#(THIS IS SCENARIO NUMBER 1 FYI)

[animeomegas]

The Quest for a Second Life - Part 3 - Potions and Magic and Sex, Oh My! (2)

ITACH X ALPHA!READER

Summary: Having immensely enjoyed your first day with Itachi in his pocket dimension, you were excited for the hunt for potions ingredients to begin. You didn't expect to come across a green monstrosity in the woods, nor a flock of unusually persistent old people, but all the shenanigans were worth it because you finally, finally managed to get your mouth on those beautiful nipples! GN!Dom!Alpha!Reader x Multiple!Naruto Characters

Word count: 11.7k

Warnings: N-sfw content. Vague references to a murder. At one point, MC believes that there is some non-con going on, but is mistaken. All alphas have penises, fyi.

A/N: Hmm, I think it's still too early for Happy Holidays wishes, although December is almost upon us. To those who didn't see the announcement, I'm cutting the third book from this series to elongate the first two. So, this is now the second of three Itachi parts. He is really holding out for the majority of the porn being in part 3, but Itachi is a classy guy like that. The mysterious book 2 love interest doesn't feel the same way lol. I hope you all enjoy it, and as always, this is for @omeganronpa 💞💞

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Epilogue

The next morning had seen the search for the ingredients for the Amnesia Reversal Potion begin. You had felt a little bit bad that Itachi was putting in so much effort to make a functionally useless potion, but you figured the story had to go on someway, and you couldn’t deny that it had been immensely fun to do a magical scavenger hunt.

Itachi had dedicated a wooden tray to keep all the ingredients together, which now sat in the corner of the living room. It was almost full after the two weeks of buying, finding, and gathering you’d gone through, covered with pots and bottles and bags stacked on top of each other.

Itachi had said that the potion was extraordinarily simple to make but had an eye-wateringly long ingredient list. You could tell that he was a little baffled by the whole thing, but it all made sense to you; him having to hide away in his study for a month to brew something delicate was decidedly not sexy, but your joint excursions had proven themselves rip for horny scenarios.

During the last two weeks, your relationship with Itachi had also progressed significantly. You hadn’t gone all the way yet, although the steadily increasing tension was certain to burst soon, and you hadn’t added a formal relationship label to anything, but the way that stolen kisses and sleeping in bed together had become the norm said a lot.  Neither of you acknowledged that Itachi now seemed incapable of sleeping unless he was directly on top of you either. When you had taken a midnight walk on one of the nights, unable to sleep, to stare out of the kitchen window, Itachi had found you in only three minutes and sat with you until he could entice you back into bed with him. With his loose, messy hair and revealing pyjamas that seemed determined to slip off his shoulders, it hadn’t taken very long.

What? You were a simple alpha, and a warm, sleepy omega’s charms were simply too strong to resist.

Itachi was so much more domestic than you could have imagined, now that you’d broken down his walls. He was softer, less stoic, desperate for praise and companionship. He still refused to let you cook, cooking for you every night, constantly trying to perfect new recipes despite the limited number of supplies available to him in the dead of Winter. Some dinners were just as good as the stew from day one, and some weren’t. Itachi was experimenting, you understood that. He wasn’t as experienced a cook as you had originally believed, but you still heavily praised every attempt just to watch him purr.

You shook yourself out of the memories of Itachi’s cooking and instead crouched down in front of the ingredient tray, mentally checking each ingredient against the recipe pinned to the wall above it. Most of the ingredients on the left side you had grabbed on the second and third days, as they’d come directly from Itachi’s own stores.

You smiled, tracing the tops of the bottles and remembering that he had literally fallen into your lap or arms no less than three times while retrieving them.

“I don’t know why I stored the apple seeds so far towards the back of the top shelf,” Itachi said, huffing as he tried to stretch his arm as far as it would go. You only sighed, amused, and knowing full well that the porn logic had made it so. You were holding the base of Itachi’s ladder steady, but you knew that what was about to happen wouldn’t be stopped no matter what precautions you took.

“I’ve almost got it… Almost… Ah ha! Eep!”

Itachi’s foot slipped out from under him, toppling him off the top of the ladder and into your already waiting arms. You were glad to see that the jar filled with apple seeds was clutched tightly in his hand.

“Hey beautiful,” you cooed, adjusting the princess carry a little. “I think I’m going to have to get rid of this ladder, because I can’t have you falling for anyone else.”

Itachi scoffed, cheeks blooming pink. You grinned down at him, and his fake annoyance melted into pure affection. You probably looked like a pair of lovesick fools.

‘Ah, you did an excellent job of delivering that line, human, all that practice in the bathroom mirror certainly helped!’

‘James, you’re ruining the moment.’

‘My sincerest apologies human. Perhaps to salvage the moment, you could use another falling themed pick-up line in order to encourage your omega towards behaviours associated with playful sexual aggression?’

‘James—’

‘Xethrofeth recommended this one, “I enjoy safe sex, shall I tie you to the bed so that you don’t fall off?”’

‘James!’

You smiled, remembering the moment. The best moment though, was when one of the ingredients required Itachi to crawl into the tiny loft space in the ceiling. He had emerged covered in dust and sneezing like a kitten, and then, after his shower, he had approached you with a towel and brush to help him dry his hair.

You dragged the boar bristle brush slowly through Itachi’s hair as he sat on the bed in between your legs. His silky black hair was thicker than it looked, and watching the brush glide through it was enchanting.

Itachi shivered as the bristles tickled his back. His head twitched like he was trying to resist the impulse to bare his neck to you.

Bathed in candlelight, warm while a storm raged on outside, just existing in a comfortable silence… you felt content.

“You’re so beautiful.” The words escaped you without your permission, but as Itachi turned to face you, his newly dried hair fanning out around him, you didn’t think he minded.

“So are you,” he muttered, leaning forward to connect your lips with his.

That kiss had become so heated that it had taken everything in you to resist going all the way. Itachi seemed a little put out that you stopped things from progressing, but you wanted to go slowly. The slow build up of tension was delicious. ��An orgasm was always more rewarding if you’d been denied first, and you were determined to apply that logic to the entire relationship. And so, you had gone to bed as normal.

Well, it had been mostly normal. Itachi had spent most of the night grinding on your hip in his sleep. You had almost given in and woken him up, but you had managed to resist.

You turned your attention to the middle of the tray now, counting each little bag or newer bottle that had been bought from the market in the nearest town. Now, that excursion had been fun. It had been a pretty long walk, but with warming charms on your clothes and Itachi’s delightful company, the walk had flown by.

The town had been incredible and just remembering it made you want to go back as soon as possible. It had felt like walking around the best historical reenactment in existence, except real, and also smelling better than you imagined the actual past would. It made sense though; if food intolerances were too inconvenient for erotica, piss and body odour certainly were.

Although, you admitted, that would probably depend on the kind of erotica.

Regardless, the town setting introduced just as much porn (and cliché romcom) logic as Itachi’s cottage. You weren’t exaggerating when you said that every single old person had something to say about you and Itachi being the cutest couple. Itachi had insisted on walking with your arms linked ‘in case you got lost’, so you couldn’t really have faulted the old people for assuming you were a couple. What you had been taken aback by though was just how bold they had been. You had met horny older people before, but that had been on another level.

“Oh, look at you two,” the old lady running the exotic goods stand said. “I can tell that pups will be along for you two soon enough. I have an eye for these sorts of things, you see.”

You and Itachi stuttered, verbally falling over each other as you tried to deny any such thing. This didn’t deter the old lady for one moment.

“Although, here’s a tip from me: some people insist on the missionary position for conception, but doggy has a far better success rate in my experience. Ernest’s shop on Main Street sells plugs if you’ll be needing one to—”

“Um, can we just have 50 grams of crushed snake fangs please!”

…

“Oh, Itachi dear, you’ve brought an alpha with you!” said the old man running the bakery cheerfully. “Although” -he squinted at you both- “no mating mark yet.”

While you picked out some bread, he pulled Itachi aside to whisper in such a way that meant you could hear everything. You couldn’t tell if that was intentional or not.

“Some advice from back in the day,” the old man ‘whispered’. “This pressure point here on your palm will supress your gag reflex.”

Ironically, you almost choked as soon as you registered those words.

…

“Oh, an alpha! I’m so glad, Itachi, I was scared you were all alone out there,” the old person at the grocers said, quickly untying their apron to give Itachi a hug. They then turned their gaze to you. “You treat him right, or I’ll have something to say about it, you hear?”

You had a feeling that no amount of explaining that you weren’t technically together would help, so you just nodded, “Of course.”

The person smiled, mollified by your words, “You know what they say about omegas, dearie, make their legs shake, not their hearts break. Words to live by, in my opinion. And if you can, invest in one of those fancy magic vibrators. They’re a little pricy, but more than worth it in my book, especially if you have a talented witch like Itachi on hand who can charge them for free. Why, I said to my wife just last night, I said—”

“We should probably get going,” you said, dumping the vegetables you needed on the counter. “It’s a long walk back, y’know?”

Itachi had been horrifically embarrassed all day, but paradoxically he also seemed to bask in the positive attention. In fact, he had been wearing a pleased little smile under his rosy cheeks for most of the day as acquaintances congratulated him on entering a relationship.

What had pleased Itachi less though, was the very flirty omega who worked in the tavern, where you had stopped for a bite of lunch.

“Let me know if you need help with anything,” the waiter said, letting his hand linger on yours as he took your menu. “Anything at all…”

Itachi immediately bristled at the obvious flirtation. The fact that Itachi was obviously bothered was satisfying. You knew full well that if you stayed in this universe, you wouldn’t be straying from Itachi, but it was still ego boosting to have such a pretty omega ready to defend his claim on you, needed or not.

“That’s alright,” Itachi said, voice and face tight. “We’d rather be left alone to enjoy our date.”

Oh, so that was how he was going to play it. You didn’t correct him on it being a date, more than willing to let the situation boil a little for your own ego and amusement. You wanted to see what would happen if you didn’t intervene.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the waiter said with an obvious fake surprise. “Let me bring you some waters then.”

Itachi settled a little once he was gone, but he made a point of conjoining your hands on top of the table so that everyone could see. You gave him a squeeze but decided to save the teasing about your ‘date’ until you had returned home.

When the man returned, two glasses in hand, his beige shirt had been thoroughly drenched in water and was now completely see through. His nipples, which you could now tell were both pierced, were clearly visible.

He laughed as he approached the table, “Sorry, there was a bit of an accident in the kitchen. Here are your waters.” He put both the glasses down and then carefully and deliberately placed down a little scrap of paper down in front of you. A quick glance confirmed that it was an address, likely his.

Itachi stood, growling. He grabbed the piece of paper and tore it in half and threw the pieces to the ground. The waiter only watched, amused.

‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ you were chanting in your head thoroughly amused.

James did not speak and yet her presence in your mind felt judgemental.

Regardless of her feelings, your plan to watch things play out changed anyway when Itachi’s eyes bled to red and his intentions seemed to switch from instigating a cat fight, to committing a murder.

“Hey, Itachi,” you said, trying to sound light and unconcerned even as you were silently ‘what the fuck’ing in your head. “Why don’t we take our food to go and have a nice picnic on the bench outside? You look so beautiful with snow in your hair, and with these amazing cloaks that you designed for us, we should be nice and warm.”

Even you could tell that you were laying it on a bit thick, but it seemed to work, as Itachi dropped the outward aggression for something more akin to proud posturing. He sent a satisfied smirk at the other omega, who only rolled his eyes.

“I’ll bring you your food to go then… Insecure omegas always demand such things.”

Itachi bared his teeth, eyes bleeding red again. You decided to step in.

“We didn’t ask for your opinion,” you said, putting a hand on Itachi’s shoulder to hold him back. “Please just bring us the food we paid for.”

Knowing a losing battle when he saw one, the waiter huffed and returned to the kitchen.

‘Interesting,’ James said in your head, thankfully without the earlier judgement.

‘What’s interesting?’

‘This situation didn’t escalate like this in the other three trials for Itachi that I’ve witnessed.’

‘What, really? How come?’

‘I am not sure. Perhaps Itachi just finds himself more attached to you than the others. None of those three picked him, of course, so perhaps they were also less attached to him than you appear to be.’

That had made you happier than you wanted to admit, and you had ended up returning to the cottage with a skip in your step and Itachi’s arm linked around yours.

To summarise the last two weeks though, things had been very romantic, and filled with so much genuine connection and sexual tension, that you felt like you were about to burst. You had seen so much of this pretty omega: his passion for magic, his love for his brother, his beautiful nipples, you mean, his beautiful home.

You were enjoying the slow burn and teasing so much that you almost wanted to drag it out further. You probably would if you weren’t so worried that the demo would suddenly end before you’d had a chance to go all the way with Itachi. James still wasn’t giving you a straight answer about how much longer you had in this world.

‘Enough time,’ she would say.

‘Time flows differently in these worlds,’ she would explain.

‘Are you really so eager to leave?’. That last one stopped you from asking altogether lest she start thinking you wanted to be pulled out early.

The point was though that today was the day that you had decided to properly confess and try and seduce Itachi. Your skin tingled with anticipation and saliva started to pool in your mouth as your thoughts ran wild. Yes, you had both waited long enough and you were quite literally hornier than you’d ever been.

But today was also the day that you were going scavenging in the woods for the final three ingredients. You had to do that first, but as soon as you returned, you would use your alpha charms on Itachi. Nothing would get in your way.

Behind you, Itachi stepped into the living room from the kitchen, a little basket of supplies packed and ready for your journey.

“Moss found on a blackwood tree, five leaves from a thizzberry bush, and two seeds from an Amplexus plant?” you read off the remaining ingredients that weren’t yet on the tray. “Are those going to be difficult to get?”

Itachi hummed, slipping on his cloak and holding out yours, “The last one might be a little complicated, but there’s nothing dangerous, I promise.”

You stood, gratefully taking the warmed cloak and wrapping it around you. Ready to go, you took one more glance at the ingredient list before joining Itachi by the front door. He was frowning down at the basket of supplies, lips pursed.

“Are you okay?” you asked, poking him on the nose to pull him out of wherever he had gone.

Itachi blinked, before sending you a smile, “Yes, sorry, I feel like I’ve forgotten something important, but I can’t remember what.”

“Have you got the stuff to collect what we need?” Itachi nodded. “Have you got snacks and water?” He nodded again. “Have you got emergency first aid supplies?” Another nod. “Then it can’t be that important, right? That’s all the main stuff.”

Itachi took a deep breath, still looking a little conflicted, “You’re probably right, let’s go, the days are getting shorter, and I don’t want you out after dark.”

You pulled open the door and held it for Itachi to exit first. You were rewarded with a smile that made you want to kiss him senseless, but he wasn’t joking when he said the days were short, so you supressed that instinct for the moment. Later, you reminded yourself, you’d get the pretty omega into bed later.

The snow crunched under your feet as you stepped outside, and your breath suddenly became visible. You took a moment to take in the view of the snowy trees surrounding the little clearing you were standing in. Despite the temperature, the charmed cloak was keeping the worst of the chill away.

You pulled the front door shut and startled some nearby birds, which then took flight, scattering clumps of snow onto the ground.

You appreciated the beauty of your surroundings; you didn’t think you would ever get bored of living here.

“Which direction first?”

“Towards the mountains,” Itachi said, looping the basket through one arm and grabbing your hand with the other. You gave your conjoined hands a little squeeze of acknowledgement and then allowed Itachi to lead you. Walking in the snowy woods had given you some trouble at first, but after half a month, you’d literally found your footing and were able to keep up.

“Itachi?” you asked, as you walked in the direction that Itachi had pointed out.

“Hm?”

���Can you tell me something about your childhood? A story, maybe? Something nice. I want to learn more about you.”

“Oh, if you’d like me to, then I don’t mind. How about… yes, this one is good: my best friend was called Shisui, and he used to play pranks all the time,” Itachi said slowly, the ghost of a smile on his face. “Sasuke was his favourite target, I think, because he always reacted violently, but mother and I often intervened to protect him, so Shisui targeted me most of all. It was easier, I suppose.

“There was a girl in our village that liked me. I was too oblivious and busy to notice at the time, but everyone else knew. My mother thought it was sweet, even though my father would never have allowed me to court a beta. Shisui however, thought it would make for an excellent prank.

“He doodled mine and the girl’s names all over a piece of paper, joining our surnames and putting hearts everywhere, even writing lists of possible pup names. He then slipped it into the pocket of some trousers in my wash bin, as if I had been the one to write it.

“The next day, when my mother did my laundry, she found the paper and of course, believed it to be mine. There was no amount of begging and pleading that would convince her that it wasn’t, and believe me, I tried.”

Itachi chuckled, and you let out an amused breath, imagining how embarrassed a teenage Itachi must have been.

“When did you figure out it was Shisui?”

“It only took me about five minutes to figure out that it must have been him playing a prank, but my mother wouldn’t hear it, and she was insufferable about my ‘crush’ for several months.”

You snorted, “That’s a good story. Your mother sounds funny.”

“I can’t wait for you to meet her,” Itachi said, sending you a bright grin. “I think she’ll like you a lot.”

You laughed, “Let’s think about getting my memories back first, then we can handle the family meet and greets, okay?”

You watched as the amusement drained from Itachi’s face. You tried to keep the conversation going, but Itachi no longer seemed to be in the mood. You continued to search for the ingredients mostly in silence, with occasional descriptions of what exactly you were looking for.

You wondered what was wrong, but there never seemed to be a good time to bring it up.

It ended up taking less than an hour to find both the moss and the leaves, even hidden amongst the snow, but according to Itachi, Amplexus plants only grew at the base of the mountains, so it had taken another hour to even get close to where he thought one might be.

You had entertained yourself by swinging your hands back and forth and asking Itachi questions about the world once his mood seemed to lighten again. You loved James, but Itachi’s explanations were significantly more helpful. You’d learnt the names of all the nearby settlements, a rough run down of what they were like, and roughly how far away they were. You were making extra careful notes of which on you’d claim to be from when the time came for your ‘memories’ to return.

You were in the middle of asking Itachi about what kind of pets existed in this world when Itachi suddenly stopped, eyes squinted towards your left. You stopped too, falling silent immediately.

“There!” Itachi said, voice hushed but still excited. “I think I can see one. Follow, but stay behind me.”

Here, in an unfamiliar and vaguely unnerving snowy forest filled with unknown entities was not the time for you to start exercising your alpha bravado, so you obediently followed three paces behind Itachi, remaining alert all the while.

You were out of your element, so caution was the best approach. You imagined that broken bones were also not sexy enough for an erotica, but you could only rely on the world so much; there had to be a level of stupidity that would overcome the narrative safety nets, and you didn’t want to find out what level that was.  

The Amplexus plant came into view as you rounded past a tight cluster of trees. It was not something you would have seen in your world that was for sure, although it did remind you a little of a giant Venus fly trap, with slowly swaying, green appendages, each capped with larger, circular parts on the ends. Much to your horror, it was about the size of a bear.

At its centre of the plant were the seeds you had to collect. They looked a lot like pumpkin seeds but were each the size of an orange and suspended in some sort of purple, translucent organic pouch. You and Itachi somehow had to get your hands on two of them.

“This one is backed up against a tree which isn’t ideal,” Itachi said, studying the Amplexus from a distance of about three metres. “I’ll have to approach it from the front.”

“Is it dangerous approaching from the front?” you asked, anxiously pulling the cloak around yourself.

Itachi shook his head, “Not dangerous, just not ideal.”

‘James?’ you asked, struck by an awful sense of dread. ‘Is the Amplexus plant sentient?’

‘I cannot answer that question without four botanists, a linguist, and at least half a politician present, human, my apologies.’

Great. That meant yes. Nothing non-sentient had that much debate around it. You were just going to let Itachi handle this and hope nothing went wrong.

Speaking of Itachi, he was currently pulling a wrapped parcel out of the supply basket.

“Hold this please,” he said, passing it over to you. You took it easily, tucking it in the crook of your arm. “Please stand back and don’t approach the Amplexus, no matter what happens.”

You swallowed nervously, “Okay, I’ll stay here.”

Itachi opened the parcel revealing a chunk of raw red meat. Delicately, he took it out and passed you the empty wrappings. You watched, entranced as he laid the meat flat on his palm before muttering a spell under his breath. The red meat lifted gently off his skin, like it was being carried by an invisible force, and floated over to the Amplexus plant. Itachi followed behind it, but as the red meat floated towards the right side of the plant, Itachi tread carefully towards the left.

Your heart felt like it was beating a bruise onto the inside of your throat. You had no idea what was about to happen. Everything was agonisingly slow, until suddenly it wasn’t.

All at once, Itachi used his magic to fling the raw meat to the right of the Amplexus plant, while he darted towards its left side. The tendrils that had been swaying rhythmically suddenly jumped to life, snapping towards the red meat. Your comparison to a Venus fly trap was strengthened when the thicker end part of the largest tendril yawned open, before snapping down on the meat with a loud, and wet sounding slap.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Itachi was now right beside the plant. He reached quickly in and grabbed two of the seeds, one in each hand, before kicking off the ground to propel himself backwards to make a hasty escape.

Seemingly finished with its tasty morsel, the Amplexus plant returned to its original position, where it suddenly gained awareness of Itachi. He was already two paces away, the Amplexus seeds clutched in his hands, but that didn’t stop the plant from trying to grab hold of him.

You watched, frozen in place, as the tendrils lurched towards the witch. It was going to be close. You gripped your own cloak in your fists, tense, but unable to help. Itachi was fast, faster than you would have guessed.

But ultimately, he wasn’t fast enough.

Two tendrils managed to wrap around his upper arms, immediately tugging Itachi backwards towards the main body of the plant. You heard Itachi’s gasp of surprise, and the thump of the Amplexus seeds hitting the ground as he let them go. More and more tendrils shot forward now that Itachi was caught and aided in tugging him back, wrapping around his legs and torso.

Itachi struggled for a moment, trying to pull his way out and rip the tendrils off him, but once he was pressed against the body of the plant, being held in place by at least sixteen plant tendrils, Itachi seemed to accept his fate and all the fight bled out of him.

It was at that exact moment that you realised what erotica trope this was.

‘Oh my god, James, what the fuck?’

‘That was phrased as though it was a question, but it is not one I know how to answer, human.’

“Ah!” Itachi gasped, as the plant tendrils covered all his visible body from the tops of his shoulders to his ankles. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, I, ah, I thought I could grab the seeds fast enough, but, ah, it caught me.”

Itachi seemed to be treating this as a minor inconvenience, but for the first time since arriving, you felt completely unbalanced by the porn logic here.

How could Itachi be okay being… touched… by that plant against his will? You were aware that this was a fairly common and not unpopular trope, hell, you’d even partaken a few times in your lowest moments, but to make it real? It didn’t seem right. You clenched your fists into your cloak as you reached a decision. No, you wouldn’t stand for it. You were going to defeat this hentai monstrosity and defend Itachi. No plant would touch him without consent if you had anything to say about it!

You dropped the basket and wrapper to the ground and grabbed the first thing you saw that could feasibly be a weapon: a hefty, gnarled stick.

“How do I kill it?” you said, whirling around with the stick and holding it up menacingly towards the Amplexus plant.

“Kill it?” Itachi said, sounding more alarmed by that than whatever it was currently doing to him. Only his face was visible now, as most of the tentacles writhed around his body, barring the largest one which seemed happy resting on top of Itachi’s head. “These plants are already so rare; you can’t kill it! I’ll be fine. I’ll just give it what it wants, and it will let me go.”

You deflated at his words. You felt awful just standing by, imagining all the things the plant might do to him. Itachi let out a little squeak and you had a sneaking suspicion that his rapidly reddening face wasn’t from the cold.

“Itachi, are you sure there isn’t anything I can do to help?” you asked desperately. “Anything at all?”

Itachi only blinked at you, brows furrowed, as though he were confused by the anxiety in your words. “Oh!” he said suddenly, face melting into a reassuring smile. “I’m sorry, I completely forgot that you have no memory of the local flora.”

Itachi paused for a moment as the tendril resting on his head decided to tug out his hairband, releasing the inky waves around his face. He sent the plant a glare and shook the hair out of his face as best as he could.

“Amplexus plants don’t hurt people,” he continued. “They just really, really enjoy hugging humans.”

You blinked at him, trying to comprehend what he was telling you.

“It’s giving you a hug?” you asked, blankly.

“Yes, and it will release me in a moment, I promise.” Itachi squirmed again as the tentacles around his chest tightened and the largest one gave his head a rub.

Now that you weren’t as panicked, you realised that the way the tendril on his head was touching him was more affectionate than anything. It was bumping up to him, nuzzling, and giving him pats, almost like an over eager dog, except in the form of a writhing mass of hentai plant tenacles.

“Oh,” you said, relieved, dropping the branch. “I thought it was, um, touching you.”

Itachi’s blush darkened but he shook his head, “It’s just a hug.”

You huffed, “You scared me! With the way you were trying so desperately not to get caught, I thought it was something bad.”

“I won’t lie… it is a bit inconvenient, and I had hoped not to get caught, but I suppose it’s too late for that now.”

“Will it be holding you for long?”

“No, no more than around a minute longer, I should imagine.”

You let out a relieved sigh, feeling much better about the whole thing, “That’s not too bad.”

“Well, the problem is less the time and more of the effect of the hug,” Itachi explained sheepishly, avoiding eye contact. “You see, Amplexus plants secrete a substance that doesn’t interact well with most fibres used for making clothes.”

“It’s damaging your clothes?”

“In a way, yes.” You got the distinct impression that if he were not currently pinned by a giant writhing mass of plant tentacles, Itachi would be fidgeting a lot more than he was. Certainly, his face was only getting redder as the conversation progressed.

You didn’t have to ponder his answer for long, because at that moment, the tendrils suddenly withdrew, (the main one giving him a couple more head pats for good measure), leaving Itachi sitting on the floor at the base of the plant.

An unharmed, but incredibly, and shockingly naked Itachi was revealed to you, his bare butt nestled in the snow.

Of course the plant had dissolved his clothes, you thought, a little hysterically. You didn’t know why you had expected anything different in this whacky dimension.

Itachi bashfully tried to stand, already shivering, while keeping one hand firmly covering his crotch and the other arm braced across his (still beautiful) nipples. You had a wonderful view of his blush creeping down his chest. His nipples must have been incredibly hard from the cold—No, not the time.

But as much as you enjoyed the view, you weren’t going to let your omega freeze because a random plant had got too enthusiastic. You took off your cloak, now the only one you had between you, and went over to Itachi (avoiding getting too close to the plant, of course), bundling him up in the warm fabric and helping him get to his feet.

“There you are darling,” you said softly, clasping the cloak around his neck. Itachi used his hands to keep the fabric pulled tightly to his body. Now that you didn’t have your cloak, you were grateful that Itachi had insisted on charming all your clothes for warmth like the mother hen he denied being.

‘There. You can’t say I’m not a respectful alpha, James.’

‘Why am I forbidden from making such a claim?’

‘Because I just gave my cloak to a naked omega in need!’

‘Human alpha, you’re staring at his hardened nipples through the cloak right now.’

You jumped when you realised she was right, and hastily averted your eyes with an awkward cough.

‘No comment.’

Itachi shivered and you dropped the connection with James to rub his arms with your hands to warm him up. At least he still had his shoes, otherwise you’d have been carrying a very naked Itachi home. On second thought, that didn’t sound too bad.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, standing in the middle of a fantasy forest, warming up a naked witch, while a suspiciously hentai adjacent plant swayed in the background, that you were hit with the absurdity of the situation.

The first couple of giggles forced their way through your firmly pressed lips. Itachi shot you a glare and elbowed you lightly with a huff.

“It’s not funny,” he said, still glaring at you. That was enough for you to lose your composure completely. Hysterical laughter burst forward with such strength that you bent over and braced yourself with hands on your knees.

“Oh my god,” you said between gasping laughs. “It melted your clothes because it wanted to hug you too much, what in the fucking hentai.”

“You’re laughing at me.” Itachi pouted, but soon, even he couldn’t deny the humour of the situation and a couple of chuckles bled through, melting his pout away.

“I’m laughing with you darling.” You stood, wiping away the tears that had built from the hysterics.

“I’m not laughing,” he denied.

“Yes, you are.” You pinched the end of his nose playfully and Itachi struggled to smother his smile with another pout.

“Hmph.”

You blew out a breath, watching the cloud of white float away from your face, “If you knew this was a possibility why didn’t you just pack some extra clothes?”

“I did! They’re—” Itachi froze, wide eyed. “I knew I forgot something!”

“Of course, you did.” You collapsed into laughter once more. “This universe is hilarious.”

Itachi ignored you, turning away to collect the basket and fallen seeds. He had just put the two seeds in the basket and turned to rejoin you when one of the Amplexus tendrils decided to be a menace and shot out towards Itachi’s ankles, tangling them together.

“Eep,” was the only noise you heard before Itachi was crashing into you, sending both of you sprawling to the ground. You hit the ground back first, knocking all the air out of your lungs. Itachi landed on top of you, legs spread over your hips, and hands braced against your chest.

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, sitting up and glaring back at the Amplexus plant, which only swayed innocently. “This is so embarrassing.”

“Hey,” you said, propping yourself up so that you were now sitting with Itachi on your lap. You tried to ignore his stark nakedness for the moment and instead brushed some fallen snow from his hair. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. It’s only me here, and I’m not going to hold this over your head. Do you trust me?”

“I do,” Itachi said, pupils expanding as he stared at you. “But still—”

“Still nothing. There isn’t anything I could see, even the most embarrassing thing in the world, that would make me feel differently about you.”

His facial expression suddenly changed, closing off, and just like that, Itachi pulled back and the moment was broken.

Bewildered, you asked, “Are you okay? Did I do something? I didn’t mean—”

“I’m fine,” he said, his voice as cold as the snow around you. He got up off your lap and tugged the cloak around himself. “We should get moving; it’s cold.”

You jumped to your feet, “Right, yes, of course, I’m sorry, I got carried away.”

Itachi didn’t say anything, he just picked up the basket and started moving in the direction of home.

“We should eat something, before we go back,” you said, anxiety clawing at you. You weren’t sure what had caused him to get so cold all of a sudden. “We’ll need the strength.”

Itachi stopped walking and tipped his head consideringly.

“Fine.” That was the only thing he said before he veered left. “There is a sheltered cave opening just down here that will be a safe place to rest.”

You followed him in silence. This wasn’t the first time today that he had suddenly grown cold. You couldn’t figure out a pattern in what was causing it, but something was very clearly wrong. You wondered if he was mad at you, but as you walked, he seemed to soften slightly, linking his free arm with yours. He still didn’t speak, but it assuaged your worries that you’d somehow messed everything up.

If he wasn’t angry at you, though, then what was wrong?

The cave appeared around the corner, just up from a small, frozen pond. It looked like any cave really, if a bit shallow, but it had a large, flat rock just inside the opening that would make a perfect bench, free from the wet snow that covered everything outside.

“It’s too shallow for any large animals to live in,” Itachi explained, stepping inside. His voice and footsteps echoed slightly as he moved. “It makes for an excellent resting stop. See, someone else was here earlier.”

He pointed to the remains of a campfire that was in front of the stone bench. It was long cold, but it still looked somewhat fresh. There was still dry firewood and kindling resting in the stone lined pit. Itachi considered it for a moment before clearly deciding something.

“Stand back,” he said, gently moving you to stand behind him.

“Why?”

He eyes your damp clothes and his own nakedness for a moment, “I figure we could use some warming up.” He brought two fingers from both hands up to his mouth and forcefully blew. To your shock, a jet of fire burst from his lips and towards the fire pit, bathing the cave in an orange light. The wood caught immediately, and you quickly had a burning campfire.

“That was incredible!” you said, sitting down on the little bench and holding your hands up to the warmth. “Can you teach me that at some point?”

“It’s a unique family magic, I’m afraid.” Itachi sat down next you to as you deflated. “Don’t worry though, there is much, much more I can teach you, if you’re interested. But for now, we should eat.”

He dragged the basket over and unloaded a selection of bread and various spreads and cheeses, along with a small pot of dried fruit.

“Which cheese if your favourite?” he asked, pulling off a chunk of bread.

Not expecting the question, you stalled, “Um, whatever one you’d recommend, I guess.”

Itachi nodded. He cut of a section of a harder looking cheese and placed it on the chunk of bread. You expected him to hand it to you, but instead he held it out over the fire.

“This type of smoked cheese is better slightly melted.” He held the cheese and bread there for a few minutes before withdrawing it. He blew on it gently before holding it towards your mouth. “Open up.”

Amused, you did as he asked. He placed the chunk of cheese and bread into your mouth, laughing lightly when you deliberately nipped at his fingers.

This was the Itachi you were more familiar with, but once the food had been eaten and packed away, his melancholic mood seemed to return.

“I can almost hear you thinking,” you said, pressing a kiss to his head. “What’s on your mind, Itachi? You’re worrying me.”

He didn’t answer, he only sighed, staring at the fire. The shadows it was creating on his face only worsened the hollow sadness on his face. You wished you could wipe away all his problems, the way he seemed to for you.

“Hey, whatever’s wrong, we can—”

“I killed someone.”

You stopped speaking, letting what he said linger in the air.

“I think you should know that, before we… before we get any closer. You have a right to know.”

You leant forward, trying to get Itachi to look at you, but he refused, continuing to stare directly into the fire.

Okay, you thought, trying to make sense of things, he killed someone. To be completely honest, you had considered that his exile had been caused by something like that. It wasn’t like the legal system in this world was the same as your old world, so he could very well have been punished for a murder with exile. The only thing that made you doubt that theory was that he was the love interest in an erotica novel, and this didn’t seem like the kind of erotica world where murder was sexy.

But many people did consider tragic backstories to be sexy, which would explain the angst. There was little as satisfying as good comfort sex in a saucy novel, you could admit that.

Regardless, even if he had killed someone, if you knew Itachi, and you really felt like you were starting to, he wouldn’t have killed someone for a petty reason. From what you knew of his childhood, he had likely been pushed into it, one way or another.

You were certain that whatever had happened wouldn’t change your opinion of him, but you could understand why he had been worried, why he had been pulling away. You couldn’t let that happen.

You put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, “Tell me what happened, Itachi?”

“I just did.”

“The whole story,” you clarified. “Because I know there’s more to it than that.”

Itachi didn’t move, just continued to stare blankly. When he spoke, his voice was monotone.

“When I was a teenager, my best friend, Shisui, as I have already mentioned, died. He took his own life, but the circumstances were suspicious. I was next in line for village leadership at the time, and I was struggling to grieve in between all the classes and meetings that I was never excused from. Everything was so sudden. To be honest, I can’t remember much of those first few days after he died.” Despite his flat voice, you could tell as clear as day that Itachi was still hurt deeply.

“That’s horrendous,” you said, scooting closer to him. “That sounds like too much pressure on a child regardless, let alone after a significant loss.”

Itachi didn’t acknowledge your words. He just stared.

“Some of the other members of my village, distant cousins of mine, decided to accuse me of personally killing Shisui.” You sucked in a breath. How dare they? Itachi was so gentle, he could never! “I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Every inch of my skin itched and burnt because I was so angry. I completely snapped.

“Again, I don’t remember much of what happened, only that I killed one of them and injured the other two. The council was furious. My father tried to argue that I had been provoked. My mother tried to argue that I wasn’t in my right mind. They were, and still are, the village leaders, so their words held enough weight to spare my life, but not enough to keep me in the village. I was exiled two days later.”

A log fell in the fire, casting new shapes of light and shadow across Itachi’s cheeks. He didn’t cry, he didn’t even tear up, but the pain was obvious. You were furious that Itachi’s family, his village, had pushed him until he couldn’t handle it anymore, and then punished him for breaking down when everything became too much. You kept that anger carefully simmering below the surface, refusing to let any of it seep into your scent or voice, lest Itachi misunderstand.

‘James?’

‘Yes, human alpha?’

‘You have to promise me, if I don’t choose to stay here, that you’ll make sure someone worthy ends up in this story. Itachi deserves someone who can love him properly.’

‘…’

‘James?’

‘I… I will try, human alpha.’

That was probably the best you were going to get.

You moved even closer to Itachi now, until you were pressed up against him. He still kept his head stubborn turned away from you, but that didn’t matter. You wrapped an arm around his waist, so that he knew you were there for him.

“You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met,” you said softly, directly into his ear. You could feel more than hear Itachi’s shaky exhale of breath as his shoulder stuttered against your chest. “You are kind, generous, skilled in so many things, not to mention completely and stunningly beautiful.” Itachi let out a little disbelieving breath and you squeezed him as a little reprimand for doubting how amazing he was.

“I’m not a good person, I—”

“You’re a person who was pushed so far that you couldn’t cope, but that doesn’t make you a bad person, Itachi. I promise, I’ve met many bad people in my life, and you aren’t one of them.” You squeezed him again, but you could almost feel the way he was dismissing your words. You hadn’t expected that one motivational speech would cure all of his self-esteem issues, even in an erotica, but you had hoped that he’d at least listen to you.

You weren’t sure what else to do to help, until you realised that you had already touched upon an obvious solution. An erotica. You were in an erotica. Maybe you needed to play by the rules of this universe to make him understand. Maybe… if you made your point the way points like these are often made in erotica stories, he would feel the message you were trying to convey.

You nosed your way down his neck, tucking your face into the collar of the cloak and making the most of the fact that he was completely bare underneath by settling your lips on the warm skin at the juncture between his neck and shoulders.

“Itachi,” you cooed, making sure to breathe directly onto his skin as much as possible. Shivers that had nothing to do with the cold ran down his body and you took that as a sign to keep going.

You pressed open mouthed, wet kisses all the way up his neck until you reached his jaw, where you nipped lightly at the skin. Itachi gasped, his hands coming to grip the forearm that was still latched around his waist. You let out a little amused hum before placing another kiss on top of the same area to soothe it.

You kept up the assault on his neck until he was a puddle of blushes and shivers, leaning all his weight into you and unabashedly accepting your love.

“Itachi,” you whispered again, licking the outer shell of his ear. Itachi arched into you. He really was incredibly sensitive.

“Wh-why do you keep saying my name?” he gasped out, voice thick. “What do you want from me?”

“I want to tell you something.” Perhaps it was cruel to be purposefully obtuse, but you needed to make your point properly.

“Then tell me.”

You shook you head against his neck, “I want you to look at me first.”

With little hesitation, Itachi did as you asked, pivoting on the stone bench until he could comfortably look you in the eye.

All the skin on the right side of his neck was pink and covered in love bites, much to your pleasure.

“Tell me,” he demanded once more. His voice was quiet but not gentle.

You leant forward until your foreheads were touching and Itachi’s face was all you could see.

“I forgive you,” you breathed. “Itachi, I forgive you.”

Here, with his face pressed so closely to yours, Itachi couldn’t hide even the smallest of reaction from you. You were privy to every minute part of his response. You got to see the way his eyes widened as he registered your words. You got to feel the way he was torn between pulling back and pushing closer. You got to smell the way his scent spiked, formed from the indescribable mix of emotions held within him. You got to feel the way his face scrunched up, the way his hot tears felt as they rolled down his cheeks.

You got to see Itachi, the real Itachi, without his walls and without his fears hiding him from you.

Itachi finally gasped and pulled himself away, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Large tears streamed down his face at a rapid pace despite his obvious attempts to stop them.

“Don’t be sorry.” You wiped his tears away with your thumbs, but it was a fruitless endeavour as more tears replaced them every time Itachi blinked.

“I don’t normally cry,” he said, looking almost bewildered at his emotional response. “I’m sorry, I just—” He cut himself off as his face scrunched up with emotion again.

You pulled Itachi towards your chest until his head was resting against your shoulder and your bodies were fused together as one. You grabbed the napkins from the picnic basket and wordlessly placed them on Itachi’s lap for him to use at his own pace.

He grabbed the pile almost immediately, pressing one to his face. As thick, cloth napkins, you were sure it was doing a great deal in helping Itachi stem the tears.

You held Itachi as he sobbed, letting out years of pain and worry onto your shoulder. His loose hair allowed you free reign to run your fingers through it, scratching at his scalp whenever the sobs got particularly loud. You looked out of the cave and into the beautiful winter forest, listening to Itachi’s cries slowly turn into sniffles before disappearing altogether. Eventually, his breathing was so slow and deep that it wouldn’t have surprised you if he’d cried himself to sleep.

“I love you.”

You inhaled sharply at the quiet words. Itachi had whispered them like they were a shameful secret, so quietly that it was almost impossible to hear over the fire.

You couldn’t pretend to be surprised that someone so lonely and starved for positive affection had already reached the point of love, even after such a small number of weeks together. No, Itachi’s feelings you had expected, it was your own that took you by surprise. Because if you were to be completely honest, you loved him too. You had fallen head over heels with him, as a friend and as a lover.

It had only been two weeks, but you’d spent almost every second of that time together. You’d got to know him, seen more of his than perhaps you ought to, and yet there was still so much of him that you hadn’t seen and were desperate to.

You loved him. It felt right to say.

“Is that… okay?” Itachi asked hesitantly. Oh, you had been leaving him in suspense. Well, that wouldn’t do.

“It’s more than okay, Itachi, do you know why?”

Itachi lifted his head from your shoulder and searched your face. He was still red around the eyes.

“Why?” he asked, voice tinged with desperation.

“Because I love you too.”

You watched emotions war on Itachi’s face. He opened his mouth, and like a tap, words and worries poured out uncontrollably.

“But what if that changes when you get your memories back?” he asked, grabbing onto the front of your shirt. “You’ll go back to wherever you came from, and you’ll have a job, a family. And what if, what if you have a partner, a lover? What if you’re married?! What if this ends as soon as you take the potion?”

‘What if you leave me?’ went unsaid but was clearly communicated.

“Hey, stop—”

“No! You can’t know that that won’t happen! I can’t… I don’t want this to be too good, because it will only hurt more when I lose it.”

You cupped his face in your hands, running your thumbs underneath his wild eyes that were still tinged with red. You needed a way to reassure him without giving away that you didn’t actually have amnesia. Your own backstory was yours to create, and none of his fears were going to become reality. Either you would stay in this world and be with him, or you wouldn’t, and he would reset and forget that you had ever existed.

It was strangely emotional to consider such a dichotomy. On one hand, you’d miss him terribly if you decided to pick the other book for whatever reason. On the other hand, if you did stay here, imagining that future was a lot too. You would give him your mating mark, and maybe a ring to match. Maybe you’d stay in his cottage or maybe you’d move slightly closer to civilisation and build a new home together. Either way, you’d made sure to have an extra room for Sasuke and whoever in your family that you’d yet to invent that might want to stay. Maybe you’d have some pups, or maybe you’d just raise chickens or something. You could see a beautiful life here, with your witch.

But how could you reassure Itachi?

“There is no job that could keep me from you.” You tried to sound sure, unwavering, to reassure him. “And if I have a family, they can visit, or I can visit them. And maybe this is unfounded, but I feel like I would know if I had someone waiting for me, and I don’t think I do.”

“You can’t know that until—”

“But even if I did,” you continued, cutting him off. “I have no mating mark, no wedding nor engagement ring. If I did have a mysterious partner somewhere, then, in the words of Beyoncé, ‘if they liked it, then they should have put a mark on it’. I’d rather be here with you.”

“Who’s Beyoncé?” Itachi asked, bewildered.

You laughed, “Don’t worry about it.”

Entranced, you both leaned in at once, sealing your lips together in a desperately horny kiss as weeks of tension suddenly burst. There was a raw intensity to the kiss, born from the clashing of pent-up emotions. There was some awkward teeth clanging, a little pain, but the way your lips danced together was warming you more than the fire ever could.

You couldn’t feel much of Itachi through the cloak, but that didn’t stop your hands from wandering. You moved from cupping his face, to running your hands down his chest, to squeezing at where you guessed his waist was.

Itachi was doing much the same thing, running his hands over your shoulders and chest without pause. You could tell that he was most enthralled by the obvious tent in your trousers though, as his hands kept drifting towards your crotch. This wasn’t exactly a surprise because you’d caught him staring there a few times since The Boner Incident™️, but now it seemed that his hands were suffering from the same curse as his eyes.

Itachi’s scent was clogging every sense you had as you continued to kiss. The sinful noise from Itachi that you managed to coax out and swallow suggested that your scent was doing much the same to him.

“Here, baby,” you whispered against his lips, hands teasing at the clasp of the cloak. “Let’s make this more comfortable.”

“Wait.” Itachi’s hand landed over yours. You stopped immediately.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, but… we’re outside,” Itachi said, his eyes darting to the entrance of the cave. “That’s not allowed.”

You blinked at him, “Itachi, there’s no one but us for miles.”

“Oh… yes, of course, sorry, carry on.” He lifted his hand from yours with a sheepish smile. You sent one back and slowly, purposefully, unclasped his cloak.

The fabric clung to Itachi’s shoulders, but with a little nudge, the cloak fell and pooled around Itachi’s hips on the stone bench. And just like that, Itachi was fully, properly, bare to you for the first time. Or, at least the first time that you were encouraged to stare at him.

His pale skin glowed in the firelight, catching on the silver hints of barely visible scars. It was normal for everyone to have a few, but you hadn’t expected to see so many. It was another question to add onto your list about his upbringing.

It was also with a glorious delight that you were able to truly study his nipples after being teased with only glimpses for so long. They were pebbled from the cold, just as you’d predicted, but as pink and delightfully round as your dreams had promised you. This world would certainly have artists who accepted commission work; you wondered if Itachi would let you get a painting or sketch of his nipples? Maybe if you asked him nicely.

“Is this… okay?” he asked, seeming shy under your gaze. ‘Am I okay?’ his eyes asked instead.  

“More than okay; you’re perfect.” Itachi’s shoulder’s relaxed and softened at your admittedly cheesy words. Well, erotica was a cheesy genre, and hey, now that you were in an erotica story, you couldn’t say it was a bad thing. It certainly made flirting easier; you didn’t have to be so witty. “Stand up for a quick second, darling.”

Itachi did as you asked without question, which shouldn’t have been as hot as it was, but you could unpack that later. You stood too, and taking the abandoned cloak, you laid it out so that it covered the entire stone slab. It wouldn’t do much to make it more comfortable, but it would keep the chill of the cold stone at bay.

Guiding him, you laid Itachi down against the covered stone and hovered over him in one smooth motion.

“Let me warm you up.”

You connected your lips again. You kissed more slowly this time, but with no less desperation, your lips tingling pleasantly. Itachi’s hands tugged at your shirt. You thought he was pulling you closer, but a little growl of frustration soon hit the air as he tugged more incessantly.

“Off,” he growled. “Take it off. I need—Take it off. I’m naked, you’re not, that’s not fair.”

You laughed at his logic but obliged, pulling off your shirt and dropping it by the foot of the stone slab. The rush of cold air was a shock to your system, but with the roaring fire, the temperature could have been worse.

Itachi seemed to be possessed by a hunger when the shirt obstacle had finally been removed. His hands and eyes feasted on your exposed flesh. You shivered at the sensation of his surprisingly calloused hands dragging across every inch of exposed skin.

“Is it okay?” you asked, parroting his earlier question.

“Perfect,” Itachi moaned, propping himself up to kiss and bit at your neck, one hand still groping every bit of free skin that you had presented to him.

It was clear that the sexual tension hadn’t only been affecting you. Itachi was more intense than you’d imagined, which was fuelling your own desperation. And there was one desperate desire that sat above all the rest.

“Itachi, hang on a second,” you said, pulling his face away from your neck. “I have a question for you.”

Itachi, who had looked rather displeased to have his neck kissing session interrupted, now looked curious.

“I was wondering if you knew” -you pushed him until he was laying flat against the stone and started kissing down his throat- “what you were doing when you grabbed that glass of water, the very first day we met.”

You didn’t linger on his neck for long, moving your attentions to his collar bones, and then eventually down to the valley between his pecs. Itachi’s hands flew to the back of your head.

“Wh-what do you mean?” His voice was breathy, and while the intensity of his desire remained, he seemed happy to submit to you now.

You hummed, using your thumbs to massage the underside of each of his pecs while you continued to leave wet kisses everywhere but where he was trying to guide your head.

“That afternoon, when you grabbed the water, you gave me the most amazing view straight up your jumper and to your pretty nipples. These pretty nipples.” You ghosted your fingers around his areola but drew them away when he tried to arch into the touch.

“What?! I- I didn’t mean to do that!” he gasped, face going bright red. “It was an accident.”

“Hmm, I don’t know. It seemed like you wanted to tease me, Itachi. Were you trying to tease me, the strange alpha that you’d only just met? How naughty.”

Itachi tried to tug your mouth to his nipple again, but you held firm. He made a little frustrated noise, lifting his head up to shoot you a glare that you only grinned at.

 “That’s why I want you to ask me,” you continued. “No, actually, I want you to beg me, Itachi. Beg me to give your nipples some attention, to kiss them, suck them, bite them.”

Itachi held firm for a few moments, but a couple more touches and a few well-placed breaths later, and you were rewarded with something beautiful.

“I-I- Please… Please k-k-kiss them.”

“Kiss what, ‘tachi?”

He sent you a flustered glare again, but soon he stuttered out a reply.

“My ni-nipples, please.”

Every nerve ending that you had set alight, and your trousers were quickly becoming painfully tight. Every instinct you had was screaming at you to ravish the pretty omega, to reward him for submitting so nicely. And, well, you’d never been one to ignore important instincts.

“Good boy.” His cock twitched where it was resting on his stomach and that was all the encouragement needed to fulfil the witch’s request.

Your thumbs and forefingers went first, settling on Itachi’s hardened nipples and pinching and flicking to their heart’s content. Itachi groaned, his eyes fluttering shut and his head falling back against the wooden bench. Moans and squeaks continued to pour out of him with reckless abandon. The blush pink colour darkened a little as you continued with your gentle abuse.

Then, once you could resist no longer, you removed your hand from his left nipple, and descended with your mouth. Like a person dying of thirst coming across an oasis, you lapped at him greedily, drinking in all the sensations. The feel of him against your heavy tongue was divine, and soon your own moans joined Itachi’s, who had become twice as loud.

You were delighted to find that, with the presence of your warm mouth, Itachi’s nipple was slowly softening. You could feel every crevice relax, coaxed open just for you. You took the newly soft nipple in your mouth and sucked. Itachi arched so far off the bench, desperate to push closer to your mouth, that you were surprised he didn’t hurt himself.

You hummed, amused and more than a little smug. This was quite literally a dream come true.

You pulled back from his chest, purposefully catching him with your teeth as you did, so that you could admire your handy work. Slicked with your spit, his nipple glistened in the firelight, painting a stark picture of difference with the one beside it.

You clicked your tongue in faux disappointment; that wouldn’t do. Those beautiful, pink temptations needed to match.

Once you had performed the same on his other nipple, you pulled back once again, focused more on Itachi as a whole this time. He looked entirely debauched from head to toe. He was breathing harshly eyes closed, neck covered in bites, chest red and cock practically weeping. The dark black fabric of the cloak didn’t show stains, but you were certain that the patch under his hips was now damp with slick.

Itachi let out a shuddering breath, “How did… Is it supposed to feel that good?”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, my darling,” you said, amused. “If you’ll allow me, I’d be honoured to show you something else that’ll feel amazing too.”

Itachi propped himself up on his elbows and gave you a bashful look, “You should know that… I haven’t done stuff like this before.”

You took a shaky breath as a thousand and one things you wanted to do to him flooded into your brain at once, competing for dominance. Of course, he hadn’t had sex before. His childhood was spent being groomed as the next village leader, and then he’d been exiled with his only rare piece of company coming in the form of his immediate family. Thinking about it, it would have probably been more surprising if he had experience, but you just hadn’t expected the love interest of an erotica novel to be a virgin.

“We don’t have to go further if you don’t want to,” you said, trying to sound reassuring over the lump in your throat. Hey, if he didn’t want to keep going, the general cold in the air should get rid of your boner this time, no need for cold water. That was marginally better.

“I do! I mean…” Itachi hesitated for a moment, and you were expecting him to call it a day. “You’re not going to leave me as soon as you get your memories back, are you?”

Your face softened at his question. To be completely honest, you had kind of got caught up in everything and forgotten about his anxieties in the process.

“Never,” you promised. You felt a little guilty at the prospect that you might choose the other pocket dimension, but if that happened then Itachi would quite literally forget you existed, promise included. Perhaps it was a little scummy to make a promise with someone who would forget if you broke it, but you justified to yourself that these were exceptional circumstances. “I know it sounds a bit silly to say out loud, but I feel right when I’m with you. Meeting you was like a part of me I never knew was missing clicking back into place.”

“No, it’s not silly!” Itachi said breathlessly, staring at you with wide eyes. “I feel the same. It’s like I’m alive when you’re here, for the first time in my life, truly alive.”

“When I look at the future,” you started, breaking for a moment to peck Itachi on the lips. “I see us sharing a home, waking up together every day, maybe even raising some chickens together. Never do I ever imagine a day without you in it.”

“I’ve always wanted chickens.” Itachi was looking at you like you hung the stars in the sky.

“Then I’ll give you as many chickens as you want.”

“And you don’t mind that I don’t have any experience with relationships?”

You grinned sheepishly, “To be honest, it’s kind of hot.”

Itachi seemed amused for a moment, but sincerity quickly overtook it. “Then I would love for you to take my virginity.”

“No,” you said, kissing the surprised look off his face. “If we do this, nothing will be taken. We will both gain something, a great experience, together.”

Itachi looked entirely besotted, but you had meant every word. Even if you left, even if he forgot, you would still have this experience with him, and you would treasure every second.

‘That was very smooth, human. The commodification of the social construct of virginity is harmful indeed, why, Glatheenron was talking about it just the other day and—’

‘James, genuinely, that is an important discussion and I appreciate your support, but I’m sort of preoccupied right now, so maybe you could wait until later?’

“Then allow me to rephrase my earlier statement,” Itachi said, drawing you out of your head. “I would be deeply happy if we could share my first time together.”

You leant down and pressed a loving kiss to his forehead, “As would I, my sweet omega, as would I.”

Next Chapter

[hypersomniagame]

HYPERSOMNIA JANUARY DEV LOG : "LOG 1, WOOHOO!"

Hi! For all of you who follow HYPERSOMNIA, or are just stopping by, let me introduce you to this post to really set the tone.

For 2024, I am going to try to release a dev log about HYPERSOMNIA once a month, may come earlier, may come a little late, but I'm doing this to help give insight on to how the game is going, and to give me motivation to work on the game.

First things first, big news!

HYPERSOMNIA IS NOW AVAILABLE TO WISHLIST ON STEAM! (LINK)

After a while of back and forwarding with Valve, I've finally got a Steam page to call my own, and MAN is it bizarre seeing my weird little RPG in my Steam library. Like, that's my logo, and my key art, and screenshots of MY game, that's so weird. It doesn't feel real. BUT IT IS!

And, I would really really really really really appreciate it if you would consider wishlisting the game on Steam. It helps with the algorithm, and my happiness because I like seeing numbers go up, it feels good.

I even drew this as a announcement/commemoration for the page going live.

(P.S; if you couldn't tell, I really like Half-Life, it's one of my favorite game series.)

Secondly...

A new trailer is in the works! We were accepted for this year's MOTHER Direct (4th time baby, whoo!)

The trailer has been coming along well, I hope to show more battle oriented clips that I've missed the last few years, like special moves.

Can you believe I've never actually gotten to adding those in the game? I mean, they come set-up in default RPG Maker projects but I've never gotten around to revamping them until now, year 4 of engine work. Isn't that strange?

I also hope to improve on editing in the trailers. Whenever I finish a trailer I come back a few months later to notice minor points where I was kinda sloppy.

I'm not much of a video editor, (I only learned so I could edit trailers on my own) but I'd like to keep them at a good presentable quality. You gotta have standards with that kinda stuff, it's important!

OK, TIME FOR THE ACTUAL GAME STUFF. HERE WE GO.

Abilities are now implemented! And work! Wahoo!

In HYPERSOMNIA, players are able to switch abilities between party members. I find this a really interesting mechanic for how simple it seems, you get to choose who plays what role in your party. I think this is HUGE, and opens up a lot of unique scenarios for the game's encounters. I've had this planned for years, as far back as 2021 if I can recall, so it's super cool seeing it in game.

Mapping is being worked on!

I've also been working on mapping out more areas of the game! The forest part you hopefully saw in the last trailer is almost completely mapped. I've been working on the second part to it and am hoping to finish it sometime soon.

Mapping forests really suck. THOUGH, almost all the maps for the first chapter of the game are done! That's just another step closer to the demo. (Which, FYI, will be on Steam and Itch! ^^)

I've also been working on re-spriting older scenes!

This one's been really fun to do, I've been going back and redoing older stuff from the 2022 trailer, like this train! It's weird seeing it side by side, because you can definitely see where it's come from but at the same time, it looks so different.

(Also side note, these sprites are CRUSTY! EWWW!)

Lastly, Script and Music updates!

The script for HYPERSOMNIA's first act has been completed! with just 37 pages of just cutscene dialog alone! We're also currently working on wrapping up NPC dialog! Not much else to say.

And music is being worked on!

Music has been making some progress! I like to lay out demo's for areas I'm mapping out to help make both the music and scene come together. (Also, to help break up the eerie silence when playtesting...)

Speaking of music, FIREBALL, the games main battle theme, was recently delisted on our YouTube channel.

We did this because we decided we wanted to resample FIREBALL, and found that it's best to not have the song uploaded until a complete, final version is made. At least for the demo, it could possibly change before the final game but that's a bit too far in the future for me to think about fully.

Hey! Thanks for reading the whole dev log! Unless you just skipped to the end, you should probably go back up and read it. there's a steam page now. and some cool ross art at the top. you're missing out!

I hope this was like, readable to you all. I'm new to this whole dev log thing, so if you read it all the way through, let me know! It'd be cool!

I'd like to use this portion to pretty much just advertise Unique Indie RPG's.

Have you ever seen that strange purple square at the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd HYPERSOMNIA trailers?

Yeah, that! That's UNIQUE INDIE RPG's, which is a Discord community for you guessed it, Unique Indie RPG videogames developed by people like me! Or you! Or whoever! Who cares!

I help run it with some of my friends, and we all share cool stuff about our videogames! There's a ton of other SUPER cool RPG Maker games there like Astral Guard [LINK], or SOMEWHEN [LINK], or even MOMOinc [LINK]!

And of course, HYPERSOMNIA. It's a really laid back community, we're all super chill. Come swing by! We'd love to have ya, and SHOW US YOUR GAME!

[LINK TO DISCORD SERVER]

TWITTER

YOUTUBE

STEAM

UNIQUE INDIE RPG'S [SHOW US YOUR GAME!]

[PREV] [ABOUT HYPERSOMNIA] [NEXT]

[our-future-is-up-to-us-2]

'Cause You're A Brand-New Species

Here's another oneeee

You're all going to be sick of me at some point but I'm gonna keep posting!!

Title is from Touch-Tone Telephone by Lemon Demon, and the idea for this fic supplied by @daeagon !

Word Count: 1.4K

Relationships: Bianca Pullman & Charles "The Jackal" Calthrop, Bianca Pullman & Vincent Pyne

Warnings: SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 9! A sprinkling of content from Episode 8 and also a tad from the beginning of Episode 10/Season 1 Finale.

This is a post-episode 9 fic fyi!!

~ Read the fic under the cut ~

The boat chase is highly exhilarating, if the Jackal says so himself. 

UDC is dead, his minions and the authorities racing after him… It’s all a victory lap, really, to really solidify the achievement. 

As he approaches a place to dock, he turns back to face the crowd. He can spot at least six boats tailing him, out on the water. 

A crowd of law-obsessed maniacs, they are. Some are just driven by hell and high water, doing it for whatever reason fits their purpose. 

And in that crowd, he swears he recognised one or two of those authorities, talking to each other, crouching down in their vessel… 

Right. He can’t take any chances. 

In times like these, he hates thinking on his feet. He always needs a schedule, everything meticulous and prepared well in advance. 

But being The Jackal means being able to suit up for any situation, to adapt like the tides beneath his feet. 

He lets himself laugh, smiling wickedly as he drops something in the driver’s seat, docking the vessel, and escaping. 

After all, he makes everything seamless. From a boat to a car, zooming down Croatian highways… 

It’s a beautiful thing to be wild and free of burden… Well, for the most part. The authorities are connected and he’s certain they’ll find some way to trace things back to him. 

Perhaps that’s exactly what he wants. 

All he has to do now is wait, and keep his eyes focused ahead. 

***

Vincent Pyne groans as the boat halts, many others surrounding Bogdan’s. He shakes his head and tuts, exchanging a glance with Bianca. 

“Remember how I told you he’s a fucking ghost?!” He exclaims, gesturing to the vessel ostentatiously. “Motherfucker just comes and goes without a trace. We had eyes on him!” 

Bianca huffs and crosses over from their MI6 vessel to where The Jackal was. 

There is nothing to hide, The woman thinks, even as she searches every nook and cranny for a lead, a clue, anything, And The Jackal does not make mistakes…  

When she takes her attention to the driver’s seat, finding an old cell phone and a number preloaded to dial, she’s left smirking. 

This is not a mistake. Nor is this a trap, so she hopes. This is an intentional move. 

“He must be desperate,” She picks up the phone, waving it in Vincent’s direction, “There’s no way he would’ve left this without noticing.” 

The man crosses his arms and watches Bianca as she steps back over to their vessel. “Well, we have no other choice, do we?”

She shakes her head. 

The other authority boats do not leave their post, instead drawing their guns in case of sudden fire. 

She feels better with the security, with Vince as her right-hand man. So why can’t she help the tremor in her fingers as she hits the dial button? 

***

He allows the phone to ring four times before picking up. 

“There you are,” He says, soft, slow, with the same satisfaction he had before killing UDC. 

Finally, they could speak, bringing this cat-and-mouse chase closer, more personal, even. He doesn’t know why he’s thrilled by the whole scenario… She could actually find him and he’d be arrested, worse, dead, in a matter of days. 

Maybe it’s because he hears her breath now, steady, but holding back from so much worse. Maybe it’s because she’ll start speaking, then start yelling at him, losing all her MI6 professionalism. 

He eases his foot off the accelerator, just to focus on her. In his mind, she should be feeling very privileged. 

“Yeah,” Bianca hisses, “Here I am, right where you want me,” She ends up sighing, glancing over at Vince. 

His eyes tell her everything: This is our chance. Rip into him, do whatever you can. Find him, Bianca.  

“I’m here, left with Bogdan’s tarnished boat… And you’re in a car, judging by the engine I hear, driving speedily down some roads, in…” 

The Jackal scoffs, tapping his hands against the steering wheel, “You really think I’m giving myself up? Leading you right to where I am?” 

“I’d appreciate it!” She forces out a laugh, and forces herself to take a few breaths. She can’t let her ambition and zealousness get ahead of her, not this time. 

Not when the MI6 agents have him on the ropes, closer than ever before. 

“You could tell us where you’re headed. Better yet, who’s paying you millions of dollars to take out these hits. Or…” She says slyly, letting out a laugh, “Why don’t you recall something for us?” 

“Oh, yeah?” His eyebrows quirk up, but of course, she cannot see that. She’s left with his curiosity in the moment and a hint of mischief that she hates to define, “And what will I be recalling for Bianca of MI6?” 

He remembers spelling out the details to Zina, convolutedly asking for her help: First name Bianca, tall, black, mid-30s or so, and another male, white, about the same age.   

He never ended up finding the name of the other male, but he has Bianca. Bianca, a woman of MI6, on the phone with him, right on his tail. 

“Your time in the British military?” She says in a knowing tone, “Must’ve been quite the journey. Expertise, weather and all.”  

She sits down now, aware of how long this call could take. At least, that’s what she thinks: That she should be taking notes, making sure not to lose any detail. 

Vincent grunts as he sits down next to her, admiring the crystal-clear view, the water, calm and fresh. Working in the MI6 does present plentiful opportunities for sightseeing… 

Bianca simply rolls her eyes at his sudden lax behaviour. This is not a time for slacking. She tells him with furrowed brows, pointing to the phone. 

The moment of silence lasts longer than she expects, and she’s prepared to press as though she hasn’t done so throughout the entire investigation. She’s killed to get here, and she’ll threaten more if she has to, if it means finishing up the job. 

The Jackal’s voice is softer when he next speaks, “I dunno, Bianca. It’s pretty… Complicated. Expertise can come from anywhere, these days.” 

He shrugs it off like it’s nothing, because he does his best to regard it as nothing. His whole unit, taken out by his own invention, and he’s still alive, making a sharp left turn onto a desolate street?  

Well, that’s how the cookie crumbles, so he’d like to think. 

He presses his sunglasses closer to his face, “Speaking of killing, I wonder how all that guilt is treating you these days.” 

The woman clenches her fist, laughing drily, “Yeah, and I wonder the same for you. Every day, you seem to pop a bullet through someone’s body. Innocent, corrupt, billionaire… You’ve gotta care, Jackal.” 

“I care about the work and that’s all.” He smiles, “I really think that you and I are one in the same. Bye, now.” 

It’s easy to hang up, to leave her with that parting thought. He can feel the mirth in the air he breathes… Everything is oh-so effortless, and everyone is oh-so gullible! Feelings are the key to unlock necessary hope in her, while providing no substantial intel. 

Her words happen to play on his mind, however. 

… Military, must’ve been quite the journey… You’ve gotta care, Jackal. 

And perhaps, that was her intention all along. 

***

“You think we were successful?” Vincent asks, shuffling closer and peering over the phone. “Sounds like we were.” 

“Yeah, right…” Bianca rolls her eyes once more and pats Vince on the shoulder. “All we know is that he’s on the move, and that he’s potentially being chased by authorities. Knowing him, they’re either dead or exhausted.” 

“So we got jack shit. Hip hip fucking hooray.” He scowls, shaking his head. “Apologies for the optimism, Bianca.” The sarcasm in his voice is as clear as day. 

She looks between the phone and her co-worker, thoughts running through her mind. We may have never reached contact if he didn’t leave this for us…  

She shoves the phone into Vincent’s hands, determination ablaze in her eyes. 

“Not quite. We look after this phone, call him at random intervals. We judge what we can on voice, sound, and intel, along with anything from Isabel and Osi. We can’t give up on this fight.” 

Vincent nods, smiling broadly, “I never said that we were.”

[advancetoclassesandmaterials]

No Braces? Don’t Worry, We Will Get Them…

Scenario: The secretary is using a laptop. She hands a document to her attorney. It was a heavy edit she just completed. The attorney has asked that the secretary use Braces {. } instead of brackets [. ] in a few parts of the document. The secretary calls the attorney and says I don’t seem to have Braces on my keyboard. The attorney tells her to call someone or do something because “I want the braces where I have indicated throughout the document.”

So things such as this occur and you need to know how to go about it.

Under Insert “Symbols” (right side of ribbon), look for the word “Symbol”. Under Symbol, you will see the most commonly used Special Characters. Clicking on any one of those brings them into your document. The down arrow under “Symbol” brings up the Dialog Box for the Character Map sets. If what you need is not under the initial “Special Characters” section, then you will surely find it under the Character Map that coincides with the Font that you are currently working in.

Once I am in the area of the character maps look up the Font that you are using in your document such as Times New Roman. Once you are in that Character Map, look for the Braces. Left and Right Brace Should be right next to each other.

When you find the Left Brace “{“ if you look at the bottom right, you will see the code number that corresponds to that symbol. Using the Alt key and the Key Pad (if you have the key pad on your keyboard), type in that number that is associated with the left Brace and it will appear in your document. Find the Right Brace “}” and bring in that character using the Alt Key and the number assigned to “that” symbol.

If you don’t have a right side key pad: You can place one of the Braces on the Clipboard or you can keep the character map open and click on the left or right Brace as needed. You can also do a Macro that Brings in the left Brace and One For the Right Brace. You can also highlight a chunk of text and search for left bracket (provided that you initially used Brackets),“[“ and replace with left Brace “{“. You can then do the same for the right Brace. Point being you can get it done.

FYI: Fun Fact: On your desktop or laptop go to the Windows search bar at the bottom left hand portion of the screen.

Type in Character Map. The “Character Map App Dialog Box” will come up. You can then choose “Open”. Now, If you thought that the Character Map in MS Word was thorough, then wait until you bring it up in Windows! Tons of Font Charts, Special Characters of all types, Wing Dings (mini drawings) and it is basically a set of Character Maps on steroids compared to the very thorough one already in Word!

Training From An Inside Perspective…

Basic - Advanced MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook Training for Secretaries, Administrative Assistants, Paralegals, Law Students, Attorneys and Business Professionals

www.advanceto.com

https://advancetoffice.com/

888-422-0692 Ext. 1 and 2

Students@advanceto.com

Louis@advanceto.com

Teacher Connected books and video.

Hey Students! AdvanceTo teaches both a Litigation and Corporate styling and formatting class. Both classes thoroughly explore the separate pieces of the two types of documents and the procedures, strategy and technique that is connected to both. Each hands on Zoom or phone class is 4.5 hours (which can be split into two sessions) and is packed with information that you will be able to use right away. The cost is $175.00 per class but if you purchase the two classes (Litigation and Corporate), the price drops to $150.00 per class. Groups always receive a discount. Great narrative material and homework are part of the deal as always.

[advancetotraining]

When Applying Styles - Place The Style You Are Applying Most On The Clipboard....

Scenario: Styles are applied to a large file. You have Heading Styles for the Multilevel Outline, Body Text Styles for the non-numbered paragraphs, and a Style Separator scenario whereby the text to the right of the Style Separator uses a Body Text type style to disassociate the remaining Body Text from the Heading 2 text that sits before the Style Separator.

When putting together an involved document, you don't want to have to go up and down the right side style pallet looking for each needed style. That eats up a lot of time and results in a lot of unnecessary movement. No matter what you have going on in your document you can take adventure of your clipboard to make your day easier.

Instead, we use a combination of things in order to smooth out the process of applying styles.

Back to your Style Separator Example:

1. You have the right side palette open where you are staring at Heading 2.

2. After we bring in the first instance of the Body Text style that is applied after the Style Separator, we can place the formatting of that style we will use again and again on your "clip board" by the use of Control Shift C. This style will now be available all day as needed on your clipboard until of course you establish a new Control Shift C or you close the document out.

3. The sequence then becomes apply the Heading 2 Style to the text that shares the paragraph. Heading 2 and its attributes come in.

4. Apply the Style Separator (Control Alt Enter) and your cursor will be sitting to the right of the Style Separator.

5. Use Control Shift V to paste the formatting of the body text style you placed on the clipboard that disassociates the Body Text from the Heading 2 text.

6. This method will help to cut down on much of the movement associated with applying styles. The use of the Control Shift V is more efficient than using the Paint Brush. FYI: Control Shift C and Control Shift V is the key combination for the Paint Brush.

7. Placing your most used style on the clipboard for your editing session will make the process of applying styles a lot easier.

Note: Make your work even easier by using Control Alt 1, Control Alt 2 etc. to bring in Heading 1 and Heading 2. This will really cut down on the up and down movement of the right side style pallet. Between the clipboard and the shortcut discussed in this paragraph gives you a major advantage when dealing with big documents.

Training From An Inside Perspective

We routinely and thoroughly go over Style Separator scenarios, Multilevel Outlines, Cross References, TOC, TOA, Index Of Terms, Strategy and so much more!

One Of The Very Few That Teach Top Tier Legal!

www.advanceto.com

https://advancetoffice.com/

www.awalkinthecenter.com

888-422-0692 Ext. 1 and 2

Email:

Louis@advanceto.com

Books that hand hold you through all procedures. www.legaltestready.com and www.awarenessexplosion.com

Hey Students: AdvanceTo offers a very informative and information packed Litigation Formatting and Styling class. This 4.5 hour hands-on Zoom or Phone class (can be spit into 2 sessions) will go through a number of litigation documents piece by piece. You get to learn and experience a number of procedures, vocabulary and reasoning as to why things are constructed the way they are.

This is your opportunity to attain another large block of knowledge that you can put to use right away. We will cover everything from Caption Boxes to Table of Authorities. This high value class is $175.00 and includes narrative material as well as homework, so you can practice your new found skills. For those people who purchase 2 or more classes you receive a nice discount. All Groups receive a discount. Give us a call today! 888-422-0692 Ext. 1 and 2.

[brehaaorgana]

Just an fyi but:

The interest rates are still capped by the government. The way to prevent them from raising interest too high is to get the government to set a lower maximum threshold.

They can only raise your APR so high. Most of the time, creditors do introductory super low or zero APR rates for x number of months, and then it jumps to the normal, very high amount. (The end date of this promo APR is always printed on your statement and very easy to find, bc that's legally required.) It's easier to raise your credit limit and then just let you make your own choices with their money so they make a profit. That's the whole trick of credit cards: If you *were* spending only your money, then you'd be fine. The problem is when you're spending their money, and you spend so much you can't pay them back for borrowing it on credit. Even in my super evil scenario above, there's a) the fact that just because a credit card gave me a 16k limit doesn't mean I will spend all of that $16,000 because I have the agency to not do that and b) there's a risk calculus happening among creditors. If they do this to everyone, then a lot of people will be unable to pay them back and then they get nothing. Which means they lose millions or billions of dollars. Which defeats the purpose. So it wouldn't be everyone to the max.

Creditors are required to have some kind of offer for help/financial relief if you're buried in your debts on your statement. If you are struggling to pay your debts, you can pursue that. They should have internal assistance programs and external nonprofits to refer you to. Or if you (general you) have a lot of debts I can also recommend connecting with a debt management counselor (non-profit, not skeezy) https://www.nfcc.org/ the nfcc accredits a lot of them. There IS help, it isn't hopeless, and they can assist in getting you free of debt cycles.

Also quick guesstimating your rough minimum cc payment = (balance x APR%) + (1% of your total balance.) OR a minimum number (ie $25-$30 is common) and if below the minimum, then your full balance

This is not exact bc it's actually way more math and daily calculated but still good to remember generally how much $$$ you'll spend.

Holy SHIT.

The Biden administration just CAPPED credit card late fees at $8! This is one QUARTER of the current national average of $32!

[miggylol]

Ways to help during the election

I’ve seen people wanting to do something more specific and tangible than “spreading awareness.” Here are some targeted things you can do to help as the election approaches. With the exception of #3 in the first section, all of these should be completely free to you.

Democratic Organizing

Text potential Democratic voters to make sure they are registered to vote (and intend to do so) - After you go through an hour-long Zoom training session, you’ll be able to conduct voter outreach via text. Sometimes, you’ll be able to motivate the people yourself. Sometimes, you’ll identify potential voters who need to be targeted again for further outreach. Either way, it really helps. The most reliable strategy for success isn’t “changing people’s minds,” it’s “making sure the people in our corner actually get their votes in”

Call voters, especially in battleground states - Same deal as above, but I put the texting option first because I know the Tumblr audience

Write postcards to voters, especially in battleground states - Same deal as above, but with an even more personal touch because it’s hand-written. Anecdotal evidence, but I’ve heard some people say this did a uniquely good job of motivating them to vote

Reach out to a local organizer to see if there’s anything specific you can do in your area - In case the options above don’t appeal!

Election Process

Volunteer to be a poll worker - We know they’ll try to limit the number of polling stations, to increase the time certain neighborhoods need to wait in line. Considering that the vast majority of poll worker volunteers are seniors (a.k.a.: at highest covid risk), chances are high that there will be a shortage of poll workers, which could sadly justify closing down some polling locations if there simply aren’t trained workers to be there. Worst case scenario! But if younger people volunteer, those are more eyes and more hands that can keep polling stations open, with plenty of help in case any issues arise

Confirm your registration early - Self-explanatory.

Request an absentee ballot early, drop it off by hand if you can - This page lets you check the absentee and early-voting rules for your state. Ideally, you want a paper ballot. However, given the reports of Post Office fuckery, the best option is to take your absentee ballot and then drop it off by hand to a designated election drop box. Google “__my state__ ballot drop boxes.”

This page also lets you request an absentee ballot and check all of the rules for your state, but as it’s a private org I couldn’t verify that they wouldn’t sell your email or something. Or, you can always google “absentee ballot rules ____my state____” and find the applicable link.

A mail (paper) ballot, plus using a drop-off box by hand before election day, is really the best of both worlds. There’s the physical paper record, but you know it’s safely arrived the second you drop it in the box.

Be sure to follow the rules precisely, such as signing where it tells you to on the envelope. Plenty of absentee ballots get rejected for that.

Verify that your ballot has arrived and been processed - This site tells you when states start processing early ballots. As you can see, some of them have huge lead times. Getting your ballot in early to allow for processing = fewer election day bottlenecks.

To look up your individual ballot’s status, google “absentee ballot status ____my state____”

Another option (a necessary one if your state limits absentee voting) is to vote in-person but early. Many states have early voting, some of which stretches several weeks before Election Day. This is another way to handle any anticipated long lines on 11/3.

Election Fairness

This is all about creating a sense of accountability. If there are numerous calls on a specific topic, someone with good intentions will think “Oh, I should verify this for them.” Someone with bad intentions will go, “Damn, I guess they’re paying attention.” Either way, it’s a positive for election fairness.

If possible, you really want to call (far far far superior to email) some combo of the following nine people, or the whole list:

Your House Representative

Your Senator

And your other Senator

Your state’s Secretary of State (pick your state from the drop-down to be redirected to the Secretary’s website, and then find the contact page there)

Your local representative in the state capitol (Google “find my __mystate___ state representative”)

The ABC station for your local market 

The NBC station for your local market

The CBS station for your local market

Your local newspaper  (find your paper, go to their site, and look for “Contact Us”)

What to say when you call, and feel free to tweak it into your own words:

1-5: “Hi, I’m __your name__ and I live in __zip code__. Given what I hear on the news, I am very concerned about fair elections in November. I’m especially concerned about making sure that all voters are able to be registered, get through the polls quickly, and have their vote counted. What is __the official you’re calling__ doing to guarantee election fairness for everyone in __your state__?” 

6-9: “Hi, I’m __your name__ and I live in __town__. I am very concerned about fair elections in November. I’m especially worried about making sure that all voters are able to be registered, get through the polls quickly, and have their vote counted. Do you have any plans to investigate whether our state is really ready to run a fair election this November?”

You can call more than once (but, you know, space them out a bit). The squeaky wheel gets the grease. For the media, calling multiple times demonstrates community interest in the story. For the politicians, calling multiple times demonstrates that you are the sort of highly engaged voter who will either support them in the future, or make their life very annoying if you’re not acknowledged. Along these lines: recruit friends and family to make more of these calls. Make them short, follow the script, don’t invest too much time in any single call. The volume of calls matters more than anything.

FYI, if you need to zero in on specific people, your best option is to go local: #4 and #5 on the list above. They usually get less attention than national roles, and so your voice will weigh more as they’re less used to receiving scrutiny. And the states do oversee their own election process, so you’re not diluting the impact by focusing on your own state.

And, y’know... be sure to vote.

[elriell]

Hi! I’m that anon who said that Elriel’s conflict with Beron could be the winning argument for our ship since they are tied closely with each other based on Rhysand’s warning in Azriel POV. If you decide to answer that question, would you mind if you answer this one instead? As I’m pretty much still stand on that point however I’d like to add and correct some statements that I think I don’t express clearly in my previous question:)

If you don’t mind, I’d like to post my theory here, anonymously, since I’m not confident enough to post my thoughts online yet as I’m afraid I’ll be judged harshly lol. And perhaps other metas such as you would like to elaborate more on the matter since I think it is a vital plot for Elriel’s book. It’s quite long, I do apologize for that:)

Like I said, Beron allegiance with Briallyn didn’t make any sense to me and it also took me by surprise when I read ACOSF. Why?

A. Briallyn lived on the continent and Beron is in Prythian. Wouldn’t it be better for him to seek an ally that is closer to him instead? We know that Beron wants to be an ally with her because he heard about her ambition. And I suspect that Beron wants to be the High King or kill Feyre since he knows that she has his power. But one thing for sure is that he wants more power.

B. If he indeed wants to be High King or kill Feyre then I don’t believe that the other high lords would comply with him. Therefore, Beron wouldn’t stand a chance against the other high lords and lady in Prythian since it is two (before the queen was killed by Nesta) versus six. Plus, Briallyin lived in the continent thus her allegiance was not something that he could hold on to, imo.

So obviously we know that Briallyn is dead and her allegiance doesn’t mean anything anymore. However, from her allegiance with Beron we now know that Beron for sure set to be the other villain of this new overarching plot alongside Koschei. And I also think that Beron would be the main villain for the next book because a villain as big as Koschei would likely be dealt in the last book.

Now, why is it tied with Elriel? I think Rhysand’s warning in Az’s POV explains it plainly, and I can’t help but think that it is a set up, a foreshadowing, of what would happen in the next book, especially since Koschei’s plotline is not foreshadowed enough in ACOSF and we only know of his onyx box which we get from ACOWAR.

If we acknowledge that Elriel is endgame and their story is next, then Beron surely comes to play in the next book. Their relationship will push the overarching plot one step closer to its climax.

FYI, I can’t see Lucien invoke the Blood Duel himself, he is a decent person so he will respect and understand Elain’s choice to be with Azriel since it is definitely where we are going in the matter of endgame. But, Beron, as cruel as he is, will surely make use of the situation to profit himself, to reach his ambition that is momentarily squashed with Briallyn dead.

These are possible results of what could happen with Blood Duel plotline:

1. Beron would ally himself with Koschei as Briallyn did before because he knows he is outnumbered if he declared a war against the Night Court.

2. Beron could convince other high lords in Prythian to go against the Night Court if Lucien was killed in the Blood Duel, I pray that it will not happen though Lucien deserve some peace and happiness with the woman who wants and loves him voluntarily.

3. Eris would rebel against his father's order for Lucien to invoke the duel, and Beron would be dethroned by Eris and he would be the next high lord of Autumn Court.

I personally lean more on number three, because with Eris being the high lord wouldn’t it be one of the key topics for Mor’s book? It is already confirmed that Sarah pitched Mor’s story as one of the books and she admits that she doesn’t know what the novella is going to be. So, it’s safe to assume that Mor will get a full novel, not a novella one. Seeing her sparse appearance and development we’ve seen of her in ACOSF, then it is also logical to assume that Mor will not be the next book main character.

In conclusion, Elriel needs to happen to address Beron's situation and bring the overall plot of the series a bit higher before it reaches climax in the final book. Is it also possible that Beron’s scenario still can be addressed without it being tied to Elain and Azriel? Yes, but, I will say it again, Rhysand’s warning is a clue, a foreshadowing, of what conflict will be covered in the next book. For an author to drop something as big as that but not happening is a lazy writing in my opinion.

In the previous question I also mentioned that Elriel’s story is kinda similar to Iliad. Their set up is pretty much similar to me, however, I don’t think Elriel’s story will end in tragedy since Sarah doesn’t like to read, write, sad endings.

I’m sorry if I come off as ordering you around, but I really appreciate it if you and other metas also put your thought in the whole Beron/Elriel situation since I’m 95% sure Elain book is next and Azriel will be her LI seeing there is no progress with her and Lucien yet.

And I still stand by my point, you and other Elriel metas keep me sane when all of Elriel antis trying their hardest to discredit all of Elriel’s interaction and feeling in order to make their ship endgame. Thank you so much❤️❤️❤️

I have answered the first one under a read more before I read this and realised what you put hahaha SORRY.

Don’t worry I don’t feel ordered around, and I am going to keep this brief because you basically wrote what I would say, and I want to share it like this so people can read it themselves! You have amazing thoughts and I am happy you chose to share them with me! You certainly have a attention to detail.

I think this is for sure an avenue we need to be looking at in future analyses!! 

But yes, I agree wholeheartedly that Elriel needs to happen in terms of the plot. 

[isa-renee]

Tagged by my dude bro buddy pal, the incredible @theythinkimabitch

1. Do you make your own bed? Nah. I’m honestly not a fan of having a made bed. I find it constricting.

2. What’s your favorite number? 37

3. What’s your job? I don’t have one. I’m a student still, although I did have a paid tutoring job until school closed, so I guess I’ll count that

4. If you could go back to school, would you? Definitely! I mean I’m still in school lol but I definitely plan to continue with it. I may never truly leave school and I can’t say that’s a fate/career path I mind

5. Can you parallel park? Lol nah I still can’t drive

6. A job that you had that would surprise people? I don’t think there is one. The only job I’ve had is the tutoring thing and nobody who even kind of knows me is surprised by that, although maybe surprised that I actually got paid for it since I also do a lot of volunteer work as a tutor

7. Do you think aliens exist? Almost certainly. I mean the universe is huge. There are so many galaxies and star systems and planets out there. I find it hard to believe that we’re special, that for some reason the only life in the billions of years and billions of planets is on our little blue dot around our average sun out in our little bit of galaxy. I mean it’s possible. I don’t know how life formed; maybe it really was a miracle and a one time thing. But, barring that scenario, I find it unlikely we’re alone. (I do not however think aliens have contacted us or are secretly infiltrating our governments though. Just fyi.)

8. Can you drive a manual car? I cannot drive

9. What’s your guilty pleasure? Uhh idk if it’s necessarily a guilty pleasure but I guess it sorta is? Like I don’t talk about it with everyone, but my fandom/book nerd friends understand. I just love teen fiction. And ya novels. I really do. They’re just so fun. They’re easy to read. The characters are lovable. There aren’t like twenty storylines I have to keep track of. It’s just nice

10. Tattoos? No but I wanttt

11. Favorite color? I’m going to say blue. It’s not really blue since I can’t actually choose a favorite color. Blue has just been my answer for years so I go with it. I don’t actually have a favorite color. Color is such an abstract concept. We never see just one color. Color is meant to be seen as part of something more. Because it’s not ever really the color we’re drawn to but what it symbolizes. So my actual answer? It is a crisp fall afternoon, soon after a slight rainfall. Brilliant rays of sunlight filter through the clouds over the mountains. I am reminded strangely of the sea, by shade or simply majesty and power. Birds are chirping. The leaves dapple shadows on the ground beneath me, sunwarmed and soft. I sigh and think perhaps that this is home. It’s easier to just say blue.

12. Favorite type of music? I’m going to go with sad gay love songs. Right there is like the epitome of my music taste. But I also separately enjoy sad songs, gay songs, and love songs, and other combinations of those three things. My taste is honestly kind of eclectic though tbh I’ll listen to most things. Favorite actual genre I guess is like indie folk? It’s a good vibe

13. Do you like puzzles? Yes! I love puzzles! I wish I had more time to do them because they’re so fun

14. Any phobias? I’m a bit claustrophobic. I don’t necessarily mind all small spaces I just can’t stand being physically confined. I need to be able to fully move all my limbs or I am liable to freak out. And start crying (tears of frustration). And probably kicking things. I’m also getting really uncomfortable thinking about tight spaces so imma stop writing. It’s like an actual physical discomfort. It’s unpleasant.

15. Favorite childhood sport? This depends which part of childhood tbh. I’m going to go with archery because I remember that one most clearly and it still remains my favorite. I also fenced and played tball and volleyball at various points. But I mean I’m definitely going to go with the sport involving sharp objects and deadly weapons so yeah. Archery

16. Do you talk to yourself? Yup. Constantly. It’s an issue. There have definitely been times when my parents thought I was talking on the phone but nope it was just me

17. What movie do you adore? I don’t really watch too many movies. Or remember them too distinctly whoops. I’m going to go with the LOTR trilogy just purely for the number of times I’ve seen it. I can definitely quote large sections of it from memory. And sing all of the songs. At one point in time I could consistently identify basically every piece on the soundtrack by name. I’ve really watched those movies too many times. I regret nothing

18. Coffee or tea? Tea. So much more variety! Coffee tastes nice but I don’t do caffeine and it’s hard to find a good decaf espresso. But tea is just the best. I’ll admit I’m a bit of a tea snob but I’m self-aware at least

19. First thing you wanted to be when you grew up? Paleontologist. For years! So many years. My entire childhood pretty much. Dinosaurs are rad and I stand by that statement

Tagging whoever wants to do this because it’s fun but I don’t like to tag people lol sorry

[tetrakys]

Trois Allumettes - Chapter 14

Rewrite of MCL UL episode 16 with Lysander.

Big thank you to the people who sent me their suggestions, let me know if you think I got it right.

FYI the song I mention at some point is Tsar B - Escalate

Chapters 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13

“She’s here!”

I looked up startled by the sudden commotion around me. I’d been walking slowly, my eyes on the ground, lost in my thoughts. I couldn’t stop picturing Nath covered in blood on the gym floor.

What had supposed to be one of the most pleasant evenings out of these holidays, had turned out to be one of the worst, spending hours at the hospital hoping for Nath conditions to be not as bad as they seemed.

I was finally back to campus and the whole little group with whom I’d gone to the carnival what felt like ages ago, was there, relieved looks on their faces as soon as they spotted me.

“I…” when I saw Lys my eyes got all misty, and the pressure suddenly subsided. I threw myself into his arms sobbing.

“Candy… I’m here…” he hugged me against his chest, and I got the feeling that the hold of his embrace calmed my heartbeat.

I cried in his arms for a minute, probably drenching his elegant coat with my tears. When I calmed down, he kissed me gently on the head.

They all wanted to know about Nath. I wasn’t looking forward to their questions, but apparently they already knew most of it from Amber. At least they knew that he’d been taken to the hospital after a beating. I filled them in with what I could. I had to stick to the mug story, I couldn’t tell them the truth, it wasn’t my place to.

“What a jerk!” we all turned around surprised to see Castiel fuming. “He supposedly wants to handle the situation on his own and then calls Candy? I doubt she’s the most appropriate person to call when you get mugged. What was the point? For her to see his condition without actually being able to help him? Imagine if the group of muggers had still been on the premises?! They would’ve gone after you too!”

“That’s enough, Castiel.” Lysander said in a firm tone, laying his arm around my shoulders. “We appreciate your concern, but this is not the right time. As you can clearly see Candy is upset enough.”

“Sorry,” Castiel nodded, “I shouldn’t have talked about it now, but it seemed important to make the point. We were all worried about you… My concern is what was talking.” He added, looking at Lysander earnestly.

We all said goodbye and Lys walked me to my dorm room.

“Are you ok?” he asked me as soon as we were alone in front of my door. Concern in his eyes, he sweetly stroked my cheek and I leaned into his touch.

“I didn’t know what to do, Lys… I felt so helpless.”

“You did the right thing, calling an ambulance. Despite his harsh tone and bad timing, I agree with Castiel. Nathaniel shouldn’t have put you in this situation, he should’ve called the emergency number from the start instead of putting you in unnecessary danger. I wish… I wished you’d asked me to go with you.” He added taking me in his arms.

“Lys… I didn’t think about it… I just ran.”

“I know. And this is one of the things I admire the most about you. You’re just so good and kind, you’d literally do anything for your friends. I just hope that one day you’re going to trust me enough to see me as the person to lean on when things get rough.”

“I trust you, Lys.” I hugged him tighter but didn’t add anything else, and he didn’t either. We both knew that we didn’t have nearly enough time together to become each other’s crutch.

“When I couldn’t find you I got so scared Candy. I pictured you alone, in that crowd and the worst scenarios ran through my mind.”

I kissed him apologetically, “I’m sorry for disappearing on you like that. And just when we’d finally managed to find some time to be together.”

“About that… I’m going to be busy tomorrow, and the day after I’m leaving for the farm where I’m going to spend the rest of the week.”

I felt my heart sink. We were on vacation, I was hoping to spend at least a bit of time with him and he was leaving.

“Would you… I mean…” I looked up at him, surprised by his stuttering and sudden embarrassment. “If you’ve nothing else to do… you could come with me.”

With him? To the farm? A whole week together?

I knew my answer already.

---

 “A whole week together starting with a road trip?” I said looking at Lys’ beautiful profile focused on the road ahead. “I feel quite lucky.”

“I would hardly call this a road trip,” he laughed, “it’s just a few hours stuck in a car with me, and I know I’m not the most talkative person. I’m afraid it’s going to be quite boring.”

Mph… he had no idea… how non-bored I was feeling at the moment. I’d always found men at the wheel quite sexy, but this particular man… the way he hold the wheel, his firm grip, his focused stare… he had a certain authoritative and slightly aggressive way of driving that seemed a little out of character for him and, at the same time, suited him a lot. It made me wonder if there where other aspects where he could act bossy and rough.

The simple thought made me blush.

To be honest, I hadn’t been able to think about much else these past 24 hours. Since knowing that I was going to spend the week at the place he’d grown up, I’d been ecstatic, I couldn’t wait to learn more about him and his past.

But when the thought of spending the night together had finally sunk in, I started to hyperventilate.

Not because I didn’t want to. I wanted to, oh… I really wanted to. I literally couldn’t wait. I’d even bought new underwear. A black and red corset with laces at the back but that could easily be removed thanks to convenient zip at the front, it also came with matching panties.

No, I wasn’t hesitant at all. I was fully prepared to take things to the next level.

What I wasn’t sure of, was if he wanted to.

The one time we’d come close to it, or at least were heading towards it, he’d backed off. He’d said he didn’t want to take advantage of me, knowing he was going to leave in a few months. The mere thought was absurd to me, no one was taking advantage of anyone here, I was very willing, more than willing. Also, we hadn’t been officially together at the time, so maybe his feelings had changed meanwhile.

Still, I was afraid of how he might react if we got close to it again, I wasn’t sure my self-esteem could take another rejection.

“Anyway, thanks for coming with me. Your presence alone is going to brighten what would’ve otherwise been a very tedious week.”

He explained that he didn’t have much heavy work to do, since the people he and Leigh had hired to work at the farm for this year where taking care of it. But he was supposed to meet with some clients, mostly local business owners, restaurants and such, who made use of their products.

This meant we were also going to have lots of free time to spend together. I literally couldn’t wait.

We spent the whole afternoon quietly listening to music on the radio, I made him laugh when I tried (and failed) to sing along. Let’s just say I’d never been gifted with a perfect pitch.

Sometimes he absentmindedly rested his hand on my knee, and my head went completely into overdrive. Particularly when his fingers lightly caressed my skin, sometimes rising a little up on my thigh.

I could tell that he wasn’t completely conscious of these gestures, because as soon as he realised what he was doing, he quickly removed his hand placing it back on the wheel. His grip so tight his knuckles became white.

We only stopped once to grab a quick bite, and when we arrived at the farm, it was already dark.

“I’m going to show you around tomorrow morning,” Lys said while we walked up a few steps to reach the front door. “It’s too late now and you need daylight to move around the property if you’re not used to it.”

He was right, I could tell the house was a big, old villa, but it was too dark to make up anything else. Inside though… as soon as he opened the door and turned on the light I was left speechless. It was old, yes, and rustic, definitely nothing I would’ve associated with Lysander, but it was also homely and comfy. We passed through a living room hosting a couple of soft-looking sofas that I was dying to throw myself on. A fireplace on the wall completed the picture of the perfect, dreamy, country house.

He showed me quickly the kitchen and the bathroom and stopped in front of a door.

“Here we are, this is your room.”

My… excuse me?!

“You’ll find clean sheets on the bed and extra pillows in the wardrobe if you need them. Goodnight.”

He leaned to leave a quick kiss on my cheek and disappeared in the room next door.

I remained there for a few seconds, petrified on the spot.

What had just happened?

Okay, I suspected he might still be worried about “taking advantage of me”, hurting my feelings, or whatever crazy idea he had created in his mind that stopped him from getting physical with me. But… even sleeping together, hugging each other, would have been amazing. I just wanted to feel closer to him. And now, with just a wall between us, he seemed so far away.

I pushed the door and stepped into my room. I didn’t even look around, I just headed directly to the bed like a zombie and sat on it.

He must’ve been tired for sure, having driven the whole day, still… it didn’t explain his odd behaviour.

Was it… me? Was he tired of me after spending the day together in close quarters? But it seemed he was having fun the whole time, I was positive about that. No, something else was going on.

I spent at least an hour sitting on that bed, trying to figure out what to do with no success. I might as well call it a night, it was very late, probably around 3am. It was best to try to get some sleep and talk to him the following day.

I removed my dress and remembered what I was wearing underneath. That corset had brought nothing but the worst of luck. I was now left in it and a long underskirt with a side cut that I made myself so that I could use it underneath a couple of dresses in that particular style.

I was about to start removing everything else so that I could slip into my nightwear, when I realised I was parched and it was probably a good idea to grab a glass of water from the kitchen before going to bed.

I just removed my shoes and headed towards the kitchen barefooted as to not make too much noise waking up Lys.

Trying to find my way to the kitchen in the dark wasn’t easy. I took the wrong turn a couple of times, when I finally found myself in the right room, I felt I was dying of thirst. Filling a glass from the tap, I took a huge sip and that’s when I heard the music.

Yes, there was music coming from somewhere. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was, but it sounded soft and almost sad.

Leaving the glass on the kitchen counter, I followed the sound, step after step bringing me closer to the source of the music, until I found myself in a room where something incredible was going on.

A huge grand piano was in the middle of the room, which was mostly dark, lighted by candles in different corners. Lysander was playing, following a music coming from a sound system. He looked so focused, so immersed in the music, I’d only ever seen him like this that one time he was reciting his poem at the open mic.

I had no idea he could play, and he definitely could. He’d rolled the sleeves of his white shirt up over his elbows and I stayed there, charmed. looking at the expert movements of his hands on the keys, listening to the amazing sounds he was creating. I could feel it reverberating in my chest, as if I was under a spell.

“Did I wake you up?”

Lys voice took me back to reality. The piano’s final note had just died but the song was still playing, probably on loop. It sounded so different without the piano, less melancholic and more sensual.

Or, at least, those were my feelings when I saw Lys raising his head to look at me, and I remembered that I was half undressed, only wearing my lingerie.

He took in my whole body, from head to toe. Starting from my flushed face and my long hair that I’d left loose around my shoulders, reaching mid-waist. He took in my corset and the way it squeezed my chest, creating a generous cleavage and a tiny waist. Then my hips, hugged my the underskirt, and the deep cut, that showed my thigh and leg, down to my bare feet.

He was speechless and couldn’t take his eyes off me.

“You didn’t,” I replied, “I was on my way back from the kitchen when I heard the music. I’m sorry if I interrupted your practice. I had no idea you could play the piano.”

I stepped into the room and walked towards him, stopping in front of him next to the piano.

I pressed on a key out of curiosity, the sound reverberating into the room. “You’re incredibly good.”

He smiled sadly. “Thank you, but I’m far from it. My mother was the pianist of the family, I’m but a mere amateur. I play from time to time to calm myself, when I’m too pensive or restless.”

“And what are you now? Pensive or restless?”

“Both.” He replied earnestly, resting his hands on my hips. “I feel restless because I can’t stop thinking about you and at how much I want you.”

My heart skipped a beat at his words.

“I feel the same. I want you and I can’t sleep thinking about how you pushed me away the moment we stepped into this house.”

He didn’t try to deny it, he knew exactly what I was talking about. I was standing in front of him while he was still sitting on the bench, from my higher vantage point I felt I could act bolder, so I laid my hand in his hair, caressing the soft tendrils between my fingers.

He closed his eyes, lost in the sensations of my caresses. “I was trying to do the right thing, but I don’t think I can anymore.”

“Good.” I simply replied. “If being together is wrong, then I’m ready to make the biggest mistake of my life. Over and over again.”

His hands tightened their hold on my hips and when he opened his eyes again I could read so much longing and lust that I knew he was done pretending now.

Before I could realise what he was doing, he pushed me against the piano and made me seat on the keyboard. The cacophony of sounds completely ignored as he attacked my mouth with his. One hand grabbed my chin, as his lips took possess of mine, repeatedly. His other hand grabbed my thigh through the slit and moved it so that I could hook my legs around his waist.

Without interrupting our kiss, he lifted me and, walking around the instrument with complete ease, as if I weighted nothing, he dropped me on the closed lid.

Only then we finally came up for air. I knew I must be flushed and completely dishevelled, but he looked at me as if I was the most fascinating piece of art he’d ever laid eyes on.

“You’re so beautiful.” He said almost pained. “I never knew what desire was until the day I met you. I thought I did, but it turns out I was just an ignorant fool. You haunt my thoughts and dreams Candy, day or night, I’m inevitably, completely yours.”

I wasn’t as good with words as him, so I simply took his hand and put it on my chest, right above my heart. “So am I. Yours.”

This seemed to be enough for him to put aside any final reservation and doubt. The hand on my chest got bolder and he grabbed my breast above the fabric of my corset. When he realised the garment was nothing but an hindrance to his explorations, he grabbed the zip and slowly opened it, savouring the exquisite torture of anticipation.

At the same time his other hand went beck to my thigh, caressing higher and higher.

The moment my chest was completely exposed to his eyes, he looked spellbound and lowered his lips to my soft skin. His hand now had finally reached the spot it was looking for, and the combined sensations of his lips and his fingers above the fabric of my underwear, was enough to make me lose my mind.

But before I could even start to let go, he left my body and I almost cried at the loss. Grabbing both skirt and slip, he pushed them down my legs, so that now I was completely naked in front of him.

He looked so handsome and impressive as he took in my now completely naked body, that I almost felt like a sacrificial offering to a god, and I was ready lo let him do whatever he wanted to me.

He slowly, without breaking his eyes away from any part of my body he felt like looking at, removed his shirt, so that now I had a perfect view of his chiselled chest that I was dying to feel under my fingers. But he didn’t give me the chance to raise to touch him.

Grabbing my knees, he opened me to his stare, and I saw his eyes turn incredibly dark and lose any trace of self-control.

His mouth was on me before I could even say a word, not that I wanted to. Pushing me down, he made me lie with my back on the piano, and helped me slide so that now my bottom was at the edge. His hands on my breasts, grabbing with a rough strength that was almost deliciously painful, and his tongue on my bundle of nerves, tasting me hungrily.

When one of his hands rose up to my face and his index finger rested on my lips, I knew exactly what he wanted me to do, so I looked at him in the eye as I took it in my mouth and sucked, wetting it with my saliva.

A few seconds later I felt that finger entering me.

I dropped my head on the piano and lost myself in the sensation. He was playing my body with the same focus and passion as he’d done with the piano, and I hoped that the sounds I was making were as pleasing to his ears as his music had been to mine. I was panting, moaning, and crying his name over and over again and, when I felt I was just about to fall off the edge of pleasure, he stopped and stepped back.

I groaned in frustration. I’d been so damn close.

But before I could find the strength to protest or beg, I felt something much bigger than a finger entering me and he took my breath away.

Yes!

We were finally one, and I could feel him everywhere, inside of me and over me.

If I thought making love with him was going to be sweet and tender, I was wrong. Completely wrong. He was rough, and strong, and he took me as if he wanted to possess me completely, body and soul. There was still something loving in the way he delicately moved a tendril of hair from my face and caressed my lips, as if he wanted to kiss me, but the position made it impossible. So he kept pistoning inside me like a man possessed. The moment his thumb came to my clit I came while crying his name.

And as I came down from my high, and my eyes found his again, he followed me, moaning something that I wasn’t able to understand. The force of his orgasm so strong that he crushed over me, his head resting on my chest. My hands came immediately to his hair, caressing his locks as we both found our breaths again.

“You’re perfect,” he whispered.

“I believe you are the perfect one here. Seriously, poetry, music and… this… is there anything you cannot do?”

I felt him lightly laugh against my skin.

“I’m not sure, I guess we have to practice thoroughly and make several tests to find out.”

“Well, I guess there’s no other choice then,” I replied faking a resigned tone. “I guess I shall help you out.”

“Please,” he laughed. “I have so many ideas on my mind, this week won’t be enough to test them all.”

His lips found mine, and we kissed again.

Again and again, all the way through the night.

---

Back to Chapter 13

[katexsimmer]

🌟 Wheel Spin CAS Challenge 🌟

Rules & Template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KLH0lG-BcsWhVM7xXi5XPICEfcnyu74PQ8fNc1jCgZk/edit

I used a random number generator to determine the looks of my sim, based upon the template :) Here’s what I used to create her! FYI, I couldn’t use all the scenarios given, either because I don’t have it in my game, or because I wasn’t gonna use her in-game. ♥

CC?: Yes (#1)

Sim Type: Human (#1)

Hair Color: Red (#4)

Eye color: Yellow (#3)

Style: Casual (#2)

Accessory: Earrings (#4)

Aspiration: Master Mixologist (#14)

This challenge was really fun! If you guys would like me to upload a video of me doing it, let me know! 🤗

[psychosistr]

Don’t Cost a Thing- Part 1

Summary: Steelbeak, well-known ladies man and chief officer of F.O.W.L., unintentionally ends up annoying his partner, Dominic Domino, by showering him with incredibly expensive and unwarranted gifts. Will he figure out the right way to earn the other bird’s attention?

Notes: This is a Steelbeak x OC fic starring the amazing character Dominic Domino by @thefriendlyfour​ / @eleanorose123 . If you want to learn more about him before diving into the fic, check him out here on her account then come back. Enjoy!

Deep beneath F.O.W.L. headquarters, agent Domino- or Dominic, depending on whom he was speaking to- made his way through the base’s large garage of cars to his own vehicle. It had been another long day of running missions and he was more than ready for the comfort and quiet of his own home.

As he approached the car, keys in hand and already planning out what the rest of his night would entail, something in the driver’s seat caught his eye. “Hm?” He peeked in through the window and spotted something that made him roll his eyes with a scowl on his long beak. “Not again..” He unlocked his door and reached in to pull the offending item out of his car and into the poor lighting of the garage.

The item in question was a small box wrapped in shiny metallic wrapping paper (steel colored, he realized) with a red ribbon tied around it. There was a small note tucked under the edge of the ribbon, but he didn’t even need to read it to know who it was from- with the box’s color scheme, it was pretty obvious.

Still, his eyes glanced at the card out of habit and he saw the expected combination of letters that was short but irritatingly familiar by now: “To- D.D., From- S.B.”

It was the same card that had appeared on every gift he’d received for the past six weeks, five days, and 22 hours- yes, he’d been counting. Dominic had been receiving these sorts of unwarranted presents at a steady rate of at least one every three to four days, all from the same person.

“Aw, c’mon- ya could at least humor me an’ open it, Deedee.” Ah, speak of the devil and he shall appear…

Dominic spared a glance to one of the garage’s pillars and spotted his partner, Steelbeak, leaning casually against the tall column with his arms folded over his chest.

“Whatever it is, I don’t want it.” Dominic said while setting the box on the hood of the car next to his own. He then turned back to his own car and opened the door. “And quit breaking into my car- at this rate you’ll bust the locks.” He was about to get in, but a hand on the car’s door prevented him from closing it. “Steelbeak..” He said in a low, warning tone of voice.

“You ain’t leavin’ me a lot of options here, Dee.” Steelbeak said while looking down at his partner and not letting go of the door. He was careful to keep a couple of inches worth of space between his hand and Dominic’s own on the door, making sure they wouldn’t touch by accident. “Ya could at least open it.”

Dominic gripped his car door tighter in preparation. “Like I said-” He jerked the door out of his partner’s hand while putting his key in the ignition. “I don’t want it.” Before the rooster could get the chance to try continuing the conversation, Dominic started the car, closed and locked the door, and drove away from the parking lot, leaving the frustrated looking chicken behind to glare after him.

Some would call Dominic’s attitude towards his partner unnecessarily harsh. Some would say he was putting up walls that didn’t need to be there. And some others (like Steelbeak himself) would say that he needed to remove the stick from his backside and loosen up a little.

To each and every one of those people, Dominic would simply say in return that they needed to shut it and mind their own business. They weren’t the ones that had to deal with Steelbeak and his constant barrage of unwarranted gifts that were, frankly, becoming a hassle to deal with.

Arriving at his apartment and opening the front door, he could instantly tell that something was…off. Not in the life-threatening “assassin hiding in the coat closet preparing to kill him (again)” way, more like the “someone was in here earlier and already left but he could still practically smell their high-dollar cologne” way.

Closing his eyes and taking a quick inhale confirmed Dominic’s theory. He took off his hat and coat, hanging them neatly in the foyer closet before following the now-familiar scent through his apartment.

Jasmine and roses in the front doorway.

Carnations, lavender, and lily of the valley in the living room.

Cedar and sandalwood as he passed the kitchen.

Tonka beans, musk, and a few assorted spices down the hallway.

Then, finally, the spicy final piece to that distinctive combination- red pepper, cloves, and black pepper- when he opened the door to his bedroom.

“Carrion Poivre.” Dominic stated as he scanned his bedroom for any anomalies. “There’s only one person I know with THAT taste in cologne.”

Then, he spotted it. Sitting like a flare in an empty street in the middle of the night, there it was- the silver present with the red bow, right on the foot of his bed on top of the black duvet.

To be even more exact, it was in the same spot he always sat down on when he got home while changing his clothes. The fact that Steelbeak knew THAT (there were no cameras in his home, he’d checked for them countless times by now) bothered him far more than how the present had wound up there in the first place- after all, they were spies, and stealing or leaving items behind in nearly unexplainable ways was part of their job description. He could already see the many possible ways it could have been done- Steelbeak could have taken a jet to beat him home, or he could have taken an underground tunnel, or “borrowed” some new teleportation technology from the lab, or the present before was just a fake and he’d already snuck in earlier to leave the real one there long before he entered the garage, or he could have hacked into the city’s traffic control system and delayed him with the ludicrously high number of red lights he’d run into on the way home-

Dominic stopped himself before his mind could continue conjuring up scenarios. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then let it out slowly. He was NOT going to let this get to him.

Walking over to the bed, he brushed the offending box aside so that he could continue his daily routine in peace.

He succeeded in ignoring the tacky silver paper-wrapped package for as long as it took him to change back into his regular every-day clothes. However, as he adjusted his shirt, he saw the metallic paper gleaming in the light and his curiosity finally got the better of him.

Picking the present up from where he’d knocked it over on the bed, Dominic untied the ribbon before neatly plucking open the sides of the wrapping paper without tearing it (the tape was hidden better this time- his skill at wrapping these was improving). With the paper gone, he saw an unmarked black jewelry box inside.

Opening the box revealed a watch. Not just any watch, he noted- a genuine Crowlex. It was part of their newer series that he’d seen advertised in some of his magazines recently, the oyster perpetual set. He had to admit, it was tastefully designed with its black metallic face, stainless steel band, and the myriad of diamonds all over the watch. It was nice, but more than a bit ostentatious for his liking, something he’d probably save for a classier event such as a black-tie party or-

No. That train of thought was stopping RIGHT THERE.

Getting up from his bed, Dominic walked over to his dresser and opened the third drawer on the right side- the one that his mind was beginning to label as “The Steelbeak Drawer”. Opening it revealed a plethora of equally expensive trinkets: Diamond studded cufflinks, a jewel encrusted tie-pin, an assortment of gold and silver rings, and a bottle of cologne studded all the way around with genuine Swanovski crystals.

Dominic placed the watch in the drawer next to the bottle of cologne before closing it again. He then gathered up the wrapping paper and ribbon, threw them away in the waste basket by his bed, and went about the rest of his day as if his partner hadn’t broken into his apartment just to leave a gift worth thousands of dollars on his bed in a vain attempt to buy his attention.

It wouldn’t work, anyway- he wouldn’t LET IT work.

Next Part->

End Notes: Kept the intro short since the second part’s a bit longer ^^” FYI- I’m setting all of these to post in the morning around the same time, but I’ll be going back and editing the links to each chapter once they’re up.

Also, sorry for all of the fancy brand puns, I just couldn’t resist xD

For anyone who didn’t get all of the item references, here: Carrion Poivre is a play on Caron Poivre- an expensive gender neutral perfume/cologne that costs about $1,000 an ounce and felt like something Steelbeak would use. Crowlex is obviously a play on Rolex, and the watch is a real one (though this video offers a better look at it). And finally, Swanovski crystals is a play on Swarovski crystals and they actually do make their own perfume/cologne line (ironically called Bond no. 9 xD).

[kageyamarltsu]

ROTTMNT OCs

Okay first off, a bit of a preface: They’re a bit based off these guys from the 2003 tmnt

fyi tho, rottmnt is my first tmnt media, I actually never got into tmnt before then because it never really interested me (I only watched media with lots of girls when I was younger,) And while I do plan to watch the 2003 n 2012 ones eventually, I don’t know much about the other turtle universes ^^; sorry!

Next thing, I imagine them being sometime after the whole Shredder arc, and being like the turtles next main foe. They’re created by Baron Draxum of course, and they’re around the same age as the rest of the turtles. Major difference is that they’re essentially “””raised””” by Draxum-- not actually, as he doesn’t regard them as his children, and doesn’t give them names, they’re called by their numbers; he’s a bad parent. He treats them like soldiers, and since they only know that sort of lifestyle, they just go with it.

They all each mirror their respective turtle, in both personality and body type/character design shape.

Second preface: they are all girls.

‘Why?’ you may ask. Simple, I love girls, and you can’t go wrong with more girls in your show! Also, goes with them being raised soldiers and having higher and stricter standards held by Baron Draxum as a sort of metaphor for how girls are raised to higher standards at a young age and don’t get to act like teens as much. (Though one of the major plot points with them is them learning to act like teenagers and have fun, through both the turtle crew and April)

Now to finally introduce them.

#1 Mirrors: Leo

I’m imaging her more-so mirroring (from my little knowledge of) past iterations of Leo. Where she’s the oldest of her sisters, has a lot of responsibilities to uphold, and is the leader of her sisters. She’s the only one of her sisters who actually looks like a turtles (I’m still deciding if the others look somewhat similar to a turtle-- like with having shells-- or are completely different animals). I’m still deciding though if I want her to be a red-eared slider like Leon, or a different turtle breed from all the main boys entirely.

She’s considered Draxum’s favorite due to her being the envisioned soldier he wanted. She follows orders clearly and concisely, is one of the strongest of her sisters. Although Draxum expects her to be cutthroat, when she actually doesn’t like the idea of being murderous. She attacks hard and strong, but she doesn’t wanna kill anyone! She’s incredibly protective of her younger sisters, and would do anything to make sure they’re safe (even if they may not do the same for her)!

Also since she’s Draxum’s favorite, he let’s her use his like seed things he uses to to make those purple vines. She uses those similar to him, but mostly to make twin swords (another relation to Leo!), and she can combine them hilt-to-hilt to make one bigger sword that she can spin around n stuff. She can also use them to make other weapons or used for other purposes if she wants to, but she prefers the swords.

Doesn’t immediately bond with Leo at first, because she’s emo and angsty. But when she grows a bit, she joins in on memeing with him. She also likes puns, and makes them a lot too! (Even in the beginning)

#2 Mirrors: Donnie

Like science nerd baby Donatello, she’s the brains of her group. Major difference is while Donnie has his *Leo voice* Emotionless Passion™, #2 is passionately emotionless! She’s like feral and just always hyped about things, but has zero morals in an evil way. I know a lot of people like to poke at the idea of Donnie going to ~the dark side~ but I never think he would, he’s still a good boy at heart. #2 however has been raised to be evil, so...

She’s part chameleon, so she has cloaking abilities, and makes tech to work with it. She probably has similar tech to Donnie, but instead her main weapon would be like a naginata (that can change and stuff like the tech-bo).

She’s Draxum’s next favorite, because she makes him new weapons.

She likes to hang out with Donnie a lot, and actually does even when their both enemies, and the exchange ideas and designs for new tech. For the ~~~science~~~ Thing is she’ll sometimes suggest something that’s even a bit too much for him.

#3 Mirrors: Mikey

She’s similar to Mikey where she’s really cute and (appears to be) the smallest of the four. However, since she’s actually a middle child, and not the youngest, so she’s a bit more feral compared to Mikey, as well as more deadly! She’s quite free-spirited, and is able to be since Draxum cares more about the older two.

She’s part poisonous frog! Thinking something like either the harlequin poison frog or the golden poison dart frog black legged dart frog! She crouches a lot, so she looks like shes the shortest, but when she actually stands up tall, she’s the tallest and is really lanky. She’s still got a mostly circle character shape to her though.

Her main weapon is her skin being deadly to touch, so she fights mostly with her fists. She may get an actual weapon, but I’m still thinking it through (I’m thinking something with a long chain to mirror Mikey's weapon, pfft). She can jump really high and far like a frog, as well as, crawl on walls and maybe ceilings idk how frogs work very well. She’s quite deadly and fast when she wants to be.

Both her and Mikey like art! They have funsies, and Donnie n #2 both eventually make some sort of tech where her skin isn't as super poisonous anymore, and her n Mikey can play more.

#4 Mirrors: Raph

She’s baby! She’s super big and hulking like Raph, but she’s the youngest of them, so instead of being the type to lunge in headfirst and think later like Raph, she’s a bit more level-headed because she has lower expectations with Draxum focusing on mostly #1 and #2. She’s similar to Raph in being a big softie, and incredibly lovable of course!

I’m not still finalized on her species yet, but She’s part komodo dragon! Quite big and deadly if she wants to be (but she never really does, she mostly would only be so when following orders). She has a large tail that she can use to sweep at enemies.

And similar again to Raph, her main weapon are her brawns. Thinking something similar to brass knuckles or blades coming from her hands (I don’t know a lot about ninja/shinobi weapons, but I do know they have stuff like that).

Her big sisters are very much protective of her. Mostly emotionally, not physically, because they know she can defend herself.

Her and Raph both like plushies, talking about their siblings, and training with each other to hone their own abilities/strengths!

Major character development with them, is spending time with April and learning teenager things (probably eventually getting phones through her help), she also gives them names (I personally headcanon April gave the turtle boys their names, considering Splinter tends to call them by their colors), and while #1 is the first to initially protest it--  with the others being on board with it-- she eventually gives into it, and it helps all four of them become more of their own selves. I haven’t decided what names yet, because I don’t know a lot of Renaissance artists, sorry ^^; this is also why I refer to them by their numbers in the entire post too...

Another scenario is they kidnap Leon and Donnie, #1 and #2 go disguised as them (because #1 looks most similar to Leon, and #2 has a similar body type to Donnie, and just has to add a few things and use her cloaking to look like him), and they use this to infiltrate the turtle lair. There, #2 tries to survey everything, and studies a lot of Donnie's things. #1 has a heart to heart with Mikey over her self-esteem/high expectations issues. (She also becomes protective, like over her sisters, over Mikey because of this).

Another scenario that can really be a part of anything, is a situation where they have the turtles down, and Draxum wants #1 to finish them off. While the others are whatever about it--possibly #2 n #3 excited about it (mostly because they don’t have as much of a good sense of morality yet, except for maybe #4)-- #1 is very hesitant about it, and eventually tries to sneakily let them go. Leo's the first of the turtles to catch on that she let them go and that the Draxum soldiers are likely not pure evil or unredeemable; which eventually leads to wanting to help them escape Draxum.

They also eventually do become friends/siblings with the turtles, and either Draxum becomes a good dad or they ditch him. Though this is more-so an end-of-arc situation where then they’d might eventually leave NY and go somewhere else to fight evil yokai, and like sometimes visit the turtles and April for funsies.

[advancetoclassesandmaterials]

Controlling The Look of the Numbering System For Your Multilevel Outlines When The Numbered Part of the Heading Level Is A Mixture of Words and Numbers...

Scenario: The attorney has asked that the words preceding the number of our heading 1 outline level be in Initial Caps when the Table of Contents is generated but within the body of the document itself, that same area of text should be in ALL CAPS.

ARTICLE 1.

INTRODUCTION

Our Heading Level 1 is the word Article followed by the number type . So Article and the number that follows is the Numbering Aspect of Heading 1 and the text that follows (Introduction), is the Textual Aspect of Heading 1. This write up will show you how to get this request done. Note: FYI this level would be centered and there would be a soft return (shift enter) after the number 1.

For the numbering aspect, we will take care of it within the Multilevel Outline Dialog Box. The textual aspect of Heading 1 is always taken care of by us modifying Heading 1 in your right side style panel.

Let’s get this request done:

Using your right side style panel attach Heading 1 to the first instance of Heading 1. Don’t worry how it initially looks we will fix it up. Now, under Home, go to your Multilevel Outline Button and down to “Define New Multilevel Outline”.

When you first get there click the “MORE” button to open the entire Dialog box.

Link Level 1 (Left side) to Heading 1 under the “Link level to style” area on the right side top.

Under Enter Formatting, type the word “Article” in Initial Caps followed by selecting the 1,2,3 numbering type under “Number Style For This Level”. You will now have the word Article and a grey “1”. Note: The way you initially typed in the word “Article” will determine the look you get in the TOC.

Go to Font: For the font, ask for Times New Roman 12, Bold, All Caps. Click ok to exit the the Font Dialog box. Note: The word Article will now become uppercase. Don’t worry, you will get the initial caps look in the TOC and the ALL CAPS look within the body as requested.

Under “Aligned at” this should be 0 and Text Indent At should be 0. For Follow number with: You select “Nothing” since the Heading is centered and nothing follows the number.

Once you exit the Multilevel Outline Dialog Box modify Heading 1 by right clicking on Heading 1 in your right side style panel and selecting Modify. Go to Format Font, and choose Times New Roman 12, Bold, All Caps. Remember, both the numbering aspect and textual aspect have their OWN Font area to deal with.

Still modifying Heading 1, go to Format Paragraph, choose Alignment Center, single space and 12 Pts. After Spacing.

When the Heading comes in, it should be in ALL CAPS. When you run your TOC that Heading 1 type should be in Initial Caps as requested.

This write up comes from the book MS Word Legal: Using the Multilevel Outline Feature. We teach Multilevel Outlining every week. Our classes are thorough and we take you to expert level. Through Zoom, we teach individuals, groups, within firms and outsource support staff as well.

Basic-Advanced MS Office Legal and Corporate Training, Testing, Test Prep and Placement.

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[hollanderwritings-blog]

Hollander Writings Prompts #1

rHey guys! So I thought I’d do a prompt list for you guys ! I’ve seen a lot of writers do it 

Since @hollandroos said they are fun heck why won’t I give a try?

Just inbox me any of the numbers and I’ll write a imagine or blurb for it.

If you want to use another prompt number you can but only if it’s with a different prompt. It’ll be better for me 

The prompts can be written about the holland family(Tom,Harry,Sam, etc), Peter Parker, Harrison. Have fun :) Also some of these prompts graviate towards a certain scenario better than others fyi. 

1. Why in the world are you face planted on the floor?

2: Please tell me you didn’t  just get a dog without discussing with me first?

3. You’re an idiot but your my idiot.

4. You never told me you could dance!

5. Remind me to never go camping with you again.

6. Is there a reason why you keep bailing on me?

7. Please don’t give me the silent treatment!

8. You are sleeping on the couch tonight !

9. You forgot our anniversary what do you want me to say ?

10. If you weren’t my boyfriend I would literally murder you.

11. If your job is more important then this is not going to work.

12. Happy Birthday you dufus.

13. I am not dressing like that for Halloween!

14. You look like a cute burrito.

15. Next time we dance to this song I hope it will be at our wedding.

16. She has your looks but my eyes.

17. If you wanted me dead before that why didn’t you just kill me?

18. Out of all people you had to lie to me why?

19. you never told me you had a fan account!

20. Wait... You never told me he was your dad!

21. The thought that you were with her makes me sick 

22. Since when have you listened to Rihanna?

23. We are getting soaked right now but the feelings of your lips against mine is wonderful.

24.  Why are you jealous? There is no reason to be. 

25. Why are you standing outside of my door with hello kitty pants on?

26. I’ve told you everything so why didn’t you tell me ?

27. Move in with me I’ve already given you a spare key so please move in with me.

28. Is that my hoodie you’re wearing?

29. You’ve been staring for the past 10 minutes lover boy 

30. Meet me at my locker after classes are finished 

31. I’ll buy you a new shirt love 

32. I don’t think your family likes me.

33. Your mother is disappointed in me!

34. So you were the camera thief!

35. Yep it runs in the family it’s very obvious.

36. I’ll warn you my eldest son is very stubborn.

37. Why is it that your other siblings are smarter than you?

38. We still have left over batter to make another cake.

39. You’re so short babe I love it!

40. Your father is going to kill me when he finds out 

41.I love you and that means all of you 

42. Did you just take a photo of me?

43. Since when was I your lock screen?

44. I’m not very good with iceskating as I am with ballet

45. You can stand under my umbrella if you want

46. Your pouty face is so adorable 

47. Your have a fear of spiders?

48. Stay in bed with me your so comfy 

49. You’re going to make me late for work 

50. Dance with me. But there is no music

Okay guys Hope you have fun with this prompt list! 

@thewiseandfree @dahlingholland @holland-stan-posts @superholland @crazyworldimagines @stormyholland @peachyhollands @zeynthespidey @hazhasmycoffee @whyistomholland @hvllanders @tiemeupspidey @gab-spidey @happy-harrington @peterparkertbh @peterparkers-waffles @perfect-parker @yoinksholland

[mmorgdx]

Propresenter 7 tutorials

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No separate edit and present modes - Outputs are always live - Completely non-linear flexibility - On demand Scripture lookup - Separate Outputs, for lobby, auditorium, and stage displays - Volunteer friendly - On the fly run-of-show changes Tell … ProPresenter operators control presentations on one screen, while dynamically presenting to an audience on one or more additional screens.

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3 and ATEM Production Studio 4k with ATEM Software Control (both version 7. This is a transparent window with a border sitting on the output window of ProPresenter. This is the standard option that you'll wish to use in most … The Stage Screen in ProPresenter is a powerful tool. Allows users to add effect color, brightness, and volume to optimize quality. ProPresenter 7 has been announced this morning. Change the process priority in Task Manager to High. Now that ProPresenter can send different things out of different outputs, you might be wondering how you’d send a full-screen image out of one output for, for example, the in-person audience screen and how you’d send a smaller image, for a lower third, to the live-stream. The pastor can see the current slide text as well as the next slide text.

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Pro format, so one of those is the built-in screen, so if you want to have a control screen, audience screen, and stage screen without using external hardware (like that from BlackMagic), that's the minimum current Mac that will do it. 4 of ProPresenter and noticed that the advance … This is the video for you! This video slowly walks you through everything you need to know to create presentations and start using ProPresenter without any previous experience. 4 Feature: New Stage Screen Objects Have you ever wanted to show what verse or chorus you were on (not the just the words, but ALSO the verse number, for example)? Now you can. Sending from vMix to ProPresenter (ProPresenter 7 only). See more ideas about church media, worship backgrounds, church graphics. Over the years, it has developed into an industry staple. ProPresenter 6 has corner pinning tools to assist you in correcting for this scenario. Whatever the story you want to tell, ProPresenter has the tools to help you tell it in the most engaging way possible. It no longer supports camera inputs that use Firewire. Every presentation in ProPresenter consists of at least one slide, even if it’s just a single media action. fyi/pro7quick to signup and get your own login. 1 (117899527) ProPresenter is a cross-platform (Mac and Windows) presentation & production application for live events. In ProPresenter preferences, in the display tab, there’s a checkbox at the bottom that says “Enable Syphon”. vMix version 17 or higher For this knowledge base guide demonstration we will be using ProPresenter 7 which already has NDI capabilities built into it. I ask because I don’t see a way to save ONLY the libraries. ProPresenter 7 Show Controls (Audio, Stage Controls, Timers, Messages, Props)0:00 - Introduction Audio - 0:34 Stage Controls / Stage Messages- 1:40 Timers/Clocks - 4:21 ProPresenter 7.

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In perfect timing for Easter, this update brings with it many performance improvements + bug fixes.

#Propresenter 7 tutorials windows#

Select this box to keep the ProPresenter output above any other windows on your output screen. One of my favorite features I have used recently is the ability to create a countdown on the stage monitor and have the colors change. For example, you could have a fullscreen clock on one display and song lyrics on another. ProPresenter gives you the ability to manage your in-the-room screens separately from your stream output. ProPresenter 6 offers some great new tools for creating dynamic slides, which are covered in this tutorial.