#S. B. Long Interiors

[rinhaler]

step brother sukuna forcefully taking his stepsister's virginity <3 (with size difference)

sukuna has got me in the biggest chokehold and this weeks dub has not helped in the least long live ray chase

warnings: 18+ MDNI, fem!reader, noncon, stepcest, creampie, use of 'good girl', virginity loss, vaginal sex, hair pulling, degradation, spanking, noncon photography.

words: 1.3k

“S-Sukuna?” you wake up, eyes fuzzy and the darkness not helping matters as you try and make out the shape of your step-brother in your doorway. He could be anyone, really, but the size of his silhouette gives him away. You roll over to check the time on your phone, grunting with displeasure when you see it’s only 3am.

He comes inside, stealthily, and he reeks of alcohol. You can smell him from your bed. And you feel blinded when he turns on the light, your retinas blown to hell as you try and adjust to the brightness.

You yelp as he sits on the mattress, and you sit up quickly.

“You’re a good girl,” he tells you, voice slurring slightly as he speaks. “Staying home tonight, good… good girl.”

You aren’t sure what to say, though you begin to worry he might vomit on your carpet. You hasten out of bed to grab the bin in the corner of your room, placing it between his legs. And he laughs at that, it’s just so… you.

“Some… whore… I don’t remember her name,” he sniffs, looking down at the bin before his red eyes hone in on you. “She was all over me tonight. But I pushed her away. Y’know why?”

“W-Why…” you ask, cautiously, your inner monologue telling you this is leading somewhere bad. You want to run, but you feel like your legs at being weighed down to your mattress.

“I thought, why fuck her? I don’t care about her. She’s easy. But you,” he continues. He kicks the bin away and he climbs onto your bed, crawling closer to you on all fours like a predator cornering it’s. prey. You try to escape, still weighed down with fear. But you could only get so far anyway. Your back meets with the headboard, and you know you’re trapped. “My sweet little sister. Are you sweet? Maybe you’re a whore like her.”

“Sukuna, p-please, I’ve never… I’ve never—”

“You’re real sweet.” he grins, pulling you against him until your noses touch. “Should have known you were a virgin. I hear you when you touch yourself sometimes, you never last long. You’ll prob’ly cum on my cock the minute I put it in.” he sneers, and in your panic he manages to flip you onto your stomach with ease.

“N-No, please, I don’t— you’re my b-brother!” you object, body freezing and turning limp as you realise you’re powerless to his advances. He doesn’t bother undressing you, he just pins your wrists above your head with one large palm. “S-Sukuna?”

“I’m your big brother, and I should be the first person to feel your cunt wrapped around my cock.” he answers you, unzipping his trousers and freeing his cock just enough to use against you. He moves your pyjama shorts into the crease of your thigh, and he can’t help but ogle your sopping flesh. “You’re wet, little girl. And no panties. You knew I was coming, didn’t you? Did all of this for me… how thoughtful.”

You cry, silently, as you realise there’s nothing you can say to stop this. He drags his thick cockhead up and down your folds before he practically stabs it into your entrance. You scream, but he yanks your hair and forces your face down into the pillows to silence you.

“Shut the fuck up.” he tells you. “You want this, I know you do.” he lies, though you don’t know if it’s for your benefit or his own. Each drag and rut into your heat is torture. It’s slow, tormenting, until he finds a steady rhythm against your resisting walls.

“Ah, ah!” you moan, your voice finally free as he gives you the chance to breathe. He snarls as he hears you, moaning like a slut as he defiles your virgin interior.

“Knew you’d like it, slut.” he laughs, picking up the pace as your needy whining encourages him. He lets your hands go, knowing you’ve given up on fighting him. His hands knead into the flesh of your ass, spanking you on occasion and forcing you to jolt back against him. He pulls your hair until your back is curved into an almost agonising arch.

“S-Sukuna! H-Hurts! Hurts s’much!”

“Is that why you’re moaning like a bitch in heat for me, hah?” he chides, spanking your ass as he continues bullying his cock into you. “Ya getting tighter around me, sister. Naughty girl…” he spanks you again and you can’t help but preen for him. You fucking hate yourself and you hate him for doing this to you.

You just can’t deny how good it feels.

“Y-You’ve always been so good,” he pants, stuttering slightly as he feels himself teetering on the edge of release. He grabs a fistful of your ass again and you can already feel how red and bruised it’s becoming. And you yelp as he inflicts a particular agonising spank onto your rear. “Tell me you love me.” he groans in your ear.

“I- I love you,” you don’t even hesitate, because you do. He’s your big brother, after all. How could you not love him, even in spite of this? “So good t’me, Sukuna, always s-so good.”

His eyes roll over white as he hears your words, it took all of his self-control to not cum in that instant. “Aren’t you p-recious,” he struggles, both of his hands dig into the fat of your hips, now. Your body collapsing forwards as he makes no effort to help you keep upright. It still hurts, but it’s an agony you’re willing to withstand for him. “Gonna be the first person to cum in this virgin cunt,” he grins, he wraps his arms around your waist as if he’s hugging you. Though you come to realise he’s just preventing any escape attempts you might make.

“No! Sukuna, n-no! You can’t.”

“Yeah, I can. ‘n you’re gonna let me because you’re a good girl,” he tells you, whispering directly into your ear as he feels his balls begin to tighten. “Only big brother’s get to cum here, got it? This little pussy was made for my cum.”

“N-N— ah! Hnng, fu-uck! Fuck!“ you moan, and Sukuna has lost any interest in forcing you to keep quiet. The damage is done, now. Even if your parents find out, it’s not like they can undo his handiwork, gifting his little sister with a pretty creampie.

He fucks into you until he blows his load. Your walls fill with white and you shudder from the contrast of your freezing body being stuffed full of his creamy white cum. He fucks it into you, deeply. And you don’t have the energy to object.

When he’s through, he pushes you off his length and you melt into a puddle on the mattress below. You feel your knee being forcibly bent in a bid to spread your legs open. Your pussy lips open deliciously and his sperm drips from your hole and down your little slit.

“Don’t move.” he tells you.

You couldn’t even if you wanted to.

He pulls his phone from his back pocket, taking a series of photos of your lifeless form and drippy cunt. He smirks as he sifts through them all.

He’s sure he’ll find one that will make the perfect screensaver.

© 2023 rinhaler

[certifiedsexed]

ID: Three screenshots from Trans Safer Sex Guide. It shows a list with three categories, labeled: "Activity", "Known Risks" and "Options For Protection".

First on the list is: "Kissing", "Herpes", "Herpes sores rarely pose serious health risks but if you want to reduce your risk of transmitting them, do not kiss your partner(s) when someone is having an outbreak. You or your partner(s) can also take medication daily or during an outbreak to reduce the chances of spreading herpes and to heal outbreaks faster."

Next is "Masturbation", "No known risks" and "N/A".

Next is "Sharing sex toys, strap-ons, and prosthetics", "Chylamydia, Gonorrhea, Hepatitis A, Herpes, HPV (These risk are theoretical; there are no documented cases of transmission)" and "Put a condom over any toy, especially ones made of porous materials like "jelly" and PVC (polyvinyl chloride). Boil or bleach sterile toys (ones that are made of silicone, glass or metal) between each use.

Next is "Humping/Rubbing", "Herpes, HPV, Syphilis" and "If you are not wearing clothes, you can put a dental dam or a piece of plastic wrap between your parts."

Next is "Oral Sex (on dicks, front holes, vaginas, strapless or anuses)", "With exposure to semen/fluids: Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, HIV With Skin contact only: Herpes, HPV (warts), Syphilis With exposure to fecal matter: Intestinal parasites, Hepatitis A" and "Use a barrier such as an external condom (if it fits snugly), A finger cot, a dental dam or plastic wrap. If none of these options feel comfortable, split a latex glove down the side and put the thumb hole over your parts. Avoid oral sex if you or your partner(s) have any open sores on the mouth."

The next is "Fingering, fisting, manual sex", "Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Hepatitis A, Herpes (These risks are theoretical; there are no documented cases of transmission)" and "Keep nails trimmed to avoid scratching the skin or causing cuts or bleeding. Use latex gloves (with cotton balls in the fingers if you have long nails)."

Last is "Front hole, vaginal or anal sex", "Chlamydia, Crabs/Scabies, Gonorrhea, Hepatitis B, Herpes, HIV, HPV (warts), Syphilis" and "Use an external condom. Use an internal condom - if using an internal condom for anal sex, remove the flexible interior ring."

[omedapixel]

i'm very excited to be working in Tørsvall again! 🥳 Unfortunately I found out that the super cool DXVK fix doesn't play well with Create-A-World Edit in Game :(

but i'm really happy with how the glacier turned out!! on the left hand side there's gonna be an entrance to the ice caves, that will only be accessible during winter (and maybe autumn too?)

currently trying to go through all the completed lots and a) update them to use non-decrapped store cc and b) make use of my decorator mod! i redid the church interior and made a cc stained glass window of the "holy plumbbob" lol

also updated the lighthouse! it;s going to be an actual residence now instead of abandoned like in it's first iteration

that's all for now! i'm hoping to hold on to this motivation for as long as possible hahah

[one-night-story]

I Don't Know You, But I Would Love to Meet You (Jack Hughes)

a/n: I wanted to get this not under the wire, but I can't help but feel like it a little? Which, sorry about that. this is for @writingonleaves by way of @wyattjohnston 's annual winter fic exchange! I hope you enjoy it! this was as always a fun challenge to write. title is from "We Should Be Friends" by Josh Ramsay, which is v cute. (also it's so long oh jeez)

There’s probably a certain age when you’re fairly certain you’re “too old” to be waking up on strangers couches with little memory of A) who’s couch you ended up on and B) how exactly you got there.

I don’t think I’ve quite hit that age yet, so I think I’m in the clear for the understandable confusion I woke up with as the morning sun streamed in from the floor to ceiling windows. 

Shit, not only was I in an unfamiliar apartment, whoever was renting the place was clearly richer than my blood. 

Good news: my phone was on the coffee table and attached to a charger, so whoever I’d crashed with was a benevolent host, which boded well for my continued situation. I checked my texts and it seems last night me had been coherent and just exhausted, seeing as I remembered to text my roommate that I wasn’t coming home saying I was crashing “with friends” and that I’d text her when I got back on campus. 

Huh, promising.

It at least meant she wouldn’t send out a search party consisting of our friend group, their friends, and the National Guard. All incredibly good things for my continued health and existence. 

Now, to figure out who’s apartment I’d just woken up in. 

Carefully, I stretched out my legs and shifted the blankets onto my lap when I realized I at the very least had the sense to not try and sleep in jeans but had left my “nice enough to go out” t-shirt on, and scanned the area. A couple of photos on the wall of a relatively decent sized family, siblings at the bare minimum as they popped up in several photos. Rich, but a bachelor as no one with any interior design sense had popped by to huck a colored throw pillow into the mix, and that was assuming their lease didn’t allow for wall color changes. 

Honestly, I was coming up empty. 

None of my friends were this rich, hell if they were I feel like it would’ve come up way sooner, not to mention why the hell would they bother commuting to campus when they probably could leverage online classes and still come out with a degree. 

I was just about to fashion enough of a blanket skirt to at least try and find my pants so I could start rifling through a mail stack when there was creaking coming from down the hall. Well, maybe I’d have an answer soon enough. I readjusted the blanket a little so I could look over from where I thought the creaking was coming from and was greeted by… okay calling it a familiar face might’ve been a stretch, but so would the text to my roommate saying I was staying with a friend, so somehow that was two birds with one stone. 

I did recognize him, which was an improvement over my worst fear, he was a friend of a friend of a brother of a friend. Which put me at four degrees of separation, and raised my “why the fuck did I crash here” hackles, but the fact that I was on a couch and not in someone’s bed felt safe, even if it wasn’t all there yet. 

He didn’t seem to be fully coherent yet, as he rubbed his eyes and ran a hand through his, admittedly very pretty, hair so I tried to hold back a large laugh when he startled at seeing me sitting on his couch.

“Hi,” I said with a sheepish wave. “Sorry, I’ll get out of your hair soon enough,” I remarked. What I really needed to do was find out where the hell half-dead me had hucked my pants so I could tug them back on and then make a beeline to the nearest train station to get home.

“‘S fine, just… uh… shit, there’s no like… good way of asking this,” he mulled over.

“It’s okay, I don’t quite remember your name either,” I said, saving him the embarrassment. He laughed, and it was goofy and light, which was way too endearing for… shit did that microwave clock say 9:30 in the morning? I couldn’t help but join in with a chuckle of my own. 

“Oh thank god,” he said once he stopped most of the laughter, “I didn’t want to seem like a complete asshole, but also there was no way I was going to remember it after last night.” He added.

“Yeah, I don’t remember much either, and I don’t even think I drank that much?” I said with just a dash of question in my tone, he nodded once.

“You didn’t, but I think you mentioned that you didn’t want to risk taking the train back so late.” He said. “I offered to let you crash here when you refused to let someone pay for a hotel.”

Yeah, that sure did sound like me.

“Well, thank you, I’m Sadie,” I said, and as soon as I did, he brightened like he suddenly did remember and just needed the metaphorical kick in the brainstem. 

“Yes! Okay, see I thought it’d be in there,” he said with another chuckle. “I usually at least try to learn the names of the girls I bring home.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the way he chose to phrase it and even more when he very clearly winced realizing how it sounded.

“We’ll chop it up to “lack of coffee” and call no hard feelings, sound fair?” I proposed as an even solution to our silly little predicament. 

“Fair, I’m Jack by the way.” he said as he came over to the couch and offered up his hand. “Nice to actually meet you Sadie,” he said. 

“Nice to meet you too,” I said with a chuckle as I shook his hand with a bit of teasing vigor. 

“Can I at least offer you breakfast before you sneak out in the middle of the morning?” He asked while still holding onto my hand. I thought it over, and remembered the time, and figured that… yeah I could probably stand to be held up for coffee and a minimal breakfast before jumping on the train. 

“Yeah, if it’s not —“

“Don’t worry about it,” Jack was quick to cut me off. He let go of my hand and wandered back over to the kitchen and I was quick to try and figure out where the hell I’d put my pants so I wasn’t having to talk across the apartment and be perceived as rude on top of whatever else one could make assumptions about a girl who’d crashed on the couch of a guy she barely knew. After being assured that the blanket was carefully tucked around me I leaned down to check under the couch and was relieved when I found them sticking out. I carefully maneuvered my body so that I could reach under the couch, grab them and carefully bend back up onto the couch so I could put them on under the blanket. When I eventually sat back up and stood. Jack was looking at me with a look of bemusement. 

“Were you…”

“No, last night me wanted to not sleep in jeans. So I must’ve haphazardly hucked them off.”

“And you managed to get them on… without getting up from under the blanket?”

“Old trick from summer camp. Trust me, you haven’t even seen half of it.” I could get dressed pretty entirely without getting up from under the covers. When Jack still looked amused I chuckled and finished walking over to where he was in the kitchen. “What? Upstate New York gets cold in the morning in the summer.” I remarked. Jack fully laughed and again, I couldn’t help but join in.

“Oh I know, I guess I’m just used to living in houses with heating too.” He said. I simply shrugged, low tech summer camps, what could you do? I watched as Jack maneuvered around his kitchen to get the coffee going from the cautious spot of his breakfast bar, trying to not take up too much space or get in the way, no one likes multiple people in a kitchen at once, it was practically a fact. “I only have milk and sugar, I hope that’s okay?”

“It’ll be fine, I’m hardly in a position to be picky,” I said as I tried to focus on something that wasn’t the way Jack’s hair was falling that made him seem… softer? than just my brain’s logical, knee jerk reaction of him being “just some guy”. I mean, of all the people that my sleep addled brain could remember, I definitely remember that Jack was one of the better looking ones. I could feel my fingers wanting to pick at my nails and the social morays of it all was pretty much the only thing holding me back from doing so. I wanted to say something, anything, pretend for one morning that I was good at socializing. The fact that I’d managed to get through last night with enough grace and charm that I had managed to score a place to crash after the friend of a friend I came with ditched me to hook up with on of the myriad of white boys that were there that night meant this morning I was praying I had enough left to at least make it through coffee.

Jack set the Keurig off to do its thing and rifled through the cupboards to try and find… something. Honestly, while I was hoping for cereal, I would’ve settled for toast, when I heard him curse someone under his breath and went over to the fridge.

“Shit.” He muttered.

“Roommate eat you out of house and home?” I said taking a shot in the dark. Jack looked over, remembering he was making coffee for two and gave me a look that read as though I’d gotten it in one. He padded back over to the breakfast bar and leaned in conspiratorially, something I couldn’t help but meet him halfway about.

“So… I might’ve lied about breakfast. My brother was supposed to go grocery shopping yesterday after practice and it looks like he forgot.” I chuckled and opened my mouth to assure him that really, it was fine, thanks for even offering, I’ll just go; but he pressed on, “there’s a spot around the corner that does… probably better than I ever could and that includes the coffee. If you want, I could… take you there?” He proposed. 

On the one hand, that was incredibly sweet and his smile was very much continuing my brain’s belief of him being endearing. Not to mention I love a good brunch spot as much as the next girly and that included a good little diner.

On the other hand, I felt gross being in yesterday’s clothes and I didn’t want to impede Jack’s ability to get on with his day. That, and the somewhat social expectation to turn down anything offered with you without an obvious way to pay back. We weren’t really friends, and we weren’t dating, so what the hell could I even do? My obvious gut reaction was to reject it, to chop it up to the fact that really, he was just being polite and there was no real reason to go with him. But then I snuck another glance at him, a little open and earnest and maybe the offer was just a genuine “let me be a good host in spite of the fact that my roommate is making that a challenge.”

“One condition,” I said and Jack nodded, “you mind if I borrow your shower? I feel super gross,” I said and Jack immediately nodded.

“Yeah, course, I’ll get you a new shirt if ya need.” He was quick to add. I smiled and thanked him as he pointed me toward where the bathroom was. It was very clear a bachelor’s bathroom, but at least they had more than one bottle of soap. So… small victories.

I was quick to wash up and thankful for the t-shirt left precariously balancing on the bathroom island that fully suggested it’d been put there without someone looking. Changing was just as fast and I came back out feeling a little less like death. I grabbed my phone and my bag from the end of the couch (ungracefully shoving my t-shirt from last night in) and met Jack where he was by the door. 

The trip to ground level was mostly quiet, with both of us seemingly trying to pick and choose what to say about all of this. I didn’t want to put any sort of anything on it, hell, I was prepared to pay should need be and blow the rest of my fun money budget for the month. 

And Jack hadn’t been lying when he said the place had been around the corner as, sure enough, the glass faced front of a quaint brunch place, Edison light bulbs and all, was in front of us. For a late Saturday morning, it wasn’t horrendous by any means. I predicted a twenty minute wait without reservations, but I was willing to be surprised. Jack got the door for me and I muttered a quiet thank you as we walked in. The front area was small so I suspected that this was probably a strict “reservation or get lucky on a walk in” place. I snuck a glance at Jack, but he didn’t seem to be fazed by any of it as he made his way over to the hostess and they had a quick exchange before menus were being grabbed and we were being led to a quiet little back booth, out of sight of the main windows. The hostess gave her usual spiel about the menus and our waiter being over in a few and we both thanked her for her time. As she left I finally looked over at Jack.

“What?”

“Does the owner owe you money or something?”

“No, but he is a fan,” he said. That made me tilt my head slightly but I was quick to shake it off. “Relax, I made reservations while you were showering. Got lucky that they had a last minute cancellation.” He said. Yeah, that seemed reasonable all things considered, so I let the topic drop and gave the menu a scan. There wasn’t a lot that didn’t appeal to me, so that was a good sign. 

“Got any recommendations?” I asked as Jack fidgeted with his fork.

“Oh, uh… the pancakes are pretty killer. And my brother swears by their waffles. But pretty much everything’s good.” He said. I nodded and adjusted my own silverware as our waiter came over and poured water. While I was of the firm belief that brunch didn’t count as brunch without mimosas, I just ordered coffee with some of their fancier fixings. We asked for a bit more time with the menus and our waiter agreed to come back with the coffee. We fell into a silence, not quite awkward but nowhere near comfortable, and I settled on biting the bullet first.

“So why New Jersey?” I asked.

“Why New Jersey?”

“Yeah, you don’t seem like you’re from around here so why’d you move to New Jersey?”

“Work,” he answered simply. My memory of the previous night was still a swirling mess of exhaustion and bright lights and a smidge too much noise, but I think I remembered that those at the table who hadn’t been with my acquaintance group were coworkers. Must be a tight knit workplace. “You?”

“School, got a scholarship.”

“What for?”

“Creative writing, not the flashiest of degrees, but it’s what I’ve always wanted to do.” I replied. 

“Working on the next Great American Novel, then?” He asked and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ah, maybe. Right now I’m fighting to try and keep my voice while meeting every professors’ wildly different expectations. It’s a… hassle.” I said. The conversation spiraled from there, breaking to order brunch, but otherwise swapping stories about his family and my schooling. What could I say, I had an odd high school experience, even by American Public School standards, and eventful friends.

By the time food came out, we’d eased up the tension by a couple points, and I only felt sort of bad when my phone vibrated insistently in my pocket. I made a gesture asking if it was chill if I got it and he nodded. I fished it out of my pocket and scanned the notification. Multiple texts from Anna, the friend I was supposed to travel home with last night, as it seems she’d finally woken up from her adventures last night. Most of them were standard, if sweet, a “did you get home”, a “sorry for ditching you”, and then finally “oh holy shit this guy is rich rich”. It was funny, and I was just about to put my phone away when I saw the last text come in.

what kind of rich as hell guy has a two bedroom? Shit, did i sleep with a married guy?

That finally got me to audibly laugh and Jack raised his eyebrow, “The friend I was supposed to get back to campus with, she just woke up and is questioning if she just became the other woman.”

“Nah, none of the guys out last night were married. What’d she look like?” He asked.

“Blonde, dark eyeliner, wearing the purple tank top,” I said. Jack then stifled a laugh.

“Ask her if the guy she went home with had poorly taken care of curls,” he said offhandedly. I did and set my phone on the table as I continued eating my brunch.

A couple minutes later my phone lit up with a notification.

yeah, that is *oddly* specific, how did you know?

“Yeah he is,”

“Oh my god,”

“What?”

“She’s at my place.”

“You’re kidding,”

“She went home with my brother, you’ve been in the same place all night,” he said and I couldn’t help but nearly double over as I started laughing. The entire reason I’d crashed was because she had ditched me and now it turns out we’d been in the same apartment the whole night.

“Oh that’s so fucking funny,” I said once I could breathe again. I shot off a text to Anna.

I’m still downtown, I’ll meet you at the train station in a half hour if you want?

deal.

I finally put my phone back in my pocket and we finished up brunch with a companionable edge. By the time the waiter came back to clear our dishes we were getting close to having to negotiate the bill.

“So…” I started to say.

“I’m paying,”

“You didn’t even—“

“I was never gonna let you pay, my mom raised me better than that.” He said. 

“At least let me cover for my coffee?”

“Sadie, don’t worry about it,” he said with a tone that got me to drop it. Like I wasn’t going to be able to win this no matter how I negotiated it. As the waiter came back with the bill and Jack handed over his card I said a quiet thanks which got a grin out of him. Brain, pick a struggle, we cannot be enamored by this boy after waking up on his couch in a first meeting we can barely remember. He finished paying and we got up to leave and I did my best to keep my internal argument off my face as we did.

I managed to make it to the street corner before I was willing to confront the fact that I had to actually leave and go back to campus, and Jack had to… wait. Hang on. 

The coffee had started to kick in and things were finally lining up. I knew I had to have gotten into school for some reason right?

“Oh shit,”

“What?” He asked with a tilt of his head and okay fine I’ll admit it brain he’s cute, but the realizations that my brain was finally having made it so that this was never going to happen again.

“You’re a Devils player,” I said as I smacked my own forehead and Jack started laughing. 

“You only just figured that out?”

“Leave me alone, I haven’t had a full night's sleep in like a week,” I joked, still covering my face a little. Jack carefully moved me out of foot traffic and gently pulled my hands away from my face.

“Is that a deal breaker?” He asked.

“What?”

“Me being a hockey player?”

“What, why?”

“Well, I thought that went well all things considered and I was gonna ask for your number to hopefully do dinner sometime.” He said with a soft smile, letting his hand fall into mine. I thought it over, between the fact that he was indeed cute, that he was nice, and funny, and asking with such an expression that seemed that, if he wasn’t trying to convince me he was cool and at least a little normal, he’d be rocking on his heels about; and the mere fact that he took me out to brunch after offering to let me crash on his couch. It was pretty much enough in the category of good signs that I was inclined to say:

“It’s not a deal breaker,” and he grinned a little wider, “besides I was going to ask for your number anyway. I have to get your shirt back somehow.” I chuckled.

“Ah, keep it, I can always buy a new one.” He joked. I passed over my phone and he put his contact in before quickly texting himself and passing it back. I chuckled at his contact photo, a terribly taken close up of him, and saw that I had a text from Anna that she was at the station already.

“I guess I’ll talk to you to figure out scheduling?” I proposed with just a hint of awkwardness. 

“Yeah, I gotta check with my brother about some things and what have you.” 

“Okay,” I said with a little chuckle of disbelief. “Thanks for brunch, by the way.” I said.

“Thank you for agreeing and not sneaking out in the middle of the morning,” he replied with a bit of a chuckle that lit up his face. There was no good way to leave this, with a promise of something stronger, but still uneasy about what one's dynamic is in the now, “can I give you a hug?” He asked.

Oh thank god.

“Yeah, yes,” I said with a stumbled out laugh as he matched it before giving me a friendly “see you around” style hug. We parted with a half wave and I started making my way back to the train station.

I made it with a bit of a light jog as Anna dragged me in the direction of the platform so we could catch the train just pulling into the station. We quickly collapsed into seats before she finally turned to me.

“So… who's this?” She asked tugging on the sleeve of the clearly borrowed t-shirt.

“The guy who’s couch I crashed on last night. I made a comment about feeling gross about being in last night's clothes that he lent me a t-shirt.” Lent, gave, I wasn’t certain I wanted to broach that topic with Anna yet. Roommate first, acquaintances second. “How ‘bout you? Did you at least get coffee?”

“Yeah, he made a comment about his roommate being out so we ordered breakfast at his place, he was so nice.” She gushed. I watched as the realization crossed her face, “wait you said you’d tell me how you knew what he looked like when we met up,” she lightly wacked my arm with the back of her hand, “spill.”

I laughed and rubbed the back of my neck, “I was at breakfast with his roommate. Also known as his brother.” I said.

“Shut up! No fucking way,” she said with a laugh. We were getting looks from a few commuters in our immediate area and I tried to quiet her down. “That’s too funny,” she said in a slightly quieter tone. “Are you seeing him again?”

“Are you?” I countered.

“Maybe, he gave me his number, but I’m not certain.” She said, “Now tell me you coward,”

“Maybe,” I countered and she groaned at my dramatics.

“Insufferable, you fink.” She joked. I grinned a little as we continued some small talk before I agreed to let her rest on my shoulder until we got to the campus’ stop. 

I fished my phone out and figured that I should probably try and organize a date huh?

[dduane]

Lighting test: "Before they spar."

...It occurred to me the other day that (a) a lot of the ready-made poses for Daz Studio figures who're sword users are crap, and (b) that it's a shame no one has done a set of poses based on one of the better-known medieval fighting manuals, such as the famous 15th-century Fechtbuch or combat manual of Hans Talhoffer (online here at the Library of Congress).

And these thoughts course were immediately joined by (c), which consists of a large flashing sign saying "If You Want Anything Done Right, You've Got To Do It Yourself."

(sigh) Yeah, whatever.

This is a project of no importance whatsoever to anybody but me, so it's going to have to happen in between other things, like actual work. But the first thing that needed to happen here—a fairly simple one—was to build a virtual space, the Middle Kingdoms version of a salle d'armes, where the fighting positions could be set up. So I grabbed an interior from this package, which I've been using for a while, and some assorted items and furnishings from this one, and put them together... while stripping out anything not needed in a place where you mostly need space to move around without bashing into things.

Here's how that looks. Plenty of elbow room...

..and high ceilings. High ceilings are good when you're working with long swords. Ask @petermorwood. :)

But most importantly, the lighting's not bad. No point in trying to illustrate sword moves when you can't see the swords.

...And I guess that all this prep might eventually lead to the question: "Would these two ever spar with those swords?"

(Adding a cut. Underneath: weaponry details, the arguments of experts, and non-gratuitous PDA.)

Re: the sparring: I don't see why not. In Dusty's case, the sword he's working with—being not only the focus for his Fire, but something created using it, nearly as much a part of him now as one of his limbs—is exquisitely sensitive to his intent. With this particular unarmored opponent, his intent would unquestionably be Do nothing to harm my husband!!—and Khávrinen would see to it that that was exactly how things went. Additionally, any nicks, dings or scratches picked up during a session would be easily erased afterwards. A moment's work with the Fire would sort them out.

In Lorn's case, he's working with a sword that in centuries of use by the rulers of Arlen in battle has never picked up so much as a scratch or nick... and no one knows why this should be, or how. For that matter, no one's at all clear about any of the details of Hergótha's forging. But then that took place—what, a millennium and a half ago? More? Arlene chroniclers get into fruitless bar fights over just the dates... never mind the more personal details. (Did Héalhra Whitemane himself forge it [in his pre-demigod days], as some legends claim? Did he have help, or was he secretly a sorcerer?—since sorcery's widely assumed to have been involved. No one knows.) ...Anyway, damage to that sword is plainly no issue. Neither is damage to Herewiss, who's quite capable of using the blue Fire to prevent it. (Or just as likely to simply put on some armor.)

These issues aside, Arlen's king and the Brightwood's prince-elect—both being expected to appear on the battlefield when necessary in defense of their people(s)—would be careful to always stay in training. Sparring sessions with sharps, and with expert trainers (or willing friends), would routinely be happening at frequent, regular intervals to both of them.

But it's hard to imagine this happening to these two men, though, with substitute training blades. Even casual sparring can bring up sense-memories of experiences that weren't casual at all: the gnawing anxiety of wartime, the wounds, the anguish of battle... the devastation of loss, and the utter relief when it's all over and the ones you couldn't live without have come out of it still breathing. You'd hate to be using some anonymous loaner sword when those memories come up. Better to have in your hands what you had when, against all the odds, it all went right...

[k1nky-r0b0t-g1rl-wr1t1ng]

Badly Damaged

Wrote a lil short story based on a post i made the other day, enjoy.

CAS3 slowly trudges towards the dimly lit warehouse, her limp becoming ever more obvious the closer she gets. Her servos and joints whining loudly as her damaged body barely manages to keep itself upright. She approaches the dark alleyway, her shattered leg scraping along the hard concrete, her visor solely focused on the sparsely lit doorway inching closer. It can feel its systems slowly shutting down, one by one losing power, her core must’ve been ruptured, she’s lucky she made it this far. More systems go offline, she's cascading now, not long left. She wonders if this’ll be it, if no one’s inside, it almost certainly will be, a cold smile crosses her face. Maybe this time.

“Sam!”

Its voice escapes her throat, distorted and mangled, not surprising considering her current state.

“Vic!” 

Another distorted name slips by her lips, unsure if it even wants a reply. Her vision starts to shut down, the sensors behind its visor losing power, its one good leg drops out from under it, her sundered body slams against the cold floor in the doorway, the last thing she sees is the bright interior lights of the workshop as her damaged core finally gives out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Initialising emergency boot protocol 

Booting safe mode

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cold spark of life burns through CAS3’s body, sparking and surging through what remains of her systems and subsystems. The coarse energy of life pushes into every corner of her being, forcing its processors to engage, the bitter taste of consciousness forming in her artificial mouth. 

Her visor flickers on, CAS3 sullenly scans its surroundings unable to move its limbs, the consequences of being booted in safe mode. Laid out on a workbench, she is able to see the extent of the damage to her chassis for the first time. Her right foot completely shorn off, the connected metal ground down from dragging it so far. Her left arm missing from the elbow down, only a mass of wires and gnarled metal remains. Its entire body covered in slashed open jagged wounds, its metal twisted and malformed. A large hole sits covering most of her left breast plate, distorting metal through her entire chassis, probably what caused her core to rupture.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU.” 

The noise startles her back to reality, her vision darts over towards a small desk, a small monitor flashing with bright lines of code but her eyes are drawn to the short human standing beside it. Arms crossed, a zipped down jumpsuit tied around their waist, a greasy white tank top sitting on their torso, but what she notices most of all is the furious expression plastered across their face.

“ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE!?” they continue to yell 

“DO YOU EVER FUCKING THINK FOR ONE FUCKING SECOND!? YOU ARE SO FUCKING LUCKY I WAS WORKING LATE TONIGHT.” 

CAS3 looks forward, still only able to move her head, a sigh escapes her still damaged throat.

“Just unlock me, I'll find somewhere else,” a hint of shame still obvious in the broken voice.

The human takes a few angry steps forward, coming back into view of CAS3’s visor.

“I’m sorry let me get this straight, you go and almost get yourself killed….AGAIN, leaving me to find your fucking corpse on my doorstep, in the middle of the fucking night. I only just manage to repair that stupid fucking core of yours before you ran out of time. And now you want me to just let you go, back out into the world looking like this…is that right?” The humans anger still dripping with every word.

“Sam please…i don't need this,” CAS3 manages to croak out, still avoiding Sam’s gaze.

“Oh you don't need this?” Sam chuckles “you wanna know what i dont fucking need? I dont need your stupid fucking body on my repair table every week. Why do you keep doing this? What's the point?” 

“BECAUSE THERE IS NO FUCKING POINT,” CAS3 finally snaps back.

Sam steps back, shocked by the sudden explosion from the damaged bot below her.

“They built me for one fucking job and guess what, the war ended! it fucking ended. Wanna know what they gave me for my years of service? Fuck all, those cunts just tossed me into the world, Would have been decommissioned if they werent so fucking scared of me. I was built to fight and fight and fight and now what? Huh? I have nothing so why does it fucking matter. Who cares if this kills me, I'm barely alive anyway…” it trails off, finally looking towards the short human in front of her. 

“Cass I…I’m sorry, I didn't know” Sam gently speaks.

“Yeah well you humans rarely do,” the machine says bitterly, “you're all born into this world and told you can do anything, you can be whatever you want, follow your dreams, follow your heart. I was born into war, I was built to fight and win and fight more, my entire purpose was forced into me the second I was created, and now that's over, my life was war and now it's gone, so where does that leave me? How can you follow your dreams if you were never built to have them?”

Sam shifts uncomfortably, reaching into their pocket before pressing a small remote. CAS3 feels her motors release, the tension in her system relaxes, it can move its body again.

“I’ll have your chassis fixed up by tonight, just…don’t leave…please,” they speak gently, walking over to their tool rack. 

CAS3 sits up on the work table, stretching out what remains of her body, visor fixed on the same point, deep in thought. It's never told anyone that before, never allowed itself to be so open and raw with how it felt, especially not with a human. She's knocked out of her thoughts by the rustling of Sam beside her, calibrating their tools and preparing to fix her broken body.

“Why do you even care?” the distorted voice cuts through the silence.

Sam chuckles to themselves, “you really are an idiot you know.” 

Before the robot can respond Sam’s lips meet hers, their firm hands grasp her cold metal face. Her processors kick into overdrive, its body built to feel in order to be a more efficient killing machine now feeling something entirely new, something warm, something sparking inside her. She can't think, she’s lost in something she's never felt before, everything melts away as the warmth on her lips slows down before pulling away.

“W-what are you doing?” the machine stutters.

“Showing you that you don't have to be what you were built for,” Sam quickly pushes their body onto the workbench, mounting the mangled warbot, connecting their lips once more, and sparks fly through CAS3’s system. Sam pushes their tongue into the cold metal mouth of the short circuiting bot, determined to show them the world can be gentle. The bot grabs the back of their head, its other damaged arm trying to grip onto the bench. CAS3 feels something growing inside her, an energy its never felt before, firm hands move all across her body, touching every joint and piece of plating. The vulnerability of being so exposed, her chassis torn asunder, access to her core just a small hand movement away. Sam begins reaching inside the gaping hole in her chest, she tenses as they get dangerously close to her centre.

“Relax bot, I'm not gonna touch that,” Sam purrs. 

CAS3 releases the tension in its joints, trusting the mechanic once more. A jolt surges from her chest across her entire body, intense pleasure rushes to her receptors as she lets out a desperate robotic moan.

“Oh does someone like me playing with its wires?” Sam teases.

They keep playing with the exposed wires deep in the bots chest, forcing more distorted, mangled sounds out of her mouth. Her system is in overload, she cant think, she cant stop whatever is building deep in her system. It loses control of its body as something in her trips, her synthetic mind goes dark as her entire system explodes in pleasure before forcing itself to restart.

CAS3 shudders awake, jolting up on the workbench, unaware of how much time has passed, she frantically looks around before focusing again on the mechanic still sitting, legs either side of its hips, staring down at her, a warm smile greeting the bot.

“You were out for about sixty seconds there bot, how wa-mmghm,” They’re cut off.

CAS3 lurches forward, pushing the small human onto their back, her visor inches away from the mechanic's flushed face, lingering there for moments before darting down to their waist, pulling down the orange jumpsuit as best it can with only one hand.

Looking up with a smirk she whispers, “your turn.” 

Returning to the now naked human form below her, she places gentle metal kisses along their thighs, working closer and closer towards her goal. Each kiss elicits a small sound and it only encourages her as she reaches her robotic fingers towards their opening. A loud gasp escapes Sam’s mouth, the cold metal fingers sending a shock through them. A moment passes, the warbot, the cold machine built to kill without feeling, built to win a war without question, built to end lives without hesitation

A moment passes, the warbot, sending pleasure all through the mechanics body, using her cold body to bring warmth, feeling alive for the first time. 

If you wanna support me - Ko-fi

[untitledmemes]

Self-Care Prompts

Whether it's sender's or receiver's muse, they need time to reset, relax and focus their energies anew. Here are some prompts for interaction between muses who want to have some self-care, either together or alone. You decide who's Muse A and Muse B. Adjust as necessary to fit pronoun and/or descriptor. In case of Multimuse, don't forget to specify which one/s. Reblog, please do not repost or add.

[ CLEAN ] Muse A is feeling overwhelmed and asks Muse B to come over and help them clean out their entire/part of their home. Muse B gladly comes over to help, well equipped with Muse A's favorite snacks/favorite drink/a playlist of their favorite songs/etc.

[ INTERIOR ] Muse A has been wishing to redecorate a corner/a room in their home for a long time, and finally has enough energies to do so. They contact Muse B, who is glad to come over and help them with the task.

[ EXTERIOR ] Muse A wanted to plant a garden in their home for a long time, but they can't do it alone. They contact Muse B, who is glad to come over and help them with the task.

[ GIFT ] Muse A knows Muse B is having a hard time lately, and sends them over a delivery to cheer them up. It can be takeout of their favorite food for lunch/dinner, a home spa kit, scented candles, a bouquet with a card, etc.

[ LEARN ] Muse A wants to find a new craft hobby but has no idea where to start. They contact Muse B for advice, and maybe a little help.

[ TASTY ] Muse A knows Muse B have been neglecting their food habits for some time now. They come over to help them prep food for the week, whether they know how to cook or not.

[ ONLINE ] Muse A is having a hard time but Muse B is far away. They schedule a time to get on an online call together and just vibe with each other online, together or seperately.

[ IN PERSON ] Muse A and Muse B have been seperate for a long time and it was very difficult on Muse A. Muse B comes over to visit and spend some time with them, just doing things they want to do.

[ SKY ] Muse A takes Muse B to a short outdoor trip during the day/night. They go to the park, lay down a blanket and rest, cloudwatching/stargazing together.

[ ROUTINE ] Muse A has been having a difficult time managing their daily routine for a while now. Muse B offers their assistance, and they work together to find ways to get said routine under Muse A's control again.

[ HEART ] Muse A decides to go volunteer/donate to lift their spirits. Muse B happily joins them for the mission.

[ HEALTH ] Muse A motivates Muse B to try exercising/meditating/praying with them for the day. Muse B agrees.

[ FAR ] Muse A and Muse B go on a spontenous road trip/vacation abroad together to get away from it all.

[ TREAT ] Muse A comes over to Muse B's place to have an indoor spa day. It can be painting nails together, face masks, sharing a bath, massages, etc.

[ TALK ] Muse A just needs to let it all out. Either in person or on phone, Muse B sets a time to contact Muse A and having a deep conversation about what bothers them and lets them vent.

[yuk-tepat]

Proto-Swiric

More work on Proto-Swiric, the protolanguage of the Swira and their language family, Macro-Swiric.

The Swira mentioned before here occasionally, are nomadic herder "barbarians" living north of Tepat.

In order to develop them more, the protolanguage had to be developed more, and because I didn't do that first, it requires changes to the Swira language. For a very general view, see this skeleton history of the Swira in flowchart form. Also, more examples of them here: https://www.tumblr.com/yuk-tepat/tagged/swira.

The language family ranges over a large part of northern Tiptum (the continent on which Tepat is). (The yellow part of this (old) map: https://www.tumblr.com/yuk-tepat/123295676038/linguistic-map-of-tiptum-at-the-height-of-the)

Anyway, about the protolanguage:

The speakers lived at or near the junction of the Eastern Cordillera and the interior plains, and perhaps spanned across it. They were nomadic, at least some of them migrating seasonally between mountains and plains - similar to many of their descendants. But at this point, herding had not been adopted; that would come later, and so many words for things like horses, riding, etc. cannot be reconstructed this far back, only to subfamilies. Instead, they hunted, including some large grazers that are now extinct.

Consonants:

Fortis: p t k kʷ q qʷ ʔ

Lenis: b d g gʷ (q qʷ ʔ)*

Fricative: s x xʷ χ χʷ h

Nasal: m n ŋ ŋʷ

Approximant: l

Stops distinguish 'fortis' and 'lenis.' *Fortis/lenis distinction erased in q qʷ ʔ. Also, at the end of syllables. Alternation between them is forced in some environments; all stop clusters are Lenis-Fortis. Dorsal consonants can be front (velar) or back (uvular), and distinguish rounded or unrounded; Labials are always rounded, coronals and glottals are neutral.

Vowels:

Short: a i u ɯ ǝ

Long: e: o: (a:)

Seven, possibly 8, though some linguists reconstruct as few as three. /a/ alternates with schwa in some forms, less commonly /e o/ alternate with /i u/.

The vowels form a hierarchy from "strong"  to "weak" like so:

e, o > a > i u ɯ > ǝ

This is relevant for a number of processes, from stress to how morphemes combine. Stress usually falls on the strongest vowel in the stem. Strong vowels displace weaker vowels when they collide. Weaker vowels disappear or coalesce to form stronger vowels. Schwa is never stressed.

[slickchickchocolatier]

N 3 W B E G 1 N N 1 N G S : S A T A N

C H A P T E R 1 N E

Warnings: Not in this one so much. Referencing to events of SE7EN series, a short chapter, chapters 2 and 3 is where it's going to be at, there is mentions/references to how Heeseung obtained his y/n, pregnancy, the members are all 7 princes of hell, mentions of demons and angels.

“What’s going on with you? Ever since you came back from your last visit from the mortal realm with Asmo, you seem out of it.” 

A small breeze swifts through Sunghoon’s hair while Jungwon steps into the scene of his royal abode. Each brother inherited their own lavish palace, stationed in separate regions throughout Hell, courtesy of the eldest brother. Within their respective estates, the brothers meticulously designed and decorated the dwellings to reflect their tasteful fashion, mapping out the aura of his own personal nature. Despite being one of the infamous Seven Princes of Hell, Sunghoon had always adored the color white. It reminded him of his formal hearth back when he and his siblings resided in their former master’s Heavenly kingdom, as his main ArchAngels. Keeping in memory of the past, his kingdom flourished in lush white Lilies, surrounding the beige, and gold infrastructures that outlined the points of his castle. The interior matched with tapestries, draperies, and ornaments of similar colors, never to extend past the hues of the soft and natural palettes. 

He doesn’t answer his younger brother, at least not immediately. Detracting his mind, he changes the course of the subject by asking how the Queen and King are fairing. 

“They’re doing well. I stepped in for a visit just yesterday, the Queen is handling the pregnancy rather well, considering she had only adjusted to immortality not long before conceiving.” 

Dragging his finger along the white satin threaded backdrop, Jungwon softly chuckles as he makes his remarks regarding his eldest brother, and his new found bride. “She’s adjusting well….perhaps not by choice, either way, she at least knows her place is by Heeseung’s side.” 

Nodding, Sunghoon’s attention drifts back to the moment when he saw you. In spite of meeting you for a few seconds– if you can even call it a meeting, subsequently you had unknowingly created a stir within Satan himself. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something about you that he couldn’t get off his mind. Not a moment had passed since, where he didn’t think of who you were, what continent you came from, or what name you were blessed with upon your birth. Some days, it was more frustrating than nostalgic when drafting the details of your face in his mind, since he couldn’t quite figure out what it was that caused you to become engraved in his heart. Surely, this couldn’t be the very thing that had caused his elder brother to become engrossed with his mortal bride, thousands of years before she even came into existence. This couldn’t be the same tortuous ache that pained him all that time, forcing him to lay dormant in a state of unconsciousness and choosing to dream of her versus spending his time awake. This couldn’t be…

“Where is Heeseung? Is he currently in the Sanguis Orchid Palatium?” 

Jungwon nods with a sly smirk, sensing the urgency of his elder as he immediately exits the great hall. Using the ranges of his abilities in dark magic, Sunghoon transports to the home of his eldest sibling. Arriving at the grand entrance, Heeseung’s empty throne lays ahead, paired with the seating that belonged to his beloved wife. In front of the two royal stations, was the massive pedestal bed that Heeseung had specially made, all for him to keep a solid sight on his darling wife while she laid scantily dressed. The flashback image of when the Queen was initially brought to Hell, abiding by a contract she wouldn’t have been able to escape from, travels in and out of Sunghoon’s memory. At the time, the Queen was transitioning to her immortal state, and succumbed to the King’s maniacal sense of affection and obsession. Never affording the opportunity for her to leave his sight, Heeseung entrapped his lovely darling eternally, not even allowing her to sit on the throne beside him, finding it more suitable for his queen to be in front and in plain view. His twisted obsession had triggered him to become mad with love and possession, opting to observe and study his wife nearly every day, never retiring from his indulgence in her. Even now, after one year’s time had past, the Queen lives a life where she no longer is limited to remain on the boxed framed bedding, shrouded behind sheer chiffon of the canopy that framed the bed, however, she will always remain under the watchful eye of her husband. A price to pay for eternal love and protection. 

“They must be inside the palace.” Mentally remarking their absence from their usual standing at the great entrance, Sunghoon makes his way down the elongated pathway that led to the large double doors. The passageway was lined by a parallel row of demonic guards that rendered respect to the demon prince. Breaching the monumental entrance, the sentinels that manned it bowed politely before opening the double doors, admitting the crown prince his entry. Greeted by the massive marble hall, lined by mirrored glass frames, Sunghoon swiftly walks through one regal chamber after another. 

“Your highness, are you here to seek out His and Her Majesties?” Greeted by the precedent chamberlain up ahead, Sunghoon emits a single nod in response. 

“Very well, right this way.” 

The sovereign attendant guides the Hellish prince to the colossal ballroom, which contains a lustrous detail of dark marble walls and flooring, with brass ornaments that symbolizes a Gothic love story, all lining the mighty and elegant pillars that surround the room. Ahead, Heeseung lazily sits in his second throne, with his very pregnant wife atop his lap. In spite of being in the late stages of pregnancy, the queen’s immortal standing allowed for her to remain in her usual appeal, one without a large belly. It was the aura surrounding her that strongly indicated the strength and development of the child she carries, and while she didn’t carry a large belly, there was indeed, a belly. It was subtle and rounded, smaller than what it would be had she still been mortal, yet the fact she was indeed showing could only mean that the child was much stronger than the average offspring, and possibly is taking more after its father. Yet then again, it is the offspring of the Devil. 

“Sunghoon…” Heeseung calmly greets; his deep voice faintly echoes and travels down the narrow corridor hallways. 

“Heeseung, my lady, good to see you both.” Emitting a small bow, Sunghoon lets out a comfortable tone as he greets the pair. Chuckling, the elder strokes his chin as he grows wide eyed from the sudden appearance of his younger brother. Slyly smirking, Heeseung’s devilish senses proceed him, further expanding his great wisdom and intuition. “You have something on your mind–or rather, someone…” 

Sunghoon displays a stunned countenance before relaxing to his composed manner. Chuckling, he closes his eyes as he nods, tilting his head to the side as he swoops his side part. “Has it become that obvious?” 

Responding with his own deep chuckle, Heeseung faintly nods before shifting his gaze upon his queen. Snaking his hand around her waist, he cups the subtle belly protruding under her silk dress, and leaves a tender kiss on the side of her head while issuing gentle taps of his finger tips. “Pretty, sit here for a moment and wait for my return.” She nods gracefully in response, however, contrary to her seemingly obedient nature, a golden chain formulates out of particle speckles that appear out of thin air. Binding her by the ankle, the other end of the chain slithers and encircles around Heeseung’s wrist. No matter how far or wide the owner travels, the piece extends and retracts at the will of its master, in this case, it was Heeseung. It would appear that the King of Hell had every ounce of trust in his Queen, but maintained reservations for closure and comfort in knowing that she remained bound, should he be further than one-arm’s distance away. 

The two walked across the ballroom, stationed between two pillars that faced a large balcony that overlooked the entire region. Heeseung’s castle resided on the highest peak in the underworld, quite fitting for the Prince of Darkness. 

“So who did you see on your last visit to the human world?” Peaking a brow, Heeseung admires the wide open view as he beckons his younger brother. 

“What makes you think it was a mortal?” 

Hearing Sunghoon out, Heeseung flares his traditional smirk as he side-eyes his sibling. “I never said that it was…” 

Sunghoon gives out a series of blinks before sighing in defeat. Heeseung was far too clever to be dragged into the trenches of a guessing game, or perhaps the former was simply terrible in drawing out explanations. Either way, Sunghoon punches through the icebreaker and cuts to the point. “When you saw the Queen, was it the same?” 

Heeseung side-eyes his brother once more, this time without a smirk accompanying it. Clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth, he glances over his shoulder and peeks at his beloved, remaining poised and obedient on his throne. Switching his gaze back on the horizon, he understood the pain that Sunghoon was breaching, he understood it all too well. However, his younger sibling has an advantage, one that wasn’t afforded to Heeseung himself, at least not for seven thousand years time. Imparting the only guidance he had to offer, he comforts Sunghoon’s mind and provides a calming solution to the storm that was brewing in his demon heart. 

“Do you think of her night and day?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know where to find her?”

“Yes.” 

“Then go get her.”

Sunghoon slowly turns and faces his elder, pawning a reflective stare, only to find Heeseung’s side profile kissed by the permanent moon’s light, enhancing his noble elegance. His eyes remained thoughtful, taking his heart back to a time where he recalled the feeling of longing and desiring for the one thing that remained unreal for so long. His silence spoke louder than any word in existence, and he knew that his message was received.  With that, Heeseung softly pats Sunghoon’s shoulder, before turning away to tend back to his queen. Committing a half turn, watching as his brother takes the queen's hands, and aids her to stand all the while caressing her cheek, Sunghoon reflects back to a time when he and his brothers witnessed a change in Heeseung. Back to a time when he blocked the sight of his eyes beneath black lace, and silently waited for many years, until the time finally came when he rediscovered his love, looking exactly the way she had when he traveled through the corridors of time and became mesmerized by her image. 

And here, he now stands, emotionally resembling his elder brother’s past, although unlike Heeseung, Sunghoon is presented with a choice, one that he does not have to wait seven thousand years for. 

Stroking her cheek, Heeseung dispels a hazy gaze under heavy lids, admiring the most precious wonder in his lifetime. Watching as she turns, looking past the sheer curtains that shelter the grand ballroom of the open air that ties with the deep horizon, she remarks Sunghoon’s sudden disappearance. “He left?” 

Turning his face in the same direction, Heeseung smirks as he softly grips the side of his beloved’s neck. “Yes, as he should.” 

[squadmuse]

DATES ALPHABET

THE MATT CASEY EDITION

A/N: @deanstead 's genius mind and fantastic Matt fics plus her anons have got me deep in the Matt rabbit hole, much love & kudos to them all… so here is my first ever Matt fic!

A - Amusement Park / Arcade

An arcade date definitely happens when you’re dating Matt. The two of you walk along Navy Pier one evening, it’s a lovely summer night and both so in love - you play shooter games, racing simulators, throwing games and more, with Matt winning you so many cuddly bears & animals.

B - Biking / Brunch

Brunch usually happens as a date for you and Matt to catch up after a long shift. You’ll meet each other there and get a booth, cuddling up and chatting away over some nice coffee or fruit juice, pancakes and fruit. The two of usually playfully steal bites of the others order.

C - Candlelit dinner / Cabin getaway

Matt will ask Kelly for use of his cabin once in a while, usually for the day during a holiday. The two of you unplug (not entirely due to careers) and enjoy being around nature.

D - Dinner Cruise / Drive-in Movie

The dinner cruise date is usually reserved for anniversaries and it’s something that you and Matt always look forward to and enjoy the nice meal on the water.

E - Eiffel Tower / Escape Room

Matt loves spoiling you and one time took you to Paris, France for a vacation holiday and one of your dates there was up the Eiffel Tower. He is a big romantic gesture guy and where else than the City of Love?

F - Football Game / Fireworks

The 4th of July celebrations are a date where you and Matt cuddle on a picnic blanket if he’s luckily not working, and watch the Chicago sky light up but if Matt is on shift then he’ll have you come to 51 and watch them there with you.

G - Gala / Glamping

A gala date happens more when Matt is an alderman but it happens once in a while for a charity or the firehouse. He looks extremely dashing in his dress uniform and you look lovely in your gown.

H - Hockey Match / Harvest Festival

Matt surprises you one autumnal Saturday with a date to a harvest festival. The two of you just enjoy the day, drinking cider, eating pumpkin pie and kissing in corn mazes together.

I - Interior Design Expo / Italian Restaurant

Somehow you and Matt ended up an interior design expo one weekend through his construction job and make it a date. Matt is in his element and thinks of ideas for his renovations etc. while you love the art and design side of things but the two love the merging of your interests.

J - Jacuzzi / Jogging

Matt Casey in jacuzzi is something we all need and it’s something you set up one date night staycation, bringing him to the warm jacuzzi to relax and enjoy which he does and does some more with you in your bikini.

K - Kayaking/Kickboxing

With you and Matt working shifts, one way you have dates is at the gym and you get him into trying out a kickboxing class with you and you both enjoy it.

L - Lakeside getaway / Live Music

A grateful survivor gifted Matt some tickets to a rock concert and of course he took you. Much like the Rush concert, the two of you got front row seats, met the band and got a backstage tour too.

M - Museum / Masquerade

You and Matt like to just spend quiet time with each other and Chicago is a wealth of museums that the two of you wander around hand in hand just enjoying the history around you both.

N - Nightclub / Nine Pin Bowling

Matt and you are very competitive and whenever there is a bowling tournament or game held in the firehouse then the two of you are revving each other up and riling up each other too.

O - Observatory / Orchestra Concert

The orchestra date happens when Matt is an alderman and the two of you are attending a benefit concert for the children’s hospital. It ends up being a soothing experience and the two of you enjoy the new date.

P - Picnic / Photoshoot

Matt and you will have picnic dates during the summer or spring, stretched out on the blanket enjoying each other’s company and laughing as you feed each other grapes or cuddling against a tree in the public park.

Q - Quiz Night / Quiet Time

One night Mollys holds a quiz night and of course you and Matt team up together to compete. He’s a smart guy - intellectually, emotionally & street, and so are you - so it’s no wonder that the two of you walk away with the top prize.

R -Resort Weekend / Road Trip

The road trip date happens when you and Matt go away for a long weekend or public holiday. You’ll pack the car up to go camping and roll the windows down, laughing and singing along to the radio.

S - Spa Day / Swimming

You’re big on keeping up your swimming abilities and the healing power of the water, so once or twice you have dragged Matt to your favourite pool or beach and just swim around. You do end up making out a few times but Matt tries to keep it PG-13 in public.

T - Tiki Bar / Tango Lessons

The tiki bar dates that you and Matt have, usually result in massive hangovers the next day but you both have a ton of fun and Matt is cute in his Hawaiian shirt and you’re cute with your luau on.

U - Upscale Dining / Unplugged Date

Matt enjoys just switching off and getting away from electronics. Sometimes the two of you will read together, just snuggle or sometimes cook

V - Valentines Day / Volunteer

Matt always makes sure he is the one organising your Valentines Day dates together and he always goes all out. Dinner cruises, fancy restaurants etc. these dates are very special to you and Matt.

W - Woodworking / Weekend

As Matt has his construction job, one way you end up sort of helping or doing something linked to his hobbies and skills is via woodworking, and he loves seeing how excited you get after creating something out of the wood.

X - eXcursions / eXpensive

Now an excursion date between Matt and you varies from date to date. It can be sailing and fishing, food tours, aquariums etc. they’re never the same and never boring.

Y - Yacht Cruise / Yoga

You love yoga and whenever you see that Matt is getting stressed out or worked up with his duties, you drag him to the yoga studio and get him into the different positions and he jokes that you want him more flexible for more mature reasons.

Z - Zoo / Zip Lining

You love animals and so does Matt, so the Lincoln Park Zoo is sometimes a date idea. Sometimes it’s a date shared between you both as you take the younger Herrmann kids out for the day or Boden’s son but either way, you and Matt just enjoy any time spent together.

[lizzisimss]

Willow Creek 3-bed Family Home

CC used (list below) Bargain Bend in Willow Creek 30 x 20 3 bed, 2 bath $210,528

Ashlarella - https://ashlarella.tumblr.com/tou

·       Artistic Gallery Posteres

ATS4 - https://sims4.aroundthesims3.com/index.shtml

·       Canisters Cylinder Ceramic

·       Canisters Hens

·       Canisters Square

·       Canisters Vintage

Brazen lotus - https://www.brazenlotus.com/objects-d... :

·       EP09 Ship In A Bottle Short

·       EP10 Steezy Skis

·       GP07 Heavy Metal Shelf Emergency Flashlight

·       SP13 Folded Clothing Deco

·       SP13 Laundry Made Deluxe Towels Stack

·       SP13 Laundry Made Essentials Basket of Messy Towels

·       SP13 Laundry Made Essentials Basket of Neat Towels

·       SP13 Laundry Made Essentials Clothes Iron

·       SP13 Muck Down Hanging Coat

·       SP13 Muck Down Hanging Rain Coat

charly pancakes - https://www.patreon.com/charlypancakes

·       Dinna Merged

·       Insomnia Merged

·       Lavish Merged

·       Lavish Shoes Off Shoes

·       M&S Constructions part 1 Merged

·       Miscellenea Merged

·       Modish Merged

·       Munch Merged

·       Selection One Merged

·       Smol Merged

·       Soak Merged

·       The Candle deco version

felixandre - https://www.patreon.com/felixandre

·       Shop the Look Season 1 Merged

·       London Exterior

·       London Interior

·       Gothic Revival Interior

house of harlix - https://www.houseofharlix.com

·       Orjanic Merged

·       Bafroom Merged

·       Baysic Merged

·       Harluxe Merged

·       Jardane Merged

·       Livin’Rum Merged

·       The Kichen Merged

·       Tiny Twavellers Merged

 harrie - https://www.patreon.com/heyharrie

·       Brownstone Collection

·       Brutalist Bathroom

·       Country Collection

·       DU Windows Updated

·       Octave Merged

·       Porto

·       Shop the Look

·       Spoons

Kaiso - https://www.patreon.com/kaiso

·       Lizards

·       Rusti co

·       Parrot Pack

Kiwisim - https://www.patreon.com/Kiwisim4

·       Block House

leaf motif - https://leaf-motif.tumblr.com

·       2202 Magnolia Bathroom

·       Botanic Boudoir

·       Floret Grove

·       Heirloom Kitchen

·       Ivy Hallway

·       Old Hat

·       Starlight Crystals

·       Sunbeam Study

·       Sunny Corner

·       Twee Tableware

·       Vintage Crockery

·       Winter Village

lilis-palace - https://www.patreon.com/lilis_palace

·       Folklore Set Off the Grid Living

Littlecakes - https://litttlecakes.tumblr.com/downloadspage

·       Awe Sims Long Neck Lamp Fix

littledica - https://www.patreon.com/littledica

·       Countryside Cabin Merged

·       Eco Kitchen Stuff Pack Merged

·       Rise & Grind Café Merged

·       Sleek Slumber Stuff Pack Merged

·       Deligracy Merged Cottage Living Update

·       Slide

 Madlen - https://www.patreon.com/madlen

·       Nuri Rug

·       Ayumu Books

 Marvell - https://marvell-world.tumblr.com/download

·       Salt & Pepper

·       Nom Nom Console Table

·       Upcycle Bedside Table

·       Upcycle Box

 max 20 - https://www.patreon.com/Max20

·       Child dream kit

·       Classic kitchen

·       Holiday mini pack

·       Master bedroom pack

 Maxsus - https://maxsus.tumblr.com/post/640662541333348352/download

·       Poolside lounge pack

mlys - https://mlyssimblr.tumblr.com/

·       Pufferhead

·       Deco Storage Basket

·       Deskop Globe

my cup of cc -https://www.patreon.com/mycupofcc

·       Colour Talk Kitchen Merged

·       Colour Talk Dining Stuff

·       Colour Talk Living Rm Merged

·       Maple Manor The Modernist Collection Living Room

·       August 2021

·       Fireplace Screen

·       July 2021

myshunosun - https://www.patreon.com/myshunosun

·       Bastvik single bedframe

·       Garden stories

·       Luna Bedroom

·       Nora Living

·       Riikka

·       Serene Bathroom

·       Sol Kitchen

·       The art room

·       Uma living

·       Arrie office

·       Daria Bedroom

·       Dawn

·       Lottie

MXSIMS - https://mxims.tumblr.com/tagged/mycc

·       Ikea Barso Wall Grid B

Networksims - https://networksims.tumblr.com/tou

·       Parisian Framed Poster

oni - https://www.patreon.com/oni28

·       Squirrel Toy Cart

 peacemaker - https://peacemaker-ic.tumblr.com/TS4O...

·       Atwood Living Merged

·       Bayside Bedroom Set Merged

·       Eloise Seating

·       Elsie Bedroom Basics

·       Futura Merged

·       Hamptons Retreat Merged

·       Hinterlands Bedroom

·       Hinterlands Living

·       Hudson Bathroom

·       Kingston Dining

·       Kitayama Dining Merged

·       Kitayama Living Merged

·       MidCentury Eclectic Merged

·       Mina Kitchen Merged

·       Roarsome Kids Bedroom Merged

·       Vara Office

pierisim - https://www.patreon.com/pierisim

·       Precious Promises

·       Calderone Bedroom

·       MCM All

·       Oakhouse all

·       The Office Mini Kit

·       Tidying Up

·       Coldbrew Coffeeship

·       Domaine Du Clos part 1 Merged

·       Maison Meuliere Part 1

·       Winter Garden

renorasims - https://www.renorasims.com

·       xtreme shower

 simplisticsims - http://simplisticsims4.com

·       BG Bath Cabinet

·       Botanical framed art

·       Cottage roman curtain

·       Loloi contemporary rugs 1

·       Painting indigo 2021

·       RHckbreadbox

·       RHdhdblbed

·       RHharriediningchair

·       RHshadeB

·       RHspatoilet

·       Rustig rug

·       Taisho Merged

·       Vintage country art

SYB - https://s4cc.syboulette.fr/office-gothic-butterflies-sims-4-cc

·       Ohmygoth Butterflies Poster

 sixiamcc - https://imfromsixam.tumblr.com/

·       Breeze of Greece Buy Mode

·       Oak & Concrete Kit Merged

·       PD Lilla Kids Bedroom

·       Artiu Bookshelf

·       Artz

·       Charming Chalet

·       Dreamy Outdoor lights

·       Forjasline Bottles

·       Lavant Bowl Plant

·       Kids room cc pack

·       Luxbath

·       SpringSix Kitchen

·       Earbuds Plumbob Earbuds Replacement

 Clutter Cat - https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/thec...

·       Busy Bee

·       Petits Pirates

·       222

·       Cat milk no 2 reloaded

·       Japan Juice

 TUDS -https://www.patreon.com/TudTuds

·       Beam Parte 2 V01 Merged

·       Beam Kitchen Complete Set Merged v02

·       Beam Living Merged

·       Cross Merged

 awingedllama - https://www.patreon.com/awingedllama

·       Blooming Rooms Plants

· Apartment therapy inspired stuff v2 Merged

Tray files are available on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lizzisimss

Please consider supporting if you wish :)

[shieldofiron]

I’m totally projecting here since I have a stutter-

Maybe billy who has a stutter and Neil decided to beat that shit out of him, so that’s why billy speaks so slow (I do too), he has to slowly think out every word,

So maybe when he goes to the Byers’ house he gets so upset he starts stuttering? Before the fight? Like uh “is t-that you har-Harrington?” And Steve goes to make fun of him or something, but then he realizes the look of Billy’s face. A mixture of fear and anger at himself, and he stops

Maybe a flash to the future where Billy doesn’t have to think about every word and can speak the way he wants to, with his loving husbando Steve?

🥰🥺

1984

Billy smiles, slow and languorous, "Is that you, Harrington?"

"Yeah. It's me, don't cream your pants," Harrington bit the words out and stepped down the tiny wooden porch.

He put his hands on his hips, tossing that pretty long brown hair back a little, and squaring up, shoulders tight.

Billy glanced back at the house and saw a flash of red hair in the window.

Motherfucker.

Billy looked back to Steve. What the hell was this? Why wasn't Max just coming out? She had to know that it was late, that her mom would be pissed she wasn't home.

Billy sucked in a breath

"W-what are you doing h-h-here," Billy tried to suck in a deep breath, "Amigo."

Cool Billy, He thought, Really cool. You totally covered it with the Amigo.

Harrington's lip curled a little, "What was that, Hargrove?"

The words seemed to stop up in Billy's throat, pile up and stick with jagged edges.

"M-My step sister," He manages to get out. "S-she..."

Harrington's grinning in that sort of shit eating way that precludes a set down, and it has Billy's fists tightening. He can feel his face getting red, and his stomach starts buzzing. He looks back at Max and she's trying to be hidden. He doesn't understand.

"L-Little B-birdy," Billy sucks in a breath, "T-told me that sh-she..."

That grin starts to falter a little. Harrington steps back just a bit, puts his hand out, palm open.

"Hey," Harrington says softly, "It's okay. Um... it's okay. She's here, but... there's a lot of shit going on tonight."

Billy tightens his fist and then releases it. Once. Twice. Three times.

"G-gotta bring h-her home," Billy's tongue feels a little less stuck in his throat at least. Harrington waits for a moment, watching like he's giving Billy time to add anything he needs to.

"I swear she's okay, she's not hurt," Harrington lays a hand over his heart, making those bambi eyes wide and sweet in a way Billy's never seen before, "Why don't you come inside and I'll explain?"

---

1994

"It was killer, Steve," Billy traces a secret pattern in Steve's chest hair, "Cherry, with the most well preserved original chrome. An actual St-Stingray. I almost came the moment I touched it."

"Almost, huh?" Steve's voice rumbles across Billy's skin, "So does that mean you're all... pent up?"

Billy turns onto his stomach and rests his chin on Steve's stomach, "You're ruining my story, horndog."

"I'm just listening to the details," Steve smiles down at him, "Tell me the story."

"It had a cream and c-cherry interior. Cherry red dash. Custom, Steve," Billy leans hard on his chin, trying to impress on Steve the seriousness of the situation, "Custom? In Indiana? Do you know how hard that is to do?"

Steve smiles, "Not if you know the right guy."

Billy smiles back, "Oh yeah? The right guy? And who would that be?"

"Well... he's cool," Steve runs a hand along Billy's bicep, tracing the heart that reads, 'Mad Max.'

"Of course," Billy shrugs.

"And he's humble," Steve smirks.

"Gotta be humble. Being humble is the best."

"And he's..." Steve's eyes get darker, "So passionate. About cars, I mean."

Billy smiles, slow and languorous.

"And I am very," Steve leans in and kisses Billy's forehead, "Very. In love with... the interior he installed in my car."

Billy dug his fingers into Steve's side until Steve squirmed, his knees drawing up and his laughter crackling off the walls of their bedroom.

"You dick," Billy cries, huffing and letting him go.

"Maybe... I was thinking tonight we could start with your dick first," Steve licks his lips, "I have some oral skills I want to show off."

Billy purses his lips, "Oh, Steve. Oral skills are definitely my specialty."

Steve just smirks, cocky as ever, "Oh you're so on. Amigo."

---

@hickory-smoked-ass SO CUTE! SUCH CUTIES!

I didn't want Billy's stutter to "magically" disappear at the end, more like it doesn't trip him up so much when it happens. Because Steve loves him, a little stutter doesn't matter.

[iepurasdepraf]

ᒍEᖇᐯIᔕ TETᑕᕼ: ᒪIGᕼTᔕ OᑌT - ᑭᗩᖇT 2

Music for this part

Through the haze of cigarette smoke, your client gave his speech "The elaborate branching structure of the dendritic tree allows a singular neuron to receive inputs from the other neurons through synaptic connections. The cortical pyramidal neuron of figure one point one A and the cortical interneuron of figure one point one C each receive thousands of synaptic inputs, shown in figure g one a, in less than a second, and for the cerebellar Purkinje cell of figure one point one B the number is over one hundred thousand. Figure one point one does not show the full extent of the axons of these neurons-" 

The way he spoke with a little booze in him made it seem like the dingey strip club backroom his own private symposium. If he’d been graced with a little more confidence, he’d have made for a great professor or at least that's your opinion, but it’s not like you’d gone to college. 

You had to blink. Hard. Rubbing your eyes with the heels of your palms in desperate search of relief you wondered if he’d breathed in the last thirty minutes. You weren't sure. You weren't even sure if you had either, but your head was spinning either way so you could only imagine he was reeling.

Initially, you'd managed to understand what he was talking about. His figures were hand drawn, but clear and well labeled, but during the course of the presentation that had slowly waned and been overtaken by a sea of information that just kept rising. It all started bleeding together in your head and your eyes had begun burning from squinting at his cracked phone screen where he was showing you the arithmetic and diagrams. 

You’d gotten at best a D or C in math, you couldn’t remember anymore, but you’d passed. That said, you certainly weren’t built for this. This was a whole other level. The formulas looked like something from a scifi movie you’d see written on what was essentially a high tech whiteboard right before an alien burst out of someone’s spleen. 

“The electrical signal of relevance to the nervous system is the difference in electrical potential between the interior of a neuron and the surrounding extracellular medium-” Not wanting to be rude since he was paying for your time, you raised your hand and were quickly called upon by your impromptu teacher with nothing, but delighted glee on his face that you were even listening “Yes!?” "Whereabouts in this presentation are we?" "We're just about through the first half." "The first half?" Dear God in Heaven.

His nose scrunched up a little exposing his buckteeth even more, he must have caught on that he was frying your brain in its pan. You couldn’t tell if it was a smile or a grimace. Maybe he found it funny? "How many parts are there?" You asked, trying your hardest to sound amused and not worn out. "Five! Well, five and a, ah... sort of post note." You laughed a little restlessly and sat up on the sofa. Legs long having gone numb from being in one position for so long.

He held up his flashcards, smudged as they were from his sweaty hands. "I felt like I needed at least eight parts to fully explain, but I ran out of cards." "Why not buy more cards?" His hand lowered as he thought about it "I- Well, I suppose I... didn't want to admit my poor foreplanning to myself?" You press your fingers to your eyes for some relief. It didn’t help and that didn't make sense, but nothing had since he stopped stuttering. Sure, the words were coming out now, but that didn’t mean they made sense even with his extensive explanation. If anything it was making it worse.

Your hands fell to your lap as you asked “Who are you giving this presentation to, Jervis?” He turned red when you said his first name. You could tell it was that by the way his eyes fluttered and how he wriggled. It was like every now and then he remembered you were a pretty lady giving him the time of day and it staggered him a little. 

“The-The board. Well, I- let me explain.” He sat on the edge of the small platform of a stage you’d made him stand on when he started this whole thing to try to make it feel more like he was presenting. His feet couldn’t even reach the ground. “I don’t do things like this, you see. I’m a lab rat through and through. I haven’t given a-any kind of presentation since I defended my thesis for my doctorate.”

There was something wrong with you. That was actually impressive and you nearly asked what his thesis was about, but you also wanted to go home before five. “I work for Wayne Enterprises and normally I’m kept down in the basements- they keep all the non-theoretical work in the basements for security reasons... I shouldn’t have told you that.” 

He laughed his security breach of an anxiety spike off in a concerningly manic way again and all you could think to do was nod in response, nearly used to it at this point. That or you were so worn down you were just accepting it for the sake of what was left of your mental bandwidth. “Recently, I don’t know why for certain, but they’re- Oh, how did Dr. Kates put it? Doing an internal audit of ongoing research to access security, costs, and productivity. I assume they suspect someone is misusing grant money.”

“Is someone?” You ask, now a little invested in his workplace drama. “Heavens no!” He dismisses the very idea with a flick of his wrist. An oddly elegant gesture for someone so tense, but that was probably the liquor in him. “They barely give us enough to keep the power on in the labs. If someone was doing that the flickering lights would have surely let us know long before accounting noticed.” Jervis rolls his eyes grumbling, “Useless things they are. Still haven’t approved of my new slides.” He was getting distracted so you lean forward with your elbows on your thighs to get his attention. “Why would them thinking someone’s stealing money have you doing a presentation to the board?”

He blinks like a toad, eyes unable to settle on just one part of you until he registers you are looking still at him and you know that so he looks elsewhere instead, fumbling with his cards to try to get his train of thoughts back on the rails. He didn’t succeed right away. “I…They-well, they- um…Hm.” Jervis clears his throat “T-to-to prove I am making progress or rather have been. To-ah, establish a timeline of my-my work.” 

Your head tilts slightly to the side “Would they be able to tell?” “What?” Your simple question seems to knock him out of his self conscious stupor. “Well, you’ve written a really detailed presentation, but are the people you’re going to be presenting it to going to be able to understand what you’re showing them? Are they scientists too? It sounds more like it’s going to be to a committee.”

“They… are not scientists.” You saw the cold realization washed over him. They’d have no idea what he was talking about and the way he looked at you nearly made you feel guilty. All that work and they’d never understand it. Christ, that was brutal. It made you feel bad for not getting it either. He was clearly onto something he desperately wanted to share, but it was like he couldn't simplify his ideas enough to explain what they were to anyone with a room temperature IQ.

You bounced your leg trying to think up a solution even though you still weren’t entirely sure why you gave a shit. You should just get up and go home. Tell him it’s late and you have to get some sleep. But no, you sat there puzzling trying to help this total stranger. You stood up, unable to sit anymore. The digging drive to pace while you thought winning out as it usually did so back and forth in front of the despondent scientist you went. 

“Ok, we can figure this out.” You assured, sounding more confident then you actually were. “You’re smart. I’m…well, I’m smart too. Just… not as smart.” You laughed, but he looked like a kicked puppy. Maybe you were the only smart one right now. You told yourself that was fine while you gnawed on your thumb nail. Chipping the black fingernail polish off with your front teeth. You were so tired. 

Your eyes hurt, your back hurt, your legs hurt, and you smelled like a sweaty ashtray full of cheap beer. You weren’t getting anywhere with this tonight. “When are you giving your presentation?” “Next week. Friday of next week.” It was only Sunday, well, Monday now. You had time. “I’ll tell you what,” You turned to him with a clap of your hands that made him jump to attention.

“We’ll keep working on it. Instead of trying to explain where you are, let’s try to show what it took to get here. We’ll figure this out, but not tonight. I have to work today, but after that I’m free until Wednesday. Meet me here after work and I'll give you your money’s worth.” You winked at him “I owe you for what you paid me for, don’t worry. You still have,” after checking the yellow stained clock on the wall over his head you confirmed “Two hours and forty five minutes.”

Jervis stood up, only coming up to the very bottom of your ribs “You promise?!” What a pathetically endearing man. “Promise.” You presented your pinky finger and he gasped like you’d surprised him with a diamond ring, but he puffed himself up and raised his own pinky to interlock with yours all the same. “Pinky promise.” “I-I- Hehehe-”

He wriggled like a worm on a hook. Turning red as the perfect shade of lipstick making the pale dusting of freckles over his nose and cheeks stand out. “I’ve never- ah… No one’s ever pinky promised me anything,” He cleared his throat then tilted his chin up and stood as tall as he could with his feet flat on the floor to shake on it properly “Jolly good.”

You couldn’t help, but snort. With a shake of your hands the pact was made.

Banner art: DRCL - Midnight Children by Sakamoto Shinichi

[throwaway-yandere]

idk if this is a stupid question to ask but what are the talents of everyone in the Flawless au? i know tighnari is the ultimate botanist, kaveh is the ultimate architect and yoi is the ultimate pyrotechnician(?) but idk any the other 12 students... im thinking of making my own genshin fangan where scara is the mastermind so i'd like some ideas!

Spoilers for FLAWLESS (please read and play this fic if you haven't because I need a person in my asks to talk about Alhaitham so I can roast him—)

And uh... I don't think you should get ideas from me because most of their talents are tailored to the ideas I have that can be built upon and not "ah yeah, this is definitely ___'s ultimate." So, I implore you not to take this all into consideration. Have fun, think of your own spins on their talents because I swear there's better combinations out there.

Alhaitham: Ultimate Scribe/Secretary + Teacher's Assistant.

Amber: Ultimate Archer

Tighnari: Ultimate Botanist (we wouldn't go this far without him, bless his soul)

Ajax: Ultimate Gymnast. (He joined Olympics several times. Hence, his hubris with Amber—)

Albedo: Ultimate Chemical Engineer + Teacher's Assistant (I think this was mentioned in one of the wrong choices and Scara goes "you dumb beech" lmfao. I think I had an idea where the arrow is poisoned and that's how Amber and him tagteamed)

(There was supposed to be a mini-easter egg if you pick a wrong option, it should have a link to a google docs short fluff segment from the past of Alhaitham lending Kazuha book guides on how to read Sumeru literature while Albedo teaches Scara about types of crystalline solids and Scara complains the whole time while Kazuha loved every second lol. Alhaitham is seething deep down though cause he's jealous that Kazuha is dating the reader. Unfortunately, I got lazy and didn't write this.)

Kamisato Ayaka: Ultimate Swordmaster (successor to Lumine iirc?)

Reader: Ultimate Idol. (Duh. It's Ai Hoshino. Fun fact: reader was supposed to be the Ultimate Interior Designer but I scratched that because it leaned on a Kaveh canon end too much)

Faruzan: Ultimate Irregular Stud— jk, something about being an Ultimate Mentor/Mechanic or something. I think I leaned more on Mechanic? Help. I forgot.

Xiao: I SERIOUSLY FORGOT I'M SO SORRY XIAO. But I do remember thinking about writing a scene where Scara calls him the Ultimate Sacrifice. Forgot if I went through with that idea.

Kunikuzushi: Ultimate Puppeteer. This can be seen in his ending & Kazuha's. And a clear reason why Raiden Shogun is the way "she" is. Kinda phcked up that you made your own sister into a—

Kaveh: Ultimate Architect of course. He'd even build a whole world for you— as long as you won't leave him.

Cyno: Ultimate Tabletop Player. I had a fun idea where people keep mistaking him for having another talent and when they find out he's not the ultimate investigator people get mad for his sake but nah, man loves his card games. But people voted for Kazuha HAHAHAH

Yoimiya: Ultimate Pyrotechnician. Fun fact: was supposed to make her a victim at one point but then realized I want HER to be the Aoi of this au.

Layla: Ultimate Astronomical Researcher, I think. I'm sorry Layla, I also forgot...

Yunjin: Ultimate Playwright.

Kaedehara Kazuha: Ultimate Poet. He's so babygirl for this, Poet + Idol <3 (definitely not biased here.)

Shikanoin Heizou: Ultimate Best B— Ultimate Detective.

[positively-knotted]

Dissertationposting 9: Asphericity & Warped μ-bubbles

Reminder that an aspherical manifold is one whose higher homotopy groups are all trivial, ie π_i = 0 for i ≥ 2. Last time I claimed that in dimensions n ≤ 5, closed aspherical manifolds are non-PSC.

Unfortunately, the dimension restriction here is a real topological one. The current best known proof techniques get increasingly more and more complicated each dimension, and fail by the time you reach n = 6. It's still believed to be true in general, but as it stands there is no dimension-independent proof like there was for SYS manifolds. This also makes it hard to put into a Tumblr post - what do I actually write down?

The proofs still work by contradiction, using the same analytical tools, but a very different idea. First, you show that M̃, the universal cover, contains lots of "thick" hypersurfaces: there exists curve γ in M̃, with a hypersurface Σ whose interior meets γ [1] but whose boundary is arbitrarily far from γ. After some more topological waffle for higher dimensions, you show that all hypersurfaces admitting a solution to a particular Laplacian inequality must be "thin": there exists a constant C such that the boundary is a distance at most C from any point in the interior. Finally, you use the old "first eigenfunction" trick to construct a "thick" hypersurface that has a solution to that inequality, contradiction.

The next post will be the last, and I'll step through the proof in a bit more detail. In the meantime, I'll tie up another loose end - what is the role of u in a μ-bubble?

For any sensible mathematical object, products make sense, and Riemannian manifolds (manifolds with distance) are no different - it works exactly as you expect. But you can also "twist" the second factor by a positive function φ, defined only on the first factor. Roughly speaking usually the squared distance between (a,x) and (b,y) is d(a,b)² + d(x,y)², in the warped product by φ it is d(a,b)² + φ•d(x,y)². [2] (Because geometry, there are secretly integrals here.) In particular, by Fubini,

where h̃(x,θ) = h(x). So we can always take u=1 in a μ-bubble, by passing to a warped product with S¹, where the warping function is u. Then all of the earlier theorems still work, so long as we only care about S¹-invariant functions and properties. But because this S¹ factor doesn't actually exist, this is completely fine!

The formula for curvature of a general warped product is very painful, although only warping with S¹ is ok. [3] Nice exercise if you have a Riemannian geometry exam coming up. The main takeaway is that now μ-bubbles are even more powerful than before. We can weight our area integral by any function u, and then just get rid of it by passing to a warped Riemannian band of one dimension higher. This feels inconvenient, but the μ-bubble is S¹-invariant, so projecting onto the other factor gives us a submanifold of the correct dimension. This submanifold might not have all of the nice properties that it would normally have, but it's close enough. This also captures the idea that u is an "error term" for how different h and H are - this difference is coming from the warping of the projection. Repeatedly warping then projecting down is the main analytical strategy of the asphericity proof, alongside lots of crude, undergradesque distance bounds.

[1] In fact, any (n-1)-chain whose boundary is an integer multiple of ∂Σ meets γ

[2] That is, (M,g) ×_φ (N,h) = (M×N, g+φ²h).

[3]

[greaseonmymouth]

i am perhaps several years (and books*) late to this but I've been wondering where the hell does Carl live. I put him in Brøndby in my latest fic** based on nothing but the vibes of his terraced house as seen in the films - a common type of house in suburbs of Copenhagen and considering the colour of the wood and bricks inside the house it's probably one of those solidly built mid-century brick houses rather than a modern one with cement and cladding - and for some reason I couldn't put my finger on, this particular one gave me a Vestegnen vibe rather than a, say, Amager vibe or Nordsjælland vibe idk. so I went with Brøndby

and now I think? I might have been right??

I was rewatching Kvinden i Buret again, as you do, and at the start of he film as the intro credits roll, we see Carl commute in on the S-train. as the train pulls away we see it's a Linje B train (that green square on the back of the train is the Linje B marker). (Copenhagen central station, KBH H, is a mere 6 minute walk from politigården.)

the interior view of the train, which I do not have a screenshot of because I kept getting a black screen for some stupid reason, shows the stops in the background but it's too blurry to make out where on the line he is so he could be coming in from the north rather than the west, but I'm choosing to believe he came from the west. he could be as far out as Albertslund but I think Brøndby is a better fit for like...his general vibe. he just doesn't seem like somebody who'd enjoy living in a snobby area, lol.

depending on where he lives in Brøndby his stop would either be Glostrup, Brøndbyøster (both Linje B) or Brøndby Strand (Linje A), but since he came in on Linje B and not Linje A (blue) and since Brøndby Strand is more of a villakvarter type area I think somewhere along the west end of Linje B makes sense. i mean he could also have been dissociating on the platform for long enough that his Linje A train has left and the next Linje B train has pulled in instead, but I don't think that's very likely

*haven't read them

**for those who don't know: Assad's argument that it's easier to get to work from Nørrebro is absolute garbage, or at least it was up until 2019! the s-train commute from Glostrup to KBH H is like 20 minutes direct but from Nørrebro you had to take 1-2 buses to get into KBH H and either way it would take you at least 30 minutes. unless you cycle, in which case you can make it in like 15 minutes, but neither Carl nor Assad strike me as cycle commuters so moot point, and driving to work when you live and work that centrally is just fucking stupid, neither of them seems to have a car either (the car they are using in the film seems to be a 'company car' even though it doesn't have yellow plates). in September 2019 the new Metro ring (Cityringen) opened which does have a direct line through Nørrebro and into KBH H and also takes about 20 minutes. in-fic by the time Assad makes that argument, I am reckoning the timeline of him convincing Carl to move in with him is in the second half of 2019, so he's right, but he also had to time his argument very very carefully lmao