#wattage generators

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Can a Generator Run a Portable Air Conditioner?

Can a Generator Run a Portable Air Conditioner?

Yes, a generator can run a portable air conditioner. The wattage of the generator required will be determined by the BTU power demands of the air conditioner model. Can A Generator Run A Portable Air Conditioner? When the summer heat hits, the last thing you want is for the power to go out. What happens if your portable air conditioner stops working during a power outage? A portable gas generator…

[eatmangoesnekkid]

Women have been duped by this culture because we have not been properly taught the value of our self-care and wellness over self-sacrifice. I have never had a lover ask me if I'm bringing 50/50 to the table. If you are meeting lovers who are asking very low -wattage questions like 'what are you bringing to the table,' it's a good indication that your feminine energy is missing. Our elder grandmothers were never asked these type of questions. A potential lover would FEEL blessed just to be in their presence and I do not mean it in a self-indulgent arrogant strict binary way but in a way that simply calls a spade, “a spade.” A woman in this new generation must learn to value and take supremely good care of herself and any potential lover will naturally see the value in her without her needing to prove her worth. What you bring to the able should be evident in your quality of health, depth of heart, aura, posture, smile, ease, thoughtfulness, relaxed nature, and attention-to-detail. --India Ame'ye, Author

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Cornsnake Shopping List

So, you've decided on a cornsnake - great choice! Cornsnakes, Pantherophis guttatus, are great pets, and they're popular for a reason! You can expect an adult cornsnake to grow 3-5 feet long, with males being generally bigger than females. Cornsnakes can live to be around 20 years old with proper care.

Enclosure setup shopping list:

You will want to set up your enclosure so your snake has room to stretch out, climb, and explore! You will need to set up a temperature gradient of 88-75 Fahrenheit.

Enclosure. For a young corn, a 20 gallon is fine, and a 40 gallon works well for yearlings. As an adult, your snake will need a 4x2x2 enclosure at the absolute minimum, and bigger is better! Check out Animal Plastics for affordable, high-quality enclosures.

If your enclosure has a screen lid, two sets of screen clips. Never bring a snake home without screen clips!

A dome heat lamp with ceramic sockets. Any big reptile brand is fine - Fluker's, Zoo Med, and Exo Terra are all trustworthy brands here. Make sure your dome lamp is rated for the wattage of bulb you will be using - 150 is usually a safe bet.

Heat bulbs. I use ceramic heat emitters for my corns. You can choose to provide halogen light and UVB if you'd like. Arcadia makes high-quality heat sources your pet will love. The wattage you choose will depend on your enclosure size and the temperature in your home.

A thermostat to plug your heat source into. Vivarium Electronics thermostats are excellent but pricey; you can go as expensive as you like but here is a cheap one I swear by.

Digital thermometer/hygrometer reader with probes - Zoo Med and Exo Terra make great dual gauges

At least two identical hides, one on either side

A container to make a humidity hide. Simply cut a hole in the lid, fill with damp moss, and you're set! Providing your snake with a humid hide will help them have perfect sheds every time!

A large water bowl

(Insider tip: if you go to the grocery store and buy a pack of black plastic food storage containers, you can easily make hides, humidity hides, and a water bowl out of them! Here's my go-to option, you can easily take care of all that for one baby snake for like 5 dollars!)

Sphagnum moss for your humid hide

Substrate - for corns, you have a lot of options. You can use aspen shavings if you like, but coconut fibers, cypress mulch, and coconut husk are all great options. Whatever you choose, provide your snake with at least a couple inches so they can dig.

Climbing branches and other decor - climbing is a must, and vines, rocks, and tunnels made from cardboard tubes are other great options.

General care:

Feeding tongs.

Food for your snake. Even baby corns can eat whole pinky mice. Your offered food should be about 10% of your snake's body weight.

A soldering iron, believe it or not! A cheap soldering iron will serve you well throughout your snake's life - you can use it to easily melt holes in bowls and containers to make hides.

A small snake hook can help you with handling your snake, especially if you're nervous.

And some common beginner mistakes:

Don't move your snake to a separate enclosure to feed. It's a myth that will make your snake "aggressive" - it can actually cause more mistaken feeding bites as they associate handling with being fed!

Don't worry if your snake spends most of their time hiding, especially while young. A hiding snake is a happy snake!

Don't over-handle your snake, and always give them at least a week to settle in before offering food for the first time.

Never handle your snake for two days after they've eaten - that could cause a regurgitation.

Cornsnakes are some of the best pet snakes out there! With proper enclosure setup, you're all set for many happy years together with your new friend.

[gerrystamour]

here i have found some peace of mind [chapter five]

Rated E | Steddie

[ FIRST ] [ PREVIOUS ]

Since Steve is transmasc and I am transmasc, I base a lot of his deal on my own. This means: - I use a mixture of feminine and masculine terminology for his anatomy. - Steve does not have bottom dysphoria and is generally okay with vaginal penetration. - Steve's libido is very similar to my own. CW: There is even more smut in this chapter, more phone sex to be exact.... Now with ART by the AMAZING @sentient-trash !! It is nsft, so crops only here, and the full image is viewable on Simon's Spicy Twitter and on Ao3!

[ READ ON AO3 ]

now i'm going out into the wild

Steve could barely sleep the night before Corroded Coffin was set to arrive. It didn’t help that he and Eddie decided to try and give each other some space ahead of actually meeting each other. They hadn’t spoken over the phone since they both jerked off together. They were still texting every day, but they both thought it smart to keep their distance, just a little bit.

He hated it, if Steve was honest, but he would tolerate it for the few days he had to.

The band’s stay was planned out and that almost made it worse for Steve.

At around two in the afternoon, Chrissy would arrive to collect the keys to their rooms and tour the property a bit with Steve. The band was going to be at the venue to do a sound check and rehearsal, then they had a late-night talkshow to appear on, so they wouldn’t be arriving at the property until well after Steve’s shift ended.

But the band would absolutely be on-property when Steve arrived for his shift the next day. They had some filming to do around Chicago, but that was slotted for part of the morning and would be done by the early afternoon.

For most of Steve’s shift on Friday, Eddie would be nearby, and Steve would have to not think about that. But he would cross that very horny bridge when he got to it.

When two in the afternoon rolled around, Steve found himself standing in the lobby with Will and Hopper, the head of security for their property, waiting for Chrissy’s arrival.

“Would both of you just stop bouncing?” Hopper finally snapped at them, and they immediately froze. “You’re going to make me nervous if you keep this up.”

Taking a deep breath, Steve glanced at his phone and then back out to the driveway. A taxi was rolling to a stop, and then Chrissy hopped out of the back. She bent at the waist to talk to the driver a bit more, her whole body shaking with a laugh before she waved and shut the door. When she turned around and started to walk in, her eyes landed on Steve and the wattage of her smile dialed up several notches and he couldn’t help but match it.

“Chrissy, such a pleasure to finally meet you,” Steve greeted, stepping forward and offering a handshake.

“Oh, screw that,” Chrissy scoffed, dodging his hand and pulling him into a tight hug. Without really thinking about it, Steve returned the embrace with a laugh. “It is amazing to finally be here!” she said, and as Steve pulled away, he caught Chrissy lowering her phone with the front-facing camera still going.

Meeting her eyes with a raised eyebrow, Chrissy feigned an innocent look, shrugging a little bit.

“Just letting the boys know I got here just fine without them,” she said, addressing all three of them now before she sent a message with a few quick taps. From Steve’s vantage point, he could see that she had only sent a picture, and from the multiple responses that flooded her screen, it was a groupchat.

In his hand, Steve’s own phone began to vibrate with several rapid-fire texts.

Steve looked back at Hopper and Will, and they were both watching him and Chrissy with similar yet completely different suspicious looks.

“Alright, that’s settled! Hi!” Chrissy greeted as she tucked her phone into her purse, holding her hand out to Hopper. “Chrissy Cunningham, pleasure to meet you!”

“Jim Hopper, head of security around this place,” Hopper responded, accepting her hand with a firm handshake.

When Chrissy turned to Will, he somehow managed to rein in some of his bewildered excitement to shake her hand as well. “Will Byers, front desk supervisor, huge pleasure to meet you,” he said pleasantly, smiling shyly when she tugged him closer to say something quietly in his ear.

When she stepped back, she winked at Will before turning to look at Steve. “So! The rooms?” she asked, and Steve gestured toward Will.

“Actually, Will is going to take point on this tour, with Hopper. I’m just along for the ride,” Steve replied, winking at the wild look Will gave him. So maybe Steve didn’t tell Will he was leaving the tour up to him, but he knew the kid could handle it.

“Amazing! Lead the way, Will,” Chrissy said brightly, and immediately fell into step with him as he gestured toward the elevators.

Hopper stopped Steve before he could follow the two of them right away. “You’re not messing around with a client, right kid?” he asked in a low voice and Steve flushed.

“Chrissy? No!” Steve replied, and at Hopper’s stern expression he continued, “Seriously Hopper, nothing is going on between me and Chrissy. We just talked a lot while preparing, so we’re friendly now.”

“That’s why she took a selfie while hugging you? I’m old but not blind, Steve,” Hopper bit out before smiling at some guests that walked past.

“Yes! We’re friendly, possibly even friends, I don’t know because I’ve kept things strictly professional with Chrissy,” Steve repeated, and maybe he was wording things specifically to make them not baldfaced lies. Because, yes, he was strictly professional with Chrissy. He was not with ‘Chris’.

Hopper frowned down at Steve before shrugging. “Fine, I’ll drop it,” he said, and Steve could tell he was not actually going to drop it, at least not completely.

The tour went by quickly, Will quickly slipping into his element and brushing off the nerves. He was chatting and joking with Chrissy by the time they had returned to the lobby. Hopper had excused himself from the tour midway through, claiming he had to do his rounds but honestly, he was just bored.

“I’ll go get the keys for the rooms,” Will said, stepping away and hurrying to his desk in the back office.

Chrissy turned to Steve with a bright grin. “Eddie wanted to skip sound check, by the way,” she said, nudging Steve with an elbow. “He’s very excited to see you.”

Steve blushed as he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m really excited to see him, too,” he replied.

“I just—thank you,” Chrissy said suddenly, intensely sincere as she grabbed his elbow gently. “For giving him a second chance. I haven’t seen him this happy since we were in high school.”

Steve blinked down at her, unsure of what to say to that, but luckily was saved figuring that out when Will reappeared with a big white envelope.

“Here you are, the keys and information letters,” he said with a smile, handing it to Chrissy.

“Perfect! You guys are just on top of it!” Chrissy gushed, tucking the envelope under her arm to fish an envelope of her own out of her purse. Holding it out to Steve, she said, “This is a gift for being amazing. I am giving these to you because I always gift these to the amazing hotel employees that help us.”

Steve could feel Will vibrating next to him as he accepted the envelope and opened it. Inside were two tickets to the concert, and he could see a big VIP stamp on them. Will peered over Steve’s shoulder and gasped loudly in his ear.

“The meet-and-greet with those is after the concert. It’s a little bit more intimate since there’s only a handful of these tickets,” Chrissy explained, and when Steve finally looked back at her she was smirking. “You don’t already have plans, right?”

“Well, I mean, now I do,” Steve said with a laugh, waving the envelope and Chrissy clapped happily.

“Yes! I was hoping you would accept them!” Chrissy said before shifting the envelope of keys so she could pull Steve into another hug. “Last one for the road, and a real one, too. Now that I’m not pranking Eddie.”

Steve laughed and returned the hug before separating. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Chrissy,” Steve said warmly as he pulled away.

By the time Chrissy finally left in another taxi, Will was actually bouncing.

“Steve, please…” he started, grabbing Steve’s arm. “The second ticket…”

“Yeah, I was thinking of bringing Henderson,” Steve teased, grinning when Will gasped.

“Steve!”

❖

When Steve got home, he had to fight the urge to immediately check the text messages from Eddie. He needed to get changed and then eat first or else he would get wrapped up in texting him and do neither. So that’s what Steve does, changes and eats, and even manages to go through their mail before he shuts himself in his room.

Eds [sent at 14:07]: wthhhhhhhh 😭😭😭 why is chis hugging u 🤬🤬🤬 isnt that unprofessional 😬 Eds [sent at 14:11]: stevie pls im legit so 😭😭😭😭😭😭 abt this rn baby that is my hug wtfffffff 😩 Eds [sent at 14:13]: whyd chrissy have to go meet u AFTER ur lunch break 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 this sucks that im gonna have to wait until you get home now to get even a reaction 😩 Eds [sent at 15:23]: ugh we have some stupid 🤬 fucking 🤬 talkshow 🤬 to go on tonight my leg is ✨ fuckn killing me ✨ rn Eds [sent at 16:31]: the beds at ur hotel are fuckn next level babe 🥴🥴🥴 wtf it feels like a fuckn cloud 😴☁ Eds [sent at 16:56]: guess what time it is babe ❗❗❗❗❗❗ ✨UGLY 👏🏻 ASS 👏🏻 BUG 👏🏻 TIME 👏🏻✨ this was out at the smoking area it made garebear cry 😔 true story 😔 Eds [sent at 17:21]: the redhead that parks cars is so fuckn mean 😬 i adore her 🥰 i want her for our bus driver immediately❗❗❗❗❗ she actually made garebear cry 😔 real true story this time 😔

Steve’s face hurt with how big he was grinning by the time he finished reading the texts.

Steve [sent at 20:07]: You absolutely cannot steal our best valet. You wouldnt last a week w her and u know it

When Eddie didn’t immediately respond, Steve knew they must have been actually busy, so he grumbled as he searched for something to occupy his time before he could go to bed.

One thing he thought of was to listen to Corroded Coffin’s music, study up on it so he wasn’t completely out of place at the concert the next day. He could always watch the music videos he had been pointedly ignoring, especially the one that still was from…

How bad could it be? Steve had watched more than a few sexy music videos and been just fine after. It’s just a music video, that was probably the sexiest shot from it, it would be fine.

Except Steve didn’t really consider the fact that, of all the sexy music videos he had watched in the past, he didn’t have an imminent date with the vocalist.

The name of the song was Dark Altar, and as he remembered from the five seconds he had watched a month ago, it started with Eddie crawling naked out of a hole in the ground, his body covered in mud, viscera, and some sort of slime. It should’ve been disgusting but with the way Eddie’s eyes were hooded as he crawled, and his veritable mane of curls framing his face in a mess that made Steve imagine burying his hands in it and pulling…

Steve knew with absolute clarity only thirty seconds in that he absolutely would not be able to be normal about it, already shifting his legs open as his dick throbbed. However, he was completely enthralled by the video, watching as the scenes switched between Eddie writhing on a forest floor, seemingly naked, and sitting atop an ornate altar wearing only a pair of leather pants. There was something about Eddie being barefoot that was adding to the entire appeal but Steve couldn’t get his flustered brain back on track to figure that out.

When the priest began showing up in shots, the video definitely took a turn toward overtly sexual, with the scenes of the priest getting more and more compromising, and not even just with Eddie. The rest of the band also had their own moment with the priest character. There was one scene that Steve actually worked very hard to pause because it went by so fast he almost doubted it happened. Sure enough, there was a two-second scene in the music video of the whole band with the priest that promptly melted Steve’s brain.

The angle of the shot was from the end of the altar where Eddie was laying on his back with the priest kneeling in prayer while straddling Eddie’s hips, a rosary hanging from his clasped hands. Eddie was reaching up and raking his claws down the priest’s chest, ripping through his shirt and skin, drawing blood to the surface. Behind the priest, Jeff was pressed close as his hands wrapped around the man’s hips, sliding under the waistband of his pants. On the right, Gareth was kneeling on the altar, pulling the priest’s head back to rest on Jeff’s shoulder by a fistful of hair. On the left, Grant was climbing onto the altar and had a clawed hand wrapped around the priest’s throat, just above his collar.

With a shivery groan, Steve took a screencap of the paused scene, resolving to hopefully find a more high definition still if it existed. Pressing play again, Steve finished watching the music video, shivering as his arousal filled his gut with heat.

Just as the video was coming to a close, Steve’s phone vibrated with a text from Eddie.

“Speak of the devil,” Steve breathed with a small chuckle to himself at his joke, closing YouTube and opening his texts.

Eds [sent at 20:23]: idk what ur talking about 😒 red will love me u’ll see 😤 Eds [sent at 20:24]: u eat dinner big boy 💕💕💕??? u better eat if u haven’t 😠😘🥰

Smiling fondly, even with how much his dick was throbbing and how wet he felt, Steve debated how he should text him back. They were giving each other some space before seeing each other in person, especially following them having phone sex, Steve knew that. It had been his idea, even. But Steve wanted to hear Eddie while he got off again.

Steve [sent at 20:24]: hey you busy? wanna call you Eds [sent at 20:25]: 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 stupid talkshow in like 15mins 🙃😩 i'll call u later? 👉🏻👈🏻

Steve couldn’t help the bubble of disappointment that rose in his chest at that, though it made sense. He knew Eddie’s schedule for the day, so he should’ve known better than to ask.

Steve [sent at 20:25]: i'll be in bed by then, nvm Eds [sent at 20:26]: ☹ whats up baby u okay?

At Eddie’s question, Steve knew he had to confess that this was a horny call he wanted to have. He could have a bit of fun with it, couldn’t he?

Steve [sent at 20:27]: just watched the music video for Dark Altar Eds [sent at 20:27]: 😏 oh???? Eds [sent at 20:28]: 😏 and?? 😏😏😏 ur thoughts??? 😏

Steve shoved his pajama pants and boxers down to mid-thigh and pulled his shirt up to expose his chest and stomach. With a groan, he typed out his message and the moment he sent it, Steve rolled over to grab his favourite vibrator out of his bedside table drawer.

Steve [sent at 20:28]: thinking I can’t wait until I get to take u home on Saturday Eds [sent at 20:29]: 👀👀👀👀👀👀❗❗❗❗❗❗

With a huff, Steve turned the vibrator on and worked the head of it against his dick gently, whining a bit.

Feeling a bit mean, Steve took a picture of himself from the chest down, pink vibrator in his hand and his nakedness obvious. With the way his pants and boxers were still around his thighs, pulled tight across the open space with the spread of them, a shiny, wet spot of slick was clearly visible in the shot, revealing just how much the music video affected him.

There was a moment where he hesitated sending the image, the lewdness bringing a hot flush to his ears, but it was only a moment. Hitting send, Steve pressed the vibrator into his cunt and turned it up.

Steve didn’t get a text back right away, and that was fine. That just meant that Eddie had probably been pulled away, that he would see the picture when he was done with the interview. The image of Eddie dealing with his little issue had Steve moaning and working the vibrator in his cunt more deliberately, more determined, angling it to vibrate against his g-spot on every other glide inward.

It was still disappointing that he couldn’t hear Eddie’s voice while he got off, and a bit deliriously, he opened Spotify to put on Dark Altar.

The priest in the music video was just similar enough in his appearance that Steve could easily imagine himself in his place. Steve could pretend that he was the one being grabbed and clawed. It was him straddling Eddie’s waist or nuzzling his mouth against Eddie’s crotch, or surrounded by four attractive men as they manhandled and fucked him.

So lost was he in his fantasy that Steve almost missed when his phone vibrated with a new message from Eddie. Opening the message, he saw that it was a voice note and let out a happy little sob. Immediately, he got a bit more comfortable, pressing play and dropping his other hand to tug at his dick while he fucked himself desperately with the vibrator.

“Jesus H. Christ, Stevie, you can’t do this to me while I’m wearing leather pants and about to go on a talkshow,” Eddie’s voice growled, making Steve’s breath catch in his throat and the coil in his gut finally, finally pull taut. “I’m half-hard and surrounded by people and about to go on TV, and honestly that’s turning me on so fucking much.”

Steve gasped at that, the thought of Eddie being seen so turned on, that he was going to be on TV in that state, and it was because of him… Steve moaned, eyes fluttering and rolling back as his orgasm barreled forward, ready to crash through him.

“You’re talking about taking me home on Saturday, but Stevie, you keep up this teasing? I’m gonna have to do something about it tomorrow after the concert,” Eddie groaned quietly. “Would fuck you in the middle of the VIP event if I had to.”

That was it for Steve.

With a sob, he came, his cunt clenching desperately around the vibrator. Steve stopped fucking himself with it and instead angled it just so, pressing it into his g-spot while he worked his dick, dragging himself through a second orgasm almost immediately after.

Not even letting himself recover or turning the vibrator off, Steve reached up to his phone and started recording his own voice note. It took him a few seconds to catch his breath, still shuddering from the aftershocks of his releases with each exhale having a small vocalization.

Finally, after a thick swallow and a contented groan, Steve pulled the vibrator out of his cunt and said, “Careful, Eds, I might hold you to those pretty promises…”

Ending the recording, Steve sent the voice note and panted up at the ceiling, finally turning the vibrator off and laying it across his tummy. With a smirk, Steve took a picture of his vibrator laying across stomach, shiny with slick that was smeared across his skin and sent that as well.

Steve felt good, floaty, but also deeply exhausted and he knew he had to get cleaned up and probably change his duvet cover because, yeah, things felt pretty slick downstairs.

But for the moment, he just happily imagined Eddie’s reaction to the voice note and photo, idly fantasizing about the next day.

❖

“Eddie, we’re on in like two minutes, stop being weird on your phone with your boyfriend,” Grant hissed and Eddie groaned.

With a sigh, Eddie quickly adjusted himself in his pants and turned to join the others. Luckily, he was exaggerating a bit about how hard he was to Steve, but it was a close thing.

“Dude, you know he’s gonna be fucking ruthless if you’re mooning over Steve up there,” Gareth warned Eddie as he joined them just before the doorway onto the stage. “Remember when Grant was still chatting up that stage tech?”

Eddie grimaced. “Yeugh, yeah, I remember,” he said, looking skyward with a little smile. “But I mean, we didn’t really help at all.”

“Of course we fuckin’ didn’t, and you can bet you’re nonexistent ass that we won’t help you out if you put your little thing with Steve on his radar,” Jeff interjected, leaning over Eddie’s shoulder with a sidelong smirk. “Turnabout is fair play and all that.”

“What the fuck ever, let’s get this over with,” Eddie sighed as they were announced, and he led the way out, waving at the studio audience as he made his way over to the couch.

They were on The Late Show with Murray Bauman, a dreaded talkshow for most celebrities because Murray was an asshole. He was a former investigative journalist who decided to put down the pen and take up torturing celebrities with his smug grin and sweaty, balding head.

And boy, was his grin smug tonight.

“Hello, boys,” Murray practically sang as they got settled on the couch, Eddie closest to him with Grant on his right, then Gareth and Jeff. “Long time, no see!”

“Not nearly long enough, Murray,” Eddie said with a dimpled grin.

“Take it up with your agent, Edward,” Murray deadpanned before they dug into the interview.

They talked about the new album, the tour, the openers they had on board, how much the bus sucked and what they were looking forward to most when the tour ended.

At some point, Eddie felt his phone vibrate, but he ignored it, then it vibrated again immediately. Steve sent two messages, one right after the other, and Eddie had to sit there making banter with Murray Bauman. Pretty soon, only thoughts of those text messages were passing through his mind, wondering what they were, and it wasn’t long before Eddie forgot he was literally sitting on a couch on a talkshow and checked his text messages.

In his defense, it was almost nine at night and his Adderall had worn off two hours ago.

Of course, it was a voice note but also an image, and though Eddie only glanced at it, he caught enough; Steve with a pink vibrator across his stomach, the smooth surface of it shiny with slick.

Eddie dropped his phone into his lap immediately, feeling his ears go hot as his cock throbbed in his pants. Lifting his bad leg to cross it over the other and hopefully hide his growing boner, Eddie turned his attention back to Murray.

To his utter dismay, Murray was watching him, his eyes bright and his grin malevolent.

“No,” Eddie said pleadingly.

“Well, that little moment is a good enough segue into my next question,” Murray drawled before the Steeeeve Spotting intro from their Tour Diaries started playing loudly in the studio. Which meant that the sounds of Grant, Jeff, and Gareth moaning and wailing Steve’s name filled the studio. It was too clean to have been pulled from the YouTube video, so Steve leaned over and glared at Gareth.

“You fucking traitor,” Eddie said sourly, without any heat.

“You brought this on yourself, Eddie,” Gareth shot back.

“You see, Edward, I reached out to Mr. Emerson here to ask for that brilliant little theme song and your bandmate was quite protective of it. Well, of you mostly, however! I made him a deal that he agreed to the terms of, and now here we are!” Murray said dramatically.

“What deal?” Eddie groused, covering his face.

“If you could make it through the entire interview without checking your texts, this wouldn’t even be brought up,” Jeff said, leaning forward around Gareth to grin as Eddie flipped him the bird.

“So, Edward,” Murray began gleefully. “Let’s talk about Steve.”

“God, let’s actually not talk about that menace, I’m begging,” Eddie said, grimacing at Murray’s laugh.

“I’m sure he is a menace, huh. Care to share those texts with the rest of the class, Edward?” Murray pressed, propping his chin on his hands and batting his eyelashes.

“Absolutely not,” Eddie replied immediately, sucking in a deep breath and shaking his head. The boys began to giggle amongst themselves next to him, and Eddie elbowed Grant before reaching across with his cane to hit Gareth and Jeff’s shins. “No, nope, no way.”

“You’re going to be on my show and look at your text messages, and not share?” Murray asked with exaggerated hurt. By now the audience was laughing almost nonstop.

Eddie sighed. “Yep, that pretty much sums it up,” he said with a firm nod.

“Edward!” Murray gasped loudly. “Are you sexting on my couch right now?”

The audience was roaring with laughter, and maybe Eddie played up his embarrassment a little bit, visibly going through five stages of grief before saying, “Technically, no.”

“Looks like they’re sending voice notes, Murray,” Grant said, his voice close to Eddie’s ear as he leaned over.

It was at that point that Eddie realized that his phone, while in his lap, was not locked and the screen was facing up, easy for anyone to just peer over his shoulder and see.

“Traitors! All of you!” Eddie cried and it quickly devolved into chaos as the boys began play-fighting over the phone.

Murray called the commercial break, and the four of them did not stop their stupid wrestling over the phone until Gareth went to bite Eddie’s hand but managed to catch the phone. One of his sharp incisors nailed the screen just perfectly and a huge chunk of pixels went dead.

“Oh shit, dude,” Gareth said, immediately pulling away and holding his hands up. “I’m sorry.”

Eddie stared at his functional but busted screen before looking around at the cameras. “You caught that right? Like video evidence that I managed to keep this phone in pris-fucking-tine condition for a month and it was these assholes that broke it!” he said dramatically, holding up his phone screen for the cameras to see. Eddie had remembered to minimize his texts, so it was just his homescreen up.

Eddie knew his homescreen was Steve, one of the partial selfies Steve sent him during the past month. Only part of his face was visible, just a crooked grin, a spattering of moles on tanned skin. He was throwing Murray’s team a bone with that, since he would die before he showed the pictures Steve had sent him.

By the time they got back to the hotel, after the talkshow and grabbing something to eat, it was close to midnight and Steve was definitely already in bed.

Eddie pouted, standing in the middle of his hotel room and staring down at his phone. Steve being asleep and not available to play did nothing to dissuade his half-hard cock, however. With a roll of his eyes, Eddie changed into pajamas and brushed his teeth, trying to will his arousal away.

But he just kept thinking about the picture that Steve sent him, and the voice note right before it, and his dick was very interested in that line of thought. With a thick groan, Eddie shuffled over to the bed and collapsed face-down, sucking in a breath as he rocked his hips against the heavenly mattress.

“No, fuck that, I’m not coming in my fucking boxers again,” Eddie snapped at himself as he finished crawling up to the pillows and rolled onto his back.

Not wasting any time, Eddie shoved his pants and boxers off his hips and down to his knees, sighing as his cock was freed. Wrapping his hand loosely around it, Eddie stroked it slowly, gently coaxing it to full hardness as he pulled up his texts with Steve and hit play on the voice note.

Immediately, Steve’s desperate, panting breaths poured out of the speakers of his phone. A whine was released with every gusty exhale, and each little sound had a spike of arousal driving through Eddie so sharply, he couldn’t help his own whimper.

There was a low tone under Steve’s voice, and for a moment Eddie thought there was interference in the line. Then Steve let out a contented sound, something between a moan and a sigh, as the tone got louder, becoming much more of a buzzing sound, like a vibration. Realization hit Eddie like a freight train as he looked at the picture of the  vibrator laying across Steve’s stomach, still dripping with slick, probably still warm from his cunt. His own cock throbbed.

“Careful, Eds, I might hold you to those pretty promises…” Steve hummed just before the voice note ended and Eddie furrowed his brow. What promises? He didn’t even remember what he said before the talkshow, as if he blacked-out and muttered filth like some horny Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde situation.

Going back to his own voice note to refresh his memory, Eddie nearly choked as he promised to fuck Steve the next day, even go so far as to say he’d do it in front of everyone at the VIP event. Which was, apparently, something Steve was open to at least fantasizing about.

Eddie groaned, still stroking his cock loosely, and started a new voice note. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Stevie? Could bend you over the couch and fuck your dripping cunt in front of everyone, and you’d scream for it. Make you sing so pretty for my cock, huh,” Eddie groaned into the phone, squeezing the base of his cock as his release built a bit too quickly.

Taking a moment to just catch his breath, Eddie had to think about something a bit more mundane than fucking Steve in a room full of strangers and how hot that made him. With a fortifying breath, Eddie started another voice note.

“Maybe I’d really want you to feel me, though, maybe just use your cunt to get my dick wet enough and fuck your ass instead, huh? Is that something you’d want? Nice thick cock as far into your tight ass as I can get it?” Eddie said, the words coming out more as a whimper. “Would you be able to take it without my fingers, do you think? Would love to try.”

Eddie had to stop recording again to settle down, his orgasm barreling forward as the images he was painting became intensely vivid in his mind.

“Can you imagine it, gorgeous? Me splitting you open on my cock ‘til you’re sitting back on my lap? Your legs spread wide and showing off your dripping cunt and perfect dick?” Eddie asked breathlessly in the next voice note, biting his lip around a shivery whine. “Bet everyone would wanna turn with that pretty, wet hole. You’d probably let them, too, but I wouldn’t. Not this time, at least. This time, both holes are mine, right sweetheart?”

The rest of the fantasy was clear in Eddie’s mind—Steve’s ass bouncing on Eddie’s cock while Eddie reached around him to hook his fingers inside Steve’s cunt and massage his g-spot ruthlessly, not stopping until Steve’s hole was slicked with Eddie’s load—but Eddie was too turned on to keep voicing it.

With a hiss, Eddie switched to his camera, recording as he took his cock much more firmly in his hand with a low moan. It wasn’t going to take long, but honestly that was fine. He had been half-hard at least for hours, why should he have to wait to come any longer?

His motions were quick, determined, done with teasing and coaxing. This was about coming now, about release and relief. Eddie’s release slammed through him, dragging a shattered whine of Steve’s name out of his chest. It felt like he was coming forever, panting and whimpering at each ragged pulse of his cock as he painted his own stomach and chest with his cum.

“Fuck, I can’t wait to see you, baby,” Eddie gasped before ending the video and sending it.

Eddie knew he had to get back up and get washed up, or at least grab a tissue and wipe the worst of the mess up. At the moment, however, Eddie was happy to stay spread out across the middle of his bed with cum cooling on his skin, excitement for the next day absolutely vibrating through his core.

❖

Steve was admittedly distracted the next day.

On the surface, he was excited for the concert, for finally meeting Eddie, even just to hold a conversation with him in person. To see the way his eyes lit up as he talked excitedly up close, to hear his voice without the interference of a variable connection and speaker.

He was also nervous, even though he knew it was silly. What if they didn’t have any chemistry when faced with each other? What if all they had was sexual chemistry and once the barrier of the phone between them was removed, they couldn’t stand each other on a personal level?

And then the other thing keeping Steve distracted was the multiple voice notes and video he woke up to, which were all sent after midnight when Steve was sound asleep. Steve had to throw himself into a cold shower to get to work on time.

“Stop spacing out on me, Dingus,” Robin groused, and Steve jumped and looked over at her. They were standing at the marketplace in the lobby, debating which sandwich they were going to share because neither of them felt very hungry. Plus, none of the events that day were having a lunch, so they couldn’t even scavenge a meal in Dustin’s office. “I’m about to start carrying a spray-bottle around. Hose you down every time you get that faraway look in your eyes and blush on your face.”

“Shut up, that is not what’s happening,” Steve shot back, his ears and the back of his neck going hot.

“That is definitely what’s happening, liar,” Robin shot back quietly as she grabbed the turkey club. “Remember, our rooms share a wall so it’s not like what you do in there is a huge secret.”

“Please shut up, oh my god,” Steve groaned, grabbing a couple sodas before following her to the small line at the front desk to pay.

They were chatting about something else when something at the entrance of the lobby caught Robin’s attention and she laughed. “Don’t look now, Steve…” she trailed off, and immediately Steve looked over his shoulder.

Chrissy was the first person he actually noticed, and for a second he almost called her over. But then she turned to gesture for the four men goofing off behind her to hurry up, her hand motions exaggerated and comical. It took a moment for the dots to connect—Chrissy was the tour manager for a band of four men, the four men with her were in that band, Eddie was in that band—but when they did, Steve’s eyes landed on Eddie and he froze.

Even from this distance, Eddie was clearly far more handsome and alive in person than what cameras could convey. His smile was huge with deeply set smile lines and dimples that Steve wanted to kiss so badly. If he wasn’t rooted to his spot next to Robin, he would’ve walked right across the lobby that very second and pulled Eddie into a kiss, his status of employment be damned.

Chrissy and Gareth noticed him from across the room at the same time, and while Chrissy very clearly was about to try and distract Eddie, Gareth’s shit-eating grin said he had other ideas. Eddie was midway through a sentence when Gareth slapped him hard in the chest, and pointed directly at Steve.

“Gareth!” Steve could hear Chrissy complain at the same time Eddie grabbed at his chest with his free hand and whined, “Ow, my nipple.”

Then Eddie followed the direction Gareth had pointed and his eyes met Steve’s. For several moments, Eddie blinked in his direction while he was still walking before the similar dots seemed to connect in his head—he was at the hotel, Steve worked at the hotel, Steve was in the lobby right there—and came to a stilted, clumsy stop.

They stood and stared at each other until Steve smiled in a way that felt stupid and lifted a hand to wave, which was more of a finger wiggle and he hoped it came off as smooth and flirty. At his movement, Eddie flushed and took a jerky step toward him before Chrissy stuck her hand in front of him.

“No, you don’t! You are not getting that man fired,” Chrissy hissed, and Steve laughed even as he blushed.

Eddie looked down at Chrissy with a pretty pout before turning his attention to Steve and mimed holding a phone to his ear. “Call me later?” he mouthed, as he started back toward the elevators again.

Steve just flushed and nodded quickly before looking back at Robin. She was staring at Steve with a look of such exhausted disgust that he couldn’t help the burst of laughter that bubbled up from his chest.

As Robin and Steve settled in their seats in the staff cafeteria, Steve couldn’t help as his thoughts drifted to going upstairs to Eddie’s room. He was clocked out, and if he used the staff elevators he could avoid the cameras quite easily. He could be in and out before the end of his lunch break and no one would know. Well, Robin would know but she’d never rat him out.

With a sigh, Robin dragged her fingers through the condensation that formed on her can of soda and flicked the water into Steve’s face.

“What the hell, Robs?” Steve gasped as he jolted out of his daydream.

“Don’t you dare do what I know you’re thinking of doing,” Robin said, and when Steve opened his mouth to argue she held up a finger. “I know what you’re thinking because that’s exactly what I would be thinking if someone I’ve been having rowdy phone sex with for a month was literally upstairs in a room with a big bed and a soaker tub and luxury shower—”

“Robs, you’re not helping at all,” Steve groaned, covering his face and scrubbing roughly.

“Not really trying at the moment, Dingus. This is actually kinda fun,” she admitted, and when Steve dropped his hands, she was grinning.

They were interrupted by Will sitting down next to Robin, his expression serious as he put his phone down on the table in front of Steve and hit play on a paused YouTube video. Immediately, Steve heard the Steeeeve Spotting compilation audio and he blushed, pausing the video quickly and turning wide eyes on Will.

“Care to explain?” Will asked haughtily, and Steve grimaced.

“How are you just seeing these videos now, kid?” he asked in lieu of answering Will’s question.

“I was too depressed about missing the concert to watch the Tour Diaries, but since I have a ticket now I binged the whole series last night,” Will explained flippantly before asking, “So?”

“Please don’t tell your mom,” Steve groaned, crossing his arms and dropping his forehead onto them.

“Dude, I’m not going to tell my mom. I’m just mad you didn’t tell me!” Will said, though there wasn’t any heat in his voice. “I can’t believe you’re dating Eddie—”

“Whoa, kid, we’re not—it’s not that serious,” Steve said quickly, looking up at Will and Robin snorted.

“It’s definitely that serious,” she stage-whispered to Will and he laughed.

“It’s not! We haven’t even met once in person. That’s hardly dating,” Steve insisted.

“Okay, baby Byers, settle this for us,” Robin said dramatically, and Steve rolled his eyes. “Steve has been talking to this guy on the phone almost daily for three months, for sure texting him daily for a month, and have had weird phone sex at least twice—”

“It was once, last night didn’t count—”

“I actually heard last night, so it definitely counted,” Robin interrupted, and Steve rolled his eyes as she continued, “And they have a date tomorrow. Would you say that counts as dating?”

“You’ve had phone sex with Eddie Munson?” Will asked in a starstruck whisper and Robin flicked cold water at him too.

“Focus, Byers!” she said, and Will shook himself off.

“Yeah, that sounds like you’re going pretty steady, Steve,” Will agreed and Robin puffed her chest out.

“Nancy also agrees with me,” she bragged pointedly as Nancy walked into the staff cafeteria and slid into the seat next to Steve.

“Of course, I do,” Nancy said easily, pulling her food out of her lunch bag. “What exactly am I agreeing with right now?”

“That Steve is Eddie’s boyfriend,” Will supplied and when Nancy raised her eyebrows at him, Will shrugged. “I watched Corroded Coffin’s YouTube channel.”

“Then yes, I do agree with Robin, completely actually,” Nancy confirmed, grabbing Robin’s soda to take a sip. “I’ve been saying it since Steve almost blew it—”

“Hey! I didn’t almost blow it!” Steve whined and Robin mimicked his pout.

“You kinda did, Dingus. Like, I can say that now you’re about to get your happily ever after,” Robin said, like a traitor.

“Wait, what happened?” Will asked, leaning over the table.

Steve shook his head quickly. “I’ll tell you on the way to the concert, okay? Not on-property, and you don’t repeat a word of what I tell you, got it?” he said firmly, and Will just grinned and nodded excitedly.

Finally, the conversation changed thanks to Nancy complaining about a client not returning a signed proposal for an event they wanted to hold and Steve could daydream about his not-boyfriend upstairs in peace.

❖

Steve barely got his car started before he called Eddie. Apparently, Eddie was just as excited for the phone call because the line only rang twice.

“Hello, gorgeous—”

“Jesus, Eds, a video? Are you kidding?” Steve breathed, thinking back to the video Eddie had sent last night of him jerking off, and he spread his own legs as his dick and cunt pulsed hotly between his thighs. He thought about the voice notes, and the fantasy Eddie described, but that was a bit intense to get into for a quick jerk-off in his car.

“Oh, didn’t you like it?” Eddie asked knowingly, and Steve groaned.

Looking around the parking garage, Steve could see he was parked in a secluded corner with no one parked around him. Plus, there were plenty of spaces closer to the exits of the garage the people would pick before they parked next to Steve. Pulling open his belt a bit noisily, Steve felt a little thrill at that thought of getting caught, too.

“I liked it, just haven’t had a chance to do anything about how much I liked it,” Steve hummed, undoing his fly one-handed and gasping as he shoved his free hand into his pants. Briefly, he thought about connecting his phone to the Bluetooth in his car to better hear Eddie if he decided to join him, but he decided that was probably not the best idea.

“Stevie, what time did you leave work if you’re home already?” Eddie asked, his voice thick as he listened to Steve’s gasps as his fingers moved on his dick.

“Not home, still in the parking lot at—ah! At work,” Steve sighed, arching off his seat a bit as he edged himself.

There was silence on the other line before Steve heard the noisy jangling of Eddie undoing his belt. “Oh fuck, Stevie, holy shit if I had time—fuck,” Eddie gasped, and there was more rustling before Eddie groaned thickly. It was the same low noise Eddie made in the video from the night before when his hand wrapped around his thick cock, and Steve couldn’t help but make his own happy sound of pleasure in return.

“What, Eds? If you had time, what?” Steve asked breathlessly, getting himself close but backing off again.

“I’d come out there and fuck you right there in the parking lot,” Eddie said, and Steve could hear the chains on Eddie’s clothing hitting each other with his movements. Then Eddie made a frustrated sound before spitting, and his low sounds became less strained.

The sound of Eddie spitting, regardless of the reason, pulled a moan so wanton from Steve, it was embarrassing. On the other end of the line, Eddie chuckled.

“Oh, sweetheart, that’s so dirty. You like being spit on, baby?” Eddie moaned, and Steve couldn’t help the way he sobbed.

“Yeah,” he confessed shakily, his release building rapidly, especially when he considered the reality that he was going to be seeing Eddie later that evening.

“Fuck, that’s—you’re unbelievable, can’t believe you’re real,” Eddie whimpered, whining as his breathing picked up. “Can’t wait to see you, Stevie, fuck you’re so gorgeous. Couldn’t breathe when I saw you earlier.”

“Eds,” Steve sighed, blushing hot and dark at Eddie’s words, and the hand on his dick worked faster, deliberately driving himself to the edge for the last time.

“Fuck, say my name again, baby, please,” Eddie whined, his breathing laboured and loud in Steve’s ear.

“Eddie, I’m so close,” Steve sobbed, his eyes rolling back as the coil in his gut pulled tight, just at the edge of snapping.

“Oh shit, Stevie, I’m gonna—oh, fuck,” Eddie gasped before he let out a grunt that quickly devolved into sweet whimpers that Steve knew punctuated each pulse of cum that was milked out of Eddie’s cock.

Hearing that directly in his ear was more than enough for Steve and he tumbled over the edge himself almost immediately, nearly shouting Eddie’s name as his dick throbbed under his fingertips.

The two of them sat there panting in each other’s ears for several minutes before Steve started laughing deliriously, Eddie immediately following.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Eddie, I’ve never been this fucking horny for someone in my life,” Steve admitted before he could stop himself.

“Fuck, me neither, Stevie,” Eddie agreed breathlessly.

Steve thought back to the voice notes, the lewdness of the fantasy bringing a deep blush to his face. “The voice notes were—they were really good, too,” he admitted after a few moments, swallowing thickly.

“The voice notes—? Oh! Oh yeah, shit, I forgot I actually said all that,” Eddie laughed, and he sounded a bit embarrassed.

“Well, I’m glad you did say all that, because I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be thinking about that for the rest of my life,” Steve laughed, his ears hot with his blush.

In the background at Eddie’s end, he could hear knocking on a door. “Yeah! Be right out!” Eddie called before sighing heavily. “Shit, babe, I’ve gotta clean up and go.”

“Yeah, uh, same. I’ve gotta get changed and pick-up Will,” Steve said with a sheepish laugh as he pulled his hand out of his pants.

Eddie laughed for a moment before sighing. “I’m excited to see you tonight,” he said, his voice so soft and shy that Steve’s chest ached with affection.

“I’m excited to see you, too,” Steve replied, biting his lip as he considered just how deep his feelings for the rockstar already were.

There was another knock at Eddie’s end. “Gotta go, love, see you later.”

Eddie hung up before Steve could respond, leaving him to grapple with the new pet name on his own.

[ NEXT ]

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[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form"

How can I have the majority of electricity runs off of electric eels? What's needed? I suppose the eels will be selectively bred and genetically modified to produce a lot more electricity as well as a much higher eel population. Or maybe if not always actual eels, if they can produce biotech they can recreate the electricity generating organs?

Feral: There are more electric fish than just the electric eel, but the electric eel is one in the strongly electric category. However, although they can deliver a shock at over 600 volts of electrical pressure, it’s only with significantly less than 1 ampere of current. (for reference, a typical US home uses 100-200 amps) Although that voltage is deadly when delivered directly, it’s meant as localized shock that dissipates through the water. 

If you think of the electricity like water through a hose, the voltage will push the water out incredibly forcefully but the actual amount is like a tablespoon’s worth - it’s going to be over very quickly and not go very far. It does seem that the amperage increases when the eel is out of the water and directly touching a conductor (to a whole 43 miliamperes), but that’s not really sustainable for a fish and won’t do much to solve the distance problem anyway. And speaking of sustainability, at that 43 miliamp current, they would have to sustain the electric shock for nearly 39 hours to get a single kilowatt-hour of energy. You can see that the Tennessee Aquarium hooked up some Christmas tree lights to their eel tank, but it’s not sustained power and it’s only Christmas tree lights, which don’t require that much power anyway.

You can increase amperage by reducing resistance and/or increasing conductivity. An eel’s internal resistance is 960 ohms, 184x the resistance of a 12 gauge copper wire, and I don’t know what you could do about that without harming the electrical eel, which relies on internal resistance to protect itself.. So, you could wrap the fish in gold wires extending out of the tank and/or mess around with magnets. None of these options will be particularly ethical ways to treat the fish. Regardless, so, so many electric eels, technobabble, and some handwavium will absolutely be required to provide the electrical power (wattage) you’re looking for.

Resources you might find helpful:

Electric Fish Wiki

Electric Eel Wiki

History of Bioelectricity Wiki

Shocking Secrets of the  Electric Eel by Kenneth Catania

How do electric eels generate a voltage and why do they not get shocked in the process? By Angel Caputi

Electrical Conductor Wiki

Superconductor Wiki

Transformer Wiki

[purple-eyesgreydragon]

Behold my Spidersona, Storm Spider! Or Stormy for short like 'Spidey'. And her real name is Skye Sanders.

She is both the calm and the storm. Has the generic spider powers, and bio-electric venom like Miles. But her's is bit more potent then his. Meaning what she lacks in his cloaking, she makes up for in stronger venom. Her webs are also specially designed to conduct her electricity, her favorite move is the taser-web. Her suit is made of smart fabric, clothing laced with technology. Some of which monitors her vitals and wattage output, thermals to keep her harm in intense cold, condition sensors, an emergency beacon to alert certain contacts, color changing stealth mode (not invisible, just blend), it can also conduct static around her to keep giving her energy, and its outer layer is made of a virtually strong materiel. An armored fabric stronger than steel. There are other benefits to her suit besides what its made of such as high-tech lens, multi-functional headphones (music, communicator earmuffs), clip-on hood, and pockets. Her powers tend to be stronger in the winter, and during storms.

While she isn't as smart as either Peter or Miles. Stormy has a friend who is very tech savvy, that made her suit. She's always in closed communication with her friend in case she needs a brainiac to help figure things out. Though she isn't knowledgeable about everything scientific. Stormy still has a great perspective and high IQ. She can read people very well, notice things hard to see. Not to mention her strong hearing. Stormy also a lot of heart and is wiser then most her age, She can thank her mother for that. Most times while swinging though the city, she's listening to music. Skye capital-L, Lives for music! She's a musician playing her electric guitar, loves to sing, and listens to every kind of genre there is. Definitely a spider who could take on Electro.

Thing is though this is only half of my sona. I and Skye are geminis, which means we're both twofaced. Consider Storm Spider the calm, get on her bad side and you'll see the true storm.

Her favorite song is: Electric Youth by Debbie Gibson.

[copperbadge]

ladyknighttime

I wear like 3 rings but more as a “this is my full human mode” sort of deal, as I don’t wear them in the house or for karate. Depending on how you fidget, have you ever considered a spinny ring?

I have often espoused the idea that when I’m at home I’m barely human at best, and I like the idea that you are also not in full human mode during karate :D 

I love the look of spinny rings but I think they would frustrate me in practice. I find fidget toys generally frustrating -- I don’t have the hyperactive component which I suspect may be why. There’s no doubt they do help a LOT of people, I’m not slamming fidgets, but I think for me it’s a bunch of expended kinetic energy with no “feedback” -- nothing changes, nothing is produced.  

I don’t know how you’d make a fidget toy that produces something -- perhaps something like a puzzle box, although I find those frustrating too. Maybe a toy where if you fidget it X number of times it spits something out, like a fortune or similar. Or generates a little electricity -- I have a flashlight that runs on kinetic energy, and it’s a pain to charge (it’s large and noisy) but a smaller version where at the end of the day I could like, do a reading of the wattage I’d produced, that would be interesting. 

[bunabi]

sorry i was talking about graphics cards 😭😭 the 30 & 40 series are the nvidia rtx 3060+ and 4060+, and the wattage is how much power everything is using (750w for a power supply is generally a safe bet if you dont have a bunch of fancy stuff, i have 650w and just have a bunch of cheap fans in my pc) i cant help with processors and motherboards i dont understand them i just lucked out by accident. youll definitely want 16gb of ram though thats usually 2 8gb sticks. if ur interested at all i would suggest looking into the game "pc building simulator" bc u can put stuff together without worrying about messing up expensive electronics LMAO. if youre just picking a prebuilt pc though anything for gaming with be good for art so you wont need to pick the parts

Thanks haha I think I might just buy a PC after all

As much as I want to do a cheap upgrade just researching the parts I need & worrying about fucking it up is overwhelming

I'll sleep on it

[kettlequills]

Kiss #47 for pitch black/sandman

kiss 47: "I've had a terrible day at work, so just kiss me."

It is an eternal night in space when Sandy calls him on the deck of a vast star-liner ship bound for Earth. Pitch seeps up like an oil-leak in a water-tank, glossily viscous, painting over the sterile walls in veridian, indigo, scarlet, all the colours of the darkness, toys the cruiser between the raking teeth of his fingernails like he’s planning to swallow it whole, Dreamer and all.

The little ship is just close enough to Earth that he can reach it, but his chest aches a little around an old, cold lance, reminding him not to push it. It’s a show, nothing more. He hasn’t been the Nightmare King for centuries, millennia, long enough for the humans to crash to Earth from the stars and slowly return there.

Wherever they go, they bring their dreams with them. Their fears, however, stay sowed in the soils where they are born, until their ships venture close enough for a nightmare or two to slip through.

“Long day at work?” Pitch asks facetiously; after all, there haven’t been anything like days for a long time in the depths of space. But whenever they are apart, it is day, and when they come together, it is night; there is no need for such busybodies as suns to get involved. Somewhere, a sleeping child shivers, the rollercoaster he rides in his sleep teeters and groans, he screams in delicious anticipation of the plummeting fall.

Sandy’s cheeks are crusted with constellations these days, and when he smiles it’s with the wattage of a dying sun going supernova. He holds up his tiny, pudgy hands towards the trailers of darkness like a child marvelling at streamers, gasping in silent delight when the cold shadows stutter and blush silver-gold-pewter-blue at his touch. Curlicues of light lap up the hems of Pitch’s robes, where inky-darkness melts into moonlight-skinned flesh marked with the imprints of old celestial burn scars.

“I missed you,” Sandy signs, one chubby finger over his lips; obligingly, Pitch lowers his slithering voice to a spidery skittering.

“It’s been just terrible since you’ve been gone,” he promises, in a chilling whisper, “Generations of children raised with nothing but pure fear of the dark. I’ve been working very hard.”

Sandy laughs. It is a sound without sound, the itching of sand behind the ear, the memory of the softness of a golden retriever’s fur, the plush warmth of a cosy bed, the taste of apple-pie. Pitch’s teeth gleam as he bites into it, ripe and willing as a fresh peach, and eats it whole in one convulsive shudder; inside the dark sand that dusts the eyelids of Earth’s sleepers, the comforts of home whisper a fresh breeze through a thousand illusory autumnal woods as slowly the black trees sprout gold leaves. A sleeping man curled up restlessly in the dank shelter of an underpass smiles.

“I believe you,” he says, an impish smile on a cherubic face, a body small and soft lighter than air as he floats up, space-walking with no tether but Pitch’s crepuscular hooks in the deck like the arching ribs of a cage, “Can you believe that not one of these sailors have known a drop of caution, not one breath of terror?”

“Nothing but sickening-sweet dreams, all the way? How disgusting,” Pitch remarks, and catches Sandy in one gaunt, glitter-taloned hand. Sandy golden as summer wheat blushes the pale violet of dusk as he is reeled into Pitch’s narrow, cavernous chest.

His small hands are hot as solarflares on Pitch’s comet-cold cheeks. His eyes drip warm honey, his hair tickles like prickling steam from a comfortable mug of cinnamon-spiced chocolate, his plush lips part like the sweet thighs of an angelic lover, all softness and heat within.

“What kind of benevolent Guardian am I? I simply must kiss away your terrible day,” teases Sandy.

“Oh, you must,” Pitch agrees, and bends forward to let him do exactly that.

[wordsandrobots]

IBO reference notes on . . . the aesthetics of the mobile frame

I'm having a rough time writing this week (I just need to torture Gaelio some more, why is this so haaaard?!) so here's something to keep my hand in regardless. I had a couple of posts planned on the mobile suits of the Post Disaster setting, one about the meanings applied to Gundams – which I shall complete at some point because it's interesting – and one ranking the various 'suits using criteria such as 'excellent round boy, no notes' – which I'm likely to ditch because it's quite boring. But thinking about that got me considering the reasons I clicked hard with IBO's art direction in the first place. So let's look into why it causes my brain to make so many pleasing whirring noises.

A distinction that makes a difference

To start with, this is in contrast to other Gundam series' aesthetics. While I have a certain fondness for the Gundam Wing designs and I enjoy the way the Dauntless, Valiant, etc. reimagine the Universal Century stalwarts for Gundam X, most iterations' mobile suits are firmly 'OK' for me. Neither very interesting, nor something I find anything in to especially dislike.

Iron-Blooded Orphans, however, introduces a concept that sets it apart: the mobile frame. That is, each mecha is built around a base skeleton that is the 'true' machine; everything else is modular and interchangeable. As far as I can tell, this is the only series in the franchise to do this. Other Gundam shows expose inner workings from time to time, but these are usually unique to a particular model of 'suit. Whereas in IBO, multiple different types of 'suit can share the same kind of frame.

Moreover, the fact they are built around an inner frame is made explicit in the art, so the 'suits look – slightly daft as it may sound – much more mechanical than, say, your average UC mecha. These are things approximating the human form, not something you can replicate with a guy in a costume, and that makes them appear somewhat less fanciful and slightly more like actual military hardware.

Which is a cheat, obviously. It's tweaking a genre convention to fit a particular tone: this is not a show in which 'suits are going to start magically bending time and space; it's the one in which they beat seven shades of brick-dust out of each other with giant lumps of metal. Fundamentally, these are no less silly than the more 'filled in' designs that came before. It just appeals to me to see the illusion being given extra depth.

But there's more to it than that.

Atoms of design

Several different types of mobile frame appear in IBO – eight, to be exact: Rodi, Hexa, Gundam, Valkyrja, Geirail, Graze, Teiwaz/Io, and Reginlaze (I count the Teiwaz and Io frames as one since they are functionally identical). These are all visually distinct and easy to distinguish when placed in the finished mobile suits. Yet they also share a common root element: the Ahab reactor.

Most Gundam shows have some sort of wibble-physics black-box to explain why giant humanoid robots are a sensible means of warfare. In the P.D. timeline, this takes the form of 'Ahab particles' that are generated by some form of quantum nonsense inside a drum-shaped reactor. The particles create pseudo-gravity and EM waves that interfere with communications and tracking, and the reactors are effectively infinite batteries, so we get artificial gravity and inertial control, comms black-outs and stealth in space, and the necessary wattage to power a mecha, all for the price of one.

That's the technobabble, anyway. Practically speaking, the Ahab reactor is a design element that must be integrated into each of the mobile frames. And I love this. I love setting arbitrary little rules and using them to create a coherent aesthetic. Because now each frame needs to have a big drum shape in it somewhere (or two, to create the Gundam frame's unique silhouette). A unifying commonality that still permits wide variation.

It's not always necessary to have designs reflect a concept of shared technology. That depends on what the story is doing. Witch From Mercury, for example, explicitly has multiple branches of mobile suit design on display at once, to delineate between 'suits produced by different companies. However, I enjoy the way IBO emphasises that the various mecha are all applications of the same base technology, especially as it gets at something easy to overlook about how the world is set up.

You see, while the Gundams get the reputation as these massively powerful weapons from a lost past, that is true of the majority of non-Gjallarhorn mobile suits. Rodis and Hexas are the most common frames and both predate the Gundam frame's development. Everyone who isn't Gjallarhorn or Teiwaz is using machinery at least 300 years old, never mind that it might be covered in brand new armour.

Those space pirates raiding ships in the Jupiter-sphere? The colonists trying to seize control of their living conditions? That country hurriedly upgrading its military for a modern challenge? They're all recycling the same frames that fought the war out of which the systems they're currently struggling to live with extend. It's incredibly thematically resonant, not to mention pretty close to the truth of the things IBO is assaying in its fiction.

Visceral shorthand

However, I think the most clever thing about the mobile frame model is the way it lends itself to in-the-moment storytelling. Having established the skeletons underlying each mecha, the show can freely expose them as required to demonstrate exactly how badly a fight is going.

IBO abandons the lightsabers and laser-guns of its predecessor shows in favour of a more grounded and brutal approach to combat. That is to say: thanks to additional technobabble, breaking through the armour of a mobile suit requires either something very sharp, going very fast, or something very heavy, also going very fast. Swords, clubs, maces, and heavy-gauge bullets are the order of the day, leading to a lot of crumpling and crushing, and more specifically, bits of armour being ripped off the frame.

It's a great shorthand for 'oh that was a hit', applied generously to all sides, to emphasise the damage being done while also making it clear the machines can technically still function in such a state. Barbatos actively starts out extra-skeletal, while 'suits like the Reginlaze Julia keep going when stripped of their surface layer. Even the unfortunate Graze Ritter on the back of which Mikazuki surf-boards down from orbit is visibly coming apart around its frame, underlining how tough the cores of these things are.

Furthermore, it increases the sense that the human component of a mobile suit is extremely frail by comparison. When you a have weapons structured around extremely durable inner workings, it draws attention to the vulnerability of the cockpit. Because in most of the frames, that's part of what goes on top. Rodi and Io frames have integrated control cabins, but the rest do not. On most of them, the pilot sits at what is nominally the most heavily protected section (the chest), but in fact, they are a little way in front of the piece that can be actively relied on not to break (the reactor).

Or to put it another way: a mobile suit pilot is visibly more likely to die in battle before the war machine they are strapped to does. Skewering the cockpit with something pointy is a deeply feasible strategy, and that vulnerability stems from design limitations imposed by the chosen structure of the mecha. The reactor has to go somewhere central. The mobile suit is built around a set frame. The armour will detach before the limbs break. So on and so forth, ad drill-knees, underscoring how cheap life is next to the hardware of war.

Making it about bones

To sum up, it's a neat concept, well executed. Mobile frames allow for visual coherence while permitting design variation and customisation. They are used to underscore the brutality of the combat, adding weight to blow-by-blow animation and to the general sense of danger for the cast. And they make IBO's mecha stand out from the pack, which to me is a big mark in their favour.

There's another point that delights me too, one I can best illustrate with some images. If you look at the at the Calamity War era frames, you'll see that the Rodi (left) and Hexa (centre) are both heavily robotic in outline. They have complex hands but are otherwise quite blocky, with very inhuman heads. The Gundam frame (right), however, has a more organic design, its points of movement more closely corresponding to the human body, and (uniquely) two eyes placed about where you'd expect.

Now clearly the Gundam is inheriting franchise design considerations (the 'man in a suit' look of the '79 cartoon) but within the fiction, it works brilliantly with the conceit of Gundams perfecting the man/machine interface. Of course it looks closer to a person; it's meant to be a more natural extension of the pilot than the frames that came earlier, to enable the split-second timing and instinctive movement required to beat the mobile armours.

We also see this running in the opposite direction. The Valkyrja (far left) is actually closer to the Gundam's sensibilities than its other contemporaries (it was developed at the same time), but its successors, the Geirail and then Graze, are even more robotic than the Rodi and Hexa, with considerably simplified structures. Even the hands are much more chunky and functional.

The narrative is both of a technological decline and of the requirements of mass-production. In the post-War society, mobile suit combat is less of an issue, so the 'suits don't need to be as complex. It's only when Gjallarhorn's position as top-dog in the solar system is threatened that they invest in something closer to the Valkyrja, with the Reginlaze (far right) being designed to allow a non-augmented pilot to compete with things like Gundam Barbatos.

I really like that degree of thought and detail in something that isn't especially relevant to the story, but adds to it once you know about it.

Other reference posts include:

IBO reference notes on … Gjallarhorn (Part 1)

IBO reference notes on … Gjallarhorn (Part 2)

IBO reference notes on … Gjallarhorn (corrigendum) [mainly covering my inability to recognise mythical wolves]

IBO reference notes on … three key Yamagi scenes

IBO reference notes on … three key Shino scenes

IBO reference notes on … three key Eugene scenes

IBO reference notes on … three key Ride scenes

IBO reference notes on … the tone of the setting

IBO reference notes on … character parallels and counterpoints

IBO reference notes on … a perfect villain

IBO reference notes on … Iron-Blooded Orphans: Gekko

IBO reference notes on … an act of unspeakable cruelty

IBO reference notes on … original(ish) characters [this one is mainly fanfic]

IBO reference notes on … Kudelia’s decisions

IBO reference notes on … assorted head-canons

IBO reference notes on … actual, proper original characters [explicit fanfic -- as in, actually fanfic. None of them have turned up in the smut yet]

[curatoroffiction]

The Curse of Alice: Chapter 2

Fandom: Ikemen Villains For the first chapter, go here!

----- Content Warnings for this chapter;

Suicide mention

Graphic depictions of death

Graphic depictions of blood

Graphic depictions of suicide/forced suicide (Not the reader or the main cast.)

Medical work performed by someone who definitely ain't a doctor, by sketchy medical standards in the 1800s

Medical torment (Needles, scraping, ect..)

-----

Chapter 2: Satiating Curious Minds

Now that you've been inducted into whatever the hell Crown is, the others are starting to get to know you. Liam is the first to truly glom onto you. He has so many questions and is so friendly and excited. You find yourself drawn to his warmth of personality.

Your cellphone fascinates him. Your clothes fascinate him. You fascinate him.

You don't mind answering his questions. It actually puts you at ease to learn what's different about this place from what you're used to. It helps to distract you from the gruesome murder you witnessed. A murder that went down in the history books as a suicide.

'They can kill you and make it look like an accident.' A voice in your mind rings out, reminding you of the danger around you at all times.

'I suppose I'll be seeing more scenes like that, given the work expected of me here..' You think to yourself as Liam is playing with a game on your phone. He's so enthralled by this simple puzzle game. It's something unlike anything he's ever played. When you taught him how to play the game, he caught on fast and learned quickly. He adapts well to the new and strange. His delighted demeanor is such a stark contrast compared to the scene you'd seen that night.

Your mind keeps flashing with the memories of the man dying on the ground. Had you been saved that same fate because of this 'Curse'? It's hard to say.

Your phone's screen flickers darker and you glance over at it. Ah. Low battery.

Liam looks to you questioningly, pointing to the device. "What's going on?"

"It's low on power. Needs to recharge."

"... Recharge?"

"... Do you guys have electricity?"

"I've heard of electricity. Is that what this is?" Liam cocks his head to the side, blinking.

Nearby, on a couch, Jude, the man with the black and white hair who scowls a lot, has been reading a paper. "Electricity is a fairly new horizon of technology right now."

"I wonder if you guys know about wattage then."

Jude glances over towards you, his eyes scanning your face as he thinks. His thinking expression is quite.. intense. You find yourself watching him cautiously. Did you piss him off? Something you just said registers to him as more important than whatever he was reading before, and you can't read him emotionally. He just seems like an angry guy.

Liam is intrigued again though. Something that connects their time to yours! But he also feels guilty. He didn't know your magic little box had a time limit for how long it could run. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize I was using up the energy of your machine!" He's embarrassed, but you quickly alleviate his concerns;

"I didn't expect it to last long, considering the current state of affairs. It's chill."

You pocket your phone from Liam, turning it off. Liam still feels embarrassed, and wants to make it up to you somehow, but he can't think of something to make it up to you yet. Jude, meanwhile, is still staring at you intently, which leaves you feeling anxious.

What you don't know, is that he's realizing you could be a goldmine of information about future technologies.

"What's wattage?" Jude pries, not yet closing his paper, but eyes still scanning over you.

"Oh, like, the intensity of the electricity flowing through wires. Think of it as like.. A basic unit of measurement for how much electricity is traveling through a line. Without it, even if you guys rigged up a generator to generate electricity, I couldn't control the amount of electricity coming through, which would likely just fry my charger chord and my phone."

"Like 'Voltage'?"

"Oh, yeah, actually. Do you guys have capacitors?"

"What is a capacitor?"

"It controls the output of electricity, I think. Makes it more.. Stable? Manageable. Anyways, I think that's what we'd need to be able to rig something up to charge this thing."

"...." Jude's eyes narrow on you. "You work with that kinda stuff? That why you know so much about it?"

"... No, it's just kinda.. basic knowledge I've accumulated being a person from the -- century."

".. Basic, huh? Do you know how someone could make one of these 'Capacitors'?"

"Not really. Not off the top of my head. If you guys are already playing around with electrical work, though, I bet you guys have some kind of predecessor that would make it work."

"And electricity is what allows that thing of yours to work?"

"Yeah."

"..." Jude grins quite big. A little too excitedly, considering how much he was scowling before. He stands up and folds up his newspaper. "You're comin' with me tomorrow. We're going to go on a little trip. I'd like you to talk with some folks." He doesn't know how long he's got you for, but everything you've shown him here is a clear indication that he'd be a fool not to capitalize on your presence here. Even if you don't consider your knowledge valuable, he can see its worth. And, besides, a trip to one of his inventing warehouses is significantly safer than anything you'd get into with any of the other members of Crown.

Despite the fact that Jude has a cold, distanced demeanor, he doesn't like that you've been mixed up in all of this. He feels bad that you've learned you're cursed and that you're now trapped in this place.

Though, he's not exactly a bleeding heart. The fact that he personally benefits from it definitely influences his interest in making you tag along with him for the day.

You look up to him, suspicious. "... If I come along with you, are you going to use my knowledge to change the flow of history?"

"...." Jude smirks.

"I would prefer to not be used as a resource that could change the courses of events, ending in me destroying the timeline that I came from."

Jude scowls, now standing in front of you and Liam. ".. Huh?"

"Well think about it. If I change things here, in this time, and it changes the series of events leading to when I was born, wouldn't it change things in the future? What if we were to change things so much that I couldn't be born?"

Jude blinks, He's genuinely going to need a minute to think about that one. Could the things you do in the past actually change the future irreversibly? "Is that a fact?"

".. Well, no. Time travel isn't real in my time period. We can only speculate on the concept."

"....." Jude studies your face intently, weighing the pros and cons. You've never tested this theory, and it's all theoretical anyway. So, as far as he's aware, no one's ever actually put these ideas to any kind of test. Until someone actually tests the hypothesis, it's just an idea.

And it's an idea standing in the way of real, tangible progress.

After coming to terms with the fact that he can accept the outcome if things turn into a disaster, he steps one foot up onto the couch, his foot landing on the cushion next to your leg as he looms over you, grinning. "Let's test that little hypothesis of yours."

"..." You can feel the overwhelming, looming danger in front of you, locking you in. He's got his sights set on you and the goldmine of knowledge you keep.

Liam looks to you with a warm, excited grin; "I'm so very curious too. What an exciting question that only you can find the answer to. You have to give it a try." He's visibly excited, almost beamingly so. You can feel something intense from his gaze. He doesn't just want to know, he needs to know. You've just posed a question that no one in this world, not even you, knows the answer to.

You groan, tearing your eyes away from Liam, hand covering your face as you think through it. Every time paradox concept you've ever read is theoretical. You truly have no idea whether any of them could be true. Something completely unexpected might even happen. But in most of them, there's an overwhelmingly intense sensation of "Don't do it". Like the pervasive 'truth' of the culmination of those stories is that changing the past is something people should never do.

And yet something inside you calls to you asking you 'Why not?' - Similarly to when you saw the rabbit, the thought consumes you. It's like the men on either side of you know exactly how to pull out that internal desire to challenge the rules you know to be true.

If the rules don't make complete sense, then why not break them?

These two are extremely good at drawing out your deepest yearning of intrigue. That little voice inside you that needs to challenge the established, unfounded rules. Is this what the curse feels like? Is this something tugging you closer and closer to that fate of tragedy that they mentioned?

You have no idea, but you know you need to know.

"... Okay."

"Man, you cave quick." Jude laughs at you, stepping off the couch as he starts walking out the door. "Great. Be ready tomorrow morning to go out."

Liam's eyes light up. He gives you a flirtatious smile. "I'm definitely coming along." This whole interaction has given him a great idea for how to make sure he pays you back for using up your phone's power. Going out with Jude alone would be rough, but Liam can keep you company to make sure you're not overwhelmed, and maybe you can even have a fun time. Liam stands up, holding a hand out to you to help you up from the couch. You take his hand and he pulls you up. "I'm going to go prepare for tomorrow. You should too! Rest well!"

You watch Liam disappear off into the castle, and you tug your phone out to look at the powered down screen and sigh. The dead man's eyes flash in your mind as you remember earlier in the night.

You've been caught up in a whirlwind of events since then, never quite being able to settle down since you arrived. This is the first moment you've had to yourself, where you can actually digest what happened to you.

You traveled back in time and learned a major secret of the government. Not only that, but you've become part of it as well. You've learned about cursed people, which you are apparently one of. You're supposedly fated to break rules, do horrifying things, and live a life of ultimate tragedy. The dead man's pooling blood feels like it's touching your shoes again. You look down. They had your shoes cleaned when you entered the building. The bloodstains are present though. Your shoes weren't made for this kind of work.

They've decided to give you clothing to use while you're here in this time period, mentioning that they'll have it for you by morning.

---

You begin to walk back to where you know your room is. You feel anxious. On edge. And yet something inside you thrives off of it. Something deep inside you is yearning to see more. Even if it haunts you, even if it changes you, you want to see it all.

"___." You're startled from your thoughts to hear Roger calling your name. You look to see him motioning to you from down the hall. "Please come with me." You visibly grimace upon seeing him which makes him laugh sourly; "Oh, don't be that way. Come on."

You begrudgingly follow him into his laboratory. It can only be called a lab. It's not a medical clinic, as they so earnestly tried to sell you on when they first showed it to you. He has you sit down in a chair as he sits across from you, holding a notepad and a pencil.

"I'm going to need a thorough medical history for you."

You scowl to him. He's not a real doctor, and even if he was, he's a 19th century doctor. "... I doubt you'd know half of what I'm saying to you."

"All the more reason for you to educate me on it."

"...." You're visibly disturbed. Your eyes wander over his lab equipment. "Besides, you're not a real doctor. You're not held to any confidentiality laws."

"Nope."

You look to him in disgusted shock. He just admits it? At least make some attempt to make it easier to share information with him!

He chuckles, seeing your face contort. "Look, I have to have a baseline to work from for my profile for you. The more you help me understand, the better. Which can also help with understanding your curse and the condition it leaves you with." His pencil taps his notepad. "Besides, you can't go anywhere until we understand your curse."

"...." You sigh in resignation, visibly frustrated.

You walk Roger through your medical history, explaining everything as best as you can. There are times where he has to pull out charts, which you sometimes even correct, giving him important medical knowledge and updating his understanding of the human body in the process.

He takes his time poking and prodding you, testing your reflexes, listening to your heart, taking samples of tissue and blood to test and toy with.

You're just grateful that he has syringes.

He seems to appreciate your reactions of pain. Still, you can tell he's trying to be as gentle as he can be. He does relish the way you freak out when he doesn't have anesthetic to keep you from feeling the pain of his pokes and prods and sample-scraping.

"You guys are rich?? You can't afford anesthetic??"

"It's funny that you think this place is ours and not a cage we're also confined to." He mutters, smirking as he pokes you and you groan in pain. He swears he can see some tears forming in the edges of your determined, spiteful face. It fuels something inside of him.

His comment, however, surprises you. They've talked about this place like it's a clubhouse for their edgy group since you arrived, but this is the first time you've heard it referred to as a condemnation. How many of the others feel the same way?

You don't have time to think on that though as Roger jabs you again and you cuss him out, causing him to laugh.

---

After a couple hours of thorough inspection and documentation from Roger, you meander back towards your room, exhausted. Once again, you're alone with your thoughts. You finally make it to your bedroom though. You close the door behind you and sigh, sinking down against the door. The room is gorgeous in the dim lighting. You groan, leaning back against the door, your head stares up at the ceiling.

It all happened so fast.

You quietly close your eyes and imagine the man you watched die. You don't know much about him as a person. And you never will. Sure, you could ask for the information from Victor, claiming it's for the writing work he's making you do, but can you really trust information given to you by a pack of murderers?

You're deep in the lion's den here, and the only way forward is to keep playing nice.

His wretched face haunts your memory as you can remember the warmth of his blood on your face. You reach up and touch your face where the blood splattered. William's touch. It's almost as though they've explicitly been throwing as much as they can at you at once so you never really truly digest what they've put you through, and what you've witnessed.

But you can't allow that.

You hate playing by people's rules, and you yearn to find the goal of this game so you can end it.

It feels like a game.

You don't want to play, but they're making you play.

You open your eyes, looking to the ground. You don't even know what time of day it is. How will you wake up in the morning? You don't know. And frankly, you're so exhausted that you don't care.

Scooping yourself up, you force yourself to head to the dresser. Atop it is a wash bin for you to wipe down with before you get dressed for bed. You use the tools given. The water is surprisingly still warm. When did they have the time to get this prepared for you? They also gave you a loose change of clothes, so you change into them, placing your dirty clothes in a hamper nearby. As you do, you look over the bloodstains. "...."

You're going to have to have your wits about you with these people. Always on guard. Can't get complacent.

Lest you end up dead too.

-------

End

-----

Check out my Masterlist for other chapters!

-----

If you like this chapter, you can stay easily updated when more chapters come out via AO3; Link All of my other random off-shoots for this fandom will also be posted there under "The Curse of Alice - A Collection" series. Thank you for reading!

[arctic-hands]

I hadn't watered Hortensia since I moved in June because at first I thought jostling her around with dry, somewhat solid soil would be less traumatic than being jostled with wet, soft soil, and then after we moved in we had a horrendous gnat problem and I didn't want them to breed in moist soil. They're mostly gone now, but it's been four months since her last water. But she's a succulent so like. She can survive drought stress.

The real trouble began when I was in the hospital for nine days and no one turned her grow light on daily while I was gone, then like the day after I get home the bulb dies and it was impossible to find a grow bulb at the right wattage for that lamp for cheap so thanks to capitalism breeding waste it was more effecient to just buy a new lamp, which finally came in late yesterday but by then I was too tired to assemble it. And even if it had been sunny lately (it hasn't) and we didn't have the blinds down for privacy, the window doesn't get much light to begin with. So she's been without light for like three and a half weeks now.

Meanwhile like most of her bottom leaves had drooped and bent irreparably, so after I set up the new lamp I had to shear off those leaves and cauterize with what little cinnamon I had on hand, and then water her for the first time in like three months.

Poor thing. When I cut off the bad leaves and set them aside, instead of barely oozing thick clear aloe vera goop they immediately began oozing thin yellow juice. No idea what that means, and I'm hesitant to go to the succulent reddit because if the general site's recent shittiness, but I'm pretty sure it's not a healthy sign. On top of that, the soil was so dried out and compact that it became hydrophobic and the water just sloshed around the top for a few minutes before finally being absorbed, so at the end of the process I had to go around what was left of the bottom leaves with a paper towel to absorb the droplets before they caused rot.

So like. Hortensia's survival is a bit dicey right now 😬 I've been saying after I killed Charlie Vera that if Hortensia dies I'm not getting a new one, but it's been two and a half years of Hortensia and I like having something green in the home, especially in winter time. So idk.

Anyway, the new lamp is super bright. Dunno if that's a great thing in general or in this specific circumstance. I extended it as tall as it would fit in the alcove, but Hortensia's middle leaves are still pretty tall and I'll prolly have to move the setup within the year if she survives. Dunno what I'll do if she gets light/sunburn, as that lamp isn't adjustable in brightness.

Also I'm amazed that baby aloe made it, tho it's barely grown recently. On that note, last time I put Hortensia under drought stress (early on, out of abundance of caution after over watering Charlie to the point of root rot), she spawned like five babies almost immediately so we'll see what happens next.

[Image Description: A decently tall aloe vera plant in a large plastic pot comprised of many neutral faces emerging out of the pot all around it. The aloe, along with the inner leaves standing straight up, has many leaves extending up and out towards the sides. The aloe is lacking leaves on the very bottom, and towards the back the stump of a leaf is visible. The leaves are a vibrant green, but noticeably paler where the leaves meet the center of the plant. In the front of the pot is a baby aloe with a few leaves about three inches high. The pot and aloe rests in a window alcove with the blinds drawn, with cloudy darkness visible between the slats. A table lamp with a flat, rectangular head of many small LEDs is curved over the plant, bathing it in bright light and washing everything else out. To the left in the alcove, a silver tabletop Christmas tree is halfway seen. End I.D.]

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Kingsnake Shopping List

If you've decided on a kingsnake (Lampropeltis sp.) as a pet snake, you've made an excellent choice! Kingsnakes are known for being fantastic eaters and are very hardy, fun pets who can live to be over 15 years old with proper care.

This guide is intended for California and Mexican black kingsnakes, and it can also work for black, Sinaloan, Nelson's, and Honduran milksnakes.

Enclosure setup shopping list:

You will want to set up your enclosure so your snake has room to stretch out, climb, and explore! You will need to set up a temperature gradient of 85-75 Fahrenheit, and kingsnakes prefer mid-range humidity, about 50-60%.

Enclosure. For a young kingsnake, a 20 gallon is fine, and a 40 gallon works well for yearlings. As an adult, your snake will need a 4x2x2 enclosure at the absolute minimum, and bigger is better! Kingsnakes average around 3-5 feet across species, with males being significantly smaller than females. Check out Animal Plastics for affordable, high-quality enclosures.

If your enclosure has a screen lid, two sets of screen clips. Never bring a snake home without screen clips!

A dome heat lamp with ceramic sockets. Any big reptile brand is fine - Fluker's, Zoo Med, and Exo Terra are all trustworthy brands here. Make sure your dome lamp is rated for the wattage of bulb you will be using - 150 is usually a safe bet.

Heat bulbs. I use ceramic heat emitters for my kings. You can choose to provide halogen light and UVB if you'd like. Arcadia makes high-quality heat sources your pet will love. The wattage you choose will depend on your enclosure size and the temperature in your home.

A thermostat to plug your heat source into. Vivarium Electronics thermostats are excellent but pricey; you can go as expensive as you like but here is a cheap one I swear by.

Digital thermometer/hygrometer reader with probes - Zoo Med and Exo Terra make great dual gauges. Avoid stick-on dials!

At least two identical hides, one on either side. A proper hide has three solid walls and a smallish entrance - you want your snake to feel snug and secure. I recommend extra hides for milksnakes, who can often be more timid than other kings.

A container to make a humidity hide. Simply cut a hole in the lid, fill with damp moss, and you're set! Providing your snake with a humid hide will help them have perfect sheds every time!

A large water bowl

(Insider tip: if you go to the grocery store and buy a pack of black plastic food storage containers, you can easily make hides, humidity hides, and a water bowl out of them! Here's my go-to option, you can easily take care of all that for one baby snake for like 5 dollars!)

Sphagnum moss for your humid hide

Substrate - for kingsnakes, I prefer cypress mulch. It allows for easy burrowing and holds humidity well! Other humidity-retaining substrates, such as coconut husk or coconut fibers, are good choices as well. Whatever you choose, provide your snake with at least a couple inches so they can dig.

Climbing branches and other decor - climbing is a must, and vines, rocks, and tunnels made from cardboard tubes are other great options. Kingsnakes thrive on novel stimulation, and small cardboard boxes and hol-ee roller balls are frequent favorites. Cluttering up your enclosure is a must! Rolled up balls of paper towel can make great clutter for young snakes.

Consider a blanket or other visual barrier to put over the enclosure to help your snake feel safe and hidden. Kingsnakes are visual snakes and babies can feel jumpy and exposed in an all-glass enclosure.

General care:

Feeding tongs.

Food for your snake. Even baby kings can eat whole pinky mice. Your offered food should be about 10% of your snake's body weight. It's easy to overfeed kingsnakes - do not listen when they act like they're constantly hungry! Being fed once a week is plenty for young kingsnakes.

A soldering iron, believe it or not! A cheap soldering iron will serve you well throughout your snake's life - you can use it to easily melt holes in bowls and containers to make hides.

A small snake hook can help you with handling your snake, especially if you're nervous. Kingsnakes have excellent feeding responses and mistaken feeding bites can happen, so handling with a snake hook can help get your snake out of food mode and help you be more comfortable.

And some common beginner mistakes:

Don't move your snake to a separate enclosure to feed. It's a myth that will make your snake "aggressive" - it can actually cause more mistaken feeding bites as they associate handling with being fed!

Don't worry if your snake spends most of their time hiding, especially while young. A hiding snake is a happy snake! Don't be concerned if your pet kingsnake seems flighty and jumpy at first, kingsnakes can be jumpy babies but many become much more confident by the time they're a year old.

Don't over-handle your snake, and always give them at least a week to settle in before offering food for the first time.

Never handle your snake for two days after they've eaten - that could cause a regurgitation.

Kingsnakes are some of my favorite snakes to keep, and I'm sure you'll see why when you bring yours home! They're fun, curious snakes with big personalities, and you never have to worry about them missing a meal!

[the-trinket-witch]

Diasomnia Steampunk Intro, Yo!

Premise | Yuu | Heartslabyul | Savanaclaw | Octavinelle | Scarabia | Pomefiore | Ignihyde | Diasomnia

Across the Twisted Wonderland, there are a small handful of commonwealths that fly the Briar Valley flag. But in the Valley proper, what was once an isolationist nation only venturing out to conquer and selectively trade, now is slowly assimilating into a diverse country with much to offer the world. In the nation’s sequestering, Fae became a majority population, who all but wanted for technology. Why develop machines made of brass and iron when magic does just as well, only fuelled by the majority's innate magical ability and their imagination? 

Lt. Silver

Silver is but one of several in the Briar Valley that had grown up as a Ward of Court, a child under the care of the Royal government. Per Royal Decree, wards are sent to be fostered by volunteers; for Silver, this was to be the honorably-discharged General Vanrouge. It seemed his new father’s rank could not be shirked with parenthood, as he had already come into fostering the royal heir for the young Dragon’s safety. The three grew up hermetically within the dense, dark woods of the Briar Valley, where he learned life skills in bushcraft and wild magic. Alongside that, he learned the ins and outs of military life through sanitized bedtime war stories. 

Battle seems to be in his blood, from his climb to surviving with his family in the woods, to clawing his way through military training, to fighting to understand sarcasm. Even his birth could be linked with fighting, but his father would take that secret to his grave. That, and the mystery surrounding what Silver, himself, dubs a ‘curse’ of sleepiness. Living in the woods with an Old Man and an equally sheltered Prince tends to leave one not the most socially graceful. Most conversation over coffee tends to orbit around work, immediate plans, or recent dreams. 

So, when it came time to select guards to accompany The Prince in his ambassadorship to the city of Nightraven, the pre-selected Lilia threw his name into the drawing. “There’s only so much the woods and I can teach you,” his father said. This was his opportunity, to make his father, and in a way ‘brother’, proud. He would always be ‘just a human’ in the Briar Valley, but in Nightraven, he could be a soldier, confidant, support for all who needed. 

2nd Lt. Sebek Zigvolt

Born and raised in a riverside village in the heart of the empire, Sebek is a man of his nation. Only half fae, he puts a spotlight on his non-human attributes to an almost absurd degree. His mother and grandfather are held in the highest regard, while his father is left in resigned acknowledgement. So it is no surprise that he sprang on the first chance offered to join the Royal Army. 

Fresh out of basic training, he now holds an actual rank. For him this was a testament to the superiority fae had over the humans in the Valley or anywhere. Though this ‘fact’ flies in face of reality, that is one human, Silver, holds rank just above him. And he hates it. One would note that his boisterousness hasn’t landed him in good graces among many of his peers. Loud as thunder, imposing as lightning strikes, everything he does is at maximum wattage. He would claim it’s his dedication to his country, and the virility of his genus that make him such an imposing figure. 

It would be his reasoning as to why he had also been selected to accompany his liege into the throes of the wider world. Surely it couldn’t have been at the behest of Lilia, who saw a nationalist straying too close to a prejudice sun. It couldn’t have been the Great General’s recommendation that he also get a taste for all the Twisted Wonderland had to offer in terms of perspective and experience. He would make his country, his kin, and his future king proud to have him as a loyal guard in his ambassadorship company. 

Gen. Lilia Vanrouge

Discharged back into civilian life with honors. That was the beginning of the life Lilia wanted to lead, from here on out. Cut and glamour-dyed hair, learning guitar, taking cooking classes, failing cooking classes; civilian life seemed like it was going to be a breath of fresh air. But it seemed the past never likes to die, or at least the government won’t let it, when it assigned him as both the competent foster parent of a baby Silver as well as a sequestering steward to the young Prince. 

Lilia likes to think himself a spry old man. His thirst for adventure and fun was something he hoped to instill in his charges. Every accomplishment and victory Silver and Malleus claimed made him beam with pride. It was a testament to how much he’d turned his life around. Of course, there are moments when The General has to come out. Blades can cut, but some words out of Vanrouge’s mouth can cut deeper. 

But it was words that swayed the Queen of the Briar Valley. She was intent on having her grandson return to the castle proper, but at the behest of her most decorated soldier, she heard him out. His proposition: Allow the Prince to experience the world outside of the Valley. Let him see what the country’s isolation has been missing out, so that he may be more worldly in his decisions as future King. Lilia had raised him, thus far, so he would gladly come with him to help him integrate to Nightraven’s local culture, if it hadn’t changed much in the past 100 years. 

Prince Malleus Draconia

The Crown Prince of the Briar Valley, born a dragon fae of the highest pedigree. Being born in such an important decision made growing up normally rather difficult. Most bodies not entirely dedicated to specific bureaucratic positions also held the line of protection for the Royal Family. Sometimes, though, the best way to protect a loved one was to keep them at a distance.

Lilia had raised him well. He, Silver and eventually Sebek trained to be the best, by the best. Amidst the combat training and survival, Malleus was made to grow emotionally as well. His steward emphasized, above all else, that war was to be the absolute last dreaded resort. The first was to consider the emotions, needs and wants of others. Having an eventual pseudo-sibling in Silver taught him that actions had consequences, and that while he may be in line for the throne, that didn’t mean he was to leave the world behind for an ivory tower. 

It seems that, for all Lilia had to offer to teach Malleus, there was still so much more. Lilia proposed to the Queen that she permit her Grandson to experience the world. Times were changing, and with the Briar Valley taking strides in integrating with the rest of the world, how else could one catch up than experience everything the outside world had to offer? But royalty needed a royal entourage of guards, and following the request by the most decorated General in her army, she permitted Silver and Sebek to accompany the Prince to the biggest cultural center in the Twisted Wonderland: Nightraven. Malleus was beyond anticipating this. He knew he was missing out, on history, culture, friendships; this was his ticket out of the castle and into the wider world. 

[broadway-sollux]

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lyriic2 under the cut.

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