#How To Increase Height In 2 Weeks

[fatliberation]

Anti-Obesity Drugs in Sociopolitical Context

Abstract

This literature review critically examines the use of Body Mass Index (BMI) as a diagnostic tool for obesity, highlighting its historical and scientific flaws. The diagnosis and treatment of obesity is heavily stigmatized and reflects deeper socio-economic and racial biases. Fatphobia, or anti-fatness, is deeply rooted in white supremacy and colonial history. I argue that anti-fatness and weight-based discrimination significantly impact health outcomes, rather than body fat percentage alone. The way that the medical system focuses on body size rather than the overall health of patients perpetuates harm and yields even poorer health outcomes. To genuinely improve the lives of fat individuals, we must dismantle anti-fat systems and remove barriers to healthcare, job equity, and basic infrastructure by implementing legal protections, rather than simply promoting weight loss. This review emphasizes the need for a holistic approach to health that considers socio-economic factors and systemic discrimination.

Journal Summary

Recently, two anti-obesity medications, Ozempic and Wegovy, which are primarily prescribed for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), have shown promise in causing weight loss. The 2022 scientific journal “Ozempic and Wegovy for Weight Loss, Pharmacological Component and Effect” by Abdullah Mohammed, et al explores the pharmacological components and effects of these medications on weight reduction, summarizing findings from existing clinical studies.

Ozempic is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist primarily used to manage T2DM. Clinical studies indicate that semaglutide can also promote significant weight loss. Ozempic's mechanism involves binding to GLP-1 receptors in the brain, reducing food intake and increasing feelings of fullness. This leads to a decrease in body weight and improvement in glycemic control. Wegovy, also a GLP-1 receptor agonist, is the same drug as Ozempic but two times the dose, specifically approved for weight loss for fat people even without T2DM. Administered as a weekly injection, Wegovy has shown effectiveness in inducing sustained weight loss. The STEP trials demonstrated that participants using Wegovy experienced an average weight loss of 15.8% over 68 weeks. Wegovy's pharmacokinetics involve prolonged activation of GLP-1 receptors, enhancing satiety and reducing hunger. GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide mimic the action of the natural hormone GLP-1, which regulates appetite and blood sugar levels. By slowing gastric emptying and promoting a feeling of fullness, these medications reduce caloric intake. Clinical trials have shown that GLP-1RAs, including semaglutide, can result in weight loss from 5% or up to 10-15% of body weight. However, sustained weight loss requires ongoing lifestyle modifications, as discontinuation of the medication leads to weight regain. Common side effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists include gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation. Other potential side effects include increased heart rate, fatigue, headaches, and changes in thyroid function.

Obesity as a Disease

How does one get an obesity diagnosis? There is one single criterion used for diagnosing someone with this disease: The Body Mass Index (BMI). A person’s BMI is their weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters, rounded to one decimal place. It does not account for muscle mass versus body fat. For these reasons, the BMI has been widely proven to be an ineffective health measure. The BMI was also never intended to be a measure of health in the first place.

The BMI was created in the 1800s by a statistician named Adolphe Quetelet, who did not study medicine, to gather statistics of the average height and weight of specifically white, European, upper-middle-class men to assist the government in allocating resources. It was never intended as a measure of individual body fat, build, or health (Karasu, 2016). Quetelet is also credited with founding the field of anthropometry, including the racist pseudoscience of phrenology. Quetelet’s L’homme Moyen would be used as a measurement of fitness to inspire, and as a scientific justification, for eugenics (Eugenics archive).

Studies have observed that about 30% of "normal” weight people are “unhealthy," whereas about 50% of "overweight" people are “healthy” (Rey-López, et al, 2014). Thus, using the BMI as an indicator of health misclassifies 75 million people in the United States alone. “Healthy*” lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index (Matheson, et al, 2012).

*I put “healthy” in quotation marks here because the definition of an individual’s health is oversimplified and depends on many socioeconomic factors.

While epidemiologists use BMI to calculate national obesity rates, the distinctions between weight classes can be arbitrary. Ever notice that the weight classes on the BMI are nearly intervals of five? In 1998, the National Institutes of Health lowered the overweight threshold from 27.8 to 25—making roughly 29 million Americans "overweight" overnight—to match international guidelines (Butler, 2014). Critics have also noted that those guidelines were drafted in part by the International Obesity Task Force, whose two principal funders were companies making weight loss drugs.

Jackie Scully, Senior Research Fellow at the Unit for Ethics in the Biosciences, University of Basel, in her scientific journal titled “What is a Disease?” states the following: “As the business literature shows, new clinical diagnoses are often welcomed primarily as opportunities for market growth (Moynihan et al, 2002). One recent example of this is female sexual dysfunction (FSD). The huge commercial success of sildenafil (Viagra) for erectile dysfunction in men provides a strong motivation for drug companies to identify an equivalent market (that is, condition) in women. And some ethicists feel that drug companies were, to put it mildly, over-involved in the medical consensus meetings held between 1997 and 1999 that effectively drew up very inclusive clinical criteria for the definition of FSD (Moynihan, 2003)."

How can one diagnose a person with a disease and sell them medications solely based upon an outdated measure that was never meant to indicate health in the first place, especially when obesity has no proven causative role in the onset of any chronic condition? (Kahn, et. al., 2000), (Cofield, et al, 2010).

This is why the term “obese” is recognized as a slur by fat communities. It's a stigmatizing term that medicalizes fat bodies even in the absence of disease. The word directly translates to "having eaten oneself fat" in Latin. Obesity, as a medical diagnosis, doesn’t have much ground to stand on. Aside from being overtly incorrect as a medical tool, the BMI is used to deny certain medical treatments and gender-affirming care, as well as insurance coverage. Employers still often offer bonuses to workers who lower their BMI. Although science recognizes the BMI as deeply flawed, it's going to be tough to get rid of. It has been a long-standing and effective tool for the oppression of fat people and the profit of the weight loss industry.

To treat obesity, patients must eat less. Making someone smaller still means they will be healthier, right?

Fatness and Mortality

The idea that obesity is unhealthy and can cause or exacerbate illnesses is a biased misrepresentation of the scientific literature that is informed more by bigotry than credible science (Medvedyuk, et al, 2017). Fatphobia existed long before fatness became medicalized. Yes, obesity is correlated with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes, but some scientists are looking into possibilities that don't equate correlation with causation. Obesity has no proven causative role in the onset of any chronic condition (Kahn, et al, 2000), (Cofield, et al, 2010) and its appearance may be a protective response to the onset of numerous chronic conditions generated from currently unknown causes (Lavie, et al, 2009), (Uretsky et al, 2007), (Mullen, et al, 2013), (Tseng, 2013). A portion of these correlated conditions are likely brought on by the stress of being part of one or more marginalized groups with little to no support or basic access in society. Weight stigma itself is deadly. Research shows that weight-based discrimination increases risk of death by 60% (Sutin, et al, 2014).

Dieting also poses serious health risks. The reason that these weight loss drugs are so successful by comparison is that dieting is unsustainable and does not lead to prolonged weight loss. Over 50 years of research conclusively demonstrates that virtually everyone who intentionally loses weight by manipulating their eating and exercise habits will regain the weight they lost within 3-5 years, and 75% will regain more weight than they lost (Mann, et al, 2007). Evidence suggests that repeatedly losing and gaining weight is linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, and altered immune function (Tomiyama, et al, 2017). If most fat people have historically tried to lose weight their whole lives through dieting, this has major implications on overall health. Prescribed weight loss is also the leading predictor of eating disorders (Patton, et al, 1999).

Another factor that may be impacting fat people’s rate of mortality is that they are being mistreated at the doctor’s office. I have personally heard dozens of stories about doctors refusing to treat or investigate a problem that a fat person came in for until they lost a certain amount of weight, only to discover years later that the problem was unrelated to their weight and has progressed severely because it went untreated. Fat people are often mistreated and looked at with disgust and disdain in medical settings, leading them to avoid going to the doctor in shame or fear of abuse. This can seriously worsen health issues. Fat stigma in the medical establishment (Puhl, et al, 2012) and society at large arguably (Engber, 2009) kills more fat people than fat does (Teachman, et al, 2003), (Chastain, et al, 2009), (Sutin, et al, 2015). This impact is too significant not to be taken under consideration.

Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness

The issue of anti-fat bias is directly rooted in white supremacy. The ideal thin body was constructed as a marker of whiteness and “purity” before any of this was ever made to be about health. Dr. Sabrina Strings has spent her career studying this history. In her book, Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, Dr. Strings discusses how constructions of race led to the thin ideal. “Over the decades, the rise in biracial children would break down the way that slave owners saw Blackness and whiteness. To combat the hypocrisy they created, owners invented new ways to dehumanize the enslaved population. They made a calculated decision to start putting more value on white physiques versus Black ones. In her research, Strings found that Black women’s bodies were otherized even more than Black males. For colonizers who hadn’t seen diverse body types before, they quickly categorized the Black female figure as ‘deviant,’ ‘greedy,’ and ‘overtly sexual.’ The fact that we still use these terms to describe fat bodies today is all the evidence we need to understand that fatphobia is directly linked to racism, not health. This mindset was also strengthened by Protestantism. Slave owners looked for any way to prove their power over the enslaved people, and they frequently used religion as ‘proof’ of their racist superiority. Additionally, Protestant belief encouraged various ways to become closer to God, which included eating as little as possible. This would resonate the most with white women. They had as much to do with perpetuating fatphobia as their husbands. White women were desperate to show their own power against Black women on the plantation, and the difference between their bodies was the perfect rift. And so began the centuries-old belief that thinness is beautiful, and fatness is ugly” (Sassenrath, 2023).

Revisiting the Journal with Context

Thinness has been an important value throughout history in the United States. Our positive associations with thinness and negative associations with fatness have led to a collective schema that is black and white, good versus bad, beautiful versus ugly, healthy versus unhealthy, and life versus death. This has led the FDA to approve Wegovy as a weight loss drug with haste, after just sixteen months of testing. It is known that going off the drug will result in rapid weight regain, so patients are expected to be on it for the rest of their lives when there have been no long-term studies. We do not yet know if the drug will have long-term effects, yet it has been approved for kids as young as twelve (FDA, 2021). As of July 2024, Novo Nordisk has a market cap of $633.01 billion (Marketcap). 

Wegovy is prescribed along with diet and exercise, which has been proven to lead to weight regain and eating disorders. Patients are being prescribed Wegovy and Ozempic when they are fat, but otherwise metabolically healthy. If this drug is truly a game changer for public health, we should be measuring how patients' health improves over the long-term rather than how much weight they lose. For example, if these drugs improve heart health, they should be prescribed as a heart health medication for patients with heart disease, rather than prescribed as a weight loss fix based on body size alone. With the evidence we have, we know it is possible to be fat and healthy, so these drugs may be solely cosmetic in many cases.

Future

If we want to improve the lives of fat people, we will remove barriers to care, not try as hard as we can to make all fat people disappear. That will never happen. If we truly cared about the well-being of fat people and not their disappearance, we would work to dismantle the systems that oppress them and abolish anti-fatness. 

Currently, fat people have next to no legal protections for being discriminated against (NAAFA, 2023). Fat people are denied housing, (Kariss, 1977) jobs, and receive less pay and promotions legally because of their size (The Economist). They are denied access to clothing, seating, transportation, and other human rights because infrastructure has been designed to exclude them. Fat people have less likelihood of receiving a fair trial (Beely, 2013), and are denied necessary surgeries (Barrett, 2022) ––but not weight loss surgery that amputates the digestive tract. Fat people are denied gender-affirming care (Conley, 2023), in vitro fertilization and reproductive healthcare (Muir, 2024), even adopting children (Carter, 2009). Fat children have been removed from their loving parents because when their diets failed, it was seen as neglect (Badshah, 2021). Fat people have disproportionately high suicide rates (Wagner, et al, 2013), and are facing medical malpractice and mistreatment (Kolata, 2016).

Can a drug fix that?

References

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“Quetelet, Adolphe.” Eugenics Archive, www.eugenicsarchive.ca/connections? id=5233cb0f5c2ec5000000009c. Accessed 5 July 2024.

Rey-López JP, de Rezende LF, Pastor-Valero M, Tess BH. The prevalence of metabolically healthy obesity: a systematic review and critical evaluation of the definitions used. ObesRev.2014 Oct;15(10):781-90. doi: 10.1111/obr.12198. Epub 2014 Jul 16. PMID: 25040597.

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Butler, Kiera. “Why BMI Is a Big Fat Scam.” Mother Jones, 25 Aug. 2014, www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/why-bmi-big-fat-scam/.

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Medvedyuk, S., Ali, A., & Raphael, D. (2017). Ideology, obesity and the social determinants of health: a critical analysis of the obesity and health relationship. Critical Public Health, 28(5), 573–585. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2017.1356910

Kahn BB, Flier JS. Obesity and insulin resistance. J Clin Invest. 2000 Aug;106(4):473-81. doi: 10.1172/JCI10842. PMID: 10953022; PMCID: PMC380258.

Lavie CJ, Milani RV, Ventura HO. Obesity and cardiovascular disease: risk factor, paradox, and impact of weight loss. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2009 May 26;53(21):1925-32. doi: 10.1016/ j.jacc.2008.12.068. PMID: 19460605.

Uretsky S, Messerli FH, Bangalore S, Champion A, Cooper-Dehoff RM, Zhou Q, Pepine CJ. Obesity paradox in patients with hypertension and coronary artery disease. Am J Med. 2007 Oct;120(10):863-70. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2007.05.011. PMID: 17904457.

Mullen JT, Moorman DW, Davenport DL. The obesity paradox: body mass index and outcomes in patients undergoing nonbariatric general surgery. Ann Surg. 2009 Jul;250(1):166-72. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0b013e3181ad8935. PMID: 19561456.

Tseng CH. Obesity paradox: differential effects on cancer and noncancer mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Atherosclerosis. 2013 Jan;226(1):186-92. doi: 10.1016/ j.atherosclerosis.2012.09.004. Epub 2012 Sep 21. PMID: 23040832.

Sutin, A. R., Stephan, Y., & Terracciano, A. (2015). Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality. Psychological Science, 26(11), 1803-1811. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615601103

Tomiyama, A Janet, et al. “Long‐term Effects of Dieting: Is Weight Loss Related to Health. Socialand Personality Psychology Compass, 6 July 2017, escholarship.org/uc/item/0tv27311.

Mann T, Tomiyama AJ, Westling E, Lew AM, Samuels B, Chatman J. Medicare's search for effective obesity treatments: diets are not the answer. Am Psychol. 2007 Apr;62(3):220-33. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.62.3.220. PMID: 17469900.

Patton GC, Selzer R, Coffey C, Carlin JB, Wolfe R. Onset of adolescent eating disorders: population based cohort study over 3 years. BMJ. 1999 Mar 20;318(7186):765-8. doi: 10.1136/bmj.318.7186.765. PMID: 10082698; PMCID: PMC27789.

Puhl, Rebecca, and Kelly D. Bronwell. “Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity.” Obesity Research, 6 Sept. 2012. doi.org/10.1038/oby.2001.108

Engber, Daniel. “Glutton Intolerance: What If a War on Obesity Only Makes the Problem Worse?” Slate, https://slate.com/technology/2009/10/the-health-effects-of-discrimination-against-fat-people.html 5 Oct. 2009.

Teachman, B. A., Gapinski, K. D., Brownell, K. D., Rawlins, M., & Jeyaram, S. (2003). Demonstrations of implicit anti-fat bias: The impact of providing causal information and evoking empathy. Health Psychology, 22(1), 68–78.

Chastain, Ragen. “So My Doctor Tried to Kill Me.” Dances With Fat, https://danceswithfat.org/2009/12/15/so-my-doctor-tried-to-kill-me/ 15 Dec. 2009.

Sutin AR, Stephan Y, Terracciano A. Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality. Psychol Sci. 2015 Nov;26(11):1803-11. doi: 10.1177/0956797615601103. Epub 2015 Sep 29. PMID: 26420442; PMCID: PMC4636946.

Sassenrath, Jenna. “Anti-Blackness Is Anti-Fatness in ‘Fearing the Black Body.’” Bookstr, bookstr.com/article/anti-blackness-is-anti-fatness-in-fearing-the-black-body/ 26 July 2023.

“Novo Nordisk (NVO) - Market Capitalization.” CompaniesMarketCap.Com - Companies Ranked by Market Capitalization, companiesmarketcap.com/novo-nordisk/marketcap/ 2024.

Commissioner, Office of the. “FDA Approves New Drug Treatment for Chronic Weight Management, First since 2014.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-new-drug-treatment-chronic-weight-management-first-2014. 5 July 2024.

Karris, L. (1977). Prejudice against Obese Renters. The Journal of Social Psychology, 101(1), 159–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1977.9924002

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naafa.org/sizefreedom. 5 July 2024.

“The Obesity Pay Gap Is Worse than Previously Thought.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/11/23/the-obesity-pay-gap-is-worse-than-previously-thought. 5 July 2024.

Elizabeth Beety, Valena (2013) "Criminality and Corpulence: Weight Bias in the Courtroom," Seattle Journal for Social Justice: Vol. 11: Iss. 2, Article 4. https:// digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj/vol11/iss2/4

Berrett, Martyn. “More Obesity Discrimination: The NHS Will Deny Non-Urgent Surgery to Obese Patients.” Healthier Weight, 24 Nov. 2022, www.healthierweight.co.uk/blog/more-obesity-discrimination-the-nhs-will-deny-non-urgent-surgery-to-obese-patients/.

LaRosa, John. “U.S. Weight Loss Industry Grows to $90 Billion, Fueled by Obesity Drugs Demand.” Market Research Blog, The Freedonia Group, Inc., 2 May 2024, blog.marketresearch.com/u.s.-weight-loss-industry-grows-to-90-billion-fueled-by-obesity-drugs-demand.

Conley, H. “Studies Show Top Surgery Is Safe for FAT Patients, but Some Surgeons Still Mandate Weight Loss.” STAT, 25 July 2023, www.statnews.com/2023/06/02/top-surgery-safe-fat-patients/.

Muir, Becca. “Opinion: Women with Obesity Are Often Restricted from IVF. That’s Discriminatory.” NPR, 14 Jan. 2024, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/01/14/1224546666/opinion-women-with-obesity-are-often-restricted-from-ivf-thats-discriminatory.

Carter, Helen. “Too Fat to Adopt - the Married, Teetotal Couple Rejected by Council Because of Man’s Weight.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 13 Jan. 2009, www.theguardian.com/society/2009/jan/13/adoption-rejected-couple.

Badshah, Nadeem. “Two Teenagers Placed in Foster Care after Weight Loss Plan Fails.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Mar. 2021, amp.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/10/two-teenagers-placed-in-foster-care-after-weight-loss-plan-fails.

Wagner B, Klinitzke G, Brähler E, Kersting A. Extreme obesity is associated with suicidal behavior and suicide attempts in adults: results of a population-based representativesample. Depress Anxiety. 2013 Oct;30(10):975-81. doi: 10.1002/da.22105. Epub 2013 Apr 10. PMID:23576272.

Kolata, Gina. “Why Do Obese Patients Get Worse Care? Many Doctors Don’t See Past the Fat.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/health/obese-patients-health-care.html.

[fairyminnie444]

𝕷𝖆𝖜 𝖔𝖋 𝖆𝖘𝖘𝖚𝖒𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓

> READ THIS BEFORE ASK <

му ρσѕтѕ ✮⋆˙

your subconscious is simpler than you think it is

you are NOT persisting if you are checking 3D and waiting for you DR!

you don’t try to manifest

Embodying the reality of your imagination

Manifesting is instantly

how should I see the role of other people in my reality?

ENDING the cycle of main frequent doubts that arise in our minds once and for all

“At your command”

EIYPO explained for you to understand and absorb

do you sometimes have that feeling that you NEED TO DO SOMETHING/TAKE ACTION to receive what you want?

“BIG” manifestations

What’s the “secret”?

Why You Can Change Your Physical Appearance and Overcome the Limitations of Biology

Why Others’ Manifestations Can’t Block Yours

I already know everything!! How do I apply this to my routine?

The “Sabbath State”

Yes, it’s perfectly okayyyy if you forget or get distracted by your routine.

affirmations to make it easier and “faster”

the ultimate post u need to LET GO

understanding your EGO so you don’t let it hold you back anymore

how to feel your desire in a natural way even if it seems unlikely?

even a negative view of circumstances can lead you to a positive one

manifesting $100,000 is as easy as manifesting $1

you already understood that! you are already there!

𝕔𝕙𝕠𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕟𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕔𝕚𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕞𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕤

manifesting is supposed to be fun, light and easy!

~bad moments~ along the way happen, instead of ignoring them how to deal with them?

Act like the GOD you know you are.

Breaking Free from the Need for Proof

࣪˖ ִִֶֶָָ࣪☾.࣪˖ ִֶָ𝓐𝓢𝓚𝓢 ࣪˖ ִִֶֶָָ࣪☾.࣪˖ ִֶָ

i want to increase my height

what if my desires stay in imagination ans never externalize?

can we manifest multiple sps?

time travel (2)

What if others also try to manifest my celebrity sp…

how do you/did you convince yourself that manifesting/LOA is real

dealing with the 3D when it comes to using LOA (living in the wish fulfilled)

doubts affect my manifesting?

How does one take a very famous person « off the pedestal » in order to manifest them?

I want to change my birth name but i have to sign documental stuff

How I could live in the end when revising smth that if materialized would totally change my live in the 3d?

SPEC method

will it still manifest what we want even if we don’t have a clear picture on it?

I need help with my imagination.

how do i know if it's just taking its time or if i'm doing something wrong?

Can you go deeper into days/weeks of the 3D not changing and how to persist throughout the whole day when you're doing things?

What are your thoughts about getting back people who have p@ssed away? REVISION

YT Channels (sub, meditations, mentors)

I want to manifest the absence of something I've been experiencing for a long time (health and wellness related).

work on my self concept / deal with people who criticize or make me feel drained

simple breakdown to help you manifest your SP even if it feels delusional right now

trying to manifest a modeling career

manifest changing appearance and dna, but i also want to change my past to always have been this appearance and my parents too

everytime i think something is "never going to happen" or "hmm i've never seen xyz" it ends up happening?!?!

How can I manifest when I absolutely don't believe that I can?

how can i use daydreaming and listening to songs while manifesting?

someone asked me about my sp. what should I do in this case?

why is consuming more information about this law considered to be coming from lack when doing something in the 3d that "opposes your desire" not considered to be coming from lack?

I have too many things to manifest so what should I do? advice to me in harsh way

struggle with is my celeb sp and my dream job

how would you manifest hectochromia eyes?

EIYPO everything like a puppet and me it’s master pulling the strings? Does it mean that “ancestors,” “angels,” etc. are not existent, only me?

Why Some Manifestations Work Effortlessly

advices for manifesting with mental disorders

can manifest such extreme beauty that everyone in a shopping mall turns to look at me. Even though I'm not the standard and I'm common

I’m manifesting a new face, but visualising it doesn’t make me feel anything?

how do i make sure that happens for certain? i'm scared it won't

What do you think about manifesting being immortal?

+ tips on manifesting a bf/significant other

struggling with feeling the feelings and believing that it’ll happen.

I can never manifest anything related to MONEY purely

date with the guy I like However, I am a very physically insecure girl and I am too scared and nervous.

i dont know what i did wrong, i really thought this would work, i was sure about it but it didn’t and i can’t helped but feel discouraged

I have a fear that some of my manifestation will dissapear

If everything we are seeing in the 3D is assumptions we made through our life, why does sometimes when we are like 100% sure of something and then we figured it is not?

was confident, my affirmation was "no matter how and what, i have all A's" but alas i did in fact not get all A's.

i WANT to see a people who actually manifested things that changed their past, their reality

i wanna manifest more lenient parents

I’m religious so I believe in a higher power/god, but I do still believe in my own power/ Will this hinder my manifestation process because I believe in a higher power?

What am I doing wrong? SP related

how can i.. like manifest or just "undo" it??

I want to manifest my natural hair color being blond, but i have black hair and also my parents, do i have to detail everyone in my family who is blonde for my new genes?

I feel like I can't anymore, that I'm giving in… I feel stuck

i’m really confused in the living in the end thing and others things in my manifestation

I simply want to be like those people who are successful in curing their illnesses

what do you recommend me doing to change my birth year while not ignoring the reality and still living in the end?

Can our negative thoughts manifest if we think them for a long time and then stop thinking them?

How to use chatpgt to clear doubts and manifest

Tips for beginners

why do some people's jokes manifest if they don't assume those jokes are true?

how to stop paying attention to old failed attempts

How do you deal with hopelessness or desperation.

i’m scared that my fears will manifest itself and it’s out of my control

waiting mode

I feel guilty wanting to manifest

࣪˖ ִִֶֶָָ࣪☾.࣪˖ ִֶָ PART 2 ࣪˖ ִִֶֶָָ࣪☾.࣪˖ ִֶָ

[nick-knackwrites]

Levi NSFW Week Day 2: Voyeurism / Masturbation

Oof on that word count. This one got a way from me a little, y'all 😅 Bless @levievent for being so patient with all of my late entries 💜

Pairing: Levi x Fem!Scout!Reader

WC: 3.8k

Content: Canon Universe, Voyeurism, Masturbation, Mutual Masturbation, Power Imbalance / Abuse of Authority, Mildly Dubious Consent, Levi giving orders and reader following them like a good soldier

AO3

The worst thing about being a scout? The complete lack of privacy. 

You had no issue sharing a space with another human being. You’d had to share a room with your siblings your whole life before joining the corps and you knew how to accommodate having someone else in your living area. However, you were NOT a little girl anymore and you had certain needs. Needs that being in the Survey Corps did not allow time to take care of. 

This meant that you had to be creative. And very quiet. And you were good at it - or at least, you thought you were. You had mastered the art of silently and discreetly getting yourself off in the dead of night while your bunk-mate slept blissfully unaware in the bed across the room. Sure, it seems a little inconsiderate but it’s not like you did it every single night. Just every once in a blue moon when the urge became unbearable. 

Like tonight. 

Your left hand slowly snakes past the waistband of your soft sleep pants while your right trails upwards to play with a nipple. You pinch and twirl the bud between your fingers, giving the occasional flick with your thumb. Slowly, the nerves in your body begin to come alive. 

The index and middle fingers of your left hand find your clit and rub it gently in wide sweeping circles. A hushed gasp escapes your lips and a rush of heat lets you know that you’ve become wet from your own careful ministrations. You move your hand down to gather the slick fluid and spread it across your clit, circles growing faster and more concise. 

With the increased speed and stimulation come the visions. They’re always the same, your fantasies. Dark silky hair, a low commanding tone, piercing silver eyes, and long calloused fingers that reach all the right spots. 

A huff is punched out of your chest as your own fingers try to find those spots as well, curling against your inner walls rhythmically while your thumb takes over rubbing and grinding into your clit. The figment in your head, always the same person - the one person you absolutely cannot have - bends to whisper in your ear. 

“Good girl. So wet for me.” His breathing grows ragged as he pinches and pulls gently on your nipple with his free hand.

Outside of your fantasy, you do the same with your own right hand. 

“So pretty when you’re about to come.” His fingers speed up inside and outside of your pussy and you feel yourself brought to the edge of climax. “You’re going to, aren't you, you needy little thing?”

Your wrist throbs as you try to match the phantom’s pace. Something else throbs as well and you bite back a whimper as your legs begin to shake. 

“Go on then, come for me.” 

You feel like something breaks in you as you arch up against your hand and follow your captain’s imaginary command. Euphoria crashes over you in violent waves that wrack your body. At the height of your climax, your mouth drops open. You want to scream his name but settle for a gentle whisper instead, knowing that your bunk-mate won’t hear it in her deep sleep. 

“Okay, that is IT.” 

Or not. 

There’s a rustle of fabric as your roommate shuffles out of bed and marches to the door. You’re not sure where she’s going - maybe to a friend's room or to the couch in the common room. Either way, you’re too dazed by the lingering effects of your orgasm to be able to bring yourself to care. You do feel bad, distantly, somewhere in the back of your post-orgasm haze. You’ll apologize to her in the morning. 

With that thought, you roll over and promptly fall into a sleep filled with dreams of sturdy arms and sharp facial features. 

You don’t apologize to your bunk-mate in the morning. In fact, you don’t really see her at all as it appears that she is trying, rather successfully, to avoid you. You can’t blame her, you know that whatever conversation you have about the events of the night are going to be awkward, but you can’t help but feel frustrated at her unwillingness to have it out and done with. You resolve to go about your day and corner her after dinner.

You don’t do that either. 

Instead, you receive a disciplinary summons, delivered during your meal by a new recruit who looks scared shitless. His terror makes sense when you open it to see that Captain Levi is the one who issued it. You are to report to his office directly after dinner. 

You spend the rest of your meal frantically racking your brain for any offences you may have committed recently but you come up blank. You’ve never been late, cleaned your gear unsatisfactorily, or failed to show up for extra duties. Maybe it’s a misunderstanding? 

You jump as you realize you are one of the last people left lingering in the mess hall. It appears that dinner time is over and you have an appointment you can NOT afford to be late too. You dash down the hall to Captain Levi’s office and knock softly. 

“Enter.” 

You take a deep breath and push open the door. The captain is seated at his desk, writing something with his eyes cast on the paper in front of him. You slam your fist against your heart in salute anyway and state your name. “Reporting as requested, Sir.” 

There’s an awkward silence as Captain Levi finishes what he’s writing. Once his pen has been neatly returned to the tray at the top of his desk, he finally looks at you. His eyes slide over your form like oil over an ODM blade, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. 

You swallow heavily and his gaze catches on the hollow of your throat, following the movement as he gestures to the chairs in front of his desk in a wordless command to be seated. You sit with your knees pressed together tightly and your back ramrod straight, waiting with bated breath to be addressed. 

“Do you know why you’ve been called in here, soldier?” Levi’s voice is flat and his eyes do not leave your face for an instant. It’s rather unnerving, his instance focus. 

“No, Sir.” You state truthfully. 

Levi sighs and leans back in his chair, still surveying you closely, “I had a very unwelcome visitor last night,” he explains, “Care to tell me why your bunk-mate felt the need to complain to me about her loud and disruptive roommate at 3 in the fucking morning?”  

Your face drops right alongside your heart. “Sir, I’m so sorry. I can - I can explain.” Except you can’t. Or rather, you really don’t want to. 

Levi raises an eyebrow and amusement flashes across his face for the briefest of moments, “Can you?” 

“I. . . “ Your face is flushing, your forehead is sweating, panic is flooding your mind, and you want the floor to swallow you. You’re weighing the pros and cons of flinging yourself from the 3rd-story window behind him when Levi lets out a dramatic sigh and rises from his chair. 

He walks to the door and waves a hand at you. “Alright, come with me.” He opens the door and begins to walk out without any further elaboration. You sit in a stupor for a few precious minutes before scrambling to follow him, heart now in your throat. 

The route he guides you through is filled with twists and turns, ending in a hallway you’ve never been in before. Maybe your captain has led you to some secret Scout HQ dungeon. Maybe one of these doors hides a cell where you’ll be chained and beaten for not explaining yourself. Honestly you’d rather that than have to admit what had occurred last night. Your rumination is interrupted when the captain stops at the last door on the left and opens it to reveal: A bedroom. It is plain and simple and unmistakably his judging by the smell of tea and the lemon soap that he uses hanging in the air. There are no decorations, just a desk and a wardrobe on one side and a double bed on the other. 

“Shoes off.” He instructs, removing his own boots and setting them next to the wardrobe on the left of the door. 

Befuddled, you move to the same. Once your boots are snuggly stacked next to his, you cross the room to join him where he’s leaning against the desk, facing the bed. He shakes his head at your approach. “On the bed.” He commands. 

Your face betrays you with its flush as you follow the order and perch on the foot of the bed, waiting for further instructions. 

It does not take long for Levi to give them. “Show me.” 

A frown blooms on your face. “I’m sorry?” Captain Levi folds his arms tightly against his chest. You do your best not to gape at how it pushes his pecs up and strains the fabric of his starched white shirt. “You weren’t able to tell me what it was you were doing that kept your poor bunk-mate awake all night. So show me.” 

Your heart is beating a violent rhythm in your chest. “Sir I don’t think you understand what your ask-” “I assure you, I understand perfectly, soldier. I received an extremely detailed report from your bunk-mate.” 

You feel as though someone has dumped a bucket of ice water over your head and involuntarily let out the smallest pained yelp. You are paralyzed with embarrassment but it begins to fade to arousal when your captain continues in a dark and low tone straight out of your fantasies, “Now get on the bed and show me.” 

Your hands are shaking and your voice matches when you stutter out, “Sir - I’m not - I don’t - I was just. . . just frustrated and I-” 

He cuts you off again. “I didn’t ask for an explanation, soldier. I asked for a show.” His voice drops to a husky whisper, “Now give it to me.” 

You give a single nod and scoot back on the bed until your feet are at the edge. You slowly lower your upper half and stare at the ceiling with your head on the pillow - Captain Levi’s pillow -  and desperately try to get your breathing under control. His mattress is much less flimsy than your own and much more comfortable. The jealousy and sense of injustice that accompanies the realization distracts you for just a moment. This is apparently a moment too long for Levi. 

“I gave you an order, soldier.” Any work you did to even out your breathing is immediately undone at the statement. You briefly wonder if this is how you’ll die - so turned out that you forgot how to breathe, literally strangled by the sexual prowess dripping off of your captain. You hear his feet scuff against the wooden floor as he crosses his ankles. “I mean, I can’t imagine you don’t want this. After all it was my name you called out when you came all over those pretty little fingers, was it not?” 

Yeah, death by overwhelming sexual attraction is looking more and more likely. 

You let out an actual squeak. Your jaw begins to quiver, part arousal and part terror, but other areas of your body are responding to the situation in a way that is very much not fearful. 

“Answer the question.” 

You have to clear your throat three times before you can answer, “Yes, sir.” 

Levi hums and you swear you can feel it resonating in your core. “Well, then, why don’t you show me exactly how you got there.”

You raise your head up slightly and drop it back to the pillow immediately at the intense stare Levi is giving you. You’ve gone mad. You have to have. That’s the only logical explanation for what you do next: You comply and give the captain his show. 

Just like last night, one hand slips under your shirt to find a nipple while the others ghosts down your belly and under the waistband of your pants - you don’t even bother unbuckling them, you’re too worked up and desperate, despite just starting. Unlike last night, you now have a brassiere and a much tighter waistband to contend with. The restrictive clothing makes your movements clumsy but you push forward, not wanting to disappoint your very attentive superior officer. Despite the awkward angles, and likely due to the situation you’re in, you become incredibly wet incredibly quickly. It’s almost embarrassing but you’ve already far surpassed your threshold for embarrassment so a little extra humiliation won’t hurt. You decided to sink into the feeling of pleasure instead. 

It’s better than it has any right to be. Alternating rapid and painstakingly low circles on your clit and giving firm flicks and gentle squeezes to your nipples has a gentle heat spreading through your core rapidly. All the while, you feel the captain's eyes on you. His gaze is heavy and warm and it has your arousal growing in spades. Before you know it, panting gasps are tumbling out of your mouth and your hips are rising in waves to meet your soaking fingers. You’re on the edge of something all-consuming when you hear the captain’s voice again. “Stop.” 

You obey with a whimper and a whine. One hand is still trapped under your bra while the other rests over your sex, twitching with the desire to return to its task. 

“This isn’t working.” Levi sounds frustrated and you almost keen at the thought of having disappointed him on top of the feeling of your lost orgasm. “You’re showing me but I can’t actually see. We’re going to have to get rid of those clothes.” 

The feeling of being on the edge of climax returns full force and you scramble to obey his latest order. Your shirt and bra end up tossed on the floor and your pants follow soon after. Levi tsks and moves toward the bed to pick up the garments and fold them, neatly stacking them on the nightstand to your left. As he does so, you cannot help but notice the large bulge tenting his pants. It had certainly not been there before you began your little performance. The thought fills you with pride and sends electricity racing through your veins. You give a desperate wiggle, thrusting your hips toward the air even though there is nothing there for them to meet. 

Levi smiles crookedly and moves to stand at the foot of the bed. He looks you over slowly from head to toe, taking his time tracing every dip and curve. His smile fades somewhere past your belly button and his eyes pause. Your heart trills when you realize he’s staring directly at your obviously wet panty-clad pussy. “All of them.” He nearly growls. 

You think you nod, you’re really not sure of much of anything at this point, and slide the underwear off of your hips and down your legs. You kick them off to the side and are half-expecting the captain to scold you and add them to the pile on the nightstand. 

He doesn’t. 

He’s too busy staring. 

At your pussy. 

You're nearly hyper-ventilating again and you have to fight the urge to press your legs together and hide yourself from his utterly consuming stare. The look on his face keeps you from doing so. He looks transfixed. Like he couldn’t look away even if he wanted to. There is something close to awe in his eyes and you catch his chest rising and falling at an accelerated pace.  

After several agonizing seconds of staring at your most intimate places in naked adoration, Levi plants his hands on the mattress, next to your bent legs, and leans in. He is not touching you, merely hovering over your lower half and he looks half-mad with want. When he speaks, his voice is the softest it’s been all night. “Continue.” 

You groan and it’s a breathy strangled thing. You return your hand to your throbbing sex and slide two fingers through the slick arousal that coats your folds. You circle them around your entrance, teasing yourself with just the tips. Your wrist turns so that you can stroke your clit with your thumb. The second the digit makes contact you cry out and your legs do snap shut, knees knocking together as your thighs squeeze around your hand. It’s too much and not enough. 

Levi lets out a low grunt of disapproval and you think you might come at the sound alone. He touches you for the first time since this whole mess started, prying your legs apart at your knees. He pins them to the bed, keeping you butterflied and exposed. You gush a little at the thought. 

Levi notices. 

His eyes glint as he watches it trail down to the globes of your ass and then he licks his lips like he wants to devour it, devour you.

You’d let him. You’d let him do anything he wants right now. Luckily, he’s good enough to tell you what that is. “Keep going, pretty girl. I want to see you come.” 

He lets go of your knees, hands disappearing from your vision. Even without his grip, you keep your legs spread, giving him a full view of his effect on you. 

All sense of shame and propriety flees your mind as you plunge your fingers into your wet heat, back arching and eyes rolling back. You quickly become lost in the feeling, the hand previously teasing your nipples now grasping onto the sheet with white knuckles. Your head is filled with the sound of your panting breaths, your fluttering heartbeat pounding in your skull, and the squish of your fingers moving in and out of your pussy as fast as they possibly can. Distantly, though, your mind registers a new sound: The clink of a belt and the rustle of fabric. It’s soon replaced with a slick swiping sound. 

You lift your head to investigate and you think your heart might actually give out when you see the cause. Captain Levi has undone the front of his pants and pulled his cock out to pump it in his fist. The furious speed he’s using to stroke himself  does not allow you to get a clear look but you can tell that he is thick and long. Longer than you’d expect considering his stature. It curves up towards his navel in a graceful arc and there is a thick vein running up the underside. The head is flushed red and is leaking fat clear drops of precum. He’s huffing as he continues his punishing pace and the softest gasps and gravely moans of “fuck” and “yes” push through his clenched teeth, accompanied by the slick sound of his hand moving up and down his cock. 

All coherency is lost at the sight and sound. You thrash and moan like an animal in heat as your hand speeds up and pleasure sparks along your spine. Your back arches again and you begin to wonder if you need to worry about snapping your back as well as suffocating yourself and having a heart attack. Tears stream down your cheeks and into your hairline as the feeling of ecstasy floods your senses. In a brief moment of insanity, you find yourself feeling angry at the tears for blurring your vision and impeding your view of Captain Levi furiously jerking his cock to the sight of your naked body. It’s the best thing you’ve ever seen and it is making you absolutely crazy. You stare unabashedly, matching the intensity he’s given you throughout this ordeal. You can’t decide if you should watch his face, screwed tight in concentration with eyes squeezed shut and cheeks darkened with lust, or his length, skin moving smoothly under his hands and vein pulsing strong enough for you to see each beat of his heart. Your eyes flit between the two delectable views as your movements lose all finesse and your climax builds in your core. They end up locking in on the movement of his hand around his shaft when you scream his name and finish around your fingers. 

You close your eyes in spite of yourself as the orgasm thunders through you and eventually subsides. Levi lets out a drawn-out moan, and they snap open again, just in time to see his head fall back and his mouth open in a silent scream as he climaxes as well. His face is devastatingly beautiful but your gaze is drawn downwards when you feel his come splash over your sex and your thighs. Two more thick ropes spurt onto your sweat-damp skin before he’s done. 

For a minute, the room is deathly silent. You begin to fear the inevitable awkwardness that is bound to follow this encounter. Where do you go from here? Is this going to be a regular thing? You certainly wouldn’t mind, but can you honestly picture Levi starting a relationship? Or even just a regular hook-up thing? It’s more likely that he’ll give you your clothes, tell you to get out, and never speak of it again. You know it’s irrational but the thought fills you with dread. He hasn’t said anything yet. Does he already regret it? Oh god, how are you supposed to act normal around him now? You can’t. You don’t have it in you. Not after he just gave you what was easily the best orgasm of your life. And he didn’t even touch you. You’re so screwed. 

Your thoughts are interrupted by Levi re-entering the room. You were so lost in your panic spiral that you hadn’t even noticed he’d left. He throws a damp washcloth at you and you catch it clumsily, sitting up carefully so that you don’t dislodge any of his come and send it splattering across his bedsheets. However, further investigation reveals that your efforts were pointless, you absolutely soaked the sheets and they will need to be changed regardless. Heat floods your face and you avoid eye contact with the captain as you start to scrub the evidence of his desire off of your body. 

“Clean yourself up.” Levi’s voice is back to his smooth low baritone and you find yourself jealous that he manages to look and sound so put together when you feel like you’ve been thoroughly wrecked. You think you can forgive him, though, when you hear his next words. “Then lay back down. I’m not finished with you yet.” 

[redgoldsparks]

TAEKWONDO: A fanzine by Maia Kobabe

insta / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my books / print store / bluesky

Full zine transcript below the cut.

Page 1

In 2017, I started working from home full time. I loved having more time to focus on my writing & art but soon realized I rarely left a 100 foot radius of my home office. 

Shrimp posture of someone who enjoys typing in their lap

Maia: I need to move my body or I’ll calcify!

I’d noticed a martial arts gym not far from my house. I couldn’t tell what type of martial art, but I was interested. I did a year of Judo in college, but wanted to try a new sport.

Page 2

Finally, I worked up the motivation to give them a call.

Maia: Hello, I was wondering if you had classes for beginning adults. 

Teacher: We do! Three days a week. 

Teacher: Come to a class for free to see if you like it. 

Maia: Thanks, I will. Um- what sport is it? 

Teacher: Taekwondo! 

That first day I felt like I’d completely forgotten how to exercise. Jogging around the small gym 20 times almost ended me. 

Maia: I shouldn’t have eaten before class! 

(Only one not wearing a uniform.) 

That plus a basic warmup of pushups, jumping jacks, squats, and kick drills left me so sore I could barely get out of bed the next day. 

Maia: My whole body hurts! 

Page 3

But right away there were things I loved about Taekwondo at this gym.

Bowing before stepping onto the mat. 

Everyone wearing the same gender neutral uniform. 

A moment of mediation at the start of class. “I am here.” 

Kids playing at the side of the gym while their parents exercise. 

Kick drills! 

And forms! I love learning forms.

Page 4

Poomsae, or forms, are choreographed patterns of attacks & defenses. There are 8 forms for color belts to learn before reaching black belt with increasing levels of difficulty. 

First few steps of taeguk il-jang, form one. Prepare low block, pull fist back, step & block. Snap wrist with block. Prepare for middle punch, palm facing up. Middle punch, sternum height. Palm facing down.

Form one is made of very basic movements & yet it is infinitely perfectible with greater degrees of precision & skill.

Maia: My fist should brush past my belt before my hand twists… shoulder stay square. 

Maia: High block starts with palm facing up and ends with palm facing out… block should be two fists above my forehead. 

Page 5 

During the first four years I studied taekwondo my hometown experienced three devastating wildfires. I sold, wrote, published, & toured my first book. 

But no matter how much I have in my mind, taekwondo forces me to be in my body. 

And in the moment. 

Present. 

I remember the first time I left the gym & realized: "Wow, I didn’t think about work for an hour." 

Page 6 

When the pandemic hit, my taekwondo classes continued on zoom. 

Practicing kicks over & over in my living room was one of the main things that kept me sane. 

Page 7

I’m heading into my 8th year of studying taekwondo. Wow!

This is the longest I have ever stuck with one sport in my life. 

This year I hope to take my black belt test, a goal that felt completely unattainable when I started. 

I love the physicality of this sport & I’m definitely in better shape than when I started.

But what kept me coming back is how good it is for my brain.

When I leave class, my mind feels so much calmer & more peaceful. 

As we head into an increasingly uncertain future, I’m more & more grateful for this practice. 

Page 8

I love the comforting rituals of taekwondo. 

Lining up in color belt order.

Doing the same basic warmup everyday.

But taekwondo also pushes me outside my comfort zone, especially in tournament season. 

Maia: $200 to register for 2 events? Yikes!

They are expensive; 

Maia: Check-in starts at 8am

start very early; 

Maia: Here we go…

& the closest one is over 100 miles away. 

Maia: I spent hundreds of dollars & I am driving hundreds of miles to go fight a stranger in a high school gym. Whyyyyyy am I doing this? 

Page 9

At my first tournament, as a green belt, they couldn’t find anyone in my level for me to spar. They paired me with a red advanced belt (one level below black). 

She kicked my butt. I fell down multiple times & got a mild black eye from a kick in the face. I lost by 26 to 6.  

As I limped out of the ring, I remember thinking: 

Maia: "That really scared and intimidated me… but I did it anyway. And I lived!" 

Page 10

You should try Taekwondo if: 

You’re interested in a dynamic sport that includes cardio, stretching, endurance training, speed, flexibility, jumping, kicking, & yelling 

You like the formality of martial arts (wearing a uniform, bowing, opening & closing rituals)

You want a sport that is gentle on the hands- everyday is leg day in taekwondo (good for artists!)

You are interested in learning forms & techniques that require memory & patience. 

You want to run around & have a good time in an exercise class! It’s fun! 

Thank you so much to my instructors & the classmates who trained alongside me for all these years. And thank you for reading. 

��사합니다

Maia Kobabe is the author of the award-winning graphic memoir, Gender Queer, the most challenged book in the United States in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Maia’s short comics and writing have been published in The New Yorker, The Nib, The Washington Post, NPR, Time Magazine and in many print anthologies. 

This zine was written & drawn on the traditional lands of the Coast Miwok & Southern Pomo people, where I am grateful to live and work. 

[thevoidscreams]

Magnus read the eldar version of Kama Sutra ,leaving him very inspired

This will require some research

Day 24 Year 2:

Some unexpected stuff came up and today's prompt is a bit short.

Warnings: Multiple sex positions, getting filled up with cum. Magnus being curious about your body.

Word count: 1085

"There, hold that position." Magnus ordered, and you tried very hard, but the bed was too soft underfoot and you couldn't quite stretch your leg that high up. The only thing you could liken it to was a ballerina's standing split. Which was not as easy as the pictures in the book made it seem.

"Maggy, I'm trying." You huffed, he just smiled and took hold of your thigh keeping you in the upright position he needed to make it work. His other hand was setting the book aside on a stand so he could dip his fingers into the jar of oil by the bedside.

Taking his oiled fingers he pressed them to your entrance, sliding them in as he began to work the oil in enough that he would have sufficient lubrication to fuck you. "You are doing well, don't worry." He praised softly, the sound of his fingers obscene as they stretched you open for him.

"Yes, very good indeed." He grinned, the way your body seemed to drag his fingers back in when he pulled them out. You had absolutely no idea where Magnus had found it but the book he'd brought back a week ago had been full of absolutely mind boggling positions and ideas about sex. This was one of the more tame positions.

Magnus stroked his cock as he lined it up. With you on the bed and him standing on the floor, you were at the perfect height to try this. He held you under one hip while his other hand continued to support the thigh pressed against his chest.

You moaned aloud and shamelessly as he filled you. This position seemed to allow him to slide in even deeper than normal. His pelvis pressed flush to yours as he bottomed out. His groan met your own moans as he waited for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I believe this will be a good position to revisit."

His hips pulled back and rolled forward again. He was so deep you felt it in your chest. Which you weren't sure how that was possible but you did.

Magnus was glad he'd held you up, already your legs looked shaky and he didn't want you collapsing before you were done.

The steady rhythm of deep thrusts was how it said to do it in the book. He liked how close you were and how deep he could be. His fingers gave you a soft squeeze.

He loved how yielding you were for him. And his eye fixed on you with a deep affection as he brought you pleasure that was so very apparent on your face.

"Are you having fun down there?" He asked with a smug expression.

"Yes sir." You gasped and a thrill ran up his spine. Though he never wanted to admit it, he loved when you drew attention to his station by calling him things like that.

"That's good, because we're just getting started." His hand moved from your thighs and up your back. The book and different recommendations for different species as lovers. And to his lasting delight, that included baseline humans.

In the book it pointed out a cluster of nerves near the lower back that would cause additional stimulation and increase pleasure for both parties.

He found it and pressed his thumb into the spot. Your body jumped and you 'Ooo'd' loudly, your muscles tightening as you wiggled fruitlessly. Magnus gasped as you jiggled and clenched around his cock. "Steady." He soothed, easing up a bit. "What was that!?" You squeaked. "Something I intend to investigate further." He chuckled, his finger pushing back into that spot, you were expecting it and braced yourself, but then he began to gently massage it and your undignified squeaks and hoots returned. "That's it starshine, let it out."

"Magnus!" You came so suddenly that there was hardly any time to properly enjoy it. Magnus kept up his pace, to elongate the release. He pulled out and grabbed you as your leg became too tired to hold you up.

He laughed sweetly and held you in his arms. "How was that?" He asked, kissing your face. "I don't know what you did but my body just turned on me without warning...do it again please."

He sat on the edge of the bed, giving your legs a break as he had you straddle his lap. "Alright." He slid back in with ease and groaned his satisfaction. Your arms circled around his neck and he held your hips. His fingers easily found the spot as you settled on a rhythm, riding him in a way you were more familiar with. The gentle pressure egged you on and Magnus watched as you, still sensitive from your first orgasm, trembled with the continued pleasure.

He hooked his chin over your shoulder and watched, pressing one finger in a bit more, and felt the corresponding clench. It was so fascinating to watch that he didn't realize he was panting and close to his own edge until you came again, your inner walls squeezing his cock hard enough to make him cum a few bounces later. He held your hips down, pumping his load as deep inside as was possible. You pant with each pump feeling it fill you to a near impossible amount. His smile never faltered, watching your fucked out expression turn to a sleepy one. You leaned back and he held you, just in case you became too relaxed after both orgasms. You had done so before and nearly fallen off once or twice. He kissed your cheeks and neck. "That was wonderful. You did so well for me, starshine." He murmured. Pressing his face into your hair and taking a deep breath."Thank you. You were pretty damn incredible yourself, my love."

He laid back with you on his chest, his heart still beating hard from his excitement and orgasm. Still he wondered. His finger simply grazed over the spot and you jumped. "Noooo." You whined and he laughed whole-heartedly. "Very well. Next time I shall have to explore more of those spots." He raised the book with his powers and brought it over to browse more thoroughly as you began to drift off to sleep. He found a few more positions to try, there were plenty that interested him, it was a very thick book, but he was certain that you two would have some fun new ideas to try out for a good long while.

[catbread0]

Hiya, may I request a Sebastian Solace x (GN/fem)reader, where the reader had also went through urbanshade’s experiments to enhance mobility in the water or abnormal strength. Maybe it could take place a day or two before the whole lockdown where the reader is put in with Sebastian in hopes for trying to tame Sebastian’s bumbling rage and a companion (aka, another sentient being) in hope of keeping him under control.

Mayhaps as well when the whole lockdown does happen Sebastian goes to find the reader since they might have also been getting transported and they had more of a larger dose of the tranq (since Ik Sebastian faked being knocked out and someone had to smart enough to hear the gaur panic about it and gave reader and extra dose.). Just a smidge of angst.

Sorry if this doesn’t make complete sense, I tend to do that when I’m excited about something rush to put all my thoughts and ideas down 😭

-🌽 anon

Sebastian Solace x Fem! Experimented! Reader 

I loved doing this. Sorry for the late response. There have been so many requests since the last time I saw. Hopefully, you enjoy reading this.

(*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ

Words: 3,148

Very OOC, mention of killing/death and drugs (anesthesia), a bit of angst, happy ending, a bit of comfort

All the information I found is from the official Pressure wiki, urbanshade.org!! NOT FANDOM WIKI (MOST STUFF ON THEIR IS NOT CORRECT, PLEASE CHECK THE OFFICIAL WIKI!!)(Note: I made this before the friendly fire update came out)

Sebastian Solace Masterlist

Beloved Companion

Document:

Z-##, codename: _________, real name “(Y/n)(L/n)”. Z-## has undergone experiments to enhance the ability to breathe underwater and strengthen humans. Z-## has successfully gained the ability to breathe underwater. However, their strength has also increased but only to a certain point that could break in half the body of a human. When added more DNA of stronger sea creatures, it seemed to stay the same no matter the animal. After that experiment was done, Z-## underwent another experiment that had DNA strands of sea creatures that are known to be calm and friendly towards sea creatures. However, due to most of the fish being small, it had a drawback, it decreased her height to 8 '2", she was originally 10' 1".

After the calm sea creature experiment, Z-## was put in containment cells for other experiments in Hadal Blacksite for a few days. Some include Z-317 (Eyefestation), Z-367 (Pandemonium), Z-283 (The Angler), and S-Q (Squiddles). All of the interactions with Z-## have been a positive outcome. The specimens have been calmed down and/or have been less hostile for a few days until Z-## is put back with them. 

Because of the variants of success with Z-##, her rank has been moved up to MR-P, and she was given more benefits with her rank being moved up. These benefits included: better living conditions, being allowed to roam the facility freely, and being involved in non-deadly testing. 

Recently, Z-13 (Handy Man) has been getting harder to control due to his anger and rage whenever he sees one of the scientists. We have debated if Z-## should enter Z-13’s containment cell. While Z-13 is also an MR-P, it is unpredictable if he would harm and/or kill Z-## due to the burst of outrage he has been having for the past week or so. In the end, it has been decided that Z-## will go into Z-13’s containment cell. If Z-## gets harmed, then Z-13 would be neutralized by any means necessary but not to the point of killing him. Then, Z-## would be taken out immediately and rushed to be checked up on.

The goal is that Z-## will hopefully calm down Z-13’s rage, just like the other specimens that have encountered her. This will also be a test to see if there could be a potential chance of them being partners to see how their human DNA mixed with the DNA of sea creatures in both of them, could affect genetics when it comes to their offspring.

End of Z-##’s current document.

You were roaming your spacious water enclosure when you heard your ‘name’ be called on the speaker in your enclosure.

“Z-##, please come outside your enclosure. You will be entering another specimen’s enclosure today. They are an MR-P just like you.”

You swam to the door that will get you out of your enclosure. You stood in the middle of two doors, the door behind you closed shut, and the water started to drain from where you were in between the doors. Once the water was fully drained, the door in front of you opened, and you entered the room.

 You followed the small scientist to where these new people you would be meeting today. You would wave to some of the scientists. It was a habit since you would always wave at the other sea people each time you met them in their enclosure. 

You soon arrived and stood in front of the glass window to the water enclosure. 

“Today you will be meeting Z-13. He recently has been having outbursts every time a scientist walks by or when they try to communicate with him through the intercom. You will be with him for 5 days and 5 nights, in the morning you will return to your enclosure. Then, later in the day, you are scheduled to have another experiment. If anything were to happen to you in Z-13’s enclosure, yell, and you would be taken out immediately. Understood?”

You nodded at the small scientist. You looked back through the glass window to try and find ‘Z-13’. To no luck, it looked empty in the water enclosure.

“I should warn you that he is bigger than most specimens you have encountered before. Z-13 is 10 '6".”

The small scientist stated that as you entered the door. At least they gave you a warning.

The door behind you was shut, and you were again in between two doors. The water slowly rose and filled the small room you were in to enter the water enclosure. The door in front of you opened once it was filled with water, and you swam into the enclosure.

The small scientist pressed a button that made the glass window no longer able to see through both ways. It was for Z-13 not to be outraged if a scientist were to accidentally walk by.

You swam around but still couldn't find Z-13. 

That was until you spotted what looked like a cave on the side of the wall near the floor, its entry was covered up in large seaweeds, making it almost hard to see it in the first place.

You swam into the cave, “Hello? Are you here?”

You soon see 3 blue eyes in the corner of the cave, and you jump a bit, not expecting that. You swam closer but stayed a few distance away.

“Hello, I'm Z-##, but my real name is (Y/n)(L/n). What is your name, Z-13? It would be nice to put a name to a face.”

Sebastian didn't answer. He thought you were just doing this because of the scientists forcing you.

When you realized he wasn't going to answer you, you waited on the opposite side of the cave and made yourself comfortable.

You kept talking about small things, like what you did before you were jailed, why you were put in jail, how nice the other sea people were to you, etc. Whenever you talked, you seemed genuinely happy every single time.

After talking, you started to think that maybe he thought you were annoying. 

“I'm sorry, I will leave if you are uncomfortable.”

You got up and started swimming the same way you entered since there was only one way to exit and enter the cave. 

“Sebastian, Sebastian Solace is my name”

You immediately paused, not expecting him to answer or talk to you at all. You immediately swam right towards him.

“That's a nice name. Can I see what you look like? If that's fine with you, of course.”

He was silent for a bit before pulling on his anglerfish lure.

Goodness, when you saw him, you felt something inside you, as if your heart skipped a beat.

He was quite handsome, at least in your eyes. But you shook that thought out of your head.

You both started small talks, but they would give brief replies.

Soon, the day would end. You slept on the opposite side of the cave, not wanting to invade his space.

Meanwhile, Sebastian would stare at you for a few minutes.

‘She'll probably ask the stupid scientists to take her away tomorrow’ he thought before turning off his lure and going to sleep.

The next day, he woke up to you gone, ‘I was right. It was stupid to think she would sta-’

“Oh, you're awake? I got your bucket of fish that the scientists brought. Here.” You said as you entered the cave and handed him the bucket full of fish.

Sebastian took the bucket but looked at it before eating it. He thought you put something in it before realizing you didn't. 

You talked, and he ended up opening up to you a bit more this time.

As some hours passed, you both were out of the cave and swimming around Sebastian's enclosure.

At some point, Sebastian was teaching you Spanish, or at least how he speaks Spanish since he's Chilean-American. Different countries speak the same language but say it differently.

You both ended up spending almost the whole day outside of the cave and returned to sleep.

On the 3rd day, he woke up and saw you sleeping. He went outside the cave and picked up both of your buckets of fish, and brought them back to the cave.

The whole day, you two spent knowing more about each other's life, your family, colleges you both went to, what classes you both majored in, and some of your talents. Sebastian even used some of the plants, rocks, and garbage he had lying around to make a prop that looked like an electric guitar and tried to teach you. 

You both laughed and smiled with each other almost the entire day.

Night came back more quickly than you both thought. You and Sebastian returned to the cave.

As you were getting comfortable to sleep in your corner, you felt a soft material cover your upper body.

“I snatched this when the scientists weren't looking while I was doing some janitor duties. Perks of being an MR-P.”

You gave Sebastian a warm smile and thanked him before falling asleep.

Sebastian didn’t want to admit it, but he felt happy when he was with you. You would listen to him, and it didn't feel like he was talking to the wall. Unlike those scientists, they only asked questions about his mutation and waited for a response from him to record it. 

Only caring about the progress.

On the 4th day, Sebastian woke up early and decided to pour some of his fish from his bucket into yours.

The scientists had seen this through the glass, during the night they decided to make the glass be 1-sided, they could see you but you couldn't see if they were there.

They saw this as a sign of success but also that maybe he was trying to court you. This made them think that there could be a possibility that you two could have offspring and they could continue their testing.

Later in the day you and Sebastian were messing around, he was trying to teach you how to ‘dance’. The dances were ones that he saw people dancing to at Chilean/Hispanic parties that he went to. It was a mess since you both didn't have legs to step on, but you both enjoyed each other’s attempts.

On the 4th night, you both moved closer to each other and slept peacefully. But both of you had your back to each other.

It was the 5th day, and you and Sebastian were getting closer to the end of your visit.

“Sebastian, I have to leave tomorrow morning, and after that, I'm scheduled to be experimented on. I'll make sure to see you after it's done”

After telling him you could tell he didn't look pleased, his ears and tail twitched.

“I am also scheduled to have an experiment done on me tomorrow. Maybe we will be able to see each other again right before it happens.”

You smiled when you heard that, “I hope we can.”

Soon, it was the next morning, and it was time for you to leave. You said bye to Sebastian and gave him a warm smile before you left. 

After a few hours, he was called out for his scheduled experiment. 

He was left in the surgery room and was given anesthesia. He pretended the effects had worked on him, but he was fully awake.

He heard the door open and close to his room, footsteps walking around the room, and heard the scientists speaking.

“After we are done with Z-13 we have to perform on Z-##, even if the chances of her dying is 75%, there is still a slim chance of her surviving and for it to be a success. It would be a great benefit for Hadal Blacksite.” One of the scientists said

“But she’s an MR-P. They are only allowed to be experimented on if it's non-deadly.” the second scientist asked.

The first scientist answered, “Well no surgery or experimentation is 100% safe. If she perishes, then we will start back on square 1 on another inmate.”

Sebastian felt his body fill with rage once again. Once the 2 scientists were close enough, Sebastian immediately killed them by slashing them with his claws. 

Sebastian immediately slithered out of his surgery room, and an Elite Guardsman was standing right outside. Just as the Elite Guardsman was about to shoot at Sebastian, Sebastian killed him and stole his keycard.

There were other scientists and guardsmen around as this happened. 

Everything went into chaos. 

People ran to escape, and guardsmen shot at Sebastian, but the bullets did not affect him, making some of them run away with the others. Desk’s, doors, tables, chairs, and the lights were either destroyed or thrown around.

Sebastian killed the Guardsmen who were shooting at him or trying to stop him. As he was doing this, he was trying to find your room to take you away before they could kill you.

Meanwhile, you were lying on the surgery table. You trusted the scientist who would perform on you since you are an MR-P. But also because you were always nice to them, helping them calm other sea people around the lab, always following orders, etc. 

How naive you were, or was it because of the fish's DNA that mixed with yours? It didn’t matter to them. To most of them, you were just a lab rat who benefited them.

As the scientist in your room gave a syringe of anesthesia, you both heard the sound of people screaming and things being trashed. That's when the scientist's handheld radio (or walkie-talkie) started making noise from the other end.

Blood-curdling screams could be heard loudly, “Z-13 HAS FEIGNED HIS EFFECTS OF ANESTHESIA AND IS ON A LOOSE KILLING SPREE. I REPEAT Z-13 HAS FEIGNED-” 

That’s all that was heard until the other end was abruptly cut off.

You sat up immediately, “Sebastian is wh-”

That's when the scientist gave you 3 more syringes of anesthesia quickly. They knew if Z-13 wasn't affected, then you mostly weren’t with just one. They were frightened with the idea that you would do the same. Your strengthened ability could break a human's body easily in half. They thought you would follow Z-13 and try to kill them.

You immediately fell off the table, from the sudden effects making you pass out. 

The scientist was about to give you another syringe again with anesthesia until Sebastian barged into the room. He finally found you but saw you on the floor unconscious. He saw the scientist who did this with the syringe in their hand. He immediately killed them, tore them up, and they were almost unrecognizable afterward.

Soon, the commotion died down and came to an end. It was only the two of you currently. Everyone who survived escaped or maybe died while running away.

Sebastian carried you in bridal style with his 2 arms and used the 3rd one to try and feel your pulse. 

He felt that your pulse was dangerously low.

He carried you out of the surgery room and went looking for other rooms. He soon found a vent that led to another small room. He laid you down carefully on the floor. 

He knew he couldn’t do much. It was just a matter of luck and time to see if you would wake up. Too much anesthesia could kill you or send you into a coma. All he could do was just watch and protect you from any further physical harm.

4 days have passed of endless waiting.

Sebastian watched over you, trying to find more things to make you comfortable, feeling your pulse from time to time, bringing in extra fish, or whatever snacks that were left behind by the scientist, and stored them on the shelves in the room in case you woke up from your coma.

During your coma, Sebastian used the keycard he stole earlier from the Elite Guardsman and released the monsters in Hadal Blacksite. Some of the monsters decided to help after being told what happened to you by killing the people who would enter to try and retrieve the crystal to get the place back into running its cruel experiments.

You slowly opened your eyes. It was pitch black. You didn't know where you were. That's when a sudden light lit up the room. (Sebastian’s angler lure)

“You're finally awake. You had me worried that you would leave me behind. I have food for you, go ahead and eat. I’ll explain what happened while you eat.”

You slowly started eating, still somewhat under the effects of the anesthesia that was steadily wearing off. As you were eating, Sebastian explained what he had overheard when he was faking about being under anesthesia, the killing spree he went on to find you, him releasing the monsters, causing the lockdown, you being unconscious for 3 days, etc.

You felt betrayal dig a small hole into you, but you also felt stupid for thinking they wouldn’t do that to you at some point no matter your rank. 

Sebastian helped you process everything and pat your back when you would choke on your food. Sebastian helped you all the time while you were still too weak.

After a few days, you started to become your old self again. You went to see some of the monsters and wandered into rooms you never got the chance to see.

You helped Sebastian set up his shop by collecting the items he accidentally found when he was trying to find files to blackmail Hadal Blacksite. 

After some months, you both started to gain feelings for each other. It took a while for the both of you to realize you felt the same way towards each other.

You both helped each other, you patching his arm, him protecting you from people trying to kill you because they mistook you for being dangerous, talking with p.ai.nter (Z-779) and spending time with each other in the shop while inmates buy things from the both of you.

You were glad that he saved you from your deathbed and glad you were both in a relationship.

You gave him one last kiss before you both went to sleep for the night. Already looking forward to tomorrow.

Bonus!

How you both learned you both felt the same was by accident.

You were visiting p.ai.nter, and you were talking to him until they accidentally mentioned that Sebastian likes you.

“Sebastian did tell me that he thinks that he has feelings for you, since when you were first with him.”

It was dead silent for a bit, both of you realizing what he said.

“Oops…”

He also made the same mistake with Sebastian, telling him you like him.

....Maybe it wasn't actually a ‘mistake’.

~Lilly's

[chasteandpregnantmale]

The immaculate conception of Michael Part 4

Part 4

Br Aidan’s friendship with Br John was flourishing too.   They were often seen in the chapel praying.   Aidan found John’s prayers very supportive which he needed more and more.   He was still so pleased to be doing this as God’s vehicle to give Jan & Jon a child but was now finding it physically burdensome.   He didn’t know how much he weighed now, but it was a lot.   Br Bernard weighed him regularly but he couldn’t see past the bump any more to see what the scales read.

Sometimes Br John got a little more friendly, even intimate, than he should.

That summer turned out to be one of the hottest on record.  Aidan had never sweated so much in his life - particularly in the small of his back which then ran down his butt crack, on his belly and in the cleavage he was developing now in his chest.   Br Bernard insisted he drink a lot so as not to get dehydrated and what with that and being very pregnant, he was always peeing.

Br Aidan continued to feel the strong sense of calling and privilege in his condition though as he continued to grow he sometimes wished he could have some respite from the physical awkwardness and weight of his baby bump.   His belly could no longer sit at the main dining table as the benches to sit on were fixed and his bump would no longer fit.   One of the brothers had fitted a deep shelf at his chest height so that he could eat standing with his bump pushing under the shelf.   He wondered if his belly would touch the wall by the time he was due.

Aidan didn’t know how he felt about giving birth.   He wasn’t at all apprehensive about the birth itself because while he didn’t know how it was going to happen, he knew that God would see him through.   It was more about wanting this amazing privilege to continue while at the same time wishing he could be free of the awkwardness that was increasing day by day.  Added to that, he was finding his pregnancy so tiring now, partly because there was so much of him to move around now in what was still a fairly active life, and also he was finding it increasingly hard to get comfortable in bed.

By the end of August Br Aidan had got so big that even he conceded that he would have to go on to lighter duties.   The Abbot and Br John had been saying this to him for over a month but he was determined to carry on as normal despite his special calling.   

The romantics were disappointed when the Feast Day of St Aidan came and went with no sign of the baby appearing.   Br Bernard was getting increasingly concerned that the baby would be born soon but he was not sure how.   He suggested to the Abbot that they should have another mass with the intention of the baby.   Once again, Br Aidan sat through the mass with his belly exposed.

The brother who took this photo caught Br Aidan just as the baby gave a big kick - an event that occurred with increasing frequency and strength as his pregnancy progressed.   Br Aidan was encouraged by the prayers of the mass.   Deep within him he knew that everything was going to be alright but that he wouldn’t be giving birth in the near future.

Because the Mass took place on a Saturday, both Jon and Jan were able to be there.   They were able to meet with him afterwards in the visitors’ sitting room.  They believed the delivery to be imminent so asked for a final photo of their surrogate’s belly.   Obedient to the last, Aidan was willing to oblige.

It was about this time that Br Aidan had a recurring dream.  It was similar to the one he had had once earlier in the pregnancy with St Michael supporting him at the birth.   This led Aidan to be convinced that he would give birth on Michaelmas - almost four weeks past his due date.   When he told Br Bernard, he was told that was not very likely.

 An aspect of the dream that slightly alarmed Aidan was the size of his belly.   It was enormous.   He was finding the size of the baby bump big enough now, so he hoped Br Bernard was right and he would give birth in the next week to 10 days though Bernard could see no indications that Aidan was near birth.   

He was concerned about Aidan’s size too.   From his basic examinations of his colleague brother he knew Aidan was carrying a lot of amniotic fluid.   He didn’t know why this should be so but thought it was maybe an aspect  of the pregnant male as the cave pictures of pregnant chiefs all showed them very big when with child.   In one way this meant it was more comfortable for Aidan as the baby had room to move around.   But it also meant that there was a lot of extra weight for him to carry.   Another downside was that it was harder for Br Bernard to feel the baby by examining the bump - which was the only option open to him.   Despite that, he was pretty sure Jon and Jan’s baby was a very good size.  It might weigh in at 10lb at birth he thought.

The days of September ticked by slowly for the whole community; particularly so for Br Bernard, Jon and Jan and, of course, Aidan.   It was the morning of the 25th when Br Aidan felt a bit strange during Matins.  He could quite put his finger on it - he just felt a bit “off’.   He put it down to sleeping badly.  With his belly the size it appeared in his dreams with St Michael, he found it hard to find any comfortable position.   That evening after Compline, on his way back to his cell, he felt a huge cramp starting in his back and spreading round to the bump.   

He knew he was well overdue but it didn’t occur to him, at this point, that he might be going into labour and so went to bed.   Br Bernard was unaware of these developments.   Had he been so, it would have given him some relief.   With Br Aidan almost 4 weeks overdue,he was wondering at what point he should take him for proper medical care.

Br Aidan spent a pretty uncomfortable night.  The cramps were pretty sporadic but painful.   He had been well drilled in what he could expect during labour and knew there was nothing to worry about as the cramps didn’t have any regularity to them.   However, after Matins the following morning he went to see Br Bernard who checked him over and said that he thought things were beginning to happen in regard to the birth.   Even so, he thought it best to admit Br Aidan to the infirmary and inform the whole community of the young brother’s confinement.

By the evening of the 26th Aidan’s contractions had become regular and Br Bernard could see that he was definitely in Stage 1 labour.   Nothing much changed overnight and the gyne brother was concerned about how slowly the young brother’s labour was progressing.  On the plus side, the brother was bearing his labour well and was really stoic with the pain.   In fact, Br Bernard reflected, he had been really stoic throughout his huge pregnancy.  It was incredible really.

Another plus was that Br Aidan was very innocent and naive about pregnancy and labour.   He knew that labour was normally lengthy and just assumed that his long labour was quite normal.   He was surprised how painful and tiring the contractions were and had no idea that they would get increasingly worse up to the birth.   It was strange.   Yes, the contractions were painful, but they also filled him with a deep joy as they heralded the coming of a new life into the world which he had the privilege to deliver.

Br Bernard gave Br Aidan frequent examinations and was relieved to note that his anus was dilating.   The young brother could therefore give birth naturally.   The baby’s heartbeat was strong and regular.  Everything looked to be going well even though progress was slow.   Things continued like this all through the 27th and 28th.  After Compline on 28th Br Bernard gave the labouring brother one last check and noted he was now 8 cm dilated so he decided to stay with him.

From there things moved fairly quickly.   The Abbot was notified and he called for Jon and Jan to be present at the birth.   By the time they arrived, Aidan was pretty much fully dilated and was pushing within the hour.   It was a long and painful night and at 6.14 in the morning the baby was finally born with Aidan on all fours.   The boy was caught by Jan who, under the direction of Br Bernard took the baby away before Aidan saw him so that the baby bonded with Jan not Aidan.

There was so much joy and relief in the room it was overwhelming.    Aidan, Jan and Jon were in tears and Br Bernard was just relieved it was all over and had gone so smoothly.   The joyful news got out into the community and a full peal of bells rung later than morning.

Br Aidan was exhausted but felt so fulfilled and happy that he had managed to see his God-given task through to the end.   He had never doubted that he would though others had thought it impossible.   Needless to say, Jon and Jan were over the moon and named the boy Michael as he was born on the feast of St Michael.

Jan and Jon took the baby home with them that day.   Aidan stayed a couple of days in the infirmary to recover from the birth and then it was back to normal.   Normal, apart from a sore and leaking chest which he was not keen on.   But after a fortnight or so his breasts dried up.   He was shocked when he put on his habit, which the vesterer had taken the gussets out of while he was in the infirmary.  He filled it far better than he had at the same time the previous year.   Nor could he use the original girdle.

The swelling in his belly did decrease over the next couple of months but not entirely.   In late November he was called into the Abbot’s office again.   The Abbot told him that he knew God wanted Jon and Jan to have a proper Catholic family as did they themselves and informed him that they would be praying over him again on the coming Advent Sunday.   Br Aidan knew he had no choice but to agree and was happy to continue his work for the Lord.

[covid-safer-hotties]

9 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID as Summer Wave Surges - Published Aug 19, 2024

The answer "damn near everywhere people go" may shock you.

COVID’s surge shows no sign of slowing down as the biggest summer wave in two years continues. In fact, COVID levels are “very high” in 27 states, according to the CDC’s wastewater data. “Currently, the COVID-19 wastewater viral activity level is very high nationally, with the highest levels in the Western US region,” Dr. Jonathan Yoder, deputy director of the CDC’s Wastewater Surveillance Program, said to CNN. “This year’s COVID-19 wave is coming earlier than last year, which occurred in late August/early September.” Fortunately, death rates and hospitalization rates are nothing like they were during previous waves due to greater immunity and vaccines. But catching COVID still comes with risks, including LONG COVID, which can result in chronic, debilitating illness. So how do you stay safe? Use caution before entering these nine places you’re most likely to catch COVID now, as the summer wave surges.

Crowded indoor events COVID spreads primarily through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, talks, or breathes, especially in close-contact settings or poorly ventilated areas. “People who are higher risk for getting very sick from COVID-19 should consider taking extra precautions for the next few weeks, like limiting time in crowded indoor settings or wearing a mask in crowded indoor settings. People rarely get COVID-19 outdoors, so outdoor events remain quite safe,” say the experts at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

Airports, airplanes and public transportation Given the COVID rates right now, the CDC urges travelers to “get up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines before you travel and take steps to protect yourself and others. Consider wearing a mask in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor areas, including on public transportation and in transportation hubs. Take additional precautions if you were recently exposed to a person with COVID-19. Don’t travel while sick.” They go even further for certain folks: “If you have a weakened immune system or are at increased risk for severe disease, talk to a healthcare professional before you decide to travel. If you travel, take multiple prevention steps to provide additional layers of protection from COVID-19, even if you are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines. These include improving ventilation and spending more time outdoors, avoiding sick people, getting tested for COVID-19 if you develop symptoms, staying home if you have or think you have COVID-19, and seeking treatment if you have COVID-19.”

Shopping malls Studies are just now coming out with an analysis of what happened during the height of the pandemic. Although times are different now, these results can be instructive. For example, one study published in April 2024 “examines the transmission of COVID-19 through casual contact in retail stores using data from Denmark. By matching card payment data with COVID-19 test results, researchers tracked over 100,000 instances where infected individuals made purchases in stores. They found that customers exposed to an infected person in the same store within a 5-minute window had a significantly higher infection rate in the following week. The study concludes that retail store transmissions contributed notably to the spread of COVID-19, particularly during the period when the Omicron variant was dominant.”

Religious gatherings The transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus during religious events has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with a communal gathering in which people, well, commune. “The smallest SARS-CoV-2 droplets can remain airborne and travel farther than six feet. The scientific community does not agree upon what is a ‘safe distance,’ but standing near an infectious person is riskier than standing farther away,” says the AMA. Additionally, “the amount of virus a person is exposed to can influence the chance of infection and the severity; consequently, staying in one place for a longer time creates a higher risk of infection.”

Movie theaters The box office is back, as hits like Deadpool & Wolverine, It Ends With Us, and Alien: Romulus pack them in after a few dark pandemic years of low attendance, the rare Barbenheimer proving the exception to the rule. For movie buffs, it’s a thrill. But check your theater’s ventilation before lining up around the block. One study published this year “investigates the risk factors for COVID-19 transmission during an outbreak in a movie theater in Incheon, South Korea, in November 2021. It involved 48 confirmed cases, primarily among theater attendees, with a high attack rate of 84.8% during one screening. The study found that inadequate ventilation and close proximity among audience members were key contributors to the spread of the virus despite most attendees being fully vaccinated. The study emphasizes the importance of proper ventilation in enclosed spaces like theaters to prevent airborne transmission of COVID-19.”

Healthcare facilities “Some hospitals across the United States are reinstating indoor masking rules amid rising cases and hospitalizations of respiratory illnesses including COVID-19 and influenza,” reported ABC News earlier this year. "Ultimately, health systems, hospitals, places that deliver care are going to see some of the most vulnerable and at-risk individuals -- many, with underlying conditions," Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor, told the network. "Those are especially the places where we want to protect individuals, and so when we have this rapid rise in respiratory illness, those are going to be the first places to try to use measures to reduce chances of transmission, both to protect patients, those receiving care, as well as workforce."

Gyms and fitness studios Common sense will tell you transmission of an airborne disease may increase the more frequently people breathe in and out—as you might do at the gym. One “study looked at the number of aerosol particles 16 people exhaled at rest and during workouts. These tiny bits of airborne matter — measuring barely a few hundred micrometers in diameter, or about the width of a strand of hair, and suspended in mist from our lungs — can transmit coronavirus if someone is infected, ferrying the virus lightly through the air from one pair of lungs to another,” reported the New York Times during the pandemic. “The study found that, at rest, the men and women breathed out about 500 particles per minute. But when they exercised, that total soared 132-fold, topping out above 76,000 particles per minute, on average, during the most strenuous exertion.”

Bars and Nightclubs Just when some of us wanted to drink the most, bars were verboten during the height of the pandemic. There was a good reason to use caution. One study published last year “analyzed over 44,000 COVID-19 cases in Tokyo in 2020, focusing on transmission in various settings, including healthcare and nightlife venues like bars and nightclubs. It found that nightlife settings were more likely to involve clusters of five or more infections and were more likely to lead to further spread compared to other settings. The highest case-fatality rate was observed in healthcare settings. The findings suggest that targeting interventions in nightlife venues could be crucial for controlling COVID-19 transmission, especially during the early stages of an outbreak.”

Restaurants and cafés Last year, the Washington Post asked virus experts if they’d eat in restaurants. Joanna Dolgoff, a pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, offered an answer that may be a decent North Star for you today. “At this time, I will continue to eat in restaurants as long as they are well-ventilated and not overly crowded. If somebody near me shows signs of illness, I will be prepared to leave immediately. If covid cases continue to spike and if illness becomes more severe, I will stop eating inside restaurants until cases subside,” she said.

[in1-nutshell]

Bot Buddy being Swerve’s older sibling

SFW, familial, platonic, Cybertroninan/ Bot reader, slight angst but has a happy ending

MTMTE

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 here

Part 3 here

For this writing, Swerve’s older sibling is going to be BIG. We are talking Fortress Maximus Big.

How does Buddy have a sibling like Swerve with their height? No one knows and quite frankly, Buddy doesn’t care. They are very close to Swerve.

Buddy doesn’t mind their younger brother talking their audial off about the most random things. They have gotten used to it by now.

“Hey Buddy. Do you think that if minibots ever became a combiner it would just turn out to be a normal sized bot?”—Swerve

“I honestly don’t know how to answer to that question.”

“No, no, but see if the size of one minibot—“—Swerve

“There goes my sleep…”—Buddy

Swerve is insecure, that’s nothing new. But it increases a bit when he is with Buddy in public. He doesn’t like it when bots or himself start comparing them with him. He really wants them to be proud of him and all of his accomplishments. Would 110% support anything Buddy… but he also has his limits.

“Hey Buddy, what are you doing?”--Swerve

“I’m trying to hone in my hiding skills.”--Buddy

“Under a table?”--Swerve

“Yep, and it surprisingly comfortable down here in this crouching position.”--Buddy

“Your stuck aren’t you.”--Swerve

“… maybe? Yes? Help?”--Buddy

“I’ll get the screwdrivers.”--Swerve

“Thanks Swerve!”--Buddy

“This has been the third time I’ve had to disassemble that table…This is getting ridiculous…”—Swerve

Swerve has taught Buddy a thing or two about what he knows about being a metalourgist. As well as teaching them bit of knowledge he knows from doing weird jobs here and there.

“Swerve what do we do when the light turns red?”--Buddy

“Oh! That’s a good question. That usually just means to-- HIT THE DECK!”—Swerve

Buddy is extremely protective of Swerve. They can sometimes get to a ridiculous level of overprotectiveness for Swerve. For example, breathe wrong in his direction, you will feel pain.

“Swerve hold my drink. I’m going to go teach a mech about keeping one’s servos to themselves.”--Buddy

“They just brushed by on accident! There is no need for violence!”--Swerve

It was no surprise that around the time the war rolled by, Buddy was approached and recruited into the Elite Guard. Swerve despite his worries fully supported Buddy.

“Don’t worry about it Buddy! I’m sure your going to have the best stories to tell me when you come back from your missions!”--Swerve

“You really think so Swerve?”--Buddy

“I am positively sure of it Buddy! You know what, this calls for a celebration! Lets go find some engex.”--Swerve

Whenever Buddy was on long trips, they made sure to try and send a message through their personal channel. Swerve tries to make his messages short, but that was nearly impossible for him to do.

“Hey its Swerve! I have so much to tell you, Buddy! First there’s this bot named Blurr and I got his number and now there is a big plan when the wars over. So the plan is that…”--Swerve

Now for some hurt.

Swerve gets notified from some officers from Buddy’s team that there was a good chance that they were killed in action in the last mission. Swerve was in denial at first, but it soon turned into a depression that would follow him for many years even after the war was over. To try and cope with the loss he would still try and send out deep space messages telling them about his day and how much he misses them.

“Hey Buddy, its Swerve again. It’s been a slow week at the bar today. Whirl’s has been on a cocktail binge and nearly attack a poor bot when he asked for the time… And Tailgate, did I talk about Tailgate, well Tailgate is… and then he exploded, I swear Buddy, he exploded!”—Swerve

Timeskip after the events of Swearth

Swerve was getting better. Sure, progress was slow but he was getting to a better place mentally, with the help of his friends and therapy. The only person who he had ever talked about Buddy was Rung. Buddy was a subject that Swerve was not comfortable speaking about too much about. Now Swerve only knows that Rung knows about Buddy ever existing but there were two another bots on board who knew about Buddy. It was Rewind and Whirl

Why? Why those two bots?

Rewind knew after accidentally stumbling on some footage of Swerve and Buddy. After seeing enough footage, Rewind could tell that Buddy at least meant something important to Swerve. He doesn’t bring it up to Swerve. He wants to but he knows if Swerve wants to eventually talk about something then he will talk.

Whirl knows Buddy as his ‘Buddy’ when he was working with the Wreckers. Buddy had joined as a collaboration between the Elite Guard and the Wreckers. Buddy ended up saving Whirl from certain doom and from then Whirl made sure that he was now Buddy’s problem.

“Hey Buddy, what do you think about breaking into a Decepticon clinic and crushing Killmasters brain module?”--Whirl

“How about we don’t do that.”--Buddy

“Your no fun, you know that.”--Whirl

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go get with the others. I think they are debriefing now.”--Buddy

Absolutely loved working with Buddy. He did find out the Buddy’s designation was on the KIA lists after he heard of their mission going off the rails. He had long accepted that Buddy was dead, or missing. Now being on the Lost Light, Whirl has some hope that Buddy might still be out there. If Swerve could create a giant holographic planet for months and not die or Rewind coming back, in a way, then anything was possible.

Now present time

Buddy was very much alive.

[freeonlineworkouts]

Full Body dumbbell Workout

Here’s a full-body dumbbell workout that targets all major muscle groups. This routine is perfect for building strength, improving muscle tone, and boosting overall fitness. Perform this workout 2–3 times per week, allowing at least one day of rest between sessions.

Warm-Up (5–10 minutes)

Jumping Jacks: 2 minutes

Arm Circles: 1 minute forward, 1 minute backward

Bodyweight Squats: 1 minute

Dynamic Stretches: Focus on legs, shoulders, and back.

Workout Structure

Perform 3 sets of each exercise.

Rest for 30–60 seconds between sets.

Adjust the weight of the dumbbells to match your fitness level (challenging but manageable).

1. Dumbbell Squats

Target: Quads, glutes, hamstrings, core.

How to:

Hold dumbbells at your sides or at shoulder height.

Lower into a squat, keeping your chest up and knees aligned with your toes.

Push through your heels to return to standing.

Reps: 10–12

2. Dumbbell Bench Press (or Floor Press)

Target: Chest, shoulders, triceps.

How to:

Lie on a bench or the floor with dumbbells in hand.

Press the dumbbells upward until your arms are fully extended.

Lower the dumbbells back to chest level.

Reps: 8–10

3. Dumbbell Bent-Over Rows

Target: Upper back, lats, biceps.

How to:

Bend at the hips with a flat back, holding dumbbells in front of you.

Pull the dumbbells toward your torso, squeezing your shoulder blades together.

Lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.

Reps: 10–12

4. Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts

Target: Hamstrings, glutes, lower back.

How to:

Stand with dumbbells in front of your thighs.

Hinge at the hips, lowering the dumbbells while keeping your back flat.

Return to standing by squeezing your glutes.

Reps: 8–10

5. Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Target: Shoulders, triceps.

How to:

Hold dumbbells at shoulder height with palms facing forward.

Press the dumbbells overhead until your arms are fully extended.

Lower the dumbbells back to shoulder height.

Reps: 8–10

6. Dumbbell Lunges

Target: Quads, glutes, hamstrings.

How to:

Hold dumbbells at your sides.

Step forward with one leg and lower your hips until both knees are at 90 degrees.

Push through your front heel to return to standing.

Alternate legs with each rep.

Reps: 10–12 (per leg)

7. Dumbbell Bicep Curls

Target: Biceps.

How to:

Hold dumbbells with palms facing forward.

Curl the dumbbells toward your shoulders, keeping your elbows close to your body.

Lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.

Reps: 10–12

8. Dumbbell Tricep Kickbacks

Target: Triceps.

How to:

Bend at the hips with dumbbells in hand and elbows bent at 90 degrees.

Extend your arms backward, squeezing your triceps at the top.

Return to the starting position.

Reps: 10–12

9. Dumbbell Russian Twists

Target: Core, obliques.

How to:

Sit on the floor with knees bent and feet off the ground.

Hold a dumbbell with both hands and twist your torso side to side.

Reps: 20 twists (10 per side)

10. Dumbbell Calf Raises

Target: Calves.

How to:

Hold dumbbells at your sides.

Rise onto your toes, squeezing your calves at the top.

Lower back down slowly.

Reps: 15–20

Cool-Down (5–10 minutes)

Stretching: Focus on major muscle groups (hamstrings, quads, shoulders, back).

Deep Breathing: Relax and lower your heart rate.

Tips for Success

Progressive Overload: Gradually increase the weight or reps over time.

Form First: Prioritize proper form to avoid injury.

Hydration: Drink water before, during, and after your workout.

Rest: Allow at least 48 hours of recovery before repeating the workout.

This full-body dumbbell workout is efficient, effective, and can be done at home or in the gym. Let me know if you’d like a customized version! 💪

[revelation-empyrean]

#REVELATIONEmpyrean2025: Start!

( Mr. Reca, Aventurine, Venti, Dr. Ratio, Shenhe, Raiden Mei )

The warm lights of The Empyrean's lobby descend upon your group as you gather around the center. They seem brighter without the shadow of a crowd, intense in the emptiness of the grand space. There are no bellboys rushing to get your bags or receptionists handing you your keys. Instead, you are all personally greeted by the hotel's general manager, a woman named Aethel. "Dear guests, I hope you'll forgive the current state of service. As you may see, our staff—" her dark-red lips tighten into something between a grimace and a smile, "—have had their numbers drastically reduced. Our operations shall continue as normal, however, and you all have unrestricted access to the hotel's amenities free of charge. You should also be pleased to know that the mixer scheduled for the end of this week will continue as planned." She goes up to each of you and presses a golden card into your hands. Reading the text embossed on it reveals it is an access pass. Turning to the back, you will find Aethel's contact information, as well as the location of her office. "Before the party starts, I recommend mingling with your fellow guests. The Empyrean's clientele is comprised of some of the most powerful people in the planet. If you want to build your reputation, or if you perhaps have questions you'd like to direct to the Empyrean elite—" she says this almost pointedly, "—now is your opportunity to do just that."

Go on and mingle!

Aethel is not joking when she talks about the other guests—they are at the height of Empyrea's elite, rivaled only by Ernest Cranebill himself. They turn their noses up at your little group of tourists, thinking you must be beneath them. But you have the power to change this: you can increase your Reputation.

Reputation will be scored individually, but the total Reputation of the entire group affects how the party will go. The party will start at Friday, 6/13 12PM EST. High Reputation means people are more likely to approach you, talk with you, and generally tolerate your poking around. Low Reputation… well, it might get you kicked out. Reputation can be increased by 1) having positive interactions with NPCs or 2) winning mini-games. It can also decrease by doing the inverse. 

As a group, you all currently have 60/120 Reputation, with each person starting at 10/20 Reputation. It is highly recommended that you create a group document or a tracker for your Reputation.

So, where can I go?

CASINO: Yes, the casino in Empyrea's basement is still open, though the poker and blackjack tables have closed. Still, you can find a strange man sitting by one of them, swirling a glass of whisky and playing around with a set of dice. He's clearly not one of those billionaire-types, but he does claim to know who's behind the disappearances. It could be worth speaking to him—you just have to win a game of dice, first. (±5 Reputation) GOLF: Attached to the resort is a small golf course. Where the hotel itself is empty, the fairway is bustling with people eager to play. Your access pass grants you a membership to the clubhouse, as well as a set of clubs to use for yourself. Why don't you impress these fools with your baller skills? (±5 Reputation) BUFFET: Disappearances be damned, The Empyrean can cook up a breakfast buffet! The smaller guest list means you find seats for yourselves with relative ease, though find it difficult to enjoy your meal. You see, a young married couple are right behind you, and they are bickering loudly. Before you can decide whether or not you want to be involved, the husband walks up to you and demands you pick a side. You can mediate their, or you could end up kickstarting a divorce, and maybe a food fight alongside that... (±5 Reputation) WORK: Not really wanting to talk to those uppity rich people? You can opt to follow Aethel around instead, helping out with the various affairs of the hotel. She is, of course, still a valid pin within this social network, and getting close with her can prove useful in ways that might surprise you. Be ready to earn that relationship, though. (±5 Reputation)

ETC:

How do the prompts work? Just like any other prompt-based thread! Simply choose a partner (or multiple, if you'd like) and go off to fulfill your desired prompt. Mod Mik will be providing the NPCs via replies on this blog. Note as well that some prompts come with a mini-game attached.

Can I take on multiple prompts at once? Yes, but you have a limit of two, and you cannot do multiple prompts with the same person: you must have at least one unique partner each time.

Do I have to finish the threads involving the prompt before the party starts? You are encouraged to finish it before the party, as finishing it by then means you can earn the Reputation associated with it. You can respond to them by the time the party begins, but it will not be considered finished nor would it count towards your Reputation.

Can multiple people do the same prompt? Only if all of the other prompts are taken by at least 2 people.

Can I only do the prompts listed above? Nope! You are free to start non-prompt threads with your teammates, send asks, or otherwise interact as usual!

How do I interact with NPCs? Via threads or asks sent to this blog! Aethel is your attendant and so is available for interactions even outside the prompts, but NPCs specific to certain locations and activities are limited only to the people threading.

[levi-venn]

Tech and Crow

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 (Final) Available also on AO3)

On Eriadu, statistically speaking, humanoids died more often from unnatural causes than old age.

Seventy percent perished from animal attacks.

Ten from disease.

Eighteen percent from venomous plants. 

One-point-ninety nine percent from the Empire.

The remaining zero-point-zero-one percent were given to those flinging themselves from a moving monorail car to save their siblings from death.

Eriadu is not an ideal place to die, Tech thought, midfall. But it’s preferable to dying on a fool’s mission for Sid.

For a few treasured seconds he seemed to be floating rather than falling, the cloud cover making it near impossible to orient himself in any direction, though his stomach was telling him his back would meet the ground first. It would be a painful, but hopefully quick death.

The trees, however, had other ideas, both on how Tech would land, and whether he would survive or not.

The first branch shattered against Tech’s pauldron sending him spinning. Another branch broke against his shin guard. There was a nest of twigs, cotton, and unfertilized eggs that slammed into his helmet essentially blinding him.

As he continued in this downward spiral he attempted to quantify how many branches were needed to slow his fall and increase his survival rate. The fact he was hitting branches once every half second told him the odds were in his favor. Evidently, the Eriadian redwood forest was an ideal place to free fall from a considerable height.

Good to know.

While he couldn't control the rate in which he was falling, nor the amount of branches he was shattering, he did manage to land on his back. And in doing so, he jettisoned the remaining breath from his lungs.

He lay there, very still, unfortunately awake, and gasping for air that wouldn't come. Darkness crept around the edge of his vision. He struggled to stay awake. Struggled to breathe. Panic was rising within him.

There is no need to panic, he tried to remind himself. This is just a reaction to present trauma. There is no immediate danger. Breathe...breathe...

Even as the breath returned to him, a new problem arose. He couldn't slow his breathing down, nor calm his heart rate, and the anxiety frayed his nerves as if he were still falling. 

He tried a different tactic: He recalculated the unnatural death toll on Eriadu:

Seventy percent perished from animal attack.

Ten from disease.

Eighteen percent from venomous plants. 

And now two percent from the Empire.

As a youngling, Tech's exceptional mind had mastered every intellectual acuity test presented to him. However, no amount of brilliance would help him when it came to combat training. All altered clones had a defect in one form or another. His came in the shape of bowed and twisted legs, not suitable for a soldier.

It was logical that the Kaminoans broke his legs to reset them. Logical and agonizing. Tech was bed-ridden for weeks. 

They gave him a datapad filled with as much reading material as he could absorb, but even then there was no distracting him from the pain nor the panicked episodes that came with it.

He didn’t want visitors. Didn’t want to appear weak to his brothers. Soldiers weren’t bed-ridden. Soldiers didn’t cry from fear of an uncertain future.

Crosshair ignored Tech’s request for isolation. He appeared every day, three times a day, always for meals. He claimed he was just there to steal Tech’s bread roll, but he only ever took a bite and stayed long after Tech ate the rest of the meal.

Crosshair wasn’t much of a conversationalist, but he would sit on the edge of Tech’s bed, cleaning his beloved DC-15A cadet blaster rifle, and casually ask Tech questions. 

“Why do Kaminoans have such long necks?”

“Who would win in a fight? A Jedi with a vibroblade or a Mandalorian with a lightsaber?”

“How many B1s would it take to equal the power of Jango Fett?”

Tech stared up at the Eriadian sky, mostly obscured by broken branches and his cracked and smudged lens. 

He’d give anything for one of Crosshair’s thinly veiled questions to distract him from the pain and panic.

And truly...he’d give anything to see Crosshair again, regardless.  

***

It took fourteen days and seventeen hours to find Mount Tantiss on the planet, Weyland. It would have taken half that time if Tech had his goggles, a working datapad, and (admittedly) his siblings. Fourteen days was plenty of time to heal his body from its fall, but even at peak condition the climb up the mountain was arduous. Tedious even. Slower as he had to make camp and find food and disarm Imperial sensors the whole way up.

Seventy-eight hours later, he found himself at the base of the Imperial science facility. 

He also found himself exhausted.

“Come on, Tech! You can do it!” Hunter had cheered all those years ago as young Tech clung to the middle rung of the monkey-lizard bars high over the training grounds. The platform might as well be located on another planet.

Tech’s legs had been reset the previous year. He was fully healed. There was no excuse for this fragility. Yet his muscles shook with effort, sweat poured down his face, stinging his eyes.

“I’m gonna get him,” Wrecker said.

“No!” Hunter pulled his brother back. “He can do it!”

“No, he can’t! Look at him!” Wrecker whined, face full of worry. 

“C’mon, Tech! A little further!” Hunter looked worried too, even as he cheered his brother on. 

Even as Tech’s grip began to slip.

To this day, Tech didn't remember Crosshair's reaction to his failure that day. What was the point of recalling it, anyway?

Utterly meaningless, he always told himself when he'd try to recall. And he would attempt this often.

***

A carrion crow visited Tech the morning after he collapsed from fatigue a kilometer from the science facility. 

The corvid landed on his back, then proceeded to hop in little circle as if Tech was his own personal, albeit ineffective, trampoline.

Tech hadn’t noticed he had become an amusement ride for the crow until it cawed rather rudely and directly into his ear.

Jolting awake at the caustic alarm, Tech jumped to his feet, pulling his blaster and pointing it at...a few feathers that had been jostled from the startled bird. The crow landed on a nearly smooth boulder nearby, croaking as if flabbergasted by the audacity of Tech’s reaction, then flew off in a cackling rage.

The day was spent doing recon of the area. The sheer density of this side of the jungle kept troopers away, and by nightfall Tech had made a decent, albeit temporary, base.

That evening Tech dreamed.

“You remember ‘C’, don’t you?” Tech asked the small boy sitting beside him. It was a very real memory, but his subconscious twisted timelines, making him a fully grown adult sitting next to a small, gray-haired boy hunched over the datapad, stylus awkward in his little fingers.

“I remember,” Crosshair said, stubbornly, stylus making a vertical line.

“C is for curved,” Tech recited the pneumonic, smiling to himself as Crosshair quickly readjusted his stylus, making a shaky but clear C.

“Now an ‘R’.”

Crosshair hissed in frustration, stylus lifting and lowering onto the screen making little angry dots on the workbook page. “I don’t want to.”

“Shall we do it together?” Tech asked.

“No,” Crosshair insisted, even as he sat closer to Tech and leaned against him. Tech put his hand over his brother's to guide him. “Up, and around, and down to the ground.” Tech said.

“I can do ‘O’ by myself,” Crosshair said, pushing Tech’s hand off of his own, though he still leaned against Tech as he drew a mathematically perfect circle. 

The dream had taken liberties, but the scene was more or less how Tech remembered Crosshair writing his name for the first time. The dream neglected to recall Crosshair asking Tech not to tell their brothers that he struggled to write his own name.

But Tech was allowed to know. Only Tech. And Tech kept his word to this day.

“Let’s see how you did,” Tech said, in this more or less accurate dream.

He picked up the datapad and read in perfectly block letters.

[H E L P  M E]

Tech startled awake. 

He told himself it was just a dream. Memories and information and out of context stimuli colliding together into something nonsensical.

Utterly meaningless, he told himself, even as he wiped the tears from his cheeks.

It was still night. The moonlight punched its way through the canopy of trees, offering illumination that only helped to remind Tech just how alone he was on this mountain.

Actually, Tech corrected, the moon doesn’t illuminate anything. The light I’m seeing is a reflection of the sun. 

This factoid did little to alleviate the situation. 

But he felt better acknowledging it.

***

The crow returned the next morning holding something in its beak: a small pinecone, young and green. The pinecone had no nutritional value to the corvid, nor was it proper nesting material.

Crows have been known to offer gifts as a sign of gratitude for an agreeable exchange or action.

The gift was obviously not for Tech considering he had pulled a blaster on the corvid upon their first meeting.

Who are you giving your gifts to? Tech wondered. A bored trooper? A sensitive officer? A desperate prisoner?

“A desperate prisoner wouldn’t sacrifice food for trinkets,” he concluded to the crow.

The crow hopped around the boulder once, twice, then flew directly at Tech, who ducked just as the crow smacked a wing against his head mid-flight. Even with the pinecone in his beak, Tech swore he could hear a throaty cackle.

Tech continued his recon of the science facility as best he could without being discovered. Getting close to the building wasn’t an issue, it was getting near anything resembling an entrance that was the issue. He had one blaster against an unknown amount of guards, which meant all he could do was recon. And then he would fill his siblings in when they arrived.

It never occurred to him his brothers and sister wouldn’t eventually come to the same conclusion as he. They would find this planet. They would find Tech and receive his very useful intel, and then they would save Crosshair. The squad would finally be reunited.

It would all work out. It had to.

He couldn’t afford to think of the alternative. Worrying about it was useless.

Utterly meaningless…

***

The next morning, he awoke before dawn. No crow was waiting for him.

Trying a different tactic, he broke off a bit of plastoid from his cracked pauldron and set it on the crow’s boulder.

He waited.

Just after dawn, the crow landed on the boulder, cawing immediately at Tech, feathers literally and proverbially ruffled at an unauthorized object occupying his boulder.

But then the corvid calmed, eyeing the object properly, pecking at it as if appraising its value.

“I assure you, it is of a high-quality material,” Tech told the crow. “The fact it is broken means it worked as intended. It did not survive the fall so that I could.”

The crow listened, or at least stared at Tech with intensely black eyes, and then decided - perhaps entirely on his own - to take the plastoid and fly off.

This time Tech ran after crow. 

As he hypothesized, the crow flew directly towards the science facility.

Tech kept his goggleless eyes to the sky as he ran, thanking his imperfect genetics that he was far-sighted, allowing him to track the crow in his pursuit. So long as the crow didn't require him to read a datapad, he only needed to worry about the thick underbrush tearing his compromised under-armor, thorny vines scratching his cheeks, and the uneven ground threatening to trip and trap him.

“Come on, Tech! You can do it!” Hunter’s words echoed in his mind. He chose not to think of Wrecker’s face full of doubt. The crack in Hunter’s voice betraying his words.

Actually, Tech realized. I can do it. 

A crow is capable of flying over ninety kilometers an hour. Tech, even at his healthiest, could reach thirty kilometers an hour.

The crow wants me to follow him, but to where?

As if to answer, the crow suddenly dove towards a hole in the fortress and Tech skidded to a stop just below it.

He gazed quietly at the barred window approximately seven meters above him, the crow’s tail feathers twitching and wiggling as it seemed to be eating something on the sill. 

And then he saw it. Briefly. A flash of familiar fingers. Long and callused and always itching to pull a trigger. 

Fingers that used to wrap around Tech’s hand when the lightning was too bright outside. Fingers that would hold soggy bread in the rain, hoping to conjure a bird that would never come. Fingers that could draw shaky C's and perfect circles.

I found you, Tech thought, his heartbeat growing irregular from this sudden turn of events. Now to get your attention.

***

“Where the hell are your goggles?”

It wasn’t not the first question Tech expected, but a fair one nonetheless.

Tech touched his temple reflexively, trying to adjust goggles that clearly weren’t there. “A long story that I can narrate at a later time. Are you hurt?”

Crosshair pressed his forehead against the bars. “What do you think?”

It wasn’t the answer Tech had hoped to hear.

“How did you know the crow was coming to my cell?” Crosshair asked.

“You used to birdwatch when we were children. That combined with the lack of incentive for anyone on this base to feed a carrion bird. It was obvious. So I gave the corvid a message to give to you.”

“His name is Egg.”

“Egg?” Tech frowned up at Crosshair. “Why is his name Egg?”

“He likes Eggs.”

“So, by that logic, if he enjoyed Colo Claw Fish-”

“Does it look like they feed me sushi here?”

Tech raised a finger…then lowered it. “Point taken.” 

“How are you going to get me out of here?” Crosshair asked. His head disappeared from view a few times and Tech assumed it was to ensure they were speaking privately.

“We’re going to wait for our siblings to retrieve us,” Tech answered.

“Where are they?”

“I don’t know.”

“When are they coming?”

“I’m uncertain.”

“Then how do you know they are coming?” Crosshair asked and the crow - Egg - seemed to echo with an indignant craah. 

“Because they were searching for you when we were separated, and I managed to find you on my own. Given that they are lacking my brilliant mind, it may take some time, but I am sure they will figure it out, find the path to Mount Tantiss and we will be reunited...eventually.”

“Eventually…fantastic,” Crosshair hissed.

It could have been Tech’s impaired vision, but it looked like both Crosshair and the crow rolled their eyes at the same time. 

Tech had missed his brother’s sarcastic wit terribly.

Even if it was directed at him. 

Part 3: Cross and Tech and Egg

[scribeforchrist-blog]

Are Your Roots Deep Enough?

MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK

=========================

+ Habakkuk 3:19: “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to tread on the heights.”

=========================

VERSE OF THE DAY

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+ Romans 8:25  Now, if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.

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** SAY THIS BEFORE YOU READ; HERE’S SOME CHRISTIAN TRUTHS **

I HAVE THE TRUE FOUNDATION WHICH IS JESUS

I AM FULLY  INVESTED

I AM HYDRATED SPIRITUALLY

I AM CONNECTED TO CHRIST

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THOUGHTS:

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So, it's hard to wait on anything; we discussed this the other week, but we will see that God is ready to bless and keep us and help us through all our things and problems. Still, we don’t see him doing it sometimes, but it doesn’t mean he's not working everything out for our good, and that’s what we must wait for is him.

   How patient are you with him working things out? Look at David; David waited so long to be king he had to be under King Saul; he was a musician before he was king, a shepherd, a giant slayer, and a furious warrior; he was all those things before he became king, and do you think he was wondering when his time will be ,but look David had some growing before he could just take over being king.

  He had to experience things before he became what he was called to do, and that’s where some of us are at right now; we are in our waiting season, our growing season and a lot of us don’t want to be here; we want to be out doing what we want to do, but we can't ,so we must wait eagerly with patience and for things we can't see. Other people won't see your growth and your change. They won't, but we must always keep pushing forward.

    Colossians 2:7: Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then, your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

   We must allow our roots to grow down deep. When we see plants growing in a pot, they usually do this because they are comfortable; they will even take the form of the pot because they feel secure in that pot, and that’s when you know that plant is secure. Sometimes, we must allow our roots to grow in God and let him build our lives, and when we do this, our faith will grow because we are growing in him; we are trusting in him that he has our best interest in mind and then we will start to be content because we no longer depend on ourselves.

   That’s what David had to do, even if everything looked shaky. Everything looked like a windstorm. He had to stay in it and trust that God got him through his problems. It took patience and trust in God. Are your roots deep enough? Have you become comfortable in this season, letting everything around you go and walking in his purpose for your life?

   2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test

  Every day, we must examine ourselves to see if we are where we must be; a lot of us aren’t where we should be because we are too focused on other things like more money, jobs, relationships, and fleshly desires instead of where we should be, which is where God has us; sometimes, we forget that our lives aren’t our own and where God places us is for a reason, and where he places us is supposed to mold us and shape us.

    When we allow ourselves to take root in the season we are in, we can see his plan because we aren’t focused on anything else; how long has it been since you went to God and said, "Am I where you wanted me to be? Am I heading in the direction you wanted me to go? I don’t see anything, but I know you see it all!

  Proverbs 1:5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance,

  We must hear to be able to learn, and we must accept guidance from him and that’s because if we don’t hear and we don’t slow down and allow him to conduct us and allow him to give us what we need, we will grow deeper into more impurities than we could ever imagine. 

God is waiting for us to seek his will; we might think we are waiting on him, and we might think we are doing everything right, but if we are moving and doing everything else, we think he wants. Really and truly, he’s been trying to say to us stop and take root; we will miss opportunities and doors for our lives because we refuse to check in and see what he wants from us.

    We could be stepping into a place of dryness because we didn’t seek him before we moved; today, ask God do you want me to wait ? What is it you trying to show me? Because we can look and not see, we can hear and not hear because we hear what we want and see what we want. Ask God to open your eyes so you can see the bigger picture and take root in him.

   Luke 6:48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it had been well-built.

    We always want to be the man in this story who dig deep and laid a foundation; when we have a foundation in Christ, nothing else can come and break it; nothing can come and shake it because when we are deeply invested with God, that’s all that matters and that’s the most powerful foundation anyone can have is with him. We can try to have the foundation in other things here on earth, but nothing can help us stand strong; nothing else can make our lives better when we read our word, we pray, and we mediate daily those things help hold us up because we are seeking him, start seeking God more start taking deep session with him than the ones you have. You’ll see a deeper connection developing between you and God.

   ***Today, we learned that when a plant is comfortable, it grows deep roots into the pot it’s in, and when we are going deeper with our time with God, we will become like the pot and build a foundation like the man in the verse, anything we do when we fully invested in God it will show in our actions and what we deem as necessary.

   Many times, when we don’t think something is necessary, we will not invest a lot of time in it. Still, every day, we don’t spend time with God; we are dying spiritually, we are becoming dry, and to stay hydrated, we must come and drink of the living water; he asks us to come many times in the word but do we hear his call or do we deny it, take root in God today and don’t deny him your time or your life. ©Seer~ Prophetess Lee

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PRAYER

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for allowing us to see another day and for allowing us to be deeply rooted in you. Lord, help us stay connected to you and closer to you. Show us how to spend more time with you, lord; we ask you as we go through that; you show us how to not become disconnected because of life but to stay connected because you are what we need most of all. Lord, sometimes we become so confused, but we ask you to show us everything we need and more. In Jesus' Name Amen

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REFERENCES

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+ 1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

 

+ John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life.

 

+ Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

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FURTHER READINGS

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Proverbs 8

Exodus 26

Judges 9

Jeremiah 42

 =========================

[fresh-bag-of-ham]

seeking urbanism / housing advocacy advice (because you're the only person i follow who both posts about it and does it): my city (primarily a college town, population < 100k) is holding a community discussion about ways to increase affordable housing, including inclusionary zoning and other zoning reforms. what kinds of policy ideas / comments are best to bring to this as A Member Of The Public? does inclusionary zoning work like it's supposed to? are there other specific zoning reforms that work well? i know getting rid of parking minimums is a big one, but i don't know if that's achievable here yet.

MY TIME HAS COME.

First of all, if the forum is about 'affordable housing', then you may need to start with drawing the connection between affordability and increasing housing supply. There are a lot of tangents you can go down in a discussion of affordable housing, but the crucial point to get across is that increasing housing supply on its own makes housing costs go down. Investor speculation in real estate, e.g., happens because supply is constrained and those are the conditions where real estate values reliably go up, creating profit. It is a symptom, not a cause. See also: landlords in Austin, TX melting down on Twitter because they're increasing supply so fast there that they're having to lower rents. Video recently studied and shown to be 3x more effective for changing people's minds about supply-side housing than other interventions.

INCLUSIONARY ZONING. a.k.a. mandating that for any development with more than X units, Y% of those units must be 'affordable' units reserved for families earning Z% area median income. In a perfect world, all housing would be mixed-income housing. In practice, the effectiveness of IZ depends almost entirely on what you set Y% at. About five years ago, our local DSA passed a referendum increasing Y% from 10% to 25%. This change has basically stalled all housing development that this applies to because the projects just don't pencil. You need subsidy to build affordable housing, you have to cobble that subsidy together from a lot of different funding sources, and all these sources have different requirements on how their funding can be used. Your problems become twofold: (1) Most subsidies for affordable housing want you to build something that's more like 80-100% affordable, so a 25%-affordable development won't get funding. (2) The subsidy available for affordable housing is finite, so even if your 25%-affordable development were able to get subsidy, that necessarily is taking subsidy away from somewhere else. The same number of affordable units will be built, IZ just ends up trying to dictate how those units are distributed. It mainly ends up kneecapping market-rate housing construction, which, again, adding market-rate housing puts downward pressure on housing prices.

Our prior level of 10% IZ seemed to work ok..? but I would caution strongly against relying on IZ if you are supply constrained, which, I can't imagine you're not. A buzzy new strategy for mixed-income housing creation is "social housing" -- AOC wrote about it in the NYT last week, here's a talk about it that I admittedly haven't watched yet. This is what's getting traction here as DSA is tentatively walking back support for their very aggressive IZ policy that has not created the affordable housing they wanted it to.

If you have parking minimums, KILL THAT SHIT. We were successful in advocating for our table of parking minimums to be turned into parking maximums. Add/increase bike parking minimums, bike theft is a HUGE deterrent from biking here, so having a safe place to store your bike at home is critical if you want anyone to start leaving behind their cars. You also probably want to look at dimensional standards: increase heights, reduce setbacks, increase lot coverage maximums, reduce lot size minimums, if you're anything like our city then you probably have even more and weirder constraints you'll want to relax so new buildings can be bigger and hold more units. You probably have just straight up caps on number of units per lot -- kill single-family zoning, get at least 4 units or something per lot allowed! Lot area per dwelling unit is a particularly terrible constraint, basically creating a minimum amount of land you have to own in order to be able to have a home. Horrible! Kill it!

My personal preferred urban form is the perimeter block enabled by single-stair apartment buildings that's common throughout Europe and basically anywhere outside of the US and Canada. This will take reforms at multiple levels before it becomes possible even here, but Seattle-based architect Michael Eliason (@holz_bau on Twitter) has stair-pilled me on this form so powerfully, and https://secondegress.ca/ makes the extremely compelling (Canada-centric) case for allowing single-stair apartment buildings, which for us means changing building code at the state level. #goals, though.

I have had a lot of practice recently writing and organizing public comment to advocate for this stuff so I would be happy to talk messaging/strategy at any point, I could go on and on about this subject! I'm so thrilled that you're asking about this though, it's so important to get involved and show up at these kinds of meetings, because the people who reliably show up to these things are the retiree busybodies with nothing but free time to oppose every type of change imaginable and are the ones who got us into this situation in the first place.

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Why Are Seers Always Cursed? (2)

Wesley Weston is a son of Apollo with the rare gift of prophecy.

Written for @crossoverdanuary Week 2024, Day 3: Percy Jackson | Lake

This takes place shortly before Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia arrive at Camp Half-Blood, and while Wes is still in middle school, meaning it's set before the primary canon events of both series. You can also read it on AO3.

Chapter 2: Camp Orientation

Previous | Next

[No Warnings Apply]

New York City was nothing like Amity Park. If Wes thought the buildings back home were pretty tall, the skyscrapers here were gargantuan. He was half worried they'd fall over at that height, like a Jenga tower. It smelled worse than Amity Park too. Maybe it was just because of the steadily increasing heat, but the place smelled like sweat and garbage.

"Come on Wesley, no time to waste," Melvin said, ushering him onto the shuttle out of the airport.

"I told you, it's just Wes," he repeated for probably the sixth time. "So how far is this Camp Half-Blood place, anyway?"

The two of them had had the chance to talk on their flight, and Melvin had explained everything. Wes hadn't wanted to believe it at first, but after listening for a while, it started to make sense.

"You mean Apollo wasn't a stage name?" Wes had asked. "That was the real, actual Apollo? No way, that's ridiculous."

"When he sent a message to camp asking for a searcher to go get you, he said that you had inherited the gift of prophecy," Melvin had said. "Haven't you ever felt or seen things before they happened? Had dreams or visions that ended up being true?"

Wes' mind had instantly gone to how he'd known that his mother was going to meet Apollo again. But then he'd started to remember other things. That time his dad had gotten fired, and he'd used his saved-up allowance to buy a consolation cake on the way home from school, even though he couldn't have known until he got home and his dad told them about it. Somehow, he'd just known that something bad had happened and his dad would need a pick-me-up.

He'd thought about how he always somehow knew when there would be a pop-quiz at school. Even about how, when he was little, he never lost a game of Guess Who. How he hadn't been surprised when he'd learned his dad wasn't really his dad, how he'd almost been expecting the news. He'd known when Easton's college acceptance letter came in the mail, and when Kyle was going to eat it and break his arm during a skateboarding competition.

All this time, Wes had attributed it to coincidence, or lucky guesses, but... could it really be prophetic knowledge?

"I can see by your expression you know exactly what I'm talking about," Melvin had said. "But prophecy is a rare and highly coveted ability. Honestly, Apollo should have called us to pick you up years ago. You're just lucky you never made the connection before, because if you knew, they'd be able to smell it on you."

"They?"

"Monsters," Melvin had clarified. "The ones from the Greek myths, harpies, cyclopes, basilisks, all them. They're all real. A demigod with the gift of prophecy like you is in even more danger than most. I mean, any demigod is in danger of being attacked and killed by monsters, but you? You they might keep alive as a prisoner, using you for your ability, and that's arguably worse."

Wes had swallowed, suddenly a bundle of nerves.

"Don't worry, though, once we get to camp, you'll be fine," Melvin had said. "There, you'll learn how to fight and protect yourself, and you'll be protected, too."

"Right...."

Wes was jumpy as they took the shuttle to the city and then the bus to Long Island. After Melvin had explained the mist to him, he looked at everything and everyone like they might be out to get him. He'd never been so paranoid in his life. But him being a demigod explained more than just his apparent precognition. 

Back when he was in grade school, he could have sworn on his life that their neighbor's huge quote-unquote "dog" was not a normal dog. It's eyes glowed sometimes, and out of the corner of his eye it always looked to have horns, but they would disappear when he looked directly at it. It always growled at him when he passed, and one day, he took the long way home and snuck in through the back door because he somehow knew that if he took his usual route that dog was going to attack him.

The day after that, the neighbor took her dog and moved out suddenly. He never saw either of them again.

How many other monster-dogs and monster-people had he missed because he didn't know he should look for them? How many times had he narrowly avoided death because he had a gut feeling that made him take a different route home or fake sick to get out of school?

"Stop that," Melvin whispered.

"Huh?"

"It's good to be vigilant, but if you assume everyone is a monster, you'll drive yourself crazy," he clarified. "Our stop's coming up, and from there is a bit of a walk, but it's usually pretty quiet. Just try to stay calm. We're in the home stretch."

Right.

Trying to stay calm failed spectacularly. Wes spent the whole walk from the bus stop to the camp more anxious than he'd ever been. He felt like every shadow, and even the wind blowing through the trees was going to come after him. Melvin was right. It was driving him crazy.

"You know, this is going really smoothly," Melvin said after a while. "I mean, I said the walk would be quiet, but usually we searchers find demigods because they're being attacked or something. It's not often that a god actually comes by camp to tell us to pick up his kid and gives us an exact address. 

"Of course, it's not often a demigod inherits the gift of prophecy either. In fact, I think the last one was born in the 1890s, if I remember right. It's almost as rare as a child of Hephaestus being able to control fire. I guess I should have expected your case to be different—it was certainly better planned and scheduled. I would have expected more danger though."

Suddenly, Wes felt a hot feeling shoot through him. "Wait," he said stopping in his tracks. He looked around, scanning what he could see of the horizon. "We should go a different way."

"Why? Did you see something?"

"No I felt..." Wes suddenly felt silly again. There was no reason to change course because of a feeling. Then again... he did supposedly have the gift of prophecy. Maybe it wasn't just a feeling after all. "I felt like I was standing next to a bonfire for a second. I think if we keep going this way, we'll get burned."

"It could be more dangerous if we stray from the path but... who am I to argue with a seer," Melvin said. "We'll go this way."

With that, Melvin led him just past the trees that lined the road. After about thirty minutes, they heard a distant roar in the direction the road would have been, and Melvin stopped to smell the air.

"Definitely a monster," he said.

A plume of fire shot into the sky.

"A drakon, I think. It would have been bad if we'd run into it." He looked down at Wes, a little incredulously. "I'll be damned. Did you know?"

"Not exactly," Wes said. "Like I told you, I felt fire, and a strong sense that it was related to the direction we were headed. That's all."

"I guess that's all we needed," Melvin said. "Huh...." The look he fixed Wes with next was curious, almost hungry. It made the redhead squirm. "Anyway, camp's not much farther now. If the drakon's heading that way, we should warn them."

A few minutes more, and they reached the crest of a hill.

In the valley on the other side was a summer camp. Wes could see an amphitheater, a large blue farmhouse with a wraparound porch, a cluster of maybe a dozen cabins, give or take, and a little ways away a place with about a dozen long, white picnic tables. Campers ranging from about seven-or-eight to their late teens were scattered about doing an odd mix of normal camp activities and intense-looking combat training.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood," Melvin said brightly. "Come on, we should warn Chiron about the drakon."

Melvin led Wes down to the blue farmhouse, where he met the camp director, Mr. D, and a centaur named Chiron, who apparently was the actual camp director. Melvin quickly introduced Wes to both of them as the child of Apollo who could see the future, and then told them about the drakon they'd avoided on their way there.

"Thank you, Mr. Barkley, I'll take him from here," Chiron said, and he led Wes toward the cabins.

"Another one for cabin eleven?" A wiry-looking girl of about sixteen asked.

"Sorry, Robin, this one's been claimed by Apollo already," Chiron told her. Then he looked back at Wes. "Robin is the head counselor of the Hermes Cabin. Since Hermes is the god of travelers, that's where campers who haven't been claimed, or who were claimed by a god other than the twelve Olympians stay. We know who your godly parent is, so you'll be staying in cabin seven, the Apollo Cabin, along with the other children of Apollo.

"Apollo's head counselor, Archer, will show you around camp," he finished as he stopped in front of a cabin with the number seven hanging over the door. "Now, please excuse me, I must inform the Ares Cabin of the potential threat."

Wes waited for him to leave before knocking on the cabin door.

"If that's you, Robin, fuck off!" a voice called from inside.

"It's not!" Wes called back awkwardly.

A few seconds later, a boy about the same age as Kyle answered the door. He was about average height and build with brown skin and dark brown hair tied back into a short ponytail.

"Who're you?" he asked.

"Uh... I'm Wes Weston," Wes answered. "Chiron told me to come here."

"You're a son of Apollo?"

"I guess."

"Archer Gutierrez," he introduced. "I'm head of the Apollo Cabin, nice to meet you. Sorry about the language. Come on in."

Inside, there were bunk beds on either side with a cot in the middle of the cabin for some reason. It smelled of clean linen and dried sage. Rough wooden beams ribbed the ceiling and the white plaster walls were mostly bare, except for a few hooks, even though there were paintings and wall hangings all over the floor.

"Sorry, Robin keeps breaking in and taking everything off the walls for literally no reason," Archer explained. "We have set so many traps and stuff to stop her, but she keeps getting past them somehow. Either we're gonna have to escalate to putting in landmines like the Ares Cabin, or just stop hanging stuff on the walls altogether, because this is ridiculous. I mean it's basically harmless, but it's super annoying. Can you put that bow back up over there?"

"Are the Apollo and Hermes cabins, like, rivals or something?" Wes asked, lifting an intricately carved bow off the floor and resting it on a set of hooks Archer had pointed to.

"No, not really," he replied. "It's just Robin. I think she's still pissed that I broke up with her a couple months ago. She said she was cool with it, but she still keeps breaking into cabin seven to make a mess, so I don't know."

"Weren't you in school a couple months ago?" Wes asked. "I thought this was just a summer camp?"

"Some of us stay here year round, if we don't have anywhere else to go, or if we don't want to go," Archer answered with a shrug.

The two of them finished hanging everything back up in relative silence, broken up only by Archer's humming and Wes occasionally asking where something was supposed to go. Once they were done, Archer took him out for the grand tour. The cabins, the dining pavilion, the camp store, the forge, the amphitheater, the arts and crafts room, the archery range, the music classroom, the infirmary, the arena. 

He mostly focused on the places where Apollo campers tended to hang out, unsurprisingly. Apparently Wes would be expected to help out in the infirmary sometimes, since Apollo was the god of medicine, even though the most Wes knew about medicine came from Kyle bribing him to help patch up skateboarding injuries before their dad found out.

It seemed the camp and camp activities were pretty much completely divided based on godly parent. In the dining pavilion, they had to sit at their godly parent's table, and weren't allowed to sit at someone else's. They did camp activities in groups with other people who shared their godly parent. They weren't allowed to enter cabins that weren't their own—though obviously that didn't stop Robin. The way Archer explained it made it sound like these rules were pretty strict though.

Then Wes saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Huh?"

"What? You have a question?" Archer asked.

"No, I just thought I saw... nevermind. Must've been a trick of the light." For a moment, Wes thought he saw a large pine tree at the top of the hill. But there was obviously no pine tree there.

"Come on, I'll show you the volleyball court."

"I prefer basketball."

"I'll bet you do," Archer snorted. "Apollo cabin has pick-up games from time to time. It gets pretty intense. The record for farthest score is 165 feet from the hoop."

"Really?" Wes said. "That's amazing. That's more than a full court shot. That's almost two courts."

"Everyone knows Apollo kids have the best aim. That was two year ago, though, and no one's been able to match it yet, not even the guy who did it."

Wes stopped in his tracks. The hot feeling had returned, this time on the back of his neck. He turned around and saw the camp border directly behind him. 

"It's coming here," he said.

"Huh?"

"What do you guys do when a monster attacks?" he asked instead of clarifying.

"Ares cabin usually takes the front lines with the other cabins providing backup," Archer explained. "Apollo cabin grabs our bows and arrows and retreats to high ground to lay down cover fire."

"You should get ready to do that, then."

"Huh? Why?" he asked, cocking his head in confusion. "We can't know when a monster will attack until it does, so there's no point freaking out about it, ri..." he trailed off when he caught sight of the entire Ares cabin fully armed and armored and heading up the hill. "That's strange, usually they only send a few guards at a time to act as lookouts, but I haven't heard the lookouts say anything." 

Just as the rest of Ares Cabin reached the top of the hill, the lookouts started to shout.

"Drakon approaching!" They screamed as loud as they could.

"How did you know?" Archer asked Wes, not moving.

"Shouldn't you get your bow?"

"Right, but this is not the end of this conversation!" He started running to tell the other Apollo campers to get ready.

As Wes looked back up to the hilltop, to the Ares campers charging down at the monster, for a moment, he saw that pine tree again, stretching up toward the heavens. Then he blinked, and it was gone. It hadn't been there in the first place.

[connected-through-the-force]

Fauna of Amphibia database: Tookas

Classification: Mammals, felines

Homeword: Distributed throughout the galaxy, likely introduced to Amphibia by traders

Habitat: Varies according to planet

Average height: 20-30 cm at shoulder

Average length: 60-70 cm including tail

Average mass: 3-5 kg

Fur color: Variable

Diet: Carnivore (Rodents and other small mammals, birds, etc.) (1)

Greetings, creature enthusiasts! Today, we will be talking about tookas, which is the species of Anne's new pet, Domino Twooka. :)

Tooka are a small feline species found on many worlds throughout the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Tookas are easily distinguished by their large, pointy ears, big mouths, and talon like paws with 3 claws facing forward and one facing backwards (2).

Fur color is vastly dependant on the breed, individual, and location. For instance, Loth Cats, a type of tooka that is native to Lothal, have light brown fur with darker spots and stripes that allow them to blend in with the tall grass, although there are rare cases of completely white cats (2). On Amphibia, tookas have fur colors that are similar to those of killapillers (the larval form of the predatory insectomammalian Killamoths) as a form of protective biomimicry. The wide array of colors is the result of fur recoloration, in which tookas shed and regrow their fur to better match their environment over the course of a few years.

The trademark large ears of the tooka gives them excellent hearing, allowing them to hear the slightest movement of their prey, even when underground. The large surface area of these ears are also useful for thermalregulation, an especially useful feature in worlds with warmer climates.

The large mouths and sharp teeth of the tooka provide them with a greater bite force and firmer grasp on their prey. It can also be used for thermoregulation with an increased surface area for panting. Their furless legs have thickened skin for protection from the bites and scratches of their prey. Their paws and claws possess a gripping function, perfect for grabbing and holding down prey. The tookas' eyes are small, but can increase in size both when they are relaxed and when they are stressed (2).

Tookas lead solitary lives except for breeding. They can give birth to litters of 4-6 kittens, who are born blind and completely reliant on their mothers. Female tookas are devoted mothers, and will defend their kittens at all costs while teaching them how to hunt and fend for themselves. After about two weeks, tooka kittens eyes start to open, and they start walking when they are 3 weeks old. By 8 weeks old, they are fully weaned and start to become independant, having learned important skills such as hunting, grooming, etc.

Wild and feral tookas and Loth Cats can be quite aggressive and tempermental, not hesistating to fight creatures far larger then themselves if cornered or provoked (1,2). However, domesticated individuals can be affecionate pets, and can even be trained to hunt vermin (1, 3). In fact, their usefulness in controlling pests on starships is what have allowed them to become so widespread across the galaxy, although feral individuals are often regarded as nuisances as well (1,3). Interestly, they hold a similar role to Earth cats, who were also domesticated by the native peoples for controlling rodents in their homes.

Thanks to their ubiquitiy, tookas are featured in the art, folklore, and cultures of many different planets galaxywide. There are even stuffed toys based on the animals that are popular with children of all species (and could also be considered as a counterpart of the "teddy bears" of Earth).

Sources:

(1) Wookiepedia

(2) SWR Amino Apps Lot Cat Small Lore and Edit

(3) Star Wars Databank Tooka Cat

Artwork of Domino Twooka based on sketch made by my partner in crime @dat-physics-gal, which is turn based on a tooka template created by @cloneenthusiast

Artwork of Tooka Doll made by yours truly :)