#Top 10 divorce lawyers

[top10divorcelawyers]

How to Choose the Best Divorce Lawyer in New Jersey and California

Going through a divorce is one of the most challenging experiences in life, and having the right legal representation is essential. Whether you are in New Jersey or California, finding a skilled attorney who understands the complexities of family law can make a significant difference in the outcome of your case. Knowing how to identify the Top 10 Divorce Lawyers and why it’s crucial to choose someone with local expertise will help you navigate this difficult process.

In New Jersey, divorce laws are detailed and often require an attorney with specific experience in the state’s legal system. Divorce lawyers in New Jersey are familiar with local laws, including those related to property division, alimony, and child custody. Choosing a lawyer who is deeply knowledgeable about New Jersey’s legal procedures ensures that your rights are fully protected throughout the divorce process. The right lawyer will provide you with tailored advice, guiding you through every step and working towards an outcome that meets your needs.

California, with its own set of family law challenges, also requires attorneys who are well-versed in the state’s regulations. California Family Law Attorneys must navigate the state’s unique community property laws, which govern how assets are divided during a divorce. These laws can be complex, and having an attorney who understands them is crucial to securing a fair settlement. Whether you are dealing with issues of child custody, spousal support, or the division of property, a seasoned California family law attorney will advocate for your interests and ensure that your case is handled with care and precision.

When searching for the Top 10 Divorce Lawyers, it is important to consider not just their experience, but also their reputation and the quality of their client relationships. The best lawyers are those who can handle complex negotiations, offer clear and compassionate advice, and are committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for their clients. They bring a wealth of knowledge to each case, helping clients to understand their options and make informed decisions.

In both New Jersey and California, the right divorce lawyer can provide you with the support and guidance you need during this challenging time. They will work diligently to protect your interests, whether you are negotiating a settlement or preparing for litigation. Finding a divorce lawyer in New Jersey or a California family law attorney who has the expertise and dedication to handle your case will give you the confidence to move forward and achieve a resolution that is in your best interest.

[atimeofbeing]

2, 4, 5, 18 for the end of the year asks <3

Ooh, thank you!! <3! (I'm interpreting 'of the year' very loosely here, basically just 'it meant a lot to me this year')

2. Album of the year? I'm going to cheat a little and list both an album that was released and one that I found. The top release of 2024 for me was Moon Byul's Starlit of Muse, and the top album that I found this year was Allison Russell's Outside Child. These are so different in terms of.. everything really, but they both made up a huge part of my year - and I got to see both of the artists live!

4. Movie of the year? I actually am horrible at watching movies. I watched a grand total of three films this year and they were all re-watches. That said, I'll give this one to Moonlit Winter, because I love it more every time I watch it. You hit me with melancholy+beautiful+a little bit hopeful and I'm gone.

5. TV show of the year? If you've been keeping a keen eye on my blog, it probably won't be a surprise that this is Jeongnyeon. I have a whole host of thoughts about it as a piece of art that is thinking about the joy and excruciating sadness of going into a dying profession (no, I definitely don't have lots of feelings about getting my phd in literature during the decline of the humanities, what makes you think that?). Honestly, I think that this one will be hard to top for a good long while, it really rocketed into being my absolute favourite show.

18. A memorable meal this year? I went with my pals to this new xiao long bao place that opened in the city that I live in, and it was insanely good. Best part is a real toss-up between the steamed buns and the red bean dumplings in a brown sugar ginger soup (boy did that ginger have a KICK). A friend of ours is back in town this week and I am scheming to wrangle us into going back.

Ask me end of the year things...

[thatsonemorbidcorvid]

“The women leaders in our study were considered too young or too old. They were too short or too tall, too pretty or too unattractive or too heavy. They had too much education or not enough or their degrees were not from the “right” schools. They suffered from disrespect and misperceptions due to race, color, or ethnicity. Whether they had children or were childless, the women were expected to work harder than men to prove their worth. Women were held back from leadership opportunities due to being single, married, or divorced. There was no personality trait sweet spot, as introverted women were not seen as leaders and extraverted women were viewed as aggressive. The effect, then, means women leaders are “never quite right.””

Full text under cut

https://www.fastcompany.com/90889985/new-research-reveals-critiques-holding-women-back-from-leadership-that-most-men-will-never-hear

A recent study of the 33 biggest multilateral institutions found that of 382 leaders in their history only 47 have been women. And the percentage of women running Fortune 500 companies has only just recently crested a meager 10%.

As researchers we wondered why institutions consistently fail to promote women to top jobs. Our recent study of 913 women leaders from four female-dominated industries in the U.S. (higher education, faith-based nonprofits, law, and healthcare) sheds light on this pernicious problem. As we found, there’s always a reason why women are “never quite right” for leadership roles.

Women are criticized so often and on so many things that they are acculturated to receiving such disparagement, taking it seriously, and working to make improvements. And any individual woman may take it personally, believing the criticism directed at her to be warranted.

But our research reveals that the problem lies elsewhere. Virtually any characteristic can be leveraged against a woman in a discriminatory fashion. Such criticisms often relate to facets of women’s identity in an overt or subtle way, such as race, age, parental status, attractiveness, and physical ability.

Effectively, the surface-level critique functions as a “red herring,” distracting from the inherent gender bias driving the encounter. This type of treatment is so common that we have called it “we want what you aren’t” discrimination.

More specifically, our research revealed 30 different characteristics and qualities of a woman’s identity that emerged as points of criticism creating barriers to women’s success. The clear message to women is that—whatever they are—they are “never quite right.”

Age was a consistent challenge for women leaders in our study. Some of our respondents reported being considered too young to lead, while others indicated being too old hindered them from advancing.

However, being middle-aged didn’t help women’s career prospects either. A physician shared: “I am middle-aged, and men my age are seen as mature leaders and women my age as old.”

Parental status—having children or being childless—emerged as another point of criticism. A higher-education leader described how people assume she “can’t take on a bigger role ‘because of the kids,’” which made her feel that she needed “to work extra hard” to show that she could be both a dedicated mother and a leader.

On the other hand, a childless physician was expected to “work harder/more, accomplish more” than other female colleagues. Mothers were also bypassed for career opportunities, as happened to a single divorced lawyer who was the mother of preschoolers, “due to a perception by my male bosses that I cannot or should not handle [larger matters].”

Likewise, pregnancy was problematic, particularly for lawyers in our study. There was doubt that women would come back to work after maternity leave. Some were no longer given good assignments, while others were forced to quit private practice or work part time. One lawyer described the loss of confidence from bosses:

“Once you are pregnant or trying to have kids, the way management views you deteriorates. The opposite thing happens for male coworkers. I’ve seen it in so many law firms it’s impossible to argue it was just coincidence or based on merit.”

Simply planning on having kids was enough to invoke bias. A woman in higher education reported being denied promotion because she would need maternity leave for hypothetical future children.

Women of color were targets of subtle bias. An African American faith-based leader described being “invisible” and regularly “talked over” by white men. A Native American higher-education executive described being misperceived as weak, “when in fact we are practicing ‘respect’ for ourselves and others.” And a Filipina physician described facing role incredulity, as people assumed that she was “a nurse, and not a doctor and a division chief at that.”

Even physical ability and health played into the women’s experiences. Physical disabilities led to assumptions of not being capable. One higher-education leader who uses a crutch was questioned by men about the way she walks and has been told “to hide my cane, especially for photographs,” as she said.

Regarding health, there were double standards around the way men and women with illnesses were treated. A physician developed ovarian cancer while serving as an officer in the public health service. She explained, “The plan was to discharge me . . . even though men with prostate cancer didn’t have to go through that.”

The women leaders in our study were considered too young or too old. They were too short or too tall, too pretty or too unattractive or too heavy. They had too much education or not enough or their degrees were not from the “right” schools. They suffered from disrespect and misperceptions due to race, color, or ethnicity. Whether they had children or were childless, the women were expected to work harder than men to prove their worth. Women were held back from leadership opportunities due to being single, married, or divorced. There was no personality trait sweet spot, as introverted women were not seen as leaders and extraverted women were viewed as aggressive. The effect, then, means women leaders are “never quite right.”

Organizations that fail to promote and support women in their top roles miss out on performance gains. Fortunately, there are concrete steps that organizational leaders, allies, and individual women can take to mitigate this “never quite right” bias, aiding women’s workplace advancement.

“Flip it to test it”

Leaders can be particularly effective in thwarting sexist criticisms toward women. It’s not about changing the behavior of women—who are the recipients of the unfair treatment—but it is about changing the behaviors of those who justify their actions as somehow merited. Many criticisms fail the “flip it to test it” method miserably. Ask yourself, would the following statements ever be said about a man?

He needs to smile more.

Men are going to have kids and not want to work.

Since Larry has prostate cancer, he can no longer fulfill his job duties.

The clear answer is no. Leaders can infuse awareness of this simple, yet effective, tool to reduce such bias-laden criticisms. And workplace allies can help stop unfair criticism of women by calling it out.

Constructive career-enhancing feedback

Women are almost one and a half times more likely to receive negative feedback that is subjective rather than constructive and objective feedback. Men are often given a clearer idea of where they excel and opportunities for improvement whereas women are given vague feedback that often focuses on qualities like communication style. Even when using formal performance evaluation rubrics, a disparity remains.

Developmental feedback to women focuses on operational tasks, coping with politics, developing resilience, being cooperative, and building confidence. Developmental feedback to men focuses on setting a vision, leveraging power and politics, being assertive, and displaying confidence. Leaders can reduce the gender-biased framing by encouraging all employees to develop both sets of skills.

Do not take it personally

For individual women, hear us when we say, “It’s not you.” We women are conditioned to accept feedback and internalize it as something to “fix” about ourselves. If you are criticized, consider whether it is objective, constructive, and warranted. Disregard identity-based criticisms that are part of a larger pattern of bias against women.

Our research demonstrates that practically any characteristic can be proclaimed problematic for a woman leader to question her competence and suitability for leadership. It takes deliberate effort, but we can turn the message to women from “We want what you aren’t” into “We want what you are.” Doing so will advance women in the workplace and profit the entire organization.

Amy Diehl, PhD, is chief information officer at Wilson College and a gender equity researcher, speaker, and consultant. She is coauthor of Glass Walls: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work.

Leanne M. Dzubinski, PhD, is acting dean of the Cook School of Intercultural Studies and associate professor of intercultural education at Biola University, and a prominent researcher on women in leadership. She is coauthor of Glass Walls: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work.

Amber L. Stephenson, PhD, is an associate professor of management and director of healthcare management programs in the David D. Reh School of Business at Clarkson University. Her research focuses on how professional identity influences attitudes and behaviors and how women leaders experience gender bias.

[wonswondrland]

SYNOPSIS! TRBL, the new rookie girl group, is taking over the kpop industry. KL learns quickly that being the leader means you have the most influence. Because she is the sister of ENHYPEN's Sunoo, the ex-girlfriend of ENHYPEN's Jungwon, and an ex-SM trainee, KL finds herself in scandals before the group even debuts. Will TRBL overcome the drama and climb to the top or will KL's past take over their success?

idol!yang jungwon x fem idol!oc

STATUS! ongoing - updates every wednesday & friday @ 9pm CST

WARNING! lots of vulgar language and immature topics; teenagers being teenagers

GENRE! fluff, lil angst, exs to friends to lovers, love triangle/square, SLOWburn

profiles!

trbl

enhypen

friends

chapters!

1! WHO CHEERED!?

1.1! DSORDR

2! BITCHHHH YOU DID IT!!! + written

3! oh.

4! my little parasite + written

5! patient #4 has escaped!!!

5.1! you’re actually sick

6! good ole nepotism huh

6.1! HATERS GON HATE

7! everyone is fighting

8! nvm its not okay and im not okay

8.1! always here for you

9! but she’s crazy

9.1! 4 months were not wasted! + written

10! have a safe flight!!

10.1! WE MADE IT!!!

11! its the most wonderful time of the year

12! hey princess

13! FAWKKKKKKK

14! would that be so bad? + written

14.1! welp.

15! it’s just a publicity stunt + written

16! I WANT TO THANK BEYONCÉ! + written

17! IM JUST A GIRL, OKAY!?

18! fighting demons.

19! they are just boys

20! pls leave🙏 + written

21! get a room!! + written

22! chivalry is so back.

22.1! lose this number

23! have fun talking to my lawyers! 😘

24! DISPATCH SMD!!!!

25! last waltz + written

26! unfortunately i don’t think it worked…

27! departure + written

28! I WAS NOT MADE FOR DIVORCE😩

28.1! yes i’m okay just sad

29! CHRISTENED TF OUTTA THAT HO

30! coming soon (ON HOLD UNTIL 12.27.24)

TAGLIST! open <3 (purple means i can't tag you)

@sthinqsz @hwalllllllelujah @lovelymura @ja4hyvn @wonamour @tomorrowbymoa-together @luviehyck @chloexc @w0nslvr @electrobutterfly @kgneptun @nikiswifiee @heeseungspookie @jwonistic @pshwrldd @enhabooks @noname-123s-things @slvrnm @right-person-wrong-time

to be added please send an ask, dm, or leave a note!

author's note! hello! i have moved and am starting university so now i have more time to write!! expect weekly updates on wednesdays and fridays! enjoy!! <3

[spideyhexx]

oct. 20th - closing arguments

Jack Prescott x Intern!FemaleReader

mdni!!! wc; 4.1k cw; power play technically, age gap, blowjob

kinktober masterlist

jack is an oc! here is his fact sheet!

a/n; aha! the first jack fic :) love you all who have loved him since his creation this is for all of youuuuu

There is no way this day could get any worse. 

Jack prides himself on being able to handle high levels of stress. He would not have gotten through law school if he couldn’t. 

But every fiber of his being was being tested today. 

A meeting right as the clock struck eight was not always so bad, but when it was a horrid divorce case with a fumbling husband sobbing at Jack’s desk and blowing his nose into tissue after tissue, it got tiring quickly. Then of course a client cancelled last minute. This would sound like a good thing, but it sets Jack back a bit because this is the third time said client has rescheduled. 

And this time, he didn’t give a new date!

It’s a surprise Jack hasn’t popped open his liquor cabinet. 

Lunch was fine, but the leftover spaghetti he brought in tasted like a freezer burn. His afternoon became jam-packed. He expected it, yet it still caught him struggling to maintain his sanity. Between meetings, and dealing with an insolent co-worker who wrote up a report so incorrectly, Jack wondered if the guy was drunk, his secretary having to leave early, to the fact his damn computer keeps running slow…yeah. 

It was a bad day. 

Perhaps even worse, today was the day he scheduled overtime for half of the office. A little ‘bonding’ thing he learned from the law firm he worked at before having his own. He’d order dinner for everyone from a fancy place and everyone would get to know how one another works at nine p.m.

Perfect, right?

The dinner itself was okay. The food was good, which was a win in his book. Jack makes sure to jot down the restaurant name in his little notepad for future reference. The co-workers he scheduled for overtime were always on the cusp of complaining, but when he entered the room, they were all smiles and enjoying their heavy pasta. 

After food though, it was a time crunch until 10:30 when everyone could go home and Jack left everyone to their work to do his own. And maybe have some whiskey. He deserved it, didn’t he? 

That’s what he tells himself, at least. 

He stands from his desk and smooths his palms on the front of his slacks, walking the short distance to his liquor cabinet. He bends down to swat and opens it, taking out the glass and bottle that was mostly full. 

A knock on his office door almost startles the glass out of his hand and Jack puts both objects back into the cabinet. He straightens up, clearing his throat as he walks back to his desk, tugging the sleeve of his fitted dark green sweater, “Come in,” his voice rings out clear and loud to whoever is on the other side of the door, and he takes a seat in his chair. 

The door creaks open and you peek your head in first before pushing the door more open, “Uh, Mr. Prescott, can I speak with you a minute?”

The intern. You’ve been here for four months now, mostly doing the busy work of paralegals and assisting Mr. Prescott. Jack’s sure you’re the best intern he’s hired. He’s already started a draft for a recommendation letter (which you did and did not ask for, but more-so implied you would like at the end of your internship) and Jack feels quite good about your future prospects. Not that he cares too much, but it will be sad to lose you as a worker, the least he could do is help you in your next career journey. Right? 

Jack glances at the time, then over at you, leaning back in his chair, “Yeah, make it quick,” he says and you promptly walk in and close the door. 

Your palms already sweat at the fact you’re in here alone with him. Mostly because of what you need to talk about but also because it’s Jack Prescott. One of the top lawyers around the city. A bachelor. An incredibly handsome bachelor that looks like literal sex when he comes into work some days. It was torturous working for him and meeting his striking blue eyes when he held eye contact with you like he wanted you to feel it in the pit of your stomach. You did. You sure did, every single fucking time. 

You weren’t sure if he was aware of how hot he was. Or if he even thought about sex. Or if he dated. You gossiped with one of the only other women in the office about it one day, since you typically saw his calendar that included personal stuff like a lunch with his mother, doctor’s appointment, etc. But nothing on there seemed like a date. Your co-worker thinks he hooks up and that’s it, but even that you can’t get behind. The man is a mystery and good at keeping hismelf that way. 

You stop in front of his desk and pull at the hem of your skirt in a nervous tug, then open your mouth to speak, only to close it when he starts clicking at his keyboard. 

Jack takes a glance at you and gestures with his hand, “My apologies, just an email. One second.”

Jack types for another minute to finish the email, but it feels much longer than that. Much longer that you clasp your hands behind you and watch his fingers work at the keys in a manner so elegant. The metal of his watch glints off the light of his lamp at his desk. His overhead lights in his office are dimmed down, the city night skyline shining through his large windows behind him. 

His hair, which is usually slicked, has some strands out of place. Jack’s eyes are more tired and being his intern, you know the day’s been hectic. Part of you wants to ask if he’s doing okay, but his head is turning back to you and your words are caught in your throat. 

“Alright, go on,” he gestures once more with his hand to you, leaning back in his desk chair, one hand resting on his desk, the other dropping to his thigh. Your eyes couldn’t help but follow it before looking into his eyes. 

“Right, well two things uh,” you pause, shifting on your feet, “One, George messed up the printer somehow so-”

“The printer?” Jack’s brow immediately furrows and you want to smooth out the lines so bad it makes you heat up. You should not be thinking that way. 

“Yeah, I don’t know specifically what’s wrong with it but-”

“So you don’t know the specifics and you still came to me?” Jack interrupts again and you feel that urge to shrivel at his tone. 

“I thought it best that you know right away sir-Mr. Prescott,” you get out your words as calm as you can, keeping your voice level and your gaze on him. You learned it from him. To not cower. 

Jack gives one nod, his jaw setting and a hand swiping to his jaw. He taps his fingers to it, then says, “Is it gonna set us back then? I don’t have anything to print and IT won’t be able to help until Monday.”

“George still had like four copies to print and Rosie said she needed it too,” you tell him, unable to avoid the hesitancy in your voice. 

Because Jack does rub to his face again in semi-annoyance, “Can anyone try to fix it?” 

“Don’t think so.”

“Great. Thanks. What else do you need then?” He says flippantly, tugging at his sweater to fix it, and your eyes naturally follow the movement. 

The slight bite in his voice makes you very hesitant to ask him your question, but you steel yourself, squeezing your hands together, “I know it’s last minute but I need to take off on Monday and I know-”

Jack raises his hand to stop you from speaking and then runs his hand through hair. Gods he must be stressed. Annoyed. If he’s gonna mess up his hair like that. In front of you. 

“I did need you, Monday. That big client from SoHo is coming, thought you knew that.”

“I did! I did, but…,” you take a breath, “I have my like…last exam of college ever on Tuesday and I just need to study and relax and y’know it’s obviously super important and-”

“Okay,” he interrupts. He has a penchant for that tonight. “Fine. Take the day, but I’m not rescheduling with that client, so it’s your loss,” Jack tells you with a shrug, a look on his face saying he’s slightly disappointed but he’s not gonna harp on it much longer. 

The look does not make you feel any better, but you let out a deep exhale and nod to him, “Yeah, okay, thank you, Mr. Prescott, really.”

Jack’s voice is quick, almost sharp, “Don’t thank me.”

You nod again, albeit a little more awkwardly this time. A moment of silence befalls the two of you and you find yourself smoothing your skirt. 

You’re about to turn on your heel to leave his office, when he stands up, eyeing you up and down with a curious gaze, “You good? You look stressed.”

“Oh, just long day and the exams,” you say with a half-hearted chuckle, watching him closely as he stalks over towards his bookshelf. 

Jack gives a hum, then leans down to his cabinet, contemplating what he’s about to do. He shouldn’t. He knows that. But it’s close to closing. And you look as tired and stressed as he is. There’s no harm in it. He grabs the whiskey bottle he was pining for earlier and two glasses, “Do you drink?”

His question catches you off guard, but you nod, “Uh, yeah.”

Jack sets the glasses down, then looks to his office door, and back to you, popping open the bottle, “It’s whiskey. Keep this between us, I’m not sharing with the lot,” he gestures towards the door. 

A nervous tingle runs up your spine as you watch him pour the liquid into the two glasses, glancing from his hands to his face, which has a look of concentration and something else in it. 

He walks closer to hand you your glass, your fingertips brushing his as you take it from him. You’re not sure if he also felt what you felt, but you push it to the further recesses of your mind. 

You look down at the liquid in your glass as he leans back against the edge of his desk, sipping the whiskey. His eyes are on you, you know they are. You’ve sipped wine in front of him before, so what was so different about this? 

The dimmed office lights? The fact that your coworkers were probably packing up to leave? The fact he even offered a drink in the first place?

He breaks you from your thoughts, “Do you know how to drink it? The whiskey?”

You’ve not had it before. But even if you did no, you say no. 

Jack hums, “Small sip. Swish it in your mouth a little, then swallow,” then he does it himself to demonstrate. It’s pure desire what you feel when you watch him sip. How his eyes stay on yours over the rim of his glass and his free hand pushes into the pocket of his slacks. Everything about him right now is so at ease and sexy. 

You nod, and take a small sip of the drink, only swishing it in your mouth for a second, before you swallow it and grimace, “Oh…wow.”

Jack stifles his smile. Smile. He shakes his head, clearing his throat, “Yeah, it’s…you don’t have to drink all of it.”

“I won’t,” you chuckle, walking closer to him so you could put it on his desk. The lack of hesitance in your action to come over close to him has him straightening up just a little. You pause at the movement though, looking at your whiskey. “Maybe one more sip.” 

Jack lets himself chuckle. A breath of a chuckle, “It gets you.”

With your eyes on his, you sip, swish it, and swallow, trying to hide your grimace. Jack sets his glass down, then takes yours, his thumb ever so slightly brushing the tip of your thumb. He puts the glass down and maybe this is when you should move away from him but your feet feel stuck to the floor, admiring him up closer in the dim light. 

Jack doesn’t know what he’s doing either. He’s yelling at himself internally to dismiss you. He still had some work to do. But you’re there. Pretty in your work attire. Pretty. He shouldn’t think of that. 

He clears his throat and crosses his arms to his chest, “You should…head back to work and all. Think you got like 15 more minutes.”

Jack could never admit to himself he found his intern attractive. You were younger than him and again, his intern. So he avoided those thoughts like the plague, but you standing right here in front of him while you’re both tired was not helping. 

Jack picks his whiskey glass back up as you give the slightest nod, but make no move to go. “Yeah…have…some work…,” you trail off, “question?”

He raises his brow, sipping a very small sip, then he says, “Yes?”

“Just wanted to know for that uh…what that lawyer gala thing you have to go to-”

He rolls his eyes, “Yes, what about it?”

“Are you bringing your girlfriend as the plus one or?”

You don’t know what’s come over you and you know deeply how wrong this could go but you can’t stop. Not when he’s looking like this and you can smell his cologne. Fuck has it been that long of a day? 

“Girlfriend? I don’t have one,” he says, a confused look etched onto his face. 

“Oh? I thought maybe…,” you stop yourself, then say, “Well, I know you’ll have the extra ticket and I know you took Ethel last year because she mentioned it like five times to me but maybe I could go with you?”

Jack takes a second to study your face, like he thinks you’re lying about what you truly want to say, but he doesn’t press. “Yeah, maybe. It’s near the end of your internship, so it could be a good way to close it out.”

You take a mindless step closer to him, a genuine smile on your lips. You didn’t give a fuck about that gala but the idea of attending with him all dressed up certainly made you feel good. Your breath feels heavier as the two of you look at one another. 

Jack notes the step and you swear you see his eyes glance to your legs, “What’re you doing?”

You falter at the question, taking a small step back, “Nothing, Mr. Prescott.”

Jack tilts his head at you. God, he’s thinking so hard. You can practically see the gears turning in his head working overtime and you’re trying not to rub your thighs together and make it more obvious what you’re feeling. 

“Think maybe I do want another sip of whiskey,” you joke, but mean it, to break the silence. 

He huffs, a slight smile curving his pretty lips, “Come get it, then.”

You swallow. Then take the steps closer, reaching your hand to the side of him to take the glass. Maybe you purposely brush your arm to him. Maybe it wasn’t on purpose. 

When you take a small sip, your eyes find his once more. He’s so tall. And you almost catch how he’s gazing over well, all of you. “Come closer,” he says, a hint quieter, like he didn’t mean to say the words aloud, but you surely heard him. 

You listen and do so, to his surprise, but he sets his glass down, then reaches his hand out for your glass, taking it in his hand. 

He parts his lips to speak, then hesitates. Jack glances to his office door, then back to you. 

Thinking. Thinking. Thinking. Until, “Open your mouth a little.”

Your eyes widen immediately and you can tell he’s about to rescind his words, but you do it. You open your mouth for him and pray that it’s not so deplorable that he scoffs and kicks you out. 

Jack swallows hard, his jaw tightening and he brings the lip of the glass your mouth, pouring just a bit of the whiskey into your mouth, then nudging under your chin with his fingers to close your mouth. You obey the action, letting the lliquid swirl in your mouth before you swallow and he puts the glass down, fingers still to your chin. 

His eyes bore into your eyes. Fucking thinking and surrounding themselves with intent. “Open…open again.”

How could you refuse?

When your mouth parts the slightest bit, Jack’s bringing his mouth in close. An embarrassing noise leaves your lips at the action and your hand holds to his wrist. 

Jack stares intensely at you, “Just…just go…back and do your work,” he whispers, his breath hitting your lips, “I shouldn’t…”

He doesn’t finish his sentence and you finish it for him, “No, you shouldn’t do this.”

Your eyes tell him a different story. The way you squeeze to his wrist and not once glance away from him tells him you’re not uncomfortable. You’re not leaving his space, you move closer until he can feel the brush of your chest to his. 

Jack doesn’t know what’s come over him, but his breath shudders and he pools the saliva in his mouth, the slowly spits onto your bottom lip into your mouth, before crashing his lips to yours. 

It’s a rough, messy kiss, as though Jack is starving for the feel of your lips on his. Like he wants them melded to him and imprinted for a long time. Your tongue slides his bottom lip and sucks on it, which is when he breaks the kiss and lets go of you, walking straight to his office door to lock it, before he’s coming back over to you, scratching a hand at his head, “You should go, I-”

“Mr. Prescott, it’s-”

He groans at the title you give him, granted the one you always call him and his hands are bringing your head closer, kissing you once more. He ends up leaned against the edge of his desk again with you pressing yourself into his fit body, taking the opportunity to slide your hands on his arms and his chest, to feel the muscle you’ve somewhat seen but knew he had. 

Jack is lost in it, clearly still fighting with himself, but also leaning into the way you suck and bite at his lips. His hands move down your body, caressing your hip and keeping you pulled in close to him. 

When you pull for a breath, his eyes are dazed and his lips much redder. You can’t think. All you can do is slip down till you’re on your knees in front of him.

Jack curses to himself, looks away from you for a moment before looking back down to you, “I can’t come back from this.”

“I’m an intern for one more month,” you say, like that makes it any better, but god does he look good from this angle.

He doesn’t like that answer, but he drops his hand to his belt to undo it, his other hand in your hair, “Have you done this before?”

“Gone down on a guy?” 

He nods, putting his belt on his desk, quickly looking to his door before looking back at you.

“Yeah, I have,” you admit to him, watching his fingers undo the button of his slacks. 

“Okay. So, you know what you’re doing?” 

You nod, eyes glued to his fucking hand, unzipping his slacks and pushes them down just a little, “Show me, then,” he says, voice a little quieter. 

You waste no time, tugging to his boxers before he could do it, exposing him in his office. There’s no time to think about how this is your boss’ cock, it’s just Jack, you tell yourself in the moment. You spits into your palm and ignore the way his hand tightens to your head, wrapping your fingers to him. 

You give him a few languid strokes to help him harden, a low groan leaving his lips before he clears his throat, “Don’t tease, right now, we can’t…it’s gotta be-”

“I know, Mr. Prescott,” you interrupt him this time, giving his tip one small lick. Jack bites to his cheek, watching you intently. 

You open your mouth a little and let the head of his cock rest on your tongue, your free hand holding to his thigh. 

“Fuck,” he says under his breath, resisting his urge to push himself all the way into your mouth. You wrap your lips to him and take more of his cock into your mouth, humming around him.

“That’s it,” he mutters, watching as you try to take more of him and immediately realize you can’t. Jack shakes his head at you, “Can’t take more of it?”

He’s just big and thick. Jack fills your mouth and it feels good to have the weight on your tongue. You bob your head on what you can fit, hollowing out your cheeks and sucking him hard to get the ball rolling since the quicker this is, the better. For now. 

Jack is good at keeping quiet, but his heavy breaths and curses right under his breath make you want to escalate this to something more than you simply sucking his cock. 

When you try to take him more into your mouth, your throat constricts and you gag, closing your eyes and breathing deeply through your nose. 

“Don’t hurt yourself. Take what you can, it’s good enough,” he says through a rushed breath, a surprisingly tender feeling coursing through you when he rubs his thumb into your temple. Once the feeling passes, you continue to work him, using your other hand to stroke what you can’t fit in your mouth. 

You know Jack likes it, even with your eyes closed, because his hand tightens to your head and he lets out a shakier breath. The Jack Prescott with a shaky breath is something you couldn’t imagine but here he was. 

“You’re so fucking good,” he whispers, the volume of his voice just enough for you to hear, but not too loud, “Really taking it, huh…this is fucked up,” he groans at himself then swallows his noises, his hand moving to the back of your head. 

“C’mon, pretty, just hurry up, make me cum, this needs to be over, c’mon,” Jack says, patting the back of your head a few times and you move faster, the slick of your spit on his cock making the most noise in the room, but you hope it can’t be heard outside of it. You pull back, only to swirl your tongue on his tip and suck on the sensitive head, your hand jerking him in quick motions

“Almost, almost,” Jack warns you, his chest breathing heavy and his hand pressing more into your head as you focus mostly on his tip, sucking it over and over again. You flatten your tongue to it, then open your mouth and slap his cock to your tongue, a desperate move to turn him on as much as possible and have him cumming down your throat.

The action does have an affect on him. Jack’s breath sutters and he pushes your head to take more of him, “what the fuck,” he whispers to himself as he tips his head back, putting his arm over his mouth and lets out a muffled, but strangled groan.

His load shoots into your mouth, coating your tongue in it’s salty sweet taste and you moan around him, swallowing every drop he give you and eagerly licking at any that beads out of his tip as he finishes. 

Jack takes his cock out of your mouth and pulls his boxers up, followed by his slacks and his quickness makes you stand. You weren’t even touched yet you feel wobbly on your feet.

He stares at you as he fumbles with his belt, “Uh…I think you better get home, it’s uh…it’s time.”

Jack clears his throat, shaking his head and trying to forget what just happened as you stand there dumbfounded.

“Um…Mr. Prescott-”

“Go home,” he repeats himself, his tone more stern than he means to come off. He smooths at his slacks and moves around his desk to sit in his chair, moving the mouse of his desktop to turn the screen on. 

“Work…on Wednesday?”

He glances at you. A blank stare coating his face. “Yeah. Work on Wednesday. 9 am. Good luck on the exam.”

You nod and turn, wiping at your mouth as you walk straight to his door, messing with the lock and leaving him alone in his office.

[simshousewindsor]

THE PRESS AND THE RULES

[Bukharat Golf Course, Dacana]

Cmd Eldridge: Hello?

[??]:"I have been notified by your wife's attorney that she plans to begin legal separation proceedings."

Cmd Eldridge: I thought you said it would all settle down?

[??]:"When do you return to Windenburg?"

Cmd Eldridge: Four more days.

Prince Rainier: What were you thinking? No letters to anyone. You know the rules. Those lunch club boys are not discreet.

Cmd Eldridge: Somehow the letter got back to Erica. She wrote to the palace and gave notice of her intentions to seek divorce.

Prince Rainier: This is not good, Jason. That means it got back to you-know-who.

Cmd Eldridge: We have to assume so.

Prince Rainier: Which is why the palace approved our stay in Dacana another four days. They want us away until they decide our fate.

- - - - - THE NEXT DAY - - - - -

[Buckingsim Palace]

Queen Katherine: (shaking hands) Again, enjoy your retirement, Justice Dathren. Your wisdom will truly be missed on the Supreme Court.

Lord Charles: Thank you, Your Majesty.

Martin: Your Majesty, the Simy Express is running a story tomorrow with the headline "Prince Consort's Best Friend And Wife Have Split." The Windenburg Times' top story is scheduled to be "Wife of Prince Consort's Private Secretary Seeks Divorce."

Queen Katherine: What can we do?

Martin: Elisha is speaking to the press in the Press Briefing Room in one hour. Our contact at SNN said they're willing to assist the palace in any way.

Queen Katherine: What is Elisha planning to say?

Lorenzo: That we are aware of the fact that Lieutenant Commander Eldridge is His Royal Highnesses's private secretary, he's a close friend, and that we are aware of the letter.

Queen Katherine: Any update on the Queen Dowager?

Martin: No, Your Majesty. The Duke of Kent has been by her side all morning.

- - - - - THE NEXT DAY - - - - -

[Fairsim Chateau Hotel, Dacana]

(knock on door)

Prince Rainier: Come in.

Cmd Eldridge: Sir. Do you have a moment?

Prince Rainier: (nods)

Cmd Eldridge: My lawyer in Easton emailed saying that although the press coverage is bad, it should quiet down in a day or two.

Prince Rainier: We both know that's wishful thinking.

Prince Rainier: I've received my own correspondence from Easton. This next step (clears throat), I hope you're not going to make difficult for me.

Cmd Eldridge: (shocked) I... I... No.

Cmd Eldridge: (somber) You'll have my resignation tomorrow.

Prince Rainier: I'll need it now.

Cmd Eldridge: I hereby offer my resignation as Principal Private Secretary to His Royal Highness The Prince consort, effective immediately.

Prince Rainier: (somber) Accepted.

Prince Rainier: You've worked for me long enough. You know the rules. Who we are. How this works. Mistakes and scandals, there's no room for it.

Cmd Eldridge: I understand.

Prince Rainier: You should probably leave us tonight. I suggest a strict "no comment" on all counts, including letters.

Cmd Eldridge: Yes, Your Royal Highness.

- - - - - THE NEXT DAY - - - - -

[Buckingsim Palace]

Martin: We must depart for the train in one hour if we're to stay on schedule, ma'am. You will only have three days to spend at Sumpterson.

Queen Katherine: I'm happy you were able to re-arrange things to give me a couple of days off.

Martin: The Prince consort returns Friday evening, and Saturday is the Duke of Norfolks ball. Is this the gown you're wearing, ma'am.

Queen Katherine: It is.

Martin: His Royal Highness has also been sent updated instructions for the disembarking. With news of Cmd Eldridge's resignation fresh on the minds of the press, they will be watching your every interaction once you step off the plane.

- - - - - THE NEXT DAY - - - - -

[Sable Square, Brindleton Bay]

[??]: That's it. The Castle of Annie.

[??]: Oh my! What a view.

[??]: It dates back to the mid 17th century. It was in the same family for 10 generations.

Lord Craig Darden: If you are interested in the property, I'm going to be very honest. It needs quite a bit of work. One or two windows might need replacing and the electricity, well, still needs to be updated! Oh, and there's no dining room to speak of.

Queen Rowena: (smiles) Oh dear. You're really not a salesman.

Lady Delores: Who is that?

Lord Darden: He seems to be on a mission.

Lady Delores: Running, and wearing a suit in this thick forest?

William Filmore: Your Majesty! Forgive me for disturbing you. I come from the palace. They ask that you return to Easton immediately.

Queen Rowena: Whatever for?

William Filmore: This is all the information that I have?

Previous | Beginning | Next

[darkmaga-returns]

Karen Bracken

Oct 28, 2024

Edward Dowd: Global Vaccine Impact: Study Reveals Up to 15M Deaths, 60M Disabilities Worldwide - ARTICLE/VIDEO (2 min. 27 secs.)

BREAKING: ​​​​​​​Montgomery County PA Republican Committee Headquarters forced to evacuate after profanity-laced bomb threat - funny how they call us violent when the only violence we ever see comes from the left - ARTICLE

California rail workers fired for refusing Covid jab awarded $1 million each in federal lawsuit - and about 1600 NYC employees were reinstated with back pay - if people would have stood up together and got up an walked off the job believe me no one would have been forced to take the jab and no one would have lost their job - NEXT time (and there will be a next time) any employer that demands you inject poison into your body needs to be looking at an empty work place. EVERYONE no matter what business you are in needs to get up and walk out. They will be begging for you to come back within hours - We need to stop being a nation of weakling cowards - ARTICLE

Dr. Brian Hooker's Damning Testimony Against All Vaccines - ARTICLE

Alamo at The Ballot Box - ARTICLE

Divorce leads to 18 vaccine autism - I actually met this father. He lives in Tennessee. I met his 3 children. ALL 3 of these kids were court ordered to be vaccinated against the wishes of both the mother and father. This was a custody hearing and the TENNESSEE judge said the first parent that gets the kids vaccinated gets custody. Even though these parents had religious exemptions the judge flat out said he doesn’t care what the law says but in his opinion (mind you he is no doctor and was not there to make health care decisions for these children) not vaccinated these children was child abuse. He said the first parent to get the kids vaccinated immediately will get custody. The mother who has a drug problem took the kids and got them vaccinated. The youngest child who was a happy, healthy and normal 5 year old ended up in ICU and is now a regressive autistic. The 3 children were each given 17 vaccines. Both boys got the shots at all once and the girl got them in two visits. The mother abandoned the children and the father devotes his entire life to caring for his children and the youngest boy requires 24/7 care. He is fed from a bottle, is totally non-verbal and is in diapers. I cannot believe that here in Tennessee or in any state in America this man cannot get justice for what this judge did to his family. How can a mother who deserted her family over 3 years ago still have custody of these children and how is it possible this father is still ordered to pay child support? WHERE IS OUR GOVERNOR??? WHERE ARE OUR LEGISLATORS?? WHERE IS OUR ATTORNEY GENERAL?? Why has no Tennessee lawyer stepped up to help this man and his family?? If you can see it in your heart to donate to their gofundme please do so. I can vouch for this man and his children. THANK YOU. Interview with Children’s Health Defense bus in Knoxville, TN - 16 min. VIDEO

Top 10 most surveilled cities in the U.S. reveal globalist agenda is being implemented at the LOCAL LEVEL - this is a list of the most surveilled cities but they are not the only cities being surveilled. There are thousands of cities all over the US that are surveilling American citizens and collecting data. Anyone that believes they are doing this for safety reasons needs a reality check. ARTICLE

[cyborgraptor]

man I'm going to rant that I'm currently screaming into a pillow about IRL family dog business destruction

I've been a part of this for 6 years and it has been slowly eating itself alive since my brother's wife started cheating on him 3 years ago. she's the co-owner. cheating [redacted] has been in and out of the business pretending to be very nice to employees and the next day ghosts everyone and doesn't give updates, and I'm stand-in manager atm. supplies? bad employee meeting? schedules? tips? payroll? fuck if I know if its been done or not! I never FUCKING know! and then. she's been laundering the money. on top of missing comptroller's calls (refuses to give my brother the number for redirecting/not giving passwords), not helping my brother with W4s, hiring random people, and she's working at another dog place and stole clients, which is illegal. and lawyers cost money. and he can't get divorced until this is done. and supposedly, my brother overheard her plotting and waiting for the business to fall apart so my brother would sign over his half, since her pedophile uncle is an actual lawyer. oh, and that's a whole other story. he actually has a website dedicated to other people who've been assaulted by him, but because he's a lawyer........:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) there's so many other layers that I have yet to even talk about but fuck, man. my brother has known his soon to be ex-wife for over 10 years. there's no lesson out of this besides what the actual fuck

[cosmogyros]

You know what's absolutely wild? Something I will never be able to wrap my mind around? Something that fills me with RAGE?!?

The fact that Phil Spector could see something like this – these sparkling ladies, overflowing with charisma and beauty and talent and charm – and decide to marry their lead singer and promptly forbid her from making music any more. And treat her like this (bolding is mine, to point out a few of the most egregious details):

Ronnie and Phil Spector began having an affair soon after she was signed to his label in 1963. Early in their relationship, she was unaware that he was married. Once, Ronnie was apprehended by house detectives for prostitution at the Delmonico Hotel in New York City after leaving a room they had booked. She was allowed to call Phil, who threatened the hotel, and then they allowed her to leave. After Phil divorced his wife in 1965, he purchased a home in Beverly Hills, where he lived with Ronnie. They married at Beverly Hills City Hall on April 14, 1968. Ronnie changed her surname and became known as Ronnie Spector. Their son Donté Phillip was adopted in 1969. Two years later, Phil surprised her for Christmas with adopted twins, Louis and Gary. Ronnie alleged in her 1990 memoir that following their marriage, Phil subjected her to years of psychological torment and sabotaged her career by forbidding her to perform. She said he surrounded their house with barbed wire and guard dogs, and confiscated her shoes to prevent her from leaving; on the rare occasions he allowed her out alone, she had to drive with a life-size dummy of Phil. She stated that Phil installed a gold coffin with a glass top in the basement, promising that he would kill her and display her corpse if she ever left him. She began drinking and attending Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings to escape the house. In 1972, Ronnie fled their mansion barefoot and without any belongings, with the help of her mother. "I knew that if I didn't leave I was going to die there," she said. In their 1974 divorce settlement, Ronnie forfeited all future record earnings, alleging that Phil had threatened to have a hit man kill her. She received $25,000, a used car, and monthly alimony of $2,500 for five years. She later testified that Phil had frequently pulled a gun on her during their marriage and threatened to kill her unless she surrendered custody of their children. She tried to rebuild her career, keeping Spector's surname professionally because "I needed any way I could to get back in, I'd been kept away so long." According to her, Phil hired lawyers to prevent her singing her popular songs and denied her royalties. In 1988, the Ronettes sued Phil for $10 million in damages, rescission of the contract, the return of the masters, and recoupment of money received from the sale of Ronettes masters. It took 10 years for the case to make it to trial. After a prolonged legal battle, the court ruled that their contract gave Phil unconditional rights to the recordings but Ronnie was entitled to her share of royalties.

[lacy-o-meter]

⁽ ALL YOU NEED IS ⁾ ⁎ LACY ¸ get to know the members of the fictional four member girl group under memory bank entertainment who debuted on march 14th 2020 with their single “ love world ”

⁎ … … HAEUN HWANG, known by her stage name LOVIE was born in south korea to a professor father and pediatrician mother, who haeun recalls being 'very strict.' despite her parents protests, haeun had a passion for the arts and was auditioning and performing whenever she could. she joined a dance team in middle school where she caught the eye of scouters from DOHE- one of the top four entertainment companies- and signed with them.

haeun left DOHE in 2018 after being removed from their debuting girl group 4TUNE and being told there was no longer a place for her there. she was immediately picked up by memory bank where eun jangmi promised her that she would debut within two years.

⋯ BIRTHDAY ⁙ june 2, 2000 ⋯ ZODIAC ⁙ gemini ⋯ BIRTHPLACE ⁙ daegu, south korea ⋯ HOMETOWN ⁙ suseong, daegu ⋯ NATIONALITY ⁙ korean ⋯ YEARS TRAINED ⁙ 8 years ⋯ POSITIONS ⁙ center, main vocal, lead dancer ⋯ FACECLAIM ⁙ kim chaewon

⁎ … … SORA KIM, known by her stage name ADORA was born in california to a banker mother and accountant father. sora grew up with a variety of skills and interests, especially in sports. she was getting ready for college when she joined her friends to a random audition in the city, not expecting anything and just doing it for fun. the company holding the audition was CLOCKWORK CREATIVE- the company that bought out memory bank. surprisingly, sora was accepted while her friends were not.

although she previously had little interest in performing, she was feeling aimless about her future and what she really wanted to do. sora graduated early from high school, and after speaking more with eun jangmi, she decided to sign with the subsidiary company and flew to seoul a month later in 2017. ⋯ BIRTHDAY ⁙ august 6, 2000 ⋯ ZODIAC ⁙ leo ⋯ BIRTHPLACE ⁙ california, united states ⋯ HOMETOWN ⁙ san francisco, california ⋯ NATIONALITY ⁙ korean-american ⋯ YEARS TRAINED ⁙ 3 years ⋯ POSITIONS ⁙ lead vocal, main dancer, sub rapper ⋯ FACECLAIM ⁙ park chaewon

⁎ … … CHAEYEON SEO, known by her stage name CHEY was born in south korea to a single working mother who chaeyeon calls her role model. although they struggled when she was growing up, chaeyeon has been working to support her family since she was a child by busking and helping neighbors. when she was 12, she was street casted onto a singing show looking for potential stars. although she didn't win the competition, she got far enough to show her skills and got the attention of STARSET STUDIO, a new company which had a handful of singers and actors at the time.

since chaeyeon was so young, the company was unsure of what to do with her, so she was thrown into acting and got to sing a couple of OSTs that never showed much success. chaeyeon left STARSET in 2016 to join CLOCKWORK where she finally got real training. she was then approached a year later to switch to their new subsidiary where she met eun jangmi and began training for LACY. ⋯ BIRTHDAY ⁙ may 19, 1997 ⋯ ZODIAC ⁙ taurus ⋯ BIRTHPLACE ⁙ seoul, south korea ⋯ HOMETOWN ⁙ gangseo, seoul ⋯ NATIONALITY ⁙ korean ⋯ YEARS TRAINED ⁙ 10 years ⋯ POSITIONS ⁙ main vocal, dancer ⋯ FACECLAIM ⁙ song hayoung

⁎ … … YURINA HARADA, known as YURINA was born in japan to a lawyer father and stay-at-home mom, who divorced when she was thirteen. yurina chose to stay with her father afterwards, while her two younger brothers stay with their mom. she says she chose him because he said she could join an arts high school, which she was accepted into despite her being an amateur.

dancing came naturally to yurina, which is how she got into ONE IN A MUSIC when she was 15. yurina was one of the most talented trainees at the time, which got her on a flight to korea for a summer training camp. there, she met eun jangmi who managed to convince her that her skills her better suited for a group like LACY than whatever she was going to wind up in. ⋯ BIRTHDAY ⁙ april 17, 2002 ⋯ ZODIAC ⁙ aries ⋯ BIRTHPLACE ⁙ tokyo, japan ⋯ HOMETOWN ⁙ setagaya, tokyo ⋯ NATIONALITY ⁙ japanese ⋯ YEARS TRAINED ⁙ 3 years ⋯ POSITIONS ⁙ main dancer, lead vocal, rapper ⋯ FACECLAIM ⁙ fukutomi tsuki

[scariercnidaria]

another kerapin modern au where lapin is a medieval history professor at a uni and keradin is a financial lawyer who took one of his classes because he was interested in the crusades and he needed a history credit 8 years ago. he ended up dropping the class after a semester and a half at his therapist (pastor) (who just so happened to be a friend of the police officer assigned to the case) polite "suggestion" (restraining order threat), after developing a bit of a psychosexual obsession with lapin and doing a little trolling (targetted harrassment/stalking). in the interim keradin got another therapist (real one) (court mandated) and is on mood stabilisers now but still has not stopped seething about professor cadburys evil woke cultural marxist agenda.

lapin in this scenario is living with amethar in theos Eternal Bachelor Pad. he was living with amethar and caramellina (with reduced rent in exchange for tutoring jet and ruby who are probably like 14 in this scenario [so sorry for de aging them all a little bit i know im committing old men yaoi crimes it just makes slightly more sense this way. itd still be like. lapin 56+, keradin 31, amethar 44, theo ~46, caramellina 49]) until The Divorce (over finanicial disputes - amethars business is crumbling and is bringing caramellindas down with it as she just cant keep funnelling profits from her business into amethars in order to keep it afloat any longer; amethars purported unfaithfulness is not really an issue here because um This is just politics).

theo is trying to find an excuse to kick lapin out without making amethar feel worse about the situation but the only thing he has on him is that hes a bitch and smokes weed outside the laundry room sometimes but its been legalised and anyway lapin is never late on rent cause he has like 700 jobs (on top of being a history professor, lapin also has a side hustle leading bdsm/consent workshops at the library and also moonlights as a professional dom at a local sex club) (he also is still tutoring jet and ruby (for money this time) and has a positive relationship with caramellinda (they bitch about amethar) but she wont let him move back in because she "needs space"). theo thinks they have a weird gay thing going on (and hates it) and lapin is aware that theo thinks this and plays into it (because its funny) (and also hates it)

meanwhile in the keradinosphere, he has been consistently working ~60 hour weeks at his one (1) job at the same law firm for the last 5 years with no (0) promotion. his life is literally: work (10 hours), gym (2 hours), commute (2 hours each way), doomscroll on The App (5 hours), sleep (3 hours) every day forever.

on saturdays he works from home and on sundays he has church and then spends 3 hours sitting on a bench at the park "chilling out" (staring into the distance) (he doesnt own any books) before going to his court mandated weekly therapy session. his apartment is a textbook r/malelivingspace populated with an absolutely obscene collection of anime posters, lifting equipment, nerd shit replica medieval weapons or something and also an ever-rotating cast of Windowsill Plants Of The Month because he cant stop accidentally killing them and bursting into tears. his therapist tells him this is progress and that his drywall & security deposit will thank him

at some point some disaster hits keradin or something and they make him take sometime off work, and strangely without spending 10 hours under high stress bullshit every day + some melatonin he is actually for once in his life able to get more than 3 hours of sleep per night. at the same time, keradins The App experience starts being psy-op'ed by a memepage called xXsugarPlvmF4IRY_ who has infiltrated his niche internet tradbulb /fit/ microculture and begun flooding it with """ironic""" grecian gay sex "RETVRN" propaganda. this is a big hit as far as engagement among terminally online perpetually enraged historypilled incel-adjacent men such as keradin, and 6 hours of seething at ancient femboys combined with 8 hours of sleep and his brain unshrivelling somewhat results in him starting to have Gay Sex Dreams, which metastatises into him having Regular Gay Thoughts in the conscious world. he is too mortified to tell his pastor (because it is a liberal church and hes worried hell be supported) so he tells his therapist instead in hopes that they will recommend conversion therapy.

spoiler alert they dont. they encourage him to test the waters at his own pace by passing him a flyer for a consent workshop at the library later in the week in hopes that it will help him Get Comfortable With Sex As A Concept. keradin shoves the flyer in his sock drawer hoping to ignore it but is so haunted that he stays up all night doing some inspired googling and eventually learns about bdsm and is like woah! just like bulbo from my self-flagellation! he tries his best to resist the urge but he cant stop thinking about it and hes found he quite likes getting 8 hours of sleep and this New Stress is compromising that. eventually he looks up the number for a local sex club and books an hour and a half-- the following day, so he doesnt have time to chicken out-- with "father candi" (priest roleplay) ($120 out of pocket) (he tries not to think about having to face his actual pastor after this).

keradin goes there and surprise surprise its lapin.

keradin thinks he seems a little bit familiar but he cant quite put his finger on from where... so he discards the thought, and lapin straight up doesnt recognise him either so it all goes ahead.

lapin asks about boundaries and keradin is like "what are boundaries" so lapin spends the first hour and 15 minutes explaining boundaries and trying to get keradin to come up with something, anything dear bulb please. eventually they settle on a very rudimentary list and lapins like. ok that took ages we have 15 minutes left if you want to try and scene and keradin made it this far he isnt going to leave without at least trying gay sex It Would Kill Him. so they do an incredibly light d/s scene involving a confession booth or something and keradin comes within 2 minutes and then hits lapin with the old "if by my life or death i can protect you i shall". and lapin is like. um ok. thats nice. your time is up tho do u want a warm wet towel and a glass of water. ok. cool (<- his ass is clocking out immediately)

keradin immediately goes home and books another time slot precisely one month to the hour after the last one. during that month he goes back to work, is assigned to do some donkey work noone else wanna do on some fraud investigation around some local failing businesses, replaces his windowsill plant again, spends marginally less time on The App and somehow manages to look his pastor in the eye. he doesnt tell his therapist about the experience but they do ask how the consent workshop went and keradin lies and said it was good it was interesting and they ask like is that it so he badly paraphrases something lapin said about boundaries to get them off his back. they give him a flyer for the next one and keradin still doesnt go.

the month passes and he goes back and has another epic gay sex moment with father candi. and it becomes a regular occurance. every month, on the dot, like clockwork. for a while keradin is fucking crushed under the pressure of trying to come up with a non-gaysex reason for why he has to leave work before 7pm for once every month on the exact same day but nobody actually cares enough to ask him. and hes relaxed. hes not on The App. his windowsill plant lives for 2 months this time. so its just. like. good. its just a good situation.

...maybe too good.

[EXTREMELY LOUD BULBIAN GUILT SFX]

lapin, largely unaware of this, thinks the whole thing is pretty amusing. he knows that keradin works some stuffy office job and has some major religious hangups but he mostly just wants to be beat up a little and then praised and he always walks out 5gorillion % less stressed than he came in and its like ok. lapin can do that. its literally the least weird thing anyones ever asked him to do in a scene. yeah keradin is hot but mostly lapin wants to put him under a microscope and study him like a bug. its like having a favourite customer. he doesnt really think about it outside of when he knows its coming up its literally not that deep.

besides, he has other things to worry about like more pressingly: that amethar is being investigated by the IRS for being bad at running a business and if he goes to prison then theres no way theo will let him keep staying at his flat (the novelty of playing along with theos "weird gay thing" suspicions wore off, like, so fucking quick). he could go stay with his old scene partner "sugar plum mommy" but her whole place looks like serial experiments lain and he will not be able to grade papers over the sound of her bumping grindcore out a subwoofer she stole from a nightclub 4 years ago for 13 hours straight while she joshua citarellas the target audience for europa universalis into getting gayer than they already were.

meanwhile keradin literally cannot stop thinking about hot gay sex gay religious old man sex in your area click here right now and he feels crazy wazy and conflicted and awful about it and on the verge of getting psychosexually obsessed again. he decides to bring it up with his therapist finally because what are they gonna do? court mandate that he gets More Therapy? they end up being like ok yknow what would be really good for this actually is if you Went to the consent workshop ive been telling you about all this time. it would definitely help. its at the library its free. theres one in 30 minutes. ill drive you there (maybe not precisely).

either way. keradin goes. and guess whose fucking running it.

keradin stays but sits in the back and only feels slightly awkward but for once its like. no this is. it would be a good thing if father candi saw that i was here. i am listening and learning.

and he sits there.

in the back of the library.

set out like a lecture hall.

listening and learning.

and it slowly dawns on him exactly why "father candi" seemed so familiar.

[delphinesaintmleux]

FOUNDATIONS MADE OF STONE CAN TURN TO DUST

Name: Delphine Saint Mleux

Nickname: Del

Gender & Pronouns: Cis woman & she/her

Age: 47

Occupation: CEO of Serres Communications, Inc

Origins: Woodside, California

Neighborhood: Oak Gardens

Relationship status: Married

Important note: serres communications, inc is the rp version of hearst communications, inc

SUMMARY: Born to be an heir Delphine was raised and groomed to be the best and brightest. Young life was routined and disciplined from private schools to every hour plotted out for music lessons, art lessons, extra education, etc. When she came out at as a teenager her mother distanced herself from Delphine and her father pushed her even harder and forced her to hide that part of herself. She went onto Yale where she earned top honors with an MBA as well as a PhD in comparative literature. By then she was working her way through the corporate ladder within her own family's company, obviously with a bit of a leg up, but her ideas and savvy business put her in charge. It wasn't until her father passed away 10 years ago that she took over as CEO of Serres Communications, Inc but it has been a role made for her. Living In Chicago and part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra board Delphine eventually found herself as the Director of Operations. She was dating Valentine Finch, a fabulous cellist within the orchestra, and they eventually married. Things crumbled two years in when Delphine was accused and arrested on embezzlement charges from the orchestra. Her lawyers worked tirelessly to clear her and her spouse's name but it was already too late and Valentine had filed for divorce and fled from the damage and their ruined reputation.

BIOGRAPHY

trigger warnings: homophobia, death, embezzlement

Some generations ago the Serres family emigrated from France to the United States where the opportunity for entrepreneurship was so fresh that a motivated businessman was able to create the beginnings of an empire. What started off as a venture into the newspaper business expanded into a multinational mass media and business information conglomerate over decades (over a century in total) and generations within a family.

Before Delphine had been born the empire had already encompassed newspapers across the country, television and film productions and channels, radio stations, publishing in books and magazines, and several business-information companies. From the start of her life Delphine was groomed into eventually being a part of the family enterprise. She was enrolled into the best private schools and institutions that money could buy, enrolled and involved in music programs with private instructors, a young equestrian, and societies that would only further her social standing and outreach.

Music had a stronger hold and influence on Delphine. Attending symphonies, concerts, and operas impacted her in a way that her other interests and things she was pushed into hadn't. Even with piano and violin lessons she didn't quite have the talent to really pursue music in a way that she quietly dreamed, she was much more like the business minded leads of generations past, she followed music throughout her life. It was her love of literature and language that sent her off to Yale when the time for university came around, in which, during her attendance there, Delphine earned an MBA and a PhD in comparative literature.

For most of her young life Delphine moved through it robotically. There was always a routine and an expectation. While she had time as a child to be just that the older she got the more it came about in means of acting out. Rebelling against the strict structure of her life. When she was just a teenager she lashed out at her mother during a fight, choosing that moment to hurt the woman with an imperfection: Delphine was gay and had no desire to get married and have children within the same societal norms and demands of what a proper life looked like. They, her parents, had invested too much time and money into their daughter to completely write her off despite the lifestyle they couldn't and wouldn't agree with so her father continued to push Delphine for success. Her mother, on the other hand, nearly ignored her existence after the spontaneous coming out.

Fear of rejection and being ostracized within her own family Delphine buried her sexuality. Plus, the social climate for such an outing was vastly different at the time and that only further instilled a fear and solidified her decision to keep that part of herself hidden. Throughout university she remained publicly single and kept her short lived affairs with women deeply secretive. By then she was already working within what was then Serres Corporation and post graduation and with freshly printed higher education degrees Delphine began her ascent up the corporation ladder. It didn't hurt that she had fresh ideas on pushing the company ahead in future business ventures.

Eventually residing in Chicago, Delphine branched out personally into her interests as she became further involved within the city she'd decided to call home. One of those interests was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and what had started merely as a donation based pledge (along with season tickets) eventually morphed into being on the board and then somehow the Director of Operations. It was fitting in the sense that Delphine was accustomed to involvement in various businesses. The only exception was that this was personal and not under the then Serres Communications, Inc brand.

In that investment into the symphony she'd met the fabulous cellist, Valentine Finch, and had fallen in love with the extraordinarily talented and intriguing musician. Thankfully she'd come out a decade earlier due to being caught on a date with a woman by the media, the relationship, like all the others in her past, had been short lived but the best outcome had come of it. Delphine no longer had to hide that part of herself. Her family be damned. Already CEO and the head of the family empire post her father's death there was no way anyone could keep her from living the life she'd wanted anymore. When she and Valentine began seeing each other it turned into the longest relationship she'd had. They'd gotten married and seemed to enjoy a charmed life with their spouse. But then accusations and an eventual arrest burned that happiness to the ground.

Charged with embezzling funds the media went wild. A billionaire and head of a mass media conglomerate siphoning funds from the orchestra, the very symphony her spouse was a part of, was violently juicy to the tabloids. Every part of her life seemed to be raked over the coals and that included her marriage. It took time but Delphine's team of lawyers were able to clear her of the charges and both her and her wife's names in the process. However, by then, the damage was already done. Marriage in shambles and unable to overcome the shame, Valentine left Delphine and she now sits with an impending divorce.

[veryflirtytransportalate]

Wearing a bunny outfit to a thunderdome and dancing in front of the battle cage is kind of like bringing cookies to a divorce proceeding and icing them on the lawyer's desk. Kind of.

Thoughts:

Credit once again to the bunny outfit mod, always a fun time busting that one out. Major props to one of my new favorite mods, the barrel armor mod. Absolutely hilarious, the legs clip through it really bad, but that's almost even funnier. I appreciate the tiny :-) drawn on the barrel too, the perfect detail.

I've actually been playing this character, not just taking pictures of her, and it's been neat. In contrast to what I usually do, I set the difficulty to very easy, and done my best to throw away every preconceived notion that I had of how to play Fallout 4. I never really do raider runs of these games, or evil runs of these games, because I feel like it's spoils 99% of the fun. If you're going to be this kind of capricious evil monster, why would you listen to anybody in a conversation? Why would you take a quest? It just doesn't make any sense. So blue it's very chaotic, sometimes I click through dialogue because I genuinely think this violent sadist would find it more interesting in this particular moment to listen to what stupid problem they have. I did that entire quest where you go to the factory that's canning meat, that one sucked. You walk in, they're arguing about the meat making people sick, he keeps complaining about mole rats, you just know for a fact he's putting people into the stuff. And I actually went and explored the entire place before I found the secret underground area, so I read his diary that he had upstairs and even looted the chest that he's next to where he's supposed to get the reward for clearing the dungeon. I actually really like that, the idea that if you explore you find a whole bunch of stuff that would normally be gated off at the end of the dungeon, but not like this. Not one it feels completely half-assed and the dungeon rewards and Fallout 4 are always so meaningless anyway, although I did get a never-ending 10 millimeter pistol which immediately made me reconsider my fist only playthrough, and then when I found that great shotgun down there I was like, oh yeah, this is no longer a fist only playthrough, these are two of my favorites, this is a sign.

One of the things I've been having the most fun with is the fact that blues bird outfit has a special ability very few hit the jump key again under the right circumstances you propel yourself into the air, but it's really bringing me back to that guy in Morrowind who would fall out of the sky and crush his entire body on the ground, and then you'd get his scrolls for this spell that he invented that caused that problem? I keep jumping up and being like I'm so cool this is just like playing prototype when I was 15 and running and jumping around the city and then my ankles get so much as a hair away from the concrete and suddenly my entire character's body is a contorted bastardized mess that is rebounding off the top of the concrete structure and flopping to the dilapidated Boston city streets below. I think it's going to be really satisfying when I get good with the, and I'm putting massive air quotes on this one even though I could put literal quotes but I'm using voice to text and I don't want to go into that much detail, flying. Getting into a firefight and flying up to the top of a building just to jump down on top of them with a really strong melee focused build? That just sounds awesome! God I hope it's awesome.

[placegrenette]

Why domestic violence (against women primarily) is a big concern in Kazakhstan right now.

I haven't seen a good informal roundup so I'm going to take a stab at one. As always, do not entirely trust your ignorant American narrator.

It's not that domestic violence hasn't been on people's radars previously–y'all might recall that way back in 2019 Ninety One took part in a campaign against gender-based violence led by the US Consulate General in Almaty–and there are a good number of grassroots organizations that I know nothing about and can't do justice to. (A coalition of 16 of them, the Union of Crisis Centers in Kazakhstan, gets mentioned in this 2019 Human Rights Watch piece.) But it seems to have exploded in the last week or so as a result of several high-profile cases.

Quite possibly the biggest, and ugliest, one is the murder of Saltanat Nukenova; her husband, Kuandyk Bishimbayev, has apparently been ordered to jail as the suspected killer. I think this case is getting a lot of attention because Bishimbayev was a well-known figure who was in government at 27 and who is now suspected of corruption (apparently his father was buddy-buddy with Nursultan Nazarbayev; the top article on Orda.kz right now is an article raising questions about his mother's wealth) and because he was rich (see previous clause; also, the argument that may have led to him beating Nukenova to death apparently started at their restaurant); but friends of Nukenova's are coming forward saying that Bishimbayev had been physically abusing her for years.

I say "several cases" because the translated introduction to the latest Zamandas podcast refers to three separate cases, but I only know of the Nukenova murder. Suffice to say it seems to be the tip of a longstanding, widely-known iceberg. Here's the translation of a Facebook post by Zhanna Muhmadi, whom Eurasianet describes as a "well-known lawyer":

I would like to remind you that in Kazakhstan they give a WARNING for intentional beating of wives! You beat her once, you get a warning, but the second time you can kill her. In our country, even for the murder of wives they gave 1.5 years. P.S. Sincere condolences to the girl's family. The most severe punishment for all murderers!

(Note that Google Translate rendered "You beat her..." as "You beat him," but I changed it; I suspect Russian has the same direct object for male and female third person.)

I've found translating timestamps useful in the past, so here they are for the most recent Zamandas podcast linked above:

00:00 Start of the podcast. Why are we recording this issue and important issues of domestic violence. 03:11 Terrible news of the past week. 07:08 About justifying comments and impunity. About Bishimbayev. 09:07 About manipulation in the media and blogging sphere. About Rashev. 10:59 What is known at the moment? 12:40 About silence. 13:56 Why do men hate women in Kazakhstan? 18:49 About rape in Taldykorgan. [note: this is harder to find information about, but apparently a high-ranking police officer in Taldykorgan has been detained on suspicion of rape.] 20:46 About the law on domestic violence and the inaction of the police. 24:04 “If you don’t hear girls, listen to men” 28:30 Why are men silent? 33:36 About n*violence and emotional tyranny. 37:20 About the incident with the security guard at the nightclub. 42:02 About misogyny. 44:50 About traditions and non-violence. 47:48 “If someone raises a hand against you, leave” 50:20 About education. 54:15 We as a society cannot forgive such things. 56:20 The problem of domestic violence does not have a social portrait. 58:14 About divorce and conviction. 01:00:02 About romanticization in the media. 01:01:03 About tightening the law. See something - say something. 01:04:01 About the relationship of law enforcement agencies to victims. 01:07:07 About male solidarity. 01:08:03 About the incident on the train and the conductors. 01:10:06 About the Don’t Be Silent Foundation. 01:12:51 About the situation in bars and spiking. 01:16:55 Conclusion.

The "Don't Be Silent Foundation," by the way, is NeMolchi (Не Молчи = "do not be silent" in Russian); I don't know if they're taking donations.

ZaQ and Alem both linked (in Instagram Stories) to a petition (machine translation) currently circulating that's calling upon the Kazakhstani government to take domestic violence more seriously and create stronger criminal punishments for it. (Alem spoke in his stories before sharing the link; unfortunately, as usual, I can't tell you what he said. @ninetyonekz translated the stories: one, two, three.) Orda has an article about the petition (machine translation) that notes that it was originally created in 2021 and basically went ignored for two years. The more cynical among you might say that domestic violence is this week's Current Thing in Kazakhstan, and the guys do not want to be seen as lagging behind. To be fair, I think Veronika has been publicly and privately acknowledging these issues for much longer; she linked to the petition as well, as well as to Dr. Aigerim Turekulova, who recently wrote about the health risks to Kazakhstani women and girls from interpersonal violence. Backup dancer Diana also linked to it, and wrote (if the machine translation got her caption right) about how her ex-husband was physically abusive, and people told her not to bother reporting it to the authorities, it would be a waste of time.

I don't know if this is going to lead to longer-lasting change. I sure hope so, but there's a lot of competition for We Need to Do Something About This right now, both in Kazakhstan and globally (a week or two ago a bunch of people, including I believe all of Irina Kairatovna, were raising money to help residents of Gaza City, and we haven't even gotten to the ArcelorMittal mine disaster in Karaganda last month). Also I would put the odds of a backlash as high. But at least something is happening. And since I suspect most of my audience is either against domestic violence or pro learning about Kazakhstan, it seemed worth reporting.