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runwayrunway · 11 months

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No. 17 - A Gay Plane Has Landed (A Rainbow Twitter Icon Livery Compilation)

Yep, it’s that time again! As we wrap up the yearly scheduled month of concentrated rainbow Capitalism, let’s go over some of the paint jobs airlines have used as a much more expensive variant of changing your Twitter icon to a rainbow version for the month of June, immediately after it stops being actually timely.

To be clear: I am not rating the liveries as a whole. Those get their own posts. I am rating the modifications made to the livery for the occasion. I am judging this, not on overall quality, but on creativity and shamelessness. I want to see a tastefully designed plane that will make homophobic people get mad when they find out it’s operating their flight for as long to come as possible.

It is not activism and it means nothing, but it has the potential to be somewhat funny, and I think the task of integrating a big gaudy rainbow flag into what’s otherwise a regular airline livery is an interesting and difficult one, and it’s fun to see different airlines to take on the same challenge. It also gives me a chance to review a bunch of special liveries that only change part of the design, as opposed to the ones I’ve already covered which invent a full new paint scheme. Some airlines even had multiple goes at it!

I just want to make my stance abundantly and unambiguously clear. This is not a sincere appreciation of a conglomerate of millionaires deciding they’ll make more money if they paint rainbows on their plane. This is me rating airline liveries.

N653GT (Amerijet International for DHL)

I begin with N653GT because she flew directly over my house at 4,500 feet maybe a month and a half ago at time of writing. I’m a bit sad that I didn’t get a picture because it was nearly midnight, but not too sad, because it’s not like it’d be recognizable as anything except a DHL plane. I’m unsure if this was Amerijet International’s idea, DHL’s idea, or a mixture of both, but calling it an idea is honestly even generous. You could easily just not notice that there’s anything different about this livery at all.

Grade: D

D-AEAS (DHL)

Unlike the prior airframe, this plane is registered in Germany (rather than the US) and is part of DHL’s fleet proper. I do think I prefer this to the Amerijet incarnation, both because it’s more visible and because the diagonal lines blend with the body at least somewhat. Couldn’t they have extended the red one a bit, though? That color literally already exists in their color scheme.

Unfortunately, D-AEAS seems to have been repainted to the vanilla DHL livery sometime in October 2022.

Grade: C-

D-AEAR / “Delivered With Pride” (EAT Leipzig for DHL)

I’m almost angry because I do think this is very well done. It sort of combines the two prior attempts and turns them into something much better. This implies that they’re learning.

Relocating the rainbow DHL symbol to the top of the tail solves that weird spacing issue with the gap at the end which the Amerijet incarnation had. It also makes the rainbow tail far more dynamic by giving it the distinct curve of an actual rainbow, then improving it even further by stretching it rather than making it perfectly circular, which adds even more visual interest. I really like how this covers the often-neglected sort of concave line where the vertical stabilizer actually meets the top fuselage, which is often ignored in liveries that bother to integrate the tail with the fuselage proper. I find that in this case the dynamic nature of the curved rainbow actually makes me feel like this tail is part of the fuselage proper despite there being no paint which actually leaves it, an effect probably aided by the fact that the yellow line of the rainbow directly flows into the main yellow of the livery. The fact that the red in the rainbow is also present in the rest of the DHL livery prevents it from feeling unbalanced despite the fact that the main logo is unmodified.

This livery is very new. Hilariously, I think it was only applied around the 15th or so. I doubt this will happen, but it would be hilarious if they removed it immediately after the end of the month. I also sort of hope they don’t, because this is a pretty solid rainbow plane. (...it would be very funny though.)

Grade: B+

D-AINY / “Lovehansa” (Lufthansa)

While I generally dislike the Lufthansa livery so much that I made this blog, I have to give them props for a tasteful pride integration. It’s neither garish nor negligible, and as a little bonus the interior also has a rainbow motif. I hope at least one German was very shrill and indignant about having to rest their neck on the dreaded gay antimacassar.

It does feel like somebody thought about this, unlike the Lufthansa livery as a whole. And it will be graded as such, independent from the Lufthansa livery as a whole, which I still hatehansa.

Grade: B-

N854VA (Alaska Airlines)

I really like Alaska’s take on the pride theme. It actively adds something to the design of the livery without overpowering it - this is still recognizable as an Alaska Airlines plane but also as a pride plane. The font chosen is fine and the little airplanes are cute. It’s nice. It’s tasteful. It’s delightful. I’ll be honest, it got a smile out of me even though my emotional investment in the concept of a gay pride plane is less than minimal, just because I think the little airplanes are a nice and cute design.

Apparently a lesbian couple got engaged on a flight operated by this plane. Good for them, I guess. A lot of these airlines operate “pride flights” (???) which as far as I can tell are just like a flying club night with the sort of people who would pay money to attend such an event, which sounds utterly miserable to me, but I’m here to talk about the liveries, not any of this. It just felt worth including a mention of at some point, as this seems to be an industry-wide phenomenon even with airlines which operate no rainbow planes, and this is the only one of the planes which I have any reason to believe hosted a gay marriage proposal. So do with that what you will. In my case, I’ll do nothing.

N854VA was stored in December of 2022, but is only 11 years old, so surely she’s still airworthy. I’m just saying, if anyone from Alaska Airlines is reading this: bring her back.

Grade: A-

LX-LQC “Be Pride. Be Luxembourg” (Luxair)

I’m a little conflicted here, because the paint splash isn’t the worst concept ever for a rainbow addition but it is just added to the existing white part without modifying the existing livery otherwise and doesn’t do anything especially interesting. It somehow feels small despite being large. Your eyes could honestly glaze over it. That’s sort of one of the hazards of propliner liveries but that’s no excuse. At the same time it’s far too large. It feels clumsy, haphazard. I don’t really think I care for it. The rainbow logo on the nacelles is a decent touch but not nearly enough to save it.

The airframe was repainted in the standard Luxair livery in December 2022. Still, while they are no longer Pride, they are, to the best of my knowledge, still Luxembourg.

Grade: D+

VH-QPJ “Rainbow Roo” (Qantas)

One of the earliest examples of a pride plane comes from one of the oldest airlines still in operation. The A330 (GAY330, as it was called at the time) adopted her paint scheme in February 2017 in partnership with Sydney Mardi Gras and kept it until May 2018. A trailblazer for sure. I think the flag on the tail looks sort of bad, but just replacing the logo with a rainbow version is literally as obvious and simple of a pride livery as I can think of and I’m honestly fine with that.

Grade: C-

I do, however, respect that the special flight they did for Sydney Mardi Gras included a Qantas-themed drag queen named Qantana. That said, it seems they hired a drag queen to perform as Qantana instead of there simply being a full-time Qantas-themed drag queen, and I have to say I’d respect it a lot more if someone had just committed to making Qantas camp to that degree. I mean, there’s an entire, what, three seasons of Aussie Drag Race? I’m just saying I feel like the fact that it hasn’t happened reflects poorly on Qantas’s general vibe.

VH-EBL “Pride is in the Air” (Qantas)

As of February of this year, Qantas decided they were going to give it another shot. This new livery, not in partnership with anyone, is very similar to the original. Much like the original, it’s entirely fine. I do prefer the way that the flag’s stripes are ordered from left to right rather than top to bottom this time around, as it’s much more legible. They also seem to have updated to the progress flag instead of just the standard rainbow flag, and they’ve removed that weird out-of-place flag detail from the tail. Again, I think it could be improved by making the Qantas logo on the tail rainbow as well for balance, and on the nacelles for completeness, but the current state is absolutely fine.

In all honesty this is probably objectively a C but I do feel the need to upgrade the rating slightly to acknowledge the subtle yet palpable improvement. That’s growth.

Grade: C+

C-GPTS (Air Transat)

Another gay330, this time from Canadian carrier Air Transat. Another simple replacement of the logo, though it does feel unbalanced. The rainbow on the light blue looks nice, I’ll give it that, but it’s super blink-and-you’ll-miss-it. I’m unsure why nobody thought of making the text rainbow too. Maybe to save paint? I say this because in a very blatant and literal variant of the changing your Twitter icon strategy, she only wore the livery for the month of June 2019 before being reverted to Air Transat’s standard.

Grade: D

N247GS (Cape Air)

Cape Air is a regional carrier based in...Cape Cod, shockingly. They’re very Cape Cod, not in a Kennedy way. I’ve had nothing but good experiences flying with them in the Caribbean, where they operate a tiny fleet of Britten-Norman Islanders, but they also do flights in the Northeast US and especially Cape Cod. They’re a nifty little airline and if you’re ever in a position to fly with them I recommend it - flying in a little 12-seater twin prop is a really unique experience compared to a full-size jet.

This livery is fine, mostly just replacing the standard blue part of the Cape Air tail with a rainbow, but I like the extra touches on the engine nacelles and wheel pants. I also appreciate the airline’s statement that she’ll wear this livery for the rest of her service life. How long will that be? Good question - Cape Air is phasing out their Cessna 402 fleet for their new Tecnam P2012 Travellers, but they still have a pretty big fleet of them and they seem to be going strong. N47GS in particular is 41 years old, which sounds outrageous but isn’t particularly eyebrow-raising for this sort of plane, and she seems to be in good nick, so here’s to many more years of service. Go grandma!

Grade: C+

G-SAJE “Pride Jet / Jet Pròis” “Flying's for all” (Loganair)

I truly struggle to figure out how to rate this, because this particular plane looks...borderline featureless before modification. I do sort of like what they’ve done here, in the sense that it reminds me of SAS’s old belly stripes livery and it looks very clean and all that. I think I would really like this on most other liveries, but it’s hard to accept it just slapped on a plane white plane. It’s not integrated into the livery because there’s nothing to integrate it into. I don’t know, I feel like there could have at least been something to match the tartan pattern? I’m not going to turn this into a general Loganair review but the tartan is so underused here and I think at least changing the stripes to a sort of diagonal weave pattern would do a lot to make it fit better. I just don’t know. With a canvas this blank it’s hard to think of specific ideas but this leaves me feeling very wanting and unsatisfied. Come on, Loganair. The sentence ‘Scottish regional airline with tartan-based livery’ leaves me frothing at the mouth, you’ve got to pull yourself together because the potential is way higher than the service ceiling on that plane! (...wait, the ERJ-145 has a 37,000ft ceiling? Why did I expect that to be so much lower? Good for her.)

This livery is also hot off the presses, June 2023 release.

This really is hamstrung by the absolute nothing it’s working with beforehand. I definitely think this is more elegant than Luxair’s attempt but the livery is so bare to begin with. I guess - I said I’m judging this exclusively by the pride addition, but it’s so hard to not interpret it holistically. I’m too good at my job :/

Anyway. It’s fine but the canvas is so underwhelming that I just can’t like it. Sorry.

Grade: C-/D+

Thomas Cook Airlines

Thomas Cook actually had at least two pride planes (I’ve seen the number five tossed out but could only find these two - G-TCDE and G-MDBD - for sure). It’s...fine. Like, whatever. It’s a little heart that’s rainbow instead of the generic yellow Thomas Cook heart. It’s not too visible but I’d describe it as a sweet little touch. I prefer it to what Luxair did. It’s fine. I wish they did more, but it’s fine. I don’t think either of these liveries were left intact for terribly long, and there was no fanfare or reporting about either of these. Following Thomas Cook’s legendary 2019 implosion and the resulting record-setting peacetime repatriation of UK nationals G-TCDE is currently stored and in a default Thomas Cook livery, while G-MDBD is flying for a new airline in a new livery. No clue what happened to the other potential gay Thomas Cook planes, but I don’t think it matters either.

Grade: C-

XA-MAQ (Aeroméxico)

The immediate impression is of an Air Transat or Thomas Cook-style tiny replaced element, but the more I dwell on XA-MAQ the more I appreciate her. Like, it is just the red stripe replaced with a rainbow one, but I’ve realised - and this is true of Thomas Cook’s fab (alleged) five as well - that replacing the logo on the tail without touching the rest of the fuselage or the nacelles ends up looking unbalanced, but replacing a little flourish avoids that and fits more smoothly into the rest of the design.

Also, while both are small, the little ribbon isn’t the only touch. Immediately beneath it on the fuselage is text reading ‘volamos con orgullo’, which is Spanish for ‘we fly with pride’, if my Googling is correct. I find that pretty cute. No, it’s not a lot, but it’s cute. It’s at least an implication that more went into this design than checking off a box. A lot of the others, Air Transat in particular, feel very ‘oh, we made the logo rainbow, guess we’re done!’.

Plus, bonus points for keeping the livery - it was first applied in June of 2021 and is still in service.

Grade: B-

G-VPRD “Rain Bow” (Virgin Atlantic)

Wait...huh? This can’t possibly be the right plane, can it? This is just a normal Virgin livery.

Wait. Wait a moment.

Zoom...enhance...

image: Virgin Atlantic)

That’s your pride livery? The entirety of your pride livery? Not a small part of a more interesting whole, not a large design that’s visible on the fuselage, this tiny...e-girl cheek decoration of a guy who looks vaguely fruity? This is your big move towards inclusivity that you brag about flying to Doha?

I already dislike Richard Branson, but I will not forgive him for this particular act until he paints what will be renamed to GayceShipTwo entirely in rainbow colours with THIS PLANE IS GAY written in massive letters on it, and also sends me a million dollars directly shipped via GayceShipTwo to my local airport. Is the runway big enough to land it? No clue, but that’s going to be his problem to figure out and is none of my business. And then afterwards he will fly GayceShipTwo back to his house and land her on his own head, killing himself instantly. Likes charge, reblogs cast.

Grade: F

N724AV (Avianca)

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, all they’ve done is replace the barely-above-standard tail-only design with a rainbow. On the other hand, I do like that it’s not just a flag and has something actually visually interesting about it with the way it intersects itself. I do wish they’d also replaced the logo, nacelles, and winglets with the same rainbow pattern, but the general amount of things going on in the middle and front at least prevents it from feeling unbalanced. I mean, did they do an Air Transat? Sort of yes, but their livery is a lot less rear-heavy at base and there’s a lot more to look at here.

I don’t know. I think it’s fine. Just fine. Can’t knock it too hard, but not exciting.

Grade: C-

__________________________________________

Well, that’s it for the good, the bad, and the Virgin Atlantic of every pride livery I could find record of. Let me know which tepid corporate gesture you found most aesthetically pleasing, and remember: I am doing my utmost to psychically harm Richard Branson with my malicious thoughts, and this medical equipment I’ve stolen is going to help me in this goal.

I’ll have a couple more posts coming out about planes which aren’t gay pride planes but look like they might be, so keep an eye out for those tomorrow and Monday.

#tarmac fashion week #a gay plane has landed #aeromexico #air transat #alaska airlines #amerijet international #avianca #cape air #eat leipzig #dhl #loganair #lufthansa #luxair #qantas #thomas cook airlines #virgin atlantic #special liveries #compilations #long haul

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madebysamael · 10 months

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It's breakdown time again.

My mental health hasn't been great for a while. Tbh, it started tanking after I worked as a vendor selling my handmade jewelry at pride shows in June.

Which went great!! I had best-selling shows and people were really excited about my art. It was awesome.

And then I had to go back to work.

I work full-time, at a desk job in a corporate office. The company is in an industry often used to represent soulless antagonists in movies. My job itself is a specialized position that requires a lot of mental labor. Finding time and energy to create is a challenge, even in the times where things are balanced.

And lately it's been really tough, because the work that needs doing is what I, a person who suspects myself to be on the autism spectrum somewhere, find hellish: I have to navigate bureaucracy and act as a diplomat. I have to coordinate projects between different people and act as a liaison. Most of my job isn't doing anymore, it's figuring out who I need to reach out to, and when, and how do I phrase this so I don't offend anyone? It's inefficient, circular, and often requires me to dance with office politics.

I'm. So. Exhausted.

So, after dragging myself away from the laptop where I've been sending emails and updating spreadsheets all week, I was so excited, because last weekend, I got to escape to my favorite fantasy world: Good Omens. To a life in color, to an eternity ever after.

You all know what happens.

It opened the floodgates. I started losing focus at work, couldn't remember where we were at on projects, who I was waiting on, who I needed to contact - hell, I couldn't even remember to bring my lunch.

I was thinking about GO, but not about the story itself. Instead, it was about how, best-case scenario, it will be 2+ years before they get their happy ending. About how leaving them in limbo for so long fucking hurts.

About how 2-3 years is a long time. Long enough for Neil, David or Michael to have an accident, an illness. About how it would never be the same if they had to recast, or if someone else wrote. Imagine GO without Michael's microexpressions, without David's face reading like an open book even with glasses on. Without Neil's love for the world he shared with Terry pouring out into every single frame of it.

2-3 years is a long time. Long enough for me to get in a car accident, to develop cancer. I already had a cancer scare in 2022; luckily, I was fine. One of my best friends got lymphoma around my age. She, luckily, is also fine now.

But one of my other best friends, who had a heart attack, just a few years older than me... He's in a wooden box in his wife's living room.

And his 10-year wedding anniversary was on July 27, 2023. The day GOS2 was released.

So here I am. A week later, trying to keep it together and failing, thinking it's just a fucking TV show, it shouldn't matter so much...

But it's never just one thing. Every pain carries the weight of all the pain that came before it. I'm carrying the weight of Karl's death, of Steph's cancer, of the family members I've lost that would take too long to list here, several before even David's age.

And I'm struggling to even draw now. Or make jewelry, or sew. The creative pursuits, the things that are supposed to make the rote office job worth it, the things it supports... I feel no joy for them. Even simple things like screenshot studies are excruciating, taking far too long. My problem-solving skills are completely drained at work, and that makes drawing so much harder.

I see so many others creating beautiful things from the pain and getting well-deserved recognition for it. But the ideas aren't coming for me, and even if they were, where would I find the energy?

I don't know how to dig myself out of this spiral. It's so very tiring, and so very, very lonely.

#venting #personal

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lovelynim · 2 years

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TickleTober 2022/Day 04 - Reward

Link Click - Lu Guang x Cheng Xiaoshi

The sound of the bell above the door ringing as another client left the photography studio was the sign for Cheng Xiaoshi to finally let go of that good employee’s facade. The boy groaned tiredly, placing his hand over his neck as he moved his head around.

“We are finally done… If I had to go through that fight one more time, I’d give up!”

“Well, but you didn’t,” Lu Guang replied while organizing a few papers. Turning his head towards his friend’s direction, he smiled fondly at him, “you did well this time.”

The brunette didn’t expect the other to agree so easily with him. Widening his eyes and blinking a few times, Cheng Xiaoshi coughed, taking his gaze away as he scratched the back of his neck.

“Y-yeah, I did,” he bragged, trying to shift the focus to something else as he quickly turned and walked to the living room in the back, dropping his body on the couch, leaning his head on the cushions and letting out an audible sigh.

Lu Guang watched, giving the best of his efforts to hold back some soft chuckles. Cheng Xiaoshi was really that easy to read. He could tell his friend was looking for something else than a simple praise. Right, it wouldn’t fit his persona if just that was enough.

“Hey,” Lu Guang called as he walked to the couch, stopping in front of the other.

“Hm? What is it?”

“I was thinking that maybe we should do something else after completing this job. It’s not like it was an easy mission, especially for you,” Lu Guang explained, taking a seat next to Cheng Xiaoshi as the brunette moved to give him some space.

“Hah? And what do you have in mind?”

“A reward. You deserve one, after all.”

Those words seemed to have sparkled something inside Cheng Xiaoshi. The tired and gloomy look on his face was washed away in a matter of seconds and now all Lu Guang could see was a little boy beaming with excitement and curiosity. So predictable.

“A reward?”

“Mhm, you seemed a little down, so I thought…” Lu Guang said before grabbing the other by his leg and pulling him closer. After quickly getting on top of his legs and moving his hands to Cheng Xiaoshi’s hips, the white-haired boy began to squeeze the spot, massaging the bones around the spot with his thumbs in a circular-like motion.

“Maybe a little tickling would cheer you up.”

The reaction was as explosive as it could be. Cheng Xiaoshi was already a shameless (for most of the cases) extrovert who didn’t really mind being loud. The same applied for his laughter.

With whiny pleas through his streams of giggles, the brunette tugged on Lu Guang’s wrists for his life, nearly as if it was some kind of murder attempt. Maybe the neighbors would think the same.

“LU GUAHAHANG!!” He cackled, throwing his head back as he tried to buckle his hips out of the other’s reach, “noHOHOT THIHIHIS! AhahaHAHah, p-plehEHEAse! ~”

“It’s barely been ten seconds since I started. Besides, you are not really pushing my hands away”, he replied calmly, trying to keep just enough pressure to drive the boy into another fit of hysterical laughter.

“BuhUHUT IT TIHIhicklehehEHES- ahahAHA, t-toOHOhoo m-much!”

“I know it does,” Lu Guang chuckled, scratching the lower sides of his friend as he tried to not overwork a single spot, “but you like it, that’s why it’s a reward.”

Those words easily made Cheng Xiaoshi’s blush ten times worse than before. The brunette could feel as the warmth around his face spread to the tip of his ears and how his limbs grew weaker as he laughed.

It wasn’t a few minutes later when Lu Guang rested his palms over the brunette’s stomach, letting his fingers rest on top of it. He could feel how heavy Cheng Xiaoshi’s breath was, but he could also easily spot the remnescent smile on his face.

“Ahah… y-you- geheez… I thought I was going to die…”

“Now, don’t be so dramatic, you are tough enough for a little ticklin-”

“But…”

“Hm?”

“You didn’t have to stop…” The brunette muttered, covering part of his face with his arm, probably trying to hide the embarrassment.

“Very well… then allow me to spoil you some more.”

A/N: If you guys knew how much I treasure these two. I kid you not, I can’t wait for the next season to come out, I miss them so muchhh! And that’s why they’re the pairing for the 4th day! As always, I hope you enjoyed your reading~

#augtickletober2022 #tickletober2022 #link click #cheng xiaoshi #lu guang #anime tickling #tickle fic #lee!cheng xiaoshi #ticklish!cheng xiaoshi #ler!lu guang #donghua tickling #shiguang daili ren

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bereft-of-frogs · 1 month

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friday! and a nice friday too, the sun is out and everything!

books:

(finished) This Wretched Valley - Jenny Kiefer: I maintain this would have been better/scarier if they had been good at their jobs lol, like I said last week. Like imagine how scarier if you're doing everything right and still can't escape and slowly realize there's some*thing* keeping you in the wilderness? Personal preference.

(finished) (phone book) Into the Dark - Claudia Gray: You know, I didn't love this one as much as I did on the first pass a couple years ago. A weird opinion shift: I really don't like Cohmac haha. I remember liking him before and this time I'm like...no you can't have custody of Reath, I don't like you. Ok, that's...not the most mature book critique but still. I wish either Jora hadn't died or Dez or Orla had taken custody of Reath :( But it does make me consider giving Midnight Horizon a second chance, because my opinions shifted so much, maybe the opposite will happen with that one. Or maybe I'll just be able to further justify my Cohmac dislike.

(in-progress) (phone book) The Rising Storm - Cavan Scott: Bell is back! I missed Bell and Ember. Not too far in yet but at least I am back on track. I feel like this is where things start getting sadder which makes me happy (sorry Bell) :)

(in-progress) The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien: I'm like 30 pages from the end lol, I only read this while I have my morning coffee, just to explain why it's taken me like three weeks to read a 250 page children's book.

tv:

(finished) Anthracite (Netflix): What an insane amount of subplots for 6 EPISODES?? Either Netflix needed to greenlight like...4x as many episodes or once they got their budget the writers needed to cut like half the subplots and tighten up focus. I'm still honestly reeling. It did do a good job getting you to care about the main characters despite all the insane plot stuff. Also this was weird: like 90% of it was really well shot, and then randomly there would be a scene that looked like it was shot by someone in high school. I don't know if they had to go back in for reshoots or what but occasionally it was like oof that's not good.

(finished) Baby Reindeer (Netflix): Everyone was talking about this so I had to check it out. It's very intense. Is it bad I found the comedy shows were the hardest scenes to watch, despite everything else?

(in-progress) Under the Bridge (Hulu): Seems like sort of a standard mystery but I'm really just here for Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone and the moody vibes and so far am satisfied.

(in-progress) Constellation (AppleTV+): Nice little bit of unreality/space horror so far. I actually got got by a couple scenes, I'm so desensitized to horror that it's nice when I actually get creeped out by something (the ARM in the second episode!!). Looking forward to seeing where this is going, judging by the first two episodes, seems like my pet conspiracy theory (the Lost Cosmonaut theory) is getting a high budget AppleTV adaptation, never thought I'd see the day. Also I got kind of hyped about the Canadarm cameo in the first episode. The shot panned over the space station and I out loud shouted 'it's the Canadarm!', startling the cat

film:

The Apology (2022): Apparently this was the only movie I watched this week, it was ok, mostly just background noise for making lunch/writing. I wish it had leaned more comedic, which is not something I usually say but I think it would have fit if they'd committed to making a really dark horror-comedy rather than flipping between predictable melodrama and some pretty funny catharsis.

craft update: I am free of the tyranny of having to purl! I joined up the two sides of my sweater so I'm knitting in the round now yay! It turned out I didn't have a problem with needle size, the whole thing did fit on one circular needle so now we're cooking with gas.

to do:

finish the work day. ick. but depending on how long it takes me to get through actual work, I can probably get some writing done too

laundry, both clothes laundry on my lunch hour (now) and sheets/towels at my parents'

I'm through 8 out of 12 chapters of current wip! Unfortunately chapter 9 is SO action-focused. why did I do this to myself. I mean I know why because then chapter 10 gets to be angsty but damn I have to block out so many action scenes. why.

I ordered a filing cabinet. it arrived. most of the negative reviews were about how hard it was to put together. so I should put 'assemble filing cabinet' on this list but I think 'let filing cabinet percolate' is a more realistic entry

I might go to a local yarn store on my way up to my parents' tomorrow, because it's local yarn store day and I do not need any more stitch markers but BUT I want more stitch markers. don't @ me I know I have plenty of stitch markers.

pick a new book: I'm torn between giving Kill Show another shot, starting the other book I have checked out of the library (The Deep Sky) or a secret third thing

have a good weekend everyone!

#the friday list #lists lists lists

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sinditia · 2 years

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In regards to your latest post, I think #8 and Alpha Peter would be good!

thank you for the prompt!

8 - "All I want now is you between my legs"

StarkerFestivals Summer Bingo 2022 - Alpha Peter

Summary: Peter Parker, assistant to Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts, is sent on an errand to Tony Stark's house. The meet-cute leads to Tony requesting Peter's assistance on various random things... including his heat.

Word Count: 6.5k

"I'm so sorry, Peter. He's not picking up his phone and these contracts are really important and some of these clauses need to be double-checked- I really can't send just anyone. I'd go myself if I didn't have that board meeting in an hour. And you're the only one who's been involved in this deal since the beginning-"

"It's fine, Ms. Potts, I don't mind," Peter assures. "And I'll debrief Miles again before I go to prepare him for your meeting later. I'm sure he can handle it."

Pepper nods, already gathering her files and running along. Alpha to the core, the Stark Industries CEO is always on the move, always one step ahead, thinking of her next moves while she works on the current. As her assistant, Peter needs to keep up quickly or he'll drown. Hiring a second assistant has made Peter's job a lot easier. Miles is a young beta, energetic, and a quick-learner. Peter's certain he can accompany Pepper by himself for the day.

And in all honesty, Peter could use the break.

The sleek, black company car drops Peter off in front of a sprawling, futuristic mansion perched on the bluffs of Point Dume, overlooking the Santa Monica bay. The place looks to be deserted. There are no security personnel all along the winding driveway, no other cars on the circular path by the glass-front entrance, no signs of any staff anywhere on the property.

As soon as Peter climbs out of the car and closes the door behind him, the driver takes off, presumably to find someplace to park. He seemed familiar enough with the area, which is more than Peter can say about himself.

Peter pauses on the steps by the mansion’s entrance, nonplussed by the lack of doorbell or knocker or even any surface he can rap his knuckles on to announce his presence. It’s all just sleek, wraparound glass, giving him an inside view of a massive, marble-tiled foyer, empty except for some confusing-looking sculptures and abstract art decorating the walls.

Looking around, Peter spots the dark lens of a security camera staring his way and a second later, the glass doors open.

“H-hello?” Peter calls out as he enters the premises. “Mr. Stark? I’m Peter. Peter Parker. Ms. Potts’s assistant.” He cringes inwardly at how inexperienced he sounds, upticking each sentence like it’s a question. He clears his throat. “I have some documents for you to look at.”

No answer. No assistant or housekeeper scurrying to greet him. A quick peek through an archway reveals a lavish dining room with a table that seats a dozen. Then around a corner there’s a luxurious living room with a sunken seating area, a pool table, and a grand piano. As far as Peter knows, Tony Stark, unmarried and single, lives alone. But he didn’t think the man would be alone alone. Peter’s inner alpha feels a twinge of discomfiture at the idea of an omega – or anyone really, he corrects himself – just sitting here unguarded, surrounded by all this wealth.

Or maybe Stark isn’t even home. Pepper did say he wasn’t picking up his phone. Maybe he’s out somewhere, maybe on a private jet gallivanting to some other country or whatever it is that rich people do when they-

Peter’s blood runs cold when he looks out the living room’s floor-to-ceiling glass windows and sees a dark shape floating in the middle of the infinity pool outside. He drops his briefcase and runs.

Peter doesn’t hesitate. As soon as he’s outside and gets to the pool’s edge, he dives in, clothes and all. A few kicks and he reaches the person, hauling their body face up towards the surface.

The person startles, blinking water out of their eyes.

Pretty eyes, Peter thinks dumbly even through his panic.

Water droplets cling to long, thick lashes as Tony Stark regards Peter with some amusement. “Oh. And who might you be?”

Tony Stark laughs and laughs as Peter sits on one of the poolside deck chairs, wringing chlorinated water out of his suit jacket.

“It’s not funny,” Peter grumbles. “I thought you were dead.”

Tony chuckles, grabbing a towel. “It’s a little funny. Serves you right for just wandering into a stranger’s house unannounced.”

Peter looks up at the man, spluttering. “I did announce! I called out to you but you didn’t answer. No one answered. And besides, your security camera let me in. How was I supposed to-”

Tony pauses the towel-drying of his hair, the dark tufts still wet but sticking up this way and that. “J.A.R.V.I.S. let you in? So you’re in the database?” Rivulets of water still run down the man’s surprisingly broad chest for an omega, past the dusky nipples, the hint of abs around his belly button, settling on the waistband of a pair of navy swim trunks that are so snug they leave nothing to the imagination.

Peter tears his eyes away with some difficulty. “I told you, I’m Ms. Potts’s assistant. I have- wait, ‘Jarvis’? So there is someone else here?”

“J.A.R.V.I.S., my A.I.. Weird, he didn’t say anything when you-” Tony snaps his fingers like he just remembered something. “Oh that’s right, I put him on mute earlier. I was stuck on a problem and needed some peace and quiet to think. Hence the, uh… meditation you caught me in.”

“‘Meditation’?” Peter snorts, giving up on his drenched suit jacket and tossing it aside. “You mean ‘impersonating a drowned corpse’?”

“Potato, tomato.” Tony waves a dismissive hand. He turns and gestures for Peter to follow. “Come on, I’ll get you some dry clothes.”

Peter gets up and walks behind the other man. He groans quietly, partly in discomfort at the soaked clothes sticking grossly to his body, a larger part in a decidedly different kind of discomfort at the sight of Tony Stark’s plush ass wrapped in those sinful swim trunks.

Jesus Christ, the way each ass cheek bounces with every step of the man’s toned legs. The stairs don’t help. With Peter a few steps behind, it just puts him at eye level with the omega’s wet ass. Peter’s thoughts are straying into dangerous territory and he desperately hopes that the chlorine he’s drenched in is covering any kind of arousal wafting from-

Peter reels back as he’s led through a doorway and he’s hit with a scent so strong and warm and homey. Sweet vanilla with a hint of peppery spice and something earthy and powdery like a bouquet of irises. Masculine, yet gentle. A gorgeous scent.

Peter realizes with slight alarm that Tony has taken him to his bedroom instead of one of the guest rooms a house this size must have. There’s a gigantic unmade bed on the far side of the room and beyond it, a stunning view of the Pacific Ocean. Tony heads towards the walk-in closet while Peter just stands there breathing in deep that mouth-watering scent permeating the space like he can’t get enough of it.

Tony re-emerges with some folded clothes. “Good thing you’re not one of those ‘roided up alpha types. Pretty sure these’ll fit you. Bathroom’s through there. Feel free to shower.”

Peter accepts what looks like a pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt. “What about you? Don’t you need to shower too?”

Tony’s eyes twinkle with mirth. “Are you inviting me to take a shower with you?”

Peter feels himself blush something fierce. “N-no! I meant- it’s your bathroom. You should be the first to-”

Tony laughs. “Relax, kid. Don’t think too much. Besides, I got better things to do right now.” He winks, then leaves the room.

Tony Stark’s bathroom is the fanciest bathroom Peter’s ever been in, and he’s stayed in a lot of nice, five-star hotels around the world accompanying Pepper on various business trips. It’s also by far the best-smelling bathroom Peter’s ever been in and he’s pretty sure it’s not the air freshener. It’s the same scent that filled the bedroom, but a bit lighter, not as saturated. Peter can practically feel the scent touching his skin as he strips down and he almost feels loath to wash it away.

Under the high-pressure stream of the showerhead, Peter wonders how he ended up here. Earlier this morning when he came into work and rode up the elevators to the executive floor of the Stark Industries building, he never thought that he would end up naked in a bathroom belonging to the owner of Stark Industries.

Tony’s clothes fit him fairly well. They’re of a similar height though Tony has broader shoulders, demonstrated by the slight looseness of the shirt’s upper half on Peter. What he thought was a plain grey t-shirt actually had an adorable little science illustration on it, portraying two cartoon atoms, one saying, “I lost an electron” while the other responded, “are you positive?”. Peter smiles to himself, imagining Tony Stark wearing a cute shirt like this.

Peter is looking around downstairs, trying to find Tony, when a voice, seemingly coming from everywhere at once, pipes up, “Mr. Stark is currently in his laboratory, down the stairs to your left.”

That must be the A.I., now unmuted, sounding like a perfectly refined, British butler.

“Um, thanks. J.A.R.V.I.S., right?” Peter asks.

“That’s right. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Parker. I apologize for not being able to greet you properly earlier, but as you may have noticed, Mr. Stark can be rather vexing.”

Peter chuckles. “That’s one way to put it.”

He follows J.A.R.V.I.S.’s direction and finds himself in a huge underground garage, as vast as the floor space above, with rows and rows of luxury and vintage cars lining the far end, while the area closer to Peter’s point of entry is cluttered with all sorts of computers, parts, and machinery.

A robot arm appears to notice Peter’s presence, rearing up and clacking its metal claws at him. Peter gives it an awkward wave and the robot arm rotates its claw a few times and makes what sounds like excited chirping noises.

“Shut up, DUM-E, I’m thinking,” Tony mutters from where he’s seated on one of the benches, peering through several magnifying lenses to tweak at something absurdly tiny with a fine pair of tweezers. His hair is still damp and dishevelled but he’s put on a white tank top and some grey sweatpants. He looks insanely hot, but-

Peter raises an eyebrow. “What did you just call me?”

Tony looks up and his eyes rake unabashedly from Peter’s head to toe, nose twitching. “Not you dummy. Him DUM-E.” Tony jerks his head towards the robot arm, who bobs his distal appendage up and down in response to his name before picking up a conical dunce hat from a nearby bench and waving it at him. On the front surface of the hat is written ‘DUM-E’ in large block letters.

“That’s awful,” Peter says, but he chuckles at the adorable display. Then, remembering why he’s here in the first place, he clears his throat. “So listen, Ms. Potts sent over some contracts-”

“Yeah, I know. I looked at it. It’s fine.” Tony’s attention has returned to whatever it is he was tinkering with when Peter walked in.

Peter blinks. “It’s… Did you read the part where Stark Industries would waive any rights to-”

“Uh-huh, it’s fine.”

“And the part where any damage incurred from-”

“Yes, yes. It’s all fine,” Tony says with a touch of impatience. “I told you, I read it. Got all your little documents right here in your briefcase. I put notes for Pepper in the margins. Or was there any more homework she sent you to give me?”

“Oh,” Peter says, chagrined. “I didn’t think- That was quick. I mean, thanks for taking the time to-”

“Nothing to it,” Tony says with a dismissive wave. Then he smirks. “Besides, you did take a long shower.”

Peter stammers his way through denial, then thank-yous, then goodbyes as he takes his briefcase and excuses himself quickly before he embarrasses himself any further.

The driver who takes him back to the city only gives a brief glance at the fact that Peter is leaving wearing different clothes than the one he came in with, and doesn’t ask any questions.

“So?” Miles corners Peter at the cafeteria the next work day. “What was he like?”

“Who, Tony?” Peter asks without thinking.

“Well, I was gonna say ‘Mr. Stark’. But sure, Tony.”

Peter adamantly ignores Miles’s growing smirk. “He’s…” he hedges, thinking of broad shoulders he gripped in the pool, of water droplets dripping down a toned body, of wet swim trunks clinging to plump ass cheeks, of brown eyes and dark lashes and amused smiles, of warm vanilla and earthy spices over a garden of iris blooms. “…weird,” he finally settles on.

There’s a vein in Pepper’s temple that’s threatening to pop when Peter is called into her office the following week.

Peter had expected the worst, but he was subjected to only fifteen minutes of his boss ranting about how she is not in fact, Tony Stark’s personal assistant anymore, and that she is actually Chief Executive Officer of his company, a position that he himself personally appointed to her after stepping down as CEO, a position that, contrary to his belief, is rife with tasks and responsibility, and therefore she should not be burdened with concerns about Tony Stark’s laundry of all things.

“He’s making you do his laundry?” Peter asks, mystified, but also trying not to laugh lest he offend the woman paying his salary. Tony Stark really is something else.

Pepper fixes Peter a look with the most exasperation he’s ever seen on an alpha. “No, he’s making you do his laundry. He’s making me give you the day off to do so.”

In all honesty, Peter doesn’t mind doing laundry. If Tony Stark wants him to spend the day sitting in the company car taking some suits to the dry cleaner’s and back, then he’ll be a good little employee and do what the company owner says.

Except, as it turns out, that’s not exactly what Tony wants him to do.

“Um,” Peter stares at the contents of the laundry basket Tony sets in front of him, slightly horrified. “Don’t you have… Who usually does this for you?”

“I have a housekeeper who comes in every few days. But he’s on maternity leave right now. And I don’t like the idea of strangers handling my things so…” Tony claps his hands once. “Chop chop. I need all of this done or else I’m going commando on live TV tomorrow.” He gives Peter a little smirk. “Not for the first time. But I don’t want that new anchor to get any ideas. I know what you young alphas are like.”

“I- what-”

“Anyway. Let me know when you’re done. I’ll be in the lab.” And before Peter could say anything else, Tony breezes out of the laundry room, leaving him with a hamper full of the man’s… delicates.

Peter stares at them like they’re a basket of snakes waiting to strike. They’re decidedly not like the plain, cotton-blend boxer briefs Peter owns that come in packets of five from Costco. These are a pile of silk and lace and satin and mesh, in a whole spectrum of colours and patterns, from bold reds and blacks to soft pinks and blues. All, no doubt, absurdly expensive. Peter can see intricate little flowers embroidered into some of the thin straps, and… are those rhinestones? Pearls?

Peter’s dick twitches in interest as his mind conjures up images of Tony Stark, sprawled out on his lush massive bed, wearing nothing but one of these panties. Such a gorgeous, unattainable omega that Peter has no business fantasizing about. But the idea of those delicate straps and lace wrapping that perfect ass… Thin, flimsy material barely covering that dripping pussy…

Peter reaches in and picks up a pretty little thong with cut-outs on the front, barely any fabric on the gusset. But oh god, the scent that hits his nose as soon as he lifted it from the hamper. It’s that same vanilla-iris he knows as fundamentally Tony, but inexplicably sweeter, thicker, deliciously caramel-like, and almost boozy with how light-headed it makes Peter feel.

Without thinking, Peter lifts it to his face-

“The detergent is under the sink,” J.A.R.V.I.S.’s disembodied voice suddenly says, making Peter jump guiltily. “Use the mild, unscented one. The white bottle with the blue cap.”

“Uh, right. Thanks.” Peter shakes his head, hoping to god that the A.I. isn’t so advanced that he could read minds.

Peter tries to cleanse his thoughts as he hand-washes Tony’s intoxicating scent out of those dirty panties. His head clears with every rinse of clean, cold water through the delicate fabric. But as he lays them all out neatly on a drying rack, he gets real familiar with the skimpy styles of each elaborate piece, and Peter’s traitorous brain insists on showing him what Tony would look like wearing each of them.

It’s not always swim trunks and lingerie.

Tony started summoning Peter to help him with random, innocuous things around the lab. One time, he wanted Peter there to be a ‘fresh nose’ to detect any possible gas leak from whatever mechanical contraption he was messing around with because he was beginning to get ‘olfactory fatigue’.

Another time he wanted Peter to lug a bunch of crates from the driveway down to the lab. Peter had sweated all through his button-up from all the heavy lifting that day and he must have stunk so bad that Tony started giving him weird looks, though the man graciously didn’t comment on it.

But sometimes Tony just wanted Peter to come to the lab and talk, brainstorm, spitball ideas. Peter knows a fair bit about science and engineering. He has to, as an employee of Stark Industries, but he’s mostly worked on the business side of things with Pepper. He feels woefully inadequate as a mind-sparring partner to the incredible genius that is Tony Stark. He doesn’t know exactly what he offers to the table but Tony insists that Peter’s unsullied perspective is exactly what he needs.

Peter loves those kinds of visits best, when he can just be there and soak in Tony Stark’s brilliance, surrounded by the sharp tang of metal and motor oil softened up by the gentle powdery warmth of Tony’s own scent. It’s easy to talk with Tony, whether it’s about mundane, everyday things or about the technical matter of engineering. Tony is astute and funny and surprisingly sweet demonstrated by the fond exasperation he uses to address his robotic creations.

Peter deeply enjoys spending time with Tony, and he thinks the other man does too. Tony’s requests for Peter’s presence and assistance become enough of a habit that even Pepper stops fighting it, for the sake of her mental wellbeing. She’s worked with Tony long enough to know to choose her battles, and Peter isn’t exactly complaining.

The first time Peter meets Tony outside of his house is during a Stark Industries-sponsored charity event at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons hotel. It’s a Friday night, and instead of going out for drinks with the guys from finance, both Peter and Miles are working overtime, helping Pepper micromanage every aspect of the event.

Peter spots Tony on the other side of the hall, easily the best-dressed one in there with his tailored all-black suit and tinted glasses. He’s speaking with a tall, blond man, clean-shaven, handsome in an all-American way, and built like he should be on the cover of one of those alpha fitness magazines. Their conversation appears intimate, unlike the throwaway charm and banter Tony presents to the other guests. The blond alpha crowds into Tony’s space while the omega looks up at him through his lashes, speaking quietly.

They look good together, Peter thinks with a sinking heart. A physical specimen of an alpha for the world’s most eligible omega.

But then Peter sees the alpha try to take hold of Tony’s elbow but Tony jerks his arm away, saying something sharply to the other man before storming off towards the terrace.

Peter’s hackles rise. Who is this alpha? He tenses, ready to intervene if the alpha looks to pursue Tony further with unwanted attention. Fortunately, the man just finishes his drink and makes his way to the exit, in the opposite direction.

Peter weaves through the crowd and makes his way towards where he saw Tony headed. The terrace is quieter than the main hall, and Tony is standing by the balustrade, glasses tucked in his pocket, the summer breeze ruffling his dark hair and carrying with it the faint scent of vanilla pods and iris blossoms.

“Hey, you alright?” Peter asks on approach.

Tony turns to look at him. “Always. Why do you ask?”

“I just… saw you with that guy earlier.”

“Oh. Steve.”

“Is he your, um, boyfriend?”

“No,” Tony says with a slight scoff. “Well…” he rethinks it for a few seconds before he decides, “no, we’re just friends. With benefits,” he adds. “Except now that the benefits are cooling off, it turns out we’re not really great at being friends, so… I guess we’re just- or at least I’m just- an annoyance.”

“Well he’s an idiot,” Peter says matter-of-factly.

Tony quirks a smile at him. “‘Why, no, Tony, don’t say that! You’re not an annoyance at all!’,” he retorts in good nature.

Peter returns his smile. “You are an annoyance. But I like that about you.”

Tony looks away. While it’s hard to tell his expression in the low light, Peter is so attuned to the omega’s scent by now that he picks up a slight change in it, warmer, stickier, spicier than usual.

Peter breathes in deep. “Tony, are you…”

“My heat is due this weekend.”

“Should you be out here like this?” Peter asks, concerned.

“Now you just sound like Steve,” Tony says wryly.

“I didn’t mean it that way.” Peter frowns. “Is that why… is that what the fight was about earlier?”

Tony shrugs. “Just didn’t feel like spending it with him this time. Or the time before this one. He’s taking it a lot better this time around, though.” He chuckles at the sight of Peter’s face and he reaches out to smooth the frown lines on Peter’s forehead with his thumb. “Don’t hurt your little head over it, alpha,” he says, the title making Peter preen a little. “It’s no big deal.”

“It should be,” Peter insists. “Heats belong to no one but the omega. No one should feel entitled to it.”

Tony’s hand moves down to cup Peter’s face, gaze dropping to his lips.

Peter’s heart thuds as time seems to stand still, then speed up all at once when they both close the distance between them to kiss. It’s soft and sweet, as first kisses tend to be, but the want inside them quickly rises, rushing heat through their veins. It lights a fire in their kiss as their hands move to grasp each other, touching like they’ve always wanted.

Tony makes a soft noise when Peter flicks his tongue against the seam of his lips and Peter already wants more of that sound. It’s heady, surrounded by the omega’s enticing scent and taste. Peter can hardly believe that he’s kissing the Tony Stark.

An insistent buzzing in Peter’s pocket interrupts them.

“Either you’re very excited about this, or someone’s calling you,” Tony murmurs against his lips.

“I’ll take it later,” Peter says, pulling Tony in closer, hungry for his taste.

“It could be Pepper. And if it is, then we’re both in trouble.”

Peter groans and pulls away. He answers the phone and Miles’s voice comes through, tinny and frantic, something about Pepper looking for him. It’s hard to concentrate with Tony’s face nuzzled against his neck, scenting deep. Peter hastily assures Miles that he’ll be right there and hangs up.

“If she fires you, then you’d be free to play with me all the time,” Tony jokes, kissing his neck.

“Don’t tempt me,” Peter sighs, closing his eyes, enjoying the feel of Tony’s lips on his skin. “I should go.”

“I know.” Tony’s mouth makes a kiss trail up Peter’s jaw to the corner of his lips. “God, you’re driving me nuts already. Peter… if you want, feel free to come to the house tomorrow.”

Peter’s eyes fly open. “Tomorrow? But that’s your-”

“Uh-huh.”

“Your heat. You want me to-”

Tony pulls away, raising an eyebrow. “Look at me, last chance, yes or no?”

“Yes,” Peter says quickly, grinning. They kiss again, giddy, unable to keep their hands off each other. They kiss and kiss until Peter’s phone goes off again. “Fuck! Okay, I really gotta go.”

“Hmm,” Tony agrees, placing one final kiss on Peter’s cheek before letting him go.

Walking away from Tony is the hardest thing Peter’s had to do, especially with the other man looking slightly dishevelled, smelling so sweetly like an omega in heat already.

Peter hesitates. “Tony, I don’t want to be presumptuous with you, but… I really think you should… I mean, it would make me feel better if-”

“Don’t worry, I’m going straight home.” Tony smirks and glances down at himself. “Gotta take care of this little problem you gave me somewhere a little more private.”

Peter rushes back into the main hall and wonders if Pepper and Miles can see the blush in his face or smell the vanilla and iris on his skin.

The next morning, Peter takes an uber to Point Dume and J.A.R.V.I.S. lets him in the house.

It feels dangerously intimate. Peter’s exhausted, having just worked late into the night with his hardass boss, and now, stepping into the now familiar house that smells so much like the omega he lo- likes very much… it almost feels like coming home.

“Mr. Stark is still asleep in his room,” J.A.R.V.I.S. informs him. “I’ve been instructed to tell you to head right upstairs. But may I suggest encouraging him take some electrolyte drinks? I do believe he’d be more receptive to your persuasion rather than mine.”

Peter chuckles. “Will do, Jarv. Got some right here.” He pats the tote bag he brought with him stuffed full of home-made sandwiches, heat snacks, and bottles of electrolyte water.

Peter takes the stairs two steps at a time, feeling invigorated as Tony’s scent grows stronger the closer he gets. He slips quietly into the bedroom, still dark with the curtains drawn against the morning sun, and practically sighs in contentment, enveloped by the sweet cloud of Tony’s pheromones.

The omega is a rumpled bundle under the fluffy blankets, rising and falling with every slow breath. Peter strips down to his shirt and boxers, sits on the edge of the bed, and pulls the blanket back slowly, revealing Tony fast asleep underneath. Peter runs his fingers gently through the omega’s dark hair, marvelling in its softness.

Tony snuffles closer at the touch, forehead creasing, nose twitching. “Alpha?” he murmurs, eyes blinking open slowly.

“I’m here, omega,” Peter says, chest feeling like it’s about to burst at being able to call Tony that.

Tony smiles at the endearment, rolling over to throw an arm over Peter’s waist, pressing his nose against his skin. The blankets fall away and reveal that Tony’s been sleeping completely nude.

Peter runs a hand down Tony’s bare back. “Do you want some water? You’re starting to burn up. You should hydrate.”

Tony moves his hand from Peter’s hips to fondle at his cock through his boxers. “All I want now is you between my legs.”

Peter lets out a soft grunt at the stimulation but he holds firm. “Water first, omega, then you can have my cock.”

Dark brown eyes blink up at Peter through thick lashes, a touch of wilfulness in them. But Peter just gives a small smile and Tony sits up to receive the offered drink. Tony scoops up the straw with his tongue in a way that is not at all meant to be enticing, keeping eye contact with Peter as he sucks and swallows the fluids.

“Mmm,” Tony licks his lips when he’s done, like it’s the sweetest nectar and not some plain water with bland hints of lemon.

“Alright,” Peter mutters, snatching the bottle and setting it haphazardly on the bedside table before lunging to capture those infuriating lips in a hungry kiss. He can feel Tony grin against him and he lets himself be tugged on the bed on top of the omega.

Tony’s thighs fall open and Peter settles between them. The sheets, the pillows, the blankets, they all smell so much like Tony. It’s like sinking into a cloud of the most mouth-watering vanilla-caramel and earthy, woody spices.

“Oh, fuck,” Peter sighs, feeling dizzy with want. He buries his nose in the crook of Tony’s neck, inhaling deep, scenting, kissing him.

Insistent hands tug at Peter’s shirt and boxers. “Off, off. Get this off,” Tony orders.

“Impatient,” Peter teases, as though he’s not dying to sink into the sweet warmth of the omega’s body. He leans up and strips the rest of the way, revelling in the way Tony runs his hands appreciatively up and down his chest and stomach, eyes darkening even further with lust.

Tony curls a hand around Peter’s cock that’s been hard and aching since Tony’s scent entered his bloodstream. “I need this in me now,” Tony breathes, stroking Peter, who bucks at his touch.

Peter covers Tony’s body with his, kissing him. Their bare chests press against each other in a delicious glide, the touch of skin on skin like liquid fire. Peter grips Tony’s thigh, hitching it up, angling his pelvis so that their hips grind against each other, his hard cock meeting Tony’s pussy lips.

“You’re so wet,” Peter murmurs in wonder. His shaft drags up and down the seam of Tony’s pussy, spreading slick everywhere.

“Touched myself all night, thinking of you,” Tony moans, hips twitching every time Peter’s cockhead rubs against his aching clit. “Couldn’t wait for you to take me.”

Peter groans, unable to wait anymore. His hand presses the top of his dick, angling it towards the entrance of the pussy that’s dripping for him, slipping inside in a nice, easy stretch.

“Ohh, god,” Tony gives a shuddery gasp, fingernails digging into the meat of Peter’s shoulders.

“You alright?” Peter pants, pleasure-drunk at the snug, warm grip of the omega’s body.

“Yeah… yeah, you feel perfect, ohh-” Tony’s back arches when Peter’s fingers plays with his slippery clit while rolling his hips, stroking his cock against Tony’s sensitive insides.

Peter feels Tony get even wetter, walls rippling around his cock, the omega’s first orgasm of the day. “Beautiful,” Peter marvels. “Feeling good?” He kisses Tony through it, never stopping the movements of his hips, giving the omega a nice pressure to convulse on.

Tony hums in affirmative, eyes closed in bliss. “Want more. Want your knot.”

Peter slips out until only the tip remains inside, the slams back in, punching a deep groan out of the omega. He sets up a thrusting pace, losing himself to the luscious friction of Tony’s wet, tight pussy. He kisses and touches Tony all over as he fucks him, drunk on his taste, his scent. It’s not long before he feels the orgasm forming low in his stomach. He angles his pelvis, hitting a spot that makes Tony gasp and moan.

“Come for me again and I’ll give you my knot, omega,” Peter promises.

“Fuck me there harder and I will,” Tony pants, hands low on Peter’s ass to encourage his thrusts.

Peter picks up the pace, pounding away, giving the omega what he wants. He kisses and swallows Tony’s breathy moans, each thrust hitting exactly where he’s sensitive and achy. Tony’s back bows up as he climaxes hard. The clench around Peter’s cock is so good that he knots on the next thrust, locking them together. Peter groans long and low as he cums, spilling over and over as Tony’s pussy massages him in the wake of his orgasm.

They take a little nap and Peter wakes up to find he’s slipped out of Tony’s pussy, but now he’s got the omega’s mouth around his cock, licking and sucking it into hardness. Before he knows it, Tony is straddling him, guiding his cock into the pussy that’s still slick with his spend.

Tony rides him in a languid pace, closing his eyes and throwing his head back, moaning so beautifully, bouncing and rolling his hips, using Peter’s alpha cock like dildo.

Peter runs his hands up and down Tony’s toned thighs, feeling the muscles work beneath his touch. He watches Tony ride him, mesmerized, The omega looks so stunning, naked, skin dewy with sweat, flushed slightly pink from his heat, lust writ all over his face. Peter can’t believe he gets to have this, to give pleasure to the most gorgeous omega in the world, to share such an intimate part of his life.

Peter feels his knot start to swell again. He grabs Tony’s hips, pulling him down with every upward thrust until his knot pops past the entrance and they’re tied together once more, Peter spilling another load into that spasming grip.

They fuck on and off all day as Tony’s heat grows more intense. Peter manages to get him to eat and makes sure he takes in the required amount of hydration. Tony seemed surprised that Peter brought provisions for him. It turns out Tony already has a mini-fridge full of everything he needs for his heat and Peter feels a little sheepish about his sad offerings compared to Tony’s supply of expensive protein bars, supplements, and fresh organic berries.

Tony insists on having Peter’s sandwiches though, kissing him on the cheek, commenting on what a good alpha he has. He’s probably just teasing but Peter still preens at being called a ‘good alpha’, especially when Tony finishes all the sandwiches with gusto and lets Peter hand-feed him some blueberries.

Tony starts writhing and begging for his alpha later that evening, and Peter lays him out, the omega’s back to his chest, and touches him all over. He surrounds Tony with his alpha scent, arms around him, one hand rubbing his clit while the other plays with his pussy. He fondles and fingers Tony into several shuddering orgasms that way as he whispers sweet nothings into his ear. And once Tony is nice and relaxed, Peter angles his cock and spears it inside, rocking slowly, knotting him through a leisurely, prolonged orgasm.

Peter’s cock hardly ever left Tony’s pussy all through the night, always hard and ready to use whenever Tony wakes in the middle of the night, wet and horny. Peter’s never had so much sex in such a short amount of time, but there’s something about Tony’s insatiable lust, the way his alluring vanilla-iris scent sinks into his veins. It lights almost like a rut in him, gives him the fire and energy to fulfil his omega’s needs.

The next day, when Peter is in the kitchen making breakfast, Tony finds the energy to join him downstairs, wearing the t-shirt Peter came in wearing the previous day and a pair of lacy panties. The shirt is a little tight on him, stretching obscenely across his chest, pink nipples clearly imprinted against the thin fabric, and the hems barely skim past his belly button.

Peter stares, forgetting the stack of pancakes he was arranging on two plates.

Tony saunters over with a casual “good morning, alpha”, then runs his index finger through the maple syrup on the pancakes, then licking the stickiness off, playful eyes on Peter the whole time.

Tony ends up bent and pounded over the kitchen counter. Peter, discovering the crotchless nature of the omega’s panties, keeps them on as he enters him in a smooth glide. Their moans and grunts and the sound of their skin slapping echo through the vast kitchen. At some point Peter hauls Tony up and carries him bodily to the living room sofa so he can knot him somewhere more comfortable.

They cool off with a naked dip in the pool later that afternoon, the place where they first met. They splash and laugh and wrestle each other in the water between kisses until Peter lifts Tony up by the hips to settle him on the edge of the pool. Then Peter buries his face between the omega’s thighs, licking and sucking the pool water off his pussy until all he can taste is that sweet slick. Tony arches his back and moans under the setting California sun, fingers digging into Peter’s wet hair before cumming all over the alpha’s face.

That night they lie in bed side by side facing each other, holding hands, talking about nothing and everything. They kiss, legs tangled, and explore each other’s bodies in reverent touches unhurried by the frantic urgencies of heat. Then as Peter fucks his tired omega to sleep, he thinks about what a lucky alpha he is.

Peter wakes up warm and comfortable and surrounded by what is now his favourite scent in the world, his omega satiated and asleep on his chest. He kisses the top of Tony’s head, buries his face in his hair, breathing in deep.

Tony gives a sleepy grunt, the arm draped around Peter’s stomach squeezing tighter.

It’s such a perfect way to start the morning that Peter almost forgets that the weekend is over and he needs to get back to the real world.

“Shit, it’s Monday,” Peter sighs, placing his forearm over his eyes.

“No, it’s not,” Tony mumbles, burying his nose in the crook of Peter’s neck. “It’s fuck-Tony-all-day day. I’m still in heat.”

“No you’re not. And besides, I don’t have any heat leave days. There’s gonna be an evaluation meeting about Friday’s charity event. Not to mention the appraisal on the drone project that’s been put off since-”

“Hmm, no,” Tony declares decisively. He leans up and reaches over Peter’s body to get to his phone on the nightstand, making a quick call. "Hey, Pep,” he greets once his CEO answers. “You got another boy-toy in there to boss around, right? I'm keeping this one for the rest of the week. Don't call him if you need me. And give the man some heat leave. What are you, a tyrant?” Tony hangs up before Pepper can say anything more, and he tosses the phone somewhere on the carpets. Peter gapes for a few moments, then laughs as his outlandish omega tugs him back in a claiming kiss.

@starkerfestivals

also big thanks to @khalixascorner for helping me with the smut part of this fic. i wouldn't have been able to finish this without you!

#starker #marsha writes #nff #omegaverse #starkerfestivalsevents #SFSummerBingo22 #this kinda got away from me #certainly wasn't expecting to churn out a full blown romcom #i hope you like it anyway

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hartmonfest · 2 years

Photo

[ID: Banner background has watercolors rainbow flag painted vertically blending into light purple at the bottom. Text in the center reads “Hartmonfest 2022 Masterlist”. Either side of the text is a circular picture for each character looking casual and happy with a bright contrasting background. Hartley Rathaway is on the left and Cisco Ramon on the right. /END ID]

Thanks to all who made fanworks for this event - it’s always nice to get a boost of Hartmon content with the event. If you haven’t already, please do show the creators some love if you’re able to.

Full list behind the read more (11 fanfics).

FANFIC: “Don't Drink and Breach” by @the-devil-in-the-details-666 - tumblr | AO3

Cisco will admit that breaching himself and Hartley home after half a bottle of tequila was probably a bad idea.

FANFIC: “Endings and New Beginnings” by @the-devil-in-the-details-666 - tumblr | AO3

In which Hartley realizes that he still has a family.

FANFIC: “Hero of the Hour” by @kitkatt0430 - tumblr | AO3

When Barry gets a bomb slapped on him by the Trickster, it's left up to Hartley to save the day while Barry re-enacts the movie Speed. And Hartley does a great job. A better than great job, considering he managed to get Trickster Jr. to flip sides. But he also gets hurt. Just a little, but that doesn't make Cisco feel better at the sight of his arm in a sling. It turns out that Stardust had a point about the love and hate being difficult to differentiate sometimes.

FANFIC: “Sick and Tired” by @the-devil-in-the-details-666 - tumblr | AO3

Cisco is sick.

FANFIC: “The Whole Package” by @kitkatt0430 - tumblr | AO3

Cisco hasn't had a vacation since before the accelerator exploded. Which Hartley has decided is a problem needing remedying. He needs to be shirtless on a beach with a fruity drink stat, and not just because Hartley wants an excuse to ogle his boyfriend in swim trunks. But first they have to actually get there.

FANFIC: “Time Out” by @the-devil-in-the-details-666 - tumblr | AO3

Cisco is out of time.

FANFIC: “Handsome Warrior” by @kitkatt0430 - tumblr | AO3

Cisco discovers that Hartley knows a few more languages than advertised. Including Klingon. ("It's supposed to mean 'we should feast' right? I didn't just butcher the pronunciation, did I?" Hartley shook his head and then, slowly and unsure, he said, "did you just call me handsome?")

FANFIC: “Word Nerds” by @the-devil-in-the-details-666 - tumblr | AO3

At least Cisco knows for sure that his soulmate likes Star Trek.

FANFIC: “the face that stares back when the screen goes to black” by @joanthangroff - tumblr | AO3

Hartley’s eyes, which had just been fixed on the paper, snap up immediately. His mouth opens in surprise. “You translated this?”

“Well…” Cisco scratches the back of his neck with the screwdriver in his hand. “The computer did, anyway. I just wrote a code.”

Hartley clenches his jaw in return, before admitting, “Impressive.”

Turns out that Hartley is familiar with Time Language.

FANFIC: “Swish” by @kitkatt0430 - tumblr | AO3

Skirts that swish, Cisco decided, really were the best.

FANFIC: “Screw You” by @the-devil-in-the-details-666 - tumblr | AO3

Hartley keeps screwing with Cisco's workbench.

#hartmonfest2022 #hartmonfest #hartmon #cisco ramon x hartley rathaway #hartley x cisco #hartley rathaway x cisco ramon #cisco x hartley #cisco ramon #the flash #Hartley Rathaway #modpost #masterlist

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writermuses · 1 year

Text

Giftmas Request from @marimelwrites

Explanations under the ✂️

Tadgh x Maddie - He built Maddie a whole elven themed gazebo in the treeline of the field he's let be an overgrown meadow, the one he likes to ride out to and read. Now they have a little haven when they read out there. He's planning a comfy circular bed for the middle of it for comfort and totally not hankypanky reasons.

Solena x Ilya - As mentioned, they're finally taking that holiday trip to Veneto. All romantic dinners, good wine, driving fast on country roads, etc. He deserves the break and she wants to show him her favorite things.

Luca x Maddie - He got her a bunch of little treats, made her a nice dinner, wrote her a pretty song... but he also got a little elephant playing a piano tattoo that I kinda love the idea of her finding it on him on her own.

Jack x Caria - Girly boxing gear. He wants her to punch the next guy disrupting her workout in the junk, practice makes perfect. Also, he selfishly wants her in his gym more. What a conundrum.

Will x Emine - It's their second Christmas together and he's taking the women in his life to Disney next summer break.

Nathaniel x Diana - As mentioned, he's stealing her away for a belated Christmas celly at his Boston cottage. He's gotten her a bunch of books and they'll get cozy time to be stargazing precious romantics. He'll cook her dinners while she reads to him and Cosmo in her cute accent. He also made her a little pawprint ornament "from Cosmo"

Octavius x Cassandra - Not really a Christmas gift, but he did send her the files on the guy he killed that was stalking her and files on the guys he was working for. Nothing but a post it on them that said 'Stay Safe'

Resna x Jameson - She sent everyone a bottle of wine from her vineyard with local cheese and bread. His just happened to have a note that said 'Hope to see you soon'

Yana x Eren - It's tradition now, snackies and Christmas movies. No gifts, just cuddles. This year she did have matching jammies for them.

Matthias x the Cartwrights - He got them all new boards, Diana's is the only one he had a custom paint job on though because #favorite

Caleb x the Cartwrights - He gave everyone a Cartwright 2022 ornament. This year they're all gold.

Aubrianna x the Cartwrights - Little Brianna made everyone ornaments and Aless and Matt tried to help her with the painting bit but... they're pretty ugly. 🤣

#marimelwrites #holidays 2022

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justplainwhump · 2 years

Text

Ich habe 605 Mal im Jahr 2022 etwas gepostet

Das sind 152 more posts als 2021!

220 Einträge erstellt (36%)

385 Einträge gerebloggt (64%)

Blogs, die ich am häufigsten gerebloggt habe:

@justplainwhump

@angst-after-dark

@ocean-blue-whump

@hackles-up

@ashintheairlikesnow

Ich habe 479 meiner Einträge im Jahr 2022 getaggt

Nur 21% meiner Einträge hatten keine Tags

#bbu – 130 Einträge

#self reblog – 84 Einträge

#pet whump – 52 Einträge

#lady whump – 50 Einträge

#ira white – 50 Einträge

#dany – 37 Einträge

#whump – 35 Einträge

#mark and gemma – 33 Einträge

#timezone reblog – 26 Einträge

#gemma sinclair – 24 Einträge

Longest Tag: 63 characters

#also the many many glimpses at how layered this entire world is

Meine Top-Einträge im Jahr 2022:

Dressing Room

For the anon who asked for the prompt “poke and prod at my muse’s injuries”, and dedicated to @whumpymirages , you know why.

Referenced Ridley, Leo and B are @hackles-up s characters. Felicity works for Ridley, and it shows.

Dany isn’t in a good place.

[Dany Masterpost]

Content - lady whump (female whumper and female whumpee), noncon stripping, noncon touching (not sexual, but uhh.. getting there), bruises, references to noncon (male whumper), slut shaming and humiliating language, overall pretty heavy humiliation, mention of a shock collar, references to noncon marriage. This is somewhat darker than the warnings may make it seem. Let me know if I should add something.

"Spin", Felicity commands, her finger drawing a lazy circle in the air. There's a glass of champagne dangling from her other hand, that she takes small sips of sometimes, when she's not busy smacking her lips or talking shit. Which means, she doesn't drink too much. She is, however, certainly enjoying herself. I'm standing on a little, circular platform in the middle of a huge dressing room. There's nothing but shades of white around me, or, more correctly - diamond white, ivory, champagne, eggshell, pearl and blush, as I couldn't help but overhear, when Felicity was talking about me to the dressmakers. Diamond white makes her look sickish, it's gross. Oh, I wouldn't go with champagne, it's so conventional, we need her look to be special.

"Danielle." I hate the condescending tone my name has in her voice. "Spin, bitch. I'm doing my fucking job here, and I won't have your bitching around ruin this wedding. It's going to be perfect."

I can't help but think about wrestling that glass from her hand, smashing it on the ground and burying the remains into her neck. She'd bleed, quickly and violently, red pooling on the light wood, perfectly contrasting the eggshell. I'm pretty sure of it.

With a sigh, Felicity puts the glass aside and reaches into her purse for the little, plastic controller. It looks hilarious in her perfectly manicured hand, next to dangling golden bracelets and expensive rings. A token of brutality, framed in elegance. "You really leave me no cho-"

"No" The tailor all but falls into her arm. "Noo! No, miss, don't shock her, please! This dress is Vera Wang, she'll tear it if she spasms, don't!"

I chuckle dryly. Yeah. Don't endanger the goods. The dress is worth more than me, after all.

Felicity exhales sharply through her nose, clearly annoyed by a little employee trying to tell her off. "Fine", she hisses. "You know what else is on the table, Danielle. I'm pretty sure Mr Lordin laid out in detail how he is going to discipline you, if you go on sabotaging this project. Discipline you, or this horrible, gross guard dog of his."

I blanche, probably matching the color of this fucking dress even better now. She's right. Ridley did go into detail. I can't. I can't risk B's life just to keep up some stubborn pride in front of a ridiculous marketing assistant like Felicity. With my jaw clenched, I spin.

"Stop", she calls. I obey, and I hear her step onto the platform behind me. She's clicking her tongue dismissively. Without further warning, her hand is on my shoulder, fingers digging into a fresh bruise. Pain bursts through me, fresh and reignited by her fingernails, dull and memorized in the shape of Leo's fine leather shoe.

"Please," I breathe. "Please, don't."

My knees give in under her relentless grip, and the only thing hindering my fall is the tailor steadying my side while gathering the dress. "The seams", he whines. "Careful!"

"This looks horrible", she says, fastening her grip. I can't help but wince again. She doesn't care. "It's fucking black. The wedding is in mere weeks. How can you still gather such ugly bruises, you should know better, really. Especially with that pale skin color."

I can't reply, can barely breathe. Tears are welling up in my eyes.

With a final sigh, she lets go. "Take it off," she tells the tailor. "Too much back. Even if that ugly thing heals in time, can't have these other scars show either." I hold back a shivering breath, when she runs her fingers over the ends of the whip marks between my shoulder blades.

"There isn't much opportunities with a high back," the tailor hurries to say. "Out of style, but... Let me see what I can do." A second set of fingers dances over my back, as he undoes the buttons and slides down the dress, carefully aiding me to step out of it and then vanishing towards his storage.

They don't care I'm shivering in my underwear. I'm a thing, meant for a rich man's pleasure. Nothing-

Felicity's fingers are unclasping the strapless bra and I freeze. "Let's have a look at the whole package then, shall we? I gotta know what I'm working with." Her breath on the back of my neck suddenly feels hot. Menacing. I barely hear the soft lace hit the ground, when she drops the bra to the ground. "Spin," she says again. Calmly, this time.

I obey.

She didn't even step back. She's right in front of me, a lot shorter than me, but she isn't looking at my face anyway. She's looking at my body, at my breasts, my belly, my thighs, and there's a contempt smirk on her face. "What a whore," she mumbles. "And I used to be jealous of you. You really are nothing but a dumb little slut, aren't you?"

She rests her index finger against the shock collar, the other hand idly playing with the remote. I won't give her the pleasure of using it, I swear to myself. This isn't a fight I need to win. She's nothing. She doesn't matter.

With a soft hum, she runs her finger down, following a line of dark purple hickeys, on top of a green and blue one. "Disgusting," she says conversationally. "For someone with such a foul mouth, you sure play submissive when he fucks you, don't you?"

I shiver, when her finger prods at my breasts, follow the long finger-shaped bruises. "But that's all you're good for. I can accept that, you know. I run his business. You? You're not his fiancee. You're his fucktoy." Her eyes narrow, my only warning before she pinches and twists my nipple and doesn't let go.

Pain floods me, fueled by humiliation. I cry out, try to back away. "Gosh. Your tits are a fucking mess. He bites you, doesn't he? Yeah, I wouldn't be into that."

My knees threaten to fail. Weakly I put my hand on her arm. "Pl-" No. My head is foggy with pain. I don't want to beg. Not her.

Vollständigen Eintrag ansehen

55 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 19. Januar 2022

(A BBU Concept)

Radical pet lib cells, determined to show the cruelty of WRU by doing everything that happens to trainees to pet owners, documenting and filming it.

A proof, that everyone breaks under such methods, even those convinced they're so much better than pets.

Oddly enough, some people think this casts a horrible light on pet lib - but some others are convinced it's a necessary price to pay to really unveil the horrors of the pet business...

(Thanks to @whumpymirages @gottawhump @painful-pooch @whumper-in-training for making this a whole thing in my head)

66 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 23. Februar 2022

Assignment

WRU Senior Handler Alan Nguyen tests the boundaries of his his new trainee.

References some of @ashintheairlikesnow s characters in the first part, and is heavily inspired by her facility whump.

[Angel's story]

Contents: BBU, noncon fingering, implied and frankly discussed noncon, romantic pet, institutionalized whump, shock collar, whumper pov.

Alan Nguyen skimmed through 002238's intake paperwork on his tablet. The file was larger than the average, classic indications for the cases of assisted walk ins. Lot more vetting necessary with these involuntary acquisitions. But also, lot more money to be made.

He raised a brow at Alex Nadler from Client Relations. "I see how she's a high security case, but I don't see how I come in. All romantic positions, no pain training, no specialty training, can't get more vanilla than that. Inability to say no, or 'quantum' - now that's a weird one, but still, give them a shock collar and even our interns could get this stuff out of her. Genital piercing. Well, Alex, I won't do that myself either. None of this matches my pay grade."

Alex cleared their throat, obviously uncomfortable. Good. Alan liked making people uncomfortable. He folded his arms and waited patiently.

"The client said he wanted only our best romantic handler on this case. According to client satisfaction, that's you, Mr Nguyen."

"That's me, but I don't do one-on-one training any longer. I oversee. I don't get in close."

Alex exhaled slowly, before they replied. "The Director says you do."

"The Director has another special friend who can do this instead of his actual job."

"You know as well as anyone that he only takes males. You're the best call for this one."

"Fine," Alan snapped and picked up the tablet. "I'm better than him anyway."

Alex granted him a thin smile and Alan replied in turn, before he added. "I want a junior handler in on this."

"There is one. Tyler Parker. He's gone over some of the basics with her already, while you were out on vacation." There was a small rebuke hidden in the emphasis on the last word that Alan chose to ignore. He was under no obligation to answer his phone on his holidays, not with how hard it was to find a timeslot just for him and his husband in Jeff's busy university schedule.

"Good. I want to meet him, before I see the pet."

Handler Parker was pretty much exactly as boyish as Alan had expected from someone called Tyler. Tall, broad shoulders, shaggy haircut and a stubble that definitely wouldn't have been allowed for a handler, when Alan had been his age 20 years ago.

"Handler Nguyen, Sir." Parker's back had straightened when Alan entered the observation room. Good start, at least, Alan supposed. "It's an honor, being assigned to you."

Alan nodded. "Thanks." He dropped the tablet on the desk and opened the training report. "She your first trainee?"

"Third. But first one in high security."

Alan tilted his head in acknowledgement. "You'll find out, it's the same work here, just more of it because there's less staff to help out." He pressed a button to fill the screen with the video image of the trainee in the neighboring training room. She was sitting still on her knees, hands open, oversized white tee loose around her body. Long blond hair fell around her shoulders, slightly unkempt. Her neck was a little reddened around the shock collar, yet apart from that she seemed physically unharmed, even fit.

Her brown eyes were boring into the camera, staring directly at them, from an otherwise calm face. Alan smirked. Probably alerted by the little red light turning on. He didn't particularly like the trainees to know when they were being watched. They should know they always were. But he did like what he saw in her gaze nonetheless. Determination, shrouded in obedience. When directed properly, that determination would be her undoing.

"What did you do with her so far?"

Parker's gaze flicked to the records in front of Alan and then back to his face. Alan smirked, but stayed silent.

"Um. According to the handbook, Sir. Stages 1.1 to 1.4. We went through the positions, all of them. And I... I went through some of the other basics, too. She... She took to it very eagerly. Quick to adapt."

"I take it by that you mean, you've fucked her?"

Parker nodded nervously, and Alan hid a smirk. That kid better dropped the shame about his job, or even his mind wiped trainees would be able to outsmart him.

"File says she's been sleeping around before. Any information on preferences?"

Vollständigen Eintrag ansehen

66 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 28. Juli 2022

Searching for recommendations! ("Mundane BBU")

Hi everyone! These days, I'm very much into BBU stories that focus on the mundane sides of the universe (handlers "just doing their job", owners who aren't rich sadists but still maybe horrible, people who stumble upon pets and don't know what to do, the whole array of little things that spread around the WRU ecosystem in a world that is still so similar to ours).

Please reblog or comment, if possible with direct links to masterposts or your favourite piece of writing, so this post can double as a little collection! Your own writing, but also, I'm especially happy to see you gush about others!

Nsfw is fine for me, maybe add a note for it to warn others interacting with this!

I'm excited!

77 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 2. Mai 2022

Meine #1 des Jahres 2022

Match

Handler Tyler Parker learns that he can't just leave his job behind.

A part of Angel's story.

Cw for BBU, referenced institutionalised whump, whumper (who doesn't get it) pov, very shortly and clinically referenced noncon (BBU romantic training), some oversimplified views on relationships. Guilt and shame.

Tyler's colleagues at WRU hung out together after work, too. The week before the game, he overheard them make plans for barbecue, who'd buy beer, who could make it from work and who had special assignments that kept them busy at the facility. He'd even been invited himself twice, first by Carly who mostly trained romantics for female prospectives and shared Tyler's taste in folk punk, and later by his superior handler Alan Nguyen. He'd declined both.

Tyler prided himself in having his own friends, not having been fully absorbed by the company that paid his bills. He was going to be at a sports bar with a bunch of old friends from college. He was looking forward to it, sharing old stories from a life before WRU, maybe even becoming a bit more grounded again.

At lunch, when he'd told her about his plans, Carly had looked at him with a hint of pity. Her friends dropped out when they'd found out she wasn't actually an accountant. Tyler doubted his would. Some of them had ended up in law enforcement, others in private security, he wasn't the only one with a somewhat suspicious employer. He'd told them, that he worked security in a high profile research lab. Nobody had ever asked.

He'd be fine, he told himself. His friends weren't like Carly's and he wasn't like her either.

"Oh, but you are," she'd said and patted his shoulder. "You're at facility 002. Involuntary acquisitions. Trust me. We're all sickos."

He wasn't. Tyler Parker wasn't a sicko. He was a great midfield soccer player, he still was a singer in his old band, he even took psychology classes besides his work. His job was his job, but he didn't take it home with him.

"Buddy, you really need to get laid," Mal said and leaned in over the sticky table to grab another chicken wing. "You're all work and no play. I mean, yeah you do your workout and show up for soccer, but when's the last time you've had some pussy?"

5.29 pm. PIV. Position 35. Trainee restrained to table. Very receptive. Denied orgasm.

"Well what about you?" Tyler shot back, taking a swig of his beer to drown the memory. "Last time I checked it was just you and your right hand."

The others snickered.

"Well, you haven't checked in a while. Going steady with Emma now. Met her on that dating app. You ever tried that?"

"Dating apps, I don't know..."

"Drop the act! You do have one," Tara chimes in. "We made you a profile, remember? Did you ever check it?"

"I do," Tyler admitted and pulled out his phone. He'd swiped through that app at work, sometimes, even had some nice chats that went into nowhere. He hadn't used it however since he worked high security, where they had to check in their private phones for their shifts. Better that way, the potential of any footage -

Work. Why did he think about work again? His friends were right, probably. He should find himself some distraction. Wouldn't hurt trying. With some taps, he opened the app and pulled up his eyebrows dramatically. "Let's take a look at the market then."

With an excited squeal, Tara squeezed in between Dave and Tyler on their side on the booth. "Show me!"

She took over his phone and he let her, all four of them looking at the small screen, and Tara swiping. Tyler felt himself relax, shoulder to shoulder with his best friends, a cool beer in front of him, the game commentary from the TV screens a soft background noise.

"Undercut?" Tara mumbled. "Nah, that's my taste, not yours, off you go. Too thin. Nope. Too pretentious. Bye. Hmm, this one?"

A short girl with an even shorter dress on a boat, intense blue eyes, blond locks flying in the wind.

All Tyler could see where blond locks fall over a white tee in a white room, his hand curled up in that hair and -

"No," he said decidedly. "Not uh. Not blonde."

"Really? Thought you liked them." With a shrug Tara swiped left. "I mean, your call, it's your sex life we're going to fix here."

She went on. No freckles, Tyler added, thinking of the freckles littering 238's smooth skin.

To their collective surprises, two or three girls turned out a match, and with Tara's aid, Tyler did send them some sincere-yet-flirty messages.

He had just stepped to the bar to order another round, when he heard Dave whistle. "Gosh, this one must be the woman of his nightmares, then."

Vollständigen Eintrag ansehen

83 Anmerkungen – Gepostet 24. Juli 2022

Hol dir deinen Tumblr-Jahresrückblick 2022 →

#tumblr2022 #Jahresrückblick #Mein Tumblr-Jahresrückblick 2022 #Dein Tumblr-Jahresrückblick #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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furious-rogue-stuff · 2 years

Text

I posted 1,018 times in 2022

That's 516 more posts than 2021!

185 posts created (18%)

833 posts reblogged (82%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@furious-rogue-stuff

@just-here-for-the-moment

@hnt-escape

@dolly-on-the-dotted-line

@mandosmistress

I tagged 937 of my posts in 2022

Only 8% of my posts had no tags

#pedro pascal - 473 posts

#pedro pascal characters - 403 posts

#javi peña - 316 posts

#javier peña - 312 posts

#heat - narcos fanfic - 276 posts

#narcos - 255 posts

#javi x querida - 225 posts

#javi pena - 126 posts

#thank you kindly for the reblog! - 124 posts

#shameless reblog - 91 posts

Longest Tag: 94 characters

#manly men who are comfortable with their sexuality and experiment with guys is my kink i guess

My Top Posts in 2022:

Current mood:

175 notes - Posted April 3, 2022

PEDRO PASCAL is how I get high. Don’t fuck up my high, world!

But seriously, I’m not the only one, right?!

183 notes - Posted October 6, 2022

♛😔💤 lets spice it up a bit from my usual love for Javi and Javi only 🧐

Well, dear anon, I have finally gotten around to this intriguing gem of a prompt from my previous 300 drabble prompt challenge - just in time for hitting 400 followers 😅 Anyway~

Special thanks to @just-here-for-the-moment for reading through this and assuring me it wasn't ridiculous drivel! Your encouragement is my ambrosia, my friend.

Pairing: Din Djarin/F!Reader | Mando x Stunner

Rating: Mature/Explicit 🔞

🚨Author chooses not to include warnings

Character Count: 11,000+

Reality

You knew something had stuck with him post-job. Which was odd, since it wasn’t the usual fiasco you’d become accustomed to when it came to this bounty-hunting-by-proxy gig you’d fallen into with him.

No, this job had gone pretty smooth, and you’d even managed to net a decent bounty. So much so that you now had plenty of supplies and plenty of credits for the reserves to take a spell between accepting the next job. You were savvy with stretching out the coffers, and had gotten a great deal for supplies in the market. But while you should feel pleased, you can’t help be curious as you stare musingly out at the hyperlane you’d just made the jump to meld beyond the transparisteel before you.

Whatever it had been, it’d hit him hard. Leaving him withdrawn and taciturn.

Okay – you couldn’t know for sure because you’d never seen his face, so you were strictly going by the other tells: his posture, the way his pauldron-clad shoulders had slumped minutely, and how even more reticent he’d become.

But even though you’d only spent a short time with Mando, you had a heightened sense about these things. Still, you hadn’t pried, and returned to your ship with the supplies, and him in tow. A while later, though, you’d come down from the cockpit expecting to find him on that damnable crate he seemed to favor sitting on to polish his weapons and clean his blaster. Instead, his back was to you, and you could make out that he was staring down at something. So, you shifted enough around to feign like you were heading for the kitchenette to pour yourself a fresh cup of caf when really you were glancing at him from the corner of your eye.

The shiny circular piece of metal looked like the top of a control’s joystick. He was rolling it pensively, strong digits tracing it around while perpetually encased in his well-worn orange-fingered gloves before he dropped it into the black-leather-clad palm of his right hand and tucked it out of sight in his belt when he finally sensed your gaze on him.

He was enigmatic, the Mandalorian.

You’d found yourself thinking about what could’ve brought him to be on his own, so far out in the Outer Rim, with no ship. But you’d learned long ago to keep your curiosities to yourself. Best to not stir up the resentments or specters that men shackled themselves to, but something about this man had always tugged at your heartstring. Yes, the last solitary heartstring you got, and that you’d decided long ago you couldn’t spare for anyone else. Still, you found yourself feeling drawn to him in this moment, and couldn’t help let that intrepid, wily part of you seek to coax him out of his brooding silence.

Taking a sip of your caf, you loped around him and kicked one of the other supply crates to slide across the polished floor of your somewhat cargo-cluttered hull to park across from him so you could plop down onto it with a sigh and recline forward – propping your elbows onto your knees as you stare directly into his glossy black T-visor to where you think his eyes are.

His posture straightened, and his hands fidgeted to find perch onto his thighs, trying to seem unbothered, but you know better. He’s clearly wary to socialize much with you, no matter how many times you’ve given him signs that you would welcome it. But you’d quickly realized he was guarded, and seemed to be building up his walls all over again. From what? You didn’t know, but you also assumed it wasn’t all due to the strict Mandalorian Creed you’d heard so much about through the galactic grapevine of years loitering in cantinas and spaceports.

For him? He just wasn’t sure about you.

It’d been a few weeks since he’d gotten dropped off by his ragtag compatriots onto that frigid mining hub on some moon between Bespin and Hoth. He’d declined all offers of joining up with them, and had set off to lose himself for a while. Eventually, when credits were running low, he’d strode into that seedy cantina at the end of the port and asked the barkeep for leads on jobs. All eyes were on him and his chrome-shine beskar, but he was used to it, and when the Weequay pointed him to the back booth around the corner of the bar, Din had made his way around the surreptitious patrons while keeping his gaze sharp and his gait imposing. Most would shift or avert their gazes when the sweep of his black T-visor scanned their direction, and if his height, imposing posture, and deliberate stride weren’t intimidating enough, the spear fixed at the back of his left shoulder and his right hand being not so far from the blaster strapped in the holster at his hip seemed to do the trick.

When a cheer went up in the opposite shadowy corner of the bar he was headed in, he couldn’t help glance over to see what had been the cause of it. That’s when he saw you boisterously grinning at the Trandoshian across from you as he hissed sourly at his losing hand of Sabacc while you fanned your palms across the center of the table to collect your winnings.

“You cheated!” the reptilian behemoth had sniped, snarling to show you his row of razor-sharp teeth while he stood from his seat and glared balefully at you.

Unbothered by the accusation, you swept the bunch of credits into a leather pouch and stowed it inside your cropped two-toned leather jacket and leaned back in your chair to eye him snidely while the crowd around the table began to scuttle away to be at a much safer range. “Because I won?” you’d countered smoothly and picked up your cup to sip from it.

“Because there’s no way you had that hand! Three winning hands in a row, at that,” the angry Trandoshian hissed and slammed his clawed hands down raucously on the table before his buddies tried to calm him. “No, this little harpy is a cheat!”

“What did you call me?”

The clatter of voices died down at the cold, steely growl of your voice as you narrowed your eyes at the foe and slammed your cup down to slowly stand and challengingly square up at him from across the table to deride crossly, “Who’re you calling a harpy, you overgrown hatchling!”

“Hey! No fighting in here,” the Weequay barkeep shouted from behind the counter and gestured with exasperation as he warned, “You take it outside, or you’ll answer to Quent!”

“You wanna take this outside then, lizard lips?” you sneered tauntingly at the Trandoshian, and he hissed at you, nostrils flaring irately before his buddies yanked at his grubby flight-suit and beseeched him to back off.

The entire time the impending brawl escalated, Din had watched from his vantage point, oddly intrigued by your moxie. After all, you looked petite enough for him to toss around easily, so a seven-foot Trandoshian could’ve easily made mincemeat out of you – albeit ripped your limbs from you with the ease of plucking the tail from a krill.

He spotted a slim blaster in a holster fastened to your left hip, and from the set of your shoulders he could tell you had a hidden knife strapped just beyond your jacket, and what he guessed to be a modified stunner tucked into the shaft of your shin-high boot. All the trappings of a scrappy and self-sufficient individual making their way through the galaxy, so he’d began to turn away to resume his approach to the back booth where he assumed a shadily-affiliated guild surveyor was waiting for someone like him with several pucks needing clearing when he heard another commotion kick up.

See the full post

184 notes - Posted August 30, 2022

All of us today.

306 notes - Posted April 29, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Cause of death: This tweet!

606 notes - Posted August 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #ROGUEFURY's year in review 2022

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pursuingheavenonearth · 8 months

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Is it time for a 'radical' change? Maybe not.

David Lewis Brooks

My bare feet, photo taken June 2023 on the steps of Hostal Casa de Huespedes San Fernando, Playa del Ingles, Gran Canaria (Canary Islands), Spain

PREFACE: This article was written over several weeks from August 18 until September 20, 2023, after I returned from my second overseas trip that summer.

When one comes to end of his/her professional career, it is not always easy to decide what to do or where or how to find an avocation or a new vocation to keep oneself occupied productively in the last Third of One's (Current) Lifespan. Over the approximately three and a half years since I officially retired from work (university teaching and research job), I have dabbled a bit in several possible Third Life career moves, but none of them has panned out into any satisfying work or job offers.

Basically, I am staying at home and being the wise, but quiet, granddad to the Brooks-Yamaguchi family. Our older son, also an Associate Professor,but at Asia University (not too far from our home) lives with his Japanese wife and two daughters, aged 7 and 5 years old). His wife, Yuki, works as a student affairs officer (foreign student admissions) at KUFS (Kanda University of Foreign Studies), located a short bicycle ride from our homes. I say 'homes' since we live just a block away from our son's and his family's residence.

I had first joined the teaching staff at Kitasato’s Sagamihara campus in April, 1996, as an emergency teacher recruited by Prof. Yukio Seya in March of that year to fill a sudden part-time English teacher vacancy.

Photo taken August 2023 at the circular roundabout road, about 400 meters from the East Side entrance to Tama Bochi Cemetery, Fuchu, Tokyo. These are crepe myrtle trees in full bloom from July to October annually. It's a bit rare to have two large crepe myrtle growing side-by-side in the cemetery, so they are a favorite sight on our daily dog walks into the Tama Bochi (cemetery).

I was subsequently employed as a full-time teacher member of the English Language Unit a month into the school following year, and has continued in the position of Associate Professor until my mandatory retirement in March 2019. Why a month later start? Actually, I was a part-time teacher with 6 weekly classes, which was the same as a full-time teacher's workload. By then asking that I be made a full-timer (once I was already employed), then they didn't have to open the 'new' position up to public applications from both presently employed part-timers as well as outsider. It was a strategic political employment move. I continue for three years as a contract (full-time) employee, before being made full-fledged faculty member (Assistant Professor), and eventually attained Associate Professorship in approximately 10 years further. I never considered even asking to be a Full Professor because I considered that my Japanese language skills were not sufficient to complete all of the duties required a full professor. However, I will never actually know if I was considered qualified to seek that promotion or not, because my own Department Head retired and I had several other colleagues that I would have had to compete with to become Professor Brooks. More money, but more work and many ore headaches (if you ask me). Therefore, I happily remained an Associate Professor until I retired in March 2019. Retirement became mandatory at the age of 65 year-of-age for all, but esteemed Professor Emeritus, of which there were one appointed every couple of years.

After my official retirement, I was asked to teach one further year as an Adjunct Professor under a part-time teacher's salary for five courses on three days a week (Mondays - one class, Tuesday - 2 classes and Thursday - 2 classes). This arrangement, by the way, was how I started teaching part-time at Kitasato University first in the 1996-97 academic year.

Photo taken at sunset in August 2022 Diamond Head Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii

After his retirement, David L. Brooks had intended to remain as an adjunct professor at Kitasato University for one or two days a week, he'd likely be teaching part-time as well at Aoyama Gakuin University for two graduate or undergraduate courses, and may also be working on a volunteer basis in the part-time position at the University’s Office of International Affairs from April, 2019, until the 2024. In addition, Mr. Brooks would be managing director of a new travel company based in Hawaii that specializes in edutrekking, travel expeditions for small teams that combine travel with eco-tourism and humanitarian endeavors for potential customers in Japan, the USA, and Europe.

The LAST PLANS in the above paragraph DID NOT actually MATERIALIZE, and when COVID-19 hit the world, my Third Life Career is was then put on hold and is, therefore, being reconsidered. That is purpose of this entry: To review those three years of dormancy (rather like hibernation) would probably be a helpful move at this juncture of my existence. I can either decide what I want/need to do next, or will come to some other kind of resolution.

------------------------------------------------------------

Part I

January 2020 - June 2021

Photo taken February 2022 at the Diamond Head Road leading into Kapiolani Park, Honolulu, Hawaii

A) From January 2020 until June 2021, I was involved in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government's Public Leadership Credential, where I completed six different six-week long graduate courses in an online coursework format that included weekly group work (for one of weeks of each course I was the group leader and completing a personally focused individualized weekly assignment, plus completing a challenging final written exam. Along the way, I had three very distinguished, challenging, and interesting professors and got to work in detail with dozens of highly qualified and tenacious graduate students, who were also pursuing the same Harvard graduate credential.

Seated at the Jackie O's restaurant / bar at Super Paradise Beach on the Greek island of Mykonos. It was a warm afternoon in June, 2023, and I was one of just a few customers at 4:00pm that day.

To be honest, taking the coursework (actually 2/5ths of a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government) was the fulfillment of a personal challenge that I had envisioned pursuing more than a decade ago. At that time, after designating Harvard KSG as my first choice for a graduate institution at the time of taking the GRE, I received a letter of invitation from Harvard Kennedy School asking me to complete the necessary steps to apply for admission. Probably the main reason was because I had scored a perfect 6 on the then newly instigated GRE Writing Test, which had only just begun the very year that I had re-taken the GRE. There is no doubt that I found the six courses in the Public Leadership Credential at Harvard KSG to be academically challenging, but they were not impossible and I found the course content, the professors, and working with my fellow course-mates to be highly interesting, personally rewarding and a great learning experience (almost without exception). However, I believe that I came to realize that simply cooperating and competing with my other Harvard online classmates was not the activity that really excited my intellectual interests or challenged my internal soul-searching to find a meaningful post-retirement career.

A bee in the weeds: Photo taken May 2022 at the Tama River side park, not far from Tokyo Parkway Bridge at Inagi, Fuchu, Tokyo

Most of my own personally-meaningful assignments for those six courses were related to my current passion at the time: Finding or creating an organization (or group) that can assist impoverished families in Hawaii, particularly those living under stark economic realities of today's world (who can absolutely be categorized a 'poor' families and individuals who are economically disadvantaged, to find affordable housing (either by buying, renting, or sharing a portion of a group-owned lodging).

Eating at a nice (and expensive) restaurant near the Beach Boardwalk at Sitges, Spain in June, 2023

Actually, that leads me to my July 2021 - January 2023 phase, which involved trying to set up both a non-profit, called Philantropical.org, and a for-profit travel-related business, called Rainbow Travel Network, Inc., both of which I have now closed.

Let me explain more in the next section.

Part II

July 2021 - January 2023

B) My Entrepreneurial Phase -- Starting Two Business that I closed even before they could actually start.

Part II-A From January 2021 through January 2023, I was busy trying to set up both a non-profit, called Philantropical.org, and also a for-profit travel-related business, called Rainbow Travel Network, Inc., both of which I subsequently have now closed.

Photo taken June 2023 at the Old Windmills Strand located near the main port / harbor of Choros Town on Mykonos Island, Greece

Setting up Philantropical.org (a non-profit organization) was not too difficult. In fact, inside the State of Hawaii, it was painless and virtually easy-peasy-Japanesy (as we often say in the Brooks household). Even when I decided to make the non-profit be recognized nationwide (in the US), it was not very difficult to secure the paperwork and to get registered and verified as a US nationwide non-profit organization by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The difficulty arose when it came to the actual details of the non-profit tax designation and assigned levels of tax compliance as a non-profit organization. While it was still recognized as a non-profit, for tax purposes, it was designated as a XXXXXX non-taxed organization and the paperwork and tax forms required were just too laborious and time-consuming to be acceptable (at least for me alone).

I quickly realized that I could not sustain that level of complicated book-keeping and convoluted tax reporting that such a designation required. I subsequently decided to dissolve the non-profit organization, thus appearing to 'officially' abandon its mission: helping disadvantaged and underprivileged families to cope with the regulations and restrictions needed in order to live in a house on the Big Island of Hawaii.

To be continued.....

Part II-B Rainbow Travel Network, Inc.

Photo taken March 2012 at the Marine Park located near Arinaga Marine Preserve on the island of Gran Canaria, The Canary Islands, Spain (taken by my own underwater photography with my own camera).

The second part of my plan was to establish a travel services company that acted as an 'arranger' for travel services to be provided to small (3-7) or medium-sized (8-24) people. The 'trips' are not actually solely for the purpose of travel, but have the ultimate goal of providing 'free' assistance to people, organizations (such as non-profits and public corporations), to help animal and plant life in a specific region, and (or) to improve the environmental conditions in a specific locale in order to reach their fullest (and highest) potentials. The eco-trips or 'edutreking' sojourns would be in my current home country (Japan) or abroad; they could be free (if a sponsor will pay expenses) or their costs could be reduced by donations and payments from the beneficiary groups, or they could be totally self-supported (paid for my the volunteers own monetary contributions).

Examples of such 'trips' could include any or a combination of the following eco-trips or 'edutreking' experiences:a) Volunteer to teach life-skill English conversation to home healthcare workers who are assisting disaster relief for an Australian state; b)Lead a workshop on polish one's job search and employer attractiveness skills for low-level, poorly educated individuals seeking jobs as migrant workers in a South American country;

c) Conduct an environmental clean-up workday in specific area needing human labor of volunteers (in Florida after the last major hurricane damage),

and

d - z) there are countless more examples, etc... But hopefully, you get the idea: human volunteers helping our planet and its environment, its peoples and the animal & plant livelihoods.

Photo taken February 2022 at the Beach 67 not far from Spencer Beach, near Kawaihae, Big Island, Hawaii

Part III February 2023 - September 2023 C) My own travels overseas

Photos were taken August 2023 at the Hellabrunn Zoo outside Munich, Germany. Of course, there are hundreds of species of birds, fish, reptiles, and other animals at the zoo, but the birds and fish are easiest to photograph because you're allowed to be so close to them in an enclosed cage (bird cage in huge) or space (the aquarium).

From January 2023 until the present (Sept 2023), I was mostly at my home in Tokyo, helping with the chores of grand-child minding, cooking and cleaning house. I did find the time and resources (money) to travel abroad twice during that time. Both times, I visited Europe; actually, I visited Spain and Germany twice as my favorite European cities are Munich and Barcelona.

Many years ago, I practiced the art (martial) of Aikido. Once we held a public exhibition of our 'sensei's' students at a public hall in Gotanda, Tokyo. Here I am finishing a defensive move on my co-combattant.

So it is time for a radical change in my lifestyle or vocation (or avocation)? Well, after considering what's happening now in my world and in our societies, I'd have to say that things in my life will likely just remain as they are, without any huge changes. I'm enjoying what I'm doing now: being a partner to my wife, and a father and grandfather to my sons and spouses and offspring. Attempting to conflate my raison d'etre into some grand scheme of a new life is probably only my own wishful thinking as my mortality lies more concretely ahead of me. I'll most likely be happy to simply live my life as it is being played out now. I'm loved by family, and enjoy the hobbies and pastimes that 'apparently' keep me busy and productive as I enter my seventh decade of life. I can only hope that I will have at least two more decades to enjoy my life on Earth and hope to gain the satisfaction of having spent my remaining time alive in the best ways possible.

Thank for reading.

Playing with the Djohong Village children around New Year's Eve, 2000 in Cameroon, West Africa, while participating the one of EarthWatch.org research expeditions to assist Phyllis Jansyn, a former Peace Corps volunteer, who had stayed in rural Cameroon to help the villagers of Djohong find clean water, safeguard against disease, give birth, and learn healthy childcare to the women (and men) of the surrounding villages.

#self improvement #self actualization #maturity

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earaercircular · 1 year

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Smartphones, cars and electric bikes... Europe wants greener batteries

"More durable, more efficient and more resistant" batteries: this is the objective of a provisional law adopted by the European Parliament and the Member States of the EU.

Did you know that, despite its small size, the smartphone you slipped into your pocket just now is an ecological disaster? Put in question, in particular, is: its battery, composed of non-recyclable minerals or glued to the device, preventing its reuse. And the same goes for your computer, your household appliances, but also scooters and electric cars.

To fight against this scourge, the European Parliament and the Member States of the European Union (EU) have decided to force manufacturers to "green" these batteries "taking into account technological developments", by means of a law provisionally adopted Friday, December 9, 2022. According to this agreement, the carbon footprint of all batteries placed on the European market must be declared from July 2024. Eventually, only electric car batteries considered to be sustainable can be marketed in the European Union.

Those of smartphones and electronic devices will have to be easily removed and replaced, a measure which will apply three and a half years after the entry into force of the text, which must still be formally adopted by the Parliament and the Council.

Brussels also wants at least 73% of telephone or computer batteries to be collected and recycled within seven years. The goal: to locate this industrial sector in Europe, to generate jobs and above all, to reduce the dependence of the 27 on imports of rare earths such as cobalt and lithium.

All battery types sold in EU

This provisional law intends to cover “the entire life cycle of batteries, from design to waste treatment”, indicates the Parliament in a press release[1], published this Saturday. It will apply to all types of batteries sold in the EU, namely:

• Portable batteries (for telephones or computers);

• SLI batteries (providing energy for starting, lighting or ignition of vehicles);

• Light Means of Transport (LMT) batteries (providing power for traction of wheeled vehicles such as scooters and e-bikes);

• Batteries for electric vehicles (EV);

• Industrial batteries.

The objective of this law, concretely: to make their batteries “more durable, more efficient and more resistant”. “Our overall aim is to build a stronger EU recycling industry, particularly for lithium, and a competitive industrial sector as a whole, which is crucial in the coming decades for our continent’s energy transition and strategic autonomy. “, explains the rapporteur of the law, MEP Achille Variati.

Three steps

"This regulation sets requirements for sustainability, safety and circularity at the same time", summarizes on Pascal Canflin, MEP and President of the Committee on the Environment at the European Parliament[2]. There will be three steps for this.

The first will begin in a year and a half. Indeed, from July 2024, “the carbon footprint of each battery placed on the European market will have to be declared” in the case of electric vehicles, indicates the MEP. Last deadline, finally: 2027. On this date, only electric car batteries that do not exceed a maximum carbon footprint threshold can be sold on the European market.

Towards the elimination of non-rechargeable batteries

Manufacturers will also have to submit to another constraint in terms of battery collection. Thus, at least 45% of portable batteries will have to be collected by 2023, 63% by 2027 and 73% by 2030. Minimum levels of cobalt (16%), lead (85%), lithium (6%) and nickel (6%) recovered from manufacturing and consumer waste will have to be reused in new batteries.

“By 31 December 2030, the Commission will assess whether to phase out the use of non-rechargeable portable batteries for general use,” the Parliament statement concludes. Please note that this is a provisionary law. The Parliament and the Council will have to formally approve the agreement before it can enter into force.

Catch up with the Chinese

Brussels wishes today to catch up with China, the world leader in the sector, and the United States, which are planning massive subsidies for manufacturers as part of the climate plan of American President Joe Biden. The European Union is aiming for 25% of world production by 2030, compared to only 3% in 2020.

Source

Alexandra Segond, Smartphones, voitures et vélos électriques... L'Europe veut des batteries plus écologiques, in : actu.fr, 10-12-2022, https://actu.fr/planete/solutions/smartphones-voitures-et-velos-electriques-l-europe-veut-des-batteries-plus-ecologiques_55844492.html

Laure Broulard: L’UE mise sur une nouvelle réglementation des batteries de voiture pour mieux les recycler, in : RFI, 10-12-2022, https://www.rfi.fr/fr/europe/20221210-l-ue-mise-sur-une-nouvelle-réglementation-des-batteries-de-voiture-pour-mieux-les-recycler

[1] Batteries: deal on new EU rules for design, production and waste treatment, EU Pres releases, 9-12-2022, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221205IPR60614/batteries-deal-on-new-eu-rules-for-design-production-and-waste-treatment

[2] Pascal Canfin, Accord sur la loi pour une filière européenne des batteries durables, in : LinkedInPulse, 9-12*-2022, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/accord-sur-la-loi-pour-une-fili%25C3%25A8re-europ%25C3%25A9enne-des-batteries-canfin/?trackingId=BsZqP7aFTSulxWinlhz9eA%3D%3D

#battery recycling

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beneathascorpionsky · 2 years

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I posted 6,048 times in 2022

That's 6,048 more posts than 2021!

76 posts created (1%)

5,972 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@wayward-wren

@arceuscansuckmydick

@raincloud-the-33rd-frog

@time-is-a-pain

@strigiiformes

I tagged 2,438 of my posts in 2022

#art - 121 posts

#fnaf - 110 posts

#video - 78 posts

#yes - 73 posts

#writer's life - 58 posts

#pretty - 42 posts

#fnaf security breach - 41 posts

#wheeze - 39 posts

#funny - 36 posts

#cute - 34 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#fandom is me forcing my friend to read snippets from a fic im writing from a fandom they couldn't care less about but supporting me anyway

My Top Posts in 2022:

The struggle when I’m writing a fanfiction and I’m really excited and I really enjoy it and I want to post and share it with people! But! I know how bad I am at finishing projects and the story isn’t even half done and what if I lose motivation and just have another half finished fic sitting out there and I disappoint EVERYONE. But also what if I DONT DO THAT and I could’ve been sharing it the whole time and getting feedback and enjoying reading people’s comments ? and round and round my brain goes on this one circular track

12 notes - Posted March 17, 2022

Sure those stars might’ve been dead for who knows how long but sailors still looked to them for guidance

15 notes - Posted February 19, 2022

This is such a weird dumb idea and maybe other people have already theorized this and I’m just out of the loop but it’s making me laugh so I’m going to share it anyway

so there’s the whole gregbot thing right? Well what if Gregory isn’t a robot but Vanessa is? Maybe Vanny created her as lookalike/stunt double kind of thing so Vanny was free to wear her creepy mask and run around killing people but could point to Vanessabot who was roaming around the Pizzaplex doing her job as an alibi

It would explain the rooftop ending where Vanny seems to really closely resemble Vanessa, but Vanessa is shown to be standing up on the roof while Vanny is on the ground. I know there’s the theory of it being Vanessa’s ghost which is probably more likely but idk, Vanessabot is funnier to me for some reason

16 notes - Posted February 3, 2022

Feel like in Security Breach Gregory really went “I’m not trapped in here with you, you’re trapped in here with me” and then committed organ theft

30 notes - Posted January 31, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Chapter 25: To let go (and to hold on) I saw this moment as poetic and I hope I interpreted this scene right Gosh, William be damned- I love your fic!

I am I'm literally a bit overwhelmed I never thought anyone would like something I'd read enough to make art based on it. This is GOREGOUS and I love it so much and I think you might've just made my entire year. Ty, tysm I adore this and I'm so glad you're enjoying the fic

34 notes - Posted March 19, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #Listen adding tags can be tiring #Sometimes I'm too tired to even reblog stuff

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upismediacenter · 2 years

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OPINION: Department of Just-this: The Case of Juanito Remulla

Photo credit: Sulat Nadera

Personal bias or righteousness? A decision we have to make in situations that might affect us or someone close to us. This is the case of Juanito Remulla and his father, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, who abused his authority for the good of his son—and the bad for noblesse oblige. Juanito Jose Remulla III was caught possessing over P1 million worth of high-grade marijuana, also known as “kush”. On October 11, 2022, Juanito was arrested by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group after receiving a parcel containing 1 kilo of kush at a house in BF Resort Village.

In response to this news, DOJ Secretary Boying Remulla released a handwritten letter on October 14, stating that he would not intervene on nor influence any cases that would be filed against his son, he also thanked PDEA for doing their job without fear or favor. Unlike the families of ordinary victims of the War on Drugs, Remulla had the chance to express the sentiments of a 61-year-old father and how the whole situation affected him and his family. Cavite Governor Juanito “Jonvic” Remulla Jr., uncle of Juanito Remulla, shares the same stance on the issue, and states that he wouldn’t tolerate any abuse of power despite having all the means to do so. According to him, there have been times their family and friends asked them to intervene in their family’s cases yet they have never done so—not wanting to break any rules let alone their oaths. To not break one’s oath… is this not the bare minimum? And for them to be proud of doing it only means the standard of the Remullas is low. After news of the incident spread like wildfire, former senator Leila de Lima remarked that Boying Remulla's son is innocent until he’s proven guilty just like all the Filipinos who have fallen victim to the previous administration’s war on drugs—a quick jab at its brutal policy on dealing with criminality and illegal narcotics. In relation to this, Boying Remulla gets bombarded by calls for resignation with the aim of removing conflict of interest and reaching maximum fairness in the ruling of his son’s case. These he simply dismisses, saying that he would not resign and would let the wheels of justice run its course.

On October 18, Juanito Remulla’s case of possessing illegal drugs was already at the Las Piñas Court, followed up by an update on November 10, stating that Juanito Remulla is being transferred to the Las Piñas jail. While the case for importing illegal drugs is subject to a preliminary investigation under the National Prosecution Service, an attached agency of the DOJ, the question now is what will Boying Remulla do once it reaches the DOJ? To this he replied that if there is a resolution, there is no need for it to reach the DOJ and simply let the discussion remain in the court whatever his son’s case is. Under Department Circular 27, issued in July 2022, the Office of the Secretary has rights to evaluate the case and review appeals from resolutions of the Prosecutor General in cases subject to a preliminary investigation—the current situation of one of his son’s cases. “If the prosecutor’s resolution is [an] adverse case against my son, it will not be appealed here. It will go straight to the courts for trial,” Remulla states.

As the president and overseer of the Justice Secretary, it’s only right to hear what Bongbong Marcos has to say about the calls for resignation against Boying Remulla. To no surprise, Marcos defends him by arguing that the calls for resignation have “no basis” as he did not misbehave on the job and that Remulla has been doing quite the contrary. The president gives such high praise to Remulla and his work ethic, perhaps forgetting that the man he’s complimenting is a known red-tagger. Yet again, standards of good or not are blurry, especially if the person commending Remulla also belongs from a shady background and is now sitting on the highest position of government. Not only is Boying Remulla a known red-tagger but he also stands with being pro-death penalty towards drug users, but now that it’s his son whose life is on the line, he decides to remain silent? Pathetic.

Does Boying Remulla deserve the demands for his resignation? By all means, yes. We can not simply apply the usual moral theology “one’s sin is not the sin of another” in this case due to the elephant in the room: conflict of interest. Vows of not intervening and staying at the sidelines are not enough of an assurance against it, as it creates unnecessary pressure on the enforcement agencies, especially when it’s by law that Boying Remulla has all rights to evaluate the case and review appeals as the secretary himself. This is a situation that seems to fly over the heads of those who remain on Remulla’s side, ignoring the power Boying Remulla has in this case.

Furthermore, the Remullas are one of the many political dynasties in the Philippines, moreso in Cavite where they are mainly prevalent even if it takes retraction of previous statements to get the desired win. An example of this is during the 2016 elections, the Remullas strongly supported Jejomar Binay for president. However, as the end of the election drew near, the Remullas switched sides and supported former President Rodrigo Duterte after they listened to their people. Being part of a political dynasty, it’s not surprising anymore that the case for Juanito Remulla receives favorable treatment compared to victims of the war on drugs. The arresting authorities took two full days before public disclosure of the arrest, what happened behind the scenes that caused the delay? PDEA Chief Derrick Carreon said that it is protocol to only disclose arrests a day following the arrest, but the delay took two days and not one. In addition to this, the importation case of Remulla’s son is under a preliminary investigation despite being caught red-handed, which on its own is suspicious.

Is there hope that justice prevails in the case of Boying Remulla? With how things are currently going, there seems to be none as even he lost all delicadeza in his body, just like many other politicians in the country. For most who have fallen victim to the War on Drugs, justice is yet to be attained. The case of Remulla III only shows how those who are in power have too much influence for their own good—protected by the flawed system of justice for so long all because a relative has a position in this system. Even though Juanito Remulla’s case seems to go on the right track of being sent for life imprisonment just like many under Rodrigo Duterte’s ruling, Boying Remulla does not deserve the privilege of staying in an agency handling the prosecution of his son’s case. //by Yeshua Galicia

References:

Calbalza, Dexter, and Dona Z. Pazzibugan. “DOJ chief’s son arrested in P1 million marijuana bust.” Inquirer.net, 14 October 2022, https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1679712/doj-chiefs-son-arrested-in-p1-m-marijuana-bust

Cinco, Maricar. “Remullas dump Binay for Duterte.” Inquirer.net, 29 April 2016, https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/782344/remullas-drop-binay-vow-big-win-for-duterte-in-cavite

“CNN Philippines.” Twitter, 24 July 2019, https://twitter.com/cnnphilippines/status/1153839086282559488?s=20t=B-z4AryjlRVjEtKg4P-FIA

Delizo, Michael Joe. “Remulla son transferred to Las Piñas jail over drug charges.” ABS-CBN News, 9 November 2022, https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/09/22/remulla-son-transferred-to-las-pias-jail-over-drug-charges

Galvez, Daphne. “Bongbong Marcos shuns calls for DOJ chief Remulla to quit: 'No basis.'” Inquirer.net, 14 October 2022, https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1679859/marcos-jr-says-calls-for-doj-chief-remulla-to-quit-have-no-basis

“Juanito Remulla pleads not guilty to drug possession case.” GMA Network, 4 November 2022, https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/850330/juanito-remulla-pleads-not-guilty-to-drug-possession-case/story/

Mangaluz, Jean. “De Lima to Remulla: Your son is innocent til proven guilty, just like drug war victims.” Inquirer.net, 14 October 2022, https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1679931/de-lima-to-remulla-your-son-is-innocent-until-proven-guilty-just-like-drug-war-victims

“Special Treatment or Considerate Handling: PDEA Double Standard Observed in Remulla Son's Case - CMFR.” CMFR, 21 October 2022, https://cmfr-phil.org/in-context/special-treatment-or-considerate-handling-pdea-double-standard-observed-in-remulla-sons-case/

Torres, Tetch. “DOJ chief Remulla on resignation calls: It will not happen.” Inquirer.net, 18 October 2022, https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1681649/remulla-on-resignation-calls-it-will-not-happen

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