#Snack Pellet Equipment

[ananya5400]

Snack Pellet Equipment Market to Showcase Continued Growth in the Coming Years

The snack pellet equipment market, in terms of value, is estimated to account for nearly USD 1.0 billion in 2019 and projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% to reach nearly USD 1.4 billion by 2025. This is due to the rising demand for extruded snacks globally. Snack pellets are non-expanded intermediate products that are usually produced through the extrusion process using various raw materials such as potato, corn, tapioca, and rice. The extruder is the main piece of equipment that is used to press the raw material and produce pellets. The key snack pellet manufacturers are also adopting new technologies for the production of snack pellets, which include single-screw extrusion, twin-screw extrusion, and co-extrusion. These processes aid in the manufacturing of snack pellets that are of various shapes, textures, and sizes. However, the technological advancements in snack pellet equipment to produce 3D pellets have also led to an increase in production capacity in a short time, thus driving market growth.

Some of the Prominent Key Players are:

Clextral (France)

GEA Group (Germany)

Buhler AG (Switzerland)

N.P. & Company Inc. (Japan)

Kiremko B.V. (Netherlands)

Grace Food Processing & Packaging Machinery (India)

Tsung Hsing Food Machinery Co., Ltd. (Taiwan)

AC Horn Manufacturing (US)

Download PDF Brochure:  https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=136666490

What is snack pellet equipment?

Snack pellet equipment refers to machinery and tools used in the production of snack pellets. Snack pellets are small, semi-finished products made from various ingredients like potato starch, cereals, or other grains. These pellets are then further processed through frying, baking, or extrusion to create a wide variety of finished snacks like chips, crisps, puffs, and more. The equipment involved includes extruders, pelletizers, dryers, fryers, and seasoning systems, among others, to produce these snack pellets efficiently and in large quantities for commercial purposes.

The Asia Pacific market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

The Asia Pacific is projected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. Population growth, rapid urbanization, and the rise in consumer awareness about the benefits of snack pellet are key factors driving the demand for snack pellet equipment in the region. The region is the third-largest potato producer in the world. Potato production has rapidly increased in the last two decades due to the expansion of the land area in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Due to these factors, consumption has also increased in parallel with the increasing popularity and demand as a vegetable in urban diets. In addition, the growing preference for Western fast food products has also led to a surge in demand for potatoes in the country. This, in turn, is driving the fragmented snack pellets market in the region, which is projected to contribute to the growth of the market.

Get 10% Free Customization on this Report:  https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomizationNew.asp?id=136666490

Key questions addressed by the report:

What are the new trending products that the snack pellet equipment companies are exploring?

Which are the key players in the market, and how intense is the competition?

What are the upcoming growth trends that snack pellet equipment manufacturers are focusing on in the future?

What are the high-growth opportunities in the market for each segment?

What are the key growth strategies adopted by major market players in the snack pellet equipments market?

[vase-of-lilies]

❀  Pairing: Dark!Vampire!Wanda x Vampire Hunter!Reader(F) (Some Wolf!Bucky x Reader x Wanda)

❀ Warnings: Non-con, dubcon, violence, vampire-esque content, dark!Wanda (she’s a warning…), blood and gore, draining of a body, biting for sexual stimulation, overstimulation, fingering, violence, swearing, use of a dagger, knife play, forced to strip, getting bitten by a vampire but not turning into one, bondage (restraints from ceiling), a punishment, pet names (Sweetheart, little one, etc.), slight somnophilia, spanking, and more!

❀ This is my second entry for @eloquentreverie ’s dusk till dawn challenge! The sentence I chose is:

“Take off your clothes. Slowly. I want to watch you.”

❀ Disclaimer and Authors Note: The pictures only represent aesthetics and themes. There is no certain skin color, body type, ethnicity, or description other than Y/n and “you”. The pictures go to their rightful owners on Pinterest, and the comic-style pictures belong to the beautiful artist Jenifer Prince.

❀ I hope you like this addition to the collection of Creatures and Foreigners! I would die and be resurrected for vampire!wanda. Literally. This is a re-write, since the original was in 3 parts. To keep this organized, I just made it one post!!

It was time… It was time to catch the creature that was terrorizing the beautiful village you live in. Yorkshire is where you are from, where your beautiful home stands. It's a small cottage with a perfect view of the mountains gracing the East, the sunrises your favorite part of the day. When the sun sets in the west, it's when everyone locks their doors with iron chains, keeps a wooden stake by their beds, a garlic circle around their homes, and prays to the [whichever you believe in] and hopes they survive the night. 

You finally had the will to change this. To help the people you love feel a little safer at night who were terrified of the vampire who lived in the castle on the South Hill. The dark bricks and stones towered over the town, casting a large shadow over everyone at dusk. That shadow was the sign that it was time to prepare for the worst, for the creatures of the night to begin hunting for their midnight snacks. And lastly, for the vampire to find her next source of blood. 

For Wanda, she always loved human blood but never complained with cow, or sheep blood. It was the blood of a fighting soul that tasted best to her. There was something so satisfying watching the life drain from someone’s eyes once their body is empty of their blood. However, whether it was a man or a woman, she loved to torture them before she killed them. She would keep them locked up for days, weeks even, and keep them on their toes. She would feed them one day, and then break their legs the next. She was a storm that you never want to be stuck in the middle of. 

Packing your sash full of what you need was not a challenge at all. Each piece of equipment had a slot that it belonged to. One for your wooden sword, a small chain of iron links, garlic garland, iron cross bow, and last but not least your gun with the solid iron pellets ready to kill any vampire you see. It was not very heavy as one would think, having it around your shoulders made it very easy to access everything as well as keeping it light for you to carry around the woods. 

Wanda, being one of the only vampires in Yorkshire, knew she was being hunted. She could sense the tension coming closer to her castle every step you took down the newly stoned and paved pathway. She could smell your villager blood from miles away. It was a scent she could decipher in a split second. Cow blood smelled cold, almost like a winter morning. But human blood smelled like the moon had created it, making it much more appetizing than a mere animal. 

~~~~~~~

You could see the dark bricks of the castle from a far, your wooden sword drawn and ready to strike anything in its path. The forest became silent, indicating a predator was near and hungry. Leaves were heard crunching under fast footsteps coming closer and closer by the second. Your head whipped from right to left, not knowing where these footsteps were exactly. 

“Show yourself creature!” You shouted into the darkness of the forest. 

“Who are you?” A dark voice echoed in your surroundings, not pointing in a certain direction. 

Not shying from her, you answer honestly. “Y/n, of Yorkshire.” 

She chuckles, “Ah, so townsfolk, hm?” She watches from behind a tree as you struggle to find where her voice is coming from. She senses your fear, so to make matters worse she drags her nails against the trees creating an ear-splitting noise, making you drop your weapon and cover your ears. 

“Ah!!” You shout in pain. As you pull your hands from your ears your skin is coated in the sticky, crimson liquid. “Your time has come, y-you evil creature!”

Wanda chuckles at your struggle, “My time will never come… but yours have.” 

Your brows furrow and you reach for your iron bar. You smirk as you hear the hissing of the vampire, her power of sounding everywhere fading significantly, pointing in the direction of where she could be. “Don’t fucking come near me!” She growls, hiding behind another tree.

“Oh, so I found your weakness…”

She whimpers in response, “Don’t t-touch me!” Lighting your lantern, your eyes catch movement, and you grab the chainlink and throw it to where you see her. 

“Aha! Finally!” You walk over to her, smirking at her as she falls to the ground. “You are going to grant me a fortune…” You say darkly, looking at her with false pity in your eyes. Around you, a growling catches you off guard. Looking around, you don’t see anything immediately, but what Wanda says churns your stomach. 

“Y-your in t-tr-trouble.” She stutters, moving away from you slightly. Wanda smirks and you jump back in fear as a large black wolf shields the vampire. Grabbing your dagger, you lunge forward with no fear. 

“She’s mine!” You growl, slashing the wolfs shoulder making him whimper but he pushes through and pounces on you, biting your leg and ripping a chunk of skin off. You scream in pain, and scamper back as He rips the chains off of Wandas body. 

The last weapon you grab is your gun. You cock it back and point it at both the vampire and the wolf. “Stay back!” A whimper leaves your throat as you scoot back again, your leg dragging against the damp and cold soil below you. 

Wanda glares at you her eyes turning red and a red light appearing at her hands. Before you can pull the trigger, she flings the gun from your hands and your head follows it. Like lightning, your sash of tools was cut from your body and you were flung over Wandas shoulder like a sack of potatoes. 

Your arms and uninjured leg flail as you fight against the strong grip of Wandas arms around you, and as you look down from over her shoulder you see the wolf looking up at you smugly. He was with her all along, he wasn’t trying to take her too… You sighed and continued to struggle, all the way to the castle, down two flights of stairs, and through a door to a dungeon full of cells. She throws you onto a dingy cot in the corner of a cell, cuffs your wrists with metal cuffs that don’t hurt her, and leaned against the bars. 

“Let me go you monster!!” You pull the chains connected to the wall hoping to break them. But to no avail were you able to get out of the rings that locked your wrists. 

“Not happening.” Wanda states, staring at you from the edge of the cell. She looks at your leg and her hands turn red once again. You were scared as you felt the tingle in your leg, watching in awe as the chuck of skin missing from your leg was miraculously healed with only a few scars. It was just like the townsfolk said, she will torture you one day, and heal you the next. Making you unaware of what is going to happen next. 

You growl and shout at her. “What do you want from me??” You look up at her, tugging and pulling against the chains again. 

A hard slap across your face shuts you up, and you fall against the cot in surprise. You feel the hand shaped sting and a bruise already starting to form from how hard she hit you. “You tried to kill me and wanted to kill my baby!” She rubs soft circles against the wolfs slick black fur, and he whines softly as she grazes over the cut on his shoulder. 

You look at the wolf who is now eye level with me and you glare as you see your blood staining his teeth. “F-fuck you.” You whisper at him, scooting back as you feel blood dripping from your nose, the act of the slap causing trauma to your nose as well. 

“Oh don’t listen to her baby,” Wanda says calmly as she kneels next to the wolf beside her. “You’re such a good boy.” She smiles as he lets out a happy ‘arf’ and you roll your eyes at them.

“He’s a dumb dog.”  You scoff, leaning against the cool brick wall as you hold a piece of your dress against your nose. To your surprise she slaps you again, making you whimper once again. 

“He’s not just a dumb dog!” She shouts, outraged at your utter disrespect towards her loyal friend. As she was about to lunge at you, a gust of wind blows against your body and you look up to see a greek god of a man, who was formerly the wolf. You yelp in astonishment, never thinking that a werwolf and a vampire would ever be on the same team. 

“Mistress, she’s not worth it.” The man says, holding Wanda by her hips as she tries to scratch and punch at you. You scoot impossibly further from them, and you see Wanda visibly relax as the man holds her hips in his hands. 

“Bucky, she hurt you… she has to pay.” She whispers, ghosting her fingers over the wound on his shoulder. 

He only chuckles and cups her cheek. “Hey, it’s ok… it’ll heal up in no time. She’s weak, it barely hurt.” He kisses her lips, and gently runs his fingers through her hair. You growl and you look away from them, telling yourself internally that you are strong and that you almost had the vampire until the stupid dog showed up. 

She only sighs, staring up at him. “Such a good boy, protecting your mistress…” You mute them in your head as you look around, trying to find any way of escape. Pulling against the chains keeping you locked to the wall was not an option anymore, and fighting was practically useless against either monsters. Maybe it would be a good idea to cooperate. NO! No, don’t fall for her enchantment. She is evil. 

As Wanda sends a final slap to Buckys ass, he leaves the cell and you jump at the door slamming. It was when you were alone with Wanda that your fear really kicked in. “Hmm… look at you all scared.” She saunters over to you, a sadistic smile pulling at her lips. Chills are sent up your spine and a shiver shortly follows. You are vigorously pulling at the chains, whimpering every inch she comes closer to you. 

She sits down on the cot next to you, grabbing your newly healed leg and digging her finger nails into the sensitive skin. “Ah!! St-stop! Stop!” You sob, trying to push her away with all your might. She doesn’t budge and chuckles. 

“Now why would I do that?” She raises her brows at your reaction, smiling as you writhe against her, your whimpers music to her ears. She is arouse by your writhing and she digs her nails even deeper, tears free-falling down your cheeks. She ignores your pleas, shaking her head in disappointment. “You hurt my love. I certainly won’t stand for that.” 

You turn your head, your teary eyes focusing on the lines of the bricks stacked around you in your small cell, trying to ignore the pain in your leg. “What d-do you want f-from me?” You ask in a shaky voice, trembling under Wandas touch. You are confused as you feel warmth on your leg where her fingers had drawn blood. 

“You taste so fucking good…” She whispers. You furrow your brows and you realize she had tasted your blood. You pull at the chains, managing to kick her away from you as you struggle. She growls, having none of what you are giving her. She pounces on top of you, making you groan in pain. “Be grateful I didn’t kill you!”

A pained whimper makes you resent her even more, so you gather spit in your mouth and spew it onto Wandas face. She wipes the spit away in disgust and smacks you across the face again, much harder this time. Your vision becomes blurry and your head feels like it is in a daze. “Please, l-let m-me go,” You stutter, whimpering as you feel helpless looking up at her from your position below her. 

She ignores you and she runs her nose against your neck and to your ear “No,” she whispers, her fangs barely grazing your neck. With a smirk, she closes her jaw, puncturing your skin with her teeth. You scream in pain, your back arching against her as you struggle underneath her. 

It takes everything for Wanda to not drain you, so she pulls back reluctantly. “Shit, you taste like heaven,” she moans at the taste of your blood, smiling as she licks up the puncture wounds adorning your neck. “Mmm, you look better like this…” She says, looking at your writhing and twitching body on the cot. She bites her lip, her pussy starting to form a slick spot on her under garments. Her smirk scares you, and you stare at the ceiling trying to pull at the chains but failing miserably. 

“Please, n-n-no mo-more,” you curl against yourself, trying to hide your vulnerable form from your captor. She smacks your thigh, making you turn around on your back again. She chuckles darkly and bites her lip once again. 

“Look at you…” She says, not pitying you one ounce. It takes much strength to try and sit up, but you manage to do so with a lot of pain. Bowing your head into her lap, you beg her to make the pain stop. 

“Please! Pl-please it hurts s-so b-b-bad!” The bite pulses in pain, my blood pumping to try and close the wound. Sobs and whimpers make your body shake, and Wanda takes notice to her puncture wound on your neck. She sighs and begins to heal it, gently lifting you up. 

“It’s ok…” She says, rubbing small circles on your back as she lays you down on the pillow at the top of the cot. You quietly thank her as you feel the wounds on your neck close, the pain ceasing completely. 

“Why are you keeping me here?” You ask in a raspy voice, confused as to why she hasn’t killed you yet. She looks at you with a tilt of her head, thinking as to why she is keeping you. She smiles to herself and comes to a conclusion. 

“Because I like you. I don’t like that you hurt my baby, but I do like you.” You shook your head. Because she liked you? What is that supposed to mean? Not wanting to be on her bad side, you take the time to apologize. 

“I-im sorry I hurt him. I was trying to make my town finally proud of me.” You sigh softly, scooting away from her and pulling at the chains again.

“It’s ok sweetheart, you’re safe with me.” She whispers. 

“Dont you understand that Im scared of you?” You whimper, “Y-you bit me, a-and hurt me,” Your eyes meet hers, your confusion making you angry. “What is my purpose? A-am I just a toy? What am I?” You ask her, salty tears rolling in beads down your cheeks. She sighs and wipes the tears from your skin, giving you a soft kiss on the nose, ignoring your questions. 

“You’ll get used to me, I promise.” She smiles and pulls away. 

Your eyes narrow, as she stands up, leaving you. “What am I? Pl-please tell me!” You ask desperately, standing up with her but only making it so far until the chains pull you back. 

“Ill see you tomorrow, sweetheart.” Wanda says with a soft smile on her lips, closing the cell door and locking it. She makes her way up the stairs, ignoring your screams and profanities as she locks the dungeon door behind her and hanging the keys on the hook right next to it.  

When the sun rose the next morning, you waited anxiously for Wanda to come back down. Maybe she forgot about you, or doesn’t want to deal with you. What you dreaded most was the fact she may use you as a human blood bag and kill you. You didn’t fear death, you feared the feeling of your blood draining slowly from your body. The blood bubbling at every bite she leaves on you. The fear blocked the fact that it was morning, and she was most likely asleep in the darkness of her chambers above you. 

As you waited, you too fell asleep, dreaming of a place where you would rather be. Safe and in your best friends presence. “Steve… I miss you so much,” You whisper before fully dozing off. Deep in sleep, you don’t hear the metal cell door open and Wandas soft footsteps enter the room. You were too focused on staying warm in your shivering state. 

Wanda took note of your cold and shaking body, so she waved her hand and a soft, furry blanket appeared around your body. She smiled as you cuddled into the soft material and watched you sleep for a moment. Falling out of her staring trance, she sits down on the cot next to you. She gently rubs your back whispering, “Sweetheart? Sweetheart, wake up.” Instinctively you lean into the soft hand against your back, but the memories bombard their way back into your head making you sit straight up and scoot all the way back. 

You stared at Wanda with wide eyes, scared of her further intentions. You are confused as she hands you a bowl of cut up fruit and vegetables, curious as to where she got this food. “Here you go, eat up.” You furrow your brows and look down at the fruit, picking at it. Fishing for some type of sign of poison. Wanda just chuckles and leans against her hand as she watches you. “I promise, its not poisoned. You need to eat, especially after I drank some of your blood yesterday.”

Exhaling the breath you were not aware you were holding, you pick up a ruby, red strawberry. Ripe and firm to the touch. You close your eyes and let out a satisfied hum as you take a bite, the sweet tasting strawberry surrounding your tongue with glorious flavor. 

Wanda moves closer to you, sitting right next to you as you eat. She nuzzles her nose against your neck where two little fang marks sit proudly. You don’t take notice of her fully, the delicious fruit distracting you from Wandas intrusions, even lifting your head up in response. She hums a small chuckle and kisses your cheek, “You are so beautiful, little one. So beautiful.” Freezing your chewing, you swallow and look up at her in slight surprise, her comment catching you off guard.

Butterflies flutter in your belly at the closeness between the two of you, her warm breath against your lips and chin. “Do you really think so?” You whisper, not believing what she is saying at first. 

She nods, “I do, you’re so pretty…” She whispers back, kissing the soft skin of your neck. “And you smell so good, little one.” She hums as her nose moves up your neck, her lips pressing soft kisses in between soft sniffs. The gentleness of her gestures makes you drop the glass bowl in your hands, causing it to shatter against the stone floor. 

Both you and Wanda jump and she pulls away quickly. “Damnit, I can’t get many bowls or plates these days.” She murmurs, starting to collect the broken shards. 

“I-im sorry, I-it slipped,” You stutter, kneeling down to help pick up the shards too. You were too quick with the glass, cutting your finger in the process making you pull back with a wince. A small amount of blood oozes from the small cut and Wanda freezes, her pupils blown full at the smell of the exposed blood. 

She holds back, grabbing a small cloth from her dress and hands it to you, “Here.” She says curtly, but she is stopped. She tilts her head as you hold your hand out. 

“I can see how much you want it,” You say softly, wincing as she gently holds your hand in hers. 

“Are you sure?” She asks hesitantly, softly moaning at the smell as she gets closer. You nod and she brings your finger to her lips, licking the wound and emitting a low hum at the taste. Her eyes close and you look at her curiously. She is in a euphoric state, she is vulnerable and not paying attention when she is drinking your blood. Slowly you begin to become dizzy, the amount of blood coming from your finger increasing by the second. 

Before you can warn her, you fall against the mattress, fully losing consciousness at the loss of blood. Wanda sighs, laying down beside you on the bed. “It’s ok, I got you…” She whispers, her hand roaming the front of your body softly. Her hands cup your breasts, her finger grazing your pebbling nipple from under the fabric of your dress. Wanting to feel more, she unties the twine keeping the leather vest of your dress on and she smiles as it comes loose, your breasts showing themselves under the thin tunic. 

She reaches down your tunic, rubbing your bud softly between her fingers. Her lips kiss your neck, moving slowly down to your slightly exposed back. You feel her as you sleep, but you can’t comprehend anything to stop her. A small whimper exits your mouth and she pulls away for a moment, waiting for you to settle down again. Once your breathing is even, she explores further, lifting your shirt from your tucked in skirt. 

Her hand smoothes over your belly and just over the waist band of your undergarments, pushing under the fabric and to your soft curls underneath. She smiles as she buries her face in your neck, her fingers softly opening your petals and gently running her fingers over your slit. As she holds your folds open, she rubs circles over your clit, making you moan quietly in your sleep. 

As she pleasures you, she bites your neck softly only sucking a small amount of blood this time. Your gasp makes her smile around the wound on your neck and it makes her want even more of you. Her finger moves faster around your sensitive bud, your back arching against her front. Your legs open even more as you lay your head back against her. 

As she moves even faster, a strong and mind numbing orgasm washes over you, pushing you over the edge. Your legs shake in your sleep, and Wanda smirks as she removes her fingers from your undergarments. She brings her fingers to her mouth and hums in delight. “Absolutely delicious, my love.” She whispers in your ear, smirking as your breaths calm down from pants, to a normal rhythm again. Her hand moves to your breasts again, just holding the soft flesh in her hand and palming against them. 

She sighs as she senses you waking up, and makes sure everything is back in order; your shirt tucked into your skirt, tunic back in place, and laces on your leather vest tied with a bow at the top. Sitting up, she frowns at the raw skin and dried blood from around your wrists and unlocks the cuffs. She wraps her hands around the raw flesh and heals them in an instant, kissing them softly. 

She has hope that when the sun sets and the moon rises, you will no longer be in pain. “Mm, such a beautiful girl…” She whispers before she leaves the cell for the night, not thinking twice of the unlocked chains and completely forgetting to lock the cell and dungeon doors. 

~~~~~~~

You were only asleep for a small amount of time, waking up without Wanda anywhere to be seen. You sigh and sit up, feeling quite odd in your lower regions. However, the lack of metal around your wrists made every other thought disappear. Being able to walk around the cell felt nice, but your curiosity took you further. Right to the door. As you pushed, you were even more astonished as it opened. 

Pushing your luck even further, you walk up the spiral staircase to the door of the dungeon. With a gentle nudge, it squeaks open to reveal a large corridor, torches lit on each wall and blood red curtains hanging from each tall window. You were trapped and you were finally free, but the first thought you had was, ‘Where is Wanda?’

You wandered through the hallways, finding your way to the great hall, you come across a grand staircase. Alining the stairs was beautiful red and gold carpet and above it was a dark and spider web-covered, crystal chandelier. It shimmered as the fired torches flickered around the hall. You start to make your way upstairs, and as you walked down yet another hallway, you are stopped by a growl behind you and a searing pain in your leg. 

You instantly scream in agony, struggling against the iron jaws of the werwolf. He didn’t let up, even after hitting his head as he dragged you down the hall and to a bed room. Wandas bed room. Your eyes widen and you dig your nails into the carpet, only resulting in bleeding fingers. As you entered her room, you look up in fear as the woman towers over you. 

“Well, what do we have here?” Wanda tuts, looking down at you. 

You sob loudly as the wolf digs his teeth into your freshly healed leg. You yelp and you look up at her, “I- I wasn’t going t-to es-escape! I wa-wa- AHHH!” The wolf bites down even harder and you try your best to hit him, but it doesn’t phase him. 

“Buck, stand down…” She says, calling off the dog. She grabs you harshly by your shirt and drags you to her bed, throwing you on the mattress. “Don’t lie to me!” She growls, glaring at you as you push yourself away from her, scooting to the top of the bed. 

At this point you weigh out your options: One, you try to escape and get killed by Wanda, “Buck” the dog, or your village when you get back with no vampire. Or two, you stay here and get food, possibly a lover, and a pet dog. The latter sounded more than enjoyable and you break saying, “I- I promise! Th- the chains we-were off me wh-wh-when I woke up! P-please! I- I don't want t-to leave!” 

“Are you sure?” She asks with a growl, crawling towards you with a scowl on her face. “If you’re lying, I’ll feed you to him…” She says, pointing to Bucky who falsely lunges at you just to scare you. As you jump back from him, Wanda only chuckles.

“I-I’m not lying! Y-you’re so kind, a-and fed m-me!” You try, and Wanda sits down across from you on the bed. She grabs your ankle and pulls you to her. Her hands glow a bright red and the pain subsides from your leg again. You sigh in relief, hoping that she will forgive you. 

As she looks at you, she shakes her head and sighs softly. “I believe you, but there will be consequences.” 

Letting out a breath, you nod in understanding. “Y-yes I understand, please forgive me, i-it won’t ever happen again.” You sob, following her gentle movements as she pulls you to her arms. Your head falls onto her chest and she comforts you as you calm down. 

“I forgive you, little one,” She whispers, kissing your head softly and tickling the skin of your arm. “Now let’s go, I need to punish you.” She says, sitting up. Suddenly cold as ice again. Her bipolar emotions confuse you, just like the village said, she keeps you on your toes. 

She hardly grabs your wrist and pulls you down the flights of stairs to the dungeon again. You swiftly follow her, trying to keep up with her fast walking pace. Once in the dungeon, she pulls you to a different portion of the room, one full of many torture devices now considered controversial to use. You freeze as you take in the new surroundings and you jump as the bars slam closed and lock behind you. 

Wanda steps into the far wall of the room and grabs her tools she desires: Rope and a wooden paddle. You stared in horror at the tools as she lays them down on the table next to a long chain connected to the ceiling. From a hidden sheath on the side of her thigh, she pulls out a sharp dagger, pointing it at you. 

She stalks towards you, holding the knife at the height of your neck. Backing up, you whimper as your back hits the cold, metal bars, Wanda then putting the tip of the blade against your neck. “Strip.” She says, pulling away from you. Frozen in fear, you don’t account for her command and you stare at her. To make you cooperate, she sends a glowing ball of energy towards you making you duck in response. 

“Im going to repeat myself, and you better listen this time…” She says in a dark voice, only warning you once. “Now, Take off your clothes. Slowly. I want to watch you.” 

Swallowing your pride, you obey her. Untying the twine holding your vest over your torso, untucking your tunic from your skirt, pulling the string from around the back, and finally the removing of it all. Wanda was in fact a very patient women, and she made that clear. She growls at your speed and makes her hand light up with energy again. “Slower…” She says. Once again, you obey.

One piece of clothing after another, no less than four (4) seconds between each. Finally, you were down to your brazier and pantyhose. Wanda watches at you, a sadistic smile on her face as she saunters towards you with the dagger in hand. She grabs your wrist and pulls you to the middle of the floor. Of course you struggled. Wanda was angry, and you had only seen a sliver of it. 

“Good girl… hold your wrists together.” She says, holding the dagger to your neck again. You felt immense fear as you held them together, and sucked in a breath as a tendril of red energy wraps its way around the dagger keeping it against your neck. Wanda moves around you, grabbing the rope from the wooden cart settled near by. She comes to your front again and begins to wrap a few rings of rope around your wrists. Circle by circle of rope, you were rendered unable to move your hands anywhere, only your arms could move up and down. 

You whimpered as Wanda wrapped a heavy padlock around the middle of the rope and easily pulled your arms up to the hook hanging above you. She steps away, taking the dagger with her and moves to the far wall. Using her strength, she pulls the chains connected to the ceiling up higher than it was before, pulling you up with them. You arms pulled against your body and when she finished locking the chains in place, you could barely graze the floor with your toes. 

Whimpers left your mouth and you could’t hide the fear anymore. Salty tears fell down your cheeks and landed on your chest and the floor. With false pity, Wanda pouted her lip. “Aw, don’t cry little one… It will only hurt a little.” Her voice was full of lies, and you knew this pain would be excruciating. 

Tears fell down your cheeks, but Wanda paid no attention to your emotions, only your reactions to the sensations she was going to give you. In an instant, she had cut through the thin material of your brazier leaving your breasts exposed to her. She smiles and leans down, kissing the ample skin of your right breast. Your nipples harden in the cold atmosphere of the room, Wandas mouth and hand going straight to them. She rubs, licks, sucks, rolls, and pleasures your buds, pushing a burning desire in your lower belly. She could sense this and smirks as she runs the knife down your torso. 

She turns the knife against your stomach, tilting it and smirking at the small bit of blood pooling at the surface of the small cut. “Mm, I can smell you… my god you smell so fucking good, little one.” She smiles against your breast and kisses along your belly all the way to the small cut just above your belly button. As her lips encase the wound, she moans in delight at the taste of your blood. Her sharp fangs graze against your skin and she nips as she moves lower. 

Her dagger is now in the waist band of your underwear, teasing the fabric, slowly tearing it. As she makes it through the elastic, she puts the knife down and rips your underwear in two, tossing the fabric at your feet. As you stand bare in front of her, she stands back, a smirk adorning her face. “So beautiful…” She whispers, starting to circle your hanging body. You cross your legs, trying to cover your most intimate parts, but are quickly stopped as Wandas hand slaps your thigh. “No, keep them open. I want to see what’s mine!” She growls, smoothing her hand over the skin of your legs. 

As she stands behind you, she grabs the paddle, spinning it in her hands. “Alright, how many should we do?” She asks to no one in particular. She hums and chuckles, “How about until you bleed?” She whispers in your ear, biting your earlobe. She takes a step back and raises the paddle, swinging it against your ass, hard. You scream in agony, attempting to walk forward, only moving right back to where you were. Wanda admires the red mark on your ass, smiling as she rubs her hand against your burning skin. 

Another swat, another scream. More tears fall down your face with each and every hit from the wooden paddle, yet the fiery feeling in your gut gets stronger. It was a confusing feeling, getting aroused from being beaten. 

It felt like ages when Wanda finally stopped. Your ass was sore, bloody, and bruised. A dark black and purple spot forming on each cheek. She puts the paddle down and reaches for more rope. You silently groan at the thought of there being anymore to come. Gently, Wanda grabs your knee, wrapping the rope around it and pulling the excess rope to the hook above you. The raises your leg, slowly starting to expose your slick folds to her. She follows by securing your other leg in the same fashion. 

Now fulling spread out for her, she hums at her work. “Are you ready for the good part?” She asks.

You shake your head and look at her, “N-nothing g-g-good is going to co-come.” You stutter, your voice scratchy from the previous screaming. She sighs and shakes her head. 

“You poor, little thing. There are so many things I can make good, if only you would obey, and submit to me.” She steps closer, her hands holding your hips. 

You look down at her, whimpering in response. Your silence is enough of an answer to her, indicating you were not falling for her games just yet. She removes one hand off of your hip and looks down at your pussy. “Look how wet you are,” she says, rubbing her hand over your soaked lips. You struggle to close your legs, the rope rendering you completely un able to move. Her fingers spread your pussy open, your clit revealing its throbbing self. 

Your slick covers Wandas fingers as she dips her fingers close to your hole, smirking at your reaction. “You must be so sensitive, huh? Your ass all bruised. Is that what made you so wet?” She tilts her head up, looking for an answer. You shake your head quickly, not wanting to admit that it was the exact reason you were wet. 

To your horror, Wanda approaches the chain holding you up again. She raises it until you are much higher than before, your body swaying with her movement. Wrapping the chain around the hook to keep you where you are, she returns to you, your pussy right in front of her face. “I’ve been waiting to taste your delicious nectar all day…” She says, kissing your inner thighs softly. 

You hold your breath as she takes her first taste of you, her tongue licking a stripe right between your petals. Her tongue swirled around your clit, the bud inching to be touched. You can’t deny it, the pleasure that she is bestowing upon you is mind-shattering. The moans from your mouth make Wanda smile, her fingers coming to join her mouth. 

She sucks on your clit, her lips closing around it, and her fingers poking at your hole. You try to avoid her but it doesn’t work. As she continues to suck on your sensitive clit, two fingers slide into your pussy. You let out a soft sob, an unintended moan slipping out right after. Something inside of Wanda loves the sounds you make, her pussy feeling the same tension as yours. 

As she works her fingers in and out of your cunt, you are already close to your first orgasm and Wanda can’t wait to see it. She witnessed one while you were asleep, but she knew it was nothing like when you would be awake. Faster her fingers became, and your moans became louder as they curl inside of you, rubbing against that one good spot. 

One soft graze of her teeth against your clit was what sent you over the edge. Your legs shake, your orgasm passing through your whole body. Your mind was empty and seeing white, your chest was heaving, your pussy was throbbing, and your toes curled in pleasure. But Wanda didn’t stop. 

An hour went by. She devoured your cunt, not letting you take a break. Five orgasms later, she finally pulled away from your pussy, letting you rest. You were exhausted, your eyes barely able to stay open and your mind unable to comprehend how long you had been tied up. Wanda looked up at you, kissing and rubbing your legs to soothe you. “It’s ok, little one, its all over now.” She says with a soft smile, your head hanging in front of your arms and looking down at her. 

She walks to the wall and gently lowers you to the ground. She unties your legs, but keeps the rope around your wrists. Picking you up, she brings you to your cell again, laying down with you. She pulls your tied arms over her head, forcing you to hold her and she hums as she nuzzles into your neck. 

You lay silently, sleep taking over your system. Wanda hums a quiet lullaby, knowing deep down you loved every minute you were in that dungeon. Maybe someday she will move you out of the dungeon and into a room of your own. Or even her room. But at this moment in time, she wanted to hold you and tell you everything is going to be ok, because it will be. She will protect you and never let you go despite your desperate attempts to escape. Some days she purposely lets you escape, get halfway into the forest, and have Bucky drag you right back into your cell. 

It is laughable what effort you put into it, even though you know she will catch you Every. Single. Time.

And you accepted that. She won no matter what. You even learned that Bucky really likes his chin scratched in his wolf form, but you both have a love-hate relationship. Always calling him a dog, or a mutt, and him calling you a blood bag. 

Wanda kept her word and protected you from anything that was thrown your way. In return, you kept her full of nutrients and energy. She used you for dessert, blood and body both. You learned to love it. Everything Wanda did to you, for you, with you, was out of love. Love and of course, lust. Your blood kept her alive, and she looked forward to it after a long night of hunting. 

She deserved it. After all, she saved you from your horrible town, right?

[ofsunnydays-and-moonlitnights]

Another great day of saving the sharks.

Into (mer-creatures explained) Chapter 1 Chapter 2 <- You are Here.

Chapter 2: Lights out ~

You Dwell on the assignment at hand as you lean on the desk. 

If this shark doesn't survive the night all your hopes will be dashed. And you're still worried about the fact he's all alone. He must have been separated from his Daycare during the storm. That must have been so scary.

You sigh.

He's still asleep so you can't even check his stress levels or anything. You'd decided a while ago that you were definitely taking this next night shift to look after Ray but you still had to do the rest of your shiftly duties so as he sleeps you decide it's time to check up and feed the rest of the Celestials.

You're thankful for the fact each team only has one species each to look after. That meant you could focus on the Celestials while other Mer-creatures would be looked after by other people. But Mer-creatures aren't the only sea life at Cove Aquariums. Imagine looking after all the hundreds of fish by yourself.

Thankfully the night shifts were quiet, with no guests and only one or two from each team staying and all keeping to their sections. It was refreshing, especially from the hustle and bustle of today.

Before checking on the mini-mers you head to the break room to grab a quick coffee. Most others on night shift would probably be getting their cup of Joe later they've probably only just arrived. It's not usual for someone to take a day and night shift at the same time. But this was a special case.

The break room was empty. As you grabbed a coffee you remembered you should probably eat… you grab a handful of snacks as you head off to the mini tanks. 

It wasn't quite time for the lights to shut off for the night cycle so the Solars are still active just in time for their last meal of the day. As you look over the tank you see no one has scraped the algae from the edge of the glass, it's usually a day shift job but with how busy you all were with the rescue mission it makes sense it was forgotten. It'll add to their meal anyway. You quickly scrape the algae away with the mini squeegee. You notice Sunny, your Solar clownfish quickly snatching up flakes of algae to munch on, while Clips your eclipse mer barely notices the free meal. 

You then head to the cupboard, unlocking it and grabbing a feeding tray. There are two betta and three clowns to feed. You open up the mini freezer in said cupboard and take out a few portions of frozen brine shrimp and a pinch of pellets. Not forgetting a net for the feeder fish and a cup and pipette for the brine shrimp. 

You place your equipment by the tanks and start prep. You defrost the brine shrimp in some tank water and pipette them into the clownfish tank, just a little. Clips is immediately swimming around catching them all.

Variety is key to a mer clown's diet so next you drop in a few pellets. These are Sunny's favourite for sure and he grabs one to start chewing on. 

Sun your betta isn't so fussed on brine shrimp so you drop a frozen portion into the betta tank, it'll defrost in time for Moon to enjoy overnight, you instead opt for feeding Sun some pellets. As a final step, you open up the cupboard underneath your tanks to reveal a little tank full of feeder fish, a common practice among merkeepers. You scoop a few minnows up, dropping a couple in each tank, the Lunas and Clips will enjoy hunting those later. 

You can't forget to rinse your cup of brine shrimp in the feeder fish tank, allowing the dregs of the premium meal to be eaten by them before sprinkling some flakes in, healthy feeder fish make healthy meals. It was a routine you were all too familiar with. You watch the merfish swim around for a moment, Clips is busy chasing his food around the tank. As both Solars tuck into some pellets. You also spot a little hand emerge from one of the caves just in time to snag a fish. It's good to know Moonmoon got his breakfast. You smile at their fishy antics. “And people call you guys sea monsters.” You whisper to well no one, the fish? They can’t really hear or understand anyway.

 Ray should be waking up soon so you finish cleaning up and say good night to the Solars. Normally you'd stay long enough to say good morning to the Lunas but you have more pressing matters to attend to. 

As you re-enter the Aqua clinic you notice a twitch from Ray's fins. You have at least an hour before lights out so hopefully he wakes in time to check his health. Thankfully the clinic tank had a little hidey space so he can hide away and sleep at night. 

You would try to keep the lights on but that's just as dangerous. You wonder if some company would help. You first head to yet another freezer, yes where there is a fish that needs feeding there will be a fridge and or freezer nearby for your convenience. You open the fridge and take out a few defrosted mackerel, placing them in a bucket, it's not ideal a crab or catfish would be better but this is what you have at hand, you weren't expecting to be feeding a lemon shark when you put this week's order in. You then suit up in your wetsuit, your black one since the blue one is still wet from this morning. And not forgetting the fish aid kit. 

You climb the steps up to the top of the large tank and set everything down not too close to the edge of course. You watch as his fins twitch some more… Now you could wait until he wakes up all by himself or you could use a little trick you've learnt over the years. This job is definitely not for the squeamish. You take a pair of scissors and stab one of the mackerel before you waft its blood into the tank. 

You can see his shark instincts stirring him awake. His face scrunches and his little nose twitches as he sniffs the water. He finally opens his eyes, follows the scent and pokes his head out of the water in search of where the fish might have gone. He tilts his head as he looks at you. 

“Here for you.” You chuck the fish in his direction. It's so odd to be speaking to him, that's usually not allowed.

He catches the fish and starts to munch it happily. 

You've never actually gotten the privilege to work with a Solar in a tank before, it's usually just tagging them and releasing them back to the wild, and even then you don't get to join those trips often. Seeing him so close is fascinating, this will be this aquarium's first bigger variety of Solar, no of a Celestial. 

You quit marvelling at him and set up the equipment. This part is usually a lot harder but you think he's gonna be pretty cooperative. 

He finishes his fish and you stretch your hand out to him hoping he'll understand. He inches closer curiously. 

“Can I have your hand?” You ask. 

He comes as close as he can and sniffs at your hand. You're glad now you didn't extend the one you'd held the fish with. He then slowly places his hand in yours. You can't help but smile. And he mimics smiling back at you, his glowy eyes sparkle. 

You then strap a health monitor around his arm. It then starts sending data to the monitor tablet. You give it a check to see how he is. Everything seems normal and at pretty good levels. You let go of his hand to scroll through his results and immediately his stress level peaks, not too dangerously but enough to be noticeable. You take his hand again and it evens out, you let go and it peaks again. Interesting. You note that down. 

“Here, have some more for being so good.” You throw him another fish. 

You start to wonder… Could you start your research with some tricks? How about come here? That could be handy.

You wait until he's finished his fish and then stretch your hand out before opening and closing it. “Come, come here, Ray.” 

He looks at you puzzled for a second and then slowly approaches again. 

“Well done.” You throw a fish in the middle of the tank. 

You continue a few times and he gets faster at recognising your call. You run out of fish so you stop. That was so cool. You note down a couple things about the whole experience. 

“Ah, that was fun.” You sigh, sitting down at the edge of the pool dipping your feet into the water. A small chime echoes through the whole Aquarium, which means lights out. You quickly check the monitor tablet, this might freak him out. 

All tank lights slowly shut off, and all the other lights dim to keep the tanks from having too much light pollution. You see his stress levels spike to dangerous levels. He swims over to you almost leaping out of the water as he wraps his arms around you. 

“Woah there.” You pat his head. Checking the monitor it shows his stress lowering into the safe range, still high but safe. 

You sigh…  “I'm going to have to be your Luna for tonight, aren't I. You sigh again, slipping into the water. The fish meds are going to irritate your skin beyond belief but at least they weren't toxic… right? 

Thankfully you had thought to bring a pair of goggles in case you had to get in the water because you'd dropped something. You don't, though, have a rebreather or a snorkel. You hang onto the edge of the tank. He slowly lets you go and the stress alert hasn't gone off. Good.

 You need to make him feel safe. What would a Luna do… you think back to watching the little fish. They always do a perimeter check. You sigh and adjust your goggles before taking a deep breath. You dip under the water and make a show of swimming around before coming back up for air. 

“Feeling safer yet.” 

He tilts his head looking at you. 

“You need to go to sleep or you'll never get better.” 

He just stares. 

You sigh… you then take his hand and with a deep breath you take him down into the water and show him the little hidey space with the kelp and a little cave. You grab another gulp of air at the surface before swimming around in his tank hopefully communicating to him that you'll protect him. You resurface before looking down under the water. He looks up at you before back to the hiding spot. Back at you. You have to take another breath before you lower your face into the water to watch him again. A few bubbles leave his mouth reminding you of a sigh. He then swims over to the kelp and curls up in it. Still staring up at you. You get some more air checking on him again. He lays his head down and closes his eyes. You resurface. Taking a moment to breathe. You’re going to have to wait a while, to make sure he’s asleep. This is an odd scenario you’ve gotten yourself into but if it keeps his stress levels down and keeps him safe and alive you’re going to do it. 

You can’t help but yawn. It’s been a long day. If the lights have just gone off it’s probably about 12am, day shift will come about 6… you sigh. That's a lot of hours to stay awake for. You had to make sure Ray would last the night, He might not have lasted even this long without you. 

You lie on your back floating on the water. 

“This is gonna be awesome,” you reassure yourself. You close your eyes. “Just don’t fall asleep…” You feel yourself drift. 

Your head gently bumps into the glass of the tank. “I’m awake.” you gasp. You have no idea what time it is but the lights are still off so it can’t be too late. If someone found you like that, you don’t know what would have happened, they’d probably think you’d died or something. 

You need to get out and check the time. You first check on Ray… he’s still sleeping, so you should be able to sneak out. You swim over to the ledge and hoist yourself up that weightless feeling leaving you. 

You just lay there for a moment before you gain the strength to move. You dry your hands on your towel and check the tablet you abandoned earlier for the time. You sigh in relief it’s only 1:30. You then groan it’s only 1:30. Maybe the night shift wasn’t a good idea after a rescue mission. 

You drag yourself back to the changing rooms. You rinse off and get back into your uniform. Before grabbing a coffee and fetching some work from your desk, bringing it to the clinic so you can keep an eye on him. 

You have a handful of paperwork to get done and a few reports to write up. You’ll get some of that done. You get a couple hours of work done, take an impromptu nap, check on all the fish, and they’re all fine. Then get to work again. You can’t help but notice how itchy your skin is.

 As the hours tick by you decide to do some more research you were pretty well versed in Celestials of course but looking at the latest studies never hurt. Oh… an MRI of a Lunas brain has shown they have very similar brains to humans, you knew they had similar IQs but the resemblances are striking. Another article about their ‘secret language’, it’s no secret it’s just sonar. Ok, this study has more evidence to support the theory that Solars do most of the Star rearing in their daycares interesting. Aw… do they always have to go into the terminology? If you’re reading an article like this you’re no noob and probably know that daycares are the celestial version of schools, stars are the baby celestials who haven’t yet developed into a solar, a luna or an eclipse yet, and we all know a village is where a big daycare lives. We know all this, they’re the first things you learn. You sigh, scrolling through more articles.

Nice, a new Celestial village has been discovered in the Great Barrier Reef. Oh goodie… another theory on how they reproduce, until someone finds some actual hard evidence you’re not going to believe them, what do they have this time? Oh… interesting they believe there might be another type of Mer-creature, a female one, not the most outlandish theory. 

Your mind then wanders back to the first article with the MRI. If it’s that similar maybe you could look into how humans learn communication. You do a little googling… it says… ‘There is no innate system for humans creating knowledge and language.’ Oh fun, you keep reading, ‘Instead, we learn from the “inputs” that we're given;’ ok… ‘in other words, we are able to mimic the language spoken around us and slowly build our grammar and vocabulary.’ well Celestials are pretty good at mimicking, usually fish but it could work… You keep searching, maybe looking at how people teach children languages can help. ‘You can support language development by talking with your child and responding when your child communicates. Reading books and sharing stories is good for language development.’ you note that down, talking, responding and stories. 

Reading a story to a fish sounds kinda funny, sure they’re not just fish but still. You might try it. You know the only other study to teach mer-creatures to speak used training methods similar to teaching parrots. You’re not sure you’ll go in that direction. You keep looking into different articles but in time you start getting bored of the repetitive answers. You lean on your elbow sinking lower your head almost reaching the table. 

The alarm chimes as all the lights slowly brighten. 

“Morning already?” you sigh. The next shift will feed the miniatures but Ray is your sole responsibility. You know everyone is scared of him now that he’s imprinted? No befriended you! You decide that's better. You’ll coin that term. You chuckle, your all-nighter is getting to you. You grab some fish, you’ll feed him before you leave. Not bothering to change since both your wetsuits are probably still wet anyway, you make your way to the top of the tank. You wait this time sitting there yawning. It doesn’t take long, the light system in this area of the Aquarium is set to the average Celestials internal clock after all. He pokes his head up out of the water. And smiles at you. 

You smile back. “I brought breakfast.” you throw a fish his way.

He catches and enjoys it. “I bet that's good huh? Want more.” 

You feed him about two small mackerel and head back to clean up. 

Once you're done you sigh and clock out. You make sure to reassure Ray you’ll be back soon.

The next shift is arriving as you head out, you say a quick good luck and head home. Once home you grab a snack and get to bed, as soon as your head hits the pillow you’re out like a light.

Your ringtone stirs you from your sleep. 

You check your phone.

It's Kai, your boss.

[batsandbugs]

Bruce Wayne's Headache Classification System Chapter 4

IKEA Verse

AN: I'm so sorry for disappearing for months again, things have been very hectic for me, but I finally got this done so at least I'm starting off the new year strong. No promises as to when the next one comes out. I hope y'all enjoyed this fun little look at the girls. I wish I included them in the first story, but I wasn't thinking at the time. I choose Steph for the POV because I felt her internal snide commentary could help balance Cass's more quiet reserve. There was an alternative ending for this that had Marinette using her powers more, but I decided to go with something softer and mushy. It felt in line with where Marinette would be comfortable showing the depths of her powers and continuing to drive the Batfam insane by not finding out how her powers work.

Chapter 4: Interlude - The Stalking of Daminette, a Treatise by Steph and Cass

Slate grey skies hang heavy over Gotham promising rain. The city isn’t any less busy for it, especially not during the day when most sane people agree, on average, it’s safer to conduct one’s business. Steph thinks that’s boring of them, but eh, she parkours over rooftops and punches goons as a night job, so maybe she’s the crazy one.

Wait. Weather. Grey Skies. Rain on the horizon and all that jazz.

Not the best of circumstances for a stakeout, but they’ve survived worse.

The rooftop they posted themselves on is comfy at least. No bird’s nests, piles of beer bottles, or scattered needles. Not too high they can’t observe the streets below. But not too low to the ground for people to notice they’re hanging out up here. Which is, strictly speaking, not exactly legal.

Also, they don’t want Damian to spot them.

Steph sighs, peering down at the coffee shop she knows Damian is sitting at, but she can’t see. She pops an M&M in her mouth and nudges Cass. “Pass me the binoculars?”

Cass lowers the equipment with a blank face stare. Well, blank face to anyone who wasn’t siblings with her. Steph is familiar with her pseudo-adopted sister’s micro-expressions. This one read clear as day, ‘why didn’t you bring your own?’ 

Steph blows out a frustrated pout, “I forgot, okay? Damian slipped out of the manor all wily and suspiciously and we followed him on a whim. I didn’t think to grab them. Couldn’t figure we’d pull a stakeout on our own little brother.” 

Cass signs, “I had mine with me.”

“Yeah, well we don’t all hide stakeout equipment on us at all times like over-paranoid busybodies!”

“You had snacks on you.”

Without a trace of guilt, Steph grabs another M&M and places it in her mouth. “Snacks are not surveillance equipment. They’re a normal thing to keep in your bag.”

“Your bag also contains mace, a taser, and smoke pellets too.”

“It’s Gotham, sis. That’s just best practice.”   

Cass rolls her eyes, but hands over the binoculars. 

“Yay! Thanks.” Steph places them to her eyes. It takes a second to adjust before she focuses on the cafe down the street. Damian sits at an outdoor table, alone, sipping a drink out of one of those tiny white teacups.

Pshh, what a pretentious little twerp.

“Wonder who he’s meeting?”

“IKEA girl?” Cass says aloud softly since Steph’s looking down the street and can’t read her hands.

Steph grins wildly, searching blindly for another M&M with one hand, holding the binoculars steady with the other. “Oh, I hope so. Timmy’s frantic rambling over her is the most entertained I’ve been all year. And Jay’s spittin’ steam over her little trick on him.” 

“Dick’s worried.” 

Steph waves a hand clutching three pieces of candy with a careless air. “Dick’s always worried, Cass. He’s a serial worrier. He doesn’t know how to do anything but worry.” 

Steph pops the chocolate into her mouth, watching Damian peer up from his phone and scan the street with keen eyes. She’s, like, seventy-two percent sure he doesn’t know they’re watching him. After all, they’re halfway down the street, fifteen stories up, lying belly down on the roof of an office building. But it is Damian. The League and Bruce trained him. Steph’s still convinced the little brat has the psychic power to know when he’s followed. 

“No info.” 

Steph sighs at the short-remark reminder of her family’s tendencies to stick their noses fucking everywhere. “Yeah, well maybe she has decent cyber security for her life. More people need to do it these days.”

Silence. 

Groaning, Steph grabs another few M&Ms out of pure stress. “You went looking too, didn’t you?” 

“Little brother.” 

Good lord, this family. They’re lucky she loves them so much.

“Yeah, yeah, I care about the brat too, doesn’t mean he needs his hand held constantly. He can make his own choices. Including hanging out with people, regardless of if his extremely invasive family managed to compile a dossier on her entire life.” 

“You said we follow.” 

Steph scoffs through a mouth of chocolate, “Yeah, ‘cause he was actin’ sus, just because I think we should leave her alone doesn’t mean I don’t think we should annoy him by stalking his date.” She focuses back on Damian. “Plus,” she mutters. “I don’t want to deal with Bruce bitchin’ about that car chase we pulled with the Volkov Family gang members, so this seemed like the better option.”

It wasn’t their fault the stupid goons running point from the pet shop’s back room decided to run on them.

“We helped,” says Cass resolutely.

“I don’t think B will see it that way.” Steph readjusts the binoculars and notices Damian’s attention sharpening. He looks out onto the sidewalk, eyes focusing on a person drawing closer. “Oh, oh, oh I think she’s here!”

There, approaching the café, in the cutest little yellow dress, a woman approaches and pauses by Damian’s table. Thanks to the high-tech binoculars she can view every emotion flickering across Damian’s face as his newest acquaintance greets him. He places down his cup and vacates his seat, pulling out the opposite chair and allowing the young woman to sit, before retaking his own.

Steph whistles lowly.

“Hmm…” prompts Cass.

“I- I don’t think the others are joking. He- he just pulled out her chair for her.” They are all capable of manners. Alfred made sure of that. Even for those in the family who’d joined later. (The disparity between the manners the Drakes’ taught Tim and the actual behavior expected of a Wayne was night and day and not in a good way. Meanwhile, people like Cass or Damian needed teaching ground up how to interact with people without pulling weapons on them. Quite frankly so did the rest of them, but Alfred was unafraid and whipped them all (metaphorically) into shape.)

So, yeah, manners.

Something they all could do.

But not necessarily likely to be performed by all.

Especially Damian.

Damian is like a feral raccoon who wields a bowie knife when it comes to Untested People. Short. Prickly. Rude in the way where you know you’re getting insulted, but the conversation already turned the corner and you stand there, shell-shocked, that this kid verbally bested you six ways to Sunday.

Of course, Damian isn’t much of a kid nowadays.

Standing as tall as Bruce and starting to shake off the lankiness of his teen years, Damian was growing into, as a posher person might say, 'a fine young man’. Steph still remembers him as that little feral kid, who only smiled when besting others or petting furry creatures. But no, now he’s smiling at other things. Adult things. Things that happened to include pretty French girls.

“She’s dangerous,” says Cass.

Steph pulls down her binoculars to find Cass peering at the seated couple with her phone, camera mode engaged, and zoomed in to see their interactions.

“Why didn’t you use that in the first place?!” Steph asks, annoyed. Reaching towards the candy wrapper her fingers find empty plastic. Damn it.  

 Cass narrows her eyes at her screen, ignoring the question. Steph huffs. Rude.

“What do you mean dangerous?” Replacing the binoculars, she focuses back on the couple. If she didn’t know who Damian was, her eyes would slip over them as another pair of lovebirds, eking out a final moment of good weather before Gotham’s stormy ways crushed the vibe. “She’s a little slip of nothing.”

“So am I.”

Steph rolls her eyes. “Yeah, but you were trained to fight since birth. She looks like the human embodiment of sunshine.” And the woman does. From this angle, she sees both their faces while they talk. The girl, Marinette, has sleek black hair possessing a blueish shine. Striking bright blue eyes and a smile that lit her face like the summer sun contribute to the overall impression this was a very normal, very friendly person.

“Looks are deceiving.”

“Of course, they can, and I’m not sayin’ she’s not sus, but…” she gestures down. “Look at them! This is the most normal I remember Damian acting in his life. Would he do that, could he really do that if he thought she was dangerous?”

“Hmm.”

“Don’t ‘hmm’ me! I’m serious! Sure, she might have powers, so what? Lots of people are magical and metas these days. Doesn’t mean she’s inherently dangerous.”

“No info.”

“Good security.”

“Something to hide.”

“A healthy sense of caution.”

Cass snorts. “She moved to Gotham.”

Steph pauses. And yeah, when you consider where the girl came from (Paris! Freaking Paris) and what she was studying… Moving to Gotham for a fashion degree sounds like moving to Las Vegas to join a nunnery.

“Yeah, okay that’s weird, I fully admit that. But maybe she has, like, I dunno? A danger kink or somethin’?” Steph shrugs. “Which, you know, is kinda good 'cause I think the demon brat has one too, so they’re like a match made for each other.”

Cass shoots her a highly unimpressed look.

“What!? At least I’m trying to think of somethin’ plausible, instead of jumpin’ to the doomsday scenario like the rest of you paranoid weirdos.” She turns back to her binoculars and her long-distance observing. “Listen, doin’ the whole overbearing intrusive family routine maybe isn’t the best way to act the first time Damian has, voluntarily, shown interest in a person more than complimentin’ their fightin’ skills.”

She places the binoculars back up to her eyes and watches Damian and Marinette chat. Damian’s smile hasn’t disappeared yet. In fact, it’s grown even larger. Marinette says something, her accent strong enough to throw Steph off on the exact words, and Damian throws back his head in laughter.

It’s a normal human reaction, laughing with such abandon. But it’s so not for Damian, that Steph’s mouth drops open in shock.

“Please tell me you took a picture of that?” she asks. Dick is so bound to freak the fuck out when he sees this.

“Mh hmm,” Cass hums in agreement.

They probably spend another thirty minutes watching the young couple. Cass takes pictures, and Steph makes commentary whenever Damian or Marinette looks sickeningly sweet. Cass sends the photos over to Steph’s phone, and in turn, she sends them to Dick. Most people would probably find it mind-numbingly boring, but both of them spend hours casing joints and running point of stakeouts before, so less than an hour is easy. But as the top of the hour approaches, the grey skies grow darker, and rumbling thunder appears.

Steph watches Damian blink as if shocked the weather suddenly turned bad.

Shit. Bruce would so kill him for that lack of awareness. “He’s in so deep,” she mutters.

“No covering. Will get wet,” Cass warns about their own situation.

Steph sighs, placing down her binoculars. “Shit, yeah, you’re right. Damn it, I wanted to keep watching them.”

Cass tucks the phone into her pocket with a sly smile and signs, “I took plenty of photos. We should go and find cover. Can’t head home yet because we took the bikes.”

“Yeah,” Steph mutters. Quickly though, she grabs the binoculars again and looks back at Damian and Marinette. The couple grabs their umbrellas – smart of them, too bad Steph didn’t think of those when she impulsively decided to follow Damian – and head off down the street. Together.

The date, apparently, isn’t over yet.

“Do we wanna trail them?” she asks Cass. “Any chance you stored umbrellas in that bag of yours?” Half joking, half serious. What? You never know.

Cass shakes her head though. “No, but I do have ponchos. Do you want to follow them? They’ll be heading inside. Damian will surely spot us.”

Steph snorts, highly doubting it. “He’s so damn distracted at the moment, I’m pretty sure an alien invasion could happen down the street and he wouldn’t notice unless little-miss-sunshine started screamin’.” She grins, wide and mischievous. “Pass me a poncho sis. We’re not giving up this hunt yet.”

Despite the high-quality ponchos, they still end up quite soaked. That’s the tradeoff for having an unnoticed trail high above their intended targets. Sharp stabs of water bite at their faces, as they race across the rooftops. Steph’s shirt clings stuck to her body, damp and humid between the poncho and her chest. Damn, a shower is gonna feel soooo good later.

For any normal person, the weather would make it impossible to follow the young couple. Not to mention the distance from the ground. But Steph and Cass were trained by the best hunters in the world, following their prey was simple – if very wet and uncomfortable – matter.

Rain pours from the sky even faster, thunderous noise drowning out all other sounds, and quickly empties the streets below. The typically numb Gotham populace seeking shelter from the crappy weather. Eventually, Marinette and Damian duck into an older building, the overhead awning buckled in from the rain collecting on top. The windows are dimly lit, and a cracked and faded sign flickers reading:

MAGNUS ANTIQUES ~ EST. 1902

Cass and Steph cross over the street with a quick grapple line. Both wouldn’t dare under normal circumstances; it’s the middle of the day and they aren’t even in domino masks. The slip in procedure would hardly endanger them with nobody around, heavy clouds turning the early afternoon dark as dusk, and the rain pouring thick sheets, obscuring even the highest tech cameras. They land on a building next door, and carefully climb down the siding, landing in the alleyway, behind the antique store.

A young man, in his mid-twenties, slouches against the brick wall a few feet down the alley huddled under another old and tattered awning that barely keeps him dry as he vapes. The shop’s back door sits propped open with a crate, and it takes all of a second while the man leans against the old brick façade with his eyes closed enjoying his few minutes of damp peace for Steph and Cass to slip quietly inside through the back door.

Score!

An old, musty smell hits them as they creep through the back entrance. Piles of boxes line the walls, old antiques half-boxed, or laid on shelves. The store is dark and stale. All of old Gotham oozes an aura of grime and darkness to it, like no matter how hard you scrub the walls and floors will never be clean, the shadows grow thicker in corners, and the cold lingers even in the depths of summer. But that might just be the fault of an old store with even older objects inside. Steph’s never put much stock on that old fairy tale of Gotham being cursed and all.

Under a worktable sits a box – of what she could generously call towels but would more accurately call rags – and they wriggle out of the rain-soaked ponchos. Steph stuffs the soaked ponchos in the box and pulls out a handful of the least questionable-looking rags. Handing one to Cass, Steph does her best to sop up the worst of the water.

“I’m gonna get blisters later,” Steph whines softly, her toes wriggling in soaked-through socks.

“You always have blisters, all of us do,” signs Cass, drying the front of her shirt.

“No, we have calluses, we haven’t formed blisters since we were teeny tiny baby vigilantes who didn’t know shit and our bodies thought they had the right to strike about their living conditions.” Steph tries to wrangle the water out of her hair. “We wear waterproof suits though, so my feet don’t get regularly soaked.”

“Well, sorry for not having pocket rainboots too,” Cass signs sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“How unprepared,” Steph shoots back, gaining another eye roll in return.

Steph pulls her hair into a ponytail and wrings out her shirt and feels slightly more human now they’re back on dry land. Cass, with her pixie cut, vigorously scrubs her hair with a towel before it flops out, mostly dry. Lucky.

Quietly, both of them creep out of the back workroom. A glistening crystal doorknob attached to an old wood door sends Steph cringing when it creaks open into the store proper. Dim lighting flickers above, a high wine pitch of electricity crackles in the old wires. Tall shelves chock full of nick-nacks and blasts-from-the-pasts cast the store in even deeper shadows. Heavy rain pounds the building’s walls, mixing with the hum of electricity. Barely any light pierces through the charcoal clouds, which traps the store in an evening aesthetic rather than the middle of the afternoon.

Steph turns to Cass, signing, “Spilt up? Or stick together?”

Cass shakes her head. “Stick together, two chances to spot us are worse than one moving target.” Steph nods in agreement.

The store is quiet, minus the rain and a faint sound of classical music drifting from the front. Steph pads softly over wooden floorboards, which look like they’ll creak if you look at them wrong, and Cass follows behind, silent as a mouse. Rows of shelves stretch from front to back, ladened down with objects, Furniture and old clothes pile up on the sides. It is a chaotic, yet organized mess. None of it’s her style, but she’s sure Tim would enjoy it in here.

Slowly, ever so slowly, they creep from aisle to aisle listening for the low drawl of Damian’s pretentious voice. The store’s chaos turns what should be a straightforward search into a winding maze, but eventually right before they turn a corner, Damian’s distinctive scoff rings through the air and stops Steph and Cass in their tracks before giving the game away.

Ducking into one of those separated booths – the kind most antique stores were made of, creating tiny stores within one big one – a genuine score, because Magnus Antiques only sported a few. Fully cluttered with racks of mothball-smelling vintage clothing, the booth made for a perfect hiding spot, while also allowing them full-view access. Steph swipes a dull scarf off the table and ties it over her head, helping to disguise her distinctive blonde hair, as she hides halfway into a rack of big, dull winter clothing. Cass, using her smaller size and an all-black outfit, gracefully climbs an antique dresser and camouflages with an elaborate black feathered bouquet.

Truly, masters of stealth.

Damian and Marinette walk into view; fully focused on the shelves before them, and completely oblivious to the stalker duo creeping in on their date.

“I can call us a car. We do not need to linger until the storm passes,” Damian says with that highly entitled vibe he always gives off, despite Steph knowing Damian’s pretentiousness is mostly a font these days.

“Oh, come on Damian,” chides Marinette, crouching low to look at the bottom shelf. Her accented lilting voice is soft but carries in the quiet store. “It’s just a little bit of bad weather. There’s no reason to call a person to drive through it, we don’t want anyone hurt in an accident. We can wait it out here.”

Damian’s face contorts, “Here?” Eyeing the shelf full of porcelain dolls with dread – which, you know, totally fair. They were creepy as fuck.

But Marinette rolls her eyes and shifts through the pile on her side. “Yes, here. It’s like a treasure hunt, you never know what you’ll  find.” She pushes a large black blanket off a cardboard box and smiles wide. “Ooh, see, a whole box full of ribbons and trim.” She fully falls to the floor and starts pulling rolls out of the box.

“Careful, we are likely to find germs.” Damian swipes a finger across the shelf and pulls it away covered in dust. He grimaces. “Or tetanus.”

Marinette giggles, like actually giggles, and not out of politeness either. She genuinely finds Damian’s offbeat, dry-as-a-bone, humor funny. Steph, safely out of sight, rolls her eyes. Oh, good lord, they’re perfectly horrible for each other.

“Says the man willing to climb into a box store air vent shaft at the drop of a hat.” Steph watches as Marinette sets aside a number of trims to buy.

Damian places a hand against his chest, offended. “That was tactical. This is stubborn desperation.”

“We were on the run, sounds a bit like desperation to me.”

“On the run? We were hunting our prey.”

Marinette’s face turns questioning, “Oh I’m sorry, did you not get chased by Jason with a nerf gun through half the store and the back areas? Was I not barely outrunning Dick before I took out the store’s electricity? We won by luck and the skin of our teeth. That does not sound like apex predators to me.”

Damian turns to the shelf he’s standing on, and, with a mutter, Steph barely makes out, says, “We could have taken them.”

“Sure, in a fight,” says Marinette without skipping a beat. And oh, isn’t that interesting. Steph knows the boys don’t tone down their personalities and skills the same way Bruce does (he doesn’t so much as tone down, as does a complete one-eighty, but it works for B, so Steph ain’t hatin’) when out of costume, but even they wouldn’t be so stupid as to act completely like their vigilante selves. It’s still, you know, not a lot, and Marinette probably saw more than most due to the game’s competitive nature. So, for her to say she could take them in a fight, with certainty, means she thinks quite highly of her own skills.

She could totally be overestimating herself.

Or… the rest of the family could be right, and Marinette is very dangerous indeed.

“… but we weren’t trying to take them in a fight, we were trying to outlast them. And anyway, it’s a moot point, we won, they lost, and now they hate me.”

Well, at least she was perceptive, Steph would give her that.

“They don’t hate you,” Damian shoots back.

Marinette rises from the floor holding an old roll of ribbon, bright emerald green, the lettering faded and worn on the cardboard spool. She lets out an inelegant snort, “Fine, Dick is suspicious, Tim is frustrated, and Jason hates me.” 

Oh, she’s very perceptive.

Damian pauses for a second, then tilts his head and smiles thinly. “Yes, it is quite likely Todd does hate you. But he should blame me, not you. I told you what to say. He’s directing his anger all wrong.”  

Steph blinks. That was… a shocking amount of self-reflection from the demon spawn. All directed towards this tiny little slip of a woman who looked like she could barely harm a fly, much less impress the likes of Damian Wayne. At this point, Steph has to believe this girl is magical because this shit is just unreal.

“Perhaps, but what I said obviously scared him-”

“That’s what we were trying to accomplish,” Damian mutters, mulishly.

“And one day I will learn the context of it, so I can properly apologize.” Steph watches Marinette’s eyes; focused and regretful. “I know I do not have their trust, and I do not have the right, but when I do, I will.”

Damian’s face flickers through emotions faster than a roulette wheel, eventually settling on a variation of soft and amazed Steph’s only seen on a besotted movie protagonist. And barely makes out his words. “I have no doubt you will earn those secrets. Your heart is big enough, and your will strong enough to melt my family’s own.”

Oh.

Oh.  

Steph's mouth falls open in complete shock. Damn… just, damn.

This isn’t just a crush.

This is full-on, head-over-heels, besotted beyond belief, in love.

Damian is implying Marinette is important enough to earn the details of Jason’s death, to know why he was so scared of his family being hurt and dying and him unable to help (yeah, Jason ranted to her about Marinette’s little speech; yeah, it was harsh, but what else could you expect from Damian, he doesn’t do shit by halves). All of that implies she’ll learn of their identities, the biggest secret their family kept under lock and key. Only a handful of Justice League members and assorted friends (and enemies) knew of their full identities.

This is a girl Damian met two and a half days ago.

Steph, nearly so lost in her own shock and incredulity, almost misses Marinette’s reaction.

Face flushed and eyes tilted down, Marinette’s smile conveys embarrassment, joy, and a hint of sadness all at once. “Has anyone ever told you, you’re very sweet?”

Sheepishness seeps into Damian’s face and body, as he raises a hand to rub the back of his neck, a move making him look exactly like Dick. “Most people say the exact opposite, or they are in the middle of cussing me out.”

He’s not wrong.

Marinette's smile grows wider, “Well, I’m-”

“Not most people.” Damian and her finish together with a look building the foundation of an inside joke.

“No, all the more I learn of you,” Damian says, tone fond. “I find you are definitely not most people.”

“I aim to impress,” Marinette says, with a sly and besotted smile, and Steph doesn’t know if she will pass out from the sweetness or vomit, and at this point, it could go fifty-fifty. The woman looks over Damian’s shoulder. “Looks like the rain stopped.” Steph vaguely sees weak rays of light coming from the store’s front. The kind indicating the Gotham sun, a rare and noteworthy presence, has burst through the clouds to shine upon rain-soaked streets. “I should probably head back to my apartment before it starts again; I have a commission project to work on.”

Damian readjusts himself, folding away the soft, besotted emotions until he looks more like himself again. “And I need to return home as well, my father’s back from his business trip and will wish to speak with me.” He winces, “He is most likely already speaking with my brothers, which means I need to run interference before they blow the entire situation out of proportion.”

Marinette smirks, unrepentant and teasing, and for the first time Steph understands why Jason kept ranting ‘she’s just as demented as he is’, “To be fair, we did set Tim on fire, and break the store multiple times.”

Damian smirks right back, and “First off you broke-”

“We, don’t forget your part with the display and tying up a security guard.”

“-second, we set fire around him, he wasn’t hurt. No one got hurt. Except for their pride.” He pauses, and amends, “Well, perhaps that unpleasant woman at the end had an aneurysm with her screaming, but that’s hardly our fault, so it shouldn’t count.”  

Both of them laugh until it fades into a contented silence. Then, Marinette places a dainty hand on Damian’s arm, and says, “This was fun. We could… do it again sometime?” For the first time, uncertainty crosses the young woman’s face.

Damian’s face, on the other hand, is as eager as Steph has ever seen it. Wow, what must his head and chest feel like with all these new intense emotions bandying about? “Uh, o-of course, yes, this was fun. We’ll… text?”

“Sounds like a good idea.” Marinette leans down and picks up the small pile of trimmings and ribbon she found in the box earlier. The spool of emerald ribbon balanced on top.

“You took the bus in? I can walk you to the stop?” Oh, kid; if he had a tail, it would be wagging.

Marinette tilts her head, “Didn’t you ride in on a motorcycle? Shouldn’t you take advantage of the break in the rain?”

Damian shrugs off the offer, “I drive in far worse than a little rain regularly..” 

“Don’t compromise your safety for my own, I can take care of myself perfectly fine,” Marinette says. 

“I’m sure you can, but I want to,” insists Damian. “I parked near the bus stop’s location, it will be no trouble.”

“Alright then, maybe on the way you can tell me more about that art store you mentioned was down my way, I’m looking for a new set of brushes; mine became damaged in the move.” They walk down the aisle and swiftly out of view and hearing range.

Steph doesn’t move, and neither does Cass until Marinette pays for her purchases, and they hear the door to the shop open and close with a creak and a chiming of bells. A second more passes by, before Steph slips out of the clothes rack, and Cass descends the dresser, and they stand in silence for a moment.

“Whelp,” Steph says, popping the p. “That was certainly something. I don’t quite have the words for it yet, cause my brain’s still rebooting. How about you Cassie?”

Cass shakes her head, then pauses, contemplation playing across her features. “I still think she’s dangerous. Her body has the grace of a fighter, with years of practical experience moving quickly and efficiently. But I don’t think she uses her magic, whatever it may be, to influence Damian.” Cass smiles, now looking like a cat holding a canary between her lips. “That’s all due to him being very, very in love.”

“Great, so I wasn’t the only one seeing literal hearts in Damian’s eyes, cool, cool, cool.” She stretches her arms high above her head, spine popping brutally, as she tries to get feeling back in her limbs after observing the two lovebirds for long. “Well, I’m not in the mood to deal with Bruce and his game of twenty questions, so what say we go eat? How ‘bout the new Italian place that opened near my apartment, worse case it starts raining again and we head back there, we covered and hid the bikes well enough.”

Cass nods and they leave the store, passing by an ancient old man seated at the front desk totally absorbed in a creaking leather tome. Summer sun barely peaking through gaps in the clouds. It hasn’t truly stopped raining yet. The sky drizzles a small smattering of rain, and fog mists up from the pavement. It’s a pleasant change from the chaotic, faint oppressive feel of the antique shop.

Steph’s brain turns over the interactions she witnessed between Damian and Marinette. It shouldn’t be such a big deal. People meet, flirt, and fall in love all the time. But it just is because it’s, well, Damian. Even as a little kid he always seemed so removed, he really wasn’t, but he was good at pretending. Steph never pictured him falling in love, not because he wasn’t capable of it, but because she always thought he’d be too prickly for anyone to break through his walls. And certainly not a civilian who had no clue about their double lives.

Steph hopes everyone comes out on the other side, lives, and emotions relatively intact, and in the meantime, she plans to wring this situation for all the blackmail material it’s worth.

[gulabsinghcompany]

How to Choose Best Continuous Fryers Machine in India

Gulab Singh and Company is a prominent manufacturer of Continuous Fryers in India, offering innovative and efficient frying solutions for large-scale food production. Specializing in industrial fryers, they cater to the growing demand in snack and food processing industries, ensuring superior performance, durability, and energy efficiency. Features of Continuous Fryers by Gulab Singh and Company •High Efficiency: Designed for continuous operations, these fryers ensure high throughput with minimal downtime. •Temperature Control: Equipped with advanced temperature control systems, they maintain consistent frying conditions, resulting in uniform cooking and crispy textures. •Oil Filtration System: An integrated oil filtration mechanism helps in extending oil life, reducing waste, and maintaining the quality of the fried product. •Durable Construction: Built from high-grade stainless steel, the fryers are corrosion-resistant and built for long-term industrial use. •Energy Efficient: Their innovative design ensures optimal energy use, reducing operational costs. •Safety Features: Safety valves, emergency shutdown systems, and easy access for cleaning and maintenance make these fryers user-friendly and safe to operate. Uses of Continuous Fryers Gulab Singh and Company’s continuous fryers are widely used in the production of: •Potato chips and snack pellets •Namkeen (Indian savory snacks) •Nuts like peanuts and cashews •Puffed snacks and extruded products •Frozen foods such as french fries and nuggets How Continuous Fryers Work The fryers operate by continuously feeding food items through a conveyor system into hot oil. The temperature is precisely controlled to ensure consistent frying. As the food passes through the fryer, it is evenly cooked and drained of excess oil before exiting. The continuous process allows for efficient production and maintains the high quality of fried products. In conclusion, Gulab Singh and Company’s continuous fryers are an essential solution for high-capacity food processing, delivering consistent, high-quality fried products across various industries. For more information Visit our Website :- https://www.gulabsinghandco.com Contact us :- +91–9953108079, +91–9313119875

[crunchyfoodfze]

Getting Grips on Potato Ring Pellets or Twists: Which one sells better?

Most business owners who are in the retail business of selling potato pellets must decide the type of shapes and sizes they must sell. While the market is wide and the customers have varied tastes, the brand identity and its image are what make for a unique product.

So, if you are looking to capitalize on the potato pellet trend, deciding between pellet twists and potato ring pellets can be a daunting task. Therefore, let’s break down the key factors involved in making an informed decision.

Catalogue reference:

Understanding your target market

The first step is to make sure you know who you are marketing to, that is, your target audience. Make a list of the following and answer them:

Age demographics: Children, teenagers, or adults?

Lifestyle: Health-conscious, adventurous eaters, or traditional snackers?

Location: Are there regional preferences for specific shapes and preferences?

Once you have a clear understanding of the customers you are targeting, you can choose your product shape and size accordingly.

Market research and knowing the trends

What is going on in the pellet snacks market at present? What is in demand and what is not trending anymore? Do your market research to find out what’s in and what’s not before you go about selling something that’s probably not wanted anymore.

Conduct a thorough market analysis: Identify existing competitors and their product offerings.

Analyze consumer likes and dislikes:Ask your target audience what they are looking for in a potato snack. Social listening and sometimes good old-fashioned interviews will help you get a better understanding.

Stay updated on food trends: Identify emerging trends that align with your product.

Product Differentiation

Regardless of whether you choose potato ring pellets or twists, differentiation is what makes a difference. So, consider the following:

Unique flavors: Experiment with different flavor combinations to make your brand stand out.

Eccentric coatings: Offer unique coatings that other brands are not selling. For example, spicy and sweet, or other gourmet styles.

Packaging design: Create interesting package designs that reflect your brand’s image.

Production and cost considerations

Machinery and equipment: Evaluate the cost and availability of equipment for producing both ring and twist shapes. Alternatively, if you find that buying from a potato ring pellet manufacturer is more affordable then do that instead.

Production efficiency: Consider the production process for each shape and its impact on costs.

Ingredient sourcing: Assess the availability and cost of raw materials.

At the end of the day, if you are still worried about losing the audience that prefers twists over potato ring pellets, offer both. This strategy will give you more room to target a wider audience while gathering valuable consumer insight. You can then focus on the more successful product based on sales performance.

Therefore, the decision between potato ring pellets or twists ultimately depends on your target market, market research, and production capabilities.

[fryandbake]

Fry and Bake Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is one of the largest food processing equipment manufacturers in India, specializing in potato processing equipment. They offer an extensive range of food processing machinery and equipment for the snack food industry, catering to various culinary requirements, from frozen foods to snacks.

Allow me to provide you with a brief overview of the different fryer types they offer:

Fully Automatic Potato Chips Line: This highly efficient line automates the entire potato chip production process, including steaming, peeling, slicing, frying, seasoning, and packaging. The automatic potato chips line ensures a seamless and consistent production of potato chips.

Frozen French Fries Production Line: Fry and Bake Technologies' frozen french fries production line comprises top-of-the-line machinery for washing, peeling, cutting, blanching, drying, frying, freezing, and packaging french fries. This comprehensive line guarantees the production of high-quality frozen french fries.

Fully Automatic Pellets Frying Line: This adaptable line processes and fries pellets made from potato, corn, or rice. The fully automatic pellets frying line ensures efficient processing and frying to meet the demands of various snack production.

Automatic Namkeen Fryer: Fry and Bake Technologies' automatic Namkeen fryer is specifically designed for frying Namkeen, a diverse variety of traditional Indian snacks. This specialized fryer ensures the perfect texture and taste of Namkeen snacks.

All Types of Batch Fryers: These versatile fryers are suitable for frying a wide range of snacks, making them an ideal choice for snack manufacturers with diverse product offerings. The batch fryers enable efficient frying of different snack varieties.

Fry and Bake Technologies places utmost importance on quality and customer satisfaction. They source their potato processing equipment in India from responsible suppliers and implement rigorous quality control measures to deliver exceptional value. Their team of dedicated professionals brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to their manufacturing facility, constantly striving to improve products and develop innovative solutions.

In addition to their core products, Fry and Bake Technologies offers various value-added services to their customers, including:

Installation and commissioning of equipment.

Training on the operation and maintenance of equipment.

After-sales service and support.

Fry and Bake Technologies is committed to providing the best possible experience to their customers. They understand that the success of their customers is their success, and they are always willing to go the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction.

To sum up, Fry and Bake Technologies is a leading manufacturer of potato processing equipment in India, offering a wide range of food processing machinery and equipment for the snack food industry. Their expertise, quality products, and dedication to customer satisfaction make them a reliable choice in the market.

[sharmapress]

What is an Impact Extrusion Machine?

Learn from Impact Extrusion Manufacturer in India

An impact extrusion machine is also called an impact extruder machine. This equipment is used to produce hollow metal parts with high precision and fine efficiency. During impact extrusion a metal slug or billet is forced through a die under extremely high pressure to give a desired shape.

How the Impact Extrusion Process Happens

The impact extrusion machine consists of several components, including a hydraulic press, a die set, and a punch. The process begins with a metal slug, typically made of aluminum or steel. This is placed into a chamber within the machine. The hydraulic press applies intense pressure to the slug, forcing it through the die. As a result, the punch shapes the metal as it moves through the die, forming the desired part.

Advantage of Impact Extrusion Machine

The advantage of impact extrusion is that it allows for the creation of complex shapes and intricate details in the finished part. The process also offers high material utilization, as the metal is effectively shaped rather than removed, resulting in minimal waste. Therefore, impact extrusion machines are commonly used in the production of various products, including aerosol cans, automotive components, and packaging containers.

Industry Usage of Impact Extrusion Machines

Here are some common applications of extrusion machines:

Plastic Extrusion: Extruders are widely used in the plastic industry to produce a wide range of plastic products, including pipes, tubes, sheets, films, profiles, and plastic packaging materials. Plastic extrusion machines can process various types of plastics, such as polyethylene (PE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), and many others.

Aluminum Extrusion: Extruders are also used in the metal industry, specifically for aluminum extrusion. Aluminum extrusion machines can shape aluminum billets into various profiles, such as rods, bars, channels, angles, and customized shapes. These profiles find applications in construction, automotive, aerospace, and many other industries.

Food Extrusion: In the food industry, extruders are employed to process and shape food products. They are commonly used to manufacture snacks like breakfast cereals, pasta, pet foods, and textured vegetable proteins. Food extrusion machines often include specific features and modifications to ensure food safety and meet regulatory standards.

Rubber Extrusion: Extruders can be used in the rubber industry to produce rubber profiles, hoses, seals, gaskets, and other rubber products. Rubber extrusion machines typically have specific screw designs and temperature controls to handle the unique properties and processing requirements of rubber materials.

Pharmaceutical and Chemical Industries: Extrusion machines find applications in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries for manufacturing capsules, tablets, pellets, and other dosage forms. They can also be used to produce plastic and rubber components used in laboratory equipment and chemical processing.

These are just a few examples of where extrusion machines are used. The versatility of extrusion technology allows for a wide range of applications across multiple industries, making it a crucial process for shaping and forming various materials.

Where to Buy Impact Extrusion Equipment

SMT Parkash is a renowned impact extrusion manufacturer in India, who deals in high quality manufacturing tools. The firm has vast experience of helping manufacturing units with their advanced mechanical equipment. We are leading exporters of impact extrusion tools from India. You can directly reach us to know more about our products.

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Latest Regulatory Trends Impacting the Snack Pellet Equipment Market

The snack pellet equipment market is estimated to account for nearly USD 1.0 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach a value of nearly USD 1.4 billion by 2025, recording a CAGR of 5.2% from 2019. Due to busy lifestyles and professional commitments, individuals have limited time to prepare food at home. The snack pellet market is driven by the increasing need for convenience foods due to the busy lifestyles of consumers. Thus, increasing consumer preference for processed foods indirectly contributes to the growing demand for snack pellets as they require less time and efforts to prepare. This, in turn, is projected to drive the growth of the snack pellet equipment market.

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By product type, the potato-based segment is estimated to account for the largest share in the snack pellet equipment market in 2019.

On the basis of product type, the potato-based segment is estimated to dominate the snack pellet equipment market in 2019. This is due to the increasing consumer preference for convenience foods, which indirectly drives the increasing demand for snack pellets products, as they require less time and efforts. Currently, snack pellet manufacturers are focusing on adopting advanced technologies and offering GM potatoes to drive the demand for potato pellets. GM potatoes are protein-packed potatoes with approximately 35%–60% protein content, which makes it more preferable. This, in turn, is projected to drive the growth of the snack pellet equipment market.

The snack pellet equipment market is projected to witness strong growth due to the increasing advancements in equipment and technologies.

Earlier, snack pellet manufacturers used different extruders for making pellets based on various raw materials that have different characteristics and cooking time. However, with the upgradation and automation, snack pellet manufacturers are adopting extrusion systems that produce three-dimensional pellets, thus providing better end products to its customers. Moreover, advanced manufacturing processes enhanced the bulk production capacity and shelf life of pellets, prior to frying or puffing. In addition, these improvements in the manufacturing process offer advantages such as innovative designs and capital cost reduction, which is projected to contribute to the market growth.

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North America is estimated to dominate the snack pellet equipment market in 2019.

North America is estimated to account for the largest market share in the snack pellet equipment market in 2019. The North American region witnesses the presence of various established snack pellet manufacturing companies that are increasing their production capacity due to the rising demand for ready-to-eat snacks. This is projected to create an opportunity for manufacturers in the snack pellet equipment market to expand in North America. Busy lifestyles of consumers reduce the time available for homemade snacks; this increases the demand for convenience foods. In addition, increasing health consciousness and concerns for food safety have encouraged the production of light and convenient snack foods such as snack pellets. These factors are projected to drive the snack pellet equipment market during the forecast period.

This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies along with the product portfolios of the leading companies in the snack pellet equipment market. It also includes the profiles of leading companies such as Clextral (France), GEA Group (Germany), Buhler AG (Switzerland), N.P. & Company, Inc. (Japan), Kiremko B.V. (Netherlands), JAS Enterprises (India), Grace Food Processing & Packaging Machinery (India), Tsung Hsing Food Machinery Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), AC Horn Manufacturing (US), Jinan Dayi Extrusion Machinery Co., Ltd (China), Mutchall Engineering Pvt. Ltd (India), and Radhe Equipments India (India).

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snack food making machine-Fry And Bake Technology Pvt. Ltd.

Fry and Bake Technologies Pvt. Ltd company founded in 2012 and based in Gujarat, India. As a world leader in the manufacture of process lines for the Snacks processing industry, we focus on product development, continuous improvement, innovation, sustainable technology and co-operation to ensure, we give added value to every customer. We respect our team, our customers, and the environment.

With a team of qualified personnel we innovate, design, manufacture and install advanced processing lines worldwide. We specialize in lines to process into French fries, potato chips, pellet snacks, Namkeen snacks, and Bakery products.

OUR QUALITY

We will never be compromised with the quality. We specialize in lines to process into French fries, potato chips, pellet snacks, Namkeen snacks, that is made in high quality of raw materials and latest technology. Our team of expert quality auditors keeps close eye on the production tasks as well as check the manufactured range of equipment for any kind of defects.

OUR MISSION

Our Mission is to satisfy the needs of our customers. We have specialized team for fulfilling the requirements of our customers and to give them appropriate service whenever the need.

OUR INFRASTRUCTURE

We uphold a state-of-the-art infrastructure base which conforms to the standards of international level in terms of various kinds of facilities. Our manufacturing unit is spread over a total plot area of 110 ft X 130 ft, with optimum installed capacity that is sufficient to prove our capacity in terms of robust infrastructure. We have equipped this spacious unit with necessary machines and equipment that facilitate flawless production of our wide range of food processing machines.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

The Company has an extremely experienced Research, Development & Design department staffed by personnel from both food equipment as well as snack food industry. It is well equipped with latest equipment and facilities to keep abreast of latest trends in technology.

AFTER SALES SERVICE

After sales service plays an important role in customer satisfaction and customer retention. It generates loyal customers. And we provide best service to our loyal customers.

OUR VISSION

now, we want to become the largest and innovative player in developing food machines to automate all processes in the most economical price in India

OUR STRENGTH

Fry And Bake strength is to deliver total solutions in Snacks processing from the infeed of product to the packaging line resulting in a high quality end product. Our success is achieved by working in total co-operation with our customers to achieve their specific requirements, We aim to get the best out of the product and the customers process line.

WHY US

International quality range Well equipped manufacturing| Competitive prices Team of experts Total quality management Training & service support

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Snack Pellet Equipment Market Overview & Potential Growth Opportunities 2027

Increasing adoption for processed snack pellets due to busy lifestyles is driving the demand for snack pellet equipment market. Furthermore, the rise in advancement in equipment & technologies of snack pellet is also projected to influence the snack pellet equipment market significantly. Moreover, the growing demand for various type of snack pellet food products among the individual in the developing nations is expected to fuel the snack pellet equipment market. Emerging, government initiatives to expand the processed snack pellet market, is anticipated to generate untapped opportunity for the market participants.  The "Global Snack Pellet Equipment Market Analysis to 2027" is a specialized and in-depth study of the food and beverage industry with a special focus on the global market trend analysis. The report aims to provide an overview of snack pellet equipment market with detailed market segmentation by equipment type, product type, form and geography. The global snack pellet equipment market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the leading snack pellet equipment market players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.

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KEY PLAYERS

AC Horn Manufacturing

Clextral S.A.S.

GEA Group AG

Grace Food Processing & Packaging Machinery.

Jas Enterprises.

Kiremko BV

NP & Company, Inc. Uno Building

Radhe Equipments India

The Bühler Holding AG

TSUNG HSING FOOD MACHINERY CO., LTD.

MARKET SEGMENTATION

 The global snack pellet equipment market is segmented on the basis of equipment type, product type and form. Based on equipment type, the market is segmented into extrusion/cooking, mixing/forming, cutting, drying, frying, seasoning and others. On the basis of the product type the market is segmented into potato-based, corn-based, rice-based, tapioca-based, multigrain-based and others. On the basis of the form the market is segmented into 2d, tridimensional and die-face.

 REGIONAL FRAMEWORK The report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides overview and forecast of the global snack pellet equipment market based on various segments. It also provides market size and forecast estimates from year 2017 to 2027 with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South & Central America. The snack pellet equipment market by each region is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report covers analysis and forecast of 18 countries globally along with current trend and opportunities prevailing in the region.

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