#my annual review was excellent

[togekissies]

my supervisor is apparently going to retire this year (we'll see if she actually does, she's been saying this for at least five years) and man i know i would be good at that job but god am i sad that i have no management experience to make up for the fact that i've only been here a year lmao. if she DOES announce her retirement i'll ask her if she thinks i should throw my hat in the ring but i'm not counting on it

[lurking-loaf]

Have you ever drawn and hidden little doodles of the DCA while at work?

Just scribbled one or two during a moment of free time and tucked them someplace?

There are now 19 of these silly things scattered around a 136 sq. ft (41.45 sq. m) space.

The thing I'm unsure about is whether I gather them up or leave them for future employees to find when the time comes for me to move on from this job.

[thesimperiuscurse]

tumblr top 10 — 2022.

1. 457 notes - Jan 30 2022  — the metropolitan museum of art.

2. 331 notes - Jan 8 2022  — wildflower / pose pack. 

3. 302 notes - May 10 2022  — painting in wildflower hills.

4. 268 notes - Jul 16 2022  — fleeting moments from chapter 14.

5. 248 notes - Aug 12 2022  —  eva’s childhood bedroom, malibu.

6. 235 notes - Jan 2 2022  —  snow — s’mores — sparklers.

7. 167 notes - Jul 7 2022  — summer al fresco.

8. 156 notes - Dec 26 2022  — mako’s summer villa in malibu / may 2020.

9. 146 notes - Nov 22 2022  — cape cod renovation — 4 / 4 — dining room, kitchen, lounge.

10. 138 notes - Dec 12 2022  — tanabata.

Created by TumblrTop10

[kremlin]

I do computer work but it's not very hard and kind of boring. How do I get to do hard computer work? Do I have to go to grad school?

hi i tend to miss these because of slipshod ublock custom filters im too birdbrained to fix.

i worked for a large american technology company which sold business machines internationally for close to a decade until laid off in successful accounting fraud scheme a few years ago. started as developer, erm, pardon me, i started as

junior developer

which is a role similar to routinely-executed court jester and human meatwave conscript meant to soak up enemy bullets to cause exhaustion of enemy bullet supply and finally guy that comes in big gross truck with a pump and a tank and a big hose used to suck the shit+piss out of portable toilet/malfunctioning sewer etc. this is for when you are 20 years old or so and they hit you with this work to calm your ass down a bit. my case was cloud bullshit on ancient rickety php stack. 5% keystrokes/clicks are php, 95% remainder is jira and other members of the axis of evil. LOT of dick sucking and butt fucking. Going into men's bathroom and making eye contact with cubicle neighbor before entering stall and fearlessly making disgusting noises. microwaving fish lunch thrice daily. you get the idea. meager paycheck but six figures takehome technically

next is staff dev, wait, god damn fucking tumblr, you can't adjust fonts mid-paragraph, and Big Text is just another type of font, in case you wanted Big Specific font. fucking fuck hold on. next step is

staff developer

no effective change besides greatly increased workload (click those motherfucking jira buttons!! suffer coworker's asinine bad-faith code review comments that HE AND HE ALONE must manually accept your responses to, on HIS time, before you are allowed to click the jira buttons that start the human meat sausage factory to get your 20 line maximum change into an RC and then release and then push candidate and then prod push!! pay raise one thousand dollars annually (lol). Emails. Now you deal with project manager too. speculate as to what sorts of grievous head injuries that man must suffer daily to describe his logic. his job is like the guy from office space that brings documents from one desk to another but he randomly reorders the words on the page in-flight. make plausibly-deniable wife fucking jokes about his wife in earshot. you're almost at the top of the suffering function. next is, no fucking cute font this time, senior developer, sounds cool right, lol, lmao, "senior" "developer" is like "tallest" "midgit".

no pay increase no workload increase but now manager emails you about extremely, extremely personal issues he's facing and also makes his most difficult problems from his boss your problems. one week will pass and then they will hit you with the "we're considering you for a team lead position". answer:

NO

answer no as this is the prescribed path, you take that role, you are maxxed out in workload, you are dealing with forty employee's worth of bullshit, another one thousand dollarinos a year raise, employer has solved efficiency problem with your sanity and burnout as variables. you're supposed to quit or kill yourself within seconds of hitting 30 y/o. don't fall for tricks. say "NO" in a creative way such as "i have tabulated some data and made it into excel pie chart quantifying diff. departments work output and am considering sending it to whoever Dave is, the guy that is one or two or three report levels over your boss' head, you know, his boss' boss' boss or whatever. or say "you are harassing me sexually, racistly" that kind of shit. make threat clearly.

was worth mentioning before, throughout all of this make as many friends and as much of a splash for yourself as possible as its time to trade on that goodwill, tell your boss you want an open relationship and you're going to fuck and suck other managers, and then find the good one with the good team of old fucking geriatric guys who could never be fooled into working more than a reasonable amount daily and also can kill people with their minds since they have been sitting on the bleeding edge of computing since 1969. their boss will usually be, suspiciously, one report rank higher than everyone else. e.g. their boss has a whole other boss + his reports under him. usually small team. go to their boss, say, hi, look at me, look at my beautiful plumage and captivating mating dance, please hire me, pleassseee. his team will say no, they will say things like "I don't know about that kiddo", "That guy seems like a candy-ass", they will read your papers and look at you in the eyes and say it is not compelling, the boss will kind of hire you anyway. if he doesn't you're fucked. if he does you're now a

STAFF ENGINEER

for fifteen minutes and then

ADVISORY/SENIOR/SPECIAL ENGINEER

and the suffering is over. no code minimal jira + squad of gremlin zerglings under your boss whom you can rank-pull and delegate bullshit to, they will be mostly suckers, take advantage of this. 80% of keystrokes/clicks will be in production of beautiful wonderful lovely .docx and .xlsx's, what a godsend, only in an emergency are you allowed to fuck with your zergling's code, usually in a cool way with bullshit procedure removed.

i worked on high performance computing shit. "what the fuck do you mean 2PB or so in and out a day on flash memory", "what the fuck do you mean special infiniband intel MPI library on CD-R stored in Craig's filing cabinet???". Meetings with company people: webcams off, responses optional, snideness allowed. Meetings with client: you must have your dress shirt starched and white glove the shit out of those motherfuckers. timezones = skill issue. i don't care where germany is, i don't give a shit, wake up at 3am for a 20m meeting i take on the toilet or while eating a boiled lobster complete with cracker + lobster bib. customers countable on one hand, invoices to customers not countable with 32 bits. no fucking mistakes ever allowed except for like whitepaper drafts, you cannot fuck the pumpkin on this one, your actual job relies on your ability to hit a button and suck down a week's worth of compute and millions of dollars, boiling swimming pool's worth of TDP, one mistake that leads result data to being able to be characterized as flawed and your balls are getting ripped off. Quarterly IRL meetings = normiepilled normiemaxxing. Dress sharp. leave at 5pm on the dot, go to bar with Old Fucker coworkers, drink wrecklessly with them, have a blast, let them give you a tour of a lab you are absolutely 100% not allowed to be inside, buildings that have posted weight limits per sq. ft. exceeding 250lbs, such a blast. every paycheck a FORTUNE every dinner a banquet every meeting an email every keystroke life or death. you get to meet /lib/doug mofos too one of whom i wrote a very poor kind of poem thing about. thats about it. hope this helps

[breelandwalker]

Witchcraft Exercise - Annual Review

The end of the old calendar year and the beginning of a new one are excellent times for reflection and recalibration. We do this in our mundane lives by making resolutions, setting new goals, starting new projects, and sketching out our schedule for the coming year. So why not do the same with your witchcraft!

As a journaling exercise, sit down and record how your journey has progressed over the past year. You can include things like spells you’ve cast, rituals you’ve performed, holidays you’ve celebrated, gatherings you attended, new ideas you’ve encountered or incorporated, important lessons learned, and any significant milestones you’ve achieved. It doesn’t have to be fully comprehensive or bite-by-bite - the level of detail is entirely up to you.

(If you’ve already performed the exercise Quantifying Your Craft, then you already have a place to start. If you haven’t, I do suggest doing that first to give yourself a clear set of data and pre-determined information to reference.)

Once you’ve recorded your progress, decide where you want to go next. What new goals will you set? What new subjects do you want to explore? What habits do you want to alter or adopt? Are there any new books you want to read? Places you want to visit? New methods or techniques you want to try? Dream big and then sketch out a path to get you there, or just decide where you want to go next. And don’t worry about accomplishing everything on the list in the span of a year. Whatever doesn’t get done in the short term can always become the seed of something you grow into over time.

Of course, this doesn’t necessarily have to be an exercise that happens exclusively at the beginning or end of a calendar year. You can (and should) review and recalibrate periodically throughout the year whenever you incorporate new information or new ideas or new processes into your practice. This can be done as frequently or infrequently as you feel the need, whether that be monthly or quarterly or annually or just once every few years. Pausing for reflection is a necessary part of any long-term path or project, and it is a good way to both measure your progress so far and decide how best to move forward.

One more thing - Don’t be too hard on yourself or feel like you haven’t accomplished enough or learned enough or progressed enough to be a “proper” witch. Don’t compare your craft to anyone else’s or measure your viability by another's rod. Your journey is your own and will proceed at its’ own pace. Periods of rest or recovery or low motivation or preoccupation with other concerns are going to be part of that. As long as you’re making an effort, you’re doing just fine.

Happy Witching!

Image Credit - Witch Workspace, by Mylène Richard

Want more witchcraft exercises? Check out the masterpost here.

(If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar, tune in to my monthly show Hex Positive on your favorite podcast app, or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)

[buckgasms]

I just read Dirty Doctor Barnes once again and I absolutely love it😩 I was wondering if you could write another one where they finally get some alone time to themselves

Ooooooh what about a PDR Dr Barnes Style???

He tells you to block out an entire afternoon for your annual review so by the time it rolls around you are full of nerves and excitement because you know it's not going to be a straight forward, form filling exercise.

📝

So actually you are quite disappointed when you walk into his office and see a form on his desk and he's fully dressed and looks a little....bored.

But when he sees you he smiles, first sweet then dark. It already has your tummy fluttering as you take a seat opposite him.

"So... You've been with me for a full year now. Have you enjoyed your time so far?"

"Oh yeah, I've learnt a lot and it's been a lot of fun" you giggle as he raises his eyebrows taking notes. Feeling frustrated with the lack of contact you stand up and scoot round the table and slide into his lap, "let me take the notes doctor..."

He chuckles in your ear and drags you further into his lap, gripping your thighs in his firm hands.

You clear your throat and look at the first box. "Performance?" You twist a little and he smirks at you before dragging his laptop forward and tapping on the space bar. It blinks to life and there is a paused video of you and Bucky which, after another tap, springs to life.

Blood rushes to your ears and he wraps his arms tighter around your waist. You had no idea he'd been filming this whole time.

"Tell me what you think angel? Do you think you give a good performance?"

He's made some sort of filthy compilation of your best moments. You have to say, given the look of bliss on his face as you suck his cock in the clip that you do in fact give a good performance.

"Ahem, the employer is supposed to answer those questions" you say trying to sound indignant, but it's more squeaky than you hoped. He presses a kiss on your neck and pulls up your skirt, slipping his fingers into your folds and rubbing at your wet heat.

"That's right... Well then I would say, performance is excellent. Takes direction well and... Baby take this down..." He chides as his fingers sink into you making you moan. With shaking hands you manage to scrawl down what you remember and lean your head back on his shoulder when you're done.

"Ok what's next? Communication? Oh well let's have a listen shall we?" He turns up the volume and the room is filled with your moans.

"Please Bucky... Right there.... More, please more... I'm yours...."

You had no idea you were so vocal but the evidence is there. He continues to play with your pussy and makes a mess of you as the film plays.

"Write this down baby, very good communicator, expresses opinion openly which is appreciated." He reaches forward and finds another clip. "Let's see about your listening shall we?"

This time the film shows you following his orders, moving this way and that, sucking and fucking as his voice demands off screen. You see your eyes are filled with tears of frustration as he tells you over and over to hold your orgasm, don't be selfish, don't be naughty, be good and you can come.

You remember how torturous that afternoon was even now as he plays with you. "Look how good you were sweet girl. Taking my instructions even when you wanna come on my cock hmmm?" You nod and gasp and his fingers pump into you, the sound of your wetness mixing with the moans from the movie.

You manage to scribble something down as he flicks back to the dirty compilation, skipping between clips of you, seeing yourself being fucked in the most delicious and insane positions in his examination chair.

"Employee strengths? Let's say, a flexible approach to work, willingness to learn and the ability to take on big loads..." He tines that last comment with a clip of you having his come pumped over your pretty face.

Your giggle turns into a gasp as he flicks your clit and pumps his fingers fast so you can't hold in your orgasm, making your writhe and moan on his lap.

📝

Of course the form includes 'Areas for Improvement' so Dr Barnes takes it upon himself to remind you of your selfish need to come all the time and how cross you get when a patient enjoys her appointment.

For that you get draped across the table, hands tied and tears streaming down your cheeks as he spanks you. He also presses a vibrator to your pussy to challenge you to prove you can indeed control your greedy cunt. It doesn't work, of course, because this man knows how to work your body and on the tenth spank you have come, desire running down your legs as he tuts. It earns you ten more spanks.

📝

Finally for being such a model employee he straps you up in his chair and gives you a good pounding, this time with the added excitement of wondering if he's been filming all this as well.

When your pussy is sore and used he spends time kissing it all over, sucking and licking until you are squealing at the pleasure and pain of the sensitivity. He growls as your come drenches his chin, your body twitching as each of his heavy pants is enough to make you flutter.

He finishes off the review by pumping you full, spreading his load across your pussy and tummy until he's satisfied with the mess you are.

Your body goes slack as you relax in the restraints and he moves around to press kisses to your cheeks and lips. He smiles at you and your beam back, and he plants another kiss on your lips.

"I'd say a very informative performance review wouldn't you sweetie?"

[sarahowritesostucky]

📖"The Carter Academy for Omega Excellence" Pt 8

Rated: Explicit

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Bucky Barnes

Tags: age gap, boarding school au, a/b/o, dub-con/non-con, spanking, feminization, dumbification, sexism, misogyny, prostate milking, discipline, D/s elements, hurt/comfort, mentions of past self-harm, predatory behavior, teacher/student, bathroom use control, humiliation, omorashi

Summary: Bucky Barnes is young, confused, and conflicted - a real "rebel without a cause" type. His parents ship him off to Steve's reform school to help him get straightened out into a "proper young omega."

Wait! I haven't read an earlier part of this fic! Story Masterlist

I've gotten a couple of asks about the worldbuilding behind this fic. If you'd like to read a little more context about how things are in this world, my answers to the asks can be found here and here

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Part 8

"Extended Suppressant Use in the Omega Patient: a literature review" (Mueller et al. 2019)

The bathroom incident does not give Steve high hopes of an easy first week with Barnes. Many new students wind up requiring extra attention in their early days at the school, so Steve is honestly surprised when he isn’t paged that Tuesday with a similar fiasco. He’s outright impressed when Wednesday and then most of Thursday passes by with no incidents, either. Whatever Sharon’s doing, it must be working well. 

Steve can’t say he doesn’t think about the boy regardless. He can’t help but remember their encounter in the bathroom; holding him down and dominating him into submission, pressing on his belly until he finally lost control. The sounds of the boy’s sweet whimpers are burned into Steve’s memory, the earthy and lightly floral hints of his scent still so easy to draw up in his mind. It’s a good thing that this is a busy week for Steve, otherwise he’d hate to think of how much more preoccupied he’d be by thoughts of his new omega charge. 

As it is, his schedule is chock full, his time eaten up with all of his normal headmaster duties (which are considerable), seeing through the end stages of the Academy’s formal division between the girls’ and boys’ sides, and a renovation that they’ve got going on in the south wing corridor. All of that, coupled with the small squabbles that Peggy manages to come up with on an almost daily basis, helps to keep Steve’s mind occupied. And on top of everything, there’s still a lot to be done for the upcoming parents’ weekend. 

He spends most of that Thursday morning dealing with matters directly related to the event that is, in essence, their biggest fundraiser of the year. All day, he's coordinating with his faculty; making sure that everything’s been ordered, scheduled, and arranged just how it needs to be to give the right impression to their guests, provide the right experience.

It’s crucial that all of the right people be well taken care of over the three day weekend, in order to ensure that their endowments to the school keep flowing in. Steve liaises with his staff over the details of the family picnic, the various assemblies and presentations that will be made, the planned activities for each afternoon and dinners that’ll be hosted each evening, and—perhaps most important of all—the formal presentation ball that caps off the weekend of festivities. This year they’re having a few ice sculptures flown in from Edinburgh. Silly in Steve's view, but a classic touch of extravagance that the guests will appreciate.

European nobility, old-money aristocrats, and even some high profile celebrities have been known to show up to the school’s annual matchmaking ball, always seeking amenable, traditional omega mates for themselves. And when your guest lists regularly include names like Vanderbilt, Kennedy, and Stark, good first impressions become very expensive and very necessary. Last term, a Greek shipping heir worth billions had scooped up one of the graduating class’ students, and once news of that had gotten around, enrollment for the next semester skyrocketed.

Steve takes great pride in the academic education provided by his school, but he’s also a realist: He knows that parents place high value on the promise of even a chance for their offspring to be so suitably matched. That, along with the behavioral outcomes the school is known for achieving, is a big reason why many families elect to send their sons to Carter Academy over other, similar schools on the continent. 

With so much to get done, Steve doesn’t get around to eating his lunch that day until well into the afternoon. He eats alone at his desk—a decision that has very little to do with the fact that he can monitor the school’s video surveillance system from his desktop computer. It’s not because he wants to check up on Bucky and hasn’t been able to stop thinking about the kid since Monday. Nope, not at all. Steve always uses the camera system to check in on the happenings around campus, it’s nothing new. And it’s good practice, anyway. A headmaster needs to be involved in his school for it to run smoothly. 

If Bucky’s seventh period class is gym, and the gymnasium is the first area Steve decides to check, well that’s just happenstance. 

He logs into the system and scrolls through the long list of camera views. He has the most heavily trafficked areas bookmarked, but there are hundreds to choose from, every inch of the Academy’s buildings and grounds monitored by the StarkTec cameras.

Carter Academy has its own dedicated security team to keep an eye on things, of course. Rollins and his men do a very good job of making sure the close to three hundred hormonal teenage boys that the school houses stay in line. Every year there are inevitably fights, students caught in each other’s bedrooms at the wrong hours for the wrong reasons, or a few runaways who gravely underestimate the distance and terrain between Carter Academy and the nearest town. Nothing that isn’t always quickly remedied, but parents appreciate the close eye that Steve and the rest of his administration are able to keep on their children at all hours of the day. 

He navigates to the camera views of the gymnasium and sports complex. The majority of students get scheduled for some sort of physical activity at the end of each school day. Exercise is important for omega bodies, and the gym period is thus positioned after all academic lessons have concluded, to allow for the running off of excess energy. It’s a time when their Handlers can take their well-deserved breaks. With only Mr. Odinson and the other Phys-ed staff looking after so many boys, gym period can get quite chaotic, and it predictably takes Steve a few moments to locate Bucky in the throng. 

Eventually he sees him: loitering off to one side of the indoor soccer field, half heartedly kicking a ball back and forth with the Parker boy. He’s changed into his gym uniform, though he hardly seems to be exerting himself. Rather, he’s in deep conversation with Parker, which Steve is happy to see. Every first year student coming into Carter Academy usually struggles at first, but it’s always a good sign when they make friends quickly. Parker, who can normally be found bouncing off the complex’s obstacle courses, seems to have dialed it down a notch to hang out with Bucky, the two of them talking animatedly between themselves. Steve even catches Bucky smiling a time or two, which lifts his hopes that the kid will assimilate well into his new routine. Perhaps this won’t be as hard as he’d imagined.

“Sir?” 

He flicks off the monitor when his secretary knocks at the door. “Yes?”

“Ms. Carter here to see you, Sir.”

Sharon comes in, and the two of them hold their pre-planned meeting about Barnes’ first days on campus and how Sharon has assessed his needs so far. Barnes is attitudinal, but Sharon seems to be amused by him, more than anything else. She hands over her recommendations for protocol, telling Steve that she’s not sure a male handler wouldn’t be in the boy’s best interest. 

“Oh?” Steve raises an eyebrow as he’s perusing her checkmarks along the list. “Why do you say that?”

“You’ve seen what a handful he can be,” Sharon drawls. “Not that I don’t think I can handle him, but he responds more submissively to the male staff, and I think he’s primarily same-sex oriented.”

“You think?” Bucky’s transcripts from his old school had noted that he was equally as promiscuous with boys as he was with girls.

“Yes. And after Monday’s bathroom incident, I think he might do better with a man.” At the mention of ‘the bathroom incident’, Sharon fixes him with a meaningful look. “He responded well with you.”

Steve nods, flipping through the assessment packet. “Yes, well I am the headmaster. They tend to kowtow faster to me.” He tries to think of which male Handlers he has available at the moment. Typically, he doesn't over-prioritize students’ attractions when placing them with a Handler, as romantic attachment is something to be avoided at all costs, but if it’s a behavioral issue that can be corrected with something as simple as the gender of an assigned Handler, then Steve will consider it. “Thank you Sharon,” he tells her, once they’ve wrapped up the meeting. “It sounds like he’s doing alright, so I’ll keep him with you for now.”

“You’re the boss.”

“Alas, yes.” Steve sighs and so does Sharon, mocking him in a friendly sort of way. When she heaves a genuinely heavy inhale and declares that she has to 'get back to the grind', Barnes’ seventh period is almost over, Steve steps in. “Why don't I take him off your hands for the evening?” he suggests. Sharon looks pleased, but not overly surprised, her knowing smirk making Steve feel the need to defend himself, “It’s been a few days now, I should check in with him.”

“Sure.”

Steve frowns at her continued smug expression. “He’s got an appointment with the doc I need to escort him to, anyways.”

“Sure thing, boss.” Sharon is still smirking when she bids him farewell, leaving the office to take the rest of her day off. 

Steve huffs and rolls his eyes. Whatever. He’s not giving Bucky any more attention than he’d give any other troubled new student. He grabs the boy’s folder and rolls out from his desk, planning to head for the gymnasium complex and intercept him there.

… If he checks his reflection in the little mirror by the door on his way out, it’s only because he always does that and it's habit at this point. It’s the professional thing to do, to make sure one looks put together before heading back out in public. Certainly it doesn’t have anything to do with how he’s heading out to deal with Barnes. That’s just happenstance.

Seeing Bucky again after several days is refreshing, and seeing him being friendly with another student brings a literal smile to Steve’s face. This is a good sign. It bodes well for how Bucky will do adapting to his new life.

Peter Parker can be hyperactive and spirited, but he’s a sweet boy at heart with a solid head on his shoulders and a brain between his ears that he actually chooses to use more often than not. He’s done well in the Academy’s program, and he’ll be an excellent person for Bucky to attach himself to during his time here. Steve stands by the gymnasium door with a delighted smirk on his face, because he really couldn’t have chosen better himself. 

The boys still have a few minutes left to their gym period when Steve gets there, so he leaves them to their uninspired soccer ball kicking and goes to touch base with Odinson in the athletic director’s office. Thor is all smiles and has nothing negative to say about any of the boys, as per usual, and Steve thanks him and tells him to make a note that perhaps Barnes could be encouraged to put a little more effort in and try out the parkour courses or the rock walls with Parker, moving forward.

He intercepts Bucky just as he’s coming out of the locker rooms. His hair is curling at the edges after having showered (amusing—the boy was barely exerting himself) and changed back into his regular uniform. The relaxed expression falls right off of his face when he sees Steve standing there. “Oh,” he says, coming up short. “You.”

Steve smiles indulgently. “Yes, I’m afraid. Me.”

“Hey Bucky I’ll see you at dinner maybe?” 

“Yeah,” Bucky says distractedly, eyes still on Steve. “Sounds good.”

Parker heads off with his handler—Natasha, Steve notes, one of the very best and most dominant females he keeps on staff. "Making friends?" Steve asks.

Bucky ignores the question. “Why’re you here?” he asks mulishly, as Steve begins escorting him in the direction of the medical office. “Where’s Sharon?”

“Sharon’s taking a well-deserved break,” Steve drawls. "She and I had a progress meeting about you in my office, just now.” 

Bucky gets tightlipped then and doesn’t say anything, but Steve can see the wheels and cogs turning in his head as he wonders what was said about him. “She had mostly good or neutral things to report,” Steve offers, figuring the boy could use some reassurance. “But of course, I already knew from our interaction on Monday that you're having some difficulties adapting to school protocol.”

Bucky scowls at the floor as they walk. “Just because I don’t like pissing in front of people every day,” he grumbles. “At least we get some privacy to shit around here. Go figure.”

Steve laughs, then decides to strike the fear of God into the boy by remarking, “Oh, that’s a privilege that can be stripped away, too, if needed,” as they approach the end of the hall where the medical offices are. Bucky’s eyes shoot up to him, wide as saucers, and Steve snickers. “Yeah, I know. A true case of a ‘this is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you’ punishment, that’s for certain.”

Bucky all but ‘meeps!’ and Steve snickers and puts a hand on his back to guide him into the office. “Appointment for James Barnes,” he tells the receptionist, who immediately starts checking the computer screen.

Bucky turns on Steve, leery, as he gets a look at their surroundings. “What’s going on? Why are we here?”

Steve ignores him until he’s gotten the go ahead from the receptionist and is guiding Bucky back towards one of the exam areas. “Just a check up. Standard practice for incoming students.” He pushes Bucky into the curtained off area and draws the curtain around to Bucky’s squawks of protest.

“What?! I don’t need to see anybody. I’m totally healthy.”

“That’s the goal. But we need to get you checked out, make sure there’s nothing that needs addressed.” Bucky opens his mouth to complain again, but Steve beats him to the chase, bending to pick him up by the waist and depositing his protesting butt onto the exam table. “Sit.”

“Hey!” Bucky’s scowling, but Steve doesn’t miss the light flush in his face at having been manhandled and reminded of his size and comparative weakness in the face of an alpha like Steve. He doesn’t try to get off the table at least, only shifting in annoyance and making the paper cover crinkle under his butt. “Could’a done it myself,” he grumbles.

Steve shakes his head fondly. “We need to get you examined. Behave, or I’ll have no problem with disciplining you while you’re under my care." Bucky goes tight-lipped at that. Steve nods in satisfaction. "Good."

“When’s Sharon coming back?”

“I told you: she’s been given a well-deserved night off. You’re with me until bedtime, young lady.” 

“Don’t call me that.”

Steve sighs and shakes his head. What might’ve been considered affectionate a generation ago, now elicits only indignation and pushback. It’s sad. “Just behave for the doctor, will you?”

Bucky doesn’t say anything, but when the nurse arrives and introduces herself, he’s generally obedient as she runs through his medical history with him. He speaks more quietly when answering the questions about his sexual health, but Steve doesn't get the sense that he's lying—only that he doesn't want Steve to overhear. (Steve still hears everything, including the boy's very reluctant answer of having had "thirty something" past sexual partners).

Far from evoking displeasure, it mostly just makes Steve sad for the boy. Omegas may have very high sex drives, but they don't fare well in promiscuous situations. Bucky's lack of a reliable partner is probably one of the major contributors to his present mental health issues.

Steve remains quiet and allows Bucky his illusion of privacy on the other side of the curtained off area. The nurse listens to Bucky's heart and lungs, charts his blood pressure and other vitals, and takes a blood draw. It isn’t until she hands him a privacy sheet and tells him to undress below the waist that he kicks up a fuss. “What?"

“The doctor will be right in to do the pelvic exam.” 

“What? No. Why?!”

Used to tantrums, the nurse completely disregards him and looks to Steve. “Headmaster?”

“I’ve got him.” The nurse nods and leaves, and Bucky starts to move to try and get off the exam table. Steve rolls his eyes and goes over and pushes him back into place. “Not so fast, son. Now if you can’t behave we’ll have to do this the hard way.”

“What’s the hard way?”

“Strapped face down on a bench,” he tells him, no-nonsense (though really, that's the easier way for omegas. He just knows Bucky will fight it more). “And that'll earn you a guaranteed spanking in my office, after.”

Bucky growls an angry little omega growl at him, “Why do I have to do this? What’s the friggin’ point?!” 

With his hands clamped on Bucky’s shoulders, Steve bends down and gets in his face. “Because you were popping suppressants for two years, Honey. That stuff can cause all sorts of problems.”

“No it can’t!” 

Steve ignores him and gives him a warning look to keep him in place. He reaches down and pulls one of the exam table’s metal stirrups out, which makes the kid even more visibly upset.

When Steve reaches under the skirt of his uniform to get his underwear down, Bucky growls and tries to kick him, nearly kneeing him right in the nose. Oh. That does it. Steve gives up on playing nice, standing up and grabbing him, using one hand to scruff him while he wraps the other around his waist. “Okay, bud. That was your one chance. If you’re gonna be difficult, we’ll do it your way. Let’s go.” 

“Nngh! Lemme go!”

“Calm down, Honey. Stop fighting, it’s not going to work.” 

The kid whimpers and goes limp for a few seconds from the endorphins of the scruff, but still wiggles in Steve’s arms once he’s manhandled him into the next exam room over—where there’s an exam bench quite similar in function to a traditional spanking bench. Bucky balks when he sees it. “No! Wait!” It takes laughably little effort to get the boy face down on the bench. Steve gets him strapped to it, and by the time he’s removing his underwear and securing his ankles, all the fight has left Bucky and he’s begging instead. “Please, Mr. Rogers. I’m really sorry.”

Steve grabs the room’s extra chair and pulls it over to sit by his head. “I know Buck. This won’t take long. Just try to relax.”

“Please lemme up. I’m sorry. I’ll go back. I’ll do it the other way, I will!”

“Can’t do that, Sweetheart. We need to check that everything’s alright and you’ve proven to me that you can’t be trusted to hold still.” He might’ve considered the request to go back and ‘do it the other way’, if he didn’t already know full well that the prone position is much more soothing for omegas to be in. “This’ll be better,” he promises. “It’ll help you stay relaxed. It feels nice to be strapped in like this, yeah?”

“But I don’t want tooo,” Bucky whines, not refuting Steve’s statement, and with less fight in him as he realizes that he’s been stripped of all control. “It’s embarrassing.”

Steve smiles sadly and pets his face. “It’s for your own good, Sweetheart. Something every omega has to do. The doctor’s just going to come in and use a tool to examine you and make sure everything’s alright. It’ll hardly take a minute.”

Bucky sniffles and turns his face into Steve’s hand, nuzzling his inner wrist and subconsciously seeking out the alpha’s scent for comfort. “Will it hurt?” he whispers.

Steve’s heart constricts—both at the question and the scenting behavior. “No, Honey. Of course not. Haven’t you ever had a reproductive health exam?” It’s supposed to be a standard part of healthcare after an omega’s first heat, but with only two beta parents in the home, Steve doesn’t know why he’s surprised. “It won’t hurt,” he reassures him. “Just relax down against the bench and be good from now on, and we won’t do a punishment spanking after, okay?”

“Really?” Bucky is clearly motivated by this promise, as he stops sniveling as much and nods when the doctor comes in. “Okay,” he says quietly, and Steve smiles and praises him,

“Good girl.”

The school’s doctor is a calm and friendly beta male, and though he doesn’t make any attempt to ascertain Bucky’s consent or opinion on what they’re doing there today, he does speak calmly to Bucky and talk him through each and every step of what happens, before it happens. Steve stays sitting right in front of Bucky the whole time, holding his hand and keeping his own wrist up by Bucky’s face so that the boy can continue to use his scent to self-soothe. 

Bucky goes red in the face as soon as the doctor flips his uniform up and starts palpating and examining his genitals. Even though Bucky's almost certainly trying his absolute best not to get aroused, the faint scent of slick still hits the air after only a moment or two, and he cringes and whines in embarrassment. "Hngh ..."

“It’s okay,” Steve murmurs, trying to placate him with the words and a gentle rumble in his chest. “It’s completely normal to have a reaction. The doc's used to it. No big deal.” Frankly, for an omega to be touched between their legs and not become aroused would be cause for concern. They’re so sensitive down there that it’s to be virtually expected. But Steve can tell that this is little comfort to Bucky, who goes even redder in the face when the doctor hums in agreement and makes an additional comment about Bucky's arousal responses being healthy. 

“I’m going to prep the speculum now,” he tells Bucky. “It’ll be cool and hard, but it won’t hurt you.”

Bucky whines in mortification, his eyes clenching shut. Steve shushes him and pets his hair, which he seems to like because he pushes into it and untenses somewhat. Steve knows the precise second that the speculum goes in though, because Bucky's eyes pop right back open and he makes a small, shocked sound of, “Oh!"

Steve cups his face and tries to keep his attention. “Hey, you’re doing so good,” he praises, swiping his thumb at the corner of the omega’s eye, right where an overwhelmed tear has broken out. “Doesn’t hurt, right?” 

Bucky trembles and shakes his head. “N-no.” He whimpers when the doctor does something from behind, and then his eyes go a little unfocused. “Oh …” The next time he whines, it’s verging a little closer to a moan of pleasure than one of sheer worry. “Ohnn… nngh, just … mmm, s’weird.”

Steve tuts sympathetically, slightly aroused himself at seeing Bucky react this way. He clears his throat and tries to remain professional. “I know, Sweetheart, I know it’s a lot. Just hang in there for me.” He meets the doctor’s eyes from over Bucky’s back, shooting him an anxious look. 

The doctor nods. “Everything seems fine, Headmaster Rogers. He’s just a little swollen.”

“Swollen?” Steve straightens, concerned. “Is it bad? He was on oral suppressants for about two years.”

The doctor smirks and shakes his head. “No, not that kind of swollen, Sir.” 

“Oh.” Steve’s shoulders untense. "I see." He's maybe read a few too many medical journal articles since Bucky told him on Monday that he'd been on suppressants. "Good. That's ... good."

The doctor hums and looks back down, examining Bucky for another long moment before humming in approval and removing the speculum. Bucky’s back slumps and he makes another tiny noise—this time one of relief. “Is it over?”

The doctor pats his hip with an approving nod. “He’s a healthy boy. Nothing to indicate any lasting effects from the medication.” Over Bucky’s back, he meets Steve’s eyes again. “The risk for complications doesn’t go up very high until after the five year mark. We’ll wait on his bloodwork, but I expect it’ll all come back normal.”

“Oh, good.” Steve can’t help but be relieved. He’s definitely read too many articles, seen too many students come through the school's infirmary with much more serious side effects. “So no chance of infertility?”

“Very low,” the doctor reassures, even as Bucky makes a hurt little sound of concern over hearing that possibility. The doctor rolls his stool out from behind Bucky, pulling off his exam gloves and tossing them in the waste bin. “Nope. He looks perfectly normal, Headmaster, both inside and out. From the state of things I’d say he’s about midway through his cycle. So you can expect a heat within the next two weeks.”

Steve nods. “Yes, he reported as much. He's used an app for tracking on his phone.”

“Oh. Would you email that data?” The doctor is already standing and heading for the curtain that divides their little area from the rest of the room. “It’ll be good to have in his records.” 

“Sure thing. Thanks, doc.”

“Of course.” At the edge of the exam area, he looks back at Steve. “Ahm … he’s fairly aroused right now.”

Steve smirks. “I know.”

“Right.” The doctor glances back at Bucky, then to Steve. “I can send one of the nurses in, if you have anywhere to be.”

Steve shakes his head and dismisses the man. “That’s alright. He’s mine for the evening. I’ll handle it.”

Reassured, the doctor nods and ducks out around the curtain. He’s barely gone for a second before Bucky’s shifting in place on the table. “Um, Mr. Rogers?”

Steve looks back down. Bucky is blinking at him, flustered and uncertain. Steve pats his shoulder. “You did really well, Bucky.” He stands up and goes behind him, over to the room’s glove dispenser. He pulls out one of the large sized nitrile gloves and pulls it on. “How’re you feeling?”

“Uhm. Okay.” Bucky can’t see him from his position, so he wiggles impatiently. “Can you help me to, erm, get off of here?”

“Hmm.” Steve walks over and sits on the doctor’s abandoned rolling stool. He rolls to Bucky’s side, popping into his field of vision and giving him a knowing look. “You sure you don’t want help with this first?” At ‘this’, he lets his gloved hand touch Bucky’s flank, edging closer to his exposed backside. He watches as the boy's eyes widen and his cheeks colors anew. “It’s okay to ask for help,” he reassures. “You don’t have to be embarrassed.” 

“I’m not embarrassed,” Bucky lies. 

Steve arches an eyebrow. “You sure? Masturbation isn’t allowed. Did you remember that rule? You need to ask the staff if you need release.”

Bucky huffs angrily. “Why not? Why do we have to ask you guys? Why can’t we just—”

Steve taps his ass lightly, more to get his attention than anything else. “Submission, Honey. We’ve been over this already. That’s what everything here comes back to: learning to depend on somebody who can take care of you and give you what you need. You have strong sexual urges, and that’s okay. It’s completely natural. But you need to learn to turn to your alpha to get your needs met, otherwise they never fully will be.”

Bucky pouts. “You’re not my alpha.”

“That collar around your neck says different. And so does the paperwork your parents signed.” Bucky's face twists into a frustrated moue, stubborn little thing. Steve sighs. “Hey, I know you didn't choose this. I’m your official alpha right now, but one day you’ll find someone you actually want to be with, someone you want to marry and have a family with. All these rules you're learning are just to help you adopt healthy habits. So you can model correct relationship patterns.”

"I already do."

Steve snorts. "Honey, casually sleeping with 'thirty-something' people by your age is not a healthy relationship pattern."

"You just want us all to be lily white virgins."

Steve rolls his eyes as he rolls the stool farther back towards Bucky’s backside. "Certainly not. But hookup culture only serves irresponsible alphas and betas. It doesn't do anything to help you guys with your needs for bonding hormones."

"Another scientific study?" Bucky sneers.

"You got it." Steve looks down, a quick glance showing him what he already knew he’d find: a wet and swollen, little pink rim, clenching hard on nothing. He tuts sympathetically. "Oof. That looks painful."

“Hey, don’t … don’t look,” Bucky complains.

“Oh, hush.” Steve pats his butt—he really does have the sweetest little ass. “You’re very beautiful, Bucky. Every part of you is.”

That, right there, is Steve stepping over the line. Oh, he’s got no qualms about personally appreciating the form of an attractive young omega student, it’s only natural for him to find Bucky beautiful. What’s less appropriate is him commenting on it. Because, to be blunt, not every student in Steve’s care is traditionally attractive. Steve’s still responsible for helping them all equally, and thus it’s always been his policy to avoid complimenting students on their looks when possible. It avoids hurt feelings, subverts any competition between the students who are more naturally prone to jealousy over their shared Alpha headmaster.

But the words are out of his mouth before he can think better of it, and Bucky reacts obviously in the way that he flushes and squirms, instinctively pleased at being approved of in such a way. Steve decides that, since it’s just the two of them alone, he might as well let his guard down a little bit. Bucky’s shown a propensity for skewed thinking, after all, and he needs to be helped to form a positive self image. “You’ve got a lovely body, Buck. Even here.” At ‘here’, he lets his thumb dip a little further into his crack, not touching his hole, but pulling his cheek out enough to get a really good look at the sweet little clench of his rim. Steve hums appreciatively. “Just like the doc said: very healthy.”

Bucky whines and squirms. “Let me up.”

“I can do that. But you’re very wet, Honey.” Steve reaches down between Bucky's legs to glance fingers over his stiff little prick. “And hard.”

“Nnn.”

“You’re not going to have a very pleasant evening if I leave you like this. Are you sure you don’t want some relief?”

Bucky’s body stays tensed, his asshole blurting out more slick from Steve’s hand touching him even just that little bit. He seems to consider it as a real option for a moment, waffling over his decision, but eventually gets out a terse little, “No,” forcing himself to ignore what his body needs. “I don’t.”

“Really?”

“I don’t want you to do it,” he grits.

Steve sighs, not too surprised by that. Bucky’s still resentful of the one person who has complete authority over him. Steve'll probably be the last person he yields to. That’s the way it often goes with the bullheaded kids: they come around to their teachers first, Handlers second, and submit to Steve as their alpha last of all. It’s to be expected, but Steve can’t say he isn’t more disappointed than usual, in this case.

Because he isn't lying to the kid just to improve his self esteem: Bucky really is uncommonly beautiful. A handsome, small but strong boy who is exactly Steve’s preferred type when it comes to omegas. And his scent is … Well, all omegas smell lovely, but Bucky's scent is unusually fascinating.

Ever since that first day in Steve's office, when he'd submitted with such an easily provoked release, Steve’s wanted to get a better sense of him. This would have been the perfect chance to do that. Steve would’ve relished the chance to coax an orgasm out of him today, but if Bucky needs more time to truly relax into it, then he's willing to wait. Not like there won’t be plenty of opportunities in the future, once the boy's sexual urges have built up enough to have him eagerly submitting. 

Steve closes his eyes and takes one last, indulgent inhale of that spiced, floral scent that’s only made stronger by the arousal. Viburnum, he realizes. That’s what it reminds him of. It clings to the edges of the earthy undertones of Bucky's scent, enhancing it to something truly alluring. Regretfully, Steve pats his hip and rolls away on the stool. “Okay,” he says, trying not to let the disappointment come through in his voice. “That’s alright, Sweetheart. I’ll have the nurse sent in to help you.”

“What? No.” Bucky twists his head in the restraints once again to look back at Steve where he’s removing the medical glove and standing up. His eyes widen when he sees the blue glove going into the waste bin, not having realized that Steve had donned it, having literally been prepared to finger him to orgasm. His mouth works helplessly for a moment, open and shut in a loss for words. “I don’t want anybody to do it.”

Steve walks back around in front of him and crouches down to his level, fixing him with a doubtful look. “Well that’s your choice, Honey. But you still won’t be allowed to touch yourself, you do realize that? If you change your mind after lights out tonight, then you’ll have to wait all the way until tomorrow morning to get a staff member to give you any relief.”

Bucky pretends to be unaffected, but Steve can see the brief flash of panic in the boy’s eyes at the prospect of going that much longer without an orgasm. “Fine,” he says, putting on a brave face. “I don’t care.”

Steve isn’t a fool. He knows that Bucky is almost certainly planning to break the rules and touch himself at the first available opportunity. Still, some lessons can’t be taught until mistakes are made and bad behavior corrected, so Steve nods and stands up to start unbuckling the bench’s restraints. “Okay, your choice, bud." 

Bucky climbs off the bench once he’s able to, and Steve hands him his underwear to put on. His little prick is completely erect as he hurriedly pushes the uniform’s skirt back down, and he winces in discomfort as he pulls up the two layers of his underwear and gets them into place on his oversensitive body. “Ugh,” he huffs quietly. “Stupid.”

Steve chuckles, though he honestly feels more pity for the kid than anything. Bucky’s regret over having turned down an orgasm is so obvious it’s near palpable, his scent still rich with arousal. And just like Steve knows without a doubt that the back of the boy's underwear is already getting a wet spot, he also knows that he'll be checking the dormitory’s security feed later that night. With the level of certainty he has over Bucky’s plans to break the rules and touch himself, Steve figures he might as well start planning out what corrective measures they’ll inevitably be instituting as punishment.

“Come on,” he says, putting an arm around the kid’s shoulders and guiding him out of the room. “It’s dinner time. You must be getting hungry.”

Bucky says that he isn’t, but his stomach betrays him by growling loudly not two seconds after.

Story Masterlist

Masterlist

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Event: @sebastianstanbingo Card: sarahowritesostucky Square O4: Floral Scents

@scottishrosefury, @not-that-syndrigast, @lolitsbuckybarnes, @kathy-2005, @stuckysgal, @thenewmissescullen, @sapphirebarnes

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 18 in Tokyo Dome Review (Jan 4th, 2024)

New Japan Rambo **

IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship - Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney vs. TJP & Francesco Akira ***1/4

NJPW World TV Championship - Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi ****

Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura ***1/2

Shota Umino & Kaito Kiyomiya vs. EVIL & Ren Narita ***1/4

NEVER Openweight Championship - Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Tama Tonga ****1/2

IWGP Tag Team & STRONG Openweight Tag Championship Double Title Match - Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. El Phantasmo & Hikuleo ***3/4+

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship - Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. El Desperado ****1/4

Inaugural IWGP Global Championship Match - Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley vs. David Finlay ****1/2

Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson *****

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship - SANADA (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito ****1/4

Photos.

This show ruled. Full disclosure, I've fallen behind with NJPW in the last couple of years, and only really get to fully see the major shows, so going in this looked like a solid little card on paper, so my expectations weren't exactly sky high. However, the New Japan crew knocked it out of the park with an excellent, Show of the Year contender. Things started as they always do: The annual "cram everyone humanly possible onto the card" Rambo. We all know what to expect here, and this was better than a lot of previous offerings, but the surprise appearance of Fujita "Jr" Hayato in this years really raised it up for me, as I'm always super pleased to see him back in the ring after all he's been through. Takashi Iizuka turning up was also a nice surprise (absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that), and it was a kick to be transported back to 2013 with him mercilessly going after poor Shimpei Nogami on commentary. The ending though was very deja vu, as I could have sworn some incredibly similar variant of this was the outcome last year. The final four of Great-O-Khan, Taiji Ishimori, YOH and Toru Yano advanced to face off for the KOPW Title tomorrow.

The main show started in style with the prerequisite Jr Tag Title Match, which featured TJP debuting his new demon gimmick, The Aswang, because he was locked in a casket when last we saw him, you see. My English feed froze at the opening bell on the Aswang mask for ages, and by the time I'd gotten back onto the Japanese feed, I'd missed like three minutes of this, there were brawls all over ringside, The Aswang was wearing a dog collar, and Moloney was bleeding. The final 5 or so minutes I did see were pretty damn good though, so that's what my rating is based on. TJP got this win for him and Akira after he blew the dreaded Dokukiri into Drilla's face, then Catch 22 hit the double knees to regain the titles at 9:38. Next up, President Tanahashi put an end to the 365 day TV Title reign of ZSJ in an excellent 8:53 sprint. These guys always have excellent matches together, and this was no exception. They worked a fast-paced thriller, which boiled down to them hitting a sequence of cradle reversals, before Tana counter a Zack Victory Roll into one of his own, and won the belt to a big pop. President Ace thanked everyone for coming in the post match, and wished us all a Happy New Year. Godly.

Career rivals Tsuji and Uemura had their first non-Young Lion outing on a major show next. This was a very good little match, I've always been high on both guys since they were rookies, and I firmly believe they have incredibly bright futures in New Japan, and are destined to be focal points in the years to come. Even though I do wish they'd do more with Yota. The guy came in super hot, with a ton of hype, and now he's kinda just floundering in the mid-card. And more mid-carders is most certainly not something this company needs! They always have really good matches, so add this one to that list, which ended at just under 11 minutes, when Uemura got the much needed win with his beautiful Deadbolt suplex. Fellow future superstar Shota Umino drove into Tokyo Dome on a motorbike to start his and partner, NOAH "Ace" Kiyomiya's tag match against HoT goons EVIL and Ren Narita next. This was going along really nicely, the three young guys all looked great, and the crowd were very much into, until the standard shenanigans started, which lead to a fairly abrupt finish, which saw Narita deck Umino with a steel plated push-up bar, then score the pin with his Double Cross finish at the 7 minute mark.

The fifth bout saw company MVP Shingo defend the NEVER Title against Tama Tonga in a hard-hitting war, which was by far the best match on the show up to this point. The near 30K in attendance were going crazy for this as they hit all their big spots, massive Lariats and Gun Stun counters. After Takagi scored a great near fall with Made in Japan, Tama went to the Bullet Club well, hitting a Gun Stun, Bloody Sunday AND a Styles Clash, before putting Shingo away with the DSD at 13:46 to claim his 4th NEVER Championship. Excellent stuff here, though seemingly Tama announced afterwards that he's finishing up with the company at the end of the month, so him winning is an... interesting decision. The double Tag Title match followed, which was a rematch of the Tag League Final between Bishamon and GoD. This was another great match, a fun sprint which saw the STRONG Champions win both sets of belts after ELP hit Goto with CRIII, and Hikuleo came off the top with a massive, but very unattractive, Big Splash to win the belts in 9:47. Just before this match, Nic Nemeth (the former Dolph Ziggler) and his brother Ryan turned up to sit at ringside. I think we all know there's some kind of angle coming here.

Speaking of career rivals, Hiromu and Despy faced off for the Jr. Heavy Title in the next bout. We've seen many versions of this match in recent history, and they're pretty much always excellent, so this fit that mould no doubt. Things started hot as Despy hit Hiromu with a Tope con Giro as he made his entrance, and they worked 100 mph from there. The challenger worked over the champions leg to set up the Numero Dos, but it wasn't to be. The finish saw Desperado escape the Hiromu Roll, then hit a Jay Driller, kept a hold and nailed Takahashi with a second Pinche Loco to win the strap at the 14:21 mark to end another great outing. We crowned an inaugural IWGP Global champion next, as Ospreay, Moxley and Finlay had a wild Triple Threat Match. This started with Mox and Ospreay agreeing to work together for the first 5 minutes in order to take out Finlay, then turn their attention on each other, before BC War Dogs Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd ran in. The babyfaces rallied a comeback though, which saw Ospreay put the invaders through tables with a Swanton Bomb to the outside, and Moxley took a post bump and gigged himself. Which I'm sure will shock many. The finishing stretch was insanely hot as Mox kicked at one from a Hidden Blade, but was put down with Stormbreaker, only for Finlay to hit Ospreay with his new Overkill finish, which is essentially a Brainbuster into a Go 2 Sleep, to become the inaugural Global champion in 22:17. In the post match, Finlay got into a shoving match and pull-apart with Nic Nemeth at ringside, which culminated in Nemeth chasing him to the back. So that looks to be Finlay's first title programme. Finlay going over was 100% the right call, with Ospreay leaving as a full-timer, they need to start making some top guys, and he's a good place to start.

Semi final time, and a true dream match next as Okada faced Danielson in a match I'd spent a good decade fantasy booking. After their slightly disappointing first encounter at Forbidden Door in June, due in no small part by Dragon legit breaking his arm during it, they came out with a lot to prove. And they certainly didn't disappoint this time as they had a superb wrestling encounter based around aggression and emotion. As anyone who's been watching Danielson since the ROH days can attest, when Bryan has a grudge with someone (Morishima, Nigel), he goes all out with the intensity, and it usually produces classics. The pacing, the limb-work, the storytelling, the drama... everything about this was essentially perfect. After Okada broke Danielson's arm in their previous match, Dragon obsessively set out to do the same here. And it lead to his downfall. The American Dragon was coming into this one with a fractured orbital bone, so Okada worked over that for a while too. Okada kicked out of a Busaiku Knee, Danielson locked on the same arm submission he tapped Okada out with at Forbidden Door, but The Rainmaker made the ropes. Dragon then stomped his f'n head in and locked in the LeBell Lock, only for Okada to hit a Rainmaker, but he was in too much pain from his devastated right arm, and couldn't make the cover. Danielson hit a big head kick and another Busaiku Knee, but rather than go for the cover, he elected to do the "Yes!" gimmick in the corner, and try another knee, but Okada hit an Emerald Flowsion, a Landslide, then another Rainmaker to fall on top of Dragon, and score the surprise win at the 23:24 (which it felt half of, by the way). This was a masterpiece, and I was legitimately shocked when the three count came. I could have watched this for an hour, it left me very much wanting a rubber match, and this is easily the best match of 2024 so far. They bowed to each other and shook hands in the post match.

The Keiji Muto fan club imploded in the main event as former LIJ stablemates Naito and SANADA (who was even dressed like Muto circa 1995), battled for the World Title. This was an excellent match, one that I didn't have a massive amount of interested in going into this show, but they had a really great clash. It's worth mentioning that something happened to SANADA here, I don't know if it was the biceps injury he's been dealing with since G1, or if he seperated his shoulder or something, but he was in noticeable discomfort through this, and it let to some wonky botches near the finish. They tried multiple times to do a Destino counter, but they couldn't pull it off. SANADA hit Dead Fall for the double down, then an Asai DDT, but Naito escaped a second Dead Fall attempt, and went for Valentia, but SANADA countered into an O'Connor Roll for a super close near fall. A Shining Wizard followed, but Naito turned another Dead Fall attempt into one of his own, finally hit Valentia, then finished the champion off with Destino to win his first World title at 25:42. It's worth pointing out that they clashed heads on the way down on the Destino, and Naito got busted open pretty bad over his eye. With Naito having finally won again in the main event of Tokyo Dome, he was about to Finish His Story, when EVIL and Dick Togo, of all people, ran-in in an attempt to ruin things like KENTA did in 2020. However, they hadn't bargained on SANADA, who nailed his former tag partner with a Shining Wizard, and Naito sent Dick packing with a low dropkick. SANADA then let Naito finish the story a decade in the making, and do his "De-Ja-Pon!!!" roll call to end the show and send everyone home happy. Whilst I applaud NJPW for giving SANADA a go, or just giving ANYONE NEW a shot at the top of the card (it's been very Groundhog Day for a long time up there, and this is something I've been encouraging since NAito at WK8!), I don't think it payed off liked they'd hoped. SANADA is a very good worker, and amazing athlete, but he's just missing something that would make him that major star. Which is obviously something Naito has in abundance, so I'm very pleased he got his big win here, as it was pretty much last chance saloon.

This was a tremendous card, not quite as good as last year's, I don't think, but still great, great stuff and well worth checking out. Especially the Okada/Danielson match!

NDT

[autolenaphilia]

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered starring Lara Croft is so good. This is how a video game remaster should be done. I’m very biased of course, as a fan of Tomb Raider and the classic Core Design games especially. But this very much is a remaster aimed at fans like me, you can tell. This remaster collection is what I’ve wanted for years at this point. The game has the overly helpful subtitle “Starring Lara Croft”, and I’m like damn right, this is a “return of the queen” moment for me, the return of classic Core Design Lara after over 20 years of neglect.

And I don’t even know how much sense this post will make to non-fans. I suppose everyone knows what a Tomb Raider is and who Lara Croft is, and the easiest way to explain is that this is a remastered edition of the first three games in the franchise, released annually from 1996 to 1998. It’s made by Aspyr, whose history with the franchise goes all the way back to making macintosh ports of these games back in the 90s.

And this truly is a complete collection of TR I-III, in that it doesn’t just include the base games, but the expansions each game received: Unfinished Business, The Golden Mask and The Lost Artifact. The first two were sold together with the original games as bonus levels for the Gold re-releases of the games, while the third got a separate release.The base games have been sold on GOG for many years (and also Steam, but the GOG versions run better), but the expansions have been abandonware for decades at this point. It was a pity, because the expansions were excellent and showed how cool expansions packs for games used to be (especially compared to the dlc of today) That these remasters finally allow them to shine once more is justification in itself.

Overall, this is a very “preservationist” remaster. You get modern graphics and modern controls, but these are just additions laid on top of the original games, which are mostly unchanged. In fact the original code and engine was actually used. And you can tell, because useful bugs for both casual players and speedrunners like the corner bug are actually preserved in the remaster, you can even get a steam achievement for using it. You can compare this to how Nightdive studios remasters old games, where their favored method is porting the game to their own Kex engine.

And for those who want to recreate the originals, it’s easy to do. The original tank controls is the default control scheme and you can toggle between modern and tank controls in the options menu. And you can at any time switch between new and original graphics literally with the press of a button. The majority of what I wrote about the original games way back in 2021 on this blog still apply (You can find my reviews for the original TR 1- 3, here, here and here).)

Yet as someone who has played the original games to completion so many times, I actually played all three games in the remaster with the modern graphics and the modern control scheme, and that’s because I preferred it that way. In fact I might find it hard to go back to the originals. I mostly toggled to the old graphics out of curiosity, to compare the textures.

The new graphics go for a cartoony non-realistic aesthetic which works really well and feels true to the original graphics, for even if they aimed for realism, the limitations of the time made them into 3d cartoons. And the graphics don’t try to go too HD and hide the inherent blocky squareness of the game world, which is such an important part of the look and feel of these games and the gameplay as well. The real point of the new graphics is to make the game look better on modern high-resolution monitors, in a way that feels true to the original games and it ably succeeds at that. And of course the new graphics are easily switched off if you don’t like them. But I did. The original graphics retain their charm, but they undeniably look very grainy and low-res at any modern display resolution, and the new graphics retain much of that charm due to their warm cartoonish style, while looking crisp.

I was skeptical about the other big addition, “modern controls.” It’s modeled off the control scheme in the 2006-08 LAU trilogy, and it’s, well, modern. Lara moves relative to the camera, moves instantly in the direction your input indicates, without left and right making her turn, etc.

I feared the modern controls because the classic controls were closely tied to the grid-based environment, and modern controls would loose that, ironically making the game harder. And my initial experiments with modern controls, trying to figure them out blindly, seemed to confirm that fear. Basic movies like the hop-back to set up a jump or safety drop off a ledge seemed absent. Yet that was only because I didn’t understand them. This was not entirely my fault, for the remasters don’t explain them at all, and that’s my main complaint with this remaster. Even the options menu to remap the controls is misleading, since it doesn’t clearly explain you have two action buttons now (in itself a sensible change). It simply calls one new button “secondary”, without explaining it’s “secondary action.”

There is no PDF manual included with the games, which we really needed. This page on Aspyr’s official site kinda is the closest to it we get, but it should have been included when you buy the game on gog or steam. And some fans explain it better, like this steam guide. There are also videos that helped me get my head around the new control scheme.

But once you do figure them out, modern controls are actually good. They are very fluid, without being too imprecise. They still give the player the option to move carefully, holding walk still means you will not walk off a ledge, and you can actually still safety hang off a ledge (just hold secondary action and walk off the edge, and Lara will hang from it, Angel of Darkness style). All the moves from the original tank controls you need are there, just in a different form. Just faster and more fluid. It’s not surprise that glitchless speedruns of the remasters all tend to use modern controls (while glitched runs use tank controls because it enables them to do the established set-ups for glitches, which as mentioned have been left in).

Other than these major but optional improvements, the changes are minimal. It's stuff like icons appearing when you are close to interactable objects, and boss health bars.

I noticed some changes in Tomb Raider III in an effort to ease some of the frustration of that game. You do actually get your ammo and medpacks back after being captured in Nevada this time, fixing a long-standing problem that I explained in my original review. Also the tribesmen’s blowguns are no longer hitscan, but have visible and thus potentially dodge-able projectiles. Otherwise the game is as frustrating (and shockingly racist) as ever. I do love it despite its flaws.

The other major change is that Unfinished Business expansion levels are re-ordered, so now the two Atlantis levels comes before the Egypt section. This is actually following the intention of the original developers and the intended storyline of these levels, so it’s an act of restoration of developer’s intentions compared to the original release of the expansion, instead of Aspyr imposing its own vision. And the levels do make more sense this way, the Atlantis levels are obviously meant to a direct continuation of the ending of TR 1, starting Lara off on the same slide she ended TR 1 on.

This remaster overall is a faithful act of artistic restoration. It’s a love letter to these games, made by people who love them and don’t want them changed too much. It’s truly a remaster for the fans, by the fans. Quite literally, developers were recruited by Aspyr from the fan community. And as an established Tomb Raider fangirl, I was quite pleased with the remasters. I don’t know how good it will be at bringing in new fans, but I’m very happy with it. Go buy it now, so maybe we’ll at least get Tomb Raider IV-V Remastered.

[theuntitledblog]

WWE SummerSlam (2024) - REVIEW

I used to look forward to the annual SummerSlam event ever since I started watching WWE following SummerSlam 1996. That event, much like this one, also featured a stunning betrayal in one of its pivotal matches when Paul Bearer betrayed the Undertaker for Mankind. So SummerSlam played a significant part in discovering my love for wrestling, I even bought VHS tapes of SummerSlam 1988, 89, 90, 91, and 92 as I retrospectively discovered that era of wrestling. SummerSlam 1996-8 remained highlight events during my time of watching WWE but with the exception of perhaps the 2000 and 2002 event, SummerSlam to me never quite felt as important again compared to the other Big 4 events of WWE.

Perhaps part of the issue is that SummerSlam lacks a unique concept; Royal Rumble and Survivor Series have always been built around a particular match type while WrestleMania has always been the biggest spectacle of the sport. SummerSlam has had moments over the years but to me at least it just hasn't felt quite as important to the other 3 ... maybe that's just me, I don't know. The point I'm trying to make is that the 2024 SummerSlam was the first time in as long as I can remember that the event did feel that it had that same gravitas as the other Big 4 events. This is a show that didn't have a diverse card in terms of match type; there were no tag team matches, triple threat, cage, ladder or any other creative match that other events have utilised. This was a stadium show with 7 singles matches that all had a long-term story at its centre and whose outcomes would redraw the map of the main roster. OK, sure, the match outcomes were generally what I predicted, but while watching the event, there were moments where I doubted those outcomes as the in-ring drama drew me in. SummerSlam 2024, for me, has been the best event PLE since WrestleMania 40 and even then, maybe slightly better in some respects.

MATCH 1 - WWE Women's Championship: Liv Morgan (champion) vs. Rhea Ripley

SummerSlam got off to a very strong start with this opening match, which was never going to struggle in terms of story, but when it came to the in-ring action? I wasn't sure, but that doubt was more about Liv Morgan than Rhea Ripley. There's no question that the Liv Morgan of recent years couldn't be more different than the way she was during her time with The Riott Squad, but even then there's been something about her that hasn't always convinced despite defeating Ronda Rousey for her first World title. Her scrappy style in the ring, the constant underdog presentation didn't help the feeling that she was often punching above her weight when stepping into the ring with the likes of the Four Horsewomen, Asuka and even Rhea Ripley. However, since returning at the 2024 Royal Rumble, things have felt felt very different with her. She had a strong showing in the Rumble and Elimination Chamber, and the post-WrestleMania storyline between Morgan and the Judgment Day has been an unexpected hit. She's looked convincing in the ring, the storyline with Dominik has been captivating week after week and this is by far the best program she's featured in where she looks strong.

So, going back to my doubts regarding the in-ring action for their match at SummerSlam? I needn't have worried. This was a fantastic match from start to finish that thankfully, didn't feel like a complete mis-match. Rhea Ripley got to show off her superior strength and looked superb and Liv Morgan likewise worked in some good offense and felt like a threat with a clever injury angle that I honestly couldn't tell was real or not judging by Ripley's excellent selling. But this was a match where you sensed something was going to happen, but you just weren't sure what exactly. In the end, it was exactly what this match needed, and while Morgan got the major win, the post-match betrayal with Dominik will absolutely be what this match is most remembered for thanks to tolheir performances, the crowd reactions and even the commentators. It's an outstanding start to SummerSlam in a match that delivered more than I could've hoped for.

****

MATCH 2 - Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn (champion) vs. Bron Breakker

How do you follow an outstanding opening match? By being something different. This was an interesting match as firstly, this was pretty much the only match on the card that came down to the in-ring action alone. The second thing was that out of all the matches on the card, this is the one I would've changed to maybe a Triple Threat Match and include the likes of Jey Uso or Ilja Dragunov rather than just duplicate the previous PLE. That's not to suggest that this match was bad because it wasn't, but by the end of the night this was the one that I had pretty much forgotten about. It was a short match that cut to the chase by having a dominant Bron Breakker win his first Intercontinental title. It certainly made sense although it didn't offer up any surprises and seemed to realize that they couldn't outdo the match beforehand. I'm excited by what's to come with Breakker as champion but I still kinda felt that their match at Money at the Bank was the better one and I'm not sure what was achieved by delaying it till here. I guess that's why I'm the fan and not the booker.

***

MATCH 3 - United States Championship: Logan Paul (champion) vs. L.A Knight

The rise in the popularity of L.A. Knight has genuinely surprised me and seemed to come out of nowhere following his feud with the late Bray Wyatt. I'm certainly no hater of Knight, but I'd be lying if I said I was a big fan or that his matches were something I particularly looked forward to. But if the match with A.J Styles at WrestleMania proved anything is that he can put on a show and deliver some fun, if not classic, matches. On the other side, you have Logan Paul, who I've stated before is so much better in the ring than he has any right to be. The decision to put the US title on Paul was a controversial one, and I had hoped it might boost the profile of a title that's never felt as prestigious compared to the Intercontinental title. I don't know if they achieved that, although Knight's victory here was a genuine feel-good moment and a just reward for a star whose stock has been steadily rising. The match wasn't the best on the card, but it benefitted from a good story coming in, plus Paul makes for such a dislikeable heel that I was really rooting for Knight here. It was a physical back and forth clash with Paul really showing the consequence of the physicality. A super plex spot looked scary as Paul seemed to struggle to get into the right position on the way down, and it made me and my friend wince. But this was the right result that rightfully rewarded Knight, who I think is an ideal choice to try to elevate this title. I just hope they build upon this moment.

*** 1/2

MATCH 4 - Women's Championship: Bayley (champion) vs. Nia Jax

Nia Jax is clearly enjoying what has been her best run since returning to WWE. She has looked better, been given better storylines, and most of all, she's been impressive in the ring and has put on some great matches with the likes of Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch. Her triumph in the Queen of the Ring tournament was the right decision and has given Nia a well-deserved push into a position that she probably should have reached earlier. Bayley likewise has also had a good run since the Royal Rumble which included a major title win at WrestleMania and a solid reign as champion even if the reign itself hasn't been as quite as memorable as her heel run as champion with Sasha Banks by her side. I liked the Damage Contrl angle and felt that the group didn't go over as much as they probably should have but her Royal Rumble and World Title win at WrestleMania seemed to come out of nowhere and was a recognition for what has been an outstanding career. But you definitely got the feeling that this was Jax's time and while the crowd disappointingly didn't seem to be into parts of this which admittedly didn't have strongest story of the two women's matches on the card. The match itself was pretty good in itself, where both came out looking strong, and the crowd did wake up following the powerbomb spot on Jax. The Tiffany Stratton dynamic with Jax will intrigue going forward, but the only question mark for me is where does Bayley go from here?

***

MATCH 5 - CM Punk vs. Drew Mcintyre with Seth Rollins as the Special Guest Referee

Things couldn't have gone worse for CM Punk at the Royal Rumble. One of the most anticipated in-ring returns in recent memory for a star with so much baggage and drama hanging over him, and it ends with a major injury. In any other circumstance, this would've been a disaster, yet WWE managed to create one of the most compelling storylines and bitterest of feuds in as long as I can remember. This was perhaps the most anticipated match on the card and where one of the major participants hadn't wrestled in nearly 7 months! It's testament to the quality of the change from the McMahon era to the Levesque era of WWE that a match like this can be so anticipated and main event worthy.

I don't know whether Seth Rollins was really needed but I don't think his presence hurt things either especially since it's a reasonable assumption that Rollins vs. Punk is one of the next major feuds to come. I really liked how they built up the tension as much as possible with Rollins delaying ringing the bell while both Punk and McIntyre looked ready to tear each other apart. The match was very physical and was just oozing storytelling throughout and the crowd absolutely loved it. A big thumbs up for the call back to the conclusion of the main event of SummerSlam 1997 as well. I sometimes wonder whether matches like this work as well for a live audience especially when the more story driven moments and exchanges in the ring can only be heard by the viewers at home. Whatever the answer is, what doesn't change is that the in-ring action was good, CM Punk looked great in the ring, the match was filled with compelling drama and delivered on the night.

****

MATCH 6 - World Heavyweight Championship: Damian Priest (champion) vs. Gunther

No other superstar has risen to the top faster or thrived more during the Triple H era of WWE than Gunther. What he lacks in visual flair is more than compensated by his ring presence as a dominant heel in hard hitting matches. Not since Brock Lesnar has a superstar felt as legitimate in the ring as Gunther and it's crystal clear just how much he's valued by WWE in the way he's been booked since arriving on the main roster. His record breaking run as Intercontinental champion is legend in itself and his only pinfall loss felt like the natural next step for what felt was an inevitable run as a World champion. I'm a huge Gunther fan so this is a big moment as a fan but the only downside is that this comes at the expense (sort of) of Damian Priest whom I equally felt was finally coming into his own as champion. It's fitting therefore that two of the biggest rising stars in WWE right now put on the best match of the night.

Did it have the best storyline of the night going in? No however the build-up was helped by some personal jibes from Gunther in the last couple of weeks all the while WWE has been promoting the story of Damian Priest's wrestling career that has helped give things a more personal edge. The brawls they've engaged in on Raw have certainly helped bring a little more heat to the match which made the hard hitting action land even harder. Priest and Gunther looked more than a match for each other with both landing heavy moves including chops which drew blood from The Ring General himself. There were moments where I thought that this might end in a more conventional manner but at the same time there was that sense, given the progression of the night, that more drama might be on the way and in that respect I was not disappointed. Finn Balor's betrayal has been a long time coming and completed the implosion of the Judgment Day which turned out to be one of the biggest takeaways from SummerSlam 2024. This is a match that has redrawn Monday Night Raw considerably while at the same time elevating everyone involved. This has injected new life into the Judgement Day storyline, set up Priest and Balor on a path for what could be a career making feud and and of course elevated Gunther into the main event scene as World champion. This for me was the best match of the night in terms of in-ring action and while maybe the drama of the opening match was tough to beat, in terms of long term consequences this could be even more far reaching.

****

MAIN EVENT - WWE Undisputed Championship: COdy Rhodes (champion) vs. Solo Sikoa

I've got to be honest that I never saw this coming. It's strange to think that for so long we were so focused on the Bloodline storyline with Roman Reigns as Undisputed Champion that we didn't really stop to consider what might happen afterwards. Did anyone really expect to see Solo Sikoa as the next leader of the Bloodline or in the main event for the Undisputed title? I certainly didn't and credit is due for making this new line-up of the Bloodline as credible a threat as possible with the introduction of some new faces that has generally been a success. It's taken some time but with patience and some key victories at Backlash and Money in the Bank, Solo Sikoa for me looks comfortable in this spot and to be fair he and Cody Rhodes put on a very fine match to close the show.

But ... like some of the latter matches of Roman Reign's run as champion, this sadly fell prey to a sense of predictability. The Bloodline rules stipulation that was put in rather last minute was a mistake for me in that it essentially sign posted what we should expect. It's not like this hasn't worked before and I'm not suggesting that this spoiled things, but given the ending of the still rather recent WrestleMania, it just felt too similar and worse too was that the crowd were in on it and waiting. The crowd therefore never seemed too into this match despite the efforts that Rhodes and Sikoa were putting because they knew the match wasn't going to end before that moment occurred. Roman Reign's return stole the show in that match and was the biggest talking point of the main event, not Cody and not Solo which is a shame because they put on a good show.

*** 1/2

OVERALL

I thought this was an incredible SummerSlam and probably best one I've seen in many years. I was surprised how this was a single's match only card but the storylines leading into each of them more than made up for it. Were the results to be expected generally? Yes however the drama involved within each made this event feel like an important one especially in how they've redrawn the dynamics of both Raw and Smackdown going forward.

FAVOURITE MATCH - Damian Priest vs. Gunther

LEAST FAVOURITE MATCH - Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker

FAVOURITE MOMENT - Dominik betrays Rhea Ripley

LEAST FAVOURITE MOMENT - The scary looking superplex during L.A Knight vs. Logan Paul.

EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS - Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley

COULD’VE BEEN BETTER - Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker

UNSUNG HERO - Jelly Roll

[simlit]

a year in review | Chosen of the Sun

my annual collection of favorite pictures, moments and scenes from CotS from this year. to be honest, so much has happened in the story it was hard to go through everything and pick out favorites. the scenery and settings, I feel, also improved this year which made filming much more enjoyable despite all the effort it takes to deal with the game. I can't believe I said in my last review that 2023 would be the year I finished, and I only barely managed to finish a chapter lmfao. That being said it is, once again, in my New Year's resolutions to finish the story in 2024. Given how much we have left to get through, it'll be a tall order, but doable. As much as I love CotS and still don't want it to end, I am starting to look forward to the "what's next" and think more on my other projects, but for now, I am happy to continue posting these bozos for another year. as always, thank you to all of you for reading along and participating. You've made posting this story so much fun for me, and I know I wouldn't still be active here if it wasn't for all of you. So thank you and here's to an excellent 2024!

[ausetkmt]

Here are my updated recommendations for the best Usenet Provider:

Newshosting is a reliable provider with excellent download speeds

If you’d prefer an independent provider based in Europe, I recommend:

Tweaknews (more details)

XS News (more details)

See also this article that discusses all the Usenet backbones.

I do not recommend these providers:

UsenetBucket (poor customer service, clunky interface)

Astraweb (doesn’t respond to emails, poor customer service)

Giganews (overpriced for the service offered)

To achieve Usenet nirvana, I recommend using SABnzbd as your client (see my The Best Usenet Clients article) and a good Usenet index (see my article The Best Usenet Indexes).

The NZB Unity add-on for Firefox also makes downloading easier. On Chrome browsers, you can use SABconnect++.

Getting More Coverage: Using Backup Providers

The power users tend to use two providers — a primary provider and a backup provider. The reason for this is that some files might be missing from the primary provider so the backup provider will fill in the missing file. The backup account can be a block account if you like. Block accounts are a one-time charge. The price is based on the number of gigabytes (GB) available for download.

For your backup account to be effective, you need your backup provider to pull from a separate Usenet backbone.

Here are my recommended combinations of providers:

Newshosting (USA + Europe, Omicron backbone) + XS News (European provider, Abavia backbone)

UsenetExpress (USA + Europe, UsenetExpress backbone) + Tweaknews (European provider, Omicron backbone)

See instructions here on how to add the backup provider in SabNZBd.

Created in 1979, Usenet is one of the originally distributed networks. Still widely used today, the Usenet contains a vast number of media files and articles!

Usenet users upload every type of media file (movies, TV shows, music, and e-books). In its 30-year history, no one has ever been sued for downloading anything from the Usenet.

In 2004, a site called Newzbin started indexing the files available on Usenet and created the NZB file format. An NZB file is the Usenet equivalent of a torrent file. An NZB file that contains a pointer to files available on Usenet.

To get started with Usenet, you need to pay for Usenet access from a provider. You can expect to pay about $10-$20 monthly for access.

Advantages of Usenet

Encourages users to download (leech)

Direct downloading as opposed to waiting for seeders

It uses the total bandwidth of your internet connection

It uses SSL to encrypt data being sent to your computer

There are four main features to look for when choosing a provider:

Data Retention (how far their Usenet archive goes back — 1200 days is average, around 2100 days is the longest you can get)

Monthly Transfer (the amount of data you can download each month — varies from 5 GB to unlimited traffic)

Connections (the number of simultaneous connections you can make at a single time through your account — around 10-15 is fine unless you have a 100Mbps connection)

Secure Connections (you may want a provider that provides SSL connections, so you can’t be snooped on)

Unlimited Usenet Access With No Frills: UsenetExpress

UsenetExpress is a good choice if you want no-frills Usenet service and are comfortable using NZB files to initiate downloads. This service is a hybrid tier 1 service based in the US. As a hybrid provider, UsenetExpress has its own local storage, and this is supplemented by files pulled from a third-party backbone (Abavia).

I’ve been testing UsenetExpress for about four years. The price is only $7.50 monthly for 50 connections with unlimited downloads. The annual price is $90. They accept Bitcoin as a payment option.

Link: UsenetExpress

The Best European-Based Usenet Providers

Many people prefer using European providers because they offer alternative Usenet feeds and can be used to fill in missing binary files. However, note that these providers also comply with file takedowns (via NTD) requests.

Tweaknews: Comprehensive Provider In Europe

Tweaknews is a Dutch Usenet provider with some of the fastest connections in Europe. This provider charges €7 euros or $7.99 USD per month. For this, you get 40 SSL Usenet connections, with 2500-day retention. A VPN and search engine are also included.

Tweaknews offers a 10-day free trial. Using the trial account, you can download at 20 Mbps (2.5 MB/s) using 8 connections — up to a limit of 10 Gigabytes.

Tweaknews also offers block accounts, and these are pretty popular. For example, their “100GB Block Package” costs only €13 (euros). However, please note that the download speeds for the block account are capped at 100 Mpb/s.

I’ve been testing them for several months, and I’ve found their service to be reliable. From my US East Coast office, I generally get a download speed of 97 Mbps (11.4 MB/s). The company says they offer a maximum rate of 800 Mbps (100 MB/s).

The Tweaknews feed comes from Highwinds — a US-based tier-one provider in business since 2002.

Headquarters: Netherlands

Server locations: Netherlands only

Backbone: Highwinds (Omicron Media)

Retention: 2500 days

Connections: 40

SSL connections: Yes

Download limit: unlimited

Max. Speed: uncapped (except for block accounts)

Price: €7 euros or $7.99 USD per month (for a yearly subscription)

Payment types: Credit Cards, Paypal, iDeal, Giropay, Direct Debit, SOFORT Banking

Trial: 10 days (with 10GB limit)

Block accounts: Yes

Account sharing: No

Link: Tweaknews

XS News: An Independent Usenet Backbone

XS News is my recommended independent European Usenet provider. This tier-one service started in 2006 and offers a genuinely independent Usenet feed.

XS News is based in Lijnden, The Netherlands, and all their servers are there.

They offer 30 connections for € 8.20 euros (about $9.70 USD) per month with a yearly subscription. Their retention time is 1100+ days.

Headquarters: Netherlands

Server locations: Netherlands

Backbone: Abavia

Speed: 800 Mbit/s (or 100 MB/s)

Connections: 30

SSL Connections: Yes

Retention: 1100 days

Downloads: uncapped

Price: € 8.20 or $9.36 USD (per month for a yearly subscription)

Payment types: Credit Card, Bitcoin, Paysafecard & more

Trial: 14 Days

Block accounts: Yes

Account sharing: Yes

Link: XS News

A List Of All Usenet Backbones

US & European Backbone 1 — Omicron (HW Media)

US & European-based servers

3700+ days of retention

Unlimited & block accounts

Follows DMCA

Recommended providers: NewsDemon (full details here)

Other providers: Newsgroup Ninja, Astraweb, BlockNews, Frugal Usenet, NewsgroupDirect, ThunderNews

US and European Backbone 2 – Giganews

US & European-based servers

1100+ days of retention

Offers accounts with unlimited downloads (no block accounts)

Follows DMCA

Providers: Giganews, Supernews

US-Only Backbone 1 – UsenetExpress

hybrid retention – 365+ days primary/1100+ days secondary via Abavia

Unlimited & block accounts

Follows DMCA

Providers: UsenetExpress (full details here)

US-Only Backbone 2 – Altopia

20+ days of retention

Offers accounts with unlimited downloading (no block accounts)

Follows DMCA

Providers: Altopia

European-Only Backbone 1 – Omicron (Eweka)

3700+ days of retention

Offers accounts with unlimited downloading (no block accounts)

Follows NTD

Recommended provider: Eweka (full details here)

European-Only Backbone 2 – Omicron (Tweaknews)

3200+ days of retention

Offers accounts with unlimited downloads (no block accounts)

Follows NTD

Recommended provider: Tweaknews (full details here)

European-Only Backbone 3: Omicron (XLned)

3000+ days of retention

Offers accounts with unlimited downloading (no block accounts)

Follows DMCA

Recommended providers: XLned (full details here)

Other providers: SunnyUsenet, UsenetBucket

European-Only Backbone 4 – Usenet.Farm

hybrid retention – 70 days primary/1000+ days secondary

Unlimited & block accounts

Follows NTD for primary retention, DMCA for secondary retention via Abavia

Recommended provider: Usenet.Farm (full details here)

European-Only Backbone 5 – Abavia

1100+ days of retention

Unlimited & block accounts

Follows DMCA

Recommended providers: XS News (full details here)

Other providers: XS Usenet, Bulknews, Cheapnews

European-Only Backbone 6 – ViperNews

30+ days of retention

Offers accounts with unlimited downloading (no block accounts)

Follows NTD

Provider: ViperNews

[edsbacktattoo]

Hi! You got this ask because you’re awesome and I wanna know 7 things that made you happy these past few days! Then tag 7 of your favourite people here!

OOOOH HI ANON! you’re such a treasure, thanks so much! i won’t be tagging 7 of my favourite people because i don’t have favourites, i love everyone as much as my heart will allow (which is a lot) but! i’ll certainly tag 7 :)

i’ve been watching a horror movie every day for the month of october and have seen some really excellent movies already! my favourites so far have been The Witch, Talk to Me and REC. :) (btw if you’d like to see my reviews for all the movies i’m watching this month, here’s my letterboxd again)

my bf made me a cheese toasty the other day that was soooo delicious

recently went to the annual flower festival that happens in my city! we took some gorgeous pictures (this one is currently my lockscreen for incredibly self-indulgent ink and ichor reasons)

left work early the other day (due to terrible and evil circumstances i literally almost quit) but! instead, i spent the afternoon out in the sunshine and bought myself a nice new cup and cardigan

made some delicious chicken wraps for dinner last night

did you. hey. did you see episodes 4 & 5 of season 2 for hbo’s hit romcom our flag means death? yeah. THATS A BIG ONE.

they held hands and kissed under a waxing moon holy fucking shit i’m gonna be riding that high for the rest of my idiot life

and bonus:

nathaniel buttons literally became a fucking bird. who the fuck is stede’s first mate now. i haven’t stopped laughing since

this was very fun and sweet! thanks again anon! i’m going to no pressure tag:

@tisziny @stedesearring @blakbonnet @gentlebeard @stedebonnets @xoxoemynn and @saltpepperbeard

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

[bustyasianbeautiespod]

Do you guys have podcast recommendations? I'm caught up on everything I listen to, but you guys are my favorite podcast, so I assume we have similar tastes

AWWW i'm so honored that we're your faves! grey is no longer a podcast listener so i (crystal) shall be the only answerer

in terms of people-watching-a-thing podcasts, i've enjoyed:

doctor huh- two brothers, one a former doctor who watcher and one who... only knows about it from social media... watch nuwho eps in a random order

zero to zero- three friends watch dc/marvel properties and respond w fun and funny levels of haterism. i have enjoyed ALL of this despite never once touching something they reviewed. on maybe-permanent hiatus

LMNOP- the only good cbs elementary podcast. also on maybe-permanent hiatus

i've been meaning to watch that- i've listened to less of this one, but it's hosted by manika dulcio, who we had on our s4 wrapped, so if you liked her there check her out on her home base!

as for fiction podcasts, listing my fave subscribeds below! for some of these, the first few eps are kinda rough but i've found them all resoundingly Worth It eventually! also if you, babpod listener, care about this, all of these have queer main characters and i'll bold the ones where the main char is explicitly a poc:

hi nay- "a supernatural horror fictional podcast about Filipina immigrant Mari Datuin, whose babaylan (shaman) family background accidentally gets her involved in stopping dangerous supernatural events in Toronto." v rich lore v good at being creepy! (ongoing)

the silt verses- what if every single folk deity was real and hungry and society ran on ppl being sacrificed on telephone poles? incredibly sexy writing like SO sexy (ongoing)

midnight burger- space diner adventures and friendships! they recently dropped a 3-hour beautifully audio-engineered season finale they've grown so much since the beginning. great cast and fills you w so much wonder about The Universe (ongoing)

greater boston- an expanding cast of chars tell the story of the forming of a new city on the boston red line train cars. makes u wild about community and interconnectedness and local politics and how no one is beyond compassion while also having like. cheese robots (ongoing)

within the wires- what if a world war led to a worldwide cultural shift that decried all tribalism starting at the family unit and babies were separated from their parents at birth? extremely interesting world and formats though i do think it's kinda tired after s4. i think listening to s1 then reading the companion novel might be the Move (ongoing)

unwell, a midwestern gothic mystery- what it says on the tin! lily returns to the fading small town she grew up in to care for her mom. there are ghosts and town history and wolves in the woods. some rlly beautiful and complex family relationships and friendships, great vibe and sound design (complete)

parkdale haunt- p classic haunted house horror (well i say classic. there's also an influencers cult) which i also consider a Top Friendship-Focused Media (complete)

alice isn't dead- usamerican road trip show about the horrors of freedom. spn wishes. love jasika nicole as a VA (complete)

the pasithea powder- epistolary space bisexuals after a war that left them on opposite sides. excellent interpersonal drama and aliens (complete)

wooden overcoats- v funny british funeral home rivalry show antigone funn is the weirdgirl extraordinaire (complete)

monstrous agonies- nice soothing ten-minute segments of a supernatural advice show. i think i've mentioned it as being the anti-spn in terms of the monster rights and monster-human cohabitation background of the world (complete)

midnight radio- ten-episode small town radio show ghost romance. it's an excellent annual fall listen if you have a saturday free (complete)

mabel podcast- ONE OF THE PODCASTS OF ALL TIME. if you care about women you will like this podcast. i've always found anna and mabel so revolutionary and freeing to listen to. horror podcast about fairies and a house that loves (creepy edition?) you (long hiatus)

brimstone valley mall- silly delightful y2k demons in a mall (long hiatus)

the far meridian- magical realism story about a girl living in a teleporting lighthouse. sweet and melancholic (long hiatus)

khôra podcast- greek myths in space. i need to hug all the characters (long hiatus)

ty for this ask i love podcasts i need to catch up on them!

- Crystal :)

[rainbowsky]

Hi Rainbow🌈🌧️ How is your weekend? Really enjoy your blogs 👍. I just wonder what the purpose of the person to opened DD car door when he was on the way to work ? Is she a stalker . It can not be a real fan 🤔 Some said it will make DD into trouble. How can that be?

Hi Anon!

My weekend is going OK so far! Was ill last week, and thankfully finally starting to feel better. I hope your weekend is going well! 😊

Fake, fan fiction, etc.

For those who were unaware, as DD was leaving the filming set in Shanghai yesterday, a woman approached his van and opened the door. Security intervened and DD was unharmed, but it was a pretty disturbing situation.

I want to be really clear here, because there is a lot of unverified info going around about this: NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT WHO SHE IS OR WHAT HER MOTIVES WERE.

Some people have been saying she's a stalker fan, others have said she's an anti trying to harm him, others have been angered by the idea of her being called a fan when 'no real fan would do that'.

No one knows anything. It's all speculation. And I hate to break it to the outraged, but 'real fans' do shitty things all the time.

As for why people felt it might have been an attempt to get him into trouble - that theory is connected to the political situation there (just a reminder to everyone that the political climate, government policies and expectations, legislative trends and so forth play a massive role in GG and DD's careers, so it pays to pay attention to them).

This weekend the Two Sessions begins, and it will be going for the next couple of weeks. It's an annual meeting where various legislators and government and party officials meet to give more power to the party and leader review and rework the country's political and legislative agenda.

It's a pretty serious affair, and it's one of many times during the year where it's highly, highly important for celebrities and fans to lay low and keep quiet. Anything that puts a star in the spotlight (seen as 'taking up public resources') when the focus should be on these political events could be very bad for their career.

Some people are saying that the woman might have been paid to create a stir around DD's name right at the time when the Two Sessions was getting underway, as a means to harm him. It's speculation. Yeah, it's possible, but no one knows for sure.

Incidentally, the Two Sessions was taking place in 2020 when DD posted his 'sneakers and ice cream' video, which is why fans were desperate to get him to take it down. They didn't want him to be cancelled or harmed for making a stir at that time. You can read more about that in @potteresque-ire's excellent post about it here.

[goingoverthegardenwall]

Four Years Later

Hi y’all! Today marks the fourth anniversary of my first post in this project, and I wanted to thank everyone who’s read through it (again (again (again))). Life is good! Just hit my first year at the "new" library, and prepping for the annual rewatch with my wife later in the fall (adult readers: consider pairing the show with mulled wine). Time flies!

Fourth anniversaries sorta feel like a drumroll to the Big Five; after all, I wrote these reviews for the fifth anniversary of the show, meaning it'll be the Big Ten for Over the Garden Wall next year! But it's the length of a presidential term, the span between leap years, and your average stint in high school or college. Plus in just three months this blog will have existed for longer than the Confederate States of America managed, which really puts the racists who claim it as their Very Important Heritage in context. Wirt's Union jacket approves!

I hope today's readers have an excellent Labor Day weekend, and future readers can think fondly on excellent Labor Day weekend memories. As ever, take care!