#but we did this in the span of just under a year and a half

[getvalentined]

Not to dwell on this too much longer but I cannot fucking believe that we conceptualized, organized, created, presold, produced, shipped, ran leftovers and shipped leftovers on a whole fanthology during the layout arrangement period of a different fanthology that I was assured would go to print in spring of last year. Holy shit.

[zan0tix]

Any general thoughts on/relating to the Brobot?

Have my half awake scrawlings...

I really love the brobot!!!! People really misconstrue it and also leave it out in a lot of dirkjake talk? Its a big player in not only how dirk expresses his affection/desire towards jake but also in their multi year spanning unspoken game of gay chicken 😭😭(all of dirks splinters are but Not about them rn)

It was sent yknow under the pretense that jake loves wrestling and wished so bad to have somebody he could wrestle with. But at the same time it protects jake from the horrors of hellmurder island (seen before they strife), pushing jake into the Damsel in distress role he wasnt expecting to play even before all the shit in the game, with Dirk being his hero.

Jake says he keeps it on a high difficulty because apparently in the Novice mode he says their interactions become "too tender" and doesnt want to elaborate, Friendly reminder! His convo with jane on the SAME DAY dirk pulled off that big romantic overture and the kiss happens and him and dirk begin "dating".. is the same day he asked jane if it didnt make him weird for wanting to date dirk. And he also says hed joke around with dirk about how theyd soo make a great couple if dirk were a girl haha.

I imagine the brobot and well. Getting physical like that with a robot that supposedly looks like dirk probably gave jake his internal gay awakening at 13 but he just never wanted to actually confront it and instead just wanted to brush past everything 😭😭 (See: every single time sexuality or romance comes up in relation to jake he is literally always thinking about dirk somehow and he never directly talks about his attraction to men or how that reflects/contradicts on his self image of the Movie Star Hero guy)

and jake doesnt actually hate the thing either, he tells jane he thinks it genuinely did improve his fighting capabilities (Which we see it did in collide! he beat basically the whole felt with guns and fisticuffs alone, no hope powers.) Which serves as a pretty evident parallel to dave who also is good at fighting, even if he doesnt want to be. (see dirk + dave convo)

This one comes from hussies authors notes in the aradiabot and equius scene (which equius imagery being invoked with dirk. something i could totally rant about another time haha) but yeah. Jake was being selfish asshat in that log forcing jane into a corner and wringing what he wanted to hear out of her, and also not giving a shit about the brobot (Which served as his protector and only other semblance of human connection since he was 13 and was a BIRTHDAY GIFT FROM DIRK) KILLING ITSELF? But hes so preoccupied talking about dirk. THE REAL DIRK. And immediately after jake loses the dirk splinter that protected him, HE (AND DIRK) CREATE A NEW ONE FOR HIMSELF USING THEIR COMBINED POWERS/?

Hussie is lying.. somebody Does care about dirks feelings. a whole lot to the point they activate their powers unwittingly Because of it. and its jake. but jake just cant admit that himself. (He cannot admit his real feelings until given permission to, dirk would have to concede the game of gay chicken first using his words and not just actions)

ANYWAY. hussie is so right its so easy to get sidetracked times one million talking about this comic. BUT AHH!! BROBOT. his existence.. tragic.. Jakes really smart in knowing that all of dirks splinters enlighten aspects of himself he doesnt oft share, and the brobot served as another dirk action on the pile of dirk actions he engineers to signify his deep immense care for jake, where he lets these grand gestures and implications sit out in the open without ever actually saying what they mean and where his feelings lay.

EVEN IF ITS SUPER OBVIOUS. The d man cant use his big boy words to actually describe his feelings despite how much a yaps! so jake doesnt know if hes even allowed to say anything about his own. Fellas: Is it gay if you labour for supposedly an extended period of time to create a custom robot in your own image to ship in pieces to your best bro guy crush who is HUNDREDS OF YEARS IN THE PAST because you cant be there yourself?

I think this hal message says enough about how bad dirk wished he could visit jake 💀💀

[dellalyra]

Hi love I’m back for a bit anyways I was going through my notes and I saw your folder with request ideas that I had and didn’t request yet and since you finally hit 2k i can still do it so yay!

You remember that scene in the manga where they had to train gojos infinity by basically throwing things at him? Yeah so what I was thinking is that moment and also just to make it funnier I just know they were throwing things at him at the speed of light just to make sure something hits him and they moved up to heavier massive objects just for fun so something like that please. :)

ᴜɴᴡɪʟʟɪɴɢ ᴛᴇꜱᴛ ꜱᴜʙᴊᴇᴄᴛ - ꜰᴀᴍɪʟʏ ꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ

Pixie Says: this was so fun soraya you are my queen I stg I loved writing this

“Did it hit?” You shout across the field.

“No! Do it again?” Satoru’s voice echoes back.

Shoko hands Geto another tennis ball, and he proceeds to fire it across the field - towards an unperturbed Gojo.

“What about that one?” Shoko asks.

“Nope! Do something bigger! Geto - where’s our basketball?” The white haired man says, with all the excitement of a puppy.

Geto rolls his eyes, but smiles slightly - a rare sight these days - as he wanders toward the dorms to grab his ball.

“Think fast!” Shoko shouts, throwing an apple at Gojo’s head.

The apple splits in half and falls to the floor as you and Shoko cheer with Gojo at yet another object infinity can reflect.

Geto jogs towards them, and tosses the orange basketball at his best friend - it bounces straight off and back toward Geto who grabs it in one large hand.

“Okay - we gotta think bigger.” You say, hands on your hips and looking around the courtyard.

Shoko strolls off, only to come back a second later with a chair from one of the classrooms.

“Jesus Koko - I meant like - a pillow.” You try to take the chair but Gojo interrupts by shouting ‘throw the chair!’.

Ever the dutiful girlfriend, you allow Geto to swing the chair toward your man who is gleefully jumping at the prospect of having a chair flung in his direction.

The wood splits in half and falls with a clunk to the ground. Geto claps and whoops at the mess left, all four of you cheering, a mutual love of chaos being the thing that bonded you all three years ago.

“Okay but these are all like, blunt things. Can it stop weapons? Y/N, throw a knife at him.” Shoko says, patting down your thigh to find the holster you keep under your uniform skirt.

“Get your morguey hands outta my girl’s skirt, Ieiri!” Satoru shouts, tossing a tennis ball back at her.

“What about a knife, ‘toru?” You say, fully confident in your love’s abilities to not get stabbed (again).

You had been witness to his crazed intent to become stronger, and almost invincible, over the past few months since the incident. Marks left on everyone, a slight scar on Gojo’s pale throat, crisscrossed scars spanning the width of Geto’s broad chest - the scar of the sound of a gunshot penetrating a sweet girl’s head haunting every dream, hands stained with the blood of her best friends and the memory of shaking hands as she sewed their wounds shut for Shoko and the image of your soulmate bleeding out in your lap and the slash of scar across your thigh from the blow he landed as you tried to deflect him from Satoru.

If one good thing had come from it, it was the fact that it contributed toward the push you and Satoru both needed for getting your heads out of your asses and finally confessing just how much you loved each other that day after the mission in the abandoned hospital.

So you didn’t worry.

Shaking the thoughts from your head you whip your dagger out and spin it between your fingers.

“Ready, ‘toru.” You ask, smiling.

“Always, princess.” He smirks back.

You fling the knife with eerie precision toward him and see it clatter to the ground below an unscathed Gojo.

Another chorus of cheers erupts.

“We need to think even bigger.” Shoko says, deep in thought.

“I’ve got exactly the thing.” Geto says, smirk gracing his features as he looks straight toward you, and in one fast swoop you find yourself in his arms as he prepares to launch you across the field.

“Geto Suguru don’t you dare throw me! I swear to god I will fucking - AGHHHHHH.” Your words of warning are interrupted as you feel yourself fly through the air and then as soon as it started it stops with a jolt and a pair of strong arms wrapping around you, a sheen of sweat sticking to your skin.

You open your eyes, laughing at the turn of events, and see a pair of ice blue eyes, the colour which has been your favourite since you were 16, staring back at you with a wide smile.

“You caught me!” You say, wrapping your arms around his neck and realising that he’s switched his infinity off to hold you.

“Only a fool would drop a girl like you.” He says, pressing a soft kiss to your lips as you smile.

“I can’t believe you just quoted scooby-doo and kissed me.” You say, burying your head into his neck.

“You love me.” He says, shrugging.

“That’s exactly why I love you.” You giggle as he gently returns you to solid ground.

“I love you more, but now, I believe you have revenge to enact.” He pats your head, and fixes your shirt.

“I do, thank you, ‘toru.” A peck on the cheek as you stand on the tips of your toes. You smile at him, and turn around.

“GETO SUGURU! YOU BASTARD, GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!” You sprint toward the man who is laughing and beginning to back away slowly - away from the wrath of the future Mrs.Gojo.

[reality-detective]

Was the Baltimore Bridge attacked? 👇

The Baltimore bridge collapse was an “absolutely brilliant strategic attack” on US critical infrastructure - most likely cyber - & our intel agencies know it. In information warfare terms, they just divided the US along the Mason Dixon line exactly like the Civil War.

Second busiest strategic roadway in the nation for hazardous material now down for 4-5 years - which is how long they say it will take to recover. The bridge was built specifically to move hazardous material - fuel, diesel, propane gas, nitrogen, highly flammable materials, chemicals and oversized cargo that cannot fit in the tunnels - that supply chain now crippled.

Make no mistake: this was an extraordinary attack in terms of planning, timing & execution.

The two critical components on that bridge are the two load-bearing pylons on each end, closest to the shore. They are bigger, thicker and deeper than anything else. These are the anchor points and they knew that hitting either one one of them would be a fatal wound to the integrity of the bridge.

Half a mile of bridge went in the river - likely you will have to build a new one. Also caused so much damage to the structural integrity of the bottom concrete part that you cannot see & won’t know until they take the wreckage apart. Structural destruction is likely absolutely.

Attack perfectly targeted.

“They have figured out how to bring us down. As long as you stay away from the teeth of the US military, you can pick the US apart. We are an arrogant and ignorantly - lethal combination. Obama said they would fundamentally change America and they did. We are in a free-fall ride on a roller coaster right now - no brakes - just picking up speed.”

The footage shows the cargo ship never got in the approach lane in the channel. You have to be in the channel before you get into that turn. Location was precise/deliberate: They chose a bend in the river where you have to slow down and commit yourself - once you are committed in that area there is not enough room to maneuver.

Should have had a harbor pilot to pilot the boat. You are not supposed to traverse any obstacles without the harbor pilot.

They chose a full moon so they would have maximum tidal shift - rise and fall. Brisk flow in that river on a normal day & have had a lot of rain recently so water was already moving along at a good pace.

Hit it with enough kinetic energy to knock the load-bearing pylon out from under the highway - which fatally weakens the span and then 50 percent of the bridge fell into the water.

All these factors when you look at it  - this is how you teach people how to do this type of attack and there are so few people left in the system who know this. We have a Junior varsity team on the field.

Tremendous navigational obstruction. Huge logistical nightmare to clean this up. The number of dead is tragic but not the whole measure of the attack.

That kind of bridge is constantly under repair - always at night because there is so much traffic and they cannot obstruct that during the day. So concern is for repair guys who were on foot (out of their vehicles) working who may now be in the water - 48 degrees at most at this time of year.

When you choke off Baltimore you have cut the main north-south hazardous corridor (I-95) in half. Now everyone has to go around the city - or go somewhere else.

To move some of that cargo through the tunnel you may be able to get a permit but those are slow to get and require an escort system that is expensive and has to be done at night.

For every $100 dollars that goes into the city, $12 comes from shipping. Believe this will cripple the city of Baltimore at a time when they do not have the resources to recover.

- Lara Logan

The traffic issue was mentioned in this 👇 post

Maybe we have to dig deeper into this Bridge collapse further. Could it be a deeper issue? What's in those shipping containers? Who owns the ship?

Is it for this 👆

It has been 3 years and 3 days since the Evergreen blocked the Suez Canal. Does the number 33 mean anything?

Was this a "Black Swan Event?"

I'm just asking questions? 🤔

[coolprettyleo]

i need to forget - gabe perreault au ☆

wc: 1.1k

tw: depression, mommy issues, daddy issues, mean summer.

gabe perreault x oc

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

summer walked through campus looking like like a train wreck.

the always put-together girl was now seen only pale and with under-eye bags.

she had been going through a lot and the feeling of helplessness was the number one feeling in her mind.

her parent's marriage was falling apart, and every day, she woke up to calls from her father ranting about her mother.

she wouldn't wish this feeling on her worst enemy.

her mother had always been lonely. with her father traveling for work she always found herself a 'companion' as she would call it, in other words, she was committing the act of adultery.

she had been doing it since summer's eighth-grade year, or that's when she finally got caught.

her father always forgave her, but it looked like her mother had finally burnt out her father to the stem.

summer felt completely helpless, and the stress of trying to keep her family together was on her shoulders, even if it was across the country.

she shook off the thought as she entered the library and spotted the boy she was least looking forward to see right now; gabe perreault.

the boy knew how to get on her nerves like a leech, and it always resulted in the two bickering for no end. usually, she liked to be back, but with everything going on, she was not looking forward to it; at all.

"your late," he said as a matter of factly

"sorry, I woke up late," she mumbled as she sat next to him.

gabe observed the girl, noticing the bag under her eyes and the burnt-out look she carried, far from the usual persona summer held.

"are you okay," he mumbled, as if he didn't want anyone to hear that he cared.

"don't act like you care, perreault. let's just get this done so we can both go on with our days," she said moodily.

"there she is" he said grinning as she rolled her eyes and began her part of the assignment.

---

the two teens had been working for about half an hour before they were pulled out of concentration from the buzzing coming from summer's phone.

she declined it before it kept buzzing,

"are you gonna answer that" he asked not being able to concentrate with the buzzing.

"nope" she said as it finally stopped buzzing, before it began to buzz again.

"i can't concentrate"

"it's not my fault you have the attention span of a bee," she sassed as he bit his tongue. gabe could see she wasn't well, and he wasn't an asshole. he wasn't going to annoy her today, but she seemed to be making that challenge quite hard for him.

"what, you're afraid your boyfriend will be mad you're studying with me" he smirked with a bit of a spark in his eyes.

he had seen her with a guy last weekend and they seemed awfully close.

"just shut up. please" she huffed as she shut off her phone.

gabe decided to drop it once again as they got to work.

___

"i'm going to head out. you just need to fill out the last slide of the portfolio and turn it in" she told him as she stood up.

"we still have another hour,"

"correction, you have another hour, I'm done," she said, crossing her arms and walking out.

leaving gabe to shake his head and watch her walk out.

"she was overly mean today" he mumbed to himself as he began to pack his own things. he'd be damn if he was going to stay in that library alone.

he turned the corner to hear a voice arguing on the phone; as he neared, he heard it was summer's voice, and although he didn't mean to eavesdrop, he still did.

"i don't see why you can't just stop seeing him," she said to whoever was on the phone

"It's lust, Mom," he heard her say with a voice that was raw with emotion.

she was arguing with her mom?

"please don't do this, please," he heard her beg before he watched her lower her phone from her ear. her mom must have hung up.

she let out a choked sob as she leaned back onto the wall. Summer could care less that she was in public; her mom was leaving her dad, claiming she finally learned was 'love' is.

gabe watched her for a moment, fighting with his thoughts on whether or not he should announce his presence.

"summer?" he said acting like he had just arrived.

the girl's head whipped up to see the last person she wanted to see her like this standing in front of her. She wiped her tears and rolled her eyes before trying to rush past him.

"you didn't see anything, perreault"

"are you alright," he said blocking her

"move" she told him

"summer"

"please, gabe," she said beggingly.

"you don't have to tell me what's wrong, just let me take you to get some food or something, I doubt you've eaten today," he said seriously.

summer did not expect him to say that. she was honestly expecting him to start mocking her and call her a spoilt princess.

"if I go, you won't tell anyone you saw me having a mental breakdown outside the library?" she said sniffingly.

"I wasn't going to tell anyone anyways" he told her.

she observed him, looking for any hint of jokingness, but he looked wholeheartedly genuine. she could use some food, but with gabe?

she decided against the alarms that were going through her head and agreed to join him.

"sorry i've been mean to you, i've just been going through a lot and it's not your fault at all, i'm sorry" she mumbled as they started walking towards the closest ihop.

"it's fine, i kind of got you weren't up to play today" he chuckled

"you call what we do playing," she said with a raised eyebrow

"well, I'm playing most of the time, but then you go deep, and I actually get mad," he said, smiling, seeing as he was finally pulling a smile out of the girl.

"im sorry it's just really funny when i piss you off" she laughed

"why," he said throwing his arms up

"same reason you do" she smirked as he playfully rolled his eyes

the two walked into the closest IHOP, not knowing the relationship that was beginning to blossom.

[zeltqz]

𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 [𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐃] TWO

|you and ran catch up a little in more ways than one.

pairing. ex!ran x fem!reader

series synopsis. bonten is forming and in the midst of it all, you find yourself caught in the sticky webs of your ex boyfriend and current bonten executive, haitani ran.

length. 7.2k words

A/N: thanks for all the sweet comments you all left me under ch1. they were so positive i love u all :(((( made my whole week

With a world heavy sigh, you turned to look at him again. The first thing you noticed was he was attractive. His sharp jawline caught your attention first, his tattoo next. Then you met his eyes. Those goddamn eyes that no amount of alcohol could make you forget. You blinked for a couple moments, the movement slow as you tried to regain control over your muscles. “No way.”

“Yes way,” he responded, tilting his head as he watched you blink life back to your eyes, amused with the way you rubbed your eyes with the heel of your palm. “Careful. You’re gonna dig your eyes out.” He gently held onto your wrists, removing them from your half blood shot eyes.

“No wait, stop.” You shrugged your hand out from his grip,almost stumbling over your feet as you stood up abruptly, taking multiple steps back to contemplate what the fuck is going on today. Obviously you expected to run into a couple of old friends eventually, but you thought that’d take months, weeks at best. Now you managed to meet at least three already in a span of two weeks. “How did you find me? Are you stalking me? Why are you here? What is going on—”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I was here on business and saw you with Mira earlier at the table. I wanted to talk to you before but wanted to wait for the right time.”

“Oh.” You felt the slight panic inside you slowly ease out as your shoulders slumped downwards. “Okay. That’s cool. I guess.”

“Sit down.” He grabbed your wrist and gently eased you back towards the staircase. You almost tripped again when you sat down, the alcohol making your legs inoperative. “I missed you, you know? How’ve you been?”

“Honest answer?” You looked at him and he nodded. “Not so great. But it’s whatever. I’ll get over it. And I missed you too," you admitted, meekly.

Ran tilted his head and looked at you, resting his weight on his left arm. He took a moment to trace your side profile, desperately wanting to go lower but given the fact you were bouncing your knee restlessly, he knew now wasn’t the time. “You good? You look stressed.”

“I’m not, I promise,” you responded, unable to look him in the eye despite feeling his gaze on you. Everything is too overwhelming right now. Regarding that list of people you desperately wanted to avoid, Ran was a solid number 1. You can’t bring yourself to look at him without the prickle of tears springing in your eyes. You sniffle quietly and turn your face away, covering your mouth with your hand. 

“Are you crying?” he asked, leaning more forward to get a better look at you but you stubbornly turned away, mumbling you’re fine as you wiped at your face with your sleeves. 

He sighed heavily and shifted towards you. You stiffened when you felt his arm wrap around your arm. “C’mere,” he said, pulling you towards him. Reluctantly, you allowed him to pull him closer. He rested his chin on top of your head, wrapping his arms around your side as you sniffed and wiped your face. “Come on, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“It’s just…being back is messing with my head. And everyone is in my face and there’s so much going on and I feel I haven’t had a chance to just breathe since I came back.” He handed you a tissue from his suit pocket and you thanked him, sniffling again as you wiped your nose and face. 

“When did you come back?” he asked and you felt his chin move atop your head when he spoke. 

“Two weeks ago.”

“Wow. So you really left the country for eight years? No wonder I couldn’t contact you.”

“I doubt even if I stayed we would be in contact either,” you responded quietly, slowly pushing out of his grip to sit back at a reasonable distance on the staircase. 

“You’re still mad at me about that?”

You stared at him for a long moment before shaking your head. “I’m not doing this right now.” You stood up and he watched as you walked over to the door to unlock it but the door remained locked ever since Ran moved his foot. 

“It’s locked,” he stated the obvious, making you stop and slowly turn around.

“No really? I didn’t fucking notice.”

“You’re taking your anger out on the wrong person.”

You shoved your hands into your coat pocket and zipped it up, walking back over to the stairs to grab your bag. “I’m walking home.” 

“Like hell you are. Let me drive you home. You’re drunk.”

“I don’t need your help. I’m fine. Don’t touch me.” You pushed his arm off you.

“I’ll call you a taxi then.” Ran stood up and reached for his phone. When you tried to walk away again, he reached out, arm curling around your waist to tug you back to his side. You were squirming as he was dialling the number of one of his drivers. “Yeah I’m around the back. You got two minutes.” He hung up the phone with those simple words. “Come here, he’ll be soon.”

“What kind of taxi comes in two minutes?” you argued, trying to release his grip from your arm as he was walking you towards the backroad. 

“Don’t worry your pretty head about the details.” He turned around and booped your nose. You scowled up at him as the driver pulled in. The car was shiny and black, a guy with a bald head and thick black sunglasses on his head driving the front seat.

“You must think I’m a fool if you think I’m getting in that car.” You finally ripped your hand from his grip and scowled up at him, arms crossed over your chest. 

“Why not?”

“Because…he looks shady. I don’t trust it.”

He lifted your head up by your chin and stepped a little closer to you. “Do you trust me?” he asked with a low voice and you felt the rumble of his voice stir low within your belly.

“I…no—I don’t know.”

His grip on your chin tightened a bit. “Yes or no.”

As scary as Ran looks now, part of you still feels safe around him. Never once in your life has he ever made you feel unsafe. You swallowed and slowly nodded your head. “Yes. I do.”

“Good.” He held your face between both hands and planted a kiss on your forehead. “Now get in the car and tell him your address.” When you still looked hesitant, sweeping your eyes back and forth between Ran and the driver, he continued. “He works for me and won’t even dare to hurt you. He knows what’s on the line if he does. I promise.”

Your eyes trace his face, looking up at him through your eyelashes. He was standing so close you could kiss him, you could wrap yourself in his arms and slide your hands through his hair and take him in the backseat of his car. But you had restraint, the sober part of your mind whispered to take your ass in that car and go home. 

You backed away and slowly entered the car, shifting to the end and rested your head on the window. Ran walked up to his driver and knocked on the window. The tinted window rolled down and Ran rested his arms against the open window, gesturing for the driver to come closer. 

“Take her home and you don’t take your eyes off her until she gets inside. If something happens to her," he leaned in to whisper his threat into his ear and you watched as the driver stiffened momentarily before catching himself, readjusting his glasses on his head and nodded.

"Yes, sir. I understand."

Ran smiled cooly, patting his shoulder. "Good to know." 

Ran walked over to your side of the window and you blinked wearily at him, going in and out of consciousness as you started to feel sleepy. “What did you tell him?” you asked, voice slurring a bit.

“Don't worry about it. Get home safe, okay?" His sweet smile and those mesmerising eyes made your heart flutter. You'd blame it on the alcohol later, but right now you nodded silently and rolled the window back up as the car began to drive away.

"Where do you live?" the driver asked hesitantly, not taking his eyes off the road as you tried to meet his gaze through the rear view mirror. You tell him your brother's address and the two of you continue the drive in silence.

"So, how do you know Ran?" you asked the driver, frowning when he stayed silent. "Did you hear me?" 

He glanced at you briefly before turning back to the road. You frowned and sulked back in the seats. "Fine, ignore me then."

"Don't sulk like that," he said after a moment, sighing shortly and clearing his throat. "It's just...Haitani doesn't want me talking to you."

You sat up. "Why not?"

"If he found out I was talking to you, he'd probably kill me," he laughed awkwardly and you snorted, shaking your head.

"He's bluffing. He wouldn't actually do that."

The driver stayed silent and you turned your attention back to the scenery outside the window. A dark thought struck you and you furrowed your brow. "What's your name?" you asked but he stayed silent again. "Ran isn't here. You don't have to be scared of him. Besides, I won't tell him. Not like I'm gonna see him again anymore."

"Why not?" he asked curiously.

"I have no business talking to him. He's like an itch that needed to be scratched a long time ago."

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your business with Mr.Haitani?"

You fidgeted in the seat a little and he noticed. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm just...curious."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "He seems protective over you. It's weird. I've never seen anything like that."

"He doesn't care about me," you said softly, almost to yourself. 

The driver fell quiet again. The tension filled the air between the two of you and the only sound filling the space was the hum of the engine. "Well if you say so. But your relationship with him? What is it?"

"I'm his ex," you answered bluntly and the driver blinked, lips parted slightly.

"Makes sense," he responded before parking outside your brother's house.

"Thanks for the ride," you responded, sliding out of the car. You waited for him to drive off but he didn't move. "Uh, you can go now."

The driver shook his head. "Mr.Haitani said I should wait until you get in before I leave."

You rolled your eyes. "Of course he fucking did." You slammed the door shut and walked inside your house, watching from the peephole as the driver stayed stationary for a couple of minutes before driving away. "Fucking weirdos," you thought to yourself.

~*~

"Good fucking news!" Your brother shouted excitedly when he burst through your bedroom. He opened the curtains, exposing sunlight directly into your face. You hissed and stirred on the bed, lifting your sheets to shield your face from the sun.

"Leave me alone," you grumbled groggily, fighting the urge to kick your brother when he lifted your sheets off your body. "What is it?" you groaned, rubbing your eyes and sitting up.

"I got you a job!"

"That's great, congrats." You yawned and stretched, a dull ache emerging in the middle of your lower back. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"What kind of reaction was that?! You're supposed to be happy!" He exclaimed, rushing to your side and pulling you up. "Come on, wake up!"

"Stop tickling me," you protested, pushing him away to slump back in the bed. "My head is fucking killing me."

"Well nobody told you to drink that much yesterday."

"I wasn't planning on drinking that much! It just happened!"

"Yeah, okay whatever. Sureee." He moved to sit on the end of your bed as you rolled over onto your back and splayed your palm over your forehead to feel how hot it was. "Who did you hang out with after you left the wedding by the way? I didn't hear from you all night."

"Mira took me to some party with her husband," you responded, raising your hand to cup your mouth as you yawned. "Technically her fiance but yeah."

"Oh she's engaged? That's cool. Did you see Dona?"

You glanced up at him awkwardly scratching his neck as he waited for you to answer. "Did she ghost you or something? Please don't tell me you're in love with her."

His face flushed and he whipped his head over at you. "I'm not!"

"You better not be. She's a bitch first of all and I'd probably kill you for catching feelings that quickly after spending one night with her. Which is still gross as fuck by the way. Never sleep with my friends again."

He rolled his eyes. "It was one time..."

"One time too many," you shuddered and sat upright, the sleep now long gone from your system. "Now tell me about this job."

"Shion said he got you a job at his convenience store. It's yours if you want it."

"Ew..." You shot up, throwing the covers back. "I hate working retail."

"I knew you would say that. Guess you'll just have to start applying for other jobs then. There are plenty of companies hiring and shit," Hiro said, pushing himself off the bed to wipe down his crumpled jeans. "I gotta go to class now. Don't do anything stupid please."

"When have I ever done that?" He opened his mouth to answer. "Don't actually answer that. Just...get to class already."

Hiro grinned and waved goodbye at you before heading down the stairs. You pulled out your phone, expecting your texts to be completely dry only to see a message from Mira.

Maybe: Mira Moria

Hey!!!! I'm sorry I abandoned you at that party yesterday. I was drunk and crying and Naoto took me home early :(((( It won't happen again I promise!! If you ever want to hang out again just text me. I'm always available!! Love you loads and I missed you tons <3333

Your heart warmed at her sweet words, a wave of reassurance washing over you and a smile spreading over your face as you texted back a simple Thank you before shutting off your phone.

The rest of the day went by and you found yourself clinging onto the last bit of your student finance. You really do need a job. One that pays well. That's how you ended up agreeing to Shion's deal.

"Press this button to open the register, press it again to ring up a purchase." He pointed at a small plastic keypad set beside the cash register.

You groaned . The job was definitely far more involved than you expected. "I can't remember all this shit."

"Language," Shion nudged you gently when the store manager looked grumpily in your direction. "C'mon try again, it's easy. I'll go slower." He grabbed your hand and stood behind you as he moved your fingers to each button, explaining slowly their purpose but you were distracted. The feel of his lip against your ear as he spoke, the grip of his hand on your wrist as he moved it from button to button had your heart beating twice as fast. "Gotta get you trained quickly."

With his fingers intertwined with yours, you managed to push the right buttons and complete the task successfully without pressing any wrong ones.

"Hey! You did it!" Shion cheered, gently nudging your shoulder. You bit back on a smile when he wrapped his arms around you in a backwards hug, resting his chin on top of your head as you continued to push the buttons on the screen. His breath tickled your neck as he chuckled quietly. "You wanna give it another go?"

"Sure." You reached forward and pressed the same buttons he did, doing exactly as he instructed. The drawer didn't pop out and you frowned. You felt his hands move back to yours, moving your hand to press the right keys.

The store manager's phone rang and she stood up and left the room to go answer it. She returned minutes later. "Shion, close up the store for me. I have to run."

"You got it, boss." He winked as she rolled her eyes. 

"Train her. I want her to get this down before next week,” she added.

"I will," you responded, determined to understand how to work this damn machine. But the second the door closed, Shion spun you around, pressing your back into the counter and attached his lips to yours. You were caught off guard for a second as he slid his hands down your waist, gripping and squeezing at your hips.

"Shion, we can't," you whispered, panting when he pulled away.

"Why not? It's been so long." He rested his forehead against yours, looking deeply into your eyes. "I missed you so much."

"It's...complicated," you replied, breathless.

"What? You taken or something?" He bent down to kiss your neck, nipping at the skin. "Got some boyfriend abroad or what?"

"No. I don't," you whimpered when he began kissing his way up to your ear, nipping at your earlobe.

"Then what's the problem?"

"It's weird..." You gently pushed him away, breathlessly, wiping your mouth. "I just really need a friend right now. Not...this."

"I know but...we did it before."

"I just got dumped and I was lonely," you admitted, hating the way he tensed up at your harsh words. "I know it was wrong for using you like that but I was nineteen and dumb. I made stupid decisions back then and I regret them." Your hands moved to cup his face. "I love you Shion, but not like that. I don't think I love anyone like that right now."

"Right now...? So there's a chance later?"

You blinked at him. "I don't know."

"Think about it. Because I'm not letting you up that easy, okay? Whenever you need someone, I'll be there." He rested his forehead against yours, intertwining your fingers together. You gaped up at him as he fought back the urge to snatch your lips back in another kiss. "I promise."

"I..." you take a moment to swallow. "I need to take a walk." You stepped out of his grip and grabbed your bag, moving to step past him but he caught your hand in his, turning you back to face him.

"Are you coming back?"

"Yeah! I just need fresh air. I'll be back in like 15."

He looked hesitant but the look on your face made no room for arguments. He let go of your hand and you held a poker face before leaving the store. Your head felt like it was going to explode. How could things go so left in a matter of two minutes...?

In the midst of your walk, your thoughts were interrupted by an incessant buzzing coming from your pocket, Unknown Caller at the top of the screen.

"Hello? Who's this?"

"So you do have the same number." It took every ounce of willpower in you to not instantly hang up.

"Ran. How did you find my number?" you asked through clenched teeth, slowing your footsteps down to a stop.

"It's crazy. I have this thing called a phone and it stores phone numbers in it, and yours also happened to be there you know, because we dated?" Ran said and you could hear the shit-eating grin that was undoubtedly spread across his face.

You groaned, looking up at the sky and hoping someone up there gave you the strength to get through this call. "So, what do you want? Why are you calling me?"

"Because you can't leave me on read this way."

"...bye, Ran."

"Hold up, wait wait," his laugh stopped you from hanging up. "Can we just talk for a moment?"

You sighed, running a hand across your face. "Talk about what? What on earth is there possibly to talk about?"

"Anything. You know my conversation topics are diverse."

"Well mine aren't. Neither is my patience, Ran. So say what you want or I'm hanging up and blocking your number." You didn't mean to sound as harsh as you came across, but emotions were getting the best of you.

There was a brief pause and you swear you heard him sigh on the other line. "You're stressed."

"I'm not fucking stressed," you remonstrated, rubbing your temples once you felt your temper start to rise.

"You sound stressed," he hummed thoughtfully, oblivious to the way you were slowly starting to lose it. "You were never this stressed when we were together," he added.

"For the record, I was stressed out because of you many many times Ran."

"Yeah...but at least I made things right and fucked it out of you." You scoffed loudly and he laughed. "I can do it again if you'd like."

"I knew there was something you wanted," you sighed heavily, hating how your mind was actually considering it.

"No strings attached. Promise," he grinned and you pursed your lips in a small line.

"There's always strings attached with you, Ran."

"Just come over. I'll send someone to your house to pick you up right now," he said softly.

"I'm not at home right now. I'm at work."

"Where?"

"That convenience store on the corner by the train station," you said automatically, casting a guilty look back at the convenience store with Shion inside.

"Perfect." He texted his driver the location. "You're comfortable with the same driver from yesterday, right? Rate his service."

You snorted. "Do you run an Uber service or what?"

"Nah," he chortled. "He's on his way. See you soon."

"Okay, bye Ran." You softly hung up the phone and bit your lip as you looked back at the store. The driver would take a couple minutes and you have plenty of time to walk in there and talk to Shion, tell him you're going to hopefully get laid...yeah no, you can't do that. That'll be a slap in the face.

You wanted to slam your head against the car window when the same driver from yesterday pulled up and you didn't tell Shion you in fact were not coming back to the store. A simple text could suffice too, but you were feeling uneasy contacting him after that confession earlier. It was a shitty thing to do, you knew that, telling him you weren't ready for anything like that whilst currently on your way to your ex's house.

The driver looked at you through the mirror. "You look stressed."

"You know you're the second person to tell me that today," you couldn't help but fight back a laugh. Do you look stressed? How were you even supposed to know at this point? "What's your name? I'm curious."

"I can't tell you that."

"Why not? I'm harmless."

He chuckled before clearing his throat, looking straight back at the road. "Maybe later. I consider Mr. Haitani would want me to drive you around a lot in the future."

"Yeah right. This is a one time thing."

"I've heard that before," he chuckled before pulling up outside Ran's penthouse.

Feeling mischievous, you unbuckled your seat belt and leaned over the console to the wheel and honked the horn around ten times, each one lasting longer than the last, until Ran opened the front door, mumbling something under his breath before walking over to the car, tapping on the window. You moved back into your seat and rolled it down.

"I have a doorbell you know? And a door," he said with a grin when you wouldn't stop laughing.

"I was lazy," you smiled sheepishly, unlocking the car door and pulling him inside. Your hand moved behind his head and pulled him down for a kiss. You nearly melted when he brought his hand up to your thigh.

"Get out," he pulled away, casting a glance at the driver who nodded and smoothly slid out of the car. The second the door shut, Ran brought his attention back to you, pushing you down against the seat. You moaned as he covered your body with his own, trailing kisses along your jawline.

You wrapped your arms around his neck and pressed your nose up against his. "No strings attached right?" you asked.

"None," he promised, moving to sit down and pull you on top of his lap. His hands gripped your waist tightly as he kissed you passionately, causing goosebumps to cover your body. It had been so long since you've gotten any form of affection and the butterflies in your stomach were raging.

His tongue ran along your bottom lip, urging it open , letting it glide along his own. When you pulled away, you hummed softly when his lips trailed soft kisses down your neck and your shirt soon got thrown on the floor.

Your fingers raked through his hair as he got closer to your chest. You reached down and slid your hand under his t-shirt. Feeling his muscles, and smooth skin underneath his clothes caused butterflies to form in your stomach. Pulling him closer, you bit his earlobe as his fingers traced under your breast. His hands moved to unzip your jeans, you raised your hips up to allow him to successfully take them off and tossed them onto the floor, in a sad pile along with your shirt.

He ran his fingers along your bare thighs, making you gasp slightly. The feeling of his warm breath against your breasts, the gentle nips and bites were all so distracting you didn't notice his fingers trailing down to your panties.

Your body shivered with desire as he pressed more of his weight against you, pressing his lips against yours more harshly, moaning into your mouth and gripping every part of your body he could grasp. You felt more drunk at this moment than you did yesterday when you were actually drunk. Your body is naturally attracted to his presence, craving his mouth, his fingers, his touch.

"Fuck..." you whispered when his fingers nudged your panties aside, rubbing soft circles on your clit. You were so wet, his fingers soaked when he pulled away, moving them up to your lips, watching eagerly as you sucked them clean.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered huskily, pushing his fingers deeper into your mouth. You moaned around them, sucking hard before gasping when he pulled his fingers out. "Fuck. Get on your knees."

You obeyed, bending in uncomfortable positions to shift onto your knees in the limited space in the car. Grinning, he leaned back and watched you reach inside his pants and grab his cock. You shifted forward, taking in every inch of his length and biting your lip as you wrapped your hand around the shaft, squeezing gently. You began softly stroking it, letting the tip rub against your lips, and back down to the base. The salty sweet flavour of pre-cum began coating your fingers as you moved your hand faster.

"You look so sexy right now," he muttered, tilting your head up so he could see you better. You smiled and licked your lips, moving back down to suck gently on his tip. Your eyebrows pinched in interest when you saw him lift his hips up to grab his phone from his back pocket, holding the camera just above his dick.

"What are you doing?" you asked, leaning forward to see. His spare hand pushed your head back down towards his crotch.

"What does it look like?" he quipped, focusing the camera on your face as you stared at him intently.

"Who are you sending that to?" you asked curiously.

"Myself." You looked at him a little unsure. "I promise, baby. This is my spare phone for my personal use only."

"Okay..." you whispered, playing with his dick a little more before moving back up to the tip. "At least tell me if it's a pic or video."

"Shh...don't distract me."

You rolled your eyes and kissed down the length of his cock when you heard a click, then another click, before the sound of a video being recorded. Looking up at him, you grinned and placed your free hand under his balls, moving your thumb in circular motions over them. You licked a long strip from base to tip before slowly engulfing his cock in your mouth. His hips thrusted forward as you took all of him in, moaning softly at how good he tasted. Sucking gently, you twirled your tongue around the tip, sucking firmly. He groaned your name, tossing the phone on the seat and pulled you off his cock.

"C'mere," he murmured, tugging you upwards onto his lap. With a soft giggle, you wrapped your arms around his neck as his hands slid over the curve of your ass, letting you climb on top of him.

You peeled your panties off, adding to the pile of your clothes in the corner and lifted your hips up to let him angle his cock inside you. Slowly entering you, you slowly sunk down, savouring every inch of his cock working his way into you. Your eyes flew open as you felt yourself start to drip around him. You shifted slightly, his cock hitting something good inside you, then whimpered by his ear the lower you sank down.

"Oh...fuck..." you bit your lip, closing your eyes as you let out a soft sigh when his lips attached to your neck. Glancing down at him, you ran your fingers through his messy hair, gripping it tight as you started bouncing. He groaned when you tightened around him, your fingers scratching at his hair made him tighten his grip around your waist.

Every time you slammed down on him, he pulled you tighter, burying himself deep inside you. His fingers dragged deep lines down the length of your back every time you tightened around him. You tried to slow down but he wouldn't have any of it, sinking his fingers in the soft fat of your hips and started bouncing you harder.

"Faster...please..." you begged, shaking with pleasure, reaching behind you to grip onto his knee. He ran his eyes down your body, licking his lips when he noticed your face squeezed in pleasure. Giving a soft chuckle, he reached down to play with your clit, sliding his thumb over the sensitive bud every time you slammed down on him. It felt like he was splitting you open, your body exploding with nerves as his lips wrapped around your nipples, sucking with an intensity that sent your body into overload.

Your orgasm ripped through you and you silently screamed as your juices gushed out onto his cock, turning a creamy white colour as it mixed with his cum. Every inch of your body shook uncontrollably as you collapsed onto his chest, trembling.

His finger stopped rubbing against your clit and you moaned quietly. He ran his fingers down your sides, planting kisses along your face before reaching your lips. You kissed him back just as eagerly, pulling away to catch your breath.

"Holy shit," you breathed heavily, bringing your forehead to rest on his. "God...that was amazing," you panted, trying to catch your breath, your sides ticklish from his fingers tracing patterns into your skin.

"You were amazing," he replied with a grin. Lifting his hand from your hip, he caressed your thighs slowly. "Do you have any plans tomorrow?" he asked, looking up at your face, completely mesmerised by you.

"No, why?" you responded, fanning yourself as the temperature in the car rose.

"Spend the night here." His voice was warm and serious.

"What happened to no strings attached, Ran?" you teased, looking down at his t-shirt and unbuttoning a couple buttons to run your finger down his tattoo.

"Please," he sighed, angling his face in a way that caused your breath to catch in your throat.

"I dunno...Ran."

He pulled your hand up so he could kiss each finger individually. "Mm, why not? You said you missed me, remember?"

"Yeah but that's the problem. I don't want things to get weird, you know."

"I don't care if it's weird, just spend the night with me." He looked you in the eye, making sure there was no hint of regret or sadness behind your eyes. "Besides, you kinda owe me."

You moved your head backwards. "What?"

"With how we ended," he leaned forward until his nose brushed yours, "that was rough."

"You deserved it," you spat, hating how close you were getting to giving in to his charm.

"The only thing I deserve right now is your cute ass in my bed sleeping next to me, and by the looks of things," he ran his thumb across your bottom lip, "I think I'm going to get what I want."

The two of you held eye contact as if challenging you to say otherwise. You gave him one last look, then moved off his lap. He watched in silence as you began changing back into your clothes, fighting back a laugh when you put your shirt on inside out but it didn't matter because you looked at him, disappointed in yourself. "Lead the way."

~*~

"Where's your shower?" you asked as you stepped inside his house. "I feel gross and sweaty."

Ran shrugged off his jacket, tossing it over a nearby chair and walked towards his room. "Just down the hall, second door on the left," he answered, slipping off his shoes and pulling you with him. "Come on, I'll show you."

You glanced around, taking in his house as he led you to the bathroom. His hand was firmly planted on your back, never releasing you as he opened the door and walked inside, motioning for you to follow. You began to strip off your shirt, pausing when you realised he was still there.

"Um. Privacy please?"

He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms and tilted his head at you. "Nothing I haven't seen before."

"Jesus...Ran. Are you being forreal right now?"

He snorted and left the room, shutting the door behind him. After you showered, you grabbed a clean towel and wrapped it around your waist, stepping into his bedroom. "I need clothes."

Ran was laying on his bed, texting on his phone with one hand as the other fiddled with the front strands of his hair. "In the closet over there. Help yourself."

You padded your wet feet over to the closet and found a shirt and a pair of shorts. After changing, you crawled onto his bed, lying flat and watched his eyes glue onto his phone. "What're you doing?" you asked.

He tilted the phone in your direction and your eyes widened when you were met with the sight of your lips wrapped around his cock from earlier, slowly bobbing your head up and down.

"Please delete that," you groaned, covering your face in embarrassment.

"You look good, stop stressing."

A few minutes passed where neither of you spoke, enjoying the moment and he went back to typing at his phone. "When are you going to sleep?" you asked.

"Not anytime soon," he said, not taking his eyes off his phone. "I have work to do tonight."

"By the way, what do you do? I noticed that tattoo on your neck." You sat upright and reached out to touch it. He flicked his eyes up at you, throat bobbing under your touch as he swallowed.

"I do business."

You looked at him impressed. "What type of business?"

He booped your nose. "You're nosy, aren't you?"

You narrowed your eyes at him. "You're hiding something from me."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"Not."

You crossed your arms. "Then tell me." Your eyes dropped down to his unlocked phone and quickly grabbed at it, scrambling backwards to the end of the bed. He laughed and grabbed your legs, pulling you back towards him and took his phone back. You giggled and tried squirming away but he was too strong as he caged you in. "You want to play games, big girl?"

"Um...no," you said, looking up at him shyly.

"If you must know, I run businesses like clubs, restaurants, casinos, etc." He intentionally left out some more details, but the satisfied look on your face was enough for him.

"That's cool I guess," you said as he stood up. "Do you have to go now?"

"Yeah. I've got a meeting now." He slid the phone back into his pocket and placed his hand on your cheek, turning your face towards him. He moved closer, staring deeply into your eyes. "Goodnight. I'll be back before you wake up."

You nodded, wrapping your arms around his neck and kissing him sweetly. "Night," you whispered. He lingered longer than necessary and your heart beat faster every time he pressed his lips against yours. When he finally pulled away, he stared down at you, taking his own sweet time.

"Keep looking at me like that, you're gonna make me miss the meeting," he whispered, leaning down to press his lips against your collarbone.

"Then miss it," you whispered into his ear, watching him slowly think about it.

"Where the fuck is Haitani?" Mikey sighed for the tenth time, pinching his temples as Ran's assistant rapidly tapped away at her phone, spamming her Boss.

"I don't know," Dona said, frowning down at her phone screen. She flipped her blonde bangs out of her eyes and sighed again. "I called him six times but he's not picking up. His phone is on because it didn't go to voicemail."

Sanzu snorted, leaning back in his chair. "Doesn't mean anything, people lose their phones all the time."

Kakucho shook his head, disagreeing. "Not Ran. He practically has his phone glued to him at all times. He probably just fell asleep again."

Mikey was growing more and more impatient. "Rindou," he called out suddenly, making Rindou look up at him. "Go to your brother's house and get him to come already."

"You think he's gonna listen to me?" Rindou asked, getting up from his seat and putting his phone away.

Dona rolled her eyes, grabbing the nearest paperweight. "Of course he will. You're the only one in this room he actually considers listening to, minus Mikey of course. I’ll come too."

"Fine." Rindou shrugged his jacket back on. "Give us twenty minutes."

"Take your time," Sanzu grinned, scooting his chair over to Takeomi sitting near the back of the room and resting his cheek on the table. He peeked a green eye open at his older brother as he counted the money from the deal he made earlier. "Whatcha doin'?" He reached out to poke Omi's cheek before gasping when his hand got slapped away.

"Minding my business, dumbass." Takeomi grumbled, kicking Haru's chair away.

Mikey puffed out his tenth sigh of the day and pointed at Rindou. "If Ran doesn't come in the next thirty minutes we'll start without him."

"Got it, boss," Rindou said before exiting the room with Dona following behind him.

You sighed happily when Ran planted a small kiss on your clit. He slowly began unravelling you with his tongue, running it along the seam of your folds. His nose brushed against your clit and you sighed happily, messing up his hair as he sucked you gently.

There was loud banging on the door which snapped both of you out of your sex haze. You sat upright before Ran pushed you back down, moving your hips back towards him. "Ran, not now. Go answer the door."

"They can wait," he responded before returning back to his mission. You sunk back down into the pillows, trying to keep your moans to a minimum as his tongue slid along your slit, circling and sucking the bed gently.

"God..." you whimpered, digging your nails into the sheets as his talented tongue worked magic on you. The knocking persisted but Ran continued to ignore it, his eyes meeting yours as they danced with lust. His finger trailed along your wet slit and your body tightened as he slid it inside you.

"Mmm," he mumbled against your pussy as his thumb began teasing your swollen bud.

The knocking stopped then the sound of a key unlocking the front door. You froze when you heard footsteps down the hallway. You tried to push Ran off you but he gripped your hips firmly when you tugged at his hair, hard enough to lift his face from between your thighs.

"Relax, it's just Rindou. He's probably here to scream at me or somethin'."

"Rindou?!" you squeaked, trying to squirm away from his lips kissing down your thighs. "He's gonna see me! At least lemme put some clothes on!"

"Relax," he replied.

"Say relax one more time and see what happens," you glared down at him. He grinned, planting one more kiss to your thighs before letting go. He sat up against the bed, watching you change back into the pair of shorts he gave you in record time before Rindou burst through his bedroom door.

Rindou's eyes surveyed the messy bed, the crumpled sheets, Ran's messy hair, your heavy breathing, and he narrowed his eyes. "Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me."

Part of you was nervous he recognised you, but he never brought it up or said your name.

Ran only grinned and shrugged. "What?"

"You wanna tell me why you're twenty minutes late to the meeting?" He looked over at you and you intentionally avoided his gaze. "Actually, I know why. You're prioritising sleeping with hookers instead of doing your damn job."

"Hooker?" you said, offended.

"Oh my bad," he faked sincerity. "Forgot that word is offensive now. What the hell are you girls called instead these days?"

You opened your mouth to speak before Ran cut you off. "She's not just some chick, Rinnie." Rindou rolled his eyes at the nickname. Ran grabbed a hold of your waist, pulled you into his lap and grabbed your face, squishing your cheeks and forcing you to meet Rindou's gaze. "You don't remember this face?"

Rindou blinked, taking another look at you. It took him a couple seconds before his eyes widened as the realisation dawned on him. "No. You're fucking lying."

Ran smirked and moved his hands from your face to your waist. "You're so slow. That hair dye is getting to your brain, isn't it?"

"We have the exactly same hair colour--"

"Hi, Rindou," you cut him off before it could lead to an argument. He glared at you for a short moment before clicking his tongue, successfully ignoring you and turning to face his older brother.

"Ran let's fucking go already."

"Okay then," you murmured, looking down at your hands.

Ran sighed and peeled you off his lap and set you on the bed. "I gotta go, baby." He planted a wet kiss along your forehead. "Get some sleep, I'll see you soon."

TAGLIST: @escafhwiluv @lyniana @haitanifxn @rindougf03 @mvteria @hisan-na @luvhaitani @mishueb @Dreamxies @yuma404 @sleeplessreader @shinichirolover @illusorysmut @Lxvephxbic @obsessedwreiner @ililailii @insayninthamembrayn @missgab @reihimbo @l0velikethis @lollevi @danasaan @tenjikusstuff4 @midoriapologist @alkanessa @asp7n

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[star-anise]

You just posted like ten different things about potatoes in the span of maybe five minutes, and I gotta know your take on "The Martian".

Like, the (fictional) man alone on a planet literally only survives because of potatoes shrink-wrapped in plastic for a Thanksgiving meal. If they weren't slated to be on Mars for Thanksgiving, he would have died.

And Andy Weir (author of the original novel) did such a good job with the science of every other element to the story, I honest-to-god believe that potatoes could actually manage to grow in Martian soil (even if that's not been proven for certain afaik).

Which means..... could potatoes terraform Mars into sustaining life??? Are potatoes the key to the universe???

Haha sorry for going so hard on them! Those were mostly all posts from 2020 when gardening and fantasy worldbuilding were lockdown fixations for me. One of them blew up recently so I wanted to give The People more of the content it seemed they were looking for. I don't actually know a lot about potatoes. I just think they're neat.

I do not want to take apart the concept of "colonizing Mars" as some kind of woke gotcha. I want to take your question seriously and charitably. However, I just am the kind of person who's like "Hmm, 'colonize', we should really stop and unpack that word," so let's do that, without forgetting the potato element.

(What "I don't know a lot" means: Potatoes were a crop my family grew several acres of for a few years on our farm before we switched our focus to sheep. I am about 50% as reliable as a horticultural brochure on various potato diseases and growing condition issues. I have listened to two University lectures and read perhaps four historical journal articles beginning-to-end on how the Columbian Exchange affected early-modern Europe, that and half as much again on medieval and early modern European farming practices and population changes, and perhaps three science/history articles specifically on the domestication and proliferation of the potato. I am a white Canadian who actively seeks out information and training in Indigenous history and culture in the Americas, but that's probably still only equal to like, two Native Studies classes in university. I know more than the average person on this topic, but I am also not an expert compared to people who have devoted serious time to learning about this.)

But I have some intuitions in a couple of ways:

The Martian is probably being wildly over-optimistic about its potatoes. They would probably have been irradiated into sterility before being vacuum-packed, and I don't think you can split and propagate them that quickly or successfully. However, potatoes can definitely grow in all kinds of conditions (including under my sink).

They might not be the world's healthiest or happiest potatoes, tho. Soil quality definitely affects the end product. Presumably Watney, being a botanist studying Mars' soil composition, knew how much he had to ameliorate his soil with latrine compost (which would definitely have needed a LOT of processing, since human waste is generally not good for plants, but maybe he used chemicals to speed that up?) to get good soil. However, we would probably need to add a LOT of shit to Mars' soil (and air, and water) for it to host plant life.

Mark Watney makes a joke about having "colonized Mars" because "colony" is Latin for "farm" and he farmed on Mars so haha, funny joke! And we talk about colonies on Mars partly because that's what science fiction did, and a lot of science fiction has been into that colonialism aesthetic. But colonialism and empires actually aren't great, not just because they necessitate huge amounts of racism, oppression, and genocide—I know, you asked me a fun question about potatoes and did not sign up for this, I'm not here to drag you, hear me out—but because they're also really sucky models for agriculture and successful societies generally.

My British ancestors tried to be colonial farmers in a place that is sometimes colder than Mars (Canada's Treaty Six), and let me tell you: IT SUCKED. Most of the crops and herbs and vegetables and flowers that settlers here brought from home and are used to? DON'T FUCKEM GROW. For the Canadian prairies to become conventional farmland, farmers and scientists had to scramble to find, or produce, cold-hardy varieties of everything from wheat to roses. A lot of flowers and plants that are unkillable invasive zombie perennials in other climates don't survive our winters no matter hard we try. The trees and flowers that hold cultural or sentimental attachments for us often don't grow here. The climate is so harsh and population is spread so thin that we cannot do the 100 mile diet and eat foods we're familiar with, and can hardly even manage the 1000 mile diet. (Not that I try, but, my family did once look into it)

A huge number of colonial homesteads, where the pioneers go out on their little covered wagon and build little houses on the prairie? Failed miserably and got bought up by land speculators. My own family came out to Alberta in the 1880s and moved around from land assignment to land assignment, like, six times before settling at their current place in the early 1900s.

Meanwhile: POTATOES

Potatoes are less than ten thousand years old! I am not any kind of expert on archaeology, please nobody throw things, but humans showed up in the Andes (think: high, cold mountains) of South America roughly 9,000 years ago. There are hundreds of wild potato varieties, but they generally produce fairly tiny tubers. It took active work of Indigenous Andean people around 8,000 years ago around Lake Titicaca to cultivate specific strains of potato, doing oldschool genetic modification to make them bigger, more delicious, and hardier. From that cultivation effort around a single species of wild potatoes, they produced thousands of cultivated potato varieties.

Ancient Andean farmers and botanists also played a big part in cultivating quinoa from wild amaranth, as well as producing modern food crops you probably haven't heard of, like oca, olluco, mashua, and yacon, and also coca, which may get a bad rap because it's what cocaine and coca-cola are made from but you cannot deny it's got kick.

Basically, Indigenous people of the Americas (South, Central, and North) went all in on botany and plant cultivation. Plants that we take for granted now have mostly been developed by Indigenous people in the past few thousand years: Tobacco, sunflowers, marigolds, tomatoes, pumpkins, rubber, vanilla, cocoa, sweetcorn, maize, and most kinds of pepper except peppercorn. These things were not found; they were made, by careful cultivation of the world as it was.

This gives us a vision of the future. Colonization, and industrial agriculture, both lean us towards the vision of a totally uniform end product, with the same potato varieties grown on each farm because we have made every farm the same. Instead we could embrace biodiversity and focus on privileging local knowledge and considering the interactions of environment, plants, microbiota, and people. We could create potatoes that were happy on Mars. We could create Mars that is happy to have us. We could create a society that can accept what Mars has to offer.

A lot of why we dream about colonizing Mars is the idea that the Earth itself is dying, that we are killing it, and we need to abandon this farmstead and seek out a new frontier. I acknowledge that shit is bad, but I don't agree with that framing. I am increasingly persuaded that there is a third path between ecological destruction and mass exodus, and I think we need to reject European colonial mentality that creates the forced choice. I find far more use in privileging the knowledge of people who live on and with land than their landlords and rulers, and I especially find value in Indigenous knowledge of land management practices and food production.

I am absolutely not saying that Indigenous people were or are wonderful magical ~spiritual beings~ who frolicked in an Edenic paradise that only knew death and disease once white people showed up. This isn't noble savage bullshit, nor am I invoking people who existed once but whom I have never met. I am saying that I have Indigenous neighbours, colleagues, relatives, and elected representatives. I have learned about mental health, leatherworking, botany, and ecology from Metis and First Nations elders and knowledge-keepers. And like. They have good and useful shit to say.

This is about culture, not race. It is not that their biological DNA means that they know more than me about how to get food from this landscape. It's about cultural history and what we learn from our heritages. What have our cultures privileged? Like, Europe has historically been super into things like metallurgy, domesticating livestock, and creating dairy products. If I want to smelt iron or choose animals to make cheese from, European society would have a lot of useful information for me! And what Indigenous cultures in the Americas have historically focused on instead of cows and copper* include 1) getting REAL familiar with your local flora and figuring out how to make sure you have lots of the herbs and grains and roots and berries you need, and 2) how to make a human society where people can live and have good lives, but do not damage the environment enough to impair the ability of future generations to have the same sort of life.

*Several indigenous American cultures did practice various forms of metallurgy. It's just one of those proportional things, about what societies really go for

Conclusion

I think we could use the processes that formed the potato to find and foster forms of life that could survive on Mars. It would involve learning to think that botany is a sexy science, and understanding just how rich and complicated the environment is. To oxygenate the atmosphere, we'd have to get super enthusiastic about algae and lichen and wetlands. We would have to learn to care deeply about the microorganisms living in the soil, and whether the potatoes are happy.

We'd have to create an economy that counts oxygen and carbon dioxide production on its balance sheets. To learn how to wait for forests to grow back after a fire, instead of giving up in despair because the seedlings aren't trees yet. To do the work now and be hopeful even though we might not see the payoffs for decades, or our victories might only be witnessed by future generations.

So yes, I think we could totally plant potatoes on Mars

But I also think that if we ever got there, we'd have turned into the kind of people who could also save Earth in the first place.

Which makes it a good enough goal in my opinion.

[andkisses]

♡ just about anything | jay ♡

late nights, when really, both of you should have been asleep a long time ago, but who knew this game of monopoly would last so long?

♡ jay x gn!reader | wc. 1.5k ♡ genres/tropes: domestic, competitive couple that won’t quit, staying up way too late ♡ mentions of/warnings: pet names, food, lmk if there’s anything else! <3 ♡ a/n: a repost and revamp of one of my very first writings from YEARS ago </3 (from that blog i accidentally deleted <///333) 

♡ masterlist ♡

With the rest of the lights in the apartment off, the lone one above the kitchen table casts a warm glow into the darkness. The light illuminates the board, littered with green houses, red hotels, and Cheez-Its—you ran out of hotels about an hour ago (but who’s to say?) and needed something to represent a double-hotel on the board. There’s a notebook on the table that keeps getting passed back and forth, covered in numbers and tallies in two different handwritings. It’s currently functioning as a paper bank account, since the game has escalated far beyond the cash given  in a standard Monopoly box.

Your eyes are tired, nearly burning with ache; it’s been too long, and it’s very much past your bedtime. But the both of you are stubborn, and horrifically competitive–especially when it’s just the two of you. He seems just as drained, eyes dropping and his head propped up on a closed fist. The loose hoodie slides down his arm, pooling around the elbow, and he uses the sleeve of the other to wipe at his eyes. Just seeing him sleepy makes you sleepy, and your head is bobbing up and down. It would be so much better to be curled up in his arms right now. The game is one of chance at this point, all up to the dice roll. The only safe spots on the board are your own; everything else is meaningless to you. You know you want to land on your properties and not his, for those Cheez-Its are threatening and—

“Did you just eat some of the board?” you ask, the dice still caught between your hands. 

Jay looks up at you and blinks slowly, still chewing on the stolen Cheez-It. He swallows and takes a sip of his nearly empty glass of water before answering. “No.”

You shake your head, tilting it to one side. “No what?”

“No, I didn’t eat the board. I took it from the bowl, like a civilized person.” He points with his free hand lazily at the blue plastic bowl the Cheez-Its had been poured into when the demand for new hotels had arisen. How long ago had that been? Half an hour? An hour? Hours, plural? You couldn’t tell anymore. This game felt decades long yet you know you started it today. Or, was it really yesterday?

You reach forward and draw the bowl towards you, eliciting a tired pout from your boyfriend. “Well, you shouldn’t eat these either. We may need them.”

“And how could we do that, love?" Jay reaches to pick up the notebook and it flaps under its own weight as he lifts it into the air. “We’d need more money to upgrade any house or non-Cheez-It hotels, and we’ve already borrowed from an imaginary bank three times. Inflation is running rampant throughout this town. We’ve ruined the economy. We’re monsters.”

“What are you talking about?”

Jay shrugs, placing the paper bank back on the table before sniffling and wiping at his eyes again, this time with both hands. The ball cap he wears now sits askew on his head, and you, out of habit, reach forward to fix it, leaning against the table to help span the distance. Your fingers brush against the edge of the board, and the more you lean to reach across the table, the more you end up on top of the board. You’re out of your seat now, feet pressing on toes to get the height and length you need to reach to fix the hat.

And before you know it, you’re face to face and practically on the table. Jay leans forward and bumps his nose against yours while you adjust his hat. “We should stop,” he says plainly.

“Why? So you can win?” you mutter, half grumbling. One hand fixes his hat while the other acts as a brace against the table.

“No, so we can stop,” he says again, one hand reaching to rub simple patterns into the top of your hand. “The Cheez-Its will still be there in the morning. If we need it, Jake can bring his copy so we can have more actual cash to use.”

A quick hah escapes your lips. “You just want to win.”

“No, love, I just want to sleep.”

With his hat now fixed, you carefully lean back, peeling yourself off the table and into your seat. You’re silently thankful for the still intact Cheez-Its. Had they been crushed, you’re sure you’d given up, now feeling more tired than you were before your hat-fixing expedition—and that was already fairly tired. You’re about to refute his case, saying that the two of you should stick it out until the end, that surely it can’t be too much longer, when Jay takes his hat off—the one you so painfully just fixed—to run his hand through his hair before putting it back on, slightly crooked.

“Jay... I just... fixed... that.” You bite your lip, too tired to be angry out right but too tired to realize it also doesn’t matter.

“I know you did,” he replies, yawning into his sleeve. He begs again, a hint of desperation growing into his voice. “Can we please stop?”

You lean forward, resting your chin on the edge of the table and staring up at him from across the board. “Does this mean I win?”

“If you want to, love,” he says, scooting away from the table to stand, silently hoping his movement away from the game will pull you away as well. “If it means we can stop.”

A smile graces your lips as he walks around the table to your side. You take the hand he offers to help you up, holding tight. You pull his arm toward you, hugging it as you both shuffle forward into the darkness, the Monopoly board abandoned. “Thank you,” you say, stretching to place a kiss on his cheek.

“If it makes you happy, love,” Jay begins, his voice soft and tired, “I’d do just about anything.”

“Just about?” you tease, crawling up onto the bed and beneath the covers. “Meaning there’s things you wouldn’t do, hm?”

“Yes, just about,” he replies, mimicking your actions. Even half asleep, he still makes sure you’re tucked safely against his side, with his arm curled around your waist and your head resting on his chest. You hear his heartbeat, smooth and steady.  You wrap your arms around his own waist, a soft smile against your lips.

He continues, murmuring sleepily into your hair after a kiss to your temple. “Just about, because if you had asked me to continue playing with you I would have fallen asleep at that table.”

“And what’s so bad about that?” you whisper back, titling your head up to see him. Moonlight streams around the edge of your curtains, providing just enough light to see.

“I really wasn’t looking forward to waking up with Cheez-Its ingrained into my forehead,” he replies with a half-hearted shrug. “I don’t think the look’s for me.”

You laugh, snuggling in closer against his hoodie, and he laughs too. “I think you would have looked great,” you say against his collarbone, eyes finally lulling shut.

“Do you now, love?”

“Yeah, orange is really your color.”

You feel his arm leave your waist and a single finger place itself beneath your chin. You allow Jay to tilt your head up before you open your eyes. He levels you a stare long enough for you to think you’ve done something seriously wrong before a laugh makes its way out, and before you know it, he’s placing happy, smiley kisses across your cheeks, your nose. He stops before your lips. His eyes, even tired, are still starry and glittering. His voice has reverence when he speaks. “You know I love you with every fiber of my being, right?”

“Yeah,” you whisper. “I do.”

Jay bumps into your nose, hand playfully squeezing back at your waist. “That’s where you’re supposed to say I love you, too.”

You shake your head, fake-frowning. “But you haven’t kissed me yet?”

“Is that a suggestion or a demand?” he asks.

You shrug. “You choose.”

He leans forward, giving you the slightest, softest peck before pulling back.

You pout, chin tilting down. “You call that a kiss?”

“No,” he laughs, kissing the side of your cheek right beside your lips. “I just love your pout. I love everything about you.”

As he kisses the other cheek, just as close to your lips, you sigh. “I love you, too, Jay.”

And this time, he really does kiss you, although chaste and sleepy, but an honest kiss regardless. He tucks you back under his chin, wraps his arms around you so he knows you're safe. You’re nearly asleep when he finally replies, his own voice laced with sleep, and it’s enough to make you smile. Enough to know that he really would do just about anything for you. It makes you wrap your around him just a little tighter, make you smile just a little wider.

“I love you too.” That’s what you’d said. He says, in the darkness and honesty of your room, “I know.”

[findmeintheferns]

your bestfriend’s roommate

(part one)

𝓢𝓾𝓶𝓶𝓪𝓻𝔂: you’ve had the same plug for years, but he wasn’t replying & you were desperate. your bestfriend had been wanting you to switch to her roommate for ages so fuck it. problem is though, you weren’t expecting her to be this attractive…

𝓦𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰: a lil bit of smut, drug use (weed), slowish burn, kinda boring sorry lol writers block

𝓦𝓸𝓻𝓭 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓽: 2.2 k

𝓟𝓪𝓲𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰: dealer ellie williams (TLOU) x reader (y/n)

You stare down at your phone for the 100th time only to once again get met with a blank screen. It had been 5 whole hours yet still nothing. You tried not to let it bother you but at this point you were well and truly feeling impatient. You groan, flipping the phone over so you can no longer fixate on it.

Dina notices your frustration, “I’ve told you so many times that my friend is a way better plug, she replies almost instantly. Plus, she’s in my dorm, you can visit me & stock up at the same time.”

You’ve heard this spiel before, but you weren’t sold on it. You liked having a dealer that was strictly business, you’ve never been one to want to stay and chat, you just want to get your weed so you can go home & get high as soon as possible. Plus, you’ve had the same dealer for over 2 years now, going to someone else would be like a betrayal.

You go to reply but Dina beats you to it,

“Yeah, yeah I know. You guys have an unbreakable bond or whatever.”

You give her a small smile, “I mean hey if he doesn’t reply in the next hour, I might get desperate. I told Alex we could smoke & get ice-cream tonight.”

Dina lets out a snort, “Oof yeah, you’ll definitely be needing the weed if you’re spending the night hanging out with him.”

You roll your eyes, not wanting to reply to her snarky comment. You had nearly been dating for nearly a year, but she still hated him. She never really liked him in the first place, she says ‘his vibe is off’, whatever that means. After a little incident with his best friend Mia however, her dislike turned to hatred. Nothing bad even happened, you overreacted. They hung out, you weren’t aware, and you walked in on them hugging. You got upset at first yeah, but he reassured you that it meant nothing, that she was having a bad day and it was just a simple hug. You believe him, so that’s that.

Dina grabs your phone from off the table, distracting you from your thoughts.

“Just let me put her number in your contacts in case okay? Her name’s Ellie.”

“Fineeeee. I need to go anyway. If I don’t study for this exam I’m screwed, I slept through like half of the lectures.” You sigh, stressed about all the content you have to somehow remember over the span of a few days.

Dina pulls you into a hug, “You’re terrible. Good luck with that, I love you dumbass.”

You pull away and laugh at your brutally honest friend as she begins to walk away, “Yeah, yeah, I love you too I guess.”

You grab your bag, placing a tip under your now empty coffee cup before leaving the little café.

You stare at the clock, it’s an hour before you’re meant to meet Alex and your dealer still hasn’t replied.

“Ughhhhhhh. Whatever. Fine. Fuck it.” you murmur, pulling out your phone.

You really didn’t feel like texting a new dealer, you’re pretty introverted already and it seemed like a lot of effort. But what were you supposed to do.

You unlock your phone and open contacts, Ellie’s profile popping up straight away. You send a short text, introducing yourself as Dina’s friend and asking if she had anything to sell tonight, you weren’t in a place to be picky.

To your surprise it was only 5 minutes before you received a reply. Her response was short too;

-

ellie: yeah, i’ve got a bunch. do you want to come here & pick up? that way you can decide what you want

y/n: oh okay, sure. what time?

ellie: now?

y/n: okay. see u in 5.

ellie: you know where to find me

-

You did appreciate that she didn’t drag out the conversation, but you were still nervous about meeting someone new. Dina’s dorm room is only a short walk from yours which you couldn’t lie, was pretty convenient if Ellie did become your new dealer. Once you arrive at the door you stop for a moment and take a deep breath in, hoping the conversation would be as short as it always was with your normal dealer. If only Dina was here to make things less awkward, but she had volleyball on tonight.

You knock and the door opens instantly. Suddenly your whole body completely stiffens as your eyes meet the girl opening the door. You know you should be speaking right now, but you’re weren’t mentally prepared for this. She looked absolutely nothing like you had imagined. You don’t know why but you kinda assumed she’d be on the gross & dodgy side. She was in fact the complete opposite. She was wearing baggy grey sweatpants and a tank top that hugged her body. Her short brown hair was half tied up in a little knot, her fringe falling over her face. She must of been getting ready for bed. You really wish Dina had gone into more detail when describing her, you weren’t prepared for her to be this…well, attractive, for lack of better words.

“Y/n? You here to pick up yeah?” Ellie’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts.

“Hey, yeah, sorry. Yes I am” you quickly respond, kinda embarrassed about the pause.

“All good, come in and I’ll get you what you need. Sorry about the mess.”

You walk inside the dorm, you had been in there before obviously, but not while Ellie was there. You never even really payed attention to her side of the room yet now you can’t take your eyes off it.

“So, what are you after? I’ll see if I have some.” Ellie asks

“Honestly I don’t mind. Whatever’s your favourite at the moment”

You don’t want to drag this out, you need to head to Alex’s soon and you already feel awkward from the previous interaction.

“Hmmm. Probably blue dream then, it’s mostly Sativa. Really helps with relaxing.”

You shrug “I trust you.”

She puts your weed into a small ziplock baggie and you pay. You quickly try and say goodbye as you walk towards the door but she stops you

“Yeah you’re gonna have to stay at least for a little longer.”

Confused, you stare at her blankly, “Umm, why?”

She returns your glare, “Have you never picked up before or something?”

This kinda offends you and you don’t really know why.

“Yes I have. For your information my dealer just isn’t responding tonight. This is a one off.”

Ellie scoffs, “Huh, lemme guess. Derek is your dealer?”

This takes you back for a moment,

“Yeah… how do you know that?”

She laughs, relaxing her stance and moving to lean back onto her bed.

“Makes sense why you don’t know pick up etiquette. You need to stay here for a little so it doesn’t look sus. Otherwise cops will catch on, just like with your friend Derek. He was lazy and now he’s screwed. You definitely won’t be hearing from him for a while.”

Great. Well that makes sense why he wasn’t responding. You sigh and flop down onto Dina’s bed, staring up at the roof. You really don’t feel like staying here for any longer.

“Aww, am I that terrible to hang out with?”

You roll your head to stare at her, but she’s already looking at you. You wonder what she’s thinking.

“It’s not that” You lie, because it kinda is. “I’m just meant to be meeting up with Alex right now”

She laughs to herself again, “Oh that’s right, Alex, your boyfriend.”

“What’s funny about that? How do you even know that?” you retort, pissed off at this point.

“No, no, nothing. Dina told me is all.” She smiles

You sit up, ready to leave, “Right, well, I need to go. Thanks for the weed.”

You move towards the door but once again Ellie stops you before you can open it.

“Hey, I’m sorry” She says softly “I didn’t meant to upset you, stay a little longer and have a joint.”

The way she’s looking at you makes your stomach churn, but not in a bad way. There’s something so endearing about her, even when she’s pissing you off.

“I really should go, I’ll be late” You respond, trying to not be tempted by the offer.

“It’s on me, just because I annoyed you” she smirks.

You know you should decline, but it’s a lot harder than it would seem.

“Fine. One joint”

So, you didn’t just have one joint, you both shared quite a few. You weren’t sure if it was just the weed that made being around Ellie more manageable, but you were actually having fun. You unintentionally lost track of time, talking about anything and everything. Ellie told you all about her Astronomy major and her favourite astronaut, Sally Ride. You told her about how much you hated math and your inability to focus during lectures. You had moved closer together so that you were both laying down, squished on the same bed staring at the roof. Ellie turned her head to face yours,

“You look pretty stoned” she whispered, a big grin on her face.

She was so close to you it made you nervous, but also kinda excited. She looked incredibly attractive, you kept trying to deny it, but you couldn’t help it. The way she held herself, the way she spoke, her looks, all of it was pulling you in even though you knew it shouldn’t.

You giggled, wanting to reply with a snarky comment but being too high to think of one. You went to take the joint from her, but got distracted by the tattoo on her arm. It was pretty big, it was some sort of moth and a fern. You followed it down until it ended, stopping at her hand. You intertwined your fingers with hers, lifting it up so you could get a better look.

“What?” she laughed, confused as to what you were trying to do.

You didn’t think, you just spoke, “You have really attractive hands Ellie”

For a moment she looked taken back by your comment, but she was too high too overthink it. She moved so that her body was on top of yours, your hands still connected. You felt yourself getting wet, too horny to think about the consequences of what was happening right now. She grinded her thigh into your pussy causing your eyes to roll back as you let out a soft moan. She leaned down and pushed your hair behind your ear.

“Oh yeah?” she whispered, replying to your previous statement “You should see what they can d-“

Ellie was cut off by the sound of ringing. Fuck. You jerk up, grabbing your phone. Surely enough, it was Alex calling. What had you done.

“Fuck, fuck-fuck-fuck” you mumble under your breath, picking up the phone call.

-

Alex: “Y/n? You okay?”

Y/n: “Alex I’m so sorry I was studying and I must have fallen asleep.”

Alex: “Ah, no weed then?”

Y/n: “No weed, I’m sorry. Rain check?”

Alex: “All good, love you.”

Y/n: “Love you.”

-

You felt incredibly guilty, probably the most guilty you’ve ever felt in your life. How could you lose track of time like that? How could you act on impulse like that?

Ellie broke you out of your train of thought “Shit. I don’t even know how that happened. Y/n? Are you okay? Fuck I’m sorry.”

You knew you had to leave before you made an even more regrettable decision. Quickly grabbing your stuff you began to walk to the door,

“All good. I need to go. Thanks, erm, for the weed”

Ellie tries to say something else but it’s too late, you are out of the dorm in no time, almost sprinting back to your room.

That night you got barely any sleep, mad at yourself for taking things so far. You knew it was wrong, so why did you feel yourself wanting more.

[whencyclopedia]

Helen (Play)

Helen is a Greek tragedy by Euripides (c. 484-407 BCE). It is usually thought to have first been performed at the Great Dionysia of 412 BCE and was part of the trilogy that included Euripides' lost Andromeda. Helen recounts an unusual version of the myth of Helen of Troy in which a phantom decoy, an eidolon, replaces Helen in Troy while the real Helen awaits the end of the Trojan War in Egypt. Ever since its first performance, Euripides' Helen has puzzled and fascinated: in his Thesmophoriazusae, performed the year after Euripides' Helen, Greek comedy playwright Aristophanes would parody the “new Helen” (line 850). To this day, scholars continue to debate many aspects of Euripides' Helen, including its jarring juxtaposition of the comic and the devastating, its contemporary relevance, and its message about the nature of truth and reality.

Euripides

Born around 484 BCE, Euripides was the youngest of the three Athenian tragedians regarded as “canonical” since antiquity (the other two are Aeschylus and Sophocles). Of the 90 or so plays he composed during his lifetime, 18 survive in full (one of the tragedies transmitted under his name, Rhesus, is almost universally regarded as spurious). There are thus more surviving plays by Euripides than by Aeschylus and Sophocles put together, demonstrating that after his death Euripides soon eclipsed his two predecessors in popularity.

Little enough is known about Euripides' life, and what little information we have is obscured by fable and fancy. He was born to a family of hereditary priests on the island of Salamis, near Athens. He was said to have married twice, though both marriages ended acrimoniously. From one of his marriages, he had three sons, one of whom became a tragedian too. Above all, Euripides was reputed to have been a recluse, famously living in a cave in Salamis (which became a shrine to him after his death). Eventually, he retired to the court of King Archelaus of Macedon, where he died in 406 BCE.

Euripides is best known to us through his plays. These were performed at various festivals, chiefly the Dionysia and Lenaia, at huge outdoor theaters. Most of Euripides' plays were performed at Athens for audiences of locals and tourists, though some of his works would have been produced elsewhere: in Macedon, where Euripides spent the last years of his life, or Sicily, where he was apparently very popular. Even during his own lifetime, Euripides was known as the most adventurous and avant-garde of the great tragedians. This did not always translate to success, however. Over a career that spanned half a century (Euripides produced his first trilogy around 455 BCE and continued to compose tragedies until his death) Euripides won the first prize just four times during his life (a fifth time posthumously). On the other hand, Aeschylus was said to have been victorious 13 times and Sophocles 18. Euripides' tragedies – full of desperation, novelty, and relentless questioning – were sometimes regarded as sensational and even impious. But Euripides' fame and popularity grew after his death while that of Aeschylus and Sophocles declined. Today there are those that think of Euripides as the greatest of the Athenian tragedians.

Continue reading...

[luveline]

jade!! i have a rooster request (ty if you do it, love u if u dont! ur my queen). i feel like rooster doesn't uh, relax a lot? so maybe making him chill out with a face mask or something? love u!

tysm for requesting, love u ♡ fem!reader

Bradley sits back against the headboard of his bed, listening to your quiet movements in the bathroom with that 'I'm so lucky' feeling coursing rampant through his veins. 

The bed is made —though the corners aren't as neat as Bradley would tuck them— the windows open, a box fan breezing the smell of a triple wick candle his way. Vanilla, coconut, and almond. 

He's trying to think of ways to pay you back for it while you're gone. You don't like accepting repayment for anything, not dinner, not stamps for your copious letters, nothing. He might tuck a twenty into your purse. Better yet, he might ask you to get married, have a portion of his wages wired to your account whenever he fancies. 

That way, you might miss him less. And he'd be much less stressed, if tonight is anything to go by; not because of your cleaning, which he is grateful for, but because your presence feels like a balm for bad nerves. You turn the corner into the bedroom with a muted blue pot in hand and his pulse genuinely slows. 

"Bradley," you say, opening your mouth to propose something. 

"Y/N," he says, putting his hands out to receive you, pulling you over his extended leg to sit across from him. You fold your legs underneath you, taller than him for once.

"Did you wash up when you got home?" 

"Clean as a whistle," he says, eyeing the pot with curiosity, and your dainty vest top with something else. "Want me to prove it?" 

"Do you want to do this with me?" you ask, placing the pot in your palm to show him the dark writing spanning the side.

"Clay Mask." He raises his eyebrows. "For my face?" 

"Yeah. It has chamomile and lavender, so the smell might be a bit cloying for you, but it's…" You tap the lid and shimmy closer, the sheets crinkling under your knees. This close, he can see the triangles of your lashes. The urge to brush them up rises. "Don't entertain me, okay? If you don't want to do it and this will actually make you more stressed, don't say yes. But if you're okay with it I think we could really chill." 

"I'm not half as stressed out as you think I am." 

"Well, half of your stress is triple a normal person's." 

Bradley puts his arms behind his head and tries to give his muscles a subtle flex. You know him too well, rolling your eyes fondly as his biceps dance. 

"It'll definitely relax me if you put it on me," he flirts. 

Your smile is impossible to hide. "You can close your eyes, yeah?" You shuffle closer still as he complies, the gentle hum of sound complimented by the quiet in and out of your breath and the shushing of of your plaid pants rubbing against his as you lean into his space. "It'll be cold," you warn. 

Bradley smiles. "Just lay it on me, sweetness." 

You unscrew your pot. After a moment, he senses your hand, and then cold spreads against his cheek in a soft lump. You smooth it down flat over the planes of his face, melting his heart with the care you show his scars. They were healed years before you met and still you worry you'll hurt him as your fingertip glides over his chin. The smell is heady but with a little hint of sweetness to tide it over.  

It could smell of chicken shit and he'd stick it out just to feel you touching him like this. 

"Do you ever wonder what your top lip looks like?" you ask as you paint the skin either side of it. 

"Nope. You like the stache, babe, you know you do." 

You sit back on your heels. Bradley opens his eyes, his skin cold and sticky. 

"How do you feel?" you ask. 

"Better already." And it has nothing to do with the face mask. He couldn't care less about how corny it is, but you've really made him feel better with your touch alone. 

"Will you do mine?" you ask. 

"You kidding? C'mere." 

He's halfway through painting your face when he starts to feel stiff around his mouth. "What's happening?" he asks, batting down his alarm. 

"It dries solid," you murmur, trying not to move too much under his touch. "Gotta wash it off." 

The mess of clay and water that runs down his arms as he does is enough to put his stress levels back where they were, but your soft laughter from beside him makes up for it. "Looking fresh, Bradshaw." 

He gets clay on his lips trying to kiss you. 

[rosanna-writer]

we said hello and your eyes look like coming home (24/?)

Summary: A canon-divergent AU where the bond snaps for Rhys on Calanmai, Feyre unwittingly accepts it, and Fire Night magic proves to be more transformative than anyone bargained for. Feyre drags a mate she hardly knows out from Under the Mountain, then puts him back together as war with Hybern approaches. Warnings: dubious consent, canon-typical sexual violence, canon-typical violence Rating: Explicit Chapter Word Count: ~4k

ch. 1 - 10 | ch. 11-20 | ch. 21 - i wouldn't marry me either | ch. 22 - burn all the files, desert all your past lives | ch. 23 - i've still got love for you | ch. 24 - and the girl in your bed has a fine pedigree

It's quite brief and not the focus of this chapter, but just a note that there's some brief discussion of disordered eating/skipped meals.

Read on AO3 or you can find the twenty-fourth chapter below the readmore.

Cassian found me while I was on another one of my aimless walks through Velaris. Though honestly, they weren't completely aimless anymore—the city was full of public art, and I'd taken to walking by as much of it as I could.

Statues were easier to face than paintings. The largest concert hall had several on its roof—lullabies given physical form in the stone, marble creatures from fae bedtime stories, and lithe bodies of hewn dancers. Several streets over, water sprayed from sculpted copper river nymphs at the center of a fountain where children swam during the summer. And in a quieter square, a black granite memorial honored the warriors Amarantha had killed in an attempt to break a then-captive Rhys during the War.

Murals covered so many buildings, even outside the Rainbow. The soaring, multi-story portraits were far beyond the scope of anything I ever imagined painting myself; they didn't remind me of the thorny emotions surrounding my own art. I could let myself just appreciate the colors and shapes.

The mountains and pine forests of the Night Court were all brutal, untamed beauty. But Velaris had been made beautiful by the artists who'd called it home for thousands of years. It was a waste not to appreciate it, even if I could only manage to paint half-hidden decorations in the townhouse myself.

I'd been crossing one of the footbridges that spanned the Sidra when the shadow of a massive wingspan fell over me. Stopping to lean against the railing, I watched as Cassian dropped smoothly into place at my side.

There was a slight gust of wind as he pulled his wings in tight. "Rhys said you have orders for me."

I stilled. There was a deferential note in Cassian's voice that I'd only ever heard when he was speaking with Rhys—not as brothers, but as High Lord and his general.

I was aware, of course, that courts had a hierarchy and that I existed somewhere in it. Amren ranked above Mor who ranked above Cassian and Azriel—that much had been explained to me early on. I'd never thought much about it beyond that.

But if Cassian was taking orders from me, then Rhys was making it clear that he would not interfere in matters involving my father and sisters. My choice—it was always my choice with him.

"He told you about Nesta?" I said.

An expression I couldn't read flashed across Cassian's face. His wings twitched. "Is that her name?"

"Cauldron, what the hell did he say about her?" Whatever had passed between Rhys and Nesta clearly hadn't been friendly, but…I hadn't thought it was bad enough that Cassian would look so stricken at the mere mention of my sister.

"Nothing, other than that he'd met her. It's your business to handle."

"Nesta can see through glamours."

Realization dawned on his face. "Ah, fuck."

I laughed, partly just because it was a relief to hear Cassian stop speaking to me like I was someone with authority. Being his brother's mate—and his friend—was much more comfortable, familiar territory.

"Would you be able to talk to her about the sentries and ease her mind? She knows they answer to you."

"Of course."

For someone known as the Lord of Bloodshed, Cassian was remarkably reassuring to be around. I'd experienced that firsthand when I'd found him perched on the roof of the townhouse on my first day in Velaris. And there was nothing I could imagine intimidating him.

Well, almost nothing.

"Thank you. Nesta is…." I stopped short as I tried to find the words, eventually settling on, "She's her own creature."

Cassian knocked a wing against my shoulder. "I'm sure. There's no way anyone could have grown up with you and not come out of it unscathed."

I scowled. He barked a laugh, then added, "You're headed to the House of Wind soon, right?"

"Yes."

The world turned on its head as Cassian hoisted me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. There was no chance to wiggle out of his arms before we shot into the sky. I went limp, afraid I'd end up plummeting to the ground if I moved the wrong way.

"What the hell was that for?" I grumbled, resigned to my fate for the next few minutes.

"React faster next time if you want me to hold you more comfortably."

Bastard. But he was right—I still had quite a lot of training to do before being grabbed and winnowed unexpectedly wasn't such a concern when I stepped outside Velaris's wards. The practice was good for me, even if he was being an ass about it.

"Fine. Don't drop me on my head when we get to the House of Wind, then."

"Tuck your chin and roll. If you crack your skull open on the floor, we'll do remedial drills once it heals."

Learning to fall safely had been one of the first things he taught me, so I contented myself with a glare at the back of Cassian's head. "You're worse than Az."

His long hair whipped in the wind, smacking my face as he tipped his head back and barked a laugh that echoed against the townhouses below. I gritted my teeth and wished he'd fly faster.

But before long, we did make it up there, and my training was good enough that I earned a pat on my thankfully uninjured head. Cassian left for some sort of business with a promise that he'd be in the mortal lands as soon as Nesta gave me a date and time.

Brushing my bangs back into place, I retrieved a book from where I'd left it in Mor's office the other day. Now that I could read, she'd given me an open invitation to see any diplomatic correspondence that mentioned me and give input on her responses. I'd forgotten to bring my book back home when we'd finished working through the latest round of letters.

There had been more talk of me than I would have thought. Helion himself—not an underling—had asked about what would be required to ensure a human was comfortable during our eventual visit. There had been blandly polite inquiries about my health from the Autumn Court, though according to Mor, those were Beron's or Eris's attempts at fishing for information about me because I'd been the one to whip Lucien Under the Mountain. Even amid a discussion about fish imports, Cresseida, a Summer Court princess, had written that she was relieved to hear Rhysand was treating me well, though she'd left it unclear whether she meant as an emissary or as a…lover.

"They don't know that I'm immortal, so I don't see why any of them care," I'd told Mor, speaking freely behind the privacy wards that she'd casted to protect her workspace. "As far as they're concerned, I'll be dead in the blink of an eye."

"Why wouldn't they care about the fate of Feyre Cursebreaker, Savior of Prythian, a true living legend?" she'd said, brown eyes twinkling.

I knew Mor didn't mean it like that, but I still squirmed in my seat. It sounded too much like the faeries who occasionally stopped me when I was out in the city and thanked me for going Under the Mountain. They spoke about me as if I'd been a selfless hero, but in truth, I'd only been thinking of Rhys. Everyone else just…happened to also benefit.

"Because I'm not that interesting." And because I mostly just wanted to be left alone.

Mor shrugged. "Immortality gets dull after a century or two."

I wondered if I'd ever be able to speak about being alive for so long with the same nonchalance. It was easy to forget just how old my new family was. They were all ancient, even if none of them looked a day over thirty.

"It must if I'm what passes for interesting around here."

Rolling her eyes, Mor swept her golden hair off her shoulders, twisted it deftly around a finger, then secured it to the back of her head with a spare pen. "It won't kill you to be a little less modest. You're allowed to be proud of yourself."

I wasn't sure exactly when I'd forgotten that, but I had. And I was grateful for the reminder.

Today, however, Mor's office was empty. She was back at the Court of Nightmares, but I wanted company, so once I'd grabbed the book off of her rosewood desk, I made my way to the library downstairs.

Several heads whipped in my direction when I entered, gems on their foreheads glittering. I froze. Evelyn, the priestess who'd taught me to read, waved me over to the table where she was sitting with several others.

I'd studied with them before. Roslin, who sat next to her, was a historian, and she'd been kind enough to make me a list of books about Night Court history that were appropriate for someone who knew nothing about the subject. Many of them were children's books. But still, Roslin, Evelyn, and the others didn't mind answering my occasional questions about what I read, and ever since I'd helped with the aftermath of the attack on Cesere, I'd always been welcomed to work alongside them.

No one had ever been crass enough to voice the silent, shared understanding aloud—that I might not have sworn an oath to the Mother and donned a hood, but I was still like them. Another female who'd been through an ordeal and found solace afterward in quiet study here.

But today…when I didn't move, Evelyn merely waved her webbed hand more frantically. Confused, I slid into the seat between her and Roslin.

"We have news for you," Roslin said. Her voice was low, almost conspiratorial.

"You do?" I said.

"Ianthe returned to the Spring Court."

I blinked. "Who is that?"

"The worst," another priestess at the table, Deirdre, said without looking up from the yellowed pages of the hefty tome she was reading. Roslin brought a hand to her mouth to hide a giggle.

Evelyn rolled her coal-black eyes. "The youngest High Priestess in three centuries. Her father sent her family to Vallahan—that's on the Continent—when Amarantha took over. Apparently, now she's back."

I was only vaguely aware of what the High Priestesses did. There were twelve of them, apparently, and Rhys had conferred with some of them regarding temple security after the attacks. They were as powerful and well-connected as nobility, but I didn't understand the intricacies of it.

Maybe I should have asked Mor for more detail when she'd explained all this to me a while back. "Is that a bad thing?" I said.

The look Roslin gave me was….sympathetic. "Clotho mentioned the news came in a letter with other updates this morning. We thought you should hear it first, considering your history with Spring."

It seemed as if she'd done me the courtesy of making sure I wasn't blindsided by something important and possibly upsetting. I just wasn't sure what. But still, I appreciated the gesture, even if I didn't quite understand.

"Thank you," I said, though the words came out as a question.

Deirdre flipped to the next page of her book. "Ianthe is unofficially banned from the Night Court because she tried baby-trapping the High Lord."

My immediate, instinctual rage was so strong that my vision went white for a moment. If anyone said something, I didn't hear it over the roaring in my head. My breathing nearly went ragged.

If any other female even considered bearing my mate's offspring, I'd feed her her own intestines.

A gentle hand on my arm snapped me out of it. I took a breath, hoping my reaction wasn't too insane. And before Rhys could hear anything, I clamped down harder on my mental shields. We'd never discussed the possibility of children, but this certainly wasn't how I wanted to broach the subject.

But perhaps I didn't have as much self-control as I would have liked, because the words that slipped out of my mouth were, "She can live if it means she's making Tamlin miserable."

Roslin laughed. "No wonder Rhysand loves you so much."

The tight feeling in my chest loosened. She'd said the only thing that could have made me feel better when the feral instincts of the mating bond were riding me hard—a casual observation that Rhys loved me. Not that he cared about me as merely as an interesting human playing or a useful emissary doing his bidding.

Knowing that an outsider had noticed was…comforting.

But still, I was curious. The Spring Court had been quiet since our return—no signs of interest in either a misguided attempt at saving me from the wicked Night Court or killing me in revenge for a perceived betrayal. Azriel's spies had reported that Tamlin still kept the boarders with Summer and Autumn sealed shut. We knew very little.

"Do you think Ianthe wants to be Lady of Spring?" I asked.

Deirdre's face darkened, and the scars criss-crossing her cheeks, a reminder of whatever she'd survived before coming to the library, seemed to deepen. "Despite our vows to serve the Mother, some of the sisters are more interested in serving their own ends."

Rhys had said I was the only one he'd ever sent after the ring tucked under my tunic, but there must have been plenty of others who'd wanted it, as dangerous as being Lady of Night could be. It worried me that one of them had now set her sights on my kidnapper.

Maybe it was for the best that Night had no diplomatic relations with Spring—I wouldn't have face Ianthe at some dull courtly function.

And perhaps it was all the talk of sisters, but I couldn't help but think that Nesta would know precisely how to politely eviscerate her if that ever changed.

I'd gone quiet, and the conversation had petered out. We returned to our books, and I flipped to the page I'd marked because there had been a word I didn't recognize and needed to ask about.

"By the way," I said, "What does def— defenes—"

Unable to pronounce it, I gave up and pointed to the word as Evelyn peered over my shoulder. "Defenestrate. It means to throw someone out a window," she said.

"Does that really happen enough that there's a word for it?"

"It was a favored method of execution in the Court of Nightmares a few millennia ago," Roslin said. Her smile turned into something a bit ghoulish as she rested her chin on a fist. "Isn't history just fascinating?"

I laughed, not sure I agreed, but enjoying myself all the same. This was certainly better than Tamlin's war-camp limericks fashioned out of the list of words I didn't know.

It was a good way to pass an afternoon. And it hadn't been a waste, exactly, but by the time when priestesses left for their evening prayers and Rhys had slipped into my mind to let me know he might be late for dinner, I had to admit to myself that I was procrastinating. I still needed to send that letter to Nesta.

It wasn't the wording that I hesitated on. Nesta would feel more comfortable if she knew what Cassian looked like ahead of time—to be sure that the meeting wasn't more faerie trickery. So I intended to enclose a sketch.

I'd set myself up on the roof of the townhouse, paper and pencil in hand, and wrote the letter. That much had been easy enough. But when it came time to draw…I froze.

After the painting I'd done all over the townhouse, I'd thought I could manage it. But this was different. Those designs had been impersonal—flowers, birds, flames, that sort of thing. A portrait, however, was a statement by the artist about the subject.

I couldn't hide. But I also needed to get this done, and all I could do was sit and stare at the empty paper. I'd faced actual danger much more fearlessly, but somehow….a blank page left me paralyzed.

That was how Rhys found me when he landed some time later. Before he could say hello or ask how my day had been, I said, "Could you help me with something?"

He went preternaturally still. Better than anyone, Rhys knew how difficult I found it to ask for things, especially help. I might as well have just declared a crisis.

"Whatever you need," he said, violet eyes roving over me as if he were looking for injuries.

"I'm sending a sketch of Cassian to Nesta so she knows who to look for when he meets with her. Since you're a daemati, could you help me…er…hold a picture of him in my mind while I draw? It'll be more accurate that way."

I actually didn't need that—I knew perfectly well what Cassian looked like. But I couldn't do this alone, and it felt a little pathetic to admit that I wanted the comfort of Rhys's mind curling around mine.

He understood anyway. With a wave of his hand, the chair I was sitting in became a bench wide enough for us both. He sat, draping his wings over the back, and pulled me against his side.

He hadn't even touched my mind, but I'd already relaxed just from having him near. Getting closer to Rhys always felt like straightening out something that had just been askew.

Mate.

A talon rapped politely against my shields, and I let him in. The picture formed, sharper than I would have been able to manage with just my own mind's eye—Cassian, with his rough-hewn features, shoulder-length hair, and easy smile. Not so obtrusive that I couldn't concentrate on anything else, but clear and easily reachable. A perfect, helpful reference.

Rhys's mind encircled mine just as surely as his arms did. For anyone else, that might have been terrifying, but I was held—not fenced in. Cradled. Rhys was there with me, every step of the way. Even the darkness settled around my shoulders.

I managed it. The sketch was hardly my best work, but it didn't have to be. It was accurate enough, and I folded the paper and let it disappear before I had too much of a chance to nitpick my own creation. Rhys, who must have known I didn't want an audience, kept his face buried in my hair and scented me instead of peeking over my shoulder.

Once the letter was gone, I swung my legs to the side, crossing my thighs over his and letting my head fall against his chest as his hand rubbed soothing circles on my back. I could hear his heartbeat through the fine embroidered fabric of his jacket, slow and steady. We sat like that for a while, until the first few stars appeared in the sky.

"You haven't eaten anything, have you?" Rhys said eventually.

Right. Dinner. I'd told myself I'd eat once I'd sent the letter, then gotten so caught up in not being able to sketch that I'd forgotten about food entirely. But now that I thought about it…I was starving.

"No, but I need to," I said, standing up.

Rhys was looking at me curiously, with an expression I couldn't quite name. He'd once told me he could feel my hunger pangs through the bond, but I wasn't quite sure if that was what this was about.

"You could have told me sooner that this was a bad day," he said gently.

"It wasn't. Not until I tried to draw. And then…" It had felt like everything came crashing down.

"Come," he said, taking my hand. "Let's not let an empty stomach make it worse."

Cerridwen had long since left for the day, and the meal she'd left us had gone cold. Rhys set about heating it up again, shooing me away from the oven when I tried to help.

Instead, he reached into a pocket dimension and pulled out a wine bottle. "You can open this and pour if you really feel the need to make yourself useful."

"There's a cellar downstairs," I said, hopping down from my perch on the countertop to take the bottle.

There was wine down there, and whatever magic protected the townhouse had kept the bottles pristine—not a single speck of dust had touched them during his fifty years away. Because I'd refused to snoop, I hadn't known they were even there until Mor had insisted on opening one that first dinner after we'd returned.

Rhys flashed me a wicked smile. "The good wine is downstairs, where Cassian can steal it and think he's put one over on me. But I don't tell him about the best bottles, and they stay where he can't get to them."

I couldn't help but feel a warm rush of affection. Even in something as small as this, Rhys couldn't help but be a sneaky, conniving bastard—who also trusted that I'd keep his secrets.

We sat down, and it was hardly the first time we'd eaten a meal together. I was still acutely aware this was the sort of evening I'd dreamed about Under the Mountain—idle chitchat about how our days had been, enough food, weather mild enough to leave the windows open and let the salt-tinged night breeze inside. Everything we'd fought for, really.

We'd just been finishing up when Nesta's response arrived, the note appearing out of thin air next to my plate. Rhys hovered in the doorway, far enough to make it obvious he wasn't trying to read it, but concern for me evident on his face.

Nesta had given me a date and time, then written, Send an accurate portrait, not cover art from a cheap romance novel. No one actually looks like that.

I hadn't embellished anything. The sketch might not have been my best work, but it was true to life. And if it had truly been bad, Nesta would have said something far more scathing.

With a small smile, I picked up the pen that had appeared and wrote, I haven't been able to read long enough to take inspiration from novels. You can trust it's a good likeness.

I thought that would be the end of it. But the dishes were in the sink, and I was halfway up the stairs and intent on drawing a bath when the paper appeared again.

Was Rhysand angry? An illiterate wife would have difficulties running his household.

I was tempted to scoff or roll my eyes, but those words had a certain weight to them when they came from the woman who'd nearly married Tomas Mandray. Instead, I considered what to say while I brought the note to my room.

There's not much of a household to run. The palace is for business only. Rhys and I are the only ones in the townhouse where we reside. He wasn't angry, though. Just concerned and horrified on my behalf.

Her last note of the evening arrived as I stepped into my bedroom. Your husband is quite strange, but send him my regards. Please ensure General Cassian arrives on time for our meeting. Goodnight.

No pen accompanied the note; Nesta clearly intended the conversation to end there. I tried to let it go, though I wished I'd asked about Elain and my father while I'd still had the chance. But still, it was one of the most civil conversations I'd had with Nesta in recent memory.

Perhaps it was easier to be kind when we weren't looking each other in the face.

Though we could now sometimes manage without it, out of an abundance of caution, Rhys and I took the sleeping draught that night. We'd taken to knocking it back together, then kissing goodnight.

We weren't quite fine yet, but we were getting closer.

[importantmentalityphilosopher]

On March 22, 2018, Trump signed a memorandum under the Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, instructing the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to apply tariffs of $50 billion on Chinese goods.

This from Brookings; September of 2020. President Trump has advocated for greater trade protectionism and imposed a series of tariffs on China, Mexico, Canada, the European Union, and other trading partners. His administration justified these policies on three grounds: that they would benefit American workers, especially in manufacturing; that they would give the United States leverage to renegotiate trade agreements with other countries; and that they were necessary to protect American national security. Judged by these three metrics, how successful were Trump’s tariffs? And what’s at stake in this election for the future of American trade policy?American firms and consumers paid the vast majority of the cost of Trump’s tariffs.While tariffs benefited some workers in import-competing industries, they hurt workers in sectors that rely on imported inputs and those in exporting industries facing retaliation from trade partners.Trump’s tariffs did not help the U.S. negotiate better trade agreements or significantly improve national security.

Trump is proposing a 10% tariff. Economists say that amounts to a $1,700 tax on Americans.

Former President Donald Trump is pledging to supercharge one of his signature trade policies — tariffs — if he's re-elected this November, by imposing 10% across-the-board levies on all products imported into the U.S. from overseas. The idea, he has said, is to protect American jobs as well as raise more revenue to offset an extension of his 2017 tax cuts.

But that proposal would likely backfire, effectively acting as a tax on U.S. consumers, economists spanning the political spectrum say. If the tariffs are enacted — with Trump also proposing a levy of 60% or more on Chinese imports — a typical middle-class household in the U.S. would face an estimated $1,700 a year in additional costs, acording to the non-partisan Peterson Institute for International Economics. 

Meanwhile, the left-leaning Center on American Progress has also crunched the numbers and projects roughly $1,500 per year in extra costs for the typical household. The reason, according to experts: Companies in the U.S. that import goods from abroad typically pass the cost of tariffs onto American consumers; relatedly, domestic manufacturers then often raise their own prices. 

More cowardly liberal TDS BS (aka Anonymous). ESADYCB!!!

But here are just a few accomplishments for you to ponder:

Before the Chinese “whore” invaded our shores, we had the world’s most prosperous economy.

Summary

Pro God

Pro Life

Pro Guns

Pro Jobs

Pro Military

Pro Justice

My 401K was doing great under him

No endless wars

Bonus: love the mean tweets!!!

More Specific

America gained 7 million new jobs – more than three times government experts’ projections.

Middle-Class family income increased nearly $6,000 – more than five times the gains during the entire previous administration.

The unemployment rate reached 3.5 percent, the lowest in a half-century.

Achieved 40 months in a row with more job openings than job-hirings.

More Americans reported being employed than ever before – nearly 160 million.

Jobless claims hit a nearly 50-year low.

The number of people claiming unemployment insurance as a share of the population hit its lowest on record.

Incomes rose in every single metro area in the United States for the first time in nearly 3 decades.

Delivered a future of greater promise and opportunity for citizens of all backgrounds.

Unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and those without a high school diploma all reached record lows.

Unemployment for women hit its lowest rate in nearly 70 years.

Lifted nearly 7 million people off of food stamps.

Poverty rates for African Americans and Hispanic Americans reached record lows.

Income inequality fell for two straight years, and by the largest amount in over a decade.

The bottom 50 percent of American households saw a 40 percent increase in net worth.

Wages rose fastest for low-income and blue collar workers – a 16 percent pay increase.

African American homeownership increased from 41.7 percent to 46.4 percent.

Brought jobs, factories, and industries back to the USA.

Created more than 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs.

Put in place policies to bring back supply chains from overseas.

Small business optimism broke a 35-year old record in 2018.

Hit record stock market numbers and record 401ks.

The DOW closed above 20,000 for the first time in 2017 and topped 30,000 in 2020.

The S&P 500 and NASDAQ have repeatedly notched record highs.

Rebuilding and investing in rural America.

Signed an Executive Order on Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products, which is bringing innovative new technologies to market in American farming and agriculture.

Strengthened America’s rural economy by investing over $1.3 billion through the Agriculture Department’s ReConnect Program to bring high-speed broadband infrastructure to rural America.

Achieved a record-setting economic comeback by rejecting blanket lockdowns.

An October 2020 Gallup survey found 56 percent of Americans said they were better off during a pandemic than four years prior.

During the third quarter of 2020, the economy grew at a rate of 33.1 percent – the most rapid GDP growth ever recorded.

Since coronavirus lockdowns ended, the economy has added back over 12 million jobs, more than half the jobs lost.

Jobs have been recovered 23 times faster than the previous administration’s recovery.

Unemployment fell to 6.7 percent in December, from a pandemic peak of 14.7 percent in April – beating expectations of well over 10 percent unemployment through the end of 2020.

Under the previous administration, it took 49 months for the unemployment rate to fall from 10 percent to under 7 percent compared to just 3 months for the Trump Administration.

Since April, the Hispanic unemployment rate has fallen by 9.6 percent, Asian-American unemployment by 8.6 percent, and Black American unemployment by 6.8 percent.

80 percent of small businesses are now open, up from just 53 percent in April.

Small business confidence hit a new high.

Homebuilder confidence reached an all-time high, and home sales hit their highest reading since December 2006.

Manufacturing optimism nearly doubled.

Household net worth rose $7.4 trillion in Q2 2020 to $112 trillion, an all-time high.

Home prices hit an all-time record high.

The United States rejected crippling lockdowns that crush the economy and inflict countless public health harms and instead safely reopened its economy.

Business confidence is higher in America than in any other G7 or European Union country.

Stabilized America’s financial markets with the establishment of a number of Treasury Department supported facilities at the Federal Reserve.

Tax Relief for the Middle Class

Passed $3.2 trillion in historic tax relief and reformed the tax code.

Signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – the largest tax reform package in history.

More than 6 million American workers received wage increases, bonuses, and increased benefits thanks to the tax cuts.

A typical family of four earning $75,000 received an income tax cut of more than $2,000 – slashing their tax bill in half.

Doubled the standard deduction – making the first $24,000 earned by a married couple completely tax-free.

Doubled the child tax credit.

Virtually eliminated the unfair Estate Tax, or Death Tax.

Cut the business tax rate from 35 percent – the highest in the developed world – all the way down to 21 percent.

Small businesses can now deduct 20 percent of their business income.

Businesses can now deduct 100 percent of the cost of their capital investments in the year the investment is made.

Since the passage of tax cuts, the share of total wealth held by the bottom half of households has increased, while the share held by the top 1 percent has decreased.

Over 400 companies have announced bonuses, wage increases, new hires, or new investments in the United States.

Over $1.5 trillion was repatriated into the United States from overseas.

Lower investment cost and higher capital returns led to faster growth in the middle class, real wages, and international competitiveness.

Jobs and investments are pouring into Opportunity Zones.

Created nearly 9,000 Opportunity Zones where capital gains on long-term investments are taxed at zero.

Opportunity Zone designations have increased property values within them by 1.1 percent, creating an estimated $11 billion in wealth for the nearly half of Opportunity Zone residents who own their own home.

Opportunity Zones have attracted $75 billion in funds and driven $52 billion of new investment in economically distressed communities, creating at least 500,000 new jobs.

Approximately 1 million Americans will be lifted from poverty as a result of these new investments.

Private equity investments into businesses in Opportunity Zones were nearly 30 percent higher than investments into businesses in similar areas that were not designated Opportunity Zones.

Massive Deregulation

Ended the regulatory assault on American Businesses and Workers.

Instead of 2-for-1, we eliminated 8 old regulations for every 1 new regulation adopted.

Provided the average American household an extra $3,100 every year.

Reduced the direct cost of regulatory compliance by $50 billion, and will reduce costs by an additional $50 billion in FY 2020 alone.

Removed nearly 25,000 pages from the Federal Register – more than any other president. The previous administration added over 16,000 pages.

Established the Governors’ Initiative on Regulatory Innovation to reduce outdated regulations at the state, local, and tribal levels.

Signed an executive order to make it easier for businesses to offer retirement plans.

Signed two executive orders to increase transparency in Federal agencies and protect Americans and their small businesses from administrative abuse.

Modernized the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the first time in over 40 years.

Reduced approval times for major infrastructure projects from 10 or more years down to 2 years or less.

Helped community banks by signing legislation that rolled back costly provisions of Dodd-Frank.

Established the White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing to bring down housing costs.

Removed regulations that threatened the development of a strong and stable internet.

Eased and simplified restrictions on rocket launches, helping to spur commercial investment in space projects.

Published a whole-of-government strategy focused on ensuring American leadership in automated vehicle technology.

Streamlined energy efficiency regulations for American families and businesses, including preserving affordable lightbulbs, enhancing the utility of showerheads, and enabling greater time savings with dishwashers.

Removed unnecessary regulations that restrict the seafood industry and impede job creation.

Modernized the Department of Agriculture’s biotechnology regulations to put America in the lead to develop new technologies.

Took action to suspend regulations that would have slowed our response to COVID-19, including lifting restrictions on manufacturers to more quickly produce ventilators.

Successfully rolled back burdensome regulatory overreach.

Rescinded the previous administration’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which would have abolished zoning for single-family housing to build low-income, federally subsidized apartments.

Issued a final rule on the Fair Housing Act’s disparate impact standard.

Eliminated the Waters of the United States Rule and replaced it with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, providing relief and certainty for farmers and property owners.

Repealed the previous administration’s costly fuel economy regulations by finalizing the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule, which will make cars more affordable, and lower the price of new vehicles by an estimated $2,200.

Americans now have more money in their pockets.

Deregulation had an especially beneficial impact on low-income Americans who pay a much higher share of their incomes for overregulation.

Cut red tape in the healthcare industry, providing Americans with more affordable healthcare and saving Americans nearly 10 percent on prescription drugs.

Deregulatory efforts yielded savings to the medical community an estimated $6.6 billion – with a reduction of 42 million hours of regulatory compliance work through 2021.

Removed government barriers to personal freedom and consumer choice in healthcare.

Once fully in effect, 20 major deregulatory actions undertaken by the Trump Administration are expected to save American consumers and businesses over $220 billion per year.

Signed 16 pieces of deregulatory legislation that will result in a $40 billion increase in annual real incomes.

Fair and Reciprocal Trade

Secured historic trade deals to defend American workers.

Immediately withdrew from the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Ended the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and replaced it with the brand new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The USMCA contains powerful new protections for American manufacturers, auto-makers, farmers, dairy producers, and workers.

The USMCA is expected to generate over $68 billion in economic activity and potentially create over 550,000 new jobs over ten years.

Signed an executive order making it government policy to Buy American and Hire American, and took action to stop the outsourcing of jobs overseas.

Negotiated with Japan to slash tariffs and open its market to $7 billion in American agricultural products and ended its ban on potatoes and lamb.

Over 90 percent of American agricultural exports to Japan now receive preferential treatment, and most are duty-free.

Negotiated another deal with Japan to boost $40 billion worth of digital trade.

Renegotiated the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement, doubling the cap on imports of American vehicles and extending the American light truck tariff.

Reached a written, fully-enforceable Phase One trade agreement with China on confronting pirated and counterfeit goods, and the protection of American ideas, trade secrets, patents, and trademarks.

China agreed to purchase an additional $200 billion worth of United States exports and opened market access for over 4,000 American facilities to exports while all tariffs remained in effect.

Achieved a mutual agreement with the European Union (EU) that addresses unfair trade practices and increases duty-free exports by 180 percent to $420 million.

Secured a pledge from the EU to eliminate tariffs on American lobster – the first United States-European Union negotiated tariff reduction in over 20 years.

Scored a historic victory by overhauling the Universal Postal Union, whose outdated policies were undermining American workers and interests.

Engaged extensively with trade partners like the EU and Japan to advance reforms to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Issued a first-ever comprehensive report on the WTO Appellate Body’s failures to comply with WTO rules and interpret WTO agreements as written.

Blocked nominees to the WTO’s Appellate Body until WTO Members recognize and address longstanding issues with Appellate Body activism.

Submitted 5 papers to the WTO Committee on Agriculture to improve Members’ understanding of how trade policies are implemented, highlight areas for improved transparency, and encourage members to maintain up-to-date notifications on market access and domestic support.

Took strong actions to confront unfair trade practices and put America First.

Imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions worth of Chinese goods to protect American jobs and stop China’s abuses under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

Directed an all-of-government effort to halt and punish efforts by the Communist Party of China to steal and profit from American innovations and intellectual property.

Imposed tariffs on foreign aluminum and foreign steel to protect our vital industries and support our national security.

Approved tariffs on $1.8 billion in imports of washing machines and $8.5 billion in imports of solar panels.

Blocked illegal timber imports from Peru.

Took action against France for its digital services tax that unfairly targets American technology companies.

Launched investigations into digital services taxes that have been proposed or adopted by 10 other countries.

Historic support for American farmers.

Successfully negotiated more than 50 agreements with countries around the world to increase foreign market access and boost exports of American agriculture products, supporting more than 1 million American jobs.

Authorized $28 billion in aid for farmers who have been subjected to unfair trade practices – fully funded by the tariffs paid by China.

China lifted its ban on poultry, opened its market to beef, and agreed to purchase at least $80 billion of American agricultural products in the next two years.

The European Union agreed to increase beef imports by 180 percent and opened up its market to more imports of soybeans.

South Korea lifted its ban on American poultry and eggs, and agreed to provide market access for record exports of American rice.

Argentina lifted its ban on American pork.

Brazil agreed to increase wheat imports by $180 million a year and raised its quotas for purchases of United States ethanol.

Guatemala and Tunisia opened up their markets to American eggs.

Won tariff exemptions in Ecuador for wheat and soybeans.

Suspended $817 million in trade preferences for Thailand under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program due to its failure to adequately provide reasonable market access for American pork products.

The amount of food stamps redeemed at farmers markets increased from $1.4 million in May 2020 to $1.75 million in September 2020 – a 50 percent increase over last year.

Rapidly deployed the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, which provided $30 billion in support to farmers and ranchers facing decreased prices and market disruption when COVID-19 impacted the food supply chain.

Authorized more than $6 billion for the Farmers to Families Food Box program, which delivered over 128 million boxes of locally sourced, produce, meat, and dairy products to charity and faith-based organizations nationwide.

Delegated authorities via the Defense Production Act to protect breaks in the American food supply chain as a result of COVID-19.

American Energy Independence

Unleashed America’s oil and natural gas potential.

For the first time in nearly 70 years, the United States has become a net energy exporter.

The United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world.

Natural gas production reached a record-high of 34.9 quads in 2019, following record high production in 2018 and in 2017.

The United States has been a net natural gas exporter for three consecutive years and has an export capacity of nearly 10 billion cubic feet per day.

Withdrew from the unfair, one-sided Paris Climate Agreement.

Canceled the previous administration’s Clean Power Plan, and replaced it with the new Affordable Clean Energy rule.

Approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.

Opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to oil and gas leasing.

Repealed the last administration’s Federal Coal Leasing Moratorium, which prohibited coal leasing on Federal lands.

Reformed permitting rules to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and speed approval for mines.

Fixed the New Source Review permitting program, which punished companies for upgrading or repairing coal power plants.

Fixed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) steam electric and coal ash rules.

The average American family saved $2,500 a year in lower electric bills and lower prices at the gas pump.

Signed legislation repealing the harmful Stream Protection Rule.

Reduced the time to approve drilling permits on public lands by half, increasing permit applications to drill on public lands by 300 percent.

Expedited approval of the NuStar’s New Burgos pipeline to export American gasoline to Mexico.

Streamlined Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal permitting and allowed long-term LNG export authorizations to be extended through 2050.

The United States is now among the top three LNG exporters in the world.

Increased LNG exports five-fold since January 2017, reaching an all-time high in January 2020.

LNG exports are expected to reduce the American trade deficit by over $10 billion.

Granted more than 20 new long-term approvals for LNG exports to non-free trade agreement countries.

The development of natural gas and LNG infrastructure in the United States is providing tens of thousands of jobs, and has led to the investment of tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure.

There are now 6 LNG export facilities operating in the United States, with 2 additional export projects under construction.

The amount of nuclear energy production in 2019 was the highest on record, through a combination of increased capacity from power plant upgrades and shorter refueling and maintenance cycles.

Prevented Russian energy coercion across Europe through various lines of effort, including the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation, civil nuclear deals with Romania and Poland, and opposition to Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Issued the Presidential Permit for the A2A railroad between Canada and Alaska, providing energy resources to emerging markets.

Increased access to our country’s abundant natural resources in order to achieve energy independence.

Renewable energy production and consumption both reached record highs in 2019.

Enacted policies that helped double the amount of electricity generated by solar and helped increase the amount of wind generation by 32 percent from 2016 through 2019.

Accelerated construction of energy infrastructure to ensure American energy producers can deliver their products to the market.

Cut red tape holding back the construction of new energy infrastructure.

Authorized ethanol producers to sell E15 year-round and allowed higher-ethanol gasoline to be distributed from existing pumps at filling stations.

Ensured greater transparency and certainty in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.

Negotiated leasing capacity in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Australia, providing American taxpayers a return on this infrastructure investment.

Signed an executive order directing Federal agencies to work together to diminish the capability of foreign adversaries to target our critical electric infrastructure.

Reformed Section 401 of the Clean Water Act regulation to allow for the curation of interstate infrastructure.

Resolved the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil crisis during COVID-19 by getting OPEC, Russia, and others to cut nearly 10 million barrels of production a day, stabilizing world oil prices.

Directed the Department of Energy to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to mitigate market volatility caused by COVID-19.

Investing in America’s Workers and Families

Affordable and high-quality Child Care for American workers and their families.

Doubled the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $2,000 per child and expanded the eligibility for receiving the credit.

Nearly 40 million families benefitted from the child tax credit (CTC), receiving an average benefit of $2,200 – totaling credits of approximately $88 billion.

Signed the largest-ever increase in Child Care and Development Block Grants – expanding access to quality, affordable child care for more than 800,000 low-income families.

Secured an additional $3.5 billion in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help families and first responders with child care needs.

Created the first-ever paid family leave tax credit for employees earning $72,000 or less.

Signed into law 12-weeks of paid parental leave for Federal workers.

Signed into law a provision that enables new parents to withdraw up to $5,000 from their retirement accounts without penalty when they give birth to or adopt a child.

Advanced apprenticeship career pathways to good-paying jobs.

Expanded apprenticeships to more than 850,000 and established the new Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship programs in new and emerging fields.

Established the National Council for the American Worker and the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board.

Over 460 companies have signed the Pledge to America’s Workers, committing to provide more than 16 million job and training opportunities.

Signed an executive order that directs the Federal government to replace outdated degree-based hiring with skills-based hiring.

Advanced women’s economic empowerment.

Included women’s empowerment for the first time in the President’s 2017 National Security Strategy.

Signed into law key pieces of legislation, including the Women, Peace, and Security Act and the Women Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act.

Launched the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative – the first-ever whole-of-government approach to women’s economic empowerment that has reached 24 million women worldwide.

Established an innovative new W-GDP Fund at USAID.

Launched the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) with 13 other nations.

Announced a $50 million donation on behalf of the United States to We-Fi providing more capital to women-owned businesses around the world.

Released the first-ever Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security, which focused on increasing women’s participation to prevent and resolve conflicts.

Launched the W-GDP 2x Global Women’s Initiative with the Development Finance Corporation, which has mobilized more than $3 billion in private sector investments over three years.

Ensured American leadership in technology and innovation.

First administration to name artificial intelligence, quantum information science, and 5G communications as national research and development priorities.

Launched the American Broadband Initiative to promote the rapid deployment of broadband internet across rural America.

Made 100 megahertz of crucial mid-band spectrum available for commercial operations, a key factor to driving widespread 5G access across rural America.

Launched the American AI Initiative to ensure American leadership in artificial intelligence (AI), and established the National AI Initiative Office at the White House.

Established the first-ever principles for Federal agency adoption of AI to improve services for the American people.

Signed the National Quantum Initiative Act establishing the National Quantum Coordination Office at the White House to drive breakthroughs in quantum information science.

Signed the Secure 5G and Beyond Act to ensure America leads the world in 5G.

Launched a groundbreaking program to test safe and innovative commercial drone operations nationwide.

Issued new rulemaking to accelerate the return of American civil supersonic aviation.

Committed to doubling investments in AI and quantum information science (QIS) research and development.

Announced the establishment of $1 billion AI and quantum research institutes across America.

Established the largest dual-use 5G test sites in the world to advance 5G commercial and military innovation.

Signed landmark Prague Principles with America’s allies to advance the deployment of secure 5G telecommunications networks.

Signed first-ever bilateral AI cooperation agreement with the United Kingdom.

Built collation among allies to ban Chinese Telecom Company Huawei from their 5G infrastructure.

Preserved American jobs for American workers and rejected the importation of cheap foreign labor.

Pressured the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to reverse their decision to lay off over 200 American workers and replace them with cheaper foreign workers.

Removed the TVA Chairman of the Board and a TVA Board Member.

Life-Saving Response to the China Virus

Restricted travel to the United States from infected regions of the world.

Suspended all travel from China, saving thousands of lives.

Required all American citizens returning home from designated outbreak countries to return through designated airports with enhanced screening measures, and to undergo a self-quarantine.

Announced further travel restrictions on Iran, the Schengen Area of Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Brazil.

Issued travel advisory warnings recommending that American citizens avoid all international travel.

Reached bilateral agreements with Mexico and Canada to suspend non-essential travel and expeditiously return illegal aliens.

Repatriated over 100,000 American citizens stranded abroad on more than 1,140 flights from 136 countries and territories.

Safely transported, evacuated, treated, and returned home trapped passengers on cruise ships.

Took action to authorize visa sanctions on foreign governments who impede our efforts to protect American citizens by refusing or unreasonably delaying the return of their own citizens, subjects, or residents from the United States.

Acted early to combat the China Virus in the United States.

Established the White House Coronavirus Task Force, with leading experts on infectious diseases, to manage the Administration’s efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and to keep workplaces safe.

Pledged in the State of the Union address to “take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from the Virus,” while the Democrats’ response made not a single mention of COVID-19 or even the threat of China.

Declared COVID-19 a National Emergency under the Stafford Act.

Established the 24/7 FEMA National Response Coordination Center.

Released guidance recommending containment measures critical to slowing the spread of the Virus, decompressing peak burden on hospitals and infrastructure, and diminishing health impacts.

Implemented strong community mitigation strategies to sharply reduce the number of lives lost in the United States down from experts’ projection of up to 2.2 million deaths in the United States without mitigation.

Halted American funding to the World Health Organization to counter its egregious bias towards China that jeopardized the safety of Americans.

Announced plans for withdrawal from the World Health Organization and redirected contribution funds to help meet global public health needs.

Called on the United Nations to hold China accountable for their handling of the virus, including refusing to be transparent and failing to contain the virus before it spread.

Re-purposed domestic manufacturing facilities to ensure frontline workers had critical supplies.

Distributed billions of pieces of Personal Protective Equipment, including gloves, masks, gowns, and face shields.

Invoked the Defense Production Act over 100 times to accelerate the development and manufacturing of essential material in the USA.

Made historic investments of more than $3 billion into the industrial base.

Contracted with companies such as Ford, General Motors, Philips, and General Electric to produce ventilators.

Contracted with Honeywell, 3M, O&M Halyard, Moldex, and Lydall to increase our Nation’s production of N-95 masks.

The Army Corps of Engineers built 11,000 beds, distributed 10,000 ventilators, and surged personnel to hospitals.

Converted the Javits Center in New York into a 3,000-bed hospital, and opened medical facilities in Seattle and New Orleans.

Dispatched the USNS Comfort to New York City, and the USNS Mercy to Los Angeles.

Deployed thousands of FEMA employees, National Guard members, and military forces to help in the response.

Provided support to states facing new emergences of the virus, including surging testing sites, deploying medical personnel, and advising on mitigation strategies.

Announced Federal support to governors for use of the National Guard with 100 percent cost-share.

Established the Supply Chain Task Force as a “control tower” to strategically allocate high-demand medical supplies and PPE to areas of greatest need.

Requested critical data elements from states about the status of hospital capacity, ventilators, and PPE.

Executed nearly 250 flights through Project Air Bridge to transport hundreds of millions of surgical masks, N95 respirators, gloves, and gowns from around the world to hospitals and facilities throughout the United States.

Signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to ensure that Americans have a reliable supply of products like beef, pork, and poultry.

Stabilized the food supply chain restoring the Nation’s protein processing capacity through a collaborative approach with Federal, state, and local officials and industry partners.

The continued movement of food and other critical items of daily life distributed to stores and to American homes went unaffected.

Replenished the depleted Strategic National Stockpile.

Increased the number of ventilators nearly ten-fold to more than 153,000.

Despite the grim projections from the media and governors, no American who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator.

Increased the number of N95 masks fourteen-fold to more than 176 million.

Issued an executive order ensuring critical medical supplies are produced in the United States.

Created the largest, most advanced, and most innovative testing system in the world.

Built the world’s leading testing system from scratch, conducting over 200 million tests – more than all of the European Union combined.

Engaged more than 400 test developers to increase testing capacity from less than 100 tests per day to more than 2 million tests per day.

Slashed red tape and approved Emergency Use Authorizations for more than 300 different tests, including 235 molecular tests, 63 antibody tests, and 11 antigen tests.

Delivered state-of-the-art testing devices and millions of tests to every certified nursing home in the country.

Announced more flexibility to Medicare Advantage and Part D plans to waive cost-sharing for tests.

Over 2,000 retail pharmacy stores, including CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens, are providing testing using new regulatory and reimbursement options.

Deployed tens of millions of tests to nursing homes, assisted living facilities, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), tribes, disaster relief operations, Home Health/Hospice organizations, and the Veterans Health Administration.

Began shipping 150 million BinaxNOW rapid tests to states, long-term care facilities, the IHS, HBCUs, and other key partners.

Pioneered groundbreaking treatments and therapies that reduced the mortality rate by 85 percent, saving over 2 million lives.

The United States has among the lowest case fatality rates in the entire world.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program to expedite the regulatory review process for therapeutics in clinical trials, accelerate the development and publication of industry guidance on developing treatments, and utilize regulatory flexibility to help facilitate the scaling-up of manufacturing capacity.

More than 370 therapies are in clinical trials and another 560 are in the planning stages.

Announced $450 million in available funds to support the manufacturing of Regeneron’s antibody cocktail.

Shipped tens of thousands of doses of the Regeneron drug.

Authorized an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for convalescent plasma.

Treated around 100,000 patients with convalescent plasma, which may reduce mortality by 50 percent.

Provided $48 million to fund the Mayo Clinic study that tested the efficacy of convalescent plasma for patients with COVID-19.

Made an agreement to support the large-scale manufacturing of AstraZeneca’s cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies.

Approved Remdesivir as the first COVID-19 treatment, which could reduce hospitalization time by nearly a third.

Secured more than 90 percent of the world’s supply of Remdesivir, enough to treat over 850,000 high-risk patients.

Granted an EUA to Eli Lilly for its anti-body treatments.

Finalized an agreement with Eli Lilly to purchase the first doses of the company’s investigational antibody therapeutic.

Provided up to $270 million to the American Red Cross and America’s Blood Centers to support the collection of up to 360,000 units of plasma.

Launched a nationwide campaign to ask patients who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma.

Announced Phase 3 clinical trials for varying types of blood thinners to treat adults diagnosed with COVID-19.

Issued an EUA for the monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab.

FDA issued an EUA for casirivimab and imdevimab to be administered together.

Launched the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium with private sector and academic leaders unleashing America’s supercomputers to accelerate coronavirus research.

Brought the full power of American medicine and government to produce a safe and effective vaccine in record time.

Launched Operation Warp Speed to initiate an unprecedented drive to develop and make available an effective vaccine by January 2021.

Pfizer and Moderna developed two vaccines in just nine months, five times faster than the fastest prior vaccine development in American history.

Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines are approximately 95 effective – far exceeding all expectations.

AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson also both have promising candidates in the final stage of clinical trials.

The vaccines will be administered within 24 hours of FDA-approval.

Made millions of vaccine doses available before the end of 2020, with hundreds of millions more to quickly follow.

FedEx and UPS will ship doses from warehouses directly to local pharmacies, hospitals, and healthcare providers.

Finalized a partnership with CVS and Walgreens to deliver vaccines directly to residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities as soon as a state requests it, at no cost to America’s seniors.

Signed an executive order to ensure that the United States government prioritizes getting the vaccine to American citizens before sending it to other nations.

Provided approximately $13 billion to accelerate vaccine development and to manufacture all of the top candidates in advance.

Provided critical investments of $4.1 billion to Moderna to support the development, manufacturing, and distribution of their vaccines.

Moderna announced its vaccine is 95 percent effective and is pending FDA approval.

Provided Pfizer up to $1.95 billion to support the mass-manufacturing and nationwide distribution of their vaccine candidate.

Pfizer announced its vaccine is 95 percent effective and is pending FDA approval.

Provided approximately $1 billion to support the manufacturing and distribution of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate reached the final stage of clinical trials.

Made up to $1.2 billion available to support AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate reached the final stage of clinical trials.

Made an agreement to support the large-scale manufacturing of Novavax’s vaccine candidate with 100 million doses expected.

Partnered with Sanofi and GSK to support large-scale manufacturing of a COVID-19 investigational vaccine.

Awarded $200 million in funding to support vaccine preparedness and plans for the immediate distribution and administration of vaccines.

Provided $31 million to Cytvia for vaccine-related consumable products.

Under the PREP Act, issued guidance authorizing qualified pharmacy technicians to administer vaccines.

Announced that McKesson Corporation will produce store, and distribute vaccine ancillary supply kits on behalf of the Strategic National Stockpile to help healthcare workers who will administer vaccines.

Announced partnership with large-chain, independent, and regional pharmacies to deliver vaccines.

Prioritized resources for the most vulnerable Americans, including nursing home residents.

Quickly established guidelines for nursing homes and expanded telehealth opportunities to protect vulnerable seniors.

Increased surveillance, oversight, and transparency of all 15,417 Medicare and Medicaid nursing homes by requiring them to report cases of COVID-19 to all residents, their families, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Required that all nursing homes test staff regularly.

Launched an unprecedented national nursing home training curriculum to equip nursing home staff with the knowledge they need to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Delivered $81 million for increased inspections and funded 35,000 members of the Nation Guard to deliver critical supplies to every Medicare-certified nursing homes.

Deployed Federal Task Force Strike Teams to provide onsite technical assistance and education to nursing homes experiencing outbreaks.

Distributed tens of billions of dollars in Provider Relief Funds to protect nursing homes, long-term care facilities, safety-net hospitals, rural hospitals, and communities hardest hit by the virus.

Released 1.5 million N95 respirators from the Strategic National Stockpile for distribution to over 3,000 nursing home facilities.

Directed the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council to refocus on underserved communities impacted by the coronavirus.

Required that testing results reported include data on race, gender, ethnicity, and ZIP code, to ensure that resources were directed to communities disproportionately harmed by the virus.

Ensured testing was offered at 95 percent of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), which serve over 29 million patients in 12,000 communities across the Nation.

Invested an unprecedented $8 billion in tribal communities.

Maintained safe access for Veterans to VA healthcare throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic and supported non-VA hospital systems and private and state-run nursing homes with VA clinical teams.

Signed legislation ensuring no reduction of VA education benefits under the GI Bill for online distance learning.

Supported Americans as they safely return to school and work.

Issued the Guidelines for Opening Up America Again, a detailed blueprint to help governors as they began reopening the country. Focused on protecting the most vulnerable and mitigating the risk of any resurgence, while restarting the economy and allowing Americans to safely return to their jobs.

Helped Americans return to work by providing extensive guidance on workplace-safety measures to protect against COVID-19, and investigating over 10,000 coronavirus-related complaints and referrals.

Provided over $31 billion to support elementary and secondary schools.

Distributed 125 million face masks to school districts.

Provided comprehensive guidelines to schools on how to protect and identify high-risk individuals, prevent the spread of COVID-19, and conduct safe in-person teaching.

Brought back the safe return of college athletics, including Big Ten and Pac-12 football.

Rescued the American economy with nearly $3.4 trillion in relief, the largest financial aid package in history.

Secured an initial $8.3 billion Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Act, supporting the development of treatments and vaccines, and to procure critical medical supplies and equipment.

Signed the $100 billion Families First Coronavirus Relief Act, guaranteeing free coronavirus testing, emergency paid sick leave and family leave, Medicaid funding, and food assistance.

Signed the $2.3 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, providing unprecedented and immediate relief to American families, workers, and businesses.

Signed additional legislation providing nearly $900 billion in support for coronavirus emergency response and relief, including critically needed funds to continue the Paycheck Protection Program.

Signed the Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act, adding an additional $310 billion to replenish the program.

Delivered approximately 160 million relief payments to hardworking Americans.

Through the Paycheck Protection Program, approved over $525 billion in forgivable loans to more than 5.2 million small businesses, supporting more than 51 million American jobs.

The Treasury Department approved the establishment of the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility to provide liquidity to the financial system.

The Treasury Department, working with the Federal Reserve, was able to leverage approximately $4 trillion in emergency lending facilities.

Signed an executive order extending expanded unemployment benefits.

Signed an executive order to temporarily suspend student loan payments, evictions, and collection of payroll taxes.

Small Business Administration expanded access to emergency economic assistance for small businesses, faith-based, and religious entities.

Protected jobs for American workers impacted by COVID-19 by temporarily suspending several job-related nonimmigrant visas, including H-1B’s, H-2B’s without a nexus to the food-supply chain, certain H-4’s, as well as L’s and certain J’s.

Great Healthcare for Americans

Empowered American patients by greatly expanding healthcare choice, transparency, and affordability.

Eliminated the Obamacare individual mandate – a financial relief to low and middle-income households that made up nearly 80 percent of the families who paid the penalty for not wanting to purchase health insurance.

Increased choice for consumers by promoting competition in the individual health insurance market leading to lower premiums for three years in a row.

Under the Trump Administration, more than 90 percent of the counties have multiple options on the individual insurance market to choose from.

Offered Association Health Plans, which allow employers to pool together and offer more affordable, quality health coverage to their employees at up to 30 percent lower cost.

Increased availability of short-term, limited-duration health plans, which can cost up to 60 percent less than traditional plans, giving Americans more flexibility to choose plans that suit their needs.

Expanded Health Reimbursement Arrangements, allowing millions of Americans to be able to shop for a plan of their choice on the individual market, and then have their employer cover the cost.

Added 2,100 new Medicare Advantage plan options since 2017, a 76 percent increase.

Lowered Medicare Advantage premiums by 34 percent nationwide to the lowest level in 14 years. Medicare health plan premium savings for beneficiaries have totaled $nearly 1.5 billion since 2017.

Improved access to tax-free health savings accounts for individuals with chronic conditions.

Eliminated costly Obamacare taxes, including the health insurance tax, the medical device tax, and the “Cadillac tax.”

Worked with states to create more flexibility and relief from oppressive Obamacare regulations, including reinsurance waivers to help lower premiums.

Released legislative principles to end surprise medical billing.

Finalized requirements for unprecedented price transparency from hospitals and insurance companies so patients know what the cost is before they receive care.

Took action to require that hospitals make the prices they negotiate with insurers publicly available and easily accessible online.

Improved patients access to their health data by penalizing hospitals and causing clinicians to lose their incentive payments if they do not comply.

Expanded access to telehealth, especially in rural and underserved communities.

Increased Medicare payments to rural hospitals to stem a decade of rising closures and deliver enhanced access to care in rural areas.

Issued unprecedented reforms that dramatically lowered the price of prescription drugs.

Lowered drug prices for the first time in 51 years.

Launched an initiative to stop global freeloading in the drug market.

Finalized a rule to allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada.

Finalized the Most Favored Nation Rule to ensure that pharmaceutical companies offer the same discounts to the United States as they do to other nations, resulting in an estimated $85 billion in savings over seven years and $30 billion in out-of-pocket costs alone.

Proposed a rule requiring federally funded health centers to pass drug company discounts on insulin and Epi-Pens directly to patients.

Ended the gag clauses that prevented pharmacists from informing patients about the best prices for the medications they need.

Ended the costly kickbacks to middlemen and ensured that patients directly benefit from available discounts at the pharmacy counter, saving Americans up to 30 percent on brand name pharmaceuticals.

Enhanced Part D plans to provide many seniors with Medicare access to a broad set of insulins at a maximum $35 copay for a month’s supply of each type of insulin.

Reduced Medicare Part D prescription drug premiums, saving beneficiaries nearly $2 billion in premium costs since 2017.

Ended the Unapproved Drugs Initiative, which provided market exclusivity to generic drugs.

Promoted research and innovation in healthcare to ensure that American patients have access to the best treatment in the world.

Signed first-ever executive order to affirm that it is the official policy of the United States Government to protect patients with pre-existing conditions.

Passed Right To Try to give terminally ill patients access to lifesaving cures.

Signed an executive order to fight kidney disease with more transplants and better treatment.

Signed into law a $1 billion increase in funding for critical Alzheimer’s research.

Accelerated medical breakthroughs in genetic treatments for Sickle Cell disease.

Finalized the interoperability rules that will give American patients access to their electronic health records on their phones.

Initiated an effort to provide $500 million over the next decade to improve pediatric cancer research.

Launched a campaign to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America in the next decade.

Started a program to provide the HIV prevention drug PrEP to uninsured patients for free.

Signed an executive order and awarded new development contracts to modernize the influenza vaccine.

Protected our Nation’s seniors by safeguarding and strengthening Medicare.

Updated the way Medicare pays for innovative medical products to ensure beneficiaries have access to the latest innovation and treatment.

Reduced improper payments for Medicare an estimated $15 billion since 2016 protecting taxpayer dollars and leading to less fraud, waste, and abuse.

Took rapid action to combat antimicrobial resistance and secure access to life-saving new antibiotic drugs for American seniors, by removing several financial disincentives and setting policies to reduce inappropriate use.

Launched new online tools, including eMedicare, Blue Button 2.0, and Care Compare, to help seniors see what is covered, compare costs, streamline data, and compare tools available on Medicare.gov.

Provided new Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits, including modifications to help keep seniors safe in their homes, respite care for caregivers, non-opioid pain management alternatives like therapeutic massages, transportation, and more in-home support services and assistance.

Protected Medicare beneficiaries by removing Social Security numbers from all Medicare cards, a project completed ahead of schedule.

Unleashed unprecedented transparency in Medicare and Medicaid data to spur research and innovation.

Remaking the Federal Judiciary

Appointed a historic number of Federal judges who will interpret the Constitution as written.

Nominated and confirmed over 230 Federal judges.

Confirmed 54 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, making up nearly a third of the entire appellate bench.

Filled all Court of Appeals vacancies for the first time in four decades.

Flipped the Second, Third, and Eleventh Circuits from Democrat-appointed majorities to Republican-appointed majorities. And dramatically reshaped the long-liberal Ninth Circuit.

Appointed three Supreme Court justices, expanding its conservative-appointed majority to 6-3.

Appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.

Appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Achieving a Secure Border

Secured the Southern Border of the United States.

Built over 400 miles of the world’s most robust and advanced border wall.

Illegal crossings have plummeted over 87 percent where the wall has been constructed.

Deployed nearly 5,000 troops to the Southern border. In addition, Mexico deployed tens of thousands of their own soldiers and national guardsmen to secure their side of the US-Mexico border.

Ended the dangerous practice of Catch-and-Release, which means that instead of aliens getting released into the United States pending future hearings never to be seen again, they are detained pending removal, and then ultimately returned to their home countries.

Entered into three historic asylum cooperation agreements with Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala to stop asylum fraud and resettle illegal migrants in third-party nations pending their asylum applications.

Entered into a historic partnership with Mexico, referred to as the “Migrant Protection Protocols,” to safely return asylum-seekers to Mexico while awaiting hearings in the United States.

Fully enforced the immigration laws of the United States.

Signed an executive order to strip discretionary Federal grant funding from deadly sanctuary cities.

Fully enforced and implemented statutorily authorized “expedited removal” of illegal aliens.

The Department of Justice prosecuted a record-breaking number of immigration-related crimes.

Used Section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to reduce the number of aliens coming from countries whose governments refuse to accept their nationals who were ordered removed from the United States.

Ended asylum fraud, shut down human smuggling traffickers, and solved the humanitarian crisis across the Western Hemisphere.

Suspended, via regulation, asylum for aliens who had skipped previous countries where they were eligible for asylum but opted to “forum shop” and continue to the United States.

Safeguarded migrant families, and protected migrant safety, by promulgating new regulations under the Flores Settlement Agreement.

Proposed regulations to end the practice of giving free work permits to illegal aliens lodging meritless asylum claims.

Issued “internal relocation” guidance.

Cross-trained United States Border Patrol agents to conduct credible fear screenings alongside USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) adjudication personnel to reduce massive backlogs.

Streamlined and expedited the asylum hearing process through both the Prompt Asylum Claim Review (PACR) and the Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP).

Launched the Family Fraud Initiative to identify hundreds of individuals who were fraudulently presenting themselves as family units at the border, oftentimes with trafficking children, in order to ensure child welfare.

Improved screening in countries with high overstay rates and reduced visa overstay rates in many of these countries.

Removed bureaucratic constraints on United States consular officers that reduced their ability to appropriately vet visa applicants.

Worked with Mexico and other regional partners to dismantle the human smuggling networks in our hemisphere that profit from human misery and fuel the border crisis by exploiting vulnerable populations.

Secured our Nation’s immigration system against criminals and terrorists.

Instituted national security travel bans to keep out terrorists, jihadists, and violent extremists, and implemented a uniform security and information-sharing baseline all nations must meet in order for their nationals to be able to travel to, and emigrate to, the United States.

Suspended refugee resettlement from the world’s most dangerous and terror-afflicted regions.

Rebalanced refugee assistance to focus on overseas resettlement and burden-sharing.

85 percent reduction in refugee resettlement.

Overhauled badly-broken refugee security screening process.

Required the Department of State to consult with states and localities as part of the Federal government’s refugee resettlement process.

Issued strict sanctions on countries that have failed to take back their own nationals.

Established the National Vetting Center, which is the most advanced and comprehensive visa screening system anywhere in the world.

Protected American workers and taxpayers.

Issued a comprehensive “public charge” regulation to ensure newcomers to the United States are financially self-sufficient and not reliant on welfare.

Created an enforcement mechanism for sponsor repayment and deeming, to ensure that people who are presenting themselves as sponsors are actually responsible for sponsor obligations.

Issued regulations to combat the horrendous practice of “birth tourism.”

Issued a rule with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to make illegal aliens ineligible for public housing.

Issued directives requiring Federal agencies to hire United States workers first and prioritizing the hiring of United States workers wherever possible.

Suspended the entry of low-wage workers that threaten American jobs.

Finalized new H-1B regulations to permanently end the displacement of United States workers and modify the administrative tools that are required for H-1B visa issuance.

Defended United States sovereignty by withdrawing from the United Nations’ Global Compact on Migration.

Suspended Employment Authorization Documents for aliens who arrive illegally between ports of entry and are ordered removed from the United States.

Restored integrity to the use of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by strictly adhering to the statutory conditions required for TPS.

Restoring American Leadership Abroad

Restored America’s leadership in the world and successfully negotiated to ensure our allies pay their fair share for our military protection.

Secured a $400 billion increase in defense spending from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies by 2024, and the number of members meeting their minimum obligations more than doubled.

Credited by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for strengthening NATO.

Worked to reform and streamline the United Nations (UN) and reduced spending by $1.3 billion.

Allies, including Japan and the Republic of Korea, committed to increase burden-sharing.

Protected our Second Amendment rights by announcing the United States will never ratify the UN Arms Trade Treaty.

Returned 56 hostages and detainees from more than 24 countries.

Worked to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific region, promoting new investments and expanding American partnerships.

Advanced peace through strength.

Withdrew from the horrible, one-sided Iran Nuclear Deal and imposed crippling sanctions on the Iranian Regime.

Conducted vigorous enforcement on all sanctions to bring Iran’s oil exports to zero and deny the regime its principal source of revenue.

First president to meet with a leader of North Korea and the first sitting president to cross the demilitarized zone into North Korea.

Maintained a maximum pressure campaign and enforced tough sanctions on North Korea while negotiating de-nuclearization, the release of American hostages, and the return of the remains of American heroes.

Brokered economic normalization between Serbia and Kosovo, bolstering peace in the Balkans.

Signed the Honk Kong Autonomy Act and ended the United States’ preferential treatment with Hong Kong to hold China accountable for its infringement on the autonomy of Hong Kong.

Led allied efforts to defeat the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to control the international telecommunications system.

Renewed our cherished friendship and alliance with Israel and took historic action to promote peace in the Middle East.

Recognized Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel and quickly moved the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Acknowledged Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and declared that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not inconsistent with international law.

Removed the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council due to the group’s blatant anti-Israel bias.

Brokered historic peace agreements between Israel and Arab-Muslim countries, including the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain, and Sudan.

In addition, the United States negotiated a normalization agreement between Israel and Morocco, and recognized Moroccan Sovereignty over the entire Western Sahara, a position with long standing bipartisan support.

Brokered a deal for Kosovo to normalize ties and establish diplomatic relations with Israel.

Announced that Serbia would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

First American president to address an assembly of leaders from more than 50 Muslim nations, and reach an agreement to fight terrorism in all its forms.

Established the Etidal Center to combat terrorism in the Middle East in conjunction with the Saudi Arabian Government.

Announced the Vision for Peace Political Plan – a two-state solution that resolves the risks of Palestinian statehood to Israel’s security, and the first time Israel has agreed to a map and a Palestinian state.

Released an economic plan to empower the Palestinian people and enhance Palestinian governance through historic private investment.

Stood up against Communism and Socialism in the Western Hemisphere.

Reversed the previous Administration’s disastrous Cuba policy, canceling the sellout deal with the Communist Castro dictatorship.

Pledged not to lift sanctions until all political prisoners are freed; freedoms of assembly and expression are respected; all political parties are legalized; and free elections are scheduled.

Enacted a new policy aimed at preventing American dollars from funding the Cuban regime, including stricter travel restrictions and restrictions on the importation of Cuban alcohol and tobacco.

Implemented a cap on remittances to Cuba.

Enabled Americans to file lawsuits against persons and entities that traffic in property confiscated by the Cuban regime.

First world leader to recognize Juan Guaido as the Interim President of Venezuela and led a diplomatic coalition against the Socialist Dictator of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.

Blocked all property of the Venezuelan Government in the jurisdiction of the United States.

Cut off the financial resources of the Maduro regime and sanctioned key sectors of the Venezuelan economy exploited by the regime.

Brought criminal charges against Nicolas Maduro for his narco-terrorism.

Imposed stiff sanctions on the Ortega regime in Nicaragua.

Joined together with Mexico and Canada in a successful bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with 60 matches to be held in the United States.

Won bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

Colossal Rebuilding of the Military

Rebuilt the military and created the Sixth Branch, the United States Space Force.

Completely rebuilt the United States military with over $2.2 trillion in defense spending, including $738 billion for 2020.

Secured three pay raises for our service members and their families, including the largest raise in a decade.

Established the Space Force, the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.

Modernized and recapitalized our nuclear forces and missile defenses to ensure they continue to serve as a strong deterrent.

Upgraded our cyber defenses by elevating the Cyber Command into a major warfighting command and by reducing burdensome procedural restrictions on cyber operations.

Vetoed the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act, which failed to protect our national security, disrespected the history of our veterans and military, and contradicted our efforts to put America first.

Defeated terrorists, held leaders accountable for malign actions, and bolstered peace around the world.

Defeated 100 percent of ISIS’ territorial caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

Freed nearly 8 million civilians from ISIS’ bloodthirsty control, and liberated Mosul, Raqqa, and the final ISIS foothold of Baghuz.

Killed the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and eliminated the world’s top terrorist, Qasem Soleimani.

Created the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) in partnership between the United States and its Gulf partners to combat extremist ideology and threats, and target terrorist financial networks, including over 60 terrorist individuals and entities spanning the globe.

Twice took decisive military action against the Assad regime in Syria for the barbaric use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians, including a successful 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles strike.

Authorized sanctions against bad actors tied to Syria’s chemical weapons program.

Negotiated an extended ceasefire with Turkey in northeast Syria.

Addressed gaps in American’s defense-industrial base, providing much-needed updates to improve the safety of our country.

Protected America’s defense-industrial base, directing the first whole-of-government assessment of our manufacturing and defense supply chains since the 1950s.

Took decisive steps to secure our information and communications technology and services supply chain, including unsafe mobile applications.

Completed several multi-year nuclear material removal campaigns, securing over 1,000 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and significantly reducing global nuclear threats.

Signed an executive order directing Federal agencies to work together to diminish the capability of foreign adversaries to target our critical electric infrastructure.

Established a whole-of-government strategy addressing the threat posed by China’s malign efforts targeting the United States taxpayer-funded research and development ecosystem.

Advanced missile defense capabilities and regional alliances.

Bolstered the ability of our allies and partners to defend themselves through the sale of aid and military equipment.

Signed the largest arms deal ever, worth nearly $110 billion, with Saudi Arabia.

Serving and Protecting Our Veterans

Reformed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to improve care, choice, and employee accountability.

Signed and implemented the VA Mission Act, which made permanent Veterans CHOICE, revolutionized the VA community care system, and delivered quality care closer to home for Veterans.

The number of Veterans who say they trust VA services has increased 19 percent to a record 91 percent, an all-time high.

Offered same-day emergency mental health care at every VA medical facility, and secured $9.5 billion for mental health services in 2020.

Signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017, which ensured that veterans could continue to see the doctor of their choice and wouldn’t have to wait for care.

During the Trump Administration, millions of veterans have been able to choose a private doctor in their communities.

Expanded Veterans’ ability to access telehealth services, including through the “Anywhere to Anywhere” VA healthcare initiative leading to a 1000 percent increase in usage during COVID-19.

Signed the Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act and removed thousands of VA workers who failed to give our Vets the care they have so richly deserve.

Signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017 and improved the efficiency of the VA, setting record numbers of appeals decisions.

Modernized medical records to begin a seamless transition from the Department of Defense to the VA.

Launched a new tool that provides Veterans with online access to average wait times and quality-of-care data.

The promised White House VA Hotline has fielded hundreds of thousands of calls.

Formed the PREVENTS Task Force to fight the tragedy of Veteran suicide.

Decreased veteran homelessness, improved education benefits, and achieved record-low veteran unemployment.

Signed and implemented the Forever GI Bill, allowing Veterans to use their benefits to get an education at any point in their lives.

Eliminated every penny of Federal student loan debt owed by American veterans who are completely and permanently disabled.

Compared to 2009, 49 percent fewer veterans experienced homelessness nationwide during 2019.

Signed and implemented the HAVEN Act to ensure that Veterans who’ve declared bankruptcy don’t lose their disability payments.

Helped hundreds of thousands of military service members make the transition from the military to the civilian workforce, and developed programs to support the employment of military spouses.

Placed nearly 40,000 homeless veterans into employment through the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program.

Placed over 600,000 veterans into employment through American Job Center services.

Enrolled over 500,000 transitioning service members in over 20,000 Department of Labor employment workshops.

Signed an executive order to help Veterans transition seamlessly into the United States Merchant Marine.

Making Communities Safer

Signed into law landmark criminal justice reform.

Signed the bipartisan First Step Act into law, the first landmark criminal justice reform legislation ever passed to reduce recidivism and help former inmates successfully rejoin society.

Promoted second chance hiring to give former inmates the opportunity to live crime-free lives and find meaningful employment.

Launched a new “Ready to Work” initiative to help connect employers directly with former prisoners.

Awarded $2.2 million to states to expand the use of fidelity bonds, which underwrite companies that hire former prisoners.

Reversed decades-old ban on Second Chance Pell programs to provide postsecondary education to individuals who are incarcerated expand their skills and better succeed in the workforce upon re-entry.

Awarded over $333 million in Department of Labor grants to nonprofits and local and state governments for reentry projects focused on career development services for justice-involved youth and adults who were formerly incarcerated.

Unprecedented support for law-enforcement.

In 2019, violent crime fell for the third consecutive year.

Since 2016, the violent crime rate has declined over 5 percent and the murder rate has decreased by over 7 percent.

Launched Operation Legend to combat a surge of violent crime in cities, resulting in more than 5,500 arrests.

Deployed the National Guard and Federal law enforcement to Kenosha to stop violence and restore public safety.

Provided $1 million to Kenosha law enforcement, nearly $4 million to support small businesses in Kenosha, and provided over $41 million to support law enforcement to the state of Wisconsin.

Deployed Federal agents to save the courthouse in Portland from rioters.

Signed an executive order outlining ten-year prison sentences for destroying Federal property and monuments.

Directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and prosecute Federal offenses related to ongoing violence.

DOJ provided nearly $400 million for new law enforcement hiring.

Endorsed by the 355,000 members of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Revitalized Project Safe Neighborhoods, which brings together Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials to develop solutions to violent crime.

Improved first-responder communications by deploying the FirstNet National Public Safety Broadband Network, which serves more than 12,000 public safety agencies across the Nation.

Established a new commission to evaluate best practices for recruiting, training, and supporting law enforcement officers.

Signed the Safe Policing for Safe Communities executive order to incentive local police department reforms in line with law and order.

Made hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of surplus military equipment available to local law enforcement.

Signed an executive order to help prevent violence against law enforcement officers.

Secured permanent funding for the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund for first responders.

Implemented strong measures to stem hate crimes, gun violence, and human trafficking.

Signed an executive order making clear that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to discrimination rooted in anti-Semitism.

Launched a centralized website to educate the public about hate crimes and encourage reporting.

Signed the Fix NICS Act to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals.

Signed the STOP School Violence Act and created a Commission on School Safety to examine ways to make our schools safer.

Launched the Foster Youth to Independence initiative to prevent and end homelessness among young adults under the age of 25 who are in, or have recently left, the foster care system.

Signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which tightened criteria for whether countries are meeting standards for eliminating trafficking.

Established a task force to help combat the tragedy of missing or murdered Native American women and girls.

Prioritized fighting for the voiceless and ending the scourge of human trafficking across the Nation, through a whole of government back by legislation, executive action, and engagement with key industries.

Created the first-ever White House position focused solely on combating human trafficking.

Cherishing Life and Religious Liberty

Steadfastly supported the sanctity of every human life and worked tirelessly to prevent government funding of abortion.

Reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, ensuring that taxpayer money is not used to fund abortion globally.

Issued a rule preventing Title X taxpayer funding from subsiding the abortion industry.

Supported legislation to end late-term abortions.

Cut all funding to the United Nations population fund due to the fund’s support for coercive abortion and forced sterilization.

Signed legislation overturning the previous administration’s regulation that prohibited states from defunding abortion facilities as part of their family planning programs.

Fully enforced the requirement that taxpayer dollars do not support abortion coverage in Obamacare exchange plans.

Stopped the Federal funding of fetal tissue research.

Worked to protect healthcare entities and individuals’ conscience rights – ensuring that no medical professional is forced to participate in an abortion in violation of their beliefs.

Issued an executive order reinforcing requirement that all hospitals in the United States provide medical treatment or an emergency transfer for infants who are in need of emergency medical care—regardless of prematurity or disability.

Led a coalition of countries to sign the Geneva Consensus Declaration, declaring that there is no international right to abortion and committing to protecting women’s health.

First president in history to attend the March for Life.

Stood up for religious liberty in the United States and around the world.

Protected the conscience rights of doctors, nurses, teachers, and groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor.

First president to convene a meeting at the United Nations to end religious persecution.

Established the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative.

Stopped the Johnson Amendment from interfering with pastors’ right to speak their minds.

Reversed the previous administration’s policy that prevented the government from providing disaster relief to religious organizations.

Protected faith-based adoption and foster care providers, ensuring they can continue to serve their communities while following the teachings of their faith.

Reduced burdensome barriers to ensure Native Americans are free to keep spiritually and culturally significant eagle feathers found on their tribal lands.

Took action to ensure Federal employees can take paid time off work to observe religious holy days.

Signed legislation to assist religious and ethnic groups targeted by ISIS for mass murder and genocide in Syria and Iraq.

Directed American assistance toward persecuted communities, including through faith-based programs.

Launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance – the first-ever alliance devoted to confronting religious persecution around the world.

Appointed a Special Envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism.

Imposed restrictions on certain Chinese officials, internal security units, and companies for their complicity in the persecution of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

Issued an executive order to protect and promote religious freedom around the world.

Safeguarding the Environment

Took strong action to protect the environment and ensure clean air and clean water.

Took action to protect vulnerable Americans from being exposed to lead and copper in drinking water and finalized a rule protecting children from lead-based paint hazards.

Invested over $38 billion in clean water infrastructure.

In 2019, America achieved the largest decline in carbon emissions of any country on earth. Since withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, the United States has reduced carbon emissions more than any nation.

American levels of particulate matter – one of the main measures of air pollution – are approximately five times lower than the global average.

Between 2017 and 2019, the air became 7 percent cleaner – indicated by a steep drop in the combined emissions of criteria pollutants.

Led the world in greenhouse gas emissions reductions, having cut energy-related CO2 emissions by 12 percent from 2005 to 2018 while the rest of the world increased emissions by 24 percent.

In FY 2019 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleaned up more major pollution sites than any year in nearly two decades.

The EPA delivered $300 million in Brownfields grants directly to communities most in need including investment in 118 Opportunity Zones.

Placed a moratorium on offshore drilling off the coasts of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.

Restored public access to Federal land at Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Recovered more endangered or threatened species than any other administration in its first term.

Secured agreements and signed legislation to protect the environment and preserve our Nation’s abundant national resources.

The USMCA guarantees the strongest environmental protections of any trade agreement in history.

Signed the Save Our Seas Act to protect our environment from foreign nations that litter our oceans with debris and developed the first-ever Federal strategic plan to address marine litter.

Signed the Great American Outdoors Act, securing the single largest investment in America’s National Parks and public lands in history.

Signed the largest public lands legislation in a decade, designating 1.3 million new acres of wilderness.

Signed a historic executive order promoting much more active forest management to prevent catastrophic wildfires.

Opened and expanded access to over 4 million acres of public lands for hunting and fishing.

Joined the One Trillion Trees Initiative to plant, conserve, and restore trees in America and around the world.

Delivered infrastructure upgrades and investments for numerous projects, including over half a billion dollars to fix the Herbert Hoover Dike and expanding funding for Everglades restoration by 55 percent.

Expanding Educational Opportunity

Fought tirelessly to give every American access to the best possible education.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expanded School Choice, allowing parents to use up to $10,000 from a 529 education savings account to cover K-12 tuition costs at the public, private, or religious school of their choice.

Launched a new pro-American lesson plan for students called the 1776 Commission to promote patriotic education.

Prohibited the teaching of Critical Race Theory in the Federal government.

Established the National Garden of American Heroes, a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live.

Called on Congress to pass the Education Freedom Scholarships and Opportunity Act to expand education options for 1 million students of all economic backgrounds.

Signed legislation reauthorizing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program.

Issued updated guidance making clear that the First Amendment right to Free Exercise of Religion does not end at the door to a public school.

Took action to promote technical education.

Signed into law the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, which provides over 13 million students with high-quality vocational education and extends more than $1.3 billion each year to states for critical workforce development programs.

Signed the INSPIRE Act which encouraged NASA to have more women and girls participate in STEM and seek careers in aerospace.

Allocated no less than $200 million each year in grants to prioritize women and minorities in STEM and computer science education.

Drastically reformed and modernized our educational system to restore local control and promote fairness.

Restored state and local control of education by faithfully implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Signed an executive order that ensures public universities protect First Amendment rights or they will risk losing funding, addresses student debt by requiring colleges to share a portion of the financial risk, and increases transparency by requiring universities to disclose information about the value of potential educational programs.

Issued a rule strengthening Title IX protections for survivors of sexual misconduct in schools, and that – for the first time in history – codifies that sexual harassment is prohibited under Title IX.

Negotiated historic bipartisan agreement on new higher education rules to increase innovation and lower costs by reforming accreditation, state authorization, distance education, competency-based education, credit hour, religious liberty, and TEACH Grants.

Prioritized support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Moved the Federal Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Initiative back to the White House.

Signed into law the FUTURE Act, making permanent $255 million in annual funding for HBCUs and increasing funding for the Federal Pell Grant program.

Signed legislation that included more than $100 million for scholarships, research, and centers of excellence at HBCU land-grant institutions.

Fully forgave $322 million in disaster loans to four HBCUs in 2018, so they could fully focus on educating their students.

Enabled faith-based HBCUs to enjoy equal access to Federal support.

Combatting the Opioid Crisis

Brought unprecedented attention and support to combat the opioid crisis.

Declared the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency.

Secured a record $6 billion in new funding to combat the opioid epidemic.

Signed the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, the largest-ever legislative effort to address a drug crisis in our Nation’s history.

Launched the Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand in order to confront the many causes fueling the drug crisis.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded a record $9 billion in grants to expand access to prevention, treatment, and recovery services to States and local communities.

Passed the CRIB Act, allowing Medicaid to help mothers and their babies who are born physically dependent on opioids by covering their care in residential pediatric recovery facilities.

Distributed $1 billion in grants for addiction prevention and treatment.

Announced a Safer Prescriber Plan that seeks to decrease the amount of opioids prescriptions filled in America by one third within three years.

Reduced the total amount of opioids prescriptions filled in America.

Expanded access to medication-assisted treatment and life-saving Naloxone.

Launched FindTreatment.gov, a tool to find help for substance abuse.

Drug overdose deaths fell nationwide in 2018 for the first time in nearly three decades.

Launched the Drug-Impaired Driving Initiative to work with local law enforcement and the driving public at large to increase awareness.

Launched a nationwide public ad campaign on youth opioid abuse that reached 58 percent of young adults in America.

Since 2016, there has been a nearly 40 percent increase in the number of Americans receiving medication-assisted treatment.

Approved 29 state Medicaid demonstrations to improve access to opioid use disorder treatment, including new flexibility to cover inpatient and residential treatment.

Approved nearly $200 million in grants to address the opioid crisis in severely affected communities and to reintegrate workers in recovery back into the workforce.

Took action to seize illegal drugs and punish those preying on innocent Americans.

In FY 2019, ICE HSI seized 12,466 pounds of opioids including 3,688 pounds of fentanyl, an increase of 35 percent from FY 2018.

Seized tens of thousands of kilograms of heroin and thousands of kilograms of fentanyl since 2017.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecuted more fentanyl traffickers than ever before, dismantled 3,000 drug trafficking organizations, and seized enough fentanyl to kill 105,000 Americans.

DOJ charged more than 65 defendants collectively responsible for distributing over 45 million opioid pills.

Brought kingpin designations against traffickers operating in China, India, Mexico, and more who have played a role in the epidemic in America.

Indicted major Chinese drug traffickers for distributing fentanyl in the U.S for the first time ever, and convinced China to enact strict regulations to control the production and sale of fentanyl.

[descendantsramblings]

Im glad you enjoy all the Morgie male fans (idk why we're so many😭 bro is a boy magnet)

And im just dropping a small idea for a part 2 of "In Another Life" where maybe the reader now back in the future meets morgie again who is now like- 22 or 21 years old instead of grown up like the others due to his family having a long life span or a slow growth, maybe his serpentine/snake(?) genes and we get the fluffy ending we deserve

(the requester of the prompt is mean for wanting a sad ending thats why i wanna fix it /hj)

I like the concept of Morgie not aging "properly" due to his magic (and also fell in love with Morgie and his German Prince Boyfriend) so Thank you second anon, I'm absolutely giddy that someone wants a second part to something I made

I Would Be Yours

Find part one here.

Morgie le Fay x Fitzherbert! Reader

Pronouns used: he/him/his

Summary: Who would have thought that the lips that lived in his mind for the last three years would show up in front of him on a rainy Tuesday afternoon?

Warnings: Technically an age gap but its fine because the supernatural element makes it okay (Twilight/tvd/dbda rules around here), Morgie is short for Morgan the way Mal is short for Maleficent propaganda

Word Count:2.3K

(Peder gif because your girl is running out of Morgie ones)

    He wasn’t wrong, the lips of Morgie le Fay had haunted him for the last three and a half years. His dreams were littered with the laughter of the boy he was blessed to hear in the hideout next to him. Or his half lidded adoring eyes that he looked for in the face of every boy who gave him an ounce of attention since he returned. And they did, (Y/n) had grown into his looks in the time between sixteen and nineteen, now at almost twenty he’d gone through his fair share of suitors. None of them felt right though, they couldn’t radiate the feeling of home he was looking for. He’d felt it once before, back when his life was all swords and shields and study hall. But now, as his life has fallen into exam papers, late night red bulls, and coffee shop shifts he’s fallen for the mundane. If the feeling of home was meant to find him, it would come to him in his sense of calm, nothing about the way he used to run around wild was him anymore. He’d grown, if you asked his parents he’d grown beyond his years. He felt like it was simply a side effect of time travel, not that he let himself harp on that much. It would do him no good.  

   Sea Salted Caramel lattes and lavender honey matchas had become his escape from class. There was something in the way the espresso machines buzzed and  the smell of dark roast that came to be relaxing to him. He loved the regulars who babbled to him about their days, the excitable kids who told him too much while their parent ordered. Everything about Briar Roast had become a safe space to him, free of calculus exams and the plaguing what ifs. There was no place to wonder what would’ve happened if he just stayed in the past when he was busy, he liked that. There was no need to dwell, he knew that. And if it wasn’t raining so hard, maybe he wouldn’t be. 

   Storms always brought slow business, no one would be in this part of town other than busied employees who sat in their office jobs or cleaned up around retail stores. Ready to get to their dinner plans or their waiting couches, minds far away from the idea of getting coffee. Tuesdays already brought slow business after nine a.m. and the rain meant the day would bring none. Which he was fine with, poured over a textbook for his “Introductory Law” class that was splayed out on the counter. Exams wouldn’t study for themselves, he should be thankful for the quiet time. And if he could just focus, he would be. The boy sighs, closing the book and grabbing an espresso cup from under the countertop. He just needed some caffeine, it would focus him back in. It always did. He places the tiny cup under the machine, pressing a few buttons as the bell above the door rings out. 

    “Welcome to Briar Roast, I’ll be right with you!” The footsteps of whoever came in are soft, shoes barely dragging the tile floors instead of thumping against them. “Right, take your time. Do you have wifi here? I have a work thing to do.” The voice is almost familiar, a ring similar to one that lived somewhere lodged in the back of the Prince’s mind. “Yeah, it’s not password protected, should come right up as ‘Briar Roast Guest’. What can I get for you?” He’s yet to look at the man, eyes focused down on his screen as he starts a new order. “Oh uh, a Rose macchiato with almond milk if you have it.Oat milk is fine otherwise, I just can’t really do dairy. They’ve got you in here alone, huh?” “Yeah, it’s a Tuesday evening though, and you’re the first person to walk in here in the last hour and a half so, I’ll live. Just in case though, can I get a name for the order?” He looks up as he says it, eyes locking with a pair of hazel ones that make his breath catch in his throat. There’s a moment, with locked eyes that neither of them can get a word out, fondness in the baristas while shock sits in the man’s. 

   “Mein Sonnenschein,” it’s whispered on a sigh, his hands gripping the counter beneath him as if the prince would tumble over. “Excuse me?” He has the ghost of a memory on his tongue as he hears the name. Something he’d looked for everywhere when he’d first heard it four decades prior. It took him forever to find the definition, luckily the Isle had nothing but time and few people went to the library, giving him plenty of time to find it. “My Sunshine” it was German. He never thought he’d hear the term of endearment again, let alone from a college kid who bared a striking resemblance to the first person he’d ever heard it from. He watches as the boy’s face twists into one of shocked panic, staggering back from the counter ever so slightly. “Sorry, you just, you look like a guy I knew moons ago. He, well I mean, there’s no way he’d look like you do now. Probably would be old enough to be your father nowadays. And I am,” he looks down, letting out a pathetic laugh, “I am rambling like a madman. Can I get a name for that macchiato?” “Morgan,” the slightly stiff man’s shoulders relax. His own name sounded almost wrong on his lips for the first time in twenty years. “Morgie” almost slipped through them, the only people who still called him that were Hook and his three kids, why would he introduce himself in such a way? His name elicits a quirked brow and a hum from the barista. The boy going to move his own espresso off of the machine and start the man’s drink. 

    The moment, whatever it was, had clearly ended. He saw that, forcing himself away from the counter and over to a booth in the corner. Morgie’s laptop makes its way out of his bag, setting it up on the table in front of him to start a dreadfully boring spreadsheet. Not that he can focus on it, his mind is running through the conversation they’d had moments before. “You look like someone I knew moons ago.” How long is moons to this boy? Perhaps, no, that's silly. There was no way that he could be the prince from his past. But he did say that Morie couldn’t be the man they knew. Something about how he’d be old enough to be his dad. Maybe he did age slowly like he did. What if it was the mysterious hero from his youth? 

    Glass makes a sweet and gentle clank against the wooden table beside his laptop, dragging the man’s focus up to the boy. He’s smiling softly, “Order up.” It’s soft, nearly flirty as he turns away, headed back to the counter. Morgie watches with soft, needy eyes, taking in his every movement. The boy is leaning over the counter, reading something and sipping slowly from his little espresso cup. “Hey,” his voice startles himself, eyes widening over how loud the sound is. It catches the boy’s attention all the same, his eyes flickering up from the textbook before him and over to Morgie. “Is everything okay? Do you need something?” He laughs, shaking his head as if to shake off the question as a whole. “No, I’m fine I just,” Morgie runs a hand through his hair with a nervous laugh, “I was wondering if you wanted to come join me? I mean it’s not like you’re busy and you’re obviously studying or something. Wouldn’t a table be better for that?” 

    A soft smile flickers over his face, hands softly grasping his book and the little mug beside him. It’s a wordless transition from the counter to the seat in front of him, a gentle nod of thanks being the only thing the boy does before he turns back to his work. It’s dreadfully not enough. Morgie fiddles with his fingers, looking at the boy, “So uh, you from this part of Auradon?” He laughs, thumbing over thick pages, “No, I’m actually from Corona. What about you? You don’t seem to have the right accent to be from here.” Corona, that explained why he knew German, they all spoke German there. Morgie chooses his next words extremely carefully. If this boy knew he had spent time on the Isle he was sure he’d go running for the hills. “Oh, I am but I just moved back, spent a while, away. What are you doing out here then?” He laughs, cutting him eyes from his text book, “You’re the inquisitive type, aren’t you? I’m enrolled in Auradon Academy, my parents wanted me to be well educated before I take the throne.” Morgie nods, leaning forward to look at the words in the book in front of him. “So you’re studying law before you become King? I respect it.” 

    “Actually,” he laughs, shaking his head, “Oh this sounds awful. Actually I started studying law because of someone I knew once. He, uh, he was sent to the Isle and I don’t think he deserved to be there. Not that I got to know him well but I knew well enough. That boy was sunshine on Earth, he was playful and nervous and giddy. And I have thought about nothing but him since we met, there’s no way a guy like that deserved to be caged away in a barrier, you know?” “He was sent to the Isle? It’s been thirty-three years since anyone was sent there. I should know, I was there. What, what was his name? Maybe I knew him.” The barista looks up to him, a look of panic on his face, “Yeah uh, Morgie le Fay, Morgana’s son. I didn’t get to know him well, really I only knew him for a couple days so maybe you know him better than I do. You look a lot like him if I’m honest.” 

    When he looks up at him, Morgan’s face is pale, mouth gapped and eyes bulging as if he saw a ghost. “What,” he swallows, blinking rapidly as he stares at the prince, “What did you say your name was?”  “(Y/n) and if I remember right, I don’t think you ever asked.” Morgan shakes his head, reaching a hand out to touch (Y/n)’s face. It startles him and yet, he doesn’t pull away. “How did you stay so young? It’s been four decades, you’ve aged slower than I have. I didn’t think anyone aged slower than us except maybe Maleficent. What are you?” 

   “I thought it was you,”  his hand comes to cover the one on his cheek, a smile pressing across his lips, “I have thought about you every single day.” “How have you stayed so young?” The question is repeated, more urgent this time as he stares. He’s searching the boy’s face, nearly desperate for answers. As if he could read them off of his face. (Y/n) looks around before standing up, walking over to the door and flipping the open sign around. “Come to the break room with me?” His better instinct says not to follow the boy. For all he knows, that’s a vampire who’s planning to feed on him and there was no way that Morgie would be able to fend that off. His magic had grown so weak in the past three decades, he could get himself hurt. Yet, he finds himself nodding, rising up from his seat and abandoning his work. (Y/n) grabs for his hand and he lets the boy take it, dragging him back behind the counter and into the break room. The door slams behind them, the prince’s back pushing against it. 

   “This is, god this is crazy. It’s crazy and I need you to listen to me and believe me despite how crazy it is. We never were meant to meet. I was born a little under two decades ago. I, well not me but my friend who wasn't really my friend at the time, had this magic pocket watch. Her tutor built it and it could take you back in time to help you get what you want most in life. She accidentally brought me along when she used it and I never meant to meet you. While I was going to Auradon Prep I’d hide in that old hideout in the black lagoon. I didn’t ever really think about who used it before me. But you did and I did meet you. It was so wonderful and I was some big idiot who kissed you. God, you have plagued my thoughts ever since we met, I mean seriously I have been thinking about kissing you since you walked in. There hasn’t been a single kiss that felt like yours since, which is unfair.” Morgie laughs, stepping closer to him, “You’re rambling.” “Sorry.” 

    Morgie shakes his head, grabbing his cheek, “I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I find it kind of endearing. Especially since you’re rambling about me.” His thumb rubs over the boy’s cheek, eyes flickering between his lips and his eyes. He leans up towards his lips and the man moves back, eliciting a whine from the boy. “Morgie, please.” “I can’t, do you know how much older than you I am?” “No older than you were last time,” he’s nearly whimpering as he says it, eyes set on the boy’s face, “And it’s not like you look it. You’re physically what, twenty-two? Mein Sonnenschein, please.” He knows he shouldn’t, everything in Morgie’s brain screams at him to let go of the boy. But (Y/n) isn’t the only one who’s been thinking about their kiss for years. So he leans in, feeling that same gentle spark he’d felt all those years ago. It’s soft, gentle, adoring. Warm as the sun, their lips were built for each other. And for the first time in years, they feel at home.

[deathmetalunicorn1]

Please, Katakuri with a reader that has like a really nasty facial scar. She hides it all the time cause she was always made fun of for it. So when she meets him she sides it until one day he accidentally sees it. Thank you if you do it!

-When looking at you and your fiancé, Katakuri, you both looked so good together, not just because you were both strong warriors with fearsome reputations, but because you were both rather quiet and mysterious.

-Katakuri hid the lower half of his face, hiding his eel-like mouth, full of sharp teeth, that had scared so many when he was younger.

-You hid the top half of your face, wearing an eerie but beautiful falcon mask that was all black, including the eyeholes, but still sparkled under the sunshine like it was made of jewels.

-The both of you were fine with this marriage, as you both respected each other as warriors, and from that respect grew affection then love- it was easy for you both to get along, as you were a warrior of Big Mom’s, one that she had for years.

-As the wedding grew closer, Big Mom approached her second eldest son, “Katakuri, you need to have a word with Y/N- I won’t have her wearing her bird mask during the wedding.” He just nodded, saying nothing.

-He knew that you were sensitive about your mask, just like how he’s sensitive about his scarf, he had to wonder if you had a secret much like how he had one himself, secrets you had not shared with one another.

-He knew this had been an issue with Mama, as she felt the black mask wasn’t bridal looking, and Katakuri was torn on who to make happy, you or Mama.

-He went to the bridal suite where you were staying and knocked on the door before entering, seeing you not there, before he heard you in the bathroom, cleaning up.

-He said nothing, taking a seat near the bridal vanity waiting for you and he froze, seeing your mask on the vanity, not on your face as you stepped out.

-You both froze, seeing each other there, you in a robe with no mask on, showing the deep scar across your temple, spanning from your upper right temple, across your left eye, sparring it, and ending by your ear.

-You immediately turned, hands coming to your face as you ran back into the bathroom, shocking Katakuri, seeing you so emotional, as you were like him, levelheaded and calm, albeit a bit more talkative.

-He approached, hearing you crying on the other side of the door, “Y/N- what happened?” You didn’t answer and hearing your weeping made him furious, it made him want to rip the door off its hinges and take you into his arms.

-After a few moments you managed to speak up, “Please- please don’t leave me- I-I’ll keep it hidden- I promise!”

-Hearing this, he was easily able to gather that you had been rejected in the past due to this scar, and the thought made him furious- you were a wonderful person, and to know this made him want to hunt down those who broke your heart, as well as the one who did this to you.

-You weren’t expecting Katakuri to speak to you, you were thinking he was just going to leave to call off the whole wedding, “Y/N- open the door.” His voice was soft and gentle, making your voice catch.

-You opened the door, looking hesitant and your eyes went huge, seeing Katakuri there, his scarf on the floor beside him, showing his mouth to you.

-He gave you a small smile, “We both have our secrets that we can share together, Y/N.” tears quickly bloomed in your eyes, and he opened his arms, knowing your next move as you leapt into his arms, hugging him around his neck.

-He didn’t care that you were scarred, as he pulled back, rubbing a thumb over it, you could tell he was angry, and you told him how you got it, a marine who thought he could take advantage of you didn’t like your rejection, and instead of taking it gracefully, he attacked you, giving you your scar before you killed him.

-Katakuri did pout, as he wanted to defend your honor, which you thought was cute as you tried on his scarf, “This is really soft>” he chuckled softly, thinking you were adorable, as you were wearing it several times wrapped around your neck and still draped it on your arms like a boa.

-Katakuri was able to think of a compromise that appeased both you and Mama, as the doors opened, revealing your there, wearing a snow-white falcon mask with draping pearl features, looking so stunningly beautiful, but still you.

-You couldn’t wait to spend the rest of forever with Katakuri, and he thought the same, the two of you would be together, forever.

[lefarte]

omg hiiiiiiiiiii fellow funger connoisseur[leans on my bugatti, misses completely and falls into a bed to cash] ;]

anyway, may i ask for a moment of respite with August during termina? just a lil break in the bacchanalia. a moment of normalcy, like dinner 🙏

Yall,,,,,, I want that old man cannibal

Brown trout in the Vlata river are good and fat, but very fishy, so they go best with salt and herbs. An oven is the best, but in a pinch a spit will do just fine. You never knew a man could gut a fish so elegantly. August can use a knife like a fine instrument, and can keep a fire roaring even in the damp season. He splits it open, takes out the guts (“Would you like me to take the head off for you too, my dear?”) and uncerimoniously dumps them in the river. It goes up over the fire, he puts yarrow on it and something called “Česnek medvědí”.

“Are you trying to impress me?”

“No, no,” He chuckles. “I am just an old man with a hobby. That’s all.”

The fire is at a low purr like a cat. The sun has long since set. This part of the woods was unnaturally chilly, even compared to the city. You had been wandering westward for no particular reason and then got caught spinning around in circles. You survived three or four hours of this monotony by snacking on raw mushrooms (one of which gave you a tummy ache), until you saw a manmade knife slash on the side of a tree. You followed, and found another. You kept following, and here you are.

“What other hobbies do you have?” You ask. “Is that bow a hobby too?”

“It’s my occupation.” He pats the quiver on his hip. “I’m a… hunter by trade.”

You tilt your head. “Oh. There’s not many of those anymore.”

“Eh, no. But I do it because I love it.” He smiles.

He takes out a bottle of vodka and offers you a sip. It smells strongly. You shake your head. He gives you a shrug and takes a shot.

“I also saw you jumping from buildings.”

He nods sagely. “Did you like it?”

“…oh, so you are trying to impress me now…”

He has a nice deep chuckle that sounds pleasant to the ears. “The fish is done.”

You were borderline ravenous from the smell, so you perked up instantly. He cut you the most tender pieces, and ate the head and tail himself. You two ate with your hands, for lack of silverware. He seemed to watch you eat with fondness, even though your hair was ratty and your face tired.

He suddenly reaches out his hand. You flinch from the unexpected contact, but he makes a noise that’s almost… cooing at you.

“You have something on your face.” He takes his handkerchief up to your mouth, and dabs your lips gently. “I’m not supposed to be so fond of you, you know. I have a job to do. But you are so… cute.”

You lean into the warm touch. Afterwards, he sets the handkerchief in your hand. It is soft and embroidered with his name. “A memento.”

“I will have to go by the morning.” He says, quite suddenly. “You will probably never see me again.”

Your heart sinks. You don’t want to be alone in the deep woods, freezing and with an awful dry autumn wind. You don’t know how to get back to the city. You don’t want to. You’ve been chased, hungry, and beaten half to death all within the span of one day. It felt like you were here for years. It felt like you would be here for centuries more. You like the fire. It’s good and warm.

“I don’t want to,” You ball up your fists without even noticing. “It’s… cold.”

“I know, my dear.” He sighs. He wraps his big hands around you in a side hug. You realize just how big he is. His hands are calloused. Under the dinner jacket, he is muscular. “There’s quite a chill.”

He puts half of his jacket around you, so you’re sharing heat. You feel heat for the first time in a while, with warm food in your tummy and a bit of a blush.

“I’m a bit drunk,” he admits. “So I’ll just ask outright. I suppose you’re probably not used to sleeping on the grass, so you don’t suppose we could… cuddle up a bit. We wouldn’t want you catching a cold, now.”

You hesitate.

“You don’t have to say yes. If I’m being pushy, I apologize.”

“No, no, I’m just.. happy.”

He grins. “Good. That’s good.”

He lays down and sets his arm out, so you can use him as a pillow. He’s so gentle with you. He gives you a headpat before sleep. The night is still. You feel calm, good and calm, and your muscles relax. It’s good, it’s great even. He doesn’t snore, you hardly know if he slept at all. It’s not too long before you fall asleep. And as he said, in the morning, he was gone.