#to discourage people from sitting there for prolonged periods

[coldflasher]

im so cross cos i was doing really well w updating dndb on a monthly basis and then i had to take a 2 week break bc i got too excited and typed too much and too aggressively and my carpal tunnel (?)/weird wrist fuckery came back with a vengeance to ruin my life and brought a fun shoulder injury with it, so i had to not write for a few weeks to conserve my typing ability for my "job" >:( but anyways after 2 weeks of sulking and watching grey's anatomy i tried working out yesterday and i guess my body was just asking me to move or something bc the pain has gone away so!! WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS BABY

i did then fuck up my wrist again while i was grating a courgette last night lmao but it seems to be okay as long as i have my wrist braces on so. WE'RE STILL BACK IN BUSINESS. SEND ME GOOD VIBES I WANNA UPDATE SOOOOON

[renee-rust]

Architecture as a form of nudging

Having a background in corporate architecture means that I have spent a lot of time thinking about people’s behaviors and modifying the built environment to nudge individuals towards better behaviors. The important thing to note here is that those behaviors were already disclosed by many as something that they wanted. To be able to identify these, we would often have focus groups were we listened to various perspectives and goals people had in term of their workplace. This was a way for us to map the context in which the choices made lead to the behaviors they wanted to modify.

The pandemic forced many people to work from home for a prolonged period. Finally, after around two years many companies came to us to try and encourage people to return to the office. It turned out people were very reluctant because they had already gotten use to a different reality. First, we conducted surveys to understand what their pain points were and what positive reasons to returning to the office were. One of the big pain points that surfaced was that people felt the office was now too loud and distracting for focus work. Many desks were placed with felt dividers between them for a sense of privacy. The issue here, was that those dividers were creating a false sense of privacy, encouraging people to take calls from their desks and having louder conversations than usually because they could not hear themselves properly through their headphones. After finding this out, we removed those dividers and created open desks where people would sit side by side and see each other. The other feature we added was phone rooms, which could be used for calls. Additionally, we also created many break out rooms where groups of people could work together in a non-disruptive manner. These nudges lead to people feeling like there was better division of loud and quiet spaces, allowing for different forms of work to coexists.

Another example that comes to mind is how active people are at work. Many people find that they are stationary when they go into the workplace, which goes against their goal of leading a healthy life with enough physical activity. One of our clients mentioned this to us with the added issue that during peak hours, ie between meetings, the elevators were often full and took people way too long to move between floors. This is something we can all identify with if you have ever tried taking the elevators in E62 between classes. As we were developing the project we realized that people were taking the elevators because that is what they first saw when they walked through the doors. So, when we were tasked to design their new building, we switched this around. We placed their main staircase right in the center of the building making it a true feature, where people would meet up and socialize. By removing the barriers to using the staircase and making it more inviting than a typical dark fire stair, it became easier for people to choose the stairs over the elevator.

As a side note this begins to indicate as to why the elevators in E62 are often so packed. Does anyone actually know how to get to the third floor and above using stairs?

The built environment that surrounds us often nudges us to behave in all sorts of ways. These nudges are most successful when they are focused around an inherent goal we already had. We often do not think of the built environment as nudging us, which again just proves that it is a well-executed as it makes us feel like we are in control and doing something we wanted to. These nudges work well because they follow the framework of activating a desired behavior, being externally imposed, they make us mindless about the decision and encourage or discourage particular behaviors.  

[productiveborg]

“Just Make a To Do List” - ADHD and Popular Productivity Advice

My hyperfixation on productivity began in 2017 when I first left my four-year university due to my crumbling mental health. I can confidently say this was the lowest point in my life, one that I did not think I would crawl out of. 

It is true that binging videos from creators like Ali Abdaal and Karma Medic helped me build sustainable habits and routines, but I often found myself thinking that certain tips just didn’t work for me. 

I always struggled with focusing on one task for a prolonged period of time, especially when it came to studying or writing papers. Many productivity gurus discourage us from multi-tasking or alternating between various things, but I found myself able to accomplish much more when I broke projects down into micro-steps. 

My productivity system has been my baby over the years, adapting and changing as I began attending community college and working full time. It has grown with me as I have gained new hobbies and interests, and it truly keeps me functional every day. 

This system resembles a video game, where I receive 5XP for every task I complete (some tasks receive more, depending on how difficult they are). I break everything down into smaller and more digestible bits, whether it is cleaning for ten minutes at a time - or only picking up/putting away ten things - or reading one chapter of a book before putting it down. 

I have helped a few friends create their own productivity systems that work for them, and I am once again reminded that not every productivity tip works for me. 

Sometimes I feel like I am pushing the “just make a to do list” narrative, but I have seen how creating fun and adaptable productivity systems can help my friends struggling with ADHD or depression. There have been days where I feel like I will be stuck sitting on my bed for hours, unable to hit “start” on the day. Having a guidebook for my daily routines and things I want to watch, accomplish, write, or read has been life-changing. 

All of this is a roundabout way of saying that while popular productivity hacks work for many people, it is important to realize that there is no true “rule-book” for what productivity looks like. We must find things that work for us and our own reality, versus comparing our habits to others. 

(I am back to watching productivity videos again and I had thoughts.)

(I might start sharing my notion system and other tips I give my fellow neurodivergents that have helped them build better habits) 

[quixotic-writer]

I’m Always On Top

Request: Anon(s)

Summary: It started out as a fun game between Sal and Q at the gay bar they found themselves at: get as many drinks and as drunk as you can. Jealousy soon takes over Sal and it leads to the two going home. But Sal decides to try and put Q in his place by playing dominant and taking the role of top for the evening. But as Q had always said: “i’m always on top.”

—————————————————————————

They had come to the bar together with friendly competition in the back of their heads: get as many free drinks as they can. It wasn’t just any bar, it was the local gay bar. It didn’t matter who won, the only thing they cared about was that they go home together.

The music was flooding the club and people of all walks of life from anywhere you could imagine were swaying and moving in tune with the music. Those who were sitting at the bar or leaning against it were engaged in their own social exchanges. With a shot in their hands, they toasted to each other.

“May the best man drink.” Q said. Glasses raised and it was down the hatch in a second. A shot of confidence burned their throats and they split from one another and made their way through the bar. Q had found himself sitting at the bar and someone was quick to approach him and give a little bit of sweet talk while flagging a bartender down. Sal felt a pinch of discouragement when no one was as quick to approach him, but he would soon find his confidence once he worked his personable charm.

As Q was in his seat, his eyes wandered and saw Sal across the bar. He was talking it up with a bunch of people, eyes hungry and eating him up as his hands moved around as he talked. One hand held a drink and there was another one sitting in front of him along with a little shot glass. Q felt proud of him in a weird way, managing to finesse that many drinks in such a short period of time was truly a feat. He would have thought that he would have been jealous, but for some reason he didn’t. He was absolutely crazy for Sal and he knew had those same feelings, but within Sal, that crazed love was something magnified to significant levels.

Sal was the one who got jealous, probably because he knew of Q’s vast and diverse fan base that would thirst over him and would often be all he saw online. Q could have anyone he wanted really, and he often worried if he was enough. This led to fits of jealousy and clinginess for Sal, a reaction he wished he could better control but it always got the better of him.

The night continued and drinks flowed endlessly. Q was on his 7th or maybe 8th drink and he was off on the dance floor, completely forgetting about the little competition he had agreed to for the night. Sal had totally lost track of his drink count as shots were poured endlessly. He was absolutely intoxicated, he couldn’t remember the last time he had been bought so many drinks, it made him feel special in a way. His eyes looked around for Q as he decided to slow things down a bit and sober up a little with some water. When his eyes found his boyfriend, hot anger filled him in a second.

Q was out dancing with guys all around him, not a care in the world. In his drunken brain, Sal believed that Q didn’t care about him at that moment. He was quick to leave his spot at the bar and make a bee line over to his boyfriend. He quickly grabbed him by his shirt collar and smashed his lips against his. When he pulled away, Q was excited to see him.

“Hey Sally! Surprised you don’t have a drink in your hand.” Sal glared at every one that was feeling up Q and they all quickly backed away. He reconnected their lips and quickly darted his tongue into Q’s mouth and Q moaned at the sensation, bringing Sal in closer to him. The tempo and bass of the music was vibrating in them as they flowed to the tune, hips sinfully close and grinding together. Sal finally pulled away just to catch his breath and Q was left almost speechless, hungry for something else.

“I think we’ve had enough to drink… Let’s go.” Sal said in a very demanding tone. It took Q aback a little, but took it as Sal being needy for some sexual relief after their little stunt on the dance floor together. He agreed with his lover and they called a cab.

When they reached home and made their way to the bedroom, Sal was quick and rough with his movement. He ripped open Q’s button down, exposing his chest and his lips were quickly attached to the skin leaving hickeys all over and everywhere his lips could reach as fast as possible.

“Fuck, Sal. Slow down baby.” Q felt Sal attempting to overpower him, and he didn’t even know what brought this on. But, if he kept this up, Q wasn’t afraid to put him back in his place.

Sal ignored Q as clothing was shed away. Layer after layer until they were in nothing but their boxers. Q was sitting at the edge of the bed, Sal was straddling him. Lips were intertwined, only occasionally leaving when each of them were painting the other’s skin with bruises. Their lips were smacking together, moans loud in their throats, and then Sal made the next move. He shoved Q back into the bed and was over him.

“You’re fucking mine.” He mumbled harshly before he bit down onto the flesh of Q’s neck earning a groan from him. The next thing Sal knew, there was a hand on his throat. Q sat up straight with Sal’s face mere inches away from his and a hand was gripping the sides of his throat, nothing threatening or endangering in the slightest, but something to earn dominance back. It showed signs of working as Sal let out a little whimper.

“What is your deal tonight?” Sal’s dominance quickly began melting away as Q began taking control, “I try to have fun tonight and you cut in, and now you’re trying to top me?”

“They were all over you Brian.” He mustered out trying to keep a brave face. He tried to resist falling into submission, but the way Q was looking at him, the way his hand was on his neck, the posture he was holding, he knew this momentary bliss of being in the dominant role would soon dissipate.

“Because you’re being a little brat you think you’re all of a sudden dominant sweetheart?” Regret filled Sal as he felt an impending punishment coming clear into view, and it was, once again, because he let his jealousy get the better of him. The rush of momentary power was exhilarating, but not worth the cost of the punishment he was about to receive. “I’m always on top.”

“I-I’m sorry!”

“You’re sorry, what?” Sal was now backed down to lay in the bed as Q hovered over him with lust filled eyes.

“I’m sorry daddy! Please!” Q chuckled as he watched Sal squirm beneath him. He rubs his hand over his clothed erection earning more whimpers as his back arches, seeking more contact from the dominant.

“You’re only saying that because you’re in trouble.” His lips made contact with Sal’s bare skin and littered the untainted skin with marks of his own. His hands were delicate, finger tips tracing over his skin making goosebumps form wherever he touched. Sal’s skin felt like it was on fire. The juxtaposition of Q’s careful hands and his rough mouth made him strain painfully against his boxers, aching for more as he tangled a hand into Q’s hair, physically begging for more sensations, and above all: friction. “You don’t get to cum ‘til I say. Got it?” Q reached underneath the bed and pulled out a box of toys that they had begun collecting since they had been together.

“Please just touch me, I'm sorry, please I need you! I won’t do it again, I'm sorry!” Q promptly removed Sal’s boxers, watching as he sprung free and was twitching like crazy already. This was gonna be fun.

“I don’t want to hear anymore. You’ll learn now. On your stomach.” Sal listened, not wanting anything to be worse. He dreaded what Q was about to do to him, but at the same time, it sent a pleasurable chill down his spine that made pulsate. He felt Q’s hands smooth over the curve of his ass before his cold fingers found their way to Sal’s entrance. He let out a shaky sigh before lube covered fingers found their way in him and stretched him out.

One finger, then another, then another was added. Each time he was stretched out more, the louder his pleasured noises became. Strained mewls, prolonged moans, throat wrenching gasps.

“You should hear yourself, you filthy slut. Making so many noises already and you only have my fingers in you.” The dirty talk only made Sal’s hips buck backward into the fingers that slid in and out of him. His cock was rubbing against the sheets below him and only added to his growing pleasure. His eyes were closed as he savored each sensation. “You take my fingers so well though, don’t you? I know just how to make you feel good, I know you in and out, and I know just how to get you off.” His hot breath was in his ear and it only brought him closer and closer to ecstasy. Truly Q was the only person that knew just how to pleasure him, and his confidence in knowing that as a fact was so hot.

“God, daddy. More! I’m gonna cum!” After that last sentence fell out of his mouth, Sal was left empty as Q removed his fingers. “No, please!”

“Remember sweetheart, you’re getting punished. If you cum at all, it’ll only be worse for you.” Q sat himself on the bed with a hitachi wand in his hand. Back against the headrest, he pulled Sal between his legs and had him resting against his chest. Sal could feel his hard on pressing against his ass, he was always impressed with the will power Q had when it came to being hard. When he fell into a dominant position, he held himself back. Q found more sexual gratification in pleasuring others than himself.

Q placed the wand aside for the moment, and instead, his hand took grasp of Sal’s now leaking cock. A shallow pump around the head of his cock easily made Sal’s hips jerk off the bed and hands grip at the thighs that encased him where he was.

“So sensitive already baby?” Q teased as his hand kept pumping Sal. Sal watched, hypnotized by the hand moving up and down, watching as the tip of his cock poked between the top of Q’s fist only to disappear once again as it rose again. Q would twist his fist, tighten his grip, and kiss and lick at Sal’s exposed skin as he pleasured him, savoring the noises that came out of the submissive. “Tell me baby, tell me how it feels.” Sal was gasping for air and almost felt like he would never be able to form a sentence with the amount of blissed out fog that clouded his brain. “Tell me or I'll stop now and go to bed.” The commanding tone forced Sal’s lips to part as he tried to form anything, something comprehensible.

“It feels… mmm… so… so good. I… I can’t… I–”

“Can’t what sweetheart?” The innocent tone felt mocking. It frustrated Sal as all he wanted to do was cum.

“I just… I just wanna… Cum!” Sal’s hips started bucking into Q’s fist, and Q kept his hand still for just a moment. He watched as Sal tried so desperately to please himself, but as soon as he knew that he was dangerously close, he took his hand away and watched again as Sal squirmed and whined.

“Not so fast Sally. Good things come to those who wait.” He lays tender kisses on the sides of his face and his shoulder as his hands smooth over the skin of his inner thighs, so close to being where Sal wanted them, but never giving him the satisfaction. A hand strayed away and took the hitachi wand that was set aside. “I know just how much you love this toy. The many times I've had you tied up,” he switches it on, low hum filling the room, “left you for hours just to see how much you had in you.” He glides it along Sal’s thighs, hovering around his most sensitive spots where he could sense the vibrations but feel none of the sensation he craved.

Q took the wand and ran it quickly on the underside of Sal’s cock and watched him moan and squirm. Sal kept trying to keep Q’s hand where he wanted it, kept trying to gain some control over everything, but it was no use because Q would simply overpower Sal and pull away, straying him away from climax.

“You’re so impatient.” The teasing went on for what felt like forever to Sal. Circles around the head of his cock, delicate strokes at the base, vibrator held under his balls. No matter how much Sal begged, whined, pleaded, and apologized, it seemed as though Q had tuned him out fully and was getting pure enjoyment out of the sadistic sexual torture he was putting his boyfriend through. He loved watching how much Sal’s cock was twitching at the faintest sensation, how much precum was slowly spilling out of his slit, and all the noises that made that made his own cock pulsate and twitch. He would let out an occasional moan or grunt whenever Sal would buck his hips, causing a little bit of friction on his cock that rested against his back, or whenever he made a particularly delicious sound.

After a while, Sal had once again lost all ability to remotely let out any words that would make any sort of sense. His speech skills had withered away as he drowned in his own pleasure as a means to reach his high that he knew he wouldn’t get to until Q gave him the word.

“Why don’t we have a little change in pace?” Q turned the vibrator off and Sal was yet again left to step away from the edge of euphoria as he was so close once again. He was panting and he looked at his cock; Slick with precum, the once rose colored tip was now red and begging for release, he could feel his crotch pulsating. He was panting and he felt spent but he hadn’t even gotten to cum yet. Q stepped away and reached into the box of toys once again, pulling out a decent sized dildo and giving it to Sal. “Go ahead, pleasure yourself for me.” Sal felt almost like it was a joke, that there was going to be something more. He didn’t question though as he teased his eager hole with the tip of the dildo, pushing himself up against some pillows on the bed and spreading his legs. Q sat across from him, legs touching Sal’s as he watched his lover’s movements closely.

Sal relished in the sensation of the dildo entering him. It didn’t feel nearly as good as Q does, but after the time spent left on edge and feeling empty after Q had removed his fingers, this felt like heaven for him. Slowly, he pushed it all the way in up until the base and he held his motions still, taking in the full sensation that he craved as his head rolled back and his eyes closed, a breathy moan and relieved sigh filled the quiet room.

“Go ahead baby, make as much noise as you want. You know I love it. Put on a show.” Per his request, Sal went on to make a sinfully gorgeous and pornographic display just for his lover. He kept his motions fluid and sensual, biting his lip but never holding back on any noises, mewling out a little ‘yes’ or ‘fuck’ here and there, eyes half hooded and going back and forth between eye contact with Q and his cock that he was stroking in a tight fist. “Tell me how it feels sweetheart.”

“Oh, daddy! It feels so… mmm… so fucking good.” Sal felt himself start to get close again and watching Q get himself off as hard as he was wasn’t helping him hold out at all.

“Yeah?” Q was close, he felt as though he had been teasing himself all evening, but neglecting his own pleasure for however long they had been encased in the bedroom was well worth witnessing the display of sexual torture he had been putting Sal through. He was sadistic, but he knew Sal loved it, it was evident by how much Sal was loving it now.

“Fuck yeah… But it doesn’t feel nearly… nearly as good as you.” He had to take pauses between his words to let out more pleasurable noises, hoping that if Q came, he would get to as well. “Your thick cock in my ass… tearing me in two… and you know… you know I love the pain.” Sal had hit a particularly sweet spot inside of himself and he almost toppled over. He started slowing his movements more despite wanting to cum so badly, but he didn’t want a worse punishment. He knew the next consequence would be not cumming at all or not being able to cum for a period of time no matter how often they had sex.

“I fuck you so good, huh, baby? Better than that piece of silicone you have in your ass? I know you love it rough, I know you love the torture. You just love being dominated, being played with, my little fuck toy.” Q’s fist tightened more and his hand was a blur as he chased his high.

“I want you to fuck me so bad daddy.” Q didn’t need to hear anything else, he was all over Sal. He quickly threw the dildo aside and locked lips with Sal, grinding their hard-ons together as tongues swirled about.

“I’m gonna fuck you better than you ever could with that dildo.” He grunted as he lined himself up with Sal’s entrance.

“Fuck me ‘til I can’t walk.” Q’s eyes met Sal’s in that moment, his normally tender cocoa eyes were gleaming with love, but now, they were filled with a fire ignited from within that spelled out one word: lust.

Q bucked his hips and almost knocked the wind out of Sal in that single motion.

“Gonna cum!” The dirty talk, finally feeling Q inside of him, and the (what felt like) hours of teasing is starting to send him into a spiral of blinding ecstasy.

“You fucking better not! You better hold it in, you do not get to cum yet.” Sal raked his fingers down Q’s back, doing his best to hold on and hold back for his own sake. Tears were streaming down his face, half of it was from pleasure, half of it was from pain because he had been holding back for so long already. Sal’s lips were parted as painful and pleasured cries fell out of his mouth. “That’s right, let the neighbors hear how bad you’ve been, let them know who owns you.”

“Daddy! Please! I… I can’t! I…” It started to become painful, he knew he could safeword at any time and it would be over, but he had come this far and he was going to deal with his punishment. As Q continued thrusting, he felt Sal tighten around him and he felt like he was seeing stars as he was just at the edge,

“Gonna… Fucking… Cum!” With a few rough, slow thrusts, Q buried himself to the hilt as he released himself into Sal with a long moan. Both men were panting, but Q knew that it wasn’t over just yet. He took Sal’s cock in hand and started pumping him hard and fast in a tight fist, “C’mon baby you wanted it so bad, take it. Cum for me!” Sal was practically screaming as he came explosively all over his chest in big thick spurts. Q kept pumping him and pumping him until Sal felt as though there was nothing left in him.

Once his orgasm had finished ripping through him, both were left on the bed panting, exhausted from their strenuous night.

“You Okay?” Q asked as he shifted his head to look at Sal. He didn’t say anything but nodded his head to respond. “You know I'm crazy for you and only you, right?”

“I know,” Sal spoke softly. “I guess it was a bit of the alcohol and my jealousy problems again. You’re just so good looking and I just feel like you could have anyone you want.”

“But I chose you. And I will always choose you.” Sal looked over and smiled. Their lips met in a soft kiss and they giggled together. “Let’s get you cleaned up and in bed. I bet you’re tired as hell… You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, I promise. Even though it was torture, one of the best orgasms I ever felt.” They got up off the bed and went into the bathroom,

“So good you’d want me to do it again?” Q teased.

“Not for a fucking long while!”

“Or whenever your jealousy gets the best of you again and you try to top again.” Q laughed and Sal felt a little ashamed because of it.

“I don’t even know what possessed me to even try and do that.”

“Jealousy.” Sal just rolled his eyes as he stepped into the shower. “C’mon Sally you know i’m just teasing. You love me.” He stepped in behind Sal and peppered his cheek with kisses,

“I guess I do.” He said with a smirk.

[sooibian]

IRS and Prejudice

Pairing: CEO!Minseok x fem!employee Reader

Genre / Themes: Fluff!!! Frenemies to (maybe) Lovers? Office AU with some references to ‘The Office’, flirtatious, cat-whisperer, Aries Minseok vs Aries reader!

Description: In which Kim Minseok is nothing like other bosses. Nothing.

A/N: happy birthday to mochi ari! @his-mochi-cheeks​ 💗

Word count: 2.7k (written in a state of delirium eeeek)

You quickly hit Alt+Tab on the resume that you sat updating for the umpteenth time as the sound of heels click-clacking against the floor grew closer.

“My office,” said your immediate supervisor the moment you looked up at her, a well practised unfazed expression crossing your face. If switching between applications at lighting speed were an Olympic sport, you were certain you’d score nothing less than a gold medal. Yet, somewhere in the back of your mind, you had a niggling doubt about having been caught in the act.

You gave her a slight nod in response, lips stretched into a thin line. Smoothing out the wrinkles in your red and black plaid shirt (the one you wore on most casual Fridays since you could hardly be bothered with your appearance at work; despite the feminist within you, the dull back office team discouraged you from making the effort), you followed her into her office with your best businesslike gait while your mind made up a million excuses for what her keen eyes might have found on your 24-inch screen.

“Sit,” the middle aged woman commanded, resting her hands on her hips. Leaning against her teakwood desk, she crossed her legs at the ankles, pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose, and cleared her throat. It’s how she’d fidget when she was on the edge about something.

You imagined your expression if a camera was to pan to you, cinéma vérité. Indulging your curiosity, you shrugged your shoulders with a confused look on .your face

“Everything okay?” You mustered in your best Pam Beesly impression.

Your supervisor let out a deep sigh and answered your question with a more awkward one, "When was the last time you submitted cash reports to the IRS?”

You froze into a still frame.

One of the major reasons you wanted to change jobs was because innumerable responsibilities that were entirely unrelated to your department had been carelessly plonked upon your shoulders. Submitting monthly cash reports to the IRS should have ideally been a task of the receivables department and not shifted onto someone incharge of warranties.

“I - I - ,” you started by trying to justify your negligence before even attempting to answer her question but honestly, you didn’t even want to think about when you last submitted those reports and there was absolutely nothing you could say in your defense.

You’d messed up. Big time.

“Ten months. Ten months is not a small amount in penalties,” she said in her quietest tone as you struggled to fight back angry tears. You’d been with the company for over six years now but it was the first time you’d been accused of laxity. It felt like a punch in the gut.

She turned on her heel to take her seat - movements deliberately slow, allowing you some time to regain your composure. With her eyes on her phone, she leaned back in her chair and said with a sense of finality in her voice, “You know what you have to do.”

Head hung low and eyes lined with tears, you walked out of her office muttering all the things you didn’t say in your defense. The long and short of it was that this duty should’ve never fallen into your lap in the first place. As you paced in the direction of your cubicle (with twenty sets of curious eyes on your back), a pair of hands suddenly gripped your shoulders and a dulcet voice sang, “Careful, Warranties.”

At this point, you were ready to rip your hair out. Looking up you met CEO Minseok Kim’s bright, catlike eyes as he stood at a hair’s breadth distance from you, smelling of expensive cologne - the kind that was equivalent to several months of your salary, and coffee. He always smelled like coffee and in your opinion that was his only redeeming quality.

His handsome face that every woman and man in the office fawned over was a source of your annoyance - you didn’t care for cocksure people at all and he was the uncrowned king of arrogance. He took over the reins of a used car dealership from his father upon his retirement - it was nothing too fancy - yet he enjoyed strutting around the office as if he managed a multinational conglomerate.

It was his younger sister that did the real work. She managed the more important businesses while Minseok had been handed the responsibility of just one company and from your (and the Sales Team Lead Baekhyun's) standpoint, he wasn’t doing a marvellous job at it.

Your Aries energy didn’t permit you to apologize for nearly butting heads with him so you feigned a polite smile and side-stepped to your right and he simultaneously side-stepped to his left, his every little wrong move bolstering your frustration level. It happened again and again and again until he bowed ever so slightly, stretched his arm out and said, “Please,” gesturing for you to leave first, the corners of his mouth curled up in a wide, gummy grin.

What was he so happy about all the time?

“Thanks,” you mumbled and he winked at you in response. You immediately made a mental note to find out if you could report the CEO for improper behaviour. You had a full-blown list that started with his attire - should a CEO be allowed to dress in hoodies, skinny jeans, and comfortable sneakers while the rest of you suffocated in the restraints of formal clothing for four days of the week?

Huffing, you slumped in your chair and texted your aunt informing that you wouldn’t make it to barbecue night and immediately flipped your phone to silent to avoid seeing her colourful messages berating you for the last minute cancellation.

Next, you aggressively typed ‘IRS CASH STATEMENTS’ in big block letters into the sticky notes app as a reminder of the humiliation you experienced today.

***

When you last checked time, it was noon.

The sun had long gone down since then as you tried to wrangle customers’ social security numbers out of the ever-so-reticent-to-share-information receivables department who were all packing up for the day. You were this close to socking them in the jaw but you still maintained a courteous smile and pleaded with them throwing in tonnes of cringey corporate jargon, “Please, I just have three more reports to go and I’d really appreciate your prompt help with the information.”

Suddenly, a familiar cheery voice fell upon your ears, “What’s going on?”

You were surprised to find Minseok still in the office but also extremely grateful for his presence because his single sideway glance at Angela achieved what your five emails and three verbal requests failed to.

Furiously typing away on her keyboard, she said through gritted teeth, “I’ve sent them over.”

Minseok gave you a casual two-finger salute and nearly went skipping back to his ...no, not his but to your immediate supervisor’s now empty, glass-paned office - where you could see him directly and he you - the three walls of your cubicle doing nothing to keep you out of the periphery of his blatant staring and his trademark cheeky grin that lit up his ridiculously handsome face.

Shifting uncomfortably in your seat you returned his smile but not with your eyes. You hated the effect he had on you - making you, a grown woman, blush like a schoolgirl under his self-assured gaze. Minseok was nothing like a CEO - he dressed casually, talked to anyone and everyone like he’s known them forever. He’d come into work regularly after prolonged dry spells only to disappear again. His laidback attitude did no favours to your opinion about him.

To pointedly avoid Minseok you put your head down on your desk on the pretext of catching a little break.

… big mistake.

***

You woke up with a start to the soothing and inviting aroma of... home. Opening your eyes to cinnamon bread drizzled with cream cheese on your desk felt like a fever dream until Minseok rolled his chair forward in your direction and you instinctively backpedaled. Clutching his stomach he broke into a vast roar of laughter while offering you a paper napkin with his other hand.

Brows furrowed, you stared at him quizzically as sleep continued to irritate your eyes and the mark of the ballpoint pen you fell asleep on, niggled at your cheek. Hesitantly, you took the napkin from his hand and dabbed it around your eyes and he shook his head in response, pointing to the annoying curled up corner of his own mouth.

“You were drooling,” he guffawed, his eyes twinkling with mischief. Upon noticing that you immediately grew conscious about your appearance, he waved his hands frantically and added, “It’s no problem… I drool too, haha..in fact it’s ...umm..”

You glowered at him and he instantly looked away allowing you to fix your face as his fingers impatiently drummed away on your desk.

The clock struck 7:53 p.m.

Your last meal had been sometime before noon. Under normal circumstances, you would’ve been grateful for the little snack Minseok had brought you - it was an uncharacteristically thoughtful gesture from someone like him but you’d been expecting your period in a week’s time which made you unusually ravenous.

Lips pursed and head tilted to the side, he handed you a bottle of water which you gulped down within a matter of seconds while steadily growing wary of your ultimate boss’ intentions. But you pivoted your attention to prioritizing. First, you’d wolf down the delicious cinnamon bread and then think about whether you were going to walk out of this office on your own two feet or as a human-skin suit on Minseok’s well defined back.

“Thank you for the snack,” you said to him with a forced smile, “I’ll get back to my reports now.” As you swivelled your chair to face the monitor, his hand hooked at the armrest and he spun you back around towards himself.

“What’s the rush, Warranties?” Resting his chin in his hand, he wondered with a quirked brow and a smile teasing the edges of his plump mouth.

It was not your place to ask what your boss was doing in his own office at 8 p.m. on a Friday night, especially one that hardly ever came in to begin with. He could clock in and out at his own whim and sit wherever he liked even if it meant being an utter inconvenience to someone on a stringent deadline but you took your shot anyway. Doing nothing to mask the sarcasm in your tone, you said to him, “Minseok, if you came into work everyday, you wouldn’t have to stay back so late, you know.”

Unfazed, he responded, “But my schedule doesn’t allow me to come into work everyday.”

Schedule?

You decided not to stretch this conversation longer than necessary, especially not after his ridiculous response. Drawing in a deep breath, you said, “I just have five reports left to finish, Minseok. Maybe we can talk later.”

“I run an organization involved in wildlife rights and care,” he explained anyway, rummaging the pockets of his jeans.

No shit, you scoffed. If only Minseok Kim could get any more predictable. A not-for-profit organization was every rich kids guide...no facade...no scam.. to make it seem like they actually did something.

Handing you a card, he continued, “It requires me to travel extensively - last month I was in a park in South America, working with this one puma, Elsa. She was a cage cat who got so used to the confines that she wouldn’t come out of the cage for walks in the jungle because she didn’t like anyone touching her collar, so we couldn’t attach a rope to walk with her. But, I think I’m somewhat of a genius and a cat-whisperer. Within three to four weeks, we managed to get her out of the cage.”

He pulled his phone out next, brought his chair closer to yours and started swiping through the picture gallery to show you a magnificent puma walking around the park as if she were its reigning queen. He resumed the story proudly, “Now she walks every single day, without a rope around her neck. And she’s very, very loving and affectionate.” His face lit up with awe and admiration for Elsa.

Probably you'd misunderstood Minseok…just a little. His passion about his organization did something to favourably change your opinion about him but that didn't mean you didn't have your immediate supervisor and the IRS to answer to anymore.

"Why are you telling me all this?" You asked, covertly moving closer to your workstation.

"We have a vacant position in Treasury." He answered and you immediately stopped dead in your tracks.

Mouth agape, you exclaimed, "You did not just try to poach me from your own company! Minseok you don't cease to surprise me -"

With a smirk on his face, he gave you finger guns. "That’s always been the goal, Warranties!"

"I still have five-

"Three..you have only three reports left. How stupid do you think I am?”

Caught in a lie, you could do nothing to save face so you simply pivoted your chair only to be forcefully twirled back by his strong arms again.

“Now what?" You asked, letting out a groan.

With his foot on one leg of the chair base, he pushed you back towards your desktop and said with a voice laced heavily with his trademark sass, "Check your inbox first."

Grumbling under your breath, you said something along the lines of ‘what does a CEO do anyway’. You then refreshed your inbox, impatiently waiting for an email of several MBs to load as Minseok watched you with an expression of victory painted across his features.

Your mouth fell open to find perfect to the t cash reports for the last three months which made you instantly regret your snide remarks.

Minseok snapped you out of your reverie with his smooth voice, “I may not know much of what a corporate CEO is supposed to do but I do how to get work done. Angela was more than happy to do this for a ‘team leader’ nameplate on her desk.”

Struggling to hold his compelling gaze, you muttered, “I don’t know how to thank you...”

“But I do!” He quipped.

“Of course, you do,” you sighed.

“Let me join you for barbeque night at your aunt’s..i’m sure they won’t mind you bringing a friend along?”

Before you could begin looking for a bug in your cubicle, he explained, “I caught a preview of her message on your phone while you were happily tucked away in dreamland.”

“You - you - that’s an invasion of privacy!” You lambasted him.

Stifling a yawn, he leaned back in his chair and said casually, “I was bored. Besides, privacy is a myth in today’s day and age...just like democracy, the importance of drinking eight glasses of water a day, the goldfish memory, or the thing about houseflies -”

“Okay, okay! I get it! Privacy is a myth. You - you can join us, I guess,” you interrupted him.

With widened eyes he emphasized, “Unless you don’t want me to -”

No matter how much and how often Minseok irked you, he was a charmer. You knew your aunt and your cousins would love having someone like him join in the get together and it really wouldn’t hurt your reputation to bring your boss, especially one like Minseok, along at a family event. You also couldn’t deny the excitement bubbling in your belly at the prospects of working in an NPO’s treasury department.

“You know that’s not what I meant -” You replied, eyes on the monitor as you double checked the email you’d drafted for your immediate supervisor.

“So you want me to come along?” He asked in his flamboyantly flirtatious tone.

Ignoring him, you hit send only after adding a little smiling emoji. Shutting down your system, you picked up your coat and answered with a genuine smile this time, “I’m driving.”

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

A/N: the story about puma Elsa is real! i’ll link it in one of the rb’s for those interested :)

[eternlle]

♡   STUDY  :   EVELYN FERRIDAY.

♡   BASICS.

IS YOUR MUSE TALL  /  SHORT  /  AVERAGE? evelyn is quite short, only 5′2″ and built very slender    ---   she almost looks frail, as though she’d blow away with a strong wind.    her mother used to say she has ‘sparrow bones’, and it’s true   ;   evelyn gives off the impression of being tiny and delicate, even though she’s anything but fragile.

ARE THEY OKAY WITH THEIR HEIGHT? the best explanation is, she’s used to it.   after two-hundred-odd years, she’s learned exactly how to maneuver her body   ;   she knows how it works, and at this point would be weirded out by anything else.   there are so many benefits to being short!  she can get into tiny places, move quickly, sneak into clubs without bouncers noticing...   short girls rule the world.

WHAT’S THEIR HAIR LIKE? her hair is naturally dark, inclined to go wavy at the ends when it gets too long  ;  she enjoys brushing it, allowing her thoughts to wander with the repetitive motions, and for this reason she likes having it long.   it’s quite pliable and easy to style...  even if, for convenience’s sake, long hair is an awful pain.   it gets in her way all the time, but ev loves having a lot of hair.

DO THEY SPEND A LOT OF TIME ON THEIR HAIR  /  GROOMING? she spends a fair amount of time on it.   looking after her hair is evelyn’s quiet time, one of the only instances she’ll hold still for a prolonged period   ;   she never considers herself done until satisfied with how she looks.   things will get messed up  ---  her love of adventures makes that inevitable  ---  but she devotes a good amount of time to self - care.

DOES YOUR MUSE CARE ABOUT THEIR APPEARANCE  /  WHAT OTHERS THINK? she’s...  definitely not sloppy.   i wouldn’t say she cares about what other people think  ---  she’s more than willing to splash in mud or climb trees, has no problem getting dirty  ---  but evelyn likes to look good, and genuinely enjoys putting effort into her appearance.   she doesn’t really like dressing up, and her style isn’t fancy, but she feels good when she looks good.   other people don’t need to approve  ;  it isn’t about them.    nonetheless, if she’s not crawling out of a ditch, she usually makes an impression on people with how neat   ( on occasion, even elegant )  she looks.

♡   PREFERENCES.

INDOORS OR OUTDOORS?  outdoors.

RAIN OR SUNSHINE?   rain, but sunshine is wonderful too...   it depends on her mood.

FOREST OR BEACH?   forest.

PRECIOUS METALS OR GEMS?   gems.

FLOWERS OR PERFUMES?  flowers.

PERSONALITY OR APPEARANCE?   personality.

BEING ALONE OR BEING IN A CROWD?  in a crowd.

ORDER OR ANARCHY?    anarchy.

PAINFUL TRUTHS OR WHITE LIES?   white lies.

SCIENCE OR MAGIC?  magic.

PEACE OR CONFLICT?  peace.

NIGHT OR DAY?  day.

DUSK OR DAWN?  dawn.

WARMTH OR COLD?  warmth.

MANY ACQUAINTANCES OR A FEW CLOSE FRIENDS?  many acquaintances.

READING OR PLAYING A GAME?  playing a game.

♡   QUESTIONNAIRE.  

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR MUSE’S BAD HABITS? escapism.   rampant escapism.   she makes shit up to cope.   evelyn runs from her problems like she gets a high out of it, and this extends to mental running   ---  literally ignoring them, pretending they don’t exist or trouble her   ---   and physically sprinting away.   she’s very non - confrontational, so she prefers to flee a problem before addressing it.   she’s...  very good at lying to herself.

HAS YOUR MUSE LOST ANYONE CLOSE TO THEM? HOW HAS IT AFFECTED THEM? check that residual trauma, babey!  she still suffers, centuries on, from the loss of her children  ---  her miscarriages, and especially maerie.   seeing her grow up was a small comfort, but evelyn mourns the fact that she wasn’t there to raise her daughter, as her mother was for her.   speaking of her mother, evelyn never even got to say goodbye  ---  she died by the time she found herself back in france after “faking” her own death.    evelyn hasn’t even begun to process that grief, and it’s been literal centuries.   she keeps all her traumas in neatly packed boxes, stuffed away at the back of her mind - attic, and god help the person who ends up knocking one over.

WHAT ARE SOME FOND MEMORIES YOUR MUSE HAS? oh, so many  ---  evelyn honestly holds on to memories less easily since she became immortal  ( she blames it on her head being crowded with just so much )   but many from her early life remain extremely vivid.   she remembers the way her mother used to sit at the piano on sunny spring days, and play tunes while evelyn and her siblings danced around the room  ;  she remembers chasing frogs in the stream with her brother and best friend, how suzanne would shriek whenever they touched her, and charles would laugh until he fell over sideways  ;  she remembers little maerie’s bright smile as she chased a butterfly across the field, and how she didn’t cry when she fell and skinned her knee.   evelyn has many incredibly fond memories, but she cherished these early ones most of all.

IS IT EASY FOR YOUR MUSE TO KILL? i...  don’t know if she could.   she’s never been put in a situation where she’d have to.   defending herself is a different story, and evelyn will gladly fight like a feral badger for her own self - preservation, but killing someone might go too far.   ultimately, i think she could do it, but only if something she valued greatly was at stake  ---  like her liberty, or the safety of someone she loved.   she doesn’t like to kill creepy-crawlies, killing a person is a big leap.

WHAT’S IT LIKE WHEN YOUR MUSE BREAKS DOWN? very messy.   evelyn truly breaking down is a release of all the emotion she hasn’t allowed herself to feel  ---  it’s violent, tumultuous, and as frightening to her as it is to any person unlucky enough to witness it.   she hits a very low point.   while not the sort of person to lash out at anyone else, she’ll retreat inwards, probably trying to isolate herself.   ( she’s gonna sprint into the freaking woods. )    it’s like...  a volcanic explosion of emotion, and it leaves her drained and listless for days afterwards   ;   she has to physically recover from it.   has only happened...  a handful of times in two centuries, it’s that bad.

IS YOUR MUSE CAPABLE OF TRUSTING SOMEONE WITH THEIR LIFE? “trust” is a big word for evelyn.   she’s very individualistic   ;   she doesn’t truly trust anyone, not with her every secret   ( and there are some big ones to unpack ).   her trust is handed out like grains of sand, steadily built up overtime into a mountain.  it has to be earned.   for evelyn, it’s not about trusting someone with her life  ---  she’ll visit an active volcano with someone she barely knows, just for the hell of it   ---  but trusting someone with her vulnerabilities, her secrets, is a slow process.  she usually doesn’t let herself get that close to people.   casual friends are...  easier, and don’t notice when you’re gone.

WHAT’S YOUR MUSE LIKE WHEN THEY’RE IN LOVE? hopeful.   walking on air is maybe a more apt term, but evelyn in love is the lightest she will ever be.   it’s so easy to see the beauty in everything, and suddenly she has someone to share it with.   she...  gets a bit ahead of herself.   she starts planning things, coming up with grand adventures they’ll share, places they’ll go, hoops they’ll jump through.   a lot of her ideas are a little unrealistic, so she’d need a partner to anchor her   ---   “no, we can’t go mountain-climbing in tibet this weekend, i have an actual job”   ---  but also to know how to humor her. the thing about ev :   she deceives herself in love.  she’s not good at facing the hard truths in her own life, so she tends to romanticize the idea of a life with her partner.   she will get discouraged if life doesn’t live up to those expectations.  if she feels ignored, if she feels patronized or suppressed...   she’ll fall out of love very quickly, and develop the urge to flee.   it takes a lot to get to that point, though.   if there’s a sufficient base of understanding and mutual affection in the relationship, she’ll never get to that point  ---  it’s worst-case scenario.  by now, she’s smarter about who she falls in love with.  she’s already married a man who tired of her, who saw her as a silly child   ;   she’ll never put herself in that position again.

♡ TAGGED BY  :   @trailost​   ( thank you bby!! ) ♡  TAGGING  :     ummm, imma hit up  @notberried​  @darlingflight​   @ducavalentinois​  @evermxre​ !!

[not-poignant]

tinyurl com gods-in-faetales Wow, thank you so much for all this info, you've put it into perspective for me. Zero plan I figured as well, but thanks for explaining zero likelihood. I was more curious about the scenario in which, if Gwyn lived long enough, would his power be /technically/ strong enough. Disregarding all the other requirements to become a demigod. So, now I got curious about a few more things, I'm sorry, I'll ask even more questions now, I hope I'm not annoying you. xD TBC

So about those questions I mentioned in my previous ask... xD

Why Nain Rouge and King of the Forest could, in theory, technically, get invs?

Because they’re both extremely powerful in ways that we’ve never seen in the canon. The Nain Rouge in particular sits on a lot of her powers, and doesn’t show them. She tends to just show the most destructive ones. They’re also both ancient in ways that are incomprehensible to most of the fae. But also, they both haven’t gotten one yet, so they’ll never get one.

And why gods discourage inviting those rare exceptions?

Because (and this is in the canon) fae don’t really belong in the upperworlds or underworlds. And, as we’ve seen in the case of Ash and Augus in the canon, re: underworlds, it tends to make them sick. In the case of Augus, he’s permanently poisoned because of his frankly limited exposure to the underworlds. It’s an indication that they do not belong. While having them become ‘gods’ somewhat changes that, the foundation remains that they never belonged in the first place.

Does it get too 'crowded' in some manner?

See above.

How old is Albion, acutally?

Over 100k as indicated in the previous ask/s. I leave the older fae ages vague on purpose.

Why is the idea repellent to you (you wrote it in the tags)?

I spend most of my time writing angst re: characters and then having them earn a happy ending. The idea of prolonging their lifespan unnaturally because I’m attached to them or just can’t let them go seems kind of cruel to me personally, because I’d rather just let them go to do their own thing and live their own lives at the end of what I’ve written. I’m just not...obsessed with grafting that level of immortality on any character I write. Even for Albion like, that’s not a happy ending for him. He’s not happy about it. He’s clearly not in a great place about the idea of it and has avoided it for many hundreds of years already, and even from the way he talks to Eran about it, you can tell the whole thing is something he regrets and that he’s not exactly looking forward to it, he just doesn’t know what else to do. Why would I wish more misery on the characters? Like, don’t get me wrong, I love angst, but once I finish a story, I also like leaving characters where they are, in relatively happier places and you know, not completely dead and in the afterlife, lol.

How does a god and demigod differ in Fae Tales universe?

Geeeeeenerally demigods are made, and gods are born as gods.

In a purely hypothetical scenario when more/all faes live long enough, would more of them be qualified to become demigods?

I really really really hope not. (For reasons explained above). And because it’s something I don’t want to see, it’s not something I’m going to entertain. Like if you’re that taken with the idea anon, you can headcanon it as much as you want, but you’re not going to make me find all the loopholes where it’ll work when I find the idea tragic and therefore largely unappealing in the first place.

And please forgive me about comparing Gwyn to Albion, but I just didn't know if it was just Gwyn talking that he could destroy an entire world with his light or if this is actually something that would happen if he'd let it completely loose. Also an idea of creating an ocean is just too big for my brain to comprehend how great of a thing it actually is I guess. xD So it was just Gwyn talking? His light isn't and won't ever be actually *that* powerful?

Gwyn’s light is powerful enough to destroy a planet. But as I pointed out in the previous response, people who have powers that just lead to death and destruction only, don’t get invitations. Period. Gwyn would need to develop other methods of using his light or developing other powers (just as I pointed out that Albion has other ways of using his powers that aren’t at all related to death/destruction) that aren’t just wanton destruction, death, or turning things into wastelands. If your scope of power is planet-destroying, but you still can’t really use your abilities for anything else other than teleportation, the gods are uninterested!

Ultimately anon, I feel like you’re intrigued by or excited by an idea or ideas you have, and I just don’t share that excitement, which is why a lot of this stuff isn’t fleshed out further in the Fae Tales realm in the first place (there is after all, room in all the words for the fae to have talked about it extensively by now if I thought it would ever matter to the story - which it’s not going to).

I love that you enjoy the idea of it! But it’s definitely not for me, which is why I’m not writing POV stories about fae ascending (or descending) to godhood. But I hope you enjoy your headcanon-ing! Your own version can be as happy (or as sad) as you want it to be, and in your own version you can have it happen for all of the characters you want it to happen for. :D

[everyday-effing-therapy]

04/06/2020

Hello,

There are so many things I want to say. Hell, there are so many things I have on my mind, which make me uneasy or unable to sleep.

Listen, I know that I don’t really have a following here per se and probably every single post gets only a couple of reads, hopefully, but I like writing here mostly because I can put things “on paper”. Save them for later. Be able to read them and know what was happening with my mind during a certain time. That’s why I’d like to post more here, because in situation of posting every day, or even every other day you are able to follow the events much closer and more accurately. 

However, there are times when I don’t really feel so good. The pressure of school, future, hopes and dreams becomes unbearable. And although that’s probably the time where I should post the most, because this therapy, everyday effing therapy, is one of the best things I have, but at those times I feel so unmotivated that I can’t bring myself to actually write or post.

When I start writing, I want to post on the same day. It doesn’t have to be in an hour or two, but in general, I find it really hard to relate to content or post I started writing even a day or two before. I forget what I wanted to write, what the order was supposed to me which makes me discouraged. 

My art teacher once said that he is going to try to give us assignments that we can complete during only one lesson. The reason behind that was that in a week you are going to be a different person than you are today and a week ago you were a different person that you are today.

I was afraid of our art teacher, but I guess overall he never hurt me, never said anything rough, never dismissed me. I was doing the project with him and I feel safe to say that he became my inspiration in life, although I can’t really say I liked him. 

You have no idea how many drafts of posts I have saved. I don’t know, maybe one day I’ll post them. Short stories, with almost no visible meaning. 

Thay mean something to me though. Every single day is a blessing, which I am deeply aware of. The fact that I can feel like shit and not want to leave my bed is one hell of a paradox, but that’s something that happens to everyone. 

I am trying to remain positive, but I guess in the light of recent event, the Black Lives Matter movement, I got really pensive, which furthermore influenced my already not-so-good mental state. Seeing posts on social media made me rethink a lot of my actions. I firmly believe that we are the spactators of a much needed change and I am remaining hopeful for the future. I am sending all love and light to my black comrades everywhere. 

I miss my friends. Like hell. I’ve seen V twice since March and I’ve been talking on the phone with her somewhat regularly, but since the middle of May we stopped. Our exams are approaching, they start on Monday and we are scared shitless. 

The entire country created this habit of telling seniors that the end of school exams are the most important thing in their lives, which puts exorbitant pressure on us.

See, when I am left alone for a prolonged period of time, I start hurting.

I tried dealing with it, so I started listening to music, songs I haven’t heard before or albums I didn’t have the time to listen to. It’s amazing, but it just builds the pressure furthermore. 

I guess my lacking state stems from me being alone, which is quite a normal and regular thing to happen. Usually, my lows happen in winter, when it’s cold and dark and then during holidays when I’ve been alone for a prolonged period of time and managed to get bored with literally anything. 

I do need some alone time, certainly when I’m forced to deal with a lot of people every single day. I am a people’s pleaser, in a way, always trying to descalate conflicts, be actually nice, helpful and get along with others. Because of that, the quarantine cerainly helped, because I was a shell of a human in March, my relationships were a mess, I was lost and unable to deal with anything.

It’s not that much better, the ache in my chest is killing me, but the situation’s different and that’s what matters. I let go of the people who don’t fight to keep my in their lives (cause how long can a relationship exist when you’re the only one trying). 

I started spending time with myself, finally exercising more, eating less, drinking more water, caring about my hair, studying too, and, I guess, amidst all of that I realised that I can go on like that for three-four months and then I’ll start needing people desperately.

You know, I just want to go out with my friends, have a house party maybe, get absolutely mortal, hold their hands and hug them like I always do. They don’t exchange the surprised stares anymore, because they got used to it, used to me being like that. It feels like yesterday that we came into that school, hopeful and pure and now we’re leaving it like a battlefield with scars covering our souls. I don’t want that to make us less caring, less loving, less tender. 

I miss my closest friends V and Su, I miss my angels from English class and the knowledge that we’ll never sit like that again makes me sad beyond comprehension.

I miss my sweetest girls, the ones that hyped me up and the ones that were always there to listen. I miss the smartypants of my class. I miss the boys I talked to before classes. I miss Black, Silver and Gold. 

To be honest, I just want the exams to come. So that I am able to go to school, deal with them, see people.

And breathe with relief. 

Was high school the best thing in my life? I guess it’s hard to tell, in some ways yes and in some ways no. It was so much different than I was expecting and then it was also what I was expecting. It was happiness and sadness, being brokenhearted and healing, feeling how it is to not understand something, to fight, to try to understand yourself.  

It was a time of great concerts, sleepovers with friend, tons of parties, getting absolutely mortal, falling in love, being rejected, being wanted, feeling pretty, feeling myself and then losing myself as well. Loving the classes, hating the classes, being everything.

Sometimes I forget how amazing the days are, so enriching and filling you with a sense of calmness that no one can replace. 

But well, it’s almost summer now. It finally started being warmer, I am jamming to older songs, sitting in my room with a computer and I feel such nostalgia that it’s impossible to describe.

I fight everyday. I fight to do things, to study, to write posts, to care about my hair an exercise and not just lie in bed reading fanfiction or watching YouTube. You have to live your life before you start spending hours on following somebody else’s. 

If you are struggling, i wish you all the best, all the light ahead of you. Be happy during your journey. Stay safe.

With love,

C

[poison-prayer]

camp-max replied to your post “camp-max replied to your post “a-little-oopsie-daisy: camp-max...”

i wanna hear about punishments

Remember: you asked for this.

He never reprimands children of parishioners. That’s left to their parents, though Daniel will often talk to the parents about their child’s behavior and actions he personally can take to curb their misbehaving. With kids it works a bit like the way they might get punished in school. Detention or lunch detention, study hall (bible study), that sort of thing. Kids are kids and bound to get into a little trouble, and while Daniel’s strict he’s not ruthless. 

With adults it’s a little different. If you’re brought up into the church, once you hit 18 you’re an adult, and that means being treated like an adult. You have more agency over your time in the church, excluding mandatory things like sermon and confession, but you also face stricter punishments if you step out of line. 

If you break the 21-day January fast, you’re subjected to the steam room. This is steam-only, since drugs and sedatives aren’t needed for the punishment side of things. You’re stipped to your undergarments and left in the steam room until you’re weak and dehydrated, supposedly to purge your body of the impurities from breaking fast. New members within their first or second fast, and people with medical conditions that make fasting dangerous are exempt from this punishment. 

There are all levels of transgressions. He’s not going to give the worst discipline to someone for a minor infraction, especially if they’re new. A lot of the time problems are handled peacefully.l Many transgressions are admitted in group confession, which basically amounts to public humiliation. But sometimes... sometimes, there are incidents that Daniel can’t just let slip.

One of the worst is discontent. Daniel keeps a very close eye on everyone, and has his disciples do as well, because it only takes one paranoid person to see through his facade to make the whole empire come crumbling down. One person feels something isn’t right, gossips to another, then the discontent spreads like a wildfire. He instills a sense of Us vs. Them into his church, and believes that if someone were to try and sew the seeds of fear and revolt, another in the community would let him know - but he also knows that’s not a foolproof plan. 

When one is discovered, though, he takes immediate measures to get them back in line. One of his biggest tactics is isolation; in the back of the hospital is an unused psychiatric ward, and in that ward is a single hallway of solitary confinement chambers. They’re concrete cells fitted with nothing but a drain. If someone doubts the prophet, they’re brought to the psych ward. This is terrifying for most people, but Daniel always starts off reassuring, telling them that it’s not dangerous, it’s just like grown-up time out. He gives them his word that he’ll bring them meals and come sit with them for bible study, private sessions or sermons every single day without fail, and is pretty clockwork about it. For an unspecified amount of time, Daniel is the only person they have contact with. 

This is a totally transparent practice, so someone doesn’t just go missing one day and people start pointing fingers - it also discourages others from misbehaving, because who wants to be put in confinement? 

The method of breaking someone down through solitary confinement runs on the idea that if Daniel is their ONLY human contact, they will begin to associate him with comfort again. He takes care of them, he keeps his promises, he doesn’t let anything happen to them. It’s a different time period for everyone, of course. He’s seen people break in a month, but very rarely is it less than that. When they come out, they’re often given reprieves on social situations until they’re more acclimated to the atmosphere again, and most of them positively say that their time in solitary was fine, that Daniel was there and that it gave them a lot of time to reflect on their faith and their behavior. 

In very rare cases - mostly if they act aggressively out of line while in solitary or are violent in the church at all - Daniel performs baptisms. Baptisms are a daily ordeal that can happen at any time of day, in which Daniel brings in a large basin of water, gets a good grip on the parishioner, and repeatedly forces their head underwater for significant amounts of time with very little time to breathe in between. 

He never pushes anyone past their limit, has never truly tried to drown someone and always makes sure they’re functioning and breathing evenly again before he leaves to get them dry clothes and a towel. This works on the same mechanic as solitary does, but far more intense because of the primal fear of drowning. Daniel causes this thing to happen, true, but the fact that he cares for them after replaces the fear and adrenaline and associates him with comfort. It’s just a far more intense method, but rarely used. 

There are exceptions to these punishments, and Daniel plays favorites. He set up the hierarchy to waive the punishments for his inner circle. Amy can not face punishment (not that she would need it) because she is a figurehead of the church - the same will apply to Ruby once she’s an adult; his disciples can face punishment, but rarely get more than a slap on the wrist. 

And then there are the worst cases. Domestic violence, adultery, and sexual violence are quite possibly - to Daniel - worse than discontent. With domestic and sexual violence, it’s straight to baptism, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. Some cases of sexual violence end with Daniel dumping a body in his cremation oven. In any case of sexual violence that doesn’t end in murder, and prolonged or repeat cases of domestic violence, the individual is marked as too dangerous to be in the church and is expelled or handed to authorities if the right evidence is there. 

Daniel, as a pastor, is a mandatory reporter and must have the authorities intervene when he finds out that someone is committing violence against others. (Except himself, obviously.) 

Adultery is a little more personal for Daniel; growing up with his father having affair after affair, he saw what it did to his mother and their family as a whole, and while will often counsel the couple in question, will take more serious actions if it continues. 

In these three cases, solitary confinement and baptism are not meant to instill a sense of comfort in them, but rather a sense of raw fear, and to associate the punishment with their actions, to drill the consequences into their heads before they return to the church. 

Thanks to Daniel’s guidance, Lamb’s Pointe very rarely has any problems within the church - and if they ever do, he’s quick to fix it. 

[writing-royza]

Tainted Blood, Tainted Soul: Chapter Twenty-four - Prey for the Trap

A/N: Happy Sunday, everyone! I apologize for the brevity of this chapter; it’s only short by about a page, but my faithful laptop finally gave up the ghost this week and although I write on my desktop computer, I lost some time for writing thanks to dealing with that. I think it still turned out well, though. Enjoy!

I do not own FMA.

Chapter Twenty-four - Prey for the Trap

PLAZA, INHABITED ZONE, JADAD

1033 HOURS, APRIL 24TH

His Lieutenant was a fully-fledged, blood-drinking vampire currently holed up with one of his oldest enemies and, while not particularly liking him, still helping said enemy (also a vampire, it must be noted) to perpetuate attacks on the civilians of a slowly recovering formerly oppressed nation for their blood, for the aforementioned drinking.

And Roy was sitting under an open-side pavilion, cutting squares of cloth and lengths of cord for anti-vampire protection charms.

Beside him, sitting comfortably cross-legged and surrounded by bowls of charm ingredients, Scar's Master worked in companionable silence. The cloth squares went to him, and he filled them with a palmful of holy sand, a rune of protection wrought in silver wire, and three small garlic flowers. The lengths of cord went to Miles, who also took the filled clothes squares, which he formed into pouches and tied securely shut. At a table a few feet away, Scar was busy distributing the finished charms to a curious public.

"What is he telling them?" Roy asked, keeping his voice low in case anyone in earshot spoke Amestrian.

The Master didn't look up, but smiled. "He does not tell the truth, but he does not lie. The people are told that they are religious charms to bring them Ishvala's divine protection." Reaching out, he plucked a rune from a bowl. "Which, in essence, is exactly true."

Roy nodded in understanding. "He's just not telling them what they need the protection from. Anyone who didn't believe would call us crazy and those that did could start a panic."

Nodding in return, the Master set aside the completed mixture. "And those that don't accept the charm will have to rely, however unknowingly, on the increased night patrols we'll be sending out." He picked up the next square, holding it cupped in one palm while adding ingredients with his free hand. Each patroller will have several spare charms on their person, and be a fully trained warrior priest."

Roy's stomach twisted nervously. Riza's skills in hand-to-hand combat were good by Amestrian military standards… but she had never been fully pitted against someone with Scar's training. Her new strength and speed might serve her well… but would it be enough to keep her from being seriously hurt?

"I can at least vouch that the charms work," he said, trying to swallow the tightness in throat he was beginning to associate with worry. "She was staying a good distance away when we ran into her the other night. He hesitated, then added, "And it may have given us a way to help the real Hawkeye get control of herself."

Miles head snapped up, the partially-tied charm in his hands forgotten. The Master's reaction was more subdued, though he evidenced no less interest. "Oh? And how do you think it could help that way?"

Reaching down, Roy plucked at his own charm, letting it fall back against his chest. "Because when I pressed this against her chest, I got two minutes with the Lieutenant Hawkeye I know."

Frowning, Miles started in on the charm in his hand again, but now he glanced up periodically to continue the conversation. "So the charm doesn't just repel the vampires. If it gets close enough to the Lieutenant, it negates the false personality altogether." He raised an eyebrow. "Am I right in thinking you have an idea to use that to your advantage?"

He shrugged, passing another three squares to the Master. "You would be very right. I mean, it's already been inadvertently field-tested. The trick would be to get the charm actually around her neck. Last night, all I did was hold it to her for maybe… ten seconds? And all that bought me was less than two vampire-free minutes."

"I don't mean to discourage your plan," the Master said, his tone the low and gentle cadence of the teacher he was, "but as long as we're exploring the ins and outs of a possible plan…. How long do you think wearing a charm will suppress the vampire personality?"

"I don't know," Roy admitted. "I would think that it would keep it suppressed indefinitely… but you're right. For all we know, the vampire could develop a tolerance through prolonged exposure, or maybe it was all an elaborate ploy and it didn't actually work at all…." He shook his head in resignation. "But we have to try something, and as far as I know, we don't have any other plan in the works."

The Master was watching as Roy spoke, his expression unreadable, but quietly contemplative. He paused a moment when Roy had finished, then said, "I agree, but there are still doubts in my mind. Have you considered what may happen if the charm does not affect her as you expect?"

"What do you mean?"

"We know how she reacts to a brief exposure, assuming, as you said, that it was a real reaction," the Master pointed out. "Ten seconds, you said. And so far, we've spoken about using it against her with an effect that is beneficial… but consider the possible long-term adverse effects." He set aside the latest square of charm ingredients, ticking of points on his fingers. "Suppose, after a while, holding back the vampire persona begins to cause her pain, or alter her mental state, or makes her ill. What then?"

Roy was quite a moment, cutting new squares and lengths of cord, thinking through the new information and trying to amalgamate it with his fledgling plan…. Trying to find a way to get back that wouldn't involve hurting her any more than she already was. "And if she were to come into skin contact with the silver rune in the pouch, or any of its contents, that could hurt too," he said finally. "It would burn her like the sand did."

Miles had been quietly following the exchange the whole time, and now he broke in. "Would it help determine what to do if we could ask the Lieutenant? Not this vampire alter ego of hers, but the genuine Riza Hawkeye?"

One eyebrow lifted in surprise, Roy looked toward the northern Major. "Since its her body that has to go through wearing the charm, if we decide to go that route, then I'd say it's only fair she get a chance to voice her opinion." His look turned doubtful. "Though I'm not sure how we'll get to ask. I don't think she'll be letting anyone close enough to hit her with a charm, and it might not last long enough if we did."

A small, sly smile tugged at Miles' lips. "That would be a part of overall plan… But the first step is getting the vampire cornered in one place that she can't escape from, and were her new friend can't get to her either. Once she's there, we'll have all the time in the world to find a way to talk to the Lieutenant and form a real plan."

A thrill of anticipation wriggled pleasantly in Roy's chest, along with the skip in his pulse and the momentary hitch in his breath. He grinned back at the other man; Miles had the beginnings of a truly sneaky plan… and maybe that was just what they needed. "Well, don't just keep it to yourself. What do you have in mind?"

"It's going to take some time to set up, so we'd best start as soon as we're done here today. But to start with, we're going to need a place that's out of the way while not being too far from the settled areas…."

MARKETPLACE, UNINHABITED ZONE, JADAD

2043 HOURS, APRIL 24TH

It had been full dark for nearly two hours before Roy, watching from the shadows of an alley, finally saw her emerge from the abandoned inn. She paused on the street, looking for all the world like a tourist waiting for a taxi… or a travelling companion.

"No sign of the other one," he murmured a moment later, when Riza remained alone, idly stretching with her gaze on the stars. Her movements were lithe, catlike… full of deadly grace. Self-consciously, he tugged the hood of his borrowed dark cloak further around his face."Either he's already left, or else he doesn't plan on hunting tonight."

"The Lieutenant's habits suggest that it isn't absolutely necessary that they feed every night," Scar agreed from his place crouched behind a dust-covered crate. "But given his habits in the west and the fact that he just crossed a desert with limited supplies of blood, I would think he would — ah. There."

If Riza hadn't turned to look into the shadows of the hallway behind her, Roy might not have seen the figure standing there. The vampire wore a dark suit, his hands in his pockets, and his stance — what Roy could discern in the darkness — one of laid-back insolence. The only parts of him that stood out were his white shirt and the pale oval of his face.

Roy leaned forward, squinting slightly as though the action could somehow help him see better. "Does that look like Kimblee to either of you? I can see it in the posture, and he's certainly the right building, but…."

"If he were wearing that ridiculous white suit, I'd be more sure," Miles said. Like Roy, he was swathed in a dark cloak, standing close against the wall in its deepest shadows. "But even though I can't make his feature out, it definitely does look like him."

"It is Kimblee," Scar said darkly, red eyes fixed on the man in the shadows partway around the plaza. "The vampire has a very faint aura about him, but what there is has traces of the man he used be… and I remember that." He shifted slightly, though whether in anger or anticipation, Roy didn't know. "He and I have unfinished business."

"So do I," Miles muttered.

Roy stared across the plaza, watching the two figures, one in white and the other in black, as Kimblee emerged into the was a good amount of space between them; they didn't even appear to be holding a conversation… but the thought still nagged at him of what the thing in Riza's body had said after his rejection of her….

"…Perhaps it would be a fitting punishment for turning me down. Maybe I will let him have a little fun."

It had been over twelve hours since that little insinuation. They had spent the daylight hours sequestered in darkness, sleeping through the sun's travel across the sky. Alone? In each other's company? It almost didn't matter, since it was plenty of time for them to have — no. He clamped down firmly on the thought before he could complete it, at the same time as he suppressed a shudder from going down his spine. There was, he hoped, still too much hatred and distrust left from the real Riza for this new Riza to do… that.

"I think we can case a broader net than just the three of us as Kimblee's enemies," he murmured at last. "At this point, there isn't anyone within a day's travel that wouldn't have some kind of bone to pick with him, whether personally, or for his role in the war in general." His lip twisted in a grim smile. "We might be farther ahead to paint him as Public Enemy Number One."

"Gladly," Miles answered. "Though is still leaves us with the problem of how to bring him down."

Scar hadn't moved, his gaze still on the pair of vampires. The one in Riza's body had moved to sit on a crate beside a long-abandoned vendor's stall, while Kimble was still standing with his hands in his pockets, head tilted back to survey the stars. "I believe we should keep to the original plan, though it would be better to get her alone before we try to put it in motion."

"Here's hoping she hates him enough to avoid going hunting with him," Miles commented. "If we don't get lucky and she doesn't go off on her own…."

"She will," Roy said firmly. "Even if he is her sire, she made ti clear to me that she's only sticking around him out of mutual interest in their own survival as vampires." He shrugged, the motion uneasy. "Necessity, not shared ideals. I'm sure, if she had any other choice —"

Scar held up a hand for silence, then pointed one finger across the marketplace. Words were clearly finally being exchanged between the two vampires, though sound had no hope of carrying this far. Kimblee's stance hadn't changed at all, his shoulder relaxed as he stood directly in front of her crate perch. Riza sat with perfect, straight-backed prim posture, her dangling feet crossed at the ankle and her hands folded in her lap. There was some kind of back-and-forth that lasted only half a minute —

And Roy's stomach clenched as Kimblee took a step forward to peck her gently on the cheek before turning and striding off into the night.

All three men were quiet a moment longer, watching her watch him leave with a neutral expression in those amethyst eyes. Finally, with deliberate slowness, she scrubbed her sleeve across her cheek, wiping away any trace of this kiss. Out of the corner of his eye, Roy was aware of Scar's gaze turning briefly in his direction — to gauge his reaction, no doubt — but kept his eyes on Riza.

It's not her, he reminded himself. It's her body, but it's not her mind. Your Riza isn't in charge, so it's not her fault…. But all the rationalizing in the world couldn't stop the jealousy from bubbling, hot and acidic, in his stomach.

After what seemed like ages, though it was only a few minutes, Riza slipped from her seat beside the table, dusted herself off, and set off at a leisurely pace just to the right of their position.

"Time to pull back and get into our secondary position," Miles murmured, now doubly careful to keep his voice low. None of them knew exactly how far a vampire's sense of hearing could reach, but they also weren't particularly keen to find out. "As long as she doesn't use that string travel method like did to escape the yantir, we should be able to get there in time."

Getting to their feet, the three men ran quietly as they could back down the alley, paralleling Riza's current path, but needing to move faster in order to gain ground.

As they got up to leave, Roy was the only one to look back at her over shoulder… but he doubted he was the only praying that this would work.

INHABITED ZONE OUTSKIRTS, JADAD, ISHVAL

2103 HOURS, APRIL 24TH

The time spent away from Kimblee's presence was pleasurable, even if she could still feel the faint pressure of his mind against the edge of hers. Since arriving, it seemed like all he had done was hunt, rest, and talk. In all honesty, the third option was the worst of the three. With hunting being restricted to a few hours at might and vampires not needing an overabundance of sleep… talking held the majority vote.

Riza wouldn't have minded so much if he actually talked about things that interested her or were of some use. Things like literature, culture, places like East City or Central… he••, she would have settled for firearm technical specifications or dogs. Instead, she got his war memories from Ishval, stories from his time in prison, how to fool psychologists into overlooking very obvious psychopathic tendencies, and an accounting of his 'work' with the Homonculi and their Father before he had been eaten.

She had learned exactly one useful thing in all his babbling: to him, there was no separation of before-Kimblee and vampire-Kimblee. The two were one and the same, unlike before-Riza and vampire-Riza. He had accepted his vampirism wholeheartedly; she still had some assimilating to do.

Finally free of him until daylight broke and she was forced to be sequestered in the inn room that adjoined his — another one of his ideas and one that she was not at all thrilled with — she was content to take her time with her own hunt. A nice stroll to the residential neighbourhoods, a lovely, private dinner, and —

Rounding a corner, into what had once been a quiet street of well-to-do homes, she stopped in her tracks at the sight of a male figure in the open archway of a faded, flaking stucco façade. The man looked up and immediately stood tall, straightening his tunic in… was he self-conscious? Nervous about seeing her?

A little thrill convulsed in her chest and slithered its way down into her belly. If she still had the ability to make Roy Mustang self-conscious and nervous as a schoolboy on his first date… maybe he wasn't a lost cause after all.

She let her most sultry smile spread across her lips; just because she still had half a mind to seduce the man didn't mean she didn't like the way he squirmed when he saw her pointed teeth. "Well, isn't this a surprise…. Out taking the air, fire boy?" She slid a few metres closer. "Weren't you listening yesterday when I told you that monsters come out at night?"

He didn't smile, but his tone was civil. "I didn't think you could possibly be referring to yourself when you said that. You're not a monster." Those dark eyes met hers, looking solemn and fathomless in the shadows. "Although I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been hoping I'd run into you."

"Oh, is that so?" She stopped at the bottom of the three stone steps leading up to the archway where he stood. "Now, why don't I believe that — oh!" She snapped her fingers, eyes wide in a satire of sudden knowledge. "That's right; because you already proved that you're pissed off that I took over pretty little Riza's body, won't give it back, and that I happen to think humans are tasty." She pouted sarcastically. "Maybe you're also mad that I drank your tea this morning?"

It was easy to see that he was discomfited by her reading of him, not to mention her little performance, but he kept himself collected. He even managed a small smile. "Actually, I'm not mad at all about that. In fact…." He turned, bending to pick something up from behind the arch's side. Riza's pout disappeared, her body tensing as she prepared to dodge whatever he was about to attack her with.

Instead, when he turned back and straightened, he was holding a small stoneware jar and pair of cups. "I brought tea with me. I thought, if I did happen to run into you and you didn't immediately try to kill me, we could share it this time, instead of you simply stealing mine."

It was impressive, really, that in the space of any conversation with him, she could go from wanting to tumble him buck naked in the sand to wanting him to just leave. The look she gave him now was far from the sultry start of barely a minute earlier. "Right," she drawled sardonically. "Should I look away so that you can add the poison, or is it already mixed into the tea?"

"It's not poisoned," he answered, turning and walking into the abandoned house. "I might not like it, but that's still my Lieutenant's body you're possessing. If I try to hurt you, I just end up hurting her… and that's something I can't do."

She paused in the archway, watching as he moved into the middle of the house's inner courtyard. Tarpaulins stretched overhead, blotting out the moon and stars and creating a shelter out of what would normally have been an open-air space. Colonnades lined the little square, which held a hollow that might have once been a fountain or decorative pond. He sat down on the edge, looking around with… he seemed contented, almost, as though there weren't a deadly supernatural creature lurking just behind him.

"Odd place for you to wind up when you're supposedly just 'out for a walk,'' she commented, not moving any closer. Something felt off about this…. He was too calm, too in control, his answers too prepared…. No matter what he said, it was clear he had been waiting for her… but how had he known she would come this way?

He glanced back over his shoulder, smiling. "We were considering this house as an outpost for the Reconstruction Office, once we start to build up a little more in this direction. We scouted the location the other day, and I liked the architecture enough that I wanted to see it again." He waved a hand at the courtyard's perimeter. "Nobody builds with colonnades like these in Amestris, until it's in the south, close the Aerugonian border."

"Pretty dark for a human's eyes," she pointed out, drifting cautiously closer, just inside the square formed by the colonnade. "Isn't it hard to appreciate architecture when you can't see?"

His sudden grin was boyish, if short-lived. "Not for long. Promise not to tell the Ishvalans?"

Without warning, he clapped his hands together before snapping the fingers of his left hand. A double handful of small fireballs shot out in every direction, zooming straight through the air to slam into the heads of torches sitting in sconces at intervals around the yard. Riza jumped briefly as one flashed past a mere metre away, her eyes blinking in the sudden flare of torchlight.

When the light spots cleared, Roy was already at work, pouring still steaming tea from the stone jar into the pair of cups sitting next to him on the sand-covered tiles. Picking one up, he held it out to her. "Come on; I figure that if you're going to be possessing my Lieutenant for the foreseeable future, I should at least make some effort to get to know you."

She watched him for a moment, trying with all her psychic senses to detect some kind of deceit, some kind of hint as to what he really wanted… but no. Apparently, he really did want her to drink the tea, to stay and talk for a while, to just… be companionable. His mind wasn't entirely truthful about it, that much was clear… but she suspected it was because he was lying to himself about how he felt about this. He was forcing himself to be okay with this situation, but for her, it was harmless.

Besides, if she talked long enough, perhaps she could win him over. Roy already hated Kimblee, probably more than she did. If she could get him relaxed enough to let down his guard, to take off that stupid protective charm, then maybe she could get close enough…. Just one little bite, and then he would be hers. Turn him, use him to help her dethrone Kimblee, and then the two of them could….

She shook herself mentally, pushing her sudden daydream to one side. Crossing the sand and flagstones, she took the cup with a softly murmured 'thank you,' settling down with it just out of reach of the malevolent energy emanating from that homely-looking cloth pouch around his neck. She sniffed her cup, watching suspiciously until he took a sip from his own. Hers held no foreign scent other than fragrant jasmine, and, as he had said, to poison her was to poison his own lady love. He would no more hurt her than he would the real Riza Hawkeye.

"So it occurs to me," he said, after a moment, "that I actually don't know what to call you." When she looked up at him, he shrugged. "I mean, you're not Riza as I know her, but you're still… at this point, you're more a part of her, I suppose. So do I still call you Riza, or Hawkeye? Or is there some other name that you use that you would prefer?"

She waved away the concern with an airy hand. "It doesn't matter much to me. Identity is a small concern next to survival, when you essentially have to forage for your food." She watched his expression go blank, likely so he wouldn't betray his own distaste, and kept going. "I still think of my name as being Riza, but if it helps you differentiate, calling me Hawkeye wouldn't bother me either."

"I see." His shoulders tensed as he visibly braced himself to ask his next question. "And how are things with Kimblee?"

"I think you mean 'how are things with the windbag.'" She grinned at the surprise that crossed his face. "I think being in solitary confinement for so many years had more of an effect on him than he's willing to admit. He just won't stop talking."

"Really?"

"Yes, and it's getting tiresome, even after only one day." She rolled her eyes, taking another sip of tea. "About the only interesting thing he would talk about is how much he wants to mess with you." She raised an eyebrow. "I told you, didn't I, the entire reason why he turned me?"

Roy nodded, the look in his eyes far away and introspective. "Yes…. You said it was to get revenge on me, since he and I have been on opposite sides from day one. I would have thought he had bigger fish to fry than me, but maybe it was just a case of wrong place, wrong time."

She tilted her head first one way, than the other, weighing the opinion. "Mmmmm, partly, but that's not all of it. Mostly, yes, you were just the closest person on whom he could vent his spleen, but the other part of it is just sheer pettiness on his part." She shook her head, disapproving. "You were chosen as a human sacrifice instead of him. Granted, he was mauled by Heinkel and then eaten by Pride, but if he'd had the chance, he would have jumped at the offer to be a human sacrifice for the Homonculi."

Roy laughed humourlessly, downing the contents of his cup. "He could have traded with me if he hadn't been eaten. I wouldn't have minded not being blinded.”

'That's what I told him." She rolled her eyes in derision. "But he spouted some nonsense about how it would have allowed him to first make a massive change in the world and then watch the aftereffects of that change. But, unfortunately, fate had other ideas."

A voice rang out from the shadows of the colonnade. "All right, Colonel, we're clear."

Riza's head whipped around to the archway they had entered by, to find Scar and Miles standing just inside the archway, outside the colonnades. "…Gentlemen? I didn't realize there were going to be other guests at this party." Her purple eyes suspicious, she turned back to Roy. "Seems the sort of thing you ought to have warned a lady about, Colonel."

"Would you have stayed if I did?" His tone was flat, his eyes and expression hard. "Although now… I doubt you have much of a choice."

She laughed, setting her cup aside as she got to her feet. "You've still got a lot to learn about me and my kind. Thanks for the drink, but four's a crowd. I'll be on my way."

He got up as well, facing her. "I understand enough to know that you're staying right here," he said firmly. "You and I still need to have a talk, and I'm not satisfied by five minutes of chitchat over tea." His arms folded over his chest. "I told you before, you might look like my Lieutenant, but you're not her by a long shot. And I have no problem interrogating an imposter."

Anger suffused her chest, wanting to escape her throat in a snarl, but she held it back by virtue of her gritted teeth. She stalked forward a pair of steps, intent on showing this lowly, insolent human who was in control here… and recoiled as the stench coming from that tiny little pouch assailed her.

"If you think that little charm is going to be enough to keep me here, it's exactly the opposite," she spat. Turning toward the archway, she glared daggers at Scar and Miles, both men watching her with stone faces. "If the two of you know what's good for you, you'll step aside before you get thrown."

Scar's voice was calm and cool, but with a hint of frost at the edges. "That won't be necessary."

Riza was still stalking toward them, just beginning to ready her muscles for the task of throwing aside two fully grown men, when she fetched up face-first against and invisible barrier. She rebounded with the redirected momentum, lost a brief battle with equilibrium, and dropped backward into the dirt.

"I tried to warn you," Roy commented mildly. He hadn't moved from his spot, knowing he was safe from her so long as he kept the charm on him. "We've tweaked the protective circle since we last used it for the yantir, so now it doesn't just keep demons inside." His lips twitched in a thin smile. "It keeps vampires, too."

Even in a dire situation such as this, her heart rate was still far slower than the average human's. And as the gravity of this new situation began to creep in, Riza felt her heart sinking, down through her stomach to settle as an uneasy feeling deep in her gut. She, the hunter, was now very much the prey.

[okimargarvez]

SCREW TO THE LIMIT- 5

Original title: Vite sull’orlo del baratro.

Prompt: prostitution, sacrifice, danger.

Warnings: A.U., mention of sex content.

Genre: angst, drama, family, romantic, smut.

Characters: Penelope Garcia, Luke Alvez, Luke’s son, BAU team, others OC, Derek Morgan.

Pairing: Garvez.

Note: oneshot.

Legend: 💏😘😈👓🔦🐶👨‍👩‍👧‍👦💍🎲🎈.

Song mentioned: none.

Screw to the Limit- Masterlist

GARVEZ STORIES

PART 5

She also picks up the last item and then closes the suitcase. Making this decision was the most automatic thing she has done in the last few months, not that it was easy. Probably because inside of her, she knew that a story with Luke would never really be possible; nothing was conceivable that went beyond sex, among them. He had a son, an obsession for prostitutes and her... too many secrets that would never allow her to be totally honest with him. She could not keep deceiving him, so she made sure to get hunted. Or that was the plan, even if it didn’t go exactly as expected.

-Penelope, that's not how the problems are solved.- she managed to ignore his presence until now, to pretend that he wasn’t sitting on the bed staring at her while she was picking up the few things that had invaded Alvez home. -Go away is cowardly.- as if she didn’t already know. He takes her by the arm and forces her to look at him.

-What did you expect, federal agent? I'm just a bitch, you wrote it on your file too. I'm not able to love someone.- she just goes on about her farce, because the only way to get rid of him is to get hated. Because Luke is really in love with her, she has understood this.

He feels the instinct to give her a slap, not strong, just symbolic, and then take her in all possible ways, filling every hole; forcing her also, to remind her that he is not like her other clients, but that if she wants to be treated like that at all costs, he will satisfy her. But he will have exclusivity, because he doesn’t want to share her with anyone. He imagines keeping her segregated at home, receiving a worthy reception every evening when he returns from work. The fact that the reality of these days since they lived together is not so distant from his perverse fantasy, brings him back to reason.

He doesn’t regret having had similar thoughts. While he looks at her angel's face, as pure as that of a saint, he manages to hear her groan with pleasure, unable to contain himself, he sees her giving herself to him, body and soul and now? Now she is leaving him, with the aggravating circumstance of having betrayed him with an old client. An hour ago he told her the first thing that came to mind was to slam her against the wall, tear her clothes off and purify her under a nice jet of hot water, before remarking his territory. She belongs to him, he understood it right away, he really loves her, he doesn’t just want to fuck her. Otherwise it would all be much easier.

Otherwise he would have concretized all those fantasies.

And his heart wouldn’t be reduced to billions of fragments now that she's gone.

 LPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPL

 You must forget him is the leitmotiv that accompanies each successive step of Penelope. It is much easier to follow this path.

Something similar happens to Luke, but by his boss, who had already disapproved of his exaggerated interest that he has prolonged even after the conclusion of the case. -Did you hear me, Luke?- when he had heard him pronounce his first name, the man with Latin traits had understood that the situation was serious; he did it only when he was pissed off black. -Let Miss Penelope Garcia goes.- but the other understood that he was ignoring him. -I'm serious, it's an order, not an advice.- after spending so many years in his own unit, he had finally understood the reason why Hotch never smiled.

In his defense it can be said that he really tried to forget her. He focused on other cases, which didn’t concern even a small part of prostitutes, about Adam who wanted to join the school baseball team, on any other issue. But the blonde with the heart of ice still manages to find a way to visit him, penetrates through the tiny cracks that left uncovered and from there reaches the heart and then the soul.

He had never felt so happy before living that little time with her. If only Adam had accepted her, at least try to get to know her, overcoming the stereotypes, the labels. He was only at elementary school and was already influenced by things like that. With the passage of time Luke was convinced that there had been no betrayal, that it was an excuse, an effective system to get rid of him. He couldn’t explain why, but he felt it in his bones.

There was another reason behind her behavior and maybe his son's reaction had to do with it.

Observing the latter while playing with the PlayStation, he is captured by a memory image. She who almost seems to protect her belly. And he understands that he is not too far from the answers he seeks.

 LPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPL

 It's dangerous, stupid, irresponsible, risky... you do not need to bother the dictionary of synonyms and antonyms to make the idea. With that short skirt she feels naked, nude, and the idea makes her laugh. But perhaps it is also the fault of her extra-low-cut shirt. She scans her reflection in a puddle and approves with a nod. She keeps walking as if she were comfortable, on those heels that she stopped wearing in the period in which she lived with... No, better forget it.

She has someone more important waiting for her, beyond, when this story will be really over. She met him at the wrong time.

She also hurls provocatively, competing with other girls. Most know them well, but some are unknown faces; certainly, new recruits called to replace those who "didn’t make it to bear the pressure", a euphemism useful to justify suicides by overdose, ethyl coma and other methods even more abrupt. Under tons of makeup and inside those skimpy clothes, adolescent bodies are hidden, some even in prepubescent age. She swallows repeating that it is here for this reason. The life of such people is hard enough without a madman that want to rape and slaughter them.

She perfectly knows his tastes. She studied them for a whole year. In fact, that evening he wouldn’t even notice her, if she hadn’t worn a Morticia Adams wig.

Corvine. Young (but not too much, he was not a pedophile). Emotionally vulnerable.

He approached when they were alone, not protected by the larger ones, which would surely have been discouraged to belong to a guy like that.

Penelope passes a hand through her short dark hair and sighs, sending out of her body the fear. She feels a shadow behind her and knows (even before she sees it, she recognizes his smell) that is him. She closes her eyes only for a moment before turning around. There is a small Wednesday that is waiting for her, on the other side of the abyss.

 LPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPLPL

 The girl starts crying without warning. A moment ago she was resting quietly, then suddenly she woke up and began to scream, as if in a crisis, naturally waking up also the other creature.

-It's all right, I'm here, I'm here.- but the woman knows that it's not about hunger, about diapers to change or something else so simple and elementary. No matter how hard she tries, she misses her mom. And this can’t be remedied in any way.

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[femuscleblog]

Women’s Health : The Even Weaker Sex

https://femuscleblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/even-weaker-sex-from-fiji-times-online/

This was article was originally posted by Daily Mail in 2013. Known for its sensationalist style of reporting it does have the right idea about women’s health. Faddy diets and fears that muscles are not feminine enough have left women physically weaker than their grannies almost sounds like a comedic tabloid headline. Women do suffer from negative body image issues. The problem is the focus is always on the physiological element, rather than how this actually effects physical health. Women need to exercise and build muscle for the sake of their musculoskeletal health. Osteoporosis, sarcopenia, and heart disease become major threats to health the longer one lives. Women on average will live longer than men so the possibility of getting a chronic illness is higher.  Both men and women are getting less exercise in highly developed nations due to poor diets and sedentary lifestyles. Women are effected the most.  The reason is they have less strength and muscle mass to begin with. According to Grant Tomkinson of the University of South Australia muscular strength and endurance has declined by 8 to 10 % since the 1980s. This is based on data gathered from the US, UK, and Canada. 

What appears in the data accumulated at the time was that muscle power peaked around 1985. Yet, body weight as it is claimed has increased immensely. Muscles have gotten weaker with women getting even more physically weak. Some would say that weakness is a woman’s natural state, but it clearly is not. Starvation diets and lack of physical activity is clearly harming women’s bodies.Physiotherapist Sammy Margo stated “    there are skinny women who have no muscles supporting their spine, and overweight ladies who don’t have any muscles under the fat.” The serious danger related to health could be the increase in arthritis, stress fractures, and back pain. Women should not focus on weight loss as a sole motivating factor to exercise. The intent should be to be active enough to give the muscular system and skeleton enough care to prevent chronic disease. There also needs to be a change in body image perception. Too often, the fitness industry presents thin as the only image of beauty. Rather than following gender stereotype conventions, women should seek to boost their fitness levels.  According to the Women’s Sports Foundation 40% of women said feeling better about their appearance was the motivating factor to exercise. Their intent was to get thinner, which does not automatically mean healthy. Proper weight depends on one’s height and skeletal mass.   

There is a body type prejudice against women who show significant muscle and strength. The sexist attitude is so powerful that it scares women away from weight training. Even Jessica Ennis stated one time she was concerned about getting too muscular. The term “bulky’” is normally used to describe relally muscular people. That term has no basis in exercise physiology. There are different levels of muscular development that a person can achieve. Even the largest women, who are bodybuilders weigh less during competition. Compared to the rest of the weight of the majority of the population they are not bulky at all. Colette Nelson during competition only weighed about 145 lbs. The average weight of an American woman according to the CDC is ( at 5ft 3 inches) is a 168.5 lbs. That means Colette despite her appearance is technically not carrying around as much mass a one would assume. 

 Women normally reject weights saying they may end up looking like a female bodybuilder. This is not a simple task. This requires consistent training, diet, and supplements. Some may resort to performing enhancing drugs as a short cut in the recovery and muscular hypertrophy process. However, it erroneous to think that women have less athletic potential. The article correctly states that testosterone is very helpful for building muscle to a high degree. Endocrine function is not the only factor in building muscle, which explains why some women can actually get muscular. Muscular hypertrophy functions in the same manner in both men and women. Endocrinology just gives men an advantage during puberty, when strength spurts and body composition is altered. Estrogen enables the female body to carry more fat for the sake of reproduction. Regardless of sex, genetics, height, somatotype, training method, and nutrition are factors in building muscle and strength.  There is a difference between training for hypertrophy or just strength. Women with mesomorphic body types prior to training can achieve more gains relative to women of ectomorphic and endomorphic body types. A woman can gain as much strength as an average man. However ,a man on the same training regimen will most likely have more mass and strength. It should be understood that the idea of toning does not have an exercise physiology basis either.  Professor Ken Fox was quoted saying “they can get toned but looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t an issue,’ he says.” There are different degrees of muscular development, but toning is just another colloquial terms to describe a woman of a certain fitness level. This term is never applied to men rather the term bulk is. The fact is men and women have the same muscles. Through progressive overload they can increase strength and mass. The difference is in physical fitness capacity. 

Whether the term bulk or tone is applied they are relative terms. The women displayed above are different depictions of  levels of muscularity.  What people refer to as toned is the woman at the top. There is a middle level that can best be described as a figure physique. Then there is the bulky look that normally is demonized in women. All these women have different degrees of muscular development so the terms “bulky” or “toned” are just not applicable. Women for a longtime were discouraged from use and control of their own bodies. Besides limiting reproductive rights, body image conformity had been imposed through various points in history. This encouraged women to either have their feet bound or wear corsets. The latest unhealthy measure is to make the body extra thin. Such obsession could put women and girls at risk for anorexia or bulimia. The problems with health and body image start in youth. Girls are not encouraged to be physically active as boys at home or in school. Children are also being negatively effected by a sedentary lifestyle in which video games and TV have replaced playing outside. Also sexist prejudice develops around this age. According to a Women’s Sports Foundation study of 15,000 school children half the 14 years girls surveyed claimed that   getting sweaty was not feminine and a  third of boys stated sporty women are not feminine. Already in youth children are absorbing the negative stereotypes and frailty myth related to women and their bodies. 

This reveals their still is much to be done even though Title IX has made much progress in getting girls physically active. The rise of obesity and childhood weight problems have made it so that people are facing more potential health issues at a younger age. Before such panic should be raised, the study by  Dr, Gavin Sandercock only examine 315 children in 2008 and then compared it with data from ten years earlier. That sample is small, so it may not represent all of the UK. What the data showed was arm strength had fallen 26 % and grip strength 7%. The children of the 2008 group could only do two thirds amount of sit-ups from the 1998 group sample. The only thing this indicates is that physical education needs improvement. Many teachers that teach those classes may not have a background in exercise physiology, sports science, or coaching. There may be a generation of people who are physically illiterate. The question one may wonder is why would it be significant in a technological society. Maintaining health is critical not just for the individual, but the nation at large. Healthcare systems will soon feel the strain of aging populations or common chronic illnesses. Public health may reach a crisis if governments do not act. From a perspective of economics, a sick population can be liability. Disability and the personal financial burden on individuals could effect markets. This is why it is important to have a functional universal healthcare system and to educate the public about exercise. Making physical education a positive experience for youth will influence their future health related behaviors. 

Women need muscle for their health. This is not discussed as much in academic circles focused on women’s health issues. Muscle acts as a scaffolding for joints and bones in the human body. There are stages in which musculoskeletal mass grows in the body and at a certain age it will decline. The result could be sarcopenia and reduced mobility. 

There are some studies that show that muscular strength can contribute to longevity. Losing balance and falling can be detrimental for older people. Broken bones and specifically broken hips may cause the loss of independent living. Contrary to popular belief, when bones heal they do not comeback stronger. Healthy muscles mean more mobility and possibly less falls later in life.J anet Lord, director of the Arthritis Research UK Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research claims strong muscles will enable you to control your movement more preventing harmful incidents. The rise in back pain can be linked not only prolonged periods of sitting rather weak core muscles. The muscles of the stomach are responsible for holding up the body when sitting. If these muscles are too weak,then the labor is shifted to muscles in the back. That results in more pressure in strain causing increases in back pain. Posture is also effected causing some people to slump over. The tendons and ligaments in the back are also effected as well. This can also effect the neck and knees. 

Women are not eating or dieting correctly. They may not eat enough or there protein consumption is low. Muscles need protein for cells.The sudden rise of whole food movements and veganism may be driving a trend to excluding meat or protein completely may not be the healthiest activity. Protein can be found in dairy products and meat. If one does not get enough, the body could cannibalize itself. Organs could be at risk in extreme cases. There still is debate on what is the correct amount of protein. If  there is an attempt to manage weight eating less would be ineffective. Excluding sugar and fats would be more helpful combining it with exercise. The goal is to get enough protein based foods along with vegetables to ensure normal metabolic function. There are some positive developments that can be taken away from this. Women are now becoming more active in strength sports and see that lifting can be an effective means of weight loss. Positive depictions of female athletes can counter sexism and body image issues. The important revelation is that  exercise physiology should be incorporated more into women’s health assessments. Doing so would be effective against common chronic illnesses later in life. 

[allison54butt-blog]

3-Step Ergonomic Makeover (That Won’t Cost You A Penny!)

Evolving Workplaces Are FUN-TASTIC Which stimulates Imagine healthy workspace emulated the design of Google where you take a slide from meeting to meeting, find fed freely available in the lush cafeteria, you can loosen up in the nap pods, and even unwind and ponder your notions at the aquarium. Maybe appeals to you the AOL setup with vibrant colors, a game room, pool tables, and open workspaces? Or perhaps the freedom of working everywhere is what motivates shoppers? You love the luxury of bouncing around from coffee shop to coffee shop, or working using a picturesque beach view. Your Posture Is Your Greatest Work Resource Whatever work style you prefer, keep in mind that you are taking your posture with you might! Whether you show up to Google, AOL, perhaps own business from neighborhood coffee shop, the impact that your posture makes on industry to produce efficient task is priceless. Taking care of your posture is a great business choice. Upright posture is directly correlated with higher varieties of alertness and productivity, assists in discouraging common work-related injuries, and improves health and longevity. Upright posture is directly correlated with higher stages of alertness and productivity, helps prevent common work-related injuries, and improves overall health longevity. Upright Posture Is Your Greatest Work Resource Why You should Be Mindful of Ergonomic Design The term ergonomics is derived from two Greek words: ergon, meaning work, and nomos, meaning natural legislation. Ergonomics is the study of peoples efficiency their particular working environment, and Ergonomists study human capabilities in relationship function demands. Put simply, Ergonomic Design promotes better health at work, improves efficiency of task completion, and supports your best posture at the office. You cant afford to disregard ergonomics. Mindless work habits often lead to ergonomic injuries that disrupt the work cycle. Workplace Risk factors for Musculoskeletal Disorders The Cdc (CDC) states, Musculoskeletal disorders are having high costs to employers such as absenteeism, lost productivity, and increased health care, disability, and workman's compensation costs. Musculoskeletal cases a lot more severe when compared with average nonfatal injury or illness. Musculoskeletal Disorders: Musculoskeletal disorders account for pretty much 70 million physician visits to the doctor in nation annually, along with estimated 130 million total health care encounters including outpatient, hospital, and e . r . visits. Back Pain: The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 372,683 back injury cases involving days away from work. Discomfort is certainly the most common reasons for medical visits nationwide. Arthritis: The total cost for arthritis conditions is $128 billion! $81 billion in direct costs and $47 billion in indirect costs you. Persons who are limited in their work by arthritis have been proved to have Arthritis-attributable work limitations (AAWL). AAWL affects one in 20 working-age adults. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: The Bureau of Statistics reported 26,794 cts cases involving days far from work last year, representing a median of 25 days away from work contrary to 6 days for all nonfatal injury and illness cases. The Goal Of ErgonomicsMuskuloskeletal Decline The goal of ergonomics is to scale back stress and eliminate injuries and disorders associated without the pain . overuse of muscles, bad posture, and repeated tasks. A workplace ergonomics program can seek to prevent or control injuries and illnesses by eliminating or reducing worker experience musculoskeletal risk factors. Awkward postures that add stress for the muscle and joints Repetition of uni-planar motions in the workplace Heavy material handling with improper lifting technique High force or mechanical compression from occupational tasks Prolonged experience with vibration, with regard to example the use of a jackhammer Temperature extremes that are way too hot and/or too cold Glare, inadequate lighting, and poor vision 3-Step Ergonomic Makeover You can Implement free You cant afford to ignore ergonomics with your workplace yeast infection. You understand the importance, you arent denying the power of ergonomics to prevent injury and improve productivity, however notion of buying one more thing for business stresses you out of trouble! Dont worry we precisely how you feel. Weve got your rear side. Implementing this 3-Step Ergonomic Makeover is really a great starting point start with ergonomic design, and it will not cost merely penny. 1. Tech Posture 101 Beat the decline of posture in digital Age beneficial . Posture Tech Tips. Heres the deal: looking down all day at your phone or computer monitor is causing SERIOUS strain to your head, neck, and thorax. I mean, really determined. Looking down all vacation to your phone or computer monitor produces SERIOUS worry. When the pinnacle juts forward in comparison to its the shoulders and the shoulders curl forward, this posture alone is related to:Tech Neck Pain headaches, neck pain, migraines, jaw pain, balance disorders, developmental delays, carpal tunnel syndrome, and weaken. You can prevent forward head posture and shoulder anteriority by raising your device monitors to eye level. If you are reading this on your are you looking down, or if you are on your cell phone is your neck flexed forward? It ? s likely you have forward head posture at the moment. Simply place a book or a box through your computer monitor to raise it equal to eye magnitude. Your gaze should attend the the surface of the computer in most beneficial posture. For best cell phone posture, bring your cellular telephone up to eye level as you scroll through social media instead of looking affordable. These free tips alone are worth their weight in gold for the prevention of common musculoskeletal disorders related to forward head posture. 2. Stand, Walk, and Move Another free tip that you just cant afford NOT strive and do is to face up with a seated modern society. While occupational tasks have evolved from being strenuous activities outside to seated tasks in doors, society has become more and more (and more) sedentary. Sitting will be the new smoking, it relates to increased incidence of obesity, Type II diabetes, and cardiovascular illness. Sitting is so threatening it is shocking that many of us continue to do it day after day. To counterbalance the ill health effects of sitting, demand to: stand up often, walk around more, and make intentional actuations. You can invest in a stand up desk, that is a good idea, or as the free option you can place your computer on a counter permits you stand comfortably and your eyes at eye level this monitor. You can also create really desk raiser with a box (ergonomic doesnt mean expensive). Walking and moving will also free. Making the choice to walk around and move more often is a beneficial lifestyle habit that compensates back rewards. Start walking and talking by hosting conference meetings on a tight schedule and taking work calls while pacing around a cubicle. Always take the stairs, park further away, and walk to lunch or stand up while you consume if you brought lunch with you'll. Find to help implement more movement that make sense and dont spend you a cent to utilize. Take Frequent Posture Breaks 3. Gravity Got You Down? Take Frequent Posture Breaks As if work doesnt get us down, right now the ever-present force of gravity pulling down on your body 24/7. For this reason we find comfort in sitting and why we commonly roll our shoulders forward and flex the thorax anteriorly, causing a C-shaped spinal curvature. Gravity are a wide deal. If you arent tuned in to gravity, it might pull you down. Have you ever noticed that older people hunch forward and commonly say that theyve lost height as we grow older? fix posture is an example of posture declining with gravitational forces. To resist gravity really should perform frequent anti-gravity Posture Breaks. A Posture Break is a 30-second stretch each hour to yourself and posture and avoid anterior flexion. To execute a Posture Break: bring the hands out on the sides, open your chest and push it forward, drop top of your head back, and h old the career for a short period. You should feel a fantastic stretch your market neck, pectorals, arms, and chest. Frequent Posture Breaks tend to be a Posture short-cut! You, your employees, but your family can all implement this simple ergonomic transformation. The return on investment of a good posture previously workplace is priceless. The particular body and astonishingly are your greatest assets, and you alone can be cautious of them. Your body and your health are your greatest assets, and you alone can all the best of them. Make the option today to measure healthier tomorrow. You bring your posture along with you everyday to work, selection of the features is yours you could have beautiful, healthy, productive posture or you can have weak, depressed, and sick posture. Realize the right choice. Consider the first three steps to is going to be posture making use of 3-Step Ergonomic Makeover and by also downloading accessing our Virtual Ergonomics Summit although top leaders in the field.

[aprylmarchetti]

The Great Things That Will Come From Shelling out

You can find anyone who has produced a number of assets. Others are a new comer to this game. No matter what your position is, the greatest thing to do to make sure you make excellent purchases would be to learn a couple of things about doing so. Understand all you are able using this post.

If you are investing in property, ensure never to get sentimentally linked. You happen to be totally seeking to turn the most income possible so attempt to place all your time and effort into the restoration of the property that you obtain and enhancing value in the future. This will help to make the most revenue.

Should you buy a home and need to make fixes, be wary of the contractors who ask for cash in move forward. You must not have to pay prior to the work is carried out, and if you, you run the potential risk of getting cheated. At the very least, never pay for the whole amount in advance.

By no means invest excessive cash at first as this can cause a great deal of difficulties down the road. Overextending oneself can result in issues with your price savings strategies and prevent you from purchasing excellent properties anytime soon. Produce the correct price range and stick to it to a tee.

Generally take a look at a complete local community well before purchasing a particular residence. A great area will maintain benefit, while unwanted regions will lower your come back. The spot is a very crucial aspect to consider.

When buying property, a property's area is of major curiosity. If the home is not really wonderful but, the spot is, it could be really worth the try to remedy it or demolish it and swap using a entirely new composition. Think about the place and the feasible probable.

Investing in real estate property leads to the buyer to endure periods of ups and downs. Do not be discouraged through the terrible instances you could deal with. Just keep prolonged to get accomplishment. Consistently learn and provide it your best energy, and you may succeed.

Search for qualities that will be in demand. Actually stop and think about what a lot of people will be looking for. Try to look for reasonably valued properties on tranquil avenues. Searches for residences with garages and a couple of bedrooms. It's constantly essential to consider just what the average particular person will likely be searching for in a home.

Try to find distressed attributes at great deal price ranges. It is possible to locate these effectively listed below market price. Buying these and fixing them up can web you large income. In the long run, you will make much more by following the method than you would probably by purchasing properties which need virtually no function.

Do you visit your area's house principles growing? A wide range of components sitting unfilled, or are people battling for each vacancy? Take into consideration these matters when you decide how to handle home. Never ever obtain your expectations up too much, whether or not you would like to change your home or rent it.

Regardless if you are new to investing or perhaps a expert, this information has what you must learn. Whichever situation you will be in, possessing some information will probably be a big help. For that reason, using this suggestions can easily make a massive difference.

https://financialadvisorok.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/index.html

[mooney29bekker-blog]

Drop Fat With These Simple Methods And Ideas

Are you waiting around for anything to come about in your life that will motivate you to get rid of excess weight? That is by no means going to occur as long as you hold out for it. You have to make the selection and get heading with your targets. Utilizing the suggestions in this write-up can press you out the door, and moving in the appropriate course. A very good way to lose bodyweight is to take in out much less. You by no means know what goes into the meals you get when you take in out. They could be cooking your foods with lard, for all you know. It is greatest to try to eat out considerably less and concentrate on cooking for your self. Pick to travel by foot or bicycle if you desire to get rid of excess weight rapidly. Managing, walking, bicycling, rollerblading and other actual physical strategies of vacation will melt away energy. Calories taken in for the duration of the day keep in your human body. By burning calories via physical exercise, though, this storage is prevented. Find someone you can exercise with. This can make exercising come to feel more like an chance to socialize rather than a way to lose bodyweight. Also, your partner and by yourself can have a great chat as you exercise. By creating exercising entertaining, you will want to preserve undertaking it and as a result drop more fat. When attempting to drop bodyweight and consume much healthier, it is a good concept to hold attractive, healthful treats inside of attain. A single could fill a platter or bowl with the day's allowance of fruits and greens and graze throughout the day, guilt-totally free! You can also attempt retaining healthy snacks in plastic baggies, that make it easy to grab and go. Maintaining a lower calorie diet plan is a winning bodyweight decline strategy. This approach will help you to drop some lbs. Also, consume foodstuff large in fiber to stave off cravings. Drinking plenty of water will also aid suppress hunger. Figure out which food items to steer clear of when attempting to drop fat. Spend time day-to-day journaling what you have had all working day, the quantity and how you felt at the time. Undertaking so can help you in discovering the triggers that cause overeating and help you in selecting what alterations to make. When you happen to be cleaning your residence, why not cleanse your kitchen area of unhealthy foodstuff as nicely? Consider the time to go through your cabinets, fridge and pantry and toss out all the cookies, chips and other junk meals that you have sitting all around. If they're not there to tempt you, you are going to be more very likely to eat a healthy diet plan. In buy to keep away from overeating at a restaurant, inquire your server not to serve you bread or chips and salsa. If you are hungry, you will uncover it almost not possible to resist if it is sitting down in entrance of you. Chips are entire of salt and the butter or body fat in the bread or biscuits, will sabotage your bodyweight decline efforts. To very easily make exercise a important component of your bodyweight loss regimen, you must exercise 1st issue in the early morning before doing everything else. Normally, for even the most structured particular person, factors can and do come up all through the working day that interfere with the greatest laid programs to workout. By doing exercises 1st thing in the morning, even if everything else goes incorrect during the day, you will have completed that process. Drinking water is an obvious weight-loss suggestion, but did you know it can also affect your hunger at mealtime? Subsequent time you happen to be sitting down to evening meal, try consuming a big (16-oz or more) glass of great h2o before you sit down to take in. You may possibly uncover that your tummy has less area for meals and that you will eat considerably less. In the same way that you need to monitor what you consume when attempting to drop weight, you also want to weigh yourself often. This is due to the fact you need to have to give your self reason to set and achieve targets in order to remain inspired. Be confident to file your commencing excess weight so that you'll know how significantly you have to go. Also, how typically to weigh is up to you. Some men and women suggest day-to-day weighing, but most would concur that given that weight can go up and down so dramatically from day to day, it truly is in fact discouraging to weigh way too frequently. A less nerve-racking strategy would be to weigh in as soon as each and every one or 2 months - or even once a thirty day period. Ignore the temptation of other folks about you. If you are at a birthday celebration and somebody keeps telling you to try to eat a tiny slice, tell them "no, thanks". It really is hard when people know that you might be attempting to lose fat, but you should be company. If they keep hassling you about this, then avoid getting about them if you are able to. Calculating the specific variety of calories to consume for every working day can be lengthy, difficult and cumbersome perform. S,o as an alternative of counting the calories of every single solitary foodstuff item and moving into it into your calculator, spherical the figures off to the closest hundred, and attempt to arrive in at 100 calories under your intended purpose for the day. Despite the fact that milk genuinely does do a physique good, the excess fat in whole milk will wreak havoc on your waistline. So if you happen to be consuming these fiber cereals for breakfast or experiencing a glass of milk in location of that sweet tea or glass of wine, remember to go for minimal-fat or non-excess fat milk. The taste big difference is negligible, but there's a huge difference in the base line. Do not neglect to commit by yourself to a extended-time period final result. Do the varieties of activities and exercise routines that you get pleasure from so that you will keep on to do them for a prolonged time. Shortcuts and easy fixes will only get in the way of what should be a lifelong commitment to your well being. So what are you ready for now? As was mentioned before, smart lipo cost are right here to support you get up and start off relocating. Make a prepare, act on that program and obtain accomplishment. Waiting around is hesitating. Have not you experienced ample of hesitating and pondering when you would make the alter? These days is the day!