a sheath for combat knives on either strap and carries various supplies, including pineapple grenades, rolling bombs, smoke bombs, a portable scanner that detects and analyzes biohazards, canisters filled with cyanide gas, gas masks, and first aid kits. Green-suited hazmat soldiers carry purple rolling bombs containing mummification breath, while those in orange suits carry reddish-brown bombs filled with zomification goo.

Scientists

They're all required to wear professional clothing and the appropriate laboratory-suited PPE, but they typically don business attire in shades of brown and blue, white lab coats emblazoned with the Amadeus Syndicate logo on the back, and Argentine blue neoprene gloves. Meanwhile, the tactical scientists wear navy blue army cargo pants, field drab combat boots, and two black bandoliers—one holding piercing bullets and the other containing syringes filled with either simian or mantid serum, which can alter a human's cellular properties. They're also ordered to carry mutation rifles that are a blend of those wielded by Rebel Army riflemen and Ptolemaic Army snipers. These rifles are free from jamming and feature a blue-tinted silver scope that automatically locks onto any enemy target, providing information about their names, cellular structures, and vital signs. They can also fire piercing ammunition that's strong enough to penetrate adamant.

Vehicles

Armoured Combat

Di-Cokka

Nop-03 Sarubia

M-15A Bradley

Denturion

KT-21

Hellfire

Aircraft

Brave Guerrier

Amadeus Ship

Mega laser Turret

Naval Vessels

Sea Satan

Support Vehicles

The Iron

MG-36

Vigilance

Big John

Toschka Dalanue

Crablops

M-32 Water Carrier Plane

Arachnid Bot

Cyclops

Working Machines

Iron Death Worm

Miscellaneous

Amadeus Mother Computer

Kraken

Mecha Kaiju

The Union

Special Weaponry

Support

Amadeus Robot

Vigilance

Supervisory Camera

Patrol Bot

Metal Mole

Pods

Biological Weapons

Mutated Soldiers

Zombies

Mummies

Man Eaters

Sasquatches

Special Tech

The Amadeus Syndicate developed two serums, simian and mantid, which alter the subject's physiology. Individuals with simian or mantid DNA retain their ability for human speech and cognitive function, but they often succumb to animalistic instincts, especially when confronted with perilous situations that trigger primal responses.

When injected with the simian serum, individuals transform into hairy creatures resembling orangutans or baboons, but with inhumanly muscular physiques, jutting veins, bloodshot eyes, yellowed carnivorous teeth, razor-sharp claws, unchanged hairstyles, and fur that mirrors their original hair colour. Those possessing simian DNA exhibit enhanced muscular strength and agility, increased bite force, accelerated healing processes, and heightened senses akin to those found in primates.

When injected with the mantid serum, individuals transform into creatures with iridescent exoskeletons in shades of green, brown, pink, yellow, orange, purple or pearlescent white. They possess dark or light opalescent wings, and the sickle-like claws of a Ninja Mantis, which can cut steel with ease. They also have crooked omnivorous teeth, eyes that retain their human hue, and hair-like follicles surrounding their joints and tegmina that match their original hair colour. Individuals with mantid DNA exhibit adaptive camouflage capabilities, superhuman flexibility, a bone-crushing grip force, the ability to move with minimal noise, lightning-fast reflexes, and enhanced eyesight that includes infrared vision and motion detection.

White Baby is a partially sentient artificial intelligence and computer virus capable of overriding the main military systems of countries around the world through the internet. Childlike in nature, it often constructs virtual stuffed animals to play with and is known to occasionally playfully disobey the commands of its Amadeus Syndicate coworkers. However, it becomes incredibly mature and ferocious during combat, employing every hacking trick at its disposal to thwart the enemy. Due to their inability to speak, they rely on text boxes that display lines of translatable code or words in any language they choose to communicate.

In its holographic form, when using a war machine that it has hacked into and which is owned by the Amadeus Syndicate, White Baby appears with the head of a young woman with pale white skin, glowing light red eyes, and the same hair as White Baby from Metal Slug Attack, all framed by a soft, emotionless expression. They stand at 7' 8" (233.68 cm) tall and wear a metallic blue bowtie neatly tied around their neck. Its entire body is enveloped in a neon green glow with golden floating particles. Their fingers and toes are freakishly slender, tipped with black bear-like claws. It wears an androgynous cybernetic suit made from metallic pink steel, designed with a sleek, armoured, and emaciated skeletal appearance. Sharp, spiky vertebrae run along its back from largest to smallest, while three partially curved spikes ascend along her outer thighs from smallest to largest. A small globe of Earth partially protrudes from the centre of its chest, while two pearlescent white dove wings with razor-sharp edges extend from the back of its shoulders, reaching down to its ankles.

In its on-screen form, White Baby appears as a teddy bear head with light red button eyes, a metallic pink nose, and white fur made up of vertical lines of 1s and 0s. Its head is partially ripped in half, revealing neon green stuffing with golden sparkles inside. It wears a metallic blue bowtie around its nonexistent neck.

White Baby has been programmed to infiltrate the Amadeus Syndicate's testing tubes, where specimens are safely housed and life forms, such as clones, are developed. It can create 12 ft (365.76 cm) sexless, embryonic humanoids with distinct features: pearlescent white skin stretched taut over their skeletal frames, bulbous craniums, large mouths filled with crooked, jutting carnivorous teeth, and oversized, jelly-like eyes with light red irises and amber pupils. Their elongated limbs end in slender fingers tipped with razor-sharp claws, while umbilical cords terminate in sea lamprey-like mouths. These cords enable the creatures to latch onto human hosts and transform them into the bomber or poisoner variants of Mutated Soldiers of their choice by injecting a viscous, honey-colored substance. The humanoids' vocalizations are limited to unsettling, fleshy sounds, violent gurgling, soft rasping, and ear-piercing baby shrieks. Strangely, they exhibit a maternal bond with Doctor Amadeus, responding to her presence as if she were their biological mother.

Cyborgs, also known as androids, are meticulously crafted, waterproof, fireproof duplicates of their human counterparts, containing their DNA and equipped with the latest digital consciousness uploads. Their synthetic skin, nearly indistinguishable from human flesh, is the weakest part of their design; with enough well-placed slashes, bullets, and bomb explosions, it can melt away, revealing their dark grey exoskeleton. Their skeletal structure consists of a copper-hued adamant, protected by a network of red, green, and silver-white wires that function as veins. These wires transport a black tar-like substance with a subtle neon greenish-yellow glow throughout their bodies, sustaining their electrical energy. Their organs are biomechanical yet carefully designed to replicate human organs in both form and function, ensuring optimal performance.

Powered Soldiers are a special type of cyborg, composed of regular humans who have received cybernetic enhancements from the Amadeus Syndicate, along with a strong hint of Tuatha Dé Danann genetics bioengineered from Marco's DNA samples. They possess roboticised, almost human voices and are programmed to strictly follow the orders of their superiors and comrades. However, they retain some degree of free will, allowing them to act independently without being overly reliant on their allies.

They resemble the Powered Rebel Soldiers from Metal Slug 3D, but with a few differences. Their eyes are usually a dull and slightly faded light sky blue, and the hexagon of pearlescent white adamant on their backs is attached to a dark greyish-brown industrial tube that can extend up to 2 ft (60.96 cm). This hexagon serves as a battery pack, filled with computer circuitry, discoloured circulatory and intestinal organs, and a cow's heart, all of which pump electricity and the same type of blood found in typical cyborgs. Rebel variants wear the same helmets, belts, and army cargo pants as other Rebel land troops with their attire varying depending on their deployment location. In contrast, Syndicate variants wear the same helmets, belts, and army cargo pants as the standard Syndicate troop uniform.

They're equipped with powerful, oversized cannon pistols that can fire three explosive bullets at a time, alongside data discs wrapped around the wrist of their dominant hand. Whenever their steel muscles ripple with power and their eyes glow a bright red, it indicates that they're in attack mode. Made from adamant, their bodies are incredibly durable, rendering most bladed weapons ineffective and requiring multiple bombs and bullets to weaken their armour. They also possess enhanced strength, agility, and reflexes, along with heightened predatory instincts. Their biggest weak points are their exposed faces and the industrial tube connecting their easily detachable hexagonal battery pack.

Amadeus Syndicate Base

The Amadeus Mainframe Base is a secret facility located in the mountainous regions of Oceania. The true entrance is located at the back corner of a mechanical and storage garage situated in a flat area at the centre of the base's surface. It resembles an abandoned warehouse that does not display their insignia, where their machines are securely stored and maintained. Supervisory Cameras are discreetly placed in hidden nooks both inside and outside the building. This building features the same elevator used to access the communications facility of the Amadeus Mainframe Base. The interior of the base closely resembles the environments seen in Metal Slug 4, including the entrance briefly shown in the final mission scene. The base has two exits, each leading to long vertical tunnels with numerous balconies that allow troops to engage any enemies that descend.

The base features multiple downward hallways that lead to various facilities and reactors located throughout the Amadeus Mainframe Base. There are twelve sublevels with the last six situated below the robot factory that produces multiple androids. The robot factory is located before the communications facility where the Amadeus Mother Computer is housed. Sublevels 6 and 5 contain machinery systems, sublevels 4 and 3 house computer systems, and sublevels 2 and 1 are dedicated to circuit board systems.

Sublevels 8 and 7 contain eighteen office areas, Doctor Amadeus' private office, six bathrooms, basic housing amenities for mercenaries and scientists, and a meeting and investigative room. Sublevels 10 and 9 house a large medical facility, an open theatre surgery room, and an asylum-like prison. Sublevels 12 and 11 feature a massive laboratory, several testing facilities that serve various purposes from cybernetics to virus creation, a computer systems room filled with testing tubes that store living specimens used to create lifeforms, and a large biobank filled with frozen samples and preservative jars. Below sublevels 12 and 11 is a hidden, heavily fortified basement containing cryogenic pods, preserved specimens, and unrepaired and unfinished cyborgs. It also contains several freezing modules filled with frozen blood samples, bioengineered diseases, and collected viruses as well as a storage room stocked with miscellaneous items such as clothes and extra weaponry.

Extra Information

Members of the Amadeus Syndicate are commonly referred to as "Syndis" or "Deos", terms that Doctor Amadeus finds intriguingly endearing.

The Syndicate Infantry consists of elite mercenaries hired by Doctor Amadeus to safeguard the interests of her organisation. Among them are skilled Rebels who have allied with the Amadeus Syndicate as well as Ikari Warriors mercenaries who betrayed Heidern to serve under Doctor Amadeus due to shared political and militaristic beliefs. Additionally, some members of the Syndicate Infantry are cyborgs created by scientists, operating under the control of White Baby's computer system.

Most scientists at the Amadeus Syndicate are freelance employees seeking stable, well-paying jobs that allow them to contribute to the advancement of science. While some pursue fame and fortune, hoping to gain recognition for their hard work, others have been coerced into their roles. These individuals, possessing exceptional scientific knowledge and investigative skills, have been kidnapped or taken captive. They're forced to defend the interests of the Amadeus Syndicate and conduct research that serves nefarious purposes.

Although a couple of their war machines are often mistaken for belonging to the Rebel Army due to their prominently displayed insignia, they actually belong to the Amadeus Syndicate. This is primarily a way for the Amadeus Syndicate to showcase their alliance with the Rebel Army, allowing them to use their technology freely to maintain friendly relations. The rights to the war machines displaying the Rebel Army's insignia are shared between the two organisations, granting both the legal right to utilise them as they see fit. This arrangement also provides a convenient cover for the Amadeus Syndicate, allowing them to use the Rebel Army as a false front when necessary, all under General Morden's approval.

In the former base of operations that the Rebel Army intended to fully utilise on the P.F. Squad training island, the Amadeus Syndicate established a dedicated rocket launch base, which Allen O'Neil, Rebel troops, and Syndicate mercenaries were tasked with guarding. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to make much use of it due to the unexpected resistance put up by the Regular Army cadets and Division 6 against both the Amadeus Syndicate and Rebel Army.

Some mercenaries and scientists are treated with professional respect and care, including decent pay. However, there are others who are either egregiously mistreated or treated properly, but not as well as the others.

Some tactical scientists are known to swing fiercely when meleeing an enemy with a syringe, which has led to incidents where they miss and accidentally stab and inject themselves, transforming into a simian or mantis creature.

#writerscorner #creative writing #writing #iron eclipse au #metal slug #snk #gaming community #i've put these guys off for far too long now #so it feels great to finally work on them #rework #redesign #history #insignia #logo #extra information #amadeus syndicate #white baby

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chcrryade · 1 year ago

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posted by justbcmb⠀⠀⸻⠀⠀July 3rd, 2O21.

So. Here we are. I’m assuming you’ve all seen what I have—and if you haven’t, then what I’m referring to is an article explaining a little about the members of the JAGUAR boy group that’s coming just next month: CHERRYADE. I can taste it a little already. Most people have no idea what’s going on, (and I don’t blame them, seeing as the last sign of life we’ve seen from JAGUAR was the BONSOIR disbandment notice from back in May 2O2O) so I’ve decided to take one for the team and provide to you all a slightly omniscient-sounding (but only because I do my thorough research, and have my inside sources!) complete run-down of everything surrounding CHERRYADE—including their managing company, all the artists that came before them, and the groups they’re primarily going to be forged out of.

PART i. the company.

“All press is good press,” says the company that is more used to attracting bad reviews than good. Known primarily for housing a whole host of outspoken and authentic personalities, attempting to pull off outrageously ambitious ventures that almost never go to plan, and generally biting off more than they can chew, JAGUAR has risen to (what some may call) infamy from where its headquarters stands proud in the centre of Gangnam. When you step inside their walls you’ll find great minds, good music, and an admirable work ethic—just don’t look too much further into it. Prodding around into things unknown never ends well, after all.

JAGUAR is a fictional South Korean entertainment company, founded by current CEO Ae Seungdae in 2003. They started off as a PR firm, working the media for their clientele—that mainly consisted of struggling actors, those who had either not yet found their breakout role or those that had gone through something that had sent public opinion of them into the red—and quickly making a name for themselves as a reliable service, one that had yet to majorly fail. It was something of an open secret within those who had hired them and the industry in general that while they were not always the most ethical in their methods of dealing with the media, they were always effective, and so nothing more than a few rumours were ever brought against their name.

Their work in the PR business continued until midway through 2006, where Seungdae made the (correct) assumption that there was much more money to be made if they began to work within the industry, rather than simply managing the front of it. And so, by the beginning of 2007, they had fully jumped ship and rebranded into the entertainment company that they’re known as to all today.

The first act to be released to the public was the co-ed duo JUST4U, attempting to cater to both young male and female audiences straight off the bat with the appeal the respective members had. They struck gold pretty much from the get-go, shooting upwards in popularity after the release of their first single ‘DBL TRBL,’ and from there it only got better—for the two members and for the company.

The first sign of decline was shortly after their second mini album in 2012, where allegations of a physical fight breaking out between the two arose after a performance on a music show. They were put on a year-long unofficial hiatus after the incident, but it seemed their fanbase wasn’t at all deterred, because after their long-awaited return in 2013 with a whole full album they were met with nothing but love and support. The first (that was known to the public, anyway) fight seemed to be the start of the end for the duo, though, as only three years later in 2016 they would meet their end after yet another vicious argument that got through to the press, and that appeared to be the breaking point—as they both cut their contracts with the company not long afterwards, and JUST4U ceased to exist. To date, their seven-year run marks them as JAGUAR’s longest lasting group.

That didn’t leave JAGUAR with no-one to run their show, however, because in 2012 they debuted a male soloist named YOON, a heartthrob that was again met with massive success not long after the release of his first mini album ‘ON: YOUTH.’ He continued after JUST4U’s demise as JAGUAR’s reigning king until late 2018, where he was found to have taken his own life in his penthouse apartment. Both the public and the company were rightfully devastated by the loss, but after theories began to crop up speculating on why exactly he committed suicide, it was clear they needed to do some damage control.

So, just under a week after the news officially broke of YOON’s passing, along came the release of ‘MAYDAY’—a pre-debut single from what was (then) the four-membered group BONSOIR. The release was clearly timed to take the attention away from the death, but to JAGUAR’s credit it worked fairly well and most theorists were now more interested in the new trainees, a fanbase quickly building from the abundance of content that JAGUAR were now putting out focusing around BONSOIR.

This pre-debut promotion would continue until mid December, shortly after struggling actor Ahn Jaehee would decide to put his career of background characters to rest and continue down the idol pathway, instead. By the time of their October 2019 debut with mini album ‘BETTER IS MORE,’ it was revealed that Jaehee was an official part of their lineup—but the original four didn’t seem to be the most excited about this fact. In fact, there were constant rumours and stories of fights they would get into with the new maknae, and this was what would eventually come back around to bite them. In March 2020 an article was released that told all of the things Jaehee had gone through at the hands of his bandmates, and all things BONSOIR abruptly fell silent. The last thing they got was a quiet disbandment notice in May 2020, and after that JAGUAR as a whole seemed to fall completely quiet. No announcements of an upcoming group, no nothing. They were a ghost company.

Until July 2021. A surprise announcement was made, of a new boy group set to debut at the turn of the very next month. CHERRYADE, they were called, and the word being spread was that their lineup consisted mostly (with the exception of two) of members from groups that had met the same fate as BONSOIR—that was to say, disbanded after one scandal or another (or simply the lack of interest) and left to rot. To this day they remain active, and although they’ve gotten themselves into a fair amount of hot water, they’ve yet to scald so bad it spells out their end. They all even appear to semi-like each other, which is always a bonus. But that’s not to say there isn’t something career-threatening on the horizon. It’s all just a waiting game.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀JAGUAR

TYPE⠀ㅇ⠀PRIVATE

FOUNDER⠀ㅇ⠀AE SEUNGDAE ( 애승대. )

FOUNDED⠀ㅇ⠀FEBRUARY 23, 2003

BASED⠀ㅇ⠀GANGNAM, SEOUL, SK

PART i. (2) the staff

i.⠀애승대

With big dreams & a bigger smile, Seungdae only ever wants the best for his employees. Fully supportive of whatever they do in their endeavours (as long as it doesn’t involve publicly dragging JAGUAR’s name through the mud, of course), he’ll happily encourage any less-than-tasteful actions they decide to indulge in if they think it’ll help them climb to the top that much faster. Scandals aren’t so bad if they make heads turn and lips move, fights can be swiftly moved past, and the press can be silenced completely if you know the right people to do it for you. He’s a glass-half-full type of man.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀AE SEUNGDAE ( 애승대. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀JUNE 2, 1978

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀CEO

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀NAMGOONG MIN

ii.⠀심효주

Seungdae’s unwillingly pessimistic right-hand-woman, Hyojoo is really just trying to keep her head above water. When she got the job back in May 2003, back when JAGUAR was simply a quiet little PR firm in the centre of Gangnam, she had no idea what she’d end up being, what the company would go on to turn into. She is of the complete opposite opinion of the CEO—she thinks everything should be moral, and everyone should at least keep it civil until they’re behind closed doors. Unfortunately, her mission of attempting to keep everything above-board failed long, long ago.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀SIM HYOJOO ( 심효주. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀MAY 11, 1981

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀COO

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀NAM SANGMI

iii.⠀오지태

If there’s a bad idea, one that’s full of too much flashing lights and more sparkle than substance, then chances are it came from Jitae. He’s a kid at heart, just wanting things to look cool rather than there to be any significant meaning behind it. While he always means well, is always filled to the brim with grandiose visions far beyond himself, putting those ideas into practice is another matter entirely. The only thing that usually stops him during his board meetings full of over-expressive arm movements and explosive sound effects is Hyojoo giving him a look that says none of them will ever come to light. So he sits back down.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀OH JITAE ( 오지태. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀AUGUST 4, 1982

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀CAO

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀KOO KYOHWAN

iv.⠀최은희

As the younger sister to the now-deceased YOON, Eunhee has a lot to hate about JAGUAR and everyone in it. But she stays on, if only to look after her younger cousin Hasun and glare daggers at any former BONSOIR members she passes in the hallways. She runs a right ship and is cutthroat in her ways, unafraid to point out every single little thing she finds wrong with ideas brought to the table or thought-to-be finished products placed in front of her. Stragglers are the one thing she won’t tolerate, the things that have no use to her, and she’s unafraid to do all things necessary to cut them loose.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀CHOI EUNHEE ( 최은희. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀APRIL 19, 1995

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀CREATIVE DIRECTOR

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀PARK JUHYUN

v.⠀임수미

Sumi has every single one of her priorities completely straight, all lined up in a neat little row that she refuses to let get knocked astray. She likes to think of herself as one of the only ones with her head screwed on right, the only one with proper drive and ambition. A Lady Macbeth of her time (without the suicide—she’s not going out like that). The act of her reaching the very top, whether that be within JAGUAR or any other company she may decide to jump ship to, is something she feels is inevitable. It is going to happen, the only question left to answer is when.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀IM SUMI ( 임수미. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀NOVEMBER 26, 1981

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀DIRECTOR

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀KIM SHINROK

vi.⠀도성기

Running primarily on spite and too much caffeine than is strictly healthy, Sungki is slimier than he likes to think of himself. Loyalty is a fickle thing for him, something that will change with the tide and who hasn’t wished him a good morning that day. He’s not particularly pleasant, however harmless he might look, but even he himself is oblivious to how much he’s disliked at times. His trust can be bought, as well as.. Well, everything else about him. There isn’t much he’s not willing to do if the digits climb high enough. He has some redeeming qualities, it just might take a while to name them.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀DOH SUNGKI ( 도성기. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀MARCH 13, 1987

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀CHOI WOOSHIK

vii.⠀봄규리

Kyuri is a passive-aggressive, slightly manipulative, and always-put-together-looking ray of sunshine. She won’t let a strand of hair come out of place, and won’t let a single person that’s crossed her know a single day of peace. Her number one belief is that one can get anything they want if they’re charming enough—a belief that, in her case, is one that works every time. All you have to do is put on a shining white smile and grip their hand a little too hard, and she finds that everything she may want falls straight into her lap. She could do with seeing a little less of a number of her colleagues, but she’d never breathe a word of that to their faces.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀BOM KYURI ( 봄규리. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀SEPTEMBER 29, 1983

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀MARKETING MANAGER

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀PARK MINYOUNG

viii.⠀문영식

Simply trying to get by, trying to make a living to support his quiet little life, Youngshik has seen more than he ever really wanted to when he first got the job back in 2004. Trying to keep a leash on two firecrackers with their fuses lit was something that got his pulse racing on a good day and left him feeling at risk of a heart attack on the bad ones. A week of peace per year was the standard he slowly found himself getting used to, and despite all of the screaming and the fighting and the throwing things, he found himself missing the pair when they reached their limits and left.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀MUN YOUNGSHIK ( 문영식. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀JUNE 28, 1984

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀MANAGER for JUST4U (FORMER)

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀LEE JEHOON

ix.⠀황한비

If there’s anything Hanbi hates, it's everyone else. She says she would’ve been better off never even coming near the company building in the first place, would’ve been much further on in both her life and career if she had never set eyes on any of them at all—but despite this, she never makes any sort of move to leave. Some think it’s because of the cheques being written out for her, some think it’s because of the dirt they speculate she has on them concerning their treatment of once-superstar (and now dead) YOON, and some go on to make the harsher comment that, even with all her criticisms, without JAGUAR, Hanbi would just be another face in the crowd.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀HWANG HANBI ( 황한비. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀NOVEMBER 24, 1992

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀MANAGER for YOON (FORMER)

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀CHOI SUNGEUN

x.⠀홍재영

Ever bored, never having a nice thing to say, and a bit of an alcoholic, it’s common knowledge that Jaeyoung only really got the job because of his shareholder father pulling a few strings when he decided it was best for his son to try and handle a big-boy job for once. He’s holding on by a thread, but it’s not so clear as to whether he’s particularly worried about the status of his employment. His strongest bonds are formed through swapping contraband for excuses about what he’s been doing all day instead of managing the groups that were put under his care, and there may be a few DUI’s he’s shoving under the carpet.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀HONG JAEYOUNG ( 홍재영. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀JULY 30, 1993

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀MANAGER for BONSOIR (FORMER), CHERRYADE

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀KIM DONGHEE

PART ii. act one: just4u.

What do you get when you mix a country boy who hopped on a train the second he’d graduated to the big city and never looked back—only to resort to sleeping rough and stealing wallets when he realised his dreams of hitting it big were going to be a tad more difficult to achieve than he’d initially thought—and a born-and-raised big city girl—not spoiled nor particularly rich, but with certainly enough spite in her veins to rival both—who spends her days shoplifting and slacking off at her gig at the local noraebang? JUST4U, is your answer, after they were scouted on the street by an overexcited Jitae who had made his decision with just a singular look at them.

JAGUAR’s very first pet project, the members street casted by Jitae himself after wandering the highstreets of Gangnam pretty much aimlessly, JUST4U was a fictional co-ed South Korean duo made up of members Yeseul and Insu. Appeal was their core concept from the very start—in every meaning of the word. Sex appeal, endorsement appeal, musical appeal; they were trying to hit it all straight from the start line, likely wanting a boost after the recent rebrand from a PR firm to a full-blown entertainment company. To JAGUAR’s credit, though, it was an aspiration that was met both fairly well and fairly soon. Their debut single ‘DBL TRBL’ in September 2009 rocketed upwards in popularity and put their names in a lot of people’s mouths barely a week after its release, and it seemed like JUST4U could be the next big thing if JAGUAR played their cards right. They continued to be plastered all over the place, the company doing their best to grab as many publicity stunts as they could for the pair as the months passed by. The hype was well maintained, and many stuck around for the next release: the first mini album named ‘DIZZY,’ released in June 2010. From that point onwards JAGUAR felt it was safe to assume the attention wouldn’t take a nosedive into nothingness if they laid off the promotions, and relaxed a little, giving the members a little room to breathe.

The duo’s success was constant, never failing to gain headlines and interviews and more and more wins, more recognition, more of their names being passed from mouth to mouth. They were breezing through things, enjoying every second of the attention and the (monetary) awards they got from it. In fact, it was all a little.. Too good. While everything was doing more than fine on the music front, the relationship between the Yeseul and Insu was rocky at best, and had been since the start. They hated one another, point blank. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t trade favours and light each other’s cigarettes and lie about whatever the other may have needed them to lie about, but it did mean they couldn’t go a week without another screaming match about some petty thing or another. Maybe Insu had left his straighteners plugged in and on the countertop in Yeseul’s bathroom. Maybe Yeseul had left Insu’s earrings in her top drawer. Whatever it may have been, they made sure to fight about it multiple times over.

The media were none the wiser until August 2012. Another fight, but this time backstage at a music show—and it escalated to the point of throwing things, breaking things, bringing innocent staff members into it. Rumoured to have even been off the back of a drug-fuelled high, following leaked photos of empty baggies on their dressing room floor. What they’d just done was taken their own squeaky-clean image and set it alight—but, to be honest, neither really cared. JAGUAR stepped in to release a statement denying the claims, but in the same breath announced that all public appearances would be ceased for the time being, until everything had calmed down. The word ‘hiatus’ was never uttered, but it was clear as day to everyone who had read it that that was what it was. JUST4U spent their year off doing exactly the same things they’d been doing before it, although this time much worse. They wouldn’t come back until October 2013, when they dropped the full album ‘FEELING SWEET’ and convinced everyone they were better than they’d ever been, when the reality was that they were just getting crazier and crazier.

The fights continued, the sex continued, the drugs and clubs continued—the year off had really done nothing at all, and neither had the media. Yeseul and Insu continued to do whatever they wanted, and argued every second doing it. Maybe some would have thought JAGUAR would’ve stepped in after the 2012 fight to see how they were doing, and maybe even offer them some help, but the truth was that Seungdae thought JAGUAR’s artists should live their lives however they saw fit. Drugs and drink be damned, as long as they weren’t publicly dragging the company’s name through the mud, he found it to be none of his business—and advised his staff to follow his lead.

They carried on making their music and their impact (good or bad, it’s more up to you to decide) until 2016, where they finally began to crash and burn. One last fight, so loud it made their throats burn, snapped the final piece of string holding them together, and on that night in October they decided they were finally done—Yeseul going about cutting her contract the very next day, and Insu following suit not long afterwards. At seven years, they’re the longest group JAGUAR has housed to date, and will forever be known for never having a moment of peace between them.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀JUST4U

LABEL⠀ㅇ⠀JAGUAR

DEBUT DATE⠀ㅇ⠀SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

GREETING⠀ㅇ⠀FOR YOUR EYES ONLY! WE’RE JUST4U!

FANDOM NAME⠀ㅇ⠀ONLY1’s

ACTIVE FROM⠀ㅇ⠀2009—2016

PART ii. (2) the members

i.⠀나예슬

She’d say she was only in it for the money, but after a while Yeseul did grow to enjoy the rush of performing, the thrill of seeing the hordes of fan after fan screaming her name and waving lighters and phone torches and lightsticks in time. It was just too bad she had to share all that fame and attention and utmost adoration from the thousands, the millions, with someone she couldn’t stand—that person being Insu, of course. The only chemistry between them was physical, and apart from that the only time they could tolerate each other was when they were either blackout drunk or having to pretend to be best friends for all the cameras that thought them to be.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀NA YESEUL ( 나예슬. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀JANUARY 9, 1989

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀LEADER, VOCALIST, DANCER

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀KWON YURI

ii.⠀최인수

Insu came to Seoul with the highest of expectations, and not a singular one of them was met. It wasn’t as if he expected fame and fortune (or even a stable job) to fall into his lap, but sleeping in saunas at eighteen was a nightmare—and got pretty cramped, too. When he was scouted he took the chance purely for the idea of the cash that came with it, even despite the years of training he undertook before it. Life as an idol was one that met most of those stupid and too-high expectations he’d set for himself as a naïve teenager, but there was just one thing that ruined it, just a little bit—Yeseul. Trying to get along with her was worse than any nights spent sleeping rough.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀CHOI INSU ( 최인수. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀JULY 16, 1989

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀RAPPER, VOCALIST, DANCER

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀JANG WOOYOUNG

SEPT 2009⠀DBL TRBL⠀(FROM SINGLE: “DBL TRBL”)

JUN 2010⠀WANNA⠀(FROM MINI ALBUM: “DIZZY”)

FEB 2011⠀TELL ALL⠀(FROM FULL ALBUM: “GO”)

DEC 2011⠀SHOW YOUR LOVE⠀(FROM SINGLE: “SHOW YOUR LOVE”)

AUG 2012⠀BETTER STOP⠀(FROM MINI ALBUM: “HOW U FEEL”)

OCT 2013⠀MAKE ME (CRAZY)⠀(FROM FULL ALBUM: “FEELING SWEET”)

SEPT 2014⠀RENDEZVOUS⠀(FROM SINGLE: “RENDEZVOUS”)

MAR 2015⠀FAR AWAY⠀(FROM MINI ALBUM: “LONG WAY”)

DEC 2015⠀TAN SKIN⠀(FROM SINGLE: “TAN SKIN”)

AUG 2016⠀OPEN YOUR DOOR⠀(FROM FULL ALBUM: “MORE THAN DREAMS”)

PART iii. act two: yoon.

Here’s a boy. One with what some would call a natural talent for music, a knack for flipping a switch that turns him into someone able to light up the room with a few jokes and a smile. What do you do? The only answer is to recruit him, obviously, but the one obstacle in the way is the fact he has zero interest in ever becoming a performer like all the star-studded ones you see on television nearly every night. So what then? The only answer for Jitae (because, really, who else would it be?) is to pester. To beg would be the real word, but pleading for a 12-year-old to join your company when you’re 11 years older than him is more than embarrassing. Whatever you want to call it, it finally worked in the end, and after four long hard years of training, YOON was what rose out of the ashes.

The only soloist to date that JAGUAR has ever debuted, YOON was a fictional South Korean singer, songwriter, and general performer. Birth name Choi Yoonhae, he was much more interested in growing up and getting a normal job than ever being an idol—but Jitae had passed him by one day and was eager to try and convince him to join them, to help them fulfil Jitae’s latest vision of a moody soloist that would capture hearts all across the country (after a few years of training, of course—debuting freshly-turned-teenagers wasn’t really their thing). Yoonhae was reluctant, but after a long, rambling conversation and a business card tucked into his pocket, he took it home and began to reconsider a little. He went back in the end and put on a more than worthy performance, and was accepted not long after that. Four years spent in the practise room day in and day out later, and YOON finally debuted with the hit mini album ‘ON: YOUTH’ which (similarly to how it had gone with JUST4U) brought in a reasonably large fanbase pretty quickly. Next was the mini album ‘RHYTHM’ in January 2013, and from there it all continued to go uphill for the singer.

There was only one problem for all his fans to pick at over the years. He released music, sure, but it was all singles—one notable one being a collaboration with JUST4U, in September 2013, after which he seemed to become much better friends with the duo—and mini albums. No full projects in sight, even as every anniversary of him being active creeped closer and closer. Some defended the choice, saying that maybe it was Yoonhae himself that didn’t feel he was ready for a full album, but most of his fans were angry on his behalf, practically demanding a longer release from JAGUAR. In reality, Yoonhae himself was sort of on the fence about the prospect. He wanted to do it, sure, but he didn’t want it to send him crashing back down to earth after he’d been enjoying a comfortable high for years at that point. So he continued to agree to the mini albums and singles that were set forward to him and thought over the album all the while.

Besides, he had other things to worry about other than putting a whole album together. He had to watch out for his recently-employed younger sister, had to keep an eye out for his younger trainee cousin every once in a while and make sure he was holding up fine. Other responsibilities to handle, other relationships to maintain, other bad habits to feed. He avoided putting out a full album until he really couldn’t any longer—which, in a stroke of good luck for him, lined up with a time he felt he finally had enough songs to put forward for an album anyway. March 2018 marked the release of YOON’s long-time-coming first (and, tragically, last) full album: ‘NO DRAMA.’ But, just as he’d been so worried about before putting it all together, the reception went in the opposite direction of what he’d hoped—what everyone had hoped. It tanked. Fell to the bottom of the charts, sales practically nonexistent. It didn’t even grow organically after a couple months, staying forgotten by all; including all the fans that had been begging for it only weeks before its release.

This kickstarted Yoonhae’s decline. It sent him spiralling, and the only thing he could do to stop the landing from hurting too hard was self-medicate—by day-drinking, by sleeping through schedules with his phone turned off and hands over his eyes, with empty pill packets piling up in his bathroom bin. Nobody could reach him, no matter how hard they tried. He disappeared from the public eye, ignored all the company’s calls, and on occasion skipped town to do god-knows-what in other ones. Gone was the country’s brooding heartthrob, and in his place was a washed-up star who was reaching his wits end. People thought he’d just cut his contract like JUST4U had done before him and live the rest of his life as a normal man, but Yoonhae proved them all wrong—in what was probably the worst way possible.

November 2018. Police were called to his high-rise apartment, and a few hours later they quietly left it with a body bag in tow and tape around the doorway. It wasn’t as much as a scene as you’d expect it to be, but JAGUAR did everything in their power to not let the news spread to the media for another three days—presumably to give them ample time to get all their plans for afterwards in order—before finally announcing it to the press. YOON had passed away, for reasons undisclosed. But ‘undisclosed’ never meant anything to anyone, not when you had hundreds and thousands of fans desperate for the real truth. So they did some digging, some sorts less legal than others, and not two days after the announcement the real reason was leaked. Suicide. By one of his own silk ties. Sleeping pills in the system, a bottle of white wine knocked over on the coffee table. It was the complete opposite of what JAGUAR wanted, and so they did the first thing they could to take everyone’s minds off of it—release a new boy group. BONSOIR’s predebut single dropped later that same November, and worked exactly as intended. YOON was a tragic tale for all involved, one that started high and ended.. Well. Six feet under, would be the blunt way to put it.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀YOON

LABEL⠀ㅇ⠀JAGUAR

DEBUT DATE⠀ㅇ⠀APRIL 5, 2012

GREETING⠀ㅇ⠀WE’RE IN IT TOGETHER NOW! I’M YOON!

FANDOM NAME⠀ㅇ⠀C-U-SOON’s

ACTIVE FROM⠀ㅇ⠀2012—2018

PART iii. (2) the member

i.⠀최윤해

Notoriously private, Yoonhae was one that kept himself to himself both when it mattered and in general. He knew how to play the part of the idol everyone wanted to see pretty much perfectly, but as soon as he was off the clock it was like he was a completely different person. Reserved, blank—not exactly cold in how he acted, but certainly not the most friendly either—and all in all a pretty hard person to get a read on. He was just.. Yoonhae. Not much of a threat, not someone you should be particularly worried about having in the same room as you while you spilled all your secrets (which, for a few people, would be a large mistake on their part). Just there. Maybe that was why no one noticed the signs of him slipping further and further away, until one day he wasn’t there all all, anymore.

NAME⠀ㅇ⠀CHOI YOONHAE ( 최윤해. )

BORN⠀ㅇ⠀MAY 21, 1993

POSITION⠀ㅇ⠀VOCALIST, RAPPER, DANCER

PLAYED BY⠀ㅇ⠀OH SEHUN

APR 2012⠀LONELY⠀(FROM MINI ALBUM: “ON: YOUTH”)

JAN 2013⠀RHYTHM⠀(FROM MINI ALBUM: “YOU GOT IT”)

SEPT 2013⠀DON'T KNOW ft. JUST4U⠀(FROM SINGLE: “DON'T KNOW”)

JUL 2014⠀CONSOLE ME⠀(FROM MINI ALBUM: “FORGET”)

FEB 2015⠀FAMILIAR⠀(FROM MINI ALBUM: “MAKE UP”)

NOV 2015⠀ALL OF ME⠀(FROM MINI ALBUM: “ROT”)

APR 2016⠀U&I⠀(FROM SINGLE: “U&I”)

DEC 2016⠀APPETITE⠀(FROM MINI ALBUM: “NO LIMIT”)

JUL 2017⠀EYES⠀(FROM MINI ALBUM: “BODY & SOUL”)

MAR 2018⠀FABULOUS (DANGEROUS)⠀(FROM FULL ALBUM: “NO DRAMA”)

Well. I think that’s enough for part one. I was going to cover BONSOIR here, too, but then I realised a three-in-each-part format would probably make more sense (and make it all a little more balanced). Second and final part will be up soon. Have a nice night! I’ve been justbcmb, thanks for sticking around.

#⠀⁺ ⋆ ✶ ⠀SUGARHOLiC SELTZER⠀⠀⸻⠀⠀development.#yayy ok this is new #kpop oc #fictional kpop group #fictional idol community #idol oc #fictional idol group

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