#Shapely attractor

[lovelyalicorn]

Well, I think it could be a giant blob of dark matter, because in my mind it makes sense since we can’t see it with telescopes. I’ve seen theories that it’s a super massive black hole, which I disagree with because you can detect and even take pictures of black holes, which you can’t with dark matter. Also, there are theories that have been supported that our galaxy is being attracted beyond the Great Attractor and to the Shapely Supercluster, which I also agree with since we have more evidence for it

I’m bored so ask me astronomy facts or questions. I wanna practice my astronomy knowledge.

[chonggen]

Quick new Oc

Really quick, she only took me 12hr. And behold my new art style.

Full name: Jia Zhutao (or just Tao)

Species: Hong Niang / Cat demon (she used to be a human before being a cat demon)

Gender: Female

Age: 1000+

Weapon(s): A fan like kunai

Home: Underworld

Alias(es): Ten Kings, Celestial Realms (except Li Jing, bc he wants to lock her up in the pagoda), Nine-headed Demon

Affiliation(s): Ten Kings’ subordinate

Occupation(s): Memory scrolls’ manager, Ten Kings’ diplomat, Soul seeker and attractor

Likes: Oleander, Meng Po Soup, cats, mortal realm, Yu Lan Festival, mortals’ celebrations

Dislikes: coriander, smelly food, dogs, work

Family: Jian Dumu - Twin brother

Friend(s): Nine-headed Demon, Meng Po, Nezha

Enemies: Li Jing

Status: dead? or it counts alive?

Abilities:

Hallucination- Tao can make it into visual, auditory, pain, etc. It is mainly used to suppress out-of-control souls. It can also be used on humans and demons, and they cannot be relieved by themselves. And also can create the phantom of objects, places, but she mainly create the souls’ family members to guide them and bring them to Meng Po.

Shape shifting- Tao can transform into cats, human, also can transform into the family member of the souls that completely out-of-control to appease them. Except the special case she mainly use it to go to the mortal realm.

Ability of seeing the wraiths (cursed souls)- Wraiths unlike the normal ghosts or souls, wraiths will only appear in people who have committed serious sins, which means that these people are the targets of her soul seek. And the wraiths only appear in the mortal realm and won’t appear in the underworld.

Teleportation- Tao can teleport to anywhere, but it only can be used at work or at the Yu Lan Festival (that festival is her vacation). And when she teleports a bunch of oleander petals appear.

Puppetry- Tao can possess people just like the Lady Bone Demon, but only can possess two at the same time.

Soothe the nerves- Tao has a scent that calms people down. The concentration of the smell can be adjusted, but if it is too strong it can cause coma.

Poisoned body- If Tao comes into physical contact with another person, they become poisoned and die immediately. However, it doesn't affect females or her brother.

Super hearing- Tao can locate sounds up to 100 meters away.

Personality:

She looks gentle, but she is a lazy person. Whenever she wanted to escape from work, she would go to Po Meng's place to be lazy. She doesn't work hard when searching for souls.

She’d never trust to the other except her friends, because during her lifetime, she was betrayed by her lover and sacrificed her twin brother. In order to no longer be betrayed by his lover and never devote himself wholeheartedly to a love, he also developed a habit of killing the other person after the love ended. Until she arrived in the underworld, became a soul seeker, and found her brother. No matter how close the relationship between the other party and her is, they can only become friends or besties at best.

[lmk-oc-competition]

LMK OC COMPETITION - ROUND 1

click to see full image

Jia Zhutao belongs to @chonggen

Chenguang belongs to @twinklecupcake (art credit: edited lmk screencaps)

Learn more about them below the cut!

Jia Zhutao:

Full name: Jia Zhutao (or just Tao) Species: Hong Niang / Cat demon (she used to be a human before being a cat demon) Gender: Female Age: 1000+ Weapon(s): A fan like kunai Home: Underworld Alias(es): Ten Kings, Celestial Realms (except Li Jing, bc he wants to lock her up in the pagoda), Nine-headed Demon Affiliation(s): Ten Kings’ subordinate Occupation(s): Memory scrolls’ manager, Ten Kings’ diplomat, Soul seeker and attractor Likes: Oleander, Meng Po Soup, cats, mortal realm, Yu Lan Festival, mortals’ celebrations Dislikes: coriander, smelly food, dogs, work Family: Jian Dumu - Twin brother Friend(s): Nine-headed Demon, Meng Po, Nezha Enemies: Li Jing Status: dead? or it counts alive?

Abilities:

Hallucination- Tao can make it into visual, auditory, pain, etc. It is mainly used to suppress out-of-control souls. It can also be used on humans and demons, and they cannot be relieved by themselves. And also can create the phantom of objects, places, but she mainly create the souls’ family members to guide them and bring them to Meng Po.

Shape shifting- Tao can transform into cats, human, also can transform into the family member of the souls that completely out-of-control to appease them. Except the special case she mainly use it to go to the mortal realm.

Ability of seeing the wraiths (cursed souls)- Wraiths unlike the normal ghosts or souls, wraiths will only appear in people who have committed serious sins, which means that these people are the targets of her soul seek. And the wraiths only appear in the mortal realm and won’t appear in the underworld.

Teleportation- Tao can teleport to anywhere, but it only can be used at work or at the Yu Lan Festival (that festival is her holiday ). And when she teleports a bunch of oleander petals appear.

Puppetry- Tao can possess people just like the Lady Bone Demon, but only can possess two at the same time.

Soothe the nerves- Tao has a scent that calms people down. The concentration of the smell can be adjusted, but if it is too strong it can cause coma.

Poisoned body - If Tao comes into physical contact with another person, they become poisoned and die immediately. However, it doesn't affect females or her brother.

Super hearing- Tao can locate sounds up to 100 meters away.

Personality:

She looks gentle, but she is a lazy person. Whenever she wanted to escape from work, she would go to Po Meng's place to be lazy. She doesn't work hard when searching for souls.

She’d never trust to the other except her friends, because during her lifetime, she was betrayed by her lover and sacrificed her twin brother. In order to no longer be betrayed by his lover and never devote himself wholeheartedly to a love, he also developed a habit of killing the other person after the love ended. Until she arrived in the underworld, became a soul seeker, and found her brother. No matter how close the relationship between the other party and her is, they can only become friends or besties at best.

Chenguang:

The daughter of Mei and Red Son, Chenguang is like her parents in so many ways (though, much to their relief, she didn't inherit the Samadhi Fire). Passionate, lively, kind, and possessing blue flames, Chenguang's the apple of her family's eyes - the ENTIRE family. In the future, she'll learn to fight and protect the city like the rest of them, but for now the Bull-Dragon Princess is just living her best life.

[lucrativesoul]

Divine Beings

summary: your new job at the town's old mansion-museum is a dream, but it's even more so to be working within its centuries old library. this building is fueled by the ancient lore of the undead walking the halls. it's all just tales, right? your archive master and new boss, Leon, knows all about those divine beings.

pairing: leon kennedy x female reader

word count: 13.0k

warnings: smut, borderline public sex (no voyeurism), blood ingestion

a/n: i can't begin to tell you guys how excited i am to be posting this. consider this my halloween gift, but we all know the darker genres are not just for the season! I had so much fun writing this. diving head first into this has really helped me through this rough time in my life situationships are hell and if no one got me at least leon got me :') (and u guys ofc) thank you so much for stopping by and reading, i really really hope you enjoy, and I promise to be back soon with another one. <3

“It won’t be too much of a challenge.” The soft voice coming from the woman in front of you bounced off the walls and high ceilings, making her even harder to decipher than she was in the first place. “All questions about the archive can be redirected to the master archivist, and I’m sure sooner or later you will be retaining all of that important information.”

You said nothing as you followed her down the hall, the click of your heels ever prominent amongst the deserted expanse. For a mansion built hundreds of years ago, they did well to keep it tidy and up to standard. You were impressed.

At the end of the long hall, yellow from the lamps glittering in intervals in the hall, you could see a grand set of large mahogany doors, intricately carved with inlays that you can only imagine must have taken just as long to complete as the residence itself. The initial nerves of the morning were gone, and now you were just more excited than anything to be able to enter one of the oldest libraries in a hundred mile radius, and now you work here. 

The smaller lady who was guiding you, whose name you have already forgotten, leaned all her weight on the doors and pushed both of them inward, the two slabs of wood swinging open revealing possibly your most anticipated sight of your life.

The entryway was one tiny landing, with large staircases birthing off the sides to your left and right, making a gentle curve to the main floor. The walls, well, simply put, there were no walls, rather everything that would have been a wall was lined floor to ceiling with bookshelves, each one packed with differing widths, heights, colors of books, paperback, leather, hardcover, fabric. In the middle of the room were more free standing shelves, still packed to the brim, and the occasional long wooden table with seats scattered about the room. Directly opposite the entryway was a large window, facing the front of the mansion, and it served as the main attractor to the building. Rectangular at the bottom, it shaped off at the top, nearly fifty feet high, in a gothic style pointed arch, nestled gently in between two, much skinnier, similarly shaped windows, which were fixed off at the top with stained glass, giving the brown room rays of color on the sunny days.

You stepped forward, and having seemingly expected this reaction, your guide didn’t say a word for a moment while you took in your grand view. You almost couldn’t speak. It was more than you were expecting. It was everything.

Though it was a sunny day, you already found yourself anticipating the oncoming bad weather, knowing the treacherous drive through the rain would be so worth it to be here on a rainy day.

“Let’s go down to the archive office.” The woman’s tone was gentle, knowing you most likely would not have moved from your spot if she didn’t push you along. You followed her down the left staircase.

There were a few stragglers in the grand room. The manion’s open hours were not near close yet, but you were surprised there weren’t more people here at this hour. You doubted that it had anything to do with the age old rumors about the estate, there was no way people truly kept away because of those tall tales. 

After coming off the staircase, you craned your neck up high, reveling in the surrounding papers and scrolls adorning the walls. You tried your best to keep up with the woman while also having your attention diverted, but had to fully look down when she ducked into a corridor below the main landing. 

This hallway was plain and simple, and you felt your resolve slowly crumble away as you remembered why you were here–a job. 

“The furthest of my knowledge is to bring you into the archive office and wait for the master archivist to meet you here. If you want to take a seat, he should be here shortly. Welcome to the museum crew.” She smiled at you, and after a thank you, you pulled out the seat in front of the desk and sat down. Alone in the room now, you turned your head to look at the surroundings, trying to gauge what type of environment this would be.

Despite your history in the field, you were still surprised when you got a call back wanting to have an interview, and when that went well and you were hired a week later, shock still warmed your body, paired with the growing excitement when you realized you would be working in the epicenter of your old town’s rich history museum and archive, and the home of all the town’s tall tales.

With all your years of studying classic literature spinning the yarn of mythical creatures, it was a no brainer when you saw this opportunity present itself. 

You jumped in your chair when your name was spoken in a low rasp. You turned around briskly.

“I’m sorry, you startled me.” You stood in an instant, extending your hand, ready to introduce yourself, but it appeared the stranger already knew who you were.

“It’s alright, many say I have that effect.” You sat down at his gesture to do so, and he walked around the opposite side of the bland, deep wooden desk. This man, instantly captivating, wore a simple white button down with a crisp black vest over top. He had a wiry pair of glasses tucked into the collar, where the top button lay opened. His hair was a dirty blonde, browning at the roots. The sharp contours of his face showed years of experience, and you caught no air of uncertainty from the way he presented himself. Intrigued would be an understatement.

“Did our lobby host introduce you well? I know one walk down the foyer isn’t nearly a fraction of the time needed to look around, but, maybe it gave a taste to what’s to come.”

You nodded gently, your eyes still trained on his face. “Oh, yes, she most definitely let me take it in for a moment. I can’t wait to know everything better.”

He nodded, shifting through a folder and some papers. You were almost embarrassed at how you couldn’t take your eyes away from him, not even for a second, hoping the staring would come second to whatever information he was about to share with you. 

“What drew you here? It’s quite tucked away.” He was still not looking at you, so you made no move to avert your own gaze.

“Well,” You began, taking a second to form a proper sentence. “I’ve always wanted to work in a grand archive like this one. It is just so full of new opportunities, new experiences. I’ve always loved this place.”

He nodded. “I felt the same as well. I wish I could tell you how swelled I was when I walked in here the first time, but it was so long ago, I barely remember it. Anyway,” He studied the paper intensely, then looked back up at you. You felt heated suddenly. “You had a pretty extensive background in literary culture, criticism, and classic studies. You were with a publishing branch for a few years?”

You nodded. “It didn’t pan out to my hopes, and I jumped at this chance when I saw they were on the hunt for a new archivist.”

He hummed. “I was. I was looking for someone new. Our last had left us suddenly, we had a vacancy.” You nodded again, the innate curiosity taking over about the ex-archivist. “So, you understand the majority of your job title, yes?” Nodded again, but said nothing so he could continue. “Basically, working side by side with me, the better half of our tasks will unfortunately be rearranging once the public comes through, they tend to leave things everywhere, I’m sure you know, and the other half is once our doors are closed, we do many of the repairs on the classics, restocking our souvenir books, and the tedious paperwork that comes along with the museum establishment.”

For a final time, you nodded. “I’m greatly looking forward to it.” 

Now, he looked into your eyes, and he tilted his head gently forward. “I’m greatly looking forward to you joining us. As of right now, it’s just me and one other, so now it’s three.”

You smiled, then it faltered a moment once you remembered something. “I’m sorry, I don’t know if you said your name.”

His lopsided grin painted a picture in your mind that you knew you would be seeing even when you closed your eyes. “Leon Kennedy. Master archivist.”

–

You hadn’t imagined you would live to see a day when you were looking forward to stepping into your place of work, but this had proven you wrong. You were motivated by the mere thought of being surrounded by all the books and pages, all the knowledge you could possibly dream about, learning something new every day.

But, you knew secretly since starting, you would be lying to yourself if you denied the effect that Leon had on your willingness to come in everyday. He greeted you with gentleness, and you couldn't help but always match his energy when you walked into the office in the morning hours. Always spotting the grin on his face at the sight of you as well. It grew to a blazing heat in your chest to see this reaction.

There was a routine you followed with great ease after only a week. It truly was the most of what Leon had said it would be, and to your own surprise, when curious visitors asked about the archive’s collections, you picked up on the correct answers faster than you had expected.

One of your favorite end of day tasks, oddly enough, was replacing the books that visitors had taken off the shelves to browse. It exposed you to so much literature and titles that you had or hadn’t heard of, and gave you a better idea of the archive itself, and its shelf locations. There was nothing more relaxing in your life than admiring the centuries of artform adoring these bookcases.

Here, you found yourself sliding leather bounds back into their places, reveling at every cover for as long as you could get away with, feeling the slick material slide under your fingers as you pushed them into their homes on the shelves. Taking two steps forward, looking down at the engraving in the cover, embossed in golden letters, you startle when you knock into something hard, grip hardening on the book so as not to drop or damage it.

“I’m so sorry, Leon. I didn’t even hear you coming. Very quiet.” He looked down at you, his deep black shirt sucking the color out of everything around him. An amused expression danced on his features.

“So people have told me. I was trying to find you earlier for a question, but you’ve eluded me for the last thirty minutes.”

You smiled gently, but had to avert your eyes down to the books you were still caressing, lest your eyes should wander over the fabric stretched thin over his upper arms. You did not need this mental image lasting with you for who knows how long.

“Sorry for that, but, here I am. What’s up?” 

Leon, so you have come to the conclusion, is much different than any overseer of a job you have had in the past. HIs gentle authoritative style pushed you in the correct direction he wanted you to take as an archive employee, but he never became harsh or strict with any of his guidelines. In fact, the way he approached conversation felt much more like a casual coworker rather than a boss. 

“I had an opportunity you may be interested in. Finish your tasks here, and come up to my office. We can discuss it, I think you’ll be intrigued.”

You nodded, but grabbed his attention quickly at the notice of a small piece of information. “Wait, Leon,” He turned around at the sound of his name. “Your office? I don’t know where that is, I don't think I have been there yet.”

He nodded slowly. “Of course, I forgot. I’ll wait over by the information desk for you to finish. Don’t rush.” 

You nodded, though he had already turned around. You took an extra second to trace his path with your gaze, wondering what this tight, breathless feeling in your chest was every time he was in your presence. 

With empty hands, you stalked over to the center of the room, finding Leon’s back to you, hands shuffling through a stack of folders. He disregarded them when he heard you approach.

“Follow me.” Then, with a small impressed gesture on his face, “Faster than I expected.”

You said nothing as you followed him through the library, watching his back intently as if something were going to happen any second. Surely he could feel the way you were staring, how could he not? If this were you, you would have felt someone looking all over you.

He presented you to a discreet door tucked into the back wall of the archive, a mere few feet away from the large windows, now letting the dying sunset light in to paint the room orange. He stepped aside to let you in first, but what you were expecting to see was nowhere in sight. Instead of an office, a room, even a closet with a desk, chair, and maybe even a computer, it was a staircase. A spiral staircase at that, and it looked like it went up at least thirty feet.

“Your office is up there?” You couldn't help but ponder out loud while staring listlessly, yet amazed, above. You heard him snicker behind you.

“It is. How could I not have taken that one when presented to me? Go on. They won’t get any shorter.”

You shook your head to snap yourself out of the sudden daze, and carefully took the steps. This location was painfully plain compared to the rest of the archive, and part of you understood why, but also wished you had something to look at on the way up.

The tall, dark, wooden door presented in front of you looked like an import from the homes of the finest wood slabs of ebony, intricate carvings on each of the inlays. Not even the doors of the archive looked like this, it seemed such a waste to be hidden up these stairs, guarding Leon's private office. Maybe he personally requested this door to be here. What an interesting design choice, if so.

You pushed it open, not waiting for further instruction as there would have been nothing else to do. This office held far more personality than the one you were used to seeing on the ground floor, and you were positive you could spend just as many hours dissecting the shelves in this little room as you could on the main exhibit.

It was clear this room was built out of what might have been a buttress back in the gothic ages, the ceiling was high, circular and pointed, raw wooden beams were exposed to support the cone roof above you. The shelves were rounded, contrasted with the straight edge ones below. Books that looked as old as the dawn of time were cluttered on these shelves, a thought that almost made you panic, the treatment of them would make their casings fall off their backs faster than usual.

Leon didn’t miss any of your observations. “These are from a collection that I couldn’t possibly put down on the main floor, obviously they have seen better days. They don’t need more of the public’s touch to wither them even further.”

You swallowed, and forced yourself to face him. He was taking a seat in a grand maroon velvet desk chair. Even that looked ornate. “Aren’t you worried handling them like this is even worse?”

He gestured at the seat in front of the desk, then shook his head. He spoke only when you sat down. “They have been with me for years, I know how they behave by now.”

You had nothing to say in return, so you simply affixed your gaze onto his, waiting to hear the reason he brought you up here.

“You’ve found a passion in this place, I can tell.” His voice was low, and it made you shiver. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone treat this place like a living entity.”

“It feels alive…” You started, but had no way to finish. He was drawing the words right from your mind. 

“I do believe so as well. What brought you here? Besides what you studied making this a readily available opportunity.”

You looked down for a moment. Truthfully, it was a little childish why you were here. You knew that much and you could at least admit that to yourself. But, could you admit that to Leon? It had turned out that you loved this place as much as you would love a home you had been in for years, this place never became a burden to walk into, and you doubted that it would ever become that. You didn’t know what kind of answer he was expecting to hear from you, but Leon could be trusted. You knew that well enough by this point. He expressed his gratitude to your presence to the archive many times and surely, don’t you owe him the truth for that?

“To be honest with you…” You started tentatively. His face showed no shift in expression. “I have loved this place since I was a child. Something about it, maybe the aura, drew me to it. That’s why I think I feel it… why it feels so alive to me.” He nodded, not interrupting your thoughts. “This town’s folklore is something I loved for all my life.”

This time, he closed his eyes and nodded slowly, as if finally understanding why you had come here. And, he did, as that once sentence, you knew, would explain to any local why you chose this mansion. This archive.

“Maybe that’s silly of me,” You shook your head at yourself slightly. “But I think I owe it to the child who directed my path in life.”

He smiled at you, no sense of mockery on his face. “Let me ask you this, though,” You sat still, waiting. “Do you believe?”

You did not need to think this time. “Yes. I do.”

Leon leaned back in his chair and let his forearms lay on the armrests by his sides. “I think you are wise for that. Many choose to stop believing in folklore once they hit such an age where they know stories from historical recounts, but, don’t you think the two meld together at some point?”

You nodded. “I have always believed in that. And as soon as I stepped in here… the minute I came here to get this job, and even as a child, when I saw this place, I knew the stories were true. There’s no way that this place doesn’t have its hidden secrets.”

“Hidden in plain sight. Everyone talks of the vampire roaming the halls.” Leon added.

You quirked a smile– you couldn't help it. “What’s not to believe about that? I can feel it when I'm here.”

Leon nodded, his smile not fading. After this conversation, you knew you made the right choice in choosing to trust Leon. How could you not?

“People are drawn here on the idea that they will spot him somewhere, but look far too closely. They think every staff member could be him in disguise. They look down every dark hallway wishing to see him slinking around the corner, trying to hide. They look in every window from the outside, thinking he is hiding from the sun. But, there comes the melding, and the separating of truth and fiction. Why should he be doing those things, because they believe it to be true, or because they were told to believe it?”

You had nothing to say to this at first. You knew Leon would be holding a plethora of information on the mansion-museum’s lore as being home to the city's resident vampire from centuries ago. You couldn’t consume enough information on the idea, and yet, Leon still stunned you with what he had to say about it, simply because he had been here to see the behavior of those who believe in him. You wished he would keep talking about it, but knew that the premonition of a mythical being lurking the hallways was probably not the reason he brought you up here to talk about in the first place.

“Your candor is appreciated here.” He held his smile, and his eyes were sincere along with his spoken words. The windows didn’t allow an incredible amount of light into the room, the lamp sitting by his side on the desk casting a yellow haze over the space, the red lampshade drenching everything above in a blood tint. Even through this distortion, you could see how blue his irises were. Icy. A tingle ran across the skin of your arms.

“Now, for what you are actually up here for.” He broke the gaze, and you involuntarily released a sigh of relief. Looking down at his desk, in nothing in particular, you noticed there was nothing of importance on its surface, he continued. “Every so often, for no reason other than to bring variety in, we have a few shelves in the center of the floor that we rearrange to bring in new displays, or to shift the attention to something else.” You nodded, and you were sure you knew he was going to ask for your assistance in moving everything. You didn't mind. “Right now the table has displays of books on the history of witchcraft and others of the sort, quite fitting for the upcoming season, but quite the insult to the monument they’ve decided to promote within.” He sighed. You couldn’t help but smile. “But, I think we can get even better.”

“I have ideas. I think I could help with this.”

Leon smiled wider. A gesture he doesn't often show to the general patronage. It made you feel warm. “That’s what I was hoping you would say. Now, though, an unfortunate part.” He sighed, and his smile disappeared. More shivers took place in your body of the heat. “I would prefer it to be done by the end of this week, and because the mighty institution is using the Halloween season to promote museum ticket sales,�� Another sigh. “They’ve extended our opening hours. Now, we, as the archive, do have the liberty to close our area before they close the museum’s doors, but I've been strongly advised against doing so.”

You nodded again, listening. He shrugged, looking at you, as if waiting for an input you didn’t know you should give. You squeaked out an agreement.

“I would like to shift two days of your hours to overnight. Would that be a problem?”

“It’s not. This is my full time job now, so I'm at your expense.”

He chuckled softly at your words. “Not an expense, just… assistance.”

Nonetheless, even if Leon did agree to your words of expense, you would be agreeing. He told you the guidelines, don’t come in for the day shifts, just come in for the nighttime. He handed over a key, an old, brass one that he told you would unlock the large archive doors after hours. You agreed with no hesitation, of course.

You had discovered soon after this, that fear could exist in the same plane as excitement. Really, isn’t fear just an overwhelming excitement of something unknown? Standing in front of the mansion, you craned your neck as far back as your body would allow. The looming building was dark, save for a few spotlights, but other than that, it was as dead as the night around you. The suspicious lack of insect and animal life noises was eerie, but you swallowed that lump of nerves, and walked up to the front.

As Leon instructed you, flashing your badge to the night guards let you right through, and you followed the path you have come to know so well that led right to the archive doors. 

It was a strange aura that surrounded you, one that made you hesitate briefly before unlocking, and relocking yourself inside. The air was so still, and that life you felt pulsing through the corridors on a daily basis was missing now. There was nothing, no one, no noise to fill your ears, so the blood pumping through was your only solace now. Before you could sit on this any longer and unease yourself further, you moved on.

The lock slid cleanly into place, and the resounding click that was heard resonated throughout the hall. You pushed the door open, wanting to get away from any undead lurking eyes that may be watching you. 

Not turning to shut the door behind you, you stared out into the vast expanse of the dark archive. The shelves were still, though shadows flitted in between them as if dancing with the moonlight. Every time you blinked, dark figures appeared at the edge of your vision, teasing your brain, making a shudder do its rounds throughout your nervous system. Though you loved this place, the nighttime gave it a whole new personality you weren’t sure you were quite ready to uncover. 

Turning to your right, you flipped the first two lightswitches, casting a spotlight down onto the center of the floor, and one at the door where you stood. You nearly jumped out of your skin when you turned back around.

“Leon!” You cried out.

Said man was in the center of the floor, as if coming out to greet you like it was the middle of the day. He had on a white button down, the first two loose around his neck, and his hair falling lazily over the left side of his forehead. It took even longer for your breath to still.

“You’re here?” You gasped out.

“Yes, I was wondering when you would get here. I guess you are right on schedule, though.” You carefully fled down the stairs, not taking your eyes off Leon, curious if he would disappear again. 

“Here with all the lights off? How could you see?” He didn’t answer your question until you were now face to face with him, having placed your belongings on the staircase, figuring you would not be spending much time in the office.

He shrugged slowly. “You get used to it after a while. There’s something about this place at night, I don’t get many chances to enjoy it with only myself.” You said nothing to this, just trying to digest his logic. There was no point in arguing it.

“Well, we should probably get started then?” He smiled softly at your words and flung instructions at you, making the night go by as if you were asleep through it all. 

With half of the display moved, Leon had stalked away to the main office, and you cleaned up the floor to pass until he let the both of you out. Standing next to the tall shelves, facing the window, you almost started to understand what Leon had said earlier. There is something about the place at night.

You had never thought you would get to experience that, though, of course. What other chance would you be wandering throughout these aisles all alone at night, with all the lights off? You were curious now, and jealous that Leon had been the one to experience that, and you might not ever.

You walked slowly towards the window, the lights behind you fading the further you went from them. Your fingertips grazed the edges of the shelves you walked along, as if picking up all the information held on them in one little touch. The night looked cold from where you stood, and you almost felt the temperature on your skin in that instant. The moon was full and bright, and it lit up your skin like the lights now behind you. Though these walls were thick and with plenty of objects in the room to muffle the sound, it could not drown out the roaring chorus of crickets perched in every branch right outside the glass. The chirps matched the beating of your heart, and soon the rush of blood was replaced by the insects' whispers, a cacophony of life, your vessel was the audience.

You saw yourself in the glass. Your skin lit up by the moon's graces, the hollows of your face carved out in deep shadows, you became painted into the history within these mansion walls, and you looked as if you always belonged. Eternal.

“The moon is bright.” 

You gasped and startled again, turning swiftly to see Leon peering over your shoulder, looking at the same illusive mirror that you were. “You should stop doing that Leon, I’m going to have a heart attack one of these days.” You breathed out a laugh. 

“I thought I was obvious enough, but I suppose not.” He looked past you back into the window again. “The moonlight makes you look marvelous.”

Your stomach twisted. You felt a blush rise to your cheeks, and couldn't help but turn back around to look again, and dare you say, you agreed. Your airbrushed skin, even flawless in the reflection of the glass, a gentle chiaroscuro against the vast emptiness behind you. Except for–

“Full moon nights are when I feel the most company here. I think she wants to be alive here as well.” You turned again, seeing Leon having unmoved from directly behind you. The cool blue light sitting atop his cheekbones, highlighting strands of blonde hair, contrasting the blaze of his hazel eyes, which were unrelenting on you. He, too, was a relief sculpture under the coalescence of the moon and the shadows. Where was his portrait to be viewed next to yours?

“Yeah, I… I agree now.” Though you felt a shiver crawl through you, you couldn’t make yourself turn around again to look. Your body was preventing you from doing so. Simply, you could only walk past Leon, back onto the main floor.

The ride home along in your car proved no more solace than you were hoping. You could see the silhouette of the mansion grow smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror, and it felt like departing from a friend who did nothing but tell all their troubles. It was hard to believe how quickly your image of the place shifted, though, you still felt so drawn, and so attracted to the premises. And, not to mention, the man within its walls.

What you saw puzzled you. Simply, it had been a trick of the light. You knew that there was no way the light from the moon was able to reach every point of the floor, so he was standing in the shadow. But, how had he approached so silently? Leon was always so silent. This wasn’t the first time the man has snuck up on you. A few others have said he gives them a fright as well, but it seems to happen to you much more often.

Leon was an enigma, in more ways than one. He spoke in riddles, or it felt like it. You read plenty of classics in your time studying literature, and it was as if he had taken his vocabulary straight from works published a century ago. With a borderline transatlantic accent, it always took you a moment to decipher his sentences. It wasn’t as if he read too many of the classics, it was like he came from one. 

As silly as the idea might sound to others, you believed it fully. It was just a tall tale from times past, warning people of a monster that didn’t exist. They kept the legend going to fuel tourism and sell museum tickets, but some still believed, and one of those some was you. You felt this answer in your heart fully and truly, and while it scared you to a degree, it awoke an excitement as never before felt in you. That almost scared you more.

There was no way that Leon wasn’t the vampire roaming the halls of the old mansion and archive.

His aura was one you had never felt in a person before. You have been attracted to people in the past, but you never felt someone so physically radiant that it was almost tangible. His gaze cut right through you like the sharpest knife, bringing a stinging trail along your skin as well as the burning desire to feel it again. It was undeniable, you had never felt such an insane attraction to someone you barely knew, yet, knowing that plus your newfound discovery, which you fully believed in, you wanted to dive headfirst into this unknown territory to explore. 

All day this weighed on your mind. You couldn’t rid Leon’s image from your thoughts. You couldn’t deny, even without the personality that occupied your thoughts, he was one of the most handsome men you had ever seen. He was picturesque in form, a painting made by the most skilled hands. You were ashamed to admit, only slightly, that you were dying to know more about the maps of his body. He always hid under button up shirts, but none that were ever too big that you couldn’t tell he had large biceps, most of the time the sleeves rolled up so the veins in his forearm protruded with movement. The sight always made your mouth dry.

You had to assume, only based on these facts, that he must have been fit, and if he was, which you had no doubt of, paired with his stunning profile, you weren’t sure how you made it so far into this job without making an attempt to pass out in his arms.

As expected, you could think of nothing else leading up to the hours you had to join him back for the second overnight shift. You honestly forgot the whole purpose of you going at this time, all of that having been pushed to the side in favor of thinking of the man in charge of the place. You were nervous, yet anticipated your arrival, hoping to gain more clues to back up your (unwavering, in your mind) hypothesis.

The guards let you in without the flash of your badge. You slinked quietly through the main hall, footsteps bouncing off of every surface. There wasn’t a soul in sight, yet you felt life all over your body. 

The key slid into the lock with ease, and the tell tale clink of the turn mechanism followed.

“Leon?” Your voice echoed through the archive as you shut the door behind you. The lights were off, once again.

You bound down the steps, dropping your belongings on the same stair as the previous night. This time, instead of heading right to the center of the floor to converge with Leon, you stood still on the last step.

“Leon?” You asked again after the man did not do his magical appearance trip at your entry. You felt a cold chill run over your skin. Now, you feel more alone than before. For the first time since becoming involved in the archive, the aisles and books were more sinister than inviting, and every dark corner had a spirit watching you.

You slowly left the stair you held solace on, and walked forward into the center of the room. It felt like every shelf and spine were staring at you with wide eyes, waiting for you to make a wrong move. You wanted to get to work, but you could barely will yourself back up the stairs to the lightswitch. You looked around again as if begging for help from a bystander who was not there.

There was a sudden shift in the air. You weren’t sure now if it was real or if you were hallucinating, but you felt a constricting sensation in your chest, and you felt not alone anymore. Leon was nowhere in sight, but you knew someone else was here.

Suddenly, you couldn’t take it anymore. The silence was enveloping you like a thick rope, and your breath was coming out sloppy. You had to leave.

You took one step backwards and hit a wall behind you. You yelped, not remembering stepping anywhere else besides the center of the room. You turned, and nearly jumped higher out of your body at the sight of what, or who, was behind you.

“You were down here with the lights off. Is something wrong or are you trying out my methods?”

Leon stood before you, in his usual uniform of a white button down shirt and black pants. His hair looked longer tonight, not pushed back with gel, but soft waves were falling across his face, pushed aside to let his sculpted face show through. Here, in the dark, he was much more brooding than he could have ever come across during your typical shifts. That gaze was not the friendly one you had seen in times past.

“No, no I just…” You swallowed, the words falling right out of your mouth. “I thought you would be here. Well, you are, now, but…” You gestured behind you, still feeling the presence of non-existent bodies. 

Leon slowly nodded at your words, not moving towards you, but you felt his presence getting closer. 

“I have been here. I was in the office.” He gestured behind him lazily, to the office you were used to frequenting as an employee. The door was closed.

You shook your head. “I didn’t hear you, though.” You looked again at the door, and when you looked back into his eyes, he knew what you were thinking. He was lying, and he knew you knew that. 

“You know I’m quiet.” His tone felt like a surge straight from your head to your feet, rooting you into place no matter how much you urged your brain to send movement to your limbs.

“Well…” You pushed words out of your throat. “I guess let’s finish this, then.” You broke eye contact and finally felt your body moving forward, but you knew he was still looking at you. You could feel it. 

The moon, if it were even possible, was even brighter this night. It’s full face projected into the windows like a spotlight, and once you were able to put your body into motion and further the project of moving book displays, you barely paid note of how Leon never turned the lights on for the both of you. Maybe he could see perfectly well.

It was nearing one in the morning at this point, and you had one last stack to move. You made gentle conversation with Leon throughout, refusing to put on a strange facade solely off of your own thoughts. He reverted back to his normal state, though normal is a generous word to use for a man like Leon. 

You walked back to the table being used to house books while they are moved, and picked up the last stack. Bram Stoker, Dracula.

This made you snap your head up. You were sure this hadn’t been on the list set to display, yet, here it was. You looked around, trying to search out Leon to question him about this last minute addition. But, as expected, you realized, he was nowhere to be seen. In fact, you don't remember what he was doing last.

“Leon?” You looked back over to the office door, still closed. You would have heard if he went in there and closed it behind him. You put the stack of books down and walked (slowly, you now felt that desolate aloneness again) over to the back right corner, towards Leon’s private office.

You could not make yourself walk any quicker than the snail pace you currently set. It was odd, and you knew if you were afraid you should be walking faster, but for some reason, surrounded by these books and shelves, you felt as if the faster you moved, the quicker you would be caught. Caught by what? You couldn’t answer that question, yet the word suddenly appeared in your head to describe the situation.

You were distracted on the way to the back. You thought, again, you saw a drift of black smoke waft by as if it were another hallucination. You stopped in your tracks, heart in your throat. You shifted paths, only momentarily, you were now desperate to be back in the company of Leon, your supposed vampire master archivist.

The carpet below you muffled your footsteps, but still, you noticed they were loud enough to be heard, unlike how Leon had been appearing from behind you out of thin air. You almost had to squint as you walked by the windows, the moonlight a sudden burst of fireworks in contrast to the dim workspace you had been habiting. As expected, after leering around the corners, hoping to sneak up on the entity, there was nothing but empty space.

There was a light pattering at the window, and you turned your head to see the sky spitting down on you. The window, slowly becoming stained with raindrops, still held that brush stroked image of you, forever intertwined within the archive. It was a hypnotizing image, as if you no longer recognized yourself the more the rain came down. It was a comforting sound, the taps of the drops on the glass filling the void. It felt like another presence, and it calmed you down to a degree, as calm as you could allow yourself to get.

There was a creak from behind you, as if someone had opened a door, or stepped on a stair. You whipped back around, hoping to see Leon at this point, but still, he was nowhere to be seen. The room was still, everything untouched, but your eyes still scanned every crevice, convinced you were going to miss something if you weren’t careful. 

The rain was still sounding off behind you, and you could see the bending of the light as it cast onto the floor. It was the only thing moving. You were far too on edge now.

You turned back to the window…

“Leon!” You took a step back, now more afraid than surprised at his sudden appearance. “Where did you come from? I’ve been looking for you.” You took a huff, trying to catch your breath from his genuinely scaring you. He was standing in front of the window, the moon behind him casting into a deep silhouette, face barely available. 

“I’ve been here the whole time.” His voice was lower than before now, and you could barely piece together thoughts. He turned his head to the side, as if surveying the room that you were just inspecting. His eyes caught a glimpse of the light, and you saw the deep yellow in them. It sent a sudden pit to your stomach, and a memory to flash in front of your eyes.

The day he had taken you up to his office, and you spoke about the legends of the vampire, and why you were drawn to the house. You remember the look he gave you when he had said he appreciated your honesty. 

Leon had blue eyes that day. That color was nowhere to be seen now.

You swallowed, trying to moisten your mouth in order to speak. “No… no you weren’t. I looked for you. You disappeared. And you just came out of nowhere. What is going on with you, Leon?” As hard as you tried to suppress it, you heard the trembling sounds that came out of your mouth. It was audible that you were panicking, and he knew it. 

He stared at you for another moment. His arms were clasped behind his back. “What are you afraid of?”

The rumbling of his voice shot straight through you, to your dismay, and you forced all your composure together to face him without folding.

You gave him a once over, trying to find… something, that might give him away. What you were looking for exactly, you couldn’t say, but you couldn’t stare into his eyes any longer, especially having realized they were not the same eyes you saw a few days ago.

“You’re just… being odd, Leon.” You looked back into his eyes, or what you could see of them from underneath the shadows. Being this close to him, you felt like you were suffocating, and you needed air. “I would like to finish this now.”

You slowly side stepped him, Leon still unmoving in his position against the window. You sighed and turned your head, catching your rain-distorted reflection once again. It was you, a mirror image of someone suffering the same mystifying scenarios as you were in the present moment, standing ever alone against the bookshelves, not offering the comfort they usually do. 

You stopped short in your tracks and did a double take. Now your body was fully turned toward the window. 

Your reflection stared at you, looking just as perplexed as you did. Without shifting your eyes to the side, you saw the equally distorted reflection of the wooden shelves, illuminated under the lunar glow. You saw your empty hands, you saw the dark hallway behind you, and out of your peripheral vision you saw that Leon had not moved from his spot yet… yet you could not see him.

Leon was not present in the reflection. 

You could do nothing but stare in shock and slight horror as you watched the whole scene unfold. A part of you was now realizing, though you had put two and two together in the comfort and safety of your own home, now in the presence of the man and seeing the evidence with your own two eyes, your veins ran cold, and you could not will yourself to move. Not until Leon did.

He shifted, you couldn’t even turn your head to watch. Now he was out of any point of view you had, but you felt his presence press himself against your back, staring into the same image you were. It was the most disorienting experience, feeling Leon’s body behind you, yet not seeing him peering over your shoulder. It didn’t take an expert for him to know how you were feeling in this moment, and you were also sure he knew exactly what conclusion you had just come to.

“What are you thinking?” His deep voice presented itself directly in your ear, and you felt the featherlight graze of his lips on the shell. You could feel the strands of his hanging blonde waves hit your cheek, and while your eyes stung like you wanted to cry, a blaze set itself alight within your body at his proximity.

You could only shake your head slowly at first. “You…” You fumbled over your words, unable to take your eyes off of the glass. The mysterious image of only you and not the person directly behind you will forever be burned into memory. “What are you?”

You heard him inhale slowly. You felt the heat from his face lift away from yours, but it only moved up a fraction, his mouth now pressing closely into your hairline. 

“Don’t you know already? You’re a smart girl.” He was condescending with his words, most surely using what you had told him a few days ago against you now. All that talk you did about you believing the legend of the mansion’s vampire, yet here you were, standing right in front of him and refusing to say it out loud.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Your voice was barely louder than a tremble. “You let me run my mouth like a fool in your office, and you didn’t even tell me that I was right this whole time.” Your tongue was so dry, speaking became a task. Your fingers were growing numb, but you still found it hard to move.

He snickered, and you felt the air from his breath fan your face. “And ruin the surprise? I’d much rather see the look on your face after you put it together yourself than having told you right then and there. There’s nothing I love more than when I see someone realize the reality of their convictions. Quite especially someone like you.”

You closed your eyes. It was all you could stand to do at this moment. You shot them back open, however, when you felt his broad hand at your back, pushing you forward, closer to the glass. 

Walking closer to the window with the rain now coming down steadily against it, he released where he had put his hand, but did not remove himself from your closeness. 

“What do you see?” 

He said nothing more, waiting for you to find the composure to be able to speak properly again. As hard as you tried to look past your bleary visage to the outside world, it was nearly impossible. It was dark as ever out there, the moon unrelenting in her radiance. 

After a few more seconds, “Myself.” You heard Leon hum from behind you. 

“And?” He egged you on.

You shook your head. “That’s it. I can see the moon. The rain.” Your voice grew softer, body relaxing slowly, but for what cause, you weren’t able to find. You involuntarily let out a low sigh when you felt the tips of his fingers crawl up the right side of your neck, settling on your jaw. He pushed your head to the side, enough to expose the canvas of flesh in the reflection.

“Curious… Don’t you think?” His hand flitted lower, raising a trail of goosebumps along the tender skin. A finger pressed inward, right underneath the crook of your jaw, feeling the pulse of your bloodstream. “How much of yourself you can see, the first thing you always notice, for the living must look and be vain.”

Chills spread quickly throughout your body. His hand felt shockingly warm, the opposite of what you would have expected from the typical vampirical lore. 

“You… you don’t know what you look like?” You whispered.

“How should I? I’m not able to unless someone lets me know, but even then, do I want to?”

You said nothing for a moment, trying to breathe through the weakness in your abdomen at his touch, which was still laid over the tender place on your throat.

“I’d like to think you still look the same as the day you stopped aging.” He hummed again at your words. Despite his remark of not knowing if he would like anyone to tell him what he looked like, he let you continue in your description. “You’re like a sculpture. Rough around the edges but so blended out, only made by hands whom the gods approved of.” His hand left your pulse, settling on the crook of your neck and shoulder, slightly squeezing. You couldn’t see, of course, but you felt that he still held his face close to yours. “You’d almost be better fitted walking the main halls as a work of art than hiding in these books.”

“That is very affirming to hear from a woman like you.” A breath of silence, then he continued. “You’ve always known, you always believed, and you know what I am. I’m quite drawn to you, I am long familiar with the feeling of someone who is covered in fear, it’s nowhere present on you.” He brought his lips down back to your ear, and you felt his left hand sneak around your waist. Your knees almost buckled. “You’re captivating… I cannot bring myself to keep things professional at all times.”

You were now, truly, at a loss for words, however he did not take your silence as resilience. The hand that was not around your waist was now pushing down the shoulder of your top, revealing the smooth skin. You shuddered again, letting your eyes close once more, and you gave in to the physical feelings over trying to rationalize anything verbally. 

“I can’t stand here and deny myself from trying to get to you any longer. I have to know… I must know…” His voice was a borderline growl in your ear now, and you shocked yourself with the smallest whimper that poured over your lips. It only fueled him. 

You were pushed forward by a sudden force from Leon, both hands coming up to brace yourself against the window. You were glad no one had ever turned the lights on, if any of the guards decided to walk the perimeter, surely you would have been seen.

Interestingly enough to you, despite being in the current position you were, you no longer felt any anxiety from being in the presence of your manifested form of Leon the vampire. Though he did stand there and confirm it all to you, no part of you felt like you needed to run away any longer. In fact, the contrast between the cold window and his warm body was all the convincing you needed to stay.

“I would never do this on an ordinary day, if it were anyone else I would fight these urges, but with you… I just find myself succumbing to something I wanted so suddenly.” His mouth moved against the skin of your neck, and you arched back into his body behind you. “I will not continue unless you tell me not to, but you should know I need more than just the one thing from you right now…” 

The deep octaves of his voice had your thoughts swimming, and any rational mind had flown far out the window. There was nothing to argue with when there was nothing you felt the need to refuse. 

“I…” A gasp from you, collecting breath you had not known you were holding. “I can’t let you do this then let you loose. This is too far beyond simplicity now.” Your breath fogged the window, and you couldn't help but notice once more how you could only see your bare shoulder in the glass, and not his large hand around the bone.

“I would never,” His lips were tucked up under your jawline, the vibrations from his voice being felt all over your body. A kiss would be less intimate. “You’re mine.”

At once, his hand on your waist tightened and he opened his mouth, his sharp fangs pierced the flesh right underneath your pulse and you gasped loudly, the pinch making you stiffen at first, then making your legs lose balance.

Leon’s hot mouth on your throat was like a painkiller compared to his teeth sunk into you, and his hand held you steady as you slowly felt the need to fall to your knees. He removed his right hand from your shoulder and wrapped it underneath your right arm, crossing over your chest to hold you steady against him, and the more you gasped and writhed at him feeding, the closer he pulled you into him.

He was groaning into your neck, his tongue swiping over the stinging wounds after he had retracted his fangs, and every time more blood pulsed out of the surface, he rocked his hips into you, and you could tell he was enjoying this in more ways than just the one. And, something you never would have believed you would get to admit, you were growing more excited with every passing second as well.

“Leon…” You whispered, unable to find strength to raise to your full voice. You clenched your eyelids shut, a burst of white filtering through the darkness. Your limbs started trembling. “Please…”

With a gasp from the man, he pulled his mouth off of your neck, the cold air stinging the once warm location. He pulled you close into his body. He was breathing heavily.

With his still low and raspy voice, he spoke again, his body twitching against yours from the rush of adrenaline. “With one taste now, I’m not sure I will ever be able to stay satiated without your blood again,” You tilted your head back, resting it on his. He held you up. “You remind me of a time when being alive meant something greater than just a state of being to me. For as long as I can…” He adjusted his head, and you felt the tip of his nose grace your jaw. It made you jump at first, afraid to feel those piercing teeth again, but he let you revel in the soft touch. “I cannot let another claim you to be theirs.”

Leon brought his left hand back upward on your body, caressing your face and directing it sideways to look at him. His eyes were burning bright with gold, and your hazy vision locked onto it like a target. 

“Tell me yes,” He whispered now, his mouth grazing yours. You were barely hanging on, the blood loss creating more of a haziness than you were expecting, but you would have been able to say this answer even if you could barely speak. You had made your mind up about this with Leon a long time ago. 

“Yes, Leon,” You breathily replied, and the grip on both of his hands intensified, capturing your body even closer to his if it was possible, and came down onto you in a heated kiss.

He held the side of your face to keep you upright, and it only made you melt further. His strong hands and arms were the sole reason you hadn't fallen to the floor by now, your mind was swimming and all of your nerves were aflame. You were barely paying any attention to the dull throbbing coming from the two pinpricks in your neck. 

Leon, you could tell immediately, was a passionate lover. He made sure to keep you close to him at all times, afraid at any moment you could run away, from him, from this archive, from this experience. You knew you could never do that, not after such a bond had already been created by letting him feed off of you. His arms were solace in this moment, and his mouth a lifesaver, ironically.

He gently bit at your lips, and when he pulled away for you to catch your breath, you could taste blood. It was your own, you knew, but some sick inner part of you loved the thrill it sent through you. You wanted more.

His mouth was back on your skin in an instant, this time by your cheek, ear, down to your jaw and neck. You flinched when he landed on the bite mark, but he only trailed over it with a light kiss, he didn’t intend on reopening them. One of your hands came down off of the cold glass, now fogged from the heat from the two of you, to wrap around his wrist. You could barely stand, and wanted to stay in his embrace, but needed to look at him.

At your touch, he slowly let you go, and when there was enough space for movement, you turned carefully, purposefully not leaving his contact.

You shuddered at the cold window on your back, but felt heat flood your senses again when you looked into his eyes. Leon loomed over you, gaze full of lust, chest heaving with having spent energy on you, but you knew he had more to give. And you had more you could take.

You grabbed the front of his shirt by the middle and pulled him closer to you. He wasted no time in coming where you had beckoned him, hand slithering around your waist to draw you in again. 

After a breath, you spoke, “I can’t… I don’t think I can stand for long,” Your eyes fluttered shut for a few seconds at a time, and you couldn’t help but to let them. 

The other hand that hadn’t worked its way around your waist trailed down your side, over the curve of your hips and thighs, and took solace underneath.

“Don’t worry about that,” It took only a second at most for him to lift you, settling himself in between your legs, back still pressed against the window. Leon’s hand was gripping your thigh, and the other was still behind you. Your own arms wrapped around his neck suddenly, and it brought you face to face with him once again. “I’ve got you. I won’t drop you.”

You sighed at his words, thankful he was now holding you, as that surely would have been the breaking point, and you would have been in a puddle on the floor by now. You let your head roll back, hitting the window with a dull thud, but any pain that might have happened due to it was nowhere to be felt, with other sensations at the forefront of your nerve system.

Leon had pressed himself against you again, the hardness of his cock through his pants pressing incessantly against your heat, he reattached his lips to your throat, nipping and sucking at the soft skin, eliciting mewls from your mouth at his touch.

Your hands explored ceaselessly along his strong arms, his biceps flexing from holding you, from the excitement coursing through his own body, and you couldn’t help but arch back into him, trying to get even closer than possibly allowed. You felt him pull away again, and you wrapped one hair through his soft blonde locks and pulled him back, connecting your lips in fervor, kissing him like your life source was dependent on you staying alive.

HIs lips were soft and hot, you were addicted to the taste. The tang of your blood mixed on his tongue danced with the shared saliva between you, and with every kiss you wished you could get even closer to him. You tugged on his hair, but it was as if he couldn’t even feel it, he was too wrapped up in you.

His tongue roamed your mouth, both soon becoming slick with spit and sweat between your bodies, and you couldn’t take the heat anymore. 

You pulled away, only by an inch but with enough space to whine out, “Leon, please,”

No more communication was needed, he understood your words. Maybe if you let it go on any longer, he would now just by whatever your body was telling him.

The arm he had around your waist snaked back to your side, and dipped down in between the two of you. Leon kissed your neck once, your head still relaxed against the window, unable to conjure the energy to move. You shivered with his touch along your thigh, the casual sweater dress you had on now becoming a good idea. You thanked your past self.

“If I continue will you let me,” He spoke into your neck, close enough to your ear for you to hear the low rumble of his voice. “I got a taste of you, but I know it won’t be enough.” His hand was already caressing the tender skin of your inner thigh, causing waves of chills and heat though your body and straight to your core. He was mere inches away from pulling aside your panties and running his fingers along your wetness, and you didn’t know if you could wait for that any longer.

“I need you Leon,” You whispered, and tried to turn your head to face him as best as you could. “I’ll let you forever.” 

He sighed, but it was closer to a growl. He thrust his hips forward, creating a delicious friction in between the two of you, and you couldn't stop the moan that escaped. Your hand was still laced in his hair, and he inhaled sharply, in pleasure rather than pain, every time you pulled hard. 

You whined out loud when he withdrew the hand that was so close to putting fingers inside of you, but you quickly quieted down when he utilized it instead to work apart the clasp of his belt and button of his pants. He had no intentions of wasting time, though this was a man that had all in the world. 

You lifted your head with the surge of energy you found at the sound of this and attempted to look down, needing to feed your eyes before he fed your pussy. He caught you before you could make the move, smashing your lips together once again, but you didn’t mind the distraction, it was a better way to pass the time rather than have your mouth empty. 

Leon wrigled himself around for a moment, attempting to pull himself out with one hand. He sighed after he accomplished this, pulling away from your mouth, but instantly was back on your neck. This time, he gave you what you wanted.

With his other hand still supporting your thigh, and showing no signs of getting tired of this action, he replaced his hand back inside your dress skirt, but skipping right over its previous position. Instead, he placed the pad of his thumb right onto the gusset of your panties, pressing with enough force to give you the friction you were desperate for. You gasped out loud, and he only continued this action to make you writhe against him.

The hand that was not tangled in his hair traveled down his chest, feeling the hard ridges of his muscles and bones, toying with the buttons of his shirt to pull them apart. When he felt your hand touch his bare chest, you could feel the muscles flex for a second. 

He decided he had had enough of the teasing, though he was the one doing it to you. He roughly pulled aside your panties, and your mouth dried up at the action. Your breath hitched, and you knew what was coming.

He pulled away from your skin for a second to look into your eyes. You could feel yourself slowly slipping away, the dizziness from the blood loss slowly fading, but that strength was whisked away instantly by the arousal pooling in every crevice of your body. Leon’s eyes were half lidded, pupils blown, mouth slightly parted. You could tell just by looking at him that he barely had anything else on his mind. Just the few sips of your elixir gave him enough energy to last the whole night, most likely.

“I’m sorry if I get rough,” You felt the vibrations of his words through his chest, which you still had one hand firmly planted on. “Everything is heightened now and…” He swiped through your clothed pussy again, making you buck your hips forward. “You are irresistible, and it’s doing something to me… That I haven’t felt in a long time.”

You said nothing, or rather, didn’t have the time to, as after he concluded speaking, his fingers breached the threshold of your panties and he slipped a finger through your wet folds, making you inhale sharply and press yourself further against him. He leaned forward, pinning you fully against himself and the window, using his teeth to gently bite at your neck again. 

He proceeded to stay buried in your neck for the next minute or so, his fingers going back and forth from teasing your entrance to applying pressure on your clit, making you whine and wiggle around in his hold. Every time you moaned breathily right next to his ear, he growled lowly.

The rain continued to pound on the window behind you, mirroring the feeling of your dripping heat, tightening around nothing as Leon continued to tease you, the feeling of his twitching head would occasionally press against you, and you desperately tried to rut forward to put it in, but he held you in place. 

Finally, when he did decide to show mercy on your state, you whined so sharply your voice cut in and out of audibility, his thick fingers stretching you in a way that felt like bliss, no matter if any pain occurred. He thumbed your clit while slowly pumping his fingers in and out of you, feeling yourself grow slicker with every stroke, the movement becoming less and less resistant as he worked you open.

Surely he was able to feel your thighs trembling in his hand, your legs twitching with the feeling of his fingers, paired with the tongue against your pulse, the non-bitten side, you were almost at the edge without anything major happening.

He pulled away, putting himself once again in front of your face, searching you for signs that he shouldn’t continue. Tears were brimming on your lower lash line, though not from pain, but from the lack of pleasure. He saw this as it was, knowing what you were feeling in this moment, knowing you needed more, needed him. 

Leon held one second of eye contact, then dipped into your mouth to kiss you chastely, and at the same time, sheathed himself inside of you. You gasped into the kiss, deepening it as you tried to thrust yourself forward to take more and more of him in. He held your hips firmly in place, not letting you take any of the control. Your fingers were tugging so harshly at his hair now, you would be surprised if you pulled away with no strands stuck between your fingers. He welcomed the sting of it though, pushing himself forward into you until he completely bottomed out, the feeling of his twitching cock in your walls made your whole body shiver, and you felt yourself pulsing around him, begging for some action to relieve your aching.

Your breath was stuck in your throat at this. The fullness you were experiencing made it difficult to inhale anything, and with Leon not only filling your insides, but still keeping his mouth connected to your neck, everything was making your head spin.

“Leon…” You breathed out, and you received a grunt in return. He pistoned his hips forward again, making you whine sharply, before pulling himself out and repeating the action. You quickly became loud.

There was nothing rough about the action. He was slow and thoughtful with every stroke, hands gripping your ass where he held you up, pushing bruises into the skin where his fingers made contact. He groaned with every other thrust, enjoying the feeling of you around him as you were of him inside of you. 

You could barely make any more noise at this point, just heavy breathing was coming from the both of you, a whine occasionally making its way out from your throat, but too many sensations were happening at once, it was all so overstimulating.

Your hands were roaming, trying to find any surface on him possible to steady yourself. You were clawing at him desperately, feeling a little sorry for the marks you were creating along his chest, but every line of pain was being pushed into his performance, and he was not relenting on his power.

“Fuck,” Leon moaned into your ear, and he took one second to collect himself before resuming his pace. You could feel how wet the both of you had become, as well as hear it. “You feel amazing…” Your head rolled back once more and thudded against the rain stricken window, but it was not loud enough to drown out the incessant squelching happening. Leon began to pick his pace up slightly, most likely your sign that he was getting close.

He thrust hard and stayed seated inside of you, making your legs tense up, and pleasure shoot throughout your entire body. Your hand had finally let go of his hair at this, squeezing with as much strength as you could muster up in your body on his thick shoulder, where you could feel every muscle as he struggled to hold you up and keep himself together.

“You’re too much for me,” He gasped into your ear, “I can’t hold on much longer,” 

You lifted your head off of the window and leaned down, he met you halfway and sealed his words with a deep kiss. Moving away from other spots on his body, your hands traveled back up and cupped both sides of his face, kissing him with passion as he tried to split focus between kissing you and fucking you.

You could feel his breath on your face as he began stuttering, and his sounds made your stomach tighten, and you clenched your walls around him, making it even harder for him to continue.

He pulled away by a mere centimeter, saliva stuck between you two in a string, the look in his eyes soft yet strong, he admired you in a way that made you forget he had seen a thousand other beautiful things in his lifetime. It made you feel like you topped the list. Sweat was beading on his forehead, it was catching the moonlight behind you, making his skin shine like silver. His eyes were blue again.

He furrowed his brow together, his hips losing its steady rhythm. “I–I can’t,” He almost whimpered, and you took pity on his state. It was arousing to see this man fall apart under you.

You tried your best to speak, voice cutting in between heavy breaths. “So don’t.” These words elicited a sob-like sound from the man in front of you. His mouth dropped open, eyelids scrunching together, letting the last of himself loose that he had been holding together barely at all. 

With broken gasps and groans, you felt Leon push himself for just a moment more, the pleasure on his face driving you right to your orgasm, and the knot inside of you came loose. Solace was found on his chest again, and your nails dug into him as you rode it out, knowing the feeling was going to push Leon over as well.

You felt it before you saw it on his face. You felt the throb of his thick cock inside of you, his hips unable to do anything steadily at this point, and he let himself go inside of you.

He was looking down between the two of you, though you were sure his eyes were closed as you were still pressed together. He groaned once, twice, and when he eventually looked up, in between his panting lips and huffs for air, you saw his shining fangs that had come out to play again.

You almost invited him to bite you again. Surely it would have allowed him to continue.

You blinked and they were gone. His facial features softened as he looked at you, your skin was on fire from the warm air settling in around you two, and your lungs wouldn’t fill efficiently enough.

He gulped, trying to wet his mouth. You were experiencing the same. “Are you alright to stand?”

You removed your hands from his chest and placed them on one of the panes of the window. “I think I will be, maybe… eventually.”

He huffed a laugh. He gently maneuvered his hands to let your feet plant back onto the ground. After being held up for so long, your knees felt like jelly. You stumbled.

He still loomed over you after you had regained your balance. He discreetly put himself away while you were busy controlling the rush of blood back to your head, and now he was keeping a watchful eye, scared, like you were fragile.

“I’m just unsteady. I won’t break.” You remarked. You pulled the hem of your dress down.

Leon smiled. It warmed you. “Of course I know that. I just…” He looked away for a moment, as if ashamed. “I drank a lot more than I should have. And then proceeded to heighten your heart rate, which was not my best course of action, but at times, I tend to get ahead of myself.” You stared at him as he talked. You felt endeared by his worries. 

“I feel fine, right now. But I was hazy. But…” You bit your lip, wondering if you should continue your train of thought. Why not, you concluded, the most intimate act was already water under the bridge. “I liked how it felt.”

You couldn’t help but smile, a slight difference to the tone of the moment, but you noticed his hair, which he hadn’t yet patted down from your fingers running wild in them. It made him look rugged, playful. Human.

“I…” Leon said nothing else for a few more seconds. You observed each other. Reveling in the events that just transpired, and exactly what this means moving forward. There was no more strictly professional relationship. You could feign it to the public, but you will always want him. He will always crave you.

He continued. “I meant what I said. I had a little too much just for a first taste, and it heightened every nerve ending in my body, you allowed me to continue, and I fear… Well, now I need to see where this takes our relations. I would like…” Another pause for humility. “I would like you to stay. Stay here, not for the building, but with me.”

You were the one to gulp this time. Even just his words had a sweeping effect like a wave, and you were desperately trying to breathe through the undertow. 

You walked forward, grabbing his shirt by the half undone buttons and pulled him into a kiss. You let the passion take over in place for the lust a few minutes prior, and you could feel the difference all over your body. You knew your answer.

You pulled away, both of you slightly dazed. You whispered into his lips, “That was already my plan.” 

The moonlight hugged you both goodnight.

[just--space]

First Horizon Scale Image of a Black Hole : What does a black hole look like? To find out, radio telescopes from around the Earth coordinated observations of black holes with the largest known event horizons on the sky. Alone, black holes are just black, but these monster attractors are known to be surrounded by glowing gas. This first image resolves the area around the black hole at the center of galaxy M87 on a scale below that expected for its event horizon. Pictured, the dark central region is not the event horizon, but rather the black hole's shadow -- the central region of emitting gas darkened by the central black hole's gravity. The size and shape of the shadow is determined by bright gas near the event horizon, by strong gravitational lensing deflections, and by the black hole's spin. In resolving this black hole's shadow, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) bolstered evidence that Einstein's gravity works even in extreme regions, and gave clear evidence that M87 has a central spinning black hole of about 6 billion solar masses. Since releasing this featured image in 2019, the EHT has expanded to include more telescopes, observe more black holes, track polarized light,and is working to observe the immediately vicinity of the black hole in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. via NASA

[edupunkn00b]

On a Butterfly's Wing Masterpost

Graphical representation of the Lorenz Attractor.

"As the system changes, the motion of the point represents the continuously changing variables. It traced a strange, distinctive shape of a butterfly's wings." - Chaos: The Making of a New Science by James Gleick

Changes in an environment can make a outsized impact on a life: Arriving three minutes late to a student club fair. Never walking home alone after that party at Jack's house. Trying a new goal planner that year.

Deciding to stay just a little longer to try to make the marriage work.

Universes collide in this story, as Logan Croft finds himself stumbling down paths he might have followed throughout his life but for a few small changes.

And what he discovers will change everything.

More information and chapter list below the cut.

Four universes are represented in this story. Rough summaries are below with a major spoiler (revealed in The Uses of Adversity and Guardian ad Liber) described in the 'detail'.

💚💙 Happily Ever After (Intrulogical)

Recently divorced, Logan was convinced his failed (and abusive marriage) to Kelly Croft had been his only chance at happiness. Meeting his best friend's brother-in-law, Remus, gave him a happy ending he never dared to think was possible.

💚💙💛 Overruled and Guardian ad Liber (Intruloceit)

The universe in which Logan never met Kelly, came out in college, and fell in love with both Janus and Remus while in law school.

❤️💙 It Could Always be Worse and The Uses of Adversity (Logince)

The universe in which Janus met Remus at Jack's party back in law school and never walked home alone. He and Logan never became friends and, instead, remained simply co-workers until a Q-Law party disaster was narrowly avoided.

💔 In Sickness and In (Logan/Kelly)

The universe in which Logan never left and instead tried to make his marriage work.

About Patton - Major, multiverse-spanning spoiler

[ AO3 ] - Spotify Playlist - YouTube Playlist

Chapter List (below the cut)

A Book Before Bed

Morning Follows Night

A Nearly Good Day

Unhinged

Balancing the Scales

Reality Check (coming 11/9)

Three Coffees (coming 11/22)

Black Coffee, No Sugar (coming 11/22)

Queerbait Croft (coming 11/22)

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[thecreaturecodex]

Bemstar

Image accessed at the Ultraman Wiki here

[Bemstar is one of the kaiju from Return of Ultraman who appears in the most series, movies and spinoffs. As such, I wanted to make sure that it was on the more powerful end of the Return of Ultraman monsters I'm statting up. Due to that popularity, it keeps getting new powers as the plot demands. This Bemstar can release a heat pulse, which it gained in Ultraman Mebius, but its gullet is not a pocket dimension, as it is as of Ultraman X. I've already done enough monsters with extradimensional stomachs (such as the astral dreadnought and Dalmosh), and besides which, few if any PCs are Colossal in size. ]

Bemstar CR 22 NE Aberration This creature is bipedal and vaguely star shaped, with a broad body and patagia connecting its limbs to its torso. Its arms end with a hooked claw and its feet are toeless. Its head is birdlike, with a short bill and a single yellow horn growing from its head. Its head, shoulders, arms and lower legs are scaly, and leathery flaps grow from its thighs. At the center of its belly is a pentagonal plate with an orifice in the middle.

Even dragons have predators. The outer dragons are far flung in space partially because of their ability to freely explore the cosmos, and partially because they are hiding from their predator, the bemstar. Bemstars are ravenous horrors that fly from system to system hunting outer dragons and swallowing them whole. They have faint and malicious intelligence, and if bored, a bemstar may make planetfall in order to try some new and exotic prey.  

A bemstar’s most notable physiological feature is its gorge, the central mouth leading to a digestive system that encompasses most of the bemstar’s anatomy. Not only can it swallow up to Gargantuan creatures whole, it can also swallow laser beams, breath weapons, magic missiles and many other types of supernatural energy. The more it eats, the more it can expend that energy to either heal itself or release bursts of incinerating heat. This heat pulse combined with the beam it can shoot from its horn give it powerful ranged attacks, but bemstars prefer to close into melee as soon as they can and fight with their natural weapons, the better to swallow as much prey as possible. Bemstars are awkward fliers in atmosphere, and usually land after making a charge with their horn.

With their effective immunity to breath weapons, some of the few sages that know about bemstars to speculate that they are an artificial species designed for the purpose of killing dragons. What intelligence did this is unknown, but bemstars happily ally themselves with a wide variety of space monsters in order to wreak havoc. These alliances last as long as the bemstars are well fed, but an ally might become a meal if the bemstar grows hungry or impatient.

Bemstar             CR 22 XP 615,000 NE Colossal aberration Init +4; Senses darkvision 120 ft., Perception +19, scent Aura frightful presence (180 ft., Will DC 27)

Defense AC 38, touch 2, flat-footed 38 (-8 size, +40 natural) hp 462 (28d8+336) Fort +21, Ref +11, Will +18 DR 10/epic; Immune fear, petrifaction, poison; Resist cold 20, electricity 20, fire 20 Defensive Abilities gluttony points,suction attractor spout

Offense Speed 50 ft., fly 100 ft. (poor) Melee 2 claws +32 (2d8+18/19-20 plus grab), gore +31 (4d6+18), bite +31 (4d6+18) Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft. Special Attacks bemstar beam, heat pulse, powerful charge (gore, 8d6+27), swallow whole (AC 30, 46 hp, 4d6+27 bludgeoning plus 5d6 fire)

Statistics Str 47, Dex 11, Con 34, Int 5, Wis 15, Cha 17 Base Atk +21; CMB +47 (+51 grapple); CMD 64 Feats Cleave, Critical Focus, Dazzling Display, Defensive Combat Training, Flyby Attack,Great Cleave, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative, Intimidating Prowess, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Staggering Critical, Stunning Critical, Weapon Focus (claw) Skills Fly +11, Intimidate +33, Perception +19; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception SQ gluttonous healing,no breath, starflight

Ecology Environment void or any land Organization solitary Treasure none

Special Abilities Bemstar Beam (Su) As a standard action, a bemstar can fire a destructive beam from its horn in a 140 foot line. All creatures in the area take 22d6 points of damage, half of which is fire and half of which is force (Reflex DC 36 halves). A bemstar can use this ability once every 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Constitution based. Gluttonous Healing (Su) As a move action, a bemstar can spend 1 or more Gluttony Points to heal itself of 1d6 points of damage per point spent. It can also spend points to remove status conditions, at the following rate: 1 point—fatigued, sickened 2 points—diseased, staggered 3 points—cursed, exhausted, nauseated 4 points—blinded, deafened, paralyzed A bemstar can spend as many Gluttony Points on this ability at a time as its Hit Dice. Gluttony Points (Su) Every time a bemstar uses its suction attractor spout ability, it gains a number of Gluttony Points equal to the damage dice absorbed. If it absorbs a spell or effect that doesn’t deal hit point damage, it gains a number of Gluttony Points equal to the spell level, or 1/3 the Hit Dice of the creature creating the effect in the case of supernatural abilities (such as a void dragon’s suffocating breath). Whenever a creature dies in a bemstar’s stomach, the bemstar gains gluttony points equal to that creature’s HD. A bemstar can have as many Gluttony Points as twice its HD at a time, and unused Gluttony Points are lost within 24 hours if not spent.  Heat Pulse (Su) As a standard action, a bemstar can spend Gluttony Points to create a burst of fire centered on itself in a 120 foot radius. All creatures in the area take 1d8 points of damage for each Gluttony Point expended (Reflex DC 36 halves). Half of this damage is fire and half of this damage is force. A bemstar can use a maximum number of Gluttony Points at once on this ability as its Hit Dice. The save DC is Constitution based. Starflight (Su) A bemstar can survive in the void of outer space. It flies through space at an incredible speed. Although exact travel times vary, a trip within a single solar system should take 3d20 hours, while a trip beyond should take 3d20 days (or more, at the GM's discretion)—provided the bemstar knows the way to its destination. Suction Attractor Spout (Su) If a bemstar is targeted by a ray or a force effect, or if it is in the area of a line or cone, that effect is neutralized. In the case of a line or cone spell or effect, it affects everything closer to the origin than to the bemstar normally.

[rbrooksdesign]

Greetings!

Today, Plexus Projects has its online and in-gallery opening of a special exhibition -- “GUI/GOOEY” — this evening. Curated by founder Laura Splan, I am very excited to have been selected to exhibit in this group exhibition exploring my favorite subject: the interface of Art & Science! My work is under the “GUSH” subcategory. I am honored to be among those selected to have a gallery showing as well! The press release is in the LINK ABOVE. I would highly recommend that you follow up on some of the links to Laura’s own work, including her current show at the UC Irvine — it looks amazing!

My earlier solo Vitrine Exhibition “Oceans of Numbers” is still up for viewing.

~~~

Speaking of “Oceans of Numbers:”

Oceans of Numbers, Part 3

Our favorite barkeep's ^ dream went something like this:

Before the spiraling double-helical structure of the DNA molecule came to being -- you know, two sugar-phosphate strands wrapping around each other in a cylindrical form that are connected by the complementary pairing of their inner amino acid bases -- there most likely had to have been some form of pre-cursor shape and attractor in play.

Well, let's skip all the intermediary forms and go way back to the number forms, keeping in mind that they are just symbols for the real conceptual form -- quantity. Quantity of space and quantity of time. Distance traveled over ticks of the clock. Quantity of SpaceTime (ST). Yes, when you go from quantity 1 to quantity 2 you have motion: ST begins. And yes, all manifestations of energy and fields are simply expressions of synchronous, re-iterative, fractal-based pulse-propagations of individual, granular, quantum ST units. We see, become aware, develop consciousness as sentient beings at the peaks and sleep in the valleys.

Drawing on our previous "Oceans of Numbers," where certain ST quantities derived from the Exponential Power of 2 -- a.k.a. the Butterfly Fractal 1 -- gives us the simplest expression of doubling quantity 1 -->2, 2-->4, 4-->8,... we have now found that the numbers generated fall into two nearly-identical SETS or STRANS that appear to spiral around each other -- connected by a specific number -- one that is simply double its predecessor, albeit its role upon connecting to the other strand is different -- in a form that initially resembled that of the DNA double-helix. We refer to the individual group of defining parameters for any and all doublings as "containers" -- as they both express the BF1 and are candidates for being TRUE Mersenne Prime-Perfect Number pairings. The overlapping similarities have shown that any pattern of the Mp-PN pairings is only apparent within the context of considering ALL the "containers" expressions.

The initial DNA-like diagrammatic of the two STRANDS (Sets) show the PN "container" candidates connected by the doubling of the smaller PN of one to the CR (Complement Rectangle=xy) of the other larger, e.i. 28 x 2 = 56 and 56 is the CR of 120.

(see top 3 images: 1st is cylindrical double-helix: 2nd is split cone version diagrammatic; 3rd is overhead flattened cone diagrammatic)

.However, a crucial difference is apparent from the start. As one progresses along, all the numbers are expanding! We don't have a double-stranded cylindrical form -- no, we have a double-stranded conical form -- a cone! And a cone implies a small -- usually singular -- starting point that expands outward. Sound familiar? Yes, it is the shape of a quantum, granular number-fractal -- BF1 -- starting from quantity 1 and doubling itself as it pulse-propagates outward, before collapsing and repeating.

The STRAND 1 and 2 -- shown pulled apart -- coil together around each other, centered on their origin, quantity 1.

So what does this have to do with your Bank Account? Not much, but this analogy might help.

At your bank, you might have two accounts -- 1 & 2 -- that are nearly, but not exactly, identical. Of course each one has its own running balance, and at least at this bank, you can get a TOTAL running balance of all your assets at any time.

Differences between Account 1 & 2:

Account 1: the balance is NEVER evenly divisible by 24 after deposit, but the balance from one deposit to another is ÷24.

Account 2: the balance is ALWAYS evenly divisible by 24, and, the balance from one deposit to another is also ÷24.

Caveat: The running balance after deposit across individual Accounts 1 & 2 is NEVER evenly divisible by 24!

The BF1 STRANDS 1 & 2 are just like that! And, well, yes -- there are a few other differences:

STRAND 1: -- and ONLY STRAND 1 -- holds the TRUE and extremely rare Mersenne Prime-Perfect Number pairings.

STRAND 2: -- while appearing similar to 1 -- never holds ANY of the rare Mersenne Prime-Perfect Number pairings.

It should be pointed out that STRAND 1 also holds other "containers" that are NOT TRUE Mp-PN pairings.

So what does this have to do with the rest of "Oceans of Numbers?"

The 51 known Mp-PN pairings found exclusively in STRAND 1 are not only nearly identical to all the other "containers" -- and as such are stealthily hidden amongst an infinity of look a-likes -- but reveal themselves in only their purest, most minimalist manner: they have the least, minimalist number of divisors within ALL the "containers!" They are pure gemstones! Their resonance is pure!

The discovery of the Divisor Matrix Table (DMT) has put the entire "Oceans of Numbers" into context. The DMT holds ALL the natural whole numbers, and, all of their divisors. It is built from the natural doubling of quantity 1 in the form of the BF1. Yes, simple re-iterations of the fractal BF1 generates the entire, all-encompassing table of numbers and their divisors -- including the rare Mp-PN pairings. The implications for entanglement -- quantum entanglement -- entropy, order, and the passage of time are real. The only disorder one sees is that that is not yet resolved.

Is that the damn alarm clock? Whose counting anyway!

~~~

If you go to the bottom of this page on my website, you will find more context. You will also find the four-part video series — “Numbers: Doubling Fractals Fill the Voids” that is included in the GUI/GOOEY exhibition. TIP: on Vimeo, you can change the playback speed by selecting the “gear” icon. TIP: don't miss the Part 4 video, it's the one featured in the gallery showing.

Here is the link for TES (Teachers, educators and students)

~~~

[a-lesson-you-never-asked-for]

Dynamical Systems

When we talk about dynamical systems, we broadly refer to the way a particular system evolves under certain conditions. For example, if you have a particle and you give it some terrain to roll around on, what path will it follow? If you have an electron and subject it to a magnetic field, what trajectory would it follow? Or if you impart forces on a block of water, how would the shape of the boundary change?

These are all types of questions that can be answered by dynamical systems, and involve a significant depth of analysis to truly understand their mechanics. (But truthfully, I've only ever been in it for the pictures).

The Tinkerbell map The Lorenz Attractor

As usual, if anyone has any feedback or errata to point out, please do shoot me a message :). I'm still getting back into the groove of things with this so I might be missing out on stuff.

Some basic definitions

We have 2 different types of trajectories, discrete and continuous.

discrete time dynamics - this means that you have observations at discrete points in time. You take a snapshot at t=1, t=2, etc. Take the Tinkerbell map above for example. You start with a point, then apply some sort of rule, and you end up at the next point. Things happen in steps.

continuous time dynamics - this means that at each point, you prescribe a velocity (a speed and direction) in which a particle should move. So if a particle is located at (0,0) for example, in an arbitrarily short period of time, it would move in a particular direction. A good example of this is the Lorenz map, as shown in the right hand image.

The Tinkerbell Map - equations of motion

The Lorenz Map - equations of motion

NOTE: In the first case, we talk about where the next point explicitly, whereas in the second case, we talk about in how fast in a particular direction we will end up moving.

A brief discussion on derivatives

Here's a visual to explain - suppose that the blue line represents how far away you are from some particular location. The average velocity would be the slope of the green line. But the instantaneous velocity would be equal to the the slope of the yellow line.

The way we denote this derivative is as follows

The numerator describes the change in the y-values, the denominator describes the change in the x-values, and the ratio of this is the gradient (or the slope).

So in a nutshell, the average velocity represents a change in distance over a period of time, and instantaneous velocity represents a change in distance of an arbitrarily short period of time.

Where to from here?

From here, we'll introduce some broad notation around maps, orbits, and some terminology that underpin dynamical systems. If there's enough time, I'll also describe some other concepts regarding different types of orbits, and thereafter we'll get into some really cool stuff.

Anyway, that's it for now! Adios :)

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 28, 2024

Hierarchical control over foraging behavior by anterior cingulate cortex. Alejandro, R. J., & Holroyd, C. B. (2024). Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 160, 105623.

Dissociable encoding of motivated behavior by parallel thalamo-striatal projections. Beas, S., Khan, I., Gao, C., Loewinger, G., Macdonald, E., Bashford, A., … Penzo, M. A. (2024). Current Biology, 34(7), 1549-1560.e3.

Active reinforcement learning versus action bias and hysteresis: control with a mixture of experts and nonexperts. Colas, J. T., O’Doherty, J. P., & Grafton, S. T. (2024). PLOS Computational Biology, 20(3), e1011950.

Alignment of brain embeddings and artificial contextual embeddings in natural language points to common geometric patterns. Goldstein, A., Grinstein-Dabush, A., Schain, M., Wang, H., Hong, Z., Aubrey, B., … Hasson, U. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 2768.

Optimal reaching subject to computational and physical constraints reveals structure of the sensorimotor control system. Greene, P., Bastian, A. J., Schieber, M. H., & Sarma, S. V. (2024). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(14), e2319313121.

Maturation of cortical input to dorsal raphe nucleus increases behavioral persistence in mice. Gutierrez-Castellanos, N., Sarra, D., Godinho, B. S., & Mainen, Z. F. (2024). eLife, 13, e93485.

Antipsychotic drugs selectively decorrelate long-range interactions in deep cortical layers. Heindorf, M., & Keller, G. B. (2024). eLife, 12, e86805.4.

Perceptual learning changes the amplitude not the shape of the temporal window of visual processing. Lin, L., Ruan, X., Liu, R., Zhu, J., Zhang, W., Lu, Z.-L., … Hou, F. (2024). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50(4), 523–534.

Learning leaves a memory trace in motor cortex. Losey, D. M., Hennig, J. A., Oby, E. R., Golub, M. D., Sadtler, P. T., Quick, K. M., … Chase, S. M. (2024). Current Biology, 34(7), 1519-1531.e4.

A role of frontal association cortex in long‐term object recognition memory of objects with complex features in rats. Masmudi‐Martín, M., López‐Aranda, M. F., Navarro‐Lobato, I., & Khan, Z. U. (2024). European Journal of Neuroscience, 59(7), 1743–1752.

Predictive coding networks for temporal prediction. Millidge, B., Tang, M., Osanlouy, M., Harper, N. S., & Bogacz, R. (2024). PLOS Computational Biology, 20(4), e1011183.

Unravelling the multisensory learning advantage: Different patterns of within and across frequency-specific interactions drive uni- and multisensory neuroplasticity. Paraskevopoulos, E., Anagnostopoulou, A., Chalas, N., Karagianni, M., & Bamidis, P. (2024). NeuroImage, 291, 120582.

Collective sensing in electric fish. Pedraja, F., & Sawtell, N. B. (2024). Nature, 628(8006), 139–144.

Stochastic attractor models of visual working memory. Penny, W. (2024). PLOS ONE, 19(4), e0301039.

Brain mechanism of foraging: Reward-dependent synaptic plasticity versus neural integration of values. Pereira-Obilinovic, U., Hou, H., Svoboda, K., & Wang, X.-J. (2024). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(14), e2318521121.

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A midbrain GABAergic circuit constrains wakefulness in a mouse model of stress. Ren, S., Zhang, C., Yue, F., Tang, J., Zhang, W., Zheng, Y., … Hu, Z. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 2722.

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Ocular surface information seen from the somatosensory thalamus and cortex. Velasco, E., Zaforas, M., Acosta, M. C., Gallar, J., & Aguilar, J. (2024). Journal of Physiology, 602(7), 1405–1426.

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[sakuraswordly]

@ExploreCosmos_: The Milky Way, part of the Laniakea Supercluster, may belong to an even larger cosmic structure known as the Shapley Concentration. This region, a "basin of attraction," contains a massive collection of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and dark matter, making it one of the most significant concentrations of matter in the local Universe. These basins act as gravitational attractors, influencing the motion of galaxies around them. Astronomers have measured the motions of 56,000 galaxies to understand these basins and their distribution in space. Redshift surveys revealed evidence of larger attractors, such as the Shapley Concentration, which may be ten times the size of Laniakea and comparable to the Sloan Great Wall. This structure is pulling the Milky Way and surrounding galaxies toward it, reshaping our understanding of cosmic structures and gravity's role in the Universe. The team's research also focuses on measuring the peculiar velocities of galaxies, comparing their actual motion to the expected motion from the Universe's expansion. This analysis, which accounts for both visible and dark matter, provides a more detailed picture of how gravity shapes the cosmos. However, current surveys may not yet be large enough to capture the full extent of these vast cosmic basins.

[talonabraxas]

Decahedron Divining Sphere Shapley Attractor: Alignment April 22nd. Cosmotopologists  conclude the 'TimeSpace_Plasma Universe'  is shaped as a 4D Dodecahedron (the ancient's form for the Aether), knowing this, the question becomes where is the centre of this Universe?.Dan Winter's work clarifies why we would do well to identify this universal centre..Before  identifying the heart of this  largest of Magnetic Attractors, we need to plot the Cosmo-Genetic-Family-Tree, a series of astro-heart/hubs that also act as Stargates throughout our universe.There are identifiable markers to accomplish this, we have for 40yrs been researching the cosmic dynamics of the golden ratio/phi spiral..Maps  provided  by astronomers can be seen with the 'Third Eye', when done we  find our universe is anything but random.We see a coherent fractal (holofractal Harrieman) series of larger and larger scales that reveal (via actual astro-photos) our Universe is a fractal golden ratio 'Entity' with the same DNA geometry as  humans.We provide cosmic evidence of a new meta-science, bringing those spiritual terms like  Wholeness, Oneness, at One, Cosmic Source, etc into clear view, not only with our third eye but with our physical eyes as well..Image shows:Our Sun gravitationally steers the planets in orbits, our Galactic Center (27 Sag) does the same with the Sun.The Super-Galactic Center (VirgoA-2 Libra) provides a gravitational attractor-heart for our galaxy and some thirty other galaxies. These galaxies are gravitationally attracted to the Great Attractor (14 Sag). The Great Attractor (and Laniakea) are being held in orbit by the largest mass in our universe the Shapley Attractor (Cosmic Heart)..Also when we switch from Geo Astrology (appearances) to Helio (the actual positions of planets) the inspirational Neptune (Crown Chakra pen-tune) is currently 144deg  away from our Earth and 144deg from the conjunction of Venus and Mars.Neptune's visionary downloads initiate (Mars) actions in the arts (Venus)..Asteroid Vesta opposes our Earth and in Geo is conjunct the Sun  (Vesta represents the Feminine Mysteries)..Introducing the real C.I.Aalphanumerics  a1  -  z26  (C=3, I=9, A=1)cross referencingevery phrase here totals to 391 (C.I.A.).391the core of the Shapley Superclustercosmotopological gravitational heartthe Heart of the Central Spiritual Sunto centre of the Shapley concentration to the universe centre  headquarterscoherent fractal cosmo-genetic-family-treemultidimensional standing wave patternsthrough the interdimensional layersholographic quantization of Spacetime superluminal phase conjugate mechanismtravel the wormholes between galaxiestranscendental psychological background the eternal nowness of first sourcesovereign integral state of awarenesssynthesis of fundamental principles.

[strawberrywindow]

Hey if you’re doing that ship thing….. Justin Hammer and Emil (or) Emil and Jen

Oooooh I will do both lol!

Justin and Emil

Ship It

1. I have complex feelings for this ship bc I also really like them as just platonic shitty best friends but when I do ship them I think they're very cute together in a lowkey toxic way. 😂 What made me ship them was thinking that they're essentially the evil version of the science bros ship (Bruce and Tony) and how funny it would be at how horrified Bruce and Tony would be if these two dumbasses who are both convinced they're Bruce and Tony's arch rivals started dating. And then I actually got attached to the ship, it started off as mainly crack 😂. Another big attractor was chatting with you about your Justin and Emil bc they've got some wonderful chemistry going on in your rewrite 🤧

2. My favorite thing about the ship is how opposites attract it is lol. Since we've got smarmy, fancy, CEO asshole meeting super soldier actual (reformed) nutcase who mutated himself into a monster for fun. The opposites but then also the similarities bc at the end of the day they're both wildly insecure with enormous egos and they're both sluts for money and attention. Like I feel they'd be 10/10 conmen together once they're both out of jail 💀 But those similarities also can allow for some softer parts in the relationship too bc they understand each other better than anyone else what it means to throw your life away for a revenge fueled whim and wind up taking the fall for even the stuff that WASN'T their fault. Also definitely still not being over the people that drove them to such lengths in the first place. Like they def talk mad shit about Tony and Bruce together. It's healing 🤗

3. Unpopular opinion is probably just shipping them in general agssgshdhfhf, neither of them are very popular lmao but that's why i like them. The rare pairs are always the best ����

Jen and Emil

Ship It

1. These two make me feral, I love them so much. 😭 The She Hulk show made me ship them bc I really enjoyed how much these two genuinely seemed to grow attached to each other. Emil seems so appreciative of Jen helping him and then at the end there's the moment he protects her from the Intelligencia guys. 🥲🥲 And then Jen similarly becomes attached to him, she takes him up on his offer to come back to his ranch anytime if she feels she needs a break from the real world and then she is legit hurt that mans has been violating his parole behind her back. 🤧 I think she wants him to be better than he is willing to currently try to be, he's working on things still 💀, which just adds another layer to their relationship. I like to think if Emil has any shot at being actually redeemed in the MCU it's going to be through how he cares about Jen which just warms my heart so much. And while mans can be an asshole he's always been nothing but kind to Jen and she absolutely deserves a guy who's going to treat her well 🥲🥲🥲

2. My favorite things about the ship are how soft it allows them both to be. And also the angle of how Bruce is gonna handle it bc him being okay with Jen defending Blonsky in court is a lot different than this dude dating his cousin 😒😒😒 🤣 But mainly for Emil and Jen I just really love the idea of a more romantic relationship being a very good thing for them both. I think IF there is a person Emil will be less selfish for in canon it's probably going to be her (unless Nadia winds up being introduced in the MCU) and I think Jen would do well with being with someone that's going to move heaven and earth for her bc in She Hulk currently she's still pretty insecure when it comes to dating due to prior shitty experiences. I want her to be loved fr fr 🥲�� And then again, also the funnier side of things where there's the possibility of them being a couple but on opposite sides bc there's a lot of shenanigans that could ensue from that, like at some point mans will need to get a new lawyer if he doesn't shape up 😂.

3. Unpopular opinions uhhhh probably considered so by anyone who thinks that Jen can do better than Emil, which she definitely can lmfao but again, I've not seen many people also ship this, only a handful and most people who ship it seem just as in it for the vibes as I am so I'm not sure if I have any unpopular opinions for it 😂

Thank you for the ask!! Sorry for going off on a whole ass rant 🤣❤️

[wuxiaphoenix]

Worldbuilding: In Bloom

One way to give your readers a cue for where and when your story is set is to mention what’s blooming.

This can let you get in multiple things, potentially in a space as short as a sentence. A specific bloom gets in time and place, a spot of color, maybe a scent in the air, whether or not this is a cultivated or wild plant, and maybe even sets up an “Uh-oh” moment for your characters later. Say, their plan depends on sneaking, but someone’s allergic to rose pollen and guess what’s planted all around the Evil Overlord’s mansion... “Ah-choo!”

What kind of flowers you get in depends on your setting. Here are a few I think are really cool.

Snowdrops: Not strongly scented, but they can and will come up through snow, and the pure white against green leaves brightens the gloomiest winter day. It’s also a good clue that your characters are in a relatively temperate climate, not freezing subarctic, desert, or semi-tropical. Outside hardiness zones about 3 to 7, snowdrops won’t make it without human interference.

Roses: Come in a variety of colors, scents, hardiness, and growing habits. You can have a single solitary planting, a wild rose climbing ardently through forest brush, an archway supporting a tunnel of roses. Roses in bloom hints of late spring to summer, romance, and often the implication that humans have directly shaped the landscape. With the right variety you can also get rose hips, which are good to have if your character’s suffering winter scurvy.

Brambles: Deserve to be mentioned along with roses, many of them are relatives. Raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, lingonberries, cloudberries - all have trailing or climbing thorny bits, with pale five-petaled flowers and very edible fruits. This will give more of a wild or homestead feel, as well as a convenient obstacle if someone has to run like heck. (Ow, ow, ow!)

Milkweeds: If you want to get butterfly/soul symbols into your story, how better than one of the best butterfly-attractors around? Monarch butterflies come to lay eggs, but all kinds of butterflies (and other insects) visit the flowers. They’ll give you color and a waist-high sight block; green leaves, darker stems, flowers anywhere from red to orange to white, depending on the species. Not a strong scent, but a good hint to your characters that this area is frequently damp, even marshy. It also means you may have a handy wasp nest nearby; wasps do like monarch caterpillars....

Beach rosemary (Conradina): This is a local; one species ranges up into Kentucky and Tennessee, but the rest are strictly Gulf Coast endemics, and mostly Florida at that. Shrubby, gray-green leaves; not as impressive as a rose bush or as colorful as a milkweed. But it likes nutrient-poor sandy soil most things don’t do well in, adding spots of pale purple flowers to ancient dunes and scrub oak. It’s in the mint family, you can guess what the flower looks like (it does smell like rosemary), yet it’s a thin woody shrub. If you see it, you have a pretty good idea where you have to be on the planet. (Yes, I plan to use this sometime.)

Poke around your world’s ecosystem. Do your research; don’t have flowers from two different seasons bloom at once unless you’re doing that on purpose. And odds are, you have your own endemic flowers that grow nowhere else. These can be plot points! After all, if your murder suspect swears he’s never been to the Gulf Coast, yet there’s a Conradina flower on the sole of his shoe....

[a-fantastic-time]

The female Grimm would awake to find herself in special stocks which had her bent over and kept her arms and feet restrained, growling to let whomever trapped her know she was a monster and not a pet.

The irony, her type of Grimm, Attractors, were knowing for looking like most men and some women's ideal female to fuck, with their slender, feminine body shape, their fair breast and ass size, and similar to Faunus, animal traits, while some had traits of a cat or fox, most like this one had rabbit ears and tail, as Attactors were usually used by Grimm to simply breed and birth more of them.

Yet, it didn't stop them targeting human and faunus males to be bred by them and/or get their guard down into danger, especially those who had lost a loved one recently, but with the tables turned, the poor Attactor was stuck, if she could break free, she'd let her captor have a full taste of her sharp clawed hands and feet.

(I really did try to find a monster girl that'd fit what I was going for here, but obviously, most if not all rabbit monster-girls are designed to be cute than monstrous, as for who has her trapped, it could be Jaune for the lost a love one reason I mentioned, or it could be a thread-only random who's fucking and trying to break her for the sake of "research".)

It had been days since Jaune had been tasked with this job. Maybe it was Ozpin finally throwing him a bone, or maybe he just felt sorry for him. He trekked through the forest, tracking this Attractor. Usually these kinds of missions were reserved for high profile Huntsmen, but after getting his license, the blonde had been given special access.

He honestly didn't care, the pain of losing the love of his life ate away at him so much, that he ended up pushing Ren and Nora away. At least they took a mission together, he had hoped they were doing fine.

Jaune laid a trap for the beast, having heard it was attacking men on a well known trading route, causing many villages and towns to lose a lot of supplies. It must have feasted on one two many, as he didn't expect for it to get trapped so easily. He slowly approached it, sword drawn and shield at the ready.

(this is the most monster looking to what you described. Just imagine a grimm mask)

[edupunkn00b]

On a Butterfly's Wing, Ch. 1: A Book Before Bed

Graphical representation of the Lorenz Attractor.

A Book Before Bed - Next - Masterpost - [ AO3 ] - Playlist

"As the system changes, the motion of the point represents the continuously changing variables. It traced a strange, distinctive shape of a butterfly's wings." - Chaos: The Making of a New Science by James Gleick

Changes in an environment can make a outsized impact on a life: Arriving three minutes late to a student club fair. Never walking home alone after that party at Jack's house. Trying a new goal planner that year.

Deciding to stay just a little longer to try to make the marriage work.

Universes collide in this story, as Logan Croft finds himself stumbling down paths he might have followed throughout his life but for a few small changes.

And what he discovers will change everything.

- Across the universes, Logan starts a book he's been looking forward to reading for a long, long time.

💚💙 Happily Ever After Universe - Wednesday, May 7, 2025

“Whatcha readin’, hot stuff?”

Eyebrows raised in a wordless question, Remus waited for Logan’s little nod before he slid between his husband’s back and the padded headboard. Wiggling into place, he wrapped both  arms around his belly, hugging him close and helping support the thick book he was reading. Logan leaned in to the soft kisses along his neck and hummed, the finger tucked between the book’s pages the only reminder he had, in fact, been reading.

Remus smirked. “Am I distracting you from your book?”

Logan blushed and settled against his chest, nodding when Remus carded long, strong fingers through his hair. “Perhaps,” he admitted, laughing low in his chest. “But I would never mind, Meus.”

After a few moments, Remus nuzzled against his temple and asked, “So what are ya’ reading?”

He held up the book so Remus could read the cover.

“Mmmm,” he hummed. “Chaos: Making a New Science?” He shimmied his shoulders, eyebrows dancing over sleepy eyes. “Sounds like my kinda book.”

~

💚💙💛 Overruled Universe - Wednesday, May 7, 2025

“Indeed, Muse,” Janus murmured, joining them under the covers. A satin scarf wrapped around his still-damp hair, he smelled of bergamot and cedar wood, plus a hint of spearmint. Smiling, Logan made mental note to check the order for his cinnamon toothpaste after they dropped off Patton at school.

“I believe we can convince our dear Lo to read us a bit of it,” he added, leaning in to kiss first Remus, then Logan. “If we’re very, very good.”

Logan chuckled. “You’re always very, very good.”

“Except when we’re not,” Remus laughed, nipping at his shoulder.

Shaking his head with his own laugh, Logan settled in between his loves and read aloud from where he’d left off. “‘Where chaos begins, classical science stops…’”

~

❤️💙 The Uses of Adversity Universe - Wednesday, May 7, 2025

“‘The irregular side of nature, the discontinuous and the erratic side will emerge, always staying within certain bounds but never—‘”

Logan paused as Roman’s breathing slowed, head heavy on his chest. “My Prince,” he whispered, smiling at the tickle of soft hair against his lips. “Have you fallen asleep?”

“Mm-hm… no, Lo, I’m wide awake,” he mumbled, rubbing his cheek against Logan’s bare chest. “Keep reading to me… please?”

Logan pressed a kiss into his auburn curls and smiled. “As you wish. ‘At any instant in time, the three variables fix the location of a point in three-dimensional space…’”

~

💔 In Sickness and In - Wednesday, May 7, 2025

As the system changes, the motion of the point represents the continuously changing variables. It traced a strange, distinctive shape—

Logan inhaled sharply when the text on the page disappeared as the bedroom light clicked off, blanketing him in darkness.

“That’s not another one of those damn ‘Fifteen Ways Your Marriage Will Fail’ books, is it?”

Logan cleared his throat and tucked the bookmark firmly into place before sliding the book and his eyeglasses into his nightstand drawer. “No. No, Kels, of course not. It’s, um…” He closed the drawer quietly, then fumbled for his water glass in the dark, and drained it as Kelly took off her slippers and climbed in to her side of the bed. “It’s a physics book, actually. On chaos theory…” Logan rushed to fill the stony silence between them. “It—it’s fascinating, really. The current chapter demonstrates mathematically how small changes in the initial variables can set off—”

She grunted and arranged her body pillow between them, then rolled to face the other side of the room. “Sounds like something you’d read.”

Back still turned to him, she inserted her ear plugs and dropped her sleep mask over her eyes before eventually stilling. Moving slowly so he wouldn’t jostle her, Logan slid down under the blanket and pulled it up to his chin. In the dim light, he could make out a glint of blonde curls peeking past her pillow.

“Goodnight, Kels,” he whispered into the silence. He listened to her breathe, counting as each grew slower, steadier. Softer. Finally, when he was certain she was no longer awake, he closed his eyes and let sleep take him.