#rebound exercises

[ines-silva-tantramassage]

The miracles of rebound exercise by Albert A. Carter.

Book of the week.

[gideonisms]

burnout is supposed to end at some point, I have read this. However, how do you know when it has ended and you should gradually force yourself through more activities to get used to living a life again, and when doing that will send you Directly back to an even worse ring of hell. Is there like a guidebook or

[fatliberation]

they have a point though. you wouldn't need everyone to accommodate you if you just lost weight, but you're too lazy to stick to a healthy diet and exercise. it's that simple. I'd like to see you back up your claims, but you have no proof. you have got to stop lying to yourselves and face the facts

Must I go through this again? Fine. FINE. You guys are working my nerves today. You want to talk about facing the facts? Let's face the fucking facts.

In 2022, the US market cap of the weight loss industry was $75 billion [1, 3]. In 2021, the global market cap of the weight loss industry was estimated at $224.27 billion [2]. 

In 2020, the market shrunk by about 25%, but rebounded and then some since then [1, 3] By 2030, the global weight loss industry is expected to be valued at $405.4 billion [2]. If diets really worked, this industry would fall overnight. 

1. LaRosa, J. March 10, 2022. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Shrinks by 25% in 2020 with Pandemic, but Rebounds in 2021." Market Research Blog. 2. Staff. February 09, 2023. "[Latest] Global Weight Loss and Weight Management Market Size/Share Worth." Facts and Factors Research. 3. LaRosa, J. March 27, 2023. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Partially Recovers from the Pandemic." Market Research Blog.

Over 50 years of research conclusively demonstrates that virtually everyone who intentionally loses weight by manipulating their eating and exercise habits will regain the weight they lost within 3-5 years. And 75% will actually regain more weight than they lost [4].

4. Mann, T., Tomiyama, A.J., Westling, E., Lew, A.M., Samuels, B., Chatman, J. (2007). "Medicare’s Search For Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not The Answer." The American Psychologist, 62, 220-233. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2007.

The annual odds of a fat person attaining a so-called “normal” weight and maintaining that for 5 years is approximately 1 in 1000 [5].

5. Fildes, A., Charlton, J., Rudisill, C., Littlejohns, P., Prevost, A.T., & Gulliford, M.C. (2015). “Probability of an Obese Person Attaining Normal Body Weight: Cohort Study Using Electronic Health Records.” American Journal of Public Health, July 16, 2015: e1–e6.

Doctors became so desperate that they resorted to amputating parts of the digestive tract (bariatric surgery) in the hopes that it might finally result in long-term weight-loss. Except that doesn’t work either. [6] And it turns out it causes death [7],  addiction [8], malnutrition [9], and suicide [7].

6. Magro, Daniéla Oliviera, et al. “Long-Term Weight Regain after Gastric Bypass: A 5-Year Prospective Study - Obesity Surgery.” SpringerLink, 8 Apr. 2008. 7. Omalu, Bennet I, et al. “Death Rates and Causes of Death After Bariatric Surgery for Pennsylvania Residents, 1995 to 2004.” Jama Network, 1 Oct. 2007.  8. King, Wendy C., et al. “Prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders Before and After Bariatric Surgery.” Jama Network, 20 June 2012.  9. Gletsu-Miller, Nana, and Breanne N. Wright. “Mineral Malnutrition Following Bariatric Surgery.” Advances In Nutrition: An International Review Journal, Sept. 2013.

Evidence suggests that repeatedly losing and gaining weight is linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and altered immune function [10].

10. Tomiyama, A Janet, et al. “Long‐term Effects of Dieting: Is Weight Loss Related to Health?” Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6 July 2017.

Prescribed weight loss is the leading predictor of eating disorders [11].

11. Patton, GC, et al. “Onset of Adolescent Eating Disorders: Population Based Cohort Study over 3 Years.” BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 20 Mar. 1999.

The idea that “obesity” is unhealthy and can cause or exacerbate illnesses is a biased misrepresentation of the scientific literature that is informed more by bigotry than credible science [12]. 

12. Medvedyuk, Stella, et al. “Ideology, Obesity and the Social Determinants of Health: A Critical Analysis of the Obesity and Health Relationship” Taylor & Francis Online, 7 June 2017.

“Obesity” has no proven causative role in the onset of any chronic condition [13, 14] and its appearance may be a protective response to the onset of numerous chronic conditions generated from currently unknown causes [15, 16, 17, 18].

13. Kahn, BB, and JS Flier. “Obesity and Insulin Resistance.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Aug. 2000. 14. Cofield, Stacey S, et al. “Use of Causal Language in Observational Studies of Obesity and Nutrition.” Obesity Facts, 3 Dec. 2010.  15. Lavie, Carl J, et al. “Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: Risk Factor, Paradox, and Impact of Weight Loss.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 26 May 2009.  16. Uretsky, Seth, et al. “Obesity Paradox in Patients with Hypertension and Coronary Artery Disease.” The American Journal of Medicine, Oct. 2007.  17. Mullen, John T, et al. “The Obesity Paradox: Body Mass Index and Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Nonbariatric General Surgery.” Annals of Surgery, July 2005. 18. Tseng, Chin-Hsiao. “Obesity Paradox: Differential Effects on Cancer and Noncancer Mortality in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.” Atherosclerosis, Jan. 2013.

Fatness was associated with only 1/3 the associated deaths that previous research estimated and being “overweight” conferred no increased risk at all, and may even be a protective factor against all-causes mortality relative to lower weight categories [19].

19. Flegal, Katherine M. “The Obesity Wars and the Education of a Researcher: A Personal Account.” Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 15 June 2021.

Studies have observed that about 30% of so-called “normal weight” people are “unhealthy” whereas about 50% of so-called “overweight” people are “healthy”. Thus, using the BMI as an indicator of health results in the misclassification of some 75 million people in the United States alone [20]. 

20. Rey-López, JP, et al. “The Prevalence of Metabolically Healthy Obesity: A Systematic Review and Critical Evaluation of the Definitions Used.” Obesity Reviews : An Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 15 Oct. 2014.

While epidemiologists use BMI to calculate national obesity rates (nearly 35% for adults and 18% for kids), the distinctions can be arbitrary. In 1998, the National Institutes of Health lowered the overweight threshold from 27.8 to 25—branding roughly 29 million Americans as fat overnight—to match international guidelines. But critics noted that those guidelines were drafted in part by the International Obesity Task Force, whose two principal funders were companies making weight loss drugs [21].

21. Butler, Kiera. “Why BMI Is a Big Fat Scam.” Mother Jones, 25 Aug. 2014. 

Body size is largely determined by genetics [22].

22. Wardle, J. Carnell, C. Haworth, R. Plomin. “Evidence for a strong genetic influence on childhood adiposity despite the force of the obesogenic environment” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 87, No. 2, Pages 398-404, February 2008.

Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index [23].  

23. Matheson, Eric M, et al. “Healthy Lifestyle Habits and Mortality in Overweight and Obese Individuals.” Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 25 Feb. 2012.

Weight stigma itself is deadly. Research shows that weight-based discrimination increases risk of death by 60% [24].

24. Sutin, Angela R., et al. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality .” Association for Psychological Science, 25 Sept. 2015.

Fat stigma in the medical establishment [25] and society at large arguably [26] kills more fat people than fat does [27, 28, 29].

25. Puhl, Rebecca, and Kelly D. Bronwell. “Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity.” Obesity Research, 6 Sept. 2012. 26. Engber, Daniel. “Glutton Intolerance: What If a War on Obesity Only Makes the Problem Worse?” Slate, 5 Oct. 2009.  27. Teachman, B. A., Gapinski, K. D., Brownell, K. D., Rawlins, M., & Jeyaram, S. (2003). Demonstrations of implicit anti-fat bias: The impact of providing causal information and evoking empathy. Health Psychology, 22(1), 68–78. 28. Chastain, Ragen. “So My Doctor Tried to Kill Me.” Dances With Fat, 15 Dec. 2009. 29. Sutin, Angelina R, Yannick Stephan, and Antonio Terraciano. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality.” Psychological Science, 26 Nov. 2015.

There's my "proof." Where is yours?

[jumpingshoes]

Reasons To try Rebound Boots

Rebound boots are specially crafted for fitness enthusiasts as well as those who don't enjoy exercising. But why Rebound boots? Here's Why: 1. Low impact shoes which put minimum pressure on your feet. 2. Versatility 3. Easy to Use 4. You don't need too much storage. 5. Durable and Quality Materials 6. It's fun & engaging!

[n4b3]

I have officially lost 10kg from the 20 i gained in the pandemic 🥹🥹🥹

[epigstolary]

Rebound

It has to hurt to see what you look like now. All the shapeless mounds of fat weighing you down, distorting what was, until fairly recently, an average figure. You were so close to getting back to a normal weight, too — years of struggling to come down from a size at which you couldn’t lumber more than a few feet before getting red-faced and breaking out in a sweat. And you did it; somehow, you got yourself small enough to be able to shop in regular clothing stores again, and to not even need to buy their biggest sizes. Everyone was so proud of you. Telling you how good you looked. How much healthier it was to be this size. How much happier you had to be, now that you could move around and be active again. You’d beaten obesity.

Except you hadn’t, had you? Because every diet fails eventually, and fat doesn’t go away. Fat cells shrink when you diet. They quiet down when you restrain your appetite. And then they wait, lurking in that slender body, disguised by loose skin. Waiting for their moment to come back with a vengeance.

You may not even remember what triggered it now — maybe it was a really rough couple of days at work, maybe a relationship disappointment, maybe drama with family or friends. But something made you take two cheat days in a row, just to treat yourself a little and make up for everything crappy you’d had to deal with lately. And that was all it took to wake the monster sleeping inside you.

A couple of cheat days turned into having snacks around that you hadn’t allowed yourself since you started losing weight — because you had things under control, right? Portion sizes started creeping upward again, and fattier, carbier foods started replacing the lean meats and fresh veggies that helped you shed the pounds in the first place — because you lost it before, so you can lose it again if you need to, right? You went easier on yourself, skipping morning walks and trips to the gym with increasing frequency, giving yourself fewer and fewer opportunities to burn all the excess calories you’d started dumping down your throat again — because you were always going to make up for the missed sessions at some point, right? At least, those were the ways you rationalized your backsliding to yourself.

You probably didn’t know this before, but regains are a bitch. Your body’s felt you starving for years — that’s all a diet is, as far as it’s concerned — and now the famine’s over. Food’s abundant again. Time to eat and try to get you ready for the next famine, which it has no way of knowing is never coming, unfortunately for you. Every calorie it can spare from keeping you alive gets absorbed into those fat cells that used to be dormant. The weight packs on faster than it ever went away. And almost before you realize it, your puffy belly is back, your ass is filling up more of your pants, and your thunder thighs and double chin are beginning to make their appearance.

I’m sure you tried to get things back under control once you realized what was happening. You tried to get back out there and exercise again once your girth started popping buttons and tearing the seat out of pants, and you had to pull your fat clothes out of storage. You tried to eat better and ignore the cravings for everything high in fat and sugar and everything bad for you when your love handles and bingo wings and thunder thighs started rubbing against chair arms and door frames in a way they hadn’t for a long time. And then, once all of that had failed, you tried to simply ignore what was happening — to pay no attention to how your body was ballooning up to fill even your fat clothes; how difficult it was to heave your hanging belly and plump ass up and haul it wherever you needed to go; how the face in the mirror wasn’t the thin, lean, angular one you’d gotten used to seeing, but the bloated, pinched, bulbous fat face set atop a cascade of double chins that you thought you’d never have to look at again. Just muddle through, you must have thought, and eventually you’ll get a handle on this.

How’d all that work out for you? Not great, judging by the way you look now. Those legs that look like pinched sacks of custard, almost too blobby and bulky to move, don’t exactly signal someone in control of their situation. Neither does the enormous, wobbling belly spreading out over your knee folds and across the bed, or the hips bulging out at either side like melting lumps of dough overflowing a mold. And the double chins, resting on two massive boobs each the size of a fat belly in their own right, squeezed by the fat of pillowy arms plopped uselessly at either side — well, all that hardly looks like someone keeping their weight in check with responsible diet and exercise. I’m gonna guess you’re not, are you?

That’s why you had to call me in. Trust me, I see people just like you all the time. Weight’s bounced around for years, they’ve tried to diet and exercise, sometimes it’s worked for a while; but eventually, it spirals out of control. Like this. Really, you probably would have been better off if you’d just accepted being sort of fat. Beats wrecking your metabolism with a crash diet and dealing with the rebound effect — getting really, really fat like this. And now you need someone to help with all the things that you’re much too big, much too heavy to do.

I’m also supposed to help you manage your diet, get some physical activity, see if we can keep what mobility you have and try to recover more. But… that’s not really my style. See, I’ve also been around enough people like you to know that there’s no real way of coming back from this. Sure, I could probably get you to lose some weight, get you down to a size where you can wedge your flab behind the wheel of a car or cram it into the seat of a mobility scooter, get you back into the world for a while. But we both know you can’t stick to that, don’t we? The same habits that got you into this situation to begin with are going to blow you right back up into the same helpless fatty again eventually, aren’t they? Matter of time. And just imagine what a second rebound like this one would do to you! You’re already most of the way to a half-ton; another yo-yo, and you’re down for the count, immobilized probably forever under more fat than even the two of us can hope to handle.

I’d hate to see that happen to you; no lie, I really would. So I’ll make you a deal. You give up on trying to slim down to a normal weight, and you accept that you’re going to be a housebound blob from here on out. Forget about the diet and exercises, and make your peace with filling out most of a king bed by yourself. Do all that, let me take the wheel, and I’ll make sure you have everything you might need — and I do mean everything. I think you’ll find it a lot more comfortable that way.

I take it that’s a no? Listen, there’s no need to be personally insulting. Remember, I’m not the one who fattened you up like a prize pig, too big to reach the bottom of your belly, too fat to move without totally exhausting yourself — that was all you. So fine; we’ll do it your way. Get you losing weight for a while. But remember how easy it is to gain weight back on the rebound. And remember who’s really controlling your diet and your activity. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when your belly’s down to your feet, your arms are too bloated to move, and you’re smothered under half a ton of lard.

Remember — regains are a bitch.

[hoodreader]

cat women — vedic astrology.

i think cat woman is one of the most inspiring vigilantes for the ‘dark feminine’. she’s mystical, intuitive, cunning, flirtatious, & seductive. so when my friend & i were talking about the krittika nakshatra. she made a connection between krittika & animal textiles then i had the sudden realization that krittika reoccurs in the charts of people who play or dress as her.

i think this is because krittika is the blade; it means “the cutter.” whether the native has aries krittika or taurus krittika, the qualities persist. there’s always an iconic cat woman scene where cat woman uses her razor-sharp nails to cut a hole through glass. this also shows not only physical blades, but blades of the tongue, ie being “silver tongued” and/or having a “sharp” mind. the krittika nakshatra is very cutthroat. this also reminds me of that iconic whip scene, and the phrase “sharp as a whip.” sharpness is commonly used as a term to also describe someone’s intelligence… but also them being good-looking.

i also find that krittika nakshatra in women is highly sexy & desired, but due to the dark nature of krittika, a krittika woman is not wanted without adversity. this nakshatra is also associated with “splitting / cutting” up relationships & being “the other woman.” in a way, men deal with an inner conflict when being involved with the krittika woman. i think it’s because martian or solar qualities over a woman causes insecurity in men who are not secure with themselves. the type of men who hate you because they hate themselves. so these men project. there’s no way a woman like that could simply be liked, she must’ve seduced him.

and i feel that’s because the krittika woman is not the “ideal” woman. she’s not demure, she’s not passive, she’s not insecure, and she doesn’t depend heavily on the men around her. instead, she’s dominant, assertive, flirtatious. she cuts her hair short. and she’s sometimes androgynous in presentation, but still so sexy. and it drives men and women crazy. the presence of other planets being in anuradha, ashlesha, jyeshtha, bharani, mrigashira, etc can also strengthen these “dark” qualities in a krittika woman.

! halle berry is probably the most iconic cat woman in modern pop culture. she’s a krittika rahu, with an ashlesha sun.

halle berry’s role was so iconic, i think she informs the way modern actresses give their takes on cat woman, which is why we see so many of them having krittika placements. for example:

— ariana grande recreated cat woman in her “the boy is mine” music video. she’s a krittika venus & jyeshtha north node. — normani dressed up as cat woman for one halloween. she’s a krittika mars, as well as a bharani mercury. — zoë kravitz is a krittika jupiter & anuradha sun + mercury. — saweetie dressed as cat woman for halloween [?] and she’s another krittika venus. — naomi campbell did a shoot as cat woman, and she’s a krittika sun. i don’t know if that naomi shoot was before after halle berry’s movie but i digress.

kinda unrelated side note. my point about “the other woman” rings so true for the reputation ariana got. halle berry also applies, as she’s been in three marriages thus at least two separations. saweetie for her allegations with cheating. and so on. krittika can be a little romantically corrupted, but i think that’s why it translates into something so irresistible. in a “i’m not supposed to be doing this” way. i myself am a krittika venus, and i never cheated on someone or have been “the other woman” bc why the fuck would i do that to myself lol. buttt i will say that people usually start liking me when they know they shouldn’t. as a rebound, while they’re involved with someone, rebellious fetish, them pursuing me but hating the type of person i am because they want me to conform. like an exercise of conquest.

anyways… this is what i noticed of krittika and cat woman. hope y’all enjoyed my ramble. :P

[thejadesdiary]

♡Some Tips & Tricks♡

Drink Water I know this is heard and read everywhere, but if it is, it's because it's really important. Many people consume less than 2L of water per day, or their intake is around 500ml or none at all. But drinking at least 2L helps you feel satisfied, hydrates the skin, and the best of all, doesn't contribute to weight gain at all. If you don't like the idea of drinking planty water, you can opt for drinking tea (natural ofc, no commercial) or even flavored water (made w/ fruits). Food? Yeah, but with control A rookie mistake is wanting to start strong, with water fasting, consuming less than 300 kcal a day or having only one meal a day; which in most cases leads to overeating or the rebound effect. That's why instead of completely eliminating food, it's better to REDUCE the portions of your meals so your body gradually gets used to consuming fewer foods without going into alert due to their absence. By following this simple step, you will condition your body to the decreasing intake of food that awaits it in the future, without triggering an emergency response due to lack of food or fainting. Keep your mind busy Avoid thinking about food at all costs, because the psychological effect it entails will make you hungry, and you may end up overeating. To distract your mind, try watching a movie or series, joining a group to chat, exercising, playing a video game, drawing, reading, writing, going for a walk (without money for obvious reasons), or anything else that comes to your mind.

[scientia-rex]

Hello, I appreciate your medical posts very much and having seen a post the other day where you said migraine was in your areas of special interest, I'd love to ask a related question. You talk about bodies and medicine and patient experience etc in a way that makes a lot of sense to me and I'd trust your take.

I have chronic migraine. I'm currently at 100% pain days, with varying severity. Very hard to pin down what is prodrome, the main event, and postdrome as it's all blurred into one. My migraine team want me to reduce painkiller usage (currently dihydrocodeine and paracetamol daily, and ibuprofen maybe every other day on top) due to rebound headache. I want to cut down because they're fucking expensive and I'm scared for my liver and kidneys. But I literally can't cope with life without them. I went off them for four months a few years ago and the pain was so severe and so debilitating I was the most suicidal I've been in my life. Without painkillers I can't get to the toilet unaided, rarely leave bed, even more rare to leave the house. It's hell. And that's not even considering the effects on everyone around me who has to pick up to care for me.

So what do I do? The way I see things, I need something to help the pain improve before I can use less painkillers, but the longer I go on trying to find something that works and not getting there, the more I think maybe I'm wrong in that. I know a bit about how codeine based painkillers can reduce your pain tolerance / pain baseline. I don't think it's an addiction issue because I've been at the same (over the counter) dosages for 4 years now. I just want to do all that I can to be better, but I also need to be alive to be better. I am stuck.

TL;DR - If you have any thoughts on the relationship between chronic migraine, painkiller use, preserving quality of life while finding a treatment, and increasing the chances of a treatment working, and where on earth the balance between all that lies, I'd really like to hear them.

Again, I absolutely appreciate if you can't answer this, don't want to etc. Giving advice online is notoriously tricky and all that. But a big thank you for your time in reading, and all your weight and exercise posts especially which make me feel so much better about my body. Wishing you all good things! 💖

I won't speak to your case directly, since I'm not your doctor, but here is my personal algorithm for escalating treatments for migraine (note that "abortives" in this case means something you take after a migraine starts to try to end it, while "prophylactic" means a daily treatment you take to reduce likelihood of developing a migraine):

-OTC combination of magnesium, feverfew, and butterbur, taken daily

-Triptans (insurance will usually demand patients fail at least 3 to cover a more expensive treatment)

-High-dose NSAIDs (as abortive treatment given risk of rebound headaches if used daily)

-Daily topiramate (insurance will always demand this is either failed or there's a clear contraindication)

-Daily calcium channel blockers

-Daily beta blockers (higher dose than used for anxiety or low-grade arrhythmias)

-Daily anti-epileptic medications (such as Lamictal)

-Monthly anti-CGRP monoclonal antibody injections (Aimovig or Ajovy; expensive so insurance will demand you've failed some or all of the previous meds)

-Abortive anti-CGRP orals (Nurtec or Ubrelvy)

-Abortive ergotamine, usually Migranal, a nasal spray (very expensive and must be repeated 15 minutes after initial dose regardless of whether symptoms are improving or not)

-Prophylactic Botox (I believe this is every 3 months, must be done in the office of a trained and licensed professional, usually but not always a Neurology provider)

-Sphenopalatine ganglion blocks (done by dripping lidocaine far back into the sinuses to reach the sphenopalatine ganglion, again in the office of a trained and licensed professional)

-Cephaly (transcranial magnetic stimulation at-home device), expensive so insurance hates covering it

Now, one of my newer tools, and my current personal favorite, is a greater occipital nerve block--easy and fast, low risk, and I've had about 90% success with my patients in aborting current headaches. Effects seem to last 3-4 weeks in most cases and since it's straight lidocaine (you don't have to include steroids, though you can) you can do it as often as needed. I generally do this in my office, but I did train one patient's spouse to do it at home given how frequent their headaches. The pharmacy lost their fucking mind about letting an outpatient have lidocaine. I don't know why.

I currently manage my pretty awful chronic migraines with a combination of monthly Aimovig, as-needed Excedrin (the combination of caffeine, Tylenol aka paracetamol, and aspirin is effective for many people but is a real risk for causing medication overuse headaches, the more official term for bounce-back), as-needed Ubrelvy (I can sleep after taking Ubrelvy but not Excedrin so it's a good option), and roughly monthly greater occipital nerve blocks (I teach my trainees to do it using myself as a subject). I wouldn't mind trying the Botox but it's a PITA to get in to see our only local Neurology provider and since my migraines are relatively well-controlled (probably 1-2 headache days a week right now) I don't think it's worth the effort.

I also really got a lot out of this lecture, so give it a try.

[starsandhughes]

things that happened in the nhl today (that i’m aware of) (tuesday, november 28)

1. racist rapist team (bl*ckhawks) are covering up yet another scandal over corey perry. he's on waivers with the purpose of contract termination. the gm said it didn't involve anything with players/their families. reporters are more mad about this than they've ever been on much more pressing issues (team canada, sa coverups, etc)

2. anthony beauvillier traded to the racist rapists in exchange for a fifth round pick in the 2024 draft. the girlies are not taking this well.

3. p*trick k*ne signed with the red wings, which elated everyone (i don't follow any red wings fans so i didn't see any of their reactions) (sorry about y'all's lives)

4. mitch marner got hit in the face with a puck and played the rest of the game with a cage

5. sam bennet and max domi threw hands, bennet destroyed domi, domi shook his hair with his hands probably to make fun of bennet for being bald

6. tz and dixie breakup rumors on the same day that alex killorn confirmed that they were dating on spittin chiclets on their new episode

7. john marino cut his hair and i’m pretty sure dawson mercer did too

8. zack macewen on the senators got fined $2,018.23, the max allowed by the cba for unsportsmanlike misconduct against matthew tkachuk last night (utter bullshit imo. he literally attacked him)

9. lian bichel (texas stars player, ahl affiliate of the dallas stars) decided to exercise his right to return to sweeden

10. radko gudas day-to-day with a lower-body injury (this is not good for the ducks)

11. devils made a sick third period comeback from being down 4-2. brenden smith threw hands with anders lee. lee left bloody. then with 22.1 seconds left in the fourth, curtis lazar scored and they won 5-4

12. the leafs and the panthers went into a shootout. three rounds wasn't enough, so they went into a fifth. the panthers' evan rodrigues scored, so the panthers went off to the locker room. upon review, the goal was waved off because it was a rebound goal and players are not allowed to double tap during a shootout. the panthers had to be called back out for a sixth round and the leafs' noah gregor won the game

13. oilers and vgk also went into a shootout. oilers won it in three. the oilers played against vgk in round two of the playoffs last season, and the leafs played against the panthers in round two of the playoffs. this means that both teams that got eliminated in round two won in a shootout tonight against the team that knocked them out

and the night isn't over!

[ripplestitchskein]

I’ve seen a couple posts about this topic so I wanted to throw my hat in the ring. Or at least make my position clear.

I do not think that Stolas needs to be with other people, be that Vassago, Better Than Blitz guy, or someone else. I do not believe he needs to have more sexual or romantic relationship experiences with someone other than Blitz for his character arc or to learn how to be a better partner for Blitz or any of that. I intensely dislike the idea that a character or person has to have a bunch of different experiences to know what they actually want in general or as like some kind of life skill building exercise to obtain enough experience points to “earn” the person they want. I don’t think it’s necessary for Blitz either, he can see Stolas moving on and away and want to work to change without a third party as the catalyst. There’s just a lot of weirdness around these concepts in general. Like the fixation on “healthy” relationships is odd to me, it’s definitely a newer fandom thing, and it has a lot of implications for neurodivergent people I’m not going to unpack here. So yeah.

I’ve also already made it clear that I definitely don’t want Stolas to lose his desire for romance. He doesn’t need to get more realistic expectations or be more grounded in his relationships. I would be extremely disappointed if that was the ultimate takeaway for his character as I feel his desire for romance is a really central part of him and I don’t need the messaging to be about “realistic” romance.

However. The story has opted to hint at the possibility of Stolas *possibly* moving on with someone else, and Viv has implied Vassago is that possibility, so a lot of my speculations or theorizing follow that potential plot line or I try to theorize ways Vassago could fill a role in a platonic capacity while Blitz might think it’s more than it is etc. We still don’t know what role he’ll fill so it is only speculation but it is natural to wonder if it’s a love triangle or misunderstanding in that vein since the nature of the conflict is romantic.

That’s not to say that they can’t do interesting or compelling things with a love triangle plot line, I also don’t buy into the idea that cliched or tropey plot lines can’t be done well, they very well could. I love tropes. I got the watch the same shows over and over and over and listen to the same songs on repeat, read nothing but fan fiction which is basically just remixes of the shows I’m watching over and over brand of autism so I’m all for some cliche romance tropes.

So all this to say there is a difference between lining your theories and speculations up with a particular direction, and furthering discussions about those ideas if it seems like the show is going that way without explicitly endorsing the concept while still having an open mind to see what they ultimately will do with that concept. It may not be that people are yearning for or personally even wanting Stolas to have a rebound relationship but more they are setting their expectations up for that possibility since it is a common story thread.

That’s also not to say people who do want those types of stories are wrong for wanting them. There are compelling ways to write love triangles, just like we’ve seen them handle miscommunication, another often loathed trope. I’m just giving whatever they serve a chance and seeing where it goes. I am very much of the mindset that if I am enjoying what is happening, even if it’s cliche or not the direction I would have gone if I were in charge, then I’ll settle in for the ride. At the moment I trust the writing, I am having a blast with these characters and their issues and the ways things can play out and bending and twisting them into different scenarios. I trust the crumbs they’ve laid along the way and I’m interested to see how it ultimately plays out.

From a personal self indulgence level though I do like jealousy in fiction, I like yearning and angst and misunderstandings and messy things that aren’t desirable in reality, that aren’t even realistic and these cliches do open up for a lot of that. It CAN be done well. Fiction does not need to be clean and wholesome and “healthy”. Characters can do crazy shit real people can’t. I don’t watch shows or read fiction for realism. I do require happy endings though so as I’ve said all along if it seems like they aren’t going a direction I’ll enjoy I’m fine saying “okay, that was fun but I’m getting off the ride now, have fun you guys”.

[jumpingshoes]

Say Good Bye To Your Traditional Exercises!

We created Rebound Boots to offer you the enjoyment that was missing is your workout sessions!

[btsficsandsuch]

can you write something about reader who has chronic pain x doctor yoongi?

I hope this is okay!

Dr. Min

“Miss Y/N, You can come on back.”, the nurse said while standing at the door. You grabbed your bag and walked over giving a quick smile before slipping past her into the hallway. You followed her over to a corner section where she instructed you to take off your shoes, “Okay Y/N, we’re just going to get a quick weight and height check and then we’ll be in room 3.” You do as she instructs before following her into the third room on the right. “Take a seat and Dr. Min will be in shortly.”, she said again with a smile before closing the door behind her.

You sat in the room fidgeting with the end of your shirt. You didn’t know anything about this doctor which was very unlike you. Normally you’d do weeks of research, reading reviews and any article you could find about the doctor before making an appointment but you were desperate at this point. For the last two years you had severe chronic pain in your right leg. You were pretty sure you tore a muscle while playing basketball two years ago but you didn’t have insurance at the time so you never got it looked at. Now you had a good job with insurance so you decided to finally try to fix the issue. If only it was that easy.

Every doctor you’ve seen so far brushed you off and told you to just try to exercise your leg and take aspirin if the pain was too much because at this point there was nothing they could do. After every appointment you felt a little less hopeful. You were complaining to your best friend Jimin about how the pain was getting worse and worse and you didn’t know what else to do. He told you about this doctor that he had seen and he did wonders for the chronic pain he was having in his knee so without really thinking you called and made an appointment with the doctor.

You were brought out of your thoughts when you heard a quick knock at the door and in walked a man about your age. He flashed you a big gummy smile. He had jet black hair which was slightly longer than you’d expect a doctor to have but it looked good on him. You were taken back by how handsome he was. Why did he have to be so good looking? You made a mental note to scold Jimin for not mentioning the doctor was a GQ model. Most of the doctors you’d see were old enough to be your parent and were grumpy, probably from the years of practicing medicine but that’s what you liked. You felt like they had a significant amount of experience and would be best able to treat you. The young doctor brought you back out of your thoughts again. “You must be Y/N. I’m Dr. Min. It’s nice to meet you.”, he said extending his hand for you to shake. Shyly you reached out and shook his hand, “Nice to meet you too.”

The doctor pulled over the stool so he could sit facing you while balancing his laptop on his knee. He must’ve noticed you staring as he looked up and gave you a smile, “Don’t mind me Y/N. I’m just going to make some notes to have on record. What brings you in today?”

Taking a deep breath to calm your shaky voice you began, “Well I was playing basketball a couple years ago and I went up for the rebound and I came down and landed weird on someone’s foot. I felt something snap in my leg and instantly felt pain.” You sat there and watched as he nodded to let you know he was listening while typing away on the keyboard in front of him. “Did you see a doctor when this happened?”, he asked. You shook your head, “No I didn’t have insurance at the time. After a couple months it felt better but then the pain came back and it’s getting worse.” He continued to type away, “Wow Y/N you must be pretty tough to just now seek help. I’m sure that was painful.” You shyly smiled at his compliment.

Dr. Min closed his laptop and walked over to the sink to wash his hands. When he came back he instructed you to roll up your pant let. Thank God you shaved beforehand you thought to yourself. “So what I’m going to do Y/N is just squeeze around on your leg for a little. Just let me know when it hurts the most.”, he said while sitting down next to you. You were trying so hard not to stare but he was so close you could smell his cologne, you could see his perfect skin, his beautiful dark eyes. Suddenly you jumped when you felt his hand grab your leg. “Sorry, I know my hands are cold.”, he chuckled. You prayed he couldn’t see the blush creep up on your cheeks.

He continued to squeeze and push on your calf and you’d tell him where it hurt the most. “So were you playing basketball for your school when you were hurt?”, he asked trying to make small talk. You nodded, “Yeah I played in college a little.” “Me too. Until I got to medical school. Then I just didn’t have the time. Actually I always wanted to go to the NBA.”, he laughed. “What made you decided to be a doctor instead?”, you asked. “Well unfortunately I stopped getting taller even though I drank milk religiously and since there’s no height requirement to be a doctor I switched.”, he smiled while looking up at you.

The doctor grabbed your hand and helped you to stand up, “Okay Y/N, now what I want you to do is walk back and forth a few times. Tell me when it hurts so I can see how your foot is positioned.” You did as he said even though you felt silly. After you were done he had you sit back down on the table and began typing in his laptop again. “Y/N I’m going to order some imaging tests on your leg. It looks like we’ll be able to do a surgery to repair that torn muscle in your leg. I just want to see the scans first before we make any definitive plan.” You felt your whole body tense at the word surgery. You’d never had surgery before and the thought terrified you. Dr. Min must’ve noticed because he placed a reassuring hand on your knee, “It’s nothing to be scared of Y/N. It’s a pretty standard procedure. The surgery will take about three hours and you’ll be able to go home 48 hours later.” You nodded and gave him a small smile before he walked you to the door out to the waiting room. “I’ll have my receptionist call you to set up your surgery date. Take care of yourself in the meantime Y/N. Try to rest that leg and ice can help with the pain.”, he said before opening the door for you. You thanked him and quickly walked out of the room ignoring the whispers coming from the nurses and front desk staff.

Just as the doctor had said the receptionist called you a week later to let you know the doctor said your scans looked good and you were approved for surgery. You scheduled the date for three weeks later.

On the day of the surgery Jimin drove you to the hospital so you could get there at your scheduled 6am arrival time. You got changed into the hospital gown and were laying down in bed when Dr.Min walked in. Just as handsome as the first day you saw him. “Good morning Y/N. I’m sorry we had to schedule this so early.”, he said. “It’s okay. This way I don’t have to be stressed out all day.”, you said with a smile. The doctor wrote something on your chart before looking up at you and smiled, “There’s no reason to be stressed. I’ll take good care of you. I promise.” You could feel your cheeks heat up at his words. “I’ll see you in the operating room.”, he smiled before walking back out the door. You heard Jimin scoff from beside you, “He didn’t even remember me.” You rolled your eyes, “Do you know how many patients he sees? How do you expect him to remember you?”. “He’s certainly going to remember you though.”, Jimin said with a laugh. “What do you mean by that?”, you asked. “Oh come on Y/N. That doctor was totally flirting with you.”, he laughed. All you could do was roll your eyes. “Don’t worry Y/N. I’ll take good care of you.”, he said while fluttering his eyelids in an exaggerated way. Luckily the nurses came in to wheel you to surgery before this conversation could go any farther. You gave Jimin a hug and then you were wheeled out of the room.

The operating room was freezing and that was doing nothing to calm your nerves. Just as the tears started to form Dr. Min walked over and pulled his mask down giving you a comforting smile, “Y/N, this is Dr. Namjoon Kim. He’s the anesthesiologist that’s on call right now. He’s going to explain what’s going to happen and then we’ll get the surgery started. It’ll all be over before you know it.” Dr. Kim came over and explained the process before placing a mask on your face instructing you to count back from 100. You got to 74 before it got harder and harder to concentrate and you drifted off.

“Miss Y/N, you need to wake up for me.”, the nurse was saying while lightly shaking your shoulder. “Where am I?”, you asked feeling like you had the worst hangover of your life. “You’re in recovery dear.”, she said. You started to move but felt a large cast on your right leg reminding you about why you were there. After a few minutes you finally felt coherent enough to process things so they let Jimin come in to visit. He was holding a big teddy bear that had a ‘It’s a Girl’ balloon tied to it. You chuckled when you looked up at the balloon. “Hey they didn’t have a balloon for this scenario and this one had a puppy on it so I knew you’d appreciate it.”, he said placing it on the table next to you. Before you could respond Dr. Min walked in and was immediately confused by the ballon even stopping to make sure he was in the correct room and looking back to you surprised. “Don’t ask.”, you chuckled. “Everything went great Y/N. The muscle was pretty damaged but I was able to get that repaired. You’ll still be pretty sore for a few weeks but once you’re up to it we can start you on physical therapy and then you should be good as new.”, he smiled. “Thank you for helping me Dr. Min. You’re the only doctor that had taken me seriously.”, you said eliciting a smile from him. He lifted the blanket to check the cast before placing it back and tucking you in, “I’m sorry I have to leave so soon. I have another surgery scheduled today. Let me know if you need anything.” You smiled and thanked him before he walked out of the room. “Let me know if you need anything.”, Jimin said in a mocking tone. You smacked his arm to quiet him, “Shush. He’s just being nice. It’s called bedside manners.” “Riiigghht because there aren’t a ton of nurses and aids and on call doctors that can take care of you right now, but he said to let him know if you need anything. He totally has a crush on you.”, Jimin laughed. “He’s just being nice.”, you said again but secretly hoping that Jimin was right.

The stay in the hospital wasn’t too bad. Jimin stayed with you as much as he could before he had to go to work. Dr. Min came to visit you a few times, even offering to get you a coffee from the Starbucks downstairs when he saw you drinking the crappy waiting room coffee one of the nurses had brought you. Each time he seemed to stay a little longer, almost like he didn’t want to leave.

Finally you were being discharged. You were given a handful of paperwork with instructions on what to and not to do. They also had you schedule your follow up appointment with Dr. Min for six weeks from now. Jimin and the nurse helped you off of the bed and into the waiting wheelchair so they could get you down to Jimins car.

Six weeks went by quickly and you were happy to be sitting in Dr. Min’s office finally able to get this cast off of your leg. “Y/N, you can come back with me.”, the nurse standing at the door said. She helped you get down to room 4. “Take a seat. Dr. Min will be in shortly.”, she said with a smirk before closing the door behind her. You expected to wait a while like any doctors appointment but Dr. Min was surprisingly quick. “Hi Y/N, it’s good to see you. How are you doing?”, he asked. “Even with the cast on I already feel much better.”, you smiled. Dr. Min got to work removing the cast and then took time inspecting the sutures. “I’m going to remove the stitches. It shouldn’t hurt but you might feel a pinch.”, he said while grabbing the needed tools. He was very gentle. You could tell he was really focused on making sure he caused you the least amount of pain possible and before you knew it he was done and cleaning up the area. “It looks really good Y/N. It healed great and I think you’re going to be much happier. We can help you get your first physical therapy session scheduled and that will help you greatly.”, he said while washing his hands.

“Alright let’s get you standing.”, he said walking back over to you. You grabbed onto his hands and he gently helped you stand up. Gingerly you started putting weight on your right leg. “Alright be careful and go slow.”, he said. You swear you could see him holding his breath as you took a few steps like he was worried you’d somehow hurt yourself. “How does it feel?”, he asked. “Still a little sore, but nothing compared to what it was.”, you replied. He flashed a big gummy smile, “I’m so glad to hear that.” “Thank you again Dr. Min. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I didn’t think I’d ever find someone to help me.”, you said looking down at your shoes trying to hide the blush on your cheeks. “No need to thank me. It’s my job.”, he said and you felt your heart sink just a little. You knew it was crazy but a part of you had secretly hoped Jimin was correct about him having a crush on you but it sounded like you were just another patient to him.

Not wanting to stand in the awkwardness any long you grabbed your purse and began to walk towards the door after saying another goodbye. “Y/N”, Dr. Min stopped you and you turned to face him. He cleared his throat, “Umm technically you’re not my patient any more and I was wondering if maybe you’d like to go have dinner sometime.” You felt your heart swell. “I’d love to Dr. Min.”, you replied. He walked over and opened the door for you before placing a hand on your back to escort you out, “Please, Call me Yoongi.”

[darkwing-katy]

The Spider and the Fly Part II

Pairing: Eventual Leland x Reader (sorta? You’ll see what I mean)

Word Count: 3,943

Summary: All you want to do is get through your online courses and keep your best friend from making bad choices in men. But there’s this creepy therapist who is absolutely insisting on you making an appointment with him. Who the hell is this Leland Townsend, and why won’t he leave you alone?!

Part two of seven. Takes place sometime around seasons one and two.

The series is inspired heavily by my favorite poem, “The Spider and the Fly” (1829) by Mary Howitt. This poem is in the public domain.

Tagging: @primosflowergarden; @vi-er

Part One

——————————————————————————————————

“I’m sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high;

Will you rest upon my little bed?” said the Spider to the Fly.

“There are pretty curtains drawn around; the sheets are fine and thin.

And if you like to rest awhile, I’ll snugly truck you in.”

You hang up your phone with a smug grin. So this Dr. Townsend thought he could intimidate you? Fuck that. You weren’t about to let that happen, and you’d made sure to give a fake last name, fake address (that you verified to make sure it wasn’t easily google-abley false), and left a fake phone number. It wasn’t the first time you’d done something like this—you’d made up fake names in bars when you saw creeps hitting on women (and men) who were clearly uncomfortable. One time you’d made up a whole elaborate backstory about being the adopted sister of a woman who was being harassed and that was why you looked so drastically different. The drunken creeps had bought your little story, and the woman had been so grateful for the help.

You’d scheduled the fake appointment with Dr. Townsend for a week from now, and you had such a great time imagining the pissed-off expression on his face when you never showed and he found that he’d wasted his time on you. Why the hell had he been so adamant about you meeting him, anyway? You didn’t need a therapist; if anyone did, it was Betty, who was already on the rebound with a guy she met on tinder. You loved your friend, but by God, she needed to take some time to figure herself out. Maybe she’d do that when she went to her parents’ place for the rest of the summer.

Life goes on, and you put Dr. Townsend out of your mind as you work your job at the bookstore and come back home to the apartment you and Betty share to work on your creative writing coursework. Your latest course assignments consist of reading multiple books in your preferred genre of writing, but they all have to be by different authors. You also have to keep a journal that you write in first thing in the morning, three pages, and a few things involving figuring out what your goals are as a creative person and what kinds of thoughts hold you back. It’s all very introspective, which was hokey at first, but you’ve learned some things about yourself, and you find that you actually enjoy the exercises…even if they feel silly at times.

You come home from work on Thursday to an unfamiliar car parked in front. That alone is enough to send your nerves tingling, but the real shocker is when you step into the apartment to see Betty sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea…with Dr. Townsend seated across from her.

What the actual fuck? you think as you stare at the scene before you. As if he’d read your mind, Dr. Townsend turns his head to look at you, a warm smile on his face that does not reach his eyes in any way, shape, or form. “Oh, hello there, (Y/N)! Betty was just filling me in on her latest boy toy problems. Man, that James sounds like such a wonderful fella, doesn’t he?”

From what you’ve heard of James, you already hated the guy, but you weren’t about to declare that in front of Betty. You’re not sure what your face looks like, but whatever expression you have seems to give Dr. Townsend some form of satisfaction because he leans back in the small wooden chair and takes another long draught of his cup of tea.

“Yes, Dr. Townsend was telling me that I shouldn’t be so quick to judge guys by their profiles,” Betty said with a wide smile. Hers is authentic, you note grumpily. “I know that you said I should investigate James some more, but Dr. Townsend thinks I shouldn’t be afraid to take chances and explore the unknown instead of going into a relationship knowing everything about a guy.”

“Please, call me Leland,” Dr. Townsend says, flashing what seems to be a friendly smile in Betty’s direction.

Betty titters, a weird sound that you do not like hearing from your best friend. Oh, God, she’d better not be crushing on this asshole. It’d be just like her to fall for his charm and try to hit on him, even with the age gap.

“Alright, Leland,” she repeats, her cheeks pinking. You resist the urge to roll your eyes, but you need to stop this conversation right now.

“Betty, don’t you have to get to your Zumba class?” you say, your eyes darting to the stove clock. Her Zumba class isn’t until 5:30, but it’s close enough to now that she should be leaving, especially if she’s hoping to chat with her buddies in the class.

Betty jumps up from her chair, the legs scraping the floor as she turns her head towards the clock. “Oh, shit! Yeah, I gotta go!” She gives you an exasperated look. “I’m not even ready for it yet! Danny is gonna kill me if I’m late again.”

“Then GTFO,” you tell her, glad that she’ll be leaving the apartment. Of course, that means that you and Dr. Townsend—Leland—will be alone, but you can handle him. You just don’t want Betty to be collateral damage.

Leland the Loser keeps the smile on his face, but you doubt that Betty noticed that it never reaches his eyes, which are icy and fixed on you. You walk into the kitchen and lean against the counter to wait for Betty’s footsteps to head into her room. Leland opens his mouth to speak, but you hold up a sharp finger at him, and he clamps his mouth shut, though he looks irritated about being cut off.

You refuse to say anything until Betty’s gone, the door slamming shut behind her as she rushes out. The moment the door closes, you whip your head at Leland. “What the fuck are you doing here?” you demand as you glare at him. 

Leland tilts his head at you innocently. “You never showed up to your appointment yesterday, (Y/N),” he replies in a honeyed voice. “I was concerned.”

And that is very fucking disconcerting. You’d given his office a fake address, a fake name. How the hell had he found you? “I think we both know I had absolutely no intention of meeting with you, Dr. Townsend,” you say in a flat tone.

“Please, call me Leland.”

“Fine, Leland. How the hell do you know where I live, anyway?”

His face changes. It’s a subtle shift, but it’s there, a mixture of annoyance and amusement. “Ahh, yes. You gave my secretary a false address, false name, the whole dang shebang, didn’t ya?” That eerie glitter is back in his eyes. They’re just so damn blue. They’re not even a light blue; they’re dark and that makes them all the more off-putting. “It might’ve taken me much longer to track you down, but you made the mistake of using your own cell phone to call in.”

Oh, shit, you realize. “You tracked my cell phone?”

Leland smirks. “No, I just asked.” He doesn’t sound apologetic about it, not one whit. “I admire the effort, though. Not that it matters that much. If I wanted to find you, I would’ve found you.”

“Clearly,” you mutter as you scoot along the counter edge. Your kitchen knives are by the microwave, and something tells you that you might want them close. If this guy is so determined that he’s willing to figure out where you live and coerce your friend into letting him into the apartment…then he’s dangerous. 

His eyes catch your movement, and in less than a second, the smile is gone, replaced by a sneer. “You mind telling me why you’re so determined to avoid me, (Y/N)? Why you’re so…” his eyes dart to the knives and his lips curl, “afraid?”

You stop. You’re closer to the knives, but you’re also closer to him. What if he’s fast enough to get to you before you can grab a knife? You need a new plan. You mentally catalogue everything in your kitchen that you can use as a weapon. How fast can you unplug the microwave and throw it? “Well, you were pretty weirdly insistent at the coffee shop, and now you’re sitting in my kitchen. I think that’s reason enough to be suspicious of you,” you reply.

“Don’t tell me that you’re actually afraid of little old me?”

He sounds like he wants you to say yes, to admit that his presence makes you very, very afraid. Like hell you’re gonna admit that, especially if that’s what he wants.

“Concerned? Sure. Afraid, though?” You force yourself to chuckle. “What is there to be afraid of?”

He doesn’t respond, and the silence says volumes. You feel the goosebumps prickle again, but at least this time, you’ve got a light sweater on, a habit from your workplace. You’ve never been so grateful that the bookshop is kept at a freezing temperature as you are now.

Who the hell is this guy? You start to cross your arms but stop, knowing it would only make you look more defensive. Instead you put them on your hips. “The hell do you want with me?”

Leland adjusts the chair so that he can face you, and you curse internally at him. He knows you’re going for the knives and he’s telling you that he’s watching. “Like I said—I think we could do great things together.” He sets his mug down. “I’ve heard some interesting stories about you, you know.”

You purse your lips. “From who?” you ask.

He smiles, but there’s no kindness in it. “Oh, from some associates of mine here and there. They’ve hinted that you’re…quite imaginative when it comes to hurting people.”

“I don’t hurt people,” you snap. “I don’t do shit like that.”

Leland doesn’t look bothered by this revelation at all. “Alright, so then you don’t torment the men who hurt your friends? You’ve never done anything to the assholes who break your heart?” He raises his eyebrows, and you feel your breath catch.

How the hell does he know about that? Not even Betty, your best friend in the whole wide world, knows the extent of what you’ve done, the psychological vengeance you’ve exacted on each and every one of those dickwads. It’s almost a game at this point—you rank the men on how easy it is to scare them, on how elaborate your schemes need to be to terrify them. You’ve already started working on plans for James if he turns out to be just as shady as you expect him to be.

“No,” you lie, and Leland’s face twitches, like he expected you to do that. But how could he possibly know? You’re excellent at covering your tracks. There’s a reason you’ve never been caught by any of the exes.

“Why are you lying, (Y/N)?” he asks in a silky voice. “You’ve done some fun stuff. You’re allowed to brag about it. This is a safe space.” He waves his hands at your kitchen and you scowl.

“No, it’s fucking not,” you reply, a touch too aggressively.

Leland sighs dramatically and rises to his feet. You ready yourself for—for what? Is he gonna attack you in your own kitchen? “What would it take to get you to come to an appointment, (Y/N)?” he asks, and there’s an odd wistfulness to his voice. You’re confused. You barely know the guy. Why does he care so much? Why do you matter to him? “I’m serious—I think you’d be surprised at how beneficial it could be for you.”

He’s just…standing there, waiting for you.

So you take a step forward in the hopes that maybe you can scare him off. He doesn’t step back, doesn’t even look nervous. 

“Nothing—I repeat, nothing—is gonna make me come to an appointment with you,” you tell him, your voice firm.

He sighs again, looks away from you for a moment as he seems to come to some sort of conclusion. “Alright, then. What about this?” He looks back at you, and you do not like the way he’s looking at you. You want to back up, but backing up would mean giving in, even if it might be safer to do that. “How about you come to an appointment, and I don’t slip into here in the middle of the night—or day, I’m not picky—and slit your friend’s throat?” He nods his head towards the empty chair that Betty had been sitting in when you’d arrived home.

His tone is amicable, pleasant, but the words are jarring enough that you do take a step back. “Uhm, what?” You say, certain that you must’ve misheard him.

He gives you a cordial smile, and his entire face is lit up with glee at garnering a reaction from you at last. “I mean, unless you want me to. God knows she’s a whiney little bitch who really needs to make better choices in men. It’s probably a lotta work keeping her protected from all the assholes of the world.” He shrugs. “Maybe you’d prefer it if she was gone. I can get rid of her body, too. Easy-peasy.”

There’s a queasy feeling churning in your stomach. Your heart is racing, and you’re trying to keep your breathing steady, but it’s hard when he’s talking like that—he’s fucking talking about murdering Betty, for Chrissakes! You have to breath in through your nose to keep it from shuddering.

You take another step back, this time on purpose. You need those knives now.

“What? You don’t like that idea?” Leland takes a step towards you, his face contorted into a mockery of concern. “You don’t like the idea of coming home to find that your roommate has disappeared without a trace?”

Your mouth opens and closes. You don’t know what to say, but you need to think of something, and fast, or else he’s gonna realize you’re feeling behind you for the knives. What would a final girl say? What would they say in the movies? “Uhm…thanks, but no thanks?” You say. Your voice is faint, and you hate it, because it’s betraying how worried you are. You suck in a shuddering breath. “I, uhm.” You shake your head in the hopes that it’ll clear your thoughts. It helps, if only a modicum. “As annoying as Betty might be at times, I’d, uh, appreciate it if you don’t, you know, murder her. Rent in New York is a real bitch.”

Alright, that works, you think to yourself. That’s morbidly funny, right?

Leland snorts in amusement, and you relax juuuuuuust a hair. He hasn’t yet noticed that you’re feeling around for the knives, and your fingers brush up against the wooden knife holder. “Great! So I’ll see you next Thursday at 3?” He chirps.

You blink as you lick your lips. “I, uhm. I work until 4:30.”

A flicker of irritation crosses his face. “Fine. Five, then.”

You nod. “Sure. Five.”

He holds up a finger at you. “Thursday! Don’t be late!”

You flash him the biggest smile you can muster as your hands wrap around one of the knives. “Thursday at five. I’ll underline it on my calendar.” You nod your head towards the magnetic calendar that’s hanging on your fridge, and when Leland glances at it, you strike.

On second thought, charging at the man probably wasn’t the best idea you’ve ever had, but the fuck else are you supposed to do when he’s casually talking about killing your best friend?! It’s clumsy and dumb, but it’s too late; you’re committed to this. You lunge at him, the knife turned outwards. You’re really not sure what you’re meaning to do—intimate him? Slice him? Kill him yourself?—but it doesn’t even matter, because Leland has weirdly fast reflexes and he slaps the knife out of your hand easily. It doesn’t even fricking graze him, the son of a bitch.

The knife clatters to the floor. You try to duck down to grab it, but he grabs your arm and pins it to the table. You swipe at him with your other arm, but he manages to avoid it and pin that arm down, too. Now you’re both face-to-face, glaring at each other. You do the only other thing you can think of—you headbutt him, hard. He yelps in pain, but that wasn’t the best choice ever either because now your head hurts, too.

He releases your arms, but at the same time, he’s got the wherewithal to kick the knife away, and somehow you two have rotated in the kitchen so that he’s the one with his back to the rest of the knives and you’re the one with no other weapons.

Plus your head hurts like hell.

You’re huffing, breathing heavily, and he’s doing the same, but there’s laughter mingled in as Leland catches his breath. “Alright, that was fun! Not how I wanted our first session to go, but…” He raises a hand to you, not in retaliation, and you see that there’s red across his nose where your headbutt pushed his glasses into his nose.

You stare at him, dumbstruck, heart thudding in your ears. You’re genuinely not sure if you need to run away. You probably should, in all honesty, but then Leland moves, and you get ready to fight him again if you need to. 

But Leland doesn’t show any signs of wanting to keep fighting. Instead he reaches up to his cut nose, dips his finger in the red blood, and brings the finger to his mouth, where he slowly licks his own blood off of his finger.

And dammit all to hell, as fucked up as it is, it’s kinda sexy. You immediately shut down that line of thinking because what the fuck, brain, he just threatened Betty and for all you know, he might be planning to murder you after you just attacked him, you should not under any circumstances be attracted to that!

There’s warmth pooling in your lower belly as you watch him, and you have to wrench your face into an expression of horror to hide your true thoughts. God, what the hell was that?

Leland finishes licking his blood off of his finger and gives you a sultry, smug grin. “Oh, yeah, this is gonna be really fun,” he drawls, and there’s something in his voice that makes you flush, and you hate it. Betty is the one who falls for the shitheads. You’re the one who protects her from them. You do not put up with this kind of crap.

“Get out of my apartment,” you growl in a low voice, ignoring the throbbing in your forehead. You’re gonna have a lump there, you can tell.

His grin widens, and you catch a little splash of red on his teeth. He adjusts his glasses, wipes his nose. There’s no blood on the back of his hand, which means you didn’t headbutt him hard enough to break his nose. That’s unfortunate. “I can’t wait to see how next week goes. Maybe we’ll get to talk about Jordan.”

The name drop is casual, but the sensual warmth that you’d felt vanishes in a split second at the mention of your ex. You’ve been single for six months now, almost seven—Jordan was a disaster that fucked you up for a solid month and a half. How the hell does Leland know about him, though? You’ve taken great care to delete any and all traces of him. 

You don’t have time to ask that—not that you want to know, either. Leland Townsend has done his research on you and you hate it, but the sooner he’s out of your apartment, the sooner you can do some research on him.

“Get out,” you snarl. 

Leland looks pleased that he’s touched a nerve. “What’s the magic word?”

You glare at him. “Oh, my bad,” you say, forcing yourself to sound sweet. “I meant to say, ‘Please get the fuck out’.”

Leland laughs at that. “Alright, since you asked so nicely.” He turns his back on you, and you’re tempted to lunge for the knives and just stab him in his stupid creepy back, but he probably wants you to try that, and you can’t risk his stupidly fast reflexes, so you don’t. You stand in your spot, stiff, unblinking, only moving to make sure he’s actually going out the door and not trying to stay behind. “See you next week at five!”

“Yeah, whatever,” you mutter. He flashes you yet another wide grin, one that you return in the most shit-eating way possible. His eyes are still cool, but they’re tinged with amusement. He enjoys your anger, the sicko. 

The moment the door shuts behind him, you rush to it and lock it. You also go to the window and watch him get into his car. He turns his head towards you as he opens the door and gives you a wave, which you return with a middle finger and another falsely bright smile. You see him laugh at you before he climbs into the car and drives away.

“What the fuck have I gotten myself into?” you ask as his car grows smaller and smaller, the distance between you and him growing greater. “What the fuck is going on with me?”

You turn away from the window and take a seat at the kitchen table, your eyes landing on the knife on the floor. You kick it, sending it spinning across the kitchen and under the fridge, which makes you groan in frustration as you drop to your knees to retrieve it.

When you’ve tossed it into the sink, you turn to the rest of the kitchen. Leland’s empty mug is still sitting there on the table, and you scowl at the sight. You’d love nothing more than to smash the mug, but it’s your favorite one. How the hell had he wound up with that mug, of all the coffee mugs in this place? It’s like he somehow knew that you’d want to smash it when he left, like this is some kind of sick test of your self-control.

Well, screw that bullshit. You’re not gonna smash your mug, but you’re not gonna take this lying down, either. You’re gonna research the hell outta this guy, and then once you figure out his weaknesses, you’re gonna scare the fuck out of him before he can do the same to you.

You make yourself pick up the mug and put it gently into the sink. There’s a smear of red on the rim, and you’re reminded of the way he’d looked at you as he’d sucked the blood off of his finger.

That warm feeling returns, and you hate yourself for being just a little turned on by the memory.

To stop yourself from reminiscing any further (you will not catch feelings for this psychopath), you turn to your writing assignments. Maybe writing about you feelings will get them out of your system, and then you can turn your full attention to researching this blue-eyed bastard.

You’re also gonna have to give Betty a talk about letting strangers into the apartment. A very strict talk.

“Oh no, no,” said the little Fly, “for I’ve often heard it said

They never, never wake again, who rest upon your bed!”

————————————————

Part Three

[sk1nnyyrwz]

the yogurt diet 💗

The most effective d1et of my entire life, The first d1et I had, I did it when I was 8 years old and I was left in the bones :P

(I almost died with this diet. Please be careful if you do it) :(

I am NOT responsible if it gives you side effects.⚠️

The diet consists of eating yogurt only once a day. Or maybe twice a day. It depends on how many cal0ries it contains.

Recommendations: It should 2 weeks or more of diet. I recommend that it only be one week, your goal is to be pretty and skinny, not to die. remember to exercise so as not to become skinny fat

Be careful with the rebound effect, Bye bye. 💗