#One of the four was an impressive new renovation

[archivistic]

I've been doing conference then vacation travel for two weeks at this point, but don't worry, I've found four libraries so far.

[selfaware-bungou-stray-dogs]

Hello, for the event (congratulations) may I request chuuya, kunikida and Nikolai please. Were they are protesting reader (gn adult) from people trying to kill them please

Thank you 💖

If you were not alone

Part VII

Characters: Self-Aware! Chuuya Nakahara, Self-Aware! Doppo Kunikida, Self-Aware! Nikolai Gogol

Reader: GN! Adult! Reader

Warning: English is my second language

🍷🤡📒 Whoever were responsible for getting you four in Teyvat made a terrible job in pinpointing locations. Because, somehow, all of you ended up on Vanessa's tree.

After some struggling, you four were on the ground, unharmed. Unfortunately, someone of you scared Dr. Edith (you aren't sure, if it was the landing itself, Nikolai's jokes, Chuuya's curses, Kunikida's demands of " be serious, you two" or your attempts to make everyone calm down), making her ran away. Your first impression on locals already weren't good.

Still, it wasn't the reason to stay in the wilderness. You four decided to go to Mondstadt, and ask for help.

🍷🤡📒 The walk wasn't that bad. Weather was good, Kunikida was talking about what he knew about survival in the wilderness, just in case, if you need to camp outside.

Then, something strange happened.

You have met Chloris. You thought, that you got lost and wandered too far from Mondstadt. But, the girl bowed before you, and, with "Star born All-Creator, I was ready to go to the Cathedral, and gave you today's offerings! Thank you for gracing me with your presence. Let me gave you my offerings to you right now."

Chloris particularly shoved a bouquet of windwheel asters into your hands, bowed again and skipped away, before any of you can react.

Chuuya raised an eyebrow.

"Mmm... [Y/N], My Symphony... Do you have any idea, what happened?"

You shake your head.

"No... And I have a bad feeling about it."

🍷🤡📒 Good news, you didn't get lost, Chloris simply get too close to Mondstadt, that she usually did in the game. You reached Cider Lake in ten minutes after meeting with the girl. Bad news, you were 'welcomed' with a pitchfork mob, with shouts of "Imposter! You and your sinful servants will be purged with holy fire!"

Kunikida, Chuuya and Nikolai, probably, could ignore the mob's treats, if they were aimed only at them. But, threats towards you were the biggest mistake, people of Mondstadt could have made.

Kunikida stayed near you, while Chuuya and Nikolai were creating chaos in the crowd.

At the end, you four left, and Mondstadt city required a major renovation.

🍷🤡📒 Before you could leave Mondstadt region, Albedo found you. You get a lot of valuable information from him and camp equipment. The journey won't be an easy one. You wanted to left Chloris's bouquet with Albedo, asking him to bring flowers to the church of that mysterious Creator, but the alchemist refused. He insisted, that you should keep it. That that bouquet, prays, everything, that people brought to the church and Ivory Throne should have been yours.

You were sure, that Albedo was mistaken about you. You weren't Creator.

Right?

You will think about it later.

You have an Alice to catch with.

Four of you left Mondstadt.

__________________

Your friends saved you three times...

__________________

🍷You were in Liyue. You four were camping in the wilderness. And everyone were doing their best. You were careful. And you always have either Chuuya, or Nikolai, or Kunikida near you.

You and Chuuya were trying to gather food. While you were trying to catch fishes, Chuuya was trying to catch a boar. You don't know, how far Chuuya went, but, he was far enough to not notice Beidou immediately.

Claymore of Crux's captain was pressed against your neck. She bared her teeth.

"Got you, Sinner..."

Chuuya, with a loud yell, dropped from above, landing close to you. He immediately grabbed you, saving from the crumbled earth under your feet. Beidou wasn't that lucky. She fell down, buried under rubble and earth. You can see, how she tried to claw her way up. Still, it will take her a few hours to get back on the surface.

Chuuya picked you up, running with you towards the camp. The familiar red glow of "Upon the Tainted Sorrow" covered you both.

"Sorry, [Y/N], for being late. Are you okay?"

You nodded, leaning your head on Chuuya's shoulder.

"Yes. Thank you for saving me".

///////////

📒 Beidou's defeat leads her to have a number of serious injuries. It also robs you from the chance of getting to Inazuma. According to Xingqiu, you four had to travel in empty crates, hiding, until the ship reach Inazuma. And Crux's captain will be fine with taking shipping crates without looking into them, if Feiyun Commerce Guild require not to touch them. But, the team refused to sail without Beidou and other ships have stricter rules.

So, you went to Sumeru.

Everything was fine.

Nahida tried to help you. Collei went against Tighnari's orders to help you (Kunikida, as a 'thank you', helped her with mathematic).

And, yet, you were discovered. And gad to flee.

You don't know, in Tighnari supposed to be in Apam Woods.

But he was here, it was raining, and you had to be cautious both of his arrows and Bloom reaction.

You hardly managed to jumped away from the Dendro Core explosion, and Tighnari already had the next arrow ready.

Kunikida, who threw the next forest ranger on the ground, finally had a moment to grab a prepared list from his notebook from his pocket. Kunikida barked.

"Back off from My Ideal! The Matchless Poet: stun gun!"

With one hand, Doppo grabbed you by the collar and yanked behind him, with the second hand, he aimed and fired.

Electricity stan Tighnari, and forest rangers, that stood near him. Nearest Dendro Cores turned into a Sprawling Shot.

The commotion gave you four a good opportunity to ran away.

When you were somewhat safe, Kunikida checked on you.

"You weren't stunned, [Y/N]?" Kunikida was panicking. You reassuringly pet his shoulder.

"I am fine, thanks to you."

////////////

🤡After Sumeru come Fontaine. Melusines were real sweethearts, letting you four stay in Merusea Village. Nikolai with his magic tricks became a new star for melusines. Furina, who, with Navia, helped you with getting here, confessed you, once, that she would like to see Nikolai's performance on Opera Epiclese's stage.

Melusines supposed to keep your stay a secret. Yet, somehow, Lyney, Lynette and Freminet learned about you four.

Were it Freminet, who was diving near the village, who got a glimpse of you?

Were it illusionists duo, who saw, how some melusines tried to re-create Nikolai's tricks?

It doesn't matter "how".

What matters, that you were captured. On Opera Epiclese's stage, with Freminet, Lyney and Lynette not letting you escape. You saw people of Fontaine, sitting in the audience, waiting for your demise, for Arlecchino's and Neuvillette's arrival.

Yet, different people arrived.

In a golden-white tornado, Nikolai appeared. Chuuya and Kunikida, who arrived with him, fall on the stage, still not experienced with traveling by "The Overcoat".

"IT'S SHOWTIME! ASSISTANT DOPPO?" Nikolai's voice echoed through the Opera.

Everyone was stunned. Kunikida stand up, glared at Nikolai, but took a small MP3 Player from his pocket and pressed "Play". Sounds of "Entry of the gladiators" filled the air.

Chuuya tried to release you from your bindings. While Nikolai...

"QUIZ TIME! WHAT MUST BE QUICK RIGHT NOW?"

Nikolai, with a mad grin, disappeared again. With an explosion of confetti and streamers (they were probably made of documents, angry at Neuvillette melusines gave Nikolai), he appeared behind Lynette. He leveled her with a frightful, delightful roundhouse kick that made Nikolai's cape whip about whilst he circled.

"RIGHT! YOUR THINKING!"

Nikolai disappeared again, leaving behind confetti, streamers and a broken jaw.

"HEY, DRIVER BOY, WANNA GO FOR A MARRY-GO-ROUND RIDE?"

Nikolai grabbed Freminet by the legs and swung him at Lyney. Males collide with a terrific meaty smack.

Nikolai, with his makeshift weapon, disappeared. And reappeared in the audience.

Making several three-hundred-and-sixty-degree swipes, Nikolai sent people tumbling all around him, and then he tossed away Freminet on unconscious Lynette, jumping over the heap of bodies that were piled around him.

Nikolai returned to the stage, bowing.

"Ah, what a nice performance..."

Then he immediately grabbed your shoulders, take a good look at you, and hugged you.

"Are you okay, Birdy? They didn't hurt you, right? Should I hit them more?"

You quickly shushed him.

"Everything is fine, Kolya. You made it in time."

_________

And then you sawed them.

_________

🍷📒🤡 You knew, that Neuvillette and Arlecchino were on their way. But you hopped, that you will leave Opera before they arrived.

You weren't that lucky, so you four had to fight again.

Chuuya was a literal tank in your group, dealing with the strongest attacks.

Kunikida's stun gun made a good weapon against Neuvillette's hydro attacks.

Nikolai, with "The Overcoat" and, this time, with unconscious Luney, gave a hard time to Arlecchino.

You were tried. You wanted to go home.

Your emotions reached its peak.

Portal appeared under your feet.

______________

🐾 BSD Cast expected, that you four can be anywhere. They don't expect you four appeared in the barn. With two unconscious people on the floor. With Nikolai, hitting a strange woman with a third unconscious person. With Kunikida, aiming a stun gun at said woman. With Chuuya, protecting you from the said woman. And with a circus music playing.

🐾 It took time to calm everyone down, to find a place to lock Arlecchino and House of Hearth's siblings. And then you four start talking.

🐾 Perhaps, one day, you will return to Teyvat. You have people to help here

__________

Tag list: @withered-blossoms , @myluckymoon @cocodrilofeliz @c4xcocoa @vvyeislazzy @whisperingwinters @nervousinfluencertidalwave @ayameshu

[boinkingbattlemechs]

Incubus

Inner Sphere analysts were stumped trying to determine the purpose of the second-line BattleMech they assigned the code name Vixen after sighting it among the garrison forces of Clan Jade Falcon. The Incubus, as it is known among the Clans, is somewhat expensive for a light garrison 'Mech, which confused Spheroid observers until they understood how important one-on-one duels were in Clan culture and how often they occurred among bored garrison troops. The Incubus is a 'Mech that is often used in such Trials, especially because it is easy to turn off weapons to effectively balance the 'Mech's strength with that of an augmented Elemental. Despite its purpose, the Incubus does show up in some second-line forces as well and is highly regarded in all roles it serves.

Following Clan Hell's Horses recapture of Tokasha MechWorks Alpha, and inspired by Clan Diamond Shark's "Phoenix" renovation of older designs, the Hell's Horses developed a new version of the venerable design incorporating newer weapons technology to expand their BattleMech strength. Though visually different, the core purpose of the 'Mech remains intact, especially useful given the Horses Elemental-heavy touman. This visually refreshed Incubus also appealed to Clan Ice Hellion, who developed their own variant of it, examples of which fell into the hands of Clans Cloud Cobra and Star Adder following the Hellion's ill-fated trade mission to Tanis prior to the Wars of Reaving.

Part of the Inner Sphere observers' confusion around the garrison role of the Incubus is its use of an expensive 270-rated XL engine, endo steel frame, and five and a half tons of ferro-fibrous armor. While seemingly expensive for a "mere" garrison 'Mech, this gives the Incubus impressive performance for a light 'Mech, as well as an aggressive profile despite its weight, a distinct psychological advantage for its pilots.

The Incubus is armed with primarily medium-range weaponry. A large pulse laser is accurate and covers a respectable range, mounted in a semi-modular "rifle" in the standard version's right arm. Similar to such classic designs as the Wolverine and BattleMaster, the "rifle" placement makes both repair and modification of this weapon extremely easy and rapid. The Hell's Horses upgraded version replaces the "rifle" with a forearm mounted pod instead, but retains the same semi-modular nature for this reason.

The arm-mounted primary weapon is supported by over the shoulder light weapons clusters in each side torso. A pair of ER medium lasers are solid backup weapons, while four machine guns are highly effective against unarmored infantry. A half ton of machine gun ammunition and 10 double heat sinks are more than adequate for Clan Trials.

[not-so-allegiant-general]

MEETING 3

"For how long you weren't eating ?" Hux shrugged, keeping his eyes fixed on the IV. "They said it was quite a while… I am sorry. It should never happened. Guards are obligated to report if someone refuses to eat."

Hux smiled amused, looking at Lucien. He looked serious but Hux wanted to laugh. It seems like the saint Renovated Republic was not very much of a difference. He still felt weak.

"What a surprise… "he said silently.

"You should probably rest. I can go back tomorrow."

"No. This is fine. I am used to that." He said before he could bite his tongue.

"To that?…"

"I was never a fan of eating."

"I see. Was it a matter of… Lack of time or something else.?" How to put that? That was a much better topic than feelings.

"I think eating is a waste of my time, a waste of resources, a waste of energy. "

"Keeping yourself alive is a waste. That is what you are saying, general. What else do you consider a waste? Sleep? " Hux took a sip of his nutrition drink, just to be quiet. " Let's set aside everything else." Lucien sighed. "You have a new guard, a volunteer. He will make sure that you will eat. Shakes are okay or do you prefer anything else?"

" FO ration bars. Raspberry ones. Black wrapper. Blue ones have a different texture." Lucien sighed.

"Let me guess. Republic ones are a no."

"No, they are fine. They produce them in the same factory." Hux said thinking it was somehow funny. " They just change wrappers. They made so much money on that. I guess they had to be upset that the war is over."

"Not really. They signed a contract with Republic to continue production. " Hux snorted "Good for you, if it's the only thing you would eat."

"It's not the only thing. It's the thing I prefer." Lucien nodded.

"Any troubles sleeping?"

"Since I remember."

" Did you take any medicine for that?"

"I took combat stims not to sleep" Lucien sighed.

"For how long? Just. Don't say since I remember." Hux took another sip of the shake.

" When I was assigned to the Starkiller project. For around three years I think. Then I had an… Health incident and had to withdraw. The head of the medical department was not impressed and I couldn't fire her because it's a different department and making an official complaint was in this situation… "

"Immensely stupid. As taking combat stims for three years." Hux rolled his eyes.

"After the base destruction, I got back to them. "

"Great. Till?"

"Till I was captured. So… One year, four months, and five days clean. Proud of me?"

"You kept a count. "

"I am good at counting."

"There is no calendar."

"I don't need one."

Lucien pressed his lips together. He tapped a few things into his datapad.

"You will get a new eating schedule. Pills for sleep. And vitamins."

"What if I refuse to take them?" Lucien glanced at him "What if I refuse to eat?" Hux pushed even more "What if I refuse medical treatment?"

Lucien cleared his throat.

" You will be treated anyway."

"Ah. Wonders of freedom."

"They won't force you to eat though. Well not without a judge's agreement. With that, they actually can transport you to hospital and you will get a nice tube to keep you alive till judgment"

"Wonderful."

"It's not pleasant, I do not recommend it. You will hate it."

"It was a theoretical question." Hux snorted and closed his eyes.

"You should rest now. Drink more of your shake. What about… something for anxiety?” Hux glared at him.

“I don’t have anxiety.” Lucien only hummed while typing on his datapad.

“You are smart, so I will give you a minute to rephrase that.” He said, Hux pressed his lips together.

“I don’t like psychoactive medication”

“That’s another statement, not rephrase. And another wrong one, if you don’t like psychoactive medication you wouldn’t take combat stims for three years. You’ve seen appeal. ” Hux shut his mouth stubbornly. They sat in silence.

“Even if I had anxiety I wouldn’t agree to stuff me with drugs.”

Lucien nodded slowly and looked at him.

“I am not trying to stuff you with drugs. But It's just an offer. Think about it.”

“I dealt with stress my whole life. I am capable of managing it.”

“ You overworked yourself and drugged yourself with combat stims. That's not managing it. That’s what we call unhealthy coping. You were struggling and you still struggle, maybe it's time to admit it. At least to yourself.” When Hux stayed quiet Lucien turned off his datapad. " I will see you next week. In better condition, I hope."

Previous parts: MEETING 1| MEETING 2

Next part: POE DAMERON

[geralt-of-baevia]

Call It What You Want: Chapter Eight

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight

pairing: nobreakout!joel x f!ofc (Violet Fletcher)

rating: explicit, MDNI 18+

word count: 3.7k

summary: Seeking solace from a painful breakup, Violet relocates to a tranquil town, purchasing a neglected house to renovate. In her new neighborhood, she befriends Harlow, who introduces her to Joel, a gruff and seasoned contractor with a heart of gold. Despite Joel's initial grumpiness, Violet finds herself drawn to his expertise and hidden kindness.

As Violet immerses herself in home renovations alongside Joel, their dynamic begins to shift, with Joel unexpectedly opening himself up to the possibility of love. Their budding relationship faces challenges as shadows from their pasts emerge, testing their newfound connection.

warnings/tags: alright folks. dirty talk, softdom!joel, hung!joel, kitchen sex, nipple/breast play, vaginal fingering, p-in-v sex, unprotected p-in-v sex, one pussy slap, oral sex/cunnilingus (female receiving), size kink, consent king joel miller, baby. 😎

a/n: uhhh, maybe after you read this I'll have some water waiting for you to cool down? bahahaha, just kidding. but man, these two finally get freaky and thank GOD. 😈

The next week flew by faster than I realized. Joel and I dove headfirst into the house. While he was fixing things like the roof and crown molding, I was alternating between painting rooms and baking pies for taste testing. 

It turned out Harlow was right, Frank and Bill loved my croissants and asked me to bake them a few pies to try. They just used frozen pies, but for years had been wanting to have homemade ones instead. Once Joel mentioned that damned apple pie I made the day he came over to them, they knew they wanted to potentially sell them at the diner. 

Saturday afternoon, Bill and Frank, along with Joel and Harlow, all got together to taste tested the four pies I made. Apple, banana cream, lemon meringue and cherry. I figured those four gave a range and variety to show off my skills. The chorus of ‘oos’ and ‘ahhs’ rang throughout Bill and Frank’s dining room. I giggled to myself, hiding my smile behind my hand. I had forgotten how much I loved making food and it making people happy. 

“Goddammit, Violet. Where did you learn to bake like this?” Bill asked in his gruff voice, greedily cutting a piece of the lemon meringue to try next. 

“Now I can understand why you said Joel was eye fucking that apple pie. This is fucking amazing, Vi,” Harlow mumbled through a mouthful, causing Joel to choke on his bite. Frank and Bill broke out into giggles at her statement, Joel blushing as he coughed. 

“Violet, how many pies a week can you bake?” Frank asked, putting his fork down and wiping his mouth with a napkin. I sighed and stared off into the corner, mentally doing the math. 

“Well, we can do this. What I did at my bakery was prepare pies in advance and then each morning I would bake the pie before opening the shop, like when I would also bake the bread and stuff. Then give it time to rest before serving. So what if I prepare two of each pie you’d like me to make, I’ll freeze them raw. Then we can see how quickly you go through those pies to know what is the most popular and what you go through the fastest,” I rambled, “But to answer your question straight I can bake four pies a day and prepare like 8 a day.”

“Violet, I’m very impressed with you,” Frank told me, a beaming smile on his face, “that plan sounds great. We can talk about costs in private.”

I giggled. “I respect your professionalism Frank, but I’m just going to tell Harlow and Joel any way. How much were you thinking per pie?”

“$50 a pie? And make whatever flavors you know sell, I trust you on that,” he said with a friendly wink. “Will you make five different flavors? 10 pies total? Would you be willing to do half of the payment now and the other half when you deliver them?”

“That sounds perfect, Frank. And you two are welcome to keep these pies I made,” I said with a smile. 

“The hell they are. This pie is coming home with me,” Harlow said, grabbing the apple pie and putting it next to her plate. We all chuckled. 

The following evening I stood and stared at my kitchen, it was a complete mess. I was a complete mess. Flour, sugar and various fruits were all over me and had stained my hands. I had only cut myself once, which was a miracle. But six pies sat in my freezer ready and done. I had obviously miscalculated to Frank how long it would take me to prepare the pies, but I had to remind myself I was a little rusty and used to working with an assistant. 

I made two cherry, two pecan and two apple. Tomorrow would be banana crème and chocolate creme. But for now, I needed to be done. It was almost 8pm, and I had been going since noon. I began to clean up, but then I heard that all too familiar knock at my door. 

It was Joel. 

I didn’t care if I was a mess or the kitchen at this point with him. When I opened the door, Joel’s hand was up, me interrupting his second knock.

“What happened to you?” He asked, looking me up and down. 

“I’ve been baking pies all day,” I told him. His eyes lit up. “No, that doesn’t mean there’s any pie for you. You just had some last night and if you want anymore you’ll have to wait until you buy some from Frank at the diner.” 

His eyes grew wide. My words came out harsher than I meant them. “Wow, I’m sorry I-”

“No, no, I’m sorry, Joel. I’m just very tired and frazzled and I need to clean the kitchen and shower-”

“Well if you let me in, I’ll clean the kitchen for you while you shower,” he offered, raising his eyebrows at me. I sighed. 

“That would actually be wonderful,” I stated. I let Joel in and we both headed to the kitchen. 

“Oh this isn’t that bad at all, I’ve got this,” he told me. I watched in amazement as Joel went over to the sink and put my dark green apron on before collecting dishes off of the table. He looked up at me and gave me a smirk. “Go, shower and don’t worry about this.” 

“Thank you,” I told him. He gave me a wink, and with that I turned around and headed up the stairs. I took a longer shower than normal, just basking in the heat of the water, almost forgetting that Joel was there. 

When I was done showering, I dried off and got dressed in pajamas in my room. I threw on a pair of pajama shorts and an oversized sweater. In the shower I had decided to ask Joel to stay over. Part of me felt like he wanted to, coming over at eight at night. 

I headed back downstairs and to my surprise, Joel had not only cleaned the kitchen, but had food waiting for us to eat together on the table. Joel looked up from the fridge as I entered, wine in his hand.  My eyes started to well up at the sight. 

“Hi,” I moused out with a smile. I bit at my bottom lip as Joel set the wine down on the counter and walked over to me. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close as I placed my hands on his chest.

“How was your shower?” 

“It was nice. Joel, this is so wonderful. You didn’t have to-”

“Maybe not, but I wanted to,” he said with a scrunch of his nose. I quickly wiped tears away from under my eyes with the sleeves of my sweater. 

“Why?” 

He chuckled, shaking his head at me in amused disbelief. 

“Because Violet, you deserve it. You said last night that you were going to be baking all day, and when you texted me earlier saying you were on your last pie I went and picked up food for us. It’s what Harlow said she sees you order all the time,” he said with a smile. My heart felt like it was swelling in my chest. I just beamed up at him, speechless at his actions. The way he continued to take care of me amazed me. He did it just because he wanted to, not because he had to. 

“So, I thought we’d eat this and have a glass of wine and then-”

Without another thought, I cut Joel off mid sentence. I reached up and grabbed his face to pull him down into a deep kiss. I needed to kiss him. To touch him. 

Joel reacted immediately, his hands eagerly grabbing at any part of me he could. I felt one of his hands sneak up under my sweater. Soon it found what it was searching for, cupping my breast. I moaned against his mouth as his rough fingertips found my nipple, pinching and twisting it. His other hand slinked down my shorts and grabbed at my ass, keeping me close.

My mouth broke away from his to breathe as he planted sloppy, needy kisses down my neck. 

“Fuck Joel,” I panted out. He removed his hand from my shorts and released my tit, much to my dismay. Joel picked me up under my ass, my legs wrapping around his waist, all while still kissing and biting at my neck. My arms clutched onto his shoulders as I felt him walk me backwards. Soon my ass was placed on the counter to sit. I wrapped my legs around him tighter, rubbing my throbbing core against his hardening cock. 

His hands tugged at the bottom of my sweater and I lifted my arms above my head so that he could take it off. He looked me over for a second, a wicked smile playing on his face. 

“God, you’re beautiful,” he said as his eyes took me in. His hands reached up and cupped both of my tits, massaging them roughly and causing fire to spark between my thighs again. I placed my hands on either side of Joel’s head and guided his face to between my tits. 

He took in a deep breath, breathing me in before kissing and biting at still damp skin. I let out a loud cry as he pinched both my nipples at the same time. He removed one of his hands and replaced it quickly with his mouth. I clutched onto him as he bit and sucked at my nipple, still twisting the other one in his fingertips. 

“Joel…” I whined out through a moan. I had never felt so needy, the space between my legs aching. He looked up at me, my nipple still between his teeth. I watched with quick breaths as he released it from his mouth, my nipple now swollen and peaked. He reached around and hooked his thumbs under my knees, prying me off of him. I watched confused for a moment as he knelt down, but then I realized what he was doing. 

Joel reached up and grabbed at the waistband of my shorts. He tugged them down as I lifted my ass up, discarding them to the side. My breathing became shallow as he spread my legs apart, he was now eye level with my aching, wet pussy. 

“Fuck, Vi…” he said, his eyes turning dark with lust at the sight before him. 

I leaned back on my hands, bracing myself against the cold quartz of the countertop. He began to kiss at the inside of my thighs, making his way painstakingly slow towards my core. Joel placed one of my knees over his shoulders and pulled my ass a little closer to the edge. 

Joel hovered over my pussy and I felt like I was going to explode if he didn’t touch me. Moans formed in the back of my throat as he kissed the outside of my slit, crying out as he began biting lightly at my pussy lips. My mouth gaped open as I watched him slide his strong nose between my slit, the tip of it hitting my clit and causing me to cry out again. 

Joel looked up at me, a cheeky grin on his stupid, sexy face.

“You like that, Vi?” he asked, kissing the inside of my thigh. Before I could answer, he did it again. When I didn’t answer him soon enough, I was shocked when he slapped my pussy, causing a surge throughout my body. 

“I asked you, did you like it?” he questioned again, his voice stern now. “I expect an answer when I ask you questions.” 

“Y-yes.” 

“Yes, what?” 

“Yes, I liked it,” I replied through heavy breaths . He smiled. 

“Good girl.”

Before I had anytime to respond, he dipped his tongue into my slit and swiped his tongue against my clit. 

“Fuuuuuck, Joel,” I whined out. He smiled to himself before dipping in, this time burying his face in my pussy. My arms buckled and I fell back against the countertop, catching myself on my elbows. 

He pulled away for a moment to mutter out how I ‘tasted so good’ before diving back in. I reached down with one of my hands and raked it through his hair, gripping at it. 

Joel began to suck on my clit, causing my hips to instinctively grind against his face. He moaned against me, causing that familiar tension to build between my legs. I knew what was coming, but I wasn’t ready. 

“Joel-Joel I’m gonna-”

Before I could finish my sentence he gripped onto me tighter, his strong arms locking my legs into place. He moaned again against my clit, alternating between licking and sucking on it. 

“Joel-Joel-“

In a matter of seconds I was peaking, shockwaves causing my body to convulse with my loud orgasm. Joel continued to circle his tongue around my clit as I came, letting me ride it out. 

I laid back against the counter, my breathing heavy as I was still reeling. Joel got to his feet and pulled me up off of my back, and against his warm chest. He leaned down and kissed me hard, feeling myself get turned on again already as I tasted myself on his tongue.

“But, I wanted you to-”

“Do you think I’m done with you?” he practically growled low in my ear. My eyes grew wide and without another word, he picked me up. I relaxed against him as he led us out of the kitchen, my legs still feeling like dead weight. 

My heart began to race again as he ascended the stairs, heading straight for my bedroom once he hit the landing. Once in my room, he set me down on my bed. I immediately reached out and began undoing his belt. While I undid that and his jeans, Joel began working on the buttons on his shirt. At almost the same time we got done. He pulled off his shirt and discarded it to the side before pulling down his jeans and boxers, kicking them off. 

My eyes grew wide. Joel was much bigger than I had expected. I reached out and wrapped my right hand around his cock. He let out a sigh of relief as I began stroking him. 

“God, you’re so big,” I told him, looking at him through hooded eyes. 

“Hmm, I can’t wait to fuck that pussy of yours,” he said, his eyes closing in pleasure. His head fell back as I quickened my pace, moans escaping his parted lips. 

I stopped the movements with my hand and released him from my grip. His head snapped back down, looking at me intensely. I bit at my lip as I scooted back on the bed, laying so that my head was at my pillows. Anticipation rippled through my chest as he kneeled onto the bed and started crawling towards me. 

Once Joel was hovering over me, he leaned down and crashed our lips together again. I wrapped my limbs around his naked frame and pulled him down on top of me. Joel moved to lay to the side of me, and I met his eyes with a curious expression. 

“Spread your legs for me,” he said. I followed orders, bending my knees and letting them fall to the sides,  one of my legs resting on Joel’s thighs. 

I watched as his right hand trailed down my torso, my chest rising and falling as my breathing sped back up. 

“Joel, it’s been a long time since I’ve had any-”

“Shhh, don’t worry. We’re going to get you nice and ready for my cock.” He slipped his hand down to my pussy and grabbed it, massaging me gently with his palm. My clit was still extra sensitive and sore, so this felt amazing. I tried to spread my legs a little more as I felt his middle finger dip into my slit. He circled around my clit softly for a moment, eliciting soft moans out of me.

I couldn’t help but moan out Joel’s name as he plunged his thick finger into my pussy. He moved very slowly, letting my walls adjust to him. I grabbed onto him where I could, trying to keep grounded. After a moment he began to move his finger in and out, producing more moans from me. 

As soon as that felt comfortable and I began to thrust against him, he added another finger. I winced out in pain for a moment, but that pain quickly turned to pleasure again. 

“Are you okay? Am I going too fast?” Joel asked, scanning my face for an answer. I nodded eagerly, not being able to form any coherent words. 

My walls adjusted again as he began to finger fuck me with his fingers, my pussy stretching and getting wetter with every thrust. 

“Joel, Joel I need you,” I quietly begged. 

“What was that?” he asked in a devilish tone. He was such a fucking tease. 

“I need you,” I said a little louder.

“Hmm?” 

“Fuck Joel! I need you to fuck me with your cock!” I said loudly through gritted teeth. 

My pussy squelched as he finger fucked me a few more times before pulling them out. He started to move his hand to wipe me off on the bed, but I stopped him. He watched curiously as I brought his messy hand up to my face. His jaw slackened as I put his two wet fingers in my mouth and began sucking and licking my juices off of them. 

I groaned as he pulled his fingers out of my mouth and started moving so he was sitting on his knees between my legs. He roughly grabbed onto my hips and pulled them up onto his thighs. I watched as he lined the head of his cock up with my pussy with one of his hands, the other holding me still. 

Without another thought, Joel began to slowly plunge his cock into my center. Even though he had stretched me out with his fingers, it still ached as I adjusted. I closed my eyes and breathed and he continued to push into me, filling me up to the brim. We stayed like that for a moment, allowing me to get used to his size. He reached down and gently stroked my clit, causing my pussy to tighten again around his cock in pleasure.

“Jesus, Violet. You’re so tight,” he breathed out, “you feel so fucking good. Am I hurting you?” 

I shook my head, words failing me again. After another moment I finally spoke. All I could say was, ‘start moving.” 

Joel’s eyes lit up. I began to feel empty as he almost pulled all the way out, but not for long. He thrust back into me, it aching less. After a few times of him moving slowly, he began to quicken his pace. 

I couldn’t stop my eyes from rolling back in my head as he held a steady pace. Moans escaped both of us as he fucked into me, my pussy gripping his cock.

“Joel, fucking hell,” I mumbled out, bliss taking over my senses. Suddenly Joel pulled out of me, granting a whine from me. He slapped my pussy in response. 

“Roll over,” he said, in more of a demand than a request. I moaned and slid down off of him before rolling over onto my stomach. Joel grabbed me by the hips and pulled me up onto a fours. I laid my upper body back down, arching my back and sticking my ass up more in the process. As he slapped my ass I turned around to look at him the best I could, only being able to see him roughly out of my peripheral vision. 

I almost melted into the mattress as I watched him lick his finger tips before rubbing the saliva he had collected on the head of his cock. His eyes were hungrily fixed on my cunt. I spread my knees out, just enough for him to kneel in between them. I felt again as he lined himself up with my pussy, this time sliding in much easier at this angle. 

“Oh my god,” I whimpered out as he filled me up again. Joel let out a heavy moan as he began to thrust in and out of me, going slowly again at first. But that’s not what I wanted.

“Joel, harder,” I told him, my face half smothered in my pillow. He thrust into me, holding my hips so that we didn’t move. 

“Speak up, baby,” he told me, his pet name sending a shiver down my spine. 

“Harder,” I said louder this time. 

“That’s my girl.” 

Joel’s fingers dug into my hip bones, threatening to leave bruises tomorrow. One of his hands moved to my shoulder and pulled me backwards, pressing my back against his chest. This angle suddenly began to hit a new spot, and I gasped as I began climbing towards a second orgasm. 

“Joel, Joel I’m so-“

“Me too, come on, baby. Cum for me,” he crooned into my ear. 

That was enough to send me over the edge. Joel wrapped the hand not gripping my hip around my middle, keeping me close to him as came. He continued to thrust into me and within moments he was moaning in my ear, his cock throbbing inside me. He trust in and out of me a couple more times, softer as he spilled into me. 

When he was finished, he slipped himself out of me with a groan. I felt as he then immediately laid me down, not wanting to make a mess on my bed. But at this point, I didn’t care. I had extra bedding if things needed to be changed.

We moved underneath the covers and Joel cuddled up behind me, wrapping his arms around me. I immediately relaxed into him, not sure if my body was still actually there. 

“That’s the first time I’ve done that,” I told him, my voice just above a whisper. He kissed my shoulder. 

“What’s that?” 

“Orgasmed twice in one go like that,” I said. He chuckled a sleepy laugh. “What?” 

“Oh, just that it won’t be the last time that happens.”

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Our apartment is through a management company. It's usually fine. The last several months, we've had issues with them 1) actually sending out maintenance, and 2) not fixing our fucking floor.

Our floor was put in during the Fall of 2022 after the fucking flood of June 2022. For the entire summer, we walked around on the original concrete floor of our renovated 100-year-old basement apartment.

Management company swore the problem was that the property owner was dragging his feet.

I'd met the property owner several times as he'd come to inspect the damage and understand what he needed to do as owner, since it would be his insurance covering things. I thought he was an asshole.

The new floor went in. We moved home. A few weeks later, I noticed a space between the boards in the kitchen. I debated calling the management company, then went, "I'm in no fucking mood" and threw a rug over it.

I'm not a professional, but I know bits and pieces of home shit. I figured, with the weather cooling, the vinyl boards were shifting a bit, and it'd either stay the same or just slip back together at some point.

And then the rest of the floor started buckling.

I put a maintenance request in. A guy came out, took one look at the floor, and went, "Oh, yeah, I know what's happening." He took photos. He pushed back together what boards he could, and he left.

Nothing for about a week, then a call. The owner wants to come out and look. I sighed and agreed. He came out and brought along his wife, the maintenance guy who'd come before, and our property management contact.

He was NOT PLEASED. His wife's job that day, very obviously to me, was to get my real impression of the management company while the owner asked some questions about why it was taking a week to even update me on next steps?

I told the wife, "We've never had a real problem with maintenance. Stuff's always gotten fixed."

"Have you needed it often?" she asked.

"Nope," I said because it was true.

When the whole apartment was getting torn up after the flood, the demo guy was 1) great and 2) informed me that all the finishes in the apartment were commonly used but also the high-end version. Yeah, they were all particle board and vinyl and what have you. But they were the top-notch versions of everything. I remembered thinking, "Wow, the dude who renovated this place gave a real shit."

We have not heard word one from anyone at the management company about our floor since around October. We have heard from the owner and his wife on a few occasions, calling to see if the next step of the plans had happened. Which is how I found out there were plans. Our contact at the management company (with 16 years experience, something she mentioned when she sent out her intro email at her hiring) had not given me any information.

A couple of weeks ago, our kitchen turned into a tiny swamp. There was water coming up through the fucked up floorboards. A pipe had frozen upstairs a couple of days before. There were four inches of glaze ice over everything.

We called the management company. We got an email back: "We are confirming with the owner how he wants to proceed."

I started cursing the owner's name up and down.

And then he showed up that night. In the ice and the snow. With it pouring sleet (literally pouring sleet). I thought he was being a control freak.

He looked at things, said, "I'll have to turn the water off." And then went upstairs to check on things there. He came back a few minutes later, needing to try and find the shut off. We couldn't locate it down here, either. He shut it off at the street, then took Sean out and showed him how to use the tool to turn it on and off.

"It's a very slow leak," he told us. "If you don't mind mopping up water when it comes up, you can turn the water on for short periods of time."

Two days with no water. The ice continued not to melt. I fell on the dog walk and slid into the side of a car (nothing serious). The owner showed up again when the roads were still barely passable. He had the leak fixed and the water back in by the end of the day. He apologized for the delay. He left the wall open so things could dry, and came back the next day to check things again.

He started to grow on me. He knows his shit. He works quietly. He tries to be as unobtrusive as possible. I sent my regards to his wife, for which he thanked me.

During these few days, I'm getting sporadic emails from the management company basically rehashing everything that had happened that day. Even though I'd heard him call them and explain things to them within half an hour of showing up each day.

So, they were in the loop.

And, yes, so were we.

But there's a way to do these things.

And acting like it's all brand new information to you when the email gets to me at six, after he's left again after apologizing for getting some mud on the floor because he's been in and out not only fixing the leak but also beating the shit out of the four inches of glaze ice with a shovel so he can clear the sidewalk for us. Which is one of those technical requirements that I don't expect of any owner or management company when it's below freezing multiple days in a row in a city where that does not happen regularly. Like, the official city policy during the weather was "please stay the fuck inside."

The contractors came to put the wall back together. The owner showed up to properly introduce them, then left them to it. They did good work as far as I could tell.

I've heard nothing from the management company for several days, and I continue to be very unimpressed by their current actions. Which is just additional unimpressed feelings since October when I got a call from the wife saying, "Did the contractor come out to measure?"

"Measure?"

"For the replacement floor."

"No, Ma'am," I said, not knowing until this phone call that a contractor had even been signed. "Last I heard anything was when the inspector came out."

"Did the company contact you about them?"

"Yes, but then the inspector didn't show the day he was supposed to, and we didn't hear why. He did show up a couple of days later."

The kind of pause you only get from a woman who knows how to use her powers for politeness, smoothing ruffled feathers, and fucking murdering someone. "I see. Okay. Thank you."

"I've worked on a lot of floors," the contractor told me yesterday as he wiped down all the places drywall dust and paste had gotten (everywhere; including the bottom of Bean's foot I discovered this morning). "You're definitely gonna need new floor where the leak was."

"Oh, yeah," I said, with a wave. "We need the whole thing replaced, actually. It's in work."

"Yeah, I noticed it was bubbling," the contractor says. "Not surprising. This is the cheapest vinyl floor you can get."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I've worked with the owner for years. I'm surprised he approved this."

About a week after the wife last called me, we got a letter in the mail from the owner. It read, in part:

...please copy us in all emails to the management company. We want to be fully aware when issues arise so they can be handled as quickly as possible...

Given all current evidence, I am beginning to suspect the problem was NOT the owner but the management company. As I have never worked in property management, I don't know who decides things like which flooring. However, having watched the owner over this last couple of weeks, I suspect the management company picked the flooring and the contractor to do it and the "dragging on" issue was the owner pushing for better quality.

I'm not sure. What I am sure of is that the owner was here today to paint the repaired wall and a strip of ceiling that has gone unfixed by the management company since before we told them the floor news.

I have been beyond happy with the speed of things with the owner in charge of repairs, and I've come to appreciate his dedication to keeping our place in good kit. He is proud of this place and wants it to show. He wants high-quality and good craftsmanship.

He also ended up not painting because the ceiling repair doesn't have the right texture when the lights are off. He is coming back tomorrow morning with the contractor so it gets done to his liking. "It can be difficult to match the texture of sheet rock," he told me. Having watched him work these past couple of weeks, I know he wants it done to a high standard that I appreciate as the tenant.

On the other hand. What an asshole.

[burstingwithbellies]

So, recently I’ve been seeing a lot of breeder family scenarios flying around in my feeds and I think I will put my two cents in. This goes out to @infinitegest who I’ve been seeing giving out a lot of these scenarios.

So, my thing is a family full of preggos within a house that can’t keep up with them. I’m talking about a very BIG family that takes breeding very seriously. It is tradition to them; it’s a huge part of their identity and it goes in hand with their great amount of fertility. So much so that a generation from said family could amount to the population of a small city sometimes.

Singleton pregnancies practically don’t exist with them. A small pregnancy for them is triplets. Every pregnancy out of this family is a show-stopper. And so because of this, they have this home that was built especially for them; to house their huge and ever-growing clan.

But it worked for only so long.

Each generation got bigger than the last. Their libidos got stronger, the number of multiples in each pregnancy increased and they cared less and less about giving their wombs and each other’s wombs a break.

The eldest members of the household, the grandparents for instance, have both been pumping out babies for over 20 years and still going strong. They themselves have an impressive amount of kids, but their kids and grandkids took the cake.

Nearly all of them were of age and had gotten into the family tradition and their bellies challenged all of their parents’ pregnancies from the past and the present and maybe in the future.

One of the grandparents’ kids from their first-ever batch got knocked up with an astonishing 25 babies on their first pregnancy and that shocked them. The people who were getting knocked up for decades with multiples were shocked by the new generation of fertility.

And the house was supposed to be adapted to handle their expanding families and bellies, but it has been done over. The house that was built to be the size of a mansion was too small for them! The doors were tiny, the hallways narrow and tight and God forbid there be more than four people in a room. That would be way too many people in one room. Everyone is always knocking into one another and there’s always the threat of getting stuck somewhere.

It honestly wouldn’t be a problem if everyone would quit getting so pregnant all the time, but you might as well tell them to stop breathing too. Breathing is like breeding in this family, that’s their motto.

And unfortunately, they can’t make adjustments.

At least not all the time.

The family is really always growing and they can’t be spending thousands of dollars on renovations that would need to be redone again later when that money could have been better spent on food, maternity or paternity clothes or baby supplies, or something else.

Also, there’s no telling who’s heavily pregnant and nearly finished gestating or who is just now getting started and is going to have a much greater gigantic belly down the line. It’s unpredictable how big someone is gonna get. Some grow at a snail’s pace, some through fixed growth spurts and others grow to the size of an elephant in seconds before your eyes. And it’s hard keeping track of all the babies in your womb sometimes.

The space in the house gets smaller every day. Too many people, too many bellies with too many babies in them and that’s a growing problem.

The youngest adult in the family has a hard time getting through a door by himself and he’s just 2 months pregnant along. He just might burst down a wall tomorrow. This is the countdown for the house before the family gets too big for it.

[beardedmrbean]

More details about a railway line linking Oxford to Cambridge have been unveiled.

In Cambridgeshire, two new tunnels are being proposed and artist impressions of the new stations at Cambourne and Cambridge South have been released.

East West Rail (EWR) stated Cambridge station would be renovated, but said trains would turn around at nearby Cherry Hinton "to ease pressure".

A public consultation on the proposals has been launched, with people encouraged to share their views.

EWR aims to create a railway connecting the university cities via Milton Keynes and Bedford. The section between Oxford and Bletchley is due to open next year.

The project has been criticised by many local residents and politicians, but was given its backing by the government in the autumn Budget.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said the scheme would create "more than £6bn in economic growth", 28,000 new jobs and tens of thousands of new homes.

"Today marks a major milestone for the project as we encourage communities to have their say on this transformational line that will offer so much more than simply getting people from A to B," she added.

Designs showed trains would run from 06:00 to 00:00 on Monday to Thursday, ending an hour later on Fridays and Saturdays.

On Sundays, services were planned for between 07:00 and 23:00.

EWR said it expected up to four trains per hour to run along the route.

Following a previous consultation, plans were drawn up to build a tunnel east of Cambourne, beneath the A428 and the proposed Bourne Airfield development and Highfields Road.

If approved, another tunnel would be built through Chapel Hill near Haslingfield.

But some stations along the Marston Vale section, between Bletchley and Bedford, could be closed under the plans.

EWR argued there would be "a three fold increase in services" along this stretch if it consolidated these stations and built new ones.

'Expensive'

The scheme has not come without criticism.

Among those to have raised concerns include the Lib Dem MP for South Cambridgeshire, Pippa Heylings.

Speaking prior to being elected in July, she told the BBC it was a "botched job" and "hugely environmentally damaging".

Stephen Mallinson, from Little Eversden, said there should be an independent inquiry into the route.

He added: "EWR have chosen the most disruptive, the most expensive, the most environmentally-damaging route into Cambridge that we could have found".

The consultation on the updated proposals runs for 10 weeks, from 14 November to 24 January.

[lasudio]

VeronaHills, Round Four: Roth

Stella had to give Morty credit - he'd brought as much moneyed refinery as he reasonably could to their new home in the countryside.

Evening guests were summoned to candlelit dining areas to be regaled with tales of the city, and when Morty stood and announced a tour of his private art and artifact collection, they moved along with excited murmurs. One such night, Stella remained at the outdoor setting with Rosalind, a fellow lady from Cordelia Capp's breakfasts.

"I feel I've left this far too long, but I must apologise for previous conduct," Stella said, pulling from rehearsed words in the mirror.

Rosalind lowered her fork and - snorted! "Couldn't hold your wine at breakfast?" She sent forth a dry chuckle. "Dear - you could have at least changed out of your bathers before attending the table."

Stella snapped her agape mouth shut. Neurons frantically fired as she searched for the words: "Next time, I can assure you, I will steer clear of the bottle, and the spa-"

"It's not me you need to impress," Rosalind said suddenly. Her green gaze met Stella's, filled with intensity. "I like you. Looking back, I found your behaviour amusing. But Cordelia? Well..." Her eyes dropped to her plate. "Let's just say, it's a good thing your husband focuses on appearances."

This indictment was enough for Stella to wish Rosalind a good night and retire to bed early. She met Xander in the upstairs hallway. Her little darling boy was now a teenager, and he lamented that he was outgrowing his Grand Prix-themed bedroom decor (and literally outgrowing his racecar bed). Stella agreed to a renovation.

Appearances had to match expectations, after all.

[udo0stories]

New York City is the most iconic and most visited city in the United States. With its distinctive skyline, diverse neighborhoods, world-class museums, incredible Broadway productions, and melting pot of cultures, NYC attracts millions of visitors each year. (It’s also the place I call home.) New York City is huge. I mean, ten million people live here. Where do you stay when you’re here? There are so many hotels to choose from. To help you plan your visit and narrow down your options, here’s my list of the best hotels in NYC: 1. East Village Hotel Located in the East Village, my absolute favorite neighborhood in NYC, this boutique aparthotel is run more like an Airbnb than a traditional hotel. You get sent a code before arrival to check in, and there’s no staff or restaurant on site (though an outpost of The Bean, a popular NYC café, is right downstairs). The studio apartments are designed to reflect the neighborhood’s bohemian spirit, with contemporary artistic décor, beautiful exposed brick walls, and lots of natural light. The kitchenettes include a stovetop, refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, and silverware. Rooms include comfy pillowtop beds, showers with good water pressure, a flatscreen TV, and complimentary bath products. Everything is pretty compact, but in an area with few hotels, this is one of the best-value spots. Stay here if you want to be in a central location with tons of great restaurants and bars at your fingertips.   2. The Marlton Originally built in 1900, this historic boutique hotel in Greenwich Village has been home to many of the area’s bohemian set, including one of my favorite writers, Jack Kerouac (he even penned a few novellas here). I like that the hotel’s extensive renovations still kept its classic aesthetic. The beautiful interior has a stately feel, with ornate moldings, herringbone parquet floors, and vintage furnishings like brass light fixtures, ornate rugs, and custom-made furniture. The staff are super friendly too. The rooms are pretty small, but well designed to make use of the space. They come with flat-screen TVs, comfy beds with plush bedding, wardrobes, minibars, and marble bathrooms. The Marlton is also home to an excellent bar that serves incredible cocktails, and there’s a complimentary breakfast available too. I think it’s the best value for your money in the area.   3. Vocabulary: The Franklin This three-star hotel is in a 19th-century brownstone in the Upper East Side, the neighborhood I live in (if you see me, say hi!). The rooms here are simple, but the hotel has some great perks, like a free 24-hour espresso bar and a standard late checkout time of 12 p.m. The restaurant is currently being renovated, so there’s no breakfast available on-site, but there are tons of places just steps away. The rooms are decorated in a minimal (but cozy) style, with white-painted chandeliers and cute original art. All rooms come with large TVs and comfy pillow-top mattresses, while their larger rooms come with a desk and easy chair. Everything is newly renovated, and the glass-enclosed showers have excellent pressure. The location is great too, as it’s on a quiet, leafy street close to Central Park and Museum Mile.   4. Hotel Indigo This four-star hotel is dedicated to supporting local street art and artists, and you’ll see plenty of their work throughout the building. The rooftop bar, Mr. Purple, is a favorite among locals for fancy cocktails, and on the weekends, the area turns into an upscale club. (Because of that, it’s a 21+ hotel.). There’s even a heated pool on the rooftop too. The rooms boast hardwood floors, bold artwork, and floor-to-ceiling windows with impressive views over the city. All rooms also include Keurig machines, desks, and a minibar (for which you get a $20 USD credit). The bathrooms are large, beautifully tiled, and feature rainfall shower heads. While there’s no breakfast served on site, you’re just steps away from tons of great eateries open at all hours. Overall,

I think this hotel is the best place to stay if you want to experience NYC’s legendary nightlife.   5. The Standard The Standard is one of the best hotels in the city (I think this East Side location is even better than the one in the Meatpacking district). The bar serves some of the best drinks in town and is usually always packed with NY’s fashionable set. There’s a café where you can get breakfast in the mornings too. The recently renovated rooms are gorgeous, decorated in a minimal design with bright pops of color and lots of natural light thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows. They’re pretty big too, especially by NYC standards. All rooms at this four-star hotel feature plush beds, fluffy down pillows, huge flatscreen TVs, Bluetooth speakers, cozy bathrobes, work desks, and stocked minibars. The bathrooms are spacious, with tiled walk-in showers and organic designer toiletries. You’ll also get complimentary access to the nearby Crunch gym (in case you want to work off all the delicious food from the plethora of nearby restaurants).   6. The Library Hotel Everything at this four-star hotel is book-related. Each of the ten floors has a different theme, and all of the 60 rooms have dozens of books that fit within that theme (the hotel has a collection of over 6,000 books!). There’s also a Reading Room lounge with work desks, cozy nooks for reading or writing, and 24/7 coffee, tea, snacks, and drinks. Guest rooms are a good size (for NYC) and feature rich wood furnishings in a sleek, contemporary design, with plush bedding, minibars, flatscreen TVs, desks, and luxury bath products. There’s also free breakfast, a rooftop terrace with a bar that serves literary-themed drinks, and really helpful staff. It’s a quiet respite from an otherwise busy and loud neighborhood. Stay here for a unique experience that’s close to major tourist sites like Times Square, the Empire State Building, and Grand Central Station.   7. The Sherry-Netherland Located on Fifth Avenue, right across from Central Park, this ornate five-star hotel is housed in a stunning Beaux-Arts building. The lobby boasts vaulted, painted ceilings and custom-made chandeliers, and the elevator even has a white-gloved operator, just to highlight how upscale this property is. The property’s Italian restaurant serves breakfast in the mornings, and there’s a fitness center available too. The spacious rooms are elegantly decorated, with mahogany desks, tasteful art on the walls, and large marble bathrooms. All rooms include flatscreen TVs, luxury bath products, complimentary soda, mineral water, and chocolates, and daily newspaper delivery. This is the place to stay if you want to splash out on a classy and timeless NYC hotel experience.

[tomtenadia]

Thicker than blood - 36

As promised here we are with another chapter. The epilogue will come tomorrow night.

A month had elapsed from the elections and things had set in motion for the change that Darrow and Rhoe had promised. The works to renovate the deviation centres had started almost immediately all the while Evalin had opened a temporary location and the success had been incredible. Both vampires and humans alike had turned up asking for help and Evalin had spent most of her days with the patients, sometimes offering her own personal help. Ansel had joined Evalin full time and the two women had become a power to be reckoned with.

Aedion had released his new treatment and the centres had started administering it to junkies and it was showing the first results. Gone were the painful three months in a cell. For the milder cases the treatment could be taken at home as long as the person had someone to help them. He was the golden boy once more and missed those few months back in anonymity.

He had also perfected the blood for Aelin and created a few flavours for her. She had loved the idea so much that he had tried and expand it to the blood for general sales and the response had been incredible. Adding flavours was a long task but so far he had four different ones and his team was working on two more. His research team had grown exponentially and Rhoe had built him, out of his own pockets, a state of the art laboratory in the city. Aedion had been ecstatic at the gift. In the meantime and through the whirlwind of changes, Lysandra and Aedion had finally managed to find a little time to finally get married. It had been a very low key and simple ceremony. They had then disappeared for a week on their honeymoon, but Aelin kept teasing them that they actually never went anywhere and just stayed at home in bed, enjoying their new status and the fun of finally being able to bond in the way married couple could. Not long after that, Lorcan had finally gathered the courage to ask Elide to move in with him and now bets were on, on when it was their turn to finally marry.

The police had an overhaul too. Darrow and Rhoe were still working on adjusting some of the rules, but the skeleton was still there. A few had been passed to the higher administration and received government approval.

Police had expanded especially the immortal component. The second chances programme was a success too and many vampires had joined the paranormal unit. Human police had a great intake of recruits too.

The biggest change had been the main chief. Darrow had deposed the previous one after it had surfaced that he had dealings with Hamel and received a share for every vampire that ended up in a deviation centre. Rhoe had decided to appoint Lorcan.

The man had been speechless, but Rhoe had admitted that he had been impressed by his morals. He had put a friend behind bars after he broke the rules. 

In his place Rowan had taken over the paranormal unit. He was still adjusting just as Lorcan and they would call each other to moan about their jobs. Aelin had started calling Lorcan Rowan’s second wife.

Aelin had eventually gone back to the morgue and Elide had been elated at having her back. At their reunion they had been screaming so much that Dorian had come running with a fire extinguisher in his hands.

Rowan had been apprehensive when she had decided to go back, but by the time she did, Aelin had improved a lot and when she admitted to him that she needed to go back to work he had decided to trust her.

It was not perfect, there was still a lot of work to be done, but they were heading in the right direction.

*

Rowan was on his way to the morgue after he finished his shift. Being the chief gave him a more structured timetable and he loved to pop at Aelin’s work after he finished. He’d see her at home later but that had become their little ritual.

He went to her office and it was empty so moved to the examination room and saw her concentrated on a body. He leaned against the doorframe and watched her.

“Do you like the show, chief?”

He walked to her hugging her from behind while Aelin’s hand were still deep in the body’s chest cavity “What are you doing?”

“Checking this man’s heart. He probably died of an heart attack, see these scars here?”

Rowan kissed her head “There’s quite a few that are large, which means that his heart was struggling to pump correctly.”

She finished a few checks and confirmed her initial assumption “natural death.”

Aelin lifted her bloodied hands and turned to kiss her husband “want to watch me dissect a brain?” She proceeded to close up the heart attack victim, discarded the dirty gloves and moved to another body and removed the white sheet “this is going to be fun.”

Rowan chuckled. Aelin had slowly regained her normal disposition and he had been fascinated by watching her perform autopsies. He was learning so much.

Aelin had also started working with her mother and he knew that was also a reason why she was recovering. Somehow it had helped greatly and Aelin had loved working with Evalin.

She grabbed a scalpel ”ready, chief?”

He kissed her head “go.”

*

The following day it was afternoon when they were getting ready for a hike. They had finally a day off and were going to Forsaken peak. They had left it late because Rowan wanted to spend the night on the mountain top. He had done it when he was younger and it had been stunning and wanted to show it to Aelin. It was a wonderful hike and he was positive she was going to love it.

Aelin had confessed him that nature had helped her a lot in her recovery. She and Rowan had spent many late afternoons exploring the woodlands around their house. Rowan had also taken seriously the idea of having a house deep in the mountains and they had started planning all the works.

“Did you get your thermos with blood?”

Aedion had perfected the recipe for Aelin and had made the blood more appetising too. Aelin was still of the opinion that Rowan’s tasted better but she knew she could not drink from him all the time, no matter how fun.

“Yep, all stocked up,” she grabbed something else “I also have my head torch,” Aelin wore it and switched it on pointing it in Rowan’s face “where were you the night of the 1st of July?

Rowan roared with laughter and pulled the light away from her head. Although they had enhanced vision he still convinced her to take torches. Her husband had also told everyone where they were going because he believed that in case of emergency people had to know. She had called him fussy buzzard.

Aelin went to wear her new hiking boots. Rowan had bought her a brand new pair after he discovered that she had been hiking with trainers. He had been horrified at her carelessness.

Once she had her boots on she stood and Rowan walked to her in his hiking gear. He stopped in front of her and zipped up the jacket “Rowan, is not that I can get cold.”

“Shush, menace. It’s for your comfort.”

Aelin let him fuss over her. She had to admit that she loved his attentions. Loved how he cared about all the small things too.

Aelin did a full turn on herself “Do I pass inspection?”

He answered with a kiss “grab your gear and let’s go. It’s a long hike.”

The starting point of the walk was an hour away so they had to drive to the destination. Aelin sat in the car and started fiddling with the music and to scare Rowan she had placed the radio on a pop station.

He finally joined her in the car and the first thing he said was a loud curse.

Aelin giggled hysterically and blasted the volume higher and her husband turned to her with death in his eyes.

“What hubby? I though you loved pop music.”

“Aelin…”

“Fine,” she yielded “I will look for grampa music.”

“The fact that I love classical music does not make me a grampa.”

Aelin smiled at his grumpy face, she loved to rile him up. Adored his expression when he pouted,  and she had to admit that she had started to appreciate classical music too. She had always listened to rock, metal and all the heavy stuff but Rowan had made her discover new stuff and she had admitted that classical music had a very calming effect. He had even taken her out to an opera and she had loved it. But genres her husband could not tolerate were pop, dance and anything modern that according to him was empty and meaningless. She would let him rant and would never admit to him that it was a guilty pleasure of hers. Not her favourite type but her library had about five songs that would make Rowan’s skin crawl.

“Is this better?” She had found a station that passed rockier music.

“Thank you, my ears are not bleeding anymore.”

Aelin wore her sunglasses “punch it.”

The drive took an hour as expected and now they were in the parking lot staring at the sun kissing the peaks. Sunset was still hours away but the tones were getting softer and the view in front of them was stunning.

Rowan stopped behind her and grabbed her hand and pointed to a precise location “see that ridge there?”

“Yes.”

“That’s where we are going, that’s Forsaken peak.”

“Why is it called forsaken?’

Rowan grabbed her hand and after locking the car he started walking along the marked path “it was a very long time ago. I was still only less than a hundred. There used to be many battles with all the lands around Erilea,” he started telling her “Forsaken peak proved a perfect outpost. But the reason it’s called forsaken was because the outpost was where people were sent as a punishment after committing crimes. It was a life sentence. They became the guardians of the peaks, but also forgotten by society. Some were vampires, some were humans. “

Aelin gasped at his side.

“It lasted until Orlon. Your great uncle came into power and stopped the practice, but the name of the peak remained.”

“That is such a sad story.”

He laughed “this path has a lot of lovely legends connected to it too.”

“Tell me…”

And while they climber Rowan told her all of the legends he knew about that path and Aelin listened to him with interest. Yes, he was old but she had been fascinated by his past, all of his adventures. She had screamed when he had confessed that he served in the airforce too and had begged him for photos so they had spent the evening in his attic looking for photos. Aelin had loved him so much in uniform that they ended up having sex surrounded by old boxes. She had taken a picture of one of the old photos and it was now her new home screen on her phone: her husband in a pilot jump suit near his plane. 

The last part of the climb proved to be challenging, but Aelin kept going and loved to see the sun slowly start to disappear at the horizon. She was still young but the most dangerous hours for her were around noon when the sun was at its strongest. That late in the evening it was fine and sunlight was not much of an issue if the exposure was not prolonged.

“Come on, fireheart, last stretch.”

Rowan helped her climb and together they reached the ridge and saw the remains of the old outpost.

But what took her breath away was the scene around her. The sun was almost behind the horizon, the sky was ablaze with orange and pink hues and Aelin was speechless.

“Good, I timed it perfectly.”

Aelin was too absorbed in the sunset to listen to her husband but his hands brushed her hips and she leaned against his chest, the scent of pine and snow enveloping her. In that instant she felt at peace, at home and it was all thanks to the man behind her. Rowan had helped during the dark days when her bad memories made it impossible for her to find the will to get out of bed. He supported her, he saved her in more ways than she could ever imagine. She turned in his arms “can I be cheesy, please?”

“I thought I was the mushy one in this marriage.”

She glared at him “fine.”

Her hands twinned behind his neck and she looked into his pine green eyes “Thank you, it’s very cliche but before I met you I was lost, deeply and truly lost. Until that night when you stopped me from feeding. You pushed me to admit I had a problem. You fought for me when I had given up on my life,” she kissed his lips softly “We have been through a lot but I have no regrets of choosing you as my partner in this adventure. I told you before, you make me want to live. I want a future for us, a life, dreams and who knows? A family one day? Thank you for choosing me.” Another gentle kiss and then she buried her face in his chest, when she looked up she saw him with his eyes closed, his face bathed in the last rays of light. He was stunning at he was hers.

When he reopened his eyes she was positive they were moist.

He grabbed her hand and placed it on his heart “you are my heart, my everything.”

Aelin buried her face in his neck and cried tears of joy “buzzard we are so pathetic.”

She felt him chuckle “I am a sappy old fart and I wear it like a badge of honour.”

She pushed him down towards the entrance of the old fort “but you are my sappy old fart.”

Rowan rolled her over on top of him and showed her just how much he was hers.

As they joined, their souls sang their union to the ancient gods and an eternal promise. To whatever end.

taglist

@rowaelinismyotp @swankii-art-teacher @whimsicallyreading @elentiyawhitethorn @aelin-bitch-queen @bruiseonthefaceofhumanity  @mis-lil-red @thegreyj @sailorsassley @leiawritesstories @clairec79 @morganofthewildfire @sv0430 @heartless--aromantic @autumnbabylon @rowanaelinn @backtobl4ck @susumaus98  @gracie-rosee @mybloodrunsblue @tanvee1231 @avenrebekah @whoever-you-choose-to-love  @theywillnotsingforme @universallytreepost @black-daisy-water @goddess-aelin @whispers-in-the-darkest-heart @lovely-dove-zee @athena127

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

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A post shared by Corinne Férault (@co.versailles)

My top 5 Prussian palaces & Residences are mainly in Potsdam, 40 minutes from Berlin, Germany. 1. Chinese House: located in Potsdam in the Sanssouci Park. A small garden pavilion created in 1756 for smaller court gatherings. Reopened after 2 years of renovation, it is shaped in a form of a cloverleaf: a circular hall and there are small Chambers. Ticket price: 6€ or a daily combined ticket for all the palaces in Potsdam ( 22euros) 2. New Chambers: located in Potsdam in the Sanssouci Park. Impressive palace with two different moods: - the western Wing is made of four reception halls ( jasper hall, Ovid Gallery, Porcelain Hall and blue one) which are amazing. A really must-see while in Sanssouci. -the eastern wing is composed of guest rooms (bedrooms and living rooms). Ticket price: 6€ or a daily combined ticket for all the palaces in Potsdam ( 22euros) 3. Charlottenburg Palace located in Berlin is composed of 2 palaces. The new wing with its long enfilade of 13 rooms ends with a huge Porcelain Room and a Chapel. The new wing has magnificent interiors like the Golden Gallery. A really worth-visit while in Berlin. Ticket price: 12€ each or 19€ the combined ticket. 4. Picture Gallery located in Potsdam, in the Sanssouci Park. If the facade is relatively simple design, the interiors are adorned with white and yellow Italian marble, opulent gilding and sculptures. The paintings were mostly acquired for this building. This is the oldest Royal Museum still in use in Germany. Ticket price: 6€ or a daily combined ticket for all the palaces in Potsdam ( 22euros) 5. Rheinsberg Palace, in the mark Brandenburg When entering the palace you feel like being in a different world. I loved the rooms in neoclassic and Frederician rococo styles. It was the house of Prince Henry, Frederic the Great’s brother. Ticket price: 10€

[laresearchette]

Sunday, April 16, 2023 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER (CNN) 8:00pm 100 FOOT WAVE (HBO Canada) 8:00pm ALEX VS AMERICA (Food Network Canada) 9:00pm LEGUIZAMO DOES AMERICA (MSNBC) 10:00pm CIAO HOUSE (Food Network Canada) 10:00pm BARRY (HBO Canada) 10:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: CHAOS ON THE FARM (TBD - Lifetime Canada) VERY SCARY PEOPLE (TBD - HLN)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

CRAVE TV BARRY (Season 4, episodes 1-2) THE 100 FOOT WAVE (Season 2, Episode 1)

NETFLIX CANADA LOVE IS BLIND SEASON 4 REUNION SPECIAL THE NUTTY BOY PART 2

IIHF WOMEN’S HOCKEY (TSN/TSN4) 3:00pm: Bronze Medal Game (TSN/TSN4) 7:00pm: Gold Medal Game

GRAND SLAM OF CURLING (SN1) 1:00pm: Players' Championship - Women's Final (SN/SN1) 5:00pm: Players' Championship - Men's Final

MLB BASEBALL (SN Now) 1:30pm: Twins vs. Yankees (SN) 1:30pm: Rays vs. Jays (TSN2) 7:00pm: Rangers vs. Astros

MLS SOCCER (TSN2) 2:00pm: CF Montreal vs. DC United (TSN2) 4:30pm: LA Galaxy vs. LAFC

NBA BASKETBALL (SN360) 3:00pm: Lakers vs. Grizzlies - Game #1 (SN360) 5:30pm: Heat vs. Bucks - Game #1 (TSN3/TSN5) 8:00pm: Clippers vs. Suns - Game #1 (TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) 10:30pm: Timberwolves vs. Nuggets - Game #1

BEST IN MINIATURE (CBC) 7:00pm (SEASON FINALE): In the season finale, the top three artists have a yard sale before completing their homes and fighting for the $15,000 grand prize and the title of Best in Miniature.

SULLIVAN'S CROSSING (CTV) 7:00pm: Maggie makes a difficult decision after Sully lets his temper get the best of him.

FIRE MASTERS (Food Network Canada) 7:00pm: The Patridge family is ready to find out who has the fiercest flame game; they have a bone to pick with each other in the battle of the bones; it's time to turn up the heat with feasts as hot as the grills.

THE MASKED SINGER UK (Game TV) 7:30pm: Featuring Jacket Potato vs Fawn, Rubbish vs Pigeon, and Piece of Cake vs Rhino.

CANADIAN SCREEN AWARDS (CBC) 8:00pm: With host Samantha Bee.

ESSEX COUNTY (CBC) 9:00pm: Anne visits her daughter at university, where old ambitions are reignited; Ken gets news that makes the future more settled; Lester realizes he is not alone in his grief; Lou searches for peace.

A TOWN CALLED MALICE (Showcase) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): The youngest son of a South London crime family must flee 1980s London for Spain.

RENOVATION RESORT (HGTV Canada) 10:00pm (SEASON FINALE): All four vacation rental cabins are completely transformed and the exhausted teams are surprised to discover that they have to compete in a rock the dock challenge for one last time; this is their final chance to impress Scott and Bryan.

THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND (History Canada) 10:00pm: As time is running out, an exciting find in the swamp may have the fellowship rewriting the history of North America.

THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND: DRILLING DOWN (History Canada) 11:00pm: Matty joins the fellowship as they look back on all the incredible clues and connections they've discovered over the last decade of the treasure hunt.

[maxs-corner45]

World Cup Stadiums

The World Cup is one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world, with millions of fans around the globe tuning in to watch their favorite teams compete on the world stage. A critical part of the World Cup experience is the stadiums that host the matches, which are often some of the most impressive and iconic structures in the world. Over the years, the World Cup has been hosted in many different countries, each of which has brought its own unique style and culture to the event. For example, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa featured several stunning stadiums, including the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, which was designed to resemble an African pot and had a seating capacity of over 94,000. Similarly, the 2018 World Cup in Russia featured several impressive stadiums, including the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, which had a seating capacity of over 81,000 and was the site of the final match of the tournament. The stadium had undergone a massive renovation in the years leading up to the World Cup, with a new roof, seating arrangement, and other upgrades designed to enhance the fan experience. Creating these massive stadiums is no small feat, and it often takes years of planning and construction to bring them to life. For example, the construction of the new Wembley Stadium in London, which was built to replace the iconic original stadium, took over four years and cost over £1 billion. The process of building a new World Cup stadium can be complex and challenging, requiring significant investment and coordination between multiple stakeholders. However, the end result is often a world-class facility that can serve as a symbol of national pride and a source of inspiration for fans around the world. In conclusion, World Cup stadiums are an essential part of the event's history and culture, representing the best in sports design and innovation. From the futuristic architecture of the Allianz Arena in Germany to the breathtaking natural scenery of the Estádio Nacional in Brazil, each World Cup stadium has its own unique story to tell and has played a critical role in shaping the tournament's legacy.

[unitedstatesofworld]

Unveiling Rob Lowe’s Net Worth: Hollywood, Hustle, and Surprising Ventures!

Rob Lowe is a Hollywood icon with over four decades in the industry, charming audiences in classics like St. Elmo’s Fire and Parks and Recreation. But beyond his talent and charisma lies an impressive journey of financial growth and smart investments that have built Rob Lowe's net worth to extraordinary heights. His career spans acting, producing, writing, and a few surprising side ventures, all of which contribute significantly to his wealth. Lowe’s adaptability and business savvy have been essential in expanding his portfolio beyond acting. In this article, we’ll explore how Rob Lowe’s net worth has grown through his diverse roles, real estate investments, endorsements, and entrepreneurial ventures.

So, what exactly is Rob Lowe’s net worth? We’ll get into that (and more!), exploring his career highs, real estate interests, and entrepreneurial spirit. Let’s go!

Hollywood Beginnings: Where It All Started

Rob Lowe’s journey began in sunny California in the late 1970s, where his acting career took off. He quickly rose to fame in the 1980s with roles that made him a teen heartthrob, a status solidified by the ‘Brat Pack’ films like The Outsiders and St. Elmo’s Fire. These early days established him as one of Hollywood’s rising stars and set the foundation for his impressive net worth.

Despite facing some setbacks in his personal life, Lowe managed to bounce back, rebranding himself in later years and securing roles that kept him relevant. His career evolution is a testament to his adaptability and resilience, two traits that undoubtedly helped him grow his wealth.

Notable Early Roles:

The Outsiders (1983)

Class (1983)

St. Elmo’s Fire (1985)

About Last Night… (1986)

 The Comeback: Reinventing Rob Lowe in the 2000s

After a dip in popularity, Rob Lowe’s career saw a resurgence in the 2000s, especially with his roles in TV shows. The actor's performance in The West Wing (1999-2006) gave him a new fanbase and helped diversify his income. His time on Parks and Recreation (2010-2015) as the upbeat Chris Traeger was equally successful, winning over fans and critics alike.

But how did these shows impact Rob Lowe’s net worth? These roles not only boosted his bank account through paychecks but also helped him secure residual income from syndication and streaming.

TV Gold: Key Roles Boosting Lowe’s Net Worth

The West Wing (1999-2006)

Parks and Recreation (2010-2015)

Brothers & Sisters (2007-2010)

Rob Lowe Net Worth: Just How Much?

So, let’s get to the meat of it: Rob Lowe’s net worth. Various estimates place his fortune around $100 million. This impressive figure has been built through a combination of acting salaries, residuals, endorsements, and entrepreneurial ventures.

Lowe’s net worth, however, isn’t just from acting. The star has shown a knack for diversifying his income streams, proving he’s more than just a Hollywood face. He’s ventured into different industries, including wellness and real estate, which brings us to our next section.

 Smart Moves: Real Estate Investments

One of the smartest moves Rob Lowe has made to increase his wealth? Real estate! Over the years, he’s invested in high-value properties, particularly in California, where he has bought, renovated, and sold several multimillion-dollar homes.

Some notable highlights include:

Santa Barbara Estate: Lowe sold a sprawling mansion in Santa Barbara for a jaw-dropping $45.5 million.

Beverly Hills and Montecito Properties: With these luxurious locations under his belt, Lowe has made millions from his property sales and continues to explore opportunities in real estate.

With each property he acquires and sells, Lowe solidifies his financial success outside of Hollywood. This diversification is one of the reasons why his net worth remains stable and steadily growing.

 Brand Ambassador and Endorsements

Rob Lowe has also managed to rake in significant earnings through endorsements and brand partnerships. He’s represented well-known companies, such as DIRECTV, which increased his exposure and helped him reach new audiences.

Through these endorsements, Lowe has shown that his star power extends beyond movies and TV shows. His charm and relatability make him a favorite for advertisers, adding another income stream that boosts his overall net worth.

 Entrepreneurship: The Atkins Partnership and Wellness Ventures

Another feather in Lowe’s cap is his role as an ambassador and partner in Atkins Nutritionals. As a longtime advocate of the Atkins diet, Lowe has actively promoted the brand, lending it credibility while cashing in on the wellness industry’s booming popularity. This partnership aligns with Lowe’s public image and interest in healthy living, further boosting his earnings.

Lowe’s involvement in wellness is just one example of how he’s extended his brand beyond entertainment. By investing time and effort into ventures that align with his lifestyle, he’s demonstrated a savvy approach to maintaining and expanding his net worth.

Behind the Scenes: Producing and Directing

While he’s known for his on-screen roles, Lowe has also dabbled in producing and directing, further increasing his earnings. He’s directed films and TV projects and has even produced shows where he took a leading role. Behind-the-scenes work offers him another revenue stream and, of course, increases his creative control, something he values greatly.

Projects such as The Lowe Files, a documentary-style series he co-produced and starred in alongside his sons, show how he brings his passions into his work. Each of these projects contributes not just to his creative satisfaction but also to his financial portfolio.

A Published Author: Adding “Best-Selling Author” to His Resume

Yes, you read that right! Rob Lowe isn’t just an actor and producer; he’s a New York Times best-selling author. His books, Stories I Only Tell My Friends and Love Life, give fans a behind-the-scenes look at his life, from Hollywood highs to personal struggles.

Both of these books were incredibly successful, adding royalties to his income. Lowe’s storytelling skills have garnered him even more fans and readers, showing his versatility and knack for appealing to various audiences. Writing has proven to be not just a creative outlet but another source of revenue that complements his extensive career.

Conclusion

Rob Lowe’s net worth is the product of years of hard work, reinvention, and a strong business sense. From his early Hollywood fame to his entrepreneurial ventures, Lowe’s financial journey is as varied as it is impressive. Whether it’s acting, producing, real estate, or promoting wellness, he’s proven that he knows how to leverage his talents and interests to grow his wealth.

In summary, Rob Lowe’s net worth reflects his ability to adapt and thrive in multiple fields. As he continues to explore new opportunities, it’s safe to say his net worth will keep climbing, and we’ll keep cheering him on!

[marvellighting1]

6" SlimLED Indirect Square Recessed Downlight by Liteline

Elevate Your Space with Liteline’s SlimLED Downlights: A Comprehensive Guide

In today's fast-paced world, creating a well-lit, inviting space is essential for both residential and commercial settings. Whether you're designing a cozy home environment or a dynamic office space, lighting plays a crucial role in setting the tone and enhancing the ambiance. With advancements in LED technology, homeowners and business owners alike can now enjoy energy-efficient, stylish, and versatile lighting solutions. One of the leading brands in this domain is Liteline, offering an impressive range of downlights designed to meet various lighting needs. This article delves into the features and benefits of four key products from Liteline's SlimLED series: the 4" SlimLED Profile Square Recess Retrofit Downlight, the 6" SlimLED Profile Round Recess Retrofit Downlight, the 6" SlimLED Indirect Round Recessed Downlight, and the 6" SlimLED Indirect Square Recessed Downlight.

The Rise of LED Lighting

Before we explore the specifics of Liteline's SlimLED downlights, it's important to understand the significance of LED lighting in the modern world. LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology has revolutionized the lighting industry with its energy efficiency, long lifespan, and environmental benefits. Unlike traditional incandescent bulbs, LEDs consume significantly less energy, reducing electricity bills and lowering carbon footprints. Moreover, LED lights produce less heat, making them safer and more durable.

For US consumers, the shift to LED lighting is not just a trend; it's a smart investment. As energy costs continue to rise, switching to LED lighting solutions like those offered by Liteline can lead to substantial savings over time. Additionally, the versatility and design flexibility of LED lights make them an excellent choice for various applications, from residential living rooms to commercial office spaces.

4" SlimLED Profile Square Recess Retrofit Downlight by Liteline

The 4" SlimLED Profile Square Recess Retrofit Downlight by Liteline is a standout product for those looking to upgrade their existing lighting fixtures. This downlight is designed to seamlessly retrofit into most standard 4-inch recessed housings, making it an ideal choice for both new constructions and renovation projects.

One of the key features of this downlight is its slim profile, which allows for easy installation in spaces with limited ceiling clearance. Despite its compact size, the 4" SlimLED Profile Square Recess Retrofit Downlight delivers powerful, evenly distributed light, making it perfect for a variety of settings, including kitchens, hallways, and bathrooms.

In terms of energy efficiency, this downlight is a game-changer. It consumes far less energy than traditional incandescent or halogen bulbs, which translates into significant cost savings over time. Moreover, its long lifespan reduces the need for frequent replacements, further enhancing its cost-effectiveness.

Another notable feature is its dimmable capability, allowing users to adjust the brightness according to their needs and preferences. Whether you need bright lighting for task-oriented activities or a softer glow for a relaxing atmosphere, this downlight offers the flexibility to create the perfect ambiance.

6" SlimLED Profile Round Recess Retrofit Downlight by Liteline

For those seeking a more rounded aesthetic, the 6" SlimLED Profile Round Recess Retrofit Downlight by Liteline is an excellent choice. This downlight combines modern design with high functionality, making it suitable for a wide range of interior spaces.

Like its square counterpart, this downlight is designed for easy retrofitting into existing 6-inch recessed housings. Its slim profile ensures that it can be installed in spaces with low ceiling clearance without compromising on performance. The round design adds a touch of elegance to any room, making it a popular choice for living rooms, dining areas, and bedrooms.

The 6" SlimLED Profile Round Recess Retrofit Downlight is also highly energy-efficient, consuming less power than traditional lighting options. This not only reduces energy bills but also contributes to environmental sustainability by lowering overall energy consumption.

This downlight is compatible with most standard dimmers, offering the same dimmable functionality as the square model. This feature is particularly useful for creating layered lighting schemes, where different light levels are used to enhance the mood and functionality of a space.

6" SlimLED Indirect Round Recessed Downlight by Liteline

If you're looking to create a soft, ambient lighting effect, the 6" SlimLED Indirect Round Recessed Downlight by Liteline is a perfect choice. This downlight is designed to provide indirect lighting, which means the light is reflected off the ceiling or walls before illuminating the room. This creates a warm, diffused light that is ideal for creating a cozy, inviting atmosphere.

The 6" SlimLED Indirect Round Recessed Downlight is particularly well-suited for spaces where glare-free lighting is desired, such as living rooms, bedrooms, and media rooms. Its indirect lighting effect is gentle on the eyes, making it perfect for relaxing environments.

Despite its indirect lighting design, this downlight still delivers ample illumination, thanks to its advanced LED technology. It is also energy-efficient, ensuring that you can enjoy beautiful lighting without worrying about high energy costs.

In addition to its aesthetic benefits, the 6" SlimLED Indirect Round Recessed Downlight is easy to install and compatible with most standard dimmers. This allows you to adjust the light level to suit different activities and moods, making it a versatile addition to any home.

6" SlimLED Indirect Square Recessed Downlight by Liteline

Rounding out our exploration of Liteline's SlimLED series is the 6" SlimLED Indirect Square Recessed Downlight. This downlight offers all the benefits of the round indirect model but with a sleek, square design that adds a modern touch to any space.

The 6" SlimLED Indirect Square Recessed Downlight by Liteline is perfect for those who appreciate the clean lines and contemporary aesthetic of square lighting fixtures. Its indirect lighting design provides soft, even illumination that enhances the ambiance of any room.

Like the other models in the SlimLED series, this downlight is highly energy-efficient, helping you save on energy costs while reducing your environmental impact. Its long lifespan means fewer replacements, making it a cost-effective choice for long-term use.

This downlight is also dimmable, allowing you to customize the lighting to suit your preferences. Whether you're hosting a dinner party or enjoying a quiet evening at home, the 6" SlimLED Indirect Square Recessed Downlight offers the flexibility to create the perfect lighting environment.

Conclusion

Liteline’s SlimLED series offers a range of high-quality downlights that combine energy efficiency, modern design, and versatile functionality. Whether you're renovating your home, upgrading your office lighting, or designing a new space from scratch, these downlights provide the perfect solution for any setting.

The 4" SlimLED Profile Square Recess Retrofit Downlight and the 6" SlimLED Profile Round Recess Retrofit Downlight are ideal for those looking for sleek, energy-efficient lighting that can easily retrofit into existing fixtures. On the other hand, the 6" SlimLED Indirect Round Recessed Downlight and the 6" SlimLED Indirect Square Recessed Downlight offer soft, indirect lighting that creates a warm, inviting atmosphere.

No matter which model you choose, you can trust that Liteline’s SlimLED downlights will enhance the beauty and functionality of your space while helping you save on energy costs. With their easy installation, dimmable capabilities, and long lifespan, these downlights are an excellent investment for any home or business in the US.