#in a shocking turn of events hr is like

[quarantineddreamer]

..

[beyondthesefourwalls]

This Love Came Back to Me (6)

Summary: You and Bradley hadn’t ended on bad terms; really, you stopped before the two of you could even truly begin. Still, in the last seven months, you had never completely left his mind. So when you suddenly appeared in front of him at the bar, asking for a favor and pulling him into a kiss, he thought maybe it was the perfect opportunity to see if this time, things could be different. But what neither of you realized was that there’s more going on than just rekindling a lost romance, and it might not be as easy as simply just wanting it. 

Pairing: Bradley Bradshaw x Reader (no use of y/n)

Warnings: second chance romance, language, allusions of smut and potential full smut, stalking, unhealthy obsessions, delusions of feelings, unwanted attention.

Part Six Word Count: 3.6K

Part Five :: Series Masterlist

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Bradley made a point of locking his apartment door behind him, sliding the chain into place with more emphasis than he probably usually did. You knew you were being too quiet - the silence in the room was so loud it was almost stifling. He had kept a tight hold on your hand the entire journey from the parking lot, almost like he was afraid if he let go you’d turn around and leave after all. It caused even more anxiety to churn in your stomach, because the last thing you wanted was him questioning your desire to be here or not. But you couldn’t figure out what to say just yet, and the more you tried, the harder it became.

“Do you want to get ready for bed?” he asked, disrupting the silence. You nodded, adjusting the grip on the overnight bag you had stopped by your car to grab on the way upstairs. 

“I’ll wait out here. Take all the time you need, okay?” 

It was silly, but the words made you want to cry. Bradley was the best man you had ever known. He deserved so much better than this. 

You forced another nod and a small quirk of your lips and took a step in the direction of the hallway. You hadn’t gotten far when you stopped, spinning on your heel to go back to him. You could see the question on his face but before he could voice it, you raised on your toes to press a kiss to his cheek. 

“Thank you,” you said quietly. You gave him another smile before retreating to his bathroom. 

After you had taken your makeup off and changed your clothes, you stared at yourself in the mirror. There was a bitter taste in your mouth that you couldn’t get to go away. 

The night had started so wonderfully, just like you knew it would. You had been looking forward to seeing Bradley all week after the beach date on Monday. You had been slightly surprised when he asked you to go to the Hard Deck, but hadn’t hesitated in agreeing. Sure, you were anxious to remeet all of his friends, knowing how important they were to him. But he hadn’t been lying when he said none of them held ill will toward you from your breakup. After shaking off the initial nerves, you were having so much fun drinking and hanging out with them with Bradley at your side. You were so happy and you knew the night would only get better when it was just the two of you later on. 

And then Paul had just…appeared. Again. You had told Nat you would wait in line at the bar while she washed her hands in the bathroom, and suddenly there he was, pouncing during the one moment you were alone. His voice rang like an alarm in your head as he talked about buying you a drink and taking you out for dinner, like the events of the week of you throwing his flowers out and reporting him to HR - again - hadn’t even happened. He had grabbed onto your arm so tightly and started pulling you along with him before you could even fathom a response. Then Natasha had showed up and pushed him away, immediately going off about respect and personal space. 

And then Bradley was there, arriving in the midst of your shock, making you feel safe despite it all. 

You had tried so hard not to let it ruin the night. You thought going back to all of Bradley’s friends and pretending that nothing happened would make you feel better, but the interaction stayed there in the back of your mind. 

It was hard for you to really tell what you were feeling now that a few hours had passed. You were upset at the whole situation, certainly. You were angry that he wouldn’t leave you alone and that he had picked you to have this stupid crush on. More than that, though, you were embarrassed, both at the fact that it had happened for everyone to witness and that you were letting it affect you so much. 

Paul was persistent and he was a creep, but did he really pose that much of a threat? When you had met with your manager a few days prior, she had echoed the same sentiment, saying that some men just couldn’t take a hint, and maybe you should be flattered that he’s paying you this much attention.

“It’s certainly not as big of a deal as you’re making it,” she had said with a roll of her eyes.

You tried all week to convince yourself that she was right, but you couldn’t. If you were honest with yourself, you were starting to get scared that this just kept happening. Especially now, when all you wanted was this second chance with Bradley to work out. 

Instead, you felt like a burden. It was why you had suggested you return to your own home tonight. You didn’t want to be too much for him, particularly not this early on, when you were both still figuring out how this was going to work. 

But one look at his expressive dark eyes and you were getting out of the car with him. 

With a shuddering breath, you finished up in the bathroom. You could hear the soft sounds of the tv on in the background from the living room when you stepped out. When you rounded the corner, you could see Bradley sitting on the couch. He had stripped out of the Hawaiian shirt and jeans into a pair of sweatpants and his undershirt. He looked up when you walked into the room, offering you one of those small smiles that made you feel warm inside. Without saying anything, he raised his arm, inviting you to sit with him. 

When you settled into his side, he pulled down the afghan on the back of the couch to drape over both of you. For a few minutes, you watched the cooking competition show that he had turned on. You could almost pretend that it was just a normal night of winding down together. But you could feel how Bradley was sitting stiffer than usual, and how his fingers kept flexing around the remote in his lap. You knew it was inevitable, and in the next commercial break, the need to say something had finally won out. 

“How did he know where we were tonight?” 

Your eyes squeezed shut at the question. He had asked it in a regular tone, if anything quieter than was normal for him, but it might as well have been screamed at you with how loud it rang in your head. You hadn’t let yourself consider that particular question, pushing it as far down as you could. 

“I don’t know,” you whispered in response. You were so quiet that for a second you hoped that whatever ad was playing through the speakers would mask the sound of your voice. But you knew he heard you by how he raised the remote to mute the tv. You sat in silence, and you felt worse with every passing second. 

“I’m sorry if I derailed our night,” you finally said, unable to stand it anymore. Bradley shifted so that you weren’t leaning against him anymore, sitting beside you and turning your face to his with a gentle hand so he could meet your eyes. 

“You didn’t derail anything,” he insisted, and you could tell he meant it. Still, you felt the guilt swelling. He let out a long sigh, the frustration in it evident and painted all over his face. “I just…fuck, Bug. I don’t understand.” 

You chewed on your bottom lip and snapped the hair tie on your wrist as you contemplated your response. You didn’t understand either, and you wished you did. “I’m not sure what else to do,” you admitted quietly. 

“Call off work on Monday,” he said immediately, like it was something he had been thinking about before you posed the question. “Or quit, even.”

You sighed. You wanted to. You did. But you knew you couldn’t - it wasn’t realistic. You had rent and bills and while you had some savings, it wouldn’t sustain you forever. “I can’t do that, B. I can’t let him and his stupid creepy crush start impacting me more than it already has. That’s my job.”

Bradley spoke your name as he shook his head. “This isn’t just a stupid creepy crush anymore.”

“I know that!” 

You didn’t mean to snap at him, but the words came out sharp anyway. You felt jittery all of a sudden and so you took a deep breath and threw the blanket off of you, standing from the couch. To his credit, Bradley didn’t try to stop you as you walked the few paces to the kitchen. You poured yourself some water to try and cool yourself down, but when you tried to bring it to your lips to drink it, your hand shook. The glass thudded against the countertop when you set it down with more force than necessary. Frustrated tears filled your eyes and when one escaped, you wiped it away harshly. 

After giving you a moment to breathe, Bradley followed to your side. You were leaning against the counter with your head in your hands when he rested a big hand on your back. 

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said gently, rubbing his palm up and down your spine. His touch was always so soothing to you and left you feeling warm.

“I know. You didn’t,” you assured him, turning your head to look at him. 

“We promised we’d do better at talking, and being honest with how we were feeling,” he reminded you, and your eyebrows furrowed in confusion at where he was going with this. “Right now I feel like there’s someone who is unhealthily obsessed with my girl, and she thinks it’s her fault, or that she’s ruining things, but she’s not.”

You wanted to deny it, to tell him he was wrong. But you knew that you couldn’t. He had voiced exactly what was going through your head. 

“I don’t want to be too much for you,” you admitted quietly. Bradley opened his mouth to respond, already shaking his head, but you held up a hand to stop him. You swallowed the lump in your throat and exhaled deeply. “I want this to work. So badly. And it’s not fair that this is something we have to be worried about - that you have to be worried about. Because I am, B. I’m worried. And I’m scared.” 

Your voice cracked as you finally said it out loud, and it seemed that once you started, you couldn’t stop. “I don’t want this attention from him. But until I find another job there’s nothing else that I can do. I’ve done everything I can think of. I’ve told him to stop, I’ve reported him at work. And it’s not like he’s made any real threats, so I can’t even go to the cops. Him showing up at the same bar won't be enough. They’ll mark it off as a coincidence, even if deep down I know it’s not. So I have no choice but to deal with this.”

“I know. I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel like you aren’t,” he sighed. “I want this to work, too, Bug. And it will. I can’t…I can’t explain how strong my feelings are for you - how I need to protect you. So it’s hard for me, too, that I can’t do anything. I know you’re doing everything you can. But you don’t have to do it alone, okay? I’m here. For whatever you need.”  

His gaze was so full of tenderness and understanding, it made you want to cry for a whole new reason. You could feel the tears welling in your eyes by the time he finished. He wanted this to work, and was so sure that it would. He wanted to protect you - needed to, apparently. And you wanted that too. But god, you wished he didn’t have to. 

“A hug would be a nice start,” you decided, and your boyfriend didn’t hesitate to draw you into his arms. You buried your face in his chest and held onto him as you mumbled into his shirt. “And I don’t want to talk about him anymore. I want to focus on us.” 

He kissed the top of your head, squeezing you tightly. “Okay.” 

____

You spent the next hour or so cuddled up on the couch, just like you wanted. When your eyes started closing longer and longer during blinks, Bradley chuckled softly and clicked the tv off, shuffling you both back to his bedroom. It took your tired, heavy eyes a moment to register what was in front of you but when they did, a quiet gasp escaped.

“You kept it?” you asked softly. You looked across the bed at Bradley to see his face pink as he pulled down the covers. 

“Kept it in with the rest of my spare sheets,” he responded with a shrug, and you knew he was trying to play it off as no big deal, but to you, it meant everything. 

Warmth filled you as your fingertips touched the soft, silk material of your pillowcase. You had made a passing comment once early on in your relationship about how you preferred this material to rest your head on and Bradley had surprised you with an exact match to the one you kept on your bed at home the next time you stayed over. You had never expected him to keep it once you broke up. 

Climbing into the bed, you bypassed your side completely. Bradley huffed out a sound of surprise as you straddled his lower abdomen, but as you leant down to kiss him, it turned into something more pleasant and eager.   

“I’m so lucky to have you,” you murmured against his lips. He squeezed your thighs in his big hands as he kissed you back. 

“Took the words right out of my mouth, baby,” he whispered back. You hummed happily in response, tasting his lips again. It wasn’t long before he was rolling you onto your back so he could hover over you instead, never once breaking the kiss. 

Suddenly, you weren’t feeling all that tired at all. 

_____

You were glad when the weekend passed without further incident. You didn’t talk about Paul again, and you did your very best not to think about how the weekend had started. Instead, you slept in on Saturday morning and woke up in Bradley’s arms, followed by a day of doing little more than just being together before he surprised you by taking you out. You had figured you would be staying inside of his apartment all weekend, and when you voiced as much, he gave you a soft look filled with so much sincerity it nearly took your breath away.

“I want to take you out,” he said as he trailed the back of his finger down your cheek. “Let me?”

He knew how much you didn’t want your relationship to change because of what you were dealing with. So you knew what he was really asking. Let me give this to you. Let me keep you safe - don’t be scared with me. Be with me.

So you spent Saturday night out, first at dinner and then at a karaoke bar, laughing at off key renditions of 90s pop and ballads from the early 2000s. When you got back to his apartment, you sat on the counter as he stood between your legs, sharing a drive thru milkshake that had quickly been abandoned in favor of tasting one another. You went to bed with a smile on your face, his body wrapped around yours, feeling safe and warm. 

Bradley didn’t bring up you calling out of work on Monday again, though you could tell as he bid you goodbye on Sunday night that he was reluctant to let you go for reasons more than just missing you.  

“You can stay another night,” he murmured against your mouth. His body was flush against yours, pressing you into the side of your car in his complex parking lot. He nipped at your bottom lip as you hummed in pleasure. “Or I can come stay with you.”

“Traffic is terrible in the mornings between our places,” you replied distractedly, raking your fingernails down his back as he kissed your jaw. “And work is in the opposite direction for both of us.” 

“Doesn’t matter,” he insisted, “I’d do it.” 

You whimpered and drew his lips back to yours, losing yourself for another few minutes in the feel of him, his tongue tangled with yours and his large body surrounding you where you stood. 

The kiss slowed gradually, both of you reluctant for it to end but knowing that it had to. You breathed in deeply once you settled back onto your feet. His dark eyes were almost pleading as they stared into yours.

“I’ll text you when I get home?” you asked quietly. You toyed with the hem of his white t-shirt. 

Bradley sighed, his eyes closing momentarily, and you swallowed the lump that formed in your throat. You tightened your arms around him and let your forehead fall to rest on his chest. His chin rested on your head and you stood there for a long moment. When the orange and pinks in the sky started turning more purple and inky blue, you knew you had to pull yourself away, whether you liked it or not. 

Lifting your head, you looked up at him, smiling softly. “I had an amazing weekend, B.” 

He leant down to capture your lips in one more kiss. “Me too, Bug.” 

When you got home nearly thirty minutes later, you wondered why you hadn’t just agreed to stay. You locked your front door and flipped on the light and couldn’t help but sigh as you took in your small living room. It was just as you had left it on Friday morning before you went to work, not that you had expected any different. But looking around, you couldn’t help but admit that it felt…different. Truthfully, it had for a while now. You weren’t sure when it started, but this little house that you loved so much didn’t feel as much like home as it had in the last two years you had lived here. You had tried to push away the feeling, but it gnawed at you now. 

If you were honest with yourself, the most at home you had felt in this space you had crafted so carefully was when Bradley had been here with you. Briefly, you wondered what it would be like if you never had to say goodbye to him like earlier. You only let yourself consider the thought for a second being pushing it away - it was too early to think about that. There was too much going on. 

You groaned out loud, dramatic and drawn out, pushing yourself off the door. You grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen before making your way into your bedroom to start getting ready for bed. It wasn’t late, but your bed was calling your name, and you’d rather curl up underneath the weighted blankets with your tv on as you texted your boyfriend than try and do anything productive tonight. 

Why had you been so insistent on coming home again? 

You jumped when a movement behind you in the bathroom mirror caught your attention while you were brushing your teeth a little bit later. You breathed out a sigh of relief when you realized it was just your gauzy curtains rustling as a breeze floated in the window. But then you cursed when you realized the latch must have shifted sometime during the weekend. It was barely cracked, hardly enough even for the wind to get in, but you still hurried over to slam it down and lock it again. It had been giving you trouble since the moment you moved in and your landlord had been insistent that you just weren’t locking it properly, though you knew he just didn’t want to pay for a replacement. 

“Cheap bastard,” you muttered around your toothbrush. 

You unlocked your phone once you were safely burrowed amongst your pillows, Dateline playing in the background. You smiled when you saw Bradley had texted you already, asking if you had gotten home okay. 

You snapped a quick selfie and sent it back in response. The three dots appeared immediately and it made your heart flutter knowing that he must have been waiting for you to respond, even if he had sent the message five minutes ago. 

Bradley🐓✈️❤️: Damn. Can’t believe I’m jealous of your pillows right now. 

The bubble popped up again before you had a chance to type out a response, and when you saw the selfie he had sent you back, you squealed in pure delight. He was in his own bed, chest bare with one arm folded under his head. When you looked closely though, it was your pillow he was resting on. 

Bradley🐓✈️❤️: I’ll keep this warm for you until you come back. Miss you already❤️

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Part Seven :: Series Masterlist :: Main Masterlist

Notes: I just want to give Bug a hug. Girlfriend is so hard on herself. I hope you enjoyed this little bit of fluff! I'd probably not get used to it.

Likes/comments/reblogs are the best encouragement for posting more🖤

Thank you to Mak and Em for all of your help making this story come to life. And thanks to Mak for the AMAZING banner!

Tag List: @roosterforme @mak-32 @wildxwidow @gretagerwigsmuse @bradshawburner @lilyevanswhore @too-fangirl-to-fuction @fav-fanficssss @notroosterbradshaw @teacupsandtopgun @sometimesanalice @sunflowersteves @littlezee80 @je-suis-prest-rachel @khaylin27 @infamous-reindeer @hotch-meeeeeuppppp @yanna-banana @avengersfan25 @wkndwlff @sylviebell @lt-spork @indynerdgirl

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[calmlb]

have some silly skk wedding hcs bc. idk i just wanted to yell w someone abt them

chuuya cries in sporadic bursts the day of but taken altogether it's like 3 hrs of hysterical sobbing

dazai doesn't cry at all because he slips into like a shocked fugue state the second he sees chuuya but he DOES bawl like a baby the next morning

nobody who attended remembers past like hour 4 of the wedding and six months later they're still uncovering some of the wild shit they did during the afterparty. this is because the wedding staff accidentally became part of the celebration and the photographer, who was supposed to record the whole thing, ended up sleeping with one of the cast. it was kunikida.

just to be obnoxious ranpo proposes to poe and chuuya has to be held back by a crying w laughter dazai from Physically Attacking Him

dazai insists on having a bouquet to throw, which he purposefully angles for akutagawa to catch. atsushi faints, lucy's face progresses from angry -> considering in real time (they r a throuple real)

chuuya picks his best man/maid of honor fairly easily (hirotsu and kouyou duh) but dazai basically told the ada to figure it out amongst themselves and come back to him with their decisions (he's lazy/genuinely didn't know who to pick and wanted to outsource) and there was Actual Violence

lots of drama over whether or not to invite mori and verlaine. turns out to be a nonissue bc all verlaine does is cry in a corner about a) rimbaud and b) holy shit my little brother is getting married and after hour 6 mori and fukuzawa disappear from the event (neither they nor anyone else remembers this. very lucky)

ango receives an invitation with no context and has like 3 mental breakdowns about what this means for his and dazai's relationship

7 hours in (it was a long party) kenji's cow somehow shows up (he swears up and down it wasn't him, everyone's very confused the next morning)

it was a sunset wedding, dazai wore white and chuuya wore blue

adam and shirase and some other members of the sheep are there. adam makes fast friends with kyouka, meanwhile the former sheep are very narrowly spared dazai's wrath, mostly bc he keeps forgetting they're even there. it's a big wedding

tachihara tried to drunkenly breakdance, gin laughed so hard she thought she got heart palpitations and was afraid for her life. she went to look for mori and walked in on him and fukuzawa. none of them remember this but now gin feels a vague sense of horror every time she looks at her boss and she's not really sure why

yosano tries rizzing kouyou up and fails by any normal metric (yosano: please please please please please please please please please please) but kouyou is Tipsy and Charmed

dazai does indeed burn the marriage certificate (TRY RETURNING ME WITHOUT A RECEIPT, CHIBI!!). chuuya is so in love he starts crying again

higuchi and tanizaki had philosophical discussions about life on the rooftop and accidentally solved the secrets of the universe. they do not remember this

kunikida returns from his steamy rendezvous with the photographer and immediately sets his sights on ango. drunk kunikida knows what he wants (twinkish men) and when he wants them (now). there is a reason one of the most important ideals in his notebook is to Not Drink

the guild is there and are generally having a good time until fitzgerald sees tsujimura (only there as ango's plus-one, got abandoned bc of drunk kunikida's machinations) and calls her a blue-haired liberal, and hey, what's a party without a brawl in the middle of the dance floor

between the guild and the wedding staff half the people at the party weren't even invited. which is why the doa and hunting dogs are also there

kenji, kyouka, q, elise, and aya are having a Kids' Party in a separate room with adam as an extremely enthusiastic babysitter (well, more like occasional check-in-er, he's swinging back and forth between the parties). tecchou joins them after a while and has a great time, as all except aya are extremely fascinated by his unholy food combinations

bram and lovecraft kickstart their enemies-to-lovers arc the second they set eyes on each other

fyodor, dazai, kajii, and nikolai start up a game of Knife Monopoly, to everyone's surprise the extremely determined caterer sweeps them all. sigma is smitten at once and immediately starts to flirt with her (the caterer is a milf who is seduced by sigma's transgender rizz, sigma will eventually have an entire 'convincing the stepkids' family movie arc)

teruko FUCKS IT UP on the dance floor, haruno is so impressed she immediately falls into her first disastrous sapphic crush

hirotsu and natsume mutually agree to restart their homoerotic situationship without ever even actually saying two words to each other, someone has to take skk's place now that they've more or less gotten their shit together

katai wasn't there physically but was supervising through security cameras. he's the only one who will ever know everything that happened that night and deleted the footage due to trauma :( sorry katai

tsujimura and mushitarou bond over how desperately they Do Not Want To Be There

skk Try to have a romantic wedding night(/morning, given how long the afterparty stretched) but they are both too drunk, chuuya trips and falls flat on his face and dazai laughs so hard he throws up

omg i started yapping and then i just didn't stop. i didn't even know i had this many thoughts in my head. i am sending this before i can regret it feel free to delete if u want to

anon. THESE ARE SO GOOD OMG???? i could literally visualize a whole fic just by reading these hcs

adding my comments under the cut so it doesn’t get too long 🫣

ok first of all… the skk crying hcs??? CANON OMG im so obsessed

Ranpo turning skk’s wedding into his engagement party is so true of him. he absolutely would

Dazai totally would insist on a bouquet to toss, & him throwing it at to Akutagawa is so funny 😭

SOMEONE SAVE ANGO PLS-

KENJI’S COW IM SOBBING it reminds me of that wan episode where Atsushi asks Dazai what Yosano needed & he was like “… a cow!” boba eyes & everything

i had never thought of Adam & Kyouka being buddies but my life is changed now tysm for this revelation

NOT GIN BEING SCARRED BY ZENKU SKK 💀 someone get my girl outta there

ok but tipsy + charmed Kouyou is a vision

Chuuya tells Dazai that burning the marriage certificate means they’re not married anymore & that’s when Dazai finally breaks down into tears

ok Higuchi & Tanizaki is another duo i never considered and i LOVE IT???

KUNIANGO SO TRUE

TSUJIMURA A BLUE HAIRED LIBERAL I AM SCREAMING

omg i love the kids party & skk are both good with kids so they definitely would make sure the kids are taken care of 🥹 Adam would be such a good babysitter, and Tetchou too??? omg giving me fic ideas with this one

super invested in this caterer x Sigma arc tbh

ykw i was thinking abt bsd rarepairs the other day & couldn’t figure out who to ship Teruko or Haruno with… should’ve thought of this honestly

SOMEONE SAVE KATAI TOO OMG THAT POOR MAN-

now that you mention it… i actually love the idea of Tsujimura & Mushitaro but i think it’s mostly bc her hair matches his suit PFFT

skk’s ideal honeymoon = SLEEP 😫

i’m so glad you didn’t stop yapping non, this was so wonderful tysm i feel blessed 🥹🩷 please feel free to yell abt hcs or say hi anytime!! 🫶🏻💕💕

[adancedivasmom]

Pairing: Dave York x F!Reader (no physical description, however it is implied she hasn’t lost her baby weight)

Rating: Explicit 18+ (By proceeding to read beyond this warning, you are agreeing that you are 18 years or older)

Content: Lactation kink, smut, frottage, mention of abandonment, body insecurity, pet names and name calling (slut is used once), Dave York is his own warning

Word Count: 2K

Summary: After a hectic morning and barely making it to work on time, you realize you forgot your breast pump at home. You haven’t nursed or pumped in 16 hours and worry you won’t make it through your important afternoon meeting. Luckily for you, a certain handsome DIA agent knows just what to do and offers his assistance.

(This takes place before the events in The Equalizer 2 and Dave is divorced in my au.)

A/N: A huge thank you to @toomanystoriessolittletime for posting this idea on Discord and for not minding that I took and ran with it (this is all their fault really). Thank you to @ozarkthedog and @firstofficerwiggles for reading this over for me, offering their kind words, and telling me to go for it and post this. Also, special thanks to my fellow Dave York Nasties for their encouragement. I love you guys!

This is the first fic I've ever written, and I'm nervous. Please be kind. 💝

REBLOGS WOULD BE LOVED AND APPRECIATED

No, no, no, no, no…

This can’t be happening.

For the fifth time, you look underneath your jacket in your office.

It’s not there.

Your breast pump bag is not there.

You think back to your crazy morning. Somehow you managed to turn the volume down on your phone alarm. You never heard it and slept in.

Your son, bless his heart, had just started sleeping through the night a couple of days ago.

After throwing on your blouse and favorite flowy skirt, hastily brushing your hair and teeth, you flew to your son’s room.

He was still sleeping as you rushed into his nursery to get him dressed for the day. He greeted you with the biggest smile, kicking his legs and reaching for you.

It was times like this that made the challenge of raising him on your own worth it. His father had skipped out on you a month ago after informing you he no longer felt attracted to you.

No, none of that, you told yourself. You did not have time for self-pity right now.

Once you finished changing your little bean’s diaper and dressing him, you tried to feed him, but he fussed and refused to latch on. 

Most likely, he could sense how stressed you were.

Not a problem, you told yourself. Your mom had extra bottles and an ample supply of your breast milk in her freezer. Everything would be okay.

After dropping your baby off at your mom’s house, you drove to work and made it there at 9 am.

You threw your jacket and purse on the extra chair in your office and barely had time to unlock your computer when the HR supervisor knocked on your door. 

“Brian called off. I’m going to need you to give the morning and afternoon presentations,” she briskly informed you and quickly walked away.

Great, just great, you grumbled to yourself. You had one hour to prepare for the staff meeting to review the new health care benefits package the DIA was changing to at the start of the new year.

You bolted for the conference room and managed to be ready in one hour when your coworkers started filing in.

The meeting went well, and you answered everyone’s questions and addressed their concerns efficiently and cheerfully.

Which was shocking because, at this point, your breasts were hurting, really hurting. It had been almost 16 hours since you last fed your son before you put him down for the night.

Thank goodness it was your lunch hour, and you could close your office door and get some much-needed relief pumping.

This brings you to the present, frantically looking all over your office for your breast pump that’s nowhere to be found.

Maybe you left it in your car?

You grabbed your keys and took off. Not watching where you were going, you bumped right into him.

Dave York.

Of all the people to run into, it had to be him. You’ve been secretly obsessing over him since your first day of work at the DIA.

He was gorgeous. You couldn’t help but notice his large hands, the way his dress shirts seemed to strain to cover his large shoulders. Goodness, he was deliciously broad. One day in the lunchroom, Dave had his sleeves rolled up and caught you staring at the veins in his forearms. He looked at you with piercing brown eyes and knowingly smirked at you, the bastard.

You offered a hasty, “I’m sorry, Mr. York!” and sprinted for the parking lot.

Unfortunately, today was not your day. Your breast pump bag was not in your car either.

You were practically in tears by the time you made it back to your office.

You struggled for a solution to your predicament. Maybe you could soak some paper towels in warm water to ease the pain. Women hand-expressed in the past before breast pumps were invented. Surely that would work, right?

It had to. There was no way you could give the afternoon presentation in your condition. You don’t remember your breasts ever being this sore and full before. You were amazed you hadn’t started leaking through your nursing bra and blouse.

Having that happen during your next session was out of the question. You would be humiliated.

A gentle knock on your door brought you out of your thoughts. 

It was Dave again.

“Are you alright?,” he asked with genuine concern.

“It’s nothing,” you replied. “I’m just having an awful day.”

Dave responded, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No, not unless you have a breast pump in your office,” you answered with a little more attitude than you meant to.

“Hmmmm,” he hummed as he slowly walked towards you.

“You may be surprised to learn I know little about what you are going through right now. Your son’s about three months old now, isn’t he? He probably just started sleeping through the night. I remember when my ex-wife, Carol, was nursing. She was relieved when the girls started sleeping through the night, but not so much when her milk production didn’t slow down right away.”

Your eyes widened. “Wait, how do you know this? How do you even know how old my son is? I’ve never even talked to you except to say hello in passing.”

“I notice everything about you,” he admitted as he touched your cheek.

“Let me offer you my… assistance,” Dave said as he held your gaze.

“There was something I always wanted to do with Carol,” he continued, “but she never wanted to try.”

“I think you’re different, though. I think you know what I can do to help ease your pain,” he whispered in your ear. “And you want it, don’t you?”

Goosebumps erupted on your skin as arousal spread through your body. You clenched around nothing and fought to keep yourself from moaning.

Was this really happening?

“Shut your door and lock it,” Dave ordered darkly.

You never moved so fast in your life.

By the time you turned around, he had already moved your purse and jacket to your desk and was sitting on the extra chair in your office.

“Now be a good girl for me and let me take care of you,” Dave said as he held his hand out to you.

You walked to him and took his hand as your heart pounded in your chest.

“What do I...” you began.

“Sit on my lap,” he commanded softly.

Feeling self-conscious, you quickly argued, “But I’m too..”

“Don’t,” he interrupted. “Don’t you dare say what I think you’re going to say. You are beautiful. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Now, sit.”

You straddled him, your legs on the outside of his, facing him.

Eyes blown with lust, Dave stared at you like a man starved.

You couldn’t believe you were doing this. You worked in HR for goodness sake. It would be the end of your career if someone walked in on the two of you.

But you couldn’t bring yourself to care, not when Dave looked at you like you were the only thing that mattered. You would do anything to please him at this point.

“That’s my good girl,” he breathed. “Now unbutton your blouse.”

Powerless to resist, you undid your buttons and exposed yourself.

“Fuck,” he growled out. “I knew your tits would be spectacular.”

He slowly unclasped the right side of your nursing bra and glanced down.

You knew what he saw. Your breast was engorged and started to leak almost immediately.

Dave gently massaged you and gave your nipple an experimental lick, causing your milk to start squirting from your breast.

He quickly opened his mouth to catch the flow. You could hear your milk landing and pooling in his mouth.

Dave groaned and latched on. You could feel the familiar pull and sighed with long-awaited relief.

Dave continued to massage your breast while he gulped down your milk enthusiastically.

It took a tremendous effort to keep quiet. The reality of what was happening right now made you dizzy with desire. 

Once Dave felt he had taken enough from the right side, he stopped and turned his attention back to you.

“That ex-boyfriend of yours is an idiot if you don’t mind me saying,” he told you candidly.

“You are a goddess. If you were mine, I’d make sure you were told that daily.”

Before you could think of something clever to reply, Dave had already uncovered your left breast and latched on.

At this point, you were incredibly turned on. You could feel your arousal leaking through your panties, and you desperately wanted to rub your thighs together for relief.

Sensing your struggle, Dave grabbed your hips and pushed you down until your core rubbed against the now rather large bulge in his trousers.

Mortified, you heard yourself moan out loud.

Dave put his hand over your mouth and hushed you.

"I know, I know. That feels good, doesn't it," he taunted. "But you need to keep quiet otherwise your co-workers will discover what a filthy little slut you are."

“Now take what you need, gorgeous girl,” he instructed as he returned to your breast.

With his help, you started to rub your core over his clothed erection. Need coursed through your body, and you lost yourself to your pleasure.

With every second, you become acutely aware of how much of your slick was dripping from your cunt, soaking through your panties and making a total mess of his lap.

Dave did not care in the least and only encouraged you.

“That’s my good girl. Just like that,” he moaned and quickly resumed gulping your milk like a man dying of thirst.

Faster and faster, you moved against him, whimpering while you felt your crest quickly build.

Dave released your nipple with a pop.

He held your chin and forced you to look into his eyes.

“Come for me,” he demanded, his voice dark as sin. “Be a good girl and come for me...now.”

That was all it took to push you over the edge. You came with a silent scream. Not taking any chances, Dave kissed you to make sure he would swallow any of your noises that might escape.

You could taste yourself on his tongue, and it was the most erotic thing you had ever experienced.

When you slowly came down from your high, you opened your eyes to see Dave gazing at you fondly.

“You look so beautiful right now,” Dave said reverently. “You did such a good job for me.”

You shyly replied, “Thank you, Mr. York,” and tried to look away.

Dave was having none of that.

“Don’t look away,” he said, forcing you to meet his eyes again. “We’re both consenting adults. You needed help, and I was happy to offer my assistance.”

Before you could respond, Dave reminded you of the time and your upcoming afternoon meeting.

You slowly and reluctantly removed yourself from Dave’s lap and tried to look presentable again. You smoothed out your skirt, closed up your nursing bra, and started to button up your blouse.

Anxiety crept into your mind. Did anyone hear what the both of you were doing?

Dave quickly took over buttoning your blouse.

“Don’t worry, pretty girl. No one heard a thing,” he promised sincerely.

You met his eyes and knew he would never lie to you.

“Next time, you’ll have to come to my office," he offered. "I have a couch in there. You’ll be much more comfortable sitting on my cock while I drink from your gorgeous tits.”

You must have had a shocked expression on your face because you heard Dave chuckle softly.

"Does that sound good to you?" he teased.

You shook your head yes immediately.

You didn't know what you had gotten yourself into with Dave York, but you were excited to see where this was going.

You left him in your office to sort himself out. Thinking about his promise of a "next time," you walked to the conference room smiling softly.

[anniekoh]

elsewhere on the internet: AI and advertising

Bubble Trouble (about AIs trained on AI output and the impending model collapse) (Ed Zitron, Mar 2024)

A Wall Street Journal piece from this week has sounded the alarm that some believe AI models will run out of "high-quality text-based data" within the next two years in what an AI researcher called "a frontier research problem."  Modern AI models are trained by feeding them "publicly-available" text from the internet, scraped from billions of websites (everything from Wikipedia to Tumblr, to Reddit), which the model then uses to discern patterns and, in turn, answer questions based on the probability of an answer being correct. Theoretically, the more training data that these models receive, the more accurate their responses will be, or at least that's what the major AI companies would have you believe. Yet AI researcher Pablo Villalobos told the Journal that he believes that GPT-5 (OpenAI's next model) will require at least five times the training data of GPT-4. In layman's terms, these machines require tons of information to discern what the "right" answer to a prompt is, and "rightness" can only be derived from seeing lots of examples of what "right" looks like. ... One (very) funny idea posed by the Journal's piece is that AI companies are creating their own "synthetic" data to train their models, a "computer-science version of inbreeding" that Jathan Sadowski calls Habsburg AI.  This is, of course, a terrible idea. A research paper from last year found that feeding model-generated data to models creates "model collapse" — a "degenerative learning process where models start forgetting improbable events over time as the model becomes poisoned with its own projection of reality."

...

The AI boom has driven global stock markets to their best first quarter in 5 years, yet I fear that said boom is driven by a terrifyingly specious and unstable hype cycle. The companies benefitting from AI aren't the ones integrating it or even selling it, but those powering the means to use it — and while "demand" is allegedly up for cloud-based AI services, every major cloud provider is building out massive data center efforts to capture further demand for a technology yet to prove its necessity, all while saying that AI isn't actually contributing much revenue at all. Amazon is spending nearly $150 billion in the next 15 years on data centers to, and I quote Bloomberg, "handle an expected explosion in demand for artificial intelligence applications" as it tells its salespeople to temper their expectations of what AI can actually do.  I feel like a crazy person every time I read glossy pieces about AI "shaking up" industries only for the substance of the story to be "we use a coding copilot and our HR team uses it to generate emails." I feel like I'm going insane when I read about the billions of dollars being sunk into data centers, or another headline about how AI will change everything that is mostly made up of the reporter guessing what it could do.

They're Looting the Internet (Ed Zitron, Apr 2024)

An investigation from late last year found that a third of advertisements on Facebook Marketplace in the UK were scams, and earlier in the year UK financial services authorities said it had banned more than 10,000 illegal investment ads across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok in 2022 — a 1,500% increase over the previous year. Last week, Meta revealed that Instagram made an astonishing $32.4 billion in advertising revenue in 2021. That figure becomes even more shocking when you consider Google's YouTube made $28.8 billion in the same period . Even the giants haven’t resisted the temptation to screw their users. CNN, one of the most influential news publications in the world, hosts both its own journalism and spammy content from "chum box" companies that make hundreds of millions of dollars driving clicks to everything from scams to outright disinformation. And you'll find them on CNN, NBC and other major news outlets, which by proxy endorse stories like "2 Steps To Tell When A Slot Is Close To Hitting The Jackpot."  These “chum box” companies are ubiquitous because they pay well, making them an attractive proposition for cash-strapped media entities that have seen their fortunes decline as print revenues evaporated. But they’re just so incredibly awful. In 2018, the (late, great) podcast Reply All had an episode that centered around a widower whose wife’s death had been hijacked by one of these chum box advertisers to push content that, using stolen family photos, heavily implied she had been unfaithful to him. The title of the episode — An Ad for the Worst Day of your Life — was fitting, and it was only until a massively popular podcast intervened did these networks ban the advert.  These networks are harmful to the user experience, and they’re arguably harmful to the news brands that host them. If I was working for a major news company, I’d be humiliated to see my work juxtaposed with specious celebrity bilge, diet scams, and get-rich-quick schemes.

...

While OpenAI, Google and Meta would like to claim that these are "publicly-available" works that they are "training on," the actual word for what they're doing is "stealing." These models are not "learning" or, let's be honest, "training" on this data, because that's not how they work — they're using mathematics to plagiarize it based on the likelihood that somebody else's answer is the correct one. If we did this as a human being — authoritatively quoting somebody else's figures without quoting them — this would be considered plagiarism, especially if we represented the information as our own. Generative AI allows you to generate lots of stuff from a prompt, allowing you to pretend to do the research much like LLMs pretend to know stuff. It's good for cheating at papers, or generating lots of mediocre stuff LLMs also tend to hallucinate, a virtually-unsolvable problem where they authoritatively make incorrect statements that creates horrifying results in generative art and renders them too unreliable for any kind of mission critical work. Like I’ve said previously, this is a feature, not a bug. These models don’t know anything — they’re guessing, based on mathematical calculations, as to the right answer. And that means they’ll present something that feels right, even though it has no basis in reality. LLMs are the poster child for Stephen Colbert’s concept of truthiness.

[winchesterangle]

Falling for a green eyed stranger

Warning: None I think

Sitting at a Bar at 12:00 in the afternoon is not the way I thought today was going to go. staring down at my third beer stewing on the events that just occurred this morning.

" You look like how I feel" says a deep voice that instantly sends shivers down my spine.

Tilting my head just a little bit to look at the source of that voice. I greeted by a beautiful green eyed man with a beer of his own in his hand.

" What?" Not really in the mood to talk to a complete stranger right now. Not realizing my words came out a little harshly

"I'm sorry, you just look like your have a rough day" the stranger says holding his hands up in a surrender

Turning my body turn the stranger

"No I'm sorry I didn't mean to be harsh, I'm just like you said having a rough day" bring my beer to my lips. For a couple seconds there was a awkward silence until he dictates to speak again

"Hey no hard feelings sweetheart, trust me Ik how that feels." He takes a sip of he beer then turns to me "how about you tell me what going on in that pretty like head of yours, you know get it if your chest

"Oh I don't know, you don't want to hear about my problems" you chuckled

Giving me a gentle smile " Trust me I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't interested "

Taking A deep breath " It started a month ago, I had just got fired from my dream job because my boss got a little handsy and rejected him.

"Wow fucking asshole, what a creep" he say clenching his fist. " Sorry continue"

"It's okay he is definitely a creep. Anyways, I got out of there as soon as I could. The next day I went to HR to report him only to find out he had reported me for trying to force myself on him and I was fired on the spot.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, that horrible" he said placing his hand on mind feeling the warmth spread on my hand.

"And that only half of it" seeing his eyes widened for a quick sec. He gestures for me to continue.

" After going home that day my boyfriend came over and I told him what happened and he was so supportive and held me while I cried. But after that I was just sad and distant for 4 week. Yesterday I woke up and looked in the mirror and I didn't recognize the person I've become and Ik I need to do something about. First thing I did was clean the mess that had piled up in my house. You know clean house clean mind" we both chuckled " then I made a plan imma make it up to my boyfriend with a romantic surprise apologize breakfast, so I got up earlier this morning picked up food from our favorite breakfast spot and headed to his place

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this surprise" he says interrupting your story

" Yeah , I should have known something was up when I got there and there was a car that I didn't recognize in the driveway. But I just brushed it off and went inside, that's when I noticed what looked like a romantic dinner that looked like it'd been sitting there all night with two empty plates and two empty wine glasses and burnt out candles. Ignoring the bad feeling in my gut I go to make my way upstairs to the master bedroom. I take a deep breath. I open the door and I see not just my boyfriend but my ex boss making out naked looking like they just woke up.

The look of pure and utter shock on this man's face was an understatement "wow, just wow, never in a million years would I have thought that was going to come out of your mouth.

So what did they say when they realized you were standing there."

" Well they just got out of bed completely unfazed when my boyfriend looked at me with a stone face and ask "what are you doing you never called" and I didn't know what to do. All I said was "why, just tell me why" and all his said was " you're never around any more I'm a man with needs, needs you weren't satisfying" and I left right after that I come straight here and we'll you know the rest."

" I swear to chuck, if I ever see these guys trust me they won't be very satisfied then." he said now on his three beers since we start talking me in my fifth starting to feel a slight buzz from the alcohol.

" Thank you for sitting here and letting me get that off my chest. I really appreciate you listen to me"

" No problem sweetheart, to be honest it was a nice distraction from my own problem and helping you is just a plus." Both of us chuckling

" Come to think of it we've been sitting here talking, well I've been talking you've been listening, and Ik it's crazy but you never got each other's name." After a second of think the green eyed stranger looks at me the smile

" Yeah, I guess we haven’t."

" well, how about I start by saying, My name is

Y/N Y/L/N

" It is a pleasure meeting you Y/N, my name is Dean Winchester." He said, holding his hand out to shake. I quickly returned .

"So Dean now that I've got my problems off my chest now it's your turn."

" Alright Alright , I will just let use the bathroom real quick and I'll be right back," Dean says while running to the mens bathroom

Sitting there with a big smile on my face waiting for my new friend to come back from the bathroom. That’s when I noticed his phone go off indicating a text. I didn't mean to nosy but the message popped up on the screen from someone name Sammy

Sammy: Hey dude, whenever you done with your latest conquest I think I found a lead for the case call me when you get this

Looking at the text just thinking " wow why did I think he can be different men are all the same" laughing at myself I quickly pack my stuff, pay for my beers and go to hail a cab before Dean gets a chance to come back. Setting in the cab thinking

How crazy my day was ready to just get home and go to sleep and that exactly what I did

[ohjustkreat]

Closing The Distance

A Shuri x Riri Fanfic

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

A/N: Hey everyone! I know it’s been awhile! I’ll hopefully be updating more frequently! I’ve started a one-shot series (Moments In Between) so send me your prompts if you got ‘em! As always, Enjoy- Kreat

Table of Contents

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

Chapter 14

Beautiful.

The only word that came to mind as Shuri stared at her slumbering girlfriend. Aneka had successfully guided them back to the safe house with Ayo at her side. Shuri held Riri, afraid any movement would wake her. But Shuri knew they had to exit the plane sooner or later. Gently, Shuri began to nudge Riri.

“Riri, babe, wake up. We’re here.” Shuri felt a slight tinge of guilt for waking Riri. Her bruises and physical state were only a surface level representation of the previous day’s events. She still didn’t know the extent of what her girlfriend had gone through. She knew in time answers would come but right now she just wanted Riri to get some rest.

Riri’s worn eyes blinked her out of the coma like state she had been in. Looking up, she found the same warm eyes she had been longing for only hours earlier.

“Hey, baby. Where are we?”

Riri responded, sleep still lingering in the shadows of her voice.

“We’re at a safe house, love. You’re okay. You’re safe.” Shuri assured her as she ran her hands gently through Riri’s hair.

Slowly, Riri lifted herself up and from the embrace of the strong arms currently securing her. Turning to her side, she peered through the frosted windows. Her eyes scanned the almost empty warehouse. Besides the warriors, who seemed to be loading a black SUV, there were only a few storage lockers that she saw. Until Riri’s attention was captured by a broken desk in the far corner of the room. She glanced at Shuri then back at the desk, confusion running through her face along with a list of questions.

“Soooo, anything you want to explain?” She said partly joking, and partly concerned.

“Yeaa, there’s a lot we need to talk about.”

Shuri let out a small laugh. Hoping to relieve some of the tension.

“Come on, let’s get off and back to your dorm. Okay?”

“Yea, but can we stay at your place tonight? I just don’t want to be on campus right now.” Riri asked as they both began to get up from their seats. Riri moved a little more slowly as her body was still in pain.

“Mm, of course, love. I didn’t really want to go back there either. Not right now.” Shuri leaned down and pecked Riri’s lips. Breaking away she took Riri’s hand and lead them off of the plane and out into the safe house.

“Well look at the love birds, deciding to join us.” Ayo

Shuri rolled her eyes to the heavens.

“Let them enjoy themselves, Ayo. They just got each other back. Bast! Would you prefer I tell them how sickly you act after returning from a mission.” Aneka added in.

Ayo’s eyes went wide as she shook her head repeatedly, “Enjoy.” Ayo wasted no time leaving the group and returning to loading the vehicle.

“Don’t mind her. She’s always wound up after a mission.” Aneka’s smile then faded into a more serious but comforting look. Unexpectedly, she placed a hand on Riri’s shoulder, “And we’re all glad to have you back.” Squeezing her shoulder ever so gently, she pulled the shorter woman into a side hug. An action that had Shuri baffled. Riri was shocked as well. Aneka released her almost as quickly as she had pulled Riri in and went to back to assist Ayo.

Riri chuckled, “Well that has been the strangest part of the past 24 hrs. Are they always like that?”

“Pretty much. You’ll get used to it, eventually.”

“Mm, you make it sound like you’re in this for the long run.” Riri said only half joking.

“I mean, I may or may not have just rescued you, so I mean, I guess you could say that.” Shuri flirted as she took ahold of Riri’s waist and pulled her in closer. Causing the shorter girl to squeal.

“Ahhah, for some reason I think I’m okay with that.” Riri leaned up towards Shuri, until the distance between them was almost nonexistent.

“Hey, you two!” Ayo yelled out from her spot by the SUV. The warriors intrusion caused both women to spring away from each other.

“Bast! Great timing, Ayo.” Shuri yelled back in frustration.

“My apologies, Shuri.” Ayo, said as she approached them. “But it is time to head back. And where exactly are we going anyways? Will we be dropping you and Riri off?”

Shuri, still with irritation pumping through her face, responded through gritted teeth, “No, Ayo, you will not. We’ll be staying back at the hotel.” Shuri relaxed a little bit as Riri had started rubbing the small or her back.

“We’re coming, Ayo. Thank you.” Riri said as Ayo nodded and returned to the SUV.

“Babe, are you okay?” Riri looked up at Shuri. Her big brown eyes filled with worry.

“I think I’m just tired.” Shuri kissed the top of Riri’s head. “Come on, let’s go.”

Shuri took Riri’s hand as they walked to the SUV. She only briefly let it go to open the door for the other woman.

“Thank you” Riri said with gratitude as blushed from the small but thoughtful gesture.

Shuri followed her and sat next to Riri on the bench style leather seats. Riri didn’t hesitate to rest her head upon Shuri’s shoulder. Shuri took her hand and began using her thumb to rub careless circles onto the back of Riri’s palm. Shuri was grateful for any contact between her and Riri. In the short time they had been reunited, Shuri found herself needing physical contact with her girlfriend. As if letting her go meant she would disappear again. Shuri was pulled from her thoughts as the SUV came to a startand Aneka began driving down the path. Coming onto the main road, the group began the drive back to the hotel. Shuri felt a sense of relief wash over her. She began to feel the immediate stress of the situation lessen. As if it were left in the confinement of the safe house.

The drive back to the hotel seemed shorter than before. Riri slept soundly on Shuri’s shoulder. While Shuri rested her head on the window, nodding in and out of consciousness. Waking up every so often to make sure Riri was still at her side.

“Shuri, we’re here.” Ayo said from her position in the front of the car.

Aneka had parked the vehicle and was currently unloading the few bags they had.

“We’ll go ahead and go up and just leave your things in your room.” Ayo explained as she exited the vehicle.

The sound of her closing the door caused Riri to jaunt awake.

“Hey, it’s okay.”

“Sorry, just loud noises, right now aren’t my thing.”

“Don’t apologize, love. I get it. Why don’t we head up to the room. We can shower and get some food and rest. Okay?”

Riri looked up at Shuri “That sounds perfect.”

Shuri got out first and Riri followed. They made their way into lobby of the hotel and to the elevator.

Once inside the elevator they made the short trip to their floor.

Shuri unlocked the door and they both entered.

Riri let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding as she took in the sight of the Shuri’s hotel room. She felt safe in the company and place of her girlfriend.

“You wanna shower and I’ll order some room service?” Shuri asked.

“Hmm, yea. I’m gonna go grab some clothes from your room. I’m pretty sure I left some stuff here.”

“Yea, you did. It should be in my bottom drawer.”

“Okay. I won’t be long.”

Shuri watched as Riri’s figured disappeared into her room. She walked towards the phone that was sitting on one of two tables in the living room. Dialing the number she picked up the phone. Unsure of the perfect meal, she ordered a little of everything. Once the order was placed she hung up the phone and proceeded to unpack the bag she had packed. It contained a med kit, clothes, para-cord, some basic and advance tools and a few other items. Moments after unpacking, she heard the water from the shower turn off. Shuri became almost gleeful at the thought of seeing Riri even though it had only been a maximum of fifteen minutes. Shortly after the water had been turned off, Riri was opening the bathroom door. Wearing an oversized MIT t-shirt and a pair black sweatpants, she had chosen comfort in her tired state.

“Hey, babe, is the food here?”

“Well, someone’s hungry. Hey, to you too, love. And no it’s not. It should be arriving soon. I’m going to go shower.”

Okay,babe. I’ll be here.”

Riri sat down on the bed and waited on her girlfriend. She had been trying not think about the events tht had just transpired. The pain, abuse, and the bloodshed. It was something she’d seen before. But seeing Shuri in that position resonated with her differently. She couldn’t quite describe it. She held mixed feelings on the matter.

Ones she would have to decipher later as a voice calling “Room Service!” distracted her from such thoughts.

Riri stood up and made her way to the door. Opening it her eyes were stuck on the mountainous cart before her. Riri had never seen such a blend and variety of food. It seemed as if Shuri had ordered everything the kitchen had in stock.

“Enjoy, Ma’am.” The worker said as he pushed the cart inside the entry way. Nodding his head as a goodbye, he left without a word. Riri instantly noticed the pancakes, along with every topping she could think of. Grabbing a plate from the kitchen, she quickly piled the pancakes, some fruit, and different pastries and cookies onto it. Being so indulged into the food before her, she didn’t hear the water in the bathroom turn off. Sitting down she began to stuff her face. Forgetting all courtesies she knew and eating like it was her last meal. In the midst of her feasting, she hadn’t notice how Shuri had found her way into the dining area. Shuri was watching her girlfriend enjoy a meal that was needed.

“Couldn’t wait for me, huh?” Shuri joked.

Riri coughed, almost choking from the surprise of her girlfriend’s presence. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough. But I’m glad you’re eating. You deserve it. Don’t stop on my accord.” Shuri said as fixed herself a plate. Sitting opposite Riri she began to indulge her own self. Their meal was had in silence. Food being their only concern right now. When they both were done, Shuri insisted on cleaning the few dishes. Fortunately, for Shuri, Riri was too tired to put up a fight. Instead, she went to lie down.

“I know it’s the middle of the day but I’m sleeping until tomorrow.” Riri joked as Shuri walked in.

“I might join you.” Shuri chimed in as she joined Riri on the bed.

Shuri took Riri into her arms. They both lied there for a moment. Shuri broke the silence first. Her eyes were closed, her voice barely above a tremble. Riri couldn’t tell if Shuri had tears in her eyes or not as she began to speak,

“I know today was a lot. And I- I feel guilty. Like this-this was my fault. And I know we talked about it, but the feeling…it just doesn’t go away. I mean- will this be our future? One of us always putting the other in dan-“

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Riri pulled back from Shuri just enough to meet her eyes.

” I meant what I said earlier on the plane. We’re not worried about the future. Just the now. Listen. And this might be hard for you to hear but bare with me.” Riri took a deep breath in and then exhaled slowly, before beginning to speak again, “Even after he - beat me…choked me even, I- I knew, that you would come a rescue me.”

Shuri’s blood began to run hot as the thought of someone putting their hands on Riri crossed her mind. Riri read her girlfriend and began to rub her back before continuing. “Baby, I’m okay. We’re okay. Now, as I was saying. I never doubted that you would come and rescue me because I’d do the same for you. And besides, that’s just the type of person you are. A protector, a fighter, a leader, and a lover.”

Shuri was close to tears and she took in the beautiful sight before her. Riri couldn’t be more perfect.

“Babe, I-“

“Don’t respond. Just take it in.” Riri said.

“Listen, I’ll always be there for you. No matter the reason. And I meant what I said earlier too, I do love you. Which brings me to my next topic. I want you to move to Wakanda.”

Riri pulled back and gave Shuri a shocked look.

“You’re serious? And what about school?”

“It wouldn’t be until the summer. You were olanning on visiting anyways. It’s just not safe here.”

“I don’t know Shuri, I’ll have to think about that. Besides I was planning on visiting not getting a U-haul.” Riri said.

“Babe, you wouldn’t need a U-haul. We do have a highly advanced aircraft.” Shuri said not understanding the joke.

“It was a joke, love. And like I said, I’ll think about it.”

“No, I get it. You don’t have to rush to answer me.”

Sensing the tension in the air had almost dissipated, Riri resumed her spot in Shuri’s arms. Eyes closed, she listened to the rhythm of Shuri’s heart beat. Soon that sound was accompanied by Shuri snoring softly. Riri laid there until sleep took her captive as well. Had it been left to either woman they would never be separated again.

[steel-plates]

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[fancytigerdaze]

Why You Required To Employ A Professional Photographer

Do you understand any person that likes themselves as a good photographer? Perhaps someone that has all the most up to date gadgets and also tools, however just can't seem to take a great clear image to conserve their life. Or simply has a dark cloud over them when they pick up a video camera or video clip recorder. I have a relative that comes under this category and also I wished to share one of his several painful experiences and with any luck assist you prevent his challenges. After reading this short article, you will certainly recognize why you ought to employ an expert digital photographer for those extremely unique moments in your life.

For the purpose of this write-up, we'll call him Bob.

Over Bob's life time, he has had many memorable events worth capturing on film, the birth of his 3 youngsters (and their youngsters), his parents 50th wedding celebration anniversary, and all the "firsts" related to a big as well as really close household. As well as with each occasion, Bob was right there with his video camera(s) snapping fired after memorable shot, or so he assumed. Never when did it cross his mind to employ an expert photographer. مصورين محترفين

Let me share among his very excruciating experiences with you.

Bob's parents commemorated 50 fantastic years as husband and wife. Like numerous various other numbers of that generation, for years, they had a hard time to make ends meet. When Bob was young, his dad took any type of task he could discover to make money (a lesson for several men today) and his mother made certain the household constantly had a cozy and also well balanced meal to consume and tidy clothing to wear. Bob was extremely pleased with his moms and dads and the sacrifices they made over the years, so when their 50th wedding anniversary happened, there was no question that Bob and his siblings would have an amazing celebration for them.

Every detail was attended to, all except one. The rest of the family wanted to employ a professional digital photographer to catch the event, yet Bob happily said loudly that he would care for the digital photography as well as offer the pictures to his moms and dads as an unique present. Every person unwillingly agreed.

Fast forward to the wedding event anniversary. It was a beautiful summer day. The caterer established a magnificent display screen of food, the ice sculpture sculpted a remarkable heart form with words "Pleased 50th Wedding Anniversary" throughout it, as well as everybody that was invited in fact attended to help celebrate this event.

And also there was Bob with an electronic camera around his neck ready to catch every unforgettable moment of this best day.

Rather than having his moms and dads and also guests position for those uninteresting usual shots, Bob assumed he would just stray via the event, stealthly snapping images of individuals speaking, giggling and having a great time. So rather than joining the guests, individuals he has not seen in years, Bob walked all afternoon with his 35 mm camera, taking shot after unforgettable shot. This will be the most effective present Bob could provide his parents.

After about 4 hrs right into the event, as Bob mosted likely to refill his movie, he made a shocking exploration. The lens cap had actually been on his electronic camera the entire time, and not one of his pictures turned out. By the time he understood this, some of the older family members pals had already left the event, and also others began clearing out as well. تصوير اعلانات

It goes without saying, this was really devastating to Bob for a couple of reasons. Initially, he missed out on sharing this wonderful event completely with his family and friends. However likewise he really did not have any kind of pictures to provide his parents.

The reason I'm sharing this tale is to show you that hiring a professional photographer for those extremely special occasions will certainly not only allow you share the experience totally yet will certainly also assure that you will certainly have the ability to experience again those memories for life. A specialist photographer guarantees and also shields those unique moments.

[watchmegetobsessed]

SIT ON ME

a/n: heavily inspired of the time when a girl actually asked him the question i used in this fic lmao. also maybe a part 2 might be good for this? let me know if you’re interested in one!

pairing: Sebastian Stan X Assistant!Reader

word count: 1.5k

masterlist

Fixing the collar of his shirt one last time you pat on his hard chest, breathing out shortly as your eyes flicker up to meet his icy blue gaze that was already examining you.

“Just try to… not say anything stupid, okay?” you tell him, hopeful that he will take you seriously just once, though in the back of your mind you already know it goes in one ear and slips out the other usually.

Sebastian nods, a small, coy smile tugging on his lips as you fold your arms on your chest, checking the time on the clock on the wall across you, only minutes until they are going on stage. It’s another day, another panel, you have no idea what the event is called anymore, you lost track of even which city you are at right now. You’ve been on the road for weeks now, going from one hotel to the other, jumping from events to appearances, trying not to lose your head, because if you do, that means Sebastian’s head is lost too. Being a personal assistant means that you’re responsible for two people at the same time, you can’t afford falling apart.

“Five minutes, everyone!” a man shouts as he runs down the hallway and Mackie drops a joke about him, but you don’t really catch it, because Seb’s hand touches your waist as the two of you wait patiently for the start.

“Can I get a good luck kiss?” he smirks down at you, leaning closer to your ear so no one can hear him, only you. His hot breath tickles your skin and you try to hide your pleasant shudder at his closeness.

You can’t push the smile down that tugs on your lips as you peek up at him, that boyish glimmer in his eyes never fails to stun you. He is such a beautiful person, inside and out and it’s hard to resist his charm when all he does is trying to wrap you around his finger. He knows the effect he has on you and he doesn’t hesitate to use it. The relationship between the two of you has been a bit blurred these past months, you both could feel the shift when after his last birthday, drunken and totally worn off from his party, the two of you ended up sleeping in the same bed, tangled in each other. You stayed completely clothed, yet the intimacy was burning and the flame hasn’t really disappeared since then.

However you haven’t let it go farther yet, trying to maintain the slightest bit of professionalism in the midst of the madness your job is, though Sebastian doesn’t seem to care about that at all. It’s been a cat and mouse game ever since that night.

Reaching up you cup his jaw in your hand and pulling him closer you can see the surprise in his eyes when he thinks you’re about to kiss him, but then you turn his head and your lips end up on his stubbled cheek, an airy chuckle leaving his lips.

“I think you missed it,” he slyly smirks down at you, but you just roll your eyes.

“Behave, Stan,” you warn him.

The remainder of the time flies by fast and the boys walk out to the stage to the cheering crowd, taking their places, ready to answer any and every questions thrown in their way.

You watch from the sidelines, laughing with the audience every time Mackie cracks a joke, or when Sebastian gives a funny answer, you feel like one of those fans sitting in front of them, you totally understand why they are so obsessed with them. It’s hard not to love them, they are just amazing people.

“Alright, let’s see the next question!” the lady on the stage announces, turning to the girl who has the mic this time.

“Hi! I’m so happy to be here and see you guys!” the girl beams, making the men on the stage smile gratefully.

“We’re happy you’re here too!” Sebastian answers her, definitely making her blush at the sweet response.

“So my question is…” she starts, taking a deep breath. “Sebastian, this is for you. If you were a chair, who would you want to sit on you?”

The question makes the whole room erupt in laughter and you can’t hold back yours either. You can tell Seb is shocked at the blunt and quite dirty question, but you also know that he is definitely gonna answer it, no matter how inappropriate it’s going to be.

“Wow,” he chuckles into the mic, while he is trying to keep his act together, Mackie on his left is fighting back tears at this point. “What an… interesting question,” he huffs, making everyone laugh again. “Um… Okay, if I was a chair, I would want…”

His eyes wander over the crowd until they find you at the side, your gazes melting together for a split second and you already know what his answer is gonna be, just from the way the tiny wrinkles around his eyes appear. And there’s nothing you can do against it.

“I would want my assistant to sit on me,” he answers, a round of howling and screaming washing over the room as you cover your face with your hands in embarrassment. Did he really just say that? In front of all these people?

When you glance up next time, you catch his eyes again, that smug and pleased look in his face is almost annoying, knowing how much he is enjoying putting you into this situation.

“I’m going to kill you,” you mouth to him, but he just chuckles.

“Damn, Sebastian,” Mackie huffs. “You ain’t playing anymore!”

“No, no, it’s all just fun,” he explains. “I just like to tease my assistant, don’t take it seriously,” he adds, trying to save the situation, though it’s useless. His answer has been captured on hundreds of cameras and it’ll be all over the internet in a matter of time.

The conversation on stage carries on and you patiently wait for it to be over so you can murder Sebastian yourself. When they finally say goodbye and head off the stage you’re waiting for them already, trying to look serious and a bit mad about the stunt Sebastian pulled, but when his gaze meets yours you simply can’t keep up the act. You are so soft for this man, he could do about anything and you wouldn’t stay mad at him at all.

“Uh-oh, you are thinking about killing me,” he smirks, not even an ounce of regret or shame for himself present in his voice.

“I am, yeah,” you nod, arms folded on your chest as he stands in front of you, biting into his bottom lip as he cocks his head to the side.

“What can I do to earn your forgiveness?” he asks in a dramatic tone, before his hands find your upper arms, pulling you closer until your front meets his chest and he can wrap you into his embrace.

“Stop being such a flirt,” you prompt, raising your eyebrows at him.

“Oh, I don’t think I can do that, sorry.”

“Of course,” you roll your eyes at him.

When everything is said and done and you can head home, you and Sebastian make your way out, only to face the huge crowd that gathered around the building just to see a glimpse of their favorites. The car pulls up to the entrance and you follow Seb out through the crowd that’s being held back with two rows of security guards, but you need to be fast, because they are starting to lose their shit. Sebastian gets into the car and someone pushes you from behind when you are about to follow him, making you fall and end up on his lap in the car, the door shutting behind you as the driver leaves immediately.

“Shit,” you breathe out, holding onto his shoulders for leverage and his strong arms wrap around you as an instinct, catching you from falling further. A second passes and he smirks at you, arching an eyebrow at you.

“See? You did end up sitting on me,” he smugly points out and you just shake your head laughing as you climb off of him, sitting next to him on the backseat.

“If only we had HR, you’d be in so much trouble,” you warn him, though you can’t keep a straight face as you point a finger at him that he just easily grabs and pulling your hand to his lips he kisses your knuckles with a smug grin on his lips.

“Good thing it’s just you and I then,” he shrugs, keeping your hand in his hold in his lap and you don’t even try to pull it back, you just huff amused, sliding down in your seat, leaning against his arm, your head coming to rest on his shoulder. Sebastian hums contented, pressing a kiss to the crown of your head as you both ignore the elephant in the room and pretend like you can go like this forever.

But deep down you know you can’t.

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed it!

[athanasius-symposium-of-writings]

Red and White

Chapter 10

Rated: M

Taglist: @kezibear

Warnings: Anxiety talk, bdsm undertones, smut near the end, switch!reader, daddy kink (papi edition)

Chapter 9 | Chapter 11

The first time you met Steven Grant, you saw this cute man who knows his stuff. You gave him a chance figuring Ms.Donna is just being a mystic bitch when she tried talking you out of it.

"Three tour guides left HR reports about you, two security guards were, hm, let's see," Turning on your tablet pulling up the electronic reports, "Ah, here: Lack of background check on two guards. Wow, Ms.Donna, the list goes on and on."

The woman is silently fuming as you reprimand her. Steven Grant stands there awkward and in shock.

"Mr.Grant?"

"Yes?"

"How soon can you start? Our exhibit for the Deities of the Moon needs a tour guide as of yesterday."

"I can start tomorrow." He can't believe he got his job back!

"Good, your paperwork will be drawn up tomorrow. Let's go, Ms.Donna."

He can only stand there completely at a loss for words.

*

The next time you would speak directly to him is after the blind date a few days ago.

Instead of the teasing commanding vibes, you are anxious and rambling.

"So please don't feel pressured into dating me to keep your boss. You don't! You are an amazing guy and the positive reviews the museum is getting is because of you oh and the others too—!"

He kissed you. The first kiss with Steven was in the supply closet.

"Oh…"

"Sorry! You looked… Uh, like you needed it." Rubbing the back of his neck.

"I think I need another one."

Almost would have spent all day kissing if you could, which you couldn't because the break was over in thirty minutes and if you kept touching him… Steven looked in a daze with lipstick all over his lips.

*

Then after a few weeks of dating, you wanted him to know he doesn't have to be exclusive. Both of you were busy that summer. Longer museum hours, summer camps, events; very busy, very hectic.

"When are you free?"

"Heh, aren't you the one who does our schedules?" He enjoys calling you at night, hearing your voice before bed, talking about each other's day.

"Yeah! But I don't want to seem like a stalker." You feel giggy like a high-schooler with a crush. Or is it called something else in England? You shrug at the thought, "There's a block party my friend invited me to and I can bring a plus one. This Saturday at noon?"

Steven is the only who planned the day, always going the extra mile to make it perfect and romantic.

"I'd love to go."

This is the first date you both had in two weeks.

It was fun, a lot of fun, he got to see a competitive playful side of you. Snapped a few pictures of you on his phone while you were caught up playing with your friend's kids.

Then came the conversation.

"You are more than welcome to date other people," You sit next to him toying with the strings of your shorts. "I have been so busy with work and canceling so much."

His hand touches your coaxing you to hold his.

"I like you, Steven Grant, a lot."

"A lot, a lot?" You laugh as your forehead touches his, "'cause I like you too. A lot."

Both silly and hopelessly in love.

*

"I have dissociative identity disorder." He let you into his personal life, told you about his red flags after a one month of dating you. Exclusively.

You stood there honestly confused, "Like the movie 'Split'?"

He looked equally confused.

"Nevermind, bad example. Okay, so?" You were calm about it. Really took it well as he explained further what DID means and about Marc, Marc Spector. "Oh, okay! Not going to lie kinda nervous but it doesn't change that I love you." You said without so much as a second thought. "Could I meet Mr.Spector? Would that be okay?"

"Yes! Yes, he hoped you would want to."

You smile at him touching the side of his face rubbing his cheek with your thumb. "Te amo."

His heart fluttering at those words whispered softly for him. "I-I love you too." You adore how he blushes and gets shy.

*

"Archeologists and adventurer, (Full Name)."

Marc learns about it first. He has the big brother vibes while Steven has younger brother vibes.

"You took a chance to tell me about yourself, both of you. So here's my uh well me?"

Can't believe you had a normal conversation about the things you've seen, done, felt. Marc believed it. Found out why when he spoke about Khonshu and his pact, being Moon Knight and blood on his hands.

It is also the first time you kissed Marc, coping using sex not best idea yet you wanted him to feel loved. Valued. Safe.

It is also the first time you weren't the one in charge in the bedroom. Marc naturally took control, had you breathless, naked while he had his boxers on.

"Marc! Fuck, fuck."

"That's it, baby." He kissed your thigh, his fingers relentlessly pistoling inside of your cunt, mouth going to your clit. You cried, like actually cried during sex; you kissed him multiple times assuring him you are okay. What started out fast changed to slow, calming. He held you as he did all the work (he wanted to), you praised him and encouraged him to enjoy himself.

*

Jake Lockley is dangerous. The exciting danger like those booby-traps you love from Ghana. Gets your heart racing, has your adrenaline pumping. His flirting leaves you weak, a sucker for how he speaks Spanish so intimately. Steven likes it when you speak Spanish and you like it when he reads you poems in French. Marc loved when he ruined you so good English is completely forgotten, speaking in whatever language you can recall to beg him to keep going, for mercy or to cum.

With Jake he moves in close, invading your personal space. Boxes you in with no way to escape, whispers questions in Spanish. Rolling his tongue, dropping his voice, his aura the definition of a man you don't bring home to mom.

He is man you call to fuck you so hard you feel him for days.

"Señorita," His lips brush up on your ear, "Princesa." You grip the kitchen corner to the point you fear it might break off.

You breathe in, your chest burns, your legs open inviting him closer.

"Hermoso." Beautiful. You called him beautiful. Shit, you blame his face.

The deep rumble from his chest as he chuckles, he never has been called beautiful before.

This is a bad idea.

This is a great idea.

You are totally fucked.

He is totally going to fuck you.

"Petty the dress is ripped," Hands going to your waist pulling your lower half flush to his, "Would've like to tear it off you myself."

The rush is still in your system, the bottom part of your dress is partly torn from you ripping it off revealing biker shorts. Your leather holster belt with dual pistol strapped around your waist and small garters to keep it in place.

The pistols placed on the corner behind you, pull down his hood. Those dark brown eyes feel like endless expansion of space, the silver around reminds you of the new moon. Darkness with an outline of light.

Jake, in the Moon Knight suit, is touching you with slightly blood stained gloves. Steven was right, this is rather nice looking.

Kissing like horny teenagers. You pull his head back, taking control of how he kisses you, you are consuming him.

"Princesa, you are so beautiful," You gasp at the way he grinds his hips into your clothed cunt. "It hurts."

"Good," He likes this. "Suffer a little, papi." Jake might lose it from that alone. "Oh, you're one of those." It was to tease him. "Papi has to hold on until we–"

"I'm going to fuck your mouth if you keep playing with me."

You bite his neck to challenge him.

[subpar-ghoulfriend]

Letting you go

yandere!Deku x Reader

You were Deku's secretary. You had always been professional. Plus he wasn't at the office very often so you barely interacted face to face. So you were shocked when he professes his love for you.

TW: yandere themes, kidnapping, Deku yelling at you, mentions of physical harm (to the reader)

Hopefully this isn’t too terrible, I’m not a huge fan of Deku but at the same time I really wanted to try writing for other characters than just the one’s I simp for

You were the last one in the building, aside from the night guard who stayed on the ground level. There was several PR events that you needed to enter into his schedule but then you'd head home. You hadn't even heard the pro come in.

"You always stay so late," Deku’s voice startled you. "We should really pay you more."

He had to be joking, he was constantly giving the staff raises and bonuses so you made plenty. Okay well maybe he only did this for you, but no one else needed to know that right? You didn't even know.

Regaining your composure you wondered why he was stopping in, usually he just goes home after a late day.

"I wanted to come check on you. I figured there was a pretty high chance of you over working yourself."

"I'm okay, Deku. I'm almost done then I'm heading straight home."

"Please stop calling me that," he reminded you. Shortly after you began working for his agency he asked that you to only use his hero name when others were around. Hearing you call his name shot a warm tingling sensation down his neck.

"I forget," You smiled politely. "I should head out now, thank you for checking on me, Izuku."

You were stepping away from your desk when he stopped you.

"Before you go we should talk."

There was something about the whole situation that began to unsettle you. Although it was probably nothing. You would hear him out it and it would be something work related. Or not.

"I love you."

You blinked, unsure how to respond to your bosses confession.

"I really love you and whenever I'm on patrol I constantly worry about you. It's no secret that this is my agency’s office. Any villain can attack while I'm away. If I'm not here-" he quieted himself.

You weren't sure where the conversation was going but you didn't feel good about it.

"Well, there's always one or two sidekicks around," You reassured.

"But how can I be sure they'd be able to protect you. I just can't take that risk. I can't have you work here anymore."

Your stomach plummeted, "You're letting me go? Don't I-"

"No, no," he cut you off. "I'm not letting you go. I'm just trying to do the right thing."

He was firing you because he loved you. How sick. What did you do to make him love you?

Just as you were about to speak, the number one hero's phone rang. He began his muttering before looking to you with apologetic eyes.

"I have to take this, just wait here. We aren't done."

And for a moment you did. He rushed into his office, leaving you in the dimly lit silence.

But then you figured that was enough. He fired you. Her told you he loved you and he couldn't work properly because of you and then fired you. You grabbed you bag began to rush to your car, tears of embarrassment falling from your eyes. You couldn't help but blame yourself, you were such an idiot. This had to be your fault.

He can have HR reach out to me, You thought. You had just exited the parking lot when your phone rang. **Deku**.

Trying to get over yourself you picked up.

"Where are you? I told you to stay put," he seethed through the speaker. Terror shot through your veins. He never sounded like this.

"You already said what you had to. I'm fired. Can't you just have HR call me or something?" You sniffled.

"Weren't you listening? I need you to be safe. You can't just run off like this."

"I am being perfectly safe," You hissed. "Do you expect me to get permission from you before I do anything? I don't work for you."

"You know what, it would be nice if you got permission before running off like a brat."

**click**

You didn't have to listen to him treat you like a child. The self blame began to subside and was replaced with rage. You could easily report him for misconduct.

But what's the point? He's at the top.

You felt better as you locked the door to your apartment. You turned off your phone, which had been buzzing non stop. The only thing on your mind was sleep. Wrapped in your blanket you began to drift off on the couch - your preferred spot when faced with despair.

Unaware of when you fell asleep you jolted awake to a crushing pressure on your chest.

"Deku," You gasped.

"Stop calling me that. Stop running off. Stop misbehaving. Just because you can't work doesn't mean I'm letting you go. You won't have to work at all, you can just stay home and rest and let me worry about everything. This will be good for us."

You thrashed wildly as he forced a gag into your mouth.

"Come on, let's get you home so you can rest your ankle."

You made a confused noise.

"You hurt it while running away from me," he rubbed the joint. "I know it hurts, just take a deep breath."

Then he twisted.

[chudleycanonficfest]

Day 20, Story #2 is by @floreatcastellumposts

Title: Dittany Author/Artist: FloreatCastellum Pairing: Neville/Hannah Prompt: Bravery Rating: T Trigger Warning(s) (if any): Discussion of maternal death, mentions of violence. 

Hannah's mother had been a muggleborn, and that had been her death sentence. 

Or rather, she had been a muggleborn with the audacity and bravery to be proud about it. 

Most muggleborns ended up slipping entirely into wizarding society, and as much as they might say that they would keep in touch with their roots, the magic took over. Jeans became robes, electronics didn’t work in their homes so their pop culture references grew stale, the effort involved in keeping the statute of secrecy for extended family and old friends was too exhausting to sustain, so they saw them less and less and eventually… 

This had not happened for Mum, even though the Abbotts were a very old family, well rooted in the magical community. She had agreed with Dad to live in Godric’s Hollow, because the Abbotts had lived there for many generations, but she had insisted on Hannah attending the local primary school, where she could make muggle friends. She was adamant that they make regular trips to Liverpool, to visit her side of the family, who believed that she worked in HR (which she did, but for a potion manufacturer, not for a haulage company as they believed) and that Hannah had received a scholarship to an exclusive boarding school, and that Dad owned a pub (which he did, but they neglected to mention that it was frequented by witches, wizards, goblins, the occasional hag and a half giant). And when the Stephens side of the family came to visit, they would have a flurry of activity where they would hide away anything magical-looking, and from the loft they would bring down the big television, and they would speed read some muggle newspapers so they could give their opinions on Tony Blair or Men Behaving Badly or Charles and Diana’s divorce or whatever else they thought might come up.  

That was life as Hannah knew it, and it never felt complicated or brave or shocking or daring or any of the things she later found out it was. 

She remembered certain details from the day very clearly. She’d been easing sneezewort plants out of their pots, the last repotting before winter, her fingers shaking at the long, pale roots, creating a rain of soil. The last of the cream coloured petals, curled and brown at the edges, fell onto the potting bench. There was a sudden shock of cold air, a breeze from the door opening that hit their faces and whipped through their hair.  

‘Professor Dumbledore’s here,’ said Susan with surprise, and Hannah had glanced up to see him closing the door to the humid greenhouse, his long white beard tucked into his belt, Professor Sprout hurrying over to him. 

Hannah looked back down at her plant. The roots were all tangled together. Professor Dumbledore was probably here for Harry Potter, there were all sorts of rumours flying around about secret meetings between the two of them. 

The plant needed a much bigger pot, but the roots were strong, there was no rot there. 

‘Hannah.’ 

There was no hiding the bewilderment on her face. She had never had a direct conversation with the Headmaster before, and here he was, speaking kindly, gently, softly, one hand touching her shoulder and the other, black looking, gesturing to the door. 

‘I need to-’ she started saying, as he led her out. Everyone was staring. 

‘Don’t worry, dear,’ said Professor Sprout, and her voice sounded so strange, ‘I’ll finish up here for you.’ 

Perhaps part of her had known then. She knew it was something terrible. She was too afraid to ask. No one was ever pulled out of class for a good reason. She walked up to the castle alongside him as though in a dream, her heart beating up through her throat and into her mouth.

She was not sure how it happened, but suddenly she was in the warmth of his office, staring at Professor Dumbledore’s grave face, his lips moving, without really hearing, except for that first, terrible, world destroying little phrase. 

‘I’m so very sorry to tell you that your mother has been found dead.’ 

There would be no worse event, no greater loss, no stronger pain in her entire life. 

There was still dirt under her nails and in the creases of her palms, she noticed, as she reached into the silver box of floo powder. 

It had been so long since she had seen Godric’s Hollow like this, golden and red in its autumn. Fallen leaves tumbled and floated down the river that rushed through the village, or collected in the gutters along the cobbled roads, damp and heavy. The sun stayed a little lower each day, casting long shadows across the beer garden of The Lost Owl, and the wind ruffled the sign on the door which read ‘Closed due to family bereavement.’ 

During the days, she wondered what to do with herself, stuck between boredom and terrible, overwhelming grief. When she could cry no more, she wondered if there was something wrong with her for wanting to find something interesting or fun to do, but when she tried to read, she could not focus. When she tried to listen to the radio, she would fall asleep. She could not bring herself to ask her weeping father to play cards or chess or anything with her. She thought of going back into school, but how could she see other people? Now that the world had ended? She wanted to tell people about it, wanted to say the words enough until they made sense to her, or until someone found the right words to say back that would make it OK, but she did not want to do this to her friends. 

At nights, she would cry herself to sleep, and her whispers, please come back please Mummy please come back, would grow and grow and grow into sobs, begging into her pillow as the agony of it tore at her, the desperation, the feverish thought that there had to be something, that this couldn’t be it, there had to be a way, a special way, just for them, just for her, because it was her mother and there was no way she could live without her. Mum wouldn’t leave her like this, there was no way Mum would allow it, she would go to the ends of the earth to make sure that Hannah was happy, she had always said so, she had always promised… 

But Death was something parents could not protect their children from, it seemed. The more Hannah thought on it, the more she became crushingly devastated, horrified to realise that each and every human on Earth had to endure this at some point. In different ways, at different times, with different feelings, but the mere act of bringing a child into the world was to condemn that child, one day, to the unbearable pain of loss. Every person she passed, she wondered, have you suffered as I have? Or is it yet to come for you? She wished she could spare them from it.

The aurors said she was probably targeted because she loudly and openly discussed her muggle heritage in the pub, and it must have been heard by the wrong people. That was what passed for bravery these days. 

In the church of St Jerome, the stained glass window pattered with rain, and Hannah looked up at the colours of red and yellow and green rather than looking at the coffin with the splay of lilies, and she wondered when this nightmare would end, when Mum would come back, and tell her that everything would be all right. 

***

Months passed in unbearable agony, worse than she could have imagined. But there were glimmers of light there too. 

Here, at the school she thought she would never return to, in the place that was filled with unimaginable horror and oppression, she had purpose again. More purpose, in fact, than she had ever had in her life. And with it, new friendships that ran deeper than she had ever expected. 

‘This way,’ Neville whispered, and they ran low across the lawn of the grounds. Some of the windows in the castle behind them blazed with light, so that she thought for a terrible moment that they must be visible from the Great Hall, but, of course, the windows would be black with night to anyone who looked out from them. 

It was the summer term now, but the air was still cold as they panted, as though Dementors were close, which, she reasoned, they might be. She could feel the dew of the grass, left to grow long since Hagrid had left, soaking the bottoms of her jeans, seeping through her ratty trainers. 

Following the dark shadow of Neville’s figure, she ran through the grounds until she heard the crunch of gravel underfoot, and, ahead, the slight shine of starlight reflecting off the greenhouses. 

‘They’re in greenhouse three,’ Neville muttered, and her stomach dropped. 

He did not notice, and continued to hurry along the garden path, past the raised beds for the hardier plants and herbs, and she followed, but at a walk now, dread gnawing at her. 

He stopped at the door, holding his hands up to the glass to peer in. ‘OK…’ he said, still breathless from the run. ‘OK, looks clear… Now, while I talk to the venomous tentacula, you grab a tray, and fill it with perlite and only a few handfuls of compost, it’s a mountain plant so it likes it nice and rocky.’ 

‘OK,’ she said, and though she thought she sounded normal, he turned to her. She could barely make out his expression in the darkness. 

‘Are you all right?’ 

‘I… I’m sorry, I just… I haven’t been in the greenhouses for a long time… especially not this one. I should have thought before I volunteered, I'm sorry.’ 

She felt immediately embarrassed for blurting it out, and she had no idea if Neville would even grasp what she was getting at. He had been in the class, yes, but did he even remember that day? What had been the worst day of her life had been a perfectly ordinary school day for the rest of her classmates, and so many terrible things had happened since then. 

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘I can’t leave you out here.’ 

She thought he was telling her off, or saying that they had to go back, but before she had the time to feel hurt or ashamed, he was holding out his hand towards her. 

She swallowed, and then placed her trembling hand in his. She was not unaccustomed to physical touch with him, or many others. Over the past year, she had tended wounds and comforted people as they cried, she had grasped hands and arms and knees under desks to soothe people or tell them to control themselves, she had passed secret notes and morsels of food and whatever else needed smuggling, slipping it nimbly from her fingers into their palms as they passed in the corridors.  

But now his fingers pressed firm and reassuring against hers, and there was something very different about them holding hands. 

She let him lead her into the greenhouse; the humid, warm air surrounded them at once, like an odd sort of hug that sat heavy on their lungs. Tall, leafy plants towered above them, brushing the domed glass high above their heads, which magically reflected the brilliant stars above them and lit the place in glorious silver. 

Now that she was in here, she felt a little better. The dread that had stopped her ever returning here, that had caused her to drop herbology and pretend that this part of the castle no longer existed, had not come to pass. It was, after all, simply a greenhouse, and Mum could not die again. 

‘Are you all right?’ he said gently. 

‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘Thank you.’ 

He nodded, and reached for some gloves on a nearby bench. She missed his hand around hers. ‘Let’s move quickly, and get you out of here,’ he said, donning some goggles and a thick leather apron.  

She went to the potting tables where Professor Sprout always stood, and seized a large seedling tray. As she took handfuls of compost and perlite, she could see Neville wrestling with the venomous tentacular, saying, ‘I’ll bring you doxy granules tomorrow - I’ll move you to a sunnier spot - I already checked with Professor Sprout - come on, you knew this was part of the deal, we agreed-’

Eventually, when he had tied enough of the writhing vines together with garden twine and stroked the shoots into calmness, he gave a nod to Hannah, and started to remove his protective gear as she hurried over and they squeezed behind the plant

There, on a table surrounded by blue lanterns to make up for the blocked light caused by the tentacula, were long, deep pots, stuffed with dittany. Their slender, arching stems were clustered with pleasant green leaves, with a dusty sort of whiteness, and they were dotted with pink flowers. She had never seen the plant as it was before; she had only ever remembered the little vials of dittany kept in their first aid kit, good for scraped knees and cuts from any broken glass in the pub. Mum had always said it was good to be prepared in an emergency, it had been one of her funny little things like that, along with being a bit of a hypochondriac, and so Hannah had had a vial in the bottom of her trunk when she returned to school. That, combined with her good potions knowledge, had helped her stumble into a kind of mothering role that she found had rather suited her. 

‘I just need the flowers, the book says,’ she said, as Neville started gently pulling some up by the roots. 

‘Yes, but I think it’d be good if I can grow another set somewhere, as a back up so we don’t have to keep sneaking out here. It’s just me and Seamus in the dorm, I don’t think he’d mind if I put them in the window between Harry and Ron’s beds. Here, take these, cut the flowers where the stem splits off - yeah, there - so it’ll grow back.’ 

‘It’s really pretty,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t expecting it to be so pretty. It’s usually that the most useful plants are the ugliest.’ 

‘It is,’ said Neville absent-mindedly. ‘It’s from Crete. The healing properties were only discovered in the 17th century - people used to think it was an aphrodisiac, and it’s still used in some love potions.’ 

She looked at him, and though the light in the greenhouse was white starlight only, she could still see his cheeks burn red. 

‘It’s… it’s not, though,’ he mumbled. ‘Well… a little bit, but I… I don’t know why I said that.’

‘Because it’s interesting,’ she said quickly, as he busied himself repotting the seedlings. He nodded rapidly, and cleared his throat a little, and she cast around for something to say. ‘You… you should be careful, growing these in the dorm. If you’re caught-’

‘There’s no rule against growing plants,’ he said. ‘I’ve had plants up there loads of times. Especially my mimbulus mimbletonia, that’s had pride of place for a while.’

‘You know they don’t need an explicit rule,’ she said quietly. ‘They do what they want. If they think you’re… doing anything good, anything kind. That’s enough.’ 

He nodded, looking down at the delicate, thin roots of the dittany. There was a reason that he and Professor Sprout were growing such an innocent plant in such secrecy. ‘I know… but… it’s worth the risk.’ 

‘That’s very brave.’ 

‘Is it? Just growing a plant? Is that what passes for bravery these days?’ 

‘Yes,’ she said honestly. ‘Anything good does now. And it’s not just that.’ She paused, still cradling one of the delicate, rose pink flowers in her hand. ‘I mean… what were you thinking in muggle studies the other day? I hated seeing you screaming like that.’ 

‘Well I had to say something. It was repulsive, what she was saying about muggle children.’ 

‘No one believes her, no one really thinks-’

‘We don’t know that. Maybe some people might start believing her, because it’s easier. And anyway, it’s not just about that. Remember Umbridge?’ 

‘I try not to,’ she said dryly, and in the pale, washed out starlight she saw him grin. 

‘I know it’s stupid, but as Ginny and Luna haven’t come back, and Harry and Ron aren’t here, or Dean, or loads of other people… I’ve been-’ he sighed, as though frustrated he couldn’t find the words, ‘I’ve been trying to think about what they would do. I can’t afford to be Neville Longbottom, I’ve got to be someone braver. And Harry used to just completely go off on her, used to tell her straight in lessons that You-Know-Who was back, and, yeah, it got him more trouble than it felt like it was worth at the time, but you know what? I always found it really inspiring.’ 

‘I did too,’ she said quietly. ‘I remember thinking… well… why would he stick to a lie through all that?’ 

‘Exactly. He had principles, and if he was here he wouldn’t stand for any of that rot. There’s a lot of times over the past few months where I’ve just tried to…’ he shrugged helplessly, ‘pretend that I’m Harry. That I’m brave.’ 

‘I don’t think you’re pretending at all,’ she said. ‘You are brave. You always have been. You’re a Gryffindor, aren’t you?’ 

‘Somehow.’ 

‘No somehow about it. You’re the bravest man I know, and that includes Harry.’ 

‘How on earth does it include Harry?’ he asked, and he sounded like he was on the verge of laughter. 

‘Because he’s had to be,’ she said. ‘I’ve grown up in Godric’s Hollow, you know, I’ve seen the ruined house that he lived in. He’s had to be brave all the way from when he was a baby. But I didn’t. You didn’t. You’ve chosen to be brave, you’ve chosen to channel him. You're a pureblood, you could choose, every day, to keep your head down and get on with things, but you don't. You stand up and call her a bigoted liar in class and get tortured and you never back down. I find that more inspiring than anything.’ 

‘That’s very kind of you,’ he said quietly.  

‘And you were brave lots of times even before. Don’t you remember winning those points all the way back in first year?’ 

He beamed, and looked at her directly, for the first time since he had blurted out that dittany was an aphrodisiac. ‘You remember that?’ 

‘Of course I do. Dumbledore pointing out about standing up to your friends - he was so right, that does take a lot of bravery. I tried to do it next year, when Ernie was telling me that Harry was the heir of Slytherin. I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t as brave as you, but at least I tried, I suppose.’ 

‘I think you’re very brave too,’ he said. ‘Looking after everyone like this, handing out essence of dittany, running out here with me to get more… I’m sorry that you’ve had to come back in here. I didn’t think.’ 

‘I didn’t either,’ she said, and she started cutting more flowers. ‘I was just so focused on the idea of more, I didn’t really think about where I’d be getting it from… But, you know, I’m OK, actually. The thought of it was worse than the reality. It’s just a greenhouse.’ She looked around. The white starlight bleached the dark greenery into shades of silver, bounced off the watering cans, sparkled in the droplets of water from the sprinklers. ‘A very beautiful one.’ 

‘I like to think so,’ he said, a little hoarsely. ‘I always found this whole place beautiful, but now it… sometimes feels like only the greenhouses still are. They’re the only place I haven’t seen people being tortured.’ 

She paused. ‘I’m secretly thankful my mum isn’t alive to see this. Is that awful? I’m just glad she never had to worry about me being here. I feel bad enough for Dad.’ 

‘It’s not awful,’ said Neville. ‘I know what you mean.’ 

‘Do you?’ 

‘My parents don’t know anything about what’s going on, and for the first time in my life, I’m glad,’ he said, and for some reason his words seemed to surprise him. 

‘What do you mean?’ she asked, and without thinking she put down the little secateurs and touched his arm. He breathed deeply, not quite meeting her eyes, pressing down one of the seedlings quite firmly into the tray, before finally turning to her.

‘I live with my gran, because… my…’ He took another deep breath, and suddenly there was a clanging from outside. 

They froze, and heard a low voice swearing. 'Bloody wheelbarrow…' 

Hearts thudding, they ducked down and stayed silent, Neville silently mouthing for Hannah to get onto the large empty shelf under the potting table, where bags of compost were usually kept. He reached up, fumbling for the secateurs, and then started crawling along on his belly. 

'What are you doing?' she whispered, horrified. Alecto Carrow was opening the door to the greenhouse, still muttering and swearing about the wheelbarrow he had tripped over. 

He put a finger to his lips, and then pointed at the venomous tentacula, which had begun to writhe against the twine. The snip snip snip of the secateurs seemed unreasonably loud, but from the other side of the greenhouse Carrow did not appear to hear them, rifling noisily through the plants and shrubs, sending terracotta pots crashing to the floor. 

'Anyone in here?' he demanded. 'I saw your footprints in the gravel. Hello?' 

The vines of the tentacula waved threateningly, and Hannah watched with trembling fear as one of them reached out to Neville, still prone on the ground, and started to wrap itself around his throat. 

'Don't be cheeky,' she heard him mutter to it, and he calmly prodded it with the secateurs until it released him. 

It kept one tendril around his ankle, but Neville seemed to allow it as a compromise, and instead watched through the vines as Carrow upturned a table, still shouting and swearing. 

After several, agonisingly long minutes, Carrow came close to them. The venomous tentacula silently released Neville’s ankle, and raised it's spiked tendrils. 

'OW! Son of a bludger-' 

A long line of expletives followed, and the venomous tentacular shook noisily, whip-like noises echoing through the greenhouse as it reached after Carrow, now bolting from the room. 

'Grab the tray,' Neville told Hannah. 'He'll be heading straight to the hospital wing, we should have a clear path back. Quickly, before the tentacula gets over-excited and turns on us-' 

She did so at once and he held back the spiked vines as she squeezed past the plant, and hurried safely out of range. 

She stood there, holding her tray of little dittany plants and the heads of the flowers. She watched as Neville easily unentangled himself from the tentacula, patted it, said, 'thanks mate,' and grabbed a clear cover for the tray. He came close to her as he fitted it over the dittany, protecting them from the cold night air they would have to hurry back through.  

His face was inches from her own, and she felt her breath hitch in her throat a little as she looked up at him. There was a slight clunk as the lid of the tray found its place. For a moment, they were perfectly still, just their breathing in that humid place, and his eyes, shining light blue in the pale light, lifted from the tray of dittany to meet her own. 

'Do you really think I'm brave?' he whispered. 

She nodded, and he seemed to be steeling himself for something. Please, she thought, please make this place good for me again. Her hands gripped the edges of the tray.

Very gently, very slowly, he leaned closer over the tray. His hand moved as though to softly move her face to meet his, but he didn't need to, for she was already naturally tilting her head, and her heels were lifting a little off the ground without her bidding them to. 

Their lips met, soft like the petals of the dittany between them, sweet like the fragrance. His fingertips were trembling slightly as they caressed against her cheek, but then they calmed as the kiss deepened. 

The tray pressed into them as he tried to move closer, and it reminded them where they were. They broke apart, panting and gasping as though they had just finished the run down from the castle. 

She had never kissed anyone before. She was glad, unbelievably, overwhelmingly, joyfully glad, that her first kiss had been with Neville, in this place where the warm air was scented with damp soil and sweet flowers. 

'We… we should take these back,' he said, his voice slightly hoarse. ‘Let - let me take them.’ 

He took the tray from her, and in her happy daze she allowed it, and let him lead the way out of the greenhouse. Joy had returned to her again, beneath the fogged glass, amongst the green plants, bursting with life. 

[pup5000-af]

⋆⋆ ⭒ ☆ ★ ⭑ ⋆⋆

[V.E.T.O.]

sharing thoughts on the subject, elaborating on it, trying to make sense of it and tie everything together

* ...it’s sort of a program/virus, designed to keep angels and devils separate. A punishment for physical contact of any kind.

single mark is already very painful, but if you get too many of em, they would make it unbearable for you to exist: your psyche might snap, or you collapse from the amount of pain it causes, you may just about wish you were dead. Pain doesn’t stop unless the mark is removed, in some of its prototypes mark increased the pain level overtime or it multiplied and spread till it’s target is completely covered.

Pain is usually shared among beings who marked each other if it was by accident. but if it wasn’t: then whoever initiated - gets to suffer at the very least double, of what they inflicted

the world doesn’t collapse ofc, bcuz that’s just dumb as fuck and SO inconvenient for their system.

It’s intended to just murder “unruly” individuals 😚✨

From the visual aspect of the V.E.T.O. virus: marks design is changed once in a while, according to the latest trends of the time period. At the time in which the shows events take place, veto marks look like y2k stars tattoo; •Whether the mark is shallow or coloured in, depends on who’s at fault for breaking the law; •Since the pain is of electric-shock variety: on the outside of the mark you can see a bit of sparks and lightnings. It’s especially aggressive when the mark is freshly placed, but even overtime (as it never stops going), if you look closely, you can always see electric waves glowing.

Quite literal Shock Therapy.

v.e.t.o marks are kinda like shocker-patches: they’re flat, placed on top of the targets skin (aka they look exactly as they do: which is - a freshly done tatt)

Reina developed a spider, it’s venom breaks down this shitty virus in 24-48h. it’s slow, but just one bite makes you pretty immune and reduces burning to just mild stinging.. it’s itchy, annoying, but easy to get used to. Veto marks fade and the itch fades with them.

I’m thinking... her spiders venom makes any bitten celestial partially / closer to neutral - therefore they fall into a loophole and shock-patches no longer affect them.

We all know our main couple canonically do a lot of skinship, they are pretty touchy-feely on main from the get go. if it weren’t for the spiderbite they would be already covered enough to completely loose their work-efficiency, v.e.t.o. would’ve made it hard to form even a single sentence or ..well.. just Think in general.

But with just a bit of spider venom, marks turn into just... actively-stingy, celestial bruises and completely vanish with in 48 hrs.

pain if mostly ‘psychological’ for celestial beings, but if a mark is left there for too long ..like, many yrs in a row (it usually is), it leaves a fresh burn/scar on ones terrestrial form, which of course can only fully form or “heal” once the shock-patch is removed.

beings who designed them, did so the marks stay on the outside of the vessel... for allowing them to mingle INSIDE [even for the developers] ended up being recorded as “unnecessarily cruel”. Those patches are already extremely painful to bear on ones skin, but internal organs ...soft tissue proved to be way too sensitive.

And tho Veto’s developers didn’t think (or care to consider) celestials would go as far as to actually touch each-other on purpose after they got a taste of it ...especially not in any intimate or violent ways, cuz for any initiator that would seem straight up suicidal. it has quickly disproven in practice, so they maid mild adjustments.

Everything about this program can be altered remotely and if you are marked, it’s almost like being ‘chipped’... they have power over you. it’s not ‘natural’ - it’s made.

Of course, you‘re not in any active, immediate danger if you get a mark ...but neither are you _ever_ going to really be safe while having it...

it’s a punishment. designed to control.

[whatisshelties]

With the past few years of minimal shows and experimenting with different sports, I'm consistently shocked at how much entries cost, even though I shouldn't be.

I have a feeling starting as a Junior Handler didn't help, when I got to run for $5 a run until I turned 18. There were even a couple awesome clubs that offered discounts to college students!

Agility is still one of the least expensive per turn sports and it's not even that cheap. I've heard flyball has pretty inexpensive entries and maybe disc??? Otherwise many sports are charging upwards of $20 per run. That really stacks up over several days and several runs. God forbid you have another dog!

I post this because I entered two ob/rally shows yesterday, since they were on the website and I thought what the heck, I'll get entered. The closing date and the show dates overlapped so that I couldn't wait to see if he moved up at the first one. It was $236 for 3 rounds of rally at the first show, and 2 rounds each of ob and rally at the second show. $20 was processing fees because EVERY SINGLE RUN was considered to be at a separate show. I know each run is a technically a separate "trial" but I still think that's bs. Why can't the whole event be considered one show???? I guess the superintendent has to make a buck, but come on. Honestly, I would mail my entries, but the last time I mailed an entry to a superintendent, I didn't get in to the show because USPS was all screwy and they didn't check their PO box or something. Don't trust 'em to get my entry anymore.

I really don't have a burning desire to like, drive out of my way to enter AKC rally/ob. There's a decent number of shows 1.5 hrs away, but I'm not feeling it is worth it. I might go if it's in conjunction with a huge confo show while I'm looking for next dog. I can see driving out of my way for scent work. I think that's more fun for Mud and we can often do more than 1 or 2 runs a day. It's still $$$ tho.

Within 30 minutes is a decent amount of ASCA rally, and I think a few shows where ASCA obedience is offered. It's waaaay cheaper than AKC. I think I'll start making an effort to keep track of their schedule. I just haven't because I am lazy. You also have to fill out all the show info on a default entry form template. I need to look over the rulebooks and see what different signs and stuff there are. They are also quite small, so I've heard it's tough to get in. Guess I need to put the opening date on my calendar vs just the trial date.

[johannstutt413]

(now that I have the power you cannot stop me) HoloMyth Comes to Rhodes Island

“ShrimpNGrits, thank you.” It was a normal Donation Reading - an end-of-stream ritual to not only give something back to the fans who took the time out of their day and the money out of their wallets to watch a shark girl play video games or sing or, well, whatever Gawr Gura decided to do that day. Honestly, when you have nearly 4 million subscribers, it’d be harder to find something no one would watch, but just the fact she’d gotten that far sometimes was a shock. Where was she? Donations, yeah. “TakoCat, thank you. Dr. Mobius Loop, thank you. ‘Hey, look behind you, is that a portal?’ thank you. Man, you guys have some weird names-”

*BZZZT* The power went out before she could rag on those weird names in earnest.

‘Well, guess someone’s calling the power company.’ As the shork bumbled around her pitch-black room trying to find her cell phone in the abyss, she found herself tumbling into another. For once, the shrimps had been right: there WAS a portal behind her.

As she yelled like a teapot being hurled from the Empire State Building just after boiling, Gura instinctually clutched for her trident - and found it there, for once. ‘Huh. You haven’t done that since we first became a landlubber.’ “Did ya bring Bloop with ya, too?”

“KICKY RICKY!��� A familiar tako’s voice called as Takanashi Kiara and Ninomae Ina’nis swooped into view from…somewhere. “Oh, Gura, did you find the portal I sent you?”

“That was you?! Aw, man, I was about to beat Radahn!” Calliope Mori could’ve been more upset at this turn of events, admittedly, as she glided through the void on Ricky the scythe.

At least Gura wasn’t by herself, but none of what they’d said explained what’d happened. “Why’d you send a portal to my room?”

“Didn’t you get my message?” The tako tapped her watch hand, although she wasn’t wearing a watch at the moment. “Ame needs someone to pick her up from another timeline.”

“How’d that happen?!”

Amelia Watson, hanging onto Ricky with her right hand, asked, “Yeah, Ina, how’d that happen?”

“Oh, hi, Ame.” Wait…Shit. “Wait, Ame?”

“Yeah, I didn’t send a message. Where’s this portal going?” The detective pulled herself on top of her new ride with Calli’s help.

Gura chimed in, “Where are we going, Ina?”

“Yeah, where are we going?” The reaper echoed. “The air smells weird. Like…the Underworld.”

“What’s that smell like?” The shork asked. She smelled blood, at least.

Calli shrugged. “Blood, ash, horn polish - the usual.”

“Alright, I figured out where we’re going!” Ina summoned a tentacle to help her explain. “The message was from another dimension and got accidentally routed to me.”

“Your new laptop really is weird if it’s doing that,” Ame remarked, shaking her head.

The tentacle helpfully thumped her forehead as the priestess continued. “The Ancient Ones mixed up my inbox with someone else’s. It looks like we’re going to a place called Terra.”

“Terra?” The phoenix’s eyes flared. Literally. Smoke and everything. Kind of hard to see through for a second there. “You mean thaaaat Terra?”

“I think so? The message was actually from someone called Amiya, so it-”

Kiara was squealing as the portal-trip came to a screeching halt; five Hololives spilled onto the ground - not quite linoleum, but pretty close to it - from a jagged rift in front of a very confused girl with bunny ears wearing a blue-and-black jacket.

Not too long after they arrived, the Doctor walked into his office to find Amiya conversing with five very confused-looking individuals. “Fresh blood?” He asked, closing the door behind him as he walked up to his assistant/daughter/rescuer. “I don’t remember seeing their profiles from HR, though.”

“We uh…took a wrong turn?” Gura offered in reply.

“Amiya’s name is close to mine, and her Old Gods-” Amelia pointed at Ina “-thought I needed someone to take me back from here to our home timeline, so she grabbed all of them while I was coming back from buying groceries. If I hadn’t seen her message in the group chat, I wouldn’t even be here.”

Calli had to admit, “It was a good pun, though.”

“It was like a 6 out of 10.”

“Um, girls, can we try to look a little more disorganized?” Kiara cleared her throat. “Since we have to wait for the Ancient Ones to send another portal back for us, we’ll be in your care until then, Doctor!”

He, as usual, took all the insanity in stride. “Well, in that case, welcome to Rhodes Island. Since you know who I am-”

“I don’t,” Calli, Ame, and Gura said in unison.

“Where are we exactly? It feels like we’re on a ship.” The shork added. “The air’s not very salty, though.”

Ninomae Ina’nis had been trained for this very moment, but Amiya took the lead. “Rhodes Island is a pharmaceutical company specializing in the treatment of Oripathy…”

The impromptu initiation to the world of Terra - led by Amiya with input from the Doctor, Kiara, and Ina at various points - was enough for the doofus noobs who’d never touched the game back on Earth to get the basics: rock disease killed people, RI didn’t want everyone to die to rocks, trying to find a cure, something something critical player in international politics and staffed with people who ranged from adopted orphans and refugees who just wanted to earn a day’s pay to CEOs, high priestesses, fragments of deities, and a SWAT team from another reality (no clarification given on what that meant, although the words ‘Team Rainbow’ gave some of them an idea of who they meant). There was initially some concern about Amelia and Calli - Kiara, Gura, and Ina could pretty easily blend in as a Liberi and two Aegir - but as they were talking, the priestess’ halo floated over to the detective’s head, and the reaper…well.

“You did say you’d be a ring-tailed lemur,” Ame chuckled from her new Sankta disguise.

“If I yeet you, maybe the Ancient Ones will send Council to pick us up,” Callemur Moringtail replied with a half-hearted glare. It was just a few things - her makeup blending into dark circles around her eyes and a pink-and-black-striped tail - but the rest of Myth knew what’d happened. “And that was a joke, really!”

In a more supportive vein, the phoenix offered, “You can say you’re an Anaty on your profile, at least?”

“Oh, right, codenames! We need codenames.” Yet another moment the priestess had been trained for long ago.

“Is ‘Ringtail’ taken?” Gura asked, earning her a light yeeting as the reaper actually did pick her up and toss her onto the couch. “Oi!”

The Doctor chuckled. “They’ll fit right in. We’ll start with you, Ms. Kiara.”

“UH, uhhmmmuhh…Shit, is there a list of ones that are free?”

“Kiara would work, if you’re having trouble with ideas,” Amiya offered from the Doctor’s desk; she’d started working on their profiles as the conversation had drifted, having just finished putting down ‘Calliope Mori, Anaty, Codename ___. “Would that be alright?”

She shrugged. “It’s better than what I was coming up with.”

“Ooh! Can I be Watson, then?” Ame had hers figured out if that was the case.

“Yes, that’s fine.” The Cautus wrote it in next to “Amelia Watson, Sankta(?)”

Gura, for the first time the rest of Myth had known her, was wistful as she said her codename for the first time: “Atlantis.”

“...You know they’ll get us back home eventually, right?” Watson asked her.

“I know,” Atlantis sighed as Amiya made it official, “but this isn’t the first home I’ve had to leave, you know?”

The detective hugged her shoulder. “Yeah. I know the feeling.”

“Memento? You know, like ‘memento mori?’ I think that works.” Calli had her answer.

“That one has been taken already, unfortunately.” The reaper felt like yeeting Gura again. “The full phrase you said is free, however.”

That would work. “People can just keep calling me Mori, I guess.”

“Alright, Ina, let’s hear it!” Kiara leaned in, nudging Ina’s shoulder. “You’re great at these!”

“Takodachi.”

Amiya innocently typed the entry as the rest of Myth stared at her. “Seriously?” The phoenix asked, incredulous.

“I’m not a human, I’m a tako.” She pointed to her head-flaps with a wink. “Your friendly octopus shrine maiden, Deepcolor’s cousin, the Aegir from Higashi, Takodachi~”

“How do you know Deepcolor? Or anything about our world, for that matter, when your fellows don’t?” The Doctor inquired.

Ina smirked. “Kiara and I have had this world on our bucket list for a while. Anything else you need from us?”

“Right now? No, I don’t think so. However,” he gestured over to Amiya, “if there’s anything you need from us, you can always come by the office, and I’ll probably start you off working with me over the next couple weeks so we can get to know each other better. Do we know where we’re putting them, Amiya?”

“We have room in the southeast wing for all five of them to share a block. I can show them if you’d like?” The Cautus got up from the computer, tablet in hand.

The Doctor nodded. “We’ll make it a field trip. I have a couple other questions before I chain myself to the keyboard, anyway.”

“Then if I may?” Amiya handed him the tablet before standing in front of Amiya, offering her hand. “Welcome to Rhodes Island, Operator Watson.”

“Hololive’s Number One Detective is on the case!” Watson shook her hand with a massive grin.

“Welcome to Rhodes Island, Operator Atlantis.”

“I am here, and I’m starting to get hungry. Can we get lunch when we’re done?”

“Welcome to Rhodes Island, Operator Memento Mori…Just Mori, going forward?”

M&M nodded. “I’m your Mori, and I know I’ll remember this meeting.”

“Welcome to Rhodes Island, Operator Takodachi.”

“Humu humu. I’ve been looking forward to coming here for a while, even if this wasn’t what I had in mind. Your friendly Aegir from Higashi, Takodachi, at your service~”

“And welcome to Rhodes Island, Operator Kiara.”

Tenchou went to shake the Cautus’ hand but found herself hugging her instead. “This is so cool! I have soooo many people to talk to! Ooh, maybe we can do collabs if we can get a longer portal here, Ina?”

“...She’s so warm.” Amiya stepped back from the hug because they had other things to do, but she could get used to that. “Um, shall we be on our way?”

“Sounds good to me. Everyone ready?”

Rhodes Island’s latest squad stepped out of the Doctor’s office and into the wider ship for the first time. For three of them, it was a world far away from home; for two of them, it was an isekai moment the likes of which they’d only dreamed about.

And for the Doctor, who always appreciated when more cute girls joined his organization, it was a slightly more interesting than usual Tuesday.