#Emerging Markets Index

[news4nose]

India is seeing a surge in domestic investments. At the same time, it’s attracting more foreign investment and portfolio flows. This performance surpasses Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Markets by 45.5% from early 2021 to October 2022, and this trend is likely to persist. 

[developmentinformationday]

Unlocking the power of public investment to foster economic growth.

Progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires urgent and substantial scaling up of investment. While the estimates of the funding required to bridge these investment gaps in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) vary across studies, they generally amount to trillions of dollars per year. Thus, UNCTAD’s latest estimate of the aggregate investment gap faced by EMDEs to meet SDGs stands at a staggering $4 trillion per year.

Low-income countries (LICs) have particularly hefty investment needs because of their enormous infrastructure gaps in areas critical for sustainable development. For instance, in the past decade, less than one-third of the population in LICs had access to electricity and basic sanitation (figure 1.A).

These countries also face greater challenges in building resilience to climate change and meeting the green transition objectives. By some estimates, an average annual investment of as much as 8 percent of GDP through 2030 is needed to address these issues in LICs—significantly more than in other EMDEs (figure 1.B).  

Figure 1. Investment gaps in EMDEs

Sources: World Development Indicators (WDI), World Bank; World Bank (2022). Note: AEs = advanced economies; EMDEs = emerging market and developing economies; LICs = low-income countries. A. 2013-23 averages. Bars show percent of the population with access to electricity, minimally adequate drinking water, basic sanitation facilities, and the number of hospital beds available per 1,000 people. B. Estimates of the annual investment needs to build resilience to climate change and put countries on track to reduce emissions by 70 percent by 2050. Compounding these challenges, domestic investment—gross fixed capital formation—in EMDEs has been in a prolonged and broad-based slump over the past decade. Average annual growth of investment in EMDEs halved, decelerating from 10 percent per year in the 2000s to just 5 percent in the 2010s (figure 2).

Figure 2. Average annual investment growth

Sources: Feenstra et al. (2015); Haver Analytics; World Development Indicators (WDI), World Bank. Note: EMDEs = emerging market and developing economies. Investment growth averages are calculated using GDP weights at average 2010-19 prices and market exchange rates. Sample includes up to 103 economies, of which 68 are EMDEs.

Public investment can play an important role in mobilizing private capital and facilitating economic growth.

Public investment can be a powerful policy lever to help ignite growth. However, these positive effects are not guaranteed. They critically depend on conducive structural conditions. In particular, new empirical analysis suggests that the effects of public investment depend on government spending efficiency and availability of fiscal space—government’s budget resources that can be spent without jeopardizing a country’s fiscal sustainability and macroeconomic stability. While scaling up of public investment in EMDEs by one percent of GDP can increase output by up to 1.2 percent over five years, on average, in countries with ample fiscal space and efficient government spending the effect is much greater, reaching up to 1.6 percent over the same period (figure 3.A).

What’s more, public investment can play a pivotal role in catalyzing private investment and boosting productivity. In response to an increase in public investment by one percent of GDP, private investment in EMDEs can increase by up to 2.2 percent and total factor productivity by up to 0.8 percent over five years, on average (figure 3.B). This is particularly important for promoting long-run (potential) economic growth in EMDEs, which has slowed sharply and is expected to remain weak over the rest of this decade.

Figure 3. Macroeconomic effects of public investment in EMDEs

Sources: Adarov, Clements, and Jalles (forthcoming); World Bank. Note: Responses of macroeconomic variables to a public investment equivalent to one percent of GDP. Bars indicate peak responses at the 5-year horizon. A. Increase in the level of real GDP relative to the year before the shock, in percent. *** indicates statistical significance at the one-percent level. Large-fiscal space and small-fiscal space responses are based on local projections with the smooth transition function that uses the public-debt-to-GDP ratio as the conditioning variable. High-efficiency and low-efficiency samples are based on the top and bottom quartiles of the public infrastructure efficiency index (IMF 2021). B. Bars show increase in the level of private investment (gross fixed capital formation), potential output, and total factor productivity relative to the year before the shock, in percent. Whiskers indicate 90-percent confidence intervals.

Harnessing the benefits of public investment requires a comprehensive policy effort.

In EMDEs, especially in LICs, public investment efficiency tends to be substantially lower than in advanced economies (figure 4.A). With the government debt escalating to the levels above 60 percent of GDP over the last several years, their fiscal space has also decreased significantly (figure 4.B). To enable public investment and maximize its positive effects, EMDEs need to undertake wide-ranging policy reforms. While specific policy interventions depend on individual country circumstances, three overarching policy priorities are relevant for all EMDEs: expansion of fiscal space, efficiency of public investment, and enhanced global support. The latter is crucial for LICs with deep structural challenges, vast infrastructure gaps, limited fiscal resources and capacity to undertake the needed reforms on their own. Coordinated financial support and technical assistance are both needed to accelerate structural reforms in these countries and help them build robust foundations for sustainable economic growth and development. These policies are discussed in detail in Chapter 3 of the June 2024 Global Economic Prospects report.  

Figure 4. Fiscal space and spending efficiency

Sources: International Monetary Fund; Kose et al. (2022); World Bank. Note: EMDEs = emerging market and developing economies; LICs = low-income countries. A. Bars show group medians of the IMF (2021) public infrastructure efficiency index. Sample includes 27 advanced economies and 93 EMDEs, of which 15 are LICs. B. Aggregates are computed as weighted averages with nominal GDP in U.S. dollars as weights. Data for the 2020s cover 2020-23. Sample includes up to 153 EMDEs, including 23 LICs.

Unlocking the power of public investment to foster economic growth

[gazetteweekly]

"India's MSCI Weight Hits New High: Expect More Equity Inflows"

India’s significance in the MSCI Global Standard index, tracking emerging market stocks, has reached a new pinnacle, signaling potential for increased inflows into its equity markets.

In the latest update, India’s weight in the MSCI index has surged to 19%, inching closer to China’s 25%. This rise is expected to attract approximately $2 billion in inflows by the end of May.

With 13 Indian companies set to join the Global Standard Index, India’s stock count in the MSCI index is at an all-time high of 149, showcasing the country’s growing prominence in emerging markets.

Analysts predict that India’s weightage in the MSCI index could surpass 20% by the second half of 2024, driven by consistent flows from domestic and foreign institutional investors.

This surge in India’s MSCI weight is attributed to the robust performance of its equities, particularly in the mid-cap segment, compared to other emerging markets like China.

The addition of prominent Indian companies such as JSW Energy, Canara Bank, and Mankind Pharma to the Global Standard Index further solidifies India’s position in the global equity landscape.

As India continues to strengthen its foothold in emerging markets, investors can anticipate further momentum in equity inflows, bolstering the country’s economic prospects.

[dollar-and-sense]

Diversification: Spreading Your Investment Risk for Long-Term Growth

Introduction: Welcome to another insightful blog post on personal finance and investing. Today, we’ll be delving into the concept of diversification and its vital role in spreading investment risk for long-term growth. Whether you’re a seasoned investor or just starting out, understanding and implementing diversification strategies can significantly enhance your investment portfolio’s stability…

[suashii]

୨♡୧ SWEET NOTHINGS — aftercare with the hq boys.

featuring. miya osamu, suna rintaro, ushijima wakatoshi, sakusa kiyoomi

warnings. f!reader, no explicit smut (still, mdni), food (not used sexually), implied creampie, bathing together, tons of after-sex intimacy. all characters written 18+.

₊˚ପ⊹ MIYA OSAMU

osamu is a firm believer that the best thing one can do for their body after any strenuous activity, including sex, is to replenish it with food before allowing it to rest. he feeds you often but something feels different about doing the same thing only after sex. it makes for a much more intimate scene, he thinks, being able to share food with his lover after being so vulnerable with each other. it’s yet another way of showing his love for you.

• • •

“what’s on today’s menu?” you ask, sitting up as osamu returns from his quick venture to the kitchen. from behind his back, he reveals the carton of strawberries the two of you picked out from the market this morning. he gently shakes the container, “these sound good?”

you nod enthusiastically, waving him over to join you in bed. his feet carry him to the mattress and he plops down next to you with a comfortable sigh. you watch patiently as he pops open the plastic, fingers hovering above the fruit in search of the best of the batch. he picks the prettiest one he can find and holds the berry out to you, the palm of his other hand facing up beneath the first to serve as a sort of plate. “say ‘ah,’” he opens his mouth, hoping you’ll do the same.

a smile breaks out across your face before you follow his lead and open your mouth to take a bite. you hum as your cheeks tingle and the tartness of the fruit explodes on your tongue. osamu chuckles at your innocent reaction. it takes a moment before he becomes aware of the red-tinted juice dripping down his fingers. he pops them into his mouth before the trail of liquid can travel any farther, smiling around them as you happily bounce up and down on the bed.

₊˚ପ⊹ SUNA RINTARO

he’s never been one to take anything in life too seriously, but you’re one of the few exceptions to his carefree and jovial approach to living. sex with suna is rarely demanding but always passionate. even though he isn’t a particularly rough lover, rintaro acknowledges that you deserve some tending to after making love. in an attempt to keep the mood light, he keeps up his silly antics even while he’s taking care of you.

• • •

“nice game, mvp,” suna quips as he hands you the cold bottle of water he just grabbed from the fridge. a cheeky grin pulls at his lips upon seeing the way your eyebrows furrow while you take a swig of the beverage. you wipe your mouth with the back of your hand before sarcastically responding, “your lame charm never fails to make me swoon.”

“you love it,” he argues, taking a seat on the edge of bed the beside you. you turn to him to find a pair of dull yellow eyes already staring back at you. suna smiles before leaning forward to cup your cheek and slot his lips against yours. the kiss is soft and slow, a perfect culmination to an exhausting night. despite his inability to take most things seriously, moments like these are all you need to know that, deep down, suna really cares about you. he pulls away with another of his signature smiles, his thumb and index finger pinching your cheek. “ready to hit the showers?”

you scoff, playfully slapping his hand away. “i can’t believe i let you have sex with me.”

₊˚ପ⊹ USHIJIMA WAKATOSHI

his touch is gentle and tender; it drastically differs from how he was handling you only moments ago. even though the two versions of wakatoshi are stark contrasts of each other, you’re more than familiar with the soft side of him that emerges after the both of you are worn out and sticky with each other’s cum. words of praise accompany every calculated stroke of the damp, warm washcloth he uses to clean you up.

• • •

“i wasn’t too rough, was i?” ushijima asks as he makes his way back to where you lie, returning from grabbing a few things from the bathroom. he settles on the mattress beside you with a couple of damped towels. dark olive eyes fall on you and you shake your head to gesture that you’re fine.

he nods, taking one of the folded cloths to pat away the sweat from your forehead. nimble fingers brush away any stray strands of hair sticking to your face and you lean into the warmth of his touch. a small smile graces his lips upon seeing how content you are. as much as he’d love to spend the rest of the night with you in his arms, he has to finish getting you cleaned up.

reluctantly, wakatoshi pulls his hand away and reaches for another clean rag. he uses this one to carefully wipe any of the sticky release off of your thighs. you twitch at the contact, still sensitive from your previous activities. he’s told you many times before, but ushijima will never tire saying it. “you did so well, pretty girl.”

₊˚ପ⊹ SAKUSA KIYOOMI

the first thing he does as soon as you both finish is ask how you’re feeling; if you’re alright. as pleasurable as sex is, it can be just as fatiguing. no matter your answer, sakusa’s routine rarely strays; there’s always a warm bath with essential oils waiting for you on nights when the two of you end up naked and tangled in each other’s arms. his ultimate goal is to help you wind down and assure that you’re comfortable.

• • •

“feeling okay?” sakusa’s voice, albeit fairly quiet, startles you. the soft rumble you feel transfer from his chest to your back is somehow simultaneously surprising and comforting. it wasn’t difficult to begin to drift off in the tub filled with warm, bubbly water, the scent of lavender wafting throughout the steamy air.

you hum in satisfaction, letting your eyelids flutter closed once more. you won’t fall asleep this time. “better than okay.”

kiyoomi can hear the exhaustion lingering in your voice. he can feel you melting into it under the pads of his fingers as he massages the supple skin of your thighs. he finished washing you up a few minutes ago but you looked so tranquil that he couldn’t find it in him to move you. you’ll have to get out soon if you don’t want your skin to grow pruney, but sakusa decides to warrant you and himself a little longer in your peaceful bubble.

strong arms pull you closer into his chest, sending a ripple throughout the water. he rests his chin on your shoulder, pressing a light kiss to the pulse on your throat. you giggle, wet hand breaking the surface to cradle the side of his face. “perfect,” you whisper.

thanks for reading! consider commenting or reblogging if you enjoyed ❤︎

[mostlysignssomeportents]

UK publishers suing Google for $17.4b over rigged ad markets

THIS WEEKEND (June 7–9), I'm in AMHERST, NEW YORK to keynote the 25th Annual Media Ecology Association Convention and accept the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity.

Look, no one wants to kick Big Tech to the curb more than I do, but, also: it's good that Google indexes the news so people can find it, and it's good that Facebook provides forums where people can talk about the news.

It's not news if you can't find it. It's not news if you can't talk about it. We don't call information you can't find or discuss "news" – we call it "secrets."

And yet, the most popular – and widely deployed – anti-Big Tech tactic promulgated by the news industry and supported by many of my fellow trustbusters is premised on making Big Tech pay to index the news and/or provide a forum to discuss news articles. These "news bargaining codes" (or, less charitably, "link taxes") have been mooted or introduced in the EU, France, Spain, Australia, and Canada. There are proposals to introduce these in the US (through the JCPA) and in California (the CJPA).

These US bills are probably dead on arrival, for reasons that can be easily understood by the Canadian experience with them. After Canada introduced Bill C-18 – its own news bargaining code – Meta did exactly what it had done in many other places where this had been tried: blocked all news from Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and other Meta properties.

This has been a disaster for the news industry and a disaster for Canadians' ability to discuss the news. Oh, it makes Meta look like assholes, too, but Meta is the poster child for "too big to care" and is palpably indifferent to the PR costs of this boycott.

Frustrated lawmakers are now trying to figure out what to do next. The most common proposal is to order Meta to carry the news. Canadians should be worried about this, because the next government will almost certainly be helmed by the far-right conspiratorialist culture warrior Pierre Poilievre, who will doubtless use this power to order Facebook to platform "news sites" to give prominence to Canada's rotten bushel of crypto-fascist (and openly fascist) "news" sites.

Americans should worry about this too. A Donald Trump 2028 presidency combined with a must-carry rule for news would see Trump's cabinet appointees deciding what is (and is not) news, and ordering large social media platforms to cram the Daily Caller (or, you know, the Daily Stormer) into our eyeballs.

But there's another, more fundamental reason that must-carry is incompatible with the American system: the First Amendment. The government simply can't issue a blanket legal order to platforms requiring them to carry certain speech. They can strongly encourage it. A court can order limited compelled speech (say, a retraction following a finding of libel). Under emergency conditions, the government might be able to compel the transmission of urgent messages. But there's just no way the First Amendment can be squared with a blanket, ongoing order issued by the government to communications platforms requiring them to reproduce, and make available, everything published by some collection of their favorite news outlets.

This might also be illegal in Canada, but it's harder to be definitive. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enshrined in 1982, and Canada's Supreme Court is still figuring out what it means. Section Two of the Charter enshrines a free expression right, but it's worded in less absolute terms than the First Amendment, and that's deliberate. During the debate over the wording of the Charter, Canadian scholars and policymakers specifically invoked problems with First Amendment absolutism and tried to chart a middle course between strong protections for free expression and problems with the First Amendment's brook-no-exceptions language.

So maybe Canada's Supreme Court would find a must-carry order to Meta to be a violation of the Charter, but it's hard to say for sure. The Charter is both young and ambiguous, so it's harder to be definitive about what it would say about this hypothetical. But when it comes to the US and the First Amendment, that's categorically untrue. The US Constitution is centuries older than the Canadian Charter, and the First Amendment is extremely definitive, and there are reams of precedent interpreting it. The JPCA and CJPA are totally incompatible with the US Constitution. Passing them isn't as silly as passing a law declaring that Pi equals three or that water isn't wet, but it's in the neighborhood.

But all that isn't to say that the news industry shouldn't be attacking Big Tech. Far from it. Big Tech compulsively steals from the news!

But what Big Tech steals from the news isn't content.

It's money.

Big Tech steals money from the news. Take social media: when a news outlet invests in building a subscriber base on a social media platform, they're giving that platform a stick to beat them with. The more subscribers you have on social media, the more you'll be willing to pay to reach those subscribers, and the more incentive there is for the platform to suppress the reach of your articles unless you pay to "boost" your content.

This is plainly fraudulent. When I sign up to follow a news outlet on a social media site, I'm telling the platform to show me the things the news outlet publishes. When the platform uses that subscription as the basis for a blackmail plot, holding my desire to read the news to ransom, they are breaking their implied promise to me to show me the things I asked to see:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/06/save-news-we-need-end-end-web

This is stealing money from the news. It's the definition of an "unfair method of competition." Article 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act gives the FTC the power to step in and ban this practice, and they should:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

Big Tech also steals money from the news via the App Tax: the 30% rake that the mobile OS duopoly (Apple/Google) requires for every in-app purchase (Apple/Google also have policies that punish app vendors who take you to the web to make payments without paying the App Tax). 30% out of every subscriber dollar sent via an app is highway robbery! By contrast, the hyperconcentrated, price-gouging payment processing cartel charges 2-5% – about a tenth of the Big Tech tax. This is Big Tech stealing money from the news:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/06/save-news-we-must-open-app-stores

Finally, Big Tech steals money by monopolizing the ad market. The Google-Meta ad duopoly takes 51% out of every ad-dollar spent. The historic share going to advertising "intermediaries" is 10-15%. In other words, Google/Meta cornered the market on ads and then tripled the bite they were taking out of publishers' advertising revenue. They even have an illegal, collusive arrangement to rig this market, codenamed "Jedi Blue":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Blue

There's two ways to unrig the ad market, and we should do both of them.

First, we should trustbust both Google and Meta and force them to sell off parts of their advertising businesses. Currently, both Google and Meta operate a "full stack" of ad services. They have an arm that represents advertisers buying space for ads. Another arm represents publishers selling space to advertisers. A third arm operates the marketplace where these sales take place. All three arms collect fees. On top of that: Google/Meta are both publishers and advertisers, competing with their own customers!

This is as if you were in court for a divorce and you discovered that the same lawyer representing your soon-to-be ex was also representing you…while serving as the judge…and trying to match with you both on Tinder. It shouldn't surprise you if at the end of that divorce, the court ruled that the family home should go to the lawyer.

So yeah, we should break up ad-tech:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-shatter-ad-tech

Also: we should ban surveillance advertising. Surveillance advertising gives ad-tech companies a permanent advantage over publishers. Ad-tech will always know more about readers' behavior than publishers do, because Big Tech engages in continuous, highly invasive surveillance of every internet user in the world. Surveillance ads perform a little better than "content-based ads" (ads sold based on the content of a web-page, not the behavior of the person looking at the page), but publishers will always know more about their content than ad-tech does. That means that even if content-based ads command a slightly lower price than surveillance ads, a much larger share of that payment will go to publishers:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-ban-surveillance-advertising

Banning surveillance advertising isn't just good business, it's good politics. The potential coalition for banning surveillance ads is everyone who is harmed by commercial surveillance. That's a coalition that's orders of magnitude larger than the pool of people who merely care about fairness in the ad/news industries. It's everyone who's worried about their grandparents being brainwashed on Facebook, or their teens becoming anorexic because of Instagram. It includes people angry about deepfake porn, and people angry about Black Lives Matter protesters' identities being handed to the cops by Google (see also: Jan 6 insurrectionists).

It also includes everyone who discovers that they're paying higher prices because a vendor is using surveillance data to determine how much they'll pay – like when McDonald's raises the price of your "meal deal" on your payday, based on the assumption that you will spend more when your bank account is at its highest monthly level:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/05/your-price-named/#privacy-first-again

Attacking Big Tech for stealing money is much smarter than pretending that the problem is Big Tech stealing content. We want Big Tech to make the news easy to find and discuss. We just want them to stop pocketing 30 cents out of every subscriber dollar and 51 cents out of ever ad dollar, and ransoming subscribers' social media subscriptions to extort publishers.

And there's amazing news on this front: a consortium of UK web-publishers called Ad Tech Collective Action has just triumphed in a high-stakes proceeding, and can now go ahead with a suit against Google, seeking damages of GBP13.6b ($17.4b) for the rigged ad-tech market:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/17-bln-uk-adtech-lawsuit-against-google-can-go-ahead-tribunal-rules-2024-06-05/

The ruling, from the Competition Appeal Tribunal, paves the way for a frontal assault on the thing Big Tech actually steals from publishers: money, not content.

This is exactly what publishing should be doing. Targeting the method by which tech steals from the news is a benefit to all kinds of news organizations, including the independent, journalist-owned publishers that are doing the best news work today. These independents do not have the same interests as corporate news, which is dominated by hedge funds and private equity raiders, who have spent decades buying up and hollowing out news outlets, and blaming the resulting decline in readership and profits on Craiglist.

You can read more about Big Finance's raid on the news in Margot Susca's Hedged: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy:

https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p087561

You can also watch/listen to Adam Conover's excellent interview with Susca:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N21YfWy0-bA

Frankly, the looters and billionaires who bought and gutted our great papers are no more interested in the health of the news industry or democracy than Big Tech is. We should care about the news and the workers who produce the news, not the profits of the hedge-funds that own the news. An assault on Big Tech's monetary theft levels the playing field, making it easier for news workers and indies to compete directly with financialized news outlets and billionaire playthings, by letting indies keep more of every ad-dollar and more of every subscriber-dollar – and to reach their subscribers without paying ransom to social media.

Ending monetary theft – rather than licensing news search and discussion – is something that workers are far more interested in than their bosses. Any time you see workers and their bosses on the same side as a fight against Big Tech, you should look more closely. Bosses are not on their workers' side. If bosses get more money out of Big Tech, they will not share those gains with workers unless someone forces them to.

That's where antitrust comes in. Antitrust is designed to strike at power, and enforcers have broad authority to blunt the power of corporate juggernauts. Remember Article 5 of the FTC Act, the one that lets the FTC block "unfair methods of competition?" FTC Chair Lina Khan has proposed using it to regulate training AI, specifically to craft rules that address the labor and privacy issues with AI:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mh8Z5pcJpg

This is an approach that can put creative workers where they belong, in a coalition with other workers, rather than with their bosses. The copyright approach to curbing AI training is beloved of the same media companies that are eagerly screwing their workers. If we manage to make copyright – a transferrable right that a worker can be forced to turn over their employer – into the system that regulates AI training, it won't stop training. It'll just trigger every entertainment company changing their boilerplate contract so that creative workers have to sign over their AI rights or be shown the door:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/13/spooky-action-at-a-close-up/#invisible-hand

Then those same entertainment and news companies will train AI models and try to fire most of their workers and slash the pay of the remainder using those models' output. Using copyright to regulate AI training makes changes to who gets to benefit from workers' misery, shifting some of our stolen wages from AI companies to entertainment companies. But it won't stop them from ruining our lives.

By contrast, focusing on actual labor rights – say, through an FTCA 5 rulemaking – has the potential to protect those rights from all parties, and puts us on the same side as call-center workers, train drivers, radiologists and anyone else whose wages are being targeted by AI companies and their customers.

Policy fights are a recurring monkey's paw nightmare in which we try to do something to fight corruption and bullying, only to be outmaneuvered by corrupt bullies. Making good policy is no guarantee of a good outcome, but it sure helps – and good policy starts with targeting the thing you want to fix. If we're worried that news is being financially starved by Big Tech, then we should go after the money, not the links.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/06/stealing-money-not-content/#content-free

[bigtreefest]

watermelon juice dripping down his throat, onto his chest hair LEMME LICK

I don’t even like watermelon that much😅, but I like him. A lot. 🫣

Drip… and Lick

Pairing: Curtis Everett x reader

Wc: idk, written in drafts, but it’s gotta be at least 1k

Warnings: um, licking, and Curtis… so, yeah 18+ only, minors DNI

A/N: Inspired by this post and some of my beautiful hoe friends @thezombieprostitute @krirebr @stargazingfangirl18 @brandycranby This is me kicking off the 300 follower summer celebration with my own mini fic. Hope you enjoy and I can’t wait for your your feedback on this one😈

Made with the prompts: a long drive together + “I’ve got something else you can lick” + [watermelon] dripping down someone’s skin

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Curtis had wanted to have a picnic with you all summer, but your busy schedule hadn’t allowed for it. And honestly, neither had the weather. The days had been long and hot, unbearably so, with UV indexes maxed out. Stepping outside was like asking to be baked, which is why he was grateful for all the rain that hit this past week.

It was a great reprieve for everything: the grass, the garden, the sweltering temperatures. Now that the outside was actually bearable, Curtis could finally go through with his plans.

Before you got off work, he packed up his picnic basket, preparing the summer goods for you. A nice little salad, some sandwiches, and a beautiful watermelon he found at the farmer’s market the other day. He was all prepped once you got home.

As soon as you walked through the door, you were greeted by a kiss on the cheek and Curtis holding your favorite comfy sundress. After a long day at work, the last thing you wanted to wear was pants, so you went to change.

Once you emerged, hair tied up and off your neck finally and flowy dress adorned, you were ready to go. You grabbed Curtis’s outstretched hand and let him lead you to the truck where you slid up in to the middle of the bench seat.

An evening drive like this was one of your favorite things to do together. Letting the breeze flow with the windows down. Seeing the scenery of passing houses turn into open fields of wildflowers on the rolling hills.

After taking the long way around, Curtis pulled into the spot he always did at the end of the road on the back side of the airport where the two of you would lay in his truck bed to watch the planes take off and land. He hopped down out of the cab and held a hand out for you, taking you back for the cozy, yet cool setup he had made earlier.

The two of you got settled, Curtis pulling out your sandwich and handing it to you just as the sun began to reach the horizon. The sky was painted with hues of red and light purple, wispy clouds making way for the stars that would soon twinkle, framing the moon in the open sky.

You settled up close next to him, the two of you enjoying the main part of the meal as the planes flew overhead, the lights of the runway flicking on as the sky dimmed. All you could think about while you were eating was how sweet this was, how sweet he was for doing it so often for you. Curtis was a gruff, hardworking man, and with you, that prickly shell turned soft, as he used his efforts to show you his appreciation for the love and peace you brought to him. The feelings he thought he’d never have, the ones he thought he didn’t deserve. His humility and bottomless affection was all you saw, though, the deep care you held for each other tying your souls together. In this moment, you realized if he was all you had for the rest of your life, that would be more than enough, and you wanted to show that. You needed him, and could feel it start to burn in the depths of your belly: a love that you had to show, that you wanted to show, again, and again, and again, for eternity.

You climbed into Curtis’s lap, giving him a peck, your sundress falling around your legs, leaving your core settling right over him in his worn jeans. Your hands gently came up to frame his face, his beard lightly scratching your palms. Your body was growing warm against the cold evening air, buzzing with desire from the way he cared for you, the way you cared for each other.

“Thank you for this, Curtis. It’s perfect. The food was delicious, but I think I’m ready for dessert.”

Curtis’s large hands settled on your waist as he looked up at you. He could see the warmth in your eyes at that statement. It was evident this little date made your day so much better, but he hadn’t quite caught on yet to the true fire in your gaze.

“Yeah? I’ve got this beautiful watermelon. Thought that would be nice and refreshing.”

He looked up at you with the softest features, eyes switching between yours, looking for approval. Your thumbs brushed over his freckled cheeks, more prominent from the summer sun, as you nodded with a breathy giggle.

“Um, yeah. That sounds good.”

He beamed up at you, turning to the side to pull out the fruit before he went still. He hadn’t cut it. Or really even brought anything to cut it, unless you counted the flimsy plasticware the two of you ate your salads with. He looked up at you with big eyes as you laughed again, catching on to what happened.

“Hold on, give me a second, I can fix this. You don’t mind if it’s not perfectly cut, right?”

You shook your head, curious to see what he could possibly have in mind. He turned the watermelon upright as he grabbed a plastic knife, adjusting it in his hand so it seemed stable enough. He raised his hand, stabbing the edge of the utensil into the tough rind. That obviously wasn’t doing much, but it did enough. You watched as Curtis’s thick, yet surprisingly nimble fingers widened the nick into a gap as he put both hands in and pulled, the robust fruit splitting in two as some juices leaked out. As did yours, as you felt a flush of arousal at the show of brute strength. So casual, he probably had no idea what he was doing to you.

If that knife was any indication, there probably wasn’t a good way to get the flesh out, either, so he opted to just keep with his bare hands, scooping out a piece to feed to you. You opened your mouth, eyes never leaving his as your lips surrounded his thumb and pointer finger. The juice from his hand ran down his thick forearm, over the hair that covered it. As he moved to pull away, your hands quickly snapped to stop him, eyes still locked. You dipped your head to the drop that had trickled down, now about to reach his elbow, and stuck out your tongue, tracing the path of watermelon juice up to his palm, all the way back to his fingers, sucking them and releasing with a pop.

Curtis watched in real time as your pupils blew wide and you began to unbutton his linen shirt before reaching over and grabbing your own piece of watermelon to feed to him. Oh. That was where this was going. How did he not see it before? He was never going to slice a watermelon again, but he planned to get a lot more before summer was done. And he’d gladly pay a fortune to get them out of season if they made you react like this.

You popped the piece in his mouth, watching as the juice dribbled down his chin, and down to his neck, over the course hair of his chest. You pulled back slightly, watching the stream right next to his nipple, and you ducked down again and flattened your tongue against the firm warmth of his chest, circling the peak before tracing up again, tongue being deliciously scratched until you reached the smooth, slightly salty skin of his neck, dressed with the humidity and a thin layer of sweat.

You pressed a kiss to his jugular as he swallowed the sweet fruit, his lips parting in a gasp, waiting for what you were going to do next. The fire in his eyes grew, though, to meet yours, as his awe-struck, enamored look turned into a smirk. Curtis finally spoke up in a strained, deep voice, silky with seduction.

“You know, I’ve got something else you can lick…”

Bonus A/N: for your fantasies, brandy bean. Eat your heart out.

Taglist: @hawkeyes-queen @ronearoundblindly

[lillaluna]

tea

Pairing: Wriothesley x f!Reader

Tags: deviations from canon, dramma, hurt\comfort

Standing at a table with tea accessories, you brewed Wriothesley's favorite tea with precise and precise movements. Always at the right temperature, always with the right amount of different herbs, always with two tablespoons of sugar, which you bought at the market from the same seller, always on the second day of delivery.

You yourself asked Wriothesley to teach you how to make tea because you wanted to be able to do something special for your lover. A sad smile touched your lips when you remembered how scrupulously but patiently the Duke of the Fortress of Meropide taught you how to brew his favorite tea properly.

"Just start all over again," the blue-eyed man said with a deep sigh and pressed his thumb and index finger to the bridge of his nose, covering his eyes in what seemed to him hopelessness. "I just don't understand," you whined, throwing your head back to the ceiling and twisting your lips in a sad grimace. You were on the verge of crying, because it seems like you've been hanging around this tea table for ages, and this damn tea didn't turn out the way it should and Wriothesley detected it by the smell, standing behind your back! Hearing the sound that the duke's heavy boots made when walking behind you, after a moment, you felt two large palms on your shoulders, but despite this, this gesture was full of tenderness. Wriothesley gently rubbed your shoulders. "You will succeed," the man said, "I believe in you, you are a capable student, I know that," the Duke continued with a smirk in his voice. You smiled shyly, and tilted your head, offering your cheek for affection. Wriothesley immediately responded to this gesture by touching your soft cheek with two fingers. "Let me be a diligent student in something else," you murmured, rubbing your face against the tips of His Lordship's rough fingers. There was a soft barking laugh behind you. "Sly fox, this won't do," the guy abruptly took his hands off your shoulders, "pour it all out, let's start over". You moaned, but instead of pity, the Duke of Meropide slapped your ass with his big and strong palm as if encouraging you.

Emerging from your memories, you found that all this time you were standing with your eyes closed, clinging with all your might to His image, trying to keep in mind as many details as possible. Of course you remembered what kind of tea He liked. And this brewing of the drink became a tradition for you, with furtive kisses. You measured the portions, steeped them. Sounds, smells and ordinary movements became part of this ritual, which created an atmosphere of trust and intimacy. Every spoonful of tea was a reminder of Him, of His presence, of the love you shared.

"I learned," you said faintly and these words disappeared into the room, "I learned everything," you continued even more quietly, but the answer was only the silence of the walls of Meropide.

Tears were already coming to your eyes, but to cope with them, you sharply inhaled and took a cup of hot drink from the table, you went to your workplace.

His dark coat, with black fur, hung on the back of His chair. You sat in it as you placed the cup of tea on the table with shaky hands. As always, next to His favorite photo, although it was difficult to call it that. Wriothesley just cut out a picture from the newspaper, in which Charlotte captured you and the Duke at one of the Fontaine fairs. In the picture, you were laughing fervently, Wriothesley was hugging you around the waist, and you were gently holding your hat so that it would not fall off your head. You couldn't remember what amused you so much, it seemed like it was a million years ago, somewhere in a previous life.

The aroma of the tea mixture gradually filled the room, while you relaxed more and more. You knew that eventually the next tea would get cold, and you would pour it out so that you could brew a new portion with meticulous precision, as Wriothesley taught. After all, this ritual has become your way of experiencing grief and realisation.

You were a little startled when there was a knock on the door.

"May I come to you, Your Grace?" the guard asked, peering cautiously into your office.

You sat up straight in His chair, and lifted your chin proudly.

"Come in," you commanded in an icy tone, stealing a glance at the cup of tea.

[ellebakers]

☆ Together.

• Harwin Strong x Reader

Summary : Daemon came to apologize but you chose Harwin.

Warning(s) : Language, angst.

It's part of "I am not an object"

Eight months, eight months ago you and Harwin fled towards the north, where Lord Cregan Stark sheltered you, Harwin as a knight and you, well you were not here as his wife because Harwin had not kept his promise.

Cregan Stark understood the situation between you and the knight very well, and in order not to draw too much attention to you, he hired you as a servant.

What pissed you off the most wasn't your status, it was the promise Harwin hadn't kept, and a little voice telling you something fishy was going on, and lord, you weren't not ready for what was going to happen.

.

You were looking for fresh vegetables at the market when something in the sky caught your attention, a dragon.

Daemon's dragon

Your blood ran cold, you knew that Daemon knew that you had moved north, since Cregan had been very clear that he didn't want to take sides and that if Daemon asked him, he would say where you were.

The dragon flew to the castle and for the first time in months, you didn't want to go back to the warmth of the castle, but it was getting late and you had to bring back your shopping.

You swallowed your saliva and set off for the castle where there was surely yet another problem..

.

You were sneaking quietly into the castle to avoid being seen, not even by Harwin, when a guard came towards you, clearly embarrassed, he didn't meet your gaze.

“Lady Y/n, Lord Cregan Stark requests your presence in the great hall.”

You didn't try to avoid the situation by claiming an emergency in the kitchen, you placed your basket filled with vegetables on the floor and nodded.

The guard accompanied you to the large room then left you alone to face the three men. Cregan, Harwin and Daemon.

It had been months since you had seen him and you felt stupid, because the last time you saw him you had said that you would marry Harwin, but now you just find yourself being his mistress, exactly like with the prince.

You bowed down in front of the men and rather than looking up at them you decided to keep your gaze on the ground.

“Lady Y/n, I summoned you because Prince Daemon is the bearer of news.”

You closed your eyes and stopped breathing, what news ?

Was he going to marry Rhaenyra ?

Was she pregnant with his child ?

Is Alicent in danger ?

As if hearing your thoughts, Daemon spoke.

“I came to inform you that the princess delivered a son last night.”

Out of the corner of your eye you saw Harwin stiffen. Still without looking up you nodded. “Congratulations my prince.”

Daemon approached you and with his index finger, he lifted your face to see your eyes, eyes he had dreamed of for months.

The knight stepped forward seeing Daemon touch you.

"Prince Daemon, please don't touch my-"

"Your what? Wife ? I don't see any rings and Lord Cregan never informed me of your wedding."

Once again, you felt stupid. Daemon was right, and you hated it.

“Our lives are none of your business, my prince.” He spat out the blonde's title.

Daemon gave him a devilish smile.

"Oh but I guess it's my business, since we're a big family now." His comment made you react. "What do you mean ?"

Harwin grew more and more agitated, and Daemon smiled more and more. “He didn’t tell you anything, did he ?”

You gave Harwin a questioning look, who avoided meeting your eyes.

“Let me enlighten you Y/n. Your so-called lover here.” Daemon walked behind you and brushed some hair from your neck to rest his chin on it, he inhaled your scent and let out a groan.

“The man who took you from me eight long months ago, pretending to love you and marry you, is.”

He paused for what seemed like hours before continuing, "The child's father."

His words stabbed you as your vision blurred with tears. "And, you deserve to know that he is also the father of Rhaenyra's other children."

A silence fell as you looked at Harwin, begging to deny his rumors, but he didn't as tears streamed down his face.

You bit your lip to keep yours from leaking, but Daemon had a dagger stuck in you and he turned it just to torture you. "That's why he still hasn't married you. Not only has he fucked the princess more than once while he pretended to love you, but he obviously doesn't have the balls to make a choice."

"ENOUGH !" You, Harwin and Daemon jumped as Lord Cregan raised his voice.

“I wish, Prince Daemon, that you would let go of this woman.” You felt a weight lift as he let go of you and you thanked Cregan with a look, his eyes softened and he nodded slightly in your direction. “Lady Y/n, I think it’s best for you to go and rest.” Harwin walked towards you but was interrupted again. "Alone."

You bowed down again and rushed out of the room, letting tears escape.

.

Once in your room you lay down on your bed to try to catch your breath and calm down but it was without counting on the echoes of the previous conversation which resonated in your mind, and hearing Daemon's words, seeing Harwin's shameful face, tears flowed again, it was only after emptying your body of tears that you fell down from fatigue.

A hand on your shoulder woke you up, a little disoriented you rubbed your eyes to see who had come to wake you up, and your heart bled again when you saw Harwin.

His eyes were red, probably from crying.

“Y/n.” He whispered, gently caressing your cheek. His touch burned you and you pushed him, standing up abruptly. "Do not touch me."

"Explain what exactly ? How you fucked your princess ? More than once obviously. Even when you were courting me ! Or do you want to explain to me how you humiliated me."

He approached you but you stepped back, raising your finger to warn him not to move, he lowered his head and sat down on the bed. “I never wanted to hurt you, or even humiliate you.”

“But you did it!”

"I know" His voice broke into sobs "If only you knew how stupid I feel.”

You swallowed and nodded. "Not as much as me."

You turned and was about to leave your room when he got down on his knees. “Y/n, please don’t leave me.”

You closed your eyes, hand on the door handle.

“Give me just one good reason to stay.”

"Marry me."

You turned abruptly towards him. "Are your fucking kidding me ? you're asking me to marry you just because I just learned that your slut gave birth to a bastard."

You knew it wasn't right to say such things, but honestly you didn't give a damn anymore, and Harwin understood that.

“No, I’m asking you to marry me because I love you.” His voice was no more than a whisper as he cried again.

Seeing him in such a state broke your heart, but he had betrayed you. In a calm voice you knelt down in front of him. “You hurt me, you lied to me, our relationship is based on a lie, how do you want to build something solid on that?”

You let him grab your hands. "I know we can do this, together. Y/n I only slept with her because you were with Daemon, it's you I love. I've loved you since the first day I had you seen. And kill me right now if I can't spend the rest of my life with you."

He put his hand in his pocket and took out a small velvet box, he gave it to you and released your hands.

You stood there for a few seconds, not understanding what was happening, then you opened the box slightly and a gasp escaped you.

It was a gold ring, a rose was forged on it and a red stone was placed in the center. Tears began to flow down your face. “Harwin it is.” He nodded. "An engagement ring."

You placed the box on the floor beside you and grabbed his face. “Harwin, I need you to be honest with me.” The knight drowned in your eyes and nodded. “Are you only asking for my hand because of what I just learned?”

He shook his head vigorously. "No, I promise. I love you Y/n, it took me months to get this ring, that's why I didn't ask you before, because I wanted everything to be Perfect."

"Okay, now tell me. Do you have feelings for her?"

Once again he shook his head. “No, but I have for my children.”

You took a deep breath and nodded. "I understand."

Harwin took a deep breath in turn. "I hurt you, I know it. I should have told you about my affair with the princess before we even left together, but I want you to know that it's you who occupies my thoughts from morning until evening and even at night. You are the only woman for whom my heart beats, there is only you in my eyes. And if you no longer want me I would understand, but Please don't leave me with no answers, I would rather be hanged."

You leaned back slightly and grabbed the velvet box then handed it back to him, Harwin felt his heart tear as he expected you to say no.

"If you want me to marry you, you should probably put this ring on my finger Ser Harwin Strong."

The knight felt warmth invade him as he hastened to put the ring on you, then once he was sure it was going, he pressed his lips against yours while crying. “I love you I’m so sorry.”

"I love you too."

[covid-safer-hotties]

Deaths Are Up Post-Covid, and So Are Funeral Stocks: Prognosis - Published Aug 19, 2024

The Business of Death Aussies, Americans, and Brits — and no doubt people in many other nations — are dying faster than before the pandemic.

Even though Covid waves are becoming less deadly, thanks mostly to increased immune protection from vaccinations and prior infections, the coronavirus remains a significant killer. And stubbornly high all-cause mortality rates indicate that its direct and indirect effects are helping drive a sustained increase in death and disease around the globe.

It’s depressing news, I know.

With death comes bereavement, and there’s been a lot of that since SARS-CoV-2 began spreading widely in late 2019. The number of officially reported Covid fatalities (7.1 million worldwide) doesn’t fully explain the trend in excess deaths. (Neither do Covid vaccines, since body bags were piling up months before the shots were released, and multiple studies show the immunizations protect against severe illness and death).

There’s no silver lining to the tragic loss of life. But if one group sees an upside, it’s those providing funerals, cremations, and burials. Publicly traded companies handling funerals and related services have handed investors an average 79% return since Jan. 1, 2020 — outpacing the 60% gain in the MSCI All Country World Index, one of the broadest measures of the global equity market.

The US highlights the morbid picture. In the two decades before the pandemic, the number of deaths had been climbing at an average clip of almost 1% a year — reflecting population growth and aging, and the devastating opioid epidemic — for a crude rate in 2019 of 869.7 deaths for every 100,000 Americans.

Covid catapulted the rate well beyond 1,000 in 2020 and 2021 before the rate dropped back to just over 984 in 2022. Last year, there were 927.4 deaths per 100,000 people in the US — almost 12% above the 20-year average — for nearly 3.1 million deaths all up.

The coronavirus directly and indirectly contributed to many of them. For instance, a jump in drug overdoses and alcohol use–related diseases during the pandemic likely added to fatalities from unintentional injuries and chronic liver disease in 2023, according to a study this month. Covid also led to more cardiometabolic disease, and age-adjusted mortality rates for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke were above pre-pandemic levels.

Last month, researchers reported similar findings in Australia, where emergency departments have taken longer to hospitalize patients arriving in ambulances — a sign of health-system stress associated with a greater risk of patients dying up to 30 days after their initial medical encounter.

Mortality rates in England have also stayed persistently high since Covid hit, likely reflecting the direct effects of the illness, pressures on the National Health Service, and disruptions to chronic disease detection and management, researchers said in a study in January.

“The greatest numbers of excess deaths in the acute phase of the pandemic were in older adults,” Jonny Pearson-Stuttard and colleagues wrote. “The pattern now is one of persisting excess deaths, which are most prominent in relative terms in middle-aged and younger adults.”

Almost five years into the pandemic, dodging SARS-CoV-2 still remains one of the best ways to avoid adding to the toll — and the frequency of funerals. —Jason Gale

[dragonflycap]

5 Trade Ideas for Monday: Alkermes, Citigroup, Caterpillar, Neogen and EchoStar

5 Trade ideas excerpted from the detailed analysis and plan for premium subscribers:

Alkermes, Ticker: $ALKS

Alkermes, $ALKS, comes into the week testing resistance. It has a RSI rising in the bullish zone with the MACD positive. Look for a solid break of resistance to participate…..

Citigroup, Ticker: $C

Citigroup, $C, comes into the week approaching resistance. It has a RSI in the bullish zone with the MACD rising near zero. Look for a push over resistance to participate…..

Caterpillar, Ticker: $CAT

Caterpillar, $CAT, comes into the week approaching the all-time high. It has a RSI in the bullish zone with the MACD rising. Look for a new high to participate…..

Neogen, Ticker: $NEOG

Neogen, $NEOG, comes into the week testing resistance. It has a RSI in the bullish zone with the MACD positive. Look for a push over resistance to participate…..

EchoStar, Ticker: $SATS

EchoStar, $SATS, comes into the week in consolidation. It has a RSI in the bullish zone with a MACD positive. Look for a break up from consolidation to participate…..

If you like what you see sign up for more ideas and deeper analysis using this Get Premium link.  

After reviewing over 1,000 charts, I have found some good setups for the week. These were selected and should be viewed in the context of the broad Market Macro picture reviewed Friday which heading into the September FOMC meeting and Options Expiration, saw heading into the last full week of September, equity markets showed strength following the FOMC’s first rate cut in 4 years.

Elsewhere look for Gold to continue its uptrend while Crude Oil bounces in its downtrend. The US Dollar Index continues to hold lower in consolidation while US Treasuries are failing at levels that could reverse to an uptrend. The Shanghai Composite looks to continue the bounce in  the downtrend while Emerging Markets rise in consolidation.

The Volatility Index looks to remain low and stabilizing making the path easier for equity markets to the upside. Their charts look strong, especially on the longer timeframe with the SPY making a new all-time high Thursday, breaking a range.  The IWM and QQQ are holding up on the edge of a range break to the upside. On the shorter timeframe the SPY is also strong with the IWM and QQQ building momentum as price reaches the August highs. Use this information as you prepare for the coming week and trad’em well.

[bitchesgetriches]

I'm terribly sorry if you've been asked this before, but I recently got a payout from a court case. I need to know how to passively invest. Problem is, I've been living poor for about 5 years after my knee injury. I already read a suggested article on your page about ways to invest a $1,000, but I'm looking for which companies are best to trust. Google isn't exactly reliable in that area with all its sponsored ads, so I was hoping if I could ask y'all: If you had about 10k drop into your lap, what is step 1? (and possibly 2 & 3)

We're so glad you asked, kitten. Were I in your situation, below are the steps I'd take.

Step 1: Establish a safety net. You've been "living poor" after an injury, which tells me that a little financial security could go a long way. So establish an emergency fund with some of that money. We recommend keeping an emergency fund in a HYSA (high yield savings account), which are currently returning about 4% across the board WITHOUT the risk of stock market investing. Here's how that works:

Not Every Savings Account Is Created Equal 

You Must Be This Big to Be an Emergency Fund 

Step 2: Invest in low-cost index funds. Do not--we repeat, DO NOT--attempt to pick individual stocks or companies to invest in. Leave that to much richer and more experienced investors. Instead, choose one or a handful of low-cost index funds. These bad boys track the entire market to minimize your risk. Here's how they work:

Investing Deathmatch: Managed Funds vs. Index Funds

How To Start Small by Saving Small 

Step 3: Investigate diversified investments. If there's anything left over, you can look into an alternative long-term investment, like real estate, a small business, or even higher education for yourself. This can be a way to invest in something more personal, that you care about. But do your homework to mitigate your risk and figure out what sort of return you'll get. We write more about this here:

Small Business Investing: A Kinder, Gentler Alternative to the Stock Market 

How To Save for Retirement When You Make Less Than $30,000 a Year

If you found this helpful, give us a tip!

[levi501ackerman]

Steel Heart Chapter 15:

The Man in the Forest

Hange x Reader Chapter Index Masterlist

Megan's Note: For the vibe of this chapter listen to "Maleficent's Theme" by Tchaikovsky. Or look up and listen to the song "Maleficent's Evil Spell" from George Burn's adaptation for the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty. You'll know the vibe instantly. I also feel like you'll figure out when to play it LOL! Posted: 8/23/24

Word Count: 4.3k

After a filling dinner of roasted chicken, most knights were ready to go to bed. When twilight was cast over the sky, the camp called it a night and headed off to bed. The following morning, the plan was to eat, pack, bathe, and then ride to a farm owned by the Reeves family—a father-and-son company with close ties to the Royal family and the Kingdom. 

Dimo and his son Flegel made their wealth by building a large company with different farms near the districts. The company handles and distributes meat and produce to markets in every district and nearby villages. The farm that Hange said they were heading to in the morning was a farm that happened to be Flegel’s main residence—a spice farm growing and distributing goods such as saffron, wasabi, and other common spices. 

Levi gave you a second cup of tea with a higher dose of the sleeping pills, then packed away the empty kettle. You stayed by the fire while Levi and the knights packed up the camp. Since being in the forest, the air was cooler and the shadows of the knights were eerier. The knights walking back and forth to the horses would disappear out of sight once leaving the illumination of the fire. You could barely make out who was approaching the camp until crossing the threshold of the light. Would you have time to react if an unwanted person came from the shadows?

Hange emerged from the tent, holding a lit candle and a bag and walking to the dark abyss. They disappeared out of sight nearly instantly and made you feel alone. You looked around at the desolate campsite and decided to return to the tent. As you went further from the fire, the chill air crept onto your back and neck. The feeling that someone was watching you made the hairs on your neck stand up. You gripped your cloak and hurried into the tent. You could barely make out the silhouette of the table and chairs in the tent.

You knew Hange’s story was something they made up to scare you, but the feeling of being watched didn’t leave you. It’s something that could happen. A Marleyan Cult member hiding amongst the trees watching and waiting to take you. You carefully walked to your bedroll, removed your cloak and crawled inside. You noticed you were holding your breath and released it.

I’m safe with Hange

A light appeared in the tent and Hange returned. You noticed their shirt didn’t have the dirt stain on the front. Then you realized Hange was wearing the pale yellow collared long-sleeve shirt. You and Hange weren’t twins anymore. 

“Why aren’t you wearing the matching white shirt, Hange?” You whined. 

“Oh, the shirt with the dirt on it?” Hange put their free hand on their hip and raised their eyebrows skeptically.

“Duh,” Hange scoffed, then chuckled to themselves. “We aren’t twins anymore!”

“So that’s what your whining is about?” Hange grabbed the white shirt from out of a bag that was on the table. “You’re pouting about not being twins, huh?”

“UGH!”

“The Princess wants me to wear a dirty shirt just so we can twin,” Hange said, licking their thumb and wiping the stain of dirt. “It’s not coming off—I’ll wash it in the river tomorrow,” they said to themselves. 

“Can you wear it? Please?!?!”

“I can’t say no to Princess Y/N,” Hange turned around and unbuttoned their pale yellow shirt. You turned over in your bedroll, giving them privacy. You wanted to peek at their body, but the thought of getting caught was embarrassing. If Hange caught you, you wouldn’t know how to explain yourself. Plus, bathing in the river makes it easier to gaze at Hange’s body. “Alright! We’re twins again!”

“GOOD!” You turned over to see Hange’s arms up, presenting themselves in the white shirt! The top three buttons were undone, pleasantly revealing their cleavage. Thank goodness you were far enough away for Hange not to be able to distinguish where you were looking. Now that you were alone again, you wanted to know Hange’s dating history. The girls' names, what they looked like, or what they were like as Hange’s girlfriend. Your heart pounded in your chest, and you were confused about why you were nervous about asking Hange. They were dismissive of your questions earlier about their dream girl. Earlier, you speculated that Hange didn’t want to share about their past relationship. Perhaps you could ask one more time and if they didn’t want to share, you wouldn’t bring it up. At least you’d try. “Hey, I was wondering something . . .”

“Oh yeah? Let me take two more bags and I’ll be all yours!” Hange held the candle in one hand and leveraged two bags in the other. As they walked out of your shared tent, you contemplated how you would approach Hange on the possibly sensitive topics. Maybe ask with a preface of only sharing what they want. Perhaps lie to Hange? Tell them you have only asked these questions to help with your future relationship with a stranger. Fairy Godmothers Christa and Ymir wouldn’t approve. Those two would slap you and tell you they didn’t raise a liar. Though they did withhold information about your life, wasn’t that a lie?

Your heart continued to pound and the anticipation of asking Hange clouded your thoughts. You stared at the side of the tent and it was like you couldn’t hear or feel anything—only think. It wasn’t a big deal just ask Hange. They were your friend. You toyed with the fabric of your bedroll, balling it between your index finger and thumb. When Hange came back into the tent, you could hear them shivering. Their shoulders were to their ears and they were holding themselves.

“It’s so cold out there,” Hange said as they walked to their bedroll and placed the small candle on the ground. The low light created an effortless glow to illuminate their pleasant features. Hange’s thick lashes behind their glasses were feminine and doe-like. 

Woah.

“U-Uh . . .”

“Is something wrong, my dear?” 

“I um—I was just thinking of something?”

“Care to share?” Hange turned around and began undressing themselves. You wanted to turn away from them, but truly, you were enamored. Your mouth was agape, and thoughts swirled in your head. Even though Hange was interested in girls, how could the knights around the camp pay attention with them around? Some of the knights must be crushing on Hange. Hange set their glasses down and sighed.

“I was just thinking—thinking about my marriage to Prince Marco—” You sounded unsure and with the realization you could play it off as nerves, you continued confidently. Though Hange’s naked body was right next to you, the top of the tent looked really cool. “—Thinking about how to be a good girlfriend. What do you think makes a good girlfriend?”

“You mean a wife?”

“Yeah, that.” Hange crawled into the bedroll and pulled it up to their neck. You noticed Hange was facing you and proceeded to mirror them, knowing it was safe to look. They had their eyepatch on still and you pulled the covers all the way to your neck. 

“That’s a long answer, Princess,” Hange whispered as the outside camp became silent and the knights headed to bed. “I’m afraid it depends on the person, but a good baseline is being a good communicator, compatible, and respectful mostly. Arranged marriages are standard for royal families; married couples typically learn to love each other. Or at least be on a friendly level.”

“Friendly?” You whispered and Hange nodded.

“The marriages aren’t for love; it's to unite the royal families for trade or for allies.” Your heart sank at Hange’s words and the thought of your marriage being for a price other than love. It felt like a heavy, unknown cloud of responsibilities looming over you. “You’re going to be Queen and be the Ruler of the Walls.”

“What about Prince Marco?” Hange scoffed and revealed a dimple on their face from smiling. The dimple on their cheek gave Hange an added cuteness and adorable aura to their face. 

“Yes, the King is important, but really, the Queen is worshiped by all. I mean, she’s growing the heir. The Queen is the one who holds the bloodline of the Royal family. A man could wander the earth not knowing they have a child with multiple women, but every woman will know if an heir is theirs.” The thought of submitting yourself to the unknown Prince Marco to conceive an heir made you feel uneasy and . . . violated. You didn’t want to do that. But maybe it was not as bad as it seems—maybe it’s something you’ll learn to enjoy, like how you’ll learn to love a stranger. 

“Hange . . . what’s a good partner for you?” Their eyes darted away from you and there was a hesitance behind their voice. “You don’t have to answer I just—I just don’t want to think about making heirs with a stranger.”

“That’s quite understandable, Y/N.” There was a pause from Hange. They were gathering their thoughts, and you hoped Hange would share about their past relationships.

“I prefer a girl who is fun. They make me laugh and don’t let the weight of their problems always weigh them down. Also intelligent and have a vested interest in learning more about the world. Knowing there’s so much more we haven’t discovered! And I guess loyalty. But in the end, most relationships come down to compatibility, respect, and mutual devotion.”

“Levi told me that relationships also have to deal with going through hardships together, willingly.” Hange brought their hand from out of their bedroll and tapped your nose. You smiled fondly, knowing that they were going to do that. 

“Levi was right.” The candle flame flickered and the wax droplets raced down the candle stick and gathered at the brass candle holder. “There are many types of hardships that can affect relationships. Outside forces and inner conflicts . . . I dated a girl who had a hard time accepting her attraction to girls. She finally felt confident and told her parents, but her father was unhappy. He loomed over her, being the devil on her shoulder and eventually, she ended our relationship.” Hange admitted and you looked away from them. When Hange was telling the story, they didn’t sound sad, it must have been a long time ago and they had time to heal from the pain that was brought by that girl—the girl who wasn’t willing. 

“I’m so sorry, Hange . . .” You whispered.

“Don’t be. Another example of a hardship is when I lost my eye. I was dating a girl and learning to accept my new appearance. In the end, I let my insecurities get to me and I thought she wanted to be with prettier girls and so I ended it . . .” Hange rolled onto their back and closed their eye. You studied their face. The lovely features from their aquiline nose to their soft lips all complement each other to create their face—the face in oil paintings and the face you like looking at.

“Hange . . . you are really pretty, please believe me! But I also don’t care what you look like. I care more about who you are; you, Hange Zoe, are my best friend.” Hange didn’t react to your praise. It was like they were deciding to do something—to choose how to respond to you. They breathed evenly for a few moments, and then, under their breath, they spoke. 

“That’s because you are a kind soul, Princess. Through the horrors you’ve seen, you remained kind. Even after the Marleyan Cultists captured you, you still don’t hate them . . . only feared them.” You didn’t know how to respond. Should you hate the Marleyan Cult? You only hated that they were hunting you. You didn’t even know of the Marleyan Cult until you escaped Shiganshina with Sir Miche Zacharius. Though you were with many knights, you wanted to learn how to defend yourself if needed. Levi and Sir Zacharius told you that all the knights would lay down their lives for you, and they have, but you still want to learn to defend yourself. 

“Hange . . . I’ve been wanting to learn how to fight and I know I can’t learn to be great in just one day, but maybe some tricks on how to not be helpless?” Hange’s eye fluttered open and they craned their neck toward you. Then, their fondness grew.

“You have tackled me twice already and slapped Eren pretty hard,” then Hange started snickering to themselves.

“What?”

“I’m just imagining, little ole, you tackling some big man,” Hange amusingly giggled and their contagious nature caused you to join in. “But anyways, Levi would be a good person to ask because he has great instincts. Plus, he knows how to go against people twice his size.”

“Okay, that is a good idea. Maybe he can teach me or give me tips during downtime! The only thing I know is Sir Zacharius told me to go for the neck and kick them in the balls,” Hange burst out loudly. They couldn’t contain their laughter and their shoulders were jiggling up and down. They slapped their bedroll as they caught their breath.

“He would tell you that,” Hange reached for the brass ring along the candle holder and clutched it between their thumb and index finger. “We should go to sleep.” The tent became pitch black when Hange blew out the candle. You felt pleased that Hange opened up about some of their past relationships. Hange’s story of the girl who had trouble accepting their feelings for girls stayed with you. It confused you.

“Hange . . . ?” You whispered.

“We should sleep, Princess Y/N.”

“One more question!”

“Okaaayy, what?”

“Why did the girl have difficulty accepting she liked girls?” Hange sighed and you heard them shift in their bedroll.

“Could be because she heard her father disprove of girls dating each other all her life. Could be because she expected herself to marry a man. Could be because deep down inside, she didn’t like girls dating each other and didn’t expect to be attracted to me. Her environment. Her circumstances.” You thought about your home in the cottage with Christa and Ymir. They raised you to be accepting and kind to others. Your Fairy Godmothers were in love and together. They raised you and your only exposure to love was Christa and Ymir. Ymir made sure there were fresh flowers in the vase on the table and threw out the dead ones before Christa saw them. They enjoyed each other’s company and were a team. They were devoted to one another and helped each other. You wanted a love like that. But for some reason you didn’t want that with Prince Marco Bodt. 

“Hange, how did you know you wanted to date girls?” There was a pause and the dark abyss of the tent comforted you while you waited for their reply. You held your breath, wanting to know the moment it clicked for Hange. Did they see a girl’s naked body? Did Hange have some girl save their life or give them a thoughtful gift? Perhaps Hange was just Hange. Or they met a girl that changed their life—the light in the darkness.

“When you know, you know.” 

Hange’s words stayed in your mind as you tried to fall asleep. You shivered in your bedroll. You had more layers than Hange, yet you were the one freezing. In the dark, you felt around for the brass candle holder. You felt the rim of the brass saucer and moved your fingers around the edges, feeling for the circular handle. Then, you carefully moved the candle from between you and Hange to the other side of you.

While in your bedroll, you shuffled closer to Hange. You got close enough and felt the lump of their body against your side. They didn’t move away from you and you were pleased they let you snuggle next to them. Warmth radiated off of them and after a while, you felt your eyelids droop as you faded to sleep. 

You didn’t expect to wake up; it was still dark out. You felt an ache between your legs and groaned when you realized you needed to use the restroom. If Levi hadn’t given you a second cup of tea, you might have been able to wait until morning to use the restroom. The wind softly blew the leaves of the trees rhythmically, and it felt colder than it had been earlier in the evening. There was a faint noise outside, sounding like a chorus. 

“Hange . . . ?” You shook Hange and they groaned. “Hange! I really need to use the restroom.” You whispered and they groaned and shifted in their sleep. 

“I’m naked,” Hange mumbled and was barely audible. 

“I know I’m sorry, but I need to go!” You whispered desperately. Hange shifted in their sleep and then said nothing else. You rocked them, hoping they would be annoyed with your persistence. “Hange Zoe, I have to pee really bad!”

“Take the candle and have one of the knights on rotation escort you. There should be four guarding the camp!” Hange said, half asleep. “Pee behind the tent if you need to.”

Hange went still again, and their even breaths returned. You just needed to go quickly. It’ll take less than a minute, and then you could drift back to sleep next to Hange. You felt around for the brass handle of the candle holder. When your fingertips felt the saucer, you pulled it closer, and then you felt around for your boots. 

With the candle in hand and your boots on, you stood up and shivered from the cold, hitting more of your body. You figured you didn’t need your cloak because you’d be quick and slowly walked toward the table. You grunted when your hip hit the table. You felt the surface of the smooth tabletop and placed the candle on the table. A small box was on the table and you opened it and dug inside for a match. You felt the head of the match with your fingers. Then you struck the head against the side of the box and fire spewed from the tip. 

The candle lit up the tent faintly, and Hange was deep asleep and unbothered by the light. You carried the candle in front of you and carefully exited the tent. The camp was dark, nearly pitch black. In the distance were four specks of light—knights with their own light source. You carefully looked at the ground and walked toward the closest one. 

“Hello?” You whispered into the abyss and the light in the distance shifted. As you came closer, the flame in the distance approached. When you were a few feet away from each other, you saw a man with really short hair like Connie’s and you recognized him talking to Eren, Jean, and Connie. He trained with them when they were younger.  

“Your Highness? Is something wrong?” He whispered and his skinny eyebrows furrowed. 

“Franz . . . right? I—uh, need to use the restroom and Hange’s asleep. They told me to have one of the guards escort me . . .” Franz Kefka blushed and stared at you. He was caught off guard by the request. “I’ll be quick. Just go with me into the forest and then give me privacy . . .” 

“Right, I’ll protect you, Princess Y/N.” He said, and you both used your candles as a guiding light. You carefully walked and avoided tripping over the rocks and twigs on the ground. Chills were on your back, and you felt like you were being watched. You followed Franz into the forest. Franz drew his sword, and you looked around the dark abyss as if looking would help you see better. “We don’t need to go far since it’s dark. Just go ahead and I’ll be here if anything happens.”

“T-Thank you, Sir Kefka,” But something was holding you back from leaving Franz’s side. A foreboding feeling and the hairs standing on your neck did not help. The ache between your legs was about to burst, so you went a couple of trees in front of Franz. 

When you were a few trees away from him, you set your candle on the ground. You looked over your shoulder to see Franz’s flame in the distance. You couldn’t see him, and he couldn’t see you. Behind a tree trunk, you undressed yourself. You held the small dagger inside your boot as you urinated on the ground. You felt better after releasing yourself and quietly put on your clothes. There was an odd noise in the distance and you froze.

Your heart raced and you shoved your boots on and picked up your candle. The trees stood large and tall, surrounding you. You heard it again—the noise. It sounded like a chorus. You gasped and looked around, but only the abyss of darkness was seen. You pivoted toward Franz’s light, but the sound of your name in the wind had you frozen in place.

Did I just hear . . . ?

The chorus of your name dared you to walk deeper into the forest. Chills were on your cheeks and your breath was visible before you. You could barely breathe and your shoulders tensed up.  

Someone was calling your name.

The pleasant chorus called your name again, beckoning you.

Like a trance.

You held out your candle and listened to the chorus—a sinister falsetto among the trees deep within the forest. You obeyed the voice calling for you and walked further from the camp. Your hand shook as you held out your knife. There was a crunch of twigs under your boots, and you passed trees, searching for the voice. 

The chorus lured you away from the camp. The twist in your stomach told you to turn around—to not follow the voice. But the temptation from the song of your name was controlling you.

Follow the voice. 

Give in to the calls.

Franz’s light was invisible behind you and the melody of your name stopped. Was this where they wanted you? You followed the call obediently and you listened for another call. You swore someone was calling your name. Then you sighed and turned to go back to camp.

Your breath hitched. A few feet away, a silhouette of a man stood, his eyes glowing in the abyss.

“F-Franz?” You were shaking as you held your candle toward the glowing eyes. Your eyes went wide when your candle's flame glowed on the stranger’s face. The tall man wore a suit of armor—yet he was a man you had never seen before. His piercing gaze made your heart jolt. He held a crested sword like the Knights of the Royal King’s Guard. Something inside you screamed for you not to trust the stranger. When he stepped toward you, your stomach flipped. The stranger's blonde hair had stains of blood and there was blood on the gorget of his armor.

You shrieked and ran toward the camp. You raced away, hoping help would come. From deep inside you, you let out another guttural scream. Tears filled your eyes and your heart was in your throat. 

“HELP!” You ran dodging trees and gasping for air. “FRANZ! HANGE!” Your feet pounded the ground, and you felt a pinch in your lungs. Tears were staining your face and the burn of running inflamed your throat. In the distance, you could see Franz’s flame coming toward you. The two of you rammed into each other and you screamed in his face, “THERE’S A MAN IN THE FOREST!” You cried and Franz’s mouth gaped open and his eyes went wide. The three other guards that were on rotation ran to you and Franz. You wailed and had trouble catching your breath. One of the guards told the other to alert Captain Levi and Commander Dame Hange. You wheezed as you cried and then fell to the ground on your knees. 

“Princess!” Franz bent down to your feeble form. He forcefully got you on your feet as you wailed and walked you toward the camp.

“WE’RE BEING WATCHED! THERE WAS A MAN IN THE FOREST!” You bawled. The tears were blinding you. More knights came up to you and you screamed, feeling overwhelmed and like everyone was going to hurt you. 

“Calm down!” You heard Levi’s commanding voice. You were struggling to breathe and felt dizzy. The darkness was tricking you and you couldn’t tell where you were. Knights came out of their tent to check on your loud sobs. Franz led you to a log that you recognized was around the campfire. You whimpered and wiped your tears as you were forced to sit on the log. A group of knights surrounded you, intently waiting for you to calm down. You felt comforting hands on your back as you caught your breath. Levi, Jean, Connie, Eren, Franz, and more knights were seen from the candlelight. 

“I saw a man in the forest!” You pointed toward the abyss.

“She’s distraught,” Levi said and he turned to Franz, “What happened?”

“She needed to use the bathroom, so I escorted her. Then I gave her privacy, and she ran back screaming about seeing a man,” Franz’s voice wavered. 

“Damn it! I knew Hange’s joke would spook her,” Levi said.

“NO! I saw him! There was a blonde knight with a crested sword and he was covered in blood,” You wailed. Their faces froze and you could tell they didn’t know what to say. Hange then appeared in the group and you noticed they were wearing your cloak. They held it, covering themselves and then crouched next to you. You sprung yourself on Hange, wrapping your arms around their neck. They held you as you calmed down and then they stroked your back. “We’re being watched,” you choked out. 

“Levi, she said the knight was blonde and had a crested sword,” You heard Jean’s voice. “Could he have been Erwin Smith?” 

next chapter Chapter 16: These Inconvenient Fireworks

chapter index masterlist

[financeprincess]

advice for people just wanting to be educated in the finance field?

I would start dipping your toe in the finance sections of reputable sources (i.e. Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard business review, MarketWatch, etc.) and start researching terms and companies you don’t know. I treat myself with a Bloomberg Businessweek subscription sent to my home because I love their design team and it’s actually very informative. You can also sign up for the Morning Brew finance newsletter, it’s free and I read it every morning to get a brief overview of what’s going on. Even just being informed of current events is helpful in learning about finance because all major events effect the market and businesses. Look at stock performance charts. Learn about different types of investment accounts and different kinds of investments. There are a lot of really great courses on platforms like Coursera as well, I just took one called Private Equity & Venture Capital from Università Bocconi. Flirt with equity crowdfunding platforms (I accidentally made a lot of money on one of these as an early investor with less than $1k). If you live in the US start looking into personal and business tax deductions. Even credit card rewards can actually get you a lot, I’ve gotten free hotel rooms and free flights from money I would have spent anyway. Investments also mean more than just individual stocks: could be index funds, mutual funds, bonds, CDs, REITs, forex, precious gems & metals, real estate, even some designer goods retain and increase in value if bought strategically and handled correctly. Even just having the fundamentals of a maxed out retirement account (a Roth IRA or a backdoor Roth IRA is my personal preference) full of index funds and mutual funds that are balanced well, a fully funded emergency fund of 3-12 months personal expenses, any debt above 7% interest paid off, and sinking funds for various expenses automatically set up in a high yield savings account will have you very well off. When you have a foundation like that you have the breathing room to change careers, take time off, buy investment properties, invest in volatile but potentially profitable ventures, start businesses, and set up additional streams of income.

[darkmaga-retard]

John Ellis

Aug 05, 2024

1. Stock markets tumbled on Monday, with Japanese shares at one point exceeding their 1987 "Black Monday" loss, as fears of a U.S. recession sent investors fleeing from risk while wagering that rate cuts would be needed to rescue growth. The safe haven yen and Swiss franc surged, as crowded carry trades unravelled, sparking speculation that some investors were unloading profitable trades to get money to cover losses elsewhere. Such was the torrent of selling that circuit breakers were triggered on stock exchanges across Asia. (Source: reuters.com)

2. Taiwan stocks ended down 8.4% on Monday, a record slump, with tech stocks including TSMC plunging as investors sold off one of Asia's top performing markets this year, spooked by a poor outlook for global tech stocks and the U.S. economy. The main index shed 1,807.21 points, its worst one-day percentage fall, to close at 19,830.88, the lowest level since April 23. The decline was fuelled by a sell-off in tech, and then spread more broadly as the index dipped below the key 20,000 level. (Source: reuters.com)

3. Earlier today, South Korea's stock market marked its worst session since the global financial crisis of 2008, with trading curbs activated for the first time in four years, as tech stocks slumped amid U.S. recession fears. The benchmark KOSPI stock index ended the session down 8.8% at 2,441.55, its biggest percentage fall since Oct. 24, 2008. During the session, the KOSPI fell as much as 10.8%, triggering circuit breakers for the first time since March 2020, which are trading curbs activated when the index falls or rises more than 8% and halts trading of stocks and derivatives for 20 minutes. (Source: reuters.com)

4. A closely watched measure of expected US stock market turbulence surged to its highest level in almost four years today as a global stock sell-off gathered pace. The Vix index of expected volatility in the S&P 500 — commonly known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — rose to as much as 41.8 points by morning in London to its highest level since November 2020, breaking above an intraday peak in March 2023 following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The Vix measures the price of options that enable investors to profit from swings in the S&P 500. (Source: ft.com)

5. U.S. pension funds are beginning to explore investments around bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, a move that could expose millions of former teachers, police officers, firefighters and other retirees to the wild ups and downs of a largely unregulated financial product. In at least five states, industry lobbyists have aggressively hawked the idea, aiming to woo local lawmakers with the promise that digital assets can deliver sky-high profits — often without fully acknowledging the possible risks. The emerging sales campaign contrasts with the broad warnings in Washington that investing in cryptocurrency could leave retirees’ life savings vulnerable to “fraud, theft and loss.” (Source: washingtonpost.com)

6. After more than a decade as a recurring tea-time conversation topic, the delay in retirement is nearing reality in China, set to impact over 500 million workers as the country grapples with a rapidly aging population. The five-year reform blueprint, released last month following a key Communist Party gathering, includes a commitment to raise the retirement age. According to the resolution adopted at the Third Plenum of the party’s 20th Central Committee, China will gradually increase the statutory retirement age based on the principle of “voluntary participation with appropriate flexibility.” For the first time, a key policy document outlines the principles of the reform, fueling expectations that the decade-long initiative will soon be implemented. (Source: caixinglobal.com)

[crying-fantasies]

A wonderful life ahead (3)

Masterlist

Part 1 | part 2 | part 3: Medicine | part 4 | part 5

When you first put yourself in Cybertron it was by the very same reason other humans were there too.

Work, work and necessity.

Turns out, humans were quite good with those little hands, their whole body way more versatile to get through the most difficult points in many cybertronians, but work for human or overall helpers weren't needed in times of war, demand increasing after the end of it, especially with all the damage done to the cities and the inhabitants.

Metroplex was the very first one among the list of damaged, and the city speaker noticed how humans could get deeper than any mini bot ever could, still the high risk of having an organic and even a possible infection of atrophosia required the use of special equipment and medical capacitation was necessary to treatment when Metroplex accepted human help when the damage was only progressing.

You weren't a medic, you were there just to bomb air to the group going inside Metroplex with mini bots in order to prevent a possible squish if the innards of the titan just decided to move, and that's how you meet your husband.

Blurr wasn't a mini bot, not even part of your work, he was just there when you were tearing up while thinking of your home, one you left behind by sheer necessity.

He would tell you later on that he recognized you from his quick travels from and to the market because he needed to repair the filters of his oil house.

Humans and cybertronians were in contact for years to that point, one thing got to another, and then this bot is looking at you like some kind of friend or stress relief, you still laugh to that strange belief that emerged when more humans crossed the space bridge to Cybertron, like some bot looking at you and asking straight forward if it was true that humans were good for the spark or if human skin oils were really corrosive or, in the most crazy things, if it was true that humans didn't age normally if they were spark bounded.

Their innocence was initially cute, but then the topic of atrophosia resurging got those few bots that talked to you pretty far away, some still remained but didn't want to touch you if it wasn't necessary.

Except for Blurr.

"I've been in contact with organics before, so I guess that I'm doomed already" his intent to sound funny and cool made you look at him like he was already victim of the degenerative disease, and maybe he really got it the first time that he used his alt-mode in front of you, opening his passenger door for you and trying to be suave while trying to ask you out.

He talked way faster to what you could ever understand, but you could hear his cooling fans going hard and fast when you put a hand on his leathered seat.

Since then, it has been almost 25 years.

And you kept looking like the moment you touched your husband's spark, laughing to yourself, those bots were right, the conjunx ritualand spark bound did indeed decrease your aging.

Still, you could feel a headache almost everyday and the increase of gray hair by the second with the shenanigans of your own family.

"How long?"

"Stop it, Ripley"

Ripley was already a young adult and you loved her to pieces, but God, was she irritating.

"Carrier told you to wait, why can't you stay in one place while this finish?"

"It's okay, sweetspark, it will be over soon" you glared at your husband, almost saying something about how lenient he was with Ripley but not uttering a word about it, after all, Blurr was in this mess because of you, maybe he noticed your body a little more tense, always trying to decipher your behavior, placing one servo near you and stroking your cheek with his index, the needle inside his energon lines still pumping medicine, he could wince by the movement but he kept on smiling at you sweetly.

A few centuries ago, degenerative diseases were almost untreatable.

A few years ago, the first Terraformer was born, with his merged CNA and antibodies that could stop at least atrophosia and other related disease originated from organics, being a good option to many cybertronians still in contact with humans.

Just like your foolish husband.

"I don't really care" he told you then, going slow by his own standard, showing you around Metroplex, a view that was hard to see for yourself, the sky of Cybertron and the mechs around, it was almost a good contrast, seeing the city's lights and the stars, one of those your distant home.

Blurr said that he didn't care, and he was being honest, your heart pounding, reflecting your emotions while your hands grasped at his door was enough to make his spark sing, he loosened your seatbelt just right to let you out of his cabin, letting you admire around to your heart's content, as far as he could but still keeping you grounded, stopping your breathing mask from being bumped or any possibility that you could go flying out of his window.

You would say that he was being dramatic, eating your words back when your hand moved without your intention, he didn't even care when you almost slipped and put your little foot on his seat, changing back to his bot form to catch you, holding you firmly in his servo, been harsh for a moment before he could settle the movement to keep you still, his paint near his legs and joints now ruined by the harsh contact with the road but what mattered the most for him was you, scared you that was holding to his digits and hyperventilating, Blurr looked at you with frantic optics, searching for any damage done to your pliable body or if your mask was still on and placed correctly, ex-venting in relief the moment he noticed you were shocked but fine.

"Oh, thank Primus" he said it so fast that you almost didn't understand it, when your beating heart finally let's you breathe normally you let go of his digit, pushing his servo away.

What about the atrophosia? What if your skin really damages him? What if you make him more damage?

It mattered for you, maybe more than what you really thought at first, because Blurr was starting to be important in ways you didn't expect at first, how to deny it when he reached out for you again with a soft smile on his faceplate and asked gently if he could carry you back, still on his knees and looking anxious, as if expecting your refusal.

How could you tell him no? How could you keep him away? There was no answer because there was no way you didn't want him too.

"Sweetspark?" Blurr's voice is laced with worry, looking at you with his blue optics and a soft tone, why is he the one trying to comfort you when he is the one with a needle inside his energon lines that you know hurts him?

How did you get to know such a caring mech?

How did you get him to look at you like that?

"It's fine, just, thinking about other things" Blurr doesn't believes your answer nor your kids, they all have this incredulous expression and you almost laugh at how much they look alike.

As much as Ripley mimicked Blurr and how much Ty can show with his armor plate on.

"Well, thinking about the time when I meet your father" you refer to your kids, still, at your words many other bots in the clinic perk up, some even whistling and others asking you to tell the details and maybe expecting a bit of drama, everybot with a similar needle and pumping medicine in their system, your two kids now look almost bored, knowing this story to the details and knowing you tell it everytime you want to get Blurr flustered, it works out like a clock everytime.

"Wait, dear" oh, now he is using human words of endearment, he is trying to stop you at any cost, too late, you don't want to feel exposed by your old crush on him right now.

"Well, your father approached me, asking if I was interested in doing a visit to his oil house for a cube of energon, I almost laughed at his face because he was inviting me to a date but also implying me to drink energon" most mechs laughed hard or smiled by such a mistake, others kept silence, maybe Blurr wasn't the only bot that tried to date a human with the invitation of a little drink first, but also forgetting how toxic energon could be for organics.

"Darling!"

"No, no, let the story get to when you scored a date" Ripley said, looking forward to her favorite story, "when dad gave you a ride but almost crushed you, literally"

"Oh" Ty now added, "when he thought you were sparked" at his words more mechs laughed, and Blurr had to cover his hot faceplate with a servo, smiling fondly at the memories.