#the text at the bottom is also kind of a test

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

'I should really sketch something other than Scarlet Briar expressions,' I say to myself continuing to sketch nothing except Scarlet Briar expressions (and exactly one thorny mordremified hand)

[catt-nuevenor]

A Brief Guide on Uploading ChoiceScript Demos to Itch.io

Since Dashingdon is shutting down, and there will be a lot of folks wanting to host their ChoiceScript demos elsewhere, I thought it'd be a good idea to provide a brief guide on how to do so for itch.io.

This is for Windows in the folder actions, but it shouldn't be too difficult for folks to translate for Mac. This also assumes you haven't changed any of the files within your game folder other than those found under 'scenes'.

Within your game folder, locate the 'web' subfolder, right click it and select 'Send to' then 'Compressed (zipped) folder. Name your newly compressed file something sensible, and I recommend moving it to a new folder outside of your game files, just to keep everything neat and tidy.

2. Assuming you already have an itch.io account, navigate to your dashboard, and click the 'Create New Project' button.

3. Name your project as you like, and under 'Kind of project', select the 'HTML' option.

4. Set the 'Pricing' to 'No Payments', you cannot use ChoiceScript for profit unless it is with the Choice of Games or Hosted Games publishing labels. No one wants to get in trouble unnecessarily here.

5. In the Uploads section, upload your newly zipped file we made in step one. After it's finished uploading, you'll be given one drop down and two tick boxes. You need to tick the 'This file will be played in the browser' option.

6. I've found so far that 'Viewport dimensions' work quite well for desktop at 1080 x 640. Either use these numbers or experiment and find what works best for you.

7. You must tick the 'Enable scrollbars' option for your game to display properly, otherwise options, text and buttons can be clipped off the bottom of the viewport.

8. Continue filling out the rest of the form, or skip it for now and scroll all the way to the bottom to the 'Visibility & access' section. Here make sure you have 'Draft' selected. This prevents others from finding your game until you're ready, and I always recommend play testing things before you make your work public.

9. Finally, hit the 'Save' button, then go and have a look at your creation by hitting the 'View page' link. And there you go! When you're ready for public release, just change the option in section 8 to 'Public'.

---

A few things to bear in mind about hosting on itch.io:

There isn't currently any way for your readers to save their game. I'm sure someone could write in a plugin similar to Dashingdon's at some point, but as for right now, this isn't available. See addition/edit below.

Make sure you properly tag your game with the 'choicescript' and 'interactive-fiction' tags. There are an awful lot of games on itch.io and it's easy to get lost in the crowd. Make sure folks can find you by having the right tags.

I hope this brief guide was useful to folks.

Best of luck to you with your writing!

---

Addition/Edit:

Thanks to @hpowellsmith for bringing this to my attention. You can add save functionality to your game by using this addon:

The ChoiceScript Save Plugin

Just tried it out on my own game and it works perfectly.

Rather than run through the addon author's own tutorial here, I'll just forward you to the Readme on their Github page.

One small note I would add is when it asks you to make the two small additions to your index file, make sure you right click the file and open it with your coding program, don't double-click it as this will just open it in an internet browser, and it won't give you the access to what you need to change.

[daddyslittlecrow]

How about period Sex with caleb⁉️⁉️

YES YES I WILL!!

Oh.

You meant…no, no, of course. It's just a prompt! Not a serious possibility 🤧

Anyway….I love these types of prompts. Menstruation happens whether people like it or not and I absolutely love that the game has 5 such gentle, kind period trackers ❤️

And they would all absolutely fuck you during it if you let them

Not proofread, sue me 🤘

Warnings: 18+ MDNI

Painkiller - Caleb

For some reason, the cramps seemed to be much more intense this month. You spent the last few hours curled up around a heating pad, willing the painkillers to keep working. While the pain was still manageable, you peeled yourself from the sheets, hobbling to the bathroom to change your pad.

By the time you were washing your hands, you heard the door to your apartment shut. Caleb. You shamelessly texted him a while ago, begging him to come over after work so he could take care of you.

You collapsed back into your nest of self-pity just as he burst through the door. “I bought 4 different kinds of chocolate to avoid any tears. Learnt my lesson last time.” He said immediately, a plastic grocery bag in one hand and the other hiding behind his back.

He bent down. His kiss told you how much he missed you, caressing your lips with his. The scent of aftershave mingled with steel consumed you. You breathed him in, urging your racing heart to settle. It didn't help that he was still in his sexy uniform.

Caleb straightened up, a boyish grin plastered on his face. “Also got you these for being so brave.”

Red roses. Emotions swelled in your chest as you admired them. His gesture was returned with a weak smile. “They’re beautiful Caleb. Thank you.”

He left the bag of supplies next to you before walking out with roses and the vase that held last week’s bouquet. While you felt somewhat okay now, you knew the cramps were lurking. Patiently waiting until the painkillers left your system so they could seek revenge.

Thank God you asked him for more. The pills you took earlier were the last one in the box. You brought the grocery bag closer to you, sifting through the chocolate and pads. Oh no. Quickly dumping everything onto the bed, pure panic bubbled.

“Where are the painkillers?” Caleb was walking back into your room, eyes growing wide at your words. His cheeks flushed. He had forgot them, distracted by the flower stand.

You tapped your phone screen, checking time. It was too late. By the time Caleb returned to the store it would be closed. You sighed dramatically. “I guess I'll die tonight then.”

Caleb chewed on his bottom lip, feeling terrible that he racked his brain for a solution. He placed the roses on your nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed. The warmth of his finger tips felt soothing as he traced patterns along your back. You were wearing the comfiest things you could find. A pair of sweatpants and one his t-shirts.

His amethyst eyes drank you in like you were the most beautiful creature on earth. Even if you thought you looked horrendous with your hair piled on top of your head and a lovely hormonal spot screaming for attention on your chin.

“You know Pips…i think I read somewhere that orgasms can help. Eases the cramps.” You laughed despite feeling your cheeks start to burn. Despite feeling miserable during your period, it also made you extra…sensitive.

“Nice try. Did you suddenly forget there’s literal blood flowing out of me?” You reached for one of the chocolate bars, trying not to focus on the slight tremble of your hands. “Come back when the river’s running clear.”

Caleb shook his head, hand sliding down to the hem of his t-shirt. Last month he had finally realised you got incredibly horny during your period. But you never initiated anything and he gave you space, assuming you weren't into it. But he decided to test the waters today.

He loved taking care of you and if that meant making you cum so you'd be less uncomfortable, well? It was a win-win in his books. “What if I told you I don't care whether you’re on your period or not?”

Avoiding the burning glare of his eyes, you snapped off a piece of chocolate and shoved it in your mouth. Anything to distract you from the pulsing sensation that started between your legs.

It's not that you thought it was gross to have period sex, you just couldn't stop imagining a grimace on your boyfriend’s face if he looked down. You’d rather just avoid the potential for embarrassment.

Caleb leaned over and grabbed your chin, forcing you to look at him. Your breath hitched, a dribble of chocolate at the corner of your mouth. He knew his proposal interested you. Your thighs pressing instinctively together did not go unnoticed.

But he could also see you were too in your head, worrying about the worst case scenario. At war with yourself. He just needed to get you to stop thinking altogether.

The pad of his thumb collected the chocolatey drool before pushing it back into your mouth. Your heart hammered in your chest as you felt his thumb go past your lips.

“Suck.”

The command went right to your pussy, feeling it flutter with anticipation. A small groan slipped out of you. Instantly your lips wrapped around him, swirling your wet tongue around the tip. Just like you did with his cock.

Caleb hissed. Restraining his desires was quite the challenge when you hollowed your cheeks slightly to suction him. Your eyes locked on his - eager, waiting. His jaw clenched, forcing himself to ignore how hard he was already - straining painfully against his work trousers.

This wasn't about him.

A soft pop followed as Caleb removed his thumb from your mouth. Then his lips were on yours, claiming them, swallowing the soft moans the came from your throat. He took those sweet sounds as permission to keep going but he wanted to make sure.

He grabbed the material of the t-shirt, peeling it up over your head. Your back hit the mattress as he gently pushed you down. His eyes trailed down to your bare breasts before lowering himself, his body almost on top of you.

He kissed a scorching path down your neck, stopping when he reached one of your nipples. Your back arched, pushing your breast closer to his mouth. He smirked, flicking out his tongue to tease the sensitive bud. You whined. “Caleb…”

“Good girls use their words, pipsqueak.” His hand slipped under the waistband of your sweatpants, then your panties. A wave of embarrasment hit you and you tried to move his hand away.

Caleb tutted before grabbing your wrist with his free hand, pinning your arm over your head. His fingers pressed against your clit and you moaned loudly as he worked in agonizingly slow circles. Every bit of hesitation melted away as your pussy clenched around nothing. His eyes never left yours.

“Tell me what you want or I’ll stop.” He murmured against your breast before sucking your nipple into his mouth. The tempo of his fingers increased, making your hips buck.

“You - ah - I want…you.” The pleasure started to build, making it difficult to speak. Caleb growled against your breast before removing his hand from your panties.

He practically ripped your bottoms off your legs, leaving you bare before him. His eyes hungrily roamed your body before stopping at your swollen pussy.

He didn't expect how aroused he got seeing your wetness tinged pink with blood. His dick was leaking at the sight. You’d feel so much wetter, hotter, if he sank his length into you right now. And because you were extra sensitive, you'd be able to feel every thick inch as he dragged through your gummy walls.

Before you could start overthinking, he gripped your thighs hard and pushed them apart, opening you wider for him. “Just like back and let me make you feel good, beautiful.”

Your fingers clutched the sheets, trying to anchor yourself as he resumed his touch on your engorged clit. You moaned his name like a prayer. He answered by bringing his middle finger right next to your pulsing hole.

“You want it Pips?” His voice was rough with raw need. He ignored your desperate hips urging him to go further, to fill you with his long finger. “Fucking beg for it.”

You let out a sob as his movements on your clit slowed, refusing to indulge you until you obeyed. “Please let me cum on your…ah…your fingers. I need you.”

The air left your lungs as he slammed his finger into your pussy. He grunted as he fucked it into you hard, making your eyes roll back as your body writhed. In. Out. In. Out.

The sounds of your squelching cunt was sending you close to the edge. He added a second digit, stretching your slick walls. Your hips rocked to match his pace, fucking his fingers as your stomach clenched from the intense pleasure that grew.

“That’s it baby. I know. It feels good doesn't it? So tight. Want you to cum.” Caleb curled his fingers, massaging your g-spot as your moans grew louder. “Good girl. Cum for me. All over my fingers.”

The tension in your body finally snapped. Your jaw went slack as you let out a guttural scream, pussy clenching as you chased each wave of your orgasm. Caleb continued to sciossor his fingers into you, loving how your back arched from what he did to you.

After a few more leisurely pumps, he withdrew his fingers. You melted into the mattress, utterly spent. Your flushed face only burned hotter when Caleb immediately went to the bathroom. He returned with a damp washcloth and gently cleaned you up.

“How are you feeling?” He asked softly, afraid he may have been a bit too rough. He just couldn't help it. He stopped cleaning a few times to leave kisses on your stomach.

Despite cringing at the undeniable mess between your legs, he may have been right. Your orgasm seemed to keep your cramps at bay for a while longer. “That was definitely better than swallowing a few pills.”

You broke out into a fit of laughter and he grinned as he leaned over to kiss you. Your eyes bore into his when he pulled away, stroking your cheek with his thumb. You didn’t miss the michevious spark that burned in his gaze.

“I’ll check in with you we get something to eat. I might be able to give you something…stronger if the pain comes back.”

[technoarcanist]

CALLING ALL DOLLS, DRONES, ROBOTS AND CODING ENTHUSIASTS

Are you a robot that loves to serve? Are you a doll maid who seeks guidance in your duties? Are you some form of drone or being with no free will, open to having your actions dictated by the will of your owner? Does the idea of your empty mind being programmed like a machine appeal to you?

Are you enticed by the notion of writing code for your robotic servants? Are you a witch looking to create more intricate control glyphs? Are you an owner seeking to create automated instructions for your drones? Do you love the idea of filling an empty mind with rules and instructions to reflect your will?

INTRODUCING DRONE RESTRAINT NOTATION!

WHAT IS IT?

Drone Restraint Notation, or DRN, is a pseudo programming language created by my good friend Errant Spark, a drone with a very creative <empty space>. I helped with some of the final tweaks for the 1.0 version, but this is almost entirely Its creation.

It is a programming language that is designed in such a way that anyone without a background in programming can execute the commands like a machine, doll, drone, or programmable entity of your choice. It is also simple enough that most people without a background in programming can pick it up fairly easily, and intuitively!

Once you understand the language, you can read and execute all kinds of dynamic instructions and instruction types, in a way that makes it easy to parse in a plain-text format.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The main documentation document will provide far more detail to this question than I ever could, but effectively it goes like this:

There are a list of eight KEYWORDS, in block capitals, that show you the type of instruction you’re executing. Then, after the KEYWORD, the instruction’s details are shown. Commands are read and executed from top to bottom by the drone, and programs can be ‘inserted’ into the drone’s memory at will (Assuming prior consent, of course)!

These KEYWORDS all have different kinds of functionality. The most basic one just has you carrying out a task. One checks if a condition is true, one provides an ongoing task you have to prioritize and maintain, one lets you create loops, etc.

The language has been designed in such a way as to minimize the amount of actual memorisation a drone has to do, and only has to read what’s right in front of them, and memorize tasks they have to accomplish/maintain. Obviously, mileage may vary depending on the memory space of the doll.

WHY SHOULD I USE IT?

For fun, I suppose! If you are someone who loves the idea of being programmed like a machine, executing only the instructions given, then this provides that! If you are a programmer who wants to program your very own doll bot, then this is a great place to get started too!

You can keep things nice and simple with a headspace that accepts basic command inputs, or you can see how deep the rabbit hole goes and import whole libraries into your headspace to carry out a full day’s maid duties, or sexual duties, or more!

Have fun executing commands, writing new code, testing it on your dolls. Have some playful fun watching as your early code files cause unintended behaviors, ironing out kinks and bugs like a real programmer until you’ve got your bots performing all sorts of dynamic tasks- or insert purposeful bugs to make your robots twitch and halt~

As with all things, never execute an instruction that you cannot/would not consent to. This is meant to be fun, and is NOT meant to be a way to circumvent normal consensual kink play. Programmers who attempt to use DRN as a way to bully people into doing what they want (Unless you’re into that sort of thing, in which case go nuts) do NOT have my endorsement, or the endorsement of Errant Spark.

NOW GO OUT THERE, AND ENJOY YOUR PROGRAMMING <3

>> Posted by XCN-PSD/I-04135

[noodlemoondle]

Sleep Aid ♡

Zayne x Reader ~ fluff ε٩(๑> ₃ <)۶з

word count: 1.2k

description: after a boring day at work you find yourself unable to sleep at night when you suddenly receive a message from zayne questioning why you’re still awake and offering to come over. after denying and trying to keep him at his home you are now getting out of bed late at night to let your graciously kind (and insanely stubborn) boyfriend into you’re home to help you sleep.

author’s note: hihi everyone!!! this is the first fanfic i’m ever actually posting! kinda confused a bit on how tumblr works so im sorry if the formatting is off but i think it’s all good other than that. i’m using this to test the waters on making a fic acc bc i’ve been waning to get on the writer’s side of it and not just the reader’s lolol. lmk ur thoughts and opinions id love to hear! hope u enjoy!!! ヾ(^▽^ヾ)

(p.s. this has been sitting in my notes app for a while so i’m so sorry for any grammar errors! i also apologize for the shitty title i’m not good at coming up with those T_T )

it was around 1 in the morning and you couldn’t sleep. you weren’t really sure why either you just couldn’t do it. not like you didn’t try, sleep just didn’t want to take you. you didn’t necessarily mind though, you weren’t scheduled to come in the next day. so instead of just fighting to fall asleep, you just decided to mindlessly scroll on your phone until you felt tired enough to actually go to bed.

hugging a pillow and facing the wall, you’ve been scrolling for god knows how long. until suddenly you received a message.

zayne: why are you still awake?

taken aback by the sudden text, your eyes slightly widen. you stare at the notification for a moment in disbelief until you receive another

zayne: don’t ignore me and act like you’re asleep. i can see that you’re active on moment posts.

well there goes your brilliant plan on ignoring him until the sun rises pretending to be asleep all along.

you: stalker

you: also i just so happened to not be able to fall asleep what’s your excuse hm?

zayne: i just got back from the hospital half an hour ago and got ready to go to bed and noticed someone up past her bedtime.

you: bedtime? i’m not 5 🙄

you: plus i don’t have work tomorrow so i can go to bed whenever

zayne: not necessarily. what time you go to bed also plays a factor in your rest not just how long it is.

you: blah blah blah. i’ll be fine. i have been trying to though!!! i just can’t fall asleep for whatever reason :P

zayne: would you like me to come over?

you: no!!!!!

you: i mean i appreciate the offer but i promise im ok! i’ll get tired eventually and fall asleep it’s just not right now. and you should go to bed you had a long shift and need to rest.

zayne: i’m not going to make a comment on your poor sleeping habits, but i dont mind heading over. sleeping with you helps me rest better anyways.

you: 😉

zayne: not like that.

you: 🙄

you: whatever. don’t come over i swear i’ll be fine and i’ll go to bed eventually! 😁

zayne: …

zayne: i’ll be there in 15.

you: ZAYNE!!! ���

just as he said 15 minutes later you hear a knock on your door. annoyed, you grumble and stomp over to the door to let him in.

you open the door making sure not to hide the sour look on your face, emphasizing the displeasure of him coming all this way. the moment you open the door a smile tugs on his lips, despite the upset look on your face. he chuckles and leans down to kiss the top of your head.

“hello, dear” he says against your hair. before he walks into your apartment.

“why are you here?” you quickly say with your bottom lip sticking out in a pout with your arms crossed over your chest.

“i thought i made it aware. you can’t sleep.” he states as he brushes a few strands of hair out of your face and behind your ear.

“but i already told you im fine!!! go back home. it is all good here.” you say like a child , attempting to swat away his hand and starting to try and push him out the door.

“what if i said that i couldn’t sleep?” zayne says as he slightly cocks his head to the side at you with a soft smirk.

you pause in your tracks, trying to think of something to respond, knowing exactly what he’s doing. the gears try to slowly turn in your head until you look up at him, and you see him looking back down at you with a knowing grin showing he already got what he wanted.

“…fine.” you mumble begrudgingly as you drag yourself back to your room.

zayne lets out a small breath of laughter as he takes off his coat and begins to follow you to bed.

you sit down and lean against your headboard. picking up your phone and continuing to scroll as zayne joins you in bed. there’s a few moments of silence where you don’t even notice him looking at you. it wasn’t until he suddenly reaches over and snatches your phone right from your hands that you’re reminded of his presence and how he invaded your peaceful home.

“HEY!!! give it back!!!” you say as you jump to him trying to retrieve your phone from his grasp, something you knew was pointless.

“it’s almost 2:00 am you need to go to sleep.” he says with a softer voice as he plugs your phone in on the nightstand closer to him.

“do i have to say it again?” you practically growl as you loom over on top of him.

“well, now i’m here.” his voice deepening, as his hands begin to caress the sides of your torso. a combination he knows gets you to do whatever he wants.

you finally give up. falling on top of him onto his chest where he’s quick to wrap his arms around you and help you get settled.

“it’s not working im still not tired.” you say annoyed trying to wriggle out of his grasp. another fruitless effort, but hey you’ll still try.

one of zaynes hand creeps its way to your hair and begins brushing it out, as he uses his other hand to wrap the duvet around you both tucking, mainly you, in.

“talk to me until you do.” he says, still playing with your hair.

“about what?” you look up to him, with a much calmer demeanor that you don’t notice, but he smiles at.

“your day. what did you do today?” he asks, beginning to scratch up and down your back.

you release a small yawn before you begin to speak. which he uses as a sign to move the hand playing with your hair to cup your cheek, softly rubbing his thumb along the apple of it. making sure to keep his lips pressed against your head.

“well i didn’t do much today. i had a mission i was supposed to go on, but then they sent another group instead. so i just sat on my desk doing some some work i’ve been putting off until i got bored and decided to go shopping. and then once i got off work i went to the convenience store to get some snacks. and i also hope you know you can’t do this every time i can’t sleep. i very often struggle to do so.” you ramble, your voice losing energy the more you talk and closing your eyes by the time you get to the end of it.

zayne cranes his head down to press his lips against your forehead, still cupping your cheek and rubbing it tenderly. he begins to speak against your forehead in a quiet gentle voice.

“i’m aware, but every time that i am able to, i’ll gladly come over and comfort you to sleep. it’s no issue at all. i assure you.”

by the time he finished speaking, zaynes voice lulled you to bed. of course he knew exactly what to do to make you instantly fall asleep. he nuzzles your face once more before turning off the bedside lamp. he curls himself around your sleeping form nuzzling his face into your hair before drifting off to bed himself.

“goodnight, my love.”

[kingkatsuki]

— miscommunication

Based on this silly little post I made here. With inspiration from @/oooohno💕 basically Sakura can’t fathom anyone could ever like him like that.

Pairing: Sakura Haruka x f!reader.

Warnings: none, a little angsty, Sakura is bad at feelings.

Word Count: 2.9k.

You always feared getting your heart broken someday, you just hadn’t imagined it would happen like this. Sakura had always been kind to you, ever since you’d been introduced to him through Tsubakino. It was one of the many reasons why you found yourself falling for him. It had been impossible not to, and you’d spent the majority of the time working up the courage to finally ask him out. Convinced by the fact that Tsubaki had guaranteed he would say yes.

“He’d be a fool not to like you,” He said, glancing at you through his reflection in the small compact he carried with him. Giving you a reassuring wink as he applied a fresh layer of engine red lipstick, “You won’t know unless you try.”

But maybe you were the biggest fool of all because you definitely hadn’t expected Sakura Haruka to leave you standing alone in the middle of the park wearing a pretty sundress. An excruciating pain ruminated beneath your ribcage as you tried to fight back the ache of rejection.

The first step had been the most difficult— working up the courage to ask for his number. It seemed awkward to ask for it straight up, but you also didn’t want to just get it off Tsubaki in case it crossed any unspoken boundaries. So you decided it might be easier to give him yours, writing it down onto a napkin from Kotoha’s restaurant one morning while you waited for her to pour your coffee. Before slowly sliding it across the bar to Sakura, who was shovelling omelette rice into his mouth. His pink cheeks bulged with food as he skimmed the note, looking up at you with a frown.

“If you don’t want to, it’s okay.” You smiled softly as you thanked Kotoha for the coffee, walking out through the door into the warm morning sun.

If he didn’t want to what? Sakura thought to himself as he scanned your number on the white napkin. Why did you give him your cell phone number? Sakura pondered the reasons as he continued to shovel the warm egg omelette rice into his mouth. You could want to hang out as friends, but you’d never showed any indication of wanting to do so prior. Or perhaps you were looking for protection, although that didn’t make sense when you were so close to Tsubaki who was a force to be reckoned with alone.

You didn’t need protection— so what if you’d given him your number so you could fight? It made the most sense to Sakura. It had to be why you stared at him each morning when you came in for your coffee, almost as if you were sizing him up with expectation, and today was the day you’d decided to extend the invitation. He waited until he’d finished his plate before fishing his cell phone out of his pocket to send you a text message.

Even after Kiryu had added Sakura to a Furin group chat all those years ago, Sakura was never the best at texting. He tests the words against the screen as he debates how to properly respond. Backspacing until he finally settles on a simple, yet concise answer and he hits send.

Sakura[9.49AM]: I want to.

He wasn’t entirely sure what he was agreeing to, but it had to be some sort of fight. He’d never trained with you before, so it couldn’t be that. And if you were friends with Tsubaki-chan, perhaps you enjoyed fighting too.

You[9.53AM]: hi! I’m glad you texted, I wasn’t sure if you actually wanted to go or not but I’m glad you do!!! Honestly, it’s made my day :)

Sakura reread the text twice, just to make sure he understood what you meant. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to go— so you were looking for a fight.

Sakura[9.55AM]: When?

He texts back, glancing at the screen as he notices the three little dots appear at the bottom to signal you are typing back.

You[9.57AM]: Meet me in the park by the swings at 7pm :)

Sakura read the text three times with a frown— 7pm. So you really did want to fight him? That would surely be the only reason you wanted to meet so late.

It felt like a shame to fight you, especially when your face is so pretty. Sakura feels his cheeks flush at the thought as he pictures that same sweet smile you give him each day when he sees you enter the restaurant to order your usual coffee to go, while he tries to hide his face in his omelette rice.

But you’re best friends with Tsubaki-chan so you must be strong, and maybe that’s the reason why you’ve chosen to fight him. And he’s never one to back down, and you’ve set the stage now so he has no choice but to agree. Sending back a single word as his fingers glide across his phone screen.

Sakura[10.00AM]: Yes.

Sakura isn’t sure how he’s supposed to prepare for this, or if he even needs to. He’s never seen you fight before, although he’s certainly seen you mad. Your soft hands balled into tight fists as you warned off a guy for getting a little too close, so close in fact that even Sakura was decidedly about to jump in— until you managed to get him to back off and leave.

Okay, maybe you were strong—

He doesn’t know anything about your fighting technique, or the way you hold yourself. Wondering whether you have a similar style to Tsubaki, and that’s why you’re so close? But he’s friends with Suo and Nirei and they don’t fight like him, so maybe that doesn’t make sense, he frowns. He’s known you for a while, and this is the first time you’ve shown any indication you want to fight, so now he’s started to overthink everything. Contemplating how he’ll be able to get the upper hand— or what spoils will be offered to the victor?

He makes sure he’s early, arriving at the park ten minutes before your scheduled fight with his hands bundled into fists inside his jacket pockets. But he’s surprised to see you already there and waiting, his roaring heartbeat catches in his throat at the sight of you as he almost forgets to breathe—

You’re sitting there waiting wearing the prettiest dress Sakura thinks he’s ever seen. A flowy sundress that hugs your curves in all the right places, embarrassed when his eyes are instantly drawn to the cleavage that spills out of the top. Your bare skin has a dull throb pounding at the back of his head as though he’d just been sucker punched as he wonders whether he’s still standing or how you’re this strong.

The moment he first saw you, he remembers a word that Suo had taught him to describe things like this— and he reckons that’s exactly what you are. Ethereal.

His cheeks burn a fiery red as he risks a glance further down, the soft material of the dress stops just above your knee as he follows the path of your legs to see your feet encased in pretty wedge sandals that strap around your ankles. There was no way you’d come to fight like this— in fact, he couldn’t fight you like this, could he?

“Hey.” You notice him staring as you stand up to walk towards him, and Sakura is certain that he won’t be able to land a single hit when the scent of your perfume surrounds him.

“W-what are you wearing?!” He shouts, despite the fact you’ve come to stand in front of him and it takes you aback.

The same insecurities begin to shroud you as they did when you were preparing to meet him. Standing in front of your full-length mirror as you tried on various outfits until you came to settle on this one, almost deciding against it at the last minute before you checked the time and noticed if you didn’t leave you might be late.

“Oh— you don’t like it, do you?” You fiddled with the strings at the front of the dress that were tied into a pretty, thin bow. Sakura’s eyes couldn’t look away as they followed the movement, noticing your pretty painted nails before he found himself staring at the hint of skin that peeked out of the top of the dress, “I knew I should’ve worn the other dress, it’s not quite as light as this one. God, I feel stupid.”

One of the thin straps was dangerously close to falling down your shoulder, and now Sakura wasn’t even sure he’d be able to land a single punch. This had to be some kind of distraction technique.

“You can’t fight in that!” Sakura raises his arm in an accusatory point, trying to stop himself from shaking and showing any signs of fear as he tries desperately to tame the fierce blush that streaked across the apples of his cheeks.

“I can’t fight in this?” Sakura despised how adorable you looked when you cocked your head to the side with your words, his heart banging like a marching band as he thought about his initial statement— maybe he was foolish for thinking you couldn’t fight in this.

When he’d watched Tsubaki fight, he’d always notice men that would get distracted from his short skirts and heeled boots— was this what you were trying to do to him now? Was this your plan all along?

“It’s—” He tries to get the words out, but it’s difficult when you look so cute, “It’s not— it isn’t—”

“It isn’t what?” You take a small step closer and the sudden movement had his fight or flight instinct kicking in as Sakura turned to run. Escaping in a hasty sprint as he left you standing alone in the park, the sun slowly falling over the horizon.

You try to ignore the ache in your chest when Sakura turns to run, wondering why he’d even bother to show up at all when he was going to reject you anyway. But then you suppose that’s one of the reasons why you even like him in the first place— he’s way too thoughtful and considerate of others. That’s probably why he didn’t want to reject you over text, and he’d come to tell you face to face.

Trying to stop the tears from falling as pearlescent droplets collect in your thick lashes to blur your vision, blinking them back you pull out your phone to rest Tsubaki. The first text sitting at the top of your phone is still your message chain with Sakura as you reread the “Yes” he’d sent you hours earlier. You were so stupid.

It’s the first fight Sakura has ever run from in his twenty-two years, and he hates himself for it. Hates that you managed to win on pure tactics alone as he makes his way back to the restaurant to find his friends.

His chest is heaving when he finally makes it through the door, knocking the wood so hard it almost flies off its hinges as wild eyes search for his friends. Thankful they seem to be the only people inside as he makes a beeline for them, his two-toned hair now windswept and pushed back from his forehead as it sticks up in all directions.

“You’re back quick?” Kiryu notes, his thumb pauses on his screen to take note of Sakura’s dishevelled appearance.

“Did she stand you up?” Nirei asks, concerned.

“No.” Sakura deadpans, still standing by the table despite there being a free seat in front of him as he leans his weight on the balls of his feet.

“You stood her up?” Kiryu locks his phone and places it down on the table as he raises a questioning brow, “That’s really not how to treat a girl, Sakura. I thought you—”

“I went there!” Sakura shouts, louder than necessary inside the small cafe as his hands ball into fists on either side of him.

“What happened?” Suo asks calmly, trying to diffuse the situation, but there’s a curious lilt to his tone.

“S-she was there.” Sakura tries to work out how to explain what happened, as his nose scrunches pensively.

“Okay? So that’s good, right?” Nirei smiles.

“She was wearing a dress!” Sakura is loud, immediately regretting his volume as the heat rising inside his body starts to become uncomfortable. Slouching down to sit beside Suo as he mumbles, “You can’t fight in a dress—”

“Girls can fight in anything,” Kiryu smiles, as Sakura looks across the table at him. So you did want to fight? “But I don’t think that’s what she had in mind.”

Oh. So if you didn’t want to fight him, then what else did you want?

“Well, where is she now?” Suo questioned, and Sakura answered for him with a sheepish look paired with a deep pink blush all the way down to his shoulders, “You left her in the park?”

“Wait— on her own?” Nirei continued, “Why would you do that?”

And somehow it sounded worse when his best friend put it like that. Sakura hadn’t left you alone, or at least he hadn’t meant to. You were there alone before he’d even got there, almost like he’d just stopped in passing. You were fine—

“She was wearing a dress!” Sakura repeated with an angry rasp to his tone.

“Sakura, you messed up.” Kiryu starts laughing playfully, shaking his head, “You’re gonna have her and Tsubaki-chan mad at you now. I can’t believe you did that to her— the poor girl.“

“What?!” Sakura baulks, “But she’s the one that text me!”

Sakura never wanted to fight you, why would he? You were far too pretty— too delicate to be subjected to that. He didn’t want to think about you fighting anyone, the thought alone had that same strange feeling bubbling in his tummy as he pictured you coming out of the fight hurt. That same seated desire inside him burning red hot at the thought— Sakura is certain he’d fight to the death to protect every single inch of you, to stop any harm from coming to you.

“What do you think it means when a girl gives you her number?” Sakura sat back beside Suo as he pondered the question.

The only phone number he had stored in his phone outside Bofurin friends and Togame from Shishitoren was Kotoha, and that was because she’d grabbed his phone the same day he’d given it to Kiryu. But Sakura didn’t mind so much because she always brought him food. But he didn’t think that’s why you’d given your number to him, was it?

“Iunno.” He mumbled gruffly, his lips curling into a pout, “That she wants to fight.”

Tsubaki-chan had texted him to spar all the time, it wouldn’t be weird to think you’d do the same.

Kiryu shot Suo a look as he gave his friend a soft smile, before trying a different approach. It was clear after knowing him for so many years, that Sakura was inexperienced in things outside the reemits of fighting.

“Have you never found a girl pretty before, Sakura-kun?” Suo asks,

“Shaddup!” Sakura snaps swiftly, already feeling a dangerous heat rise inside him— but it’s at that same moment where he really ponders the question.

Kotoha is pretty, he supposes. Thinking back to the first time he met her when she offered him a warm plate of food with a kind smile, remembering the heat that plumed inside him that followed her kindness as Sakura found himself coming back to her.

Sakura is certain he thinks Tsubaki is pretty too, although none of them seem to compare to how he feels about you. The incessant pounding of his heart against his rib cage at the mere thought of you, your saccharine perfume makes him feel dizzy and yet he hates when you’re not around so he has to remember the way it smells. The sound of your laughter causes more than just a subtle warmth inside him like Kotoha, it's more like a blazing inferno that courses through his veins like molten lava that’s impossible to extinguish. And the way you manage to fluster him without even being there— he’s constantly thinking about your face before he falls into a dreamless sleep, and waking up to wonder what you’re doing right now.

Tsubaki would probably think he’s foolish for thinking you couldn’t fight in a pretty sundress with sandals when he fights in a skirt and heels all the time. Maybe it would give you some kind of advantage, a way to get the upper hand. The sandals wedge gave you a slight height advantage sure, but would that be enough to beat him?

“Are you listening, Sakura?”

“Yeah.” He pushes his chair out with a harsh screech against the hardwood floor as he moves to leave, frantic in his search for you as he hopes you’re still standing where he left you.

[hypnopreppy]

New Year, New you

Chet mumbles to himself as he checks his email. It’s New Year’s Eve and Chet could care less about partying or shooting off fireworks. All he wants to do is get some last games in before the new year. Taking a break from gaming, he decided to check his email.

“Hm? What’s this?” Chet clicks on an email he just got.

New Year, New You

“It's probably some stupid scam,” Chet says to himself. Curiosity getting the better of him, he opens it and decides to read what it has to say.

ARE YOU TIRED OF THE SAME OLD YOU? ARE YOU SICK OF FAILED NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS?

“Actually yeah I am,” Chet agrees.

THEN LOOK NO FURTHER THAN Optima! THIS BRAND NEW ONLINE PERSONAL COACHING SYSTEM IS JUST WHAT YOU NEED TO FIND THE NEW YOU!

“Optima?”

HAVING BEEN TESTED AND VETTED BY THE WORLD’S LEADING NEUROSCIENTISTS, Optima, PROVIDES UNPARALLELED CHANGES FOR A NEW AND IMPROVED YOU.

NO HARD WORK. NO GIMMICKS. JUST CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGY FOR YOU! GET RESULTS IN SECONDS!

“Seconds? Really?” Chet wonders what it would be like. His life is kind of boring for the most part.

THE NEW YOU IS JUST ONE CLICK AWAY! READY TO TRANSFORM?

CLICK THE LINK. WE DARE YOU.

Chet’s mouse hovered over the bright red button at the bottom of the page. “Is this real?” He asks himself. As he contemplates clicking it he reads some small text below the button.

Act fast! This offer vanishes at midnight.

He looked over at the clock. 11:59PM

“Oh shit!” He says. “You know what? Fuck it!” Chet clicks the link with a few seconds to spare.

The next screen brings him to a gray screen with black loading dots in the center. For what feels like an hour, Chet just stares with anticipation. What’s going to happen? Are they gonna take my money? His mind is running with questions.

Suddenly the screen goes black. A cursor comes on and types out “LOADING STEPFORD PROTOCOL…”

“Stepford? What the-” Chet is immediately cut off by the next words.

“WELCOME CHESTER WINTHROP”

“How the hell does it know my-” Before he could finish, the screen changed again, filling his room with bright flashing lights. 

“Whoa…” Chet was enthralled by the lights. 

The flash of colors featured words that he could barely make out.

RELAX

RELAX

RELAX

Chet felt an uncontrollable urge to just relax. The lights are so pretty, why not relax?

NO THOUGHTS

NO THOUGHTS

NO THOUGHTS

Chet’s mind stops running, the only thoughts being the words on the screen.

OBEY

OBEY

OBEY

Chet obeys.

DELETE PERSON

DELETE PERSON

DELETE PERSON

Chet is gone.

YOU ARE CHESTER WINTHROP

YOU ARE CHESTER WINTHROP

YOU ARE CHESTER WINTHROP

“I am Chester Wintrhop,” Chester mumbles.

YOU BEHAVE

YOU BEHAVE

YOU BEHAVE

“I behave.” 

YOU ARE COMPLIANT

YOU ARE COMPLIANT 

YOU ARE COMPLIANT

“I am compliant.”

YOU ARE OBEDIENT

YOU ARE OBEDIENT

YOU ARE OBEDIENT

“I am obedient.”

YOU ARE A GOOD BOY

YOU ARE A GOOD BOY

YOU ARE A GOOD BOY

“I am a good boy.” Chester repeats.

DRESS PREPPY

DRESS PREPPY

DRESS PREPPY

“Dress preppy.”

Unbeknownst to Chester, the reality around him warps to match his new self. His gaming computers and desk shifted to be minimalist with a laptop, his posters replaced with a simple pastel, and bed neatly done.

Chester himself also experienced change. His unruly hair suddenly became cut and brushed, his hoodie and sweatpants replaced with a collared shirt tucked into khaki pants. His slippers were replaced with boat shoes.

After a few hours of conditioning the video ended. Chester rose from his seat smiling, transformed into his new self. Chet, the unkempt gamer was transformed into Chester, a servant of the community and missionary to the Stepford Protocol.

“Golly, it’s late! I have volunteer work tomorrow!” 

[dalishious]

Gaming GIF Tutorial (2025)

Here is my current GIF making process from video game captures!

PART 1: Capturing Video

The best tip I can give you when it comes to capturing video from your games, is to invest in an injectable photomode tools - I personally use Otis_Inf's cameras because they are easy to use and run smoothly. With these tools, you can not only toggle the UI, but also pause cutscenes and manually change the camera. They are great for both screenshots and video recording!

As for the recording part, I personally prefer NVIDIA's built-in recording tools, but OBS also works well in my experience when NVIDIA is being fussy.

PART 2: Image Conversion

Do yourself a huge favour and download PotPlayer. It is superior to VLC in more ways than one in my opinion, but is especially helpful for its Consecutive Image Capturer tool.

Open the video recording in PotPlayer, and use CTRL + G to open the tool. If this is your first time, be sure to set up a folder for your image captures before anything else! Here are the settings I use, albeit the "Every # frame" I change from time to time:

When you're ready, hit the "Start" button, then play the part of the video you want to turn into a GIF. When you're done, pause the video, and hit the "Stop" button. You can then check the images captured in your specified storage folder.

(TIP: Start the video a few seconds a head and stop a few seconds after the part you want to make into a GIF, then manually delete the extra images if necessary. This will reduce the chance of any unwanted cut-offs if there is any lagging.)

PART 3: Image Setup

Now, this part I personally always do in GIMP, because I find its "Open as Layers" and image resizing options 100% better and easier to use than Photoshop. But you don't have to use GIMP, you can do this part in Photoshop as well if you prefer.

Open the images each as an individual layer. Then, crop and/or scale to no more than 540px wide if you're uploading to Tumblr.

(TIP: This might just be a picky thing on my end, but I like to also make sure the height is a multiple of 10. I get clean results this way, so I stick to it.)

If you use GIMP for this part, export the file as .psd when done.

PART 4: Sharpening

If you use GIMP first, now it's time to open the file in Photoshop.

The very first thing I always do is sharpen the image using the "Smart Sharpen" filter. Because we downsized the image, the Smart Sharpen will help it look more crisp and naturally sized. These are the settings I mostly use, though sometimes I change the Amount to 200 if it's a little too crunchy:

Here's a comparison between before and after sharpening:

Repeat the Smart Sharpen filter for ALL the layers!

PART 5: Timeline

First, if your timeline isn't visible, turn it on by click on Windows > Timeline. Then, change the mode from video to frame:

Click "Create Frame Animation" with the very bottom layer selected. Then, click on the menu icon on the far-right of the Timeline, and click "Make Frames from Layers" to add the rest of the frames.

Make sure the delay should be 0 seconds between frames for the smoothest animation, and make sure that the looping is set to forever so that the GIF doesn't stop.

Part 5: Editing

Now that the GIF is set up, this is the part where you can add make edits to the colours, brightness/contrast, add text, etc. as overlays that will affect all the layers below it.

Click on the very top layer so that it is the one highlighted. (Not in the timeline, in the layers box; keep Frame 1 highlighted in the timeline!)

For this example, I'm just going to adjust the levels a bit, but you can experiment with all kinds of fun effects with time and patience. Try a gradient mask, for example!

To test your GIF with the applied effects, hit the Play button in the Timeline. Just remember to always stop at Frame 1 again before you make changes, because otherwise you may run into trouble where the changes are only applied to certain frames. This is also why it's important to always place your adjustment layers at the very top!

Part 6: Exporting

When exporting your GIF with plans to post to Tumblr, I strongly recommend doing all you can to keep the image size below 5mb. Otherwise, it will be compressed to hell and back. If it's over 5mb, try deleting some frames, increasing the black parts, or you can reduce to number of colours in the settings we're about to cover below. Or, you can use EZGIF's optimization tools afterwards to reduce it while keeping better quality than what Tumblr will do to it.

Click on File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy). Here are the settings I always use:

This GIF example is under 5mb, yay! So we don't need to fiddle with anything, we can just save it as is.

I hope this tutorial has offered you some insight and encouragement into making your own GIFs! If you found it helpful, please reblog!

[flowery-mess]

THE FIRE WITHIN

chapter 3 (series masterlist)

Pairing: firefighter Noah x female reader

reader has a name (Theresa Monroe, but the story is written in 'your' POV)

Warnings: 18+ MDNI! / sexual content (oral both receiving, unprotected sex) / flashbacks of tragic call / reader geting hurt on call / verbal harassment / nightmares / sex at work / I think that's it, let me know if there's anything else!

Words: 10,8k

Author's note: Treat this one nicely please, I feel like it's my baby, one of my favorite things I've written si far❤️‍🩹 let me know your opinion, I love getting feedback from you!

Be aware you're reading this at your own decision, it contains sensitive topics, so please think twice before reading as I wouldn't want to cause anyone any discomfort while reading my work!

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Noah’s hands explored your body, gripping and squeezing you once in a while. You liked the feeling of his hands on you. Your hands were in his hair and you could swear you heard him moan a few times when you tugged at it.

He slowly put his hands under your t-shirt, teasing your skin and testing if you’ll let him. He moved them up your sides until he reached your breasts and took them both in his hands. You disconnected your lips and took a deep breath, not expecting this kind of touch. In your office. With an unlocked door. Oh god.

“Wait, Noah. We can’t.” you whispered into his open mouth.

“Why not?” he put on his best pout.

“We are in my office, anyone could walk in any minute.” you sat straight on his lap and removed his hands from under your t-shirt, “Plus, you’re dirty.” you pointed to his face and laughed.

“Okay you’re right.” you knew were.

He stole one more kiss before you stood up and put your clothes back in place. Noah collected his jacket and went for the door. “By the way, you’re dirty too.” he winked at you and left your office.

You quickly moved to take your phone from your bag and opened your front camera. You couldn’t help but smile when you saw the slightest amount of grey on your face. Your fingers wiped it off and then you swiped them over your lips. You could still feel the butterflies in your stomach. Noah is going to be trouble.

—

“My mom is coming to town for lunch, do you wanna come?”

You read Noah’s text as you sat down behind your desk at station 19.

“Why would I come to have lunch with your mom?”

“Because I want to introduce her to her future daughter in law.”

“Smooth Noah, real smooth.”

You laughed at his flirtatious message. You got used to it at this point. Since the day he came to your office and you both let yourself go you couldn’t stop texting each other. You have not been back to station 25 since that, so you were glad he couldn’t see your smiles and red cheeks from his obvious flirting.

“I’m serious.”

“Of course you are. And I’m working.”

“Okay, I’m just gonna tell her about you then.”

You locked your phone and put it in the bottom drawer, because otherwise you’d spent the next 8 hours texting with the handsome firefighter instead of doing your job.

—

“Hi mom.” Noah greeted his mom with a smile on his face and kissed her cheek.

“Hi Noah. Dad is sorry he couldn’t come today, work.” she apologized on behalf of his father.

“It’s okay.” he shrugged his shoulders. “How are you?”

“Good. Work has been busy lately but at least I’m not bored. Your dad is still a pain in the ass and we are thinking about getting a dog.”

“A dog?”

“Yeah. I miss you, so I thought of getting a dog.” she said and looked over the menu.

“Did you just compare me to a dog?” he laughed but mimicked her actions and let his eyes read over the menu.

“You know what I mean! It’s either a dog or you could give me grandchildren.” she winked at him over the paper in front of her face.

“Sure mom, dog sounds great.” he chuckled to himself. He knew what messages he sent you earlier, but he also knew his mom and what would happen if he told her about you. She wouldn’t leave the town until Noah would take her to your place and introduce you. Which was not happening yet, he still has to charm you until he introduces you to his parents.

“How is your work? Everything okay?” his mom asked him when they finished their meals.

“Yeah, the usual.” Noah lied. He didn’t tell her about that call and his mental state since that day. She was a good mom and she would be worried. She knew his job was dangerous, but he always told her about medical calls or small fires so she wouldn’t be scared.

“Will you come visit us any time soon? You know, stay for the weekend. Dad could use your help in the garden.” and his first thought was about you coming with him. It scared him how much he wanted you, but he could picture you and your mom getting along. He’s crazy, he doesn’t even know you that well.

“I promise I’ll visit you and dad soon okay?”

—

You had plenty of time to think about you and Noah over the next few days and you came up with some rules. It was Tuesday today, so your plan was to present them to him and leave no room for discussion.

You were in the middle of a call with your boss when the door to your office flew open and you saw Noah.

You put your finger on your lips to make sure he stays silent. He slowly closed the door behind him and with a few long steps he was behind your chair.

You felt him tower over you and his hands by your sides.

“Yes, I had a call with John and he agreed.” you continued talking with your boss.

You felt Noah’s hand move your hair on the side where you didn’t hold your phone to your ear and soon his hand was replaced with his lips.

“Sorry, what did you say?” you got lost in the feeling of Noah’s lips on your neck and didn’t hear a word the person on the other side of the line told you.

You felt Noah’s lips turn into a smirk. He expected you to push him away, but you didn’t. You enjoyed it.

“I’ll make sure to send you the papers by the end of your week. Thank you. Bye.” you quickly finished your call and threw your phone on the table.

“Are you crazy?” you turned around in your chair to face Noah who was smiling back at you.

“You liked it.” he knew you did.

He leaned down and put his hands on the handles of your chair. Your faces were close and you could smell his cologne.

“Listen Noah, I thought about this,” you pointed your finger at him and then back at you, “and maybe we should make some rules for this to work.”

“What rules?”

“Let’s not rush things. This is nice, I like it. I like spending time with you when I’m here, but we don’t really know each other yet. Let’s take things slowly, please.” you looked up at him.

“If you’re talking about what I texted you about my mom the other day, that was just a joke.” he panicked, thinking he scared you off with a stupid joke.

“No it’s not because of those texts.” you laughed at his panicked face. “I mean in general.”

“Okay. But can I still kiss you?” he was teasing you at this point.

“Noah!” you playfully smacked his arm.

“No, I agree. Let’s not rush anything.” he leaned down to kiss your forehead. “I have to go. Will you be there for the Open day on Friday?”

“Yeah, but I also have to be at 19. I think I’ll come here around lunch time.”

“Great. Bye.”

“Safe shift!” you called after him but doubted he heard you.

Throughout the rest of your day you got a few messages from Noah, but it seemed like a busy day for station 25. They had many calls and even when you left at 5PM they were out.

—

The next day you saw the final version of a schedule for the Open day. Open day is held once a year at a few stations. The public can come and see the station, trucks and other fire equipment. Firefighters have various activities ready for the kids that are usually the most excited to come and see their work.

You’ll be spending your morning at station 19 where they asked you to speak about your job for the public. You’ve never done that so you were nervous about all the attention you’re going to get. You changed your speech too many times that you decided to write down just simple points and talk from your heart.

After you’re done you’re going to station 25 where you don’t have exactly a slot for speech, but you want to be there to answer questions and talk with people that are interested in your job. And maybe because you really want to see Noah too.

The crew of station 25 made their own schedule which was pretty obvious when you read each time stamp and the activity. They wanted to have fun and hid it behind “There will be kids!”

10:00 - start

11:00 - introduction and short introduction of the fire department’s work

11:30 - fire safety talk

12:00 - break

12:30 - station tour

13:30 - intervention and equipment demonstration

14:30 - fire truck ride along

15:00 - Q&A with the crew

Noah’s name was written beside the station tour and fire truck ride along. Of course he chose the fun stuff.

“When are you coming to the station on Friday?”

Speaking of the devil… the devil sent you a message.

“I think I’ll be there in time for your tour.”

“So you’ve seen the schedule. What do you think?”

“That I’m very interested in your guide skills.”

“You’re gonna love it.”

Of course you will. He’s like fish in the pond when it comes to fire stuff and you’re sure his tour will be educational and fun.

—

“Overall the goal of our Crisis intervention team is to help not just fire fighters, but also to those affected by the fires and to everyone who lost their property or their closed ones on a call. It's a very important part of the fire department and I’m glad that our team is getting bigger and bigger.” you closed your notes as you were saying the last few words to the crowd. “But we’re still understaffed. If any of you are interested in being part of the Crisis intervention team don’t be afraid to reach out. Thank you for your attention everyone.”

After you finished speaking there was an applause for you. The whole speech thing went much better than you thought and now you were ready to enjoy the rest of the day with others.

“Are you leaving already?” an older lieutenant approached you as you were packing your things.

“Yeah, I promised I’d stop by at 25 too.”

“Shame, there will be fireworks later, they won’t have that.” he winked at you and gave you a fatherly hug before saying his goodbye to you.

When you were in your car you checked your phone to see it was 12:05 and you noticed a new message from Noah.

“I’ll be sad if you won’t make it in time:(“

“I’ll be there in 20.” you replied and started the car.

There seemed to be more kids than adults at 25. They were running around the trucks, staring at them with their wide eyes.

“Okay minions, get ready, the tour starts in 5 minutes!” you heard Noah’s voice and after a few more steps you saw him standing next to the ladder.

“Minions?” you asked him with a laugh.

“They won’t stop running around and they’re small, like minions.” he shrugged his shoulders. You noticed a balloon in the shape of a firetruck around him and your eyes followed the string only to find out that Noah had it tied around his belt. “Oh that’s just an accessory to keep their attention.” he said when he saw you looking at it. Right, obviously.

“You’re full of surprises lieutenant.” you said with an amused smile. He just winked at you and started walking in the direction of very excited kids.

“Before we start - don’t touch anything and don’t push any buttons, understood?” they all nodded their heads at him. Nick joined Noah and they started walking in the direction of administrational wing of the station.

You were very tempted to follow them too, but you’d be the only one above the age of 8. You decided to wait down with everyone else and join them when they go see the fun stuff.

Half an hour later Noah slid down the big pole and you heard all of the tiny voices go “Woow!” from the hole that connected the main floor with the first floor. Second later they all come running down to meet Noah by the pole. Nick had one boy sit on his shoulders and Noah’s balloon was tied around a little girl's ponytail.

“That was so cool!”

“You were so quick!”

“You must be so strong!”

“Can I try it?”

The kids were talking at once, jumping around from excitement. That’s when you noticed one of the kids, a brown haired boy in jeans and long sleeved t-shirt, standing behind all of the kids. He didn’t jump around like everyone else and didn’t ask any questions.

“Hi, I’m Tess. Can I join you for the rest of the tour?” you stood next to the little boy and asked him. He just nodded his head and gave you a small smile.

You followed Noah and Nick around like if you were at the station for the first time. They were telling jokes, making fun of each other and keeping the kids entertained. But your attention was on the boy beside you. He didn’t laugh much and looked very sad. His hands kept playing with the hem of his t-shirt so you offered to hold his hand and he accepted.

“Do you like it here?” you asked him when Noah and Nick told the group about the trucks.

“Yes.” his voice was low and he kept avoiding your gaze.

“What did you like the most?”

“The pole.” he finally sounded more excited. You learned that his name is Tom.

“It’s really cool, isn’t it? Do you want to be a firefighter when you grow up?”

“I don’t know yet.” he shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s okay, you have plenty of time.” you squeezed his hand.

“Now you can all see the inside of the truck, but remember what I said - don’t touch anything, okay?” Noah said and made a serious face. Bad for him the kids only laughed at him and sprinted inside the car.

“Do you want to go inside Tom?” you crouched down to his level and he just nodded his head no. He was shy, not like the other kids.

“Hey buddy, do you need help getting in?” Noah crouched down next to you and reached his hand out towards Tom. He looked at you and you gave him an encouraging smile. It took a while before he put his much smaller hand in Noah’s.

You continued to watch the two of them from afar. Noah made sure that Tom tried all of the different seats and patiently answered the few questions Tom asked him.

And your heart was melting at that sight. Seeing Noah in his uniform with a small kid sitting in his lap was something you didn’t expect to see today.

Tom along with the other kids ran off to get some snacks and you had a minute to talk with Noah alone.

“He reminds me of myself.” he said.

“I wouldn't have guessed you as the shy kid.”

“I was. I outgrew it, obviously, but I was like him.” the idea of little Noah made you pout and give him sad eyes.

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna cry.”

“I’m just very emotional and I pictured you playing with your toys all alone. Yeah I might start crying now.”

Noah laughed at your reaction and your glassy eyes. “Let’s have a snack, snacks always make me feel better.” he dragged you to the food area where you joined his group of minions.

—

For the rest of the day you hang out with Nick and Noah, watching the others do the demonstrations and talk more about fire safety.

The truck ride along was probably the kids favorite thing. You were happy to see Tom with a big smile when the truck stopped in front of the station. He was sitting right next to Noah and they both waved at you with matching smiles.

By the time the Q&A part was coming to an end some of the kids were falling asleep, the energy drained from their small bodies.

Some of them didn’t want to leave and had to be dragged away by their parents.

After everyone left and the doors were rolled back down you looked around and saw a bunch of tired firefighters.

“Looks like the minions drained all of your energy.” you joked and helped Noah with cleaning up.

“They were little devils.” he laughed.

“But they enjoyed it.”

After the station was cleaned everyone went to do their own thing, some of the guys hit the gym and others went to take a much needed nap.

And Noah sneaked away to your office.

You sat in his lap on your couch and your hands were around his neck.

“Are you gonna join us at the bar tomorrow?” his nose gently traced your jaw, planting a kiss here and there.

“I already have plans, sorry.”

“Plans?” he pulled away and looked suspiciously at you.

“Plans.” you confirmed.

“With who?”

“Do you think I don’t have any other friends than guys from work?” you faked being offended.

“Plans. With. Who?” he made dramatic pauses between each word.

“With my friend. Are you jealous?”

“That you’re gonna spend Saturday night with her and not me? Hell yeah.”

“Then it’s a good thing we’re going for drinks at Joe’s bar.” you whispered and leaned down to meet his lips for a kiss. You felt the corners of his mouth lift up when he realized that at least he can stare at you from a distance.

You rested your head on his chest and he let out a long yawn.

“You should go take a nap.” you said.

“Can I take one here?”

“I’m leaving in 15 minutes Noah.” you were met with puppy eyes and a sad face. “See you tomorrow.” you kissed his pout away before he left your office.

—

“So you’re telling me that group of sexy firefighters will be there?” your friend asked you with shock.

“Mhm.” you agreed and filled her glass with wine. She came to your place for pre drinks.

“And why didn’t you tell me sooner? I would have worn something different!” she sighed and looked at herself in the mirror.

“You look fine! It’s a bar, not a fancy club.” you laughed when she tried to push her boobs more in the view. You checked yourself in the mirror too.

This time you chose to wear blue loose jeans and a tight tank top with leather jacket over it. You curled your hair this time and did your go to makeup.

“So that also means I’ll get to see Mr. Hotshot tonight?”

“Yes, Noah will be there.” you sipped on your wine and thought about the message Noah sent you earlier. “Can’t wait to see you tonight, pretty girl.”

“You wanna fuck him so bad.” your friend turned around to face you, because she just caught you smiling for yourself after mentioning his name.

“Shut up!” you threw a tissue box at her to stop her from talking more.

You took a cab to the bar and just like the last time when you entered, the smell of beer and sweat hit you. You scanned the area and saw the guys already there. Noah sat with his back to the door so he didn’t notice you yet.

You two found a table with your name written on a piece of paper and sat down.

“Will you be mad if I sleep with one of them?” you had to laugh at her face when she saw the group of big men sitting around one big table. “Not hotshot of course.”

“Go for it I guess.” your answer seemed to satisfy her and she kept her eyes fixed on them.

After the bartender brought you two glasses of wine you felt someone watching you. You looked around and found Noah’s eyes looking at you. You smiled at him and he smiled back at you.

“Come hang out with us.” your phone buzzed with a new message from him.

“It’s a girls night.”

“Your friend is stripping Jolly with her eyes.”

You laughed at his message, but it was true. She chose her prize after five minutes after you two sat down.

“Maybe later.”

And with that you placed your phone down on the table, sign for Noah that the conversation is over for now.

“So is he single?”

“Can you take your eyes off of him for a few minutes and give your attention to me?” she rolled her eyes and unwillingly took her eyes off of Jolly.

“He’s just very handsome. And tall. And muscular.”

“He also looks like your ex.”

“Not fair.” she crossed her arms and made an angry face at you.

After a while she finally stopped talking about Jolly and updated you on her life. She was trying to find a new specialty, because couples therapy was boring, that’s what she said. She told you about the new apartment she’s thinking about moving into and about her family drama.

It was nice hanging out with her. You haven’t seen each other in a while so you had a lot to catch up on. You appreciated the female energy after spending time at work mainly with men.

“I’m gonna use the bathroom, I’ll be right back.” she excused herself and left you by yourself.

You unlocked your phone and sent a text to your mom who sent you pictures of her new garden plants. You must have gotten lost in your thoughts because you didn’t expect your friend to be back that quick. You heard someone sit down opposite to you so you put your phone away.

“That was qu-” you didn’t finish your sentence because that was in fact not your friend sitting on the other side of the table.

“Hi kitten. What can I get you?” a man in late 50s with a long beard and bald head was now facing you.

“I’m here with a friend actually.” you gave him a polite smile and hoped he’d take the hint and leave.

“You mean that girl?” you turned your head in the direction he was pointing to and saw your friend sitting next to Jolly. Amazing.

“She’ll come back soon.”

“I can’t let you sit here by yourself, kitten.” you turned your head back to where she was, too occupied with listening to whatever Jolly was saying. You looked where Noah was sitting, where he should be sitting. But you found an empty chair.

“So maybe after I buy you a drink we can leave on my bike together?” you looked back at the man and made a disgusted face.

Meanwhile your friend was lost in Jolly’s eyes and Noah was playing darts with others. When he glanced back to their table he saw your friend sitting there and looked for you. When he didn’t see you there he didn’t think much of it, you were probably using the bathroom or getting yourself another drink.

“Yes!” he cheered when the machine played that silly tone and ‘VICTORY’ was written on the top.

“I’m never playing with you again.” Nick just shook his head and started walking in the direction of the bar to order round for everyone, because he lost.

When Noah returned to the table you still weren’t there.

“Hi, did Tessa already left?” he asked your friend.

“Oh shit, Tessa!” she panicked and looked over to the table where she was sitting with you. When she started talking with Jolly she thought you’ll see her and come over, but then she completely forgot about you.

Both her and Noah saw you still sitting at the table, but not alone. There was an older man with you. Noah didn’t know how to feel, he wanted to go there and interrupt you, but what if you liked the man and he would just make a fool of himself.

“I'm so stupid, god I need to go there and save her. She’s gonna kill me.” your friend stood up, but Noah was quick and took her forearm and told her to stay there.

“Is there a problem?” Noah approached the table and looked at you.

But before you could speak up the man was quicker “No, we're just talking.”

“Are you?” Noah continued to talk to you. He saw the fear in your eyes and your head shaking ‘no’ just confirmed what he thought.

“So, we’re gonna leave now. If you want to get her a drink so badly I’m sure you won’t mind paying for their tab.” Noah took your hand in his and helped you stand up. He gave that man an ironic smile and led you away.

“Are you okay?” he asked you.

“I’m gonna kill her.” you quickened your pace, but his grip on your hand stopped you.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked you again and looked at your face. He wanted to hug you, kiss your forehead and tell you he won’t let anyone close to you again so badly, but he knew he couldn’t.

“Yes. Thank you.” you squeezed his hand, the only thing you could do in front of everyone. “But I’m still gonna kill her.”

After your friend apologized like a hundred times and bought you two rounds of shots you swore you would forgive her. But your girl's night was gone when you saw her and Jolly.

“Do you think they’re gonna sleep together?” you asked Noah after you sat down next to him.

“Yep. And it’s either gonna be in the bathroom stall or in his car.”

“What?” you turned to face him with a shocked face.

“He doesn’t take girls home, Jolly is not a man of relationship.” he laughed at your reaction.

You continued watching those two, making jokes about what they could be talking about until they started making out.

“Gross.” you turned your back at them and faced Noah. You looked closely at him, inspecting every part of his face.

“You look nice today.” you complimented him. He was wearing black jeans with black t-shirt and grey overshirt.

“You look beautiful today.” he returned your compliment back and enjoyed watching you blush. His eyes left your face when something behind you caught his attention, “There we go.”

He motioned for you to look too. You saw Jolly and your friend walking in the direction of the bathroom, she was giggling like a schoolgirl.

“Oh god.” you just shook your head.

“Do you want me to take you home?” Noah asked.

“I guess so.” you shrugged your shoulders and looked around the table. Half of the guys already left too and your friend for sure won’t be leaving with you tonight.

“Let’s go.” Noah led you out of the bar, his strong grip on your hand making sure he doesn’t lose you.

When you were outside Noah led you around the corner and before you could ask him where you were going his lips were on yours.

Your hand immediately went to his hair, playing with his soft locks.

“Let me take you to my place.” the words slipped out of Noah’s mouth between kisses.

“Noah.” he heard the uncertainty in your voice and dropped to his knees. Your eyes shot open, “What are you doing?”

“Begging.” he chuckled back at you.

“Get up.”

“No.”

“Noah.”

“Tess.”

You stayed silent and looked down at him. The street lights brought out his facial features and his almond eyes kept looking up at you. You never knew that you’d find a man at your mercy hot.

You leaned down and grabbed his face in your hands and kissed him a few times before you said “Okay.”

He only smiled from the happiness and reached into his back pocket to call a cab for you both.

—

Noah unlocked his door without breaking the heavy making out and once you were inside of his apartment he closed the door and turned you around so your back was against the wooden material.

It was like after you said yes to him, something in Noah woke up and he couldn’t keep his hands off of you.

His hands were everywhere, grabbing your neck, tugging at your hair or squeezing your ass.

Once you got out of the cab and realized where you were going you decided that you’re not going to hold back too.

You slid your hands down his solid chest until you touched the cold material of his belt. Without needing his help you managed to open in and after one messy kiss you pulled away and slid down against the door.

His jeans were down to his ankles and his underwear followed just seconds after. His dick was hard, swollen and already leaking a precum.

You looked up at him and when he saw you from this angle he had to hold himself from not cuming just from looking at you.

Your hands grazed the skin of his thighs and your lips kissed the soft skin of his tummy. You wanted to tease him longer, but your need to touch him was stronger. Your fingers grabbed his hard member and stroked him a few times. That simple movement had Noah going crazy. He imagined how your hand and mouth would feel around him, but the real thing was so much better. He leaned his forehead against the door and kept looking down at you.

When you took him in your mouth you felt his thigh muscles twitch under your hand. You kept switching between sucking and licking long stripes around his throbbing cock. His eyes were closed as he was enjoying the wet warm feeling your mouth provided.

“So good, you’re doing so good Tess.” he muttered through closed teeth.

His hands gripped your hair, gently, as he guided you in the pace he liked. The second you took him deep enough and his tip touched the back of your throat, he knew he had to stop you before he exploded right there in your mouth.

His strong arms reached down and pulled you up. He didn’t give you even a second to react and grabbed your chin to open your mouth so he could slide his tongue inside. When you didn’t protest his hands slid under your ass and he lifted you up in his arms.

“Wait, wouldn’t like to fall with you.” he chuckled as he pulled away from your face to navigate his way through his own apartment.

You took that as a chance to cherish the skin of his neck. You used your tongue and teeth, searching the most sensitive spot to suck on.

You heard him take a sharp breath and mumble something like “Fucking tease.” when you kissed the skin between his jaw and ear. Found it. You made sure to apply the right amount of pressure to get a deep moan out of him. Before you could do more damage to his neck he laid you down on his bed. He stood still by the edge of it and caressed the skin of your knees.

You dragged your feet from his thigh to under his t-shirt. While doing that your eyes never left his.

“Didn’t know you’re such a tease.” he stopped you from moving your feet higher and pulled it out from under his t-shirt. He brought it to his lips and gave you a few kisses before he said “But two can play this game baby.” with a smirk.

He pulled off his t-shirt and you saw his tattooed body for the first time. As he hovered above you you let your eyes shamelessly linger over his chest.

He took his sweet time taking your clothes off, leaving teasing touches everywhere.

He left open mouth kisses on your neck, your moans and whimpers were music to his ears.

He sucked on the soft skin of your breasts and left wet circles around your nipples before he captured one of them in his mouth. He teased it with his tongue, sucking hard but gentle at the same time.

He felt your hips move under him and your hands trying to push him lower on your body, but he remained strong and kept giving his attention to your nipples.

“Noahh.” you moaned his name, but he heard the unspoken “please” in your voice.

“Yeah?” he lifted his head from your chest, smirking at you. Bastard.

“Please.”

“Please what baby?” Please me, you wanted to say but wasn’t bold enough.

“Go lower.” you whispered and he laughed at your sudden shyness.

“Come on, don't tell me you’re shy. Say it.”

“No.”

“Say that you want me to eat your pussy.”

“Noah!” you smacked his chest. “You’re making fun of me, that’s not fair.” you knew he wasn’t really making fun of you.

“I’m gonna make you say it.” he whispered and leaned down to kiss you. Meanwhile his left hand made its way between your legs. He teased the skin of your inner thighs, dragging his fingers painfully slowly, but avoided your core.

His lips left yours and he started kissing you down your neck, between your breasts and followed lower and lower. He was facing your wet pussy and had to hold himself from diving straight in.

He started kissing your lower tummy, your thighs, hip bones and his hands were laying over your waist to keep you from moving your hips.

“Noah please.” you moaned again, wanting to feel his tongue on you.

“Say it.” he repeated again. You didn’t fight back this time, instead you collected all of your courage to let those dirty words out of your angel mouth.

“Eat me out Noah.” it was barely a whisper, but it was all Noah needed to dive in without giving you any warning.

He collected all of your juices with his tongue, feeling pleasure from finally tasting you. Your hands gripped the white sheets that were under you and your mouth was left open. It felt so good.

You dared to look at him between your thighs, almost cuming from the view. His hair was a mess and his eyes closed as he was enjoying it as much as you did.

His tongue worked in skilled motions, licking you from your entrance all the way to your clit where he sucked on it before toying with it with his tongue. You enjoy every lick with closed eyes. He was changing different paces, but when he felt your legs starting to shake around his shoulders he knew you were close and kept the steady rhythm of sucking your clit.

When you came on his tongue, you squeezed him with your legs and your back arched from the mattress.

“Fuck Noah!” you couldn’t help but almost screamed his name, because he made you feel that good.

He kept licking your sensitive pussy even when you tried to push him away.

“Noah.” it was something between a moan and a plea.

“You can give me one more. Come on, pretty girl, I know you can.”

And maybe it was his words of encouragement or the gentle flicks of his tongue that got you back into the bliss that Noah’s mouth on you was.

This time he used his fingers, first to slide them over your center to get them covered in your wetness before he slowly pushed one of them into you.

You couldn’t form any words, your brain fogged with the pleasure he was giving you. He started moving his finger in and out and used his tongue on your clit at the same time.

When he felt your walls squeeze his single finger he decided to add another one and you were sure you saw heaven.

The slow movements of his fingers combined with his wet tongue made you see stars. Almost literally, because the approaching orgasm got you squeezing your eyes so hard you were sure you saw little sparks behind your eyelids.

It took one adjustment of Noah’s fingers, moving them in and out in a different angle and your second orgasm took over you. Noah kept finger fucking you through the aftershocks and kissed the skin on your tummy. When he was sure he got you through the full ride, he kissed his way back to your face.

“Hey.” he said and stroked his fingers over your cheek.

“Hi.” you whispered and pulled him down by his chin.

His saliva was mixed with your juices, making you groan against his lips when you tasted his mouth.

You felt his dick twitch against your tummy and wanted more. You stroked him few times before he said “Fuck, I don’t have any condoms.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I don’t bring girls over.” you could see a genuine panic on his face. “Do you have one?”

“No, I don’t usually let guys take me to their place.”

Great, at least you both knew that neither of you were fucking new people every week.

“Are you on the pill?” he asked, his voice full of hope.

“No.”

“Fuck.” he groaned and his head fell on your shoulder.

You knew what you’re going to say was very very risky, but you were sure you both wanted it to happen so badly.

“Promise you’ll pull out.”

“What?” his head shot up from your shoulder. “Are you serious?” his face was a mixture of happiness and confusion, because he didn’t believe you’re really going to let him do it.

“Just promise you won’t cum inside.”

“I swear I won’t.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” you both kept looking at each other for a moment, before you pulled him down for a messy and sloppy kiss.

You felt Noah’s precum on your skin and reached out to line him at your entrance. Before he slid in he looked at you just to make sure you’re okay with it.

When you said “Fuck me Noah.” he fully slid inside you, your wet and warm pussy swallowing him fully.

“Fuck Tessa, you feel so fucking good.” he groaned into your ear and as a reaction your walls squeezed around him.

“You’re so tight.” he didn’t move yet, he enjoyed the feeling of you wrapped around him.

You were the first one to move your hips and since then it was a mess. Noah’s thrusts were messy and his breathing uneven.

His bedroom was filled with moans and the sounds of skin on skin. You felt every single one of his movements and it felt too good.

“I’m not gonna last long like this.” his words were silenced by your skin, but you knew you were close too.

“Then cum Noah.” you whispered in his ear and before he pulled out you slid your hand between your still connected bodies to rub circles on your clit.

Noah sat back on his knees, stroking his own dick, but his eyes were on you. You kept holding eye contact while you were both getting yourself off.

The sounds that Noah made when you felt the warm liquid on your body were ethereal. He lost control of his eyes and they shut closed, his head fell backward and his abs were twitching.

The warm feeling of his orgasm was the last thing you needed to push you over the edge and you enjoyed the third orgasm of the night.

Noah collapsed next to you and said “Give me a minute, I’ll clean you up.”

You just hummed in response and when you saw him lying on his back with his mouth open, you couldn’t help yourself and put your fingers in his mouth. The ones that were rubbing your clit just a minute ago.

He groaned when he tasted you again, cleaning all of your digits with his tongue.

“You’re so fucking hot. I’m never letting you go.” he kissed you on the lips before he got up and went for a towel.

—

Once you were both cleaned up, showered and after a late night snack, you laid back in Noah’s bed.

He gave you his underwear and t-shirt. The clothes smelled like him, just like the sheets of his bedding.

“I was serious.” he pulled you into his side after he found a comfortable position for himself.

“What do you mean?” you rested your hands on his chest and put your head on them, giving yourself better access to look at him.

“About not letting you go.” his hand slid in your hair and you closed your eyes at the comfort of his fingers sliding along your scalp. “I want to date you officially. I’m gonna tell the guys and the captain. If you want to, of course.”

You opened your eyes and caught him staring at you. You couldn’t see properly under the dim lights, but you could swear you saw pink on his cheeks.

“I’d like to date you officially too lieutenant.” you saw his lips turn into the biggest smile, your own following right after.

You crawled up his body and straddled his lap. “It’s official then, you’re my girlfriend.” he whispered against your lips.

“And you’re my boyfriend.” you felt like a teenager who just got asked by her crush to be his girlfriend, but you liked it. You felt like he was worth the chance to risk the mix between work and love.

“But don’t call me lieutenant again or we’re gonna have to deal with something else.” so that’s how you found out that he likes to be called lieutenant in bed.

“Yeah about that, can we buy an after pill tomorrow? Just to be sure.” you turned your voice to a serious tone.

—

It took you a while to fall asleep, the excitement making it harder. Noah didn’t let go of you, so you fell asleep cuddled together.

You felt safe in his arms. His breath tickled at the back of your neck in steady breaths. Until they were not steady at all.

You woke up before him from the tightening grip on your body. His breaths were quick and uneven, his body was shaking and he was mumbling something you couldn’t understand.

His nightmares, you remembered.

You tried to wake him up, shaking his body gently and calling out his name, but nothing happened.

He was still tossing around, his brows furrowed and his hair became wet from the sweat.

“Noah please, wake up.” you begged him, but you were sure he couldn’t hear you.

You didn’t know what to do, how to help him.

You raised your voice, scared that the neighbours might hear you, but you had to.

You took his arms and tried to stop him from moving around and kept repeating his name over and over, each time louder than before.

Finally, his eyes shot open and he took a deep breath in. He sat up and looked around the room.

“You’re okay.” you calmed your voice, not sure if touching him immediately was the right thing to do.

His eyes finally softened when he realized he’s in his bed and with you. His head hung low and his chest was still going up and down. He wasn’t ashamed that you witnessed it, but he was scared it might scare you off.

“Can I touch you?” you asked and he just nodded his head.

You slowly laid him down on your chest and put the covers over both of you.

“Do you want to talk about it?” you asked and caressed his head.

“No.” firm and straight answer.

“Okay.” you thought before saying the next sentence, “I know you don’t want to hear it, but I have to say it. Not as the department’s therapist, but as someone who you let this close. You need to talk about it Noah. I can give you John’s number, because I’m sure you know that from now on I can’t handle your therapy. If you’re not gonna do it for yourself, do it for me, please.”

Silence took over the room and Noah thought about your words. He knew you were right, he just didn’t want to go back to that call. Not voluntarily.

“Okay.” he whispered into the dark, but it was enough for you, for now.

He didn’t expect to end your first night together like this, but he was exhausted from the terrible nightmare that he let you hold him until he fell asleep again.

—

“I just told the guys.” your phone buzzed with a new message from Noah.

“And how did it go?”

“As expected, they don’t really give a fuck.”

“On my way to tell the captain now.”

You bit your lip after reading that. You just got an email that said you are officially permanent at station 25. You were really hoping to get stationed at a different station so it would be easier for you and Noah.

You were anxiously looking at your phone, waiting for Noah’s next message. You were sure that the captain of 25 knew the news too and you really wanted to tell Noah yourself. Too late for that.

Instead of another message your phone lit up with an incoming call from Noah.

“Hi.” you said quietly after picking the phone.

“When did you plan on telling me?”

“Noah I got the email 30 minutes ago, I wanted to tell you when I see you.”

“So you let me go and tell the captain that we’re dating when you knew he knew and I didn’t?”

“I’m sorry I panicked.” there was a silence from Noah’s side. “I’m really sorry.”

“Well you’re lucky the captain said it’s not a problem if it doesn’t affect our work and that I’m happy I’ll be seeing you more often.”

“I’m pretty happy about that too.”

“So when are you starting?”

“On Monday.”

—

Monday came quicker than you thought. You spent the whole weekend at Noah’s place and thanks to his shift being on Monday too, he gave you a ride to work.

“I could get used to this.” you said when he leaned over the center console to give you a kiss before you left the car.

You parted your ways and you went straight for your new office. Now that it was permanently yours you thought about doing some changes.

Before you could think about what colored frames you’re going to buy there was a knock on your door.

“Come in.” you yelled.

“Hi.” Nick came in and gave you one of his smiles.

“Hey. Do you need anything?”

“No, I just came here to give you a warm welcome. We’re lucky to have you.” he pulled you in a hug and you were suddenly really happy that you got assigned to station 25.

“Thank you.”

“So, you and Noah?” he pulled away and wiggled his eyebrows at you.

They were long time friends and even though he liked you, he wanted to be sure that you’re not going to break Noah’s heart and make work hell for both of you.

—

The rest of the week went smoothly, there were only two calls with B shift that you had to be part of. Otherwise your first week as a member of the station 25 crew went great.

You spent some of the nights at Noah’s place, others at your place by yourself. You were in the honeymoon stage so you wanted to be together 24/7, but also agreed that it’s only healthy to spend some time apart.

You and Noah sneaked around the station like teenage kids, thinking that no one could see you, but they all did.

“Noah, we're gonna get caught.” you told him as he yanked you by your hand to the closest storage of extra fire equipment.

“Not if you’re gonna be quiet.” he whispered, leaning down to kiss you.

His lips started to feel like home and comfort, especially after you haven’t spent a few days together. You wanted nothing more than to take him home and hide under the covers. But his 24 hour shift only started.

“I miss you.” his lips were now kissing under your ear, sending shivers down your body when he whispered those sweet words to you.

“I miss you too.” you closed your eyes and gave him more space while leaning your head back. He was very quick to learn all of your sensitive spots.

“Tomorrow at my place?”

“Mhm.” you agreed just with a nod and brought his lips to yours.

You let your hands wander on his body, solid and soft at the same time. You took his t-shirt off to have a better access to his soft skin.

His hands went for your belt, he was determined to make the most out of the moment of privacy you had.

You let him pull them down along with your panties and reached out to lock the door.

He dropped to his knees and lifted your leg over his bare shoulder. He didn’t waste time with kisses and bites to your soft skin like he always does, he’s going to take his sweet time with you tomorrow.

“Oh Noah.” you had to put your own hand on your mouth to silence your moans. His tongue was on your clit and his arms were wrapped around legs to steady you.

Before your hand could tug at his hair, sirens started blaring through the station.

“For fucks sake.” he mumbled, still between your thigs. He kissed your clit for the last time before he pulled his t-shirt back on and before he was out of the door he said “Gonna finish this later.”

You managed to wipe his chin that was covered in you and then the door closed behind him. You pulled your clothes back on and when you were sure everyone was gone you opened the storage door and ran back to your office.

—

You were part of 25 for 3 weeks now and it was probably the best part of your career so far. You have never been part of any station, it was always the main administration building with no on call firefighters.

You enjoyed the new atmosphere, the adrenalin and the laughs that came with working here daily.

Noah has been amazing and sometimes you thought the reality was too good to be true. You two were going on dates or spent your time cuddled at home, but everything seemed to be fun when Noah was with you.

You had your morning ritual for days when Noah left earlier than you for work or on weekends when you were not working. Dating a firefighter comes with lots of stress, especially if you’re also part of the department. You know what can happen and that no tomorrow is promised when he’s at work.

He hated it when you started doing it, but when you told him your reasons, he let you. You made him promise to wake you up every time before he leaves, you spend a few minutes cuddling or have a quick coffee together before he leaves. You’ve seen way too many wives crying over their husbands, hating themself for “I didn’t tell him I love you this morning.” and you didn’t want to risk anything.

Neither of you have said I love you yet, but you were sure for some time now that you do love him. You were just building up the courage to tell him.

—

You were in the middle of a conference call when the station’s alarms started blaring through the building.

“Structure fire at orphanage at Guardian road. Children and staff inside. Crisis Intervention Team requested. Respond immediately. Structure fire at orphanage at Guardian road. Children and staff inside. Crisis Intervention Team requested. Respond immediately.”

When you heard the mention of the crisis intervention team you logged out of the call and ran down.

The guys were already jumping in their gears and starting the trucks. You grabbed the fireproof jacket and pants that were mandatory for you to wear on calls with “MONROE” written on its back.

You followed Dean, who was working with you today, and sat beside him in the engine truck.

You scanned the crew on board and didn’t see Noah there, he was in the ladder then.

Your captain rode with you and gave you more instructions as you were on the way to the scene.

"Some of the staff and kids are already out. Station 35 is already on scene, and Captain of 35 is in charge. Follow his instructions. The priority is to get the rest of the individuals out and extinguish the fire. Tessa and Dean, you’re assigned to work with Station 35 on those who have already been evacuated. Copy that?"

All of you yelled “copy” back at him and you heard muffled voices over the radio from your other truck. At the scene you quickly jumped out of the cars and everyone got to work. Noah was extinguishing the fire from outside alongside a few others and the crew from 35. Nick ran into the building as a head of evac. Your attention was on the small group of kids and two women. They were being treated by the medical team and you approached to help. You were treating small injuries and engaged in conversation with those poor kids. Most of them were crying from feeling scared and from losing the little belongings they had inside that building. You were trying to calm them down, even if they wanted a hug or a kiss to their forehead, you didn’t mind doing that. All of them went through a lot at this young age and seeing a place they called home on fire was hard for them. More kids and staff were evacuated from the building by Nick and his crew. “There’s two more, but they don’t want to leave their room.” you heard behind your back. “Grab someone from the crisis intervention team and get them out.” the captain of 35 barked back. “No one is trained for that sir.” one of the firefighters told him. “Monroe, come here!” the captain called your name. “Yes sir?” “Grab an oxygen mask and follow lieutenant Smith, you’re needed inside.” “Sir I’m not trained for going inside of the building.” you started to feel panic, searching the crowd for your captain, but he must’ve been fighting the fire alongside his men. “We have to save lives and if they don’t want to come out, we have to get to them. Grab a mask and go!” he yelled in your face. You didn’t have any support, because around you were just firefighters from 35 and they didn’t know you really were not trained to run inside. “Sir with all respect I can’t go th-” “You either get inside and save those kids or you don’t have a job tomorrow.” what an asshole. One of the firefighters helped you with the oxygen mask and helmet and motioned for you to follow him. You looked around the chaotic place and saw guys from your crew, hoping they'd notice where you were going and stop it, but neither of them would’ve thought it was you under the oxygen mask.

“They’re on the first floor.” Smith told you over the radio ran upstairs and you followed him. It was your first time seeing fire from this side. You were always standing outside, watching from a safe distance. When you reached the closed doors Smith pointed at them, signaling for you to do your job. “Can anyone hear me?” you yelled. “Yes!” two little voices called back from the other side of the door. “Can you open the door?” “No!” they yelled back. “Okay, stand back so when we kick the door open it won’t hit you okay?” “Okay!” you nodded to Smith that he can use his strength to open the door, because you were no help for that. Once he kicked the door open everything happened so fast. You saw two little boys in the corner of the room, holding hands and hugging each other. Their eyes were full of fear and hope at the same time. Before you had a chance to reach out your hands the roof collapsed and you saw black. You couldn’t open your eyes and your breathing became more difficult. You could hear the boys crying and Smith saying “Two men down, I repeat two men down! Two civilians with us!” before you blacked out completely.

After that another group of firefighters ran inside to save the four of you. One of them grabbed the two boys and ran back up, another one helped Smith to stand up and leave. Then you felt your body being lifted and you knew you were safe. Hopefully without any injuries too.

“Is that Tess?” Nick yelled to his captain when he saw your body being laid on the ground and your oxygen mask taken off. “What the fuck was she doing inside?” he quickly ran to you, leaving Nick behind.

At that point Noah started looking for you at the medical tent, worried when he didn’t see you there. “Hey, have you seen Monroe?” he asked one of the helping firefighters. “Cap sent her inside.” Noah’s heart stopped for a second. What did he mean inside? There’s no way he would send you inside of a building that’s on fire.

He quickly ran back to the scene and saw your captain kneeling next to you. He forgot about all the promises that your relationship won’t affect your work and his boyfriend's mood kicked in. “Why the fuck was she inside?” he yelled when he hovered over your body. “I don’t know Sebastian, calm down. Don’t make a scene.” your captain told him. He understood he was worried, but for the sake of both of your jobs he tried to calm him down. “Don’t make a scene? Are you fucking kidding me?” he yelled again, louder this time. He dropped to his knees next to you and grabbed your head in his hands. Someone already put an oxygen mask on your face and checked your breathing. “It’s probably just smoke inhalation Noah.” And the captain was probably right, but Noah was still pissed. “Come on wake up Tess.” he begged you, “Please wake up.” After what he has been through he didn’t care if it was just a smoke inhalation, he hated seeing you like this. He couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to you, not right now when he finally started to feel happy. “Baby please.” he leaned down to kiss your motionless face. “Please.��� he cried into your hair.

Noah’s face and his wet cheeks were the first thing you saw when you finally gained consciousness. “Noah.” you whispered and lifted your hand to wipe his tears. “Oh thank god!” he pulled you in a hug and didn’t want to let go. Ever. “Let’s hand her over to the paramedics, Sebastian.” the captain said, happy to see you conscious too. Noah lifted you in his arms and carried you over to the ambulance. He couldn’t drive with you to the hospital where they decided to take you for a check up. “I’m gonna pick you up okay?” he gave you one last kiss before he jumped out of the back door and closed them. “Is she gonna be okay?” Nick asked, his voice full of worry. “Yeah, they said she passed out from the smoke inhalation. They’re gonna keep her overnight though.” before Nick could say he’s sorry Noah continued “Where’s the incident commander?” “Noah don’t be stupid.” Nick knew Noah well, he knew he was about to beat the shit out of that guy. “Do you know where he is?” Noah repeated his question and when Nick didn’t give him an answer he went to look for him himself.

“Captain Wilson!” Noah yelled when he spotted the man he was looking for. “Yes?” “Do you think it’s okay to send untrained staff inside a building that’s on a fucking fire?” Noah raised his voice. “Stand back lieutenant.” Wilson warned Noah. “You should stand back if that’s how you treat your people. She’s not trained to be a firefighter and she got hurt because you sent her inside!” he pointed his finger to the older man. “It was an accident.” that man didn’t seem like it bothered him at all. “An accident?” Noah closed the gap between them and was now standing chest to chest with him. “Noah.” he felt hand on his arm pulling him away. “I know you want to beat his ass, but he’s not worth it.” Jolly said in a low voice so only Noah could hear him. Noah kept staring at that man and with every breath he took he felt the anger inside him grow bigger. “I’m not letting this go, I’ll file a complaint against you.” and with that Noah turned around and stormed away.

—

“I’m glad you’re feeling better Tessa.” your captain told you after you sat down in one of the chairs in his office. Noah did the same beside you. “Thank you cap.”

You were released after 12 hours from the hospital and Noah took it as his own mission to keep an eye on you. He took you to his place and laid you down in his bed. You were happy when he let you use the bathroom by yourself and you had to beg him not to take a day off from his next shift. Your body was a bit bruised from the frames that fell on you, but other than that you felt fine. You were not back at work, you still had a few days for full recovery, but today you two were called to the captain's office.

“Your complaint was accepted and is currently under review. Someone will contact you for your testimony next week.” “Okay sir.” “Now, let’s talk about why I called you both here.” he shifted in his chair, visibly uncomfortable about the topic he wanted to discuss. “I don’t mean any of this in a bad way, but what happened after that incident can’t happen again. You can’t threaten an incident commander Noah, he outranks you.” “But it was his fault.” Noah protested. “It was, I agree with you. Someone from my crew has been hurt because of his orders and I hate that more than anyone. But your reaction was wrong.”

The fact was that both you and Noah knew it. He confessed what he did, because you didn’t believe him when he said he did nothing. He was a terrible liar, he was looking everywhere but in your eyes and kept fiddling with his fingers.

“I apologize.” Noah mumbled and avoided any eye contact. “I’m not gonna punish you for it, but I just wanted you both to hear it from me. Things like this can’t happen okay? Keep your feelings at home and work like colleagues. Let’s avoid any trouble, because I like you both and I don’t want to lose any of you just because you can’t control yourself. Human resources are not happy about you two, so please, try not to mess this up for all of us.” he didn’t leave any space for a discussion and dismissed both of you.

Noah walked you to your car that was parked in front of the station. “Are you mad?” he asked, you already told him many times that you were not mad, but it seems like he has a hard time believing you. “Why would I be mad at my boyfriend for standing up for me?” when you said it like that he finally cracked a smile and looked less worried. “See you tomorrow?” he leaned down to kiss you before he had to go back inside. “Yeah, mine or yours?” “I’ll drive to yours if that’s okay?” “Of course it is.”

You gave him a few more kisses, on his forehead, nose, cheeks and lips. Something that always made him smile. He waited until you backed out of the parking space and you saw him standing there in your rearview mirror until you turned right. You knew what Noah did was wrong, but you still appreciated the gesture of standing up for you when you couldn’t do it for yourself.

You drove yourself to your place, ready to spend the next few days in bed until you’re allowed to go back to work.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

This story is a work of fiction, with the plot and characters entirely made up. The appearance and name of the main male character are inspired by Noah Sebastian Davis, but the storyline bears no connection to the real person. Please do not steal or repost this work on other platforms without permission.

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[mxrp-official-steve]

Your Janurary 2nd PARPdate: Hex in a pair of baggy overalls and a hardhat covered in soot edition.

It's been a few months- how about some CONTENT?

With The Troubles have subsided for the time being, Hex has been hard at work hammering out goodies for the Dreambubble update that will then be expanded into the Msparp Update. Rapid-fire lets GO:

Login screen with form validations and visual parity with DB1!

Logging system looking GOOD!

DARK THEME WORKING

A toggleable automatic contract adjuster!

Quirking system ported from dreambubble!

The BBCode system! Quirk compatible, just like back in the old country!

BONE (will be usable with [bone]text[/bone] or [font=Bone]text[/font] !)

Gradients! WITH a new input!

This one is

[gradient=red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet]example text[/gradient] OR [gradient=rgb(255,0,0),#ffff00,black]example text[/gradient]

Formatting expansions!

Tooltips!

[tooltip="this_is_a_tool_tip"]Example[/tooltip]

Dividers!

[div]

Dividers WITH TEXT

[div]DIVIDER WITH TITLE[/div]

These also work with both color and gradient tags!

Popouts! Good for chat descriptions! This one is: [modal buttonText=Rules] [div]RULES[/div] [gradient=red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet,rgba(0,0,0,0)]Be Kind[/gradient] [/modal]

Countdowns! This one is [countdown=1734422353] The number represents a unix timestamp! https://www.unixtimestamp.com/

Text bubbles! left: [bubble]text[/bubble] right: [bubble_r]text[/bubble]

Pop-outable text preview! Good for super long posts!

Tables!

This cool new thing where if you're scrolled up and a new message is sent, the bottom of the window changes color to match the text color of the new message!

Hex also got the presets ported and the basics of the character system set up!

Of note is that Hex has also set up a RUDIMENTARY TEST CHAT for DB2, available HERE:

Keep some things in mind though:

Some of the BBCode is broken

Nothing is saved to the database, only 100 messages are visible at a time because all the others get deleted.

clicky the funny box on the right to change characters

We'll have a better how-to BBCode guide up when DB2 is ready to go live (or sooner!), but that's how it's looking for now. MAN this was a lot of stuff. Hope you all had a fantastic holiday season and an excellent new year.

And thanks for sticking with us, it means the world!

[solus-official]

UBUNTU TOUCH | DAY THREE

I know in my last post I would update again around the 15 day mark however there have been some, lets say: bothersome, issues that I want to address. I'd like to state clearly that these issues are not deal breaking for people who really want to run a Linux phone. However, to me personally, I just want to address them as they made the intro to this phone difficult. 1. Battery - Short This issue may be caused by the phone itself, not Ubuntu. This phone was bought second-hand renewed, and definitely isn't new. However the battery just dumps itself when the phone is doing any activity. Just sitting idle in my pocket, I've found that it drops 30% in just an hour or two. It feels almost like an IPhone battery and makes me concerned for Longevity. The appstore has a battery management app, I'll talk about that in a later section. 2. Waydroid - Janky I attempted to use Waydroid once. I know this isn't much a chance and I will be giving it a second or third go as necessary, however it did not work for me. Simply activating it caused the battery to get even worse, and then a few of the apps that I intended to try and use with Waydroid (Productivity and Work related) were just non-functional, and it drained the battery even faster than it already did. I don't expect Waydroid to be the perfect compatibility layer. But I didn't expect for it to kick my ass as hard as it did. I am genuinely excited to try and get it running again and fiddle with it endlessly until it works the right way. 3. OpenStore & Settings - Not Available by Default? This is something that, personally, I'm not all too sure about. I know Ubuntu is Ubuntu and all the shit that comes with it, but somehow it just doesn't have settings until you create them yourself? I mean, I get it, Linux is what you turn it into, after all. It's why so many people love it. But I very, very, VERY strongly believe that some things that can only be found in an extracurricular app should be in the base Distro. I'm specifically talking about UT-Tweaks, and Swipe Sensitivity. If you're going to make a whole entire "gestures" system built into your Distro, without any alternative (Like three buttons at the bottom of the screen) then you better be ready to provide sensitivity adjustment for users who can't get it to work correctly. Apple gets away with not having sensitivity adjustment specifically because of the fact that they make the hardware as well, and constantly test to see if it's quality or not. (Also I think they actually do offer sensitivity options? I think? It's been a while since I've used apple.) Additionally I want to state that, holy fuck, why is there no Home function? Why can't I have apps running in the background without opening a different app? At first I thought I just didn't know what the gesture was to go home but no. Found and installed a tertiary app, which is just an invisible background and nothing else, if I close it then I can't "go home". I understand that you don't need to "go home" on any device realistically, but for me that's just something I'm so used to because I always have something calming and kind as a background. It's a metaphysical way for me to just turn my brain away from the device instead of doom-scrolling or working non-stop. I'm sure that, even subconsciously, there's at least one other person that understands what I'm talking about. And I also understand that, this is entirely a pet peeve! In fact, I know closing all of the apps to get home would be better for battery, and general phone function! I know that I shouldn't be mad over something that can be fixed by a 0.2 kb app that's completely free! And I know that if i'm this mad about something, I can just code a fix for it myself and try to have my changes committed to the full version! Yknow I had two more sections with text, but tumblr decided to just straight up delete them and I didn't have it saved anywhere. So this is what you get. A rant post with no conclusion. Thanks, Tumblr, I hate you forever.

[forgingtheblade]

OH GOD, I HAVE TO TAG THIS ONE FOR EYE HORROR, aka TECHNOBLADE HEAD PART 2

once all those good good fur bits from the last post are cut apart (which I do using a fresh or freshly sharpened xacto blade to create as little mess as possible), it’s time to start sewing them together. using those hash marks which i copy from the pattern to the fur i’ll start to line everything up.

you’ll notice he’s a wee bit saggy here—this is intentional! i wouldn’t usually want this, but pigs are very fleshy guys and I don’t want him to be cartoonishly smooth. those wrinkles will both hide some flaws and make him nice and pig like.

some of the looseness is just because things aren’t attached, though, like the bottom jaw is meant to be sewn into the lining both inside and outside of the mouth which will hold the fabric tightly to that piece.

many makers will glue fur down at this phase, and I do this to some extent but probably a lot less than most, except for where I’m putting those wrinkles I’m mostly gluing at the edges.

here i’m testing out placement for some tusks I made using thermoplastic pellets! you pour a bunch of them in boiling water and while they’re still hot they’re malleable and I basically rolled them into the shape i wanted. I added a couple drops of yellow and purple acrylic inks to color them. I think these are the ones I didn’t end up using, they were a bit too yellow for my taste.

next up is the eyes! which were! an actual fucking nightmare! after trying a few things using the actual eye holes i decided the look i wanted would be best served by glass eyes, in pursuit of semi-realism. pigs have the cutest little tiny beaded eyes and between awkward placement and the flatness of the mesh, it just wasn’t cutting it. so i bought glass cabochons and painted the backs! originally, the plan was to create eyelids using foam clay, which as pictured above, was kind of horrifying. because i was using fur and not something more skin-like, the flat eyelids really did not work well.

here i also glued in the painted mesh for my vision. note the size and the angle. my visibility fucking sucks in this head and that’s just a sacrifice i knew i was gonna have to make.

i ended up cutting out a section of the forehead fur to insert panels i glued the eyes into. i just used the actual fur for the eyelids, and it was marginally better than before!

that did not stop me from freaking out about how creepy and weird he looked at this phase though, which resulted in a frantic text to my dad asking for advice on how to fix his face. I was already probably at least 40 hours deep in this phase, and the uncertainty was not fun.

my dad told me that i had absolutely nailed the pig look (yes!) but the uncanny valley effect was hitting hard. he suggested making the eyes face forward a little more and try to add some humanity back into the face. i realized i had been so focused on making a realistic pig head that i forgot i was making TECHNOBLADE.

moving the eyes front facing helped a lot, as did stitching the fur into the mesh for the eye holes, and gluing in the wrinkles on the snout, but i think the real saving grace here was the EYEBROWS!!

i cut them out of foam, glued magnets into them and into the head, with a couple different positions for a bit of expression variety, and covered them in the same fabric as the ears and snout. and let me tell you, they make his little piggy face so so cute and expressive !! he really went from being just some pig to TECHNOBLADE!! and that’s what i wanted!!

but the heads not quite done yet here—one more post about the head coming up soon !!

[exercise-of-trust]

right so i've been wanting to do a song of the eagles print set for easter ever since i saw this post last year, and after a lot of waffling (and a bit of despair) i finally have a test print i'm mostly happy with!

individual block photos and meta/process rambling under the cut, for anyone who's interested:

ok so each rotk block has a separate associated scripture fragment in english mode tengwar. they are not strictly "correct" transliterations because in my personal use i tend to make some adjustments to the official system for readability (e.g. mostly using the silme nuquerna instead of the normal silme for [s] and using short carriers for vowels following a hyarmen instead of trying to hang them directly off the back leg), and because i prefer quenya vowel order over sindarin (noldorin supremacy tenn' ambar-metta, get thee gone from my gate an thou dislikest it, etc etc etc). they are, however, hopefully legible despite this.

i had to limit myself to very very short snippets of verses, both for aesthetic reasons and because i would simply have given up if i'd had to carve a single line more of lettering in either alphabet. in order they are: he will swallow up death forever (isaiah 25:8), my soul waits for the lord (psalm 130:6), behold, your king is coming to you (zechariah 9:9), and he makes her wilderness like eden (isaiah 51:3). i went back and forth a lot about whether to put the tengwar blocks above or below the main blocks and in the end i think i like above better? i do like having the flexibility, though, and maybe when my neck and shoulders stop screaming at me i'll redo the tengwar sections to be half above and half below, which would let me swap out some of those verses for longer ones i liked better or add more context to the existing snippets.

in terms of the main blocks, i'm broadly happy with how they turned out, although my attempt to save on materials by carving both sides of each piece kind of backfired in that i needed to stop and wash them each time i wanted to use the carving on the other side. it was a nuisance and it made it difficult to get consistent pressure, especially on the mostly-black fourth block (which i might end up redoing anyway; i feel like the solid background doesn't mesh as well with the others as i'd hoped?) on the other hand it did let me use the expensive pink speedball stuff for all of the pictures instead of the offbrand gray kind i used for the tengwar blocks, which had a much more finicky texture. also, somehow out of a 425-letter-long piece of text, i carved exactly one letter the wrong way around (the R in the final "your" of the third block, if my patch job actually hid the mistake enough that you didn't notice). i'm not sure whether to be proud of that success rate, or bewildered that i still got one wrong despite getting all the others right.

the actual printing process still needs some streamlining (especially dealing with the awkward dead time in the middle from needing to wash both the main blocks halfway through), and i might fidget around with the chunk spacing a bit more (maybe shift the sing all ye people up a bit, since the second and third sections ended up having noticeably more white space at the bottom than the other two?), but on the whole i'm proud of how they turned out, happy easter, alcar i ataren ar i yondon ar i airefean 👍

[tonyglowheart]

Thinking again (more, lmao) about The Contentious Chapter 45, and my Why It Needed to Happen thesis, so here are some more semi-organized thoughts on this topic:

Why It Needed to Happen: Yan Wushi edition. So, we don't ever really know what specifically Yan Wushi went through/experienced in his life and more specifically his childhood - we get hints here and there that seem to imply or can be interpreted to be that he's gone through some shit as Xie Ling, and that's (partly? mostly?) what led him to reinvent himself as Yan Wushi, and then there's also the New Years Extra that has a line about how he'd (already) witnessed countless evils borne of the human heart - but the text does tell us he has this belief that human nature is wicked, slash humans can be pushed to do wicked things no matter how "good" they may think themselves to be. As far as YWS knew by Chap 45, SQ was no different -- he'd received no proof yet that SQ was different, he just hadn't found SQ's bottom line. This is sort of similar to the abused child or abused dog thing, where they will lash out to try to provoke the abuse they're expecting either to "get it over with" or so they know where the line is with this new person (except these are purposeful tests that YWS is doing and not like a reactionary mechanism). Basically, this needed to happen for YWS to know/believe that Shen Qiao is different from what he's observed of human nature -- he needed this proof of concept that the world isn't just rival(/rival peers) -- the closest to equals he has, and rabble. This needed to happen to show/prove - to him and the reader - that there may be a thousand Chen Gong's in the world, but there is only one Shen Qiao.

Why It Needed to Happen: Shen Qiao edition. Shen Qiao is a good guy, but he WAS very sheltered and naive. He holds his beliefs firmly, but his worldly experience was limited and so his character was untried. It's the "it's easy to be a good person when you're rich" idea -- he doesn't know if he has a bottom line yet if he would snap. It's easy to say that you will stay true to your principles when they're not tested - it's when they're put under the stress test that you can truly say that you know yourself and your character. Yan Wushi threw him into a fire, yes, but in many ways this was a tempering of his character, much as one would temper steel. This whole experience very much was an absolute low for Shen Qiao, and it's easy to see fire (analogy) as only destructive, but fire can also be a creative force -- e.g. the forging/tempering analogy from earlier, fires used to clear out brush and weeds choking up the land so that new growth can germinate in the new fire-enriched soil, that kind of thing. This isn't to say that Shen Qiao doesn't experience agony in this metaphoric fire, but he also very much textually experiences a sort of epiphany and rebirth. This is both a spiritual (character-based) sort of rebirth, as well as a rebirth of his wugong. It's after this and after traveling with Yan Wushi that we see Shen Qiao exhibiting much more wisdom when it comes to people, where he's not just naively believing and expecting the good in everyone (I don't have specific citations but iirc this is textual, there's whole parts where it's like, before he might have thought x, but now having traveled with YWS he knows xyz, etc.) Yes this was "bad," maybe, but it tempered Shen Qiao, catalyzed his recovery/"rebirth," and overall led to the strengthening of his wugong and his character. (The conversation they have in Chapter 124 underscores this point, actually.)

Why It Needed to Happen: Yanshen edition. Or maybe more like, what does it do for us from a yanshen perspective lol. Cuz imo, it does a lot. I've posted about this elsewhere before lol, but like aside from the above for the YWS side of things, an argument can also be made that this was YWS going "wait. oh shit, I'm experiencing... feelings? for him" (narrator voice: that feeling was friendship, although he had never experienced it before) and like, lashing out at Shen Qiao like "that'll show you for thinking of me as a friend (and maybe making me feel friend-like feelings towards you..)" -- he was already softening before this (him digging that grave for the dead boy unasked, for example), and the way he's like. ....so you think of me as a... friend? before he pulls the rug from under SQ's feet. But this is important because it tells us that YWS *does* care. He's flippant and teasing and gives the impression that he does it for personal amusement and not really out of affection or anything, so really Shen Qiao may be his latest target of amusement, but it could be anyone. But the fact that he reacted like this to Shen Qiao declaring him a friend instead of just dismissing him as not being worthy of being his friend, not being on his level, etc (I mean he does also do that, but it's not the FIRST thing he does, and also I'd argue that when he Declared it contextually he was purposefully trying to hurt Shen Qiao's feelings), or like, just laughing at him and ridiculing SQ for something so preposterous -- this tells us that he IS feeling some kind of way about Shen Qiao already, that something HAS changed and Shen Qiao went from "latest disposable amusement" to at least "point of fascination." We're not in the endgame yet with this, but it does show that for all that Yan Wushi is trying to influence and "experiment" on Shen Qiao, traveling with Shen Qiao/being around him is conversely having an effect on him, too. That he's not just some unchangeable flat "evil" archetype but is also a complex character that responds to stimulus/reacts to his environment and is capable of being influenced by Shen Qiao. Theirs isn't just a one-sided relationship of one influencing the other or one trying to change the other-- it already by this point is a mutual communion between the opposing but complementary worldviews they hold and embody. They're already like if the taijitu were people (sans the dots in each section-- that comes through the course of the story with their mutual temperings). The same or similar actually holds for the SQ side of things too. Actually, the very fact that he feels anguish from this act and finds it a betrayal is also a very huge indication that Shen Qiao also already cares. I mean, yes, he declared YWS his friend, but like YWS said when they were burying the boy - you didn't even cry when your shidi Yu Ai betrayed you - or later when YWS was about to face Hulugu and SQ says if he were to do it, it would seem natural, but if a friend were to do it, he'd worry. and YWS is like, a friend? If LQY were to face Hulugu would you feel the same way? -- Basically, a similar idea holds here. Would you feel the same way if it were someone else? Yu Ai betrayed him, we didn't see him experience this level of individual, personal anguish. Chen Gong betrayed him, he just kind of sighed and moved on. But coming from Yan Wushi... he reflects on how much it hurt, actually. I still hold to my theory that SQ fell first and by this point was already at least kind of in love with YWS, but even that aside, the very fact that this "betrayal" hurt SQ shows that Shen Qiao, like Yan Wushi, despite seeming above worldly/petty matters slash is disconnected from such normal-people-problems like getting your feelings hurt or, godforbid, heartbreak -- are very much not above that, at least, not when it comes to each other. They're not just two ships passing each other in the night -- they're already mutually entangled together, and this growing bond will only grow stronger as they travel more together

[beingharsh]

Industry discourses, such as those on offer at the Expo, conceptualize the female cow in terms of her productivity, and the literature promoting a viral combination vaccine, called Bovi-Shield GOLD, emphasizes the industry preoccupation with the cow as a reproductive entity. In one advertisement, the text reads, ‘If she can’t stay pregnant, what else will she do? Keep your cows pregnant and on the job. [ . . . ] Ask your Pfizer Animal Health representative how to protect her pregnancy, your reproductive program and your bottom line’ (Pfizer 2012). And another booklet advertising the same product states that ‘pregnancy loss is all too common. [But] it doesn’t have to be. [ . . . ] $200 to $400: the value of each pregnancy’ (Pfizer 2011). Thus, her value is explicitly tied to her function as a reproductive machine. The assumption in these texts is that a cow’s purpose for living is to ‘stay pregnant’. A dollar value is placed not only on her body as a reproductive unit but also on each individual pregnancy. This is certainly a reflection of the economic interests of an industry driven by a close profit margin and the need to maximize the capital extracted from each body. Indeed, if a cow becomes infertile, or if a female calf is born sterile, her only remaining function is to be slaughtered and sold for her flesh. This industry discourse is also more generally a reflection of the way the female animal body is viewed – that because biologically she can reproduce, ‘staying pregnant’ must be the inherent function and purpose of her life. Semen catalogs are also a source from which to understand the varied gendered commodification of both the male and female bovine body. Bulls in semen catalogs are commodified for their reproductive prowess, appearance, genetic heritage, and the quality and virility of their semen. In one Select Sires (2012) catalog for show-quality bulls, a bull named Alexander ‘puts the stamp of dairyness on his daughters like no other’. GW Atwood is ‘the hottest bull to hit the type market in years [ . . . ] he makes the kind you can have fun with’. Sanchez ‘makes them special – tall, dairy and strong with beautiful udders’. From Governor, who has ‘greatness in his genes’, one can expect daughters with ‘youthful mammary systems that catch the eye and stand the test of time’. Java makes cows with ‘great rear udders and attractive rumps’. In each example, the bulls are given credit for the physical and reproductive traits of future cows and there is a highly gendered and sexualized undertone at work here. This is one example where the bull is made to take responsibility for the reproductive process in the suggestion that the bull actually ‘makes’ these cows and the more implicit move is made to set the bull up to take responsibility for any violence that may occur in this reproductive process.

"Sexualized violence and the gendered commodification of the animal body in Pacific Northwest US dairy production", Kathryn Gillespie

[lazyneonrabbitt]

All good things come in threes.

Gallzatto x reader

The one where reader plans an evening full of surprises.

This is set a while after 'Two dads and a mom' in the Gallzatto timeline.

~~☆☆☆~~

Work was slow this time of year and to be fair, that was just what you needed.

You had to get a lot of research done in a short time to plan out the perfect evening for your big announcement.

You had started to feel a familiar kind of sick last week and quickly sprung into action. And soon enough your suspicions were proven to be right as you stared at the positive pregnancy test in your hands.

You had been mailing and calling different people to get to see some homes in the neighborhood for you all to move into now that your family was growing again.

You've also gotten back into contact with one of your older friends who had a love for making jewelery and now had his own online shop set up to inquire about some custom made rings.

You quickly found a home within your budget that wasn't far from your workplaces and the school. It needed some smaller fixes but it was nothing that Lip wouldn't be able to get done, especially with Carmy's help. 

You were lucky to be the one who did all of your finances and had all the needed paperwork to get all.the pre-work for the house done on your own without the boys realising it, and only needed to take the family there and sign the papers with the salesperson if they wanted to move in.

The house related calls went a lot easier than the marriage calls. You already panicked about having to explain your relationship over the phone and figure out if it was even possible for the three of you to marry before even picking up a phone. You were being shot down almost immediately after only a few words and felt absolutely broken to find out your wishes weren't even considered legal in parts of the country. You shoved aside the entire plan and tried to make it into something you could do and called your jewelery making friend with your plans.

Your friend was so shocked to hear everything that happened to you since you last spoke, he felt honored to create three custom rings for your poly relationship and wished you all the best in the future. He didn't live close so you had to take a weekend trip to his place to pick up the rings.

You happily discussed all the details of your recent lives and met his partner who he shared the shop with these days. They were the social media side of their shop and got him most of his customers lately.

The rings were a perfect recreation of how you had pictured them in your mind. All giving the illusion of being two seperate rings intertwined and carrying the details of eith of their partners' rings. The stones on the bands each represented one of you. Carmen's ring held your red and Lip's black stones while Lip's held your red and Carmy's white. Yours had black and white stones set in the intertwined bands.

They were so beautiful you cried right then and there.

You couldn't keep your eyes off the box that poked out of your bag on the passengers seat on the way home. The already prettily packaged pregnancy test and fancy envelope that held the house paperwork were hidden away at the bottom of that bag, not wanting to risk your girls with their sticky fingers finding either and ruining the surprise.

The only thing you had to do now was spent your day off to get the house all nice while the boys worked.

You had the girls stay for a sleepover with Eva tonight so you could set up your plans. The kitchen island set up with candles between three gorgeously presented sets of dinner you had plates as soon as your neighbor on the ground floor texted you your boys walked into the building. On the front end of the island you had your three surprises set under a cover, for after the dinner.

You were pouring three non-alcoholic drinks into fancy glasses when your boys walked in.

"Sweets? What's all this about?" Lip's confused tone only made you giggle as they sat down their bags and rid themselves of their coats.

"We aren't forgetting an important date here, are we?" You smiled fondly at the list of important dates you all had. Lip's aniversary of being sober, yours and Carmy's aniversary, the day you all became official partners, The Bear's opening and of course all of your birthdays.

"You're not forgetting anything. Come, sit and eat." You had set the glasses down next to their respective plates and set down at the head of the island, with each of the boys sitting down at either side. Lip glanced at his fancy glass for a moment and gave you a look, to which you only pointed behind him to the bottle on the counter that had a large 0.0% stamp on the lable. It was the only bottle in sight which implied no one was drinking alcohol tonight.

"So, you gonna tell us what's up now, or-" "Nope." You quickly shot the question down again. "Dinner first, then dessert." The boys glanced at the covered item as they ate, sharing details of their day and begging you to let them guess why you went all out on this date night. You promised them it was because it had been a while since you showed them some love, always being the one being shown love and now wanting to return it for once and it seemed they were buying it as you all finished dinner without any more questions.

With all the plates empty you were getting more desperate to spill the tea and spoil the surprise so to combat your restlessness you topped off everyone's glasses and walked over to your 'dessert'.

Both boys eyed you like hawks as your hands went to the cover and took it away to reveal two fancy boxes and a beautiful envelope, all signed eith the same words. "All good things come in threes."

You tried to find the right words to start this as the items were being eyed with great curiosity.

"I- you decide together which one you want first." Your nerves were killing you as the boys mumbled amongst themselves before deciding on the envelope first. You took in into your shaking hands and reached it over to them.

Carmy was the one who took if from your hands and Lip moved over to stand next to him and look at the contents. "Its heavy." It was the first comment made on the item and you could only nod in agreement. Opening the envelope Carmy pulled out the stack of folded papers and unfolding them to stare at the photo of a two-story home with a garage next to a large porch in front of the house.

They turned the page to find the full contract that would have you own the house if signed.

"You found us a house?" Lip was the first one to speak up. "You found us a house. We can afford this else you wouldn't have these papers." It all clicked suddenly as Carmen chimed in. "That's why you were going through our paperwork earlier. Scribbling all those numbers down in that chaotic way no one understands."

Your smile was wide as you giggled and nodded. "We'll take the girls to see the hoise this weekend. I already have an appointment set. But only if you want to."

Ofcourse they agreed in a heartbeat and you decided to quickly move on. You weren't sure if the sudden nausia came from the food, the nerves or the baby.

"Now, only two more to choose from."

They each pointed to a different box and looked at each other. "Hun?" Their gaze returned to you and you quickly shook your head. "No! I know whats in these and I'm not picking."

"We'll pick the left one first. Your left." Carmy voted for the box Lip had pointed out to go first so you handed it to them again.

With the box in front of them they took a deep breath in anticipation before lifting the cover to reveal a note written in an unknown handwriting.

It read 'Wishing you three the best in your future together. Much love,' and a stamp of your friend's shop logo.

Lip took the note out of the box and they audibly gasped. Wide eyed they stared at the three rings set in the dark blue velvet cushion.

"You're asking us to marry you? Marry each other?"

Your gaze dropped in sadnedd, shaking your head. "Not legal." You simply spoke, no other words made it out.

"We'll hold a ceremony anyways." Carmy's voice was stern, not even accepting any comments on his statement. "We already have two flower girls." You laughed at the play on your daughters' names and it really cleared the mood and getting you ready for the last box.

With shaking hands you offered them their last surprise of tonight. Their looks concerned at your trembling figure. They wasted no time and took the lid off to reveal the one thing they thought never to see again. The looks of complete shock on their faces made fear rise back up. You couldn't tell if it was good shocked or bad shocked.

"We're having another baby?"

That definitely didn't sound good shocked. A sob escaped your lips and tears freely rolled down your cheeks.

The boys immediately turned to look at you, jumping up and rushing to your side, pulling you in a hug. "Trust me, I want this. We want this." Carmen's reassuring words helped. "I hope it's a boy this time." Lip chimes in with his little dream. "Or what about two? To balance out the boy-girl ratio."

"Lip, she's not having twins again. It's rare enough she had them before." Carmen tries to soothe your panic, but he's never been the best with words. "Also, her and the twins make three girls, us and the baby boy makes three as well."

They rambled on back and forth with you comfortably squished in between them. You were so worried this evening would easily become too much for you to handle, but right now you couldn't be happier to start this next chapter.

~~☆☆☆~~

A/N: Okay so I never planned for this fic to be to three-centric but is kinda just ..happened.