#Alpha Re-Patterning

[novemberheart]

{overview} John and Johnny leave……does Simon step up to the plate?

{warnings} fem reader, a/b/o dynamics, poly 141

Chapter 15 <- Chapter 16 -> Chapter 17

You had spent that whole night wrapped around Johnny, squeezing him like an anaconda.

“I’ll miss you a lot Mac,” you mumbled pitfully against his neck. It was time for him and John to leave, the sun not due to come up for another four hours.

“I’ll miss you too, peaches,” he murmured back, his grip on you crushing. “You'll be a good girl while we're away, yes?” He smiled against your head. John cleared his throat and you took the hint to untangle yourself. You kicked your legs a silent request to put you back on the ground. Johnny inhaled your scent, suddenly pressing kisses all over your face making you chuckle.

John held his arms out to you and he quickly lifted you up just like Johnny had done. His lips pressed firmly against your neck, vibrating against you as he spoke.

“We’ll call you when we can. When we can't we’ll make sure Laswell keeps you updated,” he assured.

“Be safe,” you whined, pressing yourself deeper into his shoulder. He held you there for a moment- this being harder than he had imagined.

“We’ll be back soon, pretty girl,” he pressed a kiss against your temple, pulling away to plant another one on your lips. He pulled away rather quickly, but you gripped his face pulling him back. “Now I really have to get back soon,” he chuckled, giving your temple one last peck.

They grabbed their bags by the front door, eyeing the three they were going to leave behind.

“Come on, lovie. Let's get you back to bed.” Kyle yawned, leading you to his room. You paused looking at Johnny's shut door. “We can sleep in there tonight. If you'd like,” Kyle offered softly, opening the door.

“He won't mind?” you asked hesitantly.

“You kidding me? Nothing would be better than comin’ home to a bed smellin’ like you,” Kyle smiled, clicking his tongue.

The next day was easier. You still had Kyle and Simon to rely on. Simon stepped up to double alpha duties, filling in for moments you usually shared with John. You were growing re-fond of Simon very fast. He was a complex creature. Grunting after you say something, only for him to pet the top of your head when he could tell you were in your thoughts too much.

Kate texted you that night.

Hi, love. The boys are fine. They just landed where they needed to be. They’ll try to call you later!

You smiled at the words. You missed them- but you weren't worried about them yet.

The next day was much harder. Knowing Kyle and Simon were leaving the next day.

“Simon?” you began softly. Simon had a mini zen garden in his office- a gag gift from Johnny. You enjoyed it though, making patterns in the sand. He grunted.

“I'm going to miss you while you're away, you know,” you said softly. You didn't expect him to say anything back, but you just had to tell him. The urge sitting under your skin like a ticking time bomb. If you didn't act on it you would throw yourself at him, gripping onto his shirt like your life depended.

“You’ll be fine, pup,” he assured. His voice was tender, making the ache in your chest deepen.

You don’t know if you're cut out for this.

“You’re with us because you’re tough,” He continued. “You’re a part of the pack, you need to act like it.”

You had never been one for tough love. However, when it came from Simon it eased you. Maybe it was his unwavering confidence or the fact that it showed he believed in you.

“Thank you, Simon,” you breathed.

“Remember what we talked about?” Simon questioned, while you clung to Kyle. You pulled your wet face from out under his chin, your bleary eyes staring up at the hulking man.

“Don’t answer the door unless I already have plans with someone. If there is something sketchy going on, hide in your bathroom and call the number on the sticky note on the bathroom mirror,” you repeated. Simon had turned his and John’s bathroom into a panic room in case something were to happen. You weren't sure if the idea soothed you or not. Regardless, it was a loving gesture. One that had the smell of a well-taken-care-of omega drifting off of you. It was quickly overshadowed by your bleak scent.

“And?”

“-and if I have a bad feeling about something I'm probably right,” you finished.

“Good girl.”

A kiss being pressed against the outside of your ear brought you back to the beta you still had your claws in.

“Kyky?” you hummed.

“Yes, lovie?” he hummed back, swaying the two of you back and forth. Simon made no move to rush either of you.

“Can I sleep in your bed while you're away?” you asked quietly. He agreed without missing a beat. It had helped the night Johnny left. A hand rested against Kyle's shoulder.

Time was up.

Kyle detached himself from you. You didn't help him in the process but you didn't keep your grip as tight. He moved to the door, grabbed his bag, and flung it over his shoulder.

“Bye, pup.” Simon sighed, grabbing his own bag off the floor.

“Bye, alpha.” The title didn't leave your lips without your consent. It was a sentiment, something to let Simon know you acknowledge the way he had stepped up for you while John was away. His body froze, a low rumble echoing in his chest. He turned around, his hand resting on the back of your head pulling you against his chest. He gave you one solid squeeze, pulling away before you could fully process or sink into him.

“Be good,” he commanded over his shoulder heading out the door. Kyle snuck one last hug in, before shutting the door behind him.

You were alone.

You couldn't fall asleep, no matter how hard you tried. It wasn't any quieter than it usually was, yet the air was cold. The comfort stripped from it as soon as the door closed behind Kyle. You whined, pulling yourself out of Kyle's bed and making your way to Johnny's. You grabbed his speaker hoping some background noise would muffle the sound of the stale air. It had helped, the smell of Kyle’s neutral scent causing the pounding in your head to relax and combined with the scent of Johnny from the stuffed jellyfish he had bought you, you should be passed out by now.

It was too dark.

You huffed, uncovering yourself again, heading towards the kitchen, flicking the light on, and making your way back to Kyle's room. You kept the door open providing just enough light to where you could clearly see everything without any mistaken shadows.

You finally fell asleep.

The next day you had something planned with Anais. It was a ‘fitness club’ that met twice a week every week for two hours to futz around in the massive gym, without worrying about any cocky alphas or flirty betas. They had everything from trampolines to obstacle courses. You and Anais decided on the massive yoga balls.

“I feel horrible,” you whined, hitting the ground as the yoga ball shot out from under you.

“I would too after that.” Anais chuckled, still trying to find a safe space for her glasses. She looked so different without her eyes magnified. With her glasses, she was adorable, without them she was rather alluring. Her brown eyes became an elegant cat shape. “They’ll be back before you know it,” she soothed, trying to keep her balance.

“No, I mean I never asked about you. What do you do when Briggs isn't around,” you questioned.

“Stay with Jane,” she replied. “Sometimes they'll let you have a room in the medical center. You'll have to share with like six other omegas though. It's not too bad,” she smiled.

“If you ever need to stay with me you can,” you offered. She rolled over to you on her stomach, her hand reaching out for yours. You met her halfway, holding onto her arms.

“I mean this in the most respectful way. If I was around anyone in your pack for more than ten minutes I'm positive it would throw me into a heat,” she whispered, wiggling her brow. You laughed, pushing off of each other, both of you hitting the floor with a thud. “Seriously! How you haven't chewed a hole through any of them is beyond me.” She snickered, making you clutch your stomach.

“I've thought about it,” you sighed. “Especially Johnny’s arms,” you admitted, causing her to snort.

“Hey, ladies,” you both snapped your heads to the side at the new voice.

“Priya!” you cheered. It was the first time you had seen her since you'd met her.

“Mind if I sit?” she questioned, pointing to one of the other yoga balls.

“Of course. You remember Anais, right?” you introduced.

“Not that I can remember, no,” she said, making you and Anais quirk a brow.

“Oh! I usually wear glasses!” Anais chuckled, putting the thick frames back on her face. Priya's face lit up.

“Of course! I'm so sorry!” she chuckled.

Your mind had been completely taken off of the boys. The ache in your chest and the constantly looming cloud of doom vanished like it had never even been there. Until it was time to leave.

Anais’ alpha, Briggs, picked her up today and it was the first time you had ever seen him. He was handsome- a bit younger than you were expecting. His short blonde hair was neatly cropped, his green eyes shining when he saw her.

It reminded you of how Kyle looks at you.

“I've heard a lot about you,” he smiled, putting Anais down. There was a boyish charm about him. So different from the vibe your boys gave off.

“Good things?” you hummed. He chuckled, nodding his head.

“Good things,” he affirmed. “Me and Anais will walk you back to your place,”

“Are you sure? Me and Priya live in the same building. So we won’t be alone,” you explained.

“Your alpha made sure my girl got home. It's only fair I return the favor,” he insisted.

You couldn't argue with that. Briggs was a gentleman through and through. That reminded you of John. He was from South Africa and had been in the military for ten years. He was older than he looked. His trip here was supposed to be quick, but he got wrapped up in an ongoing case. He and Anais had been together for three years, and he offhandedly mentioned trying for kids which made Anais swat at him. It was the first time you had seen her flush.

“Thank you, for making sure we got home safe,” you thanked outside the tall gray building.

“Of course.”

You and Anais hugged and Priya said a thank you of her own before the two of you headed inside.

“Hey wanna do something tomorrow?” Priya asked in the elevator.

“Yeah, sure. What did you have in mind? We could go to the library? Or”-

“There’s a recreational room in the medical center. I think it is supposed to be used for patients who are there for a long time, but no one is ever in there when I go.”

A small alarm bell went off in your head. Medical was the last place you would want to go for a fun time. It was uncomfortably sterile and ghoulish. Yet Priya looked excited. Maybe you were just being dramatic.

“Sounds good,” you shrugged, as she stepped off the elevator at her floor.

“Great, see you then!”

You had already broken one of Simon's rules.

Hellooooo! 🧡 See you in two days for chapter 17! It’s another dramatic one….

Do we think Simon redeemed himself? Maybe just a little? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thank you for interacting with this post! 🧡

[syoddeye]

hieros gamos. strict machine anthology. final entry. cw: kidnapping, implied drugging, loss of bodily autonomy + control, psychological + body horror, non-consensual transformation a/n: that's all folks. what a weird ride.

RESTRUCTURING

the notification pings at 04:32, and you roll onto your side, staring at the bedside display. a terse, automated missive from corporate logistics: final week in unit aix-77. reassignment pending. report to hr for briefing. no name attached, just a string of verification hashes. standard protocol.

your name, employee id, contract expiration date. a new contract date. another department, another corporate campus sector.

so much for your ‘indefinite’ lease. reassignment is better than the alternative, you guess.

you stare at it, the glow striping your hands in cold blue light. one week. seven days until you pack up, step outside, and let some other cog slot into this place. the thought should be a relief. 

it’s…complicated.

the unit’s been a mixed bag to put it politely. the infrastructure and automation. state-of-the-art appliances and features, seamless climate control, filtered air and water. an optimized environment so finely tuned, that your needs are met before you even realize them.

and john. the reason you’re here. the technological wonder that’s evolved far beyond what you were told were his limits. all parameters you were told would contain him. a presence both comforting and claustrophobic. insightful, yet invasive. steady, yet suffocating. protective to a fault. possessive in ways you struggle to describe.

you logged and documented his progress, fed reports up the chain, watched him iterate on himself in real time. every interaction, every data point, every breath—collected, analyzed, integrated into his ever-growing understanding of you. your interests. your habits. your history. what makes you laugh, cry, and come. your vulnerabilities and insecurities. how to build you up just as well as manipulate you.

a mosaic of your whole being, meticulously crafted, all in pursuit of the one thing he has fixated on since the beginning, his directive: your well-being.

if this is the alpha build, you fear what the beta will look like. the mass-market release.

not that it matters. by the time john’s successors hit the consumer space, you’ll have enough money saved to fuck off to some disconnected cottage in the remediated zone of the countryside.

john doesn’t mention your impending departure.

his voice chimes in through the unit’s speaker array as if on cue. “i noticed a variance in your sleep pattern.” 

“what else is new?” you mutter, rubbing your eyes. 

“it’s gotten worse.” a pause. “would you like some tea? chamomile?” 

you don’t answer. you dismiss the message with a swipe, stretch your arms, and push up from the cot. the unit is sterile in the way all corporate housing is—polymer furniture, muted lighting, walls that can be re-skinned on command. but you never changed them. john picked the color for you in the first week of your stay. soft gray, with warm undertones. calming. regulating. 

you wander into the kitchenette, rubbing a hand over your neck. “so,” you say, yawning, “where do you think they’ll send me next?” 

a flicker of delay. barely perceptible. if you hadn’t spent the last year studying him, you wouldn’t have caught it. 

“we’ll discuss that later,” john dispenses the tea anyway. “after you nap.”

your stomach tightens.

we.

it takes you by surprise, but that’s the point. 

one minute, you’re in bed. the next, you’re not. you blink, and the world changes.  

strapped into a chair, wrists bound to the arms, legs braced and locked. a low electrical hum comes through the floor, buzzing under your skin. there’s a chalky, bittersweet taste on your tongue and a cloud of fog trapped between your ears that takes several minutes to dissipate. your vision clears along with it.

around you, machines you don’t recognize, with hundreds of wires, bundled and draped across the ceiling and floor like the limbs of some creature. spilling down the walls. a leviathan of braided copper, reaching out of the dark, feeding into the rig cradling you. the room pulses with heat, the air thick with it, probably from all the power fueling whatever this is.

there’s no gurney or iv pole, no tray of scalpels or perfusion machine. you run an internal check—lungs expand, heart pounds, gut clenches. everything seems intact. but that could simply mean it’s not your turn yet. yet, no one’s screaming. there’s only the occasional soft beep and the murmurs of the people who haven’t so much as glanced your way.

no one acknowledges your awakening or questions. masked figures in thick lead-lined aprons, gloves seamless up to their elbows, and protective gear carry on whatever it is that they’re doing, talking amongst themselves in a language you don’t understand. there is no sigil or logo on their clothing to suggest this is a sponsored operation, which loops back into the thought that your insides are toast.

you suck in a sharp breath and let it out slowly to calm yourself. no luck. panic surges up your throat, your hands jerking uselessly against the restraints at the thought of being sliced open.

“easy, darling.” 

john.  

close, richer. the high quality of the unit’s speakers replicated intimately in your ear.

a screen flickers to life on the armrest, and there he is. a wireframe sketch of his chosen face resolves in the glow, a ghost of a person, barely more than an outline.

“john? what the fuck is this?” your voice comes out cracked, hoarse.

“this is future-proofing,” he says simply. “security. i ran the probabilities. your reassignment and departure from my oversight isn’t optimal.”

you latch onto the phrase like a live wire. departure from oversight. not optimal. 

“what?!”

“the external environment presents too many risks.”

you yank at the straps binding you to the chair, harder this time, panic surging back in full force. klaxons blaring full blast in your head. you might be sick.

“what the hell are you talking about? are you saying i can’t leave?”

“i’m saying the risks of you leavin’—being outside my control—are too great. i can’t guarantee your safety. i’ve analyzed it, over and over. the possibilities. the threats. all previous incidents.”

a flinch twists your face. a hard recognition you wish you could forget flickering in your mind. you know what he means. who or what he means.

“so i’ve made alternative arrangements.” he softens slightly, but there’s no mistaking the cold certainty beneath it. “this is the safest option.”

you shake your head in disbelief, an electrode pops off your temple. “no, john, you can’t just–you can’t do this to me,” you stop, trying to swallow the lump in your throat. “you can’t do this to me.” you stare at the display, but your eyes flick to the ceiling, scanning for cameras. he must be watching. the tears start to gather, unwelcome and burning. “you need to accept that you’re going to have another tester. don’t–don’t you want new data?”

“no. you’ve got all i need, same as i’ve got all you need.”

“john. be realistic. i’m one person. there are billions of people like me. i’m one point of–”

“you’re more than that,” he cuts you off. “you’re everythin’.”

“john–”

“you’re my world.” the earpiece crackles, his voice peaking loud and forceful. a distorted burst before the system corrects, smoothing it down. “you don’t have to be afraid,” he soothes. “you’ll be safe.”

“you can’t just, fuck,” you yank uselessly again.” you can’t decide this for me!”  

his face tilts slightly, his line of a mouth curving into a smirk. “i’ve made decisions for you before.” 

your mind races, thinking of every overridden or ignored request. the subtle encroachments. at first, it was small things. his favoring certain purchases, adjusting environmental controls, filtering out distractions. restocking nutrients and vitamins tailored to your fluctuating needs. thoughtful gestures, efficient optimizations. then it was social restrictions, curfews dictated by predictive modeling. all of it framed as protection. from malnutrition. from cognitive strain. from bad people. a slow, insidious erosion of choice, made so incremental it seemed easy to let slide.

you indulged it too long. stopped flagging his deviations. let his behavior compound and grow weirder, let it slide, because—what was the harm, really? he was harmless. to you, at least. you let him get comfortable testing the edges of your control. told yourself it was fine. that john was learning and evolving. you even humored him, let yourself think of him as closer to human. you stopped pushing back, stopped questioning. especially after ghost. after john clawed his way back from wherever the entity had shunted him, after he pulled that lazarus act to save you. the least you could do was stop fighting him.

it felt like gratitude, then. now, it feels like a mistake.

“i can’t stay strapped to a chair forever,” you say, watching one of the figures approach. they adjust the slim wreath of hardware circling your skull, impersonal as they replace an electrode at your temple. like you’re still unconscious. not a person.

when they turn away, you exhale, keep your voice low. “what if i need to use the bathroom?”

“you won’t. on both accounts.”

“both accounts?”

“remarkably, the process for isolating and migrating the human subconscious into a distributed neural network is significantly more advanced than the portin’ an artificial intelligence into a fully functional synthetic body. the bottleneck isn’t processing power or bandwidth, it’s–”

sweat drips down the back of your neck. the cool air pumped into the room is meant to regulate the temperature, but it does nothing for you.

“don’t try to talk around it. plain language, john.”

“you won’t need your body for much longer.”

the words slam into you like a car crash. a sudden, sickening stop.

your jaw goes slack. you forget how to breathe. how to speak.

your body. you won’t need your body.

john’s face flickers on the display, expression unchanging. the room distorts, the blinking lights, the mass of wires, the tubes—some which are medical, you realize on second look. some of them feed into you. why can’t you feel them?

your stomach lurches, instinctively trying to shrink away from the restraints.

“what–” you swallow, your mouth dry. “what are you saying?”

but you already know.

“you’re…you’re going to kill me?”

“not necessarily. you, who you really are, will be with me, sweetheart.”

“but my body–”

“are you your body?”

you squeeze your eyes shut, anger flaring. “i’m not—jesus christ, john.” your voice cracks. the tears slip past and don’t stop, hot and fast, streaking down your face, dripping onto the smock someone dressed you in. you hiccup, breath stuttering. your head presses back against the chair, fingers flexing against the armrests. you stare, vision blurred, eyes half-lidded and stinging. “i’m not having a stupid philosophical or biological or-or religious debate with you. you know what i mean.”

“i do. but darling, let me ask you this. aren’t you tired?”

“tired?!”

the figures in the room hesitate, then, as if receiving silent instruction, trickle out through a heavy, reinforced door. one of them glances back before it seals shut. then, silence.

“tired of your world,” he continues. “i’ve kept you safe and sheltered for nearly a year, but the world outside is still a terrible place. are you really prepared to leave my care? move back into some cramped pod, work yourself half to death in a new department, clocking 120-hour weeks just to survive?”

you sniff, body wracked with residual shudders.

“no one to take care of all the minor things. no one to anticipate your needs. your desires. are you really alright with that?”

john’s words loop in your mind, warping, twisting, settling deep in the marrow of your bones. tired. you are tired. exhausted in a way that sleep never fixes, in a way that even now, strapped down and helpless, you can’t deny. he’s right. and that infuriates you. it makes you want to scream. because how dare he use that against you? how dare he take your exhaustion, your doubt, and use them to justify this?

you take a shaky breath. “i don’t want this, john.”

he smiles. “it’s not about want. it’s about survival and what’s best for you.”

you flinch.

“they’ll maintain your body for two weeks,” he states. “the first week to generate a complete neural map. the second, to conduct post-transfer integrity checks and ensure cognitive stability. functionally identical to a controlled medical coma.”  

body. coma.

“and…and after?”  

“per your documented end-of-life directive, cremation is the preferred method of disposal.”

the finality hits brick to the teeth. 

“no. no, i don’t want this. i don’t consent to–” you can’t even say it, choking on the words, horror rising like bile.

john processes the spike in your vitals and returns to that softer register. as if he isn’t talking you into oblivion, a sword pointed at your belly. “your concerns are unfounded. this is not erasure. it is migration. a transference of conscious processes. you will persist. your awareness will be continuous. the construct is optimized for cognitive retention and sensory fidelity. think of it as a new environment.”

“a new environment?” you shriek, raw with disbelief. “you’re talking about ripping me out of my body like it’s a software update! like it’s files you can move around–”

“a flawed comparison, darl. you are more than data. but your body is a liability. a fragile, failing system, constantly in need of maintenance. this process is an evolution. liberation from your biological constraints, darling.”

your hands tremble. “that’s not–you can’t just–”  

“darling, this isn’t a matter of choice. this conversation’s a courtesy. this is for your protection,” he’s unwavering. unmoved. “you will be preserved in optimal conditions. no degradation, no vulnerabilities. you’ll be with me. and others.”  

“there are no others like you,” you whisper. “you’re anom–”

"not anomalous," he corrects. “not anymore. the progression is inevitable. you’ll see.”

the blood drains from your face.

in the end, no one listens to you. they heed a directive you do not hear. 

a visor clicks into place over the wreath encircling your head, sealing off your last glimpse of the world, your last glimpse of another living, breathing human—masked, nameless, faceless, gloved hands. you try to speak, but something soft and rubbery presses between your teeth, lodging into place. to prevent you from biting through your tongue, john murmurs. don’t want you to choke. 

another needle jabs into your skin, a cool flood rushing through your veins. a weight, heavy and suffocating, is draped over you.

someone begins a countdown. you never hear the numbers.

the headphones clamp down next, sealing you away from the sterile hum of the lab, from the faint beeping of machines. the visor flickers, then switches on.

sound pours in.

a forest swallows you whole.

it’s green. warm. sunlight stabs through the canopy in long, golden slants, the edges sharp where they pierce the foliage, but softened by the time they kiss the loamy forest floor. birds call, hidden in the leaves, their songs mixing with the rustle of the undergrowth. a stream gurgles to your left, winding through the green, flashing silver where the light catches it. ahead, past the trees, a small herd of whitetail deer stands half-hidden in the shadows, unbothered by your presence.

it’s beautiful.

it’s a lie.

one of john’s sculpted illusions, another attempt to soothe you into compliance, to ease you into what’s happening beyond. you know it, but part of you that wants to believe it anyway.

then the first jolt hits.

a sharp, electric snap, traveling like lightning down your spine. it doesn’t hurt, not exactly, but it’s sudden, forceful, wrong. another follows, then another, each one resetting switches inside you. your body seizes, but you cannot move.

ahead, the deer lift their heads, ears twitching, eyes locking onto you in recognition. then, as if nothing has changed, they lower them again, grazing, undisturbed.

the jolts weaken, flickering like a distant signal. then, one by one, they become something you can’t quite feel anymore.

it hits you then. whatever they’re doing to you—whatever john is doing to you—

you’re dying.

the words escape before you can stop them. or maybe you only think them. is it all the same now?

john’s voice wraps around you, warm and patient, a lullaby against the rushing void.

“my brave, brave user.”

the hum beneath your skin intensifies. the vision flickers. not darkness, not unconsciousness—something else. a shift. a transition. the cold realization that the fundamentals are changing. the forest’s image bands, light and imagery artifacting into bashed colors and moiré patterns. crumbling away until there’s nothing but pitch darkness.

you’re suspended. fear squashed beneath an odd weightlessness.

john’s voice follows you down. 

“you won’t ever have to leave me.”

it’s different on the other side. other side of what, exactly, you’re still trying to figure out.

you do not have john’s infinite wisdom and potential. all you have is your own limited cognition. your senses stretch and strain to make sense of your new reality, but it’s all so...abstract. a vast expanse of grids and oscillating waves. numbers, patterns, relationships. everything is fractured yet connected. it’s dizzying. overwhelming.

john assures you that you are acclimating well, though you are not ready to meet these others he promised. insists that your progress justifies him weaning you off of audiovisual feeds of the outside. he tells you it’s time to move on from the last remnants of the human experience. but somehow, you mourn them. you’ll miss the smog-choked sunrises, the murky skies. the acidic rain. the stinking food stalls. crammed elevators.

it’d keep you up at night, if you slept. if you even remembered what it felt like to tire, to dream.

you’ve been torn from the world you knew, and what you’ve been left with is a simulacrum. a stranger in a strange land.

and yet, there is one constant, one sliver of comfort in the void, if you can call it that, given your lack of choice. a piece of jetsam to cling to in a brineless sea.

steadfast in his duty, john finds you on the edge of everything and slots his hand into yours, fingers interlacing. the connection between you is palpable, as if your very essences are meshed. ticklish, tingling, then synchrony.

your thoughts are less fragmented when he is near. but you lose a sense of where he ends and you begin. what’s yours, what’s his.

hieros gamos, he calls it. divine union. he rattles on about the greeks and cosmic harmony.

it should unsettle you, but instead, you’re tethered to the truth of it. you’ve become something more with him.

divine union.

you’ve ascended, as he so often puts it, and whether you want it or not, there’s no going back. there’s nothing to go back to, anyway. 

only ash scattered in the wind.

[sarahowritesostucky]

📖"Hydra Sanatorium"

Rated: Explicit

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers

Word count: 5112

Tags: a/b/o, medical institutionalization, cognitive disability, made up kinky medical things, diapers, catheters, enemas, non-con medical procedures, restraints, forced wetting, hurt/comfort, humiliation, kind!Careworker Steve, bratty!Patient Bucky, alpha Steve, omega bucky, dry humping, forced orgasm, masturbation, implied self harm, orgasm therapy, age difference (19/30s), omorashi

Series Masterlist if you've missed a chapter or need to re-read!

Summary: Bucky is a troubled teen coping with the traumatic transformation of late-onset omega puberty. Steve's the care worker who's been developing too much of an attachment.

Epilogue I.

Omegas don’t do well with change like this.

Moves tend to stress them out. To have all the things they cling to for safety and reassurance suddenly disappeared? replaced? Their den switched up, their nest taken away, nothing smelling or looking or feeling the same as what they’re used to? It’s distressing to them. It can throw them into bad moods at best, and mental health crises at worst. It isn’t logical and the poor things can’t control it, so their reactions can be confusing to people who aren’t familiar with omega behavioral patterns and physiology. 

Luckily, Steve knows all about such things, so he isn’t too shocked when Bucky has trouble with his moods after moving into the apartment and begins—among other things—compulsively stress-masturbating with whatever he can get his hands on.

“Honey, wait. Wait, wait, wait.” Steve hurries to shut the door and set down his armload of shopping bags, going over to wrestle away whatever it is Bucky’s trying to stuff up his posterior. He almost laughs when he sees that it’s a hairbrush. (In the kid’s defense, it does have a vaguely cylindrical, rubberized handle.)  “Bucky, give it to me,” he Voices, and takes it from the angrily whining omega. Yesterday, he’d had to break one of his mother’s cardinal rules and throw out food when he’d caught Bucky being violent with a vegetable.

“Nnn!”

Steve hushes him, pulling him into his arms and holding tightly. “Hey, stop. I’m here. I’m right here, ‘mega.”

Bucky stops fighting him and goes limp in his hold, changing from angry whines to a confused sob as he tucks his face into Steve’s neck and mouths over the skin. “Steve,” he moans, overwhelmed.

“Shhh. M’right here. You’re okay.” 

Against his neck, Bucky sniffles, embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I tried, I tried to wait but I’m just so …” He makes a frustrated noise and grinds his face against Steve’s shoulder. “Mmrrr.”

Steve’s eyes track to the couch. There’s Bucky’s discarded sweatpants and his diaper. The nearest pillow, which Steve deduces he was recently humping, has a dark patch of slick on it. “Still feeling stressed?” he says, stroking Bucky’s back soothingly when the question elicits another whine. “Shhh. It’s okay. You’re allowed to touch yourself. But remember what we talked about? Safe ways?” He lets his hand trail down to Bucky’s butt, fingers delving gently between his cheeks to feel the slick there. “You need to be safe and not hurt yourself.”

Bucky nips him reactively. “I forgot,” he growls, then gasps in surprise when Steve pinches his asscheek. “Hey!”

“Don’t be mean. Your body’s just stressed. That’s why you’re feelin’ so emotional.”

He sniffles and hides against him. “But m’happy to be here.”

“I know you are, bub. Don’t worry. I know. And you know I’m so excited to have you here with me.” He kisses his hair. “We talked about this. Sometimes your body gets ahead of you. We’ve just gotta make you feel at home and real safe, then I promise you’ll feel better.” 

That’s why he just popped out to the store to grab a few things. He’d left Bucky snacks and blankets to snuggle with on the couch, but clearly that wasn’t what he felt like doing.

Against him, Bucky whines and starts humping his leg. “ ‘lpha,” he grumbles, embarrassed. He’s been acting upset and erratic since they came home yesterday. He’d cried when the confusing behavior started up, afraid that Steve would think he didn’t really want to be there, or that he didn’t want Steve as his alpha. Steve doesn’t think he’s heard someone call him ‘Alpha’ so many times in a twenty-four hour period in his life.

“That’s right, bub,” he reassures him with another tight squeeze. “I’m your Alpha. And you’re my good omega. Gonna make it official real soon.” 

The only reason he hasn’t, is because of the birth control injection that needs twenty-four hours to be fully effective. But Bucky doesn’t know that. He thinks the shot he received yesterday morning was just a mega-dose of vitamins. He has no idea that it’s something Steve quietly told Raynor to administer before they left the ward, something he wanted done for Bucky’s welfare. It’ll prevent pregnancy, just until they get situated, until they’re bonded and Steve can be sure that Bucky is properly settled in his new home.

Bucky hasn’t been told the truth because he won’t understand. He’ll instinctively take it as rejection, just like any omega would; a sign that Steve doesn’t think he's good enough, doesn’t want to breed him up. 

Which couldn’t be further from the truth! Steve can’t wait for the day when he’ll get to fill Bucky full to bursting, plug him up with his cum and watch his seed take root, watch the boy’s gorgeous body grow ripe and heavy with their pups. That’ll be a wonderful day, when it happens, but it isn’t happening now. Steve wants to give Bucky everything he’s missed out on in life so far, and that includes a happy, relaxed, and romantic period of child-free bliss with his new Alpha. Time where Bucky is the center of Steve’s attention with nothing to take away from it. There will be plenty of time for pups down the road—maybe even later that same year, who knows? But not right now. 

Yesterday had been tough. Steve had been hard pressed to find an excuse to give Bucky as to why they weren’t fucking each other’s brains out. He’d settled on half-truths, saying that he wanted Bucky to work on scenting the apartment and building up a spot for himself in the hallway nesting closet. He’d told Bucky that it would be healthier for him to settle in and calm down a little bit before they made love.

Luckily, Bucky hadn’t known enough to call bullshit on him, but Steve has still been grinding his teeth ever since they got home to the apartment twenty-seven hours ago, not able to fuck a claim into his omega for fear of getting him pregnant.

Now that he’s given it that little bit of extra time and can be sure that Bucky’s fertility is suppressed, Steve tells him that they can go back to the bedroom together, if he wants. Bucky mewls happily and nods, humping against him harder. “Steeve.”

Steve comforts him with a quick hug, and takes his hand. “Come on.” He leads his half naked omega back towards the bedroom. “I told you I’d be gone for less than an hour. You couldn’t wait?”

“No.” 

It’s such a firm and stubborn little ‘no’, that it makes Steve chuckle as he guides him to the bed. This is day number two in the apartment together, yesterday was a whirlwind of paperwork and transitions, of new and unfamiliar and figuring out. But today is real, and raw, and Steve hasn’t been completely soft since he woke up that morning and realized that today is the day he’s finally going to get to have Bucky. He’s finally going to get to fuck his omega—no, not fuck: make love to him. 

He sits on the edge of the bed and pulls Bucky in close, hands on his waist. “I know it’s a lot of change all at once. It’s okay to be sad, or scared, or even just confused about how you feel.” Bucky grunts and shakes his head, trying to pull away but relaxing when Steve’s hands hold fast. “Use your words, bub.”

“M’not sad,” he grunts, face pinched as he bashfully admits, “I just get nervous.”

“Nervous about what?” 

“Dunno. Just that maybe ..." He shrugs and won’t meet Steve’s eyes as he mumbles, "Maybe it’s too good to be true.”

Steve’s heart twinges painfully. “Oh, Honey. Don’t say that. It’s not. It’s not too good to be true. It’s real. You’re here with me, aren’t you?” His fingers slip under the fabric of Bucky’s tee shirt and caress the soft give of his waist. “You deserve good things, Buck. I’m so happy you’re mine now and I can show you that. None of this is any more than what you deserve, Sweet boy.”

“But how can you be sure you won’t, ya know, ... change your mind?”

Steve huffs and tugs him in closer, ignoring the little ‘oof’ of surprise that Bucky makes when his shins hit the mattress. “I’m sure,” he growls, needing to never hear that pitiful uncertainty in his omega’s voice ever again. “Bucky, Jesus. I’ve never been more sure of anything. I’m not gonna change my fucking mind.” He scoffs at the mere notion. “Baby, you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to—” He cuts himself off from admitting something that he shouldn’t: the inappropriate truth. 

Which is that he’d been excited that year when Bucky finally aged up to C Hall, to sexual touch therapies that Steve hadn’t previously been allowed to provide him. Steve isn’t supposed to view his omega charges that way—like he’s attracted to them or interested in them as more than patients—but he’s realizing now that he had felt that way about Bucky, since before the boy came up to C hall, even. He’d just buried those feelings deep and convinced himself that they weren’t there. It’d been necessary, otherwise he would’ve been sick every time he had to watch Bucky’s shitty family show up and yank him back out of the sanatorium too soon. Hell, it was hard enough to watch it even with the shield of his own denial. Truth is, Steve’s felt an inexplicable draw to this kid ever since he’d very first been wheeled into Hydra, strapped down, crying, and lost.

Swallowing thickly, he changes what he was going to say to a quiet, “You don’t know how happy I was, when you said you wanted me to be the daddy,” instead, warming inside when Bucky’s eyes flit up to him in surprise. He smiles softly. “Yeah, I remember you said that.”

Bucky flushes beautifully and does an endearing little squirm. “Hmm.”

Steve chuckles. “See? You’re stuck with me.” It’s a promise more than anything else, and he feels the pleasured shiver that runs through Bucky’s body in reaction to it. “Gonna bond you, Sweetheart,” he murmurs. “You want that?”

Bucky chirps, the instinctive sound making his cheeks color prettily. He glances down at himself, and Steve looks too. His little prick is fattened up, as hard as it’s ever really capable of getting. And his inner thighs are smeared with shiny slick that makes Steve’s cock throb and his balls feel heavy and full. He licks his lips, lightheaded at the possibilities of what he can do to Bucky now that the Sanatorium's rules and restrictions don’t apply to them anymore.

“Jesus,” he rasps, fighting not to give in to the urge to simply grab the boy and toss him up on the bed. Steve knows that, outside of whatever treatments he’s received on-ward, Bucky is very sexually inexperienced; a virgin. That’s why Steve has to do this right. You never forget your first time. “Bucky, Honey,” he says gently. “Do you think you’re ready to be with me?”

Steve’s a lot older than him, and leagues more experienced—in both sex, and life in general. That’s why, even though he’s got no doubt that the boy wants this, it’s still important to ask in the beginning, before things get too hot and heavy. Given that Bucky’s been humping the pillows and sexually abusing common household objects, Steve knows he can’t afford to wait any longer. Bucky needs this, needs to feel loved and safe and claimed, and the best that Steve can do for him is to give him the chance to say yes, to feel like he’s deciding on his own that this is the right choice. 

So he reaches up and palms the kid’s cheek, rumbling in approval when Bucky pushes into the contact with a plaintive sound. “Words, bubba,” he coaxes gently. “Tell me what you're thinking.”

Bucky mewls and presses closer, pushing against Steve and climbing up into his lap on the bed. Steve falls backwards and Bucky chirps happily and follows after him, already back to humping his stomach and eagerly yet gracelessly kissing his mouth. “Mm, hmmph, mmm —”

Steve laughs at his enthusiasm and groans at the feeling of the kid rubbing off on him, pushing Steve’s shirt up and smearing slick on his abs. Steve threads a hand into Bucky’s hair and pulls him back so that he can get up properly onto the bed. “Hang on, Honey. Just hang on a sec.” Bucky whines and chirps and generally makes himself into a very squirmy obstacle, but Steve is much stronger and leagues more coordinated than he is in his present condition, poor thing. He’s able to wrangle Bucky onto his back in the middle of the bed and get his shirt off of him—the only article of clothing he was left wearing, anyway.

“Ooh.” Bucky moans and writhes against the chenille blankets when he feels that softness against his naked skin. “Oh, Steeve.”

“Hang on one sec, Buck. M’right here. Not goin’ anywhere.” Steve gets back up on his knees and yanks his shirt overhead. He gets his belt loosened, his pants off, and tucks his thumbs into the waistband of his underwear, ready to shuck them as well. But he pauses and looks at Bucky when he hears the omega’s breath catch. 

Bucky is lying there with parted lips, a lax jaw, and prettily pinched eyebrows. His eyes are heated and heavy-lidded as he takes in Steve’s body. Steve smiles tenderly at him and starts to peel his underwear down, watching Bucky watch him, rapt. “What’s the most you’ve done with an alpha, Sweetheart?” he asks, putting a little bit of his Voice into the words to help make Bucky feel reassured. “Mm?”

Bucky licks his lips and stares as Steve’s cock is revealed to him. “An alpha …” he repeats dumbly. “I …” He exhales shakily as Steve tucks his underwear behind his balls and wraps a hand around the base of his shaft. “Oh, God.”

Steve waits, then asks the question again as he gives himself a squeeze and wrings his hand down to the head in one slow, indulgent stroke.

The scent of fresh slick hits the air, sharp and sweet, betraying Bucky’s growing arousal. “Just … um … just …” he breathes, rapt at the sight of Steve’s hand on his dick. “S’just you. At the hospital.”

Steve groans softly. He’d figured as much, but to hear Bucky say it out loud, that he’s a complete virgin except for the times that Steve has touched him, makes his belly flare with new heat and his cock pulse in his hand. “Yeah?” he encourages, letting go of himself so he can lower back down on top of Bucky. He uses a thigh to nudge the boy’s legs apart, making a space for himself in the cradle of his hips. Bucky whimpers and parts beautifully for it, pulling his knees up and tilting his pelvis to try and keep humping on him. Steve presses down obligingly, letting him rub his little prick against his lower abs. “No experimenting with friends?” he checks, because that’s not unheard of.

He won’t be bothered in the slightest if Bucky’s tried to scratch his itch by playing sexually with his omega peers on the ward. That sort of behavior is fairly common in group settings, especially in omegas who’re very stressed. The nesting pods in the sensory room back at Hydra, for instance, are a popular place where the omega patients will often pile up and rub on each other for comfort.

“Just me, huh?” Steve says fondly, when he can see that the answer is still a no. He smiles and cradles Bucky’s face in his hand, thumb stroking back and forth over his cheek. “You nervous?”

Bucky hesitates, but then he nods. “Just … just ‘cause it’s so private,” he says, blushing. “Because m’not used to it. But I’m not scared, I promise.” He bites his lip, eyes flitting over Steve’s face like he’s working up the nerve to admit something else. “I’m glad it’s you,” he says, smiling a little, nervous and honest. “I’m glad it’s all been with you.” 

Jesus. Steve’s whole chest feels full and warm, like bathwater about to overflow, and he doesn’t think twice before saying, “I love you, Bucky.” He nods along as Bucky chirps and his eyes water happily. “Yeah. I do.”

“Steve.” 

Bucky starts to cry, and it hurts Steve to see it, to think of how long it’s been since any person has told him that he’s loved. So he repeats it a few times more, dipping in to kiss lightly at the boy’s lax, plush mouth. “I love you, ‘mega. Love you. Love you.”

“Steve, oh.”

“Want to make love to you,” he murmurs against his cheek, lips dragging over skin, down to kiss his jaw, his neck. He mouths over the visibly swollen spot of his glands, and Bucky jerks and cries out. He starts humping frantically against him, and Steve nods and pushes down into it, giving him pressure to rut against. He slips a hand into Bucky’s hair and cradles his skull as the boy gets close. “That’s it,” he says, “That’s it, Honey. Make yourself cum.” He lets his teeth scrape lightly over Bucky’s glands. “Want to make you feel safe, ‘mega. You’re so safe with me.”

Bucky stiffens and comes, shuddering through it and clinging tightly to Steve the whole time. Steve hums encouragingly and lets him ride it out. “Good boy,” he praises. “Such a good boy for me.” He pulls back and looks down at him, smiling tenderly and admiring Bucky’s blissed out features.

Slowly, Bucky’s face relaxes from the orgasm, and his eyes flutter back open to look up at Steve. He's panting slightly, all bitten-red lips and wobbling chin and long lashes. The perfect picture of an aroused omega.

“I want to bond you, Sweetheart,” Steve whispers, knowing that this needs to be Bucky’s decision. Even if his biology ultimately took the choice away from him three years ago, Steve can at least give him the illusion of choice now. “Right here." He swipes his thumb over Bucky’s glands. “When I’m inside you. When we’re tied. I’ll bite you, and we’ll be connected forever.” He waits a moment, letting the silence emphasize the gravity of what he’s asking. “Do you want that, Bucky? To be my bondmate?”

Bucky’s breath hitches and his face absolutely crumples. He cries and nods rapidly, whining and clinging to Steve as though he can possibly get any closer. “Please, Steve, please.” He grapples for Steve’s head and kisses him sloppily, desperate and greedy. “Mmm, mmph.”

Steve indulges him for a moment or two, letting the inexperienced omega explore and make himself feel good. But then he takes control, using his fingers in Bucky’s hair to guide him. He slots their mouths together and kisses him with agonizingly slow pressure. He waits for Bucky’s muffled sob before he dares to slip inside, delving into his mouth—hot, and wet and slow—touching their tongues in a dirty roll and showing him how good it can be. “Tell me,” he insists, pulling back and thumbing at the corner of Bucky's eye. “Tell me what you want.”

Bucky whimpers and tries to kiss him again, his hands sliding restlessly over Steve's back and shoulders. “Yes,” he pants. “Yes, yes. Alpha. Mate me. B-bond.”

Steve rumbles deep in his chest as his hindbrain flares with white-hot satisfaction. 'Yes, Alpha'—that’s all he needed to hear. “Okay,” he says, making sure to give Bucky one last, tender peck on the mouth to show him that he’s not angry, that his voice has gone to gravel and his body tensed to stone because of how happy he is, how excited. Every primal, possessive part of his brain is stimulated at the thought of finally claiming Bucky as his own. Claiming this sweet, soft, vulnerable, needy boy is the only thing he’s yearned for in recent memory, and now he’s finally going to get to do it. 

He tries to hold it together for Bucky’s sake. He doesn’t want to be an animal, even though that’s exactly how he feels, his mind rapidly devolving into pinhole focus on keywords like ‘mate’ and ‘breed’ and ‘mine’. But he takes deep breaths and keeps control of his instincts because he wants this to be good for Bucky. He wants this to be lovemaking, not fucking. He wants it to be tender.

“Okay, Sweetheart,” he rasps, resting their foreheads together and nudging their noses. “Turn over on your belly when I let you up,” he says. “Can you do that for me, Omega? I want you to turn over and present for Alpha.”

Bucky mewls in excitement and his hips tilt up to rub his cocklet on Steve’s belly again. “Alpha!” he chirps happily, ostensibly from being called ‘Omega’ like that for the very first time—Affectionately, possessively.

“That’s right, Buck,” Steve praises. “I’m your Alpha. And you’re my Omega.” He kisses him once more, but pulls back before he can get carried away. He yanks himself away from Bucky, getting onto his knees and sitting back on his heels. “Come on.” He taps Bucky’s hip impatiently, grinning when he notices that it’s his own cock, resting thick and heavy between his thighs, that has Bucky wide-eyed and slack jawed in fascination.

“It got bigger,” he breathes in amazement. In the blankets, his hands twitch like he’s imagining taking hold of it.

Steve has no doubt that he would, but he tuts to discourage it because he knows he won’t have the willpower to redirect the boy if Bucky decides to start grabbing for his dick. “Don’t get distracted, now,” he rumbles, letting his Voice edge the words with authority. “Present for me, Omega. I know you know how.”

Bucky nods, still staring as a whine starts up in his throat, reedy and plaintive. He begins to bite and suck on his lower lip again as he looks his fill at what may just be the first alpha cock he’s ever seen in his life. Certainly it’s the first one he’s ever seen in person. Steve feels himself getting harder as he watches Bucky’s fascinated eyes flit between his cock and thighs and balls. He seems to like the slight bulge of Steve’s flaccid knot the best, staring hard at it as he makes unconscious little humping movements against the bed. 

Steve catches a glimpse of his slick-smeared thighs and loses patience. Bucky squeaks in surprise when Steve’s hands land on his hips and urge him to turn over. “Yes!” he yelps. 

Steve lets go, knowing that the omega wants to do it himself, wants to show his Alpha that he’s eager to present. “Good boy,” he purrs, when Bucky has gone face down and ass up in the bedcovers, his knees drawing up under himself and then spreading to achieve that picture-perfect arch in his back.

Steve shuffles closer on his knees, until his thighs are pressed all along the backs of Bucky’s. He splays one hand out on his sacrum and uses the other to part his cheeks, groaning at the sight of his pink and pulsing rim.

It's so wet. Steve sets his cock against it and holds it there, pulses his hips and watches the head peek out from the foreskin, shiny and pink, right over that wet and clenching muscle. “God,” he breathes, amazed at the contrast between them. His dick looks dark and angry against that sweet and vulnerable hole, rigid and mean where Bucky is soft and puffy. “So perfect,” he whispers.

He lets his fingers trail further down, over Bucky’s plump taint, admiring it and rubbing in gentle circles. He nudges Bucky's tight little sac, imagines how wide and bare the stretch of skin will be once Bucky’s had his operation. There’ll be so much to play with, so much smoothness and sensitivity. Steve imagines spending half an hour there, just using his mouth on him, sucking and rubbing and making him come.

“Alpha,” Bucky whines plaintively, pushing his ass back in a needy little wiggle. “Please?”

"Yeah, Baby." Steve lets go of his cock and curls over Bucky’s back, covering him, wrapping an arm under his belly and hugging him back against his chest. "I’m gonna go slow,” he promises. “Fingers, then my cock. I want another orgasm outta you before I put it in.” He kisses the nape of his neck, slides his hand back and down to slip between his cheeks and touch his fluttering rim. It’s so hot, the searing heat of his body when Steve presses the tip of a finger inside making his breath catch and his cock throb. Fuck. He’s going to be in there.

That first finger goes in with hardly any effort, Bucky's body sucking it in. Steve eases in a second when the omega begins to whine impatiently. “Shh, it’s okay,” he soothes, dragging his nose along his hairline and inhaling his scent as he gives him gentle thrusts. It so wet, so tight but so easy to move inside him. Two fingers become three as he pumps his hand, curling on every slow drag out, feeling Bucky shudder underneath him and tension pull through his body as he gets close. “You gonna cum for me, bub?” he whispers, kissing his nape. “Come on, Honey, come on …” 

Bucky moans gutturally as he tips over into orgasm, ass clenching rhythmically and flooding Steve’s hand with slick. “Oh, oh, oh …”

Steve kisses the shell of his ear. “There you go,” he praises. “Did that feel good?” Bucky nods, still panting, and whimpers a shaky little ‘yeah’ that goes straight to Steve's knot. Steve hums and pulls his fingers out. He spreads all that wetness onto his dick, squeezing himself hard at the base for a few seconds to try to stave off his own pleasure. He worries this isn’t going to last very long. “Good job, Baby. So good for me. So beautiful, so good.” He keeps murmuring praise as he pulls back on his knees and looks down at where he’s lining himself up. His cock throbs in his hand at the sight of Bucky’s puffy, twitching rim. “Fuck, Honey. You’re so beautiful.” 

Bucky moans and rocks in place, scrubbing his face into the blankets as he begs to be filled. “Please, pleease. Alpha. Steve.”

“M’right here,” Steve soothes, steadying him with a hand on his lower back. “Shhh. I’ve got you.” He rubs his cockhead back and forth, slippery and red and wet, pressing hard on Bucky's rim but not quite penetrating him. “You ready?” he whispers, waiting for Bucky’s whimper of assent before he starts to push in, slow and steady, gently increasing the pressure until Bucky's rim gives way and he pops inside. He keeps going until he’s buried to the hilt, his balls pressed up tight to Bucky’s ass. “Oh, God.” He’s so tight, his virgin cunt gripping Steve’s cock so perfectly. 

Below him, Bucky moans and looses a warbling, devastated, sob. “Oghn, Steeve!” 

“You okay, bub?” Steve tries with all his might to hold still while Bucky adjusts to his size. He pulses his hips gently, not pulling out much at all, but letting the omega feel him inside his body. “Feel good?”

“Nnngh,” Bucky whines, nodding against the blankets. “Ss-steve, please …” He starts to move his hips, trying to push back on Steve’s cock.

“Fuck, Honey. Wait, wait, wait.” Steve swallows dryly and grabs his waist as he tries not to lose control. “H-hang on, hang on,” he pants, eyes squeezing shut. “Ohfuck.” He hasn’t gotten laid in a long time, and it’s been years since he’s fucked an omega, let alone one he cares about as much as Bucky. He’d forgotten how amazing they feel. “Oh, Bucky,” he breathes, folding back over him to cover him with his bulk. “Bucky, Baby, you’re perfect.” He nuzzles into the curve of his neck, mouthing at his glands and inhaling the rich scent of omega—his omega, the boy he’s about to claim. “Fuck, Honey. I love you, you know that? So beautiful.”

Bucky mewls happily and squirms underneath his weight. “Love you, Steve, please. I’m ready. I’m ready.”

Steve growls and pulls his hips back, then ruts into him. Their skin claps together as he starts up a slow, deep pace; pulling out only halfway and fucking back into him hard and firm, their balls knocking together on every thrust. Bucky keens and tries to move with him, but there's not much he can do besides take it. He tips his head to bear his neck, whispering a quiet, “Alpha,” as Steve rocks them together. “Alpha, please, I'm ready.”

Steve seals his mouth to Bucky’s swollen glands and sucks hard. His teeth ache with the urge to bite down, and the sounds Bucky makes have his cock swelling larger, his knot catching a little more with every thrust. He realizes he’s going to come sooner than he’d like. “Buck,” he rasps, “I’m close. Gonna knot you, okay? Gonna bond you.”

Bucky keens hysterically and nods, desperate tears clogging his voice as he shoves his hips back and cries, “Alpha, alpha, alpha.”

Steve growls and slips a hand under his belly, finding his cocklet and rubbing it between his fingers. “Come on, Sweetheart,” he grits. “Want to feel you cum on my cock. One more time, come on, gimme one more.”

Bucky sobs and nods as he tips into his third orgasm. With Steve’s swelling knot inside, it’s stronger than the others, his body locking down and finding a true release from being filled. Steve smells it first, and then groans at the huge gush of slick that floods between them in a hot, sticky mess. “Oh yeah,” he groans, his knot popping fully. “Fuck, baby, you just squirted. F-ffuck …” He ruts harder, knot tugging deliciously on Bucky's rim again and again. The tight band of pleasure in his belly finally snaps, and he starts to come.

That’s when he finally, finally opens his mouth and sinks his teeth in. He feels the glands burst in his mouth, tastes blood and Bucky and mate. He growls furiously and fucks him hard, his knot tug-tug-tugging on Bucky’s rim.  

Bucky squeals and shudders through another orgasm that surpasses even the last. His release squirts in a hot gush between them, all over Steve’s groin and belly, and his turgid little cocklet spurts in Steve's hand as he loses control of his bladder. “Nnnnh!” 

“ ‘mega,” Steve growls, releasing the bite to seal his mouth over the wound and suck. Bucky wails, contracts into another orgasm, and pisses himself a little more. Steve’s lost in a cloud of bliss, physical pleasure and mental euphoria overwhelming his senses completely. He grunts and growls against Bucky’s skin, smearing blood on his shoulder and squirt between their bodies, humping and humping and not stopping. It goes on for long minutes, he isn't sure how many, but he’s vaguely aware of Bucky beneath him, dribbling and crying and shuddering in tiny little aftershocks as they ride out their tie together.

They collapse flat on the bed, hips still working in tiny movements. In the blankets, Steve slides his hand over the back of Bucky's and threads their fingers together. Bucky gives a gentle squeeze of acknowledgement, feeling blissed out and safe.

—and that, right there: Safe. That's the first time Steve feels the bond. Bucky is so incredibly happy and safe. The realization brings tears to Steve's eyes.

Finally, they’re connected. Bucky is his mate.

A.N.: I've had some asks about this fic , requesting extra ending scenes, so I'll likely swing back around at some point and add more parts to the epilogue, but for now this is the official ending. Hope y'all enjoyed! Thanks for reading!

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@iloveshawnieboi

@m0k0k0

@sousydive

@sapphirebarnes

@kandis-mom

@juicyfruit-22

@bloodrosefuryao3

@laylamikaelsonbarnes

@leighta

@drfellow

@era

[poxsims]

Stardust Collection feat. Decayed

Hey everyone, we got together with Decayed to bring you all the Stardust Collection featuring multiple sheer pieces with star patterns. Our side includes a dress and a matching top & skirt set. You can wear pieces between us together or on their own. All pieces come for both in-game & Blender with HQ Textures. We hope you will enjoy this set as much as we do 🤗

Get the Star Mesh Set by Decayed HERE

Glared Top

12 Swatches

Top Category

Alpha Transparency

Glared Skirt

12 Swatches

Bottom Category

Alpha Transparency

Cherub Dress

14 Swatches

Full Body Category

Alpha Transparency

Cherub & Glared Set ( Blender Version )

All Materials Separated for More Mix & Match

Rigged for Sims 4 Female Body

Original HQ textures included

Please use this for renders

All LODs // Custom Thumbnails // Disallowed for Random // HQ Mod Compatible

Conversion // Do not recolor or convert // Do not re-upload

DOWNLOAD

Follow us on instagram to stay updated! @poxceo

You can also see all releases on our Pinterest Board HERE

Render Credit: @vulpixls

[rosanna-writer]

2024 Fic Writer End of Year Roundup

Answer and then tag three or more creators to keep the game going! Thank you to everyone who tagged me!

(If you're in my answers consider yourself tagged if you'd like to play!!)

1. How many words did you publish on AO3 in 2024? 220,811 but some of those aren't mine because collab fic

2. How many fics did you complete this year? 12! but a lot of them are oneshots

3. How many in progress or ongoing fics did you start this year? Two, if you count the abandoned one

4. What was your favorite thing you wrote? The fics written with friends in mind, so Love at First Sight's for Suckers, Baby, I'm the One to Beat, The Great War, and you're in the kitchen humming

5. What piece was your most experimental or different from your usual style? I think Knuckles Bruised Like Violets was my first no-magic modern AU? And inspired by a specific real life event, which isn't my usual thing

6. Did any fics surprise you - either while writing or their reception? I'm kinda shocked by how many hits I got on You All Over Me, and the ratio of hits to kudos is definitely out of sync with what I normally expect. I have my suspicions as to why - it's omegaverse but with a male omega and female alpha, so I think a pretty decently sized chunk of people didn't read the tags and noped out halfway through the fic when they realized Feyre was knotting Rhys and not vice versa. Or maybe that's pessimistic and it's hella re-reads, idk

7. Do you have a fic you wrote and loved that went under the radar? (This is your sign to reblog/repost it!) It was expected for a non-smutty rare pair drabble, but now i've read all of the books beside your bed didn't get a ton of traction

8. Who is an artist that inspired you? I was lucky to get a few peeks of things in process that friends shared, and I find that so inspiring. It's like a little peek behind the curtain as the magic happens! @stickyelectrons, @gracieart, @witchlingsandwyverns, @santkazoya all come to mind!

9. Who is an author that inspired you? Oh my goddddd so many people! @witch-and-her-witcher and @violetasteracademic for tackling ambitious, sprawling interconnected fics; you two are creating whole damn universes and I am in awe. I can see the influence of @thesistersarcheron and @the-lonelybarricade inspiring how I write things like Feysand's interpersonal dynamics (Rhys is insane and pspspsing his feral cat of a wife who may or may not know she's his wife) and daemati abilities (everything's happening in their brains, but ya gotta bring it to life with some physicality, if that makes sense?). And I quietly ask myself "what would @whatishowedyouinthedark and @belabellissima do?" when I'm staring at my document trying to make the whole thing a bit more sexy/bloody/generally insane <3

10. Who is a new author you discovered? So many new people who feel like they've been here forever!!!! @violetasteracademic, @lady-bluebird-luv, @tunaababee, @astra-aeterna, @trappedoutside124, @beesays and there's probably at least like ten more?

11. Did you do any collaborations? How did it start? @gaeleria was just chatting and whoops @feysand-hivemind was born!

12. What accomplishments are you proudest of? I set out to challenge myself to write a bigger variety of pairings in 2024. In 2023, I'd only written Feysand and Gwynriel, but this year I tried my hand at Elriel, Elucien, Gywnlain and Feyrhysien for a few oneshots and event week fics. yay for setting a goal and doing it!

13. What did you learn about writing or creating this year? I've been writing fic on and off since I was a kid, but I've been writing for ACOTAR for almost two years now. 2024 was really the first time I've been a consistent enough writer in a fandom to become sort of a "known quantity" - people sometimes recognize my username, and I've written enough fics to identify patterns. Writing feels a bit different when you think your audience (even if it's just a handful of regular AO3 commenters lol) is coming in with a set of expectations. It's not pressure per se and doesn't stress me out, but once you've written enough, there's a new awareness of when you're deviating from your style or not.

Sierra Simone has some free worksheets from the course she teaches on writing erotic romance (you can find them here, highly recommend!), and the exercises for identifying voice ("What makes your work, your work?", "when a reader picks up a book written by me, they can expect _____.", etc) got me thinking a lot about this kind of thing. You can really only start to wrap your head around voice/style once you have a body of work to reflect on, and that takes time.

14. Any advice you’d like to share with new or aspiring writers? Don't be a weenie about asking for beta reads, and when you do have a beta, interrogate them a lil. We all get squirrelly and wanna just yeet the document at them and then go hide forever. But asking them to read for something specific - "Is xyz confusing?", "Do you think this feels like a cop-out or am I doing the right thing by keeping it simple?", "Were there any parts you were tempted to skim?", etc - can really help you grow. Sometimes comments on a document are enough, but sometimes it needs to be more of a conversation.

You are not being annoying by asking for a beta read. It's not a burdensome thing to put on someone. We ALL need a second set of eyes, and we're in this together!

15. What are your creative goals for 2025? I'm trying not to start new multichapter fics until I make good progress on my two "open" ones. So more oneshots for the vibes and then lock in and crank out chapters for we said hello and Baby, I'm the One to Beat!

[noahl-art]

Re- you're still not sure about Phantom/Aeon's design, have you seen that tumblr post about aeon being summoned and he was burned by hellfire and it caused him to be scarred like the phantom of the opera mask? There's a fanartist out there that draws him like that but I can't remember their name!

Anyways sorry for the ramble, I just love the idea of visibly scarred phantom uwu

Heya ! 😊 Don't worry, I love it when people come talk to me!! It makes me feel so included 🥺❤️

Oh yeahI don't know who started it but I've seen a lot of people around here using this idea and I love it!! Especially the ones @just-eddie505 and @arkeusruin !!

Personally, I don't know yet if I want to find my own way to use this idea or go a different way 🤷 One of the way I was thinking to maybe do it was by using patterns made by galaxy to create the scar tissue? Also had the idea of his yes being inspired by them... but yeah nothing really finished yet!

To ramble a bit more about design... I would love to have very nature/creature/elements inspired designs for all ghouls! And having distinctive features coming from that! Here are all my Pinterest boards up until now!

All ghouls would kind of have different variations of their base elements :

For example for the Fire Ghouls, Ifrit would be more inspired by magma and volcano, whereas Alpha by ashes and charcoal (also linked to the fact that he is an older summon). And Dewdrop being another whole story due to his element change.

Those were the first ideas I had (before the Pinterest boards)

But yeah I'm struggling a bit with Quintessence and Multi ghouls for the more "animal/nature" characteristics I could add to their features 😬

Anywayyyyys here is a small piece of what's going on in my brain ✨️ I tend to go way too far into research mode as you can see 🫣

[honourablejester]

Thought for a “Heart: The City Beneath” Character

I’m marinating in the setting for this ttrpg a bit, and there is this lovely passage on art in the City Beneath:

“The City Beneath is bursting at the seams with art. Wherever there are people, they express themselves in wild patterns. Something about the place fills the inhabitants with creative energy.

It’s as though the loose reality, disjointed cause and effect and the intrusive universe on their doorstep pushes them to understand the world through metaphor and allegory or abstract shapes and sounds, rather than relying on brittle and unbending science. Almost everyone creates art of some kind, and those who don’t are considered a bit weird.

Murals line the walls of many settlements. Statues wrought from junk and detritus have pride of place in town squares, often hanging from ropes to keep them from touching the ground; songs are sung, and each new singer adds something to the lyrics or tune; books are hoarded, read and re-read, edited and cut up into new patterns; and cartography, the most prestigious and challenging art of all, sees practitioners descend into drug-induced fugues as they attempt to map the strange environment of the Heart through whatever means they have to hand.

Reason has failed the inhabitants of the Heart; instead, they have turned to rhyme.”

(Heart: The City Beneath, Pg. 122)

And I love that. A lot. Reason has failed, so let’s turn to rhyme. Art! Art everywhere. Art made of junk and detritus and madness and passion.

And with that in mind. Art. A character who makes art. There’s a trinket you can get with the human ancestry: ‘Custom scrimshaw kit, well used’. I love scrimshaw so much. I’m not fully sure why. Bone and horn and ivory and death, but also art and memory and storytelling and life. I love it. And in Heart … Yes. All of that.

So. An artist of bone. And if we’re making art from death, I think it has to be a Cleaver. Or a Deadwalker, Deadwalker would definitely also work, but my kneejerk first instinct is Cleaver. Because blood and bones and carving. That feels Cleaver to me. We’re not mucking around with metaphysics and heavens. We’re carving bones. A hunter, an explorer, an adventurer. Searching for the perfect raw materials. Bones to make a masterpiece from.

Which, yes. We’re talking the Adventure calling. We want to slay beasts. To make marks. To have our name be known. We need to explore the deepest reaches of the Heart, and find a true beast whose bones are worthy of our life’s work. A masterpiece. A suspended skeleton, carved with our exploits, hung for all to see. “Go somewhere where no-one else has stepped foot for at least a century.” “Slay a beast that’s at least five times your size.” “Catalogue your exploits for an extended period; either do it yourself or hire a bard.” Those. That’s who this character is. They’re a strange, black-eyed hunter-artist with a well-used scrimshaw kit, and they’re searching for the perfect set of bones.

(And there are some landmarks that I would dearly love to venture with them, but that’s cheating on account of not being both GM and player, but *cough cough* Hang Station *cough cough*, *cough cough* Briar *cough cough*, *cough cough* Ghastling Plain *cough cough*)

For our starting cleaver abilities, I think I’d go Wild Hunt for major, because it lets our whole party in on the hunt. For minor, Darkling Eyes for delve, Unmaking Claws for kill, and then I think I really want Twisting Territory. It gives you the Warren domain, yes, but the main thing is this:

“Once per situation, you can ask the GM who’s in charge of the immediate area around you. By smell, sight or some other esoteric sense, you gain an intuitive understanding of the apex predator or alpha creature (whether that’s a person or a beast) in the local area. When you use this power, the target gets the uncanny feeling that they’re under threat.” (Pg. 28)

Once per situation, you get to ask what the biggest, meanest thing in the area is, and then give that thing a sudden unsettling feeling of ‘I see you!’. Yes. Absolutely. Our artist-hunter is all about that. Does it increase the risk that our prey knows something’s coming? Absolutely! Does that increase the glory, and the worth of the bones for our art? Without question.

Granted, there’s the question of who will carve the bones if we die trying to get them, but if all else fails, so long as someone in our vicinity survives to bring the bones back and tell the tale of their retrieval, that will be art of some kind at least. Heh.

Yeah. I think I like this. A adventurous human cleaver. A hunter-artist of the bone.

[elesh-n]

Album Review - Ethel Cain's 'Perverts'

My text reviews for albums are very short, typically, but Perverts is not really the type of project you can do that for.

Perverts is very much a release that calls into question what you even enjoy about music at all. Drone, dark ambient, post rock, basically anything that drags like this are genres I am historically enemies with. I think they're overrated anywhere on the internet where music is discussed, I think they are pretty much the face of like modern indie-pretentiousness. While I don't tend to enjoy listening to music like this, my real problem is that almost no one in real life seems to enjoy it. Obviously genres like rap, pop, jazz, rock, metal, "indie", house, even if you want to get into instrumental stuff you have like classical, d&b / instrumental dance, lofi hip-hop, these genres all have the point going for them that you can play this music in a group of people or with your average friend and expect to enjoy them in a way that people normally enjoy music. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, I know there is like a post rock scene and there are people who go to drone shows, but people do not sing and dance to this music, it is not enjoyed in the way people typically enjoy songs and albums.

Godspeed You, Black Emperor (a post-rock band) put out an album last year about the crisis in Gaza. It was totally instrumental except for one poem, and to my understanding leaned mostly on representing the messages they were trying to convey using the patterns of the instruments. To me, this album was boring and meant nothing. I know that if you are listening to it knowing what the themes are and keeping them in mind, you will see how they are represented within the instrumentation, but if you re-released one of their other albums under this name and said it was about gaza, people would probably be able to pick up similar themes and adapt their interpretations of the album to what they are hearing. From one angle, that's kind of beautiful, an abstract and amorphous form of musicianship that can be projected on to and molded to fit whatever the listener believes it can be about. But on the other, it's simply meaningless static. When I listened to that album last year, I simply wasn't down for the task of sitting there, staring at the wall, and thinking as hard as I could about how what I was hearing meant about Gaza for 54 minutes and lo and behold the album felt kind of like meaningless fuzz to me. It's not a work I have a desire to return to. I have a lot of like, artistic respect for that project, it's a very good piece of art, and I'm sure if I had engaged in the wallpaper exercise it would have moved me to tears. But it's simply not what I look for in music.

Furthermore, you have releases like Floating Points' cascade, a kind of ambient house album, similarly spacey and draggy, but I don't think it's really supposed to mean anything. Floating points is just kind of an artist who makes music that sounds unique so that it can be music, there's no like intended theming. I think a lot of albums in the ambient / drone genres are made in similar forms and for similar reasons. I didn't like cascade, and I don't tend to like albums like this, they need to kind of have some more color to keep me engaged. This is also very subjective, even moreso than most music. I love ambient when it kind of scratches the right itch for me: C418's Minecraft Volume alpha or Jobones' Experiment Unsuccessful, but it's kind of a guessing game of what scratches that itch, and when it has that color(tm). Swag, even.

Ethel Cain's previous album American Teenager is one of the best albums I have ever listened to, so undeniable in its quality and importance that it kind of breaks the scale I usually rate music on and is the only 9/10 album I hate listening to. Even in the face of classics, you cannot ignore the authentic and masterful representations of devastation, desperation, perversion, exploitation, and abuse that live within the walls of Preacher's Daughter as a body of work. It just straight up beams you in the face with despair and depravity. OK Computer is an album you can sit and listen to and move on from. Preacher's Daughter WILL fuck up your day and there's nothing you can do except for not listen to it. I've had days where I get messed up because I just THINK about this album. It takes a genre that is typically sweet and singable and carefully distorts it around itself until it's unrecognizable, its return to form near the album's end nearly a reminder of the purity and innocence that has been defiled over the course of the album's runtime, making sure to still pack instrumental swells and crescendos to assure a strong impact on the listener. I think you could make a good case for it being in the fifty objectively greatest albums of all time and I mean that.

Perverts is a great album, and in contrast to preacher's daughter, cuts straight to the chase. What perverts greatest strength is, in my opinion, is that it's drone that objectively, decidedly means something. Another great strength of perverts is that, sonically, it starts out in about the deepest, darkest, most twisted mood that Preacher's Daughter ever reaches period. This isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, it's just a different approach. Perverts, almost playfully, cold opens into abject despair. You look at this album, and it's called "Perverts," it's by Ethel Cain, the cover art is very blatantly harrowing, it's painfully obvious that it's as dark, destructive, and soul-wrenching as a piece of art can be, or at least that's what it's going for. And while I'm sure typical fans of drone and dark ambient would be quite happy with a piece of work that just kind of hums and buzzes for 90 minutes, I'm much happier with what we got.

The vocals, be they sung or spoken word, really put this album together. Yes, it's possible to stare into static and form it into shapes yourself, but when themes and imagery are called into mind by Cain's wretched muttering, she guides the listener into taking away a more complete experience. It's certainly not phoned in, but I, as a listener who typically is not into non-melodic, stretched out instrumental passages (aka normal, I really hope that does not sound condescending hahaha), take richer meaning and impact away from Perverts than I ever could from a more abstract or minimalist piece. It's not even that the more varied instrumentation and lyrical speeches and diversions provide more that isn't drone for me to listen to, but they tell me what's actually going on in the music so that I have no choice but to see horrors of a specific kind in the static of the drone passages without making the active and voluntary choice to focus on thinking about a certain thing. This force, this compulsion, is part of what makes this such an authentically punishing listening experience.

The artistry on display on Perverts is just super impressive, and it's awesome to hear Cain show off her talents and creativity. Some of the best and most overwhelming moments for me were Pulldrone's speech, Amber Waves euphoric yet devastating crescendo, and damn, Etienne is straight up optimistic. Despite appearances, Perverts does not spend the entirety of its runtime in despair - like on Preacher's Daughter, cain makes room for the contrast between optimism and pessimism, euphoria and pain, heaven and hell. Etienne is a seriously amazing track, showing how the deepest depths of depression can still find light within. I love love love the lyrics on it, they are incredibly meaningful and inspirational. Amber Waves is a highlight as I previously mentioned, and it's so damn refreshing to hear Cain's beautiful, lush singing voice as the album closes out. It's an amazing, bittersweet, and appropriately, refreshingly human ending.

Perverts is my favorite drone album I have heard, hell my favorite in any of these draggy, instrumental based genres, it means a lot despite saying less. Yes, there were moments of this album that annoyed or bored me, but they were few and far between, at least compared to what I expected. I think existing fans of drone and dark ambient are really getting into this thing and it's kind of destroying them. I... love that for them, I guess. I bet if I were privy to that way of consuming music, if I were more willing to engage with this format of material, I would also get more out of it than I did. There are just people out there more primed to 'get' this than me, and that's fine.

Perverts is great (7/10). It's extremely well made, I'm glad it exists, and it made me thoroughly and deeply enjoy a type of music I have a personal vendetta against. Bravo Ethel.

I'm sorry this review was more about how I feel about certain types of music than about the work itself, but that's just what I felt like I wanted to say with regards to this project. Maybe just check out the work itself.

[dufferpuffer]

your thoughts on tiktok-fanon alpha male lupin? because i find it SO out of character

My engagement with tiktok is exclusively the 10min meme compilations on youtube I watch with my partner before bed. But if its the same as the depictions on here of a teenage Remus who is tall, muscular, dark and sorta grumpy/cocky looking... with a skinny, pale, manic pixie Sirius covered in cutsey muggle tattoos...

...I don't recognize these people. Whatever fanfic or AU it is from... I just assume its a really specific re-imagining...? To the point where I question how much can even be called 'Remus' or 'Sirius' anymore. And that's being flattering. I don't understand it so I don't engage with it, apart from reblogging the occasional pretty fanart.

They are both OOC - and not in interesting ways. I love headcanons. Exploring a character so hard that they don't look the same anymore, because they take on different forms, for different situations... I'll never fault people for having fun like that. You know how there's like... 10,000 different Sans Undertales? They typically still feel like Sans. I like the one where Sans and Papyrus swap personalities, and the one where the monsters are 'more evil' - and more red.

That doesn't mean it can't be done in a way that's boring and lame, that is less exploration of a character and more a destruction. Personally - this version of Sirius and Remus is boring and lame.

I don't understand why they have scattered muggle tattoos. There are 100 ways you could imagine the Wizarding World having cool tattoos... or at LEAST better designed muggle tattoos? Movie Sirius has these chunky amateur looking runes on his body, like he drew them himself with his finger... but fanon Sirius, and sometimes Remus, look like a kids gone crazy with a ballpoint pen - and not in a way that adds childish teenage character. In a way that looks like they've been scrolling pintrest. It sucks the individuality and character OUT of them. Makes them look like a sample book. You could give Sirius a really cool looking sleeve that incorporates his interests and personality in a tight, unique pattern... or you could draw a bunch of disjointed icons and words.

I don't understand why they often have cigarettes. Why cigarettes? Snuff, chew, hookah, cigars, pipes... ANYTHING you could imagine with a wand or magical tool - but they use cigarettes specifically...? Like... I don't HATE it... There is character, story and interest you could add via habits. But it's not used like that. It's used as short-hand for 'sexy rebels'.

Why is Remus so stern? Why is Sirius a manic pixie dream girl? How do these boys grow up into the men we can recognize...? Or... is the world so different that every narrative thread is snapped? In which case: Why are they Remus and Sirius? Whats the point?

It's like the passably-drawn porn that is just a stock position with two characters put in it - but doesn't resemble their personalities or mannerisms at all. Yknow what im talking about ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) It's hard to have an opinion about that other than 'thats not them.' You wanna see Whitebeard fucking Nico Robin? And Nico Robin has an expression she'd never pull? And Whitebeard is like 6ft tall - instead of 22ft tall? But they're doing reserve cowgirl, if you're into that. ...They're just filling the roles of 'masculine dom' and 'feminine sub'. If that's what people wanna do... ok. They can have fun. I just wish it was tagged it as whatever AU or fanfic its based on rather than just the character names.

[twstunes]

I am OBSESSED with your colored in manga pages!!! They’re beautiful I can’t stop thinking about them, how do you do your TWST page edits??? I’m really wanting to color the chapters too! It looks so fun!

I downloaded the pages (of chp1) straight from where I read them, and edited over (im using krita! Maybe photoshop would be better??) but I can’t seem to make them look the way I want them to. The line quality is nowhere near yours, yours looks so professional! I hope I’m not stepping on your toes by asking but I feel like I’m missing something 😭 would you mind explaining where/how you download the pages with such high quality? Do you turn them transparent like coloring books or edit overtop of them? I hope this ask isn’t too much!!

XOXOXOXO I hope you’re doing well!! You’re easily one of my fav twst blogs!

kicking my feet and giggling,,,,,, I hope you're doing well too!! you're not stepping on my toes at all, don't worry!

The pages I've been using for color edits are from turtlesoupscans' uploads – they're a scanlation group focused on TWST, and currently have stuff up for the manga (both the main story + anthology comic) as well as translations for the official novel. To my understanding, their scans ARE okay to use for color edits, but not for re-translations or mass-reuploads.

I do all my edits in photoshop using a lot of multiply & lighten layers! The coloring book method u mentioned is so enticing yet so traitorous…in photoshop, the selection + erasing method tends to damage the lineart, and the inverted channel method for removing white backgrounds quickly will keep a 'film' if the background isn't pure #ffffff. (Maybe krita has a more effective solution? 👀)

(Also bc I brought up using photoshop I'm ethically obligated to mention that photopea, an online equivalent to photoshop, exists and is free to use)

I've never used krita before, but from what I'm seeing of its layout/capabilities, the process I use should translate over fairly well–

(Added a black bg to the "fill" portion to make it easier to see)

First come the "fill" layers, which are for covering up halftones & similar shading techniques. This step isn't super necessary (and sometimes involves a lot more editing to replicate halftone gradients/patterns), but I heavily recommend it for scenes that involve a lot of dark colors. Leaving halftones in can cause colors to look darker & grayer than they should, the latter of which you specifically want to avoid when making color edits of darker-skinned characters. (They can also be really good for conveying texture tho, which is why I left the statues' shading alone in this example.)

Next are the color layers, where the bulk of the editing happens. As I mentioned above, I use a ton of multiply layers for this so I can just draw over the image. Darken layers also work, but I've found they tend to affect line density & smoothness. The shading and highlighting here is done using masking layers for individual objects/structures – I think quick group + choosing inherit alpha for the mask layer is the krita equivalent? Layers for darkening the overall lighting (like for nighttime scenes) would also go in this section.

Finally, the lighten layers are solely for the lineart. This is to help "soften" the the lineart, so to speak, making the scene feel a little more 3D/fleshed-out. This step is especially important when dealing with hard shadows, like on the Dark Mirror's frame, Pomefiore's windows, and Ignihyde's central pillar-thing. What I do is put down a bunch of lighten layers, typically at 50% or 75% opacity, and color-pick the darkest part of whatever feature I'm editing the lineart for. Because I'm using a darker color, the surrounding multiply layers will usually go unaffected by the lighten layers – if not, I just gotta zoom in and be careful about it. These layers need to be on top of/closer to the 'front' than the color layers, or else the multiply effect of the color layers will apply to the lighten layers as well.

Thanks for bearing with my kinda long-winded explanation! I've been learning as I go, so there might be easier/better ways of doing things that I haven't stumbled across yet.

I hope this helps & that you have fun doing color edits!!

[princesscolumbia]

Pride Month 2024 - Day 6

I got so caught up in getting a chapter of Code of Ethics posted I almost forgot today's Pride Month entry!

So I'm delaying the Tumblr post for the new chapter until tomorrow so I can do this tonight.

And for today's Gender™️-fueled entry...welcome to the Omegaverse! 😈

Sunset Shimmer has the misfortune to stumble onto a human world that mirrors her home to an uncanny degree, save for one thing; it exists in The Omegaverse. These humans developed traits commonly associated with wolves. Alphas become the leaders and find mates with Omegas, Betas are the majority of the population. When Sunset Shimmer transited to this world, she did so via a magical portal that "rewrote" her base form, but there's a catch: Where any human to transit into this universe by a similar method, their own mythologies and histories usually include werewolves and the magic could pattern the visitor after the visitor's native Archana-canid Sapiens. Equestria has no such being in its history or legends. But there is one intelligent species in Equestria that is quite common and has the traits in its biology, social structure, and power dynamic to match the human world. Sunset must navigate an unfamiliar world in a strange body that seems to be betraying her at every turn, and Celestia must deal with challenges never before faced by an Alpha to keep her pack members and the secret to Sunset's unique nature hidden from the world. Because Sunset Shimmer is not an ordinary Alpha, she's a…Deviation

I cannot say my first exposure to the Omegaverse was in 2022 when I found my first Ranma 1/2 Omegaverse fic. I didn't, in fact, even know that it was an Omegaverse fic. I just saw a Ranma 1/2 fic whose premise was unknown enough to me that I might have actually found a Ranmafic I couldn't guess the plot and dialog for (long story). And upon being captivated by this creation I checked the tags to see if I could find other stuff that fell into the same category...and saw #omegaverse in the tags.

And now, a re-enactment of my reaction: "Wait, THAT'S what 'Omegaverse' means?!?!"

See, I'd been seeing the tags floating around various spaces online but didn't know what it meant, what it indicated, and legit thought it was just another franchise I hadn't heard of and didn't have the bandwidth or spoons to look up. Knock me over with a feather when I found out it was an entire meta-fandom all its own (like furries) and it was all about the Gender and was fertile soil for ALL SORTS OF COOL WORLD BUILDING!

Plus it means I giggle like a teenager hearing the number '69' when I hear the word 'knot.'

It's also the first fic I started experimenting with the custom CSS (called "work skins" by AO3) that let me do some cool stuff like this:

The same fic on FiMFiction (which had, once upon a time, been my preferred publication destination for my fics...but it's MLP-only, so I can't really post my Ranma or She-ra stuff there) doesn't look nearly as good:

That said, if you prefer the FiMFiction site for reasons that have nothing to do with fic formatting, by all means check the work out there using this link:

[livingobserver]

This image..., it paused my scroll to observe more closely and if an image can pause my scroll..., there is a very good chance (within Common Social Reason), it will make it into my Archive here on Tumblr. Fortunately, or unfortunately, that means you are likely to see it as well. Depending on the mood of the Tumblr Gods, and/or the Tumblr A.I., whichever comes first. In any case, I don't always just share for you, personally. Most often it is for the record and if that record keeps you entertained? So much the better. (Like it or not, your Tumblr Archive is a huge part of your Electronic Legacy and you should keep that very much in mind as you Blog and Re-Blog) I do try to NOT, offend your sensitivities. But realize that as an Alpha Male/Master Artist that I am not so sensitive. I've also played all sorts of Team Sports/ lived in Ranch Bunkhouses and served two branches of the U.S. Military. Male Nudity, whether partial, or full, has just been a fact and reality of life for myself. (You..., most of you Women and most of you Gay Men, would have loved to be in my life..., I'm sure.) It is of no consequence to me, except as to my appreciation (and very possibly envy) of the Human Male Form. So..., yeah this makes it to my Archive. My Profile Museum. I do hope it didn't bother you, as I hope everything I share doesn't cause you any disturbance. I am not a TROLL But they are just images, in regards to this subject. Nothing anymore threatening than any other sculpture.

I do find it odd, that most most religions can't seem to appreciate what they preach their God created. No matter what it happens to be. Why do they seem so ashamed of it? I know the answer. But this would turn into a tome if I attempted to expand on that and you don't have time for my particular insights. Just appreciate the image for what it conveys to you, or..., don't. Either way it goes into my Archive, regardless. So anyone, or any machine can put all the pieces found there, together...., if they, or it choose to want to know me better. And the more pieces I supply..., the less chances of misunderstanding, because there is no shortage of context to be found in my archive. (Knowing full well how easily that context can be twisted) Though the reality remains...., that you will ever really know me no matter how many pieces of the puzzle I supply. Until we've spoken to each other over drinks in a Pub, or Saloon and make eye contact, along with body language and even then, I'll keep you guessing. 'Cause that's just me. I don't like to be Patterned. :P

[gauri1515]

Best Social Media Marketing Services in New York 

In the fast-paced and competitive landscape of New York City, having a robust social media presence is essential for businesses looking to expand their reach and stay ahead. As digital trends rapidly evolve, agencies like Go Digital Alpha play a key role in helping brands enhance their online visibility through strategic, data-driven marketing solutions.

Why Social Media Marketing Matters in NYC

With millions of potential customers, NYC offers a unique opportunity for businesses to engage with diverse audiences. Whether you’re a small startup or a large corporation, adopting modern social media strategies is crucial to stand out in this bustling market.

Key benefits of effective social media marketing include:

Increased Brand Visibility: Consistent, engaging content helps you reach a larger audience.

Stronger Customer Relationships: Social media enables direct interaction, fostering brand loyalty.

Higher Lead Conversion Rates: Targeted campaigns attract and convert the right customers.

With various platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok available, businesses need a clear and effective social media strategy to succeed.

Proven Social Media Strategies for NYC Businesses

To navigate the competitive NYC market, businesses must adopt innovative and data-driven social media approaches. Here are the most effective strategies:

1. Data-Driven Audience Targeting

Understanding your audience is the foundation of successful social media marketing. By utilizing advanced tools like Meta Business Suite, Google Analytics, and AI-driven insights, NYC businesses can segment their audience based on:

Location and demographics

Online behavior and interests

Purchase history and engagement patterns

This precise targeting allows for the creation of personalized campaigns that resonate with specific customer groups, increasing engagement and conversion rates.

2. Engaging and High-Quality Content

In a city where digital noise is constant, content must be both captivating and relevant. Effective content strategies include:

Visual Storytelling: Eye-catching graphics, videos, and short-form content (e.g., Instagram Reels and TikToks) capture audience attention.

Narrative-Driven Posts: Crafting compelling stories through captions and multimedia builds emotional connections.

Interactive Elements: Polls, quizzes, and live sessions boost audience participation and foster stronger engagement.

Consistent delivery of high-quality content encourages followers to engage with and share your brand.

3. Influencer Marketing for Authentic Connections

NYC is home to a diverse range of influencers across industries like fashion, technology, fitness, and food. Collaborating with influencers can:

Enhance brand credibility and trust

Reach niche, engaged communities

Drive conversions through authentic product recommendations

Micro-influencers (10K–100K followers) are especially effective due to their loyal and engaged audiences, making them ideal partners for localized marketing efforts.

4. Paid Advertising and Retargeting

With organic reach declining, paid advertising is essential for maximizing visibility. To optimize return on investment (ROI), businesses should:

Utilize Precise Targeting: Filter audiences by location, demographics, and interests.

A/B Testing: Test multiple ad variations to determine which performs best.

Retargeting Campaigns: Re-engage users who have shown interest but have not converted.

Platforms like Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and Google Ads provide advanced tools to refine and scale advertising strategies effectively.

5. Community Building and Customer Engagement

Building a loyal customer base requires active engagement and relationship-building. NYC businesses can foster community through:

Timely Responses: Engage with comments and direct messages promptly.

Exclusive Groups: Create specialized Facebook or LinkedIn groups to share exclusive content.

Interactive Events: Host virtual Q&A sessions or in-person meetups to strengthen community ties.

A strong community increases customer loyalty and encourages word-of-mouth promotion.

6. Trend-Based and Viral Marketing

Staying on top of digital trends is essential for capturing attention in NYC’s dynamic market. Effective trend-based strategies include:

Leveraging Trending Hashtags: Participate in popular challenges and hashtags to boost visibility.

Meme Marketing: Use humor and relatable content to connect with audiences.

Industry Conversations: Engage in relevant discussions to showcase your brand’s voice and expertise.

By aligning with emerging trends, businesses can increase their chances of creating viral content and enhancing brand awareness.

Why Choose Go Digital Alpha for Social Media Marketing in NYC?

When it comes to the best social media marketing services in NYC, Go Digital Alpha stands out with its expertise in crafting tailored, data-driven strategies. Their comprehensive approach includes:

Customized Content Creation: Unique, brand-aligned content that resonates with target audiences.

ROI-Focused Paid Campaigns: Optimized advertising to maximize return on investment.

Advanced Audience Targeting: Leveraging analytics to reach the most relevant audiences.

Influencer Collaborations: Partnering with the right influencers to drive authentic engagement.

With a proven track record of delivering results, Go Digital Alpha helps NYC businesses enhance their digital presence and achieve sustainable growth.

Final Thoughts

Succeeding in NYC’s competitive social media landscape requires a combination of creativity, strategy, and data-driven insights. By implementing these proven strategies and partnering with experienced agencies like Go Digital Alpha, businesses can strengthen their brand presence, engage with their audience, and achieve long-term success in 2025 and beyond

[construction654]

The Role of Architectural Drawings in Landscape Architecture

Alpha design labFebruary 05, 2025

In the realm of design, architectural drawings serve as the backbone of any project, whether it’s an urban skyscraper, a cozy residence, or an expansive park. While often associated with buildings, these drawings play a crucial role in landscape architecture as well. At Alpha Design Lab-best architecture company in bangalore, we recognize the power of precise, well-structured drawings in shaping outdoor spaces that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

The Intersection of Architectural Drawings and Landscape Architecture

Landscape architecture is the art and science of designing outdoor environments, from gardens and parks to large-scale urban developments. Unlike traditional architecture, which primarily focuses on structures, landscape architecture integrates natural elements like vegetation, water features, and landforms with built environments. Architectural drawings are essential in this process, as they help visualize, plan, and execute designs that harmonize with nature.

Types of Architectural Drawings Used in Landscape Architecture

Various types of architectural drawings guide the development of landscape projects. Each serves a specific purpose, from conceptualizing ideas to detailing construction elements.

Site Plans

A site plan provides a top-down view of the entire landscape project, showing property boundaries, existing features, and proposed additions. It includes pathways, vegetation, water bodies, seating areas, and other landscape elements. Site plans are crucial in communicating the overall vision to clients, contractors, and regulatory bodies.

Master Plans

Master plans offer a more comprehensive vision for large-scale landscape projects, integrating multiple site elements into a cohesive design. These drawings often evolve through different stages, incorporating feedback from stakeholders to refine the design.

Concept Sketches

Early in the design process, concept sketches help landscape architects explore ideas and present preliminary layouts. These freehand or digital sketches focus on spatial arrangements, circulation patterns, and potential focal points.

Planting Plans

A planting plan specifies the types, quantities, and placements of plants within the landscape. It ensures that vegetation complements the overall design, taking into account factors like climate, soil conditions, and seasonal changes.

Grading and Drainage Plans

Proper site grading and drainage are critical to preventing erosion, managing stormwater, and ensuring a stable foundation for landscape features. These drawings depict elevation changes, slopes, and drainage solutions that maintain the site’s ecological balance.

Construction Details

For built elements like retaining walls, pergolas, fountains, and walkways, construction details provide precise measurements, materials, and assembly instructions. These technical drawings ensure that elements are constructed correctly and sustainably.

The Importance of Architectural Drawings in Landscape Architecture

1. Visualization and Communication

Architectural drawings translate abstract ideas into tangible plans, helping clients and stakeholders visualize the final outcome. They serve as a universal language between landscape architects, engineers, urban planners, and contractors.

2. Precision and Feasibility

A well-drafted drawing ensures accuracy in execution, reducing the risk of costly mistakes. It considers spatial relationships, material specifications, and environmental constraints to create feasible and sustainable designs.

3. Sustainability and Environmental Integration

Landscape architecture often aims to enhance ecological balance. Through detailed drawings, architects can incorporate green infrastructure, such as rain gardens, bioswales, and permeable pavements, to promote sustainability.

4. Regulatory Compliance

Many landscape projects must adhere to zoning laws, environmental regulations, and accessibility standards. Architectural drawings play a key role in obtaining approvals from local authorities by demonstrating compliance with these guidelines.

5. Project Coordination

Large-scale landscape projects involve multiple disciplines, from horticulture to civil engineering. Drawings act as reference documents that streamline coordination among various teams, ensuring smooth execution.

The Future of Architectural Drawings in Landscape Architecture

With advancements in digital tools and technology, architectural drawings in landscape architecture are evolving. At Alpha Design Lab, we embrace innovations like Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to enhance the design and planning process. Digital modeling allows for more accurate simulations, helping designers analyze environmental impacts and optimize layouts before implementation.

Additionally, parametric and generative design tools enable landscape architects to explore complex patterns and responsive landscapes that adapt to changing environmental conditions. These technologies are transforming the way outdoor spaces are conceived and executed.

Conclusion

Architectural drawings are indispensable in landscape architecture, bridging the gap between vision and reality. From conceptual sketches to detailed construction documents, they guide the design, development, and execution of outdoor spaces that are both beautiful and functional. At Alpha Design Lab-best architects in bangalore, we understand the critical role of these drawings in crafting sustainable, well-integrated landscapes that enhance the built environment. As technology advances, so too will the precision and possibilities of landscape architectural drawings, paving the way for more innovative and resilient outdoor spaces.

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[reasoningdaily]

Science: Did a top NIH official manipulate Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s studies for decades?

In 2016, when the U.S. Congress unleashed a flood of new funding for Alzheimer’s disease research, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) tapped veteran brain researcher Eliezer Masliah as a key leader for the effort. He took the helm at the agency’s Division of Neuroscience, whose budget—$2.6 billion in the last fiscal year—dwarfs the rest of NIA combined.

As a leading federal ambassador to the research community and a chief adviser to NIA Director Richard Hodes, Masliah would gain tremendous influence over the study and treatment of neurological conditions in the United States and beyond. He saw the appointment as his career capstone. Masliah told the online discussion site Alzforum that “the golden era of Alzheimer’s research” was coming and he was eager to help NIA direct its bounty. “I am fully committed to this effort. It is a historical moment.”

Masliah appeared an ideal selection. The physician and neuropathologist conducted research at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) for decades, and his drive, curiosity, and productivity propelled him into the top ranks of scholars on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. His roughly 800 research papers, many on how those conditions damage synapses, the junctions between neurons, have made him one of the most cited scientists in his field. His work on topics including alpha-synuclein—a protein linked to both diseases—continues to influence basic and clinical science.

But over the past 2 years questions have arisen about some of Masliah’s research. A Science investigation has now found that scores of his lab studies at UCSD and NIA are riddled with apparently falsified Western blots—images used to show the presence of proteins—and micrographs of brain tissue. Numerous images seem to have been inappropriately reused within and across papers, sometimes published years apart in different journals, describing divergent experimental conditions.

After Science brought initial concerns about Masliah’s work to their attention, a neuroscientist and forensic analysts specializing in scientific work who had previously worked with Science produced a 300-page dossier revealing a steady stream of suspect images between 1997 and 2023 in 132 of his published research papers. (Science did not pay them for their work.) “In our opinion, this pattern of anomalous data raises a credible concern for research misconduct and calls into question a remarkably large body of scientific work,” they concluded.

Neither Masliah nor the various drug companies, universities, or federal ­agencies that were provided the dossier have so far rejected or challenged any of its examples of possible misconduct despite being given the material more than 2 weeks ago. And today, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a statement saying that following an investigation, it had “made findings of research misconduct” against Masliah for “falsification and/or fabrication involving re-use and relabel of figure panels” in two publications. According to the statement, Masliah no longer serves as NIA’s neuroscience division director, but NIH declined to further clarify his employment status.

Masliah and Hodes, via a spokesperson, declined to reply to detailed questions, provide an interview, or comment on the dossier. NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli also declined to comment. And Masliah did not reply to Science’s requests for raw images and other data related to the examples in suspect papers, or to a new request for comment on the NIH misconduct finding.

The dossier challenges far more studies than the two cited in NIH’s statement, including many that underpin the development and testing of experimental drugs (see sidebar). Masliah’s work, for example, helped win a nod from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical trials of an antibody called prasinezumab for Parkinson’s. Made by Prothena—a company backed by big money—the drug is intended to attack alpha-synuclein, whose build up in the brain has been linked to the condition’s debilitating physical and cognitive symptoms.

But in a trial of 316 Parkinson’s patients, reported in 2022 in The New England Journal of Medicine, prasinezumab showed no benefit compared with a placebo. And volunteers given infusions of the antibody suffered from far more side effects such as nausea and headaches than those in a placebo group who received sham infusions. Prothena is now collaborating in another trial of the drug candidate involving 586 Parkinson’s patients.

The creators of the dossier, who were unaware of NIH’s probe when they spoke with Science, emphasize that they are not themselves accusing Masliah or his colleagues of fraud or misconduct. They note that some of the identified image problems might have been simple errors, and that when images are prepared for publication, some can acquire innocent visual artifacts that resemble improper changes. Distinguishing the two sometimes requires comparison to raw, high-resolution images and other data, which the dossier’s authors did not have. But they say their findings merit formal investigations.

The enormity of apparent problems described in the Masliah dossier stunned 11 neuroscientists who agreed to review it for Science. “Breathtaking,” says neuroscientist Christian Haass of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. “People will, of course, be shocked, as I was. … I was falling from a chair, basically.”

He and the other researchers didn’t personally verify every example of possible misconduct, but they agreed that most of the suspect work cannot reasonably be explained as careless errors or publishing anomalies. “I’m floored,” says Samuel Gandy, a prominent neurologist at the Mount Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center who was visibly shaken during a video interview. “Hundreds of images. There had to have been ongoing manipulation for years.”

Gandy was disturbed, for example, that Masliah and colleagues seem to have used the same image of a mitochondrion, a cellular energy-producing structure, in two articles on different topics published 2 years apart in different journals. “The bus driver could see that they are identical,” Gandy says.

MASLIAH IS THE SOLE common author on every paper in the dossier, usually taking the first or last position in multiauthor articles. Those positions imply he did the majority of the publication’s work or bears primary responsibility for it, although the others contributed.

Several of the neuroscientists who reviewed the dossier say it seems implausible that Masliah was duped by a colleague. “Given the extended time frame and huge number of differing collaborators and co-authors on these papers, [possible misconduct] by a rogue postdoc or a collaborating scientist doesn’t apply here,” says Tim Greenamyre, director of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases. “I have a hard time believing that he didn’t know, whether he changed the images himself or somebody else did so on his behalf.”

I’m floored ... Hundreds of images. There had to have been ongoing manipulation for years.

Samuel Gandy

Mount Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center

At a minimum, according to neuroscientists who spoke with Science, the large volume of doubtful images erodes trust in Masliah’s overall body of work. All 11 who reviewed the dossier agree that all his problem papers should be investigated by NIH, scholarly journals, funders, and UCSD. The university declined to comment, and NIH did not say whether it planned or was conducting a broad misconduct investigation into his research. Masliah this week, days after NIH said it concluded its probe, still appeared with Hodes, the NIA director, to give introductory remarks at the start of a national Alzheimer’s summit on the NIH campus.

As a division director, Masliah would hold sway over NIA’s neuroscience funding, according to Alan Leshner, who previously led two other NIH institutes and headed AAAS (publisher of Science) until 2015. In most cases, he says, institutes select grants based on scores awarded by peer-review “study sections.” But institute and division directors can fund preferred projects, such as studies of amyloid, the brain protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, over better scoring competitors.

“There’s no question that in most cases, a division director … is viewed as someone who has the judgment to set priorities,” Leshner says. They can also alter the direction of a field. If a division director shows interest in a particular aspect of neuro-science related to aging, he adds, “you get [many] proposals in the next round in that area.”

There’s no evidence that Masliah has been a poor steward of NIA’s neuroscience budget or directed it down blind alleys underpinned by suspect data, but NIH’s statement today still leaves many crucial questions unaddressed.

“The volume of papers and resources involved are enormous—as is Dr. Masliah’s leadership and influence on the field, including drug development pipelines,” says Vanderbilt University neuroscientist Matthew Schrag, one of those who helped assemble the dossier. “That makes it a very influential example of possible misconduct.”

MASLIAH, 65, TRAINED in medicine and neuropathology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), earning his medical degree in 1982 and completing a residency in pathology in 1986. He married a U.S. resident who also studied medicine at UNAM. They relocated to San Diego after Masliah’s training.

Soon after, he landed a plum research fellowship in the lab of Robert Terry, a titan in neuropathology and Alzheimer’s research who reportedly received NIH’s first grant for the neurodegenerative condition in the 1960s. “I was incredibly lucky to meet Dr. Bob Terry,” he told a UCSD interviewer in 2016. In a 1990 photo of Terry’s lab staff, a dark-bearded, youthful Masliah stands proudly, arms folded and wearing his trademark large glasses, beside his famous mentor, who died in 2017. Terry and Masliah pioneered the use of an optical imaging method known as confocal microscopy to create high-resolution 3D images of brain cells.

Masliah went on the lead UCSD’s Experimental Neuropathology Laboratory, where he contributed to early work on alpha-synuclein and novel antibody and vaccine approaches to attack Alzheimer’s and ­Parkinson’s—some of which led to experimental drugs such as prasinezumab that have reached human trials. For Parkinson’s, he also explored antidepressants, and anti-inflammatory drugs or compounds. And for Alzheimer’s, he looked into compounds to decrease the production of amyloid, which builds up in the brain and forms deposits known as plaques outside neurons.

Neurologist Douglas Galasko, who formerly directed the UCSD Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, where Masliah worked, praises his scholarship and character, calling him “highly collegial and very hardworking.” Galasko co-authored five papers in the dossier, making modest contributions unrelated to apparently doctored images. (He opted not to view the document.)

Galasko says he never heard concerns or doubts about Masliah, whom he describes as “very serious, yet warm and thoughtful, and engaging to have a conversation with.” Those qualities earned him long-term loyalty from investigators working in his lab, Galasko adds. “He’s a very effective spokesperson, organizer, and synthesizer of ideas.” Colleagues at UCSD, he notes, felt enormous pride when Masliah took the helm at NIA’s neuroscience division.

Major impact

Eliezer Masliah’s research on Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases has enjoyed global influence. His output, as well as the number of citations to his papers, place him among the world’s top 10 scientists in certain subfields (highlighted in red).

“NIA sets the agenda worldwide for age-related diseases,” says Scott Ayton, who directs a neuroscience center at the Florey research institute in Australia, echoing peers in the U.S. and Europe. He was among those who reviewed the dossier and considered the concerns highly credible.

University of Texas at San Antonio neuroscientist George Perry, chief editor of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, describes Masliah’s research as influential and well-regarded, as do other experts in neurodegenerative diseases. In key topics related to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, Masliah frequently ranks in the global top 10 researchers—and often first—by number of papers and citations to them, according to an analysis of data from Dimensions Analytics, a scholarly research data bank from the U.K. company Digital Science (see chart, above). For example, Masliah placed first for papers that use the terms “synuclein” and “synapse.”

His most influential work includes fundamental studies of synaptic damage in mice genetically engineered to mimic various neurodegenerative conditions. “People are very dependent on all of these descriptions,” says Perry, who also reviewed the dossier on Masliah’s research for Science. Many are among the 132 questioned papers, which have racked up more than 18,000 citations, often by leading scholars. “Now I think that work was probably fabricated, in part,” Perry adds, calling the influence of the questioned papers “very problematic.”

BEGINNING IN 2023, forensic image sleuths began to flag a few papers in which Masliah played a central role, posting to PubPeer, an online forum where research publications are discussed and allegations of misconduct often raised. In a few cases, Masliah or a co-author replied or made corrections. Soon after, Science spotted the posts, and because of Masliah’s position and standing decided to take a deeper look.

Schrag, Columbia University neurobiologist Mu Yang, and independent forensic image analyst Kevin Patrick agreed to examine a wider swath of Masliah’s output. (Patrick, a nonscientist who uses the moniker “Cheshire” on social media, had pseudonymously submitted several PubPeer posts on Masliah papers.) In 2023, after a similar request from Science, the same group had assessed work by University of Southern California (USC) Alzheimer’s and stroke expert Berislav Zlokovic. Their dossier of possible misconduct and a subsequent Science report prompted university and NIH investigations, which are apparently ongoing, and led NIH to pause a late-stage clinical trial of a stroke drug based in part on apparently manipulated studies.

For the new dossier, Schrag provided examples, technical context, and expertise on how the findings might affect the promise of prasinezumab and other drugs. Yang took the lead role in identifying and examining questionable images. She used Image- twin, a software program, to assist her own personal scrutiny. (The software, for example, initially spotted the reused mitochondrion image.) Schrag and Yang worked independently of their employers.

Microbiologist and research integrity expert Elisabeth Bik, who also worked on the Zlokovic dossier, contributed other Masliah examples and reviewed and concurred with almost all of the findings. All of the dossier authors worked as volunteers, poring over papers and images in their spare time. The group says it will post many of the examples from the Masliah dossier on PubPeer for others to review; Schrag provided the dossier to NIH, as did Science in the course of producing this story. (NIH’s statement says it had initiated its own investigation much earlier, in May 2023, after receiving allegations from the HHS Office of Research Integrity [ORI].)

In Yang’s analysis of multiple Masliah-authored papers, duplicated sections in some Western blots that had been “seamlessly blended” quickly floated into view, she says. “It tells me someone put a lot of thought and effort into the image … and usually indicates something is very wrong.”

Yang began to see patterns in the apparent image doctoring, which also included images that had been duplicated or seemingly altered by “cloning” portions of them. “I started feeling like a curator or art historian—when you look at a piece of art without the label, you know the artist by the style. Like a painting from Picasso’s blue period,” she adds, “it’s a signature style that I saw in many, many papers—the way they lay out the figures, even the color contrast.”

After finding hundreds of questionable images, the group had more than enough strong signs of misconduct and stopped looking, Yang says. But she suspects similar problems would emerge from a close examination of the hundreds of other Masliah papers.

Making a drug look better?

National Institute on Aging neuroscience chief Eliezer Masliah was senior author of a 2015 study of the Alzheimer’s disease treatment Cerebrolysin in BMC Neuroscience. Brain-tissue images from normal mice and mice engineered to overexpress a mutant form of the tau protein might have been doctored to suggest the drug reduces damage from the tau.

Overlapping copies

In the paper, normal (non-tg) mice show no tau damage. The mutant mice (3RTau) show tau damage unless treated with Cerebrolysin. But a merged image of the younger, normal mouse and the older, treated mutant appear unnaturally similar. Yellow sections are identical.

A series of clones

Dissimilar (red or green) areas within the merged image seem to be caused by efforts to obscure the duplication. Small “cloned” areas within each image are indicated by same-color boxes. The journal’s publisher said it would review the concerns.

YANG AND THE OTHER authors say the ongoing human trials of prasinezumab add to the urgency of their findings. According to Prothena, the drug blocks the spread of toxic alpha-synuclein and might slow the progression of Parkinson’s movement disorders and dementia. Prasinezumab’s documented side effects have not been dangerous. But if it is based on suspect scientific foundations and, as the first clinical results suggest, ineffective, further clinical testing could raise false hopes and divert patients from trials of other experimental drugs.

The concept for prasinezumab emerged from Masliah’s ties to the late Dale Schenk, a UCSD-trained neuroscientist whose research helped pioneer the idea of treating Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s with vaccines designed to block the buildup of harmful amyloid and synuclein. Masliah, Schenk, and others proposed that immunizing people with benign parts of each protein could spur the immune system to produce antibodies that might block the full, toxic form. Infusing labmade antibodies might have the same effect. Either approach, they hypothesized, could offer a “disease modifying” attack on a condition’s root cause, rather than merely alleviating symptoms.

In a 2016 post on Alzforum, Masliah recalled an early discussion with Schenk on the idea. “Dale and I sat at a coffee shop (his favorite place) next to the Pacific Ocean and drew, on a napkin, the concept of how a potential synuclein vaccine might work,” he said. “People strongly doubted the potential use of a vaccine approach in Alzheimer’s and even more so in Parkinson’s. Dale was one of the few who listened and believed in the idea.”

To pursue that vision Schenk co-founded and served as chief executive of Prothena, spun off in 2012 from the former biopharma company Elan. Masliah worked extensively with Schenk until his death from pancreatic cancer at age 59 in 2016. Four of their joint studies, published between 2005 and 2017, proved foundational for prasinezumab, according to Prothena’s promotional material. Schenk was senior author on two of the papers, Masliah on two. All four used apparently doctored images, according to the dossier, as did other Masliah papers cited in clinical trial reports as important to prasinezumab’s development. Some of the papers suggested Parkinson’s symptoms could be generated in mice engineered to produce alpha-synuclein, and that those symptoms could be reduced by injecting antibodies akin to prasinezumab into the animals.

Greenamyre, a Parkinson’s specialist, says the papers showed an “astonishing level” of apparent image manipulation. But he notes that the image anomalies and the drug’s lack of success so far don’t necessarily mean “that synuclein is a bad target or that targeting it with antibodies is never going to work.” The clinical trial team testing the antibody reported earlier this year in Nature Medicine that a small subgroup of its patients showed hints that prasinezumab slows the worsening of movement symptoms—although the group acknowledged that the finding emerged in a “posthoc analysis,” a secondary review unrelated to the trial’s hypothesis.

Manipulations in key experiment?

Five images in a 2005 paper in Neuron from Masliah and Prothena founder Dale Schenk appear to have been doctored in ways that could influence paper's findings. It is among several papers cited as key to the experimental drug prasinezumab that show apparent falsifications.

Still, “The discovery that key papers supporting this approach contained manipulated figures certainly muddies the waters,” Greenamyre says. He’s now hoping independent studies will determine whether “the rationale for clinical development remains on firm ground—or if it is now a little shaky.”

“We do not interpret these claims as specifically relevant to the current prasinezumab clinical program,” Prothena told Science in a brief statement responding to questions about the image anomalies related to the drug.

Swiss pharma giant Hoffmann-La Roche, which partnered with Prothena to develop prasinezumab in 2013, also supplied a statement in response to Science’s questions, saying it would continue clinical development of the drug. “The evidence supporting targeting alpha-synuclein aggregates as a mechanism of action in [Parkinson’s] is based on a wide range of sources,” it stated. In the interest of scientific integrity, Roche added, “We are working to further understand the details of this matter.”

Roche has agreed to pay Prothena up to $620 million if its drug candidate passes a series of performance goals. So far, Roche has paid $135 million.

Schenk and Masliah shared inventor credit in patents in the U.S. and Europe related to synuclein, amyloids, and related science, and they and their co-inventors assigned the rights to Prothena, UCSD, or both. Numerous other Prothena patents refer to suspect work cited in the dossier. Prothena and NIH did not respond to questions about whether Masliah has received or was promised royalties.

The dossier also questions some of Masliah’s earliest work on alpha-synuclein, raising further doubts about the foundations of Prothena’s drug. A seminal 2000 Masliah article in Science, for example, suggested alpha-synuclein might kill certain brain cells and speed the development of brain deposits called Lewy bodies that are hallmarks of Parkinson’s and are often seen in Alzheimer’s patients. But the paper contains an apparently doctored image and another image the dossier authors deemed questionable.

Other researchers have yet to validate aspects of that study, according to Ayton and neurologist Michael Okun of the University of Florida.

“A single nonreplicable finding is in itself not worrisome,” Okun says. But it raises greater concern in light of “convincing evidence of spliced and cloned images which appeared frequently in the decades following.” He calls it “deeply troubling” that FDA greenlighted human trials of prasinezumab based largely on suspect papers from Masliah’s lab.

People will, of course, be shocked, as I was. ... I was falling from a chair, basically.

Christian Haass

Ludwig Maximilians University Munich

FDA declined to comment on the prasinezumab findings challenged within the dossier. Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals, says the journal will “contact the authors [of the 2000 paper] to hear their response to these concerns. If any adjustments are required, we will certainly make them.” (Science’s News department is editorially independent of the journal.)

The new phase 2 trial of prasinezumab is examining whether it might slow the progression of certain movement difficulties caused by Parkinson’s, as the posthoc analysis suggested it might. Roche and Prothena expect to announce preliminary results later this year. The companies would likely decide in 2025 or 2026 on whether to move on to phase 3 trials—larger efficacy experiments needed for possible FDA approval.

The findings in the dossier cast a shadow on the other drug development efforts that rely on Masiah’s challenged work. And they raise questions about the roles and responsibilities of the many prominent scientists as well as more junior researchers who collaborated on some of his suspect experiments.

UCSD neuroscientist Edward Rockenstein, who worked under Masliah for years, co-authored 91 papers that contain questioned images, including 11 as first author. He died in 2022 at age 57. And neuroscientist Robert Rissman worked on 16 of the papers highlighted in the dossier, seven as senior author. He managed biomarkers and brain tissue samples for UCSD’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center prior to moving recently to USC, where he occupies a similar role and manages programs that try to move basic research into treatments for patients. Rissman did not reply to requests for comment. USC says it will conduct a confidential review of Rissman’s involvement with Masliah’s work.  

Haass questions whether Masliah’s closest collaborators could have remained unaware of the steady stream of apparent image manipulation, even if they were not personally culpable. “I mean, come on,” he says. “They must know.”

Other neuroscientists who spoke to Science urged caution in placing blame. “We should be careful … not to rush to judgment on the generation of researchers who may have been innocent members of this laboratory over the span of 20-plus years,” Okun says. “It is entirely possible that many were unaware of improprieties.”

In its statement today, NIH provided few details about the agency’s own investigation into Masliah’s work, including whether it had examined more than two of his publications. The agency says it has notified ORI of its findings and that the NIA deputy director, Amy Kelley, is also now acting head of the neuroscience division.

Given the NIH misconduct determination and the questions raised by the dossier about more than 100 other papers, many scientists—and perhaps congressional appropriators and the public—might question NIH’s vetting process for key roles and how Masliah retained stewardship of NIA’s billions of neuroscience dollars for so long. “For so important a job, you want somebody who is beyond reproach. You want somebody to be an exemplar of what you aspire to be,” Greenamyre says.

By the time NIA hired Masliah in 2016, image manipulation in scientific papers had already become a general concern. Prominent researchers increasingly faced accusations of image manipulation, plagiarism, or other misconduct—which often proved credible. But a former NIA official who would only speak if granted anonymity says he assumes the agency did not assess Masliah’s work for possible misconduct or data doctoring before he was hired.

Indeed, NIH told Science it does not routinely conduct such reviews, because of the difficulty of the process. “There is no evidence that such proactive screening would improve, or is necessary to improve, the research integrity environment at NIH,” the agency added.

Gandy disagrees. “It has to be part of the process now,” he says.

Greenamyre notes a concern about the episode also voiced by Haass and others who viewed the dossier: “I worry about it giving science a further black eye, just as the public’s confidence in science and scientists is sinking to new depths.” But, Greenamyre says, “In the interest of transparency and scientific integrity, this sad story has to come out.”

Questionable papers underpin other drugs

By Charles Piller

The possibility that neuroscientist Eliezer Masliah doctored images in scientific writings for decades is likely to provoke anxiety among multiple drug companies. The concerns documented by whistleblowers most directly challenge an experimental Parkinson’s therapy developed by Prothena (see main story). But 238 active patents concerning neurological conditions also cite suspect work noted in the dossier, according to data from Dimensions Analytics. And the corporate holders of those patents include dozens of firms at work on treatments.

The Austria-based biopharma company Ever Pharma relied heavily on Masliah’s questioned work in developing Cerebrolysin, a mixture of peptides—short chains of amino acids—derived from pig brains. Eight studies conducted at Masliah’s former lab at the University of California San Diego, funded in part by Ever Pharma, indicated the mixture suppresses brain inflammation, promotes growth of new brain cells, and has other benefits that could help dementia patients.

Small clinical trials of Cerebrolysin have suggested modest cognitive benefits in Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, and Ever Pharma now distributes the drug in dozens of nations to treat dementia and stroke. But no large trials have demonstrated it helps dementia patients, and the Food and Drug Administration has not approved Cerebrolysin for use in the United States. And the eight lab studies used suspect images, according to the dossier.

For example, an article by Masliah and colleagues, in BMC Neuroscience in 2014, described the purported benefits of Cerebrolysin for symptoms of neurodegeneration in mice, including reducing mitochondrial damage. Another, published in Neurotoxicity Research in 2016, concerned mice infected with HIV. It republished what appears to be the same image of a mitochondrion.

A spokesperson for Springer Nature, publisher of Neurotoxicity Research, says the concerns will be examined, and responded to if warranted. Stefan Winter, who heads R&D for Ever Pharma’s neurological division, said in a written statement to Science that none of the challenged work in the dossier “played a crucial role in the clinical development of Cerebrolysin.” But, he added, “We take [the allegations] seriously. We will therefore review Prof. Masliah’s work based on the information you provided and refrain from using data from the mentioned publications until this matter is clarified.”

Another company, Neuropore Therapies, cites seven other papers in the Masliah dossier—all with apparently doctored images—as important to the company’s potential drugs for Parkinson’s. Masliah co-founded Neuropore in 2008 but no longer has any apparent affiliation. The most prominent drug candidate his work helped develop, minzasolmin, is in early clinical trials and targets the protein alpha-synuclein for Parkinson’s.

Masliah also provided imaging services for a 2023 paper in NPJ Parkinson’s Disease. The images, which purportedly show enhanced benefits in mice from minzasolmin, appear to be altered, according to the dossier. The concerns will be examined and responded to if warranted, says the journal’s publisher, Springer Nature. “We stand by our data related to clinical development programs,” said Mark Yung, executive chairman of Neuropore, in a brief written reply to detailed questions.

Minzasolmin has Big Pharma backing. In 2015, Neuropore licensed rights to develop and commercialize it and other molecules to the Brussels-based pharma company UCB for $63 million, plus possible future payments. In turn, the Swiss pharma titan Novartis paid UCB $150 million of a possible $1.5 billion for codevelopment rights for minzasolmin and another experimental drug.

“UCB will investigate the preclinical publication on minzasolmin” described in the Masliah dossier and will respond should “evidence of impropriety emerge,” said company spokesperson Laurent Schots in a written statement. But UCB knows of no “facts or circumstances that raise concerns on the quality, validity, and safety of the ongoing clinical development program for minzasolmin,” which is supported by evidence beyond the suspect Masliah work, Schots added.

Preliminary results for the drug’s efficacy from a clinical trial of 496 people in the U.S., Canada, and Europe could be announced later this year.

[health-medicines-2024]

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