#Hosting Provider Transfer

[theseoblogspace]

How to Migrate Your Website to a New Hosting Provider Seamlessly

As a small business owner, you know how vital a strong online presence is. Your website acts as your digital storefront. It’s key to be on a reliable and efficient platform. But what if you outgrow your current host or need a change? Moving your website to a new host might seem tough, but it can be done smoothly1. Jessica, a passionate entrepreneur, ran her online boutique for years. Her site was…

[widadfamily1996]

My name is Wadad, and I am a mother of six children. We live in Gaza, where life has become a daily struggle for survival💔🇵🇸

Right now, we are facing the most difficult challenges. The airstrikes and bombings are relentless, and every day feels like a battle. The sound of explosions has become a constant, and fear and uncertainty follow us everywhere. We no longer have food to feed my children, and our home is no longer safe. It has been destroyed, like many others in Gaza😭😭

We are struggling to find the most basic necessities—food, water, and shelter. My children are scared, hungry, and exhausted. They ask me questions I don't have answers to, and my heart breaks because I can't provide them with the safety and peace they deserve😭😭😭😭😭

I am reaching out to you, dear friends around the world, hoping you can offer help. I am asking for any kind of assistance—whether it’s food, water, shelter, or even words of support. We are desperately in need of your help to survive this nightmare.🥺💔

Please, if you can, help us. Every little bit counts in this time of unimaginable suffering. Your support can make a life-changing difference for my children and me. 🙏

I pray for a day when my children can live without fear and know peace. 🕊️

Thank you for hearing our cry.😭😭😭🇵🇸💔

Verified.....🇵🇸

✅️Vetted by @gazavetters , my number verified on the list is ( #629 )✅️

[cottonlemonade]

Marriage Of Convenience [Part 2]

word count: 1926 || avg. reading time: 11 mins.

pairing: post-time skip!Kuroo x chubby!Reader

genre: fluff, friends to lovers, slow burn, slice of life

warnings: spoilers

synopsis: Marriage is not a big deal, right? Anyone can do it and it comes with a whole lot of benefits! That’s why your friend proposes to you one morning with all the elegance and romance of an empty pudding cup.

[Part 1]

While it was Tetsuro’s turn to host lunch the following Saturday, you sat at his kitchen island on his laptop, pouring over yet another form. 

“Who knew marriage came with this much bureaucracy?”, you huffed out. 

This one was from JVA’s HR department who wasted no time wanting you two to update your name, emergency contacts, marital status, and home address. 

He hummed in agreement as he diced an onion, trying his hardest not to breathe and just squint at the vegetable to avoid any sting in his eyes. 

After successfully transferring it into the hot pan without a single tear, he turned to you, wiping his hands on the front of his apron. You were still filling in boxes here and there when he stepped behind you and studied your entries thus far. 

“Why did you put your apartment as our home address?”

You swiveled your stool, challenging eyebrow raised. 

“Because my place is better.”

“And how do you figure that?”

“Because you come over every morning for breakfast, that’s why.” You began listing, counting on your fingers for emphasis, “It has a balcony, a great kitchen, big friendly windows,”

“You make it sound like my home is a prison.”

“Mine is closer to work-“

“By like three minutes!”

“Our favorite bakery is right across the street and the rent is just about the same. There is no contest, really.”

“I have an extra room.”, he said simply, walking back to the stove and stirring the onions now with a wooden spoon. Your eyes followed him as you spun back around. 

“Why would that be a good argument? I’m not planning on reproducing with you.”

“Okay, rude. And also, so you want to sleep with me in the same bed, is that it?”

Your fingers froze over the keyboard and your superior smile, formed by sure, premature victory, fell and a pout took its place. 

“Man…”, you tapped the backspace repeatedly to clear the designated line, muttering, “I didn’t wanna move, it’s so much work.”

“That’s what you have such a big, strong husband for.”, he grinned and straightened up to showcase how broad his shoulders were, then kind of deflated back into his normal posture as he peeled potatoes, “And besides, we can do that during our honeymoon.” 

You shrugged and nodded in defeat as you put down his address. Upon learning of your marriage, the company had swiftly provided three extra vacation days for this coming week as a gift to the newlyweds - this was no surprise to you as it had been one of the highlights in the marriage presentation. 

With an overly loud groan, Tetsuro placed the last box on the floor by your bed, only to immediately collapse onto your mattress. It was still wrapped in heavy plastic to protect it during the move and crinkled when he sat up on his elbows. 

“You know, I think now is a fantastic opportunity to revisit our plan for the office.”

You pulled a couple of books from a box, thinking if maybe it was time for a new sorting system of the shelf.

“Wifey? You there?”

“You really gotta stop with that.”

He smirked when you rolled your eyes, “But why, if it annoys you so much?”

You ignored him and pondered, weighing a book in your hand, “Okay. Office. Hmm… To be fair, what is there that we don’t do already? We go for lunch together most days, we talk, we joke, we go home. It’s not like Japan is known for its PDA.”

“True true. But instead of walking in as per usual, we could hold hands. I really can’t have people think I’m not affectionate with my-“, he paused upon your glare before ending with, “oh so lovely wife.”

“Okay. Hand-holding is permitted. - What do we say to friends?”

“You can tell them whatever you want.”

“Even Asana?”

She was your best friend in the entire world after all and even the one who introduced you to the recruiters at JVA a couple of years ago. Now she sat at the desk next to you in the office. 

“Sure, as long as you swear her to secrecy.”

“I’ll even pinky swear if that makes you feel better.”

“Actually a lot better, thanks. - Ugh.”, he dropped back down with an exhausted sigh to fully starfish on the mattress for a moment, then sat back up, “Alright. Imma take a shower and then be a good hubby and get started on dinner. Just tell me, if you need any help.” He got up and walked towards the door, then stopped and flexed unnecessarily, “Especially with building stuff or changing light bulbs.”

“All good, I can manage.”, you replied without looking up. 

Tetsuro tilted his head, “Over dinner, we’ll need to have a serious conversation about your aversion to this whole marriage role-play.”

You laughed and used the door in his back to push him out. 

On Thursday then, the first day back at work, you tried your best to peek around the giant gift basket your coworkers had gotten you. To not look ungrateful by putting it below the desk on the ground, you had resigned yourself to push it as far to the table’s edge as possible, but it was simply so big that it was still somewhat in the way. At least now, it was only slightly limiting your ability to do your job. The huge flower bouquet that had accompanied the basket was no longer covering half your screen since Tetsuro, under many bows and thank yous, placed it in a pitcher with water on the window sill. 

“Here.”, Asana said, rolling over a little cabinet that previously had stacks of important documents on top of it. Those documents were now precariously placed by an already wonky mountain of binders. 

Together with her, you heaved the basket onto the cabinet where, although centered, it hung over on all sides. 

“I’ll never get this back home on the train.”, you observed, while Asana leaned against the corner of your desk. 

“Don’t you mean we, darling?” Tetsuro just came back from the break room and replaced your empty cup of coffee with a new, steaming cup of tea. You rolled your eyes and Asana laughed - you had filled her in the moment she came into the office that morning, pouting that she hadn’t been invited to the wedding. Safely hidden in the supply closet, you had explained to her in urgent whispers, how the whole situation came to be in the first place and detailed how just that morning you and him had stood in front of the office building, looking up at the many windows reflecting the early light. After a moment’s silence, Tetsuro then adjusted the bag that hung over his shoulder and held out his hand to you expectantly, and you had taken it with minimal hesitation. You had held his hand before a few times when you two maneuvered a crowd at a fair or in a shopping mall, but this was definitely not the same. And he wasn’t satisfied with just holding your hand, but instead slipped his fingers between yours. Apparently, he had read somewhere that couples in an equal, loving relationship held hands this way. You felt your palm getting sweaty, nervous about the impending charade. It was a perfectly valid, legal marriage, of course, but you knew that if anyone found out about the motive behind it, raised eyebrows would be the least of your worries. You told Asana how you thought everyone you passed was staring (they were not) and how people must be whispering about you to one another (they weren’t). In reality, no one even noticed until you reached your department, and that’s when the party poppers and cheers erupted. 

Now, Tetsuro fished a stray piece of confetti from your hair and balanced it on his fingertip in front of your nose. 

“Make a wish, darling.”

You cocked an annoyed brow, a gesture that had risen exponentially in use ever since you’d moved in together. 

“That’s for eyelashes, you dork.”

“If my wife wants something, she shall not be limited by arbitrary things like eyelashes and shooting stars to wish on.” 

You sighed and unceremoniously puffed the confetti off his finger. 

“Go away.”

Under another snort of Asana, Tetsuro bowed and as he did, began walking away backwards. 

“As you wish.”

“That’s who you married.”, Asana pitied with a chuckle. 

Under your breath, you muttered, “Don’t remind me.”, sending both of you into another wave of silent laughter. 

“Miss L/N. Oh! Apologies, Mrs Kuroo. - Ha, that will take some getting used to.” Your boss sauntered over, causing Asana to quickly detach herself from your desk and return to her own seat, pretending to be busy while listening in, “I was just talking to your husband.” He unnecessarily waved in Tetsuro’s direction a few meters away, and he waved back with a wide smile, “I suggested to him that to properly celebrate these wonderful news, we should all go out tonight for a drink. And he told me to ask his wife for permission.” You threw a quick glare past your boss to Tetsuro, who was still waving idiotically. 

“Of course, sir. That… that sounds nice. Thank you very much.”

“Wonderful. I’ll make reservations right away. Don’t you worry about a thing!” And with that, he practically skipped away. 

It took about two more weeks for the excitement around the newlyweds to die down. Gradually, people stopped emphasizing your new surname or ooh-ing whenever you two went to lunch together, now awkwardly holding hands. Day by day, normalcy returned to the JVA headquarters and even casual closeness to Tetsuro came much easier to you. The performance was mutually dropped as soon as you left the company parking lot, and you hardly missed your apartment anymore - only when Tetsuro loudly sang in the shower. One Friday evening, you shuffled home alone, having had to work overtime for a project you were in charge of. After reassuring him you had it under control, you sent Tetsuro off to his workout routine, promising to meet him at home with dinner ready. For once, he spared you an overly teasing comment about how domestic this was of you and instead left with a simple, “Thank you. See you later, darling.”

You couldn’t wait to be home and slip into something more comfortable than the tight pencil skirt you wore today, the waistband of which always pressed uncomfortably into your handfuls of tummy chub, especially after spending so many extra hours hunched over proposals and schedules. Letting the sweatpants snap into place, you let out a happy sigh and made your way to his - to your - kitchen to see if you could find something to snack on while cooking. 

The string cheese was slowly getting hoovered into your mouth while you poured the marinade over Tetsuro’s beloved mackerel when keys jangled at the front door. 

“Kitchen!”, you called before he had a chance to look for you. Shoes were kicked off in the entryway and a moment later Tetsuro rounded the corner, taking a seat at the island. 

“I have good news and bad news.”, he said instead of a Hello.

“Oh no.”

“The good news is, I met Mr Maeda at the gym and can easily outlift him.”

You snorted, almost losing your cheese, and frowned. Your snack safely tucked in the corner of your mouth, you asked, “And the bad news?”

“He invited us to a double date with his wife.”

art: @freaka_loonyz on Instagram, X, Pinterest and TikTok

taglist: @etsuniiru @nocaffeineallowedtome @princessshart

a/n: Once again, thank you to @haikyu-mp4 for keeping me sane while working on this and for helping me edit.

[Part 3]

[alltimecharlo]

do you perchance know why almost EVERY willmack blog is convinced will smith is like a huge momma’s boy and that his family won’t leave him alone😭 I know his family comes to a lot of his games, but some blogs spin it in such an evil way

i'm back with another willmack lore drop/literature review/whatever you want to call it!

today's topic: will smith hockey's close-knit family!🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒🩵

will's relationship with his family, and his home town of lexington, mass, is definitely an interesting one. both are clearly extremely important to him.

below is a post from the official battle of lexington ig account (yes that exists) detailing will and his family’s deep roots in lexington, as well as an excerpt from this article which shows how important will's heritage is to him and his family.

A third-generation Lexingtonian, Will’s family is deeply woven into the town’s fabric. He attended Hancock Preschool (like his dad, Bill, 40 years earlier) and Bowman Elementary, spending his childhood at @HaydenRecreation, skating on frozen ponds and backyard rinks.

as we know from cat's podcast - will's family attend the re-enactment of the battle of lexington every year! he thinks it's cool and is kind of history nerd. will is also at least the third 'william smith' in his family (following his father and grandfather) technically making him 'william smith III' ig? although his dad goes by 'bill'.

when will had to move to michigan for the usa development program, instead of billeting with a host family like most kids do, will's family bought a house in michigan for two years (whilst keeping their house in lexington ofc) because his dad felt it was 'important to be there at a critical stage of his life'

will had fellow massachusetts boys will vote (arlington) and ryan leonard (amherst) living with him! both wsh's and will vote's mom spent two-week shifts living with the boys and cooking/shopping for them. this basically meant that will's mom was able to cook for him and provide family support fairly regularly whilst he was playing his hockey, so she was very present in his journey! (momma's boy) in fact, will's mom said 'she feels like she has two more sons.'

will's dad was working back in boston often and grace was already attending bc! speaking of bc, will is the 14th member of his family to attend the school despite initially commiting to northeastern at the tender age of 14 (his friends from st. sebastian were commiting there too). and he luckily got to tell his grandfather before he died that he was committing to bc.

will regularly met up with his sister, grace, in his freshman year whilst she was a senior where they would meet for lunch or attend SUNDAY MASS (wsh catholic allegations need their own post i fear...), which grace really enjoyed and appreciated ☺️

with his enitre family being so local (will’s three aunts all live in lexington with their families, 10 cousins in total. his grandmother polly, 87, never misses bc home games), will often had over 40 people (FORTY!!!) attend his bc home games to support him.

as we can see at the top of this post^ at his first game with the sharks, this tradition clearly transferred over to the nhl as well, despite will now playing his hockey 2000 miles away. '20 people were in the stands for him, including his father, who was celebrating his birthday.' !!

a large number of will's family were also in stockholm for worlds and got to see him win gold! (he's waving to them in this gifset :) it is obviously very important to the smiths to show up for each other! as will's mom says:

“When are you ever going to have this experience with your 17-, 18-year-old son in this unbelievably exciting (situation)?” Colleen Smith asked. “And be experiencing it with them, not just from afar. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing that we’ll never forget.”

will's dad was also present on the sharks' dads' trip like mack's. here they are sitting at dinner altogether! (oh, to be a fly on the wall here...)

SO, to answer your question: wsh IS a huge momma's boy and his family certainly WON'T leave him alone but i really don't think he'd have it any other way. his family clearly means a lot to him and seeing as they've always been there for him every step of the way, i think he appreciates their presence more than ever now in the nhl :)

will has also been very vocal about how helpful living with the marleaus has been for his rookie season! this gave him a similar ‘family’ environment that was nice to come home to, especially during a tough season 🩵

'It was awesome, I’m so happy I did it. They’re definitely going to be a family that I’m going to be connected with my whole life now. I learned everything—not even with hockey, just off the ice and how great the people are.'

[shatha-gaza1]

Please don’t skip 🍉🇵🇸

‏Hello, I’m Shatha, 22 years old, living with my family in Gaza, the worst war in human history 🍉🇵🇸

Please help me, a small donation from you $20-$25 will save my life and the life of my family 🥺🙏🏻

‏We were living happily in our home that was destroyed and burned with everything in it by the occupation, and now we live in its remains and we no longer have the simplest necessities of life as there are no walls to protect us from the harsh winter cold and there is no clean, healthy water and we suffer from all kinds of pollution that cause us many health problems that are difficult to treat in this war due to the scarcity of medicines and their frighteningly high prices, as well as the high prices of food, drink, detergents and basic materials for life, which makes us helpless in the face of this war, so much so that I cannot achieve my dreams and continue my education and study at university because of this war 💔.

‏I’m Zoe (Jamie) Graeme, from Corpus Christi Texas, and I’m hosting this GoFundMe to help Shaza Issam Albadrasawi and her family in the Gaza Strip. I met Shaza through a friend, and we’ve been in touch for a while now. I started this campaign in hopes of providing comfort to her and her family during this difficult time. Once the goal of this campaign is reached, I will be sending the funds to Shaza’s family via international wire transfer. The funds will be used to provide shelter and safety for her and her family. Thank you for reading, please do what you can to help

[gojirarity]

Wait?! I thought we were rivals?!?!

My name is Kim Blank. Just call me Blank. See, I have this problem. When I was in elementary to middle school, I have always been number 1. Lotsa awards, medals and recognitions. It all changed when she transferred, Kim Taeyeon. I'm not even going to lie, I thought she was cute at first. But when started to take my spot as the number 1 in school, it's like everyone else forgot about me.

2948 Words. Genre: Smut, with a li'l bit of a story.

Chapter 1: Self-Introduction

This continued to high school. My friends eventually turned to her because of how easy it is to talk to her. So I isolated myself from everyone else. I studied harder. I tried to ace every quizzes, projects and exams but she was just better. Even the college schools that I was aiming for offered her scholarship. It should've been me. But no matter how hard I tried, I seemed to be falling behind her everytime.

In shame, I applied to a modest computer college. I gotta be honest, I lost any goals I have in mind. I dunno where to start from there. During my last days in high school, I found my drive again when I was watching pro-wrestling. The colorful characters in the sport made me think that life doesn't end just because I fail.

During graduation practice, I was watching pro-wrestling alone in the abandoned storage room. The data seems to be good, no interruption. I can put on my earphones and watch uninterrupted. Someone tapped my shoulders. I got shocked and immediately check who it is. It was my mortal enemy, Kim Taeyeon! I've put down on of my earphones down and hear what she has to say. "I was just asking if you're watching porn?". I felt hot and most importantly, embarrassed. The nerve of this woman to call me out like this when this is the first time we really talked to each other.

"I'm just kidding. Wait, is that pro-wrestling you're watching?" Wait, how does she know pro-wrestling?

Blank: Y-Yeah.

Taeyeon: Wow. Never knew you were into it. I am an avid fan since I was a kid. Who were you watching? Tanahashi vs. Naito huh? Love that match more than the main event. Can I watch?

I hesitated. Why is little miss perfect here and should I take her offer? She just took the other earphone to her ear.

Taeyeon: Come on, let's press play. I wanna watch it again.

So we watched. I guess she can be a cool gal. Maybe I just judged her too quickly. So we watched. The two wrestlers locked up, the other is a respectable hero (which Taeyeon corrected me that he is a face), the other is a nonchalant villain (which she told me was called a heel). The match was exciting. Both men can showcase athleticism and power using their patented moves. As the match goes on, my shoulders felt heavy. When I looked at it, she rests her head on my shoulders. It made me smell her. I can smell her shampoo and perfume. Wait, I hate her, but why do I feel something strange? It can't be, right?

Taeyeon: Do you know what you'll do next?

Blank: What do you mean?

Taeyeon: Your next step in life.

Blank: Yeah.

Taeyeon: Can you tell me?

Blank: Computer college. I want to learn about coding.

Taeyeon: Sounds cool. Have you prepared for it?

Blank: Not yet. I might just hang around before I go to college.

Taeyeon: Great. Can I ask you a favor?

Blank: Why?

Taeyeon: I just wanna know you more. I think you're the only person here in our batch that I don't really know. Whenever I ask what kind of person you are, I always ended up with nothing. Some can have the faintest idea from when you were in middle school, but that was like from a long time ago.

Blank: Just tell me what your favor is.

Taeyeon: Can you come to my house? I'll be hosting a party after graduation.

Blank: I dunno Kim, I think I might be busy around that time.

Taeyeon: Just come. I'll provide my address. Speaking of.

She paused the matched and went to my contacts. She punched in a number and send a missed call. She then pulls out her phone and saved the number.

Taeyeon: Just come there at the party. Everything will be provided.

She then stands up and fixes her uniform. She flashed that stupid smile on her face and shakes my hand.

Taeyeon: It was nice finally meeting you Blank. I hope you'll come to that party.

Once she walks out of the door, it finally sunk in. She took my number and forces me to come to that stupid party. The audacity of that woman to order me around.

************************************************************************

Graduation was okay to be honest. Teachers, students and parents cried that day. I gave my speech and my parents seemed to be proud of what I've accomplished. The weird part is when Taeyeon finally gave her speech, she mostly was looking at me. We just met, why would she look at me while giving her speech?

************************************************************************

The next day comes and I've arrived at her house. It is 5:41 pm when I arrived and there's loud music and people of our age scattered in every part of her house. Some just nods at me, acknowledging my presence. Some just looked on, clearly they don't have a clue who am I, not that it matters. I went straight to her kitchen, but before I do, someone pulled me in for a hug.

Taeyeon: I thought you were never going to come!

Blank: Well, here I am.

Taeyeon: The party would be over by 6pm. Didn't I tell you?

Blank: I was asking through text, yet you weren't replying.

Taeyeon: Sorry, I was busy accommodating everyone here. But please, have some booze. Let's drink!

Blank: Oh I don't--

Taeyeon: Underage?

Blank: No, I've just never ha--

Taeyeon: Have this then.

She gave me a red cup. I immediately smell something awful from this drink. It made me throw up a little bit. She just laughs. I do try to sip in this cup from time to time. Observed people as I drink it little by little. And little by little, people were disappearing. That's where she showed up again, only this time, it seemed only her and me were the only ones in her house.

Blank: Where's everyone?

Taeyeon: They left. I told you the party is up to 6pm.

I looked at my phone, 6:24pm.

Taeyeon: No pressure though, want to just drink some more before you go home?

At this point, I am getting used to this liquor that she handed to me.

Blank: Sure, why not Kim?

Taeyeon: Just call me Tae. No need to be formal to me.

She then closes the gate and locked their front door. Now it makes me curious, her parents are not showing.

Blank: Did Mr. and Mrs. Kim went to bed early?

Taeyeon: Oh right, I didn't tell you. Dad is kinda out of town due to unforeseen business trip. Mom is off to my relatives, which is to another town. They know I held a party though.

Blank: Cool. Cool....

I dunno what to talk about now. Hmm. Observe the surroundings like I did a few minutes ago. Nice kitchen. A bit disorganized due to the party that happened. But the house is nice. Some good paintings with red and gray motifs. Wallpaper's nice too. Taeyeon is nice too. She's wearing a grey croptop I think. High waisted black pants. It accentuates her curves. Really sexy I should say. Wait.

Taeyeon: Are you ogling Blank?

Shit. She caught me. Time to make an excuse!

Blank: I just zoned out. I wasn't really ogling. You know I consider mysel--

Taeyeon: Lying makes it worse you know?

Shit, she's right. Why she's gotta be so sexy tonight? I hate her!

Taeyeon: Blank, you know....

Shit, she sat beside me. Now I get to see her face a bit closer. Her cheeks are too rosy, her eyes looks too lovely, her lips looks delicious. I wanna--

Taeyeon: Are you listening to me?

Blank: Y-Yeah. Totally.

She just looks at me for a minute.

Taeyeon: I never took you for a liar. But here we are.

She pulls me downstairs and turns on the AC. Why do I feel like my heart is running too fast? Why do I expect that we'll do something here. Wait, that can't be right. I hate her. Yes. But why do I feel like it's waning. Like I want her to do something? No, I am not attracted at her. I shouldn't be.

Taeyeon: Blank, look at me. Eyes up.

Fuck! She caught me staring at her cleavage.

Taeyeon: Am I attractive?

Blank: W-wha--?!

Taeyeon: You heard me.

Blank: Y-You are...

Why am I stuttering? When did I became a blabbering idiot?

Taeyeon: I need you to listen first. I want you. Ever since when I transferred in middle school. But I think there's tension between us and I want to address it before we move forward.

I looked into her eyes. It is stable. It only looks at my face. Unlike mine which looks at every part of her body. Is the AC turned on, or am I? Maybe it's the alcohol.

Taeyeon: But I think, I want you even more now that you are like a kid in a candy store. You don't know where to look even when I told you to look only at my face. Like my ass? Like my belly? Or this cleavage?

Blank: Ta-Taey-- I'm sorry! I just didn't know...

Taeyeon: I thought you hated me, with the way you've been avoiding me at school.

Blank: I did!

Finally! I didn't stutter. Ha! In your face Kim Taeyeon!

Blank: I hated how you beat me at everything. Hell, you even know a lot more about pro-wrestling than I do. I hate it. I was all fine before you transferred. So why am I--

She stood up straight at me. Her eyes is shaking. I don't know if she's going to cry or shocked at my statement. But what is this I'm feeling. Why do I want you Kim Taeyeon? For all I know, I hated you since I met you. But now, why do you look like a potential partner? I want something to happen between us. Something primal. Something wild. Am I this shallow now? I drink the last vestiges of my drink. I stood up right in front of her.

Blank: Why am I attracted to you now? Why do you look like the most beautiful and sexiest woman in the world?

As if her rosy cheeks weren't enough, that redness spread across her face. She then lunges at me. No. She kissed me. I should follow her right? I let our tongues dance. I closed my eyes too. I want to feel this moment with her. My arms wrapped behind her as she does the same thing to me. I sat down on the chair and she straddled my lap without breaking our kiss. I feel more hotter now. I need to pull away from her. Wow. This face. I want Kim Taeyeon. This face, this eyes, this lips. I don't know her, but I want to know her more.

Taeyeon: Blank...

Blank: Yeah?

Taeyeon: You're my first kiss.

Blank: You're my first too.

Our eyes didn't break any contact. Her arms then move to take off her shirt. I did the same. She stood up and took off her pants, I did the same thing. These curves are to die for. She's something out of a sexy magazine. And when she unclasped her bra, I can feel my cock at its hardest. She lets the bra fall on the floor to reveal her tits. The right amount of perkiness, the shape, and the brown areola, I can't help but capture it with my mouth right away.

Taeyeon: Fuck! Oh! Blank! Yes! Suck my tits!

No need to ask me twice. While sucking her tight tits, my left hand played with her other tits and plays with it. I can hear her moan lightly. She holds my head and grabs on it.

Taeyeon: This is more than what I fantasized.

She pulls me in the sofa and takes of her panty. Fuck, I'm going to fuck her.

Blank: Taeyeon, I don't know how to have sex.

Taeyeon: Me too.

She grabs her phone and types something. She then rests her phone at the table. A porn is playing on her phone.

Taeyeon: Let's copy what they are doing.

The guy is currently putting his cock in the girls wide pussy, so I stood up and take of my pants and boxers. My cock sprang up when I took off my last clothing.

Taeyeon: Wow, your cock is as big as that guy in the porn.

Blank: Yeah, but your pussy is not as wide as the girl.

Taeyeon: No need to be a coward. Let's try.

I tried inserting my cock from behind her, it's hard. Not my cock, but the insertion is hard. I can feel a bit of dampness in her entrance but it is not enough for me to put my cock all the way in. She repositions herself to take my cock better, but I can hear her grunting.

Blank: You okay there?

Taeyeon: Wait. Can you spit on your cock? I feel we need some more liquid in it for you to fuck me better.

So I did. I put saliva in my palm and spread it on my cockhead. The insertion is a bit better but I can still hear her grunting so I stopped getting my cock in her.

Taeyeon: Fuck! It's big!

Blank: Are you okay?

Taeyeon: Yeah. Just give me a minute.

I can hear her slowing her breathe. I dunno what to do so I just waited. After a few seconds, she herself tries to push my cock deep. I grab her waist so I can control her more. Little by little, I can hear her struggling. When my cock is fully inside her, her mouth is so wide. She's reveling in the feeling.

Blank: Want to stop now?

Taeyeon: No. Fuck no. Just give me a minute.

I started to comb her hair. I looked at her, and she looked back at me and smile.

Taeyeon: Thank you Blank.

Blank: No Taeyeon, I'm sorry. Just lemme know if you want to st--

She grabs my arm and started to move. Fuck. This is it. A bit dry inside. But after a few movements, her pussy is starting to get wet. It is getting better. Her grunts are now replaced with moans.

Blank: Fuck Taeyeon, this feels good.

Taeyeon: Yes. This feels great.

She lifts her ass so I picked up my pace a bit. Her moans are now more louder. She even compliments the way I fuck her. But still, I need to restraint myself. I don't want her to feel any pain.

Taeyeon: Blank. Let's change our position.

Blank: Sure.

He lies down and spreads her legs. I inserted again my cock inside her and her eyes and mouth widens. I start again with slow thrusts. Once she got used to it, I thrusted faster. Once her moans were louder than before, she touched my nipples. It urged me to fuck her relentless.

Taeyeon: Fuck you Blank. This is better than before.

She played with my nipples as she takes my relentless fucking. I looked at her and this fucking woman smiles. She even locks her legs around my waist.

Taeyeon: Blank, I'm going to cum. Please give me your cum too.

Fuck! I forgot! No condoms. I stopped fucking her. We need protection. Fuck fuck fuck!

Taeyeon: Why?

Blank: We don't have condoms.

Taeyeon: So?

Blank: I might impregnate you.

Her walls fucking tightened around my cock. Oh this woman wanted to bred.

Taeyeon: Yes. I'd love that. Make me yours. Breed me Blank. Please. I want my cunt to drown in your cum.

Her legs even urged me to move again. So I did. I fucked her faster and rougher. The idea of breeding her sounds so hot. Fuck this woman. Yes. Fuck this wet and sloppy cunt. Fuck I'm close. Her eyes are just looking at me.

Taeyeon: That's it Blank. Fucking breed me. Let's make a family. Fuck my cunt everyday. I want it. Blank! Oh.... Oh!!

Fuck! I fucking came along with her. I feel it. Both of us. Fuck!

Blank: Fuck Kim Taeyeon. Yes I wanna fuck you everyday.

I leaned in and kissed her aggressively. Our hands are all over each other. Fuck. I fucked my rival. And I loved every second of it.

*********************************

The next day, I am still recounting the events of last night. Taeyeon is wake too and resting on my chest. When I looked at her, I can see her smiling. It suits her. Makes her more attractive.

Taeyeon: Blank?

Blank: Yeah?

Taeyeon: Did you mean it?

Blank: Mean what?

Taeyeon: Fucking me everyday?

Blank: I'd love to.

Taeyeon: Then why not?

Blank: Well, let's make it work?

Taeyeon looks at me and smiles. She hugs me tightly. Our naked body pressed together. I can see her blushing again.

Taeyeon: Can I be yours Blank?

Blank: I already told you, let's make it work.

She nods with a grin on her face. I know she's over the moon, and so am I.

************************************************************************

Pictures used are not mine. Credits to the rightful owners. Feel free to comment about what I should improve on or anything you feel about this.

And this is a re-upload since I wasn't able to put the title properly. Same work though.

[twice-inamillion]

The Company 

New Friend 

A bit of smut and Story Building (Doggy style, sex, blowjob, creampie, penetration, self masturbation, fingering)

Chapter 2 

3810 Words 

(IU introduces her new friend to OC and welcomes her to the company. Little by little her friend discovers the relationship between you and IU. ) 

Over the past few months, IU and Irene have been helping the staff with auditions for the company. The company has hosted multiple international auditions in the United States, Japan, Australia, Thailand, and Canada. 

About six thousand attendees participated in the audition combined, and out of all of them, only two hundred made it to the final rounds. Those lucky enough to get a slot were invited to Seoul, South Korea, to participate at Olympus Entertainment. The attendees were divided into two groups based on ranking. The two groups would be housed in the company’s large dorms, where they would partake in training for three months.

Within those three months, they would go over intense training consisting of dance, singing, stage, individual, and group presentations. At the end of those three months, only half of the group would move on to become trainees at Olympus Entertainment. They would then be sorted out into two groups again, but this time by age, and provided with more resources to increase their chances of debuting in a girl group or as a soloist. Each trainee would be required to complete standard education and be allowed to select courses in advanced languages, singing, dancing, rapping, stage presentation, and much more. Throughout their time at the company, they would be given benchmarks to meet, and at the end of the month, each would be evaluated and ranked. The trainers would support those who receive a low ranking, while those who receive a high rank would be taken into consideration for groups and, hopefully, their debut. 

Obviously, some trainees were handpicked during auditions based on their raw talent and provided extra support by some of the trainers. Currently, five individuals are being considered to be part of Olympus Entertainment's first international girl group. 

——————

There is a knock at your door, “Sir, may I come in?”

“Sure, come right in.”

“Thank you,” as IU walks towards your desk. “I brought in the friend that I told you about. She’s a good singer, and I think she would make an excellent coach to the trainees we have in mind for debuting.”

“That’s great news; you may welcome her inside.”

IU walks towards the hallway and signals her friend to come in. You see IU walking in with Taeyeon from Girl’s Generation. She’s one of the idols you held in high regard during your younger years. 

“Hello, I’m Kim Tae-yeon from Girl’s Generation. Nice to meet you,” she said as she bowed her head. 

“Likewise, nice to meet you. I’m surprised to meet you; I wouldn’t expect some from SM Entertainment in my company.” 

“Ji-eun (IU) and I are really good friends. She told me you were looking for a vocal coach, so I wanted to try it.”

“Let’s get comfortable and take a seat,” inviting the both of them to take a seat. “First, does your company know you are here?”

“Well… yes and no.”

IU interrupts and says, “Her company knows that she is coming here based on my request but doesn’t know the reason why. All they asked her is that she doesn’t transfer companies.”

“Yes, she’s right. I came here because she said that the benefits of the vocal coach position are great, and honestly, I’m in need of some money.”

“Ohh, how so?”

“As you know, SM doesn’t have a good ratio when it comes to monetary distributions, and I was looking into putting out a solo, but they mentioned not having any funds to spare. I talked to IU about it, and she suggested applying for the position, which is why I’m here.”

You smirked a little and looked at IU before looking back at Taeyeon. “We are more than happy to welcome you as a vocal coach of your ability. I think our trainees would benefit a lot from having someone as talented as you.”

Taeyeon seems excited and smiles at IU before looking back at you, “Thank you so much for this opportunity!”

“No, thank you for thinking of us. Since you are a close friend of IU, how about we increase the pay a bit?” as you write down the amount on a sheet of paper. Taeyeon looks at the amount, “Are you sure? Isn’t this much more than what was posted online?”

“Ohh, it's fine. Don’t worry about it. I’m actually a fan of yours, and I would be more than happy to support you in releasing your solo album.”

“Thank you so much; I’ll do my best!” 

“I’m sure you will.”

————

Taeyeon starts her position as vocal coach a few days later and focuses on a handful of trainees who might be selected for your first girl group. IU is directly in charge of her to make it easier for Taeyon. She even sleeps at IU’s apartment from time to time whenever things go a little later at the training center. 

Today is one of those days as Tayeon comes back from giving a late vocal session and is going up the elevator of the large apartment complex that the company owns. She stares out the elevator window and admires how beautiful the campus is, especially at night, and is envious of it. SM is her home company, but she can’t help but compare the numerous resources that are offered here. “If I was younger, I would have loved to train here,” she said as she stared at the numerous trainees walking across campus. “Well… can’t do much about it now.”

The elevator mentions that it has arrived on the floor she selected, and it opens the doors. She walks down the hallway until she reaches the end of the hall and to IU’s apartment. Given access to her apartment, she scans her keycard and opens the door. “Ji-eun, I’m home!” but there is no response. She sees IU’s purse and phone on the kitchen counter and places her own purse on the living room couch. “Hey, are you in the bathroom?” Taeyeon walks down the hallway and peeks her head in the bathroom, but no one is there. She then hears noises coming from IU’s bedroom and walks towards it. 

Taeyeon is surprised by what she sees through the small crack of IU’s bedroom door. She sees her friend getting fucked from the back, doggy style, by a tall, muscular man. 

“Ahh… fuck! You’re reaching the back of my womb! Master, you’re too big; you’re going to mess me up!”

“Ji-eun, don’t tell me you don’t like how it feels. I thought we were close?”

“Of course not, master. It’s just that… my body is too small to fit all of you inside of me.”

“But, that’s why I like it. I love the way your small pussy feels.”

“Ahh… ahhh… then go ahead, master, enjoy yourself!”

You don’t give her a response as you pull most of your length out and lift her up in a reverse stand and carry. Taeyeon watches as the man in front of her impales her friend with a massive cock on the go, causing IU to yelp.

“I didn’t know she was having sex. Who’s the person with her?”

She didn’t have to wait long as she saw the man's face when he stood in front of the mirror. “Omg… she’s having sex with the CEO?”

“Fuck! I’m going to cum!”

“Master, go ahead! You already know this pussy belongs to you, only you!”

“That’s my girl. Here’s your reward for a good job!” You cock throbs inside of her one last time before pumping her with a large wave of cum.

“Oh my God!! I can feel your hot cum drowning my womb!” as IU makes lustful facial expressions. 

Taeyeon’s body can't help but react to what’s in front of it. Her heart is pounding fast, her breathing is heavy, and her lower region is wet. “Why am I getting horny watching my friend getting fuck by her boss? What’s wrong with me?” She then sees IU get tossed onto the bed on her back and watches as a large amount of cum comes oozing out of her. She stands up and runs away, grabbing her purse and making her way out the door. 

————

Taeyeon makes her way to the cafe on campus and stays there for about two hours. She replays the image when you cum inside of IU and wonders about the type of relationship the two of you have. “I can’t believe they were actually having sex, and I walked in on them. What am I going to do? Should I tell her that I saw them by accident? Or what if they saw me? Is it going to be awkward seeing them in person?” Many things go through her mind until she notices the time on her watch. She looked around and noticed that most of the customers were gone, and the employees were starting to clean. “I guess it can’t be helped. Let's hope they’re gone by now.”

Taeyeon exits the cafe and heads back to IU’s apartment. She opened the door and saw IU coming out of the shower in small shorts and an oversized t-shirt, “Hey, welcome back!”

“Thanks.”

“How come you’re late? I thought you got out two hours ago.”

“Yeah, I did, but I decided to go around and get a tour of the place and visit the cafe around here.”

“Aww… you should have told me. I would have given you a tour. It’s a nice place, right?

“Oh yeah… it’s beautiful. Lots of nice buildings and plants.”

“Well, the boss said he wanted everyone to feel safe and welcomed, so he designed the whole place like a college campus. There are a lot of places to relax and cafes throughout the campus. He’s so thoughtful; he’s a really good person.”

“Oh really… how so?”

“I mean… he can be cold sometimes, but if you get to know him, he’s actually sweet and thoughtful. He cares a lot for his employees and is willing to help them out. He even helped me out with my family’s financial situation, which I’m more than grateful for.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your family’s situation.”

“Noit'sts okay. I didn’t want others to find out, but it's okay now. All thanks to him for me and my family. Anyways, have you eaten?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Okay, how about you go take a shower? I’ll order something for the both of us.”

“Sounds good.”

“Does pizza sound good?”

“Yes! SM doesn’t allow us to eat fattening foods, so I haven’t had it in a while.”

“That sucks, the company here is fine with it. I mean, as long as we don’t overdo it.”

“Really?”

Yeah, it’s great. Anyways, go shower.”

Taeyeon heads into the spare room that she’s using and gets her change of clothes. She walks to the bathroom, begins to undress herself, and tosses her dirty clothes in her laundry hamper. She notices laced underwear hanging from IU’s hamper and opens the lid to place the underwear inside properly. Suddenly, she notices a semi-white liquid on the underwear, brings it up to her nose, and whiffs. It’s a smell she’s never smelled before, and it's alluring. She sticks out her tongue and takes a small lick. The taste is bitter but not bad, and I decided to take another taste. She notices that this time, her body is having a reaction to it, and it's making her hot. 

“I can’t describe the feeling, but I suddenly feel the urge to touch myself.” She lowers her hand to her cunt and traces her folds. “Ohh… why am I already this wet?” 

She hops into the shower, takes IU’s stained panties, and uses them to masturbate. She traces her folds rapidly until she orgasm in the shower. When she’s down, she tosses the used panties back into IU’s hamper and changes them into her clothes. 

“Damn, I forgot to bring extra panties.” 

She opened the door and yelled, “Ji-eun, I forgot to bring some extra panties. Can I borrow some of yours?”

“Yeah, go ahead. They are in my drawer by the mirror.”

With a towel wrapped around her chest, Taeyeon makes her way to IU’s room and to the drawer. She opens the top, and she sees it full of jewelry; opens the second one, and it has bras. Taeyeon then opens the third one, sees it full of panties of multiple clothes, and grabs the tan one. “Hmm… it wouldn’t look good if I wore mismatched underwear, right? Hey, can I borrow a bra, too?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Thanks”

She opens the second drawer and tries to find the matching pair but notices some photos at the bottom. She pulls one out, turns it around, and sees it's a photo of IU in a comprising position. “What is this? Why does she have a picture of her posing without a bra?” She grabs another photo, and this time, it's of her on the bed with her legs spread apart and her cunt in full view. Taeyeon grabs the rest of the photos and goes through them, each more revealing than the rest. Her mind is turning, and her heart is racing from what she just found, and she quickly decides to put the photos back.

As she places the photos back, she hits something black, and it turns on a phone. She grabs the phone out of curiosity and sees the words “Master’s phone” on the lock screen. She swipes up, asks for a password, and puts IU’s birthday, but she gets it wrong. She tries two more times before inserting the date of IU’s first pet as a kid, and it unlocks. The first thing she sees is the photo app, and she is shocked at what she discovers. 

Most of them are pictures of IU completely nude, pictures of what seems to be a large cock, of IU and a cock inside of her, and multiple videos of her having sex. 

“What the…” Curious, she clicks on a video and it shows IU hiding on her desk and giving someone a blow job. She quickly slides to the next one. It seems to be around the same time with the same person, but this time, she’s having sex and is riding on someone. She fast-forwards the clip and notices that the room looks like the CEO’s office. She slides to the right, and this time, she sees you holding the photo while having IU’s face planted to the base of his cock. She exits out of the gallery and goes to the most recent event, which shows today’s date. This time it's a video of you fucking IU with her panties to the side, thrusting multiple times until you cum inside of IU and remove her panties. She watches as a large amount of cum oozes out of her friend’s cunt before you go back and insert your cock inside of her once more. 

Taeyeon’s heart is beating hard again, and she decides to send herself a video pictures and videos to her phone. She places everything back to how it was and grabs the bra she needs before closing the drawer and exiting the room. 

“I… thanks for letting me borrow some underwear.”

“No problem. The food is amount here.”

“Okay, I’ll be out soon.”

The two of them enjoy their dinner together and drink some beers before calling it a night. They each go to their rooms after brushing their teeth and close their door.

Taeyeon climbs onto her bed, pulls out her phone, goes to her downloaded folder, and pulls out the numerous videos and pictures. She goes through each photo carefully and is surprised by how small IU’s cunt is. The scene that gets her attention is when you smack your cock on IU’s pelvis right before inserting your cock inside of IU. Taeyeon gasps when she sees your massive cock split into IU’s cunt completely wide open. The sounds that her friend makes take your whole length, and the bulge she sees when it's completely inside. 

Taeyeon plays through the whole video and watches as you thrust deep inside of IU, her friend’s moaning and the sound of flesh pounding onto each other. The more she watches, the more she gets the urge to masturbate and eventually slides her fingers down past her panties. She traces her folds and moves them in sync with the video with her two fingers. She concentrates on your voice as you warn IU that you are able to cum. IU responds by begging you to fill her up with your seed and fuck her once more. As you reach your climax, so does Taeyeon, and she arches her back to the voice of your grunting, “Fuck… I’m going to fill that small womb of yours.” “Ahh… yes! Dump all your cum inside this pussy of mine, please. Make me feel like a woman.” The next thing she hears is IU’s scream of pleasure as your hot cum invades her womb. 

“Ahh… ahh… that felt much different from the other times I’ve masturbated.” Out of breath, she places the phone on the nightstand and goes to close for an early vocal session. 

————— 

Taeyeon wakes up early in the morning and heads to the studio for her morning vocal session. She focuses on a handful of trainees that have a high probability of debuting. After the session was over, she decided to try out the gym that was available for all staff and trainees. Making her way to the gym she notices the CEO running on the treadmill without his shirt off. She walks by and notices that one of the trainees in the area is gossiping about him. 

“Omg, who is he? He’s so hot.” (Girl 1)

“I think he’s one of the staff members.” (Girl 2)

“I heard that he is the CEO of the company.”(Girl 3)

“No, that can’t be. I thought the CEO was a girl.” (Girl 1)

“I don’t think that anyone has seen the CEO yet, just the assistants who came to the auditions and the welcoming ceremony.” (Girl 3)

“Ehh, that doesn’t matter. That guy over there is my type. I wouldn’t mind if he was a coach. I would definitely ask him for some private lessons.”(Girl 3)

“Shh… keep it down. Don’t let them hear you. Don’t you know that they have strict dating policies for trainees. Especially with us, who are provisional trainees.” (Girl 3)

“I’m just saying, he’s hot.” (Girl 1)

“Yeah, he has a really nice body like the guy that plays Thor.” (Girl 2)

“Ladies, I would suggest you three continue your workouts or head somewhere else if you want to gossip.” 

In unison, the three girls turn around, “We’re sorry, Taeyeon sonsengneem. We didn’t mean any harm.”

“I’m just kidding. But you three are right, he does have a nice body.”The girls laugh at Taeyeon’s comment, and they leave the area for their next session.

Taeyeon stares at you from behind, but you avoid reacting to it. You watch as she eyes you from head to toe before heading to one of the cable machines in the back. 

“I hope he didn’t notice that I was checking him out. Ugh… I still can’t get that image out of my head. Damn Ji-eun, why did she introduce me to him.” She sets the weight on the machine and begins her workout. 

After finishing her workout, she got up and got ready to head to the changing room. She only walks a couple of steps before turning back to get her phone when she bumps into you, slightly touching your limp cock.

“Good morning, Taeyeon unnie.” She turns around and sees you behind her. “Good…good morning.” 

“Distracted much?”

“Ohh, I just forgot my phone.”

“Just be careful. You could have bumped into one of the machines and gotten hurt.”

“Ye…yes, I’ll be careful.”

“Are you done with the rest of your day?”

“No, not yet. I have a meeting with IU later on today.”

“Oh, okay, I think she mentioned something out of that. I’m actually going to meet with her in my office for our daily meeting.” 

She sees your smile, and the first thing that comes to mind is her blowing you off in your office. 

“Okay, I’ll be going. Nice seeing you, Taeyeon.”

——————

Later that day, Taeyeon waits inside one of the meeting rooms for IU to arrive. She looks at the clock on her watch and notices that she’s running a bit late. She pulls out her phone and texts, “I’m here in the meeting room.”

Within a couple of seconds, she receives a reply, “Sorry, Unnie, I just got off from a meeting with the boss. I’m going down the elevator right now, see you in a few minutes.”

“Okay.”

Taeyeon pulls out her bag and some documents that Taeyeon wants to look at for the meeting when she hears a knock on the door. 

“Come in.” 

“Hey, sorry I’m late. Was real busy in the meeting.”

“No problem, take a seat.”

IU takes a seat across from Taeyeon and pulls out her laptop from her bag and opens it. She connected it to the projector and pulled out a slide of some trainees she wanted to focus on for the next weekdays. 

Taeyeon tries to pay attention to IU but notices a white stain on IU’s lower lip. “Hey, you got a little something on your lip.” 

Surprised, she says, “Oh, really? Where?”

“On your lower lip.”

“Haha, silly me. I just had a bite to eat earlier.” IU wipes off the stain on her lip with her thumb before licking it off her finger and continuing with her presentation. As IU gave her presentation, one of her pens fell on the floor. She bends over to pick it up and notices a strange white substance running down IU’s thigh and onto the floor. She stares at it briefly before returning and continuing the meeting with IU. 

Inside of her head, she can't help but scoff at IU’s lie about her “important meeting” with the CEO. She knows clearly that her meeting was just a lie to cover up their “sessions” and are fucking in his office. But like a good friend, she can’t judge her friend or her relationship, so as they exit the meeting room, she whispers to IU, “You have something running down your thigh; you might want to get that cleaned up,” with a warm smile. 

[souptastical]

Wanna find your fav old fic but it's now lost? Aaronmelzak's Harry Potter Fanfic Archive of 100+ Sites/Forums Is Now Hosted Via Me In Accessible Format✨

✦•··················INFO·····················•✦

╔═══════════════════════╗

Someone archived/collected over 100 sites/forums for HP Fanfic. This doesn't only include popular ones like AO3, FFN, HPFF, Mugglenet but very small pairing-centric and smaller communities like Checkmated, Gryffindor Tower, The Full Moony, The Restricted Section and so much more.

This is not only an extreme service to data preservation in regards to creative works, but for fandom history as a whole. Upon my post in the hpff subreddit, I had people backing up these files from the torrent & my hosted link to their own cloud service of choice, and people planning to do the above once their dl was finished. You have free reign to do the same, including taking my folder and uploading it to share. The only request is that you of course link back to the original archivist, and if you choose to change the file structure, disclaim how it has changed from the very original structure.

To help the apparent confusion: This comes as a torrent file unless you choose to look through the archive link by zips. This is a good way, but doesn't allow to see the file structure as the archivist created. So I downloaded almost 100 GB & uploaded it, file structure as is, besides a few changes which I will put below. You are now able to browse at will through the folders, which are sorted. This was done due to ease of access. You will need to use a program like winrar/7zip which is as simple as opening the zip through said program, which allows you to view it. This is also available on smartphone. To view the directories, you need to open the .csv files through excel which is just as simple as the above, and is also on smartphone.

The list of archived sites is long, so I won't be including it here. If you don't wanna look through the folders yourself at which zips are provided, send me a PM and I'll get back to you as quick as I can💖

To note: I'm only sharing 50% of transfer quota. Wish I could share more, but I've already shared 200 GB.

Changes made from original archivist file structure:

"No longer updated" + "Assorted" folder: now mixed and called "Original Fan Sites- Misc- Assorted"

"Actively Updated" folder: now called "Last Updated 2023"

╚═══════════════════════╝

[donjuaninhell]

(I Will Soon Be Offering) Private Guitar Lessons

A few months ago one of my followers asked if I had ever thought about offering guitar lessons online via webcam. I replied that it was indeed something I had thought about but that I would need to give it more thought as to how I would approach teaching online, whether or not I had the proper equipment to provide a professional experience, how many students I could take on, and what exactly I could offer as a teacher. I also noted that I would have to create a suitable space in my apartment for hosting students. This last part took care of itself when my roommate moved out and I am presently converting his old bedroom into an office. As for the rest? Well I gave it some thought and I've hacked together reasonable solutions for most of those other issues, so I would like to announce that beginning later this winter/this spring I will be offering private one-on-one guitar lessons via webcam.

My Qualifications:

While I graduated with a degree in Classics and attended graduate school in that field, I was initially accepted into university as a music major on the basis of my guitar playing. It was only after a few years that I switched majors into Classics. In the end I still managed enough credits to claim a minor in music.

Before attending university I spent a year studying jazz theory/jazz improvisation at the college level.

Both prior to and concurrent with my college/university music education I studied classical guitar privately with a teacher for a little over a decade; through him I can claim teaching lineage back to Francisco Tárrega.

I have played in a few garage bands that never really went anywhere, performed with friends at house parties, jammed around as much as I could, and performed live as a solo guitarist.

I previously taught guitar while in university; this is not my first rodeo.

I have been playing guitar for a little over twenty three years.

What I Can Offer:

If you're a beginner I can happily guide your playing to a level where you would feel comfortable learning songs on your own, and we would start with learning basic chords, basic technique, and putting it all together into learning a few songs.

If you're past the beginner stage, I can take your playing to a level where you would be able to convincingly improvise a solo over a song, play more advanced songs, and sit in with a jam session.

If learning to read sheet music is a goal am able to assist with that.

If you're interested in beginner classical guitar I would feel comfortable teaching repertoire and technique to the level of Royal Conservatory of Music Grade Five examinations. Grade Five repertoire is typically the minimum requirement when auditioning on guitar for a university level music program in Canada. I have several guitar methods at my disposal for teaching technique, and access to a wide array of repertoire sheet music.

I am also able to teach theory as it pertains to playing the guitar and point you towards texts that from beginner levels up to basic harmonic analysis. I can teach you how chords are constructed, how they fit together into a progression, and the basic grammar of music.

Lessons, Pricing, What to Expect, What a Prospective Student Will Require:

The going rate for private music lessons is $40-$50 per hour and ranges up to well over $100 for some in demand teachers. My fee operates on a sliding scale with a floor of $20USD/$25CAD per hour. If you are comfortable paying the typical going rate, wonderful, if you are unable to afford that, we can work something out, no questions asked. Payment should be sent through PayPal or Interac e-transfer.

Due to chronic illness I can't take on more than five students a week. They needn't necessarily be the same five students every week; if a bi-weekly lesson schedule works better for a number of people, they can alternate. In the rare event that there is more demand than that mutuals and longtime followers will have priority.

What you need as a student: A guitar; a webcam; a microphone; a way of letting me hear your playing. This could mean having your microphone positioned so that I can hear your amplifier clearly, or by using a direct input. Feel free to shoot me a message if you want some recommendations for inexpensive DI-boxes and audio interfaces. Headphones would be a good idea too.

If you commit to more than one lesson the first will be free of charge. Your first lesson with me will look something like this: we'll talk about your goals and intentions i.e. what it is you hope to get out of taking guitar lessons and how far you want to take your playing. As we chat about that we can chart out a course to get you there, and then we'll just generally see where you're at. The rest of the lesson will be taken up with some pointers on properly caring for and tuning your instrument, and then we'll put some thought towards the way our bodies are posed, how we have the guitar positioned in relation to our bodies, exercising good hand ergonomics, and finding a playing position that is both comfortable and which allows for optimal freedom of movement.

I live in Toronto which is UTC -5 keep this in mind if you're interested in taking lessons and are located elsewhere.

I intend to do my best at being a trooper and toughing it out, and I will aim to not cancel lessons without fair warning, but the nature of my illness means that I may need to resort to this occasionally. You will need to be alright with this.

If you're interested, you can contact me here or at brendanpalangio@gmail.com. Hopefully I can get enough people interested that I can go about figuring out everyone's availability and drawing up a schedule.

[vickyvicarious]

It's kind of striking how Jonathan already is expressing doubts and fears, he isn’t ignorant of what situation he might be in, but when the Count gives him food and a bed, he dismisses these fears as his mind playing tricks.

The warm hearth, the meal, all this transferred him from the darkness and the snarling, howling wolves outside, to the light and the safety of Castle.

So Jonathan stepping from the outside, is trembling, shocked, but now this powerful old man is giving him a warm fire, security, and food. He's now putty in his hands.

In retrospect then, Dracula manipulates Jonathan from the beginning, putting him in grave danger, and leaving him alone in the cold and surrounded by wolves. Later, he plays the kind host, providing Jonathan with food and shelter. Jonathan is now like a grateful puppy, completely dependent on Dracula for his basic needs, but he is unable to recognize this due to the carefully orchestrated emotional roller coaster Dracula has just put him through.

From the start, Dracula is doing textbook abusive, gaslighting codependent tricks to manipulate Jonathan, one could say...

I feel like as readers, it can be easy to dismiss just how easy it would be for characters to dismiss their fears and doubts once somewhere warm and well lit. Unless someone is truly already a believer in the supernatural, anyone would probably try to talk themself down, just because... well, the idea seems kind of silly, doesn't it? Sure, there were scary stuff happening, but - really, my host is impersonating his own coach driver? Why? Spontaneous fires in the woods that can be seen through a solid human form? Wolves that are driven off by a commanding gesture alone? What kind of ghost story is this? Jonathan sticks to his guns fairly well, being firm about what he's certain he did see, but he admits to having fears and doubts he's not going to mention because they aren't logical, they're fearful speculation about things that for the most part, probably are things he's always considered impossible.

So, yeah. Leaving Jonathan outside in the courtyard alone for a while, to really marinate in his fear and distress at realizing he's trapped alone, surrounded by wolves and who knows what else, and has no idea where to go to seek help... by doing so, Dracula not only has time to run around and take off his disguise, but he primes Jonathan to see his invitation inside as a welcome relief. At least it's better than being exposed to the threats outside. (Though interestingly, it seems it still took several invitations before Jonathan actually came all the way in.) It's setting Dracula himself up as a welcome savior. He brings Jonathan inside, out of the cold and dark to somewhere well-lit and warm. He feeds him, he's courteous and friendly, he shares Mr. Hawkins' praise with him. Jonathan gets to smoke a cigar and relax a bit. He gets to tell the whole story to an interested audience. * Of course he feels better than before. And it's thanks to Dracula. Dracula is the one who can protect him from all that scariness out there, who can make him feel comfortable again. It's a good way to build trust and influence quickly, by positioning himself as a friend/protector.

But Dracula can't restrain himself. He pushes too much, too soon, and Jonathan feels rightfully creeped out:

As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal. The Count, evidently noticing it, drew back; and with a grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the fireplace. We were both silent for a while; and as I looked towards the window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a strange stillness over everything; but as I listened I heard as if from down below in the valley the howling of many wolves.

As soon as Dracula touches Jonathan, he feels repulsed. Part of this may be some kind of instinctive reaction to Dracula's supernatural nature. Maybe it's related to the memory of how incredibly strong his grip was earlier. Maybe it's simply because Dracula is being an overfamiliar creep - that would be plenty of reason on its own. (And I'm sure his terrible breath doesn't help matters.) But regardless, Dracula hasn't established enough trust between them here for Jonathan to welcome this touch. And he's not quite established a fearful enough power dynamic for Jonathan to force himself to accept the touch. Politeness is the only reason Jonathan doesn't move away, but his feelings are made obvious by his shudder.

Dracula pulls back, tries to play it off, but they still fall into a silence that is clearly a lot less comfortable than before. And the atmosphere around them reflects the sudden distance too: Jonathan notices dawn coming (presaging a physical separation as well, but also Dracula's power waning right after this blunder lessens his emotional power over Jonathan). Eerie elements creep back in: Dracula's frustrated smile shows his teeth more than all his deliberately charming ones have done before. Wolves are howling, which pleases Dracula and upsets Jonathan - the final exchange which they have before Dracula sends Jonathan off to bed, and one which seems to bring Jonathan right back to a much more distressed state of mind as he relives the night's experiences over again.

Dracula spoils his own fun a little bit here, because he puts Jonathan back on guard. And I think it's clear he's a little annoyed at himself for it. He finds Jonathan so interesting/enticing that he's having difficulty playing a long game. At least a part of him wants to jump right in to more intimate/threatening actions, and though he mostly restrains himself, the mask still slips and his victim notices. Which is lucky, as Jonathan needs that guard up to keep himself safe.

* I just realized that Jonathan does say that he "told [Dracula] by degrees all [he] had experienced" on his journey. I hope to god that doesn't include him mentioning the crucifix lady's gift with any kind of specificity, or else I fear very much for her life.

[tomorrowusa]

Microblogging platform Mastodon is taking steps to make sure it never falls into the hands of some MAGA billionaire like Zuck or Musk.

Founder Eugen Rochko is transferring ownership to a nonprofit entity based in Europe. It is already located in the EU where it is free of any political or legal pressure from a Trump administration. Becoming nonprofit is a poison pill to deter any broligarchs who bend the knee to MAGA.

Mastodon announced Monday that it's shifting its structure over the next six months to become wholly owned by a European nonprofit organization—"affirming the intent that Mastodon should not be owned or controlled by a single individual." This takes control of the social network away from its previous "ultimate decision-maker," Eugen Rochko. As founder, Rochko initially took the reins to ensure the decentralized platform would never be for sale and "would be free of the control of a single wealthy individual." His grand vision remains to leave Mastodon users in control of the social network, making their own decisions about what content is allowed or what appears in their timelines. The news comes after leaders of other social networks, like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, have sparked backlash over sudden changes to popular apps like Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). For years, Musk has drawn criticism for changing Twitter's hate speech policies through his X rebranding. And more recently, Zuckerberg this month defended Meta's decision to relax hate speech policies (permitting women to be called "property" and gay people to be called "mentally ill") by calling bans on such speech "out of touch with mainstream discourse." Mastodon is hoping to provide an alternative social network for users who are potentially frustrated with their lack of control over their timelines and content on other networks.

Mastadon is part of the Fediverse – which takes a little getting used to. And while not small, it doesn't yet have the enormous volume of broligarch-owned social media; though Elon Musk's transformation of Twitter/X into a playground for Nazis and Trumpsters has sparked growth at Mastodon.

Mastodon appears to be betting that even more users will seek alternative social networks in the future as popular apps enact unpopular policies. The blog discussed progress on a "privacy-respecting search tool" that could be used to explore the entire Fediverse, a collection of independent social media networks that Mastodon connects to. That could make it possible to discover more content without depending on a "For You" algorithm mining user data. And perhaps in a nod to Meta's recent changes, Mastodon also vowed to "invest deeply in trust and safety" and ensure "everyone, especially marginalized communities," feels "safe" on the platform.

Dominic Preston at The Verge writes...

“When founder Eugen Rochko started working on Mastodon, his focus was on creating the code and conditions for the kind of social media he envisioned,” Mastodon says. “The legal setup was a means to an end, a quick fix to allow him to continue operations. From the start, he declared that Mastodon would not be for sale and would be free of the control of a single wealthy individual, and he could ensure that because he was the person in control, the only ultimate decision-maker.” In the short term, nothing should change for users. Mastodon will continue to host the mastodon.social and mastodon.online servers and support its federated network. Routine code development and bug fixes are ongoing, though the announcement adds that “changes are definitely in the pipeline.” “Our core mission remains the same: to create the tools and digital spaces where people can build authentic, constructive online communities free from ads, data exploitation, manipulative algorithms or corporate monopolies,” Mastodon says.

What's not to like about a platform for Twitter refugees which doesn't Zuck?

[startrek-eridani]

Saavik, Captain of the U.S.S Eridani

Saavik was born approximately in the year 2265, on the Romulan colony of Hellguard, a mining planet of arid temperature also hosting the site of technological development of a bioweapon. The leaders of the colony intercepted four ships from the Vulcan Science Academy, and their crew were brought to Hellguard to serve as test subjects for the weapon, as well as provide a new generation of subjects through their rape. Being half-Vulcan, half-Romulan and hailing from such a violent planet where murder and famine ran rampant would most likely have meant a death sentence for Saavik and the other hybrid children of the colony, until Spock and the Vulcan high council learned of it and deployed a rescue mission.

At about 9 or 10 years of age when she was rescued, Saavik already had a keen and curious mind, and after saving Spock’s life one night in Hellguard’s desert and briefly bonding with him on the subject of stars, with Saavik claiming their ownership, she refused to trust any other Vulcan adults that were a part of the rescue mission. Spock convinced her to rejoin the Vulcan vessel by promising to take her to her stars, and secretly trading her knife with his tricorder, promising to keep the weapon that kept the child alive safe on his person while allowing her to embark.

After this rescue, Spock took it upon himself to raise Saavik, as she refused to take the DNA tests that would have allowed the Vulcan Council to trace back her remaining family, as she knew that it would mean to be taken from Spock’s care. While spending a year with Spock on the planet Dantria IV, Saavik’s interest for stars and space travel only increased, with Spock often using mission logs and stories of the Enterprise’s crew to impart life lessons to Saavik. In that time, she learned proper language, Vulcan philosophy and the rudiments of logic, before continuing her education on Vulcan while living with Ambassador Sarek and the lady Amanda once Spock returned to the Enterprise. Already, she wished to enroll in Starfleet when she would be old enough.

In 2281, Saavik entered Starfleet Academy as a first year cadet, aged approximately 16 years old. Her hybrid heritage was kept relatively secret, with only a few select admirals being aware of it, but considering her grades and recommendation letter from Spock, it wasn’t a problem for her admission. During that first year, she notably joined the cadet baseball team as pitcher, as well as participating on a highly classified mission that brought her and Spock back to Hellguard one last time. After these events, she pursued her studies in the command track, meeting Joanna McCoy in 2282 while she joined Starfleet Medical to get her xenomedicine and space travel formations.

In 2285, at around age 20, she was in her last year as a cadet, and after taking the Kobayashi Maru test, and succeeding in the test of character, she took part in the training cruise led by Captain Spock, and later Admiral Kirk as a Lieutenant junior grade. When Khan Noonien-Singh began his revenge and search for the Genesis device, she participated closely in the event of the battle, also taking part in the landing party to Regula 1. After it’s detonation and Captain Spock’s death and subsequent funeral, Saavik was transferred to the Grissom as a lieutenant, albeit now no longer junior-grade, implying a field promotion for her implication in the event of the Battle of the Mutara nebula and preceding it. As Grissom inspected the Genesis planet, she worked mainly as a science officer, and beamed down to the planet with David Marcus when life signals that could be associated with Captain Spock were detected on the surface. The pair discovered the young, regenerated body of Spock, yet it lacked its mind and spirit, as it was with Dr. Leonard McCoy. Saavik had to meld with the young Spock when he began experiencing severe pains she wrongly associated with Pon Farr at first, but were in fact the results of his telepathic centers lacking the stability of familial and amical bonds, these bonds having been broken by his death and remaining with his mind and spirit out of his body. The telepathic centers send painful telepathic nerve input through his body, aggravating his already painful aging along the surges of the Genesis planet. Klingons in search of the Genesis later ambushed them and after David’s heroic sacrifice to save Saavik from Kruge’s order to kill one of the prisoners, she melded with him, accidentally creating a sibling bond between them while also saving his life. After the fal-tor-pan, Saavik remained on Vulcan for a year, mainly to watch over David as he recovered and keep him company, as his state was too fragile to travel back to Earth for a long time.

Following that year of sabbatical off-fleet, Saavik returned to San Francisco, where she had to argue with Starfleet Academy admissions for them to allow David Marcus to enter the school for command, field science and space training and then the fleet. The Admiralty eventually allowed it, but it was made clear that anything that could go wrong with David within the fleet could be of consequences to Saavik’s career.

Saavik was then assigned once more as a lieutenant, this time on the U.S.S Agincourt, and served as helmsman, tactical officer and sometime navigator, as needed be. Her captain appreciated her efficiency, and in 2287, when now once more Captain Kirk requested for her transfer at the helm of the Enterprise-A after Hikaru Sulu’s departure to command the Excelsior, she wished her good luck and many successes. She then also earned the rank of lieutenant-commander along with a full helmsman task.

Saavik remained aboard the Enterprise-A until 2289, when the post of First Officer of the Eridani opened and fleet command decided to promote her once more, this time to commander. She served on the Eridani for six years under captain Bowman, until he decided that it was time to retire once the ship returned to Space dock for maintenance and updates.

As Eridani was planned to go back for a five-years mission in deep space, Saavik was seen as the best candidate to take on command of the ship, being one of the officers serving on it for the longest time and having shown a neat track record. Saavik was made captain in 2296, at approximately 31 years old, making her in her time, the youngest Starfleet captain, beating her former mentor James T. Kirk by 2 years.

Saavik’s captaining style was influenced by her use of logic and reason, but considering how important her survival instinct has been in her youth, she didn’t shy away from following her instincts. Her knowledge of ships, strategies, weaponry and scientific instruments from the Federation and out of it was extensive, as well as her knowledge of norms and regulations. Her service under James T. Kirk, namely during the training cruise, taught her about the importance of knowing when to bend the rule. Despite these capacities and Starfleet command’s trust in her, she often wondered if she is good enough to be a captain, and hoped that she would be making her mentors proud.

Saavik doesn’t express her emotions a lot, but Spock having met V'ger before rescuing her and her many years serving among humans taught her how important emotions, feelings and connections to others are. She valued her close friends, namely David Marcus and Joanna McCoy, but also tried her best to be available to subordinates and bond with her department heads and crew, as much as the chain of command allowed. Despite all of that, she struggles with opening up to others about her fears or deeper insecurities, being a part of why she had a hard time falling into a rhythm with her First Officer at first, even if she was supposed to rely on him.

[arwensarboretum]

Spoilers for Tales Of Symphonia!

Tales of Symphonia thoughts:

This has never occurred to me before and now that it has I am BAFFLED that I never thought of it before: Why are the Chosens humans instead of half-elves?

I know the Half-elves are discriminated against heavily, which would imply that the people of Tethe'alla and Sylvarant wouldn't take kindly to a half-elf with celebrity status, but I still think that being chosen to save the world would probably ingratiate at least those specific half-elves to the community at large, even if it was only during their active journey of regeneration. (We also know that even the human chosen are a bit ostracized because of their positions, so it's possible the average person could still be discriminatory to the chosen) (this would make it harder to the Chosen themselves to have enough positive feelings towards the world to want to save it though, so maybe it was because of that.) The half-elves are generally persecuted because of their long lifespans, but, in the case of the chosen, that wouldn't really be a problem as they begin their journey at age 16 and die at the end of it. The normal reason for discrimination wouldn't apply to a half-elf chosen.

We know that Martel is a half-elf, and that the Chosen of Regenerations serve 2 purposes: 1. to flip the mana hourglass system between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla and 2. to provide a host body for Martel's soul. We know that the body has to be organic (see Tabetha) and empty (see the steps to becoming an angel), and we know that in order for the body to accept Martel's soul, it has to have a similar enough mana signature for the transfer to be possible. We also know that that CAN work on humans as Martel is successfully transferred into Colette's body, but WHY? aren't the Chosen's half elves? Wouldn't that make it easier to find a mana signature that matches instead of selective breeding (which we know happened because of Zelos's parents arranged marriage). There would probably still need to be selective breeding if they were half-elves, but at least the race would match and the vessel body would already have the ability to sense and manipulate mana due to being a half-elf. I think it would be easier and therefore faster to match a body that already is the same race.

It's possible the Cruxis crystal renders that point moot because it messes with the host physically, but we know from Kratos and Zelos that their ability to use magic is NOT from the cruxis crystal (hence why Colette can only use angelic magic while Zelos and Kratos can both use magic that's closer to Genis, Raine and the other elves and half-elves we see in world), they had to eat the stone Aionis in order to gain the ability to use magic. So the magic in the blood thing doesn't apply to humans. (We also see this in Sheena as she is many generations removed, but does have some elven blood which allows her to be a Summoner.)

We know Martel had magic. She was a half-elf. She was the team's healer. In the computer game (I forget its name), we see her use magic. It's also speculated by Raine that maybe the Journey of Regeneration the Chosen have to go on is to test if they are similar to Martel in personality who was self-sacrificial and wanted to save the world. Colette matches her very closely all the way down to their shared illness, so it makes sense that Colette can bear her soul, but why aren't the chosen half-elves? Surely half-elves going on the journey successfully would either already have, or would develop Martel-like traits that would facilitate the transfer, and would make it easier to find a functional body. I don't know if mana signature is affected by race. Maybe it's not and is some personality like thing. Yuan was able to transfer his mana into Kratos to keep him alive (which is a half-elf to human transfer (which itself may or may not be affected by the fact that they are both angels)) so maybe the race of each member doesn't matter at all. But it makes me wonder. Wouldn't it be easier if they were? Maybe that's not how mana works at all? Maybe the mana transfer is facilitated by them being different races? This wondering led to point 2 - which is entirely unrelated to Martel, but instead inspects Mithos and his relation to half-elves and their status through the years.

Mithos has lived 4,000 years as basically the ruler of both worlds. With the Eternal Sword and pacts with all summon spirits, being an angel, a trained swordsman and a powerful caster, he is an unmatched force of power, and is using that power to turn everyone into lifeless beings in order to achieve his sister's goal of ending discrimination. This leads me to some questions.

Why didn't Mithos use his status as the hero of the Kharlan war to improve the position of half-elves in society? This one is kind of tricky as very little is known about the direct aftermath of Martel's death and what happened immediately after they stopped the war vs what we see in the present day with the myth of Mithos the Hero and the goddess Martel, but we know that in the story Mithos is not explicitly a half-elf. It's possible that that changed over time, or that it was edited out by people who were continuously racist against the half-elves, but initially, Mithos could have used his power and leverage as the ender of the war to highlight half-elves and improve their societal standing. It's possible he did, and it simply didn't last the 4,000 years. 4,000 years an incomprehensible amount of time. But I think about it. Especially in the present as the half-elves are almost all members of the Desians. That makes sense from their perspective as it makes more sense to join a group that wants you rather than one that persecutes you, but it perpetuates the idea of "half-elves bad and humans good" and "half-elves good and humans bad" depending on which side of the divide you're on. The rift between them is intensified when it's believed that the desians are killing the Chosens and robbing the worlds of salvation (though we know this to be a plot by Yuan and the renegades, no doubt leveraging the race divide in his favour.) The set up of the system keeps them apart - that's in line with Mithos' beliefs, that people can't change, but it's still an interesting way it's being reinforced. It's possible and even likely that Mithos tried to make these changes a long time ago, but they didn't stick and then he didn't bother to keep trying as the years went by, but the current state of race relations highlights how he isn't using his power to facilitate it at all and is in fact using his power to keep people divided.

2. Why didn't Mithos make the half-elves affluent?

Another question I can only speculate on due to the nebulous information about the 4,000 years. It's possible they were at one point, but the humans despised them for their long lives and waged war against them, took their stuff, ran them off, ect. There are many ways that could have existed and then ended. With the power of Gnome though, Mithos could basically print money for whatever group he wanted and could have sustained the half-elves control over a particular area (which he did for the half-elves of Exire). Even the elves in Ymir protect their forests with magic and guards. It's possible the half-elves, if given a similar set up could have flourish in similar circumstances. It's possible they even did. But in the modern day, only Exire welcomes half-elves (and I'm still not even sure how the half-elves get to Exire? Are Rheiards something people can just get in Tethe'Alla?) (Mithos didn't seem weirded out by Lloyd group having them in Tethe'Alla or Sylvarant (How did he think they got from world to world?) but was alarmed when he learned they got them from the Renegades, so it's possible he thought they got them in Tethe'Alla and that the Renegades brought Lloyd's group through the rift? But Pronyma knew about the crashed Rheiards on Fooji... Maybe she just never told Yggdrasil? Sorry... getting off topic.) and I don't really see why that has to be the case aside from another home was never made for them. It's more than possible that many half-elf settlements existed throughout the millennia and none of them are still standing, but with the power of all the summon spirits and the Eternal Sword, I think it more than likely that Mithos could have built the half-elves another home to live it where they could have peace.

3. Looping back to the point about Martel really quick, WHY didn't Mithos use the Eternal Sword to create a body that could house Martel?

I don't know how the Eternal Sword works at all. I know you need to be a half-elf to use it. I know you can be human and use it with the Ring of the Pact. I know you need to be acknowledged by Origin to use it. I know Yuan says "it can do anything you want it to" basically. I know it was used to split the worlds. All I know is it's incredibly powerful and has the ability to bend/fashion reality to the wielders will. We only ever see it split/reunite the worlds and hold Derris Kharlan close to the planet without destroying it, but if it can manipulate reality, wouldn't it create a body for Martel? Was Mithos not able to use it anymore after breaking his pact with Origin? Was it stuck with certain settings when Origin was sealed and nothing could be done with it afterwards? Yuan planned to use it and kill Kratos to open the seal and claim the sword, so it's possible that it can't be used to do new things which Origin is sealed, but we don't know when Origin was sealed. It could have been used immediately to revive Martel after she was killed. In the PS version, if you talk to Yuan after the Tower of Salvation falls, he talks about the arrival of Derris Kharlan and how after Martel died, they needed to store her in the seed and then wait 200 years for Derris Kharlan to arrive in order to provide enough mana to save the world. I think the plan was to split the world anyways, then use the comet's mana to help the seed grow and reunite the world when the tree was big enough to sustain them both, but when Martel was killed, Mithos used the seed to sustain her instead and then refused to give the seed up when the comet did arrive, but either way, we know the sword was used to split the world and Martel died. If Origin was sealed before Martel died, maybe that was the reason they couldn't use the sword to revive her (at least without killing Kratos), but if Origin wasn't sealed when she died, why not just use it?

Also, side note: Why did everyone decide that killing Kratos was acceptable here? If the sword cannot be used without Origin's acknowledgement and only Mithos has that, that means in order for the wielder to change, you'd need to kill Kratos, meet Origin, have him acknowledge you and then, if you're a half-elf you can wield the sword, and if not you need the ring of the pact. But why did that need to be linked to Kratos's life force? I know Kratos was the best fighter on the team at the time so it's possible no one thought he would be defeated so it was their safest bet, but it's really putting a target on him. Maybe not if no one else KNEW he was the seal and Mithos never thought Yuan or Kratos would betray him, but if Origin needs to be unsealed to use the sword, then Kratos agreeing to help Mithos reunite the worlds after reviving Martel in the wake of Anna's death is equivalent to Kratos agreeing to die so Mithos can use the sword (which is in character at the time for Kratos, but still messed up), but if that's NOT necessary for the Eternal Sword to be used, and Mithos can just do whatever he wants with it still, why doesn't he use it to revive Martel?

The Mithos in the game that we get and his counterpart in the OVA are slightly different. Mithos in the game is entirely focused on bringing back Martel and I find it easier to think he either didn't notice or didn't care much about fixing the rest of the world once he got his systems in place to bring Martel back. He obviously valued her wish, which we see in the Age of lifeless beings - he wanted her to have a world without discrimination, but his goal seems extreme and he seems in favour of that extremity. There's not a lot of nuance to his view, and if he has nuance in his view, it's never explained. In the show, Yggdrasil explicitly tells Lloyd he tried everything to end discrimination and bring back Martel and nothing worked. In a lifespan of 4,000 years that would be a depressing and horrific experience and his age of lifeless beings makes more sense if he tried things I mentioned and more and everything simply didn't work up front or fell away with time and the discrimination continued. It would overtake any hope left after long enough, and Mithos clearly had fallen to apathy about the state of the worlds in the end. It's possible game Mithos did the same and there was simply nothing left to try that he could think of and didn't consider reviving old plans as he believed people can't change. It really brings into perspective how awful it would be.

I don't really have a good closing for this. I had questions and thoughts. If anyone has speculations, feel free to add them. It just makes me think.

[tanadrin]

Lane's thesis around the emergence of eukaryotes (and why it was necessary for complex life) seems to be this:

Bacteria (both kinds, archaea and eubacteria) have pretty strict energy limits in terms of growth. One big constraint here is genome size: the more genes you have, the more energy that gets spent on protein synthesis. But the smaller your genome, the faster you replicate, which is important given how quickly bacterial generations turn over; replicating fast is a big advantage. You can pick up any new genes you need from the environment, thanks to lateral gene transfer. This is why bacteria don't have a lot of junk DNA.

You could try to scale up the size of the cell to increase the size of the membrane, which would allow you to produce more energy. But the volume of the cell scales with the cube of its size and the surface area with the square; and, for obscure reasons, it seems like there is a strong evolutionary pressure to keep the genome near the energy-producing membrane. So what you effectively get is a big dead area inside the cell (a vacuole, in some species of huge bacteria), lots of extra copies of the genome, and no extra energy for your trouble (each copy of the genome is a copy of every gene, which requires more energy to support).

Compare chloroplasts, which often have complicated, folded up membranes to facilitate photosynthesis--and also lots of copies of their genome floating around.

You could imagine breaking the genome up into plasmids, rather than copying every gene, and only putting extra copies of the genes needed for respiration near the cell membrane. But then you need complex transport systems (which require energy), and there's no evolutionary pressure for size for its own sake that would encourage you to develop such a complex transport system to support a large bacterial cell, in aid of maybe in the future developing an ATP surplus.

Eukaryotes didn't evolve to produce extra ATP, they evolved to get a consistent source of hydrogen, for cell growth. The endosymbiont provides the host cell with all the hydrogen it needs, and in return the host cell provides a stable environment for the endosymbiont.

In this safe environment, the endosymbiont's genome is free to shrink without limit, down to the absolute minimum number of genes needed to support respiration. Many genes will move to the nucleus of the host cell; others will simply be lost. But this produces an ATP surplus! All of this ATP needs to be used--if the whole pool of ADP gets converted to ATP, respiration stops (bad!), and free radicals accumulate which fuck up proteins and DNA and can kill the cell. So this excess of ATP encourages the host cell to find uses for it--like a cytoskeleton and internal transport mechanisms and new organelles.

Unlike the plasmid scenario, every step of this evolutionary process confers some benefit on both the host cell and the endosymbiont.

You might wonder, given the benefits, why this only happened once with mitochondria! This is sort of related to the fact that all apparent intermediate cells, like the archaezoa, are actually subsequent, reduced forms of the true eukaryote rather than being offshoots of the process of eukaryote development: the early eukaryote would have been genetically unstable, and small in population size. There was strong selection pressure to quickly converge on a single form (the eukaryote LUCA), and intermediate forms would have been quickly outcompeted and driven to extinction. Likewise, this was a feat not soon to be repeated: eukaryotes got lucky.

Endosymbiosis dumped a ton of introns--self-replicating genetic parasites--into the host cell. Some of these could have been from endosymbionts that failed to thrive in the host cell, and when they died dumped their genetic material into the host. We still sometimes see mitochondrial DNA segments invading and disrupting nuclear DNA.

The eukaryotic genome was able to tolerate the invasion of bacterial introns because of the benefit the endosymbionts provided; but initially, the result was a genetically unstable cell. The nucleus evolved to separate the nuclear DNA from ribosomes, giving time and space for spliceosomes to remove introns from transcribed RNA. Excess lipid synthesis from having both bacterial and archaeal enzymes for membrane formation helped promote the creation of the nucleus (and other membrane-bound organelles).

Because of the intron situation and overall genetic instability, the mutation rate of early eukaryotes was high, selection pressure was immense, and there was a lot of variation in the population--just the circumstances which, in mathematical models, favors the emergence of sexual reproduction.

Lateral gene transfer is of limited use as genomes get bigger, and sexual reproduction, with the genetic recombination that occurs during meiosis, makes individual genes much more salient to evolution, as opposed to just whole genomes.

The individual steps for the evolution of sexual reproduction are not so clear, but the mechanical precursors of both the segregation of genetic material and the fusion of cells are attested in prokaryotes. Various effects arising from natural selection also tend to favor two sexes, anisogamy, and the inheritance of mitochondria from only one parent. Handling mutations and the specialization of tissue, and the separation of cells into somatic cells and germ line cells, also led to the evolution of senescence.

the evolution of sex, incidentally, also favors moving as many mitochondrial genes to the nucleus as possible, so more beneficial versions can be selected for. there's no way to repair the mutational load of genes which remain in the mitochondria, and do not recombine.

[jtargaryen18]

Under His Skin ~ Chapter 3

Series Masterlist

Words: 5k

Pairing: Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow (Nolanverse Batman) x F Reader

Warnings: Stalking, sabotage, gaslighting, head games, x-rated fantasies, oral (m receiving).

Jonathan continues executing his plan to temporarily stabilize Ares. But her continued absence disrupts the system. When she fails to return to Arkham for a second day, Jonathan decides to reestablish control by visiting her at her gallery... with unintended results.

Disclaimer:The author of this work claims no ownership of characters aside from the reader, and original secondary characters mentioned. This work is not intended for those under the age of 18 due to explicit sexual content and darker themes. By reading this work or any works on my blog (jtargaryen18), you agree that you are at least 18 years of age. I do not consent to have my work hosted on any third party app or site.

Jonathan had returned to Arkham on Monday in exceptional form. The weekend had been productive -- precise, deeply satisfying.

He and Ares both primarily worked Monday through Friday, though they were technically on call on the weekends. A rotating PT doctor usually handled weekend rounds, a contract fill-in with no investment in long-term cases and no real oversight of facility activity.

So when Jonathan showed up Saturday morning? No one questioned it. He’d signed in, conducted “follow-ups,” and remained in the south wing for just under two hours. He’d completed another round of tests on a low-risk inpatient, one of Arkham's long-term residents. Unremarkable diagnosis. No family. No one watching too closely.

Subject 034.

Responsive. Highly suggestible.

Fear index response: elevated.

This time, the modified compound absorbed more efficiently. No need for direct injection. A simple aerosol dispersal had been enough. The results were beautiful. Shaking. Dissociation. Vocalized distress. But more importantly, truth beneath fear. Exactly what he was after. After logging the data, he’d started something new. Jonathan started designing a filtration system for his personal use. A way to be in the room without absorbing the poison. It would provide him with field readiness, a way to control the chaos, protection. 

By the time he left, Subject 034 was sedated and stable. Nothing had appeared unusual. He didn’t need anyone’s permission for this. Not anymore. He just needed a system distracted enough not to notice.

And right now, Arkham was very, very distracted.

Ares arrived late and reeked of alcohol. It wasn’t overwhelming, just faint beneath the cologne he’d clearly applied to cover it. But Jonathan noted it immediately. So did two of the nurses. The junior staffer at the front desk didn’t make eye contact when Ares passed. The security guard shook his head.

Jonathan didn’t say anything. He simply logged the observation.

Unshaved. Late. Auditory processing delay. Olfactory trace: whiskey or gin.

By eleven, Ares had snapped at a nurse, misfiled a patient transfer order, and quietly admitted to Jonathan in passing that he’d “forgotten” about a meeting with administration that had been on the calendar for two weeks.

Still functioning, but barely.

And sticking to his plan, Jonathan made no move to escalate. He reminded Ares gently about the admin meeting, handled the file fix himself, and smoothed things over with the staff with the ease of a man who knew how to fix a narrative before it bent too far. It was all part of his plan. Ten days of breathing room. Just enough time to make the fall look inevitable… and him look indispensable. It was working.

It should have been satisfying. But it wasn’t.

She didn’t come. Again. By now, she was off her pattern. Off his rhythm. You don’t get to become unpredictable now.

Her absence wasn’t just a missing piece. It was a disturbance, a weight in the system he couldn’t rebalance without her. He’d expected distance after their last interaction. A pause. Reflection. But not withdrawal or silence. Not this.

Ares was worse, visibly. Agitated, sluggish, and hungover. His judgment was fractured. His affect, unstable.

What happened over the weekend? Had they fought? Had something shifted between them that Jonathan hadn’t seen coming? He didn’t like not knowing.

Every other variable is accounted for. But not this one.

If Ares was spiraling and she was staying away because of it, it changed the timing. It changed the narrative.

I need her back in position. And if she wouldn’t return on her own? Jonathan would create the conditions to draw her out. He closed his notebook with deliberate calm. 

If she won’t return on her own, I’ll reestablish contact on neutral ground.

Not at Arkham. That would feel too formal, clinical. She’d feel cornered. A space where she felt safe would be better. Her space, her rules. A visit that felt like a choice instead of an obligation. He would bring a peace offering.

Moving to his desk drawer, he removed a slim folder he kept tucked beneath the more visible files. Personal notes nothing clinical or official. He flipped to the page labeled [Her Name] – Observational Patterns. 

Favorite café: Haven Leaf, three blocks from gallery. Orders consistently: arugula + lentil bowl, no onions, sub lemon vinaigrette. Always asks for extra lemon. Once corrected staff about packaging, prefers compostable over plastic lids.

He’d observed it three times. Noted it after the second. Confirmed it after the third.

It wasn’t just lunch. It was a demonstration. I see you. I understand detail. I listen. It was, in a word, earned.

This is the reset.  She’ll see I can adapt.  She’ll start to trust the version of me I give her.  And then she’ll come back into the story, exactly where she’s supposed to be.

He checked the clock. It was late afternoon. Too late to act now, not if he wanted the moment to feel deliberate. Tomorrow.

Jonathan would let her absence stretch a little longer. Let her wonder if she’d been forgotten and allow Ares to decline just enough to feel like it was all her fault. 

Then I’ll show up.  Not as a threat. As a solution.

He slid the folder back into the drawer and straightened the crease in his coat. 

Tuesday will be better for re-entry.

Tuesday afternoon, the gallery was quiet. Almost too quiet. 

You’d spent the morning rearranging an exhibit you’d already changed twice. The artists hadn’t noticed. But you had. Nothing felt settled.

You hadn’t eaten. You hadn’t gone to see Ares. You kept thinking about the fight from Saturday night, the first night he’d finally made time for you in over a week. It should’ve been a relief. You'd planned to have dinner at his favorite restaurant and actually managed to grab a reservation last-minute on a cancellation. You’d picked the place for a reason. It was somewhere familiar and quiet. Somewhere that felt like you and him before all of this. You’d even hoped to go back to his apartment after, for a quiet, intimate night. Something soft and healing.

You just wanted to reconnect.

Instead, it had spiraled. It ended in shouting. A misunderstanding and misdirected frustration that caused wounds neither of you had words for. He’d shut down. You’d raised your voice and pushed harder than you meant to. And now? You weren’t even sure what you were fighting about anymore. It hurt.

You knew Ares was embarrassed by what was happening. That he was scared, but wouldn’t say it, not out loud. Not to you or maybe not even to himself. It was pride. Or fear of what it would mean if he said it out loud and couldn’t fix it.

You didn’t go to see him at Arkham yesterday. And today, you still couldn’t make yourself do it. Not because you didn’t care, because you did and you wanted to go. You just didn’t want to continue the fight in Arkham’s halls. Not if something you said came out wrong or if he looked at you like he had nothing left to give.

You were sipping ice water behind the front desk when the bell over the door rang. Your heart jumped just a little. You weren't expecting anyone. Was it Ares? Had he come to see you because he also didn't like how things were left? Maybe, for once, he’d come find you instead of waiting for you to do all the fixing.

It wasn't Ares. 

Dr. Crane stepped into the gallery like he’d done it before, calm and straight-backed. He crossed the room slowly, quietly--like he belonged--and placed a black bag on the front counter with deliberate care.

You stayed behind the desk, one hand still wrapped around your water bottle like it could anchor you, the other slowly lowering into your lap. A chill ran down your arms. Why is he here?

The last time you’d seen him, you’d nearly fallen apart in his office. And he’d done nothing, just sat there coldly watching. Like your pain had been an interesting reaction in an experiment he wasn’t really invested in, just there to log the outcome. There hasn't been an ounce of comfort or empathy. Nothing. Just observation. Like you were another file he’d already finished reading.

You folded your arms across your chest before you stood, a subtle barrier between you and him. This was your space.

If he thought anything of your reaction, it didn't show. Crane just watched you, waited. "Lunch,” he said, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

You blinked, caught between annoyance, confusion, and something colder you didn’t want to name. “Dr. Crane.”

He inclined his head. “Miss.”

You didn’t invite him in. But you didn’t ask him to leave either. The long beat of silence stretched out uncomfortably.

“You didn’t come to Arkham yesterday," he said. "Or today.”

You stiffened, instinctively on guard. “I didn’t think I was required.”

“You’re not,” he said. “But your absence was felt.” He moved a little closer, slow and unthreatening. His tone was gentle, but exact. “Ares had a better day Monday. But that kind of improvement isn’t always sustainable. Especially without consistent environmental support.”

You stared at him. “Are you saying I’m environmental support now?”  You meant it to sound sharp, maybe a little sarcastic. Somehow you didn't hit that note. And underneath it, something twisted in your chest. Is that what I’ve become to Ares? A stabilizing factor? A comforting presence? Not a partner or someone he trusts? It stung more than you wanted to admit. Not because Crane said it, but because maybe he wasn’t wrong.

And worse? He made it sound like a compliment. Like it meant something. Were you just another condition to be managed then?

“I’m saying,” Crane replied, “you matter to him. And I believe he stabilizes faster when you're present.”

His phrasing was so matter-of-fact it disarmed you. 

“I thought you didn’t do emotional nuance,” you said quietly. “Back in your office, when I…” You stopped yourself.

Crane nodded, like he already knew. “I was trying not to make it worse. I’ve seen grief weaponized. I didn’t want to push you into anything you weren’t ready to feel.”

You looked at him, surprised by the softness in his tone. It wasn't warmth, but caution. Like he’d studied loss in a lab and learned just enough to simulate empathy.

“I wasn’t ready,” you admitted.

“I’m sorry,” he said and he meant it. Or he was good enough to make you think he did. 

He didn’t push, and he didn’t stay long. 

“Oh, before I forget.” He reached into the small black bag he’d set on the gallery’s front counter earlier and pulled out a neatly folded paper bag, sealed with a compostable sticker from your favorite vegan café three blocks down. “In case you haven’t eaten.”

You blinked, opening it to see its contents. Inside was your usual order. Not the standard menu item but your version. Subbed dressing, extra lemon wedge, no onions. Your stomach fluttered, more from confusion than hunger. How did he...

“Thank you,” you said cautiously.

He didn’t explain. Just gave a small nod. As he turned to go, he paused beside a large canvas near the door, a striking, oil-dark piece with a murder of crows painted in jagged, chaotic silhouettes. Their wings blurred into one another, sharp angles bleeding into a smudged black sky. There was no ground or horizon. Just movement, and darkness, and eyes that followed. You’d always admired the artist. She was brilliant, raw. 

But this piece? This one was different. It felt like darkness closing in, like something coming for you, whether you saw it or not. You’d never told anyone that and you usually placed the painting near exits, just in case.

You weren’t surprised he liked it. “Is that for sale?” he asked.

You nodded. “Of course. Local artist. She's good.” You walked over to him, grabbing one of the cards clipped to the frame. Your hands were slightly shaky, and it fell to the floor before you could hand it to him. "I'm sorry." You kneeled on the floor in front of him to retrieve it and glanced up at him, because you still weren't entirely sure you trusted him. Slowly rising to your feet, you handed it to him and your fingers brushed during the exchange. Just a second. You pulled away first, and he didn’t react. But for a reason you couldn’t explain, the gallery suddenly felt colder.

He took the card gently, slipped it into his coat pocket without looking. “I’ll see you at Arkham tomorrow, then?” he asked, his intense gaze locking with yours.

You hesitated. Then nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be there.”

You walked him to the door, still unsure what had just happened and how it managed to feel like an apology without ever actually becoming one.

Crane paused before stepping out. “See you tomorrow.”

And then he was gone.

You watched him walk out into the afternoon sun, perfectly composed. The gallery felt lighter once he was gone, but you wouldn't say better.

Still…He hadn’t been what you expected. Not this time. You locked the door and turned back to the crows trapped on the canvas of the painting. You wondered, distantly, what he saw when he looked at them.

The door shut behind Jonathan quietly. The kind of silence that invited reflection. He just walked down the gallery steps slowly, coat buttoned, posture straight. The warmth of the late afternoon sun hit his shoulders, but he didn’t feel it. Not after what just happened. It was playing over and over again in his mind. The dropped card. The way she’d looked up at him from the floor before the brush of her fingers against his. It shouldn’t have meant anything. It wasn’t part of the plan.

But it had struck something in him that had never threatened his self control before now. By the time he reached the sidewalk and turned left toward Arkham, he still hadn’t gotten his balance back.

Shaking his head to clear it, Jonathan forced himself to concentrate. 

She took the food he brought her. Not with trust or ease, but she did accept it. He’d watched her fingers hesitate over the bag, watched the micro-tension in her shoulders. Her reluctance was visible. But she didn’t pull back or question the gesture. She also didn’t send him away which he half-expected.

That mattered. Fear was too obvious and resistance too loud. But reluctant permission, well, that was the truest kind of control.

She’s not ready to trust me. That’s fine. She’s ready to wonder if she should. And that's better.

It was better tham empathy, comfort. She was still deciding and he was shaping the answer. 

Progress.

More than that, she’d listened. She’d let him speak, uninterrupted. She’d allowed him to frame the absence -- both Ares’s decline and her role in the system. And in the end, she agreed to return.

Control regained. He exhaled, slow and steady. The encounter hadn't gone exactly as he intended. Reaching into his pocket, he fished the card out.  

She’d handed it to him from the frame beside the crow painting. She’d dropped it first, her hands trembling. From his visit? He could still see it in his mind's eyes. She kneeled in front of him to retrieve it, hand reaching across the floor, her eyes lifting to meet his from below. There was nothing calculated or staged about it. 

But the image? Kneeling. Looking up. Just… waiting. His breath hadn’t caught and his heart hadn’t accelerated. But something else had, something sharper from deep within. It wasn't desire or power, just the flash of something he struggled to name. 

She had no idea what that looked like, how naturally submissive that unintentional pose was, and that made it worse. Then she stood and handed him the card. For the briefest second, their fingers touched. Jonathan didn’t react outwardly, but internally, his mind stilled. Not because of the touch itself. No. It also wasn’t calculated nor was it part of the test.

She didn’t mean to touch me. But it still happened.

For years, touch and physical contact had been transactional. Sometimes a necessary step in gaining access or information. College trysts, colleagues at conferences, overeager interns mistaking distance for mystery. He’d allowed it, participated when useful. But he’d never felt anything.

Jonathan didn't feel desire or warmth. Certainly not pleasure in the way others described it. He didn’t believe physical closeness offered anything particularly valuable, not beyond the momentary biological release people seemed irrationally obsessed with. If there were any benefits, they were hormonal. Temporary and meaningless. Flesh wasn’t interesting. Behavior was. And behavior could be mapped and measured, predicted even.

Until now. 

I can't stop seeing her glance up at me from the floor, eyes wide, lips parted. Then she touched me by accident, and I can’t stopped thinking about it.

Most people didn’t touch him, not intentionally. And when they did, it was always followed by hesitation and regret. That brief flash of discomfort in their eyes like they’d just crossed some invisible line.

Once again, she hadn’t flinched or looked repelled. She didn't apologize. Like it was normal. Like I was normal. And that, somehow, was even worse. It stayed. 

He slid the card into his coat pocket, already memorizing the number printed in small black ink. And for the rest of the walk back to Arkham, he could still feel where her skin had met his.

When he reached the front doors of Arkham, Jonathan straightened his cuffs, adjusted his coat, and re-centered his expression into something neutral. Inside, the air was predictably cool. The hum of fluorescent lights, the faint antiseptic sting that clung to everything reminded him of where he was. Where his focus needed to be. 

Familiar ground.

Making his way to Ares’s office without rushing, Jonathan kept one hand tucked casually in his pocket, fingers brushing the edge of the artist’s card like it was an afterthought.

He knocked once. No answer. Crane opened the door anyway.

Ares was at his desk, awake, but slouched. His shoulders hunched, and his tie was askew. His eyes were bloodshot, and a mostly untouched coffee sat beside a stack of reports he wasn’t reading.

Jonathan stepped inside, wordless, and slowly circled the room. Scanned the files, checked the timestamp on the system logs. Picked up a clipboard to skim its contents before putting it down again.

This is what I know. This is control.

But the tension racing through his entire body didn't go away. His memory from the gallery wouldn't let him. 

Kneeling. Glancing up. That pause between her fingertips and mine.

Jonathan was here. In the system, in the structure he’d built around himself. And yet, he felt completely derailed.

Ares mumbled something, barely audible. Jonathan didn’t catch it and didn't care. He stepped back out into the hallway and let the door close behind him.

Control regained?

Maybe not. Not yet.

When Jonathan saw her again, stepping out of the Midtown bookstore on a rainy Thursday, he thought he was hallucinating. It had been ten years since he saw her last. She'd been away at college and came to visit her family. She'd been there for a long weekend, not enough time to try and orchestrate paths crossing. 

But there she was.  Older and softer around the edges. Hair pinned back in a way he didn’t remember, but her face… her face hadn’t changed at all.

He watched her from across the street. She didn’t see him.

She smiled at the clerk walking out behind her. Laughed at something small and adjusted the strap of her bag like it still didn’t sit quite right. 

She came back.

And for days, Jonathan followed her. N ot obsessively at first, but carefully.  From a distance, t racking her routine. Mapping it. Finding comfort in how familiar she still was, how she bought the same kind of tea, how she paused at certain corners when she walked. How she still left the house without an umbrella, even when it rained.  He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed her until the system settled around her again.

It was a Wednesday when everything shifted.  He hadn’t been following her that day. Just passing through Midtown, almost mechanically. 

And then there she was, on the sidewalk, walking into a restaurant.  Laughing with h er hand in someone else’s. Matching wedding rings. He was a  tall man, clean-cut and confident. The kind of man people looked at without remembering.

In her other arm? She held a toddler, a girl of maybe two who looked just like her.  Same eyes and hair. Same quiet spark.

Jonathan stood frozen just past the crosswalk, one hand still in his coat pocket.  He watched the hostess open the door and watched them step inside. He watched her smile, not at him. She pressed a kiss to the little girl’s forehead as the man guided them to a table.

And something ripped quietly at the edges of his control.

You came back. But you didn’t come back for me.

He didn’t follow her again after that.  Didn’t need to.  The variable had changed and t he subject was no longer viable.

But the memory? That stayed.  Not because she left. Because she never gave him a chance to matter.

Jonathan returned to his office and shut the door behind him, softer than usual. The silence should have helped but it didn’t. He didn’t sit. Instead, he paced. His strides were long and measured across the floor with his hands behind his back, every motion precise. But his mind was elsewhere. 

Unacceptable. Jonathan didn't allow himself to slip into fantasy.They were distortions, unstructured internal projections with no measurable outcome. Psychologically speaking, they were the brain’s way of coping with unmet needs. False stimuli designed to soothe. He didn’t need soothing. He needed control.

And yet, his heart was racing. His hands clenched behind his back, nails pressing into his palms. He tried in vain to redirect his thoughts to data, structure, and most importantly, fact.

All he could see her was kneeling in front of him on the gallery floor. That glance up at him... It wouldn’t stop playing. Like someone had hit repeat. Like he was someone's else's behavioral experiment. 

Jonathan's mind went to picturing her entering his office without knocking, just a soft turn of the handle, a gentle creak of the door. She’s carrying the crow painting, of course, but it’s not about the delivery. It's merely an excuse. Her gaze moves across the room, her expressive eyes luminous, curious. Underneath is caution and something else...

"I didn’t want the front desk to handle something this delicate," she says, shifting the frame slightly in her arms. "And I thought…"

Watching her carefully turn to carefully place the paining in the floor, leaning it on one of his bookshelves, he waits.  Her gaze is on him, quiet and open. She wants something, but doesn't know how to ask for it. 

Her eyes are soft, her posture uncertain. She’s not here for Ares. She’s here for him, walking back to his office door and turning the lock with a graceful hand.

"Have you been a good girl, today?" Jonathan asks, knowing it will earn him that smile. Her teeth sink into her enticing lower lip.

​"Yes," she whispered because good girls answer with their words. She doesn't touch him, not yet. She doesn't have permission. 

But he grants that. "Show me," he says firmly, stepping back so he can lean against the front of his desk, keep himself steady.

Meekly, she moves closer before kneeling in front of him, getting on her knees. When she's better trained, he'll keep a special cushion in his office, just for her visits and occasions like this. In the meantime, good girls don't complain. 

Jonathan takes a deep breath, watching her delicate hands work the fine leather belt at the front of his slacks. She makes quick work of it, opening his slacks and pushing them down just enough to free his cock and when she sees it, she glances up at him -- that glance -- confirming she has his permission. At his nod, she gets her hands on him, her mouth on him. Jonathan knew he should have told her not to make a mess of him but as her heated lips close around the head of his cock, he sucks in a breath and his eyes slide closed for just a moment. Her hands are warm and soft as they work him, her little mouth heaven as she slowly takes him deeper. 

He loved the way that once she got him right there to the edge, she's stop and do something different to frustrate him, to drag it out. Today he wouldn't punish her for that. Not when that big-eyed gaze was on him, seeking his approval. Not when she was literally drooling around him and drops of it fell to form wet circles on her knees, darkening the fabric of her slim gray skirt. 

Jonathan let her know when he was ready to come, taking control of her head with his hands. He fucked her face, slowly at first. But as that wave on sensation started crashing around him, his movements were rough and fast. He reached his end when he noticed those pretty tears sliding from her eyes, a slight smudge of mascara at her left eye from her efforts, from choking on his cock...

Taking deep breaths, Jonathan leaned back in his office chair, thick white ropes of his come all over his hand, his briefs. Somehow his slacks has been spared. Tucking himself back into his slacks, he did a messy job of it, he wiped his hands with tissues from the box on his desk. Straigtening his coat, he hurried out of his office to the men's room and cleaned up there. 

Jonathan was angry at allowing it. Masturbation wasn't a problem, but a healthy way to keep biological processes from interering with his work. He did it often in the privacy of his own home. He'd never allowed himself to do it at work, however. He was grateful that at some point in his reverie he'd locked his office door.

Returning to his office, he again locked his office door. At least until he could compose himself. The fantasy folded in on itself like a trap. It was ridiculous. Out of character. Uncontrolled. But he didn’t dismiss it. Not entirely.

Slowly, he reached into his pocket and removed the artist’s card again. Studied it. Ran his thumb along the edge where her fingers had pressed it.

Then placed it carefully on his desk

Jonathan hadn’t decided to buy the crow painting for her approval or to impress, nor to connect. He liked it. It wasn’t beautiful, nor was it balanced. What he liked was its restless, unsettling vibe. A canvas of motion without origin. Aggression without consequence. Wings blurred, angles clashing, with no sky to escape into. It wasn't a piece that wanted to be understood and didn't care to be explained. It was the kind of chaos that didn’t apologize for existing.

Jonathan respected that, recognized it. And he wanted it on his wall here in the office until he moved into Ares' office as the new Administrator  Then it would hang there. Prominent. Permanent.

A reminder of the chaos that birthed control. Of what came before the fall. The shape of those crows, the jagged wings, the stretched silhouettes, the way the eyes bled into the dark, It gave him an idea for the mask he was developing. Something primal and stark. Something that blurred identity and turned fear into a specific face. 

He planned to go to the studio to pick it up himself. A calculated excuse to see her and initiate the next step on his terms. But the artist, chatty, perceptive in the way creatives often were, had offered a different arrangement. The artist could arrange for her to deliver it to him. 

“She’s at Arkham most days anyway to see Ares. I’ll have her bring it to you.”

At first, he’d considered declining. But then? He saw the value in letting it play out. He’d still get the interaction and proximity. But now, it would unfold here, in front of Ares. She’d arrive with the painting. For me. And Ares would watch it happen. And best of all? He didn’t have to lift a finger.

Flipping open a slim black notebook, not the formal logbook for patient records, Jonathan made notes. He turned to her page, reviewing the day’s observations. Small notations on marginal behavior changes. Tone, posture, word choice. Then he paused, writing a single line beneath the last note.

Unintended tactile response → retention trigger. He underlined it once and closed the notebook. There. Labeled and catalogued. Not about her. Not about me. Just data.

Done with his inexcusable mania, his gaze fell on the card again. It was worn slightly at the corners now, a faint smudge on the edge from where his fingers had lingered too long, too often. He stared at it for a moment longer than he meant to. Chaos, without apology.

Jonathan opened the drawer that no one else touched. From inside, he pulled the mailing envelope. Her necklace was already inside. Without a word, he slipped the artist’s card in beside it. There was no need for a note or label. Just the weight of the meaning he wasn't prepared to name. Then he closed the envelope, like he was sealing something sacred, and returned it to the drawer.

Reeaching for a blank notepad, he began to sketch.

[catt-nuevenor]

The Future

Time to establish what's going to happen from this point forwards.

The vast majority of you have been exceptionally patient this last year, and for that you have my deepest thanks. You've given me the time to not only write a book, but edit it, and send it off to literary agents, something I would have long given up on doing without the continued support of those who enjoy my writing.

Now that the book is off doing the rounds independently, it's time I got back to Myrk Mire.

Originally Myrk Mire was built in ChoiceScript, a scripting language created by the Choice of Games company. Choice of Games control what is done with their script, understandably, they own it. This does pose some restrictions. I can't, for example, release any paid material built using ChoiceScript unless it is directly through their publishing label. If I do publish under their label, I maintain IP or Intellectual Property Rights, however I also grant them the exclusive rights under perpetual license to publish the multiple choice game 'electronically'.

Source: Choice of Games.com

As you can see from the outline above, they do make exceptions for stories published in non-competing formats, and for sequels, prequels, and spin-offs. However, traditional publishing houses might require stricter control over IP, distribution, and exclusivity. It will only become more and more complicated as things progress, and being locked into a perpetual license agreement of any nature is not a decision to make lightly.

As some of you may be sensing from the tone of all this so far, I'm going to be moving Myrk Mire away from Choice of Games and ChoiceScript, and into a new medium/format.

After tinkering, and trialling with a few alternatives, I've decided to go with Renpy. Renpy, while largely used for visual novel style games and stories, provides a very workable framework for interactive fiction, and is an Open Source script, it isn't beholden to publishing contracts, licence cost, or exclusivity.

I'm not going to be diving into transferring Myrk Mire right away, it's a huge piece of writing, in an entirely different scripting language, and as previously stated, there are a lot of changes I want to implement with the cast. Instead, I'm creating a trial story: One Háḟest Day. My Patrons have been aware of all this for about a month or so, and have already seen some previews.

One Háḟest Day takes place in Aldmirham before the events of Myrk Mire, around the time the Main Character and the Wanderers first arrived in town. The reader will have the choice to follow one of the romanceable characters through a single day, with opportunities to explore their lives and relationships before the Main Character and Child come along. I hope it will provide a proving ground for the changes that previously caused debate, and an opportunity for people to try out the new format and interface.

My plan is to distribute One Háḟest Day through Itch.io, working with their early access framework and voluntary payments for such as soon as one of the character routes is ready to play from beginning to end, updating regularly with the other characters as they too are completed, and with additional features as required. Once the full game is complete, I will release a separate full build with a set minimum price that can be discussed with the community as we move forwards.

At the second, I'm aiming for a web hosted format and a desktop/laptop downloadable format, with phone compatibility to come later down the line once things are stable.

I will post production updates and info when I can to tumblr, though a lot of what I'm doing now is very python coding heavy, so perhaps not that interesting?

I've included some screenshots below of very early development, featuring a Character Log and Word Log that I hope will allow readers to more easily navigate the story. I'm toying with the idea of having a Mysteries Log as well that will keep track of snippets of information gleaned from each character's route, but that can be a tinkering feature for now.

Let me know your thoughts, concerns, or excitement, though do keep all messages objective and polite.